A Curious Statistical Anomaly

First, it’s August and that means a new coffee cup. This month it’s a large cup with a bit of bamboo motif in light tans, and beige-green-yellowish. I like it a lot; used it yesterday as I was angsting over some very stressful news which follows….

Well, I made it to August. I’ve got a few things to get done to finish up July but that’s neither here nor there — which is where I am actually. Hyperion and I are heading out to Denver for Denvention 3 for the 66th World Science Fiction Convention. I’ve never been to Denver or Colorado before so I’m really looking forward to this visit. I have been to Worldcons before — we go just about every year because it’s our anniversary trip. We got married in August and spent our honeymoon at Worldcon in Boston and we go every year that we can as an anniversary trip. Last year, even though we worked on the Nippon 2007 website, we couldn’t manage a trip to Japan so we hope the Japanese will bid for the convention again some year in the future.

We’re all set to begin our trek to Denver on Monday. However, we ran into a slight snag. You see the car had been making a slight chuffing-shushing sound occasionally when shifting so we decided to have the next service level done and get it checked out before we leave. We took the car in on Friday (just after the zines went live Thursday night — so with not a lot of sleep and a very early start on Friday to get to the dealership by 7am).

The first surprise was that the full service level would be about $1,700 with the timing belt check/replacement included and from the sound of things we needed that because of the noise. Okay. You do what you have to do and just move on and we’re going on a long trip so this is reasonable for a car that’s over ten years old and still running great.

Then comes the first phone call. The transmission is slipping and we need a new one. Damage estimated at about #3,800 or so. Yikes! That’s a bit steep, but after conversation with the techies it turns out that it won’t go catastrophic, just get more and more sluggish over time so we’ve got a bit of a breather maybe — could go this week or in six months or longer…or today. Okay, we decide to get a second opinion and check into getting a rebuilt transmission elsewhere. But, we still need all the maintenance we’d signed up for. Fine.

Hours later just when we’re expecting a phone call to tell us the car is ready for pick up we get another phone call. They found a leak and needed to order a part and it will arrive on Saturday and they’ll have the car done by 5pm on Saturday. Well, that would be nice but we made an appointment at another garage to look at the transmission on Saturday at 9am. So, that’s off. After asking some questions, it turns out that IF we don’t get this part installed, we could ruin the entire engine and lose that. So, not a lot of choice here. After all, it’s only an additional $155 and they won’t charge us for the extra labor because the car is already all apart. I haggle and they’ll say they’ll try to get the car done by noon Saturday.

Today, it’s Saturday. About 9am, the dealership calls to let us know the overnighted parts have not arrived and they’ll probably get them on Monday, so therefore they’ll have the car done by 5pm. We’re leaving for Denver on Monday and we need the car, can you put a rush on it, we ask. After some haggling it is agreed a Manager will call us back. An hour later, we get a Manager and go through this again. We realize the part didn’t come in but:

This is the third time the parts didn’t get delivered on a Saturday. They don’t do full maintenance on Saturday and in the past when full maintenance is promised on a Saturday…well, the truck doesn’t get there with the parts so the work gets done on Monday.
Now, I fully understand having to order some parts because the place would have to be huge to hold everything they’d ever need for all the models they repair, so that’s understandable, but really, 3 out of 3 times the truck doesn’t deliver the overnighted parts would be a bit too much for me if I was a manager and I’m sure we’re not the only ones who don’t get the parts delivered after an overnight so, one has to ask — is this really a parts deliver problem or a we don’t do the full maintenance on Saturday but don’t want to admit it problem…. Inquiring minds wonder about things like this.

Anyway, the upshot is that we get to keep the loaner they gave us at no additional charge. They promise to put a rush on the car so it will get done as early as possible on Monday so we can hit the road before 7pm (We’re aiming for 1pm now.)

We rented a car to drive to Denver. The rental is supposed to get 35 mpg which is better than our 28 mpg so we’re hoping to make up the rental costs in the gas savings. But now we have the problem of returning the loaner, getting our car back, getting the rental car, getting it packed and hitting the road at a reasonable time to miss the DC rush hour traffic in the afternoon as we head west.

