You rang?

Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone! My actual birthday is Sunday (I'll be 32) but I'm having a party tomorrow night at a local lounge....definitely looking forward to it!

Man, haven't posted here in ages (AGAIN), but great news...I'm typing this from my first temp assignment! I had 3 interviews on Wednesday and wow...it's like night and day from my nightmare experiences here from 2001-2003! All three agencies had assignments for which they wanted to consider me, but I went with the one from the agency Dougintx referred me to because it was definite and immediate...I'm filling in for someone through next Friday. Everyone's very nice, it's a decent balance of work and downtime, AND it pays better than my last permanent job! So I am definitely a very happy camper.

Good thing too, because even though I was really only idle for about a week and a half, MAN it was frightening how quickly I fell back into that "nobody wants me for anything/I'm a worthless slug" depressive state I wound up in while I was unemployed for 2 years. My brain was going to some pretty scary places! Thankfully, the big difference between now and then is that now I have quality friends like Dougintx (man, the little brat is going to get a swelled head reading this!) and skagirl who don't run away screaming even when I'm not that fun to be around and even when I'm convinced that no one would want to be around me. Say, have I mentioned what a great group we have here lately? :-)

yogi, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles with that school...it's so frustrating when you think you have a sore point settled and then it rears its ugly head again! And a VERY belated welcome to wasimmerdude, who I know from the BB forum, and neptune42, who helped make my stressful summer of 2002 fun with her contributions to a very twisted continuing tale in the Big Brother diversions area and who consistently comes up with hysterical Pixel Challenge entries!

Hope everyone here has as great a weekend as I plan on having...man, it's good to feel more like "myself" again!

Happy Birthday a little early then, The Last Dodo! Though I haven't met you, I've seen pictures from GuidoCons, and you certainly look younger than 32!

And VERY happy birthday LATE to our ms. bear! I'm so glad you have good friends to spoil you on occasion. What a disappointment for little yogi's schooling, after such high hopes at the end of the year. Are there any other educational options for him or is this the best despite the tribulations?

I don't think I've welcome neptunerw yet, but I've loved many of your Pixel creations, so I'm glad you've stopped in.

ska, sweetie, things will be better soon. Try to get lots of rest and pamper yourself a little this weekend, k?

Hey, dodo, Happy Birthday, and yaaay! to your new temp job. Let's hope this leads to a job you can love enough to not stress out about, and gives you time to do the theater thing. Glad to hear that AussieBoy1 survived and thrived at his camp, and skagirl, hope you can chill and bounce back this weekend.
So I'm obsessed with Ivan. I'm on accuweather about every 15 minutes checking to see if it's going to get to South Carolina in a dangerous state, or whether we're just going to get wet for two days. I'd love a good legitimate excuse to bag out on this little excursion, but it's just not gonna happen, I don't think.
Rats. I don't want to go!

Is this a Hildy Family Vacation? I can imagine the prospect of heading into the potential path of Ivan the Terrible is unpleasant in the extreme. When are you due to go? Maybe you will know more about Ivan's path in the next couple of days.

I'm so over these hurricanes, I tell ya.

I know far too well what that is like, stupid sexy good tasteing but not good for you food!

Happy early b-day Dodo,and good luck with the new job.

Oh does anyone have a car for sell as mine decided to die, heh I just don't trust the classifieds.

The happiest of birthdays to our own Dodo. I hope you have the best celebrations ever on the weekend. So good to hear that you got some work so soon. The nice thing about temp jobs is that sometimes they like you so much they invite you back, and it can turn into a long term thing. It sounds like a nice place to work, so enjoy it - you certainly deserve it after everything you've gone through of late.

Hildy do you have to go to SC? We've been getting the reports of the hurricane here and it does not look good at all. Can you put off your trip there? Draadje, Doug, how are things going?

I am very proud of Big Little Aussie, Yogi, immensely proud. He broke through so many of his own little obsessions, to just let go and join in with the fun. He also broke through fear that a week ago would have held him back, by doing all the challenges (much like they have on Survivor). The teachers supported him 100% and I am so grateful to them for that. They really encouraged him. It's nice to have him home again with us. I've already made his his favourite brekky this morning, now I have to go tackle the enormous pile of wet, smelly washing he brought back!

