Spider

Saw this gal on my way to the parking lot after work. All those little bumps on her back are baby spiders! Wish I could've gotten a clearer picture, but my cameraphone just didn't deal with focus at that range.

Family time

My family moved to Lexington a while back, so I actually get to visit with them now. Not as much as I'd like, but every once in a while I get enough time off to do so. This is one of those times.

The drive from eastern Kentucky is rather nice. The Mountain Parkway is very pretty, lots of woodlands and old buildings. Especially in the current hot, humid weather, it's really nice because all the trees cool down things just enough to drive with the windows down. And there were very few other cars going my way, so it was an easy drive.

In fact, the only stress was when the TomTom, which had been silent for 90 miles, piped up to tell me a turn was coming up. Nearly jumped out of my skin!

Today, I spent time with mom. Went out to lunch and shopping. Dad came home, and this was the project I came to help with. My parents are adding a workshop onto their house. Dad does a lot of woodworking as a hobby, and now they've finally got a house they can put a proper workshop on. It's not finished, but it's together enough he wanted to put a good workbench in.

What he bought was a really nice wooden bench. The trick was, the benchtop weighs 250+ pounds, and he has a bad back. We were trying to figure out the best way to get it into the shop and put it together. Mom came up with a great idea to use a rolling scaffold to hold up one end while we carried the other to get it into position. Worked out fantastic. Dad now has a great, solid workbench and we got to spend some good time as a family on the project.

I only wish I could spend more time with them. But, I have to work on Wednesday, so I'll be off tomorrow afternoon to drive home.

Headasplodey

The worst part of Kentucky weather is that it changes so quickly. From sunny, to overcast, to sunny, to pouring rain, to foggy, etc.

Being one to suffer from bad sinus headaches when the pressure changes, this is not amusing to me. Today is no exception. x.x

Random Kentuckiana

I've neglected this blog for a while, due to health issues. On new medicine now, but it's taking time to get used to it. So, here's some random musings on Kentucky life.

• It's 17-year locust time again! It's just weird going outside and hearing this low hum as they make their mating call. One of my co-worker's kids described it sounding "like aliens are invading." If you follow the link, check out the animated image about halfway down that shows them molting from their pupal stage.
• Another way you can tell it's summer in Kentucky: it's gone from rainy and 70 degrees F, to sunny, humid and nearly 100 degrees F in less than a week. Gah.
• One of the bad things about working in a hospital, as I've mentioned before, is when people don't survive their trip to the hospital. It's especially bad out here in eastern Kentucky, as it can take a long time for first-responders to even get to the scene, much less get the person to the hospital. Many people live in such rural spots that it's often over before the EMS can even reach them.
• I need to get out and take some photos of the various signs that stores put out. Often they're very interesting, offering services you don't normally see in other parts of the country. Unfortunately, some of Kentucky's reputation is well-deserved, as there are plenty of misspellings on these signs that are quite funny.
  

Primary function

Today is Kentucky's primary elections. I've done my part in voting, and you can find your polling place on this site.

Damn you, nature!

Sorry for the lack of updates. After coming down with bronchitis, Kentucky decided to do its patented "Springtime = ALLERGIES!" trick. So, now that most of that crap is out of my lungs, it moved into my sinuses.

Still trying to find a good video editor to work on these Hillbilly Days videos I snagged. Unfortunately my laptop didn't come with iMovie and I've been too cheap to buy iLife, so I've been struggling with shareware apps that, frankly, suck.

Megastar

Went to see Blue Man Group at Lexington this weekend. Great show. These guys are always entertaining, a great blend of music and vaudeville performance. I've seen them three times so far and, though I prefer the original line-up of performers, the current set are still good in their own right.

The concert originally featured Venus Hum and Tracy Bonham. I strongly suggest picking up their original DVD, or catching it on PBS sometime, as both are stellar performers. Tracy really rocks out performing Baba O'Riley with her violin.

They've since changed out to a few new performers to fill those slots. The nice change is Mike Relm as opening act and providing some video work during the concert. Check out his YouTube page, or this performance to get an idea of what he does:



The Blue Men have always been good about using technology, and actively encourage people to use their cell phones during the concert. They've got an interactive text-message thing going on, and have people hold their cells up as lighters during certain songs. Plus, they encourage you to take pictures and post them on the BMG site (though most venues prevent you from taking "high quality" cameras inside).

So, short version: if you can see them, do it.

Lexmark gets the boot

I've had a love-hate relationship with inkjet printers for years. Coming from dot matrix printers, inkjet was a huge step forward. And no one but a business could afford those huge laser printers, so everyone was happy to see them come out.

Fast forward to 2008, and ink jets kinda suck. About the only thing they're good for now is low to mid-quality digital photo prints, and sucking up your money in ink refills. Cheap lasers easily outshine them for text printing, and color lasers are starting to catch up in quality and price.

So, when Best Buy decided to drop Lexmark injets from its stores, it got attention. Aside from Lexmark, Epson, HP and Canon are the only big names in inkjets. Yes, there are specialty photo printers and dirt-cheap (ie. disposable) printers, but those four are the names anyone who wants a decent printer looks for. Knocking Lexmark out of one of the major chain retailers across the USA is a big blow for them, and ink jet in general.

