Birthday cards from family. Sent a week early as I'm GOING TO ARRAN! (have I mentioned that?)

Lovely one from Mum, very glittery, and inside she told me to keep on glittering.
By which I assume she doesn't mean getting up people's noses and leaving bits of myself on the floor...

But the biggest nice, and surprise was a card from my niece. First ever.
AND she sent me a £5 Greggs card (money to spend in countrywide bakery chain, fine purveyor of pastry delights).
Mum must have had a hand in it, but she would never ask anyone to send me anything of monetary value, so the thought came from Abs.

Had a bit of a cry.
But a happy one.
Maybe one day I can re-establish relationships with my sister's children, even if I have to accept I'll never have a real sister.

I do send presents and cards to her family. Especially the kittens (twins). But I've never, ever expected anything in return. This card is a marvel to me. I'm taking it to Arran. Oh, did I say that this time next week I'll be in Arran on my birthday? It may not have been clear.

Anybody going to Arran? ;)

I'm pleased for you Sundae!

http://cellar.org/showthread.php?p=931853#post931853 :D

oh, and good results at work, but I'm knackered

#LoveWins

It's a great fucking day.

I had a lovely two days with my Godfather.
He stayed in the B&B I stayed in when I locked myself out of my flat last year. The owner remembered me, and thanked me for the kind review I wrote on Trip Advisor. Well, the sort of man who remembers a single overnight guest in that way is the sort of man who runs a B&B that gets what it deserves on Trip Advisor - Best Place to Stay in Otley.

Peter had a good time there and praised the breakfast most highly. And this is a man who likes his food (judging by the amount he eats anyway!) I'm surprised he only has a little pot belly to show for it, he should be the size of a barn - said in a loving way of course :thumb:

As well as being remembered in Otley AND meeting three people I know on the street (I never meet anyone I know!) I was recognised and thanked by a C of E Vicar in Leeds RC Cathedral. Peter's a priest, so we went there for his benefit really, but I do like churches. A few weeks back I helped him send an email from the library, pausing what I was listening to on the computer at the time. He thanked me again and I felt myself blush. But it was with a sense of pride; Peter would have seen the best of me over the last two days. Part of my community, remembered, polite and respectful (phew).

Oh and I dragged him to Pieminister. Well, he wanted a traditional meal with vegetables, served at a table and didn't want to eat in a pub. For my benefit. Although crikey knows what he thought I'd do - vault over the bar at Wetherspoons and start drinking directly from the taps if he excused himself to go to the Gents for a few minutes? Still - he was very impressed with his Chicken of Aragon pie (free range British chicken, smoked bacon & tarragon) and I spread the Gospel of Pieminister a little further, as well as gobbling up a Moodog pie myself ( British beef steak, smoked bacon & BrewDog 5am Saint).

And he was delighted with everything I showed him in Otley, even the minions. As a good Godfather should be.

Supreme court decision

Nailed it, freedom wins.

I'm pretty damn surprised by this court. It seems like they usually get things wrong.

Yeah, this caught me off guard.

After Kelo v. City of New London, they should be worried about their jobs.

A nice chap from the AC repair company I called came out and diagnosed the problem with our AC. It was the capacitor/start kit for the high side of the compressor. Unlike many typical central AC units ours is a 2 speed so when the demand for cool air is low the low side of the compressor runs and when the demand increases it shuts off that side and kicks on the high side. That's why it seemed to cool when it wasn't so hot outside and at night. He measured the microferad reading on the capacitor and it was way off from the specification. He thought it was an original part which makes me feel a bit better as the unit was installed just about 9 years ago and we have replaced the low side capacitor in 2013. The cost was $225, $175 for the part and $50 for the service call. This was a smaller AC company than the other ones we usually call on, the others charge $85 for the trip plus labor on site. He checked freon and other things and said it should be fine now. :thumb:

England's gift to the culinary world is their meat pies. Flaky pastry with great fillings! Oh and Spotted Dick! :D

What I find amusing is how all the GOP presidential candidates are all tripping over each other to complain about these unelected judges legislating from the bench. My own looney Senator Cruz plans to try to push an amendment to make them stand for re-election every 8 years.

You lucked out, congratulations. I installed central air in the early 90s, and every year I flip the switch and pray. So far it's worked. :fingerx:
Of course instead of being smart and trying it early, like everyone else I don't turn it on until it gets hot, then if something is amiss the A/C guys will be busy as hell.

My new car.

Make / Model / Year?

There's a conference being held at Uni this week - part of a series of conferences that have been running every other year for a few years now. Last time I was on the organising committee and also presented. This year i was going to present but decided not to - and I also doubted I'd be able to pay the delegate fee to attend.

