The Person Below Me #18 - Old enough to vote!

Thought it was time to start a new thread!

My feet are green from playing with my corgi in the yard!

TPBM's favorite color is green, or shades thereof.

Our local high school colors are dark green and white. It's a big football school and this year, the students each got a tee-shirt that says "We Bleed Green" as an indication of their devotion to the school spirit.

Personally I prefer blue.

The person below me is randomly reminded of the NBC peacock logo that has a range of 6 or 7 colors in its tail.

Yes. I see "rainbows" all the time when the light refracts through our fish tank onto the living room wall and usually that reminds me of the first time I saw the NBC peacock - I was 8 years old and only one neighbor had a color TV - Vickie Murdock - and I saw it one morning when I came in their house to walk with her to school. Magic.

TPBM can also remember the first time they saw a color TV after living in a black-and-white TV world.

Sure do! My grandmother (on my mother's side) got one the first day they became available. I had the same reaction that I did when I saw HD for the first time - absolutely awestruck.

She was the first one I know of who had a Remote for the TV as well. It was a massive device with one button on it, and hard as all get-out to press. It sent a signal to the TV to turn the manual channel dial. If she had been alive in the early 80's, I'm pretty sure she'd have both a Macintosh and a Compaq computer.

TPBM was paranoid enough in his/her youth to think that the CBS 'eye' was purposely staring at him/her.

Can't say that I was.

The person below me is multitasking, and the other task ought to have his/her/its full attention.

Well, considering it's work I'm being paid to do, I really should be paying closer attention.

TPBM also found more interesting things to do today

I did have interesting things to do today - it was paid work but as I'm very nearly retired I only work if I'm interested. It is a fortunate position in which to find myself.

However, with the credit crunch and threats of recession and inflation, I wonder if I shouldn't maintain some earning power into old age.

TPBM would give up their paid work instantly if only they could afford to.

In a way, I seem to have already done that.

All potential contracts are on hold, due mostly to the economy.

I'm now looking locally for something that will pay above-minimum wage.

TPBM, except when it comes to books, tends to be somewhat frugal.

Yes, I am. I do tend to spend too much on books, which is why I have to discipline myself not to just buy whatever strikes my fancy.

Unfortunately, lots of books and book-related stuff strikes my fancy.

TPBM saves money by requesting interesting books through their local public library.

I wish I could, but my local public library is crap and is also a real pain to get to, so I've been there all of twice since I moved here a year ago.

The person below me lives near enough a library to walk (like I used to, back in Michigan - it was bliss, I tell you).

Nope......I haven't been able to walk to a library since I was a wee child, many moons ago!

TPBM is frightened by the local librarian.

The local librarian? In New York City?! (Well, all right, it seems to be heading that way sometimes.)

That said, we do have a family librarian. How else do you think I got to tag along to Seattle?

The person below me has a family archivist.

Not at the moment. My great grandfather, who died over half a century ago, compiled a handwritten book of genealogical information about our family. It was quite a feat, since there are several marriages between cousins to sort out.

The person below me has family tree software.

(edited to correct typo)

No, but I have a cousin who has done a lot of the work on my mother's side of the tree. I am grateful to him, but I sure don't have the patience. It is hard work to look up all that stuff and my ancestors are OLD (my dad would be 105, his dad 148, etc.)

Just a color tv comment - I remember the first time I saw Wizard of Oz in color. I was an adult and it just blew me away. I had seen it a million times as a kid on our black and white and just thought it was a black and white movie...

The person below me has had a chance to be close to his or her grandparents.

I knew none of my grandparents, so when I met my husband's wonderful grandmother I was enchanted and vowed my kids would know their grandparents well, and they do!

TPBM had a pseudo-grandparent in their life.

Can't say that I do. I'm a step-grandparent, though, so there aren't many people still around that could be old enough to be my grandparents.

I have photographs of me being held by each of my grandfathers, but I can vaguely remember only one of them. My father's mother was already quite old when I visited her on a regular basis, and she didn't talk much anyway. My mother's mother, on the other hand, was always busy doing something or other all the time, and she always had wonderful stories to tell.

TPBM has delved deeply into the family genealogy.

No, I really haven't. I know that I was *told* that on my mother's side, I was part of an FFV (First Family of Virginia). But that kind of history was never really emphasized or documented heavily in our family.

The person below me figures that it's all "dust to dust" anyway.

Not really, genealogy is a bit of a hobby of mine.

I do have family tree software, I use Legacy. Got the new version, which looks good but haven't had much of a chance to use it yet.

TPBM has famous ancestor, or one who was involved in an historical event (I have a great-grand uncle who was a fireman on the Titanic).

Infamous. Hermann Goering.

The person below me is of alien descent.

Not me. I can only manage the captain of a barque who shot a mutineer who got difficult after drinking some of the cargo. He unluckily was lost at sea.

My wife, however, can establish a relationship with James Woodforde of Diary of a Country Parson fame.

Toooo slow! but I'll maintain the sequence by claiming descent on my mother's side from a Bavarian physician of republican ideals who emigrated to Savannah, Ga. in the 19thC. - Alien enough? or do you need extra eyes and green scaly skin/ ;-)

TPBM was transfixed by the images from the Olympic opening ceremony from Beijing

We won't see them here in the US for 2 more hours.

The person below me avoids political debates on the internet.

Not always, but I've learned that I can 'Ignore' a Group, so I never see the messages anymore, and get sucked into being the "guest of 'honor'" at the feeding frenzy.

One of my sisters married into a family that rightly, yet haughtily, claims descendancy of someone who came to America on the Mayflower. I suspect that person was a member of the ships crew, but I could be wrong. I've got some interesting ancestry on my father's side, but for privacy reasons, I'm not going to tell you. It's nothing terrible, but to tell the story would reveal my name, so it's just not going to happen.

TPBM has all kinds of information about his/her family readily available somewhere on the Internet and doesn't lose any sleep at all about it.

I don't think so, but my husband is mentioned in several places if you already know his name. It's all business related, so nothing that exposes any of the rest of us.

TPBM is not especially worried about disclosing his/her identity online

I like to think I"m reasonably cautious because I am aware that identity theft is not a thing to take lightly, But neither am I particularly anxious that (whether for work or play) my face and name are out there.

Was that a coherent answer? I may need coffee this early in the am.

The person below me gets online with their first cup of coffee in the am.

Coffee, EEEWWWW, I hate coffee.

TPBM is going to undertake a major project today.

I'm not sure it counts as major, but I'm going to try to finish my list of all the stuff I've gathered together to donate (the list is for tax purposes) and bag it up and put it in the car. So far the list has about two dozen clothes items on it, mostly stuff that I didn't wear or didn't fit well (I ruthlessly purged my wardrobe over the past few months).

The person below me is also trying to clean out their home.

Yes indeedy, just not successfully yet. Please send motivation my way!

Back to the Olympics opening ceremony...

The person below me watched and was impressed (I was awed).

I wasn't able to watch..........I am glad to hear it was wonderful!

TPBM will be glued to the Olympic telecasts.

I'll probably watch some, but if I'm glued to anything it will be to my knitting. (It's a Ravelympic thing.)

The person below me has been to Beijing.

No, never.

The person below me has prepared Peking Duck.

No. I don't even think I have even tasted it here in this country because most of the Chinese restaurants with which I'm familiar want you to order it something like ten hours in advance. We tend to walk into places like that on impulse so it never worked for us.

The person below me can handle chopsticks with some dexterity while eating.

...with "some" dexterity, I suppose, but not a lot. What strikes me about pictures of Chinese eating with chopsticks is that they pick up the bowl of noodles or whatever and hold it near their mouth while they shovel the food in. That is easy, if inelegant. I've never seen a Chinese State banquet where, presumably, more finesse is required.

TPBM is relaxed about the idea that their grandchildren will be making £3 ($6) jeans for the Chinese.

Frankly, I haven't given it a moment's thought.

But since you mentioned it, if that's what they really want to do, and they're good at it, and it's not unethical or illegal, who am I to want to stop them?

TPBM has several art books in his/her library.

As much as I like to look at art, I have none.

TPBM is an architecture fan.

I am. I almost went into architecture, actually. Sometimes I still wish I had pursued that field...

The person below me likes industrial design.

It depends on the industry, really....

I understand that Jimmy Hoffa went into architecture.... Bah DUM

Thank you, ladies and germs, I'm here all night!

TPBM prefers graphic arts over paintings.

No, I love paintings - perhaps my favorite form of art.

My daughter says she saw a segment about Jimmy Hoffa on Myth-busters that seemed to counter-indicate what most people think is his final resting place.

TPBM knows where Jimmy Hoffa really is buried.

Yes, I do, but if I told you I would have to kill you.

TPBM helped bury Jimmy Hoffa.

That would have been well before my time.

The person below me is -- to change the subject entirely -- a member of BookMooch.

Well, it was several decades ago so I don't suppose anyone anybody involved with the incident will care if I admit to --- whoa, on second thought, better not.

TPBM thinks that we will all be best served by leaving sleeping dogs lie...

Darn -- too slow --

Not a member of Book Mooch

But TPBM thinks that the day might come (as we switch over to e-books) when those paperback books will be worth lots of money

I think that, by the time books are no longer printed, paperbacks will have crumbled into piles of dust.

TPBM was as horrified as Rod Taylor's character was to see "books" fall to dust in the Library in The Time Machine.

Sorry, haven't read The Time Machine. But I was horrified by Fahrenheit 451. And I was not so hopeful (Spoiler Alert!) that the great pieces of literature were going to be kept alive by a bunch of hobos living down by the river. Sorry, Ray.

TPBM has been to a book-burning.

Never, thankfully, but I enjoyed the scene in The Day after Tomorrow when they decided to burn books in the New York library to keep warm. The protesting intellectual was silenced by the suggestion that they start on the many volumes of tax law. There are few things that are ALWAYS bad.

TPBM has something to look forward to tomorrow.

Game night, assuming I remember in time to to go this time.

The person below me has a favorite board game.

I do. Monopoly is pretty good; Sorry if I'm brain-dead.

The person below me is using LibraryThing as a way of avoiding fretting about something.

No, I'm blessedly fret-free this evening, apparently. But I do have a lot of cleaning and decluttering to do this week, so there is that . . .

TPBM has also benefitted from a good round of decluttering, at some point in the recent past.

In the process. There are two bags of clothes sitting by the door, ready to be taken out to the donation point.

The person below me watched a movie this evening.

27 Dresses

Not my idea of a bang-bang, shoot-em-up, testosterone-laden guy's movie (which I was more on the mood for), but an otherwise nice, if quite predictable, chick-flick. Not a bad way to spend an evening, since we don't watch many movies anymore.

TPBM cried at some point during the Cary Grant/Deborah Kerr version of An Affair to Remember.

Who could watch that and not cry?

TPBM thought that film was sappy.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

TPBM loves sappy movies

#46 - This past weekend, I moved my 2 oldest kids out of the house and out of town (to go to school) - does that count as decluttering? The house sure feels roomier now!

