ZOMBIE

So the motherboard was fried! Rex replaced it today and VOILA it works just fine.

Then, Arsenic broke. I can't win. So tomorrow I get to go in and try to diagnose the problem.

I was NOT feeling well today. I haven't been sleeping very well at all, so every morning I wake up feeling like a zombie. No amount of caffeine seems to help, either. So, just now I took Nyquil and I am going to sleep like a rock tonight and hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. But it's more likely that I'll feel like a zombie because of the effects of the medicine. Once again, I can't win.

Minesweeper BUNNYCAKE

This just happened: Buster was lying around. Scott started talking to him:

"Puppy, you should go make me chocolate milk.

"No? Ok, you should go make me a steak.

"No? Ok, you should sit there and look at me like an idiot."

Buster looked away.

AWESOME DOG.

FTIR is still broken. Rex (FTIR Dude) is ordering parts and will get back to us.

Work was pretty busy today. I had a USP Heavy Metals test (takes about 5 hours) and 20 samples, plus another lab sent over 35 samples for me to run mercury.

I have been asking my lab manager for a while now if there is somewhere I can organize raw materials. We keep samples of all outgoing product for the past 5 years in an archive (they call it the "morgue", kinda morbid if you ask me) but they don't have any sort of organizational system for raw materials, which we are also required to keep around for 5 years. So today I talked to my boss. I decided how I wanted to organize them and I asked for what I needed and he said ok, so as soon as I get the shelving and small boxes I will start. It will probably be a big project, since I have hundreds of samples to run through.

So this Wednesday is Mim's birthday. We celebrated this past weekend. We drove down Friday after work. Traffic was awful so we didn't get there until about 7:00. We took Em and Jorg and Em's friend Fish out for dinner at The Pizza Factory, which was very tasty but the service was SOOO slow. We left there and went to do some shopping. We needed groceries for Mim's birthday dinner and Em and Jorg hadn't had a chance to get Mim anything for her birthday. So Jorg picked out some candles and Em found some hand salve and cuticle cream (Burt's Bees! It's the best!) and I found a necklace that was so very Mimmish:We got home and went to bed, but I couldn't sleep so when Mim got home from work around midnight I hung out with her a little bit before going back to bed. In the morning we all woke up and we sent Mim out for her surprise. We had scheduled her for a manicure/pedicure/facial package at a spa, and also a deep conditioning hair treatment. We figured she would be gone about six hours, so we woke Em and Jorg up and Scott went to get breakfast for us all. We ate (yummy Burger King, CinniMinis are the best) and then got to work! Em and I teamed up, and Jorg and Scott teamed up, and we all tackled cleaning the house. We got A LOT done, and when Mim got home she was so excited to have a clean house! We then made birthday dinner: burgers and chips and soda and birthday cake. Desu (one of Em's bunnies) was on the table after we were all done with dinner and apparently will eat anything:BUNNYCAKE. Very cute!

We hung around for a little longer while we waited for the benadryl to kick in (in Buster-he gets very motion sick in the car and we hoped this would help-it did) and then we came home. It was a fun visit, and I think Mim had a very good time.

So I made a minesweeper record:74 Seconds! On expert level! I have too much time on my hands...

What Is It About Our House?

So today the FTIR guy came. The REAL one. From Perkin-Elmer. Dude worked on the instrument for three solid hours and came up empty-handed. This whole thing is way past annoying now. Of course the service technicians always come when it is most INconvenient. We had 20 samples today plus I had outside testing and monthly water testing, and I had to retest ALL of the mercury samples, so I was pretty busy, and I have such a small instrument room that I had to dance around FTIR Dude to get my work done. Annoying.

Moving on.

I exercised today! I am so incredibly out of shape. This is pathetic, but my goal was to do just 20 minutes on the treadmill. BUT, I didn't feel like dying so I went 35 MINUTES WOW. And I pushed myself too. Now, I just need to do this every day and get into shape really fast so I look awesome in my bikini when we go to Vegas next month.

Yes, Vegas. We're planning to go Pioneer Day weekend. Mim and Scott and I will drive down Thursday after work and stay until Sunday morning. We're going to hit up all the free stuff (there's actually quite a lot to do if you're cheap) and soak up the sun. I'm really excited. I've been on road trips before, but I've never actually planned a vacation and gone on it. We didn't even really go on a honeymoon (I think what we did was better: spend a whole week shopping and eating out and seeing movies and doing fun stuff while we got our house organized. No planning involved! And no money spent! Except on the vacuum cleaner. Definitely spent $500.00 on that one) so this will be really cool for me. I don't really like being away from home, where everything is familiar and I have all my stuff around me, but I think I can deal for a few days. Our friend is going to house-sit (and puppy-sit) and Mim is going to board Gir and have someone check in on the bunnies and snakes, and then we're not going to worry about anything or anyone else for THREE WHOLE DAYS!

Em and Jorg will be going to Cedar Point (somewhere in Ohio?) to ride roller coasters with Dad so Mim would be all alone and bored if we didn't do something together. How sad would that be?

