brain barf… yum!
It’s shipped!!!
From: ‘Amazon.com’
Sent: Fri Jul 15 22:07
To: joz
Subject: Your Amazon.com order has shippedGreetings from Amazon.com.
We thought you’d like to know that we shipped your item.
This is an advance notification of your shipment. If you have not already received the final ship confirmation e-mail, you will also be receiving one shortly with quantity and price information.
The following items were included in this shipment
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
So typical of the mainlanders to bully and threaten the rest of the world to get what they want. It is also quite telling that Zhu Chenghu would say that “China would have no option but to go nuclear in the event of an attack.” No option? Negotiation is not an option? Good to know.
Another note: It’s interesting how various places describe the historical background on the relationship between China & Taiwan. In this article they say, “China has claimed Taiwan as its own since 1949, and vowed to bring the self-governed democracy back into the fold.” I like the acknowledgement of Taiwan being its own “self-governed democracy” a whole lot better than some other articles who refer to Taiwan as a “rogue province” without any context as to the current democracy that exists there.
(Full article below)
Continue reading ‘More Taiwan stuff’
So even though I was starting to feel crappy on Wednesday and I ended up skipping the farewell drinks for a co-worker’s last day, I couldn’t cancel my dinner date at Palms Thai (Thai Elvis!) with a Friend who had “a surprise for me.” She was insistent that dinner together was this week.
I drove up to the valet and saw Friend standing there with none other than PROFESSORERIC! YAY! I haven’t seen him in months since he went off to some rainy city.
Dinner was wonderful… the food, the entertainment (Hooray for Thai Elvis!), but especially the COMPANY (YAY FOR FRIEND AND PROFESSORERIC!)! One special highlight was when Thai Elvis sang “Return to Sender” and we called up ProfessorEric’s sister Rachel of Fog City Notes to say hi.
Here are a few pictures:
We each got a pair of chopsticks… notice something wrong with them?! They’ve each got THREE sticks inside!
Here’s a photo of the carnage. To be fair, there’s a package of leftovers somewhere not in the picture. Be we did eat a lot.
Here’s a picture of my car* in the parking lot. I want to know who drives their Bentley to get Thai food. Maybe the Bentley is the car he/she “slums” in???
*Ok, not my car
Subject: Fwd: Your Harry Potter Order Is on Schedule
Hello from Amazon.com.
We’re happy to let you know that we’ve begun preparing your order for
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” for delivery.We’re working hard to make sure you get your order as quickly as
possible. However, please note that we can’t guarantee that your
book(s) will be delivered on July 16.You’ll receive our usual shipment confirmation e-mail after your package leaves our fulfillment center.
Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com, and happy reading!
Now, where is that confirmation e-mail?!?!?!?
So tonight we went to see Wicked at the Pantages.
So did the rest of the world, I guess, because not only was my co-worker going with her kids, we ran into several people we knew while we were there. Small world.
Anyway, it’s a great production and I’m glad I saw it, especially since I read the book and was curious about how they’d adapt it into a musical.
Here’s a picture of the stage before the show started. I took this picture right before the usher yelled at me for having a camera. (I was going to put it away before the show started!)
I’m not a huge fan of the music in this show, which is one of the reasons I wasn’t more excited to see the show, but one of my favorite songs is “Popular,” sung by Galinda. I was thrilled to find a really cute (and expensive!) t-shirt… what do you think?
Or do you think I’m more Wicked than Popular?
1st I know: I know I’m running myself ragged and that I’m sick again because I’m not sleeping enough and not taking care of myself.
2nd I know: I know it’s disgusting to eat ramen all day for several days straight. But when I’m sick, that’s all I want to eat.
Story and picture from AFP. Please don’t sue me.
New TV to bring whole family together — watching different shows
Thu Jul 14, 7:47 AM ET
Parents will no longer miss their news programs or movies if their children insist on watching cartoons.A new television will allow two different programs to air at the same time depending where one sits.
