You can also tell them it is 481,170,188,163, which is 100110 converted from base217.

It would make more sense to convert 100110 from base 2 into base217. Which would in fact work out to be: €

Quite the curious coincidence.

Damn, I was hoping you were telling true. That would have been cool. Anybody around here want to be &?

Granted, but I would think 38 in base217 would be å - lower case 'z' + 12 more places up the ascii chart.

Except you'd start with 0-9, not a, so it would be |

Except that ASCII is 7-bit so couldn't accommodate base217. So I'm switching to either 8-bit (such as ISO 8859-1) or larger (unicode). In both of those, 38 is & (since we have to change character coding I see no reason to skip the first 47 positions as we do with ASCII for hexadecimal notation).

Have we killed Kevy's joke yet?

Humm, good point. 0-9+a-z are not in order on the chart, so the only solution is to make up your own damn list for base217.

€ is in fact the correct answer.

Thanks for proving my case.

Me today:

Cocks head off to the side, looks dumb, feels dumb. Too much like math.

I just sent a text to Bill asking him to have a cocktail (a strong cocktail) waiting for me when I get home. I let him know that his life may depend on it.

I think they are speaking Thermian

I had a blast tonight. I started off going to listen to a friend's band, left them to meet up with someone to hear a diff band. It was a great night. Believe it or not, Bakersfield has some talented musicians. I do believe I am over my fear of going out alone.

And I think Snowflake is speaking Thurstonian!

I just discovered that I have a cousin who raises Llamas.

That's Llame

So I stumbled on a message board for parents of children with T1 diabetes. I hit today's posts and one of the first threads that pops up is "So-who's in the clique?". Made me chuckle. Those darn cliques seem to be everywhere.

That is a complaint on my pug board as well. Someone always has to be the outside martyr.

You should join and say you are :evil:

Cliques are everywhere.

I'm just glad I'm in one! ;)

Today's going to be awesome... I can just feel it! (She says... tongue firmly planted in cheek...

I have a co-worker whose little doggie is seeing her last days. The dog has stopped eating and has been having stomach issues. So... I'm listening to her talk to her vet calmly about what her dog can have to mitigate the pain and the struggle of eating.

Makes me want to go and snuggle my kitties.

It's easy to forget that life comes with a beginning and an end, and all we can do is hope the end comes as smoothly as possible.

I started a new contract job helping out an upcoming event next week. There is about 1million things that need to get done and no one is running the show. Which is why I was brought on. I now have one day and one week to get it all done (if that) and one of my team members has decided to be out of town for the weekend. Unbelievable!

Hopefully I can crawl thru the cluster!

Not Photoshop.

Egads!

What a dog !!

YOU CAN DO IT!! :)


That... well...

HEROES IN A HALF-SHELL............... TURTLE POWER!!

For BarTopDancer:

I want!!!
The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box

Hey, who sent you that childhood picture of me? hehe

That's fantastic!

Also Want !!! :eek:

Ha ha. I'm such a didlo. I was all like, 'well, what does it play when you wind it up'. Ha ha. Not that kind of music box, dinglecheese.
lol
:D

Add me to the dinglecheese list. I thought the same thing till I opened the link.

Not so dinglecheesey, really. It comes with:

I like it... but not enough to lay out $500 for it.

So my brother got married Saturday. During the reception I was sitting across the table from one of my cousins. She was drunk and hitting on me. And her husband was sitting three chairs away from me.

It was creepy and uncomfortable on multiple levels. <yammy>

It might have seemed that way due to a misunderstanding. She was probably just looking for a threesome.

Or, she was drunk enough to confuse you for her sister.

ew and ew

Uh... Lisa was logged in as me. That's it...
:D

Do you enjoy pirates? Is Halloween your favorite holiday? flippyshark has something fun up his sleeve, but for now, it's a mystery. (Ooooh)

I love mysteries :)

The sun is shining brightly, a gentle cool breeze is blowing and there is not a cloud in the sky. I find myself filled with warmth and happiness plus a general sense of contentment making me feel like it really will all be ok. So I'm wondering, should I go see my doctor today or wait a day or two and see if this passes on it's own?

I think the cure is going to the Rally to Keep Fear Alive on Oct 30th. :cool:

Is the sleeve a puffy sleeve? Are you taking us on a cruise to Indonesia? IS THERE CANDY!?!

Just watched live as they pulled the 2nd miner out of the mine in Chile.

I've been fascinated by this story, that was AMAZING to watch.

Me too. I turned it on just in time to see the first miner come out. There must have been something in my eye and someone started cutting onions in the other room.

On the CNN feed it looked like they were examining the tube with someone still in side. I hope nothing went wrong.

The MSNBC feed is alternating from above ground and feed from the mine. Technology is amazing.

Pornkins: NC-17 rated jack-o-lantern carving kits

ya might not want to click that link at work

Not clicking the link, since I'm at work, but I disagree with their name choice. I would have gone with Humpkins. Or perhaps Jack-off-Lanterns.

This popped up in a dream this morning and I had to share.

Back in '89, my dad dropped me off at Chapman University for my freshman year in college. Before that, we went all over CA and did all the tourist stuff (DL, Knott's, Universal, Sea World etc). It was tough for both of us because we never spent any time together when I was younger. It was like going on a trip with a stranger. One day, we went to Sea World and did all the shows. The one we did right after Shamu was one called "Ski! Ski! Ski!" or something like that. It was a bunch of people doing jet ski stunts in a pool. There was a theme song sung by the Young Americans or some group like that. You know, a bunch of clean cut Carpenters wannabees singing: "C'mon, everybody! Ski, ski, ski!" It was the stupidest show ever. So, at a quiet time in the show, my dad just suddenly looks around and goes, "Hey, this is a fu cking commercial trying to get us to buy jet skis! Let's get out of here." It was so funny and so out of character for him to be so loud and contrary in public. So we got up and left. Needless to say, it gave me a giggle fit that day. I woke up this morning because I had a dream about it and woke up giggling.
:D

See, CP, this is who I get my anti-commercials, anti-product placement thing from. lol

I successfully found another homeless pet and really good home. I'm like the Million Dollar Matchmaker for pets. ;)

Without the million dollars, alas!

Good job, NA! :cheers:

Wow. They're pulling the miners out at a rate of one every half hour now. It's an astounding effort. At this point, there's no more than 2 minutes between the capsule hitting the chamber floor and it being back on its way up with the next miner inside.

The part that gets me the most (well, besides the reunion with family) is the moment the capsule is close enough for the surface that the rescuers can yell down to and hear back from the rescuee.

Just 5 miners and the 2 rescue personnel left down there now.

Chili miners. I figured you could just make it in your kitchen, didn't know you had to go out and dig for it.

So....my shy young Freshman boy has really come out of his shell. He has a date for Homecoming tonight, no make that two dates for the dance. Now this is the crazy part, for me, they are Juniors!

It would appear his buddy set him up with this pretty young lady and her friend doesn't have a date so he's taking them both! All the other young men are slapping him on the back and telling him what a lucky dog he is. It was entertaining to watch last night when I picked him up from the bonfire.


I can hardly wait to see how Gary reacts when he comes home tonight. I'm sure it will be more slaps on the back and other guy stuff! I just hope he gets here early enough to help me/kid figure out what to wear. I guess it's a Hollywood theme for the night. It has been so long since I've been to High School. I feel really old!

I don't think I'm ready for all of this yet :eek:

We had homecoming last week. After the kids went off to the dance some of the parents sat around and chatted. Mrs. Moonie mentioned the bonfire's she had in High School. First we had to explain what a "bonfire" is to a couple of them (international folks) and then defend the concept against "My God, that's not safe at all" type comments.

I really hate the East Coast some days. I glad to hear traditions are still burning bright somewhere in this country.

Grew up on the west coast. Never heard of bonfires being part of Homecoming except when they killed people in Texas.

it was a big part of our homecomings. also known as the float burning, where the various class floats for the homecoming parade were burned at the beach. had some great times at those events

No bonfires in 1990's LA school activities.

Insert LA Riots joke here.

Never heard of a homecoming parade either.

Homecoming was a dance and a football game. As a general rule nobody actually came home for it.

We had a parade, though only clubs participated, so I never really got involved. I think we in Academic Decathlon talked about participating but it didn't happen. I did go and see the silliness when I was a senior, and like all the other senior activities I attended, I really don't know why I went.

