Two Movies and some Rain!

Yay Rain!! I am sure it wouldn't be raining except for the fact that there is currently a lacrosse camp in session at Hobart and William Smith. Yippee for Rain! This is so exciting. I like rain. The grass likes rain. My dirty, dirty car likes rain! Huzzuh even!

Ok, so movies. Mom likes to watch movies - though she has kinda lost the ability to understand them. She doesn't recognize the characters, can't really follow the plot. I am not really sure what to do about this. Watch them and help her as best I can. Or not watch them. Hmm. Well, we watched two movies recently and I know how much you all enjoy my movie reviews.

Tangled - I remember seeing the trailers and ads for this movie and looking forward to seeing it. Somehow we missed it in the movie theatre. I think kids movies are a little easier for mom to follow than adult movies. And she does like the colors. As a movie, it was pretty good. Certainly enjoyable. The music wasn't too overwhelming or distracting. The lead character was drawn with Anime eyes - really huge green ones. Max the horse was very Disney-esquely drawn and reminded me of other Disney horses. The story wasn't totally predictable, which was good. Not exactly the fairy tale, but then again, I don't really remember the original tale all that well. Overall, I would give it a "see it if you like animated kids movies."

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - I mostly like Robert Downey, Jr.'s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. His accent seems a bit prissy and precious, but other than that, I have enjoyed it. I liked the steam punk stuff in the first movie - of which there was little or none in this second movie. The Holmes assessing and visualizing is a cool thing. I liked Jude Law as Watson. I know the actor who played Mycroft and enjoy him mostly. I don't know, the whole movie just didn't do it for me. If you like RDjr, it is worth a look, otherwise, I might give it a pass.

And what an exciting day we had besides the movie! We did Laundry! That's right! And changed bed linen. Rock the casbah! Mom helped. She folded. And we also went food shopping. I made glop for dinner - basically I took a lot of leftovers and tossed them in a skillet and mushed them around a bit. Works most of the time.

Oh, hey! I forgot to mention that I am now up to 45 followers! Welcome on board follower 45! Only 5 more to go to break the fifty mark. And if anyone wants to follow my other blogs, comment on them, click on random things, that would be ok too!

I just had a minor epiphany. I was just going to add "paper napkins" to my shopping list, when I realized that we must have a bunch of cloth napkins. I wonder what the carbon footprint of using the two is. Hmm, off to google...according to the one website I skimmed, it would seem that multi-using a linen napkin is better for the environment. I am so down with that. Time to bust a move to linen napkins! Yay!

Mom helping with the Laundry

Glop and corn or corn and glop - doesn't look appetizing, but wasn't bad

Mom's freshly made bed - turned down and everything!

Followers galore!

Welcome two new official followers! Yay! Closing in on 50! (Slowly) I am not sure what happens when you become a follower. Not much, as far as I can tell. You don't get any bonuses, do you? Well, besides the joy you feel knowing that you made my day...

A day, yesterday, of relaxation. Like I need relaxation...but I did it anyway. It was massage day. Lovely young masseuse at The Salon in Geneva. Very pleasant experience. I don't know if I will go to her again anytime soon, though. I am on a "once a year" massage regimen. It is very strict. :)

It was also Beer Day at the Beef and Brew. I was very early, since I went straight from the massage (by way of the library) to the Beef and Brew! Another new server was there - Christie from Maine. I had two beers that were on tap and a Japanese beer. The two on tap were ok - both local-ish - one from Hammondsport - supposed to be a Vanilla Stout - but it wasn't very vanilla-ish. And one from Six Points in Brooklyn that was supposed to have toffee characteristics which I must have missed...

Sadly, I have stalled on my productivity in some areas of my life. I haven't been writing my letters to Facebook friends. Stuck at a few over 100. I will get back to it. Maybe even today. Also I have papers and bills stacked up - not that we cannot currently afford to pay them - I am just reluctant to delve into the pile. Sigh. And it is tax season. I need to collect all of the stuff for our taxes. My brother Karl - BA, MBA, RN, CPA (I think that is all) will do them for us once again this year! Not as good as H and R Block, I am sure, but he is relatively (tee hee) free!

