(h/t commentor WaterGirl)
Yep, cloche volants are an actual thing!
What’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?
This post is in: Humorous, Open Threads
(h/t commentor WaterGirl)
Yep, cloche volants are an actual thing!
What’s on the agenda for the rest of the day?
Comments are closed.
Arclite
Men’s Final Four?
Howard Beale IV
Trying to get just enough motivation to install my new AV receiver into my home theater and to clean up my condo and the garage after this last winter. Fortunately, the winter wasn’t that bad around my neck of the woods. I’m replacing the delivered RAV4 mats withthe WeatherTech mats that came in today. Also trying to keep as far away from Jet Pens as I can.
Mike J
Holy shit, Stoke score on a 60 yd goal.
Iowa Old Lady
Mr IOL is due home from NJ so I have to cook rather than scrounge.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
We’re getting ready to drive down to Newport Beach to have lunch with my best friend and her husband. She also left her job recently (though voluntarily, not via layoff) so she and G should have stuff to talk about.
(For the locals, one of the reasons she left her job was that they started requiring her to commute from Laguna Niguel to Santa Monica every day. Yeah, no.)
indycat32
I’ve finished phase 1 of my current quilt project – making 16 blocks. Now I have to get up the nerve to slice each block into quarters and swap the pieces among the blocks.
shell
God, I LOVE that Sedaris story.
“He nice, the Jesus!”
Rex Tremendae
@Mike J:
Charley Adam! That’s gotta be embarrassing for the keeper.
MomSense
Cleaning. I’m even washing the windows and cleaning all the baseboards and moulding. We still have snow on the ground with patches of mud. It is incredible how much dirt we seem to be bringing in the house even though we take off our shoes at the door.
I blame the one non shoe wearing member of the family. She also happens to have more contact with the ground than the rest of us and she has no use for the door mat.
The Dangerman
Final Four Weekend with probable Final Two of Duke and Kentucky. Yuck.
I’m rooting for Wisconsin but I don’t expect much; I expect Kentucky will try and make a statement in the game tonight.
Howard Beale IV
@MomSense: Sounds like either a canid or a felis.
KG
@Mnemosyne (tablet): Laguna Nigel to Santa Monica? It’d be easier if she had to commute to Phoenix or Vegas
MomSense
@Howard Beale IV:
I’ve been singing “she’s a very dirty girl, the kind who makes work for her mother” while she barks at the vacuum cleaner.
She also continued her work on the hole in the drywall in my son’s bedroom. If I were ever to remake The Great Escape, I would cast her first.
rikyrah
https://twitter.com/metaquest/status/584362930247827456
Here is his comment:
ThresherK (GPad)
Hoofed it to the state park up the hill, did a touch of hiking. But mostly ambling, i.e. not as rugged underfoot than a hike. Ended up 400ft higher than home and got a good look at the weather blowing in from the west.
Phylllis
@Howard Beale IV: Welp, there goes the rest of my day.
Keith P.
I just dumped a bunch of crushed garlic in some evoo to steep for a couple of hours because…Caesar salad. I’ve been on a homemade CS kick for a while since going through a store-bought dressing phase (spoiler alert: store-bought sucks…way too much salt)
Howard Beale IV
@Phylllis: Explain, please.
Suzanne
I have to finish doing my taxes and clean my house.
Phylllis
@Howard Beale IV: The Jet Pens website. I lurve me some good pens.
raven
Started moving all the stuff out from under the screen porch in anticipation of the start of the addition work in two weeks. We have to move lots of garden stuff, tools and tool boxes and extraneous junk. Once they pour the slab the entire width of the house we think we can move the stuff back. . . again.
PsiFighter37
Feeling better now…still a bit uneasy in the stomach, but at least out of bed without a headache and no further urge to yack my brains out. Planning on taking it easy for the rest of the day nonetheless…
TaMara (BHF)
I received a beautiful new guitar for Christmas and because, well, puppy, I’ve kept it locked up. Today I took it out and spent a good half hour getting to know it.
I was pleased, because I haven’t played for years…and by years I mean a good decade +. But muscle memory and brain worked together and I played a couple of pieces of sheet music, surprising myself that I could still coordinate mind and body.
Tree With Water
@rikyrah: The Israeli people have backed the wrong horses. Either that, or- their protestations to the contrary notwithstanding- they are nation of war lovers.
Howard Beale IV
@Phylllis: That’s what I thought. (grin)
TaMara (BHF)
@Mnemosyne (tablet): What? She doesn’t want to spend 4 hours a day in the car? Slacker. Why companies would rather lose good people than offer telecommuting I’ll never understand.
ThresherK (GPad)
@Phylllis: As a southpaw I get very fussy on pens and paper. Where has that site been my whole life?
Pogonip
I’m Eastering! If I could throw jellybeans over the Intertubes, I would. And there is indeed a Jewish holiday this weekend; everybody enjoy.
Somewhere I read that all Jewish holidays come down to: “They tried to kill us all; they failed; let’s eat!”. Words to live by.
TaMara (BHF)
Do you think if I went on TV and said I would no longer do bookkeeping for LGBT, unwed mothers, divorcees and non-church goers, I could get suckers to give me $800K? #lostallfaithinhumanity
pamelabrown53
@rikyrah: Thank you for your comment and link. We ignore this at our own peril. the sooner we confront it the better: the RWNJ have a far superior media propaganda outlet and the “liberal” MSM is always there to provide them an assist.
IMO, this Iran deal could truly be a seminal event.
Mike in NC
@TaMara (BHF): Companies that practice micromanagement don’t like telecommuting for obvious reasons.
Brachiator
@Suzanne:
Remember to do it in that order. I once had a client (true story) who cleaned up the house and threw away some of the records they needed for their taxes.
Tree With Water
This morning in Sonoma, seven star jasmine and four small gingko trees have rejoined mother earth around my house.
bemused
Ha. Joe Scarborough would like to run for Bill Nelson’s senate seat which would be in 2018.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Is that the modern way of forcing somebody to quit so you don’t have to fire them?
Peale
Writing reviews in an public atrium to type up later. I was supposed to watch a Hungarian film that crosses the Incredible Journey and Planet of the Apes only with dogs. But I’m kinda afraid to go inside the theater.
Peale
@Tree With Water: it’s a religion of peace.
Tenar Darell
@Phylllis: Yep. I have a fondness as well for pencils.com.
Ruckus
@TaMara (BHF):
Not everyone can telecommute.
In my case I’d say it’s rather difficult to load the machines and cut metal over the phone.
