AW, Cats Are GOOD For You!

In today's Kansas City Star:

According to a study by the American Stroke Association, non-cat owners appear to have a 40 percent higher risk of dying from a heart attack than cat owners. They don't know if there is a correlation between cat ownership and heart health or not, if there is a correlation between the health practices of cat owners vs. non-cat owners, or what the connection is.

Maybe it's the purring.

Various and Sundry Items ....

Sigh ... it's the middle of March here in the 'ville, and winter is still sticking around for a little while longer. Lauren (aka Cheshirewoodgie) is feeling a little bit tummy-ish this evening after lunch at the local Italian restaurant (the food was as excellent as always, but there may have been a bit too much garlic in the oil which came with the excellent bread rolls, so she's sacked out early). It's okay; she needs the rest, especially after the road trip down to Savannah (MO) to pick up a couple of rotten hay bales she picked up off of Freecycle in order to do some root gardening.

We also looked at a nice house which is up for sale near Savannah, as we've been discussing what to do in the long-term for housing space. We've both realized that when Lauren bought our house, she didn't have concerns about the amount of living space: she was the only person living in it, and she had 3 cats, one of whom was an outdoor cat that spent a lot of her days outside. Now that I've moved in with my stuff, we've realized that it's cozy, and certainly comfortable for the most part (thanks to the house's amazing TARDIS-like qualities), but we're a little cramped in a few ways with two people and four indoor cats, we're short on storage space, feeling the pinch of a small kitchen, and wishing that we had more space for hobbies or additional bedroom space so we could put family up on visits. I think we both looked at the situation and realized that while a move to the house we were looking at would save me a half hour each way (or an hour a day) on the commute, the prospect of owning a 5-bedroom, 4-bath house is a bit daunting. So now we're making up a list of things we'd like to do to this house in terms of expansion (now if we only had the money!)

Meanwhile, Lauren's back to bed now, and that leaves me with a little time this evening to blog. A few highlights from the last couple of weeks going into April:

1. I finished my semi-annual review (my first) at my new job. The managers are pretty pleased with me so far, and it looks promising from here. As I noted to Cheshirewoodgie, I'm VERY relieved to get past this milestone.
2. It's banquet season at the college. Last Wednesday was the faculty HR banquet, with tenure awards. Cheshirewoodgie got a very nice ice cream and cake spoon and turner set with the Northwest logo (it's apparently a standard) for 10 years of service. Tomorrow afternoon, one of the sororities has put her up for a teaching award, and there is a reception after church for this. Then Wednesday, it's the departmental banquet. In addition, there were two annual student dinners: the annual international student banquet and the annual foreign language department/club banquet. Then today, we discovered that Lauren has won another service award, the Tower Award that has eluded her for the last few years, so we'll have yet another banquet on April 1st when she is presented with that. The challenge through all of this? Enjoying the food without letting it go to our waists.
   
3. We're heading into the last month of the Spring semester, and by mid-May, Lauren will probably be recuperating from what that entails, including finals week. And then the road-trips begin.
   

Green Things! (Another Cheshirekitty post)

Today, I saw the first signs of spring in the yard. It was 60 degrees out, so I decided after work to do a couple early spring tasks: pumping the nasty water out of the mini-pond where I managed to freeze my fishies last winter, and clearing some stuff off the herb garden to see what grew there.

The first thing I did to the pond was pull off the remaining ice, and then I scooped out the four dead shubunkin and one dead frog that were floating on the top. (Resolution: Place the pond warmer BEFORE four inches of ice have formed on the pond.) Then I ran the pump unattached to the filter until there's only about two inches of mud and leaves and brackish water at the bottom. That will be sucked out sometime in the next two weeks with a shop vac, and the algae that has grown on the pump will be removed.

While pumping the water out, I noticed that the watercress in the "stream" (external filter output spilling back into the mini-pond) was beginning to wake up -- and there's so much of it, and so much root mass, that you can no longer see the EPDM rubber that makes up the stream. The stream will be full of watercress and some Vietnamese coriander, and there will be a floating pot of water spinach in the pond itself. I also want to try growing some chufa (tiger nut or rush nut) -- although it's supposedly good food for wildlife, what I'm trying for is a crop of tiger nuts to make Spanish horchata (orxata in Catalan) with. Mexican rice horchata is NOT the same. Not at all the same.

