Dave! An Entry just for YOU!
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants and Raves

If you are Dave, keep reading, if you aren't then come back next week.  I'll be gone for a while.  Anywho:

So I did come digging around.  It seems that this is a problem with some Samsung TVs and the company knows about it. There is a problem with some blown capacitors on the power supply board.  These capacitors are supposed to be easy to replace at home, or you can take it in for a servicing.  Some people report that it's covered by the warranty, some are saying that it isn't.  The Samsung tech rep on C-Net says the company is aware of the problem.  We'll need to first contact Samsung, then Best Buy, then back and forth a few times.  If they try to charge us 500$$ for a new board it might be better to replace just the blown caps.  I'll ask Steve on the weekend.  There's a kit sold at US radio shacks and several forums have the parts list.  But we should try Samsung and Best Buy first to see if they can help.

I have a folder in my bookmarks with links to places that talk about this issue with Samsungs. There's a lot of info out there.  It sound like this is embarrassing for Samsung.  If we want to tackle this before we leave we can, but I've got enough on my plate today and tomorrow as it is.  Mayhaps when we get back it would be better?

See ya later Dave!

And for everyone else, Here's a LOLSquirrel to keep you happy!

Topic: Rants and Raves
I just spent most of the morning looking up stuff on the internet for mom.  Stuff like phone numbers, addresses, postal codes, crap like that.  It's time for them to become part of the year 2001 and and get an internet connection! NOW! It's not difficult, setting up security is easy, there's free programs out there and Dad can get tons of exposure if he would get himself a website.  They need the internet. NOW!

Topic: Rants and Raves

You know what is burning my backside these days?  The whole "organic" movement in cosmetics.  The ads claim that things made with certified organic botanical sourced ingredients are far better for skin than the harmful toxic chemicals used in other products.  They say chemicals are toxic, harmful and you should not use anything with chemicals on your skin or hair.These ads are ignoring one very important fact: EVERYTHING IS MADE OF CHEMICALS. HUMANS ARE COMPRISED ENTIRELY OF CHEMICALS>  Organic chemicals are some of the most toxic on earth.  Technically, crude oil is organic!

Everything is made with chemicals, whether it is certified organic or not. Plants are amazing chemical factories, from the chemical process called photosynthesis to the chemical processes that make viable seeds, sap, colour pigments in the flowers...everything on earth is made of chemicals. You are filled with chemicals and many are quite toxic. Fortunately our bodies have ways of handling toxic chemicals through the liver and kidneys. You 100% certified organic botanicals are the same chemicals as non certified and non botanical. When you break things down to the molecules, there's no difference between organic botanical or anything...it's all the same. certified organic botanical is more about marketing and playing on the fears of gullible consumers.

In cosmetics I prefer products whose ingredients are carefully tested for effacity and safety. I have sensitive skin and many plant compounds are highly irritating to my skin. look at poison ivy, nettles, and belladonna. they may be certified organic all they want, but that doesn't make any of them harmless or safe. There's a mushroom called Gyromitra esculenta, the false morel -that produces monmethylhydrazine (a chemical also found in rocket fuel). Is certified organic botanical rocket fuel any safer than synthesized rocket fuel?

It's all hype, there's nothing wrong with chemicals, if anything some are more harmless than untested unstandardized unknowns from plants sources. Some plants are highly toxic and cause severe dermatitis reactions. Some chemicals have been purified and tested as harmless and very effective. Chemical doesn't always equal bad and botanic organic does not always equal good.

So would the chemical in stinging nettle be less painful if it were certified organic?  Would the poison in Hemlock be soothing and healing because it came from a plant and plants are soothing and healing? Would poison Ivy cause less of a rash if it were grown according to certified organic standards?

It's all hype and nonsense.  One product that drove me crazy was a lotion for sensitive skin that contained "The calming essence of feverfew" FEVERFEW??? That's related to ragweed and it is highly irritating.  It's used to treat migraines and one caution is that chewing the leaves can lead to mouth cankers, open sores and bleeding gums.  There are strict warning not to swallow the leaves because they can perforate the stomach and the small intestine.  Yeah, that's really calming on my sensitive skin.

Another contains St John's Wort.  The plant has several proven medical benefits , but none are for the skin.  In fact, it will sensitize the skin to the sun, making it burn far easier.  Yet one company put it in all their skin care products, emphasizing how it's anti-depressant qualities will brighten the mood of skin.  My skin doesn't have a mood.  Really. But a sun burn will damage it.  I think I'll pass on the St John's Wort.

