Welcome Andrew Neil!

Born to my "little" brother John and girlfriend Kim at 6:50 this
morning, 9 pounds, 15.5 ounces! Mom had a hard labour but is
recovering and Andrew is doing great. Photos once I get some!

Yet another YouTube video

No big updates here, I've been sick and am slowly getting back on my feet.

Photos!!!

Did I mention it snowed this morning?




And since I have a new camera, I've been playing around with it of late. This is called "So Hungry!" ...




Playing with macro focussing...




And depth of field...





I had to include a photo of Brian!




And what photo roundup would be complete without photos of Percy?



And cheating to create a vignette look with a macro lens. Really, just playing around!



Finally, my mini-happy dance! I finished the middle section of TW's Fantasy Triptych this morning. Now I'm trying to distract myself from it so I put it away and work on more of my obligation stitching. I still owe for two babies (with number three coming any day now) and a wedding...

What we've been up to...

Other than dealing with a personal emergency (everyone will be fine in the long run, it's just going to take time), and work being crazy, and trying to meet deadlines, and helping organize for a convention, and stitching, and making almost 100 hand made cards, and playing with and learning about my new camera...
Not much!
Life's been insanely swamped (even for us) and is throwing us some curve balls, bringing stuff back from the past we thought long dealt with. But we're surviving and December is upon us. My first package for my advent exchange arrived (Thanks Heather!) and we even had snow today. Just a little, and it's supposed to turn to rain later, but it's snow for now! And thus, as Brian proclaimed (correctly) it is now allowed to be my birthday later this week. I hope to get some photos posted later, but my new card reader for the new camera doesn't seem to want to work. I've got a big stitching update!

Happy Turkey Day everyone

We're spending a quiet day at home. i'd planned to stitch, but I'm in the mood to make more Christmas cards, so I'm doing that while dinner roasts. Brian's working on his writing for the upcoming interactive in Bissel. I stopped to check my email (sure, rub in the snow mom!) and also found this...

OMG...

Funniest commercial I've seen in ages!

Okay, so I had to play some more...

A xvart! A xvart! My kingdom for a xvart!

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Misery acquaints a xvart with strange bedfellows.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Thou canst not say I did it: never shake
Thy gory xvart at me.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

ROFLMAO...

Oh beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The xvart it feeds on.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Quick attempt at a catch up post

So, what have we been up to lately, you ask?
Not much, not really, just:

Disney (Sept 20-23)

Next Weekend: Cambridge (Canada) for Brian's parents' surprise party the next weekend (which needs its own post but isn't getting it right now and I'm going to give up on waiting to type it up and add photos for now. Suffice it to say it went great!)

Next Weekend: Pennsylvania Rennaisance Faire. Except that we decided we were too tired and had too much going on so we wouldn't go. Instead, when I got up Saturday morning, I *really* wanted to go to my not-so LNS. At the least I needed to pick up something I had ordered for a Hallowe'en exchange. Then on Sunday, Brian decided he *did* want to go to CT for a game. I stayed home and tried not to get sick.

Next Weekend: Brian went up to CT for gaming. I'm truthfully not sure anymore what I did... I might have gone with him or I might have stayed home.

Next Weekend: Pennsylvania to see Bob and Sue. We had a great visit and it was nice to go relax. Spent Saturday at the Philly Zoo and really enjoyed it. Need to post photos from then too.

During this week, Brian got a full time job!! :)

Next Weekend: Brian up to CT on Saturday for more gaming, I stayed home to host more LG here at our place. Sunday's plans to do one of the corn mazes were rained out. I was rather relieved. We finally had a day at home to relax.

This past week: Wednesday I had a one day seminar in NJ and got to drive there and back for the day. Saw an instrument that could put me out of work. It did in 10 minutes what takes me weeks to do! Thankfully, it still needs a human to set it up, check it's working right, and interpret the results. And it's over $100k. I think I'll get to keep my job for now :) Got home in time for some of the Trick or Treaters (not many this year). Andrew, who used to live beside us even came by to say hi, see Brian, and especially pet Percy! We also ran over to Sharon's to see Stephanie in her adorable Dorothy outfit. Thursday night I went into Neutral Ground to game. In order to make the train to get there on time, I was at work before 6:30am. And the mod ran late, so I didn't get home until 2am. Uggghhh! But I had Friday off. Original plan for Friday: Go into the city on first non-peak train and spend the day relaxing/sightseeing/shopping/museuming/whatever-looked-fun-ing before going to see The Police at MSG. :) New plan: Brian worked Friday so I lazed around (and tried to sleep but failed miserably) and then we went into the city. Absolutely *LOVED* the concert. It was our first big "event" concert in the city and a celebration of Brian getting his work permission (and job!) We did book a hotel since otherwise we'd have had to be back on the train at 8am to make Saturday's plans: Worldwide Dungeons and Dragon Gameday. Got to NG with plenty of time and much better rested than if we'd gone home. Discovered that NG hadn't received their package afterall, so there was no mod to run! The five of us went down to The Compleat Strategist and played it there (I ate it so the others could play). Caught an early train home and relaxed for an hour before Jess's birthday party. Met great people and had a nice night out. Decided to skip the after dinner (10pm ish) group trip back to J&J's for Shaun of the Dead. Drove Jen and Steve (?) home instead and went to bed early-ish. Sunday Brian had planned two mods of LG at our place. I decided to skip the later one and just relax. Smart idea...

Phew! Are you exhausted yet? I know I am. I've been working very hard lately to not get sick, and (knock wood) have managed to so far. The next few weeks will be much quieter. I'm looking forward to it. No stitching photos I can show since all I'm working on right now is obligation stitching.

Which crew would you fit with?

