Yes. It's been a long time since I've posted.
Yes. I feel guilty.
Yes. This is a lame-o Positive Post, but here it is.
2007 TAXES ARE DONE!
No more tax prep worries for at least... several... months.
Hey. I tried.
Showing posts with label Positive Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Positive Post. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Positive Post #9 - Good Dog
Another home-grown Positive Post today.
This morning at around 230am, we woke to the sound of dogs barking and our dog, the ever-viglant NerdHound, growling at the window.
A few months back, one of our cars was broken into and our GPS stolen. Although we've since installed motion detection lighting and an intrustion alarm system, we're still wary.
Tony poked his head out the bedroom window. "The motion light's been triggered. Did you park your car in the garage last night?"
"No," I said. "I would have had to move your car over more and forgot about it. Crap."
We rushed out of the bedroom and down the front stairs. I threw open the front door and walked out. If there was someone lurking about, I wanted to scare the crap out of them.
Instead, I saw a very large dog standing at the end of our driveway in the darkness. Staring intently at me.
Uh, oh. My first thought was, "Get back in the house. NOW." You never know what the behavior of big, lone, wandering dogs will be. The last thing *I* wanted to be was another dog attack victim.
By the time I closed the screen door behind me, HE was on the other side.
HE was a very large golden lab. He looked sweet, cold, and seemed to be begging for human attention... and he had a collar labeled "Scruffy" with two phone numbers. Now we had a name for him.
I carefully opened the door a couple of inches and firmly grabbed his collar, trying to keep NerdHound from coming through the door at the same time. NerdHound was aggressively curious, as poodles can be. Scruffy was quiet and friendly. "How you doing, Scruffy?" He looked up at me with happy chocolate eyes. Sweet pooch.
I read off the local phone number to Avindair. I heard him speak into the phone. "I'm sorry to get you out of bed, but we found your dog wandering in our street." He gave detailed directions to the house and promised we'd be waiting at the door.
Avindair picked up NerdHound and kept him at a distance, while I brought Scruffy into our entryway. He was cold and muddy, but gentle and quiet. Never made a sound the entire time. I scratched his ears, said his name a lot, and told him he was a good dog.
A few minutes later, a car pulled up at the end of our driveway. A slim, middle-aged woman, who had the distinct appearance of someone woken up in the middle of the night, got out and cautiously came up the walk. I'd be cautious, too, if I was walking up to a stranger's house at almost 3 in the morning.
Scruffy, we learned, had been gone for some time. They'd almost given up hope of finding him. I immediately thought of all the hungry and cold days and nights he'd probably had to endure. As the woman leaned in to take hold of his collar, she pressed a $10 bill into my hand.
"Thank you for finding him. Please take it for your trouble," she said.
I handed it back to her. "Oh, no! He was a good pooch. No trouble at all. It's just good to know that he's going home!"
She thanked me again and herded Scruffy into her car.
Getting up at 230am is no fun. Doing a good deed at 230am is.
And, since we never would have discovered Scruffy without NerdHound's alert, he got a biscuit before he went back to bed. Good dog.
This morning at around 230am, we woke to the sound of dogs barking and our dog, the ever-viglant NerdHound, growling at the window.
A few months back, one of our cars was broken into and our GPS stolen. Although we've since installed motion detection lighting and an intrustion alarm system, we're still wary.
Tony poked his head out the bedroom window. "The motion light's been triggered. Did you park your car in the garage last night?"
"No," I said. "I would have had to move your car over more and forgot about it. Crap."
We rushed out of the bedroom and down the front stairs. I threw open the front door and walked out. If there was someone lurking about, I wanted to scare the crap out of them.
Instead, I saw a very large dog standing at the end of our driveway in the darkness. Staring intently at me.
Uh, oh. My first thought was, "Get back in the house. NOW." You never know what the behavior of big, lone, wandering dogs will be. The last thing *I* wanted to be was another dog attack victim.
By the time I closed the screen door behind me, HE was on the other side.
HE was a very large golden lab. He looked sweet, cold, and seemed to be begging for human attention... and he had a collar labeled "Scruffy" with two phone numbers. Now we had a name for him.
I carefully opened the door a couple of inches and firmly grabbed his collar, trying to keep NerdHound from coming through the door at the same time. NerdHound was aggressively curious, as poodles can be. Scruffy was quiet and friendly. "How you doing, Scruffy?" He looked up at me with happy chocolate eyes. Sweet pooch.
