After the discussion in Emily's post about the big news in the world of scatology... er... scamology... er... sciencefictiony...... degenerated into a discussion of really bad moviemaking in general, Nightfly was inspired.. or something.... to pen this little ditty to the tune of "Road to Shambala".
Feel the groove, man.
Monday, December 18, 2006
The Th*tanic Verses (Or is that Bend it Like Xenu?)
A tip of the Toque to Emily at It Comes in Pints?
A new movie is in the works. Obligatory couch-hopping to ensue.
A new movie is in the works. Obligatory couch-hopping to ensue.
Friday, December 15, 2006
I've been Ambush Tagged
By the Llama Butchers.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Oh, yes please. Don't forget the wassail, the hot spiced cider, and the hot buttered rum.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Depends on the physical bulk of the gift. Usually he wraps them, but if, for instance, the gift is a bike or wagon, a simple bow will do.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored on the tree, white on the house.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Sometimes.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
As soon after Thanksgiving as we have a chance to, though this year that wasn't until Dec. 11th. Living here in Oregon, trees are VERY fresh when we get them, so they last a good long time.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Crackers, beef stick, port wine cheese, and other snacky stuff. It has always been a tradition in my family to forego a real meal on New Year's Day, and instead nosh on hors d'oeuvres all day while watching the Rose Parade and bowl games.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
Christmas tree hunting. Again, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, where evergreen trees are so abundant, we never BOUGHT a tree. We always drove up into the hills/mountains (back in those days you didn't need a permit) and cut one ourselves -- always from BLM land, never national forest or provate land. My mom would pick the tree, and my dad would cut it down and haul it back to the vehicle. More often than not, my mom would make my dad traipse across the hillside for an hour before finally returning to the first tree we'd spotted, and often the ideal tree was the top 7 feet of a 20-foot-tall tree.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
My parents never told me he really did exist, so I don't ever recall an Earth-shattering moment of revelation to the contrary. This is currently a bone of contention in our household, since TFR grew up in a family that to this days perpetuates the myth among its children. I don't want to play up Santa Claus to The Lad, but TFR has won on this one.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes. In my family, it was one gift Christmas Eve, all the rest on Christmas Day. We've adopted TFR's family's tradition, which is to open gifts between family members on Christmas Eve, and Santa gifts Christmas Day.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
When I was a child, my parents started a tradition of giving my sisterand me one new ornament each year. A few were lost or destroyed over the years (moves, flooding, etc.), but most survived. When each of us married, those ornaments went with us. Lo and behold, TFR grew up with a similar tradition, and we're carrying it on with The Lad. Therefore, our tree is covered in an eclectic variety of ornaments. As for the exat process, we start by stringing lights (including two strings of light shaped like Winnie-the-Pooh and friends), then the garland, and then ornaments. Every few years, TFR lets me indulge in icicle tinsel.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
Love it, almost never get it. TFR hates it, except at Christmastime (a result of her Minnesota upbringing).
12. Can you ice skate?
I've seldom had a chance to, but took right to it when I tried.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
The used copy of BH Liddel-Hart's A History of the Second World War given to me by TFR our first (very poor) Christmas together.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Time spent with friends and family. I'm a very social person, and since moving back to Oregon, I've made few friends and often find myself very very lonely. The holidays often are the only time I am with a large number of people about whom I care deeply.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Homemade caramel corn.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Reading the gospel account of the nativity on Christmas Eve.
17. What tops your tree?
A star.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving. And when it comes to receiving, it's all about the surprise. No matter how small the present is, if it's unexpected and thoughtful, that's more important than how expensive it is.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
It's a tossup between O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, and O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
20. Candy canes:
Mmmmm.... Love 'em. I used to give them out to customers when I worked as a parking lot attendant.
21. Favorite Christmas movie?
Scrooged.
22. What do you leave for Santa?
We don't, yet. At TFR's family's, it's the traditional milk and cookies, and carrots for the reindeer.
Consider yourself tagged, Ken at It Comes in Pints, Bob at Eugene Rant, and the Nightfly.
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Oh, yes please. Don't forget the wassail, the hot spiced cider, and the hot buttered rum.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Depends on the physical bulk of the gift. Usually he wraps them, but if, for instance, the gift is a bike or wagon, a simple bow will do.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Colored on the tree, white on the house.
