A couple of weeks ago, I took my car in for a routine oil change. They called me and said I needed a new left-front CV joint.($250) OK, I said. Driving onto the ferry that afternoon, I remarked that the car in front of me was making an awful grinding noise. Remarked on it again as we were offloading. And as I turned into my driveway, there's that noise again.. must be that same car still in front of me. However, the next day when the noise was still there as I was backing out of the garage, I had to admit that it was probably coming from MY car.
What to do? I have to be at a meeting 50 miles up the island later today, and I'm now concerned my axle is grinding itself to pieces. So I decide to take the bus. I will call Jill when I get up there and she will pick me up and cart me the remaining four or five miles to her house. Halfway there, I check my cell phone and find I do not have Jill's number, although I swear I can clearly remember adding it just yesterday. No problem, I have my laptop with me and I know I have her number there. I open the laptop. Battery is dead.
Just in time, I ask to be let off at the fire station, where they kindly let me plug in my laptop, and use their phone, as I have no cell phone service there anyway.
After a 2-3 hour meeting I hop back on the bus, and half way home my phone rings. It's Crystal, my student from 25 years ago, who I was expecting to visit me tomorrow, saying they're coming up today instead, and could I please pick them up at the ferry. No problem, I am so looking forward to seeing her! I ignore the grinding in my car and hurry down to the ferry. My bike is in the back of the car and I need to make room for Crystal and her partner, so I haul the bike out and install it on the roof rack. Forgetting, in the excitement, to remove my garage door opener from it's usual place on the visor, as I always do, to keep me from driving into the garage with my bike still on top of the car. Which, wanting to show off my house to my guests, I promptly do.
Crunch!. Of course my first impulse is to back up. I get out to see the damage I've caused, and realized I've backed up ONTO my bike.
Well, the damage doesn't look too awful... I've only backed onto the wheel, not the frame itself. Off we go for a mini-tour of the island, trying to ignore the grinding sound still coming from the left front wheel. We have a nice visit and I make it home without the axle breaking.
The next day I take the car in for what turns out to be a very minor adjustment, and the bike in for repair. I need a new rear derailleur, not a problem as I was planning to get a grannier granny gear installed before this summer's big trip anyway. They even manage to true the bent rear wheel, but I opt to order a new one to be safe. ($300 + $250 for new wheel on order)
Meanwhile, I'm obsessing about how we are going to get 4 bikes and camping gear for 4 people to Arizona in a couple of weeks. Buy a trailer? Rent? Finally opt for renting a Uhaul trailer, only $15 per day, but that means I have to get a hitch installed. ($350) Oh, and I might as well buy new tires as long as I'm hemorrhaging cash anyway; I've got 90K miles on my old ones. ($550)
A couple of days ago, as I was doing some routine thing on my laptop, I began to get these very Windows-official looking pop-up messages saying that Windows had determined I was under attack from a virus, click here "for the scan you computer now", and wanting me to activate some previously unheard of virus protection software. Being a bit suspicious of Microsoft's lapse in grammar, I googled that phrase and found that this is most likely the Conficker virus and the "virus protection software" is bogus. After following all the directions on the Norton website, doing a complete scan of my PC (in which Norton found nothing wrong!), spending close to two hours on the phone with a Norton tech in India, I am no closer to resolution. I can't access the Internet, can't do much of anything, and every few seconds I get a pop-up saying "Want to activate your antivirus protection NOW?" I'm off to take my PC to the local tech ($??). Hoping they can save my turbotax file, as I was 99% finished doing my taxes.
Hoping for some less stressful days soon....
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Spring is coming....?
I'm hearing birds practicing their spring songs already. Yes, it's true that we could still get a foot of snow in April. But it's also true that there will be more overt signs of spring here in the next month or so. I've been so busy this winter I've barely noticed winter go by!
First of all, I've been doing volunteer database work for Beachwatchers and also for Anacortes Friends of the Forest. Really enjoying this, and hoping that it will pan out into a bit of paying work some day. Towards that end, I've gotten some business cards made and am handing them out to everyone who comes within 5 feet of me.
I'm still working a few hours each week at my paying job at Fluke, but it's dwindling. With my big project (moving all my Access stuff to SQL Server) complete and the manufacturing area in the process of shutting down, there's just not much left to do. I've put in a total of about 9 hours in the past two weeks.
