don't mistake this for a complaint - holidays are always fabulous - but the monday holiday generally frogs up the week more than the friday holiday.

did you know that every raindrop has a solid core? out by the ocean, the cores may be pieces of salt. inland, maybe it's dirt or dust. every raindrop has a solid core. fascinating.

several high school football teams came to a local football camp. one of them is from barrow, alaska. it's an average of 40º cooler there than here this time of year. 40º is enough degrees to actually be a borderline comfortable temp all by itself. another difference there is that in barrow, polar bears walk off the frozen arctic ocean directly onto the football field.

look how far barrow is above the arctic circle. the solid core of the raindrops in barrow is probably ice. all year 'round.

simplify

removed one large box of stuff from my stuff. progress in the simplification campaign. remove stuff & junk. replace necessity junk with necessity class.

this is a pendant uplight fixture. i am a fan of the pendant uplight. the pendant uplight qualifies as necessity class. remove the pathetic dated ceiling fans and replace with pendant uplights... would be one of the last steps, actually, because it's ceilings first, then walls, then windows & doors, then floors, then fixtures & accessories.

the entire project's overwhelming, so we'll just focus on the simplification campaign for now.

step one: request the info pak. [check!]

i know why dogs ride around with their heads sticking out of car windows

because there is so much to smell out there. cut grass & cut hay. wet, turned earth. dusty, dry earth. crops & flowers & trees all budding & blooming & growing.

because there is so much to see out there. dogs & cats & horses romping & frolicking in their yards. families walking along the sidewalks eating italian ices, cones of frozen custard, scoops of rainbow coloured sno. fireflies rising out of the grass.

because there is so much to hear out there. laughing kids & hollering kids. music from car radios, home radios, the ice cream truck. wind chimes chiming in the wind. dogs barking. cicadas chirruping.

because there's a big ol' world out there. stick yer head out the window & experience it!

headline: workers to be paid for working

from the business section of today's paper: bridgestone may base pay on workers' productivity. begging the question: what was it previously based on? inactivity?

currently watching what's in the bag? on the golf channel, and today they are pimping a golf cart. stereo. wood dash. headlights, taillights, brakelights, underbody lights. goodyear tires. chrome wheels. canopy. ostrich skin seats. alarm system. this cart goes fast and looks good. the funniest thing was when the one guy goes: yeah, we stayed up really late last night working on the cart. we stayed up till 10:30. haha. golfers. sheesh.

watched a golf movie last night - the greatest game ever played. shia la bouef played francis ouimet, a 20-year-old amateur who won the u.s. open in 1913. it's a true story of a working class boy who challenged the exclusionary class system that was part of golf in the early 20th century and challenged the domination of british & scottish players by beating two brittons in an 18-hole playoff round. it's also the story of a boy's relationship with his father and a unique friendship between francis & his 10-year-old caddie, eddie lowery. it's a fascinating story and a well-made movie.

the current programme has now changed to vandy beating up on arkansas in the sec baseball tourney. 4-1 vandy going into the 2nd inning. the indy 500 is currently in a rain delay, and bernhard langer is leading the golf tournament. lots of sports on, eh? makes you want to just sit around and watch sports. not very productive. wonder if bridgestone would pay me for this?

you can, in fact, know what you know - if you know how to tell that what you think you know is what you actually know.

there was a story on the news recently about a new method of teaching math - reformed math. it's been around 15 yrs. you can google it for more details, but it's basically a loose interpretation of math that allows for estimating and getting credit for getting close. kind of like "good enough" math.

it's described as a teaching strategy that favors discovery & group interaction over memorization of math facts such as times tables. according to wikipedia: It emphasizes word problems and understanding the concepts behind mathematical operations, rather than necessarily getting the right arithmetic answers for these operations.

there's nothing wrong with group interaction, and there's certainly nothing wrong with understanding the concepts, but basic arithmetic is also one of the concepts, and the basics do not inherently preclude group interaction. what is more interpersonally interactive than using flash cards to learn times tables?

with the prevalence of calculators these days, one would perhaps imagine that arithmetic isn't all that important anymore, but without a rudimentary understanding of arithmetic, there's no way to guage an understanding of the concepts. getting the right answer demonstrates an understanding of the concepts, and getting the right answer requires knowing the arithmetic.

