I'm a believer

There truly is the perfect sound for everyone just waiting for you to put on a pair of these babies, absolutely incredible!!!!

Way to see it through Team Nura, you guys are amazing!!

Giving thanks

I am thankful I have a job, even if I've been working it for the last month straight logging ridiculous hours at ridiculous times working with both Switzerland and the East Coast... but for the most part I'm enjoying myself, learning new things and I get to be smart and nerdy with people who are way smarter and nerdier than I am... which is pretty awesome!

I'm also thankful for my Dad, who flew in a week and a half ahead of his scheduled day-long visit - (this is his view on how long visits should be), and proceeded to knock off basically everything on my list of house fixes that would probably have taken me 3 months... and at least three times as many trips to Home Depot as it took him ;)

I'm thankful that he organized my shop... and even though it sometimes takes a little longer to find things, I'm pretty sure it's karma for the time I "lost" his screwdrivers with no recollection whatsoever in my fort for 20 years... (sorry Dad)

Dad, you didn't just fix things... you got them moving again, we were stuck in a rut of "There's no point in unpacking this, until I fix/do that" and now things are moving, and rooms are starting to take shape... and I found things that I knew were "around somewhere" but now they're filed, and I KNOW where they are, and I feel *so* much better about it... *exhales* so thank you for that. 

In the middle of *the* craziest month of programming work I think I've ever had in my life outside of University, you gave me some piece of my sanity back that I lost in the move ;)

I have no idea how to thank you for that, but thank you.  

Thanks for flying in like a shining knight on a big armoured steed and rescuing this self-rescuing princess... again, it is greatly appreciated.

... and if you ever need help with anything, just let me know. seriously.

Love you and *huge hugs*

No shame have you when it comes to the force

Is it still considered crashing a funeral if your friend was invited by someone who works at the church that the funeral is being hosted at?

Heh... that's what I thought too ;) Well, either way, that happened last weekend.

I have to admit, the idea of it was a little weird... when we were driving up I was thinking "Seriously? are we really doing this? Yep, we're doing this!" We're really for real going to someone elses' funeral, dressed up like Han and Chewy.

Prior to arriving we were texting back and forth with our friend "So far, no one dressed up" she told us... our hearts and faces fell... "I take it back, Star Trek just walked in"!

So what prompted this departure from the normal social protocol in which one does not show up at funerals where one did not previously know the person the funeral is being held for?

Two words: Jedi Elvis

This guy was a huge Star Wars fan and big into cosplay and created a mashup of Elvis as a Jedi, and it's incredibly epic. 

He was also a professional actor (unlike the rest of LA who just wants to be ;) and had some other awesome costumes.  

Like Russel from Up

and the Penguin from Batman!

We know this because we saw some pics on Facebook, and because we were lucky enough to see the slideshow of his life.

It was incredible the number of lives he had touched, and the range of costumes and characters that were represented. We saw Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, Pirates, an old Finn with a cane from the new Star Wars movie, and a Storm Trooper in a full flight suit, and had it been any other occasion I would have asked for pictures with everyone.

In some small way I feel as if I knew him, and I can fully admit I laughed and cried with the rest of his friends and family... but that's mostly because I can't let people cry alone.

At the end off it all, I almost wish we'd gone back to the reception and made friends, because if they were half as cool as he sounded? Well, we would have fit right in ;)

Not today!

Taking one for the team

Getting pulled over directly in front of your husband...

minus minus

Getting a text message from him with an audio clip of "All I do is win win win win win"...

So supportive

Sweating it out while the police officer reviews everything, giving you enough time to realize that you were doing 22 over the limit, and that they have the option of pulling your license in Massachusetts...

Even bigger minus minus

Taking one for the team by getting pulled over and keeping the police officer occupied while everyone else zips by...

So swell of you

Getting a warning from the very nice police officer because you have a very clean record...

Sweet relief

Pulling one over on your husband the perpetual jokester by texting that "it's not good" and switching drivers... only to then startle him with "Surprise!" When he gets out of the car to give you a hug...

Priceless

Sending him his own audio clip back saying "22 over the limit and all I get is a warning" when he got a ticket last week?

Sweet sweet revenge ;)

Morning musing

Is it just me, or did Corn Pops used to be more spherical?

Homeownership adventure number 1!

It was one of those conversations...

Her: "I think this is blowing hot air"

me: *dubious* "I don't think it's turned on... It's probably just the fan blowing through it from the other room and picking up hot air from under the house..."

