March 21, 2008 by annadulcekelly.

Hmmm…dumbass 2 in Costa Rica for spring break…dumbass 1 going down to Texas this weekend…got me an Ergodex DX1 (go to ergodex.com to see it)…still trying to see if I like how I laid it out…wish they had keys 51-75 on this thing, I don’t have enough, am using Macromaker for other keys…too lazy to upload my layout so far…this is going to screw up how I type on regular keyboard…maybe I’ll just bring my DX1 everywhere I go…

Sad news…Mariam has acute leukemia…needs transfusions and chemo…3 to 4 weeks to live if not doing chemo…she’s almost 87…wish Mom were brave enough to fly by herself, she should see Mariam…I wish I could…haven’t even met her.

Still crappy new software at work…improving little by little, though…I need a vacation.

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January 11, 2008 by annadulcekelly.

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December 15, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

There’s a huge gap between this blog and the last.  There’s going to be a lot of missing crap in between, but until my PC is plugged in again, nothing I can do about it.  I’m too busy and I hate it.  Like usual, this is a copy and paste blog entry.

11/29

I had a good Thanksgiving.  Surprise, surprise, we had the brats over at the folks’ too.  I don’t know if I told you, their mom moved again, sharing a house with a couple.  So we’re assuming 1 bedroom and the use of the common areas.  Anyway it doesn’t seem like she can have all 3 around at the same time anymore.  First we heard that they were all going up to see her Thanksgiving weekend, then during Thanksgiving dinner, it came out that only princess was going after all.  The boys were told they can come visit some other time.  So I’m guessing maybe her roommates didn’t leave for the weekend or something.  I don’t know how she can have them all with her if the couple’s at home too.  I’m sure that would have been fun for them, hearing the crap the stupids listen to.

I made fish for Thanksgiving.  Of course the stupids didn’t have any.  Dad and Scott did.  I didn’t expect Mom to have any, she doesn’t really eat fish.  Dad liked it and that’s what counted, as far as I was concerned.
 
I have been somewhat under the weather lately and I’m hating how much time I’m spending on work.  Basically all my waking hours on weekends are taken up with work.  This new system is so crummy I have to correct so many things.  And it might get better in one area but then it’ll screw up in another.  Like for instance, up until before Thanksgiving, the weekday stuff has been almost perfect.  Then the weekend after Thanksgiving showed a bit of improvement over the past weekends, but then this week has been hell.  Today I have a lot to fix.  I’m getting tired of it.

Dad hasn’t been feeling well.  Monday he had a fever and he didn’t come in.  Tuesday he did come in but he didn’t look or sound like he should have.  So yesterday and today Scott made him stay home.  I have no problem with Dad not coming in.  I have a problem with Scott thinking he’s taken enough of Dad’s work and I’m just sitting on my ass while he’s working hard.  I get tired of the attitude.  I wonder how Dad even endured all these years.  He’d been losing patience with Scott much faster lately but I don’t blame him.  He’s getting old, he’s helping for free, and he gets crap most days from Scott.  I do too, and I resent that I work so much and he is basically labor, and yet he gets so much more.  When Dad finally quits working for good, Scott will have to show me a better attitude or at least pay me more for enduring what an ass he is sometimes.  He would be so lost without me or Dad and he just doesn’t see it.
 
Well, let’s see…what’s been happening?  Dumbass 3 got really bad grades so he’s somewhat grounded.  He got an F on a Spanish quiz because the girl in front of him turned around and talked to him; they were done but they still had their papers and other people were still taking the quiz.  He got suspended for punching a kid in the face twice; he cut in line in the cafeteria, the kid elbowed him, he pushed the kid, they let it go, then while he was eating the kid kicked him in the back so he punched the kid in the face twice and broke his lip open.  And just a few days ago Scott got a letter about cheating on homework, and we thought it was plagiarism off the internet but he let someone copy his homework and of course the 2 homeworks were too alike.  Dumbass indeed.
 
Princess…she asked Scott for new basketball shoes, she had him pay for expedited shipping.  She told him, when they came, let her know.  So when they did come, he sent her a text message.  Then she said she couldn’t leave right then, but she’d like to have them at practice, so would he please drive them down to school for her?  At this point when he was telling me about it, I said, tell me you didn’t…of course he did.  So he sent her a message telling her to be out front to get them from him.  She said, call me when you get here.  He did, she said go around back to the pool, that’s where I am.  I could’ve told him, and he should have known, if he agrees to jump through one hoop, there’ll be more right after that one.  Such a sucker.
 
And then that sort of thing happened again, with a different ending.  She asked him to make CDs of the games that he’d recorded, and she wanted them that day because her friend’s been waiting for so long.  Never mind that Scott didn’t know that part about the friend wanting to get them a long time ago.  So he did.  Then she wanted him to drive them down to her so she can give it to her friend.  He was trying to nap because she has an away game that would require 2 hours of driving to and from the place.  He said no, come and get it, it’ll be on the landing.  She said her friend’s coming to get it, can he put it in the mailbox for her?  He asked what time the friend planned on being there because we don’t want the mailman to find non-mail items in the mailbox (that’s a federal offense).  She didn’t know what time.  Then she argued about why he couldn’t bring it to her.  He explained he needs to sleep so he can drive down to her game.  She told him not to come to her game.  So he didn’t.  I would have been happy with that ending but then he had to send her a text message back saying, he loves going to her games, he just needed to rest, and he said for her to let him know when he’s invited to watch again.  I couldn’t believe how pathetic he can be.  Geez, it almost sounds like an apology.  Well, he relayed this story to Dad and Dad said he didn’t realize she was so selfish.  Well, these men…if they’d just listen to their wives they’d have a better idea.  I told Scott after she hung up on him, his need for rest doesn’t concern her, so therefore it’s not her problem so therefore she doesn’t need to hear about it.
 