in reformed math, there is room for more than one "right" answer, but arithmetic is not subjective. the principles of reformed math are being applied to levels of mathematics [k-12] where they are not applicable.

if i had wanted to amuse you, you'd already be laughing.

today's assignment: shake it up. if you usually put on the left sock first, try putting on the right sock on first today. part your hair on the other side. wear something orange or polka dotted.

shake it up enough, and one day you may reach the pinnacle of productivity that is i. so far today i have run the 11.2 in 1:45, picked up the jeep from the mechanic, ate a sandwich, made banana bread, dusted, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, washed the sheets, started the coffee, showered, washed the dishes, made the bed, ate the banana bread w/ coffee, folded the clothes.

yes, one day you can be fabulous just like moi.

would you look at that -- it's friday.

bug opens this weekend. billed as one of the most terrifying horror movies imaginable. this is one i will not be seeing. i do want to see pirates, harry potter, and a few others. we rarely see movie commershals around here anymore with ol' tivo in force, so i don't so much know what's out. there's some hilary swank movie i wanted to see, although i must not have wanted to see it too badly since i can't even remember what it was. duh.

wednesday night, i purchased boots, jeans, & shatterproof sunglasses for class. yes, i am taking a class that requires shatterproof sunglasses. and, a helmet, of which they will let me borrow one. yes, i am taking a class that requires over the ankle footware and jeans. and, full-finger gloves that i do not yet have. what class, you ask? algebra, of course. duh.

last night, mini-me & mini-friend & i went with speedy to do her phone answering thing, and here is what is true: anything is fun the first time you do it, but if you don't like gumbo, you aren't going to magically like it just b/c it's free.

today is usually hummus day, but todaytoday is leftover chicken nachos day instead. this week, i have run 6 miles four times at progressively slower speeds, but it's been very hot, and anyway - how far have you run, eh? right. tomorrow, speedy & i wanted to go to the park for a run, but we are sadly transportation challenged, so that might not happen.

la princesse et l'écureuil

there once was a princess who lived in a treehouse. she enjoyed reading & writing, collecting leaves and pressing them between pieces of wax paper, and making smoothies. she lived alone because princesses can choose how they want to live, but there were many guardians around the tree where her treehouse was built because princesses cannot choose to be totally left alone. to get some exercise and find more leaves to press, the princess went walking in the woods. she walked & walked. she met many woodland creatures, and as you are no doubt well aware, woodland creatures make good companions because they are energetic & enthusiastic, but woodland creatures do not make good friends because they cannot be trusted. one particular day, the princess met one particular woodland creature who appeared to be more trustworthy than the others. to test him, she told him one little relatively worthless secret. he immediately told it to all the other little woodland creatures, so she knew that he was no different than all the rest, and that it's true what they say: all squirrels are squirrely.

i'm so happy-go-lucky that lucky and happy people are going to beat me with sticks out of pure, unbridled jealousy! (p. 277, the grim grotto)

lemony snicket, you are a masterful prosewright. i've completed book the eleventh, so there are only two more to go.

it's a curious series of books. the first few are more simple plot-based action tales, but the last few are morality tales. clearly, the series took on more depth with its increased popularity. one wonders if mr snicket had written the outline for all 13 volumes in advance, or if he made them up as he went along, or employed some combination of the two approaches. at any rate, the later books have a different feel that the early books.

all the books contain humor, random descriptions & dialog, fanciful situations, and the basic concept of orphans banding together to overcome hardship, but the early books contain more blatant satire while the later books contain more subtle teaching. the groundwork of a dichotomy [good v. evil] is laid from the beginning, and the comprehension of good & evil is later expanded to allow room for that gray area between the two. as the hook-handed man says, on p. 223 of the grim grotto: "people aren't either wicked or noble. they're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict."

headline: new gore book accuses bush of mass deception about iraq -- uh... not really a newsbulletin there folks.

gore says bush did something deceitful or otherwise wrong & bad. what did you think he was going to say? right.

left ol' lemony snicket at work yesterday afternoon, so had to endure conversation on the vanpool as i didn't have a handy distraction. yesterday's seatmate -- rider-a -- is a big small-talker. annoying. it's obvious now why they all left that seat by the door available. nobody wants to sit next to mr how-are-ya.

this week includes birthdays of people i know who are turning 80 and 16 and 34. fascinating, eh? yeah, right. whatever. just trying to fill up a little space here so's you don't feel you wasted a trip comin' on by to see what was up with ol' ace.

later.

to the tech staff

A) i am not intrigued with your every technical move. skip the play-by-play and fix the machine.

