Good Luck Dexter!

And I got an 85% on it. YAY!!!!!!!

Good job!

So... I needed gas in my car this morning, which made me late to begin with, and as long as I'm going to be late to work, I like to be late with Starbucks, especially as it's right there (actually, I have a choice of gas stations, but I don't like the off-brand coffee place near the other station, so I chose this station to allow me my Starbucks). So I "nip" in there to get my Frapp, and the place smells like a combination of burnt coffee and that nasty sour smell you get when sugary liquids go bad (eg: the smell of a restaurant dumpster or an unclean soda fountain). Horrible. And of course, there's tons of people in there.

I get up to the register, and I have this dippy chick who has no clue what she's doing. I tell her Grande Cafe Vanilla Frappuccino. She turns around, grabs a Venti cup, turns back around with cup in hand, and eventually gets to asking me, "Did you say Grande or Venti?" "Grande." So she turns back around, grabs the right size cup and starts looking for the button on her register. "Vanilla?" "Cafe Vanilla." Now, at this point I should say, if you're not a regular Starbucks customer, that there are two Frappuccinos involving vanilla. There is the cafe vanilla, which is a coffee-based drink with some vanilla syrup, and there is the vanilla bean, which is much more like a vanilla shake and contains no coffee whatsoever. So the deliniation between the two is vital if you want the right drink. Okay, so she looks at her register some more (this taking a while) and looks up again, asking, "Vanilla Bean?" "CAFE. VANILLA." At long last, dinglebat finds the right button on the register, notes that I want whipped cream, and passes the cup off.

Then I stand there. And stand there. I watch a long procession of other people's drinks being made. And I continue to stand there. Literally every single person that had been in line, both in front of me AND behind me got their drinks made before they even began mine. That was really the thing that got to me, because of course, I was in a hurry. The line behind me had cleared out, and all those people got their drinks. Then FINALLY someone made my frappuccino. Damn near handed it to me without whip too. Guy had the drink all lidded and everything before he noticed. Good thing he did too, because if he'd handed me my drink, after all that time, in the oppressively stinky store, and wrong... I may have had to rip someone a new one.

As it is... they earned enough of my ire for me to commit it to the internet.

Today is another classic entry in the "Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds" blog. Who found that thing? Hilarious.

I think Pru introduced us to WL,NM.

Yup, that was me. I love that blog so much. I pine for new entries. I like Happyville Library, too, but not quite as much.

And you dont live in SD, yet you and I were at the same starbucks this morning.
Thank you for sharing. now let me add, that my venti mocha frappacino did not arrive cold. To which they said, but, it's a venti mocha.
*moving on*

My most supportive co-worker informed me today that she is leaving.
Not only is she leaving, she's leaving next week, AND everyone else knew. She just didnt want anyone else to tell me.

I dont particularly like my job, and I dont feel I am very good at it, (yet I post during the day.. corelation? Prob)
yet I could always count on her to try and perk me up.
I'm very sad.

Yup, still have a headache. Water hasn't helped. Food hasn't helped. Advil hasn't helped. And, least surprisingly, attempting to concentrate on an online technical certification course hasn't helped.

Let's try tea.

Sadly, if it weren't for the fact that I'm playing pool after work, I'd probably just go home. But I don't want to have to come back down here for pool and I don't want to miss it.

have you tried a good dose of caffine or actual aspirin? sometimes those work for headaches when nothing else will (for me anyway).

headaches suck

Limited sympathy. Nothing makes my heart sink more than to watch the Starbuck's employee unbuckle from the latté machine, turn their back on me and then spend what seems like five minutes fussing with blenders, ice, syrups and whatnot to make someone's Frappuccino.

Okay, so I specifically look up my nearby CompUSA's phone number on yahoo business, because they've already removed the location from the company website. I call the number, hit the option for "price and availability", assuming, somewhat foolishly, that having dialed that location means I will get to speak with someone AT that location who can tell me if an item is still availible AT THAT location. Instead I get some girl at some general CompUSA office building who can't tell me if that location still has the item. Now THAT'S service, folks!

(No wonder they're shutting down locations!)

Hey, if it had only been to pour out all the cups he had in line when it was my drink's turn, it'd be one thing, but to set my cup on the back counter and proceed to pour all the drinks (lattes and all, not just drip) that were there, PLUS all the ones that came up WHILE he was pouring those... that's just rude.

At this point, they've most likely handed operations of the locations that are closing over to liquidation houses, so they no longer have control over or information about those locations.

The tea has helped some, but it's still there. Advil is usually my cure all, Aspirin doesn't do it for me. I was surprised when that didn't work. I was down to my last one, so I can't even up the dosage.

GD, think it could be a sinus headache? When I get those, the only thing that works is something like Tylenol Sinus/Allergy. Good stuff- I even turned my doc onto it, and the next time I saw her she said she'd tried it and was amazed how well it worked.

No, definitely not a sinus headache. It's pretty much gone now. God I hope it wasn't a caffeine withdrawal headache. I've been relying a bit too much on the stuff lately.

NA, be sure to give the Dexter a big hug from me. He's too cute to be hurting.:(

I'm not sure if it will help prevent dental problems, but Samwise loves to floss. Jumps up on the counter and pesters me until I run some through his teeth. I suspect it's the mint- then again, there's the string thing as well. He doesn't try to bat at it, though- he likes me to actually floss his teeth. Weirdo.

That deserves a pic Wendy :)

I have had a WONDERFUL day!!!

Everything I needed to do has been done. All that is left is meeting our new day care person, face to face. If she is anything in person like she is on the phone I will be beyond thrilled! I even got to stop at my favorite watering hole for some serious ego-stroking by a few great friends.

I must say, I have the bestest friends, both online and off!!!

I really wish I had an extra $2000 sitting around right now... because CompUSA has a 70" TV for just that amount!

And the TV we want is around $1000 (looking for around a 55" DLP, but there were plasmas at that price too)

...But I don't have that either.

What I do have is a nice legal copy of Adobe Premiere Elements for $40 and a 1gb thumb drive for $35. :D

I will take one tonight.:D

Dex is home, sitting on my lap and purring. He had 2 teeth extracted! But, he's a good boy and just happy to be out of the cage, out of the car and on mommy's lap.

I'm going to take the few moments before I go headlong into a massive schoolwork session to say...

When I worked at Peet's everything was timed and on a computer screen, moving along as I finished drinks. I'll assume for the sake of assuming (and since it's a Starbucks) that they're a busy store, and little details like finishing drinks on time isn't a big deal. Even at my slower Peet's working behind the counter, I could have a full screen of drinks and deliver them on time because I always have a pre-plan in my mind. Given that making a drink is generally more time-consuming at Peet's (milk is rarely over a minute or two out of steaming before it's dumped, so we did small quantities), we always had to stay on our toes. I think the very longest it's took me to make a drink was three minutes, and that was usually because there was a long list in front of me. Most were under a minute.

Oh, so yeah, my point?

At most I'd maybe do a drink ahead if I could help more customers at a time by doing it that way, but not at the cost of pissing anyone off. He probably took your drink off the screen (because he was about to pass whatever imaginary line Starbucks corporate put out there), forgot about it for a while, then took care of you out of guilt. I've seen it happen before.

Sorry about the snafu... but then again, I pretty much can't stand Starbucks, and am surprised you didn't just hit up the Peet's for the much better Vanilla Freddo.

So, limited sympathy. ;)

Peet's is 3 miles out of my way. Starbucks was in the same parking lot as the gas station.

Doesn't the gas station have coffee?

My Starbucks generally does a good job for me. I'm there every weekday morning so I usually don't even have to tell them my order, they tell me.

But it's weird that they're pushing Egg McMuffinish sandwiches. And the McDonalds across the street wants to sell me fancy coffee drinks.

I don't drink straight coffee. I drink frozen coffee drinks. And when it's cold, I drink lattes.

There's actually been a bit of discussion about their marketing strategies as of late. McDonald's has began a franchise-wide international revamping of their image, in order to compete with the likes of Starbucks. Starbucks, instead of responding in the way I'd hope, has responded with the line of breakfast foods. The changes launched around the same time for both.

I'm always in favor of doing what you do well, and McDonald's, like the food or not, does fast, cheap and bland well (and there's a sizeable market for that). McD's, is failing (somewhat) in its familiar arena, so it needs to branch out and it's chosen to take on Starbucks. Famous vs. Famous.

Starbucks does middle-class to affluent coffee well (sales, not quality, IMO). To me, this is an example of Starbucks believing that they're above their competition (and financially and in terms of size, they certainly are) to the point that they're venturing into new markets. Or, they're insecure of their market position (given that a couple of blind-tests have shown that consumers have preferred McD's coffee over Starbucks), and this is a defensive response.

On both sides, anyone who pays attention to marketing strategy can see right through it, and it's pretty sad. Like I said, I'm of Jim Collins' "Hedgehog" school of thought. Do your thing and do it well.

I think both of their coffees suck. At least I don't get pretentious attitude over at McD's. ;)

P.S. I apologize, I haven't found a reason to even talk about the topics of two papers this semester and one paper from last. So... just ignore me. Please. :D

Niiiiice.

Congrats BTD!

Soooo, Chris got a new computer and, with it, comes a whole new set of odd and unfamiliar noises in the house. Most of the new sounds sond like we have had an elevator installed in the office. I'm glad I don't know all of the words to the theme song from that Brit show about a department store. I'd be singing it non-stop.

You finished your first draft last night and it is graded today? Is this a class of one person?

I don't even care about my final tomorrow. I've barely studied. I don't know if it's because it's open book and I've covered most of this stuff already in the IP survey course and advertising law course - or if it's just that I'm in my final year and I've stopped caring so much.

