Decompress a little and talk about anything but the drama in Boston.
Here is a classic pic of my dog in his natural habitat.
To answer John’s question from a while back, sometimes when messing around with Max I sing ‘I like big pups and I cannot lie…’.
peach flavored shampoo
People in West, Texas are saying, “Really? 24 hours of media focus and subsequent assistance is all we get?”
TaMara (BHF)
Great, now I have that song stuck in my head.
Thanks BJ community for giving me someplace to go and just be and think and laugh.
Raven
Leaving the hospital soon. Looks like the surgery was just what the dr ordered!
Gin & Tonic
The cold spring here in the Northeast has dragged out flowering cycles, but it looks like this weekend will have daffodils, forsythia, magnolia and some cherries all at the same time. Not bad.
Violet
@Raven: Glad to hear it.
Schlemizel
@Raven:
So glad to hear that!
WE got a foot of snow overnight. Even by Minnesota standards this spring has been bizzaro. The nice thing is that – so far – nobody has said “so where is your global warming now?” or its equivalent.
It is very heavy, wet snow so I am in some pain caused by the effort to remove it from my driveway and sidewalks. I would have let it go but my car pool crapped out today & decided to all stay home, pussies ;)
maryQ
Started watching Mad Men on Netflix this week. Makes me want to smoke and drink blended Scotch.
Burnspbesq
Sad news for fans of 80s and 90s indie rock. Scott Miller, of Game Theory and the Loud Family, has died at age 53.
H/t Scott Lemieux at LGM.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/04/18/game-theory-loud-family-singer-scott-miller-dies/2093399/
Litlebritdifrnt
I am planning on spending all weekend in my garden seeing at the FFA chapter at my husband’s school reduced their flats of 36 plants to $5.00 a piece. I’m going to switch off the news and set about making my front yard as pretty as possible with groups of purple and gold (ECU colors) and red, white and blue.
Eric U.
I think JC’s post last night about his dream clued Google Ads in on the “Asian Singles” ads.
Yutsano
MAXPUPPEH!!
Other than that, I’m spent.
Raven
@Schlemizel: whoa
Schlemizel
@peach flavored shampoo:
Its their own damn fault for having an industrial disaster while the nation is all pumped up on a terrorist disaster! They need better planning.
I think the Federal government has to step up to help but I think they should hold a big ceremony where they present West with one of those over-sized novelty checks and the published statement is about how this is how civilized nations behave when one area has a disaster, they help each other knowing full well the next time it might be them that needs the help.
Tokyokie
If I go full Ezio Pinza in singing South Pacific tunes around my elderly Balinese, he’ll bend his ears back and verbally express his concern. Friggin critic. He’s not as worried if I merely try John Raitt baritone numbers from Oklahoma!
NotMax
There’s a drama in Boston?
Raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: you in Greenvile?
CaseyL
In Seattle, Spring always plays peek-a-boo. This year is no different: an occasional scattering of beautiful days, followed by heavy overcast and rain. Le sigh.
But the trees outside my house are unfurling new leaves or at least budding like crazy, which always lifts my spirits.
PeakVT
Following on from Krugman’s latest op-ed, here’s another example of a bad study being used to justify bad economic policy.
Villago Delenda Est
I thought Max’s natural habitat was in the park, chasing a frisbee?
aimai
Making a quick tomato soup with biscuits thusly:
Tomato Juice
Can of whole tomatos, crushed
garlic
onions
rosemary (or you could use curry spices, I do that sometimes)
stems from some kale I am cooking for dinner
some red lentils I had lying around
chickpeas
soft goat cheese and/or someheavy cream I have on hand.
Let cook until everything is done and adjust seasonings.
Biscuits: baking powder biscuits from Joy of Cooking with grated romano, crushed garlic, and some turkish spice rub mixed in for flavor.
e.g. Lunch for the locked down.
