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Today in My History

2001:  Princess in the Kitchen
2002:  Where's the Nearest Offramp?
2003:  In a Fog
2004:  Animal Planet
2005:  I recommend...
2006:  Kymm for a Day
2007:  The Latest on My Mother
2008:  Russell Crowe is Hot
2009:  Back to Normal
2010:  The Mother of Invention
2011:  Oh Poop
2012:  Day Two
2013: Harumph!
2014:  Eye Spy

Bitter Hack
Updated: 1/9
Kiss Stop

Books Read in 2015
 Updated: 1/4
"Can't We Talk about Something more Pleasant?"

Most Recent on My
100 Happy Days

NEW....
The Kenya 7
Letter from Banesa

AND SO IT STARTS...

18 January 2015

Well, my guru called me today and said he'd found the perfect computer for me.  For those who understand those things (I am not one of them), it's a Dell Inspiron i3647-2309BK Desktop with an Intel Core i3-4150 processor, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB hard drive, Windows 8.1 64 bit, 4 2.0 USB ports, 2 3.0 USB ports.

I don't have a clue what most of that means, but it will be much faster and store much more stuff than the one that died, and the price was right, so I gave him the go-ahead.  He'll get it set up for me (that will probably cost more than the computer).

I have an approach-avoidance reaction to the news that I will soon have a new computer.  The learning curve gets harder and harder, though the long time without a computer has given me work-arounds that make the loss of what was on the old computer less painful.

I know that the bonding process will be exciting and frustrating.  But when I've finally bonded, I suspect I will be very happy.  Oh heck, I know I'll be very happy.

I finally got out of my chair of sick today and went to visit my mother.  I hadn't seen her since our lunch on Monday, though I had called her every day.  We didn't have much to say to each other.  All she wanted to know was what I had been doing that was exciting, and all I could tell her was that I had been sitting in a chair with stomach cramps for 3 days.  Many, many times.

I didn't stay for lunch, but I dropped off her meds for next week and picked up her laundry.

Walt and I were going to a memorial service at 1.  It was for Uncle Herb, whom I barely knew, but he was Marta's step-uncle and we went to the memorial to honor him and support the family.  We had been to holiday dinners that Herb attended but I don't think I ever spoke to him--we were always in different parts of the table.

So imagine my surprise to learn that he was an author (Herbert Hocking) who had lived for many years in Perth, Australia and had written several books set in and around Perth and other parts of Western Australia.  Ned didn't know that either.  Had someone told me, we might have talked about Australia.  Instead, I'm going to read one of his books and see how they are.

After the memorial there was a reception catered by the amazing Sarah Clanton, of Stone Soup here in Davis.  It was a lovely spread but none of it looked good to me. I took a few things, ate a couple, and gave the rest to Walt.  My stomach just wasn't in a mood to eat anything...and that is saying something for someone who spends all of her time at things like this hanging around the buffet table trying to sneak seconds, thirds, and fourths without anybody noticing that the fat lady is hovering.

We had been invited to join the family for dinner at one of my favorite local eateries, The Buckhorn in Winters.  It's a real old fashioned meat and potatoes place, where you get huge slabs of meat and sit under the heads of animals who gave their lives so someone could slap them up on a wall (I hate that part, but the food is amazing). 

We almost never go there unless we are with a group, and I had been looking forward to it.  But given the way my stomach reacted to the reception food, I decided it would be a waste of money for me to go there, so I sent Walt on with Ned and Marta and I stayed home.  Probably a good idea.  Walt brought home some of his prime rib and garlic mashed potatoes for me and I did finish them, but it took me all evening before I could get them down.

As for me, I rented Boyhood  and watched it (love Amazon!).  Good movie, but the part that really got me was toward the end when Mom looks at her son as he is headed off to college and says, reflecting back over his life, "I thought there would be more."  No parent who has watched their child grow into adulthood can fail to identify and be moved by that sentiment!
 

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Jessica and Marta at the reception
 

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