I can probably explain why I didn’t see this, which is that I was driving all day and working on 2000 calories a day of Sbarro’s pizza and coffee. As anyone who has done this can attest, this does leave you a little fuzzy.
What’s going on in your happy Galtian enclave tonight?
JPL
You still a tad fuzzy because the link connects to a page not found.
DougJ
@JPL:
Sorry, fixed it.
junebug
I luv u dougj
You’ve come back to me.
Never change.
John O
I’m using mind power to try to wrap some gifts. I think I almost have it.
Glinda
At our mildly happy, not very Galtian enclave we are making lobster sauce for the Feast of the Seven Fishes and secretly pining for the holiday silliness to be over.
However the lobster sauce smells amazing and might be the reason we all go through the Christmas Eve rigmarole.
Ross Hershberger
Our Galtian enclave? The holiday weekend has started. My wife won’t tell me what she wants for Christmas and I’m tired of asking so I just went to the ATM and got the largest amount of $20 bills it would give me out of my mad money account. She will probably lose them before it occurs to her to buy something. This is one of the reasons I love her.
Mnemosyne
I’m wasting time here instead of wrapping presents, packing, emptying the dishwasher, scrubbing out the cat boxes, and straightening up so we won’t be embarrassed to have the pet sitter come in over the weekend.
I really should go do one or two of those things. At some point.
Cat Lady
Cole covered the McMegan flailing earlier with another classic post title, which several commenters noted should be a new tag: Gastritis Broke My Calculator. Does being a Randian mean never having to say you’re sorry?
Presents are hung by the chimney with care, here in this Galtian enclave.
Bnut
@Mnemosyne: You are describing my life. Many a time have I straightened up for the dog walker. My high (low?) point was not doing the dishes piled in the sink and buying a couple jugs of water and telling the dog walker that the pipes were being worked on.
Bill
Fudge, the UN needs to investigate Holder and Obama for letting W flit around un-tried, miryt?
jayackroyd
lazy fuck….
O sheesh. Just realized that has way too many meanings.
Actually, I am doing an edit out of the weird crap BlogTalkRadio jammed into today’s show with Ari Berman.
And, you know, if you just stop reading McMegan, things will be better for you.
Glinda
@Glinda: I should also point out my definition of “Galtian”: ergo intellectual rigor that embraces the science of mathematics and the rules of mathematical/philosophical logic. McMegan is apparently following the MacDonald’s version of an intellectual/revisionist marketing strategy.
mclaren
@Mnemosyne:
You’re wasting our time too.
Goddamn airhead McArdle finally corrects one of her less grotesquely outrageous errors. Great. How about correcting the other 3,574,583,051,834,593,877,843,205 errors she’s made while blundering around and fumbling and bumbling and stumbling and gibbering laughably nonsensical drivel instead of talking sensibly about economics?
How about this glaring error?
Or how about this fumble-fingered confection of garbled reasoning and scrambled logic?
Or how about Paul Krugman’s smackdown of McArdle’s…
Ah, fuck it. She’s a spit-for-brains know-nothing who cites global warming deniers and columns in Red States as the “sources” for her incoherent gibberings, and she can’t even do basic arithmetic.
McArdle’s a goddamn disgrace to journalism, an affront to the entire profession of economics, and a devastating rebuke to the Ivy League as a credible institution.
What else is there to say?
Ross Hershberger
My boss, who is from Albania and learned English as an adult has grasped the meaning of the word ‘retarded’ for stupidity. “This is so RETARDED” she now says at exactly the appropriate times. Unfortunately I now have to explain why she can’t say that. We work at a high school and ‘retarded’ is one notch down from hate speech. She’s a wonderful, intelligent person but her English is weak. I had to spell ‘last week’ for her today. Double letters are confusing.
Lolis
23 minutes left of work. Can’t wait to be outta here.
Ross Hershberger
I’ve been thinking about McMegan’s math errors. say she makes an order or magnitude mistake. What’s an order of magnitude? Just another zero. And zeros stand for nothing. Therefore the mistake is irrelevant because it amounts to nothing.
Zero was invented in the Middle East, making it not only suspect but probably actually hostile to Western civilization.
So there.
Svensker
OK, so now I’ve discovered that my MIL’s “I’ll do the prime rib and you do some veggies” means, “I’ve ordered the prime rib, can you pick it up at the supermarket and cook the entire dinner, make whatever you like.”
