February 26, 2004
I've posted a new Notebook entry about the Federal Marriage Amendment. I imagine some of you won't like it. Sorry about that. I generally avoid things political at joann2.org. But, the President's actions on Tuesday upset me more than I thought they would. It struck me as important to write my thoughts down. If you feel inclined to argue with me about it, I'd rather you held that impulse in check. Thanks.
February 21, 2004
Some snapshots of the latest addition to Jennie's family:
His name is Snuggles. Can you stand it?
February 20, 2004
So...are you a Yankee or a Dixie? Take the quiz and find out. 'Turns out I'm 70% Dixie. Things that make you go hmmmmm....
UPDATE. The link seems to have died. 'Guess too many people wanted to know if they were Yankee or Dixie. If you didn't find out in the first couple of days I pointed to the quiz, it's too late now! Sorry.
February 14, 2004
(1:30 AM) They've been talking about snow for a couple of days now. Snow in Austin is such a rarity that I tend to ignore the hype when they start talking about possible snow in the weather forecasts. I mean, it never comes true! But, I just saw a weather update showing live shots of snow falling at the capitol! So, I looked out my back window and...lo!...snow. They're saying it'll probably be over in a couple of hours. Here's my question: if it's only gonna snow once every 10 or 15 years, why is it snowing in the middle of the night?? I hope there's something worth taking a picture of when I get up in the morning.
UPDATE (11:30 AM): I couldn't wait. I got dressed and went out about 2:30 and took some photos. They have, for the most part, a very peculiar green glow to them (brought on by the eerie night lighting provided by our homeowner's association). No matter how much color correction I do, there just doesn't seem to be a good way to deliver color photos...so here are some black & white jobbies (click on a photo to see a larger version, then hit the back button to come back here):
I'm glad I got up and went out while it was snowing. There's not a whole lot left now. I wonder how long it's been since there was snow on the ground in Austin on Valentine's day. Amazing.
February 10, 2004
Question for the lady in the white minivan behind me at the intersection of Guadalupe and Airport earlier today: why would you pull up behind me at a red light and end up stopped on railroad tracks? Huh? Why? These are active railroad tracks.
Hey, lady!!! Pay attention. Please. The people in the other lane seemed to get it. Why didn't the soccer mom with the two kids in their child safety seats? Sigh...some people.
February 6, 2004
Happy Birthday, Lar!! Woo hoo!
. . . .
From today's Campus Watch crime report:
Smoking Tobacco in a Building (Garrison Hall)
A UT professor was found smoking a cigarette in their office, which is a violation
of state law. The professor said they were "too busy to step outside." Occurred
on 2-5-04 at 9:20 pm.
Gotta love that gender-neutral "their/they" thing going on. One of our professors used to smoke in his office all the time after the smoking-inside ban went into affect. The second he'd light up, my office would start to smell like smoke. It was strange because his office is way down at the other end of the hall. And, you couldn't smell the smoke in any of the other offices in between. There is definitely something weird going on with our ventilation system and it took us several weeks to find the source of the smoke. He denied lighting up until we figured out what was happening and caught him in the act three or four times. Now, he goes outside.
February 3, 2004
Here's an email message I just received (identifying info deleted):
Subject: Re: joann2.org
From: xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Date: 3 Feb 2004
Hello,
I am creating a web directory, xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx, and would like to include your website joann2.org under the "health/folk medicine" category. If you'd like to be added, please follow this url:
http://www.xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx/add.cgi
We shall put all our efforts into having your link up in less than 24 hours; and if you find our site useful for your visitors, please add a reciprocal link.
Link Back : xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx - A Spirituality Web Directory.
Thank you very much,
James Xxxxxxxx
webmaster
Ummm...excuse me? The "health/folk medicine" category? Yeah, sure...sign me up!
. . . .
And...not to change the subject or anything, but...apparently today's somehow significant in the world of fractals. 'Wonder what the deal is. That's a funky logo Google's got going on today:
February 2, 2004
From today's Campus Watch crime report:
Driving While License Invalid
A non-UT subject was stopped for driving a brown 1978 Chevrolet 4-door the
wrong way on a one-way roadway. The subject was found to have a suspended
driver's license. Occurred on 01-30-04 at 8:20 pm.
Hmmmm...you don't suppose "inability to follow simple street signs" led to the license suspension in the first place, do you?
