i believe

... in baseball, hammocks, volunteering,  neighborhoods, amateur boxing, front porches, rainstorms, family farms, the smell of babies heads, flannel sheets, county fairs, frozen Girl Scout cookies, cloth napkins, funky rain boots, carrying cash, baskets on bikes, 4-H projects, cousins, music, vacations, technology, Irish whiskey, working hard, laughing until you snort, Twizzlers, movies, friendship, Nancy Drew, public radio, a good haircut, naps, thank you notes and supporting independent repair shops. 

I'm rethinking the last one. 

[this post was typed with my thumbs on my iPhone]

a wee bit of ireland

I had my computer over the weekend. It was enough time to write my column and plug in to the Newsstand's DSL line to extract some photographs. Hopefully I'll get full custody by tomorrow.

You can read about the musical portion of the trip here: click.

You can see photographs of street musicians here: click.

Work as been tough, and I made the commitment to myself to not noodle around on the computer during the work day. We'll call the the five minutes I spent writing this my union break (learned that from Dad).

Crabbydad update: all tests were negative. Woo Hoo!

still here...

...and hanging on by a thread.

I do have my computer back, but still waiting on the part to fix the wireless connection. I'm a big cheerleader of mom and pop stores and make an effort to put my money where my mouth is. A drawback to independently owned shops is that is the owner gets sick nothing gets done. I did take time this last weekend to edit Ireland photographs and start writing about the trip. Hopefully I'll be able to transfer all of that to the blog soon.

Work has been frustrating. That is all I'm going to say.

I hope to be able to sit on my sofa and catch up on my blog reading circut soon. I knew that I was out of the loop when my family was talking about Jerry's latest post at Easter Brunch.

Keep Crabbydad in your thoughts.

Cheers!

withdrawl

Hi, My name is Nora and I'm addicted to my iBook.

Denial, prayers, weeping and ignoring the problem didn't work. The computer did not make a miraculous recovery. I dropped it off yesterday at the place that Heck of a Gal and my sister recommended.

I felt good when I walked in to the shop. Of course, how can you not cheer up surrounded by all of the Apple-y goodness? The official Apple store at the mall has a frentic hipness that makes me a little nervous.

The owner of the shop peeked under the keyboard and said he'd need to take it apart (the airport the model of my G4iBook is built in) and he could look at it on Monday. Great, I took my copy of the reciept and headed out the door.

Then my little brain started screaming "it's Thursday, Thursday- get it? Thursday! You'll be without the computer all weekend. Take it with you, take it with you. Bring it back on Monday."

The shop owner could read my mind- or maybe I was actually muttering out loud. He asked if I wanted to bring it back on Monday. "No, thanks. I'll be okay."

Seriously, I'll be okay, right?

On happier notes:

The Golden Glove matches started last night.

The bathroom is done! I was able to take a shower this morning. And wash my hair for the first time since I was in Northern Ireland. The kitchen sink bathing was getting a little old.

if a tree falls on the house while you're on vacation, does it make a sound?

It might not make any noise, but it sure leaves (pun intended) a mess.

Dear Dad came and chopped in up and hauled it away. He loves any project involving a chain saw. The tree knocked out the power, telephone and Internet connection. My neighbor called the power company and they came out and reconnected the line after a few days.

I got home Monday night to half a bathroom - luckly, the important half- toilet and floor. I've been brushing my teeth, washing my hands and bathing in the kitchen sink. Hopefully it will be done tonight.

The telephone and DSL cable should be fixed by tonight.

In a not-related to the tree disaster: the air port in my laptop is shot. I took it to the Apple store yesterday and burst in to tears at the counter when I was told the news - $300 and ten days for repair. I took the poor thing home to think about it. It might be time for a new computer, but the financial timing sucks (St. Valentine's Day party, Ireland, new bathroom).

The good news is that I can still plug right in to the DSL line. The bad news is that the cable is in my tenant's side of the house. I very cleverly downloaded my photographs each day, so they are essentially stuck on the computer. Ireland blogging will be even slower.

All of that said, I had a wonderful time and I'm trying to keep the vacation spirit alive.
Cheers!