Bless him, my supervisor sorted me out a day pass on the conference expense account - justified on the grounds that I am helping organise. My 'organising' role has basically been to sort out who will chair the various committees. This has involved a grand total of about 2 hours work spread across several days :P

So on Thursday I get to attend the first day of the conference (always the most exciting - that's when you get your keynote lecture and a lot of the social stuff). I was umming and ahhing for a while which day to attend - there are just too many good panels! Settled on the Thursday, partly because of the keynote lecture, but also because there's a panel with two papers that look like they may feed into two areas that I am really interested in right now (cultural attitudes towards desertion, and knowledge networks/transmission in the military).

So - that's what is making me happy. I get to go and spend a day with a bunch of people from my field - many of whom I've met several times and get along with really well - and hear about some really interesting and original research. In the meantime, round robin emails to delegates asking for volunteers to chair made me feel reconnected with some people I really like and admire, and who seem equally pleased to reconnect with me.

When you get an email from someone whose work you greatly admire and they say 'Oh I am so glad you'll be there, I was hoping I'd get a chance to catch up with you' that's pretty fucking happy-making right there :)

So after all these years of fighting the establishment, now you are the establishment. :lol2:

I am in charge of an event at our school called the Uniform Exchange. Donate uniform stuff your kids have outgrown, and come buy other families' stuff on the cheap. The first two years were solid little events, but this is the first year it's been super organized (thank you, yes I'm awesome, thank you,) and it has unexpectedly grown far larger than it has ever been before.

To wit: I have personally collected, sorted, folded, and stored over 2,500 uniform items in about 28 giant plastic storage bins. These were inside my house until I hit about 17 bins, at which point the school finally gave in to my begging and allowed me to take up some space in their storage unit.

I have rented 20 garment racks, each 6 feet long, which should just barely cover it (and also just barely fit inside our small gym.)

I learned that Old Navy just throws away their hangers, about 2-3 garbage bags' worth each day, at each store. I am in the process of gathering 2,500+ hangers from the three stores nearest me, and sorting them into shirts vs. pants. Currently at a little over 1,800, should only need one or two more collection rounds. The storage unit is overflowing, so I once again have boxes taking over my living room.

But honestly, I love it. This thing is going to be awesome.

Kool.

Pete used to do that for our kids school... maybe not as thoroughly. :)

All the donated used gear at our school's sports equipment free swap fit on a six foot folding table. You wouldn't be able to fill half a garment rack.

Way to go brother!

Not today - but on Thursday when I went to the conference, the day's activities included a guided tour of the Waterloo exhibition at the Leeds Royal Armouries. It was very good. I always love the Armouries but getting a tour of the artwork by a guy who really knows his stuff was great fun. Very powerful stuff too.

I'd only ever seen Maclise's Waterloo cartoon in books - seeing it full scale was breathtaking. It was the preparatory drawing he did for what would become his mural painting, The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher. But the cartoon is much bigger than the mural - it's enormous - made up of panels set next to each other across a long wall - done in chalks (I think). I've never seen anything like it. The detail was staggering. I could have just stood there looking at it for hours.

There's a fairly decent pic of it here - but the scale really doesn't come across:

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhi...clisewaterloo#

As well as the art, there were many fascinating artifacts. One of the most compelling and disturbing things to see was the breastplate of a young cavalry man (I think) with a hole ripped right through the front and back out the other side. They'd set it up on display with the cannon ball (the small canon shot type) at the position it would have been as it exited.

God damn, 9x13 metres, not what I pictured when you said cartoon. I figured it would be outlines of items in the general layout.
I suppose by working out all the detail in the "cartoon" at home, when he went to do the wall painting at parliament where undoubtedly there was pressure to get it done, he would have already made most of the decisions.

Yeah - and he made some interesting changes for the finished painting too. On the right of the cartoon, there is a vivandierre with a cart of loot and goods and in the cartoon there's a dead soldier just behind her, leaning over the side of the cart - in the final painting that becomes a baby strapped to her back, and the baby is reaching into the cart to play with the loot.

There are some other changes too that are more political in nature - one guardsman is altered to a highlander, for example - so we get representatives of each part of the union in one of the set pieces.


But yeah - the scale is incredible and the level of detail mind-blowing.

:cheerldr:

Since you asked ... first off, the Altima I bought in 2008 with help from the awesome Jim Helm had a catastrophic event and passed at the age of 10. She was a good car.

For the first time in about 25 years, I bought a NEW new car. A 2015 Honda Civic ES. This car is teh awesome. Handling and gas mileage, the electronics, cameras and gadgets ... sun/moonroof, bluetooth... OMG I love this car.

Congrats, Classic.
One day I'd like to have car again... let alone a NEW car!
The budget doesn't allow, and as I discussed with Limey, I don't really need one where I live. But it would be wonderful to be secure in my sobriety and be able to get behind the wheel again one day (FTR I'm not banned or anything, I'm just aware that car + previous addiction + mental health issues is not a yummy cocktail).

I'm happy for many reasons today.
My Ma sent me a really positive email after I sent her some Arran photos.
A treasured friend said really positive things about my writing.
And I may (I really hope WILL) get to see a new Doctor. The invite to the ceremony making our amazing Dr DanaC official is flattering enough to make it a happy day.