And that's my rant for today.  It's all the same elements found on the old periodic table, they all come from the same source.

Complain Complain.
Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Rants and Raves

This image fits right into my impression that the internet is a big seething cesspit of stupid right now.  So I have the whole image leeching problem taken care of.  Goatse's hello.jpg is gone and now they've got something better.  It was a message board, as i thought.  It was a post your favourite vote for the best type thread, and the first post has a clicky-linky to a GIS page.  From the page people post their favourite lolsquirrel.  There were close to 1000 visits a DAY from the google image page.  Then someone decided that my "the chix are all up in my nuts" was the funniest and linked to it in their message.  Did they save the image and use tiny pic or photobucket or imagebucket and then use that URL as the img src tag?  NO!  They directly linked to my webpage, using my complete URL.

I don't have a domain, I have a subdomain. It's only one below a full domain, and above a tripod.members/myname type site. I don't have unlimited bandwidth, and every time a picture pops up on your screen and bit of my bandwidth is used up.  I don't mind people reading my blog, checking my webpages or looking at my photo albums.  i don't even mind google image search.  The problem is that once all my monthly allowance for bandwidth is gone, I don't get anymore unless i pay for it.  I already pay a small annual amount for the site, and extra bandwidth is expensive.  I pay for this, and the people who link to the picture on whatever message board don't pay.  They are literally stealing my money when they hotlink.

Now they are getting a super larger 1000px square table busting image of Horatio Caine  looming giant sized over the Miami skyline.  He's holding his super-powered sunglasses of Justice and saying "I see you are leeching my images.  keep on leeching...and I will leach you...a lesson you will never forget!  YYYYYEEEEAAAH!"  It has some special coding embedded in it, it wears the JPG extension, but it's so much more than that.  Horatio isn't the only one who can see you! PING!

Speaking of cesspits of stupid, I joined "vote for the worst" and I am now having fun pointing and laughing at some of the stupidest American idol crap out there.  What I like about VFTW is that they don't take it all so seriously.  They have a whole bunch of killer GIFS and graphics.  Like this seacrest FAIL picture. The funniest thing on line is the Fans United Christian Kingdom  for Adam prayer group. Rather unfortunate acronym, don't you think? And I love the woman posting in "Grannies for Adam" asking if he's one of those "Transvestypes." My dear...if you only knew...

 Last AI GIF, I promise. This question was PM's to me from a sewing board.  I hate these, I get far too many of them:

I want to make a dress which is corset type dress like gothic and medievil.
But I did not take textiles in school I do electronics.
So I don't no where to start or anything!
Can anyone help.
I just was like off the shoulder corset dress which kinda is like tight around my waist then like flows down to my feet.
I would buy one but like I am an unusal size and boning does not fit me.
Help please. :)
They always end with the stupid little happy face emoticon.  Why do people always pick a complex advanced level evening dress for their first freaking sewing project?

Anything else to complain about?  How about the weather.  There was a windstorm that lasted two days, then Yesterday was picture perfect, and now today we're in the middle of a snowstorm warning. And It's that time of month...fortunately due to The Change that's nowhere near as much of a headache as it was in the past.  Too much information!

And that's all for today.  Coming tomorrow: Sewing pattern reviews!

Mood:  don't ask
Topic: Rants and Raves

I just got hit with a nasty robot, the thing froze my site for a couple hours.  If you couldn't visit it in the evening, it's because a bot was invading my site.  So it's off to robots.txt to add yet another to my disallow list

Here's an interesting article from the world of comics and comic fandom: A serious note about sexual harassment in comic book fandom.

I first began buying comics in the early seventies (about 11 or 12 years old) and at the time I was the only girl in the local comic store; one Books Now and Then in Kitchener Ontario. I learned about harassment at a very young age. The owner of the store, Harry Kremer would let me sit beside the cash desk and he would keep the guys at a safe distance and keep them moving along.  As I got older we had an agreement, he would not give out any personal information about me without my direct permission first. Only once did he ever go as far as asking my permission, usually he would shrug his shoulder and say he didn't know anything about me.  And he told me some of these guys were quite persistent.  Most girls my age hated the comics shop because they didn't like some of the more obnoxious guys and some of the off colour comments.  You wouldn't believe some of the things I heard in there! 

