Saturday, December 19, 2009
Posted at 11:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I forgot to mention, equally as shocking, I don't know what one of them is. What is it??!?!?!
Here's today's race graph. One new card each!
Also, I am crazy about the word "bolt" right now, ever since we saw a BoltBus on the highway on our way to the Little last night. It just has such a great sound, and so many cool meanings. And there's the whole thing with Avon's bolt hole in "Breakdown," of course. Bolt!
P.S. It's snowing here now.
Wow!!! I can't believe it! Dean wrapped two presents for me, using actual wrapping paper!!! And he did a good job! It doesn't look like a disaster, or anything! I am shocked.
Posted at 9:34:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Posted at 10:57:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I forgot to post yesterday's race graph! But that's okay, because there's no new graph today since we didn't get any cards in today's mail.
I now officially have all my Christmas presents procured! We got the last one tonight at a special shop that's only open from 7:00-8:30 on Thursday and Friday nights, and for a few hours Saturday afternoon. Supersecret, huh? It was very tiny and hidden behind a certain Madman Maniac establishment!
I stopped by the physical therapist connected with NEAC this afternoon and asked him about my arm (NECA members get free consultations!). Apparently pain radiating down your arm from a bulgy neck disc is a serious thing and I shouldn't be ignoring it. Heh. Snagged an appointment at 4:30 at the regular doc to get a referral, and he gave me one, plus ten thousand drug prescriptions (okay, two, really). He loves to dole out those drugs. Not sure how I'll be able to squeeze in any therapy before Christmas, though! Maybe I should just stop driving and using the computer (yeah, right.).
Ha--Dean's going to get the VW guys to replace my scratched-up dash!
Posted at 12:13:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Great annual meeting tonight (albeit very slacky attendance) and some of my cookies even got eaten. We have lots left for ourselves, though!
More observations about the identicalness of the Uncle Dick and Uncle Bob (this is Dean's uncle Bob, not "Uncle Bob" aka Robert) cards: they are both addressed the exact same way ("Mrs & Mrs Dean Petix") (no period at the end of Mrs., and no "Laura") and they both have a return address label with the husband's first and last name, but no "Mr." and no wife's name. And they are both in plain white envelopes that are the exact same shape, although one is slightly larger than the other. Also, they both signed the card the exact same way ("Dick + Elaine" -- no "Uncle" or anything like that.) Too bad Uncle Dick and Uncle Bob will most likely never meet--they'd probably get along like a house on fire! (Hmm, actually, they must've met at our wedding...)
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Hahaha, the outsides of the envelopes from Uncle Dick and Dean's Uncle Bob are almost identical! Same stamp choice, extremely similar handwriting (both are all caps! but the similarity goes way beyond that), and both have American Lung Association "Merry Christmas 2009" Christmas seals on the back flap, with a cute deer wearing clothes (different deer, though). I'm not surprised, since Uncle Dick and Uncle Bob remind me really strongly of one another (except one's Air Force and one's Coast Guard). Still, it's pretty freakish, especially since they both came on the same day!
Posted at 3:42:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Okay, VW dealership guys, I'm glad you fixed/tried to fix my car, but did you really need to scratch the dashboard in multiple places while doing so? Not cool. :-(
Posted at 3:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
In happier news, I got two cards in the mail today and Dean only got one! I'm gaining on him!! Slowly.
It's cold out. 22°. And gusty. But v.v.v. sunny.
What the heck. I'm reading this question on Ask MetaFilter, where a person who doesn't like fish is asking for suggestions of what kind of fish he should try, and people are suggesting scallops, mussels, clam chowder, shrimp, crab cakes, and lobster. None of those things are fish!
Posted at 1:09:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Hehehehehe. The present I just wrapped for my Gs has the most excellent wrapping paper/what's inside correlation ever.
Posted at 12:05:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Here's today's race graph. I'm still doing pretty badly, but I got one card today and it's the BEST CARD EVER!!!! It's a Bob card!!! It looks like the cover of Bob's new Christmas album! :-) And there's a super nice message, from Veronica. As far as I know, she doesn't even know how much I love the album (she sent it because she loves it!), which makes it even better.
Posted at 7:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Mixed up the Savage batter this afternoon, and it's chilling in the refrigerator right now. Baking tonight!
This is so cool: octopuses using coconut shells as tools!
Posted at 12:46:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 1:35:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Also, I wanted to post on ALB, because I want to remember, and I never remember anything I don't post on ALB, that I gave June one of the heirloom vintage clippy mushroom (aka "variety") ornaments! There are six total, and I gave one to Hunter when the Gingers were passing down ornaments to David and me in 2006. So now I have four. I put June's in with her Christmas gifts (in a little former Vosges caramel box) in the bag I brought to N.C., and she opened it today. "I opened it! Horray!! I was secretly hoping I would get one of these ultra cool VARIETIES. It's my first honest ornament on the tree. I've got it up HIGH (away from the dog, and because that seems most appropriate)." Yay! Love LOVE the thought that there's one on David's tree and one on June's. (I think people who might someday pass them on to children should have them, since they are heirlooms, after all.) June's doesn't have a mini companion mushroom, but it has extra-tall brushy greenery and is less chipped than most of them.
Almost forgot: I went to Narcissus Chocolate Cafe again, since I was on that part of the Silas Deane. I got a single dry cappuccino this time, and a dark chocolate truffle. Both were good, although she put cinnamon on my cappuccino (I like to sprinkle chocolate on, instead). But Novaki does that too, and that's totally okay, so I won't complain. I sat at the same table again--the one with the cushiony modern-looking orange suederine chairs.
