Paraphrasing the words of the terrorist in Cairo to Gary Johnston:

Don Surber, I like your balls.

(h/t The Commissar)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Yes I wrote a lot today. Lot of stuff's been rolling around in my head since last week. Just keep scrolling. New content all the way down to the BFL blogroll!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One last before I get back to work. Here's what made me laugh today:

Chrissy's got a little problem of the ATM kind

Contagion is addicted, and it's worse than you think.

Kathy finds the best use I've ever seen for a Mac

Two Words: Karma Police (hey, it's Radiohead, you can't go wrong), via INDC

Gir gets an interesting spam comment

VW needs a break (and some better luck)

Corporate Mommy has just returned from a whirlwind trip to Paris, and an interesting side trip to Belgium..... (PS Happy Late Birthday!)

Finally, Jay Tea renews his man card

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Thanks for the linky love. Good thing I'm already crazy! ;-)

Posted by: vw bug at November 21, 2005 03:54 PM (Xl/Yt)

2 Thanks for the love! However I'm surprised you didn't like to the post that said girls aren't good at science/engineering and try to tear me apart, even though I was quoting someone from Harvard!

Posted by: Contagion at November 21, 2005 04:21 PM (e8b4J)

3 Thanks, hon! ; )

Posted by: Chrissy at November 22, 2005 03:29 PM (zJsUT)

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Here's this week's dose of unconscious fun:

1. Heads up::
   
2. Kicker ::
   
3. Aggressive::
   
4. Getting ugly::
   
5. To be continued::
   
6. Twist::
   
7. Form::
   
8. On the road::
   
9. Import::
   
10. Flowers::
    

My answers in the extended, play along in the comments if you like!
more...

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Here are a couple of great new blogs I discovered recently:

Cardinal Martini
A 5th generation Trojan with an interesting perspective. Lots of good stuff on politics, USC, and other things. Check out Kipper's thoughtful piece on the Dennis vs. Roger snit.

Harshly Mellow
Can't figure out if these are two ex-hippies or just digging on the tie-dye. Anyway, lots of interesting spew with a libertarian (small l) bent and views on all topics. Also a lot of great links to other bloggers. Zeuswood and Stingflower do the reading so you don't have to!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:08 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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If even half of what Dennis the Peasant has to say is true, then I would be extremely wary of Pajamas Media/OSM/WhateverTF it's called now. No, I won't link them.

Shady underhanded crap gets you nowhere. Except exposed.

The whole thing sounded like a mess to me from the beginning. I listened to both sides and made the decision to sit this one out. I don't do blog ads. If the good and gracious Pixy ever asks us to pay for MuNuvia, I will do so happily out of my own pocket. This is my hobby. It is not my home business. If it was, it would look a hell of a lot more professional, and you wouldn't drop by anyway because it would be even more boring.

I made the comment earlier on SWWBO's blog that it seemed to me that a lot of the PJM/OSM brouhaha was about skewed relationships and perceived slights as the "older bloggers" took sides on whether or not they would join up with the new behemoth media. Those who chose not to join took a lot of flak from the joiners and vice versa. For some, "friendships", whether real or perceived, became mercenary and twisted.

And now this. Sure every business in the country does it. You work up the new product and then some other fanboy gets the glory, what's new? Well, in this case, the screwee has a voice. Just as loud as the screwer.

We'll be watching to see what happens with this venture, and whether it flops sooner or later.

(h/t new bloggy find Zeuswood of Harshly Mellow)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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That is, University in California, Anywhere But Fresno. Or, what DH used to say in high school about where he was headed next.

Bill points out this article lamenting the fact that Fresno's best and brightest are leaving town in DROVES.

Let me 'splain. Real easy so's you Fresnans can understand:
Fresno sucks.

