Iras - Friends & Family

Smooches to Nonny for introducing me to this band and singer so many moons ago. :)

Tags: music, video
Aktuelle Musik: Héroes del Silencio - Bendecida

I'm on a bit of a historical fiction kick at the moment, and I'm looking for good books set in my favourite historical period: Anglo-Saxon England. By "good", I mean both engrossing and with a reasonable amount of historical accuracy. I'm not especially interested in King Arthur, but just about anything else is welcome. Any ideas?

Current Location: Scottsville, VA
Aktuelle Stimmung: curious

http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=a625ddc9442e2f09e55bc8efacbafba9

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/rss/article_id.pl?id=8310935

A planet-forming disk has its temperature taken, a satellite spies on Fiji's mangrove forests, bright blemishes hint at increased action on the sun, and more in our selection of the week's best space pictures.

http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=6aad0f856049fce7fcec0299e6796bf4

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/rss/article_id.pl?id=55002173

Too much sex can be a bad thing. "Sexy" female fruit flies get so much attention—and toxic semen—that they have trouble finding food and their birthrates fall, a new study says.

http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=68c58627778149d3e4cdb00c707c3250

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/rss/article_id.pl?id=813495

Many Chinese tourist attractions are secretly operating as fronts for illegal tiger farming, butchering captive tigers for the multibillion-dollar black market in wildlife parts, conservationists say.

http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=54b1903094658c7c7243ca519160dea2

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/rss/article_id.pl?id=6465547

Dolphin "drive" hunts, a bloody tradition denounced in the recent documentary The Cove, continue in Japan and Denmark's Faroe Islands.

http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=c7a31fd0807db8091a5680b9c53e9333

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/rss/article_id.pl?id=77903453

Millions of doses of the H1N1/09 vaccine contain a substance called squalene, which is extracted from the livers of rare deep-sea sharks caught in the wild, conservationists say.

Hello, people. Today I received this message:

<<[Postcrossing Message] MY CARD EXPIRED?????
"Hellò, I'm xxxx from Italy, on september I sent you a card but maybe you're never received. Please register my id number: IT xxxx and mail me your address so I can send you my card again. Thanks in advance and happy postcrossing. xxxx.
p.s.Happy New Year.">> (I masked private data)

It seems a little bit queer - while a card is not registered, the user can see my address and doesn't need to ask me about it. On the other hand, this message obviously says: if you register my ID, I send a new card, if no - ... Three months of standby and after it - a message like this? I can't understand this position.

So what would you do in my place?

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/30/emma-watson-on-instyles-100-best-dresses-of-the-decade-list

Actress Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) has been included on InStyle.com's list of the 100 Best Dresses of the Decade. Thanks to InStyle for letting us know Miss Watson's Burberry Prorsum dress from London's Fashion Week 2009 made the 100th spot on their ranking. The magazine notes:Emma Watson in Burberry Prorsum, 2009WHERE London Fashion Week WHY WE LOVE IT "You don’t want to overdress or dr...

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/30/winners-of-the-october-halloweendeathday-party-contest-announced

Last October, our Crafty Witches and Wizards brought you their Hallowe'en/Deathday Party contest, which asked you to show them party favours, party decorations or party foods geared towards Deathday or Hallowe'en parties and related to the Harry Potterverse. The contest ended in November and voting was opened to decide a winner. Run-off votes resulted in two entries tied for first place and two...

Table leg repaired. House aired out. Cough improved. Some errands done. Computer almost completely configured. Jackie has even forgiven me! (Her capacity for that is a blessing.)

Today:
( list )
...and just generally get ready for the next three months wherein I will do nothing that is not critical.

This quarter will be o-chem, physics, Spanish, a transfer student application, and GRE prep. Plus, y'know, working, and square dance calling, and hopefully getting some sleep occasionally.

