as of 11:15 am:

1700 acres burned
1 home destroyed
1 commercial building destroyed (Rocketdyne)
1 injury (concussion from falling rock)
over 3000 firefighters from LA and Ventura counties, joined by crews from as far away as Tulare and Fresno counties.
Full fleet of fire airships making drops of water and Phoscheck (a fire retardant)
Today's weather: highs to the 100s, low humidity, and low winds from the west. Firefighters expect the onshore flow will help by bringing in moisture.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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We did try all of the battery tricks. That was the first thing we tried. My laptop (that I'm using at the moment) pulled the battery/power cord trick last year. The battery is hosed and won't run the computer, and then the power cord got surged during a particularly nasty T-storm. $21 and I was up and running.

This is different. It died while running from wall power. Reseating the battery didn't do it. Running it with the AC power without the battery in didn't do it. Running it off the (full) battery without the AC power in didn't do it.

The really ominous thing is that it never attempted to spin the drive or turn on the fans......

Anyway, Dell support got back to me, and they say that the mother (f'ing) board is toast and that I'll need to replace it.

Other than taking the computer apart, how hard is that to do? Is it something that someone who is relatively ok with popping open the case is going to be ok doing? Or should I call a techie friend? Or should I send to Dell? I've put in cards etc. before, memory and all that, but in a tower, and I know how to take the case apart of the laptop to get to the motherboard, but I'm not sure whether I want to try it myself....

Any advice on that subject would be much appreciated.
Or on whether there's a way to troubleshoot the board and fix just whatever blew up.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:53 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The Princess and I just want to give some Kudos to Beth Johnston of Beauty Meets the Beast, who is the best dog groomer in Chapel Hill, NC and Carrboro, NC (where the shop is located).

Beth was our groomer for 5 years before we moved, and she never once gave my girl a bad cut or an ouchie. We started with her because she works with our vet, The Animal Hospital of Carrboro (also an EXCELLENT place), but we never had any reason to look elsewhere.

And she has the best customer service in town. I needed to get her notes for the Princess's next haircut, so she gets the right cut, and she called me from Chapel Hill to make sure I got the right instructions for the groomer and to chat and check up on how the Boo is doing.

So if any of you lurkers are in Chapel Hill (or anywhere else in the Triangle) and need a dog groomer, you couldn't do better than Beth. But beware, it's HARD to get an appointment. A sweeter person and a better groomer you just can't find anywhere.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:22 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There are few things worse than having a cold.

Or if you heard me say that, it would be more like this: There are few thigs wurz thad habbig a code.

Every year when school starts all the new germs go around. Well, Mr. DH got them all and of course, brought them home. He was sick all weekend, and is better today. I woke up at 3:30 am sick, and well, you can guess the rest.

So no brilliance from me today. Instead, I offer you some links worth reading.

First up, this moving letter from George Moneo posting at Babalu about the castro regime, and the US' policy regarding Cuban refugees.

Next, Val at Babalu and Michelle Malkin both point us to this story. I hate Notre Dame football with a passion, but their coach is a good guy.

Patterico finds an interesting LA Times story that the Left would rather stay buried. Turns out whites make up the majority of casualties and injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, not blacks and hispanics, as Charlie Rangel would have you believe.

Practigal Marie shares her thoughts on beggars who ARE choosers.

Bill has the lowdown on the 13 most corrupt members of Congress. Not surprisingly the list hits both Houses and members on both sides of the aisle.

VW of One Happy Dog Speaks has more cute pictures of Tater and Tot.

Phin wages the War of Lateral (Barbecue) Aggression.

Jay Tea at Wizbang! brings us an amusing tale of what happens when you commit TMI online.

Lair Simon is up and running (and back to work) after Rita, and he brings you the newest Foamy the Squirrel cartoon: Tech Support II.

triticale has this week's Carnival of the Recipes.

and finally, last but not least, Two Dogs of Mean Ol' Meany has some thoughts about the difference between Mississippi and Louisiana in terms of response to Katrina.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:45 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Ugh!!! Hope you feel better soon, CTG! Colds suck!

Posted by: Marie at September 26, 2005 08:47 AM (410kz)

2 Sopa de pollo y un par de aspirinas cada 4 horas.

Posted by: Val Prieto at September 26, 2005 08:49 AM (S5/9T)

3 What Val said. Trust me, it works. Feel better soon!

Posted by: Amanda at September 26, 2005 09:50 AM (ay+rD)

4 Feel better soon. I've always found that bourbon and honey help me feel better when I have a cold.

Posted by: phin at September 26, 2005 10:26 AM (Xvpen)

5 Delayed Get Well Wish. (So, that must mean you are well, now?) I hope

Posted by: mensa B at September 27, 2005 04:15 PM (TOHVc)

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what can I say?

