I’m officially on vacation for the next week, so don’t expect much out of me. The quality of my posts will remain the same (there isn’t much room for decline left, anyway), but the quantity should go down.
And this time I really mean it. The first thing I intend to do is clean my kitchen, which has been neglected the past two weeks while I was swamped, and I’m afraid I might catch meningitis in there.
After that, barring injuries or anything else, there will be some very serious Warcrafting going on.
Cat Lady
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. That’s a good one.
Unabogie
So we can expect 10 posts in 30 minutes?
Valdivia
Happy vacay John, enjoy! I will be visiting your state for Christmas. Do you welcome Latinas there? ;)
Yutsano
@Valdivia: Is there any place you aren’t welcome? If so I shall give them a serious talking-to.
Chat Noir
I think being on vacay warrants pictures of Tunch and the girls.
Looking forward to January 1 so I can put up my Pets of Balloon Juice calendar.
Edit: hope we can get updates on suzanne the next couple of days. Thinking good thoughts on baby’s birthday.
Martin
Since we assume that ‘naked’ always precedes ‘cleaning’ now, be careful around the cutlery, okay?
Silver
@Unabogie:
If he starts nerdraging, probably not. He’ll surface around New Year’s Eve when he gets tired of grinding for Therazane rep.
stuckinred
I would like to say how much I appreciate everything you do here John. How I stumbled on a political, pet, sports blog I do not know but you, and most of the people here, are incredible.
General Stuck
Quitter. I plan to maintain my own decline in commenting quality, even if you takes a break from the race to the blogging bottom.
J.
Next you’ll be telling us there really is a Santa Claus. Or that the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl.
Also, speaking of kitchens and meningitis (or in this case trichinosis), check out this decidedly non-kosher Nativity scene.
demkat620
You know, this means 50 posts before Christmas. Whenever John gets time to search the internets, we get gold.
Happy Vacay John!
ronin122
A) We’ll see if you really have a decline in post frequency, B) IANAWoWP but I can’t imagine how an injury would prevent you from playing World of Warcrack. If anything it would encourage gaming since you can’t do much else (I am assuming this is after the hospital, if going there were required with such said injuries)
JPL
Can we expect another naked mopping post?
Valdivia
@Yutsano–ha, thanks but surely there are. Some folks don’t expect the six foot jewish latina! Hope you’re feeling better.
Yutsano
@Valdivia: I’m working on it. Next task is working up the energy to make the pot of soup, though honestly I want risotto. And I’m craving pepper of all things.
Sixers
Will there be more or less crying about how the steelers are getting screwed?
TooManyJens
@JPL: I sometimes wonder what it must be like to be a newbie to this blog when all the “naked mopping” comments start.
Valdivia
@Yutsano–pepper makes a lot of sense somehow . And yum risotto, love it and love cooking it.
So what no one around to make you some Jewish penicillin? I would volunteer but I think we are in opposite sides of the us….
Also–best wishes on the delivery to Suzanne.
Comrade Mary
Yutsano, if you want to feel better but don’t quite have the energy to babysit risotto, how about saffron rice?
1) Soak a good pinch of saffron in a couple of tablespoons of hot water for 10 minutes.
2) While the saffron is soaking, dice and gently fry one small onion in as much butter as you like until it’s golden (about 10 minutes).
3) Stir one cup of white rice (like basmati) into the onion and butter, then add 1 cup of stock or broth and 1 cup of water (including the water with the soaked saffron).
4) Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Phil Perspective
At least we’ll have Favre starting tonight in the snow!
Jay in Oregon
John, John, John…
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/basementelf_1280.jpg
JPL
@TooManyJens: Yeah! Those were the good old days.
Nicole
Enjoy vacation! I am eagerly awaiting the delivery of a “Born to Be an Eagles Fan” picture frame, with which I am going to trade out my nephew’s photo, currently ensconced in a “Born to Be a Steelers Fan” frame sitting in my parents’ house. I foresee hilarity on Christmas Day. And perhaps a smashed picture frame.
