A theory of Mom’s:
there’s certain things everybody needs to do, some of them pretty supid. They’re somehow a part of the developmental process. That’s why I, who watched a cousin my same age get shocked by a plug when we were 3, never did it myself; my brothers, who grew at a time when every relative’s home had kid-safe plugs, did it at the mature old ages of 13 and… 25!
Same for things like painting on the walls. We had these neighbors who had three girls about my age, we were always in and out of each other’s houses (they were one-and-one-years apart); the parents had bought a blackboard for the kids’ room but we started using it before he’d had time to hang it. When it fell on the floor, the parents came in, saw nobody was hurt and nothing was broken (you can’t raise what ended up being 5 kids, one of them with Down’s, without dying of ulcers, if you’re neurotic - they definitely weren’t) and left us to it. The four of us never painted on the wall. My non-blackboard, no-grabbing-any-paper-and-painting cousins and siblings? Eeeeevery single one!
Of course there’s also that line someone here has as a sig, about people who can learn by watching others and people who need to pee on the electric fence themselves… 
We call them Lake if it’s not salt water and Sea if it’s saltwater - size doesn’t enter into it (with the possible exception of those two big 'uns around Russia, does anybody know if they’re saltwater?). Dad, whose childhood beaches were on the Atlantic, used to call the Med “the bathtub” because it’s got tiny waves by comparison (the Med’s idea of a storm is similar to what they call “choppy today!” on the Atlantic) and it’s “as hot as noodle soap”.
We have HappyFae and BooFae! I don’t remember if you’d posted in the MMP before, Stasi, but you know us from the neighborhood, so I’m sure you can find your way to the kitchen no prob.
Y’all, Posit said he likes Posit, with one t. pout
I want to watch those videos of Mika’s but I don’t stream at work, never have. Weeks after my boss had told me not to listen to music at work on the grounds that someone had blamed my comunication problems on the headset (rather than on everybody else talking in German and me not sprechen keine Deutsche), I was talking with someone (he’s French-Swiss so would actually speak in English) and he said that “listening to music at work shouldn’t be done because it eats a lot of wavelength”. I said that I never listen to streams at work, it’s all music I own and on the local drive. He didn’t even understand what I was talking about until I showed him. I’m listening to Stray Cats as I type this With a 60GB HD (currently at 25%), there’s definitely more than enough room for the MP3s of my whole record colection!
My boss just came to ask if I thought it was necessary for me to be at this “on site” meeting which affects “my part” (translation: would have meant a one hour each way trip, three people in one of those cars that should never be occupied by three adults at the same time). I told him since the pre-work has been done by a colleague and I’d be the only one who doesn’t speak German, I’m fine with skipping it. He kept saying it was my choice… you know how people get this look that means “well, I know what I’d like it to be but I don’t want to pressure you”? He knew it will go smoother if they can speak German, I knew it will go smoother if they can speak German, my technical knowledge is not particularly necessary, my idea of a “best process” is “most efficient” while theirs is “the one with most steps”… what the hell is everybody’s problem? So I’m not going.
We had a on site meeting a month back. First time ever he’d set foot in Germany - his house is 500yd from the border, he’s been all over half of Latin America, but, he’d never set foot in Germany. 500yd from his house.
precious