There is a finance committee meeting going on in my office. My head hurts just listening to them talk about budgets and crap.

It's a comment that doesn't entirely make sense since current monies spent at Oriental Trading Company no longer benefit Harry Watanabe, the guy who turned it into a giant company.

After selling the company for a lot of money a decade ago he apparently got bored with early retirement and began gambling. A couple years ago he was losing so much that in one year his losses accounted for something like 5% of Harrah's Las Vegas revenues. Last year he sued Harrah's saying they should have stopped him.

You suddenly reminded me of:

He could, but he would have to kill you.

WTH Lakers. It's simple. If, in your half court offense, you dribble more than you pass, you lose. Reverse that, you win. Period. Why the hell do you seem to forget that?

Move without the ball, get open, make passes, and the Celtic's cannot beat you. It's not like you're trying and failing. Y'all just forget what works.

I cannot believe the Lakers pulled that off!

I really wish I could recapture the love of baskbetball I had back in late high school, early college. But as it is I watched the end of the game just to know who won and my primary thought was "good, hockey's done, basketball's done, get that soccer out of the way and the focus can be on baseball where it belongs."

Artest and Gasol won that game for them. Nice job.

Shhh,. I'm really trying to enjoy this 3 months of no hockey.

When you attend 44 games a year and watch another 30+ on TV and then watch the playoffs that you're not even in...

Yes. It is nice to enjoy the off season and not worry about it.

It's the only time she can be sure the Ducks won't be losing.





Runs, ducks, and hides...

Man, I've only got until 3:00 today to accomplish nothing. I'd better get on it!

I've been hit with vertigo this week. Today is a bad day. It is making it really difficult to a accomplish anything.

I'm just glad it isn't diaganigo

Do you know nothing of my attention... Oh someone left a bouncy ball that lights up on my desk! YAY! :p

Good one!

So, they don't have a permanent position for me at work - but they're going to promote me anyway. Not for another three months (or more), but still....

Promote you to another year? Well, promotion is good :)

So... I went out with my neighbor. The Boy sat for her kid. He wasn't upset that they were out late, he was upset that mommy was having fun.

The promotion is just a grade change, with accompanying extremely slight salary boost. I will, when it is over, be a GS12, which is the top level of grunt workers. It's also where most people stop progressing because the lead and management positions are unofficially reserved for retired service members coming back as civilian employees.

I know a GS12 that is a lead, but maybe that's just here at Hill?? And I don't know much more about her progression in her unit.

Golf is a sport where as a professional you're pretty good if you just win a few tournaments a year. I wish I were so good at that sport that when the headlines will be about how horribly I played that it means I just came in fourth.

I'm willing to sleep with Perkins Restaurant waitresses if that's what it takes.

I just discovered that Anne Baxter was Frank Lloyd Wright's granddaughter!

Yes! And did you know one of his sons invented Lincoln Logs?

John Lloyd Wright. Yes, that I knew.

So far my first day of bus commuting has been great. The morning ride is a total breeze, I felt a thousand times better when I arrived at work than I normally do getting out of my car. That may just be the newness of it, and the evening ride home remains an unknown, but it's a great start.

What kind of passes do they offer for OCTA?

I'm lucky that I'm on a subsidized pass from my employer, so I just use it to break up my commuting as needed. I've found that rides home can go either way. But it's always great when I can zone out.

$55 for a 30 day pass. I don't believe my company does any sort of carpool/transit incentive program, so no help there. This week I'm buying day passes ($4/day) until I'm convinced I can commit to it.

Any transfers? If you have transfers then you won't know for sure how committed you are until you've experienced a breakdown in transferring.

Yeah, there are 2 transfers. But the buses run on 15 minute schedules, there are a fair number of alternate routes I can get to, and I'll have my bike with me which should make it easier to triage.

Do you know what Bubba Lloyd Wright is famous for?

Do you really expect anyone who knows you to take that bait?

Designing mobile homes?

Haha... so true. It's why I'm only semi-committed. My tolerance for delays/issues is different for each day.

ETA: I also have selected a route with no transfers (though it adds a short amount of time to my commute) to minimize this disturbance in the public transit force.

My ride home, which I'm guessing will be the most prone to problems, has only 1 transfer. Minimizing transfers in the morning would have added too much of a time penalty. 2 transfers isn't ideal, but they are well timed and involve fairly sleepy routes so I'm less concerned.

It should be noted that I'm not a public transit novice. I spent a year doing the public bus thing to and from high school (a 1 hour+ trek), so I'm no stranger to the joys and pitfalls. The key difference being the lack of a driver's license at the time. No danger of giving up and choosing to drive out of frustration/convenience, even if I wanted to.

I found this pin-up calendar interesting.

Caution: Whether those images are safe for work will require taking your HR person into gray areas that make them angry.

Well the October one is perfect for Halloween

Considering I deleted a very explicit photo off the computer from someone in HR I'm not sure we have any gray areas.

Perhaps it was evidence as part of an ongoing investigation

That is the grayest gray area I could ever imagine. Cool link! And what a great ad campaign

That was fun.

First bus of the morning was late, so I missed my first connection. Not a big deal, I'd end up being 10 minutes later than scheduled, and only 5 minutes late to work.

I have a habit that if I have more than a couple of minutes to wait for a bus I just start heading in the direction of the route, stopping at each stop to glance back and make sure the bus hasn't caught up yet. With a bike, I can cover a lot more ground. Enough, in fact, that I made it to the next stop before the next bus was scheduled to have even arrived at the transfer point, and got myself back on schedule.

nice

The calendar is cool. The second sentence of your post (the "Caution") is reason alone to put up the calendar :evil:

I could use a few weeks at Cascade*

Life and work are just too effin busy.

















* Now Voyager

That calendar can really give one a boner

I like my woman with a bit more meat on their bones.

Scott Neidermeyer announced his retirement today :(

OMG. I'm applying at Pixar. OMFGWTFBBQ. :eek:

Oh, SCOTT Neidermeyer. My mind thought of Douglas Neidermeyer:




He got killed in Vietnam by his own troops.

I am thoroughly over the internet's obsession with stop motion animation. There's been some brilliant stuff, but damnit people it's gotten old. I don't care if this time you used post-its, or dominoes, or grandma's dentures, or toenail clippings, or whatever it is you think is uber-clever to use in stop motion animation. Simply making random objects that aren't obvious media for animation move around at 24 frames/sec. does not instantly make something interesting to watch.

Uh oh, someone has grown tired of Ok Go!

Heh, OK Go is about the only ones left that I enjoy. At least the stuff happening is interesting and I'm not expected to JUST be wowed that an object is being animated.

Susan reported this word-for-word quote from Phil Jackson (coach of the Lakers for those who don't know):
Apparently he has taken a cue from Yogi Berra

While I wouldn't put it past Jackson, he does have a history of purposely enigmatic quotes, ESPN reports the quote as "I haven't made up my mind."

Sounds like he's taking a clue from Selanne and Neidermayer (until now /sob) too.

Another parenting milestone today...

Moonie Jr. and friend are driving to the Local Six Flags. His first park trip sans parents.

Sooooo..... NA, how goes the abiding?

The Dude abides.

Heh. Lobster Boy had a great day of fun and sun followed by a very miserable night.

Awwww.... a lesson we all learn at some point. We are responsible for our own sunburn - or lack thereof. Ouch!

Give him a firm slap on the shoulders and say "how you feeling?" It shows the proper parental mix of concern and cluelessness.

This amused me:

Snowflake,

I love your avatar! ;)

He's my desktop @ work, to remind me that when I leave, it's Martini Time!

So I think I had someone else's dream last night. I was an African American living in a downtown studio apartment. I had a fight with my girlfriend the night before, and my buddy was asking about her and I didn't want to let on that I thought she had left me and my place might be empty when I got home.

Nothing about the people, place, or situation had any sense of familiarity to me, it was like I was watching things unfold inside the brain of somebody else.

I don't suppose you also have a lightning-shaped scar over your left eye?

No, but I have been taking Benedryl

That'll do it.

I had the most vivid and bizarre dreams with Benedryl and NyQuil. I had to stop taking it after I started sleep walking to the point where I tried to leave the house.

I was previewing a possible trip I may be taking later this week to Minneapolis and noticed that there is an area called "Dinkytown" right by one of the places we would be going (near U of Minn). It amused me.

Dinkytown

If you go to Nicollet Mall, make sure and toss your hat in the air!

Also, Minneapolis is a fairly good strip club town. Just enough prominence and not too horribly seedy.

I just finished babysitting for my neighbor. I had her 7 yrd old daughter since 6am. We had a delightful, laid back kind of day.

I'm the only one logged in at LoT, yessssssssss! Now where did I put that can of spray paint?

I'm sitting here, transferring a lot of the crap from my PC to my portable drive, so I can do a clean install of Windows 7, since I get it for free (thanks to being a student). I'm also now reminded why I love my Mac SO much more than this thing.

Although, cleaning up the ol' PC will still be good for playing games and such. :)

I was digging up some old posts for another post when I ran across this Gem from Feb of 2004:

Christening the new "Moonliner"

It's truly touching to think how many of the people in that 2004 tread will probably read this message as well. You are all one great bunch of friends!

Bwahaha!

I only see one name that didn't make it over here (unless someone else changed a name too). Funny how the boards change, but the friendships live on :)

I have been sleeping in shifts - 4 hours between 2:30 and 6:30 and a nap after I get home from my early morning rounds. I'm usually pretty tired when I get back home at 10:30 or so. Today I walked in the door and went to the kitchen to turn off our house alarm only I tried to do it with the buttons on the coffee pot.

And, I was just driving a car???

Mugged by a Hugger or Run Away! Run Away!
 

Sleep well, NA.

So, one of my daughters is doing an internship at a locally-owned newspaper. Today she had to cover a "Free Hugs" event sponsored by a New Age group. It was scheduled for the band shell area of a park.

My daughter gets there on time. No one has arrived yet. A few moments later, a young woman comes along, looking as if she's looking for someone. Thomasina goes up to her and says, "Are you here for the Free Hugs?"

The woman does a slow burn, then turns and runs away.

Probably be better if you charge for the hugs. Everybody knows you get what you pay for.

The concept of a Free Hugs event cracks me up. #1, who charges for a hug, anyway? and #2, ew.

So, a pain-in-the-tailfeathers neighbor just died. The guy was kind of a firebug plus he hit his golfballs into other people's yards and into the street, never retrieved them. It was sort of difficult to know what to say about him dying. You can say "Yesssssss!" in your own home, if you like but you can't say it to other neighbors when they bring up the subject.

