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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) voltbang | |
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Almost 400 HP + snow != win
No substantial sliding, but I was very aware that my beloved road-monster is below average in weather like this. It helps to use auto-stick to put it in 2nd when starting from a stop, and it sure would be nice if the traction control light were not hidden behind my right hand most of the time. There is zero feedback to tell me that the car is correcting for lack of traction, and I really like feedback. I don't want to run out of traction and compensation and not know that it was about to happen. On dry, or even wet pavement, I can feel the traction control happening, but not on snow and slush, just the yellow light flashing in the corner of my eye.
TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS! Clear the snow off all your windows, and all your lights. You can't see if your windows are obstructed, and you are harder to see without your headlights. I know it slows you down to have to clean off your car. It'll slow you down a lot more when you can't see a hazard and run into it, and if you didn't clean your windows, it's your fault and it will cost you more than time. And even with 4wd, if the roads are slick, the roads are slick. 4wd isn't a magic wand that allows you to drive 70 in a 45 on wet snowy pavement.
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zorpisuttle | |
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Charmaine's birthday party was awesome! ( read more )The party was a bit of a bright spot in an otherwise rather stressful week, although I did also enjoy having Kristin come over and do decoupagy things. I have 3 papers to write before break- I guess there's always dead week, but I don't know exactly if I'll have dead week to write them. Does "by the end of the semester" mean "by the end of classes" (which would be Monday the 14th if I were to hand them in in class and the 15th if they just want them by the last day of classes) or "by December 17th"? Eeurgh. I was kind of counting on "by December 17th", but I have my don rag then so I suspect my tutors will want the papers before then. *panic panic panic* I guess I'm working on my math paper tomorrow, since it's due on the 10th. I also have my usual weekend load of two days of math homework, some french, my precept reading, and my lab homework. I've made a bit of a dent in the last, but that list looks pretty daunting. Shoot, there's also the agora tomorrow, which I want to shop at for a bit, and TWO parties, both of which I want to go to, tomorrow night. I'll just have to be really productive Saturday morning/afternoon/early evening and all of Sunday, I guess? Tags: life, party
Current Location: Gilliam 311
Mood of the Moment:  pleased
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ksej | |
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I was at the market today, just standing, waiting for someone to decide they had desperate cravings for seed cake or tomato chutney or both, and I noticed someone at the craft stall who looked slightly familiar. I looked at her for a minute, and decided she looked very much like Daniel Terry's mother.
Back when I had my tragic crush on Daniel, I was absolutely petrified of his mum. I only had to see her on the horizon and I would start shaking like a leaf and forget how to form coherent sentences. But time has done its work, and I wasn't even sure whether this woman was her or just someone who looked like her.
She called something across the room, and I began to lean towards thinking it was her. Lacking the nerve to go up to her and ask, "Are you Mrs Terry?" I stood and watched for a little while. Our newest producer was apparently her daughter: Daniel's baby sister, if I was right. Surreptitiously, I turned over one of the labels on her products and spotted the name Terry.
Once I was sure, it was much easier to go up to the sister and ask, "Are you related to Daniel Terry?" Naturally, she wanted to know why I wanted to know, and I explained that I had sort-of dated Daniel, seventeen years ago. Just saying it made me feel horribly old, but she very kindly said, "Oh, you must have been teenagers." Yes, we weren't much more than children really, in so many ways.
Daniel's mum was now looking my way. "Do I know you?" she asked. "Er, if you remember me, yes. I used to be terrified of you because I had a crush on your son." There was no need to say any more: she did remember me.
(This is one of the few times when I'm glad I don't pass: not only would I have been so much harder to place, but I would have been some unknown man claiming to have fancied her son. Rather like the first time she saw me, when I passed so well that she asked, "Daniel, who is this boy?")
She asked after my family, and I confessed with some trepidation that I am currently the unemployed parent of a toddler. She gave me a hug, and it seems that in spite of my stupid behaviour, she remembers me with great fondness.
