Last night, my cat Pumpkin passed away. She was born in the basement of my parents' house and lived there her entire life.

December 17, 1986-- May 26, 2006

Yes, that's right... 19 years, 5 months, and 9 days.

Go here for a second image: http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f386/MonteLukast/pumpkin1.jpg
Even though it's a Photobucket picture, I've tried several times to resize it, completely without success. *grrr* Too large to paste in its entirety here.

*prays for all the little puppies and kitties in heaven, because all animals go to heaven*

I've got a new craze-- geocaching. And tomorrow, instead of Easter eggs, I'll be finding caches.

I've always been good at navigation, and I'm a real hide-and-seek junkie, so this is a hobby seemingly designed with me in mind.

(A brief history of how geocaching got its start, here.)

What does geocaching entail? You use a GPS receiver (from $79 up to about $400 at REI) to find marked spots on a map, written usually in either latitude/longitude or Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates.

For example, the cache called "The Crown Jewell" has the following coordinates:

Lat/Lon: N 39° 40.970, W 104° 50.139
UTM: 13S E 514093 N 4392568

The strike is officially over today. Yay! Now I can say goodbye to the literal shoulder-to-shoulder crowding, the missed stops, and especially the jerking of the brakes.
Those temp drivers mean well. They just need more practice.

In other news... on the cover of this month's GQ, you'll see the headline "The New Christian Sex Craze"... and this piece about the abstinence movement gave me an unexpected, insightful look at the difference between having the courage of your convictions and just being a poseur:

I'm skeptical. If someone has no idea what constitutes sex, then how would he know he can barely wait to have it or be so sure he'll enjoy it when it does? And how can he be boldly assert a moment later, perhaps in reaction to my air of doubt, that "if I weren't a Christian, I'd be having sex all over the place"?

What a baffling existence, I think; to belong to a movement whose essential tactic is to thoroughly sexualize postponing sex and thoroughly surround in fluffy pink dreams the thought of finally having sex. Frustration is presented as utter bliss and gratification as a misty enigma-- a magic escape route on a Hallmark card.
I suspect that he hasn't a clue about what he's doing, thinking, feeling or wanting at this very moment. He's lost to his own longings. He hasn't suppressed or disciplined his sex drive; he's pre-empted it with rhetoric. He isn't abstinent; he's nonexistent. When Stephen Arterbrun was Chad's age, he was pawing the party girls and feeling bad about it, then helplessly repeating his mistakes and feeling even lousier, but at least he knew what he was feeling bad about.

So did the other guys in the Corps. Their awkward orgies of mutual confession, their demoralizing lapses into [old bad habits] and self-abuse suggest that they're truly struggling, they're truly fighting, and that they've actually seen the enemy's face. They deserve to succeed. They deserve to get their [woman] and all the postponed orgasms she can give them.

But to the Chads of the movement, the airy theorists and humorless purists, I don't know what I wish. Humbling comeuppances, perhaps, when they finally climb into their idealized marriage beds and discover the world is made of flesh, no words; and that their partners and human women, not quasi-Eves. "Take me, it's time," their virgin brides will urge them, and after the grooms have consummated the act, maybe their ladies will say something like this to them: "You mean that's all? That's it? Thirty seconds? That's what we've been waiting all our lives for?"

That's when the serious battle will begin.

Date:	2006-04-02 00:02
Subject:	RTD is going on strike.
Security:	Public
Mood:	aggravated

They announced it at 2 A.M. today, just in time for me to get up and go to work.

As it turned out, my trip to work wasn't all that bad. The route I usually take is one of five DIA SkyRide lines. Well, for the duration of the strike, only one SkyRide operates, and that's the one out of Stapleton. Today it came only about 10 minutes later than my usual route leaves.

Getting off work, though, was sticky. The P.M. shift showed up almost two hours late and I had to cover, just barely making it to the bank afterwards. I'm glad that RTD had the common sense to make a strike schedule, and to keep most of the busiest routes active. Still-- traveling for anyone who relies on public transportation, or who wants to save a little petrol, is going to be complicated for the near future. The NYC transit strike only lasted two days. I'm hoping that trend holds in Denver. We do have a lot of New York transplants, after all.

