in spite of it all

OK, so I haven't said much lately. I've been doing too much running around and had company and all that jazz. Plus I've run into a seemingly never-ending string of irritants, to whit:

- my camera died right before DD's birthday. Up until that day, it had been cranky, but usually giving it a whack sufficed. On the day of her bday, no more, it was dead. Sigh. I took photos with DS1's bottom-of-line digital, and they actually look OK... if I could just figure out a way to get them out of the camera's internal memory and onto the damn card! Why did it do that? I can't find the cable (of course), and I never needed it before because the pc has a card reader. Jeez.

- the dryer, after acting up for the better part of the past year, also seems to have passed into the great beyond. Or at least the control dial has. Repairman coming tomorrow, and we're hoping we can keep it in the $200 range, which is a lot but still significantly less than a new dryer would cost.

- Cooper, having recovered from his eye thing, promptly relapsed in the other eye, and had to go back to the vet. Back on a stronger antibiotic and different eye goo. He looks better already. Tomorrow he goes back for his last round of shots. We are financing our vet's summer house, let me tell you.

- DD's cake (pictures coming eventually) came out fine but I couldn't get the frosting to set for the roses. I dithered around with it for way too long before I decided to add more sugar, which of course was exactly what it needed. One of my tips was bent at the top (it's amazing how easily that can happen) and had to be pitched. Another time, numerous lumps in the frosting -- even though I sifted the sugar! -- drove me nuts. It should have taken me an hour and a half. I spent three hours on it.

- Driving up to the Scottsdale, we brought the iPod so we could listen to tunes. The batteries in the transmitter died. The extra batteries in the car have gone missing. No problem, buy more batteries at the mall for the ride home. At the Fast Fix Jewelry repair, pay over $10 for two AAA batteries. They're dead, so no tunes for the trip home, either. Actually, this turned out to be kind of good news because I thought that the transmitter itself had died, but no, it was just that they sold me, at ridiculous markup, dead batteries.

- After several consecutive days of eating too much, eating too much junk, and not exercizing, my weight climbed up past the weight on my license. After 3 days of cleaning eating and exercize, I'm back down to 140. I hate this. Coming into fall, most of my pants don't fit. I don't want to be skinny, I just don't want to have to shop for new clothes.

- I have no fingerprints. In order to get my substitute teaching certification, I need a fingerprint card from the FBI. About 2 months ago I finally managed to get my prints taken and send them in. About 4 weeks later, I got a notice from the FBI asking for a reprint; they said my prints were unreadable. Interestingly, the state of AZ didn't have any trouble with my prints. The technician at the fingerprinting facility took one look at my fingertips and declared that they were basically worn off. You can still see them, of course, but the ridges are so flattened that it's nearly impossible to get a clear image of them. So, now what? I asked her. Not to worry -- apparently this condition is fairly common among people who do things like work with chemicals or wash their hands alot -- like I do, when I'm cooking, and usually I'm cooking at least twice a day. She says that they'll find whatever distinguishing characteristics they can, and issue me a card anyway. I hope it doesn't take too long.

- My web host, iPowerWeb, has been flaking out on me on a monthly basis for a while now. When "Host 18" (my server) was down yet again (all the problems trace back to problems on this particular host), I asked if I could get off it. The tech offered to upgrade me to a "vdeck" whatever that is. OK, what's the catch? I have to download all my files and re-upload them, not to mention changing the server information with my domain registration, etc. In reality, it probably won't be too much of a hassle. But the way I'm feeling right now, it looks like a huge opportunity for screw-ups.

- Trying to post this yesterday, Blogger was fried. When it finally came back up, it asked me if I wanted to switch to the Blogger Beta, so I said sure, go ahead. I didn't realize it would take all night to move the blog! But here it is and it seems fine, and I see now that there's a new field below this edit box for labels, which is something I've wanted for a while now. But last night it just felt like I was thwarted at every turn.

The "hanging on by my fingernails" feeling persists. A friend from thyca counselled me to get my TSH checked, so I made that call today -- the depression + weight gain would seem to indicate something going on there. We shall see.

Even through all that, we're all OK. My in-laws had a nice, if way too short visit (having to go home and de-kennel the dog). DD's birthday was a smashing success, in spite of needing a GPS to navigate Scottsdale Fashion Square and its parking structures. Everyone's happy. Why can't I be?