So. Our house.

This is the second time someone has tried to break into our house. Seriously, what's the deal?!

Now, don't get me wrong, we have a lot of valuables, but I'm sure all the other houses do too...and it's been ours twice.

I got home and let Buster outside, but I didn't go out myself. I exercised, showered, and wound a ball of yarn before Scott got home. When he got home, he let Buster out again and went with him to play. Now, yesterday he had gone around and put screens back on windows. But today when he went into the backyard one of the screens had been pulled off and another was almost off. It couldn't have been wind or anything because they are designed to be hard to pull off. Now luckily we lock all our windows and Buster was probably barking like crazy (we don't know, it happened while we were at work). There were perfect fingerprints, but the policeman who came thought it was most likely stupid kids getting into mischief. He was a really nice guy. We talked about the neighborhood and he had some really good suggestions aboout home security so over the next few days we will be looking into buying a gun safe and making a security system (seriously, Scott can make anything with electronics. Genius.) that we can monitor from our computer and program to send us a text message if the alarm is triggered. COOL.

We also decided to do an entire home inventory, with the make, model, and serial numbers of all our electronics and guns, plus lists of all the furniture and how much it's worth, a list of all our movies and CDs, etc. Then we will store the list not only on our computers but on our online server and we will have that in case things are stolen or the house burns down or something and we need to make a police report or insurance claim.

We're grownups!

I finished the second season of Bones that Scott got me. I love the TV on DVD idea. Genius. Of course that means I have seen every episode of Stargate EVER like, five times. I'm not nerdy or anything. Nope, not me.

OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT. I freaking finished the socks! It only took me months...there were just so many stitches, and they were so tiny, and it got boring in the middle just going around and around and around...yeah. But they're done. And Mim is getting them this weekend at her birthday celebration. Here they are on my feet:They are still a little stiff because I haven't washed them yet, but they feel like a hug, but for your feet. Seriously, if you have never worn hand-knit socks you are missing out.

Scott has been building a remote-control lawn mower (coolest project ever, there will definitely be a post about it when it's done) and so he has been practicing welding. He welded me this message:I am so loved.

Now here's what Scott does at work: OctoStacker.
My husband is so sexy.

Gah, BE QUIET

The Honey Bunches of Oats spinoff, Just Bunches, is better in the Honey Roasted flavor than in the Caramel flavor.

This has been a public service announcement.

Also, Buster will not stop WHINING.

Broken, Not Broken: Make Up Your Mind!

So our friend didn't end up moving in with us. I don't know how she's doing it! Breaking up with someone is hard enough, but when you continue to live with him while looking for a new place you are just nuts. But she seems to be holding up okay, at least for now. Hopefully she will find a place soon and she can have some closure and move on with her life.

This week was pretty easy. Everything worked pretty well (except FTIR , more on that in a second) until Thursday. The day I had off. OF COURSE. Because when I leave, things get a mind of their own. Arsenic wasn't working, and I talked my boss through everything I could think of over the phone, and it still wasn't working, so he gave up and left it for me to finish this morning. But when I got in this morning, and braced myself for a fight to the death, it just started up without any tweaking and cheerfully worked perfectly. HAUNTED. Drew (toothpastefordinner.com) summed it up perfectly:Anyway, the FTIR has been down for a week now. I don't use it every day, so it isn't as critical. The maintenance dude was supposed to come on Monday. So we waited...and waited...he didn't call or anything. Next day: We waited, and waited...Nope. Wednesday: "I'm definitely coming in today!" Not a chance. Thursday (while I'm not there): "Here I am!"

So he took a look at it and a fan had seized up completely, making everything overheat! No wonder it wasn't working. So he got the part today and came in to replace it. He took the whole thing apart and replaced the fan and it was a good thing he turned it on to make sure it was working because then something else was wrong! So I have about a zillion and a half people asking me every day, "When will my FTIR project get done??" And AGAIN I have to say "Sorry, I promise it is not my fault it is broken! Really, I swear!"

So there must be a virus. That only affects MY instruments, not anyone else's...yeah.

So Mim's birthday is July 1, so the weekend before that we are planning something awesome. But she reads this so I can't reveal details until after. But it will be way fun! Then, we always do the planning to celebrate the 4th of July. Last year we went camping, but little did we know that we were on private land, NOT public like we thought, and we all got in trouble and the dude almost called the cops and we were like OH NO WE ARE SO SORRY PLEASE NO COPS WE DIDN'T KNOW!

So, this year, we need to plan something else. We are thinking of just keeping it simple this year, just inviting everyone to our house. We will have a huge barbecue, and we will have movies and fireworks (the pitiful little ones that are legal in Utah, BOO), and if The Farm is open the guys will all go play paintball up there. But mostly it will just be hanging out and doing whatever we think will be fun. One thing we liked about doing camping is that we were right next to the perfect field for paintball, and had a perfect place to shoot. There will be no shooting at our house, because 1. THERE IS NO AMMO ANYWHERE and 2. I don't want to get arrested. Nope.

Panda Express has Asparagus Chicken now. SO TASTY.