II. do not wish to have a conversation with you while you are in my office - occupying my chair, my computer, and my general space - exacerbating my space-related anxiety issues. skip the small talk and fix the machine.

3: even when i request your services, i have no desire to drop what i am doing to accommodate your schedule. tell me when you will be here and how long the operation will take so that i can plan to do something else at the time.

- - if the computer is not broken, i don't want to see you. if you need to perform some random non-essential operation on my computer, do it when i am not here.

that's right - i didn't post anything yesterday. i'm just a rebel, so deal with it. right.

from the world of the odometers, i bring you 2005002 from old faithful which turned in the big 200k a few days back. and, i bring you 87653 from mini-me. i'd bring you 87654, which is the true poetic moment, but it came into the garage at 87653, and i'm sure to miss 87654, so i bring you 87653 in recognition of 87654. right.

this morning's news program anchorette offered a quick outline of what to expect later on the news program: first, a story about laser liposuction and how this new method of lipo provides a quick & easy & relatively painless way to be thin-thin-thin! next, a story about how to make delicious chocolate covered bearclaws for your next decadent brunch event. right.

the titans signed rattay as a backup qb, and the quick interview with him on the news, he seemed dedicated, but not too excited. probably tired after practice, but also there is the fact that nobody else wanted him coupled with the fact that he'll be backing up young mr young. ...sigh... of course, it's a matter of perspective. you think you'll be an nfl qb, and have to resign yourself ...sigh... to being a backup nfl qb. you forget that there are literally hundreds of boys who didn't make it at all. right.

no pictures today. you should count yourself blessed that i posted at all. right!

so you can see why i am going to keep the princess muffin in its wittle-bitty muffin box forever as souvenier.

the cuisinart coffee maker was defective, so my old man called cuisinart. they said - sure, send it back, and we will fix it & return it. 2 wks, $20 shipping. uh... it's defective, people. we don't want to do w/o coffee for 2 wks and pay you $20 for the priviledge. so i called macy's to return it there, but since it was purchased 7 months ago and their return policy is 6 months, the clerk said, we can't take it back. i asked to talk to his supervisor. she said, we can't take it back. i asked to talk to her mgr. she said there was no mgr in housewares for the day, so she'd transfer me to the menswear mgr. he said, we can't take it back. i asked to talk to his boss, and he was fixin' to give me a phone number, gave me the first three digs, and then he goes, wait, the asst gen mgr is right here. you can talk to her. so, i talk to her, and she says - sure, bring it on back. persistence pays off.

got the new coffee maker home, opened the box, setting it up... la-la-la... yumm... smells like cinnamon. must be the filters? mmmm.... hey, what's that - there's some dust here in the machine. open the grinder,and what to my wondering eyes should appear? cinnamon! in! the! grinder! criminy - they gave me a used/returned coffee maker in exchange for my used/returned coffee maker. put it all back in the box, pkg it up, and plan to return it today for another - specifically unused version of the coffee maker.

since we had no coffee maker, we had to go out for breakfast. this is a great hardship on me b/c what i love the most is to hop out of bed & jump right into a cooking project. right. so, we went to cracker barrel for blueberry pancakes & oatmeal. la-la-la... waiting for the oatmeal... yumm.... there it is - oatmeal! put some brown sugar on & take a big bite... ick! ick! yuck! salty! bad salty! ick! that's right. you heard me correctly - the oatmeal was salted. why would anyone salt the oatmeal. flag down the waitress & send it back. she comes back in like 5 mins w/ another bowlful saying they are all back there tasting it & cannot agree on the salt issue. took a cautious nibble taste of the new bowl, and bam! salt. sent it back & asked for another muffin instead. replaced a healthy bowl of oatmeal w/ a calorie & fat laden muffin. yes!! whatever. since my food was messed up, my old man had been handing me blueberry pancakes & bacon & whatnot off his plate, so i am not actually hungry at this pt for another muffin, so i asked for a bag to take it home. this is the best part of the story, b/c the waitress brought me the absolute a-#1 cutest little carton you ever did see, and it holds exactly my little princess muffin.

it was a generic stretch of desert teeming with control freaks demonstrating ingrained socialization issues.