Finally found the right words: we're so very, very sorry for his family's loss. And we are. His family is nice.

Go, me!

Road Trip in T-Minue 4 minutes. With out of town traffic I expect the first 40 miles to take half the weekend and then do 800 miles in the other half.

Haven't decided yet where we're going but Idaho may be in my future.

That's a good response. We had "creepy neighbor guy" pass away a month or two ago. This guy was REALLY odd and creepy (he had a permanent lecherous smile on his face). We felt bad for his female companion (wife? girlfriend? ???) and used the "we're really sorry to hear about [him]" line.

But in the safety of our own home, it was a different story.

So, I had an interview today. First one since September, so it was nice to have the experience. But, it was weird. It was uphill the whole way. First, they didn't think I'd be able to handle the small town, being a girl from the big city and all. Then, they didn't think I'd be able to handle being essentially a ghost writer, while the trial attorneys got all the public credit. Then, they didn't think I'd be able to help defend scumbags.

Basically I was defending myself the whole time, but I tried to be as pleasant as I could. I don't know whether there was actually incredulity that I would apply for the position (in which case, why interview me?), or whether this was a calculated approach to see how I handled myself, or whether they've been on the receiving end of this so often in court from the judge or cross-examined so many witnesses, that it was just an automatic sort of response.

Anyway, we'll see what happens. It would be right away, I think, and in Del Rio, Texas. I'm not sure how I feel about the location, but the job itself would be excellent experience and a solid step on the path of my 10-year goal. But, I'm not going to hold my breath.

I am, however, going to keep using that cover letter template.

Been there, been there, been there. Sincerest sympathies, Prudence.

So........what I'm doing. (Aside from trying to read all of this per Wolfy, to get to know you all.) I just returned from Pike Place Market, which isn't far from where I live.

Ohh! I heart Pike Place Market! They have great bacon!

I'm sitting around the house in my underwear. It's been awesome.

I am staring down an AWESOME steak that the monkeygirl made for me.

The potatoes were delicious, too.

What a wonderful day.

Scamper, kittens, scamper!

Nekkid is better - I am now.

Prove it ! We want pics !!

Alright. But, remember; you asked for it:

your link appears to be broken. :rolleyes:

That might be the best news I've ever heard.

It happens to the best of us.

I am craving Weinerschnitzel. One more hour till foods...

I am not sure if you actually cannot see the image, or if you are making a reference to the image you actually CAN see.

I posted the pic at home and can see it okay at work, so I would think it should be visible for all to enjoy.

Not for all the tea in China.

I broke my temp crown and have to go back to the dentist today at 3:30. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

So, I just noticed that after nearly a year Warehouse 13 is finally back for Season 2.

Glad to have, for once, learned this before missing the first episode of a season.

Today sucks.

Good show?

While walking back to the office from lunch, I saw a guy wearing Mickey Mouse ears. It was just so random and weird.

No, but I like it anyway.

Aw. I know where Not Afraid is right now.

Sleeping kitten on my arm. He's been purring non-stop for close to 30 minutes.

Stick a fork in me and put me in a bun. I'm done!

For a second there, I assumed the last post was a response to the second to last post.

We are are going to Minneapolis and Des Moines on business this week (wee!). Since the boss is going, we are staying at the W Minneapolis - The Foshay. Not bad...

Foshay, foshizzle!

While searching for pics for another thread, I ran across this image. I would like to get this blown up and framed to hang on my wall:

Meh! Nothing can beat The Gobbler!

I do believe that after 10 min, its considered snoring

:cool:

"Johnny Reb's for dinner tonight. Johnny Reb's for dinner tonight. Johnny Reb's for dinner tonight."

This is the mantra that is getting me through the day.

"Johnny Reb's for dinner tonight. Johnny Reb's for dinner tonight. Johnny Reb's for dinner tonight."

I love their hushpuppies!

I love this. It's like the mommy shirt and daddy shirt got together and made a baby.

I'm here from 1030a-8p today. Bored silly.

Not sure if you know, but that was the intent of the photographer. I don't know if it was a posed shot but it is by René Maltête, who was famous for his witty photographic compositions. You can see more of hi stuff (not sure if that one is there) here.

I'm fond of:

http://rene.maltete.com/main.php?g2_itemId=70

http://rene.maltete.com/main.php?g2_itemId=79

http://rene.maltete.com/main.php?g2_itemId=85

http://rene.maltete.com/main.php?g2_itemId=148

You'll be fond of

http://rene.maltete.com/main.php?g2_itemId=89


ETA: The "you'll be fond of" link was because for some reason I thought I was responding to Kevy Baby.

I love Johnny Reb's. So delicious.

I could go for some BBQ.

An understandable mistake: people confuse Betty and I all the time. I think it is the boobs.

People confuse Kevy Baby and I all the time. I think it is the boobs.

Moobs. Man boobs are called Moobs.

Having nothing to do with the above...
 

First there was scratch and sniff, now there is the Peel 'n Taste strip.

Since Hustler did a scratch and sniff centerfold a couple of times, I wonder if Larry Flint will try this one?

If you're going to be in Des Moines, you should drive up to Ames and visit Hickory Park.

It's possible that I may have a two week visit to Des Moines in September - I will have to remember this (as I am sure I will be dying for things to do!).

But there is not any free time this visit.

I can definitely recommend some things to do. If you go to Hickory Park, you have to have the Saucy Southerner. Sadly, you'll miss the Iowa State Fair.

Wow, I LOVE that photography! Although the original beach image is still my fave (but ya gotta love the fencing artist)

Johnny Reb's therapy complete.

Saw a church in Bellflower called The Journey Worship Center, and thought "they were a good band, but not that good..."

Reposted from LJ so some may see this twice.

I'm trying to make good on my intent to get out and about more often, followed up last weeks road trip with a day-trip. So we pointed at a random spot on the map we haven't been to before and so went down to Pinnacles National Monument.

Of course, it was a bad idea to decide to make a first trip in July, but we're stupid rebels.

The drive itself was fun, CA-25 is a pleasant drive through rolling valleys and then cutting over from Pinnacles to Monterey offers some good winding travel.

At Pinnacles, since it was over 100 degrees and most trails are completely exposed we just did the short Bear Gulch Reservoir trail, which is about a mile out and then another back with only a few hundred feet of elevation change. Anyway, some pictures from that.

Gah! Snakes? :(

Great shots Alex - thanks for sharing

I'm not sure if this is going to survive being reduced down to avatar size, so I will post the full size image:

LOL

If it helps, don't think of them as snakes, think of them as more attractive squirrels.

Great pics, Alex. i love to see snakes swimming. It somehow doesn't seem possible.

There is no way those aren't men in drag!

Jesus, use me, because no one else will :evil:

Not really. At least it wasn't a clown holding a snake.

When I heard that M.I.A has a new album coming out, my first thought was apathy, feeling kinda burned out on her.

Then I heard "Born Free".

I need the album.

You can hear it, as well as track from other upcoming summer albums, here (Junip, and the new Of Montreal album have my interest).

I'm not going to say who, but I think the one on the left looks a LoT like someone on this board. (not the hair, of course, the face)

The one on the right is a young Stephen Frye in '50s drag.

*sigh*

Company is coming. Time to vacuum the guest room, change the sheets perhaps put out some fresh flowers..... Or at least that's how I expect things work in "normal" world.

Here in my world, it's time to paint, install carpet, find and assemble all the parts of the beds, buy some new sheets and guest towels, install a new shower-head, towel rack, put the doors back on and clear out about 10 years of crap that's accumulated in the basement.



But not to worry, they don't arrive until noon tomorrow.

Moonie, I'll buy your tickets to the WDFM if you wanna come help me paint my living room, dining room (LR 20x25 and 12 foot ceilings, DR 10x2)
:p
I'll throw in the 50 cent tour of San Francisco, too.

This is why I suspect I'll always live in a 1-bedroom apartment no matter how much I can afford much more.

If I had enough space that any part of it was usable as guest space then I suspect at some point I'd be stupid enough to invite someone to use it.

So my personal motto: Just get the space you personally need, it helps in the task of keeping friends and family at arms' length.

From the other side of the spectrum: Seems my pining for more entertaining space gets more acute as the years pass, especially as our underwater status leaves us no choice in the housing market at this time. Now, there's no place to entertain more than two of Theo's future friends, and without a yard that option will be extremely limited as they get older. I do dearly love our condo, but....

I have to say that having extra space is really wonderful. The place we live in now is the first house either one of us has owned, and we made sure that there was ample room to entertain and even have friends/family stay over. There were more than 30 people over on the 4th, and it never felt crowded (to me, at least). We'll be paying off our mortgage for decades, but I have no regrets.

Social anxiety is something I've mostly shed over the years, but when it rears its head is when it involves people coming into my home.

What I said above was mostly intended as a joke. I'd never reject more space simply because it makes it impractical to play host, but it is a nice side benefit of not having any (the reason we generally reject it is that we can't really justify taking more space than we need; as long as I'm good about keeping it clean our extra-large dorm room is more than enough for my needs).

I love the Mid West
 

For those who don't follow me on Twitter, or missed these the first time around, I wanted to present some of the highlights of a trip I made to the Mid West last week (I flew into Minneapolis on Thursday, drove down to Des Moines on Friday, flew home Saturday morning).

First, we visited a Go-Pher Stop



In addition to gasoline and the standard convenience store fare, one could also get a Midwest taquito (our term), which is basically a hot dog wrapped in a corn tortilla:



In addition to the above, apparently this location was also an "Official Big Game Registration Station."

And the fishing is pretty good too as evidenced by the big fish out front:



Later on down the highway, I woke from a nap as we were pulling into a place that at first I feared was some sort of kinky sex place, but turned out to be another gas/convenience store (the name may be NSFW for some):



And finally, our final gas stop was at:

This is the best quote on the iPad ever:

Hayao Miyazaki on the iPad: "It's disgusting. On trains, the number of those people doing that strange masturbation-like gesture is multiplying."

Creepy yet compelling - Picture from a Love Doll factory

*whew!*

Made it by the hair of my chinny chin chin.




Before

Good going, Moonie!

Does Miyazaki feel the same way about all touchscreen devices?

And does it really look like that's what I'm doing?:blush:

Looks great, Moonliner- wanna come help with our middle room?

