Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

There are fungus gnats in our house plants...and it's getting ridiculous. I don't know where they came from but by god...they're everywhere. They live off fungus in the plants from over watering...there used to be the odd one, but for some reason all of a sudden, they're on the advance. They're only in some of the plants but I can't go in a room without seeing one flutter by, and it's getting annoying. I'd like to leave a glass of water out and not have to look at it when I pick it up and check for little tiny flies.

Last night was soap up the plants with pet safe insecticidal soap and put sticky traps in them. I will continue to soap them up every week until they are gone. If the weather ever warms up I can take the plants outside, hose them down with insecticide and repot them. Until then...I must fight the good fight.

My house, not theirs...

Pity this

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Bea Arthur, queen of the golden girls, and sarcastic dame extrordinaire has passed away from cancer. She added a lot of laughter to the world. I loved her for her sarcasm.

The world is indeed a poorer place...

Weekend of music

Imagine if Bjork and Tears For Fears got together for a night of passion that resulted in a love child. Then teach this child to play a theremin, and get him writing his own electronic influenced music. Add in a crazy smile and a lot of talent and you'd have Shamone - a local guy who played a lot of his stuff on friday night, opening for DJ Check. Shamone is a fantastic guy, and I knew he did some interesting music of his own when he wasn't just plain old DJing...and we finally got to hear the music he's been working on when we went out friday night. Very cool stuff...unique, and hard to define. I stand by the description I gave him...it's the closest description of his music I can think of...
And he played a theramin.
Seriously...I've never seen a working theremin before...neato. J has always wanted one, but they're not easy to track down...let alone get a MIDI one that will interface with electronic sound equipment. Hell, *I* want on now just to play with and make lazer sounds with...:)

On other music news - there's a new Gomez album.
And I'm really digging the latest Mr. Scruff album, Ninja Tuna. Not only is Mr. Scruff a good DJ, his original songs and remixes are really good...but he also sells tasty tea and likes to draw squiggly happy cartoons. What's not to love? Check him out :)


Have a toe tapping day! :)

Crash!

Dear interweb,

I have lots to say but you keep crashing and losing my posts.

Bad interweb.
No blog for you.

Geo

Brrrr

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It's supposed to snow saturday.
Awha?

What is going on here? It's chilly out today (-1)...spring is supposed to be here dammit. I've had enough of this quazi warmish nonsense. I'm not asking for much...just 5 degrees below the seasonal norm for more than a day would be nice. Heck, maybe even (gasp) a regular day...you know? With sunshine and the whole bit.

SUNSHINE please.
Stat.

Having some fun with picture pages

I used the Flickr picture mosaic tool to do this meme: Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.Using only the first page, pick an image. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker).

The Questions:

1. What is your name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One Word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name

Here's a link to all the talented people whose images I snarfed to make this: 1. my name, 2. Pancakes, 3. Caronport, 4. Yellow, 5. David Tennant, 6. Beer, 7. India, 8. Crème brulee, 9. Scientist, 10. Music, 11. Happy, 12. Mrs. PotatoHead

I find the "sweet transvestite" photo of David Tennant absolutely hilarious...

Cockadoodleydoo!

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Due to some odd administrative cockup, I just learned that I have 10 holiday days I didn't know about that have accumulated up for me over the last year and a half. Since I can't use them up by the end of the month I carry them over to this upcoming year...giving me SIX FREAKING WEEKS of holidays to take this year!


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hot damn and hallelujah.

Knock on Wood

My friend and her fiance just bought a new house - signed the papers conditional on inspection last night. Well not *new* new, but new to her...built in 1979. It's really a lovely place...just outside of town so I'll have to drive a bit to see her, but I'm glad for her and her man. They've come through a lot of hard times together and come out smiling in the end...and have been looking for a place for a while, as their rent keeps going up and is basically a mortgage...so why pay that when you can live in your own home. The trick is house prices have been so stupidly elevated that they've been having trouble finding something in their price range with enough rooms for them and his kids. They don't want the world, just a simple, well kept home. Finally they did...a cute house that needs no work and is really nice.
BUT...
Trick is, following home inspection it turns out it has a wooden foundation. Now apparently there is nothing wrong with that - it's in good shape and all. I just didn't know you could MAKE a house with a wooden foundation. They're going to check that it is in good shape and if so, will buy it, but I am rather surprised at this - do any of you know anything about wooden foundations? I didn't realise they could be done...apparently with proper building materials and drainage they're just fine. I don't know how it all works. I wonder if they'll be doing the right things getting a house with this kind of foundation...maybe they'll have to fix it later. I wonder how many years they last...and if they go to sell it years from now if it will be a hinderance.

