Palley arrived home from work, rolled into her wheelchair lift, and hit the button, it started up.. made a strange noise.. then POP! and sparks shot out of the motor… The earliest the repair guy can get in is Monday.

On a happier note, to cheer her up I showed off the roomba in her bedroom. She fell in love, especially when she found out it can get under the bed and into other places. “Can we get another one so I can have one down here too???” WOW! I was shocked. Then, to make things even scarier… “How’s it work on the hardwood and linoleum?” So I explained it would do fine for picking up the dust, just not mopping. “Aww to bad it can’t do that too…” Wow, just like she was scripted or something. “Well, you know, they actually make one for that.” “What??!?!? Really!!!!” So I explained how it works, and her eye got big and lit up like a kid at christmas. “OH! YOU HAVE TO GET ONE OF THOSE TOO!!!!”

Whoever this strange being is that has replaced my mother… I like her!!!

There is a new member of the Wohlers family. Last week I managed to catch a Roomba on woot for a really good price.  I haven’t told Palley yet, because I was going to be selfish and keep it to myself in my room. She tends to be skeptic of gadgets, and I didn’t want to hear about the “waste of money”.   But, since my room is in a shambles and I really wanted to let it run, I decided today while Palley was gone to play a bit.   I  brought the newly charged Roomba downstairs and first let it go in the living room.

Read on for my adventures with the roomba!

(more…)

I have missed MST3K for a very long time.  Yesterday, while trying to sort through the 20,000+ emails (no joke) in my halloween listserv folder, I stumbled upon a post that brought new light to a darkend corner of my life.    It seems Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy & Bill Corbett have a new venture called “RiffTrax“.   You go to the website, pay around $3 and download an MP3 of thier commentary for a video.  You then rent, or buy the video, pop it in your player and also start the RiffTrax MP3 playing.  You then have the hilarity of their commentary in movies they NEVER could have done as MST3K.   Just think Mike and company rip apart Star Wars: Episode 1!!!   Jar Jar doesn’t stand a chance!!!

So,  I’m thinking.. RiffTrax party!!!  Anyone interested?

I was tipped off to the latest woot-off by Gabi.  I hit it a few times, and saw nothing I was interested in really, then they posted a roomba…

I couldn’t resist anymore…

Now, I just need to clean up my room some and i can let the roomba vaccum for it.  I should prolly pick up the rest of the house to for that matter.

I also discovered theres a bluetooth module available for it that woudl allow me to interface it with the phone or computer to control it.  I could actually interface it right into Mr. House so that the Home Automation controller actually has some say on the roomba’s operation too.  hmmm…

I worry that if i get to crazy with it, it could take over the world… 

Saturday was St. Patric’s day, but you knew that. Saturday was the big Seelie Court St. Patrick’s Day Concert in Richmond. You knew that if you have been reading the blog. What you don’t know fomr the blog is how much fun the show was.

I was planning on getting to Richmond around 1:30 or so and would have made it, but I decided that I really needed a new belt for my Utiliikilt so I stopped in a K-Mart. While in the K-Mart I discovered that they were running a 50% of sale of all clearance items in the Mens department. I found polo shirts my size, that I liked (no easy feat there) marked down to $3.00. That was before the 50% off. I also found a few pairs of shorts, both denim, and kaki, for $1.00 before the discount. Including my belt, and one shirt that I really liked that wasn’t on sale I spent $98. You can imagine the amount of clothes I now need to wash and find a place for.

I arrived in Richmond (No, not VA, IL… ) around two o’clock, and checked into my hotel room. Once there I changed into the Utilikilt, and headed over to Doyles pub. Shortly after I arrived Juli, John and Ray showed up too. So we all went in together, and stood around for a bit. I knew Jon and company should have been there by that point but we didn’t see them. Finally Jessica Arrived and pointed out that Jon and crew were on the other side of the building unloading directly to the basement. None of us had realized there was an outside door to the basement. After a quick equipment unload John McCarthy and I went upstairs to uhhh… check the quality of the Guinness.

After a couple hours of sitting and talking at the bar it was almost time for the show, I headed down staris, and caught the attention of the waitress to get some food really quick. The Reuben sandwich and fries were quite tasty. I finished up just in time for the show to start. By this time there was quite a crowd gathered in the basement and everyone seemed excited to be there.

The show was probably one of the best Seelie Court shows I’ve ever attended. They performed 4 sets, and each set just seemed to build the excitement from the previous set. The audience all kept joining in singing and dancing and having a good time. We even drowned out the bagpiper upstairs.  It was one heck of a good time.  Dean, Maggie, Gina, and Christi were there from Bounding main and joind in on a few songs, and the entire 4th set.

I can’t wait until the next show. Although it’s going to be hard to top this one.

As of 5 minutes ago…

I am completely, 100%  free of Credit Card debt!
Now I can save for new car, or trips etc, and actually invest some money as opposed to having it sucked away by the evil CC companies.

This is the 1st time this has been the case since I was a teenager.

I intend t keep it this way as long as possible too.

(Of course the universe likes to torment me, and so last night my glasses broke…  But I think I have enough socked away in my emergency fund  to cover new glasses.  Maybe I’ll even consider asking for a prescription for contacts to wear during faire…. maybe…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, one and all!

