Well, this certainly gives me pause about paying my taxes today.

I should say so. The government can just deduct what I owe from my whistleblower award.

Where do you work?

I should have just stayed up all night.

I think I need intervention. Okay, in the form of a goshdarned kicka$$ rock show but still....

Heard here and there that Ricky Martin was coming to town. *snicker snicker* Went to the swapmeet by the Sports Arena and saw 'Ricky Martin' up on the marquee. *snicker, oh ya, he is coming, hmm, snicker*

Looking at cd's I found a Ricky Martin cd *scoff-snicker*...but I didn't put it down. Picked up a Linkin Park cd and slid the RM one behind it. When I paid, I paid and asked for a bag. Then I slipped it quickly into the Hubsters bag.

When arriving back to the car, I told the family not to laugh but I had bought a RM cd. Of course, they laughed their heads off. I said it was to exercise to.

Now, we must go back to, what, 1999? Livin' La Vida Loca was all over. One night the family was going somewhere and I opted out as I was too sick to even get off of the couch, was coughing non stop. So, what do they find when they get home {which I didn't hear because I had the music too loud} was me livin' la vida loca all over the living room. :blush:

I played it last night when I picked up my son from work and as his co-worker drove past he yelled out 'Help me!!!' I told him she probably thought he was just really getting into it. :evil:

As I pulled in to the court I thought of spinning the car around like he does in the beginning of the Vida Loca video....{but I didn't, wasn't my car}

I crave to hear it. I am going to right now, actually, since I am the only one here. I am going to shake my bon bon and drink from the cup of life....

Help!!!

{I understand new NiN comes out today....but is that enough?????}

Go out immediatly and buy GRINDERMAN. Do it now.

"Mom can you roll your window up?"

"Why are you cold?"

"No your music is embarassing."

LOL

Okay, what is Grinderman? {oo, reminds me of RM dancing....;) }

And yes, he kept trying to turn it down and when all failed he put on his own headphones. Moaning that we were hitting every freakin' red light. :evil:

Okay, off to find out {in Itunes?} what Grinderman sounds like.

Go here for Grinderman

Grinderman is Nick Cave.

OK, I just looked up Grinderman on myspace.

Niiiiice.

Got back from Yosemite yesterday afternoon (I'll post pics if requested). Just finished catching up on the 800 posts since Thursday night... who says this place isn't active? (Actually, I haven't heard that complaint in months)

...and Grinderman does indeed rock.

...and you need to go see Jarvis Cocker and Sloan - they're both hitting the west coast in the next couple of weeks.

I still haven't had the chance to listen {I am actually concerned because for some reason I can't hear anything on my computer, not sure WTH is going on}.

Okay, so these guys doing the West Coast, small venues? Love those.

Well, I was off for a bit {not shaking my bon bon} fixing up our reservations to Yosemite, what a coincidence. This is roughing it for us, three nights and one night without a bathroom and we are staying in Curry Village!! {I've gotten used to the more modern comforts of Yosemite Lodge}

I'd love to see pictures.

Maybe a thread would be nice of vacation shots? I know there are others here who frequent Yosemite....

Saw Sloan at Coachella 2 years ago and they were awesome. I even got a t-shirt, which is really convenient when I forget my name.

So, who has the chickens again? I'll have to look this up...

Anyway - I had a dream about chickens, that I'm attributing to reading about on here.

ETA: I have gotten word that Mousey Girl's alias should be Chicken Girl. ;)

I know I shouldnt say this, but I am so glad I havent heard that yet.
What's that? Just wait till he's 12, yeah yeah KatieSue.. I hear you.

Here's an uninspired slideshow from one of my Yosemite trips.

So, most of the year having a regional post office across the street from work is hugely convenient. Today...not so much. I'm going to try to get out of here early to deal with the roadblocks.

Interesting. I was wondering if most people had missed the two-day extension and filed by Sunday anyway. The post office near me at work was pretty much dead today and when I walked by H&R Bloc at lunch is was completely empty. Two people sitting all alone at desks hoping for some company.

I made it out relatively unscathed. I was forced to re-route a little so I'm glad I left a few minutes early, but the major backup of cars hadn't happened yet.

The cops were starting to set up a maze of cones, and they were rolling dozens of mail bins into the middle of the street, so that post office was definitely gearing up for a mad rush this evening.

People here can procrastinate even more due to the big storm we had. You're allowed to write "April 16 Storm" on your forms and get 48 hours more to file.

Those pictures are gorgeous- why do you call it "uninspired"? I had no idea you guys had cool mountain stuff like this in California; I thought Washington had a corner on this sort of thing. I would definitely be up for a trip to Yosemite.

I feel the need to ask what the dream was about...

Today Boy and I went to Walmart, to once again try to get a self set for the wannabe closet. Nick found exactly what I was looking for and, since it is 5 inches narrower than the other one, it should fit nicely.
We also got Chicken (I call her that, Nick named her Blackie) a bowl for her food that she can't tip over. I am amused that it is a cat food bowl.

I am being stared at by a scrawny white rat... I think she is trying to make me feel guilty for not taking her out.

Uninspired because except for a few photographs they are just snapshots, which I don't generally do.

One thing I can't bring myself to do in Yosemite is put much effort into the photography. That really just makes me feel like a poser.

Oh my gosh, Alex. I just love taking pictures in Yosemite. I take 35mm, digital, 35mm B & W....we get up early and go trekking about to take shots, we go out for the sunseting over the valley and all of the lovely colors it cast about.

We even have blown up a few.

But, I love to take pictures. I like to see what I can do.

{still haven't gotten my sound to work....:mad: }

I was trying to make a train on time, but had two chickens in tow. One was quite well-behaved, even human-like. The other I had to carry. I got tired, set it down while we were going up the escalators (bad idea, I know), and it just sat and laid its head down.

Weird. Wierd. WEIRD.

I woke up not long after that.

I love taking pictures too. I just don't tend to enjoy doing it in places where the best in the world have all done it a thousand times before. Especially since I have a permanently low regard for my own photography.

So I don't put any effort into it and take pretty snapshots (and the occasional blurry squirrel ass).

So, has anyone heard from the Kevy Babies? I hope they're having a great time, and KB hasn't gotten his ass thrown in a Mexican jail yet.:D

Oh man, I forgot they're cruising right now! Kevy's probably too busy sleeping to get in any trouble, poor guy deserves a break!

Funny, I was just wondering today why we hadn't heard from them... of course because I forgot they were on a boat!

That one was my favorite.

Not only did a coworker not hold the door to the building open this morning, even though I was all of 5 steps behind him, he actually managed to open it in such a way that it bounced on its hinges and nearly closed before I got to it. I can't imagine he did that on purpose since I don't even know the dude, but what the hell? Who doesn't pause for a second to hold the door?

The same people who conclude phone conversations without saying, "Goodbye".

Well, I can understand that. But, I take it the other way that their photographs {Ansel Adams, and so many on line photogs, awesome shots} inspire me to see what else there is to learn for me. I would love to be a great photographer, skill wise.

My daughter gave me her SRL camera, an older one, and I want to learn how to use it and take some cool night shots {I'd love to take a picture of a big Harvest Moon} and say I did it. But, I would like a telephoto lense for it since I don't go right up to a lot of places...:rolleyes:

And, my family gives me such grief for taking pictures. They say I take too long to snap the shot, etc. I take a lot and figure that just a few will come out to be ones I would love.

I give the kids cameras {and now the Hubster takes mine} and love to see what they take pictures of.

{Funny your squirrel comment; first year we gave our 4 year old a camera he was sooooo in awe of the squirrels that is all he took pictures of. I asked him to please stop, we could buy a postcard. He didn't. He was so in awe to see them in all of the public places, on our porch, etc.}

You'd be surprised.

On the other side of the coin, I will hold the door for someone who's even several (or more) seconds away. I'm always surprised when very healthy people (usually at the gym) will look me in the eye and not hop to it a bit to get to the door faster, out of courtesy. I mean, sure, grandma's probably not going to speed it up, but little Ms. Fitness sure can.

On another note - as much of a believer in female power as I am - men are more often (not always) more courteous at the door than females, on both holding the door and speeding it up when someone else is.

When to hold the door is a fine line of courtesy.

Essentially if it all can happen in a fluid exchange then all is good, but if someone is required to stop for more than a couple beats then everybody should move on.

To my thinking, if you hold the door for me with too long of a gap with the expectation that I'll hurry up to get there then you're the one being (very minorly) rude, not me if I don't.

But there are always those awkward gray areas where the timing just seems off for everybody.

Agreed. I'm one who errs on the side of holding in the gray area (while trying to present as non-challant an attitude as possible to indicate that I'm doing it because I want to, not out of some obligation and that there is no need for the person to hurry), but I'm cool with people who have a shorter cutoff distance for me.

But I was well within the hold-zone this morning. And the guy knew I was there because he walked in front of my car as I got out. I was so close that had he not pulled the move where the door bounced nearly shut, I probably would have been able to reach the door in 1 step after he let it go. Clear violation of door-holding etiquette. Punk.

I need a few more days in the week. Or at least hours in the day.

When did I get so dang busy that I have to get my nails done on my lunch because I have no time after work for the next 2 weeks?

Anyone interested in the KROQ presale information for Arcade Fire at the Greek Theatre? Let me know your email and I can forward it to you. Presale is tomorrow, shows are May 29 and 30.

Me!

Edit - Damnit, Tuesday and Wednesday?! :mad:

So, the mechanic is on his way to pick me up and they will surrender my car once I surrender all my shekels. Thanks to all for your support, sympathy and endurance of my whining.

:cheers:

A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.

AKA - no, I will not miss game 5 tomorrow night because you put our project off until the last minute despite my trying to get everyone on track. have fun!

I suppose my cut-off time is usually 4 seconds, which goes by pretty fast. I suppose that in my quick judgment to hold a door, I'm not immediately taking the speed of someone's walk into consideration. It just seems like a common courtesy to ease the greater flow by holding doors and quickening it up to the door.

I don't begrudge anyone not speeding up just because I hold the door. I always make sure to give my best "No hurry" body language. I guess I see it as I made the choice to hold it, why are they under any obligation to alter their pace for me?