Her: "I dunno, it's really warm"

me: "okay" *shrugs* "but I'm not really sure what to do about it" :/

*muttering to self* Well, just because you don't think something is on, doesn't mean it isn't... and your off the cuff response doesn't entirely make sense, why would there be hot air under the house? The sun doesn't even shine down there, so it should actually be cooler air... *sigh* I should take a look at it... it's not like she's saying this just to be difficult... she's just as hot and cranky as you are.

She left for rehearsal and I started taking the cover off of the 50's era heating vent. 

I discovered to my alarm that the thing under the vent actually was quite warm!  

Deeper and deeper into it I went...

...undoing things and taking them apart until I found what looked to be an excessively large pilot light... and damn was it ever throwing off a whole lotta heat!!!

Further investigation revealed a munched label above two square poles that looked like once upon a time were valves but they seemed to be missing handles...

*panic*

*run to shop for vice grips*

*continue staring at it, as if it will come to me and I will somehow know what to do to turn it off*

I took a deep breath and decided that since it hadn't lit anything on fire yet it was probably okay for now, and dialed my emergency on-call Civil Engineer...

me: "Hi Mom? Is Dad there?" ...

Mom: "Hi sweetie, your father is driving, what's up?"

me: "Well there's this heater thing that looks like it's from Granny's era, and I want to turn it off... I mean I guess it hasn't blown up or anything yet so it's okay for now, but I was hoping Dad could take a look at it"

Mom: "We're just coming through the S-bend now, so we'll be home in about 5 minutes, can you call us on the land-line?"

me: *relieved* "Sure no problem, I'll take some pictures and email them to you so you can see what I'm talking about"

Six or so odd pictures with the dog thrown in for scale and about 10 minutes later I was talking to my Dad.  With him on the phone I tried gripping the handle poles with a pair of vice grips but all that did was cause the pilot light to flicker and an alarming bit of orange to jump into it.

Dad: Alright, well your next option is that there *should* be an emergency shut off valve near the appliance.

me: Sooooo since I can't see anything like that from up here, that means it's under the house right? *scrunched up look*

Dad: Yep, most likely, it should be on the gas line leading to the heater.

me: *groans* alright, I'm going in...

If I don't call you back in 20 minutes something under the house got me... I'll take my phone with me, whatever good that'll do from under the house :/

Dad: *chuckles* Alright, be careful

It's 84 degrees in the house at this point, but I have no idea what I'm going to find underneath it... so I suit up.  Shirt w/sleeves and thick jeans which I taped to my runners.  I jammed my phone in my pocket, grabbed a can of Raid, the vice-grips and a flashlight and descended into the crawl space.

*cautious breath*

It took a handful of seconds for me to equalize my nerves and calm my imagination enough not to just jump right back out again, but once I did I realized it didn't smell as bad as I had feared, and there weren't hoards of creepy crawlies all over the place like an Indiana Jones movie.  I saw one or two desiccated insect corpses, but that was about it...  I calmed down, spotted the heater line and dragged myself over to it... literally.

Sure enough, just like Dad said there was a shut-off valve on the gas line. It turned like a charm and within seconds the pilot light was blissfully silent.

I scrambled out, and called my parents to let them know I was still alive 

...while simultaneously stripping down and promised to call them back after a quick shower.

Dad: So it worked did it?

me: Yes! *grins*

Dad: You sound pretty pleased with yourself ;)

me: Yeeeessssss *grins even bigger*

Dad: And so you should!  Now you need to book someone to come out and service it and tell you how it works, preferably in the off season before you need it.

me: It's so hot right now, I can't even *think* of turning it back on, but yeah I will thanks!

Carpet puker

I don't know what it is, but I'm glad that the carpet guys left us some extra, because this one only likes to puke on the carpet.

I think this will be her new I'm not feeling well rug.

Silly walk!

This might be my new favorite video

https://youtu.be/gn4nRCC9TwQ

Box of safety

While it isn't fourth of July until tomorrow, the hooligan neighbors have been testing out their fireworks in increasing frequency for the last three days or so, and the dog has been getting more and more nervous because she knows that THE WORLD IS GOING TO END beginning with a series of small explosions.

