OMFG

Sparky and I are working our way through Star Trek: The Next Generation. We've gotten about midway through Season Two to an episode called The Dauphin. One of the 'new life forms' that appears at the beginning is played by an actress called Paddi Edwards. Here's her photo:

Any of you who read me often enough probably remember me talking about someone I call CT.

Welcome to my world: this actress--in this getup and role--looks and acts a LOT like CT! Especially around the mouth, less so around her eyes. But if you've seen the ep...well, I'll just say that the resemblance tends to increase in certain ways over the course of things.

Consider me officially freaked out.

Crack me up

My son is bored. I have 'his' laptop. So he flipped through the satellite channels till he found The Magnificent Seven. We are now watching that on AMC, and when a commercial comes on, he flips over to CSI...his favorite show. So, I think that means he likes TM7. Which cracks me up. Most of those actors are dead, or criminally aged now, and the acting is pretty humorous, plus he just eyerolled & asked why no one in old movies bleeds when they are shot...but we're still watching.

Now, he just arrived in the living room with a quarter moon of gouda cheese in his hand. To munch on.

I love this kid.

Change of subject

Mood: Tired
Hair: Hot pony mess
Eyes: {shrug}
Listening to: The Olympic coverage (currently women's all-around gymnastics)

In other news, that bruise from last month...remember?...still hurts. It hurts way down deep inside, and it is just a bruise (I promise), but it's weird.

It's been achy all week. Maybe it's psychosomatic.

I dunno.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Also, why can't Béla Károlyi speak understandable English after all these years?

Even-ing

Mood: OK
Hair: Not my crowning glory today, I'm afraid
Eyes: Really, officer, it's just allergies!
Listening to: The Chicagoland Speedway NASCAR race; would someone PLEASE take Kyle Busch OUT OF THE RACE?!?!?!

So I got our bathroom thoroughly cleaned today, as well as all the ceiling fan-blades in the house. Sparky & I went and ran some errands; he drove most of the way. I've spent several hours cleaning up Bloglines feeds and going through old posts on this blog. I probably deleted about 10 that had completely dead links and/or stupid stuff, and I rewrote several. Hey, it's my blog: I make the rules. ;-) I rediscovered a thing I used to do called "Snappy Comebacks" that I may resurrect once in awhile.

I'm really tired, but determined not to go to bed until later than usual so perhaps I'll sleep all night long finally. I stopped drinking caffeinated pop at about 5. Normally I can drink Dr. Pepper until I crawl into bed. My plan was to watch as much of SNL as I could stomach tonight, until the comedy just totally disappeared. However, then I discovered that Mariah Carey is on, so I will watch until she appears, and then go to bed and read or something.

Oh. And I loathe Kyle Busch. In case you didn't get that up above.

Also, Brett shouldn't come out of retirement. He's thinking with something other than his brain. Stop that, dude!

---

Word Spy:

microboredom: n. Boredom caused by having nothing to do over a short period of time.

I think right now I'm experiencing a bit of microboredom in anticipation of work tomorrow.

In which the media is the massage

Mood: So far, so good
Hair: Unkempt
Eyes: Finally focusing properly (I've discovered, while trying to get back into early-morning Bible study this week, that my eyes can't manage small print for the first 15 minutes of the day. This sucks)
Listening to: Silence/random homey noises

So, we've had all this weather lately. It's been ... fun ... if you're a weather geek, or get off on carrying a flashlight everywhere with you, including the bathroom (we have no windows in any of our bathrooms).

One of the other traditional spring activities around here include trees splitting and falling on power lines. We've been up and down a few times already this year, and as a result our basement "baby" TV (i.e. slightly smaller than the main one in the living room) gave up the ghost last week. Beast took the cover off, took one look at the circuit board and said, "I can't fix this."

He can fix everything. ;-)

Since there is a federal law in this country for households having three or more people that requires a minimum of two television sets, or at least one set for every two people...we had to go buy a new TV. But being us, first we had to go find the Consumer Reports information. Yes, we are dorks.

