Archive for the ‘Ramblings’ Category
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 |
If you remember back a few weeks, I told you that I got a new computer. There were a few hickups, but things are ok now.
When I get a new computer, I like to transfer my software to it, from my old computer. Basically, I just install the software that I have onto the new computer and then delete it from the old one. It usually goes along just fine.
A while back, I installed Quickbooks Pro 2007 on the new computer. The software gave me 30 days to register it. I waited the 30 days (because I kept hitting “remind me later”) and then I registered the software. When I registered it, I was asked for my business phone number and zip code. I remembered when I bought the software, so I plugged in our old phone number and zip code. Then, I said to myself, “I should really update this information, because if I have to do this again, I am never going to remember that old stuff.” The only way I could update the information was to call the company. I did that a few minutes ago.
I got a guy on the phone. He updated the information that I gave him, so they can send me more junk mail. Then, his system produced a new validation code. He gave me the instructions on how to apply the new validation code in the Quickbooks software. Upon doing this, I received an error, saying the validation code was no good. I asked him what to do…the validation code he just gave me was no good. He replied that I could either look online for a solution or sign up for a technical support plan for $75 per year.
I think I may have stuttered for a second because I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. I felt myself getting a little red in the face and explained to him that this was his problem, not mine. I quickly found myself getting nowhere fast with him, so I hung up.
I am not even going to let this get to me. I am going to go about my day with a smile on my face.
Thank you for listening.
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Posted in Business, Ramblings, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, August 15th, 2008 |
In my last post, I said that people need to start writing more. I said that our readers don’t care what we write about, just that we write. I even threatened to take my camera out with me this morning.
Well, guess what. I did just that. Since I had to go to the mailbox this morning to put some outgoing mail in it, I decided to enjoy a little walking tour with the good ol’ camera in hand. I know this feels like a Seinfeld episode (about nothing) but this is what I do.
After I put the mail in the mailbox, I headed back down the driveway. I looked at the ground and noticed all sorts of acorns laying there all spread out. Every day this happens. There is a big Red Oak at the end of the driveway that makes a huge mess. I think the squirrels are $%^& with me. I need to call a tree service to come prune a few trees, this being one of them. I hate having this messy tree for everyone to see. Maybe when it’s getting pruned, I’ll take some before and after shots.
Anyway, when I looked down at the driveway, I noticed some ants running around. I took a bunch of pictures of them, but they were too fast and the pictures came out blurry. They would’ve been really cool because they were close up. While I was down on the driveway, I decided to take a picture of an acorn so you know what I am talking about.
There are hundreds of these things. Every time I mow the lawn, I take out the blower to blow off the driveway. Within a few days, they are back. After taking the picture, I had to get up and run because a car was coming. That’s all they need to see…Gaulard laying down on the driveway taking more pictures.
Last night, I also mentioned that I was taking down some small trees in the woods along the driveway. My goal is to make it a bit lighter in there with some breaks of sun. I have to be careful not to take down too much, because I really like the trees. The last thing I want is full sun. I have already made a dent. I would say I am taking down anything smaller than 6″. Here are some photos of that.
As you can see, there is some filtered sunlight coming through. I probably have about 10-15 more trees to remove.
A few days ago, I discovered a faster and quieter way of doing this. Well, one way is quieter, but not faster. I am using a hand saw for some of them. Basically, I take the tree down and then cut the top leafy part off of it. I drag the stalk up and place it in the pile you see in the last photo. I drag the top of the tree down into the brush pile in the woods. I always need a good brush pile. You would be amazed at how fast a big brush pile collapses over time.
The faster way is to do what I described above, but with a chainsaw. I used to cut the wood into firewood right there, but that was noisy. I will do that all in one shot when I am done taking down the trees.
Here is a beautiful picture of one of the stumps.
Birch tree stump
At the bottom of the driveway, I noticed a new flower growing in the spot I just mulched. It was mixed in with all the others. It just bloomed so I thought that deserved some recognition.
