Arianrhod definitely call Job A and tell them about Job B. Nothing makes people want you like the thought that they might loose you. Say something like "I'm really interested in the job we've been discusing. Company A seems like such a great place to work and I would be a good fit for whatever reasons you've discussed . However, another company has given me a firm offer. I've put them off until Friday, but I don't want to turn down the job there unless I'm certain I'm coming to work for A."

You can use this in salary negotiations, too. Also, you can use it to try to make offer at Company B better. Sometimes a lot of people are involved in hiring and they often need a push.

Bryce? You hung out at Bryce's house, rlb8031?

You get a heap of jealousy, followed by a *swoon* and a thump!

Arianrhod, now that I'm done knocking myself silly, my vote is that you call Supervisor A as well.

There's also a special place in hell for the people who pass you on a two-lane road or highway and proceed to drive more slowly than you were going in the first place. Then, of course, the line turns solid or the road is too curvy for you to see far enough ahead to pass safely, so you're stuck behind the slow person FOREVER. Gah. If they're going forty and I'm going the speed limit, they really didn't need to pass me in the first place. Idiots.

I also hate people who stare at people with visible disabilites. If it bothers them that much, they should look the hell away. So. Rude. I volunteer with a weekend program for teens with disabilites that's right across from a mall, and we'll do field trips there for lunch sometimes. If I had a nickel for every stare, or snicker, or nasty comment, I'd be able to buy every single book I want. That's worse than being oblivious. People can really be ignorant jerks sometimes.

OR maybe the "pit" stop could be at the bottom of a copper mine in the Keeweenaw Peninsula.....oh all right. I'll be quiet now.

Except to say that the perfect next clue would be located at Sault St. Marie, where each team would have to take the boat tour and retrieve a clue envelope from the wall of the locks as the water receded.

ETA: And...yum....pasties....

Oooh, I would so be all over a UP leg. I'm thinking eat pounds of fudge to get the clue, like JVJ's detour, and then drive across the Mackinac Bridge in an Escort without throwing up.

Of course a Detroit stop might be interesting too. Find a convenient People Mover route to get from the Fisher Building to Joe Louis Arena. Clue box at the giant arm. Decipher this graffiti on the bridge over I-94 to lead you to your next pitstop.

Adding to the list of HATE: People who pass on the right on a three-lane when they have no reason not to pass on the left. I can't explain why this makes me so upset, but it drives me insane. It's just WRONG, people.

The pitstop for the Detroit leg must be the Big Tire on I-94.

And how about a Fast Forward to Greenfield Village? They would have to look for some obscure item in one of the buildings--like a particular piece of memorabilia in Edison's laboratory. Or they'd have to find a particularly unusual vehicle in the automobile exhibit in Henry Ford Museum. Maybe Henry Ford's camper.

Hey, this is fun. Let's send the Michigan ideas to TPTB. Think they'll go for it?

All those ideas sound like so much more fun than what we could come up with around here. Sounds as if I need a visit to the UP. (Which, just to clarify b/c I'm ignant, means Upper Peninsula, right?)

Yep, Hildy, UP is the Upper Peninsula. And the people that live there are Yoopers (UPers). People from the Lower Peninsula (or actually anywhere other than the UP) are Fudgies because they buy the terrific fudge that's made in the UP. Or they're called Trolls--because they live under the Bridge.

ETA: That's the Mackinac Bridge between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas--because I believe there's actually more than one bridge in the world.

GAH!!!!

Going back to one of the lovely suga wuga's comments from yesterday - I just had a client call me (at 10:10 a.m.) and say: "Hi, I have an appointment at 10:00. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to be late." I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying: "You're not going to be late, you ARE late, bitch!"

Didn't she read The Rules?!?!

A while back M. Darcy the Jeopardy Star asked:

To which I have to say - BWAH!

Heh, sad to say even after four seasons of TAR, geography is not my strongest subject.

Heh, Bubbacat, not to native Yoopers.

Oh, okay I think my heart just stopped. Phil at the Grand a la Chris Reeves in Somewhere In Time? **Swoon** Thud** indeed.

I found a way to avoid stupid Seattle drivers - go to work at the 'crack of ass'. I couldn't sleep so I decided to come into work early around 6AM. There were like 2 cars on I-90. Woo hoo! Not having to deal with people that can't merge has put me in the best mood.

Heee! Good point, JenEx. But I'm originally from the Detroit area, so we think of "The Bridge" as the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Canada. Ah, yes, Windsor.....also known as Detroit II but with better beer.