Aktuelle Stimmung: busy

Haven't really done much between last we spoke and now. I went into work on Tuesday but it was so quiet that I've bunked off the other couple of days between New Years Day and Christmas. I guess the highlight was shopping for ski gear on the Monday. What an experience that was. I was thwarted in my attempt to buy lairy kit by sizing. Apparently fat girls don't ski (in bright colours).

Generally lazing about listening to the radio and reading between times.

Tags: holidays, skiing
Aktuelle Stimmung: contemplative

We went downtown on Sunday and did a bit of shopping, as Stacey wanted to go to The Body Shop and Cathy wanted to get some snow boots. She's planning to leave them here for when she visits, as she obviously doesn't have a great need for them in San Francisco! We then went to the Cultural Center for the Sixth Annual Chicago Taiko Legacy program, featuring Tsukasa Taiko as well as some guest performers. We got there early, a good thing because the place was packed and there were people standing. We also browsed the exhibitions while we were there.

One of the prosecutors in my courtroom had gone deer hunting a while back. He was successful, and brought me some venison round steaks. Cathy made an absolutely awesome venison stroganoff with them. The meat was incredibly tender. We had plenty of veggies for Stacey, though.

On Monday, we went to the Art Institute so Cathy and Stacey could see the new Modern Wing, and a couple of exhibits, the Victorian Photo Collage show (a re-visit for me) and Apostles of Beauty: Arts and Crafts from Britain to Chicago, which I very much enjoyed.

We had dinner with some old family friends at a relatively new local restaurant, Park 52. The food was quite good and we discovered that, on Mondays, wine under $50 is half-price (not that there isn't still a ridiculous mark-up).

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day. I had to take Marissa to the vet, as she has been a bit lethargic for a couple of days. She's now on antibiotics, and seems to be responding. Stacey drove me and Marissa to the vet, and then she and Cathy went off to Seminary Co-op Books while I stayed home and did a few necessary chores.

Stacey is off at the dentist right now; when she returns, she and I will head to Greektown for lunch with friends, and tonight the three of us are going to another couple's house for dinner.

I must say that I'm getting a lot of reading done, too, being off work.

Tags: art institute, cultural center, family, friends

http://thehogshead.org/vote-for-the-potter-pundits-at-leaky-4186/

http://thehogshead.org/?p=4186

The 2009 Leakies have been posted for voting, and the Potter Pundits are in the category, “Favorite Leaky Moments.” Vote for us here! Also, be sure to check out the other polls and cast your votes. After voting for the Pundits, you can monitor our progress as we try to catch up to LeakyCon by coming back to this post.

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http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Sir_Winston_Churchill

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26226.html

"The reserve of modern assertions is sometimes pushed to extremes, in which the fear of being contradicted leads the writer to strip himself of almost all sense and meaning."

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/John_Kenneth_Galbraith

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26202.html

"Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable."

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Hodding_Carter

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/23603.html

"Television news is like a lightning flash. It makes a loud noise, lights up everything around it, leaves everything else in darkness and then is suddenly gone."

http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Steve_Martin

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/618.html

"I like a woman with a head on her shoulders. I hate necks."

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/30/the-2009-leakies-nominations-announced

LeakyNews.com is excited to present the first annual Leakies, our very own award ceremony where we can wrap up the year together by voting on your favorites actors, news, moments, and more from the year.Voting is open NOW, and runs through December 31st at 11:59pm EST.The winners of the 2009 Leakies will be announced on New Years Day.To vote, click on your choice in each category. You may vote...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Amazonukkah&defid=4464179

When Christmas really lasts 8 days because the presents take longer to deliver from Amazon.com than anticipated by the purchaser. This is often caused by the reckless use of Super Saver Shipping on items which were bought on Christmas Eve. As a result, the presents are received in small amounts each day over an 8 day period, similar to Hanukkah.

Kid 1: Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?

Kid 2: I dunno, we're celebrating Amazonukkah this year. My parents are real procrastinators. FML

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:POTD/2009-12-30

< December 29	December 30	December 31 >

Picture of the day

RyÅ« sho ten ("Dragon rising toward heaven"), an 1897 ukiyo-e print by Ogata GekkÅ showing a Japanese dragon moving upwards with Mount Fuji in the background. Dragon myths in Japanese folklore amalgamate native legends with imported stories from China, Korea and India. Most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet.