Just in time for the spiking gas prices, isn't that lovely? *sigh*

Date:	2006-03-15 19:35
Subject:	Pre-"Crash" review: The message movie.
Security:	Public
Mood:	hopeful
Music:	"Rush"-- Yello

But first, an eensy weensy chocolate review.

Lindt Intense Pear is delightful. Dark chocolate with pears and almonds, this chocolate is surprisingly subtle. It's all about the fruit here. Very refreshing and soothing, while having a stimulant effect at the same time. Nice smooth and creamy texture, too.

I've got a thing to say about "message movies". When they're good-- like "Crash"-- they're great. When they're bad, they're horrid.

In the 90's, message movies were clunky. They bashed you over the head with their messages. They acted in the best spirit of the PC of the day: "context? what context?", clumsy characterization, and disconnect from real emotions. They ranged from merely annoying to distinctly loathsome, and most of them today evoke combined winces and nostalgic sighs from me for their sheer relic- ness.
(I'm wondering if these movies were the real spark that started the Republican revolution. "Ahhhh!!! They're taking over!! The Sensitive New Age Pod People™ are taking over! We're all gonna be forced to eat tofu and talk about feelings!!! Must... choke... red... meat... down... NOW! Must... buy... guns...")

But then, late in the 90's and into the millennium, something wonderful happened. We rediscovered a wonderful thing called context. And a beautiful, glorious thing called character complexity.

Many movie critics were bemoaning the excessive glitz and glamour and tie-ins. They predicted the demise of Hollywood and of motion-picture art, as they are prone to do.
But while they were looking at big budgets, I was looking at something else. Story and character. Just as Hollywood was in its biggest trouble, we started seeing fare like Changing Lanes, Monster, and Million Dollar Baby.

Which finally culminated in the movies of this past year. Walk the Line. Good Night And Good Luck. Syriana. Brokeback. Capote. Crash.

Add the fact that for the first time since the 80's, I can say I like the latest music, and I say that at this moment in time, I very much enjoy our pop culture. There may never be my body type in a magazine, but for right now, pop culture is after my own heart. I, for one, am savoring it.

The 90's were the creative dark ages for creative types. "Don't do this, you'll offend the advertisers. Don't do that, not enough people will understand you. Must... dumb... yourself... down..."

I'll bet a lot of people HATED having to "dreck-ify" their works to please corporate.
I wonder how many aren't exactly thrilled at having to work so hard at good story. They're still, after all, trying to please corporate.
But at least, for now, the premium on the lowest common denominator is gone.

I'm inclined to credit the fanficcers for this. We're the original dissenters of the un-creative mess that the "creative" professions found themselves in. We're the original ones who started our own revolution of "enough of that; we wanna see some story! We wanna see some good characters! We wanna see something that's more than an advertisement for Coke or action figures!"

Thank you, fanficcers and everybody else, for your improved taste. And therefore, for giving me hope.

*hugs*

I've been quite pleased by family films of the past decade. A refreshing emphasis on a good story and good characters marked the biggest change from the 90's. And "Eight Below" does not disappoint me.

Of course I was going to see this one. It's got Siberian huskies, my dogs in it!

Old Jack, Maya, Max, Shorty, Dewey and Truman (red-and-white twins), Shadow, and Buck work on the National Science Foundation base in Antarctica, and just before it's time to close up shop and go home for the winter, they and their humans have a project: taking a UCLA professor to a mountain to find what may be the first meteorite from Mercury.

The expedition is a success-- but on the way back, something goes terribly wrong, as you might expect.
But, it doesn't go wrong in exactly the way you think. To make a long story short, the base has to make a choice between transporting the humans out and transporting the dogs out. The poor dogs get left behind... and end up living on their own for over 175 days.

Not all eight dogs survive. I will not reveal how many die. It is very painful to watch the deaths... and the near deaths. That's how much these dogs make you care about them. That was one of the first things that impressed me about this film. The many dog-only scenes are beautiful and poignant.

I didn't know it was Paul Walker in the lead role until the closing credits. I'm taken aback by how good an actor he is. Or maybe it's just the character he's playing; a young man who loves his dogs so deeply, he never forgets them, and will do whatever it takes to get them home safe-- even traveling to the South Pole in the dead of winter and landing on a strange icebreaker ship in a helicopter.