Homecoming did bring back alumni to some degree. I went for a couple of years afterward but mostly because I had a brother in the band. I bumped into a few classmates - those of us that didn't go to college.

So, a mom I know owns an Eichler. Visiting the house I was kinda star struck.

When I went to school (college; not high school) in San Luis Obispo, we used to have bonfires on the beach near Avila Beach though it didn't have anything to do with Homecoming. We could drink alcohol at these soirees, though I understand they have stopped this practice.

Halloween is getting closer. So is Pirate Halloween. What am I talking about? It's still an enigma. Stay tuned.

You'd think a pair of shoes made of feathers would put you in a giggly mood all day. You'd think that, but you'd be wrong.



(Pic unrelated)

What's an enigma?

An 80's English band.

Maddies phyched for her homecoming. We went shopping for accessories for her dress today. Our homecoming dances were always really casual but theirs is semi-formal.

We never had bonfires but we did to the parade thing one year. Only it was too expensive to shut a street down to do it so they just went around the track on the football field.

Yeah, our parade was on the football track. My first year in high school I somehow ended up getting to wear a big papier mache mascot head (we were the Huskies) on the main float of the parade. I have no recollection how a freshman geek from the highly gifted program ended up doing it, but I had a total blast. First and last time I've ever had that many people cheering for me.

Never went to any of our homecoming dances.

And the only bonfire I attended was freshman year of college.

So I'm watching the RHPS Blu-Ray that just arrived today and whaddya know, I'm in it—a couple times! They shot the shadowcast stuff at our theater last year but I didn't know they were going to use a clip of me doing pre-show. I'm also visible (if you don't blink) in the 15th anniversary special. (Holy crap, that was 20 years ago!)

Sooo.... We haz the interwebs!

Signed up for Netflix so we could watch Glee from the beginning. Unfortunately, Glee is not available as an instant download - only as a DVD shipment only.

I don't have the patience for this damnit.

Business trip extended over the weekend. So put my rental car to use and put in about 1,025 miles on the road yesterday and today.

Started in Delaware and then was in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Had lobster in Maine and ate pizza (but no ice cream) at Ben & Jerry's headquarters.

Holy crap, I saw you on TV 20 years ago!

Maine is pretty much the only place I eat lobster. Guaranteed to be fresh. Glad you got to Waterbury. I ate the pizza they had there too. Pretty good, and a cool concept to have a wood-fired oven cart.

I'm not a big fan of lobster so having it in mac and cheese was a good compromise. And I expected just a couple of pieces, but the thing pretty much had a complete top layer of whole claw meat. A half dozen lobsters died so that I could eat their hands in a cheesy sauce.

Nova Scotia is pretty much the only place I eat lobster from. I'll be very, very sad when my mom stops going to visit family and bringing me back a stash.

McDonalds is pretty much the only place I eat lobster from.

Speaking of fast food lobster, I just learned the ugly truth behind Long John Silvers Langostino "Lobster"

My Mom had a lobster roll at McDonalds this summer when she visited the NE. I thought it sounded strange.

The boy had a good time at Homecoming, although his date put him to work. She was head of the committee and she is student body secretary so she had a lot of jobs to do. It wasn't quite the date he hoped for but it was sure the date I preferred!

Lobster roll @ McDonalds? Woah...

I love the lobster rolls at Red's Eats in Wiscasset, ME.
:snap:

Aw - poor guy, no under-the-sweater-over-the-bra action.





Oh wait... uh, yeah, better date for Mom - that's it!

The McLobster!


Creamed lobster is much better. When are you coming to visit? ;) :p :evil:

Creamed lobster sounds like road kill....

Got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning and no chance of getting back in and sleeping off the lousy mood.

Damn I love me some quotey goodness. We've been FUNNY lately!

Lordy that's awesome GD!

Lol, GD! Actually, I have known people to use numerology and astrology in their business planning. Addresses, dates to launch, etc..... people do it.

Well, I didn't make it. Thank xkcd.

I like the number 22 for no good reason. I added 22 cents to the end of offers when I was looking to buy a house. Didn't make a bit of difference, of course. Just silliness.

Lol- whenever I see the number 22, I think of that scene in 'Lost in America', where Albert Brooks wife is frantically trying to win back their nest egg at a casino in Vegas. :D

Hey, for those of you who know mine and JW's (adopted) sister, Nice Bobbi- she just got a job, after a 4 month search! Jobs in the accounting field are few and far between, and she's been pretty stressed about this, so I am thrilled for her! :)

She had gone for one job- which had hundreds of applicants, and made it to the final three, only to lose out to someone who had more experience in that particular area. (An electrician office). The very next day, the guy's nephew called her- he has a business that was next to her old office, and her former boss recommended her for the position he was looking to fill. He called her, had her come in yesterday, and the job is hers! It's great pay, they use the same accounting system she is used to, and what's really weird is he had no idea she had interviewed for his uncle the day before. The office manager at his uncle's place wanted to hire her really badly (she was retiring, and she and Bobbi hit it off), and was bummed when her boss went with the other person. I should mention the boss hired someone else who didn't work out, against his office manager's advice, so he doesn't sound too swift. This actually turns out to be a better position, and Bobbi already knows a lot of the people in the office from dealing with them in the past. I'm beyond relieved for her- she's a workaholic, and unemployment has not been a relaxing time for her.

Yeah for Bobbi!

Hooray for Bobbi!

Yay!

That's great news!

Yay Bobs!!!!! I'm so happy to hear this :)

"Give me my pencil"


ETA: OK, Show Queens, figure THAT one out.

We just spent the last couple of hours holding Noyoke for his end of time on this planet after a spider bite. He just died in my arms.

Gonna miss you buddy.

Awww Kevy - hugs to you and GusGus.

:( I'm sorry, Kevy.

So sorry for you and Gus Gus - he was a beautiful creature

A spider bite???? That's terrible! He's was such a beautiful guy. I'm so sorry for your loss.

:(

At the moment, I'm trying to decide on the "scariest" photo I've taken at a Halloween event this year. Right now, the leading candidate is this...

You would put that picture in here. Figures....those fries made me physically sick pure grease and nothing but grease...lol but that was such a fun time so much better showing someone around. :) Will never forget getting "LOST" in the Cage total laugh. :)

I'm so sorry to hear the news, Kevy.

Thanks for the well wishes everyone: Susan and I appreciate it!

In a strange twist today, when we were making our weekly pilgrimage to the reptile store for supplies, we spoke again with the owner about our bumper crop of baby Crested Geckos (our adult couple have being VERY frisky lately and we have received NINE babies in the last four months). Since he had just sold his last two Cresties earlier in the day, he said he was interested in out babies. He also has a female Nosy Be Panther Chameleon that we had been eyeing for a couple of months (we already have a male).

So we ended up making a swap: seven of our baby Cresties for his female (two are too young for him to sell): a truly win-win situation! That is six less mouths for us to feed and he has a new infusion of saleable merchandise!

So sorry, Kevy. What a beautiful creature!

Kevy, GusGus, I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. It is interesting, though, to see that as one door has closed, another seems to be opening. *hugs*

That is truly the scariest thing I've seen this Halloween! ;)

Those were potatoes? They almost look like fried-up onions.

"And what about all the people who won't be able to join the community because they're terrible at making helpful and constructive co-- ... oh."

Kevy - so sorry about your loss. :( Good to hear the news is getting better.

Wow, this is the smartest thing I've ever read.

Kim Jong-Il is alive and well and standing in our lobby.

Coca Cola and M&Ms DO make a good breakfast treat.

Rrrobby?

I wish I were sitting on the front deck of the Mark Twain, circling Tom Sawer Island, eating a churro right now. That would be so righteously awesome.

I don't do SO so often, so I'm late with condolences for Kevy and Gus Gus. Aw, what a beauty brought down by an evil spider. Bah!


Oh, and now that I've been confronted with photos of those ribbon fries, I've got a grease flash-back, and I won't be back to SO for a few months. Heheh.

Sorry to hear about your loss, Kevy & GusGus.
:(

OMG, gin martini + garlic stuff habanero flavored olives. Painfully spectacular.

Astronaut demos drinking coffee in space
Not "pretty" but damn clever.