Thanks. I'm probably the only one who'll ever notice the room is painted Lot-Teal. :D

I have to admit I am not sure of what gesture is being referred to: does it have something to do with the "pose" one often strikes with your head down and your hands in your lap?

I am so clueless. Me and Alicia Silverstone are likethis

Maybe he assumes everybody is lacking in size. I can only think of that pose where they're sitting with it in their lap, fingers constantly flexing as they do the pinching gesture to expand and shrink what's on the screen.

Or maybe it is just leaving it in your lap and causing it to vibrate.

I was at Home Depot buying lumber for my raised bed. I left and was in the parking lot when someone set off a M80. Scared the bejesus out of me and hurt my ears. The asshole was nowhere to be found.

The funny thing is that NO ONE from HD even stopped to investigate. The guy retrieving carts from the lot was in a different world. He walked righ past me and my just-emptied basket. Do people regularly go around this clueless?

And he says it like that's a bad thing....

Pretty sure he's referring to the scrolling action on the iPad, where you stroke your finger up and down gently over the screen. It looks a lot like you're turning Japanese.

Dang, I didn't know I was only supposed to use one outstretched finger. Been doing it wrong all these years.

Yeah: we could all just be trying to beat cancer!

Ah

But I'll bet you're cancer free!

I'll take that bet! What odds you offering?

If you're holding a cellular device in your lap, you're probably balancing out any benefit.

It's not the finger part, it's what the rest of the hand looks like it's doing. Well, I guess it could be the finger part, if you have a lady part. But I wouldn't know a thing about that.

Hehehehehehehe. Cherny said "Lady Part"

I've been digging through my family history on Ancestry.com.

I discovered that I'm descended from French royalty through one of the sons of Charles the Mad. Cool.

(Don't worry. I won't make you all bow or curtsy in my presence.)

I try to steer clear of that site. They're closely affiliated with the LDS church. I'd never give them money.



Oh, I though that GD closed this thread instead of the other So.... thread. At first, I was all like 'who did what now?'
:D

Crap, did I post in the wrong one again?!! Stupid firefox smart bar....time to go move a post.

"I want the idea that questions can be feared because of the answers they might produce to baffle my kids. I want them to find hilariously silly the idea that certain lines of thought cannot even be pursued lest they be caught."

-Dale McGowan.

This may be the greatest news in the history of man. Should this come to fruition, I will be working exactly half way between an In-n-Out and a Sonic, with about .5 miles to each.

A simple 2 mile round trip journey will be all that is required to assemble perfection (Double Double animal style, Tots, Strawberry Creamslush). It's almost too wonderful to imagine.

I've never even at Sonic. On a solo road trip last year I came upon one. There were no cars in the parking lot and I couldn't figure out how to make food come out so I left. So I didn't even get close enough to find out if they actually have anything I'd want to eat (their commercials never show anything).

I've eaten there twice now. Their burgers are so-so, I prefer In-n-out's (I know that doesn't tell you much, Alex, since you don't like In-n-out's). I've heard the hot dogs are better.

But I just love the very idea of being served tater tots in my car, and the creamslushies are divine.

I have no opinion on In-n-Out's hamburgers and am fine with the idea that they're good. I've not eaten beef in almost 20 years so I've never had an In-n-Out hamburger.

It is their french fries (essentially the only thing I can eat there) that I don't like. They may be the best of class for that style of french fry, I just don't care for that style. Good french fries are necessarily a heavily process food item.

Weird, I had you filed in my mind as having said you don't like 'em. Wonder who I have you confused with (and duh, I knew you don't eat beef).

Agreed re: fries. Which is why the option to pair the superior burger with the much preferable tots is so alluring.

I had In n Out for lunch. It was amazing.

Alex is on the outs with In-N-Out.

What gave you the INsight to that?

Female INtuition.

Shouldn't it be the other way around? Or is my notion of being "on the outs with" backwards?

That is, unless In-N-Out has something against Alex...perhaps the bible references under the cups don't like his atheist stance.

No idea. I think it. I type it. 50% of the time it makes sense.
:D

And don't get me started on god's ad placements on their cups. Sheesh.
;) :D

14 day free trial! :D

Smart bear.
:)

Wow, note to self: Read the Soooo thread more often; catching up is dizzying.

I remember when they gave out free "In-n-Out Burgers" bumper stickers, and people would cut out the "B" and "rs"....

I think that's why they don't give them out anymore...

And, as an act of subversiveness, I added Bill as my spouse.

Hmm, I think I'm still against using ancestry.com at all, even if it's for free. They can still claim you as one of their users to show how much traffic they get.

Yeppers.
:)

That would be like that one religion that baptizes people posthumously. Oh wait...

They have biblical references on the bottom of their cups? I had no idea, and I have been there a few times when Lani wanted them enough to eat when I couldn't.

None. If you want extensive genealogy information at some point you're going to end up working with sources that ultimately trace to them. They have a greater incentive for thoroughness than anybody else.

My family already did a bunch of genealogy research for me. I think there's one line going back to 790. In what is now Switzerland, which is the origin of my last name. Because I was genetically designed to be climbing the Swiss Alps with a cow over my shoulders.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: KITTENS! They are full of purr. They appear to like us. Sasha has begun to tolerate them.

Most of our records were lost in the war. I have some semblance of a family tree from my mom's side but nothing on my dad's.

It bothers me that the LDS are arrogant enough to baptize posthumously but I don't believe it's doing anyone any good. Isn't a big part of being "saved" accepting Jesus as your savior? If you're dead how can you?

When the time comes, if ancestrydotcom is my only decent option it's what it will have to be. My desire to know more overrules my disdain for their practices.

I just finished the last episode of Farscape (still have the movie, will watch that tomorrow). Holy frell.

Say what you will about their LDS connections, but Ancestry.com is the bomb! I've found far more information about my family in just a couple of evenings than I had in the couple of years I was previously pursuing it.

Just tonight, I found an image of the passenger list from the ship that brought my Mother's family over from Wales in 1886.

I'm surprised at you, JW. Ancestry.com is a major tool of the Mormon church. And aren't you just a little bit creeped out that the Mormon church has done so much research about YOUR family, before you or anyone you are related to even visited the site?

Why would that be creepy? There are a lot people related to people on that boat other than just JW.

But even if the research was done so that they could invoke their name in a meaningless ceremony, that doesn't strike me as any more creepy than who alive now would be the king of Montenegro if that monarchy still existed.

And having used Ancestry.com in the past, it isn't generally the case that you type in your own name and say "ok, what is my family tree back 19 generations." It is more that it provides access to the data records that allows you to make the connections.

So, for example, it has scans of the microfiches that lets me see my mom's original birth certificate where her dad's full name is listed with date of birth. And then I am able to use that to find another scan with his birth certificate and parents names. And a search finds that his mom's name is in an Ellis Island record listing X as her country of origin, and then...

Yes, you can find family trees already made, but that assumes someone who took the time to draw all the connections and therefore probably had some personal interest.

My mom, who is apparently now Mormon spent time last summer just validating the OCR transcription of the 1910 census data for Merced County. No connection at all but also not drawing any explicit genealogical connections. Simply making sure the data was effectively searchable.

My dad's family has already been pretty extensively researched. My Mom's not as much but we do have paperwork so we can join the DAR should we choose to do so.

For Dad's I can just go to the county cemetery and go back at least 4-5 generations. I think I'm 6th generation to be born in Lassen County.

My Mom got all into family history (only it was my Dad's family and not his biological/real family which is puzzling) the last 10 years or so. I've got a bunch of different files on it.

It's all kind of interesting. I think Daniel Boone is our most famous ancestor. Otherwise not a hugely famous bunch.

My mom sends me an email every once in a while with some genealogical discovery.

I haven't been able to properly convey how little I care about who my ancestors were, unless I've met them in person in which case I don't need research. Not that I'm trying hard since I fear that an a serious attempt would lead us into a god conversation and I don't think that would go as well now as it did when we last had one 21 years ago.

As Alex said, it's not the LDS church that's doing the research, it's individual members of the site. So no, I'm not creeped out. I'm finding a ton of information about my family; and I'm trying to gather as much as I can before the free 14 day trial runs out.

I traced my maternal grandmother's line (Hill) back to a John Hill who arrived in Plymouth Colony sometime in the 1620's. He wasn't on the Mayflower, but must have come on one of the subsequent ships. He was married in Plymouth Mass in 1629.

Bill's family arrived in Virginia in 1648. There is a book about the eary families of Virginia. His family has their own chapter.

So. Sick. of sending out job applications. Hire me already!

What 14 day free trial?

The one that is on the front page of their site...

Included is:
ADC seems to be more data aggregation then a bunch of people in the LDS church spending hours researching the population.

Paying for the membership is similar to paying a convenience fee for a service so you don't have to do leg work that will take years.

If the time ever comes when I use the service I'll donate an equal, if not more amount to a cause that the LDS is against.

For Flippy & BTD

Where is this? I want one.

Down the street from me at Discovery channel HQ.

I can't see it at work :(

Too soon.

That's one bigass shark!

Sooooo..... Where IS everyone?? Here it is, Sunday afternoon 3pm on the 18th of July, and None of you are posting???

There's nothing special that I can think of about the 18th of July, so what gives ????


And YES, I'm jealous, so THERE. :p

Me too, Lashbear!:( Still, I'm pretty happy for my friends, and I think the nom de plume I came up with for Steve on the 50th still holds: Social Imagineer! :D Major kudos- looks like a wonderful time, and what a fabulous suite! Makes me sad they are going to get rid of it.

Yeah, uhh... I don't know what to say without pouring salt on the wound.

I'm sure people are still there now.

While I wish I were there, I am so happy for everyone who was. AND how nice of them to take the time to share the photos and the stories!! I love it!!

I can dream.........

It is such an awesome day!!!! WHEEEEEEEEE! :D

Teresa, I have to comment on your squirrel photo. I crack up every time I see it.

When I was up in WA visiting my sis in law, out on the lawn by her curb was a dead squirrel. It looked like it had been standing up and just keeled over. I had to keep fighting the urge to prop it up as a lawn ornament. For two or three days that squirrel was there. Every time I went to the car I almost instinctively propped it up.

I like your squirrel much better. :0)

Hee-hee! Thanks. :)

This squirrel is a resident of the Walt Disney Studios. My friend took it.

The squirrels who live there eat SO much and have no fear of humans, so they literally just lie around everywhere.

Did you ever think to somehow dispose of it? I find this bizarre on a few levels.

