Sita’s in San Diego tonight

Y le echo mucho de menos. The schipperke got two walks today. I spoil him. I’ve been up since 5am and am a little emotionally fragile. Obviously the best time to go out and watch Sin City on my own. It’s just like the good old days in The fortress of solitude Hadley Mall. I’ll be the one at the back of the cinema whimpering…

It’s all happening…

On the same day sita gets name checked in Amy’s blog I discover Jesse’s a nascent blogger too. Which means I have another bookmark in my Firefox ‘Peeps with stuff to say’ folder to check on about 8 times a day. At least one the sites has usually been updated by then. Others in the ‘check-every-2-or-3-hours’ folder include…

A daily dose of imagery Arty Photo blog from Toronto
Boing Boing Interesting links aplenty
My boyfriend is a twat Sarky rants from Brit in Belgium.
Med Rib Blog Annelise lives in Rugby and takes care of kiddies. What’s not to like?
Sighclub 2nd degree of separation from Amy, Kathy + others…
Flash’s journal I’ve known this woman on and off for nigh on 15 years and learn more every day…
This Is Chris Great film reviews, essays and enthusiastic posting.
AdRants.com The world of advertising actually has its moments.

There’s another folder for checking on less often, but that’s quite enough for one day…

Sita came home with an 6gig IPod mini yesterday, which she let me take for a test run today. She’s been mp3ifying all manner of CDs I never knew we had. The ‘mug me’ white headphones are really comfortable and sound great. I might have to invest in something similar to plug into me zire. I’m listening to Jon Ronson’s series from radio 4, which is a Anglo version of This American Life. You can download MP3s from his site. Jon’s been on TAL a couple of time reading extracts from Them. So no coincidence there. Anyroad, that’s plenty to be getting on with for today.

Bollocks

On the plus side, it went smoothly enough at the tax place- half an hour, in and out… On the down or “delta” side, as we say in Santa Cruz non-profit circles, we owe more than a grand to the US government to spend on evil. The bloke was trying to get us to put money in IRAs or somesuch, which strikes me as a really bad acronym to use to encourage people to save. How’s about putting your earnings in a PLO or an ETA? Any takers? Thought not… Ah well. Feel strangely vindicated, I expected the worst and it happened. I always feel vaguely apprehensive when we get refunded money. So it’s all good. Anyroad, Liz & Mya are round and we’re going to watch Firefly, Joss Whedon’s sci-fi thing. Lovely.

Fleeced

Didn’t like the way our taxes looked when we tried e-filing last night, so we’re off to H&R block. Isn’t it grand being a grown-up?
If you’ve having trouble with the dropdown menu below, could you comment please? It should take you to the page, but i’m thinking maybe some early or ultranew versions of Internet Explorer won’t comply.
Have an educational yet depressing game of Top Trumps against the computer. I still haven’t beaten it…

This just seems wrong…

{{popup klemluluinlove.jpg klemluluinlove 700×467}}klem & lulu in love Wrong on all kinds of levels. Courtesy of Jesse again.

Behold the drop-down menu thing

Spent far too long making this drop down menu thing and there’s still a few which don’t work yet… Eeh well. I reckon we don’t need the moon phases thing neither now winter’s over and California skies stay clear for the next 9 months.