Yutsano
@Comrade Mary: Sounds wonderful! One slight problem: no haz saffron in the house. I’m gonna keep that one in the recipe file though, that does sound nom!
@Valdivia: I’ve already resigned myself to making it on my own. Since I’ll be half-cheating with it anyway might as well not break my grandmother’s heart at the same time and open a can. Granted she’s dead but it would still break!
gbear
I’m saving cleaning the kitchen for retirement.
As part of the recovery process for the Metrodome in Mpls, sharpshooters were brought in to blast holes in the roof panels with shotguns. This is what civilization has come to in the Twin Cities…
TooManyJens
@gbear:
I don’t know much about guns, but I’m having a little trouble reconciling “precision” and “shotgun”.
Joseph Nobles
Fantasists. I’m going to be doing something realistic this holiday season. I think I can get eight full games of Civilization V in by New Year’s.
Valdivia
@Yutsano: I sooo get that. Also too. You would break every Jewish grandmother’s heart not just yours!
Seriously feel better. I will be reporting what west Virginia is really like through the eyes of a not real ‘murican
Eta–effing iPad making my writing funnier than it is….
Splitting Image
Just in case anyone needed proof that you were once a Republican. You can never entirely give up the being Lucy with the football.
Walker
No one believes you. You are about as credible as a Republican congressman on this matter.
gbear
@TooManyJens: I’m just going by the PiPress’ headline. I’ll agree with you that it doesn’t sound right.
Taylormattd
I’m Finally getting used to the new heroic dungeons, but the Throne of the Four Winds raid is kicking our ass. Ugh.
Brick Oven Bill
No rest for the weary at The Facility. You would be amazed at the things people purchase for Christmas. Bed restraints, vacuum pumps, plugs for every orifice, phalluses of such dimensions that they creep out even me, lubricants of every flavor and texture. But today, a new low.
A self-warming dog food bowl. A SELF-WARMING DOG FOOD BOWL.
Good Barry, most magnanimous, most merciful, most clean, most articulate, Peace Be Upon Him. The next thing you know, people will start carrying around their dogs in their arms to keep the dog’s paws out of the ice and snow.
Have a safe vacation.
change
So, now that Scott Brown says he is going to vote for START, is there any function difference between he and Teddy Kennedy on anything?
He’s going to be a man without a country in 2012. I hope he enjoys taking on the Democrat Machine without Tea Party support, that is, if he can survive his primary challenge.
I hope he’s happy with his forty pieces of silver.
Yutsano
@change: The tears, they be delicious. Caveat emptor bitchez!
Tim in SF
John, what server are you on?
suzanne
@Chat Noir:
Awww, thank you. :) Induction is scheduled for 8am tomorrow, and a last bio-physical profile today looked, and I quote, “awesome”. Estimated weight is 8.5 pounds, though, so I am wincing in advance. I will send photos ASAP. All of y’alls kindness and best wishes are truly appreciated—thank you.
Sloegin
For gods sakes don’t pug heroics if you can help it, find some guildies. Every scrub drood and retnub is trying to tank and the results would be laughable if you weren’t losing 40 minutes every queue.
Oh and skippable bosses in blackrock and sfk are skippable for a reason; they’re a pain in the ass.
Yutsano
@suzanne: Any guess as to how long things will take once induction starts? I’ve heard it’s pretty fast but it varies. Also: epi then induction. Be numb as hell so you sail through it. You’re gonna do great hon!
suzanne
@JPL:
Only if Santa says we’ve been very, very good.
John, enjoy your cleaning/WoW break. IMHO, there’s no better way to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour than with Lysol and video games.
Yanno, I typed that last sentence intending to be mildly sardonic, but then I realized that I would truly enjoy a vacation comprised primarily of cleaning and video games. Does that make me pathetic or awesome?
suzanne
@Yutsano: The last induction took about 9 hours, but the epidural didn’t work. I’m hoping for a) faster and b) painless.
Yeah. Riiiiiight.
Yutsano
@suzanne: Look at it this way: no matter what tomorrow it’s over. That should be as much of a relief as anything.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Sloegin: Okay it’s finally happened, I’ve lost the ability to understand a word people write here.