Anyone know anyone with a wooden foundation? Are they happy/sad/indifferent/soggy?

They're trying to celebrate, but this sort of puts and edge on things...if it were me I probably wouldn't get the place. But I have the worst luck of anyone I know...and I already have a house I love and fortunately don't have to make this decision. We bought before the market went insane. Finding a home that you can afford should not be so difficult...

A night full of surprises

This weekend involved a great deal of family stuff and more food than any one person has any right to ingest, but it was good. At the end of it all, on the recommendation of my brother in law, we watched the movie Crank. I knew nothing about it and hadn't even heard of it before this.

I was very impressed. I like the main actor from his role in the Transporter (another action movie I would recommend). Crank was an intelligent action movie...and the editing shooting style was very stylish and jagged...but in a *good* way. It wasn't distracting...it *added* to the story. You often say things from the perspective of the main character...a hitman who is given a poison - so that his life can only be extended by adrenaline. We watch as he continues to find many unusual ways to stay alive with adrenaline rushes so he can help protect his girlfriend and and get vengeance. It's a crazy ride. Extreme in a lot of ways, but man...I have to say it was fresh, and interesting and one of the best action movies I've seen in a long time. I giggled with coolness a few times :) I'd highly recommend it. Apparently there is a sequel out for it...shot in the same style, with the same main actor. Not sure how it would work, given how this one ended, but hey. I'm in. :)

Today I am off to get back into daily life...I have no desire to eat ever again *still* but I"m sure by lunch my stomach will be mumbling away. Too many meals and snacks with family events...tasty, but man. I could do with a carrot or two :)

Friday favourites - Doctor Who

David Tennant



*would*

Warning: venting ahead

For you. Yes you who has a sheet of 8X11 paper that I have needed desperately for 3 weeks...maybe take a short class in HOW TO USE A FRACKING FAX MACHINE!

It's not rocket science. Don't you have a secretary/coworker/ANYONE near you who could help? A bum on the street perhaps that you could get to come in and push the shiny buttons for you? And here's a thought - If it hasn't worked for you for this long, maybe look into it? And perhaps find another way to get it to me instead of just doing it wrong again and again?

I could have walked over and gotten it by now for fracks sake...

Rediculous...

Double Oh

Missicat had a post about films, particularly the crappiness of "chick" films...and then posed the question: Sean Connery or Daniel Craig as the best Bond?
To me, Craig's Bond is the most like the books. He plays Bond as I imagined him to be. And so help me...those eyes. Add in an accent and a tuxedo and...yeah.
It works for me...

Mmmm...ChIPs

Because I'm always not very observant, I forgot friday was a stat holiday when planning out my work week...so I planned a 3 day Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)experiment...starting Wednesday.

Yeah. Oops.

Sooooooo here I am at the crack of dawn in the lab, doing the last 2 days of the ChIP assay in one, so I don't have to come in tomorrow to finish things.

Longest. Day. Ever.

So.
Tired...

All you need is love

Yah dah da da daah!

These happy people are my friends Heather and Larry. Heather is an amazing smart woman - a great friend (she even works in a lab...we are too much alike). I (and many others) have never been able to figure out why she had not found someone as amazing as her to spend her life with. Then a few years ago she met Larry- and yup, it was love. We all think he's great, and I know I'm happy to see the two of them so much in love and so happy.

And (me hee) the two of them just got engaged!
CONGRATULATIONS hotstuff.

Champagne all around :)

All good things must come to an end...