After I took a picture of that flower, I walked across the front lawn to get some shots of a nice pink flower up there. I did that and then I took a shot of the Highbush Cranberry that we have growing. There are a few of these bushes and the berries are getting very red.
Highbush Cranberry
You see how nice that was? It was a big blog post about nothing and I think I got away with it. Well, we’ll see what people write about it to see if I really got away with it.
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Posted in Gardening, Landscaping, Ramblings, Trees & Shrubs | 4 Comments »
Thursday, May 15th, 2008 |
Oh, I’m on a tear this afternoon.
As it so happens, I purchased two new books of stamps this morning. I noticed the price of each stamp increased to 42 cents. I really didn’t take too much notice of the price, because I can never keep up with the seemingly eternal miniscule price increases the postal service keep throwing at us.
This afternoon, I put three letters in the new mailbox to go out. After a while, I walked up to the new (and level) mailbox to retrieve today’s mail. There was a little note from the mail delivery human indicating that postage had gone up to 42 cents. I got a little perturbed.
I walked inside and told Laura about the whole fiasco, from dropping off the letters at the new mailbox to gathering today’s mail from the level mailbox (I am going to get this thing run over…I know). It’s not the price increase that gets to me, it’s the damn one cent stamps that we have to keep using. Here’s what I am saying…make up your #$%& minds. I told Laura they should just raise the damn price to a buck and get it over with. Never raise it again. One cent here, two cents there. Do the geniuses at the USPS really think the public wants to deal with figuring out the price of stamps as their past time?
I know I am making a bigger deal out of this than it really is, and that I could always go buy the “Forever Stamp,” but really…just raise it like ten cents and leave us along for a few years.
Trust me, I am well aware of my shortcomings when it comes to getting excited about things like this. You have to admit though, these little blog posts are kind of funny.
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Posted in Ramblings | 8 Comments »
Saturday, April 19th, 2008 |
I think it’s actually after shave. I don’t shave with a blade, so it doesn’t go on my face. I think cologne and after shave are the same thing anyway. They smell the same.
Well, it’s official. I finished my first bottle of cologne…in my life. I think Laura got this for me a few years ago. I have been working on it every day. Am I the first male on the globe to actually finish a bottle of cologne? I think the tradition is to just keep getting them for birthdays and holidays, but I’m not sure what happens after that.
I fell in love with Aspen a long time ago while in my teenage years. It’s one of those colognes that you can pick up in Rite Aid for a few bucks. It has a nice smell. Now, onto my bottle of Cool Water. Oh, how cool it will be.
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Posted in General, Ramblings | 2 Comments »
Saturday, March 1st, 2008 |
Just in case you haven’t seen it on the news or read it on countless blogs, there is a little problem out there with waste. We are wasting everything we can get our hands on, which, in turn, depletes the earth’s natural resources and fills up landfills. If I thought hard enough, I could probably go down the whole chain of events for you, but I am sure you can figure that out yourself.
Now, I realize we have all gotten stupid credit card offers in the mail. I am pretty sure about 1% of us actually asked for them. If you are anything like me, you feel guilty every time you either shred the offer or just toss the paper in the recycling bin. You do recycle, don’t you? Well, today, I received the mother of all waste…a credit card offer from Capital One WITH BUBBLE WRAP IN THE ENVELOPE!!! Yes, you read correctly. Today, I received a credit card off from Capital One that had bubble wrap in the envelope. For what reason? I have no idea. Maybe to protect the paper. You know what? Just look at the photos so you can see how ridiculous this has gotten…
Is it me? I have seen all kinds of scummy ways these companies try to trick us into thinking these wastes of paper are important. They use manila envelopes, clear envelopes, all different sizes of envelopes, envelopes that scream curse words at you and smack you in the face…but BUBBLE WRAP???
