More about Transguide

I think that I have the funniest random thoughts during my commute to work in the morning. Sometimes these random thoughts involve the Transguide signs that are on the highway. The purpose of these signs it to alert drivers to dangers on the road and occasionally to have an Amber Alert about a missing or kidnapped child. I think, and I believe I have blogged about this before, that the Transguide, or TXDOT people could be a bit more creative when they write messages on those signs. I also believe that they should use the signs as a way to remind drivers to be safer and more friendly when they drive. But they should, of course, present this information in a catchy way that will be easily remembered. For example, many people have trouble in the morning remembering to use their turn signal when they change lanes, for this I would have them write "Be a thinker, use your blinker." Or, lately they have been flashing a message reminding drivers to pull over or slow down when they see an emergency vehicle, I think that could be translated to "If you see a cop, slow down or stop." I think they may have tried this sort of catchy phrase thing because a few weeks ago we were having a large amount of rain and the transguide sign said "If you see water on the road, turn around, don't drown." Now that has stuck with me and I think it may have worked to prevent people from driving through low water crossings. These are just my random thoughts so I thought I would post them and get to stop bounding around in my head. By the way, I found out that I passed my comprehensive exams. I just need to complete my electronic portfolio and turn that in, and then I'll be completely DONE! Until later, when a random thought may occureth again...

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It Ain't the Kentucky Derby but...

I just realized that my life is rather boring. This is because I noticed that I get excited about the silliest things. For example, just last week I bought some bread mixes from an online store called The Prepared Pantry. (see left for link) About two days later I purchased a new ink cartridge for my Dell printer that can only be bought from Dell online. Well, throughout the last week, I have been giving my oh so understanding pod mate (Natasha, who is my friend and very nice about my random thoughts) a daily update about the status of these two orders. As it turns out, the Dell cartridges, which came from Kentucky (and I always thought the Dell plant was in Round Rock since my friend works there...oops another random thought crept in there, sorry), actually got to my house faster than the bread mixes which have yet to arrive. Granted, the bread mixes are coming from Idaho, but they were both shipped by ground on DHL. I really enjoy the fact that I get an e mail telling me that my order was received, that my order was shipped and had a link to track my order. I suspect that the bread mixes will be arriving either today or tomorrow. Yeah! I can't wait to try them out (or rather to have my hubby try them out). I have to work on my comprehensive exams for my masters degree. It is taking me the full three weeks since I have to work full time every day as well. Actually, this week has been expecially busy at work and I have been putting in 9.5 hr days, with no lunch break, exhausting! Well, that's life I suppose. At least I get tomorrow off to make up for working more earlier in the week. So, as I was saying, my life is rather boring. Perhaps things will pick up after comps are over (only one more week of torture!). Well, that's it, maybe I will have some more random thoughts later, and maybe they will be exciting! (No promises)

Until later,

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New Random Thought

Attention Loyal Subjects who may read this blog:
My thoughts are random and I do not know when they may appear, they cannot be predicted. This is why they are called random thoughts. Also sometimes they are so fleeting that I cannot remember them long enough to enter them into the blog. I appreciate your comments and am glad someone else cares about my random thoughts. Until later...

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Shop Hop Update

We made it to all twelve shops (some we even went to twice), but we didn't win any of the prizes. I managed to stay really close to my budget and get some very nice fabric and patterns (of course). We decided that from what we saw of the stores we visited, next year we will probably NOT go to all twelve stores (gas is way too high even though I just bought a hybrid car.) We would rather spend the extra time and money that we spent staying over in Austin at the fabric stores that we REALLY like which are in Kerrville and even San Antonio. Actually, my previously favorite store in SA (still my favorite) has now opened an EVEN BIGGER location and it's better than ever! The worst/best part is that now they are on the way home from work, which is just great if I have to pick up a few things. Austin is a nice town to visit but next time we'll go when it is not part of the shop hop so we don't feel so rushed. That's all for today's random thought. Until next time...

