Simply Bad Comedy

Yes, this is recycling at it's finest. XD



...and yes, this is also the first time I saw this. I don't get around as much as I used too!

Omigah... why is it so hard to have time for anything, anymore?!

(*has pretty much spent a month trying to complete all the steps to apply to the Bioinformatics degree - and still is not yet done*)

Anyways... this Carrier series on PBS is very cool to watch.

It's also cool news to hear that the Children's Museum of Indianapolis is hosting a big comic book collection this summer. (*is curious to see*)

Also, the Derby! I was impressed to hear them playing some of the cool parts of the TF movie score during the coverage before the race.

But then baffled by what had happened to the filly thereafter. Between kids being fussy, trying ot overhear the laptop also playing Korean shows (because inlaws do not really have interest in US TV), and the fact NBC just didn't want to dwell on that tragedy long enough for me to figure it out (I had to read up on this on the internet to get the final details)... yeah, that has left me sad to finally know.

*scrambles off to find envelopes for transcript request forms*

Pardon me while I totally geek out over... plants.

Like seriously, in the days of apartment dwelling, I didn't give a rat's rump about them. In fact, the freebie plants I had picked up from the other big company I was contracted for the last many years had often died in a few months due to lack of water. But I think that was also in part to the fact I made no more than a dollar donation for them. I also have pretty much forgotten the names of many plants and trees, up until now. (Thank goodness for identifier tags!)

The last couple of weeks I have literally been pouring through the online nursery type shops and walking through local home improvement greenhouses to educate myself on what plants to pick. Reminds me back when I was in jr. high and I had been busy gardening in my free time every summer too.

We're planning up bulking up the existing flower beds with mulch, and then make more flower/veggie garden beds all around the house. Only because hubby doesn't like how much of the concrete foundation is showing there. I'm not going to complain (as long as he doesn't build it up too high) since I can utlize more gardening space for herbs, lettuces, and peppers/tomatoes on the sunniest side.

Then... I find that the current company I'm working for is offering an employee discount at this one landscaping/mulch company, for a limited time. Sweet. We must take advantage of this (and I do hope it also applies to contractors too). We also decided that some of the the extra tax credit the IRS is sending out will be spent on this too.

Now I can't wait for when we get the soil/mulch, and stone edging set up. Just itching to get in the new sets of shrubs and flowers I've been eyeing lately. Love to stick a bonsai-looking type juniper in the front (if not some blue rug), as well as some other really pretty red dianthus and other daisy like flowers to go with the tiger lillies. Going to dig up all the bulb flowers and tiger/day lillies to reseat/replant them in better locations. I am tempted to put some pygmy spruce trees on each side of the garage too. For the lamp post out front, some mahogony or white clematis (a popular vine flower, it turns out).

We used to have a little rose bush there, but I don't think it liked it there. Too hot and dry (and neglected too long), I guess (the soil around it had darker potting soil though). I dug it up and took it to the back yard. Thinking about getting some old style English roses to put under the kitchen window. That would be nice to smell whenever we have the windows open too.

Then on the shady side of the house, some ferns and bleeding hearts to go with what may remain of the (struggling) astilbes. Tempted to make use of some nice ground cover (that isn't an ivy or a wintergreen creeper type) somewhere too. Already have a good show of hostas on either side of our front entrance.

I also had a chuckle when I saw some Korean boxwood at a Lowes. I don't think we have a place for this (unless I put that on either side of the garage, but.. that might be too small fo a space). I also wish I could put in a Japanese maple or a mini weeping sort of ornamental, but alas, no proper place to put one of those either (our yard is pretty well covered with trees and big bushes anyway).

Heh... I should take before and after pictures of all this too. ^^

To make my spring fever all the more contagious, I changed the look of my journal again, and then went on another icon hunt. Times like this I miss having ready access to Photoshop. These work computers have nothing, and yet... I hardly have much time at home to do anything. Mostly because Josh and I rather go outside to play when the weather is beautiful. ^^

Still want to go through the thousands of pictures hubby has taken since last fall though. Glah. Many to edit so I can post some online, and get the others printed out for family. And then make icons out of whatever else that catches my fancy.

