Too Many Words Sound Alike!

"I'm jealous, Becky is going to see Grease tonight" he says. I look confused and disgusted all at the same exact moment. I wonder aloud, "really, I want to go to Greece, how did I not know about this"? I get that blank confused expression in return while he replies, "well, you know, working at the Fox, she gets so many tickets, so she's going to see it tonight". Damn it, I did it again, the other Greece!

While I won't be going to Greece anytime soon, I will be going with Amanda to New York this weekend for the Tim Burton exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. I am supposed to give my flight info to my brother so that some one can "track" me for my mom. So, here it is:

sat jan 16 2010 AA1030 STL 10:55-LGA 14:15
mon jan 18 2010 AA2223 LGA 16:15-STL 18:10

Since that's cleared up, my only worry is about poor Haiti. They needed better buildings.

SMART ASS

WHO AM I?

I am a TV character.

Carroll Spinney plays me.

My voice was based on a Bronx cabbie’s.

I am green.

My pet peeve is cheerful people.

My favorite vacation spot is the Mudville City Dump.

I love trash.

I live on Sesame Street.

WORD

advertent: giving attention; heedful

30 Million Dollar Garage

Did you know that if you were going to have a concrete parking garage built in the US, it would cost you about $15,000 per car? So for instance, if you wanted to allow 2000 cars to park in your garage, it would cost you 30 million US dollars.

There are a lot of stipulations that I should note, [you know, all that fine print]. As I am neither an estimator nor producer of said concrete structures, you should ignore anything I have to say...just thought you might like to know that tidbit!

SMART ASS
WHERE AM I?

I am a lake.

My waters come from glaciers.

I claim to have 300 sunny days a year.

Each winter, I have 400 inches of snowfall.

I am the second deepest lake in the US.

My southern shore is known for its casinos.

I am divided between Nevada and California.

I am in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

WORD

yashmak: A veil worn by Muslim women that is wrapped around the upper and lower parts of the face so that only the eyes remain exposed to public view.

Chet the Jet

I recommend books all the time that people probably end up hating and wondering why I'd even bother reading let alone recommending! But one of the books I once recommended to my brother was Dog On It by Spencer Quinn, seemingly enjoyed by all. My mom and both my brothers read it. Since then, and to my utmost delight, I found the blog by Chet the Jet (hero of the book, a dog named Chet). I also follow Chet on Twitter! Anyway, the new book is out, Thereby Hangs A Tail.

I chose to mention this because I was reading today's blog which made me chortle aloud at work, thus giving away the fact I wasn't actually working. [People don't laugh at work in this industry]. So it goes, Chet arrives home and realizes that there have been trespassers. I'm on edge with anticipation as to who might have been on his property...

...I followed the scents: squirrel, bird, the mailman, toad, and several of my guys, including – Iggy?

...I have to laugh, that's just exactly what a dog would do; get everyone up in arms thinking some one is at the door or breaking into the house, you charge through rooms at the ready to find, but what, really?, that's just a squirrel taunting you with it's tail! Ohhhhh Dogs!

Anyway, good books, go read!

SMART ASS
WHAT AM I?

I am a form of dance.

I have companies throughout the world.

My lead dancers are called principals.

I have five main positions.

Edgar Degas’ paintings of me are well known.

The Nutcracker and Swan Lake are among my popular works.

Mikhail Baryshnikov is one of my most famous dancers.

My apparel can include tutus and toe shoes.

[easy peasy japanesy...and on that note, Mike, you were right, it was Degas...interesting that we just had that conversation yesterday]

WORDS

febrile: marked or caused by fever; feverish. This word, along with fever, are derived from the Latin word febris, meaning a fever.

confabulate: 1.:to talk informally; chat. 2. to hold a discussion; to confer. 3.:to fill in gaps in memory by fabrication. Confabulate, fabulous, and fable are all derivatives of the Latin word fabula meaning "conversation" or "story" depending on the usage.

kinesics: a systematic study of the relationship between nonlinguistic body motions (as blushes, shrugs, and eye movement) and communication. The formal study of "body language" is believed to have begun with the publishing of Ray Birdshistell's book Introduction to Kinesics in 1952.

What's Going On?

I'm either having a stroke or everyone on Twitter today is really confusing!

Want to know where the earthquakes are happening? Go to these sites:

• US


• Mediterranean

Want to know about any event? Go here:

• ubAlert

WHO AM I?

I am a famous leader.

I was born in Corsica in 1769 and died in 1821.

