Archive for 2000

December 2000 Reflections

December 19, 2000: Wacky weather here. We had our first real snow storm last Thursday, with about four inches falling during the morning. Freezing rain finished the storm, turning a lot of it to ice. Then over the weekend, on Sunday, we jumped back out of freezing temperatures up to a whopping 62F, and we had a huge rain-wind storm. All of the snow and ice melted. Let's hope the daffodil bulbs don't get confused like they did last year, when an unexpected thaw brought them up early. Of course, yesterday we dropped back down to freezing again after a howling windstorm, and we're due for snow again tonight. A typical winter in New England.

Hmm... something depressing. I just heard that the singer Kirsty MacColl died in an accident down in Mexico (BBC News Link). Sad - she was very talented.

That was a downer. Here I sat down to write a few bright reflections, and they didn't come out very brightly.

The rest of life is okay. I am looking forward to having some time off and taking a break from work. Might even have time to do some proper writing.

Autumn 2000 Reflections

Okay, not a reflection, just a photograph...

July 2000 Reflections

July 26, 2000: The cake monster strikes again! Cally, our tortoiseshell cat, has decided she likes cake. I made a lemon cake tonight and left it uncovered on the stove during the evening. Finally, when we came downstairs to put the cats to bed, I looked at the cake and did a doubletake. There was a big round patch in the middle where someone had been munching, and another big gouge near one of the edges! Silly cat. She's the only one that likes people food, so we know who the culprit is. She did the same thing to a Victorian sponge cake I made a few weeks ago, attacking it right through a double layer of plastic wrap. What a cat! At least these cakes were not iced - I don't think she'd go for them if they had frosting. Good thing too -- think of the mess!

July 17, 2000: Another weekend has come and gone. We tried to go down to see the tall ships in Boston on Saturday, but we left it so late that by the time we got down there, all of the parking was gone. So instead we came home. We mowed the lawn. We did the shopping. We fixed a few cracks in the driveway. So much for seeing the ships. But we hadn't given up. On Sunday we got up extremely early (particularly for a Sunday) and tried again. No problems with parking this time, but unfortanely some of the ships were leaving and all of them were closed to visitors. I had thought the show would be around until the 19th from something I'd heard on TV, but apparently Sunday was really the last day. However, the visit wasn't a complete loss. Though we did not get to see the JFK aircraft carrier except from a distance, we did get to see about six to eight proper ships. They came from all over: Romania, Poland, Greece, US, the Carribean, etc. Some very pretty vessels. I took a few pictures, so those will turn up on our web photo gallery at some point. It was a good day for walking around Boston. It was overcast and cool, but it didn't rain. We also spent a little time wandering around Quincy Market before we came home in the early afternoon.

July 6, 2000: You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to put special characters into web pages designed with Front Page. That's what we've been using for the past year to design these pages. I was trying to put in a special o for one of the Swiss mountains. The "insert symbol" mechanism seems to work until you save the page - then it gets changed to something else - a dash, one of those little hat characters, or some other random characters. Frustrated, I went looking out on the web. Found lots of dotted o's, a's, and other things. Other web designers certainly aren't having problems. I tried cutting and pasting directly to the page. Looks okay until you save. Tried cutting and pasting directly into the HTML. That seemed to work for a bit, until I saved. Grrr... Front Page was the problem. It seemed to overwrite the character no matter what.

I had another idea. I opened the page I wanted to modify in Word, which has a built in HTML editor. It is harder to work with than the Front Page because it's not quite WYSIWYG (= what you see is what you get, for those of you unfamiliar with that long and rather old acronym). Ahah! At last, I was able to insert the desired symbol, and it saved! I transfered it over to the server and checked, and it was still there. I had a few other problems with Word, but it looks like I have a way to get around that little annoyance.

There is still a problem though. I tried re-opening the fixed document in Front Page. Front Page overwrote the fixed symbol into some garbage again, and I didn't even save! So it seems that every time I use Front Page I'm going to have to fix any such characters all over again by going back through Word after I'm done. Word is not a good place to do the initial design because you can't easily see the results of what you are doing like you can in Front Page. On the up side I did also finally fix the dotted e in one of the names on the Friends page.