On the negative side, my mobile is on the fritz and I can't find my landline handset.
But this is the Happy thread.

Be happy, y'all.

I am so happy where I am in my life right now I could just scream. It isn't that I don't expect down times to come. It isn't that I have absolutely everything going on. It's just that I feel very comfortable right here and right now, and that feeling isn't based on needing or wanting anything more, or expecting someone to fill any voids, and certainly not thinking my past pain is what defines me. Life is ok. Right now. I suspect I have something to do with it, even.

monkey happy, monster happy.

Awesome, IM!

I'm very happy for you Infi, you've been down too long you deserve teh fluffeh for real.

I'd also like to go on record saying that if any lady dwellar DOES want any of her voids filled I'd be dilated to be at her cervix!

ouch

The T that sticks up must be pounded in.

isn't that how the proverb goes?

The kids are flying home from their grandparents today. Missed them this week.

Clan Glatt, together again!

Good 'ol Buck Owens and the twangy guitar.

Just sold the Camry today!

Only got $1600 for it, but at least it's gone.

Kewl.

^WHS^

Feeling the Sundae lurve ... Yesterday she cooked my dinner even though she is home in Yorkshire. I snaffled out of the freezer the last portion of pork chop and mushrooms that she had cooked for us while here. YUM. And today I lobbed the great gobbets of Yorkshire steak she had brought with her from the freezer into the slow cooker and we had a delicious dinner of braised steak. YUM.


Sent by thought transference

Thank you! I should have pushed to cook more. I was so lazy.
But I was pleased with the pork (although I worried it would reheat a little dry...)

Oh, btw Mum wants to see you.
She can't get that you'd be in HW and NOT want to make the trip to Aylesbury.
"I'll even buy her and [Mr Limey] lunch at Mendoza's!"

She does mean it from a place of love. If she could drive, she'd come and see you, just to thank you for taking care of me. Just be grateful that she can't ;)
I said I'd extend the invitation, but you will only have limited time in the area.

Don't worry - she is also determined to see Carruthers over Christmas. She's an equal opportunity Mama Bear in some ways.

I'd be terrified she'll descend on him one day with a home-made cake, but she'd never actually break the sacred rules of privacy in that fashion. Mum's generation were like vampires in that sense - once you were invited in, you could enter any time you pleased. But a formal invite was officially required the first time (unless the post and milk bottles started to accumulate!)

Thank your mum for the invite but it really is a fully occupied flying visit. We also have no car with us - travelling by rail. The pork was divine! So was the steak. X

Sent by thought transference

I got word from my sister yesterday. She's only in contact with my parents in order to keep messages to a minimum. You see, she's deep in the mountain wildness of the Northwest Territories and her only communication is an InTouch satellite texting device that costs a buck per text and eats batteries like crazy. So she's trying to limit incoming messages to only emergencies.

But she sent out a handful of updates. She and her two climbing partners are attempting a mountain climb that has never been done before. In fact there are no clear photos of the mountain face they are climbing. Only grainy Google Earth pictures.

They got dropped off by helicopter three weeks ago and set up camp next to a lake at 61.872662, -127.69862. They have been attempting to climb the Western face of Mt. Nirvana since then. It's a cliff face, so it's very technical climbing.

In a week or so, the helicopter will come back for them and fly them over to the eastern side of Mt. Nirvana, and they will attempt the climb from that side. That side has been climbed before, so they know it's possible, and there are tons of pictures of it.

Then after two weeks of climbing on that side of the mountain, the helicopter is coming back for them and taking them about 20 miles to the north, to Lotus Flower Tower. This is a very famous location in the climbing world, and they are going to climb this:
Attachment 52586

But I'm happy today because I hadn't heard from her in a month, and it's good to know she's ok.

Aha, so mental illness runs in the family, that explains a lot. :stickpoke :haha:

Just kidding, does she have a family? It sounds like a very expensive operation that might take months of preparation, even for an experienced climber. I hope they have good weather, and no bears.

No family, just a boyfriend/partner who shares her hobby.

They both teach at MIT, so they have the summers free to do this stuff. They really take the attitude that they work to make money so they can climb.

I trimmed a really tall tree once.

:sadpace:

Ah, young, healthy, with time and resources, to do the things we read about and say that's so cool. Even things we say, nope, that's nuts, we admire others for doing. The kind of things that give an adrenaline rush, and give parents ulcers. :notworthy

How cool. Love their attitude.

Got a letter from Publisher's Clearing House telling me I've practically won $5,000 a week for life. With odds of 1,700,000,000 to 1, I'm a shoo in. :yesnod:

Oh, and I get to name someone else to receive it for their life, after I die.

Noooooo ! ..... You're going to die ???

What are the odds ?

One to one.

It's not looking good.

Life. Nobody gets out alive.

On a long enough time line, the survival rate drops to zero.

But everyone told me I'm immortal.



No.. wait... that was immoral. nevermind