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? v1.0 created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Serenity (from Firefly) You like to live your own way and do not enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you that you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Coming on December 1, 2005: Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? The Sequel Serenity (from Firefly) 94% Moya (from Farscape) 75% SG-1 (from Stargate) 75% Nebuchadnezzar (from The Matrix) 69% Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars) 63% Bebop (from Cowboy Bebop) 63% Galactica (from Battlestar: Galactica) 50% Enterprise D (from Star Trek) 38%

Day 4: Downtown Disney

We slept late and then packed up our stuff. The baggage hop arrived exactly on time, and once again they couldn't take tips! Checked our bags and off we went. (Breakfast at the Pepper Market first, of course.)
We decided to head to Downtown Disney to spend the last of our meal plan credits (Wolfgang Puck, yum!) and some money since we'd bought very little during the trip. We didn't spend much money in the end, but we did a lot of window shopping. There turned out not to be too much I *really* wanted to buy. Stuff I'd like, but it was just stuff. We did do a little shopping for presents for little ones, but not much else. Even the Lego store didn't have anything special worth buying! The only neat thing they had were regular, standard 8 bump bricks that had been engraved with "Disney" or "Orlando, 2007" or things like that. They were cute, but at $4 each, waaaay too much! We were pretty beat and decided to see if we could catch an earlier flight. Off to the hotel just in time to grab our bags from the check room and off to the airport. Southwest wanted too much money to change our flights to the earlier one (more than the flights originally cost), so we just spent a few hours at the airport relaxing. At that point we needed it! The flight was a little late landing back home, but we were home and in bed by 1 am. Work the next morning was a bit of a rough go though!

Day 3: Magic Kingdom

Okay, first up I have to admit I have a *LONG* history of biting off more than I can chew. But I only had a three day pass for the parks, and I was damned well going to make the most of it! I also am somewhat limited by my arthritis, and by this day, I was starting to feel it. But I wasn’t going to let that slow me down! First up: grab the train over to Frontier Land for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We checked the wait time for Splash Mountain and it was only 10 minutes, so we head over to Big Thunder Mountain to grab a Fastpass. Except the wait there was only 5 minutes, so we just hopped on board! We both really enjoyed it, but Brian lost his button, ripped right off his shirt. He was glad at that point that he’d taken off his glasses at the start of the ride. Next up: Splash Mountain. We both loved it, and we got so soaked. We were in the very front and thoroughly enjoyed it. Brian would have preferred to have had his glasses off when it came to the big drop, but said it was fun. This was the first place we encountered the non-photopass photos anywhere at Disney. They were $18 and up and we couldn’t even get a good look at them first, so we skipped that. Then on to the Jungle Cruise (a *LOT* of fun) and Pirates of the Carribean. Followed up with the Tiki birds show, which was also a lot of fun.
Next we headed towards Tomorrowland to grab fastpasses for Space Mountain and lunch. You’ll note: we still haven’t seen Cinderella’s castle yet! On the way over to Tomorrowland we finally saw the castle. It was neat, but a *LOT* smaller than I expected. I was sort of underwhelmed by it in the end. We also passed the Haunted Mansion, which had just reopened that week from a long closure for renovation. There were no fastpasses and the line was over 2 hours. We skipped it and planned to come back later. On the way to food/Space Mountain, I got distracted by the Indy Car racing ride, so we did that first (a big disappointment) and then grabbed our Space Mountain fastpasses.
Lunch was really good and then Space Mountain! Brian had somehow forgotten that this ride is totally in the dark. And as usual, he sat down in the ride and tucked his glasses away. Big mistake. The ride totally freaked him out. So we slowed things down for a little while after that. Next up was the people mover transportation system (something nice and slow for poor Brian), then the Stitch ride. Then the people mover again (it was such a nice change of pace) followed by the Buzz Lightyear ride. By then our Fastpasses for Mickey's Philharmagic (3-D show) were up, so off we went. It was really cute, and I didn't get motion sick for once! We went back to the Haunted Mansion, but the lines were up past 3 hours, so we gave that a miss. After running quickly through a couple of the fun rides again (like the Jungle Cruise) we headed out. It was starting to rain, and we were parked out!
We decided to head to Downtown Disney for dinner at Planet Hollywood. So we asked at the transportation hub about how was the best way to get there, and were told which monorail to take... Except it was the wrong one! Thankfully we asked the castmembers at the train, and as an apology (and because I asked really nicely) they let us ride the monorail up in the very front with the driver!!! That was another big childhood dream conquered! So we rode it to the Polynesian hotel in an attempt to see if we could catch the luau dinner show (no dice) and then to Planet Hollywood. Dinner was good, but it was even louder than I ever imagined it would be. But oh what a steal on the meal plan! Back to the hotel to crash and pack. Or just crash...

Day 2: Epcot!

We spent the full day at Epcot and still didn’t get close to seeing everything. It was the extra magic hours in the evening (the park was open until midnight) and we still didn’t make it all. We didn’t quite make it to midnight either, but almost! It was 11:30 when we caught the bus back to the hotel. But back to the morning…