It's Saturday, September 11th here, and we here in Australia remember. Sending you love and prayers.

Here's hoping everyone is safe from hurricanes this weekend. If it makes you feel better, tomorrow I'm going to the Rockies, where there may be snow. :-)

I'm going to Johnston Canyon with a friend and her kids. We're going to hike to the upper falls, which we've never done. Everyone guarantees that there will be mountain goats! That would be great, the only ones I've seen are at the Calgary Zoo.

And there should be time enough to go to Lake Louise as well!

Neptune, where are you? Canada? I'm guessing here... Hope you have a wonderful time mate. The first time I ever saw and touched snow (living here in the tropics, it's not something we ever get to do), was in the Rockies in Colorado. It was June, can you believe it, but there was still a little snow in the mountains. This was in 1981, but I've never forgotten what a thrill it was to me.

Hope you guys near FLA are safe - we're still getting some bad reports here on the hurricane.

AussieGirl, I live in Canada - Calgary, Alberta to be exact. I know all about the snow - although I was born in British Columbia and didn't experience true snow until I was 5 and living in Ottawa.

Thankfully, I only saw snow on the tops of the Rockies today. If you'd like to see pictures from today's trip, please click here for my LiveJournal

Yay, and congrats to Last Dodo on the job! I'm glad to hear that it's going well. And, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you have/had a great day.

The first time I ever saw falling snow was when I went to college. It was Christmas Eve, and though we were stuck in traffic after having done some last minute shopping at the mall, it was beautiful. Whwnever it snowed thereafter, my buddies and I from CA would always go crazy, since it was so novel. Of course, everyone on campus would go crazy: snowball fights, snow fortresses, catching snowflakes on tongues, sliding down hills on cafeteria trays. And, the best was the 10-foot snowman with a "Beat UConn" sign right by the front gates. Leave it to snow to turn everyone on campus back into a little kid. Or gorgeous spring weather, for that matter. The second the cherry blossoms bloomed, everyone would be out on the front lawn, sunning, playing frisbee or volleyball, studying with their stereos. It was awesome.

Happy Birthday Dodo and belated birthday wishes to Yogi.

School has started, hectic as usual and next week I have to go to my own school for courses. Somehow over the summer I thought I would need a way to relieve stress and I signed up for crew. It is a rowing club right on Carnegie Lake in Princeton. What is super cool about it is the National Team trains there (mmm rowers) and over the weekend I met some medalists - both men and women.
What is bad is that so far I am not the wonderfully coordinated woman that I see in my mind. It's hard! And the type A personality is raring to keep practicing until I get it.But it is supposed to be a relaxing hobby... more on that when my back is less sore.

Looking forward to the next Survivor and also the TARcon. If any of you are going (Dodo ?) let's make a plan to meet for a moment at least so I see your pretty faces? Hope all is well.

p.s Ska, your outburst over your cell phone had me laughing out loud. I still have mine from 3 years ago even though I dropped it and had to stuff all of its guts back in.

Ricci mine just passed the 3 year anniversary which I guess is good in drunken cellphone handling, but it's the craptastic timing of the event plus it wasn't something I did (i.e., dropkicking it, sticking it in the fridge) - just a crappy weather day + not insulated backpack.

Wanted to wish a belated public Happy Bday to the Dodo First & Last & Best (as I couldn't get online yesterday to do so*). He has a great group of friends who I got to meet on Sat - I think the people you run with reflect who you are & his buddies were very sweet indeed.

*Stupid new wireless worked splendidly Saturday, but for the last 48 it's been a no-go. I wish our apartment was big enough to be out of range or something, but as it's not, something got wacky. Bah. I talked to the cable co & it sounds like they can diagnosis it over the phone - crossing fingers & toes & nose.