It's quite sad that even though females in the world of comics is no longer rare, the same issues that kept many of my peers out of the stores still exists today.  It would be easy to blame the unrealistic and overtly sexualized images of females in the comics, but the idealized male images are just as physically unrealistic as the male images and we don't see the same reaction from girls.  That's a distraction and not the real issue.  The real issue is that the fans who harass women have never had to face consequences of their actions; they do it because they believe they have the right to do it and every girl is fair game.

Let's just stop for a moment and get rid of a few weasel words and foggy terminology here.  Not all comics fans are harassing sexist jerks.  Most are nice people who happen to enjoy their literature in graphic format.  I am proud to be a comics fan, and proud to be a female comics fan, the first in my hometown.  Comics fans are proud of what unites them, what they have in common, what makes then unique in our homogenized society where difference is discouraged.  We can be different and we can be together.  However there is a small group who are just plain obnoxious, the comic book guy of Simpson's fame, the stereotypical socially maladjusted fan-boy, like the guy I call "assy mcasshole"

These fanboy type believe they are the centre of the comics universe.  They take the limited edition hologram UPC box seriously.  They believe that having the edition with the double cover somehow makes them better than everyone else and they are ENTITLED to say and do whatever hey want because they are TRUEFANS ™  as opposed to the rest of wannabe fans.  If you don't have the limited edition double cover hologram edition of "thessaly's adventures in dreamland" then how can you be a TRUEFAN™ ?

Those comic fan-types who believe they have the right do and say whatever they want whenever they want are the ones who also feel they have the right to do it and say it to anyone.  Those who harass women must be made responsible for their own actions and they must face consequences for them if they are hurtful or damaging to others.  And it must be done consistently and fairly.  If a clear written policy against harassment is required then one must be put in place.  There's no reason why comics conventions should be exempt from the rules of common decency and common courtesy. We grrls have money to spend, and if harassment in the world of fandom doesn't stop, then don't be surprised to see our money go with us to places where we are safe. 

There is a difference between "hey cool n sexy catwoman costume" and "look at the ass on THAT" while grabbing the mentioned body part.  Everyone, even the ass grabber knows the difference. If a person doesn't know the difference then it is time for them to learn.  And if they have to learn by being tossed out of comic convention, store or whatever, then so be it.

I did some sewing yesterday.  I took some of the brown bamboo/rayon and made the same top that i made from the purple bamboo/rayon.  I have some crystals and beads to embellish it with and I found some acrylic stones and pearl buttons for the purple top.  The brown top, from laying out, cutting to finishing took less than an afternoon.  It will go with my brown capri pants, my brown and turquoise peasant skirt, my brown and gold hippy skirt, my brown shorts, and my brown and pink peasant skirt.  De we sense a colour theme here?  Could it be brown?  I still have a yard and a bit left.  Perhaps another brown top of some type?

And that's all for today.  Today is hubby Dave's last day of work before his vacation.  He'll either work really late, or get out really early.  Later!

Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants and Raves

The Worst Sewing Question Ever Asked:I want to make a ladies suit, how do I layout, draw/draft and cut my suit without any pre-made pattern? I would like to measure myself and make any pattern of suit of my choice. how can I arrive at forming patterns and cutting out the material and then sew it up altogether. thank you

That person doesn't want much: only an encapsulation of the bespoke master tailoring technique in five paragraphs or less.  This is the opening paragraph i posted, the first one I wrote was far more harsh:

Wow. Make a suit pattern for yourself and then how to sew...all in one little message board post?  Sorry, not likely.  It takes time and practise to learn pattern drafting, and suits are the most complicated of all because not only is there the fashion fabric shell, you need to draft facings, underlinings, interfacings, the lining, and then you need to put the pieces together, and suit tailoring is very challenging even to an experienced home sewing enthusiast.  That's why even highly experienced home sewers, even ones who do make patterns for dresses and tops will turn to commercial patterns for suits.  It eliminates the guess work and the endless adjusting of the roll line, the placement of breakpoint, the shift measurement that allows the collar to lay flat, etc.  People who draw patterns on fabric with chalk, then cut and sew are master bespoke tailors and this require many years of learning and practise. It's not the place to start, it's like saying you want to learn ballet by dancing the lead in The Nutcracker in the Met on Christmas Eve as your first lesson! Or singing the lead in Madama Butterfly for your fist signing lesson.

