Absolutely! What a great purchase.

I want an old card catalog. They're so expensive. I miss card catalogs.

I got a card catalog! It was in the library at my firm, and they were getting ready to throw it away. I was in the right place at the right time. It's in my workshop now. Full of misc hardware. And one drawer is full of cassette tapes for my boombox down there.

*envious*

The nurse at my old job had one in her office and she said her husband had one at home that he used like you do.

I really miss looking up books in a card catalog.

someday I'll have a house and have antiquey stuff like that. I have a few things, but I love old stuff.

well, mine is a small card catalog. Only four drawers. It was a smaller library. It's still pretty neat though.

Had my second pooper today.
Gagged and retched very much. I think I hid it from the child though. He has problems with his digestive system so it's not unknown for this to happen. But he was visibly distressed and unable to even vocalise what had happened.

Luckily he was standing up at the time, and it stayed contained in his pants (shorts). No cleanup needed (he was able to wipe himself with moist tissue), then replace the pants with school spares.

Also had to put a pupil in time out for the first time.
75% of the class today were fizzing and giggling and talking nonstop.
She just had the misfortune to be on my table. She got her warnings according to standard procedure, then I made her sit on the floor facing the wall.
She bounced back fine, but it stopped the silliness at least.

Paula Deen has announced that she has diabetes, and thinks that her fried-butter diet is "part of the puzzle" but not the only factor. Age and stress also come into play, she says--you know, like the number of years she's been eating fried butter, and the stress it has put on her body. :rolleyes: I snorted loudly, which probably means I'm going to hell, but I did it anyway.

Turns out blaming your age is the same thing as taking responsibility. Who knew?

Well as long as she blamed someone or something else, she'll be just fine.
I'm sure the sales of all her rap had nothing to do with that decision :eyebrow:

(I snorted when I heard too ... see you in hell, save me a seat.)

Six years ago I was basically unaware of ice hockey. Now I'm almost ashamed how much I love it. I'll stop and watch any game above Mite level. I watch Hebe swim, but I'm really not interested in watching most others. i'll watch my kids play soccer, but I won't stay to watch the next game or watch the one while they're warming up..... but while my kids are warming up, dresing or doing off ice, I'll watch any game in progress. You might ask what else there is to do ....the rink has free wireless.....

worst still -while I'm confessing... I hate boxing and wrestling and martial arts and any form of professional fighting (maybe except fencing, if you count that) ...but I love the fights, even amongst the teenagers of the Plymouth Whalers (yesterday 6 goals, 7 fights....)

I should be ashamed.

But it's fun

Hockey pretty much rocks.

That is all.

All

I pretty much stay out of the politics forum, but occassionally I'd pop to read a little here or there, ignoring the arguments, and leave real quick. Well, I was just there reading the Mayor Nutty's thread. Dang, people can get mean in there, huh? Are all the insults necessary? Anyways, just a lame comment because everyone knows that fact. :p:

Just listened to a little bit of Ginrich's speech today. At one point he says if he becomes the nominee, he'll challenge Obama to 7 three hour debates, but that it's ok for Obama to use a teleprompter. Of course he thought he was being funny, but i guess he's forgotten how Bush was constantly prompted during debates.

I just thought it was a really short sighted comment, and particularly rude, especially since he isn't even the nominee and may not be in the end.

Dumb politicians.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.
I told a lie today and now have to live it out and feel like a bit of a heel in doing so.

I made packet brownies last night.
Three batches as I bought them when they were Buy 2 Get 1 Free.
I feel no guilt in using mixes - the staffroom gets what it wants and I feel happy. Usually I focus on decorating or giving something a special twist. Nothing you can do to brownies, so in the mixing bowl they went.

Trouble is, the staffroom are mostly female and adore chocolate.
AND we had a TA meeting straight after break. I wasn't there at break as I was on duty, but as soon as I came in at 10.30 I was greeted with thanks and compliments.

Linda - a very sweet woman - asked if they were made from scratch.
Oh yes, I blithely replied, as I didn't want to tarnish my image as a master baker.

At lunchtime she asked if she could have the recipe :(
Hers never come out as well as mine.
Sigh.
Why did I lie?

I feel I can't lose her respect by admitting the lie, so I have spent approx an hour vetting recipes online. I've found one by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall that has more steps than the average recipe, so if they turn out different - as they will, unless she is Dr Oetker - she'll assume she did something different in one of the stages.

I have to say they sound yummy and they aren't all that difficult.
But my conscience tells me I'd better make a batch soon to test them out.

And not bloody lie in future.

It's funny, because the best brownies I've ever had have always been made from a mix. For whatever reason, home made brownies just aren't as good.

The mix doesn't even have to be an expensive one. A cheap store band mix usually tastes better than brownies made from scratch.

Damn.

If only I hadn't lied!
I could just have said the above, all superior because I know my browni-shit.

Poor Linda, doomed to forever try a 3-egg recipe that will never be as good.