Maybe I'll start saving my pennies for some better web design software.

July 3, 2000: We're having a wonderful four day weekend. We spent most of yesterday at WaterCountry, and we both have the sunburns to prove it (teach us to forget to put on our sunscreen!). We had a great time going down many different slides and enjoying the perfect weather. Today was much more restful, in contrast. I've been trying to get some updates done and we've been watching some videos. Tomorrow is our last day of mini-vacation, and I'm sure it will be busy with July Fourth activities. We're looking foward to seeing Tewksbury's fireworks. Our town does a pretty good fireworks show. Let's just hope the weather cooperates!

A leftover shot from Niagara...

June 2000 Reflections

None this month - too busy writing fiction!

May 2000 Reflections

May 14, 2000: I just can't seem to keep up with everything this month. It has been too busy! This weekend was no exception. I spent yesterday catching up on yardwork. The back lawn was incredibly long, nearly 1 foot! I think I emptied about 8 bags of grass! The yard looks nice now, but what hard work! Today was also busy - catching up on filing, tidying the attic, doing web page updates, and helping my parents with their new computer (mostly researcing ISP's for them). I'm worn out! I haven't had any time to work on my story, either. Hmmm...

April 2000 Reflections

April 26, 2000: It's snowing! And we're not just talking about a few little flakes. It looks like a blizzard out there, the way the snow is coming down, and everything is getting dusted white. All of the blooming flowers and budding trees - everything really except for the road. It's rather pretty, but a very odd thing to see at the end of April. After all, May starts next Monday! Our temperatures are normally around 60 at this time of year, but today it is right around freezing. New England weather is never dull! It's a good thing I mowed the lawn yesterday...

Everything else has been pretty ordinary this week. Work has been busy, but nothing out of the ordinary. I've been trying to get a little work done on part four of my story. I'm already thinking about how I'm going to finish up the wallpapering this weekend. If I'm lucky the new upstairs ceiling light we ordered will finally be in. I'd really like to install it and see how things look with the actual lighting.

The cats are batting at each other, complaining that I haven't given them any crunchies yet this morning. Guess I'd better take care of them.

April 23, 2000: This has been such a busy month! I haven't had a lot of time for this section because of work, decorating, writing, and travel. Yikes! We went to Niagra Falls recently for a little sightseeing and business, so we'll have some new pictures soon. It was a nice trip, but not too exciting - mostly just relaxing. The Falls were beautiful and the Maid of the Mists boatride was very wet (but fun). Unfortunately, we didn't manage to hook up with Marilyn and Bill on this trip, as they had other plans. That's the trouble with business trips - too short notice. Maybe another time.

I'll have to remember to take some pictures of the decorating project, too, so we can post those in the near future. I've made some good headway this weekend. If I'm really lucky I might possibly finish this weekend - although that is rather optimistic. Work has also been very hectic, as we approach another deadline. There's been a little bit of stress in that arena.

Aside from all of that, I've been trying to get some writing done on my latest short story, plus I'm starting to get involved on a new writing project with my old pal, Clint Matsen. Busy busy busy! As soon as I wrap up "Forgotten Riddle" I'm also planning to get back to doing some work using original characters (something that might possibly be publishable?). So there's definitely a lot of new work on the horizon as far as writing is concerned! I know I've been putting in a lot of time on the fan fiction in the last few months - non-publishable material - but it has been so much fun and such good practice that it has really been worthwhile. I never realized how good it would be for my writing, and it's great that others are enjoying reading the stories. To those of you have given me encouragement and feedback in the last few months, thank you!

April 9, 2000: We've had wacky weather this weekend. Yesterday the temperature was in the high 70's, although the wind kicked up in the afternoon. Today it started about 55 after a wet, rainy night, including a little thunder and lightening. This afternoon the temperature has dropped to just above freezing and it is snowing. It wasn't warm enough to stick, but still... crazy New England weather. Never dull.

