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Barbara Fritchman Thompson Diary

Week of 14 June 2004

Latest Update: Sunday, 20 June 2004 19:27

Monday, 14 June 2004

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Last in the afternoon Bob and I drove over to Lori's house who is one of CBCR foster homes. She has two new fosters one of which is blind. His breeder did not have his dogs checked central progressive retinal atrophy. Most dogs who get it are blind by the time they are 1 1/2 to 2 years of age. Jack was taken by his owner to be PTS just because he had gone blind. The vet could not do it and instead contacted us. Lori and I had talked a lot on the phone and via e-mail since she joined the group back in March. I thought this would be a good time to hang out and visit while seeing her new fosters. Her fiancé is presently in Iraq. 

I thought we would be home by 7 or so giving me time to get a post up. Instead, we visited awhile then ordered take out Chinese just as another couple called. They joined us for dinner as well. By the time we got home it was 8:30. We had to feed, walk, and play with the dogs before going to bed.

Speaking of The Guys. Bob hung the wall hanging yesterday. I wanted it be placed where everyone who came to my house would see it. Thus, it hangs in our library/living room. The pillow are actually anchoring either side of the book shelf but we pulled them in for the picture. The other short is the embroidered inscription on the back. 

We ate an early dinner so I could make the 5:30 step class. It poured rain while I was in the gym. When I came out it was like a sauna with the humidity and steam coming off the pavement. 

Guess that about wraps it up for a Monday. I am about half way through the Ayelet Waldman mystery. 

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Tuesday, 15 June 2004

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My yellow jacket sting has finally started to heal. I have had an ugly red and swollen area around the sting since Saturday. This evening it seems to have faded quite a bit although the area remains tender if I bump it on something. 

Guess that's about all for this evening. 

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Wednesday, 16 June 2004

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The second tech comes in at 10 and works until 7. She had a hijack program she ran and found some more weird stuff going on. Since they had my occupied I went upstairs and filed some stuff from the move that had not been unboxed yet for about an hour and a half. 

When I came back downstairs, the techs said to reboot and try it again. Nope, I was still infected. About that time one of our PC technicians came in from another office. He got on my machine and started checking processes running in the background. I had something called netea32.exe running four processes. He killed those, did a virus check, and cleaned up the registry. 

I started my PC again, ran Google once, and got infected again. AAAH! Finally, at 3:30 I left for the day. I had about all I could take of that mess. Since I need the web to verify information I couldn't work on tickets.

On the way home I stopped at the bank, the gas station, and the library on the way to grocery store. When I came out of the library my car was dead. Then I remembered it sounded funny when I cranked it in the parking deck. I called Bob who came over and tried to jump it. It has to be either the starter solenoid or the starter itself. 

All this time the temperature was at least in the high 80's or low 90's with humidity at 80%. In long pants in that heat I was about to melt. I tried calling our repair garage but could not get an answer. We locked up the truck and came home. On the way home I remembered another garage just around the corner from our that does work for Tim that he does not do. Problem was I could not remember the name of the place but knew dad had some AC work done there. I called dad to get the name and number. 

While I changed and cooled off Bob called them. They gave us the name of their tow service. Bob called them and was told his truck was out but they would call us when they were on their way. I had just enough time to check web pages and start on my mail when they called us. We had to go back over to the library to take them the key to the car and pay for the towing. We have tow insurance so I wanted to pay for it separately to send it off to the insurance company.

After the wrecker came we left in the white truck to get gas and a bite to eat at the little diner. Back home we had to unload all the astronomy gear from the truck so I can drive it work tomorrow. Remember, the white truck has no AC. Guess I will wear something cool for tomorrow's drive down and back. What a day!

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Last night, just as I finished my post it started to rain again. Good thing I got out and mowed the lawn right away. I finished the Ayelet Waldman mystery before we walked the dogs for second time. After I went to bed I started a review copy for Mystery Morgue by John Robinson, The Sapphire Sea. 

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Thursday, 17 June 2004

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Greetings from the steamy south. High of 90 today with humidity it felt like 96. Not a good day to be outside doing much. 

My computer woes had not ended when I got to work this morning. After messing around for another thirty minutes one of the techs just built me a new system. An hour later I had a new box sitting on my desk. We buy those little Dell systems that can lie flat or stand vertical in a stand. They are about the size of large square shoe box boots would come it. Once I had my new system I managed to get caught up fairly quickly on my tickets.