Had an interview today for a new job at the zoo - Admissions Supervisor. This would get me out of Food Service and back to areas I'm more interested in. There were seven candidates, three from the zoo and four from other Metro facilities. There will be a second round of interviews in a few weeks. We'll hear later this week who they're having back.

From what I know of the pool, the best contenders should be myself and a woman who has worked in admissions even longer than I've been at the zoo. She's been doing a lot of the job in question on a temporary basis. That doesn't mean the job is hers, just that she has a bit of a leg up. On my part, I've worked in all the areas of admissions at one time or another, and have supervised them to some extent in the past.

And I kicked ass in the interview!

Thanks!

Ya. This teacher has a really quick turn around. Then again it was a week late and he was probably caught up with his other papers.

Ground floor perfumery,
stationery and leather goods,
wigs and haberdashery
kitchenware and food...going up

First floor telephones,
gents ready-made suits,
shirts, socks, ties, hats,
underwear and shoes...going up

Second floor carpets,
travel goods and bedding,
material, soft furnishings,
restaurant and teas. Going down!

Awesome! Congrats and fingers crossed for you! :snap:

Visible mojo to Snowflake for this one!

Well, I got a great Bday week present today. Tomorrows my last day at work. :( Oh well...

Crap. Was this a complete surprise? Crap.

Well, had to happen sometime. Things were going very good lately. But, that's life!

Well that sucks!

Happy unbirthday

Every time I get my hair cut, I go through these phases.

Right away: I love it! (well, usually...)

A couple of hours later: Oh my god, it's way shorter than I thought. When I asked for (layers, color, cut), I don't think I meant quite this.

Usually the next day: OK, my hair's fine. What was I thinking?

Damn! You beat me to it! (Evil minds think alike... :evil: )

That SUCKS!

Well, that was not very nice of them. This sucks, but I always feel, one door closes because another great opportunity is waiting for you to walk through the door & wow them. Sending you good mojo!

Whee! Getting tickets for Spamalot and Young Frankenstein!

Spamalot!!! :snap:

I gotta go to Vegas!!!!

So, I figured out what is going on in Vegas this weekend (somewhere I posted that rooms are ridiculous for this weekend).

Besides Cinco de Mayo, the Kentucky Derby and Kenny Chesney there is a huge de la Hoya fight.

It's the perfect storm for high prices.

So, I have a new Computer w/Vista and Office 2003 (wasn't somebody asking about that?) I'm cool with Vista, though I'm still on the steep end of the learning curve. However, in my attempt to add a second hard drive I had a little whoopsie and had to reinstall windows - which actually wasn't that bad. In fact it cleared all the useless crap Dell bundled into the PC in the first place, so despite the time I'll now put in loading software, transferring files, etc. - I'll be quite happy with the new machine.

Somebody was asking about the Vista/Office 2003 combination and I responded that I had no problems with it.

I agree about the Vista learning curve. So far, I have not found any improvements (other than the fact that one can have ten users logging into my Shared Docs whereas the limit with XP was five). But I have run across a lot of things that are different.

One thing that I have yet to figure out is how to set the view for all folders to List View. How I used to set it in XP don't work :(

Lol! We get that all the time from people- so long as you wind up liking it, it's all good.:)

It seems like it takes around a week for my hair to "settle down" even from a trim. Is that usually the case?

Oh yeah, and I was the one wondering about Vista & Office 2003.

Thanks to everyone who's helped me out with that. I'm thinking of picking up another Microsoft Office before I graduate........................ and maybe the Adobe Creative Suite.

Too many great deals to pass up!

It's usually more a case of learning or re-learning how to style when it's a different shape, even when it's just a minor change. Unless a chemical service was involved, there should be no real change in the structure of the hair (aside from length), so the only other reason I can think of is different prods used at the salon? If you get a color at the same time, then yeah- it's takes a bit of time for the cuticle to settle back down and your hair can seem a little wild.

I think I need wendybeth to deal with my hair. Up for a challenge?

One final down, one more to go, and then I'll be done with my last spring semester.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to study for my income tax final - which is pretty damn necessary since I remember next to nothing from the class itself. But I have a new Zen Vision:M. Study? Or play with new toy? Hmmmm.....

The real challenge would be my hair.

We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!! We Won!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man I love playoff hockey!

WARNING: Bitching ahead.
I love my job. However, as with most jobs, there is a problem. The problem with it is that I work ALL the time. Yes, I have breaks throughout the day (like now), but these breaks are a couple of hours at most, then I have more work to do. It is like this all day long - and through the night when I have overnights. It makes it really difficult to be productive IRL.

Bitching accepted. Have a nice day!

:D

Anyone want to give me the lowdown on pedicures? I have to get one today (yes, have to). Never had one before.

Only 11 more rounds to go.

Now . . . how 'bout them Warriors? Man, I've been waiting for this since, well, since their closing season run got them into the playoffs with a lame-assed 42-40 record. However, it was exciting, and any time a team from Texas goes down, it's a good thing.

Hopefully you don't have a situation like Susan faced at her previous nail place.

The owner (a male) started flirting with her when she went in. Small harmless stuff which she ignored. But his advances started getting bolder. One day, when she was in for a manicure, he offered a free pedi as well. When he was done, he bent over and kissed the top of each foot.

Needless to say, she never went back.

Ew. I think I just changed my mind. Going shoe shopping instead.

Nah... don't let that story scare you. It is the exception, not the rule.

As a male, I would usually rather see a woman with open toed shoes and a nice pedi than closed-toe. No foot fetish or anything, just a preference.

Yeah, in terms of pedicures, what happened to Susan is a rare exception.

Most places are pretty cool. If there's a foot soaking spa, ask them what they use to keep everything like their plumbing, etc sanitary. Also, the stuff they use on you should be sterilized, just like when you get a manicure or acrylics. If that's the case, it will likely be in its own kit.

Don't let them "cut" your feet in any way. While some people may have calloused feet, it's unnecessary and often unsanitary to slice the stuff away. There are slower, kinder, at-home methods to help take care of that. Some people like it done... but I've seen your feet, the chances of you needing it are almost nil.

Oh, and if I were giving Susan a pedicure, I'd kiss the tops of her feet as well.

RAWR

Just kidding, of course... There has to be a reward or something at stake for me to put my face near anyone's foot

This reminds me - I think I'm going to get a pedicure once this week is over.

Pedicures are wonderful. I cannot match the look of a good polish at home. However, bring your own kit to assure it is sterile.

Since my feet are almost always in shoes, home painting is good enough for me.

But if I ever did pay for it, I think there is one simple rule:

1. You can kiss my feet but I get to kick you in the mouth.

Well I'm back. It was nice but I'm not sure I'll do it again. Just not really my thing. But it accomplished the mission.

The tools were sterile - they have them in vacuumed sealed bags.

Cheetos taste good when dipped in KFC mashed tatos.

No, I do not have anything I'd like to share with the class :p

Is there anything half so wonderful as an office manager who likes to throw potlucks and is an excellent cook?

We had a Cinco (okay, quatro) de Mayo party here at the office, and the manager brought ceviche and flan. SOOOOOOOOOOO good. Actually one of the agents' wives made awesome tamales too.

I still can't get over the whole alcohol thing though. After so many years in the buttoned up and sober corporate world, it still blows my mind to see sangria, cervesa, and tequila passed around openly at the offfice. Granted the tequila was just gifted, nobody was drinking that, but still cracks me up.

At my previous employer, a gigantic corporate behemoth, there was actually a Christmas party where they slutty* eggnog. I thought that was weird, but I'm pretty sure it's because someone felt bad that, due to the company having major financial woes, they'd recently significantly cut back on bonuses and such.


*Well, if drinks without alcohol are called "virgin", what else would one call the alcohol-infused version?

Here I am, trying to be productive, and my dad has to go and call me up just to make sure I understand that my aunt is dying from the cancer this time around (I already knew that), and to tell me that her daughter, who was getting ready to move in with her mom to help her deal with the chemo etc. just found out that SHE has cancer too, in the throat, and that it has spread to her lymph nodes already.

He couldn't wait to deliver news like that till AFTER the work day? How am I supposed to go back to recruiting after hearing something like THAT?

Hmm, I'm trying to sort this one out. I can't find it in the version I'm running, but I think I'm running a beta version. I've found reference to list view having been removed initially, and then added back in late in the beta cycle. If so, it SHOULD be in the "normal" place (right click, select "View", "list" should be an option along with "icons" "tiles" "detail" etc.

ETA: Actually, open a folder, you should see a "Views" icon right above the viewing pane. Clicking on that should bring up a menu with a slider bar. Is "list" on there?

I should have been more clear. I know how to set a folder to list view, but I do not know how to KEEP it on list view. In XP, you could go to the highest level folder, set the view, right click to get properties and somewhere in there was an option to set for all enclosed folders. And it would stay that way.

With Vista, I can set list view and right click to get properties. There is a tab called "Customize". In there, The top option is what I would think would work to do what I am looking for, but no matter how I try it, the list view just doesn't stick.

Oh shoot, in my hunting I saw something about that. But I'm at home and don't have any Vista machines now. It might have been in the help. Open the Windows help (I clicked yes when asked if I want to search online) and enter "list view" as the search. See if one of the results helps at all.

That was one of the first things I tried and it gave me some bizarre results. I tried other search parameters but none of which netted me anything (or I completely missed the answer).

But shouldn't you on your way to the park?!?

You might find something useful in this thread:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum...fm/720912.html

Thank you for the link Alex. I will try some of these work-arounds on monday.

It was interesting to read that Microsoft is still Microsoft. :rolleyes:

Is slutty the opposite of virgin? Maybe they're "only within the confines of a committed relationship" drinks. Or "I try to tell myself that taking it up the pooper isn't really sex, but I don't really believe that" drinks. Or "I've had sex but have never enjoyed it so now I just use it as a tool to get my spouse to do things for me" drinks.

I bought a new waffle maker the other day. We had sourdough waffles this morning. Mmmmmm!