my favorite pie is chess pie, but i don't know how to make it. googled the recipe. who knew that chess pie had cornmeal & vinegar? here's the recipe so's you can make me one.
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. soft butter
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. cornmeal
1 unbaked pie shell
mix all ingredients.
quickly pour into pie shell.
bake in 350º oven for 45 minutes.

there is not a vehicle in the possession of me, my old man, speedy, or junior, that is working correctly. they are all having the brokenness. mini-me has a working vehicle, but it's parked a little far away to make it a convenient choice for visits to the grocer. last night we went to driver's way to peruse the vehicle inventory, and today, my old man & i are going to the harley dealership. that's right. you heard me correctly: harley. next week they are having a big $500 under invoice sale, so today's just for shopping, but shopping's a big step. gonna sit on one, see how i like it, maybe sign up for a class, learn how to drive one. beginning to look like it might actually happen, and although it will also be an inconvenient choice for visits to the grocer... it's possible that it will make those visits anyway.

this morning, speedy & i went to run on the abandoned golf course. pleasant, shaded, mostly flat... but somehow we weren't getting the route correct and kept ending up with only one mile accomplished, so we went out to the street & back through the neighborhood, and it's all good in the 'hood, but i want to get a handle on the g.c. so that we can get more mileage out of it. today's outcome: 6 miles in 54:33. respectable. highly respectable.

currently reading lemony snicket #10, and there are 13 in the series, so you can see it's a relentless reading march to the end.

twilight

there is a certain magic at twilight...
when the fading natural glow
competes with the bare yellow bulb
for mastery of the shadows.
a few minutes after,
...the bulb rules the night.
a few minutes earlier,
...the sun dispells the shadow.


there is a certain melancholy to twilight...
when the daytime's long goodbye
drifts in eddys & whorls,
flowing out between the branches.
a few minutes earlier, the paths are filled with laughter.
a few minutes after, the branches are filled with stars.

no matter how many staff you have in your employ, you will never be able to get one of them to take your colonoscopy for you

lendale white is still injured. my initial reaction is that the titans need to cut him loose, but then... i can see where it's a good idea to have a backup for chris henry. young mr. henry seems to be coming along quite nicely, so we'll keep an eye on him.

in the middle of the night last night, a house blew up. not around here, but right close to someone i know. on the news report, there was the someone i know, telling how it sounded like lightning had struck, telling about going out to help the folks get out of the house. the explosion was heard & felt by a fireman getting a midnight snack 2 miles away. 2 miles! and, these people i know live... like... 200 yds away. amazing that no other houses were damaged, and no one was hurt. conspicuous in its absense from the report was any mention of what caused this mighty explosion.

predicted high today: 72º. room temperature. bringing the indoors outside.

delusion is believing...

... my garmin is right when it clocks me doing 7:39 [but not 9:37]

... that guy backing out his silverado extended cab sees me & will yield

... shoes that are merely sort-of wet won't cause blisters

... the hills in PWP could not possibly be as bad as i remember

... smacking the rear quarter panel of the car that just cut me off will somehow hurt the car more than it will hurt me

... that light will stay green

... this pain is something i can run through

... 30 mins on the eliptical is just the same as running 30 mins

... i don't look as dorky when i run as that person does

... these shoes have at least 100 more miles in them

... 85º isn't all that hot

... if i run far enough, i can eat whatever i want

... if i can run fast enough, i can outrun the demons & their tiny shrill voices

toothpick is a rapper. a big thanks to all you losers who knew that and didn't clue me in. jeezumpete.

yesterday afternoon, jerky showed up early, so i was still merrily skipping my way across the vast vistas that lie between my office & the pickup point. just barely made it over there before he passed the intersection. no idea why he was early. he didn't say why he was early. would he have left me standing on the corner if he were early and got there before i showed up? he would, no doubt.

this fabulous computer has no serial port, so i cannot plug in my garmin to download the data into the garmin logbook. most likely can get a usb<->serial adapter, but wanted to do it without further trips to the selling agent, and could not. a hassle, no doubt.

did some magic last night -- turned bananas into bread. a miracle, no doubt.