It's a town of more than 450,000 people that still thinks of itself as a small town. Raleigh, by comparison, and yes, even though it is the State Capital, has fewer people and a larger mindset. Raleigh has 12 airlines with jet service anywhere in the world. Fresno has 3 airlines, and last I checked, jet service only on American. To Dallas. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Fresno is boring. There is no culture. Sure, there's the Tower District, but only if you're gay or into art and coffee. There are no clubs. When I had my bachelorette party, the hottest place in town was a college bar that had nightly wet t-shirt contests. And, not surprisingly is out of business....

Fresno is anti-intellectual. The people running the show haven't changed in my lifetime. Sure the names change, but the families and the string-pullers are the same. And they know they made it on mediocrity. So they shut out the best and brightest. Including me, DH, Ben, and basically my entire graduating class. Until some of them went broke and moved home with Mom and Dad, but that's another story...

That sums it up. Fresno is MEDIOCRE. And it will never change.

So why did I leave, you ask? That's easy. My only college option for staying was Fresno State, and to me, going there would have been a personal failure. I had scholarship offers from 2 of the top Universities (my alma mater Caltech, and the OIT) in the country, and another in the top 25 (USC). Why in hell would I go to Joe Stupid U? After I left, it was easier to stay out. Can't get a PhD at Fresno State. The only job I could get in town would be teaching there, and frankly, it ain't worth it.

Furthermore, as screwed up as the schools are here in SoCal, I wuldn't let DH take a job in Fresno Unified. No Way. Clovis neither. Talk about your good-old-boy (Cowboy, BTW) network....

Being in Fresno all last week really crystallized this for me. Maybe it was the shitty drivers, maybe it was being talked down to by mediocre doctors and nurses who thought I was a sheeple like most Fresnans until they ASKED ME WHAT I DID FOR A LIVING. Or maybe it was the unbelievable fucking hype over the FSU/USC game. Like it was the second coming.

Yeah, that was it. Fuckers.

Small town, small minds. They can't get it that there's more to life, that Fresno really isn't so f*cking special. (bonus points to the music lovers who get that one)

So chime in folks, what's your take on your hometown? Especially Ben, DH, Deb, and any other Fresnans or ex-Fresnans. Hell, even Britney's welcome to comment, she's a Fresnan-in-law.

Did I mention that I went to school with the chick her husband was engaged to first (before Shar)? That's the kind of town Fresno is, folks.

READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING:
Rather than defend myself against each of you who have pointed out something interesting or cultural about Fresno, my whole point was to demonstrate that a lot of things in town are shit, and they're not improving, and that's why people leave. It's not about culture, honestly, except that the overall mindset in town seems to be against growth or openmindedness or embracing diversity.

Yes, Fresno has some good things, so does every town or city, ok? The point is, unless things change I will never live there again, and I find that utterly sad. And I'm not alone. So if that's all you have to say, fine. How about you read the post rather than someone else's characterization of it as pure "flame"?

Since none of you has been anything but insulting in the last several hours, comments are now closed. I don't have to take your shit, especially personal attacks. Would you come into my home and say this shit to my face?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:53 AM | Comments (29) | Add Comment
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1 UC-ABF. That is what my mantra was. I just had to do well enough at my highschool to get out of Fresno. I even had to take a detour in my plans and take a year at the community college there. Granted, I took classes that would directly transfer to USC on purpose, but I also got into the Honors Program there, and used it for what it was worth... Hell I am rambling, but hey, "well enough" at my highschool was honors work in college... Our highschool is (too?) great for the city, and would be hailed in other larger cities. In Fresno, it is only in the papers when there is a shooting out in front of it. The glory goes to the so-so schools north of Shaw, or in Clovis and that is ok too, as it is Fresno, and just expected... Just my two cents...