My military battles were well documented.

I was the greatest military genius of the 19th century.

I declared myself Emperor.

I was called the “Little Corporal.”

In 1815, I pushed it too far at Waterloo.

I told Josephine, “Not tonight.”

WORD

truculent: 1:feeling or displaying ferocity 2: deadly or destructive 3: scathingly harsh 4: aggressively self-assertive

Book of Lost Things

I just finished a lovely book, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It was a great book with much taken from myths, folklore, and fairy tales. I have to admit that the ending was my favorite part. I won't share it, but will tell you that it has elements of well dressed talking animals [one of my bigger fears]; twisted fairy tales that end not quite like you expect yet the tales all end in some way that you some how did expect; the ending is sad and yet you smile by the shear happiness of it all. I recommend it indeed. On that note, I also think that @ibificus, @Emmet, and @FrankieP would rather enjoy it. First, well dressed talking animals. Second, great imagery for the mind that I think the likes of those fellas would appreciate. Third, it's twisted, and those three seem to like that which is twisted [or I assume since that what I gather from Twitter]!

WHERE AM I?

I am a North American city in the Rocky Mountains.

I am a stylish ski resort for the rich and famous.

I was once a rich silver mining center.

I am in Colorado.

I am located on the Roaring Fork River.

I share my name with a variety of tree.

I am the site of a music festival each summer.

John Denver moved here in the 1970s.

[Not quite so easy today]

WORD

passel: a large number or amount. [This word is similar to the words cuss and bust with respect that it comes from a "linguistic idiosyncrasy" where there is a loss of sound of "r" after a vowel and before a consonant in the middle of a word. curse-cuss; burst-bust]

Things Will Get Easier?

And so it goes, 2010 is on the move. It hasn't started out swell, but I suppose, granted the way the universe works, I shall not worry the small stuff. As an update, Chris (Andy's friend) is alive and well. By well I mean no internal injuries. Yesterday afternoon he was sitting on his couch when a car drove over his porch and into his front room pinning him against the wall opposite where he sat; he was then flown to Barnes-Jewish hospital. As I mentioned, he is well and since they aren't my injuries I won't share them here, just know he's well.

I have a whole list of worries and dilemmas plaguing me at the moment, but I won't share them all at once, instead I shall share with you a question in order to get your opinion on the matter.

QUESTION
How should one say 2010? [Click here for my poll]

• Twenty Ten [history indicates this to be logical... The War of Eighteen Twelve; Party Like It's Nineteen Ninety-nine]


• Two-thousand and Ten [while this feels right to me, I would not have chosen to say "The War of Eighteen-hundred and Twelve" nor "The War of One-thousand Eight-hundred and Twelve"]

WHAT AM I?

I am a musical instrument.

I am made from brass, but am not part of the brass section.

A “Bird” was known for playing me.

I can be an alto, soprano, tenor, or baritone.

Lisa Simpson plays me all the time.

Bill Clinton once played me on a late night talk show.

I am occasionally used in the orchestra.

My popularity stems mainly from jazz.

[another easy one to boost the confidence! As usual, check back in the comments for the answer]


WORD
fissiparous: tending to break up into parts; divisive. For example, my home made shortbread! In biology, where the word was first used, it applied to organisms that produce new individuals by fission (dividing into seperate cells creating two new and unique organisms).

Did I Wake Up In Alaska?

I fear I may have accidentally moved to Alaska without knowing I have done so...



[temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit]

WHO AM I?

I am an actor and screenwriter born in New York City.

The first movie I wrote and starred in won Best Picture.

My most famous character now has been in 6 movies.

My second most famous character has been in 4 movies.

Neither character speaks much.

At birth, part of my face was partially paralyzed.

I have a body-focused nutrition company and book.

My nickname is “Sly.”

[Seriously, if you can't get this, you're out of the loop, but I'll be sure to post the answer in the comment section of this blog towards the end of the day]

WORD

alley-oop: A basketball play in which a player catches a pass above the basketball and immediately dunks the ball. "Alley-oop" was first heard by English ears under the big tops of early 20th-century circuses. When acrobats were about to leap to their trapezes, they would often cry the similar sounding French word allez-oop--an interjection meaning roughly "go up". Its latest venue is the half pipe, where skateboarders and snowboarders pull "alley-oop" spinning tricks.

My Daily Food?

I was asked what "My Daily Food" means. I think the question spurred because of the lack of content about food on my blog. I'm not a foodie (baker perhaps), I rarely cook. In fact yesterday I contemplated this for dinner...



