Now, See...

...this would probably be funnier if I weren't preoccupied with this habit I have of confusing the word "bring" with "take"...

Maybe They Knew We Didn't Have Candy

This is maybe the only day of the year I don't like living amid a small row of Houses That Nobody Knows Are There. The costumed kids and their parents all sail back and forth across the main street about 20 feet away from our living room window, but our doorbell hasn't rung once, and the giveaway comics sit, forelorn, on the second-to-last step from the bottom of our stairwell.

[And no, the goblins and gremlins didn't get the blog, I was trying to change the template while at work and, as previously noted, sometimes Blogger and my work computer aren't the best of buddies. I didn't think the edit thing would lose half the template, it looked fine before, but when I looked this evening it was gone, so I've substituted the last one I saved at home, about two weeks ago. I did save today's at work, so I'll try again or, failing that, email it to myself and update at home tomorrow night. Kids, always back up your templates regularly!]

Silly Site o' the Day

Happy Halloween!



It's balmy outside, going to be in the upper 60s for the next few days, and with my boss out I almost feel like driving up 9A to Sleepy Hollow tonight after work, but I'll probably just come back to the house and ready the comics for handing out to trick-or-treaters. Eszter passed along some cute Halloween games - I haven't played Transylmania yet, but I couldn't get the poor trick-or-treater out of the house in Dark and Stormy Night...

Silly Site o' the Day

The BabyCage. It's just... I have no words... Via Augie.

Scorecards of Note

A few good posts about the players in the current national tragedy: If you have a bit of time, read Digby on how the White House was counting on a complacent press to protect leakers, as well as how one member of that press protected both that and his own ass; and Lance Mannion's musings about how Karl Rove's genius may be yet another clever scam. But-- if he's not a genius, and he's convinced the complacent press that he is, doesn't that make him a genius? I'm so confused...

Joe Wilson Reacts

In today's LA Times. Via eRobin.

Fall Back!

An extra hour of sleep for us tonight. Actually, not, it only means Datsa will get hungry at 4:30 AM instead of 5:30...

Weird Bodily Functions in the News

Okay, this is all getting just a bit too much for my delicate sensibilities...

The "Sea Urchin Commission"?

Apparently enough people no longer avoid TDU that their voracious consumption of the noxious-tasting roe is having an eological impact... for the better? Scrutiny Hooligans are to blame for this, one way or another.

Fall Foliage Oh-Five

At last, here's the photoblog from our trip last Sunday, when we decided to celebrate my car's 10,000th mile in style by driving upstate to see a couple wineries and charming villages and mostly leaves. I usually delete the links from the pictures I post, but I'm leaving them in this time so you can click on each to see it at a larger size.

We started out by crossing the GW into Jersey and getting onto the Palisades Parkway, which had some scenic overlooks. Naturally we stopped at the first one:



Here's the view looking back out at the parkway. There follow some views of NYC from our vantage point.





At this point the clouds are starting to get nastier. They were moving pretty fast!



But it was only one view - when we looked out towards the GW, nothin' but blue skies...



A bit northwest is the area of the Bronx where we were pretty sure our house is:



We turned from the Palisades onto Route 9W, and the trees started getting more and more colorful:







The route's a little deceptive, you don't realize you're climbing until you're right up there atop some very lovely hills. And, like a mountain or something. (I think we were skirting Bear Mountain.)



The sky kept looking ominous:



At this elevation we were in the midst of a low level of clouds, which draped and misted over the hills like dry ice:





It was then Robin noticed the camera's battery signalling it was low (why it couldn't have told me that before we left the house I'll never know) so I decided to conserve it and just enjoy the rest of the trip up. It took almost three hours to get to our nominal destination of New Paltz (this trip was far more about the journey than any pit stops), and of course we can't go to new places without trying their sushi!



Highly recommended. Some really creative rolls! We then walked around the main route a bit, a really typical (almost stereotypical) New England'y college town with lots of restaurants and shops to peer in and a kind of hippie-holdover vibe which I liked a lot. Then back on the road to see if we could follow the Shawangunk Wine Trail a bit.



I liked the name Rivendell so we went there first. That's kind of its logo there. Pretty surroundings. But inside it wasn't All That. I don't know what we expected, but it must have been more than a small shack that combined a tasting room and souvenir shop and what I guess was a dining room. Maybe if we'd gone in with an official tour group...