So any suggestions for an elegant but easy prime rib Christmas dinner menu? That can mostly be cooked ahead or assembled at my place and transported to MIL’s place?
The mind is blanking.
Suffern ACE
@Ross Hershberger: Oh come on. At least wrap them…
John O
@Svensker:
I don’t really have any suggestions for you (cheesy sour creamy twice baked spuds?), but it reminds me of the time we had to move 30 at Thanksgiving because of a potato skin/garbage disposal issue. So like right in the middle of it.
There was water coming out the ceiling in the basement in large quantities, and roto-rooters. Good times.
WarMunchkin
There’s been a lot of articles recently that seemingly quantitatively “prove” Galtianism (is that a word?) correct or that we should give the rich some invisible handjobs. I saw two in the Wall Street Journal, one linked by Naked Capitalism, another by Ezra Klein. That should keep everyone busy.
Galtianism > FSM:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2010/12/the-newest-and-best-data-on-income-inequality.html
250K/yr = poor:
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Issues/The-Economy/2010/12/07/Down-and-Out-on-250000-a-Year.aspx
Gasteritis broke my tax rates:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703581204576033861522959234.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Nicole
Snuggled up next to my (mercifully) sleeping six-month old. Life is so sweet when he’s not shrieking.
Mnemosyne
@Svensker:
Yorkshire puddings?
I would also say roasted asparagus, but everything’s better with asparagus.
Suffern ACE
There is no John Galt here. Who is he, anyway? If he doesn’t have anyone to spend Christmas with, he’d be more than welcome to join us. But he’d better be polite and offer to help make everyone else’s Christmas a little better or he won’t be invited back next year.
hamletta
@John O: Oh, you bring back memories!
Back in the ’80s, my family had an unbroken streak of annual Christmas plumbing disasters. Lucky for us, the Haft family was still in business then, so you could run out to Dart Home at 11:30 pm on Christmas Eve and pick up a sump pump.
Like you said, good times. Good, good times.
PeakVT
@WarMunchkin: In every society, there’s always someone willing to guard the palace gates. Cowen, specifically, has long been doing so with a disturbing amount of enthusiastism.
John - A Motley Moose
@Ross Hershberger: Dude! You are supposed to love her enough to know what she wants. Giving her money is like saying, “I don’t care about you enough to give any thought to your gift.”
You can kid yourself that she really doesn’t care about it, but if you really believe that then you are living a fantasy.
Mark S.
I still have no idea why she thinks it makes a difference whether it’s real or nominal GDP. If I understood her hypothetical, she was surely talking about nominal GDP, but I still don’t see why it makes any difference.
John - A Motley Moose
@Mnemosyne: Just about everything. I’m not sure I’d put it on my ice cream. But, yeah, roasted asparagus and roasted red potatoes. French onion soup. A good crusty bread. For dessert, a savory bread pudding.
WarMunchkin
@PeakVT: It’s annoying though. Their juvenile games and stuff block me from getting a job/having a decent life. Maybe I should go visit strip clubs to join accounting training or something, to prove I’m as hardworking and virtuous as rich people.
Mnemosyne
@John – A Motley Moose:
Okay, you forced me to find this:
Asparagus Ice Cream
Mark S.
Bryan Fischer–still a huge cocksucker.
thomas Levenson
@WarMunchkin: Not leaving the boat.
@Svensker:
Here’s what we do in the land of the Sacred Cod (or at least my corner of it) when I can persuade my wife to let me bring home a great big whack o’ beef:
Prime Rib: bring to room temperature. Oil and salt a lot on all sides. Stuff garlic in every visible vein of fat. Start the roast high (400 degrees) drop to 325 after twenty minutes or so. Serve just this side of mooing.
Simple horseradish sauce: plain low fat yogurt, tons of prepared horseradish, mustard to taste. If you want to go a little further add some crushed and minced steamed garlic to the sauce. (Easy steamed garlic: Take three or four unpeeled cloves, put them on a little plate and cover them with plastic wrap. Microwave for 40 seconds and be very careful as you pull it out of the MW oven — it gets surprisingly hot. The steamed garlic will pop out of its skim.)
(I love a compound butter on my beef — but my wife likes my heart more or less functional, so you know how that goes…)
Potatoes: Yukon golds cut into wedges, blanched until partly cooked (resisting the fork when you poke them. Scatter the potatoes on an baking sheet, toss them with some olive oil, and salt and pepper them. Roast in the oven with the beef until golden.