We paid for breakfast at the hotel’s Pepper Market and it was good. Eggs, homefries, muffin and bacon and we were stuffed and ready for adventure. Then we grabbed all our stuff (more on that later) and headed for the park. Once getting there we got a locker and dumped everything we wouldn’t need for the day. And then we started touring. The “golfball” really is as fabulous to see as you’d think it was. We went on many of the individual country’s rides (Norway was excessively roughly bumpy for being a gentle water ride, the Mexican one was really a fun atmosphere), and had a general walk around the park.
Next stop lunch, and I was starving at that point. So we get inside and I made a bee line for the counter only to discover that Brian wasn’t with me any more. I turn around and he’s back at the entrance waving at me. He claims he tried calling my name, but I didn’t hear him. I was a woman on a mission, and that mission was food. I’d walked right past Mike and Jan and everyone! My best friend from highschool, Mike, and his family were also at Disney while we were there, and they got to stay longer :) . We’d made plans to meet up with them that evening for dinner, and the stuff dropped in the locker was presents for their daughters and for Jan. It was fun for Brian to hand over the key and say they’d have presents later! They were just finishing lunch as we got there, so we didn’t really eat with them, but “promised to meet up later in the day”!
We headed off and saw the Canada pavillion show, and Brian cheated during the little quiz while we were in the holding area. Canadian trivia is a lot easier when you’re Canadian! It turned out that the guy running it was from Brantford (the next town over from our hometown) and there were a couple of newlyweds in the crowd from Cambridge (our hometown)! It really is a small world. The movie was really neat, and made me extra homesick. Good thing I was going to be going home in a week! I paid WAAAAYY too much for an Aero bar, but it was worth it. I did a little more shopping at the Great Britian pavillion, including more Little Miss books to add to my growing collection. It’s a sad thing when it’s cheaper to pay the inflated Disneyworld price for them imported from the UK than it is to order them directly from someplace like Amazon.com! I also picked up some Penguins (of course!) and digestives to have sent back to our hotel.
We wandered around and along the way also found out where I could get one of those “first time visitor” buttons. :) We had used our Fastpass (for about the only thing it was needed for) for Soarin’, a new attraction where it’s very much like you’re on a hang glider and it was time for that next. It was really cool! Then we did the Finding Nemo section for a change of pace, and even caught one of the feeding sessions for the aquarium. I would have liked to have stayed for the dolphin feeding, but it was almost time to go feed us! First though, we took the ride through “the land” and got to see all the neat agricultural projects they have going. The greenhouse was fabulous.
Then it was a character dinner at the Garden Grill with the full Butcher clan: Mike and Jan, their daughters Lauren and Megan and Mike’s parents Brian and Debbie. A character dinner is one where you have different characters come by the table and take a few minutes playing with the kids. At ours we got to meet Chip and Dale, Mickey and Goofy. The girls *loved* it. Except when Dale (?) tried to pantomime he was going after Megan’s cupcake… :) The food was good, the talk really fun and a great chance to see the girls fully enjoying Disneyworld. I’m sure this trip is one they’ll never forget. For us, we then went on Soarin’ again, and then headed to try to see something Mike had loved earlier in the day, which was unfortunately closed. The heat was finally starting to wear us down, so we decided to see if we could find seats to see the IllumiNations show from, and we lucked out. A nice comfy bench, where we sat and watched the show. We were a little further back than I might have liked, but we saw about 95% of it, and it was worth missing the rest to be able to just sit and rest for a while.
After that it was one LONG walk around the full park so we could at least say we’d seen each country’s pavillion. Stopped in at the UK pavillion again for another Aero bar to get us to the gates (and bus back to the hotel) and discovered caramel Aero bars. I think I’m in heaven, and I think I’m *VERY* glad they don’t sell them here. Then back to the hotel, and crashed for the night into bed.

Disney Writeup!

I finally went to Walt Disney World! This seems to be the year for me to be making trip to places I’ve always wanted to go. First Paris (and London, but I’d been there) and now Disney!

I *LOVED* it! I can’t wait to go back. And I’d go again in September in a heartbeat. I’m already trying to see if I can plan for it for next September, and for a longer visit! It was so not crowded, it was fabulous! We never waited more than a half hour in a line, and rarely used the fastpasses at all since they weren’t really needed.

Day 1: Up at 4:30 to catch our flight from little Islip Airport. Boy to I love that airport. It was so easy to just get up, grab the last few things, head out and only have a 15 minute drive to the airport. If we ever get our “town resident” stickers for the car (I didn’t know about them to apply in time) we will even be able to park for free there! Security was a joke (more on that later) and we were off to wait for our flight. Brian was doing pretty good (doped up as soon as he got up) and we were off to the races! The flight down was great, and at the end as we were taxi-ing to the terminal the flight attendant sang a full welcome song (three verses!) to the tune of Bibbidi-Boppity-Boo. We all enjoyed it. I had a two year old behind me in his carseat, and he was great throughout the flight. Off the plane and looking for the Disney Magical Express at 10:15.

Disney Magical Express rocks. In all the best ways. Way One: it’s free. Way Two: they pick up your bags at the airport and deliver them to your room. Not just to your hotel, right up to your room! Way Three: they’ve done a fabulous job of making it easy to find them once you do get to Orlando to get the bus to your hotel. Way Four: if you’re flying one of their partner airlines (we weren’t :( ) you get to check your bags in for your flight right from your hotel and they’ll even print off your boarding passes. Way Five: they can’t accept tips.

We got to the hotel, and easily checked in even though it was way to early to get our rooms. Got our passes and headed off for the busses to the parks. We got on the bus to MGM Studios at 11am. How’s that for quick and efficient! The only diappointment upon arriving at the park was that the Rockin’ Rollercoaster we’d really been looking forward to was closed for repairs. We spent the rest of the day there and saw most of the big attractions (Muppets 3D, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Lights Camera Action Stunt Driving show) and did many of the rides. We both loved the Test Track (and rode it 5 times over the course of the day) and I got motion sick on Mission Space. And we’d even taken the “beginner, less intense” version! Vertigo is, unfortunately, nothing new for me, so at least I knew how to handle it. We also enjoyed the Star Wars themed ride Star Tours enough to go back later in the day for a second run through. During the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular early in our day there, however, my camera stopped working. All it would record was a black screen. And yes, the lens cover was off ! :) It would still record video (with picture) so I did a little of that. But I was seriously disappointed to have my camera die on the first day. However, at some point in the afternoon, it decided to work again, and worked happily for the rest of the trip. Oh shucks, we had to go back on a few of the rides so I could get more photos! :P In particular I found a “hidden Kermit” at the Star Tours ride. It rained off and on for the whole day, but we didn’t mind. We’d brought our little emergency ponchos from the car, and it was certainly hot enough we didn’t mind getting a little wet! They do sell really nice ponchos at Disney, for only $7. We bought a set since they were much better than what we’d brought and didn’t end up needing them for the rest of the trip. Call it $14 in rain insurance, and money well spent! We didn’t get to see the evening finale show though since it’s in a big open ampitheatre with metal benches and a lightening storm had started. We got thoroughly soaked waiting to see if it would happen, and loved seeing everything. Dinner was at the Toy Story themed pizza place, and if you’re on the dining plan, that place is a steal! Our dinner *should* have cost us about $40, and only cost us two counter service credits! Score! The only bad part about dinner was discovering (when he pulled it out to use) that not only we, but also security at the airport had totally missed his Swiss Army knife on his keychain. We were NOT impressed, but like it has been said many times before, it really is “security theater”. Once they fully cancelled the evening finale, we grabbed the bus back to the hotel and to find our room. We lucked out and were in Casitas 1 and nice and close to everything! Our bags were there and waiting for us as we dried off, put the shoes to dry (and helped them along for a while with the blow dryer) and crashed for the night.

