Overall, an excellent day

We rode steam trains through a cloud, then descended into the land of sunshine and brought lunch to the Peregrinators.

Tiger assisted M as she took superannuated fruit from its tree. Then he played trains while she scrubbed. The twins cleansed the kitchen, the guys cleansed the garage, and I got to unpack a lot of books from their boxes and arrange them on shelves. I feel I bagged the best job.

The neighbors brought food. Go, neighbors! The cat emerged from behind the bar to join the feast. He even let me scratch behind his ears. Hello, cat! Then M drove me home. Thanks, M!

Sleep well, everyone.


Today's acquisitions: 1 breadbox
Living in Earnest, Charles E. St. John (Beacon Press, 1916)
Walden, Henry D. Thoreau (Riverside Press, 1889; 2 vols)


Today's earrings: pigs, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Lumber

Spoke with the Landed Gentry in their new digs this evening. They seemed a bit drained.

The cat came and sat on Landed while were talking. I hope Gentry got the picture...


Today's earrings: bulls, teapots

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Eternal vigilance

Today was much better. We made a list of things that I'll have to do later because there isn't time this go-round. Which bodes ill for next week, but makes this week less awful. Plus another editor turned up. No one knew he was coming in today. He'd barely sat down before *poof* I appeared at his desk with an armload of work. I am the Bad Fairy in this scenario.

Even with the shortened checklist and the extra pair of hands, I'll have to work Saturday.


Today's earrings: eyes, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Grinch

The US published this morning, right about on time. It's three reams of paper long, as usual. Five of six copyeditors are on vacation, which I hadn't accounted for. So it's a bit shorthanded in my corner of the world. I got two volunteers and then my boss had me shanghai three other editors into the effort; they were not pleased. Then my boss insisted I rope in the Grinch at the far end of the hall. I girded my loins and went to tell her she was to help with the data entry.

Um, ok, but first she wanted to ask about how there are all these lines missing from our version,* and she's heard all these complaints about it** and when she asked before*** she was told there was no PIB**** and all the lines have to be there for classification***** - it's really really important that all the lines are there****** - and what is going on with all these missing lines? And gee, could I calm down?

I took a deep breath and said, "Fine. But since it is my job to make sure that our book matches the US book exactly, you telling me that this book is systematically riddled with errors is pretty insulting."

At which point she informed me that I just can't take it personally. And doing it by hand the way we do is going to mean there's an error rate.******* And what did I need done again?

I told her, fairly calmly.******** Then I went back to my desk and tried to work while I shook with rage.

I didn't leave until almost seven.


Today's earrings: diamonds, suns

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes
_______________________________
* Say what? My job is to make sure that all the lines are there and complete. What lines are missing, exactly?
** Well, one complaint. From a customer. Well, she'd heard the guy in the office next to hers mention that he'd had a complaint from a customer. When? Oh, a while ago. What lines were missing? Oh, she didn't know. How many? I mean, are we talking about the occasional typo, or something bigger? We do this by hand; there are typos. If it's something bigger, how big and who was it forwarded to for correction? She wasn't sure if that complaint had been forwarded to editorial. So... she's not sure if the example she's built this speech on was a problem worth getting fixed, but she is sure that LINES ARE MISSING.
*** Asked who? Dunno.
**** I have no idea what PIB is, so I can't say whether we have it or not. I think she may have meant QA. Which we have. We call them "proofreaders."
***** Yes, indeedy. All the lines do have to be there for classification. I was first introduced to that concept when I first took the job, several years ago.
****** Yes, I know it's important. It's been mentioned to me several times since I took the job. By this Grinch, among others. She was just as condescendingly explanatory every other time she brought it up, too.
******* I just said that.
******** I did not share with her that the half-hour she'd spent telling me my work sucked was time I was going to be spending at my desk, long after she'd gone home. And that I am really sick of her total disrespect for me, my time, and my work. Because then it would have been an hour or more of my evening flushed down this drain.

