I'm checking out an online app for making timelines, and I thought I'd use it for one of my ancestors. So here is a timeline of the very long life of James Smith Gordon (slide the bar at the bottom to scroll through):
Friday, November 11, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
summer stuff
I know it's been so forever since I blogged that it's basically like this blog is kaput. But here's a little something:
The theatre I've been hanging with does a workshop for kids during the summer, and I said I would help out if I could assist someone else and not be totally in charge of the kids by myself. So I assisted Jenny, and we were assigned to the 5-7 year olds. Kinda wish I was with the older kids, but what the heck. Anyway, Jenny introduced herself and then she said, "And this is Miss Lisa." I waved, and five hands immediately shot up and Jenny called on each kid and they all said, "My mom's name is Lisa," one right after the other. What a fad the name Lisa was. The bell bottoms of names.
The kids were mostly sweet, but there were a few annoying ones, as there are in any class, but I have no patience for them. I want to eviscerate them. Is that bad? Oh, that reminds me that I have another blog post that I started but never finished about an annoying kid in Ellie's girl scout troop. I'll post that one too.
Good news is that Ellie LOVES her theatre camp, which she's in every day in the mornings. It's a complete switch from last year's regular swim-craft-hang-out camp, which she loathed and despised and complained about every day. I'm so happy that I found something she has a good time with.
The theatre I've been hanging with does a workshop for kids during the summer, and I said I would help out if I could assist someone else and not be totally in charge of the kids by myself. So I assisted Jenny, and we were assigned to the 5-7 year olds. Kinda wish I was with the older kids, but what the heck. Anyway, Jenny introduced herself and then she said, "And this is Miss Lisa." I waved, and five hands immediately shot up and Jenny called on each kid and they all said, "My mom's name is Lisa," one right after the other. What a fad the name Lisa was. The bell bottoms of names.
The kids were mostly sweet, but there were a few annoying ones, as there are in any class, but I have no patience for them. I want to eviscerate them. Is that bad? Oh, that reminds me that I have another blog post that I started but never finished about an annoying kid in Ellie's girl scout troop. I'll post that one too.
Good news is that Ellie LOVES her theatre camp, which she's in every day in the mornings. It's a complete switch from last year's regular swim-craft-hang-out camp, which she loathed and despised and complained about every day. I'm so happy that I found something she has a good time with.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Mobile postin'
Here's a little post from my mobile phone.
I'm posting from the mobile even though I'm home.
I got a Blogger app,
I don't even need my lap (top),
So now I'll file my blog posts while I walk and roam.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Another trip across Illinois
Yesterday I had to make an unexpected trip to visit my dad, because there was an issue with his phone. I got out there in the afternoon and dealt with the phone issue, and then we decided to head out to the dilapidated farm that he rents as a place to store his stuff. I've been trying to convince him that he can't afford to keep so much stuff in storage and he has to throw a lot of it away. I finally started to make headway and get him to possibly agree, but he wanted to go out and find a jewelry box to take with him.
So we left to drive out there at around 5:30pm, which is a bad time to leave when it takes 45 minutes to get there, there's no electricity at the farm, and we have to search through enormous stacks of stuff to find one jewelry box.
And when we got there, we met this guy:
When I saw that guy, there was no way I was going to get out of the car. Dad said, "He just looks mean. He's really nice." I said, "You don't know that! He could be mean. I'm not leaving this car."
The dog started whimpering and sniffing around the car. Here's a picture of him nosing around:
"See! He's whimpering. He's nice," Dad said. Sure, his whimpering sounded cute, but look at that head! Those cold, dead eyes! I knew he was going to bite me.
"Should I get out of the car?" Dad asked. "Go ahead," I said. "If he attacks you, then I'll know I should stay in." Dad grabbed his cane and started to get out of the car. As soon as the door opened, the dog started nosing his way in, and I freaked out and yelled, "Shut the door! Shut the door!" He shut the door.
"He scares the wits out of you, doesn't he?" Dad asked.
"You don't know that dog! You don't know what he's been trained to do! That's it... we're leaving." And I started up the car and pulled back out of the lot.
So the trip was fruitless. We ended up stopping at a diner in a teeny tiny town that has "famous pies." How can a diner in a town of 300 people have famous anything? Well, I decided to try the chocolate cream pie and it was the worst pie I ever had. Here's a picture of it. It was godawful.
