# Fun Time Flu Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285 "2005-02-28T13:12:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/161 "2005-03-04T16:56:35Z")
> [@merrily](#): > > I go to the gym at lunch. It takes me a bit longer, getting decent again, but my boss lets me make it up at the end of the day. While I give up some free time at lunch, I feel like it has given me my evenings and weekends back, since I have so much more energy. > > **Taters,** since you work at a hospital, don’t they have exercise equipment? You wouldn’t even have to travel. Just a thought. > > **GT,** loved the pun! Not at the hospital proper. I work for an Army hosptial. There is a gym nearby, but again, I wouldn’t be home until very late then. I really don’t have an excuse. I have a treadmill at home, plus we have weights and a weight bench. I KNOW I need to exercise and really, it’s going to come down to just telling the hubby and kids that they’re on their own for dinner fixing and what-not. Back to work… ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/162 "2005-03-04T17:00:39Z")
**Puggy** , yay about the floor. Still, why do you want to go buy a chandelier when **FCM** has been offering one for months. Anybody that needs a chandelier can have one! ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/163 "2005-03-04T18:37:08Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > **Puggy** , yay about the floor. Still, why do you want to go buy a chandelier when **FCM** has been offering one for months. Anybody that needs a chandelier can have one! But, **swampy** , I already HAVE a chandelier myself but it’s just the wrong kind, as is **fcm’s**. I really really want that wrought iron one with amber glass that I saw at Home Depot (I tried to link to it but it didn’t work) but we’ll have to find a cheaper faxsimile. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/164 "2005-03-04T19:44:28Z")
Ah, getting to the gym. Not only do I not get there as often as I’d like, but the other people bug the heck out of me. Do they not realize that even an \*angry gorrilla \* doesn’t use a setting as high as theirs? Idjits. Also, ten pounds of perfume is nasty, keep your bigoted comments to yourself, and quit popping yer damned gum, hmph. Misanthrope? Me? Since I already have a treadmill, I think I will buy me a machine of some sort to work my upper body. What should I get? And **vunderbob** , I am too fat enough to complain! When I bend over to touch the floor, there’s a roll around my middle like a bicycle tire and it wasn’t there before xmas! **Puggy** , I don’t think those people did your floor correctly. On tv it never takes more than an hour to do an entire room. Are you sure those guys weren’t just goofing around eatin’ bon bons ‘n’ beer? Oh Great **Swampymus** , your week of torturing folks might have been icky, but what about those poor souls you tortured? I suspect you secretly enjoy sitting in yer fortress of doom, hurling lightning bolts of despair at your subjects. Admit it, you like the way their bones crackle when they’re zapped with a really big bolt, don’t you? Tomorrow I get to go to the county fair, yippee skip. I plan to stick close to where my students will be working on some art work and not venture anywhere near the midway. I have no need for fried twinkies, rides on ancient rollercoasters, or a mirror that has a crying jesus painted on it. Y’know what’s sad? Our fair doesn’t even have cool animals or veggies anymore. Wasn’t that once \*the point \* of fairs? That and corn dogs, says so right there in the constitution (hamilton was a big corndog freak y’know). ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/165 "2005-03-04T19:55:34Z")
Yes! It’s Friday! And we have no bananas! (At least I don’t). Feeling good today, aside from the slight headache/dizziness. Don’t know where that came from - just on the edge of annoying. But what makes me happy is my two girl cousins are flying in tonight - and we’re going to play! Yay! Three days of fun! Susan ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/166 "2005-03-04T20:06:14Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > **Puggy** , I don’t think those people did your floor correctly. On tv it never takes more than an hour to do an entire room. Are you sure those guys weren’t just goofing around eatin’ bon bons ‘n’ beer? I dunno, ashes, but they may have been watchin’ the new HDTV. Seriously, we got a deal on the installation cause my BIL is a partner in the stone and tile store and we waited till they had a slow time. I thought that meant a time when they didn’t have a job scheduled, not a time when they wooouuulllddd wwwwwwwoooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkk sssssssssssssssllllllllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/167 "2005-03-04T20:08:41Z")
Tonight is party time! Everything’s ready except I haven’t swept and vacuumed, and I’m seriously wondering why the heck I’m _cleaning_ for these people, who have all dropped over at inconvenient times, turned up with suitcases and not left for weeks, or come over several days a week for months. And who go through the fridge like they’re starving. Great, I’ve talked myself out of doing anything. And tomorrow I get to look at pretty clothes! Very old expensive pretty clothes! Feel free to forward me a few thousand dollars so I can buy something useful like a heavily beaded flapper dress, or maybe a 1905 tea gown. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/168 "2005-03-04T20:13:50Z")
