How do you feel today? v. 3.0

[Iolanthe]

Good choice, Jenn. Our landing and stairs are quite dark but it is much lighter now that we've got rid of the old wallpaper.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Hey peeps... I am super-hyper and just want to be a chatterbox...

Deer and Linna -- hang in there.

Gotcha- will do!
Some stuff is just tough; I continued to have stress over scheduling students these past couple of days, and I've continued to make mistakes.
Buuuut, over this same time frame... I've been getting to have some awesome conversations...

Yesterday I felt really creative... the day began with inspiration for a Bad-Writing Contest entry...
(Could someone tell me if the "badness" is obvious enough?)
...and ended with interesting conversations with two of my tutoring students.

Murrin, if you aren't going to let the light in then I suggest a light warm color such as Io was describing, a nice creamy yellow would be good.

That idea... makes so much sense.
Why don't things like this occur to me...?
If I start a thread called "Interior Decorating for Dummies," will you help answer my questions?

[Iolanthe]

Whew. This week I got a long term project completely finished. Four years work - much of it was published on CD at the beginning of this month and the last bit will be published in February. Now I can clear my desk and start on the next one - which will probably take another 4 years, but progress is progress.

[Vader]

Alright, November 2012 is over. Let's have a look at a list of things gotten fuX0red this month:

clutch
front brakes
battery
2 front tyres, including steel rims
- all for my Ford.

electric tooth brush
Fuji FinePix camera
dish washer
washing machine
two heat elements in my oven
the hinges of the oven door also wore out so they need to be replaced.

That'll be like $4000 just like that. Whenever you think you have some bucks left before Christmas ...

The only positive thing now is that there's nothing left anymore around the house that could possibly break.

[I'm Murrin]

The only positive thing now is that there's nothing is left anymore around the house that could possibly break.

Why did you go and tempt fate like that? Particularly when the computer you're posting this on isn't on the list.

[Frostheart Grueburn]

We have a blizzard called Antti rampaging around the country for the 3rd day now (yes I realize this is nothing compared to Sandy, but it has felled a lot of trees across roads and electric lines and tens of thousands of people are/have been without electricity...I'm surprised our little island among the fields hasn't suffered an outage yet). It's not exactly that cold even, something like -10C, but the constantly blowing storm wind makes it feel like the -20C forecast to arrive within a few days. Also, it's been draining the house of its warmth very efficiently. Whereas I normally keep the rooms around +18-19C (living room)/+16-17C (bedroom), the indoors temps just keep plummeting. When I woke up today, it was +11C in the bedroom. DX Also the racket the house makes. Feels like there's band of drunken trolls outdoors farting and banging uprooted trees and trashcan lids together.

So I'm boring everyone with overlarge images of the Antti storm snowfall. We didn't get 40cm of it, tho.

[aliantha]

Ack! Those pictures are giving me flashbacks to my youth in Chicago!

Vader -- Murrin is right about your tempting the gods. Don't say another word. Just...don't.

Iolanthe -- congrats on completing your project!

Jenn, I *love* your new hoodie and would totally wear one. In fact, I'd be tempted to make Chewie noises at anyone who commented on it.

[I'm Murrin]

Progress report: My desk will arrive on the 11th. This evening I've applied for new gas & electricity supplier (tried to contact the existing one first to transfer over before I set anything up, but just wound up endlessly on hold, so skipped that step), signed up with the local water company, and ordered fibre optic broadband to be set up on the same day the desk is due (reduces the chance of having to make multiple trips out to the empty flat to just sit around waiting).

I still haven't gotten through to the council tax phone line, because of endless hold & their crappy office hours. WTB 24 hour online forms.

[sgt.null]

i miss snow.

[lorin]

i miss snow.

here ya' go



don't say I never gave you anything

[sgt.null]

thank you lorin.

going to see Rise of the Guardians today with two of the guys from Julie's second job. (the mentally challenged group home) they picked the film and seem excited.

i see we have a new member jeoftowiviolo, though i expect he won't be staying.

[Frostheart Grueburn]

Do you need to be mentally challenged to go to see that film sans accompanying kids? Because it's on my list too.

All snow- and cold-deprived should travel to Finland. The front door was frozen shut after the storm, and I had to scrape flakes of ice with a knife from the threshold. But, hoping to do some hiking tomorrow, in the nice warmth of -15C and the daylight ending slightly past 3pm.

Damn, I miss Ananda and Scandinavian jokes.

[I'm Murrin]

Progress report: Books.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Today is so weird...

I started out super hyper and excited... yesterday I read a story one of my students wrote and it was AMAZING.

...but tutoring today, things kept going wacky!
In the middle of one tutoring session, I lost my sole!
I'd worn a crummy pair of boots, and the sole just came off.

Frostheart- The "Meanwhile, in Finland..." picture cracked me up so much!!
It's not clear if that guy can see over the snow drift in front of him!!
Also, my kid read your comment about the sounds like "trolls with trash cans and fallen trees" and busted into giggles.
Nice way to deal with an inconvenient situation with wry humor, girl. =)

I remember power outages from when I was growing up "out in the sticks."
Is it also extra trouble with the computers / networks, and what-not you deal with?