What also impressed me was the snapshot of life in Antarctica. You quickly figure out that the dogs are a safe form of transportation. The film starts in January-- summer in Antarctica-- and much of this time of year, the ice sheets are too thin to safely drive on with a snowmobile, so...
Also, Walker's character knows a thing or two about exploration through glaciers and ice floes. He carries a stick similar to the cane a blind person uses, and taps the ground with it to feel how stable it is. By far, the most dangerous terrain to be on is a glacier surface with hidden crevasses. You treat these like you treat an avalanche: with great respect and quiet.

I do have to wonder if maybe Antarctica was portrayed as just a little too warm. Especially in the wintertime of July and August, when it can get down to a hundred below. When the weather was good, it didn't strike me as significantly different from the dead of winter in the Rocky Mountains. Of course, when the weather was bad, I was convinced again. As well as seeing the numerous shots of glacier peaks, crevasses, and mountains that seemed neaely vertical. Those can be a little scary to watch.

Maya, the only female and the co-leader with Old Jack, is a beautiful gray-and-white with expressive eyes. Walker's character cries when he finds her, and so did I. Max, the youngest, is basically an overeager whippersnapper who redeems himself and rises through the ranks to become top dog.

Jason Biggs for comic relief is a real treat, and boy did we viewers need it. The way he's repelled at being kissed in the mouth by the dogs is priceless.

And one last point... who knew there were vicious predatory seals with super-sharp teeth? I sure didn't before.

All in all, a wonderful film. Now it's time for me to get off my duff and go see Brokeback. I think I'm sufficiently primed for the tearjerking.

Hey, machka... you might be interested in this.

(Originally found on melissa11's page. I discovered that she's a fan of Scritti Politti, just like me. There aren't too many of us around.)

Ten Top Trivia Tips about MonteLukast!

1. Czar Paul I banished MonteLukast to Siberia for marching out of step.
2. MonteLukast was banned from Finland because of not wearing pants.
3. By tradition, a girl standing under MonteLukast cannot refuse to be kissed by anyone who claims the privilege.
4. MonteLukast does not have toes!
5. Over half of Americans are officially MonteLukast.
6. MonteLukast is the world's tallest woman!
7. MonteLukast has 118 ridges around the edge!
8. The National Heart Foundation recommends eating MonteLukast at least three times a week.
9. If you drop MonteLukast from more than three metres above ground level, she will always land feet-first.
10. Humans share over 98 percent of their DNA with MonteLukast.

Read All About Teh Voice, Teh Snape, Teh British Sexiness here:

The Rickmanista Review

Renaissance Man For Modern Times

Rickman-- All Things Potter

The Unofficial Alan Rickman Homepage

Rickman In The Round-- a retrospective on Alan's accomplishments on stage

Alan *swoon* Rickman

Here's the picture, il_pazzo. Hope you like.

Picture from http://www.alan-rickman.nl, hosted by TinyPic.com

Who has the better French Fries: McDonald's or Burger King?

And the answer is...

McDonald's. By a hair.
Both crunchy, both pleasantly hot, both savory... but MickeyD's has just that little extra bit of oomph. (Incidentally, I've also heard that McDonald's recipe contains a little bit of sugar.)

But now let's move on to a real review. Cheeseburgers.
Here's a sampling of different burgers from local and chain restaurants in the Denver area. Addresses are provided for the little-known and rarely-located places.


Good Times (Colorado-based chain; all over the state)
The standard-bearer for all the others mentioned here. My new favorite fast food chain. Uses only Coleman beef, so a bit more expensive than the usual places. Has a very distinctive earthy taste to the meat, common to Colemans and other "natural" meat sources. May pile on the salt a little too much at times.

Bang! (W. 32nd Avenue, Denver)
One of my favorite burgers on this list-- very imaginative, with a Swedish oatmeal bun. Rather pricey for a quarter-pound (over $9) but well worth it for flavor; also for the huge slices of red onion and the very nice side salad with equally huge chunks of yellow bell pepper.

Grandpa's Burger Haven (N. Federal Blvd., Denver)
Tasty, with a good balance of spicy and smoky. Reasonbly priced; sort of on the order of Good Times. Very crumbly.

