How to disguise your leftover tree after your father has cut the rest of it down:


I haven’t posted an update for a while so here ( ”goes” )

Shouldn't: might as well say yes, because no-one is buying that "no";
Can't: there's a barrier that, if bypassed, means "no" becomes "yes"--depending on the motivation of the person this is said to, they might not even slow down in pursuit of their goal;
Won't: an actual, definitive no that will be respected as much as the person saying it is

"No" means "no"--so if you say "no" in some other way, expect people to interpret it accordingly. This is the peril one faces when they attempt to sugarcoat or soften a "no" in hopes of sparing feelings--the long-term damage that can result is usually way worse than the short term ego bruise a simple "no" can cause.

Just a random thought that percolated up after recent conversations with a friend. Consider it a bit of wisdom (or whatever) to close out 2009 with, and remember that language will rough you up if you let it get away from you. ;)

I may be going off-line for a while, but I don't really know for certain yet.

The Christmas weekend was pretty good as I accomplished a good deal of unpacking and the like and managed to get in some gaming with spross and Tammy on Sunday (several games of Ticket to Ride), but that's when it all fell apart.

After SteveR and Tammy left, I went outside to clean off the car a bit from the freezing rain we'd had the day before. To make a long story short, I took an ice chip in the right eye, it somehow managing to leap between my glasses and my eye, and then fell down from the shock and broke the two toes next to the big toe on my right foot (the driving foot).

To make this short, i spent last night in the hospital. I lacerated the cornea of my right eye somewhat, not too badly, but enough to warrant the stay in hospital, and the two toes...well, what can I say?

Anyway, just got home about an hour ago, and am going to take it easy for the rest of today. The eye hurts like heck, and I've got an eye patch on for the rest of today, and the two toes are bloody murder. So much for the moment of cleaning up more of the house and unpacking more stuff. :(

Can 2010 please arrive sooner than planned? Thanks.

Because sometimes you're talking in bed with your partner, and these things MUST BE RESOLVED! ;)Poll #1503919 The one true right way!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

Which is the proper (AND RIGHT) spelling?

What kind of cake do you fancy?

I can "unwatch" a community without leaving the community--so, for example, I can stay a member of the doctorwho community without having the dozens of posts from the UK members who have seen the latest Christmas special clutter up my friends page. :P

Didn't get to the yard work yesterday, not after the insanity that was picking up a few groceries.  Felt like relaxing, so I did!

Made apple cranberry pecan muffins for today's breakfast, checked the air mattress we were supposed to take KrisKon and discovered the closing valve at the base was broken (irreparably, it seems, after attempting several things), and played some Batman Lego.
Axeman and I made some heavenly nachos and watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on demand and decided twas too cold to go out looking at lights.

Today has been super great.  We've listened to all our Christmas music while we play computer games and I'm as finished with Batman as I'm going to be.  I can't get the last piece of the last mini-kit and I'm just not gonna frustrate myself any further.  We had a delightful breakfast, opened the presents, and I've talked some with my East Coast family. 

Hope you all had pleasant days as well!!  KrisKon, here we come!

Just wishing everyone a fantastic day and weekend. Down south with the parents, enjoying cookies and presents--including a ridiculously cool new watch that literally had my speechless for a minute when I opened the box.

Anyway, as much as I enjoy Christmas with the folks, I always regret not seeing my friends over the holidays--consider me there in spirit, helping myself to an extra serving of Christmas dinner. ;)

Merry Christmas, all. College crowd, see you next Friday!

To say it a few other ways: Natalis Hilaris (Latin), Feliz Navidad (Spanish),  Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian), Vesele Vanoce (Czech), Joyuex Noel (French), Froehliche Weihnachten (German), Glædelig Jul (Danish).

Merry Christmas, everyone! :>

Hope everyone is having a wonderful time opening presents and having a terrific Christmas Day!

(And for those of you in England, I hate you today...as you're getting to see David Tennant's final Doctor Who appearance in "The End of Time" serial.) :)

Can't sleep. Too many worries and fears.

and to all a good night.

I saw Avatar. It was fun and fast-paced. Think Aliens writ bigger, much bigger, ten feet tall in fact. I did not notice the 2 hour and 30 minute run time.   Downside - Expect the usual James Cameron heavy handed moral-of-the-story.

One of my neighbors just got taken away for involuntary committment, after not taking her meds for a couple weeks and trashing and flooding her unit and strewning her stuff all over the hallway. I have her keys because she left them outside with some of her other stuff. This is after I got woken up at 6 by the board president informing me about stuff she'd done earlier before disappearing. Hearing the police talk to her was heartbreaking--there's a lot of energy and focus there, but a total detachment from reality. :( No clue what happens next, but this has not been a good day for anyone...

Had a dream about a collection of seas. Then other frightening dreams. Very restless night. I feel kinda beat up. Certainly have been awake more than I've been asleep.

I keep seeing the sudden loss in cabin pressure from my nightmare and its effect on the passengers. lights are to be on for a bit.

trevor and I and jason c. had shitty airline seats. we were in the back of the plane and it was designed like the back of a city bus. Trevor had been exceptionally nervous, which is very strange for him. Jason was nervous but stoic. after a long wait on the runway, the plane finally started to taxi. after getting into position, the plane began building up speed to take off. it was quaking more than any plane I had been on before. I started getting scared and I knew Trevor and Jason were too. then one of the windows broke away and flew back toward us. jason hollered, "window!" Trevor began making this horrific, uncontrollable sound of fear. one by one the windows came loose and back toward us, narrowly missing us. we huddled against the wind and painful loss in cabin pressure and shards of broken glass that splintered and cut in every direction. the luggage compartment doors suddenly tore off and smashed into the walls or passengers. there was a lot of screaming. I kept saying to Trevor, "It will be okay, baby. it will be okay," and then I'd dare to use all my strength to reach out my hand and stroke his knee.

I then started awake, too afraid to reach for the light. i wanted to scream for some one but that would not be right...

how horrifying and sad was this dream.

I had to stay at work later than I wanted to last night. I got home sometime after 5:30. K hadn't been home that long and didn't have the heat on yet. We were putting groceries away when the power went out.
Not a big deal at our house. I went around and unplugged the extra Xmas lights and stuff so we wouldn't blow the transformer with a surge when the power came back on. We opened the freezer one time to get the all important Holiday beer out and I grabbed the battery operated lanterns so we could look through K's purchases of the day. While I'm getting the lanterns out K is on the phone to PSE. It was a "temporary outage. Power should be restored by December 16 4:30pm". Are you seeing the issue? Yup, power didn't go out until after 5:30pm. PSE is, as usual, on crack.
Now we have no clue when or if the power is coming back on and PSE's new system now routes you through incorrect channels. Grrr. It's not the lights and crap, it's the heat we might need. I'm going to run to the storage unit and pick up the tent just in case another mystery outage occurs. We finally started looking through the purchases and the rents called. K had borrowed the cuisinart for her potluck tomorrow so Mom was telling her to use the potato masher if there was no power as the power came back on. Weird.
K has been complaining about the house not being clean and the inside decorations not being all up and her bedroom not being done and this and that and blah. It's driving me insane. I have held my tongue but I might snap soon. Especially if she whines about the decorations not being done anymore. HELLLOOOO DUMBSHIT! The reason the decorations aren't all done is because on the weekend you lay on the couch and sleep most of the day. At night you come home, lay on the couch, and only half wake up long enough for me to shove food down your throat. While I'm decorating your ... laying on the couch doing nothing. Really, I am at the point I don't care that she does nothing, I'd just like her to stop complaining about it.
With all of the crap I've been doing at the house and out of the house and the secret presents and the wrapping and etc etc, I've gotten rather stupid. I forget the weirdest things. I forgot my vitamins and coffee on the coffee table this morning. I forget what I was working on and start doing something else. I'm totally flurfilated. I feel like someone used an egg beater on my elf sized brain.
Ok, so enough complaining.
Yesterday at the Microsquish Feeds Us During the Holidays Party my workmate was talking to one of my old workmates about me having to install Visio on my machine for work and that we are going to install the crime scene and biochemical add-ons to it. Another old workmate jumps in and asks her what the Archives Christmas Cake is going to look like. She says we weren't going to do a cake and the other two seemed upset. The one, R, mentions that we could do a Visio crime scene cake. She couldn't figure out how that would be holiday like. Then R mentions that Phil Spector did a Christmas Album. HOLY CHRISTCOOKILY GOODNESS! We are now going to have a Very Merry Spector X-Mas. I'm working on the soundtrack. That's why I asked people to call my workphone and leave a message saying "It's a Phil Spector Christmas". I can rip it off of my computer and add it into the soundtrack. Unfortunately only Greyjoy called and the voicemail still hasn't made it to my email. Grrr.
***EDIT***
VISIO CRIME SCENES IS AWESOME! Mixed with Biotechnology I'm so happy, oink oink

Mepla hinge saga, the continuing storrry. On Saturday, we visited a local hardware shop, the one for serious woodworker/cabinet makers (thanks picookie for the tip). They don't carry Mepla. Only place around here that does is a contracting shop, wherein you need a resale # and license and have to buy them by the hundreds. Hmph. Re-visited a Cabinet website tonight and poked around a LOT more. I took the hinge apart and discovered that we didn't need a new hinge, we needed a new mounting plate. They are only $1.50 a pop and I have a request in to check if the part they carry now is a fair replacement for what we have. Further inspection of the kitchen shows that ALL cabinets use this mounting plate for the hinges except for the pots/pans cupboard. Why, I have no idea. I found that mounting plate on the website too. I feel like I have made considerable progress and I also now know more about hinges than I care to. There is one more piece I need to track down and then my job is done. Axeman gets to do the ACTUAL installation. :)