Wichi Dude

TRANSCENDMENTAL MEDIATION

or the zen of lawnmower maintenance.

MURPHY IS AT IT AGAIN

Tuesday night, just before heading off to bed, I went to close the garage door.  A typical nightly ritual, the "Closing Of The Door".  The last sign of life from Casa Wichi before we roll up the sidewalks (kinda funny since we don't HAVE any sidewalks).

And this was anything but funny.

RETURN TO FREAK #2

KK.  I mentioned I would come back to Freak #2.  Well, here I is.

FREAKS ATTACK

Like the last time when I mentioned "MAH-STER", I was outside, minding my own business, when I hear this noise...

GOTTA WATCH OUT WHO

you piss off.

A person I know has had pissing matches with their IT department on and off.

SOME FUNKY HAPPENINGS

And some not so funky happenings...no specific order.

SLICE N' DICE SCHEDULED

Dey gwin' pimp my 'rist!!!  Homey.

PITY ALERT

Damn it!!!  Can't even work the system to do a multiple category.  AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Now with the news.  Posting, e-mails, and/or IM'ing will be sparse, or at least very slow, for the next month or two (minimum).  I broke my wrist.  BADLY.

Details through e-mail only.  Working on a form letter, so specific questions will be answered on a "when able" basis.

End of pity party.  I hurt too much to continue right now.

Sucky things happen.

A LITTLE GRASSED

Sounds funny, but that is the best way to put it.  I am having an issue with grass.

WATER,WATER, WHAT HAPPENS

I mentioned all the Water we had come in through our "new-er" windows.

Well, we heard from the makers rep.

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE

I forgot to mention the storm we had Monday.  As if my neck wan't bad enough to worry about.

OW...OW...OW...OW

Pulled a muscle in my neck this morning.  It is cramping and twinging despite ice.  Took over 20 minutes to put this up.  And I go back to work tomorrow.  Oh joy.

Pain (is) happening.

LAST GRUMP FOR THE NIGHT

I've seen these two bozo's before.  Hard core cyclists.  The bicylce kind, not the biker kind.

OK, I'VE BEEN GONE A DAY OR TWO...

but, when did TP change how things are laid out?  I spent the first little bit when I logged on just finding stuff I mechanically go to without much thought.

An what happened to the stats?  ehrm...the Account Info.  How much space used, how much bandwidth, etc.  I know I used some of it.  Couldn't tell you how much though.  Not like I am in any trouble overrunning what I have available.  Still.

I thought I logged into the wrong place at first.  Wish they would warn me.

At my age, that could be dangerous.

Which reminds me...

AND THE WORK GOES ON

Friday.  Dudette has her car back so I am not needed as a driver today.  But I do have the sprinkler system to mess with.

Off to the sprinkler system supply place for those fancy wire nuts.

OK, NOW WHERE WAS I...

oh, yeah...Thursday.  First I need to back up a step or two.

Wednesday night, Dudette loaned her car to CK as hers died and was in the shop.  I was enlisted to do the honors of driving Dudette to and from work Thursday and maybe Friday.  No biggie, I was home anyway.

VACATION TIME AGAIN

Yeah, I know.  I listed this under irritations.  Where else would I put my vacation time?

Know why?

HAD MY APPOINTMENT

Got in to the Dentist for my cleaning.  While there, I mentioned a peculiar issue I've been having for a while.

CUTTING TIME AGAIN, ALREADY

As I mentioned last week, the lawn had gotten pretty thick and tall very quickly.

And, I just mentioned the rain we had all week.

Well...

WE JUST CALLED TO SAY...

your appointment is canceled.

Uh, huh.  Canceled.  I took tomorrow off to take care of some business and to make an appointment.

'NET S-L-O-W

Late last week, our cable box died in the basement.  The tech showed up with a new one.  And it died.  Go figure.

I told him that we would be calling again in the next week or so.  When he asked why, I told him.

AND THEY JUST WON'T COME

I have about five good stories rattling around inside my head.  I have been wanting to get them put up on Storyman for a while now, but every single time I sit down to get started on them...*POOF*...gone.

THE NEW YEAR STARTED OFF

in grand fashion.  Last night we were watching the football games.  When those were done, Dudette wanted to channel surf for a bit before midnight.

Not a happening.  The digital box wouldn't respond to any commands, from the remote, nor directly from the box itself.  Checked everything else, mostly the computers, and no problems there.  Working off the basic cable line, we had all the "non-digital" channels.  Just no response from the "box".

FLICKERING FURNACE

While off during the holidays, I noticed the furnace acting up.  It's been doing it on and off since sometime last season.  Nothing I could prove or put my finger on though.