My goal is to actually get some things I have been putting off accomplished today. So that when I go out tonight - to meet up with people actually (weird, right?) I will do so with an even clearer conscience than I normally have.

Oh, I did start up xCode and play with it a little bit yesterday. Another of my goals is to do another chapter in my Objective-C coding book. And another chapter of the American Politics book. I can do all of that, before Ginger (home health aid) comes. At least that is the goal. We shall see how it plays out.

Mom has been stressing about her eyes - so she gets a hot towlet on her face from time to time

For some reason we have lots and lots of towlets!

Pretty

Two New Followers!

Welcome, welcome, welcome! I am humbled by your followingness. You are great! Huzzah!

In one of the Facebook notes I wrote the other day - ok, all the notes are blending together - but that is something else entirely - I said something about the blog - that is is about the little stuff - and almost all of life is made up of the little stuff. And that hopefully it provides a little respite from the hullabaloo, it might give an insight, an encouragement and if I am lucky, a chuckle. Yay!

I may make it to 50 followers yet, one day after all. Perhaps. Maybe!

My brother and his wife had their baby Jenna this morning really early! Congratulations to all three!

Gee, as for us here in the house in Geneva, NY - not quite as big a day. I wrote a lot of FB letters yesterday. Not getting depressed about the lack of responses yet. I also went food shopping - and no - she wasn't there (she being the future light of my life). Oh well. I will keep my eyes and heart open to what the Universe may provide. Then I went to Rite-Aid and gave my card to the woman I saw yesterday. I think I have actually seen her before - she works at Fox Run and I think I flirted with her once there (really badly) a while ago. I doubt she will write - well, she probably shouldn't, actually. Whatever, moving on. Steak and artichokes for dinner. I am leaning towards chicken wings again tonight. Mom really enjoyed those the other day. And maybe home made potato chips And not sure what else.

Lastly, it was game night. I didn't check my email a last time, and sure enough, Charles had written to cancel since no one else was going to come. I got there and he was gracious enough to let me come in and play for a while. We played chess - the first time for me in 30 years - I really don't like to play chess - it stresses me out way too much. But we played anyone. And then we played a fun two person card game that involved monsters and dragons and magic and stuff. Yippee! I like games and game night! :)

My camera finally died. I have co-opted mom's camera. I hope she won't mind too much...

Not close enough, but still appetizing looking, right? Love artichokes!

Both Chess (stress) in the background and Battle Zone (?) in the front! Fun!

Saw an interesting Harry's Law last night

I didn't know that this show existed until a couple of weeks ago. Great cast. It is similar to Boston Legal (all they need is for Allan Shore to show up - or Gerry with aspergers...) and fun. Anyway, Harry was defending a kid against charges that she was the cause of a girl committing suicide, due to what she wrote in her snarky blog. Of course Harry won, she almost always does, but there were convincing arguments on both sides.

And that was my excitement yesterday...ok, no it wasn't. I had an errand day, which was pleasant. Out and about is always nice - even in the drippy fall day that was yesterday, here in Geneva NY. Spanish was good though we have a quiz coming up on Friday. Eeek! Then when I headed out, I went to get mom's re-lowered prescription of generic aricept, went to the library where there was a new to me librarian named Theresa who promised to look into getting a copy of The Hare with Amber Eyes, to Rite-aid to get mom a box of cotton (she won't tell me what she does with it - hopefully not eat it...), and to the Beef and Brew for beer tasting Wednesday! Oh, I forgot to take back the library book that mom is fed up with, but it isn't due for another week...

I had fun at the Beef and Brew, as usual. The beers hadn't changed much - they are on some sort of German kick because of Octoberfest...so only one beer got changed out. I had that. And a Sam Adams Octoberfest. I liked the Warsteiner Dunkel. And the Octoberfest. Both decent beers. Yay!

And welcome Follower 35! I hope to help you to have pleasant dreams after reading this, the most boring (and hopefully not too snarky) blog on the internet! :)

Pictures from October 12, 2011:

Lovely fall view from my bedroom

Pretty tree!