And then today he finally gave in and did her dishes and some of her laundry.  I swear, I think I married a weakling.  Wait…I don’t think…I KNOW.
 
I hate it that it’s so cold now.  It takes so much out of me just to take the dog out.  She doesn’t like it either.  She likes the snow but we haven’t had any yet.
 
I had my birthday last Monday.  I think I should stop remembering when my birthday is.  I was so depressed that morning.  I thought for a while that I was going to get drunk and sleep all day.  But then my family called.  So we talked a little bit.  Then I told Scott I wanted pizza for breakfast.  Sure, he said…and then he forgot it in the oven so it came out semi-burnt.  He did offer to go get a new one but I was hungry and I wasn’t in the mood to wait.  Then later that day I said I wanted cheesecake so he went out…forgot his cell phone, which he needed to ask me which kind I wanted.  He came back with a plain one because he said, that was the only one he had.  So I knew he didn’t go to the store I would have wanted him to go to…that other store would have had choices.  Oh well.  He offered to get a new one in the morning but then again, the plain one was there and there’s no way I can finish it in a day or 2.  And I decided I wasn’t in the mood to go up to the cities to watch Beowulf on IMAX 3D.  I just didn’t feel much like celebrating.
11/30

Scott’s ex…I can think of 2 reasons why she has to share a house with other people.  First she’s vegan…organic food with no dairy products in it whatsoever has got to cost more than normal food.  Second, she doesn’t seem to grasp the idea of buying clothes cheap or buying less.  Now you know where her daughter gets it.  Also, she has that big ass van…which she doesn’t need since she’s not shuttling anyone anywhere besides herself.  And I am thinking she and her daughter have an agreement…I think if the princess ever makes it big or marries rich, that the mother will get a little bit from there…never mind that Scott will probably do all the sacrificing for princess to get where she wants to be.
 
Yes, dumbass 3 is following in the footsteps of dumbass 1.  Even dumbass 1 admits that he was wrong to do those things because now he can’t make dumbass 3 see how stupid these things are.  Dumbass 1, surprisingly, seems to be doing really well and behaving quite well.  I hate to say it but of the 3 right now, he’s the one I can tolerate the most.  I think maybe I’ll get him a gas card for Christmas and the other 2 will get a card saying that I donated to charity in their names.  I’m thinking Books for Africa for dumbass 3 and some scholarship thing for princess, see if they get the reason behind my choices.
 
As for dumbass 3 punching that kid in the face…apparently the other kid didn’t get suspended because he’s a special needs kid.  Nothing obvious outside, it’s just that he has emotional problems and he can’t control himself.  I don’t know really whether he should have been suspended or not.  My thought always has been that special needs kids need to be in a special school, and I never did like the idea of mainstreaming at all.  It might look good on paper but as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t really work.
 
One of the things that dumbass 3 got in trouble with Scott for, as far as grades went, was English.  He made a big stink about not getting along with his original teacher, he got transferred to the class of his choice where he said he would do better…and guess what, he wasn’t doing better.
 
Princess and the shoes…I would have told her that if she wanted them that badly she’d find time to get them.  And that would be the end of that.  But Scott is such a doormat for her it’s unbelievable.
 
Princess still doesn’t know what she wants to pursue in college and yet she won’t do scholarships.  She has a scholarship offer from some good school, in their engineering college, mainly because her math scores were good and well, let’s face it, she’s a female minority.  Some schools would give her a free ride just because she’s a minority.  But no, she would not hear of that.  I will bet Scott’s retirement fund will be exhausted before she graduates, if she ever does graduate.  I think he should have done as some other parents surely do…if their kids qualify for scholarships, they go for it or they find some other way to pay for college.  I know my parents would not have paid for my college education if I were eligible for any scholarship.  Why pay when you can go for free?  Scott just needs to grow a backbone and then maybe he can give her this ultimatum?  He hesitates because he thinks she’ll say she’ll just get student loans…which he doesn’t want her to do, looking back at how he had to pay $5k of his ex’s student loans right after they got married.
 
Just when I said we haven’t had any snow yet…now we do.  Maybe 1/2 inch.  Not much.  I didn’t even know that it snowed last night until Dad came to pick me up.  This should make it fun for us, going up to the cities this morning for some training with that new software we’re using.  Today everything was fine, so therefore I have time to email you.  I still haven’t figured out what to do with my room.  I think I know where I want things to be, it’s just that the room looks like that old game where you have 15 squares with numbers and a blank space and you have to move the numbers one by one to get them in order.
12/08

You know what, I’m apparently not the only one impressed by the changes in dumbass 1.  Dad, on our way to work one day, told me how surprised he is at how much dumbass 1 has changed.  He agrees that he’s grown up quite a bit.  I guess moving out really taught him some lessons.  I don’t think that he’s changed his opinion of me though.  For as long as his siblings don’t like me I don’t really see him seeing me in a different light.  I don’t really care.  As long as he’s out of the house and stays out, I’m relatively happy.

Scott and I were talking about money one time.  He thinks that princess’ inheritance is her college education and her wedding…that’s an awful lot.  And the boys will get the house.  Dumbass 1 wants to buy the house from Scott.  At least he’s considerate enough to think that maybe Scott will need the money.  Scott though, has forgotten that I have a stake in the house too.  He better make my life comfortable somewhere down the road.  And dumbass 1 would be good to keep his word about buying the house from Scott.  I don’t really think we’re talking fair market value here, I think it’s more like his share of it, but you know what, money is money.  If he could come up with that amount by the time we’re ready to leave here, good.

