This itty bitty monster has been harassing me for about a year, maybe longer now. Maybe it's the grown version of this one: (itsy bitsy monster part 1) (e:theecarey,35925)

I hold back all intelligence and assert my belief that it it the same hairy, googly-eyed, fang-baring, snickering beast that has been lurking in my basement, creeping out of dark places purposely within my view (and within my reach) on several occasions this year. It makes an appearance and disappears all within the short time frame that includes, "gasp", "panic", "full-body sense of terror", "disgust" idling down to "why don't I have something in reach to kill it with", to "it likely has something within ITS reach to clobber me over the head with".. to "run Carey run, don't stop, don't turn around just get the hell out of the basement" and about an hours worth of "shivers" ewwww!

And so that whole line of action/inaction/psychological break-down works for the interim, until hygiene etiquette reminds me that I must go and do more laundry. No wonders that over time I have accumulated what seems like 397 pairs of socks, and about an equal amount of underwear and bras. Why subject myself to the beasts lair any more than absolutely necessary, right? eekkkk!

I don't like to kill spiders/bugs etc in general, and yes, I am rather apprehensive to scoop (shovel, forklift?) this one up into a bucket, or try to suck its massive body through a vacuum hose. I can just envision its fat yet muscular body getting jammed followed by getting pissed, followed retaliation, followed by my (fat but muscular, ha) body being jammed into the same said vacuum hose.Although this recent encounter led to the same pathetic reaction from me, this time, after my breathing returned, I ran and grabbed my camera. I needed proof. (proof of sanity, insanity?)






notice how the pholcidae, "daddy long-legs" dangling immediately in the background is dwarfed by comparison!



As I write, it continues to live, breath and eat small mammals while waiting my return...


my boyfriend claims it is a wolf spider. What is your guess?

Like it wasn't bad enough all those years prior,right? but the end results of these options, are entertaining. A good time waster for both the men and ladies. 1930's through current...



Just find a pretty straight on face pic of yourself, and have some fun!


"1968"


"1978"



or go ahead and use some random picture of anything; possibilities are endless

All of my light bulbs are compact florescent light bulbs , I had made the change several years ago to the curly shaped bulbs, at least from the time I moved into where I am at now (five years this month). The really do last a long time! I finally experienced one of the bulbs blowing out, or whatever they do. This particular one was in an outside porch socket, and its unlit mercury traced body reminded me that I have no idea how to dispose of the energy saving bugger.

So on to a search as to how to recycle the bulbs.


The above site gave some direction into seeking information from our local garbage service, municipal government, retailers who sell the product, "Earth911", an online clearinghouse of recycling information for US and Canada and commercial services (ie; a company in paid service of recycling CFLs would send a large mailing receptacle to collect your bulbs). Various ideas, but nothing concrete for this area, until I saw information pertaining to Home Depot.

Update: Home Depot has become the largest U.S. retailer to launch a general CFL recycling program. Almost 2,000 Home Depot locations will now accept any type of CFL for recycling without charge to the consumer.

At the Home Depot site, "The Home Depot Launches National CFL Bulb Recycling Initiative"


I called the Niagara Falls Home Depot to inquire if they indeed have a recycling center for CFL's, which they confirmed. They also confirmed that all of the area Home Depots should be on board with this as well.

Locate the "store finder" link on the home page if you want to confirm a recycling location.
For further programs and ideas, Home Depot Eco Options Home Page:


I did not check into local garbage services, so I am not sure if any of the the village-town-city garbage disposal and recycling services have any protocol for taking care of CFL s. But in case you were wondering, Home Depot is an easy option. I may take a large empty cat litter pail (plastic with tight lid and handle) and store them in there until I get enough to warrant a trip. A cardboard box will do too. The main idea here is to not break them or toss them in the trash.

So why recycle them?

There are plenty of articles, but they all say similar things, so I haven't really gotten a clear picture yet in my mind about Windows "7", the successor to Windows Vista that is aimed to be released sometime mid '09 to early '10. There is vague talk that it is meant to be more user-centric with a focus on performance improvements (WIKIPEDIA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7) and that "it is not meant to be a new OS but an evolution of Vista", according to an article in internetnews.com. Therefore, likely a minor release as opposed to a major one. I'm still operating XP on my laptops, and have minimal exposure overall these past couple of years to Vista, but I've been curious about Windows 7 developments nonetheless. Computerworld and other tech sites relay that Windows 7 will be released at the end of October in a pre-beta version to developers attending the Professional Developers Conference.

Microsoft had said that it would also seek beta testers for Windows 7. "Our current plans call for signing up for the beta to happen in the standard Microsoft manner on

.

A few screenshots (milestone 3, most likely) taken from Windows 7 News:

are you sure?

"Every year thousands of people are turned away from the polls because they aren't registered or are registered at the wrong address.

You can check your registration on VotePoke, a new online system. You should check it out. It only takes 30 seconds-and if you need to change anything, they make it really easy.

Do it today. You're not going to want to miss this year's election."



I've been at the same address since the last presidential election, so I know I am set to vote. Hopefully this will help anyone who has moved around and hasn't gotten around to registering their new voting address.




PS the orange-fall theme is extra 'orangey'; maybe it has always been that way, but my brain is registering it as new or improved. Very vibrant!