So much depends on my mood. Sometimes, I want to watch a movie and cry over it (Love Actually, An Affair to Remember, Sleepless in Seattle, Four Weddings and a Funeral) but in other moods, I roll my eyes and reach for the remote.

Moving kids out of the house counts as de-cluttering only if they take their stuff WITH them.

The person below me (TPBM) will be sending an offspring back to college in the next week or so.

I have no offspring, but my neighbor across the way is sending his daughter off to my alma mater.

The person below me is proud of their alma mater.

You know, I am! It was a little liberal arts college within a state university system, but we had a nice campus and a nice student body and some pretty nurturing teachers, IMHO. Lots of good memories there (and no, I'm not going to tell the name).

TPBM also has fond memories of college days.

Not particularly. I was older than most of the other students by 4 years, and I don't drink, so I had almost nothing in common with them. I did the first semester using a cane to be ambulatory (result of the motorcycle accident), and that limits you a lot when you're expected to be able to swing an axe and use a chain saw and move around wearing snowshoes (my degree is in Forestry). I started in the Spring semester, so being the new guy was difficult. I also got married (pre-planned) after the first summer, so I ~really~ didn't fit in with most of the students. Oddly enough, my wife seemed to have no trouble that way. The college was in the habit of employing the spouses of students, so she was on campus all the time. Let's just leave it with ~some~ of my college memories were okay, but others were a rude awakening.

TPBM sleeps late on the weekends.

I used to given half a chance but ageing males tend to have other imperatives leading to getting up early.

Thoughts of 'Bright College Days' remind me of Tom Lehrer -
"Soon we'll be sliding down the razor-blade of life."

TPBM knows what he means

Sure do. I did it in 1975 - going from the protected world of study and partying to the real world of work and partying.

I love Tom Lehrer. My faves are The Vatican Rag, The Elements, and Who's Next, among others.

TPBM has read The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Flipped through it a few times as a teenager, but, properly speaking, I wouldn't say that I *read* it.

KarenMarie, like you, I love Vatican Rag but regularly warble the lyrics to We Will All Go Together When We Go.

The person below me doesn't know about the fun of Tom Lehrer songs.

Yes, it's true; it's mostly lost on me (though from the titles I can imagine).

TPBM is also enjoying some beautiful weather today.

nope it's been raining all night and still raining this morning.

TPBM is in a drought.

No, it's been raining almost steadily at least three weeks, possibly more, with a day or two off here and there. It's probably supposed to rain today - it's bright out, but cloudy.

The person below me wishes our rain would head their way.

No thanks. My local weather station recorded more than 175% average rainfall for July this year!

TPBM can explain why...

because you had 75% more precipitation,

TPBM always believes the interpretation of stats and %'s given in the news.

Only 64% of the time.

The person below me is skeptical of the above statement.

I'm only skeptical 42.5% of the time.

TPBM thinks that their weatherman is very confused at least 75% of the time.

Within a range of 4-to-96% ... more or less.

TPBM doesn't put much faith in statistics.

Statistics are like a bikini, what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.

TPBM sees the wisdom in that... (Don't remember who said it)

Wow, I love the quote! I would agree to the general truth of the statement as well.

The person below me rarely thinks to use really good quotes in public speech.

I usually mess them up if I try to use them. If I remember them.

The person below me remembers being taught in school to start a speech with a quote.

Somewhere along the line, or with a joke. I am quite sure I have also been taught not to start with a quotation or a joke. A time that comes to mind, I started by identifying myself.

The person below me does it their own way.

Sometimes I begin with a question to the audience.

TPBM quakes at the thought of making a speech.

I got so I could do okay when I did them fairly often. Now I seldom speak anywhere so, yes, I quake.

The person below me loves the limelight.

I sure do, as long as it shines on somebody else.

The person below me loves lime sherbet.

You've reminded me of sherbert suckers - not the sort of Omar Khayyam underneath-the-bough on a Persian carpet kind of sherbet. but a cardboard tube filled with a tooth-rotting sweet fizzy powder which you sucked up through a drinking straw made of liquorice - finished by eating that! All rather like an innocent line of coke - but NOT nasal. Last had one more than half a century ago.

TPBM generally enjoys being reminded of things the have long forgotten.

It kind of depends on the thing.

I'm still up from yesterday. TPBM got a good night's sleep last night.

Solid as a rock I am happy to say!

TPBM needed that first cup of coffee to get started today.

I don't like coffe but my cereal and plum tasted wonderful.

TPBM is enjoying a day off of work.

Nope. In the office and procrastinating.

TPBM is making a to-do list for his/her week's workload.

My "workload". That's a funny concept. I am off until Saturday.

Right now I am working on my homework assignments for the knitting classes I will attend at Stitches Midwest in Chicago next week.

TPBM will also be there.

No, I won't be there. That said, what I should be doing (besides work) is finding out about group travel up to Rhinebeck for my knitting circle.

The person below me knows why my knitting circle would want to go to Rhinebeck.

No, what I want to know is WHERE is Rhinebeck?

TPBM is secretly hoping that AnnaClaire will knit them a scarf while in Rhinebeck.

Secretly hoping I'll knit myself a scarf? Uh...

Rhinebeck is a town up the Hudson from New York; in theory it's possible to get up there by mass transit, but mass transit isn't so great if we'll be doing much shopping at the festival.

The metaphorical light bulb just went on over the head of the person below me (cf., post 79).

Rhinebeck..............makes me think of Steinbeck..................

TPBM recently read some Steinbeck.

not since high school

TPBM avoids Steinbeck.

Not consciously, but, thinking about it, I haven't read any of his for about 40 years, and I find that the only book of his in the house is an old copy of Of Mice and Men belonging to one of my daughters.

It is hard to predict (I think) who is going to slip out of fashion.

TPBM can suggest a favourite author who is rarely read nowadays, and maybe tell us why they like him/her.

hey guys just thought i would sayhi. so, HI!!!! :)

Posted twice!! See below.

Apparently not, abbottthomas.... But I'll give it a go.

Stephen R. Donaldson -- was my favorite author for a couple of decades until that title was usurped by Anne Fadiman.

Donaldson wrote a pair of trilogies called The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Not too far into the first book, the title character is given a piece of paper with (what I refer to as) an ethical dilemma written on it. It's maybe 3 whole sentences long. Every chapter, each book, each trilogy is an extrapolation of the pros and cons of that ethical dilemma. His writing style, the descriptions of vistas and of conflicts and battles leave you gasping for your next breath because you forget to do so while reading. He's written several other things since then and, imho, they fall a bit short, but he has redeemed himself in that he's now written 2 of the 4-part The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and once you get past the introduction of a whole new set of characters and parameters, you see why they were required to resolve issues he introduced over 30 years ago. I can hardly wait for Book 3. But mostly, it's his vocabulary. He's a master of the perfect yet obscure word.

TPBM can name another favorite , somewhat obscure author, and tell us something about why s/he likes said author.

Shakespeare isn't read by very many people nowadays. His language and his characterizations are good.

I think that this thread is dangerously on topic for the group, and the person below me will change the subject.

OK, will do.

TPBM can name a favorite, somewhat obscure power tool, and tell us something about why he or she likes said power tool.

Sorry. I'm not familiar with power tools.

The person below me thinks there's no good reason for me not to be familiar with power tools.

Power tools generally require a different style of manual dexterity than knitting needles. With the latter, you develop fine motor control. In order to handle power tools, you only need to develop the gross muscles and the endurance to swat a fly with a sledge hammer repeatedly.

TPBM was late for work today and will tell us what paltry excuse was used to explain why.

I'm on vacation, can't be late, and love it!

TPBM played miniature golf today.

Um, not miniature golf exactly. I just bounced a few balls -- err, ideas -- off the heads of unwary bystanders.

The person below me is eager to get out of the office on this Friday afternoon.

Well, lucky me! I don't go to the office on Friday afternoons, nor any other time mostly now. In fact I've just got home after an evening at an extraordinary performance of Wagner's Ring of the Niebelung compacted down into an hour and a half by a French group called Les Grooms. It ends with the tent in which it is performed falling down - fortunately with the audience led outside first. Huge fun.

TPBM "wants an opera box, I'll bet. And sleep through Wagner at the Met."

Haven't been to the opera since college, but enjoyed what I saw there. What you described does sound fun, and I'm left wondering if there is an opera company within driving distance of my home.

TPBM finds the idea of "within driving distance" amusing.

Considering your name, yes.

With the weather we're having here in Central Texas, you have to drive EVERYWHERE, including the next-door neighbor (whose front door is a mere 75 feet from our own). It's a health-wise decision to do the drive.

TPBM remembers when it used to be ~healthy~ to get some sun.

I do. Later on I had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from my cheek. Now it is becoming healthy to get some sun again. I take vitamin D pills.

The person below me tries to be sensible about their health.

Far from it. I haven't seen a doctor in years, smoke, and don't eat right. On top of all that, I work nights which I've read in various places can be harmful to ones health.

TPBM takes better care of themself, even if it's not what could be called "sensible".

Well, I don't smoke and I do see various doctors occasionally. And I work days. So I guess so.

The person below me actually tries to be sensible (and manages most of the time)

Up to a point. One has to take into consideration the idea that doctors are never going to be able to tell an individual *exactly* how that person's body will respond to treatments, procedures, etc. You have to trust your own awareness of your internal workings (but even that in moderation). I dutifully follow most directions from my doctor (but not slavishly) and it drives me frantic when my husband ignores most medical advice. (Why does he insist on thinking he's Superman?)

The person below me has been known to have pie for breakfast.

Never, although every day-after-Thanksgiving, I was sorely tempted by my grandmother's apple pies. She made 6 of them, and 6 pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving dessert every year. That's just one of the myriad of things I miss about her.

TPBM was never taught how to diagram a sentence.

Yes, I was taught how to diagram a sentence; more importantly, I still remember how. What I don't remember is what grade it was.

TPBM journals, and therefore, remembers everything.

Not any more, and I never did remember everything. Every year I buy one of those big red diaries you see in restaurants for reservations and manager logs. When I was working, I was too busy for life, and it wasn't real until I entered it into my diary; also it was an opportunity to use a fountain pen at length. Since I've retired, I've had time for life; it sinks in without writing about it. That my heart foolishly went thump thump thump a few weeks ago over a young woman at church has been taken under consideration and excused, although I can't tell you which Sunday it was or on which Sunday I realized my foolishness.

The person below me has a life.

Alas, I must not, because not only can I relate to the latter (heart) part of your post, but I almost went TMI in my response.

And I almost did it again. *Sigh*

TPBM has something fun to do tonight.

Yep. Hanging out at home with one of my sons, my hubby, and our two teenage guests from Germany.....Delightful kids! Lots of laughs, like watching hubby burn two paper wasp nests without starting the house on fire!

TPBM thinks my life could use a bit more life.

I'm not so sure. It seems to me the wasps would have preferred your life. That's got to count for something.