We've been scouring the internet and nothing was really all that helpful, there are doggy earmuffs that look like a couple of jock straps but the reviews weren't all that good and don't warrant the price tag... there's the thunder jacket, but we tried swaddling her and she ended up just hot panting on top of stressed panting, and for the price tag we could just stuff her into one of her old shirts she's too fat for to achieve the same effect... although it would be funnier to wrap her in ace tensor bandages and pretend she's a mummy like one of the blogs suggested :p

But as usual out of the chaos came a couple helpful hints, tucker her out, distract her, and then maybe some white noise... She has some cat like tendencies, so the Ninja put her in a box, and threw a fan on top, we've got some tunes on in the background and the bathroom fan which sounds kind of industrial, but surprisingly enough it seems to be working. 

She isn't entirely relaxed, but she's not freaking out either which is a big improvement over yesterday. So to the handful of people who seemed to think you shouldn't have any extra noise because "fireworks are loud enough" I say poo-poo!!

Heh

Yesterday I was being a hooligan and throwing some eggs of questionable freshness over the wall and into the abandoned empty lot next door, when I heard an indignant voice shout

"Hey, what are you doing!"

I gasped and froze, and then scurried to close the garage door like a little kid who's about to get busted.

Then as a cover I came in and started doing dishes, only to have the Ninja come downstairs and ask how it went...

I confessed that I'd been scared off by a disembodied voice, when she smiled and admitted that she had been watching the eggs explode next door, and unable to contain her bubbling giggles any longer that she'd been the one to yell at me, and had been laughing since the eggs stopped exploding :p

No dog bed in this room now

This is the dog making sure I don't forget to take her when we move. So sweet :)

As if we would forget her, she's so awesome.

H.E. double hockey sticks NO!!

We've looked at numerous houses, but my favorite "Nope!" was the one where they'd put in extra padding under the carpet in the Master bedroom to try to make up for how uneven it was... It started with Kevin going "Girls, watch this" as he let go of the door and it closed itself...

Then on the way down the stairs I realized that the ceiling was sagging away from a wall that they'd removed most of in order to open things up a little... and someone had attempted a patch under the bathroom.... "Definitely, don't even maybe want to touch this place with a thirty nine and a half foot pole!!!"

My favorite though, was him pointing out the porch on the place across the street with the same sagging symptoms, since its a community I suspect they all have the same problem. It may be a fantastic neighborhood, but no bueno!!!

Time!

I'm calling it... 11:28 pm the night before our open house, I've done the best I can with the time we had left. 

I'm so sticky and gross but also so exhausted I don't even know if I have enough energy left to take a shower.

Cheaper, but it'll take twice as long ;)

Dad was lamenting that while doing something yourself can be a whole lot cheaper, sometimes it ends up taking longer because you end up having to do it twice, and I'm definitely starting to feel that way...

So far we've put in two shower cartridges, I don't know what was wrong with the first one, but the second one worked like a charm...

We've done the caulking in Faith's shower twice because I didn't read it carefully enough and bought clear caulk... now I know better :/

I've done the touch up paint twice because apparently the sun has bleached my room more than the hallway where the paint match chip came from *sigh* it still isn't *quite* right but at this point it's "good enough"

I had to patch the holes our sweet shelf left in the bathroom wall twice because they were just big enough that it fell in a bit as it dried and wasn't flush like it should have been.

Needless to say, I've fixed the things I wasn't happy with, and corrected some of the other patch jobs that weren't up to snuff lest they think *I* did it like that ;)

At very least I can honestly say I've stayed true to one of the life lessons I learned so very long ago in Girl Guides, and that's that I've left things better than I found them.

That dawning moment of realization

So this text got sent from our house this evening and pretty much sums up how things are going:

"Yay! We're still doing house stuff, but we're almost done! Just need to do baseboards in my bathroom, clean Sam's bathroom, caulk both bathrooms, deep clean the kitchen, touch up paint...shit..."

Staying out of the way

Ah the sound of someone else working, it's comforting and strangely enough has brought back memories of when I was three and my parents were able to afford to put carpet in the house.  I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember running around on the really fine particle board that's now under the carpet... running into the living room and stepping on the thin strip of carpet tack they'd just laid and then sitting in the rocking chair my Grandfather made me nursing my foot... and feeling indignantly angry at that carpet tack, because it hurt!

Celine Dion, enough said... and yet there's more.

She's funny and classy, and sassy and thoughtful and raw and just down to earth really for real... and amazing, and incredible and wonderful and I would go see her again in a heartbeat!

She said the coliseum was intimate, *raises eyebrow* it has two mezzanine balconies and seats ~4,296... and yet somehow she has made it her home away from home, and it really was kind of intimate *smiles*.