Fatburger (E. Cedar Avenue, Aurora)
A California-based chain, the only one (or one of two) in the Denver area. I didn't like this one very much. Where was the flavor? The meat and cheese, inexplicably, seemed to cancel each other out. Get their milk shakes instead.

Johnny's Diner (S. Havana, Aurora)
A lot of people warned me that this one wasn't very good. Too greasy was the usual complaint. Well, it's been in Aurora for years without me testing it out, so I bit... and, not half bad. Not *that* greasy either, and decently flavored-- rather mild-mannered, not spicy at all. Kind of reminded me of Grandpa's burgers, though less crumbly.

Johnny Rocket's
Johnny's same-named twin brother with more oomph. Definitely got the spiciness that Johnny's Diner lacked, with their Tillamook cheddar cheese and "Red Red" sauce. My favorite is the one with cheddar cheese, hickory sauce and onion rings. Onion rings on a burger. That ought to give you pause.

Chili's
Very tasty, especially their blue cheese burger. Great balance of flavors. But, like Good Times, may want to go easy on the sodium a little.

Zaidy's (14th Street, Denver)
I tried their blue cheese burger, too, but found it inferior to Chili's-- and this in a local restaurant, where I expect better; so I was quite disappointed. I think, though, the fault lies with the inferior blue cheese-- get it wrong, and you have the taste of old sweat socks-- and the iceberg lettuce. I never eat iceberg lettuce anymore. Not even on my burgers.

Red Robin
Similar to Chili's except slightly blander. A little bit less good balance of flavors. A shade too greasy also.

Fuddrucker's
Very bland. Very disappointing. Like at Fatburger's, on this burger the meat and cheese cancel each other out. And there were three different cheeses on there too. How in blazes do you accomplish that?

Michelle's (Tejon Street, Colorado Springs)
Michelle's started out as an ice cream place. And that's the main reason I ate there until one day, on a lark, I decided to try something else. And the mini-burgers-in-a-basket is a delightful surprise. Six little burgers, each different flavored and *very* tasty: original, cheddar, blue cheese, mushroom swiss, pepper jack, and hickory bacon. A tad greasy, but overall delicious.

City Grille (Colfax Avenue, Denver)
About the same price as Bang! but no lovely oatmeal bun-- however, I was *very* much satisfied with their mushroom swiss. Wonderful balance of flavors, fabulous oomph, lovely side salad with raspberry vinaigrette. A definite keeper.

And my favorite is:

Mine!
Yes... by far and away, the best cheeseburger was the one I made myself. To make one, I get a quarter pound of 95% lean beef, and add LOTS of Worcestershite sauce-- about 2 tablespoons per 1/4 pound-- and between 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and black pepper each. Then, after I cook the meat, I add some sharp cheddar cheese... or, if I've been to Whole Foods, some slices of Cave Aged Mammoth Cheddar. Then I put the whole thing on a hearty wheat kaiser roll, and add onions, other veggies, whatever; and of course, a dash of more Worcestershire.

Bon Appétit!

Churches Celebrate Darwin's Birthday, from The Democratic Daily.

From Wisconsin to Georgia, religious folk are celebrating open minds and clear thinking. They're celebrating science. Michael Faraday, Ampère, Carolus Linnaeus and other scientists saw no trouble with being both scientific and religious. Neither do these people.

My favorite quotes in this piece?

"A faith that requires you to close your mind in order to believe is not much of a faith at all.” --Rev. Patricia Templeton

“We believe that among God’s good gifts are human minds capable of critical thought and that the failure to fully employ this gift is a rejection of the will of our Creator." --Michael Zimmerman (et al.), dean, College of Letters and Sciences, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Date:	2006-02-14 20:12
Subject:	Happy Valentine's Day. Get ready for Cheap Candy Day tomorrow.
Security:	Public
Mood:	loved
Music:	"All You Need Is Love"-- Beatles

This month's Elle Magazine has an excellent article about true love and happy marriage-- unfortunately, I couldn't find it on the website.

In the print magazine, it's the article entitled "What Happily Ever After Looks Like." Very smart article. Elle gets some real gems ever so often; last month it was "Why I Left You" from a divorced guy's perspective. *Any* woman who insists that all men are emotional clods would do well to read that piece.