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elainegrey | |
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If i think about it, i'm having a hard time believing what month it is and even what year it is. Yesterday included a couple hours of reviewing work email, thoughts about baking and some cooking experiments. Really, the chickpea flatbread with shrimp was quite yummy! Although i reflect on hushpuppies with onion chunks in them and ponder the similarities. I am doing some shopping: * alpaca yarn (Llama theme tiny family gift) and * bias cut silk ribbon (for Mohops) from Dharma Trading to attempt to dye (i ought to dye again before the new year!), and * Etsy Letterpress made New Years cards for my staff. I'm pondering what to do about the Hein Braat "Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra" recording i have. It was a duplicated CD from my Grandmama some years ago, claiming it was the Dali Lama chanting for world healing. This turns out to be a widely spread urban myth. While searching for "Hein Braat" turns up results at Amazon, none of the results are his work. (And all are music; none seem to be simple chants.) He's not available on iTunes, either. The CD with the chant isn't available from his website, apparently. And, what is available are, erm, in Euros and an unfamiliar vendor. I need to buy tea [419-0-5341798]. However these two posts -- * http://www.tching.com/2009/05/tea-and-cheese-anyone/* http://artandtea.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/tea-and-cheese-pairing/ evoke a splurging in which i should not indulge. OMG. See's web catalog does not mention the egg nog truffles that i saw last year (and was too late to buy). Didn't i see them in the print catalog i recycled? Or was that the buttermint truffles? While i'm beginning to prepare to switch to only fair trade chocolate, See's seems to deserve an exception. I note they're owned by Berkshire-Hathaway, which means that they're not run with an insane quarterly profit, bottom line driven ethic. But they're not the family business i imagined. Hmm. The other extended family gifts are from Boudin Bakery. We're off to watch The Road this afternoon: stopping at Whole Foods then See's afterwards should be a good or surreal antidote. The Onion's story about Tiger Woods is the only one i've allowed myself to read -- http://www.theonion.com/content/news/investigators_still_piecing -- avoiding everything else but Jon Stewart's Queen-inspired piece. Hmm, i guess i should find that Muppet video. It was a pretty popular link as we were testing the new wireless we set up at my folks', but it seemed the wrong thing to demonstrate the power of WiFi. (Ancestry.com was the demo.) Tags: log, tea
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deza | |
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It's hard to believe it's been eleven years already. There were three of us in our circle of friends who were all pregnant at the same time. We traded pregnancy woes and talked about our hopes and fears for the future. We ended up giving birth within two weeks of each other. The first baby of the batch had her 11th birthday today. Giving birth to your first child is inherently terrifying. No matter how many books you read or how often you hear stories, you really aren't prepared for the process. There is a world of difference between hearing the stories and being caught up in the pain, adrenaline and frantic pace of the event. My husband had gone home to feed our dogs after the midwife said it would be a few more hours before the baby arrived. He was gone about half an hour when I was told it was time to deliver. For the next hour, nurses were asking if I was ready to push, and I kept saying no, not til my husband was there. It was such a relief when he ran into the room. Our daughter was born about 20 minutes later. There was a price on my stubborness. She had inhaled meconium and amniotic fluid waiting for me to release her. I got to hold her briefly, then she was whisked away to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit where they could clear her lungs out. Even though I was exhausted, I woke up several times that night, wracked with guilt over what I'd done to my baby girl. The orderlies came to get me early the next morning, to see her in the NICU. There aren't any direct windows in that room. There's a row of clerestory windows at the ceiling, but the patients and their parents are sheltered from prying eyes passing by outside. The nurses pulled a curtain around us, leaving me alone with my daughter for the first time. She was so tiny, so perfect. I was amazed at how long her eyelashes were, curling against her cheek. Shw had a shock of deep red hair and the most incredible purplr-blue eyes I've ever seen. It was dark outside when I sat down with her in my arms. I was crying. When my tears started to fall on her, I tilted my head back and looked up at the windows while she sucked at my breast. Slowly the windows lightened from black to grey to blazing pink while I fed my baby girl. She'll be 11 next week. I still cry when I remember the most beautiful sunrise I never saw. This has been my entry for this week's LJ Idol. I have to say, putting together an entry when you don't have computer access is a challenge!Tags: lj idol
