Miscellany

I bought new boots

They’re US army jungle boots. They’re so nice… built-in air conditioning* and everything!

I have a problem with pretty much all new shoes: they scrape the back of my ankle raw. In addition to these new summer boots, I have really nice leather “combat boots” that I haven’t worn much because I can’t walk for long distances.

But, I was determined to wear my new jungle boots (after destroying my heel once and realising that yeah, these shoes have the same problem) and I googled for tips. Some people had told they always broke boots in by wearing woolly socks for a while. So that’s what I did.

That does the trick! Too bad it’s summertime because it gets pretty warm in there… I’m looking forward to autumn and winter for once! (Now I’ll also get to break in my leather boots when it’s cold and wet and I don’t want to wear shoes with holes in them.)

* Little ventilation/draining holes right above the sole. Now I realised you can actually see them in the photo: they show quite clearly in the bottom photo, the shoe on the right.

I have a Whirlpool washing machine that has “6th sense technology.” It’s supposed to be able to determine how full the machine is and then adjust the washing cycle, water etc. accordingly.

I don’t know if it’s doing a good job or not (in the 6th sense stuff; it does make clothes clean which is enough for me), but today I noticed it’s a bit too smart. Either that, or there’s someone living in my washing machine.

I put a small amount of clothes in the machine, including a small zipper bag with a clothing item in it. I zipped up the bag, of course.

After the cycle was done and I went to unload the machine, I noticed that the zipper bag was open — and empty. Whoever it was, they hadn’t stolen the item, so at least I don’t have one of those sock-stealing creatures in there.

I’ve also noticed they enjoy turning huge duvet covers inside out!

I’m tired and freezing! Let me tell you why:

I left work a bit after 6:30pm (started at 9am), having had a headache for a few hours by then, and when I got to the bus stop it said 6 minutes to the next bus. Great!

6 minutes went – the bus didn’t.

Next it said 20 minutes to the next bus. All right, I’ll wait.

20 minutes went – the bus still didn’t.

Next I decided to take any bus that would take me closer to home. I only had to wait for 4 minutes more.

The next problem was figuring out what next: It was around 7:15pm at this point. I wouldn’t make the train at 7:30 and the next one went at 8 (and then I’d have to stand on it for 7 minutes and walk for 10-15). I was also thinking about going to the very last stop of the bus I was on, which would’ve taken 30-40 minutes and then I would’ve had to wait for 15 minutes at worst (if I was lucky) for the next connecting bus or just walk straight home for 20-25 minutes (but do I have to mention I was freezing at this point).

Luckily right before the train station I realised I have several possible trains to get to a station where I could take a bus that should run at 10-15 minute intervals. I quickly checked the trains on my mobile and there was one going in 3 minutes, so I jumped out and ran to the train.

During the 4 minutes on the train I checked when the bus might be going next: 2-3 minutes after the train arrived. Excellent! Again, I jumped out and ran to the stop.

The bus was late — but only for about 7 minutes, so after a while I was at home. Home!

Boy, I feel like sleeping in tomorrow… (not going to happen) Well, at least it’s Friday then.

I’ve been taking extra vitamins every morning in a fizzy tablet form since last autumn (I think I started just before I was leaving for Australia – in August). Not sure if it has done anything good but it can’t hurt. I haven’t had any long flu episodes but I can’t remember how I was before…

The other day I got to talking with some co-workers about fish oils and one said that she’s noticed a benefit in taking them. I’ve been thinking about trying some for a while so now I thought, why not?

The fish oil tablets contain vitamins A, D, and E. And the fizzy tablets fill the gaps nicely with vitamins B and C.

Now I’ll just have wait and see what the benefits are. Maybe it’ll enhance my memory.

Can’t believe it’s yet another new year. I’ve been very lazy in blogging lately but, frankly, there hasn’t been much to blog about. The autumn has gone by so fast.

I got Tomb Raider: Underworld for Christmas but my current computer has difficulty running it (I bet it’s the graphics card which is too old). My birthday is conveniently coming up so I thought I’d pamper myself to a new computer with Windows 7. (I just checked my blog; my current computer, Sullivan, is 4.5 years old!) I actually have quite a few games in store that I haven’t been able to play yet, e.g. Jericho and the newest Prince of Persia (haven’t tried it at all, but the minimum supported graphics card is newer than my current one).

