Domestic Geek

As Russ pointed out, it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve posted. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and am trying to sort through it all. To not be all woe all the time, I haven’t felt like posting here. Something major needs to change in my life and I’m not quite sure yet how to make that happen. Maybe I need some of these:



Seriously, though, after the hell of the last week, one thing is clear—I’m not going to get ahead in my present situation. I have all of these dreams and they all require capital to get going. I can’t get any money whatsoever set aside, especially now that I have a car payment again. Don't get me wrong, I love my Baja. Having that car actually represents a goal achieved, but I’m tired. I hate working every day of the week. I hate not having the energy (or the money) to go have any fun. I hate having to get by on five or six hours of sleep if I actually want to see Marcus. I hate the stress of trying to juggle when bills are due with when money is supposed to come in.

I hate the increased crime and bad things that happen in and around Aurora. Random people get shot on I-70 at Havana and along I-25. Shootings at the Aurora Mall. Gang problems, dead bodies, homeless people, illegal Mexicans. I'm sick of all of it.

I had a whole list of stuff I was going to rant about—work problems (both jobs suck ass), politics, health issues, neighbor problems, etc., but I’ve changed my mind. Bitching and moaning isn’t going to change any of it. I’m becoming a woman of action. If I post here less frequently, it’s because I’m working on stuff to turn my life around. I’m tired of being in the rut. Time to stop digging and start climbing out.

I get really annoyed by those "Parents: the anti drug" commercials on tv and radio where parents are battling with whether they should tell their kids not to do drugs because they've done drugs and feel like hypocrites. Just being picky, but they would only be hypocrites if they were still doing drugs and were telling their kids not to do them. A hypocrite tells you not to eat poorly while he's stuffing his face with a greasy burger and a diet coke. A hypocrite tells you that you shouldn't smoke because smoking will kill you and then lights up. A parent being a parent and looking out for the wellfare of his children even though he's made some foolish choices in the past is not a hypocrite.

REMINDER: When I get home this evening I need to add Foxtrot and Joy of Tech widgets to my desktop.

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).

I've been hearing about this the last few days, so I'm posting it to remind myself to do it.

From the 9News website: