Domestic Geek

I've had my stuff in various storage places ever since I was in college back in the late 80s. Even though Marcus and I are in the process of moving all of our crap out of our current storage unit, there will come a time in the future (when we finally get our house moved onto land) that we will need one again.

There's a great online Self Storage Directory - Moving.bz that has an extensive list of storage facilities all over the United States. I like the feature where you can get online quotes and compare various facillities all from the comfort of your own computer chair. Honestly, who really has time to shop around by going to the individual businesses to get the rates? The site also features links to sites that sell packing supplies, real estate services, mortgage resources and listings for moving companies and truck rentals. It's a one-stop portal for all things moving related.

Waaaaaah! All of my Flash skills are gone, as well. I opened it up last night and can't remember how to do a danged thing. This so totally sucks monkey ass! *sigh* So much for making a quick flash header for my design website. If I can find some spare time in the next week, I'll cram from one of my books. If not, I'll have to take that off of my resume as a skill. Argh!

I'm learning Filemaker Pro at work. The owner of the company bought server and 10 licenses for work and I volunteered to implement it. I really just wanted to learn to use it on company time and then get it for my own business later.

I've spent the day throwing stuff out. A LOT of stuff. I had things stuffed in my bedroom closet that I haven't seen since we moved into this house. Actually, I found that old Camp Fire Girl Indian gown I was wearing in that photo I posted last week. I don't know why I've been hanging onto it. It holds no meaning except for a huge waste of my time, so out it went. Clothes I've been holding onto hoping that someday I might fit into them--out they went (when would I have an occasion to wear an early '80s pantsuit anyway?). Mom's old wrapping paper box where all of the ribbon is stained with niccotine and the paper still smells like cigarette smoke--out it went. Huge box of VHS tapes--out it went. I also threw out a plywood reindeer woodworking project that I started over 5 years ago. When I have a house with a garage to work on it and a basement to store the finished project, I'll try again. In the meantime, they're in my way and they give me splinters everytime I try to move them.

I'm changing my craft room into an office (where I can close the door to get some freelance work done), moving a bunch of my craft stuff to the bunny room, and hopefully finding room to store some of the storage stuff in the closets here. If we could save some money by having a smaller off-site storage unit, it would help a little.

OK, that's enough of a break. Back to it.

Yesterday our mail and web servers went down and Marcus was still getting them back online when I went to bed. I was checking the email backlog before I left for work when I heard a horrible ruckus out on our back patio. I thought maybe some cats were doing it out there or something, so I turned on the porch light and peered out the blinds to see a gaze of raccoons (yes, that's what a group of the damned things is called). The light didn't scare them off and pounding on the door by me didn't scare them off. There was one that was sitting on our porch rail pulling at our siding. Apparently, they were after the bugs that were hiding in our siding. My pounding and yelling rousted Marcus out of bed and he was also witness to this little band of hooligans. They finally strolled away and I was explaining to Marcus that I was awoken twice the night before by these creatures fighting outside our open bedroom window. It was then that we heard big thumps on our roof as these raccoons had decided to climb the huge tree next to our house and drop onto the roof. They were running around up there and making a huge racket. It felt like one of those horror movies where the humans are trapped inside a structure and the evil animals are outside, trying to get in (ala Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds). I was afraid to go out the front door for fear that one would jump off on my head. It was only after the rain started coming down heavily and the running noise ceased that I had the courage to venture out.

This is the first time since we've lived here that they've been this far down the block. I know a family of these things live under the abandoned trailer two spaces West of us now. Marcus wants to kill them. He obsessed about it all day. He's talking about rat poison. I said no. I don't want him to run the risk of accidentally poisoning Skippy (or some beneficial raccoon predator).

It gets better. When I got home and sat down to watch television, no dish signal. The other receiver had a signal. Now it appears that their roof frolicking either pulled a dish cable loose or they chewed through one. Either way, I called Marcus at work to inform him of this most recent development and he is not a happy guy. The suckiest part is there is no one to compain to. The crappy park owners won't do anything about it. They already know we have a cat problem that they refuse to deal with. I wouldn't be concerned if they were just a nuisance like the skunks around here. Raccoons can be vicious, though. They also carry rabies. I don't want one tangling with Skippy. The city of Aurora won't do anything about it. Adams county won't do anything about it.

Yet one more reason to move.

UPDATE: Well, Marcus got the dish fixed. Not sure if it was related to the raccoon romping, but he said the cable ends are pretty old and brittle. He'll have to replace them all when he gets some time and parts. He's such a handy guy!

He also showed me this really funny story he found today about some poor guy's struggle with a raccoon problem. At least our problem is not as bad as his was (yet).

Oh, no...NOT AGAIN. I'm sitting here eating some dinner trying to relax at the computer before heading off to bed and I hear a dog barking outside. I look out and the stupid neighbors have a little dog chained up outside. This better not be a repeat of the Tucker incident or I'm really going to lose it. I'm praying that it just belongs to somebody visiting there and that it will be gone shortly. Once again, right outside my window. WHY? These people have absolutely no consideration for others.

Man, I hate days like today. This stupid infection is getting worse and I don't get paid until Wednesday. I hope it doesn't get to the point of putting me in the ER before I can get to a doctor. I tried to rest when I got home from work this morning as I had really bad chills and I'm getting achy, but I started coughing really bad and ended up puking the broccoli cheese soup I ate for lunch--all over the bathroom counter, the walls, the floor, the mirror. It was totally disgusting. I even ruined Marcus' toothbrush. I finally got it cleaned up and tried to go back to sleep after my stomach settled and the cough subsided, but then the stupid family next door kept me awake. I guess it was their turn to host the weekly family gathering. Nothing like listening to grown men fighting in spanish right outside my bedroom window to Mexican polkas and screaming children on a trampline. Yay. The party has been going on all day. The neighbors and the other side have been trying all day to get this car working that hasn't ran since they moved here. There was absolutely no place I could go in my own house that was quiet. I'm tired, I'm crabby and I can't concentrate on anything to actually get anything done. *sigh*

I want nothing more than to move away from here. I'm tired of rude neighbors and barking dogs and ferrell cats. This is going to be one long freaking summer since I'm going to be working nights/early mornings at the pizza place, days at my new job and I'm going to need to sleep from about 6pm to 2am. When the neighbors let the kids jump on the trampoline until it gets dark and allow them to scream constantly to boot, my temper is going to be really short from lack of sleep. Fun stuff. Not.

Well, the damned kids have finally quieted down. I'm going to bed and try to get some rest.