Bones came in the mail finally, so yesterday while the dudes were working on our air conditioning, I watched Bones and I love that show.

Now, the reason people were working on our air conditioning is because we didn't have any. We just had a swamp cooler. Now, when we moved into this house, we signed a rent-to-own agreement, so part of our rent each month goes toward equity, and then in October, we get to take out a loan and fully purchase the house. We're making small improvements now, just little tiny things that make it nicer in here, but Scott negotiated with our landlord to split the cost of installing new AC. So, since Chet was paying half, we opted for the really nice AC and also replaced the old furnace with one of the new super-efficient ones, and it only cost us $2200.00. And that will raise the value of the house much more than that, so good investment! This owning a house thing is going to be fun. However, the idea of being in debt that far HURTS. I have been fortunate to always have enough work to cover my expenses so the most I was ever in debt was about $1500.00, until we bought our car, and since we paid mostly cash for it, we only had to take out a small loan to cover the rest so really we are barely in debt at all. So BIG debt...a little scary. I mean, it's like I'm an adult or something...

Life is GOOD...

...when your friend posts pictures of her new baby in your home-made chemistry onesies!
CUTE!

Haunted

So Scott and I have a friend whose boyfriend is breaking promises and being secretive about inappropriate liasons with ex-girlfriends. We really care about her and her happiness, so while she looks for a new place, Scott and I are going to let her have the downstairs bedroom and the basement for her and her son to stay for a while. We started clearing the rooms out (we were using them for storage, mostly) and over the next few days she will bring things over and get things set up and today she left a note for her BF explaining what was wrong and that she was moving. So when she gets home tonight she will have to face that music.

I feel sad that she is sad, but mostly I am proud of her for moving on in her life and taking steps to make herself happier. I think this will be fun, too. It will be temporary, so for a little while I will have a friend around to talk to and hang out with. Fun! It will be a little bit challenging, though, because she has an 8 year old son who will also be living here. I've met him and he seems to be okay. It has been a long time since I lived with any kids, but I think I will get used to it quickly.


The other day I had an awful time trying to get the furnace to work, so I ordered a new part I thought I might need. It was supposed to come Friday, so I was thinking that I just needed to tweak it every day until then to get it to run without the new part. Well, it came today, and I was excited because I would be able to fix it and I shouldn't have any more problems. SO OF COURSE, TODAY WHEN I HAD THE PART IT WORKED PERFECTLY ALL BY ITSELF.


Stupid thing's haunted, I swear.


So tomorrow the electrician is going to come over and FINALLY fix the swamp cooler (for real this time (hopefully)). Then, next Thursday, another guy will come over and install a new furnace and new central air conditioning. Woohoo! Now here's the cool part: the landlord says he will pay half. So we'll only end up paying around $2000.00 for the whole thing, which is an awesome investment. It raises the value of the house and we only pay half for it.


Buster: Soooooooooooooooo worn out.

Pretty Storm

I love storms. I am the type of person who, when I used to live in Oklahoma and South Dakota (tornadoes a'plenty), would stand outside until the last possible second so I could see the funnel cloud up close and personal. In fact, one time my Mim and I were driving in a huge storm and we got caught in the middle of a funnel in the van. It was the COOLEST experience EVER.

This is no tornado...the storms in Utah are pathetic compared, but at least it's something.

There's a bit of lightning, and soon the rain will start falling, and I can sleep to that. I will HAVE to sleep to that either way because we need cool air in this house.

What about the swamp cooler? Oh yeah, the guy fixed it, and then it broke again. Apparently the motor was trashed so he replaced that and called it good. Then, I got home and it was on, and felt soooooo good. We turned it off for a while because it got cool enough and we don't like wasting money on power if we can help it. Then, I was getting ready for bed so I turned it on so it would be nice and cool (we sleep on the top floor) and POP and then the burning smell again.
Scott climbed back up there and it looks like the power thingy is short circuited and it blew the breaker and it's bad because the house could catch on fire and then I would lose all my yarn and Stargate and Gilmore Girls DVDs. And some other things that might be important.

Booooooooooones

I am addicted to Bones. I like crime investigation shows to begin with, but add in a quirky group of forensic scientists and I'm there. So HAPPY ME Scott bought me the first season. It hasn't come in the mail yet, but soon I will spend days in front of the TV indulging myself. Saturday there was a House marathon on, and I watched almost that entire thing too.

I had pasta yesterday. It was heaven. Then I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today. Heaven again. I like normal food. Woo hoo!

Our swamp cooler broke this weekend. It made a burning smell. We didn't know what was making the burning smell though so we spent like half an hour going around the house sniffing all the electronics to try to figure out what it was. Anyway, we figured out it was the swamp cooler. Our landlord wanted us to use a specific company to fix it, but they couldn't come out until today so the whole weekend we were sticky and hot. BOO. But it's fixed now and we didn't have to pay for it, so LIFE IS GOOD.

Today was definitely a Monday at work. Things weren't behaving. I am so tired of having broken instruments to work with. At least there were only 8 samples.