Scratching Post

So I was home sick yesterday and we actually got the cable to work and we actually found where the animated series of Avengers Assemble was hidden in the On Demand options [hint: not by name, but by Kids -> Disney XD -> Avengers Assemble, though it also comes up if you search by "Marvel" but you have to do this for each episode you want to watch].

No, not all the eps were there. Yes, some had painful, cheesy, "this is the lesson of the episode" moments. Yes, I laughed my ass off at most of them anyway.

The voice for Tony threw me (as wolfie74 said, he sounds like a 16 year old and, sorry Adrian Pasdar, you kinda do for this one), but eventually you get used to it. Besides, there is enough snark and background interactions to distract from that: trained heroes fighting over cookies, Clint, Tony versus Cap versus tech, Clint, Tony simply pulling out his wallet every time Thor breaks something, did I mention Clint?

So, yeah, overall it was pretty damn entertaining. And I don't think it was just the fever since wolfie74 was laughing too.

We're in the midst of MN winter which means the following: days upon days of the base temp (not including windchill) being between -5 and -15 degrees (F), windchills of -35 to -45 degrees (F), weather fluctuations setting off migraines, an office space that cannot keep warm to save its sorry little soul, and the obligatory sinus/ear infection.

But, hey, we also randomly get snow (just not like we did two years ago where it was piled higher than the cars) and ready made excuses to drink as much hot chocolate as we can, with or without augmentation of the alcoholic kind, so there is an up side.

I have been writing, for really, but nothing is ready yet. One story is just barely begun with like less than 2K, one is almost done (75% maybe?) with 9K, and one is taking over my life with 16K and probably not even halfway completed, which usually means no one will read it but, whatever, I'm having fun writing it. Would like to clean up a huge Sherlock one I wrote a while back, but doubt I will get around to it anytime soon. Maybe I should do one of those WIP memes?

I currently have no plans to participate in the awesome halfamoon this year, but highly recommend anyone and everyone go check it out. 14 days devoted to awesome female characters of awesomeness - what's not to like?

Anyway, that's sort of a status update for now: writing fic, reading fic (some very wonderful stuff I should probably make a recs post about sometime), work, family, and being sucked into the black hole that is Tumblr. [For anyone interested, I am waitingtodance over there. I had a grand idea for a theme and such at one point, but now it's pretty much moved on to "ooh, pretty!" territory.]

So, yeah, that's life?

Will totally post about the trip to New Orleans when I can. Normally, I'd email myself the pics from my phone, resize them to make them more journal-friendly, and make a post. Unfortunately, my mini that I use for this seems to think the ";" key is awesome beyond belief and I cannot type anything without a few dozen of those appearing and yes, we have tried cleaning it. I also don't have a photo resizing program or a way to upload the pics on the iPad, which is odd but a question for another day.

I also do the majority of my writing on the mini. The reason for this was two-fold:
1) my iPad keyboard can be frustrating due to thinking I am typing something I am not (seriously, the autocorrect loves me... or something).
2) my iPad program decided about a week in that spell check and grammar check are totally not necessary and disabled the option without a way to turn it back on. Given iPad comes with an internal spell check for all programs, this is truly impressive.

So we got my Bluetooth keyboard to finally work, but this leaves one final issue:
Does anyone know of a good word processing program for iPad?

I have been debating buying Pages, but would love some feedback on it if possible. Can you switch between US and British spell/grammar checks? I have DropBox, so I should be able to save to that, open on the server, and download to my external for safekeeping as well, I think. It just seems weird that, for a supposed learning tool, the word processing options are so limited.

Thoughts?

We have fish.

Me: Wow, that one is still chasing after the other one, he must really want her.

wolfie74: What, the mollys again? [She had previously named those Zeus, Hera, and Alcmene for... reasons]

Me: No, the other ones.

wolfie74: The guppies? You do know those are all male, right?

Me: Then it is possible we have homosexual fish.

wolfie74: Is now when I tell you that [Youngest] and I named those three Gwaine, Merlin, and Arthur?

Random the 1st:
I kind of want to write an Alphas fic but have seen a grand total of 1 in the entire fandom to date, so am not quite sure.

Random the 2nd:
Fringe! New episode last night! Still no other fics posted for the challenge, which is a bit odd.

Random the 3rd:
Working on fic, I swear!

Random the 4th:
Um, didn't LJ with all its massive down time this year promise extensions? I still have the emails. Yet I just got a new email that says my paid time is about to expire. WTF?

Random the 5th:
Still have not wandered down for breakfast yet, which my bloodsugar is shaking a finger at me for. Hot chocolate and English muffins with pomegranate-cherry spread seems like the plan for the day.

A huge thank you must go out to threnodyjones, drag_on_king and her partner, and to my work husband for all their help yesterday! Huge and heavy items, glassware, a U-haul, and intense heat with humidity do not go well together, but they braved it all and helped us move pretty much all that remained in one go.

THANK YOU!

[Still trying to convince wolfie74 that it is a suburb and not the country, yet I keep having the theme from "Green Acres" go through my head every time she mentions it...]

Does anyone know of any good apps that give you weather info as well as air quality? Pollen/allergy info and other random atmospheric info would be lovely as well.

Free apps are the best, Android platform.

Thank you bunches in advance!

Now I am off to brave the "extreme heat" warning with around 99 degree temps expected today. Whoo hoo? *eyes non air conditioned house versus air conditioned office* Whoo hoo!

I got new glasses! And am so far halfway through the work day without needing to reach for the Excedrin! I do believe there may be a correlation between these two points. Also cool? Not seeing blurry halos around objects when I take my glasses off. That’s just neat.

I am also finally making progress on my fringeminibang fic! Roughly 1,200 words worth, so that totally counts. I had been shooting plotlines over to poor patient threnodyjones up to this point, but not actually getting anything beyond that accomplished until now.

Oh, and I have some progress on the gwaine_quest fic as well! Need to add a scene between two scenes I have so far, and then continue on from there, but don’t feel comfortable writing that one out on lunch at work due to some NSFW bits because, really, nothing throws off your writing more than someone stopping by to ask you a question (ignoring the “Lunch” sign) and then going, “OMG! What are those two guys doing?!?” Also, because I would probably be tempted to reply something like, “Just wait, a third one joins in,” which would probably get me in even more trouble.

For now though, it’s time to finish up lunch, wrap up a paragraph, go to a meeting, finish my last few accounts, go volunteer, and then (finally) go home.

Happy Birthday, johnnym77!

In honor of this special day, here, have a half-naked Irishman!

So I ended up staying home after all. Called in and cited the roads, the weather, the fender bender, and the child who would be home alone during a blizzard. Surprisingly, I don't think this will be an issue.

The front steps and walkway are now shoveled and I am totally counting that as my exercise for the day. Also? Ow. Heavy snow is heavy.

Today's Sinfest demanded an icon, so here is my sad attempt at one:


Which reminded me I did not post the one I made for wolfie74 the other night that very few people might get but can totally be credited to johnnym77 (hint: inside joke about Eldest and Youngest and their obsession with a certain card game when they were younger)):


Now, I plan on taking a handful of ibuprofen and playing around online for a bit. I have not dug out the car yet, and that will likely take another 40+ minutes and another handful of drugs. Fun times!