I have no idea what is wrong with the car

I thought it was a rundown battery, and my uncle took care of it and got me two new tires that I didn't know I needed. Car runs fine for one day. Friday it is so dead it doesn't even crank, Jim. Double check everything, so we must have ended up with a dud battery.

Saturday we trade in the battery for a bigger one. Car cranks fine. Now I didn't drive it anywhere; I had no where to go. Sunday dead and no cranking, no sounds no nothing.

So something must be draining the battery and it must be something under the hood that we can't find. I haven't had to miss any work because I'm borrowing my parents' spare Santa Fe. But I hate driving it in the nasty weather we've been having, and I really didn't budget time correctly this morning and had to make an emergency gas run because the Santa Fe was empty.

Meanwhile, I can't crank my car with a nice full gas tank.

I really don't see how I can budget Halloween this year. I have to play catchup on too many bills now. Normally if it was just my "blah I don't want to play with people" mood, I wouldn't mind getting dragged out of the house regardless. But this is my "I've been a bad girl fiscally" mood. I really can't justify partying when I owe so many people money. *headdesk*

Stargate Universe was good. More on that when I'm in a better mood.

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Number Crunching #160

Actually figured on 12/13/2009

Quicken Cash Flow = 12.81
STEF Total = 6.15

September Budget Meeting

Reconciling Quicken with bank statements: Done.
Reconciling last month’s budget: I didn’t make a budget the month before. $295.00 in bank charges and I skipped the mortgage payment again.

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Update on Life

Yeah, I'm still alive. And I need to clean out the box I just dumped all loose items in the office into. It's just a knee-high box and now nearly full. But I had forgotten what a clean desktop looked like. On the other hand, I'm on top of the rest of the household chores. Score!

So I have a little free time now that the Faulkner draft has gone off to be reviewed. I'm filled with the "I should be doing stuff" vibe and nothing driving me to finish it. I'm blaming lack of sleep, and I hope I can stay awake for Castle.

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Bones Season 5

So the Puritan in my head tried to give me grief that I shouldn't waste time with frivolity until the Faulkner paper is finished. The rest of the committee in my head mutinied. The Puritan got labeled a "masochist" and I watched Bones sans guilt trip; though I did concede to print out the paper and see how many pages didn't suck from the critique. I got 7 out of 20.

So thoughts on Bones first episode of season five. There may be spoilers.

First: That's how to do a Tarot card scene. Way back when in the first Creative Writing class I took, I put a solitary Tarot card reading into the story. The class promptly booted the scene out because it was boring. Having other people to talk to makes it all that more interesting. Giving the psychic with the Tarot cards the job of recapping the cliffhanger scores points with me.

Second: Cyndi Lauper's ability to pull off a believable psychic has come a long since Vibes, the movie she did with Jeff Goldblum. I hope her character, Harmony, becomes a regular guest.

Third: Speaking of the regular guests, I love Carolyn the Federal Prosecutor extraordinaire.

Fourth: After the whole episode about a baby (i.e. last season's second-to-last episode), both Bones and Booth kept quiet about the dream/book baby. Hmmm...

Fifth: No intern? Bones was supposed to be picking a graduate assistant, hence the revolving interns gimmick of last season. Granted it's only been six weeks between the seasons (they said that often enough), so maybe the deadline for picking one isn't up yet.

Sixth: Big huge hint that Angela and Hodges are back together. SQUEE! I love these two and the sex romps on the reproduction of Cleopatra's bed.

That's all I got for now. Onto Faulkner pain for the weekend. I'm think of letting the snark out to play on it. I'm out of ideas otherwise.

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Good point

The United States of Anger

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Grab songs later

Posting here because I'm having issues at home with GMail through Firefox.

http://kseda.livejournal.com/679446.html

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TV Stuff

"Being human means love and sacrifice." - George Being Human

Alas it is over, but they did get the money for a new series! *Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy Dance*

I adored this series, the characters, the tweaks they did on their vampires to break out from all the other vamp stories out there. Basically drinking blood is an addiction that does give you added strength and other nifty vampire powers, but they can still eat food and function. And vampire undertakers, that one makes me grin with how clever it is.