Join the fun tonight at Doyle’s Pub in Richmond, IL!
Seelie Court!

Seelie Court!

Seelie Court!

The show starts at 5:00pm  get there EARLY!!!

Ahhh, Sci-Fi…  What ever would the world do without a constant supply of bad B movies.

Skeleton Man…  Read on if you dare…

(more…)

Well my room for St. Patrick’s Day is reserved.  Looking forward to seeing everyone again this weekend!

Well, it’s spring, and its of course that time of year again.  The time when hard drives start to go crazy.  At least for me…  It seems my mail server is starting to die.  I’m goignto have to geta new drive in it asap, so far the failures seem to be to the OS itself, not the data.  and the data is backed up every hour anyway.

Today we made a geek pilgrimage to the Phoenix Frys. We saw the worlds highest fountain and ate dinner at an outdoor bar that used to be a stop for a stagecoach.

(more…)

Today started out pretty uneventful. Karl and I worked on his website for his class. I spent a little time out in the back yard with the dog relaxing. Gabi has had a migraine all day so she has been pretty much out of commission. Around 3:30 Karl and I decided to go out for a while and see some of the local shops and things.

(more…)

Wednesday started off like most days, kinda slow, and relaxing. Jane made quiche, that lasted for about a hour. Yum…

After Karl and Gabi did some stuff for school, and I chatted with library folks it was time for the Cubs Game. we picked Ed up at his hospital and then headed out to HoHoKam park. Beer, Brats, and Baseball, fun fun fun!. I definitely a good time, considering I’m not a big sports fan. Of all the sports out there though baseball is probably my favorite. While there they announced that the temperature there was a 78, while back in Chicago it was a nice 28. Heheheheh, 50 degrees difference. The Cubs won. Woohooo!
After the game we came back home and had some of Ed’s homemade sausages. WOW! Yummmmmy

Day 4, Wednesday, had very little going on. We spent the day just lounging around mostly. Our sole responsibility for the day was to make potato salad for dinner.  Well come on, Karl, Gabi and I, just make potato salad.. YEAH RIGHT!

Before we were done we had potato salad, sauteed mushrooms, a romaine salad,  a fruit salad, and Ribs.    This we had all served and the table all set out on the Patio before Ed and Jane got home.   When Ed got home he asked how our day went, we said “Fine, uneventful”  He then asked about the potato salad and we all responded with various levels of shock and embarrassment, and apologized for forgetting.  “Oh well, well I guess I should start the ribs at least.” At this point he lifted the lid off the rib pot and found it was empty.  Gabi chimed in with, “Oh… Uhhh… we had those for lunch, sorry…”.  Ed seemed dissapointed, but graciously said, “Oh well, I guess we go out for dinner.”  At that point we figured he had had enough torture, and pointed him to the patio where the full dinner was ready.

We then let him repeat the gag on his wife when she got home.

Dinner was a hit, and everyone enjoyed themselves. We did run into one problem while cooking.  Karl and I had a hard time getting the grill lit.  Once it was lit it cooked for about 5 minutes and then went out.  I rummaged around a bit and found that the propane tank was empty, so I swapped it out and all was well.  Grills light so much better when they actually have gas.

Well after a restless nights sleep, brought on by my having lost my phone things leveled off. At 9:30 I managed to get a hold of Corky in the faire’s office. I described my phone to her, and she had it. So after breakfast Karl, Gabi, and I climbed in the car and headed back to the faire. The woman in the guardhouse was extremely pleasant and let us in, no problems. We spent about a half hour in the faire’s office just chatting with the receptionist. So now we can all say we have been behind the scenes at yet another faire.
After leaving the faire we headed to Arizona Mills mall to do a little shopping for Gabi, while there I bought a pair of clip-on sunglasses and a couple shirts. The prices were really nice, I picked up 2 polos my size for $9 each. Not bad at all.

When we got done at Arizona Mills, we stopped to do a little grocery shopping. Out here Fry’s has a grocery chain in addition to the electronics store. MUAHAHAHAH…. Frys rocks…

When we returned to the house we were informed that the other house guests, Danny and Nancy, were taking us all out for dinner. We went to “Pinnacle Peak Patio”, a little coybow themed place with a unique policy on neckties. If you wear a necktie to the patio, they will cut it off you and staple it to the ceiling. At last count they have over 350,000 ties stapled to the roof. The food was excellent, I think just about everyone ordered steak, and it was some of the juiciest, most tender, most tasty steak I have had in a long time. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

“If you’re shitting roses, you’re eating from the wrong bush”

then there is the fictional golf association: “Kilts and Cacti”

Day two, Sunday, was renfaire day. I really enjoyed their faire. It was a bit dusty, but that’s to be excepted at any faire.

(more…)

My phone is back in my possession.  Karl, Gabi, and I drove out the the faire and sure enough there it was in the office.    I’m much more relaxed now. 

I called the faire office this morning.  Spoke to Corky, and described the phone.  She responded, “It’s like a small brick right?”  “Big screen?” “camera?” I responded, “Yep, that sounds like it, black leather case?” “yup, we will be here till 5 if you want to come get it.”

“GREAT! Thank you!!”    So, It sounds like my phone is there.   Thank you good Samaritan who turned it in to the festival office.