Thirty-seven minutes

Or, how long it takes a Kansas jury to convict a confessed murderer. :)

In other news, the endodontist says he'd like to wait a month and see if the tooth doesn't pull itself together before he starts recommending root canal.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Hard Row, Margaret Maron

Went to the mall

Found the earrings store. Now I have octopi. :)


Today's earrings: snowflakes, peppers

Bedtime reading: Hard Row, Margaret Maron

The Walrus and the Carpenter

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.
- - Lewis Carroll

Today's earrings: flies, amber

Bedtime reading: Hard Row, Margaret Maron

On the cable car this morning

One woman asked some tourists where they were from. "Brazil," they said. "Oh! I'm from Colombia! Right next door..." She wanted them to speak Spanish, but all they had was Portuguese and English. The Asian woman sitting next to the lady from Colombia did speak Spanish, though. She'd lived in Mexico for a while. Then the conductor chimed in that he was from Spain. They had a lovely chat. I pretty much just recognized the place names, but I could tell they were having fun.

Then I had my teeth examined. She refered me to a periodontist.


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Hard Row, Margaret Maron

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

Commuting

This morning I rode an orange trolley to work.

After work, I took a cable car to the market. It was decorated with blue lights on the outside and snowbirds, snowflakes, and white tinsel streamers on the inside.

I caught a just-plain-bus home from the market.


Today's earrings: monkeys, chickens

Bedtime reading: Rituals of the Season, Margaret Maron

Weekend agenda

Hang clothesline
Pack away some of the china
Move books upstairs to make room in the basement for the china
Deal with accumulated correspondence
Bask.



Today's earrings: diamonds, dinosaurs

Bedtime reading: Rituals of the Season, Margaret Maron

Dropped off the keys to the old place

It was a pretty good place.

Soon someone else will live there. I hope they enjoy it.


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Rituals of the Season, Margaret Maron

Outlet mall across the street

Or that's the plan, anyway.

Community meeting highlights included my realtor asking pointed questions about parking, and a couple of dudes who asked self-important pseudo-questions about the architecture. Dude. It's an outlet mall replacing a bunch of derelict buildings. Better it should be a wall of glass than a faked-up pretense of Edwardiana.

After the meeting I fell into conversation with the designer of the Stevenson Street face-lift. I'm sorry to say I let my dubiousness about the micro-vendor spaces show, and then failed to add that I'm all for the project and didn't have any better suggestions. After I came home and looked at a map, I did come up with something: get the city to put a crosswalk with a full-scale stoplight in between the end of Stevenson and the entrance to the San Francisco Center. That would make Stevenson a shortcut from the new shops to the mall *and* to the parking garage on Mission.


Today's earrings: elephants, ebony drops

Bedtime reading: Rituals of the Season, Margaret Maron

Happy birthdays [observed]!

The bouncy house was a brilliant idea. It gave everyone something to do/watch while eating the yummy food and talking to all the nice people.

Odd fact: all M's friends' children were pleasant and well behaved. All of them. It bothers me that this is unusual.

Fun fact: the bouncy house had the president's picture on the front.



Today's earrings: rockets, theobromine molecules

Bedtime reading: Sand Sharks, Margaret Maron

Found while web-surfing

Poster1: I honestly am having trouble coming up with a meaningful distinction between the insurance companies and organized crime. Seriously.

Poster2: you can contact organized crime after 5pm.



Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: Sand Sharks, Margaret Maron

Return to the Runway

Plus! Models of the Runway: a weekly half-hour of the model experience. They're going to be re-picking models every week, and they've also got the models sharing living quarters. And there's a cash prize for the winning model. Since there's very little the models can do to influence whether they stay or go, I expect a lot of drama.


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Sand Sharks, Margaret Maron

Happy Meg's Birthday

Party here.


Today's earrings: sapphires, rabbits

Bedtime reading: Sand Sharks, Margaret Maron

Drinks at the Elks Club

One of my coworkers just became an Elk, and he graciously asked a few of us to have a drink with him in the club bar. It's a very nice bar, right above Farallon. We had several drinks.

On my way to the bus I succumbed to the siren call of the bookstore. They didn't have Repo Man in stock, so I made do with a remaindered copy of Thelma and Louise.


Today's earrings: deer, rocks

Bedtiem reading: Sand Sharks, Margaret Maron

E

He nodded and began to, well, it wasn't what a purist could call singing exactly ... but it was certainly a conscientious effort toward making a joyful noise unto the Lord.

- - Margaret Maron

Today's earrings: rockets, citrine drops

Bedtime reading: Southern Discomfort, Margaret Maron

Ephemera

http://iparrizar.mnstate.edu/~juan/fm_astronomy.php


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Death's Half Acre, Margaret Maron

Nice day

A pleasant brunch, then M went with to an open house. Those bedrooms were tiny. Also, poor bathroom placement on one of the models. Locations's still good, though.

Then I went home.


Today's earrings: turtles, other turtles

Bedtime reading: Death's Half Acre, Margaret Maron

It's a sign

Today's earrings: llamas, rocks

Bedtime reading: Death's Half Acre, Margaret Maron

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

Found on Facebook

This week I was befriended by Dave S., who many of you may remember from high school. He's married with two kids, and living outside Sacto. Which is very odd, since I still think of him as a teenager.


Today's earrings: squirrels

Bedtime reading: Slow Dollar, Margaret Maron