You can also roast a bunch of root vegetables on the same sheet if you’ve a mind — some mixture of carrots and parsnips and whatever else catches your fancy. Sprigs of time and whacks of garlic just for luck.
Second the asparagus, and or some French beans — blanch, then quickly fry when I want to take it nice and easy.
Make sure you are drinking the wine you plan to serve throughout whatever you decide to cook. You wouldn’t want to give your guests anything you haven’t thoroughly vetted.
John O
Got the presents wrapped (though not through mind power, sadly) and am now listening to classic old Christmas songs and cuddling with my boys, Dweezil and Nikki.
Not so bad.
Mojotron
Lok, the problem that I have with McMegan is that she choses to twist facts to fit her preconceived theories instead of adjusting her theories to the facts, which really isn’t col in my bok.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Mark S.:
Whoa…
That links to one UGLY website…
John - A Motley Moose
@Mnemosyne: Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
BGK
In the main, drinking. During the fog of last week’s business travel, I was the beneficiary of a really good bartender, who deserves an indulgence for introducing me to the Last Word and the Final Word. I sprung for a bottle of Chartreuse earlier today and have been partaking of both of these throughout the evening.
I also made two of my universe-best cheesecakes (one for Christmas dessert, one to give away) earlier, and I’m having to guard them from Sophia the dairy fiend until they’re cool enough to put in the refrigerator.
AAA Bonds
Megan McArdle isn’t doing anything wrong, per se, except getting what she believes is hers. What’s absolutely criminal is that Atlantic pays her to make them look even worse.
But Atlantic Monthly probably already committed war crimes under international law with the January 2002 “MUST WE TORTURE?” issue. Seriously.
Grab a copy of that, and witness exactly how we got to where we are today on that front.
John O
@BGK:
I sure would like to try a universe best cheesecake.
Ross Hershberger
@John – A Motley Moose:
I’ve known her for 15 years and I’m dead certain there’s not a thing I could get her that she would actually want. She’s the ultimate non-consumer.
I was sitting on a stack of hobby money trying to decide what wristwatch to buy myself. But I have a ton of watches, don’t need another, and she deserves the dough far more than I do even though I earned it in my own spare time. She’s had an absolute bastard of a year and maybe now that she has a new job she’ll want some clothes, shoes, a coat and a bag or something.
What she really wants is for me to clear out the ballroom so she can have her family over. The ballroom is going to stay clogged up with my stuff.
Bill Murray
@Cat Lady: I thought Gastritis Broke My Calculator was a Dead Milkmen b-side
Maude
@thomas Levenson:
You can sprinkle some rosemary on those potatoes.
hamletta
I’m drinking some beer and hoping our choir won’t suck tomorrow night.
Christmas ain’t Easter, but we’ve barely rehearsed, and we’ve jettisoned a few pieces. The women got a couple of section rehearsals, but the men had none, and I’m a man, baby, ’cause I sing tenor.
I got word from the lawyers in Memphis that my shitty-ass, incompetent lender wants to foreclose on my ass, also, too. Despite that fact that I’ve been working (haha) with a HUD-approved agency which proposed a sensible loan modification.
Merry fucking Christmas to me.
Suffern ACE
@Mark S.: Well, if he wants to declare overturning DADT as a victory for the FRC, I guess I’ll let him. I thought that being discharged had more consequences, and never enjoy being called “limp wristed”, but hey, its sometimes hard to tell a loss from a win.
Athenae
From the line, from McMegan herself:
Unless it’s the presumed salaries of poor people, in which case screw them, they should have bought cheaper groceries if they didn’t want to be so poor.
God, her smugness just leaps off the screen.
A.
Elizabelle
Went to see “The King’s Speech” today and loved it.
Learning more about George VI now.
IndyLib
@Svensker:
Go check out the last few days of discussions we’ve been having at TaMara’s place. It covers beef, ham, sides, and desserts. Good stuff.
Elizabelle
@Athenae:
Yeah, first I’ve read anything by McArdle. Surprised she was getting into it as much with the commenters.
Same reaction to that “cultural aversion” remark.
Happy to report that dipping into the McArdle oeuvre is not habit-forming. That one little taste was plenty.
Ross Hershberger
I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions this year. My New Year’s Priority for 2011 is to be less overwhelmed and stressed at this time next year. This will mean controlling my tendency to over commit.
Now that I think of it, that’s what I resolved 12 months ago.
