Saturday, February 27, 2010

Quick little bits

Not enough for any lengthy prose, but here are some recent musings:

It snowed here last Saturday night/into Sunday morning. Only an inch and a half, not enough to be troublesome or impair normal life. Just enough, though, for little Geoana and one of her friends to go sledding at the park.

While I was standing around and being the responsible adult I looked at the bare trees, the gray sky, the white ground and thought to myself: "Just a few more weeks and things will start greening up and warming up."

Come, spring. Come.

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Still haven't found my camera. If it really has disappeared from the face of the earth no real big deal. Its vintage is nearly ten years told which is downright ancient for a digital device. I don't have any irreplaceable pictures on its memory card right now and Geogal has a newer Canon she would gladly let me use. Only problem is I would have to peruse the manual as its menu system is not exactly user-friendly.

Where is that dadgum camera?

And while I'm on the subject, where's my thumb drive?

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Regular readers of this blog already know I don't watch or follow "American Idol." I used to enjoy it until, yes, Sanjaya. For me that was the "jump the shark" moment. Geogal still watches it when she can and I recently noticed that Ellen DeGeneres is now a judge.

One question: Why?

Simon, Randy, Paula (gone but not forgotten), and Kara all have music industry credentials. Ellen? She's a comedian.

Patti LaBelle seems to agree.

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Speaking of television it probably won't be long before Geogal and I set up a home network allowing streaming video to be watched on the regular TV. We're watching the regular stuff less and less and Hulu seems to be the most popular channel in the house.

Geogal watches "General Hospital." I watch "Emergency!" and "Adam 12."

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

A crash course in moving to the heartland

I read this story but just cannot sympathize with the Florida folks.

Here's a tip: Don't come to a town like that wearing gold chains, a Rolex, and driving a Lexus.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Love Day, Everyone!

Today's title comes from the Simpsons episode "Trash of the Titans," which begins with Madison Avenue discussing the lack of celebratory day between the Fourth of July and Labor Day (if I remember correctly). The team is charged with creating a new celebration to justify card sales and gift giving and the last words given by the head honcho are: "Something called 'Love Day,' only more commercial." Cut to Marge proclaiming to the rest of the Simpson brood: "Happy Love Day, everyone!"

It started Friday with several coworkers, colleagues, and cohorts receiving floral-involved items from significant others. Culminates today (natch) and the Geohouse is no different. I gave Geogal a nice spa/aquamassage certificate but I was quite surprised with my gifts. Plural.

One was an aluminum laptop stand for the MacBook. No surprise here. I saw the confirmation e-mail in the account before Geogal had a chance to move it. Finally I have sweet revenge for her advance knowledge of Christmas gifts many years ago when she looked in the checkbook and saw the carbons from my purchases. (This was so many years ago, we didn't even have a debit card at the time.)

But the other was a total shock: new iPod nano. I have a first-generation one, one gig. The new one is 8 gigs. Finally I can have the entire ninth symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven on my personal player and still have room for the rest of my library as well. This Nano also shoots video (similar to a Flip, I suppose), has an FM tuner (I won't be using it) and plays video, something that didn't appear until later models. I'm having fun with the new toy.
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Did some out-of-town shopping yesterday. Visited Cabela's, finally figured out what to give little Geoana for a future birthday or Christmas gift: A Remington pump-action 20 gauge. Perfect for the gals. I'm not sure how soon she'll receive it, though. I can't fathom my young child having a better firearm then I do.
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Windy today, a cold bitter wind. At least Mother Nature redeemed this day by giving us bright sunshine with nary a cloud in the sky. Mostly staying indoors today, a pot of green chile is simmering on the stove. Overall, not a bad day.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

February funk

Football season is over. In my previous entry I mused over some Vikings QB and his future in the league. My guess is that he will return but it's even odds as to whether he will have a 2008 Jets season or a 2009 Vikings-type performance. I predict the former so feel free to post nasty comments here come December if I'm wrong.

Hunting season is over. I went out a few times but never got a pheasant. No matter, I enjoyed every minute of it and only regret I didn't get out more. Still, as Chicago Cubs fans say, just wait till next season! (And there is spring turkey season still ahead, shotgun can be used from April 14 through May 31. Maybe I'll take little Geoana and let her use the turkey call she got for Christmas.)

Six more weeks of winter? I wish. Cold times seem to last a bit longer up here on the prairie. Shoot, come April there will still be days that give us the shivers.

Went to Colorado a couple of weeks ago (work-related). Geogal and little Geoana did the fun touristy stuff while I sat inside a hotel ballroom listening to presenters drone on. Actually my professional-related activities were not too terribly boring but given my penchant for the outdoors it just seemed a sin to be in a windowless room.

Long day at work today. Two colleagues gone which means more work for those of us on the team. While the day goes much quicker if one is busy the fatigue factor come sundown is much more intense. So much so that when I got home I ditched the idea of cooking and persuaded the family to go to "be bad" and go to a local eatery.

It didn't take much persuasion.