What did we do before Caller ID (and the Internets)?

A 901# has appeared on my missed call list multiple times in the last week but they never leave a message. I googled the full # to make sure it wasn't someone I wanted to talk to and/or a regional office of my organization. (It is a vendor.) I did find this website in my google results which is an interesting concept. http://800notes.com/

Radon 101

Did you know that most of Colorado is in the "1" category of the EPA's radon zone maps, meaning our soils are at highest risk for leaching lung-cancer-causing radon?

Coloradans can print a coupon for a short-term (3-4 days) radon test (there may be a $20-30 testing fee) at CDPHE. I completed one from a different company for $30 and my results just came back.

My average reading was 3.8 something-something per something. A reading of 4 is when you need to test again and possibly mitigate. But since all the research has been on miners who are almost exclusively male and nearly all smokers, my exposure to lung cancer risk is, in my opinion, yet undetermined. So I'm going to test again. Either with another short-term, or a long-term (3 months) test, for which you can obtain a coupon from the above site for $20.

My resident energy and physics expert advises to avoid mitigation at these levels, for the fossil fuels that are burned to have a radon-purging fan running 24/7 may pose greater risk to my health and well-being than the actual radon in my basement, where I don't hang out a lot.

But doesn't this make you want to test your place, too??

Ah, yet another item in my life on which to collect data and avoid decisions!

New York Times

Ok, so someone in my building has a subscription to the Sunday New York Times. Since no one has been picking them up and there is no apartment number on the bag, I've assumed that the person with the subscription is me. (Actually, there is more to this theory ... like I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the house, other than the guy that lives below me, that is remotely interested in the news.) Here's the thing. I don't remember buying a subscription. I remember thinking about it and looking at the prices, but don't remember signing up. Could have been drunk shopping, but my credit card hasn't been charged. Perhaps it was a gift?? I pose this question to you. Did anyone give me a subscription to the NYT? I love it and would love to thank the appropriate person.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the paper and awaiting a bill.

Random Post

Reading List:
The 10 Reasons Geeks Make Better Lovers
Salon.com- Conversation with Edwards

Drinking List- Colorado Vodka:
14 - Made from certified organic grain
Goat - Distilled in Palisade from Olathe sweet corn

Setting your clock back

Warning: This post is boring.

For crafters with home computers (or the self-employed, IT Dept-Less), you may want to check out this link about the new Daylight Savings Time settings (coming March 11th). http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

All of the high speed folks should be getting critical updates automatically so no action should be required but the link above will double-check.

I think this may land you in the massive MS Updates page, for what it is worth, CD2E & JB both independently do not suggest IE 7.0. (You can select to install updates with the "custom" option to avoid it.)

"The state of our union is strong"

I’m anxiously awaiting CLC’s state of the union overview because she is much funnier than I (remember last year’s review?). Here’s what I heard.

Fully fund the war. Balance the budget without raising taxes (I can only assume that means throwing women off welfare, oh and maybe stopping bridges to nowhere, maybe.) Subsidize private health insurance. Block grant public health insurance programs for the most needy. Privatize public education (you know, for the minority children).

Global climate change (not warming, change). Subsidize clean coal (such a thing exists?) and nucular (sic) power, oh, and throw a bone to those hippies who want wind and solar power. Reduce our dependence on oil much slower than the rest of the world (I think he said 20% in 20 years).

September 11th. Terrorist, terrorist, terrorist. Fully fund the war.

Stop AIDS in Africa by giving money to Pharma. (Those fags that get it here deserve to die.) Eliminate global poverty. Those morons who can’t pull themselves up by the bootstraps in the US should just live on the streets. Just look at the black guy in the gallery who is the shining example of who we should be. More gratuitous examples of people who can pull themselves up. Just look again in the gallery, heroes, all of them.

We’ve been through a lot together. (Yeah, it’s called the Bush administration). God bless.

You have been labeled.

Procrastinating from doing the actual work I need to do, I took the liberty of adding labels to the last few months of post for everyone. I hope no one minds.

This afternoon's top stories on Google News

Bush's new plan for Iraq contains many elements tried before
"...Bush advisers also believe that Americans do not necessarily support an immediate withdrawal and might be willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt if he presents a feasible, detailed plan that points the way to an eventual U.S. drawdown..."

America Attacks
"...Unlike when you are fishing, you can't throw the minnows back into the sea afterwards, and the battle for Somalia is all about the minnows..."

ET, Phone Steve Jobs
"...In the press section, reporters actually gasped in awe a couple of times, or laughed at the delightful feats of technology Jobs was showing off..."

Best of Daily Candy

Getting back into the work groove has tapped my creativity so here are some gems from daily candy.

jet hag - n. The overly dressed, overly perfumed woman in desperate search of an on-flight date.
sluggage - n. Luggage that always seems to come out of baggage claim last.
scary-on - n. A piece of luggage that’s clearly too big to fit into a plane's overhead compartment.
bee break - n. The act of sneaking off to the bathroom in the middle of dinner to scroll through one's BlackBerry.
e-mnesia - n. The condition of having sent or received an e-mail and having no recollection of it whatsoever.
reply-arrhea - n. E-mail incontinence; the inability to stop hitting Reply to All.
bluetoothsome - adj. Used to describe someone so attractive that his/her hotness is not diminished by the wearing of a dorky Bluetooth earpiece.

I had thought my favorite gift under the tree was the vintage typewriter key jewelry but now that I have been back at the computer for two days I say it is my fancy bluetooth mouse.

*I know DHP & SNG are guilty of Bee Breaks.*

Googlelicious

Remember The Milk allows you to map out your errands for the day on a map.

To Blog Co-Admins: Ignore the upgrade your blog now message. I have done some reading on the Blogger Help group and there are still lots of bugs with Team Blogs in Blogger Beta.

Also from my Blogger Beta reading- If you are creating a google account, I would encourage you to link it to a hotmail or yahoo account and not to a gmail account. You may want to create a hotmail or yahoo account with your blogger name to use with your google account.

Who's Your (Big) Brother?

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect Friday, legal experts say. Read More

Cheese Update

(geesh, this is a slow period in the life of Renegade Crafters. Come on, Crafters, set up an email to post your blogs if logging in is stopping you from bantering....)

I'm a stinky cheese fan. But I guess I wasn't in the mood this week. I assembled a cheese plate on which the mild cheese was Wensleydale, an English cow's milk (anyone a Wallace and Grommit fan from the early shorts?), and not a particularly mild one. Spanish blue Cabrales was selected from the ever-rotating Cheese Monger at Marczyk's based on the mere fact that it was the strongest blue. But even I had to toss the Robiola, a melty washed-rind blend. Past its prime, as I normally am a Robi fan.

And then there is the severe lack of attention to the Mexican cheeses at Belmar WF...not local, not small batch, not even located with the rest of the cheeses. Boo. I had to put feta in my favorite dish ever, MBF Rick Bayless' Sopa Seca de Fideos tonight.