We (briefly) considered The Mirrors. But like all mirrors, it's hard to see what's going on in them if you aren't standing directly in front of them. So instead we are on the brink of--oh hell, we've dived into it head first!--a Bravia new world.

Of course, there had to be drama. We went to Circuit City because they hire people over the age of 22 to staff the sales force, instead of the big blue store from hell where everyone is 18 and thinks that we are too stupid to deal with when we ask questions like, "How often does this model break down?" Big box stores tend to all be the same, to a point, so when the sales guy disappeared with the sign saying that the set we'd selected was on sale...we got leery. We stood and watched the lamest EVER movie--well, it did have Sylvester Stallone (gaaahhhhh!) in it as a race car driver--for about 15 minutes before the same guy returned having battled apparently to the death in the stock room. Turns out the stock number on the item that was "on sale" was a different stock number from the set it was touting. So, technically, the set we chose wasn't on sale.

HOWEVER! Pay attention, people, this is unheard of! Dude didn't say anything except a little grumbling over the restockers who stay out all night Saturday and come to work early on Sunday...he didn't quibble with us, he didn't tell us that he was "making a special deal" for us, he didn't say anything akin to "we fucked up and that isn't a deal we can actually do for you," and he didn't narc out any specific co-workers. He just gave us the advertised price, took our money, and was a consummate professional all the way through.

We will continue to shop at Circuit City, just because of this.

Oh. The (huge-for-us) TV? Rawks. And the massage? I'm getting one this morning because my neck/shoulder thing started yelling at me on Saturday again.

---

Urban Word:

consumerican: An individual suffering from the particularly American brand of consumerism.

Much as I sometimes hate to admit it, even Beast and I have consumerican tendencies.

Calm

We are a bit becalmed here. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It's not necessarily a good thing either. It just is.

I'm trying to keep the rantiness to a minimum. I'm trying to find the positive spin on things. It helps that I'm going on a (work-related) road trip on Friday, and that I am only working four hours tomorrow--and in the process of working that out, I have maneuvered a "screw you" move on Schedule Nazi. See what happens when you take so much comp-time? You lose. Bitch.

[There are reasons I'm particularly blunt about her right now. I'm not going into them. It's just more of the same shit.]

The road trip will entail 8 hours on the road and a 6-hour meeting. It doesn't sound fun, but it will be spent in good company, and that is worth a lot more than sleep.

Another positive thing is that I emailed a friend with whom I haven't 'talked' in months. It's not like we don't work less than 1/4 mile away from each other.... However, we are both so swamped with end-of-the-school-year (and family) stuff that setting a time to get together is proving to be a challenge. We're into July at this point.

Speaking of school.... Well, I'll just say that a) kids are stupid, and b) sending kids to public schools nowadays is a bit scarier than it was in the 70s and 80s. I'll go into detail, perhaps, this weekend. It's not about Sparky, though.

My family (of origin) sux, by the way. I've about reached my last nerve with them. Just...go 'way. This is probably the healthiest feeling I've had about them in awhile. I don't feel particularly guilty about feeling this way, though I do feel badly about Mom.

Monday night, we watched Dirty Jobs; last night we watched Deadliest Catch; tonight we're watching Survivorman and Mythbusters. Network TV? Only on Thursdays.

I caught up my reading lists last night while watching people fight on crab boats. It took awhile; I'd let it slide for quite a awhile.

And who knew--those feathers Native Americans wore in their hair? Served a purpose besides vanity and decor. I *heart* Les Stroud.

---

Urban Word:

refrigerator blindness: Selective loss of visual acuity in association with common foraging of the refrigerator [or freezer]. Predominantly seen in children and males.

Ten minutes ago, Sparky stood in front of the fridge and asked if there were anymore bagels in the freezer up here. A severe case of refrigerator blindess has obviously hit him.

Dr. Who alert

Disclaimer: I haven't watched Dr. Who in twenty years, back when it was All-Tom.

However. I do like when people make fun of Scots (which I am) and are clever about things in general.


"...even with suspension of disbelief, that would be pushing it." {snort} "My heart...is no longer...in it.... Oh please, just for me, get out your sonic screwdriver."

