Saturday, January 31, 2009

a quick tour

This is a pomello. When I ask people if they've ever eaten one, they typically look at me as if I'm from outer space. This is a relatively small one, next to an ordinary pen for size reference:
 

Peeling it is a bit of work. It's worth it. It has a lot of thick white stuff; it feels like you're tearing hair out of someone's head. Peel these when you're really mad at someone who's not bald yet.
 


The membrane stuff peels right off, the inner cells don't break and run like an orange or lemon might. They're easy to pull out and eat, and the taste is amazing. It's a mild grapefruit taste without any bitterness and sweet without being overly sweet. It's wonderful. Try it or I'll pull your hair out.
 
Posted by Picasa

Friday, January 30, 2009

Interesting find on Crispin Glover

He truly is a s creepy as Blagojevich.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A series of bad decisions...

Alrighty, a quick story I just remembered last night at Jack in the Box. It explained why I finally had to give up my treasured Ford Explorer Sport. I loved that car, two doors, zippy engine, short enough where I could truly see out the back to park, pop out windows that my dog couldn't jump out of in the back seat. Loved that car.

So, my story. I was home sick for a few days, wanted something other than orange juice or chicken soup to eat, and madly craving a soda in a paper cup with ice and a straw. Not kidding. Why is it that soda in to-go packaging appeals to me so much more than at home in a glass? I even like the sound the ice makes in the cup. But I digress.

I'm sick, in my jammies, don't even bother to put on shoes, I put the dog in the car, off we go to the drive through, yay! I want some of those 2 for a dollar tacos and a big diet coke to go! It's pouring down rain at night and this is what happens after I place my order in the drive-through:

My car dies. Dead.

Honk honk from behind, panic panic, a wave of feeling completely lame, and a large desire to start crying comes and goes in a flash. I look at what I'm wearing and it's horrifying. I'm in mis-matched pajamas, no shoes, no leash for the dog, no coat, no umbrella, what the fuck was I thinking? Honk honk honk.

For no reason at all my car started up after a few minutes. I got my grub and skeedaddled home. The end, that's my Explorer JITB story.

The problem could not be replicated at the dealer no matter how many times I brought it in, and it died on me a couple of times after that. I ended up trading it in on my Mountaineer which I adore, but wish it came in a 2 door.

RIP Explorer:
From I like cars

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Monday, January 26, 2009

Evidence

Here's proof. Among other things, I learned that it is impossible for me to paint with my mouth closed, and that ladders can be rented. I don't want to hang up any pictures on my pristine walls now.
From PaintingProject

Separated at birth?

Does Rod Blagojevich = Crispin Glover? They're both creepy and have a hairline down to the middle of their foreheads..

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Three day weekend update

G ary and I saw Slumdog Millionaire last weekend. What an awesome movie. We also started painting my hallway. This is only the tip of the paintberg. I am painting the living room and the hallway. The hallway is a real PITA since it has 6 doors to paint with trim. The living room has three walls that go up 14 feet skeery!

Painted last night after work. Tonight, I'll be painting after work. Tomorrow, hmm wonder what I'll be doing.

I was so tired this morning I put the coffepot back in the fridge.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

I just wonder..

Did anyone remember to use their seat as a flotation device, and did it help at all? And how soon before they get back on a plane? I just wonder.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Girl's Night Out

And it's not like you'd think, there's no gossipy high voicy cackling in our pack. A bunch of cool chicks having drinks and relaxing. Last night was fun, and the storytelling was especially enjoyable. I just love a good story. My friend Debs came up with this monthly GNO and it's pure genius. Just what the doctor ordered.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Tangerines

Home grown tangerines are incredible, but I guess eating 15 in one day is excessive. So excessive that I had hives by the evening and I was itchy twitchy last night. I still have some on my scalp, no that little scratch does not mean dandruff. It means citrus. Or something.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Back from England

Jetlag. It's not just a buzzword, it's real. And it's kicking my ass. I keep getting up between 3:30 - 4 a in the effing m. I can't stay awake past 9pm, just can't. So here I am waiting to go to work.

