Haven’t had a true open thread in a while. The house seems really fucking empty right now, and the girls are noticeably upset Shawn is gone. From their perspective, it doubled their treats, the number of hands who could pet them, and the warm laps, so they are bummed.
Just made some tilapia filets with the leftover pepper puree from last night, put them on a bed of steamed baby spinach, and ate some more of the quinoa salad, which I adore.
At any rate, True Detective is on so I will talk to you later.
raven
We dvr Detective cuz the princess loves this Brir soaper.
Bruuuuce
Got the NBA All-Highlight — I mean, All-Star Game on, and am having a fun time watching two teams playing absolutely no defense (just like my Knicks do night in and night out).
Also, I keep seeing the Whitney Houston/Shirley Temple Black flag lowering meme in Facebook, and am getting tired of pointing the posters to Snopes.
RandomMonster
Last week’s episode was so tense I think I’d like tonights to be a bit calmer.
BGinCHI
Can’t wait to watch TD tonight (recording it). That damn show is good as hell.
Anyone know about that WWII detective thing on PBS tonight? Recording that as well.
And Cole, if you are reading, have you listened to the band The War on Drugs? Please give them a try. It’s right up your alley, but different from all the classic stuff you listen to. Trust me.
Mnemosyne
Sitting around waiting for my brother-in-law to call us and let us know when he’s ready for dinner. We picked him up at LAX around 11 am this morning and went to Venice for brunch and a long walk around Venice/Santa Monica. Then we dropped him off at his hotel so we could all rest up before dinner. I’ve already taken 13,664 steps today.
Belafon
OK. The side bar is cracking me up: “Learn the truth about Steve Stockman and his eithics violations. Paid for by Texans for a Conservative Majority.” It leads you to shadystockman.com.
Pogonip
My donkey is still a fire-breathing lizard, as it has been all weekend. Zzzzzzz…
Redshift
My foster bunny got adopted today, hurrah! We’ve had her about four months. She’s a sweetie, and I’ll miss her, but she’ll have a good home.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Bummers here in the Thunder household. The last time I was on BJ (though I’ve been lurking), I was headed to visit my gravely ill father in law in a hospice last Saturday. We didn’t make it, and missed his passing by an hour or so.
The last week has been trying to support my mother and sort out all of the material consequences of a death. No crises at the moment and everything’s stable.
I notice more and more that big disturbances in life situations cause wide and long lasting ripple effects. One positive effect is that two estranged siblings immediately ate crow with a smile and stepped up to support their mother wholeheartedly. That was a huge surprise.
Many more things will change before this upheaval is all over. But everyone is on board to make sure that Mom is top priority now that she’s alone.
It’s so sad and tragic to lose a wonderful and loving member of the family, but family endures.
different-church-lady
6 hours of data copying* and $60 later, there has been a successful preemptive replacement of the hard drive in my aging MacBook Pro.
(*about half an hour of that was attended — Carbon Copy Cloner rocks!)
greennotGreen
Whatever is going on with the audio-only ad that plays every time I open Balloon Juice? If I hit mute, it un-mutes as soon as I scroll. It’s extremely obnoxious, and I’m going to make a point of NOT buying any product advertised. (Hear that, Musselman’s?)
greennotGreen
Also, any update on Betty Cracker’s mom?
Nicole
The preschooler requested karaoke after dinner tonight (the spousal unit and I bought a machine as our Christmas present to each other last year- best money we ever spent). The preschooler’s requested song list:
Ghostbusters
Time After Time
Downtown
100 Years
500 Miles (the Proclaimers one, not the Peter Paul and Mary one. He likes both, though)
Benny and the Jets
I might as well enjoy it now, before he discovers current music and I have to whine about the crap these young folk listen to these days. Which reminds me- I had a surprisingly strong “like” reaction to One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” and was kind of embarrassed about it, until a friend helped me understand why, through this YouTube clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDjypSwM8j8
Listen on headphones. It’s pretty fun.
gbear
I re-homed one of my cats today -the Russian Blue who was the most fun and affectionate cats I’ve ever had but was just a horrible match for my 14 year old tort. I gave him to the mother of one of the women who work at my vet’s clinic. Her son had just moved out of the house and took the cat with him, so she was missing having a kitty. From my conversations with her, I’m sure Edward will be loved and pampered, and all of his favorite stuff went with him to the new home. Today has been a really sad day for me, but my tort Halley seems to be a lot more relaxed and comfortable now that she’s back to being an only cat. I’m going to miss Edward.
Violet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: I remember that you were rushing to your FIL’s bedside. So sorry you didn’t make it in time, but glad the siblings are working together to help mom. Condolences on your loss.
