Random pet pronunciation peeve:
I hate it when people pronounce the title of the movie "Amélie" as if it rhymes with "homily," and with the emphasis on the first syllable. I wonder how many obnoxious tourists accost Mlle Tatou and say, "Aaaah gist luuuuved yew in that movie 'Ommily.'"
It's ahh-meh-lee, if you please, with a broad, light "ah," not "aww."
There now, I feel a lot better. Which reminds me of a spelling peeve. "Alot" is not a word. It's "a lot." Two words. Count them. Thank you.
August 2, 2008
July 20, 2008
Cat Tear Stain Removal: It's Weird, I Know
The internet is a magical tool for some things--finding step-by-step instructions for opening a port in your firewall, for instance, getting an up-to-date exchange rate from Euros to Fijian dollars, or locating biological relatives--that sort of thing. You would think that there would be a page somewhere on removing even the most obscure stains, but alas, it's just the same five or six stains over and over again.
But at my house, one of the stains that bothers me the most is cat tears. That sounds really weird, as if I'm torturing my cat, or she has emotional problems, but that isn't it. Diana just has tear ducts which are blocked and don't reabsorb the overflow, so lacrimal excretions accumulate on her little face. I've tried getting them unblocked, but the only way a cat will really let you cannulate the ducts is under anesthesia, and even then, the expensive procedure often doesn't work. According to my research, the tears start out clear, but the normal bacteria and red yeast on animals' skin causes the tears to turn reddish brown. And because Diana likes to hang out with me at night, those reddish-brown tears end up as spots on my sheets and my clothes, especially in winter, when she likes to get under the covers with me. I have had some disasters with stains. I tried using Oxyclean on linen to get out the teeny flea-"dirt" bloodstains that the cats left behind. Catastrophe. It ate huge holes in the beautiful Italian linen; luckily, my mom is an artist and a genius, and she mended the holes by embroidering beautiful flowers over them.
Now, there are products made for removing the tear stains from your pet's face, but nothing for removing them from fabric. Except for a couple of pillowcases, all my sheets are colored, so bleach just won't do. It was rather late to go to the pet store and try buying a pet product to use on the laundry, so I looked for other household remedies for removing the stain from the pet's fur, and hoped it might do the trick on cotton. I tried wetting the area, spraying on hydrogen peroxide, and then rubbing the stain with a lump of baking soda so that it formed a pasty layer. I let it sit for an hour or so while I fiddled with downloading an audio book. When I returned, the nice chambray duvet cover was back to light blue, with no brown circles. Hooray. I treated the rest of the pillowcases the same way, and between the soap, the peroxide, and the baking soda, pretty much everything came out.
Maybe this post will now show up if someone searches for "pet tear stain removal." Perhaps it will work for you.
But at my house, one of the stains that bothers me the most is cat tears. That sounds really weird, as if I'm torturing my cat, or she has emotional problems, but that isn't it. Diana just has tear ducts which are blocked and don't reabsorb the overflow, so lacrimal excretions accumulate on her little face. I've tried getting them unblocked, but the only way a cat will really let you cannulate the ducts is under anesthesia, and even then, the expensive procedure often doesn't work. According to my research, the tears start out clear, but the normal bacteria and red yeast on animals' skin causes the tears to turn reddish brown. And because Diana likes to hang out with me at night, those reddish-brown tears end up as spots on my sheets and my clothes, especially in winter, when she likes to get under the covers with me. I have had some disasters with stains. I tried using Oxyclean on linen to get out the teeny flea-"dirt" bloodstains that the cats left behind. Catastrophe. It ate huge holes in the beautiful Italian linen; luckily, my mom is an artist and a genius, and she mended the holes by embroidering beautiful flowers over them.
Now, there are products made for removing the tear stains from your pet's face, but nothing for removing them from fabric. Except for a couple of pillowcases, all my sheets are colored, so bleach just won't do. It was rather late to go to the pet store and try buying a pet product to use on the laundry, so I looked for other household remedies for removing the stain from the pet's fur, and hoped it might do the trick on cotton. I tried wetting the area, spraying on hydrogen peroxide, and then rubbing the stain with a lump of baking soda so that it formed a pasty layer. I let it sit for an hour or so while I fiddled with downloading an audio book. When I returned, the nice chambray duvet cover was back to light blue, with no brown circles. Hooray. I treated the rest of the pillowcases the same way, and between the soap, the peroxide, and the baking soda, pretty much everything came out.