I'm sticking with slutty. It's about extremes. Non alcoholic drinks aren't just "chaste" or "prim". They're completely virginal. So in my mind, "slutty" is the appropriate opposite.

No, ignoring necessary. The subject interests me, too.

I've decided that "The Way You Look Tonight" is the most perfect song ever. I'm listening to a Frank Sinatra version right now but didn't Fred Astaire sing it in Top Hat?

When Pete Jacobs plays at PBDA they do something magical with this song. During the band break Erin and Tami play records and they'll put on "The Way You Look Tonight" as the band members are gathering back on stage. The band then starts playing the song, taking over for the record, and the sudden burst of full, beautiful sound is wonderful. You can feel the energy in the room rise.

Perfect, perfect song.


We now return you to your regularly scheduled century already in progress.

Do you use sourdough starter? I use it for my pancakes. Double yum!!

I worked again today. It was busy in the morning and then nothing for 2 hours and then busy again until we closed. Wierd.

Boy was with The Old People today. Mom took him to Fashion Bug to buy me something for Mother's Day. I went to Fashion Bug after work, on my way to pick him up. I need(ed) summer clothes that I could wear to work. in less than 20 minutes I had a skirt, scooter and 4 tops. I took them over to Mom's to try them on, the skirt fit great. I was a bit iffy since it didn't have an elastic waist. the scooter was waaaaaaay too big. Nick went with me to take it back. I tried on the size smaller and the next size down. Both fit, but the 1 size down fit better over my tummy so I went with it. I have officially lost 1 pant size since Easter. I also ended up with 2 more skirts and 3 more tops.

On a purely bitchy note, I found the 15 pounds I lost. It looks like David has my 15 plus about 10 more. HAH!

Tonight I had a nice visit with my neighbors, both next door and across the street.

And a major success, Chicken is now entirely outside!!! I placed her cage in the pen and covered it up so she has somewhere to hide. Poohdog is very interested in her, but he can't get to her, so he is whining.

That's not bitchy, MG- you were simply making a pleasant observation. ;):D


Happy early Mother's Day to you!

YAY MG!

I was going to bitch about my income tax final and how it sucked, but one of my best friends just called and her folks were in a bad accident and her mom can't move her arms and legs and the neurosurgeon isn't sure she ever will. So now I'm just sad and worried.

Great Song! It's been in my set list at the show before. It's great fun to sing - wonderful melody - and fun to wander from table to table singing to different women!

The only problem is the instrumental break is to short to do anything with.

ron

so, my houseguest (he's so southern) bought me a gift for letting me stay at my place, he got me this really nice electric skillet. one of those deep ones that have the no stick bottom... but other than bacon, i am not sure what else I can cook in there? I am sure there are so many recipies, they are just not coming to mind...

Pru, I hope things improve with your friends Mom.

I'm home. I'm home. I'm home for the next 9 hours. No work. YAY!

As soon as I can get my eyes to focus I have to take my car to get a tire fixed. There's a big nail in it.:(

When will my car be old enough to take care of itself? This whole helpless routine is not attractive at all.

Scratch that. Clients flight delayed. I have to do a mid-day.

After looking over the syllabuses (syllabui?) for my summer classes I decided I am taking the summer off. YAY NO SCHOOL!!!!!!!

I never ever ever ever want to hear the words "nonrecourse debt" again as long as I live. Maybe longer.

So I gave up on mono vision contacts. My brain could never adjust (damn literal brain - refusing to overlook a few petty details like lack of focus in one eye).

So, now I am trying bifocal contacts. We'll see how this works.

Of course! (My starter is 52 years old, btw.)

Mmmmmmmmmm..... Del Taco fries...

Tater tots...

yes please.

I did yard work today. My roses are no longer totally out of control. My one florabunda by the front door, is now seperate from the hedges next to it and both are back in the confines of their beds, and not hindering front door access.

My lawn mower is being fixed, so hopefully by next weekend I will no longer have to rely on the neighbors to mow our front yard, and Nick can start doing it.

Other than that I am watching the girls eat grapes. They have also been stashing the grapes all over the cage. Boy are they gonna be ticked when they get cleaned tomorrow.

Color me officially unimpressed by Borat. While there are one or two moments of amusement, in general it's a real drag.

Then again, I wasn't a big fan of Little Miss Sunshine either, which everyone loved.

I don't think I'll ever sit and watch Borat. It looks really stupid to me....But I could be wrong, too.

I did lots of yard work today too. I'm a bit sunburned! Wow, it was warm!

It's pretty stupid.

Pre-presentation freak out session.

ACKjac fhkasj!!!

Everything will be just fine.

OK, on second thought...

I've noticed that I tend to give off-the-cuff statements better than I do "planned presentations" for school. I also don't seem to have problem discussing things in anything outside of the school setting. I don't know what it is about it that seems to throw me off, but I stop acting natural and get tense - worked up for what is really not a big deal at all. I recognize this, and yet I can't stop getting that panicked feeling.

Does anyone else go through this?

Maybe because you know you are 'presenting'? You automatically go in to that mode?

Me? My problem is brain farts. Whew, where the heck was I going with that idea?

Oh, never mind, I found something else.

Worse is when another thought doesn't pop right in. :blush:

Perhaps you are the only one who feels you are unnatural but others find you witty and intelligent? :D

Yes, I never give scripted talks, especially back in school. I just made sure I knew the topic and then got up and started to talk. That resulted in a couple really bad flame outs (usually because I didn't know the subject as well as I convinced myself I did) but for the most part it worked very well for me.

I used to be terrified of public speaking and that was the only way I could get through it. I would actually blank out afterwards (speaking amnesia) and have absolutely no recollection of the talk I gave.

I did this with my high school senior presentation (fail the presentation and you don't graduate) and I've never known what I said.

I was probably inspired to this by my childhood hero, Isaac Asimov, who was very proud of the fact that he very rarely spoke with preparation. He'd just show up, find out what the topic was and then talk for the allotted time without a visible clock. (I can't do the timing part.)

Haha, let's hope that's the case!

I did a presentation a while back that was completely off the cuff and I did so much better. I'm crutching myself with a highlighted points sheet. I have so much to cover, and don't want to burn rubber like I did in the practice session.

Oh, but I did burn rubber because someone who likes to talk a lot took 9 minutes of what was supposed to be a 15 minute presentation (and I'm the last presenter). I just hope he heeded everyone's concerns about his nonstop talking

Which brings me to another point, and makes me laugh since it's exactly what Chris said to me the other day, when I was complaining about this guy, Danny.

After the practice presentation, he said (something to the effect of), "Yeah, I like to use big words because it makes it sound like I know more." He actually said it! How retarded? I wish I knew who said it, but I was told that if you truly understand something, you can explain it to a five year old. Which probably doesn't mean explain the stuff you know to a five year old, but most likely to just relax and stop pulling out the 25-cent words.

Oh, and he was making up words during our presentation. I hope we don't get torched for that.

Ugh

In academia, nobody has ever been punished for using 25-cent words (my inflation is horrible). You get rewarded for using words only 8 people in the world know. And since this is the case, when you just make up a word people will look up to you since they just assume you're part of secret inner-language cabal into which they've not yet earned induction.

Sometimes I use words that I've picked up reading books.

I love the phrase I picked up from some western book I read {Louis L'Amour?}
'young cuss'.

When I use it, people are like WTF are you talking about?

I just say 'read'. Writers use such colorful and alive words {like our own GC} that it makes reading an adventure.

The there's the old saying:





Yep... I just love bumper sticker philosophy!

Ok, so I tried the fix in the post from Resident Evil (posted 2007-Apr-30, 1pm AEST) and that seems to be doing the trick.

If you are registered there, would you please post a thank-you for me? I don't want to register for one post.

Is it wrong to be evil if the end result is really funny (to me, at least, if to no one else)?

Depends on what you find funny.

Millions of dead Jews make you laugh? Then yes, it is wrong to be evil.

Millions of red Jews make you laugh? Then it depends on the toxicity of the paint trap you dig under Tel Aviv.

My semester grades are trickling in.

So far I have 2 Bs and a C.

The grades from my class that I have tests in have yet to come back. Those make me nervous.

Oh, how I don't miss school.

As far as oral presentations go, one word of advice: if you use big words that you picked up while reading, take a moment and figure out how they're pronounced. I used to have a friend who had a fabulous vocabulary but sounded like an idiot every time he opened his mouth.

(Note to self: find and post the great courtroom scene from "not the nine o'clock news" on this very topic)

I suppose that's true, but it's painfully obvious they're usually used incorrectly or plain old made up. He may talk a lot, but he's not a good speaker. A good speaker could probably throw in a made up word that sounds good, so long as it the whole thing is cohesive and doesn't sound like he's just talking to take up time.

Besides, in a room full of academics, wouldn't someone call him on it, or ask a question in relation, to see if there's a true understanding of it? Or is everyone else too afraid to appear as if they don't know? I've prided myself on knowing many a 25-cent word, and on my ability to question. I've always held the belief that just because I'm asking, doesn't mean I don't know... I'm testing the knowledge of someone that purports knowing.

Someone beat me to it.

Warning to NA: Link will bring you directly to Britcom.

I had another fun day at work today... Got to be shown off as a model employee for bigwigs from Florida - I might have a busier summer than I thought I would :D

In my experience, not often. And the less they feel like an expert on the subject the more likely they'd ask. However, if the expert (a professor) is confident in the boobish nature of the presenter (a student) then you're in trouble too.

But in general, academia rewards those who can say in 8 syllables what only requires two. That is why I did reasonably well there.

Tis sad but true. I am guilty of committing this egregious action.