Which is when I found out that most icon communities on LJ are pretty much about TV/movies celebrities and anime. One has to hunt to find anything else that is still active.

Alas, even though I'm not the pagan type (as the owners of this club are), I think nomnomicons is one of the better ones for nature-based and/or general graphic type icons. :)

(now to find time to get icons uploaded here... they are on the other computer)

EDIT: And what is up with that GreatGlam.com advert? It's so... borderline NOT work safe, but yet it will not go away no matter what options I select for adverts. *muuters*

EDIT x 2: New icons uploaded! :D

Because I'm on the Korean laptop that's not connected to a printer, or is easy for me to figure out how to bookmark the address...

http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp

Sounds a lot more researched and reasonable than say, Jerry Baker concoctions. ;p


(man... I also need to update my icons for more variety)

So, here I was counting all my reasons to be hating raccoons, when I heard on the radio news that there was a pretty big earthquake down near the Evansville area this morning.

I had a couple of potted plants on the starsteps of my deck, and I saw that they were knocked off the steps with dirt everywhere this morning. No time to clean that up then though.

Thought that was from the 'coons, but now I'm thinking it was the earthquake. The weird thing... I didn't feel or notice anything! :p

It was at 5:37, the time just before my alarm goes off. I guess i was passed out cold to not notice anything then. However, I did find it odd that my baby was awake and a bit restless around 5. Did she sense something, or feel it?

My coworker said he didn't feel any shaking either, but his girlfirend certainly did. I'll have to ask the in-laws if they noticed anything, later on today. :/


EDIT:
Dude, I just felt an aftershock around 11:15ish!

Kind of felt like someone teasingly shaking my chair (desk variety with wheels) back and forth a couple times. Dunno if being down here in the basement made it anymore noticable.

My water heater broke died. :p

As of 12 noon on Saturday, I didn't really know too much about these units. But now, I know enough to be dangerous. And that it sucks even more to have this happen on a weekend, when everything that is designed to be convenient is not. Top that off with the fact that we have, as of Sunday, three house guests who are suffering along with us.

The story was that I was washing dishes from lunch when I noticed the water to be really hot. Steamy, you can scald yourself if not wearing gloves hot. Very abnormal since we hadn't done anything to the water heater to cause this. Then a few minutes later, especially after going down to switch over the laundry, I heard a peculiar sound I hadn't heard before.

I call hubby, he said he'll check it out when he gets home form work later that evening. Not satisfactory enough, since he really has no experience with American style water heaters. He's more accustomed to the tankless water heater systems they have in Korea and Japan. I call Dad for more advice, and it gets really interesting from there. He said it's likely the thermostat broke and was no longer able to know when to stop heating the water. But as a safety precaution, also told me to turn off the water heater asap. Just in case the whole thing would blow... like a bomb. Or a rocket. You know, just in case the steam release valve doesn't do it's job either. *insert nervous OMGNO laugh here* I could not figure how to do that form the unit, so I turned it off from the circuit breaker.

Dad decided to come over anyway to keep this whole matter a once over. Good thing he did, cause now I figured out what that noise I was hearing was. It was the water running full blast through the pipes, running up water bill!

Fortunately, the steam release valve did work as it should and kept the water heater from blowing sky high. Unfortunately, the part of the mechanism that holds the water inside of it, is no longer working either now. So the cold water that I guess was triggered to cool it down, is now just running right on through the tank into our sump pump! Yeah, yeah.. the other bright side to that is it's good we have it's drain pipe going to the sump pump, otherwise we have a nice flood on our hands too.

Thus, Dad tries to turn off the water line feeding into the tank. This did not bode well either. After taking a heave ho to it with a vice so it would finally turn, nothing was happening. Water was still running strong. The last resort was to now turn off our water to the house from the main valve in our front yard. Yey. Not only are we left with icey glacier cold water, we have to get by with no running water at all!