Teresa, that does look like one fat, contented cat.

Jenny, no, not really. This is up in WA where things are a bit different than here. My sis in law said that someone would come and pick it up. It was not to go in her compost, nor could it be recycled.

It was really difficult for us, how much they recycled. After 3 months, she said she took 3 grocery sized bags to the trash place {??}. Paper trash was burned in a pit at night {while we enjoyed a wonderful fire}, they used mostly fresh foods, not processed, not a lot of packaging.

It really made us think of how much trash we generate. That is off of the topic, though, but the animals routinely would be picked up, from what she told me. A lot of critters in her hood. She had a bunch of chickens herself. A bunch of fat, juicy chickens. :0) Every morning, our little 4 year old cousin would get a little basket and go outside and hunt for the eggs.

It smells strongly of wood smoke at the moment. Very bizarre.

Cool, I understand about the recycling etc, but to have a dead animal rotting for days...I would have called animal control or something.

I think it wasn't too badly decomposing. He just looked like he was sleeping. It was freezing up there!! As well as raining. I'd imagine someone in the household called. We left so I don't know how long it took for them to remove it. I am curious, though, myself.

We'd like to maybe go live up there eventually. Removal of dead animals in a timely manner would be tops on my list.

Now this thread has me singing "Dead Puppies" in the office...

It would never occur to me to call anybody about a dead animal in or near the road unless it was a hazard (like something deer sized) or a domestic animal.

Definitely not over a dead squirrel. If it's presence bothered me I might throw it into a bush.

But then I've watched many rabbits, owls, pigeons, and squirrels go through the complete consumption/decomposition process on my walks to the train station every morning. Squirrel tails and the rabbits' feet last the longest.

Alex you should grab those tails and make yourself a bitchen hat! :D

I had enough of squirrel tails when I was a kid. One our cats was a master squirrel hunter (and also a brilliant butterfly-in-flight sniper) and that's the part she'd bring home and deposit on the living room floor to showcase her brilliance.

Oh gosh. So glad my sis in law didn't have a cat to drag this in!! I think a neighbors cat may have killed the squirrel.

Since you put it that way, I wonder if that is what she was intending, to let it decompose and 'recycle' itself into the ground?

And, I wonder what us neighborhood type people do. A mouse, sure, toss it in the trash. But a cat or squirrel? Do those go into the trash?

No silly, they go in the NEIGHBORS trash :evil:

ROTFLMAO

See, I just don't get it right!!! I should have learned from when THEY put stuff in my trash!!

Just as we were leaving the house for a party on Saturday, we heard a scream then a thud out on the street. We went to investigate and found one of the neighborhood cats had been hit by a car (not one of ours thankfully).

We moved it out of the road and then when back inside to call animal control. I couldn't find the number for them, so I was able to call the local police (the dispatch line, not 911) to report the incident and have animal control come pick the critter up.

All-in-all kind of put a damper on Saturday's festive mood :(

Only large dead animals like moose, bear or deer get taken away by Fish and Game or animal control- everything else pretty much lays where it died until it gets picked up by a private citizen or eaten by other animals. I'm impressed that California takes the time and money to clear away small animal remains- that would bankrupt our state, considering how many wild critters we have up here that end up as roadkill, etc.

Not to mention all the starving families...

Can you imagine deer or a bear??? I find...well, thankfully, nothing in a long time.

LOL Matt, well, I'd wonder if people {if they catch it in a timely manner, knowing how the animal died} take the deer or moose to eat?

True about the picking up of all animals draining the budget.

In CA, what money?

At least in this part of California I've never seen any evidence they do.

Maybe they want us to put them in the trash?

I hope I don't have to find out any time soon.

The only time I've ever seen an animal removed was a few years ago - it was a very large raccoon that was dead on a very large public sidewalk. I suspect it was a health hazard more than anything since it wasn't in an area where the decomposition would remove it without people coming in contact with it or consumption by other animals would occur.

this is making me remember the dead cows on the side of the road, waiting for the Tallow Works truck to pick them up. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

It depends on where you live. In the city I live in, Brea, they like to keep the city squeaky clean (no parking on ANY city street from 2 a.m - 6 a.m. - crap like that), so they take the time to clean up even the small road kill like cats. In the more rural areas, and probably most other cities, they don't do this.

In the slums like where Alex lives, they leave road kill so people have something to eat.

And that made me remember the dead cow in the ditch being fed on by CA Condors or Vultures that Erica and I saw on the way back from the Grand Canyon.

Which in turn reminds me of the last time I went to Hometown Buffet.

Yeah.

HomeTown Barfette. I have had to call a code V many a time on my way out that door....

Yuck. This weather is bringing out a lot of roadkill. Animals out all hours.

Hometown Barfette? Too true! I like the variety as I always have trouble deciding what to get, this way I can get a bit of everything {a bit!}. But, you stand there a moment to watch...all of those dirty hands on all of the serving utensils? Or, visit the bathroom and see who washes their hands when they finish?

My son went a couple of days ago with some friends. They said never again. They said it was like Chuck E. Cheese. Not good.

Hometown Buffet and roadkill should never be in the same post :eek:

Oops! My bad.... ;)

Really? You must frequent nicer eating establishments than I do.

And yet, you (apparently) keep going...

Anytime I go to a buffet, I eat everything with my knife & fork because I don't feel like washing my hands after every trip to the line.

A friend of mine once described a lousy buffet as, "It's wasn't so much 'all you can eat' it was more like 'all you can stand'."

I just don't care that much about germs or worry about stray infections. Maybe someday I'll die from catching e. coli of the salad tongs at Sweet Tomatoes but so far it is working fine for me.

HomeTown Buffet (or the sister restaurant Old Country Buffet) is a place I haven't been to in many years but it does have sentimental attachment from when I was a kid.

Dilemma: Get the bike helmet that is both more stylish AND offers the most head protection? Or the one that is dorkier, but is half the weight and has way more vents making it far more comfortable. Grrrr.

Which of the two would result in better helmet hair once it's off your head?

Go for the safest one. It won't matter what it looks like or how hot or cool you are if it doesn't protect your head when bonk it.

(said from the viewpoint of a Mom whose son has had 2 bike injuries - one without a helmet that resulted in a trip to the ER via ambulance and once with a helmet that knocked out several front teeth.)

Both awful, not a factor.

The "less safe" one is still probably perfectly safe. Especially since the biggest safety gain from the "more safe" one is the back of the head. Seeing as I'm not planning on doing many backflips on my road bike, the odds of a back of the head impact are vanishingly low. So really, it's style vs. comfort. The "safer" factor is just a convenient justification for favoring style.

My helmet philosophy was:

1. Wear one when I'm sharing space with cars.
2. If I'm not sharing space with cars I probably am not wearing one, but I accept that this decision could kill me.

Generally this is followed a few weeks later by

3. "Why do I always forget how much I hate riding bikes and think I'll start doing so. I'll just walk and wear a helmet."

Most of my commute is on a dedicated bike trail, but ~30% is still on streets, much of which without even a painted bike lane. Plus any local riding I do at lunch time is all streets.

I consider myself a skilled, and aware, rider. I've never worn a helmet, even as a kid, and I used to ride daily, often on streets. Never come close to injuring myself. But I can't control the drivers and I've already had to test my brakes a couple times as idiots have turned right in front of me, so I'm reluctantly admitting that my risk exposure is great enough to warrant a helmet. And there's the whole responsible-for-another-human-being thing to consider.

I'm leaning towards style. A helmet does me no good if I'm unwilling to wear it. The 1/2 lbs weight difference hardly seems relevant, and a few vents aren't going to keep me from sweating.

ETA: Oh, and I absolutely love biking, always have. It's been a month and not for a moment have I wanted to get back in a car, or even a bus, instead. The day I learned that a bike commute was a real possibility was a glorious day in my life.

I often think back to my childhood where I rode my bike everywhere and without a helmet. And yet, I am alive today (which, upon hearing some of the stories of my youth, Susan wonders how that is possible).

And therein lies the rub: it is not because of your actions that you need a helmet, it is for the drivers out on the highway that you need to defend yourself from. The fact that you had the right-of-way doesn't mean much when you are lying on the pavement with your head split open.

I think most of us have how did we ever survive our childhood moments. Especially these days when so many things we used to do are now illegal.

We used to ride in the bed of a pick up truck with a camper shell playing monopoly from HB to LA and lay down in the back of a station wagon on camping trips. My friend used to ride on the "shelf" in her moms Corvette because there wasn't enough room for everyone. Then there's the time we did donuts in the mall parking lot after taking her 8 y/o brother to see Boyz in the Hood (we were 14, friend's bf was 16). A cop stopped us, asked what we were doing then told us to go home. Bikes with no helmets, skates with no pads.

Great song (spoiled for post length).

Yes. Indeed, there is.

My father rode motorcycles for most of his life and I daresay he is very skilled at it. One day he was cruising slowly down a side street and dog jumped out from behind a car. He broke his collarbone and it's given him issues for the rest of his life. If he hadn't been wearing a helmet he would have cracked his head open.

It doesn't have to be a busy street to be dangerous.

As for "well I didn't die", yeah, it's quite possible to not die from not wearing a helmet. It is also quite possible to die. Odds are pretty good that you'll be ok, but not THAT good, and as was said above, you're at the mercy of other people, unpredictable elements that they are.



I have to say - I find it so sad that people can actually wax poetic about being beaten with a belt. As someone who was actually hit until my teen years, threatened with more than that, and witnessed a belt beating on my brother, I cannot understand it. What a sad legacy to pass on to your children.

Soooo... I just used the term "shocker" over the phone to Jason at work. Without thinking, clearly.


Now to see if anyone that overheard knows what that is...

Well, I did some in-store helmet browsing. Much to my surprise, the "dorkier" option actually ended up looking less dorky on my than the "stylish". Go figure.

While I don't wax poetic about it, and if I ever had children wouldn't do it myself, I don't really view my parents application of corporal punishment as damaging in any way. But neither do I hold the view that it can't be damaging.

As for the risks thing, any individual aspect of risk abatement is hard to argue against, I just question when we've gone to far in trying to eliminate all risks.

When I was a kid we used to dig a pit in a nearby wild area and then build ramps to jump over the pit with our bikes. We all survived. None of us ever even owned a helmet. Many of us got hurt to some degree or another. And there was never any parental supervision (where we were if someone was seriously hurt it would have taken 20 minutes to even get to somewhere possible to call for help).