And I so totally ship Nina and George. Their puppies would be so cute!

Also in squeeing news: Castle is coming back on Sept. 21st! At the same time slot that caused me problems last year. *stopping Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy Dance* Oh who am I kidding, I will stay up and watch it.

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Number Crunching #159

Actually figured on 12/13/2009

Quicken Cash Flow = 328.59
STEF Total = 6.15

August Budget Meeting

Reconciling Quicken with bank statements: Done.
Reconciling last month’s budget: I didn’t make a budget the month before. Only $227.00 in bank charges, but I stopped paying my mortgage in this month.

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Who turned Friday into a shit day?

Two pieces of news I wasn't expecting. 1). The lawsuit as a result of my last wreck isn't as frivolous as I thought it was, and I have paperwork I must do in order to avoid a subpoena. 2). My uncle is in the emergency room and I'm now on standby to relive Dad in the waiting for result department.

I can't do anything about the paperwork because I need to find a notary, who is out for lunch. I can't do anything about the emergency room until I get a phone call telling me I'm needed. So really the sensible thing is to eat my lunch that I have no appetite for and work on Faulkner. *Sigh*

And Mom scheduled the garage sale for tomorrow. This weekend is shaping up to be packed.

Update: Luckily, all my uncle had was a seizure due to the medicos trying to wean him off the seizure medicine. Yes, we were afraid the cancer was coming back. I ended up sitting at the hospital from 1 until he finally got discharged at 4:30. And I managed to focus most of that on the Faulkner paper.

I still have to help with the garage sale tomorrow as well as the lawsuit paperwork I didn't get to do yesterday.

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Just something I've been pondering

How the hell did I ever managed to complete any homework previously? My time management skills have been flattened by steam roller.

I've resorted to bribing the muse. I have no idea if that will actually work.

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Faulkner Paper Deadlines Update

• Aug. 4 = Email update to Dr. Louth
• Aug. 19 = First day of Fall 2009 semester
• Aug. 19 - 21 = Email Dr. Fredell for memo to the library to restore borrowing privileges.
• Aug. 27 = Pay all fees I can afford to
• Aug. 28 = if there is any money left from the paycheck, buy all the damn Cliff Notes I can find on Faulkner's works. I'm tired of reading passages and wondering what the hell just happened.
• Sept. 1 = email Dr. Louth copy of first draft, then schedule meeting
• Oct. 12 - 16 = Draft to turn in is probably due this week. Usually due around Oct. 15th
• Nov. 12 = should send out notices of graduation
• Dec. 7 = Deadline for Graduate Exams - if readers want changes a new draft due before now
• Dec. 12 = Commencement ceremony 10 am

So this is going to be a busy seven days, given how my first draft is nebulous at best.

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Halloween Hot Bod Day 1

Upper Body workout - repeat three times - I go through one set before time available was up. And yes, I did get up on time. the problems I had:

• dealing with the timer. The workouts today are counted by the maximum you can do in one minute. While settling the digital timer for a minute was easy, figuring out where to put it to easily turn it on and off and not be out of my starting position not so much. Maybe if I put it on a cord around my neck.
• moving in and out of the house. I set up the pull-up bar on the front porch, which is still a crowded mess and I can barely reach my light switch. Getting set up with a stool to make the pull ups easier, then trying to turn on the timer. And I still couldn't reach the pull-up bar. I want the one that fits over the standard door frame.
• pull ups suck. I think shoulder rotation warm-ups might help. Push ups suck too, and I think I will have to switch to girly knee push ups until I get stronger.
• I skipped chin-up. And I forgot to bring the stool outside.
• got distracted when I went to go do bench dips on the weight bench. Good news is the straightening that I needed to do is now done.
• not a Marine, my crunches are done on the ab ball. I did twenty on the floor like he said to do, but I only felt the leg muscles working. The last twenty of the forty on the ab ball I felt on the abs.
• depending on how I feel when I get home, I might try to complete the other sets. That's a big if with how tired I feel now.