Maybe this post will now show up if someone searches for "pet tear stain removal." Perhaps it will work for you.
May 17, 2008
Technical Difficulties
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote part of a post about SXSW and added pictures and video, and then I went back and wrote even more detail about a particular showcase, complete with nifty links to YouTube clips from the movies I was reminded of. Unbeknownst to me, Blogger was having a problem with posting video and photos, and when I hit the "submit button," it didn't post all my text, and it hadn't done any interim saves of the new writing. I could have resubmitted the photos and video, since those were on my hard drive, but the text, which I usually write in Word so as to have a saved copy, did not survive. And Blogger doesn't seem to have any direct customer service email; rather, they encourage you to post to the Google/Blogger online forum and try to get your answer that way.
The very next day, I had a catastrophic OS failure with multiple .dll errors, and my computer was no longer able to boot Windows XP. I had a long round of trying all sorts of things to replace the corrupted .dlls, but it's not as simple as just dragging them into your System folder. They have to be "installed," although you can "install" fonts by just dragging them or unzipping them to the Fonts folder. And Dell doesn't see fit to include the OS discs with your computer, so I had to get the customer service phone number from a friend (couldn't look it up on my computer, don'tchaknow), and have them mail me the discs.
They arrived a day early, along with the hope that the repair mode would fix the problem. No, after hours of trying every permutation and combination of approaches, it appeared that I would indeed have to completely reinstall Windows. I was worried about the documents on my C drive being overwritten, so I had to somehow copy my files off to an external hard drive before the reinstall. I bought a chassis that I could use to connect my HD to another computer, and then imposed upon my brother and used his computer to back up my files. After the big external HD failure last fall, I didn't want to again be faced with reconstituting my iTunes library and files from my iPod.
Once that was done, I put in the CD and went through the tedious process of reinstalling Windows and then all of my programs. The "transfer files and settings" wizard did not seem to work. At all. So now I have duplicate user accounts in the "Documents and Settings" folder. Joy. Thanks, Bill. There was some more complex stuff I wanted advice on, so I called a professional to oversee port opening and other configuration details. It seems to be running well now, although I still haven't gotten all the programs reinstalled.
And then on Wednesday this week, we had a massive hailstorm here in Austin, with the biggest hailstones I've ever seen. I took lots of photos, but since it almost immediately knocked out power, including my cable modem, I couldn't exactly live-blog the hailstorm, however much I might have wanted to. I saved a few of the biggest ones in the freezer--they were four inches long, and some were cracked in half like geodes, so you could see the internal structure--a solid-packed opaque center, surrounded by an aggregation of smaller stones. Of course, since the power stayed off for a day and a half, my hailstone samples didn't survive. Boo. But I will post photos soon. I think that was one for the record books.
The very next day, I had a catastrophic OS failure with multiple .dll errors, and my computer was no longer able to boot Windows XP. I had a long round of trying all sorts of things to replace the corrupted .dlls, but it's not as simple as just dragging them into your System folder. They have to be "installed," although you can "install" fonts by just dragging them or unzipping them to the Fonts folder. And Dell doesn't see fit to include the OS discs with your computer, so I had to get the customer service phone number from a friend (couldn't look it up on my computer, don'tchaknow), and have them mail me the discs.
They arrived a day early, along with the hope that the repair mode would fix the problem. No, after hours of trying every permutation and combination of approaches, it appeared that I would indeed have to completely reinstall Windows. I was worried about the documents on my C drive being overwritten, so I had to somehow copy my files off to an external hard drive before the reinstall. I bought a chassis that I could use to connect my HD to another computer, and then imposed upon my brother and used his computer to back up my files. After the big external HD failure last fall, I didn't want to again be faced with reconstituting my iTunes library and files from my iPod.
Once that was done, I put in the CD and went through the tedious process of reinstalling Windows and then all of my programs. The "transfer files and settings" wizard did not seem to work. At all. So now I have duplicate user accounts in the "Documents and Settings" folder. Joy. Thanks, Bill. There was some more complex stuff I wanted advice on, so I called a professional to oversee port opening and other configuration details. It seems to be running well now, although I still haven't gotten all the programs reinstalled.
