The Muny

Unfortunately, these are not my pictures. One is from pectonyte's photostream on flicker and the other had no one listed to credit.

What is it about the Muny that makes it so special?

First off, for those of you not from here, I better explain what it is. Way back when, 1904 exactly, St. Louis had a World's Fair, which was partially held in a place called Forest Park. The park is now home to the History Museum, the Art Museum, the Science Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, Steinberg Ice Skating rink, the Jewel Box (a large glass greenhouse) and countless other things for fun.

Not too long after the fair, (1916) they created an area for an outdoor theatre in Forest Park. This place is fabulous, and it's called the Muny (for short).

It's one of the few (if not only, not sure about that) outdoor theatres and obviously, they only run shows in the summer. With the plus of being outside, they are able to incorporate tons of things that you just can't see at an indoor theatre, such as fireworks, real helicopters flying overhead (for Miss Saigon), etc.

Last night, "Meet Me in St. Louis" was the show. It was great. We had perfect weather, fireworks, and a real trolley that turned on the turntable stage.

If you ever get the chance to go, I would really recommend doing so. Tickets are a variety of prices and there is even a free section in the back (yes, still). Often you can purchase tickets the night of the show at the main box office there, which is ornate and has fountains on both sides.

It's almost like stepping back in time :)

http://www.muny.org/

Easy Cap and VHS tapes

About a year ago I bought this little gadget called EasyCap. It was $30 on ebay, brand new.
Unfortunately, it came with very little direction. They didn't include pictures for hook up, much less written directions.

But, I decided the other day that I was going to win and make it work somehow, which was actually quite the ordeal.

Hubby (thankfully) hooked up the tv and vcr and cables properly for me so all I had to do was plug in the little gizmo to the computer. Having done that, I should be able to save all my vhs tapes onto the computer and likewise be able to burn them to cds or dvds. (Which I felt I really needed to do as I have a box of home movies on Super 8mm film that I need to convert but finding a projector is not the easiest thing and they are super expensive on ebay and I only want to use the thing to transfer video, that's it)

Anyway, two hours later and I am still trying to get a movie onto the computer. I don't have the capture button they are talking about, I'm not sure the software is installed right, etc.
YOUTUBE to the rescue!!!!

There were several videos on how to do this whole process with the gadget. And I finally realized that I didn't have the correct software. I paid all that and didn't even get the right software with it?????

So, thankfully, I found a website where I could get the correct software. It wasn't cheap, but they offered a 30 day trial, which would be great for me cause once I get this done, I'm never doing it again.

I still wasn't able to get it working until I realized I had to change some of the capture settings so it would know where to get the "capture" from. I'll tell ya, this is not a project for the faint of heart or the easily frustrated.

Four hours later (it was a lengthy download) I have managed to get my first movie onto the computer.

In the second attempt, I ran out of computer space.

Then I had to start saving the items to the external hard drive, which will hold 150gb (thank goodness I bought such a large one!!)

Of course then I had the bright idea to burn them directly to a cd. But I had no DVD+r cds in the house. Hubby picked some up for me the next day and I have successfully transfered one from the external hard drive to a dvd. YEAH!!!!

Honestly, I just don't know why the software to make it work wasn't included (the people on youtube said theirs WAS included!) And I just don't understand why there are so few directions. It could have been way easier than it was.

I now have my wedding, some other silly stuff, my first scuba dive, and my trip up Dunn's River Falls in video files on my ex. hard drive. YEAH FOR ME!!!!

Here is the link to my first ever scuba dive, before I was even certified! I'm the one in the yellow headband looking like I don't have a clue :)
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbPHAJfapQ4
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOJP0qe4K5Q

The Diagonals

I don't know what to call them - they are katy corner or catty corner or kity corner from us. They are across the street and up one house. Well, whatever.

They are an older couple, in their 70's I would guess. Maybe older. He met her in Germany during the war (WWII) and married her and sent her back here to live until he came home.

They are a riot.

She walks every day, at least twice a day, sometimes more. She still has a thick German accent. As she walks, she picks up trash in the neighborhood, puts people's newspapers up on their porches, and picks up limbs out of streets. She's quite entertaining to watch. She walks in all kinds of weather, so sometimes she wears a shower cap and other times she just carries an umbrella. If you pass her while you are driving, she ignores you completely. She must be in her own world.

In the meantime, her husband likes to take naps. He has locked her out of the house while she is walking on MANY occasions. And then he can't hear her when he is sleeping to wake up and let her in. So now she has taken to carrying a key. But it doesn't always help. The last time he locked the screen door. She ended up scaling her fence (mind you, she's a bit older) (because of course the gate to the back yard has a lock on it too) to get to the basement door which didn't have a screen door.

He is a grass cutting fool. If someone is out cutting their grass, he has to cut his. Even if he just did it two days ago. It's funny.

All in all though, they are very dear people. Good neighbors to have. They help the couple with 7 children by taking care of their dog. Even when they are home. They feed it scraps and give it water. The poor dog has a very sad life - never goes inside, is never played with, etc.