Grammys

Mood: kay
Hair: clean
Listening to: end of the Pro Bowl

• Yay, Alicia Keys (wow! sez Beast upon his first full viewing of her dress).



• Wow, do NOT piss off Carrie Underwood.



• Yay, Prince. And yay Alicia yet again for winning.



• Jimmy Jam is the Chairman of the Board?? Damn. OMG--The Time!!! Crack me the fuck up. Time to embarrass the boy.... Check! "Oo-wee-oo-wee-ooh"



• The Band is not playing? Bummer.



• Yay Beatles. But Cirque de Soleil on the Grammys?--that's kinda weird. Wait, Cirque is weird regardless of where they perform. But "Let It Be" as a gospel song. Yay.



• Yay, Amy W. for winning.



• The less said about the Jason Bateman bit...the better. Moving on.



• Kanye is weird...can't help liking the guy, but I'm definitely a bit old.
  On the other hand, there ain't too many rappers can make me cry.



• I made a comment yesterday about sticking with the type of music your voice can handle. Fergie didn't listen. People who sing through their noses shouldn't sing songs like she just sang. And, girl, comb your hair outta your face! (Yes, I'm biased--I can't stand Fergie.)



• George Martin looks great!



• So does Cher, though she's wearing a lot more clothes than normal. And, damn: TINA!! DAMN damn damn!!



• Andy Williams is still alive? OK.



• Not a Foo Fighters fan. Now is a good time for playing Oregon Trail on Facebook, or something. I'll be back. However, Sparky is shocked that someone from Nirvana is "that old" and why isn't Kurt Cobain's brother still doing music. Uh...brother?



• K I can stand watching Brad Paisley. He's not ugly. The song...remarkably retarded. Ticks = not sexy.



• Amen! AMEN! Go 'Retha!!!



• Did he just say "Dirk Smedly"?? Who better to introduce Earl Scruggs, however.



• I like this song by Feist, but she's really nervous. And that dress...gaaah.



• And whose idea was the Kid Rock/Keely Smith/sax thing? Quite surreal. I have not had nearly enough illegal substances today for that.



• Here come the elderly (according to my child) members of Foo Fighters to collect their award. Dave seems a little...loose. Upstairs. Is he usually?



• I'm tired of hearing about Amy Winehouse. Can she just please do her song so she can get back to the clinic, please?



• I LOVE the Thriller Lizards!!!



• Stevie! The man does not age! Weird. He can sing anything though.



• Beast is bummed about Alicia Keys' new dress. And I think those earrings look fuckin' painful.



• Ringo, stop talking. It's a case of proving what an idiot you are.



• Oh, Dirks BENTLEY. {shrug} Whatever.



• "I just got an award from a Beatle. Have you had that happen to you yet, Kanye?" AWESOME! Vince Gill is looking pretty middle-aged, but what a great quote!



• Joe Mantegna sings? Why is he on the Grammys? Shaddup. Play the Gershwin, stop TALKING about it!! Sheesh



• Nice that Gershwin got so much airtime. Awesome.



• I can't stand 'ella, ella, ella." Just thought I'd mention that.



• The McDonald's rapper kid is adorable. I love that ad.



• Damn, finally: Amy. More of the surreality.

I'm toast. Time for bed. I just can't make it through the rest of the show. My apologies.

In which I bullet point

• I work today. I don't like working Fridays. I never seem to accomplish anything and nearly always go home cranky.



• Twice this week (so far) someone has destroyed our neighbor's mailbox. This neighbor. One day (Saturday night?) it was just the mailbox pounded to a pulp. Then yesterday morning I noticed the post was completely knocked off its anchor. This is the only mailbox on the road being assaulted. An example of small town vendetta, perhaps? Huh, who am I kidding? His name and address was in the paper. I'm wondering if the other guy is also having mailbox problems. [yes, he is] appended 9:15 a.m. 9/20



• And if I catch the person/people doing this, I will totally call the cops, because to me it speaks of a shocking lack of...something. I was going to say maturity, but that's not really it. It's just petty, stupid, and could easily spread to the rest of the neighborhood. I don't like idiots.