So a quick explaination of the meal plan since I’ve had several people ask. We got extra lucky and got it included for free as part of the promotion we booked the trip through. Going in September, their slowest time of year, has a lot of benefits! Otherwise it’s $38/adult/day of tickets. Kid prices are less, but I don’t remember exact details. If you’re someone who likes to graze throughout the day, it’s *NOT* for you. If you’re someone who likes to eat regular meals, it’s a steal. WDW is a theme park. They know you’re ‘trapped’ within the park and have to eat there. The prices aren’t terribly horrendous, I’ve seen much worse, but they do add up quickly, and are significantly higher than you pay “on the outside”. Included in the plan, you get one snack, one counter service meal and one full service meal per day per person. Use them whenever you wish in whatever order you wish. It’s all tracked through the one ‘key’ they give you that also acts as your park pass and room key and lets you charge things to your room. Do NOT lose this card! If you do even a little research ahead of time, you’ll make out like a bandit on the meal plan. The full service meals in particular can easily pay for the day’s cost in and of themselves. For each full service meal you get: a non-alcoholic drink (and usually free refills), an appetizer, your meal and dessert. We used it at Planet Hollywood on Saturday night, couldn’t eat everything (yum, strawberry cheesecake for breakfast!) and our tab should have come to a little over $100. Oh, and the meal plan also even includes the tip! (But we left a little extra.) Cost to us: 2 full service credits (and voluntary tip. Disney won’t say how much the tip percentage is, but it’s rumoured to be 12%, and the waiter said he didn’t mind it at all as he was guaranteed a decent tip that way. We asked. We’re like that.) Counter service credits usually include a ‘combo’ meal, dessert and a drink. At the pizza place, it also included salads. So, for two counter service credits we got two salads, two (large) individual pizzas, sodas and desserts. The pizza meals in particular were large enough that we agreed in future when we come back, we’d just get one and split it! The snack credits can be used all over the parks at most of the little stations for things like water or ice cream or things like that. Just ask first and they’ll be happy to tell you what they’re good for and what not. Our favourite use was for real, hand dipped ice cream just outside the Beauty and the Beast stageshow in midafternoon. Very little could have beaten sitting there in the shade enjoying that ice cream! Oh, and one of the neater things they sell at the park are water bottle straps that let you hang the bottle off a shoulder etc. At about $3, they were well worth it to buy and then just keep refilling one bottle at the water fountains. Most of which we pleasantly discovered have *cold* water!

A real post is coming...

I promise! I started typing it up this morning. But in the mean time, watch this, it's truly wonderful!

I took this...

while running on 3 hours of sleep and exhausted with worry.
I blame that...

Your Score: French Bastard

You scored 50Worthiness!

You're the French bastard. You have no idea whats going on, but you can taunt the hell out of anybody.

"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough whopper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of eldeberries. Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time-a!"

Link: The Monty Python & The Holy Grail Test written by Silent_Tiger on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

OMFG!!!

I just hurt myself laughing at the Babylon 5 mashup. Unfortunately, they've disabled embedding, so you'll have to actually go to YouTube to get it.

Brokeback Babylon

Do *NOT* have food or drink in your mouth while watching this. You have been warned. My keyboard paid the price to bring this warning to you...

And because it was fun...

Stolen from Jess' live journal...

Wood type: birch Length: 11½ inches Core: Kelpie Hair get your own wand!

In honour of tomorrow....

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

My pirate name is:

Mad Ethel Cash

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

If you take the quiz, leave me a comment so I know your name too :)

Rant Warning

What is it with people trimming their nails in public? I just don't
get this. I'm not overly prudish. Very few things people do offend
me. But I'd like to think I was brought up with some manners. And
I'd never consider doing that in public. And recently I've noticed a
trend that's driving me nuts! Apparently, it's become totally okay.

Take the last time I was out shopping for clothes. While waiting for
Becky in the changeroom (she found a *gorgeous* dress) at Macy's on
Labour Day, a woman came and sat down beside me, pulled out her
keychain and started trimming her nails with the attached nail
clippers! And left all the bits scattered all over the bench! Given
the fact that she even keeps a clipper on her keychain, I don't doubt
this is a regular thing! It just turned my stomach. Hell, I give
Brian a hard time if he doesn't clean his 'bits' out of the sink at
home! There have been several other times recently where I've noticed
people doing this. Like at the Dr's office a few weeks ago. And now
this morning, I'm sitting here at my desk at work listening to a
coworker trim her nails at her desk. I couldn't imagine doing that at
work. I'm all for good hygiene folks, but please! Have some decency!

Rant mode off...

Courtesy of mom

Who got to go see him today.

Brendon William

That and Bonnie's trying to recuperate are all the new info I have. Photos will go up as soon as I get some!

Welcome Baby Boy Taylor

My sister had a little boy today. They're both doing okay, he's 6lb 5oz, and that's all I know! I had a quick call from my brother that he'd had a text message. I've tried calling the house, but I'm not surprised to find out that Rob's not home to give me the more information I'm dying to hear! More updates as I get them.

I *hate* waiting

I'm waiting for more information related to that good news I can't
post about. And it's killing me. I have no patience. None at all.
And I won't be able to get any information for hours yet. But I know
it's happening right now and I'd give anything to be a fly on the wall
to watch. But I can't. Instead I'm stuck here at work trying to look
like I'm concentrating on what I'm doing. But I'm not. Because I
have no patience.
Waiting sucks!

No, that's not it...

After several email enquiring, let me concretely state that the
exciting news is *NOT* that we're expecting. I'd be shouting that
from the rooftops!

I've got more great news....

I mean huge, earth shattering (to us), wonderful news. Awesomeness even. But it's a secret to someone who reads this blog. So I can't share. But when I can (in a month or so), know that I've been bouncing since then!

We got them!!!

Our receipts from immigration that is. Finally...
Our application was delivered on July 2nd.
Ours and about 150,000 others. So it's taken until now to even get
the receipts that they did receive our applications. So, hopefully,
it won't take too long for Brian's work papers (EAD) and our travel
papers to arrive.
Keep your fingers crossed everyone!!!