Well, I would at least think the professor would pay attention to whether the word made sense or not. I could understand if it's praised if and when a multi-syllabic word is used correctly. Danny, on the other hand, uses 25-cent words when they're not even inappropriate, and worse yet - they don't mean what he needs to say. (I only know what he's trying to say because we're working on the project together, and really, the teacher should know what the words mean in the context he would use them in.)

8-syllable words that don't carry the appropriate meaning just means that the person saying it is trying too hard. Doesn't intelligence just convey itself with a smooth confident style?

Interestingly enough, during our presentation today, I think Danny heeded a little of what I'd said during practice. He trimmed down his portion to 6 minutes (that's almost 40% of the alloted time for the presentation), which is better than the 9 minutes we'd clocked him at three times during a practice session (The rest of us used 3, which brought us to our full 15). Classmates came up to my other group members after class asking how we'd gotten him to not do his usual long-winded schtick. (Because Danny is a notorious ass, and is notorious for making everyone else look like an ass - when other classmates found out which of us were grouped with Danny, they pretty much just apologized).

We shined in comparison to the next group. On speaking ability, they did well, but it was clear their research was lacking. They missed multi-million dollar class action lawsuits against 24 Hour Fitness that several students knew about, and had a hard time handling the Q&A session after their presentation. I'm relieved that my group actually did some hardcore research.
In other words, our presentation went *very* well. :D

That's cool E. I'm glad to hear everything worked out.

It's all about how you choose to verbalize the enlightenment you wish to bestow upon the populace. But in all honesty, why refer to prestidigitation when "magic" will suffice - unless you're trying to redirect your audience, as one might when the content of their discussion is noticeably lacking in substance.

See? I can be pretentious too! :)

(Though, to be fair, most of the 25-cent words I use are actually a natural part of my vocabulary. But I'm a weirdo.)

Because prestidigitation has a more specific meaning than "magic." And that is how the disease creeps into academic discussion. When focused on minutae, the fine gradations of meaning become important. But over time it becomes a habit that is hard to break and there is a certain pleasantness to creating a vocabulary that is only understood by those in the know.

The Sokal Hoax was an example of these tendencies taken to their horrible conclusion. I'd include my copy of The Sokal Hoax: The Sham that Shook the Academy when I send you your books but it is from my pseudoscience and junk science collection so it is only available for loan. If by any chance you're interested in it and you'd give it back, I'd be happy to send it.


As for 25-cent words, I once used "paucity" in an extemporaneous presentation back in grad school to much grief. But such things just happen to me naturally. Still don't know why it got such a reaction since I used it correctly.

Bring it to the camping trip. I'd love to spend the weekend reading something that's not a textbook!

Like Morrigoon, I tend to use big words, but I try to keep in mind its origin, because I'm a big nerd. So it bothers me that other people would use them incorrectly. Maybe I'm just irritated at that, because I have a subconscious fear that it cheapens my usage... to know that others may wield language like a toddler that picks up a heavy sword. Just 'cuz you can hold it doesn't mean you know what you're doing with it.

Yarrgh!

My elitist self is really shining tonight.

p.s. I haven't used paucity before (not one of the words that comes up, enough, for me. I should whip it out in econ and freak out the students and, perhaps, the professor.) (On second though, no.... bad idea.) And that stinks that you got a bad reaction for using a word properly.

But would you not agree that overuse, and especially misuse of such words serve only to dilute the public's understanding of the specific nature of the word?

I wish I could remember where I read it... I recall reading a whole thing on the tendency toward using industry-specific jargon as a way to identify oneself as part of an "elite".

I read a lot and a lot of what I read is from past centuries. Consequently, I run across a lot of useful words on a regular basis and after a while it just seems normal to use them in speech. I think people tend to absorb and use words that stand out to them, and not all do it to be ostentatious. I do tend to 'dumb down' my speech, precisely because of all the " there you go using big words" comments, but I don't think of the majority of my lexicon as big words at all- just underused or outdated.

I also tend to spell straight outta Oxford, so I have Mirriam Webster bookmarked to correct such mistakes. A few will slip through, but I try.

Oh, dear.

Merriam.

Lol! See?

Why are colonial era-styled fife and drum corps used to welcome the Queen of England? Isn't that rather rubbing her nose in it? Nanny-nanny-boo-boo we kicked your butts!

I'm fine with that. We did kick their arses, right?

It just doesn't seem very polite. But, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at that.

I think they already look down their nostrils at us- I'm not going to worry about offending Elizabeth, especially since we went on to save their asses in several World Wars. History worked out the way it did, and I think they've dealt with it. Still, it won't hurt my feelings if she goes home and writes in her little diary snotty things about GW.

You know, having read a bit about the actual ceremony, dinner, etc- I am going to have to retract my claws. Her Majesty did just fine.:D

But the founding fathers are rolling in their Federalist graves.

Never mind the Merriam part...That just cracks me up.

So yesterday we had a meeting where our application development team demonstrated the latest version of our major piece of software. They were demonstrating a feature where hovering the mouse over certain options would bring up the description of those options in a text box. A discussion ensued about exactly how the hovering feature should work.

The development manager chimed in. She's a non-native speaker of English. Her English is excellent, nearly unaccented and very fluent. But she there are a few odd artifacts of her non-native status in her pronunciation and diction.

She spent the next five minutes talking about the "hoovering" and how it does/should work.

No one in a room full of 20 people corrected her. One guy actually started saying "hoovering". And I resisted with all my might the urge to say, "I think it sucks."

Similar thing yesterday for me. Over the years working in tech I have become very proficient at Indian and East European accents (Malaysian accents, however, continue to kick my ass).

But yesterday we were in a meeting with a vendor developer discussing a project that will be both Web and WAP. It didn't help that she pronounced both as homophones of each other.

Good thing she wasn't discussing Italians.

Actually... probably not. The concept that the Founding Fathers were anti-English and anti-royalty is a great misconception. They were fighting against overseas rule that was unjust, mismanaged, and in which they did not have adequate representation. I have no doubt they would have fought just as hard if the colonies were under the power of a European republic instead of a monarchy.

Also, don’t forget that the founding fathers were considering inviting a German prince over to become the King of America. I forget his name at the moment.

So, I'm back and back online
 

Mom is recovering well, and complaining (always a good sign). I took an extra day yesterday since I had it scheduled off to hang with her (and man was it HOT, we're having a heatwave in the Bay Area). Two angioplasties and the insertion of a stent seems to have put her in full working order. She now has to slow down, stay on her meds and recover. I hope to God I have the genes from her side of the family, everyone lived or is living forever, she just lost her first sibling last year at 92, everyone else is still going like energizer bunnies.

Work is nuts, of course, I'm slammed, but in the wise words of Kevy Baby "This too shall pass." Besides, I have the motivation of a paycheck and a recently received stellar review.

So, I'm begining to feel cursed with all the roadblocks to Disneyland, sheesh, it's only 400 miles away. Screw the plane ticket, next trip I'm driving and to hell with being green.

May I say, I've missed each and every one of you?

Donna

Sheesh, so much to catch up on! Gone a few days and hundreds and hundreds of posts, LoT stops for no one! :cool:

Should I just be lazy and ask, what have I missed?

Stuff.

That's concise but not illustrative. ;) So I guess I will just read.

I picked up some clients/friends from the airport on Sunday after many flight delays. We were chatting on the way home and, knowing I've been sick, asked if I got some rest on Sunday. I replied "I HAD to rest. Charles crawled on top on me and made me lie in bed". After a moment of pause the question was asked......"Who is Charles? I thought your husband's name was Chris?".

Cat whore.




:D

And we've missed you!!!

I think that pretty much covers it.

The best thing to do Donna, if you want to get caught up properly, is to read this thread from the beginning. That way, nothing is lost in context.

I think we all know that ABG isn't into cats.

The other part holds true though.


:D

(You do know that was intentional, like in 'straight outta Compton'?)

Otherwise, carry on......:D

Oh, bwahahaha, but doesn't this describe you , as well? I seem to recall photographic evidence of Charles in your lap....

I''ve already read the entire thread, up to a few days back. So it's not quite as daunting as starting over. I do need to catch up, however!

Good to be online, family crisis or not, being without a PC/email and because I'm an idiot, no charged cell phone, I was truly and completely out of the loop for a few days. Me no like.

I hate that unconnected feeling- it's like you've been in some weird time warp, isn't it? Glad your mom is doing well!:)

Boris has an appointment next Wednesday to potentially become radioactive. I wonder if he will glow in the dark?

If so, I want to see pictures!

Lack of connectivity is a horrible place to be.

I'm glad Mom is doing well, too. Just got off the phone, she's doing great!

I have a friend who works in nuclear medicine, so let me give you a piece of advice:

Do not make any jokes about glowing into the dark to the people administering it. That is a fast track way to get on that person's ****list. They've heard them all billions of times and are not amused.

What about super human feline powers jokes?

'Fraid not.

But maybe it is different in veterinarian medicine. My friend works in a cardiac clinic doing stress tests.

When I got nuked, I made jokes.

Then somewhere there is a nuclear medicine tech that hates you.

My friend is actually wonderful with patients but it is fun watching him bitch about them later.

Maybe the radioactivity will make Boris grow a laser beam shooter on his head!

I'm sure there are many people out there that hate me. ;)

I make jokes while undegoing difficult treatments to ease my own discomfort. The techs' happiness is the least of my worries. I'm selfish that way.

Seriously. If it were me at the mercy of nuclear medicine, I'd be thinking of Kevy's current avatar. Anything is better than that avatar.

Hey...

I love this cartoon!

Oh, he understands why people make the jokes, and he doesn't really hate them. But he does bitch a lot about having to hear them over and over and over and over and over again.

any idea what the press date on that strip is SnowFlake?
(I cant get close enough to read it)

May 5, 2007, Ponine.

Comics.com (you have to register now, I'm on a free subscription for this strip)

Thanks, its current then.
I used to subscribe to that strip as well, but I let it go when I never got to it enough.
Hallmarks of Felinity is one of my faves.