And that's all for today.  I have things to do.  Yesterday I said i would do nothing...until I looked down at the kitchen floor and wondered when the pale oyster grey had been replaced with blotchy beige.  Oops...time to wash the floor, which i did.  Three times.  It's not a mottled beige and oyster grey.  I prefer laundry over floors, laundry at least lets me play with clothes.  And that's all I have to say for today.  Except that we had another torrential downpour with hail and thunder yesterday.  And that's all.

Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Rants and Raves

I think my cold is mostly gone.  I don't have an earache any longer, and I only have a slight case of the sniffles.  Yay! 

On the weekend Dave and i went off to A different home improvement store to look at their tiles and bathroom stuff.  They had a huge assortment of kitchen tiles, but not as much in bathroom tiles.  They had plenty of french countryside Terra cotta, sunny yellows, bright blues, all the colours i was looking for.  They did not do as well in the Bathroom fixtures department, or in closet organizers.  So the score so far is Closet improvements: Canadian Tire.  Kitchen tiles and paint:  Rona.  Bathroom tiles, flooring, fixtures and accessories: Home Depot. 

Dave is almost okay with this, except for the part that means he'll be doing some home improvement work that might be heavy, like taking out the old vanity and replacing it with a new one, laying a new floor, ceramic tiling...little things like that.

So I just found out today that one of the types of crystals i wanted has been discontinued and I will never ever be able to find them ever again.  That's so sad.  Now I have to either A: decide on a substitute  or B: adapt my idea so it doesn't use the pear shaped crystals.  I think I'll do B and use larger crystals instead of pear shapes.

I have a complaint.  I contribute to several fashion and sewing sites. A few have mailbags where someone can send in a question and we try to answer as many as we can.  There's a couple types of question I hate more than any other as it's impossible to answer, and people get angry when we tell them it's impossible to wave a magic wand and conjure up what they want. Here it is in five variations just this morning:

I am looking for a pattern to make a dress similar to the hooded one that Margaret Trudeau wore to her 1971 nupitals to the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. I tried looking but unable to leave a question on any site. If you can give me any info where to look or for that matter how to reach her regarding that dress - I would be over the moon - Thanks everyone for your

And:

Where could I find a replica or something similar to Ziggy Stardust's white outfit? I'm looking to create as close a replica as I can to this outfit: (link removed) It was the second outfit he wore in Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture and so far I have had very little success. In particular, no luck in finding a shirt like that one. Any help is appreciated

And also:

I am looking to buy the dress rhianna wore in her under my umbrella video.  whre can I buy the exact dress she wore? not a copy but the exact dress?

And:

I want to know where The character of elaine in Seinfeld got her clothes and her bags.  What is the designer of her bags and where can i buy some of her dresses?

And:

I want to make this dress:(link to movie actress on red carpet wearing a draped and pleated and hand painted Zandra Rhodes gown) I have some fabrics and my grandma will let me use her sewing machine so how do I make it cause I've never sewn anything before.  How do I cut it and measure it?  I don't want to use a pattern? I want it to look like that dress and not a home made dress from a pattern?

First: Have you looked on I dunno...GOOGLE?  Like the image search?  And then taken your picture to a dressmaker?  Or perhaps using google to look up sewing patterns and compare your picture to sewing patterns?  Are you lazy?  Do you want me to do your work for you?  Are you too important to search on your own? And that was a long time ago and probably custom made so the likelihood of finding exactly what you want is close to impossible.

Second: Once again, custom made, long time ago, at least this guy has a picture, the likelihood of finding a replica anywhere is NIL.  Those costumes are sooo custom made and so unique that almost all are in museums.

third:  That was custom made for the video and not available to the general public.  (are we sensing a theme here?)

Fourth:  All costumes for Seinfeld were either custom made (Elaine's wardrobe has a particularly interesting story) and the accessories were all purchased at Mid town Manhattan stores, where someone like her would shop.  Only they are from the MID NINETIES and likely all discontinued styles and no longer available.

Finally:  Custom made...and a pleated and draped dress is difficult enough with a pattern...why does everyone want to make something that would send me into conniption fits for their first sewing project?

If you see it on television on a character, or in a movie, or  in a video, it's likely a costume, designed for the character and not available to the general public.  And if that piece is older than five years, it's no longer available anywhere.  And if it's over thirty years old, tough titties, you're out of luck.  I try to be nice, but some of these questions drive me crazy.  There are thousands of things out there that you can't buy, and Ms I-Want-Margret's-Dress lady...I don't care how rich or important you think you are.   And I am not searching every pattern on the internet for you!

