Adventures in Pee and Poo

I love my friends.

I was kind enough to babysit my goddaughter/godson while they finished off their Christmas shopping on Friday.

Not 25 minutes after they left, Annalisa started to cry and fidget, so I took her out of her crib and started rocking her. I then felt the warm trickle of baby pee on my thigh...

So began my adventure!

I figured "Oh well" and went to get her a diaper so I could change her. As I went into her room... I stepped on something really really nasty and squishy. Turns out that Millie (the dog) decided to take a crap in her bedroom, and my foot found it. Thank God I had socks on.

Now, I'm off to play "Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?"

Hey, You Guuuuuuuuuuuuuuys!

Caught PBS’s tribute to “The Electric Company” on Friday night.

Wow – talk about brining back memories. I’m a fan of Tom Lehrer (“Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”, “The Elements”), and Back in the late 70’s when I was watching EC on a daily basis (can annoying my Mom, as well, so I scored on 2 fronts), I didn’t know he did music for them. The “L-Y” song and “Silent E” are two of my all-time faces from EC.

Along with Joan Rivers doing the voiceovers for “The Adventures of Letterman”, and Gene Wilder providing Letterman’s voice! I didn’t pick up the connection until I saw the show on Friday.

I think there is a “Best of” DVD coming out soon – I plan on picking it up (

Snow 1 - Me 0

First snow today – and I have mixed feelings about it.

First off, I’ve never been fond of winter. I don’t like being cold, and I really don’t like being cold outside. But on the other hand, I do like it when the snow is falling. It’s peaceful and serene, and I like that.

Second, it seems that once it starts snowing and icing over, the entire State of Maine forgets how to drive. I’ve only had my license back for about a year, so I’m still a bit leery about driving in the winter. I’ve how some of these idiots drive in this town, and frankly, it scares the shit out of me.

So like I said – mixed feelings about the whole winter thing.

Sticker Shock from Hell!!!

I never had sticker shock like that before.

Last week, I received my e-bill from CMP, and was shocked to see my electric bill went up from 40 dollars to 170! Yeah 170! Now I realize that 30 of that was from my old apartment and 20 was for relocating service, but even still… that means my bill was really about 110 bucks!

So basically I started doing some research. First thing I did was check to see what my refrigerator was set at, and it was set to 9 – the coldest setting possible. So I turned that down. I also realized that my water was scalding hot. So I called my landlord and asked him to check my water heater – it was set to 150 degrees! At least 50 degrees warmer that it should have been – and – it’s not insulated. So he turned the temp down on that to around 95-100 degrees, and I’ll be order a insulation kit to insulate it next month. Hopefully the steps I’ve taken will drop my electric bill. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to see if I can get an electrician in here to test the wiring.

What else is going on… Won another Scrabble game against my club director – managed to outsmart her a couple of times to win.

I’m starting a weekly trivia contest at work, with prizes at the end of NEXT year – yep 52 weeks of trivia.

Final Moving Update.. and other Stuff!

Well, I finally got my internet up and running at my new apartment (although I'm typing this at my friend's place). I'm moved in and unpacked - with the exception of at 8 boxes (I need to get some bookcases for the place).

It's got 2 bedrooms (I'm using one as an actual bedroom, and the other one as a computer room/library), and a living room (I'll be able to put a surround sound system in within a few months), a kitchenette (with NO counter space), and a full bathroom (only downside there is that the ceiling is slanted, so I've actually hit my head on the ceiling). But other than that, I absolutely LOVE my new place. I actually have room to walk around in, and it'll be nice to be able to have friends over and have ROOM for them as well.

In other news, the whole internet thing was a pain in the ass. Oxford Network managed to hook up my phone easily, but had a hell of a time running the CAT5 network cable from the box in the basement up to the 3rd floor. I was offline for about 2 weeks (tons of e-mail to catch up on), but I'm finally online again.

In the SCRABBLE world, I had 2 horrible weeks for games. in 3 weeks I had a 2 wins/4 losses record. I don't like that at all. I'm actually going to start creating my own study aides, using index cards. I'll probably have the SATINE, SATIRE, and SALINE stems, and a bunch of 7-letter high probability bingoes as well. I'm determined to play well in next year's Boston Area Tournament, so I really need to start studying for it now, so I'm prepared for it. I want to bat at least a .650 next year.

I'm really starting to become a self-described "word freak", looking at words and trying to anagram them, using LexPert and Zyzzyva to increase my knowledge and help retain words.

So basically, it's been words and work, work and words... And I'm pretty happy with that...

Moving Update Number 3 :.

Grr...

I've got MOST of my stuff packed - one corner of my kitchen is crammed with boxes. All my closets are cleaned out, I have a few more cords to zip tie, and most of my dishes are packed.

I need to pack my food in some boxes (so I can just grab and move it), and to finish clearing out the kitchen. Other than that, I'm just waiting now. I was hoping to start moving boxes tonight (my landlord need to clean the carpets), so at least the majority of my stuff is moved over, but so far, it's a no-go. Wednesday, I shouldbe able to move my 4 pieces of furniture over (bed, compter desk, entertainment center, and bookshelves) along with all the little stands that I have. And hopefully after that, I'll be golden.

So now it's a waiting game. I still have some stuff to pack, but I should be able to get that finished today.

I hate waiting....

Crikey... :(

Wow. Steve Irwin died.

The Croc Hunter died due to a stingray strike to the heart, on Monday morning, Austrailia Time,

Most of my friends couldn't stand the man - they said he was annoying and kinda crazy. I beg to differ. he was enthusiatic about animals and protecting them, and even though he was a bit daft sometimes, you cant knock the fact that he was THE expert on crocodiles.

He will be truly and sorely missed.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060904/ap_en_tv/obit_irwin