Welcome Newcomers to the FBC and Lounge. Please make yourself comfortable and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Come on in! Update [2005-11-16 19:53:55 by SallyCat]: Cafe is now the lounge…and we are ready for nighttime fun
Moonlight dancing on the terrace and beach
Quiet tea for any interested.
Please recommend (and unrecommend the Cafe from earlier…)
The other diary was getting slow on my office T-1 network….time to open the lounge!
What are you all planning for this evening?
You are a natural hostess! You are just the shot-in-the-arm this dull (not really) establishment needed!
I hope you had fun? I know that it can be a bit of a shock the first time.
I know it wouldn’t be possible for me to do this regularly but guest hosting is fun…I’d do it again.
I’ll just have to think about better time planning next time. It surprised me that last night’s diary was still active today. Big danger for me – – surfing for pictures I found great restaurants, vacation spots, food…new places to plan for vacation! Fun but really bad!
Ahh, making plans….
That’s the first step to getting on the schedule!
Sterling Vineyards…from our lovely Northern California for your drinking pleasure
And some more….
Coppola Vineyards…another collection from my neighboring counties
from Cosmic Debris’ collection
A little moonlight beach dancing….
Well, I’m meeting up with curly tonight. Her father passed away last Friday – funeral was on Sunday, hence, the limited participation the last few days (some of you cafe dwellers may know that curly and I are an item, though we do not co-habit).
And those who have not yet done so, and who are comfortable with it – please go and plot yourself in on the map. So far, we have 93 plotted – including a handful outside of the US. Go ahead!
please give our best wishes to curly, sorry to hear about her father. I hope you’re holding up okay!
And regarding the map, who are you called a Goat Head?
(go ahead)
😛
Thanks Man E.
It was not entirely unexpected. Still, a long and sad time to come to allow the grief process to run it’s course.
Goat Heads
and comforting thoughts to your both.
Thank you, Andi.
And I see we have a new plot on the map – welcome ubikkibu!
Ok, I finally added myself to the map. Hi Tehanu, Emma Anne, and Raging Hippie!
What great technology. I’ve been a programmer for many years, but what Google does continues to amaze me.
Looks like you guys need a Colorado BT meet-up! Nice little cluster of users right there.
Or we could just join my friend em dash for Drinking Liberally in Fort Collins. (Or everyone could come to the DFA meetup I host on December 7th.)
We’ve got Longmont and Lafayette. Now we need Louisville and Lyons, and we’ve got the Boulder County “L-Towns” covered. World domination is next.
There’s a Drinking Liberally contingent here in Denver, too. I’ve thought about stopping by sometime, but I must admit I’m not quite the barfly that I used to be. (When I went to law school, old friends told me that there was no way I’d pass the bar because I never passed a bar without going in.)
Love your picture!
I’d never seen that edition of The Monkeywrench Gang before–R. Crumb did the illustrations! I just figured it was better than a thumbnail of a pudgy, balding white guy.
I recognized the R. Crumb work…and while I was there, I finally posted one of us CabinPeople…
My heart is with you both. Even when you know that death is certain, the loss is still painful. Hugs to both of you.
Thank you, SC.
Death is certainly a certainty, even for someone who had survived for 90+ years.
I’m sorry to hear that. My sympathies to you and to curly.
I am having some kind of day. I made bunches of phone calls yesterday and every single one of them fell into some vast abyss of voicemail hell. Same story this morning, as I am calling all sorts of governmental agencies and schools trying to get info. on the kids I am supposed to be advocating for. Again, no one answers and I leave messages, then place a tablet and pen near both of my phones so I will be super prepared when they call back. And they did call back…every single one of them within 2 minutes of each other, and me?…nowhere near a tablet and pen as I am naked and dripping from the shower! Gaaaa!
Then I emerge from the bathroom after hastily jotting down two phone numbers in the steam of the bathroom mirror…and I hear a crashing sound possibly coming from one of the bedrooms of my empty house. I grab the only thing handy which happens to be a spray can of Pledge and prepare to do battle with an intruder by spraying Pledge into his eyeballs, or perhaps winging the can at his head and locking myself in my bedroom. Turns out it was the cat who had jumped up into a high window and knocked a box of nails off the windowsill.
Never a dull moment in Stepford.
That was not only hilarious, it was very well written! Reminded me of Erma Bombeck.
fear makes me lucid.
Heh, I was extremely “lucid” last night when I thought there was an intruder in my laundry room.
Backstory: our exhaust vents don’t work quite right (nothing in this condo does) so we use an indoor vent thinger for our dryer. This leaves the dryer vent in the wall open as a gaping hole leading into the innards of the building construction, which makes me extra neurotic, so I’d covered it with a plastic shopping bag and a rubber band.
