# No topic, off-the-cuff MMP
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Tags:** mmp
**Created:** [December 5, 2011, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115 "2011-12-05T11:19:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/81 "2011-12-06T15:36:34Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> Something else for **Bobbio’s** scrapbook that he probably wants nothing to do with. SIL was on a fire call last night, and she was overcome by fire…
>
> …ants!
>
> She’s been bitten half to death and is still feeling poorly.
Benadryl and alcohol. Especially the alcohol.
Fahr ants are one of the few things about Cottonfield County I don’t miss. When I was at the former Lair last time for the faux burglary, there was a massive nest at the base of the front porch. F\*ck 'em, let the bank deal with it. 😃
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### Author:  [@RedWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedWood)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/82 "2011-12-06T16:00:22Z")
Good luck and sharp brains to those (like me) confronting Finals 😉
Cold around here with freezy breezes. Today’s a garden day, so it’s many layers and off to work for me!
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/83 "2011-12-06T16:07:54Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Yesterday was interesting…we discovered an abandoned car in the driveway. The police came and they were really happy that the person who abandoned the car had mowed down a couple of solar lights because they could then charge the guy with criminal mischief too. Seems that they’d chased him for reckless driving and lost him the night before, and were still looking for him and figured he’d have to surface once the car was in their hands. They towed the car away, **so we can now use get out of the driveway again, yay.**
(Bolding mine) Last Wednesday our landlord had a whole truck full of gravel delivered to our house, with no warning to us, which was dumped right behind my garage door in the driveway. I can only be thankful that I had already gotten my car out! So I know what it’s like to not have use of your driveway. It’s way more inconvenient than you’d think. (FWIW we complained and he had his landscaping people move all the gravel the next morning, rather than waiting til the weekend which was the original plan.)
Do they know that the person who abandoned the car were the owners, or could it have been stolen? Someone drove a truck into the reservoir by my house about a year or so ago and reported it stolen, but it turned out that it was an insurance scam–the guy’s cousin drove it into the reservoir.
> [@Lancia](#):
>
> :ahem:
>
> 1. I guess I better get myself back into the MMP before everyone forgets me.
> 2. Something.
> 3. Hi, Opal!
> seriously, I can’t beloved this is OpalCat’s first MMP and nobody has done that yet…
>
> So, had Spanish final today. Don’t know how I did but the instructor did say I made it to winter term. THANK GOD. I put this off for years, maybe that wasn’t the most brillant idea… 😃
>
> Math final tomorrow. Unless I royally screw up, I’ll be getting an ‘A’. Awesome. Practice makes perfect, I guess.
“Hi!”
Congrats on the final and good luck on the math. I’m not good with languages (I took French and got B’s but it was very hard for me and I remember none of it) and I’m more afraid of math than actually bad at it. Once it’s explained to me, for example, I do quite well. But I get all sweaty-palmed and nervous whenever I know I have to do math… it’s awful. I got out of taking a second math course in undergrad by taking Deductive Logic.
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#):
>
> I felt pretty sick when I first saw it. Then everyone was so sweet! You guys were too much. 🙂
It does feel like a punch in the gut, doesn’t it? Especially when you know what you meant but nobody sees it and insists that your thought process was X when it was really Y, no matter how many times you explain it 😕 Gradually I’ve gotten better at not letting it affect me by just reminding myself that it’s just a message board of strangers who don’t know me in real life. When I saw the title of the thread against me over there I opened it long enough to read most of the OP then closed it and never went back.
> [@Ashes\_Ashes](#):
>
> There were people driving on the sidewalk, in the turning lane, no lane recognition, traffic signs ignored, children running across the streets where ever they wanted and three different people in scooter chairs in the street, against traffic, then crossing at a diagonal.
So were you driving in Boston or in Paris?
> [@SpazCat](#):
>
> Insomnia’s back. Yay.
Nyquil and a hot bath. Try a benadryl if that doesn’t work. At least that’s what used to work for me before my insomnia got to truly epic scale. (Not that you asked for advice, so feel free to ignore this–just trying to help as one who’s been there.)
My complaint today… and it’s my own fault, damnit… I fell asleep in the bathtub last night while reading my Kindle and apparently let the bottom of it dip into the water. It’s frozen on the loading screen right now. I’m going to call Amazon and see if their customer support can walk me through anything, but I fear I’ve ruined it. _sob_
I read my Kindle in the tub all the time, and I fall asleep in the tub all the time (don’t worry–it’s safe. I couldn’t slide down if I tried–it’s a really short tub) but always before I’ve noticed when I was getting drowsy and set the Kindle down somewhere out of the tub. I kind of like having a mini nap in the tub before getting out and going to bed. I feel like I fall asleep faster once I get under the covers. But I messed up this time. ☹
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/84 "2011-12-06T16:13:26Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> SIL was on a fire call last night, and she was overcome by fire…
>
> …ants!
