Thursday, December 29, 2005
LYING DOWN ON PRINCIPLE
[Weak typing]
Chez Spitbull is sick. I mean in a conventional, stomach virus-type, manner. The five year old seems not to mind; she gets to watch a lot of TV as a result. I hear her guffawing in the other room. She seriously laughs like Snoopy in a Charlie Brown Christmas. I picture her doubled over by Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Volume Two, a Christmas gift. But no, it turns out that it's Barbie As Rapunzel that's tickling her funnybone.
Sigh.
I should be comforted by the fact I seem to be following expert advice about New Year's resolutions:
[/Weak typing]
P.S. We'll consider John's demand once we feel better.
Chez Spitbull is sick. I mean in a conventional, stomach virus-type, manner. The five year old seems not to mind; she gets to watch a lot of TV as a result. I hear her guffawing in the other room. She seriously laughs like Snoopy in a Charlie Brown Christmas. I picture her doubled over by Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Volume Two, a Christmas gift. But no, it turns out that it's Barbie As Rapunzel that's tickling her funnybone.
Sigh.
I should be comforted by the fact I seem to be following expert advice about New Year's resolutions:
Promises to stop smoking, lose weight and spend less time working and more time with the family.Another reason to hate New Year's resolutions.
...
Plan ahead: [the expert] warns that under no circumstances should a New Year's resolution be made on New Year's Eve.
[/Weak typing]
P.S. We'll consider John's demand once we feel better.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
FECKLESS NO MORE
The Rice Kripies Treats went much better this year. I think they're becoming my signature dish.
Well, it helped I had assistance this time: the Warrior Monk added his own special blend of unanswerable questions (how long do I have to stir this?) and cursing (deleted). And here's my gift to the hoards that come upon this blog, to their disappointment, while looking for a recipe for the treats. Here it is:
Well, it helped I had assistance this time: the Warrior Monk added his own special blend of unanswerable questions (how long do I have to stir this?) and cursing (deleted). And here's my gift to the hoards that come upon this blog, to their disappointment, while looking for a recipe for the treats. Here it is:
3 tablespoons butterMerry Christmas!
10 ounces marshmallows (infuriatingly, our bag was 10.5 ounces. So we ate some)
6 cups rice cereal
Spray a glass 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Get a sheet of wax paper about the size of the glass pan ready (you'll use it to flatten the treats with).
Put the butter and marshmallows in the biggest glass bowl you can find (it's got to accomodate all the cereal). Microwave this on high for 2 minutes. Stir (no, I can't tell you exactly how long you should stir). Microwave the mixture for another minute. Add cereal (work quickly! it becomes a sticky mess). Stir to coat, then dump everything into the prepared pan. Pat down with the wax paper.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
EROTOMANIA IN THE MOB
Sisyphus beware!
Spitbull offers Sisyphus a rare bit of legal advice: when seeking judicial intervention, don't claim Cathy is using code words on her blog to show she wants to marry you and train you as her co-blogger.
She's already married.
Spitbull offers Sisyphus a rare bit of legal advice: when seeking judicial intervention, don't claim Cathy is using code words on her blog to show she wants to marry you and train you as her co-blogger.
She's already married.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
MurUMble POLICE ACTION muMBLE bRUMBle
New York City commuters are getting some exercise today; their transit system is on strike. Megan McArdle of Asymmetrical Information is pretty exercised too:
The union, meanwhile, is running ads on local cable whining that they didn't want to strike, they just had to because the MTA is so awful to them. This is not true. The union is very hard left, like transit unions in most places. I'm not sure why this should be; perhaps because most of the workers have to do very little to earn their pay. The train drivers don't actually, y'know, drive; the rails take care of that. I'm told that they could easily be replaced with the kind of self-driving systems you see in airports, if the union weren't so powerful. Admittedly, the conductors are highly skilled: it takes them years to learn to mumble into the announcement microphones in a secret language that no one in the entire world except them understands.Fortunately, Minneapolis is too sprawling a place for public transportation to catch on enough for a strike to be painful. The last time the transit workers struck here, the work commute actually improved. Plus, there was less crime downtown.
BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE
Brandy, a warming device I have only recently learned to make use of, is a health elixir! A researcher has announced that "a shot of brandy ... would give the equivalent antioxidant potential to the daily recommended intake of vitamin C."
And a gift to the Warrior Monk as well: "We have found that shots of whiskey and brandy are very similar in terms of their antioxidant potential."
And a very very merry merry Christmas to all.
And a gift to the Warrior Monk as well: "We have found that shots of whiskey and brandy are very similar in terms of their antioxidant potential."
And a very very merry merry Christmas to all.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
DOES SHE OR DOESN'T SHE?
This is probably the last Christmas the eight year old will believe that a big whiskered fellow in a red suit delivers the presents that so reliably appear under the tree every 25th of December. That is, assuming she still believes in the old elf.
Santa has become a delicate subject in this household. The eight year old no longer asks us about how he performs his wonderous feats. She barely mentions his name, in fact. Occasionally she will volunteer that she would like a particular item as a Chrismas gift, but doesn't suggest we pass this nugget on to Santa. I assumed that she had begun entertaining grave doubts as to his existence and guessed that her parents were somehow behind the wrapped gift beat. Being a clever and conservative child, she probably doesn't want to rock the present boat by letting us know that she knows. We seem to be so entertained by this piece of make believer, after all, even going so far as to procure a pile of toys to "magically" appear on Christmas day! We must really have it bad--but since it's to her benefit so why mess with success?
But now I'm not so sure. It seems she peppered last night's babysitter with pointed inquiries: How does Santa get down those chimneys if he's so fat? And, more challengingly, why do so many of the presents bear tags from Target? To which the babysitter replied (and this is, truly, why she deserves her astronomical hourly rate): well, that's so if you get an identical item from someone else, you can return Santa's gift to the store.
I wonder if Target knows about this scam.
Santa has become a delicate subject in this household. The eight year old no longer asks us about how he performs his wonderous feats. She barely mentions his name, in fact. Occasionally she will volunteer that she would like a particular item as a Chrismas gift, but doesn't suggest we pass this nugget on to Santa. I assumed that she had begun entertaining grave doubts as to his existence and guessed that her parents were somehow behind the wrapped gift beat. Being a clever and conservative child, she probably doesn't want to rock the present boat by letting us know that she knows. We seem to be so entertained by this piece of make believer, after all, even going so far as to procure a pile of toys to "magically" appear on Christmas day! We must really have it bad--but since it's to her benefit so why mess with success?
But now I'm not so sure. It seems she peppered last night's babysitter with pointed inquiries: How does Santa get down those chimneys if he's so fat? And, more challengingly, why do so many of the presents bear tags from Target? To which the babysitter replied (and this is, truly, why she deserves her astronomical hourly rate): well, that's so if you get an identical item from someone else, you can return Santa's gift to the store.
I wonder if Target knows about this scam.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
I SAW THE BOSS KISSING SANTA CLAUS / UNDERNEATH THE MISTLETOE LAST NIGHT
I hate corporate Christmas parties, but not for these reasons (as prissily related by our local rag):
That party sounds like the rare company shindig worth wasting an evening on!
Today's Wall Street Jounal Bids & Offers column explains the ideal well (after describing another, more odious, yuletide bash):
Remember that movie scene where a successful consulting firm throws a lavish black-tie event at a swanky restaurant with a large fountain, and two co-workers' husbands hate being there, so they drink too much and one makes lewd comments about the other's wife and soon they're poking chests and yanking ties?It gets worse?!? Looked on in horror?!?
Tricked ya! That was no movie. That was Cynthia House's company holiday party.
It gets worse.
"The next thing you know, the two tuxedoed clowns were thrashing in the fountain," said House, 42, of Minnetonka. She was a department director at the time. "One woman was trying to escape and her feet flew out from under her on the wet floor. Someone finally walked over to put a stop to the fracas and also ended up disheveled and soaking wet. The rest of us looked on in horror."
That party sounds like the rare company shindig worth wasting an evening on!
Today's Wall Street Jounal Bids & Offers column explains the ideal well (after describing another, more odious, yuletide bash):
Many memories were made, and some partiers may even remember them.