Likes his coffee like he likes his space, cold, black, and neverending.

*sigh* Kids.

So I'm picking up Headliner from school. It's a warm breezy day so I have the windows down and the sunroof open.

Just as she gets in the car. Freebird comes on the stereo. The album version.

What else could I do? I cranked that bastard up and took the long/slow way home.

She kept looking at me like I was having a heart attack or something.

Kids.




(But to her credit, she was air guitaring it by the time we finally made it home. )

It's good that she's introducing you to real music.

Freebird is real music?

I had to ferry Madz and three different friends around at different times this weekend. They learned to appreciate Gogol Bordello :)

Yes.... :p

It could have been better: it could have been the LIVE version. It comes in at 20:58. I has it.

Tori, my mom did it too. Except, I was stuck with the likes of Anne Murray, Lynn Anderson, and Tammy Wynette, including all of their Christmas music (and not just at Christmas either!). :eek:

So, in part of my "Operation Restore Disneyphile" personal quest, I'm happy to say that I've been reading books on a regular basis again for the last three months, which is something I haven't done in 6 years. It feels awesome. :)

And, my latest "forgotten hobby" for which I finally have desire again: Music. I'm selling off my old electric guitar and have found a gorgeous acoustic with dark blue overlay that's calling my name. I've also been toying around with my closeted Yamaha DX7 keyboard again (although, I'm tempted to sell my analog Oberheim OB-8, because it's just too large to keep around, and is apparently worth a LOT, since it's in mint condition from the early 80's), and my dad is pulling my saxophones out of the attic and bringing them down to me.

It's been over a decade since I've played anything. It feels SO wonderful to have that part of me back. I just want to relax and lose myself once again in tonal expression and harmony. :)

You should be encourage your keyboard to embrace its sexuality and come out of the closet.

I'll click on it tomorrow.

So, for those who don't follow me (and/or Susan) on Twitter, or who are curious for more details of this morning's fun.

Apparently, about 5:00 this morning, my jostling woke Susan and it was apparent to her that I was angry in a dream. Out of concern, she reached over and put her hand on my wrist in an effort to calm me. Unfortunately, at that moment in my dream, I was getting into a physical altercation. So, my subconscious decided that the hand that was physically touching me was the hand of the person I was altercating with and I defended myself.

Unfortunately for Susan, that means that meant that I bent her thumb backwards and pulled about 2/3 of the thumbnail out at the cuticle.

We went to the emergency room and after a local anesthetic, the doctor basically shoved the nail back in. She will probably eventually lose the nail, but they wanted to keep it there to act as a splint as the new nail grows in.

So, naturally, I am feeling like crap for abusing my wife. But on the plus side, she may be able to get 10% off her manicures because they only have to take care of 9 nails.

OMG, Kevy that must be such a helpless feeling! Hope Susan is okay and that you can keep that from happening again.


Speaking of sleep.

I spent this week being trained on a major new software tool for the new project I'm working on. It was actually one of the best training courses I've been a part of, I really feel like I learned a lot. Today, the last day, was dedicated to taking what we'd learned and actually using the software to work through an actual scenario that we'd be using it for (instead of the classroom examples). I spent about 7 hours in a conference room today staring at my laptop.

After 4 days of stuffing my brain full in the classroom, a day of eye strain with my laptop, all the while being treated to big lunches...I came home and crashed. My body rebelled and I wasn't home 15 minutes before I was laying uselessly on the floor. I don't even think dealing with Theo has wiped me out this much. Wow.

It's been a really crappy day

Yikes, Kevy!!!!! Of course you have no control over something like that, but I realize any advice against feeling guilty would be pointless- you love Susan and so you're gonna feel bad. Let her kick you in the nads a couple of times- that should get you over it. ;)

There have been times when I've argued with Eric in my dreams, and woke up mad enough to beat the crap out of him. It takes a while to go away, even though I know it was just a dream, the feelings seem real enough. Poor guy.

Towards "the end" I once woke up with a sudden jolt, my fist huirting... I had decked David in the jaw in my sleep. :evil:

Chris woke me up one night socking me in the back. Apparently he was trying to kill a spider in his dream.

Soooo.... I was planning on making meatloaf tonight. Should I make it like this?

I am in Des Moines, IA

Actually, I am in Ankeny, but I figured most people on LoT have never heard of Ankeny - I know I hadn't until I was here about six weeks ago.

I've begun my month of mourning. Lemme know when it's Haunt/Horror Nights time again...

Soooo ladies, how about that Stephen Fry, huh?

He sounds like a very bitter man. The 2 women he had been attracted to both shunned him, so now all women must hate sex? Maybe they were just disgusted by him.

Obviously his conclusion does not support is observations, but what about his observations:

So what up gays, are you having more fun more often?

He's right that women don't crave sex the way men do. Duh. Doesn't mean that women don't enjoy it.

He's an idiot but I really don't think it's a big deal. Most men think about women this way because they don't understand how women think about sex. I don't expect them to. Women don't understand just how much men care about sex, either.

Are you speaking that the biology is different or that women don't have the cravings for sex that men do. If you are saying the latter, I disagree with you. While overall, if you counted up all the men and women in the world with a ranking above [insert whatever number of out of ten on the sex craving ranking scale], I would suspect that there are more men then women. But to say that there is a huge difference is not correct.

There might be more of a bias in one direction in certain age ranges. For example, My experience is that in the late teens and into some point in their 20's, men lead the way. But as folks hit their mid-to-late 30's, the pendulum starts swinging in the other direction.

Take societal pressures out of the equation, then things really start balancing out.

Kinda digs the show "Supernatural". Yeah, I know, it's been on forever but I'm just discovering it now. The two guys are HOT!

I am Sofa King tired

I hear ya. I've been watching re-runs on TNT. Just watched two this morning. I got up early to see Jared Padalecki.

Someone has a Jared Padalecki obsession, I see....

My fellow supervisors and I all made and served breakfast for our staff today. I was making pancakes... Lots and lots of pancakes. I got batter on my shoe. And I smell like bacon.

Girl, we all smell like bacon! ;) Fvck I'm hungry.

I like :cakes:

The entire second floor still smells like bacon. It must be driving everyone up there crazy. (We cooked about 20 pounds of it.)

Wow, sounds like a New Years party.

Incidentally, I cooked bacon as part of dinner tonight. Then I strained and kept the grease. Because... you know...

Maddie wants to know where the homeless guys in the medians get their markers to make signs.

They are homeless, not markerless.

Good luck !!

Followed by being hired. Followed by being sent on a business trip to Zimbabwe where he falls in love with a one-legged blind Hula-Hoop expert while touring Victoria Falls.

That's ridiculous! Where did you come up with that?

Everyone knows the Zambian side of the falls are much better!

Funny!

A woman on Wheel of Fortune just solved this puzzle with only ONE LETTER. The category is "Phrase." See if you can figure it out without peeking at the answer (I put one word per line due to formatting limitations):

_' _ _
_ _ _
_
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ L _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _

By the way, the reason she answered so quickly was because it was a puzzle round where the winner gets a trip of some kind.

I got the first 3 words.

We have a koi! :D

Otto, our giant one-eyed goldfish swam off to the eternal waters a couple weeks ago, so we stripped down the tank and are redoing it. We got a gorgeous golden baby koi with unusual face markings.

I will take photos tomorrow once the tank is ready for him. For now, he's residing amongst the plants in a small bucket on our kitchen counter for the night. :)

Dear body/mind:

This is the first weekend in a while without multiple obligations and to get caught up on rest. So why the fark are you waking up at 6:00 on Saturday morning?!?

Could have been worse, you could end up awaking at 4:30-5:00 every Saturday morning just because that's what you do during the week.

What kinda geek are you?

We have a remote for an LG DVD Recorder. We do not now, nor never have, own an LG DVD Recorder or any LG device.

I just got my new dishwasher and mircowave installed. Now the stove looks all sorry and old.

I bought the purple peacoat I've been obsessing over for weeks :)

why do you need to wear a special coat just to take a pee ?

And Katiesue - time for a new stove... :evil:

I had a very fun and interesting day at the Noches de Altares event. It was pretty successful for me sales wise, but it was also just a hell of a lot of fun - except for the first part of the day.

