Sunny and Mild!

It got up to 71 today! We opened the house, and between jobs, you guessed it, I hung up clothes on the line. So I'm old fashioned. Old fashioned gray haired lady who hangs clothes between doing work on a computer. hahaha

This morning the boss stopped by and dropped off the other three laptops and couple other items I sent home with someone who was driving. I know I have to get off my butt and contact Dell about getting the warranty repairs done. But it's so much more fun to take pictures of my African Violets! Ok, I am sooo busted.

Actually I spent the morning finalizing the shirt order with the uniform company. Six shirts are on back order, two items were missing and two people needed replacement shirts because the ones they got didn't fit right.

Dad was going to cook salmon tonight but decided against it. It was easier to make a pot of chili that could wait on the stove while we handed out candy to trick or treaters. There were a few cute costumes, but several kids were just making the rounds with a plastic grocery bag, no costume, just a mumble instead of a thank you. On the other hand, there were several parents with their children in costume who made sure the little ones were polite and said thank you.

We watched "Fun With Dick and Jane" tonight for the umpteenth time, I mean third time. It's funny no matter how often you see it, only now it is so relevant to what is going on. Tomorrow is going to be another nice day. I can't wait to take our mini trip around southern Indiana!

Home--on Sunday

The equipment-cleaning-laptop-upgrading marathon is over. Actually, I finished on Saturday with an hour to spare before dinner. I had two helpers inventory and clean the ICALs (inventory calculators) and printers. I also had help with check-in and packing. I could never had done it alone. Here are some pictures:

The gift bags stuffed on Thursday night. Two free shirts for everyone, plus other assorted gifts.

Friday, equipment arrives. From my room looking into the equipment area.

In the equipment area with my sleeping room to the right

My view of Little Rock

That's about all I got to see because I had my head stuck in all the equipment. I don't mind because that's my job, it's not a vacation. Every piece of equipment is checked for loose or missing screws, cracks, or broken parts. All the keyboards are cleaned, and all laptops were updated with new software and scanned for problems. I had three new laptops that I issued and five dead ones to bring home.

Dinner on Saturday was good. It was at the Loca Luna, a very trendy, artsy place, rustic, lots of candles, neat atmosphere. I had the salmon with some kind of cranberry glaze. It was nice to relax and talk to people.

After dinner I headed back to the hotel so people could pick up their equipment. Sunday is usually pick-up day but most people pick up on Saturday if their stuff is ready. I was glad because I had to have absolutely everything packed and ready to go for Sunday. Two people loaded up their cars with all the boxes of equipment that needed to be returned. I vacated the room by 9 AM Sunday and those of us flying home caught a shuttle to the airport. The flight was about 2 hours long. I landed in Midway about 12:20 PM, grabbed a bit to eat at "Pegasus on the Fly" in the food court at Midway Airport. (I had a Greek savory pie made of Philo dough, spinach and feta cheese---yummy!!!) and then caught the bus home by 1 PM. It is so nice to be home!! I was so tired I was incoherent, so I took a nap. I think I have recovered. One more picture:

Sunday morning sunrise, Little Rock.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Thursday, the day I'm flying to Little Rock. The only thing left to do is throw a few things in my carry-on bag and go. Oh, and water my plants, tell Dad again how much I'll miss him (I will) and pet and hug all my kitties. I fly out of Midway at 2:50 pm and land at 4:35 pm. I leave Little Rock on Sunday. My flight is at 10:40 am and I arrive at 12:20 pm. I really wish Dad was going with me. I'll have some helpers, though. Well, see you all Sunday!

OH! Dad cleaned the furnace and it seems to be working fine!

3 more days

I asked Dad if he was ready to handle the "family circus" (three cats & a dog) while I'm gone. He said they just sleep. Apparently they only cause trouble when I'm home because they are all competing for my attention.

The furnace has been acting wacky. It started doing this last winter, but only a few times, now it's doing it a lot, so Dad has to fix it. It short cycles and then shuts down. Then it won't come back on until we cut the power to the furnace and then turn the power back on. I suppose that "reboots" it. One morning we got up and it was about 67 in the house. I turn the furnace down to 68 at night. Sorry, I just don't handle it being much colder than that.

Smaller than a bread box, or, Macey Loaf of Bread

Now didn't that make you laugh?

Yummy dinner tonight! Roasting chicken, stuffing, gravy, candied yams, cranberry sauce, green beans, deviled eggs. Lots left over, so guess what's for dinner tomorrow.

Saturday

Nice sunny day today, breeze is a bit cool, though. I went shopping in Munster today. Amazing how you notice the lay of the land after a flood by the mud line on the bushes and houses. And it still smells like sewage along the river.