January 23, 2004
Wow. It's been a month. I guess I haven't had much to say lately. I had a lovely Christmas and the New Year is shaping up just fine. We have been extraordinarily busy at work, though. Which explains part of the reason I haven't been posting here...there's just no time. I spend long days at work and then collapse when I get home. Oh well.
The story for today. We have a visitor at work who showed up yesterday. He brought his laptop but left the power cord at his hotel. When the juice ran out yesterday, they went looking for a power cable he could use. They found a student whose cord worked so they borrowed it. The visitor ended up taking the cord back to the hotel last night. This morning, the student came by, laptop in hand, asking if I had a power cable he could borrow. What? The visitor didn't bring it back? Not only did he not bring back the student's cord, he didn't bring his own. Apparently, he did not learn his lesson yesterday. Amazing.
. . . .
And, an update on the Bevo's Restaurant thing. I noticed a few days ago that the restaurant was no longer open. And, today's Daily Texan has the story. 'Looks like these folks really thought nobody would care what they did (despite plenty of evidence to the contrary) so they just plowed forward. Tsk tsk tsk. Don't mess with Bevo. Indeed.
December 22, 2003
A few updates.
Remember the woman who was trampled at a Wal-Mart as she tried to buy a DVD player the day after Thanksgiving? See my December 1st entry if you don't. It turns out that the woman has filed several lawsuits in the past against Wal-Mart and other retail outlets. Hmmmm...
The total in the change jug? It came out to $713.10. More than enough for that new iPod. Along with various accessories. Way cool.
And, finally...the Walgreens sign. I stopped by yesterday to take a photo but the sign's been updated. That great deal on Denim Jackets is apparently no longer available. Shucks.
December 19, 2003
Two things.
First: Happy 87th Birthday, Grandma! Woo hoo!
Second: There's a Walgreens store nearby that has a digital sign advertising the daily (weekly?) specials. I'm guessing that there are about 20 messages that rotate around. For the past week or so there's been one particular special that really makes me laugh. It goes like so:
DENIM JACKETS
WAS $19.99
NOW $9.99. SAVE $5!
Fun with grammar and math! Heh.
December 15, 2003
The change jug.
Several years ago my father gave me a big wine jug that I started using as a spare-change bank. When I get home each evening, I put all my spare change in the jug. Well, I put the nickels, dimes, and quarters in the jug. I put the pennies in a separate jar. I've filled the penny jar up a couple of times and it comes out to about $20 whenever I cash it in. I always end up cashing the nickel-dime-quarter jug in when it's about one-third to one-half full. And, that usually comes out to about $200-$300. I generally cash it in once a year or so, right before I go on a trip, and use the proceeds as my "spending" money while on the road. For some reason, I haven't cashed it in over the last couple of years, though. And, suddenly, it was full! It's a 4-liter wine jug. Full of nickels, dimes, and quarters. Wow.
So, I decided it was time to cash it in and buy something fun. It is that time of year, after all. So, I emptied it into a canvas bag and...lemme tell you...it was an awfully heavy bag o' change! How much did it weigh? 40 pounds. Oh my.
I dragged my heavy bag of change into the credit union on Thursday to cash it in and find out just how much money it was. Esther had warned me that things had changed at the credit union since the last time I'd taken my spare change in. And, sure enough, they had. The change machine is now in the lobby and is self-service. You start the machine up, punch your account number in, put your change in, and get a print-out of the total. You take the print-out to a video-teller station and get the cash back or credit the amount to your account. Fine. Only...not so fine. It turns out they've got a $100 limit. It isn't clear if the limit is $100 per day...per visit...or what. I wasn't at all happy to see the note about the limit. If you go over $100, the credit union charges a 5% surcharge. Excuse me? My credit union is going to charge me for this? 5%??? I can understand a grocery store charging something if you use their machine. Or a "regular" bank charging since they're in the business of making money. But, my credit union claims to be there for me. Right? Apparently, not right.
So, I stopped the machine when it hit the $100 mark. And, credited the amount to my account. And, I went back the next day. And, the next. And, today. I've cashed in $100 each day. We're up to $400. I can't wait to see the final total. There's still a lot of change to go. By the way, after that first day, I quit taking all the change in when I stop in. I just take a few pounds of change at a time. That 40-pound bag was a bit much to be lugging about. Heh.
joanna@joanna.org
URL: http://www.joanna.org/archive/Dec2003-Feb2004.html
Last updated: February 26, 2004