Bastet

Let Bartlet Be Bartlet Are we going to keep eliminating, to come up with a winner for season one, or just stop when we have the final four? (I know eventually, when we have a top four for each season, we'll have the all-star round between all those top fours to pick our favorite episode of the whole series, I'm just wondering if we're ranking those final four season by season first? That's what I'm used to, but this sounds different, so I want to be sure.)

I liked when they discussed the degree of educational integration that would be appropriate/the school would approve for Rocco, because it added an interesting element to the picture of life with DS, as the rest of the participants are well past those days (and things have changed). But, on the whole, I'm not interested in that family. He's a little kid, and I don't enjoy little kids, and the parents come off as vaguely annoying - even with the limited exposure, I wasn't at all surprised to hear they were the kind of parents who refuse to teach their child manners, instead just laughing off undisciplined behavior - so despite that brief "this is valuable information" moment, I wish they'd leave them off and just continue exploring adults with DS and their families on this show.

Also, Faith Hill. One of the few titles with that many entries where I like most of the songs listed (I wasn't familiar with the Britney Spears one, so I just looked it up, and it's not my thing).

There was a big meeting between the Rams and the construction company building its new stadium recently, because the project is already seriously over budget (beyond what's typical). Part of that is the increase in steel costs now versus when the contract was signed, thus an easy path to huge savings would be to change the elaborate steel roof plans. But Kroenke will not hear of it; he's decided that's the visual showpiece, and won't budge despite practicality. Ever since Jerry Jones went batshit crazy revamping Cowboys stadium, most every subsequent new stadium has been a study in excess.

I liked Benton and Corday together, but that relationship didn't exist in a vacuum, and I thus don't take issue with LaSalle's objections to it. There weren't exactly a plethora of black couples on top-rated prime time shows back then. I remembered the gist of what he said, but went back to look at old articles for specifics. He said he liked working with Alex Kingston and liked the relationship, but in context he just was not comfortable the message it was sending to the show's large black audience: "As an African American man, it becomes a bit offensive if the negative things [in relationships between black characters] are all you’re showing. Because in real life, we romance and get on each other’s nerves and laugh and do all the things that any other race of people do. So if the only time you show a balanced relationship is in an interracial relationship, whether it’s conscious or sub-conscious, it sends a message I’m not comfortable with. “They were sending a message that I didn’t want to be a part of, which was the only time that this man becomes human and tender and vulnerable and open is when he falls in love with a white woman.” “[Of] the two relationships that I had prior to Corday, one was an adulterous relationship with Jeanie Boulet and then the next relationship I got into was with Carla. And unfortunately the writing there was, every time you see them they’re either fighting or fucking.” (In other comments, he said the same thing: "We have to take care of the message that we're sending as African Americans . . . that we have the exact same type of exchanges with our mates that we get to see our white counterparts have.")

Flies didn't last long when Maddie was alive; she could jump up to catch them in between her front paws, and damn near climb a wall if she needed to. Riley, not so much. She's tried a couple of times and missed, and seems to have permanently given up. Having flies get in when you don't know how is very annoying. A week or so ago I suddenly had nearly half a dozen of them in the kitchen. It didn't take me long to get them all (one was particularly elusive, but I emerged victorious), so no big deal, but the door hadn't been open that I recall (that may be the key phrase) and there are no holes in the window screens.

I don't like "regular" cucumbers. I like Persian cucumbers, Armenian cucumbers, and English (hot house) cucumbers, but the other ones are the iceberg lettuce of cucumbers -- mildly flavored water. Grown in someone's garden, they'll do, but the grocery store ones? Forget it.

Take Out the Trash Day - because of yesterday's reasons Let Bartlet Be Bartlet - because I don't actually care about Mandy's memo