That was it. A day of driving to fix a phone and eat bad food at a diner. That was worth it.
So we left to drive out there at around 5:30pm, which is a bad time to leave when it takes 45 minutes to get there, there's no electricity at the farm, and we have to search through enormous stacks of stuff to find one jewelry box.
And when we got there, we met this guy:
When I saw that guy, there was no way I was going to get out of the car. Dad said, "He just looks mean. He's really nice." I said, "You don't know that! He could be mean. I'm not leaving this car."
The dog started whimpering and sniffing around the car. Here's a picture of him nosing around:
"See! He's whimpering. He's nice," Dad said. Sure, his whimpering sounded cute, but look at that head! Those cold, dead eyes! I knew he was going to bite me.
"Should I get out of the car?" Dad asked. "Go ahead," I said. "If he attacks you, then I'll know I should stay in." Dad grabbed his cane and started to get out of the car. As soon as the door opened, the dog started nosing his way in, and I freaked out and yelled, "Shut the door! Shut the door!" He shut the door.
"He scares the wits out of you, doesn't he?" Dad asked.
"You don't know that dog! You don't know what he's been trained to do! That's it... we're leaving." And I started up the car and pulled back out of the lot.
So the trip was fruitless. We ended up stopping at a diner in a teeny tiny town that has "famous pies." How can a diner in a town of 300 people have famous anything? Well, I decided to try the chocolate cream pie and it was the worst pie I ever had. Here's a picture of it. It was godawful.
That was it. A day of driving to fix a phone and eat bad food at a diner. That was worth it.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
My flight home
Flying back to Chicago from New York turned out to be an all-day thing. My flight was scheduled for 1:20pm, but rain in the New York area delayed the flights the whole day. Even so, Gen had to take me to the airport with enough time to drive back and pick up Miles at school, so we left around noon for the airport even though my flight had been pushed back to 3pm.
She got me there with no problem, we said our weepy goodbyes (I love you, Gen!) and I was off to try to find my way back home.
Luckily, there are lots of flights going to Chicago from New York. The nice ticketing agent got me on a 2:10pm flight leaving from gate B4 and I had no bags to check, so I was on my way.
I got myself over to the security line, threw my stuff on the little conveyor belt, and got ready to walk through the scanner. It wasn't until I was in the scanner that I realized that it wasn't the normal arch we all walk through but it was the new scanner I had been hearing about--that backsplatter or whatever it's called. That one where they make you hold your hands up and they take a low-level x-ray of your whole body. And just as I'm realizing where I am and what is happening, the TSA agent is telling me to stand very still for just a second and he's hitting the button. And I'm just obeying and doing what he tells me to do, but inside I'm thinking that I don't want to go through this scanner. I know that already.
See, I already made a decision about this scenario. I'd read about how there are these new scanners and they are supposed to give you a very low-level dose of radiation---the equivalent to the amount of radiation you will get on the flight itself after only two minutes at altitude. They say they are very safe and they are quite effective at detecting guns and explosives and other bad stuff that people bring on airplanes.
But if you're not convinced and you don't feel comfortable going through these scanners... maybe because you're worried about the radiation or because you don't like them taking a naked picture of you... then you can opt out. You can choose to have an "enhanced" pat down. During an enhanced pat down, a TSA agent will thoroughly feel you up. They will make very, very, very sure that you are not hiding anything. Anywhere.
So I decided immediately after hearing about these two options that there is no contest. Of COURSE I would rather have someone feel me up than give me a dose of radiation. Those are my choices?!? Let someone put their hands all over my body or walk through a machine that may or may not give me cancer? I'm sorry, those are not choices. People pay good money for enhanced pat downs.
Except that when I wasn't in the hypothetical and I was actually in the scanner, I didn't think of any of that. I just did what the guy told me to do. I raised my hands up and stayed very still while he pressed the button. So I ended up with a (very low, nothing to worry about) dose of radiation. And I fretted and worried about it and I called Greg from the gate and made him talk me down and assure me that everything will be fine in his let's-take-a-moment-to-deal-with-Lisa's-irrational-fears kind of way that he does so well.
And I got over it. I'm sure I got a very low dose of radiation and I know I get all kinds of doses of radiation all day long just from living on this earth. But next time I will be prepared and I will be asking for the pat down. No question.