The worst best way to fix a lie is with another lie, I've always said. Look at the ingredients list on the brownie box mix, and estimate rough amounts in descending quantity order, using other recipes as a guide. Give the list to her, and when she asks where in the world she can get Sodium Diphosphate or whatever, just shrug and say an American friend sent it to you, you've never been able to find it there in Aylesbury. Tell her it's the most important ingredient, and to look online for it. She'll never bother.

I was gonna say roughly what clod said (make up a special type of hersheys that you can only get from your buddies in the US), but then I didn't want to get laid into by the lynch mob again, so I didn't :lol:

Why don't you just tell her the truth? Admit that you fibbed, and buy her a box of the packet mix.

All she really wants to do is replicate what you did, and if you explain it the right way, I'm sure she'll understand. Specially if she really is as sweet as you say.

Martha Stewart was supposed to be this brilliant wall-street guru.
But she went to jail stemming from what I believe was insider trading,
and apparently has not yet learned to read the fine print before signing the contract.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:53pm EST
(Reuters) - Macy's Inc is suing Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc, accusing
the company of breach of contract for entering into an agreement to sell certain products
at stores run by its rival J.C. Penney Co Inc.
.

Mostly, it's because she heard me lie in front of the whole staffroom. Something I am ashamed of in retrospect, but only because I was caught out. I might actually be a sociopath.

And it's because she is a sweet lady that I can't expect her to perpetuate my lie.

I like the idea of adding to the lie.
Because I'm obviously that kind of person.

Good try Ali, but at least I can be honest about it here.

here is my recipe:

one box brownie mix
add'l ingredients as listed
...

enjoy.

this is scratch/making as compared to buying premade brownies.

....

OR

just make some shit up, that she can't reproduce your quality is good for you. there are lots of cooks that never reveal the whole truth. Bakers, candy makers, and bbq-ers figure prominently in my experience.

How is that a problem?

I don't think you're a sociopath Sundae, and I'm pretty sure no one else here does either. lol

Sometimes you just get more credit for owning up. Probably no one else was even paying attention when you said you'd made it from scratch anyway.

Maybe you could just say it's an old recipe and you don't really measure the ingredients? That way you're hardly even lying anyway.

Oh no way Ali, then the teacher will say, "Oh hey, let's get together for coffee at your house, and you can whip up a batch and I'll just watch you and learn how to make it!"

Tell her it's an ancient Chinese secret!

I heard there was a study that concluded that meetings make people stupid.

Minds wander, personal agendas surface, things don't get done.

I would say abolish meetings, but then what would _____ and ______ do all day? (Names omitted to protect my innocence, and my job.) :rolleyes:

I remember in my younger days, when I was first in a position to have to go to a bunch of meetings. I thought I was so official and grown-up. "Oh, my...I have meetings ALL DAY!" Now the thought of a meeting just gets on my nerves. :p:

I remember that too! The first time I sat in a conference room in a leather chair I was like "Ooh, I'm so important." Now I can't stand it. The absolute worst is when I have to run a part of a meeting, and I don't want to be there, and the people there don't want to be there, but there is some boss guy making us all do it. We get these international guests who have some sort of partnership with us, and they show up at our offices and we have to explain to them what we do. But they don't care. They are showing up because they are told to and because they want to see the sights of DC. And I don't want to be there. But there's some bigwig in the corner smiling and nodding and making us all do this thing. Gah. Meetings.

Today we're very close to being cut off by flood waters again. So much so that I've kept the kids home because I don't think the bus will get them home again this afternoon.

I've just found out my dear Aunt has had a mastectomy and is waiting on the lymph node tests. It was very sudden. She only saw the doc on Monday and by Wednesday she was having a boob chopped off. It doesn't sound good to me, but everyone is being hopeful.

:( sorry Ali.

No worries Classic. I'm sure she'll be fine.

Be careful, glatt. I've just found out that if you complain about meetings you will be sure to have like a thousand meetings in the next week or two. :(

We used to have meetings about having MEETINGS!
It was seriously insane.

The solution meetings about meeting is simple
... make a list of the meetings
... make a list of all other issues
... make a list of the lists

and have meetings about each of them.

Poor Sundae... :lol: If only you were brought up with threats like, "If you lie, you will go to hell, and your tongue will be cut out!" And that is why to this day, I don't lie, even little white ones. :p:

Oddly, I was brought up by a mother who said those things, but acted in a completely different way!

I didn't realise until I moved back here how many "little white lies" she tells.
Her friends must think me so ignorant when they call up, because I am so vague about where she is and what she is doing. I've been shouted at before for saying she was at Tesco when apparently she was supposed to be ill (unable to go to meet a particular friend). "Not my fault you lie to your friends" said I. That went down well...

I am learning it's not worth the bother.
I will write out a 100 times, I should not lie, Lola says I will burn in hell.

Or at least that's what I'll tell you :)

Hehe....nah, don't waste ink and paper. Just learn to be quick on your toes. Oddly, I am very impress with people who can lie on the fly.