I just went out for Mexican seafood and am somewhat loopy on margaritas. Watching the Olympics because that’s what I do when the Winter Olympics are on. I love things like curling and skeleton during the Olympics and don’t care about them at all for the next four years.
imonlylurking
I’m freaking annoyed. Bob wanted to be picked up and I did it without proper lifting technique. Managed to completely screw up my lower back. Stupid cat is going on a diet.
Botsplainer
A skillet, a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of butter, some old bay, fresh garlic and key lime juice makes an amazing meal when paired with cilantro lime rice.
Cassidy
@Violet: I will watching curling and cross country skiing like they’re the coolest things in the world.
Howard Beale IV
Got tomorrow off, so It’ll be running the vacuum several times very slowly as my ornery Red Persian start to shed his winter coat.
He also loves to sit on top of my HTPC-explains why my picture has been fuzzy lately
Now it’s time to put my new juicer to work – I’m looking for some good detox recipes-preferbaly something that won’t make me gag.
Violet
@Cassidy: Did you see the Swedes, both men and women, in the cross country relays? Good for them! Poor Norway. So dejected. NBC showed the Norwegian headlines after the debacle yesterday. Said something like, “Worst disaster ever!” Heh. Nothing like a little Norwegian-Swedish rivalry.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Violet:
Thanks, Violet. What we expected to be chaos and anxiety has become merely a set of small, sad chores.
One thing that has been very useful for organizing everyone is a FB chat thread with 7 people on it. Everyone can see the entire conversation and catch up as they have time. Keeps us all on the same page much better than separate phone and email conversations.
Cassidy
@Violet: No. I was ticked. No one else wanted to watch the Olympics and I had to share the TV.
Gin & Tonic
This NBC “reporter” grilling Bode Miller needs to have a dirty jockstrap stuffed in her mouth.
? Martin
I will watch every minute of Olympics. Not a big pro sports person, but every 2 years I will camp in front of the TV for 2 weeks solid and watch sports than nobody else watches.
Cassidy
@Gin & Tonic: Bode Miller is a douche.
Ted and Hellen
All the hysteria about the Dunn verdict is entertaining as hell.
The dude’s going to spend the rest of his life in jail because of what he did. Good enough for any rational person.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
My reaction also.
lurker dean
be careful at the gas station, blogman:
http://www.latimes.com/news/wpix-man-nearly-explodes-after-compressed-air-valve-lodges-in-buttocks-20110525,0,6158295.story#axzz2tXkbepQ8
hope the LA meet went well, sounded like a lot of regular commenters were attending.
Baud
@Cassidy:
Wife is cute though.
Cassidy
@Baud: Yeah, but I can’t think too highly of a woman who’d let her guy treat other women like shit.
Gin & Tonic
@Cassidy: Maybe. I don’t know him personally. But he’s a great skier.
Cassidy
@Gin & Tonic: That he is, but the whole thing about the kids, etc. I have a hard time rooting for people like that.
NotMax
Got only half the acreage mowed before the skies opened up again.
Unmowed half gonna be knee high by the time the ground is dry enough again to use the mower.
C’est la vie.
And, for the pet people –
Violet
@Cassidy: Well, that’s a bummer. Do not get between me and the TV when the Winter Olympics are on. I don’t know why I’m so fascinated with them but I am. I watch the Summer Olympics but not nearly with the same intensity. But Winter Olympics–I have to know everything about skeleton and biathlon and short track speed skating, even if I’ve never even heard of those sports before.
Keith P
That was weird having True Detective end with a Bosnian Rainbows song. I just bought their album last week and have been listening to it every day, so as soon as the first bars played, I knew what it was. Quite trippy for me.
TaMara (BHF)
@Ultraviolet Thunder: So sorry to hear this. Big hugs to you and your family.
Violet
@Ultraviolet Thunder: Glad it’s working out better than you feared. That’s a good tip, the FB chat. I don’t like FB but it can be useful for certain things. Will keep that in mind.
jeffreyw
Been watching House of Cards and I need puppehs now.
Yatsuno
@Cassidy: If it makes you feel any better: today Michael Morones breathed on his own for 12 hours. That’s a HUGE step forward for him!
Cassidy
@Violet: The good news is we have cable at the stations. I can watch all day at work.
John Cole
@greennotGreen: No news is good news.
Cassidy
@Yatsuno: That actually does make me feel better.
Belafon
@Ted and Hellen: Not necessarily. If they go concurrently, he could be out after 8 years.
Yatsuno
@Ultraviolet Thunder: ::hug :: to you and the Mrs. Hopefully MIL will have a gentle grief cycle, and you both as well.
Belafon
@Yatsuno: That’s good.
TaMara (BHF)
@Cassidy: This. He and the judge who took that baby away should rot in hell for a very long time. At the very least, I’m hoping between the bad publicity and his so-so showing at the winter games, he loses a lot of his financial backing.
srv
@greennotGreen: Now people are hearing things when they visit BJ.
