Mike and I celebrated prematurely by going out to dinner last night in downtown Ferndale, around 5:00, after we voted. We wanted to think positive thoughts and neither of us wanted to sit around the house waiting for the election results to start coming in. After the restaurant, we walked over to "American Pop" which is a classic toy /knickknack store with things like Felix the Cat, and Nightmare Before Christmas items. Plus, lots of 50's and 60's home items - furniture, appliances, barware. Yes, it is heaven to me. I picked up a special little item for angelout2killme and we talked to the owner about election hopes and stories. He's a great guy and I love shopping in his store.
We walked home and Mike went to pick up Michael while I turned on the TV, switching back between 10 different channels for coverage. Michael sat right next to me, his eyes glued to electoral vote numbers as they updated. When Ohio went to Obama at 9:30, I decided it was all over for McCain and I went to bed. However I slept horribly, still nervous about the results. Finally, Mike came in at 1 AM and reassured me by saying "To quote Craig Ferguson, it's a great day for America". After that, I was too excited to sleep. This morning, I've been checking out final results and I watched Obama's acceptance speech, which brought tears to my eyes. I've been so angry and fed up with the country for the past eight years. I finally have hope. Thanks to all who voted, and thanks for giving me my country back.

When you see this, quote from Blackadder in your journal!



Mine is a simple quote, but it's from my favorite episode of Blackadder II  - Beer

Lady Whiteadder: Cold is God's way of telling us to burn more Catholics.

My niece, Maegen, is graduating in three weeks from the Paul Mitchell School.  While she's been there, I've taken advantage of the fact that I can get great cuts and colors at an incredibly cheap price.   She's come a long way and I'm very proud of her.  I've always tried to support her in her endeavors.    Anway, here is my latest do, thanks to Maegen, the future junior Hair Goddess.... *applause sign flashes*

( hairdy hair hair )

I saw this on Boingboing.net.   It explains how the subprime mortgage market collapsed,  in easy terms and in about 2 minutes, through the magic of stick figures! 

http://www.businesspundit.com/sub-prime/

Do this:

http://www.morecowbell.dj/

upload a song and they will add more cowbell and Christopher Walken.   It's true! More cowbell is always better.

I did   "catholic day" by Adam and the Ants. 

Oh, and they're hiring!

I was discussing the Olympics with some co-workers and the guys mentioned wanting to watch the women's beach volleyball because of their small outfits. I thought "oh yeah. The guys volleyball team will probably be wearing speedos. I'm watching THAT!"

Um, No. The required women's uniform for beach volleyball is a bra top, and a small bottom that can't exceed 7 cm on the sides (according to the official rules). The men's team members, on the other hand, wear a tank top and shorts. The sexist aspect of this has been well discussed online, so I won't delve into that, other than to express disappointment in not being able to see some beach volleyball beefcake. Instead, I would like to warn the women that wearing something like that in competition may get you some unwanted attention:

This is what I think about late at night when I'm hopped up on cough syrup.

Seraphic_slayer posted about the absurdity of the name "Abominable Snowman". I was thinking the same thing during The Mummy 3 trailer, when Brendan Fraser screams out "abominable snowman!". What an odd name. Why "abominable"? Here's the cough syrup explanation.

The dictionary defines abominable as : very bad, poor, or inferior.repugnantly hateful; detestable; loathsome.very unpleasant; disagreeable.
Perhaps the intention was to differentiate between your average snowman and the sort of snowman you would find in the Himalayas.
Your basic, civilzed snowman is docile; quiet. He won't say a peep, even if you kick him in the nuts. He just stands there and takes it. He doesn't even mind the carrot nose or the mismatched scarf and mittens. On a warm day, he'll peacefully melt into a mush. (I bet you could even kick Frosty the Snowman in the nuts and the only reply would be a higher pitched "Happy Birthday"). An abominable snowman, on the other hand, is a violent creature. Aggressive. Teeth-baring. You won't get anywhere near his nuts. But why the weird adjective? Wikipedia says :"Mr Henry Newman, a longtime contributor to The Statesman in Kolkata, interviewed the porters of the "Everest Reconnaissance expedition" upon their return to Darjeeling. Newman mistranslated the word "metoh" as "filthy" or "dirty", substituting the term "abominable", perhaps out of artistic license. " Filthy Snowman? Dirty Snowman? I'm trying to envision Brendan Fraser shouting those out. How 'bout "Scary Ass Snowman"?

What do you think would be a better name?

Props to pmoodie for the dalek design. It's brilliant!

How does it feel to be the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything?

We got the letter yesterday, saying that they chose someone else more suited for the position. I have to think that they had a candidate in mind when they set these interviews up. Mike was told that the top two candidates would be interviewed again by the district media specialists. Given that the postmark for the letter was the 18th (and the initial interviews were on the 17th), I seriously doubt they were able to narrow down the candidates to two, schedule a second interview with them and the media specialists, and then choose a final candidate, all in less than 1 day. So, in true human fashion - here is our sour grapes response:
"The drive out there (50 minutes at least) is too far anyway".

Lest you think your vibes and good wishes were wasted, Mike has applied to two more media specialist positions. One is very close to us, and he knows someone on the inside, so that might work out even better. He also applied for a computer tech summer job with our local school district, and he has a good shot at that too.

Thanks to all well-wishers! We appreciate your support!

Hello LJ Friends!

Mike ( sylo_tode ) has a job interview this morning, at 9:00 AM (US Eastern time). If you could send good job vibes, do a dance, light a candle, or anything, we would appreciate it (as would our bank account which holds our mortgage). The job would entail being the library media specialist at a High School.

Thanks!!!!!!

Michael took all of these pictures

miss_s_b Here is your caiman


( rahr )

pmoodie Here are your prairie dogs

( neek )

Giant Salamander


( giant salamander )

Macaque

( macaque chillin' out )

Mike applied for a Media Specialist job at a school near us. They just closed the posting and the next step is calling applicants for interviews. Please cross your fingers or send positive job vibes, light candles, or whatever. This is a great opportunity and we really need it!

My son's minicity, Penquin Rox, has been suffering from unemployment. He needs some new visitors. Can you click on the link below to help him out.
No signing up or any other effort is needed. Just a click. Thanks!


http://penguin-rox.myminicity.com

My co-worker Maria, needed someone to take her dog (Maggie) until she finds a new dog-friendly place to live. We introduced her to Maggie, so it was a no-brainer for us to take her in temporarily, as we have two beagles already. She spent her first night with us last night, and she did very well. My dogs are 8 or 9? (we adopted them and the pound wasn't sure), and they're not quite sure what to make of this bundle of energy. Maggie will be two in June. Anyway, here's a pic with Michael. I tried to get more, but she won't stay still.

( Maggie )

The meme is this:

The Handwritten Meme
1) your handle/name/username
2) left or right handed?
3) favourite letters to write
4) least favourite characters to write
5) write "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
6) tag 5 people

Don't be sending this out for handwriting analysis!


( Click here if you must )