Break Ups are Hard To Do

Today Starbucks and I ended a long long relationship. We've been together for decades now and today was the end.

It's been going downhill for months now. A nasty barista here and snarky one there. A twenty minute wait for a latte on a Monday afternoon and 30 minute wait in a drive thru with only four cars in front of you.  It all added up.

Today, the drive thru line was so bad there were police involved making cars move. Yeah, it got that bad. So, today was the end. No more Starbucks for me.  As of late, the coffee I make at home has been better.

I admit, the ease of swinging by is really tempting and so easy. However, when you have to schedule an extra 40 minutes into your routine just for coffee, you know it's enough.

I simply swung around the corner to Dutch Bros and had a white chocolate mocha in my hand in less than three minutes.  Hello, can we say excellent service! Not only was the service speedy, the baristas were super nice and pleasant! If I had not been sitting in my car, I would have fallen on my ass in a faint!

However, as one thing leaves your life another moves in, twice over. I found Dutch Bros for my coffee AND found a pizza place within walking distance that sells pizza by the slice! BY THE SLICE!  I was so happy!.  To celebrate my slice of pizza, I squeezed in a mile walk which was pleasant. Even at high noon, it was not bad.

I got one smurf sock knitted. Need to start on the next one. At the rate I'm going, I'll have a drawer full of hand knitted socks by winter! Not a bad thing. I seriously need new sock yarn though. One of these days I'll get some ordered.

Why thank you, I will have a large coffee this morning!

After our blast of heat, it's Perdyactiit'st's still kind of creepyually coolish this am. Perfect for coffee. You know it's hot when I've been laying off the coffee.  And it's a holiday here!

HAPPY JULY 4TH!

I'm kind of torn this anniversary of the birth of my country. For a country that was founded on freedom from oppression, no representation and from religious persecution, I find today a bit ironic.

At the present, the public has found that the government has been spying on us via email, phone calls and web history. 

While I have nothing to hide, persay,  its still kind of creepy and kind of goes parts of the constitution. Yes, I have read the constitution word for word...it pays to take political science!

Most people make "new year's resolutions". I don't because I just feel things are doomed. I prefer to start new things on weird dates..like today. Today has a few new starts all designed to instill new habits in myself. A little personal growth is never a bad thing.

So, later today, I will light up my grill, grill a few things then pig out and go find a semi close parking structure and park on the top to watch fireworks. It's the lazy way to spend the day...along with my "Castle" marathon that is running, courtesy of the stacked episodes on my Tivo.

And one last bid for freedom...I'm helping my sister set up her android phone. Nothing says "have it your way" more than the android O/S...oh and well, Burger King.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Wordless wednesday

Left of 90 degrees

It's hot. Those two words say so much yet not enough. When I say it's hot, I'm describing the kind of heat that causes you to sweat just standing still. The kind that makes your pets want to commit suicide. The kind where an ice cube might last 30 minutes in a glass of water?

I know, if you look at the map of the US, you will laugh at what we call a heat wave. But let me tell you...115 degrees while sitting in an air conditioned house is NOTHING compared to sitting in 90 degree heat with no a/c. It's HOT!

I was two hair widths of putting a/c in this summer. I was actually looking at units and then got to thinking. It's hot like this maybe three weeks out of the year. Maybe four, if we are not lucky. It is feasible to block windows with A/C units if they won't be used for more than three or four weeks? After standing there for twenty minutes arguing with myself, I gave up and just decided to suffer through as best I could. Between the fact they wouldn't be used much and the fact my electric bill might creep above 75.00 a month...I decided to just suffer. I do feel bad for my babies though...they are truly miserable.

Normally, if it's 85 or so outside, inside it gets maybe 80...that's totally tolerable.  In fact, 75 to 80 is kind of pleasant, especially if there is a breeze.  Even the babies don't mind those temperatures.   At the moment though, they are laying around like dead bodies after a battle. All are positioned in front of a fan.

On the non-heat front, I finally broke down and got a new desktop. My poor laptop was unable to keep up with the graphics demands I was putting on it. I lucked out and got a quad core i5 processor based unit on sale. Thank you 4th of July! I do need to add a high end graphics card but that will be in a few weeks. As is, it's managing nicely.

My little chromebook (I am currently writing on it) is holding up nicely. My O/S has actually updated three times already and it still boots up as fast as the day I bought it.  I was kind of leery of the whole Chrome OS thing but honestly...it's really not that bad.   The only thing I can't do is heavy duty graphics work, like photoshop/illustrator or any of the adobe products.

I can however, do light photo editing with the pixlreditor that is in the chrome shop. It doesn't do skype yet, but I think a workaround is coming soonish? I think you will be able to access Skype via outlook.com soon? Or that's what they are purporting. Other than that...this is working perfectly.