• AC/DC has been replaced in my son's room by Weird Al. Again. He just found out he's going to see Al in concert soon. I'm not sure of this is a good trade: AC/DC for Weird Al in never-ending rotation. Currently on the RHCP parody: 'yabba dubba do now'--aaargh.



• Taking too much Advil can make one's stomach very cranky.



• Sparky and I finally finished CSI: Miami seaon 3. Wow. What a wicked ending. It's not exactly a cliffhanger, but damn......lots of stuff is up in the air: Is Calleigh coming back, ever? Is Yelina coming back, ever? How hard is Eric going to punch Ryan, how soon, and where? (My answers are, respectively, "Very", "Not too long now" and "His mouth.") Is H ever going to fall for someone he can actually stay with? And just whose job is it to clean ceilings in the crime lab?! I will say this: I wish they'd spent more time letting us get to know Ray, and I'm so sorry about John. I liked him.



• A plea to the users of public libraries: PLEASE don't think that because you spent a lot of money on something that didn't work, the library will be happy when you donate the pieces and parts of it to add to the collection. We really can't use the personal, home edition of Rosetta Stone. Especially if you haven't managed to save everything, only most of it.



• My town is in the news again, following the "Deliverance"-based nickname it has earned. Yesterday morning before the chickens were awake, one of our not-so-close-thank-God neighbors was arrested for having, among other things, grenades and mines in his home. OK, the latter was in his gun safe. He also had more than 25 guns of various types. And a tiny amount of cocaine, which somehow just seems really beside the point.



• Did you know there's a law against "criminally" fortifying one's home? At least in this state there is. I'm not trying to be reactive, but I've never seen that listed as a charge before. Having done a little research, however, it appears that this only refers to booby-trapping your home. So, buy the fancy windows and doors, and install an alarm system, but don't get cute with "extras."



• Our vacation photos arrived yesterday from Snapfish. Allowing for the weight of the box (not envelope) in which they arrived, I can proudly say that we took 2 pounds' worth of 3 x 5" pictures!



• Beast is home from Texas. He's funny: having spent his high school years in Texas marked him for life. Whenever he travels south, his speech tempo slows down and his words lengthen out to match the locals. So talking to him on the phone this week involved a little 'drawl-translation' along with some shouting. When one travels when one has a cold, one's ears take revenge in their own ways....



• Sparky just told me not to forget that I work today. I think that means he thinks I probably should not wear pajamas all day. So perhaps I should go see what clothes are waiting to be worn today. And I could brush my hair too. Maybe wash my face.

See y'all on the flip.

Labor Day to Schooldays

So this weekend was really relaxing. I got a fair amount of work done on Saturday, and then spent many many hours girl-talking about insane subjects ranging from shopping to boys to the intricacies of 24x fields in MARC.

Sparky went up to bed at 7:30...or really "to bed" since we keep hearing suspiciously loud thumps from the direction of his bedroom...in preparation for his first day of high school. Oooh, that reminds me: need to get out camera for tomorrow morning.

Beast did woodworking all weekend. I ... sat around, did a couple of loads of laundry, a couple of sinks of dirty dishes, and watched 9 episodes of CSI Miami with Sparky. Which might be why I'm not in a good mood tonight.

And with that thought, I'm going upstairs to check on the kid and go to bed and get an attitude adjustment. I hope.

Profitable day?

It's almost 10 p.m. I've been up since about 5:30 a.m. For most of that 16-hour period, my eyes have been killing me. They are red, blood-shot, incredibly sore. I am either having a bad case of allergy-eye, or pink-eye. Since I've never had pink-eye in my life, I'm betting on choice #1. They have been sore, getting sorer for most of the weekend.

So, what did I do today with my sore eyes? Sparky and I watched approx. 12 episodes of CSI: Miami (Season 2). This is a bit like eating 8 slices of cheesecake in one day (I'd imagine--having never actually done the cheesecake thing!). Damn, I'm tired of dead bodies and David Caruso.

