Know what the best thing about tonight's episode was?

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- Make some breakfast: coffee, cinnamon buns, and some scrambled eggs. Mmmm.

- Do some of the chores that didn't get done last weekend -- namely, tidying up, cleaning the bathroom, and maybe changing my sheets if I'm feeling ambitious.

- Do lesson planning for the next few days at least.

Also, I hear there's some kind of sporting event going on today?

ETA: Okay, I have eaten, showered, cleaned the bathroom and -- surprising even myself -- cleaned out the cabinet under the sink, fixed a drawer (at least temporarily) and cleaned out the top half of the linen closet.

Eventually -- probably as part of my spring cleaning in March, since at the moment I don't feel THAT ambitious -- I need to go through my upstairs storage where I stuck a lot of random crap when I had my ceilings retextured/repainted. Some of it can stay there, but the rest is going to get thrown out or find a new home in some of my other closets.

(I have to say, for a 1000 sq ft house, my condo has a TON of storage. I love it.)

...which, in this context, is a pretty fitting name for the band!

Srsly, tho -- THIS IS AWESOME.



US HISTORY FILK FTW!

Read so far:

1. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan [A] [x]
2. The Element of Fire by Martha Wells [x]
3. The Gate of Gods by Martha Wells [x]
4. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan [A] [x]
5. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan [A] [x]
6. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen Beckett [x]
7. Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Currently reading (in various stages):

- The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
- The Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku [x]
- The Message Remix // The Bible in Contemporary Language [x]

Key: x = first time read | L = library book | A = audio book

( In the queue: )

I've never watched Lost, but I was/am a big fan of JJ's first show, Alias. It had its rough patches and there were times I wanted to smack TPTB upside the head, but in the end he made good on his promises, ship-wise.

However, he pretty much put the characters through hell first. And the fans, to an extent. Not the Joss Whedon kind of hell -- Alli doesn't take that drug anymore -- but the "Oooh you like that, don't you? Isn't it pretty and shiny? Go ahead and admire it and-- HA! JUST KIDDING! I'm going to run away with my shiny pretty wheeeee!"

This post made sense when I first contemplated it.

Remember when Bush mispronounced 'nuclear' and the libs had a field day?

Think this flub will receive the same treatment?

Obama salutes Navy corpse-man

Annie Wersching is a horrible tease...

(Note: link goes to her facebook page. I don't know if you can see the page without being added as her friend, but she seems to be accepting all requests -- and it's worth it just to see the behind the scenes pics from last season.)

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IS IT NEXT WEEK YET?

Well, the layout hasn't changed - it's still My Biggest Flan by thefulcrum - but I added a new Fringe header (made by moi) and changed the layout colors to reflect the header. I'm pretty pleased with it, actually.

Already done:
- Loaded/started dishwasher
- Swept downstairs
- Paid bills/sorted paperwork
- Call back plumbers -- check-up scheduled for Tuesday btw 11-2.
- Buy plane tickets for March
- Did taxes!
- Laundry
- Made icons
- Vacuumed (even did the stairs)
- Cleaned junk out of my car
- Went grocery shopping

To do:
- Empty dishwasher
- Clean up dinner mess
- Put away file boxes

Three text icons from Fringe using random quotes and the very cool opening title.

- Snaggable
- Comments & credit are love

Already done:
- Loaded/started dishwasher
- Swept downstairs
- Paid bills/sorted paperwork
- Call back plumbers -- check-up scheduled for Tuesday btw 11-2.
- Buy plane tickets for March
- Did taxes!

To do:
- Do laundry
- Make Fringe icons!
- Vacuum
- General tidying
- Empty dishwasher

Obama administration kills the moon program

A plan to return US astronauts to the moon "is dead," a White House advisor on space issues said Friday, confirming reports that NASA will instead focus on developing commercial space transport.

"Constellation is dead," the advisor told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to a program that envisioned returning to the moon by 2020 and using Earth's nearest neighbour as a base for manned expeditions to Mars.

This commenter on HotAir has it right:

The issue is not that he’s cutting this program. The issue is that he’s cutting this program, while flushing trillions down the toilet on programs of far more dubious value.

Administration also opposes funding for 9/11 first responders, until people heard that they opposed funding for 9/11 first responders and got rightfully pissed.