the local news has been replaying this story over & over since the early news last evening: there's this baseball league around here that requires a $50 registration fee plus another $50 by either donation or by selling raffle tickets. this one kid's dad took the raffle tix but didn't sell them. opening day, the kid was benched. no pay, no play. simple. since 17:30 yesterday evening, we've been watching this irate dad harp on about how he paid his $50. too bad the registration fee was actually $100, buddy. they've also been showing an interview with the president of the league where the prez says all the parents signed an agreement to pay $50 and then either donate $50 or sell raffle tix. did you get that point? they signed an agreement. from what i can glean from the dad's complaint, he was being forced to donate or forced to participate in the league's fundraiser. well -- welcome to the world of rec sports. jeezumpete. this is so very much the way leagues raise funds... what is news about this? the news is that no matter what people sign, no matter how the world continues to operate around them, no matter -- people continue to be eejits, no doubt.

ted nugent is a crazy man. just sayin'.

not sure how it happened, but last night the teevee got set on this show called ted or alive. it's a reality show where a small group -- like, 6 maybe -- people camp out on ted nugent's farm and do things like wear animal skins, shoot crossbows at ted-shaped targets, and kill chickens with their bare hands. they do all this to compete and see who wins. wins what?? the chance to say you are as psycho as ol' ted?? criminy.

speaking of crazy -- our state legislature is considering a bill that would approve 19 new specialty license plates. the state already offers 90, so this would make the total 109 specialty license plate choices, not counting the legislative & other specialty plates not available to the general public. criminy, people -- how'm i s'posed to play the license plate game if 1 state has over 110 different license plates.


big article in the business section of yesterday's paper revealed the shocking news that music listeners would prefer to download 15 songs which they know & like for 99¢ a pop[song] on itunes, rather than purchase an entire cd of 11 mostly unknown songs for the same $15 outlay. really? gosh, you mean people would rather spend their hard-earned ¢a$h on music they know over music they don't know? who knew? shocking.

from the world of sports: lendale white is sitting out mini-camp with an injured hamstring. he may have a legit injury, but he was hurt when they drafted him and has been hurt ever since. he was not a good choice. i gave him a chance, and he didn't pan out, so i say ditch him. chris henry is working hard every day and talking to the cameras like a tough, hard-working gentleman. next week is full camp, so we shall see how he looks, but my money's on young chris to have a stellar year.

in medical news: the dentist couldn't find anything wrong with my jaw yesterday, so i am sticking with the spiders-in-the-ear theory. it's a chance for someone to make medical history, gettin' these spiders out of my ear. all the dentist can ask is - seems you may be grinding your teeth - have you been under any stress lately? stress? me? no way.

it's true

suddenly in possession of the resources necessary to acquire not one, but two unique modes of independent transportation, and not convinced at all that it's been worth the cost.

forgot the price of stamps went up today. another hassle.

so, ol' lefty won the players championship. good for lefty b/c he is a good guy, and in case you didn't hear it, in his speech, he wished his mom, his wife, and his mom-in-law a happy mother's day. this man is not an eejit. too bad about sean o'hair falling apart like that, but anyone would have trouble with that 17th hole, and his adrenaline was probably pumping like mad. he'll be okay and come back to win another time, but it did look like he'd win this time.

dale earnhardt jr [i.e. little e] is looking for a new team for next year. he's already said he wants to drive a chevy, so that's too bad b/c it sure would be nice to see him in a toyota w/ waltrip & them. jeff gordon won another race today, putting more distance between his win total and that of earnhardt sr which is a good thing b/c now maybe the fans will shaddup about it. gordon's a good guy, and they need to leave him alone.

did you know that when nj governor corzine had that car wreck he was heading to a meeting between don imus & the rutgers univ women's b'ball team? interesting... probably the mob bumped him into that guardrail.

speaking of sports & driving, there's this woman pit reporter on fox's nascar broadcasts, and she's really awful. not like kelly tilghman, michele tafoya, and suzy kolber. they know their stuff. this girl, i don't know who she is, but she's an eejit. i despise the token female. makes things much harder for the rest of us.

this is a picture of the forever stamp. a stamp that's always good, no matter how many times the price of a first class stamp is hiked. i suppose i'll get some of these, but it seems like a scam somehow. and it's not like you'd be able to purchase as many as you'd ever need forever. seems like a good plan to get some, but seems like i'm missing something about it, too.

mitt romney is seeking republican nomination for prez, but since he's named for a piece of softball equipment, i cannot even consider voting for him.