This does not bode well.
Nicole
@Belafon: I read on Gawker that they can’t be served concurrently; it’ll have to be consecutively. He’s middle-aged; he’ll likely die in prison.
John Cole
@gbear: Because I am emotionally codependent with any pet I adopt, I used to think it would be impossible for me to give up a pet I had taken in, but after Zsa Zsa came here for a couple months, it was just clear that she was unhappy. Putting her in the right place made both me and her happier, and now she is Sascha, is living with my former cleaning lady who moved to Michigan, and has a new best buddy because they adopted another cat (much younger than Sascha), and they have taken to each other like peas and carrots.
The old hoary axiom is right- if you love someone let them free.
Suffern ACE
Lego movie was a hoot. Like a young child version of Robot Chicken. Both my partner and I don’t think it’s quite to the level of Frozen, but definitely high on the list of recent animated feature films.
Nicole
@Suffern ACE: We just took the kid to see it today. It was a little intense for him (not scary but I think all the chase scenes got to be a bit much) but we grownups thought it was funny. I start to wonder if animated films are tipping a little too far towards making sure the grownups are entertained, too, but I guess it could be worse. I still remember the expression on my stepbrother’s face after taking his 4 kids to see the 2nd Chipmunks movie. Heh.
Suffern ACE
@Gin & Tonic: egad. At least get the camera out of his face when it’s clear he’s not going to be able to collect himself enough to give any more answers. I mean, he was hiding his face for a reason.
Belafon
@Nicole: that’s good, then. I hadn’t heard that.
The Dangerman
@? Martin:
This is me. All except anything Figure Skating; can’t figure out the scoring (or, for that matter, what makes a great triple salkowaxle) so just not interested….
…but everything else – curling (two thumbs up to Russian Women’s team, damn), biathlon, and all the sports that never get any attention otherwise get my attention.
Suffern ACE
@Nicole: in this case, there’s proably 30 references to films
most 9 year olds haven’t seen. Not that they won’t eventually see them, but I can’t review with that audience in mind. It does have frenetic pacing. I don’t think there is a shot in the movie that lasts more than a second until the live action sequence. But it works.
Eric U.
I got tired of the human interest stories and stopped watching the olympics. Didn’t miss them. We were watching some skiing on xfinity, that’s really the way to go
Brian R.
True Detective, holy shit.
Suffern ACE
@The Dangerman: I only watch figure skating at the Olympics. It’s like diving and gymnastics. This being my 9th Winter Olympics, I am to the point where I can go “oh, that didn’t look right”. I’m not ready to be a judge, but I’m lucky enough now to be judgemental.
Steeplejack
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
My prayers for your father-in-law and condolences to your family.
gwangung
@Suffern ACE:
Sounds like the original Rocky and Bullwinkle and Sherman/Peabody. It’s a movie they won’t grow out of.
satby
@Ultraviolet Thunder: condolences on the passing of your dad. It’s never easy.
Punchy
@Gin & Tonic: what struck me was that lady seemed to have both Bode and the silver medalist lined up to talk to, then she simply forgot to interview the 2nd place guy after Miller worked his tear ducts. Did they ever show what that guy said?
Violet
@Punchy: She interviewed the silver medalist guy first.
PurpleGirl
@jeffreyw: Soooooooooooooooooooo cute.
Lyrebird
@greennotGreen: Ditto to that! Sending good thoughts…
John Cole
@Brian R.: I fucking told you.
master c
Matthew and Woody so good in that. Didnt see that coming.
StringOnAStick
@John Cole: We received our rescue kitty the exact same way; she just couldn’t get comfortable with the cats they already had. We took her as a one month “loaner” to see if their cats would be better without her, and though they loved her very, very much they could see she was happier here and their cats were happy she wasn’t around anymore. I know it hurt for them to give her up, but she is the house princess here and it worked out the best for everyone.
SuperHrefna
@Keith P: Oooh, thanks for that! Ever since True Detective finished I’ve been googling around trying to figure out what that amazing song over the credits was. Off to buy their album now, BRB.
Gretchen
Ultraviolet Thunder: I’m sorry about your dad. I missed my mother’s passing by an hour too, and that was hard. But my sister was with her so she wasn’t alone.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Ultraviolet Thunder:
We were all there for my dad’s last day in hospice. Somehow he waited until everyone was out of the room to pass, like it was a private thing for himself alone. The nurses said it wasn’t uncommon.
Paul in KY
@Ultraviolet Thunder: My condolences on your father’s death. Hope you & your mother have better days ahead.
Paul in KY
@Violet: The Swedish woman’s skier Kala made one of the greatest comebacks I’ve ever seen (in any sport).
Paul in KY
@Cassidy: Not a fan of the Bodester either.