Monday, March 30, 2009

Cheap Thrills

I had my annual review (almost as much fun as an annual exam). The only criticism I accept is that my outfits are crap.

So where did I go for new outfits for work? THRIFT. HA!
Today I'm wearing a rust/orange wool sweater with a straight hem and v-neck (and sleeves that are actually long enough so it's probably a men's sweater). It cost 99cents at the alarmingly named Classy Rack thrift store. The name is particularly alarming because it is linked to the mission...christian mission...that helps poor people and is in a pretty rough part of Spokane. It's near the DejaVu strip club and whatnot which makes for some double entendre for the Classy Rack. But I'm not proud. I'll take the sweater off the 99cent rack. Especially since no one ran it through the dryer.

I also checked out the Goodwill in Moscow, Idaho. I got 4 shirts. 2 Columbia brand. 1 LandsEnd. 1 Chadwicks. I know that Chadwicks isn't "classy" but it's a fine color and I won't feel bad if I rip it crawling over a barbed wire fence.

I think my jeans are still acceptable. It IS Idaho afterall. Jeans are business casual (black jeans are business formal).

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Of Potties and Pie


OK, actually there is no "pie" but I needed a "p" word for alliterative purposes.
Here is an EXCELLENT photo sent to my by my cousin (either a second cousin by modern reckoning or a first cousin once removed by previous terminological standards).













A port-a-potty graveyard in St. Louis, MO. Not unlike its elephant counterparts, apparently the residents migrate here just before they die. Their bones dry in the sun and are revered as aphrodesiacs by the regions natives.

Actually, I'm just really glad this is not a scratch-n-sniff picture.

And as an extra treat, here is a video of old people singing inappropriate songs from my current favorite documentary, Young@Heart.


(the cheap bastards won't allow me to embed the good stuff so please click the link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v8_BnZSBQo


Here's a not as good video embedded (BUT for Unka Pat...it is their version of one of the Boss' tunes). Skip ahead to about the 40sec mark for best results. Yes, old people singing Bruce Springsteen to prisoners.


Tuesday, March 17, 2009

My Great Great Grampa, And G-G-Gramma, and G-Gramma and G-G-Aunt!

Text not available
History of Dakota Territory By George Washington Kingsbury, George Martin Smith


It doesn't display quite right, but just click on it and you go to the original page. How cool is this??

And just for giggles, here's my Gramma. Daughter of Jane in the above excerpt.
I KNOW this pose and glare (and she never did get much bigger!):

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I'm Baaaaaack...

Well, for a day or two anyway.
I'm having trouble with internet access and getting the blog up. I was trying to write it in notepad and then quickly post it at work, but this isn't working because the line wrap thingy gets all wonky and that drives me NUTS.

Anyway, right now I'm at a conference at the Wildhorse Casino outside Pendleton, Oregon. It's a lovely facility and pretty cheap.

And, it comes with a side of cheesy so that makes it even better. Here is the view from my window:













Honestly, it's not worse than the view if you could see the landscape. The word "desolate" comes to mind. This is the area of the world scoured by the Missoula Floods (back an ice age or so ago, western Montana and into Canada was a big lake held in place by some an ice dam near the Montana/Idaho border...sometimes the dam would break and the HUGE wall of water...like 1500feet deep...would wash over North Idaho and parts of Washington and Oregon taking all the dirt with it. This happened multiple times) and also an area that has been to dry to grow many plants and thusly little soil formation and thusly...bit of a moonscape.

And here is my favorite part of the room...the Door to Nowhere:













It's in a sidewall and goes to a thin little space and another door. I wanted to take pictures of that and will try again tomorrow. Right now the neighbors on the other side of the other door to nowhere are in and I don't want to freak them out any more than necessary.
The back side of the door has no knob but there is no deadbolt or any other locking device. Not even a locking door knob! And the latch is one of the kind that is so easy to open with a credit card or that plastic room key thingy.

The door also appears to be hollow core as does its mate. We were served a lovely buffet that was...oh, let's say "heavy". We were all making grand efforts not to break windage during the post dinner discussion, There was much fidgeting. Many fake cell phone calls were taken as an excuse to go into the hallway and make a dash for the restroom. Here's hoping the neighbors' stomachs were not too upset by the dinner.

In OTHER NEWS....I'm totally going to see SPINAL TAP in concert!
OK, it's the main three guys from Spinal Tap and not in costume and they will be playing acoustically, but STILL!! Awesome. I'm going to the concert in Denver and my friend Jonny (Hi Jonny) is going with me. We will have a freaking BALL. I'm totally going to make t-shirts.

OK, I need to do a bit of yoga before I get stuck in a crap TV loop...too late. I'm watching some sort of tranny model contest run by RuPaul. It appears to be called "RuPaul's Drag Race". OH MY GOD! Charo is going to be on. I'm totally stuck in a crap TV loop already. Oh well.