i seem to be shirt challenged as of late. have found several seemingly good shirts here lately, and even purchased a few, but none of them are working. what is so hard about being a shirt that these shirts can't get it right?

doctors in oregon removed 2 spiders from the ear of a 9-year-old who complained of ear pain. i have ear pain. thought it was from the qtip incident, but have decided it is definitely spiders.

from lemony snicket's the slippery slope, pg 157: "it is one of the peculiar truths of life that people often say things that they know full well are ridiculous. if someone asks you how you are, for example, you might automatically say, 'fine, thank you.', when in fact you have just failed an examination or been trampled by an ox." to buck this trend, i'll be honest: i've just been trampled by an ox.

and, a happy mother's day to you, too.

aced

you must think i am an idiot... that you can tell me anything, and i will believe it. but, i am worn out with it and quitting the game.

said it here before,
but it bears repeating:

we cannot know
    each other.
we can merely know
    about each other.

you are playing at sincerity, and that is the most dangerous game of all, because when it comes down to the bottom line, down the dirt, down to the last shred of who you are - how will you recognise yourself?

friday night dog pound, and something with a "k"

went to buckle to get my old man some shorts b/c he's high maintenance. while we were at the mall, we stopped at hibbet's so i could try on some running skirts and of course none of them fit. aggravation. next stop: target. found some fabulous things there to skritch off the wishlist, but no running skirt. aggravation. next stop: jason's deli for the most fab salad bar this side of the yangtze. and, of course, jason's is right next to cat's. got the new finger eleven cd and perused myriad other newbies including kings of leon, asleep at the wheel, & roadside graves. settled for only finger eleven in the new category and 6 from the dog pound. love the dog pound!
--- seth kaufman - "ting" ---
--- steve reynolds - "exile" ---
--- toothpick - "time travelin' couch" ---
--- 3 de copas - "3 de copas" ---
--- mario frangoulis - "follow your heart" ---
--- fool's progress - "fool's progress" ---
we'll see, but really, how can you go wrong with $1 cds? yeah, yeah - i know... paw was a big mistake, but dezeray's hammer, the pat mcgee band, the benjy davis project, and we the living... all well worth it.

watching the golf tourney replay from today, and i'll go on record saying kelly tilgman is one of the best commentators in all of sports. she works for the golf channel, and she knows her stuff. knows golf and knows the players and knows her fellow commentators. she's got a marvelous sense of humor and a stellar voice. she's just plain good.

tomorrow, me & speedy are planning to run the golf course, and wanted to find out how far it is, but somebody left her bluddy garmin in the bluddy locker at work. criminy. what were you thinking? gaaa! stoopid.

also planning a trip to the eye dr, the haircutter, the liberry, and someplace that starts with "k". made a memory thing - kehl. something, eye dr, haircutter, liberry. what's the freakin' "k" for? criminy!

so, tom lehman was standing there ready to take his second shot, and the commentator just said, "he has never missed this green" and thereby jinxed lehman to land in the lake. criminy! why did he say that?!

k.... k.... what the hula starts with "k"???

wondering if it's possible to have soothed an ear itch in such a way that it could have resulted in my present jaw ache.

wondering why i missed the rain in the forecast.

wondering what to ask the guy we are interviewing today.

wondering why i didn't purchalize any hummus for hummus day, but instead left hummus day bereft.

wondering why beret & bereft are only one letter apart, but so very different in meaning.

wondering if the lemony snicket series should only count as one book.

wondering if my ipod will charge up in 5 mins.

wondering if i should wear the chuck taylors or since it's raining, wear the nb's and carry the chuck taylors, and thereby have dry shoes upon arrival.

wondering why pacman would visit a strip club in nyc when he's there to see the commish on an appeal to his banishment.

wondering if two qtip images is one too many. or, perhaps two too many.

greetings from the course of the golf...

where i assured my old man it wouldn't rain on him, but perhaps i was wrongly spoken. he did say that he couldn't decide if it was gonna rain, and i did say that i didn't actually believe it was up to him to decide per se.

got my free propel, and the cashier goes - that's 8¢. and i am like - since when is 8¢ free? except i just actually said - i don't have 8¢. turned out she didn't either, but she said she could get a nickel somewhere, so i guess she put her 3¢ in the discussion there.

you could say i ran 6 miles today, but that would be overlooking the .75 mile i walked at the end and the here&there pieces i walked before that, but criminy crickets - what do you want from me? it was 9freakin'1º outside. that's just hot - i don't care who you are.

