Leslie's Omnibus

Camp BlownStar - Part I

I have to say it right from the outset -- SuperGurl has set the bar impossibly high for anyone planning a blogmeet any time in the near future. The location, quantity and quality of food and the impossible volume of booze -- every damned detail was superb.

When you hear that you'll be in cabins in a place called "Toad Hall," you certainly don't suspect you're going to be in four-star lodgings. In fact, we had two "cabins" that by any other standards you and I would call lovely homes. The small cabin:

The large cabin:
Between the two I counted one patio:

One big, beautiful deck...

... and at least four screen porches. It's definitely a place to make yourself at home.

Comfy nooks and interesting furnishings abound.

For fair-skinned northerners with no tolerance for the noonday heat, this room was a welcome respite:



Outdoors, you can find a spot under a tree just about everywhere you look.


There were plenty of spots to hang around:




The views from the back were outstanding:



The fire pit got ample use at night!

And then, there was the "swimming hole":
Really, you should have been there.











So who was there? The Old Friends:

My favorite pilot and chili king, Walrilla (no, that song is not for me), and his faithful navigator and sous chef, Robert I (blog son extraordinaire!).

Science goddess, island chef and all around great gal Holder flew in from Atlanta.

Super hostess, SuperGurl, who could probably start a whole new career just organizing blogmeets. She's smart, funny, sassy and a darned good friend to one and all.

T1G, in a surprise visit from the left coast. (Well, he has to go somewhere every once in a while to recharge his conservative batteries, right?)

Everyone's little sis, the lovely Miss Erica made it in from Brooklyn... although her luggage went in the opposite direction and ended up in Switzerland.

St. Jerry stepped in and introduced our city mouse to the joys of Wally World, with special emphasis on sale racks. It wasn't pretty, folks.

Miss Nancy and da 'Pup brought killer tamales, fresh tomatoes, tall tales and a ton of laughs. Don't let these folks with their tame gardening blog fool you -- they're hilariously funny when you get them wound up!

Speaking of hilarious when she's wound up, Becky had me in tears of laughter so many times that I lost count.

This video is for Becky, Nancy and Robert I. They'll all know why:



Ahem.

Hammer... ah! He's simply the greatest. Great cook (outstanding ribs), great conversation, best hugs ever.

Kerrcarto and his sweetie of a missus, Chelsea. If SuperGurl was responsible for the booze, Kerrcarto was responsible for the beer -- mountains and mountains of the stuff. (They're going to need two dumpsters to haul all those bottles and cans away...)

The Grouchy One hizzownself. Having him pick three [insert any two or three superlatives of your choice here] bottles of Pinot Noir to sample was a delight. Same for getting to sing a little harmony with him. It wouldn't be a Blown Eyed meet if he wasn't there.

New Friends:

Fat Hairy Bastard and the lovely Denise. What fun folks. Just wish I'd had more time to chat. Next time, okay?

Paul, originally of Texas and lately of Seattle, and his friend, Robert II. Nothing but trouble and a twinkle in the eye, the both of them!

CharlieDelta, who just about everyone has adopted as a blog kid of their very own. I'm calling him a stepchild, myself. 'Nuff said.

Robert III, friend of Kerrcarto, who dropped in on Saturday night for the beer and the music and stayed for the great conversation. We'll have him blogging yet.

Missing in Action (and sorely missed):

El Capitan, GuyK and Sweetthing, the Confabulator, Hairboy, Elisson and Shovel Boy. Missed most of all? Old Crankypants. He'd be proud as hell that we're all still remembering him and reminiscing about how he started so many of us down the blogging and blogmeet path.
_____

Note: Kerrcarto, Paul and CharlieDelta claim they will soon be starting their own blog, which will be entitled, "We Gotta Get Drunk First." Keep a lookout for it. For some reason, this reminded me of the three of them as they were preparing to embark on that joint blogging venture:

cat
more cat pictures

Guess which one is Bob?
Leslie

Back In the Saddle Again

I'm off to Camp BlownStar. See you Monday!

Leslie

Drive-Bys

Since all the cool kids are doing it...

My personality type: the spontaneous idealist. Take the free iPersonic personality test!

Huh.
_____

Humble majority? Yep.
_____

Snagged from El Cap and Joanie:

In a Word

A Very Brief Q&A

Only ONE word can be used in your answer and it can NOT be used twice.

