Friday, May 31, 2002

And they say cats have 9 lives

What a nice story.

BTW, just between you and me? WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, we saw the beagle last night, and she's looking pretty well for just having had major surgery. She's pretty pooped, but she's standing a lot better and we're comforted that any pain she is experiencing now is going to get better.

Thursday, May 30, 2002

The beagle made it through surgery and the prognosis for full recovery is good.

Phew.

Poor beaglet.

It's going to be a while before she feels quite herself...but anything is better than the parapalegic possibility and excruciating pain she was facing....

HoustonChronicle.com - Texas to try out larvae that eat fire ants' heads

How bizarre.....

it would be great if there was a natural solution to fire ants...

Battleground God


An interesting Exercise in consistency of rationale (from metafilter)

Economist.com | The ethics of brain science

Now this is interesting...

The Loss of a Language

The Americanization of Irving Berlin by Stefan Kanfer

Interesting, one thing I've always (guiltily) enjoyed about Berlin's tunes is their bigger than life American-ness.... when one thinks about the culture of America it is usually perceived as a uniform "yank" type culture. It is easy to forget that "American-ness" has it's roots in its rich immigrant history....

Salon.com Books | I'd prefer not to

For me, top of the list, it's Ayn Rand. I.just.can't.

Why?

I can't get past a few pages of her writing and I find myself reading the same sentence over and over and over again while I think of more exciting things like my grocery list....

I'll have to ponder on the others.....I've gotten so lazy about my reading... I tend to just picking up 10 or so books at a time at the library and only reading those that capture me beyond the first couple of pages.

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

CBBC Newsround | ANIMALS | Orang-utan dies of broken heart

Disc Disease

Bad news. The beagle is in the shop today having back surgery.

Well, actually, it's not such bad news. At least there is hope that she'll have relief from her pain soon. She just wasn't going to get better with surgical intervention and had actually started to deteriorate noticeably. Poor baby bean.

On other news fronts....the offer we put in was rejected. The current owner refuses to budge or negotiate at all from his currently high asking price. So, good for him, maybe he can get some other sucker to pay....

As for us? Forward and onward to the next house...I'm sure the right one is out there....

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

So, a relatively productive weekend:
1. We put in an offer on a house. I'm not totally in love, but have to remind myself that this isn't the house I plan on living in for the rest of my life. We are waiting to hear back.
2. We made nearly ten pounds of fresh sausages...polish kielbasas (with extra garlic and tarragon) and country style (with lots of sage and pepper).
3. We made a batch of ginger beer.
4. We nursed the crippled beagle
5. I visited with my grandparents and did some chores around their house.

All in all, we got lots done!

Dead Duck Decoys, Goose Control

Yet more proof that you can find anything on the web....fake geese corpses....

CNN.com - Cloning to revive extinct species - May 28, 2002

Welcome to Scoop Away® Clean.com!

I'm looking at an ad for this product and am really amused/confused. The add I'm looking at has a picture of a cat licking it's paw with a box of this in the background. The title proclaims "Becase you love clean as much as your cat does..." Implying what? That the cat's so clean it's licking it's paws after eating it's own poo for cleanliness sake?

The caption reads (in part): Ironic how something so clean can make your home feel dirty. Well now, something called litter can make it feel clean.

That's engrish if I ever read it.

Cubicle With a View

hmm.

Monday, May 27, 2002

Dead Wives Poetry

Friday, May 24, 2002

BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | Fury over 11 September handbag

Australia is such an outpost for rebels....who knew?

HoustonChronicle.com - Boaters warned of new drinking law

Why do we even have to have laws for things that should be no brainers?

news.com.au - Wage rise lifts beer prices [23may02]

Damn the man! There is no break for the common man.

Salon.com Life | Go out and get a piece, son!

This is still a topic that gets me hot under the collar.....this is the exact dual-standard that has always pissed me off.

