Ya know, sometimes it just doesn't pay to examine things too closely. For example, let's discuss the candy hearts I saw this afternoon.
These sugar candy Valentine hearts have been on the market every year since forever. I mean the little multi-colored ones that have brief sayings written on them. Someone at work had a bunch of them prominently placed outside her cubicle this afternoon, so as I picked up a few I thought, "Gee, it's nice to know some things never change. I ate these as a kid and they're still making them today".
Well, before I actually ate the candy hearts, I decided to read all the little sayings first. "Love you", said one. "Be mine", said another. Ah, memories. Just like when I was a kid. I kept reading... and then I found two with sayings that most certainly DID NOT fit that description.
"Page me"? "Fax me"? What the heck? There were no such things as pagers and fax machines when I was a kid. So much for my feeling that some things never change. I didn't realize until I started reading the inscriptions, but apparently Candy Hearts Version 2.0 is what's on sale these days. Sheesh, even junk food undergoes upgrades to stay compatible with the latest technology.
In other news, congrats to Antero Nifty-maki... oops, Niittymaki... for earning his 4th shutout of the season. In the process, he helped the Phantoms break our franchise record for shutouts in a season. The previous record was 5. He matched that last week with his third shutout (Neil Little has the other two). Now the team has SIX shutouts, and the season's just a little more than half over. Hey, I'm impressed! :o) Way to make this goalie junkie proud of you, Nitty!
Even better, he blanked the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, meaning we're only one point behind them in the standings. If we continue to play well, we could actually pass them and take the lead in our division soon. That would be great, especially considering how hard we had to work to improve and reach this point. Plus, we've already had key guys missing from the lineup because they were called up or injured; instead of falling apart, we kept finding ways to win. This entire team should be proud of what they've accomplished so far this season. May we keep it up!
Friday, January 23, 2004
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
On Monday, I had a "THIS can't be good" moment. I was waiting at a red light on the Black Horse Pike, on my way home from work. That's when I noticed something odd about the little yellow pickup truck with the NAPA auto parts logos on its sides and tailgate. The truck was also stopped at the red light, but it had NO BRAKE LIGHTS.
Is it my imagination, or is it a BAD SIGN that a truck that, from the look of it, belongs to some sort of auto repair service or mechanic should be lacking a critical thing like functional brake lights? Yeah, I'm REALLY willing to trust THAT mechanic. NOT.
From the moment I realized what was wrong with the truck until I turned off the Black Horse Pike, I made sure that the brake-light-less yellow truck was at least a half block ahead of me. There's almost nothing that makes me more nervous than driving behind a vehicle that won't give any indication that it's about to slow down or stop.
Is it my imagination, or is it a BAD SIGN that a truck that, from the look of it, belongs to some sort of auto repair service or mechanic should be lacking a critical thing like functional brake lights? Yeah, I'm REALLY willing to trust THAT mechanic. NOT.
From the moment I realized what was wrong with the truck until I turned off the Black Horse Pike, I made sure that the brake-light-less yellow truck was at least a half block ahead of me. There's almost nothing that makes me more nervous than driving behind a vehicle that won't give any indication that it's about to slow down or stop.
Sunday, January 18, 2004
OK, one win down, and hopefully one to go. The Phantoms won 4-1, a really solid victory over a team and a goaltender that have given us FITS at times. The two points will do us good, because freakin' Hershey won last night and moved two points ahead of us in the standings. If the Bears don't play today, or if they don't WIN today, we'll move ahead of them again because we have more wins than they do, even if (at the moment) we have fewer points. We also have abour four games in hand over the Bears, and I hope we make 'em count by the time the season's over.
The team that's leading our division is Bridgeport, and they went on an insane unbeaten streak this year -- something like 20 games. So the goal our team set for itself was to be second in the division by the new year, and we made it with several games to spare. Now it's the Bears and Phantoms battling each other for second, but both of our teams are also quietly closing in on Bridgeport. I have a feeling it's going to take the whole rest of the season before the seedings are determined -- the top teams are all pretty solid, and nobody's yielding so much as an inch.
Anyway, as I was saying, one win down, and one to go. May the Phantoms send the good karma we had this afternoon over to our fellow team that's about to play a bit farther east on Pattison Avenue. GO EAGLES! :o)
The team that's leading our division is Bridgeport, and they went on an insane unbeaten streak this year -- something like 20 games. So the goal our team set for itself was to be second in the division by the new year, and we made it with several games to spare. Now it's the Bears and Phantoms battling each other for second, but both of our teams are also quietly closing in on Bridgeport. I have a feeling it's going to take the whole rest of the season before the seedings are determined -- the top teams are all pretty solid, and nobody's yielding so much as an inch.
Anyway, as I was saying, one win down, and one to go. May the Phantoms send the good karma we had this afternoon over to our fellow team that's about to play a bit farther east on Pattison Avenue. GO EAGLES! :o)
Today is starting off well (if you discount the leaky Spectrum ceiling causing the scoreboard to flake out once already during the first period).Today's Phantoms promo involved the distribution of light-up yo-yos, and everyone in attendance took part in the Guinness Book of World Record-breaking group yo-yo attempt. The previous record was held by a group of 400-something people in Ireland, and attendance today far surpasses that. So we spent two minutes yo-yoing our way into the record books. If you want autographs, just e-mail and ask. ;o)
The first period turned out well; Randy Jones scored on a GORGEOUS backhand against Norfolk goalie Mike Leighton, who has always been a MAJOR pain in the tail to play against. We were all mad that Chicago sent him back to the AHL, 'cause he's just too darn good.