Last night was my last tribal class until the fall (sniff). We were encouraged to dress up tribal style, so I dug out an old 10 yard swirly hippy skirt and matching crop choli top and wrapped a bit of a scarf/turban around my head. I found a sparkly red bindi and wore my sparkly red belly jewellery that is shaped like a sun that rings the belly button...cool. I seldom get to wear it (J found it hilarious, that with all this I wore my yellow rubber boots out to the car...) Our teacher even had face makeup and painted our eyes and cheeks up with tribal markings. Not everyone dressed up but I LOVE costumery of ANY kind so I was right in there. It reminded me of a grown up costume/slumber party :)

It was a 2 hour dance party...lots of fun. Our teacher taught us the basics of zills and moving with zills (she brought enough for everyone to try), a bit of stomach undulations and then we had some tasty snacking while her troupe prepped a bit. Yum. After that, those of us that wanted to be involved could be in the chorus for some group dancing, with trios and pairs going forward to do some moves...I joined, as I thought it would be fun. I got paired up with my teacher which was fun...I just had to follow her moves, and she stuck to stuff she knew I knew...it was all low pressure just for fun, so it didn't matter if we got it "right" or not - it was just for the joy of dancing. After that (while we snacked some more...ahem) our teacher and two of the pro dancers from her troupe put on a bit of a short show...even did some sword dancing.

So.
Cool.
After there was a bit of a group dance and then we even got to try balancing a sword on our head to try it out (yup I was right in there). I wish I'd brought our camera...oh well. People say they'll send me some photos. We shall see. Our teacher gave all of us who danced last night a flower to wear when we dance (it's tradition for tribal dancers to wrap their head up in a turban and wear flowers and pins...now I have my first flower :) ) My instructor invited me to take classes with the beginner performance troupe in the fall - I'm quite excited. The performance classes are through a dance studio sot hey cost more, but they are 1 1/2 hours long so you really get to focus in on things...and do more zills and trio work. I can't wait for fall :)

Right now I'm trying to concentrate on work and figuring out what is going on this weekend. I forgot it was easter so we made plans saturday night...plus both our families have made plans sunday, involving us and giving us stuff to do without asking first. *sigh* So tonight I must talk to everyone and figure out just what the heck is going on this weekend. If we can't do our initial plans it will be interesting enough here...I hope we can though. Our good friends are bringing in a bunch of DJs on saturday night and we'd like to be there, but unless we confirm the details it's a no go...the annoying thing about email and cell phones is you think it would be easier to get a hold of people...not so much. Hopefully it all works out. We shall see. I'm in such a good mood at the moment I won't mind either way in the end...

Off to the lab for some shinanegans. Cheerio my good peeps.

Thundercats are go!

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Playground Antics

To celebrate my victory in Laboratoria, I made a pecan chocolate tart thingymabob, made from a recipe everyone at work has been drooling at in a magazine. Basically sugar, eggs and butter and nuts in a springform pan with a crust made of more butter and sugar and eggs...like a huge nutty pecan pie.

Oh. Yeah. It was good.

Now I have enough sugar in me to fuel an entire playground of 3 year olds, so must twitch away all day until I can go home and relax. J's last nightshift is tonight so very soon, I will see him :) Awake and everything. Yay.

Have a great day my fine peeps.
I'm off do do a little mad science!

Violet Hill (Dancing Politicians)

Dance my minions dance!

Muahahahahaaaa!


Just a little politics for a thusday morning....

Dare

I am currently eating a pumpkin muffin after dancing around my living room listening to this song uberloudly.

Ah. Yes.
Gorillaz...

I have made it this far. I have become king.

I did it.
It worked great.
Only one more to do tomorrow and it's all done.

I am the queen of Laboratoria
That is all...

Wo. Yeah. Uh. I Am A Scientist

I have to do a really expensive hideously technical experiment today that cannot fail. Specially ordered in all expensive like for me to run.
As a bonus, I am using irreplacable samples...that I only have enough of to do the thing once, even if we had more $$ to buy more reagents.

So yeah. No pressure or anything.

I've prepped, but I'm just fidgeting and putting off the inevitable.

I don't wanna.


*deep breath*
Well....here' goes...