I've never been a big astrology follower. I guess that, like Neo from the movie The Matrix, I like to think that I get to make my own decisions in life - from the people I choose to associate with, to the lifestyle that I live, to the pills (red or blue) that I ingest (or not). However, I must admit that there have been times when I have read my horoscope and found uncanny coincidences to what is happening in my life. How can this be explained? Is it simply coincidence?  read more »

The laptop is at it again. This morning I had to plug/unplug the power cord five or six times to get it to recognize that it wasn't running on battery power. As much as I like the convenience and portability of a laptop, when compared to desktop systems, I wish that some company out there would make them a bit more modular like a desktop. I'm talking solder-less plug-and-swap connections for nearly every bit of hardware. Just like my old desktop - if the power connection went bad, I simply bought a new power supply.  read more »

Today I didn't feel like making lunch for the kids. They had just attended a movie presentation at the local library, while I was deep in a book, and as we were leaving, my mind was telepathically doing an inventory of what was waiting at home in the fridge for us. Ham, cheese, tuna salad; a single microwave turkey meal that nobody wants to eat but will probably end up in my belly on a day when we run out of real food and ramen; salad?  read more »

I've been thinking recently about the relationship that we have with our homes, and how things change the moment you realize that you are not going to be staying in one for much longer. Or at least, the moment that you *think* you will be selling your house soon. It's interesting how your hopes and dreams for making a house feel more like home go away once you realize that you're selling it. All of those neat (and costly) home improvement projects quickly get shelved (unless they're not too costly and would increase the value of the home enough).  read more »

As of today, the year 2009 is officially half over. Unbelievable! As a child, I never believed my parents when they would tell me how "fast" I was growing up. For me, the days seemed very slow and certain engagements such as high school could never move too fast. Now that I'm on the other end of the coin, I understand what my parents were getting at, and I find myself in the same position.  read more »

Choosymom's laptop has been giving me a little bit of trouble lately. The power connection is apparently loose or something, as every now and then the screen goes dim as if it was running on battery power, and I find that I have to wiggle the power cord connection a bit to get it back on AC power. It's frustrating, and after doing a bit of research I have discovered that this is a fairly common problem on cheaper model laptops.  read more »