Where obscurity and mundanity intersect

If Al-Qaeda gets me, and they threaten to lock me up here, I'm totally talkin'.

It's been gorgeous here...80's today, in fact I was commenting that "It's actually hot out here today!". Which totally works for me.

We had Tory' b-day party today (19..yikes!),  and she seemed to have a really good time, which makes me happy. She's off at a Taste of Chaos concert right now, hopefully having a great time, as well.

Went into SF for dinner last night...Fiddler's Green , fantastic lamb stew. Walked around in the tenderloin for a while, which was quite a lot of fun.

I have to go to work tomorrow...boo.

Just took Bazi out for a run. It's been a while since we had a place to let her off leash, and we just found one very close, which is nice. Now she's crashed on the couch, tired and happy.

Bazi

Keith and I did battle with the evil minions of time-share yesterday, and, I'm happy to report, emerged victorious! Not only did we not give them any of our money, but we got out with a free two night stay in Tahoe, including a $75 dinner certificate and $30 worth of gas cards. Hell, it was worth it for the gas cards alone. I will say, they were good, though. Almost had me thinking it might be a good idea! Fortunately (?) we are in no shape to buy a time share at the moment, so whether it was a good idea or not was a totally academic point. Our saleslady turned into a total biatch when it became clear she was not going to sell us, heh.

Due to doing an extra day of call last week...5 days in a row, yuck...I have Monday and Tuesday off, which is very nice. Had a couple of celebratory Hurricanes at Hot and Spicy New Orleans in Sacramento last night, celebrating both being off call (hate not being able to have a drink after work!) and our aforementioned victory. I had the crawfish etoufee, which was very good.

Still hear from/chat with the boy on an almost daily basis, which is hugely helpful in keeping me sane. How the families of soldiers in past times did it, with not hearing from them for weeks and months at a time, well, I just don't know.

Kenny_Ball_-_Midnight_In_Moscow

Kenny Ball & His Jazzmen

Everyone should listen to this...cool, jazzy, wonderful.

Happy ancient fertility celebration, everyone! Yes, I know it's late. I'm in California, so sue me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2OC5Z1Fii8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbV_iRpBZ3Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajrBImHfQEo

Not explicity atheist in nature, but the last lecture of Randy Pausch encompasses essentially the essence of how I wish to live my life, believing as I do that it's the only one we get.

Hearing from the boy. He's now on the ground at FOB Prosperity. I miss him like a sinner misses salvation, but at least he's in a position to call/email on a regular basis.

I seem to be tolerating my Retin A/hydroquinone regimen this time. I've tried twice before to correct facial sun damage with it, but both times my skin turned red and threatened to flake off my skull. This time I've done a lot of research on good technique, and am communicating often with my derm, and things seem to be going okay halfway through week two. Now, to see if it will actually work!

I've got today and tomorrow off, the result of volunteering for unpopular call days. Also, it seems I unexpectedly scored >90 on my last PT test, so I have another day coming sometime in the future, as well.

Found a nifty blog at Discovery News. Born Animal. I'll be adding it to my regular rotation.

It's a gorgeous day outside. Being in the midst of late spring, looking hard at summer, while most of the rest of the country is just making it's way out of winter...yeah, that makes me smile.

In February, televangelist Jim Bakker (who lost his Praise The
Lord ministry in the 1980s in fraud convictions that led to a five-
year prison stint) began broadcasting from Morningside, his new
religious development in southern Missouri that bears a strong
resemblance to PTL's Heritage USA project.  According to a
February report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "hundreds" of
Heritage contributors ponied up this time, too, and despite the fact
that each lost 99 percent of the value of their $1,000 investments,
some even signed over their $6.54 restitution checks (following the
fraud settlement) to Bakker's new venture.  The newspaper,
observing Bakker's debut from the new studio, noted that the first
appeal for donations did not come until 41 minutes into the show.
[St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2-17-08]

Again!?! People are giving this slimy son of a bitch money AGAIN!?!? How...what could...I just...I have no words.

Jesus and Mo. I also like Russell's Teapot a lot, but it hasn't been updated since December.