We officially moved into the house this past weekend. It took 2 trips with a 12' Penske truck, but it was done by about 2:30/3pm. We never would have gotten it all done if it wasn't for all the help we got, so a huge THANK YOU to Terence, raven296, Kim, Cory, and Alex. You've provided help, support, and friendship that's really made so much more possible then would otherwise be the case. So again, thank you!

Ok, so Wednesday the electrical work was taken care of. *thumbs up* We can now plug things in without having to use the 3-to-2 prong adaptors! Plus the service cable was replaced out back, so that worry is gone, and it's amazing how those 2 things have made such a big difference. Right now I need to continue to see significant progress being made, if only for my own sanity.

I painted the first coat on the trim in the library, and it's going to need a second coat. Even kilz primer couldn't cover that shade of pink! After that's done, there will be a little bit of touch up work, and then we can bring all the bookshelves in from the dining room. Conveniently that's the next painting project, and it should go quickly, since the walls and trim were already (4 shades of) white, and I've already done the ceiling. I don't have anything else pressing to do, so my goal is to get that all done. Two thing that might slow me down a bit are the taping, and waiting for paint to dry, but we'll see.

Last night I picked up my car from the shop. It actually drives noticeably better then it did when I dropped it off, though it is still doing that weird noise thing from the back tires sometimes when I first start driving.

I heard back about the job I applied for up at the central business office. I wasn't qualified for it, based on their experience requirement. However they had an other (lower level) job that they wanted to get me into which would have been fine just to get my foot in the door. Unfortunately it wouldn't have fulfilled the experience requirement for the CPA, and while I'm willing to make a lateral move, it needs to either pay me significantly more, or it needs to give me that experience.

There is a job at another hospital in the system in the finance department that would in theory both pay more and offer the experience I need. I've already submitted my resume for that.

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1. How often do you listen to music?

Almost constantly.

2. Do you ever listen to the radio? What is your favorite station?

I generally listen to NPR news radio, NPR's local music station, and the local classic rock station.

3. How do you find new songs, albums, or artists to listen to?

Generally it'll be something that Tigs will turn me onto.

4. When was the last time you bought a CD? A digital music file?

I think the last time I bought a CD was when Tigs and I were scouting places to live in MD. I think it was a comedy CD… And I've never bought a digital music file.

5. Do you think any of the technologies and distribution methods mentioned above will still be around in ten years? Why or why not?

Yes. People have spent a lot of money of the technology, and while there will be new stuff, the stuff from today will still be around.

Five on Friday – Tuesday Edition
If you're out shopping and hear a baby cry, what's your first thought? It’s not mine!

Are the passengers in your car required to buckle their seat belts regardless of age? Required? No, strongly encouraged.

Do you ever feel the need to clean/straighten your loved ones? With your own spit? No. Tigs does this to Lucy though.

Some people are described as having "a face only a mother could love." What people or things in your life do you love unconditionally? I love Lucy and Priya unconditionally, the same way I’ve loved all my pets. You have to love them unconditionally, because you are responsible for them completely.

In what ways are you like your mother? What habits, catch phrases, and tricks have you picked up from her? I’ve picked up a whole lot from my mother, and am still discovering tidbits that I didn’t even know I knew.

We’re buying you a lifetime subscription to any magazine or periodical journal you want! What’ll it be? Maybe Wargames Illustrated? I don’t really know, as I don’t get any magazines currently that I would want a lifetime subscription.

We’re buying you any existing non-chain, one-location-only store and giving you an expert lifetime manager, so that all you have to do is make decisions and watch them succeed or fail! What will be the store, and what will be your first change? Maybe the Book Barn, and I’d put hazelnut coffee back in the haunted house.

We’re buying you any house within a one-mile radius of your own! Which one do you want, and why? Probably one of the ones down Dogwood road, as they are almost rural, have some actual space around them, and are bigger then the one we are currently in.

We’re hiring someone to take care of any ONE specific household chore (except cooking) for the rest of your life! Which chore will he or she attend to? Dishes.

We’re providing the start-up capital for any crazy idea for a business, service, or product you can dream up, giving you total creative control while we finance your dream for five years, after which it must fail or succeed on its own merit! What will it be? A hobby/craft/gaming store that is a cross between The Whiz and That’s Entertainment. Or The Book Barn: Mid-Atlantic branch.

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This past weekend as a blast! Saturday I headed up to the Central PA Hirst Arts Gathering. It was a smallish group (5 total) but I got to meet some fellow Hirst Arts fans, play test a game for the first time, discuss plaster and casting techniques, and even got to cast some of the sci-fi molds! It’s the first time I’ve put plaster to mold for over a year now, and I enjoyed it more then I should have. I must admit I felt like a bit of a noob, which is weird for me. All of these guys have carved their own bricks, made their own molds, and have done successfully more with the hobby then I’ve even attempted. I’m feeling very inspired by it all, and with some luck I’ll be able to channel the inspiration into miniature painting, as that’s my primary hobby outlet at the moment.