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Somebody Call Ripley's

Ok, somebody call Ripley's Believe It or Not, the Queen of Random Thoughts is actually posting more than twice in one month! I don't know, but this may become a habit, it just depends on how random those thoughts are. Today I was pondering those stickers people put on the backs of their cars. You know, the ones that say "Susie, Dance Team" and some high school or middle school name. I had one of those when I was in high school, but it was on MY car, not my parents'. My parents were never really into that brag-about-your-kids'-accomplishments thing. I was very proud of being in the Clark High School Band though. I can't believe that next year is my ten year high school reunion, this year is my husband's. What is funny is that my husband and I went to the same high school and knew mostly the same people, I think he knew more people in my HS class than in his, or associated with them more because we hung out together in the band hall. Ahh, high school band, it was tough, but at least I belonged to something, I had pride in something. Right now I don't feel like I belong anywhere. Oh, but I ramble. Sorry about that. High school was fun, when I look back, though I wouldn't have admitted it back then. It seems like it went by in the blink of an eye. OK, more random thoughts later.

-QRT

Random Thoughts, Too Long?

I am sorry that my random thoughts have been rather long and rambling lately. The tragedy in Virginia has made me think long and hard about my life lately. I am happy with my life for the most part and I am thankful for the people in my life. Most people just think about what they are thankful for at certain holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I am thinking about it today, April 18. So, thanks for everyone who is in my life and who is supportive of me when I am down or up or when I need to chatter as I tend to do. Hopefully some happier random thoughts will occur later.

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Shop Hop

One of my avid hobbies is fabric colllecting. I do eventually hope to make something with all of the fabric that I collect but mostly I just collect it. My mother in law and I joke that we are part of the Fabric Acquisition team, hehe. I love to visit quilt stores, and my friends at work even poke fun at me because they say that if they give me the name of a state I can probably tell them where the quilt stores are in that state. Well, it's almost true. I am quite familiar with most of the stores in Texas, although they almost always are in teeny tiny towns that are difficult to remember. There is one in Waxahatchie, which is where the Spring Renaissance Festival (my other hobby) is held, we drove past that store, it's in an old, OLD wooden building that used to be a general store. Unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there, but at least I got to drive past it. Plus, they have a very good website to visit. There are at least five well established stores in San Antonio, and three in Austin. Somewhere, sometime, someone figured out that it would be fun to create an incentive for quilters to visit more than one quilting store in a few days, thus, the Shop Hop was born. Actually, I have no idea if it really originated with quilting or with something else, but the only time I have heard about it is from the quilting stores. So here's how it works, several area quilt stores are put on a list and they basically promote the shop hop and promote the other shops as well. They put the list of shops in their e mail news letters and on their website, and on a printed flyer in their stores. This is three days of extended hours to allow the "shop hoppers" to visit all the stores. The Bluebonnet Patchwork Trail Shop Hop 2007 includes 12 stores between San Antonio, New Braunfels, Austin, Fredricksburg, Kerrville, and Castroville. Now, that's a pretty large area of land to cover in just three days (and the third day, is Sunday and they are only open 12pm to 6pm) but my mother-in-law and I are hoping to visit ALL 12 stores. Why, you may ask, would we want to break the bank on gas costs alone just to visit 12 stores in 3 days? Because! If we visit ALL 12 stores and get ALL 12 stamps on our "Trail Pass" then we get entered into a drawing to win a basket of quilting STUFF from one of the 12 stores worth over $1200!!! And since both my mother-in-law (MIL) and I will be entering, that DOUBLES the chance of winning. Now, I don't know that I could ever win such an amazing prize, but I will tell you this, with gas prices on the rise and a large group of 12 shops that span a VERY large area (everything in Texas is big and it takes at least 30 minutes to get to any of the shops outside of San Antonio, most of the time more than that), I am hoping that the number of "hoppers" who actually make it to ALL 12 stores is going to be very small, which will increase our chances even more. I will be sure to take my camera along and try to take pictures of all the shops which I will post on my flickr site at some point. This shop hop is the only thing that has willed me out of bed each morning in order to get through the day and be one day CLOSER to SHOP HOPPING! And the weather is probably going to be pretty nice as well! Oh yeah, did I mention that I recently purchased a really nice laminated map of south central Texas in order to map out the best routes between stores? Well, I did and tonight I plan to mapquest the directions to the stores that are in Austin so that we can get there faster and have more time to SHOP (heehee). My husband doesn't even try to resist (he knows resistant is futile) so he gives me a budget, (thank goodness for e filing that tax return) a kiss on the cheek, and says "Have fun dear." His mother (my shopping buddy) really trained him well. Yeah! Ok, more thoughts later.

