The Grab Bag Blog

Have to run to work, but wanted to say how freakin’ HAPPY I am that Obama won the election yesterday!

My optimism for this country to get back on the right track has sort of kind of returned.  Bush destroyed what little faith I had left, so I’m just hoping that the Dems can fix some of the crap that he did.

Onward and upward!  And off to work. 

So, Friday night Paul and I decided to get off the couch and do something cultural…well, sort of. We went to hear the Austin Wind Symphony do a send-up of the music of Star Trek at Bethany Lutheran Church. It was very geeky and incredibly amazing! It was also very inexpensive at $8 a ticket. The concert lasted about an hour and covered nearly all of the Star Trek movies, the series, and special music from a few specific episodes. They performed a hauntingly beautiful harp and flue variation of the piano and flue duet from “the-inner-light” which is a much-beloved episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. You can click the link to listen to an excerpt of the piece. I had to keep it under 2MB (sorry about the capitalization errors in the link, its a format thing with Word Press). It’s definitely one of my favorite episodes and this piece immediately springs to mind when I think of that episode. They showed clips of the movies or episodes from the selections on the projection screens. All of the musicians wore uniforms or costumes. The conductor was one of the most animated conductors I’ve ever seen. He threw himself into the music physically and he was almost a show in of himself! If I’d known how visually awesome this was going to be, I would have brought the camera. Paul managed to shoot a few pictures on his cellphone and he sent them to me. Some of them came out too blurry to post, but I cleaned up the better ones in Photoshop:

Before the concert. The podium had a UFP logo on it! On the right, you can just see one of the projection screens showing Star Trek trivia.

Beginning of concert, the dude in front was the narrator for the selections. You can see the musicians in their various Star Trek uniforms and costumes.

End of the concert, musicians acknowledging the standing ovation they received.

We didn’t really want to go home after the concert, so we went to Border’s and got some decaf coffee. I’d temporarily lost my sanity and had worn ridiculous strappy pumps with a thin heel. They were killing my feet and I was walking like a little old lady. I don’t usually wear heels because I’m very clumsy. I limit myself to character shoes leftover from my dancing days because they strap onto my feet and have very thick heels. Those pumps are going into the Goodwill box and good riddance!

We will most certainly be back to hear the Austin Wind Symphony in March when they do a sendup of video game music!

So I’ve known about Geek Code for a good 10 years now, but have never gotten around to figuring mine out.  Tonight, I finally did!  So here it is:

—–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK—–
Version: 3.1
GED/PA d- s+:+ a C+ !U— P L E? W++ N+ o? K-? w+ O? !M V? PS+ PE+ Y+ PGP? t+ 5 X R* tv b+++>$ DI !D G e+++ h— r+++ x+++
——END GEEK CODE BLOCK——

Ta da!

Paul and I had a flurry of creative sewing today.  He finished his shirt for Texas Renaissance Festival next month and it looks great!  I worked on an XMas present for somebody.  It was pretty cool because I pulled out the spare sewing machine (mom’s old Kenmore) and we set them up on opposite ends of the kitchen table.   We also talked about ways to reorganize the apartment to have more space and declutter.  We seriously need to declutter and I think that’s going to be our Big Project for the new year.  However, we did run to Jo Anne Fabrics and get some nifty plastic drawers to fit on the bookshelves in the living room.  We currently keep all of our sewing crap in portable sewing bags, but things always get lost or chucked into a pocket.  Since I don’t really do the “Have Sewing Machine, Will Travel” thing too much anymore, we are looking for a more permanent solution for all the odd seam rippers and tubes of Fray Check.  The plastic drawers will help us keep everything in order.

Speaking of TRF costumes, my new farthingale (hoopskirt) arrived on Saturday and we tried it on with my dress.  It fits well and is just about the right length.  I have an old crinoline (think Southern Belle), but it’s bell shaped and the Renaissance version is narrower and cone shaped.  Some people don’t care and wear the crinolines to festival, but I’m a little anal about those little details sometimes.  So, I forked over some cash and bought a new one.  The farthingale is easier to get around in because it’s not as wide, but the crinoline is really fun because you can swing back and forth and make it go “BONG!” like a bell.  Hee hee!