Merry Christmas

Brunch at M's. Angry Lemming brought me, I brought cheese, Confused Cricket brought apples & soy sausage, M made spinach quiche and bread pudding. And it was good. Very feasty. Chatted with K&S - they seem to have had a pretty good Christmas. :) AL kicked ass at the Scrabbling, and there was more bread pudding.

Interlude at the Dancing Square. Photographs were taken. The floors came out great, and the walls are a pleasant shade of white. There was a diminishment of objet in the back yard.

Stop on Treasure Island. Dude, excellent view. It was all pink & sunsetish, too.

Dinner at Empress of China: properly made food, with prices pegged to the view & decor. Lots of peacock feathers and a lovely clear look at Coit Tower. Must go back and sit in the bar sometime.


Today's earrings: frogs, theobromine molecules

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Christmas Eve

KFOG is doing their best to play four decades of Christmas novelty songs. I was especially partial to the one that had Santa on his Harley, going on a charity run with his Elves. Best Rendition of a Standard goes to Barenaked Ladies for their "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

Rest ye merry, everyone.


Today's earrings: reindeer, dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Christmas at Candleshoe, Michael Innes

Across the universe

Not bad. Pretty good, in spots, but uneven. A couple times I was hoping they'd burst into the non-Beatles song that would have been more appropriate (Alice's Restaurant, Sam Stone).

Not quite clear on the reason for the Prudence character. Counterpoint, I guess?


Today's earrings: flies, peas

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

Fly! Be Free!

Good Solstice, everyone.
Leo
Cancer
Aries
Aquarius

By the way, this is my 200th post.


Today's earrings: bees, crows

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Rumination

So, looking up. Today felt pretty much like a Thursday. The Looming New Year's Deadline was just a feint on the part of my boss, and I really have until April. The stocking stuffers came. I got a random present in the mail. I have holiday lists from everyone, and have even procured presents for many people. "Bunnies." And once again tonight it was the rabbit's foot episode of Supernatural. Bunnies on my blog are like an omen for that ep, or something.

Still missing Tiger's present, and the Wandering Albatross's present is stuck in Bangkok customs, but it'll shake loose eventually, and Tiger's present will come. They have to. Because it's Christmastime.


Today's earrings: llamas, buffalo

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Hops

It totally felt like Friday today. And it felt like Friday yesterday, too. But it's not Friday.

I need a bunny.

snorglesnorglesnorgle


Today's earrings: Frogs, kangaroos

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Trample

Trample: 1382, "to walk heavily," frequentative form of tramp. Transitive sense is first found 1530.

Today's earrings: moose, rhinoceroses

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Scuttled

Today I was reminded why I never wear the crab earrings. I wear them, and someone gives me a reason to be crabby. It's a jinx.

But then later there were fish cakes & gang panang (hooray!) and that was an up side. Even later, I found this. Try reading it aloud. I only made a dozen mistakes or so, and some of those are words I didn't know in the first place.


Today's earrings: crabs, shells

Bedtime reading: Longshot, Dick Francis

Dinner with a Spanish Mathematician

Consulted reference material (via Pep's blackberry iPhone) in re the relative ages of Stonehenge and the pyramids at Giza. Turns out they are roughly contemporaneous. There was talk of the Easter Island stone dudes, but, as they cannot be easily constructed of shipping boxes, they were of less interest.


Today's earrings: owls, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

Thanks, Uncle Chas

He gave me my first ginger beer. It was way back in the early nineties, the first time I drove across country. I stopped at Chas & Chris's, and they took me in & fed me, let me take a shower, all the good stuff. Chas took me down into the basement and gave me a ginger beer out of an old freezer. That stuff had some kick. It was very unfamiliar-tasting, and I didn't know if liked it. Subsequent experiment has shown that I do like it, a lot.

He was also the first person I ever saw order hot water in a restaurant. Just plain hot water. I was bewildered. Unflavored water with a meal was a brand new concept. We drank milk with meals at home and sodas with meals in restaurants. And hot water? Why would one want that? Entwined with that marvel was another: hot water was not listed on the menu. And they just brought it to him! You can order stuff that's not on the menu!