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xydexx | |
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I've got a paid account, but I don't use the poll creator thingy nearly as often as I should. I'm actually using this to kill several birds with one stone: 1) I'm on Facebook and Twitter. I'm probably linked to most of y'all with accounts there already, but a lot of the time I know people better by their online pseudonyms instead of real names, so half the time on Facebook I have to guess who all these weird people are who wanna link to me. -:) 2) Someone put together a webpage with links to other furry webpages, and I realized I don't have one of those (as such). And rather than going through 500-something profiles hunting down URLs, it'd be easier if y'all just drop me a line here if ya want a link. 3) I'm rebranding a bottle of Gordon's Dry Gin that I found out in the woods while exploring the abandoned house on Sycolin Road (for those of you who have been following along, apparently it isn't being torn down, it's just Dominion Power putting in power lines elsewhere on the property). Anyway... it's gonna be Gordon's Invigorating Elixir of Yak Strength... but I need ideas on what it does and what it contains. No right or wrong answers to this one. I basically need some text/content to include on the label. Will post pictures when it's finished. Many thanks! Poll #1494488 Data Gatheringz!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 32 Arrr you on Facebook? If so, what's your name there? Arrr you on Twitter? If so, what's your name there? You gots a furry webpage somewhere? What's the URL? What does Gordon's Invigorating Elixir of Yak Strength do? What does Gordon's Invigorating Elixir of Yak Strength contain? Mood of the Moment:  SO MUCH TO DO!
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mineapostasy | |
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Right, I figure I should do the same as jackconstantine and give you all an idea of when I'll be stateside: December 22nd: Return to Arlington 23rd: Deal with Visa crap all day 24th: Study, then Christmas eve with parents followed by UUCA, methinks. 25th: CHRISTMAS! Play with recently acquired toys. Maybe: pub. 26th: Study! 27th: Study! 28th: Study! 29th: Study! 30th: Study! 31st: Study! Then: BIBNERIA. January 1st: BIBNERIA! Then: HANGOVER! Then: PASS OUT! 2nd: Study! 3rd: Study! 4th: Study! Maybe: Go back to Scotland... today! 5th, onwards: pending purchase of ticket. So there you have my schedule. If you want me at some point, let me know. Book early, though, lest there be no time for you. Also, remember that these are possibly the most important exams I have ever taken; they could mean a funded PhD, or none. So? What are you waiting for? Current Location: The Westport, St Andrews
Mood of the Moment:  silly
Auditory Hallucination: The Postal Service - Clark Gable
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skill_grl | |
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Distance
Longest distance ever traveled? Orlando, FL, to Anchorage, AK, via motorhome. Really, the entire trip went DC to Orlando to Laramie to Anchorage.
Farthest North? - Fairbanks, AK
Farthest South? - Orlando, FL
Farthest East? - Magadan, Russia
Farthest West? - Talkeetna, AK
Highest Mountain - Seen? Denali. Climbed. Ummmm, probably Loveland Pass, CO, or one of the mountains at the Keystone Resort, CO
Hottest Temp - Estimate, mid 100s 104-106 range. Montana, during a drought in the early 80s.
Coldest temp - Fairbanks, AK (-60 F)
Personal Notes:
Longest Bicycle Ride: 62.5 mi. Twice. New Carrolton Metro to Annapolis & Back; Just under 2/3 of the Seagul Century starting in Salisbury, MD.
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voltbang | |
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Got a new printer yesterday. Yay! It makes pictures that look like photographs. Our old printer was, well, old. I don't know why, but it no longer made good pictures. It made fine text, but photos came out muddy and low contrasty. I hadn't realized how bad it was until I made a real picture again. And I missed it. If I had any energy tonight I would have made more, but, no sleep, not enough breathing last night has me with all the mental energy of a zombie. A nice bowl of warm spicy brains would probably fix me right up. I mean, sleep. A good nights sleep. Eating brains is right out.
Also got a new back-pack/camera bag/netbook bag. It's a little bulkier than I was hoping, but it carries the things I want to carry, protects them well, and isn't Too Darn Big.
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ksej | |
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Andrea has been learning quite a bit of Christian stuff for the Nativity play. I'm not too worried, though, as she doesn't seem to be taking it all in. We sang Away in a Manger at Jellybeans, and she turned to me in great surprise and said, "There's Jesus in the Nativity play too!"
