'This space left intentionally blank.'

Have I mentioned before that we don't have a TV?  Not simply that we don't have cable, we actually gave our TV away before we moved to Virginia.  First we tried using a spare computer monitor.  But when we hooked up my computer to watch a movie, I realized my laptop had the same size screen.  Why bother?  Alex gave us an old iMac monitor, turquoise and everything.  It has the AV hookups necessary to connect a VCR/PlayStation/Nintendo (yes, the old gray box), but only one at a time.  Which would be fine, except I no longer own the AV cables for any of the afore mentioned items.  When I first acquired them, I didn't have a fancy enough TV to have AV outlets, so I got RF switches to use instead.  I find them quite handy.  I can piggyback all the systems into the cable port on the TV.  Computer monitors don't have cable ports.  Oh well.  One day we may be able to have a real TV again.

Someone did give us a car.

I haven't seen it yet, but I've been told it's a 1990 Volvo wagon, with a 'Type R' sticker on the back.  I hope the previous owner was joking.  It apparently needs some work, but nothing too far out of Karl's scope.  It did pass inspection, and that's all we need to register it.  Just the other day I was saying how much I missed having a station wagon, and here we are.  Now if I could only find a job...

Anyways, while going through my box of cables I found a few CDRW's and a thumb drive I had been using in T-stan.  I had hoped one of them would contain the elusive blog I wrote while I was there.  The 10 page one I've mentioned previously.  But no.  The cd's were blank, and the thumb drive had pictures from my sisters wedding.    Oh, and pictures of Bayram when I first got him.

This isn't one of them.  Apparently those are still only on that thumb drive.  I should remedy that.  This is a picture from 2 months later.  He had already gotten a lot bigger by this time.  But he still looks so little in this picture compared to now. 

(Look! I added a picture!  I have no excuses anymore.  Well, except that all my pictures are now on an external hard drive.)

Still need ideas for Rally slogans.  I made a generic "poster" to put on the back of the shirts, but I want something sassy to put on the front.  Oh, and not just any t-shirts.  We tie-dyed some last weekend, and they came out awesome.  Part of me doesn't want to ruin it.  I was thinking 'Sanity is the new black'.  It's not original, I saw it on CafePress, but it would look funny on such a colorful shirt.   Funny ha-ha, not funny weird.  If anyone has ideas, let me know. 

Is anyone going?  Because it would be great to see you there.  If so, let me know, and maybe we can try and hook up.  You know I live only 20 miles away.

Can you tell I've run out of creative blog title ideas?

Like a good American

Saturday we finally went into DC.  Now I can say I'm a good American and have actually seen the capitol.  Not visited or been into, but seen.

In preparation for the 30th, we took the Metro down to the National Mall.  By the time we got to the station, it was only 14 miles to the city.  (Eventually they're extending the rails out to where we live).  It's been a long time since I've been that motion sick.  I knew there was a reason I didn't like public transportation, and I remember again every time I use it.

I think we had planned on going to the Smithsonian, but we ended up just walking around, watching the tourists, and taking the required photos of monuments.  We saw the capitol building, but didn't get too close.  There was some religious fanatics having a rally, and we didn't want people to think we were part of it.  Lot's of talk about "the Bible says," "the end is coming," "God hates..."  No, I have nothing against God, or most of what religion stands for, but not hate.

Then we walked the other way, past the Canadian embassy, lots of skate-borders, another activity being set up for that night (lots of empty tables in the street), I think it was something like Relay-for-Life.  We came to the White House, but we didn't bother trying to get close, way too many people.  Karl got a few awesome pics of other tourists taking pics.  Listened to security guards yell at people who didn't know what to do.  I suppose if the entire sidewalk is empty, and the other side of the street is crowded, it doesn't mean that the empty sidewalk was left just for you.

The Lincoln Memorial kind of reminded me of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.  People milling around, but most sitting all over the steps, right in front of the entrance to the memorial.  In Turkey there was a sign that said "no sitting on the steps" amongst the people sitting on the steps. I almost expected to see one there too.  Sure, it's a bit of a hike up the steps, feel free to take a break, but don't sit in the doorway.  Lincoln was an ugly man.  Don't get me wrong, I like what he did, and I'm sure the sculptors tried to make him more handsome.  It didn't work.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Lincoln Memorial

Walking back to the train station we passed the Korean War memorial and the World War memorial, and several other memorials.  Karl mentioned that it was kind of depressing.  Yes, a lot of people died trying to make this world a better place.

The day itself though, was perfect.  Couldn't have asked for better.  It was sunny, warm, slightly breezy.  Not a cloud in the bright blue sky.  The leaves were turning red and the light was a soft gold.  If only there weren't so many people.  There were lots of pictures I wanted to take, if other people hadn't got in the way.  Karl said to take pictures of the people instead, but I don't like taking people pictures.  People, as a whole, aren't very pretty.  I prefer the trees and architecture.  We'll have to go back on some bitterly cold winter day I suppose.