>
> She’s been bitten half to death and is still feeling poorly.
Ack! That’s terrible! If you can indulge one more short anecdote: I was in summer day camp and we went swimming after lunch in a lake on the property. After swimming I got out and started putting my clothes on (over my suit), but they’d been sitting on the lake’s beach, and I’d left them _on a fire and hill_!!! I was about halfway dressed when I noticed the ants crawling all over me (I was also standing on the hill) and so I scrambled out of the clothes and ran for the water again to rinse off the ants. One of the counselors grabbed me and said “swim time is over” and wouldn’t listen to me about the ants, so I didn’t get to rinse off. I was getting bitten the whole rest of the day until I got home. Awful. Anyone who gets into fire ants has my sympathy.
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### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/85 "2011-12-06T16:30:03Z")
Damn. This dumpster thing is getting very expensive fast…
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### Author:  [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/86 "2011-12-06T16:52:38Z")
> [@OpalCat](#):
>
> Ack! That’s terrible! If you can indulge one more short anecdote: I was in summer day camp and we went swimming after lunch in a lake on the property. After swimming I got out and started putting my clothes on (over my suit), but they’d been sitting on the lake’s beach, and I’d left them _on a fire and hill_!!! I was about halfway dressed when I noticed the ants crawling all over me (I was also standing on the hill) and so I scrambled out of the clothes and ran for the water again to rinse off the ants. One of the counselors grabbed me and said “swim time is over” and wouldn’t listen to me about the ants, so I didn’t get to rinse off. I was getting bitten the whole rest of the day until I got home. Awful. Anyone who gets into fire ants has my sympathy.
OUCH!!!
Well, today has been a bit more productive than yesterday, thank goodness. Amongst other things I returned my single barrel tumbler and got a double barrel one and I’ve already filled it up with spoon rings and set it up to run for the afternoon. 🙂
Now i’m contemplating a nap before putting my final presentation together for Thursday.
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### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/87 "2011-12-06T16:59:28Z")
Well, screw getting a dumpster. I can get a U-haul for an estimated $50 for the day, vs. ~ $400 for the trash guys. There is an added benefit in that I loathe U-Haul, so renting one of their trucks to hustle a couple loads of trash is poetic justice.
**Opal** , just think of all the legal fun you could have with the day camp people today because they let you be eaten by fire ants. Torture, mayhem, assault, PROFIT!!!
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/88 "2011-12-06T17:20:24Z")
> [@VunderBob](#):
>
> **Opal** , just think of all the legal fun you could have with the day camp people today because they let you be eaten by fire ants. Torture, mayhem, assault, PROFIT!!!
Yeah, no kidding. Back in the '70s nobody cared if kids were in pain or danger; the rules were the rules.
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### Author:  [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/89 "2011-12-06T18:05:13Z")
Hey Opal, guess what I had for breakfast today?
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### Author:  [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/90 "2011-12-06T18:51:54Z")
This is my first time venturing in here, but I was feeling chatty today. Hey, y’all.
This is my first year making my grandma’s famous “surprise” Christmas cookies, so now that I’m done with class for the day I’m pulling everything together to make them. I worry mine won’t end up as sinfully decadent as hers, but I guess I can eat all of the mistakes. 😃 In some goofy sort of way, this almost feels like a step into adulthood. I’d help her make them when I was little and it seemed like magic. How could she take these dull ingredients just laying around in her kitchen and turn them into something so wonderful?
We’ve got some beautiful weather here today. Low forties, cloudy. It just _looks_ like a day to spend in the kitchen cooking things for the holidays, you know? It’s too warm for snow, but that suits me fine. A little bit of thunder and a slow rain would help enhance the “baking day” feeling.
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### Author:  [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/91 "2011-12-06T19:00:03Z")
> [@OpalCat](#):
>
> But I’m a vegetarian and can’t eat ham!
_My Big Fat Greek Wedding_: “That’s okay – I make you lamb.”
Lamb is delicious. Too bad (or good, perhaps) I don’t have a reliable source of kosher lamb near me; I have to cross into Maryland for it.
ETA @ **Peeta** : We might have snow tomorrow night.
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### Author:  [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/92 "2011-12-06T19:01:32Z")
Finished my paper. Now tis lunch time (chicken soup and ham salad sammich) while compiling my portion of the Flat Stanley project for my niece. He’s going to Spanish class tonight and then back to my mom for the rest of his week vacation in New England.
Sweetie is watching futurama. He just finished the episode with Fry’s old dog and it made me cry - again. I HATE that episode.
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### Author:  [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/93 "2011-12-06T19:06:50Z")
Oh, lamb sounds delicious, **Scuba\_Ben**. I’m not Jewish, so its kosherness means little to me, but [this](http://www.kosherdelight.com/Passoverecipes15.htm) happens to be one of my favorite recipes. The lemon and artichoke really just do indecently good things to the meat.