Shortly after posting that this morning I had the situation where I was a good 20 feet behind another guy who didn't even know I was there. He opened the door and didn't hold it for me (I had no problem with this). However, this is a badge secured door so I started to do a quick burst to get there before it closed.

The guy heard something looked back, saw me, and then it was a race back to the door since he decided the politeness required he beat me to it so he could hold it open for me.

That's was the door holding version of the person who decides to decline right-of-way at a four-way stop. Sure, it seems polite but it just makes everything awkward.

Is it possible there are different "flavors" of avocado? I'm eating one now that I just got from the store, and while it's ripe and all... the flavor's just.... meh. And the whole fruit is very watery inside. I'm wondering if this is a different strain or something.

In that situation, I probably wouldn't run back to beat you, but if it looked like you weren't going to make it in time, I'd walk back with, "Don't worry, if it closes I'll open it for you" body language.

And yes, it's occurred to me that I have no idea whether or not anyone else is fluent in my body language, but I try damnit.

The door that the insensitive clod from this morning failed to hold for me was a badge door. Slime.

Always buy Haas avocados. Always.

does it have a smoother skin? sort of a pale green color instead of that nice rich dark forest green? and a wee lil teardrop shaped pit?


yeah, dont get those. blech

So there is nothing quite so wonderful as won ton soup after a hard day. Won ton soup for the soul, indeed. Mmmmmmmmmmm Mmmmmmm Good, screw Campbells Soup.

A couple of varieties, smooth skin (in LARGE and small varieties), I'm with everyone else, never buy any but Haas. Creamy and yummy, all the time!

Where is Kevy when you need him?


I know, cruising with GusGus

Regarding the door - like I said, I don't *expect* someone to hurry up, and in no situation would I expect someone to run or even jog to get there. I just know that when I see someone holding the door, I make a gesture (and by that, I mean slight body language) to suggest that I see them doing something very kind, and I don't dawdle. I'm really talking about people who dawdle unnecessarily. I suppose that I should just hold the door until I realize they're dawdling, then just leave. The one time I did that, I got an "ugh" from the woman as she came through the door and stepped behind me in line. She thought I was rude.

I liken the whole thing to crossing the street. Make your way across at a normal pace if you're not hindered by disability or age. I apply it to everything. Be as least a hindrance as possible. Make the world a better place (even if only slightly, and affecting only a handful of people at best) one tiny act at a time.

Haas is truly the best of all avocados. Well, at least if you ask me. Florida has a kind of avocado... it's usually larger, has smoother skin and has a slightly fruity taste to me.

I don't know if there's a third one, but I'd still stick with Haas. Always a safe bet.

Thank you.

They are getting better about it since they see that if they listen to me, they come out with some really good shots. We haven't been to a studio in a while {the old fashioned pictures not included}.

Killer Palm Fond attacks Jungle Cruise Victim. ;)

HA

If it's a badge door, wouldn't holding the door open for a stranger be considered a security breach? I know it's probably not a big deal in the commercial world, but in a secure environment it could be an issue.

April 17.
Springtime in Sunny Southern California.
Winds 20-30 MPH with an expected low temp of 51.

I wonder what it is with the wind chill factor?

I'm cold.

20 mph at 51 degrees feels like 45
30 mph at 51 degrees feels like 43

There's a calculator here

I'm not allowed to post in the "With Appoloies to the Formerly Soviet Swank", but what is the significance of the birthday of March 28, 1983?

I drive through an alley to get out to the main street. This morning when I was leaving for work there was a Christmas tree propped up against one of the dumpsters. A flocked Christmas tree with a string of lights and a few ornaments. Wasn't Christmas like four months ago?:rolleyes:

You've got me, but for some reason we were inundated by a series of spambots that all had that listed as a birthday - I suppose to ensure over 21 status or something. Anyway, the end result is I am instantly suspicious when I see it and delete unless there is something else that compels me not to.

Are palm fronds normally so vicious? I was so busy evading the hippos I didn't even think to look overhead for any life threatening foliage!

Yes. In Hawaii they have road crews specifically for keeping roadside palms trimmed so they don't drop on people.

OK. It's bedtime now.

Palm fronds are a PITA. So are the trees. Our neighbors have some and during these big winds they look like they will topple. AND they aren't that close but the last storms have left fronds in our back & side yards. The one side being quite far from the tree.

I would have thought yucca {I think that is what they are called} would be more dangerous. Poke yer eye out .

Nickolas is a door holder. He gets mad if I get to a door before him and don't let him open it for me.

*yawn*

The winds of the last 2 days is really messing with my allergies. I think I woke up with a Benedryl hangover.

I didn't sleep much last night thanks to the winds, and now we're going to Disneyland - woohoo!

Got woken up at 5 AM by stupid spam fax machine trying to send us the latest news on, I dunno, some used car for purchase or something. But we don't know what, specifically, because our phone number is not a fax number.

This was initially frustrating. And then, when my cell phone rang at 6 AM, I was glad to be at least partially awake to discuss car rentals with the owner of the Detroit-area classic car company who may be leasing us vintage wheels (make, color tbd) for the wedding weekend. Phooey on you, rude limousine company. (Plus now, we don't have to worry about choosing between our 27 people involved in an official capacity. Nor do we have to rent a motor home to transport all of them at once.)

Someone was decapitated by a palm frond on the Jungle Cruise?

for a wedding? the red impala. hands down :D

He knows I work here. We don't know each other as in we haven't had a conversation, but we work on the same side of the building and pass each other on a daily basis. We even used to be on the same gym-use schedule.

Then there's no excuse, that was just plain rude. :(

So, I drove to work today, it felt weird.

Well, fancy that! We just put a deposit down on the red impala... :)

My car is back in the driveway as well.

Yay!

*high five*

lotso pix of the ride :snap:


erm...of the wedding too of course. :blush:

What, no 1961 custom convertible Lincoln Continental limousine?

I hope it idles better.

It runs like a dream. He did the 60 mile service and changed the rear brakes for me. He also said the car was solid as a rock. Nice thing to hear from your mechanic!

If you get it serviced every 60 miles, I would expect no less ;)

HA! That would mean every other day. 60K. 60K. 60K.

So last night Josh and I practiced putting condoms on bananas and then I gave him a condom to keep in his wallet. The entire exercise left him feeling mature; it left me feeling old.

And left the poor banana feeling very frustrated and used.

I know the feeling. That's why I'm "Fully Loaded" here. :cool:

Did you tell him to change it every month or so since they will degrade in the heat from the wallet/body?

Since I've never had a condom last a month in my wallet, I did not know that. Thanks for the knowledge, condom expert girl BTD.

Hmmm...okay.....

Great advice, BTD. :snap:

So, in line yesterday I notice a lot of 'Pirates' items coming through. I comment on it and this little boy comes up from behind his mom, wearing a red skull cap making a grrrr face telling me his is Capt Barbosa :eek: . His mom laughingly rolls her eyes and I asked if he'd been on the ride, yes, but they hadn't ever met Capt. Jack.

I said I knew a Capt Jack but that I think his name was really Bob. He looked at me quite confused. :D

And, yes, I threw in a few 'Arrrs'. What a fun kid.

I need to not look at what people buy. {oh yes, condoms, bottle of wine and a romantic cd???? Hope you get as lucky as you think you are....}

Are you saying the one in my wallet from 1980 maybe slightly degraded?

ok, I just laughed so hard I soaked my KB with coffee. :snap:

ha ha!! My job is done for the day.....:evil:

BTW, you'd have love this little guy. But why Barbosa????

barbosa is just eville cool. not even just evil.....eeee-villle!

And here's some more Red Sox fan shenanigans for your viewing pleasure.

His name is Bob also? Wow, that's freaky.

But not as eee-villle as Davey Jones. :D

You'd think a Sox fan would have more respect for the value of beer.

I just got back from Big Lots- 75 watt equivalent compact flourecent bulbs for $1.00, special price due to Edison price off-set. Just FYI.

Well....I am really not so sure. Being a pirate and all he may have been tricking me. :eek:

Oh, cool and eee-ville? Aw, but this little one was so gosh darned cute!! Funny he connected with Barbosa.

Maybe the kid just wishes he owned a magic apple.

Aw, don't all little boys?

So, my bluetooth headset died. I can connect and hear people talking but they can't hear me. The mic is obviously broken. I took it to the T-Mobile store and they had me call Plantronics (the manufacturer) for a replacement since it is still under a one year warranty. They require a number which is written in grey ink on the mic arm of the device and the ink has, over the period of 10 months, completely worn off. I'm getting the "sorry I can't replace it without that number" run around. So, if you need that number so badly to provide customer service, why did you manufacturer it with non-permanent ink?

Anyways, this frustration has only gone on for 2 days and I'm not completely pissed off yet - but I'm getting there. Don't hand me any handguns. ;)

At work today I was just putting the cap on my pen but instead I rammed the point into my finger. Ouch.

Then at home tonight I was having trouble picking up the pizza with the spatula so I grabbed the pan for leverage, the pan that I just took out of the oven. I burned the same finger I stabbed earlier today. Ouch.

:rolleyes:

For the rest of the evening I'm going to sit quietly and avoid sharp and hot objects.

We haven't received any mail this week. This includes the weekly grocery ads, and there definitely were grocery ads this week. I can't get anyone at the post office to talk to me, and I'm suspicious that something may have gone horribly awry, and the only question is whether it's post office error (again), or identity theft.

Hmm... You can start checking the identity theft thing immediately, and I've always felt it's a good thing to do, especially after a scare I had a few years ago. I don't know about the new "credit check" things they're talking about on TV, but the big 3, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all give out one free per year.

I always figure it's a good thing to know.

well, I have to wait until tomorrow to go argue with the post office before I can do anything. If they have a change of address on file, then I know there's an issue and it's police next.

Call the CEO's office. :D

Yeah, Edison's really getting them out there... they had the 100-watt equivalent ones at 99-cent store. Hell of a time to get out and get bulbs! :) Didn't see the ones at Big Lots the other day, I wonder if they're just rolling them out?

Ganahl still has them for $0.20/per bulb.