(its not in the paper down here, but used to be when I was in Denver.)

Hey! Who are they trying to fool... This isn't the Queen, it's Dick Cheney in drag!!!

Dining reservations are made. Got every one on the first requested day.

YAY!

So, on the advice of my apt complex, I decided to check my smoke detector. There is a button on the front, apparently, that I can use to test if it's operational.

I held the button down, and it beeped a few times.

Is that good?

I figured I'd have to replace a battery (since I've been here for nearly 4 years and haven't yet), but apparently it's electric. OK, so that means it hasn't been up there with a dead battery.....

....but when I got close with a flashlight, there are very, very small letters on it that say it won't work if the power fails. What good is that?

It has a battery back-up. Replace the battery.

Do we have any avid Tink collectors on this board?
if you feel you qualify for this role, please let me know.

Okay, is it just me, or does GW look like a schoolboy who just got a peek up Teacher's skirt?

THAT is a bit of history I did NOT know. :snap:

So much mojo to give in the last handful of threads! You guys slay me!

One of my teammates from the aforementioned presentation is an international student. His English isn't perfect, but there's very little accent, and his weaknesses don't show until he's nervous - surprising, to me, since he's only been here a little less than three years. I hardly notice it, also probably because my grandma's been speaking broken English my entire life.

Poor Danny, I'm going to abuse him some more... During the practice sessions, our dear international student was having trouble figuring out what to say. Danny kept suggesting these huge words, and that's when Danny made a comment about big words making you appear smarter. The international student got nervous, and could barely make it through the speech. I told him he'd be better off using simple language - and it would be fine if it didn't come out perfectly. It's better to finish his portion, than to be stuck on one artery-clogging word.

I also had Chinese finance professor who always referred to "capital budgeting" as "capito bargeting." A few students actually weren't sure if that was a real word. It pays to be versed in broken English!

Quoting Alex a second time. Man...

When I worked at the dental office, we'd get a lot of the same jokes. Almost worse yet, though charming in its own way, are the routine of jokes/conversation that seem to get repeated throughout the day from the doctor.

hehe

I am not sure about Tink collectors, but I know there are a couple of twink collectors.

Griffith Park is totally on fire!
D'oh!

OMG, I had a Chinese economics professor who used to say funny stuff too. How hard was it to learn econometrics when "zizzo" meant zero and rho sounded like "zoh".

So, CoasterMatt's latest avatar really has me spooked....

I am not a 'Tink' collector but I do like to collect Tink things.

One thing I have been looking for, for years, is a childs' necklace. It has Tink on top of a slotted sphere filled with gemstones. {the kind you 'Bedazzle?}.

I had one as a little girl and I loved it. Don't know what happened to it.

I wore a Tink shirt to Knott's last week...got a few positive comments on it. I told one girl 'I thought maybe I shouldn't wear it here {Knott's} but you can't hold anything against Tink, she didn't do anything wrong.'

Unfortunatley, not what I have. On the other hand, I need someone who might actually WANT current Tink stuff.

I dont need this person, but I have access to stuff, and someone might want said stuff.
Namely a big fig at $50

Oh, current items.

Thanks for getting back on that. :)

*sigh* I finally fixed my computers' sound. I don't know who installed this 'audio manager' but it was not set properly.

Oh my gawd. Ya'll know I am a Cornell fan. {never been quiet about that}.

On MSN they have a link to a concert he did last night. I was listening to it, a la chipmunks, and getting really bummed and feeling depressed over my crappy situation.

I started going into places and it when I fixed it, it was like the heavens opened up and I could hear his voice...damn good voice.

I am so happy right now.

A: I am now able to hear all of the stuff I've been missing {didn't get tickets to his show}

B: I fixed the darn computer.

Okay, carry on. :D

If your day already sucks by 9AM how much suckier can it get before 5 PM? I'm guessing a lot.

You are assuming the trend of the day cannot change. I believe it's quite possible for the trend to change.
By 5 PM you may be looking back on your best day ever!




(well maybe)
(hang in there)

Yeah! They fixed the internet at work (been out all morning). I can finally get some work done (and the first place I go is the LoT!).

DPR is right. Fixing my computer has made me fell a lot better. I've doned my workout clothes, in a positive mood, too, and am going to hit this day with a better feeling than when I woke up.

Kevy, of course.

Does anyone know how to play chess?

I know how the pieces move and I have played before. But I suck at it.

I suck but love the clickity clack the wooden pieces make on the board. :D

My 13 year old is quite good, though.

Did you have an on line game to play? Or a question?

Because i have this really nice chess board and I even have Chess for Dummies, but I am just the type of person that has to physically have the person standing over me show me how to play with it...

Mac's come with a real cool version.

Sometime, it is just too easy.

Because i have this really nice chess board and I even have Chess for Dummies, but I am just the type of person that has to physically have the person standing over me show me how to play with it... i have always been fascinated with it but always thought it was complicated...

Umm, so we bought a tv.

Our current TV, while prefect for what we needed 3 years ago, is definitely living up to being the cheap off-brand model that it is. The picture is still good, but it cuts off the edges and, more importantly to me, it has a high pitched whine that I can hear from anywhere in the house that drives me insane.

So after one quick research trip to Circuit City and an uncharacteristicly small amount of deliberation (we've seen several Samsungs in the past that convinced me that they've got the best LCD picture for the price, and the online reviews for this model were good across the board), we pulled the trigger. Ordered it from the link above for about $250 cheaper than Circuit City. 7-9 days before it arrives.

We were slightly hesitant because it seems a tad silly to buy a brand new HDTV when we have no HD cable, no HD DVR, no HD-DVD/BlueRay player. But it also seemed silly to buy a standard tube TV knowing we'd want to replace it in short order once we do start upgrading to HD services. At least one reviewer specifically mentioned that SD looks good on this set, which is good news (we've seen some HDTVs where an SD signal looks worse than on a standard tv, so that's a worry).

Congrats GD and CP!

Me = TV envy

Congratulations! Will you do a wall mount, or a stand? (this is in reference to the tv, Kevy)

I have TV envy.

Stand is our only option as there's no wall where we have our TV, only a stair banister. Fortunately we thought ahead when purchasing furniture and have a TV cabinet that's the perfect size for standing this thing on.

Has it been 7-9 days yet?

That's the thing--it doesn't. A cheap $10 clock radio has a battery backup, but the smoke alarm doesn't. Go figure.

My apartment has the same type of alarms. And mine have gone all beepy but there's no battery to replace either. I had the maintenance guys come fix it - not sure what they did but it stopped.

Mine's never beeped except for when I pushed the test button on the front.

might suggest adding one (or two) of your own. I'd hate to find out later that all they did was kill it to make it stop beeping

ya know?

That's the new plan. Next week I'll go get a battery one.

Oh. Me, too. Drives the kid crazy because they can 'retain' the directions....

Is Paris Hilton really that full of herself?

In a word, yes.

among other things.

I say we start our own petition demanding that she be fired

I normally don't care about what goes on in the lives of the party crowd but I hope she goes to jail. Regular jail. For the full 45 days. Like she was sentenced to.

Somehow, I doubt she'll go to "regular jail". Since I work in one, I promise you that I've never seen someone from that financial background actually serving time for anything like that. There are plenty of people who serve their sentence cleaning the streets, but most everyone who stays in the jail are people who are either serving sentences for violent crimes, drugs, prostitution or robbery, or people waiting for court/sentencing who can't afford bail.

It'll be interesting to see what happens. As I heard it, the judge that gave the sentence put some pretty heavy restrictions, specifically saying it can't replaced with community service, house arrest, or any sort of alternative jail. I wasn't clear if that precluded any sort of minimum security "jail", but he definitely seemed to be making an effort to close off at least a good chunk of the options usually open to the wealthy.

Oh you know that all the tv channels are jumping on this one.. if she does go to jail. E or Mtv will have a Paris behind bars special, or some jail expose... and of course she would come out looking like the total victim.. its so annoying....

Bunk her with Large Marge

it wont be so bad paris.

Wow - she's much older than she looks.

And acts much younger than she is.

I'm suffering from end-of-the-semester stupidity. I thought it was going to be so great that I had allllll this time to finish up my homework on excel... except that I forgot to send it to myself, rendering the whole idea that I could plan my day efficiently... screw it. It was a joke... a pipe dream!

Maybe I can salvage it. GAH!

Huge underestimation on how much worse it could get. *Sigh*

It's 5:00 somewhere.

Oh look! It's after 5:00 here!

Sorry you had such a sucky day :(

It could be worse, you can be Andrea Zuckerman and not really live in Beverly Hills, and have to take the bus to Beverly Hills High.....

thecorndogwalker, you are too funny!

katiesue~this does not sound good. I was here this morning and you weren't too happy then....


I hope it flips before you go to bed so you sleep well.

I love selling my books back on Amazon. 5 out of 9 books have sold and they have been listed for less than a week.

Too lazy to get off the floor and make dinner. Bleh.
Long day at work.
Bleh.

I made a pot of rice for dinner for my son.

I had half a left over sandwich and a bowl of ramen.

I feel so awful but my son says he doesn't want anything else.

He used chopsticks to eat and he is pretty darn good.

I am trying to stay away from the kitchen....there is carrot cake calling out to me....

But I am not on the floor.

MW -

I read that as you made a nice pot roast for your son couldn't figure out why yoi were eating a sandwich feeling bad.

Crappily busy, frantic day at work. But on the plus side I started at Curves tonight. I am feeling both sore and relaxed at the same time.

BTD~ LOL I don't think I've ever made a roast...in my entire life.

Mousey Girl~ I know your feeling. I worked out this morning and then worked all day. I'm tired but relaxed.

Still feeling badly about that rice....

Hey, if the kid wanted rice for dinner and you made him rice you are the best mom on the planet. :p

Then again I'm tired of making my own dinners.

