Happy Birthday, Bob, and Pennsic Is Over for Another Year

Happy Birthday, Bob!

It's my granddaughter, Kyle's boyfriend, Bob's birthday today! I wish you a birthday as happy as the one that Kyle just had! I'm sure you can figure out which one is Bob.

Speaking of Kyle's party, here's my favorite photo from it:

That's Holly with Kyle.

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Pennsic is over for another year. At this point, some are already home, and some are probably still traveling, but it's all over.

It always makes me feel a little sad when it's done.

But then again, there's always next year's war to look forward to missing.

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Yesterday, Holly came over and we went out together and she got to show off her new HumVee!

If I had to choose a single color name to describe the color, it would have to be grey. But it looks very blue sometimes, too, probably from reflections from the sky. Once in a while, you can see some green in the color, too.

We went to AC Moore, WalMart, and then to Ruby Tuesday. She said that she'd take me to Olive Garden for my birthday, but some other time because neither of us was really hungry, and you need to be when you go there.

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Check out this neat article about yarnstorming (with lots of photos)!

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Well, it's been a wonderful weekend for me! I'm all ready for my birthday tomorrow. Lynn said I should expect my birthday present from her to arrive on Saturday, but since the apartment place I live in doesn't let the post office deliver packages on the weekend, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get it.

I hope you've had as good a weekend as I have, and a fabulous week coming up!

The Persieds Meteor Shower!

There's a thunderstorm rolling in, and I want to get this post up fast, and get my computer turned off, so this will be a short post.

The Persieds Meteor Shower will be at it's best tonight! Don't miss it! It's one of my favorite things about Pennsic, and one of the things I like best about what the universe does to celebrate my birthday!

There's more stuff about it on the internet (check your favorite search engine), but I wanted to get something up here before I got off the computer.

While I'm on the subject of celestial stuff, there's been a new asteroid discovered, and it tells us about the origin of our solar system!

I've been running around most of today gathering financial information for my yearly review here at the apartment I live in. My new eye doctor seemed to be really great, but she (and everyone else in her office) seem to be either having as much of a problem hearing as I do, or they just don't understand the English language.

I ask them for a note with a recommendation for Vitamin A, Billberry and Lutien for my eyes because the expenses incurred in taking those nutrients will help to lower my rent, and I get back "No, you don't need a prescription for that. You can buy it over the counter!" After ten minutes of speaking loudly and clearly, they still didn't get it.

I didn't get the recommendation, either.

Even though they said that taking that stuff is good for my eyes.

Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.

Well, the last of the information needs to be in tomorrow, so it'll all be over, one way or the other by the end of the day.

Hope you're having a better day than I've been having! Enjoy the meteor shower tonight!

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Elizabeth Zimmerman!

There really are a lot of birthdays in August, and I forgot most of them!

I'm chagrinned to have missed Rob Rekley's birthday, which was on the second! Happy birthday, Rob! I hope it was fun!

The big news for knitters is that yesterday was the anniversary of Elizabeth Zimmerman's birthday. For those of you who don't know, EZ has gone to the big sheep and wool festival in the sky, and left us poor mortals to struggle through without her help. One of my favorite bloggers wrote a post about it here. You have to read this--it's funny!

Of course, I mentioned that the sixth, last Friday was Kyle's birthday, and I'm going to hear more about it on Saturday when I see Holly. They did celebrate by taking her to a bar on Thursday night at midnight so that she could show her ID to the bartender the instant she was 21! She got either free or $1 drinks all night, and everyone seemed to conspire to get her the worst-tasting drinks possible.

And yesterday was Tim Davis' birthday! Happy birthday, Tim! I hope you had the most fun, ever!

The next one coming up is Bob, Kyle's boyfriend! It's on the fifteenth, the day before mine. He got to accompany Kyle for her birthday, so I'm sure that they'll celebrate his birthday on Sunday.

Then, of course, there's me! Don't miss my birthday wish list on Amazon! Used books or DVDs are OK! There are some expensive presents, but there are some that are under $5 including shipping! I got a call from Lynn yesterday to check my address so that she could send me a present. I'm all excited about that!

