Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:20 PM

After spending the last two nights with in-laws and then with the friend who's catsitting Boopsie, we have just checked into a hotel with high-speed Internet.

Ian's off visiting said friend and our cat, to socialize and pick up our stuff, and possible addict her to Firefly (which would make three stamps on the side of our box) I'm staying here, because (a) I'm a bit socialed out, (b) I'm also exhausted, and (c) yaay! having Internet access outside work!

Okay, the previous hotel we stayed at advertised high-speed Internet access, but they had wifi only. We happen to be high-tech luddites, and my laptop doesn't support wifi. See, we're techie enough to know better than to be early adopters. We wait to see what problems crop up. Haven't switched to Wifi yet, partly because we want to take time to make our network secure and keep war drivers from hacking into it, but may soon succumb since Ian's now got two wifi-enabled devices (his story to tell).

I took this little online quiz last summer, and now that I'm finally employed and don't have to worry about hiring manager reading my blog and being scared off (as opposed to my actual superiors seeing this; but they already know me), maybe it's safe to post this little quiz:

Amazingly enough, so far Ian and I have managed to keep up with counting the Omer (most often the following day without the blessing, once about a half-hour before sunset, but we have succeeded!) but I haven't done so good about keeping Pesadich. I had a stressy day yesterday and really needed comfort food. [Or, should I say, comfort pho.] But I just wanted to remind everybody who's still on schedule about the HOmer calendar.

Anyway, I'm desperately trying to finish (writing) a story for this weekend, and I'm somewhat concerned about the noises my computer is making (I so want to get insurance to pay for cleanings of all our computers, possibly backups, or even replacement machines if any of ours are too far gone). Or maybe I'll just go to sleep really early. At any rate, that's really all I've got to say for the moment.

Have a good weekend, and if there's anything you think I should be reading, please send it my way. It may be a while before I get to it, but otherwise I probably won't see it. [I haven't even been seeing the front page of the local newspapers!]

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:35 PM

We had a fire in our first floor kitchen Thursday the fourteenth. ServiceMaster cleaned our apartment thoroughly over the next several days (Saturday, Monday & Tuesday). As far as the insurance company's adjuster is concerned, our apartment (on the second floor) is now habitable, though we hadn't moved back in.

Last Wednesday, Ian collapsed from a combination of the cleaning chemicals and remaining aroma of smoke. Before we left for Florida, I opened all the windows and turned on fans, hoping that the six days we were gone would be sufficient to air out the place.

It wasn't.

Ian reports that he started feeling dizzy just upon entering the house.

Given his history of chemical sensitivity (in himself and his family), I'm not taking any chances with Ian's health.

So now what?

Advice and suggestions would be most welcome. [I'm not totally without plans here, but I'm interested in other ideas as well.]

And hey, if insurance can't render our house habitable again, will "replacement cost protection" help us buy another place we can live in? ;)

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:00 PM

Three years today since my first post. Things are a bit quiet now, but we're still going strong.

Just wanted to mark the occasion.