Mortaine’s Blog

This is an archive of my shorter book reviews and notes, which historically have been posted over at the 50 Book Challenge on LiveJournal, but which I’m starting to move over here. I’m posting them with altered date-stamps, but they might show up in my LiveJournal cross-post anyway. Bear with me, please.

Note: Many of these books also have full reviews available in the book review podcast (RSS).
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I wasn’t happy with the rather, um, dated look of Steggy when we bought it. I mean, there was definite potential, but it was hard to imagine going from a nicely-decorated house with leather sofas and antiques to this:

And so, last weekend, I trucked myself off to Tarjay to pick up a few new decor items….
First, I made a table top for the steering wheel, so Johnny has a place to put his drink and inbox:

Then, it was Slipcover time:

But the biggest offender was the red and green gingham-ish plaid, which was just everywhere….

On the windows

Which I “fixed” to this:

On the bedspread, which is now this:

And on the kitchen chairs, which now look like this:

The generator for our RV is secured behind a Lexan rock guard, very sturdy, which is bolted to the front of the rig. If you want to open the generator drawer, you unbolt about a dozen bolts and then press a airplane-style switch on the driver’s side panel. If you don’t unbolt the bolts and try to extract the generator, you will either pop the bolts off or break the Lexan guard (history has shown the bolts go first).

Well.

When Alladin got up on that side panel and deactivated the levelers, John knew there was a potential for trouble. Still, we have a hard time explaining to Alladin that he may not, under any circumstances, crawl on that part of the RV. We obviously need a cover for it, but just as obviously, we haven’t bought one yet.

Naturally, he got up there about half an hour ago and, of course, hit the Generator Out switch with his paw.

Which would have been fine if some STUPID OWNER hadn’t gone over there, shooed him off (he hit the engine heater switch on his way off), and pressed the Generator Out switch in what she thought was the proper direction.

When she went outside, “just to check” the generator was pushed out about eight inches, and the bolts were straining.

Fortunately, I have a friend staying with me this weekend, so he went outside and hollered which direction the generator moved when I hit the switch.

Note to self: Generator Out swith: UP is IN.

Yikes.

I cut a small cardboard box and put it over the switch. It’s not a permanent solution, but it’ll keep us from waking up to the sound of Lexan shattering all over the front of the home.

“How to crochet a cat harness” was a Google search yesterday that led someone to my site. Whoever was looking probably didn’t find it, at least certainly not here.

So, to that person, I offer this: Do not give up hope! I, Stephanie, will post for you a cat harness pattern within the next ten days! I know you were going to get to work on it over the long weekend, but really, your cat is going to be freaked out by all the fireworks and doesn’t need the extra headache of you trying to measure her for a harness.

Also, if you feel like leaving a comment that says “Hi, that was me,” and tell me about your cat and what the purpose of the harness is, that would be cool.

I’m doing a presentation this evening at the STC Silicon Valley monthly meeting on embedding videos into your online help systems. Details are here. The meeting starts at 6:00 PM, and is preceded by our volunteer appreciation ceremony and swearing-in of the new council. It’s also a great place to network!

If you’re in the area and want to come by, do so.

What: Video in Online Help presentation
Where: TechMart: 5201 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA. 408-562-6111
When: 6 PM until about 9 PM tonight, Thursday, June 28, 2007.
Who: Me! And you! And other technical writers in the Bay Area.
Cost: $8 if you’re an STC member and unemployed. $17-40 depending on if you’re a member and if you want beverages only, or if you want dinner, too.