Jane's ramblings

2005-01-27T14:28:00.000-08:00

That report is from our "local" ski area, which is really easy to get to, and less than an hour away. At the time of posting this, however, it was closed (and had been for a while). They won't be reopening until they get more snow (none in the forecast). Yesterday Crystal Mountain closed, which was the last ski area in Washington open. The kids are NOT happy bunnies. Luckily their season passes are now valid for the rest of the season at a couple of resorts near Lake Tahoe. It's only (!) a 900 or so mile drive. Lovely.

2005-01-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

100. I love it. I adore round numbers. (Is that weird?)

2005-01-23T21:11:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, and I managed to finally get a ticket for the Tsunami Relief concert in Vancouver, BC on 29 January. 11th row, although I think I'm stuck at the side a bit. Oh well. It's better than nothing and I manage to get a break.

Today we had fun shopping for new cell phones. Since Natasha needed a new one, we decided to switch to Cingular. I got another smartphone, which is hopefully better than the MPx200. Natasha got a video camera phone, but Jordan wasn't with us, so he's going to return the one we chose for him.

2005-01-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

Not quite sure how anyone can be a slight loser, but there you go.

Luckily, I'm not going to have to be a slight loser for that much longer (although it still sounds like a ripe old age to me):

2005-01-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Weird weather week - last weekend it was REALLY cold FOR THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST (I know it gets cold in Canada, This Week magazine told me so :-)). Hardly getting above freezing in the day, and well below at night. The forecasters did think we'd get an Arctic blast from Canada, which should have taken us down to zero F. Luckily it wandered off east. The I90, the freeway that goes over Snoqualmie Pass to the ski area, was closed several times due to lots of ice on the roadway. Skiing wasn't much fun because of the freezing rain. Driving up there was horrible too. The kids wanted to make up for lost time, since all the ski areas were late in opening this year. They'd got a decent amount of snow though by last weekend.

Then came the Pineapple Express weather system. Lots of warm rain. Temperatures at least 10 degrees over normal. One day it even got to 68F in Sammamish, compared to a normal for January of in the 40s. In a couple of days, most of the snow pack had gone. The I90 closed again for ten hours due to standing water on the road, up to 3 feet in places.

It's still warmer than normal and the heavy rain is forecast to come back this weekend. Ski areas are closed all down the Cascades until we get more snow. It's going to be a funny year.

2005-01-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

One way to pass the time in Seattle

Sigh.

2005-01-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

Just because a girl likes Math(s)?

2004-12-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

Compare the places I have been to the places I'd like to go.

create your own visited country map

2004-12-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've visited more places, but maybe it's because I've been to several of them lots of times. Also, I did check French Polynesia, but it's so tiny it hardly shows up at all.

How about you?

create your own visited country map

2004-10-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

So, I was out getting some retail therapy recently (shopping!). A woman was next to me, trying on some tall boots, and complaining that even so-called stretch boots were not made for her calves.

Within 10 minutes, we'd shown each other our tattoos (she got them done in Texas and Alaska), body scars (from a gastric bypass) and knew each others family situation (11 year old daughter, into Tae Kwon Do since kindergarten).

That never happens in the UK; One of the many reasons I prefer the US to the UK. Americans are generally very friendly and open. Brits are a lot more hard work.

So I don't have to do another blog today, here's another reason.

I'm quite conscious of my northern accent. In the UK, I am a bit withdrawn and reluctant to talk (unless I'm drunk, when you can't stop me). In the US, everyone loves the way I speak, and nobody draws attention to the fact that I'm from the grim North. It wasn't so bad when I lived in York, or even Newcastle, but moving to posh Surrey really made me aware of the differences, and it wasn't a nice feeling.

2004-10-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

For all you die hard persistent buggers who keep checking back, here's a new post.

Update:

Mount St Helens is having a bad week, so she's been erupting quite a few steam and ash clouds recently. It's over 100 miles away, so it's exciting and cool instead of potentially scary.

I hate daytime TV and Dr Phil is no exception. However, I caught a special he was doing on the family, a subject dear to my heart ever since Jordan turned 13, so I bought the book. I've only skimmed through it, but 2 things struck me as obvious, but I didn't realise:

How you react to a situation is up to you. I am guilty of blowing my top when Jordan swears at me, or is generally completely obnoxious, and I always felt it was his fault that I reacted like that. Now I realise, of course, that it isn't.

If you want to have a Grade A lifestyle, you better get Grade A's. This, again, is the problem we're going through, in that he's doing great at school, but crap for homework. This brings his grades down. I'm still working out what a Grade A lifestyle would be (probably pretty much what he's enjoying now), etc.

Sigh. 30% of parents wish they hadn't had kids. I wonder how many of the 70% have teenagers.

2004-09-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

Life sucks. I can't be bothered doing a blog any more, at least for a really long time. Look at Steve's web page for photos ... have a nice day.

2004-08-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

[this space is intentionally blank]

2004-08-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months, I've turned into someone I would have laughed at a few months before that, and I don't like it.

I yelled ("whatever") at a teenager who rolled her eyes at me when I wouldn't give her money to call her parents (I'm still not convinced that's what they wanted it for).

I care about what other people think of my kids when we're in a restaurant (I usually did anyway, but I'm more conscious that they've started acting like complete arseholes).

I find myself describing school to the kids and digging myself deeper into the depths of being an old fogey parent who doesn't know anything about what's going on today.

:(

2004-08-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

We're back. I have a life. It is good.

My life has been rated:

See what your rating is!
Created by bart666

2004-06-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

OK, I think I took out enough personal info to publish our trip without having weirdo's following us around. I'll try to update this blog on the road, but if not, see you in 8 weeks! :)

All blooming done in Notepad since Excel and Word were just overkill HTML. No idea why there's such a huge gap, but it'll show me who's really paying attention here.

[later] Sorry, awful HTML. Well, basic, and I am too tired to figure it out. Just shows what an old stick in the mud I am, doing tables. Well, it works ... usually. OK, it worked well in 1997. :)

Day	To	State	Est miles
1	Astoria	OR	198
2	Newport	OR	147
3	Crescent City	CA	215
4	Manchester Beach	CA	258
5	Vallejo	CA	127
7	Bakersfield	CA	294
8	Valencia	CA	74
11	North Hollywood	CA	24
14	Anaheim	CA	39
20	Palm Springs	CA	115
23	Las Vegas	NV	284
27	Kingman	AZ	115
29	Tempe	AZ	201
30	Colossal Cave	AZ	129
31	Lordsburg	AZ	190
33	Belen	NM	267
34	Albuquerque	NM	57
37	Trinidad	CO	249
38	Castle Rock	CO	175
39	Cheyenne	WY	133
41	Douglas	WY	133
43	Devils Tower	WY	221
45	Buffalo	WY	131
47	Cody	WY	185
48	Yellowstone NP	WY	76
50	Bozeman	MT	159
51	Missoula	MT	213
52	Whitefish	MT	131
54	Coeur D'Alene	ID	209
55	Grand Coulee Dam	WA	134
56	Home	WA	236

2004-06-25T02:20:00.000-07:00

rossie Highway

Loony-Bin Lane	4
Confusion Lane	21
Study Hall	58
Tower of Commitment	106
Paintown	495
Please Drive Carefully

Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com

2004-06-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Oh the joys of parenting. Can someone please remind me what they are, as I can't see any relating to our sullen 13 year old.

2004-06-18T13:24:00.000-07:00

After an amazing thunderstorm last night, which should have made the temps drop (90F in Redmond yesterday) it's even hotter today. The cheap curtains I put up help the sitting room stay cooler, but I'm still SO glad we got the AC.

I love the heat! I love it even more when I'm on vacation with freshly waxed legs though - I won't wear shorts around here.

2004-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

You are <blink>

There's no two ways about it - you're pure evil. Sure, there may be a few people who say you've got a good soul deep down, but really, you're irredeemable. Right?

Which HTML tag am I? at workingwith.me.uk

Evil in the HTML world, maybe, but not IRL. That's what matters, right?

Aside, my nickname at school was Eve, short for Evil. It was the eyes, apparently.

2004-06-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while. Busy ol' me.

