Today Is NOT Going Well

Oh, Boy... do I EVER hate it when this happens...

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Saturday...

... got off to a rocky start.  I overslept, to begin with, and missed all but four minutes of the first period of the Wings' game.  So... I stumble in to the living room, switch on the teevee and go immediately to the kitchen to start the coffee, only to find my coffee pot has gone belly-up.  That's not a way to begin yer day, lemmee tell ya.  So we boiled water on the stove and carefully poured it through the grounds we'd already loaded in the pot and... Walla!  Coffee.  Finally.

So it'll be off to Wally-World later today to buy a new pot.  This one lasted 1,468 days... quite a bit longer than the 875 days of its predecessor.  (I know the exact number of days because (a) I blog stuff like this and (b) I go here and punch in the appropriate dates.

You'll note that's less than a year ago, but my coffee pot went belly up... again... this morning.  So we did that "boil and pour" thing again this morning afternoon.  My neighbor comes over just as I was pouring my first cup and asks if I have a drill he can borrow, to which I replied "Why, sure!"

So we go into the utility room and rummage around in our boxes, tool and otherwise, looking for a drill I couldn't find.  But I DID find a quart container of oil that had mysteriously ruptured and leaked about a half-quart all over the contents of one of the aforementioned boxes, leaving me with a world-class mess that has yet to be cleaned up.  I have NO ideer where my drill might be hiding and this troubles me.  I also hate to think about going into that box and wiping oil off the contents... motivation is severely lacking in that space.

I suppose Mama said there'd be days like this, but on a SUNDAY?  And Mom's Day, to boot?  Aiiieee.

Oh.  One more thing: my new coffee pot will NOT be made by Mr. Coffee.

Happy Mom's Day

The seventh iteration of our annual Mother's Day post.

Happy Mother's Day

 

Ah…dog poop. Probably one of the (very) minor reasons my second marriage failed…coz The Second Mrs. Pennington was largely in charge of the particularly odious chore — following behind three dogs, including two pretty good-sized ones — let’s say about 90% of it. And she never hesitated to point out that fact to me. 

[...]

The Mom’s Day image comes from new-to-me blog TGAW…who has great pics of Glacier National Park, in addition to providing me with this “wouldn’t it be great but it would NEVER frickin’ happen in real life” Mom’s Day illustration. Thanks, TGAW!!

Remind me to write about Glacier…some day.

But, seriously. Happy Mother’s Day to all my favorite Moms, and even to those who aren’t my favorites. I’ll remain cryptic on that last.

Call yer Mom!  Or better yet, give her a big hug and a kiss if you still can.  There comes a time in life when she won't be around, ya know.

My last is still true.

Apropos o' Not Much

Our reader o' many names and I had the following exchange in comments:

Yellow Bird watcher 10 May, 2014 03:26
I think she was 18 if my memory is any good. That was a weird movie, but I find myself singing those lyrics at odd times. I like those pub songs when everyone sings together. I was in a pub in England that had a piano and every night someone would just plop down and start playing some old sing-along song. I used to look around and try to find me my own yellow bird... British women are so funny. I found they mature earlier than American girls. At least more fun to date.

Buck 10 May, 2014 11:45
I was safely (?) married when I did my three years in Ol' Blighty but I'll agree that I ran into more than a few head-turners during my time there. As for the singing... one of the most memorable moments during my three years in Britain was singing Christmas carols in the Old Bar of the Royal Standard of England with the proprietor, his wife, and about six other folks I'd never met, all before a roaring fire and by candle light. It was a truly a "ya hadda be there" type of moment.

Buck 10 May, 2014 11:46
"... singing Christmas carols..." on Christmas Eve. Left that bit out

That exchange prompted me to go find that link to the RSoE (the history is a great good read).  While I was there I took the "virtual tour" and a screen shot of the Old Bar, just for fun and old times' sake.  Here's the Old Bar:

There's no electricity in the Old Bar (or there didn't use to be; the screenshot seems to show an electric light chandelier but I'm quite certain it wasn't there when I was); candle light is all ya get, that and the warm glow of the fire, which is always burning during winter.  One of the better things about the RSoE was the fact it was about a 20 minute drive from where I lived in High Wycombe and only about a 35 minute drive from my place o' bid'niz at RAF Uxbridge.  The Second Mrs. Pennington and I visited the pub often, as did my colleagues and I during the work day (they do a very good "pub lunch").  The Royal Standard was also a "must-do" whenever visiting dignitaries came to Uxbridge, which was often, given our London location.  You'd be amazed at how many visits happened during the Thursday-through-Monday time period... never let it be said the AF doesn't recognize a good boondoggle.

So.  My very favorite pub, evah.

Saturday: Aren't We Glad Winter's Over!

You have to stay to the very end to get it.



This vid isn't from the Usual Source of the Saturday vids, mainly coz all the stuff there was pretty lame this week.  YMMV, of course.

