Weekend!
Flashback to late November, early December: “Dude. We need to take a vacation. We need to hit Vegas.” “Dude. We do. Put in the requests for time off in a couple of months. I’ll get the tickets.”
Now inject a blur of crises, trips to the East Coast, and checking work emails at midnight for a couple of months and wake up to find yourself saying “Wait. We need to pack. Crap. We need to go to the bank. Jeez. We need to get someone to feed the kitties…” because you realize that you’re going to Vegas this weekend.
And allow me to give the ultimate First World Problem and say something like “I’m not ready to go on vacation. I need a vacation before I go on vacation.” But dude, seriously. These last few months have been nutzo. So we got packed today and Maribou found someone to feed the kitties and I’m going to the bank tomorrow and… jeez. I need a minute to breathe.
Maybe tomorrow night.
Anyway, Saturday will be spent flying and then recuperating from the last few months with old man drinks ordered from the bar (blended) and complaining about how the Stardust is gone. Sunday will have us join up with an old friend from back when the internet was still mostly text and, for the first time, we will meet his spouse…
And, heck, while we’re there, maybe we’ll see a show. Are Donny and Marie still at the Flamingo?
So… what’s on your docket?
On the one hand, I can’t believe I will be doing *homework* in fishing Vegas. On the other hand, it will be so much nicer doing my homework in Vegas. With alcohol. And nothing else to be responsible for.Report
SNOW DAY! This entire town is shut down because something resembling snow at levels that might be generously described as the prelude to a dusting has miraculously appeared on a few surfaces. I hope everyone has enough milk and bread to last them until early afternoon! I know that when I went to the grocery store last night, the milk and bread sections were chaos.
Glad you two are getting out of town for non-work reasons (even if it’s work to get out of town, and at least one of you will be doing homework). Have fun! See a show. Always bet on black.Report
Heh, we had a bit of snow and minus 5 temps this morning, and all we got out if it was a 2 hour delay for the kids that wrecked my work plans for the morning.
It’s a nice minus 5, though. Not bad at all.Report
Same here in Houston. However, bear in mind:
Houston has basically no infrastructure for dealing with snow or ice. The ability to salt road surfaces is virtually nil. And there are a LOT of bridges and overpasses.
Being able to drive in weather below freezing — even vaguely safely — generally requires roads designed for it and properly maintained for it — which is more than just snow plows. (Also, you know, people with the right tires, and anti-freeze in their wiper fluid, etc).
Any unusual weather does that to any city. *shrug*.
Heck, I had to step carefully across my parking structure this morning because there are large sheets of ice right across where I *had* to walk to exit, because nobody really cared about leaking water from the upper floors to lower (better for it to drain out and it didn’t puddle much) but this morning? A millimeter of water was slick ice, and the building people don’t have anything to put on it to melt it — they’ve just laid down a few cones as best they can.
In Denver, I doubt that’d be a problem. 🙂Report
I’m cleaning out crap, shredding documents, etc. Need to order some sumac for kebobs.
Vegas? Really?Report
The weather has everything shut down here in Baton Rouge. There is about a 1/4 of an inch of sleet on the ground and all the bridges are shut down. The major artery through town is mostly a long bridge and since nobody around here has a clue about driving on ice it is a good thing the roads are closed.
Question for the geeks: Since we installed a router for the new Kindle the main computer won’t load some sites and I am wondering if anybody around here has any ideas about how to fix the problem. All the phones and the Kindle will load, but the computer is slow or nonperforming.Report
I presume you’ve rebooted the computer since installing the new router? If you haven’t and the computer is getting his IP via DHCP there could be a conflict. And I presume the computer is using a wired connection? If so, try using a different cable or a different switch port on the router. Also, check the DNS settings on the router and make sure you’ve got the correct IP’s in there for your ISP’s DNS servers (or google’s DNS servers if that’s how you roll). Make sure your router is supplying DNS as well as an IP if you are indeed using DHCP. And finally (though this probably has nothing to do with your connectivity issues), make sure your DHCP lease time isn’t too short. Set your lease time to something like 86400 (24 hours) or you’ll get interruptions in service while your device’s IP gets renewed.Report
Fish, Thanks for the reply. I just wish I understood what you said. We turn off the computer when we go to bed so it is rebooted daily. I changed the splitter with a hi-def one. I have changed ports on the router and turned it off and then back on. The thing is that it works sometimes and then it won’t. I think it has to do with bandwidth. Sometimes it won’t load you tube or my crossword puzzles and then it will. I wish it was one of those things that won’t work and you replace something and it still won’t work and you fix something and then, viola, it works.Report
But I would think that if it were a bandwidth problem, you’d see the same behavior across all your devices and not just the computer. Do you have another Cat 5 cable? That’s the cable connecting your computer to the router(provided it is not also wireless…). They do occasionally fail or get damaged, especially when equipment gets moved about. Trying a different cable would be a quick and easy test.Report
Vegas? You guys are so money.
