Archives for November 2008

Thirty days hath November (30 of 30)

November 30, 2008 by kathi

Thirty days hath November. Thirty days hath NaBloPoMo. And with this post, I’m done with NaBloPoMo 2008. Yay, me, for successfully making it through the entire month!

It has been a very long time since the days when I thought I might want to write for a living. I’m long since out of the habit of writing, daily or even weekly. Despite a journalism scholarship oh so very long ago, my writing is not all that great and it was really a struggle for me to stay interesting. I’m sure I failed at that several times during the month.

I don’t plan to blog daily for a while. I just don’t have enough inspiration to turn out a good solid read every day. I will try to stick with blogging in general, but I think I’ll be most interesting and satisfying to myself and others if I try for one to three good posts per week.

I did enjoy the challenge though, and of course meeting a few new online friends and finding a few new blogs to read. Thanks to all who were here alongside me! Congratulations to all who attempted NaBloPoMo, and bigger congratulations to all of us who finished!

Happy Birthday, Axel! (29.5 of 30)

November 29, 2008 by kathi

Happy second birthday to our beloved Axe (V-rated Precious Gems Axel vom Viersen)! His stubbornness and challenge to our dog training skills is exceeded tenfold by the love and laughter he brings to us the rest of the time.

Somehow this cute little puppy…

…has evolved into this handsome young man.

Many thanks to Denise and Gary Pluta for this wonderful boy, and for entrusting us to help him fulfill his potential whether that turns out to be champion known by all, or just the best family dog ever.

Pieces of my life (29 of 30)

November 29, 2008 by kathi

Today I finally completed the task of moving my life from my Palm and various scraps of paper to my BlackBerry, and syncing BlackBerry with portions of my online presence. In the process of reviewing my available BlackBerry features, and updating my to-do list before moving it over, I’ve discovered some annoying stuff that needs to be fixed. Nothing to do with the technology, everything to do with carelessness or stupidity on either my part or more so, on someone else’s.

I am 99% sure that I was sold a more expensive mobile data plan than I really need. Shame on me for not going in there already knowing the differences between Verizon’s various data plans, but more shame on the customer service rep for not coming up with the right solution given the answers I gave on how my work email is set up and what functions I expected my BlackBerry to perform. So that’s got to be taken care of sooner rather than later.

Also, there is a health insurance issue that should have been easily corrected, yet apparently nothing has been done. I have been covered under my husband’s insurance for 7 years. I have not been covered by my own company’s group plan except for the first few months of his employment while waiting for him to be able to add me to his plan. Yet, all of a sudden, after 7 years of properly handled claims, they decide that my primary carrier is the company that I have not been insured with for almost that entire time. I called 2 weeks ago when the problem came to my attention. I was assured it was a simple matter and that it would be taken care of in a few days. Um, not so, apparently. I hate wasting time on multiple calls about the same issue, especially when someone said it was “easy” to fix.

And I have to stop doing this. Not like I don’t have enough to do already, and still I have spent time today looking for a Rottweiler theme for the BlackBerry. Not finding one to my liking (yes, there were a couple of them available) I then spent time looking for information on how to create my own. Stop me before I hurt myself!

In the home stretch (28 of 30)

November 28, 2008 by kathi

NaBloPoMo is almost over! Key word: almost. It’s not over till it’s over, and I almost screwed up and missed posting today. That would have been tragic this late in the month!

Additionally, my hopes of having a totally relaxing four-day weekend were somewhat thrown off course today, but there has still been more relaxation than stress. I guess that will have to do.

Finally, today’s post will unfortunately be almost devoid of content and will serve only to keep me alive in NaBloPoMo 2008. But that’s still a good thing, and that, too, will have to do.

No accounting for tastes (27 of 30)

November 27, 2008 by kathi

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving Day, however you chose to celebrate, or not celebrate it.

I mentioned yesterday that I do not like turkey; I don’t really care for all that many of the dishes that are part of a typical American Thanksgiving feast.

One dish that seems to be part of a lot of people’s childhood memories is the green bean casserole. You probably know it: canned or frozen green beans, canned mushroom soup, canned french fried onions and bacon bits. It was never a part of my own family’s Thanksgiving dinner, so I have no memories of it, fond or otherwise.

I do end up cooking it for holiday dinners, though. For some reason, and I’m sure I’m far from the only one reporting this fact, people do not seem to want it changed, not even for what is clearly the better. I’ve tried it with fresh green beans, homemade mushroom sauce or gravy, fresh mushrooms, a few different variations on the onions, and freshly fried bacon. The original recipe is still the one that seems to be the favorite.

I’m pretty sure it’s not the tampering with the food that is at issue, it’s the tampering with the memories. Otherwise there is no logical explanation at all!