stoopit weather - if it ain’t rainin’, it’s plain hoomid, if it ain’t that, it’s chilly. WTF happened to Spring?
I had the first of 3 shots of artificial cartilidge (sp?) in my natural knee - I am hopeful
Congrats **Pie! ** That is wonderful news! Congrats to you to, Spaz!
Please express my condolences to ol’ you know who, **Swampy. ** I’m sorry to read about that. I won’t pester you about an iPhone because I don’t want one.
I’m glad to see your daughter is doing a little better, **Soapy. ** I hope your son’s fever disappears quickly.
I spent a total of five hours in meetings today. Yep, that’s right, next to nothing got accomplished and I have a deadline that I need to meet for a project. I need to finish it by tomorrow. I think I’ll be staying late tomorrow.
Man, it’s hot here in the den today. I think I’m going to go sit under the ceiling fan.
I think I’ve found all 68 of 'em
I’m home, thank God Humpday is over. It wasn’t bad today weatherwise, good thing, because I left the A/C off when I wen’t to work.:smack:
I’m hoping for you too, rosie
Yay for Spaz and Pie!
Glad the daughter’s better, Soapy. Hope the boy isn’t too sick.
FCM, I’d totally blow off my family to come and worship you.
Heh, heh. This girl likes pubs a little too much, I think. But I’m doin’ just fine, thanks!
That pub was cool, too. I was just told it is called the Yorktown Pub. It has lots of character. During the storm the ceiling started leaking right behind my chair. So they just hauled a bucket out and put it down to catch the drips. I got the feeling from the way they did this that they’d done it lots of times before. Plus the huge water stains on the ceiling were a good clue too.
Anyhow, just got back from a late dinner. Strip steak and it was outstanding. Mostly all I eat is meat products and salads. I also had way too much coffee, now I am even more hyper than usual.
Hope everyone is doing well. Hard to believe it’s already Wednesday.
The plan for our first full day: the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, the Eiffel Tower.
First, of course, there was breakfast in the hotel’s teeny-tiny breakfast room. 9 or so tables in the smallest possible space. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate? 1 croissant, 1 mini-baguette (with butter and jam), orange juice (the ultrapasteurized kind that comes in a box; the German variety tastes awful, but this one was pretty good). Not horribly filling, but better than nothing.
We took the Metro to the Louvre, where we decided on our short list of must-see items. We wanted to see: Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and some of the Egyptian treasures. I wanted to see a Leonardo that was described in my guidebook.
Which was, by the way, Rick Steves’ Paris. I really like the book; he puts together suggested walks through Paris and tours of various museums so that you can wander around with his book in hand and have some of your questions answered as you go. Not really deep, but quite practical. We passed it around a lot and seem to have gotten about the right amount of information for this type of trip.
So, we get to the Louvre and walk right past our entrance, all the way through to the plaza where people who are buying tickets get to stand in line. If you ever go to Paris, do one thing: buy tickets ahead of time. (There are multiple painless ways to do this.) We felt awfully smug bypassing the line and scooting through the separate entrance.
I can’t even describe the Louvre. The buildingitself is awe-inspiring.
One of our favorites: Where they’re making new timeless treasures to put on display. 
What surprised us was that we spent so much time looking at different things than we expected. All of us really liked the building itself and kept pointing out various details to each other. And we spent a whole lot of time on a painting of the wedding at Cana that hangs directly opposite the Mona Lisa. It has all kinds of interesting detailand the rendering of Jesus lends itself to all kinds of irreverent captions (“Beam me up, Scotty.” “The things I do for Mom!!!” etc).
Here’s the set with pictures from the Louvre, in case you don’t want to click on all the little links above.
After the Louvre, we bought lunch at a bakery, wandered down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, went back to the hotel to acquire layers (it was cold!), ate dinner at a pretty good Chinese restaurant, then went to the Eiffel Tower. We decided that we didn’t want to go up that night, so we found a cafe that overlooked the tower and had that lovely panna cotta and creme brulee.
Did I mention that my suitcase still hadn’t appeared? I called the airline again and was told that my suitcase had been sent back from Paris to Stratford. :eek: Eventually, I figured out that this particular airline employee wasn’t an airport abbreviation wizard and was probably looking at STR, which is Stuttgart. After further expression of my annoyance at the location of my suitcase, I asked the employee if I might be reunited with my suitcase sometime before the end of my vacation. She promised to get it on a plane to Paris the next morning and even inquired whether the hotel desk was open 24 hours a day.
So…it’s way past my bedtime again. More tomorrow.
