Friday, August 31, 2007
First!
I'm heading to Wisconsin this weekend to visit Internet JoAnn, and it just occurred to me that hey, her town isn't that far from Ms. Huis Herself & Mr. Kluges' town! So I'm swinging up on the drive home, and I'll get to see their marvellous new house in person! Yay.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Confession and grammar pedantry
I disagree with Sars on a grammar question.
She fielded this in Tuesday's Vine and ... (whisper) I think she's wrong.
First of all, according to Chicago (and AP for that matter), you put a comma after state names when used after city names. Even Garner agrees that the state is parenthetical and so would take a comma after it. It doesn't have anything to do with whether the city name is universally understood.
Secondly, her construction, "The History of Ogden, Utah's First Settlement" changes the meaning of the title. The original, with the comma after "Utah's", makes it clear that the topic is the first settlement in Ogden. Sars' version changes "Utah's first settlement" to an appositive, making it sound as if Ogden was the first settlement in Utah.
*frets* Do you all still love me? Or am I hereby banished from the Tomato Nation?
She fielded this in Tuesday's Vine and ... (whisper) I think she's wrong.
First of all, according to Chicago (and AP for that matter), you put a comma after state names when used after city names. Even Garner agrees that the state is parenthetical and so would take a comma after it. It doesn't have anything to do with whether the city name is universally understood.
Secondly, her construction, "The History of Ogden, Utah's First Settlement" changes the meaning of the title. The original, with the comma after "Utah's", makes it clear that the topic is the first settlement in Ogden. Sars' version changes "Utah's first settlement" to an appositive, making it sound as if Ogden was the first settlement in Utah.
*frets* Do you all still love me? Or am I hereby banished from the Tomato Nation?
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
yay!
Why yes, I do have the DVD set of Heroes Season 1 right here in my hot little hands. So much pretty, so little time.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Can I go back to vacation now?
Aargh. One of the great trials of life: the people you least want to drink with are the ones you most need to be drinking to deal with. IOW, yes, I had a work social function today.
On a happier note, here are the before and after pictures of the garden in front of the folks' new trailer (which my mom is insisting on referring to as "the Park Model" rather than "the trailer" because she thinks it sounds more posh. Strangely, she does not refer to TarZHAY, so I'm not sure where this odd little bout of white trash snobbery came from). The garden did not end up being as big as I originally intended, because I'm not that rich, but I think it'll be cute if it lives long enough to fill in a little.
Before:
After:
On a happier note, here are the before and after pictures of the garden in front of the folks' new trailer (which my mom is insisting on referring to as "the Park Model" rather than "the trailer" because she thinks it sounds more posh. Strangely, she does not refer to TarZHAY, so I'm not sure where this odd little bout of white trash snobbery came from). The garden did not end up being as big as I originally intended, because I'm not that rich, but I think it'll be cute if it lives long enough to fill in a little.
Before:
After:
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Greetings from the Pine River DQ!
I was having trouble getting into the network at A-Pine, so I'm sitting in the Pine River Dairy Queen instead. The DQ is apparently the social hub of the city, unless the Legion is doing dollar hamburger night. It's hoppin'.
Week of Very Little Solitude is going well. I did have a perfect WoS day on Saturday, with sunshine and swimming and reading in the boat and hikes and BLTs. The folks arrived Sunday and we got the skirting pulled off and the trailer mostly emptied. Monday morning we took out the last of it, then the guy came and took it away. That was really pretty impressive. The new Park model is in place. It's a bit smaller (yes, SMALLER) and only has one bedroom, so not everything fit back in. It's a lot nicer, though, even if it was decorated during the height of the mauve/country blue fad. So far the part that's taking the most getting used to is the walk-through bathroom.
I think I've gained about ten pounds. We had no kitchen, so we just kept going to Ideal for every meal. Good lord.
Since the new unit is several feet shorter than the old one, I volunteered to make my mom a new garden in the front. WHEE!!! Of course, this means I'm spending all my money for the month, because the soil here is crap (100% sand) and I need to raise the level anyway because it drops about 5" where the trailer used to be, and of course I need all new plants, and of course I need to cram as many plants into the 42 square feet as I possibly can, and nobody else is here to talk me out of any of this madness. Her old front garden was a semicircle of stunted hosta and a small wooden barrel with some annuals in it. I think I may be going just a little bit overboard.... I did, however, successfully talk myself out of the $80 ceramic pot that I wanted to tuck into the corner in front of the push-out, even though it would have been totally perfect. It's a good thing Temp gets here tomorrow.
