September 3, 2003Where's my site?
Ok, that's weird. Moveable Type obviously only keeps the last 4 days of entries up and when you come to day 5, whoosh! into the archives they go. I guess that means I just have to update more often. :)
Posted by Olivia at 9:24 AM | Comments (1)
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September 3, 2003Labor day camping adventure
Friday:
After an extremely boring day I left work an hour early to join Jeff at home where he had been since late afternoon. I dozed off while he watched a movie, but eventually we gathered ourselves to head out to Goochland. Cowboy Paul gave us some good laughs while we waited what seemed like hours for our food. Eventually though we all did get to eat and afterwards headed back to Eric & Kelly's.
Chris, Paul & Brian gave us a little preview of the weekends entertainment. I sure wish I had musical talent like that. Jeff thoroughly inspected Eric's Tivo and shortly before midnight we headed for home.
Saturday:
Being the nice person I am (ha!) I let Jeff sleep in when I got up at 9:30 to start packing. I got evreything ready to go and did a little cleaning. By 12:30 we were on the road. We decided to leave Gizmo at home for the 2 nights we'd be gone. I felt really bad, but we left him a ton of food. I guess he was ok, he doesn't seem too mad at us now.
Taco Bell in Lexington became plan B when the Pink Cadillac was closed due to water line breakage. But man was that a good gordita! So onward to the mountain we headed to set up camp. Mike & Lauren had already started setting up the 'kitchen' and 'dining' areas. We all got out tents set up while everyone else slowly arrived.
At some point some of us got started on dinner. The guys had built a brick oven to cook stuff in. It was about 11pm before everything was finally ready. When you're cooking for 16 in the woods things take a while. Mike had fixed some baked ziti which was very good. Who else would have thought to have baked ziti in the middle of the forest?
Shortly after dinner Paul, Chris & Brian started in on their set list for the evening for us die hard fans who didnt got to bed right away. But it had been a long day and we all were tired. I'm not really sure what time we ended up in bed.
Pictures from Saturday, before my camera died.
Sunday:
After the best night's sleep I've ever had in a tent (despite the heat), we snacked on smores until the pancake breakfast (complete with Mrs. Butterworths AND Aunt Jemima) was ready. I love pancakes. It was close to 3 when everyone decided to go play kickball in the field. Not being a fan of playing sports such as this, I played photographer until my camera died.
Everyone was hot and sweaty so a trip to the pool was next. Despite it being what I think has been the coldest day of the summer, some people did enjoy the pool. After some volleyball fun we headed back to camp to start working on dinner.
A collective effort was put forth to get the chicken (or fake chick'n), cous cous, green bean caserole and dinner rolls prepared. Another excellent meal. All this followed by cake to celebrate Jess' 21st. Mmm..cake.
Pivot! made their debut with covers of John Mayer, The Cranberries and Def Leppard. Kermit also made a guest appearance to sing us a little song. Pivot! fans got to play along with kazoos provided by the band. Pivot! rocks!! Many smores later it was 3:30 and we were exhausted.
Monday:
As we all stumbled out of our tents and gathered around the fire a collective decision was made to spend the afternoon at the pool. Jon & Kelly got their stuff packed up first as did Jeff & I. Mike, Jeff & I decided to break down the rest of camp before heading up to the pool to relax.
We got the kitchen cleaned up and all the supplies put away while avoiding the giant bee that had taken a liking to the brick oven. Eventually there was nothing left to do but load in the cars so we decided to leave that to the rest of the group. :)
A lively game of water volley ball quickly diminished after we arrived, since the grill was fired up for lunch. Not more than 10 or 15 minutes later the bottom dropped and it poured for a long time.
Paul, Jeff, Kelly H & I took cover under the pool pump shack. The rest of the group made it to the cabin. But we were the lucky ones, Paul saved the apple pie and I saved the snack tub from the rain. So we got to eat Little Debbies and pie while waiting for the rain to let up. Jeff and Paul thought they'd be funny by jumping in the pool; and it was fun, until Mike made then get out with his warnings of lightening in the distance. Party pooper!
When the rain subsided we all headed back to camp to salvage what was left. For those who had not taken their tent down, they had a wet, soggy mess waiting for them. After getting all the supplies safely tucked away in the Pollock's barn Jeff and I headed for home.