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Passwords, Security or Sillyness?

Sometimes I think that everything is just a giant conspiracy developed to make life more difficult. For example, isn't technology supposed to make our lives easier? That was probably the original intent but now it just causes a huge debate about equal access for all and the effectiveness of using technology in schools, etc. I love technology, mostly computers and specifically the Internet. But when it comes down to it, are passwords really necessary? OK, I admit, they are, but I think that I have about ten different passwords, and I can never remember them all. I always have to reset my password anyway so what is the point of having one in the first place? And isn't it true that you aren't suppsed to use the same password for all the accounts or write them down anywhere? How am I supposed to remember them if they are all different and I don't write them down? I also noticed that sometimes it is very easy to get into a website that is supposed to be password protected. Once when I tried to access my bank account, it turned out that the bank decided to change their system, therefore I had to change my password. I changed it initially but, of course, couldn't remember it the next time I needed to see my bank account, well, the site kept sending me a message that my password was incorrect, so I tried a different one, I did this about ten times until I found the correct one. Is that really security? Also, what is the deal with security questions? I mean, some sites use security questions so that you can get to the page to send you an e mail to reset the password to access the online account. (Sounds like the house that Jack built) Well, if I can't remember exactly the way that I typed the answer to the question, then I can't continue with the process can I? Or, I have been asked questions that I know the answer to, but I am sure I have never told anyone on that site that answer before. The creepy part is when I enter that answer and then it allows me access, I KNOW I never told them the answer to that question before. Hmm. Is that security or just sillyness? I saw a commercial one time for a laptop that has a thumb pad scanner on it which scans the person's thumb (a not very easily copied thing) and allows the person access to...well, to something, maybe the computer itself? I don't know but all I can say is that at least I can remember my e mail account password, because without that, I would probably be lost. I mean, I don't have my parents' phone numbers memorized (they are in the memory on my phone), but at least I know my e mail, because that's all that matters. Oh, and did I mention that on the first day of class this semester (which is my last semester, YEAH) my professor suggested that everyone log into our University accounts and tell the system to send messages to our usual e mail address, well I hadn't used that University account in probably three years, and didn't know my password, it was very embarassing! I also forgot the password for the OTHER account I have there that I used last spring but actually hadn't used in awhile. Now, is this just my own fault for forgetting the logins and passwords? Or is it really necessary to have three different places to log in for each student? OK, done venting. What do you think about passwords?

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Daylight Savings Time

I have yet to figure out the purpose of DST (Daylight Savings Time) besides confusing people on a Sunday morning. I thought it had something to do with farmers, but found out that the farmers didn't want DST. I have noticed lately when I leave for work at 6:50am that it is very bright outside, sort of like it should be later, say, maybe 7:50 am. I can never remember which way to change the clocks. I have a hard enough time getting used to falling back an hour and when I finally do, they change the time again, so then I have to spring forward. Then I am even more tired because I have to adjust to the difference in daylight. I wish we could just pick something and get on with it! I have heard that there are some towns that do not even use DST, which would be strange because then at some point they would be off by an hour but then again, that is just like the difference between time zones in some places. What do you think? More random thoughts later.

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Magazine Obsession, Among Others

I have realized lately that I have an obsession with magazines, mostly those that are about decorating. I have also realized that I really enjoy decorating and dreaming of ways to decorate my house. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to fulfill those dreams. But I do somehow find the time to read the magazines about the topic I so love. I always tell myself that I am going to get a subscription to the magazine, but never do, but when I see a new edition on the grocery store aisle, I just HAVE to have it! I am sort of like that about fabric as well. The strange thing is that lately, when I buy the magazines I so love, and read them cover to cover, I find that the exact project that I just completed (a home made bulletin board with fabric and a frame) is suggested in the the magazine! The big trend in the magazine I just bought today at the store is searching flea markets and thrift stores for treasures to make over. Given, people have been doing this for a long time, but just YESTERDAY I was at a thrift store with my sister searching for furniture to refinish! (I only ended up with a four dollar popcorn popper which has nothing to do with furniture. Haha) So, what have I concluded about this recent realization? Not much, I guess I will just continue with my magazine obsession and my flea market hunting and hope that I have fun in the process. I might decide to start a new blog about decorating on a budget, but I haven't really decided yet. More random thoughts (hopefully they are more interesting) later.

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