Yeah, we can turn it on for a short while to do dishes and flush toilets, but it's rather an inconvenience over all. To add insult to injury, all my efforts to invest in a a more eco-efficient way to heat water with a tankless system were scrapped when we found that these are not available in all stores. (even after reading about how you can also get a $300 tax credit on em too!) And the ones that were available are fueled with natural gas. We need an electric one. I/We could not bear the thought of having to live like this for a few more days while waiting for the one we would order online to come in. Cause like, seriously, this water is very icey cold as is. And I doubt we will have the desire to take the extra time to boil a few gallons of water for more than one bathing occasion. Ugh.

So I go back to getting another tank heater. After I had to research on that some more on which brand to get, and which stores have these in stock right now. And then will allow us to get it today or tomorrow without having to pay $200 or so for delivery and installation (because hubby already found someone who can install it for a lot less). Menards is our winner right now, since they also carry the Rheem brand. Heard lot of good things about that one.

The funny thing is that our current water heater was a Bradford White. They are pretty good too, and supplied only by plumber contractors. I guess this one was not as durable due to the conditions it had here. It's 10 years old, the same one that was put in when the house was built. I'm guessing they got a 6 year warranty on it though, cause the Bradford White website didn't come up with any warranty info on it when I put in the serial number. *sigh*

I am currently making plans of boiling a couple pots of water to make a bath tonight, as I have not showered in two days now. :p And I like to be somewhat nice smelling for work tomorrow. The other option I am teasing myself with is to go to work early and see if I can take a shower in the fitness gym there. XD

Bleah.

Because time isn't as plentyful as it seems atm... *eyeshift*

Yes, I do plan on getting a soil testing kit to see just what condition the soil is in. We have a couple of rose plants that didn't look so hot at the end of year, and I understand the like things acidic. But it's just the front lawn that looks bad. The back and side yard is greener... because there is more shade! The front lawn is in full sun and on a slope, so it could be that things drain off quicker there.

I'm also guessing it wasn't treated by the previous owner, by the number of weeds and crabgrass growing everywhere. He also prolly didn't do anything to water it regularly. Then when we moved in last year, we didn't have a garden hose for the longest time. By the time we finally got some (after the hottest, driest months), the drought made its mark.

This year we're hoping to turn that around, one step at a time. Hubby has plans to over-seed to make the thinning areas more thick again. Since last year, I've been reading and talking to others about lawncare too. Of these is grass-cycling, not cutting grass too short, and proper watering. For watering, it makes sense to water once a week, slow and long, to let the water sink in deep. Then that encourages the roots to go deeper to get it. (and it works around the water restrictions that often take effect during dry heat spells)

Chemical treatments vs the stuff around your house... yes, it's all about moderation and application for both. And the likes of which plants you have too. Even the beer and mouthwash can be bad to pets and kids if they get into too much of it. Another note a different posting on this tonic said to wait a couple days before letting your pets and kids on the lawn after spraying the tonic.

But there are other options that are clever, but have to be used accordingly. Using coffee grounds to add acid and nitrogen to acid loving plants, like my roses, sounds like another good idea. But alas, they are used sparingly to not makes things too acidic. I'm more into compost materials too. And egg shells ground up, as well as fish parts from deboning fish offers the lime and bone meal related components. Or even ground up seaweed kelp and alfalfa is good.

Is in a huge gardening mood this spring. Like, wow.

And I finds it funny that I'm opting for the "green" and "organic" way to fertilize and what have you just because it is cheaper than buying the stuff. Or hiring services.

But why is our lawn still so bare and yellow? *sigh* Cursed neighbors and their ability to fit a lawn fertilizing service into their budgets. :p *heh*

So. Here's to hoping this funky lawn tonic will do the trick. Yes... I must make my lawn drunk and minty fresh! :D


This recipe came from Tim Heffron, a former grounds keeper at a golf course. All you need are five common household ingredients and a 10-gallon hose-end sprayer. This recipe can be modified slightly for other less dry climates, but for areas like Colorado it works wonders. And it's a heck of a lot cheaper and more effective than the store-bought mixes.

