How things look

08:57 pm - Good for a chuckle

Found this headline in my Gmail SPAM:

BREAKING NEWS: God Destroys Boise For Not Being Gay Enough.

Now that's entertainment!

Current Mood: amused

02:34 pm - There's a joke here somewhere.

So a Time Lord takes the USS Enterprise to meet Shakespeare....

Sounds like really bad crossover fan fic.

Really. Really. Bad.

So bad that somebody had better have tickets for this.

Current Mood: busy

08:44 pm - Wet, Wild, not so wonderful

I get home from work and go into the kitchen, as Jo and I agreed that I would start prepping veggies for dinner.  Lo and Behold!  I find a puddle of water on the counter, growing slowly from the rivulet tracing down the wall.  Nothing like coming home to a leak.  I shut off the house water and put on my detective cap and galoshes.  First thing to check: the supposedly fixed leak we discovered after we moved in.   Conclusion: Still don't know if the old leak and the new leak are the same.

After several frantic minutes, and lots of phone calls, we arrive at the following unhappy, but stable state:

House water turned back on.
One leaky toilet identified and turned off.
Several small slices strategically placed in ceilings to drain hiding pools of water.
Five plumbers who can't come out tonight.
A pending choice of plumber who will come out tomorrow.

Thankfully, it doesn't look like a major emergency call anymore.  I can't afford that.  Now, it's just a major pain in the tuchus.  And my already empty wallet began making unpleasant noises towards my belt.  Looks like Nathan's getting ramen and powdered milk for the time being.  Poor kid.  And he can stay in those clothes until they wear through or begin to restrict his growth.

Please donate to the "Help Clothe and Feed Nathan Fund!"

Current Mood: cranky

10:33 am - "President" Obama?

Barack Obama's already learning how to be a good VP!

From the Washington Post:

His schedule for the day^*, announced Monday night, would have made Dick Cheney envious:

11:00 a.m.: En route TBA.
12:05 p.m.: En route TBA.
1:45 p.m.: En route TBA.
2:55 p.m.: En route TBA.
5:20 p.m.: En route TBA.

Current Mood: amused

08:39 pm - Writer's Block: In the Event of a Zombie Emergency

09:20 pm - Around the house

Four bags of waste later, and the 10'x20' patch of land we call our back yard no longer looks like an evil forest.  Now it's more like an annoyed garden.  We have a brick path again!  The tamed forsythia no longer threatens triffids.

The encroaching wild strawberries, ivy and morning glory still require a bit of landscaping, but that can wait.

Eventually, we want to remove all the ivy and redo almost the entire yard.  I can't tell if the weeds poking through the brick patio undermined it, or if we've got tunneling/burrowing fauna.  In either case, it will eventually need total replacement.  I'd like 12" pavers rather than bricks.  We'll call a professional at some point.  Even though the yard and patio isn't that big, I don't have the skills, time, or expertise to handle a makeover like that.

Current Mood: exhausted

12:47 pm - For Lilly9999

Boots. Cool Boots.

I promised to post a pic.

These Boots Were Made for ... Something. Jackie and Leslie wore cool boots.

Current Mood: amused

09:48 pm

Hope everyone had a happy Fourth.  I managed to take about 100 pictures of the local municipal fireworks, and I really liked this one in particular.

Dandelions Over New Jersey Fourth of July fireworks over Beach Haven, NJ. Taken from my parents' house about 1 mile away.

Current Mood: chipper

09:13 pm - Want

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nfPP5ArcrBE

More Here

Want

Want Want Want

Wait... HOW much?

Ow.

Want Anyway.

Current Mood: geeky

07:49 pm - Blood Ties

I gave blood today.  The paperwork and recovery took longer than the actual bloodletting.  All told, it took an hour or so.

Jo told me she's never donated before.

This got me wondering:  Who out there hasn't given before, and why?

Also, we went for a walk around the local lake.  A family of herons generously made themselves available for photos.  Pics anon.

Current Mood: tired

04:14 pm - Word Play

For gnomi:

If one is adept at manipulating images of woodland creatures for emotional effect, would that be bambidextrous?

Current Mood: silly

10:32 am - Kewl

Usually, kradical beats me to these things, but here's a tidbit I found: The BBC may bring back Blakes 7.

Not that I think this is a bad idea, in fact I think it's quite good and support it, but seriously folks, have we run out of entertainment ideas?

Current Mood: amused

08:40 pm - Geeky Decay Decadence

Is this an indicator that the Decline and Fall of Western Civilization™ has just started, or is well underway?

I can see the apocalypse coming even now. We're gonna hit that big brick wall just before we get to 88mph.

05:26 pm - I do not think that means what you think it means.

The Scientific American Book Club just sent me an email indicating that their Top 100 books have gone on sale at a nice discount for club members.

The provided link took me to a page with items 1-15 of 91.

Book #1: "Everything You Know About God is Wrong" edited by Russ Rick, Sept. 2007.

That may be so, but apparently everything that SABC knows about counting to 100 is wrong.

Current Mood: amused

11:44 am - Reminder: Upcoming Calendar Disturbance

Feb. 29 always reminds me of a few  things.

Firstly, a former manager will celebrate his birthday tomorrow.  He's the only leap-year baby that I know well.  Happy 12th, Blaine!

Secondly, it makes think of all the other strange calendar related stuff that goes on.  Some not-quite-Y2K compliant machines will encode this year as 19108.  Sorry, but that's a ZIP code for Philadelphia, PA.  Even more poorly programmed things will make tomorrow March 1st.  And there will be a few that will claim March 0th.

And the counter-intuitive birthday question.  It goes like this: If you ask people in a room for their birthdate, how many will you need to ask before you a have 50% chance of finding two people with the same birthday?  It turns out to be 23.  And only 41 for 90%.

There is a 0% probability you will find two people born on 3/0/19108.

Current Mood: geeky

08:38 pm - Picture Time!

For lilly9999</lj>
 

Poll #1144395 Cary's Grooming Needs
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Cary needs a

01:12 pm

I'm starting to look like Art Garfunkel.

Time for a haircut.

11:58 pm - Paradise by the dashboard light

Whole slew of minor repairs to the car, but it added up, of course.  You got to do what you can.

Strangest bit?  Over time, most of the dashboard lights had burned out, ending with the speedometer.  I can't even remember when the tach lit up correctly.  After getting slapped by the speed camera, I decided to take action.

OK, so it also took some funny idling problem, an overdue oil change, tune-up and tire rotation, and a warning from the cops about my lapsed emissions test, but I did finally get to the mechanic.

What's so strange about dashboard lights?  The new ones are reddish-orange, and the old ones were green.  It feels just a bit visually odd, especially since one of the green ones that didn't burn out didn't get replaced.  My (now) mostly red dash has this spot of green on half of the fuel gauge.  I can't recall which half is which color though.

All of the other work allowed my to present my car to the emissions people and get a waiver, so I can continue to be unable to prove that I'm not polluting.

Current Mood: quixotic

12:19 pm - Depressing News

You'd think that Obama handily winning the Chesapeake Primary would get me down.  Maybe even the recent Senate passage of the FISA bill changing possibly illegal government and corporate abuse of the law and citizens into protected acts to further the bottom line and consolidate power.

But then I came across this horrible news and remembered that fleeting (if still long term) political discomfort pales in comparison to permanent diminished beauty in the world.

Current Mood: cranky

02:59 pm - Meme Sheep

Apply to me, bolded.  Comments to the side.

Father went to college
Father finished college – and got advanced degrees
Mother went to college – art school
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor – lots of relatives
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers – I don’t know what this means
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs (costs after scholarships)
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels - or motels.  We got a too-small cabana once
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child – Art museums ask us to lend pieces.  Ask me about the Gorilla!
You and your family lived in a single-family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home – technically, it was still mortgaged
You had your own room as a child
You had a phone in your room before you turned 18 
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course – I took SATs yearly since 6^th grade.  By the time I graduated, I didn’t really need a prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family – My dad owns a 14 ft. sailboat.  Does that count?
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up – Really, ask me about the Gorilla!
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Current Mood: bored