And that's all for now.  later! And I found a place with cheap tear drop crystals YAY!

It's Pronounced EM-pire, NOT OM-peer
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants and Raves

There is no reason that anyone should use that beastly mispronunciation Om-peer to refer to high waisted garments.  The baby doll tops and high waisted tunics sold today have no relation what so ever to the dresses worn during the time of Napoleon.  And in the time of Napoleon, no one would have ever dared call them Empire.  Certainly in france during the revolution and the Terror, the word empire would have likely led the user to a nice close shave from the so called "National Barber"

A little history, I am writing this because of two e-mails I received, not through the blog, but through the fashion column.

"how is it pronounced? I was told its ompeer because its from france? But some people laughed" and

"I want to make a dress like Josephine Bonaparte, is it empire?  I thought it was directoire. I want a dress pattern like Josephine's with the high waist and leg-o-mutton sleeves but I can't find one anywhere.  Can you help?"

I'm answering both Josephine and ompeer in this response.  The tow are very relevant to each other.  bear with me, miss ompeer, you'll get your answer. First, the pattern: You'll need to look to small specialty pattern shops, ones that specialize in historic garments.  These places can be difficult to find on the internet, but they are out there. But first:

I doubt you will find an authentic Josephine dress with leg of mutton sleeves as they were not part of the style at the time. They made their appearance in women's dress forty to fifty years later. The first pre-revolution high waited dresses were correctly called Directoire. After the revolution and the Terror the actual name for the white light as a feather dresses, and the name used by Josephine would have been "le Greque" as these dresses were supposed to recall the golden age of Greece, which Napoleon thought he was re-creating.

The French people of the time called them Le Greque, got that? Not Empire or ompeer. This is universally agreed upon by historians, and many fashion engravings from the time still exist.  They are all labeled "Le Robe Greque."  The British at the time copied French fashions and gave it their own spin on the style.  they called theirs,  "spencer" or "regency"  The name Spencer comes from the Earl of Spencer, who brought the style from France to England.  These Spencers were ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The high waisted dresses with leg-o-mutton sleeves are from the early nineteen hundreds when the style went through a revival.  Then it was called Directoire by the French and British.  Empire was the term used in the US. The British soon picked up on the American Interpretation of the style and they too called it empire.  At no point in history was the word "empire" ever used by the french -certainly not Napoleon- to refer to a high waisted gown, so never ever pronounce it ompeer.  The high waisted dresses, tunics and baby dolls available today have no relationship or precedent to the styles worn by the court of Napoleon,  The word for the clothes in not a french , it never was a french word and never has been a french word.  The word as it relates to high waisted clothing is AMERICAN ENGLISH ans should be pronounced as an ENGLISH word..

em-pire is the correct pronunciation, not om-peer.

Unless you are referring to the french empire and your first language is french. If your first language is french and you speaking french and you are talking about Napoleon's reign, then you can say ompeer, as long as the rest of the sentence is in french and you use the proper semi guttural french way of pronouncing an R. 

In the late 1800's early 1900's these elaborate lace and cotton lawn dresses were often called Tea Gowns and a search of that term might yield results closer to what you want. These will have high waists, leg o mutton sleeves and they will be quite elaborate and suitable for formal and for wedding gowns.

Back to fashion: The style from the early 1800's had tighter full length sleeves with only a small puff at the sleeve head. This interpretation was found in british and american dresses of the period.  The french preferred the the short, small puff at the head with the rest of the arm bare.  This was to separate Napoleon's rule from the excessive fashion indulgences of the previous monarchs, who lost their heads in part to their excessive clothing tastes, among other excesses. 

Folkwear's #215 is quite true to the era, the dresses were very narrow cut and usually had short sleeves. http://www.folkwear.com/215.html

Sewing Central's Regency page -scroll to the middle, has a couple more similar and again they are true to the era. http://www.sewingcentral.com/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=regent.html&cart_id=3309263_30790

Period Impressions has a few good regency era dresses, although these are more typical of the ones worn in the US.  Sadly, I can't find a picture, and Alter Years, the website that has the best collection of historic pattern is under construction. Here's the home page: http://www.alteryears.com/
Here's a group of costume makers who have reviews of historic patterns:http://www.gbacg.org/GreatPatternReview/index.htm
And finally, here's the page of costumes.org, they have links, resources and almost too much information on everything from historic costumes to theater costumes:http://www.costumes.org/
And here's a bit of the period history:
http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/regencylinks.htm#General  and also:
http://www.costumes.org/classes/fashiondress/FrenchRevolution.htm

These links should provide plenty more patterns and pattern sources for you.