Hey guys! Jeez, it seems like forever since I last posted. First of all, Happy (kindoflate) Birthday to Dodo!! Hope it was great!
Secondly, man am I tired! Last week was so rough, starting up school again. Ie-ie-ie! I thought I was going to die the first few days! Now that I'm into my second week, it's not so bad.
Thirdly, you will never guess what happened yesterday! My dad, mom and I were driving down a street in Longview and someone in an upstairs apartment shot a pellet gun at our car! It hit the passanger window and the window just exploded. Shattered glass everywhere. No one was hurt or anything, but it just scared the ever-lovin' crap outta us. So I got to spend 2 hours explaining to the police what happened. Not a good way to end a weekend.
Lastly (I hope it's the last thing) on Friday our school football team beat our arch-rivals 46-6. WOOO!!

Good grief, PiP - that's horrible. Did they find out who did it? Glad no one was hurt, but it must have been really scary for you. And cleaning all the glass out of the car will be a hell of a job, too.

Thanks for the pics, Neptune - they reminded me of Montana (the nice part of MT!). Beautiful.

Hi Ricci, nice to hear from you again.

Having a hectic time here guys, so will say bye for now.

Oh cool...I'm glad you had a good time! (And thanks, everyone, for the birthday wishes!)

What's funny/cool is that that's what people said about last year's party as well...that they really enjoyed everyone's company. And it's cool to look over and see one of my best friends from college chatting with one of my neighbors about politics, or something else completely random like that. I guess I know how to pick 'em!

So I spent skagirl and Dougintx's Virgin Megastore gift certs (and thank you so much once again!). I am now the proud owner of the Garden State soundtrack (excellent but kinda depressing), Heart's latest, Jupiter's Darling (kinda "eh" on first listens but I need to give it a few more spins), and the Scissor Sisters, which I LOVE...it's totally like someone discovered all these long lost songs from 1978-79 and just punched them up a little. Also, The Definitive Collection by ABBA: all of their videos on one DVD. They are the most unintentionally hilarious things you'd ever want to see in your life. They sing "Chiquitita" to a giant snowman that looks like it's about to eat them. No, really.

I'm really loving this temp assignment...it's got enough work, but it's also very lowkey and everyone's really nice. Wish it could go on longer!

Hope all's well with all of you!

Hi guys, and hi Dodo, it's good to see you so especially light hearted. Great news that the temp job is going so well. They sound like they like you as much as you like them! Now, why doesn't that surprise me?

Well, I just had quite a scary experience with a creepy crawly - a redback spider. You may recall that I've mentioned how deadly they are. They can kill people, and their bite causes intense and horrible pain. Well, I was driving my son to school this morning, had just left home, when he started yelling that a redback was on him. It must have been on the roof inside the car and dropped onto him. I looked over and this bloody thing was crawling over his chest and then his thighs. I stopped the car and ran around to his side, looking desperately all the while for something to get it off him, praying to God that it wouldn't bite him.

I found my youngest son's hat and tried to brush it off with that. The spider fell onto the car seat, and I tried to get my son to get over into my seat, which he did after being paralysed with fear for awhile. I told him to get out of the car, run home and get the insect repellent, while I got his little brother out of the car. I sprayed it, but was still worried as they can live for awhile, (they can actually hold their breath for six hours - ewww! - that's why you sometimes see them in swimming pools) and there was no way any of us were getting back in the car. Luckily there was a man in the garage of the house I'd stopped outside, and he got the hat, edged the spider onto it and then onto the ground and killed it.

Oh man, I am still shaking. And my poor son, I can't imagine how scared he must have been. Poor thing. These spiders are so deadly, and while we are used to them and just kill them whenever we see them in the house, this is the first time one of them has just dropped on to one of us. Mr Aussie is going to bomb the house with insect repellent this weekend, it seems to work in eradicating them.

Littlest Aussie just thought it was funny and kept calling his big brother spiderman! I am just so glad that the spider did not bite. Still, I am still recovering from the shock and fright of what could have happened to my son.

Aussie Girl I'm sorry about your spider scare. I know we don't have too many poisones spiders in the us but in this area we have two!, brown recluse and the black widow if you wanted to know. A co-worker of mine has actually been bit twice by a brown recluse,and one time was in New York, which apparently doesn't have them, she had accidently carreid it in her suit case.