Sleep Tight, Tokyo, USAF Is On Alert

Believe it or don't... from a link at the Usual USAF Source:



Which city is Godzilla attacking in the latest movie, anyway?  Enquiring Minds™ wanna know.

The back story of this vid is here.

The Mouths of Babes

Ramirez got that right. 

In other news... we're near a new "personal best" when it comes to sloth and indolence, what with pouring our first cup today at precisely 1252 hrs.  I really do hate it when this happens.

In Today's Mail

A box of Partagas 1845s in the Double Corona size, along with a freebie... two Partagas-branded "old fashioned" glasses of a rather unique design.  Like this:

I'll burn one of these during After Dinner Whiskey Hour this evening and I shall take said whiskey in one of these most-interesting vessels.  The glasses have round bottoms (as you can plainly see) and they're billed as being able to facilitate the swirling of your beverage of choice, all the better to bring out the "nose" in your libation.  We'll see how that plays out.

Added, somewhat later:  I didn't realize how unique the packaging was on these sticks until I unloaded them into the humidor.  The box is very well done, like this:

There's a bright white exterior box emblazoned with the Partagas logo which contains a glass and wood interior box.  The glass top is two-thirds frosted glass... with the logo worked into the frosted bits... and one-third plain glass; the top slides off to allow access to the cigars themselves.  Overall?  Big points for presentation value; I hope the cigars smoke as well as they look.

Added, 2000 hrs:  Salud!

We've only just begun with the cigar but the initial draw or three were quite lovely.  That's a couple o' fingers of 15 year old Glenlivet in the glass, which works as advertised.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack

Heart, with Nancy Wilson on lead vocal...



Ah... the Wilson sisters.  EVERYONE was in love with Nancy back in the day and she was/is most certainly a fine looking woman.  Me?  I had the hots for Ann, seein' as how I've always leaned toward the zaftig types.  That said, all those other guys might have been right as Nancy appears to have aged much better than Ann.  But, hey!  A classic case of "now and then," eh?

Heh

Mr. Kelley is on about this, just in case you've been out of touch for the past couple o' days.

And then there's this...

Everything old is new again.

Practical Advice

The Ol' Man had a print of this illustration hanging behind his bar for years...

The literal translation from the French is "never drink water," that being an object lesson I took to heart... and I thought I'd share it with you, Gentle Reader.  I continue to be amazed at the stuff you can find on these inter-tubes, assuming you know how to look.

No Outdoor Happy Hour Today

It's warm, in the low 80s.  It's bright, with only a few clouds in the sky.  But it's NOT a nice day outdoors because the wind is up again.  Note:

The NWS or the boys out at Cannon will prolly change the status icon to "haze" pretty soon which is code for "blowing dust."  Full disclosure: I've actually seen that "blowing dust" status but it's rare.  Here's what that wind advisory sez:

...Wind Advisory remains in effect until 8 PM MDT this evening...
* location...much of central...south central and eastern New Mexico. This includes the Albuquerque Metro area.
* Winds...southwest 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 50 mph.
* Timing...winds will increase speed steadily through early afternoon...with wind speeds peaking from 3 p.M. Onward. Wind speeds will decrease after midnight.
* Visibility...reduced to 5 miles in areas of blowing dust...with local reductions to 3 miles or less in dust prone areas.
* Local impacts...hazardous cross winds will impact travel on east to west oriented roads...especially for large or tall vehicles. Sudden reduction in visibility due to blowing dust may make driving hazardous. Airborne loose objects may be tossed across roads. 

As I said: not nice.

I Got It!

From the Usual USAF Source...

Air Frame: The US Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team performs during the Virginia International Tattoo's Virginia Art Festival on April 23, 2014, at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va. The festival is VIT's signature event in honor of Vietnam veterans and their families. (Air Force photo by A1C Devin Scott Michaels)

Drill teams tossing M1 Garands (with bayonets!) around like toothpicks always impress the Hell outta me.  I also wonder how many "training accidents" happen during the making of said drill teams.

The Things You Learn On These Inter-tubes

From the Urban Dictionary:

the fear of an empty glass - manifests itself in a number of circumstances and the symptoms can be uncomfortable at best, downright terrifying at worst.

That's one affliction I'm not in danger of suffering.  So far.

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack: A Musical Point-Counterpoint

Otis Redding, with the point:

So darling, darling
Stand by me, oh stand by me
Oh stand, stand by me
Stand by me

Yeah, I know... Ben E. King's version is the one most people are familiar with, but I like Otis' version a lot better.  YMMV.


And The Clash, with the counter-point:

Did you stand by me
No, not at all
Did you stand by me
No way

I suppose this might could be a "Jane, you ignorant slut" kinda moment, eh?  Or not.  You decide.  Me?  I'm goin' back out to the verandah.  Beer me!

