Other People Do This, Too

From a display of colored placemats at a local restaurant...

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Engrish on TV

On a display of televisions at a local big box store (not Wal-de-Mart).

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Oddly Worded Sign

This is part of my series on corporate signs that underline words for emphasis.

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Tea

This is tea forming at the bottom of a cup of hot water.  There is a distinct layer.

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Day Four - No Coffee

5:26am
I awake, groggy from the dwindling supply in my veins of that which supports my thoughts and actions through the day... that vaprous puissance which wafts from the decanter through the air to my quavering nostrils... and yet, I must rise.

6:17am
My arrival at my workplace is usually conjoined with the preparation of that delicious elixir from which so many draw their aptitude, yet today, I must not submit to its pertinacious seduction.  I must persevere.

7:30am
The machine...  Oh that infernal steaming contraption...  It sits patiently waiting for the next person who will activate its rattling mechanism.  My faculties left me, and I prepared the machine for action, but I resisted the final step and did not start its machinations.  How it mocks me, sitting there serenely...

8:30am
ZZzzzzzzzzz.......

The Flowers

A bouquet of flowers sent up from my aunt to my grandma for Thanksgiving.

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Still Tired

Could be lack of coffee.  Perhaps it's time to break that habit.

Sleeping

I slept most of the day.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for many things, first among them my family.

Son's Older Brother

Son's Older Brother has been something of a problem.

Long-time readers will recall that we tried to adopt him when he was sixteen, but he backed out at the last minute, because he listened to his clingy fifteen year old girlfriend who threatened to kill herself if he moved a half hour away.

You may also recall when he was living with that girl's family after he turned 18, and after he had, without fanfare, moved out of his foster dad's house and dropped out of high school, been kicked out of her house for being too much trouble.  We gave him a place to live with the stipulation that he get a job or get into some program to get trained for employment.  He decided that our rules were too draconian after about 36 hours.  Son was devastated when Son's Older Brother left that night.

Fast forward to a couple more times of being trouble.

A few weeks back, Son's Older Brother contacted me.  He told me that he was living with a girl, and that she was about ready to kick him out.  I won't put too many details out, but he advised me that he had burned all of his other bridges, and I was the last person he could think of that could offer advice.  I told him that I wasn't giving him any money, and that he couldn't come to live with us.  He told me that he wasn't expecting any such favors, but I think he may have been.

After some back-and-forth, I discovered a relative who had commented on one of his Woe Is Me Facebook postings, and that relative mentioned something about offering a place if Son's Older Brother could come up to visit.  I suggested that, and there was a lot of foot dragging, but eventually he agreed to contact her.

Several days passed where Son's Older Brother kept claiming he was almost ready to go to New Hampshire to live with this relative, but something kept coming up to stand in his way.  Finally, he was ready, but Hurricane Sandy had closed the route.  A few more days, and the stars aligned.  I picked him up, bought him lunch, a duffel bag, and a Greyhound ticket, and sat with him at the station until the bus came.

This is the young man in question.  All of his worldly possessions are in the bags he has on his person.  He is hoping to start a new life.  Good luck.

Fez Day at the Renaissance Faire

I saw four other fezzes at the Renaissance Faire.  I was number five.

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Peanut Butter Again

This is the top of a peanut butter container lid with a variation of the pattern.

Appropriate Use of Quotation Marks

From an older department store in town.

Dandelions in November

Hardy little buggers, eh?

Foto Phriday - Typo's in Novemer

No Response Yet

I haven't gotten a response yet from my elected official.

Observation of the Day

From a meeting yesterday...



Dear Project Team Member,

You can ask the question as many different ways as you want, but it's still the same question, and I'm only writing it down once.

Sincerely,
GDad

Funny

Saw this comment over on Pearl's blog (edited for aphorismness).

"Duct tape... turning 'Help, help,' into 'mmmm, mmmm,' for 60 years!"

Austan is funny.

Fun with Myopia

I just got a Christmas party invitation from The Mikes.  They throw the most fabulous parties, and they have a very welcoming environment for a breadth of friends.  There is a request to bring a "non-gender-specific gift" to put into a round robin white elephant event thing.  I am imagining something like this.

Recipient:  What the #%#%^ is this?

GDad:  Oh, I must need new glasses.  I thought it said "non-gender-conforming."

Men are from...

Son has to do some sort of project in English class on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.  As a way to enhance Son's reading experience, we've purchased and are viewing the 1980 teevee miniseries of the same name, starring, among others, Rock Hudson and Roddy McDowall.  For all of the sometimes cheesy effects, it's actually quite good.

Veterans' Day

In Flanders Fields...

Letter to Newly Elected Official

I sent this to my district representative to the state legislature who was elected on Tuesday.  No response yet.

As always, click to embiggen.

Just Can't Tell

Small City, where I live, has a government service where residents can pile leaves at the curb or in the ditch (depending on one's in-town or slightly-more-rural status), and a big truck will come and suck all of the leaves away about once every week or ten days in the fall.  The service appears to run from roughly late September to early December, so it covers the full leaf-dropping season.

My own street seems to be slightly more blue than red, politically, but there are a couple of houses with prominent signs for the Republican candidates for office, and it amused me that the one house with the most signs for the most right-wing candidates was the same house that had the most leaves in the ditch on Monday before Election Day.  I wasn't sure if the house in question knew that these candidates advocate for reduction in government services, or whether they didn't care, or if it was "OK for me, but not for thee," or what.

Maybe, in some brief non-political period, I can try to ask some of these folks what they think about these issues.

All Purpose Bumper Sticker

For anyone whose candidate of choice lost the election in any race.

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Finally

The interminable campaigning is over for a week or two.  Thank goodness.

Now we just have to worry about the fiscal cliff.

VOTE

Once again, I was first in line to vote today.  By the time the polls opened, our little precinct had about ten people in line.  Usually, there may be one other person there at 6:30.

Write to Congress

I am going to advocate the abolition of Daylight Saving Time.  It knocks me on my @$$, even when we get the extra hour to sleep.

Back to the Swingin' Sixties

Mandy and Mr. Mandy had another fondue party today.  We had a great deal of fun, and their little boy has become a bit less fussy and more smiley.

SAT-urday

Son took the SAT today at Large Midwest State University, which is where my parents graduated, I was born, and from which I graduated.  Alma mater, I suppose.

There was a football game to start a couple of hours later, so the team colors were brightly on display whilst GPop and I waited for Son to emerge from the crucible.  I couldn't sit still long enough in the crowd, so I wandered over to the testing building and waited outside the room.  I found out that parents aren't allowed to look into the rooms while the test is going on.  I suppose it's a distraction, since it would be silly to guess that parents and students have figured out some eye-blink code to express the questions and answers to each other.

Stand Up Bit

 If I did stand-up, I would totally want to put in a bit about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and when nobody laughed, I'd say, "too soon?"

Language Keeping up with Technology

If we start mining asteroids, would they be "rare earth magnets?"