She knocked it out out of the park finishing a couple of her songs in classic Celine fashion, but even knowing that she was going to do it didn't lessen the impact. In fact seeing it in person was even more phenomenal than I could have possibly imagined... until I realized she was singing the guitar solo.

*jaw dropping* whaaaa?!? 

My mind *exploded* and she shattered my perception of an amazing singer into a bzillion sparkling crystalline pieces. 

Yep, that pretty much put her light years above and beyond anyone I've ever heard. In. My. Life.

I ran the full gamut of emotions that evening, she shared pieces of herself in the way that only people who are fully comfortable on stage can, including a little leg from her cocktail dress "for Renee" she confided, and then again a little later "for anyone who wants to look", and she looks amazing! 

We laughed and cried, and I earned even more respect for another artist I admire deeply.  This artist can turn feelings into lyrics, and when Celine needed it most she wrote a song for her. It's called Recovering, and the artist is Pink! If you haven't heard it I recommend taking a listen, but it's worth having some kleenex on standby.  One of the friends we went with kindly shared her make-up wipes and we sniffled together :p

No matter what you think you know about her, if you're the least bit interested and you have the opportunity definitely go see her show live, it's an amazing experience.  She's a very special one of a lifetime kind of person, and I'm so thankful I was able to see her, it's a memory I wont soon forget!

We'll get new carpet we said...

They'll install it, it'll be easier than doing it ourselves we said... and that is probably still true.

But.

But I don't think we had any idea how much you have to do to get *ready* for new carpet. I can see why this is something you should do before you move in... or after you move out.  We've basically moved out into the garage, and while they do move furniture it's supposed to be mostly empty... so you might as well be moved out anyways.

It's quarter after 8 in the morning, apparently we're close to the carpet place so we got the call at a little after 7 and they were here by 7:30... luckily we were *mostly* ready and literally only had a few things to gather and move out of the way, as opposed to yesterday and the day before when I kept thinking "Okay! This room is almost done, I think I just need one more box"... 

Meanwhile in California...

It's so hot even the stuff that's been hung up on the line feels like it's hot out of the dryer!

And so it begins

We're about at the point between cleaning and life, where we're still living in the house, but trying to make it look like we don't.

I'm seriously considering seran wrapping things like an Italian Grandmother once they've had a good deep cleaning so we don't have to clean them again :p

Great stuff...

I had an idea, but it wasn't until I saw it referenced on the Internet when I stumbled across something else that I really wanted to try it :p

Basically you put something in a container drape cloth over it and fill the container part way with foaming crack filler and then put something to contain the foam and walk away and let it sit overnight.

I don't know why, but despite having two people tell me it was overkill I still wanted to try it because I thought it was a great idea.

So I did a test run, and it didn't work quite right... but I figured I'd learned enough to do it, namely that you can't use a plastic bag because it needs to breath in order to dry.

Writing this out I realize how ridiculous it sounds that I'm still writing about trying it.

Well, you've probably figured this out already, but it was a bit of a disaster.

I ran out of foam, then I put too much in... and the container I was filling was plastic. I left it longer to compensate which seemed to help (or so I thought) until the third day when I opened it up, took the item needing protection out and an hour later it didn't fit... and still the foam kept expanding.

I let it run its course, and then set about the task of removing the evidence of my failed experiment.  I heard a bread knife works well, and boy did it ever! I started tearing out huge chunks until I discovered there was still a large pocket of gooey mess... by this point it was all over my right hand, and I was past the point of no return.

I didn't think it was going to be an ordeal getting it off, until I exhausted my go-to hand cleaners and started to panick a little. Luckily only one hand was sticky and I could still Google with my left hand :p

Thank you to the guy who said ten minutes of rubbing with peanut butter, and a couple cold beers worth of picking it off while sitting on the front porch. I'd tried butter, but not nearly long enough. Between the peanut butter and some serious scraping with a knife edge I was able to get to the point that it didn't look entirely awful.

Once I got past that the rest of it came out of the container pretty easily with some help from a putty knife and a screw driver. A quick trip to the fabric store, three pillow cases and less than 20mins later we'd effectively acheived what I'd been working on intermittently for the better part of a week *sigh*

Thank you for letting me try it and fail. After a conversation with my Mom I realized something, some people try, fail and move on. Whereas I see the potential for something and I keep trying to get it to work... I like to think it's kind of an Edison-esque "I've found 99 ways that don't work"

*indignantly* For the record I still think it's a good idea.

Adventures in house repairs

We're prepping the house to move, and I think I'm just about at the point of breaking even between things I wanted to fix, things I have actually fixed, and things that I had to fix even though they weren't on the list because I accidentally broke them...

