Month: June 2008

Genealogy, Photography

Instant Review: Firefox 3.0

Shelly

A) So far, so good. My only complaint is that the text size increase/decrease (ctrl + mouse scroll wheel up/down) is backwards. That will take some getting used to. I really like the basic skin that comes with it, and I love the enhanced browsing history. It’s also supposedly much more memory efficient, so hopefully it won’t be as slow to wake up or quite so crashy.

B) The chairs I mentioned yesterday? The ones that sat upstairs, in the public area, for months and months? The ones that I was sure would sit in the SLIS hallway for more months and months? Gone. I’m glad I got a photo when I did, even if it was a crappy one.

C) Genealogy update:

I don’t know what got into me, but I started looking at my younger brothers’ father’s family. They’re no relation to me, but my brothers are, and they might be interested. Anyway, the Saxons? Apparently they were one of the first white families to settle in what later became Connorsville, Fayette County. Alexander Saxon arrived there in 1811, just a year or two after John Connor (brother of William Connor), the town’s namesake.

The family stayed in Fayette County until Herbert Saxon moved to Rush County. I haven’t yet figured out when that was. He was still there in 1920, according to the census.

And now I’m curious to go back and look at some of the old family photos that my brothers’ dad left at my mom’s. I may be able to put some of them into context, now.

And speaking of which! I found this photo a genealogy board. A woman had bought it from an eBay vendor who’d gotten it from an estate sale in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It has the names Robert and Joseph Saxon on the back. The guy on the left bears a scary resemblance to Herb. Actually to both Herbs II and III.

Robert Saxon and Joseph Saxon

Uncategorized

Mystery Call

Shelly

I finally emptied out my old voice mail box and set up the new one on my Comcast account. It’s only been a few months. Anyway, there was a message from a few days ago that was all in French. Despite the last name, I do not speak French! I haven’t a clue what the message was about. Upon looking at the caller ID, though, I saw that it was from a J. Couvrette.

I’m mystified.

J. Couvrette, why are you calling me?!!!

Photography

Chairs on the Move

Shelly

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They were last seen on the third floor, west tower, lined up near the elevators. There they’ve sat since December, biding their time. Over the past week, they’ve been slowly migrating to the ground floor, outside SLIS. Is this the final step in their plot for world domination? y0u hAV3 b33n wArN3d!11!!!!

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I, for one, welcome our new Chair Overlords.

Crankypantsing, Photography

BREAKING NEWS

Shelly

I just took some trash out to the dumpster. While I was doing so, Mr. Upstairs carried a couple of boxes down to his car, and then, a microwave. I’m almost afraid to hope, but it seems like he might just possibly be moving.

I really think it might be true, though. The past week, he’s been extra noisy, with serious cleaning and furniture shifting.

Yay!

And if it’s not true, it’s an awfully dirty trick to be playing on me, and he ought to be ashamed of himself.

In other news, I went to the grocery store and the gas station this morning. My cupboards and my car were on empty. Despite everything at the grocery store having gone up in price since the last time I went (for example, the cheap-assed unbleached flour went up 25¢, and don’t even get me started on the subject of rice), it cost more to fill my gas tank–$59.26–than to buy two week’s worth of groceries.

But! I got some very cute little asparagus spears (tiny and tender), vidalia onions, green tomatoes (they’ll be fried, so I thought they were worth the risk), some very nice looking portabella mushrooms, limes, and some gorgeous green peppers (I eat them raw, like some folks eat carrot sticks).

Also, chives, but not as nice as the ones in my mom’s garden.

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Genealogy, Photography

Morning Clouds

Shelly

Picture 008b

I spent last night cleaning up alternate names in my genealogy database. If I’d RTFM, I’d’ve input them correctly the first time, but I didn’t. So now the alternate names are properly cross-indexed, and that you can look up someone by any of their names (assuming I added alternate names to that record).

This becomes important when you’re looking for people like my great grandfather, who was named Cecil but went by John. Both names now show up properly in the index.

Next, to fix the census fields so that they display properly. Aieee! That is going to be a nightmare. Along with that, occupations also need to be moved so that they no longer display as dates.

RTFM, folks!

Crankypantsing, My Garden, Photography

Coral Bells and Crankypantsing

Shelly

IMG_1977

These silly things are blooming furiously. They seem to like the shady spot they’re in.

And now for a new installment of Mr. Upstairs Theater! I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into him lately. He was pretty good (for him) over the last few months. Yesterday, I didn’t hear a peep out him until I was getting ready for bed, when he turned on some right-wing talking heads and watched TV for a couple of hours. Then he started vacuuming. At 11:30pm. Then he stomped around for awhile. I’m not passing judgment on his fashion sense, but I swear, he wears high heels when he cleans. The clomping noise is distinctive of heels and is very different from his normal thudding. At about midnight, he turned on the dishwasher. A few minutes later, he started playing the same damned song he’s been playing for the past two years on the keyboard. Or maybe it’s a harpsichord. At this point, nothing would surprise me. I finally fell asleep, only to wake up at about 2am to him playing really crappy classic rock and galloping on the treadmill.

And right now, he’s stomping around in the room above my computer room. I think someone would have to really work at walking that heavily. I mean, he’s a little chubby, but he’s not a big guy, so how the hell does he manage to make that much noise when he walks?

Uncategorized

You Make Me Sick

Shelly

Conversation overheard on my way to the bathroom:

“…it made me nauseous…”

More conversation overheard on my way back from the bathroom: “…the nauseousness was terrible…”

1. That queasy feeling in your stomach? That’s usually called nausea, not nauseousness (though nauseousness isn’t strictly incorrect; it’s just kind of awkward). As in “…the nausea was terrible…”

2. Nauseous means to induce nausea. When you say you’re nauseous, you’re actually saying that you make other people sick, which I’m pretty sure is not what people mean to communicate when they say they’re nauseous, but who am I to judge? Maybe they really are sick-inducing? Anyway, the correct word is nauseated. As in, “…it made me nauseated…” or “…it nauseated me…”

That is all. As you were, comrades.

Crankypantsing

From the Department of Ridiculous Questions

Shelly

I’ve tried three times to heat up my lunch in the microwave, and each time, there was a line of people. The third time, when I came back to my desk, a coworker asked me what I was doing. I explained. My cubicle neighbor, who sits behind me and who is fixin’ to be named Miss Nosypants, asked me if it was something I had to heat up. Strictly speaking, I guess it’s not, but what the hell business is it of hers, and why would she think I’d want to eat something cold when I’ve repeatedly taken the time and effort to try to heat it up?

Veggies and rice, by the way. Sure, it could be eaten cold, but I think I’d rather go without, thankyouverymuch.