Japanese electronics firm Sharp Corp on Thursday unveiled the liquid crystal display (LCD) set that can simultaneously display different images into the right and left sides of the screen through a backlight.
Viewers will get an uninterrupted view no matter where they sit, but what they see will change depending on the angle, the company said in a statement.
Sharp will begin mass production of the display, billed as the world’s first dual-view LCD, by the end of the month, with the product hitting the shelves later this year.
The new product will help solve living-room conflicts in Japanese families, a company official explained.
Fathers are often forced to watch baseball games or other programs they want to see on a small television set in the bedroom or elsewhere in the house while children occupy the large screen in the living room, she said.
The company also said the LCD can “display a TV broadcast on the right screen, while displaying an Internet browser screen on the left.”
The dual-view LCD could also be put to use in a car, with a driver looking at a map navigation system while a friend in the passenger’s seat enjoys a DVD movie.
Sharp also announced a “veil-view” LCD that will let users change the viewing angle of their computers, mobile phones or other electronic gadgets to prevent curious people around them from spying.
The users will get “peace of mind without having to worry about others in the vicinity snooping to peek at what is being displayed on the LCD screen,” the company said.
HUSBAND IS DISTANT SECOND IN LINE FOR WIFE’S AFFECTION
By Abigail Van Buren Sun Jul 10, 8:06 PM ETDEAR ABBY: My wife spends all her spare time with a female friend I’ll call “Cassandra.” Last August they went to Nicaragua for two weeks, at Cassandra’s expense. They are planning a trip to Puerto Rico next month. Again, Cassandra is footing the bill. They spent a week together in Louisville at a church-sponsored activity. They give each other oil massages in our bed and make frequent bets with each other with the massages as the payoff.
They spend as much as three hours a day communicating, whether it be via phone, e-mail or text-messaging. They see each other a minimum of once a week, plus at church, and we live 50 miles apart.
When they’re together, I can repeat a question four times or more and never be acknowledged. They make special dinners and buy each other gifts. The items my wife receives are many times what we can afford. When they’re on the phone or e-mailing, dinners have been burned and normal things that should be done around the house don’t get done.
Do you think there is something I should be concerned about here? — WONDERING IN ILLINOIS
DEAR WONDERING: Yes, I do, because you do not appear to be first on your wife’s list of priorities. You and she — and probably her girlfriend — are overdue for a long and very frank talk.
Up again. (I slept for about an hour, max.)
Yikes!
-Up at 6:45am to make a phone call.
-At work by 7:30am
-8:30am meeting/presentation… then work, work, work.
-1:00pm: take lunch/run errand
-Afternoon: Non-stop calls, emails, etc, etc, etc.
-6pm: Leave work almost exactly on time
-7pm: Dinner at La Luna in Larchmont with Yoshi, C & J, coffee pit stop and back to our place to talk, talk, talk
-10:30pm: Shower
-11:00pm: Blog
-11:15pm: Figure out how to set alarm clock (I left my cell phone at work by accident)
-11:30pm: Read more Harry Potter
-12:00am: Sleep
I saw this story on nbc4.tv
City Council Votes To Support Same-Sex Marriage Bill
State Legislation Would Define Marriage As Between ‘Two Persons’POSTED: 3:13 pm PDT July 12, 2005
UPDATED: 3:35 pm PDT July 12, 2005LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to support future state legislation that would recognize same-sex marriage.
The council’s 11-0 vote — with Bernard Parks and Greig Smith abstaining — came on a day that state lawmakers in Sacramento are to discuss a bill that would grant marriage to same-sex couples.
“I am most gratified that my colleagues around this city council are sending a strong message to Sacramento that we in the great city of Los Angeles hold no civil discrimination against anyone,” said recently elected Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who is openly gay.
A parliamentary procedure Monday gave a second chance to AB 19, which was introduced by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), but rejected by the state Assembly on June 2.