Courtesy of Kari...

I like her result better!

When bricks attack...

(Sent by email)

I know, I haven't exactly been doing regular updates. But we're busy!
So far this month, we've been into the city twice, hosted or played 8
rounds of D&D, including two rounds up in Conneticut last Sunday for
Brian, I've stitched up a storm (I promise photos once I get them
downloaded from the camera) and quilted a whole lot. In stitching,
the surprise piece is past half way, as is Fantasy Triptych! I
finished the quilt top for the quilt for our bed and pulled out the
lap quilt top I made the first year we were married. Brian found
great fabrics for the back and binding, so I figured to finish it off
first and then finish off the big quilt! The blocks were joined so
very unevenly that I didn't think I dared quilt it properly, so it's
become a tied quilt. I used bias tape (made by me, no less) to do the
binding on the quilt. I love that I got the thicker border I wanted,
but I think I'll have to try another small quilt to try doing it the
way listed in my books (and taught by the very helpful Marilyn at my
no-so-LQS). I'm nervous doing something I've never tried on a full
king sized quilt! So the frog quilt was finished last Sunday and I
was good and waited for Brian to get home from CT to have a first
snuggle under it.

We've been to see Ronan, my friends Deirdre and Tom's new baby again.
He's so adorable! And a great snuggle. Yumm, baby toes! Deirdre's
mom arrives from Ireland this week and she's so excited. I don't
blame her one bit!

The BBQ at Ben and Lynn's was awesome, and we had a great time. Brian
even enjoyed trying some of their homebrew! (And the fact it was him
trying the homebrew not me matters...) We gabbed a lot about gaming
and getting adapted to NYC. And played my new Ticket to Ride (Europe)
board game, which I love. Big thanks to Morley and Elizabeth who
introduced us to it! And ate fabulous desserts, and I came away with
an new recipe. Yummy! All in all a great evening. We finally headed
out at last, with me driving home. And I promptly got attacked by a
brick hiding in the bushes outside Ben and Lynn's place... and broke
three toes!!! It certainly made for an interesting drive home. We
stopped at a pharmacy on the way past (yea Queens, didn't even have to
think twice about if it would be open!) and cleaned up my toes and got
the bleeding areas at least covered. (I was wearing open toed shoes
when the brick attacked!)

Our company picnic was the following Tuesday, and I did okay for most
of the day. But by about 1:30-2pm, my foot was killing me. I did
have fun though playing bocce ball with my department. Leyi and I
were cleaning up at first, but were eventually routed by the guys
who've played before... It wasn't meltingly hot for a change, and we
had a good time. I spent most of the day in the shade, so I didn't
even get too much of a sunburn!

September is fast approaching, and we're insanely busy. All 5
weekends of September are now booked with stuff, as are two of
October, and a tentative event on a third weekend in October. Lots of
gaming, some visiting, and a trip to Disney will do that though! And
we have tickets to see a show done of a Neil Gaiman story that sounds
really interesting. Thanks Kari for the link, and I hope you enjoy it
too!

I have a whole big post brewing on gaming, and the upcoming change to
4th edition, but it's not quite ready yet... I'll post it once it's
done. In very quick summary, I'm neither surprised, nor upset about
4th ed. I'm excited about it. I spent two hours last night debating
which options to take/use for an arcane caster for Red Hand of Doom.
It took looking through 4-5 books just to see what my options were for
a straight base classed character! The complexity level needs to come
down some, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm sad to see LG go, but
having been in on it since year one when we were told it would be a
five year campaign, I'm happy to have had *eight* years of playing in
it.

On a final blog-related note, I finally sat down last night and did my
blogroll. If I've left you out, or you read this and don't comment,
leave me a comment and I'll be happy to add you! Or just leave me a
comment so I know you are reading! (Jay, Chris, Derek, I'm looking at
you!) :-)

One month from today

We'll be heading out to Disney!!!
I'm starting to get really excited about this trip, but I'm also trying not to so that I don't get over excited and then feel let down once we do get there. All the preplanning is going well with one exception. I still can't get reservations for the one restaurant I really want to go to. And I'm not trying to be picky. I'll take a reservation for *any* time I can get it. Apparently it gets fully booked within two days of reservations opening up most of the time. Even in low season. :(
But otherwise I'm really excited! We'll be seeing Mikey and Jan and their girls (and extended family) since they're going to be there the same time as we are. Shh... Jan had better leave a little extra room in her suitcase, I've got a surprise for them :)

I'm much happier with this answer...

Stolen from Nikki's blog...

You Were a Horse

You can't be fenced in - you long to run free. You are good at overcoming obstacles and realizing your potential.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?

She's really not happy with hers... :)

A quick word...

The trick is to answer all the questions with one word. I admit to cheating in two places. Stolen from Suz and Belinda's blogs, feel free to tag yourself.



1. Where is your Cellphone? Non-existant
2. Relationship? Awesome
3. Your Hair? Brown
4. Work? Boring
5. Your sister? Younger
6. Your favorite thing? Laughter
7. Your dream last night? Unknown
8. Your favorite drink? DietPepsi
9. Your dream car? Ferrari
10. The room you’re in? Cubicleland
11. Your shoes? No-nonsense
12. Your fears? Worry
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Parent
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Gamers
15. What are you not good at? Controllessness
16. Muffin? Chocolate Chip
17. One of your wish list items? Books
18. Where you grew up? Toronto
19. Last thing you did? Reports
20. What are you wearing? Sweater
21. What aren’t you wearing? Perfume
22. Your pet? Percy!
23. Your computer? Mac
24. Your life? Happy
25. Your mood? Exhausted
26. Missing? Friends
27. What are you thinking about right now? Lunch
28. Your car? Xvart!
29. Your kitchen? Bakery
30. Your summer? Humid!
31. Your favorite color? Blue
32. Last time you laughed? Morning
33. Last time you cried? Sunday
34. School? Always!
35. Love? Critical

And Brian is:

You're the United Nations!