Flowers in fall? Cool!

I Have (the) Proof!

I guess that is the biggest news. Yesterday I received the two proofs I ordered of Diary of a Plate Addict. It looks great! True, there are some things that need attention - nothing huge - but certainly things that could be fixed. One that isn't a biggie, but I would like to address, is plates being re-used over and over - there are at least 5 instances of plates being re-used instead of new plates being used. One plate is used three times even! Anyway, it is great to see it all printed out! Now I am having doubts that anyone besides my friends and near acquaintances will buy a copy. Sigh. Leaning towards heading down to Raleigh at the end of the month of October at this point - if Heather and I can turn the book around before then.

Money is pretty tight right now - isn't that always the case - and I would like to spend a lot more - order copies of Bar Dreams, make a t-shirt, order business cards and of course order copies of Diary of a Plate Addict. My initial order for Bar Dreams was 500 copies and those lasted me most of 5 years. Sigh. I just have no idea if anyone who doesn't know me will want a copy. Sure it is a pretty book, but is it worth $20 to them? We will see, I guess.

Meanwhile, on other fronts, mom is doing passably well. She seems to have shifted her schedule from mornings to evenings - not getting out of bed until afternoon at the earliest. And that reluctantly. She is often up when I go to sleep. Sigh. She is also complaining of lots of ills. Who knows which are real and which are just more cries for sympathy. We went to get her blood tested for her doctor's appointment on Monday. I don't know if they will have the results by then. There was a really attractive (ok, so she was 21) receptionist there. Whatever. We also went to the dentist because mom lost a crown. Neither of us want to spend the $2500 to put a new crown back on. Unfortunately (?) the dentist wasn't open on Friday. What is that about? I also mailed Heather her copy of the proof. She ought to get it Monday.

Oh, I wrote two women on Plenty of Fish. Neither wrote back. Well, one of them I didn't expect to. The other I had some hopes for. Looked a little like my friend Jeanie. But nada. Which is not surprising. Me, I always write back at least once, even if I find the person to be less than appealing. Heck, they took the time to write - and I don't write "I don't think we are a match" - because what the heck do I know? Maybe their next email will blow me away and I will fall head over heels in love with them. Anything is possible (much is unlikely).

The plan is to go out to dinner. I think mom is getting tired of my cooking. We shall see if she is up to it. (The weather is way too icky for the time of year to go out after all...)

By the way, we did break the record for views of the blog last month - 2003! Onward to 3000 views a month. I guess I need a few more followers. :)

Pictures from September 30, 2011:

The first proof!

Star wars Pringles!

Listening to the fifth book of the WOT series

Dinner

A Friendly's Night

Mom likes to go to Friendly's, as I have mentioned before. I figured last night was a good night to do so - so that I wouldn't have to cook or clean. So I could study more Spanish. Not that it helped. I know what I know and I will do as well as I do. Friendly's was pleasant. We had a server we have had before - one of my favorites, actually, Lorena. Mom had a hamburger, I had steak tips. I might make the rest of the steak tips into a Philly cream cheese and steak sandwich. I made this once back in Clayton and it was too darn delicious!

Ok, off to my Spanish Exam. Eeek!

Well, I survived my exam. How I did is anyone's guess. Truth be told, I blanked on a couple of things - like how to conjugate a verb when it is impersonal - is it the person who is being impersonaled or the object of the impersonal thing - who or what is the verb supposed to agree with. We only went over it briefly one day in class - I thought I had it, but who knows. And when to use the preterito or imperfecto - and all the irregulars - no clue! Sigh. I will be happy if I passed. Obviously, I will post here when I know. Probably not until next Friday (which will be deep in October already!).

What else happened yesterday, you may be asking? Well, as I pointed out on a post on Facebook, I realized that the only reason I was holding myself to a specific schedule to go to Raleigh was because of Spanish class. That meant that as long as I was willing to live with whatever consequences there might be from missing one class more than we are "allowed," that I could go down anytime - which means that we can go around Halloween - a time I really enjoy the Saucer because sometimes the servers dress up. And I like that. Yippee!