Washington, D.C. is one of my favorite cities in this country to visit, too. My dad traveled there often on business, so my mom and I tagged along several times, and I've gone back a couple of times as an adult; I've been there, and the surrounding area, for a week at a time quite a few different times, and not gotten sick of it yet. There's a lot to see, including so many great museums; I spend a full day at NASM (National Air & Space Museum) every time I'm there. The other major American cities I've liked enough to make a couple of return visits to (one return isn't unusual for me, but I have a whole world to see, so to spend a vacation someplace for a third time rather than exploring someplace new is a big decision) are New Orleans, New York, Boston, and San Francisco (that's a frequent weekend getaway for me). I've been to Nashville several times on business back in the day; I liked it quite a bit, but wouldn't have gone back after that first one-week trip (only three days of which were spent working during the day) if not for business. Similar with Austin - I went there several times while a friend lived there, and, unlike the rest of Texas, enjoyed it (especially since we were young then), but one visit would have been enough if not for the personal connection. I've been to Las Vegas more than I'd ever have been left solely to my own devices, but living in Los Angeles you somehow end up in Vegas a fair bit. I really don't care for it anymore; it has changed so much, and it's just not for me anymore.

I was very glad that, where we saw participants' siblings discussing the caretaking issue, those who discussed their future role seemed to be voluntarily saying they'd step in when the parents died, rather than it being something that was forced on them. Because that's a huge deal. It's impossible for me to say without actually being in the situation, of course, but I'm fairly certain I would not take on that role, or marry/live with someone who was going to take on that role in their own family. Make sure they had a great group home in which to live or a professional caretaker to live with them, sure. Visit, have them over, take them out to do stuff, of course. But live with them myself, tending to their needs on a daily basis, essentially acting as the parent? Nope, not happening. I do not have the right personality for that, at all. Nor would I think it was my responsibility just because I happened to be born to parents who also had a child with life-long special needs. So I'd hate to see any of these parents try to guilt-trip their other children that way, and am glad there hasn't been any hint of that. I'm glad John's sisters have each other, and openly discussed that they'd take turns as to who he lived with, to give each other a break. I think Cristina has two brothers, but I may be falsely adding a second. Rachel's brother will be on his own, so I'm happy his husband is so good with Rachel and was obviously fine with marrying into the future situation.

I love Brussels sprouts and eat them at least once a week. My mom doesn't dislike them (in which case it wouldn't matter how they were prepared, she simply wouldn't like them), but isn't overly fond of them, so when I make them for my parents I usually roast them with some pancetta or bacon and then drizzle on a little balsamic vinegar before serving. Then she enjoys them. (My dad likes them any which way, including boiled, but I cannot stand boiled vegetables, period.) There's also a Brussels sprouts and walnuts dish I make for guests sometimes, because it has so much stuff in it besides the sprouts; she loves that one, and even my uncle - who doesn't enjoy them any other way - likes it and had my aunt (who does all their cooking) get the recipe. It's not going to be tasty to someone who hates the main ingredient, obviously, but it's good for people like my mom who like them if they're doctored up, but only if they're doctored up. I've had quite a few people ask for the recipe after eating it, usually because of a scenario like my aunt and uncle -- they got home and their partner said, "You know, if we ate them that way, I'd eat Brussels sprouts more often."

I'm one who loves Edward James Olmos (although that is undoubtedly influenced by who he is as a person, rather than being exclusively based on his acting). When I was trying to think of little things I don't like about each of the remaining episodes, I skipped right over The Short List, figuring it wouldn't matter what I don't like, because EJO is in it and thus I won't be voting for it. He Shall, From Time to Time - CJ/Danny and Sam/Mallory Take Out the Trash Day - More CJ/Danny, and Mandy having to tell C.J. how to do her job (It was a toss-up between this and Mandatory Minimums, and I decided to be contrary).

@Only Zola, I've been to a lot of the possibilities you've listed so far, and most are places I've gone for anywhere from 3-7 days each. Even if you're coming for a month, I'd still stick to one section of the country. Especially if you're going to include cities; you need time to truly explore them. A national park can be properly experienced over the course of two days (some in one, some need three), but a big city can't. In my philosophy of traveling, anyway. When I go to Europe for a month, that's to wander through several countries, but transpose their small selves onto a map of the U.S. and it's the equivalent of covering only several states. Plus, it's easier to get from place to place there than it is here.

