Member News

[JoeP]

We are remodelling our kitchen. Lots of the hassles that you would expect - dust, disturbance, takeaways. No running water or drainage in our temporary kitchen (which is in the garage). So far no delays beyond plan. But the animals are disturbed - food bowls not in the usual place, cat flap no longer in existence. And the loan that was supposed to pay for half of it is seriously delayed.

[One for Sorrow]

My dad and stepmom had their baby last night. My half-brother, Daniel Joseph, weighed in at a massive 9 lbs, 10 oz.

I can't wait to meet him.

[isisfrog]

I'm back from Ft. Worth to see A Few Good Men, and I'm blaming the flights for my raging sinus infection. blecch. Took lots of pictures at the botanical garden, and of Lou Dimond Phillips/Jensen Ackles. You can view them here. It's set so you don't need to log on to view. If you want to make graphics or save any of the pics, feel free.

Hey sockpuppet: I'm DEFINITELY waiting until late in the year to visit. 100° for 3 days left me well-wilted. How the HELL do you survive?

[California Tanker]

I have returned to civilisation. Been away from home for three weeks, will be glad to see Household 6 in the next day or two.

Pretty good trip, other than the heat. Tank Table VII kicked my ass, but it's supposed to. Qualified my first ever TTVIII (Which is amazing for someone who's been in tanks as long as I have and even deployed on them) a relatively decent 800 points Q2, which probably won't mean anything to anyone outside an armoured or mechanised unit, but considering the prevailing obstacles I'm quite happy with. What we did do, however, was kick the other company's arse. They sent 14 crews downrange, qualified 9. We sent 11 crews, fewer men, and qualifed all 11 in less time. Good bragging rights. As our reward, we have earned ourselves an all-expenses paid trip to a hot sandy place where alcohol is banned and women are covered up for a month or so. I'm not actually sure that's a good thing.

Bad news is that I never did get a chance to stencil the name onto the tank (Diplomacy in Action), and the worse news is that it's entirely possible that that was the last time I'll ever get to play on a tank. My career seems to be taking me elsewhere. Well, I knew when I signed on to be an officer that I'd only have a couple of years before I had to move on, considering how long I've been on them, I've been lucky.

Good news is that as I've been isolated from civilisation for most of a month, I should have saved a bit of money to make a dent in my credit card balance.

NTM

[Javaman]

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. Things have been a bit hectic as we have been preparing for the arrival of my wife's niece from England. This is the first time a member of her family has visited us since we moved here six years ago. I can't remember if I posted that we bought a boat as well. It is an older one but it runs well and we have finally joined the rest of our street as they all have boats. The last thing we need to do is buy a sticker for the lake. That should happen tomorrow and we will spend a bunch of time tooling around.

Her niece arrived last night and we have quite a few things planned. First on the list is shopping as she brought a nearly empty suitcase. Then there's a party tomorrow night (after boating, of course) and I'm sure the 4th will be packed with events. We might go to Kansas City for the day on Friday... plus the zoo at some point. Also, there is another party planned for Sunday. I don't know what else is going on.

I don't normally like to post personally-identifiable information on the 'net but, as I think I did it before, here's our lake's page: Beaver Lake

Wish me luck!

[Leesifer]

Well, I've been reading and adding the odd post. I'm hugely busy at work at the moment. They're sending me and 13 other people to our Madrid office on Friday. We are rolling out a new system worldwide so, hopefully, I'll get to travel a fair bit in the next year.

The last mention on the project plan is "birthday drinks". Heh! Monday night, we're going for tapas and booze in Madrid. How cool is that?

[curses]

It's official--my husband and I are now proud owners of our own design business! It's kind of scary, but such a huge relief.

Originally Posted by curses

It's official--my husband and I are now proud owners of our own design business! It's kind of scary, but such a huge relief.

[Ymir's blood]

Signed a lease on a house in town. After nine years, my brother and I will be rooming together again. My rent will go up $100 but the savings in gas will get rid of a lot of that. Sharing the utilities should save money as well.

It is going to be so nice not having a half hour commute to and from work.

[Novowels]

I am now utterly and completely debt free.

It should last at least a year!

[Watser?]

I gots new work!
I had a part time job and freelance work to supplement that, but my part time job ends August 1. And now I got work with a translating agency that will prolly be about the same amount of time and pay and no commute (working from home). I applied Monday and already have two assignments (small ones, but still).

[beyelzu]

will have internet again in about 7 days, who misses me?

[Kyuss Apollo]

It's been busy, but good. Most of the construction of what will be known as the "wood stove room" is done for now--waiting for two awning windows from Pella to show up that we had to special order, then we can finish closing it up. Had some rain of biblical proportions this past weekend, and it didn't leak (except for where there are no windows), so we done good. Will post some pictures of the process at some point, haven't had time to look at them though they are downloaded off the camera. So now that's done for now, I went back to work in the vault researching and writing the ol' MA thesis. Still swimming in extra furniture we inherited from my grandmother-in-law's passing, everyone's had their birthday (mine is the last one til next April) and it finally looks like we have found some decent tenants for the rental property down in Charlestown.