I think maybe sometime this year I told you Scott got mad at princess and said something about not paying for another trip abroad.  Well, scratch that.  I knew it was going to happen and it did.  She wants to go to Costa Rica on spring break, and well, she is going.  It’s going to cost at least $1650 and we apparently have to host some Costa Rican child for 10 days around 4th of July.  I told Scott I’m not hosting a foreign kid.  It’s not that I don’t like the idea, I’m more concerned about the kid.  If the kid’s way of life is not quite up to what we have, when he/she goes back home, there is a chance that he/she will hate the way things are at home and wish their family was more like ours financially.  I would hate for any kid to resent what their parents can afford because they got a taste of something different.  Apparently Scott talked to a parent of a kid who’s going for the second time and that parent said they didn’t host any kid the first time around.  I still think Scott is a wuss.  He always will be.  I think that’ll be part of my Christmas letter.  I don’t think he has any idea what a turnoff that is to me.  I sort of thought he’d put more logic to work, but I guess when it comes to princess, logic doesn’t apply.

Last Saturday afternoon princess assembled some papers for us.  Scott was surprised because she normally doesn’t ask if he needs help.  Well, he thought maybe it’s to thank him for filling her tank up earlier that day.  I guess that shows how little he knows her.  Today he told me to cut a check for her for that work.  So much for that being a thank you.  Ungrateful bitch.  I’m ruining her Christmas for sure, and I don’t care one iota.

Let’s see, what’s happened to me so far?  We had a training session up in the cities last week, for the new software at work.  They had it for 3 days and they could only take in 8 or 9 people at a time because it’s in some computer training room.  I went on the last day.  I think it’s a big mistake that they got a whole mix of experience level in one session.  The lady next to me was a big whiner and not much of a computer user.  For some it was easy to get into the new program by accessing their work computer remotely.  But there were people like me who installed it on a different computer entirely.  I did remember how to set it up though so I had my screen up and running.  Others saw it and I had to pass around a note on how I did it.  And then the guy doing the training (via GoToMeeting.com for visuals, on a projector up front, and conference call for audio) asked for a volunteer so he can have someone’s screen up on GoToMeeting.  I didn’t volunteer but he knew I was in the group so he took over my screen.  And since we can’t be both logged in at the same time, I had to log off.  So basically I just sat there for over 2 hours twiddling my thumbs.  And what was annoying with the mixed experience level was that in all those 2+ hours I maybe learned 1 or 2 things that I could have learned in a couple of minutes.  So already I was feeling like a geek, and I was thinking, these people must have noticed that the guy knew me more than he knew them, so I must be a geek.  Our contact had to point out as we were leaving the room that I was constantly reporting errors to the guy to help them fix stuff.  I think that solidified my geek status.  And also, I think part of other people’s problems is that they haven’t really tried using the thing.  I do agree with them that we should have gotten training right off the bat, but I got an hour Q&A on the computer and over the phone soon after we got the program with that same guy and I assume everyone else did too.  So they should at least know the basics.

The lady next to me was pretty typical of the group, I guess.  She said she had a Mon-Fri customer that was showing up as a 7-day customer, or maybe it was the other way around.  She wanted that fixed.  Now, we were all told to email them everytime there is a problem but it sounded like she wanted it fixed right then.  And then I leaned over and told her, there is a way for you to fix it.  And she went, I shouldn’t have to.  I shut up.  I agree, it’s not really our work, but if you know how to fix it, why wouldn’t you?  It’s not that we’re expected to fix things.  I do because I don’t like to wait and I figured, the guys that came up with the software had bigger problems to fix.  They had program code to redo, all I have to do is start or stop customers.  I can understand other people’s tendency to complain about these things.  But it’s still a work in progress and if they’d been doing what I’d been doing, maybe more problems would have been found and fixed by now.  It’s like what I told the carriers when I distributed a note about the new system, I said I can understand that they might have some complaints about it but they need to keep in mind that they only have their own route/s to deal with and I have everything to deal with, so I didn’t really want to hear it.  No one’s complained so far, and no one’s been nasty to me either.

Then this week we had another training thing, this time in the comfort of our own homes/offices.  Still GoToMeeting for visuals and conference call for audio, but we got on GoToMeeting ourselves and called in ourselves.  There went another 2 hours and $13 cell phone minutes I’m never getting back, LOL.  And then I learned that while I spent most my weekends working on the errors and reports and such, there was only one other person that was submitting reports everyday.  Of all 20+ agents, only 2 people actually taking the time.  I am so very annoyed.  There was another lady that from the get-go, sounded computer-savvy, but I was surprised to learn she hadn’t been using the program everyday and she hadn’t been submitting reports.  In a way that was just so very irritating, but then I tell myself, down the road I’ll be rid of the problems they’ll run into.  They’ll be having addresses on the wrong route, having the wrong people stopped or started or whatever, and I’ll be sitting pretty.  Oh, and of course, the guy running the show had to borrow my screen again, so all I can do was watch.

People just frustrate me so much a lot of times.  I think if I ever hit it big in the lottery, I’ll go off and live on my own, maybe with the dog if Scott will let me, and he can just come see me on weekends or something.  He annoys me most of all.  I really need to write that letter.  He’s just so clueless as to how nasty he is sometimes and how inconsistent that it just diminishes my respect for him so much.

Well, this weekend, I had less of a mess to deal with, and I didn’t really have to fix anything actually, just sent in my report.  I’m usually not done till late Sunday.  So I’m thinking things should be fine pretty soon.  The guy did say that they’ll be gradually taking us off the old system in 1 or 2 weeks.  At least I know I’m not going to be so lost when that happens.

