Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

No cake for you...



Just some eye candy.

National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) starts this Thursday, November 1st! It's where tens of thousands of people all over the world commit to (attempt to) write 50,000 words in a novel during the month of November.

This year is my sixth year. I also took a swig from the crazy jug and volunteered to be the coordinator for my region. Apparently writing 50k words myself wasn't enough of a challenge for November.

Yes, that's my way of saying I cannot be held responsible for any incoherent blog posts that may appear next month. ;)

I have a new favorite quote: If you still persist in writing, "Good food at it's best", you deserve to be struck by lightning, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave.

I'm *still* laughing and wholeheartedly agreeing with that. First read it awhile ago, and then again this afternoon (er, yesterday afternoon). It's from the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves (by Lynne Truss), which is a witty telling of historical, cultural and modern day views on punctuation.

I will, eventually, go out and buy it. Right now I have it on loan from the lovely library. I want to buy it because it's amusing. I need to buy it because, well, read what I've written and it'll become obvious. To comma or not to comma, that is the question...

Hockey
My boys are in second overall (along with a couple other teams). However, they didn't play tonight so I was hockey free *sniffle*. I did see that the Blue Jackets had a shut out against the Blues tonight. Yay for them! One of these days, I'll catch one of their home games.

Mwahahahahaahhaahha Canes clobbered those cretins (aka sabres) tonight, 6-2! Waaahoooooo!!! We're tied for third in the NHL baby! Yeah, yeah, yeah I know, the season's just beginning, but I don't care. GO CANES!!!

Unrelatedly
I actually watched baseball tonight. My opinion of it has not improved. Still slow, boring and looonnng. Actually, I prepped for NaNoWriMo while the game played in the background, so I didn't actually Watch it per se. The reason the game was even on is because the roomie is from Boston.

The blower fan is still here, loud as ever. Possibly it'll be gone tomorrow morning. I'm not holding my breath. And not just because I'd pass out and die long before 8 am rolls around. Technically, I'd pass out and then my body would start breathing again. But that's not nearly as dramatic to say.

Unrelatedly, my hands are still faintly orange from pumpkin carving. FYI, skinny, curvy cat legs and tails are hard to do. Toothpicks are handy in this situation, even if the cat does end up looking like it was stabbed with a wooden stake through its leg and into its chest. I say it gives kitty character.

Hockey
Canes beat the Canucks tonight (3-1)!! WOOOOOO!!! Way to go boys! Now, just repeat the victory against those cretin sabres on Wednesday.

The refs at the Canes Flyers game on Saturday were paid off during the second intermission. Unless the rules were changed during that intermission allowing hitting from behind into the boards, skates leaving the ice to deliver a high hit with the forearms, tripping with the stick when there's no puck around and holding. I don't know how they can look at themselves in the mirror each day. Perhaps they no longer have a soul?

Going for a short hike (around about four miles) on a gorgeous day is still fun, even when you've pulled a muscle in your back the night before. It just slows down your pace, which lets you see more birdies and squirrels and spiffy trees and rocks and stuff.

Lasagna made in the crock pot can actually be not bad. M found the recipe and we tried it out tonight. Admittedly we used half sausage, half ground beef (I'm not a fan of sausage). Actually, I think we ended up with twice as much meat. Anyway it looks like hell, smells pretty darn good and tastes eh. Get rid of the sausage, maybe add some spinach or eggplant, and I'd be a fan.

And finally, big industrial blowers/fans are pretty loud. We've had one running non-stop since Friday night to dry out the wood in the ceiling so mold won't grow. They're coming to take it out sometime tomorrow (err today - Monday) and schedule when they'll come in and rip out the ceiling. They may even take out some of the wall. Did I mention we had a water leak on Friday?

Follow the the link below, then check the comments to see how I saw her moving. I don't want to sway your eyeballs before you see it.

Which way is she spinning?

Am wallowing in this song lately - The Load Out by Jackson Browne.

The "video" (actually just a picture) below I love up to the six minute mark, which is when Stay begins. This song called Stay is not the one that I love, hence my hitting stop & starting the video over again. Enjoy :)



Click here for lyrics and chords.

Don't use a dull knife to cut butternut squash.

Butternut squash is hard to cut. It's even harder to cut with a dull knife. Using a dull knife on squash can cause a giant friction blister on your finger to arise which then pops, leaving a giant sore on your finger. And you're only halfway finished cutting up the squash half that you're using.

Additionally, don't place the cookie sheet that you're using as an overflow pan on top of the burner that you used to saute your shallots and garlic. The cookie sheet gets hot, fast, and when you go to put tinfoil on the pan, you can easily singe your palm. Several times.

Especially don't use a dull knife to cut butternut squash or put foil on a hot cookie sheet, when you are out of antibacterial ointment and band aids.