My Daily Food is a ska song by Toots and the Maytals. I'd give you the lyrics but I only know a few. "I earn my daily food", "it's my daily food", "something something something" that sounds like "take a banana peel", and then some other words that sound like mother and father and let go. I sometimes make words up to my music. For example, to this song I often say "Happens all day, happens all day; spendin' my time lookin' like a, like a crazy fool"! [For those of you that have/know the song, I'll give you a moment to play it and wait for the moment that you can totally understand what I mean]!

I make words up in songs all the time. Sebadoh has a song called Ocean whose lyrics go like this, "somethin' 'bout the middle of the ocean, somethin', somethin', somethin', somethin' else, and that's all I know".

I'm just classy that way!

Word...

bid: A prison sentence.

Complaints

To say "I hate to complain" is a flat out lie. I like to bitch and moan and sob until everyone gets the idea of how miserable I am about something. Hence China!

But this morning isn't about China at all. It's about people. So I will vent to you , my two readers [ahem, see Becky, two, thanks!]. I will use the word "you", but please remember that it is not actually you to which I refer. I'm being nice by leaving names out. Here I go...

Do not make jokes to me about wanting to be dead if you don't like my response. I'm full of all sorts of negative thoughts on a regular basis for which I would have assumed you might have noticed.

Miss All High and Mighty, if you ever insult my friend again (for no reason), I will bust your lips open, dabble them with sea salt and then slice the insides of your fingers with vellum paper. I will dabble some salt in there as well.

If I walk in and you ask how the day is with my response being "crabby", perhaps you should take that as a firm indicator that you need to layoff the slight insults and regular jests I might otherwise not hit you for; today, I might hit you. Seriously though, give a girl some room!

Just as some people need coffee in the morning to function, as do I. I may not be a drinker of the coffees, but at least let me get some water. If I tell you my first priority of the day is to get a cup of tea...let me go get tea. It takes mere minutes that you just wasted by rambling something I chose not to hear.

Well, now that I got that out of my system, we all feel better!

Here are some words good friends...
awesinine: Stupidly brilliant or brilliantly stupid.
Picasso pause: When a person stands still for a moment admiring their own work.
urbanup: To look something up on urbandictionary.com
chemical yoga: A chemical cocktail of Xanax and muscle relaxers, used in conjunction to relax one's mind and body.
backstalk: To go through an acquaintance's blog entries, even those dated before you met, in order to learn more about that person. [I do this way too often]
lucktard: One who has a natural dumb luck that bails them out of any situation, regardless of severity. [Ahem, I could list a few]
Holidaze: Term that defines the feelings of confusion and excitement people have between thanksgiving and Christmas; the blur one feels after/during shopping for gifts on crowded retail stores with heavy holiday traffic.

A Couple of Chuffing Questions

It's been a real fucked up day. My computer program hates me and is using Chinese symbols for my icons/buttons.



I was told to uninstall and re-install to fix the problem. Great! I'm so thrilled you told me that Bentley! Of course, considering some of the things that are happening around me to people I know, I should really stop bitching! I like to bitch about stuff though. I really like to bitch about China!

Here's my real point to writing today! I'm doing a gift exchange with friends. The gift needs to be generic and non-gender specific. In addition to said gift, I am including a small home made gift. What I would like are some ideas! What would you like that is small and relatively cheaply priced?? Small bottle of alcohol? Wine? Calendar? Crossword puzzles? A block of cheese? "Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late" book? [Preferably something I can find that is not made in China, thanks]

So, give me some ideas while I give you some words!

rock:

1. To use. To make do with, usually to great effect.

In use: We don't need you to make the spare bed, we can rock the couch.

2.Streetball term for the basketball.
3. A form of cocaine.

V-Card: Virginity. All virgins have a "V-card" until they "cash it in" for sex.
BA: Badass, pronounced as bee-ay (as opposed to bitch being bee-ya).

NOW, a word question for you! Twitter friend @ibificus used the word "chuffed". Having never heard the word before I looked it up and found several different meanings. Now I'm curious. How do you use the word "chuff/ed"?

chuffed=adjective British Informal. delighted; pleased; satisfied. [As in, I'm chuffed by stories with sheep!]

chuffed=adjective British Informal. annoyed; displeased; disgruntled. [As in, I get so freaking chuffed when people talk to me when my body language says "get the fuck away".]

chuff (chuffed, chuffing, chuffs)=verb. To produce or move with noisy puffing or explosive sounds. [As in, I really didn't want to move those boxes, so in point I chuffed through the task so everyone knew.]

chuff (chuffs)=noun. A noisy puffing or explosive sound, such as one made by a locomotive. [As in, well, you get the idea!]