Princess is a gimp right now.  Apparently her leg was hurting after volleyball, and she didn’t do anything about it.  She has a stress fracture and has to sit out of the basketball games for at least 2 weeks.  She’s on crutches too.  This morning she was on the local AM radio station, being interviewed along with the coach and her co-captain.  Of course she said “like” and “sort of” a lot.  And then they were asked about college plans.  The other girl knew where she was going, what her major was going to be and that she was going to play basketball in college.  I’m thinking sports scholarship.  Princess’ answers to the same question?  I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.  That didn’t sound good.  LOL, I love it.
12/14

The ice storm missed us.  It went south of us, like Iowa and Chicago.  I’m glad too, because there’s still a lot of snow on the ground that hasn’t melted away.  I really don’t want a layer of ice over that.  We have so many routes coming open it’s not funny.  Winter is not the best time to try and recruit carriers.  Nobody wants to be out in this weather in the early morning and then maybe go in the ditch and be stuck there for a couple of hours.  We have 2 open routes right now on the weekday and 1 on the weekend.  Then after Christmas we’ll have 2 more weekday routes open.  I don’t know how we’re going to manage.

Let’s see, what would I say on princess’ card for Christmas?  I’ll probably say something like this:
 
“This year, thanks to you, the Jackie Robinson Foundation has a little more money to put towards scholarships.  You might already know that JRF provides financial aid to students of color.  I decided that my money would be well-spent helping send to college someone who is:
 
– realistic enough to know that most other people don’t get the same opportunities they get, so therefore they should grab whatever outside help comes their way,
– grateful and considerate enough towards the parent who has given so much time, effort and money thus far, to do all they can to keep their parent from using up their retirement savings to send just one of their kids to college,
– confident enough to know they deserve to be helped, and
– diligent enough to keep up the great performance to encourage people to keep on helping them.
 
People take for granted what they have and forget that a lot of times what they have is a result of someone else’s personal sacrifices.  This Christmas I thought we’d both honor and reward those who do not take their blessings so lightly.  Merry Christmas!”

So, how’s that?  Scott won’t like it, I know, but you know what, I don’t care.  She’s a selfish bitch and I doubt she’d even be offended by that.  Her skull would be too damn thick.  Dumbass 3’s card will be about the same, except it’s going to focus more on people here taking their education for granted, etc, etc…and probably something like, if I gave him $20, he probably wouldn’t buy a book that’ll help him with his classes, so therefore I’m buying books for African children.  Dumbass 1 has been really good so I’m thinking I’ll get him a gas card.  Oh, what a change, for him to be the only one to get something he could use.  I have to see though if they have something that’s just for gas, not for other items in the store.  I know he buys his smokes at the gas station, and well, if I can make it so it’s just for gas, I will.
 
Yeah, dumbass 1 has pretty much amazed everyone.  Mom and Dad, and Scott too.  I think he’d done more growing up this past year than all the other time I’d been here before he moved out.
 
Yes, Scott thinks his kids need an inheritance.  Why, I don’t know…probably because he’s a doormat and he’ll gladly hand everything over to them if they treated him halfway decent.  He wants to waste his IRA, fine by me.  We got our last statement with what we have.  I have about $6k, he has about $60k.  But his money is in moderate risk stuff and I took the safer way.  I said, well, I guess I can afford a grass hut back home and candlelight at night.  He said he would help.  Yeah, that’s if he keeps his word and keeps whatever he gets from Mom and Dad for us.  But I don’t see that happening.  If they ever go before princess gets married, you know some of it will go to princess’ grand wedding.  I wouldn’t trust him with money if my life depended on it.  I had to stop payment into my IRA though, because I seriously need to pay off my credit card.  I’d been good…hadn’t been going crazy shopping online.
 
Oh, I have to tell you about something, I am so tickled about it.  One time in the car,  he was going on and on about this Costa Rica trip princess is apparently positively going on in the spring.  I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.  I knew he would do a 180.  So, I just said, you must have been really mad at her when you said you weren’t going to pay for another trip.  He did not speak for at least 5 minutes after I said that.  Shut him up real good.
 
And then the ex sent him a text message asking for his date of birth…right after princess asked.  It’s for ex’s passport.  She is actually planning to go on a Carribean cruise.  And then of course she has grand plans of taking her kids to Europe in late 2009 or early 2010.  I will bet my IRA that’s not going to happen.  It’s just one of those things that sounds good when you think you’ll have the money by then but she won’t.  So Scott sent her a text message back, said he heard a rumor she was going to help out with the Costa Rica trip, and to let him know if that’s true.  Mom told him that, after having to sit next to the ex during one of princess’ games.  Apparently ex said that.  No reply so far.  I’m guessing she won’t do more than give some pocket money.
 
Our car is almost dead.  The transmission went out yesterday.  It was acting up towards the end of the route.  Scott is training someone on the country route today, and he’s doing it in princess’ car.  He doesn’t like it but he has no choice.  Our RAV4 is just the right height for reaching the tubes.  We’re looking at getting another used RAV4.  He’s lucky Dad is willing to give us about $11k for another car.  Scott’s looking at trading in the old RAV4 (after the transmission is fixed for over $2200) and the van, then maybe we’ll get a used RAV4 with not much mileage on it…so we can beat the hell out of it delivering papers out in the country. 

Hmmm, amazing, no training session this week.  I guess there isn’t anything new they can try to teach at the moment.  And that last one, there were only 8 of us, I think.  A lot of the agents made this Google group for communicating with each other.  They kind of suck.  So much talk about helping each other out and sending out instructions on how to do stuff and nothing’s happened yet.  Oh well.  The emails I get from that group mostly has to do with less important stuff like gloves and caps and carrier bags.  We don’t use the bags, and the newspaper has been giving us gloves and caps…although the last batch was for our great performance on Thanksgiving, so I assume not everyone got them.
 
