Crazy Lawsuit Game

That previous post title was a Batman quote. When Jack Nicholson is adjusting his tie before he leaves and Jerry Hall rubs his shoulder and says "You look fine Jack." And he turns to her and says "I didn't ask." I figured there was at least one Tim Burton person who would get that, but maybe you did and just didn't comment. Good for you!

So last night was the infamous bachelor party. Pretty standard really. Went downtown to the only place to go for cheap drunkenness. $6.75 for an orange slushy with 2 shots of Everclear in it. Sure you'll want to die the next morning, but until you wake up, it's a good time. But the bartender said that Jan. 1st they are going to free pour. No more stupid mini-bottles! So if you're missing a few for your mini-bottle set, tell me now cuz you're gonna have to hijack a stewardess if you want mini-bottles from now on. Or maybe they sell them at your local ABC store. Or Packy as they say in New England I believe. That bar is Tassy's Tavern by the way.

So we're drunk, we call some cabs because we're responsible like that and plus we were dropped off. The cabbie sells us free passes for $5, the fee to get in is $8. Nice little side scam for the cabbies. We get there, buy the bachelor a lap dance or 3 and hang out and have a good time. I heard a techno remix of the Rolling Stones "Paint It Black" that was very very incredible. Some other interesting remixes also, but nothing else springs to mind. Good music though. I'm not 100% sure how you strip to System of a Down, but she did it fairly well. I was however dissapointed in the majority of the strippers pole skills. I don't recall anyone hanging from it at all. Some twirled around it, but no one really climbed it and hung upside down. And then of course, slowly slide down the pole.

I personally have never tried pole dancing, but I have seen the world strip-offs or something to that effect on Real Sex on HBO, and they performed some truly incredible things on that pole. So I guess I expect more from a show. I know this isn't Scores but it is an upscale strip club. I think they're just scared. It is a long way down from the top of that pole.

But a couple ladies found the suckers in the group and each went to the ATM at least twice. I felt sorry for them, but not that sorry. You CAN say no. I know she's hot and she'll take her top off and rub stuff on you, but you don't have to say yes.

And yes one of them wants to go back today. Poor bastard.

BUT they do have a lunch buffet. From 11-2, Mon. thru Fri. J and I were discussing this the other day and she asked if people really go to those. I'm here to say yes. I have personally never been but she has expressed interest in going at least once, just to say that we've gone. I am a little wary of what clientele frequent strip club lunch buffets, but I'm wary of lots of stuff these days, so what's one more thing. You gotta face your fears. And hope that you don't get food poisoning. Or a thong in your soup.

Dinner with the grandparents tonight, then maybe help a friend with his car, sleep, wake up, RACE!, shower, WEDDING!, sleep, sleep, work, TV, sleep......Monday!

And keep our kittens in your thoughts today. Their berries (as in "twig and") are going under the knife probably around 11 am. I'm sure they'll be fine.

I didn't ask. +50 points to the first person with that movie quote.

So Smoove is right, Ruthie emailed me last night. It's 23 miles the first day, 22 the next and 15 the last day. Apparently there is some sort of tent city that will house all the walkers at night.

I wonder if anyone is going to pull a Kramer and stay up the whole night before the walk, or during it. And then not wear a pink ribbon and get beaten up by other walkers.

It does sound like a very cool experience and it's for a great cause so HUGE props to all the 3 Day walkers in tha ATL this weekend.

I need to update my sidebar, maybe I'll do that now or this afternoon. Not sure. Dead Aim is dead. I think Portlandia's might be. PJ's might be too. But I still check all these blogs fairly regularly, just in case they're not dead.

A neighbor's friend was visiting yesterday. I guess he's taking the semester off but he goes to U of Colorado in Boulder. I asked him if it was nice and if he liked it. He said mainly it depends on your political views, as if we are all defined by our political views (shudder), but I got what he meant. He said there isn't even a democrat in Boulder. All liberal tree-hugger hippies. Sounds okay to me, or at least for a year or two. But I cannot imagine any redneck being truly happy in a place like that.

I read Playboy's article on NASCAR this month. They sent a handful of FSU English professors/poets to the race in Talledega. Talladega is one of the largest races around. They estimated around 155,000 people were there. That's alot. I do see why people like going to the races. Everyone is wasted. There is a distinct possibility for boobage. Corndogs, pretzels, peddlers peddling. And you can't beat the roar of those uninhibited V8s. That and you can see the whole racetrack from your seat.

