new camera
Got me a new video camera for fathers day.
I have never really had one. So Friday, Kim says that for Fathers day I get to get a video camera. Now, we have to do it Sunday as Kim is due the following Friday and we must have a video camera this time around. We have about two hours of Colette’s child hood on video.
Saturday night I do some intense online research into cameras and come up with three possibilities. The Cannon Elura 90, the Sony HG-42 (i think), and the Panasonic PV-GS150. All from 600 to 700 dollars.
My eye is set on the Panasonic as it’s got three ccds for capturing color as opposed to the other two that have only one. I don’t know if it makes a difference, but it sounds cool, eh?
We hop down to Fry’s electronics where I hem and haw for about an hour over the three and end up getting the Panasonic.
It is cool 🙂 It even takes low res still at 2.3 megapixel. The best part of all, is that it has a joy stick to move around the on screen menu!
Whee!
killer bees
So here in Phoenix there are africanised bees. Meaning they are very agressive.
The other day I was taking the trash out. I have to pass through the back yard to do so. While I was passing through, the dogs got quite happy and started running around. At that point I noticed a very large bee like thing flying around. Then I noticed that it was actually pursuing one of the dogs. Now, you might think, “how would he recognize pursuit?”. Well…my large dog, Thumper, is about 90 pounds. He was running full tilt, which is pretty damn fast, and this bee was keeping up with him. It seemed to hit him in the face, then it veered off and went for the other dog. Same tactics and results, except this time I had to whack the thing off the dog.
So at this point I gots me a real good look at the thing. Looks like a bumble bee! They aren’t supposed to be that agressive right? Well according the the exterminator, they consider all bees in this area to be africanised.
Bumble bees are biguns. Knowing that they are agressive really changes the image I have of them.
Damn things stung both my dogs several times and almost got me. The dogs puffed up pretty bad and we in pretty sever discomfort for about 2 hours.
Oi.
I have a baby coming, two dogs and a five year old kid. I really didn’t want a yard full of toxins, so I found a 100% natural exterminator. They came out, destroyed the nest and sprayed a bunch of natural oils and things. We’ll see how that works out. They said it could take up to 4 days for the remaining bees to go away since their hive is now kaput.
Protected: just too fucking much
here it comes!
The baby is definately coming! Kim’s body is starting the process. Lots of general pain and discomfort with sporadic contractions. Thats probably the baby dropping and her hips opening up and her cervix dialating.
Could be any day now at this point.
I’d better get my ass in gear at the office. Oi. I’ll be dropping off the face of the planet for about a week or so.
Hoo boy, here it comes 🙂
shopshopshopshopshopshopshopshop
ugh. Sometimes I hate it here. All there is to do here is fucking shop. spend spend spend. Fucking hate Phoenix sometimes.
hoa boy, here comes baby
Well, the baby is coming in a week or two. Holy shit. I’m 38 and having a kid, a boy no less. What the hell were we thinking? I don’t know. I’ve seen older friends have twin boys and survive. Heh.
Having a new baby in a new town is hard. Really hard. We’ve no other families or relatives here to rely on for babysitting or anything. That really makes things hard.
Speaking of the baby, how about a name like Baby Bubba ben Ben?
boo hoo
Tentacle is down and my link to the world outside of Phoenix is gone.
Oi.
Well, the move is done
So the movers showed up on Wed, March 30 to pick it all up. The movers were very nice, but the foreman running the job was a sheister…or at least had aspirations to being a good one.
They get my stuff more than half way loaded and have me start signing paperwork. They won’t cover any damages beyond $.60 per pound per item. So if they break my 20 pound table, they will give me $12. Feh, I said to them and asked about insurance. They don’t offer it. This was making me grumpy.
The paying arrangement was 10% down for booking the job, 40% on loading, and 50% on delivery. They wouldn’t do a credit card on delivery, only on pickup. I thought, that is wierd. But when they informed me that they won’t cover damages, and wanted all the money up front, I said no and got into this big thing with the owner of the company. They finally let me do the credit card on delivery as well.
When the movers were all done, I asked the foreman how the tipping process went…do I give it all then or half then and second half on delivery? He said that I could give it all to him then. When the movers finished unloading at the delivery location, the subject of the tip came up. I told them that the foreman has it all and how much I gave him. They were incredibly pissed. The foreman ripped them off. They even had me write and sign an note saying how much I gave for a tip and who I gave it to.
I gave them $40 to go buy lunch and said I was sorry. They were a day late anyway. They were supposed to deliver on Saturday, but didn’t call and let me know they had made it to Phoenix until Saturday night at 9:30pm. I told them to go get a hotel and come in the morning. Feh.
Anyway, they got all the stuff in the house. We’ve got about half of it unpacked at the moment and are making good progress each day.
Ok, a few months later
I guess I don’t really use this all that much. Seems like I only post every few months.
Hmmmm…..