I then went to the herb garden. Tarragon, oregano and curly mint are starting to wake up, as are the salad burnets. I discovered that I had missed transplanting some baby saffron crocus corms, and moved the little grassy-topped bulblets closer to the porch so they'd survive worse winters than this one (they're zone 6, but growing close to the house on the south side). The thymes and even the hyssop seem to have survived the winter; it's too early to call on the sage. I expect all the mints (contained in root-binding pots, of course) to survive, and the Profusion sorrel is coming up yet again -- it's come up during every warm patch only to get frostbitten and wither back.

Kittens! Kittens!

No, we don't have any new kittens. With four cats in the house, any more kittens would put me into the category of "Crazy old cat lady". But the Gingerkitty keeps sending me pics of every cat offered on Cerner Ebay.

So, to satisfy his kitty cravings, I found the following weblog:
Itty-bitty Kitty Committee. It's enough to satisfy anyone's cute floofy kitten cravings.

We Just Had to Laugh at This One

Last night, I was following a web link off a food blog, and ran into this site:

http://stupidweddingcrap.com/

Needless to say, we were both laughing, in between wondering why we hadn't found the site last year for our own wedding (hint: the ATV bride and groom cake topper was a hoot).

Not Much of Anything Going On ...

Looking back on the last couple of posts, you're probably thinking: "don't these people do ANYTHING?" To be honest, there have been a couple of things getting in the way of that as of late:

1. Both of us are working now: last year about this time, we had time to go do things, because despite the effort involved in getting ready for the wedding, we had time to go do things as I wasn't employed until April, and even after that, my shift work ended at 3, meaning I could rest after work, clean up, and we still had most of an evening left if we wanted to go somewhere. Now, I'm lucky if I get home between 6:30 and 7:00, so the commute means that I not only have less time to do things, but I have even less time to blog than usual.

2. The weather: I hate to admit it, but I used to love winter. Last year wasn't that bad, and despite the zinger of a late frost that almost killed off Lauren's roses and a lot of our outdoor plants and trees, we were still able to start gardening by now. After this past winter, with two ice storms, one of which about finished off our lawn, and more below zero days than I can count, my love of the season has greatly diminished. Now, I'd say that I like fall better.

Today has been a good change of pace. Due to the weather and the roads, I worked from home, which means I'm now home and comfy on the couch (with the kittehs all curled up next to me) at the decent hour of 5:00 rather than the usual, where I would just now be leaving KC with a near-2 hour commute ahead of me. EDIT: Now it's a little later, and Lauren has joined me, but she's feeling a little bit wug, so she's heading back to bed.

That now leaves me time to actually surf the interwebs and write a blog post.

Happy Birthday To You! And Other Events ....

Okay, we know that we haven't posted in a long while, but it's been pretty crazy-busy, between work (mid-term time for Lauren), and work (ramp-up to being productive after training). Between dodging the winter weather and bad drivers, it's been a challenge simply getting up in the morning to make the near-2 hour commute down to KC and back. But it's been worth it; the new job is going wonderfully, and it's nice to finally be with a company that appreciates my skills.

So, in the meantime, what's happening with us? Well, we're planning to travel and simply do things, because March will bring with it our one year wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that a year ago, we were ramping up to March 17th, planning, sending invites, picking colors, setting up the hotel and venues. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.

Anyway, we're not going very far, unlike a certain fellow friend and blogger who is going to India for 3 weeks. No, our trips will be a bit shorter this year: in April, we are looking at a weekend trip to Kirksville, MO for an SCA event (we're not members, but we thought it sounded cool to go to, so we're going), and then in May, we plan on heading up to Illinois around Memorial Day, where we'll do an outdoor memorial (now that it's warmer) for Pat, Lauren's mom. Somewhere in there, we hope to spend a weekend in KC to celebrate our anniversary.

Finally, in July, we are planning to go out to Blacksburg, VA, as a longtime friend of Lauren's is celebrating her 60th birthday and possibly (she should know by then) getting tenure from Virginia Tech, her current college. That will mean a trip out and back; due to the smaller size of the nearest airport at Roanoke, 3/4ths of it will be on regional jet (cramped, but reasonably priced). Still, it will be worth it; we hope to do some historical sightseeing and some local winery research, as well as the birthday and tenure celebration.

Speaking of birthdays, it was almost a year ago that we adopted Snowball, following the demise of Kitty. Here's a pic taken the day after we adopted her:










She has grown considerably, so we thought we would post a picture of her now:















The concensus is that she's a little odd looking in some ways, but she's still the sweetest kitteh we've owned in a long time.