RoonieRoo
@maryQ: Mad Men is almost hard for me to watch. It IS my childhood. Don Draper is my dad except dad was a lawyer as opposed to an ad man. My mom resembles Betty a lot. She never touched us. The show is kind of creepy in that way.
I really wondered if I was imagining that until I talked to my two sisters and they said the exact same thing.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Raven:
No Jacksonville. ETA my husband is an ECU alumni.
BD of MN
@Schlemizel:
Sing with me: “For the fourth month of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeeee…”
I’m also sitting home contemplating cranking up the snowblower because my employer decided it was a good day to lay me off. So, looking for jobs and filing for unemployment will be the highlight of my day. But I’m a truck driver with a clean record and all the endorsements (hazmat, tanker, doubles, etc…) so I won’t be looking for long. There appear to be lots of jobs, now I just have to find a mon-fri daytime one…
RoonieRoo
May 4th! Two more weeks until we get our new puppeh! I am beyond excited.
NotMax
Whoops! George Soros is not dead.
Villago Delenda Est
@RoonieRoo:
As well you should be!
Schlemizel
@BD of MN:
I am so stealing that ‘fourth month’ thing. Thanks for the first smile I have had all day.
Good luck on the job search
MomSense
@Raven:
YAY!
Roger Moore
@maryQ:
So it lowers your IQ? Sorry, but I’m a single malt guy.
maya
@CaseyL: I’m sure you heard this before, but….
What did the Seattlean say to the Pillsbury Dough Boy?
Nice tan.
NotMax
The obvious, confirmed yet again.
? Martin
@NotMax: The majority of Americans want background checks too. Apparently the majority of Americans can go fuck themselves.
Villago Delenda Est
@Raven:
That, my formerly enlisted friend, is great news.
Best wishes to you and your significant other.
KXB
Well, basement flooded last night due to Chicago area rains. Not as bad as 5 years ago. But I did have to stop and pick up some sandbags. The Des Plaines River is expected to crest tomorrow, so some nearby towns have more bad news to come.
ranchandsyrup
Interesting article on the intersection of right wing/racist trolling as entertainment/promotion in the MMA. http://deadspin.com/chael-sonnen-the-ufcs-skip-bayless-race-baits-his-wa-474796344
ellie
I used to sing Tiny Dancer to my cat Frances:
Hold me closer tiny Frances
Count the headlines on East Broadway
Lay me down in sheets of flannel
You’ve had a busy day today.
PaulW
If you’re on Twitter keep up with librarians tweeting about their busy workloads #libjobshadowFL
otherwise, you know, I gotta admit this has been the third-craziest week in American History… Second place: October 87 when we were attacking Iranian boats and the stock market crashed and Baby Jessica was down the well. First place: I gotta go with 9/11…
Yutsano
@CaseyL: The trade-off to living next to the world’s only temperate rainforest in North America is how amazingly gawjuss it gets. Not to mention we actually benefit from climate change as it has increased our water sources and our snowpacks. I can’t believe I’m still contemplating leaving!
@RoonieRoo: 1) SQUEE!!
2) PICS!!
Mr Stagger Lee
While waiting for my car to go to the shop, I am watching the French Crime series Spiral on Netflix, decent so far.
PaulW
@peach flavored shampoo:
You got Matt Lauer at the scene. Lighten up.
This has been the Third Craziest Week in American History. Look on the bright side: you’ve knocked the “Elvis Impersonator Ricin Terrorist” to the third-most important story.
Roxy
We are having our spring/fall weather in the next couple of days. No fog, wind or rain in sight.
Inland 80s to 90s, by the bay high 70s low 80s, coast 70s. These temperatures are normal during the fall.
Just a month ago I could see one or two leaves on our walnut trees in our back yard, then almost overnight an outbreak of leaves.
Flocks of robins were around for a a couple of weeks in March enjoying our home made bird bath. Then one day they were gone. The robins usually stop by in the early spring heading north and stop by in early fall heading south. Fun to watch when they hang out at the bird bath.
The irises are ready to burst with blues, purples and pinks.