Second period is starting now, so off I go.
The first period turned out well; Randy Jones scored on a GORGEOUS backhand against Norfolk goalie Mike Leighton, who has always been a MAJOR pain in the tail to play against. We were all mad that Chicago sent him back to the AHL, 'cause he's just too darn good.
Second period is starting now, so off I go.
Saturday, January 17, 2004
Today, Mark and I went to upgrade cell phones. My two-year plan was almost up and my old cell phone was on its last legs... the microphone was goofed up meaning that more often than not, I could hear the other person on the line but they couldn't hear me. Not good. Meanwhile, Mark wanted to upgrade his phone to one that had a few more perks. (For example, his old phone only had space for three address book entries.)
It was my intention, from the word "go", to get a camera phone. Mark was considering getting one that had a color screen. We BOTH wound up getting the camera phone that our cellular provider offers (they only have one model).
While we were waiting our turn in the store, I started fooling with the two camera phones that were on display, and I stored pictures of Mark on them both. :o) Once the purchase was complete, we sat on a bench right outside the store and tried sending one another messages. (That's when I took the shot of Mark that's currently my wallpaper on that phone.) After some experimenting, I figured out how to e-mail the photo to myself. OOOO, but I think I'm going to have all sorts of fun with this. Hat Trick is going to be able to do a lot more things, now that I don't have to worry about carrying my regular digicam everyplace I go.
The one thing that I'll miss from my old phone is its QWERTY keyboard. That was tailor-made for people who want to send text messages and emails, and I loved it. I'm getting the hang of the T9 typing system (especially after having to manually enter my entire contacts list that I had stored on the old phone. One by one I viewed the entries on the old phone and T9-ed them into the new one. My thumb is exhausted but by golly, I have those contacts all set up now.
New toys are definitely fun, but it'll be nice to have a cell phone I can actually use to have CONVERSATIONS again. The fact that the battery's not going to run out by about 4:30 PM every day is a plus, too. I'm looking forward to having a functional phone again.
It was my intention, from the word "go", to get a camera phone. Mark was considering getting one that had a color screen. We BOTH wound up getting the camera phone that our cellular provider offers (they only have one model).
While we were waiting our turn in the store, I started fooling with the two camera phones that were on display, and I stored pictures of Mark on them both. :o) Once the purchase was complete, we sat on a bench right outside the store and tried sending one another messages. (That's when I took the shot of Mark that's currently my wallpaper on that phone.) After some experimenting, I figured out how to e-mail the photo to myself. OOOO, but I think I'm going to have all sorts of fun with this. Hat Trick is going to be able to do a lot more things, now that I don't have to worry about carrying my regular digicam everyplace I go.
The one thing that I'll miss from my old phone is its QWERTY keyboard. That was tailor-made for people who want to send text messages and emails, and I loved it. I'm getting the hang of the T9 typing system (especially after having to manually enter my entire contacts list that I had stored on the old phone. One by one I viewed the entries on the old phone and T9-ed them into the new one. My thumb is exhausted but by golly, I have those contacts all set up now.
New toys are definitely fun, but it'll be nice to have a cell phone I can actually use to have CONVERSATIONS again. The fact that the battery's not going to run out by about 4:30 PM every day is a plus, too. I'm looking forward to having a functional phone again.
Friday, January 16, 2004
Aaaah... I'm creating a text file at work because I think I'm being Cyndi Laupered to death.
I begin to understand some reasons why my former employer the bank didn't provide us sound cards on our PC workstations. Someone within earshot of my desk is using a song fragment as an auditory computer prompt. It took me three days to track down who it was because the acoustics in here make IDing what direction a sound originated from challenging , but now I know for sure whose cubicle the sound emanates from.
This means that innumerable times per day, I am hearing a few measures of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. It's only one sentence... "That's all they really waa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aant is some fuu-uu-uu-uu-uu-uu-uun, when the workin' day is done"... but if one hears it enough times per hour, it can really start to drive one bananas.
Sometimes there are two prompts in a row, and the first one doesn't even finish before the second one interrupts it. "That's all they really waa-aa-aaThat's all they really waa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aant..." and so on. It was a string of such prompts, arriving while the computer's user was away from her desk, that allowed me to follow the music back to its source.
Boy, I hope she gets tired of it and goes back to the (much shorter-lived and quieter) regular Windows prompt noises soon.
----
WOO HOO!!! Not only did the Phantoms just beat the Bears 4-0 (giving us 7 consecutive wins over Hershey this season), but we actually held Hershey to ZERO shots on goal in the second period. That's DARNED impressive! I was afraid the third period would turn into a penalty-fest, but it didn't.
Congrats to Antero Niittymaki for getting our shutout tonight, and to Kirby Law for scoring our game-winner early in the first period.
In other news, not only did the Flyers beat Toronto 4-1, but Phantoms callup Patrick Sharp scored his first NHL goal tonight, and THAT proved to be the game-winner, too! And FURTHERMORE :o), Maxime Ouellet led the Portland Pirates to a 2-0 shutout victory, too.
I sure am enjoying all this good news about my pet players! :o)
I begin to understand some reasons why my former employer the bank didn't provide us sound cards on our PC workstations. Someone within earshot of my desk is using a song fragment as an auditory computer prompt. It took me three days to track down who it was because the acoustics in here make IDing what direction a sound originated from challenging , but now I know for sure whose cubicle the sound emanates from.