Hey CoasterMAtt, you haven't been up to Sacramento recently, have you?

That's actually one of my favorite ride types EVER, but I guess I won't be riding the one in Sacramento...

(I've actually gotten emails from people I haven't really communicated with in years asking if I saw this story).

The Scandia fun park in Victorville has one of these rides as well, which I rode when it was originally at Gator Golf in Florida - with some fun ride ops who had Rose and I spinning for nearly 15 minutes.

I always wonder what happens in this kind of scenario... You know, where does this kind of thing go? Does the person get "set straight" and "put on the right path" - or do they become more bitter and angry? Is the attention enough to quell whatever thing they're in need of, or does it make them hunger for more? Do they keep him locked away forever, or do they let him go? Does he get treatment, and if so, will it work? If he does and it doesn't help him - he goes ballistic somewhere in the future - will we all be pointing fingers once again?

These are the F-d up things I end up thinking about. Questions, questions, questions.

Now I'm waiting for the followup story in which they discover further evidence which shows that the source of the noise problem in Sacramento was actually coming form Victorville.

Gravity Works Skyscraper - The most fun, fantastically scary ride experience anywhere.

I really spend most of my ride laughing, more than really screaming.

In high school a group of us used to engage in elaborate plotting of the murder (most frequently the poisoning of her ever present coffee) of a particularly hated teacher.

I can still spend hours plotting my suicide. But I've never been suicidal.

The great problem is that among a thousand people who say "I'll kill you" only one does it. Among hundreds of thousands of excluded, hateful, severely damaged children in the last 15 years who have had fantasies of mass revenge, only a dozen have acted on those fantasies.

The difficulty is that in this country we punish actions not thoughts. And, as much as we'd like to think otherwise, forced confinement to a hospital is still imprisonment. In watching this debate I am seeing a lot of people who are essentially saying that to avoid something like this it is better to "imprison" 100 innocent people to stop the one who would eventually be guilty.

Thinking back on that kid who went to court trying to reject traditional treatment for cancer. The general consensus is that it can't be forced. Does this apply to mental illness? What level of mental illness? What types? Does this have scary implications since we, as a society, seem to increasingly medicalize normal variation in mood, behavior, and characteristic?

So I sent a dude to the hospital with a nasty black eye yesterday.

When I was on the selection committee for articles to be published this year, there was just a few student articles that I thought were really awful. And lucky me, I get to S&C one of them!

I keep having to remind myself that I'm just checking their cites, and that there's nothing I can - or should - do about the fact that their writing is crap.

And it doesn't help that they're a total ass in person.

I just have to get through this process and I'll be done with Law Review forever. Less than a week....

He didn't hold the door for you?

Waiting for the other shoe . . .

No, I didn't use my shoe, but close.

Freak soccer incident. He had the ball, I stepped up to defend him and we both just kinda hit the ball at the same time. It shot straight up and pegged him square in the eye. There was a pretty nasty looking lump within minutes beneath his eye, and I guess it finally went black last night. He went to the doctor today instead of coming to work. I haven't seen it, but it was well on its way to being pretty bad yesterday.

You don't go to the doctor for soccer injuries. You wear them proudly as you go about your normal day.

I am a happy girl!

The Ducks won last night and move on to round 2. We took down their ginormous enforcer twice last night. WOOHOO!

And I'm going to DisneyWorld!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd imagine that attempting to arrive at work for your normal day with one eye swollen shut presents a particular challenge.

I'm still trying to figure out how a soccer player fakes a black eye.

Yes, but a glorious one!

You whine about soccer injuries on the field but off the field you can't even hint that you feel the pain.

All in indirect proportion to the actual severity of the injury, naturally.

I'm with Alex. Heck, I'm a girl and I wear my sporting and tom-foolery bruises with pride!

Of course, there's a stigma attached to females sporting bruises - an automatic assumption that she got it due to some sort of abuse. I got a lot of strange looks and a couple of questions after taking a small-sized kickball to the face about a month ago. (I was playing in a "broomball" event.)

I don't bruise. It pisses me off. A few weeks ago, I was involved in a pretty vicious knee-to-quadriceps collision (his knee, my quad). I could feel the pain down to the bone for about 4 days. Never bruised. Lame.

Well, this may only be interesting to myself, but Vistaprint sent out an apology email Thursday morning saying they'd had some kind of glitch the other day and were offering all this extra free stuff (over and above their normal "free" cards) as a thank you for coming back to them - ironic since I hadn't bought anything yet with them, just signed up an account. Anyway, got 100 color (on the front side) postcards and an address stamp, and the whole thing cost me less than $10, most of which was shipping (I paid $3 extra to have the address stamp be in blue).

Dubious quality or no, free postcards are free postcards!

Yes, Vista is terrific. And actually, the quality is not at all dubious. Our save-the-dates were full-color glossy postcards, and they turned out beautifully. (Actually, come to think of it, our actual invitation RSVP/reception inserts were Vista-printed, too.)

Perhaps you don't actually contain any blood. This explains your name "Ghoulish Delight". :D ;)

I don't bruise either and so all my soccer injuries had to not only be stoically survived but there wasn't even silent respect earned.

Complete waste of good pain.

I should start posting pictures of mine. :D

I bruise from even the least notable injuries. Somewhere, the scale of bruises in the world is even.

So...

I have a feeling I'm about to freeze my ass off tonight. Boat party. Summer of Love Theme. If it's not the rain that'll get me, it'll be the boat-rockin' sea-sickness. But it'll probably be the rain and the cold. I've never had motion sickness.

So, four days of no mail. The post office couldn't care less. It's not their problem, apparently. They won't tell us whether it's been rerouted, held, whatever. And if it has been rerouted (because anyone can turn in a change of address form), it's potentially ID theft, but I can't file a police report, because the post office won't cough up any info, so I can't prove that I just didn't have any mail sent to me for four days. And I can't reverse a hold or rerouting, since I don't know anything about the initial request. If that happened, the presumption is that the "real" me did it, and I have to prove that they didn't.

This is really really really going to suck.

Can you call asking about the status of your change of address form? Maybe they'll read the new address back to you if you tell them you're not getting it at the new place and you'd like to confirm what they have on file?

Sorry to here that Pru. I hope it's fixed soon. That does suck.

And I realy hope it's not ID theft!

I just got back from the store. And I realized I did something weird.

I got:

Bread, Bagels, Bananas, Butter, Bacon (of course!)

Cheese, Chicken, and stopped on the way for Chineese Food.

All "B"s and "C"s.:eek:

Do you suppose it means anything? :confused:

Bacon, Cheese and Chicken on a Bagel is delicious

You found the transcript of my sophomore year in college?

I get to spend the night with my fsvorite puppy! I WUV GUS!

Gus Gus!! :)

I thought she was on a cruise?

What would Kevy say?

Film at 11:00.;)

I'm pretty sure he'd lose the capacity to speak.

They let dogs on a cruise?

Aren't you all just dying to know what's up with my mail? Here's the excitement:

The post office broke their key to our mail unit, so from now on we have to go pick up our mail at the post office during regular business hours.

Which means we can pick up our mail once a week, on Saturday.

OR, we can rent, from the post office, a PO Box accessible 24-7.

Because they don't feel like replacing the key, as it would be a bother, and not replacing it means they can charge us PO Box fees, so that sounds way better to them.

Or, we can try to talk the HOA into replacing the whole mailbox unit.

And could they leave a note to this effect? Nope. Could they tell us this over the phone? Nope. Had to go in person to find out that we no longer get home delivery.

Isn't it the mailbox owners responsibility to provide the post office with a key for locked mailboxes?

That was my understanding when something similar happened at our last apartment building, rendering a bank of boxes inaccessible to the mailman.

According to Section 2.1.7 of this page, maintenance of mailboxes are entirely the owners responsibility. I'd press the HOA hard, it may just be that they need to provide a new key to the post office.

So...

... last night, sober, lost and in desperate need of a toilet when there was none to be found (in a shady looking neighborhood, I might add), I pulled onto a side street and peed into a cup in my car. (Yes, the cup was promptly tossed, and I was promptly skeeved at myself...)

Note to self: it's a priority to go pee before you leave - even if you think it's only going to be a 15 minute ride home.

Prudence, WHATEVER you do, don't forward your home mail to work!

It's nearly impossible to get it reversed, even if you don't mark it as permanent! (Trust me on this one! I think mine is finally fixed, and it only took about 18 months. There are super-secret areas in USPS computers that only special people can get to, and they don't even LET the other people know that those parts exist!)

It amazes me how many people fail to plan ahead. You know you have an event coming up...why are you then shocked when you wait for your event to be less than a week away before trying to rent the items you need and we don't have that item(s) availble?

Have I mentioned that I am starting to hate wedding season?

blue cheese drizzled with honey infused with truffles on a cracker - good eats.

The postal person was kind enough to deliver my prescription meds to the door today, instead of returning them to sender. I'm just glad someone was home to answer the door. This just means I don't have to storm the post office with torch and pitchfork. They are still evil and I still hate them.

Wow, that is the most rediculous, insaine thing I have ever heard! Do you live in some back country hick town or third world country? At least it's not stolen, if that's some concellation.....

Soooooo, I've had a stressful day. Morning phone from Chris telling me Charles needed to go to the vet because he's got a cold and wasn't doing to good. THEN, I came home (to my loft home where I'm pet sitting) to find Gus, my absolute favorite dog, shaking/shivering because he ate chocolate and it was causing toxic shock.

Charles is doing well, but it on antibiotics. Gus had to get IV fluids, activated charcoal and muscle relaxers but is home now and doing better. The vet is going to be invited over for Christmas Dinner at this point.

However, the fantastic news of the day......Gus' mommies called me tonight to say that they got engaged! I'm so excited and happy for them and I'm glad they didn't come home when I called them about Gus. They know I love him oodles and would do anything for him, but we almost ruined the engagement surprise.

Yeah, I'd say that's right up there on the stress charts, NA. Crap! I'm glad all are doing well, and sorry you had such a horrid day. Big hugs to Charles and Gus.

Coming up on 12 hours since I got to work this afternoon and only about 12 hours to go (hopefully).

I need booze. Now.

That is all.