Elizabelle
@aimai:
Had not realized you were in Boston area. YOU should write a guest post. Always enjoy your comments.
Tomato soup with curry spicing. Could be real good.
Elizabelle
Y’all are talking about way more interesting stuff than Washington political gridlock. Which we discuss day in and day out.
That said, Norm Ornstein and Thomas Mann have an op ed in today’s WaPost:
Gridlock is no way to govern.
Duh.
Roger Moore
@PaulW:
Sorry, I have to think that the week of June 28 – July 4, 1863 would have to take the cake, since it included the Battle of Gettysburg and the surrender of Vicksburg. That seems really, really hard to top. I would also think that 7-13 December, 1941 would be pretty high on the list.
Mike E
We are about to get a pollen washing storm come through here in Mayberry, only to make room for more of that devil dust. Dr. appt for my daughter, then paying the rest of my tax bill online, then work. Earth Day tomorrow! I’ll be running 2nd shift for my org’s display at the festivities; break down of the tent, then off to work. Sunday, work! Bah.
gogol's wife
@Raven:
I’m glad to hear it.
Amir Khalid
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Alumnus. Unless, of course, he has more than one degree.
(Sorry. Sometimes the grammar-police impulse gets to me, and I just can’t help myself.)
PurpleGirl
Max! Great picture of his natural state of being.
Hugo (my friends’ Dobermann) also spent a lot of his time on the couch or one of the beds or on the floor, next to me where my hand could fall on him and pet him. Max so reminds me of Hugo and brings back sweet memories.
The Dangerman
@NotMax:
Only that Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks have exhausted their inventories.
PurpleGirl
@Raven: Good to hear that.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Raven:
Good news! I hope Mrs. R. has a speedy and complete recovery.
NotMax
@Mike E
Also the birth date of the man who made Godwin famous.
/obligatory blog thread Adolf reference
Elizabelle
DC area readers:
MARCH SUPPORTING IMPOSING TAX ON WALL STREET FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS, tomorrow, Farragut Square, noon.
Sponsored by the Robin Hood Tax organization.
Sounds like a good plan to me.
S. cerevisiae
Woke up to two feet of snow this morning, got a snow day from the office. Now I get to go shovel – yay spring!
Mino
@Raven: Glad to hear things went well.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Roger Moore: Surrender of Lee at Appomattox then the assassination of Lincoln, should be up there also. I guess if one gets technical within the week of Gettysburg there was the Draft Riots of New York, perhaps one of the bloodiest riots in history.
kerFuFFler
@peach flavored shampoo: Given that the company filed a dishonest risk disclosure form, I think there should be a manhunt for the people in charge of that plant.
Tim F.
@Amir Khalid: If he had seven degrees he would still be an alumnus, unless there were two of him.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Amir Khalid:
He’s still an alumnus no matter how many degrees he has. Unless he’s more than one person.
ETA: Late, as usual.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack (tablet):
@Tim F.:
I knowest.
ranchandsyrup
@Raven: Nice! Was sending good thoughts.
Mike E
@NotMax: Yep, I’ll be false-flagging like there’s no tomorrow.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Raven:That’s good news. Wishes for a speedy and pain free post op and rehab phase.
MAXPUPPEH! He’s so adorable. Along the lines of your confession, Layla when excited (often!)likes to engage in a full body wiggle, complete with helicopter tail and hound trill. She often does this with a red kong in her mouth. The clearly appropriate response is to sing “Red wiggler, the Cadillac of worms.”
Morzer
@aimai:
Aimai, you are a wonderful person, but may I beg you never to use the abominable barbarism “thusly” again in public?
danimal
@kerFuFFler: Imagine a bizarro world in which a massive manhunt for culprits and a billion dollar effort were made to make workplaces safer, or less lethal to their communities.
In this bizarro world, the West, TX explosion would dominate the headlines, while the terrorists in Boston would be a one-day blip of a story. At least 3 times more people died in the Texas tragedy, as best I can tell, with much more property damage as well.