Sunday we ended up skipping the BWI trail and going back to the Robert E Lee park again. Tigs and Lucy were still rather tuckered out from their excursion to Frederick the previous day. Once again Lucy went swimming, and this time I filmed some videos of her doing it. They should be up on the hamster journal later tonight.

Tonight we are going to visit the Petsmart dog daycare to see about bringing Lucy during Balticon. I can’t believe Balticon is 10 days away. I hope they get their schedule up soon.

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Edited to Add

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Yesterday was a little frustrating. Tigs and I finally found a day camp that was open Memorial Day weekend to bring Lucy to, and rather then tell us on the phone that they were already booked up; we had to drive all the way down to Columbia to find out! On the other hand at least we now have all their info, including pricing.

Today has been so slow. I’ve gotten a lot of work done, but it just hasn’t helped. My mind keeps wandering, and when it comes back I find that only a minute or two has gone by, and yet it feels like an hour should have gone by.

Tonight is Lucy’s agility class, and last night her school finally posted their summer schedule. What we take will greatly depend on whether we are actually members yet or not. If we are, then there are two classes we want to sign up for, and if not, then we’ll just stick with advanced basic obedience with the canine good citizen test at the end. (The other class is focus & attention for obedience.)

Speaking of classes, mine start in 3 weeks! I’m really excited about it, even though it’s going to be a major distraction to the rest of my life. I mean it’s 2 nights a week in class, plus homework… Mostly I hope they don’t have too much that is assigned on Monday that’ll be due on Wednesday. I just need to keep reminding myself that this is all a series of stupid hoops that I need to jump through in order to advance my pay scale. Cause really, this is all about the money.

Now if only I was retiring!! I’m gonna have to wait some years yet before I can do that. Oh, but how I look forward to retiring! That is of course presuming the world doesn’t go to hell in the next 40 or so years. If it does… well… remind me to take up a few more hobbies that would prove useful should civilization collapse. Shooting is one. I’ve already got some practice at archery. My skill with plants isn’t what it should be, and I’m guessing that growing my own food will be important. Some woodworking skill will also be important. It’s interesting though, that even should civilization collapse, it’s corpse will remain, and so there will be a lot that can be scavenged. The danger will be all the toxins. I’ll probably need to look out for a Geiger counter, or at least some radiation tags. What pleasant thoughts for a Friday morning!

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It’s now afternoon. I have an interview scheduled for Monday afternoon about 3 minutes from where I live, and I expect to hear back from the temp agency on Monday morning on another position that I think I would enjoy. At this point though I am more concerned about getting something that pays, and hires… oh, say on Wednesday.

Remember to Vote on Tuesday!!!

Lucy will like that I’m home on Monday, at least for some of the day. I’ll even be able to bring her with me when I bring Tigs to work, and probably bring her when I pick her up.

Is it weird that I feel like rewarding myself? I feel like I’ve accomplished something, and that I should be recognized for it, but honestly I can’t figure out why!! It’s like want to celebrate finishing this job, which in a way makes sense, but only sort of. My contract was ended, it’s not like I had an end date and I made it, or I finished my work (though I have finished today’s work), or I have a job lined up for Monday, or even Wednesday, yet I want to reward myself. How weird is that? The good news is that I am getting a reward for myself on Saturday morning. That’s when Tigs and I will go and pick up the various packages we have waiting at the post office.

I’ve painted up my old school (2nd edition?) Chaos Dreadnought. It actually doesn’t look too bad, though I really hate the sculpt. It just doesn’t look enough like the rest of the army to fit in. However it will serve until I can finish scratch building one from my leftover defiler parts.

Gods, it’s actually 40 minutes till I can call it a day, and I have NOTHING to do except this. I could find something to do, but really, who cares? It’s my last day. More tea, that’s what I can do.

Things I am thankful for: Good books
In my childhood I wasn’t much of a reader. I could read, and I could read with a comprehension level far beyond my age, but I just didn’t care to. There was still so much to see, and so much fun to be had just playing. Yet in 1987 Star Trek The Next Generation aired, and I got hooked. I wanted more! I was introduced to the novels, and read some of them. Then in 5th grade I was introduced to Narnia and I started to see how interesting books could be beyond the final frontier. Since then I have read lots of fantasy and sci-fi, some thrillers, some mystery, some romance, a bunch of chic lit, some general fiction, and even some non-fiction. All of it has provided some escape. No, not escape exactly, more going to see something, then trying to get away from it. Though I must admit it was useful when reading was a good excuse to avoid doing my chores!!