In a way I am just as relieved there is no training session this week.  I don’t have much tolerance for much slower learners.  I do think that they should help the slower ones but not on my time.  I shouldn’t have to sit through a 2-hour thing to learn 1 or 2 things just so one other person can actually finally start to learn using the stuff.  It’s the same person who didn’t want to fix a problem I offered to show her how to fix.  I mean, I didn’t have to do the stuff.  I just figured this will make it easier for me in the long run.  They’re supposedly going to slowly wean us off the old system sometime soon.  And when they do, I don’t want to still have a lot of issues on my hand.  So I’m hoping that those who have been just sitting on their hands will have major headaches in the future…while I sit back and relax.  Man, they better still have that $1000 incentive, at least for those who learned the system faster.  I will raise hell if all my efforts to help earns me nothing at all.

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October 10, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

On the topic of smoking…dumbass 3 has started smoking. Apparently he’s been smoking for 3 months now. DH had a full pack and a partial one day. He took the partial with him wherever it was that he went, and he left the full pack in the sunroom. He comes back, it’s gone. Dumbass 1 hasn’t been here. So the only other person who might possibly be interested in it is dumbass 3. He went downstairs and asked him about it. Dumbass 3 admitted to taking it and gave it back. That’s when DH asked him how long he’s been smoking. Early start…just like all the men in the family, I guess. DH told him, considering that he goes to the gym to work out, this just doesn’t fit in with the program. And he’d been told before that starting early in life, i.e. while the body is still developing, means having a hard time quitting later on. DH and dumbass 1 haven’t quit. Dad only quit because of the cancer. I would have thought that with his grandpa having gone through that, he would be more mindful. Also, his other grandma’s husband apparently has lung cancer again. So, you know, one would think with all this going on around him, he’d think about it. But then again that’s asking too much of him

September 29, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

Well, the computer decided to act up again after that time I started over from scratch.  I’ve since then reinstalled Windows again, but I hadn’t loaded a whole lot of my old crap back on.  I have a couple of newer external drives, one of which will be used to back up the whole hard drive after I’m done loading all my crap onto it.  I also have a new internal drive…who knows when I will actually turn this thing off to put that in.  My room is still a mess.  I’m not making much progress right now.  There are too many other pressing concerns to deal with.

We just signed a new contract with the newspaper.  Another year of that, only more difficult.  First off there’s a new program to use (and therefore learn).  I should be happy, one of the guys who came up with it and called the walk me through a few things was pretty impressed with me.  But I think there’s still a steep learning curve.  And I do not relish the idea of being the only one to understand how to use it.  Also there is some added pressure as far as getting on that system and getting off the old one by the 5th of November.  We do that, we get an extra $1000.  So there’s a $1000 deadline on my head.  The use of the program and their server is costing us a whopping $3500 a year, but the newspaper is taking care of that, at least as far as I know, this year.  Next year is another contract, so who knows.  They’re palming off more of the responsibilities on to us.  All the equipment in the depot, they’re ours now, except for a few things they hadn’t put a price on yet.  We get to keep the copier and the printer, which they were gracious enough to sell to us for $84 and $25, respectively.  Compared to retail value (new), that’s really cheap, but these things have a lot of mileage on them.  Also now we have to pay for maintenance.  We had to buy a new computer, because they’re not going to spend the time reconfiguring the one we’re using so we can buy those from them.  We found really cheap ones, off-lease, Dell, for $100 each.  We got one for the depot and one for Dad, to replace his Windows ME 3gb HD one…my main concern with that one was that Zonealarm wasn’t updating for that OS anymore.  They also had laser printers really cheap.  They’re huge but, at $100 for Dad’s B&W HP 8150 and $150 for my color HP 8550n (with stand & wheels), they’re really cheap.  And whoever sent us the info on this place we bought the stuff from, sent us links to cheap cartridges for the printer, so I think we’re going to be fine.  $560+ for 2 used Dell desktops, 2 huge laser printers and a Dell LCD monitor…it’s not too bad.  They’re not new but we didn’t need them new anyway.

So…I have to install the drivers on the PCs for the new printers so we can use them all for work.  I have to install my usual “protection” stuff on the new PCs.  I have to set up remote desktop to run that new program from.  I…I…I…I wonder why the company isn’t in my name, LOL.  I seem to be going out of my mind dealing with all this stuff.  And to think I haven’t learned how to drive yet…when I do, then there’s only going to be more things to do.

No wonder my room is getting nowhere.

So tired and hungry…hungry and not losing weight…108 and staying there.  Not good.  But I can’t stop eating.  Maybe I should just let that go, and have one less thing on my mind.

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August 31, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

I’m so tired. I have been busy rearranging my craft room and I’ve decided to go with uniform transparent (needless to say, stackable) cases which I’m going to label later on when I’m done putting stuff in more suitable containers. I’m also deciding on which things can go on eBay, mainly to get them out of the way but also to get just a little something back. My craftroom (at least after I’m done putting things away) will have a lot more floor space for working on, but a lot less wall space for displaying. I guess it’s always going to be a compromise. If I didn’t have that stupid popcorn ceiling, I would use that surface for displaying things.

I’m about to say goodbye to this laptop. I’ve sold it for some extra cash. I will surely miss having a computer on the bed, LOL…spoiled, I know. But I don’t bring it anywhere, and with my wonderful desktop, I don’t really feel like I need a laptop. But speaking of that wonderful desktop…it wasn’t too wonderful a few days ago. Monday it decided to act up. First, left-clicking was getting me right-click functions. So I thought I’d restart my computer and that will fix it. Well, so Windows loaded, and I was supposed to put my password in, and the damn cursor won’t change from the pointing finger one. So I can’t click on the textbox for the password. I restarted, nothing’s changed. By this time, I was getting really flustered. Here I am, giving up my laptop to depend solely on the desktop and that one is acting up. I’ve never before tried to install Windows XP or use the CD to repair the installed Windows XP. I’ve done it before with Win95 and Win98, but then again those OS’s are much simpler to deal with than XP. So I pop in the CD…first I opt to repair Windows…and it loops endlessly, as if it has repaired it and Windows just needs to restart to complete the operation. But then it started over again, and that happened quite a few times. So I thought, heck, I’ll reinstall Windows and see if that works. First I opted NOT to format the drive, because I knew there had to be some things I didn’t want to lose, not a lot, but some. Well, that looped endlessly as well. So after much thought, I finally went and reformatted…then Windows started to install and yet again, loop like before. I was getting a migraine. I went to bed.