I mean people often don’t make sense but usually at least I know most of the words they’re using.
Cat Lady
Paul Simon’s on Colbert – he still can write a song.
Has anyone seen Carrie Fisher’s one woman show “Wishful Drinking”? Holy shit, she’s got some stories. I totally forgot she was married to Paul Simon, and they had some times. “She Moves On” from Rhythm of the Saints is about her – she describes how it feels to hear:
“I’m afraid that I’ll be taken
Abandoned, forsaken
In her cold coffee eyes”
If you can catch it, it’s worth watching. She’s pretty funny.
ETA: Not funny: the Favre fellating on ESPN. The pathetic old fool is starting tonight. I thought we were going to make it through the week without Favre’s knob being polished. Jeebus it’s embarrassing.
R-Jud
@suzanne: If only the US gave people laughing gas, like they do over here in the UK. I honestly didn’t care about anything as long as I had my nitrous (until the whole process stalled out at 8 cm).
Best wishes for tomorrow, suzanne.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@change: It’s awesome when some Congresscritters care more about the country than their party. Even if only for a little while.
Sucks to be you, though.
JGabriel
John Cole:
So your going to be at home for this vacation? In the same house as your computer? And you’re gonna play video games on that computer?
But not blog?
(mpfff.)
I’m trying not to laugh here.
(mpfff. mpfff.)
And failing miserably.
Bahahahaha!
Edited To Add:
suzanne:
That really is the only proper response. My apologies for mocking you, John. Suzanne is right: Have a happy holiday and enjoy your break.
.
stuckinred
Bear down, Chicago Bears!
sherifffruitfly
I bet $5 he posts within 2 hours.
JPL
@suzanne: We are so hoping for pictures.
JGabriel
@Splitting Image:
More like an anti-Lucy. Keeps promising to take the ball away, but never does.
Mind you, I’m not complaining. It’s really kind of endearing.
.
Chyron HR
@change:
Oh no! Change is never wrong! D:
Shadow's Mom
Have a nice holiday, mine starts tonight through the New Year.
For anyone interested, registration is open at LGF
MikeF
Set posting schedule to: deluge!
Tim
please, cole.
frequency of posting will go UP.
I welcome this, as whether they piss me off or make me think or reaffirm my current positions, your posts rarely fail to catch my notice.
Tim
oh god, my above comment sounds slightly obsequious and complimentary, so let me add a corrective: Fuck you, Cole!
Buck
(runs through Cole-less room nekkid)
nalbar
Isn’t warcraft something that little kids play?
What are we, 12?
SiubhanDuinne
@John or any other Front Pager who happens to see this:
Any chance of setting up a Solstice/Lunar Eclipse thread to activate around 1:30 a.m. or so? It might be fun to live-blog the eclipse.*
Totality isn’t until 3:17 a.m. IIRC, but it should be worth watching from 2:40-3:53 a.m. Tuesday (all times EST).
*ETA: or, it could be boring. “Getting dark here.” “Yeah, darkening up here too.” “Well, if there weren’t so many clouds keeping me from seeing it, it would probably be getting dark here too.”
@Suzanne: I add my best wishes for a quick, comfortable and joyous delivery tomorrow. Looking forward to pix of Baby Luna :-)
kdaug
@Brick Oven Bill: Um, BoB, have you thought about the possibility that you’re the one who makes people think that those are the most appropriate gifts for you?
I mean, a lot of us have a difficult time deciding what would be an appropriate gift for acquaintances, co-workers, etc., and while I agree that a gift basket of butt-plugs wouldn’t be on top of the list for most people I know, you may be giving off different indicators…
Just sayin’.
Mike Kay (Team America)
bloggin on Christmas would be an insult to Christianity.
Ripley
To coin a phrase: Is there any function difference between this post and Cole’s many vows to take a break?
Mike Kay (Team America)
O.T.
START Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty to Pass
All Hail Obama
kwAwk
Am I the only one who wonders what exactly JC is taking a vacation from?
We know DougJ and Tim are scientists. And most of the others are journalists.
Anybody know?
