oldog

omigiddyGAWD!

ok... i'm slightly bored...

well... maybe not bored as much as unmotivated... though i should be extremely motivated as the summer is quickly running out and my "to do" list is not -- quickly running out that is.

so, in my search for inspiration, and after finding some old html files on a flash drive, i transported myself to the zen garden and was thus absorbed in it's complete and utter beauty (and the totally kewl factor of this place!)

*sigh* or should i say *ohm* -- actually i should probably say EEK (or was that geek?)

when what to my wondering eyes should appear... OMIGIDDYGAWD... i can now drool all over a paper rendition of the CSSZENGARDEN!!!!!

well shut ma mouth and bless ma soul whilst i jes jump around here for joy!  I'd put it on my wish list except all sanity has left me and i cannot for the life of me remember my amazon login...

now that I am sufficiently inspired... we now return to regular programming.

oh yeah by the way and wtf!

oh yeah...

Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers: More Mad, Marvy Confessions of Georgia Nicolson is out!!!! an absolute must have OMIGAWD... and, by the way

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is coming out in July (and it totally sucks that you have to have a child under the age of 18 to be eligible for chapters contest to fly to Scotland if you're HPs number one fan!!!) but... what can i say???

my daughter is home and i am gloriously enjoying her company... when we have found time we have watched some episodes of the first season of Gilmore Girls, which she purchased for me on DVD. For some reason this series reminds her of me... i have a feeling it's because the daughter seems to be the "more mature" of the two, as obvious in this quote (Lorelai being the mother):

Lorelai: So, apparently, I'm now the Reigning Lorelai.
Rory: Huh. I guess you are.
Lorelai: It's a lot of responsibility.
Rory: Well, sure.
Lorelai: I mean, it's mostly ceremonial stuff nowadays. Declaring knighthoods, opening supermarkets. But now and then, you get to banish someone or pose for a stamp.
Rory: Neat. And coins.
Lorelai: Yeah, and coins. You know, someday you'll be the Reigning Lorelai.
Rory: I don't like that idea!
Lorelai: Why not? You get a cape.
Rory: Because if I'm the Reigning Lorelai, then that means you'll be gone.
Lorelai: Gone? No, not me. I'll step down way before that. I'm not going to pull a Queen Elizabeth on you, make you wait around forever, force you to develop interests in polo and architecture.
Rory: I am scared of horses.
Lorelai: I know that.
Rory: So there's a cape, huh?

this just in... though i wish it wasn't...

The San Francisco Chronicle had this heading on Sunday: History is littered with lots of hoaxes. Some lies can lead to a deeper truth.

Tales of a runaway bride and a finger afloat in a chili bowl have seized our attention of late -- but for sheer shock value, they can't compete with Mary Toft of the British town of Godalming.

In 1762, Mary flabbergasted her doctor by seeming to give birth to rabbits. Soon top medical advisers, including the king's surgeon, investigated, witnessed the bizarre births and vouched for them.

Only when she was sequestered and stricken with infection did Mary fess up: Craving a little attention, she had been inserting dead rabbits into her vagina.

honestly... this truth is perhaps a very very scary one that should just be buried with Mary *shudder* -- talk about nightmare material!!!

embracing my inner geek

a while ago (bj... no... not that bj... BEFORE job!)
i volunteered to help with a site iwhc (link not provided as it's not completed yet)
surprisingly an honorarium cheque arrived before christmas...
i wasn't even sure if i should cash it... until i remembered ... THE book
i wish i was a geek... some people think i am... but to truly be a geek you must speak geek speak
to be a giant among geeks you must be able to understand geek speak
my heart is in the right place... but i don't have an ear for languages
at least i can read french even if i can't speak it,
and i can understand it if the person doesn't go toooooo fast
but techno babble quickly becomes techno baffle for me,
and i have been known to tell people to just plug the "thing" into the back of the "thingy".
once the offending lingo has been explained in a moderate level of english,
i'm not half bad and might even pass for a geek for a limited amount of time.
or maybe i'm suffering from an inflated ego, and i'm merely a nerd bordering upon geekness.
but today THE book arrived... i had been putting it off (obviously... it's almost February, and when did you say you got the cheque). the cheque had been sitting where i usually put my cheques (anywhere except my bank account, in case i spend it on something worthwhile like food, clothings, or to pay bills!)
but something possessed me early last week... brain freeze possibly -- after three hours of shovelling snow
but nevertheless i did it
i deposited the cheque and ran to chapters
i have a love/hate relationship with chapters... or any bookstore really
i love to go and buy books but i hate to get my mastercard bill afterwards...
i used to be a hardcover snob... but then i just didn't care... i could buy more if they were softcover
computer books are the worse
they're always expensive -- no matter what
but... it's a book... what can be wrong with buying a book?
reading is important
books are important
books are your friend... even if your banker doesn't believe you!
once i paid $50 for the HOBBIT... it's black leather bound book, with onionskin pages, and a vellum fold out map... it was love at first sight... i still have it... i've never read it... i bought a paperback copy to read on the subway... but every once in a while i get it out and turn the pages and smell the leather... it's a beautiful thing
computer books are usually twice as much as my beautiful HOBBIT... and they are usually out of date within the year... *sigh*
but THE book... though a paperback and more expensive... will be my pride and joy for a long while to come
it's easy to read... it's written in ENGLISH!
it has glossy pages... satin sheets!
and colour screenshots!
and a companion web site!
and downloaded html!
i am soooo in heaven tonight
and now ... off i must go... to practice some css
thank you eric meyer for
eric meyer on css -- THE book :)

Excuse me... do you have this movie?

