Lately, The Geek has been having some server problems. Our server box has randomly been turning itself off. As a result, the site has moved. We were on vacation this past week so we weren't able to focus a lot of energy to the switch. But now the change is done. I have to re-configure the site's theme and some other items but, for the most part, things should be working better now. Please let me know if you experience anything weird. Thank you!
RVing
My mother has been looking at RVs recently. That opens up more options for family vacations. It would be pretty cool to drive to multiple locations and stay for a few days instead of renting a whole house for a week. More things to see! I wonder if motorhome insurance is similarly priced to regular car insurance. The things are bigger and heavier...so does that mean they cost more to insure? I wonder....
Chinchillas!
We have two pet chinchillas at our house. They live in a very large cage in our living room. (It's four feet tall and about three feet wide.) Sadly, chinchillas get bored fairly easily. We have some big pieces of apple wood for them to climb and chew but we don't have any clamps or anything to hold them into place. As a result, the wood is just sitting in the bottom of the cage. Not really climbable, in my opinion. Maybe I should call a woodworker to see what they might use to clamp a piece of wood to a metal cage.
TV review: The Fabulous Beekman Boys
The show revolves around city boys, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, purchasing a farm in upstate New York called Beekman Farm. Their goal is to turn the farm into their main source of income. In order to do that, Brent (a doctor that previously worked for Martha Stewart) works and lives at the farm full-time while Josh (a former drag queen who is now an ad exec) works in New York City during the week then commutes up to the farm on weekends. Luckily, they have farmer John to help them tend the goat herd that gives them milk for their cheese and soap. Unfortunately, they don't have someone to help them through the strains of a long-distance relationship.
When I first saw the commercial for the show, I was delighted. It was touted to be a "City Boys Become Farmers" type show. (Yes, there are a lot of Green Acres comparisons.) The commercials claimed the boys knew nothing about being farmers and everything they knew, they learned from Google. In reality, the show is about the strains on their relationship. The pair have been together for 10 years and, for the first time, they aren't together all the time. Josh spends 5 days a week in New York City, which is 3 hours away by train, while Brent stays at the farm working on building the Beekman empire. A lot of the episodes revolve around Josh complaining that he never sees his boyfriend as Brent reminds him that they agreed to this "year of sacrifice" or Josh complaining that he's tired from working hard all week only to return to the farm so Brent can hand him a list of farm chores. Yet, underneath it all, you can see that Josh and Brent really do love each other and, if they can get the farm to a point where it can financially support them, things will be happy again.
So what is my opinion on the show? The 10-episode season ended last night. I purposely waited until the end to talk about it. The first few episodes were annoying. I wanted the "How do we milk a goat? Google it!" show and not the 'Gay guys whine/cry a lot' that we were given. However, by the end of the season, I was hooked. I really want to try their cheese and smell their soap. I want Josh to quit his city job and be a real farmer. I want Brent to relax a bit...though I know it won't happen. The show has been renewed for a second season. I'm hoping that there will be less whining this time around.
Tires are expensive
My car needs new tires. The front brakes were recently replaced but now I need at least two tires. I can't believe tires are so expensive. It's not like they are gold-plated or anything. And can anyone tell me what a 5th wheel warranty is? That sounds like there's a warranty on your spare tire? I'm not sure why you would want that. I suppose if you bought a brand new tire as a spare then you never had to use it....I'm not sure what the warranty would do. At what point would it kick in? I don't think I'd ever purposely buy a spare tire anyway. I'd replace the tires on my car and use one of the 'good' tires as a spare.
No carbs?
I am amazed that Drew Carey has lost 80 pounds! Apparently he did it through a strict no-carb diet and tons of cardio. No weight loss fat burner schtick for him to advertise. (Do you hear me Jenny Craig celebs?!) It sort of motivates me to try something similar to lose weight. Then again, Drew Carey has tons of money. He can afford an expensive diet change. Perhaps I can try to find some inexpensive no-carb recipes for us to try out. Wish me luck!
Smoking and stress relief
A couple of months ago, I talked about trying e-cigarettes as a stress reliever. I quit smoking real cigarettes about 12 years ago. My main reason for smoking was for the release of stress. Unfortunately, the e-cigarettes weren't very good. Not only did I not find stress relief, I didn't find any sort of pleasure from the thing. Maybe I need some sort of flavored cartridge or flavored tobacco for a pipe or something. I did think about perdomo cigars...but I'm not a big fan of cigar smoke. Maybe it smells different when you're the one smoking it? Is there anyone out there that has tried a cigar that is willing to share their experience? I want to know!
My obsession
I am so obsessive sometimes. I wrote about that awesome house in the Outer Banks, right? Well, now I've spent a good portion of time reading up on Outer Banks foreclosures. Wouldn't it be cool to actually own a house down there? Then we wouldn't have to worry about finding a rental that we all like and can afford. Though, at this point in time, we can't afford to buy a vacation home anyway. Maybe in the future!
Movie review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
In case you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a Greek mythology freak. (For the record, Cassandra is a woman that Apollo fell in love with. He gave her the gift of prophecy. When she did not return his love, he placed a curse on her. No one would believe her predictions.) Needless to say, I was intrigued when I was the commercials for the movie. Unfortunately, I hadn't heard of the books so I wasn't able to read them ahead of time. I went in with an almost-clean slate.
I absolutely loved the movie. The graphics were awesome. My favorite was when Percy and his friends were fighting the hydra. The writers didn't mess with the gods to make them more politically correct or fashionable. For the first time in a long time, I've seen a movie that actually makes me want to read the original source material. Luckily, my local library has copies of the series. I haven't heard anything about the next book - The Sea of Monsters - being made into a movie, but I'll be crossing my fingers!
Vacation!
One week from today, I will be going on vacation with my family. (That would be my mother, my stepfather, my sister, her boyfriend, my husband, my daughter, and me.) About 4 years ago, we went to Disney World. Last year, we went to Ocean City, Maryland. This year we're going to Washington D.C. We'll be gone for a whole week, taking in museums and (hopefully) having tons of fun. Next year, I'd love to go to back to a beach-type area. We were looking at some Outer Banks vacation rentals originally, though I forget why it was taken off the list of places to go. I think it might have been too far to travel this year. We had to take into consideration that my sister's boyfriend might not be able to come for the entire week. So we were looking at places closer to home. Next year? Screw it. I want to go to the beach! And Carolina designs has some awesomely beautiful houses.
For example:
This one isn't too far from the beach plus it has a private in-ground swimming pool and a pool table. There's five bedrooms so everyone would be able to have their own room and there's 4 1/2 bathrooms so everyone can have their own bathroom too. That's much better than the house in Ocean City. While that one was right on the beach, it only had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We ended up sharing our room with our daughter and the bathroom with my sister. Needless to say, there was always a long wait for showers.
I suppose I shouldn't plan next year's vacation when this one hasn't even started yet. Though....I love planning. And these houses are gorgeous. And, really, it's not that far from home - only about 8 hours. That is totally doable. I really want to make this happen!