This time, its peculiarities were become more pronounced and annoying.

ONCE AGAIN

I ask myself, what else can go wrong?  Then I get an answer.

I was feeling a bit better today and decided to try cleaning the house.  Something I could do, and not be out and about making others ill.  And, I could take my sweet time and as many breaks as I needed when I fizzled out.  Not a bad deal there.

So, to set the mood, I popped a CD in for some "tunes to clean by".

VACATION/TIME OFF = SICK

Friday started the beginning of the Holiday shutdown at work.  Woo-Hoo!!  Two weeks off.

And of course, whenever I manage to get time off, I end up sick somehow.

UPDATE ON THE WASHERS

Dudette has been researching the washers we were looking at.  Seems that, though they look the same, upon further examination, they aren't.

We hit up a couple of the "Report" sites to check on the models out there.  Seems that though the pictures look the same as what we have, once you actually look at the options available, they aren't.

A NEW FORM OF FRAUD

I received an e-mail from a friend explaining a new form of "card" fraud or, more accurately, theft.  Kind of interesting.

(And they know I appreciate the info even more now, having been victim to that sort of stuff in the past.)

ON WASHERS AND HOUSES

And, "IT NEVER FAILS" marches on.

First, the house.  I am happy to report that the door and both windows are in.  Always nice to have windows and a door in the winter, right?  And those led to some conversations with the contractors.

They had some ideas on how the work should go and wanted to know our thoughts.  It was actually pretty refreshing to have a group bring about thoughts, ideas, and suggestions on a project.  Some made a lot of sense as to how to continue with the work.  Others were for clarifying exactly what we wanted before they got involved.  Make sure there were no "interpretation" issues.

Very good thing.

AND IT NEVER FAILS

Now that the holidays are right around the corner, stuff happens.

I mentioned that the remodeling work on the house is starting tomorrow.  Just before I start a holiday shutdown and vacation.  And it will last almost the entire time I am off...no rest for the weary.

But...

STILL WAITING

Despite much back and forth conversation about the Nertin stuff, I still like it.  The one thing irritating me right now though, is I am STILL waiting for the big brown truck to stop in front of the house.

Tomorrow at the latest.  If it isn't here tomorrow......I guess I'll wait till Wednesday.

Waiting (impatiently) happens.

UNPROTECTED S......

I hate doing it unprotected.  Makes me feel so open and vulnerable.

And you never know what you'll pick up.  All the bugs and viruses and stuff just waiting out there, to ruin your life.

Sad, I tell ya.  Sad.

It all started when...

FOOTBALL BLACKOUT

Sort of.  The NiFeL net has a real gig going on.  At least for our provider.

The Chefs are up against the Horses tonight.  And it is on the NiFeL net.

I think the pirate Black Jack Sparrow should be announcing.  Though, missing this match up, for this part of the country, is just short of being a communist or a republican, I will have to take a pass.

MISSION CONTROL...

This past Tuesday, I blew out the sprinkler system.  With winter coming on and temps dropping below freezing, I didn't want a repeat of a couple years ago when one of the main supply lines fractured.  I think the neighbors are still a bit miffed about part of their backyard being washed away.

5 MINUTE FIASCO

Ever have one of those days.....?

I did.  All within 5 minutes.

DAMMIT!!!

It must be August again.  My computer shot craps, ONCE AGAIN, last night.

Did a "cold boot" like I do about once a month and the Beast wouldn't wake back up.  It tries to rouse itself from slumber, then quits.  I get the wonderful screen message "to insert the system recovery disk" or "reboot and select the drive you wish to boot from".

Well, Gee!  That would be swell, if I could get to a drive.  Any drive.

A LITTLE EXPLAINATION

When I get some weird "junk" comments, if it is obviously "pork shoulders and ham" (if I gotta explain that one, you shouldn't be here), I delete it and ban the IP.

When it is rude of just plain goofy stuff, I love to rewrite the comment.  I then change the authors name, usually dink with their e-mail address, AND ban their IP.

So, if you run across some offensive "comment", give it a day or two and see what it looks like then.  If it is still "offensive", I may have missed it.

If I did, gimme a shout and let me know.  I don't really mind some stuff.  If I can't play with it and make it funny or acceptable, I'll blow it away.

I've been thinking about adding a sidebar listing of the gunk I've banned so others can see "who", "why", and the offending IP.  Think that would get me in trouble, or yelled at?  I may have to try it and find out.

Confusion happens.

MORE CREDIT WEIRDNESS

After sharing the stress and panic producing happenings with this fiasco, we thought we were done and it was over.  Well....sort of.