But I still don't care. It's still going around in ovals. Left turn, left turn, left turn, left turn, repeat 450 times. Yes the wrecks are cool, but you should not be going to a race to see wrecks. That's how people die. And we lose great drivers like Dale Earnhardt, RIP #3. I know they're great drivers because it does take some skill to keep those buggers flying around the track doing 180 mph, inches from other cars. And also they hire out a few of the drivers to race in other series. Like Daytona Prototypes and Corvette C5s that race in the Rolex Cup.

There are wrecks in those also, and other malfunctions like this one:

That's Dale Jr. in a Corvette during a practice session. Here are some more pics and the whole story.

And I'm jealous of all the money NASCAR has. If they just took a quarter of that and put it into rallying, then maybe we could actually have some world class rallying happening here.

Rally Japan! is this weekend, so if anyone is on the island nation, I suggest you stop by. It's going to be a great show.

I forgot to tell you guys this, but 2 weeks ago at the last WRC rally, Rally Great Britain in Wales, a co-driver lost his life. I haven't seen any footage of the wreck but the team captain explained that the cars are very safe from the front or back but the side is the weakest point of the rollcage. Markko Martin went off and hit directly on Michael Parks side. He died instantly or shortly after.

He leaves behind his wife Marie and two children, William and Victoria.

Michael Park

I think Pinky used to make that sound.

Ugh, had some mini-drama in lab today. Since we were working with the equivalent of oil lamps and water today, I said that they didn't have to wear their goggles. Vetoed by the head lab lady. Then she spotted a girl not wearing long pants. (We're safety nazis in Clemson. Talk to Naomi Kelly.) So she said that the offender would have to go home and change. She commutes from about an hour away, so that wasn't going to happen. Offender finds an extra lab coat laying around and puts her legs through the arms and now her legs are covered, and she looks stupid, so I'm happy. This doesn't appease head lab lady, so I tell Offender that I have some jeans upstairs that I can lend her for lab. So I go get them and head lab lady explains that it isn't her, it's the safety officer, yada yada yada. I know all this, I'm just a little less psycho in my enforcement of the rules. But Offender put on my jeans, very hilarious and completely worth it, so everyone came out of that nonsense pleased.

Imagine a 5'3" girl, maybe 115, wearing a pair of holy 38x30 jeans. Needless to say, she needed a belt, but she had the cool pant sag in effect like crazy. She just needed some plaid boxers underneath to complete the ensemble. (edit: I just noticed the hol(e)y jeans. I like it so I'm going to leave it. They could be holy right?)

So I'm possibly meeting a fellow blogger tonight, even though she doesn't post much, but it's Ruthie who moved to Greenville (G'Vegas) from ATL. But she has a 3 day breast cancer walk this weekend and wanted to borrow a sleeping bag and sleeping pad. So I can't wait for the story of why she actually needs these items, but I'm more than happy to lend them to her for the weekend.

And I'm enjoying imagining a 3 Day breast cancer walk in my head. Do they walk until they fall asleep in the street? Do they walk and then sleep in a gym? Is she just crashing on a friend's floor and needs something to sleep on?

I don't know, but hopefully she'll answer all these questions and more tonight if she drops by.

I also just realized that it's the 3 Day Walk that I have linked in my sidebar. So if you're in ATL this weekend, please don't hit the walkers. And sport that pink ribbon proud.

I took Tercel in to the shop today. Joan was hearing a clicking sound and various other little problems. Turns out it's a vibration dampener on the right half-shaft so they're taking it off for $16. And now J should be happy that her car is "fixed", or at least clicking-free.

But I think I'll go ahead and change the oil and put new coolant in and stuff like that.

I also need to call Fairway Ford and see how much a fuel filter is from them. I void my warranty if I use non-Ford recommended things on my car, ignoring the new springs and struts that are on it, so I just want to check with them. I paid $8 for a Puralator at Advanced Auto Parts, so I'm going to put a limit of $20 on the Ford one. If it's more than $20, I'll stick with Advanced, if not, then I'll get the Motorcraft one or whatever Ford uses.

I did not tailgate this weekend. It was a noon game which meant you had to arrive on campus around 8 or so to get a good spot. And it was hot and "balmy" as J put it, so we sat inside most of the day, cleaned, watched TV, etc...