GT
Hi everyone…I know I am not around here much but I try to read the MMP everyweek
I live in Paris not far from the Arc de Triomphe - pretty pictures gt
Hey, the cathedral here used to be all three (different parts of it). According to this moron of a guide who also mistook rams (Capra Hispanica) for unicorns and declared that the roman bridge was built by the Muslims and that the town was founded by them, later explaining that coins, artifacst and buildings from pre-Roman times have been found in the area while pointing at a VIIth-century church, the Sinagogue wasn’t a Sinagogue: it was merely a meeting room where the Jews of the area celebrated meetings and religious occasions. Aaaaah… can we throw her into the river now?
Mom hasn’t slept well, so it’s my fault. Of course. Evidently. She forgot her massage yesterday, and it’s my fault. Right. Oh, it’s also my fault that Middlebro hasn’t fixed her rolling blinds and that Lilbro didn’t find a T-shirt yesterday.
Apparently it’s also my fault that she can’t keep track of her own plans due to changing them every half an hour (if they last that long). Thankfully and since she doesn’t speak English, it doesn’t seem to be my fault when people misspell “do” and “due,” due to an inability to tell them apart.
Congratulations, Pie!
Off to fix a cupboard which Middlebro hasn’t fixed. Apparently it’s also my fault.
Yay for both of you! 
Count those pounds again… I’m pretty sure at least 15 of them made their way over here :o 
I guess figuring out why the rash and allergic reaction happened is a good thing… at least it’s not some really bad condition, just a natural reaction to Too Much Poison…
Still sucks though At least she’s feeling better.
Hope the boy is feeling better too!
Hi!! Long time no see; how you doin’?
::Jealous::
Sure, but what do we do with her when she floats, eh…?
My epitaph for the day, directed at the driver who cut around me, only to block my access to the (separate) right-hand-turn lane (which he didn’t want to use)…*
“May you run your [merc]* into a phone pole, get out of the car unscathed, but suffer just enough damage that while your insurance won’t declare it Total Loss, fixing it won’t ever make it the same it was before! :mad:
Oh, and while I’m at it… yes I know that’s a HandsFree set you’re using, but “Hang up and Drive!!” anyway!!!” :rolleyes:
*
- Insert pretentious car make driven by pretentious git here (merc, beemer, jag, whatever…)
What, no celebratory gropes?
Morning, mumpers! It’s a lovely day over here for a change, we had massive thunderstorms last night but you’ll be pleased to hear that it didn’t stop us heading out to the pub for beerverages. And very nice they were too.
My week’s being slightly rearranged 'cos we have to do grocery shopping tonight so that I can go out with a friend tomorrow after work instead of doing it then. We are meeting in town and going to Las Iguanas for yummy Mexican food and lots of cocktails. There may be drunken posting but it will be very much later.
On Saturday we have plans to buy a petrol strimmer to deal death and destruction to the grass in the back yard…but that will also involve buying a petrol can to get some fuel for it. If 'im indoors thinks he’s syphoning petrol out of my car, he’s got another think coming! Sunday I will be off to visit my doting parent as I’ve not been to see her for a while and she’s still getting over her recent bout of viral bronchitis. No doubt she’ll have a list of things she needs me to do for her, aside from admiring her newly-decorated flat.
I’ve been checking up on the line-up for a festival we’re off to in Hungary in August and the band I was really looking forward to (GWAR) have cancelled. I have Teh Grrrr.
Blurf.
Nuttin’ exciting last night to report. Our last foster kitteh died yesterday, so I had to bury it. The cat garden is up to about 14 now.
Is it Firday yet?
Morning, caffeinated and off to work.
Sorry, Pie, I was distracted by the thought of you in a tube top. grope
Hi mmmmmmmm!
Sorry about the mom thing, Nava.
{{{{{Nava}}}}}–I totally sympathsize; my relationship with my Mom was rocky, at best, some times. Soapy, glad to hear that your daughter’s poison ivy is getting some better. I’ve never had it, but have heard that the itching is horrendous. My daughter has eczema; that itching is somewhat similar, I think.
Good morning all - up and caffeinating - coffee first at home but now am drinking the Stash chai tea. Boy is that stuff good! Our weekly staff meeting was cancelled today, so I am enjoying a leisurely brekkie of cottage cheese and pears at my desk. That has always been a comfort food for me; once, I shared this with my Mom, who told me that when I was a toddler they didn’t have much money and she often fed me pears and cottage cheese for lunch as it was very inexpensive then. Interesting to know, isn’t it?
One more day … so have a good Thursday all.