We had 4 hours for set up which is a VERY long time. We had a plan in place and we expected things to go smoothly. Well, the wind kicked up shortly after we set up. The canopy was lifting of the ground and moving several feet. The banner knocked over a display and broke several sugar skulls, a display hutch and some candles in tall votives. It was sheer chaos for about 2 hours. We borrowed some bungee cords and strapped down as best we could. Eventually, the wind died down and some emergency sand bags were delivered. But, not the way I wanted to start the day!

I had this bad feeling about the day for three reasons: I had a nightmare about my mother; I saw a cat that had been hit by a car; and I saw a large pool and stream of blood on the street when I was walking a dog this morning.

Thank GOD you can turn around a bad day into a good one!

I'm glad it came out better in the end

I forgot about the time change. I woke up and my alarm clock said 8:30, and I believed it. :(

Chris is off to DC for a week, I cam home, put my PJs back on and an going to take a nap before I go out to see I knew most of these people when I was 18-26, so this should be interesting.

Have fun. Say hi to Jeff & Dorthy (and any other long lost friends you happen to see)

Oh, lucky you Lisa... I LOVE T.S.O.L.

We had a good time (even if Theo wasn't quite on board with Lisa's...energy ;) ). Got a few photos and made a couple purchases (the shortbread skull cookies were a big hit at the get together we went to afterward).

I woke up today wishing I could have proper English breakfast at the little Iranian-run shop we ate at every morning in London. I think it's the weather that's triggering it. That and maybe watching the Mighty Boosh dvd.

It poured in LB early this morning.

great....have It make mine a double. :cheers:

Aww. Milk in your tea and baked beans for breakfast. I'll never forget reading the newspaper there, trying to keep up with the US presidential election.

And the leading edge of the financial collapse of the planet.

Mighty Boosh is in my que. My neighbor swears I will like it, but he doesn't know my weirdness about comedy. We'll see.

Hmmm....... iffy.

Artist? Severe OCD victim? Both?
You tell me

I realized today why I like writing lists on paper as opposed to electronically. The satisfaction of taking my pen and crossing out the things that I've done is too great and doesn't have the same joy when things are electronic.

Funny, just got back from several days of bean, mushrooms and nice black tea for breakfast, and of course reading with relief that Jerry Brown won (Meg scares the heck out of me) .

There really is only two degrees of separation theses days

You slept with someone who slept with MEG WHITMAN?!?!? Great googly-moogly! :D

An artist afflicted with OCD.......

Right! I had never heard of Lehman Brothers when we left for the trip, and it went under while we were there. For a while I was convinced that Lehman was a British bank because it was all over the news.

I'm glad she's found a way to channel it into such awesome ideas and possibly make a living at it.

I assume everyone has head about the mystery missile fired off the LA coast?

No? Read the details here. Or here or here


Just don't read this one. It takes all the fun out of it.

Yeah, I read about it too, and was just thinking how strange it was that no one's posted here about it.

Having seen the contrails of so many rockets launched out of Vandenberg AFB (near Lompoc on the Central Coast of Cali), I didn't give it a second thought.

I didn't either, until no one knew where it came from.

Here's a rule I live by and it works out pretty weird: when people say something really unusual happened in the sky and they know in their hearts what it is, they're wrong. Because people generally really suck at recognizing what they're seeing in the sky.

If it were a rocket launched by us and the military wanted it to be a secret they would have just announced a launch and lied about what they were launching (as they probably do all the time) or done it where nobody was likely to see (we have launch sites all over the world and in very remote places). They would have to be pretty stupid to launch a missile over Los Angeles and think nobody would notice.

If it were a missile launch by someone other than the United States I really don't think they'd be able to keep their intense interest in it secret at all (and the president would probably not continue his overseas trip).

That said, at times like these I really miss Art Bell.

I've seen some weird stuff in the sky (Erica saw one of those things with me and it wasn't a double hallucination). That said, I didn't think it was a foreign missile or rocket. It was odd that for a period of time it wasn't being identified, the military said it wasn't them (which I believe because as Alex said they'd announce the launch and lie about what it is) and no one knew where it came from.

That's called a cover story.

wow



That has nothing to do with this topic or anything else. That's just the way I feel today.


wow


I'm glad the day is almost over.


wow

I didn't think the missile trail was off until I read it was "coming from Catalina". Since when do we launch missiles from Catalina?

Yes, it was a better day.

I got my promotion this year based on a lot of smoke and mirrors. Not to say I didn't work, but I can't say I was putting my full effort in, or that I was putting as much effort in as I made it look to management.

However, I think I've retroactively earned the promotion over the last 3 weeks. Or, at least, I've accelerated from cruise control, right on past where I should have been over the last year, and am now putting in effort befitting my new position.

Feels good, but I'm exhausted, and getting a little tired of late work hours eating into my time with Theo. But at least it's been rewarding work.

Congratulations!

I just had my second ballroom class yesterday, and it was awesome! A friend of mine talked me into joining it because they needed one more girl, and I'm so glad that he talked me into doing it. I've been looking for ballroom classes for quite a while, and this one is by far the best. I just learned the Rumba and I picked up on it pretty quickly. I is a happy girl now. :D

That's fabulous! :snap:

My husband and I just took a few ballroom classes and really enjoyed it! But I have to admit I am not picking up anything fast, good for you!

Cool - good for you! Susan and I tried ballroom dancing, but, um...

I was surprised about this though:Usually the shortage is with the boys. :eek:

Kevy, Brendan tried to take a ballroom class in his last year of college and they has twice as many men, as women. I think that guys have realized it is more or less a guarantee of getting laid!

Bill wanted me to make peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips and coconut in them, so I did. They're... interesting. Bill loved them, so I guess it was a success.

Congrats GD on the promotion!

Way to go Tori with the dancing lessons.

I have bene productive, for a change. I already have dinner started. It is beef stew, and needs to cook all day. The Boy will be come aroudn 3:30 and the first thing out of his mouth is, "I'm hungry."
Dishes are done, trash is out. Now I can go back to bed. lol

It's a great day today. Too bad I'm not fully awake to enjoy it.
Zzzzz at work.

Dude! You're in HAWAII!

Ha ha. True.
But...
Living in Hawai`i is sometimes like working at Disneyland. You try to make a living while you're amongst people who are on vacation, who also expect you to be jolly about seeing them all the time.
:D

If you report a car stolen, will it be impounded when they find it or will they call you to come get it?

You mean you weren't really jolly when we saw you ??:confused:

My experience is impounded. If there is a driver then he/she gets a visit to the pokey.

Luckily we found the car. If we had called the cops the driver would have been taken in for a DUI and the car would have been automatically impounded.

We saw a Thing today!

I found a big black gelatinous blob living at the base of our fridge today.

I'm sorry. I should have put on pants. :blush:

Did you name it BOB?

So... does anyone know if I could buy an official licensed item and then repurpose it for resale?

I bought some of the Flynn's Arcade tokens at Electronica and would like to make a few unique necklaces and keychains from them. I'm just wondering if I could list them on Etsy as, "Unique pieces featuring actual tokens from Flynn's Arcade".

Is that fine?

I know it works with licensed fabrics, as long as the item isn't listed as an "official product", but rather one that "features licensed material".

Consolation prize for today's sh*tstorm of a commute home: Booze and a night of most of my favorite television shows. Followed tomorrow by what is sure to be a most memorable live music event. Flat tire be damned!

Just got back from Les Mis concert broadcast. Lea Salonga rules. Nick Jonas must never, ever get near musical theater again.

True story - last night I dreamed I was at the NYE festivities and GC was there. I think it's a sign.

Last night, I dreamt that Ken's family was a large musical ensemble and performed on Oprah. It was like the Partridge Family. ;)

OH - my daughter will fight you over that statement. She's pretty sure the sign rises and sets because of him.

Somebody posted a link on Twitter recently about iPhone auto-correct fails. I had a funny one of my own the other day: She told me she was getting her shot that day and I asked "Lipton?"

I had typed "Luprin?" (the shot that puts her in a temporary menopause for three more months), but the iPhone changed it to Lipton.

Have you had your injection of instant iced tea?

In talking about books subjects to bring my MIL, Melia texted me the suggestions "Mary Queen of Pants".

Earlier today my iphone made me say every thongs alright

Now we know what's under those Pants.

No posts in over 12 hours? Where is everyone?

I've been assuming Facebook since volume is down for weeks now.

