Cripes, what kind of hallucinogens have you been giving to your daughter!

The artist, by the way, is Takashi Murakami. He's got some great, whimsical stuff...he's also got a sculpture of a dude using his supernatural stream of semen as a lasso, so I wouldn't let your daughter loose on a website with his work. But hey, this is fun.

Oh, and there's no more hanging in there to do. I've done all I can with the tools available to me. The dryer vent is completely stupidly designed (it's actually below the grade of the patio, so it just collects dirt). I got what I can out, but it's just full of a disgusting dirt/water/lint sludge, it's going to require a professional cleaning to get it out.

She liked that one.

Yep! Her name is Sweetie. I didn't name her. Funniest thing ever was her following Squigs into the wheel. Squigs ran in the wheel, and poor Sweetie followed her and was holding on for dear life. She made about 5 revolutions before Squigs stopped.


I weent to Chuy's tonght dor a gift excahnge. Should have left before I broke everyhting I was given. Oops! But Nick's stuff made it home in one piece.

I got to work a half day today: 12 hours.

F'n vacations - it takes too much work to get ready for them and it too much work is waiting for you when you get back. And the sad thing is I will probably receive several phone calls next week while I am on "On Vacation." I already know I have to go in for a press check on Wednesday.

Your preparing for vacation sounds like what my Hubster has to do, Kevy Baby. He normally puts in a lot of hours but pre-vacation even more. Then, he gets phone calls during.

We were discussing a vacation we took while he was laid off. While we did worry at the back of our minds when {if?} he would go back to work, we enjoyed the fact he didn't have to rush back for work or take any calls, worry about events, etc.

Now that he is back at work, he is lucky to get 3 days off. Even more difficult in a row. Our ten day 'CA trip' is now a 3 day Yosemite trip. Hopefully.

And, funny, but kids don't need hallucinogens. They are trippy all on their own. :D

Funny thing we noticed...our sons loved the smell of skunk....:rolleyes:

Hmmmm.....

I got off early. A whole half hour. Big woop!

Soooo...

I didn't go into work today. I had to visit a client in Santa Ana, so Matthew tagged along and we decided to find a new place to grab lunch, then head over to the park.

Driving down Harbor, a couple of miles from the park, Matthew spotted a sign for Thai food. Some might recall that we have been looking for good Thai food near Disneyland for quite some time. Today, we found it at a place called "Pat's House", proclaiming to serve "home-style" Thai food. We went in and were happy to discover lunch specials for $5.95. The service and food were outstanding. Generous portions and delicious. If you want some great cheap Thai food, I highly recommend it.

Then we went over to the park to see if we could stop in and ride IASWH. We parked in downtown Disney and were happy to find that the lines were very short to enter. This unfortunately didn't accurately represent the inside of the park which was very, very busy. We left after about an hour and headed back to our car, only to find a MAJOR traffic jam of cars trying to enter and exit the parking lot. It took about 20 minutes before we even got out of our parking space because nothing was moving. Finally, they decided to just open all the exit gates and not charge anyone. This fixed the problem.

Later, we drove around to an area that has all of these mansions that are heavily decorated for the holidays. It was a lot of fun to see how the rich decorate their homes. Can't imagine some of the electric bills.

Now, we are drinking spiked egg nog and playing video games. All in all, a very good day.

I am a cookie baking fiend. Today I made some sugar cookie dough that is chilling over night, baked a double batch of peanut blossoms, and just finished a batch of M&M cookies. Now I'm exhausted and barely coherent.

I had an interesting evening. Nothing to eventful, but interesting. I left work early and went down to the Aero Theatre where they were playing White Christmas. Oddly I got there about an hour early. Traffic was easy on PCH and parking was a snap. So, I got my Ticket and decided to walk around the area. It really reminded me of a "Melrose Ave." or something from Beverly Hills because all the shops were either Jewlery stores or clothing stores. The exceptions were a few very posh looking restraunts and pop art galleries.

It was nice. Christmas decorations were everywhere. It was a nice brisk night and I walked about 8 blocks in each direction of the theatre. It was just a very different evening for me. Then unfortunatly, the solace of the evening was broken from a passing car, windows down, bass turned all the way up and a singing voice exclaimed... "Ooooh baby I want to F**K you.."

I just finished the assignmnets in my horrible class. I have 2 papers to write by tomorrow.

I am so happy that the assignments are done.

We're about to go eat at the Herbfarm. Feel free to be jealous now.

Nothing like working your ass off and getting a D in the one class you thoght you would get your only A in.

I'm so stupid :(

Hey you, stop picking on my friend!

Sorry to hear that. Could it be in error?

Nope. No mistake. Each test was 2 letter grades. And I don't test well. :(

I think I'm done with school. It's no longer worth it.

I'm sorry to hear that it didn't go as well as you expected.

But was she cute?

I think I learned more in classes where I got a C than the ones where I got an A. Don't give up on school. The purpose is to learn something, not just getting good grades. Besides, don't forget that D stands for "Done" - it is a passing grade!

I don't think HE was. ;) Just my luck huh?:rolleyes:

Santa has now come and gone. Nickolas will be happily surprised and a bit overwhelmed.

I did get lazy...none of the Santa things are wrapped.

Santa is still busily preparing stockings and bewailing the loss of a left index finger in the process. Said pointer was taken out by a knife earlier in the day, whilst wrastling with a ham. Very difficult to type without this finger, might I add...Santa is real happy 'he' doesn't have to do any hair in the next few days.

Gee Wendybeth I hope "Santa's" finger is ok!! :(

Santa made an early visit to me today.and my annual christmas eve comencement of Christmas Vacation is underway. I got a very swanky Tiki type button up shirt with Mickey and Minnie on the back.

In other news, my sister's new "husband" trashed thier appartment and has dissapeared. Man, when I'm right about people, I'm right.... Happy Holidays. If anyone's looking for a last minute gift for me, I'm in need of a "mob hit."

Life is good.
:)

Christmas has been and gone here, we had a wonderful family treat - Greg & I took the family up to the Christmas Night Buffet at Sydney Tower (the tallest building in Sydney).

The food was great - the view was WOW !!!!

http://www.sydney-tower-restaurant.com/

:cheers: :D

I didn't know Leo was visiting you for the holidays :D

WB has most certainly NOT been messing with my ham. And if she were, it wouldn't be with a knife. I'm not into pain.

I got bit my a large lab mix today. He bit my boob. If it didn't hurt so bad, I be laughing. Oh, and it was the not surgically altered one. Maybe he was trying to help me out.

That goes on the list...

Ouch!

I would ask about the bruising but I don't think I should get the whole LoT lot thinking about your boob...

Sometimes it's just too easy, isn't it?

It's just a ruse to show that one off now.

:evil: :p ;)

Coming soon to a Random Quote near you... :evil:

LOL

They double billed me and messed up the refund.

morons.

I am stuck here at work. We had asked the owner for today off, it was denied, but he hasn't shown up. Rule for a good manager, don't ask your staff to do anything you aren't willing to do yourself.

We have fielded a total of 10 calls since 8:30. That is a combined total between 5 of us.

*sigh*

Today was a day for strange animal stories.

I stopped in to feed my favorite cat, Diego and his dog Jasmine and found a very large but very dead rat left for me as a present in the middle of the living room. Thank you Diego!

Then, tonight, I stopped in to feed 3 Dalmations, a cat and an iguana but the iguana was missing. I called their neighbour who knows about iguana doings and found out that he's been missing for about 2 days. (I didn't watch them the 24th and 25th). So, somewhere in this fairly small house roams a 3 1/2 foot, not very friendly iguana. I will be tip toeing around the house tomorrow and hope I don't find him somewhere surprising.

You forgot the "again".

Well, my boob is technicolor. Is that enough info?

Better watch that boob of yours....:D

If it is all technicolor it may be mistaken for a fruit......:blush:

Lisa, look 'high', when my brothers iggies escape they tend to climb. Either that or find the warm spots..near the heat vents...bring brocolli florretts to 'bribe' the iggie out of hiding, for most of them it's like chocolate.

Now why aren't I surprised that you know about iguanas ? :eek:

Why am I still up?

Why am I not just still up, but doing homework? During what is theoretically my break?

Ask Susan.... :evil:

Diane Disney Miller has announced that San Francisco's Presidio is the chosen location for the Walt Disney Family Museum.

If *that* was the reason I was still up, I wouldn't be posting.

This sounds very pretty to me, but, I've never been.

What is your take, will it be a good location?

***************


I thought about that but didn't want to go there.

This is the official announcement - but it's been common knowledge around here for a while. I think it's a great place for a Walt Disney Museum. The Presidio is also the home of LucasArts. If we weren't moving soon, I'd be there with resumé in hand...

It is amazingly windy outside at the moment.

Weather predictions call for some of the windiest conditions ever in the L.A. area this afternoon into the evening.

