Bogieblog

Problem Solved

I have managed to defeat the Gods of IE7 and can get TypePad's scripted link tool to work! The tweak is under Tools/Internet Options/Security. Click on the Custom Level button and go a ways down to the "Scripting" section (almost at the bottom of the slider).

Find this line: "Allow websites to prompt for information using scripted windows" and click on the . "Enable" radio button. Save the changes (if you get an option to Apply, use that), then close out IE7. Upon re-entering the browser, you should be all set.

See what miracles can be wrought when one has more than a couple of minutes, and isn't still trying to wake up!

Sweet Talking Gets You Nowhere

Stolen from both Buffy and Wichi Dude:

You scored as XIII: Death. Death is probably the most well known Tarot card - and also the most misunderstood. Most Tarot novices would consider Death to be a bad card, especially given its connection with the number thirteen. In fact this card rarely indicates literal death.Without "death" there can be no change, only eventual stagnation. The "death" of the child allows for the "birth" of the adult. This change is not always easy. The appearance of Death in a Tarot reading can indicate pain and short term loss, however it also represents hope for a new future. XIII: Death 88% XVI: The Tower 75% II - The High Priestess 69% III - The Empress 56% IV - The Emperor 56% VIII - Strength 50% XV: The Devil 50% I - Magician 50% 0 - The Fool 50% XI: Justice 44% VI: The Lovers 31% XIX: The Sun 25% X - Wheel of Fortune 6% Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

Bad Juju

About a month ago, I sent in two seperate rebates for two separate items, each rebate worth $30. We got one rebate chack a couple of weeks ago, and then got another one Thursday of last week.

We just went ahead and cashed the one for last week for our allowances. Today, I got an email telling me the 2nd check is void. Seems the First Rebate Place had a computer glitch which sent out duplicate checks. They have since voided out the second check.

I had to call the bank and find out if we could avoid a fee for the refused check. They seem willing, but I am supposed to "remind" them that they said they would waive the fee when we get the notice for the refused check (not expected for another week or so). I have asked for an email or fax; anything in writing. We'll see if I get it.

Only in the Bogie household does the JuJu get so bad that even rebate checks can't be trusted!

Questions, Questions, Questions

From Cop Car - just a few questions (after 4 tries, I got IE7 to get the idea that I was going to accept scripts and it allowed me auto link - probably would have been faster to hand-code it!)

Have I ever:
1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink--No, never had that much money!
2. Swam with wild dolphins--No.
3. Climbed a mountain--Yes - during backpacking.
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive--No.
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid--No.
6. Held a tarantula--No.
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone--Yes.
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it! --yes.
9. Hugged a tree--No.
10. Bungee jumped--No.
11. Visited Paris--No.
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea--No.
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise--Yes - easy to do when you work 3rd shift (as I did for many years.
14. Seen the Northern Lights--Yes - but it was very faint at the time.
15. Gone to a huge sports game--Yes - WS and I went to a Boston Bruins game in Connecticut when the company he worked for got a bus and tickets for a very reasonable price.
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa--No.
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables--Yes (good thing I haven't had to live off them though!).
18. Touched an iceberg--No.
19. Slept under the stars--Yes.
20. Changed a baby’s diaper--Yes.
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon--No.
22. Watched a meteor shower--Yes.
23. Drunk champagne--Yes.
24. Given more than you can afford to charity--No.
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope--Not that I remember, though I might have thru my grandmother's telescope at some point.
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment--Yes.
27. Had a good fight--Yes. 28. Bet on a winning horse--Yes - not because I actually knew what I was doing though.
29. Asked out a stranger--No.
30. Had a snowball fight--Yes.
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can--No.
32. Held a lamb--Yes.
33. Seen a total eclipse--Yes.
34. Ridden a roller coaster--Yes.
35. Scored a winning goal--At what?  No.
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking--Yes.
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day--No. 38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment--Yes.
39. Visited all 5 continents--No.
40. Taken care of someone who was drunk--Yes
41. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country--No.
42. Watched wild whales--Yes.
43. Stolen a sign--No.
44. Backpacked--Yes.
45. Taken a road-trip--Yes.
46. Gone rock climbing--No.
47. Midnight walk on the beach --Yes.
45. Gone sky diving--No.
49. Taken a train through Europe--No.
50. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love--No.
51. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table, and had a meal with them--No.
52. Milked a cow--No.
53. Alphabetized your CDs--Yes
54. Sung karaoke--No.
55. Lounged around in bed all day-- No.
56. Gone scuba diving--No.
57. Kissed in the rain--Probably.
58. Gone to a drive-in theatre--Yes.
59. Started a business--Yes.
60. Taken a martial arts class--No.
61. Been in a movie--No.
62. Crashed a party--No.
63. Gone without food for 5 days--No.
64. Gotten a tattoo--No.
65. Got flowers for no reason--Yes - I get them for WS for no reason sometimes.
66. Performed on stage--No.
67. Been to Las Vegas--No.
68. Recorded music-- LP to tape and from LP to CD.
69. Buried one/both of your parents--No.
70. Been on a cruise ship--No.
71. Spoken more than one language fluently--No.
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over--Yes.
73. Walked a famous bridge--No.
74. Had plastic surgery--No.
75. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived--No.
76. Written articles for a large publication--No.
77. Tried to lose weight seriously--No.
78.  Been in the military--No.
79.  Read a good book--Yes.
80. Piloted an airplane--Yes - for a couple of minutes while with Cop Car.
80. Petted a stingray--No.
81. Broken someone’s heart--Doubtful.
82. Broken a bone--No.
83. Eaten sushi--No.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper--Yes.
85. Parasailed--No.
86. Skipped all your school reunions--Yes.
87. Shaved your head--No.
88. Caused a car accident--Yes.
89. Pretended to be “sick”--Yes.
90. Swam in the Pacific Ocean--No.
91. Saved someone’s life--No.
92. Fainted--Yes.
93. Been in the room while someone is giving birth--Only my own.
94. Hitchhiked--Yes.
95. Adopted a child--No.
96. Been caught daydreaming-Probably!
97. Been to the Painted Desert--No
98. Called off a wedding engagement--No.
99. Become a follower of Jesus Christ (I had to go to Doves and Pomegranets to get this last one) - I don't find it offensive. No. 