... But anyway, this month's is by the wife of Pulitzer-winning author Michael Chabon, and how she keeps things burning. (Incidentally, though, Elizabeth Edwards could also write such an article. But Southern manners probably keep her from doing so.)

Happy Valentine's, il_pazzo. I sent you an e-card. I hope it gets to you; it's kinda hard for me to find your e-mail address.

Happy Valentine's, also, machka, and girl4edwards04, and hotgirl35, and... well, everybody, but especially jkb. I've got a little something sweet for you. It's in a reply to one of your comments.

And another Valentine, to, incidentally, a food. I ♥ LOVE ♥ No Pudge brownies. You just add one carton of fat-free plain or vanilla yogurt. You never know these brownies have no fat. Richer, chewier, deeper, and more decadent than most fatty brownies I've tried. I don't know how they do it, but they do.

*blows a kiss to the No Pudge company*

Transcribed here, original by Dump Terry McAuliffe.


America's Top 10 Schools For Wingnuttery Majors

Remember the Young Americans for Freedom? They've rebranded themselves as Young America's Foundation, "The Voice of Freedom on Campus."

To help aspiring Karl Roves, Jack Abramoffs, and Ralph Reeds find the right college--and maybe the guy or girl of their dreams--YAF has compiled a list of the Top 10 Conservative Colleges.

YAF is choosy about institutions of higher education, and sets a high bar for inclusion in the Top 10:

They offer coursework and scholarship in conservative thought and emphasize principles of smaller government, strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values. Furthermore, they avoid trends in academe by continuing to study Western Civilization instead of straying toward the study of Marxism, feminism, sexuality, postmodernism, and other modern distractions.

Date:	2006-01-29 15:56
Subject:	An excellent thread on MyDD.
Security:	Public
Mood:	pleased
Music:	"It All Depends"-- Eric Clapton

Dear Senator, welcome to a new dawn is one of the best-written pieces about the Alito filibuster I've come across yet.

Which much thanks to Duke1676.

Because it's not just business as usual.
It's about democracy.
And the rule of law.
And life as we know it.
And courage. Real courage.

( Read on. )

Last week, I was at my parents' house going through my old things and I found the copy of The Handmaid's Tale I read in high school English class. And because I was a glutton for punishment, and because it felt so appropriate after the Alito hearings, I leafed through it.

And it occurred to me that I never really sat down and read it in depth before. I never really paid attention to the details of events that lead up to the Gileadean regime, or the characterization.

That's probably why it scared me for the better part of three days.

I chastise myself for the way I was in high school. I didn't really learn deep comprehension, real immersion into a piece of literature, until college. Until then, I didn't really write anything even approaching innovative or skillful in ways other than simple spelling and grammar.
How embarrassing.

But later on, another thought occurred to me.

( Long story short: A fascistic empire does itself in through sheer medical ignorance. )

Date:	2005-12-29 18:59
Subject:	The Ten Commandments For Romance Novelists (And Readers)
Security:	Public
Mood:	awake
Music:	"Song Sung Blue"-- Altered Images

I first became a fanfic writer in 2001, for Harry Potter. I was aiming to show my love for J.K. Rowling's works and characters, put my imagination to tangible work, and sharpen my writing skills.
Little did I know that fanfic would give me some anticipated, but still surprising, side effects.

Practice crafting an interesting plot led to greater attention paid to plausibility, and where to draw the line between realism and fantasy;
which led to greater importance placed on listening to dialogue, and gauging its "naturalness";
which led to my delving into the concept of character styles and the "voice" of a written piece itself;
which in turn led to a voracious appetite for that highest and noblest of writers' tasks: mastery of characterization.

( Continue with further comments and The Commandments here... )

Date:	2005-11-23 18:32
Subject:	Feelin' the Kerry love... and other bits 'n' pieces.
Security:	Public
Mood:	determined
Music:	"Me, Myself And I"-- De La Soul

Jose Padilla was finally charged today-- after 3 1/2 years in the slammer without formal charges-- with 11 counts of financially supporting Islamic holy war.