I went back to it the next afternoon. The installation seemed to have gone through. On the screen it said Windows was now going to automatically configure my monitor’s resolution. There was an OK button to click, but my mouse for some reason wasn’t working. So…I thought…I’ve been through so much, what’s another restart? I didn’t expect it to work. But the restart worked, the resolution was off but that was easily remedied. I had to install some more drivers, especially the one that allowed me to have 2 monitors with different pictures. I am not done reinstalling all the stuff I had installed before. I know there are a few things I have lost for s ure. I’m just glad that a lot of my stuff are on external drives. I think I will keep on saving and backing up on external drives.

Right now though I have to start moving files from the laptop to other drives. Then I need to erase stuff from here…DoD level deletion. By the middle of next week, the laptop will be no more.

And it’s that time of month. My back is aching, I’m not in the best of moods and there’s just so much stuff to do. Right now I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed. So I’ll just relax for a while.

Well, until I feel better…or have fewer things to do…

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July 29, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

Because I don’t feel like writing…

Here’s my Rosie with the devil cat that she somehow gets along with really well…

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July 10, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

At ang pinakamatinding mang-asar, siya ang pinakapikon sa lahat.

Yes, my first Tagalog blog title.  I just thought it was fitting.  I designed and printed out this sign (half legal size paper) that said “I’ll just remember you’re stupid so I don’t try to strangle you.” and then I posted it on my craft room door.  Note that I didn’t name names.  So really, batu-bato sa langit.

So DH knocks and asks me, “So you’ll just remember I’m stupid so you don’t strangle me, huh?”  And I said it wasn’t addressed to him.  So he asked who it was addressed to.  And I said, anyone who goes by that door.  He didn’t like that.  He said, there are only 4 people living here, if people should see that, what else would they think?  And I said, why should anyone be offended by it if they don’t think they’re stupid?  He told me to ask Mom what she thinks about it the next time she comes by.  I think she’d refuse to get into it, personally.  And anyway, really, why should anyone be offended by it unless they think I’m referring to them?  And if they think I’m referring to them, then, that would only mean one thing…they admit they’re stupid.  I don’t see the big deal.  I didn’t name names, I didn’t tell him it’s for your kids.

And like I told him in an email I sent after that little tiff, any note or sign I’d posted in the past, nasty or nice, never got paid attention to.  In fact, most of those, I found in the trash after a day.  So…why should he worry about his kids reading it and getting offended?  Knowing them, if they’d read it and didn’t like it, it wouldn’t be there anymore.  But let’s face it, they don’t pay attention to me or anything I do.  Why would they start now?  Plus it’s not like they pass by my door everyday.  They might get a glimpse of it, but I doubt any of them would actually stand in front of my door and read everything that’s there.  They just don’t have the time for that.

Personally I think he’s worrying about nothing.  He thinks I want to stir things up…that’s actually what he said, “stir things up”…oh, please…if I were so good at it, how come no one’s confronted me about anything yet?  I don’t stir things up.  I make signs.  I don’t say it out loud.  That way people have the choice of whether or not they want to read it.  If they do, hey, it was their choice to do so.  If they don’t, no harm done.  I don’t see what the big deal is.

I wonder how he’ll react to my new shirts.  I had 3 shirts done.  I have the first one now.  In front it says “Cinderella’s stepmom was a FINE woman…” and in the back it says “Cinderella was just a selfish spoiled brat”.  Is he going to find fault with that too?  Is he going to assume that Cinderella is someone in this house?  Well, he might be right, but really, I just think the Grimm brothers have something against stepmoms. 

My second shirt says “Oh, PLEASE, go to heaven…” in front and “I don’t want to SEE YOU IN HELL when I get there” in the back.  That might offend some people but hey, I’m telling them to go to heaven.  What’s wrong with that? 

My third shirt, I just had made today, in honor of the little tiff that we just had.  The front says the same thing the sign says…”I’ll just remember YOU’RE STUPID so I don’t strangle you.”  In the back I added, “If the other side of this shirt offends you, it’s time you thought about why it does.”  Really.  My own English version of “batu-bato sa langit…”

He thinks nothing of being a smartass and ranting and just being nasty himself but for some reason others can’t be even just a bit nasty.  Go figure.  Americans and their freedom of speech.  Yeah, right!

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June 28, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

The following paragraphs are excerpts from an email I sent to a friend…I’m being lazy so I’m copying and pasting…anyone who doesn’t like that can kiss my shiny brown ass.

I was pretty proud of my work on Scott’s hair.  I wasn’t so sure I could cut with scissors.  It was pretty even, except with his curls no one can tell anyway.  I should have shaved his nape some though.  He is a HAIRY man.  Hair all over…face is just one place.  Try back.  But at least he’s not a gorilla, you know, really hairy like Robin Williams.  People seemed to like his hair.  Even some of princess’ friends complimented it.  It sure doesn’t seem like anyone missed the ponytail.  And now that it’s shorter, it’s amazing to me how much more diligent Scott is about brushing it.  He brushes it every morning before work.  Why he didn’t think to do that when his hair was longer is beyond me.  Now he’s taking care of his hair better than I’ve ever seen.  Go figure.  I decided to just get my own clipper set.  The dumbasses used it a couple of days ago and it’s not back in the upstair bathroom.  And if I have to go get it, I’m pretty positive I have to scrounge around to find all the attachments too.  And I figured, I don’t really want to share with them anyway.  So I got my own, it’s not costly or anything anyway.  That way I know I’m taking care of it and I know where it is everytime.  Nothing bugs me more than people not taking care of stuff I have to use too.  I just tried my clipper out today…cleaned up my hairdo…except this time I didn’t straighten out the batman signal’s tail on my nape.  My clipper set came with a DVD with tips and techniques and such.  I found out that some people actually have their barbers/stylists shape the hairline at the nape.  So I figured, mine is already shaped, I’ll leave it that way.  It’s just cut down to 1/8″ so they’re not sticking out where I can notice it.  I think I’m trimming my hair about every 3 weeks.  So that’s about $25 I’m saving every 3 weeks, and I get what I want, not what someone else thinks suits me better.

