Firsrt on the page! w00t!
Bobbio, I will testify that you’re not nice or anything. Because I care. So don’t worry.
Sean, I’ve often wondered what Admirals and their ilk think when they’re brought around to tour spaces where people work and there’s no evidence of work anywhere. I can remember the hours spent waxing and scrubbing the shop spaces in the hangar, just in case someone with stars might peek in during a visit. Frankly, if I was an admiral, I’d get hacked off that the taxpayers’ money was being wasted on excessive housekeeping when real work needed to be done.
And don’t get me started on personnel inspections, especially the people who bought a pair of shoes only for inspection, then locked them away afterwards. What does that prove??
Sheesh, I haven’t had to stand an inspection in longer than I can remember, and it still ticks me off… I need to chill.
Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! I’m actually pretty psyched about Thanksgiving this year - first proper Thanksgiving in 12 years for me. Cloud Maiden and I are hosting dinner, so hopefully all will go well.
But first I need to get through work today. Urgh.
Waaaaay back when, in my days at Naval Avionics, we actually had one RADM come by on a visit, and he made the distinction that he was there for a tour, not an inspection. He wanted to see people doing their jobs normally, not busy work for a show, nor a squeaky clean area you could do surgery in.
When he was shown cleaned up labs, he had a fit. A clean lab means nothing is getting done. I liked that guy vicariously…
It’s from some movie, I think (if no one answered already - which they probaably have - I’m only on page 4)
for some reason, this made me laugh out loud for a several minutes
I have to go to the store after work today and look for the right sort of pre-made pie crusts, the refrigerated sort that you just unfold and stick in a pie plate. The store I went to last night for pie supplies didn’t have them! If this other one doesn’t, I’m not sure what I’m going to do about pie crust. I saw pie crust mix, which might work. But I have to make pie for tomorrow, one way or another!
My roommate is no longer invisible. He seems pretty nice. I think he’s a bit older than me, he’s Czech, and I need to ask him how the heck he ended up in Idaho. He makes furniture! I’m guessing expensive furniture, this area being what it is. He’s pretty cute, too, I think. Not too many white guys, in my experience, can pull off the “I’m balding so I’m going to shave it all off and be done with it” thing very well, but it works on him. He wants me to start paying half of the power bill, but I’m not surprised, and while said bills will be going up over the winter last month’s was all of $26, so I’m not upset either.
It’s going to be weird having somebody around here, though I may not be around very much either; I have a lead on housesitting jobs which means I get paid for doing not much besides watching somebody’s house and fussing over their dogs. A new employee at the shop wants to phase out of housesitting and is willing to phase me in!
Glad to amuse, rosie. 
Everyone’s Thanksgiving prep sounds fun and exhausting. Y’all are working so hard that it’s making me tired. That’s probably why I got up so late. Right.
Bother. Two of my kitchen lights are burnt out (leaving one), and Mr. Lissar isn’t keen on having me on ladders right now, because he thinks I’m a klutz. I think the proper words are incautious and unobservant. So they’ll wait until he gets home. It’s an excuse not the scrub the kitchen. I will clean the fridge, though.
Woohoo! Mum just called to say a friend invited us out for lunch. (N.O.L) So I’ll put away the laundry, tidy the fridge, and then go out shopping for Christmas wrap and tins and things. Lovely.
Did anyone else read, in the Christmas Rants, about the woman whose big front-yard holiday decorations got trashed? The vandaliser left a note that said, “It isn’t even Thanksgiving yet.” I’m very mean. I thought it was hysterical.
Happy Hump A Turkey Day!!!
Or as we call it in these parts: Wednesday
Thanksgiving for us this year will be Friday, because the Kid is going to have dinner Thursday at the Boy’s house with his parents. Then they come up here Friday, and we get the big turkey dinner.
I told BusWife that for Thanksgiving itself that I’d do a couple fat burgers on the grill. That should amuse the neighbors, as they finish their turkey dinners - watching me outside flipping burgers!
Short work day today. I think I’ll be out of here around 1.
Gobble gobble
Housesitting can be a cool gig - I did it once. They had this little two bedroom Cape, but I slept in the den, because the cats had claimed the bedrooms and hissed at me when I tried to enter. Other than that, tho, the cats were very affectionate - I guess they were just territorial.
I have been very lazy this week. Good thing I’m on vacation. I am uploading pics from the weekend and will post a few a little later. There aren’t as many tales to tell as I thought but here goes.
The drive up Firday was uneventful, and except for some construction delays thru The Bronx (as is normal) we had no traffic. The theme of the weekend was the 40th anniversary of the Summer Of Love so everyone was in tie-dye and beads. In fact, there was a beading table. (I made three necklaces - over the course of the weekend, Cousin made 8 necklaces, three bracelets and four rings) It was wild, but I do not have any pics of that :smack: I played, and subsequently bought, a new game that’s a cross between dominoes, Scrabble[sup]®[/sup], and Set[sup]®[/sup] called Qwirkle. I played it because it’s pretty and about all my brain could handle Firday evening. Then I played some poker, badly, and lost. <sigh> C’est la vie.
Saturday was more of the same: games, schmoozing, beading. I entered three tournaments: a spelling bee, Sudoku, and Rock-Paper-Scissors (yeah, apparently this is the new big thing, and very big in bars and at poker tourneys) I was out in round one in Sudoku and R-P-S, but lasted 6 rounds in the Bee. Then out to dinner at a chinese buffet (more for the company than the food but it was good.)
