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| Sunday, December 27th, 2009 |
treebones
|
8:20p |
Posthumous thanks, aka Heart Attack Snow
No, I don't mean when you look out the window and the amount of snow gives you palpitations. If you come from snow country, you know that not all snow is created equal. And, even snow that is created equal, can become more or less malevolent as it ages. So, my mother replaced most of her roof shingles with steel a while back. In the northlands, this is great. Much less likely to ice dam; odds are good, you won't actually have to get up on the roof and shovel snow at all. (If you don't know whereof I speak, use your imagination. It's at least as bad as you think.) Now, some snow in the world simply has the misfortune to fall in a sodden heap which no sane shoveler looks upon with glee. It didn't work to become evil; it was just made that way. I'm not talking about the nice, midweight snow which makes good snowballs and snow sculpture. I'm talking about the stuff which weighs like plutonium, cakes if you look at it cross-eyed, and freezes irrevocably if you leave it on the ground after sundown. But, naturally occurring Evil Snow usually happens somewhere around the freezing point, so, more often that not, the accumulation isn't that thick. Remember the roofing? As god is my witness, it appears that steel roofing allows otherwise inoffensive a skid-free path straight to evil. This manmade tool of the forces of hibernian darkness appears to take all forms of snow, wait until they have absorbed a sufficiency of evil, and then encourages the mass to launch itself, with a fully realized malevolent thump, across the walkways and driveways of the innocent in a precompacted mass of pure evil. Yes, I know that ice dams are bad. Roof leaks are bad. Black mold, the bastard child of both of the above is very, very bad. But must we embrace one form of evil to avoid another? I now understand much better why some ER nurses refer to some types of snow as heart attack snow, and wish to offer postmortem thanks to my father for protecting his little girl from the evils of shoveling during my formative decades. |
dhstein
|
9:18a |
well, I'll be going home today. I've been printing boarding passes for the niece and nephew. sigh. I hope the roads are okay to drive (got gaming tonight). Played a lot of Apples to Apples, visited with my folks, shopping and talking. having fun. |
| Saturday, December 26th, 2009 |
treebones
|
6:08p |
*nods* Good holiday.
Mum had a good, energetic day yesterday. Both my niece and my sister seemed to have fun. And so did I. I now have, among other things: * snowshoes and poles * all three LoTR movies * a British comedy named Father Ted that a friend recommended * a manual ice cream maker * some really cheap ginger brandy * a quirkily charming turtle made out of seashells * a really good ironic t-shirt * a varied plethora of other things I am, however, close to delighted that the holiday season is over. I'd like to get a nice, regular rhythm going again, thank you very much. (: My pysche's apparently confident that the holiday stress is all over but the shouting - it woke up me up for an hour during the night to ruminate over a topic that got back burnered courtesy of Maternal Stuff. |
dhstein
|
11:22a |
Hey! I was spammed over Christmas! Well, jingle my bells. Got a new sony Reader. Gotta check out the kinds of books I can get. After I get home Too busy having a good time. My sister has a nice keyboard. |
| Friday, December 25th, 2009 |
treebones
|
3:38p |
Send me rocks!
I'm discovering that I want more pretty rocks around here, and I'm not going to be able to get to anywhere I can pick them up for myself. So, if any of you, in your wanderings, see rocks (wild or store-bought, whichever) that you think should be sent to me, feel free to mail them on. Tracy Worcester 67 Hartland Road St. Albans, ME 04971 If you feel like you'd like to but have no particular intuitive sense regarding rocks, tigereye, tiger iron, citrine and amethyst could all be useful to me right now. As always, miss you all. (: |
treebones
|
2:51p |
Heyo, and happy cultural majority holiday to everyone!
