Murphy Needs the Boot

It is an experience common to all men to find that, on any special occasion, such as the production of a magical effect for the first time in public, everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Whether we must attribute this to the malignity of matter or to the total depravity of inanimate things, whether the exciting cause is hurry, worry, or what not, the fact remains. - British stage magician Nevil Maskelyne

In the "anything that can go wrong" corner....

When Mom tried to move into her apartment yesterday, they told her the date was wrong. It wasn't 7/7 as her move in date, but 7/8. Never mind that she had all her deliveries scheduled for 7/7, and I was there with a full UHaul that needed returning by 3 pm.

Speaking of UHaul -- their $19.95 deal for the small truck? Not so great a deal. It's $19.95 for a "day" (and it's not even a full day), plus $0.79/mile + you have to fill it up with gas or get a $30 fueling charge PLUS pay $4.49 / gallon. After all was said and done, one trip with a half full truck going very few miles (24 miles) ended up costing me almost $60.

THEN, when the apt complex finally agreed to let her move in (and offered us an empty garage to put stuff until the apt was ready -- it needed to be cleaned), we realized the UHaul "pod" that she'd filled and had shipped with ALL her other stuff hadn't shown. She called (Three times to finally get a human) and they started with, "We don't have that pod here." When she insisted, they said, "Oh, well, we have it but don't show you called to scheduled delivery." When she mentioned that the final charge was ALREADY on her credit card, they finally said, "It was a mistake on our end." and will deliver it today.

The problem with that, is today was supposed to be MY day to spend alone and working like a dog to get caught up on all the stuff I'm so far behind on. DH and DD will be out boating and I would have no interruptions.

Now, I'll have to go help Mom unload her pod.

Of course, as it turns out that may not be such a big deal because, when I got up this morning, my internet was down. I called tech support and they confirmed an outage in our town, with NO ETA on when it will be fixed. No worries, I can hook up my mobile hotspot on my phone right?

When I went to hook it up, it popped up with a "To use this service, you must subscribe for $30 / month." WTH? No one ever mentioned this to me. EVER. And I specifically told the guy at the phone store that one of the biggest reasons I was getting the phone was for THIS reason. He failed to mention that it was a promotional offer...

I called Verizon and talked to "Joe" who apologized profusely, but basically said there was nothing he could do. It was what it was and that's all there is to it.

So... I sat here for a good 30 minutes deciding whether or not I wanted to subscribe. I finally did (hence the ability to post this blog), but I'm still steaming.

So not only is my full "alone" catch-up day not a full day because of UHaul's screw up, but I don't have reliable, high-speed internet to work on all the stuff I need to. The mobile hotspot it nice, but it's a lot slower than my usual home internet and it's incredibly frustrating.

Folks, I'm telling you right now -- Murphy has moved in and is a very unwelcome guest.

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Your Tropical Fruit Flavor is Mango

Your heart is carefree, wild, and irresponsible. You let your heart lead you, even when it leads you astray. You love freedom above all else. You think everyone could do with some liberation. If someone plays hard to get with you, it makes you all the more interested. You love a challenge. You love to talk for hours - whether it's sharing a story or teaching someone something.

What's Your Tropical Fruit Flavor?

Um... not really -- and more, I don't like mangoes.

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I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack..... !

Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else. ~Will Rogers

At least I hope I am!

To say that the last ten days or so were crazy would be a huge understatement. The worst part was when I lost internet for THREE DAYS. I thought I'd lose my mind. Day One, DH wouldn't let me tether my new phone to the computer (he wasn't sure how secure it was). Day Two, he got it set up, but STILL didn't like the security and strongly warned me to not use it except under desperate need. At the end of Day Two, I called the internet provider's customer service to find out when a repairman would be here, and the lady said, "We ran a test and show you have internet, so we canceled the ticket."

Um, yeah ... I was ready to murder someone.

Day Three, a repairman came by. Turns out that another worker had "piggy-backed" someone ELSE's internet on our port so it showed the port was working, it just wasn't making it to our house. So, he had to go check the three places it could have been done.

Finally, FINALLY three days and about two hours later, I had juice again! I'm fairly certain that my cheering could be heard for miles (Maria, did you hear it in Texas?).

However ... this put me SO far behind on LASR / WC / Goddess Fish work that I may never dig out.

Still, I miss you guys (and that would be one of the reasons why I didn't visit your blogs), so I'm trying to take some time and say "HI!!" to everyone. I haven't made it to all the blogs I love (my Google Reader was downright scary ... still is), but I'm trying!

We've also been busy getting my mom all set up for her place -- she moves in tomorrow. She's left behind much of her furniture (or hadn't had any to start with), so we've be scouring consignment stores, etc., to find decent pieces. Not an easy task -- there just isn't much out there. We've been visiting the dog park daily as well. Even though her dog, Bonny, is old and cranky she really LOVES going to the park and wandering around, sniffing and peeing and whatnot. In fact, in the mornings if we don't get going quickly enough, she'll go to the door and whine, and if we open the door, she runs to the car! It's funny.