Birthday party for The Boy and his cousin, complete with dinosaur piñata and dinosaur cake.
Dinosaur.Report
So you got a Dinosaur for Jr.?Report
You laugh, but he was so impressed by my old holey purple Dino Jr. t-shirt (long since relegated to housepaint/yardwork duties) that he got me a new one for my birthday (he told my wife I needed a new one, and they found one online together). It’s still got the classic cow graphic/green font on the front, but the gorilla on the back is sadly absent. AND he’s decided that purple is now his favorite color.
What’s better than that, you may ask?
He’s also decided that he really likes the Velvets’ “What Goes On” – I keep catching him singing the chorus when he thinks he’s alone, and he asked my wife to put it on in the car.
There are (many, MANY) times that he drives me completely bonkers; but that’s only because he’s obviously my boy.Report
That’s so very awesome.Report
It is.Report
No big plans this weekend beyond the usual housework and shopping. I am planning to try some LOTR LCG solo play. I have not had a good opportunity to play in a while, and I have been itching to get back to it. I am also working on gathering people so I can get a regular gaming group going again. A few coworkers are interested, so hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be back in business.Report
And how could I forget? This Sunday is the Royal Rumble.Report
ALREADY???
Jeez. Maybe there’s a blast zone in Vegas…Report
I have to finish a syllabus so it can get through the approval process in time for me to offer it for next fall (with registration just a few weeks away, and the set structure of meeting of the committes it has to go through, I’m really under the gun); do a shizzload of work on a PITA department review, ref a swim meet, and do my final edits on something for the OT. And I’m really sleep deprived right now, which means I’m doing nothing very well.
Sorry; sometimes I just need to bitch a bit. But at least I get to a college hockey game tonight–we’re ranked first in the country and are undefeated. Last weekend bith games went into overtime, with a tie and a win. Fun times.Report
Tonight, a boardgame night early in the evening, a house concert later on. Tomorrow, a friend’s birthday party that I’m not exactly sure where it is.
We’re getting more warmth than we’re used to at this time of year – January is apparently going through a phase in which it’s trying to be a Spring month. A month ago there was no fooling 18 inches of snow on the ground, and now everything’s melting. The snow on the side streets has melted and refrozen so many times it’s down to an inch or two of extremely bumpy ice with puddles on it.Report
Austin and Baton Rouge are shut down? How cute. 🙂
I was going to go shopping today, but Clancy needed the free car (the other one is buried in snow) so it’s going to have to wait.
My sisters-in-law are coming to town. Which means that I will have a little more baby-free time. It also means I’m going to be spending a fair amount of today trying to clear things from the basement.
Also, I shaved my beard, which means going outside will be less comfortable this weekend.Report
I shaved my beard
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOReport
Funny. That’s exactly what my wife said.Report
Will has resigned from the brotherhood. We must all turn our backs and shun him.Report
I poured out a forty.Report
Will, Louisianaians know as much about driving on ice as Alaskans know about trapping alligators.Report
I would have greater ease of mind for the safety of all at an Alaskan attempting gator-capture than a Louisianan attempting automobile ice-ballet.Report
Amos Moses Goes To Alaska sounds like a fun movie. Somebody would need to come up with a plot involving Ice Gators or something.Report
Ice Gators? Well, I lived in Montana a couple years and there were jokes about “snow snakes” –they were white, fur-bearing and blended into the snowscape of the ski runs.