While I wouldn't be anywhere but here, I also wish I was out there, feeding the lot of you moderately senseless at Waifmas. (: Mum's having a pretty good day, which means I'm more observing turkey making than being responsible for it, which is okay. My sister and my niece haven't arrived yet, so not much of the way of giftage, but soon. Hope this finds you all well, and I'm sincerely hoping that this time next year, Waifmas will once again be a go. (: |
filkertom
|
1:57p |
More Christmas Videos
It would be very easy to just embed the entire musical Scrooge, but these are some of my favorite scenes: The entire movie is on YouTube, and if you haven't seen it I think you'll like it. Several other vids I was planning to link to here were linked to in the previous vid thread, but there's no shortage of the good stuff: There are a gazillion more I haven't linked to -- 'cause that's for you. :) |
dhstein
|
2:26p |
Merry Christmas all! I'm having Christmas morning under my own tree. Soon, I will drive and drive and drive to see my side of the family. I'm pretty sure my family will let me do that with a slurpee (so there will be peace on earth - or at least peace in car). Got the Hamilton book I wanted, and Gurney and Vess (which is still coming, but I got a note saying it was mine). My darling daughter drew my favorite characters from my game. lovin it! I gave a great long hooded cloak, contact lenses with computer circuitry, a griddle (which will have breakfast), and many many books. Hope your day is as nice as mine! |
filkertom
|
9:06a |
Dangerous Wands
I would TOTALLY see this. Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) huskiebear. What kind of HP mash-up would you make, if you could? I've seen 'em with Superman, Transformers, Pride and Prejudice, Devil May Cry, Twilight, Batman, Pirates of the Caribbean, and remember that I tend to stick with only Harry/Hermione fics at Portkey. And of course there are a lot of variations of this. |
filkertom
|
5:02a |
Happy Merry Whatever It Is You Celebrate At This Time Of Year If Anything
The real reason I love Dickens: There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say... Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it! I say again, because I must never forget it or let you think I might have forgotten it: Thank you for being in my life. You keep me grounded. You get all the jokes. You give so much of yourselves. And you make everything worth it. I love you all. Merry Christmas. |
| Thursday, December 24th, 2009 |
filkertom
|
8:23p |
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filkertom
|
6:15p |
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treebones
|
12:33p |
Eastern Front: All more or less well. (:
I woke up in an amazingly good mood today. No particular reason, that I can see, but welcome enough, for all of that. (: Tomorrow, I get Turkey 101. I know roasting a turkey isn't rocket science, but it's my first time, and I still find it oddly intimidating. (: For all that I occasionally take it into my head to cook for 60 people, I've never actually learned to roast a turkey. And the fine people in our town took it into their heads to deliver us all the makings for a Christmas dinner. The uncooked makings. Mum's energy is enough of a variable that planning to have her make the turkey is a bad plan. Neither my sister, my niece, nor I have ever made a turkey. I'm sure you folks are all shocked that somehow, I found myself volunteering. (: I doubt it is going to be a spectacular success. However, at a minimum, I know to avoid the three cardinal sins. 1. Don't try to bake the turkey while it is still frozen. (Also thaw before using the chicken gun, but I digress.) 2. Unless you like the smell of scorched plastic, take the plastic bag full of turkey guts out of the cavity before baking. 3. Food poisoning is not a fun family holiday tradition. If the choice is between overcooking and undercooking, overcook. While I'm entirely sure this is right where I'm supposed to be, I am simultaneously very sorry that I'm not home right now, doing a final flurry of things to prepare for Waifmas. Unfortunately, I was not able to put together a Waifmas Dream Team before I left. Turns out, to replace me in making Waifmas, you need about four people. Who knew? And for those of you of a certain age, I simply leave you with the quote: "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!" |
dhstein
|
3:19p |
 okay. As a woman I MUST say that I am not this fat! They are new and comfortable! Do not see my but reflected in the window. Really. Okay done now. Don't we look cozy? Are you all ready for Christmas? I am. Christmas cookies are on the list, but we have a ton from Bob. |
markbernstein
|
10:17a |
This 'n that
