November ramblings

Well, once again I have neglected my blog for entirely too long. So after guesting at Mom's site, I thought I'd re-visit my own.

Fall is definitely here. I had to fill the oil tank in the backyard and turn on the heat. After a short visit to Inverness to visit Iain's great-uncle for my birthday, I came home and started the Halloween preparations. It's not a big deal here, but I still carve pumpkins and have a bowl of candy for any trick-or-treaters. This year's pumpkins were fun...Jack Skellington and the Flying Spaghetti Monster!!

Enough kids came to justify the candy, but there is still some left!!

hanging in N.Ireland

Hi all. Haven't blogged in a while, so here I go. My eyes are doing great. Left is still lagging, but they say it's normal. Go back in June for another checkup. The weather has multiple-personality disorder and no one seems to know if we'll get a summer. Last year summer was in April and April's almost over! It also happily adheres to Murphy's Law, for as I rush out to get the dog for a w-a-l-k before it rains, the sun appears as soon as we get back to the house.

Iain's due home in about a month, but probably will get home in time to unpack his stuff (IF it gets here in a reasonable time-frame) and repack for other courses. Mostly short ones, I think. Then is schedule is all up in the air, and we'll know more when we know more. In the meantime, I have been given the all-clear to "fall down" again so it's back into JuJitsu full-speed-ahead. And eventho I have 7 months before I test for my black belt (on Jason's birthday!), I am getting put through my paces. But, it's "use it or lose it" and I want to not have to THINK at the testing session and just "DO".

Oh, and Toe Socks are kick-ass!

Got Matzoh?

Just a note to say Happy Passover to everyone!

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Updates, Spring, and other news...

Oh wow! I haven't posted in a long time. That is probably because I am lazy and there isn't much going on.  Well, the word is out that we are staying put for a while longer.  Probably about 2 or 3 years.  NOT moving again makes me happy, and means...yard work!  The back  yard deteriorated a  bit over the winter, and I have permission to "do whatever I want" with it, provided it doesn't cause a safety risk to workers.  The local hardware/garden center is going to love me. The birds are coming back, too.

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In other news, my LASIK procedure seems to have gone swimmingly.  There's a bit of bruising, and some residual blurriness, but they say that's normal.  I go back Friday for another check-up, just to make sure everything is fine.  Then it's another 3 weeks before I have to go back.  Next time, I will have to time the appointments to allow for the 1/3-off train tickets!
That's probably about it.  I am on schedule now to test for my black belt in November, and if I work hard, I might be able to get my second-degree black belt just before we're due to get new orders.  It'd be a lot of work, but I just might be able to do it. :)

coffee, coffee, and more coffee

I just finished doing a blog post for http://www.exilecoffee.com.  Which is my friend Andrew's site/blog about all things coffee.  I had my camera with me for the UKBC regional heats....  A barista competition.  So we watched people make coffee!  The lighting was horrible, but I was able to get some decent shots.  Sadly, some of my better shots were of a competitor who didn't end up placing!  Here's one of my better shots...

This was during the layering process of the specialty drink made by the second-place winner.  A honey and orange syrup, topped with espresso.  She finished it off with foamed milk and some orange zest.  Sadly, we didn't get to taste it!  Judges only!

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All in all, I had a good time at the competition, and we got to make coffee on a fancy machine at the back of the room.  Rather...I had people who knew what they were doing make me coffee!  And then they brought out smoothies and cookies...all the better because Andrew and I were too busy talking to skip out during the lunch break.  It was raining anyway, so we stayed dry and caffeinated!

after attempt and attempt, changing the default font here is a pain!
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In the neck! but maybe it worked!

weird code

Oh, how i enjoy testing code. :)

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and how weird things work!

So, here I go testing something!

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And something else, too!

testing for Mom...

So, here I go, testing some code for mom.  Let's see if it works.  Click on that "more" down there...

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