MMP - FCM and the Fall Follies

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
261

Not here - it’s been pouring all goddamned freaking day. :mad:
The basement’s gonna start leaking soon, and I’m tired of mopping it up. The dog won’t go out in the rain (she’s a lab, and afraid of the rain!), and I had a bunch of errands to run after work, and got all wet. And I have a headache.

My morning: [sweet preschool teacher mode]Oh, look, it’s raining. Isn’t that nice? The flowers are getting a drink.[/sptm]

Fuck it. I need a drink. A big one. And I want a half-naked Johnny Depp to bring it to me.

262

I read that as “my friend is dying again.” And I thought-well, tell him to stop it! You only get to die once.
Need some sleep.

I take swampy’s offer to be a firm deal. It’s the way you all got to see my UK and Paris photos, no? And they were lovely. Really.

off to write a reading summary about Louisa May Alcott. A bit diabetic over here with all that March girls’ sweetness…

263

It’s cold, I’m cranky and my knees hurt. For lunch, I had nachos and onion rings with blue cheese. At least I hope it was blue cheese. It had chunks in it, anyway. We are having cake at 2:30 for our boss’s 60th birthday. It’s probably chocolate, so phooey. If it is, I’ll send my slice thru the DVD drive to who ever/whomever wants it. If it’s burnt almond, I’m stealing the rest of the cake before AC gets to it.

I found out recently that NC makes more than me, and AC makes more than NC (NC=nice coworker, AC=annoying coworker for those of you playing along), so yeah, most senior = least amount of $$$. By a significant margin. And, checking our website, they are hiring people at the next level. Not promoting or even advertising the positions internally, but posting them for external hire. Why am I still working here? Oh yeah. Health insurance.

264

Well, The bunny-one is here. The pups and I went to pick her up from the Metro (she flew into National so she could take the Metro right out of the airport), and all the way home Isaac lay with his head on her shoulder and a look of pure adoration/bliss on his doggie face. All together now: Awwwww! I wished I had my camera, but of course I was also driving in the rain on the freeway at 70 mph with people passing me like I was standing still, so for some strange reason I thought I should pay attention to my driving.

And amazingly enough, it took him nearly three hours to get his first doggie boner. (He might have had one on the way home, but we weren’t able to see it if he did, which is just fine with us!) Right now she and Papa T. are off running a couple of errands while I nurse a headache, and then I think we’re all going to crash this evening; it’s been a long, busy week for everybody.

That really sucks, Jahdra. The last office I worked in, I found out that I, as the most recent hire, was making considerably more than several people who’d been for for upwards of ten years. (Not that any of us were making all that much.) So it seems to be a common thing, unfortunately.

Swampy dear, you are not that old. And it is supremely unfair of you to tempt us with tales of giant colored aigs and then not let us see them. (We won’t even discuss you stealing a case of them to send us each one!) So I look forward to seeing lovely photos of the aigs very soon. Like tomorrow. :smiley:

265

Yeah, well that one was not a nick I minded, I was very close to my Uncle George, and I was always special to him. I have two brothers, and he and my Aunt Toby had two boys, so I did get spoiled as the only girl on that side of the family! There are lots more nicks, and I might even share some other family nicks, but prolly never any that my brothers called me…there were mean!

I woke up from a short morning nap to a horrible noise. The skiffman simply does not understand washing machines, he feels they are not properly loaded unless he has to sit on the lid to make it close. He never measures the detergent, either. So the washer is not working, and the only reason I am not spazzing yet is because I called my friend, the Authorized Whirlpool Repairman, and he should be here around 2:00. If he can just fix it, things will be okay. If I have to wait for parts, not so much.

hehehe…I don’t just wanna see pics of the pretty aigs, I want about a gross of them!!! My mind boggles at the fabulous crafty Easter aigs I could make and sell at the craft fair! :smiley:

Bibkitty I just made a nice cup of cocoa with a healthy slug of coconut rum in it. We may need to begin reconsidering the Ark project again, the way the rain is coming down. I watched The Libertine yesterday, and the case is still propped up so I am looking at the oh-so-yummy Johnny Depp. Have you seen the movie? At first, not knowing the story, I was a little taken aback at it’s rawness, but I think it’s his finest performance yet. Great movie, although it’s off limits to the kidlets until they are a few years older.