That is so annoying. Some things just infuse the surrounding ingredients with their flavor too much for that to be effective, and if you hate something, you hate it. I loathe bananas. Don't want them in the same room with me, I hate the smell so much, so I surely do not want to eat them, or anything on which they've been sitting. If pancakes are normally served with strawberries and bananas and I specify no bananas, then a) do not bring me pancakes with bananas on them, and b) if you do, when I send them back, do not just pluck them off and send the dish back out, because I can tell. And if that's all I wanted done, I'd have done it myself. (That doesn't happen anymore, because I got smart and started ordering the fruit on the side; I'm just going to take it off and eat it separately, anyway, because I'm going to pour syrup on my pancakes and syrup should never touch fruit. That way if an invader fruit is in there, I only need to send the bowl back, rather than waiting for new pancakes to be cooked.)

Same as before: The White House Pro Am Lord John Marbury

I like the show all the way through (yes, even season nine; it's my least favorite, but I do like it), but season four is my hands-down favorite. My season ranking is probably four, two, three, one, five, six, seven, eight, nine. One through five or six, I will almost always stop on in syndication, even though I have the complete series on DVD. One through four I practically have memorized. But I like the whole thing; it's one of the few long-running (6+ seasons) series I feel that way about (Seinfeld, Cagney & Lacey, and Murphy Brown are the others springing to mind, but there may be a couple more) -- usually I drift away from a series around season six, if not in real time then definitely upon re-watching.

I've been trying to use pTV just as a happy distraction from some things, so I didn't mention it, but Riley didn't feel quite herself last week (and her appetite had been off enough to make her a picky eater for about a week before that). She didn't feel bad, and anyone else observing her wouldn't think anything of it, but several things were quite subtly off about her normal, adding up to the fact something was going on. I particularly didn't like the fact she was sleeping in different places during the day - not hiding, or even choosing particularly weird places to sleep (other than a dining room chair, which happened a few times), but not the places she - a very routine-oriented cat - normally sleeps. Weighing the fact she was still eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, cuddling, playing, etc. - just a little less/a little less enthusiastically for most of those things - and how stressful a vet visit is for her (and I don't have a mobile vet I'm comfortable with), I just kept an eye on her. She started steadily creeping back towards normal starting Saturday night, but by this point my nerves were shot so I went ahead and took her in yesterday since she's due for her annual exam this month anyway (which I was going to put off and do in mid-January instead, and then with those blood test results get her teeth done during dental discount month). Other than needing to hide for an hour when we got home to recover from her vet trauma, she was completely normal yesterday and has been so today as well. And, indeed, the vet just called with her results and everything is fine. One of her kidney values has gone up from last year, but it's still fine. And there are a couple of other high/low results that aren't far enough out of range to cause concern that, taken together, indicate her immune system has recently been busy with something, so based on that, her weirdness, the fact there were signs last week she had a slight fever that then went away, and her current normalcy, I think <knocking on wood> she worked through whatever was bothering her. I'm relieved, and I'm going to go ahead and finally get her teeth done within the next 30 days (when the blood test results are valid as pre-anesthesia screening). She's needed it since I adopted her, but she's the kind of cat where it's a big deal to leave her at the vet's office for a significant chunk of the day. I want to get it done before it gets out of hand, though, and then hope she won't need it again for years. My vet is going to set up the appointment for me when I'm ready on a day that she has no more-pressing surgeries scheduled, so that instead of dropping Riley off at 7:00 with the rest of the pre-ops and her dental being done in whatever order makes the most sense based on the clients of the day, I can drop her off at 9:00 for the techs to get her IV set up and x-rays taken, and then when my vet comes in at 10:00 she will do Riley first, which means Riley can come home around noon. Whew. Now I just need to get my own medical appointments set up. You know, while I still have health insurance.

I hate this movie. It is an almost stunningly beautiful-looking film, but the Jack/Rose storyline is so ridiculous, and annoying as a centerpiece, that I've never watched it again. The mother reading to her two kids as they're tucked obliviously into their third-class bunk, the older couple (who make me think of Isidor and Ida Strauss) cuddled up together on their bed as the water comes in, and the captain going down with the ship - those are the iconic images of Titanic for me. I like Victor Garber's performance, and Kathy Bates' short stint as Molly Brown. Jack and Rose's five-minute "romance" and Rose's eagerness to be a poor woman in 1912 America, not so much.