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Working Out the Runs

Those workout days will have to be split in half--the crunches in the morning before work and the running after. I'll be heading to North Oak Park to make sure my math is correct. Who's bright idea was it to make the walking/running path only 4/5 of a mile? Was the extra 1/5 of distance cost prohibitive? Why not do 3/4 and make the math to figure out laps so much easier?

The test session on how well I handle this depends on weather. I'm going to be miffed if I spent all day gearing myself up for this and a monsoon hits Hammond at the same time I do.

I managed two out of the five laps before the weather sent me to the car and then home. Still I learned some important things.

• Changing in workout gear at work is probably better for my self-conscious ego. Everyone else shows up in what they plan on walking in.
• No more athletic shorts. It doesn't matter how much sun my legs need, I can't do anything with chaffing thighs.
• Need something to hold the keys.
• Someone has marked the one mile on the track. Too bad they didn't mark the half-mile mark.
• I'm less fit than I thought I was. My comfortable pace is walking.
• It's going to take longer than I thought to do the milage if all I can manage is a walk.

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In Other News, My Teeth Have Never Been Happier

I spent all my movie money on an electronic toothbrush. The only reason I got it is because it was the only toothbrush available small enough to fit into my mouth without cartoon characters on it. I have never stuck a cartoon character into my mouth once the teeth came in so I really don't want to reverse the trend.

Why in the world did I wait so long before switching over? My mouth usually only feels like this after the dentist cleaning. Now it's been great for three days straight. And hopefully, the dentist doesn't find anything to complain about next month.

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Finding Time

The first issue for working out that pops into mind is time. I like to do exercising first thing in the morning. So it is always cut when I oversleep. Doing it as soon as I get home? I've been afraid that will keep me awake.

Time to prove if that is true or not. Sunday I did a 45 minute workout (Chest and Back Exercises) near about the time I would get home from work. Then I headed to the bathroom for a mini-spa treatment. Goal was to color hair, shave legs, and go to bed between 8 and 9pm.

Pull ups are still my enemy. The good news: the pull up bar I fashioned on the front porch didn't come down when I hung from it. The bad news: if a pull up is defined by feet off the ground and chin over the bar, I have two feet above my chin to conquer. I'm not surprised with my upper body strength and the weight I'm at. My new strategy is to get my chin closer to the bar so I can build up the muscles, but do it safely so I don't kill myself.

No clue how I'm going to accomplish that.

Spa day, why do I even try? The hair color bottle busted as I was applying it. I did remove it off my skin so I didn't spot, and then just spread it in with my fingers. The results is more highlights than all over color, but it looks better.

I didn't go to bed until 10pm and didn't wake up until 4am. This makes me feel like the evening workout is a failure because I didn't even get my writing morning hour in.

Monday night, I took all my pills with supper and added a melatonin dose. I crawled into bed at 7:30pm. I vaguely remembering waking up to see that the clock said 11pm, and then rolled back over. I woke up with the alarm clock, score! Didn't pull myself out of bed, bad!

Physically, my screwed up left shoulder is still tender. Not in pain, but I really notice moving it as opposed to moving the right one. I don't know if I overestimated what I could do when designing the program. And then I found a link to Marine Corps Fitness. So I'm going to give this a whirl in place of. The only thing I'm unsure of is the running component. He has other activities down for cardio, but then because Marines have to prove their fit with running, he only has running in the free workout program. :/ Running is okay, even though I'm not gung-ho about it. The problem is I have no way of running three miles at my house. I have no idea how many times that would be around the yard, and I really don't want to do that in the dark.

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More on the Insanity

Yeah, here come the details. I'm still in the process of fine tuning them.