Then it got dark and started to rain so we followed the trail to the next winery, also not terribly impressive, and the road was out so we couldn't follow the trail any more and we decided we'd had our fun and we'd cheat by taking the Thruway home instead of crossing the Mid-Hudson Bridge into 9A (don't know why it's not 9E if the western equivalent is 9W, maybe it's "A" because it was the first and still one of the longest streets in the world; it's the one that starts at the tip of Battery Park in Manhattan). The foliage on the Thruway was lovely as well; the accident that delayed our return for an hour was not.

Silly Site o' the Day

Today was piled-up trash throwaway (lots of boxes, all the old blinds we replaced, etc.), never fun to do as it involves repeated journeys up and down two flights of stairs but it was relatively painless once we'd figured out a method that involved Robin basically handing me stuff over the rail of the outside flight. Up above this post should be the New Paltz trip pictures at last. Got 'em onto the computer, now I just need to trust that Blogger's debugged whatever was wrong with its photo posting for much of yesterday. Too tired to do much else besides read, which means I'm almost caught up on blog-skimming. Still psyched for Monday, so here's another seasonal site via Cory at BoingBoing: a poem by Edgar Allen Seuss called Horton Hears a Heart.

Why I Am No Longer A Movie Person, Part 762

Watched Sideways tonight on TV. No, forced myself to watch it. Funny lines here and there punctuating a week in the life of characters I never cared about for one second. even though I generally like the actors playing those characters. Godawful boring. What the hell did apparently everyone else in the world see in this drek?

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

Hallowe'en is when we celebrate Datsa's birthday, as his previous owners (from whom I inherited him when he was between 2 and 3 years old) told me he was born in the autumn, and him being all tuxedo and all, it seemed to fit. I just went over his past medical records and, if my calculations are correct, he's going to be 13 this year. Happy birthday, Datsa!

Ever since the problems he developed a couple years back, necessitating the start of his twice-daily medicine routine, we consider every day with our big boy beast a borrowed-time blessing. Not an evening goes by that I don't cuddle and kiss the Dotty one.

Gays in Space

Nah, actually he's from California, he only works in space. Anyone know why Takei's eponymous website isn't loading? He's one of the best actor-writers out there, his travelogue when he visited the internment camp where he spent his early childhood brought tears to my eyes.

Silly Site o' the Day

Not nearly close to catching up, but that's what weekends are for, particularly with Robin working. I did skim through enough to see Linkmeister and others talk about a beta site called Frappr! where you can place yourself on a map and invite others to do so as well. So here's the Frappr! mapper for Pen-Elayne readers; come on over and sign in!

Silly Site o' the Day

Hope this goes through, Blogger and my work computer don't always have the best relationship. New Paltz pictures coming soon, doo dah, doo dah... maybe tonight, as there won't be *sob* any more baseball to watch... Definitely getting psyched for this coming "Hallowe'en weekend," though. I hope our downstairs neighbor won't mind giving out comic books on our behalf on Monday, it'd be a bit much for us to walk down and back up the stairs every time the doorbell rings (which it hardly did last year, but she's got two kids and now lots of other neighborhood kids know where the house is). Getting into the spirit, here's a site where you can carve your own pumpkin, via Patricia at Blondesense.

Planet Gazing

Via Athenae at First Draft, Mars will be swinging by relatively very close to Earth this Sunday. Not as close as two years ago, but still pretty neat. However, I doubt one can see it with the naked eye.

Silly Site o' the Day

In a comments section below, St. Anonymous spots a trend, and offers Online Healing as the next pilgrimage site... I love when Pen-Elayne readers do the "work" for me! Light blogging may continue whilst I dig out from under more job stuff...

Letters, We Get Letters

Some bloggers are writing to the strangest recipients lately...

Remembrances

Rosa Parks lived a long and meaningful life. She will always be a hero of mine.

Today would have been Bit Ishikawa's 27th birthday. I miss her too.

Silly Site o' the Day

Well, so much for having the time and inclination to post the New Paltz fall foliage fotos - maybe tonight. I'm doubly glad now that we went up there on Sunday, as this nor'easter may rip all those lovely leaves off the trees well before this coming weekend. As it was, I had to have a fairly tight grip on the wheel during this morning's windy commute. Saint Clinton save me! (Via John Dietrich in email.)

