MMMMMMMMM… sparkling seaslugs. Kotick I will forever picture you sitting down to a heapin’ plate of sparkling seaslugs that have been sauteed in garlic and butter. What? It’s kinda like escargot. Escargot is good but it’s really a conduit for eatin’ lots of garlic and butter.
I’ve had three phone calls today to set up job interviews. Don’t know if any of ‘em really excite me, but go interview over the next couple days I shall. Hey, nuttin’ says I can’t accept a job but continue looking.
Well, it’s a wrap and a start. I had a meeting this morning with my new team, and while I know what the team has to do, I don’t know yet what I have to do. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you because this is a sensitive customer and project, even for where I work. And no, despite what **FCD ** tells everyone, I’m not a double-nought spy. What I can say is that the new project is much more complex than the last one, and it’ll last longer - about 6 months, we’re told. So I’ve got something to keep my busy till fall.
And after that meeting was done, we had a last team meeting with the old gang (two of the guys on the old team are on the new team) featuring pizza brought by the team lead and brownies brought by me. We had a good time eating and chatting and ragging on Idiot Stupidhead who is on deployment for a while and didn’t get to play with us. 
We also found out that those of us who did the presentation last week are being rewarded with 59 minutes off. I’ll take mine on Friday. I’d prefer cash, but if all I get is to leave early one day, I can deal with that. At least I’ll have a couple of good bullets to put on my next self-assessment.
I was going to watch the tape of the presentation, but I couldn’t get it to come up. Maybe in the morning before too many people are on line?? I’m just curious to see how I look at a podium and if I did, in fact, look as if I knew what I was talking about. I figure it’s got to be a good recording. It’s not a mere .mp3 - it’s a .mp4!! Woo and hoo! 
Back to class tonight. I need to gather up my tools and change into grubbies. I should get my grades on my work to date - I’ll be curious to see what I get. And I should be able to do the finish glaze on my coffee mugs. I think we’re supposed to do in-class critiques of each others’ works - that promises to be interesting.
I’ve decided what to do for my final project. We have to make an animal, at least 12" tall, using at least 3 of the methods we learn in class. I’ve decided to do a stylized dog sitting up and begging. I say stylized because I am absolutely not an artist capable of reproducing life-like images of anything. But I intend to do an artsy-fartsy version of a dog - I actually think it’ll be kinda cool. We shall see.
And that pretty much sums up today. It’s gorgeous and the house is open, but I think I’ll have to close it up again tomorrow. I also think I may have to break out the lawnmower before the week is out - some weedy green stuff is getting long already. Dang!!
Notice I’m purposefully ignoring someone’s TMI??
I am about to take off from work, but I had to jump in to say that my faith in Spring has once again been restored! For the last 5 months or so I have been taking a back corridor to the cafeteria everyday because it has several exterior doors. The reasoning is that though the whole building is kept at a fairly cold temperature (somewhere between 60 and 65 Amerkin degrees) the areas around exterior doors are significantly warmer to combat any incoming air. The problem is that it made my walk to lunch a bit of a crap shoot, it was warm unless someone opened one of the doors around when I pass it, then it became freezing. I took the same path today and when a door opened as I passed I flinched knowing that I lost my gamble and was about to be punished, only to be met with a nice gust of warm air. It was glorious!
Holy crap. This afternoon has been extremely busy and I just took a HUGE sigh. My boss does nothing, NOTHING, I tell you, and I am tired of all the hand-holding we must do. Mostly I’m just tired!
NEED MY TEDDY BEAR
Or at least a glass of wine.
I keep thinking about bringing my pots inside so I can start my container gardening - first I have to thaw out the damn pots - but I keep forgetting.
Well, we’ve moved the TV into our temporary bedroom. FCD didn’t want to do it at first, but he really misses being able to watch TV in bed, so it’s now sitting on the dresser. Which is good, because having it off the wall mount will make it easier for me to paint. So it’s a double winner! Yay!
Kotick - the reason I asked about you bein canayjun was because you only just switched to DST over this past weekend - the US (except for Arizona) switched over weeks ago.
I don’t mind the daylight when I leave work, but I could use a little more in the morning.
I had to call MetLife today to start my short term disability stuff rolling. When I get home I will post to my journal - so check that later tnoght.
