new computer

My computer woes became too much. The last straw was the missing airport card. The computer decided that the card was no longer installed. Without my airport card, I have no wi-fi. Without wi-fi I cannot print, I cannot sync Things nor 1Password nor SplashShopper or Budget.

I ordered a new computer. I would have loved to have gotten a 27" iMac but I was too wary of some the problems they have been experiencing. Besides, the 21.5" iMac fits better in the space I have.

Once I received notification of shipping, the airport card started working again in my 17" iMac. Too little too late. I am still having weird random issues. I hope a fresh erase and install will get it working enough for Andy.

And because of the issues, I decided on not migrating the contents of the hard drive to the new computer. At this point, I don't know if I have a hardware or software problem. And there are some programs which may not be compatible with Snow Leopard.

My last two computers were purchased under duress. My previous computer had died and I needed something ASAP. I migrated what I could hoping to be up and running as quickly as possible. This time I have the time to take it slow and get things right. So I hope.

I started out making a fresh back up, just in case. Then I decided to make back ups or archives of the programs I use often like Address Book, 1Password, Budget and BusyCal. I put those on a thumb drive to transfer them.



Setting up the iMac was easy as always. The Magic Mouse is fun! I inserted the thumb drive and transferred over my backups. Then I started downloading my apps. One of the first apps I downloaded was Evernote. Then I synced it with their online database. Now I had (almost) all of my software receipts and serial numbers so I could download the rest. Address Book and Budget opened up fine. 1Password did not. Well, the app is fine but it would not accept the archive from the previous version. Oh joy. OK, I should be able to sync from my iPhone. Let's just hook up my external hard drive where I keep my iTunes library. But, um, Frick! This iMac has FireWire 800 and my EHD is FireWire 400. I need an adapter. I feel like this is 1995 and I forgot to buy the printer cable.

I can get the adapter tomorrow. So I go to download and install more programs. Next up is BusyCal. Installs fine but does not import the fire or perhaps the file did not export correctly. Either way, my calendar is empty. Again, I could sync with my iPhone but...

Those of you who are mac savvy are probably wondering why I don't use MobileMe. Well, I do this have a subscription but stopped using it when I got my iPhone. It just was too wonky. I find it better to sync through iTunes. Though I did use it to sync my bookmarks for Safari. Unfortunately, they didn't all come through.

So I didn't get very far in setting up my new computer. I did order the adapter and a FireWire hub from amazon to be overnighted. Yes, I could drive down to the apple store but their prices are higher and there is a chance they wouldn't have what I need. Why doesn't apple have a mobile version of their site?

I have some other issues that makes me slap my forehead. One is that Quickbooks 2007 will not work with Snow Leopard. It's not worth it to upgrade to Quickbooks 2010. It's $200 and I just need to close out LinneCards. There is also a question of compatibility with Office 2004. I am not sure if I should upgrade to Office 2008 or switch to iWork. I don't really need to worry about compatibility to other computers. I don't do complicated spreadsheets nor do I use macros. iWork is cheaper than Office 2008.

---

What a difference a few hours of sleep makes. (Not sleeping well, probably because I have not been exercising.) After breakfast, I set up the 17" iMac next to the new one. How puny and dull the screen is! I exported and backed up BusyCal, 1Password and Things, transferred them via iDisk. This time everything worked. Yay!

I decided to install Photoshop. I knew I would have a problem with my serial number. I upgraded from CS2 to CS3. I went from a suite to a stand alone product which really isn't allowed. But they don't tell you that when you buy it. So each time I install CS3, I have to call Adobe to have them bypass the registration code. Pain in the bum!

I went to the chiropractor because I started feeling dizzy again. I didn't want to wait another week for my adjustment. I feel better now.

I got home to find one box from amazon. Amazing that they can make any money by shipping everything separately. It was the adapter which is more important than the hub. I could finally connect my external hard drive and check out Ligjtroom and iTunes.

I had a hiccup installing Lightroom. I needed the serial number for Lightroom 1 since Lightroom 2 was an upgrade. But Adobe didn't have my serial number listed. Another call to Adobe. This time it took 20 minutes on hold before I spoke to a human. The guy was not as friendly or helpful. Luckily I found the serial number myself and got it working while I was put on hold. The Lightroom catalog is still messed up. I will have to start cleaning it up.

I did use Photoshop and Topaz Labs Adjust 4. Photoshop loaded wicked fast (compared to my old iMac) and Topaz Adjust 4 has a cool new interface.

