Computer issues, weather

Well, I've been off-line almost a week, got the computer back last night, immediately tried to post and was almost done when I lost my post completely!  And when I tried to get back in, the post didn't pop-up.
So, here it goes again, and it probably won't be so brilliant. <big silly grin>

Sunday, I went to use my machine and it was making a horrible noise, kinda' clunky.  I figured it was the fan, and brought it into work on Wednesday (Monday and Tuesday I talked to folks about bringing it in).  That's one advantage of working at a tech school I guess.  Anyway, when we plugged it in, in the lab - no noise.  It was like when you bring your car to the mechanic and it stops misbehaving!  But I also really, really needed to update my RAM - I only had 256mb.  And the only thing I know about updating RAM is that you have to match it.  Match *what* I had no idea.  But with the help of THREE different tech guys, and the Best Buy website, I figured what I needed (well, they figured it out) and I drove out to Best Buy (in a blizzard, more about that later) which was minutes from school and got a 1 gig stick of DDR RAM.  We popped it in, and the computer recognised the RAM.  Yeah!  So now I have a gig and a quarter (1 gb and the 256mb I had before).  Woo-hoo.  Computer is happy now.  And quiet.  Very quiet, almost creepily quiet.  And all we did was clean it.  Hum.

OK -- weather-wise it's been nuts.

Tuesday, it warmed up to the 40s (F).  I drove home in *pouring* rain.  Now the rain also melted a lot of the snow (right by work we were down to green grass again).  Between the heavy rain and the snow melt the streets were rivers.  And I began to worry about flooding.
By 8 o'clock pm, we actually had thunder and lighting, tho' only for a short time.  Later that night, I could *hear* the wind howling.
The next morning, Wednesday, was amazing.  We'd gotten about 4 inches of snow.  BUT that was on top of ice.  According to the noon local news, the conditions were a "flash freeze".  The temp dropped 31 degrees in five hours.  All that water from the previous day - rain and snow melt?  It froze.  Solid.  This, obviously, included the roads.  And it was so cold that salt wouldn't work to melt the ice.  There were over 500 school, college/university, church and business closings.  A record!  (Which is saying something for Western Michigan).  All the local college/universities were closed except mine of course.  The police were telling people to stay OFF the roads.  Oh, and the governer declared a civil emergency in the northern half of the state.
But I had to work - so I did.  I actually went in around 12:30pm.  And, as I said, I ran over to Best Buy, and got myself some more RAM.  (And it wasn't too bad, other than the fact that all the drivers seemed to think red lights are "just a suggestion" -- I'd *never* seen so many people running red lights in my life.  Tho' in some sense it kinda' made sense, better to go through the intersection with control, than to try to stop and lose control of your car as the breaks failed to work.)
My drive in was slow, but there also was very little traffic.  Drive home was also ok.
Yesterday, Thursday, I had a doctor's appt in the morning - and the driving was actually *worse* than the day before.  It was still really icy, but there was more traffic.  One of the roads I was on is extremely hilly, and going downtown, you are literally going *down* town -- it's down a very steep hill all the way, which was no fun at all, my breaks kept siezing-up and I drive a Jeep Liberty.  I ended-up running errands all day, 'til I went into work (I had to be there at 3:30pm).  WHAT a mess!  And the drive home, no fun at all, it started snowing.  Again.  And the roads were slippy and icy.
Today I'm staying HOME!

--Olivia

Writng prompt contest

Hi all--

OK - this came up on one of my LJ communities and I'm going to post it here and then post it there if I can find the original post.

The idea is set your Ipod, Itunes, etc, on Random or Shuffle, and write down the first line of each song for 20 songs.  Then, let the other members of the community both guess the songs and/or use them as a prompt for a story.

Well - I have an eclectic taste in music, so consider this a CHALLENGE!  See if you can name of the song and the artist for any of these quotes.  The more you get right the better!  If, after id'ing the songs you want to use them as a writing prompt for fanfic, go for it.  Or, conversely write a fic based on these quotes and I'll tell you the artist/song title.  --Answers will be posted next week!

Oh - since it was on RANDOM, I got some songs that were instrumentals or in foreign languages.  I just gave you the info. for those and added more random songs to the bottom.  Enjoy and see what you can figure out!

Here we go:

1.  "In comes a train and the whole platform shakes, it stops with a shudder, a screaming of breaks, the parting has come, and my weary so legs, I'm leaving my Nancy-o."

 

2.  "There's a man who leads a life of danger, to everyone he meets he stays a stranger.  With every move he makes, another chance he takes, odds are he won't live to see tomorrow."

 

3.  "When I look up to the sky, I see your eyes, a funny kind of yellow."

 

4.  "O Fortunia, ..." (sorry, it's in Latin, can't understand it)

 

5. "When we're fighting in the streets, with our children at our feet, and the morals to be worshiped will be gone.  And the men who spurred us on, sit in judgement of our own, they decide and the shotgun sings a song."

 

6.  "Try to remember, the kind of September, when life was slow, and oh so mellow, try remember the kind of September, when grass was green and grain was yellow, try to remember the kind of September, when you were a tender and callow fellow, try to remember and if you remember, then follow, follow, follow."

 

7. Instrumental:  Tara's Theme - Gone With the Wind, John Williams:  Boston Pops Orchestra

 

8. "The thundering waves are calling me home to you, the pounding sea is calling me home to you."

 

9.  Instrumental:  The Awakening, Peter Howell, DW - The Five Doctors

 

10.  "Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, nothing you can do, that can't be done, nothing you can sing that can't be sung, nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game, it's easy."

 

11. "I'm going to lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside, down by the riverside, down by the riverside, I'm going to lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside, and study war no more."

 

12.  "It's been a hard day's night and I've been working like a dog."

 

13.  "It's the choices that you make, and the ones that you don't, that define what you will be.  What you are and what you seek.  All the promises you've kept and the ones that you break."

 

14.  "She had a 'Do Not Disturb' hanging off her back, she looked taller than she was in her tapered slacks, calculated head of hair and cowboy boots, she said 'I'm a country girl from down on 8^th Avenue', she bought a bottle of wine, two bananas, and a New York Times, the man behind the counter smiled, this time, can't blame him boys, I heard him sigh from the dirty white noise."

 

15. "I was born in a Dublin Street, where the Royal Drums do beat, and the loving English feet they tramped all over us, and each and every night when me father come home tight, he'd invite the neighbours outside with this chorus:"

 

16.  "When the dark wood fell before me, and all the paths were overgrown, when the priests of pride say there is no other way, I tilled the sorrows of stone."

 

17.  "I don't need a shrink to tell me what to think, there ain't no missing link in my love life, it's all right, I ain't that uptight."

 

18.  "I'm have all my Wisdom teeth, two up top and two beneath, and yet I'll recognise, my mouth says things that aren't so wise."

 

19.  "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot, with a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot, don't it always seem to go, that you don't knew what you've got 'til it's gone."

 

20.  "You came here from a distant shore, by your side a friend and an open smile."

 

21.  In Irish - No idea - Gaoth Barra Na d'Tonn, Clannad

 

22.  "I'm running down the road, trying to loosen my load, got seven women on my mind, four that want to own me, two that want to stone me, one says she's a friend of mine."

 

23.  "Holiday quiet on these streets, except some starving leaves that didn't fall with the Fall, and now they clatter in vain, holiday sky, midnight clear, wind is high, hard to steer."

 

24.  Instrumental/vocalising "The Drunken Piper" Natalie McMaster

 

25.  "Life's a show and we all play our parts, and when the music starts, we open up our hearts."

 

See if you can figure any out!

 

--Olivia