The Classification of Squash

Some people must get confused about which pumpkins are for pie and which are for jack-0-lanterns. I saw a bin of pumpkins at the grocery store that had this sign:

Face Pumpkins

Ok, you got it.

New Project

Well, my businesses really aren't going very well, and while I like my new job, I'm being seriously under-utilized so far. The result of all this is that I am...well...uh...bored. It's just a temporary time of limbo, but I can only hang around the house catching up on reading for a short time before I go stir-crazy. So, my new project is remodeling one of our bathrooms. The only catch is that I don't know how to remodel a bathroom! However, I'm willing and cheap labor, and I learn quickly. John's job for today conveniently got postponed, so he was able to help me get started on it. Here's what we have so far:

Have faith!

Amazing, Huh?

I think a "self-esteem fund" sounds fishy, but this is still a very interesting video.

And the Rains Came Down

We didn't have any bad flooding in our neighborhood, thankfully, but our prayers are with those who were not so fortunate.

Hmmmm

Well, it didn't rain, and it was a pleasant day for sitting outside and reading, but it was still a long, BORING day today. I hate to say it, but the truth is, I didn't sell a single thing. It was frustrating, but I'm okay with it. The day wasn't wasted because I did get to give away a lot of tracts. I had them in a basket on my table, with a sign that said, "please take one." The million-dollar-bill tracts were by far the hottest item I had! They were so popular I probably could have sold them.

Fall is Finally in the Air

It's been hot here, with only an occasional and brief tease of cool weather, until this week. A front came through that brought some very impressive storms and wonderful cool weather. We actually got down to the low 60s! Yes, that's good for Houston in October. We opened the windows this morning, and my father decided he'd better wear a coat to work. Ahhhh, I love fall!

I am hoping it doesn't rain tomorrow, though. I rented a space at a flea market, and I'm going to try to sell gift baskets and some hand-cut silhouettes I made.

Pizza Crust Acrobats

Who had any idea making pizza could be this fun?

Useful Live Cam

In keeping with the theme of live cams, here's one that's actually useful. It shows up-to-the-minute live-action shots of...are you ready?...

...Houston traffic.

Victory at Last!

Well, I gave up on my cheap, off-brand router, went down to Best Buy, and bought a Linksys router which was conveniently on sale.

I plugged it in, got it configured, and had everything up and running, including hotmail, in about half an hour. That's opposed to hours of troubleshooting and endless grief with the other router. Take it from me: don't buy cheap, off-brand computer equipment. I got very suspicious with the old router when I talked to their tech support and after several failed attempts at solving my problem, the technician said the router was not compatible with my modem, and I should go buy someone else's router! You know it's bad when the tech support sends you to the competition to buy their products instead!

So now I can watch the Africa cam all day long, and immediately see the emails that people send me about it! Just kidding...sort of. The Africa cam does seem to be causing a rather peculiar contagious addiction to go around among my family, friends, distant acquaintances, and even total strangers and their friends, family, and distant acquaintances. Oh dear.

Oh, look! A herd of water buffalo is there now!

Uh-Oh

I may have created a monster. Now my whole family is popping up every few minutes to look at the computer and check on the African watering hole. Now only that, but my father called from work to say, "There's a deer at the watering hole! Go look!" Hmmm, maybe he's having a slow day.

And in other news, I finally got my wireless internet network to work! I was so excited, but then I went back to the depths of despair when I found that I can't access any MSN sites. It makes no sense to me, but MSN seems to have an issue with my router. What good is this wireless internet when I can't check my hotmail account? I don't want to have to change email addresses. That would be a huge pain, and I just got business cards printed!

I guess I'm going to have to call tech support.

If you don't have anything to do today...

...check out this live webcam of a water hole in Africa. If you watch long enough, you'll probably see an exotic animal come for a drink!

My Hotel Room

Here are a few pictures I took of my hotel room in Fort Worth. It was the only thing I could photograph without being conspicuous, so you'll just have to imagine the two-story fountain in the lobby.

I felt very small in this room. The ceiling was about ten feet high, and the curtains went floor-to-ceiling, as you can see. Plus, there was a giant entertainment center and a king-size bed. I liked this office spot, with the phone, the high-speed internet plug, and a fresh rose!
Does one person really need seven feather pillows?
I definitely like the digital thermostat. It was so much better than a big, loud, moldy window unit.
I think I could get used to this!

But don't worry, I still like camping.