I Still Hate IE 7

Today I'm taking it easy, watching football, watching the NASCAR race and reading (yes, probably all at the same time).

Friday, I took it easy too, but I did get a couple of things done. It was in the 60's from the time I got up until dark, so that meant I spent some time outside. I decided where I wanted to put two of the roses I got at Home Dep*t, so I got them planted. I had ordered, and received, some CatScat mats (4 packages)to place in some of the gardens by the house, so I put those in place. I then turned my attention to all the dead stalks from iris and tall flowers. Usually, I don't mess with those until spring, but I had to do something outside, so that was it.

I had an eye doctor's appointment in the afternoon. I had been trialling (I know, no such word) another type of contact (after the trial for the first type only lasted a couple of hours). These contacts have been good; I have had more consistent vision, even if my left eye didn't get improved vision. The doc and I decided these were keepers for this year, so he ordered me enough to get me thru until my next checkup (soft contacts warp after a while, so have to be replaced regularly).

Yesterday, I spent 3 hours on vacuuming the house and cleaning the living room carpet. Okay, so only 2 hours of that was spent on the living room carpet (it has been quite a while since the carpet has been cleaned!). I also did 3 loads of laundry and hung 2 of those outside (it was in the low 50's). Then, I put the dogs in the pen, threw out Shadow (Tory was already out) and closed up Birdie in the back room so I could flea spray the entire house (yes, we are still fighting fleas).

I had to get out of the house for a while, so I went to Agway to get dog food. While I was there, I noticed that they had Ivies and winterberries for sale, so I picked up a few such as: Red Sprite, Afterglow, Blue Princess and their pollinators, Jim Dandy and Blue Prince. I would give you links to them, but I would have to do it manually because IE 7 WON'T LET TYPEPAD GET THE INFO. It will let Typepad automatically put in lists, italics, bold etc - BUT AUTO LINKING IS GONE! I HATE IE 7! !!!!!!!

When I got home, I opened up all the doors and windows to air out the house. After closing up everything again, I started the woodstove so the heater wouldn't have to warm the house back up (besides, it was supposed to get in the low 30's anyway). By then it was dark, and WS was home, so I was finished for the day.

This IE 7 thing is going to bug the shit out of me - and linkage to stuff is going to go way down!

New Explorer Quick Critique

5 minutes with the latest verwion of MS Expl*rer and I hate it. The tabs suck (when I open something in a seperate window, I expect to have it show on top, not have to click on a tab - more work for me), I can't find anything on the tool bar because icons have been moved around - mostly to the other side of the screen (I freaked because the favorites folder was gone - how am I supposed to know what a "star" represents), and I have no clue where the "settings" or "properties"is.

