Even though it was kind of chilly for the 4th of July, I have a pretty good time during the holidays. Originally, I was supposed to go to a cookout at my friend's (Jim) house; but that got canceled when he and his other half had a major fight and finally broke up. Instead of the cookout then, I spent a lot of the weekend playing cards and Scrabble with Joyce and her family. It's been nice having them as my surrogate family - even though, they aren't anything like the family I grew up in. This family definitely isn't conservative or quite. They're loud, raucous and crazy, and just plain fun to watch and be with. LOL :)

Computer Update	I got my computer back; but it's still not working correctly. After about an hour of use, the only keys that worked was F3 (which brought up the FIND dialog) and Caps Lock (which turned the volume up). So it's back to the shop again.

BRRRR! It's awfully cold here in Ohio. We've been lucky to barely get to 70 degrees! Although they predicted this summer to be HOT and DRY, it's turning out to be COLD and WET! And I ain't liking it one bit.

Yeah! I've got a new roomie. Well, actually, he's an old roomie. John (Jodi's and Richard's youngest brother) lived with Jodi and I last winter. However, when he couldn't hold a job, we had to ask him to leave. Well now, he's had a good job for close to a year. With his recent breakup with his girlfriend, he was looking for a new place to stay and I just happen to need an infusion of cash. LOL I think this situation should work out pretty well though since I like John (except for when I want to kill him after some hideous pun or joke he has uttered ROFL) and he's actually got a job and a life this time around. I'm just going to keep my mouth closed this time and not suggest that he go looking for love (see what happened when I did that with Jodi!).

Computer Update

Once again, I got my computer back, only to have to take it back. This time I reformatted, re-installed all my software, and had put almost all of my data back before I starting receiving error messages as I moved my last two folders of working data. Tra-la-la, it's back to Best Buys again. I called the store at the end of this week to check on it's status. Although the operator couldn't tell me what they had done, they did want my permission to re-format. I explained that since I had just done that myself, that a reformat wouldn't help if they hadn't installed any new hardware.

The heat (Yeah! I think summer has finally arrived!) seems to have warped my mind. Last summer, Jodi and I re-painted the kitchen. Jodi's idea was to strip, stain, and polyurethane the cabinet frame and doors. Since I knew that would be quite a project, I did almost all the wall and trim painting and left the woodwork for her. Unfortunately for me, Jodi only finished the cabinet framework, and I've been left with my cabinet doors stacked up in a pile for a year now. Well, the heat has gotten to me, I am working to finish up my kitchen. After a few days of stripper fumes, stain fumes, and poly fumes, I'm just about finished.

< Virtual Composite View of My Kitchen >
(it's still cluttered and not quite finished; but it's a lot closer to being done now!)

Computer Update

I'm starting to lose my patience with Best Buys now. I called to check on my computer since they hadn't called in over a week and a half (they've been pretty consistent with getting it back to me with a week - except for the week of the fourth when they took an extra two days) and found out they hadn't even done the reformat yet! After nicely expressing my frustration, they promised that they'd do the reformat by Monday and call me back. Hmmmm, we'll see.

	My tiny plot of greenery in bloom
	Click on any picture for a larger view

And while I had the QuickCam connected, here's this month's pictures of my babies.