Monthly Archive for August, 2007

Quincy Trip Three

Published
by
Val
on 08.30.07
in Days Go By
. 1 Comment

Sunday started kind of… icky and slow. I felt horrible in the morning, absolutely horrible, and didn’t have a normal voice until after I got breakfast. I rolled out of bed at 9 and told Steve to go ahead and get breakfast because there’s no way I’d make it. For some reason he thought breakfast was until 10:30am and was taking his dandy old time until I informed him it ended at 9:30am. We ended up rushing down there, me to get a shower later, and finding his parents and Sarah just finishing up. We sat there for fifteen minutes before our presence was acknowledged. I don’t begrudge the woman working though, she was the only one working there and expected to serve the guests, take payments/cards, cleanup, and fix the food. Poor thing.

I felt a lot better after breakfast though and even better after my shower. We then packed everything up and checked out, heading a bit west before we went south. We had a half an hour to kill because there was a store Steve wanted to visit before we left, but it didn’t open until 11. When all that was finally finished, we hopped on the interstate rather than taking 61 south again. So we rolled right into Hannibal over the river.

Bridges Fountain Downtown Hannibal Downtown Hannibal

Bridge through Randall and Thatcher The Sir Randall The Becky Thatcher

We didn’t spend too much time there. I really like Hannibal, though. One of these days we’ll actually do the boat rides and such. (This time around they weren’t shoving out for another hour and a half and we didn’t want to wait.)

Some great views from Lover’s Leap though:

View of Hannibal and the Mississippi River from Lover's Leap

View Larger

But I’ll have to continue later… I’m gonna hop in the shower then take E out to lunch. Why, I dunno. Just because. :)

Rude People Suck

Published
by
Val
on 08.29.07
in How to tick me off
. 3 Comments

So I like to sometimes sit back and play a game of Gin or Dominoes or something while E is [supposed to be] taking a nap, etc.

The thing I don’t understand, though, is what the heck is wrong with people. For instance, I just played this chick, usmc198…something, doesn’t matter. Anyway, when the game was over, she typed all in caps: “LEARN TO SPEED IT UP SLOW ASS” and I was like, what the heck!?

When I am playing people, especially people who I don’t KNOW and have with me on IM, too, I do my best to make sure I take my turn in a timely manner. As soon as I hear that noise that lets me know it’s my turn, I take my turn. If I have to go away for a second to grab a soda or see to something, the phone rings, whatever, I let the person know.

But apparently, this chick, and several others, can’t be bothered to wait five seconds between turns. I mean, my point is, I am not slow, lol. They expect it to be their turn immediately after taking their last turn. Right?

Just makes me wonder what makes people not only so impatient these days, but so rude. That chick I quoted was tame, when considering some others. But I guess I should not be surprised she was rude, her name on her profile is literally “Ms. Thang.” Not to mention I wiped the floor with her. :P

So, the moral of today’s story is: don’t be a jerk. :)

Quincy Trip Two and the Evolution of Dance

Published
by
Val
on 08.28.07
in Days Go By
. 2 Comments

I was messing around on YouTube, and found this in my favorites. Yes, it’s been seen literally fifty-six million times but…

I am reminded of that wedding reception on Saturday… or any wedding reception for that matter. The guy in the video does all the classic reception songs and we heard all of them this weekend.

And I tell you what, as I mentioned in several text messages to various people… there is nothing funnier than a bunch of drunk white people dancing to ’90’s rap music.
Continue reading ‘Quincy Trip Two and the Evolution of Dance’

Quincy Trip One

Published
by
Val
on 08.26.07
in Days Go By
. 6 Comments

Did you miss me? You probably didn’t even notice I was gone, aye? I haven’t been gone. Just a little weekend gone. But since I have nothing else to talk about lately… how about a photographic tour of our weekend? Over the course of a couple of posts since I’m not done uploading photos? :P Okay, have it your way, you talked me into it, twisted my arm, if you insist…

One of Steve’s cousins got married Saturday so we planned the trip up for the wedding and reception. It’s about four hours though, so I figured it would be better to go up Friday and come home Sunday. I was right, of course! We had a lot more time to fool around and just go where the wind would direct. The only thing I got crap about was the hotel. The internet can be deceiving when booking online and so we got a few surprises. It wasn’t really all that bad, though, the worst part was Saturday morning when I was showering and Steve flushed the toilet… yeah, talk about hot water. Not to mention I’ve had bad sinus problems and have been waking up with no voice. A scream when you have no voice… well, it’s quite funny.
Continue reading ‘Quincy Trip One’

Text Link Ads Changing Affiliate URLs?