Time to clean the desk and call it a day.

Meme stolen at phaser point from onomatopoetry

LAYER ONE: ON THE OUTSIDE

Name: David
Birthday: April 13th
Current Location: Work.
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: brown, almost black
Righty or Lefty: Sinister Lefty!
Zodiac Sign: Aries


LAYER TWO: ON THE INSIDE

Your fears: Too many
Your perfect pizza: Mushrooms, sausage, onions
Your current obsession: Finding a job?

LAYER THREE: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW

Your thoughts first waking up: It’s too early!!
Your best physical feature: I think I have nice hands
Your bedtime: Around 11
Your most missed memory: If it’s missing, how do I know I miss it?

LAYER FOUR: YOUR PICK:

Pepsi or Coke: Water, tea, or coffee
McDld's or Burger King: Popeye’s
Single or group dates: Single
Adidas or Nike: New Balance
Lipton Tea or Nestea: *Gag*
Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate

LAYER FIVE: DO YOU?

Smoke: No
Take a shower: Yup
Think you've been in love: Yes
Believe in yourself: Yes

LAYER SIX: IN THE PAST MONTH

Drank alcohol: No.
Gone to the mall: Yes
Been on stage: No
Eaten Sushi: No
Been dumped: By work
Gone skating: No
Dyed your hair: No
Got asked out: I have an interview on Monday


LAYER SEVEN: HAVE YOU EVER:

Played a stripping game: Yes
Gotten beaten up: In 3rd grade
Changed who you were with to fit in: A bit.


LAYER EIGHT: GETTING OLD:

Age you're hoping to be married: *Shrug* Who needs the ceremony when you have the personal commitment. That’s what counts anyway.
Age you hope you die: I think making it to 80 would work. However 200 would be cool too.
Age you want to have kids: Not really
Name 3 things you want to do before you die:
1. Travel the world
2. learn to sculpt decently well
3. own a house with Tigs!

LAYER NINE: IN A GIRL/GUY

Best eye color: I’ve always liked blue eyes
Best hair colour: I prefer my blue eyes with dark hair.
Clothing style: Whatever fits them best.
Serious or funny: Both

LAYER TEN: what were you doing:

1 MINUTE AGO : Drinking tea
1 HOUR AGO: getting an interview
1 DAY AGO: at work, job hunting
1 YEAR AGO: Working at my old job, counting the minutes till I got my Christmas bonus.

LAYER ELEVEN: FINISH THE SENTENCE:

I LOVE: Virginia
I FEEL: anxious to get another job, maybe one I like!
I HATE: feeling like I let my family down
I HIDE: my thoughts
I MISS: That Christmas bonus!
I NEED: to get a job!
I WANT: to be paid an obscene amount to paint and sculpt minis.

You went trick or treating as CorranHorn.
SimonTam gave you FancyImportedBeer.
Snarf gave you ARustyRazorblade.
Dax gave you TheGobletofFire.
Horatio gave you TheRedPill.
You had a ace time until SallyBowles burned down the church.

What's Your Trick-or-Treat Haul?
Shiver My Timber--A Pirate RPG

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I got told today, about an hour before going home, that my position at Johns Hopkins will be coming to an end as of the end of work on Friday. The official explanation is that with the return of an employee from FMLA that TPTB want the department to trim their temp staff. So far tonight I have applied to about 40 different jobs. Most of them I am overqualified for. Unfortunately my BA in History and Political Science makes me overly qualified for a whole lot of things, and qualified for nothing. Expect more posts in the near future about job hunting...

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November is the month of thanksgiving, so I'm going to begin a series of posts about things I am thankful for. This is something I've been thinking about for a while, and I think that writing it down, putting the thoughts to paper (or LJ), will further my effort to be a better person. So, without further ado, day 1!

I am thankful that I have a home. Home to me is some place that is yours, some place that you can go and be safe from the world, even a little. Home to me is a place where no one can tell you you don't belong, and where the people in it love you. Home is the place where they leave the light on for you, where the door is always open to you. I had this originally (and where I developed my concept of home) in my childhood with Mum, Dad, Anna and all our pets. Now home is a place I've created with tigergladys and our rodenthoarde. Without home, the roof over my head would be only that; shelter. I can have shelter anywhere, but to have a home takes effort, it takes being there for the other members of home, and I have been blessed with people who have and people who now love and care enough to make where I live a home.

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NASA has announced that the mission to service Hubble will launch sometime in mid 2008. This should extend it's lifespan to 2013 or so! My computer backgrounds (which are mostly pictures from the Hubble) are safe for a while longer!