November 2007 Archive

November 30, 2007
A Christmas Story
Religion is Evil by Josh Becker

Posted by Karabou at 10:22 PM EST Top

November 29, 2007
Battle Jazz Shootout
I stopped at GameCrazy at Crosspoint and picked up 5 PS2 games for $50. A friend of a friend works there, and I told her they were for my mom's Xmas charity,so she gave me the MVP Card price, which saved me about $10. Good stuff.

She also started an account for me to watch for a used copy of Pikmin 2. And I told Kev that he's not getting Guitar Hero III until next year. I got 17 games in some good deals (5 of them were free), so he'll have plenty to keep him busy. He can always go play Rock Band at Brian's. heh

Posted by Karabou at 11:35 PM EST
Top

November 28, 2007
Amish Jetpack Hop-a-bout
Been kind of a slow week. Worked on wrapping presents last night and watched Muppet Christmas Carol in the process. I made a dent in it, but I still have several things that need wrapped. And I have a ton of gift certificates to pick up yet.

I'm ordering my kitchen hutch today. Woot! I should have my kitchen cart soon. And Kev is going to build some bookcases. I just need to buy the wood for it.

I still need to do something about the leaves in my yard. Maybe I'll just brave the cold and mulch them with mower this weekend before it rains on Sunday.

Our friend is ordering our tub and shower kit today, and he's planning to install it maybe starting on the 20th. My goal is to have the bathroom totally done before NY Eve. Woot! Exciting!

Posted by Karabou at 8:32 PM ES
Top

November 26, 2007
Cyber Monday, how do I love thee?
I just got my kitchen cart $25 off and free shipping. Woot! I found a baker's rack for the kitchen, too, but it has no special deal. It's just the cheapest, nicest one I've found. So I'll wait for my Target gift card from work to order that. And last, but certainly not least, I'll be ordering my bookshelf tonight. Woot!

I need to measure upstairs and see what height will fit. And I'll still need another smaller one for my room. Yar.

Posted by Karabou at 10:06 PM EST
Top

November 23, 2007
Another Black Friday, and I'm spent
So, I am totally, completely, utterly, wickedly exhausted. I woke up at 1am and couldn’t go back to sleep, and I had to be up by 5am to meet Amanda for Black Friday madness. I got tons of stuff and spent an obscene amount of money, but I got a lot crap done. And I got my payment for Freeport : Pirate's Guide to Freeport (which kicks ass) just in time for the willy nilly shopping extravaganza. Ooo-rah. Couldn’t have come at a better time.Somewhere around 1:30pm and one White Russian, I seriously thought I was going to fall asleep in my lunch. I came home and crashed for a little over an hour and then hit the floor running to clean the house in anticipation of an out of town friend who was supposed to visit. But he was a no call/no show. I assume family stuff got in the way. Around 9pm, I gave up, put on my pajamas, got ready for bed, and decided to do some quick blogging.
And now, it’s time to pass out.

Posted by Karabou at 9:54 PM EST Top

November 21, 2007
The Enchanted Mist
Tonight, I went and saw Enchanted because I had to do a BV assignment on it and had nothing else to do until I was supposed to meet Kev and my cousin for The Mist. Enchanted was okay for a kids' movie. It was so purposely, painfully over the top that it ended up being moderately amusing. The chipmunk was killing me. Take your little girls to go see it.
The Mist KICKED BABY JEBUS' ASS. Go see it. Holy break-dancing Jehovah. It wasn't necessarily scary, but it was really intense. And if you're not a bug-lover, it'll have your skin crawling. And the ending. Oh. My. God. THE ENDING!!! Best ending of a movie in YEARS. You won't be disappointed.

