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If your pen doesn't work

Have you even had a pen, one that you really loved, or one you just bought, and the darn thing quit writing, even though you can see that the tube is full of ink?! Yes, it's happened to me too. Well, not to worry, I found this on WikiHow:

How to Restart a Dry Ball Point Pen

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

If your favorite pen is dry and ink is not flowing, try some of these tips before you give up.

Steps

1. Scribble vigorously for a while on a piece of scratch paper. Sometimes, this is all it takes to coax a pen into writing again.
   
2. Run tip under hot water. If dried up ink is clogging the tip, this could get things flowing again. Some inks are alcohol-based, so you might also try dipping the tip in a drop of alcohol or hair spray.
   
3. Lightly press pen on something (paper is best) and wait for it to start writing.
   
4. Tap the pen tip against the desk, or other hard surface. Put paper underneath so that you don't get ink all over. The ink may start to flow.
   
5. Warm up the pen. Leave it in a sunny windowsill for awhile or hold it under warm water.
   
6. Write on an eraser or other rubber surface. This may get the ball of the pen to move freely.
   
7. Shake the pen. Hold the back end of the pen, opposite the tip, and shake the pen like a thermometer. Sometimes air bubbles get into the ink cylinder, so shaking the ink down toward the tip
   
8. Install the correct refill. If a pen was a special favorite and you'd rather not replace it, get a fresh ink cartridge or refill from your office supply store and install it.
   
9. Make a few dots. When something comes out make swirls to test.
   
10. Use a lighter to warm up the tip.
    
11. If refill tube is full, remove tip and soak in alcohol .... this has fixed a BIC fine point pen ten years old.
    

Tips

• Many cheap pens are not worth refilling. If a refill costs almost as much as a whole new pen, don't bother.
  
• Take the pen apart and look at the ink tube. Many tubes are transparent, so you can see if the pen is out of ink or has a bubble in it. In these cases, scribbling probably won't help much.
  
• Have a couple pens with you so if you have a bad pen, switch.
  
• If your ballpoint writes well and you can't find a refill, then fill it with ink from the tube inside another pen. Use a swab to push the ink from one tube into the other. Tape the tubes together while you are doing this or just hold them together.
  

Warnings

• Tapping or shaking a pen could cause ink to splatter. Point it away from yourself and others and be careful not to get ink on your clothing or surroundings.
  

Related wikiHows

• How to Sharpen a Pencil
  
• How to Clean Ink Stains out of Carpet
  
• How to Make a Pen Last Longer
  
• How to Fix a Ball Point Pen
  

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Restart a Dry Ball Point Pen. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

It has already saved two of my pens. I had to use #10: use a lighter to warm up the tip, then used #7: shake it like a thermometer. In combination, it worked like a charm.

This all came about because I started keeping a handwritten journal as part of a new-years resolution. I have been pretty regular about it too. Please don't feel betrayed. "But Liz, how can you do this to us? You don't even update your blog!" Well, I have to start somewhere. And this somewhere starts with guilt. If I write in my paper journal all of the things that I don't really want to publicize to the world, then I feel guilty about all of the public-able (new word: learn it) events in my life not being posted to the interweb. So there you have it: paper journal leads to electronic journal. As evidenced by this post.

So here is what's been going on the last couple weeks:

1) Rachel turned 18 on Monday! We threw her a surprise party on Sunday. She didn't suspect a thing. We shopped all day, then we "stopped by" BJ's to get our grandparents a pizza. Lo and behold, a party. All of whom shouted "Surprise!" across the restaurant and embarrased little sis. It was great! We had food, she got gifts, she was "angry" with me for tricking her. But I know she loved the attention. If you can't throw a surprise party for an 18 year old, who can you throw a surprise party for.

@) I started "edating" again. I joined eharmony and Jdate again. Eharmony is not panning out. No one is responding to my communications, but I have been talking to a nice Jewish boy from Jdate. And he approached me, because I'm "hot," no less. And it turns out he finds me mentally stimulating too! We are having coffee. This Sunday. If all goes well, I will gush profusely. Until then, he will be an initial: C. I've never been able to talk to a guy so freely and openly so quickly before.

C) Isabel is getting married! Yay! Her Mark that she met through Eharmony is super wonderful fabulous. He loves her; she loves him; he loves her kid; the kid loves him (and already calls him "daddy"). They are a happy little family. Wedding in June; I'm a bridesmaid (or THE bridesmaid). Yay! Love weddings!