I spent the rest of the evening knitting on the baby blanket and watching Stargate SG 1.  I am about halfway done with the blanket.  YAY!  I’ve been collecting knitting books like crazy.  My new rule for purchasing knitting books is that they have to have at least three patterns in them that I like in order to justify spending money.  That rule seems to be working and keeping me from buying a book because I like one pattern and hate the rest.  I’ve also become addicted to surfing the internet for free patterns.  There are TONS of them out there.

As for SG 1, I’ve made it to Season Six.  *groan*  Four and a half more seasons to go.  I really love this show, but there’s so many damn episodes!  I’m at the part of the series where Daniel has “ascended” and Jonas has taken his place.  I’m still not sure how I feel about Jonas…I guess I kind of feel neutral about him since I know that Daniel comes back eventually.  I sometimes catch Seasons 9 and 10 on the SciFi Channel or Spike or one of those random cable channels that show sci-fi shows.  I’ve actually seen several episodes of Season 10 and have been cheering on Claudia Black’s character, Vala.  After having made it through Farscape earlier this year, it’s awesome to see her play a character so completely opposite of Aeryn Sun.  Sometimes little elements of Aeryn come out, but not too much.  It’s almost like Vala could be Aeryn’s bratty little spoiled sister or obnoxious cousin.  It’s terrific!

One of the funny things that I’ve come to love about SG1 is when they poke fun at Star Trek and other sci-fi shows.  I love watching the series because LOTS of regulars from the Star Trek series have guest starred on the show and it’s cool to see a familiar actor playing a new character.  In the episodes I recently watched, John de Lancie guest-starred a few times playing an asshole civilian working to thwart the SGC (he plays Q on Star Trek).  Q is such an annoying jerk, but you can’t help but love his character.  This time around, I was just pissed off.  There was nothing to love about this character and it was neat to see John de Lancie play a true bad guy that you couldn’t like.

One of my favorite appearances by a Star Trek regular was Armin Shimerman (Quark on Deep Space 9).  He played a Nox named Antaeus.  The Nox are an ancient race of super awesome aliens that can disappear and reappear at will and even bring their dead back to life.  He played Antaeus as very gentle, but determined and self-assured, the complete opposite of the loud, scheming Quark.

I love it when actors get to stretch their muscles and play characters opposite of what they’re used to.  It’s easy to fall into a comfortable routine with a character you’ve developed and come to know well.  What’s fun is to shake things up and challenge that character.  I love to see actors play villains when they’re normally the hero, and vice-versa.  When I was still doing theater, I got typecast as mothers so often that I started to get really tired of it and LOVED it when I got to play something different.  Stargate seems to really try to constantly challenge their actors in character development and it lends an exciting dynamic to the show.  You never quite know what to expect.  It seems that when a Star Trek actor guest-starred on the show, they really tried to cast that actor in a role that was opposite of their Star Trek character.  It must have been like a breath of fresh air for those actors, to get to play something different in front of the camera and show off their skills.  Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi) guest starred on an episode as a Russian scientist and I was tickled to see her in a role that didn’t involve the 24th century!

So, even though I still have a long way to go before I’m done with the series, it will be fun and exciting because I never know who’s going to show up or what’s going to happen with a familiar character.  This show is awesome!

PAY DAY! How I love Pay Day, and I don’t mean the candy bar! Oh, life is so good on pay day and when you only get paid once a month, like I do, you start to get a little itchy around the 20th of each month, after you’ve paid the bills, but still have 10 days left and hope to God you have enough cashola left to buy groceries and gas. So..hooray for the pay day!