I'm making hot cross buns. That should make the house smell nice. Perfect for a stormy spring day. I decided not to wallpaper today. I needed a break from decorating. It's hard to get motivated when my allergies are acting up. I'll do some more next weekend. Instead we did a little house cleaning, and I've had a chance to work on these pages a little. Perhaps I'll have a chance to do a little story writing tonight.

March 2000 Reflections

March 19, 2000: I decided to take a break from the decorating project today. After last weekend's wallpaper stripping and yesterday's less intensive preparation and cleanup work, I need to rest a little.

Work is going well on my latest story. It's developing well - so well that I think I may have to continue with another part after this in order to get something ready for April's publication. I had really wanted to have the conclusion done this month, but on the other hand I don't want to cut a good story short before it's really done. Everything from the last two parts is coming together at last. I can hardly pull myself away from working on it.

We watched The Bone Collector last night. It was okay, but a little too graphic. For murder mysteries about a serial killers, The January Man is still a better rental. Or maybe Sudden Impact. You can't loose with a Dirty Harry movie.

Hey - the crocuses started blooming this week. I don't think the daffodils are going to make it until sometime in April though.

March 5, 2000: Well, I've just about finished making this month's updates to the website. What do you think? I added a new feature, a special monthly page. I plan to put all sorts of things here from month to month, to keep our website varied and interesting. This month includes a cake recipe (for Jared's birthday), a couple interesting links, and a page reflecting on an important event in a past March.

I'm planning another special feature this month. I'm going to be decorating our hall and stairwell with new wallpaper - live on PussiCam. Want to see the ~~disaster~~ event unfold? Stay tuned for times. We picked the wallpaper this weekend, so things should start happening over the next few weeks.

Other than that, I've been really busy at work, and in my spare time I've been working on my latest short story. With a bit of luck, I might have it done by the end of this month.

February 2000 Reflections

February 13, 2000: It's time for another visitor! Jerry is coming to visit next weekend. He's actually coming out for some job-related training up in Portland, Maine, but it's a good excuse for him to visit us for a couple of days. I can hardly wait! It has been challenging to get family to visit because we are so far away from everyone. I'm not sure what we'll do when he comes out, since we are still in the midst of winter--outdoor sightseeing may not be an option. However, I'm sure we'll think of something. I wish I could have convinced my mother to come out with him, but she couldn't make it.

Not too much else has been going on at home. We'll be cleaning house today, to get ready for our company, and I might do some work on my current story. I've done a fair amount of brain-storming for ideas, but I've really only written a page so far. I usually like to write during lunchtime at work, but last week was incredibly chaotic. I was scrambling to get some initial schematics done for a new design, and I was helping out a couple groups bring up their new boards in the lab. With a bit of luck, things should be a little calmer next week. The rest of our weekend has been quiet. We bought our very first DVD yesterday--we can't watch in on our television, because we only have VHS, but our computer plays the DVD. It was kind of interesting to have the extra features, although I would hesistate to go out and buy a lot of these things--they'll probably come out with something even better in a year. We bought The Matrix, which seemed like a good choice because of the special effects. It was the second time we had seen it, and stood up well under the second viewing. There's one scene that really confuses me. You know the scene where Agent Smith interrogates Morpheus alone? When his two colleagues return to the room, they say that Agent Smith doesn't know what he is doing, and then they say that Morpheus' friends are trying to rescue him. I'm left wondering if Neo and company somehow managed to interfere with Agent Smith's programming, or if Agent Smith was just going a little crazy (after all, he has just finished a scene in which he complains about "human stink"). There's another other element in the film I wonder about: The Oracle. If she has been around since the beginning of the resistance, that would suggest that she is older than she looks... possibly much older. So is she really human? Or is she a rogue program in the matrix? Or something else entirely? How is it that her little flat seems so separate from the rest of the matrix, so protected? Next time I watch the film, I think I'm going to try to look for religious symbolism--there seemed to be a lot of little hints: Trinity's name, "The One", the city of Zion, etc.