Posted by: Darling Husband at November 21, 2005 11:15 AM (kXoP1)

2 completely and utterly true. Every word of it. Our school was the science and math GATE magnet and all you ever heard about it was the one time there was a shooting. Did I mention it was the LAST HS in Fresno or Clovis to have a drive-by? All the others had had at least one already by then. Do they mention the 20 some-odd AP classes or the County winning Academic Decathlon team (led by yours truly, individual all-around gold medalist 1995)? Hell no. F*cking Fresno.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 11:19 AM (/vgMZ)

3 I'd agree with you on the problems Fresno (specifically local government) has with mindset, and obviously wouldn't ever recommend Fresno State over MIT or CalTech. But the tide is shifting, and there is a lot going on culturally in Fresno (it seems you don't consider art to be culture, so I'm not sure what you're looking for). It's too bad you didn't find any of it. Feel free to email me the next time you're in town and looking for something to do, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Posted by: Jarah at November 21, 2005 11:51 AM (lEKTM)

4 i'm with jarah on this. fresno is changing. i lived here until i was 12 and hated every moment of it. then at 24, when i moved back, i learned to love fresno. true, at first i thought it was a cultureless cesspool but now i think differently. fresno, like anywhere, is what you make of it. if you make it suck...then it does.

Posted by: bn at November 21, 2005 12:06 PM (r8ONb)

5 ROFL! And people wonder why I'm HAPPY to live in the socialist paradise of MA now. Took me a long damned time to get out for good, though, since I kept running out of money. How I Wound Up With An English Degree From Fresno State is a good story, really. Heh. But you know, I went to Central High. Back when it was way out in the sticks and they didn't have any, you know, classes. Just a fake gang fight my sophomore year, staged by the football team, that somehow made it into the Bee as the real thing. LOL. There wasn't much hope for my academic future in the first place. The local "celebrities"...so freaking true. I used to work at the Borders at River Park. It was so entertaining when local news people would come in there and they'd draw crowds and leave their dirty coffee cups jammed in the shelves. Nasty freaking people. Hell, the bulk of the River Park shoppers were just so impressed with themselves for living north of Herndon that they could barely function... People wonder why I ran off and joined the Navy. Heh. Fer goodness sake, when I "met" Jay I'd quit smoking in an attempt to save enough money to move the hell back out of Fresno, even though I was making Really Good Money by local standards. Better poor than Fresnan, no?

Posted by: Deb at November 21, 2005 12:12 PM (SVvcW)

6 Laughing at your original post, BTW, not at bn. True that you can make what you want of it, but it's hard when you've got no material to work with. Hard to knit a good blanket if all you have to make it with are twigs and leaves.

Posted by: Deb at November 21, 2005 12:15 PM (SVvcW)

7 So true about Fresno's quasi-famous. John Wallace lived down the street from us when I was a kid and his twin daughters were my friends. His oldest (from 1st marriage) is married to Trent Dilfer. Mom knows her mom. Later, Rudy (Rodriguez??)what's-his-name who was also on Channel 30 lived right across from us and I used to baby sit his kids. They were nice people. I could go on and on. Ben says (and I agree) that there are 2 Fresnos, one that's interconnected and in charge of things, and the other Fresno. That, and that everyone in Fresno knows each other two separate ways....

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 12:35 PM (/vgMZ)

8 Fresno sucks. We have pretty good weed here, though.

Posted by: The don at November 21, 2005 12:36 PM (+KIT/)

9 I'd have to ask my s-i-l about that one.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 12:37 PM (/vgMZ)

10 there ARE materials to work with...you just have to know where to look. there are many people (myself included) who would like to see things change and we're trying really hard to work with what we've got.

Posted by: bn at November 21, 2005 12:45 PM (r8ONb)

