Awwww

In Miami for EJs (my godson) birthday. Here he is, a bit wiped out.

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Happy Race Your Mouse Day

So I know if have been incredibly lax about posting since I got back from vacation. And I promise it is imply because I have been too damn busy at week and too damn lazy at home. Things are getting a bit more under control at work, so hopefully soon you will get to read more about what we have been reading, watching, eating and doing.

But while popping onto amazon to add something to my wish list I noticed this and it bothered me enough to post this. So if you are an amazon regular you probably know about the gold box. If not, it used to be an area where a few specific things were on special sale for a short period of time in limited quantities and you could buy them but there were restrictions. Like you had to buy within an hour of adding to your cart and you could only access the gold box once in 24 hours and stuff like that. Now it is more complicated: There is a Deal of the Day which is available all day until they run out. There are the Lightning Deals which tend to be very discounted but there are only a very limited quantity and these are released at specific times and available for a few hours. Then there are Best Deals, the "best deals" on the site. Then there are Quick Picks which are deals specifically for you based on your recommendations, purchase history, etc. And then there is Customer Discussions: Gold Box Forum. The point of this post. Now I understnad the idea of being allowed to comment on news stories and post product reviews etc. But does EVERYTHING need to have forum opportunities now? And if so, why do people feel the need to use them inappropriately? For instance. Right now in the Gold Box Forum these are the current discussion threads:
Holiday Recipes..........and Beyond 6: 8179 replies, the most recent 8 sec ago.
~*~*~*~Thursday Lightning Deals~*~*~*~: 228 replies, most recently 27 seconds ago.
Scrabble Challenge: 1055 replies, most recently 35 seconds ago
I am living a soap opera and i want out: 228 replies, 38 seconds ago
Kids Say The Darnedest Things...: 33 replies, 52 seconds ago
Fake Reviews: 2 replies, 1 minute ago
Middle School Angst - looking for input/advice: 27 replies, 1 minute ago
E-Bay: 1 reply, 3 minutes ago
Mispronounced that REALLY bug you when heard: 54 replies, 5 minutes ago
Dear Sick Daddy: 337 replies, 7 minutes ago
What's the funniest thing you've heard mispronounced: 183 replies, 7 minutes ago
What is right in your life and do you acknowledge/appreciate it?: 47 replies, 8 minutes ago.

So the only things that seem to actually be relevant are Thursday Lightning Deals (a guy who knows what all the days lightning deals are ahead of the fact) and Fake Reviews. Holiday recipes and beyond 6? Kids Say the Darnedest Things? Honestly? And "I am living a soap opera and i want out", "Middle school angst - looking for input/advice", and "What is right in your life and do you acknowledge/appreciate it?": These people need friends. Or shrinks. Not random amazon customers. I was curious about Scrabble Challenge.

1. Create a word from the chosen letters.
2. Replace the used letters with random new ones. (* may be used for a blank tile)
3. The next person uses the new set of letters

sowntos ( Chosen letters to start the game )

towns - sobntau

And Ask Sick Daddy:

ask away and I will do my best to offer advice on your situation. I take questions seriously, if you post a serious question. I'll probably skip silly posts for the purpose of this advice thread. Sorry. :) I like silliness, but I am taking Dear Sick Daddy on a serious side. :)

I work during the day, and I also sleep from time to time, but I will get back to any questions as soon as I can :)

And finally, "Mispronounced that REALLY bug you when heard"? That would really bug me if someone said it out loud.

Ok, I am done. I just dont get it. Maybe it is just me.

so sorry

I know I have been absent for an awfully long time. But I usually blog during my downtime at work. And I simplyhavent had any downtime since I got back from vacation. I promise to do better though. Hopefully this weekend I will sit down and write a nice long update and some puzzles. As a quickie:

We have seen:
American Gangster - very good. Nothing truly spectacular. But good acting all around, interesting story, good piece of history.
Michael Clayton - also very good. A bit confusing. You have to pay pretty good attention. Tilda Swinton is not nearly as creepy-looking as she is in real life.
When We Were Kings - documentary about Muhammad Ali and George Foreman's Rumble in the Jungle. Interesting. Again, nothing spectacular but an interesting closer look than Ali did. Interestingly, in some post-movie researching I came across these two things in Wikipedia. From the article about Ali himself:

In the early 1980s, Ali learned he had Parkinsonism, or "Parkinson's syndrome"—which is not the same complaint as Parkinson's disease—following which his motor functions began a slow decline. Although Ali's doctors disagreed about whether his symptoms were caused by boxing and whether or not his condition was degenerative,^[14] he was ultimately diagnosed with Pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome.

And in the linked article about Pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome (dementia pugilistica):

Muhammad Ali is often mistaken as a sufferer of dementia pugilistica, when in fact the main cause of his condition is diagnosed as Parkinson's disease.^{[15][16][17][18]}

I thought it was interesting anyway.