Thank you, BTD. {{{hugs}}}

He really did. He is proud of his chopstick eating skills.

He he been to Japan by any chance ?

(I have a fixation for Donburi when I got back)

I know that I wake up each and every day thankful that Paris Hilton's beauty is out there, making up for my own aesthetic failures. She adds so much to my hum-drum existence. Why, without her influence I might never have seen so much starlet hooha. And without starlet hooha, is life really worth living?

I'm just glad she's out there, because frankly, ladies, we're gems. Gems!

Take care at Curves my dear, don't overdo. Everyone I know (including me) who worked out at Curves ended up having an injury. Mine took me almost 6 months to recover from. So now I'm using the free gym on level 1 of our building.

Sorry you are crappily busy at work.

See, you should have had the donburi I had! It was very yummy freshwater eel. I need to go back there for dinner, soon.

Susan has been going to Curves for over a year and not one injury.

Well, there you go! Good for GusGus!:snap:

I am just making sure that I listen to my body. Last night I felt when I was trying to move more than I should. I thought I would be sore today, but nothing of any significance.

On the subject of work, we have been open for less than 30 mins and it is already one of "those" days. I have been yelled at, and cussed at because someone didn't include chairs on their order. That someone is on vacation until next week. I took care of it. Then I just found out that our owner's wife (the GMs mother and our payroll person) had a massive stroke last night. We are waiting to hear how she is doing. this is not going to be a good day.

an fyi on Curves...
 

Do you boycott Domino's, Carls Jr. and anything owned by Buffett?

MY sentiments follow the final sentence of that Snopes entry. If I were to avoid spending money anywhere that might lead to "my money" going towards a cause I disagree with, there'd be nowhere left to spend my money.

So, I just got a raise. Not huge, but since I was expecting zero compensation, this is a good day! :)

Congratulations!

Yay!

And whoo.... do I like to spend my money!

About Curves, and ANY workout program, in my estimation:

Success comes when you've made a lifestyle adaptation. Unless you really do need quick results (and most people, let's face it, do not absolutely need to lose 10 pounds now), the best way to get yourself into the habit of exercising is to do what you can when you can.

Though I go through periods when stuff really does get into the way, making it harder to step back into the gym, I generally go at least 4 or more times a week. My biggest hurdle is getting there, and trying to weigh what else is going on through the day. One time, I realized that I'd spent 10 or maybe even 15 minutes debating this with myself, when I could have been at the gym. If I only wanted to be there for 15 or 20 minutes, then I could go... But I had to go 4 times a week. Soon, it was easier to stay for a 30 minute cardio workout - then I started adding weights... doing what felt right for my body.

If I didn't feel good, or just wanted to go home, there was no beating myself up. I didn't do anything that made me physically uncomfortable, including certain strength exercises that hurt certain joints - despite how good I was told it would be if I did them. Why hurt myself and hurt my chances to want to come in and exercise at all?

By doing that, I lost 35 pounds last year. No real effort to diet, though I'm sure that because I felt better on the inside - I probably wasn't eating as much bad stuff.

This semester, I've been WAY busier. I put on 5 pounds. Not bad in the overall scheme. I haven't always been able to make the four times a week. I'm actually looking to start kicking up my workout, because I do need something more exciting now. But I think I have just getting myself into the routine of going to thank for the desire to push further.

Life's about taking steps forward, whether they're big or small, right?

YAY Snowflake!

Pretty much*, though it has nothing to do with their politics. I'm guessing that not one of them makes food I'd want to eat.


*I'm pretty sure that if I put $100 under my mattress that somehow 50 cents of it would end up in Buffett's hands, but I've never directly given him money.

:D Her name is Sherri.



She gets picked up on Satuday. I meet her in two weeks from today.

:D

Congratulations Snowflake & Sherri!

Hooray, good news all around!

OMG, she's beautiful! Congratulations! :snap:

You are SO right! How come you're so much wiser at your age than I am now?

Sherri is beautiful!

So, hopefully someday there will be an online music database with an archive the depth of imdb. But until then, it's nice to know there's wikipedia to find the name of that rare song you're trying to recall.

Awwwwww Sherri baby!

Ugh. I really need a hug right now.

And, I gotta say that Camp Swank is not happening soon enough.

(((((((HUGS DP))))))))))

What's up?

I just seem to be encountering more and more mean people lately. My faith in humanity is just in the toilet at the moment.

I've noticed I've become more and more "mean" as of late. I think i've told at least 5 people to f**k off in the last week or so.

Must be that time of the month. ;)

Aw, Disneyphile, that sucks.

I know it sounds silly when I say 'People need to be nice' but heck, it would make a big difference.

I don't understant mean people, people who purposefully say and/or do mean things to other people.

Bullies?

Just remember, it is them and not you.

DP, let me share the irony of last week.
I was driving home from work, on a four lane divded road. As I drove home, going uphill, I watched someone take off from the same light I was stopped at, only going "down" the hill.
WHy was I watching them? No idea.
Anyway... the car took off and this sizeable black dayplanner fell right off the car.
I just watched it fall. Then I watched people drive over it. well, if it were me, that would SUCK. So, I drove about a block up, made a u-turn and went back.
Sat in my car, watched a few more people run over it, and finally ran out and grabbed it.

Well .... it took me a while to find the owner... no obvious clues on the calendar, no papers from the kids school.....
I found a greeting card, then after more searching, a work phone roster.
Called the name that matched the card, blah blah....... talked to her, told her I would get it back to her, she asked that I include my card.
End of the story, I took it to the womans work.

Do you know DP, that she has called me at work twice?!?!
She wants to thank me in person, says she keeps telling people what I did for her, that she cant believe anyone would do that.

Now I ask you, was it all that wierd?!?!?! Just accept it, someone gave you back your stuff. :rolleyes:
I'd rather slip off into oblivion than have her tell me I cant refuse her thanks.

What did this have to do with what you said? Her vm's.
She said on the last one that she really didnt have much faith in humanity, and would never have expected someone to return her planner. Whatever.

So, Bill and I went out to dinner last night. The only space left in front of the restaurant was next to one of those gignormous pick-up trucks. The driver was sitting inside. There wasn't much room between my door this behemoth, so I accidentally bumped it with my hip as I was shutting my door. The *sshole driver yelled at me for touching his precious vehicle. I was so stunned that I just stammered an apology and walked away. I told Bill later that what I should have done was tell Mr Truckhole that if he hadn’t felt the need to buy such a huge compensation for his tiny penis, I wouldn’t have bumped his car!

Oh well, Esprit d Escalier…

*Hugs DP*

I am not sure what your feelings are on this. Your acts ARE exceptional in today's society and she sounds very grateful. If someone did something like that for me, I would go out of my way to send them flowers or something to show my appreciation. I would feel like an absolute heel if I didn't make a strong effort to thank you in a situation like this and I believe that is what she is doing.

I say just accept the gratitude! Sometimes learning how to accept a gift is a challenge!

Now, if she starts stalking you and wanting to be your best friend, than that is a different story :)

I always think of the snappy come-backs afterwards myself. And been there, done that with the car bumping. They should make extra large parking spots in the back for those vehicles.....

Hmm, thanking is strange territory. There's a fine line between grateful, and even sending a gift, and bordering on crazy. I didn't take part in any phone calls, so it's hard to say what the situation deems right.

A simple thank you usually suffices, perhaps a sending of flowers, or a card... or something will do for something like this. I have a feeling that for whatever reason, she probably was feeling downtrodden. It could be she's had a rough time. It could be mental imbalance. It could be stress. It could be just about anything. If it continues, then it becomes harassment.

I think the strange thing is, it's rare to find kindness, and that's not a "this day and age" kind of thing, IMO. Sure, perhaps we're a bit more busy, but the rose-colored glasses of childhood are off. Of course "kids" are going to be rude and thankless. People were rude before, just in other ways. Plus, it's super easy to look back at yesterday as a better time. I've always believe that people have a tendency to remember the good and forget the bad. (Unless the bad was super-bad... stuff like that's hard to forget).

So, in conclusion, I'm not sure what I was trying to say.

Be kind.

Accept thanks.

Watch out for the crazies.

And this is really the hardest part for me.

My feelings on it are, hey I'm glad you're pleased. But I have been very confused since the people I told the story to here at work said... Wow, I wouldn't even have thought about stopping.

Which of course made me self concious of my actions, and made me second guess my choice to stop.

And maybe thats just it, I need to call her back, arrange a place.. maybe the corner starbucks, and let her say thanks in person.

Thank you BE and KB.

that loser is probably pissed off because he couldnt go eat in the restaurant because he spent all his paycheck on gas for that dumbassmobile...

I have a friend who has a dumbassmobile like that.. its freaking godzilla like, it takes so much space and its such an eye sore.. and guess what he is a freaking gay stylist....

when he complains about gas and stuff.. i say.. "Hey queen, get a f**cking
yaris!"

maybe he has a small one? I should find out...

I sat through a meeting today. I could literally feel it sucking the life out of me. I came out feeling physically ill.

Bleh.

So, THAT'S the noise I heard!

Geez, if I didn't know better I'd think you were making a Princess Bride reference.

I have two more tests to take for last semester. I already suck at test taking and blank on the answers. These nerves aren't helping. If I fail the test I fail the class. Again.

/sigh

No. You know better. (Although I have seen it....own it actually.)

I should hope so. I've seen the 3 little pigs.

I just had The Princess Bride and Shrek melt into one.

Uhoh. I hope the "physically ill" part of that is unrelated to the discovery I just made while washing the new travel coffee mug I used for the first time this morning. How was I supposed to know that they stick a freaking instruction sheet in a mug!

I hope you'll forgive me for laughing my posterior right off at that one...

That's pretty damn brilliant, GD.:D

Well why the hell was there an instruction sheet in mug?