Posted by Karabou at 11:54 PM EST
Top

November 20, 2007
Dr. Bob and the Incredibly Limp Sand Jawas
As some of you may or may not know, our friend Dr. Bob was deployed to Iraq a few weeks ago, and he won’t be coming home until February…which means he’s stuck there over the holidays. We plan to send him a care package for Xmas. The deadline for giving me items to include is Friday, November 29. I have to mail the package no later than December 4 to (hopefully) guarantee its arrival before Xmas. I got in touch with Bob’s dad to get his mailing address.Contraband items:
obscene articles (pictures, paintings, cards, films, videotapes, etc.)
any matter depicting nude or semi-nude persons, pornographic or sexual items, or non-authorized political materials
bulk quantities of religious materials contrary to the Islamic faith. Items for the personal use of the recipient are permissible
pork or pork by-products
I would like to send some gaming materials, as I know a lot of military personnel are avid gamers. If you’re willing to donate some extras you having lying around, old dice, card games, or anything else, contact me. Anything is appreciated. Also, if you're willing to chip in a few dollars for shipping, I would appreciate it. I have a feeling this isn't going to be a tiny package, and I will be shipping it Flat Rate Priority Mail. You can make Paypal donations to amazon284 (at) ameritech (dot) net--even a couple of dollars will help a lot.Please contact me at amazon 284 (at) yahoo (dot) com for information on what donations I’ve already got. I would post it here, but I don’t know if Bob checks my blog, and I’d like the contents to be a pleasant surprise. For those of you with access to MySpace, I will list the contents there, as I know he doesn’t have access to it.

Posted by Karabou at 5:54 PM EST Top

November 19, 2007
My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas
Whew. What a weekend.

Saturday morning was the Dessert Open House at Chantilly Cream, where you get to taste all of the chef's holiday desserts. I ordered the Chocolate Mousse Cake (as usual) for Amanda's Xmas party. She ordered the Caramel Pecan Cake (which was to-die-for). After that, the m-i-l and I did a little shopping, in which I picked up a dresser for Kev for about $130 less than I thought I was going to have spend, and we grabbed some lunch.

I was hoping to go to Diwali, the Indian Festival of Lights, put on by the India Club of Greater Dayton, but I was just too tired. I've had this weird intestinal thing since Wednesday where I feel perfectly fine, suddenly get deathly ill, and then feel perfectly fine again. Sunday was the first day I didn't get hit with it at some point. Saturday night, I was able to put the dresser together, despite there being no directions in the box and no knobs for the drawers. /sigh

Sunday, I had trouble getting motivated. But I got the Xmas tree up and decorated and put out the rest of my decorations. I still need some garland for the windows. Yes, I know it's a little early. I usually do it the Saturday after T-day, but I had 4 boxes of crap adding to the box-insanity that's already my room, and I want to just put up the deco and relegate the boxes to the garage.

Then Amy came over to go to Magical Night of Giving at Fairfield. It was big fun. Free chocolate at Godiva, nice discounts at stores that don't usually have sales, and mom brought my cousin Chelsea to finish up her Xmas shopping and ended up getting her stuff at about 60% off. Insane.

I was devastated to find out that Banana Republic is gone. Best clearance rack EVER. EVER! /sob I guess I'll have to go to Jeffersonville for it from now on. Damn it. I ended up getting a dress shirt on clearance for $14.99, buy 2 pairs of socks, get one free (and a pair on clearance for $2.99), and I bought 2 tanks and got 1 free. Wooty.

Amy and I went out for Indian food afterwards. /yum I was so tired when I got home that I collapsed in the recliner for an hour, nearly falling asleep every 5 minutes and then just decided to crawl into bed.

Gamestop had a special "buy 2 used games, get 1 free." So I had Kev drive down and pick out 6 games. Amy bought three, and I bought three, getting one $12.99 game free and one $34.99 game free. They're doing it again on Black Friday.

It was nights like last night that I really miss Angi. You'd be a blast at MNoG with me and Amy, you Philly-living hoozatch! :)

Posted by Karabou at 9:44 PM EST
Top

November 16, 2007
Where are the savory snacks?
Saw Darjeeling Limited last night. I looooooooved it. It's no Royal Tenenbaums, but I still really enjoyed it. Maybe it had something to do with being highly over-emotional at the moment and the fact that it was set in India. I dunno. If you like Wes Anderson movies, you should definitely go see it; I think you'll really enjoy it.

