Belated report on Christmas and after...
Dec. 26th, 2002 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kengrI'd thought I'd be at home alone for Christmas. But when I called Lin to wish her Merry Christmas (at just after midnight on Christmas eve) she invited me over for Christmas dinner.
She sent Kermit to fetch me around 4 PM. She stayed home to watch the stuff in the oven.
so Kermit and I got to have a long talk on the drive over (sometimes being an hour's drive apart is useful :-)
Mostly we talked gaming stuff and computer stuff.
Besides the presents for the two of them, I also dragged some computer stuff along. So while Lin was finishing up the dinner, I was in the computer room with Kermit sticking a hardware firewall between their DSL modem and their computer. It also doubles as a 4 port ethernet switch, so they can now use their second computer on the Internet. And maybe their laptop if they can dig up an ethernet card for it.
I'm loaning them the firewall and if they decide they want to keep it, I'll let them have it at wholesale (or even less, as it's a discontinued model :-)
Lin loved the present I got her. she's got a thing about Kokopelli, and in early November I'd spotted a "toy" with a Kokopelli on it. It's hard to describe other than to say that my butt may have some Kokopelli shaped bruises one of these days. <eg>;
I'm also getting her a CostCo membership as she's been wanting to get some stuff there.
Kermit got a "wheel" of Brie (He likes the stuff) and a gift certificate from his favorite gaming store (I'd have bought him something, but I know he's got so much stuff I'd probably have gotten him something he already had).
Lin got me a few things. She'd remembered my regretting not grabbing the family picnic basket on a trip home some years back when my mom offered it to me. It'd had some heavy duty plastic plates, cups and silverware. Stuff that could survive some abuse and be re-usable.
So she'd put one together for me. It's a classic wicker basket with the two piece lid that hinges in the middle (classic old-time cartoon style!). And a bunch of plates and stuff. She hadn't managed to get the tablecloth and a few other things yet. So she said I get them for my birthday.
For some reason, looking at the basket it feels like something for Brooke. Which is fine. Maybe this summer Brooke and some friends can go on a picnic.
She also gave me some large, shallow glass bowls for me to use in the microwave. These will be *very* useful.
Today, Lin, Kermit and I went to Fry's to do some shopping for stuff. Lin hadn't known that Mercedes Lackey was known for her filk songs long before her first book. So I grabbed a couple of CDs of her stuff ("Magic, Melancholy, and Moonlight" and "Legends, Lore, and Loss") to play in their van's CD player on the trip. There are still two tracks left for them to hear on the second CD.
I happen to have a tape of the first one (I purchased it years back, before I had a CD player) so I'll give that to Lin. Especially since it has a song she's been bugging me to get her the words to ("F.A.P." which stands for "Feline American Princess").
Lin and I both got a "Bibles & Religion" CD. $4.99. It's an even better investment than I thought because it turns out that all the "books" on it are in RTF format. Which means I don't have to install the software. It also has a *lot* of stuff. Six different Bible translations, two translations ogf the Koran, two book of Mormon, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
I also got a MIDI cable for my sound card. And I took a chance and guessed right. a Mac monitor extension cable works to extend the joystick port. a 3-4 foot long MIDI cable doesn't work well for a computer that's under a desk.
But with the 6 foot extension, I can hook up the keyboard I picked up a while back (a Casio CTK-411) to the computer. Mind you, I can't *play* a keyboard. But I got it more as a way to troubleshoot yet another computer function for people.
And Lin *can* play, so she can use my keyboard when she's here.
All in all, not a bad couple of days.
She sent Kermit to fetch me around 4 PM. She stayed home to watch the stuff in the oven.
so Kermit and I got to have a long talk on the drive over (sometimes being an hour's drive apart is useful :-)
Mostly we talked gaming stuff and computer stuff.
Besides the presents for the two of them, I also dragged some computer stuff along. So while Lin was finishing up the dinner, I was in the computer room with Kermit sticking a hardware firewall between their DSL modem and their computer. It also doubles as a 4 port ethernet switch, so they can now use their second computer on the Internet. And maybe their laptop if they can dig up an ethernet card for it.
I'm loaning them the firewall and if they decide they want to keep it, I'll let them have it at wholesale (or even less, as it's a discontinued model :-)
Lin loved the present I got her. she's got a thing about Kokopelli, and in early November I'd spotted a "toy" with a Kokopelli on it. It's hard to describe other than to say that my butt may have some Kokopelli shaped bruises one of these days. <eg>;
I'm also getting her a CostCo membership as she's been wanting to get some stuff there.
Kermit got a "wheel" of Brie (He likes the stuff) and a gift certificate from his favorite gaming store (I'd have bought him something, but I know he's got so much stuff I'd probably have gotten him something he already had).
Lin got me a few things. She'd remembered my regretting not grabbing the family picnic basket on a trip home some years back when my mom offered it to me. It'd had some heavy duty plastic plates, cups and silverware. Stuff that could survive some abuse and be re-usable.
So she'd put one together for me. It's a classic wicker basket with the two piece lid that hinges in the middle (classic old-time cartoon style!). And a bunch of plates and stuff. She hadn't managed to get the tablecloth and a few other things yet. So she said I get them for my birthday.
For some reason, looking at the basket it feels like something for Brooke. Which is fine. Maybe this summer Brooke and some friends can go on a picnic.
She also gave me some large, shallow glass bowls for me to use in the microwave. These will be *very* useful.
Today, Lin, Kermit and I went to Fry's to do some shopping for stuff. Lin hadn't known that Mercedes Lackey was known for her filk songs long before her first book. So I grabbed a couple of CDs of her stuff ("Magic, Melancholy, and Moonlight" and "Legends, Lore, and Loss") to play in their van's CD player on the trip. There are still two tracks left for them to hear on the second CD.
I happen to have a tape of the first one (I purchased it years back, before I had a CD player) so I'll give that to Lin. Especially since it has a song she's been bugging me to get her the words to ("F.A.P." which stands for "Feline American Princess").
Lin and I both got a "Bibles & Religion" CD. $4.99. It's an even better investment than I thought because it turns out that all the "books" on it are in RTF format. Which means I don't have to install the software. It also has a *lot* of stuff. Six different Bible translations, two translations ogf the Koran, two book of Mormon, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
I also got a MIDI cable for my sound card. And I took a chance and guessed right. a Mac monitor extension cable works to extend the joystick port. a 3-4 foot long MIDI cable doesn't work well for a computer that's under a desk.
But with the 6 foot extension, I can hook up the keyboard I picked up a while back (a Casio CTK-411) to the computer. Mind you, I can't *play* a keyboard. But I got it more as a way to troubleshoot yet another computer function for people.
And Lin *can* play, so she can use my keyboard when she's here.
All in all, not a bad couple of days.