We can do facebook posts here too, you know ! Lemme see...

"I'm sitting at the computer posting on LoT"

How's that?

No one has posted on the LoT Facebook group since Thursday.

Also, weekend traffic on here is usually lower as well. Apparently, we are collectively okay with using work time to post on LoT, but aren't willing to give up personal time to do so.

And keeping with that, I am currently at work (although I am just transferring files for my trip to Des Moines - flying out tomorrow).

Shocking! Shocking, I say!

We started test driving cars! Today we visited a Toyota dealership and sat in a Matrix (way too small for our needs), a Rav4 (ok, but the seats weren't as comfortable as we'd like and I thought the steering wheel was too small), and a Venza (no, nein, nyet!)

We love our CRV

I love my Mazda3 (aka ShinyCar) but if I were to buy a new car now I'd buy an Escape.

I also love GDs and CPs CRV. Lots of backseat leg room.

I'm drinking rum and playing with a razor scraper. This might not end entirely well.

Nothing could possibly go wrong!

Did you try an Subaru Forester or Outback?

I also love my Mazda 3. If i were to get a new car i would definitely rethink the Ford Focus or else the Toyota Prius. But i LOVE LOVE to drive my Mazda 3. :) Even taking it to Vegas for a road trip for the first time in March :)

I think I finally got rid of my former toy, hopefully for good!!!

Don't throw it out, just replace the batteries!

:evil:

How about the Splinter - a wooden car that does 200 MPH?

Mmmmm..... Cheese Danish....

I don't think the splinter help us with east coast weather, nor the trip cross-country with four cats.

We plan to visit Honda, Subaru, Hyundai (despite their self-ignition tendencies), Kia, Ford, Nissan, maybe Mazda, etc...

Is one move worth the increased fuel costs? It may be worth your while to still consider sedans and non-SUV cars as long as they handle well in weather, and just tow the car behind a moving truck. Just a thought.

(Not that I can argue against wanting SUVs if it's what you want for your day-to-day purposes. I loved my SUV but the gas cost ate me alive.)

Oh, and FWIW my Matrix is the shiznit. Will hit 100,000 miles sometime around/after New Years. Wicked blind spot but otherwise a terrific vehicle.

We want a bigger car for roadtripping and (sca) camping purposes. We still have the civic for day-to-day driving.

We've done all our road tripping and camping with our Civic since 2003 and it seems huge for that purpose.

But before that we did it with a Ford Festiva so our perceptions may have been warped.

I wouldn't buy a car in CA if moving across the country. Wouldn't it be cheaper elsewhere too without the CA taxes and emissions package requirements?

We have quite a few months before we move and had hoped to enjoy some camping and road trips here before we go. Also, if we buy used we don't want one that already has several years of east coast wear on it.

And that's the last I'm going to say on the matter. I'm not really interested in having to continually justify our purchasing decisions here. I did not realize that our choice of vehicle type would be so offensive to this community, and I will certainly refrain from discussing it here any further.

I'm trying to see where anyone was even remotely offended...

But, ok. :confused:

All I see is people offering some perspective and some factors that you may or may not have considered yet in your decision. I see some questions and suggestions, I don't see anyone acting offended or demanding of justification.

No, she's right. I was just released from 36 hour mental observation, for so offended and distraught was I at her choice that officials thought I posed a risk of harm to myself and others.

It is only with this assurance that never again will the subject be broached that I am finally able to suppress my tears enough to resume some semblance of my daily life.

It the hindsight that putting this behind us has allowed I a can finally admit to relief, for I was on the brink of throwing down and demanding satisfaction of my offense. In the form of a duel, at dawn, preferably after one of the parties has moved East so that dawn will be separated by several hours making the endeavor much safer but infinitely stupider.

Although my Mazda 3 is a BAD car for colder weather. This morning it was 34 degrees out or so and the low tire pressure gauge came on the dashboard immediately as i was backing out of the carport. In cold weather (extreme temperature flux) the light can come on which it did. So after work i had to go to a gas station to add air in the tires (rear right tire was a bit low) and then the light turned off on it's own. I would HATE to live in a place with cold weather constantly as this is a bit of a peeve now that i have to face when weather is that cold in the early mornings with the car. Otherwise i would have had to take it to the car dealer for them to reset the computer so it would turn off on it's own. Not worth the hassle when i can fix it myself with just a little air in a low tire.

VAM

Alex - are you allowed sharp objects anymore? Or, did they remove your tongue? ;)

Volvo. Volvo. Volvo.

I need a car that runs on the blood of freshly squeezed kittens, with a baby seal fur interior, and a condor skull hood ornament. The exhaust note is the mournful cry of a manatee being mangled by a speedboat motor.

That's a controversial car.

Even better:

You're an asshole.

A-S-S-H-O-L-E

I can testify to the alarming capacity of a Volvo: Camping gear, Suitcases, Food, Beverages, International Luggage, Snacks, Daypacks, Souvenirs, Bears, Stoats, Pugs & ConeMonkeys. :snap:

Not to endorse Alex's suggestion that everyone who drives an SUV is a bad person--though they are, especially the women. And the men.--but for years, we did all our ski trips in a Honda Civic, chaining up as needed.

The smug highlight was driving up to Sugar Bowl in a blizard and nearly being smashed by someone's pickup spinning merrily down the hill.

Not to mention the automatic deployment of the sandwich tray when the brakes were properly applied

Did it deploy sandwiches as well?

Quite literally into our laps - and just at the appropriate time as well !

Stoat also noted you couldn't fit a piece of paper between the luggage in the back. Chris must be a guru at Tetris.

Apparently it's National "Let's run over Moonliner" day. Participation is at an all time high. I feel like I'm channeling Coaster Matt.

If I had known, I might have gone to Maryland instead of Iowa.

Funny you should say "Run Over Moonliner" day. For some time it seems I've been semi-invisible... to the point where J and a co-worker have been commenting on how many people are running into me, cars just don't see me... Though it seems to have run its course and I am fully visible again as of last week. Maybe you had to be here to understand.

Oh, and about the Mazda 3 wheels... I'm feeling the cold and I guess I've just gotten used to it. Some Mazda dealerships have a nitrogen package, and they'll keep your tires level with nitrogen, which seems to have less problems than regular ol' oxygen in terms of not going out of whack when it gets cold.

Though - I think Mazda really needs to tune it down. The air pressure is usually just barely off when that thing goes nuts.

I think nitrogen for tires is mostly hot air.

John Robie has no balls.

Awww. It's so nice of you to get him fixed for me!

My coworker won $30,000 last night at Pechanga! wow!

How much did he/she lose on the previous trips?

She goes once or twice a month and spends $20 each time. She says they send her "points" to spend on her player card to though so it works out to about $30 total - with $20 of her money and $10 in points.

And by less problems, I mean gas should seep out at about 1/3 the rate of regular ol' air (i.e. instead of a pound a month, you lose it in 3 months)... and that seemed to be a source of madmonkeygirl's pain with her Mazda 3 (I drive the Mazdaspeed 3). I could care less about the tread, gas savings... mostly because the difference is miniscule, if any.

I mainly like having the package because it's seems to have reduced my TPMS's reaction to cold weather and the screaming alarm only seems to go off when it's severely cold. Plus, I have only had to think about air pressure when I get my oil changed, since I get my tires rotated and inflated when I bring my car in. (apx every 3 mos, even with synthetic... I drive a lot of miles) If your Mazda dealership does it, it's a small one-time fee and they never charge you for it again. I think Costco and many other tire providers offer such a service with no charges.

Sooo... I moved the Xmas party invitation from FB over to Evite. If I missed anyone, or sent it to an old email, feel free to send me a PM with your email. Seriously, let me know :)

Wow, is everyone Black Friday shopping, or on a turkey L' Tryptophan sleep-in?

No Black Friday for us! We went out for breakfast, and just now finished cleaning up after Thanksgiving.

I sort of Black Friday'd, but with no money....

I unintentionally had a Black Friday experience. We forgot to pack our phone chargers, so when I ended up at a Wells Fargo that was in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart I figured I'd brave it rather than go the weekend without my phone.

If I hadn't known what day it was, being inside wouldn't have given me any clue. I was in and out in about 5 minutes. If all goes well that will be the last time I'm in a non-grocery-store store this year.