speaking of running & golf courses, there's an abandoned course around here. supposed to be turned into some sort of battlefield park or something. right. so you know - it's nothing right now but an abandoned golf course. on saturday, speedy & i are gonna check it out, take a little run on the cart path. hope it's not too short & not too long. too short, and we'll be running in freakin' circles for an hour - too long, and we'll be walking.

ah. there's a cool breeze... feel it? probably gonna rain soon.

so, i was thinking that at work, there are suddenly several openings for the same job that i have right now, and these are new openings b/c it's a hybrid sort of job and the only one of its kind as of yet. i was thinking of combining all these openings and proposing to the execs that i could do them all, provided... you know... they raise my pay. thinking i am such a superstar or something. haven't gotten around to creating the actual proposal b/c i am too freakin' busy w/ the one job i already have. go figure.

that's all i have for you right now. go make yourself useful, or at least, go outside & play in the rain.

it's wednesday, but old christine is on b/c we live in tivoland where tv doesn't control us - we control the tv!

news

cooking
if you were to check my oven setting, it would be either 300º or 450º. 300º is for banana bread, and 450º is for pizza. that's all that goes in that baby. which is still clean from the thorough cleaning mini-me gave it.

business
here's a fascinating little story: in february, ordered the new harry potter book and a book mini-me needed for school. to qualify for free shipping, had them "shipped" together, knowing that the h.p. book would not ship until this summer. the schoolbook shipped fine, and i planned to change the ship-to on the h.p. book. put changing the ship-to on the back burner and got around to it this morning. logged into bn.com but could not change the ship-to, so emailed cusotmer service. received in reply two emails, which are a polar contrast. the automatic anonymous email says the ship-to cannot be changed, but the later personal reply from a customer service rep reports that the ship-to has been changed. so, got what i wanted -- what one would think is a reasonable solution, but the first email is misleading because it reports that what will be done cannot be done. the emails appear to have been sent 16 minutes apart.

cops & robbers
a local 77-year-old judo expert was visiting his neighborhood stop-n-shop yesterday when a couple of mean dudes tried to rob the store. the granpappy used his judo to good effect and controlled the situation for 10 mins until the police could get there. [10 mins -- jeezumpete, that's a long time!] today, one of the robbers is still in hospital b/c of his injuries from the 77-year-old man. you go granpappy!

sports
the titans signed a backup qb today, and titan kyle vanden bosch & wife had a baby. pat sperdudo says the kats are on track for a great season. the preds re-signed barry trotz & the entire coaching staff for next year. the jockey who won the ky derby & his cajun accent were at the white house today, and the vandy bowling team [ncaa champs] have been invited to the white house on june 18. vandy baseball is still ranked #1.

music
listening to pink on american idol. she sounds good & looks good. got some cd's from the cat's music dog pound $1 bin the other day, and the pat mcgee band and dezeray's hammer are good, but paw is a big disappointment -- nothing but squealing geetars.

twosday toosday tuesday... if it bores you, then why the hula are you reading it? dork.

1. arose from sleep
2. showered
3. dressed
4. removed dry clothes from dryer
5. made lunch
6. made & consumed breakfast
7. washed dishes
8. removed remaining dry clothes
9. put wet from washer in dryer
10. made bed
11. fixed hair & face
12. packed gym bag
13. packed lunch bag
14. put on jewelry & shoes
15. checked email
16. loaded ipod

fixing to find new book, get sweater, leave house -- all before 06:30. impressive, yes?

did you ever want something, and talk about it, and realize one day that people were starting to take you seriously, & it might just happen for real?

why is it that at family gatherings we always end up discussing digestion patterns....

little nephew's bday, and we're all standing around discussing colonoscopy prep, and the colonoscopy is bad enough without going into the details of cleaning the colon in prep for the procedure.

watching the snl show about snl in the '90s -- david spade, adam sandler, chris rock, chris farley, rob schnieder, mike myers. they aren't that funny now. it goes in cycles. they were really funny with john belushi, jane curtain, dan ackroyd, bill murray, chevy chase, gilda radner, larraine newman, garrett morris, and all them. you can google it. anyhoo - the original cast was good, then there was a lull, and wow the '90s were good.

colonoscopy prep and snl. you figure it out.