I keep telling Max that if he doesn't stop playing with his doodle I'm going to chop it off.

It's not working very well. I don't think he believes me.

@ Ali: hahahah....well, I usually don't threaten my nephew anything I won't carry through. That's why when I start counting, he does what I want him to, quick.

Looking at the names list for a class I will have tomorrow,one student has a name beginning with Nqo... yes, that is N Q O. How the heck do I say that? Whoah.

What I think may be best to do is to call out, "N Q O." When that student raises his/her hand, you ask how to pronounce his/her name. You then phonetically jot down the pronunciation of it and try your bestest to pronounce the name as most correctly as you can. At least that way, you'll show some respect to that student. Once you find out how to pronounce "Nqo," please come back and let us know. I am curious how to pronounce that too. :p:

zuse the other name. Then ask them how to pronounce the nqo one.

or leave it until last and pretend they're not on your list and ask everyone left to tell you their names.

Damn, the "q" represents that clicking in the back of the mouth with the toungue sound as used in Southern Africa. The best I could manage was "Nnn-click-obile".

We're using her middle name. :)

Actually, I always deliberately struggle through the students' names and get coached on pronunciation in the first class. It is a good ice-breaker, and it shows that I'm trying to say their names properly, as they would say them,which shows respect. The students can all laugh at me, provided they are laughing together.

like this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C7%83xau

Yep, that's the one.

Think hairball.

Did anyone see the pilot for Touch? It's a new show on fox with Kiefer Sutherland. If the pilot is any indication I think it will be a good show. If you have TW cable you can watch it on free Primetime on Demand. Here's the gist of it:

my tortuga happy got orphaned :( either that or no-one 'cept infimonk gives a fuck.

Post pics. We love the turtles!

Somebody help me here. There's an idiom that's been on the tip of my tongue all day. It's an expression meaning something is shoddy, or rinkydink, or unprofessional. Specifically a business or scenario, like "a real _______ operation." It's not kangaroo court. My brain keeps thinking it has something to do with circuses or monkeys, but I just. can't. reach it.

Three ring circus?

That's not it... Less chaos, more just unreliable?

A slipshod operation?

fly-by-night

Cowboy?

Tin Can operation?

None of those are the exact one I was looking for, but they are definitely the right feel.

bush league, small time, second rate, small potatoes,

Is it slang or not?

2 bit?

capricious, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, disreputable, dubious, erroneous, fake, fallible, false, fickle, fly-by-night, furtive, hallucinatory, hollow, implausible, inaccurate, inconstant, irresponsible, makeshift, meretricious, mistaken, pretended, pseudo, questionable, sham, shifty, specious, treacherous, tricky, uncertain, unconvincing, undependable, underhand, underhanded, unfaithful, unsound, unstable, unsure, untrue, untrustworthy, vacillating, wavering, weak ambiguous, astucious, beguiling, bum*, catchy, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deceiving, deluding, delusive, delusory, designing, disingenuous, fake, fallacious, false, fishy, foxy, fraudulent, illusory, imposturous, indirect, insidious, lying, misleading, mock, oblique, off*, phony, plausible, rascal, roguish, scheming, seeming, serpentine, shifty, slick, slippery, sly, sneaky, snide, specious, spurious, subtle, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, underhand, underhanded, unreliable , wily
unreliable - adrift, afloat, alternating, amorphous, capricious, changeable, changeful, coquettish, dangerous, desultory, deviable, disreputable, dizzy, doubtful, dubious, eccentric, erratic, faddish, faithless, false, falsehearted, fast and loose, fickle, fitful, flickering, flighty, flimsy, flirtatious, flitting, fluctuating, fly-by-night, freakish, garbled, giddy, hazardous, impetuous, impulsive, inaccurate, inauthentic, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, inexact, infirm, insecure, insubstantial, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, light, mazy, mercurial, miscited, misquoted, misreported, misstated, moody, perfidious, perilous, precarious, provisional, questionable, quicksilver, rambling, restless, risky, rocky, roving, scatterbrained, shaky, shapeless, shifting, shifty, shuffling, skittish, slick, slippery, spasmodic, spineless, spurious, temporary, tentative, ticklish, tottery, toying, treacherous, tricky, trustless, unaccountable, unassured, unauthentic, unauthoritative, uncertain, uncontrolled, undependable, undisciplined, unfaithful, unfaithworthy, unfixed, unfounded, unhealthy, unpredictable, unrestrained, unsafe, unsettled, unsolid, unsound, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsubstantial, unsure, untrue, untrustworthy, untrusty, vacillating, vagrant, variable, versatile, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, weak, whimsical, wishy-washy, workaday

YES! I had the old-timey circus imagery associated with it because it cost two bits to get in. Thanks!

You may now return to your regularly scheduled dwellaring.

Are you sure you don't want to call it a three-ring circus?

You know, him and two other arseholes...