Well, I get to fold (I love this term!) a metric buttload of laundry, one of my least favorite of chores, but I had better get on it before my cocoa makes me all warm and relaxed. Oh, and btw, fcm really is nice, dammit! :smiley:

266

The good news is that it was blue cheese. The bad news is that it started it’s cheesy life as Cheddar… :eek:

267

Sounds like my daughter’s ex-roomie. That girl would cram the washer full, then stare aghast when the laundry room ended up flooded. It really ticked me off because the washer was my Amana - it was a *good * machine and not that old. Fortunately, my baby lives alone again, and she knows how to do laundry.

Some people… :rolleyes:

:smiley:

268

Yeah, those family nicknames. I still call my sister Wedgehead, and she turned 44 today. I’m also the only one who can get away with it. She then tells me I’m the old fart, because I was born first. Then I tell her I was the birth, and that makes her the afterbirth.

Oh, the joys of sibling rivalry… :wink: :smiley:

269

Hi - I’ve been running around like a headless chicken today because I’m going away for the weekend.
Now - I’ve gotta go to rehearsal (I so don’t want to - I am exHAUSted)
Apprpriate noises of joy, sympathy, and commiseration where appropriate. I’ll check in in the morning before I take off for beautiful downtown Parsippany NJ
(swampy - that was me who asked about aig colors)

270

Okay! Let’s talk about my qualifier test. Today was Part I - the short questions. We were given 20 questions, out of which we were to choose 12. I answered 8. I’m supposed to answer 6 questions tomorrow. So I need to get more than 10 out of 18 correct to pass. If I managed to get 7 right today, then answering 3 or 4 tomorrow should do it. Of course, that’s a big if and an even bigger then. So we’ll see.

Jahdra, you don’t like chocolate? BLASPHEMY! :eek: :eek: I just went to a Lindt store with a couple of my fellow grad students. It seems to be a factory outlet sort of thing, because they have all the malformed truffles that weren’t spiffy enough for normal sale, and you can buy them for real cheap. I got two pounds of orange chocolate truffles for seven bucks.

271

Now that I think if it, I’ve never gotten a chocolate love offering from Spats! :stuck_out_tongue:

There used to be a Lindt store in Annapolis, but it’s gone. Maybe it moved, but it’s no longer where it used to be. I see teeny tiny baglets of truffles for obscene prices in grocery stores, so I’ve been Lindt-less for a while. I need to find out if there’s a "slightly irregular " outlet near me… hmmmm…

Oh yeah - **kai ** - check your email!

272

Ooh, Spats, that sounds like the Godiva outlet that is in, of all places, Aiken, South Carolina. Open Saturday mornings from 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. (In a Pepperidge Farm distribution center.) Two-pound bags of imperfectly formed Godiva chocolate varieties for $3 a pound. Yeah, my freezer was always full of Godiva when we lived near there…

Speaking of broken appliances, is Mercury retrograde or something? (I had a crazy Californian friend who, every time mechanical things acted up, explained that it was because Mercury was retrograde. Amazingly, it really was. Astrologically speaking, of course. Which, to my understanding, happens a good 50% of the time so it wasn’t that perceptive of her to point it out.) Anyway…deep cleansing breath…I just went to vacuum up the dog hair from the bedroom where whiterabbit will be sleeping, and the brush wouldn’t rotate on my lovely barely-year-old Bissell that can normally suck up stuff nearly as well as a Dyson! So I took off the cover, fighting off six screws, assuming the belt was broken…and it wasn’t. So now I get to take the vacuum to the repair shop tomorrow, I guess.

Fortunately, I’d vacuumed that room just a week ago, so I guess she can just deal with the dog hair!

273

Amen! Whenever I re-read those books (about once a year) my teeth hurt and I want to punch someone. I did hear that L. M. Alcott really hated them, too, though- she liked writing bodice-rippers and murder mystery, but it was the March girls that sold.
I’m so tired I have turned down the opportunity to go out for Indian food tonight. I spent most of the day baking, and the rest doing laundry, prepatory to going away for the weekend. Didn’t sleep well last night. I’m not sure if I want to make dinner, or order something. It will be accompanied by adult beverages and an early bedtime, whatever it is.
Must. Stay . Awake. Until. Nine. At. Least!
That makes two chocolate-haters, doesn’t it? Jahdra and Mika?
The chocolate cinnamon buns turned out beautifully. Anyone want one?

274

Well, the Authorized Whirlpool Repairman has the washer humming right along, he and skiffman are having a little man talk while he waits for a cycle to complete to make certain that it is well and truly repaired. When they mosey out this way I am going to have AWR reinforce the correct loading instructions, as skiffman frequently thinks I am just a girl and couldn’t possibly know better than he!

