If the Bus is A-Baraking, Don't Come A-Knocking

OK, so it's Day 1. Why isn't the world fixed yet?

It's Barack Obama All the Time

He was just sworn in, and man, it is so amazing. I didn't think I would get emotional, but it is amazing, particularly, how excited the crowd is.

Happy Inauguration Day!

I'm watching the inauguration online (like three of my co-workers) while working. Yay dual monitors!

Winter Blues

The Sunday before Christmas we went to visit my folks for the day and make Christmas cookies. We made about five different types of cookies, and hung out for a bit, which was fun. But we got a bit of a late start heading home, so unfortunately it was already dark. It was also freeeeeeezing. That was the day that it was below zero with the windchill. So, it was the perfect day for one of my oil lines in my car to burst, all the oil drain out, and my engine to "seize" (which I've been told is a technical term). So, my car is busted.

So, we renewed our lease for another four months because we weren't quite ready to move, plus (in case you haven't noticed) it's winter! (Snow and cold isn't that conducive to hard work outside.) But there have been plenty of recent failures in our house that is not making home living so comfortable. First, when Mark was replacing a light bulb in the bathroom, when he moved the light fixture apparently bare wires touched and shorted the circuit. So, because we didn't have time to fix the wire issue before people arrived for Christmas, we simply used scotch tape to tape the switch to prevent people from using the nefarious light switch. (fyi: the kitchen is on the same circuit breaker as the bathroom, so when the breaker shorts, there is no light in the kitchen as well.)

Well, then (thankfully after all of our Christmas guests left) the dishwasher stopped draining water. A few days later Mark tried fiddling with it, and it started to work again. Whew! But then, when I tried to do some laundry, the washing machine stopped working in the middle of a cycle. And then the next time I tried using the dishwasher, it wouldn't turn on. Just fantastic.

The best part happened just on Friday when again we had sewage backup in the basement. Thankfully it wasn't nearly extensive as the previous time, BUT it was way more disgusting in the content that came up. Not to mention the fact that we could smell sewage upstairs in our bedroom.

Soooo, we're trying to get through all the idiosyncrasies of this house, but there is a lot to be said about the creature comforts (which are rapidly diminishing at this point)!

Meet Kioko

One of my Christmas presents was my new iphone, Kioko. And like her name, she does make me happy! I do mostly use the ipod and phone features, but I've used the camera, played some games (like pacman and sudoku), looked up stuff online to comparison shop while I was shopping, and even used the GPS to find an alternative route while we were driving. iphones are just pretty cool!