10 Points of Randomness

I've been neglecting my blog lately, so I thought I'd just throw up 10 random things today. Who knows what's going to come out of my keyboard, but here goes...

1. I'm making split pea soup for dinner tonight. I'm excited about what a cheap, easy and wholesome meal you can make from a bag-o-peas, some veggies and some herbs.

2. I have a bunch of celery and carrots that are getting a little wilty. I'm thinking that since I usually like to keep celery and whole carrots around for soup, I'll chop them up into soup-sized chunks, figure out how much equals one rib or carrot, freeze them (separately) on a cookie sheet, and then just scoop out what I need when I need it. It will also make for less chopping when I'm making the actual soup!

3. My work computer has a persistent virus (in Firefox, no less!). Our tech guy thought he'd fixed it on Monday, but I kept getting pop-ups yesterday (and he wasn't in the office). I'm really wary of being online much or going to websites that require passwords, and when I got home I realized that I was kind of stressed out because of the *unknown* element -- not knowing what else it's doing on my computer and what sort of info it's stealing from me.

4. As I've been spending a lot of time watching my computer scan/attempt to debug itself, I've been contemplating what motivates the people who create viruses. I've come to the conclusion that maybe it's just a power trip -- being able to control someone else's computer, mess up their plans, strike fear in their hearts and stymie their attempts to fix it (this isn't taking into consideration the programs that steal info, just the ones that mess computers up). Any virus-creators out there who can confirm or deny? No, probably best not to tell me because if I keep getting frustrated with this, I might have to come find you and do something like make my dog pee on your computer. He may pee like a girl, but he does pee on command.

5. I have a fairly wide variety of chocolate bars in a drawer in my kitchen (bolstered by Christmas!), so we had a funny chocolate-tasting session with Mark & Carrie after birthdaybreakfastburritos for Carrie last week. It was fun.

6. We've been watching The Office on Netflix Instant -- we alternate between the British and American versions. They're both funny, but in entirely different ways.

7. I can't believe how much SNOW we've gotten this winter! And 2 more inches today. And it's been so cold that it hasn't melted off - very uncharacteristic for Billings, MT.

8. I'm creating a post for our work blog on an essay called "The Sinner's Place." I blogged about it years ago when I first heard of it. Check it out (here's a link to it on one of my old place-holder blogs; it will also be at www.route59.org soonish).

9. Apparently my computer is ready for me to have another "go" at it (I've been working this morning off of my personal computer).

10. My husband AND parents are going to Asia for three weeks in Feb. I'm anticipating being a little bit lonely, and I'm remembering the days when I was always alone in my house. Funny how quickly "normal" changes. If you want to hang out in Feb, though, let me know -- I'd love to put a pot of soup in the crockpot, put a chick flick in my queue and pop up a batch of Spicy Cinnamon-Sugar Popcorn for us to share.