That, and studying, were about it for the day. Yippee!

Oh, we broke the record for views this month - or we will by the end of the day. Hurrah! Still, more followers would be dandy...

Photo from September 29, 2011:

Our Friendly's meal

Thirty Three (and a third?)

Remember records, lps, vinyl?! 45s even. Anyway, 33 followers! Woo hoo! Thank you Paul! Nice to have you reading!

Yesterday was the first day of Spanish class. Yippee! It is odd being back in class again. There were 17 people there - one other older person - an Italian Professor looking to improve his Spanish - and lots of kids - mostly 18 and 19 a couple 20 year olds and one 21 year old. I am still a wee bit anxious because I am so far behind. Speaking of which, I need to decide whether I am going to spend most of my time tonight (if there is time tonight) working on Diary of a Plate Addict or studying Spanish. Probably Spanish will get the nod. Sigh. Anyway, class was fun, though early. We got our syllabus that has a schedule of what is when. And it looks like we have a week off in October. Which is perfect for a trip to NC to hawk copies of the book, should it be ready at that point. Which, thinking positively, it will be!

Speaking of the book, I did at least 20 pages yesterday. I am up to page 39 in the text, 49 in the file! Yippee! I did get a crook in my neck from all of the hunching over, but I am happy to have gotten as far as I did!

And last night was quesadilla night! I have never made them before and was happy with how they turned out. Yippee!

Today is NYS fair day. I am up early to get a blog post out before we go. Just waiting on mom to be up and ready...

Pictures from August 29, 2011:


The main entrance to the classroom building. Hopefully more pictures of Spanish class will be forthcoming...


Ta dah! They were spinach, onion and bacon quesadillas.

Welcome Follower 29!

Hi Becky! How exciting is that? I hope you find enough to keep you interested, here in Augustus' blog space. Please know that I just plain enjoy writing it (except for those times that I don't enjoy writing it...) :)

It was another day of travel yesterday. But in the morning, I had an epiphany - we could, with every reason in the world, stop in a brewpub in Portland! Yippee! I had been thinking that we would just drive all the way through without much in the way of stopping. Boo. So I looked at the web and found that there were several different places in Portland that looked promising. I ended up picking Sebago Brewing Co. and am glad that I did. The Old Port Location is anything but old! It is done in a very modern, clean style. Gorgeous space.

The drive to Portland was all highway and though long, went past pretty quickly. Downtown, old Portland was very difficult to get around in - parking was hard, traffic moved slowly. Mom and I ended up walking several blocks to get back to the brewpub. Not too difficult for me, but turned out to be quite a challenge for her. Sigh. - Quick aside - I am thinking of signing us both up for the YMCA so that she can get some exercise - any thoughts? - We sat in the bar area and had Kelley for our server. Matt, a manager came out and chatted a bit - both about the possible book and the beer game I am turning over in my mind. We shared a Reuben (mom and I, that is) and I had the taster of beer. They were all quite good - mom drank the Hefeweizen! I joined one of the two loyalty programs they have - not that I will ever accomplish the goal of spending $100 there - but you never know...

Then on to Belfast - the GPS sent us a longer way than I thought we needed to go, but we went that way anyway. And followed some really slow, lame drivers. Poop on them! It hurts my motor to go so slow. :) But we arrived in a timely fashion, wished Juliet luck with her book group/class thing and started to unwind. I was exhausted! Even though I had had lots of sleep the night before, driving is getting really enervating. I need a chauffeur! We had a dinner of shrimp risotto and beet salad. And Juliet put out a puzzle for us to work on. I am, sadly, a bit compulsive when it comes to puzzles. This is a 2000 piece one which I hope to finish before leaving. It already feels like we are running out of time here. :(

Pictures from July 26, 2011: (By the way - there will be a whole album of pictures from this trip up on Facebook eventually...)


The Sebago Brewing Company Old Port location.


The view from Juliet and Paul's house in Maine.


2000 pieces in a pile - out of chaos emerges pattern - eventually...