So far I've learned that you shouldn't leave the open paint can lid I on the floor where the dog might step on it, she didn't mind you, and she sat down immediately if quizzically when she heard the panic in my voice, but it was an eternity of a minor heart attack when I thought she had.

I've learned that there's no incentive for getting the water turned back on when you're doing a plumbing job like having to poop.

I've also learned that I have no idea how the bathtub cartridge works, and that no matter how simple it looks, its probably worth my time to pay someone who knows what they're doing. I can admit that now right? Even though I just spent two days, more than a fair amount of time,  and two cartridges from home depot... I was successful which is the important part, and now looking back on the fun times we had. No? Okay no. But it is pretty satisfying that it works now.

I've learned that reading the directions, and realizing you might have done something wrong, can be enough to make something that appeared to be working, not work.

I've learned that adventures in plumbing will wait until you're naked and in the shower to start leaking into the kitchen through the light downstairs.

I already knew I hated vinyl flourescent light covers, but I've just learned that they hate me too.

Hold still!

me: No, hold still!!!

her: I didn't know you were talking to me.

me: Stop moving, just hold still a second!!!

Lookit what I found on Aryanne :)

And then we realized there are probably a few hundred more of these little guys in the vicinity :p

Feeling satisfied

I recently caught wind of a bombshell that was dropped at a homeowners meeting by the board... they want to levy a "special assessment" which equates to $9000 per home-owner due by August, and if you didn't pay "they'd just take out a lien on your place". They assured everyone quite indignantly from what I heard, that what they were doing was perfectly legal in our CC&R's (the community's local governance documents).  The fact that most of the people who live here can't afford $9000 in 5 months seems to have escaped them, and the fact that if they *did* have that lying around... they wouldn't be living here.

It didn't sound right to me, in fact it sounded like a giant steaming load of BS.


So I took to the internet and did some exploratory Googling and happened upon the California Civil Code section 1366 which confirmed my suspicions.  There is a housing code for the state which supersedes each local CC&R your local laws can be more specific but they cannot disregard the state law. It very clearly states that you can do this *BUT* there are dollar amount limits, very specific situations in which it can/must be done, AND you have to have a quorum of half of the home owners on board.

This recent declaration violates the California Civil Code on *almost* every count.

I have a feeling someone was banking on nobody doing their homework... and that everyone would grumble, carry on in their ignorance and just take their word for it.  In which regard, I'm quite pleased that the bug I placed in a few ears seems to have wiggled past the unfocused anger and manifested itself in others looking up the Civil Code as well. *satisfied grin*

My work here is not done, I don't know what is going to come of this hot mess yet, but I'm still pleased with myself for stirring the pot that needed stirring. 

How does one become the people of Wal-Mart you ask?

Well first you spend the evening putzing around subconsciously muttering to yourself that there's something else you should be doing...

Then you play video games until it's past your bedtime, and finally decide to wrap it up only to realize that you have company coming over tomorrow  and that you were supposed to go grocery shopping this evening, and that most normal grocery stores are going to be closed in 15 mins...

That's how you become the people of the 24hr Wal-Mart.

Om nom nom

I guess he really is hungry enough to eat his own arm...

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!

Holy you would have thought I'd asked them to turn the electricity off for a whole day rather than an hour, but we made it! We had a romantic candle lit dinner, and discussed how Earth Day isn't just something we celebrate in Canada, that in fact it's celebrated all over the world, apparently just not the US ;)

It was cool though, for the most part we  refrained from using our phones, and we only fell into the "how much longer till we can turn the lights on" thereby making it that much longer, a couple times... so we had to be social the old fashioned way, which led to the deep contemplative conversation of 

"What would it be if you crossed a Shitzhu with a Cock-a-poo?... a Shit-poo!!!"

Meanwhile in California

I'm having trouble reconciling this beautiful weather with my Canadian bones that are whispering "winter is coming" I keep putting on a sweatshirt before I go outside, and then immediately having to take it off!

I'm not sure how clever that it's...

On the way home recently I saw a lady who looked like she was working on her lawn, she had on gardening gloves, a freshly pulled weed in one hand and a medium Chinese style meat cleaver in the other...

I did one of those mental double takes,  but we drove by too fast to tell what she was actually using it for.  Since then my brain has been working overtime trying to come up with a plausible explanation.

