June 30, 2005
Carnival of the Recipes
In case you have not yet visited Dana's to check out Carnival of the Recipes 45, do so now!
There are many great recipes for summer there.
And after peeking at the recipe dot carnival at gmail dot com inbox, it looks like Kris of Anywhere But Here is going to have quite a lot of work to do for this week's Carnival of the Recipes #46!
Posted by Beth at 7:12 AM | Comments (1)
Best 100 Companies
I can't say what companies John and I work for ( and they are two different, totally unrelated corporations), but both of them are listed on Computerworld's list of 100 Best Places to work in IT.
I wonder how many other couples work for two of the best 100?
Posted by Beth at 7:05 AM
June 29, 2005
Ward Churchill should be in jail
This "Professor" should be tried for sedition. Pirate Ballerina has the scoop.
Apparently this poor excuse for a man is preaching that soldiers who kill their officers should be supported and encouraged.
UPDATE: Everyone else in the Blogosphere is on this bandwagon now, but they are not linking to the original audio - Pirate Ballerina should be credited for this entire discovery.
This excerpt pretty much says it all, don't you think?
Questioner: I think it's important when you're getting into a discussion of violence and appropriate violence and self-defense, of starting to look at what you're trying to build there, what you're trying to create—for example, fragging an officer, which you were talking about before, at the beginning of your talk, the sort of trauma that that inflicts on that officer's family back home is I feel like an important thing to take into account when you try to think about what your action is trying to accomplish in the first place. I really feel like I can articulate [my question] properly, but that's the general direction I'm heading with it.Churchill: How do you feel about Adolf Eichmann's family?
I hope the FBI or someone arrests him at some point - advocating violence against officers during a time of war is not free speech.
Posted by Beth at 5:38 PM | Comments (1)
June 28, 2005
Why must I go to Arizona in July?
Last winter, I traveled to Bangor, Maine and Alpena, Michigan for work. It was downright cold. Snow banks exceeded 8 feet high along the plowed roads. How I would love to see those two towns this time of year!
But, no. I just found out that I'm heading to Phoenix next Tuesday. That is where I should have gone in January! It will be so hot out, that I will be darn sure to stay in a/c the entire time.
Posted by Beth at 9:11 AM | Comments (9)
Interesting Reading
When I have a few moments to myself, I love to check out different bloggers. I especially love reading comment streams. Comments can be very entertaining to read. They can go off on some pretty interesting, sometimes silly tangents.
I was just reading Roger Simon's excellent post, "Of Martha Stewart and Gitmo". There are many comments there, and the comments lead to more and more ideas and then suddenly, Triticale posts a link to his Okra Pickle recipe. And it is not out of place in that comment stream. And then, someone links to this, the Terro-Gator, invented by Are You Conservative?
Someone could write a doctoral thesis on the goings on of commenters. It's fascinating, fun stuff.
Posted by Beth at 6:43 AM | Comments (2)
June 27, 2005
For once, someone wants to know about ME!!!
Got this from Allan, who always has something cool on his blog.
Posted by Beth at 5:51 PM | Comments (3)
Unacceptable behaviour
Glenn Reynolds points us to this article in the Augusta Free Press:
Potty-mouth politics
I'll wait while you go and read Bruce Kessler's piece.
Done?
I agree with everything in the article.
I would go farther. When 'leaders' such as Howard Dean, Ted Kennedy, Dick Durbin and people with too much influence like Michael Moore, compare the Bush Administration to the Third Reich and get away with it, that same name-calling habit trickles down to the naive, thoughtless, liberal followers. Pretty soon, they are calling all Republicans Nazis, and unless they are called out on the use of that term, they walk away feeling smug and superior.
I ran into this personally last week. I was talking to my lovely sister-in-law on the phone, attempting to steer clear of politics, as she is quite the liberal, and John and I are, well, quite the opposite.
Her husband is the head of the teacher's union in their town, and she was very upset that the teachers got a very small raise in starting pay - $300. I agreed that seemed miserly (but after doing some research, she didn't tell me the whole story - the average pay increase was closer to 4% according to their local newspaper- not too shabby).
She then called the Governor of her state "a Nazi".
I said, "A Nazi? What makes Governor XXXXX a Nazi?"
My sister-in-law (with a master's degree) said, "Well, he just is".