TPBM watched the Presidential Candidate "Forum" on TV tonight. No opinion about it is requested.

Nope. When I got home from work at 7:30 we had unexpected guests who stayed too long, so that was my Saturday night.

TPBM thinks unexpected guests are better than no guests.

Well, I would certainly love some unexpected guests to show up! Will you be here sometime soon? (Need to take a swipe at the bathroom at least).

TPBM, despite habit of having nose in book, is essentially a social soul.

I am about 50% social, 50% requiring solitude..........I work hard at maintaining the balance.

TPBM also believes in balance.

Yes, although the tallest balance beam I've ever been on, was 6 inches off the floor.

More seriously: using sloppy Myers-Briggs I often describe myself as a shy extravert or, more usually, a loud introvert.

TPBM prefers watching men's gymnastic competition, over women's.

Assuming I ever watched it, yes. Women's (or, you know, girl's, really) is creepy.

The person below me hears loud traffic outside their home.

None whatsoever...800 ft back from the road and love the peace and quiet!

TPBM lives in a great spot for viewing meteor showers!

The only thing I have a great view of here are the squirrels in the back yard. They steal tomatoes from the garden and sit of the fence so we can see them before dashing away.

TPBM has been enjoying the olympic games, and not getting much (comparatively) reading done lately.

Yes - for a change 'Team GB', as they seem to like to call it, is doing rather well, even if they will be very lucky to get any track and field medals.

The 100m performance by Usain Bolt was incredible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/athletics/7565203.stm

The 1-2-3 by the Jamaican girls was almost as good.

TPBM is as irritated as I am about the use of the word 'medal' as a verb by the commentators.

If I watched the Olympics, I'm sure I would be. Is it used transitively? "They medaled him at dawn." "He put the pedal to the metal and medaled that race in no time flat."

TPBM will think of intransitive possibilities for the verb "to medal".

From my son: Had the judges not mettled, he would have medaled.

TPBM will try the same thing.

No, I won't.

TPBM thinks I'm being rude.

Nope. Know you too well for that, WholeHouse.

The person below me thinks the Swedish wrestler who flung his medal on the floor behaved *rudely*.

Didn't see it.
Maybe someone meddled with the metal......

TPBM will enlighten me as to what preceded this act (other than ~some official metal-giver person gave the Swedish wrestler a medal~, and also explain to me when Swede-wrestling became an Olympic event. It's a rather extraordinary sport, if you ask me.

It was Greco-Roman wrestling -- not Swede wrestling. Ara Abrahamian accepted his bronze medal initially, shook hands with the IOC official and then walked off the medals podium and dropped the medal on the mat as an indication of what he considered to be poor official calls in his match against the athlete who eventually got the Gold. The IOC subsequently stripped him of his medal.

The person below me thinks Swede wrestling might be as interesting to watch as Speed resting.

I imagine the gold-medal winner rather enjoyed the Swede-wrestling.

Speed resting is something every parent of young children has learned to excel at - might make an interesting competition.

TPBM knows an olympic athlete (or knows someone who knows one - my son's classmate will be competing on Wednesday)

My husband went to summer camp with Eric Heiden (speed skater)

TPBM loved summer camp.

I did! Starting at age 7, I went for 10 years in a row and would have gone another year, but they told my brother they wanted me to attend (I was camper, then cabin leader, then staff) and he forgot to tell me. I, of course, didn't go ask them. I hated the thought of rejection and I was getting old...

I signed my husband and stepdaughter up for Girl Scout father-daughter camp and it was one of the best things I ever did for them.

The person below me has a memory of summer camp that he/she is willing to share.

Camp No-Be-Bos-Co (North Bergen Boy Scout, believe it or not) in Blairstown, NJ (which is near the Delaware Water Gap, and nowhere near Bergen County, especially the northern part of it. 1966; Blackfoot area; the leaders had a small cabin; the scouts had 5 Adirondack lean-to's. Our last night there, we were visited by a bobcat (the mammal, not the initial rank of a Cub Scouts). My older brother still has a plaster cast of its paw-print.

TPBM has another summer camp memory to share.

Probably my all-time favorite silly song came from 4-H camp:

I woke up just this morning, and there upon the wall,
The skeeters and the bedbugs were playing a game of ball.
The score was nineteen-twenty, the skeeters were ahead.
The bedbugs hit a homer, and knocked me out of bed!

Singing . . . eeny, meeny, meeny, miney, moe
Catch a bedbug, bedbug, by the toe
And if he hollers, hollers, hollers, let him go
Singing . . . eeny, meeny, meeny, miney, moe
Hey!

TPBM will share another silly camp song.

Oh, the cannibal king with the big nose ring
fell in love with the dusky maid (mayayayd)
And every night by the pale moonlight
Across the bay he came (cayayaam).

He hugged and he kissed his pretty little miss
By the shade of the bamboo tree (tree-ee-ee)
And every night by the pale moonlight
It sounded like this to me (me-ee-ee)

Arumph (kissing noises)
Arumph (kissing noises)
Arumph podi-adiayayay
Arumph (kissing noises)
Arumph (kissing noises)
Arumph podi-adiayayay

There's another verse but you get the drift...

The person below me remembers silly songs and jingles and sometimes shares them with others. Maybe even us.

Summer camps don't really make it across the Atlantic so all I can offer is a line from Alan Sherman - "The chief coach wants no sissies, so he reads to us from something called Ulysses"

TPBM prefers to go on reminiscing rather than go for something completely different

I wasn't a big fan of girl scout camp, but I went to band camp for three or four summers running (there are two band camps in Michigan that I know of. If you've seen American Pie...I went to the other one).

The only song I remember learning there is kind of boring to transcribe, since it's the tune that's the important thing. The lyrics are the same two words repeated over and over and over again (piccolo mini). I can still sing it, though, and the point was to sing it (accurately) as fast as possible.

I do remember other songs from girl scout camp, though. My sister and I went to the same camp, so some of the songs became running jokes later.

The person below me ate a good breakfast this morning.

Haven't approached the kitchen as yet, but I will be eating something solid for breakfast. Bagel and coffee, most likely.

The person below me has eggs, bacon, pancakes and oatmeal for breakfast, rivaling Michael Phelp's ability to ingest food.

I don't think he has a rival in that department!

TPBM wishes they could consume such a breakfast.

Well, no . . . I would eat myself out of house and home, I think. Besides, from what little I've heard, I think I would feel guilty eating enough food for a small country. I understand why he does - all that physical activity requires calories to maintain metabolism - but I'm just not that active.

But I do eat breakfast every day, and it's never just a cup of coffee.

TPBM has a favorite breakfast.

I don't eat breakfast these days, but I used to like maple flavored instant Cream of Wheat with raisins and mustard mixed in.

TPBM doesn't like mustard.

I don't think I would like mustard like that :-( - but Colman's Mustard is an essential accompaniment to pork sausages.

TPBM is waiting for something

Godot.

TPBM has got something fun already planned for this weekend.

Um, in the words of Rick in the movie Casablanca, "I never make plans that far in advance".

The person below me has a paper organizer that he/she uses effectively and efficiently.

Yes, but I call it "The Recycling Bin". Most of my mail goes into it, unopened, along with any newspapers, cans and plastic containers. They don't take glass or cardboard. That stuff I keep separately, and I'll take them to a recycling center at my convenience.

TPBM dabbles in stock investments.

I have a few DRIP's. I feel compelled to buy Hershey's chocolate when I want chocolate because I own a few shares of their stock, for example.

The person below me leaves all that investment stuff up to other people.

Why not; it allows for more reading time. I must admit I do fiddle around to assure that all is going the way it should: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom..." So, I read..."in the superlative degree of comparison only."

TPBM tell us what to do!!

Okay. (Such a feeling of power!!!)

"You are all individuals."

TPBM replies with.....

Alan Sherman! I remember him. I still sometimes sing "Leprosy, kiss me quick, there goes my upper lip."
Is this individual enough?

The person below me does something eccentric.

#139
Or, alternatively:

"Yes, we are all individuals!"

#140
The best I can manage for eccentricity is a propensity to burst into song occasionally and inappropriately - something like The Fishermen of England or The Road to Manderlay in the manner of Peter Dawson.

TPBM can do better than that.

Alas, I am not an eccentric, as I found out while reading the very fun book Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and Strangeness. But I think my ex-boyfriend (and now friend) might be.

TPBM wishes he/she were eccentric, too.

I am distressingly conformist but wish I were eccentric. The only eccentricity I've managed as an adult is to have a lot of red in my wardrobe, which may not qualify.

The person below me likes red clothing and accessories as well.

I love to wear red!!!!!!!!!!!
I was recently working at a summer camp and suggested red for next years t-shirts (I'm tired of brown and gray) and was informed that no one likes to wear red! ARG!

TPBM agrees with this statement.

I don't agree that nobody likes wearing red. I've seen too many people wearing just that color.

What I do hate is being told (on the basis of my red hair) that I would look good in green. If I hear that one more...

The person below me thinks I should shut up and wear green already.

Well red heads do look good in browns and greens, and in general should avoid pinks and reds (IMO).

TPBM thinks a male computer nerd has a lot of nerve offering fashion advice.

Quite a lot, but no more than I do when I say that redheads should explore the possibilities of light blues. Unless of course they have green eyes...

TPBM has green eyes.

No, mine are blue; but one of my sisters has green eyes.

TPBM is going to see a movie tonight.

That's not the plan; the plan is to go to a men's support group meeting at church (it's actually old men). I'll let you know what happens.

The person below me knows the name of the movie that they will watch tonight.

Alas, probably no movie for me tonight, either. We have an athletic parents meeting at school - parents of student athetes not parents who are atheletes, just in case you were confused. If that finishes up early, we'll probably watch olympic coverage when we get home.

TPBM IS going to see a movie tonight.

Movie-schmovie! No, I've been listening to very odd modern music from a Promenade concert while I slowly stirred a mushroom risotto - very soothing (the risotto, not the music) - and then entering opera programmes onto LT. Who needs movies? ;-)

TPBM is in tune with 12-tone music

I've been stirred by it, by opera programs, by LT, and by mushrooms and rice. Furthermore, I've been soothed by stirring.

The person below me will add to the list: Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, and Messiaen.

I'll leave that for the person below me 'cause I haven't a clue. And I'm not sure if I've ever eaten risotto. I have been stirred, though.

But I saw Mama Mia today and loved it! It was a zero look-at-my-watch movie which is my rating system. More than two and it is pretty boring.

Okay, the person below me is better educated about music and can add to rdurick's list.

I'm with you, xorscape.........no clue. I have also been stirred, though.

TPBM has a favorite list.

Well, it's not Franz, I'll tell you that.

TPBM will forgive me that terrible pun and wish me well as I am off to Chicago. Don't do anything I wouldn't do...

I'm not sure I can; there's nothing to forgive; it was a good pun.

Have fun in the Windy City!! I expect a report on their style of pizza relative to same-style-named pizza in your neighborhood.

