Silly Site o' the Day

We're in England now being social with actual people, but if you want to do so virtually you can always go PRSM (via BoingBoing) or Owdy (via Laughing Squid). Pretty sure the first is real and the second is a parody, but these days who knows?

Silly Site o' the Day

In a few short hours we'll be boarding the plane to England. We are presuming we will not be met on the other side by any airport greeting signs like these, but with Robin's crew one never knows. I've pre-set daily posts to pop up around noon EDT each day until our return, and may or may not post additional random musings. I tend to doubt it as those are easier to load onto Facebook. But one never knows! See you on the flip side.

Silly Site o' the Day

Work materials packed up, office abandoned (albeit about 20 minutes later than anticipated), and I'm on vacay! A real vacation this time, on an aeroplane and everything! All is now in readiness, just a couple more things to throw in the personal items bag and await our car service pickup tomorrow morning. Then it's off to Merrie Olde, which is definitely not New Zealand because, you know, reasons:



Via Laughing Squid.

Silly Site o' the Day

We're now officially in "when do we leave already" mode. At this rate tomorrow night we'll be climbing the walls. I have it easier than Robin, at least I can occupy myself during the day with job stuff. Plus, I'm happy we don't have to drive in England, as all of this would certainly confuse me:



Via Laughing Squid.

Silly Site o' the Day

I think pre-trip and pre-birthday jitters are starting to get to me. I didn't sleep well at all last evening, and had all kinds of muscle aches, so in the wee small hours I took one regular ibuprofen and one PM-type and of course the latter knocked me out for much of the day. Still managed some ironing and washing up, but mostly sat around and read or watched TV. Bloody useless. That's okay, there will certainly be enough activity in the coming week or so! Here, have some soothing domino tricks:



Via Laughing Squid.

Silly Site o' the Day

Another terrific prep day! Did our grocery shopping (not much since we're only in-country another few days) and went to the mall for lunch and to see if I could get a decent anorak or light jacket or heavy jacket to wear to and from England - and I got pretty much all three in a two-layer with a hood that can be converted to two separate jackets or be nice and toasty as a combo, for only $40! All the clothing and toiletries are now packed and there's plenty of room in the carryon and light bag should I want to buy stuff on the other side of the pond. And we even had a movie night (that Kong Skull Island thing, appropriately awful and it utterly fails the Bechdel-Wallace Test as well). With all this activity we haven't had time for the news, thank goodness, but I assume things are as they were so this celebrity perv apology generator (via BoingBoing) will certainly come in handy for those who haven't yet been found out.

Silly Site o' the Day

My Kindle is filled for the plane trip, the laundry's just been sorted so we can decide what to take with us, and I'm sure I'll get the hang of how Uber works by the end of the weekend. So full speed ahead! Meanwhile, Simon's cat and kitten have been busy:



Oddly, Zed had no interest in the turkey we brought back with yesterday's leftovers, but he did scarf down my breakfast fish this morning.

Silly Site o' the Day

Happy Thanksgiving! My favorite holiday - no religious overtones (okay, Puritan colonialism but really not a religious thing for at least a couple hundred years), every culture has some sort of harvest festival, it's all about food and family and fun and sometimes football which is easily ignored, and we had a lovely time at cousin Mara's house!! Now it's time to think about spending part of the holiday season in England:



Via Laughing Squid.

Silly Site o' the Day

Well, considering how many vehicles are supposedly on the road today, my homeward commute could have been a lot worse. We closed up at 3 PM today, I walked in one direction to get a pharmacy pickup, then in the other to get comics, and then trudged to the bus which fortunately came a lot more quickly than the one last Thursday which made me miss my doctor's appointment. And now I'm home for four days, during which we'll be starting to pack and think about other things having to do with England. After tomorrow's Thanksgiving celebration, of course! My cousin will be putting the effing turkey in the oven:



Via Susie.

Silly Site o' the Day

Much quieter at work today, where our staff meeting consisted of a nice Thanksgiving feast. And of course since Tuesday and Thursday are always sushi days I'd already had a maki and some nigiri so I almost definitely ate too moishe. But I'm already in holiday mode, between this week then the England trip then of course the Chrismukkah season, so I'm sure I'll find this Hallmark Holiday Movie Twitterbot very handy! (Via BoingBoing.)

Silly Site o' the Day

Between the cold and my workload (which is pretty much under control, or at least it will be by next Tuesday) I really needed my surprise Chambord Royale this evening. I surprised myself, actually, as there's a liquor store between the office and my bus stop, and as I'd just missed one bus and knew it would be a wait for the next one I ducked into the establishment and procured a small bottle of California bubbly. I can't imagine how much better this would taste with actual champagne! Maybe I'll order one in England to see if they can do it. Although it does seem to get me quite tipsy; right now I can't tell the difference between these similar-looking items:

MIRROR • Short story of similar objects from Tanello Production on Vimeo.

Via Laughing Squid. And so to bed, if I can find it!

Silly Site o' the Day

Cute ad for a game I don't play by an actress I really like:



Via io9.

Silly Site o' the Day

We got home from shopping (including for our contribution to my cousin's Thanksgiving gathering) before the rains came in, but naturally we forgot a few things, so I guess we're going out shopping again on Friday. I must remember to buy a small bottle of champagne so I can try to make a Chambord Royale, and possibly also to give me an excuse to buy a chambong:



This is a real thing in the world; BoingBoing has a link to where you can purchase it.

Silly Site o' the Day

It's Friday, so it must be time for a new Simon's Cat!



