Monthly Archives: May 2007

Sleep Machine

So I’ve certainly been catching up on sleep the last few days, I think I’ve had about 23 hours since Friday evening. This is excellent since I really haven’t been sleeping all that well these days. I haven’t gotten much accomplished this weekend but that’s okay…

What I did get accomplished was that I went out to the cemetery where my grandparents and great-grandparents (Mom’s side) are buried today. I usually get out there a few times a year (sprint/fall) just to clean up and edge where the grass is growing over the stones, but it’s been so crazy lately (life and the weather) I’m getting out much later than usual. It’s been raining/drizzling all day but it pretty much stopped when I got out there so that worked out nice.

I need to take Mom with me some time because I always come up with questions about dates, middle initials or something else about family history that I don’t know the answer to…

Heroes – Volume 1

They left you hanging with some new story lines but they completed a story, I really applaud them for that. I’m so sick of the never ending (non) stories.

I was pretty happy with Heroes – Season 1, a tale of life, sacrifice, hope and (of course) saving the world. It’s pretty hard to get a good super-hero show to stick on prime-time, so I can deal with the minuses. What I really liked about it was they ended the story and those that did save the world were really heros. I was surprised at all the death the last few episodes, but at least now you don’t have to worry too much about those story-lines…

And how about those previews!!!! Harry Potter, THe Fantastic Four, The Silver Surfer and (did you wait until the very end?) the Bionic Woman! And I’m kinda wondering what extras are going to be on the DVD…

So, possible mysteries for the future: (semi-spoliers below, if you haven’t watched it, don’t read them, although they don’t directly give anything away) Continue reading

$150 in Free Gift Cards

I can’t promise long this offer will last, but I personally have done it before. They really gave me the 15,000 points!

This gets you $110-$150 in free gift cards (Target, Macy’s, Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Home Depot and many more) after applying for a card from CitiBank (and after making one purchase). Really the only way you get $150 is with a few certain stores, but you can mix and match and probably get $125+ pretty easily from the stores above. I got this offer from SlickDeals.net

Step 1 – Turn off your pop up blockers (or use Internet Explorer)
Step 2 – Go to this link
Step 3 – Click on “Apply Now”
Step 4 – Follow step 5 very carefully.
Step 5 – Then close the application window, a popup with a new $150 gift card offer will appear. (If you don’t follow these instructions it’s only for $80-$100 in gift cards).

Third Time’s the Charm!

So I’m at McDonald’s and I want my regular order, a number 3 combo (Quarter Ponder, Fries, Soda); so I order a “number 3, no pickle, no mustard” slow and articulated but as usual they have to ask me again what it is that I want. I don’t understand how they don’t get it the first time, it’s a limited selection of items that I can order even if I slur my voice someone should be able to figure it out, it’s not like I ordered an iPod with a side of onion rings. But that’s actually not my complaint today, she did get it correct and processed that part of the order quickly and accurately.

So they hand me my order, while the QP box has the “no pickle, No mustard” tag on it there is an excessive amount of mustard on the box which lets me know to check before I bite. Sure enough there’s mustard on it (maybe pickle too). So I sent it back. Minutes later I get another one, with pickle and mustard. So I send it back, it’s easily 5 minutes more until I get a correct sandwich. They did give me fresh fries (the first order was better than delicious) and offer me a pie (but they didn’t have apple so I passed). They handed the final order to me in a togo bag, was that a hint?

How much money (food and staff time) did they waste trying to make this sandwich correctly? We’re not even factoring in my time wasted and the fact that this is the most expensive McDonald’s around here.

Indigo Girls AND Brandi Carlile on the same night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Has anyone ever been to Ravinia (in Highland Park, IL) for a concert?

I see that Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile are both performing there in June on the same night. Both for only $20!!!

I’m not sure exactly how to make that happen on a Monday 300 miles from here, but I think I have to, I’m still kicking myself for missing Brandi in Ann Arbor last week and this is the closest location they’ll be at…

So So Busy Lately…

It’s been extra cRaZy lately:

  • We’re nearing the end of the school year and it just plain gets hectic around then (even though I work year-round).
  • The superintendent just retired, he’s been in the district 44 years(!!!), so there has been work to wrap up and a variety of celebratory events (admin building, district-wide, just administrators, etc.). He sure knew a lot of people, many whom came back for some of the celebrations.
  • I just starting teaching a class at a local university and getting everything started always takes time (even though I’ve done this same class before); plus I’m trying to do more on-line with this group.
  • Life in general has been a little busier lately from Mother’s day to days off and other things.
  • I think I’ve missed at least an extra day a week at work for some meeting and/or conference every week since before Easter and had to take a few vacation days here and there too so it’s been busy for those reasons too.
  • I’ve got a new boss, which is great(!), but it’s stressful figuring out how they want things (what things I should ask about and what things to just do) there’s no problems, it’s just I figured all that out with the old boss and had a good grip on these things.
  • I’ve been having sleep problems too, but I bet that’s partially due to the above and the crazy weather changes affecting my allergies.

    Hmm… Putting them all in a list I realize there are more work related items than life in general, have to think about that…

    I go have good stuff going on, most (all?) of the busy personal stuff has been good, it’s just been making life busier. I haven’t spent as much “fun” time on the computer as usual, certainly not much time blogging lately, but I think things will calm down soon, but we are still getting into the end of the year crunches at work. That’s all for now, just a life in general update, not too exciting but you know I’m alive…

  • Laura Veirs in Concert (Part 2)

    Year of Meteors Laura VeirsSo I did a quick photo blog from the concert the other day but I’ve been so busy I never said anything else (actually I’ve barely said anything lately). Laura Veirs was excellent! The Magic Stick is such a great small venue, $12 at the door and you can get closer than if you had front row seats at a larger venue. The group talked to us and even asked for some requests. Then they explained their goofy outfits which I’m not even going to try to explain, I’ll look and see if anyone has any good photos somewhere on-line.

    I’m always so happy with the smaller venues, I’ve got to pay more attention to people coming to town to see some people I would haven’t normally gone to see. And it’s really nice when they hang around and autograph their CDs! I bought two and got them both signed…

    “Lake” opened for them and they were pretty good but it just wasn’t the sound that draws me in too much. Kelly Jean Caldwell was a local opener (I’m pretty sure she’s local) for them that I heard was excellent but I showed up late (my niece, Courtney Robb, was playing at a club down the street so I went to see her first) so I’ll have to keep my eye open for her to come back.

    Laura Veirs in Detroit




    Laura Veirs

    Originally uploaded by garylapointe.

    Laura Veirs at an excellent intimate show in Detroit at the Majic Stick. If you’re a fan and you didn’t come, you really missed out…