Gargantuan mistake when I accepted the download of that upgrade!

More Bad News

To add to the good news of the week, we got our property tax bill yesterday. Somehow, between last year and this year our 2.8 acres became filled with gold nuggets. One wouldn't think that was bad news, but they seem to be invisible to the Bogie household; only visible to the tax collector.

Our piece of land somehow went from a value of around $57,000 to worth $100,000. If we had a view, I could understand it - but there is no view tax added, just an "equalization" has occurred. From what I can gather (with little research and only my gut feeling) is that "equalization" means that they brought the value of the land up to approximately twice what any sane person would pay for it.

I checked a local paper for last week; 2 acres of wooded land, in our town was selling for $44,000. 13 acres of wooded land in our town was posted for $97,000.

I have no beef with the assessment for the house - in my opinion it is fair. But damn, I wish I could find the gold nuggets that have infested the woods so that we can pay the additional $700 this adds to the tax bill (and by the way, due in less than 30 days).

At least we know that we don't have to worry about buying each other Christmas presents - this will be it!

Barrel Racing

I used to watch Charmayne and Scamper on TV. They were an amazing duo!

Kissed Off

Remember that issue that I was wondering if it was true? Well it wasn’t. I, who normally am called cynical (I call it pragmatic), got all excited about nothing. I fell hook, line and sinker for something that I should have known was too good to be true to ever happen for me.

I thought I had a chance at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I had actually been offered that opportunity. All that was left was some formalities – check out the deal a little more, meet the players, sign on the dotted line.

But, something happened, no explanation as to what it was, to erase that opportunity and it is all just ashes in my hands. I got the kiss-off letter yesterday, (politely put as a "things have unexpectedly changed" type of thing - but then they procede to explain why I will never, ever be contacted again should things change back). I am sorely disappointed and wish that I had treated this as I treat most things – with loads of skepticism.

This is the reason I don't normally dream about things; I dream and get slapped in the face. The last time I dreamed of something as simple as going on a real vacation, that got slapped down in a hurry. I can't remember ever actually dreaming about something and being able to make it happen.

• Marriage - nope, never really cared to get married, it just happened.
• House - not my dream, WS's.
• Job - something I just fell into and probably something I will never be able to get away from without screwing myself royally. There is no advanceing from here (regardless of the company I work for).
• Vacation - Only had one real one (3 whole days), and WS dreamed that - I was just the planner.

From here on out, I will stick to soft dreaming, such as about winning Megabucks - at least that is something I know will never happen, so I won't be disappointed when it does't.

Just Call me the Post Office

The Bogie mailbox seems to be the dumping ground for mail the the US postal service doesn't want to deliver.

We have gotten packages for people in other towns - amazingly, we once got a package for someone whom with I worked in a town 30 miles away (no, she didn't live 30 miles away, but I knew her thru work).

At times, on the weekend, when the mail lady was obviously exhausted, we found the remainder of our street's mail in our mailbox.

In the last year or two, we haven't really had that problem, until yesterday.

Yesterday, I got home and there was a big box on a living room chair (WS had brought it in when he got home). I was desperately trying to remember what else I had ordered; I had recently received flea collars, vitamins, and mock turtlenecks - all from different places of course. I finally decided that a family member had shipped us something and neglected to let us know in advance.

Nope, the item was from Collect*bles Etc. Then, I looked at the tag - it was for a road on the other side of town (which name had the word "Road" in common with our street name), for a completely different number, the name was nothing like ours, and, we didn't know this person. The box was one that could be tracked and had to be scanned in so that they could prove completion of delivery.

Well, the dear old USPS completed delivery alright - but I'm not sure it counts when the package gets no where close to it's destination!

I thought about putting it back in the mail, but the box was huge so it wouldn't fit in the mailbox. I wasn't sure the mail lady would pick it up if I put the package on the ground next to the mailbox, and the way the mail lady comes flying in, she could very well run the package over. And, it is supposed to rain (again), so I didn't want the box to get wet.

So, I called up KB, whom the package was addressed to, and she came over to get it. She was grateful that I had called her and I was grateful that she volunteered to pick it up instead of asking me to deliver it (I've been pet-sitting this week, so have been getting home about 6). Apparently, the mail lady is grateful that she doesn't have to deliver it to the true destination.

It is the time of year to be grateful - and I know 3 people in Deering that fit that description!