My cousin, Barbara, is also having a birthday on the 18th!

And Facebook surprised me and let me know that later on this month (the 18th, too) Rick Foucheux will be having a birthday! I know Rick from working with him when he was in Invader.

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This is going to be a bad week for me to get posts up due to the fact that I have to turn in all my financial evidence for some benefits, and I've been running all over getting it together. Yesterday I spent all afternoon making a trip to get some info I need, and I have more stuff I need to do today and Thursday, and Friday I have to turn it all in. So, don't expect a lot of posts.

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Holly called me earlier today to confirm my address during the process of buying her new car. She said it really is green, and not the blue it appears to be in the photos, but that it's a "funny shade," whatever that means. She took the day off of work to go get it since it arrived late last week, and she'll have the evening to actually go somewhere if she wants to. I tried to encourage her to come here and show it off, but she said she didn't want to be on the highway during rush hour, so she's not going to bring it down here until Saturday.

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I found this on the internet today and just had to share it with you! A young woman who seems to prefer to remain nameless, quit her job by sending an email to everyone in the company (and I hope she sent this to the owner, too) with this series of photos. This is priceless. I should warn you that my computer gave me several warnings about a slow script on the page, but it's really worth wading through and waiting to see it all! I love it! And I wish her all the best!

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I just got a call from Holly, and the financing on the car was ridiculous, so she's checking with her company credit union to see if they'll finance it on much better terms instead of the finance company that works with the dealer.

So, she hasn't actually got the car yet, but should have it either tomorrow or Thursday. I'm a little disappointed, but they'll get the car this week no matter how it turns out.

She said the car is a dark green, but that the green has a lot of grey in it. She looked at all the colors available on that model and year of Hummer while I was talking to her on the phone, and she said that none of them are called green, so she's not sure about it.

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I need to get going and get something done today, Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Today is Kyle's birthday, and her mom arrived last night out there in Wisconsin to be with her on her one and only twenty-first birthday! After scaring me the other day, I still hope she has a good birthday.

This will be a short post, today.

I went to the eye doctor, and they put lots of drops in my eyes, and now it looks like I smeared Vaseline all over my eyes. I'm sure it will wear off in a few hours.

The good news is that my eyes are essentially healthy, and everything's OK. The bad news is that they've changed more than I thought, and I probably should get new glasses. For the lenses (if I use the frames I already have), they quoted a price of $150, which they insisted was the cheapest I'll find anywhere. I think I'll check out the sales for the next month since I don't have the money to get them right now anyway.

I finally found out what that blurry spot in my left eye is, though. The other doctor gave me a big long word (or maybe three) and didn't explain it. This doctor says that it's basically a large floater, and that it's something to keep checking on, but not something to cause worry in and of itself. She said I can expect to have it forever. She said that she had an incident of retinal detachment when she was 20, and has had floaters ever since. Holly had them a while ago, too, so I guess I'm lucky that I never had it happen until I was 62.

But the computer screen looks all smeary, and the good stuff is coming on TV, so I'll catch up with things later.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy August!

I intended to write a post welcoming August on the first day of the month.

Yeah, we can all see how much good that intention did!

But August has been here for a few days, and it's nice to take notice of the fact.

I tend to think of August as birthday month. Yes, I was expecting that! Yeah, it is the month that my birthday is in (on the sixteenth, and my birthday wish list is here and I should mention that there are a lot of great presents available used for under $5), but that's beside the point.

I worked for two different companies where over 75% of their employees had birthdays in August, so they had a big birthday party for everyone in the company in that month! Both companies employed a lot of creative people, and most creative people seem to be born then. I don't know why. I'm not trying to say anything with that statement. It's just an observation. Although it has made me think a bit more favorably about the idea of astrology at times.

So, lets get on the subject of birthdays!

Today happens to be the birthday of the president of the US! Yes, Barak Obama is celebrating his birthday today. Or, more accurately, he's having a birthday. I don't know what his plans to celebrate are, but I do know that people all over the country are throwing birthday parties for him even though he probably won't attend.

I know all this because Michelle sent me an email last week asking me to sign a birthday card for him, and I also got an invitation to a party for him in Fairfax.