After going out, my friend and I picked up The Boy at 2:30am and headed for Walmart. They had True Blood for $12. It was sold out when we got there. The line for the cheap tvs was running down the main aisle, everyone lined up and waiting for 5am. We were still in and out quickly. My friend wanted to go to Sears for a garage door opener for $99 and boots for her daughter. To get to the mall we drove by Kmart. It was not quite 4 and the line was 1/2 way across the front of their building. The Target at the mall had a very long line as well. We got what we needed and headed back home. The line for Kmart was then all the way around the front of the building. We are still trying to figure out why their line and Target's line were so long.

Because people are friggen nuts?? ;)

Frankly, I see sales that are just as good through out the year. I did Black Friday twice, and will never do that again. Once was for a $900 laptop for $600, and now you can get one for $200 :( . (unless the sale is for a new house for under $100, or a new car for $29.99)

I am so flipping tired, ugh.

However, I am looking forward to my trip to North Carolina tomorrow.

Ooh, where? I love N. Carolina. Love Winston-Salem and Raleigh area

Well, back on the job market. Trying to figure out where to go from here. New ex-boss suggested that I move away from admin and focus on media/video editing/social media marketing.

The Mouse has a social media position open that looks pretty awesome, but even getting an interview for a career-level job at the mouse is a one-in-a-million shot. Still, one must apply...

And this is why one should ALWAYS leave a job on the best terms possible - you never know where your career will lead you.

Not that I am saying you didn't do this Morri (I believe you did leave on good terms); just using it as an example.

Well, let's be honest, I think we all know the Mouse is where I belong. I just need a "career level" position there.

Have you considered going full-time as a CM? I know that frequent advice is to start that way.

When I was doing research for Headliners 20 Year plan to take over George Kalogridis' job I ran across several references implying that having a Disney background (ie CM or Fan) was a detriment to landing positions with "the suits"

I dunno about the "fan" thing. I got a job offer from Disney (though not the Parks) earlier this year, after an interview that involved a passionate discussion of my appreciation of the company. I kept it professional, and I'm sure it was tempered with my industry-specific experience, and specifics I cited as to how my ability to work for them would be enhanced by my knowledge of the company. But nevertheless, I got a job offer after being honest about being a fan. Should you go in wide-eyed and weird about it? No. But it's not a dealbreaker if you present yourself intelligently.

We'll, I'm screwed

My episode of Real Sex was on tonight = did you see me?

Honey, it was hard to see you through the steam on my eyeglasses but cheers! :cheers:

Have just returned from Hell, a.k.a. a small Iowa town where: 1) FIL resides and 2) dining choices are either fast food or a frozen dinner from the grocery store. Bleak, baby, it's so very bleak there.

It's that time of year again. The local weatherman used the 'S' word in the forecast. Nothing exciting just yet, a dusting at best. Still after the winter we had last year it's good to know our local snow crews learned from that experience and are better prepared this year. Not.

Snow is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

SNOW !!!! We LOVE Snow. Send it to us.

I will never forget the time it started snowing in Yosemite. You're very first snow.:)

Not to mention what a foreign concept it was to us to be able to put the Panna-cotta's outside on the table instead of in the fridge to set !! :cool:

And I'll never forget the time everyone freaked out over a less than 1" snowfall in Yosemite......

The Aussies actually frolicked in the snow (with Lash in his crocs) the week before Yosemite:

And I'll never forget the time Lashbear discovered what yellow snow is and asked for more.

Speaking of the Lashpair, cheese-man found Tim Tams somewheres ("Australia's favorite cookie!" the box said). I ate about 80% of the box in 2 days!

(pats belly) :D

Hee hee

Go to google maps, and search for "harman-geist stadium luzerne, pennsylvania"

Switch to Satellite view, then zoom in nice and close :)

How juvenile.

Love it

teehee!

I wonder how long until they re-do the field.

Suddenly I like stadium sports again !!

"Hey Honey, does this snow make my Butt look big ?" :D

No, but that last cheeseburger does

I miss you guys. :(

:eek:

Soooo.... We're sitting here in the office (at home), no music playing, no planes overhead, quiet... Then precisely at 6:00, we hear the Queen Mary's whistle; faintly in the distance. Very cool.

Also try 71077345

So... I can't remember the last time I spent 12 hours alone. It was cool at first. I watched a couple chick flicks, cleaned and organized but now I am bored out of my mind! I have no one to talk to.

I decided to make twice baked potatoes. I baked them and added all the yumminess. I am sitting here eating a big bowl, notice I said bowl, they never made it back into the skins. So much for twice baked!

Maybe I should go make fudge or maybe that's too dangerous. I might just eat half of it before it ever hits the pan :evil:

Susan was house sitting for her Mother last week in San Diego. It was kind of nice being on my own for a week (though I am glad she is back).

Granted, we've been together for close to 25 years (next April 19th will be the 25th anniversary of our first date AND our 14th wedding anniversary).

The boy is still not home. They sure do keep the basketball team out late for a school night! I'm pretty sure they left our school 10 hours ago. He thinks he's pretty cool being the videographer for the team though!

He also called earlier to tell me he has a date for Winter Formal. It looks like I better get used to spending my evenings alone from here on out :(

He's being a good Boy, calling home to check in. :)

More craftiness on sale this weekend!

I have a booth at the Orange Coast College swap meet this Saturday, the 11th. Parking and admission is FREE!

Susan is joining me too, so please come check out our wares in space D12. :)

I find out what my wife is doing by reading LoT

Well... Just what she's willing to post on LoT....

I should also mention that we need to be at the swap meet at 6am. ;)

And it wasn't even my wife posting - it was someone else!

What's this "we" Kemo Sabe?!?

YOU need to be there at 6:00. I'll be thinking about y'all when I wake up at say, 10:00

So I was wondering, what with the holidays coming up, are those flat rate boxes from the Post Office a good deal?

Short answer: They might save you time, but probably not money.

Flat rate pricing is a greater benefit to those who use the system most and a "rip-off" of those who use it least? I'm shocked by that revelation!

The article has several facts incorrect, but let me point out two main points:

1. The Flat Rate Envelopes and boxes have no practical weight limit (you can go up to 70 pounds). As they say in their commercials, "If it fits, it ships". I know this for a fact because we mail out several thousand packages a year using Flat Rate Envelopes and every single one of them is over a pound (most are over two pounds).
2. If you use the Non-Flat-Rate Priority Mail rates, the postage cost is based on weight and zone (distance). If you look here, you will see that all rates (excepting for one) are higher than the flat rate for both the Envelope and Small Box.

Also, you can get the flat rate boxes for free from the USPS.

If you have a one or two pound shipment or a three pound shipment going to Zones 1-6, then the medium Flat Rate Box is not a deal (and you can do your own match for the rest), but overall, Flat Rate can be and usually is a good deal.

Just watching Castle which declared the Sidecar - the best drink of the prohibition era. Perhaps Castle has been to Euro & NA's house?

Flat rate boxes make selling on eBay much easier. The buyer can't argue the seller inflated the shipping price and the seller can't be cryptic in their shipping method.

It's funny that I am defending the USPS considering how much I despise them.

Cognac - check
Coitreau - check
lemon juice - check
orange peel - tangerine peel will due

Happy end of Hanukkah everyone!

Gentlemen: If you like wearing briefs but wish your balls could "be free", try these.

Use caution clicking that link if you're at a very conservative workplace.

If you ever need some amusement, just read the list of quotes here on LoT. It always gives me a chuckle.

While out of context is usually funny I wish there was a track back link to the original thread.

If you'd said that three years ago I probably would have jumped on it and either found and update or made the change myself. But it's been so long since I've touched the code here that it'd take me a week just to figure out again WHERE to make the changes, let alone how.

Ironically I'm much more equipped, from a programming knowledge standpoint, now than I was back then, but the desire and time to work on it have vanished.

In the meantime, I can usually find the original post with a search. Just do an advanced search, put the user's name in, a word or 2 from the quote, and have it show posts.

Eh, not a big deal. I think I brought it up a few years ago and then promptly forgot or it couldn't be done easily or something. It seems like a feature that would have been enabled if it was there.

Well I can too but a link would be easier ;)

I use the quotes list to remind my self what a brilliant person I am.

And also to remind myself how forgetful I am since I don't remember writing most of the things listed there.