This means that innumerable times per day, I am hearing a few measures of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. It's only one sentence... "That's all they really waa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aant is some fuu-uu-uu-uu-uu-uu-uun, when the workin' day is done"... but if one hears it enough times per hour, it can really start to drive one bananas.
Sometimes there are two prompts in a row, and the first one doesn't even finish before the second one interrupts it. "That's all they really waa-aa-aaThat's all they really waa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aant..." and so on. It was a string of such prompts, arriving while the computer's user was away from her desk, that allowed me to follow the music back to its source.
Boy, I hope she gets tired of it and goes back to the (much shorter-lived and quieter) regular Windows prompt noises soon.
----
WOO HOO!!! Not only did the Phantoms just beat the Bears 4-0 (giving us 7 consecutive wins over Hershey this season), but we actually held Hershey to ZERO shots on goal in the second period. That's DARNED impressive! I was afraid the third period would turn into a penalty-fest, but it didn't.
Congrats to Antero Niittymaki for getting our shutout tonight, and to Kirby Law for scoring our game-winner early in the first period.
In other news, not only did the Flyers beat Toronto 4-1, but Phantoms callup Patrick Sharp scored his first NHL goal tonight, and THAT proved to be the game-winner, too! And FURTHERMORE :o), Maxime Ouellet led the Portland Pirates to a 2-0 shutout victory, too.
I sure am enjoying all this good news about my pet players! :o)
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Joe M, Bob, Karla, John R and I went to the Bette Midler concert tonight. WHOA, she puts on a FANTASTIC show! I've never seen her perform live before, but you bet that the next time she's in Philly, I would love to get tickets!
One thing I saw in the crowd near the end of the concert made me laugh. This is how you know that you're part of a non-smoking generation of concert-goers (thank God). The tradition used to be for people to light matches to ask the performer to do an encore. Tonight, I saw a group of about a half-dozen people on the level below ours, waving their lit-up CELL PHONES for Bette to keep singing. LOL! I thought that was pretty clever.
After the concert, we came out into the coldest night since 1977. GEESH, and might I say it sure feels like it! Not only is the temperature 6 degrees, but the wind chill makes it feel like -30. Even so, there were guys standing in the parking lot selling T-shirts. GOOD GRIEF, I don't know how in the world they could stand it. We all felt sorry for them -- that's one brutal way to earn money.
One thing I saw in the crowd near the end of the concert made me laugh. This is how you know that you're part of a non-smoking generation of concert-goers (thank God). The tradition used to be for people to light matches to ask the performer to do an encore. Tonight, I saw a group of about a half-dozen people on the level below ours, waving their lit-up CELL PHONES for Bette to keep singing. LOL! I thought that was pretty clever.
After the concert, we came out into the coldest night since 1977. GEESH, and might I say it sure feels like it! Not only is the temperature 6 degrees, but the wind chill makes it feel like -30. Even so, there were guys standing in the parking lot selling T-shirts. GOOD GRIEF, I don't know how in the world they could stand it. We all felt sorry for them -- that's one brutal way to earn money.
Random thoughts... if the file for a company named BELLOFF is located next to the one for a company named BELLON, do they cancel each other out? I had to put files with those names next to one another this afternoon, and I was half afraid they'd negate one another and vanish in a flash of light the moment they made contact. ;o)
Here's another peculiar street name to go with "Sprain Valley Road" in NY. Apparently there is a CHAGRIN ROAD in Ohio. What the heck are people thinking when they come up with these names? Give me that optimistic intersection in Hammonton, NJ, where I used to work: Grand and Pleasant Streets. I'm not sure if a location can have a more upbeat name than that. :o)
It snowed overnight last night. Fortunately, it was only a few inches. It was flurrying when I left for work this morning, but that wasn't my worst problem. The fact that last night, apparently when I removed some bags from the passenger side of my car, I didn't quite close the door properly... THAT was my problem. When I got in my car this morning, I saw snow all over the front and back passenger seats, plus the floor nearest to the door. WHAT THE...?! I wound up brushing what seemed like a TON of snow out of the car. So much for my attempt to get on the road extra-early... sheesh! Next time I use the passenger door to unload stuff from the car, I'm certainly going to avoid making THAT mistake again.
Oh, and while I'm ranting about the weather... was there some sort of snowplow work stoppage this morning, in Philadelphia (PA) and Camden (NJ) counties? Because for the life of me, I can't understand why NOT ONE street that I drove on during my commute to work was plowed. Not a SINGLE one! If I used all side streets and back roads, I could understand it, but I use main streets/highways for the entire route. There's no excuse for the deplorable condition that the roads were in. Last time I drove to work in the snow, the weather was WORSE but the roads were better... go figure! Thank God my only near-misadventure, when I fishtailed while trying to turn onto Kings Highway, didn't end up in a collision of any sort.
I'm sure glad that the snow stopped early today, though. By the time I left work for home, the roads were definitely clear. Now the bad weather is all over but the high winds. Lovely... we should have some interesting snow drifts in the roads tomorrow morning. Is it spring yet?
Here's another peculiar street name to go with "Sprain Valley Road" in NY. Apparently there is a CHAGRIN ROAD in Ohio. What the heck are people thinking when they come up with these names? Give me that optimistic intersection in Hammonton, NJ, where I used to work: Grand and Pleasant Streets. I'm not sure if a location can have a more upbeat name than that. :o)
It snowed overnight last night. Fortunately, it was only a few inches. It was flurrying when I left for work this morning, but that wasn't my worst problem. The fact that last night, apparently when I removed some bags from the passenger side of my car, I didn't quite close the door properly... THAT was my problem. When I got in my car this morning, I saw snow all over the front and back passenger seats, plus the floor nearest to the door. WHAT THE...?! I wound up brushing what seemed like a TON of snow out of the car. So much for my attempt to get on the road extra-early... sheesh! Next time I use the passenger door to unload stuff from the car, I'm certainly going to avoid making THAT mistake again.