We unpacked, showered and met Brian, Chris and Paul for dinner. And despite our many warnings to Brian he insisted on seeing the Hawaii photos. Sorry you guys (Chris & Paul) had to sit through them again. We will get those sorted out one day. Jeff and I crashed as soon as they left; doing nothing really makes a person tired. :)
So despite my initial doubts about the weekend, we had a great time. The new camping spot, while in the woods, is perfect so a large (or small) group. The spaces between the trees are just large enough for the tents, we have an established cooking and dining area. And now we even have 'roadways' to most of the tent spaces. Oh, and can't foget the newly dug steps from the road to woods. This is definitely a spot we will be returning too.
Posted by Olivia at 11:47 AM | Comments (5)
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September 3, 2003A dead machine
As many of you noticed, I wasn't online Tuesday. When I got to work I went to start up my machine as usual, but this time, when I hit the power button there was a pop!
Realizing something was wrong, I figured the best thing to do was unplug it and call the helpdesk. But before I could even reach for the plug, sparks started coming out the back. It only lasted for a second or two, but it was enough to keep me away.
So I put my call into the helpdesk at 9:30 and messed around for over 2 hours with other things. I finally ran out of stuff to do so I called them back up. "Oh yeh, someone should be with you shortly, maybe 30-45 minutes." Riiiight.
3:30 the guy finally shows up. Machine wouldn't come on so he opened it up and figures it's a dead power supply. So off my machine went. I didn't expect to get it back the same day either.
I ended up doing some work for my boss that only took an hour. As I was contemplating leaving at 5, here came dudeman with my machine. So I spent the next hour catching up on email and such.
So my entire day was shot. I should have just gone home.
Posted by Olivia at 11:48 AM | Comments (2)
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September 3, 2003A close call
Posted by Olivia at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)
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September 5, 2003Pop & Drop
I took a few minutes at the end of the day yesterday to relax and play some Pop & Drop. I'd been having a hard time getting past level 13, but for some reason I was on a roll last night. I just kept going and going. And while my score might not have been very high, I'm just happy I got to level 21. Yay me!
For anyone who has not vet played this game, don't. I mean it. Don't. It's highly addictive. I have spent many, many hours playing this stupid game. Of course it takes longer when you have to pause it everytime someone walks in. :)
But if still insist on playing this, or any other of Shockwaves fun games, here's the link. heheh
What games do you all play?
Posted by Olivia at 11:21 AM | Comments (1)
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September 8, 2003Pre-Birthday Celebrations
To (not) celebrate Chris' approaching mid-week birthday, Brian & Paul make the trek to Richmond once again this past Friday. We all met up for dinner at Sundays in Chester. Our table was on the 'terrace' right by the lake; great setting. After taking up valuable table space for 2 hours we caravaned back to the Sos' house.
Despite Chris' insistance that this was not a birthday celebration, Lauren made him a cake. ( I swear I didn't know about it Chris!) We hung out for the rest of the night just enjoying each others company and crazy antics.
A late night was cause for a late start Saturday morning. But we finally got up and started some heavy duty cleaning of our downstairs. A quick trip to WalMart helped us get ready for the evening's activities.
The gang over to watch the race and enjoy each other's company. We played a pretty tame game of Scattergories while catching the end-of-Richmond-race fighting. Too bad we couldn't have gone to the race. Oh well, it was still fun just hanging out with our friends, watching it on TV.
Sunday began with a trip to Taco Bell (mmm..gorditas). The boys wanted to check out Maymont in preparation for their upcoming race, so Jeff and I tagged along. In the three years we've been in Richmond, we've never visited Maymont. I didn't realize it was so big.
We walked up by the petting zoo/wildlife rehabilitation center, then across the park to see the flower gardens and Japanese/Italian gardens. The guys had a little fun posing for pics and we enjoyed some pretty flowers.
Since we had definitely worked off our lunch, we made a stop by Brusters for some ice cream (mmm..ice cream). The boys left to work on recording some more songs so Jeff & I swung by Virginia Center.
We dropped my car off at Firestone to get inspected today and then perused the shops in The Creeks. Instead of coming home and being productive, we both ended up falling asleep. When Chris called to make dinner plans it took a little while to get motivated. But I'm glad we did; dinner was to be found at Sine, downtown, right next to Martin. Best quesadilla I've ever had (even better than Macados).