And then on Wednesday this week, we had a massive hailstorm here in Austin, with the biggest hailstones I've ever seen. I took lots of photos, but since it almost immediately knocked out power, including my cable modem, I couldn't exactly live-blog the hailstorm, however much I might have wanted to. I saved a few of the biggest ones in the freezer--they were four inches long, and some were cracked in half like geodes, so you could see the internal structure--a solid-packed opaque center, surrounded by an aggregation of smaller stones. Of course, since the power stayed off for a day and a half, my hailstone samples didn't survive. Boo. But I will post photos soon. I think that was one for the record books.
March 5, 2008
Raucus Caucus
I looked on the web for video of crazy Texas caucuses, and believe it or not, found one of our Precinct's gathering! That's me in the green sweater, furiously writing down names and addresses.
Non-Texans might be wondering why it's taking so long for Texas to count the votes from the caucuses. I was both the Temporary and Permanent Convention Secretary for Travis County’s Precinct 274 (that's in Austin), and we had 385 people sign in for the Democratic Caucus, not counting the ones who left early. We used 33 sign-in sheets, whereas just one was sufficient in past years. Even with four other people helping me, it took more than two hours just to get everyone's name, address, and candidate choice written down. Luckily, our Precinct Chair was smart, ethical, and experienced, and followed the rules with no protest. But it still took another twenty minutes or so to count all the participants, count the number of people caucusing for each candidate, and do the math to get the delegate apportionment.
There were party platforms to be discussed and voted on, and then people had to volunteer to be delegates and alternates--and all those people's names had to be found on the 33 pages, which were not in alphabetical order. Even then, there weren't enough people still present at 11:30 p.m. to account for all the 37 needed alternate delegates for Obama. By the time I asked the precinct chair if he had remembered to call in our results to the party, it was after midnight. And we were well organized.
Some precincts had open Chair positions, so whoever grabbed the caucus packet first was the one who became the Temporary Chair. You'd think that these eager beavers would have taken time to read the basic rules or the script provided, but some were more zealous about not letting another candidate gain a perceived advantage, even when it meant disenfranchising their own candidate's voters. I have read about all sorts of abuses and rule breaking—shutting the doors before everyone had gotten a chance to sign in, or insisting on looking up every voter on the rolls instead of just accepting a stamped voter registration or caucus card. But whether or not it went perfectly, it was really thrilling to see hundreds of people willing to wait in line because they were so passionately interested in taking part in our democracy, no matter whom they were supporting. That is what this country is really about: our votes are our voices, and if we don’t vote, we are only muzzling ourselves.
Non-Texans might be wondering why it's taking so long for Texas to count the votes from the caucuses. I was both the Temporary and Permanent Convention Secretary for Travis County’s Precinct 274 (that's in Austin), and we had 385 people sign in for the Democratic Caucus, not counting the ones who left early. We used 33 sign-in sheets, whereas just one was sufficient in past years. Even with four other people helping me, it took more than two hours just to get everyone's name, address, and candidate choice written down. Luckily, our Precinct Chair was smart, ethical, and experienced, and followed the rules with no protest. But it still took another twenty minutes or so to count all the participants, count the number of people caucusing for each candidate, and do the math to get the delegate apportionment.
There were party platforms to be discussed and voted on, and then people had to volunteer to be delegates and alternates--and all those people's names had to be found on the 33 pages, which were not in alphabetical order. Even then, there weren't enough people still present at 11:30 p.m. to account for all the 37 needed alternate delegates for Obama. By the time I asked the precinct chair if he had remembered to call in our results to the party, it was after midnight. And we were well organized.
Some precincts had open Chair positions, so whoever grabbed the caucus packet first was the one who became the Temporary Chair. You'd think that these eager beavers would have taken time to read the basic rules or the script provided, but some were more zealous about not letting another candidate gain a perceived advantage, even when it meant disenfranchising their own candidate's voters. I have read about all sorts of abuses and rule breaking—shutting the doors before everyone had gotten a chance to sign in, or insisting on looking up every voter on the rolls instead of just accepting a stamped voter registration or caucus card. But whether or not it went perfectly, it was really thrilling to see hundreds of people willing to wait in line because they were so passionately interested in taking part in our democracy, no matter whom they were supporting. That is what this country is really about: our votes are our voices, and if we don’t vote, we are only muzzling ourselves.
Labels:
Barack Obama,
caucus,
Hillary,
Texas,
Travis County,
video
March 3, 2008
Don't Forget to Vote and Caucus!
You'd have to have been living in a cave not to know that Texas has a primary Tuesday, but just in case you're still scrambling to find your polling place, or don't know about the caucus, you can find the info here. Click here to look up your polling place. And here is a .pdf you can download that has all the pertinent information on it. I also have a description of the caucus process in my Feb. 23 posting.