One of the songs apparently goes, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, let's give God the praise." That is, unless Andrea's singing it, in which case it goes, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, let's give Bob the praise." I suggested that it might refer to God, who definitely pops up later in the song, but she is adamant that it refers to Bob.
In a final attempt to persuade her, I asked which Bob the song was about. "Is it Bob the Builder?" Yes, yes, Bob the Builder." So while the rest of the class give their praises to God the Father, Andrea's reserving hers for Bob the Builder.
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allyra | |
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Seen various places on my FL. Longest distance ever traveled? Either Charlottesville, VA to Moscow, Russia or Charlottesville, VA to Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii - long distances in either direction! Soon, I suppose, it will be Williamsburg, VA to Melbourne, Australia! Whee! Farthest North? Either St. Petersburg, Russia (which was actually Leningrad, USSR when I was there) or Helsinki, Finland...I think Helsinki might be a bit farther north? Looks that way on Google Maps, but they don't show latitude lines. Farthest South? St. Maarten. Though again, soon to be (I guess) Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Unless Mt. Wellington is even farther south. I haven't checked a map yet, bad me!! Farthest East? Ekaterinburg, Russia (formerly Sverdlovsk, USSR). Depending on which way you want to consider "east". ;) (I traveled east to get there, but it's almost so far around the globe, it could be considered my farthest point west.) Farthest West? Hawaii. Though again, Australia, blahblahblah. Again, depending on which way you want to consider "west". (Traveled west to get to Hawaii and will again to get to Australia.) Highest Mountain Erm. Somewhere in the Rockies? Maybe? Though the Urals might be even higher.... Hmm, yeah, according to Wikipedia, they are, and Ekaterinburg is pretty high in them. Hottest Temp Around 120dF. Palm Springs, June. Mmmm, tasty. Love that dry heat! Coldest temp That I saw? -40dC (-40dF! yep, that's where the scales cross!). That I experienced? Probably around -20dC (-4dF), maybe a little colder. After a while, it's all just friggin' cold, it doesn't matter how much colder it actually gets. Oh, and yeah, that was in Ekaterinburg. It is in Siberia, after all! Tags: meme
Mood of the Moment:  amused
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elainegrey | |
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We were exhausted yesterday: rising at 4 am on the east coast to return the car and check our luggage for the 6 am flight. When we got to SJC a friend picked us up and took us home, and we promptly turned around to go up the peninsula to Belmont for lunch (or the only real meal of the day) at the Hobees. After being fortified, we went to The Cat's Inn. We peered into the play room, seeing a cat who'd been there when we dropped off ours, and then noticed that Edward was on the high cat walk above the play room and office. We waved -- a human child would have been utterly embarrassed by such effusive parental behavior. He noticed us: did he recognize us? When we went in he slowly made his way across the catwalk, and down from the wall of cages to sit outside the metal door and meow at us and rub the door. He remembered us! It's been five months, but sometimes we wonder if he's attached to us or if we're just attached to him. It was nice to see him happy to see us. It seems Edward immediately took to the place and was the first out each day. Mr M took a while to get to where he wanted to roam; Greycie Loo stayed shy and only had playroom time. Sam, one of the caretakers, told us of finding Greycie Loo nose to nose with Mr M in their joining cages and her belief Mr M was comforting Loo. Since in the household Loo is prima donna, hissing Mr M and Edward away from whatever she wants, it was nice to know she and Mr M were able to be close. All three are doing great! Edward is the first one I let out in the morning
because he loves to explore the facility so much. His favorite spot to hang
out is the upstairs and the cat walks, so he can watch what everyone is
doing. Greycie Loo and Mr. M. are not as adventurous as Edward but they are
so sweet and love to interact with all of our staff. All three are eating
their food, and drinking plenty of water. -- email report from Sunday We had a very long night's sleep, and times with all the cats in the bed with us. Right now Loo is in the tent made from my propped up knees and Mr M cuddled up to still sleeping Christine. I think i'll go let Edward out. We're all very happy to be home. Tags: cats, log
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ptocheia | |
