Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The future of Florida?

Working in the insurance industry, I've heard for years how there has been a frightening amount of over building along the Florida coast. Now that the housing bubble is bursting, home values are plummeting... Tax rolls for Florida are not going to be pretty in 2009, and I wonder how many governments will go bankrupt..

There are tons of listings in Detroit for homes where the price tag is less than $10,000 (that is not a typo). Here's one: http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?pg=103&srcnt=1108&sid=cd7f0921a98c4f75ab5ca2d3144355e3&fhcnt=18&loc=detroit%2c+michigan&usrloc=detroit%2c+michigan&bd=4&bth=4&typ=1&ml=8&fhpg=3&lid=1105962986&lsn=1026

Will Florida be left to decay until hurricanes come along and take care of the over building?

The economy is scaring me, and I am anticipating a depression...

Monday, January 12, 2009

Neato thingy I learned...

I've been annoyed that I can't listen to my MP3 player while it is charging on my computer. However, there's a pretty easy fix for that.

1. Take a little piece of paper and cover the middle two wires inside the USB plug. Carefully plug the cable into your computer without dislodging the paper. I think you want to be extra careful to JUST cover the middle two since I am fairly certain the outer two are made up of one live and one ground. You don't want to fry your lovely MP3 player.

2. Plug your player in the other end and voila! The computer is not trying to 'talk' to the player, but electricity will still travel into the player.

I don't know how many players this works for, but it did well on my little Sansa Clip.

Irreverence...

Dave Barry blog post has me laughing pretty hard this afternoon. Actually, the Tempo of the Comets Probed my funny bone...

http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2009/01/god-is-a-ford-m.html#comments

Friday, January 09, 2009

Hanging up the Horns

10 months for S.
12 months for L.
11 months for A.

That is 2 years, 9 months of my life devoted to pumping milk at work for my babies. I'm through!

No, A. is not weaned. No, I am not giving up pumping altogether. I am just done hauling the pump and paraphernalia back and forth to work every day. Of all the drudgery that accompanies pumping, the back-and-forth aspect isthe most onerous (to me, anyway).

When L. was a baby, I bought a second pump so I could leave one at work. However, in a moment of 'we're never having any more babies, so why do I need two pumps'-itis, I sold one to a co-worker. Since we are now 100% committed to 'we're never having any more babies'-itis, I decided not to fork over the large chunk of change for a new pump.

This is only day 2 of no pumping during the work day, and I'm pretty uncomfortable. I'll pump when I get home, though and am guaranteed to get at least 10 ounces. Actually, yesterday, I managed to extract 12.

I felt oddly naked walking into work yesterday. All I carried was my purse. It's been a very long time since I didn't have a laptop or pump to haul in with me in the morning. This morning was easier since I had the laptop.

Based on previous experience, A. will wean around 14 months old following a steady decline in breastmilk production. Since she was 11 months on Tuesday, this very special time is drawing to a close. I don't miss the pregnancy part of having a baby, but boy do I love nursing my little girls. Is it bad that I hope A. breaks the trend and nurses to 18 months?