Wow! A 24 hr shift! Holy Shift!! :eek:

Dang, NA! Poor Gus Gus! I hope Chuck and Gus are doing better tomorrow. And you as well! Take care!!

Things went very smoothly. I'm going to get to leave a few hours earlier than expect.

Nothing like watching the sun set while at work on a Saturday only to then watch it rise while still at work on Sunday.

A pretty good rainstorm did blow through in the middle of the night, though.

I'm glad to hear it went well, Alex. Though I'm sure you won't get this until some time tomorrow as you will be sleeping, I'm sure. Get plenty of rest!!

It looks like we got some decent rain here during the night. Now I get to get dressed and drive up to Tehachapi to get the 2 Pokemon DS games that came out today. *sigh*

No, no sleeping until tonight. If I were to sleep now I'd be screwed up all week. I semi-regularly stay up 36 hours so it isn't that big of a deal. Just a long boring night.

POURquoi? :cheers:

We picked up those this morning, also. But, they didn't have to drive so far. And, from what I understand, not crowded at all.

Did you get the stylus'?

Alex, you do this regularly????

The new job will require it at least one day a quarter (our quarterly major production releases begin at 11:30 p.m. on a Saturday night). But this is the first time I've done it for the job. I just, with some regularity have a night every once in a while where I don't go to sleep. Not really insomnia, just never get tired and then I'm back to a normal sleep schedule the next night.

... I just found out that my favorite bar just added Entourage viewing to their Sinatra Sunday. Sinatra Sundays are awesome enough, but putting that show on there is enough to make me drop my homework at 7:30 to watch some cute boys.

RAWR.

The only reason we had to go to Tehachapi is because that was where we happened to be when we did the presale, which had to be done to get the stilus for both games. I though that we could visit with my sister while we were up there and have my b-i-l look at my car at the same time. That fell through, but we still had to go get the games. From what I understand, most local stores that carried both games ran out around 10 this morning (unless you did the presale). We had to go to Target to get the book.

The book! Oh, darn, he didn't get that. The store he went to didn't open until 11 a.m., so, there we were lucky. Even though he'd pre-ordered, they said first come first served about the stylus'.

Alex, wow, what a schedule. But, I would imagine, it would be interesting to experience it...once in a while.

Okay, the sound on my computer sucks. I haven't heard any music on it in forever and now this is on Yahoo!

http://music.yahoo.com/promo-31904706

Does everyone else hear this as chipmunks? :mad:

So, Gus is doing better. But, I stayed with him for most of the day anyways. He's still not back up to being my Mr. Gus. He sure got lots of attention this weekend, though. :)

I have the next week off. I had to work at triple speed for three weeks to get everything done and I'll get back just in time to plunge right back into another busy week. But this week I'm off.

The plan is to stay home and clean and rearrange the clutter and identify stuff that can be thrown out or given away and then throw it out or give it away. I need one of those bracelets, whatever they're called, you know when someone is under house arrest? Because I'm really bad about sticking around home.

Wow. 15 minutes. I held it at least a good 90 minutes. I think you need a bigger bladder.

:p

This article I'm editing really really really sucks.

Man I love playoff hockey.

Well, to be fair, I'd held it for a while (around 1.5 to 2 hours), but the boat facilities (I was at a boat party earlier) were closed, as was every bar and restaurant in downtown Long Beach (it was around 2:30AM). To my dismay I wasn't lost there.... I was lost in some shipping area. If I had any kind of foresight, I'd have gone the other way and hit up a convenience store or something.

Trust me... I didn't hold it for just 15 minutes... I just couldn't concentrate on getting myself un-lost while having to pee that badly.

OK, good. :p

Thought I'd hit the Lot before retiering for the evening. I pull up the sooooo.... thread for a nice read to cap off the weekend, and what do I get? Pee talk.

Yup, I can rest in peece now....

Good night.

;)

Watching My Fair Lady... I've only had it all week and then some. Now I can get it back in the mail.

Weekend was very "meh". Bad open houses. I should listen to my dad and choose the houses I want to hold open rather than waiting for some other agent to offer me one.

Uploading music into my Ipod I have a business trip that will be at least a week. I'm going to miss my wife and daughter. Such is life.

Have a great trip Steve! You'll be back home before you know it!

Nuthin' like talking about...

Oh nevermind.

I'm just needing some good mojo for today... On the plus side, though I'm coming up on deadlines, I'm at that point where it's coming up so fast I've resigned myself to the fact that I can only do as much as I can while keeping my sanity, and not a drop more. I've accepted that as excited as others may sound, many people in this world aren't really willing to put forth the effort to do even the basics, and that sometimes it's just best to just get it done myself just to get it over with - and to realize the valuable lessons I've learned in the end. Which sounds like common sense, even if it isn't fair. Only one or two people around here even know how stressed I've been over things.

In the long haul, it's all just drops in buckets. Right? Everything's going to be just fine..... /deep breath

Haha! I didn't mean actual mojo - hahah - I wasn't even thinking about that. But, I really do appreciate everyone sending me positive vibes for today. I'm going to need it to carry me through till Wednesday. :)


You guys are really the best!

Sooo.. it was well worth sticking around DL on Sunday. After the park "closed" at 4pm, they announced the other lands would remain open until 8pm. So I rode just about everything including Peter Pan twice...

The should do this more often! ;)

I wondered about that. The fastpass return times for Space were after 4 when I was there. I was thinking that wasn't going to work.

So both of you were there? For the premiere? {was that this weekend? or some other event?}

It was for a travel agent party thing.

Wish I'd gone to DL instead... sounds like fun.

So, my dog rolled in something yesterday... he's horrendously stinky and will be receiving a bath tonight (I'd have done it last night if I realized how bad he stinks, but I didn't notice till bedtime)

Oh, okay, thanks for the info!

Morrigoon, I am worried about our dog. It seems to be skunk season here....so far, so good.

So much for the "neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night" malarky. I guess keys were not in the orignal manifest.

that sucks Pru.

My back and my legs are killing me. When you add together all day at the SD zoo on Saturday followed by walking around Fashion Valley and playing pool most of the night to walking around the swap meet most of Sunday you have lots of pain.

On a happy note for only $24 each we were able to get the Zoo/Wild Animal Park year pass.

WOOHOO!

So do you ever feel like you are juggling too many balls and plates and can't keep up? That would be me.

Umm...which one? I was at Kobeys' {in San Diego} Sunday morning until about 9:30...

Depends on my mood. :rolleyes:

Damn, I miss Kevy! What would he say??

Every single day of my life.
Here, :coffee: , you need a nice cup of tea or coffee to keep the energy up.

I almost wish it had been skunk. I think he rolled in another dogs "marking", if ya catch my drift. Ugh!

Wow, so someone had to go and microwave lasagna in the office and now I'm contemplating shelling out for pasta for lunch, even though it's extra money and extra drive. Oh wait, nevermind, I just beat out that thought by remembering what sandwich Togo's has on Mondays... Shanghai chicken, here I come!

Orange County in Costa Mesa.

Boy talk about blue balls...

ok, lets!

That avatar frightens me.

there....better?

:evil:

Yes.

Better nightmares with this one. ;)

Is that the dude from Flash Gordon or Flesh Gordon? I get the two mixed up.

Max von Sydow in Flash "I cant believe I paid money to watch this movie" Gordon.

Let's play "spot the typo", shall we kids? The following is taken straight from a listing in the MLS:

I'd hate to hear what the bad communities are like.

They only had the pooh streams.

This is terribly unclear. Are the pooh and water streams in the unit? The common areas and grounds? Both?

Saw a "dream" on Sunday as I was leaving Disneyland. They had a horse and carriage come out and pick up the winning family at the tram stop and then took them over to the park in the carriage. I hadn't seen that one before.

I've also noticed I've never seen a car in the Guest of the Day prime parking space by the elevators.

I'm staring (and giggling like a little girl) at my new Ballistix Tracer memory modules.

This is what I'm looking at (Well, that's not my system, but video of the same memory modules in action.

GEEKtastic!

Bloooooooooooooooooooooooregard!

Which reminds me... I need to tell Ponine that Torrid is currently selling tres cute Blooregard tees.

What was the other avatar Capt Jack?

Oh yeah, and thanks for cheering me up earlier. I think it made a difference in my day, knowing that somewhere, someone was supportive. :)

That is officially the geekiest thing I have EVER seen on YouTube.

And I mean, geekier than the choreographed Christmas lights, geekier than a million mentos and diet coke videos, hands down THE geekiest youtube entry EVER.

So, today was the last clinic session. I was paired with another girl and the colossal jerk. When the evening was done, and the jerk had run to the bathroom, the attorney said how she thought us two girls had done a particularly good job this semester, both with the substantive law and the client interaction, and how she really hoped we were planning a career in IP law. And then the jerk, who thinks he knows everything, came back and she said that oh, we were just talking about post-graduation plans. Nothing about him being good at IP.

Heh.

:D

XL please

Sad day, my good buddy and co-worker is moving on to greener pastures (for him). We're all turning Vietnamese for lunch. Yes, it will be much quieter in our little corner of the office, but I will miss him greatly (and then he will try and recruit me, this I already know) But, not happening, the commute is to San Ramon for Pete's sake. no way.

Poor Barnum was pissed at me last night... dragged him into the bathroom and gave him a good scrubbing. Now he smells like Pantene :) He's having a good week because "his daddy" has been home sick - mind you, do you think my dog makes the most of it? Nah, he slept ALL DAY yesterday, only waking when his momma came home :D

Yay! My new business cards arrived!

I've spent the last two afternoons cleaning my bedroom which means moving stuff so I can clean and then moving it to a new spot (because I'm trying to improve things) and now every muscle aches. My goal is less clutter but I have too much stuff. I have some stuff to take down to the trash or out to my car for the recycling center tomorrow but there are big "wet paint" signs on all the gates. I guess that means I should take a nap.

I can't talk myself into getting rid of the bicycle even though I haven't been on it in many years. And I moved the keyboard to the closet even though I should just give it away. I don't even know what I did with the power cord. But I like thinking that I might start bike riding or pull out a music book again.