I have generated some interest in my kayak. Some dude in Winston-Salem wants it, and he comes to Charlotte every once in a while, so I told him I would deliver it up there, around 2 hours, for gas money or we could meet halfway. He's getting back to me. I'm really tired of having this kayak now. I don't use it and it's just taking up space and keeping money locked in it that I could use for race tires, or a rear sway bar, or gas money for my camping trip in October.

Why do people declaw cats? Is it just for furniture and the occasional scratch on the arm sake? Because I can't really justify the equivalent of someone ripping off my fingernails just because I scratch them and their furniture. And I've seen some really bad declaw jobs also, so I prefer my cats with claws. Just don't sneak up on them, without long sleeves. Our cats use their claws constantly, and mostly on things that they are allowed to claw.

Things our cats are allowed to claw:
Cat tree
2 scratching posts
boxspring of our bed
Sometimes us

And we just need to get the camera out and ready to go one day because our cats also love the sink, just like these cats.

I also got one of Julio in his WinterWonderland under our bed. Our couch pillows had too much fluff when we got them so we took some out and put it in a trashbag under our bed. Fast-forward a little and we get the cats and Julio discovers the bag and proceeds to tear it to shreds. And now he plays in the fluff constantly. Puts it in his mouth. Kneeds it. Sleeps on it. But I snapped a picture (35mm) of it last night, so once we eventually use all those pictures, then maybe there will be a cute one of Julio.

A CD or something else laying around the house to the first person with the movie that the quote is from.

I almost had to pre-divorce Joan last night. I set her up perfectly for a great line from one of her favorite movies, not Dirty Dancing. I said "I trust SUV drivers as far as I can throw them." Her response should've been "Seth (or Ed for the actual movie quote) with your bad back, you shouldn't be throwing anybody." It took her a couple minutes but she finally got it. And kudos to you if you can get it also.

As I was walking from the CATbus (Yay FREE public transportation!) I noticed a girl who had a bandage below both knees, as if she has sores there from kneeling too much. Take that any way you want. (Like anyone reading this would take it the religious way, but you never know) But it made me laugh.

So I'm eating a bowl of J's Pralines and Cream granola that she buys to put in her vanilla yogurt (or yoghurt), with 4 days past the expiration date milk (waste not, want not, but it isn't that bad yet, Preservatives!) and am wandering around the house going over my mental checklist of what I need to take to school with me. And the cats are following me, either for company or they're bored, and Leon pounces on me from the kitchen table and sinks at least one claw into the juicy part of my back right below my armpit. Hands full, still sleepy, so I decide that I have to get him back onto solid ground. I don't think he would go onto the kitchen table very well, so I basically fall onto the kitchen floor.

I'm almost done with my tasty granola, but a little of it careens out of the bowl onto the floor with some milk. Both cats scatter like roaches when you hit the lights (which I thankfully haven't seen in 4 years, another post for another time). So they're gone and I take to cleaning up the little mess. Leon! What were you doing? Crazy ass cat. I really think they both thought that I had just died and if they didn't get out of the room then and there, they were next. I fell on my side, mostly legs and hip then shoulders, so it didn't hurt, or didn't hurt as much as the curved dagger digging into my flesh.

It's fine. They're cats. It's what they do. I think he really just wanted to see what was in the bowl.

And I realized Tues. that my friend WRX's wedding next Saturday is at 6 pm and is about 45 minutes away, so I can still autocross here on Sat. morning. Huzzah!

So Rita is now a Cat. 5 hurricane.

So let's do a little history:
The three Category 5 storms to hit the USA were the 1935 Florida Keys "Labor Day" hurricane, Hurricane Camille, which hit Mississippi in 1969, and Hurricane Andrew, which hit Dade County, Fla., on Aug. 24, 1992.

From this USAToday.com website.

So that's roughly 30 years in between the storms.

And now that has been reduced to 2 months. As mediocre a movie as Day After Tomorrow was, it made a very good point.

Our planet's weather system is very good at balancing itself out. And now we get 2 Cat. 5's in 2 months. I think the environment is trying to tell us something. And maybe Bush should've signed The Kyoto Protocol.

Or maybe I should start buying land in middle GA or SC, since that will become beachfront property soon.

If you don't have anything to post about, is it better to leave it blank or post some nonsense?

Don't wake J up when she's sleeping. Seriously. She swore off having kids again this morning because the cats were scratching at our door.

But their kitty bits will be snipped off next Fri. and hopefully they'll calm down.