Oh I got a new car, it only took a week to find one, unlike what I'm wont to do and be monthes before I get one heh. And the car? Kicks so much ass its not even funny, I was going 80 on the highway today with out even knowing it. It's a 89 Honda Civic.

And other news I got all my costume for Halloween except a cardigen which apprently can be hard to find grr. The wig looks like ass but it was cheap so I'm happy, no pig tails though sigh.

Hello, I'll be joining everyone in the cringing, the heckling, the dreading of Rupert and the general wackery. May our season be slimeball free!

Vanatu sounds very Cirque du Soleil-y to me. Unfortunately I doubt we'll be seeing anyone slap on some makeup and perform death defying acrobatics in a sparkly leotard. Kind of a good thing, kind of a shame.

AussieGirl, that story has me shaking here. Shaking. I hate spiders. *taking deep breaths* I can deal with everything having up to six legs, but spiders and centipedes just have too many legs. If I'd been in LittleAussie's shoes, I think my heart would have stopped.

One of the reasons I live in Minnesota - the winter kills off the creepy-crawlies.

Survivor Thursdays are back, yay!

Yeah, I freak out enough just with regular spiders and centipedes. I can't imagine having to deal with poisonous ones...or scorpions, or tarantulas, or anything like that. Glad everything turned out OK!

Happy Survivor Premier day, everyone!

Aussie what a scary incident. Spiders are the one thing I don't fear, but I guess a deadly one would stop me from killing them barehanded (eww, I know, but it had to be done).

I feel almost physically sick around big (like wolf or tarantula) spiders and centipedes. They Freak. Me. Out. We recently watched a PBS special about dangerous creatures in Australia, like redback spiders and fierce snakes and box jellyfish. Eww. Just...*shudder* eww. Please get your house fumigated right away, Aussie.

Yay for Dodo's good temp position! And for Woodlock's fast car! And another yay for today being Surv Premiere Day!

Hi Aussie! Just wanted to let you know that I'm shaking and shuddering in sympathy. I HATE spiders!! Even little ones scare the be-jeepers out of me! I'm so glad everything turned out okay. Here's to hoping you NEVER have an experience like that again!!

Glad to hear that everything turned out alright, Aussie. I don't know what I would have done if I were in your son's shoes. I'm SEVERELY arachnophobic; I can't even look at pictures of them or see them on TV. Yet, strangely, whenever there's a program on National Geographic or something about spiders, I watch, rapt with fascination, and covering my eyes with my fingers! I've heard of funnel webs, and know that there are many other scary types in Australia, which is why I don't know if I could ever live there. We've got black widows here in CA, but not too many where I live. Is a redback skinny, or nasty like a tarantula? Ugh, I shudder just thinking about it!

Glad to hear that you're liking the job, Dodo! I hope the assignment lasts long, and that good things can perhaps come from it! Oh, and I LOVE the Scissor Sisters. I bought their album a few weeks ago, and I can't stop listening to it. It's awesome.

Woodlock, what are you going to be for Halloween? I might be missing something here. My buddies are doing a group costume thing, and two of my roommates are going to be Mario and Luigi. Because I'm the shortest of my friends, I get to be Toad. I've got to get a blue vest, some parachute pants, and the piece de resistance, a giant mushroom hat. Of course, I have no idea how to get my hands on one of those. If any of you know where I could possibly find one, please let me know.

Well, I've stopped shaking, but I still cringe when I think what could have happened to my son. The poor kid just sat there whimpering, but to his credit, he stayed still despite the urge to go "Urgh! Get off me!" when I told him not to move. I was scared that if he moved, the spider would bite him. Thank God it all turned out okay.

The thing about the spiders here, is that it's not the big scary looking ones you have the worry about - it's the little buggers that are deadly. Thankfully, we don't get many funnelwebs here, Wasimmerdude, they're the worst - they reside mainly in Sydney. But redbacks abound here. They do have a predator - they're called Daddy Long Legs spiders. These particular spiders are actually the deadliest spiders in the world, but they're harmless to humans - because of their long legs they can't bite us. Lol. They eat redbacks, so I always leave them around the house to try to control the redback population. I am really okay with most spiders, I don't like them, I don't have a phobia about them, but when I saw this redback crawling over my son's shoulder, chest and legs, I really lost it. He was braver than me. If one had crawled on me, I would have died of fright before it had a chance to kill me.