TPBM can't wait to hear amancine's report.

its true! I've only been to chicago a couple times but it was wonderful.
be sure to update us!

TPBM loves Chicago

Not really, since I've never been there except to fly through. I have heard both good and bad things about it. Mostly the usual urban stuff: great arts and culture, but some neighborhoods to avoid.

And I don't like musicals, so I can't even say I loved Chicago.

TPBM loves musicals and therefore thinks I'm a cultural heathen.

No, not a cultural heathen, but I get great joy out of musicals and feel it's a pity that you get no joy out of them.

TPBM always loses at musical chairs.

I can't remember. It has been (quite) a while since I've played.

The person below me often gets a song stuck in his or her head. Edit: Some days, for me, it is the only thing that sticks.

Right now it's "God Rest Ye,Merry Gentlemen" courtesy of my daughter's playing it on the piano much more frequently than I'd like to hear. All year long. There's another song that I've been thinking about lately that you would all sincerely thank me for saving you from if I told you what it was. (gads, what a sentence!)

I'm going to borrow a "TNP" I used yesterday.

TNP remembers a book they read in the 4th grade and will tell us what it is.

my best guess would be Encyclopedia Brown or The Sugar Creek Gang, I think I was reading those about then.

TPBM read them at one time as well.

I vaguely remember Encylopedia Brown from elementary school. I first read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe around the same time, too. Still have not read the complete Narnia series, though.

TPBM will give their opinion on the first Narnia movie, that was in theaters a couple of years ago.

Sorry, I avoid C.S. Lewis whenever possible.

The person below me has already seen tree leaves turn color.

I have. Every autumn for twenty-odd years.

The person below me laughed at that (I hope).

I knew you couldn't have reached thirty yet, AnnaClaire! :o)

The person below me is feeling an urge to buy something new for the fall. (Pencils, book bag, a wool sweater or two, something in plaid...)

I need new arrows for the season coming up in 3 weeks...

TPBM actually has money to by something new this fall...

We're shopping around for a telescope.

The person below me has advice about what to look for while doing the above.

Boy howdy!

I did about 6 months of research on telescopes before I got my C-8. One of my astrophotos took 2nd place in a contest.

Most of this depends on how truly interested in Astronomy you are ...
First thing -- if it costs less than about $350 to $400, you'll be disappointed with it, and will use it less than half a dozen times.

Having said that, my oldest brother got a Gilbert 2.25" Newtonian telescope when I was about 5, (mid-to-late 50's, then) and I got hooked on Astronomy just by looking at the Moon. Saturn was just a blur.

Second thing -- diameter = light-gathering capability = seeing more-faint objects.
Third thing -- diameter = weight = seeing more-faint objects not nearly as often.

There's lots more. Comment my profile page and let me know what your interest in telescopes is, and any questions, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

I'm going to be away for a few days. My MiL died last week, and the graveside memorial is on Saturday in east Texas (forecast - rain, rain, rain). I have to drive out there tomorrow morning to dig her grave and do the interment prior to the memorial service.

TPBM also knows a thing or three about telescopes.

I once saw the rings of Saturn through my $100 (in the seventies in Japan) telescope. It had no special mount so I had to figure out where Saturn was, aim through the spotting scope, then home in with the main barrel.

Back then Questron said that for the amateur observer anything bigger than five inches was pretty much wasted although they sold a seven inch telescope at the time.

Looking at the advertisements in Sky and Telescope and in Astronomy magazines can give an idea of what sells. Looking at the credits can give an idea of what serious observers use.

My neighbor who is out of town (taking his daughter to my alma mater to matriculate) has an eleven inch telescope. It is big enough to take special handling. He has built a cabinet-cart for it which also provides electricity to the mount and to his laptop computer. He has a ramp for rolling it onto his pick up truck when he goes looking for dark.

I'd like to own a good telescope, but just looking at simple things far off requires some commitment.

There must be a thing or three in all that.

The person below me will let other folks take the pictures so that they can just look at them.

I love looking at cool outer space pictures. I dated a gentleman at one time who even built an observatory in his back yard for his big telescope and took fabulous pictures. (I never saw it. The ex-wife got it in the divorce but I saw some of the pictures. Wow.) And my brother lives close to Kit Peak. However, I don't have great eyesight and stuff in the heavens just looks fuzzy to me. I'm not successful at bird watching for the same reason.

Probably too much information.

The person below me can actually see little things a long way off.

Nope. I knew I had turned the corner into middle-age when waiting for a bus with my then-six-year-old son because I couldn't tell the route number of the bus heading towards the stop and he could.

The person below me has two sets of glasses for seeing things at different distances.

Yes. I'm using my computer bifocals right now to see the monitor. When I drive or am just at home I use my distance bifocals.

Either way I use bifocals. Even then I still pull the glasses up so I can see fine print. Sheesh.

TPBM doesn't need glasses at all.

Dang, too late, see my explanation below
I used to, I wore contact lenses for thirty-five years and the last few years I had to wear reading glasses over them. I finally saved up enough for the LASIK surgery. I had to have each eye done twice, fairly painful, but I'd do it again in a New York minute. I now have 20/15 vision. I still have to wear reading glasses, but that doesn't bother me. I've been told that as I was so young(??) when I had the surgery, my vision will worsen as I get older. I told them I'd deal with that when it happened. Now I wake up in the night and can see the clock on the other side of the bed to tell time.

TPBM thinks thats way too much information.

No, it's not TMI, although having painful surgery twice on each irreplacable eye does not sound appealing to me. That's why I'm sticking with my specs. Although I can tell that soon enough I will be heading into bifocal territory. *Sigh*

TPBM has funny optician or optical store story.

Just shop with my sunglasses obsessed son and you won't stop laughing for eons!

TPBM really enjoys optical illusions!

I love them - when they're intentional. My eyesight is poor enough that sometimes things look wonky for no good reason. I was that kid in 3rd grade with coke-bottle glasses. Now I'm waiting for cataracts to develop so I can have new lenses implanted and get rid of my super-strong glasses.

TPBM thinks that having cataracts is a terrible thing to be looking forward to.

Depends: was the pun intended?

The person below me can't believe I saw a rabbit in the park when I took the dog I'm sitting for her morning walk.

Well, you have coyotes in Central Park, don't you? They have to eat something.

The person below me prefers their nature to be contained.

Yes, but then again I grew up in New York.

(I wonder how those coyotes would be eating in the park I've been walking that dog in. She's a Brooklyn dog, and takes her walks in Prospect Park.)

The person below me will advance a theory of Interborough Coyote Eating.

Well, I know very little about the boroughs of New York, but it's clear to me that coyotes are rangy critters. If they could take over the territory of the wolf, etc., they surely can find their way from one city park to another. On a dark night (they are mostly nocturnal), they would just look like one more mangy dog trotting through the alley. They would be smart enough to cross a bridge. At any rate, they are not stuck in a city park.

P.S. I have recently learned that coyotes find the domestic cat to be a tasty snack (though, thankfully, not the hard way).

TPBM was hoping for a tale of truck-hopping super 'yotes.

We don't have coyotes in the UK - the only one I know anything about is Wile E. Coyote (Beep-beep!) - but I guess our urban foxes fill the same ecological niche. They used to feast on trash until we all got 4 foot-high 'wheelie-bins' with decent lids. There are fewer foxes now.

TPBM thinks baby animals are 'Sweeeet' rather than impending vermin.

I guess it depends on whether I'm looking at pictures of them or they're moving into my hypothetical garage or basement.

The person below me needs to do laundry as badly as I do.

I need to do laundry well, and a whole lot of it.

The person below me keeps chipping away at the chores so that they never become overwhelming.

Hah! I am in the midst of my second month of decluttering.

Okay, I'll be honest. There was a two-week flurry of very satisfying decluttering activity, followed by much muttering and foot-dragging.

TPBM can completely understand the concept of drowning in paper.

Oh yesss! My idea of hell is a place filled with paper that I am supposed to do something with. (For a while, I thought having to watch the OJ trial might overtake the paper hell. It ran a close second.)

And yes to the laundry. I'm out of essential pieces.

Coyotes love cats and small dogs and garbage and... They are very adaptable.

And the clutter (and paper) is embarrassing, so don't tell anyone.

The person below me schedules chores for certain days and sticks (pretty much) to the schedule.

Yes. I schedule all chores pretty much for the weekend. During the week it's enough to get up, get going, and get out of the house for work. And on Monday we get back to the school routine -dropping my daughter off at High School then heading to work. Then when I get home, sometimes I cook dinner, sometimes I don't. Then time with my husband and daughter, reading, and eventually to bed.

TPBM does a lot more chores during the week.

I actually try to get my chores all done by Friday so that my weekend is open to possibility.

TPBM is good at delegating chores.

Being male, I seem to be more of a delegatee than a delegator, but for those who have problems this site may help:

http://www.chorewars.com/

I've just read about it in the newspaper - doing real chores gets you virtual treasure, it appears. Well, you may be able to trick the kids into co-operating.

TPBM spends more time than enough on-line already.

I do. This summer, I made a concerted effort to spend time w/ the son home from college which meant that I had to learn to shut the laptop down. My blogging suffered but not much else. Several hours a day on a computer, every *single* day is not ideal as a lifestyle. I am trying to steer back a little more towards the pen and paper side of organization. (Sorry, this turned into a paragraph before I realized it.)

The person below me is good at keeping things brief and to the point.

Yup.

TPBM laughed.

Yep.

TPBM is a bit groggy today.

Yes indeedy.

The person below me follows the advice:

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man (or woman) healthy, wealthy and wise.

I've experimented with it. Except in that suffering can lead to some wisdom, I would have to say that it didn't work for me. Two years into retirement I am still getting over it.

The person below me is a lark and can't understand spending half the morning in bed.

No, I'm more of a modified night owl. That is to say, I get up reasonably early (not 5 a.m., though) but stay up late, too. I believe that humans are crepuscular, and that a good afternoon nap is healthy. You're tired then, anyway, aren't you? Not getting that much work done while your eyelids are sagging, are you? So take your coffee break for a nice 15-minute power snooze.

TPBM enjoys the luxury of an afternoon nap.

I did today for the first time in weeks, and it was wonderful..........Feeling rested and relaxed!

TPBM suffers from insomnia.

Only when I've had caffeine after about 6 p.m. the night before or something is bothering me terribly. If I can't get back to sleep in 15 minutes, I get up and read - sometimes I just stay up and have a LONG day, sometimes I read for about an hour or so then go back to sleep for however long I have before the alarm goes off.

TPBM found an exciting book at a great price yesterday.

I wish I had. I didn't do any shopping yesterday except for a new (to me) house.

The person below me did shop and found something worth talking about.

I've been so busy with walking a neighbor's dog and finishing up my Ravelympics knitting that I haven't even had the time (or the energy) to go book-shopping.

The person below me has a dog. One who will pull of its person's arm to go swimming.

No, I want to get a dog and almost carried one home from the mall yesterday. There was an adoption day event there. There was a puggle and a something that was part pitbull (but totally sweet-natured).