PS- Went to a lecture tonight at the JCC. Got to hear Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, my favorite author-Rabbi. He and Dennis Prager are my favorite sources of wisdom, and incidentally they are friends since the age of 15! How cool is that? Got my copy of A Code of Jewish Ethics, Vol 1: You Shall Be Holy autographed. Incidentally, Vol 2: Love Your Neighbor As Yourself comes out on February 10. Shameless plug.

New glasses

I just got new glasses. Aren't they pretty? Maybe you can't tell from
the picture that they are a beautiful irridescent tortoise shell. They
are also Kate Spade frames, and I paid a pretty penny for them. But
they make me happy. And they make me want to actually wear glasses
instead of contacts.

See last two posts

More firefightes and more fire. It may be a little sick, but I love
the smell of buildings burning down on a cold night. It brings back
good memories. It reminds me a little about bonfire build. Sitting
around the perimiter fires trying to stay warm and waiting for stupid
redpots and brownpots to hurt themselves. Also reminds me of my days
with the fire department in Cy-Fair. Hanging out with engineer at a
house fire, waiting to see if anyone got hurt and waiting for the
firefighters to finish up their job. Can you be too warm and freezing
at the same time? Only at a house fire on a cold night.

Fire

This is the building next to mine. See previous post.

Apartment fire

This is a building in my apartment complex burning down. I was lying
in bed wondering why I kept hearing sirens. I looked out my bedroom
window and saw fire engines, ladder trucks, police cars, and flames
coming from the other side of the building next to mine. I didn't
think to take a picture until most of the fire had been put out. It
was somethig aweful when the flames were shooting 30 ft out of the
roof. The building to the right of the burning one is the building
next to mine.

Scary stuff. This makes me want to be in a house. I don't like the
security of myself, my kitties, and my stuff compromised by the
responsibility (or lack thereof) of my neighbors.

I don't know what started the fire, or if anyone was hurt. I will look
for it on the news tomorow.

hospitals

We are back in the hospital with Rachel. She was admitted last night by her new Internist in order to find out why she is having such severe chronic pain. She has also been getting recurring UTI's despite being on continuous antibiotics and having the deflux procedure last week. I skipped the first part of my shift today in order to play fetch and keep her entertained.

Jerry is not handling this very well. He's not sleeping, and he is very worried. I guess I would be too if I weren't around this all the time and if she were my daugter instead of my sister.

Ok, gotta go. Stuff going on, will finish later.

Nice view of the midway. Why is it called a midway? I don't get it.

Rae doesn't like ferris wheel.

State fair

Getting on the ferris wheel at the state fair of Texas.

More Elvis

Elvis is apparently live an well. This guy sounds just like him, even
when he just talks in his Elvis voice. The rest of the time he has a
Mexican accent. The food is so-so, but the salsa is delish.

That's what I call ambiance

Right now I am eating Mexican food with friends and watching a
performance by Mexican Elvis. I guess I like impersonators, because I
have never LOVED Elvis, but I am totally digging this. More to come.

expanding the family

So this has been a very exciting week for my family. Last Saturday, at the Discovery party, in front of about 300 people, Jerry, my stepdad, proposed to his girlfriend Stacy.


Of course, we think she is great. I think she is perfect for Jerry. Her only flaw is that she is so easy to get along with.

She has two daughters, Samantha, 16, and Stephanie, 12. Rachel and Samantha were friends at school before Jerry and Stacy started dating, and Samantha and I went through Discovery together, she is like my little sister. Stephanie is a good kid, but she is shy about interacting with us all as a group, but even she was crying Saturday night when Jerry proposed. Everyone is really happy.


This is Jerry and Stacy one night when we went to play Putt-Putt.










And these are Samantha and Stephanie, respectively. Can you believe that Samantha's hair is that curly naturally!

Sammie and Stephie's dad is just like my mom. So we all kinda understand each other. And they all lived about two blocks away from our old house for about 15 years, and we never knew it. It's craziness. I'm excited about getting two more sisters. They haven't set a date for the wedding, but I don't think they are going to wait for all the kids to graduate first, so I don't think it will be too long.


And yes, I got a new kitten.

Isn't she the cutest thing?!

My new kitten climbed into my makeup bag and fell asleep.

Isn't she adorable?