The cause of it all.

For those of yall who aren't aware, a large portion of NC is in stage D4 Drought - Exceptional. Which is the highest/driest it goes.

City of Raleigh's water supply (Falls Lake) is down about 7.5 feet.
City of Durham's water supply (Lake Michie) is down about 14 feet.
Town of Cary's primary reservoir (Jordan Lake) is down about 5.5 feet

Animation of drought progression in NC April 19-Oct. 9, 2007.

To my upstairs neighbor who feels the need to wash her Miata every week - Cut it out! Perhaps she's the one who swiped my recycling bin since she's obviously not environmentally conscious.

NC isn't the only state with Exceptional Drought, here's the U.S. Drought Monitor map for the Southeast. Think tropical system or even just regular storm systems for us, we could really use the wet.

I nabbed this gorgeous shot of a school of fish from the Democracy In Action webpage about the Marine Fish Conservation Network. I've no idea where they got it from, who took it, where it was taken, etc.

I wish I did. Then I could plan a SCUBA trip there. As it is, I could stare at it for hours. Guess I'll just have to settle for daydreaming about SCUBA-ing in general.

Anyway, today - on Blogger - is Blog Action Day. The topic they chose for participants to blog about is: The Environment. So of course I had to participate. I've assembled a bunch of links about environmentally friendly fish to eat and random ocean stuff.

Pretty odd, I know, since I don't eat fish of any sort. Partly because of allergies, mostly because of environmental issues (the uber fish allergies didn't start kicking in til the last three or four years). I haven't eaten fish/seafood since hmm 1992 or 1993. For those of you who actually eat seafood, check out the Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood from the Blue Ocean Institute.

The Marine Stewardship Council is a non-profit which promotes responsible fishing practices. They have links on their Consumer site about where to buy sustainable fish and how you can help 'look after' the oceans.

I've taken to scanning some more fishy themed blogs the last little while. First one is Blogfish - Fish, Oceans and Conservation and the other is the Marine Conservation Blog. Perhaps not something all of yall would appreciate, but figured I'd throw the links out there. In case you hadn't noticed them over there in the sidebar.

There's also the Deep Sea News find on the ScienceBlogs website. Which is what it sounds like it is. A website that has links and highlights from a variety of science based blogs. I can usually find something of interest and intrigue on there. Check it out!

And finally, a memorial to my favorite satellite. The Topex/Poseiden satellite was an Earth orbiting satellite monitoring the oceans (well, most of the non ice oceans) from 1992 to October 2005. There's a nifty article celebrating Ten Years of Ocean Observations on NASA's website. Although Topex/Poseiden did last longer in orbit than my Remote Sensing professor in college thought it would.

Tonight's hockey game was Great! The Ottawa Senators are no longer undefeated. Mwahahahaha. Way to go Canes!

Cam was freaking amazing! Especially in the first period. I thought I was gonna have a coronary watching all those shots head at him. And then, in the third, when the Sens scored two goals so close together. Man. The cat ran from the room at all my yelling.

Speaking of yelling, I didn't yell at the refs. At all. Maybe I'm getting the flu?

Final score 5-3 (Staal got an empty net goal at the end of the 3rd)

Unrelatedly
My recycling bin is still MIA, Letterman is still funny and U2 is still the best band in the world. Also the new show, Big Shots, on ABC. Not that great, despite having Michael Vartan in it. Bummer.

who took my recycling bin, bring it back. Sure it's lovely that you want to do your part in saving the environment but it's so not cool to take someone else's bin to do it.

It's quite obvious, if you didn't have one yesterday morning but you did yesterday night, or the number of your bins increased by one, then you're the thief. Return it now and karma may go easy on you, Jerk.

Canes clobbered the Leafs 7-1 last night. Wish I could say that I saw it, even though it was on VS. From the reports I've heard/read, the Leafs were flat. Although Jason Blake looked strong despite undergoing treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Kudos to him for not letting cancer stop him from playing.

Glad to hear that Cory Stillman was back on the ice, that our power plays are improving and that Cam is still making the saves. Also happy that Hedican was over the flu, tho no word on Commodore.

Actually it's probably a good thing I missed the game. The ref I ...like the least was officiating (#19, McGeough).

Now I must go explain to the cat what No means. Scratch that. Now I have to go see if she's really okay after she fell off the windowsill, got caught in the blinds, got free of the blinds then went head first into my shredder holder, which then tipped over. Gotta say it was pretty funny to see legs and tail sticking out as it fell over. Pretty sure she's ok since she got out, shook her head & ran out.

Oh and now she's back on the windowsill. Obviously she learned an important lesson.

Finally getting around to the Awesomeness that was sports this past Friday and Saturday. On Friday my kick ass Canes soundly beat the penguins, 4-1. So much for Sid, Geno, Fleury & Staal being all that and a bag of chips. Perhaps the chips were the fake fat kind that give stomach & bowel issues to a large portion of the population? Nahh, my boys were just better.