@Mike in NC:
They don’t like much of anything except profits. Which they quite possibly could make more of if they treated their employees better.
Tenar Darell
@rikyrah: WTF & Ouch. Tonight is the second seder, and I will have to shove every impulse to talk about Israel down so hard it suffocates. Blech.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
This sounds painful, although I know some people who did this exact run. Metrolink from Laguna Nigel to Union Station, Union Station to Santa Monica via the Big Blue Bus 10. Tedious but fairly comfortable.
Another Holocene Human
OT prescription drug update:
Switching from Zoloft to Lithium has been weird. I find myself obsessing about stuff I’m worrying about* until I start to panic. There were no panic attacks on Zoloft. Zoloft for me was like mainlining caffeine. I was WIRED. I couldn’t fucking sleep!!!** Also, mood swings. Wheeee! So, far so good with Lithium, no mood swings, sleep good at night. I didn’t have time for a big crash so I’m gradually getting less drowsy every day. Having harder time staying awake during my night shift (this may also be because they told me to back off of the caffeine on Lithium because of interactions and dehydration). The acid test will be when something bad happens (something bad always happens) whether I go into another horrible depressive funk again. We’ll see.
*-the good thing is I’m worrying about projects not worrying about my social anxiety, both drugs helped SO MUCH with this, thank goodness … once I came to realize in therapy with CBT that my social anxiety was irrational, I came around to being willing to try chemical therapy on it.
**-have a student psychiatrist, she ignored family history of autism and attentional disorders and asked me the bipolar screening questions about a dozen times per visit … hey doc, can’t sleep b/c wired !== can’t sleep because I FEEL FABULOUS I WILL DO ALL THE THINGS … no family history of bipolar, btw, I asked my aunt who knows everybody’s business just to be sure. History of mood disorders, though!
TaMara (BHF)
@Ruckus: I kind of made the assumption (wild guess really) that she was telecommuting and then they changed their policies. I’ve had that happen to a couple of friends in the LA area, when it made absolutely no sense. Most found new jobs rather than sit in traffic.
Roger Moore
@Pogonip:
Yom Kippur seems like an obvious counterexample.
WaterGirl
@raven: I feel your pain.
During the 9 months after the tree fell on the house, I ended up moving most of my stuff 4 times. The contractor said: “You really have to love your stuff to move it 4 times”. And she was right!
By the end, I had the dining room filled with stuff that got moved back in the house from the POD but that i didn’t love enough to move one last time to where it used to live in the house. I could have sold a lot of it, but I donated everything. I just wanted it GONE.
gogol's wife
@Peale:
I don’t think I could watch that movie, although it sounds fantastic.
gogol's wife
I just spent an hour cooking, trying to make a mayonnaise out of Ina Garten to go with my supposed beef tenderloin tomorrow, which isn’t really a beef tenderloin, I discovered when I went to pick it up, but now it’s too late. The mayonnaise tastes terrible. I am a lousy cook.
Back to Dostoevsky.
ETA: Ina Garten’s book had the recipe, I didn’t try to make mayonnaise out of the actual person Ina Garten.
Ruckus
@TaMara (BHF):
Saw a picture of a can of soup on a bare shelf and the caption is “It’s outrageous that so called christians are pouring money on Indiana’s pizza bigots while food banks have to beg for donations.”
Wasn’t a big part of the conservative bullshit was that charities would easily take the place of the evil government if we just got the tax man off our backs? How’s that working out?
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: Are you going to watch Wolf Hall? Seems interesting, plus I like Damien Lewis.
gogol's wife
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’m hoping to watch it when they repeat it here on Thursday night. I’ll be too tired Sunday after guests. I love the books, but from the clip they showed, I’m afraid Damien Lewis looks miscast. He’s acting like a sleazy gangster, not the charming (if cruel) Henry from the books. I’d rather see Nathaniel Parker, who’s doing it on Broadway.
Now I really have to get to those 80 pages I need to read in the next two hours!
Roger Moore
@Ruckus:
It’s working out great. They can lavish their charitable donations on deserving people (grifters, bigots, and others like themselves) while ignoring the needs of Those People. That’s the main point.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Just moved 5 weeks ago and can’t find my W2 or 1099 and I’ve searched everywhere. I’m sure they will turn up about 15 minutes after I’ve finished, now that I got copies.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Another Holocene Human: I’m sure you’re aware that Bipolar Disorder is a mood disorder. And that sometimes BP insomnia presents as “I can’t sleep at night because I’m wired.” Of course if there’s a suspicion of BP, it’s odd that they started Zoloft without a mood stabilizer like lithium or lamotrigine or one of the atypicals. Though with monotherapy with Zoloft, she’s going to be asking BP screens to check for AD activation. Sometimes the p-docs, including the residents, know more than even well-informed lay people.
Ruckus
@TaMara (BHF):
Not really a bad guess. A lot of people could telecommute, some of them already do. At one time not all that long ago it would have been impossible.
Last job I had I spent 30 weeks a yr on the road and mostly answered snail mail/email otherwise. Effectively I was telecommuting over half the year. Even telecommuted meetings, but then over half the staff worked on the road so there really wasn’t any other choice.
germy shoemangler
@Another Holocene Human: Hang in there, I’m glad for the good news. We’re rooting for you. When bad stuff happens (and you’re right, it eventually does) we’re rooting for you to roll with it. Something about not being able to control how the wind blows, but you can control how you position your sails (I don’t remember the exact quote) It’s a corny quote, I know, but sometimes the cliches contain truth.
Interesting that you’re exploring family history.
NotMax
@Tenar Darrell
Once again, The Passover Song.
raven
@WaterGirl: I had put pea gravel under the porch and, not wanting to waste it I just shoveled it into a 40 gal trash can (1/2 full) but a hand truck under ithem and wheeled them up hill to put on the driveway! Done with that now if I can manage to cook dinner and watch the hoop at 6.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
I know.
Was trying to be a bit condescending. I usually pull it off better.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Another Holocene Human: and @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Forgot to include, all my best wishes for discovering an appropriate and successful regimen. Spring is, paradoxically perhaps, a very difficult season for depression. I know this from experience, in addition to what the research shows.
So hang in there.
Iowa Old Lady
When you fly from here, you put your fate in the hands of Billy Bob’s Pretty Good Airline. They have once again marooned Mr IOL at O’Hare, this time because they have no one there to operate the Flying Machine. They swear they’ll dig someone up and get him home tonight.