> [@Ashes](#): > > Oh Great Swampymus, your week of torturing folks might have been icky, but what about those poor souls you tortured? I suspect you secretly enjoy sitting in yer fortress of doom, hurling lightning bolts of despair at your subjects. Admit it, you like the way their bones crackle when they’re zapped with a really big bolt, don’t you? Well, **of course** I enjoy it! Why else would I do it? Well, ok, for the money too, but still, a chance to torture innocent souls _and_ get paid for it? What’s not to like? 😃 A wrought iron chandelier **Puggy**? Hmmm… might just be f-_aaaaaa_-bu-lous. Tonight ACBG is cooking dinner. He promises all I have to do is lounge around and quaff cold beverages of my choice while he cooks. He won’t tell me what he’s making either. I do happen to know he bought a 10 pound of potatoes at the store cause I was with him when he did it. That’s all he bought. So, I envision something having to do with taters. Oh well, if I do quaff several cold beverages of my choice while he cooks, by the time dinner is ready I won’t know or care what it is anyway. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/169 "2005-03-04T20:17:44Z")
> [@Wintermute](#): > > I had to \ a little myself when I wrote it, but I was quoting **FCM**. More people should quote me. I have so much wisdom to share. And I have been using the expression “sucks swampwater” for a long time - long before I came to know and love **swampy** - it just sounded less childish than saying something sucks. I’ve also been known to call people “cheese logs” - that one cracked up an old friend of mine. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean, but it sounds insulting. TGIF! Hugs all around! Air kisses too! I love everybody on Fridays!!! ---
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/170 "2005-03-04T20:25:24Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Tonight ACBG is cooking dinner. He promises all I have to do is lounge around and quaff cold beverages of my choice while he cooks. He won’t tell me what he’s making either. I do happen to know he bought a 10 pound of potatoes at the store cause I was with him when he did it. That’s all he bought. So, I envision something having to do with taters. Oh well, if I do quaff several cold beverages of my choice while he cooks, by the time dinner is ready I won’t know or care what it is anyway. :eek: :eek: He’s cooking me?! That sounds a might painful…I may have to keep blowing the flames out like they did in the old “Bugs Bunny” cartoons. I \*did \* have a post earlier, but apparently, it got eaten again. So, grats on the new floor **Tupug!** I want hardwood flooring for my entire downstairs and the stairs themselves. It’ll be awhile though, that would prove to very expensive. I have a tile entry way, and the tiles are _okay_, but not what I would have chosen. Ah, they’ll work for the time being. I’m thinkin’ that I may crack open one of my bottles of vino tonight. I don’t care if I have to drink it all by myself. I just want to relax…and wine is very relaxing for me. Work calls and my lunch isn’t even over yet. Damn! ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/171 "2005-03-04T20:31:20Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I love everybody on Fridays!!! Yeah, but will you respect me in the morning? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/172 "2005-03-04T20:35:33Z")
I said love - I don’e see anything about respect anywhere… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/173 "2005-03-04T20:36:42Z")
Apparently nothing about spelling correctly, either. I’ll just blame the cat - he’s been bonking my chair, trying to get skritched. ---
**Author:** ![lightingtool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@lightingtool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lightingtool)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/174 "2005-03-04T21:06:06Z")
Bah. No happy Friday here. As of right now, I’ve worked 58 hours this week starting Monday, or if you want to start Sunday I’ve worked 73. I’ll be here for another 11 hours or so today, and I’ll be in for another 14 hours or so tomorrow, and possibly 8 hours on Sunday. Then I get to do a “regular” 8-hour day on Monday. So, if you want to assume a Sunday to Saturday work week, I will probably end up with around 100 hours worked this week. I really really wish I got paid hourly. Oh well, back to work. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/175 "2005-03-04T21:06:18Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Apparently nothing about spelling correctly, either. I’ll just blame the cat - he’s been bonking my chair, trying to get skritched. In the name of all that is holy, please tell me that “bonking” means something else in the part of the country where you live! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/176 "2005-03-04T21:15:19Z")
Feel free to ask **Rue DeDay** to explain what all of these mean… You Know You’re From Cincinnati When… Your idea of a three-way is chilli over spaghetti topped with cheddar You know what goetta is - and you’ve eaten it You hate Cleveland, but you don’t know why, and you’ve never been there You think Pete Rose and Marge Schott were railroaded You say “Please?” instead of “Excuse me?” You think Northern Kentucky is part of Ohio You’ve been to California, Wyoming, Coney Island, and Over-the-Rhine in one day There are less than 100 murders a year, and you still think you’re in Detroit You think Dayton is a Third World country What groundhog? It’s the St. Patrick’s Day parade leprechaun that forecasts how much longer winter will last. Losing football teams draw more fans than winning baseball teams. Indiana is about 20 miles away, but it takes about four hours to get there. It’s too cold in the winter, and too hot and humid in the summer, to ever stay outside for very long. You drive to Columbus or Louisville to avoid the prices at the Cincinnati airport. City council members hold debates on whether or not they should debate in the first place. Tourists still flock downtown to catch a glimpse of cast members from “WKRP,” even though the show hasn’t aired on network television since 1984, and the show was filmed in LA anyway. You ask lifetime residents where the President Taft house is, but they don’t