Friday, February 29, 2008

Finally played a new board game...

...and gotta say: it rocked! A while back, I was reading Luis Escobar's blog, a charming guy with a neat blog. Give it a read...if you like the Simpsons you can go stalk him over there (he's one of the animators--how cool is that?).

Anyway, he's also a big board game fan, and reviews plays and analyzes the games in great detail. Also, to my great amusement, he seems to be losing a lot to his wife--I feel your pain, Luis. I am the resident loser in my house. My husband and son seem to be the great strategizers, and barring some lucky night (I do win often enough to think I can do it again) generally, they'll wipe the floor with me.

NOT THIS TIME! Well, okay, actually "yes" this time, but I almost won. I know, almost only counts in horse shoes and nuclear explosions. Anyway, almost won--right up until the last move.

We got Settlers of Catan for Christmas, thanks to a lovely gift card from my uncle. We hadn't been able to play, although genius boy had studied the rules like it was the SAT review. Anyway, we finally just set a play date, and did it.

We loved it! It's all about strategy, with a little luck. A cross between Risk and Monopoly--you're building roads and settlements, but also thinking about blocking and trading, and getting some development cards that carry some bonus opportunities. It took us about 90 minutes to play because we were learning and stuff, but we're excited about playing again this weekend. and I'm going to win because now I know the Boy's weakness. Yeah. He likes sheep.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

FTP! But what does it mean?

click to make bigger for a trip down memory lane

Fire the Panzers!

Fire the President!(a rallying call at work, hmmmm)

Free the Pandas!

Feel the Pain?

Ok, so it's File Transfer something-with-a-P. Whatever. I am astounded by the lengths I go to in order to understand a technology that really means very little to me, but has insidiously injected itself into every corner of my life. C'est la vie.

Props to Danny who gamely held my hand as he talked me through some DOS nightmare on my computer. He was so cute--he actually asked me how much I remembered about DOS. Uh-huh. I remember "c:\" and "a:\" and then it goes down hill fast. Don't ask me what the commands are. I mean really, if it doesn't have a cute little animated button that turns around while cheesy music plays, I don't know how to use it.

Twenty years after the power supply died on the IBM clone with the state-of-the-art matrix printer, causing me to show up at my parents' house crying and holding a floppy disk that really was floppy and contained an early draft of the thesis that was now eternally lost, and I still don't back up my crap, and the boy asks me if I remember DOS.

I'm lucky if I remember my name.

Anyway, mission impossible turned into mission accomplished, thanks to Danny Boy. I'd sing for you, but I like you.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Crackpot? Nah, CROCKPOT!

I love quiet Sunday mornings, and this Sunday morning is especially quiet. The Boy arrived from Savannah at 2 AM. Thank God for Daddy's that stay up late to rescue kiddoes. I was snoring up a storm, after watching my new favorite movie...twice!!! Anybody seen Stardust? It's kind of like I started to try and mash up all the movies it reminds me of, but I changed my mind. Cute. Sweet. Happy ending. Sarcastic ghosts. Adorable leading man. Witches. Stardust. What's not to love?

So in my quiet alone time this morning I threw a frozen hunk of roast in the crockpot, sprinkled some garlic, salt, and onions in there, and walked away. This afternoon we'll have a lovely early dinner/late lunch, and all it took was the realization that I own a crockpot. Why did I ever snub my nose at it before? Proof that you can indeed teach an old dog new tricks.

Speaking of dogs, my only companion in the stillness is Suki, who is curled up in the hallway where she can see the foyer, and still stare at me randomly when she decides that the furnace is presenting a threat. She's a lousy guard dog. She'll bark madly at the leaves, but not wake up when someone is pounding, POUNDING on the front door. At least she doesn't stand on the kitchen counter and eat the butter.

Today's rambling is brought to you by the fact that I have a translation project to finish today. I love avoidance behavior. I have several more projects that I must complete before I finish said translation.

I just got a brilliant idea. In the future, I will design odious little projects that must be completed, and then I will finish the real projects as avoidance tactics. Hmmm. The concept is brilliant, the execution will no doubt fail.

Let me think about it as I go do some dishes. I'm sure they were all done when I went to bed last night....