4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Sometimes.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
As soon after Thanksgiving as we have a chance to, though this year that wasn't until Dec. 11th. Living here in Oregon, trees are VERY fresh when we get them, so they last a good long time.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Crackers, beef stick, port wine cheese, and other snacky stuff. It has always been a tradition in my family to forego a real meal on New Year's Day, and instead nosh on hors d'oeuvres all day while watching the Rose Parade and bowl games.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child:
Christmas tree hunting. Again, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, where evergreen trees are so abundant, we never BOUGHT a tree. We always drove up into the hills/mountains (back in those days you didn't need a permit) and cut one ourselves -- always from BLM land, never national forest or provate land. My mom would pick the tree, and my dad would cut it down and haul it back to the vehicle. More often than not, my mom would make my dad traipse across the hillside for an hour before finally returning to the first tree we'd spotted, and often the ideal tree was the top 7 feet of a 20-foot-tall tree.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
My parents never told me he really did exist, so I don't ever recall an Earth-shattering moment of revelation to the contrary. This is currently a bone of contention in our household, since TFR grew up in a family that to this days perpetuates the myth among its children. I don't want to play up Santa Claus to The Lad, but TFR has won on this one.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yes. In my family, it was one gift Christmas Eve, all the rest on Christmas Day. We've adopted TFR's family's tradition, which is to open gifts between family members on Christmas Eve, and Santa gifts Christmas Day.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
When I was a child, my parents started a tradition of giving my sisterand me one new ornament each year. A few were lost or destroyed over the years (moves, flooding, etc.), but most survived. When each of us married, those ornaments went with us. Lo and behold, TFR grew up with a similar tradition, and we're carrying it on with The Lad. Therefore, our tree is covered in an eclectic variety of ornaments. As for the exat process, we start by stringing lights (including two strings of light shaped like Winnie-the-Pooh and friends), then the garland, and then ornaments. Every few years, TFR lets me indulge in icicle tinsel.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
Love it, almost never get it. TFR hates it, except at Christmastime (a result of her Minnesota upbringing).
12. Can you ice skate?
I've seldom had a chance to, but took right to it when I tried.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
The used copy of BH Liddel-Hart's A History of the Second World War given to me by TFR our first (very poor) Christmas together.
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Time spent with friends and family. I'm a very social person, and since moving back to Oregon, I've made few friends and often find myself very very lonely. The holidays often are the only time I am with a large number of people about whom I care deeply.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Homemade caramel corn.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Reading the gospel account of the nativity on Christmas Eve.
17. What tops your tree?
A star.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Giving. And when it comes to receiving, it's all about the surprise. No matter how small the present is, if it's unexpected and thoughtful, that's more important than how expensive it is.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
It's a tossup between O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, and O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
20. Candy canes:
Mmmmm.... Love 'em. I used to give them out to customers when I worked as a parking lot attendant.
21. Favorite Christmas movie?
Scrooged.
22. What do you leave for Santa?
We don't, yet. At TFR's family's, it's the traditional milk and cookies, and carrots for the reindeer.
Consider yourself tagged, Ken at It Comes in Pints, Bob at Eugene Rant, and the Nightfly.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Sympathy for the Devil
Whatever else you think of Martha Stewart, you have to give her this -- the B knows how to throw down when it comes to libations.
'Tis the season to be jolly, indeed.
'Tis the season to be jolly, indeed.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Musical Geography Question of the Day
If he keeps his pocket full of spending loot, from where is he?
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
I Lied to Myself
After a stressful first term readjusting to life as a full-time student, I told myself I didn't care about my actual grades, as long as I passed.
I lied.
Grades are supposed to be posted tomorrow, but mine were available today. I got a B in Cooking Theories I (a 6-hour course), a B in Human Relations in the Workplace, and an A in Restaurant Operations (both 3-hour courses), for a GPA of 3.25.
I'm pissed at myself for the B in Cooking Theories. That's the core cirriculum of the program, the foundation of everything else. And I could have had an A, if I'd finished one more cooking lab.
I'll do better next term in CookingTheories II.
I lied.
Grades are supposed to be posted tomorrow, but mine were available today. I got a B in Cooking Theories I (a 6-hour course), a B in Human Relations in the Workplace, and an A in Restaurant Operations (both 3-hour courses), for a GPA of 3.25.
I'm pissed at myself for the B in Cooking Theories. That's the core cirriculum of the program, the foundation of everything else. And I could have had an A, if I'd finished one more cooking lab.