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse

2. Your significant other? Who?

3. Your hair? Ponytailed

4. Your mother? Sarasota

5. Your father? Cemetery

6. Your favorite time of day? Twilight

7. Your dream last night? Endless

8. Your favorite drink? Cabernet

9. Your dream goal? Novel

10. The room you’re in? Cubicle

11. Your ex? Dunno

12. Your fear? Homelessness

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Bliss

14. What you are not? Timid

15. Your Favorite meal? Next

16. One of your wish list items? Rebel

17. The last thing you did? Sipped

18. Where you grew up? Chicago

19. What are you wearing? Crops

20. Your TV is? Isn't

21. Your pets? Dustbunnies

22. Your computer? Slaptop

23. Your life? Interesting

24. Your mood? Antsy

25. Missing someone? Daddy

26. Your car? Benched

27. Something you’re not wearing? Guess

28. Favourite store? Etsy

29. Your summer? Schizophrenic

30. Your favorite colour? Green

31. When is the last time you laughed? Today

32. When is the last time you cried? Yesterday

33. Your health? Okay

34. Your children? Daughter!

35. Your future? Bright

36. Your beliefs? Deep

37. Young or old? Neither

38. Your image? Subdued

39. Your appearance? Curves

40. Would you live your life over again knowing what you know? Perhaps
_____

Quote of the Day:
Tomkins' lawyer, John Beal, said "the devices were intended as threats; they were not intended to actually explode."
This makes me wonder who's crazier -- the defendant, his lawyer or the judge who's turning him loose until trial.
_____

I've been eyeballing this book at the Borders in my train station for the past couple of weeks, and finally broke down and bought the darned thing last night. It's going into the permanent bathroom reading collection, as it's broken into very short sections and is highly amusing.
_____

I've had the same damned ear worm since Saturday. Arghhhhhhh!!!

This calls for drastic action:



There. That oughta do it.
Leslie

Drive-Bys

Yikes! I've had the same damned ear worm since Saturday! Let's see if another dose of Don Williams can't shake that one loose:



... and...


_____

I see this news about a so-called "Mattel Loophole" and I'm not sure if that's good news or bad. Given that Mattel's own testing caught the last several instances of lead paint recalls, it can't be all bad.

Just how much lead is really found in toys every day? Go here. Click on both the link and the video.

If that's not enough to stand your hair on end, I don't know what is.
_____

Great. Like drivers need any more distractions in the car. I hope it's disabled any time the vehicle changes gear out of park. Yeah, yeah -- I get that passengers could use it while the vehicle is in motion, too...

... but some people just cannot resist temptation.

I hate driving as it is these days. This just might keep me off the roads entirely.
_____

You know, the school might not have any legal responsibility for putting this poor kid in another classroom, but they sure do have a moral obligation to make this situation right. What were they thinking??? (And if I were the mom, I'd be putting my kid in another school ASAP. What is she thinking by continuing to send the poor kid to face that every day.) Arghhhhh!!!
_____

The Quote of the Day comes from a brand, spanking new blogger:


Yep. First post out of the box. He's definitely one to watch!
_____

Can anybody here 'splain me what took a whole gott-verdamned year to pay this poor woman back? That's what liability insurance is for, fer cripes sake.

Chase Bank comes out of this smelling to high heaven of bullshit.
_____

Giggle of the Day? It's a two-fer:

cat
more cat pictures

... and...

cat

Leslie

Tootin' the Horn

Harvey's celebrating his fifth blogiversary.

He says, "To help me celebrate, you can leave a comment for me, and include a link to something that's either 'delightful' or 'disturbing'. You don't have to mention which it's supposed to be."

'Spose he'll settle for "delightfully disturbing"?

Leslie

Drive-Bys

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!!! (Not to mention the damage they can do to your eyes.)
_____

I knew George Carlin was an atheist. I really hope he was wrong. But, if he was right, I hope he's out there in the ether somewhere keeping fellow atheist Old Crankypants company.

I can see it. Can you?
_____

Have you met the Super Delegates yet?
_____

Giggle of the Day:

cat
more cat pictures
_____

Your tax dollars at work. Effective, no?
_____

Amy Winehouse's dad is a git. He needs to take a page from Jamie Spears' book and grow a backbone... like, yesterday.
_____

Quote of the Day:
In honor of the 30th anniversary of slime, Bandai subsidiary Mega House has announced the August arrival of the “Biri Biri Kaze Hiki Wanko,” which roughly translates to “shocking sick puppy.”
That reminds me. This guy is blogging again. Heh.
_____

How much do you want to bet that he didn't fall. That's a jumper in my mind.
Leslie

Moving Target


Remember these crazy kids?