Meet Rini. It means "little bunny" in Japanese.

Proof that I am a Sucker:

THE DIET

Ok, due to popular demand, I am updating.

I started this diet on August 2, 2008. Today is August 27, 2008. 25 days have past. 30 pounds have been lost. Please do not return if found.

Ok, so I miss flavor. And I miss being able to eat whenever I want. I miss cheese. And I miss pasta. And I miss ethnic foods. But damn I don't miss those two pant sizes I have lost. I am wearing clothes that I haven't been able to wear since before I broke up with what's-his-name. That's two years, people. All gone in 3.5 weeks; and I have 2.5 weeks to go before I am done with this round. I am going to have to find an occasion to take some pictures, and as soon as I do, I will post a couple. I will have 6 weeks off this diet, then I am going for another round. I have no idea what my ideal weight is, because I have never been there, but I will be there within the next 6-8 months. Yay!

No, I am not hungry; and no, I am not going crazy; and no, my body is not falling apart from lack of nutrition. I am fine. The worst part is the habits that are being broken, having to take my food with me everywhere, and eating the same few things over and over again. I crave variety. But when I am all done with this, my weight will never be the first thing people notice about me. It will never be a topic again.

On to other things:
Rachael is having surgery soon. I don't know how soon; it was supposed to be in the middle of October, but it might be moved up to the end of September. She has a reflux problem with her kidneys, so she has to have surgery on her bladder and kidney to keep urine from going the wrong way. She has some crazy kidney damage, and she has apparently been having kidney infections since she was 9 or 10, and we nevery knew. But her hopes are high, and all the antibiotics have been keeping the infections at bay for the last few months. I am worried, but I guess that's my role: I am her mommy surrogate. So everyone, pray for my baby sister. I am sure things will be fine, but then... Or rather, pray for me. I may need it more than her...

Ok, if you haven't read the Twilight series, READ IT! Stephenie Meyers is the best author I have read in a long time. And these are supposed to be teen books! I just downloaded the fourth and final book in the series to my kindle, but I figured I would update my blog before I disappeared from the face of the earth for the next three days. Only 4 months and 9 days until the movie comes out!

So now I am working a shift that makes me work every Wednesday and Sunday. All in all, it's not a bad shift, but I have to miss Wednesday night dinner with the girls every week, so I rarely see that crowd now. And working on Sundays makes it nearly impossible to be as involved with Discovery as I would like. I finished the program in July. It was awesome. I have all of these new goals, and I have a mission. But now I am sponsoring Joey for the program. He starts on August 15, and I don't have enough PTO to take off the whole shift, so I have to find someone who might be willing to cover me for a few hours or more so that I can be there on Sunday for him when he finishes the first session. We will see how that goes. I think I am going to have to make some phone calls and beg some people.

I am so excited to see what he gets out of the program. Rachel went through the first two sessions over a year ago, but she agreed to go through the third session with my class. It was great. She opened up her heart again, learned how to trust strangers, and has allowed some of her barriers to come down. This is good, considering she has had some issues come up. She has been able to reach out and ask for support from people, which she has never been able to do before. We recently found out that she has a congential defect in her ureter from her right kidney that causes her to have almost perpetual kidney infections on that side. She has only had symptoms that were recognized as UTI's for the last several months, but apparently has been having UTI's for many years, resulting in some damage to her R kidney. We are looking for a doctor that can perform the correction procedure within a timely manner. She seems to be managing fine right now, but she was not coping well with idea that her R kidney might be severly damaged.

I started the hCG diet that I wrote about earlier. My doctor basically gave me a good bill of health. My hormones are at a good level without causing me any more PVCs, and all of my infections are under control. My lab values that were too low or too high, have all come to either normal or close to.

I didn't realize that for the first two days of this diet, you have to force yourself to eat high-fat foods to capacity while taking the hCG, in order to fill the "normal" fat reserves that get depleted during normal dieting. That way the 500 calorie diet is "more comfortable" because your body isn't trying to fill those reserves with restricted calories. Well, I gotta tell ya, I can't wait to start not eating. the hCG makes me not hungry, and then to eat heavy, fatty foods is just disgusting. I start the "normal" low cal diet tomorrow. I will be on this diet for a total of 6 weeks. Everything I have read about it gives me hope. I am sure I will be writing to tell everyone how it goes.

Don't forget to read Twilight!