I hope Brad has fastended his seatbelts - it's going to be a bumpy flight

It was hailing here at work about 20 minutes ago.

I was going to make a quip about pooh bear and it being a blustery day, however, I'm not feeling that clever.

The leaves are dancing around the parking lot just outside the window of my office and it looks like it's going to rain, again.

It is also quite windy here in the South Bay area of San Diego.

Reports of fallen trees close by. There is a big tree in our front yard that is weak. Also, lots of palms in our neighbors yard.

I heard a crashing/banging sound while I was in my garage.

Damnit. Garage too full to put my car in. I hope the chickies PT is okay....must put on shoes to go outside....

Holy crap. It is sooo windy. I mean, it has been very windy before but this is pretty bad. Just looked out the window and big giant trees are swawing big freakin' time.

I'm freaked. Would it be tacky of me to park my car down the street away from the trees?

Just glad I took the time to make the Boy help me take down the canopy....

Now to figure out what is making that slamming sound {it has happened 3 times....}

Hey,today is Windsday, isn't it?

please be Wednesday...lost track of the days....

I just had to drop off some papers in Del Mar - wholy cow. It may take me a week to get all the sand off me. It was really blowing. Eeek it's in my ears etc, bleh.

:cool: MW, yup it is totally Windsday. It's odd coming into work in the middle of the week, but I like it.

And it is wonderful having the whole week off (even if I did have a press check and also go into the office to take care of some billing and other tidbits).

Poor Brad! I hope he's not prone to motion sickness.

No kidding. Our office is creaking badly, even swaying a bit, and I'm only on the 2nd floor! :eek:

I can see the tall palms right outside the window and they've been bending about 45 degrees most of the day.

I am going to have some fun walking dogs tonight! I'd better start while its light out so I can see if there is any damage in clients' backyards. I already had an incident with a flying patio chair.

The warning siren was going off earlier. I wonder if there was a water spout off the coast?

Happy Windsday!!! :)

It's sunny here, albiet it very windy. I hope the rain holds off until I get home where I can curl up with my new blanket that the Ducks sent me.

YAY blanket!

It's not very windy here in Anaheim, but Bill says it's blowing hard in Lakewood.

Man today was dull. With so many people taking vacation time, I was already expecting a skeleton crew. But a few people who I expected to be here called in sick (yeah, right). Fortunately I left myself some work to do to keep me busy and I'm sneaking in some personal projects. Otherwise I'd just be constantly eating the chocolate that's sitting 10 feet behind me.......umm, I need to go. You know where to find me.

It was pretty busy in my office. I didn't expect so many people to be in. I suspect that tomorrow and Friday it will be dead and I can finally get my personal projects done.

Have I mentioned that one of my unofficial job duties is babysitting I mean creating/finding tasks for the owners slacker I mean motivationaly challenged and short attention spanned son? And now the duties have expanded to keeping on top of him to make sure they get done, which in turn effects my sanity I mean job duties. I don't see supervisor behind my title, nor is it reflected in my pay. I think it's time to bring this "expansion" up to my boss.

I don't want to hear about anyone being bored at work this week.:mad:

I was on vacation last week so I came back to 100 plus e-mails and a big stack of unopened mail. I'm covering the work for other people who are on vacation and since so many are out I'm getting their phone calls. And they rolled out a new software version but did they train anyone to use it? That would be silly...

And next week is when we really get busy. Sigh.

I'm swamped at work this week - lot's of very lost people, plenty of people who don't seem to understand the terms "Limited Availability" and "SOLD OUT"

I've been beyond swamped with work. It keeps me out of trouble, however. :)

Oh, and Iggy (the lizard) was back on top of his cage tonight but he did NOT like the down jacket with the faux fur collar I was wearing. Nice display, Iggy.

I also must tell part of the story about the oldish man who is staying at the house with the dog who likes to bite boobies. Twice this week he has come out of the shower wearing only a towel. This is the same man who I saw during a previous visit wearing tightie whities and an open bathrobe. He insists on engaging me in conversation while so scantily dressed. He also made is QUITE clear that he like tall women and red heads. Did I mention he is the EX-husband of the client? I run into some strange situations in my job.

Next thing you know, you'll meet someone who decided to remarry the spouse they had previously divorced. How weird would THAT be?

:D

Imagine that! :)

I do have a trio of people. A man, his wife and his girlfriend all live together.

So, I think this should be just about over my 1,000 post here on LoT. No fanfare, but just to exclaim to all that I wish 2006 would be over for pete's sake!! I want this horrible, terrible crappy year to be over!!

2007 hurry up, dang it!!

I must be the last person to reach 1000, I think. :(

Oh no, that honor will go to someone like me who hardly ever posts :)

FWIW, you have the 33rd highest post count on the LoT (out of 253 members).

Fret not: you're a loser in my book :D

Heck, I'm waay behind you. I'll reach a thousand sometime in 2032.

Lots of broken trees on Ventura Blvd. coming home from the kitchen early this morning. And many dark intersections. I wonder if a small tornado landed in Van Nuys last night.

Some areas got winds over 100 mph, huricane-force. So micro-burts are possible.

Fret not friend, i have waaaaaaaaaaay more posting to do than you do to hit 1000. :p

Yeah for the new furry family member! :) Gave her a home for the holidays.

I love pet rats- but with the cats and kids it would not work out so well at our house.

Looks like another big winter storm moving in on us here in CO- already snowing. Wish us luck!

I am now imagining Simpsons-like Leprahcans and garden gnomes dancing through the neighborhoods of Van Nuys
:gnome:

Wait, the oldish man, or the dog?

Oh god, that poor, poor man. The sex can't possibly be worth living with 2 women.

I was on vacation last week as well, and I came back on Tuesday to over 200 emails! One of my co-workers was covering one of my duties for me while I was gone, but he screwed it up so badly that it was 3 times as much work to fix things than it would have been if I had just let it pile up until I got back. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

You're ahead of me too!

reminds me of Nature's Wonderland:

"Now there's a real struggle fer survival - two stags 'r battlin' fer them cow elk. Maybe you folks can tell me, though: Does gittin' two women-folk mean yer the winner or the loser? Never could figure that un out."

I feel better now :D

...and I just love this multi-quote feature.... Hehehe.

Soooo.... we just got back from the vet. Over the weekend, Jack developed a hemotoma in his ear. Apparently, one of the side effects of his hypothyroidism is that he's prone to ear infections. Well, he got one and shook his head a little too violently and there you have it.

The vet opened up the hemotoma today and put in a little drainage tube, which has to stay in from 2-3 weeks. Therefore, the little guy has to wear an elizabethan collar. He's home now, and it's only 3 hours post-op. Other than the mild annoyance that the collar presents, he seems to be doing fine and not at all affected by the anesthetic. What a dog!

Awwww! Jack looks so cute - even with a big red ear!

Whenever one of my cats have to wear a collar, they always remind me of the Pixar Lamp.

Now, you need to edge the thing with lace and get him a pair of velvetine pantaloons.

Is Jack wearing something in a leopard print?

Actually, yes.
When he was rescued over the summer, he was only mostly housebroken (he still marks wherever he feels his scent is needed). We decided to wait until the thyroid problem is under control and he's secure in a three-dog house before we start trying to correct that. Hence, the leopard number.

Wait...you're telling me he's wearing a leopard print diaper?

Oh, don't act so surprised! We got the idea from you on your last visit.

(Photos of GD in his leopard print diaper will be available on the new LoT naughty photo site)

I can always count on the LoT for a smile :)

and a :blush: :eek:

And don't think I didn't notice it missing from my suitcase, you damned thief.

These last few posts made my day worth living. The rest of it can go to hell.

So next time I'm worried about being bored at work I should remember this week. It's been busier than it's been in a very long time. Only the complainers are around and boy are they complaining. And they all have "little end of the year house keeping issues". Every one of them. That makes for a lot of work for us.

A dog with a megaphone

puppy

So, hour #2 of work begins with cup of coffee #2. It's going to be a loooong day, even if I do get to go home early.

Is it 3 yet?

So - I'm with GD, this will be a very long day. I got caught up on everything yesterday and now all I have is a stack of professional journals to read (sleep inducing even at small volumes). I just finished my third cup and I still just want to close my eyes....

There's a marching band playing the Mexican Hat Dance song just outside my door this morning - this is a fun day at work :D

I hope y'all enjoy your day at work. Me? I rolled out of bed at around 10:00, took a nice leasurely shower and am spending a little time catching up on the LoT.

Next, Susan and I may get out to a relaxing lunch then maybe a movie

:evil:

They're having a Pizza Party here. I'm having flashbacks of my last Pizza party when I was blessed with Food poisoning. ;)

Is this year over yet? I keep getting that "Remain seated please with your seatbelt fastened" speil going around in my head....

The head manager bought us lunch today. Unfortunately, I was one of the last to know when it arrived, so I pretty much got the scraps - some cold fettucini. But, it's free, so I can't complain.

