Dionica

Dinner last night was two intially very ugly women across from me and
the guy with the Casey Jones hat next to me. (Hat doffed for dinner.)
He didn't say much. Turned out the women were mother and daughter.
Mother's 94 and name Dionica. I hope got that spelling right. Going
back to Albuquerque
for a last visit from Riverside, California where the daughter lives
and the mother is in a nursing home.

We all had shown up at the dining car for our 8:15 seating
reservation, but they weren't ready, and the stewart tried to send the
women back. They came when they did because the train was stopped so
Dionica'd have a chance.

The daughter was way beyond haggered, was missing front teeth. But
Dionica with her still red hair, looked quite content.

--
David
www.schons.net

Money transfer to lala land

tomas_bernice_leo, originally uploaded by David2004.

I thought I had lost Dorothea's inheritance. She had deposited check. I went to ING Direct to move. Happened to see a $19 charge in the checking account for a returned check. Wasn't adding up for sure. But, I was looking, and the money was nowhere to be found. Turns out she put it in savings, and we've got ING Direct set up to take from checking when we request a transfer. Oops.

But that gave new meaning to this picture, as in who's in the picture and their expressions. Thomas, Bernice, Leo. They're who the money came from, and they're all dead, and it is like they are wordlessly saying, "Dude,...."

Doinking around

Doinking around, a la OCD. I have discovered a todo Google gadget that
I rather like, that I can see at work. So, I sez to myself, if I were
to see it on the PDA as well, I'd have complete coverage. But nooo,
not that simple. Doesn't show in mobile iGoogle. Than, ah ha, the
gadget is embeddable. I created a subdomain and page on
schons.net--but the gadget isn't visible. On Madeline's iTouch?
Visible. Found and installed Iris browser. (Wasn't that easy.) instant
presto! I can now use the organizetodo gadget on my pda.

--
David
www.schons.net

Which direction time?

Crisp, subzero blue-sky February morning. Waiting for bus.

At 5th and Cedar looking north, bus roofs at the bottom of the hill in
the near distance, towards Metro State, in the far distance, on crest
of the Mississippi River valley, realizing that none of the modern
buildings or facades in the vista were present in the streetcar days,
I turn around to see the 1890's Landmark Center and the 1919 Hamm
Buikding.

--
David
www.schons.net

Birthday 50

So, it comes to this--so many candles, it sets off the smoke alarm. (Ah, well, it should have, but didn't.)

Water in the basement

Back at it. Started a twitter account, yet that is insubstantial. So
is this, too, probably.

On the phone today with my mother's nursing home nurse, and with my
sister, the power of attorney gal. Arrangements had been made, and my
mom had agreed, to have someone come in once a week, change her
sheets, change the hearing aid batteries. When they came today,
though, she didn't let the person do either. Time for a drug holiday.

Was confronted this morning with water on the floor in the basement.
One-hundred year-old house that we've been in for ten years, and this
is a first, though the portion of the basement wall with the seepage
was noted as a trouble spot when we bought house. The parts of the
yard that aren't bare are now pooled water on top of ice. Took a
"house sick" day and worked from home.

Speaking of work, management is working on a plan to cut costs 5%.
Either a 5% pay cut (most likely) or two weeks of unpaid vacation
(that sounds better)--and then they lay people off.

So all of the above sort of woes, plus approaching 50th--and the
children were wondering why I was so crabby.

--
David
www.schons.net

Totally skipped August

9/26/08

At Nina's. First time in a long time. I totally skipped August . The
coffee shop is hopping laptops on tables are like--I don't know what.
People texting away on their cellphones. Two older guys trying to help
each other figure ring volume and how to assign different alerts to
emails.

This cellphone is a replacement I got a few weeks ago for the T-mobile
Wing whose speaker had died. I just now got my connectivity again so
that I can post from here to Blogspot.

I have been making a sporadic effort to post some pictures on Some
Kinda Possible. Need to do a card for Dorothea. The birthday note that
I sent her while she was at camp with Liam never got to her.

My manager gave me and two of my colleagues the day off. We all have
been working early and late, weekends. Thursday was a successful
conversion to an upgrades database. Usually a weekend sort of thing,
it was forced through late at night because our DBA was to be on
vacation.

The other thing that I am interested in is getting copies of building
permits for our house.

--
David
www.schons.net