When I get home, I got tons of stuff to do - mostly PR stuff for the chorus, but I also have to start pulling my tax stuff together. <sigh>
Later, dudes and dudettes.
00FCM I know what you mean about ignoring the TMI. Some people just don’t know when to quit sharin’. I mean, really! I think you should do a stylized Bernie with her butt up in the air waitin’ on butt skritches. It’d be keeeee-yoooooote!
I made some pimento cheese today. So supper was grilled pimento cheese sammiches, pickles and chips. It was good. I likes pimento cheese. It’s also good to stuff celery.
Speaking of which… in elementary skool, say, around third grade, it was discovered that pimento cheese spread in celery was pretty projectile. The lunchroom ladies didn’t pack it in real tight so one could take one’s thumbs and index fingers and launch pimento cheese at somebody sittin’ at the next table. Much to my surprise and disappointment my mom and my teacher were not as fascinated with my discovery of projectile pimento cheese as was I. Thus my creativity was yet again thwarted. It’s a wonder I turned out all normal like ain’t it!
ETA: For the rest of that year everytime we had pimento cheese stuffed celery I was reminded by my teacher that I was supposed to eat it not throw it. Dang rulemakers!
I was just outside on my back porch quaffin’ a beerverage and I hear, “Moooooo! Moooooo! Moooooo!” Thinks I, another cow has escaped from the dairy down the road. So I go out in my front yard, the direction all the mooin’ seems to be comin’ from and, lo and behold, cows in the road a couple houses north of me. So nacherly I gotta go get the scoop. They were not cows from the dairy on my road. They were cows from the dairy on the next road up from my road. Seems a section of fence was down and said cows decided to stroll over to visit. They strolled what has to be a good half mile down a little side road that connects my road and the other road! Anywho, they’re bein’ rounded up in cattle trucks as I post.
Some of you may remember my riveting tales of how twice a single cow has escaped from the dairy on my road, strolled about a quarter mile and stopped for a grass snack in my front yard. This was a buncha cows! A neighbor said she counted eighteen.
And people say rural livin’ is dull!
Ok, Ima go check on the roundup progress. Oh and I know who owns that dairy so I bet I see 'em out there.
so a bunch of dairy cows would be, what, a pride? a gaggle? “herd” is so boring - how about “a carton of dairy cows” ?
It was a mess o’ dairy cows. Twenty-three to be exact. They’ve been rounded back and taken home. The dairy owner, two of his sons and a couple real skanky lookin’ characters got ‘em all on cattle trucks. The cows were able to get this far because they fixed the fence before they came for the cows. Logical I guess cause there’s what looks to be a bazillion cows standin’ around in the pastures over there everytime I see 'em. I don’t know how or why the fence got all broke down. Who knows… maybe… :eek: mad cowz!!!111 :eek:
Or it coulda been like Chicken Run but it was cows makin’ a break for it. 
ETA: For those who may not know, Chicken Run is one of those all time great cinema classics.
Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Welcome back, Spats! I liked the punny picture!
This is a really good point. I’ve found a lot of interesting information just from following links in articles.
Hope your Mom starts doing better quickly, Tigs. I’m sure Lapin Blanc will be able to straighten things out.
Sorry about the sickies, Ellen. Hope they’re better tomorrow.
And, well, the crummy boss - sorry Meeks.
Relieved to hear you’re not logging in for anyone, Al.
It is ever so difficult [sub]not[/sub] to imagine you flinging pimento cheese at classmates, swampy.
The great cow escape sounds quite amusing. (I vote for a carton, rosie…)
Sea slugs are pretty. Kotick sent them on Valentines this year…very cool.
All kinds of things blossoming now. All the star magnolias are blooming, forsythia is all over the place, ornamental pears are starting to bloom, daffodils all over the place. And the weather was just beautiful today. It was supposed to rain today, originally, but they changed the weather on us. Tomorrow, though, it’s supposed to rain and be cooler. 
Guess I should think about getting something done, huh?
GT
Sage Rat you made my head hurt! It sounds as though you know what you are doing, and you have all my best in your endeavor.
Hey Nava I don’t lie! You just aren’t seeing all the silver because of the flash. Come up here and I’ll show you all the silver! Thanks to you and gt for helping me imagine it’s not really there.
Thanks for making me grateful for hair, even if it is silvering! Poor bobbio, take care of your haid!