Oh, and while I'm ranting about the weather... was there some sort of snowplow work stoppage this morning, in Philadelphia (PA) and Camden (NJ) counties? Because for the life of me, I can't understand why NOT ONE street that I drove on during my commute to work was plowed. Not a SINGLE one! If I used all side streets and back roads, I could understand it, but I use main streets/highways for the entire route. There's no excuse for the deplorable condition that the roads were in. Last time I drove to work in the snow, the weather was WORSE but the roads were better... go figure! Thank God my only near-misadventure, when I fishtailed while trying to turn onto Kings Highway, didn't end up in a collision of any sort.
I'm sure glad that the snow stopped early today, though. By the time I left work for home, the roads were definitely clear. Now the bad weather is all over but the high winds. Lovely... we should have some interesting snow drifts in the roads tomorrow morning. Is it spring yet?
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Leave it to me to find ways to damage myself while working in an office. :o/
Yesterday, I was in the file room, returning correspondence files to their respective shelves. The shelves are basically like big metal bookshelves, except they have one feature that I haven't seen before. There are stowaway shelves on every other bookshelf fixture, kind of like the way some ergonomic desks have a hideaway shelf for the computer keyboard. One can extend these hidden shelves while one is working, and have a convenient place to set down the bunch of files that one has just retrieved, or that are about to be filed away.
I use these things all the time without mishap. Which was why I was caught by surprise yesterday morning when I pulled out the stowaway shelf, put a stack of items on it, and then went to file something underneath said stowaway shelf. In fact, the item belonged on the shelf nearest to the floor, so I had to bend way down to put it in place.
Accident-prone person that I am, can you guess what happened when I tried to stand up? WHAM! I whacked my head, good and hard, on the corner of the extended metal shelf. Doggone, did that ever hurt! I checked more than once, during the course of the next few minutes, to make absolutely sure I wasn't bleeding from anywhere. I know that even minor scalp wounds can make a holy mess, and I didn't want to leave the file room looking like a crime scene. I can definitely thank my guardian angel for the fact that I didn't need to visit an ER for stitches.
Suffice it to say that's ONE mistake I don't intend to make again any time soon! Sheesh, what a way to start the morning! :oP
Of course, why have only ONE mishap in a day, right? Or at least, that's what seemed to be my motto yesterday. I'm still not entirely clear just WHAT happened to my right thumb -- I think it's a combo of carpal-tunnel flareup, possibly having worn the wrist brace too tight for too long, and probably some other form of strain or sprain that I haven't seen happen before. But OOO, this morning was my right hand swollen! After ice and elevation, it's in better shape than it was, but the hand is still having a major pity-party for itself even now. PHOOEY on hand pain... anti-inflammatories, here I come!
I wonder if I can order a suit of armor online? ;o)
Yesterday, I was in the file room, returning correspondence files to their respective shelves. The shelves are basically like big metal bookshelves, except they have one feature that I haven't seen before. There are stowaway shelves on every other bookshelf fixture, kind of like the way some ergonomic desks have a hideaway shelf for the computer keyboard. One can extend these hidden shelves while one is working, and have a convenient place to set down the bunch of files that one has just retrieved, or that are about to be filed away.
I use these things all the time without mishap. Which was why I was caught by surprise yesterday morning when I pulled out the stowaway shelf, put a stack of items on it, and then went to file something underneath said stowaway shelf. In fact, the item belonged on the shelf nearest to the floor, so I had to bend way down to put it in place.
Accident-prone person that I am, can you guess what happened when I tried to stand up? WHAM! I whacked my head, good and hard, on the corner of the extended metal shelf. Doggone, did that ever hurt! I checked more than once, during the course of the next few minutes, to make absolutely sure I wasn't bleeding from anywhere. I know that even minor scalp wounds can make a holy mess, and I didn't want to leave the file room looking like a crime scene. I can definitely thank my guardian angel for the fact that I didn't need to visit an ER for stitches.
Suffice it to say that's ONE mistake I don't intend to make again any time soon! Sheesh, what a way to start the morning! :oP
Of course, why have only ONE mishap in a day, right? Or at least, that's what seemed to be my motto yesterday. I'm still not entirely clear just WHAT happened to my right thumb -- I think it's a combo of carpal-tunnel flareup, possibly having worn the wrist brace too tight for too long, and probably some other form of strain or sprain that I haven't seen happen before. But OOO, this morning was my right hand swollen! After ice and elevation, it's in better shape than it was, but the hand is still having a major pity-party for itself even now. PHOOEY on hand pain... anti-inflammatories, here I come!
I wonder if I can order a suit of armor online? ;o)
Monday, January 12, 2004
ARRRRRRRGH!!! Comcast is THIS-CLOSE to having me as their Harridan of the Day, I swear!
Comcast's digital cable subscribers have had problems with their Comcast Sportsnet channel since last Thursday or Friday. This is the channel that the Flyers games are broadcast on.
The freaking channel just went blank DURING a Flyers game. I am going to HURT somebody if this isn't repaired.
Mark is on hold with Comcast even as I type. I turned on my radio to listen to the game, and am sitting here typing and fuming.
