Wacky Weather

Keep in mind the following facts:

1) Today is March 28

2) Spring started 8 days ago

3) We live in Texas

And yet, this was our yard at 8 AM:


Then, this was our yard at 10 AM:
I realized this is nothing compared to what our friends & family in Colorado & Kansas experienced, I just think it's funny that it's still snowing in Texas in March.

A New Laptop!

I'm writing from my new Sony Vaio laptop. Why do I suddenly have a new laptop, you ask? Well, here's what happened:

I've been gone for over a week on a work trip, so this morning I started work as usual. My computer was running a little slowly, but that's nothing new. I worked on paperwork from the trip for most of the morning, plus helped out a couple of clients.

Around 12:45, I took my lunch break and watched TV for a bit.

Around 1:45, I headed back into my office. My computer was "asleep" so I shook the mouse to wake it up. It didn't, so I tried to reset the mouse. The computer still didn't wake up. So, I hit the spacebar a couple of times. It still didn't wake up.

So, I called Rick in. He asked me if I was working on anything that wasn't saved. I did have a Word document open, but I hadn't done much with it, and I figured I could remember what I had down so far. So, we decided to reboot the computer.

When it came back up, I had a black screen with some message about hard drive failure. We tried a few things and couldn't get it to come back.

Since I can't work without my computer, we headed out to shop for a new one. After hitting Circuit City, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart and Best Buy, we found a great deal at Office Depot.

I'm now the proud owner of a Sony Vaio laptop. And, it's pink.

Honestly, I didn't get it because it was pink. That's just an added bonus. When I called my office to check and see if the tech guys thought it was a good deal, and a good computer, they promised not to make fun of me for having a pink laptop, at least not to my face!

Of course, the bad part about the crash is all the stuff I may have lost. Fortunately, I recently saved most of our photos to CD's in a effort to free up some space on the old computer. I know the ones from our trip in October were still on there, but Rick has those on his computer, so we can transfer them. Our Thanksgiving, Christmas and Disney photos are still on our memory card, so I can download them again. (M.K. - I'll need to get your Disney photos from you again!) There's a ton of work stuff on the old hard drive, though, so we're going to try to see if we can find someone to get the info off it. But, I don't have much hope.

How to Post Comments

A couple people have asked me about how to post a comment on the blog. Since I write software instructions for a living, I thought I'd type up a quick "How to."


To start a comment, just click where it says "Comment" under the post. Depending on if other people have commented, it might say "0 Comments" or "1 Comment," etc.

That will open the comment screen. Type your comment in the box.

Under that, you have to type the letters you see in the word verification box.


Then, you choose how to "sign" your comment.

Google/Blogger - you can use this one if you have an account with Google or Blogger. If you do, you're more than likely already signed in to it and so that will be the default choice.

Open ID - you can use this one if you have an account with Live Journal, Type Pad, Word Press or AIM. Choose the account type & you'll be prompted to enter your ID.

Name/URL - you can use this one if you don't have one of the other accounts, but you still want your name to show up. A field will open to enter your name and an optional website address.

Anonymous - you can use this one if you don't want me or anyone else to know who wrote the comment.

Finally, just click the "Publish Your Comment" button. I'll get an e-mail saying I have a comment to review and then I'll choose to post it or not. I haven't received an un-publishable comment so far, but I just like having the option to review things before they're out there for pretty much everyone I know to read!

So, comment away!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

I guess Alec has officially converted me into a Kansas fan (at least a part-time one. I will not forsake the Deacons!) I was cheering just as loudly as he was. Good thing our living room is on the opposite end of the duplex from the wall we share with the neighbors. I'm sure we would have disturbed them otherwise. Alec actually yelled a bit too much. He sounds a little hoarse. Hopefully he'll recover before his show in the morning.

The Trouble with Tivo

We've had our Tivo for almost 2 years now, and we love it to pieces. Alec was just raving this afternoon because he was able to watch two races (Nascar and something else) at the same time by pausing one channel, then flipping over to the other to watch for a bit, then pausing and flipping back. Then tonight, we went to the grocery store without missing John Adams on HBO. Even though it wasn't over when we got back, we started from the beginning while Tivo recorded the end (try that with a VCR!). Tivo is basically the best-loved piece of electronic equipment in our house.

But here's the trouble with it - we watch most live sporting events a few minutes behind the actual "live" broadcast. This is so we can fast forward through the commercials. However, people like to call us at pivotal moments in key games to see what we think. And then if we don't answer the phone, sometimes they just call back, until we pick up and explain that we're a little behind.

So, here's a preemptive announcement on the eve of the big Kansas/Memphis game. We will more than likely be watching on Tivo. We will more than likely be anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes behind what's happening live. So, don't call us, we'll call you!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Celebrity Look-Alikes

We were discussing on the Nest today what celebrities people tell us we look like. Someone posted this cool site where you can upload a picture and it tells you what celebs you look like. Hugh Grant? Seriously?

I'm a "Dedicated Billy Joel Fan" . . . or a "Geek"

. . . it depends on who you ask. My cousin K. just posted this on her blog and of course I had to take the quiz, too. Her post title was "Yes, I'm a Geek." But, I prefer "dedicated Billy Joel fan."

We Didn't Start the Fire Quiz Score: 100% (10 out of 10)