I really wish it were 2:30 - boss is letting me take off, and I have big plans to go home, throw on pajamas and actually have some quiet time to myself with a book. It's been years since I've done that! :D

I'm finally home alone, slept in until noon, and have no plans for the day except to catch up on various personal projects - a baby afghan that's almost done, some socks that need making, and my attempt to make a corded bodice for an early 16th century Florentine dress. And watch lots of tacky court teevee.

I'm finally home! (For a bit.) I have a TON of things to do before NYE but it's all coming together. Chris is at the liquor store buying concoctions and I just got back from work and Ikea. Funny, but no elves came by and cleaned my house while I was working!

Next project - a shopping list. I must finish that before I have to go on evening walks.

So, I'm feeling a tad bit guilty. Back when we moved into our new place, a LoT member passed the name of her husband on to us. He's a service manager at Time Warner and he was able to help us get our cable ordered and installed with zero headache.

In the 2 months we've had the service, we've discovered that, well, we don't much care for the DVR that Time Warner rents out. It's rather limited in the features it offers, and it seems to be quite buggy. Imagine our surprise when research showed that we could actually SAVE money by returning Time Warner's box and getting a TiVo instead. Hmmm, no brainer, but I needed confirmation that the configuration I was envisioning would function as I expect it to. I tried emailing customer support, but just got a "Call the support phone #" response...so I looked up our earlier contact.

Yeah, I do kinda feel bad for having him walk me through exactly how to stop using and paying for his company's equipment. But when I showed him that I would be saving ~$8/month for a better product, he couldn't really argue with my motivation. I still feel a little dirty.

And if the poster who passed the info on to us in the first place sees this, please be sure to thank him profusely for me. He was wonderfully helpful, gave me exactly the info I needed.

Bill and I went to Fry's today. I was browsing through the DVDs and found they had a copy of Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore starring Vincent Price. Oh the rapture!!!! :D

The main reason I don't have DVR through Cox is the requirement that I must have digital cable. I have no need for digital cable [yet] and much prefer to save the $25 a month [extra] that digital cable will cost me + the DVR fees and have my TiVO.

I love TiVO.

I love that version !!

...BTW: I sang (oh, allright, and acted) the role of Dick Dauntless when I was *ahem* younger. :cool:

I'm still at work :(

Yes, but wasn't that pizza a couple of weeks old by the time you ate it??

Time Warner's trying to price people out of analog cable. Analog cable actually costs 5 cents more than digital.

GD, I have Time Warner Cable, and I was under the impression that it was only a $10 monthly fee to have it. Is there more to it, like equipment fees?

And how much is TiVo?

I was considering DVR, and I don't know that I would use many features, just record my favorite shows so I can watch them later.

For 1 regular cable box, it's $5/month on top of the service fees. For the DVR, add another $10/month ($15/month total). We have a second, non-DVT cable box which costs $5/month + a $2.50 digital programming fee.

TiVo's running a deal right now. Pay for 3 years of service up front for the price of 2 ($300). It means needing the money in hand now, but it works out to $8.33 per month. So if we get rid of the TW DVR, go down to 1 cable box, that's $15 + the $2.50 programming fee for the second box, and voila, a net savings of $9.17/month. Of course, there's the cost of the box , so knock a couple bucks off of that savings, but it's still less for a far superior box.

If we hadn't already had a ReplayTV in the past, I'm sure we would have been happy with the TimeWarner DVR. And it's possible that the bugs we're seeing could be solved by a technician coming out. But having lived with a more feature-filled product before, we were used to certain things and it would be nice to have them again, especially at reduced cost.

Thanks GD! That's a pretty heafty sum to put out at once, though.

A friend of mine had the TW DVR, and had to change it out three or four times before he got one that worked right. It would mostly just die and quit working....

We are on the cusp of spending way more money than we should on a new big-assed TV. We may end up buying a top-of-the-line HD, but not have an HD feed. Unfortunately, TiVo's HD unit (which we don't have, but would probably be in our future), doesn't like satellite and that is what we have (Dish).

So, after I finish here, I get to do some research on the units we looked at today (right now, the Mitsubishi 65" Diamond DLP is ahead). Paul's TV may be the source since based on our preliminary looking, he appears to have the best pricing.

Yikes!

I have returned from shopping and the house is now full of a wide range of unusual liquors as I try to recreate some cocktails for New Years. I think there will be plenty left over.

Humm. Maybe I should call Cox and get a price again. The service + the box was pricey before. Thanks!

Did they get rid of the lifetime service?

There's a whip, two empty shot glasses, one half-full Fat Tire beer bottle, half a joint, and a burning candle on the desk that I'm currently using. And Rage's "Killing In The Name" is playing on the stereo.

Friday night is alright for chilling, no?

That's a Dole Whip, I assume......:D......>

Yes.

Although you can transfer a lifetime box's lifetime to a new HD DVR from them if you are willing to shell out the $800 :eek:

It's a 300 hour box (of standard recording) or 32 hours of HD.

Well, we just got back from Ken Cranes where we spent way more than we should have. But we got this bad boy. Being delivered on Sunday.

Between a lower price and a "no sales tax" special, Ken Cranes was about $570 cheaper than Paul's. That and a 3-year, so interest offer from Mitsubishi, we will be styling (and back in debt).

Guess I need to go back to work on Tuesday. :sigh:

Well, I visited the Theatre that I started working at 18 years ago. Come next week they're demo'ing it for a new food court. I started there in November 1988, when I was 18 years old and worked until 1994, then returned in 1998 and left again in 2004. Then then reopened under another company and I went back for alittle over a year. It was weird going back because soon the place where I spent the better part of 18 years won't be there anymore and there are plenty of memories there. It's almost like having the home you grew up in get demolished. So, so strange...

Oy. Though after thinking about it I bet either most people don't keep their current TiVO box for longer than 2 years or will now buy a box after their 2 years is up. I think I'll put more money on the later. I guess this means I'll keep my box until it dies.

Damn it sounds like you are chillin' right. :snap:

I am chillin' so much my fingers keep typing the wrong keys...it is taking me forever to type this. Took me forever to log on...my fingers are starting to unfreeze as I go along....

Borneo~that must be a trip. Head trip, trip down memory lane, you be trippin', etc....

I pay waaaaaay too much for cable and all that comes with it.

Congrats on your new t.v. Hubster wants a new one. I want a bigger one. I do not want to watch my music videos on a smaller t.v. Damn, 'Rusty Cage' on a 65 inch would probably make my head explode.

Drinks are on you, That Guy? :cheers:

I could use a hot toddy right now.

Are we there yet?

I guess I should clean the house today, huh?

I can see how that would be odd. Bornio, you don't seem old enough to have been working 18 years some place. I know they considered tearing down the theater where I work and rebuilding it in a different part of town and that was a bittersweet thought. Yours is being taken down for a food court. I'm sorry.

We keep things until they die. I expect the TiVo box will be the same. Hubby wants a HD LCD screen and a HD TiVo. Waiting for the price to come down.

Not unless you plan on having company over.

The neighbors REALLY like Stevie Ray Vaughn - which is good, because in the last 24 hours, I've had on nearly 8 hours of SRV DVDs :)

That's whet we are doing. (I'm just taking a short break! Really!)

Yeah, me too. I'd love a nap.

Gotta love cities -

There is a house across the street that got permission from the city to have a party so loud that everyone can hear their music loud and clear.

I don't care what the city says, I don't think they give permits to disturb the peace of the rest of the tax payers.

Tomorrow (well, later today actually) is delivery time for the new teevee. Just completed building the temporary stand (until I can build a nice fancy one - out of either cherry or walnut). In the morning we clear a path from the front door to the throne (TV stand - not the toilet). Hopfully it arrives in time for us to get at least one movie in before departing for the year.

And the one (HDMI) cable that runs from the DVD to the TV is over $100 - just for one stinkin cable!!!

I dunno. I found a link to "ask the mayor", so I did.

The cops said it was an event sponsered by the city (in a private home?).

I've never paid more than $30 for an HDMI cable?! Yikes! I hate to type this, knowing I'll get "quoted" ...but is yours super-long or something?

:D

As my wife will attest, mine is only average length - just eight feet.

But joking aside, you made me look into this phenomenon a bit just now. I went to a lot of different stores last night knowing I would need this cable today for the hookup - same price everywhere I went.

Googling a bit on the topic, it didn't take long to run into a number of discussions about cables like this one that basically let me know I was a fool for spending that much money!

Since I need it today, I am going to see how much I can get the cable for at Orvac's - I think that will be my best bet on a Sunday. And then back to Best Buy for some money back.

Thank you for pointing this out lizziebith!

We've just cancelled out TV delivery and got this instead.

University of Texas Installs Ron Jeremy Sized HDTV

It is a tad larger at 134 feet wide and 55 feet tall. Now, to line up a 7.1 surround system to match.