So anyway, it's Friday morning here, that means it's Thursday night in the US. Hmmmm.... where are you all? Let me guess - you're all out partying, right? No one's at home watching TV or anything. Right???? I am insanely jealous!!! I have to wait another 4 days before it starts here. Let me know how it was, and especially what Peachy is like. I wonder if he'll do the helicopter thing again.

For some reason, Daddy Longlegs don't really bother me. Probably because they're so skinny. What I am afraid of are tarantulas or other spiders with big, thick, hairy legs. Ugh. I cringe just thinking about it.

The show premieres tonight! I get jealous enough having to wait the three hours for shows to air on the West Coast, so I commend you, Aussie for your patience!

Whee! I just saw Survivor! But I won't spoil the ending. I will just say that I am rooting for Chad. And Brady is pretty.

It took me a week, but I got 18 people signed up for the office pool today, and I insisted that everyone pay in advance. You pay $10 and draw a name, and if your Survivor wins the million, you win the $180 in the jackpot.
There have been problems with past pools of people not paying when they said they would - I won the Big Brother pool last year but my jackpot was $20 short, because the friend of a friend never paid. I didn't want to put myself through the stress of chasing people to pay, after we drew names - I get really anal about this - so I said I would organize this year's pool only if I promised myself everyone would pay first. And they did. I gave a week's warning and yesterday was payday, so there were no excuses. :-)

Wasimmer I'm gonna be a catholic school girl, My mom would be so proud if she knew[/scarcasm]

But I ended up getting a new pair of panites for halloween, its a yellow thong with a kitty on the front and the word meow on the back that insadently glows in the dark.

Well, Wasimmerdude all I can say is it's hard to be so patient - I love this show and just cannot wait till Tuesday.

In fact, I have a bit of a dilemma. Tuesday is Mr Aussie's and my anniversary (13 years). My mum is coming over to look after the kids and he and I are staying in a really swish hotel for the night. The idea is that we are going out to a fine dining place etc. Problem is, Tuesday night is when Survivor starts. So I won't be able to watch it till we get home on Wednesday. I've thought about suggesting we watch it on the night, but somehow I don't think Mr Aussie would go for that.

Aussie, I think if you hold out for just one more night, it'll be that much sweeter when you see it. Besides, it's for a special occasion. :)

Woody, hee! My freshman year in college, Britney Spears was all the rage and the Catholic schoolgirl was abundant that Halloween. Thing is that most of the girls at my school had actually gone to Catholic school, so the uniforms were pretty authentic (and oh so great).

Two of my roommates dressed up as women last Halloween. Not a pretty sight, to say the very least. As I refuse to try it, since I'd make a hideous woman (which, come to think of it, is probably a good thing, huh?), I had to pass on all the fun last year. One roommate actually shaved his legs, even though he was wearing stockings. He claimed that you could see the hair through them, even though the stockings were opaque, and even though we were heading to a dimly lit danceclub! We were running late, but he made us wait for him to do the deed, and he cut his legs up quite good. Ouch.

Oh, this is a set deal that ends today; I'm just filling in for someone on vacation. But I have to share this because I'm so excited: next week I need Monday-Wednesday off for a routine doctor appointment and TARCon, so I'm just telling the other agencies I interviewed with that my assignment got extended for simplicity's sake. Well, when I called the one agency, my counselor squealed at hearing from me, said she had a feeling it would happen because I'm a good worker, and that she was very impressed with me and couldn't wait for me to start working for them! WOW, things are different than last year!

I also ran into my counselor at my current agency yesterday when I picked up my first check, and she said that they had good things to say about me here and also that she was impressed with my former stage manager, who I had referred to her. And in keeping with the good job karma, Dougintx just got hired by his temp-to-perm assignment through the same agency!

Speaking of which, I got the little brat a "Congratulations On Your New Job" card, and there are actually cards for "Congratulations On Your New Car" and "Congratulations On Your Driver's License". I'm not making this up.