Oh, and I just saw this A&W commercial…and I think maybe someone in their research department didn’t do their job well.  The commercial was ragging about places like McDonalds getting their beef from other countries, and how A&W burgers are made from 100% American beef.  Now if they stopped right there, it would have been okay.  But they had to cite New Zealand as an example…and I can tell you for a fact that that is a very VERY poor example if you want to slam McDonalds.  New Zealand…very green place, lots of grazing areas for cows…a lot of Asian countries get their milk from New Zealand…like the Philippines.  And Scott himself will tell you he’d never had yummier milk than when we were back home.  He loved it so much he couldn’t even believe it came out of a carton.  He said it tasted just like what he had when his grandparents were still around and they had the farm.  Now, if milk from cows in New Zealand is yummy…I would imagine the beef is also great.  I can’t compare because I think the Philippines produces its own beef, but I’m sure there are some imported stuff too…and I’m not really a connoisseur of beef.  In fact I have been unconsciously staying away from burgers and such.  But bottomline is, New Zealand is a bad example for that commercial’s purpose.  If they want to make an impact, say China instead…what with all the problems they’re getting into with what they put in different things.

Princess just told Scott she wanted to get her hair straightened and cut short.  I don’t know how short.  Anyway it’s going to cost $75 and she wants Scott to pay for it.  I said, she’s working, why doesn’t she pay for it.  Well, apparently she didn’t hand in her W4 or whatever tax form she was given at work and until they get it, they’re holding on to her check.  Well, stupid…and he should have said, bummer, then the haircut can wait.  He felt sorry for her that she’s sort of short on cash now…I don’t…because this situation could have been prevented, but she was too lazy to make it happen.  And Scott’s still a pushover.  He’ll pay for it I’m sure.  He asked why she’s not having her mom straighten her hair, and she just said she doesn’t want her mom to do it.  No reason given.  What, she doesn’t trust her mom to do a good job on it now?  After so many times before that she’d done it?

Oh, and today we finally found out how the dog would react to the carwash.  I expected her to be scared because it’s loud.  She didn’t like it one bit and she even somehow ended up in the front seat with me, totally crushing my purse.  And then when it was all done she couldn’t figure out how to get back to the back seat.  Now we know and we’re not doing that again.  But we took her to the dog park after that so she’s fine.

Scott and I both saw this piece of paper on his computer desk.  It had a list of princess’ goals.  She decided she didn’t want to try to go to college in California after all.  She said she was going to look for schools closer to home because she was worried she would get lonely.  That’s saying something about her grandparents in California, huh.  Anyway, so she’s looking at Iowa and Wisconsin and probably Michigan…and the Dakotas.  She still doesn’t want to have to apply for sports scholarships, even if her volleyball coach said there was a school in ND that was offering a free ride.  I thought that was stupid, not to take it.  I’m thinking she doesn’t want to go too far because dear BF is going to be in Iowa or something.  She probably would want to be able to somehow keep an eye on him.  And if she does sports, then she probably won’t have time for that.  Also on the list was “retake ACT”.  So Scott asked her what she got.  Apparently out of a possible 36, she got a 24 and she’s not happy with it.  I don’t know if there’s a failing grade in that test.  I don’t quite know how it works.  When I was in school we had the NCEE, the National College Entrance Exam, which actually isn’t the entrance exam as each school insists on having their own exams too after that, but the NCEE score helps you get in somewhat.  The highest possible score was 99+++ (there is never a perfect score in the Philippines, it seems).  I got a 99++.  My friends all got 95 and up.  One guy I turned down in high school then went out with in college for 4 years, he got 81…he sure didn’t want to tell me that after I told him my score.  I know there were 4 parts to the test…there was math…and then I think there was abstract reasoning and a visual something…abstract reasoning being a logic type thing and the visual thing was where you try to figure out which of the unfolded box shape will give you the box pictured on the left, or which way does this gear turn if this other gear 4 gears up and to the left turns this way.  That type of thing.  I think the other part had to do with reading comprehension and vocabulary…English.  To me it felt like an IQ test.

I don’t know what the ACT is like.  Princess admits she didn’t study for it.  I would have thought though that if she’s so good in school she doesn’t really need to study for it but I don’t know.  All that running around with friends and coming home late at night…and for some reason she still didn’t study given all the free time she seemed to have.  Yeah, imagine her in college.  I’ll bet she’ll flunk so many exams because she partied the night before.