Ruckus
@Iowa Old Lady:
Not sure I’d want someone they dug up. The smell alone might be too much and the visual probably not all that great either.
Iowa Old Lady
@Ruckus: Billy Bob’s slogan is “We usually get you there eventually so quit your bitchin’.”
Tenar Darell
@NotMax: Heh. Uptown Passover song.
Ruckus
@germy shoemangler:
Interesting that you’re exploring family history.
I believe that many things have a genetic component, more than has been thought in the past. Not that the disease is directly transmitted but that the susceptibility to a disease is. Solid family history is important, but many of us rarely have solid info if any at all. In the coming decades I think this will become more apparent as record keeping becomes computerized.
Ruckus
@Iowa Old Lady:
That seems to be the slogan of every airline I’ve flown on. Some just seem to take it less serious than others.
max
@rikyrah:
That was just Bibi upping his demand to something that he wouldn’t get, having failed at making nuclear conditions that he thought would be unacceptable.
I’m not saying the R’s are not plotting with the neocons/likudniks, I’m merely saying this is another round of the same shit they’ve been up to since 9/11. Bibi’s been bullshitting Obama since he took the oath of office. Nothing particularly new about it.
max
[‘They were plotting with the Mittster the same way.’]
NotMax
@gogol’s wife
Simple to prepare mayonnaise.
Just the video.
(If using a regular blender, pay attention to the slightly different methodology explained near the end of the video.)
germy shoemangler
@Ruckus: I read recently that hardships experienced by our ancestors can be passed on in our DNA.
Starvation or stressors like war and persecution they endured affect our own physical/emotional makeup.
Pogonip
@Roger Moore: Is it? When is that, generally (I know a lot of Jewish holidays are movable feasts) and how do they celebrate? ” They tried to kill us, they failed, let’s NOT eat!”?
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Of course, the thing is, there is no such thing as a parallel foreign policy. The only things these idiots can do is to thwart official US foreign policy. It is amazing to see the GOP so openly playing a delaying game with international relations, especially after they screwed up so badly trying to shut down the government and trying to put roadblocks in front of Obama’s domestic agenda.
The GOP is telling Iran that they will essentially oppose any Obama initiative for the rest of his term, and that they should look instead to dealing with a Republican president in 2016. Of course, if the Iranians were smart, they would agree to the most comprehensive Kerry nuclear treaty proposals and accept an effective verification protocol. This would effectively neutralize the noise coming from Netanyahu and Boehner.
Of course, the Republicans could be doing the Nixon Misdirect, saber rattling in public, but promising an Iran a sweeter deal later if they don’t go for the Obama plan.
NotMax
@Tenar Darrell
Ladies and gentlemen, The Shlomones.
WaterGirl
@raven: That’s hard work, you must be tired.
Steeplejack
First day back home after six days away. Got in late last night and didn’t sleep very well—exhausted but antsy. And the housecat wouldn’t settle down; she kept demanding skritch therapy all through the night. We’ve sort of gotten back into the normal routine today—she’s dozing at her workstation beside the computer right now—but I feel out of it and keep thinking it’s Sunday. Maybe a nap looms in the near future. But first lunch.
Ruckus
@germy shoemangler:
Not sure why not. If one has a susceptibility to a disease that is triggered by some outside force and that force becomes great enough, all that says is that the susceptibility was there. If one has no way (yet) to find a genetic component(s) to a particular disease, the fact that the disease was present probably means one or more of the genetic components was. The history is vital to tracking the disease and then being able to track the components. It’s not the ball game for sure but it is a huge piece of the puzzle, which allows for more specific targeting by drugs, with fewer side effects. And if there are multiple genetic markers, knowing what they are and which ones a person has is also huge.
rikyrah
Just back from an Easter Egg Hunt hosted by my Alderman. She’s in a runoff, and I gotta say, the Hunt was a disaster. Not enough eggs for the kids. Only one face painter. Her opponent was there, along with a very strong team, going person to person giving pamphlets about him. He is a supporter of Chuy, and his team made sure that the large portion of Latinos present knew that.
LOL
NotMax
@raven
Impressed. We’re about the same vintage, but with my knees and back merely looking at the gravel would impel me to lie down.
germy shoemangler
@Ruckus: http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes
germy shoemangler
Behavioral Epigenetics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_epigenetics
Fascinating topic. My father went through hell in WWII. My grandparents endured hardships in the “old country”. Dispiriting to know I carry that around.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@rikyrah: An Easter Egg Hunt without enough eggs for the kiddos is a perfect demonstration of why to vote for the other candidate. And with only a single face painter, it’s pretty tough to distract the kiddos from the egg insufficiency.
ruemara
I think a lemon coconut cake with a filling of this here sugar free raspberry spread, maybe some dark chocolate shavings or a glaze, all vegan. Then, since my zumba teacher is having a grand opening on thursday, the batter for some vegan lemon lavender cookies. And I’m watching this render go like mo-lasses. The girlfriend character has a cute wispy hairstyle. Which has cute, non-whispy rendertimes. It’s 3 FUCKING SECONDS OF FACIAL MOVEMENT AND IT’S BEEN GOING SINCE 10 AM PST! I really need to upgrade my render machine, but, alas & alack, that is not in the cards at the moment. Should I add white chocolate to the cookies? I’m sticking to puzzles that can be solved through food.
raven
@NotMax: It’s a meager attempt to keep pace with the girl.
MomSense
@efgoldman:
We got some snow but not too much. The snow mounds are still really tall in the front of my house but that’s because they have so much dirt and sand mixed with the snow. They kept plowing the snow from the roads further into our lawns. The road filth mixed with the snow doesn’t melt well and I don’t think it will do good things for my grass.
max
@Another Holocene Human: Switching from Zoloft to Lithium has been weird. I find myself obsessing about stuff I’m worrying about* until I start to panic. There were no panic attacks on Zoloft. Zoloft for me was like mainlining caffeine. I was WIRED. I couldn’t fucking sleep!!!** Also, mood swings. Wheeee! So, far so good with Lithium, no mood swings, sleep good at night. I didn’t have time for a big crash so I’m gradually getting less drowsy every day. Having harder time staying awake during my night shift (this may also be because they told me to back off of the caffeine on Lithium because of interactions and dehydration). The acid test will be when something bad happens (something bad always happens) whether I go into another horrible depressive funk again. We’ll see.
