Facie’s Ramblings

About 14 months ago, as I blogged about , my neighborhood had yet another power surge, which resulted in my trusty, but not exactly spry, 26" TV (among many other things) meeting its demise. I was willing to go back to our even older 19" TV, which we had kept in our storage shed, but Brian insisted it was time for a new TV, hoping that Duquesne Light would help cover the cost. We found one we liked, a Westinghouse 32" LED HDTV, and it worked just fine until two nights ago, when all of a sudden the screen turned green and everything froze. I tried turning the TV off and on, and I unplugged it, but the TV would not come back on. Brian tested the power supply, which was fine. We tested it again the next day, but still no life. Of course, our TV is no longer under warranty, and apparently not a lot of companies fix Westinghouse TVs. Right now, I am waiting for two companies to call me back (does no one answer the phone anymore?!); one may not even service that brand. I ca...

Holy hail, Batman! Although my neighborhood did not see hail the size of golf balls, as some people apparently witnessed, those pieces of hail in my yard were nothing to sneeze at. Actually, I missed the first wave of the storm. Jordan and I had been swimming at the pool for almost an hour after school when the sky grew dark. I thought I saw some lightening through the glass ceiling/sliding doors, but I decided that a few minutes in the hot tub would probably not kill me. After a few more flashes of light, I reasoned it was best to get out. I was not so smart, however, that I did not then proceed to take a shower; I had to get all that chlorine off us! As were finishing up, I could really hear (what I thought was) the rain. But by the time we dried off, got dressed, and gathered our things, the rain had pretty much stopped, and we walked outside to just a few sprinkles and a partly sunny sky, oblivious to what had happened. On the way home, I saw what looked like snow, however, on ...

I don't mean literally looking up, though it has been nice to look up and see the sun in the sky for at least a couple of hours these past few days. I read a blurb in Parents magazine about a study some Dutch scientists conducted regarding optimism. I don't know too many of the details (it was just a short paragraph, after all), just that according to their research, people who are optimistic have a 30 percent lower rate of dying from heart disease than their pessimistic counterparts. According to the mag, to help this optimism along, you should try to think of one happy or positive thing that happened to you each day. Many years ago (maybe 10), a former coworker/current friend and I made ourselves come up with five happy thoughts each day. I think we tired of that after a couple of days, or maybe we just ended up being redundant, so we stopped. But the concept is a good one. In fact, most days I try to think of all the good I have in my life, even when I feel down. When I...

Snow is coming, ladies and gentlemen! Go out and buy your bread and milk. Cancel all plans. Get ready to hunker down. I almost hate to joke about an impending snowstorm. Last February, my mom was all freaked out about the predicted six to eight inches of snow (today and tomorrow's "snowstorm" is calling for three to six inches). She was convinced, like so many others, that she would be snowed in for days, that her power would go out, basically that the sky was falling. Like the good daughter I am, I made fun of her, reminding her that it was February in western Pennsylvania, and snow is not that uncommon for that time and place. I also laughed at her fear of losing power. Really, what damage could six lousy inches do? Well, we all know how that turned out. And, as I blogged about, the joke was on me; not only did we get about 22" of snow, we (Brian, Jordan, and I), were without power and cleared roads for days. So for that reason, I am hesitant to make light o...

If you have ever read That's Church, you know that Ginny over there hates pigeons. Hate is not a strong enough word, actually. Me? I never had much of an opinion either way regarding those birds. Until today. According to several people, one of whom works for Duquesne Light, this morning a pigeon ran into an electrical wire in my neighborhood and caused a power surge (which also caused said pigeon's wings to go up in flames), our second in just over eight months. (By second, I am referring to second power surge, not second occurrence of burning pigeon wings.) According to a recording, Duquesne Light first said there was an equipment malfunction. Just before the power came back on about 2.5 hours later, the reason changed to an animal. Regardless, we lost a computer, two cable (FiOS) boxes, a TV, a radio/CD/cassette player (hey, I still play cassettes sometimes), and about eight light bulbs. I am hoping since our AC works, the furnace will too (that was our big l...

Well, not really. Or maybe, actually. But apparently quite a few people think there is power in 32 counties in western PA, OH, MD, and WV. Last year, my older brother, who works for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, emailed me a link to a naming contest for that 32 county region. I have no idea what name I suggested, but I do know I did not win (because, as I have blogged about several times, I apparently no longer win anything). A few months ago, perhaps, I started receiving newsletters for the Power of 32 (the eventual name winner). Before too long, I figured out why I was receiving these newsletters, and I actually started reading parts of them, thinking maybe it was something I could get involved in. So what is the Power of 32?  Here is some info from the Facebook page: A grant-funded, two-year visioning project that provides an opportunity for every resident of the 32-county, 4-state region to participate in creating a shared vision for the region's best futur...