Blatantly Stolen...

...From Dooce's Blog.

The Daily Coyote

Working Diligently...

to bring you photos from our Thanksgiving Trip Extravaganza!!!!

Thanksgiving Trip

It's like I've been dead for a week

Or maybe longer.

Yes, we've been back in Texas since Sunday night and yet I have not had the time to blog. In fact, I should be doing things like cleaning the house (or rather keeping it clean since we cleaned before we left), or doing dishes, or watching episodes of Moonlight (yes, I am addicted, we shall not speak of this anymore), or hell, making myself something to eat (thank God for frozen corn dogs).

Observations over the last week:

-Thanksgiving is fun. Even if you do have to drive 15 hours to get to family.
-Camping is fun. Especially when it's not cold and you get to see Armadillos and Wild Turkeys.
-Driving across Texas is kinda boring. But there are bright spots, like all the dead deer. And seeing very Texan animals like Emus and Alpacas.
-I think Hitman was a good movie. But then, I also like Lake Placid. In any case, I think we can all agree that it was better than The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
-Meeting your niece for the first time is wonderful. Made even better by the fact that she didn't scream when I picked her up. That is because I really am That Good with babies. Or it may have been because she was watching football on the TV.
-Stopping every 20 miles when you're driving through Colorado because your windshield fluid has frozen in the windshield wipers and you have to rub down the windshield with snow so you can clean it off enough to drive another 20 miles.
-Thanking the nice man who sprays your windshield with Windex because he feels sorry for you. And then realizing that your sprayers have finally become de-iced.
-It sucks that the Fit isn't a 6 speed. Man, think about it, you could get like 3 mpg better on the highway.
-The Fit gets pretty good gas mileage. We averaged probably about 34. Though there was the one time we apparently got 46. But we think the gas pump gave us more than it said it did.
-Coming home to snuggly-butted cats.
-Man, you really do learn to appreciate cruise control across those Texas plains.
-Finding out that your mother-in-law is a Speedy McSpeedersons and that's why they do the Texas/Colorado drive in 13 hours.
-Doing a six mile hike in like 1.5-2 hours. Through the desert. With 1.25 liters of water. For 2 people. Oh, and it's pretty hot (like maybe 75 degrees), especially for November.
-Hiking in the dark through brush up to your waist with a 20lb backpack following a 'trail' that may have just been a low spot on the ground. And then, when you finally decide to just set up camp, realizing that you have nowhere to set up the tent except the middle of a dried creek bed. Yeah, that makes me feel safe.
-Spending time with friends you don't get to see often enough is wonderful.
-Reading the Golden Compass in preparation for the movie release is fun. I like the book. Now, will I like the movie?
-Getting a 3-month subscription to Ancestry.com from your Dad as an early Christmas Gift is sweet. Even if he does mandate that this means you and your sister have to spend all your free time working on the tree to get the most out of the subscription.
-Speaking of family trees, I love going through old photos of family. I especially like finding the funny photos--you know the ones. The ones where your parents are sitting together wearing matching sweaters they got for Christmas. Yeah. That photo was awesome. However, since I teased Bob and Elsie about it so much, I'm sure that Shawn and I will end up with matching sweaters for Christmas. I would post a photo, but I like my life and I don't want it to end prematurely by posting said photo on the interwebs for all to see.
-AND I finally started driving my Fit to work. So far, so good.

going dark

I thought I would warn everyone...I will not be posting for a while.

"But, it's National Blog Post Month!" you may say.

And indeed it is. But I'm not going to figure out how to post to the interwebs with my tiny little cell phone.

Besides, what would I post? "Texas is Flat. Colorado is Cold." Yah, that makes for a riveting blog.

I transplanted my avocado tree with the help of Ross on Friday. Hopefully Colleen can keep it alive for a week. And I should have taken a picture, but I forgot. Damn.

Tombstones and Owies

So, my wonderful sister found a website the other day. It is a website in which someone has gone to these small towns in the Ohio/Indiana area and taken pictures of the tombstones in the cemeteries. This, of course, is supposed to help you know birth and death dates of your ancestors.