It also means that today and tomorrow, we have to run errands in a loaner that isn’t big enough to take the recycling to the center so we’re stuck with all that stuff in the basement until we get back from Denver after the convention. We still need to get a second opinion on the transmission set up when we get back because we can’t do it before we leave. And now, we’re thinking of getting a second car — a Smart Car for Two … if we like it when we see and test drive one. We could change our minds but that’s the plan and to keep the current car with a rebuilt transmission if that’s doable as a large backup auto when we need storage space for big loads.

All in all, I’m in the midst of writing lists and just looking so forward to getting on the road for our anniversary trip and spending some quality time with my husband.

Did I mention that we’re covering the convention for SFRevu? There will be coverage there and detailed daily coverage here in my blog. We’ll be putting photos up on the Flickr account, I’ll post a note here when that happens.

As usual a project that shouldn’t have been so complicated turned out to be bigger than I thought. And, I started it just as we getting the zines ready to go live on August 1st. And, there’s more, Paul and I are making all the arrangements to drive to Denver for Denvention 3 (the World Science Fiction Convention August 7-10th).

What’s the project, you ask? Well, thanks for asking. I decided I’m sick of tripping over all the stuff in the pantry area and it needed to be organized and stored so that most of it is corralled and controlled in the space we have.

The pantry runs along a wall making a short hallway between the kitchen, dining room, and the laundry area. There’s also a half-bath back at near the washer. Part of the impetus for the cleaning and neatening of this area is that we’re planning to get a new washer and dryer soon (once these die, and they are not healthy). Before I started this project the hallway was overrun with stuff that didn’t fit on the shelves because they were a smidgen too big to fit. After barking/banging/stubbing my toe one to many times, I just started pulling things off the shelf and figured it was also time to flip the shelves over (they were bowing a bit) too.

So, the living room floor is covered with all the stuff from the pantry. I’ve pulled all the nice little cloth covers from the baskets we bought last year and washed them and refitted them into the baskets. I grouped the pantry food, bottles, packages, etc, into like type groups — not all the piles even show in this picture.

We also have a nice IKEA cabinet in the kitchen next to the stove that we recently found out can’t be used to store canned goods, only dry goods, since the heat from the stove causes problems. So, I moved all the dry stuff like cereal, spaghetti, macaroni, etc to that cabinet.

You’ll notice that lots of our stuff is in plastic containers as well as the original container. We live on 5 acres. I don’t care what you do or how often you clean — you get bugs. This year is our best year — it’s mostly ants. Last year it was some sort of wood beetle (or so they told me when I asked for it’s identity). We also have a cricket down in the basement which I hear but can’t find but since they eat bugs, and I don’t see it, I don’t care.

So, I’m betwixt and between in the project and going full-bore editing, proofing, writing, herding cats (aka reviewers), and aiming at the August 1st deadline. I’m really looking forward to Denvention and if any of you readers are going please look for us there (we’ll sign in on the Voodoo Board). Now, I’m off to get a few hours sleep before I dive in again tomorrow. (Oh, yeah I actually spun for 15 minutes again today.)

You know what I hate most about migraines?  No one can tell you’re having one.  Well there’s the lack of concentration, the misuse of words (Hyperion’s going to proof this for me), the fact that I can’t seem to keep one thought in my head for more than half-a-minute before it falls out the ear on the other side of my head.  But physically, I look okay.  I can sit here and listen to someone talk to me and when they end their monologue — truthfully, I have no idea what they just said.

We were watching Stargate: Atlantis and when Beckett died (It’s season three so I assume all the world has seen it except for me), I just burst into tears because I liked him.  He was so kind.  Okay, when I have a migraine I cry at commercials also… but the emotional upheaval is pretty rocky.

But since I can’t think straight and I can’t be trusted with sharp objects — I can at least spin.  So, I’m working on my Tour de Fleece challenge of trying to spin that pound of green roving.  I already blew the spinning every day thing because I’ve missed three days now (at Readercon).  I’m not going to get the full pound of roving spun up either but it feels nice to have the wheel out and ready so now that I’m sort of trying to be active and stay out of mischief, I can spin.