Ah, that was quick -- the game is back on. For now. I'm gonna keep my radio handy anyway. I don't trust this channel to STAY on.
Comcast's digital cable subscribers have had problems with their Comcast Sportsnet channel since last Thursday or Friday. This is the channel that the Flyers games are broadcast on.
The freaking channel just went blank DURING a Flyers game. I am going to HURT somebody if this isn't repaired.
Mark is on hold with Comcast even as I type. I turned on my radio to listen to the game, and am sitting here typing and fuming.
Ah, that was quick -- the game is back on. For now. I'm gonna keep my radio handy anyway. I don't trust this channel to STAY on.
Sunday, January 11, 2004
Today was the second Sunday of the month, which means I interpreted at Mass this morning.
My normal routine is to review the readings for the day, plus certain other prayers that change every week, in the missalette prior to the Mass. That way, I won't be caught by surprise by a word or a phrase that takes some extra time to decide how to interpret clearly.
The Church has a three-year cycle, with different readings for each day for year A, year B, and year C. However, in the Lectionary, ALL the readings for a given day are grouped together. For example, today was the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The readings for year A, year B, and year C for this feast day are all printed together, one after the other.
I guess this was destined to happen to me eventually, that at some point in time I was going to encounter a lector who READ THE WRONG READINGS for the day. I know I reviewed the correct readings ahead of time, because unlike the Lectionary, my missalette only HAS this year's readings in it. Oh well... I've been doing this for about 6 years now, so instead of being surprised that we had a mixup today, I guess I should be surprised that I didn't experience this sort of thing sooner. In any event, instead of interpreting the readings that I'd practiced ahead of time (including at the breakfast table this morning -- I really need to stop doing that, because one of these days I'm bound to overturn my coffee mug), I had to wing it and just interpret whatever I heard. Normally, the only time I have to do THAT is during the homily, because I'm able to practice the rest of the Mass ahead of time.
Oh, well. It all turned out OK eventually, but aiee, I could do without this sort of surprise.
Here's hoping that the Eagles win their first playoff game of the season. It makes the parking around here a royal pain when the Eagles have a home game, but heck, they're OUR team and I'm rooting for them.
My normal routine is to review the readings for the day, plus certain other prayers that change every week, in the missalette prior to the Mass. That way, I won't be caught by surprise by a word or a phrase that takes some extra time to decide how to interpret clearly.
The Church has a three-year cycle, with different readings for each day for year A, year B, and year C. However, in the Lectionary, ALL the readings for a given day are grouped together. For example, today was the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. The readings for year A, year B, and year C for this feast day are all printed together, one after the other.
I guess this was destined to happen to me eventually, that at some point in time I was going to encounter a lector who READ THE WRONG READINGS for the day. I know I reviewed the correct readings ahead of time, because unlike the Lectionary, my missalette only HAS this year's readings in it. Oh well... I've been doing this for about 6 years now, so instead of being surprised that we had a mixup today, I guess I should be surprised that I didn't experience this sort of thing sooner. In any event, instead of interpreting the readings that I'd practiced ahead of time (including at the breakfast table this morning -- I really need to stop doing that, because one of these days I'm bound to overturn my coffee mug), I had to wing it and just interpret whatever I heard. Normally, the only time I have to do THAT is during the homily, because I'm able to practice the rest of the Mass ahead of time.
Oh, well. It all turned out OK eventually, but aiee, I could do without this sort of surprise.
Here's hoping that the Eagles win their first playoff game of the season. It makes the parking around here a royal pain when the Eagles have a home game, but heck, they're OUR team and I'm rooting for them.
Saturday, January 10, 2004
WHEW! That song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" would be an appropriate choice for background music right now. Today was by far our coldest day of the season. How cold was it? Superman froze his S off ;o). Seriously, you know it's bad when you're able to refer to the temperature by local athlete's jersey numbers, and it's worse when said players wear numbers in the single digits. This morning at 9 AM, Mark looked at our indoor/outdoor thermometer and said, "It's Randy Jones's number out there", meaning it was 4 degrees. Several minutes later, he checked again and said, "Now it's up to Donovan McNabb's number", meaning the temperature had improved to a whopping 5 degrees. UGH.
This was NOT a good day to discover that we are out of hot chocolate. We'll have to rectify that the next time we go to the store.
The Phantoms/Sens album visits have finally started to level off. It's down to about 10 per hour (compared to a few HUNDRED per hour during most of the first two days). So far there have been 6505 hits in 12 days. But the hits haven't stopped coming in yet. For that matter, neither have the posts on some of the hockey-fight discussion boards where someone (not me) posted the link to the album in the first place. Yesterday, someone from ENGLAND posted that he'd seen a replay of Neil's jump on their local TV...! Good grief. No wonder hits are still coming through, just short of two weeks after the brawl game.
BTW, the Phantoms played in Binghamton tonight, and they WON, 2-1. So there. :o) Showing that we can top them on the scoreboard is more important than winning on the fight card, so I'm glad we showed them we're capable of doing both.
This was NOT a good day to discover that we are out of hot chocolate. We'll have to rectify that the next time we go to the store.
The Phantoms/Sens album visits have finally started to level off. It's down to about 10 per hour (compared to a few HUNDRED per hour during most of the first two days). So far there have been 6505 hits in 12 days. But the hits haven't stopped coming in yet. For that matter, neither have the posts on some of the hockey-fight discussion boards where someone (not me) posted the link to the album in the first place. Yesterday, someone from ENGLAND posted that he'd seen a replay of Neil's jump on their local TV...! Good grief. No wonder hits are still coming through, just short of two weeks after the brawl game.