I think tailgating finally caught up to me. I've been going without a nice sleep in day and I need at least one per week. And we usually have things to do on Sundays. Nothing major, just cleaning the house and shopping. Maybe a soccer game.

I finally made it into work at 10, which is very late for me. Usually it's betw. 8:30 and 9, so I guess 10 isn't that bad, but I have lots of projects and assignments looming overhead and I need every second I can spare, not including the ones designated for blogging of course.

I really do love The Week. It's the best of US and International media. And since I never ever read the international media, I figured this was the best way to keep up with the rest of the world. Last week's everyone was shocked at how poorly the richest country in the world reacted to Katrina. And some placed blame on Mr. "Not now I'm on vacay".

Then I saw the political cartoons and saw one that showed Terri Schiavo's bed and underneath said roughly Congress took 1 day to act. Next was a couple sitting on their house with their possessions floating around and it said Congress took 5 days to act. Then underneath it said Valuing lives: revisited. And I hadn't even thought about that.

Another political cartoon I saw, and didn't understand, was this. A guy on his roof with his possessions floating around holding up a sign that said "Save Iraq, HELL!" I have no clue what that means.

Somewhere else in the article, a journalist mentioned that to move on and prevent this from happening, the Republicans are going to need to increase funding in urban areas, and the Democrats are going to have to recognize that more money isn't going to stop the fact that teens are getting pregnant and 60% of babies born in Nawlins are born out of wedlock.

I think our plan of sterilizing people when they pick up their welfare check is looking better and better. Has anyone told Trash about our plan, since the next election is gonna come down to Trashman and Sloth's boobies? He's gonna need some novel social programs to compete against those badboys. Even ants are gonna vote for them. Seriously

And please keep my paternal grandmother (only one left on that side) in your thoughts, she's going in for cataract surgery on Wed.

And also keep Catt and her new born baby who couldn't wait any longer and popped out 7 weeks early and is now stuck in a freakin hospital. Patience is a virtue my friend. But you'll learn that. Catt and #2 Son

I remembered a good PostSecret secret this morning. It is slightly illegal. Not go to jail illegal, but lose my job illegal. Technically it was after the semester had ended and after my grades were in, but I'm sure the university still wouldn't have liked what I did. Even though it was very enjoyable for me at the time.

But once I left, I saw that my car was towed. Stupid karma. I hate when karma is as instant as that. You don't even get to be blissfully ignorant for a day or two while the universe plots your demise.

I know that was very cryptic but to get the whole story out into the world is going to necessitate a post that will be taken down and deleted in a time limit (probably 2 days) or will have to wait until I graduate. I'll let my readers make that decision for me.

I usually make a sandwich, a small bag of carby side dish (chips/Gardetto mix/Goldfish), and a piece of fruit. I ran out of fruit yesterday so today I just have a sandwich and some Gardetto's mix. I am NOT going to buy fruit from the cafeteria. They seriously want $1.29 for an apple or a banana. One dollar and 29 cents for a banana, something that is maybe $0.79/lb at the grocery store. No way Ara*mar*k, I'll see you in hell before that happens.

But they do sell some very delicious, reasonably priced muffins, which could possibly be added to my noontime meal. But it all comes down to whether or not I want to wait in the line that is inevitably at the cafe where we eat.

Oh, and my questionable activity is Pre-Joan. I'm not that much of a scumbag, just questionable morals.

I need to make some rice for those stir-fried veggies I have in the fridge.

5 o'clock Friday is so close I can almost taste it.

I forgot to brush my teeth this morning. But fret not dear readers, I have a backup toothbrush and toothpaste in my lab. True it isn't the safest place to have something you put in your mouth, but it's in my desk and the hoods/air handlers do a mighty fine job of sucking all the bad air, and venting it into the atmosphere. I imagine it's scrubbed somehow, but know that it most likely is not. But we work with salts and harmless inorganics anyhow. Talk to the organic folks about carcinogens.

A student of mine yesterday had the idea to do tree frogs for my seminar. Hmmm, that could be cool. So I did some research, poison dart frogs of course, and realized that would be waaaay too organic for me and they aren't even entirely sure how the frogs do it, so that's a no go. But I will have a topic to proclaim from the hills by Sunday evening, even if it kills me.