We have been watching:
The Office Season 3 - which has definitely come into its own. After it stopped being a direct mimic of the British Office it slowed a bit. But has come back full force in my opinion.
The Wire - we have only seen episodes. But I am interested enough to keep watching at least. The acting isnt superb but it is certainly interesting. Reminds me of American Gangster.
The Olympics. There will be more about this.

We have been eating:
Trader Joe's Korma Simmer Sauce - we made a saute of chicken, chick peas, peas, spinach and mushrooms and served it over Trader Joe's Thai Style Lime Rice. Excellent, will definitely have again. Will probably add less water as it was a bit dilute.
Spanikopita Chicken Meatballs with Spicy Cucumber and Yogurt Sauce. Awesome! Will definitely make again, probably for a party too. We used turkey instead of chicken and added 4 cloves of garlic instead of 3 since we didnt read the "divided" part. I also used a whole cucumber from our garden since we are trying to get rid of them which made it a bit watery. And instead of dill I used a mix of basil, thai basil, oregano and chives.
Carrot and Cucumber "Fettuccine" Salad. It was ok. A lot of carrot. I dont really like carrots. Nothing awesome. But it used two cucumbers!

Other things:
Still like the new laptop except: Vista is kinda annoying. Vista 64bit is really obnoxious since I am never going to put 32 gig of ram in this thing and it means that I cant sync my phone to my laptop without getting a bluetooth dongle. Sigh. I bought Office 2007 today because I found it for $85. But I have been using OpenOffice and I am a huge fan.

Tomorrow is Joey's birthday. Happy Birthday Joey! It also marks his last Saturday in Philly as he is leaving us for the great big world out there . . . or Hazelton. One of those. We are sure he will be back to visit. But we will miss him.

My mice and awful! They rip out their eartags and eat their young. They are so nice and friendly as compared to other strains. But now this! ARRRGGGGHHHH!

Ok, you will have to wait for more. Have a good weekend all!

Name these veggies

Huh

well that doesn't look good

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i know i know

I am back and I havent really posted. I have been really busy at work, what with taking over someone elses job, on top of my own.

But I have important news so I figured I would post.

Tonight, I bought myself a new laptop. Yay! I am the proud owner of a Gateway T-6836. I am pretty excited. Best of all we walked into Best Buy and walked out 20 minutes later with a laptop, a new printer and no service plan or extended bullshit plan or anything. 20 minutes! And it only cost me $660. After taxes! For a laptop and a printer/copier/scanner. Which is pretty cool no?

So I am learning Vista, so far unimpressed but not at tears yet.

I promise to post more soon.

Sailing pics

Our pictures are posted on flickr. So you can check them all out.

Have I mentioned . . .

the bathrooms at my work and the responses to it?

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Day ? - gloucester

spent the day in town. Had some run ins with the harbormaster. Not well organized or friendly. Had a lovely 13 person dinner on board for my parents anniversary. Today to the beach house.

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Day 6 - gloucester

After a rough ride here, arrived safely though wet. Joined by green wave, godparents. Extended cocktail hour featuring pomegranate margaritas and homemade sausage. Today is cloudy and sad looking but I slept in til 8.

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Days 4 and 5 - ptown

spent monday at beach saw huge seal, dinner on shore at cafe heaven to belatedly celebrate mattys birthday. Absolutely fabulous meal and matty made a friend of the waiter, pablo. Got him a free drink, free dessert and an invitation for later in the evening.

tuesday slept in til 730. Had breakfast on shore at edwiges. Another fantastic meal. Spent the day wandering the stores, streets and galleries of ptown. Also climbed the pilgrim memorial tower. Only 225 feet. Lunch at spiritus, my fave pizza place. Dinner aboard after cocktail hour and then a trip ashore for showers and ice cream. And a bit of people watching, including drag karaoke.

This morning up at 5 to depart by 6 heading to gloucester. Whales! At least a dozen, feeding playing jumping breaching. Amazing. All around the boat. We think humpbacks. Also a big school of tuna. Then weather got real bad, rain, huge following seas but good winds to sail in. Finished reading The Golden Compass. On mooring in gloucester awaiting next storm.

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Day three - Provincetown, a rainbow, go figure

Left onset at 8 and headed into the canal, very fast trip, sailed for a few hours on other side, finally! no whales or blues or mermaids, arrived in p-town, went ashore, thunderstorm, rainbow, lovely dinner on between the sheets. This morning up at 6 for fresh portuguese baked goods and restaurant search. Off to beach soon.

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Oh and happy watermelon day!

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Day two - Onset

Yesterday left after breakfast, no good wind, saw a shark, lots of asshole powerboaters in canal entrance. Crazy thunderstorm, vegan pate and pesto big hits at cocktail hour, stuffies and chowder for dinner. This morning up at sunrise for another day of travel. Cape Cod canal and provincetown.

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Day one - cuttyhunk, perfection

we arrived yesterday, spent the afternoon on the beach, had a lovely dinner, got up at sunrise for a row around the harbor before breakfast, preparing to depart now. Finally starting to relax.

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