This was us, just as the Gregorian year was changing.
That's Simon, Meself, Uni, Holly, Mama Nan and Mama Judy.
Yes, I know it's fuzzy. It was New Year's!
February - April 1999. Hey, I thought I was busy.
September - December 1999. Yes, I'm still here.
Yes, it's got me too. Still, after five months.
Nan's got repetitve stress syndrome in both hands from it, but she doesn't care!
I get migraines from it, but that won't stop me! Mum for some unexplained reason
can ignite Lara in the strangest parts of the game, but that just entertains us more!
In honor of it, I've written a little list of signs that
You know you're playing too much Tomb Raider.
If you've played too much as well and know what those two medkits are doing behind that door in Atlantis, PLEASE tell me! I'm going nuts!
But I did figure out the Palace Midas medkit... heheheh... wanna know how to get it? Hmm? You know what to do...
We're (when I say we I'm usually refering to my Mumby, Mama Nan, Simon and Holly. Oh yeah, and me too.) addicted to Tomb Raider right now.
And now it's not only the first one... it's all of Lara's adventures.
Yes, Nan and Mum have braved Mudubu Gorge while I outrun boulders so big they shouldn't have been allowed in the game.
I've finally given in and become a multi-platform freak. :)
That Playstation is niiiice... *ahem*
After a weird thing with "Street Racer" showing up in the Speed Racer
case, we finally got the one and only true Speed Racer... *sigh*
We've all been 1st place too... heheheheh....
So, as always, if anyone needs any help with Lara, I'm practically re-writing
the walk-through and I know a lot of Sega Genesis and Saturn codes.
I even have a few for Sunsetriders... (who knows what that knowledge will bring...)
I was planning on putting all the codes I've tested on a page here, but seeing how no one
ever asked me about them... *sniff* I'll just show you more pictures of the house. Hmph.
This was us, just as the Gregorian year was changing.
That's Simon, Meself, Uni, Holly, Mama Nan and Mama Judy.
Yes, I know it's fuzzy. It was New Year's!
It's nice... :)Turned one just last week... :)
May, 1998 -- Well, a month's gone by and I can't complain because it's not leaky anymore, but the Cherry blossoms are still stuck all over and we don't have a cricket on the chimney, which I would have liked, but you can't win 'em all, right?
April 19, 1998 -- The sun came out the next day, heated the shingles, the wind blew the crap that looked like nails away (I'm nearsighted and short tempered, all right?) and the guys covered the pre-existing rusted fan flashing and tarred the chimney.
What a difference a day makes, indeed.
The most horrible thing of that day now is what I learned today, that the world lost Linda McCartney. It made me realize how trivial some things really are and all I can say is that this Lynda can only hope to be as great a woman as that Linda.
What follows is the result of a total of an hour's sleep all night, a dust allergy and my cynicism towards people that come here to do work on anything, coupled with the lack of people I don't know to talk to at the exact moment I felt like venting. I've left it on so you know what I'm talking about up on that first line.
Did I mention it's raining? Yes, it's raining. And you know what? The rain is still coming through my ceiling! What a hoot!
I suppose the contractor showing up without a ladder and saying to my Mum "Wow, you have a ladder? You know how to climb it?" should have tipped us off. Not only is the guy sexist, but he's also about equal with those nails sticking out of the center of the shingles.
The roofers he got to do the job are members of the Better Business Bureau... That's what terrifies me.
They did not flash the chimney. They did not flash the exhaust fan. The water, from the rain that's coming down right now, it's running down the wall where the chimney is. And you know what? I think that's where the leak's been all along.
March, 1998 -- It's started again, this time spreading over the two bedroom ceilings. It's moving towards the computer...
October, 1997 -- With any luck we can do with the patch job until Spring.
I've just completed a needlepoint.
It was a lot of fun, and if you look really close, you can see Simon and Holly, as well as Unice in it!
I didn't stab myself that much with the needle, but in a completely unrelated incident I almost removed a finger as I attempted to open a shrink-wrapped surge protector while listening to the Grateful Dead sing Hey Jude.
That got messy.
The reason the needlepoint looks like it was flung over something is because it was flung over Simon's bed. I haven't framed it yet.
The vent is replaced! Our water heater vent had, until Friday, been spewing carbon monoxide out of the bad excuse for a vent left by Rescue Heating Service, who also broke out gas valve, and lil' ol' me fixed it, with Mumby, of course. Actually, I have to admit Mumby did most of the work, for I... well, I don't know how to say this, but, I almost lost my thumbs trying to connect the elbow to the ventpipe, okay? Hey, nobody's perfect!
Just remember kids, when you're playing with big metal vents, wear gloves. Also, don't touch the vent after the water heater is back on. It gets hot and it's not much fun typing this with a second degree burn on my finger.
*ahem*
Seriously, I have some tips on Water Heater installation, and what you, as the innocent bystander, can do to avoid getting asphyxiated by your hired help's carelessness.
Tell them you want the Water Heater 18" off the ground. Tell them you want at LEAST 16" from the ceiling, with plenty of room for the anode to be replaced, and when they're done with the job, don't let them get away with breaking your gas valve, torching your walls or for that matter anything.
DO NOT back down when faced with a condesending know-it-all, okay? If your Water Heater is in a room with anything that can spill and explode, those 18" can save your cat's life. Your's too, although what you'd be doing going potty in a box with clumping litter is your own business. And the Anode is this thing that corrodes inside the Water Heater over time to prevent other things from corroding, and your Water Heater can live a lot longer if someone can get to the blasted thing when it needs to be replaced.
And, if after a few weeks you see the top of the heater is rusty, turn it off. It's easy to turn it off, really. It took me ten years to learn that part.
Rust or corrosion anywhere it doesn't belong means you're getting Carbon Monoxide. If your laundry room ceiling happens to fall down from severe moisture damage, that's a pretty good sign something's wrong too.
Go ahead, ask me how I know...
Update: My hands have healed, I didn't get tetanus! But they sure let me know when it's going to rain...
Update - April 1998 The bulbs are... still poking through. Just a bit more than last month. The lillies too!
Update - March 1998 The bulbs planted last fall in the back yard are starting to poke through! At least there's some good from all this rain. :)
We lost one of The Butterfly Bushes last year *sob* but the others are doing well, I think...
Remember, if you ever feel like tossing around big names for plants, Buddleia Davidii is the proper term for Butterfly Bushes.
I'll hopefully have a picture of them too... soon...
Where was I? Oh, back to the yard.
We had to remove the half-dead elm trees and two beautiful dogwoods that were never meant to be put under a pine tree to plant these bushes.
I asked my mum why we put the trees there once, and she said "Because they were free!" Well, that explains that.
The light still works, although you have to walk into the other yard to make it go on.
Well, nothing's perfect. But this sure is close! Nice to finally see what's over there. It's not really that bad...
And if anyone wants either a beautiful Calico street cat, her kittens or a house (the neighbor's, not mine.), e-mail me.
It's over, I'm done with the computer course. I got perfect marks on every exam, except for three, very questionable questions.
I ask you now, who invented the IBM card? Herman Hollerith, or Charles Babbage?
Does size truly make a difference in this case? Hmm...
Also... is 2400 the most commonly used modem today?
I discovered about five typos in the textbooks, most of which were flat out errors caused by too much reliance on spell checking software.
And for all of it, do you think I'm getting the spectacular job I was told I'd get with the certificate? No.
ooh...bitterness descends upon our weary student...
Meanwhile, I've gone off on my own all the way across the street where
I "teach" kids computers. Oh yeah... I sit there while they run rings around me.
But at least I know all their names... heheheh...