So I brought her up on this - I asked her what exactly the state government was doing that made her think it was Nazi-like. She, of course, could not answer. But she did go on and on:"Well, it will be like a Nazi state pretty soon, he's signing laws!".
Well, that of course makes all the sense in the world, eh?
I finally told her that calling someone a Nazi because she doesn't like the pay raise her husband got is pretty irresponsible. I told her that I knew a lot of Jews who might disagree with her comparison of the governor to a Nazi.
Finally, after a heated argument, she backed down.
She said, "Well, my choice of words might not have been the best."
Sound familiar?
Posted by Beth at 6:34 AM | Comments (1)
June 26, 2005
Today was a special day
I suppose you will need some background to understand this. It is about hair - my hair.
I have known John for a bit over 12 years. We have been married for 7 1/2 years. All this time my hair has been pretty darn short because I was always told that it is too fine to have long. I have had red hair, brown hair, highligted hair, poofy hair and my normal very straight hair, very short.
John has never noticed any of the weird things I've done with my hair - and if I asked him about this or that cut, he has always said "As long as you are happy with your hair, it's fine with me and that's all that counts". And I have always appreciated his outlook, since my hair is *not* my best feature.
Well, I have been letting my hair grow for about 8 or 9 months, and it is finally long enough that it almost hits my shoulders. And thanks to the best stylist on earth, my hair looks good.
And today, for the first time ever, John said "your hair looks good like that".
Wow.
Posted by Beth at 9:16 PM | Comments (8)
Medium Rant
1. Flag Amendment. I'm agin it. Free speech is too precious - don't fuck with it. See John's post on the same.
2. The Kelo Decision. Oh, this one makes me want to scream. I can understand using eminent domain for truly public uses - airports, schools - but never, ever for property to be handed over to a private entity just because there might be more tax money generated. I have always disliked developers, now the Supreme Court has given them a tool to wreck the landscape and make blue collar folks give up their property just so they can get richer.
3. Tom Cruise and his 'religion' bwaa haa haa haa!
Scientology is not a Church, is not a Religion and should not be allowed to be tax-exempt. L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer. Fiction was his milieu. Scientology would be better named 'Fictionality'. And they all ought to be charged with practicing medicine without a license. Feh.
Posted by Beth at 12:37 PM | Comments (2)
Short Rant
Just saw a Nissan Altima commercial. It showed some asshat driving the Nissan through a Railroad Crossing (with bars descending) to beat a train.
This seems to me to be the ultimate in irresponsibility on the part of an advertiser.
I have not been a fan of Nissan since a salesman at a Nissan dealership in Kansas City, Missouri refused to allow me to test drive one without my husband present. I swore I would never buy one.
This idiotic commercial just cements that promise.
Posted by Beth at 10:26 AM | Comments (6)
Who Said This?
...I don't see rock and roll and politics being in the same bed together. I just don't see it. When my parents started talking about politics, I'd run in the other room and put the Rolling Stones on at full blast. I didn't want to hear about tax forms, I didn't want to hear about who's doing who to what. I just didn't want to care about it. And to this day, rock and roll should be the escape from politics, not the answer to politics.
One of my favorite rockers - Alice Cooper
Hattip to Chrenkoff
Posted by Beth at 7:55 AM | Comments (3)
June 25, 2005
Outside my window
I have been under the weather since last night with tummy problems, so I've been taking it easy today. I have spent time playing Snood (which evil Ala told me about it - I'm so hooked on this dumb game!) and reading and drinking lots of water between running to the bathroom.
Anyway, our bedroom has three windows. The one closest to my side of the bed looks out onto the backyard, which we are trying to naturalize with ground covers, trees, etc. Anything to cut back on mowing the lawn!
There is a mulberry tree that took root and sprang up next to the house. This time of year, there are mulberries all over that tree, and many critters just love to eat those mulberries. Several branches are just inches from the window, and the cats have taken up residence so they can observe nature.
I glanced out the window earlier because Barnacle and Little Girl were getting pretty darn excited about something. It was a young oppossum - only about 12 inches long (including tail) and he was enjoying a snack of mulberries. The possum was about one foot from the window, so I could get a close up view of him. Unfortunately, I did not have the camera at the ready, so I didn't get a picture of him.
Honestly, this little guy was kinda cute. His tail wrapped around the branch as support when he ventured out on a thin limb. He was much prettier than all the dead possums I see on the road, and I didn't expect that at all.