The worst thing though is my books. I love books. I have too many books. Books are heavy and they take up so much space and bookshelves are hard to keep clean. But I love my books.

Keep your books and make friends with clear storage containers. You can box them (and other items) up and still be able to find them easily.

I also love the Space bags (the ones you vacuum the air out of) for blankets, bedding and pillows.

Break your habit on the books. Best thing I ever did (there was a time when it felt like I could compete with a small community library).

Of course, I don't know for sure what you mean by "too many books." When circumstances dictated that I liquidate my personal library I was approaching 15,000.

No such thing as too many books.

Amen sister!

So... I should keep my collection of trashy romances?

Sure. If you enjoy them.

I have a habit of not keeping old paperbacks. Mostly because they don't hold up well.

I had a bunch at one time. At my kids' elementary school there was a bookrack in the teachers lounge. I asked if they would like some paper backs to add to their offerings.

The kindergarten teacher said they weren't quite proper but to just turn them around.....

Well, this isn't on YouTube, but it's the next bit of UberGeekness being added to the Atomic Cookie Blast Furnace - A cooling fan that uses LEDs to project the ambient temperature (and a note if it's "cool" or "warm" or "TOO DAMN HOT!") on to the blades of the fan.

I had to toss a few hundred books that I didn't store properly. That was a sad sad day.

OK, so...

While everything is under control... Can I just say that I can't wait until this project is over. Once I'm done with the presentation I have to do with Mr. A$$hat that I'm grouped with, he's getting a big middle finger for being a no good SOB. I hate to call him an SOB, because I'd hate to blame this on his mom.

Ugh.

/start rant

I don't mind picking up the bulk of the work, but when sending me the works you cited for your pretty-much-plagiarized, rest-written-at-a-3rd-grade-level crap I had to re-write, the very least you could do for me is give all the information you *know* is needed for a works cited page. For crying-out-loud, we spent 2 whole class sessions going over this basic bullsh!t...

And I know you'll just take all the credit like you did for everything else you glory-hogging waste of a desk space.

/end rant


OK.... Now onto fixing crap.

Yes, there is such a thing as too many books. I was semi-apprenticed with a Seattle rare books dealer for a while and he was very familiar with people who destroyed their lives with books. Essentially the same hording disease that results in the cat lady with 163 cats on the premises half of whom are sick and dying because you can't actually take care of them all.

The goal should not be too have a lot of books but to have a reason for each book you have. That was a very important lesson I learned. I'm now pretty aggressive at getting rid of books that don't have a purpose. Pseudoscience and junk science books have a free pass to my shelves. Everything else has to earn its board. The way he phrased it was "are you a book collector or are you a book accumulator?"

I always like to have my "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Serial Killers" and the "Faber Book of Murder" on the coffee table - especially when relatives visit.

Why would anyone have books that they don't want? I mean, unless you inherited them or obtained them in some passive way. Nearly every book I have I wanted, have read and will re-read when the mood or occasion strikes. I have a lot of books, but they all mean something to me and I value them highly.

A lot of people own books that they want but don't actually have any reason for wanting beyond the fact that it is a book.

A lot of people will say "I can't stand the thought of throwing away a book" which is as silly as "I can't stand the thought of throwing away a newspaper."

Part of it is that a lot of people have a very misguided sense of how rare books are. That they are difficult to replace or to find another copy if you ever need to look something up. They think all first editions are valuable and that a "limited edition" of 5000 is a rarity (if they made more than 500 it isn't rare and at 500 it isn't likely to be valuable). They also tend to overestimate how often they actually reread books or use them as reference materials. For most people with thousands of books, if you put them in boxes and kept them out if used for any reason, 95% would still be in the boxes 20 years later.

I saw many people come into that shop to liquidate their holdings (usually because they had to move into smaller housing) and be crushed when they found out that their "collection" was pretty much worthless, not so much that is wasn't worth any money but the realization that the books they thought so important really aren't.

I'm not saying anybody here has too many books, I certainly wouldn't know, but just like any other fetish, book fetishes can be damaging when they get out of control.

(And being a non-practicing librarian this comes up for me a lot because people think being a librarian is about books and will therefore be impressed that they still have every scrap of bound paper that ever came in their front door, when it has **** all to do with books. Books are just a medium for information; when they become valuable as artifacts then they're the realm of curators and archivists.)

Anyway, hot topic buttons pressed. I too have lots of books and each has a reason for being in the house, be it informational, artifactual, or emotional (except Lani's, her Patricia Cornwell paperbacks violate every retention guideline I have). But a lot of people just accumulate.

Too many books is such a subjective thing. I have a shelf-full, and I don't even come close to too many books.

My challenge, which will resume this weekend, since it seems to be a lull in the chaos, will be to do "the office" <insert snicker> and then try to go see a movie if I can manage the chore.

What I need to do is actually organize my books. I have a tendency to organize in various fashions. As I've done with my CDs, etc, I've organized alphabetically, by genre, alphabetically by author/artist. I've really neglected my obsession with putting things in order. My books are mixed with magazines, a couple of DVDs, and other miscellany placed in front of it from lack of space. Luckily, I've been getting rid of things, bit by bit, but I need to start up again. If I get really into cleaning this weekend, I may give up the movie to keep the ball rolling on getting rid of crap.

Heh heh....Alex has Patricia Cornwall books in his house.*

I agree with regards to misguided valuation of books- we do have some rare ones, but they are books I love anyway and I don't have them because of their rarity alone. Pretty much any books I own have value to me based on a variety of factors, but not because of any perceived market value.



* I have no idea who that is.

Off the top of my head, I'm going to guess.... mystery writer? or romance?

OK, the sad fact is...

I do notice the difference between my former FiOS and my new cable internet. The good thing is, it's not enough for me to regret saving $20 a month.

:D

Hack murder mysteries. Almost as poorly written as Dan Brown books.

I am an avid reader. Depending on the author, I often go through a book every other day. When I am finished with one I just pass it on. Ususally I am passing to The Old People. There are a few I have kept through the years, but most get passed to the next person in line. My having too many books, or reading too much was a bone of contention in our house (up until 2 weeks ago).

I'm an avid reader, too! I began reading at a really young age, and haven't stopped since. My Dad has said that I was the most boring little kid. He'd really want to play with me & I'd just sit quietly in the corner reading my Peanuts books endlessly. Then, came my Disney-book-of-the-month club. (you find out I just joined last week. :p )

I used to sneak a flashlight into bed with me when I was little so that I could read books in the middle of the night.

Now I'm a magazine freak. I live for three words: new magazine Friday. My ritual is this: every Friday night, my boyfriend takes me to the newsstand, I buy scads of magazines, and then we pick up dinner & a movie and settle in for the evening. My poor sweetie. He'll try to get my attention & have me watch the movie but all I can do is think of my new magazines. In the middle of the night, when he's sleeping, I still sneak the low light on & read. Some things never change. :)

Mousey Girl, I used to get grief about my books, too. Until the Hubster found out how much pleasure they can be. He never enjoyed reading while I, on the other hand, always had a book.

My weakness would be childrens' books. I have no grandchildren but I do plan on fixing up a little 'library' for them when ever they arrive. My kids loved books and they loved to bring me stacks to read to them.

I have a lot of educational books, to help me work with my kids. When I was in school, things were different. These books have the new terms, etc. Sure, I have also found a lot on line and printed them up for their notebooks but the books are great, too. I don't always have internet.

I am sure I have too many childrens' books. But, some I keep, because I think they are beautifully illustrated. Never read them myself, just think they are magnificent.

And, alphabassettgrrl~ I also love books that I have picked up that are quite old {to me} that are dedicated to someone. I have a few of those. I like to imagine why they were given, and to this person. What was going on at the time. The kids ones, though, are sad. A childhood over, the book passed along. That sort of thing.

I don't think I have 15,000 books though, Alex. That is amazing.

{although I do have containers of them out in the garage as well.....}:rolleyes:

Hey, it takes a lot of work to write that cheap. ;)

I'm just hoping that someday in the not-too-distant future I can pick up a book and just really get into it.

Yeah...

Unless it was ruined, I would never, ever, toss a book in the trash. If it were something I no longer wanted, I would sell it or give it away – but never just trash it. Let someone else have the enjoyment of it.

I’m a confirmed bibliophile. I love my books. And if packing and moving them all twice in one year couldn’t cure me, nothing will.

My boss sent me a copy of LaughingPlace Magazine in the inter-office overnight.

I remember my brother telling my daughter, one year old at the time {whom I guess was pulling books down from a shelf?}~ "We must be good to our books. Our books are our friends".

I loved that. So true.

My father was an avid reader, we spent many summer days at the library.

Currently, I haven't finished a book in years. I was sent 'The Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood' and read it. A very good book.

I bought 'Kiterunner' but never had a chance to read it. Loaned it out. {what good is a book just sitting there if someone wants to read it and you can't?}

Vacations. Before I would hike/bike/whatever with the family, I was always able to enjoy a nice fat novel on our trips.

Before. :(

{now I really want to count my books....and JWBear, I haven't moved in 11 years. That would be a real task if I had to anytime soon.....}

Is this connected with the website?

Yup. And the owner of the website designed one of our applications.

Which is why I wont throw any out. I might accidentaly pitch a 3894 original!!! THen I wont be able to say, but look!! I knew her when..... ;)

But yes, all kidding aside, I imagine it does take quite a bit of work.

I would agree with you but I recently discovered this sad fact: my living space does not increase as I collect more books and other objects. In fact my actual living space decreases as things take up a bigger proportion of the finite space I inhabit.

:snap:

I'm trying to look at all my possessions that way. Do I own them or do they own me?

Im totally with you there. after my wife died I came to the fact of 'omg...what IS all this crap?' literally tons of things neither of us had used or even seen in a decade or more.

so except for a few sentimental things, its all gotta go.
the best way to start from scratch...is to truly start from scratch.

and wanna talk about books? Ive donated nearly 2 dozen very good sized boxes of books to numerous causes only to come across at least that many still buried in various places around the house.

ugh...one day the floor and I will once again meet. probably not soon however.