sunday in the afternoon

currently reading lemony snicket #7 and occassionally wondering if this is a good use of my brain power but then deciding that it'll do for now. until something better comes along. hmmm... wonder if i am occupying my brain with the it'll-do thing, will i even see the something-better thing?

don't let the past remind us of what we are not now - crosby, stills, & nash

and while the future's there for anyone to change, still you know it's seems
it would be easier sometimes to change the past - jackson browne

under the wire

posted today. barely.

mixed the batter, put it in the oven, did a quick once-over housecleaning, now it's time to make some coffee & eat the banana bread

well, i sewanee - i ain't ever heered sich a silly queschun. yes - i warshed my hayunds. lordy, chile, sumptimes - i sewanee - you jist flushtrate the bejeezuz outta me. git on outta tha kichun, you heer me? shoo!

if philadelphia is the city of brotherly love... just exactly what goes on there?

they had a story on the local news this morning about a guy that shot his brother "out of brotherly love". i'll just go on record right now sayin' i don't want nobody lovin' me like that.

program update:
* say hey -- have moved on past hey to how ya doin'. progress.
* you snooze you lose -- alarm goes off & everyone gets up. success.

currently reading lemony snicket numero sixoh. did you ever notice how you can make any word into a spanglish word by adding "oh" to the endoh? and, you can create francais with "ay" on the enday? turns out the entire field of linguistics is simple.

hydrogen helium lithium beryllium boron carbon nitrogen oxygen flourine neon sodium magnesium aluminum silicon phosphorus sulfur chlorine argon

planning to make some banana bread. got some walnuts. then, stayed out all night doing soccer shizzle. criminy. maybe the banana bread will get done tomorrow. tomorrow is hummus day. yay hummus! yay!

ally sheedy is on csi tonight and either she is looking rough or her character is looking rough.

did you ever have an assignment and then figure it out... there it is, you know how to do it, so you know it's going to be easy. it was a puzzle, but now it's not. once you've figured it out, it's like all the fun is gone somehow, and all that's left is the work. even though the work will be easy, it's the figuring it out that was fun. tedium is all there is left. that's where i'm at with this project at work. figured out the puzzle -- but still have to do the work.

need to trim my fingernails

at brigadoon, thursdays are cookout days b/c it's the cooks' night off. to most brigadooners, thursday afternoons are about campfires & hotdogs, oranges & s'mores. everyone's relaxed, nothing to do all evening. maybe hike in the river, sleep outside [as if those cabana aren't outside already], sit around the fire & sing & talk, read a book, play elbow tag. for the cooks, it's a chance to go into the city, but that's something i was never interested in doing. with no cooking duties, there's nothing to do but enjoy brigadoon. find a lifeguard and maybe go for a swim. take shower and put on clothes that might stay clean for more than 5 mins. gather in the kitchen at dusk for pimento cheese sammiches with nursie and whoever else shows up... passing through the kitchen between jaunts in the cattle truck hauling the little ones off to hall's falls, the rock house, roe's cabin, the d&m. hey, how ya doin'? how're those sunshiners? indians? mighty ark? sit a spell and have a sammich. sitting around the kitchen with the ovens off, chatting, maybe playing cards.

friday morning will start it all over again with classes in action & girls coming in & laundry going out. but thursdays are fabulous.

pocket lottery

won the pocket lottery last night -- found $11 in the pocket of my shorts. the last time i won the pocket lottery was back in january. $11 ain't worth it.

to achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.
-- leonard bernstein

cinqo de mayo is not mexican independence day. that's sept 15.

this is a picture of a honda cr-v.

random safety

take an act of violence like a mass shooting -- would you rather believe that it was random or know that it was targeted? would knowing that an attack was targeted make you feel safer, help you believe you could avoid such an incident? because if an attack is targeted, well then... all you have to do is to hang out with people that do not shoot each other, right? a targeted attack appears to be more avoidable than a random attack, so we want to know there were targets, so that we can believe we are safe.

there's a catch though: safety is an illusion. except for the safety in this picture. this is michael griffin, the titans first round draft pick this year. a safety. thank goodness they had the sense to draft a defensive back because lamont thompson's a constant source of disappointment, and with pacman's myriad issues, chris hope's been the only hope in the defensive secondary. we'll see how this guy pans out as training camp & the season develop, but one thing is for sure: last year's first round draft pick from texas has been coming along just fine.