Earlier this month, I joined the Whidbey Open Circle Singers. This is a choir for which no auditions are required, and yet they are very good! I've never sung with a group before so it is a learning experience for me. Being in the middle of a 50-person group singing 4-part harmony is quite wonderful. To end our weekly practice, someone sings a note and we all form a chord around it, to send out "vitamin H" (aka Harmony) to the universe.
At this group, I met a man who is trying to get a Sacred Harp (aka shape-note) choir going on Whidbey. (This is the music that you hear in the church in the movie Cold Mountain). So earlier this week I attended my first practice with them. So far there are only 5 of us, which is too bad, as this music seems really meant for a large group. But it's very interesting to learn. It's called shape-note because, to be more friendly to people who don't read music, each note has a characteristic shape and name. You start out singing the shape names; it seems strange but it really does seem to make it easier to learn a new tune. This tradition goes back several hundred years. We are hoping to be part of a performance at WICA in March.
On Friday, I am off to Michigan for a quick visit with my few remaining relatives. For the first time, I am going to leave my car in my garage. Believe it or not, Seattle finally has mass transit all the way to the airport, at least if I go during commuting hours on a weekday. There's a bus that stops near my house to get me to the ferry. Once I'm on the mainland, the Sounder train will take me to downtown, and the "Central Link" light rail will take me on to the airport. All this for $4 each way. Whatta deal!
My friend Nancy and I have started a tradition of taking the train to the city the first Thursday of each month. I've done this 3 months running now, and each time my gracious friend Ellen has picked us up at the train, driven us to her place, and fed us brunch. Again, whatta deal!
Nancy, Cheryl, Gerry, and I have hatched a plan for another bike trip, this one to Arizona in March. The plan is that Nancy and I will drive down with all the bikes and gear, and the Cheryl and Gerry, poor wage-slaves that they are, will fly down to join us once we get there. Although I am not totally sick of winter yet, I admit that some warm sunshine does sound pretty appealing.
First of all, I've been doing volunteer database work for Beachwatchers and also for Anacortes Friends of the Forest. Really enjoying this, and hoping that it will pan out into a bit of paying work some day. Towards that end, I've gotten some business cards made and am handing them out to everyone who comes within 5 feet of me.
I'm still working a few hours each week at my paying job at Fluke, but it's dwindling. With my big project (moving all my Access stuff to SQL Server) complete and the manufacturing area in the process of shutting down, there's just not much left to do. I've put in a total of about 9 hours in the past two weeks.
Earlier this month, I joined the Whidbey Open Circle Singers. This is a choir for which no auditions are required, and yet they are very good! I've never sung with a group before so it is a learning experience for me. Being in the middle of a 50-person group singing 4-part harmony is quite wonderful. To end our weekly practice, someone sings a note and we all form a chord around it, to send out "vitamin H" (aka Harmony) to the universe.
At this group, I met a man who is trying to get a Sacred Harp (aka shape-note) choir going on Whidbey. (This is the music that you hear in the church in the movie Cold Mountain). So earlier this week I attended my first practice with them. So far there are only 5 of us, which is too bad, as this music seems really meant for a large group. But it's very interesting to learn. It's called shape-note because, to be more friendly to people who don't read music, each note has a characteristic shape and name. You start out singing the shape names; it seems strange but it really does seem to make it easier to learn a new tune. This tradition goes back several hundred years. We are hoping to be part of a performance at WICA in March.
On Friday, I am off to Michigan for a quick visit with my few remaining relatives. For the first time, I am going to leave my car in my garage. Believe it or not, Seattle finally has mass transit all the way to the airport, at least if I go during commuting hours on a weekday. There's a bus that stops near my house to get me to the ferry. Once I'm on the mainland, the Sounder train will take me to downtown, and the "Central Link" light rail will take me on to the airport. All this for $4 each way. Whatta deal!
My friend Nancy and I have started a tradition of taking the train to the city the first Thursday of each month. I've done this 3 months running now, and each time my gracious friend Ellen has picked us up at the train, driven us to her place, and fed us brunch. Again, whatta deal!