Yeah...I'm definitely loving it! But actually, right now I'm absolutely addicted to No Vacancy: The Best of the Motels. I've always really liked them but I absolutely LOVE them after Bands Reunited.

ETA: Man, what a great day! My agency just called to let me know there's another assignment here at this place I'm enjoying starting a week from Monday! Woo-hoo!

Yay for Dodo and good job karma!!!!

Yesterday (Saturday) we decided to start the September school hols with a family day, and went up to the Sunshine Coast. There's an amusement park there, with a pub called the Ettamogah Pub. The pub was actually inspired by a cartoon in a weekly magazine here back in the 70's, showing a very exaggerated Aussie culture with lots of unshaven, beer bellied men drinking in the pub. Some larrakin then decided to actually build the pub, complete with a rickety, lopsided building and the pickup truck in the roof. Quite a fun place, lots of Australiana - for instance, the bathrooms are marked "Blokes" and "Shielas" and are called "dunnies" or "loos", there are signs saying things like "Work is the drinking man's curse" and the restaurant called "Blueys" serving good old Aussie tucker (that's food to you guys).

Quite an Australian attraction. If any of you ever make it out here, I will take you there to experience some unique Aussie culture. I'm going to try to include a link to the pub, written by an American who visited it, hope it works.

Link Ettamogah Pub

And later in the day we went to the beach. A little too cold for swimming still, but the kids had a great time making sandcastles.

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

ETA - hooray! The link worked!

Hehe, sounds like a fun place, AussieGirl. Too bad I won't be getting to Australia any time soon. Oh, and happy anniversary!

My house looks like it was hit by a bomb, because my parents are totally renovating the place. This wall's been knocked down, that wall's been taken back a few feet, those doors need to be sealed off, and there isn't a single room that doesn't have some walls that are now lacking paint or plaster. And they haven't even booked painters or anything yet.

Heh. I would remember the Aussie Pub experience better if at the time I was down there they'd let kids go in. Or maybe it was just the places my dad frequented at the time...

Remember Slim Dusty, "The King of Australian Country Music" and the song he used to sing?

"There's nothing so lonesome, morbid or drear/Than to stand in the bar
of that pub with no beer..."

Words to live by.

PS: The redbacks would scare the crap out of us when we were over there. Especially when we'd want to go pick lemons and they'd be camping out. What we'd do is when we didn't see any spiders around, we'd go and knock their webs off the bush with brooms. That was supposed to keep them from coming around, but in retrospect, it was pretty damn stupid. Who likes lemons that much?

suctionprints, The Pub with No Beer is Australia's country music anthem. Did you know that Slim Dusty died? In fact yesterday was the first anniversary of his death and there were gatherings all around the country. He had some great music, which really describes all that Australia is.

And mate, I can't believe you did that just to get some lemons! Those spiders can hide anywhere, and dusting the lemon tree with a broom would probably just make one fall onto your feet or something. Yech!!! Believe me, if one had bitten you, the look on your face would have been far more sour than that from eating a lemon, heh.

Hey Tipp, I can imagine what it must be like to live in a place while it's being renovated. Total chaos! But keep your mind focused on what it will look like once it's all finished!

Yeah, well, we were a bunch of stupid Yanks and the neighbors set us straight. Their technique was to just leave the webs, and pick the lemons farthest away from the redback condos. Then if they saw one, they'd run like hell!

I didn't know about Slim's passing. I'll have to let my dad know. He used to regale us with an out-of-tune version of "Pub With No Beer", alas, after he'd visited one with far too much.