I've read quotes on the front page that get me laughing, only to see that I wrote it but can't remember it. So, I guess I don't remember writing what gets quoted either.

I saw my first snowflakes of the season today. Just a few light flurries passing through. So far at least there is no shoveling in the foreseeable forecast.

SNOW !!!!!

If it snowed here in LA, I think people would be running outside with straws to snort it up!

PUDDI PUDDI!

It snowed on me this morning in Detroit. The perfect kind of snow - the kind I got to leave! A beautiful dusting, enough to make everything pretty and pack a few snow balls, but leave the streets ice-free and drivable, and the airport operational. Even got to see the whole plane de-icing process which I've always been curious about.

Unfortunately my sister and her family were continuing their trip, heading from Detroit to Chicago, straight into the mouth of the beast. A truck jack-knifed 100yds in front of them, and now they're snowed in somewhere in between (warm and safe, thankfully). I'm thankful to be back in sunny SoCal.

Channeling my mother and trying my hand at candies. So far so good. Peppermint Bark and Fudge turned out well. Now Divinity. Next up toffee. My mother would freak about all this for weeks. I'm not seeing what the huge deal was, none of it so far has been all that hard.

Good for you, Katiesue!

My mom said she tried davinity, but could never get it the right consisity.

New this year, I'm going to try chocolate bark. That is, dark chocolate and milk chocolate marbled, with a white chocolate wood print on the top, and almonds on the back.

Lash: Am I supposed to read that in the squealing baby voice from "Giga Pudding"? Because I do. :)

I got stung by a bee this morning. Another happy Monday.

Sounds absolutely nom! :snap:

Yeeeouch! You ok? :(

I'm ok.

It sounds like you're doing great so far! I've never been able to make divinity, that was actually good. I hope you have better luck.

Maybe Mom just made bigger quantities or sometimes it fun to seem like you've slaved forever on something, just to get the appreciation :D

I've made most of my fudge already. I have mint, peanut butter, Andee's creme de menthe and white chocolate peppermint. I need to make plain chocolate and maybe a chocolate with toffee bits( Gary's new idea). I think I have about 12 pounds so far!

I've got a big ole bump on the side of my neck. I think I'll call him "Charlie".

Charlie? Really? Why not Joe? or Frank?

Don't question the bump. Bad things can happen.

I knew we were having wild weather but this was totally unexpected! A tornado in small town Oregon, just up the road a spell ;) http://www.kgw.com/news/Tornado-touc...111870589.html

The wind has been whipping around all last night and most of today but that is just plain scary! Thankfully we didn't lose power but many right outside of our town were even afftected, although it has been flickering for days.

I hope the crazy weather is over!

Netflix streaming has introduced me to all sorts of random crap. Tonight: Steven Segal - Lawman. This is total crap!

And yet you're still watching...

Two episodes so far!

That's what The Soup is for.

Short answer: Yes, just ask Wendybeth & Toribear.... :D

How did we ever survive childhood? How did our parents ever manage to tell us no?

Mom to sue McDonalds in Happy Meal battle

Really?! Just say no!

And if that doesn't work - you say it louder with the Mom look and if that doesn't work, you send them to their room or make them stand in the corner in time out and teach them that just because they want something doesn't mean they get it. It's really not that difficult. Just say NO!

So in other words you sue McDonald's for inducing your child into be a pain in the ass, causing all sorts of pain and suffering.

Besides there haven't been very many cool Happy Meal toys since the first Toy Story movie came out anyway.

How about turning off the TV?

The Inspector Gadget ones where my favorites. I had to bully my kids into going to McDonald's to get all the pieces. Perhaps I should sue my own kids for not wanting to get a happy meal.

Now you're just advocating cruelty.

Torrone.

How I love thee.

And if that doesn't work, just smack 'em upside the head.

If THAT doesn't work, you aren't hitting them hard enough.

dad? is that you????

I suggest the film "Dungeonmaster" starring Richard Moll. It's total MST3K fodder. ;)

Your wish is granted!

I actually had a spare moment to look into this today. I got far enough into the code to find the place where I would add the code to do this...only to discover the code is sitting right there and all I had to do was turn an option on!

In my defense, the option is not very well described in the control panel.

But the upshot is, from now on newly submitted quotes will have links back to the original posts.

WOOHOO!
Thanks!

I did some shopping at Long Beach Town Center today and when I was out of range of the relentless Christmas music I could hear the festive sounds of gunfire from the the adjacent police firing range. Happy Holidays! Duck!

I remember those. I saw one at Target when they first came out, and pressed the "Try Me" button. My first thought was "Damn. Put this on my Christmas list!" (No, I didn't get one. :p)

It didn't just vibrate a little - it damn near shook my arm.

I hope that Electronica is not as lame as the weather guy from Good Morning America made it look this morning.

I would hate elecTRONica in the morning.

I think I will be sufficiently tronned out after seeing the movie tonite.

My negative Tron review has people hating me again (why can't I just relax and enjoy the stupidity! they cry). I miss that.

I find it interesting that Ebert gave it 3 stars and yet said things like "The plot...It's a catastrophe, short-changing the characters and befuddling the audience." Regarding the original Tron, he said "The plot was impenetrable, but so what?" Sounds like we need to see it in the theaters for the effects and let it go at that. I know that makes you nuts, Alex, but I'm sure I'd enjoy the action.

I don't remember if I ever saw the first one and I'm going to see this one for the shiny.

Yeah, I'd read his review but I never pay attention to his stars (I'm pretty sure he doesn't either as he's strongly on record as hating rating systems like that) so I was very surprised when I saw that RottenTomatoes has him down as a Fresh.

Other quotes from "positive" reviews:

Owen Lieberman: But TRON: Legacy turns out to be a little too much like one of those logy trapped-on-Planet X sci-fi movies from the 1950s

J. Hoberman: The notion of a tragically split persona might have been scripted to give the new movie a measure of emotional gravitas, but why bother with writing when Tron: Legacy is so intermittently stupendiferous in its 3-D sound-and-light show?

Variety: Visually light-years ahead of the 1982 original and yet strangely old-fashioned in the story department, "Tron: Legacy" plays like the world's most impressive screensaver

Amy Biancolli: And yet the sheer size of the thing works against it: The effects are absolutely spectacular, but they blow the goofy-cheesy quotient straight through the roof.

Damning with faint praise, for the most part.

Now, I'm not opposed to grand visual epics. But there are lots of grand visual epics that actual provide at least basic quality stories, decent acting, or an actual point of view. So I have no problem with "it's stupid" not being a disqualifier for enjoying a movie, I just don't ever understand it being offered as a reason to enjoy a movie. When a movie is going to go dumb, I think the onus on it is to entertain me despite that (as, for example, Avatar did) not for me to rachet down to its level.

Not so much hating you, as just disagreeing really.

And, what you might call "stupidity", others call "fun". Just as with any other art form, what some find beautiful, others will find hellaciously ugly. For instance, Ken knows better than to even suggest to me that we spend an afternoon at MOMA. I'd rather watch paint dry - it'd be more interesting and "artistic" to me. But, that's just my general opinion on most modern art. Everyone has their own tastes, and there isn't one flavor that is "right" or "wrong". :)

And I've had fun with plenty of stupidity (seriously, do you know how many Jackie Chan movies I've seen?). But stupidity is something to be overcome not something to be sought. And stupid can be smartly constructed. And to me, this movie was simply stupid, not fun stupid, not smart stupid, just stupid. The story makes no sense internally or externally. The acting is almost universally wooden (and when it isn't it almost goes too far the other direction as with Michael Sheen who would have been too much if even one other actor had shown a hint of personality). The CGI world is visually interesting at first (and well done technically) but it just hits the same note over and over and over with only two exceptions. It is padded to over two hours.

I'm fine with people enjoying the movie. I'm just always amused as the people who take it personally that I don't agree with them. It is always like they think I ended the review with "You, yes you. Sitting there in front of your computer on 23 Elm Street in your underwear reading this review before taking your morning shower. You're an idiot for liking this movie."

By the logic I see suggested (not by everybody, not by you) there is no such thing as a bad movie just a failure on the pat of the watcher to sufficiently lower their standards to the movie's level. The Country Bears wasn't a bad movie, it was just a silly kids movie with cheesy jokes, I just don't know how to relax enough to enjoy it for what it was.