Anyway, I bought slippers for my trip, and a few small items I needed at Target. Then I went to Jewel and bought No MSG smoked sausage. I hope I can still find that after we move. This stuff is Jewel brand, and I'm pretty sure the Jewel stores are just around Chicagoland. I bought split green peas, too. Have you guessed? Dinner tonight is split green peas and sausage. I add sour kraut and a little diced potato, too. Yummy comfort food.

Last night I forgot to mention the movie we watched was Rescue Dawn, a true story. It was a good movie. We have Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to watch before my trip. Looking forward to that one!

Did I mention I'm still waiting for my AVSA magazine to arrive? I had to call the office and tell them my issue was missing, so they said they will send another. Watch---the past issue and current issue will all arrive at the same time!

A quiet day, except for ouch

Today was quiet, not much work at all. It would have been much nicer if I didn't need to go to the dentist, but it had to be done, and I know I'll feel a lot better after the soreness is out of my jaw.

Tomorrow Dad and I need to pump down the fish tank and do a water change. We have a really big angelfish. I'm not sure how we will catch him when we move because he's as big as my hand! Maybe hook and line. I'm kidding!!! Dad's favorite fish is the "shark". I put quotes because it's not really a shark. My favorites are the Cory Cats and the Mystus Cat. The Mystus Cat only comes out at night but I can see him resting and he has an array of long whiskers. I have a picture somewhere. Here is the angelfish and all but one of the Corys. The three tiny ones are dwarf. That's about as big as they get.

Everything is on the way...

Wednesday was supposed to be the day my boss was stopping by to pick up all the stuff for the Conference, but not everything had arrived, so we changed it to today. Since Staples was flooded last month and won't be open until the end of November, I have to order everything online. I miss just driving over there and browsing through the store. Below is a picture of the flooding that happened September 14, 2008 in Munster, IN. The tall building is the clinic. It was flooded, too. The Staples store is just to the right of the clinic. Target (on the far right) is on higher ground, so only the parking lot was flooded.



Anyway, it felt good to get all those boxes out the door. I didn't take a picture. Maybe I will when they arrive in Little Rock. I did take a picture of the gift bag labels I printed today. I only had 5 sheets of round labels left, and no time to order more, so, having the exact number needed (30), I couldn't make a mistake.

I am not taking these out of the bag for pictures, so please excuse the reflective wrinkles.

The only thing left to do is print name tags and lists of equipment. Piece of cake.

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In other news, winter must be around the corner because I just killed spider # 2 running around my computer. My Dendrobium orchid has it's once-per-year buds. And amazingly all of my violets are continually trying to bloom. That has been going on all summer. I have been picking off the flowers on most of the plants to get them to rest. Tomorrow or Saturday I'm sending that Desert Rose plant to the lady in Florida and some species leaves to a lady in California. These will be her first species :-)

Target--> Wednesday

The orientation went well today, but I'm always glad to get home after driving though all that traffic. The boss called today to let me know he will be here Wednesday night to pick up the things I'm sending with Amy (the employee who is driving the van) to Little Rock. So that means tomorrow I'm setting up all the laptops I have here and getting supplies together. I will probably pack my suitcase. I do not want to check luggage, so...busy busy busy.

The weather is still nice, and the breeze is fresh, so all the windows are open. What a blessing. The guy across the alley is NOT burning wood in his back yard, which had pretty much gone on every night almost all summer. I cannot tolerate wood smoke drifting in the house.

Speaking of things that go on at night, the Dark Sky Association has an exhibit showing how light pollution confuses birds so they sing at night or even loose track of the Northern Star which they use for migration navigation. The poor things end up flying around the skyscrapers until they drop from exhaustion. The exhibit is called "In the Dark" and can be seen at the Nature Museum in Chicago.

The reason a dark sky is so important to me is because I grew up with a sky so dark my father taught me how to find the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye. Observing the Milky Way in all its glory and searching the desert sky with a telescope is a cherished childhood memory. On a moonless night you really could not see your hand in front of your face and the stars seemed close enough to touch. It breaks my heart to look out and see nights that are not even close to being dark. The only stars you can see are the few brightest. Somewhere in Indiana there must be a dark sky!!!!

In any case, the Dark Sky people must be getting the word out because at least one town that I know of near here has installed all downward-shining dark-sky-saving outdoor lighting. Yay for them!! If you are wondering what type of lights these are, they have a shield on top so all light is shining on the ground, where it is needed, not across the street into your neighbor's bedroom, which is ridiculous.

Ok, I'm off my soapbox for now.