We also have squirrels, many birds and chipmunks who climb on that tree eating mulberries. You can tell the birds have had a lot, because any bird poo around is red colored. Oh, gosh, I keep coming back to the topic of poop!
I have to run (literally) to the bathroom, I'll update later
Posted by Beth at 5:00 PM | Comments (3)
June 22, 2005
Traveling again
I really like the Tampa, Florida Airport - free wireless!!!
Ah, my plane arrives. I suppose I should shut down and get ready to board and be bored (:
Posted by Beth at 7:59 AM | Comments (4)
Ala
Last week, when I was in Philadelphia, Ala and her wonderful husband took me out to dinner. I had a wonderful time. I ate too much, drank too much and talked too much.
Ala is as smart as a whip (should be obvious if you read her blog!). I got a really nice picture of her and her man, but I need to check with her to see if it is ok for me to post it.
Posted by Beth at 7:45 AM | Comments (1)
Let's talk about poop
If you are squeamish or get the willies when discussing things like poop, go read a different post.
This morning, as I turned to flush the toilet, that my poop was electric green. Whoa! Being something of a hypochondriac, I figured I had some kind of weird disease.
So I Googled bright green poop. I found this site, where a guy documents his discovery that drinking or eating anything of a blue color will result in bright green poop. This article is a must read. Very funny.
And yes, I am relieved that the 32 oz blue margarita I had last night is the cause of my odd poop, not some mysterious disease.
I perused the Poop Report further, and found this report - since I fly a lot, I appreciate knowing that Seat 29E on Continental Airlines is one to be avoided at all costs.
Just thought you would like to know - maybe I can relieve some future green pooper.
Posted by Beth at 7:27 AM | Comments (13)
Promises, Promises
Well, Michael Schiavo had a gravestone installed on Terri's grave. "I kept my promise" is the sentiment inscribed on it.
I wonder what happened to his 'promise' to love, honor and cherish Terri until death do they part? Oh, wait - I know - that's why he had two (Yes, count them, 2) dates of her death inscribed. So, as far as this man was concerned, she died on the day she was stricken.
I hope his current girlfriend (mother of his children) bewares this man. I think he may just have gotten away with murder.
Posted by Beth at 4:15 AM | Comments (1)
Hmmph
Senator Durbin certainly appeared to be shedding crocodile tears during his *apology*.
Senator Durbin left a whole lot out of his apology. He didn't say he was wrong, he said he was sorry he hurt feelings.
Asshat. If I lived in Illinois, I'd be terribly embarrassed.
Posted by Beth at 4:06 AM
June 21, 2005
Hollywood's bad year
There is a lot of talk about Hollywood's inability to make any blockbusters this season.
A lot of folks blame early releases of DVDs - more people like to watch movies at home, they think. Others blame it on the obvious lack of imagination in this year's films - how many films are *not* remakes or sequels, after all?
We go to a lot of movies. John goes to more than I do because of all my travels. But, since last year, when so many celebrities spent a lot of money and slandered President Bush, the Military and Republicans, this independent is having a hard time spending any money on those *stars* who made their ugly and uninformed political views known.
Just because someone can act and has become famous because of their acting ability does not mean that they have two brain cells to knock together.
So, I cannot go to any movie starring those people. They will no longer get my money.
Maybe I'm alone in this. Maybe I'm not!
Posted by Beth at 8:56 PM | Comments (2)
In the "Be Careful what you ask for category..."
Comes SWWBO - who, after learning that I had just posted something over at my place, said: "Oh, kewl. Why don't you go post something at my place?"
Ever the obedient husband...
Yes, Dear.
I just did.
Love,
John
Posted by John at 7:57 PM | Comments (5)
I need help with my blog!
I will be happy to pay for a redesign. I want to be able to have permalinks that really work for all my posts. I want to upgrade to the next version of Movable Type. I do not have time to do that - work is killing me! Please, leave me a comment or email me if you are interested!
Thanks!
Posted by Beth at 6:58 AM
Carnival of the Recipes
I have been so fricking busy with work and traveling and stuff that I am behind in linking to all our carnival hosts who are just wonderful, out of this world folks.
Michele is our latest hostess, and did a great job. Here is the link.
Glenn Reynolds is kind enough to link to all the Carnivals of Recipes, along with Dean Esmay and a lot of other great bloggers, and now, Michele's carnival was linked to by MSNBC. Wow. Cool.