Of course, this may just be a marketing strategy gone bad. Lexmark announced higher-than-expected earnings for Q1 '08, but notes that part of that is due to intentionally under-selling its lower priced inkjet printers. The idea was to push consumers towards buying the (more profitable) higher-end printers and ink cartridges. Cutting back supply may have influenced Best Buy's decision to cut the brand entirely, which may come back to haunt Lexmark.

It's especially relevant to Kentucky, as Lexmark is based in Lexington. They're a major employer in the city, and something that affects their growth will also affect the local economy.

Well, crap

Not a good weekend for the Geek! My parents weren't able to make it out for Hillbilly Days, and it rained anyway, so that was shot. Luckily, I got some pictures and video on Friday. Unluckily, I had to offload them to my boyfriend's laptop, which he currently has at work. I'll try to get a hold of them tonight or tomorrow, so I should have some images up here and video up on Youtube by mid-week.

I work registration for the local hospital, and typically get stuck down in the emergency room. And this weekend was bad. The festival drew in a lot of people and we had quite a few minor accidents, and a few major medical problems, piling into the ER over the weekend. Scrambling to get someone into the computer so the doctor can order labs, while trying to get insurance info from others before they leave, while trying to keep up with paperwork, is a nightmare. I've been trying to convince management to computerize more of this paperwork, but they aren't technology-oriented and have been resisting.

To top it all off, our Dish DVR died last night. It still runs and outputs audio, but the video is screwed. I wouldn't mind terribly, except it had the new Doctor Who Christmas special on it (yeah, America is way behind), and I still hadn't watched the new episodes of Battlestar Galactica yet! At least I can watch BSG on Hulu. I'll probably have to hunt around Youtube for the Doctor Who special if it doesn't rerun later this week, when we get the new DVR.

Hillbilly Days

Today is the start of our annual Hillbilly Days Festival.

Basically, it's an excuse to get out in the sun, eat good food, listen to bluegrass music and see people dressed up in silly outfits. Pike county is part of where the Hatfield-McCoy feud took place, and the Pikeville courthouse where the eventual trial occurred. That feud, and the media sensationalism over it, is part of what gives eastern Kentucky its hillbilly reputation.

After the two families publicly reconciled back in 2003, folks decided to take the publicity and make it a celebration of the lifestyle in this part of the country. Hillbilly Days is the result, and it's a hoot.

I'm gonna try to get some pictures this weekend, so folks can see what it's like.

Burn, baby, burn

Back on the 11th, there was a fire next door. As I left for work that day, I noticed a lot of smoke near our place. It's not unusual. People burn garbage, and sometimes the hills across the river catch fire, so I didn't think much about it. My boyfriend called me at work about 6 or so to tell me the abandoned flea market beside us was on fire and the fire department was working on it. I got home around midnight, and there were still bits burning lightly. We went out with a bucket and some jugs of water to douse the more active spots, so we didn't worry about it flaring up at night.

This lot has been abandoned since before we moved in. The flea market there failed, and several folks just left their stuff in the stalls/buildings to rot. One of the buildings burned down years ago, but most of it's just rotting away. We don't know how the fire started. Someone apparently saw a red car leave the lot a short time before the fire started. It could've been started by a carelessly tossed cigarette, or by someone destroying something. I see cars in there at night sometimes, and figure some folks use it for selling drugs. Or it could've been some kids just having fun burning crap that got out of control.

Regardless, it burned around the back and side of the lot very badly. The heat was so intense, and it got so close to our place, that the vinyl siding on the side of our building warped. That's too close for comfort.

I took some pictures and uploaded a gallery on Picasa.

Out of the Blue

Finally decided to start blogging on here, since I've already got the Google account and all. So, I suppose an introduction is in order.

I'm a 30-something geek trying to earn a living out here in Kentucky. Grew up just a bit north, on the southern tip of Ohio. Grew up in the Tri-State area which is made up of Ironton, OH, Ashland, KY and Huntington, WV. It's a fairly rural area in the Ohio River Valley.

I've lived in different parts of the country. Indiana (too damn flat), Alaska (beautiful!), Hawaii (nice weather)… but I keep coming back to Kentucky. Partly it's just my heritage, partly the environment, but a lot if it is just an unexplainable feeling for me. I like the mountains and the hills, the climate (mostly), and the people. It's not as developed as some parts of the country, which I like. I've never been comfortable in big cities, and don't care to go too far into the back woods for more than a vacation. Kentucky has a wonderful blend of rural comfort and urban conveniences you can't find in most parts of the country.

Most of my life has been floating from one place to another. I'm still looking for a career that suits me, which is slightly depressing, but not being tied down to a soul-crushing job has its benefits. Just need to find that job that "clicks"…

Enough rambling for now. This blog will mostly be about my life, and my experiences. Don't expect a solid focused blog like Pharyngula, or anything as fun as Erin O'brien's blog. Mostly, it'll be things I've seen here in Kentucky, past experiences, and random geeky stuff I like.

And in case you haven't noticed from all the earlier links, I like Wikipedia!