Originally I was planning on getting a new computer once I knew the requirements for Alan Wake. Now that they’re not promising a PC version anymore, I can’t wait with the upgrade. If they end up making the game too demanding for my new PC, I’ll just have to get an Xbox 360 (which is the main platform for the game)

Maybe with the help of a new computer I can wait with my phone purchase a little longer, at least until they announce this year’s new models. I haven’t been able to decided between N900 and N97 so I’m hoping there’ll be a new phone about which I can make up my mind.

I baked a yummy big crumb coffee cake for Christmas. I made a filling from rhubarb and strawberries (drool) and as “dark brown sugar” I used muscovado which I happened to have in my cupboard. The cake seemed like a lot of work but I think most of that was because the muscovado was clumped up. I spent a long time trying to get the base of the crumb mixture (butter+sugar) smooth and ended up having it maybe too fluffy (sugar and butter will turn foamy after a while). It was very good after it had had time to set (i.e. the next day and after that). First I didn’t think so, but now I feel I could try it again some time (I just have to remember to de-clump the sugar) — after the last 8 pieces have gone from my freezer I had to freeze it, it would’ve been dangerous to keep it in the fridge…

So often in life I feel like a stand-up comedian — for v-e-r-y s-l-o-w people. Hindsight is 20-20 and more often than not I think of a witty response when it’s too late.

Just today I was walking home from the grocery store, carrying a very heavy grocery back, feeling like my arm would fall of if I’m not quick enough. I walked by a stand offering Omega3 pills and there was a very persistent guy trying to get people to stop. He tried to get me to stop and said “please, stop for a while.” I kept walking and he kept trying. Lastly he said “there’s some omega3 for you. It’s healthy!” I walked on by.

Just an instant later I thought of what I should’ve said in response: “So is brisk walking!”

Sigh.

For a long while I’ve been racking my brain about every book I read next. I’m between Kings, you see, and any non-King book seems to be very difficult to find.

Just a while ago I read Raymond Khoury’s “The Last Templar” of which I had made a mental note long time ago because the topic was interesting. I enjoyed the book immensely but did I even once think he may’ve written something else? No, of course not. I suppose in my twisted logic only King has written more than one book…

Today I visited a library, walked straight to the English section (horror, more specifically) and — after a lot of head tilting — picked up two short story collections. When I was heading back to get the books checked out I spotted a Raymond Khoury book on a shelf. It was in Finnish, alas, but it gave me an idea! I went back to the English section and tried to look for something by Khoury. Couldn’t find anything but I promised myself to note it down.

Now I do have a stack of books to get through but at least I know what to look for next: The Sign and Sanctuary — by Raymond Khoury.

The other day I dropped by a pet store to get something for our doggy. He seems to like anything that smells horrible to humans.

In many stores we have one or two opened packages of perfumes, makeup etc. (called testers) for shoppers to test the product. While I was looking at the sealed packages at the pet store and trying to determine smell just by looking at them I started hoping for a pet food tester…

I couldn’t decide which was the smelliest so I picked up some of Ami‘s favourites and went to the cashier. I jokingly mentioned they should have some testers in the store to be able to know which treats have the most awful smell because our dog likes those. They verified that many dogs do.

There you go! There’s definitely market for something like this.

I was going nuts over the weekend after a crazy week (not to mention long hours) at work. All the scheduling stuff (or more like, “oh no, how on earth will I manage this!”) was stuck in my head all weekend and my brain was going 100m/s. You can imagine that I was having a “little” trouble sleeping.

Last night after going to bed at 9:30 — because I had decided to wake up at 6 am — and still tossing and turning after midnight I finally decided to write down all the things that I had stuck in my mind.

Whew. That helped. I just wish I had thought of that Friday night…

Mum’s birthday is coming up and I was thinking of maybe inviting everyone over for dinner and coffee. She’s been talking how she should come over some day to see what has happened since her last visit. What’s holding me back? I’m scared Dad would have something to complain about the food again, that it tastes bad or weird. I’ve baked a lot of things and there’s always been something wrong. I do know Mum makes better food but she’s had a “few” more years to practise. (And she always makes the same dishes while I experiment.)

Nothing would make me more happy than hearing a compliment from Dad on something — anything — some day. We have a good relationship and I’ve always been a Daddy’s girl, so I don’t understand why I can’t seem to be good enough in anything.

Urgh. Thinking about this just makes me angry and sad. I need a distraction.