Okay, So I'm a Little Disappointed ....

Given the announcement a couple of days ago that, in the reshuffling of release dates following the writer's strike resolution, Paramount has pushed back the release date for the next Star Trek movie to May of 2009, rather than Christmas of this year, it means one less movie to look forward to, and it is a little disappointing.

However, I am hoping that with the writer's strike resolved, that this means Abrams will have extra time for polish, (including updating any potential rough spots with the script, more time for VFX, and more time in the editing bays), so that the movie has a better chance of succeeding at the box office.

And I also hope that this means we will get a final last half of the season for Battlestar Galactica, and a well thought-out end to the series as well.

Still, there is still a lot to look forward to this year. Earlier this week, I was able to catch the just-released trailer for Indiana Jones 4, and it looks great (although it is disconcerting to see Ford as Indy at the actor's current age). Oh well ... to quote Indy from the original Raiders: "It's not the years, it's the mileage."

Chocolate Festival

Today marked an annual Maryville tradition. As a fundraiser for the local Presbyterian Church's food kitchen, the women of the church put on a chocolate festival right before Valentine's Day. In the week before it, they make enough chocolate to rival Willy Wonka, producing everything from cakes to pies to chocolate covered cherries to brownies to cookies ... you name it, they have it for sale.

For a donation, you can also sample plated samples of their wares, as well as hot chocolate, chocolate-flavored coffee, chocolate-flavored tea (this year a chocolate raspberry combination), and, of course, melty chocolate from a chocolate fountain.

Quick Restaurant Note

Tonight we had dinner at Napoli's, a new Italian restaurant in town that replaced two former Mexican restaurants (and before it, a Country Kitchen) in the location adjoining the local Comfort Inn. Since it opened, the parking lot has been packed, so I convinced Lauren that we ought to try it out.

What we found was a place that serves very reasonably priced, very authentic Italian cuisine. Lauren had the Chicken Lemon (kind of like a Chicken Piccata), while I had their "works" spaghetti: meatballs, mushrooms, meat sauce, and Italian sausage (which also provided the seasoning). That was topped off with a stuffed dessert cannoli cream, which we split.

As I remarked to my wife as we left, "now if we could only get a decent Indian restaurant in town, we'd be in great shape" (Fuji, in St. Joseph, covers Japanese cuisine pretty well).

It's Nice to Know Even the Forecaster Can Be Wrong ....

We weren't supposed to get snow today ... mostly freezing fog. However, the conditions have changed enough that we're getting snow this afternoon. Unlike most of the snow we've gotten so far this winter, which has been of the "small flakes or small flakes mixed with freezing precipitation" variety, we've been getting big, fluffy flakes of of the winter wonderland variety instead.

It's almost enough to make me like winter again.

Strange Dreams, etc.

Sorry about the lack of recent posting, but the last couple of days have been rather hectic for both of us. Monday found Lauren headed to Jefferson City with two busloads of students for Child Advocacy Day at the Missouri Statehouse. Although we hadn't planned on it, the timing was such that the bus dropped her off at Hazel's, a longtime independent coffeeshop in St. Joe, and I was able to leave work, head up to St. Joe, and pick her up to take her to dinner that evening.

The remainder of the week went by rather rapidly, or at least it's gone that way because of the below zero wind-chills, which have done much to encourage getting home as quickly as possible and making one's way straight to bed. Of course, that gets interesting when you start having strange dreams: in my case, one night I'd concocted a mash-up of Battlestar Galactica and Enterprise, with a harried Trip Tucker being chased by a determined Caprica Six. Utterly strange. And Lauren's been having some strange dreams, too. Those I blame on the NyQuil she's been taking. I'm not sure where mine came from.

This week's also been a bit of a cooking week: with the temperatures encouraging us to stay indoors, I've been finding the time to cook a bit. Wednesday night, I made a West African soup-inspired peanut curry recipe I found off one of my favorite recipe websites, the Simply Recipes! blog, which was an instant hit with Lauren (hey, it had curry, it had cilantro, it had mint, and it had creamy peanut butter ... what wasn't there not to like?).

On Friday, the development team I sit with held yet another potluck. I've been with them a little over two months, and they've had two potlucks and one team dinner for the holiday. These are my kind of software developers.