That, my dear, is answered by the need for brain bleach!
rosieposie whatever you are doing to dream so strangely and vividly, please share!
Cool mika, jasmine is one of my favorite flower scents. When I was in Hawaii my parent’s neighbors had a jasmine vine sprawling on top of some other hedge-y type plant, and mom and I used to go out in the evenings just to stand there and smell the heavenly scent.
You sound sprightly MamaTigs, and good on you and lapine blanc for taking the time to make certain that your mom is getting the care she deserves.
Wow pugs, I was thinking it was Wednesday too, does that mean the week is going to seem longer than usual?
Kotick very cool explanation of your user name, there are a plethora of Marine Biologists around here, all very informative. Sea slugs are interesting, sea cucumbers are delicious. Life on an arctic island has been very interesting, even the harshness of the weather has a beauty all it’s own.
Hey FCM, good job and atta girl and all that congratulatory stuff! My bio-dad has always sub-contracted to the government, and it’s always hush-hush secret stuff. If you don’t mind I am gonna use that double-naught spy allusion on him the next time I write him, it is too funny! The best while you create your begging dog, I am working on a three dimensional Spring flower…either plaque or fridge magnet with my polymer clay. If I don’t get frustrated and squash it, I’ll post a pic when it’s done. Oh, and I noticed you ignoring, lol!
swampy escargot is delicious when I am drunk. The rest of the time it’s slugs with R.V.'s. And how do you make pimento cheese? Remember The Rule, talk about the food you prepare and ya gotta share the recipe.
I don’t know about your particular fence down/cows about, but once when I was much younger a friend and I were riding her horses (I never had my own :() around the pasture with the cows when we decided we were gonna herd them down the fence line and into the next pasture. There was an open gate and all. Stoopid cows allowed us to herd them almost all the way when they suddenly decided to jump over the electric fence. Only they didn’t jump high enough, and they tore down several stretches of wire fencing. :eek: My bio-dad and paternal grandfather were working in the adjacent pasture and I thought for sure I was gonna get killed. However they both laughed, my friend and I sighed in relief, and the cows just stood around looking stoopid. I love cows, but they are stoopid. Sometime I will regale you with my adventure out the road with the free range cattle!
Another sunny day, and the temperature is 32F. Snow in the forecast for tomorrow, yee haw. Brother Brad came over last night and we had some adult beverages while talking about my new interest - home brewing. I am very interested in making some wine, and in particular some cranberry wine. There is a winery in Washington which makes the most fabulous cranberry wine. They also make blackberry, raspberry, guava and some other fruit wines, but it’s too spendy to have it shipped, so I want to learn to make it myself.
And now the crowd is home, so I need to go be wife and mother.
Didn’t someone ask for a spring picture?
I did a bit of weeding around some bulbs that are sticking little green leaves up, then went out to a friend’s house to get some hostas she was evicting from her yard. I had intended to come back home and plant the evicted hostas, but as usual when the two of us get together we started talking…then I rode with her to pick up the kids from school…then the kids started talking… and the next thing I know her husband is home from work and it’s almost 6. So the well-dampened hostas will not get planted until tomorrow.
Got my check from jury duty - $75 for three days of sitting and reading or doing cross-stitch. I’m thinking a new pair of jeans…and a Cottonmouths playoff t-shirt!
Everything here is yellow, including, I firmly believe, the inner surfaces of my lungs. I’ll be glad when the damn tree finish mating.
It’s very polleny here too.
I keep smelling a weird smoky smell for no apparent reason. I was on the phone with a friend and mentioned it. He suggested that maybe my butt was on fire.
Wouldn’t I know it if my butt were on fire?
Not a whole lot of pollen here yet, but give it a week or so and I’ll have moved on to the industrial-strength antihistamines.
Yes, Tel, I believe you would probably notice if your rear end were alight.
Pretty picture, SCL.
Hi, kai!
I’m starting to get sleepy. I’m allowed to get up late tomorrow because I’ll be working from home-ish. We’ll see how late I can actually sleep.
GT
I am so freaking tired. I spent most of the day in bed and I’m still tired. I have stuff to do, dammit! :mad: Time to review my diet, in the what am I eating sense. I don’t think I’m getting enough iron.