Milestone Note

Happy third blogiversary to my other "blogchild," Johnny Bacardi!

Silly Site o' the Day

Omigod, it's like, Harriet Miers' blog, fer sher! Via Susie Madrak.

Meet the New Paltz, Same as the Old Paltz

Three hours there, three hours back, given winding mountain roads on the up-side and traffic accidents on the return end. We saw only two wineries, neither impressive, but it was raining during that point and we barely got out of the car. Very tired, but sated for the weekend as far as the fall foliage sightseeing went. Pictures tomorrow; baseball tonight.

Silly Site o' the Day

And so to bed, to get up later in the morning and start the Scenic Drive for our upstate day-trip. Leaving you with - no, not the "how much is your blog worth?" site that everyone else is passing around, I've been through Blogshares and I liked those pretend dollar signs much better - the heartwarming saga of Harlan McCraney, Presidential Speechalist, via the right neighborly Keith R.A. DeCandido.

Silly Site o' the Day

Happy third blogiversary to my "blogchild" and Pen-Elayne tech whiz Laura Gjovaag! In honor of this suspicious [sic] occasion, let's do a comic book related silly site, as I first met Laura at the San Diego con some years back. (Yes, another before-we-had-blogs friend!) I only regret that X-Men: Death Becomes Them (via Bryant Gries) isn't about Aquaman, but I'm sure Laura, Robin and all my comics-fan readers will more than appreciate the running gag.

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

At about 6:45 my left arm just up and gave out on me. Excruciating pain in the elbow area, that sort of thing. Fortunately I only had a few more paragraphs to type for my boss, before leaving for the weekend. I tried to relax when I got home, but just after being fed (by Robin, thank goodness), Datsa started rustling 'round the plastic bags stored in the larder, demanded attention. Rob thought he was going back in the kitchen but he led me straight to the bedroom and up on the bed, expecting petting and loving and all that. So I said, "If you're going to be all loving and like that all of a sudden, you're going to let me take your picture."



And so I did.

Silly Site o' the Day

Velvet Underground 3D Death Chase. Nuff said. Blame Alex at Buck Hill.

Hooray for Captain Spaulding

And then there were three, again. Pam Spaulding has joined Pandagon (which I've moved back to the Group Blogs section of my sidebar blogroll). Where she finds the energy to post there, and on Big Brass Blog, and on her own Pam's House Blend, I'll never know. Maybe she's taking lessons from the equally-ubiquitous and delightful MadKane, or Shaula Evans...

Geek Confessional

Melissa has a cool post up at Shakespeare's Sister talking about geek indulgences. We're all fessing up, come join us. I only told one story because I've been into so many geek-friendly hobbies that listing all of them would take far too long. (Is it geeky to be married to a professional comics artist and write stories that he draws, or is pro-geeky a separate category?)

Update: Lis Riba has more geekery.

Silly Site o' the Day

With Supreme Court talk still in the air, it's a good time to play the ACLU's Justice Match (via Lauren at Feministe)! It's actually a bit more boring than the name would indicate, one of those "educational" type games, but I guess it might be called silly on some level...

New Carnival in Town

In blog-speak, a "carnival" isn't one of those places with rubber-faced men and geeks biting off chickens' heads (at least I don't think so), it's a compendium of links (like a blogaround) all featuring the same basic theme. Natalie Bennett, who's done such a fine job with her Friday Femmes Fatales posts, far outstripping my meager Estrogen Month efforts, has now posted the first Carnival of Feminists! I'm looking forward to adding a lot more names to my "Where the Women Bloggers Are" Bloglines bookmarks after I catch up on my regular blog-skimming (which is one of the reasons I haven't been posting that much lately and therefore didn't contribute to the first C of F)...

The Actual Problem...

...is the politicization of criminal behavior; as history has shown us time and again, people with a tendency to break the law ought not to be allowed to be public servants in the first place.

RIP Tom Gill

Mark Evanier has the details. I was privileged to have met Mr. Gill on several occasions at conventions, the last one in White Plains with Robin a few years back, and I and my first husband Steve adored him. He was spry (and still teaching!) well into his 80's, and by all accounts lived a happy and full life.

Silly Site o' the Day

With all this talk about indictments and resignations and so forth, it's probably a good time to recall-- I mean, reference the "official" US Order of Succession page. I signed up awhile ago so I'm in the 3000th percentile as I recall; unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to do a search by name. Via Kevin at Preemptive Karma.