Welcome Follower 28

Hi Dana! Thank you for following! Scintillating blog, isn't it? :o)

I knew somewhere in the back of my brain - not the dinosaur part, but something a little higher functioning, that "blog" was short for Weblog. But had forgotten it in my fore-brain. See, reading is good for you. :)

Into the Woods last night was ok, not great. A wide range of talents which detracted from the good book and music. Sondheim is tough music generally. And it didn't help that the dimmer packs kept overheating and putting actors into shadow. The directing seemed good and the tech was decent. All in all, worth the $10 that we spent (each) to go see it.

The one major task on my plate for the day is packing. Which is why I like driving my car places, when I can. My packing can be a lot less exact. There is usually a place for last minute and bulky items. I can't, or haven't yet, decided whether or not to take my new sit-up pillow. Mostly I am just going to pack the same old stuff. Yippee!

The trip has morphed a bit. Originally I thought to stop in VT at a bunch of different, better known breweries. With the potential of actually doing a book about brewpubs, I decided to look for those along a northerly route to Maine instead. I found two along the correct trajectory which I am going to check out. One in NYS called Davidson Brothers and the other in VT called Long Trail Brewing. I am very excited.

I was letting the "fear" monster get the best of me regarding Diary of a Plate Addict. (By the way - if wouldn't be taken amiss if anyone wanted to "like" the Diary of a Plate Addict page on Facebook...) I just need to bull forward and get the thing done. It is, though, looking like it won't be until September that I will get the book printed and released. Sigh. Over the next week I hope to finish my go through of the book for edits. Get the bar code. And do some more plate pictures for Heather. All doable.

My thoughts on a beer game for the iPhone and iPad are progressing. Jeff, if you read this, I am going to need your expertise. I hope you will work for food. :) Also, what the heck is google+ - some sort of attempt by google to compete with Facebook? I signed up, but don't know what I am supposed to be doing with it...

Ernst and Betty are supposed to be arriving today. We shall see. Their room is prepared for their appearance, lest it occur.

Huh. When I woke up this morning, I didn't think that I would find 200 words in me. Silly bear.

Pictures from July 23, 2011:


Voila - the clean stove top thanks to mom!


Pretty sky!


The main drop for Into the Woods.

Lucky 26

Hi Laura Grant, follower number 26! Welcome - I will try not to be too terribly boring and repetitive. Please, feel free to comment. (That goes for the rest of you as well!)

Relaxing day yesterday. I did everything I wanted to do. Yippee! Cleaning out the back of the car for the upcoming trip to Connecticut was great! I had so much crud accumulated in there. Poor trunk. I had a felt shirt, a t-shirt, two hoodies, four towels, two space blankets, and well, I could go on. Suffice to say that it is all out for the time being. Some will go back in, some will not. Sadly, I didn't find the set of disks from one of the audio books that went missing. Oh well. I will have to either replace those or buy a whole new audio book. On that subject, I still don't understand why Winter's Heart - book nine of the Wheel of Time Series, costs so much more in audio than all of the other books. Most of the others range in price from $25 to $50. That particular one - the cheapest I have seen it is $90! Eeek! And it isn't any longer than the 6th book (33 cds). And the sixth is in the $35 price range. Grrrr. Sorry for the digression.

I went to FLCC (Finger Lakes Community College) and discovered that many of my basic requirements can be taken care of from my previous schooling! Yippee! That will mean only having to take the core classes to get my exciting AA degrees. All it takes is applying, getting transcripts, jumping through hoops. I don't enjoy hoop jumping - and I still am not able to hula hoop but that is a different thing entirely... - but I will start the process when I get back from Connecticut. We aren't going to be gone long at all....

I also had some new-to-me beer. Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy - Wheat Beer and Lemonade. Drinkable, which is the main thing. I can see how it would be cooling on a hot day. I didn't know that Shandy was a style of beer. Learn something knew, well, you know the saying...

Ok, time to pack and hit the road!

Photos from July 14, 2011:


Pretty! I especially like the little yellow flower (weed?) peeking out...


The contents of the trunk - pre-sorting.


I don't have a camera currently that can capture this image - of the moon and its reflection in the lake. Maybe one day I will have such a camera again...