Got it done, some of it anyway

Saturday was remove the window air conditioners day, then wash the windows and curtains and replace the screens. The kitties are happy. They have two more windows to look out. It's always nice to be able to open all the windows on a beautiful day, and my windows are clean! Humidity was low, hung clothes on the line and they dried well.

I found a new home for one of my plants. My Desert Rose is going to a lady in Florida! I just don't have the desire to learn how to care for it and make it bloom. I bought it 10 or 12 years ago, maybe more. It was blooming when I bought it, but has never bloomed since. Here is the Desert Rose:


I might have to trim it up a bit to make it fit in a box, and the pot is not going (too heavy). You can see the frost damage on the leaf tips.

I also took a picture of a new plant that was given to me, a Pencil Cactus. It is growing new leaves and shoots so it must be rooted.

Getting sleepy, so I will wrap it up and post tomorrow.

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Sunday---another beautiful day! Sunny, got up to 83 degrees, light breeze, fresh air (at least fresh by this area's standards). I washed some more clothes (trying to catch up while I can still hang out---I like hanging clothes on the line) and mostly just enjoyed the day. Dad studied the map of Indiana and thought about our pending trip. He's thinking of heading down I-65 to Seymour, then over to Bedford and back up. Depending on how we feel we might loop around a bit to visit some other areas, maybe Salem and Paoli. I've been reading and studying but nothing can really tell you much about a town until you visit. We have to choose an area that has a hospital and doctors on my health plan.

I have an orientation tomorrow, so I have been gathering supplies and equipment together for a new employee. Tomorrow I drive to Tinley Park, IL where I'll meet the new employee and show her how to use the equipment and the company website. So, I better wrap this up, it's getting late.

More Work

Today Dad and I went shopping. Dad bought winter clothes and I bought gift bags for the Conference. 30 of them! They probably don't need ALL of them but, hey, one could rip, or the sticker could get goobered up or something. Yes, they all get stickers, front and back. One says Welcome to the Conference and the other has the company logo. Anyway, here are the bags:

This is the first time in Conference history they have been different colors! There were no subdued hues available, so I went bold and wild. Hey, give the job to me, I'll kick it up a notch. The employees will like them. They like color. And you can see I bought matching tissue paper to complete the theme.

Next project---print the labels. Then collect the supplies, make up bags or boxes of items to take, finish setting up laptops...etc, etc. One employee is driving a van. She will stop here and pick up all the stuff and drive it down because I'm flying and I don't even plan to check luggage. Nope---carry-on bag and purse---that's it.

On another note, dad and I were happy to enjoy nice, sunny weather today. I didn't notice any mold in the air so it must be clearing out. Towels hung on the line dried well. I really do enjoy hanging clothes on the line. Really.

Dinner tonight was from the China House. Dinner and a movie---Stargate Continuum

Back to Work

With the Conference coming up in just 2 weeks, I will be pretty busy almost every day. A Dell tech was here today fixing two laptops returned by employees. One simply "died" and the other was abused by a former employee. Thankfully the boss buys the Complete Care package that takes care of neglect and accidents, so the laptops were resurrected successfully.

So, what is a Conference, you may wonder. Once a year the employees gather for a company event, usually in a different location every year, where they attend some meetings and then relax, have fun, go to dinner, etc., while I clean and check all of their laptops. Here is a picture of my usual set up:

The usual---three or more tables set up with check-in sheets, soon to be filled with laptops and printers! Yup---there you have it---they party, I work! But I don't mind. The rest of the year they work hard while I part-time at home :-)

This year the Conference is in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I get to fly! That would be waaay too long a drive. I hope to complete my work in time to join everyone for dinner Saturday night.

It's getting late so that's it for tonight. Plenty more to come later.

First Post

Though I have written now and then over the years on my website, I find myself curiously out of words for beginning my blog. Adding insult to injury is the fact that words finally come to mind once I've turned my computer off!

Well, I may as well begin by sharing my projects. Aside from work, which I won't get into now, dad and I have been looking for an area we might like. We really hope to move next year, and now that I have been accepted into the statewide health insurance, it will definitely be somewhere in Indiana! So there you have it---the title of the blog---"Somewhere in Indiana".

Where in Indiana is the question. I must have hills and rocks! Enough of this flat land! And stars at night, fresh air---am I asking too much? Hopefully after the Conference (work) we will have time to drive around and look.

My other project is getting rid of junk and packing things I absolutely must keep because they are special to me but I don't need to use them, such as photos and keepsakes. I don't think moving is easy at any age, but when you are our age it can only get harder.

So, I ended up writing after all.