Oh Shit!

My holiday was mainly Monday as I was slaving over the computer the other two days. One thing I got done was cutting the grass as it needed it bad. Since I let it go so long it needed to bag it which always means much more work. It had a consequence that I had never considered. I now have my first official sun burn of the season in. Now it was not a major burn. As a matter of fact I was noticing some interesting things like my forehead felt smooth and I seemed to be sweating real easy. Also my one arm was felling like I was allergic to something even though I took a shower right after mowing that lawn. It turns out, when I looked in the mirror at the end of the night, I had me a mild sunburn. That explains everything. So that means I have a tan started now too as I am sure it has already converted over to a mini tan.

I cooked up a steak yesterday along with an ear of corn and a few other things. The ear of corn was significant as I could not find any corn in the stores. I think it was picked out because of the holiday. That and maybe this is being affected by the high fuel prices and also the ethanol production for e85. The corn has not even begun to show around here yet. I mean the saying in these here parts is knee high by the fourth of July. Yep, it will be a little over two months before the corn comes in. Anyway I sprung for some expensive stuff that was all cut and prepackaged. I just had a jones for corn.

The steak I cooked on my George Foreman (hopefully I will get the grill out tonight) was excellent. Now I sneak in steak from time to time but I always get the cheap stuff. The steak I had yesterday was wonderful as I sprung for better meat this time. I am so spoiled now. What a difference it makes. I can not wait for tonight.

I decided to do a no no and go visit the local ice cream parlor. After waiting in line a little bit the person in front of me was done and pulling away from the drive through window. I was concentrating on the drive through window and not so much on the person in front of me as they was all done and moving on out. Well silly me, they stopped. This one family had a young kid that kept darting out into the area where the cars where driving. Luckily the person in front of me was paying attention to what those terrible parents were allowing to happen and they stopped. I on the other hand did not. I gave them a little tap with my car. After a big “oh shit” on my part I was amazed when the car moved ahead. I thought how nice of them to not block things for everyone else. Then they kept going and eventually turned onto the street and left. They never even noticed the tap. Now I know I barely hit them as I did not see any damage on their car as they pulled away. Well that and no air bags deployed but still... I can not believe I did that.

I could kick myself. I wanted to go to the Vietnam Memorial in downtown Lansing but the thought did not cross my mind until the evening. One of the things I wanted to do was look up the brick that our former blogger, Top Cat, had purchased. I have seen it before and have pictures of it but it is just something that makes things a little more real. I mean I do not know anyone that has been killed in war (thank God) and just knowing someone that served helps keep me a little more grounded.

Well time to get myself ready. I put on a few miles on the car as I will be making two trips to th Detroit area to see my niece in a dance recital. Wednesday is dress rehearsal and the only night they allow you to bring a camera. Saturday I will go with my parents to take in the show. They always do so well that it is fun to see. I mean it is something I always did growing up as my Sister was in more than a few shows herself and even became an instructor for a while there. It kind of gets ingrained in you. But I also love to show up for things for my niece as I know my brother rarely does that and her Dads side of the family does not show up a lot either. Gotta make my niece feel special which of course she is.

Well back to sleep to catch a few more Z’s and then welcome in another fun and exciting day. I hope you had a wonderful Memorial weekend if you celebrate that. If not then hopefully the weather was nice where you were and you had a nice weekend even if it was not a holiday.

MIA onces again

I have a problem.

I have a tendency to start something and never finish it. For that reason if I have something I really want to finish I typically focus only on that one thing until it is done. I suppose that is why I read books the way I do. I pick it up and read until I am to tired to read and I either just fall asleep or I actually put the book down first before falling asleep. Then when I wake up a little later on I start all over again until I am finished with the book.

Just over a month ago I started to write a program to help with administration of Flickr groups. In one weekend I had done research to see if anyone else was doing this. I found two others, one of which sounded similar. So I downloaded it and ran it. I think there were a lot of good things about this program but I just did not understand the output. That and there were no directions and without them it was easy to use the program wrong.