February 8, 2000: Ever have problems feeding your cat? One of our cats, Tana, is very finicky. We feed her and Pollo together on one side of the kitchen (Cally eats by herself on the other side--she eats so quickly that we have to separate them so that Cally doesn't try to steal their dinners afterwards). Pollo usually eats anything you give him, but Tana, on the other hand, picks and chooses her meals. One morning we fed them something they both usually eat, and Tana turned her nose up at it. I had an inspiration. They were eating off of two different kinds of plates... Pollo had the thick stoneware plate, while Tana's meal was on a thin ceramic plate. I scraped her meal onto a plate that was like Pollo's and set it back down. Surprise surprise... she ate from it! Talk about finicky! A cat who cares about her dinnerware!

Of course, that trick doesn't usually work. Usually she just doesn't want the flavor you are serving.

On a completely different note, we've just been moved to a new part of the building at work. They decided to regroup our project into one area because people were getting too scattered. They have been frantically renovating part of the second floor and moved us up over the weekend. They really haven't finished the work on the area, but the cubes are all pretty much finished. Yup, we work in cube city. Only a few of the senior managers get offices; the rest of the people get cubes. There's only one little problem. Two-thirds of the cubes in our new area are smaller than our old ones. Our old cubes were 8x8, and my new one is 7x8. You wouldn't think 1 foot would make that much of a difference, but it does. I feel incredibly crammed in. I didn't even have that much stuff, but somehow I don't seem to have quite enough space for my notebooks and books. Hmmm. It's not really anyone's fault--limited office space set the constraint--but it is reminiscent of Dilbert.

We went skiing again. We decided to go last weekend, on Saturday, to a nearby ski resort called Nashoba Valley. It's just a small hill but it isn't too bad for beginners. The "less difficult" hills were steeper than the bunny slopes at Bretton Woods, so it seemed like a good challenge. (Forget the bunny slopes at Nashoba--they were less than 100 meters, and they were mobbed with children.) I did pretty well in the morning but never could seem to control my speed very well on the steeper slopes. However, we had both built up our confidence by lunchtime, so after lunch we decided to try one of the "difficult" hills. For me, that was a bad idea. I lost control going down and fell (major spin out), and then couldn't get back up on my skis. Some old men stopped to help me. I continued down, lost control again, and crashed again (another spin out, even knocked off my hat). Another nice old man helped me. Thankfully, the rest of the hill was less steep and I got to the bottom okay. However, I had left my confidence behind somewhere on the hillside, and I couldn't seem to find it during the rest of the afternoon. I skiied for a little longer on the easier hills, but I was constantly falling. I guess I just lost the right state of mind for it. Wayne did really well. He couldn't quite manage the "difficult" slope, but by the end of the day, he had worked his way up from the "less difficult" to one in between the "difficult" and "less difficult". I managed to get some pictures of him this time, so I will put them on the web page after they are developed.

January 2000 Reflections

January 27, 2000: Did I mention snow? I think we've had three storms since I wrote on the 13th. The first two were pretty small and each dropped only two or three inches. The one we had this week was a little more severe. I actually came home from work at lunch that day and worked at home during the afternoon because they were saying we could get anything from 6 to 12 inches during the day. In the end I think it was only about 6 inches where we were at, but some parts of Massachusetts had more. The wind was blowing so hard out at work that it was building huge snow drifts everywhere, and it looked like we were having a blizzard. It wasn't really that bad; we've had much worse. Aside from the snow storms, we've had some very cold weather. Two friends had pipes freeze. We had about two weeks where the temperatures were well below freezing, plus some days with an added wind chill factor. Brrrrr! Today is cold again and all of the snow is shiny and icy.

Life has been pretty busy this month. In addition to the usual hectic pace of work, I've been working on part two of a short story. I'm making good progress but the story is just too big to finish in a couple of parts. I think I've discovered the art of the serial. At any rate, part two of "The Forgotten Riddle" will be out for February. I'm going to stop predicting when the story will be finished. I think there will be at least one or two more parts. I am enjoying working on it, even though it is turning into a novella. I think it is the longest piece of fiction I have ever written.