The rest of the evening was spent working on CustomTacos. I somehow volunteered myself to help reorganize the forum. Well, Jeff reorganized it, I'm just helping move threads to their proper place. I see more of that in my future. :)
Posted by Olivia at 9:23 AM | Comments (2)
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September 8, 2003Dancing Hamsters
Yay!! Bigger than just a buddy icon now!
Posted by Olivia at 1:49 PM | Comments (0)
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September 8, 2003My worlds are colliding
You know you've been doing something for too long when you get confused and mix work with the rest of your life. As I was sitting here, getting ready to write up the payment info for the cable bill, I looked at the amount and thought that was kinda high for us. And then I (mentally) slapped myself, duh, I'm at work! This is not my personal bill.
Yikes. I need a change of scenery.
Posted by Olivia at 4:31 PM | Comments (1)
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September 11, 20039/11
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September 11, 200320 Questions
Ok, now I'm completely dumfounded. Jeff sent me a link to this 20 questions game. You pick an object and the computer guesses your object within 20 questions. This thing is unbelievable! Although it has a hard time getting it in 20 questions, for the most part is does eventually get the answer correct.
I think I only stumped it on two, a picture frame and artichoke. But it got: cow, white out, mug, paper clip, flag, magnet, gasoline, tampon, mosquito, copier, highlighter, & filing cabinet.
But the most amazing one yet was using 'alpahabet' as my object. 28 questions later it got it! Amazing.
Posted by Olivia at 10:58 AM | Comments (4)
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September 14, 2003Flames, CT Meet & Orange Paint
After an excrutiatingly long week Friday was finally upon us. Jeff took a nap after work while I did some clean-up around the house. Laundry from three days prior needed to be folded, week old dishes needed washing. I just feel so worthless after work during the week.
When Jeff finally woke up he started working on his latest project: painting his stock Nissan remote-controlled truck. He'd already gotten the base color done Thursday night, but now wanted to add some graphics. After a couple of attempts, I finally got the flames drawn out on masking tape to stick to the truck. He got it all taped up and ready to spray.
Since it was still raining outside, he opted for the bathroom where a nice little paint booth was set up using paperbags. The truck turned out awesome, too bad the bathroom floor didn't fair so well.
After our 12:30 run to Martin looking for a DV camera, Jeff spent an hour and a half trying to get the overspray off the linoleum. Let's just say he's learned his lesson. :) A little paint thinner or something like that from Lowes worked wonders and got the rest off today.
Saturday we were up early for the trip to Fredericksburg for the Custom Tacos meet. Very little traffic on 95 put us there about 30 minutes earlier (10:30am) than expected, but it wasn't long before the rest of the gang rolled in.
Despite all the shelters being rented for the day we chose to hang out near the one we used before. The parking lot was big so we had plenty of space; however, it was raining a little. As the grill got fired up we all took shelter under the shelter. When the group who rented it (martial arts people) finally arrived, we offered to vacate, but were told we could try to share it. Less than an hour later that group decided to cancel and bail because of the rain. Lucky us!
So anyways, lunch and much discussion of trucks and other vehicle-related talk ensued for the next few hours. Some people got rowdy on the playground, others, in their trucks in the parking lot. By 6 we knew it was time to go before they kicked us out, plus it was starting to rain again. A few of us headed over to Jesse's, the only one who actually lives in Fredericksburg. We hung out until 12:30 or so eating pizza, watching boxing and getting a laugh from Kat's (Jesse's girlfriend) 2 terriers.
Today I slept in. It was so nice not to have to be up at a certain time or have to go anywhere. We actually were able to sit and watch the race; I can't remember the last time we did that. I took my usual mid-race nap and missed all the action. About 5:30 we decided to go to Lowes for the paint remover. While there we also picked up some paint for the dining room.
As soon as we got home I started taping up the walls. Luckily, only one wall was to be painted, so it didn't take too long to prep. So far I've done 2 coats. I'm hoping it won't need a third, but some streaky spots are already starting to show. Now if we could just find some chairs.
Posted by Olivia at 11:47 PM | Comments (3)
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September 16, 2003A bit bright?
Ok, so my orange paint is a little brighter, more primary-ish than I was really hoping for. But I bet once we get the (right) furniture back in it'll be fine. It'll look fine, right?
I ended up having to put a third coat on last night; it was still way too streaky for my liking. It's much better now. There are still some spots along the edge that need touching up. There's just no way to tape a completely straight line.