Cubes

As in, cubicles.  Didja ever wonder how that monstrous interior architecture of the modern bid'niz world came to be?  Wonder no more... just read this book review ("Away From My Desk") by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker.  An excerpt:

Throughout the nineteen-seventies and eighties, especially during periods of recession, employees were moved from offices to cubicles. “Dilbert,” written by Scott Adams, who worked in a cubicle for seventeen years, began appearing in 1989. “Most business books are written by consultants and professors who haven’t spent much time in a cubicle,” Adams wrote. “That’s like writing a first-hand account of the experience of the Donner party based on the fact that you’ve eaten beef jerky. Me, I’ve gnawed an ankle or two.” Cubicles, like companies, downsized. “Those three walls had once been meant to liberate office workers, to guarantee their autonomy and freedom,” Saval writes. “But they had finally taken on the image that they have today: the flimsy, fabric-wrapped, half-exposed stall where the white-collar worker waited out his days until, at long last, he was laid off.” In 1997, when BusinessWeek’s editorial staff began the move into cubicles, the magazine reported not only that “some 35 million of the 45 million white-collar workers in this country” were working in cubicles but also that, in a single decade, the size of the average cubicle had decreased by as much as fifty per cent.

I did my time in cubes and that time was less than pleasant.  I think the very best perk of being promoted from "individual performer" to manager was getting an office... a real room with four walls and a door.  Like this:

My place o' bid'niz in Ra-cha-cha, NY, 1998.

But there were (and prolly still are) companies who put almost everyone, up to and including VPs, in cubes.  I know, I worked for one, said one bein' the web start-up in SFO that was my last place o' bid'niz.  There were only two people in the entire company who had hard-wall offices: the CEO and the CFO.  All the rest of us sat in cubes... low-walled cubes.  Like this:

In the office, c. 2000.

That setting wasn't all that bad, mainly coz I had good neighbors and, being senior to all the people around me, I got to choose the music we listened to while we worked (you take the perks you're given, no matter how small they seem).  Another perk at that company: a very relaxed dress code, as you can see.  It was a pretty cool place to work before the dot-bomb implosion ripped our world apart.  But that's quite another story.

We digress.  The evolution of office space is what we're on about and Ms. Lepore's article is a good read for those of us interested in that sort of thing.  Go, read.

A BONE For You

From the Usual USAF Source, of course...

Air Frame: A B-1B Lancer, assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess AFB, Texas, takes off during Green Flag 14-6 on April 24, 2014, at Nellis AFB, Nev. (Air Force photo by SrA. Christopher Tam)

Speaking of bones... I thought long and hard (heh) about posting this video, wherein this guy un-boxes a Sybian he bought as a Mother's Day present for HIS MOM.  I kid thee not, that's exactly what he says on several different occasions.  The video is work-safe, I suppose, in that there aren't any blatantly pornographic aspects to the vid at all.  But the very IDEER is quite unsettling and therefore might not be work safe.  So, after all that thinking I decided not to go there but you can if ya wanna, coz the vid is amusing and laugh-out-loud funny, in parts.  But still and even... HIS MOM?

News You Prolly WON'T Use

Didja know the Denver Post has a pot cannabis column ("pot" is déclassé now, all the cool kids say "cannabis") ?  They do.  Like this:

That's a screen shot, click to embiggen.  The column is pretty well done... mixing news, reviews, cooking recipes (?), and humor in a pleasing way.  I'm reasonably impressed.

In other news...  We're on our way to our first 90+ degree day today.

The WX looks good for the rest of this week and beyond... ergo, my beer and cigar consumption is due for a major up-tick. That's not a bad thing.

Hey Kids! What Time Is It?

It's VERANDAH time*!

We're gonna flirt with 90 big-ass degrees today.  Beer me!

*If you're "of a certain age" there's a better than even chance you immediately thought about this.

Saturday: What Would I Do Without Fallon?

I think I might have to start watching the Tonight show.  Everything Fallon does seems to be first-class, even the frickin' hip-hop he has here, a genre to which I devote zero time and/or interest.  I have no ideer who this Emma Stone person is... she's cute enough, and talented... but she's in desperate need of more than a few cheeseburgers.  None the less... this is good stuff.

And there's this...



Ooooh!  Döner kebab!  I haven't had one of those in freakin' YEARS.  I dunno about you, Gentle Reader, but I always used to end up at Denny's (for breakfast!) during my bar-closing days in the USofA.  Other après-bar places varied, depending on what country I was in, but when I was in Nippon an after hours sushi bar was always the ticket.

Broadening Our Horizons LXXX

I thought I posted about this beer before but a search of the EIP archives brought no joy.  So let's correct this oversight...

That would be a Widmer Hefeweizen, a delicious and oh-so-summery sort o' brew that's just perfect for this oh-so-summery kinda day.  I tend to drink a lot o' wheat beers during the summer months and, as I said, today is damned near a perfect summer's day.  My go-to hefeweizen is normally Franziskaner, but the local likker locker was fresh out when I made my beer run earlier today.  So... it's Widmer, which is not a bad second choice.

I mentioned today is damned near perfect.  How perfect?  Like this:

All the windows and the door have been flung wide open... so now it's out to the verandah to enjoy that cigar, a couple o' these hefeweizens, and my very own music.  Life's pretty good.