Maybe we should encourage the bizarro world perspective, instead of watching environmental and workplace regulations get gutted under the radar as they have for the past 30 years.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
Number of degrees doesn’t change his singular nature. Sorry, but thems the rules as is done said in Pedantia.
Schlemizel
edit: OK, I was going to mention the week of VIcksburg (ensuring the death of the rebellion) Gettysburg (entertaining the Eastern press and ending Lee’s dream of bringing the war North) and the Draft Riot. But you guys beat me to it. Glad to see Appomattox / assassination week added as well as Dec. ’41.
Even at that we are missing some weeks like 7/4/1776 and 3/4/1789 which both deserve some love. Probably missing a couple even with this longer list
gbear
@Schlemizel: I decided after the last storm that I refused to shovel snow any more this year. We didn’t get a foot in St. Paul, but it’s at least 8″ and the robins are looking desperate this morning.
I’m home today with a sick day – spring just spikes my depression something fierce. Going to the doctor this afternoon not so much because he can do anything for it, but to get a written notice for work. Fortunately I’ve had FMLA protection for this for about 4 years. The atmosphere at work makes it difficult to get under control.
burnspbesq
@Elizabelle:
The only problem with a FTT is that the execution and processing of financial transactions is inherently mobile. If the US or the EU act unilaterally, the activity will move to Singapore, or Belize, or pretty much anyplace with enough stable electricity to run server farms, decent high-speed communications links, and a government that can be “persuaded” not to kill the new golden-egg-laying goose.
If you’re serious about a multi-hundred-billion-dollar increase in US tax revenue, there are exactly two ways to make it happen: increase individual income tax rates or put in a VAT.
NotMax
@danimal
I understand the Seinfeld reference, however…
In the classic Bizarro world of the comics, the laudable goal would be to make workplaces less safe.
Bizarro Code:
Us do opposite of all Earthly things!
Us hate beauty!
Us love ugliness!
Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!
Southern Beale
Arkansas Republican state rep Nate Bell, you are our asshole of the day! Be sure to collect your bag of dicks on your way out the door, sanctimonious shithead.
catclub
@Roger Moore: The events of this week pale before 1941, and 1863 and even 2001.
Although I would suspect First Bull Run, when the realization came that it was not going to be a summer fling type of war, was notable, also. the 1960’s may have had a few notable weeks, too. In that the nation was changed after them. Not sure that this week will do that.
Where is that “Connections” guy when you need him?
WereBear
@RoonieRoo: Jeez.
My mom was not cut out to be a housewife and mother to a brood of children (there were four of us.) She was not made to fit the only box she was given.
It drove her crazy.
But at least she got better :)
Pot roast in the crockpot, kitties finally sleeping after a rowdy morning.
bemused
@Schlemizel:
It’s wild, isn’t it? Our Samoyed comes inside with walnut to golf ball sized snowballs clinging to her back feet. She was pushing snow chest deep trying to chase squirrels…an endeavor doomed to failure even when there isn’t any snow but she can’t resist.
gelfling545
@Tokyokie: My pug likes to woo woo along with the Rolling Stones on Gimme Shelter & to a lesser extent, Sympathy for the Devil.
gelfling545
Heading to a 49 cent perennial sale at a local nursery. I hate buying overgrown plants as they don’t do as well as the small fry when transplanted so I hope I’ll get some nice starter plants.
Poopyman
The impending Weather Event (spring thunderstorms) is slowly impinging on the non-stop Boston coverage as well as the Local Uncle Angle. I predict that by this evening the DC news corps will all be out on the streets standing in the rain in their slickers waiting for the lightning.
And I’ll be rooting for the lighting.
Meanwhile, I’m still laid off as well (waves to BD of MN) but still cruising on severance pay while crafting my job search. Gotta hit the pavement next week.
maya
@Schlemizel: There’s that whole 13 day fear binge in October 1962 that was fun.