Living in the DC area has always been fun that way, but I think the internet has brought what used to be a DC phenomenon to the world, or at least the rest of the United States.

Continuing on the birthday theme, Friday (the 6th) is also my granddaughter, Kyle's birthday. Holly will be going to visit her on her birthday. She will be 21 on Friday!

I have a friend that I haven't seen in ages, Whitlock, who was born on the 15th, and there were a couple of years that we started celebrating on his birthday and finished up at the end of mine.

That doesn't seem like a lot, does it?

August is the month that August Party used to be held in (of course). For those that don't know, August was the month that the original Star Trek cast and crew would have a wrap party each year, and the Star Trek fen used to hold August Party, which was a Star Trek convention each year. It's the con I met John at, and I always remember it even though it's not happening anymore.

August is also the month that Pennsic happens! Pennsic is one of my favorite things ever, and I'll be missing it again this year! But I'll be keeping up with what's happening by retweeting stuff from Pennsic in the sidebar, in my Twitter feed. You can keep up with it there, too, should you be interested.

Here are some random photos I found on the internet, to give you an idea of what Pennsic is like.

And here's a photo of the entrance to the Clan Lurkr camp, where I stayed quite a few years ago. As you can see, Wookie (Viscount Sir Wulfbrand Lurkr) likes red!

There are buildings and towers! People make them pre-fab and take them to the camp ground and store them there between Pennsics. I wish I could find some of the photos I took there.

So, stay tuned to the sidebar, or follow me on Twitter to keep up with what's happening if you can't go.

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For the fiberartists out there, Knit Picks is having a contest with a prize of enough cashmere blend yarn to knit a sweater as a prize! If you're not acquainted with them, Knit Picks has quality yarn in natural fibers available at very reasonable prices. You should check them out!

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Note to Lynn: I promised you that I would see an eye doctor for an exam, and I've been putting it off, but I have an appointment for a check up on Friday.

And I think I've run out of steam for today. I'll blog more often in the future!

Have a great rest of the week!

New Vehicle for Holly and Robin!

Well, it's not actually new, but they're trading in their old car and getting a newer Hummer H3.

The dealer didn't have what they wanted on hand, so it's getting shipped in from North Carolina, and it's on it's way. It's supposed to be dark green, but the dealer sent her photos, and they're of a blue one. I'm guessing that the photos are generic ones and not of her particular vehicle. But here goes:

It's a shame, because the blue color in the photo is really pretty.

Here's what the front seats look like.

Once again, I think this is a generic photo because the seats in the car they're getting are supposed to be black leather. Back seats look like this:

And here's the cargo area:

It looks like the back seats go down to provide even more space if you're not carrying people, too.

I am so excited! I can't wait to ride in it! Holly says it has lots of blind spots, though, so I'm less than eager to drive it.

Something seems to be in the air, because Lynn got a new vehicle, too. You may remember that I recently had photos up of her beautiful, not-very-old Prius with it's front smashed in. I can only guess that the insurance people thought she should get a new one rather than fix the smashed one.

But here are the photos:

The front seats:

And the cargo area:

And I think that's enough car photos  for one post.

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The Monday before last, I had something happen that embarrassed me.

There is a lady who lives across the hall from me, Ms. Ray. She's a really wonderful, friendly person.

Well, I rode downstairs with her in the elevator, and she was telling me that in spite of the soundproofing in the building (which is very good), when I laugh, she can hear me all the way across the hall! She said that she enjoys it, though, because every time she hears me laughing, she has to giggle, too.

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There's some great science fiction on TV this weekend! You need to check it out for yourself because there's just so much! TNT will be rerunning The Librarian trilogy on Sunday. SyFy will be serving up a lot of serviceable "B" movies most of the weekend, and don't forget to check out BBC in America. There will be a new Being Human on Saturday. Oh, and Hallmark seems to be running all the Mystery Woman series on Saturday, so if you like mysteries and haven't seen them, it's worth watching.

I'm not going to give you any more hints than that because there's just too much to list, so check out everything!

And have a wonderful weekend!