Just goes to show that everyone likes to eat!!
Dana of Note-it-posts will be our hostess this week. And, Dana has some great news - she is pregnant!
Don't worry Dana, I'll send you the info on how to do the Carnival this afternoon!
Posted by Beth at 5:28 AM
June 20, 2005
I don't care what the Washington Post says
I still love Starbucks Cafe Mocha with caramel drizzle. I will continue to search out a Starbucks in all the cities I go to so I can have my fancy coffee.
WAPO reveals that law students spend money at Starbucks. (Horrors!). Not only that, but complains that expensive coffee put on credit cards is costing future attorneys too much.
When I was in college, we spent much more money on stuff that was really not good for us - in the all-girl dorm I was in my freshman year, we would spend money on such things as chocolate chip cookie dough and beer and nasty Boones Farm Apple Wine. *Yuch*
Today's college students have better taste. Instead of starting the day off with a hangover (as we often did), they are starting the day with a Latte or Expresso or whatever. But still, someone has to critisize.
Anyway, David at Oxblog nicely fisks the Washington Post.
I must now search out Starbucks here in Lakeland, Florida!
Posted by Beth at 6:16 AM | Comments (6)
June 18, 2005
I got tagged
Beautiful Ala tagged me with this meme: "Five things society at large enjoys, but that I, for the most part, just don't get..."
My first thought was - only five? I mean, really, let's face it, John and I are not exactly the couple that fits in everywhere.
So, anyway, here are my five thingies.
1. The raising of the children - too many Americans seem to believe that children should be in daycare, and if old enough to go to school, should be scheduled within an inch of their lives for ballet, soccer, baseball, and other properly arranged group activities. Planned, supervised activities day in and day out. . . I can see maybe one or two activities sprinkled lightly through childhood, but too many moms spend every spare minute getting their kids to the next planned activity.
I believe that children should be able to be happy by themselves, without planned activities. Kids should be able to sit and do nothing, or read or create by themselves, or hang out with neighborhood friends playing games or riding bikes without a grown up watching them every second. It makes them self-reliant. Let kids use their imaginations - build forts, treehouses and chase fireflies.
Oh, gosh, I could go on forever on that one, so I better stop now and go on to number 2.
2. Pro Sports. I don't get it. How pitiful (to me) are those people whose week is made or ruined depending on how their football, baseball, soccer, hockey or whatever their team does? People actually get in fights over games. How bizzarre!
3. Home Owners Associations. I have lived under the heavy hand of a Home Owners' Association in the past. What hell. Approval was needed for the color of paint I wanted my house. If my garage door was open for more than 5 minutes, neighbors would be on the phone bitching at me. Only certain varietes of trees andl/or shrubs and flowers were approved. It was like being absorbed by the Borg, for goodness sake!
I am very happy to live in Leavenworth, Kansas now. We don't have to get approval to plant a shrub or build a front yard garden pond. I can be as eclectic as I want to be.
4. Fashion. Anyone who has met me knows that I am definitely not a slave to fashion. In fact, I'm almost anti-fashion. Many designers design only for anorexic women with boy-like figures. Many designers are gay men who are really designing for boys, but that's another gripe. When those fashions, designed for a straight up and down figure, are created in normal women sizes, the result is not pretty. And if you are as chubby as I am, it's downright awful. And the money people spend to have the 'latest' outfit each season is astounding. Unless, of course, you are talking about shoes. That, I can understand.
5. Cell Phones. I'll get in trouble over this one. I have a cell phone, I only use it when traveling, and then only when I am not in a car, a plane, a train or any other conveyance. But what really gripes me is that people are under the utterly mistaken impression that if they are talking on a cell phone in a public place, that their conversation is private. All the while, they are talking rather loudly about the size of their boyfriend's ummm, dangly thing. Or the type of positions they attempted the night before. These idiots don't care if there are children within listening distance. In fact, they will glare at you if you raise an eyebrow at the inappropriatness of their very public discussion.
Personally, I don't want to be available 24x7. That's why my cell phone is most turned to the off position. I'm a rebel, ain't I?
Well, it seems that, this being a meme thing, I should tag some others. Let's see.
I'll try for Eric and Tammi and Barb and John and Rosemary.
