If you want your computer keyboard REALLY clean ...

I'm working on a project for which I'm using pried-off keys from a LOT of broken computer keyboards. (speaking of such ... if you have any that are headed for the trash .... please send them my way).

Anyway ...

I had the idea of running them through the dishwasher.

Those keys are SPOTLESS.

Though, I suppose if it were a keyboard you actually wanted to USE again ... not such a good idea. :)

Army is closed

My brother's Army base is closed because it's icy.

Yep ... hope nobody attacks Kentucky today 'cause there ain't nobody protecting it.

Tanks, helicopters, big guns, all kinds of cool toys ... but they close for ice. :)

Israel

An excellent portrayal of the facts on the Middle East conflict, that the media can't be bothered to report:

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

(probably not a video I'd watch with children around, just FYI).

Life Lesson for Today

No matter HOW sunny it is on one's lunch hour, it is still inadvisable to leave the car's sun-roof open when going back in to work after lunch, in Michigan, in January.

In other news ... we had a bat in the building this morning. My, but that was exciting. :)

Here's some kids getting a good foundation!

What software would YOU use, if you were me?

I am a church secretary, and a big part of my job is writing announcements for different events.

I'm trying to decide what software would be best to start saving these announcements, so I could re-use and reference them.

We're talking about 3-5 sentences of text, which would need to be cross-referenced in multiple ways ... by date, by the group having the event, by the room it met in, etc.

I'd thought about a database, but that isn't really exactly what I'm after, because it would need to be linked in so many different ways.

Suggestions? Anyone?

clock is done!

We ended up taking the clock to the folks at Eastern Avenue Clock Shop, as the works needed some work. I picked it up today, and am just loving it!

Adorable!

Now THIS is the proper use of the internet ... videos of hedgehogs eating carrots. :)

that's not funny!

OK ... actually ... it's ME that's not funny.

I have friends who are, naturally, funny.

D. comes from a family of story-tellers, and she can tell the simplest thing, and have a group rolling. T. has a naturally quick mind, and will come out with something hilarious before most of us have had time to process the situation she's referring to.

About the only naturally humorous gift I have is to tell "I did something dumb" stories. Fortunately I provide myself with a ready supply.

Why is she bringing this up? you may wonder.

Well, I'm having lunch with R. today.

She is one of the rare exceptions to the "Trinka's not funny" rule.

For some oddball reason, I am a regular comedian when I'm with her. She draws forth smart alec, goofy remarks, one after the other.

No idea why.

I have a few folks like this, and being with them is always a strange, yet wonderful experience. I come away thinking ... "this is what it must be like to be T." My handful of jollity-producing friends are as follows: two sisters I used to visit in Kirksville, Missouri, the nurse-practitioner in my doctor's office, and R--My handful of jollity-producing friends. So ... all of you with whom I laugh until my face hurts ... thanks! It's certainly a delight.

I suppose this is what "bringing out the best (or possibly worst) in me" means ... who can tell? :)

all hope of productivity is lost from henceforeth

I set up a Facebook account a couple years ago, but never really used it.

Until ... Friday ...

When I discovered it has these word games.

Word games you can play for hours and hours and hours.

Word games which might, if some kind of intervention is not planned, cause me to spend every free moment in front of my computer from now on. (No. I mean MORE than I already do!)

Pathwords and Scramble ... give them a try. REALLY addictive. Come, join me in the land of unproductivity ...

spring in my kitchen

While the snow falls outside, and they are predicting high temps in the single digits for the next several days, I'm encouraged to watch this little fellow.

R. gave me this bulb vase last year, with a hyacinth bulb to go in it. This year for my birthday, she gave me another bulb (of unknown type). It's been growing a little over a week now, and it's happening so fast that I could swear I see a difference every time I walk through the kitchen!

Trinka, the passive-agressive note writer ...

I have called my upstairs neighbor a few times to remind him of the quiet hours, and ask him to turn things down. (Christmas night at 11:15, and last night at 10:15.)

I thought that the quiet hours began at 10:00, but this morning, he had taped a copy of the bylaws to my door, and it says they begin at 10:30. (which he circled.)

OK. Fair enough.

But I also noticed that they START at 8:00 a.m. I had thought it was 9:00.

I left a note on HIS door this morning (since it seems he'd rather communicate through passive agressive notes, than picking up his phone).

I told him that, thanks to his kind information, I now realized it was 10:30. I also mentioned that I'd discovered my error about the morning hours ... how delighted I was to see that it was actually 8:00 a.m. I said that I was taking note of both times, and I thanked him for letting me know.