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Posted in Environment, Ramblings | 2 Comments »
Friday, February 29th, 2008 |
Today was another busy day. I spent a good majority of the day organizing things online. I would tell you what they are, but I have this thing about telling people my secrets. Oh well. I will say that I find it simply amazing that I am able to wake up every morning of my life and work on the computer for at least eight hours straight. Mind you, those are the days I have nothing to do. Oh, I just love looking at the clock as it reads 3PM and realizing that I have been sitting here since 7AM.
As I get older, I find myself focusing on my “physical” self more than I used to. I always try to sit up straight in my chair, so I don’t get a bad posture, like I have been warned about when I was a kid. I also recognize that I need exercise these days. When I say need, I mean “need.” I mean, I am in good shape, but as anyone gets older, I think they become more aware of these things. I also feel my eyes going to hell. When I was a kid, I used to pride myself on not wearing glasses. Well, the years of staring at this monitor has taken its toll, I’m afraid. Last year, I bought computer glasses to help take the strain off my eyes. These days, I find myself having to focus a heck of a lot more. I can actually feel my eyes getting tired. People say that you should get up every so often to give your eyes a break. They say that you should look out the window every once in a while so your eyes can focus on something else, other than your computer screen. I do that, but I am just hoping that one day I will make enough money to pay someone to do my work for me as I sit in a chair behind them, telling them what to do.
So, what’s new in life…I guess it’s just day to day stuff. As I work, the cats take their turns using my lap as their bed. I am not working on adding any more websites to my portfolio…well, I had to pop a new one in there, I just couldn’t help myself. This is the year of marketing. I haven’t focused on that portion of the business all that much in the past few years, so it might be something I should do to boost the $$$. I believe I can do a very good job with that in the next ten months.
I also have been making beer, if you haven’t noticed. I think it’s a pretty rewarding thing to do. Paul came over to pick up ten bottles for a party he is having tomorrow. He is going to get back to me with the consensus. I hope he likes them.
Since I have been in college, I have been looking for the perfect place to live. Where we are living now isn’t perfect, by any meaning of the word. As my mother would say, we have decided to hate it. It’s painful to realize that, but it’s true. I have learned that it’s pretty useless looking on the internet for that perfect town. All it takes is one lousy picture of a town to ruin everything. On to the next perfect town with that one lousy picture, and so on. I think the only way I am going to make it is to get an “anchor” house somewhere up north, with another smaller home in the heat for weekends in the Winter. I have also learned that the perfect town may not even exist anymore. Back in the day, there was a quiet little main street somewhere in Indiana that you could walk up and down for the rest of your life. Now, you have to worry about tornadoes and the Wal-Mart they are putting up at the end of the block. You might think I’m kidding, but look around. The most pristine places are very unaffordable. So the quest goes on.
On Monday, Laura and I are making a trip to Washington, CT. We are going to have lunch at the Mayflower Inn. A few years ago, my mother got us a gift certificate for the Inn that we used for a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner. It was one of the nicest places on earth. We were thrilled with the little antique town, but it was kind of dark on our way in. We really want to see it during the day. You would be surprised what the Connecticut hills have to offer, for a price. I’ll let you know how it goes. YouTube certainly needs a video or two of Washington, CT.
It just started snowing. Laura proposed another walk in the snow. Who am I to say no? I have a feeling I will be putting my boots on at midnight again. I do want to say that I am getting a little tired of the snow. Every time I think the driveway will be clear for a few days, it snows. I admit that it keeps things exciting, but enough already. It’s been a snowy Winter. The next week looks warmer with the temperatures above freezing. Also, the sunset is much later now, so that January depression has lifted. Now, the sun is going down close to 6PM. In March, we set the clocks ahead, so that should be fun. I am going to try to really soak up the seasons this Spring, Summer and Fall. I think they are worth it.
Wow, what a post. This might actually be what blogs are for. I guess I have to write some real stuff when I am not busy buying things and writing about them. Hey look…it’s another cat on my lap. I think they are doing laps now. This one is Sexy Boo.
