Left Lane

Caution Rant Alert:

Dear cars in the left lane: You know that due to construction (that has been going on for OVER a year) that the left lane is closed ahead. But I forgot you are special. Since you are special, you don't have to wait in the right lane for 15 minutes while traffic slowly moves along.

Mr. & Mrs. left lane go right ahead- speed down the lane, pass the three warning signs, orange barrels and a HUGE flashing arrow- because you don't have to wait in line - you "deserve" to get in front of everyone. However, please don't cut in front of me... I am still working on my road rage management skills. Thank you.

New Job

I quit my job in May. With Tom's support, I took a break. I jokingly called it "my retirement". It has been a relaxing and reflective summer. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up but I do know that I have a great support system if I ever do discover myself.

Anyway...
I met Tom for lunch yesterday and had an impromptu interview! In my jeans and baggy sweatshirt! Well I am now a part-time admin/Girl Friday for his company. My first day was today- it was such a different experience. I can manage my own time (come in any day I want- leave when I want) so far a positive experience. Now is this "the career" for me? I don't think so but it is a job and one that I can do well and for that, I am thankful.

Thanks for the memories...

To Mom and Dad and the house on 23rd Street:

Thank you for so many memories:

- for the window over the sink- how many dishes were washed and dried while watching squirrels and chipmunks.

- for my "own" room with Peach Chiffon walls

- for the hours of our summers spent playing under the grape vine

- for yummy homemade grape jelly

- for every important picture taken in front of the blue spruce

- for Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter Dinner squeezed around the kitchen table

- for our small "bonfires" to make toasted marshmallows

- the endless games of euchre at family functions

- for the big driveway- perfect for riding our bikes or playing four square

- for the Amaryllis that bloom by the clothesline in August

- for the little garden behind the back porch- cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes

- for great neighbors- we were blessed with an extra set of "grandparents"

- for Alex and Max- two great "adopted" dogs

- for decorating Christmas cookies with flair

- for a time when it was safe to send your kids on their bikes "around the block"

- for a time when it was safe to send your kids out to play and they just needed to be home by dark

- for sitting in the front yard on a summer night with all of the neighbors coming over and shooting the breeze

- for finding 4 leaf clovers in the front yard

- for sitting under afghans made by grandma watching TV on a cold winters night

- for trips to the Open Pantry for ice cream and a newspaper

- for putting baby Jesus on the window sill so he can "arrive" in the nativity manger on Christmas day

- for the assigned seats at the dinner table

- for the little red cup that I used at each meal

- for all the memories - thank you. You were the house of my childhood

- for mom and dad- thank you for a great childhood. I hope you enjoy your new home. Looking forward to making new memories in your new home.

Hockey

Date: September 22
Location: Nationwide Arena overlooking the empty hockey ice
Time: 30 mins before game time

Tom: What are those black things on the ice?
Amy: hockey pucks :)

Lost Time

I'm learning more about my Mac by the minute. Actually, this particular lesson is one I had learned before and had forgotten, so I'm posting here so the next time I forget, I can come here and not spend three hours trying to "fix" my "problem".

You see in the image I've posted how the Documents folder has a thick, black border around it? For three hours this morning, that thick, black border appeared around every selected widget in every native Mac application running. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to turn it off. I even tried to use my favorite search engine to help me, but I couldn't figure out the magic combination of key words which would solve my problem. I tried things like "Mac border," "Mac highlight", "Mac assistive," but I never found anything that made any sense. I even tried reading the help manual (hey, I was desperate), but didn't see anything that looked right.

Know what it ended up being? You long-term Mac people probably already know.

It was the Mac's VoiceOver utility, which I had accidently turned on (Command-F5, for anyone who wants to know). I repeatedly missed finding this in the documentation and in my search results because I couldn't figure out why voice assistance technology would be drawing border boxed around widgets, but there you have it. Mystery solved, and I can go about my day now...

Stuck (Literally)

I've always heard that cast iron, when properly seasoned, is supposed to be nearly non-stick, requiring little in the way of fats when preparing food. If that's the case, then I'm doing something horribly, horribly wrong.

I have three cast iron skillets, and every time I make my potato rosti (what we here call "potato flip"), it sticks no matter which pan I use. I've thought that perhaps my pans weren't well seasoned, so I used my favorite search engine and found several sites with seasoning instructions. One site even recommended blasting off all the accumulated crud by running the cast iron through the self-cleaning cycle of the oven, which I tried over the weekend and then reseasoned. No luck. My potato rosti stuck again this morning. Maybe it's just that potatoes are somewhat sticky when raw (I use russets)? I'm using fats when I cook, so it's not like the pan is dry. Perhaps my pan is too hot? Is that even a possibility with cast iron? Anyone out there in the Interwebnetland have any suggestions?

Gramps

Amelia and I went to see Gramps today. He's really looking pretty good, much better than he has recently. We played a few hands of Skip-Bo with him, and just enjoyed each other's company. One thing that my mom suggested we look for to play with him is Yahtzee. I'm kind of concerned that he wouldn't be able to see the score cards, so we're looking for large-print score pads. We searched online and have so far come up dry. I've e-mailed Hasbro, but if any of our loyal readership have any suggestions where we might find some, we'd appreciate a pointer.

Comic Strip

We saw this Non Sequitur comic a few months ago and clipped it and hung it on our fridge, because it nicely summarizes our relationship. We're posting it for our good friend, Bec. Not trying to insinuate something, just suggesting that you keep the lines of communication open :)

I Learned Something!

These last few weeks have been, in a word, hellish. They've also been educational. Here's what I've learned over the last few weeks:

• Whenver I think things are going well, I need to be physically smacked back to my senses
• Never overestimate the intelligence of a customer
• There is no such thing as a "bug fix that doesn't touch anything else"
• When I'm the person primarily responsible for the quality of a product, I need to be an asshole and not cave into the business