We also went to Borders and the grocery store, the former for game-coding books (long story, the short version of which is we only wrote down ISBNs), the latter for enough food to get us through the week. We were gone for about an hour. I'm a little afraid to be seen in public: I look like I'm a stoner.

And from about 11 till about 4, I was trying to upload our vacation photos from the laptop to Snapfish. WTF?! I did manage to get copies of our Minnesota trip photos ordered from them before I started having trouble. I also purchased a few Official Wedding Photos ($70, ahem, all 4 x 6" siz...racket, much?). So, yeah, still haven't ordered our wedding photos or vacation photos, from Snapfish. We took over 350 pictures. I love digital cameras, but damn! That's a smackdown. I'll see if I can get my act together and order them...uh...sometime soon.

And since you asked--right?!?--here are a few favorites from the vacation part of our trip last month:

Some major awesomeness of mountains pictures (well, I am a mountain girl, after all!).
This was taken in Kentucky... ...this was western Virginia......and here are the Smokies.
Our (rental) car had an outside temperature gauge. These two photos were taken almost exactly two days, and about 100 miles, apart. We all would have preferred an average of the two, I think!

The good news on the hot day is that we weren't having to wear "authentic historical" costumes from the Civil War Era. That would be...wool.

We stopped at a rest area at about 10 a.m. one day, and this was the view in the vehicle next to us. "This little piggie went to market..."
And frankly, this little piggy is now going to do what those little piggies in the picture are doing...sleep.

Good night.

Earthquake

I'm watching something about the New Madrid fault...too lazy to turn off the TV or even look for something else to watch. New Madrid is just close enough to where I live to be mildly important to me. If it should 'blow', we will probably feel it a bit here. Shockwaves will be felt for about 350 miles from the center site (which is around the corners of Missouri / Tennessee / Kentucky / Illinois / Arkansas. If ... rather WHEN ... it goes, it'll be big. And ugly. Much bigger and uglier than the effects of Katrina on the Gulf Coast. So I'm watching, but only desultorily because {shrug} really, what can I possibly do about it? If it happens, it does; if not, ok very good.

Today was a good day. Absolutely gorgeous weather (except for a brief shower mid-afternoon) and a fun youth meeting. I'm finally excited about the trip next week. It will be fun. I will need several shots of Something Alcoholic when we return, but the hardest part of all may be explaining to teenage girls why dressing with their bra straps showing in tight-fitting tank tops is considered inappropriate at a church-related thing...and/or on a construction site, where they could be working.

Best question: "So, the other groups that are there with us....? Like, are they going to be mostly girls, like ours? Or, like, will there will be some guys...?" I love these girls. Goofs.

On that thought--wasn't it easy being a kid, really, when the worries you have all revolve around whether there will be good human scenery around, and the possibilities were endless?--I'm going to bed. To sleep. I'm beat. Tomorrow I have to coordinate Sparky's DC trip, and buy his commencement gift(s).

So, here are some flowers from our front yard to let you know that we do actually have a functional camera now:

Sitemeter, and Stuff

Since I've been staring at them all week, vacillating between panic and hysteria...I figured I'd share some of the semi-interesting (to me, anyway) site stats:

Searches:

• Lots of you get here via Bloglines. L-O-T-S of you. I'm starting to recognize your subscription numbers....


• MORE people, however, find me by doing Next Blog inside Blogger. You come from some really weird places, too, mostly ones I have no intention of publicizing.


• Thanks for checking out other people's Deep Thoughts today :-)


• A convicted sex criminal whose story I posted over 2 years ago. I'm clearing his name, and not posting it again here.


• Palmistry? I took the picture out of the post. So sorry...go away. All of you that keep looking for it. Go. SCAT!


• Middle short hair. This is a regular search that I've questioned in the past. Go to a freakin' hair website, not a blog...especially not one on the second page of your search results!


• basenji revolution--WTF...not here. If the basenjis are staging a revolution, it hasn't made it to my little town.


