Had campfire out back with friends and sibling Friday night and Saturday night. Dry enough that lawn caught fire on Friday. Entertaining. Exactly why didn't have aerial fireworks. Speaking of which, watched Danger Boy and friend launch a few on the 4th on the road by the house. Plus, uranushertz lit a small sparkler bomb in Pasha's name. Think should become an annual tradition from now on.

So had some people over for the 4th. Consumed too much food and just enough booze. BBQ, desserts, margaritas, and other tastiness.

The cats have had to deal with Angel, the sibling's dog, for last few days. Needless to say, have been none too pleased. In particular the 4th was trying what with the many fireworks in the distance and the other family dogs, Maya and Sandy over visiting. Poli went after Maya and Sandy twice. Forgot just how much the cats, in particular Kabuki, dislike the 4th of July. Spent a couple of hours late last night listening to the cats tell all about. Today Poli bitched for hours about Angel. Think may be forgiving for the disturbance though because food dish is up on bathroom counter in Poli's favorite room now. Is like catered meals.

Oh, and Dalamar is fully healthy again. Sutures have been removed. Stuck inside time is over. Wound is healed. Litterbox is dismantled and will get cleaned later today.

sadira33 has been coming over and painting the main bathroom which was in a state of half-paintedness due to the departure of ex-GF. Is looking pretty decent. Definitely appreciated since have had plenty to do without adding even more painting to the list. Cleaned house up to acceptable standards last week and finally managed to get to scrubbing the kitchen floor on Friday. Is much more pleasant now. Mowed and trimmed lawn and did lots of weeding in last few days. Outside not quite up to standards yet, but getting there. Finally, finally, finally, got flooring transition pieces put in place for family room. Little bit of paint touchup on wall and minor caulking on baseboard and will be done with entryway to family room area. Will do later today.

Been eating lots of cherries from parentals and had couple of pieces of cherry pie that baked late Friday night. Will probably regret that. But tasty. Will have to have some chocolate icebox cake later today that sadira33 made on Saturday. And have leftover burger and hotdogs for protein all week. Have couple of leftover samosas from another friend too. So eating lots of tasty, healthy food and not want to hear about bad eating habits. Even ate 2 meals at normal-ish meal times today!

Got fancy glass outside ornaments for plants from couple more friends that were over on 4th. Think have figured out where to put, but will have to see if is right spots tomorrow. And will take picture too.

Pretty much been totally busy lately, up until 2am and getting up at 7:45 last 3 days. Slightly busier than normal of up until 12:30 and getting up at 6:45. But lots has gotten done. Sure wish could get to sleep earlier. No caffeine doesn't help. Lots of caffeine makes worse though. Lots of other things going on like going to set up an Asus EEE-PC as a backup server, set up Sonos music system in house, finally watched BluRay movie, picked and cleaned more strawberries, picked radishes which were ookey and full of bugs so just left as compost, brushed out another few feet of trail down the ravine, and other random events and tasks.

Current Mood: accomplished

A few invitations went out a little over a week ago, and the bulk of the rest will go out tomorrow. Still hunting down a few addresses and deciding on additions to the list and trying to think of who we might have forgotten.

We'll be sending out email invitations too, I think, just to make sure everyone gets the info, since I know how easily things get lost in the mail.

Feels better to have the bulk of that taken care of, now, though. I know we really should have gotten these mailed weeks ago, and I've been stressed over that. So, whew. One more thing I can breathe easier about, and move on to the other thousand things at the top of the list.

Whew! Wild Waves was fun today. I can't do anywhere near as much of it as I used to be able to. I spent some time just floating in the "lazy river" and more time napping while the others did things that involved climbing stairs and walking to parts of the park that were too far for me. And I'm utterly wiped and hurty and going to be so for days, I know. But still much fun! :)

Stormy, usually a little modest, has started liking to show off her body with tank tops and tight clothes lately, and surprised me by picking a bikini over something with more coverage this year. And OMG is it cute on her! And, scarily, aside from her height (she's still the second-shortest kid in her class), she could easily be taken for a lot older than 12.

She brought along one friend, and on the way home, they begged to spend the night together, so we wound up bringing her back home with us rather than dropping her off. (I agreed on condition that someone could pick her up tomorrow, as I don't expect to be fit to drive.) The girls will probably be up being giggly near-teens for most of the night, I expect.