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Posted in Animals, Autumn, Current Events, Family & Friends, Food & Drink, Ramblings, Spring, Summer, Winter | 4 Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2008 |
Laura and I decided to go for one of our nice walks again today. The temperature was in the 40s, so we figured it would be nice to get out of the house. We went out to the driveway and I remembered that I forget my pepper spray for the bear. I usually bring a stick too, but haven’t done that in a while. I ran back into the house and grabbed the pepper spray and we went on our way. Sometimes, I feel like one of those granola types…you know, with the walking sticks and everything. I try not to come off like that.
We made it down to the corner and made a right, towards the river and the little pond we like so much. Usually, we will make it all the way to the end of the road and turn around. I think that makes the walk a full three miles. That’s a pretty good exercise day, with all the hills and everything. We walked a bit further and I decided to take some video, since I brought my video camera. That’s probably why I initially forgot my pepper spray, I was so focused on remembering the video camera. I did take some video and will post it in my next entry.
For some reason, Laura decided to keep walking. I guess she was in the zone. I finished up the video and had to run to catch up to her. When I finally got up there, I told her that the one part on my body that feels the most tired from the run is my shins. Isn’t that weird? We continued on and walked past this house with three barking dogs. Every time we walk by this house, we have to put up with these dogs barking their asses off at us. They are tied up to trees and have no shelter. We can’t figure out why these people own these dogs. All they do is bark and it seems like no one is taking care of them. Perhaps it is the old “protection” thing. You know, the “I have a house that no one in their right mind would rob, but I need three barking dogs anyway” kind of house. They really ruin the whole road. I am sure the neighbors love it. Now, let me tell you, these are not three little poodles, they are three large black lab mixes. They are always trying to get loose to do who knows what. Again, we walked past them up to the pond.
We finally made it to the pond and began our walk back down the road. We made it almost to the driveway of the barking dogs and Laura said, “Do they have another one? I see one in the backyard.” Right at that moment, I heard a “snap.” Then, right when we got to the driveway, I saw this big black dog barreling down the driveway towards us, barking like crazy. My first thought was that he would stop at the edge of the property line and just bark. Well, as it turns out, he ran right towards us, barking and snarling all the way. I was standing in between the dog and Laura and Holly (our dog). This dog tried to get to Holly to apparently kill her. He ran to my left, when I realized this might be a good time to use my pepper spray. I took the pepper spray out of my pocket and sprayed the dog as he was circling around me trying to get to Laura and Holly. I think I only got his side, because he continued to make it around to Holly. Laura kept trying to shield her. She was probably also wondering what the hell I was doing because she had her back to me. The dog got around and bit Holly in the back. I turned around and kicked the dog in the side and sprayed it in the face. Laura was in the process of trying to lift Holly up so she could use her legs to kick. The dog ran back into the driveway all the way to the house. I saw the dog use its paws to try to clear its face of the pepper spray when it decided to come back for another round. He ran back, barking all the way and when he got to the end of the driveway, he stopped and I gave him another spray, which didn’t reach him. He turned around and ran back to the house, when again, he decided to come back for another try. I was still standing there with the pepper spray, so he turned around and stayed there.
Needless to say, we were a little shaken. We walked back to the house and I called the police. They told me they would contact the dog control guy so he could come out. I told them that this dog was nuts so they should really send a cop out too. The dog control guy came over to our house and I gave him the information. Then, he left and went up to the house. He told me this was the second time this week the dog got loose. Then, the cop came to our house and I gave him the information. He then left and went up to the house. When he came back a little while later, he informed me that the owner wasn’t home, but the kids tied the dog up. Later this evening, the dog control guy called me a few times and let me know that this guy was going to get a bunch of tickets. He was getting one for not having shelter for the dogs, for having one of them loose, not having them registered with the town and some other stuff. I told him that I want to see the rabies paperwork and for the guy to apologize to us. I am also going to file a complaint and go to court. Can anyone say, “Jerry Springer?”