So now it's time for the family vacation. My wife is originally from upstate NY, so we go there for a few days each summer to visit her mother's side of the family and go camping. There is a great water park in Old Forge with a campground within walking distance, and Oneida and my wife's family is about an hour from there. The minivan is all packed and gassed up, reservations all set, we're good to go--leaving in oh shit about 3 hours. I'd better go take a nap...

I should be back sometime on Saturday.

[Shake]

Holy cats! I'm going up to Old Forge on Friday! We're staying in the hotel right across from the water park. It's our annual "camping" trip which we do with the wife's friends from HS. We should be in around mid-day on Friday and are staying through Sunday morning.

Too bad I don't have a shirt to wear so you could spot me.

[Clutch Munny]

Small potatoes news-wise, but I was away on vacation for the past month.

Just under two weeks in Alberta (south of Calgary) at a family reunion, and just over two weeks on Vancouver Island at a cabin with the in-laws. None of the wife's family got told to fuck off, so I get the Nobel Patience Prize.

All very relaxing, to be honest, on account of I wasn't at work.

Oh, and I saw a cougar (Puma concolor, that is, not Divorcus voracious) up close in the woods on Vancouver Island. Almost black -- which I've since learned is supposed to be a legend!

[Shake]

Leaving early Friday morning by plane for NYC. We're taking another couple on a kids-free weekend to the City for a Yankees game for his 40th birthday. They've never been to the City, and we've been many times. We bought tickets and had a hotel booked (near the UN) months ago. Just told him last week. He was so surprised, and excited. Also, it looks like the Rocket will start, so that is extra cool.

Still trying to figure out what else we'll do. Possibly a Circle Line tour. Otherwise, nothing is set in stone.

[biochemgirl]

I got promoted today

Job duties include everything I already do but at least I'm now getting paid for it.

Hurray!

[Sock Puppet]

I'm going to California (without an achin' in my heart) tomorrow. My SIL's welding is on Saturday, and my wife and I are the main padrinos (roughly means "godparents," but in the case of a wedding it's obviously a bit different). We're staying at my Mom's place in the East Bay, and I won't have Intarweb access. The Amish will probably adopt computer technology faster than my Mom will, although she does wear (gasp!) buttons on her clothes.

Then, on Tuesday, we're driving to Anaheim to do the Disneyland thing. I haven't bought my kid a Disney DVD in months, so we need to pay tribute to the Imperial Mouse before he sends his minions to break my kneecaps. It's part of the Li'l Puppet's 4th birthday celebration (said birthday was last weekend), and we have a Breakfast With Goofy reserved. She'll have a blast. I'm sure I'll recover in due time.

I won't be back home until the 25th, and the following week I have supervisor indoctrination training for 3-1/2 days. So I'll be pretty scarce around these here parts for a solid 2 weeks, although I'll probably drop in for the odd lame remark as the opportunity arises.

[Watser?]

SIL's welding?

[mickthinks]

I finally got barred from the Galilean Library. Hugo hasn't given me a reason, but I obviously really got to him because he's even blocked my IP from reading the index pages! I can't read David's excellent rebuttal of Dyson linked in his Paging the Lone Ranger topic either.

I think that's a bit silly!

[Dingfod]

I'm on vacation (holiday) from work, have been since last Saturday (one week). I have 8 more days to go (back to work a week after Monday). This is one vacation where I'm not going anywhere because I can't afford to (poor money management skills and a few unexpected bills that cropped up), not even on the motorscooters. I needed the already scheduled time off because I felt tired before it started, I needed to recharge my batteries, so to speak.

Now, after 7 days off, I still feel tired, except now I'm tired and bored. I've been thinking about this for a few days and have decided I need to take a vacation from the internet too, it too bores me. I'll be checking my the weather (hurricanes, etc.), news (for earthquakes, mine collapses, and terraist attacks), and my emails several times a day (in the [unlikely] event anyone wants to contact me), but I'm not going to be a presence on or any other message board for the rest of my vacation, which means the rest of today and the 8 days after at a minimum. I'll see how I feel about it then.

TTFN
Dingfodius Minimus

[ceptimus]

I'm off on a business trip to the Czech Republic on Sunday. I should be back by Thursday evening. I may or may not be checking in at depending on what sort of internet connection is available at my hotel(s) there.

[Crumb]

Enjoy your trip, cep!

I have a weeks vacation next week, but since we didn't plan ahead we have to keep it pretty local. So we are taking an Oregon coast tour and we are both going to get to see some things we haven't seen in awhile or at all. Then down south we are going to swing inland and catch the Oregon caves and Crater Lake. I've never been to the Oregon caves and I haven't been to Crater Lake since I was 6 and we did the family road trip to California.

It should be fun. I will return with pictures, but if my track record is any indication, none will be shared for at least a decade after our return.

[Shake]

I'm back. Now I need some time off to recover.