know either. If you do something – anything – in public long enough, sooner or later it will be banned. Your low-fat diet is never low enough to exclude Graeter’s ice cream. You get through winter listening to Marty and Joe’s broadcasts from the grapefruit leagues. Big Red Smokies are a ballpark treat, not cause to dial 9-1-1. If necessary, the city could easily be sliced into two new cities: East and West, and it would take 20 years for anyone to notice something happened. Chocolate and cinnamon, not peppers and beans, are in your chili. You can drive 30 minutes in any direction to hear a different accent than your own. You can accurately judge people’s social status by which Kroger’s store they frequent. You can go to any church festival in any neighborhood on any weekend and see at least five people you either work with, went to school with, or dated. Even the slightest mention of former baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti makes your blood boil and your ears steam. If the temperature hits 45 degrees, and the sun comes out in any month between November and April, people walk around downtown wearing shades and no jackets The top stories on the local 6 o’clock evening news look suspiciously like the articles you read in the newspaper that very morning – and even use the same quotes. Any carbonated beverage is a “coke.” Your favorite convenient store sounds like a labor union. You can’t hear the words “Mike Brown” without getting angry. You honestly believe that Pete Rose should be in the Baseball Hall Fame. You have more stadiums, coliseums, and arenas than you know what to do with. It doesn’t seem weird to you that everyone has an Uncle Al. Your favorite Coney Island isn’t in New York. You like Nick Clooney better than George Clooney. You know how Jerry Springer got his start. You know what a pony keg is. You have friends and neighbors with names like Machenheimer, Guckenberger, Schlottman, Schoenling, and Schweitering. You know that cars (like eggs) are cheaper in the country. An all-boys or all-girls school doesn’t seem that odd to you You think a mixed marriage is when an East Sider marries a West Sider. You know the difference between Hudy and “Who Dey.” You know what cream ale is, and you think that cream soda should be bright red. You think Kentucky is only slightly more civilized than Afghanistan. You know in which state the Greater Cincinnati Airport is located. You actually understand the word, “CRAVE” and white castle burgers. You can almost name the seven “hills” minus one or two. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Cincinnati. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/177 "2005-03-04T21:19:36Z")
Yeah, hopefully it’s “dry bonking.” ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/178 "2005-03-04T21:20:04Z")
Well, an entire meal o’ tatoes. Potato salad, then baked potatoes and potatoes au gratin. Maybe some potato souffle for dessert, which isn’t sweet usually, but still. Then you fall into a carb coma for three days. Poor **swampy** , methinks ACBG just wants to put him out so he can try on swampy’s shoes or jump on the sofa or something. And silly **taters** , you wouldn’t be able to blow out the fire when they cooked you. _You have no mouth_. The only way you type is by using your little eye stalks to whack the keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/179 "2005-03-04T21:42:26Z")
Okay, I now have time for a decent-sized post. Happy Friday everyone. A friend of mine who works up in DC gave me this crock pot recipe for what she calls Mexican Stew. I’m going to try it out, but not for another week or two. So if anyone here gives it a try, let me know. It sounds good, so I’m throwing it out here for the gourmands of the MMP. (Yes, I cut and pasted. That’s why it sounds conversational. I got some time at the end of this crazy, busy day, but not _that_ much time.) 2 1lbs of stew meat, cut up 1 or 2 heaping Tablespoons of chili powder (you need at least one!) 1 large can of stewed tomatoes (the can that is bigger than a soup can, can’t remember the no. of ounces. I usually smush them up a little so they cook better) 1 1/2 cups of frozen baby/pearl onions (they come in a bag in the veggie aisle–who knew?) Dump everything in the crock pot and let this cook for about 7 hours on low heat, or 4 1/2 hours on high heat if you’re short on time. Actually, it is best if you put the frozen onions in first, then the meat, then the tomatoes and chili powder according to the official crock pot cook book my mom sent me. Then add: 1 Taco seasoning packet (I usually use the low sodium kind) 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed (use kidney beans or no beans as you prefer) 1 bag of frozen yellow corn 1 large can of crushed tomatoes (same size as the stewed tomatoes above; I think it’s 20 some ounces) optional: 1 small to medium sized jar of your favorite salsa for that extra zip (my modification) sometimes I add a little extra chili powder at the end Let this heat on high for an additional 30 to 40 minutes so that the taco seasoning mix has time to thicken up and the veggies get heated through. Serve with whatever you like; a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese or chopped chives, fresh cornbread etc. (it really doesn’t need anything on top but if I’m feeling adventurous I’ll put a few things out for folks to choose from). Hvae a good weekend, y’all. I gotta got to a monthly Crafts show to see Elder Daughter of The Factotrix sell some handmade stuff. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285/180 "2005-03-04T22:02:20Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > In the name of all that is holy, please tell me that “bonking” means something else in the part of the country where you live! > > :eek: She said ‘bonking’, not ‘boinking’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-time-flu-time/292285.md?page=10)