JGabriel
Buck:
I see what you did there.
.
quaint irene
I saw part of it OnDemand. Still reeling from the story that her mom kept talking about Carrie having a baby with her step-father cause he didn’t have any kids of his own and ‘the baby would have really pretty eyes.” Carrie says her mom now insists that she thought artificial insemination could be done like with a shot in the arm. And if she’d known it involved anything ‘further south’ she never would have suggested it.
*********************
Geez, John. You’re cleaning your kitchen already? Looks like somebody doesn’t have a lot of Christmas cooking/baking left to do….unlike most of us!! (Or me.)
Francis
Hah! Chem final is done. (you know that you’re rebuilding your career when you’re at a community college and you’re 10 years older than the professor. No, I’m not bitter about the collapse od the land development business. Why did you ask?)
Sentient Puddle
Re: START
Someone tick off the Republican senators that are supporting it. I didn’t think we were quite at 67 yet.
Sly
@change:
I suppose it is too bad that a major American city going *poof* will become a bit less likely. I mean, that’s where all the people who take America down a notch live, am I right?
SiubhanDuinne
@kwAwk #64: Does he not inhabit the halls of academe?
Mnemosyne
@J.:
I think I heard part of that same “Splendid Table” episode, but they were talking about making gingerbread stuffing for the turkey.
Sadly, my family would never go for it, but it sounded yummy.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Sounds a little too sweet for my tastes, and I’m not a sweetish stuffing fan. Having said that, the concept itself sounds fascinating.
General Stuck
I didn’t think START would make it. A sad day for the Apocalypse.
Brick Oven Bill
The Women of the Tea Party Movement need no toys kdaug. They have us. So let me give my personal thanks to the Women of the Progressive Movement for giving me and my co-workers such good fortune this holiday season.
Cheers!
kdaug
@Mike Kay (Team America):
No shit. Can anyone else think of a more productive “lame duck” session in recent (living) memory? What is this, the third major bill in four days?
So the whole trick is to tell the Senate that they can’t go home to see Santa unless they finish their work????
quaint irene
How about Razzleberry dressing?
Mike Kay (Team America)
@SiubhanDuinne: you can click the link provided in the post.
gnomedad
Hey, Rocky! Watch me go Galt!
change
How soon the liberals forget that we made them drop their Omnibus Spending Bill.
This means that the new Republican House gets to decide the next FY’s budget–which sets the stage for a government shutdown come February…or BIG spending cuts.
Mike Kay (Team America)
Ratifying a Nuke reduction treaty yet another bitter, bitter defeat to the Professional Left™
Yutsano
@gnomedad: Ha! Win.
Chyron HR
@change:
You know, you can just change (ha ha) your pseudonym to something else and start over. You don’t have to keep doubling down on the predictions.
Svensker
@suzanne:
! ! ! ! ? ? ? ! ! ! !
Ack.
Fingers crossed for you. Let us know as soon as you can.
gwangung
What the hell?????
I thought START was week old road kill.
What the hell????
kdaug
@change: Why do you hate our troops in a time of war?
Valdivia
Mike— linky no worky for me. You fix please.
gnomedad
Plus ça change …
jl
Glad Cole is taking a vacation. His emo quotient has been especially high lately, sounds like he is due.
“The first thing I intend to do is clean my kitchen.”
“…there will be some very serious Warcrafting going on”
I was going to inquire whether he was going to make it out to California, particularly the SF Bay Area, but if those two items above are examples of the competition for Cole’s wild vacation plans, I better just go and hide in shame.
kwAwk
@SiubhanDuinne:
Don’t know. He sure does seem to travel a lot for an academic.
Svensker
@change:
Between him and Teddy.
Always watch the grammar.
Yutsano
@gwangung: I know. It’s like some bizarro political alchemy or something. Or there are pictures of the key players going around. Or something.
kdaug
@gwangung: Yurp. Seems the PTB-owned media has been trying to shape a narrative that’s not quite living up to reality.
Heard DADT repeal was dead last week, too.
