A Long Week

It's been a long week - and filled with bad news!  The Governor has decided that massive cuts are necessary in the state's budget and I'm worried about what the affects will be on MPOW.  Unfortunately things don't look good - and the "last resort" budget work that has been done might actually have to be implemented. 

*SIGH*

Here Comes the Snow, Again!

Another snowy day in Virginia Beach - what an unusual winter this has turned out to be!  We go for years without any snow and this year we've had back to back to back storms and even measurable accumulation!!  But today it's snow showers which are pretty to watch and don't stick to the roads and cause problems!

Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. Kind of like going downhill (fast) on a moving sidewalk that suddenly stops and switches direction with no notice!  So far I've been able to stop myself from falling but . . . don't know how I'm going to get back on track - probably will require a LOT of help. But I WILL get back on track!!  (PS I'm using a Library 2.0 lesson graphic I created!! :-) )

In the meantime - Happy Valentine's Day to all friends & family -

Superbowl 2010

 It probably would be a better game if I actually cared about either team - alas I do not!  I actually haven't cared about any team playing the in Superbowl for some time ... probably because I don't watch football!  :-)

(and don't make any inference from the relative sizes of the logos - just the way they worked out!!)

I will say that I normally enjoy the commercials  -  although last year wasn't nearly as good as previous years.  Always look forward to the Budweiser commercials - and I've heard that there aren't any Pepsi commercials this year - not a big loss to me!

There are Law and Order and Law and Order Special Victims marathons - so there WILL be something to watch in between the commercials!!

Cracked Heat Exchanger

I am the proud owner of a new gas pack (furnace/ac unit) for downstairs.  Last weekend, during the snow of the decade, the heat went off - then later came back on.  It did that twice more. 

The heating people came out Wednesday morning - we were thinking that the gas regulator had debris or maybe water in the gas line that had frozen - causing the furnance to trip.  It wasn't until the technician took the cover off of the unit that he found the REAL problem - it's never good when an HVAC technician says "uh oh"!! 

Replacing the exchanger was possible - but would cost almost as much as an entire new unit and the rest of the unit would have probably needed replacing within a year or two - so the decision was made - REPLACEMENT!  Of course the unit had to be off until replaced - carbon monoxide ya know!

They arrived at 9 and were finished by 12 - ripped out the old one and got the new one in, complete with a fancy programmable thermostat - how 21st century of us!

I'm just glad that the heat is back on - by using the fireplace and a portable heater we were able to keep the heat about 62 but that's a BIT lower than normal! 

Saturday afternoon 1/30/2010 - The Big Snow

Snow Snow Snow

Prediction - 8-12 inches of snow in Virginia Beach - RIGHT.  Prediction - snow starting Friday night and lasting all day Saturday - RIGHT - VB closed all libraries Saturday and Sunday - OK now you're just being silly!

BUT all of those things are true!  Well, mostly true.  The snow didn't start until very early Saturday morning but it's now 2 p.m. and it's still coming down.  (I have a video but need to get it off the phone and onto YouTube first!)  And yesterday the City did decide to close the libraries - WOW that's monumental!  (Although they did close one other day for some weather event (don't remember what) that never materialized!)  This one was spot-on though and I'm very glad that no one had to struggle in to work only to close early and be forced to take life in hand to get home (have done that before and it's REALLY no fun!).

It's absolutely beautiful out there and I'm very glad that I'm snug inside - time for a nap??!! 

A Future View??

This week has been interesting – after the luggage arrived home on Tuesday that is! – it's been a view of what retirement might be like. Not having to get up in the morning – not having much of anything that has to be done. (There's plenty to do but I can't seem to get the ambition to actually do any of it – I am planning to at least LOOK at the mess in the living room!!)


I'm not sure I can do this every day – I mean really – West Wing reruns only capture me for so long – so I guess I'd be compelled to look for something outside the house to do – WORK! I don't want full-time and I don't want to continue working part-time at MPOW. If I stay there I might as well be paid my full salary!

I don't remember ever thinking about being old enough to retire – let alone getting old enough to retire! But here I am.


PS I applied to refinance the house – it's all done online – very strange – no one to talk to! We'll have to see how it goes.