Love Louisa May Alcott and all the Little Women/Little Men etc. books, but agree with the sweetness factor. Sometimes it’s nice to go back in time in my mind to a simpler way of life, but I am not trading in my appliances, the internet, or my freedom to wear what I want and speak as I wish, so it’s all just a little harmless fantasy!

Isn’t not loving chocolate a birth defect or sumpthin?

Oh, fcm check your email!

275

Me! Me! I want one!

(is it wrong to sublimate the need for a hug into a chocolate cinnamon roll?)
Husband is home and is not being nice*. O! For these two years to be over and me to ahve a good job…

*never mind-we can both be dicks, guess it’s his turn. Or something like that. I’m ok, just pissy cause he’s being a jerk. No Brady Bunch over here.

276

Hang in there rigs!

I don’t know where my camera is. Well, maybe I do. I remember lending it to a friend a couple months ago. Bet he still has it. Or I put it up so I’d know where it was when I needed it. I’m real good at doin’ that. I put stuff up so good it ain’t nowheres to be seen!

277

Do you have a coworker with a camera, swampy? Or shouldn’t your employer own a camera? Just a low-priced, digital; you can get one for very cheap. You could photograph events (maybe your fundraisers?) for newsletters and promotional materials, build team spirit by having a picture collection somewhere in the office, and [sub]most importantly[/sub], share pictures of colored aigs with your bestest on-line friends. Just sayin’.

You can muddle through, rigs, the marriage thing, the nursing thing, the school thing. All quite survivable.

Glad I’m not the only one with sleep issues last night. Is there a full moon?

I’m very tired tonight and will probably crawl into bed shortly. Went out for a beer and some (British) chips after work. Met up with some work friends who are here from out of town. And now I’m sleepy. Hope I wasn’t planning to do anything constructive.

Maybe I’ll watch a movie while I ice my shoulder. Figured out that carrying my laptop around at work sans case is making my shoulder unhappy. Gonna see if it will fit in my wheeled backpack so that I can cart it around instead. It’s a heavy (and powerful) laptop, but somehow the case it came with makes that even worse. If the backpack idea doesn’t work out, I’ll need to get some wheels to hook into the case or ask our IT people about alternatives.

**Snickelfritz ** is an excellent nickname. It’ll send people upthread to look for a post from her and they’ll find: nothing. Glad weißes Kaninchen made it in safely, Tigs. (So far, I think my favorite nick for her has been pale bunny, with the French not far behind.)

Well, I guess I should decide what else is going to be dinner. A co-worker gave me a 'mater. Maybe I’ll make myself a little sandwich. I have lettuce, but no bacon… (the three remaining slices were lost when the fridge died). Perhaps that’ll be brekky. Hmmm.

Oh, and Taters (you’re awfully quiet today), in case you missed it, I’m totally with that McCello character on AVG. I’ve used it for two years on my PC and never had an issue. I’ve scanned it with both McAfee and another free virus scan. Both found nothing. Probably helps that I have pop-ups blocked. If you’re not using Firefox as a browser, download the Google toolbar or something similar so that you can block most pop-ups. The other items you want to install are Lavasoft and Spybot Search and Destroy; both have free products for personal use. They’ll keep you pretty much free of spyware. I learned about all these fine products from the computer questions sticky in GQ. There are a bunch of entries from 2004 that are very helpful. Oh, and do you have a firewall? I’m using Sygate (also free), again from a recommendation in the sticky. I don’t use my PC much anymore because of the iBook, but I’m thrilled that I can keep it clean and safe for free.

I’m sure I missed many improtan items, but I’m falling asleep, so I should probably submit my post…(I’m leaving that last typo in there cuz it proves my point. :smiley: )

Almost Friday.

GT

278

I don’t know that movie, but I’ll look into it.
I missed the first 20 minutes of Survivor, but I set the VCR, so I’m making a milk and Kahlua drink and plan on watching it when the real-time showing ends. I can’t stand missing the beginning of something.

It’s still raining and it’s cold and nasty. I will sip my milk and Kahlua, watch Survivor: The Race Wars, and go to bed.
Part of me still wants a cigarette. But I will be strong.

279

Bibs, watch Survivor and don’t have a cigarette. I could say I’ll have one for you, but I know that doesn’t help.

Still, don’t have one. And don’t root for Honky Tribe. They haven’t shown their full dumb capacity, but I’m sure they’ll make me ashamed of my lily-white behind eventually. :slight_smile:

280

Drae! Hi!

And while I’m at it, hi scout!

BiblioCat: step away from the cigs. (You can do it!)

Wanna see my new appliances?

The floor is going soon. (Now that the new appliances are there, it looks extra-annoying.

GT