WASHINGTON - The White House revealed Thursday night it boosted funding for ailing 9/11 responders - pumping more money into the treatment program than ever before.

Team Obama disclosed the cash only after outraging New York lawmakers with the news that the administration won't back a permanent plan to help the dying Ground Zero responders.

The White House confirmed it will more than double the budget for treating ill responders to $150 million in 2011.

The abrupt revelation came after the Daily News reported New York lawmakers were shocked Wednesday when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the administration does not support mandatory funding for the $11 billion permanent treatment plan.

"I was stunned - and very disappointed," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

"To say the least, I was flabbergasted," said Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon.

Oh, and the terrorist trial we were going to hold in NYC? Uh, nm.

A senior administration official said no decision has been formalized, but the Justice Department is already considering other venues. Said another official close to the discussions: "New York is out."

The reversal would mark the latest setback for an administration that has been buffeted at every turn as it seeks to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Its options for closing the prison had already been dwindling, and without the backdrop of Ground Zero for a trial, the administration would lose some of the rich symbolism associated with its attempt to forge a new approach to handling high-profile al-Qaeda detainees.

The decision to reconsider the plan for Mohammed's trial comes after a surge of political opposition to holding it in Manhattan, a venue that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. described in November as the "right place."

Finally, Osama bin Laden finds another part of the Dems' agenda that he really digs

Apparently speaking in his second audio broadcast of the month, Bin Laden criticised George W Bush, the former US president, for not signing the Kyoto Protocol on regulating carbon emissions, and spoke out against excessive corporate influence in the United States.

He also presented himself as an opponent of government bail outs to western banks, whose speculation and unfair competition practices, he claimed, were largely to blame for the global financial crisis.

It was one of the al-Qaeda chief's more unusual messages, doubly so as he largely eschewed references to religion and violence.

Demonstrating a surprising concern for the environment, Bin Laden voiced his dismay at recent international efforts to tackle global warming.

"Discussing climate change is not an intellectual luxury, but a reality," he said. "All of the industrialised countries, especially the big ones, bear responsibility for the global warming crisis."

One has to wonder if he's planning on running for office in Washington state or something.

Cartoon meme -- X the ones you've seen.

( Disney, Pixar and more... )

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/funny-pictures-cat-is-burned-by-light.jpg

'Nuff said.

This isn't a spoiler, I'm just cutting it for the sake of the non-24 people on my f-list.

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See, I told you it wasn't a spoiler.

*breathes*

I need either an icon or an animation of Kermit the Frog doing his arms-flailing bit. Because I sense there will be some serious flailage in the near future.

(Is it next Monday yet?)

Writing-wise I've been in a very weird place lately.

I've gone through several different phases in my 'writing career', which basically started in high school after I discovered fanfiction (first in the form of Star Trek: Voyager =/\= : The Happy Face Generation. Side note: since geocities' death, I don't know if this fantastic series is still archived anywhere. Which omg is so sad. If anyone can find it for me, I will get you so many lizards!**).

Anyway, I went from being entranced by fic but figuring I could never write any myself, to writing it but never finishing it (which, considering what Mary Sue teenybopper crap my first few X-Files plot bunnies were, is a good thing) to writing it and finishing it - thank you, SG-1 fandom - and realizing I didn't completely suck, to branching out ever so slightly into other fandoms but figuring I could never write original fic... and now I'm at the point where I pretty much have this fanfic thing down and have made inroads into orginal fic but never actually finished any yet.

Off the top of my head I have four general original fic plot bunnies all in varying states of being gnawed on -- the one with Gil that has gone through 50,000 different permutations and that I've started at least 2 dozen times... the dystopian future one with the angel... my failed 2009 NaNo with the parallel words and the vague Cinderella and Jane Austen influences... and most recently one that was literally inspired by a dream I had and doesn't actually have a plot yet, just a random assortment of characters.

At some point I need to sit down and get all of the notes for all of these various bunnies in one place, so they're there when I'm ready for them.

** OH DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN I FOUND THEM.

... I wonder if I can find the one with the extra-ensign-eating-burrito monster. Hm... should probably do it tomorrow...

Mostly from 8x04, mostly me experimenting/practicing with text.

- Snag if you like!
- Comments & credit are love

1. 2. 3.

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