- Tomorrow is Festivus! Feel free to commence the airing of the grievances.
- Paul Krugman schools us on some Econ 101:
A number of conservative economists have been arguing against a stimulus plan centered on government spending. Fair enough. But one argument I keep reading bugs me: it’s the claim that spending-based stimulus is bad because economic theory tells us that a marginal dollar of private spending is better than a marginal dollar of government spending.
That’s just wrong; it’s a misreading of basic, Econ 101 level, economics.... - Krugman's column from today, in which it is impossible to not love a guy who quotes from The Onion and posts LOLcats on his blog while he's in Sweden getting his Nobel Prize.
- Super handy article on how to photograph Christmas lights! Oooh, shiny.
- You can always count on the AV Club to bring us stuff like "42 holiday entertainments that don't make us want to claw our eyes out with rage". Can't go wrong with a list that includes It's a Wonderful Life, Gremlins, and Stephen Colbert's Christmas special.
- Buzzwords for 2008, as determined by the New York Times. One of my favorites:
- Hark, read the links, sweet silver links
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eh_notsomuch- December 22nd, 2008
happy
- For Olbermann fans only « The Fourth Wave
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 20th, 2008
amused
For Olbermann fans only « The Fourth WaveTwas the night before Festivus, when all through the blog
Not a creature was stirring, not even a frog.
The photos were hung by the bloggers with care,
In hopes that Keith Olbermann soon would be there.
The bloggers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Keithiness danced in their heads.
And CLL in her snuggies, and caul in his cap
Had just settled their brains for a two week nap.
When out on the blogosphere there arose such a clatter,
to a man they hit keyboards to see what was the matter.
Away to the terminal I flew like a flash,
Opened the window and threw up the cache.
The brightness and constrast of the just opened screen
Gave the brilliance of kodachrome to objects then seen,
When, what to my wondering eyes did appear
But Countdown himself and his guests very near.
With this merry person, someone also in tow
I knew in a moment it was Rachel Maddow....
- Eight Days: Day Seven (backdating)
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 13th, 2008
- happy
Hubby's fancy office Christmas party was actually not as fun as our little pre-party get-together at the new swankified Chateau Froggenhall! We worked like mad cleaning, tree trimming and getting organized all afternoon, and the house looked WONDERFUL. That made me happy!
- Photo of the day, December 22: Merry Kitty Christmas
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 22nd, 2007
- One of the nicest stories I've read in a while
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 21st, 2007
moved
From AP via Yahoo News:KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Susan Dahl had spent four months homeless in Colorado and just been on a harrowing 10-hour bus trip through sleet and snow.Hungry and broke, all she wanted to do was get back to family in Minnesota.
That's when a tall man in a red coat and red hat sat next to her at the downtown bus station, talked to her quietly and then slipped her $100 on that recent December afternoon.The man was doing the work of Larry Stewart, Kansas City's original Secret Santa who anonymously wandered city streets doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they needed it. Stewart died of cancer at age 58 earlier this year. But his legacy lives on.
"He said `Here's a $100 bill ... and this is in memory of Larry Stewart,'" said Dahl, 56....
- A good time was had by all!
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 9th, 2007
tired
The Xmas party was a ton of fun. We met up with good friends and were able to snag a table. (There's no assigned seating, so you pretty much have to gather your potential tablemates and just grab a table. It's kinda nutty.) One of the senior managers whom we both like (and his wife is so cool) got his award for 20 years of service, so we cheered for him pretty good.
Everyone liked my dress. Hee!
And by coincidence, Lisa -- the extra-cool lady who runs the medical office at my office -- was at an event down the hall from us, so she stopped by to say hi to me! I have confided in her re my weight travails, so I'm glad she got to see me looking hawt!
The food was pretty good, and the wine was decent. Hubby actually was in the mood to dance. We must have danced almost the whole last hour. My feet were killing me, but we had so much fun! It was the first party where Hubby and I stayed till the very end.
Then the smoke alarms wouldn't stop going off every couple of hours (no, nothing was burning), and the cats barfed on the rec room carpet and my warming blanket. Back to reality!