Why Sunday? Let me give you a rundown of the rest of the week. Don't feel sorry for me, I brought this upon myself, and hopefully in 2 years or less (it better be less) I'll be Dr. So and So.
Today-Take some reactions out to ship off to a National lab for non-linear optic measurements
find an article I like and understand and present it in group meeting
Health insurance committee meeting
Graduate Senate meeting (free pizza! but it's Papa Johns. but they have pineapple!)
finally home at 8:30 or so after leaving the house at the same time, 12 hours earlier
Tomorrow-Research and stuff
Friday-Research and then work concessions at the Ciara concert, I'll get to hear My Goodies, and 1,2 Step live! It'll be like the radio that plays the same damn 8 songs all day every day is right there!
Saturday-Tailgate, game at 3, go home, sleep
Sunday-Library

Fine, so once I write it all down, just today is bad, and it looks like I'll have some nice library time on Thurs. afternoon. So maybe I'll have a topic by then.

I'll let you know what my topic is before I tell anyone else, except for Joan and maybe a few labmates.

I finished it yesterday. It was written by Sheri S. Tepper. It was really quite good. So I picked up the other Tepper title our library had, "Grass" not to be confused with the documentary, narrated by Woody Harrelson, of the same name.

"Gate to Women's Country" was set in the future, after the near extinction of the human race. The few remaining cities are made up of women and non-military men inside the city walls, and the warriors who live outside the walls and protect the cities. It was really really good and would recommend it to anyone.

Her writings about both of the sexes are great and very poignant. I don't want to give too much away, in case someone wants to read it, so I'll stop there.

We've been selling lab supplies to the undergrad chemistry students all week, and have made some cashmoney. So once we get it all straightened out, we're going to get our sweet ass EZ-Up. I'll take a picture of it in all its glory. It should be a wonderful addition to the random assortment of crap the CGSO has accumulated.

We added another group motto yesterday, "Your products aren't doing any good by sitting in petri dishes." That one isn't as universal as our other which is:
"False hope is better than no hope at all."

Merry Tuesday!

For some reason, Firefox really freaked out last week. It wouldn't even open for a day or two. I threatened to uninstall it, and then it worked, but then it said that Firefox was already opened and I needed to create a new profile. I did, and now all my bookmarks, like all the blogs I read, are gone. And I'm not putting that list together again.

The worst part is I can't even find anything that says Firefox can have multiple profiles. And my default profile is this new one I created and can't get back to my other one.

And yesterday was the 3 year anniversary of the WTC terrorist attack.
I will never forget. Neither will this guy, Werner Dietl. (Thanks for the pic.)

For some reason, Jamie's site is down. I'm sure he'll explain it when he gets it back up. I saw that he exceeded his bandwidth for a while and then it said that it didn't exist.

Jamie's site was the first blog I ever read and after that I was hooked. He's a Canadian english teacher in Japan. Not that he teaches Canadian english, but he's Canadian and teaches english. He's from Toronto, by far one of the coolest cities in the Western hemisphere. I would highly recommend a trip up there. But for all the non-metric system users that venture up there, the speed limit signs are in KPH, not MPH. So that speed limit sign you just passed that said 100 translates to about 60 mph. And I'm sure the police up there have heard, "What the hell is a kilometer?" many times before, so don't even try it.

The kitties are going to the vet today. Still not sure if we're just going in to check and see if they can be neutered, or if they're actually getting the chop job, but either way, keep our cats balls in your thoughts today.

I have to go sell goggles. Shit! Almost forgot. I found out that some of my crystals change color under fluorescent light! They go from a pale yellow/amber color in sunlight to a bright pink color under fluorescent light! It's so cool. I don't really know how I'm going to show it to you, but it's awesome. Maybe I'll try snapping a few pics if I ever bring my camera to school.

Lab went okay yesterday. One girl missed, so one guy didn't have a lab partner, but she'll be there next week.

Good mix of all classes and majors. Agricultural education, graphics communication, conservation biology, horticulture, spanish and international business. I told you it's the non-science and engineering course.

I drove to school today so I could take the recycling.

We went to the store Mon. but didn't buy lunch meat cuz the deli was closed and I wanted some freshly sliced roast beef, and some horseradish cheese. And I didn't go to the store yesterday either. So I made tuna fish for lunch, on a kaiser roll. Yum.

I like to pronounce either with an "i" sound, but I also say it with an "e" also.

I can't stop starting sentences with I. It makes me sound conceited and self-centered, which is true to an extent, but me is who I spend the most time with, so shouldn't I be primarily concerned with myself? J is next, then the family which includes Julio and Leon, then you guys, then the rest of the world, then white trash, then criminals, then Beaches.