I ran into more problems with Lightroom's export plugins. I had to reinstall them which wasn't a problem. But I needed to reregister them again. The one's from Jeffrey Friedl would not accept the previous code so I ended up paying for them again. Grrrr...

I didn't get much of a chance to play on Friday. I had 2 photowalks scheduled.

Suddenly, I am very tired.

special olympics... again

Years ago, Andy was invited to participate in the Pasco County Special Olympics. I let him go. He came home and got very sick. He had a high fever and was lethargic. I think it was sun poisoning.

The Pasco County Special Olympics is held at the end of February at one of the high schools. It's all day affair with lots of different events. Mostly the kids are outside in the sun all day waiting for their events. At that event, 3 years ago, the kids were not wearing their hats. They were not given enough to drink.

After that, I kept Andy home when the rest of the kids went to Special Olympics. He had the same teacher and I just didn't trust her lack of good judgement.



The events were to take place from 11:30 until 4:30. I did not go to any before and did not know what to expect.



This year, Andy has a new teacher and a new school. And this year, the Special Olympics would be local. Apparently, the event has gotten so big that they needed to split up the event into 2 days. So our school only had to walk next door rather than ride the bus for up to an hour one way.


(Another school left their canopy to participate in the events. We borrowed the area and danced. OK, only Andy and two peers danced.)

I had a photography meet-up that morning so I went there first. Then I stopped at Chick Fil A for lunch. I had packed only juice boxes in Andy's lunch. I made the mistake of going the shorter route through Zephyrhills. Zephyrhills is full of old people in no particular hurry to go anyway. If the speed limit is 50, expect them to go about 35.



I got to the school before noon. The parking lot was full so I got to park on the grass. I walked to the football field only to be met with a sea of blue. Almost everyone was wearing their blue special olympics shirts. Where is my son?



I called his teacher but she didn't answer. The noise level was high and she didn't hear the phone. I wandered about looking for Andy's group. I was approached by a woman who asked if I was Andy's mom. I learned that this was Miss C one of the paras in Andy's class. Ah... there is Andy!



Andy was happy to attack his chicken nuggets. He had already gone through 2 juice boxes while waiting for me to arrive.


(I tried to keep Andy occupied and let him use my iPhone to play Jeopardy. He liked the echo at the restrooms.)

Most of the schools has those portable canopies. I asked why our school did not have one especially since the high school had one. "We were not allowed to buy one." I wish I had known. They are not expensive and could be easily donated. I also which I had know to bring chairs. I guess I thought we would be sitting in the bleachers. Very few people sat in the bleachers.



Only a few parents came. We weren't given much notice so it might have been tough to get the time off. G's mom was there and she does not like the heat. It wasn't hot but beautiful Florida weather, sunny and 70. G's mom went home and got a couple of chairs and an umbrella. When her son wasn't sitting in one of the chairs, I claimed it.



Andy & G were scheduled for the same events. I had asked Andy was he was going to do and he said walk. But this was not true. Andy was going to ride a bike. His events were the 500m and 1k. They were scheduled to take place at 1:40pm and 2:20pm.

But this is Special Olympics where "organized chaos" is the rule of the day. They called our group several times though never said where were should go. We waited on the football field in the sun. The running events were taking longer and they had to finish and clear the track before the bikes could start.



The kids were bored. D had gotten a bike and was riding around the field. I thought I'd help Andy pick out a bike so he could ride too. Miss C did not know Andy could ride a two wheeled bike. During P.E., he asked for the three wheeled bike. I suspect it is more of a novelty.



Finally, Andy had to give up the bike so someone else could ride. The races were starting! Andy's first event did not get started until 3:00pm. He did OK. He is not competitive so he just rode at a leasurely pace. At home, he will try to "race" with the mail carrier's jeep or the UPS truck. But mostly he is just out to have fun.



We then had to wait for the next event. Lots of waiting about. By then, many of the other schools were leaving. I wonder if our events were delayed because we didn't have to take a bus back to our school. The bike Andy had ridden belonged to another school and was taken away. Andy had to wait for a bike to ride. He would have preferred to ride a three wheeled bike but I said no. Had I known that I could have brought his own bike, I would have done so.



We were done by 4:00pm. Andy was glad to leave. He said he wanted to go to Chick Fil A for more food. I obliged him bit he didn't eat much, maybe half of the fries.