Not me, though. I had to hunt down an invitation-counting error, and have had my usual late evening natural alert-time, typed this, and I think I'll about manage to drag myself down the hall and into bed. *YAWN!*

Episode two of "So you want to be a DJ" went well, even if I will have to miss the first class. Got lost again, but allowed enough time to do so. And one of my classmates reminds me far too much of WindRose, except for the nose ring and several tattoos.

In this week's adventure we discover that 5 foot section ribs are too far apart, and that the compression pieces do work better when drilled.

Cheap chinese hurricane tarps? The grommets are not space evenly :(

Video coming soon!

http://www.homestarrunner.com/loadingscreens.html

Current Mood: amused

So, Jeff's 15000th day on the earth was today (you too can figure out such things here), which made a handy excuse to throw a late birthday party for him. We had a small but nice group of folks show up, including a friend of a friend who may turn into a new friend. We ate food and sat around and chatted, and everyone bailed fairly early (odd thing about afternoon parties: when do you leave? It's not as socially clear cut as evening parties.)

Not a single one of Jeff's former coworkers that had RSVPed came. Or called. Or texted. (He invited a handful of the ones he liked). I am displeased, especially since one of them made a big show about wanting to be friends. I know stuff comes up, but how hard is it to text that something came up? They weren't the only ones who had to bail, but our friends called and said they couldn't come.

Anyhow. *grump* It means we have leftovers for tomorrow, but I wish we hadn't bothered with the beer (most of our friends are lushes :), but even they weren't terribly interested in drinking this afternoon, except for the one who worked second and third shift last night, and got home at 8am, and was using alcohol to substitute for sleep, and he brought his own.) Oh, and this is now my go-to chocolate cake recipe for those who can eat gluten - I didn't use her icing this time (though trust me, it's crack, we've made the whole thing before.) Jeff's requested birthday cake is always chocolate cake layered with raspberry preserves and topped with whipped cream. It was moist and tasty and not too much, especially even with how sweet the preserves were.

I was asleep before 10 last night, and actually slept well - I still woke up, but I'd look at the clock, to "huh. I don't remember falling asleep" and go back to sleep, instead of the normal rotisserie routine - so I was awake at 5:00. In the morning. Oy. I dozed until quarter of 6 or so, and then gave up and got up and played Command and Conquer (because, really, what else do you do when it's 6am and no one else is up yet and you're not awake enough to parse a book) and made the coffee. I've been reasonably chipper all day, though I was yawning some this afternoon - one night does not sleep dep make up - and now I'm totally running out of steam. Dear body, we are not going on a 9 to 4 schedule, mmmkay?

Tags: cooking:cake, social
Current Mood: chatty

Congratulations Chase.

You've managed to overthrow HSBC - Qatar AND HSBC - US for the title of "Most Hated Bank Ever" I swear, you sucked out everything good and knowledgable about Washington Mutual and left behind a structure that couldn't find its ass from a whole in the ground even WITH GPS support.

Enjoy your new title while I start migrating to a new bank.

Current Mood: pissed off

So Sarah Palin resigned from her first term as Governor. Nobody knows why she would do something this insane...but, ya know, it is Sarah we're talking about here. You betcha.

Regarding the initial Palin speech, Sean Cockerham, of the Anchorage Daily News, wrote a concise article that put a lot of the rambling nonsense into context, in that what had previously seemed like Jabberwocky levels of street-rat crazy, now just seemed like normal Sarah Palin street-rat crazy.

So, the fun part begins! Get your tin foil hats on kids, it's time to "Find The Conspiracy".

Has anyone noticed all the press that John Coale is getting out of all of this...and how almost none of it mentions that he's a muckity muck in Scientology?

Ok, so...here's my new theory:

Scientology uses their incredibly well honed psyops to convince her that she's under attack from opponents she can't possibly defeat on her own. But..CoS can help her, they tell her. All she needs to do is spend a few weeks in a resort...say in Clearwater, Florida...and they'll get her feeling back up to par, and then, they'll help her get ready to run for the presidential election.

They turn her into the same unstoppable android force that is Tom Cruise. She gets polished up, trained on how to think before speaking, and using the cash and people of the CoS, she rockets to the top of the Republican charts. She'll explain away the CoS as being "not at all opposed to our true faith beliefs in blah, blah, blah" and she'll be believed by the ones who want to believe, and accepted by those who would do anything to get the "nigger out of the white house".

I'm telling you, if the economy doesn't get better, if more Americans go homeless and hungry, if old people start dying because they can't get medicines, if the cost of foods rise and the buying power of wages continue to go in opposite directions...if people are hungry, and hot, and angry, and poor...Scientology Sarah Palin would wipe the floor with any candidate facing her.

So...that's my Tin Foil Hat Theory. Your TFHT...show me it!

Tags: political, predictions, sarahpalin, scientology

Jack ran away while visiting family in Chula Vista on July 3rd at 91910 Woodlawn Ave. He was last seen heading East. He normally lives in Lemon Grove, could be trying to make his way home, and could be anywhere inbetween!

He is a jack russell terrier. Primarily white with brown and black accent spots. Short hair, male. 8 years old, approximately 17 pounds. He is very energetic, but does respond to his name (Jack) and is very friendly.

Please help bring him home safe!

If located, please call Rachel at (858) 324-6407

Is the actually computer readout part easily removed say if I use it to bike to school and then want to toss it in my purse so it doesn't get stolen? 

I'm looking now at the Cateye Strada RD300W in case you need the specific brand information:)



Thanks again!! I got my Axiom panniers yesterday and hubby went out with me to my school and I practiced using the Kryptonite lock I have (I've never had to lock up a bike before) and he also installed the mount for my nifty lock this morning too underneath my seat.  

Just a few more goodies and I'm all set unless of course this is a never ending cycle..lol

Because it isn't a properly patriotic weekend without Sam... The American Eagle.

(re-posted from cyranocyrano's LJ, because it's too perfect)

Hello there, ladies and gentlemen

Update to getting the band back together:

The housemate decided, of the moment, to get people together for the long-promoted but never attempted and inaccurately named Endless Setlist on Rock Band. Our line up was tersa, harleymae, cyranocyrano, zdashamber, and motleypolitico, and we kicked things off around eleven. Most of the proceedings were simply endurance--we crunched through the earlier, easy, songs with an almost callous indifference, but the fans were just thrilled to see Gone Plaid back together again. They bought a crapload of t-shirts. We breezed through the bugaboo of Green Grass and High Tides, and our goal was in sight--the 58th and final song was "Won't Get Fooled Again" and with it the accolades of our peers and industry.

Alas, tragedy struck on song 57. (Musicians call it "The Heinz Curse".) The hand controller for the microphone, the one piece not in use, the one piece whose batteries did not get swapped out for fresh, died half way through Run to the Hills. And for a split second, the menu screen popped up to inform us that it had lost connection and we should press (X) if we wanted to return to the main menu. Of course, at that point, all of us were furiously pressing (X) as we tried to keep up. And before we knew it, or had any understanding why, we'd been booted out of the game. The fans, as we, were stunned into silence. Most of them filed out of the auditorium, crushed. Those who remained, we played an encore, but our hearts obviously weren't in it.

VH1 says that if we do it again and promise to succeed, they'll do a "Behind the Music" special on our triumphant rise from the ashes.
 

Tags: rock band

Fremont once again confirms my theory about being less the "Center of the Universe" and more "the spot in the sofa cushions where all the random crap ends up in."

Case in point - yesterday they tried to break the world's reccord for the largest zombie walk.

See for yourself

Everyone needs a hobby I guess.

Update to getting the band back together:
The housemate decided, of the moment, to get people together for the long-promoted but never attempted and inaccurately named Endless Setlist on Rock Band. Our line up was Tersa, HarleyMae, CyranoCyrano, zdashamber, and motleypolitico, and we kicked things off around eleven. Most of the proceedings were simply endurance--we crunched through the earlier, easy, songs with an almost callous indifference, but the fans were just thrilled to see Gone Plaid back together again. They bought a crapload of t-shirts. We breezed through the bugaboo of Green Grass and High Tides, and our goal was in sight--the 58th and final song was "Won't Get Fooled Again" and with it the accolades of our peers and industry.
Alas, tragedy struck on song 57. (Musicians call it "The Heinz Curse".) The hand controller for the microphone, the one piece not in use, the one piece whose batteries did not get swapped out for fresh, died half way through Run to the Hills. And for a split second, the menu screen popped up to inform us that it had lost connection and we should press (X) if we wanted to return to the main menu. Of course, at that point, all of us were furiously pressing (X) as we tried to keep up. And before we knew it, or had any understanding why, we'd been booted out of the game. The fans, as we, were stunned into silence. Most of them filed out of the auditorium, crushed. Those who remained, we played an encore, but our hearts obviously weren't in it.
VH1 says that if we do it again and promise to succeed, they'll do a "Behind the Music" special on our triumphant rise from the ashes.