A few days later, and I still gots nothin'

When three syllables isn't enough

Her: "I was teaching a kid about sixteenth notes today, and I told her it's like: Mo-tor-cy-cle, mo-tor-cy-cle"

Kid: "El-e-phan-tay, el-e-phan-tay"

Her: "El-e-phan-tay?"

Kid: "Well, I know Elephant is three sylables... so I needed to make it Elephantay."

Consequences unforseen there may be

I don't think this is what they meant when they said you will have to battle your inner demons...

burlap sack moment

Fellow airport traveler, you weren't stinky until you sprayed yourself.

Revelations during the ride

There's no garbage in the future, and it smells like crayons!
~Faith on Spaceship Earth

Doing Disney World right

I think we got lucky... and we were foolish, but overall it worked out ;)

We booked an early breakfast at Be our guest, which turned out to be awesome because they let us in to the park early for reservations, which meant we were able to jump in line ahead of the horde for the Seven Dwarfs ride we couldn't fast pass...

And in staying at a Disney resort we got extra magic hours, which were two at the end of the night... So we pretty much went on EVERYTHING we wanted to, and then some :D

Are you ready?

It's barely 6 and a half hours since I went to bed last night...and probably more like 4 since I fell asleep barely able to contain my excitement in anticipation of Disney World! My eyeballs hate me and I briefly wonder if the juice had enough time to neutralize... no matter, ready or not... here we go!

Priorities kids

Overheard on the dash into the park:
"Silly Daddy, see he's the first in line in there, he had to go to Starbucks"

Look at the moon!

Looking out the window as we descend, there is a whisper of a reflection of the moon if you know where to look, jumping from puddle to lake and reflecting off of the edges of the strangest things just beyond reach it easily keeps pace with us until at last it is revealed in a golden splash, looking even more magnificent than the cold bright white coming off it directly.

A safe place

*slightly-panicked dog* lemmeuplemmeuplemmeup!

Dog: "The other one is playing with those squeaky balloons again that scare the crap out of me!  This one is safe, I will sit here and supervise..."

Do, or do not... there is no try

Done!

Doh! 

I had to look back through the instructions twice, and apparently I missed the fourth step... (I'm not even kidding!) So I did this whole thing without the fourth... but I knew it could never be complete without the fourth...

S'tho I fixed it... ;)

May the fourth *ahem* force be with you!

Definitely not writers block

I've been struggling with "getting everything out"... it isn't writers' block, it's something I think that is more akin to trying to drink from a firehose.

I've had so many incredible days, and trips, and things that I'm really excited about and awesome pictures that I want to share, and the fact that I just can't seem to get it all in the right place at the right time is... it's frustrating, and it's messing up my flow, and I'm ready to be done with all the excuses for why I haven't written anything.

The other day I started thinking that something really important to my writing is *moments* and that maybe the reason I'm having so much trouble is that I'm trying to save time and write about a day... but maybe it doesn't work like that, and so it comes out chunky and awkward like mac 'n cheese before the cheese is properly melted.

I don't want to share some diatribe of how my day went, inundating you with all the boring minutia of things that don't really matter.  Although, I do realize that this is a matter of perspective, and some of the things I share may not matter to you at all, but please know that for one reason or another they matter to me.

"If it mattered before the election, it matters now" I can't find the original article but thank you fellow artist, this has been resonating with something inside my brain and I think it may have jiggled my wordjam loose! *grins*

 

What you know vs what you do

At one point in my career I was feeling overpaid for what I was actually doing... like any monkey could do what I do, when a friend said to me "They don't pay you for what you do, they pay you for what you know".

I've thinking about it... I know a lot of things now, but it isn't like I'm some great repository of knowledge, I don't *do* anything that anyone else couldn't do... but I know what makes me different, is the experiences I've had and learned from.

The other night I had the pleasure of helping an old friend with something that I had previously worked on.

Something that I had spent hours, nay possibly a few days bashing my head against, tearing my hair out, and attempting to manhandle into place.  The golden nugget at the end of it all, was learning that you didn't just have to make the right changes... but that in order to actually see the changes, you had to completely clear your browser cache.

So yes, what I *do* may only take seconds, and may seem trivial once you know it... but knowing that you need to do those things, especially those small important details is what makes you worth your weight in gold.

Where poopy mornings come from.

Some mornings are a pry-yourself-out-of-bed with the incentive of a warm cup of coffee... and some mornings are a rude awakening to the realization that the dog pooped by the door and you have to clean it before you can let her out again, later followed by more pooping by the door when you don't let her out because you thought she was done pooping already.

Poop.