Florida community wants to evict 6-year-old:

Kimberly, a 6-year-old in the custody of her grandparents, is facing eviction by local law enforcement because her grandparents live in a retirement community. The child has lived in the house her whole life, as her mother is unable to care for her due to unspecified drug problems. Now authorities plan to remove the girl from the only home she’s ever known and place her in foster care with strangers due to a homeowners association policy.

Kimberly’s grandparents, Jimmy and Judie Stottler, have been unable to sell their home and move elsewhere due to the housing market crash. The Stottlers have even lowered the price from $225,000 to $129,000, willing to get completely hosed on the move just to keep their family intact, but no one is buying. The battle has been going on for several years, the better portion of Kimberly’s life, but the Stottlers are of limited resources to fight the situation.

tags: society

Publix News Release:

Publix Super Markets is issuing a voluntary recall for Publix Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Pie, because it was mislabeled and may contain undeclared pecans.

Reality will always trump "The Onion".

tags: current events, humor

So I put in a (new) Harry Potter documentary into the blue-ray, with the TV already set to that input, and turn the muted volume up (it having been muted while in TV mode 'cause faireraven.  I push play.  I see Daniel giving the introduction speel, but it is still mute.

I unmute.

To the mouth-movements of Daniel Radcliffe, I hear the voice of Adam of Mythbusters talking about handguns and lasers.

Video and audio not *quite* in sync, but it was still a rather funny accidental mash-up. :)

tags: fandom, humor

Santaland is over for another 10 months. Harold was a bit weepy, but I'm glad to get my free time back. I'm going to murder my to-do list in the next few weeks!
I'm celebrating by working an 8 hour shift at the box office.

I'm heading up to Charlotte on a mini-vacation/late Christmas with my family end of this week. Maybe. This morning, tomomallie took his Mom to the hospital because she was having trouble breathing. That was almost seven hours ago, and I haven't heard from him since. He said he'd call me with updates, but he also knows I'm working, which in his mind is "Absolutely Do Not Disturb!!!" Silly fool doesn't get it that just because I can't talk all day at work like he can, and can't take frivolous personal calls doesn't mean that my bosses are going to have kittens over an quick, important personal call.


This is what I drank on New Years Eve. sarahjlewis made it for me.

tags: hospital, mother-in-law, santaland diaries, vacation

Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers - washingtonpost.com:

The trillions of dollars that poured into housing investment and consumer spending in the first part of the decade distorted economic activity.

Capital was funneled to build mini-mansions in Sun Belt suburbs, many of which now sit empty, rather than toward industrial machines or other business investment that might generate economic output and jobs for years to come.

tags: current events

The resolutions have been tossed in the trash. The new year's goals were an absolute bust. I have given up on all of that.

Here is what I have for 2010...a wish.

My wish is for my friends and loved ones have a safe and wonderful year with many fabulous surprises!

mood: cheerful

Anyone who has visited my home in the last year is aware, probably painfully aware, that our driveway is terribly washed out and rutted. Not anymore!!

I called a couple of places on Monday and passed off the information to tomomallie, since he'd be home days I was working. I left him a blank check from the house account and a dollar limit.

Last night, when I pulled up the driveway, it was covered in a thick layer of new gravel! Hooray! tomomallie even raked some of the excess out into a nice guest parking pad/pull out space. 21 new tons of rock on our property.

Of course, it hasn't settled in, AT ALL yet, so walking and driving on it is a challenge, but a few months time will fix that. I'm just pleased that going down the driveways isn't a roller coaster ride that I'm afraid will rip out the bottom of my car any moment!

One more thing I can cross off my to-do list before the year is out!

location: Memorial Arts Building mood: pleased music: Heffalumps and Woozles tags: home repair

Ten years ago, I drove down from Jersey to meet people for NYE. Fortunately, I'd been released from having to sit in my office for Y2K.

I remember going to First Night to watch the Foggy Bottom Morris Men dance, then going to a local pub and seeing things on TV like Nelson Mandela walking the prisons he'd spent 30 years in, Sydney's fireworks at the operahouse, and others...

We went to "dinner" with some of the McArghs, and then we went up to acroyear70's office to watch the fireworks on the Mall, since his office had a clear view of them. After the first set, we both sat down on computers, sent out the first official emails of the millenium (depends upon who you talk to on those numbers, but you know what I mean), and then watched the second set of fireworks on the Mall.