Week of Very Little Solitude is going well. I did have a perfect WoS day on Saturday, with sunshine and swimming and reading in the boat and hikes and BLTs. The folks arrived Sunday and we got the skirting pulled off and the trailer mostly emptied. Monday morning we took out the last of it, then the guy came and took it away. That was really pretty impressive. The new Park model is in place. It's a bit smaller (yes, SMALLER) and only has one bedroom, so not everything fit back in. It's a lot nicer, though, even if it was decorated during the height of the mauve/country blue fad. So far the part that's taking the most getting used to is the walk-through bathroom.
I think I've gained about ten pounds. We had no kitchen, so we just kept going to Ideal for every meal. Good lord.
Since the new unit is several feet shorter than the old one, I volunteered to make my mom a new garden in the front. WHEE!!! Of course, this means I'm spending all my money for the month, because the soil here is crap (100% sand) and I need to raise the level anyway because it drops about 5" where the trailer used to be, and of course I need all new plants, and of course I need to cram as many plants into the 42 square feet as I possibly can, and nobody else is here to talk me out of any of this madness. Her old front garden was a semicircle of stunted hosta and a small wooden barrel with some annuals in it. I think I may be going just a little bit overboard.... I did, however, successfully talk myself out of the $80 ceramic pot that I wanted to tuck into the corner in front of the push-out, even though it would have been totally perfect. It's a good thing Temp gets here tomorrow.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Valleyfair
So every year my place of employment rents Valleyfair for a day after the season is over, and employees get to go free. Whee! It's pretty awesome, because even though it's a big company, it's not as big as Valleyfair, so there are hardly any lines for anything and you can just ride the roller coasters til you're ready to puke. (With no lines, it only takes a couple hours.)
While only immediate family members get in free, we can purchase additional tickets at reduced rates. Kids' tickets (3 years or older and less than 4 feet tall) are still $11.95, but adults can get in for $15.50 instead of $35.95. Kids under 3 are free.
So this year's Valleyfair day is Sunday, September 23. If anyone would like to join us for discounted prices and almost no lines, let me know.
Small Type: The waterpark section is closed, and admission doesn't cover the stuff you normally have to pay extra for. Also, I can only buy additional tickets at the park the day of, so we would all have to get there at the same time. Offer valid only to actual friends of the Cheese Pusher, not to the blogosphere at large.
While only immediate family members get in free, we can purchase additional tickets at reduced rates. Kids' tickets (3 years or older and less than 4 feet tall) are still $11.95, but adults can get in for $15.50 instead of $35.95. Kids under 3 are free.
So this year's Valleyfair day is Sunday, September 23. If anyone would like to join us for discounted prices and almost no lines, let me know.
Small Type: The waterpark section is closed, and admission doesn't cover the stuff you normally have to pay extra for. Also, I can only buy additional tickets at the park the day of, so we would all have to get there at the same time. Offer valid only to actual friends of the Cheese Pusher, not to the blogosphere at large.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Procrastination pays off
I knew someone would step up with a GAW update! Thanks, AKJ! Yours was more entertaining than mine would've been anyway.
Here are pics of Suzuri's marvellous totems. Mine was a wedge of brie and the setup for a perfect cribbage hand, all made of birch bark. The cool metal thing in the third picture is bike part art.
This is The Sexy Blonde's. It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but the reflective tape is in the shape of a power button — like in the Prius.
And Temp's is a suspension bridge! How cool!
Unfortunately she was still working when I took these, so I didn't get pictures of the phoenix or the snake. They were awfully neat though.
Here are pics of Suzuri's marvellous totems. Mine was a wedge of brie and the setup for a perfect cribbage hand, all made of birch bark. The cool metal thing in the third picture is bike part art.
This is The Sexy Blonde's. It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but the reflective tape is in the shape of a power button — like in the Prius.
And Temp's is a suspension bridge! How cool!
Unfortunately she was still working when I took these, so I didn't get pictures of the phoenix or the snake. They were awfully neat though.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Sympathy for the Puck
Puck had his wisdom teeth out yesterday. What a horrid lot of unpleasantness that is, poor guy. :-(
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