By the way, I haven’t read the book on Migraine in Women — I just really, really, liked the cover.   Tonight, there is supposed to be a thunderstorm and rain.  Maybe not, but the migraine is here, so maybe yes.  I hope not, we’ve still got to get that tree cut up and stacked to dry for this winter.  The garden needs to be weeded.  But, I was going to spin some more and I better do that now.

This morning I was reading during the rain storm and heard a loud crack sound–didn’t think anything more about it because after I got up and started moving around, I didn’t see anything.

The poison ivy never really went away and so today I had another Dr.’s appointment. Paul came home to pick me up and off we went. Got another course of prednisone Hopefully, this time it will take care of it. I’m really, really sensitive to poison ivy and it went systemic so the first time I was on prednisone is got lighter and faded but after I finished it was back a few days later.

We just got back from Dr.’s and CVS and found that a tree we’ve been concerned about fell over while we were gone. It’s a big tree, a huge tree. Last summer we went out and looked at it and tried to figure out where it would fall when it did. We figured it would miss the carport (it did miss it) and the shed (it missed that too). We thought it might hit one or two trees on the way down and it sort of did, skimming off some branches.

Guess now our weekend is taken. We’ll be out there with the chainsaw getting it cut up and ready for this winter and our wood stove. That’s the plus side of this event. The downside is, it’s going to be one heck of a lot of work to get this all cleared up and cut for firewood. The work is mostly going to fall on Paul since I can’t do much lifting but I can move the smaller branches and toss (well drag and heave) them onto the compost piles.

As you can see the tree is about 100 feet high and fairly big around — I’m really glad we were gone when it came down. I’ve been home for some smaller trees coming down in our yard. I was here when two very big ones came down in a storm on a neighbor’s land. Those were a bit scary — they made lots of noise and then fragments would explode off them or crack and slide into the gully. I could see the whole thing happening from my desk chair out the dining room window. Then there was the time a huge branch fell down onto the access road blocking it after Paul left for work. Luckily the man that lives just further in the woods hadn’t left for work yet and he cut it up and I moved the smaller pieces.

Living in the woods is an adventure, every day nature is your partner and there is no getting away from it. We try our best to live lightly on the land. But, when something like this happens it’s a reminder to not take anything for granted.

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear/see/feel it — should you still be worried?

Just a few odds and ends (some political ranting so you may want to skip.  If you’re a Republican, you’re not going to be happy.  Come back tomorrow instead.  If you want to object to what I’ve said … don’t.  These are my opinions and it’s my blog.):