Thanks for the definitions, Bubbacat.

So a "pastie" has to be something other than what comes to my mind, RIGHT?

-----

Awww, it's ok, Rachel...*pat, pat*...relax, relate, release, repeat.

Suga, my guess is that a pastie in this context is some sort of meat pie (like what Chris and Alex had to eat for their FF?), though I've spent maybe a total of 5 minutes in Michigan. As far as I know, Michigan isn't known for its exotic dancers. Is it?

I had no idea we had so many Michiganers around here....

Oh my God, oh my God, word! My friend used to work in retail, and I went in to visit her one evening to find a child of about three spilling juice on the merchandise, knocking stuff over, screaming. The mom's response was, "Why is Mommy using her angry voice?" Meanwhile, the kid is still sullying the merchandise and being a brat. DUDE. Take him the hell outside! Give him a swat! Rules! Consequences! Gah. It drives me crazy to see kids misbehaving so egregiously and getting away with it.

Also on my list: parents who take their kids to see completely inappropriate movies and act annoyed when they cry, but don't take them out. So much is wrong with that. Yes, stupid, your 3-year-old is scared of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's a horror movie. It's designed to be scary. You can't find a sitter? Stay home until you can. You toddler does not want to see a horror movie, and it's completely irresponsible to foist your wishes on him. Also, if your kid is upset, take him out and soothe him! Jesus.

I love Dave Barry. I've never read anything by him that wasn't funny.

Edited to add:
Hee! Whitley! I loved the hell out of A Different World!

You got it, JoyWalker. A pastie is a meat pie. That's why when Chris and Alex had it as a FF, my reaction was "Yeah? So?" And no, Michigan (particularly the UP) is not known for exotic dancers. Female Michigan Tech students as strippers? *shudder*

BTW, the actual term is "Michigander"--you know, like a male goose. Don't ask me why. I seem to remember there was some kind of movement years ago to change it officially to "Michiganian" to remove any wildlife reference, but there was a big outcry. Seems people really liked being called Michiganders.

Hey - all this Michigan chat going on and I'm missing it. I live in the metro Detroit area, but my entire family is from 'da UP, eh! I've spent all of my summers up there since I was little, eating pasties and fudge...LoL! All of your ideas for Michigan-based stops are awesome - I'd probably wreck my car if I ever spotted another vehicle headed down I-94 with a yellow and red flag attached to it...

Oh man...my mom had a part time job for a little bit restocking a certain brand of ribbon in craft stores, and she was telling me that this one time, this little brat came up and started yanking all the ribbons off the spools and running around with them. She told (forget if it was a him or her) politely, "Oh, honey, please don't do that," and the mother immediately bitched her out for "stifling the child's creativity."

Ah yes, pasties. Otherwise known as "clogged arteries in a crust."

I grew up around Ann Arbor, Bubbacat, so yeah, I know all about the Ambassador Bridge (motto: Spans Two Countries and Three Hours) and Windsor's better beer. Many a Michigan teenager has spent his or her 19th birthday on the Canadian side of the bridge...

While Michigan isn't exactly known for its exotic dancers, I know Windsor used to be big on the Live!Nude!Men! clubs. My sister tried to convince me to hit Danny's for my bachelorette party. I passed.

JenEx, how right you are about Windsor! I remember many summer nights during my college years spent hitting the bars in Windsor. We used to go to the Imperial Tavern (I believe that was the name). It was decorated like a stereotypical Chinese restaurant, but the owners were Irish (I think) and the nightly entertainment was an Irish folk singer. Pretty bizarre. Then we would smuggle cases of Molson Brador (sp?) back to Detroit through the tunnel. Aaaaahh, good times.

Ahhh, we did that too! Although in my case I went to school in Maine, and we made road trips up to Canada to stock up on the Brador on occasion, and then drove down to NH to get the tax-free liquor. Yeah, long trips in the car in search of alcohol. Pretty much sums up my college career.

Pretty much sums up mine.

And to flog a nearly dead equine.... This morning I was driving across the 520, and there was a bit of a hailstorm. You know, one of those 30 second spans of time when ice falls from the sky. Not a lot. It wasn't even piling up on the road. And the person in front of me? STOPPED. Stopped, I tell you. And waited for the hail to stop falling from the sky before she would start driving again.

Seattle drivers suck.

This shows what a complete and utter nerd I am. Last night I had dinner with a friend who's spending the weekend in Boston with her family. She has a Dyson vacuum cleaner, which is supposed to be the most fabulous vacuum cleaner ever invented. I'm even considering buying one. Which is where the nerdism comes in -- I borrowed hers for the weekend to try it out before sinking several hundred dollars into one of my own.

