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Sep. 30th, 2002
Random w00tage.
Sep. 30th, 2002 11:18 am( Quizfoo. )
Okay, so, quizfoo over... I have something else to w00t about. I got my birth certificate from New York City last week. It's a little unnerving how different it looks from the notarized photocopy I'd been using to get into and out of Canada/the States. They print them out on watermarked paper on computers now, and there's no raised documentary seal; genuineness is determined by the presence or absence of features like watermarking, certain colours, etc. I'm not sure I trust that, but I'm stuck with it. However, this one has an advantage over the old battered one... it's not a copy. It doesn't say 'copy' anywhere on it. It simply says 'certificate of birth, city of New York'. This means that I can take it to a passport office and use it as my documentation, since the last time I was at the county courthouse they said notarized copies were a no-go. Useful, I suppose; now I have to find out when I can get to the office and start the process. I'd rather not carry my birth certificate with me to Canada the next time I visit after this October trip.
My head's still stopped up and my eyes still burn, but I responded far better to the cold meds yesterday than to allergy meds. I do not think it means much, other than perhaps my body responds better to the active ingredients. Not counting powerful antivirals, there aren't any drugs that I know of that'll stomp a cold - dietary supplements may or may not be a different story as I am far too stubborn to swallow anything for a sickness until I am well past the stage of 'take at the first sign in order to shorten duration'.
Testing for yellow belt tonight after academic class is over. I am not fond of my Monday academic class as it reminds me powerfully of Dilbert - it's all about process reengineering with regards to the use of information technology. Everything that we've read in the books so far has been relentlessly mocked by Scott Adams, and so I find it very hard to believe that any of it is actually useful or helpful in any way, because I know so many people have claimed to employ the techniques but in fact are talking through their collective hats and hardly mean a word of it.
Had a tremendous amount of fun last night playing a new mortal character at Metro, even though all she did was get into a conversation about hockey at the local bar. Given my luck in the past I am on the alert for supernatural characters taking an interest; generally someone from one of the super communities finds my mortal characters and starts interacting with 'em within four days. My record is two hours on-grid with Signy Hammer before a boggan showed up and hired her sandblasting expertise to fix his chimerical dragon's skin rash. We'll see how this one does.
I left my 'frequent flyer' card at home, but I think I'm going to go for bubble tea at lunchtime anyway. I could use it, and I haven't had Starbucks today. (Personal rule: only one luxury drink per day, and no more than two per week unless absolute merry hell breaks loose in either work or school.) I'm probably going to get it at Top Quality instead of Emack and Bolio's, since that means I can go into the Scary Snack Food Isle and play my favourite Asian market shopping game, namely: What the Hell is This? Last round's winner turned out to be bright green candied mango, a fact which I only learned after I ran it past one of our accountants (she's from Shanghai), as the sole English on the label was nearly too small to see. I might look into the Scary Canned Drinks aisle, too, and the primary reason I use 'scary' to describe them even though I have no fear of them is because last time I went I saw something for sale called Pennywort Drink. I'm reasonably sure that stuff is growing wild in my lawn as a weed, and if pennywort is actually a water plant, then something that looks just like it is in my lawn... anyway.
Saw another red-tailed hawk this weekend - yesterday, actually, in South Mountain Reservation. He or she, I can't tell which, landed in a tree about twenty feet high and just sat there for a while, looking around and hanging out and (once) pooping. They don't normally come down that low around here. Beautiful birds, though.
Mom's birthday last night went pretty well. There was very little on the menu that I liked the look of - it was all northern Italian food, which I am not much fond of unless it is drowned in cream sauce, and what wasn't northern Italian was crusted in black pepper for some ungodly reason. Thankfully there were unprinted specials, which is how I had venison for dinner. I think I may be the only person who enjoyed everything about their dinner last night - Dad expected different noodles, my sister couldn't eat all of hers, Mom didn't eat the scallops in her Tuscan stew, and Ali's fiance's pasta was woefully undercooked. Me? I got to try fallow deer and some nice vegetables and mashed potatoes. 's good. Tastes like beef, only without the scary fatty bits.
I'm going to close this entry before I ramble any further, and instead of a pulp survival tip today, I'm going to leave you with a line from my Civ III instruction manual. Each of the civilization leaders gets a quote at the start of a chapter, usually about the game mechanics of that chapter. The one they had for Hiawatha of the Iroquois made me laugh...
"We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we take it from those who inadequately defend it."