Booor-inggg

I've realized this page would be more interesting if I posted pictures.  The difficulty being that my hard drive was so full on my laptop that I simply moved the entire folder to an external hard drive.  Even though my computer basically lives on the kitchen table (I don't have a desk) I don't want everything to end up on the kitchen table.  I like to be able to see the black, orange and silver tablecloth I made, and be able to eat dinner without worrying about knocking things over.  I have seen some very crowded tables, where just to rest your elbows requires shoving things towards the center.  I don't like cluttered.  The point is that I rarely have my back up hard drive with my computer unless I'm actually backing it up.  I suppose that will have to change, since the space in the hard drive is only getting smaller, and I continue to take pictures.  Though not nearly as many as  Karl and I think he has at least 4 hard drives.  Or maybe I need a desk where I can just leave everything out until I need it, and not in a box in the closet.

I would like to think I'd be better than this.

I'm aware that many young parents see nothing wrong with swearing in front of their children.  Some think they will stop when their children are old enough to understand.  No one ever really understands the need to swear, but children do know how to repeat what they hear.  Think it isn't a problem?  I give you a quote I heard from a 6 year old about her little sister:

"I hate her!!!  I'm going to f**king kill her!!!"

(Exclamations added to emphasize the fact I was in my living room and the girl was in the park approximately 100 yards behind my house, through the trees.  I could also hear her little sister sobbing uncontrollably.  I wonder what she did?)

The sad thing is, she probably heard a familiar adult say something similar, supposedly out of earshot, or she heard it on TV.

Think it could be a problem now?

Long Weekend

Yay!  The weather is nice again!  Which is good, since our yard needs some serious work.  We spent all day yesterday cleaning outside.  I raked while Karl cut back the neighbors bamboo (with pruning shears and a hand saw).  Then he climbed onto the roof to cut back more bamboo and sweep the gutters.  it was pretty bad.  We filled 14 yard waste bags with leaves and acorns, and today I have a huge pile of bamboo that needs to be cut down further into 3' pieces and bound.  The yard looks kind of barren, but at least it's clean.  If we keep it up, we may get sun in the back windows next summer.  (The days are too short now, the sun never reaches the back of the house.)  Of course all night long I heard things falling outside.  I thought it was raining, but it was just the wind knocking more leaves and acorns into our yard.  I haven't even touched the front of the house. 

We met our next door neighbor (the one who planted the bamboo).  He talked about why he didn't buy our house way back when (the foundation is cracking), but also mentioned that in a few years when the Metro reaches the new station down the street, all these houses will probably be razed to build more townhouses.  That makes me sad.  Sure it's an older neighborhood, but it has nice single family homes, with large yards, parks nearby, and no homeowners association.  Now we have to keep that in mind for when we start looking for a house to buy.  He said nothing of our huge pile of bamboo.  I think he was more pleased that someone was actually doing yard work, given the previous tenants didn't believe in cleaning.

Sunday was spent in Baltimore helping Karl's brother move to a new house.  Hopefully a place less likely to get mugged walking home.  (Not his brother, his brothers roommate.)  It's essentially a townhouse, but for normal folks, not rich people.  It's on a narrow street, barely 3 cars wide, and people park on both sides of the road.  When we tried to get the truck down the street, someone had lovingly double parked, and left.  I don't think we would have been at fault if we had hit the car trying to get around it, but Alex did a good job and didn't hit anything.  Luckily the car in front of the house left, and there was plenty of room to park. 

Come to think of it, I can't remember what I did on Saturday.  Hmm...  Ah, yes, we took Bayram to doggy-day-care.  We need a place to board him the day of "The Rally" and all the boarding kennels want to 'evaluate' your dogs temperment around other dogs.  We decided to start with the cheapest one (because we're cheap, I mean thrifty.)  The Animals House just recently started boarding dogs, so basically they just keep all the dogs together during the day, and put whoever is left at the end of the business hours into separate kennels.  It seemed kind of crowded to me, and they said Saturday was their slow day.  A lot of barking.  Bayram was kept in the pen for older, mellower dogs.  He's still technically a puppy, but he acts like such an old man sometimes.  Like after a hike trying to get into the car when he makes a big show of how hard it is.  We drive a sedan, not a truck.  Anyways, he charmed them, like always, and now we have a place to keep him on the 30th.  We're not really going to be gone all day, but just in case, I'd rather have someone keeping an eye on him.  The only difficulty is that the kennel is in the opposite direction of the train station.  Oh well.  The rally is technically only from noon to three, but I know how these things go.

Tomorrow we may have guests from Montreal visiting (Karl's family's friends) on their annual migration to Florida.  Originally the plan was to visit them in DC for dinner.  Now this means I may need to really clean the house.  I know it's not 1950, but I still want people to know I can keep a decent house.  Besides, it's not like I have anything else to do all day.  It's how I 'earn my keep'.   Of course in 1950, a housewife wouldn't be expected to cut down a huge pile of bamboo with pruning shears and a hand saw.  Which is what I'm off to do now.

