Category Archives: doing it wrong

Travel Journal Probably around 1979 or 1980

(Original punctuation and spelling kept intact.)

This morning we had a late breakfast and then went on the U-bahn subway to Saint Michel. St. Michel is a church that was destroyed several times. It took about 10 years to build the Church and 10 more years to build the tower. This was in the 1800's. In 1906 the tower was destroyed by fire but it was rebuilt. During World War II, I think, the whole church was destroyed almost completely and it since has been rebuilt. Before it was destroyed the second time my dad was babtised and confirmed there and Oma and Opa were married there. We could visit it now and go up into the tower.

That night we visted Oma's sister, Norma and her son, (dad's cousin), Adolf. They spoke only german but it was a nice evening.

Nobody Rides For Free
I’ve been having a tough time getting my photos off the memory cards. I thought maybe a card was fried and bought a new one. I took a zillion photos and still couldn’t get them off.

While I was at the camera store, I asked about a new cable that goes from the camera to the computer. My old one is frayed and dangerous looking but previous attempts to replace it have failed and since I could make the icky one work, I just kept using it. Until the current problem developed. The person suggested that I get a cardreader which is a USB gadget that you plug the card into instead of the camera. This thing is genius. It’s fast and wonderful. One problem solved.

The commute home in summer is ruthless. On Monday is was 1 hr. 10 minutes. I’ve been doing 2 yoga classes a week to avoid it. Today was usual. Do you like the busy carpool lane? Who thought that was a good idea?

The car behind me was some guy who apparently didn’t want one breath of air between his bumper and mine. I tried to get a picture but didn’t turn around so you can’t see his tense face. He rode my bumper all the way from the Rose Garden to the place where the carpool ends.

I don’t think you should be able to ride my ass that long without at least buying me dinner.

It’s Just Clothes
This afternoon I was at a department store, trying on a few things.

I’ve been trying to find something new to wear for yoga which is the topic for a longer post which I’m not in the mood for right now.

Also I’ve been looking for some light, comfortable things to wear when it’s warm.

I tried on a simple black tank top. Probably too light to wear by itself but would be okay under things or perhaps around the house. It wasn’t really what I was looking for but the material was so soft and it was so comfortable I hung it back up thinking a definite maybe.

I grabbed the price tag and almost passed out when I saw: $118. For a little tank top.

I quickly smoothed it out, checked to be sure I hadn’t accidentally snagged it or hurt it in any way. I wouldn’t have even tried it on had I checked the price first.

How could a little tank top be $118? I carefully put it back on the rack. At least I have good taste.

Bob came in my room the other night and said: “This webpage stuff is a major time suck.”

Yeah. I know.

Since I had so much success redoing my main pages, this morning I decided to tackle a few fixes on my last 2 xmas newsletters. The 04 version is a major mess.

05 was pretty easy to fix, I figured out how to center a few things and tweak a few others.

Thinking I now understood how it all works, at first I thought I’d just re-engineer the whole 04 layout since I can’t figure out what I did in the first place. But then I’d have to redo photos and I didn’t want to get that deep into it. That probably would have been faster.

The point being I spent most of my day trying to unravel my page layout and had little success and very little satisfaction. All for a page that no one ever looks at.

Oh well. I am learning a lot. Maybe the 06 version will be a snap.

My Tomato Farm
Today was my biggest harvest day. This is what I got.

Try not to be underwhelmed. It’s almost mid-August. I should be groaning under the weight of my harvest. There are 4 plants out there plus another 4 volunteers.

That’s it.

I can eat them as fast as I can pick them. How am I going to make sauce and soup with this pitiful crop?

I’m already tired of the garden and it’s barely started to do anything.

My theory is that the heirlooms don’t pump out the results like the .69¢ Fred Meyer variety. Normally I buy a few cheapies and a few heirlooms but this year I went all heirloom. One of the plants hasn’t even given me one ripe one and the green ones look all tiny and deformed.

This is not what I’d hoped for.

Bad Pizza
As has been documented here, my digestive system is not what it used to be.

I have to be careful about stuff with fat. It’s built in portion control.

Last night, I came home late from yoga and was fried and wanted something quick and yummy so I chose this pizza.

Holy moly, digestive system on fire. I ate half of it and it wasn’t huge. And sheet-howdy if I didn’t taste that freaking thing for a full 24 hours. I can still taste it. It’s still burning me. I told Bob how miserable I was and he’s afraid of it, too.

The leftovers sit in the fridge. Holding court. We tremble in its shadow. Bad, scary pizza. Bad.

My Bedroom: Senior Year
(Note: we are having major technology problems here at casa pam and bob. I am imbibing massive quantities of cheap Trader Joe’s red wine to combat my frustration: always a good idea. We’ll see if the problems are sorted out before I throw myself on my pillow in tears or start driving around because dammit: I own this town!)

I was out and about downtown this week and saw some Sbiccas (shoes) in a store window which helped inspire this post. My Sbiccas were one of my fave shoes ever. If they had my shoes in the window, I might have bought them again.

I was a big fan of the Love’s phallic-ly packaged fragrance line back in those days. I loved Baby Soft (pink) Didn’t it smell like cotton candy? I also wore the Lemon Fresh (yellow) and Rain (blue) and I had the Musk (brown) but it wasn’t my favorite.

Frampton Comes Alive was one of my first two albums. The other one was Wings Over America. I think Wings is still in the closet. Frampton was the unfortunate victim of sunlight when I moved my turntable next to my bed and it warped. (The disk with “Show Me The Way”)(Why doesn’t the radio play old Frampton in place of Billy Idol, once in awhile?) I would love to own it again if I could get it on eMusic. No one has ever looked as cute as Peter Frampton on the inner fold of that double album. (Except Fabio Cannavaro, of course.) For 8-tracks I had a Rod Stewart and Air Supply.

I wish I could remember the story about the clothes hanging over the chair but I’m a total blank on that one. I still use that desk, although in a different configuration which I would love to link to except the technology seems to be hiccuping again. I still use that desk lamp. UPDATE: try this link scroll to the home improvement photos.

Awesome Green Suit
I did a million things today. I’d write a list but you’d be jealous. One thing I did was finish scanning a huge stack of family photographs.

I was tempted to put a bunch of humiliating old photos of my cousins up because they don’t read this site and aren’t here to defend themselves. But I resisted. (And besides, tomorrow is another day.)

But I had to put this photo up. It’s a picture of me and my sister walking into the Pearch Creek Property but the real star of the photo is the unidentified person in this killer green checked suit.

If I had to guess, I’d say it’s Aunt Trudy. (My grandfather’s sister, if you’re joining us late.) What a kick ass outfit to be wearing in Orleans (or ever). I love it.

Publishing this (this being the remodel in case you haven’t been by lately) is probably premature since I haven’t double-checked anything and the links are going to remain forked up. Also: I still have no idea what I’m doing.

I see that my archives are completely bungled up, too. And I’ve been doing this all afternoon and am tired. Don’t look at the archives. I’ll fix soon. UPDATE: Fixed!

Meanwhile, check out the husband link. Bob was domained today.