Monday, December 11, 2006

Had trouble sleeping. Usual oatmeal breakfast. Welcome party for Carol. Helped student AP with laptop wireless troubleshooting. New news story for Susie. Did research for and purchased a USB to parallel cable for Chris. I hadn't known such cables existed—they let you use an older printer or laser printer with a newer computer. You might think these won't be needed for much longer, but I tell you they don't make laser printers like they used to. We have some in our office that are like 12 and 15 years old and still going strong. They amaze me. Lunch: sandwich from Subway. Closed preview sessions for Joel. Helped Carol with laptop orientation. Placed a volume order for Acrobat 8 Professional for Windows for our office. Ordered a battery for a spare UPS. Chatted with Mike L. Digital housekeeping. Today was Esther's last day in the OSACA. She has been fun and helpful to have around, and I will miss her. Dinner at home by myself: I prepared angel hair with spinach and mushrooms in red sauce. Patrick got home lateish, and I prepared his dinner as well. Earlier today he had secured a small Christmas tree, so we spent the evening setting it up. He's never had a live Christmas tree before in his life, so the event was rather special. He purchased ornaments from Cliff's: glass icicles; glass ball ornaments in white, orange, and turquoise blue; rice lights; a golden tree topper; a green and red skirt; leaf and berry decors. My Dremel tool proved quite useful in removing some branches that were poorly situated or leaning the wrong way. (No need for a glue gun, though.) I even used the cutter that Drew had bought and given me because it didn't work for him. Sam had extra Christmas lights he let us use. Patrick said we had to wash our hands after handling the lights because of lead in the electrical cords. The rice lights twinkle with 8 different settings. We drank hot cocoa and reviewed the food cards I prepared last night.