Most people think you're ineffective, but you are trying to
completely save the world from itself, so there's always going to be a long
way to go.  You're always the one trying to get friends to talk to each
other, enemies to talk to each other, anyone who can to just talk instead of
beating each other about the head and torso.  Sometimes it works and sometimes
it doesn't, and you get very schizophrenic as a result.  But your heart
is in the right place, and sometimes also in New York.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

At least we make a good pair and match the descriptions :)

Okay, one more...

Since it came out right :)

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've
got a much better life than they do.  In fact, they're probably just jealous.
 You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not
dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and
others.  If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be
the perfect person.


Take the Country Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid

Book Quiz

Sent by email... fingers crossed it'll work!

You're The Mists of Avalon!

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

You're obsessed with Camelot in all its forms, from Arthurian legend
to the Kennedy administration. Your favorite movie from childhood was "The Sword in
the Stone". But more than tales of wizardry and Cuban missiles, you've focused on
women. You know that they truly hold all the power. You always wished you could meet
Jackie Kennedy.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Edited to fix... I don't think emailing it was the problem, I think I must not have copy and pasted the whole thing...

12 Years ago today....

Brian and I were married on a scorcher of an August afternoon. We have both been so blessed. He's my rock, my comfort, and my joy. Happy Anniversary Brian!


PS: I know the photo's a little dark, but it was scanned from the negative. If anyone knows of a good way to lighten such scans, leave me a comment! I've got all the negatives and would like to touch them up somewhat.

Hufflepuff!

Sort me!

I can live with that :)

It's Friday afternoon and I've got nothing...

Not a lot happening for us right now that's blogworthy. I've been
busy with trying to keep the apartment and chores in check. I'm
trying to pull more of my own weight on the chores since Brian's
(hopefully, fingers crossed) going to finally be able to work by the
end of the year. There's no news, no news expected anytime soon, and
no receipt yet to start the countdown clock.
I've been doing some stitching, but not a lot. I'll try to post a
photo by Monday. I'm trying to be really good and keep with my
exercise plan, and by the time I've worked a full day, come home, had
dinner, caught up on chores and spent an hour on the treadmill, I
haven't got much energy left.
My garden is pathetic. I don't think I can really even call it a
garden. There's just the lilys, which are done flowering, the
columbine, also done flowering, and the catnip, which is now
flowering. Catnip flowers. Who knew? But let me tell you, my cat
sure does!
This weekend will be busy, but in a good way. Saturday we're going to
see Deirdre, Tom and their new son Ronan. Then off to Lynn & Ben's
for BBQ and games. Sunday Becky is coming over for dinner and more
board games. She moved to LI this Monday. Wohoo for that! Sunday is
also our wedding anniversary and we're choosing to spend it doing what
we love most. Having good friends over, good food, and fun times.
Then, Brian doesn't know it yet, but I've booked Monday off work,
using the last vacation day I was holding in reserve. We definately
will NOT be able to get home for the anniversary party for Brian's
parents, so I thought I'd use the day like this. No specific plans,
other than to relax. I think I'd really like to pull out my completed
quilt squares and see if I can finish the quilt top this weekend, but
I'm not sure if I'll bother. The heat and, more importantly, the
humidity are sucking all desire to do things out of me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

--
Heather Eberhardt
blog.xvart.com

Poulet vous couchez avec moi? - Brad Sherwood

I can haz Bumblebee pls? kthxbai

We went and saw the Transformers movie on Monday.  I had been delaying seeing it because I was rather concerned about it.  They put flames on Optimus Prime.  FLAMES!  Do you understand how *wrong* that is?  Wrong.  Just wrong.

But the movie itself was pretty good.  Nothing deep (hello, it is Transformers, a TV cartoon created specifically to sell toys), but a good fun action movie.  That grabs hold and just keeps going.  The computer animation of the robots was amazing.  There were a number of cute little bits too.  I particularly liked the bit aboard Air Force One.  But I promise no spoilers in my movie reviews, so you'll just have to watch it to see it.  Really neat well done fight scenes.  

 

And I want my own Bumblebee.  Please?  I'll be good, I promise!  Just because it's a concept car with a half million dollar price tag and only four have been made doesn't make it that unreasonable, does it?  Brian should be able to work by the end of the year, so if I start saving now I should be able to afford it in mumbly years if we live on his salary... Please?  Mine?  I'll just have to get the black stripes painted on it again though.   Bumblebee without stripes doesn't work.


P.S. If you've never seen LOLCATS, the title won't make any sense.  And that's okay.  Those who get it will grin.

Done!

But I promise no spoilers.
Overall I'm pleased, but (no, Heather, no spoilers! Bad Heather!)

Just to show what the rain was like yesterday...

Nabbed from the user submitted photos of Newsday. There was no attribution I could discover, but it's a teriffic photo. This is one of the train stations not too far from here. It's on the north shore of Long Island, where they didn't get as much rain as we did...

Immigration Update

Some of you know, some of you don't, but there's been a huge SNAFU
with our immigration filings. However, after a MASSIVE class action
lawsuit was filed against USCIS & Dept. State, they've, yet again,
changed their minds, and our filing from July 2nd should stand. We
won't be processed until October (or later) but the 90 day clock
before Brian can get permission to work starts from when USCIS
acknowledges they received it... which should be in another three
weeks or so. So keep your fingers crossed for us please everyone!

We're fine :)

There was a small tornado that hit the next town over from us. And the towns here are VERY squished together. It was less than 2 miles from here. Brian saw it from the living room windows. We're fine, not flooded, not hit by lightening, and (obviously) have power.
I just wanted to make sure people didn't worry about us!

Movie List

I'm trying this posting my email thing again, so lets's hope it works!

 

 

So... out of AFI's top 100 movies of all time, the ones in bold are the ones I've seen...

And there is a surprisingly large number I haven't!