I'd posted this picture on Facebook when it happened, but we stumbled across the most amazing moth a week or so ago. I'd pulled into this little parking area to cut through to the street where DD's new school is and I saw something huge fall to the ground. When I looked, it was moving! I jumped out of the car (yes, really ... wait until I tell you about the mouse) and scooped it up. Poor thing! It's nocturnal, and doesn't fly well in the day -- we took it to DD's school and put it in a tree to wait (safely) for night.


He's in the silk moth family (he's a Antheraea polyphemus) and was enormous -- probably 6" wide. I say "he" because the males have the super feathery antennae (and his were incredible). They're apparently decreasing in number pretty dramatically, but when I looked online to see about raising them indoors (there's a wasp that lays its eggs on the pillars, apparently squirrels like to snack on them, and the tree pruning is a huge issue), I couldn't find anything. I DID find information about raising Luna Moths indoors and I may have to give that a try someday.

Re: the mouse I mentioned, above. A few days ago, I was stopping at a stop sign when I saw something moving in the road. I stopped, put on my hazards and got out (yeah... I do that a lot). It was a mouse! He was running in tight circles and clearly afraid but he wouldn't run straight. I don't know if he was sick or injured or just confused, but I didn't want to leave him there, so I grabbed my ice scraper thing and "escorted" him off the road.

A lady sitting on her front steps was laughing at me, but even rodents need a little TLC, right?

Yes, I'm probably going to end up like the guy who got killed trying to get baby ducks off the highway.

As a side note, we still haven't found any pillars this year. It's the strangest thing! We've NEVER had this problem before, and I have to say it makes me a little sad and uneasy. DD is distraught.

OH... and here's an update on the field that Cigna owns. Do you remember I'd mentioned talking to a woman who works there who spoke to the man who arranges the mowing, and HE said they wouldn't mow until first frost? Well... a week ago, I walked out of the library (which is across the street) and they were MOWING!! In a way, if they were going to do it, now is a good time (before the monarchs are here), but even so, I'm furious. So, I guess trying to work locally isn't good enough. Time to start my email campaign...

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's it from here for now. Hope everyone is well. Update me on your lives, would you? I'm so behind and feel a little lost!

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You Are a Fantasy Book

You can't help but see the world as how you want it to be. You are an idealist. You don't put bounds or limitations on your thoughts. You are a down to earth daydreamer. You can picture whole other worlds and lives. You have a very vivid imagination. You're the type of person who would like to believe anything is possible. You believe there's so much more to this world than what we see.

What Type of Book Are You?

That's about right :-)

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Wall-to-Wall With Work Wednesday

"It's been my policy to view the Internet not as an 'information highway,' but as an electronic asylum filled with babbling loonies." - Mike Royko

Yup... and I'm one of them :-)

Yesterday, I was blocked out of the LASR website. I couldn't see it, I couldn't modify it... nada. I could go anywhere else in the world I wanted to go, except the one place I needed to be. Thankfully, I walked Judy through uploading the days pages, but I was frustrated and angry. After much research, DH said it was our ISP blocking me. So I called them. And spent A LOT of time with them, only to have them say it wasn't there fault and they would connect me with Microsoft, because it was obviously my computer.

And then they cut me off.

I stared at the phone for a moment, then Googled Verizon, and dialed their sales office. When they asked me what I needed, I arranged to switch over our phone and internet to them. Last year, we switched from our previous cable carrier (who still did our phone and internet) to DirectTV because our previous cable carrier wasn't going to offer NHL Center Ice.

As a result, we ended up with not only Center Ice, but more channels, a FREE DVR and TiVo service for less than we'd been paying before. Yesterday, the same thing happened. I got phone service AND internet service for far less (almost HALF AS MUCH) than I was paying before. Nearly everyone else on my street uses Verizon and all have been very happy with their service.

I'm just glad to chuck my soon-to-be-previous phone and internet provider.

And... strangely enough... after an hour or two, a miracle occurred. I could get into the site. So, it was my computer, huh?

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I heard from my Samhain editor yesterday. She wants me to change the title of "Isn't She Liv Leigh". *sigh*

Not only do I adore the title, choosing titles is a pain. Still, I understand her reasoning. Darn it. So I'm going to do it.

Somehow.

Judy and I messed around with a few ideas yesterday, and started getting downright silly. My personal fave? "Marry a Mechanic... And Ruin My Manicure?"

Anyone who knows anything about Liv is more than welcome to email me with suggestions.

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Just to let you know ... this is Judy's baby. But, it appears we at LASR are hosting a Yahoo group called: We Love Romance. If YOU love romance, go check it out!

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Speaking of romance (books, that is!), we're still giving away an autographed copy of Jill Monroe's book, "Hitting the Mark". And, last night, I gave you ANOTHER chance to enter. Go check out her spotlight today, and find out how!

We are also giving away a free eBook! So... this week there are TWO prizes and TWO winners! Have you entered yet?

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Which Positive Quality Are You? Your Result: Friendship You are Friendship. Friends are those who can be counted upon in times of need. Friends are those who share in your joys and your sorrows. Friendship unites us with others beyond family and brings happiness and comfort to our lives. "Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."
Courage
Charity
Faith
Love
Peace
Which Positive Quality Are You?

I'm good with that answer.