It is also morbid.

So now, Dani and I want to go on a road trip in the Ohio region to find this one cemetery that apparently has half of the Fouts Family Ancestors buried there.

This. Is also morbid.

On a lighter note:
The cats have this wonderful habit of walking across the laptop keyboard when they want to go from one side of the couch to the other side of the couch. This is because they apparently want to touch Shawn as little as possible. Shawn has gotten into the habit of if a cat starts acting like they're going to go for the keyboard he just shuts the laptop and then the cats just walk over the laptop. This usually works pretty well.

Until two nights ago.

Quazi went for the keyboard as he is wont. And then Shawn closed the laptop most of the way as Quazi's paw was on the edge of the keyboard and Shawn obviously didn't want to slam the top of the laptop on his paw. (It is noted that usually when this happens, Quazi and IV will both back off of the lap top to get their paws out of the way and so Shawn can close the laptop) For whatever reason, Quazi did not back off. Instead he went and put his OTHER paw on top of the semi-closed laptop and put his weight on it. Needless to say we had a very angry cat with a very sore paw.

A one picture post:

I would post but...

I'm entirely too tired. Tomorrow I will attempt to post an update on the stocking. And I finished the "Geographer's Library". I liked it. I didn't really see the end coming, though I should have.

Will this be the week?

Will this finally be the week in which I actually drive my new car to work? Everyone (and by "everyone" I mean Bond and Beachy) have said that it is time. It is time for me to drive to work so they can all bask in the gloriousness that is my car.

But

I don't know. I still get all freaked out with other cars around me. Maybe after our roadtrip I'll feel better about it.

Also

I gotta say, it's been awesome taking the bus the last few weeks (okay, the getting up early part has sucked), and I've only driven 140 miles on the car and haven't had to fill it up once. So, that's like about 120 (or so) miles driven to the bus stop over the last 11 working days (I had Veteran's Day off). Which if you consider the norm is 440 over the same amount of time if I actually drive to work.

So

If you say that I get 34 mpg, that means I've gone through about 4 gallons (we'll round it up to 5 since I am sure as hell not getting 34 mpg since I just started driving stick). That would mean it's about 13 gallons 'normally'. So I've saved about 8 gallons of gas just by taking the bus for the last 2.5 weeks. Which translates into like $25 saved.

Interesting.

Ancestors

So, I know I already blogged about this before, but I figure I'll blog about it again because I have spent most of today researching dead people that are in some way, shape, or form related to me.

Unfortunately, today hasn't been going nearly as well as yesterday.

Yesterday I managed to find ship passenger lists for the great German Migration of the 1700's and spent half the day going through those looking for a great (to the seventh) grandfather who came over in 1754. Dani also did some research and determined that his son went on to become a captain during the American Revolution. I also found a website that you can enter a name and find out if said person was a Civil War soldier, that one helped determine that a great-great-great grandfather was a private in the 124 Illinois Infantry.

Today, however, has mostly just been dead ends--dead ends in that there's no more information for the people (probably because the name is too common and there aren't enough records to help), or I have to jump to a different continent. The simplest way to fix this is to pay for the Ancestry.com access. Which, Dani and I talked about it yesterday and we know there is no way to do a good amount of research without paying for it, but the goal is to get as much done WITHOUT paying first so we don't waste time looking at 'free' information.

And all I can say is that my side of the tree is quite a bit more fleshed out than Shawn's side. This is entirely because my Grandfather is awesome and went on a family tree kick about 10 years ago so he got most of the research out of the way.

Dear Capital One,

If you like your customers, and I'm sure you do, then I suggest the following improvements to your organization:

1. Do not send an email to the people that have recently gotten a loan from you stating "If you do not sign up for automatic payments through our website RIGHT NOW you will DIE. And there will be DOOM. And the world will come to an end and will will point our fingers and stare at you" when you have not yet sent them a letter telling them the important information needed (account number, monthly payment) to set up their online payments.
2. If you have already sent out said letter with the pertinent information, make sure that your website will allow them to set up said automatic payments as soon as they get the letter. As of right now we are unable to set up automatic payments because the website says that our loan does not exist. We, however, know it is because the system has not yet been updated with the all so important information of "these people got a loan, they should start making payments soon"

Thank you for your consideration.