You will need:

* One full can of regular pop (any kind-no diet soda)
* One full can of beer (no light beer)
* 1/2 Cup of Liquid dishwashing soap (do NOT use anti-bacterial dishwashing liquid)
* 1/2 Cup of household ammonia
* 1/2 Cup of mouthwash (any brand)

Directions:

* Pour into 10-gallon hose-end sprayer (other sizes will work too)
* In high heat, apply every three weeks

That's it! Simple, easy, cheap and very very effective. But I already know what you're asking. How does this work? Well, Heffron explains the science behind the homemade tonic :-

The liquid soap is a wetting agent, helping the formula penetrate the roots.

The ammonia promotes growth and turns your lawn green.

The mouthwash does something you would never suspect mouthwash would do. It kills the bugs and grubs.

NOTE: Do NOT use anti-bacterial dishwashing liquid in the mixture as it will kill off important microbes in the lawn and soil that help "digest" thatch.

Says Tim, "It essentially messes-up their re-productive cycles and keeps them out of your lawn and makes it look a lot better and leaves it minty fresh," laughs Heffron. And because it's applied with the hose sprayer, it's a direct shot to your sod. "When you don't have a lot of water and we're on watering restrictions, this is another way to get the nutrients to your lawn and keep it growing."

(Wow, first meme quiz I did in a long while!)

Pocahontas? Darn. I liked Mulan better. ;p

Find Out Which Disney Girl You Are! created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Pocahontas With the wind against your face, the sounds of the birds singing around you, you feel more alive than anything. Like Pocahontas, you feel most alive when you're in nature where you belong - man's beginnings were in nature, it just makes the most sense. As you find yourself in nature, remember that not everyone feels this way as well - try to ease them into your way of thinking, or just introducing them to your lifestyle! Everyone loves nature - just sometimes not as much as you! Pocahontas 92% Belle 88% Jane 79% Mulan 79% Jasmine 75% Violet 71% Tinkerbell 67% Megara 63% Alice 63% Snow White 58% Cinderella 50% Ariel 33% Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) 33% Esmerelda 29%

Week gone by already?

One week with my Korean in-laws, survived. Many more weeks to go! ;p Aside from the language barrier issues, it's not been bad at all. Of course, I have to live by a pre-planned schedule when hubby isn't here to translate, otherwise it'll be an interesting game of charades. ^^;

The tulips and crocus around our house are starting to appear. One purple crocus in the backyard has bloomed now! The tiger lillies and hostas are taking their time coming up. I just see the tips crowning the soil. Since many of the trees last fall decided to wait till winter to drop leaves, my FIL and I spend some time yesterday cleaning away the leaves from the flower beds and the yard. Then he and hubby finishing raking the remainder in the yard today.

I also ended up hacking down a bush that was half dead and diseased looking in the front corner of the lawn. I think the people prior were not thinking when they planted those things. There is a Rose of Sharon bush in the front, then the big-leaf Wintercreeper in the middle, and a spindly looking rose of some sort in the back. All of these swished together so that it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended when they were in full foliage. I originally thought to just prune out the dead wood, but after seeing why the Wintercreeper was so sickly looking (it was half dead one with yellowed leaves, the undersides covered with what I assume to be dead scales and their eggs) I cut away everything on that one. The rose looked like it was starved for light since it had long stems. The other bush in the front was doing okay though.

If we had the energy and means, I soon as dig the whole mess out. But I imagine that wintercreeper's roots would be as tangled below as it was on top. If it does grow back, or if it doesn't.. I'll be okay with that though. At least now if it does, I at least know about it's tendencies to be a space hog and keep it properly pruned to size so the other two plants can have their chance. I'll check into what treatments to use to keep those scaly bugs in check too.

It's times like this I am wowed by the cool that we have our own yard to landscape and garden again. I also feel like I've been let out of a prison, persay, in having the freedom to go out and work on things in the yard that had been bugging me all last year. Being pregnant and stuck with a youngster who rather run over to a neighbors yard three houses down, instead of staying in my sight, was really a huge hindrance.