Posted at 1:09:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Went on lots of missions today, since the final mission was to drop my Beag off at the VW dealership for its overnight service appointment. While I'm trapped at home tomorrow, I'm going to make Savage Cookies! I believe I have all the ingredients. I got organic light brown sugar and organic King Arthur Flour (tribute to Susie) at Whole today, to make sure. Also have organic, Omega 3, running-around-chicken eggs. Fanciest Savage cookies ever. Cheapo Stop & Shop store brand raisins, though! Haha. (I hate raisins that are too plump.) And normal "Grandmother's Molasses," because the recipe specifically calls for that (even though it's actually called "Grandma's Molasses").
Posted at 12:32:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
The Annual Meeting is Thursday, and no one ever volunteers to bring cookies for Cookie Time, so since I always end up having to bring the coffee anyway (Box of Joe from Shrunkin') it's a great op to make Savages with someone to use them on! Of course, everyone will probably think they're weird and scary looking and be afraid to eat them (little do they know, they're the best cookies ever), but at least we'll have cookies, and not store bought ones.
Anyway, all my missions were highly successful and it was really fun walking around with all the Christmas music playing everywhere. I love Christmas music so much! No other times of year have great music all for themselves, like Christmas.
My wonky arm is still bugging me. Actually, it feels not too bad right now [edit: spoke too soon!], but it was really hurting earlier, especially while I was driving. Bulgy discs are bizarro. [I think reaching my arm in a forward position, like while driving or typing, aggravates it, or at least makes it hurt more.]
I mailed all the rest of my Christmas cards today, and a card/small gift for Duke. And I donated to ten thousand (actually three) charities online. Super fun! I love LOVE picking out ones that are significant in different ways, reading about them, putting them on my spreadsheet, deciding. (Hm, kind of appropriate that I'm doing that while my neck disc is acting up.)
I am very very fond of this year, I think. All the seasons have been good! I'm looking forward to Christmas (I was feeling very uninterested in Christmas a month ago!) and I'm really really enjoying music and wrapping and don't feel rushed/stressed at all (even though I still haven't picked out a gift for one important person on my list!). Also it's so nice being in touch with family members on Facebook. I really like that.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Posted at 9:09:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
One word: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!
More (about other stuff) later.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Here's today's updated Christmas Card Race. Cool chart, but aaaaaagh.
Posted at 7:58:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm still not 100% caught up on sleep, and my left arm is really bugging me. I didn't post about it before, but it's been acting wonky since Thursday. My bulgy neck disc is acting up and it makes my arm feel really strange and hurt. No numb fingers this time, at least!
Must finish the rest of my cards tonight, to mail tomorrow! Mmmmmm, maybe I can do some more wrapping, too. Love LOVE. :-) It's weird without Jan and June's gifts here (I gave them to them on Saturday when I saw them at the Umstead--NOT to open yet, but just so I wouldn't have to trust them to the mail.) Anyway, yeah, I know I didn't even post about the secret NC mission yet. This is very anti-linear.
I got Coins of the World chocolate coins at Trader Joe's today (for Christmas stockings)! Very cool, except there are too many US coins. Dean and I sampled some of them just to... ah... make sure they're good. Yeah, that's the ticket. Also, they are all milk chocolate and very sweet. I think the different color coins should be dif. kinds of chocolate. Gold can be milk, copper dark, and silver white. Most of the coins included are gold foil, but, still, there needs to be some dark in there for dark fans! Good job with the foreign coins idea, TJ's, but Needs Improvement.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Posted at 9:17:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
He is still working on it!!! We decided the daily race needs to be depicted as a 3-D Line Chart. It looks like a Tron lightcycle race.
Here's the big version.
!! Dean's making a super-detailed chart to track the Christmas Card Competition in real time, horse race style. This was his idea. I'm suspicious. It includes a line graph with the ups and downs, and cell notes indicating the senders.
Posted at 8:21:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
3.3 on the Hobbs - that's a record! We made it from Raleigh to our hangar in Hartford in almost exactly 3 hours (the .3 part is on the ground time...). Stayed at 9,000 feet up almost the entire way, with a nice tailwind. Max speed 186 kts. In clouds the whole way--could only see the ground a couple of times. Cool flight. Tiiiiiired though. I couldn't sleep last night, so I just got up really early. It was so early, we were the only ones at Herons for breakfast! I had a grilled cheese sandwich that tasted like a fondue sandwich. Gruyère cheese. Yum. And a cream-of-mushroom soup, and a poached egg. All comfort food, and all really good at Herons. Herons is the best! I have some flight pictures to post (I think), when I'm less tired. And more about the trip.
Posted at 1:47:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Snow! It's all streaking by really fast. 34° OAT. I can see more clouds textured below us. It's all white up here.
Posted at 11:52:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
...I can see land below now! I can make out the edge of a beach. Where are we? In VA almost into MD.
184 knots! IMC at 9000. Still 43° OAT. Rain!
Posted at 11:05:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
[184 knots = super-speedy! We had a big tailwind! IMC= Instrument Meteorological Conditions (in other words, we were inside a huge cloud the whole way). OAT = Outside Air Temperature. Warm for that high up! Good, because when you're inside a cloud in winter, you have to watch for icing.]