Silly Site o' the Day

We're allowed silly childhoods, right? I mean, that's part of what childhood is for. When my youngest brother Jay and I were kids, we liked to pretend we had a TV show called The Elayne and Jay Show that we acted out in front of the mirror in my bedroom. (That and teaching him the alphabet are two of my favorite memories of me and Jay from our childhood.) Jay and I have always shared a love for many things silly - I got into Uncle Floyd and Mad Magazine because of him, I'm pretty sure he got into stuff like Thunderbirds because of me. Jay turns 43 today. Appropriately for his birthday and the season, I feel it necessary to inform Jay that Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Cryptkickers' song "Monster Mash" was #1 on the US pop charts the day he was born. How do I know? I consulted This Day in Music, which I found via Augie. Happy birthday, bro!

Milestone Notes

Congratulations to Elise of After School Snack on her pregnancy! Another blogger through whom I can live vicariously in my barrenness. :)

And then there were two - again. Jesse Taylor trades up, leaving blogging for actual activisim and Pandagon in the capable hands of Amanda Marcotte and jedmunds. ¡Via con carne, Jesse!

Lastly, with Graeme hanging up his Fanboy Rampage, I've linked to inking list member Keith Champagne's new blog. Now if only he'd toggle on his RSS feed...

Ahem

Just so's ya know.

Silly Site o' the Day

Guess I should be cleaning out my more timely saved bookmarks, so here's an application for the Supreme Court, just in case what's-her-name doesn't make it, via Patrick at Seeing the Forest.

Silly Site o' the Day

Star Dudes, nothin' but Star Dudes... Via Betsy Devine.

Impulse Drive

So we were doing a bit of food shopping this morning and suddenly this big yellow ball appeared in the sky, and I said "heck if I spend the afternoon inside after a week of rain," and Robin had been talking about getting a few more shelving units for the studio since the stand-alone shelves he'd bought were too heavy to stay on the wall, and goodness knows how many more perfect-weather autumnal days we'll have, so off we went on the Merritt Parkway again, on a whim, to the Ikea in New Haven. And Rob took a few foliage pictures on the way.











Pretty, huh? And just as we got back to Bronkers and pulled into the local Citgo, the sky darkened and it started to rain again, so our timing couldn't be better. Rob got the units up pretty quickly, so here's the final shot of how the right side of the studio looks now:



Now we can start organizing all the stuff to put back in the studio!

Silly Site o' the Day

Here's something to ponder - a game called Reflections. Should be pretty easy for Robin, as it has to do with light sources and such... Via Augie.

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

Good job my Buzznet account is still active, as Blogger's photo posting is kinda wiggy tonight. I got the studio pictures up but gave up on the cat picture after five tries. Here it is via my other photo posting facility:



I'm really showing off the new blinds more than the cats - all the blinds have now been done except for one in the kitchen...

A Whole New Room

Robin's finished putting together the tables for his studio. As a reminder, here's how the left side looks:



Now here's the continuation:



That's the lightbox behind Robin, on the table in front of the AC. Here's a bit better view of how the three newest tables flow together almost seamlessly.



Now comes the hardest part - organizing all the art supplies, books, boards, tools, etc. currently piled in the living room and the computer room, some of which hasn't seen the light of day since he was in England. Fortunately he's married to a born organizer. Unfortunately, going-on-seven years of marriage have trained me not to move any of Robin's work stuff without his input...

I Am A... Camera?

Another Google-your-name time-waster for you, courtesy of Karen - "[your name] is a..." Here's what the first page of results looks like for me:

Elayne is a very talented writer whose talent is evident in the chapter.

Elayne is a fourteenth-century dreamy teenaged girl living with her sister Cara and casting love hexes on a young man that catches her.

Elayne is a young woman betrayed, with a future arranged by others.

Elayne is a simple, happy Christian girl, who had a tendency towards spells and magic.

Elayne is a seasoned veteran in embroidery and apparel.

Elayne is a solid and fun writer who covers a range of topics, so informative that Tom Tomorrow has already linked to HER blog once at HIS blog! (This one actually is about me!)

Elayne is a great guest and valuable resource — knowledgeable and lively.

Elayne is a Senior Lecturer in Business Information Management at the Westminster Business School, University of Westminster.