Back to the language issue.  I'm giving the last words to Charles Harrington Elster, an expert in the english language.  He wrote a book entitled "The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations."  He takes aim at several words with alleged french origins and french words with horrible phony french pronunciations.  He calls these "folk etymology" a term lexicographers use when untrue folk tales about the origins of words become accepted as the true story, sort of like urban legends for word origins. Empire as referring to the dress is in no way french in origin and should not be pronounced in quasi french.  He also blasts people who try to pretend they are multi lingual by butchering real french words such as "croissant"  by saying kwa--without the proper guttural back of the throat sound to the r. He says and I quote from the book: "vain attempts at French should cease.  Unless you are French, or fluent in French,  this is a tough word to pronounce, so there's no point trying...the the pseudo french and half anglicized  seem pointless and pompous."  He goes on to say that fake french is an affectation that shows snobbery and makes the speaker contemptible.  I believe he is correct on all points, and to extrapolate what he says and the factual history of the fashion to the word in question:  Empire -as it is applied to fashion -is correctly pronounced EM-pyr or em-PYR, stress where you want, although the first syllable has a more fluid sound.

So it is most certainly EM-pyr, not the beastly ompeer, which makes you sound ignorant and pompous at the same time.   Empire is a perfectly acceptable word and em-pyr is a perfectly acceptable pronunciation... after all no has ever called the movie "The Ompeer Strikes Back"

I'm not a waste pipe, I'm an artist who sews!
Topic: Rants and Raves

It's sew-ists.  Not sewers.  Let's get this out in the open and air it out right away.  Let's not call ourselves a word with the same spelling as pipes that transport human waste.  We are far better than that.  We deserve a far more dignified name for ourselves than one shared by waste pipes.  So no longer will we be called sewers!  From now on we are sewists.

Sewist is to sewing as artist is to art.  And why not?  Sewing is also creative, whether one is following a commercial pattern to the letter or one is making an original design.  Both have the stamp of a unique individual on them.  The one following the pattern places his/her mark on the piece through selection of thread, notions, buttons -indeed no two garments from a pattern will be the same.  Everything from choice of colour to choice of button placement is an exercise in individual expression.

And naming ourselves after drain pipes denigrates what we do.  It turns it into something less than what it is.  It's not a domestic chore like washing a floor or flushing a toilet; it takes time, practice and skill to master.  Some never learn how to sew, some never learn how to sew well.  Many see sewing as something that's not worthwhile to learn or to do.  Let's elevate sewing above and beyond dish-washing and floor sweeping; let's give it a title worthy of its skill level. Let's restore the dignity to this noble and worthy endeavor.

So down with the old word "sewers" and up with the far more worthy name of "sewists"  We deserve the honor, we deserve a good name! Sewists of the world unite, you have nothing to loose but the association with sewer pipes and everything to gain.

And that's all for today.  Later everything will be coming up roses and I will be totally in the pink!  As long as i don't paint myself into a corner!  Later!

Mood:  loud
Now Playing: Bryan Ferry...again!
Topic: Rants and Raves

Hi!  Sorry if anyone had trouble getting to my blog, According to my log files I was being bombed by some IP from russia.  I know when I have over a thousand page views in a day then something is seriously wrong.

But that was the theme of the day for Monday.  Things getting in the way of other things.  My plans were simple.  Do some writing, go through the sewing boards, laundry, kitchen, shovel some snow, then make a nice dinner.  And I should mention Dan is home for reading and study week, and ben woke with a serious migraine. And other people had other plans.

Dan's girlfriend comes looking for pictures for to draw for an assignment.  No big deal, we have magazines coming out the wazoo and many many photograph.  She takes about two hours. The boys go out to shovel the snow. While they are out, my parents call.  They are getting passport for a trip to calgary.  Yes, as far as I know Alberta has not yet seceded from the rest of canada, but they might want to go to Montana, which isn't part of the US.  They didn't seem to care that you don't need a passport if you are driving, and that senior citizens will likely not need passports by the summer.  They didn't care, they wanted passports.  So they find out that if you have a computer then you can register on line for e-pass, which means that instead of waiting in the passport office for four hours, you sit and stare at a computer screen for four hours. They asked me to at least look at the site, so I did.  But first I had to quickly get Dan to help me tidy up the computer room, which is upside down because it's reading and study week and he's taking a computer software course, and i would tidy up the laundry room, because I'm in the middle of eight loads of laundry...so when the domestic stuff is done I went to the site, read the conditions for signing up, and that's when the real trouble started.