1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.
2. "The Godfather," 1972.
3. "Casablanca," 1942.
4. "Raging Bull," 1980.
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.
8. "Schindler's List," 1993.
9. "Vertigo," 1958.
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.
11. "City Lights," 1931.
12. "The Searchers," 1956.
13. "Star Wars," 1977.
14. "Psycho," 1960.
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
17. "The Graduate," 1967.
18. "The General," 1927.
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.
21. "Chinatown," 1974.
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 193 9.
27. "High Noon," 1952.
28. "All About Eve," 1950.
29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.
30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.
31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.
32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.
35. "Annie Hall," 1977.
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.
39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.
41. "King Kong," 1933.
42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.
43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.
44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.
45. "Shane," 1953.
46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.
48. "Rear Window," 1954.
49. "Intolerance," 1916.
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.
51. "West Side Story," 1961.
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.
55. "North by Northwest," 1959.
56. "Jaws," 1975.
57. "Rocky," 1976.
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.
59. "Nashville," 1975.
60. "Duck Soup," 1933.
61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.
62. "American Graffiti," 1973.
63. "Cabaret," 1972.
64. "Network," 1976.
65. "The African Queen," 1951.
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.
68. "Unforgiven," 1992.
69. "Tootsie," 1982.
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.
77. "All the President's Men," 1976.
78. "Modern Times," 1936.
79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.
80. "The Apartment, 1960.
81. "Spartacus," 1960.
82. "Sunrise," 1927.
83. "Titanic," 1997.
84. "Easy Rider," 1969.
85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.
86. "Platoon," 1986.
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.
90. "Swing Time," 1936.
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.
92. "Goodfellas," 1990.
93. "The French Connection," 1971.
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
97. "Blade Runner," 1982.
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.
99. "Toy Story," 1995.
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

More Photos

Another shot of my Lilies. They've really been spectacular this year, and and have opened in a colour sequence. Just as one colour is dying off, another starts to open. Unfortunately, these seem to be the last of them. :(


Stitching Update:
As promised, this time with photos...
Fantasy Triptych is what I've been focusing on lately, and it has just grown by leaps and bounds. May I present to you the start of the rocks under the castle?



And a shot of the full progress so far. I am so sick of greens right now, but there are many more in the rocks, so I'm not done with them yet. I debated stitching on across the bottom and finishing up with the trees all together, but decided I wanted the change. Besides, there's not much point in doing the backstitching until I can do all of it for the trees, and since they extend up into the rocks...


Next up is the receipt for all the floss from my floss fairying! It was a fun photo to take, especially since I know how much it will be appreciated. Remember all my readers out there, I'm always happy to buy and mail!



Okay, so there's one last photo from my garden. I was playing around with working on my macro shots again...



Also, in answer to Jan's question, I haven't started getting my blog links together yet, I've been too busy stitching. At the same time, I haven't had a single person ask to be on it! Please, leave me a comment and I'll be more than happy to link to your blog!

Lazy Weekend

This weekend has been long and lazy. I like it like that. :)
I had Friday off work, so we slept in and then went to a matinee of Live Free or Die Hard. Which rocked. If you're looking for an action movie, I can whole heartedly recommend this one. Then we came home, relaxed and caught up on some TV we'd recorded. We also, finally, started data entry on doing a proper index of Brian's comic collection. 100+ down, thousands to go! And I started a new cross-stitch project. It's a Christmas present, so I won't be showing photos anytime soon.
Yesterday (Saturday) I drove up to Connecticut for a slot zero for a convention in two weeks that I'll be running at. It was a fun mod, and one line just made it all worth while. You want us to ask the Baron for WHAT????
Today is Canada Day, and we've celebrated by just relaxing together. It's really ironic that today (Canada Day) is the first day we can submit for our American greencards. Since it's a Sunday, we have to wait until tomorrow. I've been working on stitching again since I had no ill effects on my hand from Fridays attempt, and I'm getting massive progress on Fantasy Triptych. This I'll have to photograph and show everyone, I've gotten a huge section done on it! We mostly watched Babylon 5 since we're trying to run through it before the new movie comes out at the end of this month. Wohoo! And I'm busy rereading the Harry Potter books before the final one comes out in three weeks. I'm about a third of the way through the fifth book (Order of the Phoenix) since Thursday, so I'm doing fine on that.
Next up: Brian's bbq'ing steak for dinner, and I'll be watching the French Grand Prix (and probably stitching some more...)

Once again folks, time's running out...

Go to www.facesforcharity.com to join me.

And I am the world's biggest geek!

Photo Dump!

Mostly from my garden, but also one of Madison (that Brian looked at and named "Maddy-tude") and one of the piles of floss purchased for several of my friends overseas since we had a great sale last week. The packages went in the mail yesterday ladies!

Squeeeeeeeee! And more squeeees

I've got lots of squeeeees, and a still painful hand for typing. Sorry I haven't been blogging much. Not really able to stitch much yet either, but some nights I can get in a threads worth. So no pictures.

Squeeeeee #1:
My sister is pregnant and expecting in September! Go BJ! She's having a really rough go of it, but expected that and is coping as well as possible.

Squeeeeee #2:
My brother's girlfriend is expecting, and due in December! Kim's doing well (thankfully much better than poor Bonnie) and they're both very excited.

When we were home in April for Brian's grandma's funeral, my dad was making jokes about me making it a "perfect trifecta"... Not in my planning thank you! :)


Squeeeeeeeee #3:
We're going to Disney World. We booked the trip tonight, and it'll be in September. We'll even get to see Mike and Jan and extended family while we're there, since they'll be there too :) I've never been and always wanted to go. It's a combination wedding anniversary/happy greencard present to ourselves.


Biggest Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee of all:
We signed the final paperwork today for the lawyers for filing our Greencards, our priority date will be current as of July 1st, and the paperwork will be sumbitted with all haste. Brian's getting a job for Christmas :) :) :)
It's been seven and a half years since we moved here, and it's been really hard on him. He doesn't want to believe it until it actually happens, and I don't blame him one bit.

123456 Switch!

I am slowly going crazy 123456 Switch
Crazy going slowly am I 654321 Switch

This is what happens when you've got ~300 chemists in a building, not
allowed to leave for the day, and all the computer networks are down.
So we can't do any actual lab work. We can't work on reports. We
can't surf the internet. We can't read the nice Baen Free Library
books we (okay, I) have stored on the drive. And we can't go home...