Today was my first day of “real” work. Yes, I did wind up getting Hornsby, but it’s cool because the kids are really great. I’ve only got 2 groups there, then a 2 hour break and travel to Creedmoor (which is WAY) on the other side of the district, then another 90 minute break and travel to Popham. I’m all over the place! It’s a good thing UT reimburses me for gas! Today went great and the kids seemed excited overall to begin the reading interventions. Most of them are very sweet and eager to learn. I love 4th graders because, for the most part, they haven’t developed attitudes and haven’t turned into little punks yet (unlike junior high…I hate teaching junior high and bless the teachers that love it and do it well…I wish there were more of them around!).

I’m about 1/3 of the way done with the Baby Blanket of Doom…well, maybe not doom. It’s too soft and fluffy and happy yellow to be dreadful. It’s too bad I don’t know any pregnant goths because it would be hella funny to knit a black baby blanket. Maybe I’ll knit one for myself when God chooses to bless us with our own little Bouncing Bundle of Drooling Happiness.

My diploma for my Master’s degree arrived yesterday. It’s very large and, thankfully, in English. Unlike my Bachelor’s:

My undergradauate diploma...in Latin.

I remember the day this thing came in the mail. I showed it to my Mom and she stared for a moment and then quipped, “The joke’s on us. We spend $40,000 for your college education and we can’t even read the diploma!” Ah, UD…so pretentious.

When I enrolled at UT Arlington, I brought in the diploma in lieu of my transcripts (which were coming in the mail). The poor registrar sort of stared at it, then me, and asked, “Is this thing for real?” I wanted to answer, “No, lady. It’s not. I never went to college, you see. I bought my diploma for $29.95 plus shipping and handling from fakelatindiplomas.com.” She had to show it to her boss, who told me she wasn’t sure she could accept it, but had the grace to call UD’s registrar and ask if they issued their diplomas in Latin. It sort of went like this:

UTA Registrar: *on the phone* I have a graduate of yours who is applying for entrance into UTA. Are your diplomas issued in Latin? *pause* I see. Do you have translations of your diplomas available in English? *pause* No? *registrar glances nervously in my direction* Oh…well…thank you. *Hangs up* Well…I guess we can offer you provisional enrollment as a post-baccalaureate student until your transcripts arrive.

The silly thing is…you don’t have to know Latin to make out what it says. Go fig!

So I’m glad that my Masters diploma is in English and that Texas State isn’t pretentious enough to put their diplomas in a dead language.

It is pretty fun to tell people I have a “Baccalaurei in Artibus” though. Sounds like a disease. Well, UD did make me miserable at times, so perhaps that’s what I got after 4 years in Catholic college hell…I got a permanent case of the baccalaurei in artibus and there’s NO KNOWN CURE! AAAAAARGH!!!!

I’m silly. And now I must go make up a grocery list so we can buy groceries becaaaaaaaause….IT’S PAY DAY!

My dad just emailed me and told me that my great-grandfather, Laurence Jerome Lesh (Larry Lesh), was inducted into the Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame this year. Pretty cool, huh? Congratulations, great-granddad…posthumously. He was an early pioneer of aviation and was building gliders at the age of 15 when the Wright Brothers were still fixing bicycles in their shop. He’s also a member of the Early Birds of Aviation at the National Air and Space Museum. I don’t know too much about him. He shows up on the Ellis Island rosters a few times and was an American born citizen, but spent some time in France and Quebec (which means he must have been fluent in French). I also recently found a record of his marriage in Toronto, so it’s possible my great-grandmother was Canadian (I haven’t been able to find a record of her birth).

I find that a little funny considering how much I ribbed Linnet about moving to Canada, only to discover I might have Canuck blood! Maybe that’s why I liked the MacKenzie Brothers so much as a kid.

From what I also understand, he was also a real SOB…very smart, a prodigy with little or no social skills. My grandfather didn’t have good memories of him. He looks A LOT like my dad…so much that it’s creepy…Check these photos out:

My Great Grandfather

My Dad in his twenties

There’s definitely a resemblance there! My Dad even has the same name, except he’s Larry Lesh III. So, if you want to read more about my kooky and famous-in-aviation-history-buff-circles ancestor, here’s some links to articles and pictures about him. Enjoy!