BGK
@John O:
Cheesecake is the one thing I make about which I have total, breathtaking arrogance. I’ve never had any of the hundreds of people over the years who’ve tried it not say it’s the best they’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure it once brought one of my female co-workers to a…um…happy place.
The rest of the time I’m a complete life-wasting sluggard.
BGK +6
asiangrrlMN
@hamletta: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that about your house. I hope that things take a turn for the better very soon.
I just watched the video of McCain spewing about why DADT repeal was a bad, bad, bad thing for the first time. I can’t stand watching him because he makes me angry. Will to live–completely gone.
Yutsy, you better appreciate the sacrifices I make for you!
@BGK: Dude. Pics of your cats? I neeeeeeds it.
John O
@BGK:
LOL…I have similar issues, though not cheesecake related.
hamletta
@Bill Murray: Do you wanna go to the shore?
Naw, I don’t wanna go to the shore. I’ve got gastritis.
But we sold the bitchin’ Camaro! We’ve got a bunch of money!
But we won’t know how much, because gastritis broke my calculatorrrrrr!!!
GASTRITIS BROKE MY CALCULATOR!
I puked on every key
GASTRITIS BROKE MY CALCULATOR!
Please feel sorry for me
[guitar shredding]
GASTRITIS BROKE MY CALCULATOR!
300 cal’ries ain’t on
GASTRITIS BROKE MY CALCULATOR!
Tony Orlando & Dawn
Steeplejack
Toiled in the retail trenches today, now girding my loins and taking alcohol therapy to do it again tomorrow. But I get off at 3:00 p.m. and then have a glorious three-day holiday (Christmas plus my usual Sunday-Monday weekend). I have victuals laid in and plan to hole up and do little or nothing.
Just poured the last of the Mount Gay rum, so I may need to stop by the liquor store tomorrow to replenish. Or this could be an all-champagne holiday. Decisions, decisions.
And I’m nursing the beginnings of a cold, thanks–I am convinced–to a three-year-old in the store yesterday who was hacking like a bronchial wino the whole time I waited on his (oblivious) mother. Taking steps to nip this in the bud.
John O
@asiangrrlMN:
I think Stewart’s “It Gets Worse” video is going to make it into the John McCain historical archives. Just not the McCain archives.
Steeplejack
@Ross Hershberger:
So you overcommitted on your commitment not to overcommit. Very meta, dude.
jon
These are truly interesting times. Is this a real change of heart, or are conservatives looking for some issue with which to get young people and minorities on their side?
I want to be a cynic about that guy and his motives, but maybe the libertarian streak that kinda-sorta runs through the Tea Party and Go Galt things could reap something worthwhile other than a Sarah Palin election meltdown in 2012.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
How you doin’? Don’t know how much longer I am going to be up–alarm is set to go at 6:15 a.m.–but I thought I would check in. Sorry that I missed the airing of the grievances earlier. I guess I’ll just nurse the grudges until next year.
suzanne
I’m watching “Raising Arizona”. It seems oddly appropriate. Heh.
hamletta
@Steeplejack: Oh, bless your heart!
I have a friend at church who’s a veteran retail manager from Canada who now works at Kohl’s. Haven’t seen her lately, but I always try to give her some extra love this time of year.
Ross Hershberger
McCain may have jumped the shark. We’ve seen his angry and irrational sides before, but now that’s all he shows any more. Who can take this guy seriously?
He’s gone from Archie Bunker to Howard Beale in 24 months.
Suffern ACE
@Ross Hershberger: One of the things that causes stress is having too much stuff. One loses focus on the important things and becomes too attached to this world, with all of its imperfections. You have stuff because you covet, yet those things don’t satisfy, and because others want those things too, you must be concerned with protecting things which don’t matter. We can easily become overcommitted to things.
This is why Christ would tell his rich followers to shed their possessions if they wanted to follow him and the Buddhist monks and yogis practice disciplined asceticism. It allows them to focus on that which does not change, which will not disappoint.
You could start the path to reducing your stress in this life by getting rid of all that stuff that’s clogging up the ballroom so your wife can have her family over for Christmas;-)
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Hi! Good to see you. Groan on having to do retail at this time. Yeah, pretty sure you caught something from the little bugger. Rest up so you can enjoy your break.
@John O: I agree. I have included that in my blog entry because I needed some humor to balance the seething rage I experience from watching/listening to McCain. What a piece of shit he is.
BGK
@asiangrrlMN:
…and a Valium, apparently.
Very well.
Sophia the dairy fiend, mooching potato chips.