BTW, the Phantoms played in Binghamton tonight, and they WON, 2-1. So there. :o) Showing that we can top them on the scoreboard is more important than winning on the fight card, so I'm glad we showed them we're capable of doing both.
Friday, January 09, 2004
OK, today's "Say what?" award goes to two names I saw in the final two submissions that I entered into the computer system this afternoon.
First of all, one of the signatures on the application whose information I was entering into the system belonged to a person named, and I am not making this up, "Glorious Lee". There was no mistaking what the name was, as the person both printed AND wrote their name on the appropriate places on the form. WHAT parents would voluntarily do that to their kid? Do they not think of what it will be like to go through their life with a cutesy or highly uncommon name like that? You couldn't pay me enough to give my child a pun for a name. (And if Mr. or Ms. Lee ever googles their own name and sees this post, well, no offense. But my parents, who favored the name Angela, changed their minds and named me something else when they realized that "Angela" was a BAD match with the surname "Gabriel". So I know whereof I speak.)
The other peculiar name I encountered was the location of the business that had sent in the application. They were on Sprain Valley Road in Scarsdale, NY. Talk about a bad combination of names! Sprain Valley Road in SCARSdale? Geesh! That sounds like a dangerous place to live, if you ask me! Who the heck would use the word "Sprain" in a street name, anyway? Sprain Valley Road... What's the cross street called? Fall-down-the-steps Lane? Trip-over-a-shoelace Terrace? Contusion Court? The list could be endless... and it doesn't sound like an ideal place for those of us who are accident-prone. ;o)
First of all, one of the signatures on the application whose information I was entering into the system belonged to a person named, and I am not making this up, "Glorious Lee". There was no mistaking what the name was, as the person both printed AND wrote their name on the appropriate places on the form. WHAT parents would voluntarily do that to their kid? Do they not think of what it will be like to go through their life with a cutesy or highly uncommon name like that? You couldn't pay me enough to give my child a pun for a name. (And if Mr. or Ms. Lee ever googles their own name and sees this post, well, no offense. But my parents, who favored the name Angela, changed their minds and named me something else when they realized that "Angela" was a BAD match with the surname "Gabriel". So I know whereof I speak.)
The other peculiar name I encountered was the location of the business that had sent in the application. They were on Sprain Valley Road in Scarsdale, NY. Talk about a bad combination of names! Sprain Valley Road in SCARSdale? Geesh! That sounds like a dangerous place to live, if you ask me! Who the heck would use the word "Sprain" in a street name, anyway? Sprain Valley Road... What's the cross street called? Fall-down-the-steps Lane? Trip-over-a-shoelace Terrace? Contusion Court? The list could be endless... and it doesn't sound like an ideal place for those of us who are accident-prone. ;o)
Thursday, January 08, 2004
This morning, my odometer reached the 33,000-mile mark. These past few months are the first time in a LONG time that I've put this many miles on the car in one year. It's definitely the first time since I was married that I've used the car this often, because I travel so many places (other than work) with Mark, and when we're together, he drives.
In other news: since I took this assignment, I have typed a LOT of companies' names as I enter their information into the computer system. One thing I've noticed is that certain buzzwords crop up frequently in business names. Now that I'm also filing policies and correspondence in the file room, I'm seeing even MORE company names, and I've reached a point where I regard certain words and phrases as cliches.
For example, in my opinion the word "Solutions" is used way, WAY too often. Maybe the people naming the companies think it sounds dynamic and proactive, and maybe if you're not encountering a few dozen company names every day, it does. But if every day, you see several company names that fit the description of "____ Solutions", it stops sounding proactive and starts sounding unoriginal. Ditto for the numerous companies that are named "Integrated ____". Good grief, I had to return a correspondence file for an "Integrated ___" company to the shelf this morning, and it took eons to locate where it belonged among the eighteen bazillion OTHER "Integrated ___" files. I was never over-fond of industry buzzwords to begin with... too many people seem to fling them around in order to appear that they're oh-so-cutting-edge, or to try and mask the fact that they don't know what in heck they're talking about. That's why seeing buzzwords being used to excess in companies' names is turning into a pet peeve of mine.
So, why am I ranting about these things? To explain why this afternoon, when I had to enter a submission for a company named "Integrated ____ Solutions, Inc", my first reaction was, "AAAAARGH!"
I'm not planning on starting a company of my own any time soon, but if I ever do, you can guess what words won't be appearing in its name. ;o)
In other news: since I took this assignment, I have typed a LOT of companies' names as I enter their information into the computer system. One thing I've noticed is that certain buzzwords crop up frequently in business names. Now that I'm also filing policies and correspondence in the file room, I'm seeing even MORE company names, and I've reached a point where I regard certain words and phrases as cliches.
For example, in my opinion the word "Solutions" is used way, WAY too often. Maybe the people naming the companies think it sounds dynamic and proactive, and maybe if you're not encountering a few dozen company names every day, it does. But if every day, you see several company names that fit the description of "____ Solutions", it stops sounding proactive and starts sounding unoriginal. Ditto for the numerous companies that are named "Integrated ____". Good grief, I had to return a correspondence file for an "Integrated ___" company to the shelf this morning, and it took eons to locate where it belonged among the eighteen bazillion OTHER "Integrated ___" files. I was never over-fond of industry buzzwords to begin with... too many people seem to fling them around in order to appear that they're oh-so-cutting-edge, or to try and mask the fact that they don't know what in heck they're talking about. That's why seeing buzzwords being used to excess in companies' names is turning into a pet peeve of mine.
