Today's Deep Question

I would like to apologize, particularly to my Russian readership, for my silence the last few days. I was home sick with a bad cold and was reading a couple of the Harry Potter books. Since I am a complete Luddite with no internet access at home, there was no really good way for me to blog. I was too sick to use a free computer at the library, and besides, that would be really gross for the next user. Today I felt pretty lousy too, but it was a big day at work so calling in sick did not seem like a good idea. Indeed, as the day went along, I began to feel better. Now I am ready to go to a boy's choir concert tonight and not cough and sneeze through the whole thing.

Here is the Deep Question for today, courtesy of Toque McToque: if rabbits will eat chocolate (as mine do), and they eat a chocolate bunny, is that cannibalism?

Once again, thank you for reading my blog. спасибо! 

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Terrible Call

All anyone can talk about around here, no big surprise, is the terrible call that lost the Packers the game last night. I actually went to bed early and missed the controversial play, but it sounds like everyone agrees that Jennings had the ball, not Tate. Apparently this is happening because the regular referees are in some kind of contract dispute with the NFL, so there are substitutes and they have no idea what they are doing. Maybe if we all stop watching football until this contract dispute is resolved, that will finally make the NFL team owners pay attention. The referees are angry about changes to their retirement system. As a state worker, I can totally relate!

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Blog Party

I apologize to any readers I don’t personally know for not inviting you to my blog party yesterday, especially my readership in Russia. Not sure why, but I seem to have a number of readers there. We had good pizza and a dizzying array of beverages, as well as Toque McToque’s delicious mudbars. Unfortunately, she could not attend, since she had a job interview today in another state and had to travel. Good luck with your interview, Toque! The party was at Richard Bonomo’s house, and he was there, along with Banjo Player and her husband (who called himself YRU39), Kathbert, Hardingfele, Luxuli and Mr. Lux, Mamastep, A-Joz, Jilly Moose, and Light Bright. Anna Banana 2 joined us via speakerphone too. I hope I didn’t miss anyone! If I did, please don’t feel offended, it’s just my advanced age causing my memory to fail. Banjo Player and her husband had a great story they wanted me to blog about, so here goes:

They were walking along a trail at a retreat center when suddenly a young man dressed like the Incredible Hulk appeared. He sheepishly told them, “I am Gollum, and I am looking for hobbits.” Banjo Player said she wanted to say, “No, you’re not – you’re the Incredible Hulk!” but her husband said, “I think if you go that way, you’ll find some.” I said the most likely explanation is that this was a participant in the Ring Games, an annual affair where people dress up like characters from The Lord of the Rings and run around sort of reenacting the book. Maybe the closest this guy could come to a Gollum costume was an Incredible Hulk one.

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No-Cash Machine Through Japanese and Back

Richard Bonomo has a houseguest from Japan, and he translated my blog into Japanese using Google Translate for him. His houseguest was laughing and said the translation did not really make sense, so we used Google to re-translate it into English, and this is what we got:


Today, the downstairs of Cash Machine, I, is my habit automated teller in the dining room in order to get some cash for the weekend, I've been doing. Doing trading in Spanish, to add some interest to life, just I was trying to get the $ 20 in cash fast, I automated teller machine, the transaction could not be used I said to myself. Given that that was not available in Spanish, I have tried it in English, it is probably the same message is displayed. There was a problem with the trade fast cash, maybe I'd try to periodically withdraw from my checking account just so. To my surprise, I could not even deal. So, why do not you be able to hand out cash in automated teller machine basically? Is there something like that purpose? If you do not want to adjust things anymore, it must work yet so I can not imagine, I refuse to give cash, I Cash Machine here yet automated teller I'd like to know what you are on. Because it says I have to have the $ 20 to spare enough, no online and it is not an account of me.

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No-Cash Machine

Today I went, as is my wont, to the cash machine downstairs by the cafeteria to get some cash for the weekend. I tried to get $20 in fast cash, doing the transaction in Spanish just to add some interest to life, and the cash machine told me this transaction was unavailable. Thinking maybe it was unavailable in Spanish, I tried it in English and got the same message. So maybe there was a problem with the Fast Cash transaction; I would just try to do a regular withdrawal from my checking account. To my surprise, this transaction was also not available. So basically the cash machine is unable to give out cash? Isn’t that kind of its purpose? I can’t imagine if I didn’t want to coordinate things anymore that I would still have a job, so I’d like to know what a cash machine that refuses to give cash is still doing here.  And no, it’s not because of my account, since online it says I have enough to spare $20.

