Busy weekend
Feb. 5th, 2007 01:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greatbearWell, my birthday weekend turned out to be not so bad. It was mostly quiet. Thursday my concern with a barely-working heat pump got the best of me and I went outside after work in the dark and hooked up my refrigeration gauges. The charge was low, which is to be expected given it's 18 years of age and the fact that it's never needed a charge during that time. A minor bit of drama occurred when the supposed 'dry-break' service fitting that's meant to prevent a chilling blast of refrigerant from escaping when disconnecting the gauge set came apart and sprayed my hand with the -63 F refrigerant unexpectedly causing some minor frostbite. My left hand still has some numb areas, and the add-on drybreak connector got hurled into the back yard in a fit of rage.
Friday evening it was just Jeff and I for dinner. A good family friend stopped over and brought homemade brownies and a banana nut bread. Yum! While I was more than a bit downtrodden and mopey, I eventually got over it. Kinda.
Saturday morning offered a trip to the Lucky Dog Garage nearby for some socializing with MINI enthusiasts and fiddling with stuff. With the salty roads, I did not have to worry that my car was a mess. It was a level playing field for a change.
The afternoon was spent taking Kodi to Petsmart for some shopping and to sign up for 'obedience training'. Time will tell how that turns out. Kodi was a bit more apprehensive about going into an unfamiliar store, and upon seeing a huge black dog leer at him on his way out the door, Kodi let out an uncharacteristically large pile of dawg schitt in record time. It seemed about three milliseconds. We were prepared, and I didnt know whether to be upset or contain my giggling. I had trouble with both. Cleaning it up and continuing with tasks at hand, Kodi got signed up for puppy skool for the next few weeks (a night per week) as well as getting lots of attention from other shoppers and their pets.
After that was done, I scooted over to Best Buy and picked up a cheap HP portable photo printer (385). An impulse buy, since I have been looking for something small and portable for making on-site snapshots, this one was a closeout for $65 (half price) and too cheap to pass up. I did not expect much from the little printer, but was pleasantly suprised. It's tiny, pretty fast, uses pigment-based Vivera ink, can read from every common flash memory card or PictBridge camera and has lots of added extras like frame printing, still prints from videos, basic editing, red-eye reduction and a lot more. Sixty-five dollars from Bust Buy. It's been a while since I thought I got anything at a real deal from that place. I'd like to eventually get a nice, large-format photo printer some day, perhaps a HP B9180 or similar. Also, my 13 year old Laserjet 3D is really starting to show it's age, and I need a new laser printer for workhorse printing. Inkjets dont cut it when all I want to do is rattle off a few sheets of text, Google Map directions or service notes. It always seems that the ink is out when I really need it, or it's clogged up from weeks of non-use.
That evening we took Kodi to Jeff's friend and coworker's house to see how Kodi would react to the strange environment, their chocolate Lab and their little two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Emily. All went pretty well despite Kodi's little accident after being chased around the house by Emily and Monaco, their Lab. But Emily was a scene stealer. Smart beyond her years, she could spell not only her name, but other words as well, work the computer, dance some complicated moves and all sorts of things that five- and six-year-olds can sometimes have a tough time with. She was a true delight. There's hope for the world in little ones like this.
Sunday, Jeff was stuck going to work stoopid early in the morning, then found out he'd be there till after 7:30. Bummer. I futzed around with cars, did some grocery shopping, kept Kodi entertained and worked around the house. Took in the Stupor Bowl, expecting decent football (check), outrageous commercials (check, but only kinda) and a knockout halftime show (check and then some). Prince tore the place down singing in the rain (which would have been purple had the Ravens made it). Jeff made it home in time to see the HT show, get a bit of dinner then call it a night early. In all, a good day. And a good weekend.
Thanks to everyone who sent their birthday wishes to me. It's deeply appreciated. No one remembered at work, which is typical. Just as well.
Friday evening it was just Jeff and I for dinner. A good family friend stopped over and brought homemade brownies and a banana nut bread. Yum! While I was more than a bit downtrodden and mopey, I eventually got over it. Kinda.
Saturday morning offered a trip to the Lucky Dog Garage nearby for some socializing with MINI enthusiasts and fiddling with stuff. With the salty roads, I did not have to worry that my car was a mess. It was a level playing field for a change.
The afternoon was spent taking Kodi to Petsmart for some shopping and to sign up for 'obedience training'. Time will tell how that turns out. Kodi was a bit more apprehensive about going into an unfamiliar store, and upon seeing a huge black dog leer at him on his way out the door, Kodi let out an uncharacteristically large pile of dawg schitt in record time. It seemed about three milliseconds. We were prepared, and I didnt know whether to be upset or contain my giggling. I had trouble with both. Cleaning it up and continuing with tasks at hand, Kodi got signed up for puppy skool for the next few weeks (a night per week) as well as getting lots of attention from other shoppers and their pets.
After that was done, I scooted over to Best Buy and picked up a cheap HP portable photo printer (385). An impulse buy, since I have been looking for something small and portable for making on-site snapshots, this one was a closeout for $65 (half price) and too cheap to pass up. I did not expect much from the little printer, but was pleasantly suprised. It's tiny, pretty fast, uses pigment-based Vivera ink, can read from every common flash memory card or PictBridge camera and has lots of added extras like frame printing, still prints from videos, basic editing, red-eye reduction and a lot more. Sixty-five dollars from Bust Buy. It's been a while since I thought I got anything at a real deal from that place. I'd like to eventually get a nice, large-format photo printer some day, perhaps a HP B9180 or similar. Also, my 13 year old Laserjet 3D is really starting to show it's age, and I need a new laser printer for workhorse printing. Inkjets dont cut it when all I want to do is rattle off a few sheets of text, Google Map directions or service notes. It always seems that the ink is out when I really need it, or it's clogged up from weeks of non-use.
That evening we took Kodi to Jeff's friend and coworker's house to see how Kodi would react to the strange environment, their chocolate Lab and their little two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Emily. All went pretty well despite Kodi's little accident after being chased around the house by Emily and Monaco, their Lab. But Emily was a scene stealer. Smart beyond her years, she could spell not only her name, but other words as well, work the computer, dance some complicated moves and all sorts of things that five- and six-year-olds can sometimes have a tough time with. She was a true delight. There's hope for the world in little ones like this.
Sunday, Jeff was stuck going to work stoopid early in the morning, then found out he'd be there till after 7:30. Bummer. I futzed around with cars, did some grocery shopping, kept Kodi entertained and worked around the house. Took in the Stupor Bowl, expecting decent football (check), outrageous commercials (check, but only kinda) and a knockout halftime show (check and then some). Prince tore the place down singing in the rain (which would have been purple had the Ravens made it). Jeff made it home in time to see the HT show, get a bit of dinner then call it a night early. In all, a good day. And a good weekend.
Thanks to everyone who sent their birthday wishes to me. It's deeply appreciated. No one remembered at work, which is typical. Just as well.
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 11:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 02:04 pm (UTC)And belated happy b'day wishes!
no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 03:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 03:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:02 am (UTC)The MIni has it's fair share of mods for now, perhaps I will do more soon. I do have the new wheels sitting boxed in the garage. Right now it's going to be maintenance oriented stuff on the vehicles, and work done on the house.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-05 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-06 01:34 am (UTC)Happy Birthday
Date: 2007-02-07 03:29 pm (UTC)Sorry for being tardy, I'm behind on LJ.