Ava in her thinner days as pin-up girl.
Angus, trying to take my job.
Rizzo, nip head.
Jack, Demo-cat
BGK
Urgh. There are cat pix, but apparently the number of linkages has me doing the moderation mambo.
John O
@asiangrrlMN:
He is an “honorable man,” a “Maverick,” if you will.
How dare you disparage St. McCain the Bitter.
Steeplejack
@hamletta:
Thanks. And you have my sympathy on your situation with your house. I went through a complete financial breakdown nine years ago, so I know a little of what you are facing. My thoughts are with you.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: I have no will to live because of aforementioned promise to Yutsy (blog entry about McCain). It’s his Christmas prezzie. Other than that, I’m fine. Shit. Go to bed. You’ll need it for the screaming mob tomorrow morning.
@suzanne: Hey you! Mia Rosalia is just beautiful. Glad to know that you both came through it with flying colors.
@Ross Hershberger: Yes. And yet, he still is treated as if he matters.
asiangrrlMN
@BGK: If you hit the reply button, you can have two links. No reply, three links.
@John O: Gaaaaaah! Gaaaaaaah! ::reaches for the Maker’s Mark::
Ross Hershberger
@Suffern ACE:
Nailed it. I’m an accumulator. I’ve dialed it back, but it’s much easier to acquire stuff than to shed it. And it is a burden that causes stress. Every possession clambers for attention. I’m making an effort to find good homes even for stuff that I value. At this point I’d rather have their space than their company.
I should paste this up on my monitor: “2011: The Year of Less Stuff”
Mary G
@Elizabelle: I saw “The King’s Speech” today, too. It was excellent. Some of the supporting actors were just as good as the leads, like Timothy Spall as Churchill and Michael Gambon as George V,
My friend took me for my birthday tomorrow. She asked for two senior citizens tickets and I nearly had a meltdown. I’m too young to be a senior citizen! She pointed at the sign, which shows seniors are 55 and over, so we were only cheating one day. Why that never occurred to me is beyond me.
Ross Hershberger
McCain’s popularity partially stems from his eagerness to appear on TV. He’s always been an easy ‘get’ and a cooperative guest on talk shows. This free publicity boosted an Arizona senator to a national figure. I wonder if they’ll be as eager to host him now that all he wants to do is piss and moan. Nobody likes a sore loser.
BGK
J. Aitch Christ.
OK, let’s try this again:
Sophia the dairy fiend, mooching potato chips.
Ava in her thinner days as pin-up girl.
Angus, trying to take my job.
BGK
and the rest:
Rizzo, nip head.
Jack, Demo-cat
John O
@asiangrrlMN:
+4, about had it, gotta handle things tomorrow to some degree.
But since I got a 3-hour nap starting at a cool 1400 or so I don’t seem to care.
Other than being a present short (Santo jersey for brother, obviously in short supply) I’m good to go if things go well tomorrow.
The older I get, the less I enjoy the whole mess. And I still enjoy it.
asiangrrlMN
@BGK: Thank you so much. I love your collection of moo-cow kittehs. They are all darling. They bring a big smile to my face!
@Ross Hershberger: Yeah, but as long as he’s whining about Obama, I think they’ll keep inviting him. I think they actually like his grouchy, crabby-pants, old grandpa ‘get off my lawn’ shtick.
@John O: Glad things are working out for you. Funny how a nap will make everything better!
LesGS
@hamletta: Man, sorry about your lender problems. Good thoughts coming your way on that.
I am also concerned about singing stuff tomorrow. My a cappella group is doing this amazing, amazing piece at our late night service at my UU church. It has 9 parts and there are only 12 of us. So I’m the only guy on the first tenor part, and I stand well away from the second tenor so I am not corrupted. (Like you, I am a tenor, but a boy tenor, although I was once a girl tenor. A sex change, hormones, and a second puberty lost me everything above high C, but gained me the entire bass clef.)
And, also, too, I am drinking beer.
suzanne
@hamletta: Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about your house. :( Lenders really are just complete bastards. My neighbors just lost their place last month, even though they had a loan mod worked out, too. I just don’t understand why they think it’s in their best interest NOT to modify.
Anyway, hugs.
@asiangrrlMN: Thanks. :) We came home today, and I’m just thrilled. Life is getting to its new normal. I am so blessed to have two beautiful girls. And modern medicine. Including Percoset.