Dudette checked the accounts to see how things were progressing, and was shocked to see what popped up.

THIS ONLY HAPPENS TO OTHER PEOPLE, RIGHT?

WRONG!!!

I am going to make a very long story a bit shorter to make it readable.

You think you cover all your bases and are secure, but ya not.

THERE IS NO GOOD TIME...

for a cold.  Woke up Thursday and felt like hell.  Achy, sore, tired, congested, miserable, all those fun little side effects from letting nasty little microbes take up residence in your respiratory system.

*Blargh* *cough, cough*  *honk, honk, honk...repeat as needed.*

Called my boss.

WITH GREAT SADNESS...

I have to announce, I have turned on comment and TrackBack moderation.  I had hoped to not be in a position of having to do this as I don't generate a significant amount of traffic.

Today however, did it for me.  I got hit with a ton of TrackBack spam.  From the Netherlands no less.  Everything from PRON, to illegal MP3 downloads.  I got more today than I have seen in the last 3 - 4 months.  So it is on until things slow down.

Sorry.  I love hearing from everyone but wasting 20 minutes clearing out the carnage torqued me off, big time.

BY THE WAY, I had another new comer hit me the other day.  WELCOME, OWEN.

WATCH YOUR E-MAIL

Just a friendly warning about e-mails.  Like we all need another one, right?

I always check any weird e-mail's I get for viruses and other nasties (can't be too careful out there).  So it came as a bit of a surprise when I got one from "egreetings.com" and it contained two viruses.

No, I didn't get the viruses!

Calm down.  Though "egreetings" is a legit site, the e-mail wasn't.  I checked out out the site before hand and even checked to see if I ever received stuff from them before (and I had).  So I checked out the e-mail. Every bell and whistle went off when I clicked the link for my "egreeting card" and it wanted me to "run" the program.  That is so not right.

STILL SORE

I plan on calling the Doctor this week about getting back in about my leg/hip/back/butt...whatever.  The sciatica issue I have been suffering from hasn't resolved itself yet.  It is still sporadic and hits me when it wants to.  Nothing more fun than sitting down for a couple seconds, then taking several minutes to stand back up totally straight.

It makes it very difficult to blog, watch TV, or even have a meal without paying the price afterward.

This, has got to go.

Pain happens.

ISSUES WITH THE NET

Anyone else have problems getting on to TP yesterday?  Or was it just me.

Bad connections happen.

OTHER CRITTERS

As in the previous post, we have another critter.  This time of the year, as the temps drop, living things look for warmth.  Happens every year.

I was in the garage and I noticed movement.  I thought it was another of the Killer Moths that have been invading the area this year.  Nope.  Moths don't have tails.  Long tails.

We got our first visiting Mickey for the year.  Stupid mice.

TRYING A LITTLE EXPERIMENT

Even though the computer is up and running (mostly), I am still having an issue with the "blue screen of death".  It has become a bit irritating.

ON OTHER NEWS...

CK talked to her Doc this past week about her knee still giving her issues.  She was informed that it may take up to 6 (six) months for it to get better.  (For those that know CK, when I say "she was not happy", you'll get the visual.

-------------------------

My spider bite is almost totally gone now.  If you didn't know where to look, you'd never find it.

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I'MMMMMM BAAAAACK! (the short version)

I do like most people, really.  That is why I am keeping this to the short side.  Left to my own devices, I COULD get a little verbose.

For those that missed the beginning of the fun, here are some links leading up to this moment:  "NASTY BAD COMPUTER", "STILL LIMPING, BARELY", and "ONE MORE ONCE".

And for those that caught most of it; you can uncross your fingers now and get back to work. (Bogie, tell your boss thanks for the understanding.  hehehe)

Now, (as Paul Harvey would say) the rest of the story.

THE BEAST

The BEAST seems to be working properly.  That is a good thing.  I had hoped to waste a lot of time sharing all the gory details tonight but it was not to be.  About the time I sat down to do some posting, I got busy with other stuff.

So, tomorrow be prepared to put up with a detailed post on the situation.

WEIRD stuff happens.

NOW BOTH OF US ARE STRIKEN

Not only is the computer still limping along, now I am also.  Sometime Monday (at work, we think) I was bitten by a spider on my left ankle.  Didn't even notice it until after work.  In the morning I was fine, but after work, while changing out of my work shoes, my ankle itched like crazy.  As soon as I started scratching I realized something didn't feel right.

Inside my ankle, was a nasty bite.  Cleaned it, and dressed it, and figured it would heal like usual.

STILL LIMPING, BARELY

The computer still isn't a happy camper.  Dudette and I (mostly Dudette) spent a good chunk of time beating life into the sorry thing and it is still ralphed-up.