So in this fourth-room-painting process here's what I have learned:
1. Walls really soak up paint; primer anyone?
2. No matter what your fiance' says, always spend the extra cash on painters tape.
3. Masking tape will pull paint (original paint) off the wall.
4. It's not wise to stand on a stool on top of canvas on top of plastic on top of a wood floor; it's kinda slippery.
5. Always wash your painting tools before the paint drys; it's much, much easier.
6. Drywall hangers purposely put curves in walls (that are supposed to be straight) just to piss me off!
Now go forth, and paint!
Posted by Olivia at 11:37 PM | Comments (0)
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September 17, 2003Pre-Hurricane Isabel
Hard to believe that we're only a day or so away from being in the middle of a hurricane. The weather the past two days has been absolutely beautiful.
After experiencing Hugo, a class 4 hurricane, in 1989, I just can't get too worried about Isabel, a class 2. I am glad I'm not on the coast right now though.
But maybe we're closer to the coast than I think. Hmm...
Posted by Olivia at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
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September 17, 2003College will be closed!
From: Gary Rhodes
Subject: UPDATE ON CLOSING OF COLLEGE AND STATE OFFICES
Received: Wed 9/17/2003 2:25 PM
Faculty and Staff:
Due to the unpredictability of Hurricane Isabel tomorrow, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College will be closed on Thursday. As we have more information tomorrow about the direction and intensity of the storm, an announcement will be made via the usual media outlets regarding Friday, September 19.
That means that none of the campuses will be open. Also, please remember to shut off your computer before leaving today due to possible electrical problems which could damage the computer.
Please travel safely.
Gary
Posted by Olivia at 2:29 PM | Comments (0)
Find me in: Weather Words , Working Girl Blues
September 21, 2003What to do with no electricity?
Thursday
Thursday morning began early for Jeff, having to be at work at 7 to cover up computers. By the time he was heading in The Agency had already decided to close for the day, but unfortunately he still had to go in. The good thing is that he was back home after about two hours.
We started our day as a normal weekend would have been. I did some cleaning and whatever I could that I knew would require electricity. It's a good thing because the power went out about 2pm.
After watching the trees bending in the wind for a while we both decided to make use of the daylight hours and work on our respective photo albums. Fortunately I had purchased some batteries so we could listen to the simulcast of TV 6's coverage; it helped keep us in touch with the rest of the area.
During the middle of the storm we discovered that the transom windows in our dining room are extremely leaky. Definitely something to mention in our year inspection coming up soon. Since there was nothing we could do about it then we laid down some towels and ate icre cream. :) By nightfall we were running out of things to do so we played some Scrabble by candle light. I think we ended up in bed around midnight just because there was nothing else to do.
Friday
Our early betime made for an early rising Friday; we were up by 8:30. By 10 we were out on the road, checking the damage nearby. It was a beautiful day; hard to believe a hurricane had just come through. Compared to Hugo, damage was fairly light (tell that to the people with trees on the car & house, I know).
The 2 gas stations on Broad that were open had lines down the street. McDonalds, the only food place was also packed. As early as we were out I believe none of the lights were fucntioning yet. At least the bigger intersection had police officers out there directing traffic.
We ended up out and about twice that day because we were so bored. We found a power line across Mountain Road; people were just driving over it so we did the same. Scary.
Eventually we came home and did some projects around the house. I fixed the splatters and bleeds from the prange wall, we raised our dining room light and sanded and refinished the banister. The contractors who put it in hadn't done much work on it so the whole railing was still very rough. But it's better now. :)
About 5pm our power came back on. After showering I had to clean out the fridge. Despite our shopping trip the previous Monday we didn't have a whole lot that needed to be tossed.
Chris & Branda came over later to use the shower (and to visit of course). Branda had electricity but neither had water. We conned (or guilted) them into playing a game of Scrabble with us.
Here are the pictures I took this weekend.
Saturday
Saturday we worked on a project that was long overdue. We finished up our patio by adding a walkway from the edge of the patio to the storage shed. Jeff worked really hard to get it as level as possible since that part of the yard has a pretty steep slope. I think he did an excellent job. It's nice to finally have that complete.
After cleaning up we visited the wonderful establishment of Quizno's, on Broad. On the way to surveyed the remains of the Shoney's that burned to the ground (almost) because there was no water to the fire hydrants. I'm really surprised that pump stations don't have generators; I would think that would be an important thing to have.