:eek: WOW :eek:

Your gonna need a bigger cable!!

I have been without my comp for two days- our hard drive bit the dust and we had to get a new one, then the cable modem wouldn't work and we had to wait for the tech guys to come out and fix it. Now, it works, but we have to load up all our stuff, and of course we can't find certain disks, etc. Big PITA.:rolleyes:

Sooo.... Today is our 10th wedding anniversary.

To commemorate the occasion, my beautiful wife gave me an early Mickey Mouse production pencil. It's from the 1932 cartoon "Mickey's Nightmare". I wanted to match the art to the spot in the short, so I put in the DVD and we watched it together.

The short (which Heather had never seen before) starts with Mickey kicking Pluto out of his bed and putting him in his doggie bed. Then, Mickey places a little statue of Cupid next to his photo of Minnie, extinguishes his bedside candle with a hammer, and drifts off to sleep.

The "nightmare" of the title refers to Mickey's dream that he and Minnie get married and have lots of kids, who tear apart the house and terrorize Pluto and him. Mickey wakes up and smashes the Cupid with the hammer.

Heather and I laughed for about 5 minutes.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Great story mp - happy anniversary!

I've been feeling anxious all day. I am getting freaked out about the marathon in a week. I even had a dream about being at the race and being late for registration. I have to pack for my trip and my apartment is a chaotic mess.

We've volunteered at the registration desk for the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon. We try to be as helpful as possible. The entrants come up and you know making it to this point hasn't been easy. They come from all over.

The following morning we also volunteer at the UPS trucks that carry their personal item bags. It is all so very exciting.

You will have a great time and don't worry, you are not the only one feeling that way.

Happy Anniversary to you and yours, mousepod. :snap:

Steph, you'll do fine.

And MP, you got married on NYE? Wow, you got guts, I must say! Cangrats on your first decade!!

Congratulations! and Happy Anniversary!

I can relate -- the hard drives always seem to go right before the scheduled back-up too, don't they! Every time I "move in" to a new computer I seem to lose programs I've paid for. I never find the disk, or it was something I downloaded and used rarely, but still.... Anyway, good to have you back! :)

Laughing is the best way to spend an anniversary! Congrats to you two!

I'm so impressed you're doing this -- I'm sure you'll be relaxed once the time has come, since you've done the prep work! You go! :snap: :snap: :snap:

I'm thinking of going to a movie today, but I really want a happy one and there don't seem to be many in the theaters that fit the bill. I'm already anxious enough, I don't need to add worrying about fictional things!

That's pretty cool!
Rose and I had our first date 10 years ago, New Year's Eve.

And GD and I met 11 years ago today.

I don't remember when BT and I first met. Well, I remember the event, but I don't remember meeting him. He reminds me of this all the time.

I met my wife in Oct., dated quite a bit, and then attended a NYE party at her house in the Huntington Harbor. Her parents were out of the country and it was the first time I stayed the night. So on NYE 29 years ago, it began our serious relationship and from that night on we knew were would be married. It took two more years (well, 21 months).

There was no proposal, no one popped the question, we just knew. I did buy her an engagement ring to make it official of course. I'm no cad.......

I don't WANT to go back to work this morning.

I'm sooo happy to be back at work this morning.

Christmas, visiting in-laws, twin bed, miniature shower, old lady funk smell... It's a long story..

I don't wanna be sick!!! :mad:

I don't wanna be sick at work, but here we go...

Sigh - work - cold - feh,

Ah to be home, in an aerobed watching funky cinema or reading fariytales...

I was supposed to be going to Disneyland today but the girlie was sick. So, I changed my thinking and am cleaning and I am going to work out. I am I am I am.

So, she wakes up and says 'I really wanna go' and she is going.

Lounging around. New Years Eve. The Boy was lounging around, reading one of the many books he received for x-mas. I was trying to get him up to go to a movie with me or something. Everyone was chewing him out for laying around.

Then, upon one trip into the living room {as I was busy busy} I notice what he is really doing~ relaxing. I tell him 'I am sorry we've been chewing you out. You are doing what I would LOVE to do. So, enjoy.' And I left him alone.

Ah, to kick back and enjoy a good book. Or movie. Without any other thoughts.....

But, I am going to make reservations for Th/Fr to go to disneyland...

Alright, who got everyone sick?

Finally, a reason to feel better about not attending (not that it makes me feel much better). At least I'm not sick though. I already did 10 days of that earlier this month and that was plenty. Get well, y'all! :)

And Happy Anniversary, Mousepod! :cheers:

Happy Anniversry Mousepod and H!

I'm still a bit sick, but so is Chris and CP. We had lots of germs to share on NYE.

I have found, so far, BTD's camera, a blue sleeping bag, Don't Break the Ice, lots of extra booze and food, and a kitchen floor that need to be degreased.

That sounds like some party!

LOL! I didn't realize just how interesting the kitchen floor comment was.

What, no spare panties lying around?

So, I missed hot oil wrestling as well.


Damn...

(Hmm, perhaps it is for the best. CP would have kicked Matthew's ass ;) )

Bacon wrestling, actually.

Great, now you're making me hungry.

There was queue (not a line, mind you) for bacon as Chris was frying it up. He fried up 3 packages of bacon and it was still not enough to satisfy the masses. The last 2 pieces went to LH and BTD for answering the trivia questions correctly.

Nex year I will have No Longer Posting plan a queue map and bring some stantions and a wait time sign.

Next year, I will bring the bacon! :)

You've misplace your 'panties'??

Clue this clueless one in, what is the deal with the bacon?

Bacon is delicious.

LOL yes it is, GD.

I think that is mine too. It seemed way to easy to leave yesterday and I have an unexplained extra space in my closet.

Next year I am going to go to Costco and bring bacon.

I predict a bacon glut in 2008 - followed by a bacon gut

I think Costco's already got plenty, no need to bring them more.

I was sick before the party, but I was far too selfish to stay home and keep my germs to myself. :evil:

My coworkers say they gave me the cold. Blame them if you get sick soon.

Anyone else sick of the "Should Ford have pardoned Nixon?" debates?

Hmm, not that specifically. I'm more sick of the fact that human beings are so limited in their capacities that we don't think of talking seriously about a person until they are dead. Human limitations are so freakin' aggravating. Can I be a super-intelligent non-forgetful robot now? Screw this "irrationality is the human condition" crap, I want pure unadulterated knowledge. Can you imagine how wonderful this world would be if we ACTUALLY learned from our collective mistakes? *wistful sigh*

What exactly do you want instead? Should we have spent the last 30+ years since his presidency ended taking time out of the day to discuss Gerald Ford? "Stop what you're doing, it's the Gerald Ford minute!"

It's not possible to continually keep every single person worthy of recognition in the public consciousness at all times. So yes, it does take a significant event such as death to bring them up again if the specific time of their influence has passed. I don't see anything wrong with that.

Nor do I see anything wrong with a glance back at critical historical moments with the benefit of 30+ years' distance. But while the pardoning of Nixon was certainly monstrously important, it doesn't seem to me to be all that complex or shrouded in mystery to warrant the amount of talking head time it's gotten. I know I wasn't there, but the number of times I've heard, "Damned if he did, damned if he didn't" and other similar conclusions is telling me that the influences, risks, and benefits are all pretty well known and agreed upon. He did a lot more in his life than make that one decission. Let's move on, eh?

They're not talking about Nixon; they're wallowing in Watergate, which was, for anyone alive back then, a "Holy sh**!" jaw dropping event from start to finish.

Bigger than OJ, for all you Carter administration babies and beyond.

For days my favorite cartoons and sitcoms were interrupted by Watergate - on all networks! that's one plus for cable , no more of this collective political experience nonsense.

I had been thinking a lot about if Bush were impeached how the vice pres {wait, that would be Cheney????} would come in like Ford and 'heal' the country. That it is possible, that we aren't 'stuck'.

That is what I thought about what is being brought up; we could get out of this mess and be a united country again.

But it is Cheney we would be stepping up...I mean, he shoots his friends.....

And yet, paradoxically, I can only sympathize because if you told me what my favorite sit-coms were, I would have heard of them and probably watched them as well. Nowadays, I have no idea what's on the second tier networks and the various cable stations. (Of course, I'm fairly dim on the big four as well.)

America was a better place when we all watched the Saturday night CBS lineup and talky, non-violent shows like "All in the Family" and "Maude" passed for envelope-pushing TV.

Make that YOUR favorite sit-coms. (For some reason, the edit feature is taking forever.)

More finds:

A customized blue pillow that says "Give Me Head"
An Eddie Bauer Air Matress
Several blue bags

One of the blue bags is GD's. I can't believe someone forgot their air mattress and hasn't talked to you yet!

I remembered my "There's got to be a morning after" pillow :D

I have plenty of leftover bags and booty.
I found a smashed horn in my guest bed.
Party archeology is fun!