Ooops, forgot the TPBM part. TPBM is a sucker for sloppy dog kisses.

yepp... its true. But my dog doesn't really give kisses unless you get home and she's excited. She's old... I guess I can't really blame her.

TPBM prefers cats to dogs.

You're just trying to bait me, aren't you?

TPBM is doing a whole lot of nothing today (and thankful for the opportunity).

Only if by "nothing" you mean having friends over for dinner and a games party. But I am thankful for that opportunity.

TPBM loves games parties.

Love them is right! Especially word games.............

TPBM has played "Apples to Apples".

No, actually, I missed playing that one with my kids.

The person below me has been productive today. (Or not.)

Not at all!

TPBM thinks that is appalling!

Not me! I've had LOTS of unproductive days in the past couple of years.
Take today, for example. I'm currently doing the most productive thing I intend to do all day.

In fact, I'm recovering from the weekend. MrsHouseLibrary and I drove out to eat Texas to bury her mom's ashes next to her husband. As it turns out, I am now hyper-reactive to sunlight. Forty-five minutes of digging a grave with no shade to be found anywhere, and I've been having rather violent reactions ever since -- not over-heating, not sun stroke, but nausea, vomiting, kidney and liver 'aches', intestinal rebellion, skin ruptures, the-mother-of-all-headaches... all these things were milder in the past. For a while , we thought there might actually be 2 funerals on Saturday. Now I'm feeling merely ill, sitting in a very dark living room.

Anyone need some film developed? I've got the time....

TPBM still uses a film camera.

I don't, but a dear friend does and the results are fabulous and lasting!

TPBM recently saw a photography exhibit.

No, but I've been looking at some digital pictures of my own.

The person below me likes photographic art better than painted art.

I think it is like comparing apples and oranges............two different creatures.

TPBM had apples and/or oranges for breakfast.

Nope. Two liters of Diet Pepsi Max. It has me wired and sleepy all at once, and I want to reply at length to half a dozen posts in the groups that I watch. Most days my caffeine is from one can of plain green tea.

The person below me does not partake of any drug to the extent that it changes their behavior.

No, I don't. I rarely drink, although I do like the taste of a nice red wine or some mixed drinks, because I am rarely in a social-drinking venue. I don't use caffeine, haven't for years. The closest would be chocolate - and that mainly changes my behavior when I'm in the grocery store (Oooooh . . . the good stuff's on sale! Gotta get me some . . . .).

TPBM has a favorite style of chocolate (not the brand but the kind - dark, milk, milk with almonds, etc.).

I think I am a more easy-going and laid-back person after a glass or two of wine*, but I know enough about alcohol abuse to wonder if those around me agree. And as for caffeine - I would say it doesn't alter my behaviour, just makes me brisker doing what I'd do anyway.

*sure slows down my posting ;-)

Chocolate has to be more than 70% cocoa solids to pass my lips.

TPBM believes that humankind has / was given a liver enzyme that breaks down ethyl alcohol for a good reason.

I'm just getting old enough to hope my liver keeps working...and my kidneys...and my heart...

The person below me is preoccupied about something today.

edit: Why is spelling so hard now when it wasn't 30 years ago, or even 10...

Somehow I became obsessed over the menu for dinner tonight.......I'm trying to cook more healthfully, but it requires more focus for me........

TPBM naturally eats healthfully.

You be the judge.
Skim milk always, except if I run out, or if I have something I shouldn't have.
Salad at least 4 times a week (lettuce, carrots, celery, cucumber, with lemon or AC vinegar)
At least 5 12-oz glasses of filtered water every day.
4 cups (2 mugs) of coffee (sometimes I'll have more...)
Turkey sandwich (whole wheat bread, lettuce, a light spreading of mayo, occasional slice of Swiss cheese) every day. Okay, once in a while it's PB&J....
Breakfast is usually cereal, but I'll swap it out for bacon and eggs occasionally.
Dinner: Monday is spaghetti night; Tuesday is usually just salad, but I might also have soup later; Wednesday is salmon, green beans and rice; Thursday - chicken, broccoli, some potatoes; Friday - salad and maybe pork chops, maybe a burger, maybe nothing. Every other Friday or Saturday night, we usually go out to eat a steak, (7 oz) and a baked potato and/or veggies. Sunday dinner is often an eye-of-round roast with potatoes, 2 veggies and a damn fine gravy, if I say so myself. I also have to down 16 pills every day, so I don't do a whole lot of snacking.

TPBM eats healthier than that.

Gosh, I'm afraid I probably don't. But I wouldn't say that I eat terribly, either. My nutrition has definitely improved over the past year. Not eating fast food anymore made a marked improvement, as did cutting back on fat.

TPBM has dabbled in vegetarianism.

50% of my family are vegetarian............my husband and two of four children, so we do a lot of dabbling.

TPBM refuses to give up meat completely.

My motto is: "If we're not supposed to eat animals, how come they're made of meat?"

It's a quality-of-life issue for me. I don't have a ton of 'duration' left, so I go for the 'breadth'.

TPBM is really 'into' the subject matter of his/her current reading(s).

Well, I'm reading this thread, and I am going to have a 48 ounce porterhouse at Morton's on Friday, and I am into it all. I am also reading about emergence; I'm a little into that. I am reading about the English take on Hinduism during the Raj; the questions I had hoped to have answered may not get answered, but still I am into it. And I am reading about process theology; there is a lot to respected there and that informs any thinking about ones relationship to the universe, but I am not likely to swap my faith for it -- I am very into that.

The person below me is reading a popular novel.

I'm not sure how popular it is, but I'm reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It's about Frank Lloyd Wright, fiction. Slow going, told from the point of view of his married lover.

WHL, I completely agree with your motto. We eat very little meat, but now and then I must have steak, lamb or roast beef. Hubby doesn't get it, but he is into denial. :>)

TPBM is into denial.

If I am, do you really expect me to admit it?

TPBM has seen the Nile.

Not the Nile, but definitely "de Nile"........I'm a therapist.........

TPBM can name another beautiful river they have seen.

We were on the Rhone a few weeks ago - much is very industrial, oil tanks, nuclear power plants and the like but then you moor at Arles and Avignon and it's hard to beat.

TPBM is a Francophile

Absolutely, my husband teaches French and I'm an amateur chef. We've a trip planned to Paris, Avignon and then up the Rhone on a barge. Was supposed to happen this year, but stuff happens, so it's now on tap for next year, if the dollar stays strong.

TPBM will name another beautiful river and tell of seeing it.

The Kern River in Central California. We used to go camping when the 3 of us kids were young. I remember it as broad and meandering and peaceful as it went throuth Kernville. We'd have picnics and my dad would fish for trout. I just looked it up on Wikipedia and it says it's a popular venue for white water canoeing and kayaking. Not so peaceful. My memories are from the 1960s though, so perhaps it's changed.

TPBM used to go camping when they were young.

I did, most summers from about 5th grade or so into high school. A lot of summers, Dad and I would go camping in the Catskills or Adirondaks after I was done with summer camp. We did go camping in northern New Jersey once or twice.

The person below me also went camping, and will tell us where.

When we were young, my parents didn't have much money so they would pitch a tent on the hill above our house (we lived in the country) and we camped there. We weren't allowed to go to the house at all but we could swim in the pool. We always had company when we were camping, friends always came to camp with us and sit around the fire. It was great.

TPBM enjoys boating.

I do, now if I can just get my trailer boat and motors all in good working order, I could do some more of it.

TPBM seems to always have something in need of repair.

I own a house and 4 cars - what do you think?

TPBM is planning a trip to the library or book store this afternoon in search of more books.

Yes!!!! *Excited "the TPBM" matches so well*

The local librarian just called to tell me that my book club book A Thousand Splendid Suns and the other book I requested, James Triptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon have arrived. So I'll be going later today to collect them. Yay!

TPBM often has several books on the current-read stack.

Yes, although not as many as several here seem to have - I believe I've currently got about 10 or 12 waiting patiently, and 2 that are in progress.

TPBM is struggling to adapt to a family member's recent dietary changes. (My son decided to be vegetarian, my husband is defensively carnivorous - what do I make for dinner!?)

No, the biggest adjustment we have to make when children return home to eat is doubling the quantity of food for each meal. Home alone -- we have leftovers. With children -- we have no leftovers. Ever.

TPBM is sympathetic regarding what this means for the food budget.

Absolutely! the summer is full of family dinners while all are in town, for which I am grateful, but the grocery budget goes sky high.

TPBM clips coupons.

No, but my one of my sons clipped a fire hydrant once....

TPBM can't wait for this election ~stuff~ to be over so things will get back to a degree of normalcy.

I don't care about normalcy, but i am sick to death of the election stuff.

TPBM thinks there should not only be campaign finance limits, but campaigning itself should be limited!!! Maybe it's just the media who need limits.

I think that not only should the campaigning be limited, but the campaign should be too. Candidates should declare candidacy no more than eight months before the general election, and the primaries should all happen on the same day, no more than four months before the general election.

The person below me would limit the campaign even more.

I do think that. In fact, I once came up with what I thought was a pretty good three-point plan for campaign reform. Not just campaign-finance reform, an idea that seems to have utterly disappeared, but also for how campaigning could be done.

I don't remember it in perfect detail, but the three points were something like:

1. All campaigning would be publically financed, with some reasonable way of determining how much money each candidate received. (I'm not saying that a particularly large amount of money would be spent here.)

2. Campaign advertising would be limited to positive platform or history statements about the candidate whose committee pays for the ad. No ads mentioning the competition.

3. Publically-licensed mass media (TV stations) would be required to air debates between the candidates. (This was before I understood that debates are entertainment, not public-service programming).

Immediately, I see major flaws in this scheme. Primarily is the problem of viral advertising via email or the internet. I also had no concept whatsoever how much it costs to buy advertising . . . but the intent was to limit both spending and negative campaigning.

TPBM can apply constructive criticism to this campaign reform scheme.

Oops! A little late . . . but it works because I remember now that I also thought the campaign season should be shortened.

I love your ideas - the only problem I can think of offhand is the public funding of campaigns. Who is in favor of raising taxes to pay for presidential campaigns? We already have something that addresses this - on the Form 1040 Individual Income Tax Return, there is a space to mark whether each person wants $3 of their taxes to go to the campaign fund. How many of you check the "yes" box? Not many, I'd wager. It's my understanding that the program is slated to be discontinued for lack of interest.

TPBM has another comment about campaign reform.

Democracy inevitably leads to tyranny; we are in the first stages of that now. Do away with elections and campaigns with them. Replace elected officials with philosopher kings.

The person below me is more political cynical than I.

Probably.

The person below me agrees that the media believes it makes and/or interprets news rather than just has an obligation to report it.

If a tree falls in the forest an nobody reports it, did it really fall?

TPBM has taken a walk in the woods lately.

A 2.5 mile hike on Monday.

The person below me keeps Ace bandages handy for excursions like that.

No, but I keep them on hand for after yard work.