11 Wow! I really envy you guys. I am from fresno and i live in fresno. It sshure sounds like all you guys are real smart. I am very enviuos of you. I wanted to get out of fresno but cou'ldn't figure out how to do it. It is hard to find a way out! But you guys did it! Cool! Way to go guys! You even went to really smart schools and maybe even got doctorit degrees to boost your self asteem and probably inflate your fragile egos and most likely validate your self-worth by relying on extraneous, institutionalized bench marks! Sweet! Do you feel better about yourselves now? Well you should! You got out of Fresno and made it to the REAL world of Pasadena and/or Chapel Hill, no doubt two of the coolest places to live in the WORLD. I mean, have you seen downtown Pasadena? It is freaking awesome! Oh, and it is also really cool how you find it fun and amusing to poke fun of us less fortunate Fresnans that were’nt smart enough or good enough or pretty enough to get out. It must be a good feeling to be able to lift yourselves up above the lowly proletariat class of the Fresno poor and stupid. Certainly, you have the high ground on every front: morally, intellectually, financially, religiously. You go Caltechgirl! You’re so smart and so comfortable with your success and so eager to share your accomplishments and myriad of talents with the world you put it into your blog name! How corageous and noble you must be. It is so nice how sly you are to cassualy put down Fresno while inconspicuously dropping the names of the top universities you got into. Now that is what I call class! But what do I know? I am just a lazy, raisin-growing Fresnan. (Did I mention I grow raisins? I do! Too bad, cause I hate raisins but that is all there is to do here. Grow raisins! Blah!) No way am I as cool or good or smart or pretty as you! Please, keep living your lives the way you do. Clearly you are good, superior people who are wise in the ways of the world. (After all you lived in Pasadena!) So please keep spreading your words of hate and discouragement. It reflects very well on you and gives us “Fres-lifers” a shred of hope knowing it is, or at least was, possible to get out.

Posted by: Fresno For Life at November 21, 2005 01:55 PM (krAuT)

12 Hey Lifer, blow me. I made the choices that are right for me. Too bad you are so frigging jealous that you can't see straight. This is who I am. I don't see you laying it on the line. And sadly enough, my friend, you are exactly why I left. Small minds who only want to put down other's achievements, who can't see past the Tule fog in their own head. I am doing what I want to do. What I have always wanted to do. Did you always want to grow raisins? If so, you're no different than me. I just find it sad that because you do that, you could stay home and do what you like, but I couldn't. And that sucks. And that's why Fresno sucks. Did I say what I have done is the best? That where I live is the best? No. Just that it is right for me. Or is this just sour (raisin) grapes over the FSU loss?

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 02:07 PM (/vgMZ)

13 HA HA HA HA HA!!! now that's funny!! i DO think it's strange that people who USED to live in fresno can spend so much time complaining about it. you've moved on....so move on. fresno is not your problem anymore.

Posted by: bn at November 21, 2005 02:08 PM (r8ONb)

14 See that's just it. In a way we haven't. I still go back there. My family is there. I would like to live close to them, but I can't make a living.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 02:10 PM (/vgMZ)

15 oh, and BTW, I used to complain more before I moved away.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 02:11 PM (/vgMZ)

16 point taken...but still...there are so many good things here...and i am certainly not small minded. i agree with a lot of what you said but complaining about it gets us nowhere! what we need is for people to focus on what's GOOD and go from there. i attend poetry readings, concerts, art openings, the opera, etc...and i feel that fresno is not lacking in culture. what it lacks is people who are truly seeking culture. the job thing is another story. i am unemployed right now and i am feeling frustrated because there is really nothing that i want to do here. i know that jobs exist...but finding the right one is hard. i moved back here from a rather expensive area...that had great paying jobs...so this is hard for me. but i will still stay here and do the best i can for now.

Posted by: bn at November 21, 2005 02:22 PM (r8ONb)

17 opera? There's opera? Cool. I could go for that. And certainly, not everyone in town is small minded. Just enough to make it uncomfortable sometimes. It does sometimes seem to be the prevailing mindset, though.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 02:25 PM (/vgMZ)

18 see what i mean...you said there's no culture but you didn't even know about the opera. unfortunately, there are only two a year but there is also the fresno philharmonic. there is PLENTY of culture here!! i am so sick of people saying that there isn't.