I'll say!

My iPillow is on my bed and my blue bag is... somewhere.
Not sick (physically, most would question my mental state).
Have a lack-of-sleep hangover.
And I now wish I had worn more interesting boxers.

Oh, and: NM is gay, he just hasn't realized it yet.

I want the impossible. Like I said, the fact that I can envision a world of pure knowledge, yet also know that it is completely impossible, annoys me. I once wrote a poem mentioning that we are as knowledgeable as we will ever be.

It seems to be an insidious topic. Already, it's infiltrating the innocuous soooo thread.

Sad.

/snicker.

Ruin all my fun why don't ya.

It's nice to see sharing in the world still.

That's what I remember about it, too. That, and my Grandfather sure seemed to be wrapped up in it.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles Duell, U.S. Patent Commissioner, 1899.

$340 for textbooks - and that's only for two classes.

:eek:

Have you met my good friends amazon.com and half.com?

Do they do textbooks?

Half my books were freshly minted supplements or school-produced course packs, so they're not available that way. Amazon is still evil, and only works if I want my textbooks to arrive just before finals.

Normally I try to get them from B&N online, but that only drops the price by maybe $15/book. They're expensive - no way around it.

My daughter gets hers from eBay. School hasn't even started and she already got a couple of them in. She gets them used and saves 50-75%. Then we resell them (if they haven't been discontined which happends 25% of the time) and gets most of the money back.

Yes sir. I buy most of mine from there and sell all of mine on there. Much cheaper and much better resell value than buying/selling through the school.

You have to get the ISBN number and make sure the school isn't selling a special bundle (or make sure the bundle isn't required - many teachers don't use it).

I can't read books that someone else has marked in - it's too distracting for me.

I can read books others have marked in, but only if they've marked well. I try to insert relevent notes and highlights (as opposed to those who just highlight the hell out of everything) so that the next reader can glean a little extra from it. I've been a fan of the nicely used books for a while, but most especially after an ethnic lit class I took two years ago. While reading Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, I was able to pick up as much from the notes as from the text itself. By the time we were discussing it in class, I came off like a star pupil with deep understanding and insight with what Kingston wrote. Of course, I told them that there were notes in my book, but I really think it opened the story more quickly than if the notes had not been there.

I can never see the quotable quotes everyone on LoT posts. I never go to the homepage of LoT. I bookmarked "New Posts" and hit that constantly.

Me either. That is why I only buy new, or like new with no markings. I don't care of the corners are bent or if the cover shows wear. So far I have had nothing but positive experiences.

Can I interest anyone in an array of snot-filled tissues? I have hundreds to choose from, all handmade, and guaranteed to contain at least 1 gallon of snot. Open to all offers.

Are you sure you should be so cavalier with your DNA?

If there's one thing I learned about myself in 2006 - it takes 4.5 drinks for me to put my boobs against a window. I'm actually surprised it took that much.

Ever feel like it's just one of those days where you're not going to say things like you mean them? Oh hell - just read that last sentence... I don't mean say it like I mean it... I mean... Oh, intentions are a bitch!

Each Prince Charming's Kiss™ contained a half-jigger of cognac per glass of Champagne, so you might want to recalibrate for future reference ;)

For myself, I've no idea how many drinks I had to have no recollection of such an event, but I suspect the number a high one.

I thought those were supposed to wake you up, not put you out.

Perhaps you should call them "A bite of the apple" or "A finger prick"

I used to do the same, but I changed it to the homepage so I can see the quote first.

I think I was the only one who saw, and I caught the last half-second of the event, so I didn't see much.

Mmmm...you are just too easy. :p

Make mine a double ! :evil:

Preferably. :cool:

But damnit. I wish we could edit the quotes. I forgot to remove the quote and now...oh, you'll see...

Soooo....still recovering from the hard drive crash- have installed most essentials, but now I need to re-install IM and all that. Does Yahoo IM have any of my info, or do I need to start my buddy list, etc, over from scratch? If so, I will be harassing ya'll while I re-do my contact list here shortly.:D



Meanwhile, The Girl had oral surgery yesterday and is doing well. She has an impacted eyetooth and they had to create an opening in the roof of her mouth for it to come through, and now they plan on installing an expander to create room for the tooth to be moved into place. (First, they have to put on braces, then hook a spring to the tooth and scoot it over. When the guy was explaining the process to me, it reminded me of how they load the off-track handicapped cars for Space Mountain).

As long as you were using Yahoo 7 or later it will retain the contents of your buddy list.

And it did- ty, Dex!

I'm loving 2007 already - it's my first day back at work, and I bought 2 lotto scratchers at the downstairs convenience store. Between both, I won $30. I cashed in $29 and also took a quick-pick for this evening's Super Lotto draw. They say things come in threes........... :D

Sooo...

We have some new blood up at my office. I noticed an odd calendar on her wall today. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a burning man calendar.

Yup. We could have a live one here.

.....

my landlord called me today, he wants to do a walkthrough and emphasized that I do not need to be home for it. My gut is not liking this at all.

Oh gah! I had to have this done with two of my molars. She has my sympathies!

You can prick your finger, but you can't finger your...


oh never mind

So....

AZ built this new stadium for the Cardinals. It's indoor, but has a grass field that can roll outside on a giant platform to be watered and get the necessary sunlight.

With the bowl games (Fiesta Bowl on 1/1 and the BCS championship this Sat), and the end of the season for the Cards, they added a whole bunch of seats at the end of the endzones so they could sell extra tickets.

Problem is now the field can't roll out. It's too hard to move those extra seats. The field can't be watered and gets no sunlight. So it died. Now they are in a panic because they have to resod the entire field before Saturday. At a cost I've heard estimated at anywhere from 250K to 1 a million.

My tax dollars are paying for that. I voted against the damn stadium in the first place.

Morons.

The Cards? I didn't know anyone in Arizona cared enough about their football team to speak of it in the affectionate diminutive.

No, it's just that none of us care about the team enough to waste more than one syllable on them.

True enough. When my team was in its heyday, it wasn't just the Niners or the Forty-Niners. It was the Forty-f*****'-Niners.

We should probably start calling the Raiders the "Ders."

I did waste a few syllables on the Cardinals this year, but it's probably a mercy that we didn't make the playoffs.

Oh boy. Good luck with that. Hopefully it's just something he is doing to keep tabs on things.

It's common to do a periodic walkthrough to make sure everything is in good shape.

Lame. Greed made *everyone* lose. Well, hopefully not the Gators. Down with Buckeyes!

Ooooooh, yeah. Although, she could just be very laidback and "artistic". I have a couple friends who regularly attend "burn events", as they're called. However, one of those friends is um.... pretty bizarre.

Well technically speaking not *eveyone* lost. I'm sure the sod company is doing a happy little jig right about now. :)

And speaking of college football.....


What the 'F is going on here?

Rose bowl, Cotton Bowl, Orange bowl. Them's the big three. That's it. Sure you have all these other piddly little bowl games, but Rose, Sugar, Cotton that's the big time and the championship is supposed to be rotated through them. So why the hell is it that the ALL THREE have been played already and it ain't over yet? What evil forces are afoot? Arizona? Ya gotta be kidding me.

Not for me. My landlord would never step foot in my house if I didn't ask him to fix something once in a while. But that is rare because I fix most things myself, unless I don't have the tools or experience needed. So he knows I take care of things well, and gives me a discount on the rent to boot. :D

But that's just me.

;)

Our landlord is very cool. Normally he doesn't step foot in this joint. We had a recent "incident" with the neighbors upstairs. Seems that not only was their water heater leaking, but there was also a slow leak around the tub. Parts of our place were flooded over the holidays, and there is now a big hole in the ceiling of the front bathroom. He is driving the repairs on all of this and trying to minimize the inconvenience to us.

And, in the middle of all of this, the dishwasher dies too. He had a repairman come out to inspect it and decided to just replace it. I would offer to do it, but A) I really don't have the time, and B) after reading about GD's trials and tribulations, I don't think I want to venture down that road.

It's unlikely to be a problem, our situation was rather out of the ordinary. As long as you don't have 2 inches of sedimentary flooring to deal with, installing a dishwasher is a fairly simple operation.

I'll still let the professionals handle it: it isn't money out of my pocket.

He's selling. :mad:

One word: Brrrrr.

So, trying to use dial up for my work computer and having no luck, I switched to the secondary dial-up number, forgetting that it's configured to dial "9" first to get an outside line, and not noticing that there was an extra "1" before it started to dial the 1-800 number. In this way, I managed to call 911, and have police show up at my door to investigate.

I hate dial-up

Maybe they'll take pity on you and fix your broadband.


I'll bet the kitties were entertained!

It's wiiiiiiindy outside.

Mate !! That's THE funniest thing I've heard for ages !! Were they cute?, did you get pics ?

LOL Also !!