• Yesterday's discovery of Beast's aunt's family name preceded by John (not a known relative, but probably on the tree somewhere), and Beast's aunt's name in full (yipes!). Apparently, I missed an earlier occurrence of John from a few days ago, too. Bummer.


• simply red i know much is true sun of my soul--uhm, well, I'll give this a pass since it came from Russia, but yow....


• spaghetti dinner disgusting--wrong! My spaghetti dinners are NOT disgusting!


• Lyrics to Moe's "Spine of a Dog" (which were typed in as a search string I'm too lazy to copy)


• monster m8O energy drink. OK, here's the thing: I looked for 5 pages and didn't find myself in this search. I don't drink quote-energy drinks-quote. Go hang with the palmistry people somewhere else!


• OK, who is forwarding my URL in your Yahoo email? Cut it out! You're making me nervous. Also, those of you using Comcast email.


• fingertips hurt with cold symptoms--perhaps you should go to WebMD and do this search....?


• Meebo, from Technorati. Yes, I'm using it. Right now, even.


• Also from Technorati, a search for "men's vogue" heh. Here is probably not where you want to be.


• illiberal schmucks--ditto. You're needed somewhere else.


• Handsful or handfuls? Well, clearly, in the snip in Google, I don't know!


• "mother's revenge" preggo....very proud to see that I am the only hit for this in Google.... Someone in Scappoose, Oregon is weird.


• DinnerbyDesign. They rock. And they've saved my sanity.


• vice versa vicey versey Get. A. Life.


• Black Sabbath. Yeah. My favorite band. ROCKANDROLL! Or, yeah, maybe not. Kinda goes with this next one, though....


• The ever popular he@dsh0ps in Denver. I must be the best non-source website for this information on the internet. I'm so proud. This makes me double over with laughter whenever it shows up. The kicker is that this time the searcher was in my home town. ;-)

Based on the past month's traffic, I should have over 550 visitors in the next month.

More people visit my site from "unknown" locations than from South American locations

71% of you visit using various incarnations of IE

The average visit length is just under 90 seconds. You guys read fast!

I'm tireder than I've been in a long time. Tomorrow I'm going to my very first Presbytery Meeting. The thrill, the joy. Here's the docket:

9:00 a.m. Registration and Networks and Partnerships Center

10:00 a.m. Opening Activities : Convening Prayer / Adoption of Docket / Stated Clerk’s Report / Approval of Minutes / Orientation to the Meeting / New Elders & Pastors Introduced

10:15 a.m. Worship

11:15 a.m. Report from Task Force on Configuration of the Stated Clerk / Treasurer Offices

11:25 a.m. BAC-Part 1

11:30 a.m. Lunch and Networks & Partnerships Center

12:30 p.m. [. . .] learning opportunity with Rev. [. . .]

2:00 p.m. Life Together (Business Plenary Session) : Business brought before the Presbytery for action -- BAC COM NOMINATING MSRB TRUSTEES

2:45 p.m. Kenya Partnership Report

3:05 p.m. New and Unfinished Business

3:10 p.m. Adjourn with Prayer

It's a two-hour round-trip drive to the meeting location. I will be gone approximately 9 hours. Don't ask me what the acronyms and abbreviations mean; I have no clue. I really think doing this should exempt me from church on Sunday, especially with the time change Sat night/Sun morning.

I'm going to bed. It's not even 9, I've already taken a lengthy bath. All I need to do is take my pills, set the alarm and sleep.

Beast is watching "Jackass." I have never understood what the attraction is with that show.

Good night.

Not a wasted day

Who says you can't learn anything on TV? I just found out where "Yee-haw" comes from. And I did it while giggling at Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs. AND I've decided that I'm coming back, when I'm reincarnated, as a mule. A big mule. One you have to talk nice to. Or I'll knock you-all over.

60 Minutes

I don't normally watch this anymore, although I grew up watching it every week with my parents.

However, I just came across this post from Library Stuff about part of tonight's show. I'll be turning off football to watch. I think it's important, as so many of the Holocaust victims are dying every year now, to remember that this was a real event, and wholesale evil at every step. As Beast said when I mentioned it to him, "Nothing good came out of the Third Reich."