When I was growing up I was constantly harangued by a well-meaning father to "protect myself" and be a guardian of my virtue...because, after all, boys will be boys and they can't be expected to control themselves. I would have to protect myself against these hormone crazed hordes, because they could not be expected to mange themselves.

Why the hell not?

Boys will be boys, right?

It sets up the whole cliche of the woman being responsible in the background.....for everything.... and it still chaps me. Somehow it is my responsibility not only to manage myself, but the men around me....


Don't drink and walk.

Dia de Los Muertos Art

Just so as you know, this is going to be the theme for decorating in our new house...that is when we finally find it.

Did I tell you that the other day I went to look at house that had a tiny little half-bath (that's the polite american way of saying that dirty dirty dirty word "toilet") under the stairs? It was totally decked out like a confessional, I shit you not (pun intended). There were like 5 crucifixes in there (and trust me, this was a tiny tiny tiny little alcove of a room), painted in a browney-beigey colour, and the mirror had a frame that mimicked the lines of a church steeple...

Oh the jokes we could make out of that one room alone.....

Unfortunately (fortunately) the back wasn't completely fenced so it was a NO GO!

Thursday, May 23, 2002

Be still my beating heart...

(both figuratively and literally)....

Or, I guess I could have said "Ay Ay Ay! My poor arterties!"

I guess you'd just have to grow up with this heavenly combo of oozy dyed cheese and chilli gravy to understand the effect it has as an ultimate comfort food....

(mouth watering...must be lunch time...)

Now then, onto other news...sort of.

I finished the afghan. Oh yes I did. A completed craft project? That is a first for me. Not only that, I've gone crochet crazy!

I have since then also finished up a dog-sized afghan for Ruby (what you don't know is that the first crochet project was actually a doggie afghan for Bess...who likes to wear it as a cape)...and am now starting a baby blanket for my new niece.

It's insane!

It's also very soothing.....it's almost like meditating....you should try it.

Now then, for a beagle update...

Bess is resting (if fitfully) on her ORTHAPEDIC !!!! doggy bed. It's true. See how we've truly gone around the bend.

Also, I found another promsing house candidate yesterday. In fact, I have to admit to already planning the future projects I'd do there (namely a trellis to the side of the covered porch...perhaps with a climbing jasmine or some other sort of flower).... this, ofcourse, means that D would not love it.

The only major thing I can see wrong with it at this point (besides it being wood, and on a small lot) is that it has an electric range...and he and I would dearly love a proper gas range. But, that is a minor detail that we can address later...right?

Finally, in brewing news....the third batch of beer is gorgeous if I do say so myself. This weekend we'll be brewing proper ginger beer...and then we'll decide what to do next. We're thinking something kooky like a recipe we saw for a watermelon beer....it is summer after all.....

Nobody's Fool: What's it all about?\

I know. I know. This is the third link. But I love this place.

"I often wake up thinking about what I'm going to have for dinner that night. (See Malika's blurb).... This is totally me.

I may have to start copying their style and writing up what we're eating around our place, as both D and I enjoy cooking (and eating) so much. He and I like to adventure cook (ie. open the cupboards and throw stuff together) and are usually happily surprised with the results...

Nobody's Fool: Cooking: Panade Recipe

Hey! I never knew that what D and I like to call "slime" actually has a fancy-pants name!

Nobody's Fool: Food Notes and Stories

A great site I've only just disovered!

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Things to note:
1. They didn't accept the offer on the house, which in a way is a relief as it was at the very top end of our price capability.
2. The beagle has slipped a disc. Poor beanie. She's on strict rest orders for 6 - 8 weeks (poor us)....and medication. Hopefully she'll avoid having to have surger (poor wallet).
3. Still looking and looking and looking at houses.
4. See 3 (it's basically an all consuming activity at this point).

Girl in coma after prom drug trip, dies

sheesh.

What a waste.

‘I’m not gay,’ Mets’ Piazza says

Why would anyone care? Men and their sports....

Tuesday, May 21, 2002

DOH!

Monday, May 20, 2002

Naked chicken may ruffle feathers

Oh the jokes.....