Yesterday I had the meeting about the preliminary offer and it went well, just waiting for them to get their ducks in a row. I'm supposed to hear today but I can't help but worry. There's still a chance (albeit small) that this could fall through....

Just trying to keep it together while I wait. I really want the job. Not to mention the paycheck.

Also, the Princess has an ear infection, and I can't find the freaking expensive antibiotic solution for her ears..... I can find the ear flush, the baby ear bulb, and everything else we usually use for her ears, but not the damn antibiotics. Arrgh.

On a more positive note, we got the first power bill yesterday: $102 for 6 weeks. Damn I love living here. It would have been >$150 for 4 weeks in Carolina what with having to run the AC 24 hours a day.... Ah well, it won't last. I suspect the next gas bill will kill me.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:29 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Excuse me while I curl up with a blanket and a good book while I still can......

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One of the things that I miss most about NC is the summer storms that wake you up with a terrible crash of thunder and a bright flash of lightning,

LA somehow managed to requisition such a storm just for me, and now I'm glad I'm an insomniac. I've been laying here enjoying the sound of the drops pattering on the bacony and smelling the wet air, listening to the thunder and warching the fireworks, so to speak.

Yay!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:55 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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So I have a meeting Thursday to finalize the details of the employment offer and ask whatever questions I want.

This is the first time I've had to do this, so I am completely unsure of what to do, except for a few questions I know I want to ask about daily activities and the benefits package.

What would you ask? What should I be thinking about? What are the smart questions no one asks? The details of the job offer are here.

This post will stay on top today in hopes of getting some answers.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:59 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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You know, those old vases and jars at the back of your closet. Too lazy to roll it all and count it? Too cheap to pay the counting fee at a Coinstar machine?

Well, now you don't have to.

At 3500 (soon to be 5000) locations nationwide, Coinstar is allowing consumers to forgo the fee if they convert their spare change into gift cards. Retailers currently include Starbucks and Amazon.com, and will soon include Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Pier One Imports, and others.

Since my collected spare change usually goes for a spluge item, turning it into an Amazon gift certificate seems like a good idea....

The details are here.

You can find a machine near you here. Choose "prepaid card" from the pulldown menu to find machines that dispense the cards.

(h/t Aziz P)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just got back from the BFL barbecue. We all had a great time. Thanks to the lovely Little Miss Attila and her Hubby for hosting. It was awesome to finally meet Baldilocks, LMA, The Pirate, and Darleen Click and her husband. It was also great to see Justene and Rich, Flap, and Xrlq Sr and Jr again.

Did I miss anyone?

Highlights of the evening included a spirited discussion of the upcoming election and the BFL salon, watching Baby Xrlq play on the floor with Justene's cell phone, and getting USC-Arkansas updates via Flap's cell phone. Not to mention yummy food. Mmmmm....steak......Mmmm.......pie.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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So we went to Target (pronounced tar-ZHAY, of course) today. We threw out the semi-busted alarm clock/CD player when we moved, and we're tired of waking up to the annoying cell phone beeper in the morning.

So we got a new one, and not only does it set its own time, it has 4 colors in the display, gets the weather stations and TV channels 2-13, has 18 presets for radio stations.

Also, and this is why we got it, when you set the alarm, not only can you set alarm 1 and alarm 2 for 2 different times, but for each alarm you can set the station or track you want (whether you choose CD or radio) and the VOLUME. Our biggest pet peeve with the old one was that if you wanted to fall asleep listening to the radio, you had to listen to it at the volume you wanted to wake up to. Not real conducive to sleeping. Now we can listen to the radio or CD quietly to fall asleep and wake up to earth shattering noise.

Also, in addition to the standard snooze and sleep features, it has a nap button so you can set it for one or two hours of naptime without messing up the regular alarm setting. Perfect for the girl who has taken more naps as an adult than she did as a toddler.

Yay!

And the sound quality is better than the TV, so we're watching the fUCLA/OU game with the sound off and the radio on.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:52 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I almost forgot in the light of other things, but both of the Princess's biopsies came back negative. The path report also says the vet was right, and both of the little growths were exactly what we thought they were, and completely harmless. So 3 stitches and several hundred dollars later, my piece of mind is restored, and my boo is more comfortable.....Yay!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:35 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Also very good news...YAY! Hugs and kisses to the princess, and to her mommy and daddy for taking such good care of her.

Posted by: Amanda at September 17, 2005 05:46 AM (Bf8a3)

2 Well, YAYAYAYAYAYA! You're on a roll, kiddo! Huggums,

Posted by: Margi at September 17, 2005 11:03 AM (nwEQH)

3 Hip Hip Hurray!!!!!

Posted by: vw bug at September 17, 2005 01:56 PM (J3xJ9)

4 Biopsy?!? Aaaaaaa! Either I wasn't paying attention or you kept that from me. I'm glad the woo is OK. After all, I knew her when she was a couple weeks old and pooping worms (yeech). Yaaaay!