• Finished my spool of thread. Plied it as 3-ply using Navaho plying. Turns out to be close to sock or light weight. I’ll figure the wraps per inch later. I ended up with about 329 yards. Just need to get it off the niddy-noddy and wash and skein it. Then start on the next spool.
• I can’t believe that our congress critters actually voted to give the telecoms immunity for performing illegal taps on American citizens at the behest of the Shrub without a warrant. Obama voted for the bill. I’ll still vote for him for Pres because I certainly won’t vote for a Republican. I’m trying to maintain the illusion that somehow someone will stand up for the America that we used to have. You know, the one with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Of course our current White House sitter seems to think they are quaint little documents that don’t apply to him or his administration BUT they used to mean something to the people of this country and to the people of the world. Now, we have no honor or standing since we’ve violated most of the treaties we’ve signed, tortured people, hired others to torture people, and spied upon our own citizens just because…well because the W.H. sitter wanted to.
• At least one person in Congress wants to do the right thing. He’s trying to get Congress to impeach the Shrub. Congress can impeach a Pres for having a sex with a consenting adult but we can’t manage to impeach a person who lies to Congress, lies to the American people, violates the Constitution of this Country, ignores the rights and freedoms of the citizenry, and the laws of the land, and gets thousands of American killed in a war that he lied to start. Just where is our honor and integrity — does American even have any left anymore?
• And what do people care about? Not the fact that we’re losing our rights and freedoms and our country is being dismantled around us? No, they paying more attention to the sound bites about religion, patriotism, and safety. I think it was said best that “those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one”.
• Okay, I’m grumpy. I want to live in the country that I grew up in again. I want my Congress critters to do the right things because it is the right thing to do … not because it will get them more pac money or elected next time. If you do the right thing for the right reason and because it is just and needed and for the betterment of all Americans — it will eventually be found that you are a patriot. Wrapping oneself in the flag, as far as I can see is a sure sign that one is NOT a patriot (just look at the current administration — I don’t think based on their statements to the press that they have even read our Constitution or our Bill of Rights).
• As a side note, security theater doesn’t make you safer. It just means that it takes longer to go anywhere or do anything. Entertaining as it may be to watch everyone line up and take off their shoes, it doesn’t make any flight any safer than it was before they made us take off our shoes.
• Did you know that deer will eat onions? I didn’t but one actually came into our garden and dug up our onions and ate them. So, beware there is a deer with really bad breath out there in Maryland somewhere.
• Why do gas prices always go up when there is a holiday when nothing else has changed? Why does gas go up when oil per barrel prices go up but they never go down when they drop?
• Why is the price of American oil the same as for foreign oil.  The pundits keep saying the price of oil is up because of Iran’s threats, or fighting in Nigeria, or whatever.  Is oil in Alaska threatened by Iran or Nigeria?  Why isn’t American pumped oil cheaper?  Oh yeah, because the oil companies have the God given right to make as much money as possible, regardless of how much it hurts America.  Why the hell doesn’t the government claim National Security when our National Security is actually really threatened?  Oh yeah, because the Shrub’s family all make their money off oil.  Silly me.
• Just where is the government funding for actual alternative energy? Why don’t people get rebates that actually would help them add solar panels to their roofs or windmills to their yards? Why do hybrids cost so much more than a gas guzzler?
• Did you know that if everyone took just one bag to the grocery store rather than using a plastic bag it would help save our environment, landfills, and oil? Just one bag not used every week for every person who goes shopping. Amazing how one person CAN make a difference.
• Can you believe that some people believe that Intelligent Design is actually a scientific theory? It’s a religious doctrine folks, not science. It should be taught, if taught at all, in a philosophy class, not in a science classroom. Science is the study of facts, testing what actually happened against what you thought would happen and adjusting. Adjusting facts to fit a belief is not science, it’s wishful thinking. Belief doesn’t have to make sense but science does or things fall apart.  Evolution is a FACT.  It’s observable and measurable.  It’s called a theory because scientists still haven’t worked out enough of the details to warrant changing the name.  “Theory” is a scientific term, with a scientific definition.  Twisting it to match a non-scientific usage doesn’t  change reality.  Evolution is a fact whether you want to call it a Law, Theory, Hypothosis, or Marmoset.
• Life is difficult. Things don’t always work out the way we want them too. It’s not always fair but it is the way it is. They only thing we can do is the best we can each day, living our lives as if this is all we got.  We should be the best person we can because we care about our family, our neighbors, and our fellow human beings and the planet we live on. If there is more (and there may or may not be depending on your beliefs) then living the best life you can, can not hurt your chances for a better afterlife either.

End of rants and odd thoughts. I’ve just had a bad day — I really, really should not listen to news anymore — it only depresses me and makes me think less of my fellow humans. When did the bottom line become the ultimate goal in life. I always thought it was to be the kind of person that other people wouldn’t mind spending time with or knowing.  But then again that’s just me.

Today, I washed the kitchen floor and the bathroom floor.  Yeah, me.  I also cleared off nearly one third of the dining room table.  Got rid of a lot of minor email  tasks that had been building up in my inbox.  Made a loaf of bread (Italian but it didn’t rise quite right so that’s going to need a few more tries before it becomes a keeper recipe or I give up).   I also wrote out the steps (pseudo-code) to programming a display page for a website I’m working on — now I just have to program it (pseudo-code is the way to go on shiny days.)

Then I managed to watch some movies and spin and spin and spin.  We bought one of those family pack DVD movies — you know the really cheap kind in the sale bin.  I watched  Africa Screams, an Abbott and Costello movie, Captain Kidd (Charles Laughton, Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, and John Carradine), and started Christmas without Snow (Michael Learned, John Houseman, Ramon Bieri, and James Cromwell) — maybe I’ll finish that one tomorrow.