So now you've met the Diagonals.

Neighbors Across the Street

Long ago I made a post about ideas to write about. Neighbors was one of the topics. Something happened this week to bring that idea to the top of the list.

I love our subdivision. It's just regular middle class, a lot of homeowners who are the original purchasers of the house. But some of the houses, like the one across from us, are rented out. Now, with that said, I don't think renters are bad or rental houses, either.

Second, before I start, I want you to know that I RARELY talk bad about people. I'm not the gossipy type (which you should have noticed from all my previous posts).

But this just takes the cake and I have to share it with everyone.

The couple across the street have 7 children. Or I should say the WOMAN has seven children. There are 4 different fathers involved. The kids range in age from 19 to a set of twins that are just over a year old. (And by the way, the twins are NOT the "dad's" kids. They split up for a bit and she got pregnant)

All this is really fine by me. It has nothing to do with me. She/They can live their life however.

Before they split up a couple years ago, they fought constantly. Now how would I know? Because they fought outside in the front yard, up and down the street screaming obscenities at each other. The police came many times (although we never called). It really was embarassing when we would have people over and they would start their fighting. Sometimes at night it would even wake us up.

But all this is just background info.

So this week has been really hot out. Great sunny weather, perfect for tanning.

This woman has decided to make her front yard her "sunbathing" spot. She's laying out front, slathering on the oil, in a skimpy bikini in the front yard!!! Okay, I do all those things BUT the front yard part. That's just a little over the top. Hubby was laughing and telling me about it the other day, how she was walking around the front yard as she oiled up, wiping her body everywhere, etc. His reenactment of this had me rolling on the floor laughing.

I then got to see it for myself and was just mortified.

So a message to all those out in cyberworld. The front yard just really isn't a place to layout in your bikini. Your neighbors will laugh at you and write about you in their blog.

Tune in next time to get the story of the NEXT DOOR neighbor. And I really should do the katycorner neighbors too.

I wonder what they think about us? LOL

Coupons in a Bad Economy

I said I had a lot to say and was going to lump it all together and then I got so excited when the embedded video worked, I forgot to say everything else I wanted to say!

I got a coupon in the mail a couple days ago, from Bed Bath and Beyond. It's a great store and has all kinds of gadgets and gizmos that you really don't need but absolutely love. Plus they always seem to have exactly what you are looking for, even it you can't afford it. So the coupon in the mail, advertising 20% off a single item was enticing!

Until I read the small print at the bottom. And I mean really small. Like get to the store and they point it out and your like, "What? That's writing down there?"

So here is what the fine print said. Limit one per customer (okay, that's normal). No copies please (Another normal statement on a coupon) Coupon must be surrendered at time of purchase (Okay, I won't be wanting to put it in the scrapbook anyway). Coupon valid through dates listed above (the last normal thing written in the fine print.) The next sentence lists 44 (yes, 44 - two fours) different BRANDS that the coupon CANNOT be used for. I have never seen a coupon like this before. I could see maybe one or two, but 44? And of course, they are all the good brands of stuff that you would actually want to BUY at Bed Bath and Beyond.

So at this point, I am wondering what on earth the coupon COULD be used for, aside from the suckers they sell in the checkout lanes.

I showed this to hubby. We agreed this was a really good marketing ploy. The old bait the customer. For example, dyson is on the list that isn't 20% off.

So you go to BB and Beyond thinking "Great I'm gonna get that new vacuum at 20% off. I can just see myself using it! I'm going to LOVE it." (I use a vacuum simply because I have a love affair with my own and can relate to this scenario.)

You get to the check out lane and hand them the coupon. They explain to you it isn't 20% off and show you the fine print with a magnifying glass. You're embarassed, let down, and there are screaming kids and ancy husbands in line behind you. So, you pay full price for it, because you had planned on getting it and the pressure in the line is enormous.

Hence, they have won. They got you to buy a full price vacuum cleaner.

So be careful out there - read the fine print, especially these days.

So Much to Say

I have so much to blog about today and so little time. I'll probably just end up doing a bunch of stuff all together.
First, my students in summer school have been doing wonders!
I'm going to try to embed one of their videos here (hope it works). This one was really sweet and inspirational, plus he used some really choice vocab words :)



I think this ended up working :) Yeah for me! I love it when I try to do something new and it works!

The Sun Came Out

I am WAY better today/tonight. The sun was out in full force, the pool was great. I have missed all that so terribly much lately.

My dearest friend who lost her husband earlier this year also came over for a visit on Monday night. She's staying quite busy and I am really amazed at her strength - but then again, not really.

So now to the confession about how I am the absolute worst friend ever. She came over on Monday evening for dinner. Tuesday was her birthday. And I forgot. Totally forgot the next day was her birthday. Totally forgot her birthday was even in June until she casually mentioned she was going out to dinner with her son the next night.

I felt so absolutely horrible. I don't even know how it happened, except for the fact that the calendar was still on May. Sigh.