The person below me is amazed that August is almost over...already!

Well, yes. August has been phenomenally busy - daughter's birthday, Driver's Ed (gulp), Marching Band Camp, school starting on the 25th, me starting up as Treasurer for Band Boosters. All of a sudden, it's almost Labor Day weekend! (going to the beach!)

TPBM is looking forward to fall.

I do like the autumnal season, with its bright colors and crisp air. Going shopping for pumpkins and squash, etc. Here we have had several fall-like days already, being in the part of the US that has had a cooler summer this year.

TPBM missed the dog days of summer this year. (FWIW: I didn't.)

Nope,we're still in them, here in Arizona we call it Monsoon. It took a week off then came back with a vengeance. We actually had standing water in several locations. Took me by surprise when I hit one and sent spray flying.

TPBM is already preparing for Holiday celebrations.

Bite your tongue!

I think it's unseemly the way marketing folks are pushing one holiday on us before the last one is done. It's still August, and the stores here are already putting up Halloween stuff. My son, knowing he could get a rise out of me, asked me if I'd started buying Halloween candy yet.

The only preparing I'm willing to do early is the kind involving deciding when and where the family gatherings are to be held so everyone can arrange to be present.

TPBM does usually have holiday preparations done early.

Yes and no. Since I usually don't do much for any holiday, there's not much preparing to do. So from the perspective of "done" as in "doesn't need doing," I'm pretty early on that. But as to buying food and cooking, etc., I'm not much ahead of the game on that one.

TPBM celebrates/observes holidays other than the standard western (Christian + civic) holidays.

Well, I do not really think of it as non-standard, but it is definitely not Christian........I celebrate Jewish holidays and MayDay which is pagan.

TPBM enjoys the pagan celebration of all things earthly.

I'm more into celebrating Festivus than I am into the Solstice.

TPBM feels sympathy for someone who was born on or near a major holiday.

(I, personally, feel more sympathy for said person's mother...)

Yep, I have a sister who was born Dec. 23. Sort of botched up Christmas for all of us, especially as she was about five weeks early. My Mom used to say that she had coughed that baby out, she had bronchitis. We always had a party for that sister, but when she got grown, we moved her birthday celebration to Mom's, the 5th of July, with all of us, six sisters, one brother, having families and jobs, the December date just got harder to keep.Hubby's BD sometimes falls on Thanksgiving, but as that's his favorite holiday, he's OK with it. However his Mom, until she got somewhat senile a couple of years ago, regaled us with the gory details of her labor and how glad she was when the nice doctor gave her the shot that put her out of her terrible pain.

TPBM knows someone who tell them way too much about medical conditions, past and current.

That would probably be all of you, about me. I'll try to be more discrete in the future.

TPBM is actually pretty good at handling emergencies.

I'm at my *best* during an emergency. It's only afterward that I become a puddle of something.

The person below me disagrees with WholeHouse's statement that we think he's indiscreet or shares too much information. (I disagree with him...)

I agree with you that I disagree with WHL, Jill.

TPBM is very agreeable.

I think two rational people who think they know me could run into each other and disagree about that.

The person below me is very civil.

You don't frighten me, New English pig-dog! Go and boil your bottom, son of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called rdurick, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets. Thpppppt! Thppt! Thppt! I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! Now, go away, or I shall taunt you a second time-a!

TPBM shall decide.

(My family were wolverines.

Robert)

Hmm...no TPBM in #258, so I'll assume that the intended one was "TPBM's family is not," which would be true in my case.

TPBM knows which state is the Wolverine state without looking it up on-line.

I won't comment about civil, but I might say you're both a little crazy. (You made me smile.)

The person below me feels sorry for me. I had to throw away four books today. My water heater rusted through, again, flooded the garage and I have some wet books. Those four are beyond saving. Sigh. This happened just three years ago too! It is very humid in my garage tonight.

Your water heater lasted only 3 years? I do feel sorry for you!

Michigan is the Wolverine State.

Combining Michigan with water, I up with: TPBM has seen Lake Michigan.

Not only have I seen it, I've sailed on it, and swam in it, Br--r-r-r-r.

WHL, I wasn't throwing brickbats, so please don't fart in my general direction. OK?

TPBM also likes to read WHL's entries about pets, bookcases, family and his childhood.

Who doesn't?

TPBM is familiar with the Detroit-Mackinac/Chicago-Mackinac races.

Considering I'm from Michigan, I probably should be, but offhand I don't know what you're talking about.

The person below me will enlighten us.

Sailboat races run within about two weeks of each other, both ending at Mackinac Island. Magnificent boats!

TPBM likes to sail.

When I go out in the morning to fetch the newspaper, if the lawn is dewy, I get seasick.

The short answer is, "No".

re: 260, 262/263 -- aw, shucks. Thanks folks. You made my day.

TPBM owns a digital scale.

No. I own a most annoying scale which insists on telling me that I weigh thus-and-such when I know I have never weighed that much. I can only assume that the scale is in cahoots with the clothing manufacturers who insist that I can no longer fit into a size six anything....

The person below me suspects that the problem is not with my scale (analog or digital).

Jill, I passed size six when I was about ten years old. Your scale MUST be malfunctioning. I'd call the manufactor and demand my money back. Actually, I'd throw the d----d thing out. I did that several years ago. Hasn't changed my weight problem, but at least I don't have to look at it.

TPBM does not have a weight problem and can't understand those of us who do.

I ought to lose about 80 pounds, but I don't necessarily consider it a problem, all factors considered.

TPBM will tell us whether it is more beneficial to exercise in the morning or the evening. I've always been confused about that....

I am a proponent of the "healthy at any size" movement, which means that the only people who have weight problems are those who are not healthy but think that losing weight would solve all their problems. That's a bit oversimplified, but you get the gist. Unfortunately, considering our cultural demonization of weight (see Rethinking Thin), just about everyone has a weight problem of some kind.

TPBM would rather talk about sailing than weight-loss dieting.

I would rather think about almost anything than weight-loss dieting, even spiders and cleaning the cat box.

TPBM prefers snakes to spiders.

Exact opposite!

TPBM doesn't mind the whole cat box thing.

Well, it's not my favorite thing, but it's not really worse than changing diapers and I did that for, let's see, 10 years in a row - 4 babies, 7+ years between oldest and youngest, the youngest wasn't potty trained until he was 3 1/2. At least I don't have to change the cat box 6 times a day.

TPBM hates cats.

Don't even get me started!!!!!

I've cat-sat 4 times and each was an experiment in extreme tolerance.
And, for the record, I spent 3 hours in a storm drain coaxing a kitten back up the pipe to the catchbasin. Sadly (and I mean that sincerely), it had to be 'put to sleep' because of the reason it was in the storm sewer in the first place -- some * attempted to run it down with his car but managed only to break one of its hips. The impact caused the kitten to roll to the storm drain where it fell through.

TPBM also has an extreme dislike of other mammals in his/her domicile. (Please, oh please; I can't be the only one!!)

I live with 3 other mammals. Two human and one feline. I like them all very much.

The person below me also has amphibian pets.

Nope all my 'pets' are just animals that live on my property with out paying 'rent'. I would have a dog but my wife and I travel too much which would be unfair to the animal. I would never have a cat live with me, I don't mind other people's cats but I don't want one.

TPBM is traveling this weekend.

Well, I (and my sons) am/are pet sitting some frogs this week, and have just finished raising a dragonfly nymph, which isn't really an amphibian, but does spend its early life in water and its later life out of it. It was a fascinating creature.

Oops, too late. No, we just got home from travelling (trip to San Diego, then camping in the Eastern Sierra Nevada) and are staying home for Labor Day.

The person below me has kept an insect or arachnid as a pet.

What, arachnids aren't insects? (Not that I've kept either as pets.)

The person below me has kept an angora rabbit as a pet.

Not angora, but as a teenager I had a palamino rabbit as a pet (and 4-H project). But not since . . . rabbits are pretty but not particularly interactive, and I wouldn't want one in the house.

TPBM finds ferrets, skunks, or oppossums to be interesting pets (at least conceptually, and always descented).

I like them on Cute Overload, but I think my life will end with a cat.

The person below thinks that pets should be pets, not snakes and lions and stuff.

(Message 258 above was in parentheses and was not meant as an entry in the game.

Robert)

#279 Has this anything to do with The Descent of Man?

Ferrets, I am told, are friendly, useful beasts but I thought skunks were ornery critters. I had hamsters once but they chewed through my loudspeaker leads. No pets now, not even conceptually but I'm sure pets should be strokeable without protective clothing.

TPBM avoids creationist arguments

Absolutely. I just won't go there.

The person below me has watched the bulk of the news coverage of the Democratic Convention this week. (Personally, I want to clock it and see if activity on LT goes down during Obama's acceptance speech this evening.)

Edited to fix really bad grammatical error

I have, but not consistently. I saw Hillary, Bill, and Joe speak, but not Michelle. I'll probably tune into Barak's acceptance speech.

Re 281 -- That's so weird that you mentioned Darwin's book. MrsHouseLibrary and I were at a used book store no more than an hour ago, and I had found a boxed, Heritage Press edition of that title on the shelf. I even pulled it out of the box to examine it.

What's really weird is that MrsHouseLibrary was just telling me about weird coincidences that happened with her at the school today.

TPBM has also had a coincidence today. How weird is that?

I was sleepy; I slept. On one hand that is weird; on the other hand that sounds natural.

The person below me sleeps on schedule.

I am an ADD adult, hate routine, and that includes sleep. Very erratic pattern works for me.

TPBM loves routine.

I can deal with a routine if it is imposed upon me - and organized and maintained by someone else. But, like Hemlok, I can't handle it on my own. I get everything done - eventually - but not usually if I plan to do so. In fact, planning to accomplish a certain thing at a certain time is usually the best way to ensure that it WON'T get done.

TPBM is highly organized and thinks that I just don't try hard enough.

I am not highly organized, but part of me still thinks that none of us are trying hard enough. Guess that's either Lutheran guilt or my Myers-Briggs J arguing with P.

TPBM knows about physics and can explain why it doesn't matter how hard we try.

I have no idea.

The person below me bought some CD's today, too. (In my case because this week's Borders coupon was for 40% off music.)

Edited to say "40% off music".

No, unfortunately. All I bought was a new water heater with installation and a new installed yard spigot (which no longer leaks!). Hot shower tonight felt wonderful!

(I was out of town for the weight discussion. I don't have a weight problem. I'm just too short for my weight. badaboom :D)

The person below me has big plans for September.

Yeah, I've got to clean my house. Several of the Spousal Unit's family have informed us that they are coming to see us. Yea!!!

TPBM really does have major plans for September.

Lots of travel in September. Two trips for work and one trip for fun. That's fairly major in my book. (My big plans for August are to finish going through and discarding all the "crap" in my bedroom today and tomorrow.)

The person below me is good at simplifying his/her lifestyle in terms of material possessions.

I actually am pretty good at the simplifying/decluttering, and will enthuse almost anyone's ear off about the freedom it brings. But I do struggle with the papery aspect of declutting.