THere was serious risk (we were also generally swimming in the nearby creek without supervision as well) and it was all easily avoidable and it would be hard for me to fault a parent prohibiting the entire thing on safety grounds (or making us take it to a specially built bike park with padded walls and body armor and a 1:1 parent to child ratio). But I also can't help but feel that something important is also lost if that kind of unstructured, unsupervided group play is taken away.

Is there any reason to let kids ride in a car without a seatbelt? Not really (though sitting on my dad's lap "driving" the car up and down the street in front of my house when I was four is one of the strongest positive memories I have). Is it child abuse to leave you six year old in the car while running into the convenience store for five minutes? Not really.

What was the complete sentence?

"I really enjoyed that shocker you gave me last night, left me tingling for hours, will you do it again when I get home?"

is more interesting than

"Did you see that story about the shocker the utility worker got when she fell alseep in his cherry picker and coworkers played an unacceptable prank on her?"

Alex, agreed re: risk. Hell, I DID take some pretty serious spills on my bike, with a chipped front tooth to show for it. No biggie.

In a lot of ways I think it's more important as an adult to worry about safety equipment than as a kid. My reflexes, reaction time, maneuverability, and ability to recover from injury are significantly reduced from what they were 20 years ago. Plus I have a longer way to fall with a lot more mass and momentum to increase the impact force.

But really the deciding factor for me is regularity. Most everyone is going to survive the occasional ride to the store or day of jumping over flimsy plywood ramps unscathed. But repeat daily over a long period of time, and one's odds of injury become less and less comforting.

Not to put a damper on it, but you and your family depend on your income, and if you get hurt, it's not only you who would be affected.

Have you ever heard someone recall with fond memories being beaten? I know I haven't.

Me: "Did you get The Shocker?"

Background: a running gag on Sealab 2021 is a fictional chain restaurant, Grizzlebees. Their claim to fame is that they're the home of "The Shocker" - which looks as one with a slightly dirty mind might imagine. Incidentally, if you order The Shocker, you get a free Tossed Salad.

Jason and his co-workers went to Applebee's for lunch.

I *think* she was referring to the lyrics I posted. I've heard the actual song (which I don't think you need to hear for the message and I didn't link cause the message would be lost in the context - country music isn't popular around these parts) and I don't think he's waxing poetic about it... I think he's referencing it to how times have changed and it can seem that the theme to parenting these days is threats without follow through and the child threatening to call the police on their parents for a spanking on the butt for doing something dangerous.

Times are different now. It's not all bad and it's not all good.

I have, usually in conjunction with bitching about any attempt to interfere with their right to beat their own children.

But again, I don't consider all corporal punishment to be "beating" the child.

But I am excessively proud of the fact that I was so able to tighten my butt cheeks that my mom once broke a hairbrush on it.

Ok, so my Mom had this HUGE leather belt with a big brass buckle with an enameled smiley face on it (70's man) it was this bit of theater she played on us that we had to walk down the hall to her bedroom, get the belt and bring it back, then she would slap her wrist while she laid the guilt on, by the time she actually bent us over it was a relief. I was six or seven when I realized there was only the sound of the belt snapping that made us jump, she hardly touched us, no welts, no pain . . . did not tell my sister for another year. :evil:

As BTD said, I was referring to the lyrics she posted.

Again, I don't get this as being a fun anecdote. Threatening a child with violence, even if you don't actually hurt them...it's bizarre.

Alex - yeah, half of me wants my kid to go jump bikes over pits unsupervised. In fact, I'd bump it up to 80% of me. I do hope I can give my kids some space to wander and do things on their own.

With a GPS cellphone pinpointing their location at all times, of course. ;)

To counteract the "parents didn't care" stories. I do recall an incident with a very high parental freaking quotient.

At one point we lived in a house that was only a few blocks from a new highway that was being built through Vancouver (for those few who might know, SR500) and it we all played a lot, particularly in the early stages when all they'd done was clear the right of way leaving behind tons of dirt clods just perfect for battles. Part of that was a new overpass to span a nearby creak (for those same people, Burnt Bridge Creek just east of St. Johns) and it hadn't been completed but all framed out into a solid structure.

One of my sisters (both younger than me, so around 8 and 6) was having a big birthday party and suddenly it was noticed that the 8 year and all her friends had disappeared. Slow panic built on the initial assumption they were just out playing somewhere nearby. Then full panic when they weren't found.

Then truly full panic when they were all found sitting out in the middle of that overpass, feet dangling over the edge of nothing, about 60 feet above the creek (which they'd likely miss if they fell and it would only be a few feet deep anyway).

This was the same sister who, a few years later had instructions to be home before dark at a time of year when it got dark around 7pm. She comes sauntering home at 10pm to a completely freaked out family saying "I didn't know it was dark." When asked where she was that she didn't know it was dark? "At Leverich Park." There is nowhere indoors at Leverich Park.

But back on the not caring side, I once fell out of the tree in our front yard. I don't know how high I was but I was well above the roof of our two-story plus attic house. The parental concern I got? "Next time don't fall."

I'm trying hard not to picture that.....

One of my kids is like this. It's how I earned my black belt in Momitude. Or is that Mommage?

One m or two - momage ... mommage? The art, science, and technology of professional-caliber moming ... or is that spelled momming?

Ours had no smiley face. Before the belt {concurrent?} she actually had a horsewhip. I think I was too young to ever have had it used on me but I remember it being used on the older ones. She would use whatever was at hand. The belt was always handy. She wore it all of the time.

The horsewhip disappeared. I always thought maybe my older brother got rid of it so she couldn't use it on us {he suffered a lot at her hands, compared to my other brother who is her favorite}. I finally asked him a few years ago and he said he didn't. Maybe it was my dad? I remember he'd been in Vietnam at the time, maybe when he came back he found it? Wow. Interesting thought.

When we used to visit her and the kids were younger, I'd tell them they'd better watch out, Ninja Grandma was going to get them with her flying sandals. Whacha!! I said that in front of her. Funny, she says she never hit us. Okay, not funny.

I'm not the best mom. I hope someday my kids remember nice things about me. I do have nice memories of mine. I think I'll try and click into that mode....what she did nice.

I am trying to co-ordinate her 85th birthday party. *chuckle* Don't want to go into THAT kind of theme, eh?

Like I said above, the occasions of my being spanked as a kid are not cherished memories, but I do think that my mom handled it about as well as possible if corporal punishment is going to be part of the parenting ouvre (and I have no problem at all with it not being so, I am not one to argue that a lack of corporal punishment will result in flawed children).

1. It was an extremely rare occurrence and only in response to truly significant incidents. I'd say I was spanked maybe four times between the age of 5 and 12. I only remember the actual trigger for two of them, one was when I'd been aiming my (loaded) BB gun at one of my sisters (just for fun, no intent to shoot, but still...) and the other was when I was caught stealing money.

2. It was never done in anger or the heat of the moment. It was always a "go to your room for a couple hours while we think about this" thing. Then when the deed was done it was explained what it would be and that is what it was.

3. As there was never any feeling that it was being done in anger there was also never any fear that serious, lasting pain was being sought. It was never the case that we were spanked so hard that sitting afterward would be uncomfortable.

The part I strongly disagree with was the use of a hairbrush (most of the time) as opposed to the hand, but I figure that was an improvement on the cycle since she grew up with it being a wooden spoon (a lot more angular momentum in that tool).

But it was still a shock one time when at a friends house and we were doing something we shouldn't have been and got caught by his dad who simply grabbed him, threw him over a knee, and just went to town on him (also making it clear that if it weren't for the law I'd probably be next in line). The savagery was appalling to me. And while I can understand how to many people it isn't all that different from what my mom did to me, I personally never felt they were the same thing.

Yeah, definite difference between intent to inflict pain vs. intent to inflict embarrassment and communicate disappointment. My sister and I were spanked, but never was it more than a firm pat, not even close to being painful. Huge difference there.

I think it is different. To be punished for a clear reason? Not out of anger? Parents did do what they thought was best and most likely what they were taught. I really feel sad for my mom, wondering what the heck she went through. She told me little things here and there, I do think it was from her mom she got all of that.

Yeah, I think my situation was not typical. I just feel lucky to have had sisters to take care of me. They saved me on more than one occassion.

Oh, it was painful to get spanked by my mom. There was never a feeling of relief that it wasn't as bad as we'd imagined. It just didn't cause injury beyond stinging for a brief while.

The Yardstick was the "tool" of choice for spanking.

It's funny that I can remember various spankings, but I can never remember what they were for. Kind of beats the "she'll never do THAT again" lesson.

True. I don't think anything I was ever hit for made any difference. I think all of us just learned to run out the door faster than she could take off her belt. That screen door was flung open so many times with a person running out. We used to run down to the school.

Or, if you'd see her eyes squinch up and her say 'Oh really???' Run....

My Grandparents had a razor strap that they used, which was mildly better than picking out your own switch. My Grandfather was going for the pain element though. The worst one I remember was when I was in the bathtub and my butt was wet. That hurt like a son of a .... I'm pretty sure I never made him mad when I was in the bath again.

My parents didn't stop to think about a punishment, it was usually just an impulse smack or worse. My Dad could be set off by the drop of a hat, literally. i remember throwing my Brownie beenie down the stairs so that it was with the rest of my stuff and my Dad flew up those stairs like lightening. I didn't sit for awhile and was too embarassed to go to Brownies that day.

I think I have given my son a "pat" on the butt a few times but I only remember doing so twice, both times he was putting himself in a dangerous situation. I would never leave a mark on my child like others had done to me. We use logical reasoning with zach and when that doesn't work priveleges go away.
I would never do to my child what was done to me.

I don't really blame my Mom though, after all My Grandfather did much worse things to her than she ever did to me. I don't think she knew any other way.

Wow, that was much longer than I intended it to be, sorry :blush:

Maybe you remembered at the time and now not doing THAT is so ingrained you don't even have to remember why you don't do that.

This all really has me thinking, yet again, about this subject. I can't say I've never spanked my kids. But, to think of the damage what has happened to my spirit, my soul, I'd never ever want to do that to my kids.

A lot to think about.

A couple of "funny" stories on this subject.

My father and his siblings fled Germany in the 1930s as kids and never saw their father again. Years later my father and my aunt, who was four years younger, had a disagreement about my grandfather's behavior. My father's story had always been that he was beaten regularly and that when my grandfather came home, he would ask my grandmother (re the three boys) "Which one, how many and which end of the belt?" My aunt insists that this was ridiculous and that nothing like this ever happened. My aunt insisted, however, that my grandfather was an alcoholic, which, for some reason, my father insisted was out of the question. Personally, I think they were both right.