[By the way, those of you following my blogs (all One of you), you might have noticed my lack of letter writing as I noted I would do...nice of you to notice...I'm a slacker, you should know that by now]

NaBloPoMo Day 30 Post 30 - You Thought I'd Had Enough Did Ya?

It's here! Today is the last freaking day of my "post-a-day"! I never thought it would get here!

Funny to me, is that I plan on doing it all again next month! Well, sort of...

I was reading on Twitter this morning [Twitter's my new BFF] when a tweet came through from @adampknave about his blog. To cut to the chase, here is an excerpt [though I highly encourage you to read the whole thing here]...

"[...] This holiday season, whatever you celebrate, is a rough one for a lot of us in terms of money and stress. Instead of gifts I propose this:

Take the time to write the people closest to you. Send them an email, or a letter in the mail. Tell them how much they mean to you, and why. Share some history. Remind them of why they’re so close to your heart. Maybe they don’t know, maybe they do, either way a reminder is a magical thing. Thirty of them. [...] That’s it. Think of the effect it can have on the people you love, and frankly, on yourself.

Thirty emails. We can all do it. Join me.

So, Mr. Adam P. Knave, I'm in! I'm going to write! [Except, I might do 31 since there are 31 days in December, but I'm with ya anyway!]

How does this have any effect on you, my only reader? Well, on occasion, I will be sure to share some of these people, the histories, and letters with you.

So stay tuned, and maybe, join in!

Words...
keep steppin':To move on from something bad.
Christmas creep:A phenomenon where the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier each year.
skillets:Closest friends [very fitting for today's topic]
UDI: Acronym for "unidentified drinking injury". Random bruises, aches, and pains one pick up when one is drunk but can't recall exactly how it happened [yea...]

NaBloPoMo Day 25 Post 25 - #Doodle

A doodle for your time!



Happy Thanksgiving!

Word...
skeezy: Used to describe a dubious and dirty or vulgar individual. A combination of "sketchy" and "sleazy". Think in terms of a used car salesman!

NaBloPoMo Day 24 Post 23 - Engineering

Engineering at it's finest!



The arches will eventually measure more than 1,000 feet across. At the moment, the structure looks like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches are complete, the suspending cables on each side will be removed. Extra vertical columns will then be installed on the arches to carry the road.
The bridge has become known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although it is officially called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after a former governor of Nevada and an American Football player from Arizona who joined the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan.
Work on the bridge started in 2005 and should finish next year. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day.

The dam was started in 1931 and used enough concrete to build a road from New York to San Francisco . The stretch of water it created, Lake Mead , is 110 miles long and took six years to fill. The original road was opened at the same time as the famous dam in 1936. More photos below .

An extra note: The top of the white band of rock in Lake Mead is the old waterline prior to the drought and development in the Las Vegas area. It is over 100 feet above the current water level.






Word...
Viagrate: to imbue with lasting vigor.


[I have no idea who to thank for this, Crystal sent it to me at work, from before her, I have no idea, but thanks!]

NaBloPoMo Day 21 Post 19 - Ska Brew

While I still insist that coworker Matt is a traitor and scoundrel for leaving HOK, I still felt compelled to buy my ska buddy some Ska Brewing Company beer. Here's what it looks like...




Other than that I have little to say this morning! Here's a word...
Queen's Boulevard: A major street in Queens that is known to be one of the most dangerous streets to cross in NYC. Queens Boulevard is a major commercial strip for many of the neighborhoods it cuts through, which includes Briarwood, Forest Hills, Rego Park, Elmhust, Woodside, Sunnyside, and Long Island City. Queens Boulevard is quite possibly the widest non highway in NYC. Through much of its stretch, it's a 12 lane multi-median divided street. Queens Boulevard starts off at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens and goes all the way to the Queensboro bridge and to Manhattan.

NaBloPoMo Day 20 Post 17 - Run Away With Me

First up to bat......HAPPY BIRFDAY BABY BRUDDA! Twenty-Four, hurts nothing like 30, enjoy it while you can! [Sniff sniff, my widdle baby brudda is growin' up so fast, it seems like just yesterday I was picking him up at school]

Next at the plate, I'm doing this in December, you should join me! Kim Estes is actually the person that asked me to run with her, and I thought it would be very enjoyable [ok ok ok, as enjoyable as running 5k can be]!