I'll do better next term in CookingTheories II.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Seasons Beatings
A tip of the toque to Tree Hugging Sister at Coalition of the Swilling via Ken at It Comes in Pints?
Not only is Dennis Miller dead on right, he's the only man I know who could pull of references to Ronnie Lott and capers in one monologue.
Not only is Dennis Miller dead on right, he's the only man I know who could pull of references to Ronnie Lott and capers in one monologue.
Wreck the Halls
You're not alone, Robbo.
Since last Christmas was The Lad's first, it was spent in Minnesota, where TFR's family lives, and my mother, as well as my sister and her husband (all of whom live in Michigan) met us there. Because we left on the 18th and didn't return until after New Years Day, we didn't get a tree for our place. That means the last time we had a tree and did serious decorating was Christmas of 2004, and the last time we put AWAY Christmas ornaments and decorations was some time in January of 2005 (Hey, we're not as bad as SOME people). We have color-coded Rubbermaid containers for our decorations and ornaments, but by the time they were filled, we didn't have room left in them for our lights. Money was tight, and (more importantly) I was feeling lazy, so instead of going to the store and getting another container, and rather than risking the lights in a flimsy cardboard box, I decided (despite TFR's protests) to store them in an old Samsonite hardside suitcase. I tied red and green ribbon on the handle (so I'd remember what was in them), and stored them in the attic (you see what's coming, doncha?).
Fast forward almost two years, to yesterday evening. We spent the afternoon after church driving out to a Christmas tree farm in Veneta, because the proceeds of the sales there yesterday went to our church youth group's mission trip this spring. We picked out a 7' douglas fir. Usually I would prefer a white or noble fir, but because they were for a fundraiser, and fresh cut, the trees were higher priced than we usually pay -- the doug alone cost $25.
So we got home, got the living room rearranged, and the tree set up, and I went to the garage to get out the Christmas decorations. I got all of the boxes out, and began to panic. Why?
You guessed it -- no lights. I searched high 9the attic) and low (the garage), but no lights. I eventually gave up and went to bed.
This morning I started again with the search, and ended up doing a yeoman's job of cleaning the garage in an attempt to find the missing box of lights (box, mind you), all to no avail. TFR even questioned whether I had truly looked through ALL of the boxes in the garage and attiv.
After about an hour, and at wit's end, it suddenly dawned on me what had happened. I clambered back up into the attic, dug out the suitcase, and let out a triumphant whoop as soon as I saw the red and green ribbon. I hauled it down and lugged it into the house, putting a triumphant spin on things when I declared, "See? I TOLD you I looked in all the boxes!"
Since last Christmas was The Lad's first, it was spent in Minnesota, where TFR's family lives, and my mother, as well as my sister and her husband (all of whom live in Michigan) met us there. Because we left on the 18th and didn't return until after New Years Day, we didn't get a tree for our place. That means the last time we had a tree and did serious decorating was Christmas of 2004, and the last time we put AWAY Christmas ornaments and decorations was some time in January of 2005 (Hey, we're not as bad as SOME people). We have color-coded Rubbermaid containers for our decorations and ornaments, but by the time they were filled, we didn't have room left in them for our lights. Money was tight, and (more importantly) I was feeling lazy, so instead of going to the store and getting another container, and rather than risking the lights in a flimsy cardboard box, I decided (despite TFR's protests) to store them in an old Samsonite hardside suitcase. I tied red and green ribbon on the handle (so I'd remember what was in them), and stored them in the attic (you see what's coming, doncha?).
Fast forward almost two years, to yesterday evening. We spent the afternoon after church driving out to a Christmas tree farm in Veneta, because the proceeds of the sales there yesterday went to our church youth group's mission trip this spring. We picked out a 7' douglas fir. Usually I would prefer a white or noble fir, but because they were for a fundraiser, and fresh cut, the trees were higher priced than we usually pay -- the doug alone cost $25.
So we got home, got the living room rearranged, and the tree set up, and I went to the garage to get out the Christmas decorations. I got all of the boxes out, and began to panic. Why?
You guessed it -- no lights. I searched high 9the attic) and low (the garage), but no lights. I eventually gave up and went to bed.
This morning I started again with the search, and ended up doing a yeoman's job of cleaning the garage in an attempt to find the missing box of lights (box, mind you), all to no avail. TFR even questioned whether I had truly looked through ALL of the boxes in the garage and attiv.
