Author Archives: Alison

May24

Save Time and Money on the Internet!!!

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Save Time and Money on the Internet!!!

What a load of crap. Today has started with a great amount of suckiness as it is. At 11:48 last night, I gave up and took a sleeping pill. At 4:08AM, I woke up. That’s it. I tried for over an hour to go back to sleep, but that hour is too late to take another sleeping pill. I probably should have taken about 5 or 6 advil, though, because my hip hurts so much that it’s radiating all the way down the front of my thigh and into my knee, and my sciatic nerve is sending pain down the back of the same leg, and if I tilt my hips too far forward or back, the pain shoots upward. It’s a good thing my parents won’t notice or complain about the condition of the house on Thursday, because it’s not going to be immaculate by any stretch of the imagination.

So, anyway, back to the internet. Because I feel so supremely hideous, I’m dreading the idea of being in the car looking around for a pond vacuum, and figure that I’ll check the internet. First, I find a bunch of unrelated sites, but after a while, I land in a discussion forum with brand names and reviews, so I start searching for specific pond vacs. Based on what I found, there are approximately 300 ponds in the UK for every one in the US. Either that, or people in the UK keep theirs cleaner, because nobody in the US sold anything but the $500 ones, or the ones that were universally derided on the discussion forums. So, daughter suggests I search google by language – yes, we’re both writing in English, but the language search specifies country. Or, maybe not. Now my search comes back with a whole different bunch of pond supply places in the UK. Grrr. Well, fine, I have brand names, let’s check eBay. Voila, someone’s selling last year’s model for $60. I don’t know hubby’s account information, so I start a new one for myself. Or try to. I’m supposed to enter the confirmation number from the email they send me. Check email in a separate window. Nothing. Refresh. Nothing. Search spam and trash. Nothing. WTF am I supposed to do with this registration window now? Can’t get the account, can’t get the item, and now I’ve spent over an hour trying to save myself a 45 minute round trip to the pond place – which I still have to make, because nobody has the item I want, and which might be a waste, because the pond place might have only the $500 model. In fact, I could decide to make some phone calls and check around the area to see if any of the other pond, pool, or spa places have anything but the $500 model and the piece o’ crap one, and maybe spend another hour on the phone trying to save myself 45 minutes of driving. Or I could just say the heck with it and hope it forces the fish to just toughen up and deal with it.

First, I’m going to take a huge number of Advil. Then I’m going to call my neighbor’s chiropractor. Depending on when he can see me, I’ll either head out and pick up the xrays from the useless chiropractor on the way, or pop a sleeping pill and get some sleep before I go. And maybe use the internet for what it was intended for – looking at stupid videos and reading jokes. (No, I’ll let someone else search for the porn, even though that’s what it’s for, too. Heh)

May22

Ugh.

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Ugh.

So tired. . .so much still to do.

Drove up to north NJ on Saturday, a friend was in visiting from out of state and dropped in on Gayle and Barry, so it was a nice opportunity to see all of them at once, and pop in a couple of favorite shopping haunts at the same time. We had a delightful time, but long drives at night are not as comfortable for me as they used to be. Partly from eyesight changes, partly from lack of practice, I suppose. When I got back, I was really beat.

Next day, it’s northwest NJ for a baby shower! It took two and a half hours to get there, partly for coffee and potty stops, partly because google maps can really suck sometimes. It put me onto the highway west of where I needed to be and then told me to go. . .west. Thank goodness for cell phones. Only two hours drive to get home. Again, a lovely time, but two of these trips in two days wiped me out. I don’t know how hubby handles the commute three days a week. He didn’t say so, but I betcha he thinks I was really a wuss about the travel this weekend. . .

So, driving stories. On the way up on Saturday, some chick (and this suprises me, because it’s something older drivers tend to do, not younger ones) pulls onto the Parkway and goes straight from the onramp into the center lane. Well, she didn’t check to see if there was anyone in the center lane, like, say, me. I’m tooling along at about 70 and she pops right in front of me without looking or signalling, going 40. I slam on the brakes, but I can’t pass her, because traffic going both to the left and to the right is zipping along about 30-40 miles faster than she’s going. So I’m on her tail because she didn’t give me any room before cutting me off, other drivers are piled up on my tail because she’s going so slow, and it takes a while to put a safe distance between you and someone who cuts you off like that. . .so as I’m trying to look for an opportunity to get around her (she still hasn’t quite hit 55 yet, even) She’s gesticulating wildly, and, ignorant of the fact that she’s the problem here, is probably thinking I’m some sort of rude and aggressive driver. She’s still spitting and cussing as I pass, and as I see her retreating in the rear view mirror, she’s still at it. I’m not sure if I’m still the target of her ire, or if she’s redirected it to one of the other half dozen or so drivers still on her tail unable to pass because traffic’s so much faster than she is on both sides.

On Sunday, I stopped at a rest area to get a coffee. I let it sit in the cupholder for awhile, because it’s always too hot. Apparently, I didn’t wait long enough. I picked up the cup, and the pressure of my grip, or the position, or something, caused the top to pop off, and coffee flew everywhere. Owowowow. Good thing I have ADD. . .you tend to focus against things, and the hot coffee made me concentrate even harder on staying in my lane and keeping a good distance. Unfortunately, it made it harder to find the cupholder, because I was trying to do it without looking, so more spilled on my hand. Gonna have to remember to get shorter cups at Starbucks next time, I think.

On the way home, I got a couple of laughs. A guy in an SUV passed me, and I saw that in the filth on the back windshield, he’d written with his finger “I wish my girlfriend was this dirty”. Had to tell hubby this one. Waiting in front of me at a light close to home, there was a car that had a giant graphic in the rear window of a giant sperm with sunglasses, and in all caps, it said “Screamin’ Semen”. If that wasn’t ridiculous enough, the car was an old Ford Escort wagon. It looked like the kid’s mother’s car. I bet she wasn’t happy that he put that big sticker on her car. And from the looks of the driver, I’d say that the sticker wasn’t going to help him get chicks too much, either. “Yeah, I’m poorly dressed and groomed and I’m driving my mom’s escort station wagon, but check out my giant sperm!”

Back home, in another case of laughing at the expense of others, hubby told me that he had refrained, somehow, from commenting on the blog of someone we used to be friends with. She was complaining that she had helped a friend with her computer, and now that friend owed her big-time, and she was going to insist that she help clean her apartment. This same person used to show up on our doorstep for what was purportedly a social visit, laptop and printouts in hand, monopolizing hubby’s time with computer questions. She made him potato chips a couple of times. Hubby is such a lovely, patient person. Maybe he’ll comment today or tomorrow. Heh.

May18

I Hope This is Right

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I Hope This is Right

Yesterday, after spending 2 1/2 hours moving woodchips from a giant pile in the driveway into the plant beds, I thought for sure I’d sleep like a rock. No such luck. As soon as I laid down, the pulse started pounding in my neck and head, and moments after I’d drift off, I’d startle awake, and the pounding heartbeat was super fast, to boot. The day has been pretty sucky because of it, and I went onto the internet trying to get some ideas. My thyroid’s OK, maybe potassium needed a boost, so I took some of those. Later on, it occurred to me that – wait a second – potassium isn’t the only supplement I’ve been missing. The Cipro I’m taking for the ear infection says not to take vitamins within 6 hours of the antibiotic, so I haven’t been taking anything – including the B complex I take because I don’t eat meat. So I took one halfway between cipro doses and we’ll see what happens. Until it kicks in, well, my head and neck will feel like they’re about to explode and there’s not much to do about it.