I'm so happy that I decided against going to Best Buy and buying an iPod tonight, and went home instead and actually figured out why I couldn't transfer music into my iPhone. Never even clued in that it was because of my new laptop infringing on my old laptops rights.

Need my tunes ready for crazy holiday decorating madness that starts tomorrow.

Extra bonus, even with the storm coming and my snow removal responsibilities, it's been officially agreed that with all tenants gone, there is no need for me to go in tomorrow, or Friday, or AT ALL. I might still go in on Friday because I've got mild anxiety about all the decorating that I need to do and want to get ahead of the game (losing five days between our house tour and Thanksgiving is nuts, and now I have three times the responsibility at the very least).

Used to be in years past that I would decorate the first floor, or decorate half the wreaths and centerpieces we'd have for sale. Now I have the house, and both halves of the centerpieces (ALL OF THEM!). And also triple the expenses.

BUT, it is going to be so awesome that they'll agree to increase my budget for next year and I'll have to top myself with the same time constraints. I have at least five different themes I'm playing with, which is super fun. We've also extended our holiday season by two weeks, so I actually have to have extra decorations to compensate for things we sell off to keep the house looking seasonally cheery, which is a fourth new expense. And they want me to conform to a five hundred dollar budget? Pshaw. That isn't even compensating for increased pricing over the past six years, let alone the quadrupling of needs and events. My greens order alone is 500, and I'm underordering and hopefully relying on donations from our arborist. Which is actually the biggest thing I'm nervous about. Especially since one of the crews sent through the woodchipper what they were supposed to set aside for me.

ION, my mum gave me her blessing for not going home for Turkey Day with the weather, which I'm thankful because I was starting to angst over my decision not to go. A coworker invited me over, but she'd and her husband would be the only people I know, and I'm not terribly social and still remember when I went to Philly with my boss years ago and how terribly awkward and horrible it was. I don't know if Mary and I's mutual sarcasm can sustain us, especially if she's the host with divided attention.

CHARLIE AND BUBBA

♥

I need advice from anyone who owns guns or feels confident enough to speak from that viewpoint. CJ is now 18 and has bought himself a new rifle. He and a few friends from the Search and Rescue team are going camping this weekend. He is the only one over 18. He wants to take the rifle and get some shooting practice in. Per him, the other three have been brought up with guns and know all there is about gun safety.

My point of view is that this is a bad idea. IF something were to go wrong, he is the adult and would carry the liability. To that, he says "but nothing will, I won't let anything bad happen". Yes, my dear son, I'm sure that is your intent, but crap happens.

So, I'm trying to get a more balanced viewpoint, if at all possible.

If the person with the most liability at stake says "Oh, nothing bad will happen, I won't let it", I don't care if he's 18 or 80, they shouldn't be incorporating guns in a play situation. Something will happen. Something always happens, and having a gun anywhere around will make the Something exponentially worse.

edit: I both shoot and own guns.

Jesse, have you checked the donations at b.org email lately?

I agree with Connie. I am not comfortable with that level of casualness around firearms (and children!) unless your name is James Bond.

Jesse, have you checked the donations at b.org email lately?

It should just forward to my regular mail! But I will investigate.

Huh -- no email. But thank you! ita, can you see where donations@ forwards to?

Should be okay now, Jesse.

God, just when I think I have the hang of it, they changed the rules. No more Dreamhost user id login, instead email address. LIKE I HAVE ANY IDEA WHICH EMAIL ADDRESS. But that's all sorted now.

How did I manage to get 185 entries in my password vault?

How many do you have? How do you manage them?

There are a bunch of sites that I just have to reset the password every time, because I can never remember the password rules. Like, a site that really doesn't have to be that secure, so I forget that they insist on every kind of character in the password.