Nancy, Cheryl, Gerry, and I have hatched a plan for another bike trip, this one to Arizona in March. The plan is that Nancy and I will drive down with all the bikes and gear, and the Cheryl and Gerry, poor wage-slaves that they are, will fly down to join us once we get there. Although I am not totally sick of winter yet, I admit that some warm sunshine does sound pretty appealing.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Jury Duty
I spent 3 days of last week on jury duty. A fascinating, disturbing, very worthwhile experience.
The case was 1st degree rape of a child. A father was accused of raping his 6 year old daughter. The daughter testified, and was very believable. She has told the same story multiple times for the past year. There was no real evidence other than the testimonies of the father and the daughter. So we basically had to decide who was more believable, the father or the daughter. We sided with the daughter. So this guy is going to prison for a long time, quite possibly for the rest of his life.
I've had trouble getting this out of my mind since then. I think we did the right thing. But what if we were wrong???? I have to keep reminding myself that I truly have no "reasonable doubt".
The father and mother had split a year before the incident, and there was a restraining order against the father for part of that time, where he could only see his kids if another adult was present. But during the trial, we were not allowed to know why. Afterwards, we learned that it was because he had been physically abusive to his wife.
The daughter had been acting out a lot at school, and the acting out only started after that restraining order was lifted. So ...?
The 6 year old child was able to describe details about her father's anatomy that a 6 year old would not normally know.
The 6 year old told her mom about the incident the morning after it happened, and they were at the police station by 11am that morning.
The defense was, well, there basically was no defense. No character witnesses, no friends testifying for the guy. The only one who testified for him was his mother, and she was really not believable. Grasping at straws, the defense's main tactic was to try to make us believe that the daughter had made this story up after hearing her mom talk about being abused when SHE was a child. The mom was abused as a child but flatly denied that she had ever talked about it within her daughter's hearing, and there certainly was no evidence to that effect.
We did the right thing. We did the right thing. I keep seeing the defendent's face, and thinking about him being in jail now.
The jury selection process took an entire day. Because of the nature of this case, there were 60 people in the jury pool to insure getting 12 jurors. About 1/2 were excused "for cause", mostly because of personal experiences with sexual abuse and/or admitting that they didn't believe they could be fair and impartial in such a case. One guy was excused because he said he believes 99% of the accused are guilty and he doesn't see why we don't just take 'em out and shoot 'em. Another because he said the only evidence he would accept in such a case is lie detector tests for father and daughter.
An interesing experience. But one I do not wish to repeat any time soon.
The case was 1st degree rape of a child. A father was accused of raping his 6 year old daughter. The daughter testified, and was very believable. She has told the same story multiple times for the past year. There was no real evidence other than the testimonies of the father and the daughter. So we basically had to decide who was more believable, the father or the daughter. We sided with the daughter. So this guy is going to prison for a long time, quite possibly for the rest of his life.
I've had trouble getting this out of my mind since then. I think we did the right thing. But what if we were wrong???? I have to keep reminding myself that I truly have no "reasonable doubt".
The father and mother had split a year before the incident, and there was a restraining order against the father for part of that time, where he could only see his kids if another adult was present. But during the trial, we were not allowed to know why. Afterwards, we learned that it was because he had been physically abusive to his wife.
The daughter had been acting out a lot at school, and the acting out only started after that restraining order was lifted. So ...?
The 6 year old child was able to describe details about her father's anatomy that a 6 year old would not normally know.
The 6 year old told her mom about the incident the morning after it happened, and they were at the police station by 11am that morning.
The defense was, well, there basically was no defense. No character witnesses, no friends testifying for the guy. The only one who testified for him was his mother, and she was really not believable. Grasping at straws, the defense's main tactic was to try to make us believe that the daughter had made this story up after hearing her mom talk about being abused when SHE was a child. The mom was abused as a child but flatly denied that she had ever talked about it within her daughter's hearing, and there certainly was no evidence to that effect.
We did the right thing. We did the right thing. I keep seeing the defendent's face, and thinking about him being in jail now.
The jury selection process took an entire day. Because of the nature of this case, there were 60 people in the jury pool to insure getting 12 jurors. About 1/2 were excused "for cause", mostly because of personal experiences with sexual abuse and/or admitting that they didn't believe they could be fair and impartial in such a case. One guy was excused because he said he believes 99% of the accused are guilty and he doesn't see why we don't just take 'em out and shoot 'em. Another because he said the only evidence he would accept in such a case is lie detector tests for father and daughter.