Posted by: Ben at September 18, 2005 08:36 PM (NIpoo)

5 Hooray, good to know. Feel the pain though, our Billy was just in at the vets for a delicate operation on his bottom (I won't go into the details), stitches and hundreds of dollars later there as well, all is good. Hooray for the pets!

Posted by: Amanda at September 20, 2005 02:38 AM (ytctw)

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I got a job offer!!!!

Here's the pertinents (without mentioning the institution)
-Assistant Professor level, and even though they don't have a tenure structure, it is promotable to Full Professor

-year one: 30 hrs/week $40K + full faculty benefits
-year two: 40 hrs/week $52K + etc.

It involves setting up a new lab curriculum, choosing lab software to go with the curriculum and then integrating it into the classes that are already being taught. Then also some teaching. There's also a chance to do some independent lab work and supervise some student research.

It's not what I would be making as an Asst. Prof at a high caliber research institution, but there's no pressure to get grants and publish either (yay!)

Salary is commensurate with a postdoc, so it's appropriate for my employment level, and about what I was expecting.

I am now going to poke the other institution and see what they'll drop in my lap. Working for them was potentially more $$$.....

So what do you think (I mean seriously, beyond the YAY! factor)?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:27 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 What do I think? I think YOU RAWK! that's what. Heh. Seriously, I think it's a good plan to poke the other place, just to see. Keep us posted. (LOL...lil' bloggin' humor, there.) xoxo

Posted by: Margi at September 16, 2005 10:35 PM (nwEQH)

2 Yay!!!

Posted by: Jay at September 16, 2005 10:38 PM (l4+Wd)

3 YAY! I told ya!

Posted by: Da Goddess at September 16, 2005 10:43 PM (P9Dei)

4 I can only Yay! along with everyone else I don't know enough about what you do to have an opinion.

Posted by: Ith at September 16, 2005 11:31 PM (bM2fM)

5 ** Doin' the Happy Dance ** That is great. Guess I can quit worrying about your interview skills. ;-)

Posted by: VW Bug at September 17, 2005 04:18 AM (J3xJ9)

6 This is absolutely wonderful news! What a way to start the weekend! I don't know much about what you do either, but it sounds great. And I do think poking the other institution is a great idea...you never know...

Posted by: Amanda at September 17, 2005 05:42 AM (Bf8a3)

7 congrats!! This is excellent!! Sounds great!!

Posted by: Marie at September 17, 2005 10:59 AM (410kz)

8 I think "YAY!" pretty much says it all. :-)

Posted by: Pam at September 18, 2005 07:08 PM (RnH4N)

9 What do *I* think? Whoo hooo... It's ALL coming together!!!!!

Posted by: Bou at September 18, 2005 08:21 PM (5JHEt)

10 Flap says YAY! Good Job!

Posted by: Flap at September 19, 2005 04:26 PM (A8i+J)

11 Hey, great! Congratulations!

Posted by: Paul Burgess at September 20, 2005 06:42 AM (7EVyU)

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So when you move you expect to get some mail from the previous residents, right? The junk mail you toss, the catalogs you keep and look through, the bills and letters you mark to be forwarded.

But you don't expect phone calls. Usually the phone company keeps a number dormant for at least 6 months before reassigning it. In the the last 3 days we've had at least 4 "wrong number" calls, 3 of them in the SAME DAY for a guy named Matt, one for a chick named Brenna.....

Either that or Matt is giving out our number at a gay bar.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:07 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 When I first got my new cell phone two years ago, I got call after call for "Tawana". I think she might have been a lady of the evening from the calls. And the calls from her creditors, and then the calls from federal prison. Fun!

Posted by: Ith at September 14, 2005 08:19 PM (bM2fM)

2 Ugh. So annoying. I've had this problem with my 2 of my last 3 numbers. With our number here it took well over a year before we quit getting them. Whoever it was that had it didn't like to pay his bills, apparently. Silly person. I had a similar problem in Pensacola but it was much shorter-lived. The number I had in Fresno last kept getting bombarded by, of all things, a mortgage guy and a school. Both had the wrong number for different people and the calls were always when I was at work. I resorted to an answering machine message that said, "Hi. You have reached *number*. Mr. X doesn't live here. In fact, I've never even heard of him. I'm sorry, but you have the wrong number." (Or something close to that, Jay would remember.) Anyway, much fun was had by all and that cleared it up pretty quick.

Posted by: Deb at September 14, 2005 09:02 PM (l4+Wd)

3 Yep, same thing here. We've had our number for almost a year, and still sometimes we get requests to talk to "Mrs McGee".