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Why I Love teh Internets (part 347)

Because I get headlines like this:

Marlins Want Fat Men Who Can Dance

Go ahead and click on it and read the article. They want a dance team called the Manatees. While I would be the first to be a bit self-deprecating and all that, I'm still wondering why this would be a draw.... How 'bout playing some good ball and...oh...just a guess here...WINNING?

Friday, February 22, 2008

everyone should have a favorite Daniel

This one is mine:

Happy Birthday, Dude!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Things to do:

1. post grades
2. grade some more
3. post those grades
4. prepare submission files for literary magazine
5. get P.O. number blast, it'll be a few days
6. translate 2 articles one down, one to go
7. record some musings
8. work on a script
9. eat lunch (is it still lunch at 4?)
10. everything else what was I thinking?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

And so it begins... [updated]

I am profoundly sad that after a hiatus here, I should return with none other than Castro news, and yet, it is momentous enough to drag my butt here and report that the despot has resigned, read preliminary reports here.

What does it all mean?

Hmmmm...my ear will be connected to the audio-streams from Miami all day. Check back later for other celebratory updates.

Listening to Miami talk radio and heard what will probably be my favorite phrase, regarding Raul Castro as the "vice-tyrant." LOL.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy V-Day

Okay, so I got all nostalgic this afternoon thinking about those old school Valentines we used to send out when we were in elementary school. Remember them, they were all generic and lame, and suddenly, somebody figured out that they could market theme cards or tie them in with movies and stuff. To me, it ruined the whole cheese factor of the holiday.


I remember we would make a "mailbox" for our valentines by decorating a shoebox and cutting a mail slot in the top. In those days, the teacher sent home a list of everyone in class, and ideally, everyone got a Valentine. Of course, there was always a mean kid or two that would intentionally exclude some of the weird kids, but really, on that day, even the weird kids could feel popular.

Anyway, there's something to be said for the modern Valentine's. I think this one is cute.



Saturday, February 02, 2008

my niece has jell-o in her hair, and other imponderables

Lucky for me I have plenty of Aussie wine, courtesy of the Famous Smiths of Australia.
It's been one of those weeks where I haven't really had a moment to sit down and relax. It's been moving from one thing to another, and as it happens, they just keep piling on until the week becomes a blur. It's the kind of situation where the saving grace is a good sense of humor because you don't dare ask "what next?"

Today, in a brief but hysterical conversation with Mary Alice, I learned that no matter what woes we've gone through with Jonathan's hair--first watching it grow out into an afro-puff, and then finding the right kind of temporary dye to turn it gray so that it actually looks gray from the audience, regardless of the nastiness one sees up close--it's nothing compared to what Anna sufferes through to get her hair right for synchronized swimming. She applies Knox gelatin to her hair. Evidently it hardens into a hard mass. Yeah, because helmet hair is where it's at. Somehow, though, I can't mock the child--she has a talent for dance. Mom, however, is not off-limits and I am tickled by the thought of Mary Alice sitting at a picnic table sewing sequins onto a bathing suit! I've done my share of weirdness and indignities, but Mary wins, hands down.

We've met the new priest, Father Peter, a nice enough guy, if a bit hard to understand. He has a pretty thick accent (and I am remiss in not remembering if he is Korean or Vietnamese) but anyway, had lunch with him and the seniors, and he made himself very understood when he asked for a hook up of Cuban cigars. I dig him already.

The insane Ragtime musical is back on this weekend in anticipation of next week's production at the state thespian conference. That should be entertaining--John is chaperoning again, bahahaha.

Still reeling from some scary news about a dear friend, and so making light of the world and sneaking it in between funny takes of my week. It certainly added to the anxiety level.

I did the most odious thing in the world and started marketing the mother project in the area. I started with nice people that I know, but that only lasts for a while, eventually I have to break out into the real world of people who could care less. I'll note that I got over the first hurdle of being afraid to share my writing, but have run smack into the wall of now having to market my stuff. Yikes! I'm so much happier sitting in my room in the dark. In fact, what the hell was I thinking when I first signed my name to something I wrote? Alas, too late now.

And finally, have to share a picture of Suki, who knows she's not supposed to sit on the furniture, but does so anyway. I love this picture, taken on Jonathan's phone---but I understand there's an even better one on Christy's camera. I think it captures my mood--I want to just go sit somewhere, maybe with a glass of wine, and just ponder. That's all, just find that solitary moment and enjoy it. Funny, isn't it? I could be a dog for an afternoon.