[I'm Murrin]

Progress update: Need more boxes.

[Cameraman Jenn]

As for answering interior decorating questions, yes, absolutely. I seem to have an eye for it. When my mom and stepdad were doing some hardcore remodeling they actually flew me in to help pick colors and countertops and all sorts of stuff. They asked what I thought of the master bathroom and I suggested a tall narrow window between the his and her sinks and they loved it and so did their contractor. It's absolutely gorgeous now. I spent time in the warehouse picking marble for the countertops and picked this gorgeous one. My stepfather was quite hesitant and kept trying to pick this other one but my mother and the contractor vetoed him until he gave in and they went with the one I picked and after it was cut and installed, my stepdad had to admit that I was absolutely right... muh uh ahahahahaha.....

So today ended up being my last day at the store I've been working at since I got to Nebraska. It was a bit sad. I did have one of my fun customers come in and when she found out it was my last day at this store she came back with a lovely thank you card and a big fat box of chocolates.

[sgt.null]

rise of the guardians was an enjoyable film.

later we went to a Christmas party thrown by Julie's judge.
the court director, julie and the other clerk, the
two warrent officers, the three ballifs. and everyone's spouses.

got to talk to everyone. and guns!

i want this so bad...


Mosin-Nagant M91/30

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosin%E2%80%93Nagant

Model 1891/30 (винтовка образца 1891/30-го года, винтовка Мосина):
The most prolific version of the Mosin–Nagant.
It was produced for standard issue to all Soviet infantry from 1930 to 1945.
Most Dragoon rifles were also converted to the M1891/30 standard.
It was commonly used as a sniper rifle in World War II. Early sniper
versions had a 4x PE or PEM scope, a Soviet-made copy of a
Zeiss design, while later rifles used smaller, simpler, and
easier-to-produce 3.5x PU scopes. Because the scope
was mounted above the chamber, the bolt handle was
replaced with a longer, bent version on sniper rifles
so the shooter could work the bolt without the scope
interfering with it. Its design was based on the Dragoon
rifle with the following modifications:

Flat rear sights and restamping of sights in metres,
instead of arshinii.

A cylindrical receiver, replacing the octagonal
(commonly called "hex") receiver.

Early production 91/30s (from 1930 to 1936) and
converted Dragoon rifles retained the hex receiver.
The hex receiver rifles are less common and regarded
as generally more desirable by collectors.

A hooded post front sight, replacing the blade on previous weapons

[Frostheart Grueburn]

So, ended up hiking with some friends.

It was a nice, warm day of -14C (as opposed to the -21C of now), with some arctic clouds in the sky...



...and the noon sun shining high among them.



One target among others was to climb up to a cliff with some prehistoric sights, but alas, there was no path!



Some creativity was required from the early on...



...to get past various obstacles and snow.









Oh, someone got up there! (At this point, climbing consisted largely of grabbing handy trees and roots and helping hands and...well...crawling.)



Frosty should be smiling somewhere behind all that.



...at her frozen drinking bottle, if nothing else.



Aside from the obvious, we found some more snow up there.



And upon returning, were greeted by a beautiful nightfall around 15:00.



7 hours outdoors wasn't bad, however!

This concludes your daily dose of insane Finns.

Frostheart- The "Meanwhile, in Finland..." picture cracked me up so much!!
I remember power outages from when I was growing up "out in the sticks."
Is it also extra trouble with the computers / networks, and what-not you deal with?

Haha, it's a really old meme (google it), but glad you found it amusing.

Finland: 5,3m inhabitants, the largest city, population: 500000. You'd call this "the sticks". Considering how the habitation is spread plus the distances, you'll get longer outages even ~20km away from the city center. A year ago, when the Tapani storm hit the house, electricity and mobile phone lines were dead for 15 hours. I fled into the sauna with candles, as warmth was beginning to flee the house rather more than now.

We've had some staff and infrastructure changes and tight deadlines--so lots of work for the IT personnel.

[Linna Heartbooger]

I've continued to be HYPER today!
I enjoyed today's church stuff SO much...
As an adult, I always felt Christmas seemed to promise too much, but the whole Advent season thing makes sense to me...
PLUS I had not one but TWO good conversations about parenting with fellow moms there...
I swear, parenting is usually such a cutthroat sport here in suburbia that I'm really chicken about starting conversations about kids.
(I'm noticing that I sound really cynical right now, in spite of claiming to be excited and happy.)

This concludes your daily dose of insane Finns.

Hehe. maybe if I felt how cold it was, I'd agree with the "insane" description, and wuss out...
But in general, I think going outside is part of how to -stay- sane.
Also, THANK you for sharing the hike pictures- inspiring stuff & beautiful places.

CJ- that window sounds beautiful just from your description! (hehe)
I fear you will be disappointed at what lame, minor improvements I'm shooting for, though!
Just a rug, a few plants, and dreaming of a coat of paint right now.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

Right, Frosty, thanks for the demotivator and for the beautiful photos

And here's one from a certain location known for other things: