things to do

the grandson is just about a month old now. we need to run down and visit. i'm sure he's keeping his eyes open more, especially with big sister around to make noise and laugh. i don't think we're going to make it down there this weekend, and next weekend i'm heading north to a bagpipe fund raiser. i went to it last year and very much enjoyed myself. lots of people, haggis, music, traditional dancing -- it's an evening of total immersion. and very fun!

it was fun

what a lovely visit we had with MYS and his special friend. we've hadn't met her before, although we've read about her on his blog and seen pictures. she's prettier than her pix and sooooo slender. very smart, easy-going, a quick laugh, totally unpretentious, good-natured -- lots of positive things to say about her. we very much enjoyed having both of them around!

i want to go there

we saw avatar last night. in 3-d.

i really liked it, the husband thought it was so-so. v, the young woman who went with us, liked it even more than i did.

would you like it? only if you're an intelligent, imaginative, forward-thinking, visual, other-than-republican, nature-loving, free spirit. it had BEAUTIFUL graphics, more realistic than anything i've ever seen. i mean, you were THERE! and you were ONE OF THEM!

the creatures were scary, but the philosophy of the whole place was lovely. the plants, flowers, little bugs were totally neat. i wanted to be there and touch things and see everything and go for a ride. except that i'm afraid of heights.

but, ohmygod, it was so cool. i wonder if i can have a room done like that place. or the whole house. *sigh*

12 daze

this one is pretty good, too. very very silly, but somehow pretty funny.

christmas can-can

i get tired of hearing all the christmas music, but i thought this was pretty good. enjoy!

can't keep up

i am waaaaay past everyone else in getting to see avatar but i know i'm going to love the visuals; my understanding is that the dialogue is terrible though. i loved myst, even though i never made it all the way through, so i'm sure i'm going to love avatar. visuals are a strong thing for me.

as i was looking around for information on how the movie was doing, i ran across this: http://www.geekologie.com/2009/12/spoiler_alert_avatar_the_movie.php. ahahahahaha!

a new baby!!

on tuesday, december 15, adam jeffrey was born. he was 8 lb. 15 oz., with dark hair and eyebrows, and a very quiet demeanor. he's been a very good baby with his only demands being to be fed and to be held.

big sister is happy around, and interested in, little brother and all is well. paternal grandparents stayed with the family for five days and maternal grandparents are visiting today.

it will be interesting to see who adam ends up looking like -- ava's looks seemed to change so much from day one, just like babies tend to do. she is a pretty and absolutely darling little kid and with such good-looking parents, i expect adam will be a little heartbreaker.

however it turns out, everyone is healthy and happy. a good start to any type of endeavor!

Oel ngati kameie.

i've got mixed feelings about james cameron. he's brilliant and has an incredibly inventive mind, but also seems to have a colossol ego and a really bad temper. he's been married five times, which shows he has flaws and keeps him from being a genuine role model. regardless, i'm excited about avatar and want to see it in a movie house. with it's own language and planet, it's got to be interesting, even if it flops. as if.

the little guys are goin' down

ooohhhhhhh, a new bad guy. and this one is going to ultimately increase the cost of food. we can only hope the big guys go ahead and do an antitrust suit on these people.

hahahaha, blechk, hahaha ...

since i do all except grocery shopping online, i get a ton of catalogs. a lot of them i just throw away since they don't have the slightest thing i'm interested in. some of them i look through, then throw away. some of them i decide to order from.

and then there's the ones i look through and shake my head over. this latest catalog has the following interesting items for your consideration: gun cufflinks, 18k gold, $5,590; natural shell cufflinks, $1,475; leather-topped bed steps, $675; pair of dresden peacock urns, $9,500; 8x10 enamel picture frame, $325; fake fur throw, $1,750; crystal lamp, $425; alligator earrings, $2,150; diamond elephant pin, $10,500. sorry, i can't go on ... between laughing and getting ready to throw up, this is too much.

mandelbrot

do you like looking at fractals? they are pretty darn fascinating, to me. MYS started putting together a 3-d fractal thing recently. i'm interested in what it looks like.

i saw an article recently about a math equation which can produce a fractal. it goes through numerous iterations getting more and more detailed and complex. the picture below is one of nine shown in the article. check them all out -- they are otherworldly. is this beautiful, or what?!

caveat

do you do the facebook thing? recently facebook decided to change their permissions. if you have an account and care anything at all about who gets to see your stuff, go in and check your settings.

i went to look at mine and made changes, but good grief! there are a lot of different places you have to watch out for. it's not simple, that's for sure.

i've never really liked facebook, and now i like it even less. i may just shut down my site. any company who plays loose and free with privacy just sucks as far as i'm concerned. user, beware!

it's so special

my ex-boss makes this great christmas candy. it's mint candy pieces in this white fondant. it is sooooooooo good!!!

she willingly shared that she gets the pieces from this candy store in kalamazoo, michigan. i am going to have to call them and see if i can get some. all my little darlings will have a taste treat they won't believe!

thanks, ex-boss!!!

do this, don't do that, let them do what they want

i think my unhappiness with things nowadays has a direct and very strong tie with my age. i've seen strictness in america (police in the 50's), i've seen dissent (abby hoffman, the weather underground, the black panthers), i've lived the cold war (gary powers, community and basement bomb shelters), seen two presidents shot (kennedy and reagan), seen deadly spy efforts (georgi markov), and seen rules and regulations you wouldn't believe (girls can't wear pants to school, if you missed a deadline there were no second chances, complete statistics about people who lived in a town were available in city directories -- their jobs, salaries, family members and ages, address, phone number, and more).

i don't miss that stuff, but i do have a problem with namby-pamby laws which let criminals off easy, parents who let their kids run amok in stores and restaurants, people who are rude, and the whole litany of political correctness since it's usually waaaaaaaay overdone.

can't we strike a pleasant and reasonable balance?

pink gloves and breast cancer

oh! this is very cool!

thank you My Younger Son for letting me know about this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw

comic books

this is interesting. i have not read any graphic novels, although i've heard of them. the article talks about one in particular, Luna Park, as being one of the best of 2009.

the article was intriguing, since that art form is unknown to me, but the part of the article which grabbed me the most was the last few paragraphs which profess the author's thoughts on american politics today. he summed up my feelings pretty darned well.

where is waldo?

well, here is something that was probably a lot of fun! i don't read Wired magazine except occasionally online, and i wouldn't have had a clue how to go about looking for this guy, except to scope out the people at work. ha! anyhow, check this out: Vanish.

so strange

do you like tim burton? do you like his art? well, here you go then ...

sheesh

well, i've tried to get the pictures from our resort escape posted, but it's not easy. i mean, the pictures are all on the computer, but i finally decided there were so many i couldn't realistically put them on the blog, so i thought i'd put them on flickr. shit. what a frickin pain. i have wasted the last hour trying to get them sorted out, but it's a herculean task to sort on flickr. yeah, yeah, i went to the help thing and did what they said and the result was exactly nothing. nothing changed. when i have been away from it for awhile, i will try again. or maybe i will choose another venue.

one of these days, the pix will be up.

don't worry your pretty little head over that lump...

i'm really speechless about this article. i don't have any trouble with them advising cutting back on routine mammograms. after all, i had a mammogram 6 months before i found my lump and it didn't show up at all.

no, the thing that really bothers me is this quote: "The new guidelines also recommend against teaching women to do regular self-exams and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to recommend that doctors do the exams..."

You. Are. Kidding. Me.

the potential trouble with health insurance companies aside, what the hell are they thinking??? i haven't read such hogwash in years. if the doctor doesn't do the exam and the women aren't told how to do it, how does the lump get caught and questioned before it's too late? i'm just appalled at this advice.

comedians ...

hahaha ... you need to check this out. some of them are really funny!

one ringy dingy ...

my understanding is that, starting today, verizon is doubling its cancellation fees. one more reason i'm glad i got out of their claws.

i have been with Consumer Cellular for more than a year, maybe two since i can't seem to keep track of time. they do not lock you into a contract. they (when i joined) thankfully only had three phones to choose from (mine has been wonderful). i can get service right from my desk which is 20 feet from the border with canada. with verizon i had to be blocks and blocks away before i'd get service which wasn't routed from canada (and therefore an extra charge).

this phone has made calls from indiana and arizona, and accepted calls from new york and nebraska. i couldn't be more satisfied.

if you're unhappy with verizon or at&t or whoever you're with, check out consumer cellular. and no, no one paid me for this endorsement -- it's entirely my own declarative message.

amsterdam certain it was what i saw

i always felt i was a fairly enlightened person, open to opposing views, accepting of differences. recently i read this and wondered how far behind i am.

it wasn't the article which stunned me, it was the website named in the article. i went to it just to see if it was like the online sites which matched people up, although the last time i looked at one of those was back in 2002 when a friend was going online to try to find a decent partner.

anyhow, i looked at the website and about dropped my jaw. jees, louise. isn't this porn or something? is it legal to have this stuff online? i mean, i'm not against it, but jees, jees, jees. it was waaaaaaaaay out of my comfort zone. i mean, do you just ... i mean ...

nevermind.

more matt ...

oops, i didn't see this in time to add it -- but go here and laugh!

except for the little girl who tripped in front of the troll -- she had to have hurt herself unless her face landed on her arm. hard to tell.

from down to waaaaay up

feeling out-0f-sorts? depressed? ticked off? disgusted? numb? majorly pissed?

take a moment to center yourself .... this is so cool.

i had completely forgotten about it. thanks, husband!

but, judge ....

have you heard about the possibility of being charged with collecting child porn when you'd never do such a thing in your life?? it can happen because of the miscreants out there who are inventive enough to put a virus on your computer which hides what it's doing, and then slyly brings child porn onto your computer for its safekeeping.

it's insidious!! and a really scary prospect. check out the story here. damn those bad guys! i'm keeping norton on my yearly shopping list!!

cattle logs

i do all my shopping by internet catalogs. it's easier and faster and saves gas. sure, there might be some things i decide to send back, but a number of places have no shipping charges coming or going; for others the return shipping is a minimal charge.

my number one shopping choices are orvis and llbean. i also order a few things from the vermont country store and occasionally from planetshoes and zappos (which i heard about from a paperback book i was reading!).

i tried ordering from appleseed's. i have had nothing but trouble with them. yes, they have some nice clothes, but the aggravation isn't worth it. i won't be ordering from them again.

oh, the dendrology and all the majesty screaming ...

below is an example of what happened to some beautiful trees in this country from 1931 until the 60s. i remember seeing streets like this and i tell you that we lost something really truly beautiful to this bark beetle-carried fungus. replacement trees just aren't the same.

onju, ayoon, apo, an, 'ello, emo, umbo --*

we got to babysit yesterday. it was soooooo much fun! i have the cutest, sweetest, smartest grandaughter in the whole wide world!

we headed down to the seattle area just after lunch and got to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with her. the parents headed out to the space needle for an evening of adult-speak before grandbaby number two shows up in another 6 weeks or so.

it was enough to make me wish we lived closer so we could do that more often. i may start keeping an eye on any job openings in the seattle office. but don't tell the husband -- i don't think he wants to live anywhere near that traffic schema.

*orange juice, balloon, apple, hand, yellow, nemo, dumbo

let's have FUN!

i'm up this morning needing to do some things and wanting to just ignore everything when i get an e-mail with this attachment from my wonderful ex-boss lady from oklahoma. it's delightful!

meowww

MYS reminded me there's some pretty funny stuff out there:

http://icanhascheezburger.com/ (i like the 'little less love' and the 'awesome box')

oops, i'm late getting ready for work!! had more, but ....

one more trip ...

well, that's all for now. i still need to post the resort trip but it's going to take time to go through the pix and with all the overtime i've been working, it's a weekends-only kind of thing. and then things keep getting put into my weekend time. drat! but i hope to get them up soon -- it was an incredible get-away!

girlfriends #3

one thing which was very cool was one morning when it was foggy -- we looked outside about an hour after we'd gotten up and saw this ...

after we realized what it was, we watched 'til it disappeared ...

later the fog lifted or dissipated and we could see they were headed back the other direction ... and will you look at that gorgeous collection of clouds in that fabulous view!

and then later the flotilla headed the other direction again ...

very cool!

girlfriends #2

the area we stayed in had a private beach with playground equipment, a tree swing, a rowboat, a picnic area, and a sandy seating area ...

people obviously used the park ...

and the girlfriend delighted in finding tiny crabs, like this little black guy with the pac-man thing going on across his back ...

and this little green guy ...

and this little brown and cream guy ...

and then there was this squishy guy who we left alone for the tide to reclaim (apparently he was still alive) ...

girlfriend's getaway

our annual girlfriend's getaway was really nice. we drove south to a lovely little place by the water. it had incredible views and was only about 8-10 minutes from poulsbo. we drove into the driveway in the late afternoon ...

and the back of the house faced the water ...

their yard was full of lovely flowers and bushes ...

and they had several seating areas, walkways, and patios ...

this dusk-time view was serene and beautiful ...

it was great!

i'm going to try to bring you up-to-date on the lovely places around here a person can go, to enjoy themselves, without all the glitter and bright lights that usually come with a vacation. all 6 of us were able to arrange our schedules to get together, almost like old times!

this summer's trip took us to a place close-by the northern loop of the cascade mountains. we rented this little number:

this next picture shows the view from one of the back windows (a huge, 2 stories-of-windows type of house) -- there's a shallow river out there just beyond the grass and rocks:

the interior of the house was gorgeous and comfortably decorated -- with three bedrooms and two full baths and all the utensils, towels, etc. we needed:

this is the view of the back of the house at sunset:

and this is a view of one of the dramatic sunsets over the mountains:


and this is the view of one of the little up-the-mountain trails you can drive up and see forever:

isn't it all beautiful?! and don't even suggest i'm being paid to advertise for this. are you kidding? who would take money to say this is beautiful when you can see for yourself that it is. at any rate, if you think you'd like to know more about this place, e-mail me and i will let you know how to find the particulars.

it takes a family, friend, village to watch out for oldsters

i forgot to credit my bro with catching the woods picture problem. thanks, larry, for watching out for me!

wha..???

ohmygod. you have to check this out. i've never seen anything like it and wish i could in person. i've been wanting to go to scotland and that's where these are. can you imagine coming upon them on a walk in the woods? it would be totally spooky, then totally cool!!

update: dammit! i thought the link would take you right to the picture i was in love with, but it doesn't! go to picture 8 of 15 to see the correct image.

little old lady from pasadena ...

remember how guys used to soup up their cars and add dumps and a 4-on-the-floor and button-and-tuck and stuff like that?

they had nothing on these guys!

in fact, now that i think of it, they're probably the same guys! hahaha...

good grief

you know the old pyrex dishes you used when you were growing up? they seemed to last pretty well and survive bumpings, droppings, etc.

now i find out that corning, who originally made borosilicate glass dishes, sold the technology to a company which switched to using tempered soda-lime glass, a much less durable material.

i've noticed, over the years, that some pyrex things don't hold up and i've wondered why. and now i feel validated -- it wasn't my imagination or faulty memory of how good things used to be.

it's disgusting, really. you take an excellent technology, weaken it to make a bigger buck, and foist it off onto an unsuspecting public. tacky, tacky, tacky. and undoubtedly a republican's idea.

generally speaking you want to trust your instincts, friends. and, for your edification, read the article.

up, down, up, down ...

this is pretty funny -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axOeUBASt7E&feature=related

oh noes!

i was late this morning. late for waking, that is. when it got to be 40 minutes later than the usual time i put in an appearance and i still hadn't shown my bleary face, the husband rousted me out of this really great dream.

every-once-in-a-while i dream about getting food in a cafeteria. one of the places in my dreams has this really great selection of cinnamon rolls. not the crap that you can get in the malls, but the old-fashioned kind we used to get in the school cafeteria. this place seems to be a hospital, rather than a school, but the food is outstanding.

last night's dream, however, took place in the student union of my alma mater. it had almost the same layout, too, but, as dreams usually are, there were differences. at any rate, this cafeteria had a lot of stuff -- several islands full -- and what i had finally decided on, after wandering all over to view the different selections, was a piece of prime rib and a potato with a little bit of gravy and salad on the side. that was exactly when the husband woke me up!

whoa was me.

would you swallow this story?

i apparently have a vitamin d deficiency. i'm not sure what that means or how i should correct it, but i had to fill a prescription for mega-doses of the stuff to take once-a-week for the next 8 weeks.

the husband looked at over-the-counter vitamin d and it said a dose was 1,000 or 2,000 i.u. my pill is 50,000.

i'm supposed to get another blood test in 8 weeks.

i don't remember hearing of someone being low on vitamin d. that's like being low on sunshine, isn't it? oh. yeah, we live in the cloudy northwest.

they come and they go ....

i use google these days. i used to use altavista and somewhere in there i used netscape. but aol got in and messed with netscape and i haven't spent any time with it for years and years until tonight -- i think i was looking through for about 45 minutes -- all those celebrities and their problems ....

but back to the point, apparently there's a new way of searching for information. you can check out tweetmeme (which i didn't like at all) or oneriot (meh) or topsy (okay) or collecta (which i thought was horrible).

these search engines are supposed to be much more up-to-the-minute than the regular ones. from what i've seen this evening, they leave me less than satisfied. it's either my age talking or these new paradigms are crap.

time will tell.

coming to a theatre near you ....

where the wild things are ....

i checked out a couple of previews of this new movie and was left wondering if it would really be any good. of course, that's the same way i felt about the original star wars. *ahem*

so i'm open to this movie being good and i hope it is. the kid in the movie just didn't seem quite right to me though. and spike jonze? his name doesn't spend much time coming out of my mouth.

oh well, for the audience's sake i hope it's great -- the book was.

off into the wilderness...

the husband and i are going adventuring in another week -- we're headed for this cool place.

i like their video, but go here to see where we're going to stay. if that link doesn't work, from the home page click on 'view gallery' then click on 'tent house suites' to get a feel for where we're going.

i expect to enjoy our trip -- it's on an island, after all, and we take a ferry to get there. it can't help but be beautiful country. it's really too bad our forefathers couldn't have somehow gotten their hands on that whole british columbia area. it's so pretty it'd make you cry.

the getaway

the girlfriend and i had a good trip down on hood canal by poulsbo. we got to watch a submarine go past the house three times, accompanied by two coast guard boats, a tugboat, and two container ships. it was interesting and intriguing. i'll post pictures when she sends them to me -- we used her camera since i forgot mine.

we did some shopping in poulsbo, ate at a really great restaurant (although some of the reviews i read later really dissed it -- we loved it), and explored port gamble. the weather was good with some sun and some sprinkles.

the house itself was lovely and just right for two people or two couples. it had two bedrooms with queen beds and two big bathrooms, a nice-size kitchen with tons of pots/pans/dishes/glasses/spices/etc, two couches and two chairs with t.v. and a music system and music, a dining table and four chairs, plus lots of windows and two decks with a beautiful yard in a very quiet neighborhood which made everything pretty darn great.

you might want to try it sometime.

playtime

MYS decided to make a coffee table. he's had one in mind for quite awhile now and decided it was time to do it. yes, he's writing papers and preparing to argue his dissertation, but there's a time for work and a time for play.

(my sweetie is the cutie on the left) and here it is:

nice!!!

and the beat goes on...

watching someone die has got to be a pretty horrible experience. i know my brother, who was a train engineer or conductor or (apologies) whatever his exact title was, saw accidents as they were played out -- people driving into the path of the train, for instance.

i don't believe he ever saw people deliberately getting on the tracks, like these people have, but no matter how it happens any of those memories must be awful.

my bro retired last month and is going to be playing now -- kayaking and biking with his new foldable kayak and foldable bike. he got a degree in anthropology way back when and is planning on taking up the offer from universities nowadays where they let oldsters take classes for only about $25. major deal!! and this time around it can be mainly for fun! although for my bro anthro was always fun.

i hope you have much fun with your retirement, bob!!! love you!!!

lucy's grandmother

we all know about lucy -- the fossil find which gave us information about human ancestors living about 3 million years ago.

now they've uncovered ardi -- a new fossil find from 4+ million years ago which gives rise to all sorts of new educated speculation about our ancestors.

for your edification go here, or for a picture and info go here. for complete and very technical information, go here.

nature whoops it up

did you hear about the dust storms down in australia? check out these pictures that people took -- whoa!!!

young people

honestly, my memory seems to get worse and worse. a young gal at work invited the husband and me to her housewarming which was to take place yesterday evening. she had sent the invite within the last 2 weeks and i had responded that we'd be there. we were to bring a dish, but no gift.

all this week i thought about what dish i could possibly bring -- the husband and i are not social butterflies and don't have a catalog of dishes to draw from. so i never did really figure something out.

when i got off work yesterday, i called the husband on my way home to see if he wanted to go to our much-liked chinese restaurant. he reminded me about our obligation. shit. since i was already almost home and wouldn't be able to figure out anything any quicker if i turned around and went to the store, i headed on into the house and opened the pantry.

i didn't have a whole lot of time to come up with something, so i finally cooked up some basmati rice while frying slices of ring sausage. i added a can of black beans and a can of corn to the sausage, then threw in a couple of handfuls of the rice. i added cinnamon, 6 or 7 dashes of pepper sauce, then sliced up some banana peppers and threw them in for good measure.

it was a really nice house-warming. i enjoy the people who were there and the new homeowner is just a neat gal anyhow. she and her husband had personalized their new home and had done a really terrific job. the interior colors were neat and up-to-date, and she had added artistic touches everywhere that were very effective.

it was a lot of fun. and my impromptu dish was tasty. thanks, husband, for remembering our invitation!

true crime -- small town beat

September 10: Officers were dispatched to a report of a person trapped in a mudslide between Peace Portal Drive and the railroad. They arrived to find the victim homeowner in a berry dire predicament. A few minutes earlier he had been trimming the blackberries behind his house, blissfully unaware that the large bushes hid a slippery edge between his property and a steep embankment. He took one final step, and the gravity of his situation became suddenly clear. After a several yard fall through the mud and shrubs, the blackberry thorns dragged him to a halt. It took a bunker-geared fire crew with ladders to extract the gentlemen. Aside from obvious scratches and a berry stained ego, he was unharmed. Officers are recommending him for a new Deadly Yard of Week Award.

September 11: A resident called to report a theft from the Night Heron Drive area in Semiahmoo. Sometime between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. a three-foot tall steel heron sculpture was stolen from the victim's front yard. No witnesses have yet been identified. Officers are looking for a thief with better taste than morals.

September 16: A man left municipal court after speaking with the judge about his driving while suspended offense. A public safety department employee then watched him climb into his vehicle and drive away. Police confirmed that the man's driving suspension is still in effect. He will be receiving a summons by mail for the new offense.

September 20: Multiple motorists called 911 to report a possibly suicidal female perched atop the SR 543 bridge over the I-5 freeway traffic lanes. Police contacted the young woman. She was not self-destructive, just enthusiastic about taking photos for a school project. An officer transported the teenager off the bridge and to her house.

September 21: Officers responded to a landlord-tenant dispute. The reporting person stated that her landlord was on the front porch, would not let her shut the door, and was refusing to leave. Officers arrived and found that the dispute was entirely civil, and the property owner was the renter's father. Officers mediated an agreement and the parties separated peacefully.

here we go ....

the girlfriend and i are going playing tomorrow. we take off once a year and go find something interesting to do. sometimes we take a week, sometimes just a weekend, but every year we've gotten together for the past 15+ years. it's always fun, sometimes elegant, sometimes muddy.

this year we're renting a house on hood canal. if it rains we'll probably stay inside and talk, read, talk, eat, and talk. if it's nice we'll probably visit poulsbo, maybe kingston, maybe suquamish, maybe agate point.

it's a relaxing time with no expectations other than kindness and support. everyone should be so lucky.

i scream, you scream, we all scream...

i just looked at some pictures of glaciers which were taken from space. they're pretty neat, although sad, because they point up how global warming is changing things.

i still remember not so long ago when people were going 'what? global warming? that's a crock. that's just people trying to scare us.' hmmm, well okay except that here it is september 21 and tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 76* and be in the 70s the rest of the week. global warming is not my favorite scenario.

i wonder if i should move to alaska? well, maybe not -- they have melting glaciers, too.

neologisms

remember that newspaper guy who would conduct this event every-once-in-a-while where people would submit words which had new, and pretty funny, meanings? i saw one of those recently and tried to check up on it. as it turns out the guy was from the washington post and is no longer doing that thing. that's a shame as it was really entertaining.

there's a new person who's doing some similar stuff, called The Style Invitational. i couldn't find out anything about this woman, but her stuff is not funny. maybe it takes getting used to. maybe you need to be from the beltway. whatever the reason, from what i looked at, her stuff really sucks. or maybe it's just that the people who send things in are a different caliber of intellect. whatever. i miss the neologisms and i hadn't even realized they were gone.

here are a few from the e-mail which started this whole exploration:
coffee -- the person upon whom one coughs
flabbergasted -- appalled over how much weight you have gained
abdicate -- to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach
willy-nilly -- impotent
lymph -- to walk with a lisp
gargoyle -- olive-flavored mouthwash
balderdash -- a rapidly receding hairline
oyster -- a person who sprinkles his conversation with yiddishisms
frisbeetarianism -- the belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there

why do the good things go away and the horrible things last forever?

take a deep breath and think...

i had an interesting experience the other day, by which i mean disgusting. i had googled some stuff and i didn't notice until after i had clicked on this one link that it did not have the little green checkmark which google uses to say they think a site is clean. i tried to stop the link from filling in, but i had closed-in the window and didn't have the red x showing.

at any rate, up popped a whole bunch of warnings that a virus was infecting my computer and a screen came on which looked authentic, kind of like an explorer screen, and a couple of icons kept rapidly blinking and a little box which said microsoft on it said to click OK to save my computer and all i could think was, why should i do that when i've got norton, but all the same it was really hard to keep myself from succumbing to the urgency and clicking that little box.

so i brought up the norton screen and told it to do a check and closed everything else. it turned out there was nothing wrong with my computer, but i have no doubt there would have been if i had given in to the panic-type situation that link had tried to engender and had clicked OK on that box.

so .... beware. get norton or some other internet security, and try to not panic if something urgent happens. honestly -- some people are such bastards.

passages

today is my mother's birthday. she was born in august 1926 and died in january 1988. i am five months older than she was when she died.

i have things i need to talk with her about. still.

i just saw these in an e-mail

two quotes:

“A man will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body -- the wishbone.” –Robert Frost

“I never vote for anyone. I always vote against.” –W. C. Fields

you go, craigslist!!!

i didn't realize craigslist had so many people trying to get in and change things. and had no idea the person behind craigslist was adament about people being basically good. but after reading this, i'm totally in love with craigslist!

i've used craigslist before and wondered what the 'gimmick' was. surprise! there's no gimmick!

they purposely do not try to figure out a way to get money from people. how refreshing!! and how oddly anti-establishment right now -- the establishment of the almightly fleecers.

anyhow, read the article and come away feeling victorious. and enjoy the haikus. although the last paragraph seems to conflict with some of what i thought i just read. hmmm...

woo, woo-ooooo

i just heard an amtrak train go by at 9:50 p.m.

how did that happen? we don't have an amtrak that late -- i heard the 7:30 p.m. regular go by at its regular time.

that's just weird.

not enough time to learn about everything

i was just looking at some scientific visualizations on Wired Science.

there was one about an earthquake in california. there was one about seasonal carbon dioxide which made no sense to me. there was one about a super nova explosion.

and there was one about plasma. i couldn't quite figure out what they were doing with it and for some reason i didn't have any sound. maybe they were talking and telling us about it, but i couldn't hear it. it's intriguing but not nearly as interesting as MYS's.

company picnic

my new boss decided it would be good to have a group picnic. he invited all the officers, management, and staff, and their families, and included border patrol and amo. one of the supervisors from another facility got the whole thing put together -- where we had it, the carved award, the games and prizes, the rental, everything.

oh yeah, i forgot to mention there was a chili throw-down! as it turned out not very many officers showed up (people had plans, the location -- silver lake park -- was too far away, they had to work, etc.), but a lot of management and admin types were there. it turned out to be really fun! the county sheriff and two town police chiefs were the judges and after the winner received the trophy everyone chowed down on the chili. we also had hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, chips, cake, and pop.

even though it was cloudy and kinda chilly (60's), we had our meal in the covered shelter and had a fire going in the fire pit the whole time. there were three-legged races and an egg toss, plus a peddle boat race. the whole time was just nice!

busy times we live in

i had lunch with my ex-boss last week. it was great to get caught up on a lot of things. and she told me a cute joke (below). a couple more of us are getting together with her tomorrow for supper. girls night out!!! yay!!!

joke: Moms in Group Therapy -- A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four young mothers and their small children. “You all have obsessions,” he observed. To the first mother, Mary, he said, “You are obsessed with eating. You’ve even named your daughter Candy.” He turned to the second mom, Ann, “Your obsession is with money. Again, it manifests itself in your child’s name, Penny.” He turned to the third mom, Joyce, “Your obsession is alcohol. This too shows itself in your child’s name, Brandy.” At this point, the fourth mother, Kathy, quietly got up, took her little boy by the hand and whispered, “Come on, Dick, this guy has no idea what he’s talking about. Let’s go pick up Peter and Willie from school and go get dinner.”

politics and religion

i got this from the lady who was my boss in oklahoma ....

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him resting on the seventh day. He inquired, “Where have you been?” God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, “Look Michael. Look what I’ve made.” Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, “What is it?”

“It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put life on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a place to test Balance.” “Balance?” inquired Michael, “I’m confused.” God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. “For example, Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while Southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things.” God continued pointing to different countries. “This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.” The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land area and said, “What’s that one?”

“That’s Washington State, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of software.” Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, “But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance.” God smiled, “There’s another Washington. Wait ‘till you see the idiots I put there.”

not overpowering, just nicely subtle

i love those bars of soap which are made by home-makers and very small business people. my favorite, so far, is a company in iowa and since they're in the midwest, they are, it goes without saying, very nice people. i really like their bar of soap which is shampoo!! the smell i prefer is the peppermint and tea tree bar and it really does nice things with my hair -- nothing fancy, just very nice hair.

my second favorite is the townsend bay soap company -- their townsend bay rum soap smells just softly wonderful!! i kept a bar by my computer at work for a long time simply because the smell was so pleasing! then i finally showered with it and promptly ordered a bunch more!

and i just discovered molly's soap when we went over to winthrop. you can see her soaps here.

fragrances really work for me!

who's that cute blonde?

i saw my ex-boss two weeks ago -- she looks great!! it's obvious retirement agrees with her -- i didn't get a chance to do more than say hello and don't know what-all she's been doing, but she looks relaxed, refreshed, and renewed. it was nice to see her again!

and a good time was had by all ...

there's nothing quite like getting together with family. since My Younger Son lives in new york and is busy with grad school, and My Older Son lives in everett but is busy with his job and family, getting everyone together for more than two days can be impossible. BUT -- we all got together last week and enjoyed five days on the other side of the mountains!

we stayed at a new, two-story log cabin which was situated right next to a small river west of mazama. with mountains surrounding us and being 7 miles from the nearest grocery store (but just two blocks from a grass landing strip), we felt secluded and mercifully free from the noisy kids, barking dogs, and drunken adults one might find at other vacation places.

we weren't completely free from pests, though -- in fact, we'd forgotten how very annoying it is when flies are around. to say nothing of wasps, mosquitoes, and other buggy things. so i mostly stayed indoors, especially since the temps got into the high 90s and low 100s.

it was fun to go wade in the river, but really, who needs flies?! i'm just glad we live on this side of the mountains and don't have to put up with them.

the grandaughter was adorable, of course, and a side trip into winthrop was fun. i hope we can get together again next year, or the following year at the latest. being with good people is one of life's greatest joys!!!

faster and faster and faster ....

wow -- there's no time for anything anymore. the husband ordered something for the park, but it's probably going to arrive while we're gone. i ordered something for me to wear while we're gone, but they screwed around and didn't get it shipped 'til yesterday so it's probably going to arrive while we're gone. there's a very important person who's coming to visit our workplace, but that person is going to arrive while we're gone. not that my being gone matters to my workplace, but still ....

we -- both kids, spouse, grandaughter, and us -- are going to head over the mountains to a vacation home by a river/creek/stream and spend about 5 days. we're looking forward to having a lot of fun!! the only problem is that it's supposed to be about 100* while we're there. shit. hot temps and i don't get along. but we're bringing portable air conditioners, so maybe it won't be too bad. and with all the right people there, it can't help but be good!!

and right in the middle of getting ready for our trip, a friend is having her open house (to her new condo) and i'm supposed to bring food and a gift. ppppthththth! i have no idea when i'm going to get the food ready, but the gift hasn't been gotten yet.

one of these days things will slow down.

let's play

the daughter-in-law and grandaughter came up friday afternoon and spent the weekend -- it was great! just us girls (husband spent the days at work) doing things and relaxing and taking it easy.

My Older Son was camping with friends but she just wasn't up to that busy and do-without activity. we went to hovander park in ferndale and climbed the tower, walked through the garden, and peeked in the windows of a lovely old house.

later the husband and i took grandaughter and went to the marina to look at boats. then we went to marine park and played with the whale tail and various other whale parts immortalized forever in black-and-white metal and cemented into the ground. it was great fun -- yay, weekend!!

read your book and kill it too

i love to read. some days i like romances, some days i prefer sci-fi, some days i want to read fantasy.

nancy martin writes a blackbird sisters mystery series and i get a kick out of it -- it's pretty light-hearted. i really enjoyed 'cross your heart and hope to die' as well as 'have your cake and kill him too' -- they have some really funny lines in them. i was going to share a couple, but now i don't remember what pages they're on.

one of the sisters is really cool, but another one, libby, drives me NUTS!!! in fact, there are times when i'm determined to never pick up another book in the series, that gal drive me so crazy. but then it seems to tone down and i go on.

i wonder if the author knows how bad that character is....

quick pix

oh yes, you have to go check this out!

i thought it was neat even if the commenters didn't. lots of imagination to put it together, and lots of work, too. very neat!

be sure to read the foreward (paragraph above the vid).

oh no --- goodbye

one of this little towns historic traditions, goff's clothing store, is closing. i tried to find out how long they've been open, but the only number i found was 1953 and that cannot be correct. regardless, it will be missed.

they have nice clothes, jewelry, material, and patterns. the family deserves a rest and this little town probably doesn't do a very good job of supporting them, but i hate to see them go.

god save us from having a third dollar store move in.

what did they do in the old days?

i haven't been able to use my shower for two weeks. apparently a person is supposed to take-out-old and put-in-new grout in your shower every year or so. i never heard of that until recently and we hired a guy to do it.

he kept breaking drill bits and after about the 9th one, he just filed them down and kept using them. it finally got taken care of and new grout put in, but then i had to wait until it dried.

and dust! ohmygod, i may never get all the dust cleaned up. that replace-the-grout theory may just disappear from my data base.

and yes, i have taken showers. i used the guest shower which isn't nearly as nice as mine. for one thing the really cool large flat many-holed shower head is set about 7 feet high which means even though it dispurses nicely, since i'm about 5'4" one drop of water may hit my eyebrow, while another one hits my knee. i mean, gees. it takes forever to get all of me wet, then soaped, then rinsed.

so yes, i'm glad to have that project over with and be back in my nice cozy big shower with a shower head just perfect for me.

step on out there...

i got some new dishes. i haven't bought dishes for so long and when i got this catalog called CB2 in the mail and looked through it, there were a number of different kinds of dish shapes/colors that i got a kick out of.

so i talked about it with the husband and we ordered six dinner plates/salad plates/bowls, all six sets being different shapes. they finally arrived and i think they're a riot. i'm looking forward to using them and deciding which shape i like best.

at our age, one does not have to be conventional!

the future is not set in concrete

man, i hate it when i run out of time. there are all these little things i want to share and if i can't find time to do it, i forget them. ack/sigh

My Younger Son told me about this r. heinlein book outline which was never written by The Man, and has since been written by spider robinson. it's called variable star. i really like both authors and enjoyed this book, but felt like there were a number of threads left dangling. i wonder if he's going to write another book and continue on?

could be helpful

remember how you used to be able to call information and get a phone number? and before that you could even get the address with the phone number?

then they started charging for that information and i quit using the service.

now google has that service for free. if you call 800.466.4411 and tell them the city and state, then the business you want, they will connect you. and there's no charge, other than your regular cell minutes.

google rocks! eventually they will suck like microsoft, but until then .... yay, google!!

kids and words

greasy grimy gopher guts.

that phrase came to mind awhile ago. i couldn't remember anything about it so i wikied it and read a little about it, but that didn't really tug at any memories.

hmmm .... a mystery.

i'm blessed

remember when you were a kid and it was summer time and you were just lazing around doing nothing and a soft breeze was coming in through the open windows making the curtains drift slowly around, folding and unfolding, with an occasional car going by and somewhere off in the distance kids were laughing?

that's what i have right now. my chimes are sweetly ringing in the breeze while the gauzy curtains waft to and fro, the train calls out its passing, a dog parks down the street, and the wild roses outside my window float their fragrance gently past my nose.

i live in heaven.

cartoons and mysteries and pixar, oh my ...

then there's a movie called 'sherlock holmes' with robert downey jr, who i've always like even though he's been in and out of trouble with himself, and 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' which i don't think i'll watch, and of course, 'up' which i mentioned a couple of weeks ago. i think 'up' is going to be a lot of fun.

yay, movies!!

and more numbers

what is it with all the numbers this year?? there's another movie coming out -- district 9, i think it is -- which is about non-humans living alongside humans in the world. the trailer i saw was a curious one, so i went to the website and really got a kick out of someone's excellent imagination! check it out! i guess it's supposed to appeal to jr. high kids, so *ahem* i wonder why i liked it?

cartoons all around

in addition to tim burton's '9', i also saw a trailer for 'planet 51'. it looks like a kids' movie, but it had me chuckling, so i need to remember to watch for it, too.

sci-fi/fantasy

tim burton's got a new movie coming out: 9. i saw a short of it and was intrigued -- i think i'm partial to number 7. anyhow, the graphics were excellent, excellent, excellent and the music was fabulous!!! i hope i don't forget about it!!

the rain in blaine is mainly on the plane

it's supposed to rain today. maybe.

it's been 30 days (a new record) since we had any rain. considering where i live, that's pretty wild. and the crops are needing the water. anyhow, it's supposed to rain today and when i get to work, i need to remember to NOT take my umbrella inside with me. i mean, that's my own personal trick with the weather -- whenever i take my umbrella inside, it doesn't rain when it's time for me to go outside.

i'm not sure quite how that works, but since i've carried it closed a lot more times than i've carried it open, there's something going on with that theory. so, okay -- no umbrella!

what a day!

it's interesting how time gets away from you. part of the time i'm too busy or distracted to blog, and part of the time i have nothing to say. but yesterday .....

the big boss is on vacation all week; one of the assistant big guys went on vacation for monday only, but had trouble with his truck and is still gone; one of the people on the 2nd floor retired; a pro-football has-been turned himself in at one of the crossings (he's wanted for numerous things, i guess); later in the day there was a bomb scare in the trusted traveler office. they shut down that office, then about twenty minutes later sent all the rest of us home. that was cool except for one thing -- they sent me home just two minutes before my regular leave time! ah well ....

but i live in this itty bitty town and never did hear a blast, so i assume everything went well and there was no bomb after all. i changed my shoes and went for a walk on the spit with a friend from work and that was, as always, just lovely. the perfect temperature of 68* to 72* and a teeny tiny breeze. the tide was going out and there were no other people or dogs to interfere with our ramblings. so we walked quite a ways and back, then i took him home and came home to eat some supper (a fabulous salad) and head for bed.

what a day! a little excitement, a lot of nature, and great food! perfect!!

water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

it was so pretty yesterday. a friend from work and i took a walk along the spit. the tide must have turned just after we got there, because we walked quite a ways, and talked, and when we turned around, there was a sand bar visible and a little island. it was cool!

and i slept better last night than i have in weeks! i may have to make this a regular thing!

the 5th dimension sings...

wow! is that a cool picture or what?!

pixar's new movie, Up, tells about a house which gets lifted into the air by a huge bunch of balloons and the adventure takes off.

this article analyzes whether it would truly be possible to do that. it's an interesting concept but they don't touch on what kind of/how strong the strings would have to be. to me that is just as interesting. i mean, with that many balloons would ordinary string work? would it have to be as strong as spider web string? does altitude make a difference?

fairy tales are so much simpler than science.

true crime -- small town beat

May 21: A prior deportee from the U.S. re-entered the country illegally again along the railroad tracks. He was immediately intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol agents who were assisted by police officers. He was arrested and transported to Border Patrol for processing.

May 21: A long-term care facility called police when an elderly resident attempted to flee from her caregivers. The lady was ignoring the pleas and instructions of the caregivers around her. She only gave up her escape attempt when she was unable to push the wheels of her walker over the tops of the arriving police officer’s uniform shoes out on the sidewalk. Facility staff coordinated with the hospital’s mental health unit to have the lady admitted to the hospital for her own safety. Officers gave her a courtesy ride to the hospital, and into the hands of caregivers there.

May 21: A resident called police to report that her car had been vandalized. Officers responded and investigated. They discovered that what looked like scratches on the car’s hood were actually the collision skid marks from high velocity bees slip-sliding through the pollen dust on the car’s finish. The pollen was removed, and with it the offending skid marks.

god's country

what a beautiful day! there's a soft breeze, the curtains are gently flared away from the windows, the sun is coming up in a cloud-less sky, there's a hush except for a couple of happy birds.

this is a day to go for a walk on the spit. and i should probably go right now before it gets hot or peopled except that i'm going to enjoy this loveliness reading a book and having a quiet breakfast.

one with nature for sure.

joe friday

well, this is curious. i just found out the feds are watching my blog. i'm not sure why they are, but have i been out-of-line here? i don't recall ever saying anything against the government or giving away any secrets. i don't even know any secrets.

and i doubt anyone would get the idea i'm sleeping with the canadians or asians or bad guys. i mean, i rarely have a nice word to say about anyone but americans.

most of the people i interact with at work don't blog or spend much time on the computer, maybe because they're older. i know a couple of the younger people have blogs although i haven't looked at them.

and i have wondered why i've NEVER seen anything in any of the training we've had that says to watch your step if you have a blog. it's made me wonder if the higher-ups are even aware that blogs could potentially be a bad thing.

and now they're looking at me. *sigh*

behave yourself

WOW! that was an interesting 25 minutes!!

i was sitting here doing the mahjong thing and kept hearing these insistent voices. i mean, this is a quiet neighborhood. so i finally got up and looked outside to the house next door where some new people just moved in -- nothing.

so i turned my head and BAM! sitting next to my curb were three police cars complete with armed policemen one of whom was carrying a rifle with scope, two border patrol cars with agents armed and kevlared, a k-9 unit with beautiful dog, an unmarked car with serious-looking coordinator, our street blocked off with yellow tape, and in just a little bit a firetruck and a rescue unit. whoa!!

there was a 30-ish blond buxom female being hysterical in the backseat of the police car and the rescue unit was headed for her.

i couldn't tell what was going on and may not ever hear what the deal was, but several policeman were walking to a house just around the corner which i understand has been the source of husband-beating-the-wife in the past x-months. my speculation is maybe she killed him. would serve the bastard right.

some of the vehicles have gone, but some are still waiting. between the excitement and the scary factor, whoa again!

fairy tales

well, billy goat gruff is officially retired from work. and he's taking his sweetie of a wife and moving to the south side of a local island where he can put his boat in the water and sail off into the sunset. they got a great deal on a house in that small town and i'm sure they're going to love their new digs, albeit with making changes to said house, left and right.

he had a great smile and good sense of humor even though he could get riled up about stuff in no time at all. he could hold a grudge and get back at people with the best of them. but he was really smart and i enjoyed bantering with him.

all the best billy!

nefarious people

my ex-boss is at it again! what a brat! she retired in january and thinks now she can just do as she pleases!

she came out to work yesterday wearing cropped pants! and you remember the last time she showed up she was wearing jeans! blue jeans!

honestly, the woman has no shame, flaunting her independence and showing she's bound by no rules! but hey -- it doesn't bother us. we don't talk about it more than 6 or 7 times exclaiming that she's a rascal with her machiavellian ways. i mean, really ... it's no big deal.

where's my kleenex?

the white rabbit

my time is not my own anymore! i mean, that happens when you get married and start a family, but at my age? when i really ought to have stayed retired? (except that i like exercising my brain at work.)

but there you have it. there's just no time to play on the computer, or do a crossword puzzle with the husband, or sew the grandaughter a dress, or do my blog. but what can i change? dah-dum, dee-dum .... get rid of the husband? quit my job? stop reading my books? well, those ideas are simply anathema to me so i'll carry on. maybe if i throw away this clock....

all the news...

wow -- there's so much to get caught up on ....

one of our little group went to the hospital two weeks ago doubled over in pain. they thought it was appendicitis, then something else, then decided at last that it was diverticulitis. and they operated.

he finally got to come back to work for three hours today. he lost 25 pounds and wasn't overweight to begin with. it was good to see him back and hopefully he will progress just as quickly as he expects to. then in about a month, if he's in good shape, they have to operate again!! that surgery will allow them to dispense with the bag he has to wear now. we're all hoping that it proceeds as a textbook case and that he's back to normal in no time!

in the meantime, for the rest of us, a high fiber diet is the key to staying away from that condition.

in other news my recently-retired big boss came by the other day. she looked great!! but -- the rascal was wearing blue jeans!! sure, rub our noses in it, missy ....

and, to my surprise, i worked 25 hours overtime last payperiod (80 hrs + 25). i was so busy i didn't even realize it was that much. it has been just grueling lately, trying to complete deadlines, attending to insistent visitors, trying to accommodate the new big boss, and keeping up with my changing duties. it's been exhausting. and even though a new break-in period like this comes with confusion and change, all too often the big guys forget how much they depend on the little guys, thus they can easily over-look that the little guys are being worn down to the nubbins. hey, pay attention....

one final note -- we got to see the grandaughter and her parents last weekend!! it was an especially nice treat because our son announced they're expecting another baby! joy abounds!!