Andy was sunburnt. I didn't think he would need sunblock. Because we spent so much time ready and waiting for the bikes, Andy wore his bike helmet which does not shield enough of his face. He did allow me to put some aloe on his face and his neck. And he did eat some chicken nuggets made at home.

[whine] hate being sick

I am not one to get sick often. I have had my share of colds & coughs but that has been rare in the past 5 years. Getting regular chiropractic adjustments helps boost your immune system. There have been times when I could feel something coming on, then I would go to the chiropractor and feel fine within a day.

Sometimes, you are just going to get sick. Though having a strong immune system can temper the illness or shorten the duration.

After dinner Monday night, I was feeling a bit icky. I figured it was the 2 pieces of chocolate oatmeal cake I had for dessert. After midnight, I woke up with bad stomach cramps. After 20 minutes or so, I knew I was going to be sick. As much as I hate throwing up, I knew I would feel better. And I did. For a few more hours until I was woken up by the awful stomach cramps followed by...

Six o'clock came way too early. These are times I wish I was married or that the boys could take care of themselves. I got up and made their lunches and toasted a couple of bagels. Then I got sick a third time and went back to bed.

I finally heard my dad get up and told his I was sick. He didn't ask what was wrong, just said "Oh." I asked him to see the boys on the bus. He shut my door quietly but that didn't make a difference. My room is off the kitchen and the doors are not solid. Apparently the only way tomclose a cabinet is to let the door bang and bounce.

Once the boys left, I got some sleep. But then I woke up with a backache. I moved to the chair and there I remained sipping water.

Almost a week later, there was still some nausea. Mostly when I eat too much or consume milk. Thankfully it wasn't contagious and neither the boys nor my dad caught it.

special olympics basketball

Two weeks ago I got a call from Andy's teacher. Andy had qualified for state in Individual Skills for Basketball. I didn't even know he knew how to play.



The original plan was to have the kids not playing on Friday go to Lettuce Lake Park. But this weird winter brought cold and rain. They spent the afternoon at the mall. Andy found a pair of white sunglasses at Claires. Luckily his teacher did not let him buy them. Especially since they were $20!


There was a bit of lack of communication as to where they were going to stay but did finally get worked out. I had decided to have Andy stay in my room. I thought we would both be more comfortable. As it turns out, it was probably for the best. There were 3 boys assigned to a room with a chaperone. The chaperones are not allowed to sleep in the same bed as a student. So the three boys would share the 2 double beds and the chaperone would get a cot. By having Andy stay with me, Mr Jim didn't have to get a cot. Miss Jessica was not so fortunate. The hotel had run out of cots and provided her with a blow up pool mattress. Yes, the kind you float on in the pool.



The hotel itself was a bit sad. It was an older Holiday Inn turned in a Clarion Hotel. They refurbished the rooms but the place smelled old and stale. The room I had was in the back facing the parking area. I could hear every person that walked by. Every rolling suitcases rolled on the balcony above sounded like a low flying jet. The room had new furniture but old wiring. There were four outlets in the room. One was by the sink, one was behind the dresser and had an adapter to house the TV, a lamp, the mini fridge and the microwave. A third outlet was behind the bed and held two lamps and the alarm clock. The fourth outlet was in the corner by the less-than-easy chair. It was in the opposite corner from the desk. It was the only place to plug in the laptop.



The hotel had wireless. Weak wireless but at least it worked on the laptop. The connection was to slow for the iPhone but the 3G worked well enough. Andy was happy to surf on YouTube for Jeopardy videos.



I knew Andy would not like the planned dinner. It would be crowded and noisy and no choice of meal. Andy opted for Chick Fil A. But first we had to stop at Target to get some juice. Andy picked out a new hat and looked at some of the new Toy Story 3 toys. He wants a new Buzz for his birthday.



We went to the Chick Fil A that we normally don't go to. It is the newer one and has more room. I let Andy play in the kids area because he usually doesn't cause a problem. He knocked over someone's drink and she complained. She said he was too big but said she didn't know she couldn't bring in drinks. Right. Andy stayed out after that and there was no problem.



It must have been a busy day, Andy was in bed by 8:45, asleep & snoring by 9:15. Unfortunately, the teens which were part of a Leadership Conference were up past midnight, running around and laughing. I had not slept with Andy in a few years. He now snores. And he is a bed hog. I had to put the sheet under my hip to keep him from stealing it. But every time he rolled over, it pulled and woke me up. At 4 am, the person next door started the shower and woke us up. Andy sat straight up in bed. He managed to get back to sleep but I pretty much dozed on and off until 6 am.