I'm having to be nit-picky to eliminate episodes at this point, just choosing episodes I love that contain things I don't like: The White House Pro Am - the Zoey/Charlie stuff that I never enjoy even when I want to because of the acting, and mansplaining to C.J. about Jed's signals Lord John Marbury - the guys excluding C.J. (if they hadn't, we wouldn't have gotten Toby's apology, which is a wonderful moment between them, but still - screw you, guys), the start of Zoey/Charlie, and Mandy being annoying about her other potential client

The original ending is so much better, and I'd like to travel back in time to have words with the test audiences who rejected it. Like so many films of its era, Woman of the Year is a movie I like in spite of itself. In this case, for the off-the-charts chemistry (obviously helped along by off-screen happenings), solid acting, bits of lovely dialogue, and the appealing characterization before it gets blown apart. The Philadelphia Story is another one on my love in spite of itself list, certainly; the cast in that one turns in stellar performances, great lines abound, and the chemistry between various scene partners is remarkable. But, good gods, the shit heaped on Tracy! Character after character gets to tell her what a closed-minded, judgmental jerk she is -- while being closed-minded, judgmental jerks. Something the film never acknowledges; Tracy's flaws are dissected and displayed, while everyone else's are ignored or even excused. And her father can go piss up a rope. Everything she says to and about him is true, and everything he spouts off to her is self-justifying bullshit. I've raved about that unsung gem many times, and the characterization of Linda - being proved right, appreciated by those who matter, and being granted the life she desires without having to change herself - is one of the many reasons why.

I said this before, but since the subject of Mark's parents has come up, I'll say it again, because it moved me that much. On one hand, I feel so sorry for Mark losing both his parents in a relatively short period of time. But, on the other, I know that if his mom hadn't died first, he and his father would never have resolved some of their differences and truly got to know each other for the first time in Mark's life. If Mrs. Greene was still alive when Mr. Greene (I can't remember their names) got sick, she'd have taken care of him in San Diego, while Mark would have called his mom to check in, kept tabs on the medical care, and maybe come to visit once or twice. The father/son relationship would have stayed as it was, and Mr. Greene would have died without either of them having any semblance of closure about it.

Beyond whatever the relevant state laws are, FMLA and the ADA offer protections. Both generally prohibit employers from asking workers why their medical leave is necessary (e.g. what the medical condition is necessitating the leave); there are some inquiries that can be made of the doctor attesting to the need for leave (as opposed to the employee) if it's been taken under FMLA, but the ADA leaves a pretty narrow window for inquiries into the nature of the disability. "Never ask an employee about the diagnosis prompting the need for leave" is a basic rule all managers should follow; from there, they can consult HR/Legal on what further information/documentation may be okay to request from the doctor under the circumstances. So, yet another example in which this guy is both a dickhead and an idiot. As for guilt, those assholes have never spent one minute of their lives feeling guilty about the positions they've put you in. And it wouldn't be an abdication of your work ethic/duty to not feel guilty about any difficulties prompted by your sudden and extended absence; your doctor put you out on leave because you are not healthy enough to go back to work right now. Period. Thus the situation wouldn't be your fault under any circumstances, and certainly isn't when THEY CAUSED the problem.

Enemies - Jed being a pompous ass to Hoynes when it's not called for, Danny being a pain in the ass, and the Sam/Mallory thing I'm already tired of Take This Sabbath Day - too much church, not enough state The White House Pro Am - the Zoey/Charlie stuff drags it down a bit

I don't find their mean behavior any worse than Bev's passive-agressive behavior (in which she could teach a master class) and her automatic negative reaction to every.freaking.thing they do, so I've never bought into the "poor Bev, so mistreated by her daughters" theory. She is no innocent victim in their sparring, which is very much a three-way thing. Their behavior perhaps draws more attention because it's louder and more obvious than Bev's, but she's an equal combatant even though her strategy is different. I like the dynamic between the three, because it's so layered, and really like that it changes when she's in their lives on a near-daily basis. And there's some heartbreaking stuff showing the lasting scars from their childhood, especially after Andy is born and Bev is so good with him, leaving Jackie to think anew - despite all her progress in therapy - that there was something wrong with her that left Bev incapable of loving her the right way. I like the subtle things, too, especially those that fit with the difference between Roseanne's relationship with Bev and Jackie's with Bev, like how Roseanne is prone to giving Bev glancing touches; it's sweet.

That's why it amuses the ever-loving hell out of me that there is a product marketed specifically for opening such packaging -- which, you guessed it, comes in the very same packaging.