A quick writeup with some photos on my craft blog...

The full work-in-progress photoset!

1/12 scale Tiki Bar album updated... new photos of nearly finished bar and accessories!

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Slight update to books and movies in library database.

After a long and productive* day, linda_a and I catalogued and reshelved our books and videos. And the catalog is now online!

Books were the big project, followed by the DVD collection. The library is nowhere near complete, as we both have more books/movies down in PA and only DVDs are represented.

Looking for a better way to easily add magazines to this library. Currently, it only adds them to the book section, with no comprehensive search or barcode-scanning support. Eventually, I may add custom shelves to sort by genre and drop them into one of these.


* aka "avoiding the important chores."

Rest well, my friend...

The thing about people with no sense of humor is that they actually make me laugh more at their absurdity (well, absurd to me, since I'm partly fueled on laughter and do believe in the old adage that it really is the best medicine).

Case in point: tonight's venture to the market...

Linda and I going to the grocery market is just about exactly what you'd expect... grabbing the necessities, mostly, well, sometimes avoiding impulse buys, and generally having a good time at it (snickering at the squares, joking about spotted dick in cans, etc). And such was the case tonight, as we hit the local Hannaford's for some provisions.

I found what looked like a 6-pack of Kraft Dinner for like three bucks... Now that much mac'n'cheese typically excites the child in me to begin with, but it was so much more than that! This was a 5-pack of Kraft Dinner with some free sample of a pouched juice drink (you know, orange flavor and corn syrup in a foil bag that you stab with a straw the size of a coffee stirrer and hope it penetrates).

I, as usual, invoked my inner 12-year-old and made a big deal out of it to Linda, who was seeking a quick dinner in the healthy frozen section. I decided on some 43-cent burritos! I noticed a woman nearby was giving me the hairy eyeball (dirty look, evil eye, what have you). After some (by "some" I mean "very little") cajoling, Linda agreed to the marketing ploy awesome deal I found and I went to put it in the cart.

Let me interject, as I'm apt to do, and frequently, that despite my sarcasm and silliness, I am generally a very polite and friendly person. Yes, even and especially in public.

As I start to drop it into the cart, she shook her head and said that wasn't ours. Ooops! Standing there was ole evil eye herself. Laughing, I apologized, started towards our cart, and held out the Kraft products and said jokingly, "unless you want it?"

Typically, that would garner a laugh and maybe a short exchange. I've actually had people in the grocery store thank me for making them laugh while doing such a mundane chore.

Nope.

Cranky McPants stared me down; I mean shot daggers (bowies, rapiers, and machetes even) at me for a good 180 degrees as I walked by smiling. Dead hate in her eyes followed me until I completely passed.

Damn.

"You know what I love? . . . People with a sense of humor," I told Linda as we got back to the cart.

We joked about it, wrapped up our shopping, and headed towards the checkout... where I saw Ms Sober and an employee talking and staring me down. As we approached our aisle, Mr. Employee was whispering to the checkout and bagging women, as they too, stared me down... though I noticed when he pointed out the woman, the bagger rolled her eyes (perhaps she has a history of making mountains of molehills).

We checked out all a-smile and thank-you and have-a-great-night as normal people would do. As we loaded the car (Ha! Right across from Lady Hate Eyes), Mr. Employee stood on the sidelines staring me down.

I resisted the urge to wish them a good evening (my sarcasm knows bounds sometimes) and drove off with Linda and our groceries, as we were carefully scrutinized.

I guess most people would be worried, offended, or angered by all of that. Not me. It made for good conversation on the way home with Linda wondering how they'd feel about making us out to be so EVOL! if they knew we had just dropped off a large clothing donation, spent the day cleaning, and that she was a PhD candidate and I work for an educational non-profit.

*shrugs*

May have ruined her evening, but she gave us plenty to laugh about on the way home.

How would you have reacted?

Poll #1399302 just curious
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What date format do you use?

: Erasure playing in the store. :D

*taps screen*

Anyone still here or has faceborg assimilated us all?

: the giant animatronic bison head hath spoken. I fear it.

...well, half of them, anyway. ;)

linda_a and I had a great weekend visit with my nephew and his friend, Mark. Josh (my nephew) had been up to visit before, but it was Mark's first venture into New England. They arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning, travel weary and quite ready to be out of the car. As requested, part of their luggage included a case of Yeungling Lager for dear old Uncle jay!, which we promptly cracked open and enjoyed a few.

Linda had to work Friday, so we had a low-key day getting caught up, running a few errands, and loading cool wares onto Josh's new MacBook. Was good to have some "guy time," and was looking forward to an evening of karaoke with everyone. Linda came home wiped-out from a long week, so she opted to stay home while we went to Yangtze for dinner, drinks, and singing (and an order of General Tso's to go for my lovely). Two of my coworkers joined us for a while, and the merriment was plentiful. So plentiful, in fact, that Josh took to calling his scorpion bowl an "octopus cup," which has, inevitably, led to the creation stages of an actual drink we'll dub the octopus cup. When Linda started texting me about the bottle of rum that showed up mysteriously in the freezer, we knew she was feeling better.

After karaoke, which ends at 11 (which is "late" for up here), we headed home and hung out in front of a fire with Linda while we all noshed on leftovers and planned out the rest of the weekend.

Saturday had us all up by noon somehow and off to Salem, MA (with the obligatory Newbury Comics visit on the way) for some lunch at the Beer Works and some shopping and sightseeing around town. Full of beer, food, and everything closing at 5PM, we headed home. Stopped off for some provisions on the way into town and spent the evening relaxing and watching movies with some homemade pizza.

On Sunday, I enlisted Mark's help to unload the new table and chairs from the Dragon Wagon and he, Linda, and I got it set up while Josh was in the shower. We christened the table with an awesome roasted chicken lunch, courtesy of Linda before heading out for a drive before the guys made the trek home. Josh and Mark picked up some growlers at Beer Works, so we grabbed a cooler at the local Target to get them home safely and retaining their fragile freshness. Afterward, we fed some hankerings for ice cream with a trip to the Kittery Dairy Queen.

We saw the boys off around dinner time and spent the evening relaxing after some quick housework. Josh texted me that he got home safely almost exactly 72 hours after arriving. It was a great, but too short, weekend!

Josh needs to learn that it's a Scorpion Bowl, not an "Octopus Cup."

Only drinks on a Tuesday night when his job's at stake.

: is at the Barley Pub!

Twitter: the drunk-dialing equivalent of blogging.