I have another idea as to why princess is looking to go to college closer to home.  Mom mentioned she had this one conversation with princess one time that princess probably didn’t like.  Back when princess was talking about going to college in California…everyone here is talking about her taking her first 2 years in a community college and then when she’s ready to buckle down and she knows what to major in, go to university.  Then it wouldn’t be so expensive.  Everyone was saying, how about that community college your grandma with a PHD (and won’t let anyone forget it) is head of or something.  Well, this grandma works there, but for some reason doesn’t think it’s a good school.  Now, she sent all sorts of articles about herself being honored for the work she does at that community college and all that, just to show her grandkids how great she is…they even each got their own copies so they don’t quarrel over them.  But for some reason her grandkids should never go there.  Their mail always comes from Drs. Davis.  At least the hubby does have an actual medical degree.  She is just a self-important bitch and it looks like every female descendant of hers is doomed to be the same.  So…I’m digressing.  Princess said she can’t do that because her grandma Davis won’t approve of it especially if she’s going to be staying with them.  They probably won’t even let her stay with them…she didn’t say that but I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided so.  Princess said grandma Davis said she should go straight to university…and Mom said, oh, is she paying for that then?  Mom and princess don’t get along well.  It figures, if Mom and I do get along, she can’t possibly get along well with princess, right?  Plus even before I came along, Mom was a female that was taking attention away from her, I’m sure…competition, just like me.

Speaking of being nasty…last Saturday, princess had a basketball tournament somewhere else and Scott went to see the games.  She told him she’d see him at home and she didn’t come home.  Sunday morning while we were doing a route, Scott had me send her a text message asking where she was.  Then his phone died.  Now, he and I have the same phones…and our batteries is the same as what dumbass 3’s last cell phone used.  That was Scott’s old phone…and I bought his current phone (which used to be mine) mainly because it uses the same type of battery…and when I gave him that I bought an identical one.  So anyway, I bought him a spare battery and a battery charger a long time ago.  By rights he should never run out of juice.  And with dumbass 3 not using the same phone anymore, Scott has 3 batteries at his disposal, since I just charge my phone with the regular phone charger and don’t ever swap out batteries.  Anyway, so he worried and worried Sunday morning, thinking she’d sent him a message back and he just wasn’t getting it because his phone was dead.  Me, I knew she hadn’t sent any message.  I know that he worries a lot and she doesn’t really give a damn.  He wanted to swap batteries with me and I said no.  I said, you have 3 batteries at your disposal, you can always bring an extra one with you.  In my mind I was teaching him a lesson the hard way.  You don’t make sure you have a spare battery, you don’t get to use your cell phone.  I don’t charge my cell phone when needed only for someone else to be using my battery.  The rest of the route went pleasantly enough, and it looked like he’d put it all behind him.  But when we got home he said he thought it was cruel for me not to let him use my battery and to let him keep on worrying about his daughter.  I didn’t say anything at the time, but had I felt like being nasty I would have told him, she doesn’t care how much you worry and I’ll bet $1000 she hasn’t answered your message.  If she cared about him at all she would have sent a message Saturday night saying she won’t be home and telling him where she would be.  I would have won that wager too…and he would have hated ME for that.  I don’t care if he was upset with me.  I think I made my point.  He now carries a spare battery in his pocket.  Had I let him use my battery, this would never have stuck in his mind.  I knew that.  So I don’t care how many times he tells me I’m mean or cruel.  He acts like a child and he needs to be taught like a child.  Some children just need to learn the hard way and I’m one to teach them the hard way.  It’s not that I don’t love him but I expect more of him and he better measure up, even if I have to help him along, with him kicking and screaming all the way.  This is how I would have treated my own child if I had one.  They say you never forget the things you had to learn the hard way.

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June 26, 2007 by annadulcekelly.

You would never think that so much stupidity can be in just one house but it can.

Well, I finally quit doing the dishes.  Yes, I know, I probably wrote that a few times here before.  But this time I made sure to say I’m not going back to it.  I’d been getting really tired of it again…same-o same-o.  The bowls, cups and teaspoons don’t come back from the princess’ chambers, the baby brat is so inconsistent with soaking and scrubbing and he tries each time to see if I’d do the pots and pans.  Princess used some too and I refused to do anything about those.  I sent her a text message saying that if she can make pizza she can scrub the pan, which is the least she can do since she doesn’t even bring her own dirty dishes up to the kitchen.  Of course nothing happened, not that anyone in their right mind can expect anything to happen.  I also sent a message to the youngest brat.  It was while the oldest brat was here that he put the pots in the sink.  And he knew damn well I don’t do pots and they don’t go in the sink where they’d be blocking me from cleaning the other stuff.  So I sent him a text message.  I said I will not see the pots and pans in the sink again.  If I do, I just might quit, and guess who just might get stuck with doing all the dishes.  I haven’t seen the pots in the sink again, at least not from him putting them there, but they were still not washed.  Today princess used the same griddle that she didn’t wash before and used one of the pots too.  Both ended up in the sink…the wrong side.  Funny how rules that were supposedly in effect before I got here still haven’t stuck to her tiny brain.

Anyway, I thought, I don’t have to deal with this.  And just to make sure that I am not asked to get back to doing the dishes, I asked DH for another chore to do instead.  He said I can take out the trash…and clean out the litterbox.  I didn’t want to do the litterbox at first but then again taking out everyone’s trash isn’t as tedious as washing everyone’s dishes.  Also I figured if I keep the litterbox up then it wouldn’t be such a hassle.  So I agreed.  I started today.  I thought I would do my chores Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday…the truck comes around on Thursdays.  The cat should be happy.  I just cleaned out his litterbox…there was more waste than litter in that box.  Of course it meant that he’d been scattering litter onto the floor in search for a cleaner spot…and of course some of the waste went with that.  It burned my eyes and nostrils to clean that thing…that should tell you how much ammonia has collected there.  But now it’s much, much better.  And I will keep it up…even if only to prove to the princess that she should NEVER have a pet.  Actually I think she should never have a child either.  If she can’t take care of a cat (not even a needy dog, but a pretty much independent cat), she’d probably kill her child with neglect.

I feel better now.  I’m not going back to doing the dishes.  If things pile up, I have my own stuff that I can use and wash myself, and everyone else can go to hell…until I get there at least…I wouldn’t want to share that with them too.  They’d mess the place up so bad Satan himself will turn into a saint in a day just so he can go to that other place.

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