NASTY BAD COMPUTER

May be gone for another day or two.  Computer is giving me fits.  Started corrupting on video play back and cascaded from there.

Really started acting nasty Thursday night.  Yesterday, after trying a few fixes, it disintigrated more.  Dudette (the Mistress of Softwere) took a large hammer to the box after work and the two of us beat on it till after midnight.  When our eyes were crossed, we headed for bed thinking it MIGHT be fixed.

WRONG!

YOU WANT A "WHAT"?

Dudette had the honor today of "working" with a moving company.  Seems the moving co. is holding the belongings of one of the employees she represents, hostage.  Sort of.  They want their money before they will deliver.  And they already have the stuff where it needs to be.  They just won't let it go.  AND, they don't accept credit cards.

Anyway...

HOW DO YOU EAT

corn-on-the-cob without having to shampoo your face afterward.  Most people have done a lot of other things and not made that big of a mess of themselves.  So I know I'm not alone.

But you just can't enjoy corn-on-the-cob without finding butter and stuff dripping off your chin, up your nose, all over your glasses, in your (and everyone elses) drink, and probably other places we haven't found yet.

I think that is what makes it so fun.

Messes happen.

PUT ON MY SAFARI HAT AND WENT HUNTING

I was talking to the neighbor the other day and he informed me he had termites.

For a home owner, that is like saying your home has cancer.  Or some other wasting disease.

VIRUS E-MAIL

I've been getting some e-mails with viruses for the last few days.  Fortunately, my virus software has been catching it before it got in.  But it is getting to be a pain.

So, if you are getting anything from IP "69.14.95.88", look out.  (I've banned that IP.)

I was told by the nice folks from my ISP to forward the messages to them and their geeks would do their magic on the stuff.  I sent them a bunch.  Now lets see if they find anything when they start kicking over the rocks.

OH, MY ACHING BACK

As I mentioned yesterday, I hurt my back.  I didn't think too much of it until this morning when I tried to get out of bed.  It reminded me to think about it.

Straightening up was a challenge.  Getting ready for work took some serious thought.

Then I thought some more.

SOMETIMES YOU JUST GOTTA LOVE IT

(I started this on Monday night and never got it finished.  So when you read it, pretend it is Monday and it will make sense.)

At work, I carry a "clip" knife, one of those that can clip onto a belt or pocket.  I use it for opening boxes and stuff.

One of our Yay-Hoo's at work likes to borrow it every time he needs to open something.  And he has no respect for a person's "bubble".

COMPUTER ISSUES

Over the last couple weeks, my anti-spam, anti-virus, and firewall protection has been giving me fits.

It wants me to update, then tells me it couldn't.   Hmmmphh!

NASTY "PORK SHOULDERS AND HAM"

Just got done hammering a bunch of the nasty stuff off the site.

If you know anybody from this address, "81.218.169.127", shoot them.

I just cleaned up a bunch of their droppings from my comments.  How can some group of idiots that love a particular card game be so irritating?

The way they try to advertise it, you'd think they would be too busy PLAYING it.  But no, they need to tie up my resources pushing their past-time.  I think I'd rather be bothered about the fear of "four hours, contact a doctor...".

Then again, maybe not.  But what is with the "FOUR HOUR" bit?  Hell, I call that a good start.  :^)

BANK RUN

Stopped at the bank after work yesterday.  I just had to make a small deposit into savings.  Not a big deal, right?

THE SHADOWS ARE GETTING LONGER

Dudette and I were outside today and I made the comment that it was getting dark early.

She countered that, "the sun is still shining.  After all, it is only 4 o'clock."

I said, "Well, the shadows are longer than my memory."

She just looked at me.  Then with a glint in her eyes, "Yeah, at noon."

I had to run in and get this posted.  Otherwise, I'd forget.

Memories....(do something...do....oh,yeah!)...happen.

TEST TO SEE IF THINGS ARE STILL MESSED UP

This is just a test to see if the foul up on the appearance is a fluke.

LEAKY BOTTLE

At work I carry a thermal lunch bag for my Pepsi. To keep it cold, I place a liter bottle of ice in with it. Works very nicely. Been using this method for a couple years now and am happy with it. Especially during the summer. When the Pepsi is gone, I have a bottle of cold water to work on.

Today though, I noticed a puddle of water on the table top where I keep the bag. The puddle had soaked into a box of tissues I keep, as well as a paper lunch bag. This was not good.

I salvaged what I could and started looking for the source of the water (we have a lot of practical joker around, so one never knows).

When I picked up the thermal bag, a stream of water started pouring out. I naturaly figured one of the morons at work filled the thing with water. That is not beyond them.