And now the third, your word...
turkey drop: This happens when a dating couple try the long-distance relationship thing when they go off to college in September. Typically, when thanksgiving rolls around and everyone goes home for the holiday, someone gets dumped.

NaBloPoMo Day 19 Post 16 - The Extent of My Design Abilities

I was asked to make a poster for the structures group. I was given 10 photos to use. The rest was up to me to make up. This is the extent of my design abilities...sad to say, but at least I got to mark a task off my list!

[click here for large version]

I'm an engineer, not a graphic designer, what more could you expect??

Word...
Kentucky doorbell: To drive up to someone's house or apartment and proceed to honk the horn until they come out rather than exiting the vehicle and going to the door.

P.S. I was asked what the small structure in front of (and inside the circle) was (shown in construction)... after some research I found out that it is a cistern for collecting rainwater. It was designed by another company.

NaBloPoMo Day 18 Post 15 - This Is Short

Matt's leaving HOK. To him I say BLEH!

Now I have no cube mate.

I have an SEI meeting.

I watched a scary movie.

Word...
babysit: To pay little or no attention to your alcoholic beverage, letting it sit idle while you pretend to nurse it.

In Use: Hey, you gettin' paid to babysit that beer?

NaBloPoMo Day 13 Post 11 - Friday the 13th, Again...

Today is Badger's birthday, so Happy Friday the 13th Birthday Honey Banjoooo...

In other news, coworker Matt is on the phone with the IRS over some trumpted up charges we aren't sure are even real...fraud? Who knows. Doesn't matter because the trumped up charges are to a guy with a different middle name and social security number. Amazing things pass through here some days. Just last week my other coworker JJ was called at work and informed that his wife was dead. Rather the election board was trying to confirm she was dead, turns out some other lady with his wife's name died in July. Do people actually do their jobs these days or is it just government employees getting away with not working. On that note, if we are being forced to use government health care, well, you might see where I'm going with this...I don't discuss politics.

Anyway...I'm trying to figure out if there is a goat that when bleating sounds like a human yelling. Is it like a fainting goat that yells? Anyone know? Is there a sheep that does this by chance?

Word...
play: 1. To cheat on or use someone. 2. Hella game from the opposite or same sex.

NaBloPoMo Day Twelve Post Ten - Forgot Dream

Every evening that I jog [or lay awake suffering from insomnia] I think of all the things I plan to write. I even write these things out in my head in such a way that if I could use my mind to make the physical action of writing happen, I'd have novels all over flowing the shelves. [Okay, so yes, the books are already over flowing the shelves, but they aren't books *I've* written]. But then I arrive to the computer the following morning and my mind is blank. I can no longer recall all of my brilliant ideas. It's as if the book I'd written never existed, but I swear to you I have some brilliant ideas, I just forget them.

Even this morning I thought of something I wanted to write, but, well, as you can guess...I forgot what it was. It's okay though, I'll try to take better care of my ideas by jotting a note or two down about them. As for now, you'll get part of my dream from last night [surprise surprise, you only get that part which I can remember, I've already forgotten the rest!]

...I looked in a mirror to see that my skin was washed out, very pale but freckle free. I leaned in closer to see my skin. It was dry and cracked with fine lines in places I'd never seen them before. Disappointed I looked over my entire face finding age. I stopped once to glance into my own eyes that were as they truly are; a hazel colored iris that has amber and green in streaks around the pupil. I felt slightly reassured that I was still myself, but disappointed that I was the person looking back in the mirror. I was actually a bit horrified that it was me. But what I saw next was even more frightening. I saw that I'd lost most of my hair, the bald area covered in scabs. I poked at them to discover they were bruised, tears streamed down my eyes while I tried to gather my memory to recall when this had happened. Nothing came. Then I woke up panicked.

Word...
Facebook crush: A crush on a FB friend is characterized by the unexplainable urge to revisit the friend's Photos tab repeatedly and checking to see if other friends have written new messages on their Wall. Usually afflicts users who are only somewhat acquainted. [heh]

NaBloPoMo day Eleven Post Nine - 11.11

Veteran's Day

Traffic Light

Me Crabby

Big Surprise?

Not Really

Word...
Kodak courage: An extra dose of courage and the tendancy to go beyond one's usual physical limits when being filmed or photographed. Generally applied to action sports.