Elayne is a member of the Associated Women in the Arts, Louisiana Art and Artist's Guild, and the Gonzales Art Guild.

Elayne is a gem and we will always be very grateful to her for finding our house in Provence.

I kinda like 'em all; even the Christian-magic one made me giggle.

Silly Site o' the Day

This is the sort of game Robin plays for me to send me to work. One would almost think he's looking forward to Hallowe'en.

Silly Site o' the Day

Ohhh yeah... nothing says "Yom Kippur fast-breaking" like lingonberry jam on challah. Just so's ya know... So let's all start the new season off right by punching out your favorite celebrity! Good thing Jews don't have a concept of Hell... Via Len, who ought to be ashamed of himself.

"Hey Pablo, I Thin' He Broke the President!"

Deception is hard work!

Katrina Relief Auction Reminder

Just to let y'all know, this is the last day to bid on the 7 pages of artwork that Robin submitted to the relief auction run by Christina Strain and Laura and Randy Martin, as that particular auction ends this evening. Here's the link to look at and bid on the lot. Thanks!

Silly Site o' the Day

Continuing on with our job-search theme from yesterday, Mark Evanier found a site that the current administration uses - CronyJobs! Another stroke of brilliance from the folks at WhiteHouse.org...

Silly Site o' the Day

Another day at the office, another day of property management and personal assistant stuff and dealing with my touchy Republican coworker who misinterprets everything I say to the point where I'm no longer even wondering whether it's me (and that's saying something). Maybe I've been going about this job search thing all wrong. Via Jill Filipovic at Feministe, I consulted the Job Predictor and, lo and behold, it says, "Elayne Riggs, Your ideal job is a Ping pong ball inspector." Sounds good to me! Okay boys, let me see your b-- no wait, that didn't come out right at all...

Countdown to Colbert

Les sept jours, ou par semaine! ("It's French, bitch!")

South Asia Quake Relief



Clicking on the graphic above will take you to AlertNet's list of relief groups responding to the South Asia earthquake.

Needy Me

The latest timewaster-mislabelled-a-"meme" floating about comes to me via PZ Myers, and I thought it was cute so I did it. The good doctor explains, "do a google search for '[Your first name] needs,' and discover what the Internets think you really need." Apparently, and this is in the order of Google results on the first page:

Elayne needs to send a letter to her mom.
Elayne needs lawful heirs.
Elayne needs to lighten up on Rand and she needs to get with the program and do as Birgitte asks her to do.
Elayne needs to be working on the crack. (I think that one's my favorite.)
Elayne needs all of her bodyguards around while the process is going on.
Elayne needs somebody to stand up to her.
Elayne needs to Get her Crown and start taking names.
Elayne needs a real good deal!
Elayne needs to catch up on blog-reading, pardon me whilst I multi-task.

That last one was actually typed by me on a Firesign chat last April, although it could just as easily apply to my activities during most Firesign chats...

Aardman Storage Facility Destroyed by Fire

I know there are so many horrible things going on now that a fire at an animation studio's storage unit shouldn't really rank up there tragedy-wise, but I've had a mad-on for Nick Park & co. for years so it does sadden me somewhat. Thank goodness no actual human beings were injured. Via Barista.

Silly Site o' the Day

So I stood outside the building entrance for 15 minutes this morning because our tenants are all out for the holiday, our porter took a personal day, my coworkers who'd arrived before me weren't at their desks to answer my calls and, unlike them, I'm not allowed an access card (even though I'm the one in charge of getting the cards programmed). Now that I'm inside I can't work on any of my "quiet day" job stuff because we can't connect to our network drives where it's all stored. Fortunately the internet works, and it just so happens that I have a lot of blog catch-up to do! But first, did you know that Kinky Friedman was running for governor of Texas? Sure you did. But have you seen his Kinkytoon? Via Michael Schaub at Blog of a Bookslut.

Liberal Coalition Blogaround

Been way too long, and this is one of the only ways I seem to be able to discipline myself enough to actually skim through my fellow Liberal Coalition members' blogs with any regularity. Here's what caught my eye from about two weeks' worth of catch-up:

Alex and the Sooner Thought crew repro a Newsweek column from Eleanor Clift about Harriet Miers.

Amy and David at blogAmy have started photoblogging - cool!

Andante learns a powerful lesson about cats and computers.

Bora Zivkovic takes a bit of time out from his carnival organization to support a local friend's political ambitions.