We had no chance to sleep in. I got up at 6 to shower. I had moved the shower head the night before so it wouldn't spray in Andy's face. I went to move it back and it came off in my hand. Nice. Now I had a strong stream of water with no control. Breakfast was from 7 until 7:30 when the bus would take them to USF. The hotel café was crowded and the line too long. Andy didn't want to eat, which I had expected. I didn't want to eat either. It was the typical buffet fare of rubbery eggs and greasy sausage served on foam plates with plastic silverware. After the bus left, I packed up and checked out. If I had the time, I would have opted for a nicer breakfast but it seems that I was in for a junk-food weekend and went to Chick Fil A.

I got to the Rec Center but they didn't have much direction inside. There were two gyms being used, opposite ends of the center, one upstairs and one downstairs. I eventually found them and Andy was happy to see me. Like the Bowling event, this was organized chaos. Lots of people wandering about. I also had problems getting anything decent with my camera. Gymnasiums are a nightmare. I wish I had learned to use my flash or at least had remembered to use my diffuser for the pop-up flash.



There were 3 events; shooting, passing and dribbling. Andy had fun but wasn't really trying. He is not competitive. He started to get anxious with all the noise and no freedom to wander. I gave him his iPod which helped some. They do each event twice and Andy was ready to leave before he finished everything just once. I took a video with my iPhone and that made him happy. Then I shot video for the events and he did try a bit harder. At least he wasn't disappointed that he made no baskets.



Once he was done with everything, we were allowed to leave. It was only 10 am but he wanted to eat lunch at Chick Fil A. I drove leisurely so we only had to wait a few minutes before they started serving lunch at 10:30 am. He must had been hungry, he ate 12 nuggets and a large fry. We got a phone call that he had one a silver medal. Huh.

Originally, we were told he would be staying for two nights. They shortened this year. We are both glad. He was very happy to go home.

keep falling off the wagon

... and my ego is quite bruised.



I can't seem to get back to weight loss. Monday morning seemed good with the scale finally showing me some positive feedback. But then... I made Golden Grahams S'mores on Tuesday.

And in two days, I ate most of the pan.

I had to eat them, they go stale really fast. The last few were stale and I ate them anyway.

I do better with cookies in the freezer.



So on Thursday, the s'mores were gone. And on Friday I was back to a typical week day. Oatmeal for breakfast. Smoothie after I walked. Salmon and veggies for lunch.

Then about 3 o'clock, I start getting hungry. I try to fool myself into thinking 1/4 cup of cashews will tide me over. Twenty minutes later I reaching for an apple. About 4 pm, I realize I need something more substaintial and I make a wrap with hummus, tomato & cucumber. Yum. But then I want something sweet to finish the snack/meal and get some craisins.

When dinner comes at 6, I am not hungry. But I know I'll be hungry around
7 or 8. I don't want to eat that late so I fix broccoli. Followed by half of a grapefruit and cookies from the freezer.



Perhaps the Brits are smarter having tea time.

iPad

---

I watched the presentation of Apple's new iPad. First off, I hate the name. Yep, I think of sanitary pads.

I am always impressed with new technology. I love gadgets. I love Apple. Though I try to deny it.

When the Palm Pilots came out, Gail said I should get one. Eh. Who needs that?! He said the same about the iPod. Soon after he died, I had one of each.

Maybe I try to ignore the new stuff because I know I cannot afford to go out and buy the latest and greatest. It's easier to be ignorant and than drool over something you can't have. I have also learned to let others be the guinea pigs with new technology and work out the bugs and flaws.

So as I admired the iPad, I knew I wouldn't be buying one anytime soon. Even with the lower price than expected, I know it's just not in my budget right now. I don't need one. Right?

Then again...

I mostly use my iPhone at home. I have a 3 year old iMac and a 5 year old G4 iBook. The iMac is OK but I have no good chair so I avoid sitting there unless necessary. The iBook is slow and the boys like to use it. The iPhone is mine and I don't have to share.

I use the iPhone for Twitter which is fine. I use it for google reader which is OK. But when I need to look at full sites, it's not so good. The iPad would be much nicer. And reading eBooks would be much nicer. Recipes would be good on that too!