Yay, a day off from work! I hadn't been at a company that observed this day before ^^

And also, because I have the time, I'm posting today... "do not post on LJ" boycott or not. It's not often I make posts, so what difference does it make if I do post today? ;p

The rest of the weekend will be quite busy. So many things for me to do around the house later too. At the least, I should go through and post some pictures. (I also need to update my icons again)

NPR's transcript from Obama's speech on race

It more or less hit me all at once. Even though today is my son's second birthday, his party is being delayed till next Saturday.

The reason being is that my husband's parents are coming in from Korea on the 19th. They'll be staying with us for a month or three. So because of this, I decided to wait. The funny thing though, they are celebrating my FIL's 70 birthday celebration (it's a big thing for a Korean to live to that age) this weekend. My husband had thought of going with Josh to Korea last year to be part of that too. But then my being pregnant with another baby complicated things, so just my SIL went.

Then after we decided this, I later realized that's ALSO Easter weekend. And then St. Patrick's Day is on the 17th. Gee.. whatever happened to spacing things out? ;p I only find it too much since I like to make it something of a special occasion for the kiddos.

Hopefully Josh wouldn't be too confused about seeing new family, birthday cakes, and easter eggs all in the same weekend.

I has finded the internets! :D

(that, and things have slowed down at work.... for now)

I has fallen off the internets, and I can't gets back on! x.X

Well then, trying to make a post from hubby's laptop, while having a two year old crawing all over my lap and the coffee table (making the internet cable come loose, repetively) can only spell bad news. It appears my musings about a couple things last night never got posted! :p

*tries this again*

Anyhoo... it's a sure sign I'm getting fed up with the writer's strike when the promise of new shows like Knight Rider get me excited. Seriously! Totally sucked that just when i was getting into Chuck and other new seasons of CSI and Grey's Anatomy that it all dried up.

I had some hope for Knight Rider, but after the first half hour, it didn't seem to be all that awesome. Not like Chuck or CSI awesome. KITT was quite cool and his voice very smooth, but the plot made little sense. Struck me as one glorified Ford commercial! However, I found the on-going commercials between KITT and neo-Mike going on a date in a different car to be very amusing. ( gee... I wonder why? ;p )

I also have another confession. After spending almost two months at home with a toddler, I've become a fan of PBS children's programming again. Go Sesame Street! Other favs we liked are "Word World" (I just love how the words transform into what they are), "It's a Big, Big World", and "Calliou". Hm.. I think I will make Josh a Cookie Monster cake for his birthday (provided I find the pan on eBay).

I also think what NPR is doing lately sounds neat. The other day, I saw this feature where Cookie Monster was interviewed. :D Personally, I like it when they feature more of the other chaacters. Elmo is really being way too much of an attention mooch. Like, seriously! ^^

You know the writer's strike has gone on too long when the promise of new shows, movies, etc make you *really* excited. Yeah, even though I don;t declare myself as a big KITT fan, the new KnightRider movie has me in great anticipation! :D

Also.... I be thinking of having a Seseme Street themed party for my son's second birthday. Now if I can find a cool cakepan on eBay.

Oh, and this NPR interview with the Cookie Monster is the win! :D

In the last two days, I have collated and GBC punched more books than I have in years! In the same boat, coworker has scanned more documents than he ever has before too. Man, my feet hurt. And my shoulders. And there's a cramp in my pinky finger. Aaaand my thumb tips are getting callouses!


Slag, I'm so behind on my comments, even though I keep making new posts. No time to internet like I used too before. :p But I'll get to them... eventually!

It seems more and more nowadays, people are loosing respect for things.

Fire destroys ancient Gate to Seoul

I was at the Namdaemun gate back in 2005, so it comes as a surprise when Brad told me the historic gate was burnt down. Well, everything but the brick walls, that is. It was pretty much an intact structure from the 14th century that endured all the wars, declared as Korea's number one national treasure, and now this!

But what makes this even more of a shame? He also said a 7 year old boy was one of the suspects too. (although, I can't find news evidence of this rumor yet) Oh yes... he's not happy about any of this news at all. *sighs*