So, today I went to a GardenRidge store in search of an umbrella cookie cutter. Not only did I find exactly what I was looking for, but this store was like Brooke heaven! It has tons of cheap crafty things, lots of stuff on sale (like all of their candles 75% off), and an amazing section of kitchen gadgets and things I wish I have room for, but alas don’t. Anyway, that’s all…just wanted to let you know.
I like A/C…
So, last Wednesday night, our power went out due to a storm that hit St. Louis. According to weatherpeople (who know more about such things than I do), the most destructive storms to directly hit St. Louis have come from the northeast. Usually, when a storm or rain is heading toward St. Louis from the west, the heat from all the concrete (among other things…) dissipates the storm before it really hits with much force. When a storm comes from the northeast however, it’s open season on the city…and that’s exactly how this one worked. Before it hit, there were warnings in effect for, like, two counties in Illinois. All the sudden, it’s storming and we’re getting 80 mph winds. wtf…
Anyway, the storm knocked out power, presumably due to fallen trees more than lightening strikes… Luckily for us, the power was back on ~18 hrs later, on Thursday around 1:00 pm. According to STLtoday.com (run by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch), there are still almost 300,000 people who are without power. AmerenUE is expecting that full restoration will happen sometime on Wednesday, nearly a full week later.
So yeah, I was out of town for the weekend visiting the Lewis family in Chattanooga, TN, so I didn’t see much around here. Brooke hung out here, so she gave me updates whenever possible…thankfully, she wasn’t stuck without A/C for long… If you know anyone living in the St. Louis area, check in with them and see how they’re doing. Otherwise, be happy that you had air conditioning for the past week, ’cause there were a good half million people around St. Louis that didn’t…
Sure makes me appreciate the situation in New Orleans last year…can’t even imagine…
Cousin’s visiting…
Jonathan’s visiting while he does a brief internship here in St. Louis. He and Sam are getting along quite well. …and by “getting along, ” I mean that Sam likes to chew on his hand.
It’s hysterical.
😉
Cousin's visiting…
Jonathan’s visiting while he does a brief internship here in St. Louis. He and Sam are getting along quite well. …and by “getting along, ” I mean that Sam likes to chew on his hand.
It’s hysterical.
😉
…and you must know…
We (Brooke, Lisa, Jo and I) played mini golf tonight and I made two holes-in-one…the latter of which brought in Jo’s and Brooke’s balls as well…
I rule…? 😉
And then, an update…
So I’m at the lab, killing time until my 96-well plate is ready to be read… Figured now was as good a time as any to update the world on happenings…
Brooke and I went up to Hannibal for last weekend to visit with family and friends… Saturday was really good in that we got to shoot off fireworks, had an excellent dinner via Brooke’s Mom, and I got a lovely sunburn whilst laying on a raft in their pool. Overall, a successful weekend! My parents came into St. Louis on Monday night for some BBQ and we made some really good ribs. Brooke put them in the crock pot for a good 6 hours along with brown sugar, paprika, and just about everything else on the spice rack. They were some of the best ribs I’ve ever had, honestly…very tender and tasty… It was also good to be my parents for once! We didn’t really do anything for the actual 4th of July holiday, however. The weather wasn’t terribly cooperative in St. Louis…but we didn’t really feel like going anywhere, either. It ended up being a relaxing day, which is all I could really ask for.
Otherwise, my Biostatistics class started on Monday (yes, July 3rd…seriously…who starts a summer class the day before the 4th?!). While I’m telling myself that extended knowledge of statistics is useful for my chosen career path, I just have to wonder if reminders of Confidence Intervals, hypothesis testing, and SPSS are really worth 3.5 hours of class twice a week… Needless to say, I’ll be ranting about this waste of time for the duration of the class (another 5 weeks remain…).
I guess it’s time for the weekend again… I think Brooke is heading up to Louisiana, MO (Ma’s garage sale…) on Friday, so I’ll need entertainment Friday night (’cause Sci-Fi Friday doesn’t start up until next weekend). Keep me posted.
Resolution…somewhat…
Well, we’ve got TV back… Here’s a numbered summary:
1). I sent two e-mails to the FCC and finally got a response a week and a half after the first e-mail was sent. I contacted the Attorney General’s office and they sent a complaint form to us (as that’s the only way they’ll look into it…if there’s a complaint filed). According to the FCC Rules and Regulations website, in Title 47, Part 76, Subpart M, the lines are owned by Charter Communications. If I owned the property, I could tell them I’m switching providers and either a). I’d have to pay them per foot of the lines within the building to purchase them, or b). they’d have 7 days to remove the lines themselves. Since I don’t own the building, and apparently Park Forest Apartments has a “deal” with Charter, the lines are the cable company’s and I can’t use them. Shenanigans.
2). To avoid any more hassles by Charter, DISH came out today and ran a new line alongside the apartment complex, requiring them to drill a hole through the siding and putting a new faceplate on the inside of the apartment. The only place it could go? Right next to the sliding glass door, on the opposite wall from where the TV currently resides. While this means that Charter cannot cut the line anymore (’cause that’s hardcore illegal), Brooke and I now have to shift the furniture around in the living room to compensate…not that big a deal, I guess. If the line is cut again, the DISH guy has told us to try and catch the Charter fool before he leaves, take pictures of what was done, then call the cops. Believe you me, I will.
3). After talking with the apartment complex manager and one or two maintenence people, it appears that the Charter people have done this multiple times in the past few years, cutting lines that aren’t supposed to be connected to “their” lines. It sure sounded like, next time they have to renew whatever contract they’ve got together, there’s going to be some re-wording…’cause they weren’t pleased. It didn’t seem like they were unhappy with me or anything…just that they have to allow for a new line to be laid into one of their buildings because they aren’t allowed to use the existing one, causing more hassle for everyone involved.
Regardless, we’ve got television back…and next time any of you visit, you’ll see that our living room has been rearranged to a large degree. Oh well…we’ve lived there a year now…’bout time for something new…
Good week(end)…
So, we went on a float trip last Thursday with my lab…went pretty well and we generally avoided the tremendous downpour that descended upon St. Louis later in the afternoon.? The temperature was nearly perfect for floating (on the Huzzah River) and the sun stayed mostly behind the clouds.
Anyway, Brooke and I spent our First Anniversary going to Hermann for the weekend, again.? We drove in on Friday and went to dinner at the Stone Hill restaurant…good eats there, yo…? The next day, we went to Stone Hill and Hermannhoff for tasting, and then to the Robller Winery for more tasting and some blues music, which was pretty nice.? Then, we went to see the town production of “Damn Yankees,” which we’d never seen before…and honestly, it could have been a bit better…but hey, it was good entertainment.
Regardless, we had a good weekend, even without TV (not that we would have had it here…) and came back with four bottles of wine…and, the best part being, that we only spent some of our tax refund on the weekend…w00t!
Now, we’ll see if this past weekend lives up to next weekend… 😉
Yum!
So, we were actually in town all this weekend and it was great to just relax here for once! Saturday, Josh came over to play computer games with Andy and Sharon came in the afternoon and we went to the pool at our apartment complex for some sun time since it was such a nice day (don’t worry Mom, I wore spf 30 and didn’t burn). We came back inside and watched some Food Network and did some research on interesting restaurants. We ended up picking a Honduran restaurant in the city. We were the only people in the place the whole time we were there, but the food was really good and not too pricey, so if you’re looking for an adventure and up for pointing at things on the menu you want, I’d say give it a try. I found out about it in the Riverfront Times restaurant review section of their website and they had lots of helpful reviews that we’ll probably be checking out in the future! Oh, I’m sure Andy will write a review for you, but we also saw CSA: The Confederate States of America at the Tivoli and had Blue Moon at Blueberry Hill before since we were there a little early. All in all, another good weekend, and there’s the possibility of a bit a of a job that I’m waiting to hear about!
Help Wanted
I’ve been looking for a job for about 2 months since I decided not to be a teacher and so far haven’t had any luck at all. When I started this search, I gave myself until May 15 to find something and if not, then I need to find a job at Barnes and Noble or something. It’s getting really close to that deadline and I’ve probably applied for about 35 jobs and not heard ANYTHING back from any of them. Now, I’m not applying for jobs that pay a lot or take a lot of experience that I don’t have, so I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong or how to find something in the next few days before lowering myself to retail again. Anyway, if anybody out there has any ideas or good connections in Saint Louis, let me know, or at least pray for me and my hunt.