Photo albums
Atticus, Feb’05
Atticus, Wilder
Atticus est arrive 2
San Fran ’04
Atticus, Dec ’04
Bristol ’04
Bunnies, March ’05
Bunnies, Dec ’04
Chile, July 03
Davenport + dog, Jan’05
Davenport + dog 2
Dan&Monica’s Boda Mar’04
D & M’s wedding 2
Ensenada, Mex, Mar’04
Santa Cruz Feb ’05)
Favourites 03-04
Felton BBQ @ Joop’s ’04
Ian & Yuri’s wedding
Judith & Carlos’ Boda
J & C’s Reception
London with Bert
Mango Mango, Ensenada
Massachusetts, Sept ’04)
Mexico, Jalisco, ’03
New Brighton Feb’05)
New House, Dec ’04
Nisene Park, Jan’04
Palm photos, Feb ’05
Hallowe’en Oct ’04
Pylons in LA, Mar ’05
Seabright Beach, Oct ’04
Sita’s 30th ’04
Somerset, Sept ’04
Stu’n’Anne, Feb ’04
SA Capitola + Mystery Spot
SA Big Sur
SA Cowell
SA Meg’n’Matt’n’Berkeley
SA Santa Cruz
SA Wilder
Tahoe (rafting), Jun ’04
Seabright + Buns, Dec ’04
SW England ’04
SC Coast, Feb ’04)
Xmas San Diego + Downey ’03

Jesse’s students’ loss is our gain…

Just received this picture in an email from Jesse. Rather than grade papers he’s fired up photoshop and brought us this shot of Klem riding/replacing a horse…
clem-on-horse (26k image)
Top-notch work, Sr. Barba. Many thanks. I especially like the way she leans into the curve. {{popup why.jpg why 450×338}}Here’s my attempt…

This link’ll take you to photos Sita took of the bunnies romp around the settees in our house last night. Good as gold the two of ’em. I’ve also just signed up for ‘pro’ membership of flickr.com and minutes after I forked over my credit card details heard it’s being bought up by Yahoo! and there’s going to be all kinds of improvements/ changes/ upgrades. Maybe I should’ve waited. Hey ho. I really like the whole community thing they’ve got going on there. That bloke from Davis who’d been to Santa Cruz and Taunton never got back to me mind, but I found out all about the umbrella man in SC thanks to one helpful flickr bloke.

Other news: I’m never sure how much info to share on this blog about other people (hence ‘self-absorption central’) but i think it’s now public knowledge that Scott & Becky’ve just had a baby boy called Leven and that Meghan and Tewbewks are wedlock bound. Am well happy for all you guys. (if you’d like me to remove this, just email me 😉 CONGRATS.

I’ve also just read Stu’s alternative plan for the 2nd half of his novel, it’s looking really good. I’ve got to let him know me thoughts sometime today before he goes and meets up with the bloomsbury peeps. As per usual I don’t have much to say except, fair bloody play. Shall have to think of something while i start photoshopping those pylons I mentioned last week.

Just back from Los Angeles

Atticus has excelled himself. He’s been the very model of canine good behaviour from the outset and might even have won a reprieve in my affections. I especially like Sally’s new name for him, Asparagus.

Record time again for the homeward journey, 5 and a half hours. Sita drove the first 2 hours and i took photos out the window of pylons for Flash’s site. So if you’re into blurred pictures of industrial structures, check back here in 5 hours or so…
Read More “Just back from Los Angeles”

Tonight I have been mostly eating:

In Home Catering Menu (Chez Prit et Sam)

Hors D?Oeuvre served with Henriot, Souverain Brut,NV Champagne
Bouchee aux Champignon with mushroom duxelle and Gruyere Cheese

Tuna Tartine- Seared Fennel Crusted Tuna with Olives on Herb Toast
Salade D?Epinards- baby spinach, Roquefort, red grapes, walnuts, pears

Poisson- served with Chateau D’Aqueria, Tavel 2002 Ros?
Bouillabaisse- saffron based seafood stew

Volaille- served with Ch?teau La Roque, Pic Saint Loup, Languedoc 2002
Canard- seared duck breast, Camargue rice, orange gastrique

Dessert- served with Graham?s, Six Grapes, Reserve Porto
Fondant au Chocolat- served with espresso ice cream

And now I’m full. If I get the chance I’ll explain all about this post. Crazy busy and time for bed…

New addition to safeway veg section

shrinkwrappedspuds (10k image)
I saw these potatoes in Safeway today. They’re individually wrapped ‘Bakers’ with instructions on how to microwave them (‘7 minutes’). No warnings that once microwaved, contents may be hot.