• Man Bird Falls and Breaks Ankle! (Broke his ankle in front of 10,000 people while trying out a new glider in The Bronx)
• Article from Popular Science about his new rotor for a boat
• Blurb from Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame
• Tombstone (I was tickled when I saw this. I think it’s cool that the people at the Fort Meyers, FL Cemetery have cataloged all the headstones and have compiled obituaries for the deceased. His is below, copied from their site)

Laurence J. Lesh, an early bird aviation pioneer. In 1907, Mr. Lesh (then a teenage boy only 14 of age!) started the aviation era in Canada by becoming the first person to fly a heavier-than-air machine in Canada. He designed and built 3 gliders and flew them towed by a galloping horse ! He also established a world record for a 24 minutes flight over the St-Lawrence River, towed for 10 kilometers by a motorboat. Again in Montreal, he was the first in North America to introduce ailerons. He was a protégé of the famous Octave Chanute and knew the Wright brothers. In 1909, his family moved back to the USA, where he became an electronic engineer, specializing in aeronautical radio communication. In 2008 Laurence Lesh was inducted into the Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame (www.aerovision.org). Burial Fort Myers Cemetery; Obituary by Pierre Thiffault, Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame. FORT MYERS NEWS-PRESS - Friday, December 3, 1965 Laurence Jerome Lesh, 73, of 1939 Hough St., died at his home Thursday. He lived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Turnbull. Funeral service will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Leo W. Engelhardt Funeral Home with Bishop T. Godfrey Lawrence officiating. Burial will be in Fort Myers Cemetery. NOTE: Laurence Lesh was an early bird aviation pioneer (as shown on his headstone). In 1907, as a teenage boy of 14, he became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air machine in Canada. He designed and built three gliders and flew them towed by a galloping horse. He also established a world record for a 24-minute flight over the St. Lawrence River, towed for 10 kilometres by a motor boat. In Montgreal he was the first in North America to introduce ailerons. He was a protege of the famous Octave Chanute and knew the Wright brothers. In 1909 his family moved back to the USA where he became an electronic engineer, specializing in aeronautical radio communication. In the fall of 2008 he was inducted in the Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame (www.aerovision.org).

How do you like the new theme?

Shortest blog post ever!!!

Yes, I know my blog format is boring.  At least three people have told me so.  I have failed to change it from the default settings because:

1. I am lazy.
2. I don’t know how and didn’t feel like researching it (see #1).
3. Been too busy to remember or care.

Well, it’s 5:40 am and I’m awake, so I took a gander at some of the available themes, found one I liked, and downloaded it.  I even read up on how to install the bloody thing.  Now, here’s the problem:

1. How do I FTP the file into the themes directory, which I presume is located somewhere in devlogic.org?  That’s Paul’s territory.  That directory sure as heck ain’t on my computer!
2. Paul is asleep and I’m not going to wake him up.  Do not wake up the sleeping Paul for tech support unless TNI’s server has committed seppuku or (maybe) a hacker is trying to bust down the very well protected doors of the VPN.  I don’t know really know what a VPN is, per se, but he talks about it all the time, the Team Leaders at TNI seemed to get pissed off when it’s not working, and it’s even got its own concentrator.  It has to do with the network.  And tunnels.  And…a series of tubes?
3. That is why I’m not a Network Administrator and my husband is.

Sorry, it’s early and we’re having pancakes for breakfast!  Paul already got the dry ingredients ready and pulled out the griddle.  Did I mention we got a new griddle?  I had a Macy’s gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so I bought us a griddle and there’s even a bit left over on the card.  Sweet.

Where was I?  Oh yeah.  New theme for the blog.  I will bother Paul later about it without waving my arms and going, “Paaaaauuuul, make my blog pretty!”  I think he gets a little annoyed when I play the part of Stupid and Clueless User Who Wants Someone To Do It For Me because he knows damn skippy that I’m not Clueless.  It’s just…I don’t always know what I’m supposed to do when it concerns computers and Not Common Computational Procedures.