Just kidding Barbara Hershey/Bette Midler fans. But I still have no intention of ever watching Beaches. Unless I need a good dose of estrogen. But I did watch Steel Magnolias with J. It's actually pretty good. Very funny performances all around. And a nice sprinkling of drama also.

Taking trips is fun. I have not taken a trip in a while, and home to B'ham doesn't count. Home to Orlando counts because it's Orlando and I didn't grow up there. But I haven't been there recently. That is one thing that J and I both agree is one place our money should go, trips. We both enjoy traveling and going to new places. I've never been anywhere real crazy with J yet (read: where they don't speak english) but I'm sure she'll do fine and I'm sure I'll do fine too.

I think top on the list is still Europe, nowhere in particular, really depends on the time of year. Summer - probably Scandinavia, Winter - Germany, France, Italy
Still have no burning desire to go to England, and I know I should. I think Scotland and Ireland would be gorgeous. That's a hardcore summertime trip though. No way I'm going there in winter.

Then after that is somewhere very far away. I'm leaning Thailand right now, but Australia is also on that list. Or maybe I'll try and find a job in Australia. That sounds like a good idea, and they speak english so it would be an easier transition on everyone. They allow US citizens to bring in cats right?

J and I lost something yesterday. To find it we moved the dishwasher, which was not a good idea, there was rabbit poo from our rabbit sitting last year. We also moved the dryer and washer and cleaned under there since it was moved. We found it but it put me in a weird place. I'm not there now, but most definitely was for a few hours yesterday.

Went shopping at Bi-Lo and got lots of frozen vegetables, some bread, some passion fruit juice (which I'm very excited about and it doesn't expire until May 20, 2006), a steak, some Napa cabbage, broccoli and squash for a veggie stir fry dinner. But our freezer is now full and so is our fridge, which were both very barren yesterday.

For lunch today, I'm finishing off the Sante Fe turkey and the onion rolls that we had laying around. I'm planning on toasting the buns over in the cafe/eatery across the street. And then adding Gulden's brown mustard. Maybe barbecue sauce. That'll be a game time decision.

Just checked the Miami/FSU score, which determines what time our game against Miami is, and am very glad I didn't watch all of that game. 10-7? Maybe Miami baseball, but not football. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

I get to teach lab today! Yay! Should be enjoyable. I've never taught this particular lab before but I've taught the one after it. Just hope the lab kids aren't morons. That always makes my job much much tougher. But it is a good patience work-out.

It's my group meeting tomorrow and I need to run out to the research park and get some spectra off their computer.

I am addicted to my flash drive. It's great. I don't know how I got around without it. I actually did some work at home last night. And it wasn't a hassle to transfer what I worked on to here. I'm gonna add some new cat pics to my sports car club pics page and I'll add some crystal pics also so that you guys can actually see what I'm working on.

Everyone please keep the Nawlins people in your thoughts and especially one of our own, Jack the Brave who signed up to head down there and do what he can. Be safe Jack.

Today marks the start of Clemson's football season. We're playing the Aggies of Texas A&M tonight at 8. So that means a whole lotta tailgating. Now remember, that's a solid 6-8 hours of drinking time. You gotta pace yourself. No one wants to fall asleep at 6 because that would be all kinds of bad.

But I'm gonna do a little work before those shenanigans begin.

Went to our men's soccer game last night against the U of South Carolina. Somehow we won. Our midfield was playing long ball and running our poor Jamaican forward to death. But some how we scored with 38 seconds left to play and then won in sudden death overtime (or golden goal in soccer). So that was a nice beginning, but honestly we shouldn't have won. The Gamecocks had much better passing and ball control. We showed that we could control the ball but only did it for maybe 7 minutes out of 90.

Maybe the women's team will be better, but I can't find a schedule for them anywhere. Guess I'll have to use the internet. But it seems a little sexist to me.

I'm roughly half way through Sheri S. Tepper's "The Gate to Women Country" which is getting really good. Some serious shit is about to go down. I can't see the whole picture about her commentary on sex roles yet, but I will. I'll do a larger post on it once I'm done over at the Book Club blog.

Enjoy your Saturday and your weekend!

A convoy of military vehicles plowed through the flooded streets of New Orleans on Friday bringing food, water and medicine to the thousands of people trapped at a downtown convention center. - CNN

Yay!