Things to note:
1. "old slappers" is one of the search engine referrals I keep getting.
2. Looking at houses is exciting, but exhausting. We put in an offer on a house...but, I don't think we have much a chance for it. Either way it is a good learning experience, and I'm feeling unexpectedly calm about it.
3. The beagle is on strict cage rest for 2-3 weeks. It seems she's thrown her back out and we are "lucky" that she hasn't blown a disc. Poor beanie.

Thursday, May 16, 2002

You have got to be joking.....

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

news.com.au - Brothel story outrages Navy wives [14may02]

????

why are they mad at the paper?

Looking for a house is an exhausting and enthralling experience. For every home you drive by and peek into you have to imagine a whole life of you living there. How the dogs would run up and down the stairs, or how the kitchen might seem cramped when filled with family and friends...but cramped in a good way, or how summer nights would be lovely on the back deck with the bbq smoking, or how your bed may fit into the room, or where your couches might go, or what colour you would choose for your first remodeling paint job, or...well you get the picture.

Not only that, you have to imagine the life of the family that lives/lived there. How the little girl of the family would have loved the bright pink walls that you would immediately paint over. How the woman that is sitting outside with her brussels griffon seems so alone in such a big house that obviously once kept a large and bustling family, but now only serves to house her canvases. How the teenage boy made that dent in the wall with the edge of his skateboard (which he isn't supposed to ride in from the garage on). How the family dogs enjoyed chewing on part of the back deck on a long boring weekday.

Then you have to go through it all again when you take D back through those that made it to the short list...those you have hope for, those that you've already grown attached to because somehow you saw yourself there taking a quick dip in the pool, or making up your famous pico de gallo and passing it through the kitchen window to the group already gathered around the bbq in the back.....

And, he is just so much more practical than you.

And, he makes you remember things like that your priorities were decent bathrooms and a good kitchen....not lush back gardens and a cool dipping pool....

And, in the meantime you are preoccupied, but in a good way, about taking this big step and achieving a goal that you two made together a long time ago.

Monday, May 13, 2002

The Atlantic | May 2002 | The Merits of Meritocracy | Brooks

Girl thrown into pack of sharks

All in good fun...

Sunday, May 12, 2002

A Man Who Would Shake Up Science


complexity theory.......one of my pet subjects

Sunday Times: Welcome to the House of Snooze [ 12may02 ]

I didn't know shambolic was a word! I love finding new words.... Nice......

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Oh how I miss my lemon, lime and bitters

Next on the brewing agenda? Making some proper ginger beer....

Ah Mexico!

The more it never changes, the more it never changes

Ah Mexico!

The more it never changes, the more it never changes

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...

mmm, link for myself....so I can find it next week

When fast food goes terribly wrong...

Fact or fallacy: Sexy tree too much for some Westside neighbors By DAN WHITE SENTINEL STAFF WRITER May 8, 2002

Ah, Perth.....

Nice to see it get a national mention every now and then...

Wednesday, May 08, 2002

The Sauce Starts Here (washingtonpost.com)

I may have to make up a jar of this!

We're Auntie and Uncle again.....little Siobhan Abbie was born on May 9 (Australia time)......

Yay!

Wish we could be there to greet her personally....

CNN.com - Study bolsters link between breast-feeding, intelligence - May 7, 2002

Interesting...

Tuesday, May 07, 2002

Noooooooooo!

Following an Australian Tradition......

Monday, May 06, 2002

Zing!
This article is intriguing in adressing the "ugly american" myth vs. what is going on on the continent these days....

ah, the cultural to-ing and fro-ing goes on...

Although it's not exactly the same, it's tough for us (D & I) with one foot in Australia and one here....there are things we like and dislike about each culture....

Thursday, May 02, 2002

I expect nothing less of your mum thanthis

Wednesday, May 01, 2002

The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selling tabloid

I guess this would be disturbing to any marriage. Disgusting.

But read the sidebar.......bah bah.