I decided that it would be good to continue to walk on our favorite road. I am going to be a little more prepared this time. If we are going to be living here for the next year or so, I am going to buy a few cans of bear spray. The cop told me that’s the good stuff and can shoot up to 30 feet. Here is what I am thinking of. Also, I am going to start carrying my bat. If this ever happens again, I swear I am going to blind the dog and club him to death. I’ll even chase him if need be. I really am not going to put up with this crap any more.
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Posted in Ramblings | 9 Comments »
Friday, January 18th, 2008 |
I have been hearing a LOT of news lately about a recession. I think they (the media) have been talking about this for some time, but yesterday, they really hit hard.
If you didn’t hear about it, the Dow dropped around 300 points yesterday. Actually, the market has been sucking all week. Since yesterday, this is all the news in the news. It is beginning to make me wonder if it is actually the media that is making things worse.
I kind of know the way things work over at Wall Street. After all, I did answer one out of the six questions on my finance final in grad school and managed to pull off a B- in the class. I am not saying I even answered it correctly. That’s not bad. Anyway, the way things are supposed to work is by using plenty of data to make buying and selling decisions. I am sure this actually is the way things work most of the time, but day to day trading is heavily influenced by the media. I mean, perhaps if they didn’t talk about the flames at the bottom of the endless pit of doom so much, there wouldn’t be so many drops in the market. It’s almost like the trading floor is blasting CNN over some loudspeakers. The reason I am saying this is because I happen to listen to CNN all day as I work. I must’ve heard the same story about the impending mess of the economy about fifteen times today. Then of course, our President, George W. Bush, had to come on the gool ol’ television to promote a economic stimulation plan. I ain’t sure what another whoppingly huge $300 rebate check is going to do.
I must confess, when I was listing to our President, George W. Bush, I did agree whole-heartedly that we should cut taxes. I would like a flat tax, just like Mike Huckabee is proposing. I don’t care if these brilliant politicians can’t figure out how it is going to work…they are the ones who got us in the tax mess in the first place. I believe that if we weren’t shelling out 33% of our earnings to pay for wars and $4000 toilet seats, perhaps there would be some sort of restraint. I apologize, I got off track there.
All I am trying to say is that I think television, radio, the internet and everything else out there gets everyone so damn paranoid that they hide like a pearl in a clam’s mouth. Well, that’s not good.
Ok, bye.
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Posted in Current Events, Politics, Ramblings | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 |
I feel like I haven’t been writing all to much lately. I don’t know, sometimes I start writing and writing and writing and sometimes I don’t.
I think it has something to do with all this year-end business stuff. As the years go on, the pressure gets ratcheted up a bit. I even found a gray hair on the left side of my head today. That’s pretty strange, because I think I saw some gold ones in there too. Perhaps I won’t go gray…I’ll go gold. People can look at me and say, “Yes, he’s the man with the gold hair over there.” I guess there is a gold lining to it all. At least I’ll be worth a lot of money.
Also, it’s getting a little colder out again and inside the house is looking all too familiar. Boy, those warm days really woke up the neighborhood. People were outside walking around and everyone seemed to be in a better mood. As I always say, I like Winter up until about half way through January. After that, Spring can come early. The only problem is that I freak out at the first drop of sweat. A few days ago when it was 60 degrees outside, I began to sweat. I didn’t like that. So, the dark days of Winter will last for a few more months.
I wouldn’t mind have a good game of Frisbee though. I love Frisbee.
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Posted in Ramblings, Spring, Winter | No Comments »
Friday, January 11th, 2008 |
The other day, Craig and I decided to meet for breakfast in Newburgh. I thought this was a great idea, because we haven’t seen each other in quite a while. He had to pick up some parts in the area, so it was easy for us both.