I was feeling porky after last night, so I decided to go back to counting points, for the structure. It was actually kind of fun to realize, "Hey, I can eat this!" Yes, yes, you can eat whatever you want on Core as long as you count points for non-Core list foods, but after last night, I have noooooo Weekly points left. I was going to go back to points when the kitchen went offline anyway, so what the hey? Might as well start now if I'm up for it. It's good to have two systems to switch back and forth whenever you get tired or bored. It makes you interested in what you're doing again. (For the record, at my weight, I'm on 23 points a day to lose weight.)
I feel kind of sad that the party is over. I had looked forward to it for weeks, especially when I realized I could wear my pretty dress after all. But I don't want to lose focus. I still have a few items of clothing I want to fit into again. I can make it happen!
Okay, off to bed. Then to get up in the morning and work out. Real life beckons, sadly!
- y halo dere
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 3rd, 2007
content
Weekend update!
Hubby and I motored down to my parents' place for an impromptu birthday gathering for yours truly. Also known as, my folks made a huge pot of chili for their friends the night before and still had tons left over so would we like to come down and eat their leftovers? The chili was surprisingly good! They also had nice salad greens with feta, sliced almonds and dried cranberries to put on it. Yummy!
Then prezzie time! Everyone had pretty much bought stuff straight from my Amazon list, so no huge surprises. But I still appreciate the gifts! Parents got me the flexible tripod, the digital field guide on how to use my speedlight flash, and a new extra battery for my camera. Hubby got me a new SD card (great timing, I think my original one is starting to die) and Double Indemnity on DVD!
There was some pretty good cake, and "Party Time" ice cream, vanilla with bits of cake in it. That was pretty nice!
I had seen my friend Suzerella at the mall earlier that day. She has almost-4-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and my mom is completely dotty about them. So I invited her to bring the kids by for dessert. It took a minute for them to warm up, but then they were rabbiting on about pictures they'd drawn and all kinds of stuff. They ate a ton (for little kids) of ice cream and cake, and they played with the Nativities my mom had on the bay window. My parents collect Nativities, everything from traditional sets to potholders and mugs. They have 135 of them. I kid you not. The ones on the windowsill were toys: a Playmobil version, one made of felt that buttoned to a Christmas tree, yadda yadda. The kids must have played with them for almost an hour! (And in their version of the Christmas story, the Three Kings can fly!) It was fun sitting around with Suz just chatting. I showed her all my camera stuff, and we talked cameras for a while. (She's my friend who's trying to get a wedding photography biz off the ground, and if she ever has a solid local gig I'm going to be her assistant!)
The kids and my parents hadn't seen each other in over a year, we think, and Suz felt bad. She said they have to spend more time with their bonus mom-mom and pop-pop. Which Hubby and I are all for. Let them borrow other kids if they feel like they need grandma/grandpa time! They're really sweet kids. But they are exhausting. I can't imagine how Suz gets the energy to get up and moving every day. Just listening to them for a couple hours wore me out!
And actually this was kind of funny. Apparently my dad had lined up the Nativities in the windowsill himself that afternoon. So when he saw the kids messing up his arrangement, he was freaking a little! My mom was all, "But that's what they're for!" Heh.
So after all the errand-running and birthdaying on Saturday -- we didn't get home till after 10:30 -- it was super to have yesterday just for lounging around. Poor Hubby did have to work on a proposal though, but at least he could do it at home in his sweatpants. I chilled out, watched the Eagles game (depressing), hit the treadmill for a while, and made meatloaf and roast cauliflower for dinner. I never even left the house! We didn't get much snow, just some on the grass and cars and roofs. And the rain washed most of it away by evening.
I have Friday off for my birthday. Yay! I've organized my week so I don't have to cook dinner or work out that day! The only thing we have to do is meet with Kathy at a hardware place to pick out fixtures for the powder room. I have no idea what else I'm going to do with my day. I considered going to the movies, but there isn't really anything interesting released this week. I don't want to spend a lot of money, and Hubby's company party is Saturday night so I want to save my points. I don't want to drive down to Philly or take the train into NYC. I'm considering taking the shuttle over to Princeton and just strolling around, maybe take my camera and play. I'll have to see what the weather holds. Or -- oooh! -- I could go to Grounds for Sculpture and check out the art and take pictures! I should be able to find something reasonably fun and cheap to do. Of course, just puttering around the house in my jammies sounds appealing too! If you have any good ideas, put them in the comments!
- Two thumbs up for SHREK THE HALLS
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- eh_notsomuch
- November 29th, 2007
- amused
I wasn’t sure if Shrek the Halls was going to be any good. The fact that the original cast and not some dime-store knockoffs were participating was hopeful, so we taped it and watched it tonight. It wasn’t good.
It was hilarious!
Sure, the story is simple and pitched to kiddies, but there’s plenty of fast-paced jokes aimed at us oldsters. Plus Shrek babies are mega-cute! One of the best parts: watch for Puss in Boots checking out his Santa hat. And then, “I have shamed myself.” We were on the floor. ABC will repeat it on the 11th. It’s worth it!
- "What is it you want?" "Real estate!"
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- eh_notsomuch
- November 27th, 2007
cheerful
Tonight.
8:00 p.m. on ABC.
Charlie Brown Christmas.
Commence with the Peanuts dancing!
Just so you know, according to Hubby, 5 cents in 1965 is equivalent for 31 cents today! Lucy's advice is a bargain at twice the price.
Also, Shermie is absolutely correct: every year he does end up playing a shepherd. How meta!
- You better not pout, you better not cry
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- eh_notsomuch
- August 16th, 2007
surprised
Christmas in August? Yep, when you're in a department with almost 20 other people, you gotta claim your Christmas time off days now, baby. So I locked those up with my team leader today.
Then I decided to go to Continental's website and shop for our plane tickets, more out of curiosity than anything. OMFG!!!!!!!1~~!@!! $900 a ticket?!? WTF1000?!?!?!?
Oh, but I could save $600... all we'd have to do is travel between the 19th and the 24th. Uhhhh, and the point of that is...? On the negative sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...
So after I recovered from my coronary, I went over to Kayak and searched for some reasonable goddamn alternatives. I found us a fare for just under $400 apiece on US Airways from Philly to Kansas City. Jesus, that's a little better. We save $120 by flying out early Sunday morning (instead of going on Saturday), and we come back on the 26th. We could have gone even cheaper by going with a different airline and stopping over in Milwaukee, but the layover on the way back would have been worryingly brief. And what are the chances of bad weather on December 26th that could delay our flight??? So nonstop is the way to go.
Anyway, if you're planning to fly home for the holidays, you may want to start checking on flights now. Day-um.
- Two(!) hours left of 2006
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 31st, 2006
So hey! How've you been? Asrevdrmarsh pointed out, I was away for a while. Hubby and I drove down to Williamsburg, VA, for Christmas, from the 23rd to the 28th. Hubby's parents, sister, brother-in-law and our baby nephew came out to meet us, and we all shared a 3-bedroom condo. Baby nephew was a darling little guy, as long as he was properly napped and fed. And I give props to brother-in-law: when we were doing touristy stuff, he was great about taking the baby out when the baby started to fuss, so people weren't disturbed. What a lovely change, huh?
Hubby and I finally bought a GPS for the car, which I totally recommend. I drove back and forth to VA from NJ with this gizmo leading the way. It was so cool, I felt totally comfortable driving around Williamsburg, and I hate driving in strange places on vacation. On Christmas Day, we all took separate cars, and with the directions from the GPS, I got to the restaurant before everyone else.
So we got home on the afternoon of the 28th, and we've been lying low since then. We've only actually left the house once in 4 days, to go grocery shopping last night! We had considered seeing if anyone wanted to go out or come over for The Eve, but I think we were hospitalitied out over Christmas. So tonight it's just us, some great food (fresh baked bread, cheese, brownies), and football!
Detroit beat Dallas (thank you, Lions!), Eagles beat Atlanta (even after Coach Reid pulled the A-team off the field and let the second stringers take over), and Green Bay is suddenly rising up righteous and kicking Chicago's ass! (Hard to believe Chicago is 13-2 after watching them tonight, and hard to understand why Green Bay is only 7-8.)
Have a safe and pleasant New Year's Eve, y'all.
- I was a good girl this year!
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 19th, 2006
- excited
Look what Hubby got me for Christmas!
(We're not doing gift exchange with his family in Williamsburg, and I wanted him to have his present. Oh, who am I kidding, I wanted to open my present too!)
- So true!
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 19th, 2006
- merry
He knows if you've been bad or eh-notsomuch,
So be eh-notsomuch for goodness' sake.Santa Claus is Coming to Town
from the Christmas Song Generator.
- One week
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 18th, 2006
- content
till Christmas! Eeps!
We had a busy weekend, but fun. But first, did you see Battlestar on Friday night? Nukes hurtling toward the planet, Starbuck falling out of the sky, Cylons massing for an attack... aaand g'night, folks! See you in January! Consider that cliff hung.
( Saturday afternoon )
We had some time to relax before we had to get ready for Hubby's company's Christmas party ( Saturday night )
This is getting long, and I'm still at work, so I think I'll have to finish this later.
- My Xmas Stocking
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- eh_notsomuch
- December 11th, 2006
Ho ho ho! All the cool kids are doing it. ( my xmas stocking )
- My Christmas mix tape. Playlist. CD. Whatevah.
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- eh_notsomuch
- November 30th, 2006
- merry
So, what are your favorite Christmas/holiday songs? Here are some that grace my iPod round the clock these days:- Jose Feliciano, "Feliz Navidad"
- Emerson Lake & Palmer, "I Believe in Father Christmas"
- Anything from Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (I just ordered the DVD yesterday! Whee!)
- Chris Rea, "Driving Home for Christmas"
- David Bowie & Bing Crosby, "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" (Here's the video!)
- Eartha Kitt, "Santa Baby" (the one and only version worth listening to. Madonna? Child, please)
- "The Christmas Waltz". I have Frank Sinatra's version, but I think everyone and his dog has recorded it.
- Guster, "Donde Esta Santa Claus"
- Kay Starr, "Man with the Bag"
- Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, "A Fairytale of New York" ("Happy Christmas, yer arse, I pray God it's our last…")
- I haven't started yet, but I think after tomorrow, I'll be playing my London Philharmonic version of The Nutcracker. It just isn't Christmas until that comes out!
- The gift of common sense for Christmas
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- eh_notsomuch
- November 28th, 2006
- pleased
This is the great thing about media and the Internets. I'm sure the homeowners' association was finally shamed into doing the right thing by all the negative press:A subdivision has withdrawn its threat of $25 daily fines against a homeowner who put a Christmas wreath shaped like a peace sign on the front of her home.
Wil Wheaton analyzes the story on his blog as well.
Homeowner Lisa Jensen told The Associated Press Monday that the board of directors of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association had apologized, called the incident a misunderstanding and had withdrawn its request for the wreath's removal.
Jensen was ordered to take the wreath down when some residents in her 200-home subdivision saw it as a protest of the Iraq war. Bob Kearns, president of the board, also said some saw it as a symbol of Satan....
Jensen, a past association president, said she was overwhelmed with hundreds of calls of support and offers to help her pay the $1,000 fine that would be due if she kept the wreath up until after Christmas.
"We would like to thank everyone who has contacted us with moral support and offers of financial support. We are grateful to hundreds of complete strangers who felt so moved by this story they contacted us," she said.
"It seems whenever someone tries to say 'Peace on Earth' it is met with so much resistance," she said. "The incredible amount of support we have received over the last couple of days really is proof to us of how many people believe in peace and in our right to say it."
It's not that I want to impress my beliefs on Bob Kearns, the association president. This would have blown over into nothing, had he not fired the five committee members that didn't agree with him! That was what pissed me off.
Peace.
- Charlie Brown Christmas!
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- eh_notsomuch
- November 28th, 2006
"Christmas Time is here... happiness and cheer!"
Tonight on TV!
8:00 pm EST!
I'll be the one Peanuts-dancing and decking out my house for the lights & display contest.
"All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share!"
- It really looks Satanic, doesn't it?
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- eh_notsomuch
- November 27th, 2006
aggravated
You've probably read this story already (click the demonic peace wreath for the full text), but it's worth linking to and keeping it in the forefront of people's minds:A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan...
So if you don't like what the committee says, just go ahead and fire 'em all. That's the American way.
...The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and the board “will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive.”
The subdivision’s rules say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee.
Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn’t say anything. Kearns fired all five committee members.
I need to find a way to send this lady in Denver $5 or $10 towards her fines. If a bunch of us did, we'd cover her $1,000 in fines easy.
- Yes, I realize I just railed against early Christmas stuff before. Isn't it ironic?
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- eh_notsomuch
- November 10th, 2006
- merry
