I have his permission to do this:

I got a message from ltdan... His wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy on 23 February, 2010.

Congrats, ltdan on his fifth boy!

Right now, my mind is elsewhere. Explains why I'm not on NN much.

This song crossed my mind just now. It just happens to have Olivia Newton-John in it (even though it's not a song that is "hers".

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLuRxZikJ5A[/url]

Staying put and still around, just a bit elsewhere.

Thanks for reading and listening.

So, how did I spend my weekend?

Saturday: napped, did fuck all. I liked it.

Sunday:
1) Went and got my most expensive medication, and pleasantly surprised by how much I actually had to pay. But there was a dark cloud to this silver lining: I will have to claim the out of pocket expense for it with my "flexible spending" money. Grrr. A trade off;
2) After that, I went downtown and saw two things. I will mention the second place first: the Museum of Natural History. It had been such a long, LONG time since I'd been. It was NOT the mouldy, oldish museum I had been to countless times as a kid. They completely updated and modernised a lot of exhibits, and it was really nice to visit. (No, Ben Stiller wasn't there.)

The first place I went to, however, was the National Archives (one block away). I had read that they were to ban all photography in March of this year, so remember at the last minute, I decided to go. (The reason they were banning all photography is that the founding documents they have, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Bill of Rights, were being damaged by dumbasses who don't turn off their flashes; non-flash photography is still allowed.)

I hadn't been there in more than a decade, and it was nicer than I remember, if dimmer (they renovated about ten years ago, and made the main rotunda much darker, with better display cases).

One thing annoyed me, though. As I was looking at the Constitution, this woman (with her son) kept calling it the Declaration of Independence. *sigh* Her son, thankfully, knew the difference. He couldn't have been older than eight or nine.

I took this photo (gussied up with Photoshop, but it's my photo).



It was a good day. Now on to the week.

Thanks for reading.

A proper blog might come some time soon. Who knows.

Thanks for reading this far. Happy Friday, all.

Laissez Les Bear Temps Roulez!

(And from Brazil... at Carnaval time, a re-link: [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Mb9PjxnYs[/url])

One or two have seen this photo. This was taken on Thursday. As of today (Monday) it looks the same.

This photo does two things. First, it shows how bad bad got. Only on Friday 6th was old snow from the month before starting to melt before we got two feet, and then another foot and a half. Today, there are still levels of two to three feet and drifts and mounds much taller. It's being trucked out in places (where those drifts are blocking lanes of traffic).

Second, it makes me think. The side of the street on which I live is either all odd numbers or all even numbers. The neighbours at no. 10 and no. 12 are older women, and the neighbours at no. 14 basically helped dig out their house and no. 12, and helped a bit with no. 10.

But no. 8, right next door... one man and one woman (the woman is the owner's daughter, and the man is her boyfriend)... BOTH able bodied. I'm pissed off at them. I had to shovel and dig out my walk, my sidewalk (in front of my house), the one functional car (mine is still comatose and right now buried under snow), and because my neighbours at no. 4 are extremely nice (and also older), I shovelled their sidewalk and their walk too. (I also put down salt/ice melter too.)

What you see is someone who could be going through whatever, but all they show (and have shown because this is not the first time they've done this horseshit) is lack of consideration. I will be so ready to go back to work tomorrow, in part because I feel sometimes that my online "neighbours" (some, not all, but a few) have done what my real neighbours have done. But I can't whack online neighbours with a snow shovel any more than I can whack real ones (though I wish sometimes...)

I'm venting of course. It is what it is.

Sitting at my desk and getting to work tomorrow will feel very good.

Thanks for reading.

My answer: um, sexually?

I wonder about magazines sometimes. As seen in the grocery store tonight (Monday).

And... I'm off again tomorrow. More snow is coming, and instead of six inches on top of the near three feet, it's gonna be ten inches, but here's the catch: there will be winds (30-40 mph gusts) and dry, blowing snow. So, fingers crossed.

It's up to you which is the good and which is the bad.

Thanks for reading.

People in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and much of Canada, and other snowy areas will wonder what the fuss is about. But those of use that don't get more than 8 inches at a time might understand.

This started on Thursday. It had snowed four inches Tuesday night into Wednesday, and the trip home on the bus wasn't great (the roads got bad quick) and Wednesday's trip in was OK but not fantastic. They said we were getting snow on Friday and Saturday.

Then they said we would be getting totals like we did last month... when we got almost two feet.

Thursday, I stay at work an additional 90 minutes, knowing I'd probably need to leave early Friday. Friday, I get to work a good hour earlier than normal. It started snowing about noon on Friday, and by three when I left it was already pretty bad. I got home about five (long bus rides, yay).

Then the power went out at 9 pm. By then five inches had fallen. The power was out until 1 am. I thought, "Well, I dodged a bullet."

Overnight, a foot had fallen. At 6 am, the power went out.

That was 6 am Saturday. The power came back at 4:45 pm Sunday. In that time, another eight-nine inches fell where I was, stopping Saturday night. The clouds cleared and Sunday was partly sunny but cold (-4 C/26 F). Tree branches did snap due to the weight of the snow; one branch of my dogwood tree in the front broke and will need to be sawed off.

In that 34-hour span, there was no heat so it got a bit cold, and when the power came back the thermostat read 47 F (8 C).

As it stands, I won't have to go to work tomorrow (just barely, because they like to be creative with their wording, the fuckers), and we will be getting more snow Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday afternoon (only five to six inches this time).

I would not have minded the snow... if I had power. All are OK.

Just starting to thaw a bit.

Thanks for reading.

Because this song has been in my mind a bit...

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr9Ur03A55U[/url]

That's all for now. Oh, and I got my taxes done. Now once I get my refund, I can work on fixing my car and hopefully a new camera. *fingers crossed*

On one's birthday, you get the chance to tell others to do something, even at no other time of the year you get that chance.

So, I order you... to dance.

Dance because you're happy.
Dance despite not being happy.
If you are alone, dance so everyone can see you.
If you are in a crowd, dance as though no one can see you.
If you are in a wheelchair, a bed, or have one leg, close your eyes and dance in your mind.
If you can hear, dance to the music.
If you can't hear, find a speaker and lay hands on... and dance to the percussion.
Dance for those who can't dance, and dance for those who won't.
Dance for those who can no longer dance, and dance for those who haven't yet learned.

Dance in time, dance out of key, dance in tune, dance to your own beat.

But... dance.

That is all.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Mb9PjxnYs[/url]

Happy birthday to me.