Remember, the spinning is of lace weight.  I’m over spinning it and now believe that I’ll Navajo ply it for 3-ply when I get the first spool filled.  Hopefully that will be at the end of this weekend.  It looks like I might make the goal of spinning every day during the Tour de Fleece but I really doubt that I’ll get the full pound of green spun by the 27th.  But hope springing eternal and all that jazz — I’ll just keep going on it.

There is a slight snag in that I’m going to Readercon in Massachusetts from July 17th to the  20th.  The car is going to be too full to bring the wheel so it will be a drop spindle for those days — I’m wondering if I can keep the thread consistent from spinning wheel to spindle.  I might just decide to keep going on the sock yarn I’ve got started on a spindle now so I do the “every day” even though it doesn’t help with the pound of green fiber.

So, tomorrow is another day and I’m beat from all the stuff I did today.  I know it doesn’t look like much in a list but it took just about all my spoons today.  I’m just hoping I don’t pay for it tomorrow.

Twas a busy day.  Well it would have been if I’d managed to stop shiny-thinging all over the place.  Got a lot done, but not all of anything; if you know what I mean.  I’d get started on something and the next thing I’d know I’d be off and onto another something and then off that and so on and so on.  But I can see the top of the dining room table in places.  Some of the floor is now open for cleaning.  The kitchen cupboard are all set for me to scrub them tomorrow.  So, guess I’ll look on today as a set up for housework…I hate housework…just when are those robots going to be ready for this.  Our little roomba is having problems and so I’m stuck with the floors.

On a high note, I managed to spin for about forty-five minutes tonight.  The wooden spool is just about all covered with the thread now.  Remember it’s lace weight spun and I’m planning to do either 2-ply or 3-ply when I’m done with the singles.

I’ve now spun enough that I have to oil/grease the wheel.  So, it was another trip to the basement to find some books on spinning wheel maintenance.  I can’t believe how rusty I’ve gotten.  Of course my main wheel is a Majacraft Rose (no oiling necessary) so using the Schacht is a bit of a re-learning curve.  I found several books that would be useful that I put aside half-read or less.  That’s sort of embarrassing to admit but often with reference books, I look up what I need when I need it and put it aside so I can find it again for the next problem.

This book looked like the one that would give me the info I needed in the quickest manner so I can get on with the Tour de Fleece — the equivalent of changing out my flat or adjusting the gears and getting back in the race.  However, remember the shiny-thing problem.  I spent quite a while going through looking at the pictures and reading headers in several of the books.  I think I’m going to have to slide these books into my reading piles and then review them.  Mostly because it will give some massive background material to build on or make educated guesses from when I run into problems.  So, don’t be surprised if you see a review or two on spinning reference books in this blog at some future time.

Rose: The photo is of Paul’s chocolate rose. We’ve come to really like roses and this was one Paul wanted mostly for the name — it doesn’t have much scent. But the first year we had it, it didn’t really do much. The second year, we dug it up and put it in a fancy garden planter and moved it to the garden area near the herb garden. It now gets the required 6 hours of sun per day and is much happier. Last year it had two blooms. So far, this years we’ve had about six roses on it. This picture shows two of them.

Car: Not much going on. Getting right back into the swing of work. Paul had to take some time today to go check out tires — we’ve had three flats in two months. I think we’re now back on track.

Poison Ivy: The consensus seems to be that pictures B & C are poison ivy. Picture A seems right out of the fray. So, I’ll be particularly careful when around the vines in B & C from now on. Poison ivy is getting better now that we’re on steroids (Prednisone). Hopefully, it will be all gone by the end of the pills — but right now half way through it doesn’t look like it.

Garden matters: It’s been rainy so haven’t been out to do much in the yard. We got the buckets to plant the rest of the tomatoes in. The lettuce is starting to come up. Our blueberry bushes on the deck have given enough berries for blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes and some for just nibbling. Those are pretty much over. The strawberries are still blooming and making fruit but we can’t seem to beat the critters to it. Guess were not fast enough.