Hrmmm. Lithium suppresses mania, doesn’t do much for depression. Should be lithium AND zoloft (or prozac or other SSRI). The SSRI for the depression, maybe the lithium for the wired feeling.
have a student psychiatrist, she ignored family history of autism and attentional disorders and asked me the bipolar screening questions about a dozen times per visit … hey doc, can’t sleep b/c wired !== can’t sleep because I FEEL FABULOUS I WILL DO ALL THE THINGS … no family history of bipolar, btw, I asked my aunt who knows everybody’s business just to be sure. History of mood disorders, though!
Bipolar is a mood disorder. BPD (sometimes mixed up with bipolar) is a personality disorder. (You get anti-psychotics with BPD.) Sounds like you’re being guinea pigged so it’s gonna be a bit before you find the right mix.
max
[‘So far, you’re on the standard track. Anti-psychotics are next.’]
tsquared2001
Anybody watching Blondie get her 100th cap?
gogol's wife
@NotMax:
See, I don’t have a blender or a food processor. There is no counter space or cabinet space left in my kitchen, and my husband and I like simple food, so I never feel the need of these contraptions except for the 2 or 3 times a year we have guests. I tried to adapt her recipe and just add her seasonings to already-made mayonnaise, but it din’t work.
NotMax
@tsquared2001
Cannot even begin to guess as to what that refers.
ixnay
I was driving the first time I heard this, and almost had to pull off the road because I was laughing so hard I almost couldn’t see.
tsquared2001
Lloyd is a fucking rock and has been a fucking rock for 10 years. Just got to tip my hat to a midfielder who know what it means to be a midfielder
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@NotMax: I feel better; I thought I was the only one.
NotMax
@gogol’s wife
That’ll make it decidedly more difficult. An immersion (stick) blender will readily fit in a drawer – somewhere else if not the kitchen.
Got a friend or neighbor whose blender you might borrow?
tsquared2001
@NotMax: Megan Rapinoe. USWNT. 100 times, my girl Megan has put on the national uniform.
I have quite a girl crush for Megan
tsquared2001
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Well, we are winning 1-0. It seems like nobody cares.
That’s all right.
Go on with demands for puppy pictures.
NotMax
@tsquared2001
Still no clue.
USW must mean U.S. Women’s, but the rest remains a mystery.
Suzanne
My younger spawn is making me crazy and I am feeling surrounded by bigots and gun nuts and anti-vaccine idiots and it is making me SAD.
I need a drink.
Mike J
@NotMax: Friendly women’s game.
Which isn’t what it sounds like.
germy shoemangler
@Suzanne: Who are these people surrounding you?
Suzanne
AND I DONT KNOW WHY I CANT JUST HAVE A CLEAN HOUSE. LIKE WHY. I JUST WANT TO NOT SPEND MY WEEKEND CLEANING UP OTHER PEOPLES SHIT.
Suzanne
@germy shoemangler: The citizens of Arizona and the USA.
tsquared2001
@NotMax: US Womens National Team.
It IS a World Cup year.
My man Amir would know of what I speak.
germy shoemangler
@Suzanne: Which is why Balloon-Juice is essential.
Gin & Tonic
@Suzanne: So have a drink.
NotMax
@Mike J
Well, that’s a darn sight better than my first guess engendered by the original comment, which was some kind of record for appearances in snuff films.
Suzanne
@germy shoemangler: I want to move away from these people and not have to hear bullshit like “keeping loaded firearms within reach of my child is TOTALLY okay because I gave her a very stern warning not to touch them”.
tsquared2001
@Mike J: giggle
Gin & Tonic
@Suzanne: You can clean up after all the spawn move out.
Suzanne
@germy shoemangler: I need more politically sane, informed, funny-as-shit, disaffected people in my real life. Believe me, i have been searching.
Gin & Tonic
@Mike J: I think I saw one of those on a VHS tape one time.
germy shoemangler
@Suzanne: I am feeling surrounded by bigots and gun nuts and anti-vaccine idiots and it is making me SAD.
Wife and I feel the same way sometimes. But I suspect they magnify themselves, like the wizard of oz: “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I am the great and powerful oz!”
A troll on another blog is up to about ten names. He makes it seem like the place is infested with RWNJs, but it’s all just him. The loudmouths with their bumper stickers and radio shows. I really have to believe the majority of citizens don’t believe their crap.
But they’re good at AMPLIFYING themselves.
I read recently the florida tea party put out a call for a bunch of actors to participate in one of their bullshit rallies. A journalist found the ad online, looking for actors. They’re illusionists.
To hell with them. But enjoy that drink.
NotMax
@tsquared2001
Thank you. Presume World Cup is some sports thing.
All I could come up with was U.S. Women’s Nok-Hockey Team, and was fairly sure that wasn’t correct. :)
(Why providing links is helpful, for dummies such as I and others who are sport-challenged.)
Iowa Old Lady
@Suzanne: I already have a glass of wine at my elbow, and it’s 4:07. Drink up.
germy shoemangler
The Palm Beach Post‘s Christine Stapleton reports that the “Tea Party” protesters outside of the South Florida Water Management District on Thursday were, by and large, actors hired by the Tea Party of Miami and U.S. Sugar.
The district is currently considering buying land owned by U.S. Sugar, which it would use for the treatment and storage of lake flood water. Environmentalist believe that using the land in this way will allow them to divert more water into the Everglades without harming coastal estuaries. The water would not only help replenish the Everglades, it would also provide an emergency reserve drinking supply for South Florida.
But U.S. Sugar wants to keep the land, arguing that as one of the area’s largest employers, it is in the district’s best interests not to exercise the $350 million buy-out option in its contract. Tea Party Miami:
Unable to find actual grassroots support, Tea Party Miami and U.S. Sugar joined forces, resulting in the following job opportunity — captured by Kate Bradshaw — being posted on Facebook:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bradshaw01.jpg
Progress Florida Executive Director Mark Ferrulo told Bradshaw that “Big Sugar supporters hiring actors to pretend to protest is pathetic. Someone should ask who is paying for artificial sweetener to make polluting the Everglades and our drinking water easier to swallow.”
Sarah Bascom, the spokeswoman for the Support the EAA Reservoir Project Coalition, was even more cutting in her assessment.
“This is absolutely ridiculous and, quite frankly, embarrassing for these two groups to have hired paid actors to pose as protestors who ultimately had no idea what they were there to oppose,” she said.
sacrablue
@NotMax: You are supposed to magically devine that women’s soccer is being mentioned by someone that believes everyone else is watching what they are.
germy shoemangler
@Iowa Old Lady: My wife is on her way home from the store. When she arrives, we will enjoy our wine and watch Doc Brown, and then she will watch “Grimm” while I read to the cat.
