Bastet

No, this was the Armenian mob case, where a nightclub in Glendale (not Atwater) was set on fire and two women cleaning inside were killed. 40 if he's drinking.

Yay - the season one finale is being re-run tonight, so I don't have to wait until Wednesday. Provenza imitating Brenda at the crime scene is great, as is Brenda giving it right back to him, and then his good-natured, "This is a crime scene, y'all" at the end. It nicely foreshadows the solidarity at the end of the episode. Daniels "drowning" Sanchez, and Brenda - and everyone - laughing is even better. I noted that I'd forgotten that Taylor was a captain when the show started, and that means I had completely forgotten the horse trade in which Pope makes Taylor a commander in exchange for him withdrawing his anonymous "conduct unbecoming" complaint. Random thing I keep meaning to mention: I like how many people on this show wear glasses, either to read or all the time. It's a small thing, but in real life there are a lot of us bespectacled folks, but on TV glasses are still disturbingly relegated to being merely a prop used to indicate a character as a geek. I don't know how, given how much I like her (Any Day Now fan for life), I had forgotten that Lorraine Toussaint played the DA Brenda "apologized" to. But, oh gods, Pope's laugh afterward, I remembered. And Brenda tossing everyone's resignation and finally joining in on their post-case celebration. But let's just re-live the glory that is the "apology" itself, shall we:

The Provenza and Willie Rae stuff in Mom Duty is making me laugh on its own, and also because it's making me think of the later episode when he grabs Brenda's picture of her off her desk (when he and Flynn managed to have their car, with evidence in the trunk, stolen out from under their noses and he needs a picture of an old woman to trick the suspect) and Pope, from whom they are trying to hide the latest Flynn/Provenza disaster, is baffled, so Brenda says something about, "He's so fond of my mother." Glendale has a large Armenian population, so I understand their impulse to set this case there, but Glendale is not part of Los Angeles (the county, yes, but not the city; Glendale is its own city, with its own police department). They should have thrown in a line about LAPD's assistance being requested for some reason, because without that it makes no sense for this to be Flynn's case.

I remember being taken aback by this the first time, too -- Brenda and Fritz's relationship moves fast (not as fast as it seems by watching all these in a row, but even looking up the air dates and assuming as much time passed on the show as during the hiatus between seasons one and two, it's only a year between running into each other again and moving in together. (They only knew each other professionally in D.C., right - they didn't date until now?) I know how Brenda's parents are, and how she is with them, but I still can't believe she's going to try to hide living with Fritz from them. In fact, she's afraid of them finding out she even has a boyfriend. Grow up! Hee - Brenda swearing off sugar. (And banning it from the murder room - because that's fair.) I'm annoyed with myself - I lost track of time and didn't tune in until the 6:00 episode, which means I missed the season one finale with Brenda's epic "apology." I missed even more than that, since I thought the new episodes started at 5:00 like last week, not at 3:00 like the first week. (I'm on the West coast but I get the East coast feed on my satellite.) Grrr. I'll have to see which ones re-run tonight (plus, I think they repeat on Wednesdays, too).

I have only once made a same-day job offer; it's usually several days to a week, but sometimes longer. And same thing on the flip side; I've received two really quick offers, but usually it's a longer process than that. Good luck!

I'm glad you didn't; it was quite an entertaining read. I'm sorry you had the day from hell, all in the span of about half a day, but I got a good laugh out of your telling of it. Yes! Sometimes some little thing goes wrong in the morning and I think nothing of it, and then sometimes it happens and I tell the cat, "It's going to be a long day."

I thought she said, "I'm getting a chichier shed" (not a word, but meaning a more chichi shed). Which kind of amuses me, because chichi has a negative connotation - it means an attempt at stylishness that is actually just pretentious showiness - so that shouldn't be how she describes her "she shed," but it's also totally believable she thinks chichi is a good thing, in which case it's as if the commercial is mocking its own character.

While watching Chopped Tuesday, I saw a commercial for The Next Food Network Star in which it was promoted that the creepy clown that is Ree Drummond would be appearing. I saw one again tonight while watching Beat Bobby Flay. I don't watch the next star show, so it will be easy to avoid her there, but if she's also going to appear on this one, I'll definitely be skipping that episode. Her food is shit, and she's unspeakably annoying, so there's no reason to subject myself to her. So I hope you are just mistaken as to which FN show she'll be appearing on next week.