Woo Hoo ! Nearly a Loser at last !!!! - only 66 posts to go.

BTW I pity the poor person who tries to read this thread from the beginning !! :D

I didn't even know what was going on (as I was doing Suduko puzzles, naked, in bed). Chris yells, Lisa are you decent? I quickly put on PJs and cam out of hiding but the hubbub was over by then.

So-

It is snowing...again!

I am in frozen hell- I may not see the surface of my street until March or later.

My area of town may get 8-12 more inches- on top of the piles we already have.

AUGH!

Today is Rose's 7th Birthday- I should have called in and stayed home.

That would be me . . . I gave up and hopped to the end and started backwards. :p (I hope this is like the tongue hanging out, I am a dork kitty - that is what I am meaning)

awww Happy Birthday, little Rose . . . what a pretty name. :)

Awww... Happy Birthday to Rose!!

On a less happy note, I'm still steaming over my $50 parking ticket I found on my car this morning.... GRRRR... Apparently, you can't be just a minute late to move your car for the street sweeper. BOOO

So....like, I quit smoking the first of the year (again). Ive fudged once or twice but overall, so far so good. no one has died from or over it....yet

however, so far every day, about 2 or 3, the patch Im wearing (I think) runs out and I start itching all over. I start realllllly wanting a smoke and annoy the hell out of people with my restlessness.
its makin me nuts. whats worse, I think its making the people around me nuts as well. poor bastards.

anyone have any tips to keep me on track? or at least to keep me from backsliding even more than I have? I'll be facing my first weekend sans cigs and fear just surrendering to it.

I loved that movie.

A kid just made me cry at work...

I'll post later when I'm not a blubbering mess.

Good cry, not bad cry, I hope. :eek:

I wanna hear CoasterMatt's story!

OK, lil bit of a GOOD cry...

My favorite part of where I work, is seeing people interact with the characters (Shrek, Donkey, Beetlejuice, and the Beat Cops are the ones I see most). I interact with the characters alot, and often times, they bring guests over. Early in my shift, Beetlejuice brought a family over, and said "Here's my buddy Matt, I'm sure he can take care of ya". It turns out, the family had been having a bad vacation - ugliness at the airport, hotel accomodations that stunk, and the kids didn't even want to visit Universal. BUT!!! I gave them my all, and by the end of it, even the most sour looking of the sourpuss kids was rarin' to go... I gave the parents some tips to help enjoy their day as well, and told them I'd be here all day if they had any questions later on. Flash Forward to about 4 o' clock.
The family comes back - beaming! The youngest kid, about 6 years old or so, pulls out an autograph book, full of signatures from around the park. "Could you sign this please?" I couldn't believe it! a lil kid asked for MY AUTOGRAPH! I'm not a character, or even particularly entertaining, but I made an impact on this kid and family. I don't care what the rest of the day brings - this made my week!

Hold on...hubby and I are going to try again! Last year we quit about six times. People laugh -- but that's quite a few cigs NOT smoked from where we sit. Anyway, I'm looking at quitting Sunday night. In the past, I'd get throught weekends by programming the hell out of them: try scheduling art projects, reading in the park (near the kids on swings -- so you won't be tempted even though outside), going indoor places where you can't smoke.

As to the afternoon crawlies -- try the gum (or lozenge) at times on top of the patch. It won't kill you, and is better than going back on the cigs. Sometimes you just need that little bump past a craving.

Good luck!

That is the sweetest thing ever, CoasterMatt!!!!

Well, that can be debated! :rolleyes:

Good Job Matt!!:snap: :snap: Well done!

Those damn patches are so hard to keep lit!

Thank you- she is my youngest. Adriana Rose-but no one ever calls her by her first name.

I wuv her SO big!!:D

hmm...hang out where I simply cant smoke. might be a good call.
thanks. looks like I'll be hangin at Chuck E Cheese this weekend.

:P thanks and good luck to both of you as well. truly, I do already feel different...and probably smell a bit different too. that cannot possibly be a bad thing, eh?

Too Cool Coaster Matt!

Capt Jack - Good for you - I have no advice, but seems like a 'double up' either of a new patch or gum when it gets bad would be better than lighting up.

Great story, CoasterMatt. You certainly are a character...

As far as quitting smoking goes... I admit that it took me many tries, but I finally quit cold turkey. It's stuck so far. Whenever I think of the patch, I think of the episode of News Radio when Phil Hartman's character puts an entire box of patches on at once. Cue ambulance...

I just got word that somebody didn't like my joking manner... A guy can't get a break around here. :(

Awww, that is just cool!

Great story Matt.

The munchikin went through an autograph phase. She got a notebook and she'd ask everyone for their autograph, the checker, the bagger, the lady at the hallmark store. Everyone was so sweet to her about it.

Stupid corded bodice. Stupid cords. Grrr.

Thank you for sharing that story Matt! It made me well up a bit!

WTF?!? At work or here on LoT?

Yeah, but it'll make your boobs look great!

At work... a guest got grumbly at me because they asked "Which way to the restrooms", and I replied "Well, you should probably walk, quickly - THAT WAY!" - the dude's kids thought it was funny...

Go here and print it out. Make copies and keep it wherever you may want to smoke.

...

So I was driving home from the game tonightwtf happened to my Ducks?! and I pulled up along side two huge busses that said "Department of Homeland Security". No back window, all side windows were blocked out.

Interesting.

And if that doesn't work, go here.

They were going to my house.

And I don't want to talk about it.

That reminds me of my mom's Liver & Onions dinner when I was growing up! Yummy! :eek:

I used the patches and "topped up" using one of the inhalers (like a short cigarette holder with a nicotine capsile contained in it) whenever I went out to a bar or something.

It really helped with the "drink in one hand, ciggie (or inhaler) in the other" habit. It was this combination that finally allowed me to wuit after 18 years of smoking (and I was a 50 a day guy in the end too)

Oh, and REALLY well done, Matt - I can't wait to see you in action (er, so to speak)

Just please, no comments about the horrible costume.

I won't if you post photos

we wants the costume !

The stern disapproval of my girlfriend helped me get over the top. So I'll say it: "Don't be a p****." Also, leaving my smoker friends in Berkeley, where, in the mid 80s, smoking in bars and cafes was required by local ordinance helped immeasurably. So I would say avoid bars and other contexts where you would habitually light up. Keep busy.

Here's me on a happy day at work...

I quit nearly 2 and 1/2 years ago, and even now get the occasional nic fit. I keep a stash of the 2 mg Commit lozenges handy- it's kept me from backsliding, and I like them much better than the gum. (They last longer as well). I would always cheat when I quit in the past, and give up because I was convinced I couldn't do it. Believe me, if I can quit, anyone can! Best of luck to you, Jack.:snap::cool::snap:

I almost feel sorry for the Cowboys. Almost.


But not quite.

Hey, hey, hey! Krispy Kreme! I'd be happy too!!

But you ARE wearing pants, Blanche, ya ARE !

PS: Sexy legs too - always a bonus. :evil:

Rob and Matt sittin in a tree K I S S I N G

Entertaining a baby.:)

And cool glasses :cool: :snap: .........

Happy Matt w/ donuts. :)



Can I just say I hate those dancing shadow banner ads from LowerMyBills.com? Really stupid and really annoying.

I bet baby would be even more entertained if you took her to DL! :evil:

(But, not until I get rid of my cold).

I think baby is only a day or two old. Probably not quite ready for a hub meet. :)

Congrats again, TicToc!

Nonsense!

Pshaw!

If you drank cocktails at a Hub meet, would they be called "HubCaps" ?

No, they would be calling Disney Security :p

:snap:


Dads want kids to laugh at their jokes. :rolleyes:

My goodness, I'm behind here.

Matt - you freakin' ROCK. :snap:

Those that quit smoking or are working on it - you ROCK too. :snap: I visited my parents this weekend and was once again forced to breathe the air in that place. Not only are my parents nowhere near quitting, but my youngest brothers also smoke now. It's horribly depressing. :( Not to mention disgusting. Whenever I get out of there my clothes reek. Just spending an afternoon in there is like smoking a few myself.

I don't feel well this morning. :( Headache and weak. While waiting for water to boil and tea to brew I had to sit down. Bleah. Hope I'm feeling better by noon, when I need to be at work.

A friend of mine has worked for the last couple of years at a small digital effects company in L.A. They do mostly tv shows, commercials, etc. The company is divided basically into two units: 3D effects and 2D effects.

He hated the job. And he summed up the problems with the company with these two simple facts:

The head of the 3D side of the house has one eye.

The director of the 2D side of the house (essentially, green screen world),
is red-green colorblind.

you gotta be kidding

I wish I were. I wish I were.

I did take that last part of of context....

I so feel for you. Smoking/not smoking has been a big issue in our home. People are insulted when we tell them to go outside and around the corner. Now, I actually ask them not to smoke at all because I feel bad about the smoke wafting to the neighbors homes.