Suzanne
@germy shoemangler: maybe that’s true, but then I also need other sane, cool, not-bass-ackward people to say FUCK POLITENESS and ridicule them.
I’m in AZ. I am the weirdo here. Sigh.
trollhattan
@Tree With Water:
By co-ink-e-dink I plan to have gingkos on the west side of my house for afternoon shade and the brilliant yellow in fall. It’s narrow between the house and sidewalk, so I need trees that behave and still block some sunlight.
Did the nursery assure yours are all boy gingkos?
Gin & Tonic
@germy shoemangler: What kind of books does the cat like?
ruemara
@Suzanne: I’m sorry. I was planning to move to AZ, but life smacked me in the face with other plans.
NotMax
@trollhattan
Them thar distaff gingkos don’t just smell, they reek.
ixnay
@NotMax: it is entirely possible, if slightly tiring, to make mayonnaise with a whisk. http://www.chow.com/recipes/11053-basic-mayonnaise
Mike J
@Suzanne:
The megaphone effect is true though. I constantly hear from the right wing extremists, and I’m in the magical pacific northwest. They’re just a lot louder than we are.
tsquared2001
@NotMax: I suck at the linky thing but, yes, it is a sport like thing.
The tickets are bought, the hotel is booked and I can cross off another bucket list item when I drive to Winnipeg for the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
(Soccer, Max)
tsquared2001
@sacrablue: What else you doing? Clamoring for more puppy picture that you will not get?
Edit: and it is spelled divine
trollhattan
@NotMax:
A-yup. And I’d hate to invest in however many years it takes for them to mature, only to find out I had to cut one down and start over.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Suzanne:
By all means have one. It’s 5:20 EDT, so by the transitive blog commentator community property, it’s quite appropriate for you to have a drink in AZ.
Mike E
@Another Holocene Human: Never was I hawked over by the med profession more than when taking lithium… I took the lowest possible therapeutic dose but was regularly monitored for toxicity, which never occurred (thankfully). The PhD regaled me with anecdotes of towns where it showed up naturally in their well water and lo & behold! they had virtually no mental health issues. Heh.
I eventually found pamelor to be better for me, but it definitely made the difference for me when I was @20 years old. Cheers.
germy shoemangler
@Gin & Tonic: Books on philosophy, history, science. If she puts a paw on my arm, I am reading too fast.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@NotMax: I disagree. “They reek” is a massive understatement. Gingkos of the distaff persuasion make Bradfords in the spring smell pleasant.
@Mike E: Seven Up was marketed as Lithiated Lemon Soda.
Suzanne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I have a Corona.
J R in WV
@NotMax:
Like that basement rumpus room of a Tri-Delta frat on Sunday morning – essence of puke!
There was one of these trees outside my dorm the first time I went to college back in 1968… I thought it was my fellow students, but no, it was the fruit of that tree!!
Yeuck!!!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q) And lithium was removed from the formula in 1948
PaulW
Just finished a short story for submission to a local writers’ group planned anthology.
I need to write another one for another anthology, hopefully get it done tonight.
Anyone good at being a beta reader?
gogol's wife
@NotMax:
No, I should just buy one, but I have so much kitchen equipment I never use, I resent it!
Now I’m just worried about this tenderloin that isn’t really a tenderloin. But I’ll throw it in the oven and something will emerge.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): FYWP: Lithium was removed from the formula in 1948. Apologies for the fail above.
Mike in NC
@germy shoemangler: Saw an odd bumper sticker on a pickup truck today. It had a cross, a handgun, a heart, and the Obama logo with a red slash mark across it. I had to Google the meaning: pro-God, pro-guns, pro-life, and anti-Obama. They were selling on Amazon at one point, at least a couple of years ago.
Do wingnuts also have secret handshakes? It’s hard to picture their alternate universe.
sacrablue
@tsquared2001: I know how it is spelled. It was a feeble attempt at snark. I just sometimes get upset when commenters make assumptions about other readers. The game is being watched on two televisions in my house at the moment. If this were one of Randiho’s soccer threads or even a sports open thread, it wouldn’t have annoyed me. Nevermind, I’m sorry. I’ll just go back to lurking.
tsquared2001
And now, Abby Wambach takes the pitch.
MomSense
@Suzanne:
I used to think I lived in such a magical place but the gun nuts and insanity are creeping ever closer.
tsquared2001
@sacrablue: Well, then, I will apologize. I almost did a Sacre Bleu tag just because.
And now – Megan Rapinoe scores a goal while earning her 100th cap.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mike in NC: I saw a bumper sticker on a truck outside Fry’s Burbank a few months ago: “If she can’t control her husband, how can she be Commander in Chief”.
ruemara
@PaulW: You can send it to me at my nym at gmail.com.
ThresherK
@tsquared2001: Yeah, you’re New Zealand and have 18 minutes to get something done, and Abby Wambach checks in? Geez, what a task.
(And it’s now quite the runaway.)
Suzanne
@MomSense: I’m seriously upset about it. I am not someone who has shit-tons of casual friends. I don’t like being around people and having to mentally excuse away their bullshit, and I don’t like feeling like I have to hold my tongue on things that I feel are important. And I hate the pretending and self-editing I see, people who are miserable trying to convince other people that everything is just fine. And yet I have so many of these people in my life. Fuck it, I hate it.
trollhattan
@BillinGlendaleCA:
After Big Dog left office, making room for C-Plus Augustus, a bumper sticker appeared in my hood: “The Clintons think you’re stupid.”
To which I could only add: In your case, spot on.
sacrablue
@tsquared2001: No harm, no foul.
Steeplejack
@sacrablue:
No, you’re right. And even the explanations—“USWNT,” “friendly women’s game,” “U.S. women’s national team”—omitted the minor detail “soccer.” In fact, you were the first one to mention it.
It’s not too much to ask for someone to be clear about what they’re referencing on a general-topic blog, if they want to spark an actual conversation. Absent that, why then ding the apparent lack of interest with “Go on with demands for puppy pictures”? Screw that.
raven
Awright let’s light this motherfucker up!
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Tip off is next!
Oh, wait…
Baud
@Suzanne:
Join me in sociopathy. It’s life altering.
sacrablue
@Mike in NC: I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read, “READY FOR HILLARY”. In small print just below, it said “… to explain Benghazi!” I live in the reddest corner of a reliably blue congressional district. I saw a “Run, Ben, Run” yard sign while on my daily walk. I just can’t wait for campaigning to really get under way.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
By getting more electoral votes than her opponent. Same as everyone else.
raven
Rut ro, is it Valentines Day?
