Joss fans will be amused at this clip from Castle: http://www.armchaircommentary.com/2009/10/castle-nathan-fillion-firefly.html

Off to Atlanta for the weekend! See y'all at Librafest!

So, last night we went to the local CVS, and I marched up to the pharmacy to see the pharmacist. I showed him the backs of my hands while announcing that I had a nasty rash. Pharmacist's reaction? "Yes, you do!" while taking a step back away from me. Hehehehehe, it's always cool when you can gross out the pros.

But anyway, I'm glad I asked because apparently preggo women's options are limited when it comes to anti-itch creams. Thankfully there is one I can use (with benadryl instead of steriods).

We think it's poison ivy, though we're not sure. I don't recall mucking around with any poison ivy, but since the oil can spread through contact, and we do have dogs, you never know.

So, Rupert got really sick over the weekend, and nearly pooped himself to death with bloody diarrhea. He's since bounced back beautifully, all except for one thing: he hadn't pooped since coming home from the animal hospital.

Now, I wasn't worried about this at all, going on the theory that a constipated dog is far better than one that can't stop, but it was really worrying my husband. Every time Roo went out, a human would accompany him on "Poop Patrol" to check on the quality of the poo (as he would need to be rehospitalized if the diarrhea came back). Roo was eating and drinking and peeing like a champ, but no poo. I figured that he'd just completely cleaned out his system the other day, (not to mention that between the vomiting and the other stuff, he hadn't eaten in two days).

Anyway, this afternoon, the golden moment arrived. After much sniffing and turning around, Roo gave us 3 gorgeous well-formed logs, medium brown with no sign of blood and a robust yet completely normal smell. Hurrah!

Today I was at work trying to get a few things done before service tonight. Somebody popped their head in my office and said "hey, do you want some lunch?"

Where I work, sometimes "some lunch" means:

- A cucumber, tomato and red onion salad in a really good light sweet vinegar dressing (tomatoes and cucumbers from the owner's husband's garden)
- Figs stewed in bacon (they come off a couple of trees out front)
- Prime rib with jus
- Some kind of chicken fricassee thing
- A broccoli & veggie salad
- Macaroni and cheese
- A seven layer angel food cake with a custard-cream filling and homemade chocolate icing

The restaurant industry is tough, but sometimes it has its perks.

Whew, thank goodness the federal government finally took the necessary steps the BAN and DESTROY MILLION of OLD BOOKS. I can't imagine what a horrific society we'd live in if we still had those dangerous old books around!

http://city-journal.org/2009/eon0212wo.html

Many are vegan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html

Now I'm hungry.

It's like.... two corners of my subconscious are having freaky bad nasty incest.

Yes, you must click, I can't be alone in this.

Though he predicts that e-books and associated readers will prosper when they have open standards and do not restrict sale to a single vendor.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/22/kindle-oreilly-ebooks-technology-breakthroughs_oreilly.html

A major milestone. India has decriminalized gay sex: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13962740&source=features_box_main

Atlanta, boingboingboing!

Maybe Highlander on Saturday night, unless folks have other ideas?

Oh, and there was a link to go with that Shatner reference the other day.

William Shatner on Conan O'Brian. Give it a minute, it's a little slow at first and then it's sublime: http://www.hulu.com/watch/78435/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien-william-shatner

I'm starting to get excited about the trip to Atlanta. Woohoo, road trip in the new car!

In other news, William Shatner on Conan O'Brian. Give it a minute, it takes them a moment to warm up, but they are brilliant after that.

Well, I'm postponing my trip to Atlanta... instead of June 18-21, I'm going to shoot for June 25 or 26 throught the 29th.

Being all knocked up I'm not quite as fun as usual because I can't drink and I sometimes get very tired, but it will still be great to see as many people as I can. Oooh, and to go to Ikea!

If anyone has a couch I can borrow, that might come in handy...

I am just SO pissed right now. Some creditor called up for my mom.

She wouldn't tell me who she was, then she only gave me her name, not her company name, she wouldn't tell me what she wanted to talk about, she demanded my name over and over again in the absence of any information about myself, then when I flat out told her that I refused to speak to her without a company name and the reason she was calling she LIED about her company name. (She said "United Bureau" and we both know damn well that her company name is "United CREDIT Bureau" but she didn't want to say "Credit" because I'd already asked her if she was a collector and she didn't answer me, she only asked another question.) Oh, and her reason for calling was "issues" and when I asked her what those were she responded with another question - so I told her that "issues" weren't a reason. After that she STILL wouldn't tell me what it was about yet she STILL kept demanding information.

Then she had the nerve to ask me why I was upset that I wasn't the executor (for one thing, because of cunts like her, I'm damn GLAD it's not me, but it's certainly none of her business). I'm not stupid, I know that's just another question designed to jimmy information out of me.

THEN, when I told her the executor's name and that the executor was in Atlanta and hung up, she had the nerve to CALL ME BACK and tell me I was being rude!

You know that quote that's going around, the "wise Latina" one?

What really rankles me (and seriously, it's okay to be rankled - stop having a hissy fit all my liberal friends - even liberals are rankled: http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/05/about_that_wise_latina_statement.php)

What really rankles me isn't the whole "Latina" part of the statement. Yeah, the fact that you're an actual person with actual experiences is going to affect your judgement, of course it will, that's just obvious.

What rankles me is that she's referring to herself as "wise."

Wise people don't think of themselves as wise. Wise people especially don't go around telling other people they are wise. It seems very boastful, which isn't really characteristic of wisdom.

Anyway. She'll probably be okay in the role, and I just can't seem to get myself all that worked up one way or another. But try to imagine Yoda telling Luke how wise he is.... it just boggles the mind. If I could nominate Yoda instead of Sotomayor, then yeah, that's the route I'd go, and yeah, it's about time little green dudes got represented on the court.

Friends who have been reading me here for a few years might remember how often I call for calm and giving the benefit of the doubt in political discourse.

This is a fascinating lecture (it's reasonably short) What I liked most of all is that it's respectful of both sides, yet insightful about why they don't get along:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html
( Read more... )

Looks like I'll be headed back to Atlanta (for real, this time) around June 18-21 (Thursday-Sunday) Or I might stay through til Monday, we'll see...

popskeeter wants to get me a car, probably a Honda Fit Sport. We drove one yesterday... I really like the interior, the seats are very configurable for cargo and such. It has a very different driving feel from what I'm used to.

If we go for it, I'm going to miss my old car - Mom got it for me, way back when, and I've had it now for almost 10 years. There are a lot of memories piled up in that thing. Still, I can't deny that it's starting to have issues, and the time to sell it is before it has a major breakdown. I don't know, getting a new car seems so wildly extravagant, but it's well within our budget, and popskeeter's arguments for it make sense.

It's hard for my brain to process the rational arguments while it is dealing with the sentimentality versus shiny! debate.

I gave up on Atlanta. Too much work, too many errands to catch up on.

Instead, I give you this:

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Movie
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film?utm_source=a-section

You're old. Do you know how old you are?

NIN's Pretty Hate Machine was released TWENTY YEARS AGO.

Go get your cane, fogey.

Holy crap, for once I completely agree with Susan Estrich.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_susan_estrich/prosecutorial_corruption