Friday's potluck was the "Security Siesta", so named because the team I work for supports the security side of the software the company sells, the theme for the potluck was Mexican, and because it would be a break from work. Yours truly brought Chicken Mole ... a bit of chocolaty-BBQ sauced goodness made quite easy with the crockpot. I cooked the chicken the night before, then got up early to shred the chicken in the morning and mix in the mole sauce (okay, I confess, I cheated ... rather than do a scratch mole sauce, I used Dona Ana's pre-made sauce, except I livened it up a bit with some extra cocoa (Hershey's Dark), a little bit of creamy peanut butter, and some Splenda to cut the edge on the sauce.) It was received pretty well; I had exactly 1 bowl left afterward, which became Lauren's dinner Friday evening.

This morning found us getting a break from the cold weather (finally!), and it was a good day for sleeping in. Lauren's been feeling a little bit under the weather due to that cold, but it had warmed up enough this morning that we could scatter seeds for the side garden, after which I realized it had thawed enough outside that I could do another raking of branches (from the ice storm), and sawdust (from the tree we had to have removed following the ice storm). The lawn's not 100 percent back to where it was (we still have to replace the trellis that the drunk driver took out), but all in all, the lawn's looking a bit better than it was before Christmas.

Lauren also put out new seedlings in the phonebooth-sized greenhouse she keeps out on the back porch. After that, she headed back to bed, which is where I will likely go here shortly ... we'll both need to be in good shape to watch the game tomorrow (well, at least I'll be watching the game ... Lauren will be watching it for the commercials). I must admit, we're going for the "reasonably healthy" for game-day snacks: buffalo wings with fat-free blue cheese dressing and guacamole accompanied by multi-grain tortilla chips for snacking. I might even be tempted to pull out a pack of chicken-spinach sausages to grill on the George Foreman in lieu of the usual brats.

And Of Course, This Really Has Me Pumped ....

Being a Star Trek fan, this image gives me hope that after the dismal outings of the last two movie treks and the "didn't quite get there until the end" meh-ness that was Enterprise, that JJ Abrams will get this one right, and provide the franchise a sorely-needed kick start.

Next December can't quite come soon enough for me. Well, to be honest, all of this year can't quite come soon enough, because by then:

1. Battlestar Galactica Season 3 will finally come out on DVD (in March) here in the States.
2. BSG Season 4 (part 1) will finally show up (and come back to Friday nights, after Sci-Fi realized its mistake in moving it to late Sunday nights).
3. The 4th Indiana Jones movie will make it to theaters in May (May 22nd).
4. The next Harry Potter movie installment is set to come out in November.

It's nice to have good reasons to go back to the theater and to watch the Sci-Fi Channel on Friday nights again.

OMG, Not AGAIN!!!!

To say that this week has been "interesting" to say the least, is to do the classic Chinese quote on the subject some justice.

Life is getting back to normal after Monday. Realize that I've only been at my new job since late October/early November. Realize also that I've also been through a long stretch where I went unemployed for about a year, living on unemployment insurance and my severance package from my last company. So, when I got into work on Monday morning and checked my e-mail, only to realize that we were going through a company-wide "right-sizing" effort, that cold icy ball o' fear that my job was on the chopping block materialized.

My team's meeting was late that afternoon, so I had the whole day to focus, to think about what-ifs. I knew that I had a job to fall back on, should the worst come to the worst. But still, it was hard to focus on work.

Suffice it to say that the worst fears weren't realized, I am still employed, and I'm still enjoying the benefit of being able to work from home, as I did today due to the winter roads.

But as I told my teammates: "this time, we dodged a bullet. Next time, I don't want to even be near it."

Back to Work amid the Bleakness (Cheshirekitty speaks)

I know, I know -- I am just so spoiled working in academia. While Richard got only a few days at Christmas (some of them bereavement leave from my mom's death), I have been off work from about the 20th of December until tomorrow -- almost 3 weeks. On the other hand, end-of-semester is usually insane enough that I NEED at least two weeks to recover. This year, the extra time was welcome because it gave me a little more peace to process my mom's death.

Spring semester's arrival isn't as momentous as the beginning of the school year in Fall. There are fewer rituals -- although we have a campus-wide meeting on Friday (just as we did at the beginning of Fall semester), we don't have events like the President's lawn party at Gaunt House. Add that to the fact that Fall semester ends with the whirl of campus Christmas events, and the beginning of Spring semester seems like an afterthought.