Finally.
After all this time.
He's at last got a reason to be in federal prison. An official reason.

... Wonder what took them so long?

... It wouldn't have anything to do with public outrage over the recent Senate suspension of habeas corpus, could it?

... There's not a whole lot of political capital to go around for this administration, after all. Those pesky American people just can't be ignored so easily anymore.

What to do, what to do...



But anyway, here's something I, personally, found a little weird about Padilla:

OMG! He looks just like Tito Jackson!

Next... remember all those nauseating testimonials about how you're supposed to pick a President based on whether you'd have a beer with him?

Well... somebody actually *did* test drive that theory.

And the results weren't as pretty as he-- or any of us-- had hoped:

Reinard likened the encounter with Bush to "being cornered at a company Christmas party by your boss."

"It was like, do you act and drink like normal, or are you on your best behavior?" Reinard said. "Are you up-front with the guy or do you choose your words carefully? What does he want out of you, anyway? Or does he just want to connect with somebody, because it's lonely at the top? You just don't know for sure."

Date:	2005-11-15 17:57
Subject:	From the DKos battlefield
Security:	Public
Mood:	irritated

Kos is a good guy, and he runs perhaps the best site available for news, exposure, and respect for free speech and a multitude of viewpoints.

But I have to shake my head at ANY person who picks up a miscommunicated ball and runs with it the way he does. Like he's done every chance he could with John Kerry.

Even as Kerry clarified his Iraq War position... this otherwise reasonable, right-thinking progressive man still insists on clinging to the "I voted for it before I voted against it" theme.

And nothing's going to stop Kos from his ill-considered run. Not context. Not circumstance. Not knowledge that people change and change their minds-- yes, even 60-year old men.
(Clearly Kerry didn't read his child development bible... his personality and character were supposed to be fixed at seven, forgodsakes! The horror, the audacity that he changes himself NOW!)

Not even knowledge of TWO Iraq War bills, one of which Kerry voted for, the other which he voted against-- which clearly illustrated the top priority for our "Campaigner In Chief". Those tax cuts for the wealthy. That's the only thing he cares about.

Not even THAT can sway Kos from his mission to make Kerry stay put in his Senatorial box and never try to shape the country again.

Anyway, here's one of my responses to the latest thread: "Kos vs. Kerry: The Final Solution."


What would have happened if he HAD become President?

The sound of the trap door of finality in my mind, came not when I saw Kerry trailing.

It was when I saw that the Republicans won just about every heated Senate race.
(Except for Salazar. You really can't call Obama vs. Keyes "heated.)

I'm actually wondering if that was the deciding factor in Kerry's decision to concede. Seeing those Senate results.

He knew then, as I did, that he would have the uphillest of uphill battles with this new, redder Senate.
I would have conceded too.
If it were me, it would have been that much more important to me that my Presidency be an effective one. Where I actually may have a chance of fixing those things I promised I would in the campaign.

If Kerry have won-- WHAT would he have won?
His victory would've been as hollow as Bush's is rapidly becoming. From speculations about whether he really is the legitimate President, to endless gridlock and frustration, to being ripped apart by MSM and all of us alike...

It would have been too painful a presidency for me to wish that on him.

I prefer to watch the Chimp squirm in pain... and let Kerry, like the shadow President he's being now, sound out the voice of reason.


Because that's exactly right. You get the Presidency, you wanna make damn sure it's going to be a GOOD Presidency. Otherwise, all you have is one expensive white elephant.

Date:	2005-11-06 16:20
Subject:	Weird things and belly laughs.
Security:	Public
Mood:	naughty
Music:	"I Didn't Mean To Turn You On"-- Robert Palmer

I've sure been finding some interesting stuff at Super Target lately:


Jones Soda Holiday Pack
This year's Holiday Pack has changed the Mashed Potato, Green Bean Casserole, and Fruitcake sodas to Brussels Sprouts, Herb Stuffing and Pumpkin; though they kept the Turkey and Gravy and Cranberry from last year.

So Go Seasonings
Check out the bottles of lemon and lime juice. They're like potion bottles. Sweet.


Designer peanut butters in flavors like molasses, dark chocolate, spicy Southwestern and Thai.
P.B. Loco has some good flavors, too, like raspberry and banana; and Peanut Butter & Co. has one of my favorites; cinnamon raisin; as well as white chocolate and dark chocolate.