What is too many books? I just did a quick calculation in my living room and I have about 72 feet of bookshelf space all full of books. That's just the living room. It's not too much if it gives you joy but lately I'm just feeling hemmed in by all the clutter. If I can ever get the extra bedroom sorted out into something other than a big walk-in closet I wouldn't mind storing a lot of books in there. But I no longer want them surrounding me all the time.

I'm not trying to say there is an absolute value for "too many books." That will vary from situtation to situation and personality to personality.

But if you're feeling that they're in the way of how you want to live then that is probably a good indicator.

If you want to cut them down a bit, just be brutally honest in answering these question:

1. If someone had asked me if I owned this book would have have known the answer. (A lot of people have books they don't even remember they have; that's probably a candidate for disposal).

2. Will I ever read/reread this book. Be honest. If you've had a book for years and never read it, odds are you never will. If its been years since you read it, odds are you aren't going to reread it.

3. Does this book contain information that would be difficult to replace? And is it at all likely that I'll use that information (the 2000 media guide for the Oakland Athletics, maybe; the 2000 media guide for the Milwaukee Brewers, nope).

4. If I got rid of this book and suddenly the desire came up to read it again, would it be difficult to get again? A 1948 local history, maybe. A John Grisham paperback not at all.

5. Does it have any artifactual value (first editions, autographed, etc.)

6. Does it have any sentimental value. If so, what is that value. Is it valid sentiment?

In helping people work through their personal libraries I've found that most of the time the argument for keeping a book will fall into question six. And that when said out loud, that support frequently (though obviously not always) crumbles.

I have books that I know I'll reread, or that have information it is otherwise difficult to get, that are valuable as objects or have some sentimental value (a cheap ass pseudo-leather collected works of Twain that was my Christmas present in 1984; a book where Lani is thanked in the acknowledgements). But I don't have any books that I honestly know I won't read, that can easily be reacquired, have no object value, and have no good sentimental attachments.

For example, I reread Stephen R. Donald's Chronicles of Thomas Covenanent series six or seven years. But they are cheap paperbacks easily acquired so I don't actually keep them in the house and get rid of them when I'm done reading. And then five or six years later buy them again. But I haven't read Sagan's A Demon-Haunted World in a decade but will always keep a copy simply because it was an instrumental text in my intellectual development.

The answers vary infinitely but a lot of people when asked "why do you have that" will answer "because it's a book" as if that is a meaningful answer. Try the same excuses for keeping every pair of underwear you've ever owned.

Has anybody seen Clean Sweep on TLC? I love that show for the brutality it has in showing cluttered people just how pointless most of their stuff is and how their possessions come to own them. Maybe they've done it but I'd love to see how they'd handle a book accumulator.

THey have, and its equally as brutal. i'll try to find the episode #.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you dont read, right?

I love my books, and I got rid of a sheetload before I left VA. I don't miss those, but I love all those I kept, those monetary value and those of purely sentimental value, all good reads, to me. I love me a good used books store, if it's the size of an airplane hangar, all the better.

eh, I read but its mostly code.
for infotainment...no, not really. Last non-technical thing I read (not counting magazines) wasn Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and even that nearly qualifies as 'tech'

Ken's an absolute bookworm, often reading 2-3 books at one time, and finishing them within 1-2 days.

He loves fantasy/sci-fi stuff, and always kept them boxed away in shame (because of his parents' disapproval). So, when he moved in, and I populated the shelves with them, I saw him beaming. :) I love having his books around. It makes him happy, which makes me happy. :D

Probably six months ago I came to the realization that I should start thinning out my book collection. At first it felt like I was denying who I am. My books represent different parts of my life and for that reason I expected to keep all of them forever. When I finally realized that wasn't practical and I started looking at my collection more critically I realized many of the things that Alex listed, especially that most of what I have could be found again very easily.

I believe it. And believe me, if I had the talent for it, I'd be churning them out myself! Why not? :D

The thing that made me happy was discovering that I still have the very first romance novel I ever read. Something I picked up on a supermarket shelf when I was 13 and my mom let me read. She said she used to have to hide them from her mom and she didn't want me to have to do that.

To be honest, the sex scenes aren't the reason I read them. I like reading stories set in certain eras (like anything pre-1900, basically), and I'm a hopeless romantic at heart.

But lately my thing has been potboiler suspense novels, like the much-maligned Dan Brown stuff or a great book I just finished that I picked up for $8 at Target the other day, called "A Great And Terrible Beauty". Has a little touch of the romance to it, but it's mostly a chick-oriented suspense novel. Luckily for me, it's part of a series, so now I get to go look for the next book :)

Also been reading some of the Phillippa Gregory stuff, but MAN is her stuff depressing! All her books start off great and end horribly. Not much uplifting to finish it off. Great reads though. :)

I have a great weakness for the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. Sigh, to have seen Egypt back in those days, so much treasure, as yet undiscovered.

I used to do that! My mom would almost always catch me and make me go to sleep. Or at least pretend to sleep; I had insomnia sometimes.

Woot! Keep hoping that gown busts but it never does. ::sigh::

I'm kind of there with you. I gots me too much crap.

I do that... multiple books at once...

While I'm not a hopeless romantic necessarily, I used to read those for the same things- the historical setting. My mom used to think I read it for the sex (but it's sex between boys and girls... not really what I want to think about...) but it was really for the adventure around it. I'd skip the sex scenes- boring. Mom never believed me.

Amelia is one of my favorite characters ever.

I love those. I want a parasol.

Exactly. The sex scenes are usually fairly boring and predictable. Usually involving some metaphor about sheathing swords, and almost inevitably using the word throbbing at least once per sex scene, and usually some time the day after.

I would feel sad for people who didn't understand when I said reading took me to those places,times, and I could experience them.

I didn't feel like a geek. I felt sorry for them.

Throbbing. Sheaths. All of the terms...

'She felt his manlyness, as he held her close. her: " But no, that must just be a natural reaction, not to me, he would never find me attractive, I am not his type...." him: 'Oh, I am bursting with passion for this woman, this creature, but, she is so fragile, so special. I can not do anything to harm her, I can never let her know my true feelings, I am a beast...."

Even if you don't read the back, you can always tell who the guy is going to be because the heroine always takes an instant dislike to him, then he decides he hates her too so he marries/ravishes/imprisons her to get even, and finds himself feeling an increasing tenderness or need for her, but she keeps fighting him until she feels a throbbing sensation in places she didn't know existed and soon finds she can't live without him. Then, if you're lucky and the novel hasn't ended yet, they unite against a common enemy, and then there's an epilogue 6-months to a few years later that shows them happily married.

So, we saw David Sedaris read tonight (for the 6th or 7th time). He's so blindingly funny when he reads he stuff I can't stop laughing. I actually snorted in Royce Hall I was laughing so hard.

He just got back from a 3 month fact finding visit to Japan and had read us some diary entires. Having been there ourselves recently, I was dying over his observations. Whenever I read or hear him I feel like he's living a similar life to our - but able to share it in a way in envy. I always related to his Paris stories, now he has Japan stories and, more recently in my own life, I feel like I've living The Santaland Diaries only retitled The PetSitting Diaries. God, I love that man!

We are a media intensive household - lots of books, DVDs, and CDs - oh so hard to part with any. We've done some book purging in the past, mostly paperbacks, but there are some we'll always retain - the art books, philosophy books, sex books, fairy tales, and favorite authors - though that changes over time.

DVDs snuck up on us - Videos were never a problem becasue the one's we wanted were $70 or more. DVDs are cheaper than CDs these days - go figure - but becasue of that we've established quite a collection of favorites.

CDs is a tough one for me - even though the first thing I do when I get a new CD is rip it and download it to my iPod, I still like having the physical object and can't get into buying an mp3s ( though I love surfing music in the old days of napster). Perhaps someday I'll give up my Luddite ways in that respect

You snort, too? It is sooo embarrassing but it only makes me laugh harder!!

bit torrent!

I haven't disposed of any of my cd's {although I would say some are missing :mad: } because I worry about what happens if I lose my computer data, etc.

After I buy some new music and have uploaded it, I also make cd's with my favorite of the new stuff mixed with others and rotate them in my car. I have to use one of those gadgets to use my ipod in the car so unless I am going for a long drive, I just use my cds'.

And, an update:

My computer is still making people sound like chipmunks.

My family has threatened me if I play any more Ricky Martin.
Which is funny because don't they know telling someone not to do something only makes them want to do it more???

Which reminds me I need to back my files up.

Most are mine, legally, while a few are borrowed. While they're still my pals *nods at Lisa & Chris* I should just go ahead and rip a few DVDs

Oh, I would love to burn some of the music videos I've seen.

Although not right now when they all sound like chipmunks.

Damn, all this talk about trashy romances makes me wanna go out and buy another one :)

But a sobering look at my bank account earlier today will keep me away from the stores for a while!

More than you wanted to know about romance novels ...
 

And that's the entire point of a romance novel, just as a mystery is the entire point of a mystery novel. It's predictable. Formulaic. The writers are hacks, not necessarily meaning they're bad writers (some are, some aren't) but that they're writers-for-hire writing to specific stylistic and editorial guidelines, including euphamisms and descriptions (called "tags"), length of manuscript, monogamous relationship for heroine, and happy ending.

The reader of romance novels knows what she's getting, just as the reader of mystery novels knows what she's getting. People read romance novels to be taken away from stuff IRL. Think of a reader in a hospital waiting room or on the subway to or from a stressful job. She just wants to be taken out of her life for a little bit. Romance novels do that.

Those sex scenes. With a few exceptions (like Ellora's Cave Publishing), the sex scene is supposed to advance the plot. A lot of it isn't true to female sexuality, IMO. It reads mechanical when the reader isn't invested in the characters and the outcome of the romance.

Those horrible covers. Here's the inside scoop: the bodice-ripper cover(called "clinch cover") intentionally appeals to older readers, as in 60 and older.

The romance novel industry is heading in new directions. The readership is aging. In Feb of this year, Harlequin launched a new contemporary romance series called Everlasting, series romance spanning years or an entire lifetime, depending. Harlequin NEXT is a new-stages-of-life imprint: "From that first baby at 45 to the first date after divorce or widowhood; from that first day of college-accompanied by your freshman daughter! - to dealing with three generations living in the same house".