TPBM has been to a fire-trap used book store lately.

Yes, and I thought of everyone on LT the minute I walked in the door. A wonderful little (well, not so little) shop on the main street of Grand Junction, CO. They have boxes of books stacked on floors, on tables, on counters, in front of the shelves that are packed full of books - only enough of a path to walk single file to the back of the store. I'm not in the habit of buying books and was pretty overwhelmed, so walked out empty handed. But I did see (and was tempted by) a very old book on top of a box. Published in 1888, I think, it was the story of a time traveler from "the year 2000" coming back to 1887. I regretted later that I didn't buy it. I'm sure it wasn't a great novel, but the opportunity to get a first hand view of life in the late 19th century would have been very cool.

TPBM also regrets a recent purchase or not-to-purchase decision.

I wish I had some not-to-purchase decisions to consider.........

TPBM is more self-disciplined than I am.

I don't know you well enough to know. In certain aspects of my life, I have to be extremely vigilant and disciplined. In other areas, I rarely consider consequences. It's all a matter of balance, I suppose.

TPBM can balance a stack of (4 or 5) books on his/her head and successfully navigate walking, oh, 20 feet perhaps.

Only if I have a cup of something yummy in my hand and those twenty feet end up at the chaise by my bookcases!

TPBM thinks they could do more than twenty feet.

No, my ladylike posture has never been THAT good.

TPBM has always wanted a chaise longue in their bedroom, a la Elizabeth Barrett Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street.

Can't say that I do/did. It would take up to much room better suited for bookcases.

Now, we ~DO~ have a comfy recliner in the bedroom. We got two about 6 years ago, so we could read in comfort, together, as equals. They were in the living room. At that point, all 3 of my sons, and her son, were living with us, so the TV always seemed to be on. One of the recliners was moved to the bedroom so ~she~ could read in peace and quiet. She's used it twice now.

Currently, with only one son still at home (and he works nights), she has taken to reading ONLY in the living room, on the couch (which is not at all comfortable), all evening, and any other time she gets. That means that I have to negotiate with her to, oh, watch the news, or check the weather. When my youngest moves out, his bedroom will become the Reading Room, and I'm not going to put up with this nonsense of holding the TV hostage, although I don't watch it all that much anyway.

I'm feeling much better now, thanks.

TPBM feels like blowing off a little steam, too.

Well, thank you WHL - you've made me realise that I am actually quite contented with my present lot and don't have any steam to blow - for now, anyway.

TPBM wonders if the Governor of Alaska would have got the ticket if she had been less attractive.

I have long since stopped wondering about politicians, but she got my attention because she's a babe.

The person below me likes politics in the abstract more than in the practice.

I suppose so, since I dislike real politics but enjoyed (the first few seasons of) The West Wing. Also, the Governor of Alaska scares me.

The person below me has big plans this weekend.

No, just lot of messing around with hostas.

TPBM is messing around with a different plant this weekend.

Well, there's a couple of dead trees in my yard that might make good firewood for next year, but considering my 45 minute exposure to direct sunlight last week nearly did me in, I'm going to wait for a cloudy day, and go easy on myself.

TPBM knows the approximate value of a 1950's era flat-top engine block (currently painted red) might be worth.

(My task for tomorrow is to figure out how to get it out of my late in-Law's den.)

No, I sure don't. I wonder how he got it in there!

(I was looking for a chip-off-the-old-block joke, but am brain dead again...)

The person below me is doing laundry this weekend too.

I always do laundry on the weekend. Mine and my daughter's. My husband does his own.

TPBM is amazed that Hurricane Gustav is as strong as it is and heading towards New Orleans, just like Katrina in 2005.

Not amazed, no. The old 'lightning never strikes the same place twice' adage has always been rubbish.

The person below me hopes, as I do, that everyone gets out safely.

Seriously, I am hoping that folks don't try to tough it out and evacuate as instructed. It's just too frightening to contemplate a re-occurrence of the Katrina debacle.

TPBM thinks I'm likely over-reacting, but agrees folks might do well to get out of the way of the storm in whatever way seems most practical to them.

At the very least, I always think it is very bad form to complain about being caught in a storm if one ignored the warnings and advice to hide or evacuate (whichever is appropriate for your storm, said the one who lives in tornado alley).

Which for some reason reminds me of the old joke about the religious man who was caught in a flood (I hope I can tell it well):

A very devout man's home was flooded and he was up to his knees in water. His neighbor floated by in a canoe and offered him a ride. "No, thank you" said the man, "God will save me." As the flood waters began to rise, and the man was hanging out the upstairs window, the emergency rescue squad came past in a power boat and encouraged him to climb in. "No, thank you, God will save me" said the man. The flood waters continued to rise and soon the man was clinging to the roof when an army helicopter hovered overhead and a ladder was lowered to him "Grab hold, we'll raise you up" announced someone on a bull horn. "No!" shouted the man. "God will save me!" The flood waters continued rising, and the next the man knew, he was approaching the pearly gates, and God was there to greet his faithful servant. "Lord," said the man. "I waited and waited for you to save me, but you never did." "What do you mean?" said God, "I tried 3 times to save you. I sent you a canoe, a power boat, and a helicopter."

TPBM has a better joke to tell us today.

No, I don't but I do applaud your theology!

The person below me objects when someone posts more than three times in less than a twenty-four hour period to a single thread....

I never knew there was a limit.............is there really?

TPBM can answer that question.

I can't answer the question but I can make a comparison. Limiting posting to three times in 24 hours is like limiting a conversion to three sentences a day.

Being on the Gulf Coast, my mind is kind of stuck on a little storm brewing out there.

TPBM is also thinking about Gustav.

We had a bad day - for the 'last day of summer' - in England. Woke to thunder and lightning and have had three cloudbursts lasting about 10 minutes today. I am thinking about Gustav.....and feeling very grateful that it's a long way from us, and that extreme weather very rarely happens here.

Good luck to all the evacuating folk from New Orleans and sincere wishes that it misses you.

TPBM would be bored living in a moderate temperate damp climate.

Can't imagine life without autumn colors and winter skies over snow covered ground.

TPBM joins me in sending best wishes to all on the Gulf Coast over the next few days.

Yes, very much so! It is sad when anyone is threatened by disaster, natural and otherwise. I am grateful for the weather in my area.

The person below me is looking forward to a new book release in September.

New books? Certainly, especially since my birthday falls in September. New book release? Not so much.

The person below me will tell me about a September book release I should be excited about.

I would if I could, but the living authors I'm primarily interested in aren't releasing in the near future. They would be Anne Fadiman, and Stephen R. Donaldson.

TPBM will name 2 of his/her favorite authors, and perhaps help AnnaClaire learn of a book being released in September that will get her adrenaline surging.

Sorry, AnnaClaire......no inside scoop for September. Two wonderful authors, one classic and one contemporary. Vladimir Nabokov..........beautiful use of language and Haruki Murakami.

TPBM has something special planned in September.

Well of course I do. And no problem about not having an inside scoop for me -- my tastes in reading are a bit particular.

The person below me would rather read the back of a cereal box than a ______.

Jane Austen book.

The person below me is in the middle of reviewing a book.

I wish I was -- that would mean that I was finished reading How to Read a Book. It's actually good, but it's too damned precise. Every point is qualified, and stated at least 3 different ways. Granted, I'm not a fast reader, but I could have been done with the book weeks ago. It is a well-thought-out dissertation, but it's like listening to a 16-year-old lad take a ridiculous stand on an inconsequential issue, and pontificate for hours about why he's right.

Okay, so, maybe I ~am~ reviewing the book (before I've finished it).

TPBM has read a book to the end despite the fact it was on similar level of enjoyment as Vogon Poetry.

Although I don't understand the reference to Vogon poetry I'm assuming that it's something nobody would enjoy. Based on that assumption, Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I promised myself that I would read everything I started this year. It was my bookclub book for .... March? April? It was disgustingly long and I only enjoyed about 30 pages or so of it. Blech. No more Stephenson for me.

TPBM always reads books to the end.

I do not. What a waste of my time, to read books I don't like. I don't have enough time to read all the books I do like.

Also, I quite like Snow Crash.

The person below me has a big pile of books just waiting to be read.

Both physically and digitally (stacked up on my Kindle).

At the moment, I'm trying to compose a review of Blogwars by David D. Perlmutter. He's the opening keynote speaker at a conference that I'll be both attending and blogging. I would kind of like to be able to say something coherent about the book during the day and a half event.

The Person Below Me would rather just wait and hear what the guy has to say from the podium before hastening to purchase his book.

As a consumer of information, then yes, I'd rather hear the guy speak before I invest time and energy reading something he wrote. If you're in the industry and needing to review his works so listeners at the conference can decide which, if any, they'd like to read, then it sounds like you're stuck reading the book first.

TPBM has managed to combine their personal interests with their paying job.

Yes, as a matter of fact I have been able to do that for several of my jobs/careers over my lifetime. One summer in college I cooked at a supper club (best job I'd ever had up to that point). I found well-paying environmental work when I was passionate about that. In grad. school, I worked in the school library, which was fantastic. And now I am doing what really seems to be a true vocation.

Gosh, I never thought about it that way before, but tended to focus on the common frustrations. Suddenly I'm seeing how incredibly lucky (and too often ungrateful) I have been. Perhaps it's time for a new leaf!

TPBM can relate a way in which he/she has been fortunate without realizing it.

W21W, ...and that 'true vocation' would be .... (you didn't say, and it's not on your profile page).

The most fulfilling job I ever had was building pipe organs. It didn't pay squat, but it was tactile ~and~ mentally challenging, and I got to listen to classical music all day.

I kind of 'lucked' into my present career path of programming computers. Bad luck in that I almost got killed doing surveying; good luck in that someone I knew happened to be aware of an entry level position as a computer operator available. Good luck that I got curious about the programming side and that the right kind of VP happened to see me working at a terminal 5 hours after quitting time. I could go on....

Perhaps I have been fortunate without realizing it. How would I know? I certainly have hated most of my jobs.

The person below me believes that if you do what you love the money will come.

I don't know that I necessarily agree. I've seen quite a few people (admittedly of an earler generation now retired) who worked hard for the sole purpose of supporting their families. Doing something for the love of it was a luxury that was to be indulged only after work was finished and bills paid. Today, however, expecting money to follow pleasure seems to be far more common. I do enjoy my profession, but it is still work and I wouldn't do it if I weren't being paid. If I could find someone to pay me for the things I love, then I wouldn't have to get my books from the library for free!

TPBM has an interesting job that they've had in the past - besides WHL's pipe organ construction which sounds wonderful.

I worked in a clinical lab while in high school and because of my apparent interest the owner taught me a lot about analysis of blood. It was cool. I don't think I remember most of it now, but loved it then.

TPBM thinks if you love your job, then if the money doesn't follow it is easier to swallow. Weird, it rhymed!