1. Fill
2. Drink

It probably said you were supposed to wash it before first use.

I'd like to think it said:

1. Remove instructions from mug.
2. Fill
3. Drink (contents, not the mug).

I'm just waiting for the ink-induced hallucinations to kick in.

The sad thing is, I could probably take those tests and do reasonably well. For some reason, I test well - often times I can figure out info through basic logic and figuring out how the instructor wrote the exam.

I used to take exams that Susan had from when she went to school. I regularly got 70-80% on a subject that I knew nothing about. It's a gift.


And a curse.

Isn't that the purpose of meetings?

Same here, for most subjects. I use my powers of deduction for good, though. You evil, evil, test-acing man, you.

It is kind of a curse, too. Sometimes I end up letting myself slack because I tend to get similar grades whether I've studied or not. Then comes that test I should have practiced a few formulas for.

I went to the state championships for Math Team in trigonometry because I was good at figuring out how to take tests.

Most other kids didn't realize that a trigonometry test that is multiple choice is just algebra.

I miss being my own boss. And it's starting to bug me. I used to love the thrill of a new challenge. But staring 50 in the face, I don't know if I'm ready to throw myself into another endeavor. I don't like what I'm doing now, but do I detest it enough to change?

So, the word for today is ambivalent, and I'm not sure how I feel about that either.

One thing's for sure... it will devil me until I decide.

You're 50 years young. Who retires at 62 anyways? You have 20 years - at least - to do what you want to do. That's a whole new career waiting to happen!

I got an email today that could mean a big new change for me.
How do I convince Rose to move to Florida?

Ummm... You don't.

Cuz we don't want you to leave!

(BTW: doesn't she read this board? Isn't this something she should learn in person and not on a message board?)

She's at work - and I've already sorta discussed it with her.

So...did you read the instructions? Is it one of those 'photo' mugs? Those have instructions inside of them.

Ponine~I agree what you did was out of the ordinary. No one seems to help anyone anymore. At all. I am sure she wants to repay you, her mind is probably blown away.

There is so much bad news out there, you couldn't ever believe someone would do something nice. And a planner? I don't know if it was full of important info or not but possibly personal info?

But, yes, I have known people to be grateful for something and have given a gift or flowers.

OK - just wanted to make sure.

But it is a moot point as we will not allow you to leave anyways!

All in how you set yourself up, I guess. I can drop out in just a few years if I want to. I just don't know if I want to any more.

New endeavors require inspiration, for me at least. I have none.

Something will catch my fancy. It just hasn't yet

AIYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!



with apologies to Flippyshark, MatterhornFan and HTHbellcaptain

of an CM, wishing you all the best in your job, onward and upward, but not out of state, please.

This is the LoT we are talking about - where families learn important stuff at the same time as the rest of their friends :D :p

:eek:

Add me to the ranks of people who IMs the other person in their house instead of just talking to them.

Much easier.

Or just posts on the board......How long did they say for Thai food, honey?

My sisters AIM each other. And they're in the same room.

30 - 35 minutes, but you know they'll be here in 20

Wait, that just sunk in... you're getting Thai food tonight.

I liked the noodles.. and what was it with the pineapples?

/drool

Pineapple Fried Rice

And Spicy Noodles, Satay and a Thai salad we've never tried.

Ya well their just weird :p

Roommate is on the other end of the front room.

Rose and I IM each other at home - our computers are just around the corner from each other.

Oh, that Pineapple Fried Rice.

I just ate sukiyaki and am not hungry. But it still sounds delicious.

Damn.

Maddy IM's or texts me from the other room. Or even from 3 feet away, yes she's that lazy.

I believe, "Hey honey, I'm getting a promotion, wanna move to Orlando?" should suffice :)

And that is exactly why I stopped. WHo knows what was in there... I do now.... a credit card, phone numbers... etc. But yeah, it would have hurt me to lose mine.
Thanks for the words, MW you too. I'll call her today.

So, my boss (the attorney boss, not the adminstrator boss) comes in this morning and tells me, remember, I'm off for the next 2 weeks to Mexico. I reply, uh no, you did not tell me this. He replies, I didn't? Nope, do you think you could have given me a little notice, it would be nice to make sure there is nothing on your docket needing attention before you go buddy.....

Anybody been holding off on the Roomba?

I'm sorry Morrigoon... for a second I thought you were talking about this.

that is hilarious!

I hope they aren't allowed to refurbish them and sell them on Amazon

Its not been a good day. Can I just gome and curl up now? :(

I'm totally with you. It has to be the worst day I've had in a long long time. Only 4 more hours...

I'm not having a super bad day... Mine's just "blah."

I re-read the invitation I have for an awards banquet tonight, and I realize it's formal attire. I'm wondering if the dress I was going to wear will cut it. It's really a nice dress, but perhaps a bit too casual? I grabbed a couple of cocktail dresses I have.. so I guess we'll see what I end up with.

I'm really not in the mood for going out tonight. :(

I know what will make me feel better...

It's been a lonnnggggg sucky week. But hurrah it's almost over.

A fresh set of Duracells?

I spent the afternoon visiting a friend in the hospital then sitting in traffic on the 405. Maybe, some time soo, the doctor will pay a visit to my friend. :rolleyes:

actually....yes. I have. Im in the (rather slow) process of redoing my floors from carpet to hardwood (pergo actually) and when Im done, that wee lil bot-buddy will be headed to my house.

one of my coworkers has one and seems to like it. I figure even if he doesnt do a perfect job sweeping, he'll happily try again the next day like clockwork.

thats all I can really ask of my slaves....erm.....bot assistants

If you're doing pergo, you might want to check out the Scooba.

bookmarked. thanks!

oh cooool! they have one for workshops too.

Well, it's down to an hour and a half.

This morning the 2, 3 and 4 year olds decided to dump absolutely every toy out of the bins and other homes and make a bonfire on the playroom floor. This is a fun activity, great glee comes from their little mouths, but they did this half an hour before it was time to make the noon school run. Not fun to clean up, took the full half hour.

Then one of them threw up at the lunch table. Called his mom and she didn't call me back for 2 hours. When she does, I find out she went to pick up her older son from school for the same reason. So what I thought might be just a freak thing is probably going to make the rest of us sick too. I've been bleaching ever since.

We did, however, manage to throw together a last minute Mother's Day project for the kids' moms. I had to adapt an earlier plan because I forgot to pick one part up last night, but I think they came out fine anyway.

I could use a nice relaxing evening complete with a :cheers:

An hour and 20 minutes to go...

i think i am going to put on my platfoms and go dancing at some roadside biker bar....

Tequila! (A drink for Brigette and a song for CDW.)

Which of my many pending projects should I be working on? Lace wrap? Second sock of the pair I owe my cat sitter? First sock of the pair I owe my school buddy? Reading the moot court problem I'm supposed to discuss tomorrow at 11? Finishing the powder room paint job? Cleaning the pantry?

Or just sit here and surf?

None of my clients ever knit me socks! :(

If any of my clients knitted me socks, I don't think I'd want to wear them... :eek:

The Dodger game rocked tonight :D

I WANT THAT SHOE!!!!

(oh, come on, you know me well enough to know that I'm serious!)

My head is pounding and mu tummy is rolling... note to self, next time you think you've had too much STOP!

It is interesting to read this post that was posted at 6:30 in the morning and wonder if MG has been up all night partying.

So this morning I was bitten by this goose

Alex is the new Marlin Perkins - except he seems to be specializing in fowl.


So, WTF?

It's spring so it is time for my annual foray into taking pictures of these:



And mom was all like OMGWTF?!! I'll PWN you!



And bit me in the leg. It didn't really hurt but it was more of a surprise.


So far this season, though, I have learned that turkeys are much more aggressively protective of their chicks then geese.

Hahaha!! I need to get out and take more pictures this year...

I had fun at my "formal" event, which quickly dissolved into a shoe-less dance floor situation. So fun! Plus, I did a shot with my favorite professor this semester. (Yes, he was my favorite before this).

[quote=Alex Stroup;135847]
And mom was all like OMGWTF?!! I'll PWN you!
[quote]

Okay, time to get the geese off of text messaging and make them relearn English!

A French bulldog plays with a two-week-old baby Bengal tiger which was rejected by its mother, at Shirotori zoo in Higashikagawa, Japan May 11, 2007. The dog is nursing the baby tiger as if it was its rule mother, according to the zoo.

Oh yes, Splash Mountain is open again at Disneyland. I rode it with GD & CP last nite. I looks great.
Ride it today before the fur and feathers get moldy and matted again...
:)

My phone is dead. My two-month old phone. It's probably the battery which never seemed to hold a charge as long as it should have. My last phone which I had for four or five years always worked perfectly so this is really annoying. I'm heading over to the Sprint store shortly and I'm just wondering if they'll expect me to buy a new battery.
:mad:

Did you fully charge it the first time?

Hey anyone have an extra smurf for Azrael?

Nah, I had to get up early to go to the gym.

What a day!

The good: I planted a clematis, 10 6-packs of flowers and a Mandarin Orange tree in the back and installed a trellis while Chris did some garage cleaning. I got to visit with my favorite Chihuahua client.

The bad:Chris' neice called to say that Chris' Mom was ill and was going to emergency via ambulance (still not sure what's going on). Then I get a call from a dear friend who has been diagnosed with liver and bone cancer and, while she was telling me this, there was a drunk man loudly ranting in Spanish on the corner of our street. (Plus, yesterday I spent some time in a hospital visiting another friend.) Wacky. Make it stop.

I'd rather be bitten by a goose.

Boy, I sure misread that one.


Good thoughts for Chris' Mom.

I even spelled it correctly!

Well, sending nothing but good vibes to you and Chris and Chris's Mom. Please keep us posted {{{hugs and good vibes}}}}

Crap, NA! I hope your MIL is alright, and I'm sending some virtual hugs as well.

