scifiknitter

Back in December, I got me a pink RAZR cell phone, when I lost the detested whatever it was in a snowbank some where. I immediately discovered, however, that the selection of ringtones on the phone was terrible. There weren't many to choose from, and they were very uninteresting. I remember the good ol' days when cell phones came with lots of ringtones. Then the phone companies discovered they could make money by selling ringtones. My theory is that they have decided to not supply interesting ring tones on the phones so that people will be driven to buy them. Well, I got me a techie daughter as well as a computer, a cellphone, and iTunes, so AT&T will not be making money on me. Last night I learned how to convert m4a files to mp3 files, and how to use Bluetooth to upload the files from my computer to my phone. I searched for suitable files by sorting my iTunes library by length of song, and choosing tunes that were less than 40 seconds long. I do not currently have a music ...

I found the following in my email inbox today: From Barr. Riwa Offorkanzi (Avocats at law) Guinkomè, Rue Roi Dakodonou Carré No 48, B.P. 272 Cotonou Du Benin Email: riwa.offorag@yahoo.fr Dear scifiknitter It's a pleasure to meet you today and to write to you this proposition which I hope that we will receive your attention and interest. I am Barr. Riwa Offorkanzi a legal practioner and Private attorney to Late Mr. Ander scifiknitter, who used to work with Société Nationale de Commercialisation des Produits Pétroliers (SONACOP) Oil Company in Benin Republic West Africa,Here in after shall be Referred to as my Client. On the December 2003, my Client, His wife and their Children were involved in a Plane Crash accident that took place in Cotonou Airport (Visit this site for more details http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/12/26/benin..crash/). All occupants unfortunately lost their lives, my client and his family was one of them. Since the death of this customer who was an oil m...

I learned something today! I've been thinking about how to list our band's gig schedule for the summer. The answer is: Google Maps. View Larger Map Stringfolks Gigs Summer 2008 All concerts at 7 PM unless noted differently in description. May 10 DeKalb Historic Meeting House - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant May 18 South Edwards Community Center - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant June 13 St. Lawrence County Arts Council June 25 Village Park, Dexter NY - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant June 29 Unitarian Universalist Church - Providing music for service July 3 Cranberry Lake Library - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant July 11 Potsdam Summer Festival - 4 PM - Main Stage July 15 Colton Library - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant July 16 Harrisville - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant July 18 Russell Opera House - Russell Summer Festival July 19 Fine Historical Association July 20 Gouverneur Park - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant July 30 Brownville - NYS Decentralization Arts Grant August ...

The carpentry crew has been making progress on the siding project. We have had lots of rain the past few weeks as the midwestern storms move east, so progress has been fitful. The clouds broke earlier this week long enough for me to take a walk after work, and grab some pics. I walked around the house widdershins, snapping pics of all four sides. I will admit that we have a large house. It seems quite large these days for the two of us. Mostly it is very long, about 90 feet from one end of the house to the other. We have a public wing, to the left in this photo, that has a kitchen, dining area, living area, and office. Then there is a private wing, to the right in this photo, with three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a laundry area. The private wing has the only room on a second story, which is Robert's and my bedroom. The two wings are connected by a corridor, which is where our heating and hot water system is located. The corridor in this pic is about 1/3 of the picture width from the...

Although summer solstice is a week away or so, spring has passed here and it is now summer. I did manage to take some pictures of late spring visitors before they faded into a new season. Some of these pics were taken in the very late afternoon in the rain, among clouds of mosquitos. That is how far I will go to fulfill a vision. This blog entry has been a vision in the periphery of my daily life for weeks now. Late spring brings the tantalizing prospect of blackberries ten weeks from now. This year the blooms were prolific. That does not mean that the berries will be plentiful, however. So many factors seems to act to make the dream of fresh blackberry pie elusive. There was nary a berry the past few years. I hope this year we do better - because there is not one single berry left in my freezer. I don't know the names of these blooms, though I think I used to. Maybe next year I will spend some serious time with my Newcomb's Wildflower Guide and reacquaint myself with their nam...

I am unsettled, anxious, uncomfortable in my skin. Too much going on... Every day there are messages and bulletins from our son on his situation. His 12-year old has turned defiant and disobedient, and is insisting on being with her mother regardless of the court order that her father has custody. When she is with Rob, she behaves so badly that he wonders if he is doing the right thing trying to keep her in his home. But he knows that she is just warming up with him. If she is allowed to continue to behave this way, her mother will be the next in line to deal with defiance. When she wants to visit her boyfriend when no parents are home. When she wants to stay out too late. It's all just over the horizon. Meanwhile, there are signs that she is being fed emotional poison. Rob writes it all in his journal, and takes things one day at a time. It is budget time at work. I am realizing that I am about a week behind where I was last year - continued blowback from my medical leave this win...

We went to the St. Lawrence River late Saturday night. The plan: sleep in on Minuet, eat breakfast out, put on the sails, and take 'er out for a spin. Robert's chest has finally healed enough from his fall out of bed a couple of weeks ago to make sailing feasible. Ana was eager to get out on the water, too. We took Q the sailing cat, and Lucky to see how he would do on the boat. It was very, very windy Saturday at home, and I was glad we decided to wait until the evening to go to the boat - it was too windy to try to control huge, heavy pieces of fabric. A hot, humid wind was blowing briskly when we woke up Sunday. By the time we got back from breakfast at Bella's, there were whitecaps in the bay. Side note: The food at Bella's was excellent, as usual. Ana had french toast made with banana walnut bread - luscious. To me, breakfast out means eggs, so I had spinach feta quiche with salsa. We hung out on the boat, getting up our nerve to put the sails on. Robert and Ana to...