Now we have new doors everywhere. They all work and have handles. All Steve needs to do is install the trim around them, and the whole door saga can be laid to rest. It would make a fascinating story, but I'm not the one to tell it. Lucky you. :)

The RV now has a wonderful navigation system. I couldn't decide between the Kenwood KNA-DV3100 or the Pioneer AVIC-N1 (X1 in the UK). The only review I could find on either of them mentioned that the Pioneer had a noisy fan, since it's an all in one (touch screen, DVD player, etc). Also, since I already had a Kenwood 8" widescreen touchscreen monitor from my old RV, I thought it wise to try to use what we already had. Installation costs were about the same for each, and I like that the Kenwood brain part is hidden away in a cupboard. The only bad thing is that we have a permanently mounted screen near the head unit. I can hide it with my silly hat though, so it's OK. All the rest of the stuff, including the DVD multichanger is hidden away too. Scott at Magnolia Hifi did an awesome job, as usual.

The trip is pretty much planned. Good job too, since I haven't been working on it for ages now. I've been busy sorting stuff out for Deb's garage sale (my first one), then playing with my labeler with the boxes that fit PERFECTLY in the RV cupboards. They waste a bit of space to allow for the door hinges, but they stop things moving around so much. I think I did get a few too many though, so I'll return those later. I also bought a Culligan water filter for before the city water hookup gets into the RV (keeps sediment and stuff out of the system), and I did get a Brita pitcher. However it's too big for the fridge, so I'll have to find a smaller one. Alternatively I could get one to go on the faucet, but since I'd need to change the whole faucet for a threaded one first, and the on-faucet models don't have good reviews overall (they tend to leak after a while), I'll probably stick with the Brita jug.

That's about it really.

2004-05-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. God. I am Rachel.

I'm Rachel Green from Friends!

Take the Friends Quiz here.

created by stomps.

Sorry, been busy, so no time to write about it. It's our 6th wedding anniversary today. I bought Steve 2 HIGNFY DVDs, and we went out to Black Angus for dinner. Yummy.

Steve went home to pick Jack up, so I went to Magnolia Audio-Video. Talked to the mobile electronics (fav dept) sales manager for an hour, drooled over some really nice GPS systems, then came home and ordered one for the ipaq from amazon. 1/4 of the price, and I might as well see if it works before discounting it. I didn't even go for the BT version - just the plain old Navman 3450.

Road trip is fast approaching, so I need to get my &%$# into gear. We just had the RV parking space concreted today, in the worst rain I've seen for ages. They said it will take 10 days to dry properly, since it's thick. That leaves just over 2 weeks before we leave to pack it up and check it out. I could get the TVs installed now though.

2004-05-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry, sorry. Life. You know. That annoying thing that gets in the way of having fun sometimes.

Ok, that's an excuse. I have been planning something fun, which in itself is fun. The sun has made a few appearances now, so I'm in the mood to go traveling. I've got our summer 2004 roadtrip down now, signed for a new (to us) RV, started to think about where the TVs are going to go, bought plastic plates, and thought about what meals I can prepare other than quesadillas or hot dogs. Last year, if we ate in, that's pretty much all we ate, for 6 weeks.

It's been warm, but still not warm enough for the AC to come on. Well, it's saving us money.

2004-05-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's 4am and I can't sleep. That's been going on for a while now, but what makes it harder tonight is that Jack crept into our bed about an hour ago, just a short while after I crawled into bed myself. I did whisper to him to try to stay on my side, which he is trying to, bless 'im, at my expense. Never mind. Sleep is for wimps anyway. :)

I've been busy, planning the road trip extravaganza for this summer. I watched a TV show on RV's, which featured a couple and their 4 young kids who had packed up and were traveling the US. They spoke of a beach park in Texas, where you could camp on the beach for free. I convinced myself for a week that it was worth diverting an additional 2,100 miles to get something for nothing - plus being on the Gulf Of Mexico sounded like a good idea. Earlier this evening, I realized that it probably wasn't worth it. I'd still like to go, but maybe not in the height of summer.

Since the current planned trip involves taking all 3 kids out traveling for 8 weeks, I finally acted on my thought that the Roadtrek is way too small, so I've been shopping for a Class C. Found a reasonably priced one, hope it's not a lemon. I'm test driving it tomorrow. The saleswoman said that we could even drive it here to make sure I could turn it around in our driveway (it's almost 30' long), which is nice, since it's almost a 60 minute drive one way.

That's about it really. G'night.

2004-05-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, although I don't know how you'll work out what it all means, here's my blogger code. B9 d t- k+ s-- u-- f- i- o++ x+ e- l+ c+

(I haven't figured out how to do links, or pictures. Actually, it's quite nice to be old fashioned. Like going back to keeping a handwritten diary. Hmmm, I wasn't very good at that either).