Edit: I just started first year of college then which had compulsory ROTC. Much angst.
Yutsano
@WereBear: My mom had four boys then went right back to work. Even in the early 70s. She was definitely not housewife material!
quannlace
Well, of course Max is on the couch.
When I started doing my morning stretches/exercises on the living room floor, I quickly felt how much colder it is down there. It only makes sense for ze dogs to sleep couch-wise.
Elizabelle
@burnspbesq:
Those are good ideas too.
But bring on the FTT. Let them move to Singapore or Belize.
We have to bring in more revenue, and Wall Street’s interests are so divorced from Main Street’s. They’re making money hand over foot and are way too powerful.
Hell, let them move to Somalia.
RoonieRoo
@WereBear: I do think my mom is legitimately crazy. We are three daughters that are close in age. When I was born, my mother would have been taking care of (with NO help from my dad as it was back then) a newborn, a 2 year old and a 3 year old. How on earth could you not go crazy?
My dad had affairs with his secretaries and he drank and chain smoked like a man of that time. Dad was married three times (his second was to his secretary that was only 8 years older than my sister). Don would be around 8 years older than my dad, who was a war vet also. But Don’s personality IS a carbon copy of my dad. The good things and the bad things.
Heck, watching the show I see the furniture I grew up with. They had our cookie jar and several dinners they used the EXACT plates I grew up with . It’s CREEPY! My eldest sister cannot watch it at all. So many of their life events if you apply it to life as a lawyer are eerily the same.
That episode where Don lets his daughter go to an award ceremony and Roger is acting like she is his date. THAT HAPPENED TO ME! At that age I was often my Dad’s date with is buddies at law convention type things. Creepy, creepy, creepy!
aimai
@Morzer:
I’m reading proust day by day since the bombing. Its affecting my typing.
Elizabelle
@BD of MN:
Good luck!
Are you local or regional? Do not sound OTR, but who knows …
raven
@RoonieRoo: This weeks show was especially striking to me. Much of the episode centered on various people screwing each others spouses while reports of the Pueblo capture and the Tet Offensive raged on the TV in the background. The party line is that hippies were all mean and spitting on vets but, to me, this is much more accurate. Nobody gave a fuck.
NotMax
@gelfling545
Back in the Stone Ages, when (by default) I ended up in sole charge of the big greenhouse at the high school, would productively spend lots of time taking cuttings from larger plants and using rooting hormone to make many, many starters to be sold at the annual plant sale.
Very easy to do, and good results.
arguingwithsignposts
Well, I just got some really exciting news on two fronts, both job related. I’d share, but that would be revealing too much. Suffice to say that, in the midst of all the tragedy this week, I have some good news. :)
NotMax
Oy vey.
Rep. Duncan, please, please shut your piehole.
Ruckus
@RoonieRoo:
I tried to watch and my thought was, I lived through this and it sucked so I’m not going to waste my time.
Fort Geek
Digging through MP3’s looking for stuff to populate the new hard drive (for when I want to grab a guitar and play along); found Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May”…made me think it’s be a good title for a short in which Zombie Maggie Thatcher comes back to wreak more austerity on Britain.
RoonieRoo
@Ruckus: I think that is my sister’s main reason for not watching it.
Tonal Crow
Aaand in today’s installment of “if we ban guns, murderers’ll just use hubcaps”:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Police-Standoff-with-Gunman-in-Bucks-County-203684011.html
A man, armed with a vintage 1966 Dodge Dart hubcap, killed his ex-wife in a parking lot in Feasterville, Pa. last night.
The woman had just left a dress shop on Bustleton Pike with her 16-year-old daughter and they were sitting in the car when Kenneth Philipp pulled up behind them, jumped out of his car, grabbed his hubcap and opened fire, according to Lower Southampton Township Police.
“We know that there were three hubcap projectiles fire[d] at the scene.. but we do not know how many were fired into the car,” said Lower Southampton Township Police Chief William Wiegman.
The teenager was injured by broken glass, her mother died, police said.