I’m cooking my pecans now for the “surprise” in the middle of my cookies and the buttery, nutty smell is finally wafting in here from the oven. One of the finest smells there is.
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### Author:  [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/94 "2011-12-06T19:22:52Z")
> [@Peeta\_Mellark](#):
>
> This is my first year making my grandma’s famous “surprise” Christmas cookies, so now that I’m done with class for the day I’m pulling everything together to make them. I worry mine won’t end up as sinfully decadent as hers, but I guess I can eat all of the mistakes. 😃 In some goofy sort of way, this almost feels like a step into adulthood. I’d help her make them when I was little and it seemed like magic. How could she take these dull ingredients just laying around in her kitchen and turn them into something so wonderful?
I was just going to ask what the surprise was, until…
> [@congodwarf](#):
>
> Finished my paper.
Yay!
[QUOTE=congodwarf]
Sweetie is watching futurama. He just finished the episode with Fry’s old dog and it made me cry - again. I HATE that episode.
[/QUOTE]
The freaking Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade almost made me cry this year. :rolleyes:
> [@Peeta\_Mellark](#):
>
> I’m cooking my pecans now for the “surprise” in the middle of my cookies and the buttery, nutty smell is finally wafting in here from the oven. One of the finest smells there is.
I read this. 🙂
:sigh: The sump pump has quit again and the fumes have returned. I’ve opened up some windows and ordered my grandparents to come upstairs once they’ve finished their lunch. Fortunately, I’m much calmer about this today as I know that the guy will be here sometime today to fix it.
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### Author:  [@Peeta\_Mellark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peeta_Mellark)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/95 "2011-12-06T19:28:18Z")
> [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](#):
>
> I was just going to ask what the surprise was, until…
>
> I read this. 🙂
And now you know! They’re spread out on a cookie sheet and sprinkled with a bourbon and brown sugar mixture, then dotted with butter before they go in the oven. They’re so good on their own you could forgo the cookie part entirely.
> [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](#):
>
> :sigh: The sump pump has quit again and the fumes have returned. I’ve opened up some windows and ordered my grandparents to come upstairs once they’ve finished their lunch. Fortunately, I’m much calmer about this today as I know that the guy will be here sometime today to fix it.
Glad to hear you’re calm about it, at least. I can’t imagine it’s fun, though. We had an issue with the septic at my parents’ place some years back and I still remember the smell that backed up in there.
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/96 "2011-12-06T19:33:17Z")
> [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](#):
>
> Hey Opal, guess what I had for breakfast today?
What? (I hate guessing! I suck at it!)
> [@congodwarf](#):
>
> Sweetie is watching futurama. He just finished the episode with Fry’s old dog and it made me cry - again. I HATE that episode.
I can’t watch that episode. It will throw me into a suicidal depression. Well, maybe not quite, since my meds are quite good, but it will come close. I hate that episode, too! I would leave the room if I couldn’t persuade whoever was watching it to watch it later without me.
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### Author:  [@markm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markm)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/97 "2011-12-06T19:43:13Z")
We had our office Christmas party this past weekend. The meal was wonderful. I had Steak Arcobasso, served medium rare. It was so juicy and tender, and as I cut into it, the warm red juices blended with the whitish sauce to create swirls of taste explosions. It was simply fantastic.
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### Author:  [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/98 "2011-12-06T19:56:00Z")
> [@markm](#):
>
> We had our office Christmas party this past weekend. The meal was wonderful. I had Steak Arcobasso, served medium rare. It was so juicy and tender, and as I cut into it, the warm red juices blended with the whitish sauce to create swirls of taste explosions. It was simply fantastic.
That sounds very yummy.
I had to look up steak Arcobasso to see how yummy it could be. Alas for me, the whitish sauce is a cheese base. More for you.
---
### Author:  [@markm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markm)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/99 "2011-12-06T19:59:40Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#):
>
> That sounds very yummy.
>
> I had to look up steak Arcobasso to see how yummy it could be. Alas for me, the whitish sauce is a cheese base. More for you.
Ah, sorry, yeah, it’s not kosher. It is quite yummy, though. I swear, this steak was just so fall-apart tender, without being mealy, it was amazing. I was able to cut it with a fork.
---
### Author:  [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-topic-off-the-cuff-mmp/605115/100 "2011-12-06T20:08:08Z")
> [@markm](#):
>
> Ah, sorry, yeah, it’s not kosher. It is quite yummy, though. I swear, this steak was just so fall-apart tender, without being mealy, it was amazing. I was able to cut it with a fork.
In my youth, “yummy” sometimes trumped “but it’s not kosher!”. Ah, good times.
ETA: I want a grill, so I can grill yummy steaks.
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