Restoration: Adam Cuerden
Archive – More featured pictures...

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/29/j-k-rowling-scotswoman-who-changed-the-decade

Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling has been named one of the Ten Scotswomen Who Changed the Decade by the Scotsman, who has ranked the most influential Scottish women of the past ten years. The newspaper relates the following regarding the contributions made by J. K. Rowling over the past decade to literature, along with her charitable work for MS research and advocating for disadvantaged child...

http://thehogshead.org/the-new-sherlock-holmes-4175/

http://thehogshead.org/?p=4175

Movie, that is. Starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson, the movie opened on Christmas Day. I haven’t seen it yet, and after reading some reviews, I doubt I will despite Downey’s performance, which is supposed to be good. I post two reviews for your perusal. They are mostly spoiler free. The first is from The Washington Post. The second is from The Torch Online.

If you have seen the movie, please share your thoughts on it.

H/T to R.Ross for the review from The Post.

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/29/new-poster-images-from-lego-harry-potter-video-game

MSN Brazil has posted a series of new stills, along with a new poster from the upcoming Harry Potter: Years 1-4 LEGO video game. The series of stills, available to view in our galleries here, contains new images of Harry, Ron, and Hermione in action; Hagrid; a pensive Dumbledore; the Trio during flying lessons, the Great Hall; Fang; the troll in the dungeon; and much more.Pre-orders for the L...

The trail report this morning looked great! 17-20 cm of fresh snow since yesterday morning. The weather forecast was less pleasing, though. The high temperature today was only -12C. We hurried through breakfast and dressed quickly, to try and get up the lifts early. And was it ever worth it! We got to make first tracks on several trails, and we found powder to ski on all day. However, the cold took its toll, especially on my daughters, who had to come in to warm up several times through the day. Still, I'd have to rate this day a 9 out of 10 for the skiing conditions. I'm already looking forward to Steamboat (Colorado) in about a month, where we hope to get some more great powder days!

(There are pictures of us making first tracks, but I forgot all the cables to download my pictures.)

Tags: family, skiing
Current Location: Sutton, Quebec, Canada
Aktuelle Stimmung: cold

On What Grounds

Cleo Coyle

Coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi has been tricked into sharing the apartment above The Village Blend with her ex-husband, Matt. Naturally she's unhappy with the situation, and her feelings towards Matt are complicated. The fact that she might be developing feelings for a certain Lieutenant Quinn doesn't help simplify things.

When Clare finds the Village Blend's pretty young assistant manager unconscious and near death at the foot of the coffeehouse's basement stairs she is certain that Annabelle had not met with an accident, in spite of the conclusions of the police and the hospital. Clare is determined to find out who wanted Annabelle dead, even if it puts her in danger.

I loved this book! It was a very fun, light cozy mystery, (if any book about murder can be called fun and light.)

On What Grounds was the perfect blend of plot and characters set against a backdrop so steeped in coffee that I swear I could smell it brewing!

On What Grounds is the first in The Coffeehouse mystery series. There is great scope for character developement as the series progresses, and I can't wait to read more! I'm completely hooked!

Cleo Coyle is actually the pen name for a husband and wife team, who also write The Haunted Bookshop mysteries under the psuedonym Alice Kimberly. I highly recommend both series!

I know I've seen a picture of a crozier carved (in ivory?) with a snake swallowing a dove (or with a dove's head sticking out of its mouth, anyway). The symbolism was explained as referring to the instruction to be 'wise as serpents and innocent as doves', though it looked to me as though the serpent was getting the better of it. I have a hunch there were actually a matching pair of these croziers, but I'm not sure.

Please can anyone point me at picture, object, or commentary on it?

The kitties were very glad to see me. I have already ticked off Jackie by clipping some of the mats out of her fur, so we're back to the normal state where she hates me.