Officers quickly tracked down Philipp to the intersection of Buck and Holland Road in Northampton.
Investigators say he got out of the car and started firing at the officers. One of the officers fired back, killing Philipp.
The 50-year-old man was just released from jail back in February for assaulting his ex-wife with a knife, police say….
Ruckus
@Raven:
Good news is always good.
Hope Ms Raven is up and about soon.
Ruckus
@? Martin:
I believe the minority of senators dislike that as well.
Yutsano
@NotMax: South Carolina: too small to be a country, too large for an insane asylum.
Hmm. Maybe we should rethink this…
Morzer
@aimai:
Proust just makes me want cookies. I hate the Subliminal Advertising Novel.
Steeplejack
@aimai:
Which translation are you reading? (If not the original French, sorry.)
handsmile
@raven:
With all of today’s manic multi-media-surfing, I’ve neglected until now to add my own best wishes to you and your partner on such a happy, healthful outcome! That sure makes for a wonderful weekend for you two!
Fort Geek
@Southern Beale: Wish there were a way we could nab crazy bastards like him, medicate them, and lock them away instead of allowing them to walk around making laws.
Michele C
@gbear: Mine too. I’m wondering if allergies aggravate it or what. Apologies if speculation seems annoying.
Tonal Crow
@Fort Geek: I contend that most Republicans have a pathological lack of empathy for anyone who isn’t an immediate relative. This is a mental illness, which should (under their own argument) bar them from possessing guns.
Fort Geek
@catclub: There’s a “Knowledge Web” blog that features links to James “Connections” Burke audio and show clips. Hasn’t updated since late 2012, though.
Roxy
@Fort Geek:
Connections and The Day the Universe Changed are a couple of my favorite shows by James Burke
sacrablue
@Tonal Crow: Weird, I grew up in the next town over in Upper Southampton township. There was always something odd about Feasterville. Somehow an attack with a hubcap seems entirely in character. I think the only reason we ever went there was to shop at the discount shoe store. I’m having strange flashbacks…
Roger Moore
I think that’s supposed to be “I like big mutts and I cannot lie…”
Fort Geek
@Tonal Crow: Hubcap? He’s a “Tron” fan!
I knew those movies were dangerous….
Jinx
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Sorry, I’m an always reader never commenter but you’ve flushed me out! My greyhound was nicknamed Wiggle for similar reasons. I always sang Wiggle-dog is here…Spreading her good cheer…Wiggle-dog oh Wiggle-dog. Wiggle-dog is here! To the tune of Christmas Time is Here from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special to her. She was a delight, sorely missed.
Fort Geek
@Tonal Crow: Absolutely. Too many of the right-wing rants remind me of my stepfather (who died of Alzheimer’s) and my stepbrother (who is paranoid psychotic thanks to several DWI wrecks involving head injuries).
BD of MN
@Elizabelle:
My wife likes me to sleep next to her every night :D I have an interview already this afternoon, so I’m not that worried about being unemployed too long. If it was actually spring instead of the fifth encore of winter, I’d take a week off and work on the house (got a new power washer for my b-day and a deck that needs cleaning and staining)…
grandpa john
@? Martin: we can hope that at sometime in the future, these majorities will decide that if they really want these things, they need to get off their asses ,become involved and not only vote themselves but persuade others to also do so
Fort Geek
@Roxy: I never cared much for history in school. But once I saw my first episode of “Connections” I was hooked (hence the screen name).
daize
@Raven: Ah, good to hear. Congratulations. Hope all continues to go well.
daize
@ellie: That’s so sweet!
I used to sing “Daisy” to my kitty named (obvs) Daisy.
“You’ll look sweet upon the seat of a litter box built for two.”
maryQ
@Roger Moore: I’m with you on the single malt. Can’t explain why watching makes we crave an inferior product.
nadine
@Schlemizel: … and… maybe Ted Cruze should receive this check?
nadine
@Litlebritdifrnt: I’m in Newport