So, why am I ranting about these things? To explain why this afternoon, when I had to enter a submission for a company named "Integrated ____ Solutions, Inc", my first reaction was, "AAAAARGH!"
I'm not planning on starting a company of my own any time soon, but if I ever do, you can guess what words won't be appearing in its name. ;o)
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Man! EXACTLY 6000 hits on the Brawls album. Not bad for an album that's about 90 minutes short of being 9 days old.
One of my newer duties at work is to assist in the file room for 2 hours every day. Thanks to that, I spend some of my time returning correspondence files to the shelves for both the Professional Liability department (where I work the rest of the day) and the casualty department. On several of the correspondence files for the casualty department, I noticed some handwriting on the cover page that reminded me of Karla's. So I asked her if she ever created files like these (also known as "cutouts"), and she said no.
Had I not already found out from her that she doesn't create these files, yesterday morning would have been the dead giveaway that the person whose handwriting resembles Karla's is, in fact, somebody else. To make a long story short, there is NO way I'd expect to see Karla leave a mispelling like "Bethal" for what should have been Bethel uncorrected. I fixed the cover page myself and resolved to double-check EVERY document that looks like it might just have an error in the name. Fortunately, mistakes like that are extremely uncommon, because if something got mis-filed because its name was spelled wrong, the chances are slim that the file would be located again if it was needed for some reason.
And now... have a look at this itty bitty .gif file of Neil's (in)famous leap into the fray!
You know what this film clip needs? The sound effect of a bowling ball rolling and knocking down pins. That's what it needs. :o)
One of my newer duties at work is to assist in the file room for 2 hours every day. Thanks to that, I spend some of my time returning correspondence files to the shelves for both the Professional Liability department (where I work the rest of the day) and the casualty department. On several of the correspondence files for the casualty department, I noticed some handwriting on the cover page that reminded me of Karla's. So I asked her if she ever created files like these (also known as "cutouts"), and she said no.
Had I not already found out from her that she doesn't create these files, yesterday morning would have been the dead giveaway that the person whose handwriting resembles Karla's is, in fact, somebody else. To make a long story short, there is NO way I'd expect to see Karla leave a mispelling like "Bethal" for what should have been Bethel uncorrected. I fixed the cover page myself and resolved to double-check EVERY document that looks like it might just have an error in the name. Fortunately, mistakes like that are extremely uncommon, because if something got mis-filed because its name was spelled wrong, the chances are slim that the file would be located again if it was needed for some reason.
And now... have a look at this itty bitty .gif file of Neil's (in)famous leap into the fray!
You know what this film clip needs? The sound effect of a bowling ball rolling and knocking down pins. That's what it needs. :o)
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
I thought of George Carlin on my way home tonight. He did a standup routine some years ago about being unable to throw away a trash can, because the trashmen kept giving it back to him.
Not long after I turned onto the Black Horse Pike this evening, I had to be prepared to avoid a large, oddly-shaped obstruction that was skittering across the highway. As I approached it (or it approached me), I realized that it was a large grey or white plastic trash can, which had apparently been blown into the roadway. Judging from the size of the dent in it, I think a big truck must have run it over. Imagine what a huge soda can would look like if it'd been stepped on by a giant foot. That's what this (possibly ex-)trash can resembled.
Anyway, I'm glad to say that the wind stopped pushing the trash can toward my traffic lane, so I didn't have to take evasive action. But as the trash can sat there in the middle of the lane to my left, I wondered if it was too damaged to press back into service. If it was rendered unusable, then someone, somewhere WOULD actually have to mimic George Carlin's routine and attempt to throw a trash can away. In that case, I wonder if they'd have more success than he did? :o)
Not long after I turned onto the Black Horse Pike this evening, I had to be prepared to avoid a large, oddly-shaped obstruction that was skittering across the highway. As I approached it (or it approached me), I realized that it was a large grey or white plastic trash can, which had apparently been blown into the roadway. Judging from the size of the dent in it, I think a big truck must have run it over. Imagine what a huge soda can would look like if it'd been stepped on by a giant foot. That's what this (possibly ex-)trash can resembled.
Anyway, I'm glad to say that the wind stopped pushing the trash can toward my traffic lane, so I didn't have to take evasive action. But as the trash can sat there in the middle of the lane to my left, I wondered if it was too damaged to press back into service. If it was rendered unusable, then someone, somewhere WOULD actually have to mimic George Carlin's routine and attempt to throw a trash can away. In that case, I wonder if they'd have more success than he did? :o)
Boy, am I sad. Tug McGraw passed away yesterday. He was a favorite Phillie of mine, back when I was in high school, and seeing HIM throw the World-Series-winning pitch for us in 1980 made the win even more special. I tried to post about it last night, when the news broke, but the Blogger site was having Gremlins and I couldn't log in. Probably just as well... I was in a state of shock and goodness only knows if my comments were even coherent.
I'm so disappointed that he didn't beat the cancer completely. On the other hand, when he was first diagnosed in March, his original prognosis was three WEEKS. So for him to be with us for nine more months was a gift. I'm so glad he was able to witness this past season, get saluted by the fans every time he was able to attend a game at the Vet, and then cap everything by being able to take part in the closing ceremonies for Veteran's Stadium.
RIP, Tugger. You rock. You always will.