A big giant problem, my sons' best friend comes from a home where both parents smoke and think second hand smoke is a big hooey. Let's not look at the fact both kids are always sick...When the kid gets in my car he smells like an ashtray. I rarely let my son go to their house {for every other reason it is safe, they are nice people, great parents} because he comes home sick and we have to stick him straight into the shower and wash his clothes.

What I took out of context~do you think you are sick from having to be around the smoke? I know when I would go to bingo with my mother, I would leave feeling sick and ready to hurl. {I know, why go to bingo? we'd try and sit as far from the smoking area but it still drifts}.

I know it is hard to quit smoking. I also give big giant :snap: :snap: to anyone working on getting smoking out of their lives.

It is such a difficult subject, smokers' rights.

We took Maddy when she was 10 days old, in the pouring rain. It's never too early.

No. I hit Disneyland after seeing the parents on Sunday. I didn't eat for the longest time, and then didn't have any drink with dinner. Then we screamed "ROCKIN'!" on every ride we rode. Didn't drink any water at all that night and ended up with a headache. I knew in the morning that it had to do with my lack of liquids. I've had some water and a cup of tea and feel much better now.

It may be affected by the smoke but I can't say that in honesty.

Totally. I grew up around it and was just as annoyed as my parents were when they outlawed smoking in restaurants and bars. I thought it was an infringement. But as an adult traveling to Vegas and out of the country, I've realized what allowing smoking indoors does. I'm now a full supporter of the smoking bans. I do wish that businesses had thought to outlaw smoking for themselves first. I would have spent money at places that made this decision on their own. I hate when we have to legislate common sense.

ETA - that said, I wouldn't have a problem with letting my child play at a smoker's house, occasionally. It didn't hurt me that much I guess, and I lived in it, day in, day out.

So did André De Toth, who directed the 3D classic "House Of Wax" with Vincent Price. :snap:

The challenge of the day - STAY AWAKE!!

Agreed.

I wonder if my sensitivity to the smoke is because we have eliminated it so much from our lives? You know, once you get used to something it doesn't bother you? The Boy, too. I swear if we let him go over to his friends for a couple of days in a row he gets really sick. I think it also may be our sinuses are sensitive.

Stay awake. Sometimes that is so hard. As I get my 3rd cup of joe....:coffee:

Anyone who lives in SoCal and finds cigarette smoke disgusting needs to take a peek at all the SMOG in your air. I mean, really- I have never been to a place more obsessed about individuals smoking and less concerned about something I consider far more insidious. (I no longer smoke, but I fully support smokers rights). I love SoCal, but I could never live there because the pollution wreaks havoc on my allergies. (Plus, the humidity really ****s with my hair).


On another note, we have some very sad kitties in the house tonight. We finally took down the Lurking Tree. We're gonna have to spread around the kitty treats liberally to get through this unscathed.

NA just might have to come up for a visit. Seriously, these cats are just pathetic. First, they laid under the tree while I dismantled it, then they started fighting, then Samwise decided to park it in an American Girl doll box and refuses to come out. Tori gave up and put a blankie on him. For God's sake, we left the Barbie tree up in Tori's room! Isn't that enough?

Tech question:
If one of my tabs is on LoT and the other is on MC, will it say I'm online on both boards at the same time?

Here it says you're searching forums.

Yes. Those are two distinct windows that are open.

I don't trust air I can't see! And I love my air chuncky style anyway.

In fact we even have Air Bars here with flavored air. We wouldn't know how to breath in a fresh air environment.

And we don't have near the humidity of the southern united states, eastern seaboard south of New England, or Florida. The humidity here yesterday was 8% BTW.

I always thought we in SoCal had low humidity, relatively speaking! My stepmom visits from N. Carolina and complains that her skin is cracking while we feel suffocated from the [relative] moisture that occasionally floats by.

*shrugs in confusion*

Oh but on smoking. Weren't all the studies on second-hand smoke based on people who lived their lives indoors with heavy smokers? I remember something like that from high school. I've never tried to be rude about it, but it seems silly when people have walked by, outdoors, near trucks, and have given the fake cough and dirty look to me when I was blowing UP. I've long felt that the anti-smoking battle was just mis-directed anger at the easy target (your smoking neighbor) rather than the unassailable nasty polluter it would take 4 generations to sue successfully for the real damage to your system. Still, quitting is good for me on a personal level. :)

I'm a non smoker who is sometimes put off by the smell of cigarette smoke. I firmly believe that we have gone way too far in the battle against smoking and smokers.

Japanese TV always has the BEST ideas for exploiting women...

http://www.glumbert.com/media/rodeo

"How dare you do such a thing to me! How dare you do such a thing to me!"

(I'm not offended. That's a "Soup" reference.)

Trust me, it's humid compared to here. I did live in Fla for a bit, which is why I have no desire to go back.

Florida = Horrida
:(


Huuuuuumid and no wind in August's 100 degree weather. Bleh!

OK... I need to look up Huntington Beach's construction start time policy. I mean to do it every time jackhammers go off at some neighbor's house at 7 AM, but seriously... this time it's out of control. Ugh.

I remember being told as a child to only call people between 9AM and 9PM. Now, I can understand construction crews not wanting to work until 9, but it's it at least common decency to start at... I don't know... 8 or 8:30?

I can't even think it's so loud... :( I don't know how I'm supposed to work today.

Its official... I'm addicted to Hot Chocolate.

I tried to cut back, but having free hot coco at work is just to much to avoid. I tried cuting back to 2 cups a day, then 1 cup, then I tried the No Sugar added and that didn't work.

Now they just got Swiss Miss brand and I am so doomed. :(

I used to stay up for hours watching Japanese TV - it's the BEST !! :D

Here they can start at 7am ! (on weekdays)

/sigh. I looked out to there to see how far all this noise got them... not very far. I'm glad I'll be gone all day tomorrow. It is literally impossible for me to work, so I'm just relaxing, doing some organizing and other stuff. I'm kinda ticked right now. :( OK, I'm really ticked.

I just watched Spongebob and Dora lead about 10 people past here playing "Follow the Leader"

The temperature is dropping to well below freezing - fast. The DoT has been sending bulletins to online sites and radio, urging motorists to head home ASAP. Most of the late evening classes here have been cancelled.

My class? Going on as scheduled. Until 9:30, even though the roads are supposed to be frozen by 8. And it's the first week of class, so if we don't attend we're automatically dropped.

It's so nice to know that they care about my safety.

When the Whittier Narrows quake occurred in the late 1980s, I was working a secretarial job in West L.A. in a ten story building. Nobody said not to come in, so I drove in from Long Beach. There were aftershocks. I thought it perhaps prudent to leave. Everyone thought that was silly. However, when the news came in that someone had been killed by a collapsing garage, several people went to move their cars to the street.

When any type of incident occurs {earthquakes, 9-11, the fires that shut down the schools, etc.} my husband has to be at work. He manages the building so he has to oversee what goes on, direct and help prevent problems.

It is quite upsetting to me because sometimes, we really need him here at home.

Hmm. A friend of mine works the nightshift in Auburn, WA. I've wondered how she does on nights like this....

One of my pet sitting cohorts is snowed in in BC at the moment.

Brilliant friggin' video.

"Japanese Bikini Rodeo Pie Fight"

Y'know, I think I understand men's sexuality quite a bit...but I'll never understand why something like this is sexy. Men. :rolleyes: ;)

I don't know if this is "sexy". More like "sexy in its 'so stupid its funny and we get to see hot chicks doing stupid things just so we can look at hot chicks' kind of way"

Its a dumb guy thing.

Oh gawd. I wish I hadn't seen the beginning of 'The Medium'.

Dear my Bearded Dragons:

It is the dead of Winter. You should be sleeping. It is NOT Spring. You should not be horny. Knock it off!!

I am really sick of not having DSL at home... 2 weeks and no internet service. I have tried to call to report it, but 90 mins on hold, without ever talking to anyone really annoys me. *sigh*

On the plus side, it is supposed to snow here tomorrow. They are forcasting "novelty snow." It isn't expected to be very much, or to stick, but enough for us to say "wow."

Saturday Nickolas and I will be taking our final trip to DLR before our passes expire on Sunday. I am really looking forward to going, I just hope that the Grapevine will be open when we head out in the morning.

So....are the vocal durring sex?? :D

Finally, an honest sports blog: Nation Of Islam Sportsblog

WOW! That's some great writing!

I had to google hottentot.

I had to hotten googletot.
I have a rotten noodlepot
To keep my poodle Cottonhot.

Then, please explain what this is allabout.

It's been lovely, but I have to scream now.

And just so everyone is clear, it is not a good idea on how to keep instructions on how to access your email IN your email.

Oh, I thought that's what your avator was....

I am sooo cold.

I am trying not to forget the t.v. I want to watch tonight~

Anyone else watch 'Men In Trees'?