Just a note, as we're leaving for England in less than two weeks, and I won't be taking my laptop with me to blog with embedded Silly Sites and such, I'm in the process of pre-scheduling daily posts to hit at noontime each day so this blog will still have daily content. If I have the time and the wifi I may still do real-time posts, they just won't have any links on them.

Silly Site o' the Day

What a weird-ass day. I was on my feet more than I thought I'd be this morning, and by afternoon I was thoroughly exhausted and looking forward to my ophthalmologist visit - only the MTA made sure that was not to be, as I waited almost an hour for a bus to come which meant I had to reschedule with the doctor. Plus, I left my beloved camel-colored newsboy hat on the bus. Then I remembered the driver had asked me to call his cell phone and leave a message about the lateness situation that he could play to his supervisor, so I called his cell number again and, long story short, the hat came back. I swear, that hat's seen more adventures than I have. Maybe I should try the subway next time, only this might happen:



Via io9.

Silly Site o' the Day

Woo-hoo, payday! Now I can get my nostrils done!

Silly Site o' the Day

Ugh, both Firefox and Feedly have upgraded, which means my home desktop will take more getting used to and suddenly ads are stuck among my saved Silly Sites. Decidedly not nice. At least in Australia there's an entire organization dedicated to mocking government ads (via BoingBoing); maybe they can branch out?

Silly Site o' the Day

As Mondays go, this one wasn't bad. If yours was worse, you might want to indulge in some choice words:



Via Mark Evanier.

Silly Site o' the Day

Weird day today. First our TV and internet went out after Robin went back to bed late this morning, and I had to wait until he woke up again to find out that it was our internet carrier. So we decided to do our meager grocery shopping whilst it was being repaired (something happened in the neighborhood, we were never told what), and the downtown Kingsbridge crowds really started to get to me and make me all irritable and we saw a cable repair truck pass us about a block from our house so, lo and behold, it all returned this afternoon and I was able to get some ironing done and I can't stop this run-on sentence! There! I need a break. Here's how you make a Nightmare Before Christmas "piescraper" (oh, I get it now, pie+skyscraper; not very fast on the uptake today):



Via Laughing Squid.

Silly Site o' the Day

Brr, too cold to go out today; guess I'll have to figure out another date for the ol' oil change, and postpone the dry cleaning until next weekend. On the other hand, I got through a whole bunch of DVR'ed stuff, including all the DC Comics-based TV shows, which helped me get more caught up on blog reading. But you know, it's hard to get into the true spirit of Dinovember when it feels more like January outside...

Silly Site o' the Day

Brr! Definitely felt more like winter than autumn today, and tomorrow's going to be even worse. Due to the weather, the holiday (Veterans' Day Observed), and the fact that it's a Friday, the office was pretty dead so I swept through my work fairly easily and am now showered and comfortably bundled. Between the cold and our upcoming trip to England it's beginning to feel a lot like a pagan holiday season:



Via Laughing Squid.

Silly Site o' the Day

Feeling a bit better today, probably around 80% or so, so work wasn't as much of a problem. Still a little dizzy, which means no more zoetropes for me for awhile, particularly ones you can make yourself:



Via Laughing Squid.

Silly Site o' the Day

The country is marginally brighter today, at least on the state and local level (the federal level being long since lost to illegal gerrymandering and an outdated Electoral College), but I'm feeling worse. I think I picked up something either at the polling place or from any number of coworkers who've been ill, and I feel sleep-deprived and generally blah. So I left work a few hours early, and nothing seems to have catastrophically collapsed. You know what would make me feel better? Zoetropes:



You can see more of this guy's work at Laughing Squid, which also features this cool one made by Kevin Holmes:



Love me some zoetropes! I'm feeling better already!

Silly Site o' the Day

Robin and I were hoping to turn my visit to the local polling place into a date night, but it was too damp and miserable to to out anywhere, so I just hopped another bus for the short ride home and am currently drying and thawing. Let's hope one of the current White House resident's mutant powers (via The Mary Sue) is turning voters away from people who think like him.

Silly Site o' the Day

As a dutiful admin with OCD tendencies, I like when things line up. I'm not the only one.

Silly Site o' the Day

Turns out I was off by a couple of days. Today is actually the anniversary of us getting Zed, as well as being Guy Fawkes Day (obligatory "remember, remember" poem on Facebook), plus we had an extra hour to play with him! So we've decided to celebrate November 5 as Zed's birthday. He seems happy. May as well celebrate with another Simon's Cat:



I believe Zed is a ham-loving cat but I'm not sure.

Silly Site o' the Day

A lot of the buzz among my Facebook friends is about the new Thor movie, which I'm sure I'd like except Robin and I don't really go to the cinema any more. I'm sure this version is just as good:



Via The Mary Sue. He's right, you know. You can't get better than 10 Goldblums.

Silly Site o' the Day

Next Tuesday will mark one year that we've had Zed. In honor of that upcoming anniversary, here's the latest Simon's Cat, a long-form color video:



And now for the weekend!

Silly Site o' the Day

Hallowe'en may be over, but holiday-related silly sites remain, like BoingBoing's report on the latest Obvious Plant project involving fake costumes.

Silly Site o' the Day

White Rabbits! By the time this month ends we will be in England, but this stupid stomach bug - or is it a backache? or a headache? - well, this dreaded lurgy isn't affording me the luxury of thinking about that just yet. Want to get through each day first! But you know, if I'm going to have a headache, I might as well go all the way and show you this really cool whiteboard presentation about time travel:



Via Laughing Squid.