I'm wearing one of my Gap outlet shirts today. When I saw it on the rack, I turned my nose up. But I've learned over the years that just because it looks like crap on a hanger doesn't mean it will look like crap on. It's like some sort of Fashion Miracle. And my instinct was right; it's super cute on. I don't think I'd like it in any other color than black, though. It's kind of peasant-y but stretchy.

Posted by Karabou at 10:22 PM EST
Top

November 15, 2007
en sueños
Super weird dream last night. Too many covers on the bed, I think.

We're in the street in front of our house (but it's not really our house), and we see three silhouetted figures in the moonlight running down the street at us, military style. We run for the house and start trying to lock the doors and windows, but the break in anyway.

They've got guns on us, and they tell us they're going to force us to tear down our house. They use a term that I can't remember now, but it was some term similar to "ramshackle" I'd never use in a million years--no clue where it came from. But Kev and I look at each other and say, "But we just moved in. We haven't had a chance to fix it up."

Then the home invaders tell us they don't care. They're attacking a swathe of houses to tear them down. "We're 15 right now, and when we turn 16 or 17, we're going to major in telecommunications. And we need to tear down these strategic targets in order to build our telecommunications towers and build our empire!"

So we start puttering around the house, doing little things to appease them. At one point, I grab to knives out of the one guy's bag, and he shows me how to make it double serrated…whatever that means. I decide that I'm going to escape first chance I get.

They leave me alone in the kitchen, and I slip out the back door into what's supposed to be our backyard. There are high concrete block walls covered in moss all around, but the gate is open. I hear voices coming from down the alley, and I run out in my socks to what looks like a family picnic. I beg them to call 911, and they keep trying, but 911 operators keep telling them they're busy and that they'll call back when they're available.

I tell them what's happening, and they hide me in a group of them, while two of the bad guys are looking for me. I crawl behind a piano as they walk around. Then, this really tall, skinny black FBI agent in what looks like a pilot's uniform tells me to put my head and neck between his feet and hang onto his legs with my hands. He drags me out from my hiding place and asks me if the guy in the doorway is looking for me. I tell him he's the ringleader.

I continue to hide for a while; then, the ringleader starts looking around for me. He pulls me out of a closet and puts his right arm around my neck and starts to pull a gun with his left, but I grab his arm and start wrestling for control of the gun. He ends up shooting himself in the face.

I hear sirens in the distance, and I run for the back door of the house. As I stand in the alley looking in, I see snipers blow the head off the other main guy. A third one throws himself to the ground and surrenders.

Then I woke up. Posted by Karabou at 10:22 PM EST
Top

November 13, 2007
Complete lead-paint-GHB-death-toy government recall list for your XMas shopping pleasure
I know folks are gearing up for Xmas shopping. Below is the government website with the complete lead-paint-GHB-death-toy recall list.

www.cpsc.gov

Your kids want Amish toys for Xmas.

Posted by Karabou at 10:16 PM EST
Top

November 12, 2007
A slow ascent from hell
Just watched The Ground Truth. It's a documentary by Iraq and Vietnam vets about the total lack of care men and women of the armed forces receive when they come home.

Somehow, it maintains a non-political stance on the subject.

Watch it.
Posted by Karabou at 8:44 PM EST
Top

November 10, 2007
Mmmm...
Tonight was Keith and Heather's yearly wine tasting event. Magnifique!

I brought my usual 47-pound Cock Wine. Delicious. If you like a dry red with little bite, try it. You'll love it. And I brought my new recipe for Mediterranean Spinach Strata. It turned out FANTASTIC! Everyone raved about it. I was so excited. It was nice bringing a "grown-up" dish that everyone loved. lol

I hung out with Mike and Leah for most of the evening; it was nice catching up with them without having to shout over music. I think this was the best wine tasting, yet. It was a really great time.