Seems some folks are trying to push some memes.
change
@Svensker:
You’re wrong. Common mistake, but you’re wrong.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike Kay #77: you know what, seriously, that never occurred to me. Thanks. I guess I am not aware of *all* internet traditions.
General Stuck
@suzanne:
I once had an epidural while delivering a bundle of kidney stone joy. It was stuck, and everything was history from then on. Good luck, as I summon the earth mother spirits on your behalf.
Svensker
@change:
Um, no, I’m not.
J.
@Mnemosyne: Re “Splendid Table,” I missed that part of the show, which is a shame, as I love me some gingerbread. And the Sterns made me want to go to New Mexico.
ruemara
@Sloegin:
Bosses are made to be conquered. No skippies.
@Tim in SF:
He rolled Horde and dances with Wreck List, I believe. That’s on Garrosh, or was it Eitrigg?
srv
John, you stated a couple weeks ago in a retort to a commenter “Who makes a living blogging?”
What else do you do now if you don’t teach?
Sentient Puddle
@change: Actually, no, you’re wrong. Also:
Is there any functional difference…?
Mike Kay (Team America)
■ DADT passed
■ A landmark Food Safety bill passed.
■ Umployment Benefits passed.
■ START passed.
■ Tax cuts for students passed.
■ Tax cuts for parents with children passed.
■ Community Radio bill passed.
■ 19 Judges were confirmed.
A HUGE victory and vindication for the Pragmatists and bitter defeat for the
Professional Left™nihilists who wanted to shut down Congress.Steeplejack
@change:
Yes, it’s a common mistake, but you’re wrong. You use an object pronoun (“me”) with a preposition (“between”). You use a subject pronoun (“I”) when it’s the subject of the sentence. Details here.
Mike Kay (Team America)
I should also add,
■ 9/11 First Responder bill close to passing.
All, in all, one victory after another for the President
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Valdivia: your wish is my command.
@SiubhanDuinne
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/134551-gop-senators-concede-start-will-win-enough-votes-to-pass-handing-victory-to-obama
Svensker
@Mike Kay (Team America):
Yes, but it looks like Net Neutrality is biting a big one, and that is a huge deal. We’ll see, but it’s very worrisome.
kdaug
@Mike Kay (Team America): Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, chief. START appears to have the votes, but AFAIK hasn’t been voted on yet. A mighty impressive list, but let’s wait until START is actually ratified.
Valdivia
Gracias Mike Kay!
Mike Kay (Team America)
@Svensker: I’ll wait for expert and peer analysis before coming to a judgment. I wouldn’t trust the tabloid HuffPo if they told me water is wet (unless they’re posting about celebrity diets).
General Stuck
@Svensker:
The dude is a firebagger at Huffpo, and even if true, it would only exempt mobile devices from Net Neutrality protections, not home wired services. But I don’t believe anything I read at Huffpo, these days. Until it happens.
Mike Kay (Team America)
This is the most productive Presidential agenda since the country came together after the brutal shock and sorrow of the Kennedy assassination (1964-1965).
And just wait until 2013/2014 after Obama crushes Palin with 60% of the vote.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Thirded this. change is wrong. Everyone else is right. As usual.
@suzanne: Oh, sheesh. Good luck with that. I expect live blogging and pics. (I’ll settle for the pics). Make your hubby keep a front-pager updated, OK? OK!
@gwangung: Yeah, me, too. WHAT THE HELL?
General Stuck
Yes, I agree, it is a most impressive run of victories for Obama, this lame duck session. If I had to guess, however, I would guess that what the wingers are doing, are focusing on the one issue that seems to be motivating them, and letting other stuff go. And that is the US budget and spending, especially when it comes to implementing their seemingly psychotic fixation on the Holy Grail for their electoral demise for the future, the ACA. When the debt ceiling and CR for funding the government comes due in Feb and March, then it will be war, to the brink, or else. And the only thing that will quell their fear and fury, will be to destroy HCR before it is fully implemented.
change
@asiangrrlMN:
How do you even know? You said that you filtered me.
I’d trust you on, say, Cantonese grammar, but English? Not so much!