Woohoo!



Buses and troop transports to help evacuate Nawlins.

It's gonna take a while, but support is coming from all over the world, Britain, Japan, Australia, even Sri Lanka who is still recovering from the tsunami.

And please keep the NOPD in your thoughts, they're fighting an unwinnable war against the roving bands of street thugs. But that should stop pretty soon. Those soldiers have guns and aren't afraid to cap a couple terrorists.

I would like to add another item to the "unpleasant ways to wake up" list:

To the sound of a falling dresser, then breaking of glass, then the smell of Armani's Acqua di Gio Women (which luckily smells okay and I can still smell it). Very loud crashing sound. I was worried it was the dresser with the TV on it. Well, first I was worried if Joan was okay, then I worried if the cats were okay, then if the TV was okay. But it was J's dresser with a bunch of toiletry stuff on it and that is what broke and will probably make our room smell like Macy's perfume counter for at least a day or two.

And J had to leave to catch the schoolbus. So, me still in bed, was forced to wake up and start cleaning. Definitely not a great way to start the day, but it needed to be done.

So I get down on my hands and knees and starting picking very tiny shards of glass out of the carpet. And perfume makers might want to think about a slightly more robust glass for their bottles. So many shards.

So after wiping off all the stuff on top, and moving the dirty clothes it fell on and getting the glass off of it, I was finally able to pick up the big pieces of glass and then bring in the vacuum to finish off the job. And I hope it worked too. I can just see myself hopping out of bed to use the restroom and stabbing myself. Ugh, and I like being barefoot too.

But I think it's all clean now and I'm meeting J at 12:15 for lunch. I think that is slightly after the lunch rush, so we should be okay. I hate lines.

Okay, no recent wedding pics, but just to tide you over, here are pics from Derek and Kerri's wedding. Derek is my dear friend from way back in 7th grade. His parents were missionaries, as were mine, in the DR. Good times, but we hung out constantly. And we had a band for a short time. We were DoorKnob Bob. And we kicked ass. I was on bass and vocals, Derek was on guitar, and Joel laid down some mean beats on the drums. And Zach, who no one has seen since he went to TX for college, was lead guitar and vocals. So please look around and meet some of my friends.

Seth's picturebook

And as a birthday present, Firefox crashed and ate my post. Thanks!

But I'm officially over a quarter of a century old today.

The Cabinet meeting went okay. The insurance committee hasn't met since May, so no new updates but the prez gave us some things that we need to look at. And a note to morning people: If you are planning a meeting any earlier than 9:30 am, for the love, provide some coffee, donuts or bagels, something to distract us from the fact that non-morning people HATE getting up when we don't have to.

Um, I think I had something else, but can't remember.

Now for a few public service announcements:

FDA official resigns over contraception policy
The FDA lost their director of Women's Health, Susan Wood, over the OTC sale of the morning after pill.

"I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled," wrote Wood, who also was assistant commissioner for women's health. "The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency contraception, which continues to limit women's access to a product that would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions, is contrary to my core commitment to improving and advancing women's health."

This is a great drug that is a wonderful idea and should be available to anyone who wants or needs it. So to all rape and incest victims, sorry. To all drunken sorority girls, don't drink so much and use a freakin condom. To all dudes, ALWAYS use a condom and even have one on you at all times because you don't want to regret a split second decision for the rest of your garnished-wages life.

And to all American drunk drivers, you suck! You kill thousands of people a year and all we give you is a slap on the wrist. So please take your moronic ass over to Thailand and go crazy!

Thai drunk driver's death penalty
A 23-year-old former college student, Nattapong Raksapong, was sentenced to death by a court in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday on several charges related to a 2004 drunk driving rampage in which four people were killed, four injured and five vehicles damaged.

Huh, severe consequences for a severe action, that's crazy enough to work. Cabs are everywhere. I know you have a sober friend somewhere who is willing to pick you up. If not, offer them $20 or so, your cab is going to cost at least that much. If all else fails, walk. Even if it's 150 miles, you should've thought about how you were getting home before you downed 14 Jack and Cokes. Because if you think you're responsible enough to drink, then you should be responsible enough to get home without killing people and putting innocent people in danger.

So I urge you for your pocketbook's sake, walk somewhere or look into public transportation. Because as everyone knows, MARTA is SMARTA!

And a very funny Flash piece, The End of the World!