I'm heading in new directions, too. My writing career has evolved and I am writing with my husband now. We just sold a manuscript about a mystery we solved on an Indian reservation. Yes, true story. No, not a murder mystery. When the book is out, I'm so hawking it to you.

I think I became an avid reader in third grade. That was when I fell in love with Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. By 7th grade I was reading Stephen King. 7th grade was also when I read Caravans by Michner(sp?) and I understood what I was reading. In 8th grade I discovered Steinbeck.

I will take a good suspense/thriller over a romance novel anyday.

I have kept a few of the novels I truly enjoy reading, but over the years I have weeded out most of my "keepers."

True, and I like mystery, but maybe that's why I so love Elizabeth George. I love that she posts a journal on her website that gives insight into her thought process. She has stated that she wants the characters to grow and change, not just be like Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys, forever trapped in time and solving the mystery of the week. She even went so far as to do something quite daring recently that caused a lot of strong reaction from fans. I think it was brilliant.

I've been an avid Sci-Fi/Fantasy reader since Jr High. In our garage there are about 10 Staples printer paper boxes full of my Sci-Fi/Fantasy paperbacks. Some I've had for over 30 years now!

When I was living in Fullerton, I had them all out in a custom built bookshelf (it was only 4" deep) that took up most of a wall in my office. Unfortunately, it fell apart when we tried to move it. And now, we just don't have the room.

My dream house will have a library.

and a Home Theatre that seats 12-20 and has room to display my movie art in the lobby as well as a popcorn machine.......

A library, a home gym, a 'photo room' {to organize my photos, albums, etc.}, a game room, a room for my toys....

Oh, and rooms for the family, too. :D

Ooo! Popcorn machine! Yes!!!

I actually designed my dream house once. It ended up being about 10,000 sqft. :rolleyes:

Well, isn't the Aaron Spelling mansion up for sale now? Hmmmm, wonder what the monthly mortgage would be on that?

I would also need to have a huge kitchen, pro stoves and the like, but also a kitchen big enough for the party to be held in it.

A view of the Pacific would also be lovely, why cold I not have won the Powerball and had the $$ to buy Falcon Lair before it was destroyed? we'd be BBQing right now.

While walking to La Salsa in Coronado, my son asked why we don't have one of those houses right along the beach....:rolleyes:

He said he would buy one when he grows up. :D

And, his dream house, he said, would have a pool as big as the house.

So, right now, yes, I'm a little excited. Just got the word, this coming Sunday, I'm having brunch with Kevin Brownlow while he is in SF (receiving the Mel Novikoff award at the SF Film Festival). Pretty sad if you think about it, I'm all hot and bothered over someone who looks like an absent minded professor. :D

I hope you don't think I'm insulting you. The truth is, I have a "collection" of romance novels for a reason... I like reading them :) I think I plowed through the entire Johanna Lindsay collection in my teens ;)

It's just that I'm acknowledging my interest in them has more to do with the setting than the "scenes". So, in truth, my interest relies even more upon the actual work the author puts into their novel, in terms of period research, their skill at weaving the story into the setting in a manner suitable to the time period, etc.

Out of curiosity, do you read non-romance historical fiction?

No worries. People like what they like.

As for a dream house, the smaller the better. I'm seriously not dusting a 10,000 sq.ft. house!

Doesn't you dream house come equipped with staff?

My dream house is a relatively modest six room house (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, two work rooms; no living room, family room, dining room, garage needed).

The important thing is that is surrounded by a couple thousand acres of wooded or hilly land so that I can pretend to not have neighbors.

That's a dream compound. We'll need to incorporate this into the LoT commune concept.

Dust? You dust?;)

my dream house is self cleaning. :snap:

I have friends in mexico who have a house on a canal. The house is designed with tile floors that slightly slope toward the canal. You can literally hose down the floors in the house. It's not self cleaning, but it's close.

Sometimes.

I read a lot of things, you know. Suspense novels, classics, books on investing, fantasy, I run the gamut. I just get a hair up my butt for something, and I'll read several books in a row in the same genre, then suddenly drop it cold for months.

A tall, non-fat, decaf latte + a homemade oatmeal raisin cookie = lunch of champions.

Gah. I'm really hungry but for some reason the thought of food makes me feel a little queasy.

I love it when the Supreme Court justices get catty with each other.

I don't have a clue whether I agree with Roberts' dissent or not, but I can't help but picture him walking into Stevens' office (the justice writing the majority in question) and slamming down his dissent and shouting "in your face!"

Oh, if I could only hand out mojo to Roberts... I don't care what his opinion was, but intelligently catty behavior is always a turn-on.

Ugh, co-worker lunch at Chevy's. Not my favorite spot, but her choice. Way too many chips and salsa passed my lips, groan, may I now curl up under my desk and emulate my cat and snooze the afternoon away?

Soooo.... I'm coming down to the LA/Anaheim area this weekend. I'll be at the park for "Westfest" - the Disney Podcast Network's meet. I'm sure that I'll be free .... most of the weekend. If anyone down there wants to hang - please gimme a PM - Heather has stuff going on up here, so I'll be solo this time.

Cool!

Park's gonna be kind of busy this weekend

When are you heading back home? Sunday evening? I'm bringing a boat up from San Diego but I won't get back until sometime Sunday.

Playing soccer at lunch is worth it if for nothing else than the excuse to take a shower in the middle of the work day.

Right now, my flight back is 8ish Monday night - but I might catch an earlier flight - Sloan's playing in San Francisco.

I hate being sick. This week sucks.

Amazing how improvizational you can be when you're hungry. I just had a bagel with cream cheese and salsa.

It's gonna be a great summer.

Go Ducks!

I hope you feel better. At least the week is almost over.

:D That too.

Vegas trips, WDW and concerts oh my!

Thank you. :)

I'm not feeling much better, but I will...eventually. I still have a fever, but at least I'm not freezing cold right now.

Announcement?



MF, please feel better soon! Being sick in the summer sucks!

Being sick when I have to grade and when it's almost a friend's birthday sucks, too.

Oh, I'm sorry! I make a mean chicken soup, but this does not help you. Virtual chicken soup is not good.

Feel better soon! :coffee:

Chicken soup is not good for me--I'm vegetarian. (So, unless I want to add an upset stomach to the mix...). ;)

Well, I finished my last law review obligation, but I sense that wasn't the announcement you were looking for.

In other news: last night my trademark professor hosted a small social gathering after our last class. One of my classmates from the arts clinic introduced me to another friend of hers - who apparently already knew of me, and just didn't know who I was. Apparently, she stalks the CALI award website (professors can give awards for the top student in each class) and has secretly been idolizing me as "the one with all the CALI awards." Not that I have so many (although I do have four), but apparently my name caught her eye because I got them in subjects she likes. And she wants to do the same moot court competitions I did. (she's a year behind me in the program.)

Typed out like that it looks all sort of stalkerish, but it wasn't like that. It was definitely weird, though. I'm not accustomed to being the object of hero worship. It was the first time I can recall that someone not related to me was "following my career".

I don't think of it so much as stalkerish, so much as it is idolization.

I think it's awesome! Show the new kids how ta do it!

I get my hair cut in a week! WOO!!

(nothing drastic, though... and for once, I'm glad)

Was stuck in traffic on the 710.
Stopped at red head's house for a visit.
Saw cats and a big faux bear.
Film at 11.


:D

OMG... Trying to get caught up on the LoT and I think the lst half hour alone has been spent on this thread...

You do know you can change the number of posts per page don't you? At 50 ppp, I am only on page 167 (at least I think that is where this is at).

He should have... It is mandatory reading for all new (even of they are old) members.

I am in the middle of catching up on 2,094 posts.

We're alive. I have been avoiding the LoT knowing that there was going to be a LOT of posts to read.

GD (and others) is right - Haas is the way to go.

I think their route takes them past a grassy knoll, so that may not be a good idea.

I am not familiar with Vista Print, but (and I am sorry for posting a pseudo-advertisement) the print pricing for the company I work for offers some great pricing on printing and the quality is top-notch (everything is litho printed). http://www.dpcprint.com

I was not saying that during the last move.

Today I had to thin my carrot sprouts. I felt like some fascist dictator exterminating those specimens not fit to procreate as I created my master carrot race. Those poor sprouts! They could have been great carrots! And like a heartless tyrant I snuffed out their veggie lives.

Best. Post. Ever.

How are your cucumbers?

:D

Bite me.

I'm just staring into my computer, realizing

"I've got a better light show going on in there than Rockin' Space Mountain!"

I soaked and pampered my feet in my foot spa tonight. They are all tingly from the bath salts I used.

I just wish Chicken would stop being so noisy. It is hard to try to relax with a chripping Chicken in the kitchen. I am looking forward to the day when she is big enough to go in her make shift pen outside. With the way she is eating and growing it shouldn't be more than another week. *sigh* I truly wish Nickolas wasn't so attached to her.

Why thank you!

I can adapt and make a mean vegetarian soup! Alas, still does you no good, so far away. Hope you are feeling better today.

I find reasons, each and every day, to love the LoT.

I feel the same way.

I hate pollen season.

*achooo* yup

and oh joy, oh bliss...I get to cut my yard this weekend


just kill me now

Ugh me too. I got 89 out of 100 on the allergy scratch test. I've taken enough Benadryl in my lifetime that it doesn't even make me drowsy anymore.

Lately though if I take my Allegra daily and use my Nasonex it really helps a lot. I can still feel it a bit but I'm not down for the count when my allergies hit.

As a kid I was always itching my nose from the allergies, come to find out I've done it so much that I've completely broken all the cartilage in my nose. I can literally squish it flat. I was always so attractive with the constant runny nose and eyes swelled shut. Plus I’d breathe through my mouth causing chapped lips. They’d get so bad the entire area between my nose and mouth would be completely chapped and scabbed. Add braces and I was just the picture of attractiveness.

I hate that opening a can of worms sensation.

KatieSue I bet you were hawt ;)

Had a raging headache and no voice yesterday. Called in sick again because of this sinus headache. I think my zyrtec has quit working and I've tried everything else. /sigh

this is definitely reminding me to pack enough claritin to kill a horse for the camping trip. *sniff*

Anyone know what happens when you mix Zyrtec and Claritan?