[self hijack]the landscaper is here doing a fall cleanup - and the fumes from the leaf blowers are noxious - and that’s with the windows closed in this room!!:eek:[/sh]
More poker Saturday night, this time a HORSE tournament, hindered by a white russian with waaaay too much vodka (both nights there was a two hour open bar with a very cute (but in a committed relationship) very generous bartender) so I was the second one out. What knocked me out was my full house (in a hand of Omaha) was killed by a four-of-a-kind that I did not see coming. Afterwards, I played a few other games then crawled off to sleep.
Sunday, Cousin and I slept in so we missed the raffle, but Cousin won a pretty sweatshirt. Then the family showed up and we all went to a neat little seafood place for lunch. That’s where I took pics, to which I will post links later. The ride home was blissfully traffic free, so maybe the key is to leave later so by the time we get to the last 20 miles or so, most everyone who was travelling is already home. We’ll have to remember that for next year.
I slept Monday, got a Peapd delivery yesterday, then slept. My intent is to get out later today - I should get over to PT - and then to Boston Market to pick up my feast. But I will probably just veg the rest of the day. I am such a schlub.
Off to edit photos.
Well, a lot of this preparation was just reflex. We have quite a few ex-Navy people in this company, about half of which are retired chiefs (like me). So when we hear that a senior officer is coming through, you’re two hours into a clean-up before you remember, “Hey, we really don’t need to do this anymore.”
Plus, our company Christmas party is in two weeks, and we generally start cleaning up the place now anyway for it. It’s held here at the main building (TT Inc owns three buildings now, one on the West Coast (Hi scout!) and two in this industrial/office park in Southeast Virginia) and we invite a lot of our customers to it.
This guy visiting today, I’ve since found out, is a retired VADM. He’s a VP in a Very Large goverment contracting company (as in, builds major combatant ships) we are fighting against/dealing with for a major, major military calibration contract. The largest mil cal contract that exists, in fact. I can’t go into too many details (primarily because I’m not high enough up the company food chain to get said details), but this is actually an extremely big deal for us and for them. Frigging US Senators are involved now in this fight/deal.
'Mornin y’all. This tea is not strong enough to get me through the day.
Today I get to work again! Only from 12-5 which would be nicer if it wasn’t the time I always work on Wednesday. At least the whole library closes down at 5 and I don’t have to pull my usual Thursday Night Shift tomorrow at the Reference Desk. Yaaaaaaaaaay. I’ve got way too much to do around the house and I’m going to make my recently-returned ex clean the house for me. He’s much more anal about cleanliness than I am. I also have to get the remainder of the dinner fixin’s for tomorrow and some non-Thanksgiving groceries so we can all eat after tomorrow. And I have to get crackin’ on my 10-page sociolinguistics research paper.
headdesks
Oh well. At least my dad will be down here tomorrow. I haven’t seen him since my mom’s funeral in July. I know, I am a bad daughter. In my defense, I’ve been panic attacky since then. Only five more weeks in this year. I can do eet.
This turned into quite the brain dump, didn’t it? I think I’m going to brew me another cup of tea and get ready to head out the door soon.
MamaTigs, I bow like the Dalai Lama in your husband’s direction. People like you guys deserve a free weekend anywhere you want to go without interruption. (I think I’m going to replace “tenth of never” with “when the war is over”.)
I’ve always said “Herbie” and I won’t change now. Interesting story: One of my buddies at work was talking about getting Rudolph on DVD yesterday. Turns out the assistant principal at his high school did the voice of HerBie.
Are you sure it’s Hermie? I’ve always thought it was Herbie…
And you all now can see my Mad Math Skillz. Make that one hundred fold, not ten.
:smack:
So much for me procrastinating on yard work. It’s now pouring rain outside. I need to run two errands, then fix the vacuum again. I rented Sideways. I’ve never seen it. IF I have time, I suppose I ought to look at my school work. Nah.
This weather is so depressing. Give me snooooooooow!
MomTigs, uhhh, 
This chick wanted you two to go to a weekend getaway which you can’t do (I understand why), but what’s the catch? You said no sales pitches or anything, but what’s in it for her?
Which roundabout reminds me of another (short) ambulance story. Last duty night, we had just finished a run to the hospital in Suffolk, and the atmospherics were bad so we were getting a lot of skip traffic.
One was an ambulance calling ‘Walter Reed’ with an inbound ER patient. :eek: The Walter Reed everyone knows about is 150+ miles from Suffolk, so that’s a hell of a skip.
Walter Reed the doctor grew up in a town a few miles west of Mayberry, so on a whim, I googled Walter Reed Hospital and found one in Gloucester VA. It’s about 60 miles north of Suffolk, but still a major skip for a radio call.
Either one, it was kinda 
Sideways is a very Californian movie. It made me crave a nice bottle of Duplin Scuppernong or Hatteras Red. Mmmm…Duplin County wine…
SpazCat, whose lawn hasn’t been mowed since the middle of July.
quickly shuts a hand over Haze’s mouth and looks skyward
No! She didn’t mean that!
Hey, if you want a reference, I know where you can get one cheap! 
Custard pie done, pumpkin and peach pies baking. Dishes washing. Kitchen pretty clean. I still need to vacuum and dust. And thaw something for supper. And make lunch.
One of the punkin’ pies overflowed and spilled on the bottom of the oven. Guess what I get to clean later in the week? :rolleyes: At least the house smells good. Plus I’ve got the few un-stormwindowed windows open, since it’s spring-like out there today.
Wonder if **FCD ** will get to come home early today??
I most certainly did mean that. Give me snow over rain any day, particularly in November. November rain, blech.
On the radio
You hear “November Rain”
The solo’s awful long
But it’s a pretty song
You listen to it twice
'Cause the DJ is asleep
The TV show Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.
Okay, it’s not Hermie. It’s Hermey. And that guy was also the voice of the Hulk and Spiderman in the old '60s cartoons