Shiny monkeys

Today's earrings: monkeys, suns

Bedtime reading: My Heart Leaps Up, R. A. Lafferty

Mission accomplished

I have the specified breakfast foods in my home.


Today's earrings: camels, suns

Bedtime reading: Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

M's been telling me I should get some art

I was thinking maybe something like this:

It's by Thomas Easley. I do love his chickens.

Today's earrings: ants, suns

Bedtime reading: The Danger, Dick Francis

Back to the dentist

...and she tells me that I'll just have to wait until it stops hurting. Um, wtf?
I can't afford to get this thing redone. I can't even afford a second opinion.


Today's earrings: snowflakes, suns

Bedtime reading: Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett

Aphorism

No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
-- Stanislaw Jerzy Lec


Today's earrings: snowflakes, suns

Bedtime reading: Does Anyone Else Have Something Further to Add?, R.A. Lafferty

Happy Solstice

Today's earrings: coffee cups, suns

Bedtime reading: Proof, Dick Francis

The Object-Lesson

At twilight, however, no message had come from the asylum,
so the others retired to the kiosk,
only to discover the cakes iced a peculiar shade of green
and the tea-urn empty
save for a card on which was written the single word:
Farewell.
- - Edward Gorey

Did anyone see a psychiatric explanation of why House's hallucinations were of Amber and Kuttner? Because I didn't. Rendered the whole enterprise fairly pointless.



Today's earrings: diamonds, suns

Bedtime reading: Night of the Morning Star, Peter O'Donnell

So, that one place I was talking about

with the wall of glass brick facing the street? If I'm reading google right, the street in question is the alley behind Angry Lemming's office. And if I'm reading the property description right, the apartment has deeded parking.

But does that make up for the place being innundated if sea level rises more than 4 meters? And in a liquefaction zone? Probably not. Liquefaction + glass brick = unhappiness.


Today's earrings: rabbits, suns

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

Oh, Canada

I chose my earrings this morning hoping to charm the Canadian government into publishing the schedules they promied weeks ago.

I should have known better. My charms always boomerang.
Hey! Maybe if I got some boomerang earrings, they would create a double-reverse function that would allow me to do some effective magical thinking! Oh, wait...


Today's earrings: bears, suns

Bedtime reading: Annals of Klepsis, R.A. Lafferty

France has won!

July 3rd, 2006, I was at the meat counter at Whole Foods and realized that Hubert Keller(!) was standing next to me. He caught me gawping at him. I told him he was wonderful on camera. He thanked me and went back to choosing sausages. Such a gracious man.

I'm glad he won the first round.


Today's earrings: suns, other suns

Bedtime reading: The Judas Rose, Suzette Haden Elgin

The Guiding Light

My boss spent about 45 minutes this afternoon catching me up on The Guiding Light. It seems that two of the women characters are falling in love, and my boss is part of the on-line chatter about it all. My contributions to the conversation were along the lines of, "Philip's not really a Spaulding, you know," and, "for some reason, I remember the black cloth mary janes Holly wore when she was in jail."

Surprisingly, I finished the work I meant to finish.

Then I went to a class for first-time homebuyers. I found out the names of some of the standard forms, but other than that? Dinner with T&S was more informative.

I got home to a message from b2 that the Bad Man had left the island, and then I watched Sam Winchester break the last seal and set Lucifer free.

It's been a full evening.


Today's earrings: coffee cups, suns

Bedtime reading: Banker, Dick Francis

LA

Project Runway airing on Lifetime this summer.

Also, that photographer whose work I like so much feels there should be more comments here.


Today's earrings: monkeys, suns

Bedtime reading: The Rebel Angels, Robertson Davies

Work fun

Got an email from my boss, forwarded from a potential customer through Sales Dude, asking what info I had on Big Mess,* and how are the relevant footnotes set up in the production database? She was thinking of having IT extract the info from the footnotes, and wanted to know how much trouble the programmers were going to have.

I responded with a spreadsheet that has all the info that the customer was looking for about Big Mess in sortable, searchable format. The Sales Assistant stopped by my desk a little later, and I pruned it a bit for him, and told him the parts he'd have to trim himself because I didn't have time. Later that afternoon, I got a thank-you forward from Sales Dude; he'd sent a bonsai version of my spreadsheet along to the potential customer.

I looked spiffy-golden, so that was nice. But should I have told them about the two weeks I spent setting up that spreadsheet?


Today's earrings: racing camels, suns

Bedtime reading: Pyramids, Terry Pratchett
_________________________________
* Big Mess is a subject that the US government has documented rather shoddily. Their sloppy approach to cross-referencing does not deter them from assessing massive penalties if an importer messes up.

Happy Inauguaral!

Dude, it's been a totally frabjous day. There were all these petty annoyances - starting with me spilling coffee on the front of my pale green shirt first thing in the morning and the spot nagging away at my peripheral vision all day - but I was still obnoxiously cheerful.