Then on Saturday, Kansas beat k-state in football, 30-24! AND we were playing out in cow country too. We're now ranked 20th (by all three polls) in the country! Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!

Sadly my sports euphoria didn't last past Sunday when the craps skated circles around my Canes. Thankfully Grahame was on uber alert and kept the score to 2-0. The craps are definitely getting better as a team, but the Canes apparently wanted the night off to visit the museums. Trust me boys, they're not open that late on a Sunday. Plus they'd be packed with tourists.

I want to introduce yall to a webcomic. It's called XKCD - A webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math and Language. Two of my (current) favorites are below for your chuckling...


Firstly I give you The Difference (click on image to view it bigger)

Why yes, I'd be the person in the right hand bubble. How'd you guess? Actually, I'd see if I could get someone else to pull the lever for me. For purely scientific observational reasons only. I wouldn't laugh myself silly should the stooge I mean volunteer get zapped.. Nopers. I'm much to nice for that. I'd laugh myself silly after I was sure they were okay. :)


And Secondly, Bored With The Internet


For the record, I have a blogger account not a livejournal one. So stop any snarky comments about this one being about Moi. Although, it would make a mighty fine series of posts...

Hockey
Ronnie is now the Assistant General Manager of the Canes. And the Director of Player Development. Think this means he can get Wallin to stop throwing the puck at his own net?

So the hockey game did not go as well as I would like. Meaning we lost in OT. I can't blame it all on the refs, altho there were some calls they should've made & some they didn't. But then, that always seems to be the case.

I've managed to get most of my ire out already. That's the beauty of watching the game with friends. Even if the feed was fuzzy and in French. I'm thankful that the blackout was lifted so we Could watch it. Merci!!

Now I must go get something cold to drink, ease my throat. Then I need to prepare for the return of the painters. Wooooo :)

Note: This was posted on the 3rd, instead of the 4th initially because I started writing it before midnight on the 3rd & forgot to edit the date. My mind was still on hockey.

When I started writing this entry, I was sitting on the floor in M's room, near the windows, typing away. See the painters are (finally!!) here. They were painting the ceilings in the main part of the house & in my room, so M & I were shuffled off into her room. M had asked that her room be done first since she had to go to work later today, so they did.

Anywho, sometime during my exodus from M's room back into the living room, I lost what I had started to type.. No big deal, was just more painting stuff. The ceilings are all done (yay!) and the first coat is going up on the walls in the bedrooms - which is why I had to vacate M's room.

Highlight so far has been my phone call with JT. He talks a mile a minute and it's hard to decipher at times, especially on the phone. Apparently JT & Mama (pronounced mawmaw for those uninformed) were playing whiffle ball in the backyard. JT told Mama to hit the ball to the clouds, so she did.

Sadly when the ball left the clouds, it decided to land in a tree, where it will remain until Papa (rhymes with Mama) comes home from work. Or a really big gust of wind comes along. Apparently, this past weekend JT managed to hit the ball on the roof.

Bummer I was hoping he'd be a hockey player, not a baseball player. Hockey is so much better than baseball. But at least there's still hope of a hockey future for JT. He is only two (three end of this month) and he had to have help to hit the ball on the roof.

Now if only I can get his folks to take him to an ice rink..... :)

Hockey
Canes opening night is tonight!!! We're playing the Canadiens at home. WOOOHOOOO hockey is back! JT so needs to learn how to play! Maybe then he can teach me how to skate ;)

I was at AC Moore, Michael's Arts & Crafts, Home Depot, Lowe's Home Improvement and Linen n' Things last night. They all had Christmas decorations out. They all had twice as much (if not more) Christmas crap as they did stuff for the holidays that are before December.

When did decorating and honoring Autumn, Thanksgiving and Halloween get lost? Where's the uproar from the masses? I know I heard at least five people in Lowe's alone making surprised comments about the trees and air filled lawn "art" on display. That's not counting the commentary M & I were making. The cashier we had said she'd been hearing grumblings and complaints about it all night. At least they weren't piping in Christmas songs. Yet.

I'm a firm believer that anything related to Christmas should be contained to the month of December alone. Preferably the last two weeks. I know I won't be buying any December holiday decorations until December rolls around. Maybe not even then.

Okay, today's mini-rant is done.

When you go on an amusement park roller coaster, make sure your pockets are completely closed. Or keep nothing of value in them. Car keys, for example.

Also, when you go to a restaurant don't assume that any sauce is what it says it is. For example, Lime Ginger Sauce does not just have lime juice and ginger in it. Apparently it also has oyster sauce. Which can cause issues for people allergic to seafood, shellfish, etc. Unpleasant issues.