Happy birthday, Brandon!

Corey and I took possession of our townhome yesterday. We were really excited to sleep in our own bed last night.  The cats were excited to see all their stuff again and acclimated to the change really quickly.  They’re now acting as if they’ve always lived here.

Yesterday afternoon and evening, I cleaned the bathrooms and fridge. Luckily, the fridge only needed to be wiped down.  However, the bathrooms were nasty!  It seriously took me an hour and a half to scrub the bathtub! It was so gross! Corey and I don’t think the previous owners ever cleaned the place because even though the tub and toilets are clean now, they still look dirty with all the stains and hard water deposits on them.  Needless to say, Lime Away will be my best friend for the next few months!

Today, I’m going to clean the microwave, the stove/oven, and wipe down all the cupboards and shelves. Then, Corey and I can start putting things away. Once we get some organization to the place, I’ll take some pictures.

PS–I hope everyone has a happy, fun, and safe New Year’s!

Since I didn’t get a chance to post any words of the week last week, I’m going to post ten words instead of five this week.  Here are this week’s words:

1. Epicurean: fond of or adapted to luxury or indulgence in sensual pleasures; having luxurious tastes or habits, esp. in eating and drinking.
2. Epithet: any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality, as in “Richard the Lion-Hearted” for Richard I.
3. Erudite: characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly.
4. Espy: to see at a distance; catch sight of.
5. Exculpate: to clear from a charge of guilt or fault; free from blame; vindicate.
6. Expatiate: to enlarge in discourse or writing; be copious in description or discussion.
7. Expiate: to atone for; make amends or reparation for.
8. Extempore: on the spur of the moment; without premeditation or preparation; offhand.
9. Extirpate: to pull up by or as if by the roots; root up.
10. Factious: given to faction; dissentious.

If you’ve been reading my blog, then you know the last couple of months have been very stressful and frustrating as we’ve been trying to buy a townhome.  All our struggles have finally paid off!  We signed the closing papers this afternoon, the loan was funded, and we take possession tomorrow once everything has been recorded with the state!

As most of you know, I’m a technical writer for the company I work for.  For the most part, I enjoy it.  However, technical writing can get very boring, tedious, monotonous, etc.  When Corey came across this on Gene Ziegler‘s blog, I thought of how much fun technical writing could be.  But, alas, only Dr. Seuss can get away with such nonsense.  (Of course, I also like this because it uses Fox in Socks as its inspiration.)

Bits Bytes Chips Clocks
Bits in bytes on chips in box.
Bytes with bits and chips with clocks.
Chips in box on ether-docks.

Chips with bits come. Chips with bytes come.
Chips with bits and bytes and clocks come.

Look, sir. Look, sir. Read the book, sir.
Let’s do tricks with bits and bytes, sir.
Let’s do tricks with chips and clocks, sir.

First, I’ll make a quick trick bit stack.
Then I’ll make a quick trick byte stack.
You can make a quick trick chip stack.
You can make a quick trick clock stack.

And here’s a new trick on the scene.
Bits in bytes for your machine.
Bytes in words to fill your screen.

Now we come to ticks and tocks, sir.
Try to say this by the clock, sir.

Clocks on chips tick.
Clocks on chips tock.
Eight byte bits tick.
Eight bit bytes tock.

Clocks on chips with eight bit bytes tick.
Chips with clocks and eight byte bits tock.

Here’s an easy game to play.
Here’s an easy thing to say.

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort.
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted ’cause the index doesn’t hash.
Then your situation’s hopeless and your system’s gonna crash!

You can’t say this?
What a shame, sir!
We’ll find you
another game, sir!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house
Says the network is connected to the button on the mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That’s repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side affects of Gauss,
So your icons in the windows are so wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
‘Cause as sure as I’m a poet, the sucker’s gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy’s getting sloppy on the disk,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary RISC.
Then you have to flash your memory and you’ll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!

