Monday, March 20, 2006
Extended celebrations....
It isn't even my birthday yet, and already I'm enjoying it more than I did last year. Of course, last year I was an idiot and had dental work done on my birthday. Just about anything would be better than that.
I got goodies in the mail as early as last Wednesday. My sister-in-law sent a card and a picture of my niece at the Tampa Zoo wearing an adorable pink floppy hat. Dan's parents sent a gift card to Wal-Mart, very handy since we have one near the house now. And Ducky sent a home made CD of groovy stuff and a collection of Latino hip hop, which is very popular where I live.
Yesterday, I got an awesome iTunes gift card from friends. Yayyyyyyy! Lemme at that Music Store!
And tonight, my dad took me to the Outback Steakhouse. Dan, my stepmother, sister and brother-in-law were also there. I had my usual petite filet, mashed potatoes and a bit of salad. Unfortunately, the waitress was a space cadet and brought my salad with croutons on even though I had informed her I couldn't have wheat and watched her write down "no croutons". That's the first time I ever had bad service there. I split a dessert with Dan, a flourless brownie with ice cream and hot fudge sauce. I don't normally order it because it's too many carbs for me to eat the whole thing by myself. But half, well, still probably a few too many, but not nearly the disaster the whole dessert would be. Oh, and from my dad and stepmother I received a DVD of "Walk the Line" and the book Harry Potter 6! From my sister and brother-in-law, a grocery store gift card (gonna stock up the pantry with gluten free goodies), "Goblet of Fire" and another book whose name escapes me.
My actual 42nd birthday isn't even until Wednesday. Cool, eh? Dan is taking the night off work just for me. We're gonna go to the gluten free restaurant and to a movie of my choice. I think it's gonna be "Failure to Launch" unless I can figure out something we might both like better. Maybe the one about the huskies??
Am very gradually getting the computer back to normal. Have 160 songs loaded into iTunes; I don't think I can put my old playlists back into it because they are from an updated version of iTunes and I only have Version 4 on my computer. I don't dare update it until my operating system is up to date, which may not happen for months unless Dan can surreptitiously download the updates onto a disk during his lunch break at work. So for the moment, iTunes consists of whatever I can copy from existing CDs or download from the Music Store. Luckily, when you download songs, if you lose your internet connection, you can pick up where you left off. I am extremely frustrated with the internet connection. I can't figure out why the modem hangs up every half hour or so. I went onto Earthlink's website and found alternate access numbers, but had no better luck with one of them. I think it's some kind of bug with OSX that an update would fix, sigh. If/when Dan gets another job and/or we move someplace cheaper, I will seriously consider getting cable. I found out that if you combine it with a TV package, it costs the same as DSL. It's just too expensive at the moment with our income being so uncertain.
Dan applied for another job in South Dakota on Friday and two more today. Weird that there seem to be more jobs in this sparsely populated state than in the major metro area I live in. Of course, there is probably much less competition in South Dakota, which would greatly help Dan's chances of getting hired. He is worried that the South Dakota companies aren't interested in him because he makes so much money here. It is possible that these companies might not realize that the cost of living here is almost twice what it is in South Dakota and therefore, Dan is not as overpaid as it might seem. Of course, Dan can always explain that in an interview if he is granted one. For now, he is applying to any graphic design job there that looks promising to see if he can get a foot in the door.
Currently copying songs by Barenaked Ladies. They sure crack me up.
Party on!
I got goodies in the mail as early as last Wednesday. My sister-in-law sent a card and a picture of my niece at the Tampa Zoo wearing an adorable pink floppy hat. Dan's parents sent a gift card to Wal-Mart, very handy since we have one near the house now. And Ducky sent a home made CD of groovy stuff and a collection of Latino hip hop, which is very popular where I live.
Yesterday, I got an awesome iTunes gift card from friends. Yayyyyyyy! Lemme at that Music Store!
And tonight, my dad took me to the Outback Steakhouse. Dan, my stepmother, sister and brother-in-law were also there. I had my usual petite filet, mashed potatoes and a bit of salad. Unfortunately, the waitress was a space cadet and brought my salad with croutons on even though I had informed her I couldn't have wheat and watched her write down "no croutons". That's the first time I ever had bad service there. I split a dessert with Dan, a flourless brownie with ice cream and hot fudge sauce. I don't normally order it because it's too many carbs for me to eat the whole thing by myself. But half, well, still probably a few too many, but not nearly the disaster the whole dessert would be. Oh, and from my dad and stepmother I received a DVD of "Walk the Line" and the book Harry Potter 6! From my sister and brother-in-law, a grocery store gift card (gonna stock up the pantry with gluten free goodies), "Goblet of Fire" and another book whose name escapes me.
My actual 42nd birthday isn't even until Wednesday. Cool, eh? Dan is taking the night off work just for me. We're gonna go to the gluten free restaurant and to a movie of my choice. I think it's gonna be "Failure to Launch" unless I can figure out something we might both like better. Maybe the one about the huskies??
Am very gradually getting the computer back to normal. Have 160 songs loaded into iTunes; I don't think I can put my old playlists back into it because they are from an updated version of iTunes and I only have Version 4 on my computer. I don't dare update it until my operating system is up to date, which may not happen for months unless Dan can surreptitiously download the updates onto a disk during his lunch break at work. So for the moment, iTunes consists of whatever I can copy from existing CDs or download from the Music Store. Luckily, when you download songs, if you lose your internet connection, you can pick up where you left off. I am extremely frustrated with the internet connection. I can't figure out why the modem hangs up every half hour or so. I went onto Earthlink's website and found alternate access numbers, but had no better luck with one of them. I think it's some kind of bug with OSX that an update would fix, sigh. If/when Dan gets another job and/or we move someplace cheaper, I will seriously consider getting cable. I found out that if you combine it with a TV package, it costs the same as DSL. It's just too expensive at the moment with our income being so uncertain.
Dan applied for another job in South Dakota on Friday and two more today. Weird that there seem to be more jobs in this sparsely populated state than in the major metro area I live in. Of course, there is probably much less competition in South Dakota, which would greatly help Dan's chances of getting hired. He is worried that the South Dakota companies aren't interested in him because he makes so much money here. It is possible that these companies might not realize that the cost of living here is almost twice what it is in South Dakota and therefore, Dan is not as overpaid as it might seem. Of course, Dan can always explain that in an interview if he is granted one. For now, he is applying to any graphic design job there that looks promising to see if he can get a foot in the door.
Currently copying songs by Barenaked Ladies. They sure crack me up.
Party on!
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