Baud
That’s valued commenter WaterGirl, AL.
Gin & Tonic
@raven:You have to say you’re talking about NCAA men’s basketball.
trollhattan
@sacrablue:
Spotted in Carmel, CA yesterday, a Honda with two stickers, one extolling pet adoption and one for Ben Carson. The dissonance had me stuffing my brain back into my skull for a full half hour.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Why, Corner knows what time it is, no one else gives a rats ass?
Iowa Old Lady
@PaulW: I write MG/YA fantasy. If you think that’s a useful perspective, send it to dawinsor at mschi dot com.
I won’t be offended at all if you move along elsewhere. :-)
max
@BillinGlendaleCA: I saw a bumper sticker on a truck outside Fry’s Burbank a few months ago: “If she can’t control her husband, how can she be Commander in Chief”.
Lots of techno-libertarians in California. Lots of techno-libertarians, period. And those guys are dicks.
I live in the reddest part of NoVa. Which is redder than the parts of Texas I lived in ever were. The ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ license plate is very popular.
max
[‘So I always wave to the cars covered with the hippy bumperstickers.’]
Mike E
@raven: No spoilers, I’m catching the game just after halftime!
raven
I switched over to the MSU feed.
raven
@Mike E: oo, that’s a tall order. I guess I’ll just log off.
sacrablue
@trollhattan: That is truly gag-worthy. I’m glad to be in Doris’ district now, but I think she takes it for granted. This place is getting redder all the time.
Mike E
@raven: Naw, it’s good, a stream of sobbing Dookies just went by…
Corner Stone
Man, this is the most boring event I have ever watched.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Horrible human beings, all of them.
BillinGlendaleCA
@max: I saw him leave the store and get in his truck(big guy, big truck). He didn’t look to be the sharpest tool in the shed. He probably went to get a part with the assistance of the Fry’s associates.
An oldie but a goodie, the Fry’s Employment Application.
stinger
@Suzanne: If you moved to eastern Iowa, we could be BFFs.
debbie
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, but then there’s the fast breaking at the end.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Corner Stone:
I hear women’s something something is on somewhere.
Brachiator
@BillinGlendaleCA:
A bit flash of nostalgia over this question: Have you been fired by Radio Shack or any subsidiary of the Tandy Corporation in the last three years?
satby
@Baud: I think I love you.
max
@BillinGlendaleCA: I saw him leave the store and get in his truck(big guy, big truck). He didn’t look to be the sharpest tool in the shed.
As I said, lot of techno-libertarians in the tech industry. Lot of techno-libertarians not in the tech industry, which makes no sense, but does happen a lot.
He probably went to get a part with the assistance of the Fry’s associates.
OK, unless he’s 89, I kind of doubt that.
An oldie but a goodie, the Fry’s Employment Application.
Yeah. Well, that’s the thing – if you’re careful, you can avoid all the Fry’s associates except the cashier and the door Nazi.
max
[‘That’s the best thing about the Fry’s people, they go fuck off. It’s the ones that won’t leave you alone that really suck.’]
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack (phone): If it isn’t something having to do with them yelling, “Yep! Yep! YEPPP!!”
Then I am not interested.
Corner Stone
@satby: Dammit!
Baud
@satby:
Right back at ya, babe.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Thank you, Baud!
If that had been Betty Cracker, I would have been crushed, but I think that’s just how AL does it.
BillinGlendaleCA
@max:
You’d be surprised, I’ve seen many young people ask questions(other than asking where the bathroom is) of Fry’s associates.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Figures. We are all just pawns in Anne Laurie’s game.
raven
Lou Rawls misses the bunny for easter!
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
You watching basketcrack? The Dookies are going to run away with this one.
Botsplainer
They’re gonna win by 25+.
Corner Stone
I’m going to go hide easter eggs for the yoot. Wake me when Sparty shows up.
Ruckus
@germy shoemangler:
You also get to live with their experiences of living in a time of huge improvements in life.
My grandfather moved from Kansas City to LA 98 yrs ago in a horse drawn wagon, with his wife and my infant father. Before he died he witnessed men landing on the moon, huge portions of the country electrified, paved roads, clean(er) water, telephones available for most everyone…….
Thanks for the links!
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Very, very odd that an event the magnitude of the final four isn’t on over-the-air TV
Isn’t on the front page of Balloon-Juice, either.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
Hang on for a year. I’m coming to visit (great-niece is graduating from high school in Spring of 2016) and I have been dreading it because I hate the god/guns/anti-women/anti-immigrant mentality that is so rampant in Phx. Including, I’m sorry to say, among members of my family. Too bad, because Arizona is a spectacularly gorgeous state. I would love to spend time there, but I hate the idea of putting one more penny than necessary in the state’s coffers.
That said, if you’re still living there a year from now, let’s agree right now that we will have us a fine old Balloon Juice meetup. We will drink, and say scurrilous (true) things about Republicans.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Ruckus: No worries, several states are getting rid of those paved road thingies.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@efgoldman: I expected the national feed to be over-the-air and the team streams to be on cable. I am also surprised at the all-cable broadcast.
MomSense
@Suzanne:
I have a small group of friends because I too don’t like dealing with BS and the socially aspirant crowd. I have had some luck meeting pepole through volunteering but it’s not easy.
It really doesn’t have to be so complicated. I don’t want to hear gossip about other parents in our kids’ class. I don’t care about cars or neighborhoods or any of that stuff. Can’t we just be nice and helpful and enjoy this crazy experience called life without all the nonsense?
But I also do not want my kid going to play at a house where firearms are not locked up. Seriously WTF is going to happen that people need to keep a firearm at the ready? Hordes of angry clam diggers planning a revolt?
satby
@Corner Stone: love you too, especially your spot on impersonations
Brachiator
Well, my work day is almost over. I might go see “Furious 7,” or begin reading Jan Swafford’s monumental Beethoven bio (1077 pages, including the index). Maybe a bit of both.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: This video might be gratifying to watch. If you haven’t seen it, it’s the Australian comedian who does a very funny but very spot on effective takedown of gun lovers in america.
I felt better after I watched it.
max
@BillinGlendaleCA: You’d be surprised, I’ve seen many young people ask questions(other than asking where the bathroom is) of Fry’s associates.
Like they were in an Apple store. OMG.
max
[‘Ahem: kids these days.’]