Posted by: Amanda at September 15, 2005 02:25 AM (ytctw)

4 I get collect phone calls from Chico State Prison. I once had 40 messages in one day on my answering machine. I could have them blocked, but what about when I actually know someone in prison?

Posted by: Bill at September 15, 2005 06:18 AM (TfrfE)

5 When I was growing up, we would occasionally get calls for "Latisha". This went on well after we were in the house for five years. As for the mail, I still occasionally get the last people's mail, and they moved out in 1999! I think people often don't bother to change their mailing addy so they can avoid the bills. After I leave my current apt, the next people are going to hate me. I get tons of junk mail, and I suspect a good chunk of it will be their problem.

Posted by: Ben at September 18, 2005 08:44 PM (NIpoo)

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Curious George, the mischevious little monkey who is forever confounding the man in the yellow hat, almost wasn't.

This article tells the story of HA and Margaret Rey, and their escape from the Nazis....

Did you know George was almost Curious Fifi?

(Yellow h/t Lair Simon)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:05 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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You asked for pictures of boobs, so here you go!
(completely SFW)....

Sorry Harv. Couldn't resist.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Princess came through surgery with flying colors. She was very sleepy all last night, but she doesn't seem to be in too much pain. At least, she's not eating any slower

She has a bunch of sore, burned tissue in her mouth where he cauterized the gum after removing the presumed epilus, and 3 little stitches on her chest where the presumed lipoma was. And because of the stitches, she can't have a bath for 2 weeks! (That would be her favorite part if she could tell me so)

Yesterday's interview went well (~2 hours) and they just about offered me a job that is along the lines of what I want, but may be at a much lower salary.... I am waiting for specific details from them. It would also be a closer commute than the other university I've been talking with....

House rocked last night. I love how they nearly always sneak in a little clever metaphor...... Cameron is just a little Pollyanna, huh? Even worse than I suspected. And bring back the old hairdresser, dammit. What was up with Cameron and Cuddy's hairdos???

On a more serious note, Pheochromocytoma is a (usually) non-malignant tumor of the adrenal glands. Like normal adrenal tissue, PCC tumors can also secrete adrenaline (epinephrine), but unlike adrenal tissue, the tumor does not respond properly to the body's fight or flight cues and can result in anything from rage attacks such as those perpetrated in the episode to panic attacks and paranoia. Also, as discussed previously in regards to House, small cell lung cancer is evil and one of two types of cancer that are still regarded as a complete death sentence (the other being glioblastoma multiforme).

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:37 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I just have a few minutes until DH gets back because he's grading papers....

1. Dodgers Win! It was a blast, look for pictures from the game here or here.

2. New addiction: Dulce de Leche Hershey's Kisses (white chocolate with caramel swirl and dulce de leche caramel filling)

3. Exgaucho Ben has now seen the majority of Team America. F*ck Yeah!

4. VW Bug is back. Check out her post roundup.

Perhaps more later....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I'm feeling pretty blah. Headache and heartache.

The Princess is going to have surgery on Tuesday for what we think are two separate benign growths, one in her mouth and one on her chest. The one in her mouth is almost certainly an epilus, since she had one before and the vet told us it might grow back (it did, almost exactly one year later) and the one on her chest is probably a lipoma, a common fat deposit, neither of which are anything to worry about, but still, she is my baby. The lipoma is too small to do a needle biopsy, but rather than waiting and watching it, we've decided to take it out as she's going to be asleep anyway....

I've got a busy weekend planned, too. Exgaucho Ben is coming down and we're going to the Dodger game with him and Bill and some of their friends on Saturday. Ben leaves on Sunday, and my parents will be here Monday and Tuesday. We're going to the Dodger game with them on Monday night because my Dad has never been to Dodger stadium.

So if you don't see anything new in this space, don't panic. We're just busy.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:24 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Well, it went well. This was a second interview for the same position I interviewed for earlier. This time I got to meet with the Chair, who of course has to approve any new hires. The meeting went well and he introduced me to the business manager, who would be my go to person once I get hired in terms of both pay and class scheduling. So that was good. He also told me he'd be meeting with the person I interviewed with earlier and the business manager to talk about getting things rolling or not.... but I think they want me. The distance between Pasadena and the University is the only factor against me, so they might need to schedule me around the traffic, although, in my previous interview he told me that wouldn't be a problem.....

He did tell me that they will meet soon because they need to get all their ducks in a row, so I'm hoping that means I'll be working this quarter.....

So keep those fingers crossed until I hear back one way or the other.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Good luck!

Posted by: Sissy at September 08, 2005 06:13 PM (uXS+O)

2 A little late in commenting... but my fingers are crossed!

Posted by: vw bug at September 09, 2005 04:27 PM (jYKSz)

3 Fingers never came uncrossed...

Posted by: Bou at September 09, 2005 07:05 PM (5JHEt)

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