Erin_M created an alternate universe background to Tin Man in which Adora Springer is training to be a Tin Man and meets her future husband Wyatt Cain. I love this series, and thinking it would also be a great way for me to showcase how I think Tin Men uniforms would work, I promised to be Tin Man Adora Springer for Halloween.

The catch? I'm no where near believable fresh out of training cop shape.

The solution? The 90 day workout I built to be like PX90. I got through the first week and discovered where the issues are. Now I need to address the negative reinforcements that stop me from making the changes and help me slide into old bad habits. There are 78 days before Halloween and I want to kick ass. Plus it will totally help my health.

Bad Habits

• Not taking my nighttime doses of medication.
• I get stressed out and run to chocolate.
• I hate the work required to eat right: planning, shopping, cooking, cleaning, packing lunches, cleaning. I give up on ever having a clean kitchen and eat fast food to avoid making more mess.
• Exercise in the morning depends on waking up with time to exercise. I haven't bothered with exercising in the evening for fear it will keep me awake and I won't get up on time.
• Too much time sitting at the computer because I can't get focused on my tasks.

So now to break these down with practical suggestions.

Not taking my nighttime doses of medication.

This is inexcusable. I must establish a bedtime ritual that includes taking my medication. Probably best bet is to take it with supper, since I never skip that.

I get stressed out and run to chocolate.

This vice wouldn't bother me as much if I didn't inhale enough chocolate for a grade school class and then lick the packaging to make sure I got it all every time it hits. My attempts to restrict my intake have been lackluster, and I don't know what to try next.

I hate the work required to eat right: planning, shopping, cooking, cleaning, packing lunches, cleaning. I give up on ever having a clean kitchen and eat fast food to avoid making more mess.

Well, the budget won't stand for much eating out. And I don't want to be bothered with planning and trying to keep the fresh veggies from rotting in the fridge before I use them. So salads and frozen meals are the new staples. I want to move to a primal diet, but that is going to have to wait until after school is done and I can figure out how to rearrange my life against cooking. Cleaning the kitchen--namely washing dishes--is a whole different problem. Now every night I have an empty sink, I can play a demo game from Big Fish Games. This may backfire on me as far as wise time management goes, but damnit, I'm actually looking forward to chores tonight since I thought of it.

Exercise in the morning depends on waking up with time to exercise. I haven't bothered with exercising in the evening for fear it will keep me awake and I won't get up on time.

I've got a whole post on trying to disprove this one.

Too much time sitting at the computer because I can't get focused on my tasks.

I've been really timer-orientated lately when it comes to tasks that need the computer. Maybe I need to switch to focusing on just one task. I'm still afraid of sitting too long and screwing up my body worse than it already is, but hopefully with the exercise program, it will all even out.

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Weight Loss: Harnessing the Positive Power of Negative Thinking by Carole Carson

Hello wake up call!

I must do this if I want my Halloween costume to work this year. I'll be back later with more details for this insanity.


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Faulkner Paper Deadlines

So I have ignored him all summer. Not the best plan for my deadlines, but very healthy for my state of mind. I still need to email my professor on the state of the project, so these dates are subject to change.

• Aug. 4 = Email update to Dr. Louth
• Aug. 13 = if there is any money left from the paycheck, buy all the damn Cliff Notes I can find on Faulkner's works. I'm tired of reading passages and wondering what the hell just happened.
• Aug. 19 = First day of Fall 2009 semester
• Aug. 19 - 21 = Email Dr. Fredell for memo to the library to restore borrowing privilages.
• Aug. 27 = Pay all fees I can afford to
• Aug. 31 - Sept. 4 = Schedule first fall meeting on paper this week: first draft should be done
• Oct. 12 - 16 = Draft to turn in is probably due this week. Usually due around Oct. 15th
• Nov. 12 = should send out notices of graduation
• Dec. 7 = Deadline for Graduate Exams - if readers want changes a new draft due before now
• Dec. 12 = Commencement ceremony 10 am

Not freaking out. Not freaking out. Not freaking out.