Mike E
@Brachiator: Aren’t you afraid that combo will lead you to Wagner?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Corner Stone:
Srsly. I’m gonna have to go on suicide watch for my RWNJ brother, a rabid Sparty alum.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: I know The Economist comes in for some criticism in these parts, but this week’s Lexington column (always about the US) is very solid on the gun issue and the influence of the NRA. Worth reading. The concluding line: “Fear smothers rational debate. It is meant to.”
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Ooh thanks. I’ll check it out. My mom called me today to say that she and a friend watched Trevor Noah’s stand up routine on Netflix and it was wonderful. Now she is excited about watching the daily show again.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Go sports!
(For the people who really don’t grok the whole thing.)
raven
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: steady in the ranks
raven
This shit be ugly.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Another oldie but still a goodie (pull up a comfy chair and get a drink, it’s 45 minutes).
Humorist Robert Newman’s History of Oil.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Maybe there’ll be a game later.
satby
@WaterGirl: Thanks for that, that was great!
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Yea and a good chance there won’t. Sigh.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Gin & Tonic: I can hope for an upset later, yes?
Gin & Tonic
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: You can hope for a pony, too.
Corner Stone
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Yes! Frank the Tank and Wiscy!
Corner Stone
That was not a clean strip.
Botsplainer
I may have to revise my “Duke by 25” prophecy upward.
Corner Stone
Jeebus. Duke is forcing the ball up court and MSU is doing nothing but fouling as a reaction. It’s way too early to go there.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Gin & Tonic: I have lots of ponies. Pixel ponies.
@Corner Stone: Anybody But Kentucky!
raven
@Corner Stone: Nope, you can’t reach like that way the hell out threre.
Botsplainer
Rest flop. Too obvious.
Steeplejack
@Botsplainer:
They, in turn, will be crushed by Kentucky.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: I will still be here in a year. Would love a meetup.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: It’s so good, I just watched the video of the Australian guy again. I will definitely give Trevor Noah a chance.
I saw your comment about your dirt-mobile this morning, aka the pup. I have that problem here, too. I figure you have to pick your battles, so for now feet don’t get wiped every time. I figure that’s why god created the words oh, well.
raven
@Botsplainer: Yea and he’s going to the fucking locker room as a fake too.
Botsplainer
I’d call that flagrant.
Suzanne
@MomSense: I have a few friends who agree with me on this, but it terrifies me that I have to ask, “Uh, so….you lock up your guns, right? Your kid is vaccinated against deadly diseases, right?” Like, WHY can I not just assume these things?!
Botsplainer
@raven:
Guess he had his gut churned more than I thought.
trollhattan
@Mike E:
This is much, much better than what I was about to type.
I shall leave the snark to the professionals.
eemom
So, Duke is still in the thing?
Botsplainer
God, I’m going to have to root for Duke Monday. This is going to hurt.
raven
@Botsplainer: He got hit in the nuts. It may have been when the ball bounced up.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Good article.
What I hate most is that NRA money buys most of our senators regardless of party. Little kids dying and they are protecting their campaign finances. Disgusting.
raven
@WaterGirl: Like Israel?
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Thanks, I puled it up on youtube for later viewing.
WaterGirl
@satby: I can’t take credit – somebody else here posted in in the last couple of days, I just don’t remember who it was.
Steeplejack
@eemom:
LOL. They’re up by 16 and running away.
You’re such an agitator.
raven
Gay friendly Honey Maid commercial on the game!!!!
http://www.honeymaid.com/
http://www.bilerico.com/images/honey-maid-indiana-wholesome.png
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
NO SPOILERS!!
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: I’m wondering if this is getting to you more now that some other things in your life are more settled. You’re in a new position in your profession, you don’t have an asshole boss and you are respected at work now, I’m sure.
At least all your energy isn’t being sucked up with all the work bullshit these days.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: If it was a fight they’d stop it. (the spoiler plea was for the 1st half)
Ruckus
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Well conservatives do want to regress back to the 1850s. I wonder how many of them realize that horseshit smells and how hard it is to not track mud (laced with horseshit) into the cabin when it rains?
WaterGirl
@raven: Exactly like Israel. Bought and sold. Welcome to our democracy.
raven
@WaterGirl: same as it ever was
WaterGirl
@raven: It seems worse to me. I guess ignorance was bliss.
I won’t see my friend Carol until tomorrow, do you know how Mel’s surgery went? Carol said that before the surgery Mel’s husband said there was only a 5% chance. But that doesn’t make sense if they hadn’t even done the biopsy yet, and I guess there are some issues with alcohol that made her doubt what he had said.
WaterGirl
Baud, if you’re here, I may have to apologize. I thought you were being pessimistic with your estimate of the tiny number of threads we were likely to get this weekend.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
Well, but there might be some people who would like to be taken by surprise by the commercials.
raven
@WaterGirl: The thing with the husband NOT a good situation.
They found an apartment away from the home and she and her son will be living there. This is very difficult. It’s the same brain cancer our friend died of and was on 60 minutes, glioblastoma . Apparently they can tell a great deal from the MRI so even though he is a bad source of information this is very difficult.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: I am sorry to say I don’t care about that.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: nah, I get down about this shit periodically. And at work, I have a new boss who is uber-right-wing evangelical who sits on my left, and a Sunni Muslim Palestinian colleague who literally worked as an architect repairing bombed out buildings on my right. They’ve already gotten into it and I literally sit in the middle and I won’t engage because it generates more heat than light at this point.
The Dangerman
Magic can quit worrying about basketball and get the Dodgers a bullpen. Please?
ETA: Actually, maybe Magic can pull some strings and get the Dodgers back on TV (Vin Scully isn’t getting any younger).
BillinGlendaleCA
@Steeplejack: A Puke/KY final may cause problems for Baby Doc Paul(KY Senator/Duke alum). Kornacki noted that last nite subbing for Rachel.
WaterGirl
@raven: well, shit.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
You’re killing me here. The same Raven who writes thank you letters to the Mayor is willing to share the denouement of a graham cracker commercial before its time has come?? I’m not sure I call that very compassionate.
Disappoint.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Just realistic.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: wow, work sounds like a blast at the moment. you probably get paid extra for being switzerland.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
That sucks. Apologies for any ill-advised glibness.
shell
Know it’s a holiday weekend, but we could use a new thread.
*******
BillinGlendaleCA
@Suzanne: Sounds like Molly Ivins sitting between Sen. Franken and Billo at the UCLA book fair when Franken’s ‘Lies and the Lying Liers…’ came out.