My father also caught it quite a bit in school. In the German schools, the teachers would call you up to the front and brace your hand with their left hand so that you couldn't recoil when they slapped you with the right. When my father came to America and was reunited with my grandmother, he lived in Harlem and went to high school with a lot of black kids. Years later, my father would point to that as a comparatively civilized time because if one of the black kids got out of line, he would compliantly hold out his hand to be whacked by the teacher's ruler without, as he endlessly retold the story, "throwing her down the stairs."

My father was strange.

Without getting into personal specifics, I would observe that parental discipline has the same problems on the microcosmic level that the criminal justice system has on the macrocosmic level: it doesn't occur in a perfect vacuum of justice. The reactions towards the real or imagined transgressions varies with other factors such as the stress or the happiness level of the person dispensing the justice.

I swatted my kids on the butt once or twice. They only time I remember why was when one was a toddler and let go of my hand and ran into the street. Letting go and running was getting to be a bad habit and into the street was it! Reasoning and time outs go only so far with toddlers in some circumstances. It certainly wasn't hard enough to leave a mark - and there were diapers in between.

My husband was hit regularly until he was a teenage I think. It didn't do him a bit of good. It only ended when he asked his Mother, in a very monotone voice - are you done yet? It wasn't effective as anything but a way for her to focus her anger. He was an out of control teen before, during and after and beating him didn't improve things at all. She would do other things too like pinch his tongue with her fingernails if he said something bad.

She's not like that anymore - not with her nephew that she was guardian of or her grandchildren. She will agree that it was ineffective... and she seems a bit embarassed by it.

She's still got a wicked tongue though and I always feel it's better to have her on my side of anything because there's no going against her.

My Mom was big on dragging you around by one arm. When I was in 4th grade I remember her dragging me 3 blocks. I don't remember what I had done, we were in the middle of moving and she and my dad had some big blow out. I must have wanted to stay with him but she drug me the whole way to the old house.

A few years ago she did something similar to one of her students (she was a kindergarten teacher). The other teacher who reported it to us, they wanted us to make her retire, was horrified but I thought "oh yea trademark Mom move".

She was also big on using the back of the brush. My dad never did more than yell at us, and that was pretty rare.

Maddie's never been spanked although a few times I was pretty close. She's done a few things that made me crazy and I just had to leave the room or drop her at her dads for a while till I cooled off so I wouldn't say anything to her in anger.

An example of when a spanking was probably deserved (if such can be deserved) but didn't happen.

I eventually reached an age where I decided I was both tougher than my mom and faster than her. So one time we were out in the back yard and she did something I didn't like so I hit her (considering my age it couldn't have been that hard, but still it was hitting her).

Turns out I was neither tougher than her, nor faster. For I did not easily let her drag me the block and a half back home after she caught me.

Same in my house - wooden yardstick. One broke during mid-punishment on me and THAT was my fault as well.

Very good point! I was wondering about this...at the time of your crash the emphasis was on your shoulder, right? But, right after weren't you a little dazed? Imagine if you weren't wearing a helmet?

Important I think to mention, is making sure it fits properly. I've seen my son wear his and it is obviously not properly fit. Not good.

All this talk about spankings makes me want to share as well...though it's one of very few things that makes me uncomfortable to think about. The very fact that I thought it was normal and good behavior is the most unsettling part.

Unlike NA, I remember very clearly why I and my brothers received violent punishment. It always had to do with lying. It didn't matter what we did, what mattered was that we were truthful.

Quite a few things of mine were broken in the process, usually because they were thrown across the room at me and I dodged them. Can you imagine an electric razor being thrown at you? Ok, I'm sure she was aiming at the floor near me and gave me plenty of warning by hefting it slowly, but still, pretty scary when you hear the chunk noise it makes when it hits the carpet and breaks. That could have been your foot.

One time my mom was defrosting ground beef in the microwave and threw it at me. Then she made me clean up all the bits of meat in the carpet.

Most of my spankings were more like chasings and throwings. If you ran around the room enough mom would give up and not hit you. Dad never gave up.

I have a very strong memory of being spanked by my dad at the age of 4 until I peed my pants. My mom went for a walk to get away from the situation so my dad had to be the one to help me out of my cold, wet corduroy pants.

I did learn my lesson - don't get caught lying. Also - don't make dad mad. He'd get so mad at inanimate objects he'd break them. You'd come home and wonder what happened to the wooden stool in the bathroom. You know, the one I used to stand on to brush my teeth when I was tiny. Oh, dad was working on the pipes under the sink, got frustrated and threw the stool.

Yeah, I thought everyone was like this. There's a point where I detach from it and it makes me so sad, thinking about a child, any child, in this situation.

I'm well aware that these weren't punishments so much as they were my parents using us to blow off steam. It's horrifying.

My parents only had to spank me maybe 3 times.

They used the "Go get the wooden spoon" thing, as well as describing in rather vivid detail how much the spanking was going to hurt (it never hurt like they described it, of course), and typically, by the time they were done describing it, you were promising to be good, or devising some way NOT to go to the kitchen for that spoon.

Frankly, I think they did a great job of rarely having to employ corporal punishment, while still leaving the understanding that there could be real consequences to our actions.

I was only ever slapped in the face once, and I totally earned it. I was a mouthy teen and called my mom a b!tch. Bad idea. Only one slap, but the point was made.

My mom could get her point across in other ways, however. Being the youngest and only girl, I never got it like the legendary stories of my brothers. One failed to do the dishes so long that he awoke one morning to them being broken against the wall by his bed, another came home from school one day to find the un-emptied kitchen trash dumped on his bed. I neglected to do the dishes for too long and found.... everything unplugged from the back of my CPU (yawn... but I knew what she was saying!)

While things may have been less than perfect for my brothers, I think my own disciplinary-upbringing was just fine. Admirable, in some ways. In our house, "there are no rules until you break them", which forced us to think ahead about the consequences of our behavior and what is and is not responsible. So in high school, I could stay out till 3 or 4 am going to Rocky Horror and Denny's, but I had to make sure my parents knew where I was and when I'd be home. If I'd taken off without telling anyone where I was, I probably would have earned a curfew.

Very important to replace the old one! This is why people aren't supposed to buy used car seats and the like. I never thought of it but they could be compromised.

The whole topic of our childhoods....pretty heavy. I'm sad to hear so many had variations of 'Non Dr. Spock' techniques.

You're right, it is horrifying. I can hardly imagine a less acceptable justification for hitting a person (let alone a child), regardless of actual damage done than simply being angry or frustrated.

Fortunately, as I said, I never felt that from my mom (stepdad was never the issuer of physical punishment) and most of the time felt she was a pushover (my childhood was full of month-long groundings that would be forgotten in two days when she was reminded that having us confined to the house was more of a punishment for her than for us).

Only one person in our house was ever prone to violent outbursts and that was me. And whatever bit of cranial chemistry was causing that seems to have flipped off like a light switch in April 1985 which is the last time I ever hit somebody in anger.

Now you just hit them for fun, right Alex?

More likely than hitting for anger. But yes, except for one occasion of self defense, any hitting has been for fun or lighthearted.

I'm going to change the name of this thread to the Sooooooo Spank Me!

Gagballs not included.

LOL Oh, as we've aged, the meaning totally changes!!!

"Whip me, beat me, make me feel cheap!!!"

I have no idea where I got that but it's been in my head for 3 decades!!

Does anyone recognize that?

Yes, but I'm pretty sure you weren't there.

ha ha I'm not going to ask.........:D

I remember it as "Whip me, beat me, make me write bad checks". But I don't remember where it came from.

My mom used the flyswatter on the backs of our thighs. She also yelled a lot. I don't remember the yelling, but she still feels bad about it.

When The Boy was 3ish, we had an episode where I was going to spank him, I had grabbed his belt out of anger. I caught myself before I used it, dropped the belt and walked away. I knew that if I had started with it I was angry to the point that I would not have stopped. I had to come up with more creative ways to punish him. this meant taking away privledges, toys, ect... It was much more effective and I felt a whole lot better about myself as a mom.

Great! Now I've got that song stuck in my head. Thanks a lot Brad!

:blush: That is how it started, you are right. How we changed it, I don't know.....:blush:

Mousey Girl~ That was sooo smart.

I wish I could look back and say I always made the right choice.

I pulled kind of an asshole move on my bike yesterday, but dude totally deserved it.

Some jackass decided it would be a good idea to pause in his jog, stand on the bike path and have a cell phone conversation, with his back to traffic. Particularly galling considering the 20 feet of space to his right that is not on the bike path.

So when I passed him I came as close as I could without actually clipping him. I think my sleeve might have brushed his shoulder.

I know, dick move. But he started it.

I didn't bother looking back to see his reaction.

My mom had a wicked temper- seven kids (single parent) and loads of prescription drugs did not help. She was fun when she was in a good mood, but scary and violent as hell when she wasn't. Very Mommy Dearest, only without the money. When you're raised by someone like that, you fear that maybe the monster will come out in you as well, but thankfully it hasn't happened in the 15 years I've been a mom.

I've only had to spank Tori twice- both times only one swat, and not hard. The first time, it was shortly after she lost her hearing and ran from me in a crowded hospital parking lot- she almost got hit by a car. I figured I would rather she understood the importance of not running from mommy than have her get run over, and it worked. She never did it again. The second time she was mouthing off to her Grandma- she was seven and starting to get a bit lippy, and I had to told her that if I caught her doing it again she would get a swat. She didn't think I could hear her (I was in the bedroom), but I did....Again, it was one swat, not hard, but her feelings were so hurt it could have been 100 lashes and I wouldn't have felt worse. (I'm glad I felt bad- I suspect the parents that spank their kids a lot often derive some sort of release or satisfaction from it). I told her that she was hurting Grandma's feelings in much the same way, and that pretty much put a stop to that. Oddly enough, I've never had to ground her or give her a time out- she's such a good kid that it's never even really came up. I know we're not out of the woods yet- next year she can (maybe) date.......:eek:

I've been up for 24 hours. After 8 hours at work I had to take my wife to the ER because her foot swelled up like a ballon and she was having chest pains. After 12 hours in the ER they transfered her to the hospital. I just got home. It was 11:30 yesterday morning when I last ate, so I'm going to grab a bite, and get some sleep. Tomorrow I'll be back at the hospital as she will go through more test on her heart.