I read off the local phone number to Avindair. I heard him speak into the phone. "I'm sorry to get you out of bed, but we found your dog wandering in our street." He gave detailed directions to the house and promised we'd be waiting at the door.
Avindair picked up NerdHound and kept him at a distance, while I brought Scruffy into our entryway. He was cold and muddy, but gentle and quiet. Never made a sound the entire time. I scratched his ears, said his name a lot, and told him he was a good dog.
A few minutes later, a car pulled up at the end of our driveway. A slim, middle-aged woman, who had the distinct appearance of someone woken up in the middle of the night, got out and cautiously came up the walk. I'd be cautious, too, if I was walking up to a stranger's house at almost 3 in the morning.
Scruffy, we learned, had been gone for some time. They'd almost given up hope of finding him. I immediately thought of all the hungry and cold days and nights he'd probably had to endure. As the woman leaned in to take hold of his collar, she pressed a $10 bill into my hand.
"Thank you for finding him. Please take it for your trouble," she said.
I handed it back to her. "Oh, no! He was a good pooch. No trouble at all. It's just good to know that he's going home!"
She thanked me again and herded Scruffy into her car.
Getting up at 230am is no fun. Doing a good deed at 230am is.
And, since we never would have discovered Scruffy without NerdHound's alert, he got a biscuit before he went back to bed. Good dog.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Positive Post #8
I admit it. I'm a little behind on my Positive Posts. The final week of "Sound of Music" performances really took it out of me. Here's my positive post for the day:
"Sound of Music" is done!
Even though I'm relieved that it's done and I can get back to my regularly scheduled life programming, I have many positive things to say about it:
1. It was great to be back on stage again.
2. It was great to have the challenge of live theater again.
3. It was great to be in a show with Avindair again.
4. It was my first show that A) had a run that long and B) was over 98% sold out. Only 11 unsold seats - over 5,100 tickets sold.
5. We met a lot of great people.
6. We worked with a fantastic cast and crew.
7. We got a foot in the door at an active and successful community theater.
8. It helped us get through the worst part of the winter.
9. We got the kids involved in ushering. Monkey Dude worked the last show, even though he was exhausted from closing "The Laramie Project" the night before. Adventure Girl worked at all of the last six shows, impressing the volunteer coordinator so much that she emailed us and told us so.
10. It completely pushed my endurance limits for a show and proved to me that I can do more than I thought I could.
"Sound of Music" is done!
Even though I'm relieved that it's done and I can get back to my regularly scheduled life programming, I have many positive things to say about it:
1. It was great to be back on stage again.
2. It was great to have the challenge of live theater again.
3. It was great to be in a show with Avindair again.
4. It was my first show that A) had a run that long and B) was over 98% sold out. Only 11 unsold seats - over 5,100 tickets sold.
5. We met a lot of great people.
6. We worked with a fantastic cast and crew.
7. We got a foot in the door at an active and successful community theater.
8. It helped us get through the worst part of the winter.
9. We got the kids involved in ushering. Monkey Dude worked the last show, even though he was exhausted from closing "The Laramie Project" the night before. Adventure Girl worked at all of the last six shows, impressing the volunteer coordinator so much that she emailed us and told us so.
10. It completely pushed my endurance limits for a show and proved to me that I can do more than I thought I could.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Positive Post #6
My mom has a water cooler in her basement. The kind that you'd find in an office breakroom. At least once a month, a delivery guy comes by to haul those big heavy bottles of water down the stairs. Several times a month, my mother has to lift one of those suckers into place. All this just to have good drinking water in the house. It's expensive, it takes up storage space, and it's generally a nuisance.
What if you could create water... out of thin air?
A Houston company has done just that. Aquamaker converts the humidity in the air into water. It works virtually everywhere in the world, including the desert, filters out pollutants, refills itself, and (if you're not using a solar powered version) uses about 1/4 of the electricity of an eletric kettle. Plus, they're competitively priced.
This could especially be a boon to remote villages where clean water sources are scarce. They make a 5,000 litre capacity machine that runs on a solar-powered generator.
Wow!
Read more about the Aquamaker in The Jerusalem Post.
What if you could create water... out of thin air?
A Houston company has done just that. Aquamaker converts the humidity in the air into water. It works virtually everywhere in the world, including the desert, filters out pollutants, refills itself, and (if you're not using a solar powered version) uses about 1/4 of the electricity of an eletric kettle. Plus, they're competitively priced.