I feel like I accomplished a super human amount of crap today. I rolled out of bed at 8:30am and immediately started cooking. I had to prep the Strata and refrigerate it for 8 hours before baking. It took me a good hour. Then I cleaned the kitchen, made some breakfast, and cleaned some more. I got my oil changed, mowed the lawn, did the first layer of stain on my nightstand, vacuumed, did laundry, watched John Tucker Must Die (hides head in shame), and still had time for the party tonight.

Tomorrow, I might try putting on that layer of primer in the bathroom. It won't take me long, but I keep procrastinating on it. Some part of my mind is convinced it's monumental labor, even though I know it will take me like 20 minutes. Oh well, we'll see. :)
Posted by Karabou at 10:38 PM EST
Top

November 2, 2007
I laughed so hard I snorted...
Fisherman nets shark 200 km from sea
Tue Oct 30, 5:20 AM ET

NASSIRIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - A two-metre shark has been caught in a river in southern Iraq more than 200 km (160 miles) from the sea.

Karim Hasan Thamir said he was fishing with his sons last week when they spotted a large fish thrashing about in his net. "I recognised the fish as a shark because I have seen one on a television programme," he told Reuters.

The shark was pulled from the mouth of an irrigation canal that joins the Euphrates River. The Euphrates joins the Tigris River further east to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway which flows south past Basra into the Gulf.

Dr. Mohamed Ajah, assistant dean of the college of science at Thi Qar University in Nassiriya, said barriers in river estuaries usually prevented sharks swimming upstream.

"In this case, I think this animal was there for a long time but no one had managed to see it," he said.

Locals blamed the U.S. military for the shark's presence.

Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a "75 percent chance" Americans had put the shark in the water.

"This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter," said fisherman Hatim Karim.
Posted by Karabou at 5:26 PM EST
Top

November 1, 2007
This is the reason I want to have kids...


Trick or Treat was amusing last night. We probably went through 4 or 5 bags of candy. Lots of cute costumes including a 4-yr-old who came up with her "devil bride" costume on her own. Lol I love seeing little girls dressed as superheroes, too--we had a Batgirl and Supergirl. It was chilly but not too bad. I think kids were warm enough walking around that they didn't need their coats. I hate when you can't see their costumes for all the bundling up.

My favorite of the night was the guy walking around with his wife and grandkid that wasn't in costume but looked like an old drunk Italian, right down to the glass of wine he was walking around with. Hello, open container. Heh

It took a while for me to get warmed up last night. Kev stood on the porch with me, sans jacket--I don't know how he could stand it. I was bundled up and had a wooly blanket wrapped around my lower half.

We talked about how we'd like to decorate next year, and now that we know the approximate amount of kids, we'd like to go to Sams Club and get boxes of full-size candy bars. We want to be "that house" in the neighborhood. We should have more money next year, since we won't still be buying things for the house…I hope.

My coworkers were complaining about parents who take their infants out in costume to T&T, but I really don't have a problem with it. I figure they're excited about having a kid, and they're eager to be involved in all the things that having kids means you'll be involved in…even if the kid really has no idea what's going on, and the candy is really for the parents. I don't even care if teenagers T&T, so long as they're in costume. If you're going to beg for candy, at least attempt to dress up. And "I'm dressed as a lazy teenager" isn't a costume.

But surprisingly, we didn't have an teenagers at all. The first set of girls were probably 12 or 13, and were all dressed like prostitutes or Britney Spears…not that there's any difference. Two boys shouted across the street at the worst of them, "What are you dressed as?" The girl replied, "I dunno. I just threw something on." Then the girl asked back, and he replied, "I'm dressed as Kurt Cobain. You wouldn't know who that is." lol I gave him extra candy.

One thing that surprised me, though, was the amount of kids that said "Trick or Treat." I don't think I ever said it. I thought it was silly. The times, they are a-changin'. hehPosted by Karabou at 8:42 PM EST
Top