Jobless Ranting

You know what?  It's freakin' cold today.  Today's high is supposed to be the same as last nights low, 54.  We put flannel sheets on the bed with an extra blanket, and set the heater to go on if it drops below 64.  Well, it's on.  Weather Underground says it will be warm again this weekend.  We'll see.  If not, I think it might be time for my clothes to go on their annual migration to the basement, if you know what I mean.  Women know what I mean.  How many women can actually fit all of their clothes in one closet?  That's why I kicked Karl out of the one in our bedroom.  I don't mind sharing most things, but not closet space.

So you know how I mentioned there was a job application I was working on?  It was for a new hospital near here, with openings in all departments.  Their website stated that they were opening June 14th.  I thought that meant this year, but any links to their website lead to "404 Not Found".  Even the link to the application I was working on is gone.  Google didn't have any news articles about it.  It seemed to have disappeared into the aether. Weird.

Now I'm back to square one.  Most of the job listings are very specific about having experience and certifications.  Some are vague, with requirements of an RN license, BLS certification, and 1 year experience.  Those are the ones I usually apply for, because I have those requirements (and many more).  But when I call HR or receive rejection emails, it's because they were looking for something more specific.  I wish they would just say that in the job description.  Or hey, maybe they can actually talk to me, or call my references and former employers and find out that I really am qualified for the job.  I hate online job applications.

I've been considering going back to school to not be a nurse.  I've looked into RN to BSN programs, but even though the actual program is only 2-3 semesters, I still need several semesters of prerequisites at the community college (or the university, I'm sure they'd prefer that).   Since I'm not a 'resident' yet, I can't afford out-of-state tuition.  We're talking at least 4 more years before I can have a BSN.  If I'm not able to get a job now, four more years aren't necessarily going to make things easier.  Sure I'd finally have a bachelors degree, but even less experience.  I had considered an RN to MSN when I was working, but you need to be currently employed for at least 2 years to apply for the MSN program. 

As I was saying, school to not be a nurse.  A radiology tech perhaps?  I quite enjoyed spending time in nuclear medicine as a student.  My favorite rotation was being in the OR, but that was what the "I'm going to be harsh with you" statement was related to.  They were hiring nurses to train for the OR.  My dream job! Crushed in it's infancy.  Sorry, I'm getting carried away again.  Being a nurse, on the other hand, had never been my 'dream job'.  It was due more to 'divine intervention'.

Karl said GM was desperate for mechanics.  Target is hiring for Christmas.  The Red Cross only wants volunteers.  Sigh.

On Torturing Dogs

First of all, thank you to everyone who has agreed to be listed as references on my job applications.  I know I don't talk to you all enough, but I'm really trying to get back into the habit.  (It's not like I don't have enough time to write an email once and awhile.)  So far I only have one application in the works.  I would have finished it right now, except the server is down.  I do believe I already mentioned why I'm not applying for the local hospital.  Doesn't really matter, because no one seems to be hiring med-surg nurses that have been out of work for over two years.  When I first got back from T-stan, I had only been out of work six months, but apparently that was six months too long...

It's raining again.  Thought you'd like to know that.  Actually this weekend has been beautiful.  Saturday I spent most of the day sleeping, but in the late afternoon we took Bayram to the dog park.  It started as only three dogs, all under two years old, and all rescue dogs.  They got along well.  It was quite cute.  One couple had a chihuahua they were trying to teach to jump over a bar.  First the man jumped over the bar, then the dog ran under it, several times.  Later another couple came with a solid black Border Collie puppy.  At first she was shivering with her tail between her legs, but that didn't stop her from running up to everyone for loving.  I was leaning against a ramp when she ran up, liked my face, and ran back down the other side.  By 5pm there was quite a gathering, but Bay was beginning to show signs of weariness, like starting to growl and bark.  He did not want to walk the mile back home.

Today we went to Shenandoah National Park for a quick jaunt.  Quick as a joke, it took us 2 hours just to drive there.  We started at Camp Roosevelt (the very first CCC project), up to Kennedy Peak (not related to the president).  On such a gorgeous October Sunday I was certain there would be a ton of people.  It was rare to find a lone trail in NH.  But we didn't run into the first people until half a mile from the top.  There, of course we ran into everyone else, who appeared to belong to a Japanese tour group.  As we ate our meager PB&J's from the top of the watch tower, they were cooking something good on a camp stove down below.  I never thought to bring my stove.  Heck, it practically fits in my pocket.  Maybe next time.  They also had a guitar.  Not quite as hard core as my friend from UNM who used to bring his french horn hiking up to Sandia Peak.

The book and trail signs said it was three miles from the camp to the top of the peak.  Now I know I'm out of shape, and it was all up hill, but on the way down I know we were hiking faster than 1.5 miles an hour.  We didn't have a detailed map, but I don't think the book took into consideration the many switchbacks.  Next time Karl said he'd remember to turn the GPS on. 

Of course with all this attention Bayram thinks we are torturing him.  Heaven forbid we make him go outside and run free, and sniff the dirt, and eat the horse poop.  Well, we try to prevent that last one.  He always makes such a big fuss about being tired.  But as soon as we come near our street, or the trail starts sloping downwards, or a squirrel catches his eye, the jig is up.  He's just lazy.  Even lazier than I, if that's possible.