Posted by Beth at 7:30 PM | Comments (3)
June 16, 2005
Short thoughts on recent news
1. Gitmo - no terrorists have died as a result of the torture of being forced to hear music or exposure to women (clothed or unclothed). The USA has bent over backwards to give these evil men more rights in jail than they would have in one of their Muslim countries. The democrats who are comparing Gitmo to Nazi Germany are obviously continuing their hate America now campaign lead by How-weird Dean.
2. Terri Schiavo - It does not matter what the state of Terri's health was when she was killed by order of a judge. Most people who supported Terri's right to life supported it because she was a living, breathing human being, not because she might recover. Handicapped Americans, beware - you may be the next imperfect person whose spouse, with the aid of the Courts, forces you to die by withdrawing food and water.
3. Fred Phelps - I am a Kansan and this subhuman's behavior is just horrid and embarrassing. I declare him no longer a Kansan. He and his family and flock are not Christians, even though they claim that title. The best thing that could happen to them is to be shunned by the rest of society.
4. I do not care about ballroom dancing. Just as I don't care about singing or survivors. I really hate 'reality tv'.
5. Just because someone is a star, was a star or wants to be a star doesn't mean they have the brains of a dingo. Enjoy their movies, music or sports, but don't give credence to anything they say or do.
Time to go to work.
Posted by Beth at 5:38 AM | Comments (5)
June 15, 2005
Too busy to blog
I am in Philly, I did get here on Monday. I've just been really busy.
There is much to do. Great people to work with, but they had a guy quit who was the only one who knew how the stuff works, so I need to train some more people, and reinstall some stuff.
Hope everyone else is having a great week.
Posted by Beth at 4:40 AM
June 12, 2005
damn!
Guess where I am.
Not in Philadelphia, oh no. The gods of travel have determined that I'll never get there!
It seem the plane that was to take me from Kansas City to Chicago was diverted to Omaha because our weather was so awful that it could not land here.
I had a connecting flight from Chicago to Philly, but it left Chicago before my plane to Chicago even left Omaha - so Southwest sent me home with reservations on the earliest flight possible tomorrow morning.
And to think, I wasted hours sitting next to those two young women who were so critical of the rest of the world.
Bleccchhh.
Well, I'll get to Philly tomorrow. At least, I hope so!!
And now, I'll have to stay there until Friday instead of getting home on Thursday.
It's time to whine.
Posted by Beth at 9:54 PM | Comments (10)
and of course
I am sitting in the airport next to two of the most judgemental young women I've ever encountered.
Gossip, gossip, gossip. This old friend is 'on the sauce' the other one has gained weight! (as if those were two comparable problems)
None of their friends make as much money as they do - even if they have post graduate degrees.
Posted by Beth at 5:35 PM | Comments (3)
Midwest SuperCells Suck
Damn. Here I am at Kansas City International Airport waiting for my plane that will take me to Chicago where I switch to a different plane that will take me to Philadelphia.
My plane was diverted to Omaha due to the lovely spring weather - lots of lightening, thunder and lots and lots of rain.
I will mostly likely miss my connecting flight. That means that I will have to pay for my hotel stay for the night in Philadelphia because it is past 6:00 pm there - too late to call and change my reservation.
So.
Here I wait - what will Southwest do with me? I love Southwest, as you know, and this weather is surely not their fault.
But damn, everything on earth appears to be keeping me away from Philadelphia.
Got sick last week, before me flight, so I stayed home- and this week - the weather got sick.
There appears to be a river of water on the taxiway outside the terminal. It kinda reminds me of some kind of Alfred Hitchcock movie - only I don't know which one.
It's always something!
Posted by Beth at 5:26 PM | Comments (1)
Sniped from ALa
| Your IQ Is 125 |
 |
Posted by Beth at 4:46 PM | Comments (2)
Oh, my
Allan live-blogged his garage sale yesterday!
I swore off having garage sales years ago when I got just one too many bargain hunters who took one look at the curtains I was selling and said "gee, what awful taste, I'll give you 50 cents for all of them".
Posted by Beth at 12:31 PM | Comments (2)
Cowards.
I really hate it when bloggers don't allow comments or even trackbacks. (Sorry, Glenn, you are indeed included it this feeling. Heh.).
Especially when they make absurd and inflammatory statements, such as this one on the Huffington Post.
I'm just saying ...
Posted by Beth at 11:33 AM | Comments (3)
It's tons of laundry day!