Probably won't kill you. When mine get bad Benadryl is the only thing that works. Zyrtec, Claratin, Allegra and the like, from my understanding are more preventative. Once it gets bad it's Benadryl for me.

And yea I was totally hot, or um not.

Benadryl puts me straight to sleep :(

Take it with something that has a lot of sugar and caffiene. Like Dr. Pepper or Mt. Dew. Makes you a little funky but not so drowsey. But then again like I said I've been taking it by the gallon since I was about 10 so it doesn't effect me as much.

You get Zyritan.

Allegra is the only one that's really that effective for me, but since the other drugs went OTC, I can't get Allegra at all. Claritin does absolutely nothing for me.

Claritin does nothing for me either. I was paying full price for Allegra since insurance didn't cover, something like $49/month. But a few months ago they came out with generic Allegra so it's down to like $10.

I may try that if I get desperate. I just know that the last time I took it I tried to get ready for work in the middle of the night and have no memory of it except for the wet hair from my shower 3 hours later.

Astelin has saved my life.

Unfortunately I can't do nasal sprays. I wish I could, it would open up a whole new world of drugs.

My son came over yesterday and we spent the afternoon going through his former bedroom. We filled up about half a dumpster with stuff we threw out but there's still a bunch of junk in there to deal with. But it's now all in boxes and most of the dust is in the vacuum and, yes, we have open floor space!

Then his girlfriend joined us for dinner. I'd only met her briefly once before. I ended the evening dancing at Lindygroove. It's so nice not to have to be at work in the morning so I can go out after dark and have some fun. Back to the daily grind on Monday though.

I don't have allergies so I am stuck making fun of Lani's.

You're such a faithfull husband.....;)

Exceedingly faithful. But still a pain in the ass.

Speaking of which, I ended up coming home from work at lunchtime. BLech.

Now I have only Airborne, A Star Is Born, and my dog to keep me company.

Numeracy. Learn it, love it.

Going from $1 million to $2 million is not a 200% increase. It is a 100% increase. It is 200% of the original. A 200% increase would be $3 million.

Similarly, if you go from 100 to 20 that is not a 400% decrease. Just because going from 20 to 100 is a 400% increase does not mean the same number applies in the other direction.

Finally, if you tell me that something decreased by more than 100% and you aren't talking about a negative number. Then please go slam your head in your car door until your legs stop kicking because I'm not going to take your results seriously.

Official Hyperbole. Know it. Avoid it.

400 gun shot wounds in two years among 80,000 black males between 18 and 25 is not "genocide." Especially when it is mostly those black males between 18 and 25 shooting each other. At best it is some kind of ethno-suicide.

...and that's always a good thing.

Really? I've been suffering needlessly this spring? I'd better make an appointment with my doc. I couldn't even get a prescription to pay for Allegra myself when it was name brand-only; it just wasn't available at all from my health plan. I should see if it's available now!

Quoting for emphasis.

Colleges should drop their stupid minimal math graduation requirements in favor of a basic stats requirement. Basic stats is a life skill.

I don't know about most universities but when I was at the University of Washington, the first couple stats courses could be counted towards the math requirement and since the lowest math course you could take for credit was calculus that is what most people I know did.

They put Hot Tamales in the vending machine at work. :)

In my latest paper for a communications class (the one I asked the "Black or African American" question over) I found basic errors, like the ones you cited, made by my classmates when they were talking of increases and decreases of things. In a way, I'm glad I wrote a less research-intensive portion of the paper, since it allowed me to spend the time finding their errors and fixing them.

On a much more funny note, this picture amused me. Wish I'd seen it for Easter.

My brain is melting!!!!!!!!

But then I'd have no chance at a degree...


Oh wait.

You have no idea how fitting your post really is...

Kevy, I know you've wondered how you could top your tooth fairy costume next Halloween. Well, here's a suggestion:

Walking around in my underwear? Not much of a stretch.

Now walking around in SUSAN's underwear might be an option.

Ha, I doubt if that is much of a stretch, either.

That depends. What size does she wear?

*wipes off screen*

True. ;)

Have you been spying on me?



(Many Years Ago - three girlfriends before Susan - my girlfriend at the time thought it would be entertaining for me to wear her underwear. Basically, I had to wear them backwards so that the butt designed for her would hold my junk: otherwise things would hang out the sides very uncomfortably.)

No comment.

I will not incriminate myself or any other LoT members. :evil:

Ahhhh, that's better. My wait for another LoT post about someone's personal package is at an end!

Glad I could help.

Maybe I should have put that bit in spoiler tags

I think most of your posts should be in spoiler tags. :eek:


{kidding, somewhat...}

I. Am. Crazy.

I just signed up for another moot court competition. In-house is brief-only, then regional, where I would finally get to kick some UW bootay, and then nationals in November. And yes, I want to get to nationals. I would love to go out in a blaze of glory. And I was actually recruited by my new fan club, which is of course good for the ego. I had considered doing the competition when the announcement came out, but I didn't know who to ask as I didn't know who to ask that wasn't graduating next month. Problem solved!

You. Are. Good. :snap:

Fan Club? A freakin' fan club?

You. Are. Great.

Generic name is Fexoffenadine

Thanks!

That sounds so dirty, though. "I'd sure like to fex Nadine offen, if you know what I mean!"

It. Is. HOT!

My car said 96, so that means it was 93. I'm not ready for hot weather!!! *whine*

Benadryl is the only thing that works halfways decently on my allergies. None of the prescription non-drowsy meds work, and corticosteroids are not helpful either. Like you, I've been taking Benadryl for so long that it seldom makes me sleepy. I was soooo happy when it went O.T.C.- now i don't have to go to the docs to get it.

LoT's Law:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a discussion involving packages approaches one

Junk-Teaser. :p

It hit 94 inside our array room (read "room with the largest collection of expensive equipment our company owns") when the AC went down yesterday morning. That was fun.

I just took two 10mg zyrtec. Let's see what happens.

And the Ducks lost. I am sad. /cries

I haven't been able to get rid of these hiccups for an hour and a half... i want to sleep, DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I'm cool now

<hic>

Still sick, dammit.

I'll trade my flu for your hiccups, blueerica.

I actually think I'm coming down with something today. It's that whole "I was so stressed out since February, now that it's over, my body's letting it all go" syndrome where I come down with something super nasty.

I feel like I got hit by a mack truck.

:(

Get better!

Get better soon E.

And BTW: I love the current sig line :)

If what you've got is anything like what I've got, save yourself the pain of doing it later and go out now to buy cough syrup, nasal decongestant, pain killers, cough drops, kleenex, etc.

That trip to Target today was NOT fun.

Yeah, my throat's all messed up, I am having headaches and bodyaches. Not too stuffy... yet.

I never get "fully" sick. You know.. the knock-down, drag-out, can't get out of bed sick. Which in some ways is good, but most of the time, it means I'm a part of the working-sick. I go to school, but try to not sit near anyone, I continue working. I never end up just staying in bed to get better, because I can't justify it.

So I'll be okay. You on the other hand... get over that flu!

I'm trying...believe me. But I fear I'll have to be part of the working sick tomorrow. Grrr.

I'm feeling better today, and I managed to get 10+ hours of sleep. For someone who rarely sleeps over 6.... maybe 7 on a rare restful morning, this is astounding.

Today is the day to make a Mission Cake, shaped like the Santa Cruz Mission. Nick has been driving me nuts wanting to know when my firends will be here so that he can get started on it. This should be an interesting experience. The house smells like cake and it is making me hungry!

Chipmunk wrath! (Are those chipmunks?)


Lol- very cute!

LOL

That face!!!

I have no idea... I was looking up something else online and came across that picture.

I'm tired and I can't sleep.

I guess writing on the butts of sweatpants was just the beginning.

I back you up on this. My daughter will never wear sweats with writing on the butt, leopard prints, "Daddy's little princess" t-shirts, "Spoiled rotten," etc.

While we're on the subject, she will also not wear hunter camouflage. What's up with that?

The cake is finished!!! All I can say is tht I have GREAT friends! Carrie came over (with her wonderful 1 year old son). She immediatly started carving, cutting and staking pieces into place. Nickolas was on baby duty and he did a superb job, but he did say that watching a baby is hard work. Another friend, Emily came over and all we could do was watch Carrie go. She called it quits after she frosted the mess with 2 coats. Nickolas just finished putting on the finishing touches, Golden Grahams for the roof tiles and couple of crosses from the model he did yesterday. I added some shredded coconut, sprayed with green food coloring, for grass and it is now complete. It is not perfect, but at the same time it is totally home made. I feel sorry for whoever cuts into it tomorrow, since it is filled with toothpicks and scewers.

A stripper pole marketed for kids?

What? Where?

It is just the 21st Century equivalent of
Let's Get it On
If This Van's a Rockin', Don't Bother Knockin'
Gas, Grass or Ass...No One Rides for Free...


With each successive generation, it becomes harder to push the proverbial envelope because there's not much envelope left.

And really, only the truly pretty hot girls (who are going to have underage sex anyway) are the target demo for those shirts, so civilization won't crumble any faster. Just more provocatively.

2 women came in to rent things for a dinner for a major, national charity. Too bad no one from the charity they were representing was with them. They were so trasy looking. One had on velour shorts with PINK across her a$$ and the other was in a longish, black, slinky dress with the front almost to her navel. Neither woman was what I would consider young, both appeared to be at least 10 years older than me. We are talking a major charity, one that is currently holding "Relays" all over the place right now.

Hey, I just looked at the first post in this auspicious thread, and realized I was the second poster, after the illustrious and illusive OP, Fej.

As usual, I was doing nothing worth writing about.

I have lots to say, to talk about, but am under a gag order. That is why I have not been posting any updates with my personal situation.

BTD, you were right.


On the other side of things...I get to try to get The Cake to Nick's class today, along with his model. This is going to be a logistical nightmare. I am hoping we can cut through the day care building and avoid the crush of kids and parents.

That is one thing I really hoped I was wrong on. I'm so sorry. We are all still here for you. :(