Posted by: bn at November 21, 2005 02:35 PM (r8ONb)

19 oh please. I was waiting for someone to bring up the Phil. I was practically raised backstage. It isn't much to cheer about.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 02:37 PM (/vgMZ)

20 fine. i won't comment anymore. obviously your mind is made up.

Posted by: bn at November 21, 2005 02:39 PM (r8ONb)

21 I'll agree that Fresno sucks in many ways. I can also tell you didn't spend much time in the Tower District. I lived there from the late 80s to mid 90s. True, historically the Tower has "always" been the Gay District but with that acceptance you find much more opportunities for diversity and ideas that are not mainstream Fresno. In a lot of ways the Tower is comparable to Haight in San Fransisco or Melrose in Los Angeles. There is the Rogue Festival which hosts numerous performance artists, writers and actors. I can say the only hope for culture in Fresno lays in the Tower District. To dismiss it as you did, "only if you're gay or into art and coffee", does not do you credit. In fact, it makes you sound a little like a hick from Clovis.

Posted by: Marck at November 21, 2005 02:44 PM (o+YpH)

22 pfft. Yeah. Have you been to Melrose or Haight? I agree that Tower is the best Fresno has to offer, diversity and culture-wise but that's simply not good enough. Culture is a HELL of a lot more than a few galleries, some indy bands, and a theatre. I'm definitely not from Clovis. I have black friends.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 02:47 PM (/vgMZ)

23 This has really gotten off the mark. Rather than defend myself against each of you who have pointed out something interesting or cultural about Fresno, my whole point was to demonstrate that a lot of things in town are shit, and they're not improving, and that's why people leave. It's not about culture, honestly, except that the overall mindset in town seems to be against growth or openmindedness or embracing diversity. Yes, Fresno has some good things, so does every town or city, ok? The point is, unless things change I will never live there again, and I find that utterly sad. And I'm not alone. I'm also adding this to the end of my post. So maybe you'll read it before pointing out another nit-picky thing that's good about Fresno.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 03:05 PM (/vgMZ)

24 I was born in Toronto, grew up mostly in Orlando, went to college in Boston, spent plenty of time in NY, SF, DC and Chicago, and since college have lived in St. Pete, Fresno, and most recently, Minneapolis. And wow. Even my New Yorker friends by and large wouldn't have the hubris to dismiss an entire city with a phrase like "small town, small minds." Especially a city with so much perspective to offer, and a city where you can trace so clearly the story of its country. Even after a relatively short while there, I have an interest in seeing it evolve stronger than in any of the other places I've lived.

Posted by: Matt at November 21, 2005 04:12 PM (DhEg8)

25 I'm glad you enjoyed your time there, Matt. But that doesn't change the fact that a lot of attitudes have to change before Fresno lives up to its potential. I wouldn't characterize it as hubris but rather repeated disappointment.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 05:12 PM (uI/79)

26 I'm so glad you moved away Caltechgirl. Fresno is better for it. We don't need your small, shallow thoughts here. You belong in that sea-of-suburbs called So Cal, thinking your a bigger person because you moved to a "big city". Simply moving to a percieved better place, doesn't make you better than Fresnans, or anyone.

Posted by: Mikie at November 21, 2005 07:41 PM (/5QTW)

27 hey Mikie, you are exactly the reason I left. How petty and shallow was that? Did I attack you personally? Why no. I didn't. So you can fuck off. Consider yourself banned

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 21, 2005 08:56 PM (uI/79)

28 You started your blog off with: "Let me 'splain. Real easy so's you Fresnans can understand: Fresno sucks." I'm a Fresnan. Fresno is MY town. So excuse me if I took you personal attack "personal".

Posted by: Mikie at November 22, 2005 12:03 AM (/5QTW)

29 I'm a Fresnan too. If I can take it what makes you such a pussy? It doesn't make me feel insulted, just sad. BTW I didn't start either the blog or the post off with that phrase, so perhaps you'd do well to read the entire post.

Posted by: caltechgirl at November 22, 2005 12:37 AM (uI/79)

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It's a good thing my 'Canes were winning over the last week and a half. I didn't have any time for the Hockey Whoopass Jamboree.