See, to sign up you need a valid e-mail addy.  No problem, said my parents, we'll use Mike's.  No said I you need a valid e-mail addy on your computer. No prob said my parents, we'll use yours, linda.  No says I that MY addy, not yours and you can't use it. According to the terms of service that's fraud.  The last place you want to even have the slightest sniff at fraud is when applying for a passport.  I told them I would help them both set up hotmail accounts, then they can apply at the library, for which there is a separate and convenient option for people who don't own computers...but they didn't want any type of e-mail address. Finally, the red box on the one page said that there is a 65 minute wait for this live service, and every time the page refreshed the wait went up in ten minute increments, until a bigger red box suggested we wait until off peak hours. Then reading further there was something about tracking cookies that we should NOT delete...and they couldn't guarantee that their system was hack proof, and I though oh great....the government uses a less secure system than amazon...

They were under the impression you filled out a form, hit the send and go to the office and pick up your passport with no waiting because they submitted it using this brand new thing that no one else uses called teh interweb.  Sadly it did't work like that.  So I said, no you can't use my computer, but I will print out the application so you can fill it out at your leisure.  No they think I'm little miss poopypants because I didn't let them use my computer.  I said that yes, you can save yourself a long wait using a computer, but it has to be YOUR computer.

So they were gone, slightly miffed at me.  So by that time it was after four.  No time to start a nice dinner. So we all took a breather, I went out to meet Dave and tell him my story. (I feel better about being miss poopypants...he thought using my email was a bad idea, and he didn't want government tracking cookies anywhere near our computer)   We finally ate around seven thirty.

And how was your day?  Later was my favourite show to hate, CSI:Horatio Caine SuperCop!  I feel sorry for poor Anna...he likes her so now she's gonna die.  Girl...if you value your life...stay away from the man in the sunglasses...

So isn't that funny and ironic and sad all at the same time?  A group of film makers find a tomb, and on the tomb are the names of some very famous biblical characters, and in the tombs are ossuarries, and in these are bones, and for the first time there might be viable actual proof outside the Bible that some of these people actually lived...and are god-people happy?  Are they dancing in the street and throwing this in the faces of skeptics?  No!  They are adamant that it's a fake!  Why?  Because in the act of proving that which has never been proven --that there might have been a historical jesus who lived in that area at that time, it also proves the religion and the dogma that he inspired is all false.  No Ascension in a cloud of angel wings...the guy married and had a kid...his mother had more children and didn't get taken up to heaven in a cloud of angel wings and become queen of heaven, Joseph was his DNA-results proven father...they were all born, lived, got married, had kids and died...it's quite delightfully ironic...and not in the alanis morrisette meaning of the word. The one thing that proves a historical jesus also destroys the foundations of the christian religion.  I need a graphic of Nelson going HAHA!

To be fair, it's likely as authentic as the james ossuary a few years ago, one that made headlines when it was found, then no headlines when it was found to be a fraud.  It could be like finding a tombstone marked with "here lies john, his wife susan, their sons dave and steve, their daughter in law linda and their children jack and mary"  since the names joseph, jesus mary et al are some of the most common names from that era.  It might all be one big co-incidence.  It all might be a big fake, planted in the early middle ages, like all five of the heads of John the baptist. I wonder where the disproving headlines will be?  Front page, or second last from the back page beside the legal notices and the adult chat lines?

In other news involving my mom and dad, Dan played "dark side of the moon" for them yesterday.  my mom remembered it from back when my brother and I were in high school.  She said she still enjoys it, all these years later.  She also recalled the wall, and enjoying the rock opera part of "the Trial" the best.  Classic music never gets old and tired.  Do you think in two hundred years people will dress in white ties and ball gown to see presentation of The Wall done by authentic period instruments?  Like bass guitars and Fender stratocasters and Moogs and Mellotrons?

Here's a little treat!  A free pattern for empire tops and a dress from Burda.  I downloaded the pattern and instructions.  Looks cool and simple!

And that's all for today. I have a ton of stuff to do, stuff that didn't get done yesterday.