This could especially be a boon to remote villages where clean water sources are scarce. They make a 5,000 litre capacity machine that runs on a solar-powered generator.
Wow!
Read more about the Aquamaker in The Jerusalem Post.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Postive Post #5
Soon, telling someone that they're full of hot air may no longer be an insult. French engineer Guy Negre has developed a 5-passenger concept car that runs on compressed air!
For a no-frills, economical, get-around vehicle, he may just have something. Check out the article from BBC news for the details.
For a no-frills, economical, get-around vehicle, he may just have something. Check out the article from BBC news for the details.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Positive Post #4
Don't pass up this article from Yahoo! sports news. 101-year old Buster Martin, Britain's oldest employee, is training to compete in the London Marathon!
When he finishes the marathon, he plans to celebrate with "a pint and a fag" (that's beer and a cigarette). “People ask what is my secret but I haven’t got one. They say fags and booze are bad for you — but I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Awesome.
When he finishes the marathon, he plans to celebrate with "a pint and a fag" (that's beer and a cigarette). “People ask what is my secret but I haven’t got one. They say fags and booze are bad for you — but I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Awesome.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Positive Post #3
Did you know that there's an entire website devoted to reporting positive news? It's true! The Good News Network founder and editor began her career in television news and production. She started the site in 1997 to gather and disseminate positive news from around the world.
So when Star Tribune, CNN and other news sources are getting you down, hop over to the Good News Network and remember that there's more out there than just bad news.
So when Star Tribune, CNN and other news sources are getting you down, hop over to the Good News Network and remember that there's more out there than just bad news.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Postive Post #2
Good news in the world of AIDS research. Researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a gene that blocks HIV. They've identified a gene called TRIM22 that can prevent the assembly of the virus.
From the article in the University of Alberta Express News:
"This means that TRIM22 is an essential part of our body's ability to fight off HIV. The results are very exciting because they show that our bodies have a gene that is capable of stopping the spread of HIV."
From the article in the University of Alberta Express News:
"This means that TRIM22 is an essential part of our body's ability to fight off HIV. The results are very exciting because they show that our bodies have a gene that is capable of stopping the spread of HIV."
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Think Positive
"Life is what our thoughts make it." -- Marcus Aurelius
As I drifted off to sleep last night, negative thoughts kept rolling through my brain. It's easy to let that happen these days. Discussions with co-workers, friends and family turn into massive bitch sessions about the weather, politics, the state of our country, etc.
I found myself wondering, "Where's the good news?"
I've decided to try a little experiment. Every day, I'll try to post something positive. It could be from the news, my personal life, observations... anything. It just has to be positive.
Granted, this doesn't mean that I'll stop posting rants or general silliness. There will just be something positive in the mix.
Postive Post #1
Famed Tall Ships to Grace Duluth Harbor
Avindair will love this one! August 1-3 in Duluth, three tall ships will be in Duluth Harbor. The Pride of Baltimore II is a recontructed War of 1812-era ship with working cannons. The Niagra, also a recontruction from the same era, has propulsion engines and modern navigation equipment, but no modern amenities. The Madeline, is a reconstructed schooner that sailed the Great Lakes 150 years ago. According to the article, three days of music, entertainment and food with a maritime flavor will ensue. It's a weekend. Mark your calendars!
As I drifted off to sleep last night, negative thoughts kept rolling through my brain. It's easy to let that happen these days. Discussions with co-workers, friends and family turn into massive bitch sessions about the weather, politics, the state of our country, etc.
I found myself wondering, "Where's the good news?"
I've decided to try a little experiment. Every day, I'll try to post something positive. It could be from the news, my personal life, observations... anything. It just has to be positive.
Granted, this doesn't mean that I'll stop posting rants or general silliness. There will just be something positive in the mix.
Postive Post #1
Famed Tall Ships to Grace Duluth Harbor
Avindair will love this one! August 1-3 in Duluth, three tall ships will be in Duluth Harbor. The Pride of Baltimore II is a recontructed War of 1812-era ship with working cannons. The Niagra, also a recontruction from the same era, has propulsion engines and modern navigation equipment, but no modern amenities. The Madeline, is a reconstructed schooner that sailed the Great Lakes 150 years ago. According to the article, three days of music, entertainment and food with a maritime flavor will ensue. It's a weekend. Mark your calendars!
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