Within that first weekend I had a working shell of a program in place and I proved I could do what I wanted to do despite this was all new to me. From there I started to expand the program and add the ability for anyone to use it. I also created documentation. If you have ever known what a programmer does, let me tell you one of the things they do not do is documentation.

Well here we are a whole month later and I finally have a complete program that I actually feel comfortable saying I wrote. I have a 24 page manual (or so) for the program although trust me, it is not the best manual you will have ever read. I am entertaining thoughts of trying to sell this program. It meant I needed to make some changes to make the program a little more respectable. It also means I need to make another change. I have an imagine in the program that I do not have rights to. I am looking to see if I can find something to replace it with so I can become legitimate. I have a few other things that I am working on but maybe, just maybe I will actually make a buck or two on this. That would be so cool. Unfortunetly it is not something I could retire on but I might be able to buy a fancy coffee or two.

I know G-Man posted pictures (and I am sure Sign did also) of what we did a week ago. Here we go anyway. The three of us met up on the road and went over to celebrate the graduation of one of our own, Sarah. We got to meet most of her family, have some good eats, dodge a few small storms, and well just enjoy the day. I even snuck in a couple of beers. So here are a few of the pictures from that day.

First we have a head shot of the graduate herself.



And now she was so kind to don the cap and gown for those of us who skipped the ceremony and just attended the PARTY!



This has to be about the cutest picture I got for the day. G-Man in the background but ... the real beauties here are Sign and Sara.



Now we needed to get one of G-Man of course with one of his classic G-Man looks.



And finally we had a group portrait. Can you say Cheese???



Well now that I have the program done maybe I can get back into blogging. Sorry I have been away for so long. So what has everyone been up to???

55Flash Fiction Friday

It was a wonderful day
Lots of sunshine
Nice temperature
What a great day for a drive

That is until they came across you
You snuck onto the expressway
You raised your gun
pointing at each unsuspecting passer by
You take aim and pull your trigger
And ruin some unsuspecting driver
with an expensive ticket

I took a mini vacation over an extended weekend last weekend. Especially when I am on a long trip I use my cruise control. I set it at or just slightly above the speed limit and then just drive. That was I really do not need to worry about the police and speed traps. Thank goodness I did that.

I rarely see any police on the I-69 and I-65 in Indiana. Well they more than made up for it this time. They were everywhere. They hid in some of the most creative places. If I was not going the speed limit I would have been busted at least a couple of times. Not only where they everywhere in Indiana but I noticed the same in Kentucky and even Michigan. I think they are dealing with the tough times by writing more tickets.

My mini vacation was way to short. Usually it is 11 days, this time it was 4. Still I loved the chance to visit with my friends and to attend a Derby party. Well that and I brought a set of Cornhole boards and broke them in. I won the game I played but it was only because the other team was not doing to good either. I think we were trying to be in a battle for last place.

Well off to celebrate my Moms birthday and of course, Mothers Day. Have a wonderful weekend and, if your Mom is still on this earth don’t forget to tell her how much you appreciate her.

Humor: Exercise

Sorry, I have been very busy and even popped out for a long weekend mini vacation last weekend. Hopefully once I get my lawn cut tonight I can come catch up with what everyone is up to. For now I thought I would pass along something I received. It is pretty good seeing as today I went past an area when coming into work and there were a bunch of people outside doing exercise... timely!


Excerise:

Walking can add minutes to your life. This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7000 per month.

My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he was 60.. Now he's 97 years old and we don't know where the hell he is.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.

I have to walk early in the morning, before my brain figures out what I'm doing..

I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there.

Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise', I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

I do have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them.

The advantage of exercising every day is so when you die, they'll say, 'Well, she looks good , doesn't she?'

TIP: If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.

I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years..... just getting over the hill.

You could run this over to your friends but why not just e-mail it to them!

We all get heavier as we get older, because there's a lot more information in our heads. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

AND

every time I start thinking too much about how I look, I just find a Happy Hour and by the time I leave, I look just fine.