My clue on the subject hasn't gelled into a thesis argument yet.

Okay, maybe a little panic. And I lost the whole weekend in a last ditch effort to get Alt. BM Site up for Monday.

I will not scream over the cron job failure. I will not scream over the cron job failure. Hopefully, I will get a response and be able to fix that tonight.

I have a month to get it together: thesis statement, coherent content, primary source material woven into it. *TWITCH* Secondary sources will be the issue for the second draft. Don't be surprised if I suddenly brainstorm on this subject, or if suddenly new brainstorms on different subjects shows up. My muse is an evil bitch in that regard.

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Number Crunching #158

Actually figured on 12/13/2009

Quicken Cash Flow = -147.81
STEF Total = 6.15

July Budget Meeting

Reconciling Quicken with bank statements: Done.
Reconciling last month’s budget: I didn’t make a budget the month before. Only $283.00 in bank charges.

Capital One checking account wrote off the negative balance, so I now have to pay off a credit collection agency and then make sure that checking account remains closed.

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Updating Alt. BM Site State of Progress

Oh bloody hell. Well, if you've gone by the site, you have seen it is still down for maintenance and is looking rather pale.

Now I'm going to try to reconstruct the weekend. Yeah, this is a me pounding my head against the desk post, but hopefully, it'll give me a clear path to start tonight when I get home. If I get home with time or a mood to work on anything; Mondays have been running late at the paying job.

So I reread Drupal instructions on creating a test site until I finally understood them. If there was pay involved, I would seriously consider helping write their technical manuals. I got the database exported and saved to my harddrive. I could not get it imported into the new test database. Did not feel like going around with the server's help desk, so I started working on the test site anyway. It doesn't bother me if there is a policy against database imports, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

A crucial step went wonky somewhere--besides the need a new copy of the database--and I discovered the changes were going onto the live site regardless of the measures I thought I had taken to prevent that. So then it took at least another hour before I get logged in after putting the whole shebang into offline mode. This was so not what I wanted to do. I wanted to have the breathing space of a test site to get most everything right before changing the production site.

So I managed to get the whole thing updated to Drupal version 6.13, turned on the new versions of the modules already in use, turned on new modules I think will help, and created a new Zen theme but didn't make it pretty yet. I really rushed through that whole part too quickly 'cause now I'm facing all the problems and don't know where to really start.

Problem number one: the new modules wrecked the navigation menu. For some reason, the links to get to their admin pages ended up there instead of on the admin page where I've always seen them go before.

Problem number two: I lost some pages made with views and it took a few hours to stumble my way through recreating them in the new Views admin pages.

Problem number three: AcidFree albums are no longer under development. And that means finding a new gallery module. Let's just say that I'm less than thrilled with my first choice at this point. That may change if I hear back from the developer with some clear instructions on how to set things up and make them a little more automatic.

Problem number four: the cron job refuses to run. I haven't even begun to figure that one out yet.

Problem number five: fixing the theme CSS. Actually, I don't see this one being a headache, I just haven't reached it yet.

Any good news? I don't have to retag anything, all the taxonomy terms moved over without breaking. I haven't lost any data and the database appears to be running normally. I think the biggest issue I'm having is a) losing track of what I'm doing because something else that is wrong snags my attention, b) have more patience figuring things out, c) frantic to get it done before the users get disgusted.

This has hammered home the need for a secure test site that won't talk to the production site and change anything for all the Drupal sites I have now. I'm fairly certain I have enough disk space on the external harddrive to set them up, and I should do that while I'm trying to hammer out the changes on Alt. BM Site (that mostly involves waiting on FireFox to unfreeze). It took long enough to work out the kinks with FFGarret and the Circulation Desk; I don't want this snafu to happen again.

Set up a Windows test server using XAMPP
Windows-specific guidelines
Import a MySQL data dump with BigDump
Create a test Site

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