Yutsano
@change:
And yet once again the troll fails.
jl
Obama tried to sell a bunch of ‘liberal’ economists on his unemployment extension tax deal in a super duper cone of silence ‘secret’ meeting.
The article gives some interesting insights into Obama’s thinking.
Not sure what to make of Obama’s complaint in the article that he is having a difficult time changing the ideological narrative. I do not see that he has tried that much. On other hand, Obama has been taking advice from economists who have compromised too much with the post-Reagan Washington Consensus free market ideology. Obama may not realized how confused his economic thinking is.
Obama Tried to Placate Liberal Economists
Before hailing tax deal, he made quiet pitch to Krugman, Stiglitz, and other disillusionati.
By Michael Hirsh
Friday, December 17, 2010
http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/obama-tried-to-placate-liberal-economists-20101217
Article was found via:
The President’s Meeting with Liberal Economists
By: David Dayen Monday December 20, 2010
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/12/20/the-presidents-meeting-with-liberal-economists/
I think ‘Keynesian’ economists is a better label than ‘liberal’. I never thought of Blinder as being particularly ‘liberal’, in the same way as Kuttner or Galbraith. But I never thought of Krugman as liberal either, until he was deemed to be one after he accurately diagnosed problems with GW Bush’s income tax proposal in the 2000 election.
greennotGreen
@Mike Kay (Team America):
I was going to write that the idea that 40% of the country would vote for Palin is a sign of the end times for the US, but then I remembered that Reagan won a second term when it was already obvious to some of us that he had Alzheimer’s (or at least some sort of dementia.) As Tom Tomorrow has predicted, American voters would elect a small, cute dog.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@jl: oh, you’re a firebagger, i didn’t know that.
you never thought of Krugman as liberal ?? dude/dudette he wrote a book entitled “The Conscious of a Liberal”.
This is what I mean, even KThug isn’t liberal enough for the far left.
national journal is winger mag that says palin is brilliant.
jl
@Mike Kay (Team America): I’ve been reading Krugman from long before he had a blog by that name.
Do you remember the liberal perception Krugman during the globalization debate of the 90s?
I look at FDL a couple of times a week. Just because I look at a blog doesn’t mean I agree with most of it.
The link to the National Journal piece is broken, so you will have to explain what it was: story, opinion piece by some Palin fan, National Journal editorial?
Sometimes, you seem unwell.
birthmarker
@Francis: Courage, Francis. And good luck.
@General Stuck: A new rolling header–I don’t believe anything I read on HuffPost, these days…
@suzanne: We can all tell our little stories, but in reality this delivery will be unique to you and your child. Best of luck to you both!
Uloborus
@jl:
I remember that Krugman is not actually one of the major critics of Obama’s economic policy, so I really distrust the framing of that entire article. Krugman DID think the stimulus should have been bigger. So did Obama. And Krugman’s come down in general approval of both FinReg and ACA once he knew what was in the final versions.
Krugman’s gotten kind of bitchy about Obama’s negotiation tactics, but why would I care? Seriously, there’s like two sentences of fact in this article and paragraph after paragraph of attempts to make those very neutral facts sound bad.
thalarctos
@change: Heh. Cantonese isn’t what people speak in Taiwan. Moran.
You can add geography fail to your English-language and politics fail.
As Belafon has so aptly observed, sucks to be you.
Mnemosyne
@jl:
Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t it a good thing that Obama is meeting with people like Krugman even if he’s trying to win them over to his point of view? That at least gives one a shred of hope that he’s open to changing policy in the future, unlike the last guy, Mr. “I’m the Decider.”
Nicole
@suzanne: Good luck tomorrow! I was induced, too, but due to preeclampsia, so the baby was a bit smaller. The weight guesses are often off by as much as a pound, so Wee One may not be as big as you’re fearing.
It’s not called labor for nothing, but babies are so freaking awesome. Even when they won’t sleep, like our little dink tonight. ;) I am so excited for you!
Church Lady
As often as John cleans, someday he’ll make someone a good wife.
bob h
Are you, like me, feeling marginally less depressed after the Democratic victories in the Lame Duck? A little bit less depressed.