April Docent Meeting

On Wednesday night I attended the Docent's meeting at the State Indian Museum. I love that the 'new' Ranger Henry is tireless in his pursuit of cool things for us to do at the museum. Sacto has an fun artsy event called 'Second Saturday' on which the 2nd Saturday of each month the mid-town area stores & shops have open house with loads of fun, music, free eats and what-have-you. Henry wants to give our museum to give a shot to hosting Indian art on 2nd Saturdays! I am all for it. There are many considerations, such as liability for the hosted artworks and such, so I will wait with avid anticipation while Henry runs the idea past the State Park big cheeses. *fingers crossed*

One reason, aside from the obvious fun, I am excited about hosting the Second Saturday event is the opportunity to put in more hours at the museum. I tend not to go there unless there is some event such as Acorn Day or Honored Elders Day. I’ve been a docent since 1999 during which time I put in two years on the Historic Sites Board but I still haven’t managed to rack up my 200 hours pin! I prefer to assume the accountant has screwed up in tallying my hours – surely I’ve averaged at least 2.3 hours per month over the past five years? *grumbles in sullen manner*

Prior to the meeting I had a quiet dinner at a Japanese Restaurant I haven't been to in ages - it is near the former State training center. I had walnut shrimp with the Dashwood Sisters - that is, I read Sense & Sensibility over dinner. It is amazing that I've watched a b'jillion productions of the Jane Austin classic in movies and such, but until now, hadn't got round to reading it. Mommy Nancy thought we'd have fun reading it together & then having our own book club to dice up the juicier bits of S&S. Ok, 'juicy bits' aren't quite the words I'm looking for. I must say that the Dashwood siblings offer reading of great interest & fun.

My new replacement Canon camera has arrived! I have not even opened the box – fearing a break-in and assuming that like the last thieves the unopened box would be easily overlooked in a back room closet. Isn’t that pathetic? I will free the camera from its confines over the weekend and put it to work. I miss having photos to go along with my posts here.

Year of the Rabbit Woman

Talk about your interesting coincidence. I went in to work this morning, first day back since getting my iPod and I had an email from our computer folk. They diplomatically pointed out that I had MP3 & wav files... ON THE WORK SERVER! Feel free to scream in horror here. Mind, it is no dread secret that I have music on the work computer - loads of people do. The music soothes... keeps some of us out of Napa State Hospital.

I had no idea that the stuff I put on my c:/ drive was getting sucked into the mother ship by that which is the office data back-up system. I was told I need to get all of my music files off the system before the music industry finds out that I have an unauthorized copy of Oklahoma on the computer and they come a knocking.

Now ordinarily removing my music off the computer would have been dead-dreadful news - but not dreadful today. I quickly downloaded every last note of the music on my office computer onto the iPod. Ta da! Problem solved. Now I can play the music from the iPod. I can even play the iPod music through my office computer's iTunes program and thereby use the computer's big & comfy ear phones. Hum... bet the next thing they do is demand the free iTunes programs get removed from the computers next.

Anyway, I thought it was spiffy that I should happen to have bought the iPod just in a nick of time so to speak.

Spontaneous Translation: Even less reason now to feel guilty about getting the iPod.

Rainy Day

Ah! Nothing like a lovely day doing only exactly whatever the hell you feel like doing. I started the day painting the area around my fireplace and I am totally in love with the results. The job is actually a re-painting of what originally came out an unfortunate shade of dark burgandy. This time I used a 'granite' textured paint... that is paint with black stuff that simulates grit and also tiny bits of gold. The paint makes the wall surface look like it is a rock surface. Trust me, it looks wonderful.

This week I just discovered the wonders of tracking shipments on the Internet. I tracked a package that started the week in Shanghai China, moved on to Anchorage Alaska, then it was shipped to Indianapolis Illinois, on to Rancho Cordova and it made it to my doorstep this morning. That package held my new iPod. So far I love the Pod, which will be able to hold all my bird calls for use in the field. When I get the attachments to do so, I will also able to download digital photos onto it. The iPod is a huge treat and I ought to feel guilty about the expense but damn it, I do not. My normal logic is if I drank or did drugs I would spend as much money every couple of weeks. Yes, a flimsy excuse - bite me.

If UPS delivers on Saturdays my replacment Canon Camera will be here. My first task will be a picture of my finished fireplace project. The picture will magically appear in this post sometime soon.

I spent some time tossing stuff and shredding things too. All in all, Chevez would have approved.