This is not to say that good vs. bad is a purely objective concept, it isn't. But when I say I don't like a movie and here are my reasons why and the response is not some form of "well, I liked it and here are my reasons why" but instead "you just don't know how to enjoy yourself, of course it is a stupid movie, just turn off your brain" I don't see where any defense of the movie (or whatever) has been offered.

And the other thing I don't understand is the apparent expectation by many (again, not speaking of any particular person) that a movie critics job (and yes, I use that term very loosely for it to encompass me) is to try to successfully predict whether each individual reader will like a movie. It generally isn't. I view it as my job when writing those reviews to simply present and explain my reaction. I could go a different way and do it like Variety where the reviews aren't so much the reviewers opinion of the movie but instead an evaluation of the movie's box office prospects (read their review, it isn't so much a positive review because the reviewer liked it but a positive review because the reviewer expects it will make good green this weekend). But that would be boring to me (and even more boring to the reader).

Whew, long tirade over. I was called an idiot four times today. Once by someone who admitted they hadn't even seen the movie yet.

Ooh, lordy! Now THAT is just stupid. I certainly don't envy your position of writing reviews. People do have a choice to listen to them or not, and there's no need to take it out on the reviewer. I take entertainment reviews with a grain of salt, because I have very eclectic tastes, and have been subjected to hours of lost time in the past when I've watched something with rave reviews and hated it.

English Patient what?

You can't beat Kellogg, I guess...
 

I've just bought and tried a generic "Home Brand" version of Rice Krispies.

...They don't go Snap Crackle & Pop...

...More like Snaff, Crapple & Pock !

*sigh*

When I was a kid we always had generic cereals. Most were fine but the rice krispies equivalent was truly awful. You had about 2 minutes to eat it before the cereal would absorb all milk and then congeal into a kind of sweet cement.

The need Clark Griswald to save the day...

I think one of the issues is when you call the movie "stupid" and someone else enjoys it. I'm sure there's no good way to say it without people getting offended. I'm not the type to worry about it because there are plenty of films with terrible scripts and poor acting and pointless dialog that I enjoy, and when reviewers or friends point out these flaws I'm usually aware of them enough to agree and still smile about the movie. Some others aren't able to separate out these elements and feel ok within themselves for enjoying a problematic movie. All they hear is "what you like is stupid" and they take it personally.

Confidentially, people who can't parse this out aren't particularly intelligent. ;)

There was a recent movie that many people loved; and I was attacked when I said that I hated it. So I can greatly sympathize with Alex.

Which I could understand if they disagreed with me that the movie is stupid. But half the comments are not "you're wrong about it being stupid" but rather "you're a humorless asshole for having a problem with it being stupid."

As I've said many times, I don't have a problem at all with a movie chock full of plot holes and internal stupidity. But the movie can't just say "hey, come down to my level," it has to meet me halfway and make me want to ignore the problems.

But that said, if with all other things being equal me preferring spectacle supported by a quality story and acting (though the trailer for Country Strong does suggest that Garrett Hedlund does possess the physical capacity of facial expression, so I'll blame that on the director) makes me a snob, then I can live with that.

What, you have a problem with being a humorless asshole?

No, not at all (though I don't think I'm humorless, I'm certainly often an asshole), I have a problem with people proudly telling me that they excel at dumbing themselves down like I should applaud that.

I'm officially tired of rain. It's nice to know it takes 4 days of it get reach my "saturation point" but I'm ready for it to stop. The fact that I have a full schedule of dog walking tomorrow and I start a VERY full Christmas schedule the next day may have something to do with it. I'm just tired of being wet.

I still enjoy the rain, but the ants have decided it's much nice in our house and now I need to convince them otherwise.

In fashion, everything old is eventually new again. Right €uroMeinke? ;)

The poor ponies are drowning. Their stalls are already flooded and the worst of it hasn't even hit yet. And we can't let them out to run around cause the arenas are all wet and they'll slip, well Dukie can behave himself but Ivy and LuLu go bonkers and they will get hurt. Ugh.

Fun fact. There's a little arrow next to the gas pump icon on your gas gage that indicates which side of the car the filler cap is on. I NEVER KNEW THAT!

Comes in very handy when renting cars

Which is exactly where I learned of it.

Really?! I'll have to look tomorrow.

Another cool thing that I sort of knew about but never had a reason (until now) to use it. With Google Maps Traffic, you can look up what the NORMAL traffic flow is like at a certain time of day on a certain day. For example, I was able to look (for a cow-orker) at what the traffic is normally like on the 71 North in the morning (clear BTW).

Sweet!

I use it quite often. I'd say it's about 70% accurate.

I figured it wasn't gospel - traffic changes on a daily basis (I know my commute is all over the place). But at least it gives a fairly safe indication of what one might expect.

So do we. We just came home from dinner to find a fresh invasion. Bill has been fighting them all day. Fortunately, they haven't found the Christmas cookies.

Use 409 or some cleaning agent to wipe where they have been. It gets rid of their trail.

Use a flamethrower - its much more effective

I know. Cinnamon scented air freshener works too.

Our landlord might have an issue with that one.

I use 409 to kill them. A direct hit will end their says in just a couple seconds.

What (s)he doesn't know...

_____

And on the 409 solution: while it may wipe out their trail, my experience is that they don't have a problem re-establishing it. We used to live in Rancho Cucamonga on what used to be grape vineyards. We had a SERIOUS ant problem.

I have a friend that always licks his finger and snags a couple that way, eating them in front of the rest. He says it is an object lesson to them to move on.

You could try that.

Tried and true ant (and flea, and cockroach, and moth, and tomato worm and, and ,and......) solution is Diatomaceous Earth. Sprinkle it when they are coming in the house. They will carry it back to their nest. The diatom fossil bits cut their exoskeleton and they bleed to death. It will kill a whole colony in no time - and it is non-toxic and organic.

Or, you could live on the second floor. No ants.

Road Trip!

I've been checking out the Un-Official Disneyland webcam. So far the tip of the Matterhorn looks like it is still above water.

That's a nice skyline but I have no idea where it is!? I love a good roadtrip, we need to take one.


As for ants, I always use Terro. It's non toxic and works every time. You'll see more for a little wjile but they take it back to the colony and die! My favorite ant is a dead ant. Especially since I've been busy making fudge, cookies and chocolate covering things.

The boy has an ap on his phone where you get to kill ants. They let me try it. Of course I am a natural, what with all this real life experience :evil:

New York City.

So, family stuff. I (as most of you know) don't maintain family communication lines in the way most people do so I tend to get news all at once.

My aunt managed to run herself over with her own van the other day.

My half-sister is moving to Ohio, with her girlfriend. This was news to me as the last time I interacted with her was in sending her a wedding present in 2007. But if she's out now and happy, good for her.

My ex-stepfather is having a baby with is almost mail order Vietnamese bride (it wasn't really a mail order thing but it was an "arrangement" of some sort).

My niece is finally doing well in school. Apparently auto shop and French classes finally piqued her interest. Problem is, I don't know if you can make a career fixing Renaults.

My uncle's bladder cancer isn't responding as well as hoped, but apparently the weight loss has really helped with the diabetes.

My dad, as he has been for the last five years, is still dead. Meaning I've only got another 11 years of normalcy before freaking out (should it turn out I'm one of those people who have complexes about reaching the age of their parent who died too young).

Both my mom and my other aunt refused to be interviewed for the local news when my other aunt ran herself over. So that's where I get it from, it's genetic. (When my house burned down in Hawaii, the reporter seemed shocked to run into someone who truly did not want to be on TV.)

My family almost seems interesting when I get updated biannually.

Are ya sure you don't want to put quotes around normalcy?

The sun came out late this afternoon. Everyone got up from their desks and went to the windows, some even went out side, staring and pointing. It looked like a scene from some scifi movie.

Get a rope.

Was it fatal?

Nobody's cooking and the apartment reeks of onions! I hope I'm not having some kind of Steven King pre-precognitive smelling things that aren't there thing. Those never turn out well.

Is there a rotting onion somewhere? Or some scraps of onion that missed the trash can?

5th episode of Top Gear USA. Seems to be hitting its stride, really entertaining, definitely moreso than the earlier episode we watched.

"All Summer In A Day"?

Welcome to the PNW. :D