It was a major step to figuring out that the world I navigated was a box, and that I need not stay in it.


Right now, though, I want cozy.


Today's earrings: sapphires, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

That was sad

Poor Jack, done in by a staph infection.

Poor Steven, done in by his own snobbery. Psst. Steven. Polyester isn't catching.

Chris is fun. Chris is nice to have around. Chris can't seem to design street clothes. Chris will be gone again soon, and Broadway will hire him to costume many fabulous shows. That part's not sad.


Today's earrings: flies, fish

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

Black Rose

Crows Licorice Flavored Gumdrops

Crows were invented in the 1890's. Originally to be called "Black Rose", the printer misheard the name and printed "Black Crows" on all the wrappers. The name stuck and the sweet, black licorice-flavored gumdrops are as delectable today as they were more than a century ago. 8.5oz theatre sized box measures 6 3/4 x 4 x 1".

Today's earrings: roses, crows

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

Guidance

It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.

- - John Kenneth Galbraith


Today's earrings: hands, anchors

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

I got carolled

They sang:

Words words words,
Words words words wo-ords,
Words words words,
Words words words words.

Very seasonal, I thought.


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtime reading: The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman

Pretty lights up all over downtown

City sidewalk, busy sidewalks
Dressed in holiday style.
In the air there's
A feeling of Christmas.

Children laughing, people passing,
Meeting smile after smile,
And on every street corner you'll hear:

Silver bells, silver bells,
It's Christmas time in the city.
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,
Soon it will be Christmas day.

City street lights,
Even stop lights,
Blink a bright red and green,
As the shoppers rush home
With their treasures.

Hear the snow crunch,
See the kids bunch,
This is Santa's big scene,
And above all this bustle you'll hear:

Silver bells, silver bells,
It's Christmas time in the city.
Ring-a-ling, hear them ring,
Soon it will be Christmas day.

- - Ray Evans


Today's earrings: leaves, amber teardrops

Bedtime reading: Through Elegant Eyes, R.A. Lafferty

More delights from the world of reality television

Tiffani won the Top Chef Christmas Special. Finally. This is good.

Erik voted out of Survivor, after Denise makes some decent decisions. Her best shot at this point is to stick with her alliance and hope she gets the last immunity. If she can do that, she can win. Any other path I can see puts her in also-ran territory, so I'm glad she chose to go for the gusto. I didn't like who she chose to take along on the reward. I did like that she took the time to mend fences afterward. If she can get in front of the jury, she has a lock on Peih-Gee's vote.
Courtney shouldn't have shot off her mouth like that.

Yeah, I, too, am good with Victoria staying on Project Runway. I wanted Ricky to go (I hate his hat and his time-management problems).
Elisa seems to have one hell of a resume, like, she's shown at Fashion Week and had her own retrospective and such. I don't know if that's the same as talent, but it is one hell of a resume.


Today's earrings: monkeys, aquamarines

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

Not pleased about the outcome of tonight's Project Runway

...but it's not like I can really defend the jacket.

*sigh*


Today's earrings: pigs, citrine teardrops

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

Call for holiday wish lists

I want exotic foodstuffs in attractive jars, representational silver earrings, publications about bees, the eye of the needle, and something else I forget, and tchochkes representing fruits and flowers that start with P.
I reserve the right to expand this list at a later date.

What do you want for Christmas?


Today's earrings: tree frogs, fish

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata

Rock, Paper, Scissors

- - Scott Fraser


Today's earrings: hands, rocks

Bedtime reading: The Cunning Man, Robertson Davies

More cheese

b2 wanted to check out Fancy Restaurant, so we went, had a drink, had the cheese plate. (Always have the cheese plate, my friends.) She was most impressed by the truffled honey.

We agreed that James' ejection was overdue, and worked up some Schadenfreude about it.


Today's earrings: eyes, crows

Bedtime reading: Rethinking Thin, Gina Kolata