My Night

When Taz pulled something off the bottom shelf of my desk last night right
after I'd gotten comfortable in bed I should have known that it was going to
be a long night. While attempting to put this item where Taz couldn't get at
it, I leaned over and wacked my nose on the corner of my pine dresser. No
blood fortunately, but still painful. Just as I was falling asleep, Skype
started ringing. I have it set to ring my PC speaker so that I can tell when
a call is coming in even if I don't have my headphones on, but at 10:30,
most people aren't calling to socialize. I guess I was wrong. So, it took me
forever to drift back into sleep even though I didn't take the call. Then, I
woke up again at about 3:00, and I haven't been able to get back to sleep.
I'm tired, but I just can't sleep. This is totally going to bite me later
unless I can get a little more something. These kinds of nights really do
suck though!

Wednesday Trivia

Better late than never I suppose. Still tired, but maybe it's not quite as
bad. I ended up with 7/10 today, and one of the questions I guess I thought
was a trick question and was proud of myself for getting it right only to
discover that I'd been tricked and, in fact, hadn't gotten it right. BLEH!!!
Anyway though,
here are the questions.

Canada Greyhound is Slow

Several weeks ago, masterofmusings purchased his Greyhound
ticket to come down here next week to visit me. We thought nothing of it,
and the purchase went through flawlessly. Last week, basically just because
I could, and because I had nothing better to do, I went up to the US
greyhound site and punched in the information for a round-trip ticket from
Fargo to Winnipeg. I was surprised when, after months of consistency, I
discovered that they'd changed the bus times. Originally, the times had been
7:45 AM from Winnipeg, arriving here in Fargo at 2:15 PM. For the return,
the bus left here at 3:00 PM, and got to Winnipeg at 8:05, or whenever the
criminals made it past customs. So, I was really surprised to see the
Winnipeg departure time moved up to 9:15 AM. Bruce would have been okay
getting to the station at the regular time, but that'd be a really long time
to sit and wait. I went up to the Canadian Greyhound site and entered in the
same trip. The original times were shown. Okay, so which site is accurate?
Obviously they're not going to be running two routes that close together, so
which one is the right one?

The next day we called the local Winnipeg Greyhound station. It is
completely impossible to speak to a human at this station. They've got a
truly wonderful automated system, but it seems as though humans just don't
exist there. So, somehow, Bruce got transferred to the national Canadian
Greyhound service. They also gave the original times. I still found it
really hard to believe though since the US site was still showing the new
times. I called my local station, and they confirmed that the new times were
correct.

So, we were still getting conflicting information. Understandably, Bruce
wanted to know for absolute sure before leaving next Tuesday. It would
really have sucked if he'd gotten to the station at the new time only to
discover that the bus had left an hour and a half before. So, just a few
minutes ago, I once again went to the Canadian Greyhound site and punched in
his trip. This time, the times had been updated to match the US site. So
it's all good now. What I don't get is, when one site is updated, why are
the others not? I could see some people really being confused by this when
their itinerary says one thing and they don't even realize that it's not
accurate. I for one though am truly glad that these times did get
straightened out. This leaves me with other things to think about, like what
I'm going to make him for food on the day he gets here. I've got way too
many ideas!!!

New Revampped School Week

I see so many problems with the following article, I just don't even know where to start. It seems that kids already have too much free time to get themselves into things without giving them continuous three-day weekends. Plus, what about parents who have to provide childcare for the days off for younger kids? What about the kids themselves? I remember sitting in school and trying to digest everything the teachers were talking about. By the end of the day my brain was mush. They want to make kids sit even longer during the days they are in school? I predict increases in drug-dependent kids because teachers will claim that they're ADHD because they can't sit through a 10-hour school day. Okay, so I guess I just feel this is wrong on so many levels.



Blackduck schools approve 4-day week
Associated Press, Published Wednesday, April 08, 2009
BLACKDUCK, Minn. (AP) — Students in the Blackduck school district in northwestern Minnesota are closer to going to class only four days a week.
The school board approved the cost-cutting move on a 5-1 vote on Monday. If the state Department of Education approves, the new schedule will start in the next school year.
To make up the lost time, Superintendent Bob Doetsch says the district set up a tentative schedule to lengthen each school day. As of now, Monday is the favored day off.
Doetsch says the district needs the savings of the shorter week because he expects big cuts in state funding for the district.
The savings would come from lower costs for transportation, fuel, cooks, janitors, food and substitute teachers.

More Crock Pot Fun

Tomorrow I want to make Cheesy
Crock Pot Chicken. Unfortunately, before I can actually do this, I
needed to wash out my crock from the last time I used it. Little did I know
that this was going to be an interesting task. Yesterday though, I saw a
post in the what_a_crock community by cozyjeans
asking about stuck-on food. Her timing for this couldn't have been better,
and my crock is currently sitting in my sink with a bounce dryer sheet and
extremely hot water. There were lots of tips for getting things clean, and
the actual entry can be found here if
anyone else ever finds themselves in need of a good set of cleaning tips.
This community is truly busy, but I've gotten some really good stuff from it
so it's been worth it to me. Now, let's see if the dryer sheet does what
it's supposed to do. I've been wanting this chicken for a few weeks now, and
the thought of serving it over rice just makes me hungry!!! And no, dahlia_and_balu, chances are pretty good that I won't be adding any
evil vegetables except for maybe some cornand/or mushrooms, which some
people don't consider to be vegetables anyway. GRIN!!!

Just When You Think You're Safe ..

You get another post from me. Seriously though, over the past few days
they've been talking about the fact that Fargo is about to be hit again with
another round of record-level flooding. I truly appreciate the friendliness
of North Dakotans, and their willingness to except this cheesehead into
their midst, but really, this flooding stuff is just a bit much. I thought
all big things were supposed to happen in Texas. GRIN!! We had 79.7 inches
of snowfall this winter and the average is about 44 inches. The Red River
crested at 40.8 feet, and is now down to 31 feet and some inches. It is
expected to drop until I believe Monday, and then it's going to start to
rise once again. The National Weather Service originally was predicting a
crest even higher than our first one, but recent predictions are between 40
and 41 feet with potentially higher readings in some areas. I'm still
confident that I'm not going to run into any further flooding here, but as
much as I joke about it, this is truly not a pleasant situation. Living in
Milwaukee, I was pretty much oblivious to most weather-type things with the
most serious things being either thunder storms or snow. Here though, things
are different, and It's definitely a wake-up call for me.

Several people have asked me if I regret leaving Wisconsin after all that's
happened in the last six months, and I honestly have to say no. Despite
everything; the flood last November, the move to an apartment where I've
been feeling isolated, all the snow, and now the flooding, overall, this is
turning out to be a great experience. I've started meeting some people, I'm
hoping to do more with the NDAB, and I
think that I'm finally starting to see this apartment as home. So, although
Wisconsin has been my home since the day I was born, I think that moving
here was still the best choice I could have made given my circumstances.

What Big Cat Are You?

I thought I was done spamming you guys today, but apparently not. This one's pretty neat though.

You Are a Lynx

You are a quiet observer of the world around you. Your wisdom comes from listening carefully. You've always been extra sensitive and aware. And it's made it difficult for you to fit in. You see past people's outward personas. You are able to penetrate a stranger's soul. What you've learned about people is both beautiful and ugly. And you keep these secrets to yourself.

What Big Cat Are You?