Ten years later, I'm married to the guy who I spent NYE with on Y2K. Eight years married as of tomorrow, to be precise.

What a difference a decade makes. :)

1999->2000 was probably the busiest NYE I'd ever had.

The morning was simple enough, morning tea (I hadn't started the coffee addiction yet), watching the PBS coverage of each time zone's NY moment (at that point, things were already starting in China and SE Asia, and I'd missed New Zealand and Japan already).  I can't remember exactly when faireraven arrived, if she'd been around for a while or arrived that day. Things do blur as a result of the rest of the night...

Most of the afternoon was also a blur, as it was mostly prepping for the night.

430-530pm, faireraven and I have dinner (and I have a beer) in Old Town Alexandria at Virginia Beverage (now long gone :( ), watching the midnight events of Jerusalem, Finland, Cairo, Moscow, and South Africa.

For all of the fireworks and music and dancing, South Africa's New Year was probably the most stirring: President Nelson Mandela led a candlelight vigil through the prison he's spend most of the last 30 years in.

Unfortunately, I missed seeing GMT's change (London, Paris, Mike Oldfield in Berlin) due to having to be at a coffee shop closer to the King Street Metro, as a courtyard on King Street was the location Foggy Bottom Morris had been assigned to entertain audiences at First Night Alexandria.  We did one stand, then a beer or two in Hard Times, then another stand, freezing, but the audiences seemed amused.  First time I'd played "Devil Doubt" in the mummers play, 'cause Bill had to leave early for events in Maryland.  Fortunately, I didn't have to freeze anymore as I wasn't among the two picked to dance Lord of the Dance with Revels' performance at First Night Alexandria over at the courthouse square.

We leave Old Town Alexandria and head up Braddock Road to the Clan McArgh dinner party, which was amusing as always.  As that faded, we head to my office. 

Yes, my office.

No, I didn't have to work.

At the time, my office building was the triangle-shaped SRA building by the Courthouse in Arlington.  My window had THE VIEW - I could see unblocked from the Cathedral all the way to the Pentagon.  It was an annual tradition to gather up there, 11th floor, to see the fireworks on July 4th.  So knowing this, we came up to watch the fireworks on the mall for the New Year.

It was a bit of a mess, really, as they had the fireworks in two waves - the first wave was small one that happened right at 12, and then a subsequent wave happened at about 12:45, coordinated with the show actually happening on the mall (a show running horribly behind schedule, as usual - DC's gotten better since then).  We were listening to the radio broadcast of WTOP through the 'net to find out what was going on, as even they didn't know.  We also flipped through and saw the grainy video of Philadelphia's party as well.  Nobody reported any major Y2K bluffs at all...

Come 1pm, show's over, we head home, forgetting that like July 4, most of the Potomac roads I know are closed.  Oops.  Takes about 45 minutes to get back to Burke.  Zonk and good night.

Next day was (I *think*) our first visit to the queenmaggie First Day party in Frederick, a tradition that sadly is no more (but we'll still see her tomorrow!).

So that was our day, 10 years ago.  What was yours?

tags: about me, about us, dc events, history, morris

I did get some good sleep last night, after the HORRIBLE insomnia of Monday night. (Thank you kittesol!) But I still did not want to get out of bed this morning. I am in desperate need of a vacation, and I'm so over this Christmas show, it's not even funny.

And Phouka, who goes through periods of being a little shit, was being adorable. I was mostly mobile and half dressed when I sat down on the bed and gathered her up in my lap. I told her, "Mommy doesn't want to go to work, today. Mommy wants to stay home and cuddle the Phouka!"

Phouka promptly whacked me in the teeth with her nose, scrambled out of my arms and ran out of the room, with a fart! I stood up and said, to no one in particular, "Well, I guess I'm going to work today."

location: Memorial Arts Building mood: working music: "Only the Good Die Young" Iron Maiden tags: phouka

Verizon | Home Phone:

Reliability - Over one billion calls a day with 99.9% network reliability

Translation:

tags: geek, humor, media, rant

we've had plenty of "what were you doing on a very bad day" meme's for anniversaries, particular the annual tributes we make to 9/11. How about something more positive and (hopefully) festive?