So now there is another want on the list. Maybe by the time the second generation iPad is announce I might be able to afford one.

Can I wait that long?

s'mores

I may rename this blog my misadventures in baking in light of all the failures I have had lately. I can blame it on my lack on patience and too much confidence. I am not double checking baking powder or baking soda like I have in the past. Or I am grabbing a recipe and not reading all the way through or checking the comments before I start.

Since I can eat cereal once again, I find myself walking down the cereal aisle just gazing at the boxes wondering what I might get next. I saw a healthier version of Golden Grahams and it got me to thinking about Golden Grahams and how much I loved them. I picked up a box of Golden Grahams and thought about the s'mores recipes I made years, and years, ago. There was no recipe on the box so I pulled out my iPhone and googled for the recipe. Once I knew I could find it, I put the box in my cart and continued on my way.

After Andy got home, I decided to make a batch of Golden Grahams s'mores. I googled and found lots of recipes. I dismissed those that required cooking on the stove. Like my Rice Cripsies Treats, I prefer the ease of the microwave.

I found this one at RecipeZarr.com It looked easy enough. But it didn't seem right. It didn't seem like enough cereal or marshmallows or chocolate. At least not for a 13x9 pan. And it wasn't. I should have read the comment at the end of the recipe. I would have looked further.



Luckily I bought the 16 ounce box so I had enough for a real batch. And I even had enough marshmallows to try again. I looked at more recipes but most called for cooking on the stove. I went back to the review and decided to try that recipe. Right away, it felt better. Though I was not 100% confident in the results. The chocolate melted too much as did the extra marshmallows. But the bit of leftover I got from the spoon tasted pretty good.



One note, I took a few bites of the Golden Grahams when I opened the box. I found that they had an odd taste to them and I no longer love them. Though, the odd taste did not occur in the treats. And speaking of the treats, once they cooled I had to try them. I actually prefer the first version. They aren't really a bar but they are so good and chocolaty. If I make them again, OK, when I make them again, I'll be sure to double or triple the recipe.

1 february

Odd day today.

First off, it was cold. Not freezing but cool. The weather did not say anything about it nor the rain we had most of the day.

I didn't walk. I stayed in and worked on Bonnies images. I was hoping the rain would clear. It would get lighter but never seemed to stop. At least whenever I checked.



The laundry is caught up. It's been so long that the dryer has been running most of the day. I even stripped my bed and was done before noon.

The phone has been pretty quiet too. (Just as I was going to type this, the phone rang. It was an automated message from the school stating Andy was absent this morning. Hmm...)

So I got done what I wanted to get done. I could have gone out to Starbuck's but have given myself a monthly budget of $25 to spend there. That is only about 6 or 7 drinks.

30 january

The morning has been productive. By 9:30, I had my clothes washed and put away. The towels will be done by noon! You may be wondering why I am a bit too exciting about doing laundry. Well, after 8 months, the dryer is finally fixed!



The problem started last April. After a week of the clothes taking forever and a day and still not being completely dry, I called a repairman. He came out and said, "Oh, it's a Maytag. Oh, it's gas." That did not sound good.



After a bit, he decided it was the vent full of lint. He climbed up on the roof and pulled a couple of handfuls of lint from the vent and called it good. I paid him $75 and he left. My dryer still didn't work. I thought I might need a professional clean the vent and after a week placed a call. This visit took a while and cost $89. The dryer still didn't work.



When I made the first call, I was dismayed to find my appliance repairman was no longer in business. He had been out a couple of times. He did good work and his prices seemed fair. I used to belong to Angie's List but stopped because I didn't want to spend the money. I checked around and called the first repair service. I should have called back after he failed to fix the dryer. But I had little confidence in their ability. I learned to do smaller loads that would still take 2 hours and leave the clothes damp.



My dad arrived in November. I had intended on calling before he arrived but something always ate up any extra money I had. (That's a subject for another post.) Dad did not like the dryer not working. He offered to pay for the repair and still I didn't call. (Did you know that I hate making phone calls? And I hate asking for help. Doomed from the start.)



Right after my birthday I called. The nice repairman Scott came out. My dad hovered while Scott checked things out. My suspiscion was that it was the coils. The dryer would heat but not stay hot. Scott declared that to be the problem. I felt chuffed.



But Scott didn't have the part and had to order it. It would be another week.



Dad only washed what he had to wash. I continued to do my half loads and fold damp clothes. I told myself it was good because dryer clothes too much leads to the fibers breaking down. Right.