She got me there with no problem, we said our weepy goodbyes (I love you, Gen!) and I was off to try to find my way back home.
Luckily, there are lots of flights going to Chicago from New York. The nice ticketing agent got me on a 2:10pm flight leaving from gate B4 and I had no bags to check, so I was on my way.
I got myself over to the security line, threw my stuff on the little conveyor belt, and got ready to walk through the scanner. It wasn't until I was in the scanner that I realized that it wasn't the normal arch we all walk through but it was the new scanner I had been hearing about--that backsplatter or whatever it's called. That one where they make you hold your hands up and they take a low-level x-ray of your whole body. And just as I'm realizing where I am and what is happening, the TSA agent is telling me to stand very still for just a second and he's hitting the button. And I'm just obeying and doing what he tells me to do, but inside I'm thinking that I don't want to go through this scanner. I know that already.
See, I already made a decision about this scenario. I'd read about how there are these new scanners and they are supposed to give you a very low-level dose of radiation---the equivalent to the amount of radiation you will get on the flight itself after only two minutes at altitude. They say they are very safe and they are quite effective at detecting guns and explosives and other bad stuff that people bring on airplanes.
But if you're not convinced and you don't feel comfortable going through these scanners... maybe because you're worried about the radiation or because you don't like them taking a naked picture of you... then you can opt out. You can choose to have an "enhanced" pat down. During an enhanced pat down, a TSA agent will thoroughly feel you up. They will make very, very, very sure that you are not hiding anything. Anywhere.
So I decided immediately after hearing about these two options that there is no contest. Of COURSE I would rather have someone feel me up than give me a dose of radiation. Those are my choices?!? Let someone put their hands all over my body or walk through a machine that may or may not give me cancer? I'm sorry, those are not choices. People pay good money for enhanced pat downs.
Except that when I wasn't in the hypothetical and I was actually in the scanner, I didn't think of any of that. I just did what the guy told me to do. I raised my hands up and stayed very still while he pressed the button. So I ended up with a (very low, nothing to worry about) dose of radiation. And I fretted and worried about it and I called Greg from the gate and made him talk me down and assure me that everything will be fine in his let's-take-a-moment-to-deal-with-Lisa's-irrational-fears kind of way that he does so well.
And I got over it. I'm sure I got a very low dose of radiation and I know I get all kinds of doses of radiation all day long just from living on this earth. But next time I will be prepared and I will be asking for the pat down. No question.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
New York
We did actually do stuff in New York other than take the dog to the vet and watch the Oscars.
We went wine tasting in the wine country of Long Island. That was fun. I tried to take a few pictures as we left one of the wineries, but all I was able to capture was the parking lot. Ah, what the heck. Here it is.
We walked around SOHO and went into a few shops. That was fun. Here's a picture of a cool store in SOHO called Evolution. It sells science-y stuff like fossils and skeletons and butterflies encased in amber. Stuff like that.
We walked Ruby down to the ocean and let her run around the beach. That was fun. Here she is posing perfectly for me, as she always does what I tell her to do. Gen, not so much.
We left on Sunday to drive back from the serene, wooded surroundings of Long Island to the bustle of New York. We started out here:
And ended up here:
You might have noticed that all of these pictures are tiny and difficult to see. That's because I took them all with the camera on my phone and then emailed them to myself. The resolution is terrible. I forgot my regular camera, so this is all I had. I'm sorry!
We went wine tasting in the wine country of Long Island. That was fun. I tried to take a few pictures as we left one of the wineries, but all I was able to capture was the parking lot. Ah, what the heck. Here it is.
We walked around SOHO and went into a few shops. That was fun. Here's a picture of a cool store in SOHO called Evolution. It sells science-y stuff like fossils and skeletons and butterflies encased in amber. Stuff like that.
We walked Ruby down to the ocean and let her run around the beach. That was fun. Here she is posing perfectly for me, as she always does what I tell her to do. Gen, not so much.
We left on Sunday to drive back from the serene, wooded surroundings of Long Island to the bustle of New York. We started out here:
And ended up here:
You might have noticed that all of these pictures are tiny and difficult to see. That's because I took them all with the camera on my phone and then emailed them to myself. The resolution is terrible. I forgot my regular camera, so this is all I had. I'm sorry!