I really hate doing laundry. As a result, both John and I have more sets of underwear and socks and outer clothing than some small countries.
That allows me to avoid laundry for sometimes several weeks at a time. Eventually, though, it's time to pay the piper, and about 10 baskets of laundry need to be washed. Now.
So, I'll be stumbling up and down the stairs with overloaded laundry baskets for several hours. Then I have to pack of said laundry and get in a plane to fly to Philadelphia (yes, I'm going to make it there this week, I'm not sick and I have knocked on wood a zillion times.) Won't get in until nearly midnight, but I will be contacting ALa to see if I can meet her and Tesco some evening this week.
Posted by Beth at 11:08 AM
June 10, 2005
How-Weird Dean Resignation Pool
Democratic National Chairman, Howard (How Weird!) Dean has been such a total ass lately that even other Democrats are starting to distance themselves from him.
I wonder - should we set up a pool as to what day Dean 'resigns' from his post?
I'm thinking - August 6th, 2005.
Winner gets a Coffee Mug from the Castle Argghhh! Store.
Leave your guesses in the comments!
Posted by Beth at 8:55 AM | Comments (8)
Ooops
We were supposed to have a conference call yesterday - 180 people were supposed to dial in to hear some kind of announcement or other.
Whoever set up the call forgot to turn off the option where you state your name and the electronic voice says - now entering - and then the name.
Imagine - 180 people stating their name. It was funny.
The meeting was rescheduled for this morning.
Posted by Beth at 7:04 AM | Comments (1)
June 8, 2005
Springtime in Kansas
Yeah, it's another one of those stormy spring nights. The sirens have gone off 4 times tonight - at least one tornado went north of us and two have gone just south of us. But they are little tornados - the biggest problem now will be flooding - not for us, we are up too high to get the flooding.
They talked about the possibility of storms this morning, and I had to drive from Leavenworth to Lawrence, Kansas. I was hoping to see some weather, so I brought our Cannon Rebel digital with me, but it stayed clear - though hot and humid!!
I'm just as happy that I didn't see any neat storms - that means that the weather, although rainy, stormy and even haily, is not tornadoie!
Posted by Beth at 8:01 PM
June 7, 2005
Carnival of the Recipes Stuff
Carnival number 42 was held last week at Conservative Friends.
Great Eating was had by all.
This week, Carnival of the Recipes #43 will be held at the blog of Songstress7!
Songstress7 is even taking Friday off to compile the Carnival - that is what I call dedication!!
So, everyone, get your recipes in to recipe.carnival at gmail.com!
Posted by Beth at 10:03 PM
80s Music Quiz
Who can resist doing this?
Not me - but it will take me awhile!
And my results are:
Posted by Beth at 3:45 PM | Comments (1)
June 6, 2005
Sorry
Hi, I'm Barney, and Beth is my person. I was so embarrassed today when she went to Key's blog and found that Mom has not been commenting and linking as proper Blog Etiquette requires.
Key said:
I have blog friend issues. I know this, because all but a couple defied blog etiquette 101 on my first meme post by not commenting even though they were linked!
Mom hardly ever comments on someone's blog when they link to her. She had no fricking idea, she told me!
I'm so embarrassed and sorry about how bad my mom is, I made a 'Sorry World' photo to express meow feelings.
Posted by at 8:58 PM | Comments (1)
Imbedded Blogger/photographer
I just discovered this Kansas blogger this morning when he was on the Jerry Agar show on KMBZ radio.
JD is imbedded with Marines in Iraq and is home for a couple of weeks, then he will return to Iraq. He has a lot of videos on his site that the MSM doesn't ever show on the evening news - I have blogrolled him, and I suggest you go and check out his site.
Posted by Beth at 11:16 AM | Comments (2)
June 5, 2005
Suspicion
Call it paranoia because I'm so sick if you like. But, it just hit my little tiny brain that perhaps more and more MSM outlets are starting to charge to see their articles so that bloggers will be unable to fact check.
I clicked on a Drudgereport link today - to the TIMES of London - and even though I have been a subscriber for years, after I logged in, I got a message that I would have to pay to read the article. And it ain't cheap. Here is a screen print of the pricing
Posted by Beth at 7:49 PM | Comments (4)
A wasted day
I really hate being sick. All I have done all day is lay in bed, acheing and drinking water. I did a bit of surfing and weboggling, but I'm surely not very good at thinking today!