Bryant Gries' fictional friend Irwin J. McIckleson puts us all to shame with his consistently amusing blogarounds.

Charles2 found a bit buried in a NY Times article that mentions FEMA budget cutbacks in 2006. Hey, maybe the new crop of cronies comes cheaper than the old crop.

Chris Brown interrupts his question-taking to rave about his latest acquisition at Target.

At Corrente, MJS gets graphic and serenades us, and Riggsveda is off to Baton Rouge to practice what many of us just preach.

I hate to break it to Echidne, but I'm afraid I have no memories of my first kiss. As I get older I find my brain has less capacity for personal memories (and fictional plots), as it needs to be taken up with need-to-know-for-boss stuff.

Speaking of fiction, Eryk at And Then... talks about why he prefers music reviews to fiction, and then gives us an example.

At First Draft, Athenae muses about America as the world's policeman, and puts on her best perfume.

Happy belated birthday to Guy Andrew Hall, who is damn tired of messages. Part of me agrees with him, but the cynic in me notes that, sadly, nowadays running for office is "about selling products." It's probably been that way at least since the advent of television. That's not to say that the products sold can't be things like competence and integrity and civil rights and justice.

Horatio flashes us back to the '86 World Series, which was pretty much what I thought when I was watching last Wednesday's game. Gosh, three teams eliminated already since then, and what a phenomenal Braves/Astros game today! It's great to see so many bloggers suddenly possessed of baseball fever (at least to the point of blogging about it)!

I hope Jane Hamsher enjoyed being on the air this morning! I've often been told I have a face for radio... Hope her TV appearance gets rescheduled soon!

John at archy has an Ig Nobel Prize report.

Jude Camwell details John Edwards' sixth podcast, and examines the controversial website Under Mars.

Kathy Kattenburg gave me a heads-up that she was going to do a blogaround, and so she has! On her own blog she's also kept up to date on the earthquake situation in South Asia. Also, please tell me this isn't real...

Keith Kisser is getting back into the swing of things in the job world... well, at least insofar as being a librarian is considered a job. (Kidding! That's just for Steve.)

Ken Quinnell at T. Rex is less than happy with the outcome of this afternoon's game. But hey, at least he gets to grumble about football and country music for the next five months...

Maru Soze doesn't know how to take the Daily Show's announcement that it's going to feature musical guests soon. She does know how she feels about Viking coffee, however.

MercuryX23 tells us of a high school kid he teaches being lied to by a recruiter.

Michael at Musing's Musings tells of a different sort of October surprise.

Mike at Left is Right is fed up with the current crop of Democrats.

Moi at Bloggg notes a voting irregularity in New Zealand. Also, she went to see the show that Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood are touring around colleges for the next few months, the lucky stiff.

Mustang Bobby has little patience for the likes of Andrew Sullivan and Ann Coulter, but then what thinking person does?

Natalie Davis passes along some more bad news for those of us who believe church and state should be kept separate.

At the News Blog, Steve Gilliard repros an article about an Irish reporter who got majorly dissed by our boy prince for doing his job. Also, lobster rustling.

Norbizness plays some corruption bingo.

NTodd Pritsky is right on top of the latest crime wave in Vermont. I think somebody stole a leaf.

Rivka's busy with the baby but I still wanted to pass on this somewhat old but still very good post from her.

Scrutiny Hooligans quote Chomsky on NOLA and Vonnegut on lots of stuff.

I swear I just heard Steve Bates giggle. It's a frightening sound...

Trish Wilson is going to a wine tasting, and I'm bummed because I haven't been to one in years and it's definitely the season now... She's also keeping up with her area of expertise, as she gives us the latest on Aussie "father's rights" activists.

upyernoz spent the weekend upstate, where I hope to do a day trip next weekend...

Wanda delights in karmic payback.

Lastly, Jesse seems to have gone on hiatus; I'll miss you, Jesse! This should give me a bit more time to peruse active LC'ers in waiting like Josh Hester and Paul in Brentwood...

Silly Site o' the Day

Still sluggish from all this rain, but trying to catch up on bloggy things today. Not quite focusing on words yet, so I ran this cute Guinness ad that Laura found to wake up...

Cheers and Jeers

Bravo to Jill at Feministe for her essay Give Me Abstinence, or Give Me Death, one of the best commentaries I've read anywhere about how zealots are endangering people's lives.