Leno amended a separate bill that cleared the Assembly and moved to the Senate — AB 849 — to contain provisions that allow same-sex marriage.
The bill — which would define marriage as being between “two persons” rather than between a man and and woman — was heard Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Many people have asked, `Why is Los Angeles City Council taking this action? Why is this matter here, in a sense?”‘ Councilman Jack Weiss said. “The answer is as follows. This is a matter of state law. It is being debated by state lawmakers in Sacramento. We represent the largest city in the state of California. We want lawmakers in Sacramento to know the official position of this city. It’s very important we do that.”
I am too behind to blog about the weekend.
How about if I skip ahead to the awesome blogging.la happy hour sushi fest party thingy get together at the Golden Gopher downtown that I just returned home from? (How about if I learn how to compose a non-run-on sentence?)
People I saw tonight (that I’d met before) ::david kurtz (thank you for coming with me!):: ::sean bonner:: ::caryn coleman:: ::mr & mrs will campbell:: ::mr & mrs cybele/candyblogger:: :: ::jay bushman:: ::5000!:: ::tammara:: ::jeff koga (koganuts)::
Who all did I meet for the first time tonight… ::chris franklin:: ::shane nickerson (thanks for teaching me that I don’t suck at Ms Pacman!:: ::jeremy & kyle from blogebrity:: ::eric garcetti, city councilmember:: ::josh kamensky:: ::amy wakeland:: ::lisa beebe (b.la contributor):: ::cindy m (b.la contributor):: ::carmen:: ::losanjealous:: ::mack reed:: ::greg cohn::
I’m sure I missed a few folks. Who did I miss?
Need proof that I was there? Here are some pictures:
Here is me with Eric Garcetti, the coolest and best City Councilmember-blogger around. (I don’t live in his district… I’m just barely outside the border, but I do WORK in his district!) I love that he’s “one of us!”
This is a picture I took of Lisa watching Koga play some sort of Donkey Kong game. I killed his guy when my flash went off. Oops, sorry Koga. I owe you a quarter.
You can barely see him in the light of the game, but Shane Nickerson is playing Ms Pacman. I didn’t want to kill his game, so I took the picture without the flash. Shane invited me to play Ms. Pacman with him, asking “How are you at Ms Pacman?” I responded, “I suck,” but I proceeded to grab the control and play anyway… and guess what? I don’t suck! (I do, however, suck at Galaga.) Thanks, Shane for showing me that I don’t suck at Ms Pacman! Also, Shane has the best gadgets (he has a T3 camera and a Motorola RAZR phone). I have gadget envy.
Speaking of gadgets, at some point, you know these guys were going to whip out their toys and compare them. Here’s Greg, Sean, and Eric showing off their trio of Treos. Ha! I kill me!
Dude, I just re-read what I wrote and I totally need sleep.
…be sure to bring the proper currency.
Gadgetgirl shows you how to make your own Harry Potter coinage.
via boingboing
So much happening this weekend.
I need a weekend for my weekend.
At 2:23 this afternoon, this is what I posted to blogging.la
What’s going on at Sunset & Vine?
Sunset is shut down just west of Vine. That would be in front of the Arclight Theatres.
There is a police officer directing traffic off of Sunset and there are flares on either side of the street.
Anyone?
Check out the responses in the comments.
Here’s a big ol’ WTF for this guy and his publicist. Just for kicks, I’m putting the dumbest parts of this story in bold and italics.
In London, uninjured singer seeks prayers
London was the scene of carnage on Thursday after a series of deadly blasts but American R&B crooner Omarion, who suffered no injury or inconvenience, wants people to pray for him.
“Omarion was in London during the tragic bombings that struck this morning,” a statement by the singer’s publicist AR PR Marketing, released hours after the bombings, said.
Making no mention of the fatalities or casualties of the blasts, the singer’s statement concluded, “He would like his fans to pray that he has a safe trip and a safe return home. He appreciates your support.”