Even nerdier -- I love it! I want to vacuum everything. And I hate vacuuming. But I have two cats who shed and shed and shed. And last night I discovered that my living room rug (a 9x12 Persian heirloom) is actually red, not dusty rose!

I've been reduced to being excited about a friggin' appliance. Damn!

Heh. It's a sign of getting old Daria. When I watch The Price Is Right, I now get WAY more excited over the furniture then I do about the cars or trips. Depressing, isn't it?

Is that one of those vacuums where the advertisement talks about the designers going through hundreds of designs before settling on the final result? B/c if so, I must admit that I, too, have lusted in my heard for one of those. And I don't even have an heirloom rug! I do have cats, though, and am sick of the tumblefurs rolling through the living room.

Mine too. All six years.

Damn, its almost 4 p.m. on the Friday before a holiday weekend. Why won't my boss say the magic words - go home. I think I am the only one working in DC today :-)

I feel your pain, M. Darcy....I'm a teacher, and the kids just went home. Now I have to wait until it stops raining to head home on the trusty bike. I'm going backpacking this weekend!Yay for Mondays off!!

Rachel, maybe after a certain age, the furniture replaces toys. I've started looking at everything as toys. Books = toys! DVDs = toys! New appliances = toys! Etc.

Hildy, Dyson is the British brand that was created by some guy who claims to have revolutionized vacuum cleaner technology. Which I believe he did, since he came up with a new design that's been copied widely. So I may get a knock-off if I can find one appreciably cheaper. We'll see. Anyway, I'm sitting in my office, looking down at the Persian rug (that's it -- I own two), and I can't tell that a cat has ever been in this room. And one of my cats has long hair (but she's not a Persian!) that sort of weaves itself into the carpets. So I'm quite impressed. I don't think these rugs have been this clean since I sent them off to the professional rug cleaners right before moving into this house 6 years ago.

I bought a new vacuum about a year ago when my old one died of congestive cat hairball. I didn't even consider a Dyson because I thought I read somewhere they didn't work as well. Guess I thought wrong, huh. Good to know they work that well.

In other toy-related news, I got a silver iPod mini this week. I lurve it.

You know I have a normal iPod, and i still want a mini. Those things are pretty.

In other news, I got something Yummier in the mail today thanks Suga, I can't wait to try Crab flavoured Chips. Actually I want to try everything, but I really shouldn't open all of them at once because then I'd have to eat them all at once before they went stale. I'm not saying I couldn't do it...I'm just saying I shouldn't.

I think we need to organize a mini Eastern Ontario TARCon so you can share with Zron and I.

I don't have a regular iPod or a mini one. But I really want one.

I'll share, but you have to fill out some forms from AgCanada, the FDA, and the surgeon general first....in tripicate.

AgCanada is just down the road... but the rest of it is just too far to go for candy.

Enjoy, piperdown!

DariaG I totally covet and lust after the purple Dyson Cyclone Animal upright. I'm hoping against hope that Mr.Duchess buys one for me soon.

Dyson Beauty
Whenever the commercials come on tv I get all quiet, hypnotized by James Dyson's nice English voice.

Dang, it's not 2:30 yet on the west coast and I want to go home. My office is empty but even though I've been here since 6AM I have 2 projects to finish before I leave.

**sniffle** I guess I should get off the TWoP boards and get back to it.

If there is one vacuum cleaner in this world I want, it's not a Dyson -- it's a backpack vac! A few years ago I hired a cleaning service to clean my house top to bottom prior to putting it on the market, and one of the women popped this lightweight thing on her back, and without any bending, stooping, pushing, pulling, awkward bending, or anything else cleaned everything up slicker'n'a whistle and about as fast! They're not made for the consumer market and the pro sellers cost a fortune, but there's a guy selling them on eBay and I just lust in my heart after one!

And SorchaRei, not to burst your bubble or anything, but you do realize that today was the day before a holiday weekend, the "official" start of summer vacation season in the US, and everyone in the country who could take the day off did, right? So traffic would have been totally light anyway? Sigh...I always hate it when there's no traffic headed to work and I'm patting myself on the back for my wise decision to go at exactly the minute I did or something, only to discover that the world has stayed home in droves because of something like a holiday weekend.