Here's my penance, Michele:

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One more from Jenna:

You are Rerun!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:52 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Today is all about the quiz and the link love!
First up:
The Princess Quiz

The Noble Princess

You are just and fair, a perfectionist with a
strong sense of proper decorum. You are very
attracted to chivalry, ceremony and dignity.
For the most part you are rather sensible, but
you are also very idealistic.

Role Models: Guinevere, Princess Fiona (of Shrek)

You are most likely to: Get kidnapped by a stray
dragon.


What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Next, The Lesser Harry Potter Character Quiz:

...and which lesser Harry Potter character are you?

and finally, What Middle Earth Race are you?

Numenorean


To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

All from the Lovely Jenna Thomas-McKie

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Only too true.

Back at home as of noon yesterday. My husband's best buddy in college gifted us with AWESOME tickets to last night's USC/Fresno State game.

Which was both the most awesome and most insane game I have ever been too.

Anyway, somewhere in the middle of the game, Reggie Bush took off on a 65 yard TD run and I was jumping up and down so hard that this amply endowed girl came right out of a certain support garment.....

I must have been a sight. Pigtails and other things flapping, jumping up and down, screaming "Run Reggie Run" over and over again.

We also got to meet Reggie's little bro (before the game) and Mike Garrett, Heisman trophy winner and USC athletic director (after the game)

The officiating was terrible, the stats were insane, and I'm gonna love going back to Fresno on Wednesday

Also, quickly before I go, Dad is doing ok. He's getting up and walking a little, sitting in the chair, pissing off the nurses because he wants to get up more than they want him to. His blood sugars are high, but they tell us his pancreas is still recuperating from being cut into, so hopefully that will ease off and he won't need insulin.

That would piss me off. His pancreas was perfectly healthy, no blood sugar issues, no cancer, and they removed part of it "Just to be safe". Yeah. Don't fuck with my pancreas, thanks. Take everything else.

Anyway, so much more to say, but I have to pick up the threads of my life and get back to normal. More tomorrow.

Thanks to the fabuloso guest bloggers who kept everyone entertained and made me laugh this week

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:45 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 WELCOME BACK!!! So very glad to see you!! Happy that Dad is on the mend. : )

Posted by: Christina at November 20, 2005 07:12 PM (zJsUT)

2 heh. You had better seats than Ed did.... he's got the cheap season tickets way up high. Glad to hear you got to go to a game! From the subject header, I thought you just jumped your husband during the game from excitement.... Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Posted by: Bill at November 20, 2005 07:12 PM (67MBU)

3 WTF? I'd be pissed about losing part of my pancreas, too! Sheesh! But yeah, pissing off the nurses is A GOOD THING. Heh. I hope he's finer n' froghair reallllly soon! M

Posted by: Margi at November 20, 2005 07:59 PM (nwEQH)

4 I hope your father does better. However, it had to be some sight to see you jump out of your underwear. LOL

Posted by: Contagion at November 21, 2005 05:22 AM (Q5WxB)

5 It's a good sign that he's pissing off the nurses! Welcome back, CaltechGirl!

Posted by: Marie at November 21, 2005 06:22 AM (410kz)

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The other day I posted on leekspeak.

Today I find the Brits are defiling Shakespeare's works.

Dot mobile, a British mobile phone service aimed at students, says it plans to condense classic works of literature into SMS text messages...

Academic purists will be horrified. Hamlet's famous query, "To be or not to be, that is the question," becomes "2b? Nt2b? ???"

John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost" begins "devl kikd outa hevn coz jelus of jesus&strts war." ("The devil is kicked out of heaven because he is jealous of Jesus and starts a war.")

Kathy, honey, Jane Eyre is not immune, either:

Take for example the ending to Jane Eyre -- 'MadwyfSetsFyr2Haus.' (Mad wife sets fire to house.) Was ever a climax better compressed?

