Dysmey Blog Archives > late summer vacation, part 1
The week and its weather have been pleasant so far. It makes for a dull vacation.
My sister the editor had a birthday last Thursday, but her birthday dinner was not until Sunday. She choose what is called a nancy cake. A nancy cake is a single-layer white cake with a lot of pineapple and mandarin orange slices both in the cake and in the white icing. The cake needs to be refrigerated, and the candles have to come out immediately after my sister blew them out.
I went to Fry's to buy a Silverstone SG-03 case and peripherals for it; but I was told that the SG-03 is a special order item and was not in stock. So I had to order the case from NewEgg.com, which had a special on it for thirty dollars off. I had trouble at first with the site because there was a flaw in the Javascript. Later I could place an order on the site; evidently enough people complained abou the Javascript bug. Anyway, the thirty dollars went into the shipping cost so that I can get the case here before my vacation is over.
I wanted the case because of its micro-ATX size. I wanted something with which I can salvage my old Asus motherboard with the AMD Athlon processor. The ultimate goal will be a Windows machine that I need not plug into a network, with which I can do work downstairs using the TV (which has a VGA port) as a monitor, and then transfer via thumb drive to my main machine in the upper room. That way, I can work somewhere cool during the summer and warm during the winter: In both seasons the upper room is not comfortable.
I attended my first town board meeting in a long time. I had expected entertainment because the local newspaper has been reporting verbal fireworks among the board members for the past several months, often spilling into the Letters to the Editor section of the paper. But not tonight: Everyone was very civil that evening. Some race-car storage company wanted to expand and successfully requested an abatement.
The local kids are zooming around in golf carts. Kids are not allowed legally to drive golf carts in this town; but the kids' parents (who evidently do not know this) just let them take the keys to the carts and zoom off. Several residents — including the couple who live catty-corner from my folks — complained that the kids are driving the carts so recklessly that the kids are a danger to themselves and to traffic. The old folks are also afraid that the town board might respond by banning golf carts altogether, depriving them of a legitimate means of moving about.
I wanted to go to Sam's Club not far from Fry's, but I forgot to bring my checkbook. (Sam's Club does not accept debit cards.) So I went to the Sam's Club in Kokomo, and got for my sister the teacher a big bag of kitty litter. She cannot haul around fifty-pound bags in her current condition.
I visited Muncie this afternoon. First I went to the office to check on my campus mail; I was hoping that my parking sticker for this coming academic year had come. (It didn't.) Next I went to the Olive Garden for a late afternoon meal. I went to Miller Tire for an oil/lube job, but the place was too busy. I then went to the Books-A-Million shop in the Muncie Mall. There was nothing there I wanted to read. That was so pathetic.
I just barely made it to the library board meeting this evening. We mostly wrestled over budget woes brought on by the new budget rules set up by the General Assembly and the machinations of the County Council. We also discussed the move to the new building this month. I assume it will be this month, but that depends on when we can switch the phone lines over and when we can set up the stacks shelving.
I discovered during the discussion that my property taxes are due the day after tomorrow. The county government site claimed that the tax statements were mailed out on the 30th of last month. I never got such a statement. I will have to go to the county offices in Marion and pay the tax in person.