Okay, so England. Went to a lot of pretty places there, parks, a castle, London, the Ritz, and some neat pubs. We stayed at a flat that belonged to a relative of Gary's, that was away on vacation. They let us use their car too. It was right along the Thames (pronounced tims) river in Kingston Upon Thames. The flat was very nice and clean and charming. Here are some oddities I found interesting:
  • No central heat in the flat, only radiators, and there was no radiator in the master bedroom
  • No freezer in the house!
  • No shower, and the tub is raised, narrow and long.
  • Separate hot and cold water faucets
  • No clothes dryer, they use a drying closet, and then iron a bunch of stuff
  • No plug outlets in the bathrooms. Cords for hairdryers and curling irons are 6-7 feet long
  • TV stations go off the air at night
  • People are so used to the cold there, I was freezing and they were sitting on benches chatting on cell phones and not even bothered by the cold. I saw the neighbors standing in the back yard in short sleeves, drinking beers with frost on the grass.
Things I found interesting in the grocery store there:
  • Their whole milk is our half and half. People drink half and half there ha ha. Lots of heavy cream and clotted cream. They love their dairy.
  • Cheese is really cheap there. What we'd pay $4-5 for brie, goes for about a dollar there
  • The whole store was full of appetizer type food, and ready to eat dinners. Lots of Indian food.
  • Vitamins (they say vitt a mins) come in glass containers.
  • Not much green in the produce department.
  • More varieties of potato chips (crisps) than I've ever seen in my life. Flavors such as prawn cocktail, roast chicken, and their BBQ flavor tastes like smoke, and nothing at all like our BBQ chips
  • You have to put a dollar (pound) coin in the shopping cart to unlock it, and you only get it back if you return the cart to the cart area
  • They charge you to park at the parking lot at the grocery store
  • You have to bag your own groceries and the clerks at the registers sit in chairs
We took the train to London a couple of times, and it's very relaxing if you get a seat. The above ground train station has shops in it and the vending carts sell beer. The underground trains in London make you feel like you're a mole walking from tunnel to tunnel with turns and stairs down and up. I had no idea where I was at any given time once we went down to the underground trains.

People love their dogs there. I never saw a loose dog anywhere.

We stayed at Weir Cottage at Leeds Castle in Kent on New Year's Eve and the night following. It was a (now) funny ordeal when we got there. We got there at dark (4pm ish) and after getting through the main gate, and driving down the dirt road to the cottage, we find that the key doesn't work. Oh yeah, skeleton keys are still used over there. We drove back to the main gate where the guard walkie talkied the maintenance man. After a 15 minute wait in the car he informs us that the maintennce man will meet us at the cottage, "he's up a ladder at the moment"
About 20 minutes later, maintenance man shows up. He tries our key like we are key impaired. After it doesn't work, he decides that he needs to go get his keys! We wait another 20 minutes ( in the car, cold) for him to return with his keys which do not work. He calls a locksmith whom we wait 30 minutes for. Locksmith gets his ladder to crawl in through an upstairs window which is not latched. Another hour later, a new lock is installed on the door (all the time working with the door open) Brrr, now we get to start to warm up the place. The cottage is adorable, but I was glad we brought the electric blanket Gary bought for me for the flat. We drove over to the castle to enjoy the midnight fireworks show that was spectacular.
We spent the next day exploring the castle and the grounds. The castle has black swans there, one was pretty friendly so we took too many pictures of him. Leeds castle has the only Dog Collar Museum. The collars were impressive.

We went to the National Gallery In London one afternoon and saw original Van Gogh's and Monet's paintings. No photos allowed inside, so I could only take pics in the foyer.

We drove in to London one evening to enjoy an elaborate dinner at the Ritz, complete with champagne and live music. We lingered as long as we could in the dining room, then had a cocktail in their bar. Photos are not allowed inside, so all the bad photos were a result of us sneaking pictures.

We spent another day in London walking about and taking photos. We went up in the London Eye, which is how we got the aerial shots. The Eye is totally worth the price and was a nice, warm and slow bubble where you could see most of London. We walked through London's Chinatown, I looked everywhere for "Lee Ho Fooks" as mentioned in Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London song, but it's not there anymore.

We went to an out of the way pub for some pub fare and beer. Their pints are imperial pints which are 22oz, not 16, bless their hearts. The weirdest food I ate and liked, was called whitebait. Yes it has bait in the name and I ate it. It's tiny little fish fried and you eat them whole. They're so small there's no detectable bones or scales. Their little eyes are still there ha ha. It was yummy.

The cars there are all weird. I didn't see one pickup truck while I was there. They have Ford cars there, but they have models not sold in US. GM has a line called Vauxhall or something, there. I saw one and only one Corvette that was parked in someone's driveway.

The sun doesn't rise very high in the sky there, and the days were pretty short. It never rained or snowed the 8 days I was there. It was just about freezing in the mornings and just under 40 degrees during the day.

There was hardly any fat or bald people there. Smoking is not allowed inside there now either, so that was nice.

That's all for now, I'll write about my flight home hell later. The flight out there was very easy. Not so much the way home

Search This Blog

currently reading


Popular Posts

#Sharongeti on Instagram

Sharondippity

Philofaxy

Search This Blog

Archive