Colgate Max Fresh toothpaste with miniature breath strips. You can SEE them inside the tube-- like little chips of white confetti... or like computer chips in this gel toothpaste. Hi-tech!
Probably will be much loved by the Japanese, who *invented* edible paper.

Also... Target's new Choxie chocolate line could win awards many times over for sheer inventiveness. The chocolate itself tastes OK and is somewhat pricey. I personally would rather hold out for the delectable Santander, which cost me roughly the same amount; but Choxie is decent and I do love innovation. This chocolate is probably lots of fun to manufacture and package.

Also... want a good, hard belly laugh? Check out the latest Democratic Underground hate mail page.
The straight-faced-ness with which Skinner responds to incoherent profanity-and-spittle-spewers is precious. Positively precious:

Dude, you totally pooped in your pants and then wrote to tell me about it.

Body odor? It seems we liberals aren't the ones with the embarrasing sweaty balls problem.

Hush everyone, the freeper is making sounds! Why, if I didn't know any better I'd think he was trying to speak English!

You make conservatives sound like a bunch of rogue erections.

This must be what Christopher Hitchens sounds like when he's drunk.

Date:	2005-11-02 18:30
Subject:	Two thoughts today. One heavy, one light.
Security:	Public
Mood:	cranky
Music:	"Call Of The Wild"-- Tom Tom Club

Well, whaddaya know. For once, Kathleen Parker gets it right. Almost.

Her guest column today in the Denver Post, Juggling the dilemmas of feminism, debunks Maureen Dowd's skin-crawling lament about how men don't like her and wouldn't marry her because she's smart and successful, and men prefer their women malleable, etc.

One of the most level-headed pieces I've ever seen from her. Her. She, who believes you have no charisma unless you adhere rigidly to a personality that's combination Stepford wife and Jack Kennedy. She, who I hold personally responsible for sinking Al Gore. She is from Florida, after all.

Supreme effort from her. But though she doesn't quite drop the ball, she does badly fumble it.

( Close. But still, not quite a cigar. )

Okay... now for the light 'n' fluffy thought:


From lifeandstylemag.hollywood.com



Now doesn't Vince Vaughn look like a perfect morph of John Kerry and Al Gore?

No wonder Jen's fallen for him.

Date:	2005-10-28 09:59
Subject:	A tribute to a great local business
Security:	Public
Mood:	full
Music:	"Tears Of A Clown"-- English Beat

Cook's Fresh Market will be leaving its present location at a ritzy strip mall in Greenwood Village after 5 1/2 years.

Why? It came time to renew their lease... and their new landlord, a New York State-based real-estate company, informed them that if they wanted to stay, they'd have to pay 75 percent more in rent.

Just before the holiday season too.
They just found out about the increase 3 weeks ago. Three weeks.
They'd have to close almost immediately so they could move. They won't be able to move in to their new place until spring.

God, I love it when out-of-state companies throw their weight around and act like they know better for Coloradans than we do. Just like the majority of the ads opposing Referenda C and D come from out-of-state donors. They really understand what's important to us, really. *snerk*

But now, the good news. CFM is having a 40%-off moving sale. If ever you wanted to try duck paté or exotic butter and found it too frivolous to justify to your budget... well, now is the time to do it. Not that I'm a fan of duck paté myself, but I bought lots of cheese.
Lots of cheese. Pyrenees with peppercorns. The grape-flavored Ubriaco. Gourmandise with Kirsch cherry liqueur. Pecorino. Cave-aged Gruyère. And of course, French Roquefort.
They were out of Santander chocolate bars (*sob*) and they didn't have any more house roast beef, otherwise I would've gotten one of my signature sandwiches, with roast beef and buttermilk bleu on wheat, with nothing else-- no seasonings, sauces, no nothing.

I also got the last bottle of mustard seed oil. Hahaha.

(I haven't lived in Wisconsin since 1981, machka. But apparently, you still can't take it out of me. Cheese runs through my blood.)

Good luck, CFM. A true and great Colorado small business. May I wish you much exposure and notoriety in your new location.


From cooksfreshmarket.com