Horrors, I tell ya, the horrors...

Posted by: Christina at 11:46 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I know the lovely Caltechgirl posts recipes and something tells me she is a chocolate lover.

This is quite simply the best chocolate cake known to man.

Enjoy!

Slap Your Momma Chocolate Cake

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup water
3 large eggs
2 - 16 oz containers chocolate frosting
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp Amaretto
1 cup sweetened and flaked coconut
1/2 cup toasted, chopped almonds

For the cake combine the mix, cocoa, mayonnaise, eggs, and water in a large bowl. Beat for two minutes, first on low, then on high. Pour into greased and floured 8 or 9-inch round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, until done.

For the frosting: In a medium bowl, combine frosting, sour cream, and Amaretto.

Transfer approximately 1 1/2 cups of the frosting to another bowl and stir in almonds and coconut. This is the filling.

Once the cakes have cooled from the oven, use the filling between the layers, then frost with the remaining frosting. If you are feeling particularly adventurous, split each layer in half and use filling in between for a torte-like cake.

After serving, store remainder in the refrigerator.

This one is slap yo' momma good.

Posted by: Christina at 06:37 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Christina, is there anything you CAN'T do?

Posted by: Bob at November 18, 2005 08:03 AM (yMzz+)

2 First thing I'm going to make after the baby comes and I can have sugar again? This cake. Sweet Jeebus.

Posted by: Margi at November 18, 2005 11:09 AM (nwEQH)

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Your Fortune Is

An optimist is a girl who regards a bulge as a curve.

Posted by: Deb at 02:30 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Pregnant woman weds teen, spends honeymoon in jail.

She is thirty-seven and he is fifteen. They are alleged to have had a sexual relationship for two years.

What is interesting to me is:

Under Georgia law, teenagers may marry as long as they are at least 16 and have the permission of a parent or guardian. Those restrictions are waived, however, when a female applicant is pregnant.

I assume the Georgie statute is referring to when the femal applicant is pregnant and a teenager.

Despite the valid marriage, the article states: "Clark's marriage to the boy does not protect her from prosecution (of molestation), police said."

Talk about a mess...

What was she thinking?!

This is one of those times I wish there had been pictures of the two, I'm dying to know what they look like.

Posted by: Christina at 08:59 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 139 words, total size 1 kb.

Here's this week's Unconscious Mutterings, a bit late...

1. Mighty::
   
2. Gotta find time to ....::
   
3. Statistic::
   
4. Midnight::
   
5. Thaw::
   
6. Hips::
   
7. Reader::
   
8. Related::
   
9. Brilliant::
   
10. Posture::
    

(my answers in the extended entry) more...

Posted by: Amanda at 08:17 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 61 words, total size 1 kb.

The 2005 Weblog Awards are open for nominations, so long as you have or don't mind getting a Typekey identity so Kevin can keep the spammers at bay. Voting will be open to anyone. Last day for nominations is the 26th.

Posted by: Jay at 09:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.

I must not be, living right that is.

I'm allergic to chocolate and alcohol in that they both induce migraines.

Sucks, right?!

Because there is little else left but sex and caffeine and the first is not always so convenient, I tend to indulge in the latter.

I have never acquired a taste for coffee and prefer to take my caffeine in the form of soda, particularly Diet Coke.

Well, hell, apparently THAT's not good for me, either.

Sometimes, it just sucks to be me!

Posted by: Christina at 08:16 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Just popping in with a quick update. The surgery went well and there were no surprises at all. Doctor is pleased and Dad is resting comfortably in ICU thanks to his trusty epidural

True to form, when the anesthesiologist told him how he was going to do the epidural, Dad asked if he was having a boy or a girl.

Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers and good wishes, we're not out of the woods yet.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:43 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.

It should be noted that this is a big day, being the birthday of "DH," Caltechgirl's hubby, known to some as Grand Moff Trojan.

Posted by: Jay at 11:31 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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