He was in London for Saturday’s Live 8 show, his publicist Shana Gilmore told Reuters from Los Angeles. Asked why anyone should pray for him, Gilmore said, “He wasn’t hurt or anything, but just the fact that he was there and all that.”
Omarion was the teenaged lead singer of the chart-topping band B2K before going solo. The 20-year-old’s first solo album “O” debuted at No. 1 of Billboard charts earlier this year.
Hmm. So should we send our “prayers” for his guy via his publicist?
Shana Gilmore of AR PR Marketing
323-330-0555
shana@arprmarketing.com
Walleyed: 1. Having exotropia — divergent strabismus — in which the eyes turn outward away from the nose. The Japanese term is ron-pari, as one eye is looking at Rondon (London) and the other is looking at Pari (Paris). 2. Having a dense white opacity (leukoma) of the cornea. 3. Having large staring eyes, like those of certain fish such as the pike.
All of these meanings relate to the walleyed pike, a freshwater perch. When the walleyed pike is dead, its large divergent eyes quickly become opaquely white. From the Old Norse “vagl-eygr,” from “vagl” (beam) and “eygr” (eyed).
*I put my favorite part of the definition in bold and italics. Mostly because it just deserved it.
All eyes are on London today.
Check out the continuous coverage from Metroblogging London.
*I didn’t say that. The people who made the site did.
But I would be nuts if I didn’t share the link with you…
Oh and this: Tom Cruise Kills Oprah
I already fell asleep once on the futon.
Now to sleep in bed.
A big ol’ THANK YOU to Yoshi who spent the last two days working on the project from hell with me so it could (at last) be completed. TWO 4th of Julys ago, my brother and I began this project by steaming the disgusting 20+ year old wallpaper off the bathroom walls. I don’t have any “before” pictures because it was too hideous to photograph. I was afraid I’d break my camera.
Anyway, my Mom & Bro finish removing the wallpaper shortly after the project began 4th of July weekend of 2003. Then nothing happened and the bathroom remained stripped down and naked for about a year. At some point my brother had spackled the walls and decided to prime the walls. It was a big improvement from stripped walls, but that’s how they walls were left until this weekend when I (stupidly) decided I’d surprise the family by finishing the bathroom.
Two days, three trips to Home Depot, four fast food meals, and five million curse words later, here is the finished result:
Click to embiggen
For the record, I was aiming for a light blue color. I picked a Periwinkle color that looked distinctly purple as it was going on the walls. I was freaking out… thank god that the paint dried bluer (it is still slightly purple though… oh well… I’m not repainting it!)
Thanks to Yoshi for making sure that we did a good job with the prep work (washing down the walls, taping everything up, priming), doing all the detailed painting, for painting the ceiling when I could no longer hold the roller and kept bonking into walls I wasn’t supposed to bonk, and for putting up all the fixtures (handling the power tools).
I think we did a great job. And if we didn’t, we should keep in mind that pretty much ANYTHING is better than what the bathroom looked like before!
Oh, and when we were on the road, we realized we forgot to take the blue tape off the bathroom vent fan. Or the from around the door. Oops.
P.S. - A SPECIAL “THANK YOU” SHOUT OUT TO SHARKY FOR ALL THE “PAINT CONSULTATIONS!!!”
Don’t go to Home Depot on a Saturday night.
Especially not during a long weekend.
The loveseat and coffee table are officially sold. $40 combined.
Oh and the guy who got them (first guy to respond on Craigslist) also made off with a queen-sized pillowtop mattress, with boxspring and frame… for free.
Yoshi is just glad it’s all gone.
…yoshi and I having dinner with stkyrice & aiyahh at Palms Thai (no Thai Elvis tonight; just Thai John Denver), Thai desserts galore, and then us each crashing on our individual sofas in the living room while talking up a storm…
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