Okay, so, quizfoo over... I have something else to w00t about. I got my birth certificate from New York City last week. It's a little unnerving how different it looks from the notarized photocopy I'd been using to get into and out of Canada/the States. They print them out on watermarked paper on computers now, and there's no raised documentary seal; genuineness is determined by the presence or absence of features like watermarking, certain colours, etc. I'm not sure I trust that, but I'm stuck with it. However, this one has an advantage over the old battered one... it's not a copy. It doesn't say 'copy' anywhere on it. It simply says 'certificate of birth, city of New York'. This means that I can take it to a passport office and use it as my documentation, since the last time I was at the county courthouse they said notarized copies were a no-go. Useful, I suppose; now I have to find out when I can get to the office and start the process. I'd rather not carry my birth certificate with me to Canada the next time I visit after this October trip.
My head's still stopped up and my eyes still burn, but I responded far better to the cold meds yesterday than to allergy meds. I do not think it means much, other than perhaps my body responds better to the active ingredients. Not counting powerful antivirals, there aren't any drugs that I know of that'll stomp a cold - dietary supplements may or may not be a different story as I am far too stubborn to swallow anything for a sickness until I am well past the stage of 'take at the first sign in order to shorten duration'.
Testing for yellow belt tonight after academic class is over. I am not fond of my Monday academic class as it reminds me powerfully of Dilbert - it's all about process reengineering with regards to the use of information technology. Everything that we've read in the books so far has been relentlessly mocked by Scott Adams, and so I find it very hard to believe that any of it is actually useful or helpful in any way, because I know so many people have claimed to employ the techniques but in fact are talking through their collective hats and hardly mean a word of it.
Had a tremendous amount of fun last night playing a new mortal character at Metro, even though all she did was get into a conversation about hockey at the local bar. Given my luck in the past I am on the alert for supernatural characters taking an interest; generally someone from one of the super communities finds my mortal characters and starts interacting with 'em within four days. My record is two hours on-grid with Signy Hammer before a boggan showed up and hired her sandblasting expertise to fix his chimerical dragon's skin rash. We'll see how this one does.
I left my 'frequent flyer' card at home, but I think I'm going to go for bubble tea at lunchtime anyway. I could use it, and I haven't had Starbucks today. (Personal rule: only one luxury drink per day, and no more than two per week unless absolute merry hell breaks loose in either work or school.) I'm probably going to get it at Top Quality instead of Emack and Bolio's, since that means I can go into the Scary Snack Food Isle and play my favourite Asian market shopping game, namely: What the Hell is This? Last round's winner turned out to be bright green candied mango, a fact which I only learned after I ran it past one of our accountants (she's from Shanghai), as the sole English on the label was nearly too small to see. I might look into the Scary Canned Drinks aisle, too, and the primary reason I use 'scary' to describe them even though I have no fear of them is because last time I went I saw something for sale called Pennywort Drink. I'm reasonably sure that stuff is growing wild in my lawn as a weed, and if pennywort is actually a water plant, then something that looks just like it is in my lawn... anyway.
Saw another red-tailed hawk this weekend - yesterday, actually, in South Mountain Reservation. He or she, I can't tell which, landed in a tree about twenty feet high and just sat there for a while, looking around and hanging out and (once) pooping. They don't normally come down that low around here. Beautiful birds, though.
Mom's birthday last night went pretty well. There was very little on the menu that I liked the look of - it was all northern Italian food, which I am not much fond of unless it is drowned in cream sauce, and what wasn't northern Italian was crusted in black pepper for some ungodly reason. Thankfully there were unprinted specials, which is how I had venison for dinner. I think I may be the only person who enjoyed everything about their dinner last night - Dad expected different noodles, my sister couldn't eat all of hers, Mom didn't eat the scallops in her Tuscan stew, and Ali's fiance's pasta was woefully undercooked. Me? I got to try fallow deer and some nice vegetables and mashed potatoes. 's good. Tastes like beef, only without the scary fatty bits.
I'm going to close this entry before I ramble any further, and instead of a pulp survival tip today, I'm going to leave you with a line from my Civ III instruction manual. Each of the civilization leaders gets a quote at the start of a chapter, usually about the game mechanics of that chapter. The one they had for Hiawatha of the Iroquois made me laugh...
"We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we take it from those who inadequately defend it."
Myth Dispelled: Shoe Size, Penis Size Not Linked
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite eons of speculation to the contrary, two British scientists have laid to rest the idea that a man's shoe size is in any way correlated to the size of his penis.