Mike & Lauren's was our next stop. We played with their new cats and hung out with them and Chris for a while. Hard to believe we just had a hurricane come through.
Sunday
Today has been spent paying bills, washing clothes, cleaning house and watching the race. And I think that's about all we're going to be doing.
Posted by Olivia at 4:05 PM | Comments (2)
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September 23, 2003A crazy week for all
Sunday afternoon I found out the college would be closed on Monday. I'm still not really sure why. I guess with the water and lack of electricity for many people, oh and that the county schools are still out, Dr Rhodes didn't feel we needed to be here. So I spent a lazy morning watching TV and catching up on my online reading.
I met up with Jeff and a couple of his coworkers for lunch downtown. We dined at the much-hyped Cafe Ole. The food was pretty good; burritos were absolutely huge, I could only eat half of mine. Maybe next time I'll try the tacos.
After lunch I headed up to Virginia Center to run some errands. After 6 stores and only 1 item to show for it, I decided to head home. And then I remembered I was supposed to go to Ukrops. So instead of turning around I went to Food Lion on Staples Mill. They were completely out of half-gallon milk. I didn't want to wait in line without having everything we needed so I went to Short Pump, hitting up 2 more stores before Ukrops. They had a better selection, but no 1% milk. And the lines were terrible. By then it was 5pm, I was getting a headache, and knew traffic was only going to get worse. So I went home.
So overall I accomplished nothing. Chris, still powerless, came over to enjoy some AC and lights. Oh, and we had dinner at Gino's. Mmm...fries. After he left I crashed.
But, much to my dismay, it began raining again. And raining, and raining and raining. With our discovery of the leaky dining room window, I was worried that it would leak again so I got up at 5am to check it out. No water inside thank goodness.
Unfortunately I was awake for at least the next hour. I love having the skylights, but man is it loud when it rains. I guess I got a little sleep because I woke up when my alarm went off. And as I was in the shower the power cut off. And this was after the storm. It wasn't even raining anymore! *sigh* I guess I can't complain too much, at least we've had it for a few days.
So here am I, at work, with nothing to do. As soon as the mail comes in (from Thursday to today) I'll probably be a little busy, but for now, nothing. And it's cold. Imagine that!
Posted by Olivia at 10:15 AM | Comments (5)
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September 24, 2003Tornado in Richmond
Turns out we had more than just a rainstorm Monday night. Seems a tornado was "tracked from Nottoway County northeast through Amelia County, northside Richmond, Henrico, Hanover into King William County and then into the Northern Neck Tuesday." (per NBC12.com)
That's pretty scary. I had no idea until last night when Jeff told me. We're so lucky it didn't head more north than it did.
Posted by Olivia at 9:43 AM | Comments (0)
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September 26, 2003Must See TV Thursday!!
It's baaaaack!! Jeff and I spent last night glued to the TV. The traditional Thursday night shows made their debut last night: Friends, Survivor, CSI and ER. I don't know how we're going to manage it all once OC starts up on Thursdays. Damn the networks for competing with each other!
Haven't really done a whole lot this week. Wednesday the college officially closed at 1 for the President's inaguration that started at 2 downtown. A couple of us hung around the office until 2 then went our own ways. I headed to Short Pump for a little wedding gift shopping. With 3 weddings coming up, that was a lot of shopping. :)
I also made a stop by Memories Galore, the scrapbook store. It's always fun to buy new things. Now if I'd only work on my scrapbooks!
Jeff and I got the outside of the dining room window caulked before meeting up with Chris to go to Mike & Lauren's. We ended up eating at Uno (NOT on Jeff's suggestion this time). Good stuff. I tried to steal the kittens, but didn't make it out the door fast enough. :)
And of course last night was TV night. But before resting Jeff hooked up our new cable box (every time the power goes out our box stop functionly properly) and seeded/fertilized the back yard. I got the interior of the dining room window caulked. Hopefully it won't leak again.
Posted by Olivia at 12:02 PM | Comments (1)
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September 30, 2003A year goes by
Jeff mentioned the other day that it had been about a year since we moved into the house. To be exact, it was a year ago today that we closed on it. Amazing; it certainly doesn't feel like it's been that long. Since I have nothing else to say yet, I'll give you all a minute to sit and reminisce. :)
Posted by Olivia at 8:49 PM | Comments (1)
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