There’s lots of pollen in the air around here, too, although the rain yesterday washed a lot of it away. I’ve been using a sinus rinse this year, and it’s really helped keep my allergies under control.
Shrieking neighbor has either calmed down or been 5150’d. It’s been very, very quiet over there. Since utilities were being disconnected over the weekend, I’m thinking the latter option. (5150 is California’s 72 hour involuntary psychiatric hold if you’re a danger to yourself or others, and/or unable to take care of yourself in terms of food, housing, clothing, etc.)
I spoke with my grandmother on Sunday, and my brother no longer has a warrant out for his arrest in any county. Um, that’s good, I guess. It was her tone, as if this were a fantastic accomplishment, that made me go: 
It turns out that he doesn’t have 2 DUIs, he has 3. California has mandatory jail time for the 3rd one (and higher), but sometimes you can get house arrest and/or rehab instead or in combination. I’m thinking that the fact that he’s homeless is really going to cut down on the chances of house arrest. How would *that *work? While I hope for rehab, and a miracle, I’m not holding my breath. My brother’s got Issues, and has since he was a little kid. I’m 99% certain that alcohol is a symptom of the underlying problem.
Howdy. I 've been sick yesterday and today. I was asleep or at work the last 48 hours, so I couldn’t post.
<bossypants>
All right, all you people, start feeling better RIGHT NOW AND THAT’S AN ORDER.
</bossypants>
Jahdra, I sympathize. Empathize, even. I have a younger brother with “issues” too, and he caused my family a great deal of grief over the years. I am happy to say that most of his issues have been resolved, and he’s well on his way to making a functional, productive human being out of himself. It was a long hard road for all of us though, and our hearts were broken often enough that none of us is able to be completely comfortable with the new and improved version yet. So… hugs.
Families can be SO much fun, huh?
swampy, that’s one of the reasons jobs come with trial periods. It’s only that most people forget it works both ways.
kotick, love that description.
Spats, best. Definition. Ever. Love it.
gt, the coffee machine at work was broken for two days. It’s sort of a slow time for our team (right now the ones running after their own asses are the customers), but still, the programmers were threatening with going home early. The team leader asked the company to provide alternate sources of caffeination if the machine wasn’t going to be fixed. I understand he didn’t even say “please,” more like “we need fuel for the coders. You guys have asked for more programming work than I’d ever seen in this line of work, if you need that code we need coffee.”
’mika, I don’t have any teddy bears here, but you can borrow my fluffy red-with-yellow-belly dragon (Jorge) or my fluffy lion (Suso).
Jahdra, ouch And the biggest part of the ouch is that from what little I know about your family, I’m absolutely not surprised. For the iron, some of the best natural sources are molluscs; sardines are also a good one. Canned sardines in tomato sauce have iron, magnesium and vitamin D. There was a year when the food in my dorm was decidedly mineral-deficient and I craved canned sardines like they’d been my favorite thing ever, when I actually don’t like them that much. I ate more sardines that year than all my whole life. Then I found out about the mineral content and understood it.
Wiki and Google are good starting points, but “I saw it on the internet so it must be true” is a dangerous mindset.
Off to bug our “security settings expert”. I had to review his work a couple weeks back and it’s all wrong (he missed several steps). So on the two days a week he’s in, I pop in and remind him. Last Wednesday was the first time I did this, and he started to apologize for not having it ready, but he’s only assigned to us 40%. I interrupted and said “hey, that’s fine with me, if they want you full time then they should pay you full time. Just wanted to ask if I can help, I’ve done your job in other projects so I know how.” He got all sunny (from which I deduce most people get pissy that he doesn’t work for us when he’s not getting paid to work for us) but apparently I’m not allowed to help straighten the settings, only to check them. OK!
Mornin’ Y’all! It’s a cow free morning here. Well, I do have some cow in my freezers but it’s just sittin’ there, not out roamin’ the streets. If it were doin’ that I’d say it was time I cleaned out the freezers.
I have an appointment with the Department of Labor this morning. Joy, joy. Tomorrow and Friday I have job interviews. In betwixt and between, I need to clean up around the pool some and add water to the dang thing. This lack of rain is causing the water level to drop. For all the fun I have with it, it is a bunch of work to keep up. All in all it’s worth it though.
Nava that’s the way I see a trial (probationary) work period too.
Have a good Wednesday everybody!