Scott came back last Friday and replaced the coils. It didn't work. He concluded it was the gas valve and another part would need to be ordered. We talked about repair versus replacent. Replacement makes more financial sense but I hated the idea of throwing away an appliance if it could be repaired. I do think about the planet now and again.



Would it be another week? Scott would ask for rush delivery. One part arrived in time, the other did not. We had to wait until Friday.



Scott arrived after 1 pm yesterday. He had said this was only the second valve he has replaced in over 10 years of repair work. And it happens to be the most expensive part. He fixed it and it works. When it was all said and done, they owe us money. What? See, you pay $129 for the initial service call and all labor and parts. Each time they had to order a part, we had to pay for it. Since he didn't need to replace the coils and the sensor, we got refunded for those costs. The total was $353.98 to fix this 8 year old dryer. But that is about half of what a new dryer would cost. And we saved the land fill one more dryer for a while.



So now the clothes are once again dryer faster than it takes the clothes to wash. Front loaders do take longer cycles since they use less water. And it's odd to fold dry stiff towels once more. I did lower the dryer temp back to low and moved the sensor to just below "really dry" to avoid static cling. I stopped using dryer sheets about a year ago.



I made another batch of Chocolate Sugar Cookies. I had to redeem myself and I did. I also added up the calories...



And found that one cookie is 120 calories. Oops.

28 january 2010

I am still trying to wrap my brain around this Budget program. I am really going to have to sit down and read the rest of Total Money Makeover in hopes of clarity.

Yesterday, I decided to download my bank transactions in order to make sure I got the little ones I had missed. This wasn't a good idea. I had begun the program account on January 4. But my statement ended December 30.

I deleted the whole thing and started over. I also decided to do my cash differently. I keep track in an iPhone app called Balance. It just helps me see what I spent where and how much I have left. I don't feel the needto keep that in Budget as well. OK, mostly I am lazy and am really getting confused.

On a positive note, I managed to process over 50 images for Bonnie yesterday. Then I came to some images I knew I had already processed. She makes albums for each of her kids. Some photos show up in two or more of the albums. In her Lightroom library, she has the image only once and copies in each child's collection. When she copied the photos for me, she exported the collections so it made redundant copies. I decided not to reprocess the same image so I went to main library folder and arranged the photos by image name. I could easily see the ones that were the same. Then I synched the same images. I also color coded them so I know they have been processed.

Bonnie is using

samsclub.com

to print her images. I can upload them fairly quickly and she can pick them up just a few hours later.

I baked cookies yesterday. Giant Chocolate Sugar Cookies by Martha Stewart. I have made them before and they are yummy. I messed them up yesterday. I put it baking soda instead baking powder. They are flat. Chocolate coasters. They taste good but look funny.

I would have made another batch or even brownies but I used up the last of Dutch process cocoa powder. I haven't been able to find anymore. I even thought about going out to the other Target in hopes that they would have the right cocoa powder. I know Williams Sonoma carries Dutch process cocoa powder. But their jar is $15. I am just not willing to pay that much.

I made the mistake at looking at the computer and saw that the Apple Event was happening. You know I live gadgets! I watched and oohed and aahed and made fun of the name iPad. I don't see one in my future anytime soon. I need a new desktop first.

So the cookies would have to do.

I have been walking. And my ankle is really telling me to quit. Bio-freeze does a good job of keeping the pain down to a dull ache.

I went to the other SuperTarget and found the cocoa powder. They had only the Dutch process whereas the SuperTarget near me has only the regular cocoa powder. Did somebody goof?

My dad brought home the

wrong oatmeal

. I prefer

McCann's Quick & Easy Steel Cut Oats

. He said they didn't have any. I went to a different Publix and found that they carry Quaker Oats Steel Cut Oatmeal but didn't have any McCann's. The woman working there told me it was in the GreenWise section which is organic. I wonder if that's where they moved the Steel Cut Oats at our Publix?

Andy is playing Jeaopardy. He is using his stuffed animals and pals as the contestants. He is playing Alex Trebeck. And he is recording it with his iPod.

Andy's teacher called today while I was walking. Seems that Andy has qualified for the state level Special Olympics in basketball. This is quite a surpise to me. I didn't know he knew how to play. The event is February 12-14 at USF. They will be staying at a hotel with chaperones. I am hoping I can go at least for part of the event.