Hey everybody! Finally back and posting after the week of ostensible vacation. We really could not postpone--it was a family get together of Mr. Hildy's side of the family. We went, we survived and now we are back. And, glory be, the weather was even pretty good, all in all. We went to the beach many times, went to a local state park and watched alligators snooze and swim, went to the local aquarium, which was actually very good indeed, and just hung around. We broke down and bought a little 8 inch DVD player for the plane ride. I'm not big on too bleebleeblahblahboo time for kids, but I tell you, it's worth it's weight in gold when you are trying to make a 2 year old sit still for hours on end.
Yikes, aussie, that redback scare is pretty darn frightening. I'm not particularly bothered by spiders, but then again we don't have any poisonous ones in our area.
Dodo, glad to hear that the work scene is panning out so well, and woodlock, check LLBean for cardigans. Or Land's End. or my closet. Yes, I am a dork.
What else has been going on? Was I the only one watching the Emmys last night and thinking, "Oh goodness NO, Mary Louise Parker. A dress should not also function as a peep show." That would have been my top fashion disaster pick of the night.

Good suggestions, hildy! I also remember my friend getting a cute cardigan with a 50s cherry applique at Hot Topic, and since you're there so much already, wl, ya might give it a try.

Heh. I interviewed a gentleman in Australia this evening, and I had to resist the urge not to 1. verbally goggle over the fact that it was the next day over there, and 2. ask him if he'd ever met Aussiegirl.

ETA: Where did you all go? There are tumbleweeds rolling through this thread! Hope everybody is okay....

Well, Hildy, there's only 20 million people here, so I probably do know him! Lol. It's really weird though with us always being a day ahead of you, but it sometimes has it's benefits. For instance, when it was the early hours of 1st January 2000 here, and everyone was worried about Y2K, I was able to email all my friends and tell them not to worry! Heh.

We had a great night out for our anniversary. Best of all, no kids and nothing we had to do for them (though I did miss them). The hotel was very beautiful, and the rooms were magnificent. About the only disappointment was the fine dining establishment we had dinner in last night - great service, nice atmosphere, but very very expensive and the meals were so small that we were left hungry. I wouldn't go back there. But all the other meals we had in other places were pretty good. It was nice to indulge and just be together.

I woke up this morning with the mother of all headaches (no, it wasn't a hangover, before you ask), I think it was from being among all the noise, lights and smoke in the casino.

I too was wondering where everyone went, Hildy. In particular, Miss Yogi. Come back mate, we miss you.

Hey, Miss Aussie Girl and any other MMers out there. I have been trying to hold everything and myself together with scotch tape and paperclips. It's not going so well - heh.

Nevertheless, I couldn't miss the opportunity to wish Aussie Girl a Happy Anniversary, however belated. I'm glad that the evening went so well. Mr. Yogi and I always take room service when we have a night away for a special occasion. It's such a luxury to be alone together without Little Yogi, we don't want to waste a moment of it by going out to dinner. Plus, isn't it fun to cuddle together on a huge bed and eat chocolate treats from the kiddie menu? A trade secret - in posh hotels, the kiddie menu is the way to go for desserts - seriously. At one hotel in California, they have a chocolate bento box filled with a vast variety of delicious chocolate items. Yum.

I'm also glad that you survived your trip south, Hildy. Hurricanes and In-Laws, what a challenge. But I imagine the beach was lovely in early September. There is nothing like a few days at the ocean to make me feel refreshed.

I must say that Tipp's description of renovation has me a bit shaken as I am beginning a massive renovation in March. Seriously Unpleasant. I have to move out and everything - Ugh. Must. Think. Of. Something. Else.

Spiders? Lemons? No. Last Dodo's new job? Yes!!! Congratulations to my favorite bird! Isn't it a nice thing to enjoy your work place? I always appreciate it so much when the planets aline to make that possible for me.

;) MMers.

Hi Miss Yogi! Glad you dropped by!

I just had the weirdest thing - we called a messenger to take a box someplace (the cost of the taxi would be the same as the messenger). Well, messenger shows up with just a bag and was like, "I can't take this." I'm like, "Duh. I told him it was a box, not a small package."

He then gets into a fight with me that the heavy box I was holding was not a box but a carton. I'm like, "Dude, semantics. It's a box." He then gets even angrier and pulls out a small package that is in his bag and waves it around, telling me that the tiny box is a box, but the box I'm holding is a carton. I'm like, "Dude. Seriously. I told them it was a large box." He then keeps saying it's not a box as I shut the door to call them back. Seriously. I passed kindergarten and kicked ass in geometry. It's a box. That is taking one's job a little too seriously.