An interesing experience. But one I do not wish to repeat any time soon.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night
I love this time of year! Oh, I know in a month or two my tune will change, but for now...
I love the rain, and the fact that I can no longer remember the last dry day.
I love the colors: every imaginable shade of gold and sepia.
I love driving home at night through dark, winding roads littered with leaves.
I love sitting in front of the fire with a cat curled up in my lap, listening to the rain on the roof.
I love laying in bed listening to the rain and wind.
I've been inspired to start quilting again, for the first time in a couple of years. Have finished up a couple left from my last burst of inspiration, completed one new top and a couple of pillows with the leftover scraps. When I get more ambitious, I'll post pictures.
I love the rain, and the fact that I can no longer remember the last dry day.
I love the colors: every imaginable shade of gold and sepia.
I love driving home at night through dark, winding roads littered with leaves.
I love sitting in front of the fire with a cat curled up in my lap, listening to the rain on the roof.
I love laying in bed listening to the rain and wind.
I've been inspired to start quilting again, for the first time in a couple of years. Have finished up a couple left from my last burst of inspiration, completed one new top and a couple of pillows with the leftover scraps. When I get more ambitious, I'll post pictures.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Fall
The first big storm of the season blew through last night, carpeting the yards and roads with cedar, fir needles, big-leaf maple leaves, and small branches. I spent this morning curled up in the lazyboy in front of the fire, with cat in lap, watching the rain and fog. I am quite ready for hibernation time.
Earlier this week Lucie, Kathy, and I went for a day hike to Lake 22, just off the Mountain Loop Highway near Verlot. We had a perfect fall day and even some sunshine.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Swathed in Spiderwebs
This morning the outside of my house is swathed in those magical classic-design spiderwebs, each with a spider waiting patiently in the center. A quick count nets 4 on my downstairs deck, one guarding the walkway from my car (which I walked right through last night after dark, but this morning it's rebuilt), and they've virtually taken over my upstairs deck. I haven't picked my cherry tomatoes (which are still going strong) in a couple of days simply because I hate to disturb those beautiful webs.
I've had the kayak out once this week. Many of the winter watefowl are back or at least passing through on their way southward: surf scoters, western grebes, mergansers, cormorants, and a large flock of what I think are murrelets, either ancient or marbled.
I've had the kayak out once this week. Many of the winter watefowl are back or at least passing through on their way southward: surf scoters, western grebes, mergansers, cormorants, and a large flock of what I think are murrelets, either ancient or marbled.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Home Sweet Home
The need to see ocean again was just too great.
The drive from Keller's Ferry to I-90 was all rolling fields of grain, nary a tree in site other than those planted around houses as windblocks.
I forgot to get gas until it was almost too late, rolling into the tiny town of Odessa on fumes. I only saw one gas station, and it was closed. Uh-oh. I thought I was going to have to go begging for fuel at a farm. Then noticed a small sign pointing off the main street, for 24-hour credit-card-only gas, a couple of pumps next to the grain elevator. Whew!
I stopped right at sunset at a rest area on I-90, made coffee, and ate most of the rest of my unhealthy vacation snacks. That got me over the pass and home in time to catch the 10pm ferry. Oh, that ocean air smells good!
When I got home, in addition to the couple of beers that Gerry usually leaves me (thanks Ger!), there was slightly battered ear of corn in the fridge... hmm, I wonder where that came from? ;-)
The drive from Keller's Ferry to I-90 was all rolling fields of grain, nary a tree in site other than those planted around houses as windblocks.
I forgot to get gas until it was almost too late, rolling into the tiny town of Odessa on fumes. I only saw one gas station, and it was closed. Uh-oh. I thought I was going to have to go begging for fuel at a farm. Then noticed a small sign pointing off the main street, for 24-hour credit-card-only gas, a couple of pumps next to the grain elevator. Whew!
I stopped right at sunset at a rest area on I-90, made coffee, and ate most of the rest of my unhealthy vacation snacks. That got me over the pass and home in time to catch the 10pm ferry. Oh, that ocean air smells good!
When I got home, in addition to the couple of beers that Gerry usually leaves me (thanks Ger!), there was slightly battered ear of corn in the fridge... hmm, I wonder where that came from? ;-)
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