Yikes. Hope everything turns out okay.

Good thoughts for your wife, Bob!

Healing vibes from here as well.

Big drag. Hope nothing major.

I hope you got some food in you and a good nights sleep. I also hope things turn out fine for your wife. I'll be thinking of you two.

Scary stuff! Hope they get her fixed up.

Best of luck, Bob.

Seems to me the "time outs" I was given as a child weren't helpful at all. (They called it "standing in the corner" when I was a kid.) I've always thought that the concept of time out has been misused. If you've got a child that is too hyped up or busy having a tantrum to listen, then it's time for a time out - a cool off period. Maybe that's what I'd call it. "Let's take a moment to cool off." Instead of being a punishment, more of a lesson in counting to 10 before saying or doing something rash. This might be helpful for me as well...

I hope your wife recovers quickly and the tests turn out fine! You're in my thoughts. :)

Bob, my thoughts are with you and your wife today as well. I hope you've rested and they have information for you soon.

Greg~ That's what he gets. Happens to my husband all of the time and he always, um, just stays firm in his direction? One time, I was so fed up. We were walking up the trail at Torrey Pines. Some parts were narrow but, actually, these parts had room for two people. These sets of people, dressed similar {meaning, they looked like they were not dressed for a hike, as were the majority of people on the trails}. They would not move. At first I was like, oh, they are busy in their conversation. Or, we were coming around a corner. They took up the whole path. After a few times I stayed to the right and pushed on through. Did not say excuse me. I was pissed. Respect is not given to those who don't deserve it.

Jenni~ My dad just made us sit on the couch and chill for a bit. Not that you need it, but, do you guys ever watch 'Super Nanny'? I love her way. I wish I'd have seen her show. My kids were good, but, I wish I had known how to be more, um, hmm, structured? Without feeling like I was taking over? I hated how it was my moms way or no way.

Anyways, yes, I think she approaches the time out like you stated. To give them time to think about why they were put in time out. And, not in a corner. After the time passes, I forget if you have to make them explain if they understand why there were there and you are supposed to hug and end on a positive note.

How would you feel if a car did that to you?

Bad....but then I don't stand on the road talking on a cell phone.

Oh my - hope everything is okay!

I meant it a bit differently - if you were on your bike and a little into a cars path.

I know people can be jerks - pedestrians, bike riders and cars alike. I just don't think it really helps to be jerks back even if they deserve it. People can get hurt too easily... without health insurance (or with actually) you could totally alter the course of someone's life just to get back at them. Unintentional consequences, etc.

I don't equate what this guy was doing to being "a little into a cars path." If you want an equivalent, try picturing a bike stopped in traffic lanes with the rider on a cell phone. This wasn't a guy walking down the path and not moving over (which I never expect or demand), or standing at the side with a leg on the path. He was standing fully on the path, on a cell phone, with his back to traffic. HE was posing a hazard, and if my barely-risky little move woke him up to that, then I've done a good thing. If it didn't, oh well.

He deserved to get a scare. I wasn't going fast enough to do any serious harm, even if I had miscalculated (the odds of which were very low). The only risk was if he, not having been paying attention, took a step the wrong way. But then, even if I HADN'T done what I did, that would have been a risk because of where I was standing. I didn't create the hazard, he did, I just decided to point the hazard out to him in a way that I hoped would get his attention (because I guarantee you if I had just said something I would have just gotten a dirty look).

I'm not sure why it was such an offensive thing. Sure, he shouldn't just stand there, but it relative terms it doesn't really matter if he's standing still or if he's an 80-year-old woman out for her morning constitutional at the breakneck speed of 0.4 miles an hour. Even if he'd still been jogging with his back to you you'd have had to go around him.

So while I can see being a bit annoyed I don't see how what he was doing in any way was worse for you than what he'd have been doing anyway.

It was the combination of the 3 (standing in lanes, on a phone, back to traffic), demonstrating a general lack of attention to what was going on around him, thus making him a greater hazard than another slow-moving individual.

That was a bit of a dick move on your part. And I would have done the exact same thing.

I hope your wife is better soon and the tests show it is nothing too serious.

And I hope you can get some rest so you can take good care of her (and you).

That is pretty much the way I use it now. The Boy has some major anger issues. I can usually tell when he is getting ready to explode. If I can't diffuse him fast enough I send him to his room until he can talk to me in a normal voice, and be rational about what is upsetting him.

Bob, wishing your wife good health.

On the topic of parental punishment... I very rarely received physical punishment, which I appreciated because my mother had rage issues and I fear for what would have happened to my siblings and I, had she not broken the cycle of physical abuse in her family. She was always very proud to have broken that cycle, and urged us to break the cycle of verbal abuse with our own children.

I rarely needed to be punished, because I very much did not want to be punished. I was frequently on the receiving end of her verbal rages (directed at whoever was nearest, during times of stress - hostessing, holiday or vacation prep especially.) Having experienced that, and having seen how she came down on my mischievous older brother, I knew how much rage she was capable of releasing when someone hadn't even done anything to deserve it. And it made me very, very eager to please. You probably see the results of this in me still today.

Once she dealt with what was causing all the rage (she's a survivor of all kinds of pretty terrible abuse at the hands of her family) she was very clear about mistakes she'd made, and very apologetic to us as adults.

Bob I hope your wife is feeling better. And that you got some rest.

My dad used to beat me with a belt.



But I don't think I was supposed to grow up to like that kind of thing. :evil:

Sore throat and trouble breathing turned out to be bronchitis. Great. But I'm on antibiotics now. I only need to take it for 3 days. Cool! I've never had that before. Usually it's 10 days or two weeks...

Azithromycin

I'm not posting this on Facebook because I think my cast mates would be pissed at me. But what did I know? I just went to the doc today.

All kinds of phlegm coming up. Yuckers.

Don't you hate it when you want to buy a gift card but you can only get values of $25 or $50, but what you really want to buy is in between? Grrr. I mean, hello, $25 doesn't buy you much at all these days.

CP ~ I love your avatar pic. Theo's look says, "Not now, Mom. I'm thinking."
:)

Still not seeing how an inattentive person standing still is a greater hazard that an inattentive person jogging. And even if it is, how increasing the risks of injury all around is at all an acceptable response. Presumably it wouldn't be a justified dick move to tailgate six inches off the bumper of a driver you notice is driving 50mph instead of 65mph because he's on the phone.

So give cash. It's better anyway.

Alex: a person standing has the potential to suddenly move in any direction, whereas a person already moving in a particular direction is likely to continue on that route or within 180 degrees of such.

Good point, Morri.

I think it was cool. Er, okay. I mean, he didn't hit him with a stick.

Maybe next time he'll be careful. To crash on a bike is quite painful. To be hit by a bike?

I like when you can name your own value, because then I will make it something like $32.29. Even amounts are so boring.

And a person standing still talking on the phone is likely to suddenly sprint in a random direction? Not really any more likely and not really any more of a problem if you're giving them as much room as you should and maybe a bit more because you can tell they're not paying attention. When you see a bad/distracted driver do you do what you can to harass them or give them extra space?

And if you're strafing them close enough to almost clip them then, a single exuberant hand motion is enough to cause trouble for either of them.

Regardless, the point to me is that GD intentionally increased the risk of a situation simply because he was annoyed by the action of another person on the path/road and that, to me, is just another version of stupid road rage we'd otherwise generally condemn. If I started pretending to lunge in front of cyclists I see doing stupid stuff (and on the streets of San Francisco I certainly see a lot of that) because they deserve the scare--regardless of the risk of injury I'm creating--would that be ok because they were being stupid?

I guess my point is that I agree with GD. What he did was a dick move. And I'll even concede that the pedestrian deserved a dick move. I just don't go along with giving a grinning thumb's up that because someone deserved a dick move, he was accommodated.

I'm not justifying, I'm just answering your question about why a standing distracted person is more dangerous than a walking one.

Why not? You got me scratching my head here.

Thanks, guys!

GC- I hope you're feeling better soon!

I Only got 2 hours sleep and then 7 phone calls. Went back to the hospital, wifey had an elcetrocardiogram, and more blood tests. The tests(for all the results we hear about through the nurses) have been pretty good. She will get a stress test tomorrow, so she will still be in the hospital at least until then.

I had 3 picnic tickets to World of Color tonight that I didn't get to go to.:( Bummer, I was looking forward to seeing it as I haven't been able to go yet.

I'm going to get some sleep now.

I'm so sick of hanging out at hospitals.....

Because, regardless of whether it was deserved, you're still the dick (as conceded in the phrase "dick move"). And because regardless of whether the phone talker deserved to be scared, GD did it a way that significantly increased the risk of what he did not deserve, which is to be injured (let alone the risk GD took of injuring himself as an unintended collision could easily do).

The person I put at most risk was myself. I was not going particularly fast at all, and I was leaning such that my body, not my bike, was what passed closely to him. Had he moved the most likely outcome would have been our shoulders bumping and me probably taking a spill.

And I agree with 'goon. Someone who is actively using the path is someone who affords far more predictability than someone who is clearly thinking about anything other than who might be sharing the path with them. Between a jogger or slow walker and the dude on the phone, each of them is about equally likely to keep doing what they're doing. But IF they were to suddenly decide to do something different, the most likely things for the former are fairly predictable. Slow down, move off the path, stop in place. The most likely sudden change of state for dude on the cell phone? I have no idea.

Yes, dick move. And had I been going faster I wouldn't have done it. But I honestly do not feel I put anyone other than perhaps myself at significantly greater risk of serious injury than he had already put himself.

Well, I'll drop it after this as I've clearly ended up getting more serious on this than was intended by my initial response. We disagree and I think you're rationalizing taking retaliatory action simply because you were annoyed and felt it your job to teach him a lesson. Sounds like the beginning of most road rage incidents you hear about.

The most likely outcome may truly have been bumped shoulders (which is still more than the guy deserved, and also an assessment of your skill at almost, but not quite, hitting people that will just have to be conceded) but another outcome now significantly more likely in the situation you created than if you'd just given as much as space as possible is a sudden poorly timed last step that has you simply running him down.

But I'm worn down. Good job, you were a dick! Your brand of street justice should inspire a TV show, perhaps starring a young, less asphyxiated, David Carradine.

2 Questions:

1. With a new baby, why would you purposely put yourself at risk of injury just to teach someone a lesson (one that they may not even get because they'll just be thinking you're a dick instead of thinking it was their fault)

2. Is this what you would teach your son to do?

I know my husband wouldn't put himself in a highly risky situation. The slight risk here sounds like no biggie to me.