I am sooo cold.

BtD~that sucks. It is like with all of the memberships I have on line, most of them don't let you pick a word or mix it with a number...like I can remember all of those numbers? Or even find the paper I've written it down on???

I think your avatar is a cool new dance step....:snap:

Same reason as me? To see Ginger Spice?

We have them separated by gender. The girls are teasing the boys to get their attention and the boys are primping and preening in their dragonesque ways (puffing up their "beards" - the area under their chins - as seen in the photo hidden below for the squemish bar top dancers in the crowd, as well as head bobbing). We had a couple of the males go aftr each other the other day fighting over the females. No bloodshed or injuries, so we kept them together.

My avatar is the NES Contra cheat code.


It wasn't me, it was this girl at work who was trying to access her work email from home and she saved the instructions in her work email box instead of printing it out like I suggested.

Thank you! ;)

This is me right now: :eek:

That is all.

You're giving FP a BJ?

It's 3 degrees outside right now.


(sigh)

Today I get the honor of going to "Pajamas and Pancakes with Pops" at kindergarten with my 5 year old beauty. There are times that make me love being a dad even more, and this is one of them.

Anyone want to guess what the letter of the week is?

And WB, I can relate to your cold weather. Today in Phoenix we're only supposed to be up to 62! Brrr......:)

You're a bad bad man! :D

Lack of sleep is worth every minute I can spend with my daughter. I mean it. I'm on cloud nine.

This may get me to go to a game in NY as well. I'll need to check the schedule to see when NY plays LA. :)

Last night, after an evening outdoor jog, CP and I were sitting in our complex hot tub. It started to drizzle a little. It was aweful.


No, wait, the other thing. Awesome.

lol, I say that, then see this.

Is this a birth announcement or did I miss one? No matter. Congratulations to you and yours. Enjoy these times. They go by pretty quickly.

Actually, the first year with our first kid went by pretty slowly as everything felt weighted with significance. But everything since then is just whizzing by.

Congrats TicTocDragon!:snap:

During the last storm my outdoor thermometer was broken, but according to my car it was 30 when I took The Boy to school at 7:45. Since the temp is 3 degs off I know it was actually 27. Poor Pooh's auto waterer was frozen solid, so I had to leave him a tupper with non-icy water.

Nickolas was very upset when I told him that the forcasts had changed and it would not be snowing today.

On the almost plus side, I got a hold of DSL finally. AFter the Indian kept reading the same script over and over I politly asked for tier 2 (meaning someone in the U.S.A.). After talking to the tier 2 guy, they are sending someone out today. I know what's wrong, David knows what's wrong, now I just have to hope that they can fix the mess they created.

I need a cheap room, in Vegas, on or walking distance from the strip for the last weekend in Feb. Stop laughing.

Usually the cheapest on the strip, depending on which end you want to be closer to is Circus Circus or Excalibur. I detest both of them but they do tend to run a bit cheaper. And, as much as I hate to say it, I've actually done pretty well at Excalibur.

Plenty of cheap rooms to be had downtown but the cab fare will kill ya.

Which end of the strip?
Lemme know and I'll put my goons to work :)

Hmm... flying out, then? I would suggest Sahara, but it's not super (as in "I wouldn't walk back to the hotel drunk") close. If the Tropicana's still open (they're due to renovate/somethingsomething) it might also be a good deal. There are few casinos in the middle that might prove cost-effective, though their prime location in the center of the strip might make them more expensive. Not to mention there's a big clown head outside of one of them (Boardwalk) and we both know how you feel about him.

So.... in about 24 hours I'm going to be freezing my A$$ off. I couldn't find my long johns or my "silkies" (my chillier friends hopefully know what I'm talking about), so I know I'll have to buy them in Utah.

In other words... BRRRR.

Have fun and stay warm in Utah!!

Keep this with you to stay warm ****:evil: ****

The monorail helps with that.

There are also lots of good options just off the strip.

I love Excalibur - it's [usually] cheap, a bed, a shower and a place to change. That's all we need.

Circus Circus is EVIL EVIL EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have CLOWNS! /sob!!!!!

I PMed ya.

Problem with our standard digs is the price. $130 for Excalibur (and Hooters). We may stay there just to make my friend happy (but it's off the Strip and I dunno how close it is to walk).

NO CLOWNS!!!!!!!!!!!! /runs away sobbing

The monorail is an option but by the time we factor in the cost of the monorail (or cabs) it will cost just as much to stay on the strip.

The Sahara's on the strip, just all the way at the north end. Generally you wouldn't need the monorail, but if you're at, say the Luxor and need to make it back to the Sahara, it's a good option. Of course, the last time I needed to do that, I just hopped on a bus for $1 (somehow I doubt they're still $1).

Yeah, Circus Circus is pretty cheep. There's a little place Slots-O-fun next door.

oh, and HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

hate....H A T E Circus Circus. Always have. tacky to the nth degree.

Excalibur. yeah, I liked that. also did pretty well there.

My problem with Excalibur basically boils down to two things: not really any good food options and just a little too family oriented. I'm a bit more old school when it comes to the latter.

agree, but fortunately, as of last time I checked, they dont lock you in once you arrive. so the search for depravity can carry on as always

I don't care much for it because of all of the hotels I have stayed in, they are the only one who doesn't have an in room safe.

You guys will never be able to handle nuclear winter. :p



(our 'warming shelters' open when the temp dips to 5 degrees)

You're saying that you are allowed to leave the hotel you are staying at? C'mon, now you are just making things up.

;)

But James Bond stayed there...

in the 70's


You mean it's lost it's luster?

We're driving but we like to park and walk. Normally we stay at the Monte Carlo, Excalibur or at a Hampton off the strip. The time we stayed at the Hampton Inn we had to drive back because their shuttle sucked. - no fun. I'm just shocked at the rates for when we are looking at going. There isn't a convention or anything in town, it's just an expensive weekend.

You know what's fun? Going to a regional event and spotting some people from your local group and approaching them to say hi - and having them make eye contact and quickly look away and turn their back toward you in the universal sign for "I don't want to be seen talking to you."

Oh wait, that's not fun at all.

When faced with that situation (thankfully not that often), I go out of my way to make sure I talk to that person. Preferrably by joining a group discussion that the offensive offending person is involved in.

It's also fun to ask them if their herpes flare up has calmed down...

You would know yourself what happened in this case but...

I have to say, I think sometimes if you aren't expecting to see someone somewhere you may not register them.

Maybe these people aren't so sharp?

Either way, don't take it personally. Who needs 'em right? You got me!!

Who the hell am I? I am MouseWife!! That's who! :D

{oh man, I must be overloaded with caffiene or something....I am not usually so bold :blush: }

I've definitely done this - not recognize someone outside their normal context. I went to a friend's party recently and someone I know from work was there and through most of the evening I just kept thinking to myself, "dang she looks familiar" - it wasn't until she came up to that I put two and two together and finally recognized who she was.

Eh, story of my life. :P

This happened to me at Disneyland back in December. We were in the *spot* for fireworks and I saw someone who looked really familar. Made eye contact and I turned away, looked back and was like who is she, I know her. Took about 5 minutes and I realized it was a co-worker.

Ya, this happened to me. Only it turned out to be......



My wife! Imagine my embarasment!

:D

In this case, it was a kingdom-wide SCA event and the people involved are members of an SCA singing group in which I have participated for about 8 years, and prior to the event we had a "who's going to be there" roll call on-line. And we were supposed to meet up at some point during the weekend for a group sing. So I rather doubt the "not expecting" angle in this particular instance.

I'm not going to cry in my Wheaties, or anything, I'm just annoyed.

:snap: :snap:

There are certain days when I am just in LOVE with the radio. The gems I hear while traveling about can enrich my day in a way that I find so fulfilling. Today was one of those days. God Bless NPR and KCRW.

Apartment hunting sucks.

You may want to go in and fix your ad for the couth.

And good luck with the apartment hunting. But worse than the hunting- is the apartment living! We moved six times in one year looking for one we were happy with. Never did find it, and bought a house.

Of course we lost the house and were back to renting, but hey! We are renting a house at least!!

You lost it? Do you remember the last place you had it? Have you truly looked EVERYWHERE for it?

Well, try sitting in your simple hot tub instead. :p

Simple hot tub...... get it?.....

Gee... this is my penultimate post..... Better go start a new thread ! I'll see you all there soon....

Yes, I checked at lost and found, but the one that was turned in was a different color. ;)

Yawn. I woke up 20 minutes ago. I love 3-day weekends.

I hate 3 day weekends...

"Why are so many people here? We thought that nobody would be here, since it's a holiday"

Stupid people should be sterilized.

I'm half-tempted to move that observation to the 'Idiocracy' thread.;)

I forgot who had it as a sig line, but there used to be a quote to the effect of, "Nobody goes to Disneyland any more - it's too crowded."