Tuesday

Well, I was back to work today. I did get my car hung up on a snow drift in my driveway, but a co-worker gave me a ride to and from work. The snow is now going through all the messy stages of melting.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of my dog.



Because he's cute.

And more

Today...

More and more

Saturday it snowed, so I went outside to take a picture before it disappeared.



But overnight it snowed some more.



And Sunday it snowed some more.

Tech savvy

Today at work, our e-mail program went down. I called our tech guys in Seattle and one of them called me back to tell me to unplug then plug back in a certain box among all the boxes and wires in a certain area of our workplace. He has dealt with me before so he described the box carefully: green with the name of a certain company on it. I asked if anything else would go off too, and he said the internet would go down while it was unplugged. It was late afternoon, so I warned those who were still there about the internet going down.

The boxes and wires have a large metal cabinet in front of them, and they sit jumbled together on a bookcase with the power cords going behind the bookcase and then coming out to the front to a power strip. First I was heaving the cabinet out of the way and one of my coworkers said, "Maybe we should have our own tech guy in this office." "What, you don't think I know what I'm doing?" I jested (for of course I didn't).

I found the box I needed and groped around in back and uplugged a cord from an outlet. Oh, wait, that was from a different box. I made sure I had the right box and I tried to follow the cord with my hands, but it wound down too far behind the bookcase. I pulled it up to make the part in front move, so I'd know which to unplug from the power strip and lifted all kinds of intertwined cords along with the power strip. I unplugged something. Still wrong.

A coworker who had been attending a teleconference meeting came out of the conference room and said, "Everything just froze up." "Oh. Sorry."

Finally I unplugged the correct cord. I counted to twenty then re-plugged. I went to my computer. No e-mail program and no internet. I called the tech guy back. He was confused. He said, "I'm on your server right now from here." I looked back at the jumbled boxes and wires and saw one plug still unplugged. "Oh, wait a minute," said I. "I'll be right back." I put the phone down and went over and plugged in the cord. I came back to my computer and, voila, everything was working. "Okay, never mind," I told the tech guy.

And that's how I solved our technical issue today at work. Hooray for me.

Tweet

Well, I did clean the floor Monday. It was kind of gross job, but I did it.

Now I've been back to work for two days.

This morning, as the dog and I started our walk, I thought, "No ice. No rain. No wind. What a beautiful morning!" And it was.

Now a vision test. Do you see the robin in this picture?



Finally, a random thought sequence. Writing about a robin made me remember the old pop hit "Rockin' Robin," in which background singers sing, "Tweet, tweet," etc.



And thinking "tweet, tweet" made me remember a joke e-mail my aunt forwarded the other day about older people adjusting to new technology: "Someone asked me, 'Do you tweet?' I said, "No, but I fart a lot.'" Ha, ha! I love a good fart joke.

And with that, I wish you a lovely good night.

Procrastination

There is a dirty job I need to do -- cleaning up the gunky floor where a washer and dryer stood for decades -- and I don't want to do it. I keep putting it off, but today I have off from work and I am determined to do it.

That's why I'm sitting here at my desk, blogging.

So, yesterday, my dad asked me if the pussy willow was blooming yet, and I could not remember seeing any buds, so I said no. He seemed surprised, so I double-checked this morning. I walked the dog by the tree and did not see any buds on the branches.

But when I was across the yard from the tree, I saw some at the very top.



The tree from across the yard (above).



The top branches (above). See the little knobbies?

Meanwhile, another sign of spring: iris leaves are coming up (below, along the left side of the leafy path).



I hope I get more blooms than in previous years. I probably should transplant them to someplace more congenial.

Water, water

Here is a picture of the creek last year in February:



And here is a picture of the creek this year in February:



It's slightly lower this year. It has been a dry winter, at least until now. As I mentioned in the previous post, it's raining now and forecast to rain for the foreseeable future.

Another reason to be glad for the change in the weather is that during the dry, cold weather: (a) my naturally dry, itchy skin itched like fury, and (b) I was getting enough static electricity shocks to cause cardiac arrhythmia.

Messy snowstorms in the Pacific Northwest have been in the news, but they did not reach as far north as where I live.

I was hoping it might also be raining in California, where a drought is predicted, but I just looked at weather forecasts for down there, and the most is musters is a "chance of rain" way at the far end of the long-term forecast.

Normalcy

A couple days ago I was complaining about the freezing weather, but now things are starting to return to normal, i.e., rainy. Right now I can hear it raining, but I also hear the wind blowing. The forecast is windy and rainy for a few days yet, then the rest of the 10-day forecast is basically "Rain likely," accompanied by high temperatures in the 40s during the day and low temperatures in the 40s at night.

I know there will come a day when I'm sick of rain, but for now I'm glad enough for the milder temperatures to welcome the rain.

Last year

I was looking through pictures from last year February and was reminded of the trip I took to see my sister. My dog came along.



I took the trip because I had just lost my job, and my sister urged me to visit her while I was between jobs. It was wonderful visit, and while I was there I interviewed by Skype for the job I have now. I didn't know how long I'd be without a job, but it was only a month. What a blessing.

Cold snap

We're in for some cold, windy weather where I live. I can't say I'm at all excited about that.


One good thing, it's mostly sunny.

Come on, Spring.

Chirp

Saturday when I went to see my folks, there was a flock of birds in the trees by where they live. I could not tell what kind of bird they were, but I liked to hear them twitter.

Today's random thoughts

Today is my oldest brother's birthday. He would have been 60 years old. He died of ALS when he was 52. I miss him.



Today I am mildly ill. My head has a feeling just short of a headache and my stomach says, "Meh." From time to time I wonder if I have a fever.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. I live in Washington State, where the Seattle Seahawks are from. They just won the Super Bowl by an embarrassingly large point spread. Embarrassing for their opponents, the Denver Broncos, that is.

Today I saw the news that the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman is dead of an apparent drug overdose. That's sad. He was an exceptionally talented actor and only 46 years old. What a waste of his life and gifts.

A weak link

A couple weeks ago I preached. I recently was able to download a sound file of the sermon. To post it on youtube I added a picture (just a pretty flower from my garden last year or the year before) and made the sermon be the sound.



I had to cut out the singing after the sermon because it was distorted, like the leaders were singing through wax paper and a comb, but I kept the benediction, given by my dad, and some of the music after church ended.