WaterGirl
@Baud: hence the (sort of) apology.
raven
@WaterGirl: I’ve been in contact with the daughter, had to explain that her folks and I have been friends for 40+ years and that I understood what the score was. I think it was good for her to know that people understood. The son appears to be the one that is going to be primary caregiver and it’s going to be way harder that he knows. I’m glad to see the outpouring of support they are getting but all the “she’s tough” and “I’m praying for you” in the world may not be enough. My wife and I were talking about this a couple of weeks ago and, after being incredible support for our friend, she said “don’t put me through that treatment if I get it.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Glioblastoma sucks. Hit a friend of ours last year.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh no, it’s cool. It’s just that the commercials on the final 4 are nothing like the Superbowl in terms of new ones and all the huhbub.
Mike E
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m now watching América v Cruz Azul on Univision.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Did you see the 60 Minutes about the use of polio virus as a treatment? Still experimental but some really promising results.
ruemara
@trollhattan: I have a better one. I know an anti-vax, no to GMOs, eat organic, eat mindfully, yoga, homeopathic, meditational, aliens have walked among us, did I say that everything is because–> aliens? anti-Obama, teabagger.
Sometimes I read her feed just to laugh.
raven
Bots didn’t cover!
Gin & Tonic
@raven: No, missed that. I was on an airplane.
Too late for our friend.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: Here it is, it was too late for ours as well.
WaterGirl
@raven: sounds absolutely awful. I’m so sorry, for Mel and her family and for you guys as friends. You have way too much experience with brain tumors.
raven
@WaterGirl: Maybe I’ll be wrong and she’ll be fine.
(as my wife and her friend are working on the memorial service for next Sunday).
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Now I’ll need to have some pixel ponies!
WaterGirl
@raven: well, if it really is 5%, somebody has to be in that 5% and get the happy ending.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@WaterGirl: I’m with Mrs. raven here, don’t put me through that if I get it. Let me move to Oregon and do it my way.
I lost 2 friends last year to cancer, both younger. The second was to glioblastoma and it was an ugly end. He had some good months after initial tx – hell he won a Grand Prix in Memphis in May, but his last 2 months were agony. It hit me hard. It was odd; one of my oldest buds had lots of trouble with the first mutual friend, though they were not close. Maybe because he was out of that world when she went downhill. And I was much more troubled when David died.
Enough about me. I’m going to be rooting for a meteor Monday. I don’t like the Dookies or Big Blue.
raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): About a year into treatment our friend took a cab to the gun store and tried to buy a piece. The gun shop people realized it wasn’t right and got in touch with her family.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
That was fantastic. I do feel better.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven: I remember that. I was quite impressed by the gun store staff, but I had some real empathy for your friend. I could not believe how gruesomely awful David’s last 3 weeks were, and it made me totally understand the woman in Oregon with one of those tumors.
raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): God, did I already say that here??
WaterGirl
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): @raven: My mom was terminally ill 1984-85. They gave her 6 months and she made it to 18, which was not a blessing to her. In 1985 she asked me to get her something so she could die on her own terms, and I told her that I couldn’t help her do it but that I wouldn’t judge her if she did.
I have no idea what this 30-years-older self would do if faced with that same question today. I hope to god I never find out.
WaterGirl
@raven: It’s not that hard to repeat yourself over a period of years, especially when it’s stuff that has had a real impact on us.
MomSense
@Suzanne:
I mentioned a couple of months ago that my youngest son’s best friend had whooping cough as did one or two of his siblings. I was shocked that they “don’t believe” in vaccinations. Otherwise they are sane, science accepting people. I really don’t get it.
Ruckus
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
It’s always hard when a vibrant friend/relative who is full of life finds out they have a really nasty cancer(and yes some are much worse than others) or some other disease and their chances of getting to be able to complain about being old get close to nil. Had an aunt pass in her early 40s. She left 4 kids, one about a year old, oldest 12. And they had lost a 6 month old to what was called crib death. Another thing was her dad had passed about the same age with the same issue. Her sister lived to 95 and beat breast cancer. You can never tell what will happen in life but you can be assured that some of it will be real shitty and not even within a thousand miles of the fair ballpark.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: He makes fantastic points and he’s so funny doing it. It’s like therapy! only cheaper
Ruckus
@raven:
Some things bear repeating. This was one of them.
tybee
@germy shoemangler:
very interesting. thanks.
raven
@WaterGirl: Yea, I mean this lady was a quaker so trying to get a gun was a pretty big statement. Then she broke her hip, was in a care facility for 2 months. When they went home he went to get a wheelchair and she was supposed to stay in the SUV. She got out, fell and broke it again. Never made it to the house. Eventually she did but it was awful.
WaterGirl
@raven: A quaker, that is a big statement. People going having to go through the horror of living / dying like that makes no sense to me. I do believe in god and I just don’t understand why anyone should have to go through that. I just don’t know how to make sense of that.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven: @Ruckus: Indeed it is one of the things worth repeating. And I may have been paying closer attention/able to remember more than most since my friend had the same thing, though he was doing much better at that time.
raven
@WaterGirl: I went to a day long thing for mental health people o campuses dealing with vets and they had this part about what played into suicide. The sense of being a burden on other was very high on the list.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@TaMara (BHF):
We just got home so you’ll probably never see this, but she did telecommute for years. Then there was a re-org. Part of the issue was that they changed her job role and gave her a staff she didn’t really want, and she needed to go into the office to supervise them. Eventually (with her husband’s encouragement), she said, “Fuck this,” and resigned.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I saw a panhandler standing on the bridge between Media City Center and Costco with a sign that said, “Obama Gave Me This Job.” There probably are just enough assholes around here that he makes a decent living with it.
chopper
@NotMax:
The Rachmones would be a better name if the pronunciation worked better.
PaulW
Thank you for the offer to beta read, I found someone to do it. Happy Easter all of you.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
It’s a hard decision to walk away from a decent paying job. Even if it changed and the suckage gets overpowering. I’d bet plenty of people here have had to make this decision, I know I have. But in the end it was worth walking away from even without a job to take it’s place and then an economy that destroyed the new business that I tried to replace it with. My thought is that if you get the idea to walk/run away, do it as soon as possible, otherwise you can get used to the new duties and while you may hate it, it still has a paycheck so staying is the easy thing. But you will be miserable and probably make at least some around you miserable as well. Best to cut your losses and move on. I never argued with employees who told me they were leaving, I made out their check and helped them pack up for if I talked them out of going I’d not only be the reason they wanted to in the first place now they’d be more pissed they listened to me in the second place. Life is too short for that kind of crap.