Stupid Movie Lines : The 776 Dumbest Things Ever Uttered on the Silver Screen
by Kathryn Petras

On Brains, Enticing:
I could easily kill you now, but I'm determined to have your brain.
Donald O'Brian in the title role of Dr. Butcher, M.D., 1979

On Brains, Odoriferous:
I know you're in there, I can smell your brain.
Ghoul to terrified girl in Return of the Living Dead, 1985

On Brain Transplants, Bad:
A Blood-Dripping Brain Transplant Turns a Maniac Into a Monster!
Teaser line from Brain of Blood, 1971

On Christmas Carols, Ones That Didn't Catch On:
You spell it S-a-n-t-a C-l-a-u-s.
Hooray for Santy Claus!
Hooray for Santy Claus!
Yeah, yeah, for Santy Claus!
He's fat and round, but jumping jiminy,
He can climb down any chimney.
Why do we hear sleigh bells ring?
Our hearts go ding-a-ling!
Milton DeLugg and the Little Eskimos in the title song for Santa Clause Conquers the Martians, 1964

On Archaeological Discussions, Great Moments In:
Nefertiti: Where is the Eye of Horus?
Archaeologist: Where is the Golden Scarab?
Nefertiti: I asked you first!
Cameron Mitchell (the archaeologist) having a discussion with a dead queen in The Tomb, 1985

On Big-Vocabulary Words, Helpful Movie Definitions of:
His cells are growing at an accelerated -- or speeded up -- rate.
Doctor explaining what's happening in The Amazing Colossal Man, 1957.

On Big-Vocabulary Words, More Helpful Movie Definitions of:
You're describing schizophrenia, aren't you? I knew there was something wrong with me. I had no idea it was -- insanity!
Joan Crawford coming to a big realization in Possessed, 1947.

On Birds, Visionary:
Jonathan's parents: Son, this may not be the best life, but it's all we know.
Jonathan: There's got to be more to life than fighting for fish heads!
Jonathan the seagull to his parents in Jonathan Livingston Seagull, 1973.

all i want for Christmas

The Harper's Index Book
by Charis Conn

School Days (daze???)

number of Los Angeles high school students who earned a varsity letter in comedy in 1998: 362

Percentage of Americans who believe that career preparation should begin in elementary school: 18

Chance that a U.S. high school student owns a promotional item from a cigarette company: 1 in 3

Percentage of public-high-school teachers who favor banning students from kissing and hugging on school grounds: 69 (is that a coincedental number or what???)

Percentage of Americans who believe that sex education should be a required school subject: 60

Percentage who believe that the teaching of evolution should be required: 28

Ratio of federal spending each day on a U.S. public-school student to the amount spent on a federal prisoner: 1:4

Minimum amount of salsa USDA regulations allow a public school to offer as a serving of vegetables, in tablespoons: 2

Number of U.S. public schools that own their own Taco Bell: 220

Days a Denver schoo principal was put on leave in 1998 for allowing junior-high-school students a sip of wine on a trip to Paris: 13

Days an Ohio public school suspended a fourteen-year-old girl in 1996 for giving a Midol tablet to her classmate: 80

Average number of public-school students expelled for firearm possession each day of the 1997-98 school year: 22

Chance that the murder of a student at a U.S. school between August 1997 and August 1999 was caused by beating, strangling, or knife wounds: 1 to 4

Chance that a U.S. public high school has at least one police officer stationed there full-time: 1 in 5

Percentage change since 1990 in the number of U.S. high school students enrolled in Junior ROTC: +95

Chance that a Chicago high school student is: 1 in 11

Percentage of murders of U.S. children in 1996 that took place at school: 0.4

Chance that a U.S. student death at school in the 1998 school year was a suicide: 1 in 5

Ratio of U.S. students killed in or ner schools in the 1998 school year to those killed in the 1992 school year: 1:2

Chance that an American murdered at school between 1996 and 1998 was a girl: 1 in 4

Chance of this between 1992 and 1994: 1 in 20

Number of times in 1998 that one New Jersey high schools was evacuated due to bomb threats: 30

Chance that a U.S. public school building is in need of "extensive repairs or replacement": 1 in 3

Chance that a New York City public school was heated with coat in 1995: 1 in 4

Chance in 1999: 1 in 4

Chance that a gay Massachusetts teenager reported being threatened or injured at school in 1997: 1 in 4

Number of U.S. high school students that have hired a Massachusetts firm to test students' hair for evidence of drug use: 80

Chance that a public-high-school student is taught physical sciences by a teacher without a science background: 1 in 2

Percentage of professors of college freshmen and sophomores who believe a diploma from the local public high school guarantees basic skills: 33

Percentage of parents and high schools students, respectively, who believe a diploma from the local public high school guarantees basic math and reading skills: 32, 22 (I wonder if they still believe in Santa Claus?)

Percentage change since 1960 in the number of Americans who belong to a Parent-Teacher Association: -46

Margin by which the ten-member Kansas Board of Education voted to drop human evolution from the curriculum in 1999: 2

Higher Education

Number of U.S. colleges offering an academic course in "leadership" in 1998: 237

Percentage of full-time U.S. undergraduates who are over the age of twenty-two: 34

Percentage of U.S. universities that used student evaluations as a factor in granting tenure in 1973: 23

Percentage that do so today: 88

Minimum number of students invited to join Phi Beta Kappa in 1998 who did not accept: 2,400