Word of the day

thug

1810, "member of a gang of murderers and robbers in India who strangled their victims," from Marathi thag, thak "cheat, swindler," Hindi thag, perhaps from Skt. sthaga-s "cunning, fraudulent," possibly from sthagayati "(he) covers, conceals," from PIE base *(s)teg- "cover" (see stegosaurus). Transferred sense of "ruffian, cutthroat" first recorded 1839. The more correct Indian name is phanseegur, and the activity was described in Eng. as far back as c.1665. Rigorously prosecuted by the British from 1831, they were driven from existence, but the process extended over the rest of the 19c.

- - etymology.com

Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Hard Row, Margaret Maron

Fun fact

The place I intend to buy is within the catchment area for Galileo High.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Disclosure Package, The Realtor

The bridge is out

http://baybridgeinfo.org/

So I (of course) went to the east bay for brunch with T&S& the gang.
It was lovely :)



Today's earrings: hands, apples

Bedtime reading: Crimson Joy, Robert B. Parker

s/w a mortgage broker today

I have surprisingly good credit. Next step: call realtor & make appointment to go tour something.


Today's earrings: hands, keys

Bedtime reading: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling

I've been procrastinating about getting a firewall

This morning, the bad software invaded my computer again. I'm about to go home and run the anti-malware thingy again, but, y'know...

M, it may take a while to finish that Scrabble game.


Today's earrings: hands, dice

Bedtime reading: Bad Monkeys, Matt Ruff

I'm pre-approved

I have a letter from the bank saying so. Of course, it was attached to an email saying my file is still with the underwriter, so, y'know. We'll see.


Today's earrings: hands, citrine drops

Bedtime reading: Death's Half Acre, Margaret Maron

Sandcastle

Woodsy!

Today's earrings: hands, basketweaves

Bedtime reading: Dolly and the Bird of Paradise, Dorothy Dunnett

3 is a Magic Number

Three is a magic number,
Yes it is, it's a magic number.
Somewhere in the ancient, mystic trinity
You get three as a magic number.

The past and the present and the future.
Faith and Hope and Charity,
The heart and the brain and the body
Give you three as a magic number.

It takes three legs to make a tri-pod
Or to make a table stand.
It takes three wheels to make a ve-hicle
Called a tricycle.

Every triangle has three corners,
Every triangle has three sides,
No more, no less.
You don't have to guess.
When it's three you can see
It's a magic number.

A man and a woman had a little baby,
Yes, they did.
They had three in the family,
And that's a magic number.

3-6-9, 12-15-18, 21-24-27, 30.
3-6-9, 12-15-18, 21-24-27, 30.

- - Bob Dorough


Today's earrings: hands, basketweaves

Bedtime reading: Fool, Christopher Moore

Cramps bad

Muscle relaxant & ginger ale good.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave

Bedtime reading: Spaceland, Rudy Rucker

Worked late

The Troll left around 6:30. I thought I was the only one left in our end of the office. Really, I did. So I started singing aloud to the music in my headphones. It was mostly Johnny Cash, which is not too bad, but have you ever tried to keep up with the lyric to "I've Been Everywhere"? Anyway, just after 7 Newbie wandered into my field of vision; she was peering down the hallway, apparently looking for the source of the sounds. oops! I told her I'd thought I was alone, sorry about the singing...

I did not ask, and she did not volunteer, why she was hanging out in the break room at 7 when her shift ended at 5:30. Life would be nothing without its little mysteries.

I'm kinda glad I wasn't singing along to Sublime.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman

Thoughts while surfing the intertubes

A post on Pharyngula led to a NYT story about people who thought they were getting "death before dishonor" tattooed in Chinese characters and found out later they really said "bite the wax tadpole" which led to a website full of incompetently written pseudo-Chinese tattoos with the actual translations.

And I thought (as I do every time I run across this phenomenon), why didn't these folks get themselves tattooed with runes instead of Chinese? Runes are pretty, look exotic, and there's the huge bonus that almost no one else can read them, either. If you mess up Chinese characters, there's a billion-plus people who can spot the error on sight. If you mess up runes, there's maybe a few hundred people currently on the planet who'll be able to tell if you did it wrong without checking a textbook.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Too Many Blondes, Lauren Henderson

Committee meeting

I came in, sat down. The office troll came in and sat down directly across from me, and spent the next hour trying to catch my eye while I did my best to only look at him when there was a reason.

Y'know, it's funny... I've heard various women say that as they got older, men ignored them more. For me, as I get older and more apt to ignore people I don't want to deal with, I've found that (some) men get all affronted if I ignore them. They don't want to talk to me, as far as I can tell. They just expect me to acknowledge them. Make eye contact, something. And if I don't - if I sit in the laundromat with my eyes glued to my book and don't look up as they walk by - they act out. They intrude on my peripheral vision. They make noise, and get progressively louder if I don't look up right away. Some have intruded on my space. They let me know that they are ENTITLED to my attention. Funny, huh?


Today's earrings: hands, peppers

Bedtime reading: Busman's Honeymoon, Dorothy L. Sayers

400th post

The headline was:

_________!

IF LIFE'S A BLANK

TAKE NUTRAX

"And in any case," grumbled Tallboy, "the Morning Star won't take it. They won't put in anything that looks like bad language."
"Your look-out," said Ingleby. "Why not ask'em?"
Tallboy muttered something impolite.
"Anyway, if Hankin's passed it, it'll have to be laid out, I suppose," said Ingleby. "Surely the studio - oh! hullo! here's your man. You'd better worry him. Bredon!"
"That's me!" said Mr. Bredon, "All present and correct!"
"Where've you been hiding from Tallboy? You knew he was on your tail."
"I've been on the roof," admitted Bredon, apologetically. "Cooler and all that. What's the matter? What have I done?"
"Well, this headline of yours, Mr. Bredon. How do you expect them to illustrate it?"
"I don't know. I left it to their ingenuity. I always believe in leaving scope to other people's imagination."
"How on earth are they to draw a blank?"
"Let 'em take a ticket in the Irish Sweep. That'll larn 'em," said Ingleby.

- - Dorothy L. Sayers

Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Interesting Times, Terry Pratchett

Potato soup

With grateful acknowledgment to Rombauer & Becker:

• Start frying 6 strips bacon in a large saucepan
• Peel & chop 2 large russets
• Eat 1 slice bacon, set the rest aside to drain
• Drop the diced 1/2 onion leftover from Saturday in the bacon grease
• Turn on fan
• Add chopped potatoes
• Saute a while
• Add water and chicken stock to cover
• simmersimmersimmer
• Check tenderness; add more stock; have another slice of bacon; simmer some more
• Turn off fan
• Check tenderness; rejoice
• Spoon mushy potatoes into blender
• Pour in some half and half
• Blend
• Notice an odd burning smell from the blender; wonder vaguely if there's someone out there who still does small appliance repair; decide to think about it another day
• Add some more half and half
• Blend
• Pour back into the saucepan & bring back to temperature
• Have another half slice of bacon; get a grip and crumble the rest into the soup
• Add salt, pepper, and seasoned salt to taste
• Dish up a bowl of potato soup
• Gloat over its excellence
• Pour a glass of wine and have another bowl of soup
• Tell the internet what you had for dinner
  
• Go to bed happy.

Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger

An Ordinary Day, With Lunch

M and the Cricket came and had lunch with me today. They should come have lunch with me more often. It'd be fun.


Today's earrings: hands, dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Truckers, Terry Pratchett

Clouds & rainbows

Something wonderful


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave

Bedtime reading: The Wee Free Men, Terry Pratchett

how things get from point A to point B

and sometimes F = GMm/R²


Today's earrings: hands, liberty dimes

Bedtime reading: L. Frank Baum, Katharine M. Rogers

Protest Day

A police motorcade passed my bus this morning on the way to work. I understand many people got arrested.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, Terry Pratchett

Half day

Went in late today, d/t digestive upset. [/tmi] Turns out I'd actually missed something that morning, and they wanted my input, since it's my project and all. I felt needed. But I didn't get a chance to answer all my email... sorry.


Today's earrings: hands, basketweave spoons

Bedtime reading: Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

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