@Mary G: Glad to hear so many enjoyed “The King’s Speech”. My husband is an SLP, so he’s super-excited about seeing it. I was concerned it wouldn’t be up my alley, but it seems to be quality enough that it can appeal to the non-language-nerd audience.
asiangrrlMN
@suzanne: It was cool to meet your hubby, too. Only, next time, tell him not to break the thread!
Seriously, though. Congrats. I’m happy for you, and I’m so thrilled you had good drugs to help you through it.
Mary G
@suzanne: It’s more of a character thing, how these two completely different guys become friends and how the king deals with his awful family. They do exercises and stuff, but the speech therapy is not nearly the most important thing in it. The acting is amazing. I’m not a nerd either and I really liked it.
Congrats on the beautiful Mia as well.
LesGS
@BGK: Wow, black and white kittehs out the wazoo.
We just have one, Tuxie, adopted off the street a few months ago. (I think she must have been abandoned by the foreclosed folks around the corner. At least, someone cared enough to get her spayed, but for whatever reason didn’t get the stitches removed afterward. So when she followed my daughter home, we found not only that all the fur had grown back on her belly after the surgery, but scar tissue was engulfing the wire sutures.) We’re kinda short on funds, so I asked for Tuxie’s vaccines for Solstice this year.
When I took her in, the vet tech, who couldn’t see Tux in her box, asked if she was black and white, based on her name. I said yes, and she said so was her cat. She then said her cat had A LOT of personality, and did Tuxie? I replied, “Well, I don’t think you’re suppose to use the B-word with cats, but yes, she’s quite the character.” (She’s created her own cat-door by clawing a hole in a front window screen, and will accept *just this much petting* and not a single stroke more.)
John O
@efgoldman:
Dweezil. It just hit me as a good dog name.
He’s a joy.
And yes, I’m a fan of Frank, but only through a true Frank lover old pal of mine.
asiangrrlMN
@LesGS: Aw, how nice of you to take in Tux. She may mellow after being with you longer, or she may not. Who knows? Good luck with her.
@John O: You know, being as cute as Dweezil is almost criminal. Give him a scritch for me.
John O
@asiangrrlMN:
He’s a handsome fellow, if I do say so myself.
He’s ready to go night-night. It’s Christmas Eve. :-)
asiangrrlMN
@John O: Can’t wait to see what Santa brings him! Night to you and Dweezil.
hamletta
@LesGS: That’s a beautiful piece. Break a leg! And may you welcome spiritual feeling into your congregation with your voice.
Our voices are powerful instruments. Music pisses off the Devil, because it makes us happy and makes us understand things that mere words cannot express.
That’s my inner Martin Luther talking. I don’t really believe in The Devil, but I do believe in the power of music.
So I’m really upset that no one noticed my spot-on Dead Milkmen/McMegan mash-up.
And that I have to sing the fucking Carol of the fucking Bells.
Goddamn Ukranians.
My next-door neighbor is 3rd-generation Ukranian-American, and I’d go beat her up, but she’s really sweet, and she and her husband trap and spay the many feral kitties in our neighborhood.
But still. I really hate the Carol of the Bells.
LesGS
@asiangrrlMN: I do hope Tux gets a little less free with her claws, but honestly, I’m okay with a cat with strong boundary issues. My biggest problem is that when she does get affectionate, she drools. I mean, doggy level of salivation-effect. Dripping and everything. And she NEEDS to get into your face, rubbing yours with hers. She loves my beard, so I find myself fending her off as she lunges for my chin and cheeks, because I’m just not okay with cat spit all over my face. I love cats, but I’m into moggy, not soggy.
asiangrrlMN
@LesGS: Heh. I understand not wanting the drool. It’s like I really don’t want my Shadow to present his ass for me to lick, and yet, he continues to do it, anyway.
I tell him that’s what his father is for.
suzanne
@asiangrrlMN:
Heheh, he was so happy to go to the front page and see that as a surprise. He actually got me into this blog three years ago when we met, but he doesn’t generally comment.
Which is good, ’cause I need a place to complain about my mother-in-law.
Zuzu's Petals
So I just saw “True Grit” and must say I give it an enthusiastic two snaps up.
suzanne
@Mary G: Good to know, as I’m sure I’ll be seeing it sometime soon. And thank you. :)
I wanna see cute kittehs! Will have to come back and admire everyone’s furballz when my wireless is not teh suck.
Maude
@asiangrrlMN:
Oh, that opens the door to many jokes and nicknames. How you doin?
