Why is it when I have lots on my mind to write about either blogger is down or I am at work? Perhaps to spare everyone from more of my nonsense?? I probably could go ahead and blog during work hours but I just wouldn't feel right about it. Yeah baby, I still got work ethic : )
Speaking of work, this is Saturday and although I don't have to work Saturdays, I often do. Today I put in a full day and got TONS done. My first round of mail server installation was long and sometimes painful as I learned. Today's installation was flawless. Absolutely flawless. If anyone is looking for an inexpensive yet robust mail server, head on over to the folks at NetWinSite and try out DMail. It's awesome and their tech support is top rate. I also have to thank Eliot for explaining networking stuff in plain old English. I work in the tech field but god, do I hate the lingo. I get so lost in all the acronyms and technobabble. Just give it to me straight please. Knowing how to pronounce big words does not necessarily mean you know what you are talking about. Microsoft is the worst. They could write a thousand page manual on how to water a plant.
Today has been one of those days that makes you stop and think. First, I woke up this morning not knowing what had happened with Kaycee overnight so I rushed downstairs to check. Chatted with her mom for a brief time and found out she was being returned to her room. That was a relief! I then started the morning routine of sorting through email. I had one from a woman who had followed a link from Kaycee's page to mine and wrote to say that she used to live in a town near here. I clicked the link in her email to her blog and begun reading. It was surreal. As I was reading, memories came flooding back from a tragedy years ago. It was her tragedy but it was my inspiration at the time I wrote in my Pet Peeves about meth and drunks. Because of Kaycee, we connected and I feel much better knowing now that she moved on from that dark point in her life.
Every day I become more convinced that there is truly a magic that surrounds Kaycee and touches all of us who are lucky enough to share in her life.
Kaycee has become a big part of my life and she is not doing well tonight. Please pray for her and her mother. I told her the other day that I was selfish and wasn't ready to let her go yet. She said she wasn't about to give up - so with that thought in my head, I will go to bed and hope to see her online tomorrow for our morning chat.
Well whaddya know... the snow they were talking big about yesterday has now been revised to "flurries". ugh. My dad used to talk about walking nine miles to get to school in snow so deep that he never had to climb a fence. I always thought that was exaggerating but Todd's mom says she can remember that too. The biggest snow I remember was in the mid 70s and we didnt have school for a week. It also snowed about a foot on my birthday in '97. Mom and dad both called me early that morning to ask how I liked my birthday present. I was still in bed and didn't know it had snowed. My birthday is in April so I wasn't even thinking snow at that time. It was a wonderful surprise! Big, feathery, heavy snow. My favorite.
I *think* I finally got the mail server configured correctly. My boss always calls me stuff like "my web goddess"... tonight he is calling me his "smtp suuuu-paaa genius". HA! I know more about DNS, MX, SMTP, and POP3 than I ever thought I would but will I retain that knowledge? Probably not since I have been trained to think "garbage in. garbage out." A person about has to think that way in order to keep up with changing technology. It really doesn't do any good to hold onto newfound knowledge when it's old news next week. I just wish I could figure out how to process in the garbage in/garbage out mode for work, yet still retain things pertaining to home. We have a giant whiteboard in the kitchen for jotting down grocery lists, appointments, etc but it seldom gets used. The best method I've found is to email Todd what thought I need to hang onto longer than a day. For example, I'll send him an email tonight that says "C. has Boy Scouts Thurs. at 7" and he'll email that back to me Thursday afternoon. That is not a foolproof system but it's worked pretty good so far. He did forget to remind me to check the tracking on my pets.com sock puppet that came today. Yes I really bought myself that stupid dog puppet. Every grownup kid should have one... hehehe I would link to ordering info at pets.com but it appears all that's left is a one page explanation of their demise. It's kind of sad if you think about all the work that went into building that site. Actually, it's probably not sad at all if you don't build websites for a living. I guess I've just worked those horrendous hours that it takes to build something that large. You pump practically everything you've got into making it look great and function well so I can't imagine what it must feel like to see it all go down the tubes.
On a brighter note, it was package day around here today. In addition to the pets.com puppet, the UPS man brought the beautiful afghan that Aunt Rosetta crocheted for me and the mail lady brought the trackball that Todd got for me to use at home. Wooohoooo!! No more wrist aches!
There is snow in the forecast for tomorrow night but no accumulation amounts. Dang! That means it'll just spit a little snow here and there. I feel kinda bad for wanting lots of snow because of Todd. If we get a major storm while he's on duty, he'll have to stay out until every last citizen is out of the ditch. Of course the snowy road conditions put his life in a little more danger than normal too. He's off on Wednesdays and Thursdays so I'll just hope for snow on those days. I don't want to even think about anything happening to him. ugh.
I normally don't listen to the scanner at all but today we heard sirens right before his shift was to begin. He turned on the scanner and heard there was an accident involving one of his friends. (I'll let him tell that story if he wants) Anyway, he tore outta here pretty quick and forgot to turn the scanner off. I was working so I wasn't paying much attention to it through the afternoon. Tonight I heard them call him and only caught the dispatcher saying "loaded gun in the vehicle". Immediately my heart went into my throat. Thankfully they followed that up with the word "poachers" so I relaxed a little. Still worry about him from the time he leaves until he is home for the night.
Weather.com says our wind chill is 5 degrees. I believe it! I hate the cold. That conflicts greatly with my love for snow BUT it does usually warm slightly just before a snow storm. Always seems warmer with snow on the ground, too. I am not a meteorologist but I am guessing it has to do with the amount of moisture in the air or something. Anyway, cold without snow makes me cranky. Todd isn't feeling up to par for some reason and that also makes me cranky. Lucky for me there is nothing stopping me from going to bed. Heated mattress pad here I come!!
Figures... I just bought a roll of stamps and now they are gonna raise the price again. I wouldn't mind an increase if the USPS actually delivered stuff on time. It takes at least a week for mail to get from Iowa to Florida. I can drive there and back at least three times in a week. Stuff that used to just travel across town now goes out to Des Moines and back. The few times I've paid extra for priority mail hasn't sped up the process any. Oh well, rather than give in and buy the extra cent stamp, I'll just send more Christmas cards this year and use those babies up. Wanna be on my Christmas card list??
Tonight I have to dig out all the bills from my dad's estate and fill out some more paperwork. The Iowa Estate Recovery Program wants reimbursed for the $1500 in medical expenses that they covered. I have to fill out a form to show them that there wasn't any money left over to reimburse them with. I completely understand all of this but it's a little aggravating that they wait over a year to do this. Everytime I get something in the mail to do with my dad I immediately think of what it would be like to be a widow and have to deal with that. Burying a parent is one thing but I can't imagine burying a spouse and having to continue to wrap up their affairs a year later. I wonder if each thing that comes in the mail opens the wound again or if a person just gets used to it. In the case of my dad, I've gotten to the point where it's almost funny sometimes. When he was first hospitalized I had all of his mail forwarded to my house so it still comes to me. Just today he got an offer for a computer and internet service for $40 a month. Three months after he died the Veteran's Hospital sent him a letter saying he'd missed his six month checkup and that keeping in contact with his doctors was critical to maintaining good health. I really laughed on that one. I called my brother and asked him if he would please call the VA and let them know that dad would no longer be coming to his appointments. I was afraid if I made the call my laughter would turn to rage. It took them several months before they stopped automatically sending his prescriptions. I'd send them back with a note then a month later, here'd come some more. Now this estate recovery thing... sometimes I wonder if it is ever going to end.