After about an hour, and at wit's end, it suddenly dawned on me what had happened. I clambered back up into the attic, dug out the suitcase, and let out a triumphant whoop as soon as I saw the red and green ribbon. I hauled it down and lugged it into the house, putting a triumphant spin on things when I declared, "See? I TOLD you I looked in all the boxes!"
Friday, December 08, 2006
The Old Guard Loses One of Its Finest
I heard the news from Ken at It Comes in Pints?
America's Thatcher is gone. Requiescat in pace, Jeane Kirkpatrick.
America's Thatcher is gone. Requiescat in pace, Jeane Kirkpatrick.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
It's Its
A while back I made a common grammatical mistake, but one I should not have, and a good friend called me on it.
I have atoned:
A tip of the toque to Robbo of the Llama Butchers.
I have atoned:
Your Language Arts Grade: 100%
Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).
Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz
A tip of the toque to Robbo of the Llama Butchers.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
The Light at the End of the Tunnel is Usually an Oncoming Train...
... But hopefully, not this time. I finished my finals on Monday, and go in this morning to make up some kitchen lab work. One final was easier than I expected, the other harder, so, it balanced out.
I also just received confirmation that I passed the ServSafe exam we took back in November. The ServSafe certification is a food handling safety and sanitation certification that is accepted in all 50 states in lieu of a food handler's card, and is in fact more stringent than many state standards (and no LESS stringent than any). Passing that is a make or break for the program.
Now I just need to scrape up $900 so I can pay the rest of this term's tuition and register for winter term.
I also just received confirmation that I passed the ServSafe exam we took back in November. The ServSafe certification is a food handling safety and sanitation certification that is accepted in all 50 states in lieu of a food handler's card, and is in fact more stringent than many state standards (and no LESS stringent than any). Passing that is a make or break for the program.
Now I just need to scrape up $900 so I can pay the rest of this term's tuition and register for winter term.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Early Holiday Wishes
Usually I wait until this coming Friday to extend this special holiday wish, but the mood has struck me tonight:
GO
!!!!!
BEAT
ARMY
!!!!!
GO
!!!!!
BEAT
ARMY
!!!!!
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Did You Get That Memo?
I received an e-mail today from a (still bitter, apparently) Sooners fan. I thought I'd share, and respond here:
just found your blog looks good. the reason to
email i wanted to know ifthat phony call against the sooners was worth it seeing
how your seasonended up. at least i hope your a honest duck fan not many of them
you willagree the sooners got screwed. hell the repaly offical quit because he
newthey blew it. keep up the good writing and by the way
BOOMERSOONERS!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, J, thanks for the compliment. Yeah, we had a bit of a let-down in the latter stages of our season, didn't we? I saw it coming, I'm afraid, during the Cal game. As for whether that "Phony" call was worth it, well, since I don't believe in karma, and thus don't believe there's any causal realtionship between the UO-OU game and the rest of our season, It's rather a moot point, isn't it? But if gloating over the Would I prefer we had beaten the Sooners without the controversy? Sure. But that's the way the ball bounces. Teams have lost games due to blown calls by officials forever. What do you propose -- that every bad call ever be reversed retroactively?
As for intentionally insulting all Oregon fans by questioning our "honesty": well, if that's what passes for sportsmanship in Soonerland, I'm afraid you don't have much moral standing to complain about a blown call. Besides, people who root for a team whose nickname historically was synonymous with cheating (at the land grants), really shouldn't throw stones. Glass houses are pricey these days. And, while we're on the subject of being honest, do you expect me to believe that if the situation had been reversed, and Oregon had lost the game on a blown call, the Sooners and their fans would be any more inclined to surrender the victory? Yeah, right.
Do I think Oklahoma got screwed? Absolutely. Do I feel bad that the outcome of the game is tainted by that? Sure. Do I think the Ducks themselves intentionally did the screwing? No -- they played to the best of their ability, they played clean, it was a lousy officiating crew that screwed you guys. Do I think the Ducks should have the voctory stripped from them because of htis? No. If they had intentionally cheated to get the win, yes. But again, these things happen, and the best we can do is to fix what breaks so it doesn't happen again. And finally, do I think you're a crybaby poor sport with no life for feeling the need to email me about this months after my last post on the topic, let alone the game?
Oh, Hell yes.
Musical Geography Question of the Day
In what city is there gonna be a certain party at the station?
(Last Round's winner: Tony of blah blah blog fam... er... notorie... er... of blah blah blog)
(Last Round's winner: Tony of blah blah blog fam... er... notorie... er... of blah blah blog)
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