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3 Debroom Appartment

The good news: my office mate Light Bright put an offer on a house and it was accepted! The bad news: her landlord will not let her out of her lease, so she has to find a subletter. Here is what she has to say about her apartment:

Our offer was accepted for the house on 123 Easy Street today! :) But... that means we have to sublet our appartment... tell everyone you know who may be looking for an apartment! :) It happens to be fabulous :) here is a brief description if you do know someone looking: 2000 sqft, 3 debroom, 2 full bathroom apartment heat and 2 stall underground parking included in rent 1050/month.

So there you go. If you know anyone looking for a 3 debroom appartment, have them talk to me and I will get them in touch with Light Bright.

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Cat Art

My office mate Light Bright plays in a country band that gets way more gigs than my band; for example, they played at the Willy Street Fair on Sunday. The leader of the band has a cat named Dave, and when Dave got done with his food, he had left some art in the bowl. Check it out.

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Pepper Spray

Every time I can't think of anything to blog about, Toque McToque comes through with something. This is a true story that happened to her and her husband:

Last night Mr. McToque was making dinner, a mix of potatoes, eggs, veggies - what we call a “garbage plate.” He thought he’d add a couple of jalapeños from our plant. We were both aware that this year the heat and dry conditions made for hotter peppers, but had no reason for concern as we love spicy food.  Mr. McToque chapped them up and tossed them into a hot pan…that didn’t have enough oil in it. What happened was that the oils from the peppers were released into the air instead of staying in the pan. The end result? It was like being pepper sprayed, we coughed and sneezed for several hours, even after we opened the windows.  

So thanks for pepper spraying yourself for the sake of my blog, Toque. I can always count on you!

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Stream Crossing Adventure

Yesterday Da Guy and I went to Parfry’s Glen for a hike. This is a beautiful glen that used to have a wooden walkway leading to a small waterfall, but some flooding had washed out the walkway. I vaguely remembered hearing about that but thought surely they had repaired the walkway since then. We headed out on the trail, admiring the beautiful day and the lovely foliage around us. There was an area to the side that was blocked off, but otherwise things looked fine. Then we came upon a group of hikers who ominously told us if we were looking for a good hike, then we had come to the right place. We asked what they meant, and they said there were slippery rocks ahead. We went on ahead and sure enough, we had to cross the stream on some slippery rocks. Thinking maybe that was the worst of it, we continued on, over tree roots and large rocks, until having to cross back over the stream again. That was a little annoying – why cross it in the first place? – but we gamely crossed the stream… only to find that the trail petered out right after that. There was no good way to go any further, and we were still not that close to the waterfall. We looked around and decided there was no good way to get there, so we would just have to head back, crossing back over the stream two more times. Guess we got our practice in crossing streams!

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A Pleasant Day

Today when I looked at the weather forecast online, it not only said this weekend would be sunny but “pleasant” as well. When I mentioned this to my office mate Light Bright, she said that was kind of subjective of them.

“Pleasant for one person might not be the same for another one,” she said. “What officially constitutes pleasant?”

I said, “Anything between 68-78 degrees Fahrenheit,” and she said, “Really? Or is that just your definition of pleasant?”

So now I put it to my readers: what constitutes “pleasant” for weather? I am assuming it would be sunny and warm but not too hot, but then some people like cool, overcast days. They have a certain charm for me. Some people love it scorching hot, and some people even like winter for some reason. So how does one define a “pleasant” day?

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Mysterious Note

Just when I have nothing to blog about, Toque McToque comes to the rescue with a mysterious note she found at work:

I especially like how the ominous phrase "in the Dominican tradition" is in quotes. Unless that is the name of the hold tape... This mystery may never be solved.

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Thish

Today Toque McToque and I were trying to remember how long we had worked at our jobs, and she said she had started on November 17thish. I said Thish was a great word, what should it mean? And she said it could mean sometime around the time, date, or even place of an event, e.g., “Where was the party? Somewhere near Willythish Street."

Me: We should get people to use that!

Toque: That would be excellent!

Me: Or at least excellenthish.

Then I had my usual question: what to blog about today? I was thinking of blogging about how Light Bright and I are not effusive, since we are both Earth signs, but Toque pointed out that she is a Water sign and is not effusive.

Me: That’s because Scorpios have so much self-control. Earth signs are just not effusive.