I went home early today because I've been dragging my ass in to work most of the week sick as a dog with a nasty cold. And then Wednesday, as if it wasn't bad enough, one of my coworkers quit with no notice and I got assigned half her workload temporarily, so there I was buried to my eyebrows when I could barely even struggle out of bed. So at 1:00 today I said the hell with it and came home and crawled in bed for a lovely two-hour nap. My goal is to finish recovering from this cold today, on paid time, so I can enjoy my time off while feeling better! Does that make me a Bad Employee?

Hey, Mama Tiger, I'm not the one who went in with no traffic. I'm the one who got stuck on the 520 bridge on a light traffic day behind the chick who stopped due to the hailstorm.

And then I came home early.

Oops. I got you Seattleites mixed up, I guess. My mom and sister live in the Seattle area (Issaquah and Redmond respectively), but I've never heard them mention hail -- I didn't realize you guys got anything but year-round drizzle! :-)

Jumping in and saying hi. I've never watched this show ~ but after hearing how great this show is (by word of mouth and critical praise) I will be tuning in this summer.

I'm off to research the forum now!

Hee hee! It was my bubble that you burst Mama Tiger. And I could smack myself on the forehead for not figuring the whole holiday weekend thing out before then. Word! to the whole deflating ego on thinking I was so clever. Heh.
Anyway, I just finished the last of my projects and now I am happily awaiting my guy to come get me and take me for Italian food! Where the heck is he?

Welcome majiggie!

Thanks for the replies, y'all! I called this morning, but there was no answer--just voice mail. I bet she took an extended holiday, too. I left a message so she can jump right on it when she gets back, and call me immediately thereafter. I hate waiting.

I don't think anyone's mentioned this already, but Newsweek has a nice article about the next Harry Potter movie, for those of you interested. It's this week's edition, so if you want to see it you better go grab it before they restock for next week!

Hi, I haven't been over here in a dog's age (which is to say, since last season ended). Just wanted to say hi to those I know and introduce myself to those I don't.

I live in Hawaii so am never going to ep post before you've all gone to bed. Won't even open the thread for fear of spoilage. I am a resident of the Bachelor MM (even though I basically hate the show) and was a founding member of the Paradise Hotel Hot Tub. You may also see me pop up on other trashy reality threads and the occasional drama (especially the trashy ones). I was also a Clown partisan last season, with a touch of Model love.

Anyway, can't wait for the new season and all of you and Miss Alli letting it rip!

I just had a wonderful three week vacation in the islands! Too bad I was down there on crutches after a hockey accident :( Good to see you back on board!

Sorry about the mixup, SorchaRei and DuchessKitty. I'm going to blame it all on the antihistamines I've been taking for my cold. Antihistamines and I do not get along well; in fact, the only time I've taken the recommended dosage of one was years ago, and when I started walking into walls and not even realizing it they made me go home from work! I actually sat there at my desk today and told myself, "Do your work right the first time because if you have to go back and try to find any mistakes you'll be here forever." I hate colds any time, but summer is the worst time to get them!

Anyway, welcome to all the new folks. If you enjoy spoilers (although in this case it's more like sleuthing), check out what our resident Detective Squad is doing over in the spoiler thread -- I am truly astonished and impressed by how much they've been able to figure out from a couple of commercials! I'll probably give up on the spoiler thread once the season starts, or at least if people start predicting actual results, but right now it's just fun to sit back and watch the incredible efforts being put into figuring out where this Race will be headed!

ahhhhhhhhhh I finally got my letter in the mail to my prof's superior. Cross your fingers for a speedy and postive response (meaning....my grade gets changed). My letter was four pages long!!! But my friend, who used to work with the program, said it was very well written and consise. I was so torn between wanting to get my grade changed and wanting to get her fired. I really had to struggle to stay focused on the grade issue. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Anywho....I was out car shopping today. Have any of you had any experience with Carmax????? I'm thinking about driving up to the Chicago area on Monday with a friend (yes...memorial day....my family is at least an 8 hour drive away and his is in Wisconsin....my b-friend has to work and his g-friend broke up with him last week). I hear they give good trade in value for used cars and they have some of what I'm looking for. I'm wanting to buy an Escape and all the dealers around here only have 4WD. I'd really prefer 2WD since I'll already be taking a mileage hit. I'd love to hear any thoughts on Carmax.

If you're making the trip just to go to Carmax, I'd check their website first. It may not be worth a long drive if they don't have what you're looking for.

They do have a great selection, but you can view every stores' entire inventory online at Carmax, and if a further location has the car you're looking for, they can arrange to have it sent to your location (for a fee, of course).

Also, it's kinda fun just to shop around online and get all your information before being stalked around the sales lot by a salesperson, IMHO.