On the car front, as I suspected, it was the starter. $461 and a rebuilt starter, we drove out and picked up my car when I got home from work. We dropped Bob's off when we picked up mine to get the oil changed, fluids and belts checked, and look at the break pedal. I feel like it is way too soft compared to mine and wanted to have Tim check it. Yes, our regular mechanic was open. He was out test driving a car. When he tried to call us back he couldn't get through to my cell. Oh well, Bob asked him how much it would be and the prices were similar. I trust Tim's work but I know he sends a lot of his customers to this guy. 

On the way back home we stopped at Subway. Between the heat, aggravation at work and the cars I just did not feel like coming home and fixing anything. As soon as we ate and walked the dogs I decided to go on to the grocery store and get that out of the way. Friday cannot get here soon enough.

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Friday, 18 June 2004

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I am very glad to see Friday role around. It has been a long and tiring week to say the least. We now have both vehicles back in the garage. The white truck just needed an oil change.

I sat up late last night to finish The Sapphire Sea. Thrillers are not really my genre of choice in the mysteries. Had I come across this book in the library or book store I more than likely would not have picked it up. However, as with several other books in the thriller/hard boiled category that I ended up reading for Mystery Morgue, is was pretty good. John Robinson lived a very colorful life before settling down in Portland, ME to write his first mystery. He uses his experiences in Africa as the basis for the book. When his main character, Ronny Cushman who lives in the gem rich country of Madagascar, buys the largest, truest sapphire he has laid eyes he finds himself having to flee the country for his life. Political corruption among the military, government, and figurehead rulers all wish to have the sapphire and see Lonny dead. With very few friends to call on for help, he ends up using his own wits to try and escape the country and return back to his native New York a rich man.

Have a great weekend. It is supposed to be cooler tomorrow and Sunday. We shall see.

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Saturday, 19 June 2004

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It has been a fun Saturday all around. This morning I picked up Mom, Dad, and Frances to drive out to one of the nicer garden stores. It is just west of Winston about fifteen minutes. In the early spring if you shop at the center they give out what is called Blooming Bucks based on a percentage of the cost of what you buy. Frances and I both had some that needed to be used. They are only good for a couple of weeks. We spent about an hour shopping around. 

After we left the garden center we stopped at the Hanes employee store on the way back home. Once a year they give Baptist Hospital volunteers entrance to the store with their badges. We spent a few minutes shopping around in that store. I found some more spandex shorts for spinning and a hooded sweat shirt which cost all of $.50. It was a second but will be perfect for wearing this fall and winter working in the yard.

Back home, we unloaded all the stuff. Mom had ordered Frances and I some really nice things from the Lane Bryant catalog. I now have a couple of more new shirts to wear to work and a really nice sport outfit with matching top and shorts. We looked at and tried on some of our new stuff before heading over to the little diner on their side of town for lunch.

I guess I got back home around 1 or so. Although it was not nearly as hot today as it has been I decided to do the house cleaning this afternoon and leave the yard work for tomorrow. The high is only supposed to be 81, much cooler. As a matter of fact, we just had a quick little storm come through around dinner time dumping some rain and dropping the temperature almost ten degrees.

After I finished up the cleaning I took a shower then spent the remaining part of the afternoon watching the US Open golf tournament. 

All this hot weather has kept my appetite way down. Tonight I had salad for dinner for the third time this week. 

Last night I started a mystery by a new author for both Bob and I, C. C. Benison wrote three books, set in modern day London, in 1996-1997. Jane Bee, who works as a maid for the Queen Elizabeth, gets asked to solve murders that occur at three of the famous estates. I am reading the first one, Murder At Buckingham Palace. C.C. Benison is the pseudonym of Douglas Whiteway. I found two of the books at that used book store in Bowie, MD while we were up visiting Marcia and Brian. The library had the first one in the series. This week there has been some discussion on the Dorothy L. mystery list indicating Benison was asked by the Royal family to stop writing the books. Today, someone posted another theory that perhaps he had his next books planned out using Princess Diana as the subject then had to bag them when she was killed. 

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Sunday, 20 June 2004

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It was almost 4pm by the time I came in to take my shower. Afterwards I hit the sofa to read the paper while watching the final round of the US Open and last 20 laps of the race in Michigan. Mom and Frances made an extra hen for Bob and sent along some of the rice and cake. I brought home some yams. I heated up Bob's dinner and ate the yams and a couple small pieces of his hen for mine. The golf just finished up at 7:15.

I am yawning already at 7:30. It will be an early bed time tonight for sure.

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