I think if you love your job and stick with it long enough, the money often does follow because you become better at what you do and more knowledgeable about ways to shift your job into areas of your field where the money is. That said, I heard an interesting article not too long ago about a study which found that (if I remember correctly) job satisfaction often links with a feeling of competence, regardless of the task performed, so if you feel as though you are good at what you do, it can be satisfying, even if it has nothing to do with what you love. And I suppose, if you are good at what you do, the money often follows.

The person below me thinks this makes sense.

Some of it. I won't say that I agree about the money, but I do agree that you can be satisfied with a job when you have done it well.

The person below me has thought about a change in his/her career choice if he/she could time travel.

Gee! Being a time-traveler could be a very interesting occupation. I never really thought about that! Is it a growth industry?

Regarding money following competence --- it's true, but not for very long. At some point, management gets the bright idea that if you're competent in your job, you're probably playing a lot of online Poker. So they demand that you learn other things (not necessarily a bad thing, mind you), and expect that you will be almost immediately as-competent in that as you were in what you are still doing full-time. It's a quite simple way to make you, in their eyes, incompetent in the new work, and slipping in the original tasks. Management would much rather hire someone new at a starter salary than keep a more costly, experienced employee.

I've worked for large corporations most of my life, but I really don't fit into that mindset. Money is not a major motivating factor for me. I'd much rather be happy with what I do and produce, and the money be damned.

TPBM has a large number of children's books.

I definitely do, because I plan on being a well-prepared grandma, and like many other books, when I look at the covers, they bring back fond memories.

TPBM enjoys book covers as if they were photo albums.

I started to say no, just as a fast reaction. But I've spent part of the weekend stocking a new bookcase!!!YEA , and yes it was like seeing family members. I recalled the plot of most of them and sometimes even remembered where I read them, a few got pulled out and put on the to be read pile.

TPBM does not reread books.

I re-read them all the time. I think it is like comfort food for the soul/mind.

The person below me has at least one book that he/she has re-read more than three times. (LOTR for me)

I have a number of those, among them An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott, Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell, and anything by Jane Austen. I can't tell you how many times I've read P&P or Sense and Sensibility. But those first two titles are my mainstays, I suppose.

The person below me will offer the names of their two favorite authors in a specific genre.

Hmmm...... I never really thought of history as having "genres" -- just subjects.

The person below me will explain how history has genres, but with genres as something other than subjects.

Well....

How about social history, economic history, military history, etc, etc.....? Or are those too subjective (or do I mean subjectist)?

TPBM knows what I'm trying to convey or, alternatively, thinks that's nonsense.

I think I understand what you're saying. You're saying that an historical subject, as AnnaClaire used the term, is chronologically/geographically based (medieval history, early American history, modern European history, etc), so genres would be study of a certain aspect (such as economics) across time and space. Right?

TPBM has certain subjects of nonfiction or genres of fiction that they always avoid.

True.

The person below me is more open-minded.

I suppose I am. Having consumed to a nauseating surplus the "romance" genre of fiction in my earlier years, now I generally avoid it like the plague. But I was introduced to Sci-Fi and Fantasy a few years ago by someone who knows these genres, and continue to read in them. As for non-fiction, it needs to be interesting and well-written, but otherwise I tend to like a wide variety of subjects.

But I apparently do not like so-called "literary ficiton" as it seems to me to be an attempt to write a "classic." But IMHO, those who try to write a book to be a classic work, end up more often writing self-important dreck. Classics become thus, by having readers over time say, "Wow! That's exactly what life is like . . ."

TPBM may be able to convince me that I'm wrong about "literary fiction."

(I'm not counting on it. Sorry.)

When I read your post, walk2work, I immediately thought of Charles Dickens. It is ridiculously melodramatic, and incredibly literary. I guess for me either the story, the characters, or the use of language need to engage me, and to be a classic it must be strong in all 3 areas. My personal theory......

TPBM can make the point in a more coherent manner.

Nope. Your explanation works fine for me!

TPBM agrees.

Absolutely.

The person below me has been busy playing Mercenaries 2.

Naw, I would like to play Vogon Poetry, but I can't find Sidekick.

The person below me remembers Sidekick.

Sorry, haven't a clue.

I'd like to (unnecessarily, I'm sure) clarify my post #341. To me, a true classic is not "literary fiction," even if I didn't enjoy it much. Classics have stood the test of time and are, therefore, literature.

I associate the term L-F with books like Master Butcher's Singing Club which I ended up really detesting. I also just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns for book club, and didn't really like it, either, in the end. Not that either of them were particularly badly written. But for example, in the case of the latter novel: if I'm going to read a book about brutal domestic violence, I'd almost rather it be a true story so that I can feel good at the end, or at least that my horror isn't for something that's not real. There's enough real horror in the world, that I don't want to be squandering my empathy for something fictitious.

TPBM will forgive my outburst and get this thread back on track with Sidekick.

Forgive what? Clarification is hardly an act of violence! :)

TPBM has a friend who is their favorite sidekick.

I do, she is my sister, but we didn't grow up together. When she was apartment hunting in NYC I went with her. Real Estate agents would look at us and say "and this is for both of you?" We would laugh hysterically and I'd say, "I'm just the comic relief." Her agent began to refer to us as "Thelma and Louise", never telling us which was which. When we get together, something's going to happen, we never know what.

TPBM will go back to Robert's 'Sidekick.'

I would, but I'm afraid I don't know what he is refering to, either.

TPBM has a favorite fictional sidekick. I think I'm voting for Robin. Or Tonto.

Marvin. It had such a realistic outlook, considering it was never alive....

Keeping with the theme of sidekicks, TPBM has another example....

Archie Goodwin, though he was so much more to Nero Wolfe. I love the running commentary, it's almost more fun than the mystery.

TPBM will offer congrats to the spousal unit and me on thirty-two years of marriage. Whew, I can't be old enough for that:>)

Congrats! And may your unit work as intended for many more years!

The person below me has a manual for their unit and has cataloged it here on LT.

No dammit, the instruction book was missing, the manufactures also installed a few personal touches I had to learn about by trial and error.

TPBM fears spitting their drink when they read this thread...

No. When I was in high school, I had some friends who would deliberately try to get me to laugh when I was taking a drink (resulting in spitting out my drink) so I learned how to never do it. Lots of things make me laugh but nothing makes me spit out my drink.

The person below me has recently discovered new music that they really like (and will share it with us).

I have bought CD's new to me which I have not yet listened to:

Olde Schoole, East Village Opera Company (in college and in the navy I read The East Village Other; does anybody else remember that?)
Best of Talking Heads, Talking Heads
Baduizm, Erykah Badu (whom I first noticed in Dave Chappelle's Block Party)
New Amerykah, Part One (4th World War), Erykah Badu

Tonight I have to write about two opera DVD's that I have not watched yet for the church newsletter:

Love of Three Oranges, Prokofiev
Francesca da Rimini, Zandonai

After I do listen and watch, I'll be happy to let you know about them if you care.

The person below me has found a new genre of music that strikes them as important.

Well, not really new for me - it's been more than 10 years now. My last musical genre discovery was world music which I continue to love more with each passing year. How can we really understand our global neighbors if we are ignorant of their culture? As I listen to music from all parts of the world, I begin to hear more similarities than differences. My favorite, hands down, is Cuban. Although Mali (in Africa) is a close second.

TPBM reads authors from around the world for much the same reason as I listen to international music.

Precisely!

TPBM eats food from around the world for the same reason.

If I ~were~ to eat food from around the world, it would be because I like to live dangerously. And maybe I do, because I was married to my first wife for almost 25 years. Bah....DUM

Thank you ladies and germs, I've been up all night!

TPBM understands a case of delirium when s/he encounters one.

I recognize (and understand) delirium caused by a severe bout of sleep deprivation when I encounter one. (Go to bed now, WHL.)

The person below me is perking up because it is the weekend...

Curiously, I am. I am now almost completely retired so really the week-end should be a time when I avoid exhibitions, galleries, etc. and wait for the relative quiet of the (for others) working week. Old habits do die hard, however, and the thump of fatter morning papers on the mat does enthuse me. We have stopped the Sunday papers though - they clog up too much of life.

TPBM, au contraire, loves the Sunday papers.

Alas! For purely utilitarian reasons, I like the local Sunday papers because they contain the sale flyers from the local grocery stores. And the TV schedule listings. Otherwise, they do nothing for me.

But I did used to love the NY Times Sunday when I bought it from time to time. Never did live anywhere near New York, so never had a subscription. But I was much younger and loved the idea that reading the Times would confer a level of sophistication and connection with the cultured world.

TPBM has a NY Times subscription.

It's an online subscription.

TPBM subscribes to more than one newspaper.

I don't subscribe to any newspaper. Several times I have subscribed to the local papers; they were always too much trouble. I go across the street to buy one from the machine if I get up early enough. I wish I could afford the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and one with a lot of comics. I look at the New York Times online every day, and some others from time to time.

The person below me gets their news from teevee or NPR and is proud of it.

Yes, but I also buy newspapers at least 3 times a week - one that does strictly local news, and one that does national news.

TPBM recycles.

We recycle steel cans, aluminum cans, newspapers, mixed paper, milk cartons, soda bottles/water bottles, and glass. We also recycle things we don't want/need via the local PTA Thrift Shops. And finally, I've started recycling packaging from BookMooch and ARC books.

TPBM has a compost pile.

Used to. It ended up becoming the largest nest of fire ants in the county, so we tourched it.

TPBM has had experience with fire ants.

No! (And I thank heaven for small favors like that.)

The person below me is hoping that Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Hanna might wash away all the ants in their back yard.

Well, if Hanna did get my backyard that is one big tropical storm. The eastern coast would be in trouble if that did happen. I live far from the coast.

TPBM lives near the ocean.

Relative to those who live in, say, Lawrence, Ks., yes. But I'm about 250 miles north of, and 960 feet above, the Gulf of Mexico. I got the distinct impression that Hurricane Gustav actually sucked the moisture out of the air around here in order to dump it on Louisiana and southeast Texas.

TPBM is splurging on a trip to a favorite bookstore this weekend.

Nope -- hubby working all day today and tomorrow. I've bought books for my Kindle this weekend, but it just isn't the same.

The person below me did some shopping on the web this weekend.

I did some "window shopping" today, looking at eliptical trainers. Yikes! A couple dozen manufacturers, hundreds of models, and a price tag I can't afford even if I did know the kind my former health club has/had that I really, really, really liked.

TPBM actually bought something today and will tell us about it.

I went swam to the bank earlier. But that wasn't shopping. And I went out to dinner -- it was raining a little less by then -- but as the birthday girl (well, tomorrow) I wasn't exactly buying.

The person below me also has a September birthday.

No, but my brother Mike does. Right now he is serving in the Peace Corps for 2 years, so we had to send him his birthday present about a month ago (Because he is in a very remote place in Madagascar).

TPBM has considered joining the Peace Corps.

Haven't we all at one time or another?

TPBM spent time in another international service organization.

New thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?newpost=1&topic=45034#lastmsg