The house smells like mold and earth. This happens every time we go away for more than a day or two. I think we're getting a biggish breeze up from the crawlspace.

My cough came back immediately upon arrival.

I've cleaned up all the spots of cat puke I have found so far (six) and learned that the coffee table is broken. I'm still typing on the coffee table, but it's just propped up on a non-attached leg. I found this out when moving the table to get at some cat puke. Apparently it broke during the Christmas party and I simply didn't hear about it.

Lots of errands to do. Better hop to it.

Aktuelle Stimmung: busy

http://www.citywendy.com/wendy/2009/12/i-hope-everyone-had-a-happy-christmas-or-festivus-or-simply-enjoyed-a-couple-days-off-this-past-week-drew-and-i-made-it-back.html

I hope everyone had a happy Christmas or Festivus or simply enjoyed a couple days off this past week. Drew and I made it back to NYC safely on Sunday evening after a very nice week with my family in Germany. We drank Gluhwein at the Christmas markets, ate brochen and brats for lunch, and listened to my mom recite the entire contents of her kitchen each and every morning so that we wouldn't forget there were snacks in the house and accidently starve to death between our several huge meals of the day. We also opened a lot of gifts and played many rounds of Apples to Apples, a game I highly recommend for anyone who has an abundance of wine, beer, and family around.

Now I'm hurriedly getting ready to host some friends for a little New Year's Eve get-together and thinking about what resolutions I want to make for 2010. Surely topping the list will be the always-popular "lose weight/get in shape," but this time I really mean it!! And now I've even got my mom for inspiration. She's lost 55 pounds this year and plans to keep losing through next year. Here's a picture of the two of of us last week:

My mom's tall. She's always been 6', but says she's started shrinking in her mature age (can you believe the woman's pushing 60?!) and recently measured only 5'11" at the doctor's office (she's teasing her hair an inch higher to compensate). I've always been so small next to my mother, but with her shrinking height and shrinking waistline, we just might be the same size one day. Well, okay, only if I'm wearing 4-inch heels. But it's totally possible that we'll look the same age eventually — no special shoes required.

P.S. The picture above is a shot Drew took in a little touristy town we visited. The Germans truly love their sausage fests.

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2009/12/29/indigo-ranks-deathly-hallows-as-best-young-adult-book-of-the-decade

A press release from Canadian book retailer Indigo Books & Music Inc. has ranked Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the top book of the decade in their newly released Young Adult Fiction list. The list was put together by a "dedicated team of Indigo book buyers," with the titles chosen based on their "impact and their popularity". Other books on the list include Markus Zusak's The Book Thi...

Irgendwann zwischen Mitte und Ende Januar werde ich erst meinen neuen Telefonanschluss bekommen, bis dahin bin ich also ab morgen offline.
Hin und wieder werde ich vielleicht in ein Internetcafé gehen, mal schaun.

^^

~*~

E: Will be offline for 3 or 4 weeks. BB :)

Gibt es hier jemanden (oder kennt ihr jemanden in eurer Umgebung), der die Serie "Angel - Jäger der Finsternis" gern mag? Ich hätte hier die 4. Staffel, die wir im Fernsehen aufgenommen und dann auf DVD gebrannt haben. Also nix Illegales. :) Mein Mann hat sogar die Werbung herausgeschnitten (er ist da übrigens Perfektionist, man merkt wirklich nicht, dass da was rausgeschnitten wurde). Der einzige Nachteil: es fehlen 2 Folgen, nämlich die erste und die dritte, sonst sind die übrigen 20 Folgen der Staffel komplett.

Da ich zu Weihnachten die 4. Staffel als Original geschenkt bekommen habe, brauche ich die selbst gebrannten DVDs natürlich nicht mehr. Zum Wegwerfen war die Mühe einfach zu groß, daher dachte ich, ich verschenke sie. Ist jemand hier dabei, der sich über die DVDs freuen würde? Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst. ;)

Tags: zu verschenken