Welcome back to the Meet Market, dear Yogi. You have been missed. I hope that whatever is going on in your life gets better, and soon, mate. Want me to come over there and kick some butt?

And ska, bloody hell, a box is a box is a box! Sounds like he was just being pedantic. Idiot.

Well guys, Survivor premiered here night before last, and I only got to see the first half of it before we went out to dinner, so I'm going to watch the tape now and drool over Peachy. See you tomorrow!

Hey guys. Long time no post.

Today, I actually had to scold some of my students. I felt awful about it afterwards, but they were just goofing off while everyone else was working.

Then, after school I had a doctor's appointment, and the receptionist was the RUDEST woman in the entire world. She was giving me the biggest attitude problem while I was trying to schedule a follow-up appointment, and acted as if I were some moron, since there was miscommunication between us. She was SO rude, and made me SO angry, I'm tempted to just go to another hospital from here on out so I won't have to deal with her. I know that's lame, but I don't deal well with rude people, especially people who are rude for no reason.

Ugh. Come to think of it, I'm not having that great a day. :(

Oh, WSDude, I totally understand. Rude people are the bane of my existance. Let's face it, going to the doctor is no treat, who needs the attitude from the staff as well? I hope tomorrow is a better day!

I want to tell you, WSDude and Neptune how much I enjoyed your posts a while back. Neptune, your photos of the mountain hike were gorgeous, and WSDude, your description of your first snowfall was lovely. It's such a pleasure to hear and see such experiences.

On the box issue: Oh my heck, skagirl as Freud would (or would not) have said, sometimes a box is just a box, dude. (OK, clearly Freud would not have said anything like that, but still.) How absurd was that ridiculous messenger? Only in New York, baby, Only in New York.

Speaking of NYC, waiting to hear if you all had a fabulous time at TARcon....

I know I have already wished our Miss Skagirl a Happy Birthday in more than one venue, but I couldn't let the day pass without wishing you one here.

Because it can't be said enough, Have a fabulous day, Skagirl!

Yes, happy b-day ska!

I didn't go to TARcon, but we had fun getting a small group together to watch TAR at a sports bar in St. Paul.

Weird weather here - it was beautiful and 70 degrees here less than 90 minutes ago, now it's 15 degrees colder and pouring rain. No warning!

Good seeing you, yogi.

News flash: Candyland has the best white-chocolate peanut butter cups. I know this is blasphemy, but to hell with Reese's...

Happy Birthday to Skagirl. How has your day been? You should have told the box guy, "Listen dude, it's my birthday tomorrow, and I intend to have a great day, so just take the damn box, okay?", heh.

WSdude, sorry you came across such a disagreeable person. Unfortunately, they are everywhere. Why don't you report such terrible service to her manager? I do, same as I report great service to the person's manager. Anyway, I hope your day improved for you.

Yogi, how are you doing mate? Hope things are better for you also.How's little Yogi doing?

suction isn't it strange how the weather can change so quickly? I remember hot sunny days, and within an hour having a wild, windy storm, wondering if I'd landed on another planet or something. But none of that here today. It's a beautiful Spring day here, very warm, the bees are buzzing about, and there are new flowers everywhere. I actually felt like going to the beach, but won't have time today. Maybe tomorrow.

Hey guys. And, happy birthday to skagirl!!! I hope you have/had a great day.

Today at school was much better. It's probably mostly because I only met with my good three classes (our schedule makes it so that we don't meet each class each day). Also, my department chair observed my first period since I'm a rookie teacher, and she said I did a great job. Yay! Plus, today was the first meeting of the club I was asked to sponsor: the SNL club. It was basically about 50 seventh graders crammed into a room, watching "The Best of Will Ferrell." And, getting to watch DVD's during the day is always great, especially if it's Will Ferrell, since he's hilarious.

When I lived in DC, the weather would change at a moment's notice. We used to say (as I'm sure people in many places do), "don't like the weather? Wait five minutes." Here in LA, the weather's more constant, but of late it's been constantly hot, so it's still not that great.

And mmmmm... peanut butter cups.