Heard this one lately? “Movie x has broken all previous box office records on its opening weekend…” Chances are you’ve heard it for, well, just about every movie that’s come out in the past 5 years. But how do those new record numbers stand up when you adjust for inflation?

Good night, dear journal, but first, a moment of zen.

Sagehood has nothing
To do with governing others
But is a matter of ordering oneself.
Nobility has nothing
To do with power and rank,
But is a matter of self realization;
Attain self-realization,
And the whole world
Is found in the self.
Happiness has nothing
To do with wealth and status,
But is a matter of harmony.

– Lao-tze

The catgrass that I sneak-planted out on the side of the house is *huge*! I think it grows about five times faster than the rest of the lawn…now I just have to tell some kitties about it so they’ll have something to snack on.

On the topic of kitties… Newt has no idea how much damage I *could* do to him. I chase him around the house, and he turns and chases me back…he know’s I wouldn’t hurt him, so he’s allowed to be the fierce hunter, and take me down like a caveman and a mastadon.

I need to get up extra early tomorrow.. followup at the docs… hopefully I can get some sports-therapy out of my back being naughty the other day. Once I find a good light-table, I’ll take piccies of my MRI films and post them here.

supa-noot to the rescue!

pictures from today’s meeting…hover over the pic for minor commentary

hmmm… I can’t seem to get my yahoo news to synch with the palm… the server must’ve been down. drat!

While working on a palette for my page, I got distracted via a nifty link.

Much cooler than Hot or Not. What’s Better asks you to rate incongruous things. What’s better, dumb donald (from fat albert) or a complete breakfast? moe howard or elmo? fabio or a nuclear explosion? swiss cheese or the color aqua? The Ropers or Slobodan Milosevic?

a sleestak halloween costume..

or
the crusades?

Seriously. I could do this all day.

Wow… major rain this morn, so much so that the walk will be curtailed until later.

Sun’s peeking out just enough to light the room… which is just fine by me. Giving me a nap attack… I just might head back in for another hour or so.

John Ashcroft wants to know what you’ve been reading, and thanks to the USA Patriot act, he can supoena any library or bookstore and find out. It also places a gag order on the book dealer, prohibiting them from revealing that they or their customers (that’s *you*) are being investigated. Yikes! Not like I’m guilty of anything, but I’m glad I keep my address different on all my silly “saver” cards. (I use 1600 pennsylvania avenue… ) But library books, too? They’ve got me there. I wonder if there’ll be tagging of certain books as dangerous? I know I checked out the Anarchist’s Cookbook on more than one occasion as a teen, and that one should surely shake a few cages, these days.

Wow.. what a groovy goodiebag from missv!!

A hand made washcloth was all I was expecting… but there were some newt-toys, a glow in the dark skull keychain, candy, cool danger stickers, a kazoo… Ahh.. wonderful, wonderful stuff.

Newt is currently wearing the cloth as a “horse blanket”, and I think it’d make a swell cape, too, should he decide to fight crime with Lucille. Warm, stylish, and easily cleaned.

Thank you so much!

totally unrelated….

My poor little database program is growing by freaky leaps and bounds….the dang thing has swollen to four megs (from 35k), and that’s before the data is inserted… with data, it’s about 16 gig. waaaaaay tooo freaky big… but it loads quickly, and does what’s been asked of it, save for the three reports that I’m building now…. went from a simple 5 command interface to about 15 options with a bunch of sub-commands too… ack! My sweetheart compared it to the little monster you feed ONCE and only ONCE form the power puff girls… *grins*

Good walkies… and freshly scrubbed. The walk was nice… refreshing. I pictured Pterodactyls fighting the Goodyear blimp… both of which have to team up to destroy the enemy Atlanteans riding up the coast in their seawater-filled bubble-cars, brandishing tridents and speaking in their dolphin-like nattering tongue. They can’t fool me. They don’t know, but we can take ’em, when it comes down to brass tacks.

Dogs know you’re a pod person… they *always* know. Fortunately, they’re in on the joke.

and now, we pull back, zooming over Florida, and retreating to an outside shot of a snow-globe, totally ripping off Citizen Kane, but with the sound of sizzling fajitas in the background…until later, dear journal.

Hotmail is pulling a Yahoo…

Under Account Information, Hotmail has added three new boxes asking to “Share my e-mail address,” “Share my first and last names,” and “Share my other registration information.”… be sure to uncheck ’em, if you don’t want a boatload of spam.

Benefit of having been to the grocery store… looking at a full pantry, and saying “it all looks so good… what’s for lunch?”

Here’s what I made… (and I have enough left over for supper, too…)

Ginger Orange Tofu

Ingredients:

• Your favorite white rice recipe (plain), fully prepared.
• 1 cup orange juice
• Spinach, a small batch, rinsed and stems removed.
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Fresh ginger, julienned to measure 1/8 cup
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger powder.
• 1 brick of tofu (non-silken), rinsed and cubed.
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:

In a non-stick fry-pan or wok, saute olive oil, tofu and garlic, keep stirring so as not to burn the garlic. As you are browning the tofu, add the fresh and powdered ginger, and the spinach. Depending on the portion, more olive oil may be necessary. Once lightly browned, pour in the orange juice, bringing down the heat, and reduce for five minutes. The idea is for the vegetables to absorb the juice flavor, so add more if necessary to retain a broth. Pour entire mixture over the bed of white rice. Enjoy!

Serves: 2

Preparation time: ~30 minutes, maybe a little more, if you’re telling the cat to stay away from the burners.

I’m a White Spectral Dog…. Which Mayan symbol are you?

full interpretation here

ok, I’m back, showered in both rain and hot water, shave… and have a smile on my face. Mentally clear and have the cobs brushed away…. but I’ll still probably take that nap later.

I have a *lot* of tasty, healthful food… all my arms could carry. I don’t feel guilty for using plastic bags because I was walking in the rain and recycle ’em anyhow, as kitchen trash or back at the market’s recycling center… I’m delighted that this city uses a waste-to-energy program(opens in a new page) and recycles so much… no giant landfills here to deal with, and the resources are put to better use. (Heck, we even water the city grass with recycled wastewater… like spraying fertiliser on the stuff… the greenest grass around.

Back to rest and relaxation, dear journal.

testing a new pic host

Didn’t get much sleep last night, I forgot to use the CPAP for the first time in ages…only the comfort and company of my two favorite redheads made it worth my while… I love them both so much!

I plan on taking a nap in a little bit to try to recharge my batteries some. It’s raining lightly outside, and I feel more placid now… have some champa burning, and a much more positive outlook. Newt impresses me by scratching his chin with his right rear paw, effortlessly. I wish I could do that… though I’d prefer to have a prehensile tail to Newt’s running / navigation strip. (He does have great colors, though… stripey-tail is very fashionable this season, I imagine.)

Off to go grocery shopping… I got fresh fruit yesterday, time to restock the other stuff. I’m making some stir-fry for supper tonight… I dont mind walking in the rain… it’s refreshing, and I’m not getting anything that’ll melt.

Some piccies of me and Newt sleepin’ and playin’…mostly sleepin’

Talked to my brother on the phone…he seems to be doing pretty well all things considered. Charlie hooked him up with a frozen coffee and friendly conversation. She sounds like a nice gal.

He has some things to work out.. hopefully they’ll be taken care of inside the next week or so. I asked him about Charlies LJ, but she doesn’t want him to read it, I think. Personal stuff, and all that. It’s funny what a person can put out for stangers to read, but would be mortified if folks they knew could see it.

“Gummi bears defeat fingerprint sensors”