Barnacle, the cat who owns me, has been very bad today - she has peed two times outside of her litter box. I don't know if it's because I'm sick and she doesn't like that or if she is just pissed at me for some reason.
John got me a Custard Cement from Sheridans - I thought eating that cold cold stuff would make my fever go away.
Well, it sure tasted good, but I still have a damn fever.
So John made me a Margarita. I doubt it will kill what ails me, but maybe I won't care anymore!
Posted by Beth at 7:33 PM | Comments (1)
Well, Darn
Woke up this morning with a temperature hovering between 101 and 102.
Damn. Now I don't get to meet AL and spouse in Philly, at least not this week.
I swear on a stack of Bibles that I will get a flu shot every year from now on. Gee, this sucks!
Posted by Beth at 1:26 PM | Comments (1)
June 4, 2005
Early Summer Storms
We are in the middle of a severe thunderstorm - the sirens went off awhile ago, but they have since turned off. Lots of lightening and thunder, and we found out that Houdini howls very quietly when he hears the tornado sirens.
This is not an unusual thing this time of year. I think John really likes the storms.
Posted by Beth at 9:17 PM | Comments (5)
June 2, 2005
More Travel (surprise, surprise!)
I am going to Philadelphia next week - does anyone have any suggestions as to dining, etc? I will be staying in the city, close to the convention center (though my client is about 10 miles away). I will be within walking distance of the Historic District - I have explored Philadelphia a bit before, but it has been some years, and I missed a lot of the historic district that time because I was attending Planet Tivoli.
I'm going to fly there on Sunday morning so I'll have the afternoon to do some site seeing - might go to some museums, too.
Wish John could join me, but since we both have jobs, that can be a little difficult.
Posted by Beth at 4:13 PM | Comments (2)
Vaccine for Shingles - a good thing!
I got Shingles about 3 years ago. It kept me out of work for three week, and gave me pain for another 3 afterwards. I would not wish anyone to get it, even my worst enemy!
Vaccine Reduces Risk of Shingles
The vaccine seems to be pretty darn effective and doesn't seem to cause problems. Believe me, you don't ever want to get shingles - once the vaccine is approved and offered, get it!
Posted by Beth at 3:43 PM | Comments (6)
Now, I feel old
Yesterday, Andy, our 20 year old son, moved into his first apartment. We rented a U-HAUL and packed up his bedroom furniture, his computer, console games and everything else I could think of and drove out to Manhattan, Kansas so he could get all settled into his new place.
I got to meet one of Andy's roommates, Ashes, a very cute, bubbly girl with lots of personality. His other roommate was still transporting her furniture, so we did not get to meet her. We also got to meet Lu, a friend of Andy's who he dates sometimes, and Jason, another friend of Andy's.
Times have changed. When I was 20, it would have been quite the scandal for a guy to live with two girls. Now, it is not at all uncommon - the three of them are friends, platonic friends.
The apartment itself is the second floor of an old house. It has a nice screen porch, three bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen and a small living room. The decor is a bit startling - Andy's room and the 'computer room' off of his room are a dark coral, nearly orange, color. Knowing Andy as I do, he will not paint it, he hates painting rooms. He will put up as many posters and wall hangings as he has, I suspect!
Andy's friend August helped quite a bit with the move. August and I loaded everything into the truck together (John was at work, and Andy had to be in Manhattan earlier to pay his first month's rent). It was hard work, and I am so out of shape, that today I ache. I didn't realize how heavy desks and beds and bookcases and boxes of books are.
Andy and all his friends are going to an Anime convention in Dallas this weekend, then he starts his first job on Monday. We bought him a bike so he can ride it to work everyday, and when school starts in the fall, he can ride it to Kansas State (He is only about two miles from the Engineering School).
I am very proud of my son. I love him as much as any mom can love her son, and then more. Getting that first apartment is an important milestone in a young person's life. I remember how excited I was to move from the dorm into my first apartment when I was in college.
Andy will do fine, I'm sure of it. It is hard to let go of him, and let him grow up, but he is more than ready to get out of the house and start living as an adult.
I am both happy and sad. I'm happy that Andy is becoming more and more independant, but I'm sad, too. It's the whole empty nest thing, I guess.
I'll get over it eventually (:
Posted by Beth at 12:29 PM | Comments (6)