In case you'd like more specifics about the Senator's policies, here's a link to his Blueprint for Change.
I also thought I'd include a video about Barack Obama's grassroots movement here in Texas.
In case you'd like more specifics about the Senator's policies, here's a link to his Blueprint for Change.
I also thought I'd include a video about Barack Obama's grassroots movement here in Texas.
February 23, 2008
Spider-House Party for Obama
As a Precinct Captain for Barack Obama (Travis County Precinct 274), I have set up a House Party today to reach out to voters, talk to them about the candidates, and educate people about the primary and caucus voting processes in Texas.
The details:
Host: Julia Spencer
Time: Saturday, February 23 at 12:00 PM - 2 hours
Location: Spider House Cafe
2908 Fruth St.
Austin, TX 78705
Directions: Spider House is north of the UT campus on Fruth St., just a block east of Guadalupe, and between 29th and 30th St.
I did snag a "blueprint for change" booklet at the rally last night, and also got a few lists of Travis County early voting locations and a candidate list when I voted yesterday. I have found that one-on-one contact with voters is very persuasive, so everyone is welcome to join me and talk to people about Barack, and about the primary and caucus processes in Texas. I will try to grab a table or two right at the front of the garden just inside the entrance so we're really visible to people walking by on the street.
View and RSVP for this event at any time by going here.
Here's the deal on primary voting and caucusing in Texas:
Your party affiliation is determined by whom you vote for in the primary--Republican or Democrat, so you don't have to have registered as either one. You can do early voting at any of the early-voting locations in your county from February 19-29 (highly recommended), or vote at your precinct's polling place on March 4th. If you do early voting, your name will be on the rolls as having voted, and you can also get your card stamped then. If you vote on the 4th, make sure you get your voter's registration card stamped so it's easy to show it later on.
Then, all you need to do to caucus for Barack is to arrive at 7:01 after the polls close and show that you have just voted in the Democratic primary, either during early voting, or earlier in the day (whip out that stamped voter reg. card) and then you sign your name on a card in support of Barack. You can stay for the meeting after that, or just turn in your card and leave.
After signing cards to caucus for Obama, the rest of the evening of March 4 is given over to what is called a Precinct Convention, where party platform issues and resolutions are introduced.
This link is general information about the Texas Primary/Caucus.
This Burnt Orange Report link has fairly detailed information about how to introduce resolutions.
And yes, I am having an Oscar Party on Sunday, but with all the election excitement, I just haven't gotten around to sending out invitations.
The details:
Host: Julia Spencer
Time: Saturday, February 23 at 12:00 PM - 2 hours
Location: Spider House Cafe
2908 Fruth St.
Austin, TX 78705
Directions: Spider House is north of the UT campus on Fruth St., just a block east of Guadalupe, and between 29th and 30th St.
I did snag a "blueprint for change" booklet at the rally last night, and also got a few lists of Travis County early voting locations and a candidate list when I voted yesterday. I have found that one-on-one contact with voters is very persuasive, so everyone is welcome to join me and talk to people about Barack, and about the primary and caucus processes in Texas. I will try to grab a table or two right at the front of the garden just inside the entrance so we're really visible to people walking by on the street.
View and RSVP for this event at any time by going here.
Here's the deal on primary voting and caucusing in Texas:
Your party affiliation is determined by whom you vote for in the primary--Republican or Democrat, so you don't have to have registered as either one. You can do early voting at any of the early-voting locations in your county from February 19-29 (highly recommended), or vote at your precinct's polling place on March 4th. If you do early voting, your name will be on the rolls as having voted, and you can also get your card stamped then. If you vote on the 4th, make sure you get your voter's registration card stamped so it's easy to show it later on.
Then, all you need to do to caucus for Barack is to arrive at 7:01 after the polls close and show that you have just voted in the Democratic primary, either during early voting, or earlier in the day (whip out that stamped voter reg. card) and then you sign your name on a card in support of Barack. You can stay for the meeting after that, or just turn in your card and leave.
After signing cards to caucus for Obama, the rest of the evening of March 4 is given over to what is called a Precinct Convention, where party platform issues and resolutions are introduced.
This link is general information about the Texas Primary/Caucus.
This Burnt Orange Report link has fairly detailed information about how to introduce resolutions.
And yes, I am having an Oscar Party on Sunday, but with all the election excitement, I just haven't gotten around to sending out invitations.
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