Why Am I Capitalizing Everything?  Oh well.  I think it’s just One of Those Mornings.  GAH!  I can’t seem to stop!  And this coming from a certified English teacher.  Ha ha ha ha!  *Hez gleefully chucks Strunk and White’s Elements of Style out the window*  I never liked that thing, anyway!!!!!

So, this is what I’ve accomplished so far this morning:

1. Overused the “ordered list” function in Wordpress.
2. Found a new theme for the blog.
3. Contemplated what a VPN is.
4. Craved pancakes.
5. Introduced our new Griddle of Awesomeness.
6. Employed unnecessary capitalization.
7. Told one of the authorities of good grammar and style to f**k off.

I think it’s been a very productive morning.

Now, I shall think about categories for this thing…maybe help to organize my posts.  Whee!

Well, they upped my monthly payments AGAIN. I keep getting these “notification of changes to your loan status” letters from them. My loans weren’t supposed to kick in until next year and suddenly they’re kicking in now. I didn’t really mind because there’s no reason why I shouldn’t start repaying since I have a job, but the monthly amount is like $480 and I just don’t have that kind of money. In June, it will go up to $580 for like 2 years and I won’t have a job in June (my job is only until May, that’s research studies for you). I am really worried about this.

The good thing about Sallie Mae is that they have all kinds of repayment plans, plus several kinds of forbearances or deferments if you’re really struggling. They really do try to work with you. They even have a forbearance if you’ve been affected by Hurricane Ike. How cool is that?

So I tried to change my payment plan to this new “income sensitive” plan that’s good for a year and can be renewed for up to five years. They adjust the payments according to your gross monthly income, which means lower payments for me. That’s great because, hopefully, I’ll be teaching next year and will be able to afford the higher payments. Unfortunately, their website is down and won’t let me change payment plans. I’ve been through this before with Sallie Mae and it can take a month or more for them to get their act together to change plans and adjust your account. The huge amount is due at the end of October, in about a month.

So, I’m a little pissed and impatient right I now. It feels like I’m forever waiting for Sallie Mae to get with the program. I just want to get this fixed so I’m not sitting on the couch and chewing my fingernails down to nubs from worry that I won’t be able to adjust my payment plan in time.

It’s nice to have this week off, but I really really wish I was working. Patience, Mrs. Leonard. My full time job kicks in next week and at least I’ll be making more money, better than these random days off. I just pray I don’t get Hornsby. Man, I got some bad vibes from that school.

We finally finished the pretesting of the fourth graders.  In about a week and a half, I’ll begin starting the reading interventions.  I still have no clue as to what school I’ll be working at.  There’s one or two that I hope I don’t get, simply because some of the teachers/staff aren’t very nice or the kids are a little out of control.  I guess I’ll have to dust off those classroom management skills and put them to good use.  I have a feeling I’ll get some of the farther away schools since I live in such close proximity to the Del Valle ISD.  That means either Hornsby or Creedmoor, both of which are way out in the boonies.

Other than that, it’s been a pretty uneventful week.  I’ve got a new penpal (email) in Saratoga Springs, NY.  I think she’s my first American penpal, which is nice for a change.  I’ve got two current penpals: one in Sweden (whom I’ve been writing to since I was fourteen) and one in Scotland.  A long time ago, I had a penpal in the Ivory Coast, but his letters were always in French and it was hard to find someone to translate them.

An unpleasant surprise came in the form of my student loans suddenly kicking back into repayment, even though the Sallie Mae website told me as of last week that it wouldn’t be until June.  Then, I got a payment booklet in the mail and went, “WTF?!”  I checked the site, and it said September.  Fortunately, I had just enough money to make the payment, but it left me with very little for the rest of the month (I only get paid once a month).  It’s a good thing that I’m not working next week, because I wouldn’t have enough money for gas!  As it is, I won’t be able to buy groceries or anything else until I get paid on Oct. 1.

Ok, I’m going to go veg and do some knitting.  I’ve been too busy and tired and my fingers are itching to knit and purl.