Our weekend was great. We went to CT on Saturday to game and hang out
with the Babcocks and Hallets (and Lee). Brian got in a lot of play
time with Tisiphone (sp?? Anyone?) We had a great day, BBQ for dinner
and a relaxing time. Sunday morning was very leisurely, then out to
breakfast and we took the ferry back. We've looked at taking the
ferry a number of times, but it's expensive ($60 for two adults and 1
car), doesn't save us any time, and the schedule generally sucks for
us. But since we were in no hurry, we thought we'd try it. It was a
neat thing to do, and we spent the hour or so on deck enjoying the
weather. Even with an SPF 50 sunscreen, I still got a little
sunburned in that hour on deck, but I refuse to not go out at all!
We probably wouldn't do it again with the car, but if we're just going
up to Milford as a day trip again, I'd be all for it. (Much cheaper
with no car.) No photos since I hadn't brought my camera with me for
the quick overnight trip. Got back and mostly just lazed around.
With my hand still largely out of commission, no gardening or
extensive crafts for me. Monday was spent relaxing at home, and going
to go see Pirates of the Carribean 3. We both enjoyed it a lot. Make
sure you stay through the credits though, as there is a little bit at
the end of them. I did stitch a little to see how my hand was doing,
and got about 4 threads done (on TW's Fantasy Triptych) before my hand
started getting sore, so I stopped there. URG!

Sent by email from the now functioning computer network. I wrote this
yesterday afternoon at work...

I'm just geeking out....

If any of my readers are Formula One fans, go HERE.

I admit to being a geek. I admit to throwing money at funny little acknowledgements of my geekiness. Watch the fan credits from the LOTR DVD's. I'm there. So when this opportunity came up...

I haven't figured out if you can search yet (the site is very flash (I think) intensive), but we're ID# 2167. The photo is from our trip to Paris, and on Mark Webber's car. We placed it so it might actually show up during the race. It's on the housing just in front of the steering wheel. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I am so geeking out right now :)

Friday Meme...

Your Score: Katharine Hepburn

You scored 9% grit, 28% wit, 57% flair, and 16% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women.

Find out what kind of classic leading man you'd make by taking the
Classic Leading Man Test.

Link: The Classic Dames Test written by gidgetgoes on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

And of course, the class test...

Which I don't entirely agree with, but can't honestly disagree with most of it...
I'm not sure I like all of what that says of me!

Your Score: Arcane Trickster

37% Combativeness, 60% Sneakiness, 76% Intellect, 33% Spirituality

Brilliant and sneaky: You are an Arcane Trickster!


Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you've fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you're an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't.


Arcane Tricksters combine arcane magic with rogue skills and sensibilities. They use their magic to confuse their opponents or to augment their more mundane, roguish skills. If you thought it was annoying keeping an eye that that rogue, the Arcane Trickster is probably picking your pocket from the other side of the room.


Both smart and sneaky, you're probably the type of person that loves planning practical jokes... either that or knocking over banks.

Link: The RPG Class Test written by MFlowers on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Interesting meme...

This is the first one that has come out about how I expected it to, and I can agree with it. I don't catch all the references in the write-up, but I found it interesting!

Your Score: Neutral-Good

66% Good, 40% Chaotic

Plane of Existence: Elysium, "Blessed Fields". Description: The plane of peace. Notable Inhabitants: Guardinals - noble immortal humanoids with bestial features.




Examples of Neutral-Goods (Ethically Neutral, Morally Good)




Cloud Strife (FFVII)

Boogenhagen (FFVII)

Mother Theresa

Ghandi

Sidhartha Gautama (the Buddha)

Gandalf

Bilbo & Frodo Baggins

Samwise Gamgee

Indiana Jones

The Dali Lama

Ben (O-Bi-Wan) Kenobi

Luke Skywalker

Harry Potter

Hermionie

Dumbledore




Often goes along with the laws and desires of the group as being the easiest course of action, but ethical considerations clearly have top priority. May pursue quite abstract goals. Often aloof and difficult to understand.




Will keep their word to others of good alignment

Would not attack an unarmed foe

Will not use poison

Will help those in need

May work with others

Indifferent to higher authority

Indifferent to organizations



Neutral Good "Pure Good"

"Benefactor"



A neutral good [person] will obey the law, or break it when he or she sees it will serve a greater good. He or she is not bound strongly to a social system or order. His or her need to help others and reduce their suffering may take precedence over all else. Neutral good [people] do good for goodness' sake, not because they are directed to by law or by whim.



This alignment desires good without bias for or against order.



Other Alignments and Tendencies (Tendenices are what you would more often sway towards; esp. for Neutrals):

0-39% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Evil

0-39% Good, 40-60% Chaotic: Neutral-Evil

0-39% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Evil

40-60% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Neutral

40-60% Good, 40-60% Chaotic: True Neutral

40-60% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Neutral

61-100% Good, 0-39% Chaotic: Lawful-Good

61-100% Good, 61-100% Chaotic: Chaotic-Good

Link: The Alignment Test written by xan81 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Long overdue update...

First up, here's why I haven't been doing much of anything on the computer lately...



Long story short, I've pinched the nerves from my hand that run through the thumb. I'm not allowed to do anything that involves using my thumb. I even have to sleep with the brace on. But it was that or an actual plaster cast, but at least I can take this one off to shower. So:
No stitching
No gardening
No computering (but I can type slowly with my left hand)
No working in the lab at work (aw, shucks)
No stamping
No cardmaking.

I do NOT mean this to be a 'poor me' post. I'm already reading all day at work in an effort to look busy (Thank You Baen Free Library!) so I'm getting bored with that at home. Anyone have any suggestions for one handed crafts? And the non-dominant hand at that?



But, on to stuff that's more fun. I played floss fairy to several girls in the UK a while back, and in return I asked them to just send me something little and unique to their region. And here's what Kay sent me!

There's a sheep (I mentioned I loved the sheep in Wales when there as a kid), a Welsh dragon, a hand stitched card, with hand painted fabric!, and a selection of postcards. WOW!




On the stitching front, here's an update on Fantasy Triptych, which I had pulled out again and was making great progress on...



And Frog Prince, which I had planned on filling in the last of the confetti stitches the weekend I hurt my hand...




And, since we were home in April, I must post more photos of my adorable neice and nephew! I don't have any photos of Natasha since the only time we got to see her was at the funeral home, and it wasn't really appropriate... But here's Madison, hiding behind the tree in mom's living room.




And William, playing in his living room!