If a skier suddenly biffed on an otherwise clear looking run, it was probably because they strayed to close to a well camouflaged snow-snake, which defensively struck out and caught the ski-edge, thereby causing the aforementioned biff. It was also a good reason to sample the distillers’ art between runs as prophylaxis in the event of a possible snow-snake bite.Report
I think Austin had a 100+ car accidents just from ice last night. Texas drivers don’t get a lot of practice, and the local transport departments aren’t exactly drowing in road salt and crews.Report
200+ by 10 am this morning.Report
Well, yesterday was my birthday, so the wife will be taking me to dinner at this steakhouse:
http://buckhornsteakhouse.com/
This place has it’s own butcher!
Other than that, just Aaroning around town.Report
That place is great.Report
Happy birthday, aaron!Report
Happy birthday!Report
Yeah dude, happy birthday!Report
Thank you all!Report
Mrs. Likko and I both have a touch of cabin fever and can’t wait until next month’s scheduled trip to visit family for a bit of the get-out-of-town-for-a-change-of-scenery. And it’s still unseasonably warm although not quite so warm as it was last week; and since we have a drought going on it’s pretty much guaranteed not to rain. So we’re casting about for day trip ideas.Report
we’re casting about for day trip ideas.
Bakersfield! Or if you can’t handle that much excitement, maybe a cruise up to the Sierra?Report
So we’re casting about for day trip ideas.
As someone who shares his “cabin” with 3 small children, two dogs, and workmen that somehow never seem to complete the work; and for whom concepts like “a scheduled trip to visit family for a bit of the get-out-of-town-for-a-change-of-scenery” or “day trip” are currently nothing more than idle daydreams, dangled in front of him like a Renaissance Fair turkey leg in the face of a bedraggled shipwreck victim; may I suggest STRAIGHT TO HELL?Report
workmen that somehow never seem to complete the work;
You could be like me and never complete the work yourself, at much lower cost.Report
I prefer to never start the work in the first place. It is also helpful to train the wife that handy and man are not words i string together to describe myself. You really only have to badly break a couple things before you don’t even get asked to be handy or fix stuff.Report
greg, based on the Red Green Show, I have to assume you’re handsome.Report
Oh man, I used to love the Red Green Show!Report
I might be handsome or my wife might have bad eyesight. Really either one will do.Report
Well, you’ll feel better, @glyph , knowing that we decided to save our pennies instead. And I have procrastinated too long on a tedious job at work. (See my most recent mini-post.)
So now it looks like it’s going to be auditing last month’s billing records instead of eucalyptus-oil massages and seafood bruschetta in Santa Barbara.Report
The only place down that way I can stand for any length of time is Balboa Island.Report
Burt, may I suggest the Fresno Underground Gardens?
http://www.forestiere-historicalcenter.com/
They are quite nice (even makes it worth it to head to Fresno.)Report
Next time I am in or going through Fresno, I will make time to check this out!Report
Ice Box Canyon is a great hike in the Red Rocks area just a 30 minutes away from the strip. Beautiful canyon hike with only a tiny bit of scrambling. Vegas baby. It has better hiking then people realize.Report
😀 What with the monorail, I will probably have trouble getting Jay to go outside, even. But it sounds lovely.Report
Bleargh. Kitty had jury duty today, she got called on the last day. She’s downtown. I’m on kid pickup patrol, leaving work early. I coach basketball tonight, I have to set my roster. Tomorrow is picture day for both Jack/my team and Hannah’s team, so everybody needs to be early and nobody will have the forms filled out and checks will be forgotten and then I have to coach and then I have to ref. I’m organizing bulk purchases of emergency water barrels so I have 14 checks to collect and swap for two checks so that I can go see the guys at the vendor and get the next order in. I made the necessary mistake of offering delivery so I need to borrow a truck and pick up for of those barrels and deliver them. Sunday one of the kids has a birthday party to go to, I don’t know which one. I still have to go to the lumber store and pick up a sheet of maple to make Jack’s desk top. A guy is passed out at the pool table to my right! THERE’S A FLY ON THE MONEY BOX!!!
At least Monday’s Babylonia is done. I got that. Horray me.Report
You got this.Report