10 years ago this week, we were all planning how we would celebrate the transition from 1999 to 2000.  How about, on Thursday, we all post what we did that night?

Ok, seed planted.  You've got 3 days to get your stories straight with anybody who might tell you that you were too drunk to remember... :)

tags: meme, seasonal

Christmas Eve, I called my sister to open our annual pajamas...and found myself confronted with not one, but TWO Snuggies, leopard and zebra print! These will become my new video game blankets, I'm sure.
Christmas Day was a non-event. tomomallie and I both had to work, so I ran, did yoga and sit-ups, and cleaned the house, and then we both went to work.
Christmas dinner, as previously mentioned on LJ restored my cheer, somewhat, by the sheer inane randomness of the circumstances.
Boxing Day I slept late, took another run (cut 30 seconds off my time!) and more sit-ups, and then, off to the show, again. Nothing kills morale on a show more than doing a holiday themed show after the associated holiday is over. I don't even want to imagine the bitching I'm going to be exposed to after New Years.
I called merryfaerie after the show, and she said the party was still rocking, so I dragged the house manager along, and off we went to Boxing Day.
Even though I didn't leave until a little before two, meaning I didn't get home until after 3 in the morning and have no sleep for a double, today, it was worth it. I AM an introvert, but eventually, even I need some socialization or I go bonkers.
Now at the box office for the 14th Street Playhouse, shortly to leave here and race over to Horizon and do a fast changeover from Madeline. And I am STARVING!

location: 14th Street Playhouse mood: hungry tags: boxing day, holidays, socializing

Christmas dinner was Waffle House cheeseburger and hash browns, at 11:00 at night. I was sitting alone at the counter, reading fairy tales, as I realized that I was listening to Mr. Buffet's lament over his missing salt shaker.
And somehow, this made me content. This bore much more resemblance to the hyper-surreality of my usual life experiences than the treadmill of drudgery it has been the last few weeks. Which has really gotten me down. I'm TIRED of work to work to housework to pass out to running to work to more housework to etc. Just over a week of that left, and then I can breathe, a bit.
Now, I'm wrapped up in my new zebra print Snuggie and going to play a little DDO. Christmas alone is over and things can go back to normal.

location: under my Snuggie mood: lonely music: Blackmore's Night - Minstrel Hall | Powered by Last.fm tags: being me, christmas, surreal

a long but mostly uneventful day, driving from Stafford VA to Charlotte NC for Christmas round 2 tomorrow.

Mostly flipped between First Wave and Cinemagic, with the strangest moment being when Cinemagic went through the following in this order: Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Schindler's List, The Lion King...

Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

mood: confused

Just wanted to take this time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!

Longtime NBC Sports Anchor George Michael Has Died | NBC Washington:

George Michael, the longtime NBC4 sports anchor known nationally for his syndicated sports highlights show “The George Michael Sports Machine,” passed away early Thursday morning at Sibley Hospital.

Michael was 70 years old.

Known for his boisterous, energetic storytelling and sense of humor, Michael served as sports director for WRC-TV, NBC’s D.C. affiliate, for 27 years. Started as a local program in the early ‘80s, “The Sports Machine” was syndicated in 1984.

tags: dc events, sports

My Give-a-Damn is broken today, and apparently, I'm in good company, here at the office. It's dead quiet, so we're all farting around, trying to amuse ourselves and each other. Very popular has been the WTF Blanket video.
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself for two hours this afternoon. We get off early at 3:30, and I don't have to be at the theatre until 6:00. I can't even hang with my sister, because she's in Charlotte.
Oh well, I've got a couple of books in my bag, and I'm sure Starbucks or Java Lords will be open this afternoon. And, I've got Christmas jammies to open between jobs, since it's not nice to sarahjlewis to make her wait until after I get home from the show at 11:45.
I like doing Santaland Diaries. I really do. But it sort of kills the holiday season for me. Because I'm Pagan (put the soul back in Solstice!) Christmas becomes about spending time with family and friembly, something I cannot do because I'm either a)working my arse off or b)passed out as a result of a). Also, working Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years day blows chunks.

location: Memorial Arts Building mood: cranky music: "Christians and the Pagans" Dar Williams tags: box office, christmas