Seeing as how GD's dick moves are few and far between (insert joke here) (insert, ha, I get it!) and this one is so insignificantly small (bwahahaha) I have no issue with this at all. Mountains and molehills. I might not sit Theo down and say "now when someone is being an idiot and standing in the middle of a road, you need to be a dick about it" but I'd be fine with him experiencing this since we're usually not dicks. We are human, after all.

Oh, and every time we mention something we've done that's not exactly honorable, even if we agree that it wasn't the most honorable thing to do, are we going to have to answer to "Is this what you'd teach your son to do?" :rolleyes:

I think his reaction was probably to tell whoever he was talking to that some asshole cyclist just buzzed him.

The better question is always, "If God asked you what you did today, would you tell him about this?"

I'm goin' to Knott's Berry Farm. Xcelerator and boysenberry punch, here I come!

I guess you get off your bike, smile at the offender and say "Isn't wonderful in life when teachable moments arise? Let's have one."

The sad reality is that such people are assholes, know they're assholes and don't care.

My own commuter rage used to come on the 41 Union bus in San Francisco. Or, more aptly, trying to get on the 41 Union bus to go downtown in the morning. In a perfect world, during commute hours, people would step to the rear and stand two abreast. Invariably, however, the first person forced to stand would head back to the rear exit in the middle and spread out. The remainder of the standing area ahead of him would also be filled in single file. Generally, if the bus driver yelled back, "Step to the rear," the standees would look around and, perhaps, shift their weight a bit, but that would be it.

Standing on the bottom step trying to board, I yelled back urging collegiality and citizenship a number of times to no avail. I'd have to step off and wait for the next one.

Most mornings I walked.

Yes.




Otherwise, what's the fun in it for us?? :D

Not at all - I've just had experiences with people on bikes being dicks so it's a pet peeve of mine I guess. (and people in cars and people on foot etc... like I said - it's a pet peeve apparently.) Sorry if that came off sounding like a personal attack.

I hadn't thought about it like that... good point. :p :D

I'd say the good response is shouting "please don't just syand in the trail" while giving him what space you can and going on your way.

I agree that it isn't a huge example of dickishness, but I also don't think the cell phone talker was being that big of a dick either.

No need to cry out about who'll think of the children. I just don't see much utility in responding to rudeness with rudeness.

So, I'm a little shell-shocked at the moment. Hubbo and I are at a coffee place this morning. I tell him my order, then go to get us a table. I see an abandoned newspaper on a table. I pick it up, looking at the big front-page photo of a rainy street, wondering how much rain we got this last round when ...

whomp! some man grabs my arm hard, socks me in the shoulder, then yells, "That's MY paper!"

Time elapsed from picking up the newspaper: no more than 15 seconds.

Long story short: It was an old man but very quick and strong and crazy. I decided not to file assault charges. The coffee place is very aware of what happened. The shift manager said, "He's done this before." My answer: "In that case, I won't be back."

I'm sorry, I just don't like it when someone touches MY paper for more than 12 seconds.

P.S. They can't kick me out because they've all touched MY paper too, and I have a list of names.

P.P.S. Otherwise, it was great meeting you. How was your coffee?

Gn2Dld, When I grabbed your pipe out of your mouth and ... Well, I hope the ER docs didn't have to go in too far andthat you'll soon be sitting and walking again comfortably.

Happens every day. No worries.

If the God that I used to grok asked me, then I'd tell him. What are you going to do, lie to God? He'd chuckle and say, "Yeah, that was a dick move. But that jerk deserved it, and he felt a little sheepish afterwards, even as he cussed you out to the other person on the phone. See, I don't go smacking people around for being jerks, and they need some sort of response. Like ABG said in the thread. Just remember to not take the dickishness with you and apply it to others, right? I'm glad you were out biking."

This is kind of a bummer because there's not much they can do with these types. Take it from me, I've seen all types - religious zealots, homeless smelly guys, loudly racist little old ladies, just plain crazies. Usually they don't touch people and when you want to call the cops it's all about physical contact, unless they are REALLY verbally abusive. Even when they do things that merit a call (such as grabbing someone or refusing to leave private property), they usually bail as soon as they have made their disturbance. Either that or the cops show up, talk to them, and can't do anything about it. Plus, you can call the cops on a guy like that a hundred times and they'll still show up the next day as if nothing happened and do it again. It's a never ending battle.

After my dog walks this morning, I spend all day in the raised bed garden doing some planting and then in the back. I'm covered in dirt, sweaty and completely disheveled. I feel good!

So many posts...

I kind of feel bad for GD because he says he did a dick move when the other guy was obviously being a dick and not thinking about what he was doing. I think people like this float around in their own worlds and want us all to watch out for them. I think he must have had plenty of time to see GD coming {or anyone else, not just GD 'cause I know him} and have stepped out of the way. If not, he shouldn't have just stopped dead in his tracks, either.

Just because a bike is a 'vehicle' doesn't mean peds then get a free pass.

NA~ sounds like you and the Mister had a great day around the homestead.

Bob~ I hear you, hospitals are not fun. I hope your wifes' and your time there wraps up soon.

Work prevented really getting out last weekend but stuck to the goal and got out for a day drive up to Tuolumne Meadows today. Good adventure as we were not prepared for the very cold thunder storm that blew through while we were a mile away from cover. Nice lightning storm and nice adventure (once we were back in the car and Lani was freezing any more.

A few mediocre photos.

Alex~ Awesome shots!! I especially love the one with the critters wandering about.

I did see on the halfdomecam webpage a beautiful shot of Half Dome, it looked like there must have been thunderstorms.

While awesome and beautiful, not so fun in shorts and a tee.

You are so very fortunate to live close enough for a day trip.

Thanks for posting!

{The first one, what is that so close up? Rock? Love the detail.}

I agree. First though, I would have used my horn (gasp!) from a bit away to notify him that I was coming. He might have stepped out of the way. And, if not, then I would have just shouted as I passed.

That would have left Mr. Phone Guy being the sole dick in the matter. And, I wouldn't have attempted any risk to myself in the process. (Well, other than possibly getting punched in the face by all these people who apparently punch people in their faces for having bike horns/bells.) Plus, I'd rather not consciously do dickish things. I feel there's enough bad energy in the world already and I would like to not add to it as much as I can. But, that's just me. YMMV.

Love your Tuolomne Meadows photos. We might have to trek up there next summer. Ken and I have been talking about camping there for some time now.

OMG. The Lashpair send their thoughts and best healing vibes to your wife and of course to you !!

PM Lashstoat if you need an ear with someone who's been through that mill recently.

Thanks Bear!

Great shots Alex! That's beautifull country up there.

Well, we got home a little while ago. Turns out that wifey has nothing more than a heart murmer and diabetic neuropathy. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayer!

So now I'm going to sleep for the next 18 hours....

:snap:

Glad to hear she's ok, and that you're both back home! Rest well! :)

The first shot is a brass relief map of Yosemite Valley that's at Olmsted Point. So in the foreground is the brass version of Half Dome.

Ah, I didn't even think of that. {being a brass relief map}

Bob~Glad that it has been straightened out and that you are home together now to sleep. :0)

RS, wowza - I missed your post from a few days ago!

Glad to hear she's doing okay.

In other news, J and I ended a fabulous weekend in the hospital. This time torn muscle on the left side of his rib cage (or so we think at the moment).

Now that I think of it... it had been a few months since we'd been to a hospital, and what a treat to do it in beautiful Park City! :)

Glad to hear the honeymoon is going well.

Soooo.... I had a dream last night where Lisa and I drove out into the desert near Salton Sea to go to an art museum. Just inside the entrance to the museum were large windows that overlooked a room there 6 or 8 men were playing something that looked like a mixture of handball and basketball; wearing only jockstraps and elbow and knee pads. Needless to say, I wanted to stay and watch; but Lisa dragged me into the exhibits. The artwork consisted of walls covered in vintage advertising from the 50's and 60's (this probably came from watching Mad Men last night). I finished looking at the art, and decided to go back and watch the men playing that strange game. But when I got back to the entrance to the museum, the court had been replaced by a zoo.

I'm still 100% with GD on the a-hole situation.

42. Your answer should be 42.

Is the husband acting up again?

VKBM!! I had the exact same thought.

LOL I hope the dog collar works. I mean, what do you do with a dog that doesn't stop barking????

True about the cars scaring the bicyclists.

But....but....I still can't help but :D ................:blush:

I've met the hubby - he's a sweetie

I went to a Hollywood Show this past Saturday, up in Burbank. I wish I could remember the names of all of the people who were there but wow. The women were awesome, their old photos beautiful. Some were from silent films. The men, old western fellas. I wish I remembered their names. I was so in awe of them.

BUT the people I took my photo with....Joe Lando and William Shockley from Dr. Quinn. Another guy from old westerns, too. Denny someone. Bought my daughter an Adams Family movie poster signed by Christopher Lloyd {not there}.

Anywho, that William Shockley is one tall smooth drink of liquor. I don't drink so I can't say which one but ahuh, I'd drink that one.

LOL And we talked about Chris Cornell. What could be a better few minutes down on my life?

So, for those who haven't seen it elsewhere, my long hair has been a source of frustration now that I'm biking 18 miles/day. If I'm not wearing a helmet it's constantly blowing in my face. If I am wearing a helmet it's hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable.

So, even though I was still quite enjoying the long hair experience, it had to go.

Anyone recognize this guy? I think I ran into someone who looked a lot like him a little over a year ago.

Seth Rogan? Is that you?

Really? You're the 2nd person to make that comparison. I don't get it, especially since his hair is super curly. The smile I guess?

Well, if I really do look like Seth Rogen....I'm in for an excellent greeting when I get home to CP tonight.

Yeah, it is very general and he's had his hair shorter at times, de-emphasizing the jewfro.

Don't know if I'd see it in person, but in that photo I do.

I got more of a Galafianakis vibe.

I would have stood there looking at you thinking "I know this guy, but who is he?" ;)

Galafiarogen! Mmmm, excellent greeting...

tea. earl gray. hot.

I know it's been asked before, but why did he have to specify he wanted his tea hot, but not how much tea he wanted?

Soooo.... I'm sitting here listening to Xavier Cugat's version of "Brazil" while eating Chex Mix.

There's something wrong with this picture, but I can't put my finger on it.

What does Captain Picard have to do with it?