They preempt their usual programming for that Christmas dreck every July, then give us a return to normalcy for a few months, and start it up again -- for almost all of November through January or something awful like that. It's all stunningly awful, but they've done it for years now, so obviously the ratings justify it. Go figure. Since this about commercials, the ads for the "Christmas in July" shitfest on Hallmark bug me because a) um, no (see the whole "shitfest" thing), b) even if I wanted to watch Christmas-themed programming at some point in my life, no entire month would be the time, but certainly not July, c) this specific strain of the genre is particularly awful, and d) I live in a climate where it's 90-100 (and occasionally hotter) in July, and I vastly prefer summer to winter, so watching even non-crap set in "winter wonderland" wouldn't be appealing this time of year.

They make cheese bags, but if you don't have those, use wax paper or cheese cloth to wrap the cheese, then put that in a plastic bag that is not entirely sealed or loosely wrap again in foil. The big mistake many people (and many stores!) make is wrapping cheese, tightly, in plastic. You don't want the plastic directly touching the cheese, nor do you want the storage airtight. You want a balance between letting it breathe and not drying it out. (Best storage practices vary by cheese, but for the two you're dealing with, this should work for both.) And don't let it get too cold (so, in a refrigerator drawer, basically).

It's a gas station/convenience store chain on the East Coast. (It's mighty popular with a lot of folks in that neck of the woods, so I've heard about it even though I don't live there and haven't even been in one when traveling, but I'll leave extolling its virtues to someone familiar with it; all I know is they have a lot more to offer than the average convenience store, thus the excitement.)

Say something about a sequel. If you know what she plans on doing in retirement, make up a movie title that incorporates that, and say "Coming soon, the sequel: [Title]."

Yeah, I enjoy Mayhem, but this is probably my least favorite of that series of commercials, because the underlying pitch doesn't work this time. The whole thing is based on a zany way of showing that if you buy cut-rate insurance, sure, you're saving money on the premium, but when any number of freakish things happen to the thing you bought cheap insurance for, you'll find you're not covered, and thus you're out more money in the long run. Okay, but if you insure your rings with Allstate, they're only going to pay out if the rings are lost, stolen, or damaged. Unless they're going to count these as "damaged," they're not paying a claim any more than the cheapo insurer would.

I gave Riley a flea treatment tonight, because Chester - one of my parents' cats - has fleas (because his immune system is compromised right now, but that's a whole other story and we're only about 2/3 through the diagnostic stage, so I'm holding off on it - he's doing okay, and we'll figure it out). Since I go to my parents' house every week or two (more now that Chester is sick), I wanted to dose Riley in case I bring some critters home with me. Well. I'm fairly sure I could have strangled her with less objection. There was the usual "OMG, you are getting ready to do something to me!" struggling, but then she initially calmed down when nothing worse happened to her than some liquid on her shoulder blades. However, once it became clear there were more than a couple of drops involved, she went into full Sassy from Homeward Bound (The Incredible Journey) mode, hollering about "My fur! My fur!" And then tried to open my femoral artery using one of her back claws. But I persevered, she survived this horrible trauma, and we played with her catnip sock to recover. I wouldn't trade her for the world, but I miss being spoiled by Maddie and Baxter allowing me to do just about anything to them without fuss.

Okay. In the post you quoted, I was talking about the various reasons Harling may have had for opting not to get into the ways in which "Jackson" was an asshole, with the fact he preferred to focus on the women and not dig too deep into the men in general (in the play, and even in the film, when he was instructed by the studio to develop them further) being but one of those possibilities.

Real life "Jackson" was such a douche, it's a real credit to Robert Harling that he only gave those couple of hints -- that he was over the moon to have knocked her up, despite the risk pregnancy and childbirth posed to her, and that line indicating this baby was Shelby's attempt to hang onto him. Maybe he didn't want to make his sister look like a desperate fool for marrying him, maybe he didn't want to insult his nephew's father, maybe it was just part of his philosophy that the women, not the men, were the point of the story (the men aren't even in the play - they're referred to, but not seen - but heaven forbid Hollywood make a film without them, so when he adapted the play, he had to add them), but he mostly just let that all go. (The reason he wrote the play in the first place was "Jackson" was remarried in a hot minute, and the kid was calling his stepmom "Mommy" - Harling hated the idea his sister was being forgotten, and wanted to capture her for posterity. In writing her story, he realized what a beautiful story there was in how this group of women were with each other, in good times and bad.)