Published
by
Val
on 08.23.07
in The Working Stiff
. 5 Comments

Text Link Ads is my preferred way to make money online right now, besides my candles, of course, but sometimes TLA just gets on my friggin’ nerves.

Last week they let a porn website advertise on this one. In their defense, the people who bought the link started out with a different URL and text but then changed their link and text to something else that went to a site full of porn links. TLA claims they will never let any adult, gambling, pharmacy website through, so this begs the question: how did the site get around that? Surely one would think the links, when changed, would have to be re-approved. But I digress, that is not the purpose of my post.

Anyway, today they sent me an email informing me that affiliate URLs for the service will be changing from the old affiliate link formats to tinyurl links.

My first thought was… what the freaking heck?

Maybe it’s just me, but it totally turns me off when I see people using tinyurl to hide the fact that they’re using an affiliate link. When I see that, I will purposely go type in the URL into my browser rather than possibly give someone an URL just because it annoys me so much. Now I’m forced into doing it as TLA gives us this as a requirement to refer people now. The old affiliate links will no longer function in just a short week.

And what’s the reason for this? I have no idea. They didn’t bother to tell me, nor have they talked about it on their blog.

So what gives, guys?

Here you have it, my wonderful affiliate URL. Yay. http://tinyurl.com/2qmxbp. How exciting is that?

Protected: Why do they have to do this to me?

Published
by
Val
on 08.22.07
in How to tick me off
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300

Published
by
Val
on 08.21.07
in The Arts
. 2 Comments

I am finally getting to see this movie, watching it right now. My brother loaned me his DVD and so we invited my in-laws over to watch it. My father-in-law has just been itching to see it.

So far, I’m enjoying it. Of course, I had to laugh, at one point, because I was reminded of a photo my cousin did. Anyway, the storyline is followable and while there is a lot of blood, most of it is not overdone. I do think, however, the nudity is overdone. Not to say it isn’t historically correct, but it’s just too much. They could have just as easily done without it and then maybe lowered their rating from an R to a PG-13, giving them a wider audience. But, whatever.

I’ve also never seen Xerxes portrayed in the manner he is in here, so that’s a little strange to me. I don’t think that this portrayal is a historically accurate one. But besides that, his eyebrows are creeping me out. Not to mention the “earrings” in the cheeks. Ew. Historically speaking, Sparta has always stood as some of the “bad guys of history.” What, with their obsession of war, their child-raising methods, etc. I can predict how this movie is going to end, but it’s been a long time since I studied this era. Except that I do know that Leonidas did not start with 300 men. He had much more but sent home all but 300 Spartans and 700 Thespian volunteers. Oh well.

So have any of you seen this? What do you think?

made my day

Published
by
Val
on 08.20.07
in Days Go By
. 7 Comments

Many times over the last week several people have taken the time out of their busy lives to make MY day. A billion text messages, MySpace comments, and Facebook posts - all people who wished me a happy birthday. And…

Christopher who is sending me something from my Amazon wishlist. I am incredibly touched, especially since he has way more important things to deal with right now — thank you, Chris!! I can’t wait to see what it is! :)

Card On Thursday, a card arrived from a woman I know from church. Only, I was really surprised because I don’t know her very well. So it was very sweet to have gotten a card from her and it just really made my Thursday better.


Yesterday was spent at my parent’s house where we had lunch then sat around doing various things such as talking wedding plans with my little sister who is, apparently, now officially engaged. I’m excited, I really like her fiance, and she’s asked me to be a bridesmaid. Everyone presented me with cards, and some gifts from my parents - which they don’t have to do, but they continue to.

Camo And finally, on Friday, my sweet husband presented me with a present from him. We don’t usually bother to get each other anything, but this time he really surprised me. As silly as it’s gonna sound to some people, he got me a camouflage coat and an orange hat. He asked me earlier this year if I would go hunting with him this year (November) and I said, sure, as long as we get a babysitter (of course). He’s really looking forward to me going with him, and I’ve been planning to. So it’s just really cool that this means so much to him.

Hmmm… what else? Saturday I went to dinner with a friend - that was fun, I don’t get to see her enough. And today, it’s lunch with another someone I’ve not seen in a long time. Tomorrow? 300 with my father-in-law. I guess life can return to normal on Wednesday, though, probably not. :)