Zuzu's Petals
@Mary G:
I just saw “A Single Man” on TV yesterday. Colin Firth is just amazing. Be sure to see that if you like his work.
asiangrrlMN
@asiangrrlMN: Shit! Brother, not father!
@suzanne: Heh. So does he still lurk at all? I think it’s funny that he introduced you to BJ but never commented. I don’t know why. I just do.
@Maude: I know! None of them flattering to me. I’m finished with the piece. My will to live is gone. Tell my cats I love them, but still will not lick their asses.
How are you?
hamletta
I’m working with my grown-up login, so my previous comment is stuck in moderation, but does no one appreciate my rhyming of McMegan’s whinging with “Tony Orlando & Dawn”?
Joey Maloney
Special for Christmas from the TSA, your holiday OMG-everybody-freak-out-deadly-terrorist-threat is…
thermos bottles
Golf claps all around for a good effort.
Anne Laurie
@asiangrrlMN: __
I find blowing gently at The Presentation is usually accepted as a substitute. They know us hairless primates just don’t have the palate (literally: Jacobsen’s organ) to appreciate the subtle messages any cat would understand.
asiangrrlMN
Yutsy, I finished it. I even quoted you. I have now completely lost my will to live. I hope you are happy. Merry fucking Christmas.
@Anne Laurie: I’ve tried that. Shadow demands more. But, I will try blowing harder. Thanks for the tip.
@Joey Maloney: Oh god. I may never fly again.
cckids
@Ross Hershberger:
You sound like my daughter, who calls algebra “the oldest example of radical Islamic terrorism”.
aliasofwestgate
@Joey Maloney:
The shark can no longer be jumped on just how many stupid bans have happened over these alerts from the TSA. 0_o;; I am sooo glad i take the train for my weekend in Chicago every year.
hamletta
Geez, I wrote some beauty to LesG, but it’s stuck in moderation because I’m having to use the grown-up account on my computer to install MAMP and try out Drupal 7.
And asiangrrlmn, I’m dying to see “The King’s Speech.” I picked up a copy of “Love Actually” a while back, and the commentary is all about Hugh Whatsis speaking in-sorrow-more-than-pity about how homely Colin Firth is. Almost distracts you from Alan Rickman.
Almost. Bitch.
I’m just glad I can watch it now without sobbing uncontrollably at the Heathrow footage, because I got to go home to my mommy for Thanksgiving after five years. Plus my baby brother and his many, many adorable children.
cckids
@hamletta: Oh, wow, that sucks. I was there throughout 09, we bailed in Oct because our oldest son uses a wheelchair & has lots of medical issues & we couldn’t risk having to find someplace with only 30 days or less. My condolences, & I hope against hope that something will work out for you.
asiangrrlMN
@hamletta: Love Actually made me bawl. I watched it a few Christmases ago as an antidote to a broken heart. Hahahahahahhahahahaha! Yeah, right. I forgot that the Brits do comedy with a healthy mixture of pathos. Hugh Grant. Feh. Colin Firth is not ugly. Laura Linney’s storyline pulled at me, and of course, Alan Rickman. He and Emma Thompson work so well together. I thought they were the perfect couple in Sense and Sensibility (yes, I know they didn’t end up together–more’s the pity).
hamletta
@asiangrrlMN: Sense and Sensibility was the first time I noticed him, because I don’t go to movies much, and it was on TCM.
He was so et up with that girl. In an entirely noble and respectable way.
That performance blew me away. To be so mannered and so passionate at the same time is a major feat.
He acted that part with his whole body without doing much of anything physical.
That’s hott.
asiangrrlMN
@hamletta: You got it. I’m embarrassed to say that the first time I noticed him was in the HP movies. And, that’s when I started thinking he was hawt. Yes, Snape. Shut up!
Comrade Mary
Oh, man. Firth. Rickman. ::dies::
I mean, Firth was even sexy in Bridget Jones, which given the sodden chick-lit environment, was an accomplishment. (And yes, I got the Darcy reference there, too. Meta is cool.) And Rickman as Metatron in Dogma made me briefly reconsider the lapsed part of my lapsed Catholicism.
(Link fixt to point to better quality).
asiangrrlMN
@Comrade Mary: Love Alan as Metatron. Except when he showed that angels had no genitalia. That was disturbing.
ETA: You and hamletta can fight over Colin Firth, though. I’ll stick to Alan.
hamletta
@asiangrrlMN: Embarrassed about what? I’m sure Alan Rickman’s agent doesn’t give a flying fuck how you came to love him, only that you did.