I'm feeling chatty this morning, so here's a bunch of general catchup. I only worked Monday and Tuesday this week, and will be doing the same next week. Sharon's last day for the year was yesterday. And on January 2nd, we take of for our long-planned two week trip to Hawaii. Yay vacation! We gave out Hanukkah gifts at Thanksgiving, as we always do, so we'll have quiet days at home. My plans include reading, watching DVDs (I'm going to rewatch some of the movies from this year - DVDs of Coraline, Star Trek, Up, and District 9 are queued up), planning activities in Hawaii, exercising, going to our usual two New Year's parties, and, eventually, doing laundry and packing. Oh, and I may work on a couple of songs, since Confusion is just a week after we get back. My one responsibility this week is to get up at dark o'clock this Saturday morning, so I can drive my mother to the airport. She's joining my brother and sister-in-law in Florida for a cruise. The bad news is that both Allen (my son) and my brother have been laid off. In both cases, it was purely financial. It hurts badly for Allen, who, after four months of being unemployed this year, found a job he loved and was excelling at. He was employed by Goodwill, working on a contract for the State of Michigan, teaching computer skills to the visually impaired. Thanks to budget cuts, the State canceled the contract. Yesterday I went to the Secretary of State's office to renew my driver's license. They insisted I do it in person because they're now (this is new) asking people for their Social Security numbers. (I asked why, and the clerk said she thought it had something to do with tracking deadbeat dads. I don't like the privacy intrusion, but I do think that's a good goal.) I walked in to the office at 11:15, and took a number. The number was 51. In a bit of mirroring, they were serving 15 at the time. My time there consisted of fifty minutes of waiting, followed by five minutes of getting the license renewed. I was a good day to have a new smartphone and a working 3G connection, so I could spend all the waiting time surfing the web. (I had also gotten lots of sleep, and had a big late breakfast at Zingerman's Roadhouse, so I wasn't the least bit irritable about the wait, which also helped.) For those who celebrate them, I hope you had/will have a happy Hanukkah, a joyous Solstice, and/or a merry Christmas. |
filkertom
|
5:33a |
Garritan Christmas Album 2009
Once again, the phenomenal user community of the Garritan Personal Orchestra has come up with a whole album of Christmas music, complete with cover and label art, free for the download. Scroll to the bottom of the page for links to the previous five albums. Any cool free music you've found on the 'net? Not videos, we'll do those later today. |
| Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 |
dhstein
|
2:11p |
 I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas. This is my card design for this year. The Very Beast. Wishing you the Very Beast at Christmas.  Much love and joy to you and yours at this amazing time of the year. |
filkertom
|
8:46a |
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| Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 |
dhstein
|
3:02p |
 still have Tina's ornament up on the tree. I got Michele's Christmas card and squeee! What a cute little cardinal! Love him. Oh! I really need to post my card from this year. Dave finished my Christmas Jammies. I now have a fleece nightshirt - with horizontal stripes (who cares if I look fat in the privacy of my own house?) Yum. Dave made one for himself and Sabrina too. It's very classy. |
markbernstein
|
8:54a |
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filkertom
|
6:15a |
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| Monday, December 21st, 2009 |
dhstein
|
2:42p |
 We had Dave's family Christmas, and my gamer Christmas this weekend. A busy time. I gave out the new gamer coupons, and received some for the GM too. I have a ton of Christmas cookies in the house. I wonder how many of them will actually make it to Christmas. |
filkertom
|
6:52a |
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| Sunday, December 20th, 2009 |
treebones
|
3:54p |
Networking, and solstice.
It turns out, we have a local Unitarian church. Apparently, there are more religious nonconformists around this area than I knew about. Went today. Not a whole lot of people, but enough, and a well-done service which made me cry (which, in this case, was a good thing). Have started my fires for Solstice, one in the fireplace, one candle. Too windy for the fireplace to draw properly, so I have to let the fireplace die down, but at least I'm started on doing something for the holiday. How goes the holiday prep for y'all? We're doing a small Christmas here, though I've got to keep out of the stores, or it is going to keep getting bigger. (: |
filkertom
|
12:12p |
Celestial Navigations
jblaque reminds me of something markbernstein and I have loved for a long time: the storytelling duo of Geoffrey Lewis and Geoff Levin, performing under the name Celestial Navigations. It is hard to overstate how wonderful this stuff is, and fortunately easy to demonstrate: Not to mention the incredible " Horses". Any good storytelling you've found lately to share? Audiobooks count. |
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