Love much,
Katina

Capital One

HATE!!!! [Banging head on keyboard] NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Now, I must leave for I need ice for all the bruising that just happened.

Updates

Okay, so people leave comments on my blog (and if you don't, you damn well better--how else am I supposed to know who reads my blog?). Anyhow, people leave comments, and occasionally they will ask questions or ask for clarification and what have you. But, I can tell you that when I post comments on other people's blogs, I normally don't go back to the comments later to see if they have indeed responded to my comments. Thus, I am going to make it easy and respond to comments left since November 1 here:

NaBloPoMo entry: Jon asked "does the Po stand for Post maybe?" And Yes, yes it does.

Planting Trees entry: Dani asked for clarification in Ross's comment of "reminds me of the waitress at Zax." On Halloween, Ross, Paul and I ate at a restaurant across the street from the office. This restaurant is "Zax" The wait staff was dressed in their Halloween finest and our waitress went as a grandmother and thus she wore glasses that were very similar to the thicker rimmed glasses in Dani's heirloom shadow box.

[Aside] Yes, Dani, please inform the paternal unit that he does indeed have both of our copies of the family tree (if I remember correctly, Grandpa made a copy for you and a copy for me, but since we were like 8 at the time, Dad said he'd hold on to them for us), ergo he needs to fill in the blanks. Also, I want to say that they are kept in the bottom drawer in the file cabinet to the right of the computer desk. I do not know why I think this. Additionally, Mom's got a letter from Grandpa Ben that gives the family tree as much as he could remember...which actually included family members born in France, Germany, and Luxembourg. I think this letter is in the same place as the family tree that grandpa made. [/Aside]

A Post NOT about TV...and the Peasants Rejoice: Jon wanted to know if the book is good. So far I like it. It does move a little slow, but that works out well because I can read a few pages here, a few pages there, and I don't get overly obsessed like I do with the fast paced books (like the Da Vinci Code). I really do like the book. Unlike Labyrinth, the Phantom of the Opera and Jane Eyre which I only finished because I had already read through 2/3 of them before I realized I thought they were boring.

Bathroom

"Tina! Get in here! I cannot believe you burned our furniture with your hair dryer!"

"I did not burn the furniture with my hair dryer."

"Yes you did! Come look!"

"That? [pointing at said 'burn mark'] That is not a burn mark, that is a knot in the wood."

"That...Yes...That's a knot in the wood that has been there ever since we installed the sink. How could you have thought that was a burn mark when clearly it is a knot? Silly Tina."

"Yes. I don't know what I could have possibly been thinking. Oh, and by the way, I'm totally blogging about this."

And the Lord Said unto thee...

"Thou shalt embarrass thy family" and it was so:

And since the post in which the embarrassment of the family commences was not about television, the peasants rejoiced. And the peasants did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats...

The Lord also said "Thou shall babysit." And thus it shall be (come Saturday night).

working

Sorry, I'm trying to work on getting a video loaded using the Blogger utility...it's not going to well since I wrote the blog, and tried to post it, and it still is "processing" which is what it's been doing for the last 2 hours...hmm, well then, I suppose you'll just have to wait until friday for the post.

A Post NOT about TV....and the Peasants Rejoice!

Currently Reading:
And this is what I got for my birthday: (Sew your own Christmas Stocking)

And this is how far I am on it:
And then, when I'm done with this one, I get to start in on this one:

About TV...Again.

Heroes has finally gotten good. Of course, if you haven't been watching the season up til this point, then you will think the last episode was quite possibly very bad. But, as I said, to us fanboys, it's finally good.

Also, Chuck was way better last night than the week before. Though I am sad that they're getting him a new girlfriend. But as we all know, Chuck is all about the Adam Baldwin.

I'm not looking forward to the hard times of the writer's strike. Mostly because this will probably be the demise of the new shows that haven't been given a whole season. Like Journeyman and Moonlight. Also, I am surprised that Big Bang was given a full season, but as Pam says, there's been a major lack of good sitcoms the past few years so any sitcom that's decent and gets a full season order is a good thing.