Instead, the bottle of ice was better than half empty. It had split and as the ice melted, it filled the bag.

End result; out one box of tissues, one lunch, and one bottle of ice.

All in all, not a bad day.

Global warming happens.

MODEM DOWN TIME

Well, I've been off the air for about three days now. As I've mentioned before, I have been having an intermittent issue with getting dropped off the internet. Just out of the blue, I'm not online. I've had the cable people out several times to check into this problem with no luck. Almost like clock-work, I'll call, they'll set up a service appointment, and ten minutes later, I'm back online. The tech shows up, can't find anything wrong; strong signal comig in, great transfer rates, yadda, yadda, yadda.

On Thursday it happened again. I had just gotten home, went to get online, and nothing. Went through the whole drill again.

This time though...

SAFETY SHOES

Ordered a pair of safety shoes a couple months back. When they came in, they were the wrong size. I finally caught up with the shoe truck today to get replacements. They cost me an extra $4.75 to buy.

Why???? Because, they refund the "old" purchase price, and sell at the current price. Hence, the $4.75 up charge. Even though it was their fault.

Man have they got a racket going. And, we have to have steel toed shoes at work. Figures.

Scams happen.

DUDETTE'S NEW COMPUTER, sort of

Dudette is a power user on a computer, especially at work. In her capacity, she needs a computer with power to spare, as she pushes them to their limits. She has higher NEEDS than most.

So, the IT-geek-boys at her work, built her TWO screaming computers to make her the envy of everyone. They worked with her to get them set up just right. That way she would have two identical machines for both her and her assistant.

Sounds good, right?

Well...

CK'S WORK

CK is a little unhappy at her work right now. It seems they have hired a bunch of new CNA's and her schedule is getting cut down. She is hoping this is only temporary. But, she needs the job and the income. With the reduced hours, it is hurting her check and she is not a happy camper.

She is actually out looking for a new job. Not that she doesn't like the present place, just she has to have the hours and income.

Job hunting happens.

CONCERNED REVISED

Seems Typepad got it fixed.

Cool

A LITTLE CONCERNED

I seem to have gotten a few comments that do not show up in my "comments" section of the posts. They show up on the site, but when I go to edit them and/or remove them, they aren't there.

Can't find them under the post listing or under the comment listing. I left a note for the Typepad people to investigate. Hopefully they find out how this is happening. I may have to turn off comments for a while until this is resolved.

Sneaks happen.

I WISH PEOPLE WOULD PAY FOR THEIR COMMERCIALS

Once again, I got a comment from a company using the comments section for free advertising. I used to delete them but have decided to mess with them instead, just for the grins and giggles. Yeah, they're still there, sort-of, but now they say what "I" what them to say.

Childish but fullfilling.

Nonsense happens.

I'LL TRY HARDER

The past couple weeks have been hectic to say the least. Usually I post at least a couple times a week, but I haven't been able to. I hope to get this resolved in the near future.

No promises though. I was informed Thursday at work, that they are rearranging the line I work on. It will combine parts of two positions, into a different two positions setup.

Currently we have two positions that do BOTH brazing and assembly work. The new setup will have ONE person doing all the brazing, and the other doing ALL the assembly work. Sounds simple. But you would have to see it to understand it. NOT...THAT...SIMPLE.

But I'm game (BANG) (old joke). I'm willing to give it a whirl. It will probably take a little bit to get used to, but "I" think it is do-able. This starts tomorrow, providing our maintenance crew got all the work done over the weekend. So it will be, "in to work early in the morning", so I can wrap my mind around the new setup.

If I can visualize it, then I ought to be able to do it.

"I'm psyched. Come on coach, put me in."

Changes happen.

E-MAIL UP

Yeaaa! Got home this afternoon and the e-mail system was back on line. It must have been a doozie of a problem, taking down the whole region for over 10 hours. (I'm thinking virus...any bets?)

I did find it interesting that when I tried to bring up my e-mail last night, it wanted my password to log on. Surprise...I don't have one on that particular set up. So I couldn't give it one. But it insisted.

When I looked at it after work, the mail had already been delivered.

Now how can it deliver something after it locked me out for not knowing a password? As far as the system was concerned, I shouldn't have been logged on. Go figure.

Mail happens.

E-MAIL DOWN

In case anyone is trying to send me an e-mail, it isn't happening right now. My ISP has an issue with their e-mail server - it's down. It went out about 6:00pm CDT.

It is apparently bad enough, ALL e-mail for the region is out through them. I guess they have received so many calls about it, they put a message about it on their tech support phone system to try to shorten the time people tie up the phone system.

Fo