Tour de Fleece: So, far I’ve managed to spin for at least an hour each evening. That’s better than I expected but then that includes the time I’ve spend fussing with the spool and the tension. I’ve now got it so that I feed the thread in and it doesn’t get yanked out of my hand. So, I’m at bit more at peace. I’ll post another photo of progress on Friday.

Reading: Been reading books for review in the August issue of SFRevu and Gumshoe Review. So far, I’ve read Exodus by Julie Bertagna, Written in Blood by Sheila Lowe, and Dead over Heels by Charlaine Harris. I’m about half-way through Underground by Kat Richardson. It’s certainly a good month so far in my reading pile. Except for Exodus by Julie Bertagna, they’re all series that I’ve been following, so it’s a really nice break after getting the issues up on line on the 1st, the holiday buzz, and the car problems, and the migraines.

So, that’s a quick update. I’m hoping to follow through on the spinning and get the rest of the gardening in this week. Along with the contract job and the usual stuff. Life is pretty good today in spite of the headache.

It’s me, the cat.  Just thought I’d add my own 8.5 cents in (due to inflation you know).  Getting the car taken care of was pretty easy this time.  The first time was about a month ago.  I came out on my way to work, got in the car, drove the quarter of a mile down the dirt road, and as soon as I turned out onto the pavement, I could feel something was wrong.  So I pulled into a neighbors driveway (also a quarter mile long, so it’s not like they’re ever going to know I was there) and took a look.  The right rear tire was totally flat.  I guess I couldn’t feel it when bumping along dirt and stones at low speeds.  Anyway, it’s annoying, but it’s been a few years since I had a flat, so I figure it’s about time.  I pull the spare off, replace the tire, and find that the spare is only about half full.  Remember it had been a couple of years?  Well apparently, you need to check your spare tire’s pressure when you check the others.  Doh!  So I get some air at the first gas station (costs $1.50 for freaking air!  What is the world coming too?).  I go to work, head over to the tire place and sit in their waiting room for 3 hours while the car slowly moves through their queue of work.  Again, annoying, but these things happen.   Finally get the car back with the tire patched (and at no cost too!) and I figure that’s that.  The next day, the same tire is flat again.  Back on goes the spare and I sit for three more hours after work.  This time they tell me they can’t fix it and I need a new one.  $80 for a tire.  Holy Moly!  Well, again, it’s been a couple of years since I had to buy one, and apparently the cost of rubber has gone up too.  Anyway, now I’m done.  Brand new tire, and all should be right with the world.

Nope!

Last Thursday, I’m on my way to the doctors (where they’re squeezing me in before the holidays) to get my own poison ivy checked out.  I’m in bumper to bumper traffic when a woman in the next car starts waving at me.  I roll down the window (why do we keep using that phrase?  There’s no handled to roll!  Anyway …) and the lady informs me that my front-right tire is flat.  Grrrrr!  So, after finding a flat space to pull over into and putting the spare back to to play, I’m now twenty minutes late getting the the appointment that they were doing me the favor of squeezing in the first place.  Lucky me, they take me anyway and my poison ivy is on the mend.  Afterward … it’s back to the tire place (visit #3) where it takes 4 hours to get the tire patched.  Grumble grumble, but yeah, that’s got to be the end, right!

Nope!

The very next day, we head off to the 4th of July barbecue.  We have a very nice time, head back to the car, and find the front-left tire is flat.  This is the third different tire now.  Back goes the spare again and we have to hope for the best until today, since it’s a holiday weekend and all that.  So this morning, I e-mail into work that I’m going to be out since I have to sit and wait for the car.  I drive up to the car place, hand over the keys, and get them handed back 15 minutes later.  What?  How can that be?  Looks like my luck finally changed and I was first in line in the queue.  Turns out to have been a rotted valve stem, so the repair was free of charge and I’m out and about, wild and free.  So, being the wild and crazy guy that I am … I go to work.

Where I find out my corporate manager has been replaced (I can’t pronounce the name of the new guy, and he doesn’t speak English very well either).  And my government boss has also changed (can’t pronounce his name either). As you might expect, it went rapidly down hill from there, but as I’d prefer to keep my job, I think the fewer details there, the better.  Besides, I’ve bored you long enough.  But I bet it makes you look forward to Gayle taking back over again.