It's been over a year, and they're still together. (I love it when a plan comes together!)

He helped her move from one neighborhood to another this past weekend. I tagged along to guard the truck while they hauled her stuff downstairs at one building and upstairs at the other. Stuff including a sofa similar to this... to a second floor apartment in a building with no elevators.

That's when it hit me:



Even after they hauled all that stuff, they managed to laugh and joke and sing this song back and forth to one another:



Yep:



That just makes my day!
Leslie

Drive-Bys

LL had some interesting blog quizzes:




Your Personality Is



Idealist (NF)


You are a passionate, caring, and unique person.

You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals.

You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily.

Your heart tends to rule you. You can't make decisions without considering feelings.

You seek out other empathetic people to befriend.

Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships.

In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily.

At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career.

With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone.

As far as your looks go, you've likely taken the time to develop your own personal style.

On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours.



... and, just so you know...

Your result for The What type of MAN turns you on Test...

Exotic bad-ass

You scored 80% masculine, 65% athletic, 55% exotic, and 50% refined!


You want everything in a man at the same time! Masculine, built like a Greek god, exotic and mysterious and even some bad-ass in there too. I think you would really like Freddy Ljungberg, the Swedish soccer player. He's the guy on the right. But let's face it, the whole point of this was to look at a bunch of hot guys. If you liked what you saw, please rate my test!

Take The What type of MAN turns you on Test at HelloQuizzy

Gulp.
_____

I see London.

I see France.

I see Macrida's underpants.

(I still want to know what in the hell crazy position she must have been pretzeled into in order to be able to accomplish what she allegedly accomplished -- shooting herself in eye with that teeny piece of metal.)

(And I didn't need to know that she's got a lot of VS underwear. TMI.)

I say frivolous. How about you?
_____

This is a really cool initiative to help the homeless in Chicago help themselves. There are a couple of photos there I wouldn't mind owning myself!
_____

Speaking of frivolous, why this case wasn't thrown out on those grounds in the first place, I don't know. Let's hope saner judges exist for the appeal.
_____

A message from your pilot.
_____

Giggle of the Day:

dog
see more dog pictures
Leslie

Drive-Bys

My office is moving in the middle of July, and I just got to see the new digs for the first time today. It inspired the ear worm of the day:



I'm as overwhelmed and excited as Weezie, as the new joint is classy. Very classy.
_____

One more YouTube video. This one's for Holder, who loves her some science experiments:



How cool is that?
_____

Giggle of the Day:

dog
see more dog pictures

(I smell a rat!)
_____




You Are 32% Texas



You're as welcome in Texas as a skunk at a lawn party.



That's okay. I'll re-take the test when I get back from here, and I guarantee you that number will spike. I can hardly wait!
_____




Your Personality Is



Idealist (NF)




You are a passionate, caring, and unique person.

You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals.



You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily.

Your heart tends to rule you. You can't make decisions without considering feelings.



You seek out other empathetic people to befriend.

Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships.



In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily.



At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career.



With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone.



As far as your looks go, you've likely taken the time to develop your own personal style.



On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours.

Leslie

Drive-Bys

Ear worm of the day:


_____

This news about White Lily Flour ought to be a heart breaker for all my southern friends.
_____

I've had enough bad news for a while, so this story just made my day. I bet it will bring a smile to your face, too!
_____

Yum! I'm going to have to try them all.
_____

More nuttiness au natural:
She promised to lead in-line skaters "wearing only a hemp G-string and blowing a conch shell."
Yeesh.
_____

Giggle of the Day:

cat
more cat pictures
_____

Here's a couple of quick Blogthings for you:




You Are 55% Tortured Genius



You are very smart and a little bit tortured. Like a tortured genius in training.

You're brilliant enough to see how screwed up the world is. Just don't let it screw you up!






Your Seduction Style: Ideal Lover



You seduce people by tapping into their dreams and desires.

And because of this sensitivity, you can be the ideal lover for anyone you seek.

You are a shapeshifter - bringing romance, adventure, spirituality to relationships.

It all depends on who your with, and what their vision of a perfect relationship is.






The True You



You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to be more relaxed, calm, and composed.



With respect to money, you spend as little as possible.



You think good luck depends on maintaining good relationships with others.



The hidden side of your personality tends to be a little selfish. You only do what interests you.



You are tend to think about others' feelings a lot, perhaps because you are so eager to be liked.



When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you will search and search until you find your perfect match.

Leslie