I'm so disappointed that he didn't beat the cancer completely. On the other hand, when he was first diagnosed in March, his original prognosis was three WEEKS. So for him to be with us for nine more months was a gift. I'm so glad he was able to witness this past season, get saluted by the fans every time he was able to attend a game at the Vet, and then cap everything by being able to take part in the closing ceremonies for Veteran's Stadium.
RIP, Tugger. You rock. You always will.
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Well, THAT was fun. The Phantoms won 3-2, and Kirby Law, who was our second star tonight with three assists, threw a T-shirt into the crowd that Al caught. :o)
The post-game interview with David Unkle was Kirk Furey. I swear, Unkle must be a search engine addict. He came up with a printout of a picture taken of Kirk while he was in college, when he had the part of Jesus in an Easter play. As Unkle was asking Kirk how much harassment he'd take from the rest of the team if they saw the photo, fellow Phantom Randy Jones interrupted by pilfering the printout from the table. LOL! But Randy's a good kid and returned the printout a few minutes later. Well... at least, he returned it after Unkle pointed out "Gee, Randy had better be sure that HE hasn't got any embarrassing pictures anywhere, because there are a lot of players on this team with photos online", and all that sort of thing. :o)
Anyway, it was very nice to see the Phantoms earn two points.
And the Phantoms/Sens brawl album has had 4771 visitors. See what I mean about having several visitors per hour, even though the furor has died down a lot from the first couple of days?
Also, I found an online video of Neil's "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERGOALIE!" leap into the fray. If you can view mpg files, then go visit Flying Goalie on broadstreetbully.com. Too bad the Phantoms had to take down the video clips of the fights that THEY had up on the team website... it seems the league Frowned Upon the clips. IMO, too darn bad, the league isn't trying to generate additional ticket sales. WE are. Personally, I think the league should have just looked the other way and just let the fans have access to the online video clips. Party poopers. I hope that a bunch of people who downloaded the clips during the short time they were available put them all up on their OWN websites where the league can't regulate it. So there.
The post-game interview with David Unkle was Kirk Furey. I swear, Unkle must be a search engine addict. He came up with a printout of a picture taken of Kirk while he was in college, when he had the part of Jesus in an Easter play. As Unkle was asking Kirk how much harassment he'd take from the rest of the team if they saw the photo, fellow Phantom Randy Jones interrupted by pilfering the printout from the table. LOL! But Randy's a good kid and returned the printout a few minutes later. Well... at least, he returned it after Unkle pointed out "Gee, Randy had better be sure that HE hasn't got any embarrassing pictures anywhere, because there are a lot of players on this team with photos online", and all that sort of thing. :o)
Anyway, it was very nice to see the Phantoms earn two points.
And the Phantoms/Sens brawl album has had 4771 visitors. See what I mean about having several visitors per hour, even though the furor has died down a lot from the first couple of days?
Also, I found an online video of Neil's "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERGOALIE!" leap into the fray. If you can view mpg files, then go visit Flying Goalie on broadstreetbully.com. Too bad the Phantoms had to take down the video clips of the fights that THEY had up on the team website... it seems the league Frowned Upon the clips. IMO, too darn bad, the league isn't trying to generate additional ticket sales. WE are. Personally, I think the league should have just looked the other way and just let the fans have access to the online video clips. Party poopers. I hope that a bunch of people who downloaded the clips during the short time they were available put them all up on their OWN websites where the league can't regulate it. So there.
Oh, boy -- this will be one for the books. The Phantoms/Penguins game tonight was supposed to begin at 5 PM. However, Wilkes-Barre's bus broke down on the way here. The word that's making its way through the fan base is that the baby Pens' fan club's bus went to fetch the team.
There's a note on the scoreboard that reads, "Due to transportation problems, tonight's game is delayed. We apologize for any inconvenience". However, there is no indication of what time the game is actually set to begin. (Hence, here I sit in my seat writing a blog post. :o) ) As long as everyone makes it here in one piece, it'll all be fine. If the Pens' booster club really did send their bus out to bring the team the rest of the way here, the team had better be DARN glad that the fan club even HAD a bus. Wilkes-Barre is only about two hours away from here, which is close enough that some fan clubs might prefer to carpool rather than hire a bus.
If I get a more complete set of details as to what happened, I'll follow up with another post.
In the meantime, my Phantoms/Senators photo album is still getting several hits per hour, but the initial flurry (of a few HUNDRED hits per hour) calmed down after the first two days or so. It's now in its 7th day of existence, and I'm up to 4700 hits. (OK, it was 4699 the last I checked, but that was two hours ago. Surely there's been another hit by now. ;o) )
Go Phantoms!
There's a note on the scoreboard that reads, "Due to transportation problems, tonight's game is delayed. We apologize for any inconvenience". However, there is no indication of what time the game is actually set to begin. (Hence, here I sit in my seat writing a blog post. :o) ) As long as everyone makes it here in one piece, it'll all be fine. If the Pens' booster club really did send their bus out to bring the team the rest of the way here, the team had better be DARN glad that the fan club even HAD a bus. Wilkes-Barre is only about two hours away from here, which is close enough that some fan clubs might prefer to carpool rather than hire a bus.
If I get a more complete set of details as to what happened, I'll follow up with another post.
In the meantime, my Phantoms/Senators photo album is still getting several hits per hour, but the initial flurry (of a few HUNDRED hits per hour) calmed down after the first two days or so. It's now in its 7th day of existence, and I'm up to 4700 hits. (OK, it was 4699 the last I checked, but that was two hours ago. Surely there's been another hit by now. ;o) )
Go Phantoms!
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