Toque: Fascinating.

Me: She said, as if she didn’t think it was at all.

Toque: Bahahahahaha!

Me: Am I right?

Toque: Pleading the 5thish.  

Both Toque and Light Bright said I should blog about Thish, and I thought that was a brillianthish idea. It is sort of a linguisticthish topic and more interesting than my Capricornthish tendencies.

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Romantic Yet Scary Dinner

Saturday I had a very exciting dinner. Da Guy and I went on a long, romantic walk with his 13-year-old miniature poodle, and we ended up by the lake. I saw a sailing addict I know by the boat docks, so I asked if he was going sailing, hoping maybe Da Guy and I (and the dog) could catch a ride on his sailboat. He said, no, they were clearing the lake because a storm was moving in. So Da Guy and I were thinking of where to go for dinner, since we had to sit outside with the dog but we didn’t want to sit in the rain. We walked down the street and saw some seating for a Japanese restaurant on a covered balcony, so we decided to go there. At first everything was wonderful and romantic, eating Japanese food and watching the rain gently fall, but then it grew windy and the rain lashed at us, so everyone else on the balcony went inside. We moved as close to the wall as we could and were mostly out of the rain, but then we saw lightning and I said, “Is that safe, when we are sitting on metal chairs at a metal table?” Fortunately, the storm quickly passed without us getting as fried as the tempura we were enjoying. (The dog got to enjoy some too.) When I told my office mate Light Bright the story this morning, she said, “That’s good! Danger strengthens the emotional bond between people.”

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Cat Invasion

Here is a “mildly amusing” story Rich told us yesterday. It is about a cat so some of my readers (e.g., Hardingfele, Toque McToque, Banjo Player) should appreciate it. I will let him tell it in his own inimitable words:

"When I opened the garage door to get my bicycle out when leaving for work this AM, the new orange-ish cat in the neighborhood promptly walked in, and then went into the house proper and proceeded to inspect the first floor before leaving out the front door (which departure required some encouragement from me..)."

Kathbert said, “It probably sensed your love of meat and milk.” 

Another person said, “I would consider it a compliment. Cats have good taste.” 

To which I replied, “But I hear they don’t taste good.” That seemed to end the email conversation.

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Spin Cycle Groove

My office mate Light Bright is a little bit country and I’m a little bit hip hop, so we compromise by listening to things like Public Radio, since we both like classical music. Light Bright discovered the University radio station, which plays everything, not all of it good. Today they played a song that literally went on for an hour and sounded like the spin cycle of a washing machine. Light Bright said she didn’t appreciate that her washing machine was a recording star behind her back, and I said, “At least it’s not stealing your material!” She said, “No, it fabricated its own.”

(Image stolen from The Wurst Years blog.)

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Same Old Me, New Status

I did something kind of exciting yesterday: I changed my status on MyFace from “single” to “in a relationship.” It’s kind of a crazy feeling, I have been single as long as I have had a page on MyFace. I told my office mate Light Bright that I was “eternally single,” and she thought I said, “internally single,” so I said yeah, I’m in a relationship but I’m still internally single. Da Guy and I talked about it; he brought up that he changed his status to just looking for friends on the dating website where we met, so I figured I had better change mine as well. Then I asked him about MyFace, and he said he’d let me make that call. So I did it – I changed my status. He changed his too, so I guess it’s official. I am in a relationship!

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My Labor Day Weekend

I hope my readers had a good Labor Day weekend. I spent all day Saturday at the William Tell Fest with Da Guy. We watched a play about William Tell and walked around New Glarus, a very cute little town where all the buildings look like Swiss chalets. He took me to a very nice restaurant for dinner, and I had jaegerschnitzel with spaezli. Then we sang along to the radio in the car on the way home. Sunday I went kayaking with A-Joz; we wanted to take out a paddleboat but they said it was too windy, so she agreed to try kayaking for the first time. She said she liked it and would do it again. Then yesterday Richard Bonomo and I biked down to New Glarus (I feel like it’s my second home by now) but we cheated and drove partway there since we got such a late start. It turned out that the bike trail didn’t go straight there; we had to bike on the road to another bike trail and ended up backtracking a bit. We had a much more casual dinner in New Glarus (Monday is spaghetti night), but it was late and getting dark, and I was very tired, so Rich called the single B-Boy to come pick us up. Which he did, for which I am eternally grateful. It is embarrassing how often I have to be rescued on these long bike rides.

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