We'll see what happens tomorrow. There's a lot of stuff going on - a mixture of medications, high blood pressure, an apparent transient ischemic attack, high potassium levels, kidney function in question.......it is making a diagnosis difficult. I'm glad they admitted her and a keeping her overnight at least.

Best thoughts to Euro-mom!!

Funny, I'd rather be goosed by a Bittern.

Hope everything turns out okay.

That's why he misread it. ;)

Hugs to Chris and his Mom.

That's what they're telling me is the problem. But no, I didn't because the woman in the store didn't mention it and the manual doesn't say a word about that either. And I've read every mention of batteries and battery life I could find.

So I went to the Long Beach Sprint store and they said I was lucky I had insurance because I could drive to the Downey store where they actually have the repair services. So because I was actually going to be in that area anyway I went over there where they gave me the diagnosis. So now the phone is off and charging for 24 hours. And even though I make very few calls I feel very strange being without a phone for two full days.

So... After the obligatory familial brunch today, we all drove out to BFE-Riverside to see my nephew's new mcmansion. (Their master closet is larger than our bedroom.) As we were driving along a particularly lovely (I thought I was back in Fresno!) stretch of Van Buren, we spotted a place that advertised itself as a Christian tattoo parlor.... :confused:

Holy Ink, Batman !!

While visiting my MIL in the hospital today I walked past the "Anesthesia Lounge". I thought about dropping in for a "cocktail" but I decided it was best to visit my MIL and remember it.

She's doing much better, BTW. She's bored. That's a good sign. Hopefully she'll get to to home tomorrow.

Apparently there is a new fad of christians getting inked. Personally, I don't understand it. Your body is the temple of God and all. However, Solomons temple had ornimintaion, so whats a little tastefull ink I suppose. Anyway, to each his own....

I hope all is well with Chris's mom, Lisa. And everyone else you know. Stay strong, and don't forget to take care of yourself.

I'm not sure I remember all the times I visited her. That was part of her charm. Glad to hear she's doing better.

I hate Mondays. The vending machine company hasn’t paid a visit to our office in over two weeks. The soda machine is now empty; and, right now, I’d sacrifice a small cuddly animal for a Coke. The snack machine is nearly full, but since it hasn’t been working for the last week, it just sits there – tempting us with the forbidden snacky goodness inside.

And today, everyone has decided to bring all their problem cases to me for help. Don’t they realize how dangerous that is when I’m hungry and Cokeless (and trying to deal with my own work)? Go away people!

I hate Mondays.

cerrrack....pop! Fiiiiizzzzzzzz....

What was that JWB? I couldn't hear you over the noise of my Coke can opening. :evil:

Seriously, though I can empathize. Do not approach me with complications before I've had my daily fix!

I have to admit that I've been spoiled by Mexican Coca-Cola. It used to be just the local taquerias that stocked the stuff, but now those glass bottles of sugary goodness are turning up all over the city. On Saturday, Heather and I were strolling around Hayes Valley and popped into Fritz for a couple of cones of fries (she had the kalamata ketchup, I got the balsamic mayo), and I was delighted to spy the coke bottles in their cooler. A perfect afternoon snack.

They better sell the stuff in LA (I'd be surprised if they didn't).

[shameless begging ahead]

Anyone have a contact at the Greek? There is a concert I desperately need tickets to. I'll pay for them. I just can't swing the $150 for back row bench seats on StubHub.

[/shameless begging]

Do you like it because of the glass bottles, or the sugar cane sweetner?

Yeah, sugar-sweetened Coke is awesome, you can get that in Hawaii (or at least used to be able to). Corn Syrup is evil, and not in the good way.

JWB: I have Coke issues at work too, because they finally filled it but did it wrong so the machine still won't dispense it. I gave up and brought in a 12-pack that sits behind my desk.

I have Mexican Coke every time I eat lunch at the place across the street, but I really don't taste any difference.

BTD, I know somebody who works at a ticket agency. Say what concert and I'll ask if she has anything.

I hate my chair at work. Too bouncy.

There's no lock on this one, so if you lean back, the whole chair tips back on its base. I get no back support from that whatsoever. No wonder I'm always hunched over my desk. At least it doesn't give.

Hmmm, I'm more tempted by the fries......chipotle mayo, yum

It's the sucrose (not necessarily sugar cane - could also be beet sugar) as opposed to the fructose. The taste is better, and it doesn't leave the same feeling in my mouth that Coke Classic does.

The glass bottles are a bonus - but I'd buy it in cans if the sucrose Coke was available that way.

And Snowflake, the fries are great. There's a Valencia St. location opening in a couple of weeks.

We ate at Ruby's yesterday and I had fries with chunks of sauteed garlic on them. Delish! I love/hate the flavored fry trend.

Yes, the Mexican Coke is better. The roach coach that comes by our office sometimes has it (it doesn't come until noon, though).

I've had that! It's garlic overload (but in a good way)!

Feeling any better after all of this discussion about coke, JW? :evil:

Actually... after I posted that, I was able to beg a can from a co-worker who had some in her desk. It was warm, but I have a glass and we have an ice machine…. :D

I don't see it around just anywhere, and there's only one place off the top of my head that's not a catering truck that carries it and it's Chili My Soul. It's in Encino, and it has some really amazing chili. Even if not for the Mexican coke you need to go there just for the amazing food, whenever you're in the Van Nuys area.

Simply amazing.

OMG, arent those somethun?
I had NO idea thats what they'd be, and ordered away.
The adults at my table moved to another table to get away from them.
but they were yum-o

I went out and had a gyro and onion rings for lunch, then discovered that my boss refilled her candy bowl with York Peppermint Patties. I’m much better now.

They aren't playing fair... keeping an ice cream shop inside a sandwich shop. I step out of the heat and into Togos to get a nice, non-burger lunch, and I have to look at images of Mint 'n Chip and suggestions that I purchase a hand-packed quart. Well, what's a girl to do, I ask you!

(Did I mention we have a full fridge/freezer at the office?)

Today is a wierd day. Not good, not bad, jusg wierd. I am getting verrrrry hungry, but it is almost lunch time. All this talk about fries is not making it better!

subway!
omg! it was sooo totally.........eh :/

I'll tell you what... a little Baskin-Robbins Mint 'n Chip, and all is right with the world (at least until you put the spoon down)

We had chinese - now I'm hungry.

I LOVE Garlic fries.

Ice cream... Why did you have to go and mention ice cream?! :(

Baskin Robbins? Gotta go with the Gold Medal Ribbon (I'm assuming they still have that - its been years since I stepped foot in one.)

Yes, they do.

I'm soooo glad that the whole dairy thing is out for me. Because I almost can't control myself with ice cream!

I just had a Snickers bar. It was yummy.

I should go get some kettle corn. I am so digging salt/sweet/salt/sweet right now.

I have recently been introduced to Corner Bakery. The have a yummy Tomato Basil soup. But they also have an excellent mini Bundt Cake - chocolate of course!

I hope you're all proud of yourselves. Thanks to this thread I have been compelled to get a bag of peanut butter M&Ms.

Don't forget to wash it down with a coke.

I don't really drink soda much.

Mexican Coke - in a glass bottle!

Wow, who'd've thought I'd ever see the phrase "Mexican Coke" and actually think of soda!

Everything there is good. Their Bundt cake with cherry frosting (available at the holidays) is amazing. Now I am craving Corner Bakery. I hope you're happy :p

Very proud of myself. Thank you very much!

Yes. Yes, I am thankyouverymuch!

Have you tried the Snickers Ice Cream bars? I'm not a big ice cream person, but these damn things are addicting! (Especially since frozen real Snickers bars are out for a few years for me).

Lisa bought me one Sunday - or maybe she bought it for us to share, but she stepped out of the room for a moment and in those few seconds I inhaled the whole thing - heh, I didn't want to drip over the expensive medical equipment...

Obviously, it was a medical necessity for you to eat it before any damage was done.

(Did Lisa smack you? I would have.;) ).

I walked back into the room to see Chris with empty hands (except for a wrapper) and a full mouth. He blurted out "I hope you didn't want any of this". Actually, it was more like "eh hoh you didit wan anyif dis.

Lol! I'll bet that was cute. I still would have smacked him, though.;)

Lisa, next time buy two...:rolleyes: ;)

I didn't want a whole one!

That's ok. I got mine at Ruby's. Double Dark Chocolate Malt. Yum!

Any berry fans? Pavillions and Vons have a buy one package get one free for blueberries, blackberries and raspberries... i made french toast this morning for a friend and I and topped them with raspberries... yummers!

Trader Joe's Chocolate Chunk Chewy Cookies. I should just finish off the bag and get it over with.

How much?

$3.49 i think.. or maybe 3.69

So he was talking like you type?

Arg! I'm driving myself crazy! I'm trying to sort out what clerkships to apply for when and I'm losing my damn mind. I don't want to apply for 150 clerkships and drive my reference writers crazy recommending me for positions for which I stand no chance, but I also don't want to sell myself short and miss a great opportunity. ARG!!!!!! This is driving me crazy. I'm driving me crazy. Crazy, crazy, CRAZY!

Suddenly I see Prudence dancing around like Britney Spears...

hopefully she will be authentic just like Britney and be lipsynching..

First narrow them down by where you [i]don't[/quote] want to live. Once those are eliminated narrow them by where you would want to live and the positions you are interested in.

Then continue going crazy :p

They're all pretty much the same position. I've only made it through part of the ninth circuit and only managed to eliminate Billings, Las Vegas, Reno, and Honolulu. I'm on the fence over Phoenix. That still leaves Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Sacramento, LA, San Francisco, and lots of Pasadena.

And I haven't even started in on district courts, yet! Or courts beyond the 9th circuit boundaries. Orlando might be nice...

Crazy!!!!