At Least They Didn't Break The Windows

Dammit, we had another round of hooligans running through the neighborhood on the one night I failed to lock my car.  I mean I'm fastidious about locking it since the last time this happened earlier this summer.  They got some cash but there's nothing else to be had.  Hmmm... maybe some CD's?  I'll have to check again.

Several people were hit and the police were going up and down the street this morning alerting car owners about the trouble.  Yep, sure enough they got me.  GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Oh well, at least they didn't break the windows.

Friday Fragments - July 1, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!!!!!!

Yes, I am super stoked that it's finally July and we can start celebrating Birthday Month.  It's a self-proclaimed thing and I hope everyone plays along - click on the birthday button to find out all of the details - the first birthday posting, National Celebrations, will be next Thursday.

So onto my ever so fragmented week...
Saturday was quite busy.  After a little yard work and running of errands we ventured downtown for Marine Week - check out last Sunday's post for pictures and really noisy videos.  It was AMAZING.

That evening we threw a surprise party for a friend turning 40.  Her husband rented a trolley and we drove through St. Louis, drinking and laughing and having a great time.  One of our stops was at a bar that had a mechanical bull where several of the party attendees took a ride.  For some reason my camera died through most of the night, it came back to life as we were getting ready to go home, so the bull riding pictures were fuzzy.

Before we headed home, I got a frantic call from our CEO that a train had derailed by our office and might impede my server restoration work - yeah still working on the dead server.  Fortunately by the time I got home (1pm) the server restores had completed (I'm able to remotely link into our office.... oooh cool groovy tech goddess that I am) and I didn't need to go into the office.

It turned out that the derailment, which really was literally feet from our office, was not severe.  We were picturing cars dangling off the trellis, but actually it was just debris from a service track.

Check out the red arrow, it's pointing to the stuff HANGING from the tracks!

That night was also (as if it weren't full enough) the night of a major MONSOON.  I'm not exaggerating.  As I was driving home there were sheets of rain pouring down to the point we had zero visibility.  It was insane.  I was hoping to get close enough to the tracks to see the train, but I had to turn around because the puddles in the road were just too deep!  And then by the time I got home ten minutes later, it had stopped.  Totally crazy.

Monday I slipped in dogshit in my basement posing the question, WHY WERE THE DOGS IN MY BASEMENT????  Turns out Monday morning storms had blown open a door and the dogs (with their nervous tummies) sought refuge in the basement.  I step in the goo, go splat, have minor whiplash from the impact and have to change my clothes.  Grrrrrrr

Wednesday I go into my sunroom to let the dogs outside and I slip down three steps, breaking a thumbnail and ripping skin off another finger and again jarring my shoulder still aching from the basement fall.

GUESS WHO IS GOING HOME THIS WEEKEND????  The dogs!!!!  My brother as secured employment and a place to live WITH A YARD and he's coming to retrieve his dogs this weekend.  YAHOOO!!!!  I mean, the dogs are super sweet, but three large animals in my tiny yard have taken their toll, not to mention the expense of maintaining them.  I know they'll be happy to be back with their owner.  And my lawn will be happy not being a toilet anymore.

Anybody working on family trees, get over to Ancestry.Com this weekend.  They're offering free searches on the Sons of American Revolution registrations.  It's not full access all the databases, just the one, but it's a database of names that can help in your searches.  Don't forget that sometimes other branches of your tree offers more information than your own.
   For example:  Searching John Smith you hit a wall and can't find his parents.  Look up his other children, not just the son you're related to.  Sometimes you have to go DOWN in that other child's line to find the one who has information back UP the line.  So I'm loading all of the registration info for anybody that pops up in my trees.  I'm getting lots of very distant cousin info that I don't necessarily want or need, but could search at some point hoping for older data than what I have on the family lines.