Their scientific study found no link between the two variables, according to a report in the British Journal of Urology International....
Just thought I'd mention...er... wow that's a lot of sparrows scrabbling in the tree outside my window. *glances at sky* I think they're just flocking, not roosting, though.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite eons of speculation to the contrary, two British scientists have laid to rest the idea that a man's shoe size is in any way correlated to the size of his penis.
Their scientific study found no link between the two variables, according to a report in the British Journal of Urology International....
Just thought I'd mention...er... wow that's a lot of sparrows scrabbling in the tree outside my window. *glances at sky* I think they're just flocking, not roosting, though.
WtHiT? winners, 30 Sept 02
Sep. 30th, 2002 01:46 pmThe winning entry in the first weekly What the Hell is This? contest, selected from the snack food aisles of Top Quality Food Market in lovely Parsippany, New Jersey, is from Team Japan: Tohato Caramel Corn Green Tea Flavour. At least I assume it's green tea flavour. The only English on the label other than the words 'Caramel Corn' is on the ingredients list, where green tea is item six of twelve, and the only characters I can read on the bag are the ones for 'green tea'. The photograph on the bag is of green tea-looking ice cream with some kind of white stuff drizzled on it, plus a maraschino cherry; all over the background are curly Cheez Doodle-like things, only they're... well, green. Upon opening the bag I was confronted with the curly things, which are roughly semicircular, slightly ribbed, the colour of all green-tea-flavoured snack food I have ever seen, and roughly one inch across. They are sweet, which is moderately disconcerting, and have a wisp of some kind of mint-like flavour upon first contact. They are crunchy, but this batch stuck to my teeth a bit. Not bad; I'll probably eat the whole bag eventually. Upon presentation to a co-worker, she said 'they taste like caramel' - then got a very odd expression and reached for her trash bin to spit it out, as apparently the green tea flavour had kicked in and was not to her liking. All in all I think we have a solid WtHiT winner here.
Second place was also by Team Japan: Meiji brand Pucca Choco Pretzel. I bought this mainly because I wanted to show the name to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cadhla at some point. Sadly, these are not shaped like little vicious horse water spirits; they are shaped like Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, although with a little less definition, no 'smile', and a hole drilled in one side - I presume this is to inject the chocolate. The chocolate is not bad, although it's a bit thicker than one expects from crappy snack foods, and the pretzel is quite crunchy. However, the pretzel is not salty, as is often the case with American choco/pretzel combos. The case is conveniently rectangular, round-edged, and small; I would not mind carrying this around as a source of chocolate if need be. The yellow/blue/red colour scheme and typeface chosen for 'Pucca' are strongly reminiscent of a bottle of Yoo-Hoo.
Next week Team China will be entering a package of something called White Rabbit that I just didn't feel like buying today. We'll see what Japan has to field against them then.
Second place was also by Team Japan: Meiji brand Pucca Choco Pretzel. I bought this mainly because I wanted to show the name to
cadhla at some point. Sadly, these are not shaped like little vicious horse water spirits; they are shaped like Pepperidge Farm Goldfish, although with a little less definition, no 'smile', and a hole drilled in one side - I presume this is to inject the chocolate. The chocolate is not bad, although it's a bit thicker than one expects from crappy snack foods, and the pretzel is quite crunchy. However, the pretzel is not salty, as is often the case with American choco/pretzel combos. The case is conveniently rectangular, round-edged, and small; I would not mind carrying this around as a source of chocolate if need be. The yellow/blue/red colour scheme and typeface chosen for 'Pucca' are strongly reminiscent of a bottle of Yoo-Hoo.Next week Team China will be entering a package of something called White Rabbit that I just didn't feel like buying today. We'll see what Japan has to field against them then.
Further w00tage:
Sep. 30th, 2002 10:42 pmHad academic class tonight. Got to campus at 4:55. Got to PARKING SPACE at 5:15. Distance traveled in that time: less than half a mile. Time class started: 5:10. I skipped it and did my reading assignments for the week instead.
Went to karate class afterwards. Worked up one hell of a sweat, at least partially because I was going slightly insane trying to cant my fists properly for the punches - my wrists were still slightly bent, which is Bad Mojo.
But I made yellow belt anyway.
Rah me.
Went to karate class afterwards. Worked up one hell of a sweat, at least partially because I was going slightly insane trying to cant my fists properly for the punches - my wrists were still slightly bent, which is Bad Mojo.
But I made yellow belt anyway.
Rah me.