I was gonna say something to SpecialOne but now I forgot! Oh … heh, yeah, some of those pounds found their way here too. LOL
gt, I carried Rick Steve’s Italy along on my trip and we even stayed in one of his recommended hotels in Rome. It was quite nice. My brother and I are considering one of his tours for our next trip.
Ever find somebody you know on YouTube? Yesterday I was surprised to see an old beau while searching for videos of his sisters’ band. They are a fairly popular folk/blues vocal group and I knew they had some stuff on the site but he’s not associated with them so it was kind of a shock to see him, but kind of nice to see he’s aging well.
Going to be hotter than blazes here today. Going to do horrible things to Mr. Anachi’s purty flahrs out front in “Yard-o-teh-month-number-five.” It’s a burden, I tells ya.
Two days left to go. I am of two minds. The weekend looms but the dept. head returns on Monday. 
Tupug
Hooray, Petercat’s scab fell off! He’s completely healed from his home surgery last week! Wait, did I mention that here? Probably not, it was right before the beach trip. Okay:
Petercat’s had a lump on his side for over a year. The last time I took him to the vet they looked slightly concerned over it, but they said it didn’t seem to be too serious and offered to poke it with a needle to see what it was for a not-so-modest fee. I was seriously po’ at the time, so I declined and said I’d keep an eye on it.
Over the last year it’s gotten bigger and firmer. Complicated Roommate, who has some medical training, also kept an eye on it and poked it at least once a week, much to Petercat’s consternation. Last week we finally decided to do something about it since I’m pretty sure Petercat’s first introduction to Mountain Friend’s Naracat will involve a fight. I’d rather have the lump removed with a sterilized sewing needle than an unsterilized cat claw.
So we laid Petercat out on my bed, sterilized a needle, got the rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs within easy reach and started to work. Complicated did all the poking and prodding while I petted Petercat and tried to keep him calm. Petercat’s job was to lie there and say, “Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. OW. OW. OOOOOOOOW.”
And then the lump went “blort” and a lot of clay-like goo came out. Goo and hair.
The lump was a mat of ingrown hairs. :eek: It took fifteen minutes and two tissues to clean it all out. Petercat was remarkably patient throughout. We cleaned him up with the rubbing alcohol and gave him treats because he was such a good cat. The place healed up cleanly and it’s completely gone now. Petercat’s been acting like he feels a whole lot better and he’s starting to put on weight again. He’s been way to skinny for far too long.
**Bobbio, **poor bebeh kitteh. ETA: Yay for PeterCat!
Hi mmmmmmmmmmmm! Good to see ya!
Sorry you can’t do anything right, Nava. 
My mom was like that. I still miss her anyway.
Yay Spaz and Pie! And you’re still a [del]red hothead[/del] hot redhead, Rosie!
Paris is beautiful, gt. The Louvre is amazing!
A small miracle occurred last night at 7:30 pm. I answered the phone, and our family doctor was on the line. He wanted to speak to my husband (who must not have had his phone around.) He was calling to tell him to stop taking Claritin D because it was raising his blood pressure! (Just like me a few weeks ago.) The doctor himself called after hours! Unbelievable. He’s a good guy.
Back to the grindstone. Blech.
Ye Olde Gypsy Curse is said to be “pleitos tengas y los ganes,” “may you have a civil suit and win.” I think yours left out “…and may fixing the car cost enough to leave all your cards maxed up and take at least three months…”
Apparently both bros have decided that the reason I barely talk is that I’m in a black mood. No, it’s that I know nothing I say will considered worthy of anybody’s attention unless the person I’m talking to is 4yo or less, so why would I try to say anything?
I think I finally figured out my answer to that “what will you do when your parents are old?” thread: me, I’m preparing my escape plan!
Actually, I’m afraid he’d probably have Comprehensive Insurance which would pay for most of the repairs. I can get behind the “three months” part, though. Also, it should sent his rates for the following years through the roof.
We can only wish that karma worked on demand like that, though…
Last I checked I was a tad older than 4 YO, so that can’t be it.
Oh, you meant mentally more than 4 years old? Sorry, then maybe your hypothesis is valid, after all…
**Spaz **-- yay for PeterCat and for effective Home Veterinary Medicine working
**Ivory **-- more hugs and soothing (non-scratchy) thoughts for your daughter!
I am off to J’lem for FTT*'s Composition Class end-of-year concert. Which is being held, mostly by coincidence, at Special Teen’s school, so we’ll get to see her. We’ll miss her for a long time!! afterwards – she won’t be home again until tomorrow noon!
*“Female Terrible Twin”, for those not familiar for my shorthand monikers for the [del]hellspawn[/del] kids