Well, last night, I kept hearing this weird sound from the laundry room. Like slight, surreptitious movements, as if someone — or something — were hiding in there but couldn’t be perfectly still.
With my trusty Mag Lite held over my head, I steeled my nerves up and confronted the plastic bag directly, realizing only after I saw it that the noise was the sound of the bag puffing up and then deflating now that everyone has their heater running.
Queen of the Idiot People, right here, lol. (I’ve since replaced the plastic bag with a small piece of window screen.)
If you ever do meet an intruder with only a mag lite for protection, just do that scary thing where you hold it under your chin and make a mean face. I’m sure he’ll run away.
My mag lite was purchased with the thought that it would make an awesome blunt-force weapon if need be…I’m afraid to drop it on my foot!
Old Military Police tactic – maybe they still do…..
If you have the flashlight in your hand and choose to swing it as protection slide the light part to your hand and use the handle end as the blunt force. (We did this instead of night sticks in training.)
This position gives your hand a stronger grip around the head of the flashlight and it doesn’t slide off the handle. Less chance of dropping! ;^D
IF you ever have to swing as a defensive weapon, aim for the side of the neck – below the ear and jaw line….
Aaaaccccck – the things that trigger memories…
I’m not a violent person, but it pays to have some idea what to do if the need were to arise…thanks for the tip.
Sorry if I triggered any bad memories.
I had a great time being an MP!
What more can a woman want…a great job, mostly equal treatment, training with weapons, someone else paying for my uniforms so I could buy party clothes, nobody busting cop parties….and guys outnumbering the women 15-1!
And all the energy of an 18-20 year old!
Last time I thought we had an intruder, I grabbed the closest heavy object I could get my hands on… which ended up being my left boot.
What, exactly, I was going to do to a would-be-intruder with a boot, I’m not entirely sure. And luckily, I never had to find out, as it turned out to be the sound of the olives from the trees outside hitting stuff as they fell. Enemies, of course, that my boots know quite well from walking all over them and tracking them all over the livingroom.
Of course, now we have a terribly fierce guard-puppy who would probably run behind me with her tail tucked if anybody broke in. Likely tripping me in the process. Maybe if we can collectively make the thief laugh at our ineptitude, he or she will leave us alone.
I can picture the scene. . . after years of study at the feet of your Zen-(insert your favorite martial art name here) Master, you go forth.
“Wax on. Wax off.”
SN, you are SO the opposite of “Stepford”, I cannot emphasize this enough!
I am so excited for and proud of you doing the guardian thing — these kids are so lucky, SO lucky to have you advocating for them!!
Thanks, Brinn. I hope I do a good job.
I KNOW you will. And I don’t know much.
😉
I can just hear Aaron Neville singing “I don’t know much, but I know I love you”…
You are one that I think about when I’m offline. Hope you are okay.
Hi Brinn!
How are you doin’? I know, you’re probably long gone — I’m sorry I missed you.
there should be a laws against voicemail trees to oblivion! With enough laws they might enforce at least one of them and save us from pushing buttons to take us to nowhere!
that post definitely needed a [Snort] tag. LMAO!
(I hope you get in touch with the suits soon, Second Nature)
and the magnificence of the shy bitch goddess of the left would be enough to defeat any enemy or at least enough to scare the cat onto a dresser.
I shudder to think what the cat was thinking. She actually looked at me with surprise followed by what looked like pity. And we call her Pussy McFlabbington…so she really has no room to pass judgment on my physique.
I just have to say this made me laugh out loud! Too funny!
Perhaps your cat and my dog are related? His name is Dumble McFattypants, aka “There might be food”.
Okay, I”m reading along, smiling, and I get past Pussy McFlabbington and on to to Dumble McFattypants, and I’m finally laughing so loud I’m scaring my own cats and dog.
I think they may be related, though she sometimes uses her alias, Mrs. Chubbsworthy.
Ah, but does Mrs. Chubbsworthy start flinging her food dish at you everytime you walk into the kitchen? Such a charming habit (NOT).
Indeed she does. She also takes a flying leap through the bannister and tries to trip me every time I walk down the stairs toward the kitchen, in the event that I might be about to fill her bow.
Here she is, and you can see she just dwarfs her house.
I’m so impressed with how creative all y’all are. We just used to call ours Fat Girl.
She was one of the biggest cats I’ve ever seen. As in, little kids in the vet’s office would see her and get all wide-eyed and ask, “Is that a cat?” ‘Fraid so, Junior, and she’ll eat you like a Pizza Roll, too, so don’t touch her.
I wish they could live with us forever.
Our excessively large household stray (I think he makes rounds in our neighborhood) has simply been nicknamed “The Tub”, as in “Tub of Lard”. Luckily, he seems to know that we’re more useful to him in the long run if he doesn’t eat us.
I will have to further explore the pudgy feline nicknaming possibilities.
…leaving the lounge in the patrons capable hands!
A little overwhelmed today – this is really fun but I didn’t expect to have 3 active diaries in one day! Serves me right for posting the night before!
Brownies have been added to the snack counter….
.
The Netherlands will be present with 4 soccer coaches ::
Marco van Basten – the Netherlands
Dick Advokaat – South Korea
Guus Hiddink – Australia
Leo Beenhakker – Trinidad & Tobago
Amazing success for these tiny soccer countries to qualify today!
World Cup Soccer Fans :: Australia Did It!
EU parliament will question FIFA World Cup ticket sales.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Just stepping in for a minute to see what is going on.
Ask, I am so sorry about Curly’s father…please offer my condolences to her…
Thought I was going shopping with daughter and we ended up going out to breakfast and then just a quick trip to store to get,,,,HagenDaz coffee icecream, and Key lime sherbert, and I’m happy with my new supply. No fruits from the Famers Market…
BTw who wants to see the new Johnny Cash movie, I do….
There is snow in air and I just lit the woodstove for the first time this season so it’s time for a bit of Ezra Pound in honor of the upcoming season:
Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Damm you;
Sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, ’tis why I am, Goddamm,
So ‘gainst the winter’s balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.
What is it with the size of the recent FBC diaries? Everytime I look they are up to 100 + Comments with 3 opening per day?
We are going to wear out the fingers of the hosts if we keep it up! <evil grin>
I’ve basically kicked in the idea of being productive at work today…2 mini projects done and a meeting that wasn’t as boring as I thought.
I’ll let you guys weigh in on the meeting topic today!
Topic: employee evaluation forms
– Are they effective motivation tools?
– Are they fair from department to department?
– Do managers rely on them too much?
– Does anyone like the “goal” setting part of reviews?
FWIW – I find reviews annoying to get and to give. If I only really communicate with my team once a year then I’m a lousy manager. So what do you guys think about this?
I’m self-employed, and one of the best things about it is, there are no reviews anymore! When I was working, I used to get po’ed ecause a stellar review only got a 2-3% pay increase (I shudder to think what you got if you had a mediocre review). After that happened, any motivational purpose my review had was gone.
What’s worse here is that these are ‘baseline’ since they haven’t done any in 5+ years. No pay raises associated with them – just make the staff stressed, in my opinion.
Performance reviews are #1 on my list of dislikes as a manager…particularly when I can’t give pay according to work. All pay is preset by a ‘salary committee’.
Oh well….I think it’s time for more wine in the lounge to go with my whine!
Hi SallyCat — all this talk of cats suddenly reminded me of a little poem about a Sally cat:
Sally, having swallowed cheese,
Directs down holes the scented breeze,
Enticing thus, with baited breath,
Nice mice to an untimely death.
I have no idea where this comes from; my mother used to recite it.
Hmmm…that will work – but only half for my cat….
He’s picky and only likes soft cheese…brie and camembert (okay so I spoil him letting him lick cheese off my fingers!) BUT on luring the mice….
He chases the mouse to corner, under furniture, anywhere, then watches for about 2 minutes…then gets bored and forgets why he was there. Sits back, licks – because he can, then collapses for a nap.
My favorite cat = Kliban!
Love the Kliban cats! I used to have a coffee mug with the “love to eat them mousies” cartoon on it, but it broke years ago, and the Kliban stuff doesn’t seem to be around any more. But I can still see the cartoon because a friend of mine has it on a dishtowel. (All I have to do to see it is volunteer to do dishes!)
Am I ever going to catch up on everthing that’s gone on today?
I don’t think so, because I’m going to stretch out on the couch and rest (HA! . HA!)
In other news, My Sister (I warned you about my My Sister habit, didn’t I? That’s how I quote them. You’ll have to learn how to tell the 4 of them apart based on how I quote them. Or on what.) sent me this link.
I missed the cafe today, but never had a real break. I’m hoping to come back after Lost. But, I’ve been wearing these new glasses all day & I might just keep my eyes closed instead.
xxooxx
That is so cool…not what I expected blue ball machine to be about.
Hi, Hi! Sn!!!
How are you? I’m so lonely….
I missed out on ALL the fun.
We missed you too! It’s always alot more fun with katiebird in the cafe.
(smiling all over my face)
Well, I did get a lot of work done today, but it hardly seems fair. I wish I could truly multitask: work and play at the same time.
Hi from me too.
Did you not have time for us because you went to the zoo to get a picture of the monkeys?
Nope, I don’t do zoos.
Oh, sorry — Lost just started.
I luv ya, but gotta go!
(see you in an hour?)
and amazingly I’m still up.
Too bad tonight’s show didn’t really advance the plot any.
BTW, did you realize in last week’s show that Shannon’s father was the other person in the crash with Jack’s future wife — the one that Jack let die in order to save his future wife?
No! How did you put that together?
Every so often I go over to the alt.tv.lost newsgroup to see what interesting things the obsessives have figured out. This was one of them.
ahhhh, I’ve done that for something, but didn’t think of it for Lost.
A guy at work bought the DVD of the series and has been filling me in on the things he catches by watching twice. I’m fading fast, though & can’t remember any of it right now.
(good night)
by the time you posted this so you didn’t miss any sparkling conversation.
The newsgroup is good at picking up the interconnetions but they excel in spotting references to Hugo’s lottery numbers.
I’m baaaaack!
As the full moon hovers high over Europe and begins to rise over the east coast…
time for a change of mood….
A little sunset dancing for all our resident goddesses in the crowd…and that means ALL of you!
and for those men that want to celebrate the night with us!
Dancing in th elight of the moon tonight would be a bit chilly down my way….but the moon is full and full of romance. It is a harvest moon here tonight and just right for a hayride. Then we can roast hotdogs and marshmellows. Oh romance….;O)
Good evening ya all. After the nice and hot days before yesterday, we finally got cooler weather here. Have the heat on! :o( $$$$$$$ is all I can see now!
Hope everyone is fine and doing well with hump day. Everything from now is down hill….so they say.
Hugs
Hi Brenda, we’ve got the heat on (and slippers!) also.
Oh, this weird thing happens once in a while, I yawn & my jaw locks open. I have to jog it with my hand to close it. Used to freak me out, but I’m used to it now.
Anyway, it just happened.
I thought I’d tell you. Aren’t you glad?
The only thing I don’t like about the sudden cold weather, is that they don’t have the temperature balanced at work. And it’s hot, hot, hot there.
Florida Mom has arrived in all her glory. She was sitting here with Toto2 and enjoying her evening martini. Now, having accidentally forgotten to sleep last night due to having to get up at 4am to fly, she’s off to bed and acclimation to the PacNW time zone.
Tomorrow Puget4 and I put her to work in the craft shop. Mwu-ha-haaaa!
Glad Florida Mom had a good trip, and might I add that she has excellent taste in evening beverages? 🙂
Cool! Have fun — and tell her “Hi” from katiebird.
She’ll be here for a while. She’s a great one for the verbal storytelling, and we’re going to see if we can interest her in sharing a thought or two in the blogosphere sometime down the road.
A Depression and New Deal perspective is rare on the blogs and not long for our world.
Local bookstore had ALL THREE of the books recommended in the menopause diary; one copy of each, so they were obviously there just for me! 🙂 Expecting a package delivery tomorrow, so I’ll be sitting at home doing a lot of reading…
Ask — my condolences on the loss of curly’s father; having lost my mom earlier this year, I can kinda relate…
Gooserock — congratulations on the safe arrival of FloridaMom (my memory’s so shot, can’t remember if she was yours or Puget4’s; will have to go back and check the entry…
The damn phone keeps ringing, but no messages are being left, so I don’t know WTF is going on — I don’t want to go running for the phone and have it hung up in my ear… 😡
Had a late lunch/early dinner while out erranding; the bus yard where the spouse is working on his “transitional work program” was having their big Thanksgiving shindig today, so he didn’t think he’d be too hungry for dinner tonight — he saw FOUR TURKEYS being carried in last night as he was leaving. (I think they were pre-cooked, probably from Honey-Baked Ham or some such). He promised he wouldn’t eat too much — but we’ve got plenty of Maalox on hand, just in case. 😉
Okay, time for me to go get some work done…or at least unpack all of today’s purchases…
Sounds like you’ve had a full day…
I’m getting them from the library — the holds are already placed.
Then maybe pick one to buy after I read through them.
(that was a great diary)
in them myself; since I’ll probably be coping with this for a few years down the road, I can view them as important reference materials.
the phone culprit — SBC (which stands for Some Bastard Corporation in our neck of the woods) calling (via India, I believe) about high-speed DSL, which we are not interested in; we are very happy with Comcast (yes, you heard that right; they were doing some work a couple of months ago that had us pissed off, but since then we’ve run into no problems with the service).
The phone is now quiet, as is the apartment, at least till the spouse gets home any minute…
I have a feeling that today will be just as hectic at work as yesterday, but I can play for a few minutes before I have to get dressed for work.
Coffee anyone?