Ha - yes, very common situation this time of year. The tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash will soon follow suit. By the end of August, if you want to donate zucchini to a local food pantry here, you need to call first and make sure they're not overloaded with it. I started a tri-tip marinating last night, so tonight will be grilled tri-tip, crook neck squash cooked in a manner to be determined (maybe just toss that on the grill briefly), and a caprese salad.

Right? He's more interested in his incoming fax. That Mulder moment, though, I love. Also before that, when he gets the call. Mulder: Maryland State Police think they've found Scully. Frohike: Is she okay? Mulder: No, uh [trails off briefly] They think maybe I should come down and ID the body. And after that, his reaction when the medical examiner is describing how the police found the body - nude, shot in the forehead - and the way he stops the ME from opening the blinds, insisting on doing it himself.

Trust me, we don't all do that!

Coco is adorable; I love the coloring on her head, and the way she perked up and started sticking her paws through the cage door the next day was cute - and her with her cat tree was even cuter. Zena’s scan showed brain damage, and recovery from jaw reconstruction surgery is intense; I was really hoping it was worth it. Her whimpering when Dr. Jeff examined her was hard to listen to. But, wow – like Dr. Jeff said, her transformation the next day was profound (and surprising). What a happy ending. The young woman who got attached to the rats used as a prank and devoted herself to taking care of them was nice. When I was a young teen, a friend had a pet rat and I used to play/cuddle with him or her. I have no interest in having one, or, quite frankly, even in handling one now, but they’re cute and sociable and I liked her bond with them. Not to mention Petunia’s cute tiny paws. And of course Shelley (the vet tech) kissed her; she smooches all her patients, and it’s sweet. I like all the other alpacas gathered at the fence, watching, like, “What are they doing to our buddy?!”

I like Kerry - she's one of my favorite characters (I have trouble ranking, but top three are almost certainly Corday, Weaver, and Carter) - but that storyline was not a good look for her. Nor was it for Chen, though, who, in coming back, acted like she hadn't also fucked up. (Malucci, meh - he could have been gone long ago, so I don't care which one of his many infractions finally sent him packing, I was just glad he was gone.)

What is this, the grub season? Much easier result with this one. That looked like a nasty wound on the emu! That big ol’ bird hanging his head over the owner’s arm wanting to be held was sweet. And, hee – Bert and Ernie. But breeding flightless Australian birds in the U.S.? Why? For their meat? I looked it up, and apparently emu oil (from their fat) is bigger business. (Australia banned export long ago, but there were already plenty of emus here.) (Sad timing, with the captive jaguar escaping its cage in the New Orleans zoo today and killing six animals, including an emu.) I like Dr. Emily taking Winston home with her; it’s a big problem how few clinics have no one on duty overnight/on weekends (but an understandable one; that adds significant cost), so it’s nice that she went the extra mile. I missed the beginning; how did the little guy get infected to begin with? I don’t actually want a pig, but I find piglets adorable, and every time I see one on one of these shows, I ask my cat if I can have one. She says no. And Dr. Brenda was good with the women who had to have their horse euthanized, and good with the horse himself. Watching this show makes me wonder how cows aren’t extinct with all the problems they have, especially when they try to give birth. I need to research this, because it seems like this must be related to how they’re being housed and fed on modern farms.

I know; I said the show was just one of several key ways the clinic's spay/neuter policy is made readily available to potential clients even before they come in and are informed of it. And of course it isn't only for the show; it's his mission to battle the pet overpopulation crisis. His reasons are well stated (not to mention well founded), and those who don't want to accept the policy have numerous other options in the area. I only saw tonight's episode during commercials, and didn't record, so I'll have to watch the midnight repeat. I'm glad to hear all the stories featured had happy outcomes; this series focuses heavily on those, so it's a safe bet, but it's good to know.

I love summer squash. I often make this recipe (with half the corn, as I don't like that much starch, and with fresh jalapeño rather than the canned chiles) with equal amounts of crook neck, gold bar, yellow pattypan, and green pattypan.

I was all ready to laugh at Dean Winters being called an "older dude," and then I looked him up -- 54. Not old, but, yeah, I'll give you older. He doesn't read that way to me, though, because although it has aged (and sprouted some facial hair I'd dearly love to shave off), that baby face he had on SVU still comes through.