Spring semester comes in like a lamb, and will (like many Springs) go out like a lion. With extensive planning for the annual department banquet, coordinating the Department centennial, and serving on a search committee to replace our department chair, in addition to the usual teaching/research/service components of my job, it will be a crazy-busy semester.

Guess I needed that three-week break after all!

Happy New Year!

Hi all,

It's 2008. It's cold outside (7 degrees now, low of 3). And the New Year's project (housecleaning and sorting/disposal for things we no longer need) is almost done.

But first, a thank you to those of you who have read the blog (Lauren's friends from CalorieKing, Anne in Colorado, Martha in Phoenix, the Larcoms, and also the Knoll's (Linda and JT)) and who have sent cards or e-mails and left condolences. It was a very stressful, very bittersweet holiday for both Cheshirekitty and myself due to her mom's passing, but in retrospect, there were some small blessings in that her mom didn't suffer very long and that remembering her brought a small miracle to the family: an estranged family member (a sister's son who hadn't talked to his parents in 13 years), came to the memorial service on Thursday evening. We hope that it's the start of a reconciliation for them.

Despite the loss, we did still manage to have a little bit of Christmas while we were in Illinois. After leaving early on Friday to beat the oncoming winter storm (and driving through heavy fog until the last 30 miles of the trip), we made it to the bed and breakfast we were staying at, the Brightwood Inn, in Utica, IL. While there, we enjoyed the hospitality of our hosts, John (Jack) and Jo Ryan, and quite possibly some of the best breakfasts we've had in awhile, including a sublime herb-laced cheese omelet, a breakfast casserole, and a breakfast strata, all accompanied by fresh bacon or sausage, juices, pumpkin bread or scratch coffeecake, as well as grapefruit and chilled fruit salads. They also kept the cookie jar in the library well-stocked with Christmas cookies, too. We're hoping to stay there again for the holidays next year as well (if anything, we like the instant comfort of gas fireplaces, and maybe next year, we'll be able to afford a room with a hot tub).

Christmas Day we spent with the family at the house in Marseilles, where we swapped presents, snacked on breads (more pumpkin loaf plus a scratch gingerbread loaf we had bought from an organic-themed bakery-goods shop in Utica), and drank some of Dad's very good plum wine. Cheshirekitty got a very nice cat-themed photolocket from me and a powered wine de-corker (as well as the copy of the Heroes hardcover comic which I let her open early), as well as a power drill (her old one had died back in October), a set of serving dishes, a "fat" cat penny bank, and a set of "caroling kitties". Meanwhile, I got a nice knife sharpener, as well as Dr. Who (NuWho) Series 1 on DVD, which we've been wanting for awhile now. I also got the special (pre-edited and enhanced) versions of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which completes our collection there.

But on to New Years: Cheshirekitty has this little thing called "project obsession". When she wants to do something or get something done, she will keep working until it is done. This usually manifests itself as a New Year's project. Last year's project was building and installing a closet insert, so we would have more room to hang and store clothes. This year's project involved the purchase of a new, larger clothes dresser armoire (made possible by a very good sale at the local furniture store), the purchase and installation of a hanging jewelry armoire, the removal of furniture no longer needed (the old dresser and old standing jewelry armoire), and the disposition of a bunch of old clothes and items no longer needed.

Afterward, we headed out to A&G for dinner, and then settled in to await the New Year accompanied by Irish Coffee, chips and cheese dip to snack on, and a NYE toast over a little more Adam Puchta port which we purchased while on our honeymoon.

Rest in Peace (Cheshirekitty speaks)

Yesterday, my mother, Patricia Leach, died at age 77 from complications from metastatic cancer. She had only been diagnosed three weeks before that, as the result of an arm fracture that did not heal. Had the doctors noted the small tumor that had caused the fracture three months ago, this story might have been somewhat different, but her lifespan may not have been prolonged by much, given the spread of the cancer at the time of detection.

My mother would have liked to have been well for Christmas, I think. Christmas was always one of her favorite holidays, and even though she could not decorate this year, my dad decked the halls for her. She had planned on wearing a grey robe with some of her favorite vintage Christmas pins on it. Her last words to my husband and I in the hospital were, "You go and enjoy yourselves."

Mom liked to refer to herself as a magpie, given her penchant for collecting pretty things -- vintage jewelry, small metal jewelry boxes, Art Nouveau busts, antique furniture. She and I bonded over fantasy art and cooking. She had overcome being the child of an indifferent cook by collecting an extensive repertoire of cookbooks and experimenting with recipes -- often more exotic than her upbringing had dictated. On the other hand, her family recipe for pineapple upside-down cake, made in a skillet, was one of her favorites.