Kinda like these people.


Today's earrings: eyes, suns

Bedtime reading: "Great Day in the Morning," R.A. Lafferty

Good day

Brunch at the Dancing Square, with extended inspection of the new appliances. I think M may have actually drooled on the refrigerator. It's a very nice refrigerator. Brunch was yummy (most excellent piecrust), I won the Scrabble game, and then we hung three pictures in the dining room. M gave me a lift home, and then I did my laundry.


Today's earrings: fish, suns

Bedtime reading: Nation, Terry Pratchett

Rise & Shine

Woke up this morning with "rise, and shine, and give God your glory, glory; rise, and shine, and give God your glory, glory" running through my head.


Today's earrings: coffee cups, suns

Bedtime reading: Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Brilliant Candlemas, everyone!

According to ancient lore I found on some random website, February 2 is the day that bears and wolves come out of hibernation. And groundhogs. Except, wolves don't actually hibernate, and most animals don't keep to the Gregorian calendar. So, yeah. But it sounded good.

M and I went to the DeYoung today, and amused ourselves exploring the parking garage (there's a tunnel!) and mocking this mantlepiece. The picture does not do it justice, not at all. The dogs flanking the hearth are anatomically correct. The section above the clock is a full relief of hounds bringing down a boar. The deer on top looks pissed, perhaps because he's got the wrong horns glued to his head. There's this random foliage all over it - I could come up with a theory that fit in the acorns and pomegranates, but the little sprigs of lily-of-the-valley make nonsense of it all. It's truly a thing of joy. We also checked out the Turkmen textiles in the Dimly Lit Gallery. Those Turkmen (well, Turkwomen, actually) could really knot a rug.

-tonight, my adorable local entire family took me to Chez Panisse. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Happy, well-fed me! I gyre and gimble with delight.


Today's acquisitions: 1 Klein hat, 4 pairs earrings, and one "oh yeah, I've been to Chez Panisse" credit.

Today's earrings: bears, suns

Bedtime reading: Space Chantey, R.A. Lafferty

Dunno why, but this has been in my head lately, along with "Moses Supposes"

Security Officer: I'm sorry, but you're not on the guest list.
David Addison: That's because we're not guests. We're looking for a man with a mole on his nose.
Security Officer: A mole on his nose?
Maddie Hayes: A mole on his nose.
Security Officer: [to Maddie] What kind of clothes?
Maddie Hayes: [to David] What kind of clothes?
David Addison: What kind of clothes do you suppose?
Security Officer: What kind of clothes do I suppose would be worn by a man with a mole on his nose? Who knows?
David Addison: Did I happen to mention, did I bother to disclose, that this man that we're seeking with the mole on his nose? I'm not sure of his clothes or anything else, except he's Chinese, a big clue by itself.
Maddie Hayes: How do you do that?
David Addison: Gotta read a lot of Dr. Seuss.
Security Officer: I'm sorry to say, I'm sad to report, I haven't seen anyone at all of that sort. Not a man who's Chinese with a mole on his nose with some kind of clothes that you can't suppose. So get away from this door and get out of this place, or I'll have to hurt you - put my foot in your face.

- - Moonlighting, via IMDB


Today's earrings: lobsters, suns

Bedtime reading: Thud!, Terry Pratchett

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.

Stardust

• s/w MS in re: remote diagnosis and proper treatment of the lunatics in our computers.
• laundered. Collected dry cleaning. Sm. hole in the purple cardigan; asked them to clean it anyway - pickup Wed am.
• to EB. Serious traffic in SF. Saw an actual amphibious vehicle driving around Union Square. While walking from NBB to M's, was asked by fellow pedestrians which way was north. Still believe I answered correctly.
• Discussed quilt edging & Halloween costumes w/M.
• Presentation of presents.
• Dinner w/ M, A, S, and Spanish Mathematician.
• To Eville for movie. M parked cleverly. Movie sold out.
• To Andronico's for ice cream and cake. Singing & dancing to Thelma Houston + discussion of standard excellence of in-store soundtrack.
• To M's for Scrabble. M won (observed). Drank float. Was paid a quarter to eat cake.
• Valiant attempt on BB, aborted @ last exit d/t general recognition of ridiculousness of enterprise. (Suspect only 1 or 2 lanes open each way, because, damn.)
• Lots of loungers in Embarcadero Stn; no cabs @ Hilton cab rank. Caught cable car. Per brakeman, concert @ ball park => crowd. ["Rock the Bells": Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, and many, many more played the McCovey Cove parking lot.]
• To Cala. Bought crumbled feta for tomorrow's lunch.
• s/w KP. All well in the Far East, though the sub-prime mortgage crisis looms larger there. He was on his way to get a foot massage.
• Off to bed.
  

Today's earrings: diamonds, suns

Bedtime reading: American Gods, Neil Gaiman