However, I am looking forward to this thursday's CSI/Without a Trace cross over.

AND I drove my car on 620 today during rush hour. Go me. Also, I have become quite the little bus-taker. I've even gotten to the point where I've forgone going to the bus stop with Colleen in the morning because that bus stop is further away and it requires a bus change. Stupid transfers. Capmetro really needs to get a bus that goes to both the Northwest Park 'n Ride, Pavilion Park 'n Ride, AND just south of the river. Hell, I'd be happy if it dropped us off just north of the river.

Planting Trees

Haha, you thought I was going to talk about planting actual real live trees didn't you (reminder to self: transplant the avocado tree, lest it die in it's tiny ittybitty pot at work). No, I am talking about a metaphorical tree...a Family Tree.

That's right, I started a Family Tree on Ancestry.com. Of course I'm too cheap to pay the $13/month, so I basically enter the information I know and then pray that my family members will do the same.

Speaking of ancestors and what not, you should check out Dani's blog because she finally finished the shadow box of great-great-grandma's glasses and she's got a picture up.

Thanksgiving

My mother-in-law called yesterday to ask if we had come to a decision on whether we were coming back for Thanksgiving.

We still haven't decided. That's right, it's less than 3 weeks until Thanksgiving and we have not yet made a decision.

Mostly because I dislike flying in the first place, and I HATE going to the airport when it's super busy (gee, must have been all those times Mom had me drive to the airport to pick up Dad when he was coming in around Thanksgiving and Christmas). Plus, we have not bought plane tickets...so, lets see what current prices are for flying back shall we?
Frontier: $310 round-trip for redeye flights,
United: $370 round-trip for redeye flights,
Southwest: $360 round-trip for redeye flights.

So, because of all this, I want to drive back instead of fly. But then, that's a 16-18 hour trip (each direction) which eats up one day at least at either end...so we'd probably have to take off a couple days from work (which Shawn doesn't want to do). [Aside] Funny thing though, when I was checking prices I was thinking "psh, why would I look at prices for Thanksgiving day itself when I can just take off a day or two from work and go back home early?" Thus I looked at prices for the 20th til the 24th...So, looks like he'd have to take time off of work anyhow. [/Aside]

And, above all this, I cannot leave before 430pm on the 19th, and we must be back by 430pm on the 26th (all this so I can get my 4 hours of administrative leave for going to every PE walk/run class).

NaBloPoMo

Yes, it's National Blog month...though I cannot for the life of me, remember what the Po stands for. Damn. Anyhow, I have not signed up for said blog-o-rama, but that that does not mean that I won't attempt to blog everyday (WARNING: This is going to get VERY boring).

Things of note at 130pm on Saturday:

- I drove to the car dealership to pick up the new license plates for the car. I had to go on the highways and everything. Sadly, the license plates do not have the 666 number associated with them. Which is kinda sad...

- And I have decided I like Daemon's TV. Especially the Death Watch portion of it. I love me some counters.

- Nostalgia moment: I remember when Independence Day came out. We went to go see it. It was the same day that there was some major electrical outage over the western half of the US (from Oregon to Colorado if I remember correctly). It totally was like the Aliens were coming. Also, the counter: I downloaded some Independence Day themed screen saver (from the official 20th Century Fox website I might add) and it basically was a counter. And it counted down. And I have no idea what it counted down to. But I do remember that when it got close to completing it's count down, my dad freaked out and deleted the thing because he swore it was going to unleash some computer virus. Which now, if you think about it, he probably should have gone with because then he could have gotten himself a new computer (of course he would have had to do things like back up all the files and disconnect it from the internet before the countdown was complete). [Aside] this moment has been brought to you by Milky Way and Coke [/Aside]

The first picture of 'blue'

Almost one full week (we've got another hour to go or so) and I've only stalled it 5 times.

Who is this?

Option A) A cop
Option B) Tom Selleck from the 80's
Option C) Shawn with short hair and a mustache