I had a pretty uneventful drive to the diner. I took Interstate 84 East and got off the Newburgh exit…right before the bridge. Once I was off the highway and rolling to a stop, I noticed someone standing at the end of the off ramp holding a sign. As I got closer, I realized it was…I am not even sure what to call it. Here, I took a photo…
I think he may have seen me taking a picture of him, but I couldn’t help myself. The sign he was holding read, “Homeless, please help.” Now, if I was a better citizen than I am, I surely would’ve pulled over to give him directions to the diner I was going to. I mean, if he looked to his right, he could’ve seen it. If I was an even better citizen, I would’ve gone to the diner and picked up an employment application and brought it back to him.
This whole thing got me wondering…how should a person respond in a situation like this? The first reaction for a lot of people is to get mad and blame the person for being in the position they are in. I mean, aren’t the rest of us working our butts of trying to make a living? How can we be expected to help someone who is in perfect working order (I mean, he was standing there and got to that spot himself) who we think isn’t trying as hard as us?
You know, when people are young, they are taught all sorts of stuff…one thing we are taught is to help people. If we listened to our parents, we all would’ve pulled over to help this person who saw standing there asking for help. Somewhere, sometime, as we were growing up, we all changed. Not many of us help all that many people anymore. Sure, if we know who you are, we will help, but not so much for strangers. I oftentimes think about what happened to us. Why don’t we help anymore?
One of the big things with me is anger with certain situations. I remember a few years ago, I was reading a newspaper and there was an article about “Habitat For Humanity.” This has always been one of my favorite programs. I did have a little tiff with them a few years ago though. As I was reading the article, I learned that the person these wonderful people built a brand new house for was a local single mother of three. There was a picture of her standing there in the driveway with her three children. Off to the side, was her boyfriend. He was a dirty looking, skinny fellow standing there…smoking a cigarette. Hmmm, that made me think. Mind you, this was after the big increase in the price of cigarettes. I thought about how nice it was that these people now had a nice house to live in. Then, I pictured that skinny little dirty boyfriend sitting in some donated loveseat, smoking a cigarette and maybe drinking a beer. That kind of peeved me because I am not sure if he had any blisters on his hands from helping with the construction of the house.
Perhaps, through the years, we noticed that more and more people who ask for help, do things in their lives that we don’t agree with (and cost money), such as smoking, drinking, drinking soda, eating potato chips, driving gas guzzlers, shopping at Wal-Mart for junk, etc…
I am not sure if I told you this story already. One time, I was in the local Hannaford buying some groceries. As I got in line to check out, I noticed a family in front of me using food stamps. I was thinking about how hard up these people must be to be using food stamps. To be honest, I don’t even know what food stamps are, but I do know you gotta be kind of hard up to use them. I thought I shouldn’t judge them. Then, I noticed what they had on that little conveyor belt. I saw all this name brand stuff. It all looked very appetizing. I looked down in my basket and noticed a bunch of Hannaford brand things. Wait, I did have name brand tofu. I guess that could make up for the name brand “oatmeal cream pies” they were buying on discount. Whatever. They left and I started putting my stuff on the conveyor belt. What I didn’t notice was that the father had left the store a few minutes earlier to pull the car up. I saw a minivan pull up and park in front of the store. I noticed the family walk toward and stop at the minivan. I noticed them put the groceries into the minivan. Then, I noticed that the minivan was only a few years old. I looked out past their late model minivan at my nine year old Honda Accord. I thought to myself, “Hey, the family using food stamps has a nicer car than me.”
I know, I know, I shouldn’t complain. Who am I to judge people who are in need, especially when they smoke and drive nicer cars than me? Well, at least they eat better than me too. Man, I feel myself turning into a conservative. I remember I read somewhere a few years ago, something like this, “If you aren’t a Democrat in your twenties, you are heartless. If you aren’t a Republican in your forties, you are an idiot.” If was something like that.
Well anyway, Craig and I had a nice breakfast. I left and he left. On the way home, I was on the phone with a realtor and Craig called me. I couldn’t pick up, so he left a voicemail. He told me that he saw the bum I was talking about. He said, “Hey, I just passed by your bum…he was drinking a beer.” Enough said.
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Posted in Family & Friends, Ramblings | No Comments »