January 13, 2000: We had our first snow of the year today... actually, our first snow in 305 days! A small, fast storm passed through the area today, dumping about six inches where we live. It was beautiful, and thankfully the roads weren't too bad. It wasn't severe enough to stay home. We're expecting more snow this weekend as a second storm comes across the country. Winter has finally arrived. Tomorrow is supposed to be bitterly cold.

The month of January has otherwise been uneventful. I've been doing a lot of writing in my spare time, and part two of "The Forgotten Riddle" is coming along nicely--up to about ten pages now. It's addictive, especially when the plot is moving quickly. I'm still hoping to finish the story with this section, but it depends upon how complicated it gets. I don't have the whole story mapped out in my head in any great detail. I just have a very rough sketch, so anything could happen. I've tried writing from more detailed outlines in the past, but I always seem to get bored with them after a while, and I discovered I write better if I don't really know what is going to happen next. At least, that's the case with these Serena stories.

After this story is done, I'm planning to take a break and do some more decorating. I'm going to attack the entry way and hall next. The wallpaper is old and peeling in places, and it is a small country style print, which I don't really like. I'll be off to look at new wallpaper soon. I'm not sure what I'll put up yet. The entry way joins a very homey and casual family room with a formal dining room. Whatever we pick will have to be able to join the two together harmoniously. The dining room is another project that is coming up. Right now it also has some rather old country style wallpaper plus very sad muslin curtains. This look does not exactly match our nice dining table. We would like to dress the room up a little. It probably looked fine for the last people, who used the room as a formal living room, but that doesn't make sense to us. We already have the family room so it seems better to use the space as a dining room. In addition to the wallpapering jobs, I'd like to paint two of the bedrooms sometime this spring, if there is time. Painting is a little easier to manage, actually. There's less preparation involved. However, I have no idea about color schemes or anything like that.

January 5, 2000: I can hardly believe January is already here. I've finally finished putting the web page in order for this month, and now it's time to get back to story writing. We had a really good vacation, taking a week and a half off of work. We spent the first couple days at a New Hampshire ski resort called Bretton Woods, learning how to ski. We picked a perfect time to go. Since it was right before Christmas, the slopes weren't particularly crowded, and the weather had also only just turned cold - they had had rain the day before we arrived, and they were frantically making snow. Bretton Woods is higher up than many of the other New Hampshire ski resorts, so they had a small advantage. At the time we went, they only had about 8 runs open and two or three lifts operating. However, they had some natural snow fall right after we left, so I think they've opened up a lot more since then. At any rate, it didn't matter to us. They had two bunny slopes open, and that was all we were ready to conquer anyway. We took lessons from a 70ish woman named Roz who was very enthusiastic and fit, and by the end of the two days, both of us were doing parallel turns. I was very happy - I only fell once in the entire time. It's only the third time I've ever gone skiing; the last two were when I was a teenager, and I was hopeless at the time.

Anyway, we enjoyed the trip so much, we hope to go again sometime in January or February, perhaps taking a friend or two with us.

Actually, at this very moment I wish it were summer. I'm in the mood to go camping. Must be from looking at the pictures of our camping trip to Maine this summer.

Of course, it hasn't even really been much of a winter yet here in Massachusetts. We haven't had any snow at all, except for a couple flakes one afternoon, and this week we had record high temperatures. It has been raining, it has been cold... just not in combination.

We had a pretty quiet Christmas. No one could come to visit this year, so it was just the two of us. We were decidedly lazy for the remainder of our holiday. We had a video fest. We watched:

Absolute Power - Outstanding performances by Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman, great plot

The Matrix - Excellent effects, dark atmosphere, intriguing plot and characters

Election - Didn't know Matthew Broderick could be that bad. Skip it!

Office Space - Funny and painful in parts. Okay to rent if you're bored.

True Crime - So-so performance by Clint Eastwood. Watchable but not his best.

Roger & Me - Interesting, humorous, poignant. Documentary by Michael Moore about devastation of Flint, Michigan.

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Updated February 22, 2003.