Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Watch This Space For An Important Announcement.

If I have it correctly, shortly after the first of the year, my blog-mom extraordinaire Ith will be reorganizing things a bit around here... and my blog will be moving to a new home.

When I've had the occasional moment to breathe, I've done some work on creating the new site, and figuring out how I'm going to transfer the blog over to it. Apparently, I will be able to transfer all the old blog entries, but the comments will not come along for the ride.

As soon as I am ready to make the transfer and go live with the new blog, I will post an announcement here; and Ith will shortly thereafter blow away this site and post a redirect message. But never fear; you will be able to find me after the move. Trust me on that. Honestly. Really.

But if for some reason you anticipate not being able to find me... just be sure and jot down my e-mail address (that would be crankybeach at yahoo dot com) and drop me a line. Put something like "I can't find your new blog!" in the subject line so I'll be sure to notice it and not flush it down the spam filter.

Edited to add: Yes, I intend to update the blogroll and get rid of all the obsolete entries... but Blogrolling has been futzed up for a couple of months now, and until they get back online, there is no way to edit the blogroll without blowing it away and manually recoding it; and I axe ya, in just what copious spare time am I supposed to do THAT??


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

At Least The Floor Is Clean.

But a bathroom flood is not my usual choice for cleaning method.

Fortunately, I was home. Fortunately (if one chooses to see it that way) I have spent much of my adult life living and working in elderly buildings with elderly plumbing, so I have a passing acquaintance with shut-off valves and their brethren.

But it is quite astonishing just how much water can come out of a busted pipe under the Kohler fixture.* It's faster than a liberal politician diving into a pile of other people's money. The entire bathroom was flooded and the water was halfway down the hall before I could get to the valve.

Also fortunately, the landlord's son is home for the Christmas holidays, and he came rushing right over to fix the pipe.

Now just about every towel I own is soaked; but the floors are mostly dry. And quite clean.

* I lied. It's an American Standard.


Saturday, December 20, 2008

Yep. Hankies.

In nearly 28 years of employment, my boss and I never had a picture taken together. It took me getting unemployed by him and a nice Christmas party thrown by one of the former nursing staff to do the job:




I will confess I nearly knocked him down when he walked in the door. I hadn't seen him in nearly 3 months, after all....

Bittersweet moment.


Friday, December 19, 2008

Going To Be A Three-Hanky Moment....

Just got the word that we ARE having one last office holiday blowout--the old office. One of the nurses is opening her home for a potluck, and my boss and his wife have sent in their acceptance.

Nothing short of unconsciousness or major natural disaster will keep me from that gathering. I shall take the camera--and plenty of tissue.

In other news, I got a nice surprise in the snail-mail yesterday. My new employer sent out a Christmas card, winner of the apparent annual contest in which children of employees design a card, a company recipe book, and a 1-gigabyte thumb drive with the company name on it.

They're not my old boss, but they are nice people. Very nice people.


Thursday, December 18, 2008

Too Cute Not To Share

I've already posted this on the Moody Blues board (of course)... but I thought the rest of you unwashed non-fans might like to see what happens when an aging rock star knocks over his microphone stand:





The look on Julie's face is priceless. (She's the blonde keyboard player/singer in the background.) Immediately after that last shot, Norda (the dark-haired lady on the left, the flute player) bent over and picked up the microphone stand.

Also... on this trip I finally caught Graeme's tambourine in mid-air when he tossed it over his shoulder at the end of his goofy little cross-stage bum-shaking dance, during the song "Higher and Higher:"



Yes, I know you can hardly see it, but it's there. Blame whoever was running the smoke machine for the poor visibility.

(And for those who have NO idea who that man is... that is Graeme Edge, the original drummer for the Moody Blues, still going strong at age 67.)


Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Apropos Of Absolutely Nothing

Gas was $1.46 in Oklahoma. I filled the tank of the big black pimpmobile* for about 20 bucks. Unbelievable. I can't remember the last time I filled a gas tank for such a tiny price.

Gas is $1.80 here today.

Discuss among yourselves. I have things to do.

*Why am I calling it a pimpmobile? Actually, Bonnie came up with that. See for yourself.





I rest my case.


This Makes Me Sad.

Those who have been paying attention might remember that the last time I checked the online maps with satellite views, this was what I came up with for the office where I used to work:



This shows a view of the vacant lot, and a later view of the office building under construction.

Today, I see this view. That white car is my boss's Toyota Avalon, all by itself in the upper parking lot, which indicates to me the image was taken on a weekend, when he was working all by himself:




And then there's the "street view." Once again, there's my boss's car, right in the center--but you can also see that the second building (to the right) is now under construction (I can't actually remember when they finished it, but it was within the last year). That's the contractor Danny's big ol' truck parked to the right there, and you can see some employee cars in the lower parking lot.



There was such a sense of excitement when we moved into that new building a few years back. And now it stands empty.

Anybody want to rent an office building? I know where there is one available. And I still have a key to it.


Sunday, December 14, 2008

How To Look Like A Dork

Long story a whole lot shorter... we stopped at where-the-heck-is-Thackerville on our way from Dallas to Tulsa to pick up our tickets for that show, and it was a good thing we did, because all tickets were will-call, and you should have seen the long lines the night of the concert. We breezed right past them 'cause we already had our tickets.

Anyway. The nice ladies at the box office said we could go in and look at the auditorium and see where our seats were. And then Bonnie went off on some of the more, um, fanatical fans who get up and do a sexy snake-dance in the front row. At least, they apparently think it's sexy. But we have it on good authority that the band is Not Amused.

I don't really have to explain the rest, do I? Janet isn't in the picture because she took it.




Friday, December 12, 2008

On The Road

Forgot to mention it... but I'm out in the wilds of the hind end of Oklahoma. You guessed it... the Moody Blues played Tulsa last night (and we were in the FRONT ROW, center). Tonight they play the Winstar Casino in where-the-heck-is-Thackerville. Tomorrow, we drive back to Dallas and fly home. We are having a blast--but I just drove here from Tulsa in a big pimpmobile rental car and I need a NAP. So nighty-night for now!





 
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