And let’s be honest: Alan Rickman himself doesn’t give a flying fuck that we love him at all.
Well, maybe he got an ego boost from Texas and that tango at the gas station, but he has a common law wife who loves him, and he’s old enough to be my daddy, and I’m old.
I’m just jealous of the girl from Texas because she had the greatest breakup fuck-you song when I was hurting in 1993, and now she has another one? And the video features Alan Rickman?
Nice job if you can get it….
asiangrrlMN
@hamletta: I actually am not embarrassed–but some people say I should be. Whatever.
The Texas video: She wanted him specifically, and he agreed. I am jealous every time I watch it. And, yeah, he’s old enough to be my father, too.
He’s been with the same woman since he was 19! That’s just amazing to me.
ETA: I’m out. Night, all.
LesGS
@hamletta: Yes.
I don’t believe in the Devil. Or God, even. But I do believe in music.
And, sorry, I like Carol of the Bells. And Alan Rickman. Yum.
kdaug
@mclaren: Think that just about covers it.
LesGS
@asiangrrlMN: You’re ETA, but here’s the thing about Rickman. Watch his mouth. He makes himself believe, and you can see that in his mouth.
hamletta
@LesGS: You, Mac Davis, and me.
And Martin Luther. And Charles Wesley, and Thomas Tallis, and Gustav Holst, and John Rutter, and Gabriel Fauré, and William Billings.
Oh, and J.S. Bach, who is often considered the greatest interpreter of Luther’s theology.
Michael
@Steeplejack:
Buy the 1.75 liter jug of it like I did yesterday when I noticed we were down to somewhere between a pint and a .750.
Can’t risk running out, you know.
Svensker
@thomas Levenson:
That all sounds relatively easy, festive and delicious. Think you’ve just written my menu. Thanks!
schrodinger's cat
@Ross Hershberger: Actually it was invented in India (shunya = nothing, in Sanskrit), but it was through the Arabs that the West discovered zero.
Svensker
@hamletta:
So sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed that something can get worked out.
Johannes
@Anne Laurie: Hate to sound Scroogelike, but that’s when I gently shove them off the bed.
Svensker
@hamletta:
In a choral group a few years ago and the first half of the program was Bach and the second was Faure. Our director introduced it as German Lutheranism vs French Catholicism, and you could really feel the national as well as theological differences.
Right now one of the local NJ college stations (89.9 if anyone wants to check it out and/or contribute to the fund raiser) is running a Bach marathon — nonstop Bach for two weeks. Fantastic.
LiberalTarian
Hm, sounds like she’s saying she had gastritis for 8 years, since that’s how long it took her to admit she made a mistake. Not to mention all the other 1-800-wahh reasons why it isn’t her fault she decided to take one for the team and blog while she was sick poor poor poor girl.
She essentially just stated she vomits literature-ly on her blog when she is sick. Maybe she is sick a lot. How are we to know? And, if she does vomit literature-ly on her blog, it’ll take her 8 years to clean it up. Ew. Gross.
burnspbesq
@asiangrrlMN:
Rickman’s character in Love Actually is a moron. He’s got Emma Thompson, for God’s sake, and he goes off and ruins it by dallying with his admin.
catclub
@Ross Hershberger:
Has anyone noticed that all of the errors are in the same direction?
Can anyone find an error that does not agree with the predetermined conclusion? When THOSE occur she stops and says ‘Wait a minute , that can’t be right.’ and fixes the error.
Some one else noted, and I am just repeating: When all your errors are in one direction (eg Fox mislabels Republicans as democrats whenever they are indicted), they are not mistakes.
mutt
Eggnog, lots of rum, high zoot weed, percosets, and a lot of screwing.
Zuzu's Petals
@hamletta:
He should have been Rochester in Zeferelli’s “Jane Eyre” instead of that sourpuss William Hurt, who instead of brooding, just looked like he had gastritis.
Ditto for the Ralph Fiennes character in “The English Patient.” Although I admit Ralph was pretty good as the acutal patient.
asiangrrlMN
@LesGS: Oh, believe you, me. I have watched his mouth. A lot. Sigh.
@burnspbesq: Well, agreed. Duh. The poignant part is when Emma finds the insanely expensive piece of jewelry he bought for Mia Sara and thinks it’s for her. When she gets her actual gift (the CD that she had wanted, which is a way more personal and touching gift), she is crushed.