I always admired my mother's ability to talk to just about anyone. She worked as an assistant personal tax assessor, desk clerk, and Census Bureau interviewer over her lifetime, and her skill of connecting to people served her well. She gave me her secret to this talent years ago: "Remember that you have something to learn from everyone you meet, whether it be a janitor or a politician." She once asked for a hug from Jeff Smith (the Frugal Gourmet) upon running into him on a Chicago street.

Mom could not be described as a tranquil person. She was at times flamboyant, at times frustrating, but never lukewarm. She sometimes had trouble moderating her emotions, as if there was just too many of them to bear. However, in the last couple weeks of her life, she had resolved her conflicts with the religion of her childhood and had exhibited a rare serenity. As it turns out, she had simply tackled the business of dying with as much impatience and drive as she had approached her hobbies and artistic endeavors throughout life. Mom never liked to be a beginner at anything.

Rest in Peace, Mom. If there is a Heaven, you are now decorating a corner of it with great aplomb, and none of the ravages of age are in your way.

My mother's obituary can be found here.

Quiet Saturday

Been a quiet Saturday here this weekend:

1. Earlier this afternoon, we watched the NCAA Division II playoffs, where once again, the Bearcats struck out. Great season, but we were just outplayed. Oh well, there's always next year. And as my wife pointed out, as much as we love our Bearcats, "it's just a game".

2. With both the exterior and interior work done on the house following the drunk driver incident, we were finally able to put the living room to rights and also put up the living room Christmas tree (aka, the "kitty tree", since it has kitty-themed ornaments). We also put up our stockings (not by the fireplace, since we don't have one of those). However, "hung from the bookcase with care" is pretty close though, and we also put up the "Leon" from last year ... pictures later.

3. The "light snow" they were predicting for today came and stayed ... rather than 1 or 2 inches as forecast, instead we got about 5-6 inches. Winter wonderland, hah! Fortunately, we're snug and toasty indoors, with the base for another round of scratch chicken noodle soup cooking in the Crockpot.

Holding Out Despite the Weather ... And a Few Random Notes

Hi all,

Since the last post, we're surviving nicely through the ice storm and now the snowfall of this weekend. Given that we only lost power on Tuesday morning, we are counting ourselves very fortunate, given the number of people here in town or who live out in the country who are still without power. Since we have power, we're actually helping our next door neighbor out by keeping their deep freeze running (with a very long extension cord run across the street, which until earlier this afternoon, had been blocked off due to the telephone pole shown in the last post). Fortunately, the city came by, pulled the old pole, and reset a new one. However, they didn't re-attach our phone wire ... we're waiting on that from Embarq, and that may take weeks.

The cleanup around town is beginning; a lot of trees were damaged, including ones on campus (which is significant because the campus also doubles as the state arboretum), and our backyard is full of fallen limbs (none of which hit the garage ... darn!). Odds are, we're going to have to hire somebody to chainsaw the debris and load it onto a trailer to take to a collection site ... we're holding off on that until we can find someone who will charge a reasonable fee: the last person we checked with was charging $200.00 a trailerload. We hope that after a week or so, prices will go down.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that my web browser stays open so I can finish this post. I recently upgraded to Firefox 2.0.11, and while Firefox has usually been a stable browser in the past, 2.0.11 seems to want to crash if I even sneeze wrong. Not sure what's up, but it's almost making me want to go back to using IE7 (and if anything, that should tell you how serious the problem is, since I swore off using IE years ago due to pop-up and malware vulnerabilities).

Come on, Mozilla ... you've had a good product, but this one appears to be a stinker. Get it fixed!

EDIT: The Embarq guys showed up Sat. morning to finish redoing the pole. And we were without power for about 20 minutes while the Aquila crews restored power to the rest of the neighborhood.

Sure Enough ....

Sure enough, the storm did hit, and we lost power right at 6:00. By 8:00, we had branches down. By 9:00, we had a telephone pole down and hanging over Edwards against the phone wires on the other side of the street. By 11:00, we were down to just my Treo to connect us with the outside world; our Internet service was out with the power and Lauren's cell service was out as well. Fortunately, the power came back after lunch, so I've been able to do some work apart from reviewing CBT notes for work.

Pics are above: the first two are of the back yard and show the downed branches and the telephone pole. The third is of the front showing the ice coating.