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Here's an article about a 13 year old girl who committed suicide after having texted a picture of her breasts to some kid, then having it spread all over her school and getting harassed.And here's some interesting perspective on it.This is depressing on numerous levels to me. First, I have to wonder if a similar case of a boy taking a picture of his nuts and forwarding it to someone, and subsequently having it forwarded all over the school, would have been treated nearly as harshly. There's this strange idea that male nudity is funny and female nudity never is. Secondly, children learn things by modeling after adults. A huge source of adults to model behavior after is within the media. And, in the media, if you have naked images of yourself forwarded to 892379823 people, you might get your own TV show. Incidentally, I have a fabulous idea for completely revamping the public education system. I think it's kinda detrimental for kids to spend a majority of their time around kids of the same age. A variety of ages would provide more opportunities for modeling, as well as help with behavior. Considering that you can take all sorts of college level classes in high school, as well as high school level classes in college, I would love to see a more age-integrated educational system where high school and community college were housed in the same building. Students who were able to advance could do so more easily, and students who needed more help could stay behind, without the pressure of having to stay with your grade. Both adults and students would be in the same classes, which would (in theory, at least) cut down on misbehavior problems. If you're a rowdy kid taking Math, and your friend's dad decided to go back for his degree and is sitting two seats away from you, it might make you less likely to act up. It might also be good modeling for students, seeing adults that are interested in learning and doing work. I realize I grew up with the privilege of seeing my parents read all the time, and seeing my Dad do homework to get his Masters, so I internalized that this was normal and had no problem doing my own homework. I bet a lot of kids don't get exposed to that. So, by being in a classroom with adults and seeing adults learning the same sorts of things they are and wanting to do it, these kids might have less of a "this crap is being forced down our throats because we're young" sort of attitude. Not sure how this would apply to middle-schoolers (which, from my experience at least, is where kids of the same age can be cruelest to each other). Possibly by having adults moving down the hall to their classes while kids went to their own classes would cut down on poor behavior happening in the hallway, if nothing else. The day would probably need to be structured a bit differently, though. Mostly, those 3-minute breaks in middle school aren't gonna cut it. There's probably other problems I haven't thought of as well. Tags: news, random babble
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) rva
jtglover | |
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For thems of you what like fantasy, literature, literary fantasy, or fantastic literature, you might be interested in an author reading coming up next week at Fountain Bookstore. His new novel, Finch, is a kick-ass fantasy noir featuring gumshoe tropes turned inside out. He's also got a new book about writing that talks about a bunch of stuff I haven't seen other books about writing discuss much, if at all. He was recently profiled on NPR along with his wife, Ann, editor of Weird Tales. Fountain Bookstore Holiday Party with Special Guest Jeff VanderMeerStart: Tue, 12/08/2009 - 5:45pm End: Tue, 12/08/2009 - 7:45pm Location: The Fountain Bookstore, Inc.1312 E Cary St Richmond, Virginia 23219-4118  Tags: events
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voltbang | |
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"The new law allows smoking only in separately ventilated rooms, away from nonsmoking patrons. It also permits smoking on outdoor patio areas, and private membership clubs such as Elks Clubs or American Legion posts are exempt. Violators are subject to a $25 civil fine.
The state's restaurateurs opposed the bill, preferring an outright ban on grounds that wealthy chain restaurants would have the capital to make the necessary adjustments that small, family owned eateries could not."
Va's new law goes into effect today.
I see a lot of on-line whining by smokers and other loonies. I think it's interesting that measures added to the ban to try to make it more acceptable to smokers and restaurants make it more objectionable to restraurants. The Virginia version of the ban has to be a little wierd, because it's a wierd state. We can't make any distinction for bars, because Virginia doesn't have bars. We have restaurants. Any place that serves alchohol has to get half it's income from food. Because bars lead to dancing.
I doubt that many of the big chains will go to the trouble of installing smoking sections. I could be wrong, but I just don't see smokers making that big of an economic impact to justify the retrofit. Any gain in smoker business could be offset by the rabid non-smokers. Smokers are a minority, they are not a desirable income demographic, and worst of all, even smokers don't want to eat a nice meal in a smokey room. The small niche that could gain from the peculiar virginia implementation is the small high end cigar bar, complete with $40 bag of peanuts.
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Previous
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