I can write a paper and save to ms word...via docs. I can do spreadsheets and presentations. I have hangouts for video calls. Plenty of games in the chrome store. What is funny, is I can hook up my monitor to this thing, add my usb hub to it and get access to my external keyboard/mouse, hard drives and tablet. It prints via my home network courtesy of google print.  I can see why some people swear by this thing.

I like the fact it weighs next to nothing, fits in my bag and is extremely portable! And the battery life is to die for. I actually charged it off an external battery and it went to full charge off it.  Plus, in this heat, it generates very little (unlike my desktop).

Got a new book.

Macrieve

I've been reading this series and love it. I have a few authors that no matter what they release I'll buy the book, review unseen. Kenyon, Day, Ward, Cole, Ione, Moning, Harrison and Brown. They get my money no matter what. Even when they write a book that doesn't captivate me, it's still a good read. They are tried and true authors that I trust totally. And honestly, on a hot day, nothing beats laying in front of a fan reading. 

4th of July is this week. My plans? Grilling on my balcony and staying cool. I was going to go downtown for fireworks, but the thought of all those people in this heat and the traffic...um..no. Now, if I lived downtown, I'm sure I wouldn't mind at all since it would be a walk over and not having to drive and park and all that hassle. Ick.  I really need to live downtown, that's all there is to it.

Oh well, I have a banana smoothie, a new book and some work to do. 

Once again, into the breach

It's been awhile since I graced by blog. I swear, I really need to get with it on this thing. I used to blog daily at one time. Hell, I would blog several times a day! Now I have facebook/twitter/G+ and this loses my attention. That's rather sad. Blogs are wonderful places. You're not constricted by character limits. You're not constricted by a platform. You can do as you see fit, write what you want and everyone can read it, provided you don't mark it private.

It's another gloriously sunny beautiful day here. I'm tempted to go hang outside just to enjoy the day. Move it to the balcony *laughs* That's the joy of urban living, the lovely outdoors without the extra bugs and such. Only downside, I really need new patio furniture. Might put that on my list for this weekend. Just a couple of chairs and a nice table. Cushions I can make up.

I'm also hunting for a pattern to make a new bag. I'm so tired of never finding a bag I like. I need organization in my bag. While I don't carry alot, I like to be organized. The only way I'm finding that is to make it myself. Now I've made tote bags, knitted and felted bags..but never done one up like one you buy in the store. I want something colorful, summery but yet full of pockets and easy to carry either over my arm or over my shoulder. I don't expect much, just the world it seems.

Still working on the knitted tshirt and a pair of socks. Like my friend Rilana, the joy of sock making has returned. They re just the perfect summer project. Fit in your bag, not heavy in your lap, quickie project. It hits all the highlights for busy summers.

Oh well, off to get some housework done. I spend so much time outside the house, nothing gets done on the inside.

from the iPad

No more naked toes

Happy All Most Memorial Day!

What a day!  Festivities around the neighborhood. Ingress stalking. Grilling, Ice cream making.   I think it had it all?

Our little area of PDX always does stuff up during the summer. There is ALWAYS some type of "thing" going on just a few blocks from my house.  It's nice to stroll over with the dog and check it out. Always great food, good beer and kick ass music to be had.

I grilled out tonight. Chicken was the item of choice tonight. I made ice cream, and tomorrow am making blonde brownies to go with. Heated up, that is one yummy choice. With all the grilling I've been doing these last couple of days, I do not have to cook tomorrow. I could do a left overs buffet and be perfectly happy.

I swear, it's the southern in me, but I do love my grill. I had to give up my super big fancy one due to the fucking fire marshal. Bastard said it was too big for my porch. Hello, it had been there for six damn years! So now I have a teeny tiny two burner one, but it does the job, so I'm not fussing. A grill is a grill, no matter how plain or fancy it is. I do miss my two side burners though.  I'll make do with a hotplate though.  One thing about summer, I refuse to cook in a hot ass kitchen. I will take it outside in a heartbeat.

There was a Dr. Who marathon on. They were talking to most of the Doctor's from the past. It was great. Some were from before my time. And compared to my fave doctor (number 10), they were definitely different. I think I am going to start collecting Dr. Who on dvd. At least the series, not the single episodes.

And Copper's new season starts in June....as does TRUE BLOOD!!!!!!! That always makes me just squeal. I've missed that show terribly. *sighs* I do love my vampires. Can't help it, they are my people.

As for now, I'm off to watch a season of Copper and get started on a sock. I'm waiting on yarn to arrive for my tshirt..I decided the other stuff I had was just too thick to be nice. In the interim, I can get started on winter socks. They are quick to knit up, warm in the winter and great for "marathoning" on Netflix.