Uncategorized

Um, I’m gonna need me a baby owl. Especially one that hunts imaginary prey.

And now, for something to comment about: Three childhood Halloween costumes, in no particular order. I’ll go first:

* Darth Vader (borrowed helmet from brother)
* Jawa (I was supposed to have glowing eyes, but technology hadn’t caught up yet)
* A clown? (Huh, it’s hard for me to come up with three. Drat my terrible memory.)

Surprise! We’re getting new windows!

Wait – you already knew. Well, the surprise is actually on me because I thought they were going to be installed in early November, and on Friday Lloyd said, “Um, did you know they are going to start installing on Monday?”

No. No, I did not.

So, off and on this weekend there have been frenzied cleaning spells and window work. They need to be able to get to the windows (hence the cleaning) and they need all the window treatments removed. I had started to take some photos in case I decided to make a window movie at some point.

I was moving those stupid plants from the living room and putting them in the bathtub. (Really – where else are they going to go? This is a little house and nearly every wall has a window along it.) I picked up the most heavy one and started to back up, but it was caught on the curtain. I tried my ninja moves (backing up more and slightly wiggling the pot), but it was still caught, and this thing was heavy. I called to Lloyd, who was on the computer. (I guess that’s not necessary to add, is it?)

Lauren: I need some help.

Lloyd: type type

Lauren: I need some help, please.

Lloyd: type type

Lauren (now nearly dropping the plant): I need some help quickly!

Lloyd: Oh!

He jumped up and came in to save me. He analyzed the problem and said, “Um, the leaves are growing through the curtain. How long has this plant been here?”

Suddenly I found enough strength to hold on a little longer and said, “Get a photo!” (I could hold a car up if it would mean I’d have a post for the day.)

The leaves were strangely sticky, so it took a while to get everything fixed. (Brad, why would that be?) Needless to say, those curtains are in the washer now.

So children, the moral of this story is that plants are evil and will eat your curtains.

Oh, and robots are cool.

The end.

The scene: Monday, October 4th, 5:45 a.m. Lauren Sommerer hunches over her keyboard, wet hair dripping into her cereal bowl as she sleepily eats and visits Brad’s site. After commenting (First!), she clicks on woot.com and reads ‘Panasonic Lumix’…. and adrenaline kicks into overdrive.

click. BUY.

Then she reads that this is not the Panasonic Lumix that Brent owns that she covets. Stupid, stupid Lauren. See, woot only sells one thing a day and they have a limited number of said one things and they start selling at midnight. So I thought “Iron is hot. Strike!”

I don’t know if I regret it. It was cheap, and it’s the earlier version of Brent’s, and it is shiny red. So far I’ve only taken messy pictures of my countertops in my dark house, and I’ve decided that without flash it’s better than the broken one, with the flash it is worse.

Here are shots of each with no flash:

I might actually read the manual and learn more about it. It has a touch screen and several features, but so far it has two strikes against it: It takes two steps to turn on the macro, and also two steps to turn off the flash. (So is that two strikes or the same strike twice?)

I’ve been talking too much about cameras lately, and I know that it’s getting boring. Instead, tell me something that bothers you about Lloyd – or anyone else, if Lloyd hasn’t bothered you lately. For instance, in the time it took me to write this post, Lloyd has written five brilliant back-up posts. Grrrrr…..

At the auction on Saturday they had several kinds of microscope, and I mentioned in passing to Lloyd that I wouldn’t mind having one for my home laboratory use classroom. I needed one with very few bells and whistles, and that would be pretty much indestructible. I pointed out a whole table chock full of microscopes that looked like they were as sturdy as horseshoes for a plow team. “Some of those, if they go cheap.”

Turns out I had him bid on the Brock Magiscope, an practically indestructible classroom microscope. This thing is amazing! It has a Lumarod – a bent acrylic tube that funnels light. No need for bulbs, batteries or plug-in power – just light! It’s built like a tank, and has only one moving part – the eyepiece goes up and down, that’s it. Plus, the lens is safely shrouded by a collar on the bottom so it’s practically impossible to break.

I was writing this post and decided to link to their website, and I found out these things sell for over a hundred dollars new! (It’s worth reading the story of the inventor, if you have time.) I’m so happy we bought three – one for the school agers, one for the preschoolers….. and yes, one for home.

Preschoolers, we are gonna have some fun.

I’ve felt crummy all weekend and I blame it partly on Friday night. Indigestion combined with bad allergy medicine is not a good combination. After dinner I popped up some of that Boy Scout popcorn – which is INCREDIBLE, by the way. Find your nearest Boy Scout and buy some from him IMMEDIATELY. Not that microwave stuff, but the basic kernels. They pop up so fluffy and huge you’ll think you’re eating crunchy sheep.

I ate the whole bowl and then said to Lloyd, “I’m going to make some more. Do you want some? Say ‘no’.” (That last part is whispered. It’s my Jedi mind trick so I don’t have to share.)

It was well after 7 p.m. by this point, but I didn’t care.
I made it.
I ate it.
Regret set in halfway through but it was like a train wreck – unstoppable due to inertia. The human stomach is not meant to consume two giant bowls of popcorn after supper.

Bleh. I should have shared.

What are you doing today?