Tonight, I finished reading Sunrunner’s Fire by Melanie Rawn.  It’s the third book in the Dragon Prince trilogy.

Just like its predecessors, Dragon Prince and The Star Scroll, Sunrunner’s Fire has earned a place as one of my favorite books.  Also, just like its predecessors, the story has elements for everyone, such as romance, adventure, fantasy, and conflict.  I found the story to be riveting from beginning to end.

One of the reasons I loved Sunrunner’s Fire is that it’s the end of the trilogy so most of the events that had been brewing during the trilogy finally came to an end.  The diarmadh’im had a more central role in the story, which I thought was very interesting as I learned more about their powers and saw a glimpse of the reason for their hatred of the faradh’im.  I also loved watching the events in the lives of the characters, especially Rohan’s and Sioned’s, play out.

As I started to read Sunrunner’s Fire, I knew Melanie Rawn had written a second trilogy, Dragon Star, that followed Pol’s life rather than Rohan’s, Pol’s father.  I didn’t expect all the conflict to be resolved.  By the end of Sunrunner’s Fire, Rawn has laid the ground work for the events in the Dragon Star trilogy to flourish into its own story.  Luckily, there was enough of a sense of closure that I don’t have to start the second trilogy immediately.

Here’s the summary on the back of the book:

It began with the discovery of the Star Scroll, the last repository of forgotten spells of sorcery, the only surviving record of the ancient foe who in times past had nearly destroyed the Sunrunners and their magic.  Now, as Andry, the new Sunrunner Lord of Goddess Keep, begins to master this potentially deadly knowledge, while Pol, son of High Prince Rohan, seeks to touch the minds of dragons, the long-vanquished enemy is mobilizing to strike again, drawing on forbidden lore to play an ever-shifting game of treachery and betrayal–and secretly infiltrating even the most strongly protected of citadels.

And soon, Pol, Andry, Rohan, his Sunrunner wife Sioned, and all whom they hold dear will find it hard to tell friend from foe as spell of wars threaten to devastate the land–and dragons soar the skies, inexorably lured by magic’s fiery call….

My rating:

My mom showed this to me and I really enjoyed it; it’s very moving.  “O Holy Night” is my very favorite Christmas song and it always reminds me why we celebrate Christmas.

This year, Christmas for us was supposed to be our new townhome.  I guess it still is.  We just don’t get to enjoy it yet.  We’re a little sad and disappointed about that, but it’s okay because we’ll have all the time in the world to enjoy it as of Monday.

Since Corey and I didn’t have any presents to give one another and my parents don’t really do all that much for Christmas anymore, unless the grandkids are around, we got to sleep in this morning.  Corey and I got up around 10:00 this morning, which was heaven!  (Today almost feels like a glorified Saturday rather than Christmas Day; I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have kids of your own.)

We were greeted by my older sister Cindy and her family.  They decided to stop by for a minute after Cindy picked my niece Kati and her girlfriend Deborah up from the airport.  It was good to see them.

After everyone left and we ate breakfast, we decided to play a couple of games together.  First, we played Pass the Pigs.  It’s still a pretty popular game, but it was a game my family and I used to play when I was a child.

If you’ve never played Pass the Pigs, I highly recommend it.  Basically, the pigs act as dice and it’s played like Craps.  How the pigs land determines how many points you get.  The first person to 100 points wins.  We played three games and I won all three.  (I tried to lose one, but no one else cooperated with me. )

After we played Pass the Pigs, we played another game that was a childhood favorite.  Unfortunately, Bonkers isn’t being made anymore.  However, a few years ago, Corey and I bought one on eBay and gave it to my parents because we loved to play it so much when I was a kid.  I love Bonkers and I wish it was still being made so other people can enjoy it.  One day I hope to buy a copy of my own.  We played two games.  My mom won once and Corey won the other time.

It’s been a nice, relaxing day.  And, I’ve enjoyed spending it with Corey, my parents, and the kitties.  Anyway, merry Christmas to you and your family!  I hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday!