saturation

Even though I sometimes scroll through 2 or 3 pages of ‘comments’ on some stories or op-ed pieces, I rarely look at anything beyond the first few anymore…if that. I guess what I’m getting at is this: what drives a person to make a comment on a story when they see a meter saying that 1,234 people have already commented? Do you like yelling at a wall? Do you think anyone is going to, first of all, find your comment; and, secondly, send or post you a response saying how moved they were by your entry? Or, is it the yelling at the wall that gives people some sort of release? I’m also wondering about my online class this quarter (this being my first ever) that requires me to participate online, in commentary and threads, at least four days per week. I think there’s something like 25 folks in the ‘class’ and we all have a daily assignment to post and then we’re to post those additional four times about someone else’s entry. What are the odds that I, and I’m pretty diligent, am going to read beyond the first or second threat before I post? Zero, those are the betting odds. There’s no way I’m reading all 25 entries on three topics each day and then reading all the threads and finding what might tickle my fancy – not a chance. Of course, online isn’t the best way to learn and I understand this attempt at interaction but there really isn’t going to be any. Yelling at a wall.

Drilling and Obama. This is a parallel to a discussion the Eleven had about insulating a rental house that we might spend 3-5 years occupying but that is for another another another time. My first reaction, mild as it was, was that he was caving in on a campaign pillar and was ready to start drilling off the Atlantic and Alaskan coasts. My second reaction was stronger, and a counterweight, and fell in line with what we’ve seen of Obama for the last 16 months: patience. Let this develop and then determine its success. Third, maybe this is a bit political and I’m fine with that feeling. Taking it backwards now, if this is a political move then it simply has shut the door on the stupid “Drill, baby, drill” motto of Palin. If I never hear that again or see another sign in a yard calling for a fifteen-year fix to a “this summer” problem, then my days will be happier. Here’s a bit of the transcript of the speech:

“So today we're announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration, but in ways that balance the need to harness domestic energy resources and the need to protect America's natural resources. Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we'll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We'll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we'll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.

That's why my administration will consider potential areas for development in the mid and south Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, while studying and protecting sensitive areas in the Arctic. That's why we'll continue to support development of leased areas off the North Slope of Alaska, while protecting Alaska's Bristol Bay.”

Of course, exploration, not drilling is the phrase he uses and that also says something about the patience and process involved in what he’s trying to accomplish. That sort of mitigates that first impression of caving, which I’ll get to in a second.

The patience part is just learned, the hard way. Being a liberal – and a Democrat – I often get swallowed up in waiting for the right thing, my priority, to get done. In the arena we’re living in that just isn’t going to happen. Maybe there will be 6-8 major successes in Obama’s first four years and maybe 3 or 4 will perfectly align with my hopes but that’s good enough, isn’t it? If the others are of benefit to the nation as a whole then I can live with it. It takes time. It takes effort. We’ll get there.

Now, about the caving part. If I believe in what I think I believe in, then drilling for oil domestically is neither here nor there on the grand scale. There are two parts to this process and the first is that America needs to use less energy. If this move, away from buying foreign oil (or oil from ‘terrorist’ gub’ments; remember that most of our foreign oil imports come from Canada – almost three times more than any other single country), then this is a great move. If we want to drill here and use our oil product as our primary supply then we have some serious usage to cut back on: and that fits perfectly into my hopes. What is the political challenge or response to not buying oil from our ‘enemies’ any more and using our own oil, even if it’s not enough? Are people going to start yelling for us to buy more oil from OPEC during the next election? The second, and even more damning portion, is the idea of a world environment. Why is it okay for oil and coal to be drilled and mined as long as it isn’t in America? If one were to believe the scientists (and who does? Those crazy malcontents) about global warming then it isn’t any better to drill here or there – drilling is drilling. And with that, I happened to trust this Administration to do a better job of protecting the environment, so I’ve got little problem with this decision. And, before anyone gets up in arms, this isn’t the same position the Republicans had in the last election. Their position was, and is, use more energy and in order to meet that demand drill more here. Drill more there. Drill some from my bones.

What this will be, in the end, is a policy that will allow us explore our options here, drill here if needed, and if that’s done then using it as a frontal attack on our energy consumption. When you look at from the point-of-view that environmental issues are not blocked by borders then it makes perfect sense.

And, to give you and idea of how the long view usually wins out if the strength is there…



As I said above, I don’t always get these things out of my wee head – X dives in, sorts it all out, and gives me the down-and-dirty as she sips on her wine and reads her Lucky magazine. Is that both a compliment and stereotype? Ah, whatever.

t

start your engine

I broke out the old Jacobsen mower this afternoon for the first hell-and-down-and-up our yard for the new season. It didn't want to start up so much but managed to finally turnover and keep 'running' at about half-gasp for long enough to cut the mountain. A few things to consider from your mechanically-handicapped author: the mower was rolled in the shed at the end of last summer, the gas wasn't emptied, the oil was - well, who knows - the blade ain't never been sharpened in 2+ years, I think the Holley double pumper 750 is gummed up, and well, it's just a $20 used thing that I'm hoping gets through one more summer. It used to be propelled, long before we bought it, so I'm pushing a non-propelled, heavy-ass beast up and down the hill on The Hilltop. In betwixt my sets of 10 engine cord pulls and my resting (it's both aerobic and anaerobic!) I was taking a good, solid look at the mower - eyeing it up-and-down, bending low to check on the shocks, pushing this and pulling at that wire, messing with the throttle, and adjusting the catching bag. Anyone driving by would certainly have thought me a man of tools and means. Of course, what was going through my head was a memory of when Buzz (and I, observing) worked on a two-stroke mower back in England (are all mowers two-stroke?) Buzz was pulling plugs, checking carbs, and generally explainin' to me all the tricks of, what he dubs, "the World's simplest motor" - as if that meant diddily to a dolt like me. I also thought that it would be great to have Buzz down the street to come over and fix my shit. That's what I really wanted; I didn't give a rat's ass about knowing how to do something. Maybe if he pops over he can give me a haircut, play a saw, lose at Yahtzee, and then knock out four of five games of NHL 2000 on the computer. Well, none of that happened and I mowed the grass with a wheezing, sputtering, non-propelling relic of the 80s.

I'm back into class beginning tomorrow night - Tuesday through Thursday nights this round - but I'll have my weekends off for sleeping in. I was able to buy two of my textbooks via Kindle (I'm borrowing L's) so I save a load of cash. I'm in Nutrition (online), American Cuisine, and Latin Cuisine. Looking forward to another round.

The screened in porch is about 90% complete with one more weirdly-shaped roof panel and one screen remaining. Once that's done we'll do some sealing between pieces and call it summer.

I have interesting issues to bring up on Obama and drilling, most of which is stolen for X, but that'll be for another day.

By the way, that's not my mower up above, I'm just too lazy to go take a digital picture at 9pm

t

cherry blossoms

Here are some shots from the early morning jaunt Saturday AM. There was some debate from the peanut gallery about getting there at 6:30am but even then it was getting overcrowded. It ended up be a very nice and worthwhile trip even if we couldn't round up a breakfast joynt after we finished at 7:30am. L. was in charge of photos and did a stunning job.

Love to all.

t

ain't no trip to cleveland...

My movie watching has been less than stellar over the last year but I wanted to point everyone in the direction of Fantastic Mr. Fox. It’s not much of a secret that I’ve loved every single Wes Anderson film so I guess this isn’t a huge surprise. Having floated that disclaimer, Mr. Fox is a simply beautiful piece of art that no one should miss. We watched it Saturday night and I’m still playing back great scenes in my head. To take a book, turn it brilliantly to stop-motion animation, and have it voiced to perfection (Clooney as Mr. Fox? Perfect!) is something to behold. Honestly, I don’t know how it wasn’t voted film of the year by everyone. You have my full recommendation.

“They'll never catch me... because I'm fucking innocent.” – Dignan.

nothing but a heartache

It must be March Madness at the pub as we made our way to 2nd place in last night’s quiz. After our last performance a few weeks back – the worst ever – it was a pleasant surprise. The only question that led to protest, at least from me, was this: What is the native currency of the following islands? Christmas, Aruba, Wight, and Canary. Feel free to look those up, we only got the Isle of Wight correct. I couldn’t come up with florin for Aruba even though we knew it was a Dutch property, and even with me writing down ffl on the napkin, just wouldn’t come to the brain. We went with the dollar for the Christmas Islands, sans Australian, so we misfired there. The Canary is where the debate raged – we were debating Portuguese v. Spain ownership issue and ended up going with the peseta. Well, that’s sort of right if you go with the ‘native’ portion of the question but is apparently wrong when he says that the Euro is the answer. The Euro? Native? To the Caymans? If we’d been asked “what is the currency of…” I could play along but I don’t buy the Euro as the native currency of anywhere. The analogy would be saying that the native currency of Germany isn’t the Mark. L. came along and managed to let us know that the Cobb Salad originated in L.A., told us that Singing in the Rain has a scene in front of Grauman’s in L.A., and that the largest U.S. fortune cookie factory was in S.F. – who knew? The Cobb Salad really surprised me. Small potatoes…

Here’s a piece at dcist.com that addresses the first month of the $.05 tax on plastic bags that took effect in January. A yearly review will probably be more useful – and accurate – so I’ll keep everyone posted. S.F. simply outlawed plastic bags so you have a total of zero in use out there, I’d have been more happy with that, but this has, at any level, had a serious impact on usage. I’d like NoVa and Maryland to get onboard and play along.

We’re gathering up the clan early Saturday morning and rolling over to the Tidal Basin for a lap around the cherry blossoms – or to the cherry blossoms with a lap around the Basin. There’ll be some baking on Friday night and coffee brewing early in the morning. Sunrise is set for 6:50 am so we’ll be there by 6:30 to beat the crowds and the Metro schedule. There’ll a nap when I get home; we’ll send pictures.

X has come down with one of those bugs that mostly affect the voice, her’s is disappearing into a gravel pit, to which I pointed out on the way home last night that she makes it sound like I’m hanging out with Bonnie Tyler…or Demi Moore in the St. Elmo’s Fire days. If you’re wondering…

socialist schools

L. and H. were off this morning to school - on a Saturday!, that damn Obama - to make up the final time from the missed educating during our two-fer blizzard this winter. The school made up a good bit of the time by extending the school days over the last five weeks and this is the final surge. I find it ironic (is that right?) that a private school is making sure to get the days of education in but the public schools, who fall under the 169-day rule (or whatever number of days it is), are filing requests to not have to finish the required number of class days. The above is L before heading out for her final Zoology exhibition to finish her quarter today. Most of the classes at the school, particularly the high school, required students to present their research and answer questions from other students, teachers, and occasionally, outside experts and parents. Each student does about 20-25 minutes and is expected to present their position and then defended their research. It's not so much a debate as it is a chance for the teacher to see that the student understands their chosen problem, done the legwork, understands the process, and has used critical thinking to present and explain the position. It's quite a process and today is the second day of scheduled exhibitions throughout the school. Her other presentation of sorts, in German culture was on The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger.

We set upon the back porch and the screening in of about 2/3s of it this morning. Corey is doing the design and actual man-work and I'm doing the painting of the structure. I'm taking some photos as we progress and the barn should be raised and done by sunset tomorrow. It'll be very nice to able to use the porch through the spring, summer and early fall without getting savaged by mosquitos. Feel free to stop by in your seersucker suits and have some mint juleps.

t

get off my lawn!

I love a good egg salad with mustard on toasted rye. I realized when I ordered this at the deli for lunch that I sound like a crazy, old man, “I want my egg salad on toast! Rye toast! Don’t try to slip any of that frenchy yellow mustard on it, either.” (hitching up my suspenders.)

I have one more written test for class tomorrow and then I’m off for about a week-and-half before the next quarter. The big timeline says only one more quarter before I get my early summer vacation up in Stowe, and that can’t come soon enough.

I, for no good reason, started a debate on Facebook (what am I? 14?) about the healthcare bill with some friends – mostly from my military days. Being that the military is more conservative than a lot of areas – though my field was less so – it’s like debating any other crazies. I get it; I understand that probably half the population didn’t want this bill (or didn’t think they wanted it), but elections do mean something, voting means something, and a majority means something. Honest debate was, and is, very hard to come by and I’ve made loads of efforts to read and follow some of their talking points but they aren’t talking points – they’re yelling points. They aren’t true, they come from nowhere, and they mean nothing. There’s little compromise when half the players refuse to listen or move. So be it. I’m ready to move along to the next issue without them. I will say this, and it’s based on what I said a few weeks ago, by the time the elections come up in November we will end up with more Democrats in Congress than we have now. This has been a fatal move by the Republicans, they just don’t see it yet.

I have the Caps v. Pens at Verizon tonight so along with my decompressing from the Sunday vote and worries put forth about socialism, and whatnot, I get a great rivalry.

More later

t

say it's so, Joe

I don't have much love for baseball these days. I'm still a Cubs fan but that's not the issue. I find the 'salary cap' to be a joke, the PEDs, and the game to be boring. It's such a distance that I don't even know if the Cubs making the World Series would bring me back.

What has caught my attention over the last three years is Joe Mauer. I don't completely disconnect when it comes to sport and Mauer may be the best player in baseball. He's a Twin Cities legend, he was the Gatorade high school football player of the year and now he's the MLB MVP and three-time batting champion. If I had to pick an AL team, it'd be the Twins - the team of my youngest days in Edina. To see the Twins lock him up - with a beautiful new stadium next season - instead of the Yanks or Sox poaching him, makes me feel good. There will be many great summer nights in the Cities.

t

we are the ones we've been waiting for

Time is time.
Our time is here
We asked for this and we have it.
meep meep
Peace.

would you be an outlaw for my love

Today warrants an a goodbye to the great Alex Chilton. I was introduced to Big Star in early 1992, long after the band was gone, and I can honestly say they weren't a band I would have dug up on my own. The hippie/folk/pop combo from the early 70s wasn't naturally my thing so I could have gone my entire life, and sat here today, having never listened to the two great albums they produced - #1 Record and Radio City. In the end, they were really purely a pop band and one of my all-time favorites. Those two records deserve all the acclaim they've received over the last 35+ years. Man, only 59 and he's gone. Sort of feels like the day Joe Strummer died. Enjoy.

i just met donnie osmond's brother at the DFW airport

I got a text message from my friend, Buzz, and that title above is the complete transmission. There are any number of questions that arise from such a text.

First, was he walking through the airport, eyes up and alert to celebs, when he said to himself, “Why, I think that’s Donnie Osmond’s brother”? Or, did he think to himself, “My, my, what a massive set of smiley teeth. I wonder if that man is famous.” Under either of these situation, in order to determine who this might be, you’d have to approach him and query his lot in life (unless he’s just bullshitting me). With the former thought in your head, the answer from the “Osmond” would probably be, “Hey, yeah, I’m Alan Osmond, Donnie’s brother, nice to meet you”; or, “I’m only Donnie Osmond’s brother. Leave me alone.” Not likely. If the latter is the issue and you said, “Hey, are you famous?” He would have said something like “Sure am. I’m Alan Osmond. Nice to meet you. Who are you and why don’t you leave me alone.” Somehow, if any of these vignettes came to pass they were immediately translated, and transmitted to me, as “meeting Donnie’s Osmond’s brother.” What I also question is this: if he had told me that he’d met Jebediah Osmond at the airport did he think I wouldn’t be able to figure out that it was an Osmond brother? Did I really need the Donnie reference? Why couldn’t he be referred to as Marie Osmond’s brother? What about Jimmy Osmond’s brother? Wait, did he meet Jimmy Osmond? Granted, I can only rattle off Alan, Donnie, Marie, and Jimmy but that’s at least half of the clan, right? I have some Osmond skills. Speaking of which…

In my elementary school days I was a much bigger Donnie Osmond fan than Michael Jackson fan; though I did have three-ring binders with both on the cover. But I should also admit that I always felt that One Bad Apple, which I had on 45rpm and danced to all over my room, was much more Jackson 5-like than it was Osmond-like; sort of hard to tell the difference when you listen to it (apparently it was originally written for the Jackson 5). Well, take a listen…and a watch:



Those are some sweet moves and hot jumpsuits; channeling a later kung-fu Elvis. You might think that a white kid growing up in the flat Midwest would dream of being up on stage in a white, sequined jumpsuit and having the babies scream from beyond the stage. But, in my case, that wasn’t who I wanted to be in the early 1970s. Who I wanted to be, no question, was a Pip – plain-and-simple. I also had Midnight Train… on 45rpm and I remember watching Gladys and Pips on various variety shows when that wax was hot – mesmerized. There is nothing in this world cooler than being a Pip.


“I know you will…wooh wooh…”
(spin, step, slide, spin)

I’ll spare you the He Ain’t Heavy Osmond video. Man, I loved the Osmonds back then..

t

holy crepe

We were doing breakfast stuff this week in class and Saturday night was tasked with crepes and fruit tarts from each team in class. On Friday night, as we were wrapping up other egg dishes (eggs benedict on my watch), our instructor pointed at the 'crepe' pans that we had available for the following night - about 6" and deep, teflon-coated pans. Based on what I've found during some intertube work today, I think they may qualify as crepe pans but I'd say it's a pretty loose interpretation in my house. Anyway, I brought in my four pans (2 x 6" and 2 x 8") that are of the style shown above and our associated crepe spatula; I was well positioned for success. Our team was up for about 40 crepes, savory and sweet, and do we decided on one set of shrimp newberg and I followed up with a smoked salmon, caramelized onion, and goat cheese with a havarti and green-onion sauce - but that's not so important here.

After all the teams' crepe batter was set - as if you really need to let it sit for 60 minutes - the fun began. Four six tops of teams trying to work 40 crepes each. With a simple spray and two 8"-ers, I was able to knock out all 40 shells in about 15 minutes. The deep, coated 'pans' were an absolute nightmare for the others teams so I doled out the 6" pans and passed along the eights when we'd finished. The crepe pans, along with a good immersion blender, a quality food mill, and a mortar-and-pestle are the simplest and most specialized pieces that most people really need. (Well, a three-cup food chopper ain't too bad, either.) Considering there are crepes in the house at least once a month - on a weekend morning - there's no way I'd be banging around with middling pans. You've been educated.

I'm in the middle of watching an early Sunday game that's seen the Caps come back from 3-0 down to start the 3rd - with no Ovechkin (ejected in the first) - to tie it at 3-3 with about 10 minutes to go. Another national TV come-from-behind win?

shut it. quiet. what what

I’m a bit off-balance this week so I’ve been pretty quiet – or not, depending on where you live. A few things are gnawing at me and I haven’t fully sorted them out in my head.

First, I’m off meat in a much more permanent basis than the last five or six years. I’d say that I’ve been about 95% off since then – I’ll nibble on leftover scraps from the kids’ dinners – but we don’t do any mains for adults that include meat, and for varying reasons. You can ask X about her reasons since they’ve been well in place for most of her life and who am I to address her choices. Mine were primarily a cholesterol-avoidance plan that turned into the norm after years of not cooking anything with meat for meals. I haven’t missed it, really, so it didn’t even seem like much of a sacrifice back in about 2004 when it started. Right, there’s that. I’ll expand more on it at some point over the next week or so.

Second, (note: I just deleted and entire sentence of profanities and have begun, anew…) the healthcare insurance reform bill. I think it’ll get done over the next few weeks and we can move on to other issues that are presenting loads of other problems in our country. But, I need to take a few lines here to chastise people for ignorance. By ignorance I mean specifically the method of putting head to sand and refusing to have any type of debate on an issue that is causing so much wasted time and effort. I don’t even know that it bothers me when people yell and scream “facts” that aren’t actually facts – not much I can do about that. The rub here are the people that are too lazy, too unwilling (is that the same?), or too blinded by their people, to actually study an issue before screaming from the rooftops. Unless you can give me one actual fact that supports a position you hold (without using something like the CBO as a prop but then throwing it out when you don’t agree with you) then you don’t get to play. I’m fine with giving up a year of our governing life to get this done – I’d like it to do even more – but we are at the end. Maybe it might seem wrong to say but I’ll give it to you straight: it will get rammed down your throat and I’m cool with that. I’m not concerned about the elections – they’ll take care of themselves – and the time has come for this to be done. I’d say that it’s been a good debate but it hasn’t been: it’s been nothing more that an embarrassment. If you don’t have a plan you can go sit in the corner and color with Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Good fucking riddance.

I feel better.

(Enter less hostile Todd from stage left)

Everything here is going well – kids and school seem to be working in a temporary emulsion – and the weather has come to spring, finally. The damn cats (damn cats!) have posed a problem that initially seemed like a batch of bad cat food (we only feed them dry) but may be more centered upon warm weather, mole-snacks, and less eating required. I returned the first bag only to see the second bag receive the same treatment. I changed stores and brands, thinking I would avoid a bad delivery truck or company, only to get similar results. At this point, they can eat it or not – they’re smart enough, right?

The orthodontist issue is almost sorted out (see previous work), but not quite. We have a “consultation” appointment next week (“Hmm, you have braces, I see…”) and then hopefully everything will get off the start line.

The Eleven is planning a long (one-two week) crazy vacation for about a year from now. We’re tempted to just find the cheapest, late-booked, vacation packages and hit the road – nearly blind. But, if anyone has any suggestions on warmer and less-touristy worldwide destinations, please submit your inputs to our anonymous comment box near the door as you exit.

One more thing: the Formula 1 season kicks off this weekend in Bahrain and here’s a photo from yesterday’s festivities and practice session. If you don’t know me too well, or don’t follow F1, then you won’t find this picture nearly as ironic or sacrilegious as I do:

in this world

I’ve been remiss over the last seven weeks in not getting L. in to see an orthodontist. I actually did some legwork on this a few months ago at my semi-annual cleaning; I gave them a quick background and I asked them if they had an othro they’d recommend. Conveniently enough, they have one that comes to their office every Thursday to see patients and that seemed like perfect idea for L. She’s about 14-18 months into a two-year program so all we’re looking for are monthly adjustment visits until she returns to Omaha – or wherever – and has them removed.

I finally gave them a call this morning and rehashed the idea with the office manager and queried about getting her in Thursday afternoon. As if. What I unwittingly stumbled into was the maw of the “no people”; you know the tribe – can’t do, won’t get done, that’s impossible, are you fucking crazy? Yes, them. She tells me that he can’t do that kind of work because how could he possibly know (or learn) the inner workings of another ortho? How would he know what her plan was? What if this ortho would have done something different? It CAN’T be done. I pause momentarily before asking her a simple question: Are you telling me that no family has ever moved while having a child in braces? There was a long pause on the line. I followed up with: Do you think people decide not to sell a house and move because Jimmy has three more months in braces and they don’t know about the alchemy of braces in Nebraska yet? I told her that I had the contact information for her man in Omaha and all that needs to be done is to make contact, ask a few questions on the phone (I’m sure the two orthos understand the language), and then set-up an appointment. She takes my number and tells me that she’ll contact their ortho and call me back. Sounds good, I say, so I’ll hear back from you this afternoon? What? No? She tells me that she’ll talk to him on Thursday when he comes in; she is kidding, right? Does this guy live where there’s no phone? Maybe somewhere that requires him to teleport in from another galaxy? They are killing me.

(p.s. I just called back to get the number of the guy and do the work myself but the afternoon woman just said she’d give him a call and call me right back. Go figure?)

I had class on Friday night so I sent The Forty to see Orestes at the Folger Shakespeare Theater (I’d bought the seats about six months ago prior to getting my class schedule and child moving here.) They had a quick dinner in Rosslyn and then Metro’d in to see the show. When they picked me up after class there were great reviews (WaPo review here) from both girls so it appears their night out was a success. I’d taken L. to the Caps’ game the previous night and told her during intermission that she’d be hard-pressed to attend two more different events on back-to-back nights: crazy sports fans in red and a Euripides play.

t

let me ask you this...

I've been wanting to do a blog entry using only this online program and I think this is as close as I'll come. If you haven't been keeping up, and don't know about the Message to Garcia, then this will be wholly unfunny. I'm calling this my anti-Garcia:

tidying up the paperwork

After code was written and truth determined (it was bout 10,000 lines of repetitive numbering), the correct answers to the EHB game, if everyone is maximizing efforts would be this:

1st bidder: 75
2nd bidder: 25
3rd bidder: either 26 or 74

It's been noted by representation that I need to make a public apology to G. for his opening number of 77 that cracked open this can of worms. And so, I apologize with no additional input. The 77 was very close to the best possible option.

If you're wondering about the Price is Right version of the game (closest without going over), the max numbers for each player are:

1st: 67
2nd: 34
3rd: 1

There's no wiggle room in this one for the second bidder, and by default, the last guy in. The first set of rules allows the 3rd bidder to decide which end to attack and therefore give one of the two players (the one not attacked) as the most likely winner.

The 51 is off to see the Caps at Verizon tonight. Seems like it's been forever with the long Olympic break.

t

you cannot be serious! - john mcenroe (1970s/80s)

A few weeks ago we sent off a couple of letters to the great north but they were returned about a week later by the USPS. Both included the standard, yellow sticker that said something about undeliverable as addressed – clearly a mistake since both addressees were correct. Not really understanding what the problem might be, I grabbed a new envelope (both items were cards), addressed it (again), stamped it (again), and fire it out yesterday morning. As expected when one tries to sort out an issue, another card was returned yesterday afternoon but this time it included some very official mathematical directions and chastisement (is that a word?) sticker covering the entire face of the envelope. It appears that unless you are mailing a perfectly standard-sized card you’ll be paying an additional $.20. Just so you don’t think that we were mailing those 2’ by 3’ cards full of pandas and balloons, here’s a picture of the returned card with a reference so you can size it yourself (that's a CD, by the way):

Here’s a zoom on the rules and directions. When you’re done with the math problem, please turn in your papers. I’m guessing that they’ve decided that if they must hand sort anything then you’re paying more. Have they purchased new sorting machines? This is complete bullshit:

I also wanted to update the progress of our snow-clearing equipment around the neighborhood. If you remember how they were stuck by feet of snow last month (see here), then rest assured they’ve finished their work. J.O.B.

We are in the midst of what I’d dubbed the “Extra Hash Brown (EHB)” game theory. It started accidentally when I asked which of the three blockheaded kids were interested in the extra hash brown at breakfast the other morning. (Background: the big pan only fits four hash browns for cooking. Yes, I could have only made three. Yes, I could have cut the last one in thirds, but where’s the fun in that?) I wrote down a number between 1 and 100 and starting with G., followed by H. and L., respectively, (they were all interested in the hash) and told them that whoever was closest to the number would win the gold. G. started with 77 – I now don’t remember the other guesses because I immediately lost interest – and after all the bids were in, H. had won. Why I lost my focus was because I immediately thought that 77, when you know two others are guessing behind you, is a poor opening salvo. What this became over the last two days – and now involves my workmate/probability geek as well as X – is this: what are the best numbers to choose if you are picking first, second, and/or third? I’ve added variants to the game that include closest without going over (the Price is Right version), and writing down a number on a secret ballot where if two pick the same number they are eliminated (the You Can’t Just Write 50 version). I’ll save you our endless discussions and thoughts and just let you play the game on your own. If you have three kids around – or two kids and a crazy wife – have them give a try and see what happens…but don’t give them any background before the first round. One additional input: since humans aren’t actually good at randomly selecting a number, go online and Google-up a random number generator and use that as your source for the final, winning, answer.

you have something to say?

The Atlantic online site, or at least the commentary sites, have undergone an overhaul of sorts and the one comment-allowing site that I read, Coates, reposted his comment rules; it seemed a natural point to do so. I have to say that the commenters on his his site are very involved, and the discussions, more times than not, add some depth to his his posts. The only reason that I'm hitting on this is because he brings up a great new rule, #6, that hits upon one of the funniest threads that ever evolved.

I've created a new vocabulary word that may seem harsh but somehow fits many situations: fuckstration and/or fuckstrated. Feel free to roll it around in you head and use when you feel it may be appropriate

I've dove into Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer last night; one the few books that got me in pretty deep after just a few pages. Of course, what he points out - what you think the book will be when you first read the title - is indicative of the road he'll take me down. You have no idea how much discussion can be covered when consider dogs v. other animals.

Last week I printed out a copy of the short essay entitled Message to Garcia after a discussion at work. I'd never heard the story but I know gold when I see it; and this is gold. The Eleven spoke about it on the phone for a bit and she ended up sitting the kids down and reading them the story on Saturday afternoon. From the other room, in mid-story, I suddenly heard H. say, "wait a minute, I think I know where this is going..." Smart boy, that one. Feel free to google away

I only have a few weeks left of this first quarter of school - going very well.

I think there's a bit of snow possible for Wednesday and I'm calling it the final snow of the year

More later

t

i can't see! where is it? where am i?

The art of politics and the doing of the doing.

It’s taken some time rehashing and doctoring this up to get there to a point at which I’m happy enough with it. You may want to bail out right now; if you don't, you'll be here for a bit.

I guess the three main things I’m driving at are voter inattention (polling data now vs. later), the amount of time and money needed to get things done, and the endless methodology of not actually doing anything because you’re in a bad mood.

First of all, the mid-term elections are still 8-9 months away and what’s become clear to me about American politics, and the fickle voter, is that nothing beyond two months stays in our head. Screaming about the healthcare overhaul? Gone. The “you lie” moment? Gone. Tea Partiers? Nearly gone. Granted, some issues are bigger than others but we don’t care to remember any once the latest Palin, Cheney, or Holder misstep or battle pops up. By the time we hit the September – November 2010timeframe I suspect things will have changed for the better; and by better I mean the economy. Not only am I comfortable that it will happen but I need some time and space to clear up a few issues, issues that fall in tandem, that bother me.

First, the stimulus package that got everyone so riled up last year. I think I brought it up a bit back then but it’s worth a look back at the money and bill. You can take a look at the stimulus tracking Web site or the WaPo breakdown if you want exact numbers (or go to any site you trust). A key provision of the bill was that the distribution of the benefits was scheduled for the out years; 2010-2014 being on the table. The point of that delayed gratification was to allow us to put on the brakes and steady the landing before moving money into others areas over time in order to prevent a back slide. So far, only about $200B of the nearly $800B has been distributed. I’d venture to guess that 95% of Americans think the entire $800B is gone and lost by now. When Japan was battling this same type of collapse in the 1990s they made the mistake of funding recovery and then backing off – it tumbled even deeper at that point – and then re-funding. And stopping. And re-funding. It ended up worse in the end because there was no long-term commitment by the government and the people. The delayed investment plan will work throughout this year and by the autumn things will be more stable and the public will see the benefits; and long forgotten this idea of turning over any portion of governing to those who refuse to govern. What about the unemployment rate? That’ll take awhile longer, as should be expected. Unemployment is a lagging indicator on the way down and it’s still a lagging indicator, on the way up, during any recovery. Considering that it was discussed endlessly during the collapse as a lagging indicator, I’m surprised how mental everyone is that it’s coming back so slowly: we knew that would happen. It’ll be two years before we see the unemployment numbers drop back down to 6% or 7% - call it the nature of the beast.

Second thing: the recovery/stimulus package and cutting taxes vs. spending. You can dig around for yourself but know that 22% of the entire package (per the CBO; the % is in the 30s by other accounts) was strictly tax cuts. There is additional spending, as was/is needed, but when one party wants tax cuts and another wants increased spending to fix a problem you can’t get everything you want in a bill; the pie only cuts in so many ways. The party in charge is going to get more of what they want and that’s the compromise part; not to mention the election and democracy part. Nobody who’s against the current process would even think to point out that tax cuts were part of the stimulus because it would merely expose them for the lost souls they are. The Republicans simply voted against it because they refuse to actually do anything, at all. (No Republican member of the House voted for it, three senators did: Specter, PA; Snowe and Collins, ME)

This brings us to the ‘jobs bill’ that was passed in the Senate last week and which really triggered this entry that’s killing you to read. It still needs to be reconciled with the House version but the real kicker is that the Republicans and Harry Reid watered it down to almost nothing in order to get some support and it ended up being a $15B bill that will provide, per the CBO, about 250,000 jobs. Is it perfect? Not by a long shot but for those 250,000 folks it’s important. The kicker? Nearly the entire bill ($13B) is tax cuts. Employers who hire unemployed workers are exempt from payroll taxes until the end of the year and will also receive a $1,000 bonus if the employee is still there after one year. Let’s break this down: tax cuts to employers in order to allow them to hire more people, folks getting off the unemployment rolls and off the socialist agenda, and more money into the economy via their new dollars to spend. Sound familiar? Sound like Republican talking points? Certainly. And how many voted for it? Five of 41 (Brown, MA; Snowe and Collins, ME; Voinovich, OH; Bond, MO). What does it mean? It means that we are continuing to see the Republicans selling a bill of goods that is directly opposed to what they say out of the other side of their mouths and it’s killing our government. If those five moderates didn’t actually vote for what they stand for (lower taxes, getting folks back to work, etc.) then we’d still have absolutely zero from the Capitol and it’s mostly propped on the laps of the Republicans. No one can actually take people like Boehner or McConnell seriously. They yell and scream about tax cuts but when you give them tax cuts they stick their heads and sand and do nothing. Are they going to get every thing they want? Not a chance. As Sen. Lindsey Graham said during the Sotomayor hearings: we had an election and the results matters.

I also don’t want to wander to far away from my massive disappointment in the leadership of Congress. I find both Reid and Pelosi to be lacking in shepherding legislation through the two chambers: if I could choose, I’d look elsewhere. Even with a massive majority they’ve been unable – Reid, in particular – to rally forces and votes to move business through the Senate. The run-up to the summer recess is going to be the stretch run for the fall elections and those months need to be used to lay the groundwork and continur the progress we’ve made so far. If you don’t think anything’s been done then you don’t actually follow events.

Lastly, on the budget and the deficit. I’m sure we all know that the funding for the war on terrorism wasn’t actually funded via normal budgetary methods from 2001-2008 (it wasn't reported as deficit spending but it sure is now). Funny that. After the budgets for defense were approved every year, the Administration used emergency funding to come up with nearly $500B for GWOT between 2001-2007. “By 2007, roughly 25 percent of all of the resources coming into Defense were coming through the emergency funding "window."” (Another $142B was emergency funded in FY2008.) By my tally that’s about $650B over eight years that wasn’t included in any annual budget. (The Heritage Foundation says it’s closer to $800B from 2002-2008 – you should read the whole piece if you have time). By contrast, the recently signed $626B defense budget for 2010 includes monies for both basic defense spending and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (whose costs have not been budgeted for the last nine years.) In the end, we’ll pay for the $650B in emergency funding – it’s a part of the debt; something that’s rarely followed – but it was never reflected as deficit spending while it was happening; convenient, that is.

As Coates said just today at his site, “In all of us, there are strong motives for not thinking. Just getting through the day as tax-paying, spouse-loving, child-rearing adult is hard enough.” True that. True that.

I think my readership will probably drop to zero after this...

irony

I don't know if it's truly ironic or not but as I was finishing my school registration for next quarter I needed to enroll in one online class (I actually hate online classes). But, in order to do so you have to enroll at the school: you can't enroll online for an online course. Odds?

We continued to bask in the glory of our win the other night - a nice $25 credit that will pay for two Cosmos and one Guinness. I suspect we'll end up with something like 30 points and be wholly embarrassed.

The schools here have sat around conference rooms and debated how to make up the seven days lost to blizzards this month. It looks like some days will be extended and the New School will have the kids in school for at least one full Saturday. I think I heard some despair from children as they failed to process the missed seven days as some sort of layaway plan on future schooling.

I'm spending this evening watching Canada v. Russia in the Olympic quarterfinals. I'm cheering for the Russians...how odd is that?

We are supposed to see some snow over the next 24 hours but I suspect the folks up North will see more.

Standby for some politics, taxes, and stimulus discussion tomorrow. I know, you can't wait.

Love to all.

t

internet code .kp is north korea

Just a quick update: we got the whole quiz team in-place tonight and managed a best ever 8th of 52 teams and we actually won one of the two prize rounds of the evening. Our first ever win of any sort.

Maybe you'll get more tomorrow.

fire

Let's start with this afternoon and evening's events. L. was invited to the movies with a friend from school so we drove over and dropped her off before stopping at Trader Joe's to grab some basics and the Sunday night pizza fixings - this is where the World stopped. For some reason this afternoon resembled what we saw as folks got ready for the blizzard: the parking lot was a mess, the place was jammed, the customers were lost, and the lines were 8-10 deep for checkout. Now, I've often pointed out my distain for customers that refuse to bag their own groceries - they stand there watching the clerk as if some miracle was about to occur and the food might jump into bags. What we had today was a perfect storm or massive customer lines and staring fools. As I plopped myself in a line to wait patiently, I thought I'd made a grand decision because I'd been able to peer around an endcap and noted that I wasn't in slow guy's line (I thought I knew all the all clerks at my local...) We end up in line with a clerk who COULD not move slower when scanning one time at a time. There was no rebellious two-hand work, no vision that said "speed it up", no recognition that I was about to explode...nothing. I must say, in my defense, I didn't walked back to the dairy section and screaming "hurry the fuck up and back your own groceries!" at the top of my lungs. This situation was untenable, at best. As we finally got to the desk and I settled in for some quality bagging, I noted that our servicemember's name was, and I kid you not, Pyra, which I consider, per Webster's, as a feminine version of:

a pile or heap of wood or other combustible material

Trust me when I say that you will never come across a person bearing a name as unsuited as this. No flame, no fuel, no oxygen, the flue was closed, and any imaginable spark was non-existent. It was a truly stunning event.

I'd like to give you one last photo showing just how much snow we got here this winter. I took this shot after the thaw began; it looks like the driver simply abandoned his post when it got too deep:


I turned on some Olympics tonight and noted that they cut away from the two-man bobsleigh (round 3 or 4 runs) to show the last 30 seconds of the US v. Canada hockey game, which the US won 5-3. Granted, it's not a medal game but still - two-man sledding? Coverage is embarrassing.

Ah, there is good. Tonight was pizza night, and even though L has to decided on eating off the bat or coming home and rewarming, it went well. The kids and adults from North Park came over and we managed one huge meatlovers and one succulent veggie for the rest. It's amazing what sweet onions, mozerella, garlic, spinach, tomatoes, and nice cheese can be in the end. When we finished X looked at Corey and asked where the lovely, dark brownie were. Needless to say, they didn't arrive this night.

I'll let you go for the night...

t

here and there

It’s been awhile since I’ve linked to an article in the NYTimes but this one is just my speed. This is the kind of stuff that gives me hope for engaging dialogue and ideas in the media. Of course, the comments section (I read the first page) is almost as good as the article. I’ve been scanning the news of late with an eye out for pieces that L. can use/review for her post-Cold War history class in school. Between the Times, the New Yorker, The Economist, and The Atlantic, I think we can cover the current world, as well as, its state of affairs over the last 20+ years.

I’m also giving you an entry from an interesting Vblogger, j. smooth, at illdoctrine.com (also moving and using nildoctrine.com); I just came upon him via another blog and I quite like his ideas. This one deals with an NFL player and a little bit of historical reference and clarification.


I’ll be at my last mid-term tonight and then I can settle in for the second half of the quarter and getting to the meats and whatnot.

Hey.

claiming spaces

The kids are finally in school once again after missing seven days of class and eleven days of nothing-doing, overall. I’m not sure who was more punch-drunk from the blizzards: kids or cats. Lemon isn’t overly happy about piles of cold snow and ice underfoot; no worries, she’ll still kill when able. That's her outside on the snow this morning, pondering her kingdom...or queendom.

We got through last weekend and a Sunday dinner party with great fanfare. At some point between waking up that morning, and getting back from the The Lightning Thief with the kids, I contracted some bone-aching type of flu that was doused with a load of Tylenol and an early bedtime. It has somehow managed to hang around this week and I’ll sneak off to sleep early this evening.

There was an interesting bit on NPR this morning about how we’ve moved from the 'everybody help everybody' mentality that we enjoyed during last week’s strorms – when we all helped out neighbors in one way or another – to a 'batten down the hatches and take no bullshit' lifestyle. The most obvious battleground is parking space. Even out on The Hilltop there are only x number of street parking places that we've cleared for our houses. Unfortunately, those who don’t live on the street and are visiting need to park but they'd either have to find an opening at the dead end down the street or ask if there’s an available space from those that live here. It doesn’t take rocket science to sort out which house has cleared and ‘owns’ which spaces but apparently some visitors last week weren’t well versed in rocket science. While we were at the movie some blankedy-blank Audi driver 86'd our dug out plot of land. I thought, for a moment, they may have walked up the stairs and asked if they could park there for a few hours but I was imagining something that wasn’t possible. I eventually (four hours later) left them a note on their windscreen that let them know that courtesy sometimes helps and they should have asked. As expected, they eventually left but with no response or sorry pass along to us. From what I hear, the District streets are even worse with people blocking their spaces with chairs, ironing boards, and the occasional adolescent laid out on the ground holding the space until Mom gets back from the work.

My classes are going well as I wrap up mid-terms this week – nothing stunning to report aside from the massive chicken feast we had on Saturday night after we practiced fabricating chickens. We shared with the baking class and they provided dessert; all in the spirit of cooperation.

Here's a weird little icicle I came upon just off our front porch the other afternoon. Same shot in both; the flash changed the colors.

no dazzle. bedazzle.

I had a very nice birthday yesterday – well, aside from the shoveling part - and even that wasn’t so bad. Thanks to everyone for wishes, cards, and gifts.

When I got home from a half-day’s work I was treated to the theatre in our living room as a birthday gift from the long-time resident monkeys and the newest monkey. It was very entertaining and special; since it was only opening night of the production I don’t want to spoil it for anyone else until after the weekend. Mark your calendars.

The Eleven headed up to the Greek Taverna in McLean for dinner last night after we settled the kids in with food and a movie. We decided on the Taverna for two reasons: we love Greek food, and Caps’ owner Ted Leonsis (of Greek-American descent) says it’s the best Greek in the area. Good enough. We absolutely loaded up on appetizers and ate until we could eat no more. Even though the reviews on Yelp! are mixed, I can answer that issue posthaste: they do some authentic work there and they’re not trying to bedazzle you with overdone, Americanized Greek food. Everything we had was done well and we wouldn’t think twice about going back or sending anyone else there.

Our weather has stabilized for the weekend and I’ll finally be back in class tonight. I think I have a few mid-terms to be made up.

I’m carting all the kids to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Sunday morning. Being that it’s L’s favorite series of all-time, and she has some heft to compare it to, we’re quite worried that it won’t live up to book. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Love to all.

t

let it snow; intrepid porch explorers

Well, it started slow but really picked up steam this morning about 9am with 30-40 mph winds and blasting snow. It'll take everyone awhile to dig out of this one.

dinner and a storm

Well, I had some beef that was going wanting after the last storm (not 'bad' wanting, just wanting) so I whipped up some burgers and homemade fries for the legion. L. wanted to know why I made the burgers so big - broiled on the cast iron behemoth - to which I replied, "I had that much beef mixed up and three burgers to make. Call it algebra...or geometry...or maths." I think it's always a fun challenge to see if the crew can get their mouths around the food.

The snow has finally started, after appearing to not really care for itself as a storm so much today, and is now trying to whip up its fury. The snow would be enough but the wind is allegedly going to wreak havoc on the area.

I'd thought of turnip soup for the adults but it's quickly turned into an idea closer to a big mushroom omelet; or, essentially, something easier. We'll see, won't we?

mr t's neighborhood

Here's an image from last Sunday from the NASA Earth Observatory that shows the coverage fo snow from the last storm. You can see a larger image, and the original, here. Pretty awesome. They've actually done a projection for what it will look like after tonight and tomorrow - I don't have the heart to look at it.

how do you say snow in russian?

For dorks like me this is a great slideshow especially since we live in the area and use the Metro all the time. I’ve often wondered about the progress of the system; how they sorted out where to run and when they opened the various lines and stations. I’m still amazed they didn’t build a line to Dulles International way back when. From what I understand, Dulles was built to handle the growing traffic, particularly international and long-haul continental, and opened in the early 1960s and was fully up with jumbos by 1970. Who thought to themselves, “You know what? Let’s wait until the entire area is overrun with population and then try to build a line through 25 miles of suburbs in 2010.” It’s really a horrible example of civil engineering…or thought engineering.

We’re supposed to get another 8” today, and 8” more tomorrow, before our newest and bestest storm friend finishes with us. This is getting a bit over the top.

Quiz night went well last night. We finished a bit higher than normal (8th of 43 teams) and hung a bit tougher with the legendary Naked Hookers, weekly winners and 2009 champions, as they tumbled to 3rd and only about 5 points ahead of us. X got the team prize for coming up with Lulu (sang the theme to The Man with the Golden Gun). (see foonote)

Last season, we (Caps followers, not us) got a quick lesson from our local Moscow hockey reporter on the correct pronunciations of the Russian players’ names, nicknames, and myriad other confusions. They all seem to love living here in D.C. and hanging out a Russia House but they put up with some serious name butchering. Here’s a follow-up that adds audio and an embarrassing correction on how to really pronounce Alexander Ovechkin’s last name.

Even though Corey has some broken bones in his foot, and I honestly do feel bad about that, the story that led up to the breaking of said bones at North Park Dr. is absolutely hilarious. I don't think a story has had a car full of adults laughing so hard for so long. I'll leave it to Kt to rely when she has time.

Footnote / update: I've been alerted, in no uncertain terms, that X actually came up with the Lulu answer and Kt merely made us stand firm on that answer. The original entry claimed that Kt had come up with Lulu. Believe me, it was mere moments after the the original posting before my ding-a-ling rang and I was chastised. It's now been fixed.

t

what?

let them eat cake

As the game was winding down after dinner last night, the brace of girls set-to on a cake from the greatest baking book in the World. L. had picked a chiffon cake - we had to borrow a bundt pan from down the street - and so off they went at about 7:45pm. By the time it was finished, cooled, and frosted we had a massive mess of cake and lemon frosting for the kids to snack on at about 10:15pm. Is that normal? I had a bite of L.'s and even though is was lovely it was way too sweet for me to even contemplate without a huge cup of coffee. Needless to say, a sugar rush drowned in coffee wouldn't be the best idea of the weekend.

All the kids are home from school, the Feds are shutdown so X is home, and I'm home because it's just pretty crappy driving out there. My company decided last week that if folks wanted to swap next week's Presidents' Day holiday to today - in just this event - that it wouldn't be a problem. I'll consider this my holiday weekend.

Here are some visions...

melted

I'm catching the last half of the Super Bowl (can I use that term? Will I be sued by the NFL?) while X and H. play a game of chess and L seems to be making frosting for the chiffon cake that's in the oven. The sport of the day, beyond this, was the Caps v. Pens game in D.C. It felt like a playoff game between two teams that don't much care for one another; it doesn't hurt that the two best players in hockey are meeting. It started out horribly as Crosby scored two early goals and the Caps trailed 4-1 near the end of the second period. Ovechkin came back with a hat trick - he's already scored the Caps first goal - and he scored the third and fourth to tie the game and send it to OT. He then provided the winning assist on a slap shot that Mike Knuble finished. Amazing stuff. The highlights are above. These guys were just hammering away it each other all game. Fantastic. That's 14 in-a-row for the Caps.

It took me about 1:45 to get the car dug out this morning and then X headed out to recover H. from his two-night sleepover; she made it there and back only getting stuck on our unplowed road about ten feee from my well-shoveled parking box.

The schools have already cancelled for tomorrow so my tuition for L. is being well used!

Nothing more to report from the homestead. Quiz night tomorrow.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night

This is what we'd become by about 6pm when the power finally dropped. X warmed the leftover pizza from last night in a crepe pan over our fire, we pulled out Trivial Pursuit cards, and every one managed to survive. The power is back as of about 8pm, the kids (L. and G.) won the trivia battle, and it looks like we finished with about 23"-24" of total accumulation. X shoveled the steps after her long walk and I'll dig out the car before the Caps v. Pens game tomorrow.

t

Saturday, noon

It's a pretty good storm we have going here on The Hilltop. If you've been to the house then you have some reference for the front and back porches. That hump at the bottom of the stairs is our car. We're well stocked with food and firewood so there're no issues here. H. headed out for a sleepover last night knowing full well - as did the family - that he wouldn't be coming home anytime soon.

As I was filling out the grocery list at the store yesterday morning there was a man in front of me in line buying four cases of Coke and two gallons of wiper fluid. I think I understand the Coke but the wiper fluid is beyond me; what exactly does he expect to be using it for? Do you see my car? Wipers are the least of my worries.

The Caps won their 13th straight game last night - an ongoing club record - and have the Pens in D.C. tomorrow at noon. Being that Pittsburgh is playing in Montreal today I have no idea how they imagine they'll get into D.C. anytime today or tonight. As of now, Reagan and Dulles are completely shut down. I suspect there may be a delay in the start time, maybe 7pm, and fans will have to decide on watching the Super Bowl or heading to the game against our deepest rivals.

We have loads of books, magazines, a few DVDs, Netflix-on-demand, and we still have power out here. Updates to follow.

t

freaky old shows...and people.

We got back to quiz night last night and did better, point-wise, than normal but so did everyone else. My claims to fame are two-fold, as they would be if they are claims: first, I made X and Phil stick with the Faye Dunaway answer on the "who is this" picture round (it was a 50s or 60s black-and-white photo). I only claim stubbornness and not knowledge on that one. My second point was during the 'Life and Times of William Shatner' round when the question was something along the lines of "on this 1965 show that included blah blah and talking trees, William Shatner played a dancing onion." I immediately came up with H.R. Pufnstuf, to which they both looked at me as if I were radioactive; they'd never heard of it. Of course, what else in 1965 could have talking trees and dancing onions? Yep, I was solid gold.

Last Saturday night we had a bit of a D.C. blizzard and there was some wonder on whether or not I'd have class. We were scheduled to finish up soups with a shrimp bisque, New England clam chowder, and a consomme. In the end, only 7 of the 20 showed up and so we worked 10 lbs. of shrimp into two gallons of bisque and two gallons of chowder. Once we got that sorted we finished the other 4 lbs. of shrimp into scampi and a very light breaded shrimp. I was shrimped out at the end of the night but it was a great class - loads of room in the kitchen and the chef instructor seemed to really enjoy the time. We're moving into poultry and some butchering this week (this a one-quarter, eleven-week, classical techniques course that runs about 11 hours per week.)

Both gals in the house are knocked down with sickness. L is reading in her room and X is laid out on the other living room pillow area. Both will get doused with NyQuil and sent to bed any moment.

Love to all.

t

P.S. I suspect all will be home tomorrow as we have another 4-6 inches of snow in progress.