And mild chuckles, not to mention congratulations, to Teresa on the troll disemvowelling method she passed on being adopted by so many in the blogosphere, but I think I'll pass - not just because I get very few trolls in my comments section (thank goodness), but because I believe even this little bit of self-amusement gives their screeds way too much attention.

Stu-Stu-Studio

So you're probably wondering what happened with all the Ikea stuff we bought last Sunday for Robin's studio. At this point he's about halfway through assembling it all, so I thought I'd give you a sneak peak at the first half. But first, a flashback to what the original artboard-shelving unit looked like:



Okay, now here's how everything's expanded to fill most of the length of the "back" wall:


The shelves await restocking with artwork, shipping materials, etc.



No, the room isn't tilted, that's just the way it looks due to parallax, or so I'm told. The old blinds have - "blind has?" - been replaced by a new one (just two more rooms to go and the whole apartment's done!), and the modular organizers we picked up at Staples fit nicely under the table, which (because of its color) I think gives a nice illusion of the shelving/work surface being continued around the room. I can hardly wait to see what Robin does with the other half of the studio!

Silly Site o' the Day

If you can get the 2005 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony to play (needs QuickTime, works a bit better on a Mac) all the way through with no glitches, good luck to you. We're waiting until the demand on their server goes down a bit, which probably means viewing it tomorrow...

Comic Art Relief

Robin's taking part in the auction mentioned below, so I'm running the press release verbatim:

----------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

More Ebay Auctions for Hurricane Relief

October 7, 2005

Six weeks ago, Americans witnessed and experienced the worst natural disaster in its history. hen, just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Rita ollowed suit and slammed into the area just west of the hardest-hit regions still reeling from Katrina's brutality. Despite the outpouring of support immediately following Katrina, so much more is still needed as charity organizations stretch themselves thin trying to help and rebuild these hardest-hit areas.

Comic colorists Christina Strain and Laura Martin, along with Laura's husband Randy (proprietor of Mighty Nib Original Art), all came to the same conclusion at the same time: We should put up some charity auctions of comic-related artwork! A lot of other folks in the comics industry had the same idea -- most notably the wildly successful Inkwell Auctions, spearheaded by Joe Quesada.

We're excited to unveil our stash of charity auctions! Our artist friends have chosen to pledge their auction(s) to one of three charities dedicated entirely to hurricane relief: The American Red Cross, the Mississippi Animal Rescue League, and the Louisiana Food Bank. One hundred percent of all winning bids will go directly toward those who need it most.

Starting on Wednesday night, October 5th and continuing as long as donations keep rolling in, over thirty charity auctions will be going live. Each of the auctions will last seven days. Original artwork, prints, statues, and other goodies have been donated by Adrian Alpona, Al Bigley, Mark Brooks, Richard Case, Valentine DeLandro, Drew Geraci, Randy Green, Cully Hamner, Barbara Kesel, Francis Manapul, Rick Magyar, Dave Meikis, Karl Moline, David Nakayama, Paul Pelletier, Andrew Pepoy, Brandon Peterson, Robin Riggs, Karl Story, Marcus To, Koi Turnbull, along with collectors Benno Rothschild and Shawn Bryan. Also, Darrell Armstrong, of the Dallas Mavericks, donated an autographed basketball that’s signed by Darrell and other NBA players. There's even more to come, so keep watching the seller page!

All of the auctions are listed at this link. Here's a great opportunity to pick up some wonderful artwork, and have 100% of your winning bid donated directly to these three worthy charities. Bid early and bid often!

----------------

If you want to see and bid on what Robin has donated, click here.

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

Well, Datsa does seem to like the new perch...



...or maybe he's just being patient with me and letting me lift him up there...

Silly Site o' the Day

Definitely silly of me to think I could take the car in at 7:30 this morning to have the replacement thingamabobby installed and still get to work before my boss noticed I wasn't there. Note to self: Never again make personal appointments when boss is in town... okay, make that, in the country... Not only that, but apparently he expects me to leave the building on a regular basis to supervise exterior maintenance, while at the same time being at my desk to answer his (and my) phone. Nice trick if one can manage it. She's a secretary! A property manager! A personal assistant! A floor wax! A dessert topping! The weekend (only a 2-day affair for me, we don't get Columbus Day as a holiday although all our tenants will be out) can't come soon enough for me. Meantime, here's some Spamusement for you, courtesy of Alexander at After School Snack.

Silly Site o' the Day

Woogle - words in pictures! Great search engine thingy, via Hanan.

Silly Site o' the Day

He's baaaack... which means I go into robot mode and posting will probably be light once more, certainly in the daytime and likely in the evenings as well (at least until after the World Series and before figure skating season starts). Speaking of robot mode, what's your cyborg designation? Via Kinetic Electronic Infiltration and Troubleshooting Humanoid.

Silly Site o' the Day

Back in July I passed on a silly site of female mannequin-type character falling through bubbles. The latest variation on that comes via email from Ken DeBusk...

Passings

The world has lost two great funnymen in Nipsey Russell and Ronnie Barker. And August Wilson left us a few weeks short of seeing the Virginia Theatre renamed for him.

Beginning Anew

My parents emailed me this, and I'm passing it on to you. To my Jewish friends and readers, may you have a happy and healthy New Year. L'shana tova tikaseyvu v'seychaseymu.

Solar Eclipse Pictures

I didn't even know there was one today. Angie points to some photos on the Beeb's website.

Silly Site o' the Day

Gravatar's login is down for maintenance so I can't check on why my picture-avatar isn't showing up in comments sections. I got a maintenance message from Blogger this morning when I tried to post from home (using IE, if anyone's interested, so it's not a Firefox-only problem). Seems like I'm the only one not needing maintenance at the moment. This could, of course, change at any time. At sundown tonight, Year 5766 on the Jewish calendar begins. I always liked the idea of a new year starting in the autumn, it seemed more fitting than the midwinter beginning. Anyway, in honor of Rosh Hashanah, I present www.iiiiiiii.com (also via Trevor at pleasant).

Ikea, Youkea, We All Kea for Ikea!

Lingonberries here we come, right back where we started from... A very productive day getting Robin the rest of the furniture he needs to complete his final studio setup. Per my comments-conversation below with PJ, we'd decided last night to avoid I-95 if at all possible - that's the drive I used to take every Christmastime with Steve to visit his family, and I know how monotonous it can get in places - in favor of the Merritt Parkway, on which I'd never previously driven. It was remarkably easy to get to, I travel to the Hutchinson Parkway every day on my commute and that becomes the Merritt when you cross out of NY and into CT, and all of a sudden the whole area changes so it seems like you're travelling through a forest; neat!

Anyway, it took maybe an hour and 15 minutes to get there this morning, and here's what the entrance looked like:


We took this as a good sign. And indeed it was; we purchased all the things on our list and fit them all into the car (we had a lot of trepidation about that, as a few were oversize), and were home before the Yankees/Sox game hit the second inning. Here's all of Robin's purchases:



I got a few bits and bobs for the kitchen as well, mostly replacements for stuff that's worn or discolored, and we got the cats a small hideously-green comfy mat which we plan on velcro'ing atop the entertainment unit in the living room so Datsa can lie on it and look out the window (as he's too big to fit on the sill). Amy seems to approve of it as well:


And dinner is in the oven, and maybe if I'm real diligent I can get through my blog skimming and actually do a Liberal Coalition blogaround, but at this point I don't want to push it. Still, a good way to almost begin the (Jewish) New Year...

Silly Site o' the Day

I get the feeling this person really doesn't care for equines that much. Via Trevor at pleasant.

October Nutmeg

Now that autumn has arrived, I'm in house-care mode. One room remains that still needs organizing - Robin's studio. Trouble is, the Ikea bits he wanted for it have been out of stock at the more local NJ outlets. However, according to their website those items are in stock up in New Haven, which happens to be open on Sundays. So tomorrow I'll be venturing across the NY/CT border for the first time (not counting an Amtrak journey between NY and Boston, where we didn't actually set foot in the state) since I was married to CT-native Steve. We've just mapped out our journey, which I fully intend to be just as much fun as the destination, and I'm looking forward to our first day-trip in quite awhile - even more so now that they seem like such a welcoming place...

Silly Site o' the Day

White rabbits! Here are some more 30-second re-enactments by bunnies from Angry Alien: The Big Chill (thanks Desi!) and The Highlander (Desi again!). And speaking of movies, no, I'm not going to link to the Shining spoof-trailer because everyone else has, but I did want to pass on this NY Times article about it that BoingBoing found...