Bastet

I, too, watched Chicago recently, and with pretty much every number, I thought, "This is my favorite." Then the next one would come and I'd think, "No, this is my favorite." But if I absolutely had to choose, it would probably be Cell Block Tango. "You know, some guys just can't hold their arsenic" and "And then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife ten times" are my favorite last lines, but I love all the women's stories. And the choreography is incredible.

I see all types of people holding doors open for all types of people behind them in the common courtesy way of not just letting go of the door once through it and causing the person behind them to have to quickly reach out to keep it from smacking them in the face. Or someone having exited a door that opens out holding it for someone coming in so that person doesn't have to grab at a closing door. It's pretty much a matter of routine, and people who don't observe such basic social niceties usually have something said to them. Making a production of holding a door open from the inside, not the outside, to wave the person behind to actually go ahead, which means the door holder's body is partially blocking as the second person makes their way through? That, I thankfully do not see much other than when the second person has some obvious limit on their abilities (which, of course, does not include gender; things like having hands occupied with multiple packages, being a little unsteady in one's gait such that devoting an arm to holding the door might cause an issue, etc.) that makes such a gesture appropriate rather than patronizing.

Part Three of the Star Power tournament: I recognize - and adore the work, not to mention the voices, of - Ileana Douglas and Julie White, so I was looking forward to this one. (The guys I didn't know anything about.) Julie White's reaction shots to others' personal connections to the charities they were playing for were great. As much as I hate sob stories, I like her empathy. They all seemed very encouraging of each other, which I also liked. It would have been too obvious a choice, but since crab cakes are one of my favorite appetizers (or main courses, really), I could not stop thinking of crab cakes as soon as I saw the ingredients, using asparagus in place of the celery (I love crab and asparagus together) and a little bit of ground arepas as the binder (just enough to bind without really tasting the corn, which would be a ding that you couldn't taste an ingredient). Then a nice sauce and some asparagus tips for garnish. My resulting craving distracted me from hearing some of the charities. I'd have eaten everyone's appetizers, but Ron's looked the least-interesting to me. I was distracted by my cat; what did he give Amanda when he was eliminated? NY strip steaks are not my favorite cut, and I hate potatoes and marshmallows, so the entrée basket was not my bag (I love Brussels sprouts, though). It's funny that they didn't include any clips of Ileana talking about being a vegetarian until the second round, as if crabs are vegetables. Her steak looked hideously overdone in the camera shot and in Amanda's serving (although Scott's looked just fine), so that would have been it for me; I can't handle over-cooked meat. But Julie's sauce looked pretty awful, too, and adding in the judges' comments about its taste -- I was expecting her to be chopped that round. When Ileana was chopped instead, I knew Julie would ultimately be toast unless she absolutely dominated the dessert round. I laughed that Julie had her glasses on for just a hot second in the dessert round, presumably to read the instructions on that cinnamon roll dough.

It reminds me of Roseanne, when Roseanne and Jackie were arguing about a band I'm blanking on; Jackie couldn't believe Roseanne's insistence the guy it was named after was the guitarist, not the lead singer, and asked why the band wasn't named after the lead singer. An exasperated Roseanne said, "Because [guitarist]'s mom let them practice in her garage!"

The (Angel is a) Centerfold guy was 71? That doesn't even seem possible; time really flies. I just heard Love Stinks last night for the first time in recent memory.

Carter's face when he realizes Benton gave him a glowing review (as opposed to the 16/40 he gave Benton) is fantastic. As is Walt doing his Barry White impression while giving Benton shit about his crush on Jeannie. With the terminal AIDS patient, when they said his mother, not his partner, had medical power of attorney, I figured it was going to be one of those stories where she's a homophobic asshole who tries to keep the partner away and he's screwed by his lack of legal standing. It turned out the patient had chosen her because he knew she'd do what he wanted, while the partner wouldn't have the strength to let him go. Tag was a jackass to wait until the last second have that conversation with Carol, but I don't feel overly sorry for either of them; those two both knew they had no business getting married and just kept lying to themselves. I have no patience for that sort of thing, so I'm glad to have this storyline over with. He went from one episode rightly telling her off to the next being engaged to her; he was an idiot for proposing, because he knew all along she didn't love him the way he loves her, and thus it was never going to work. And she was an idiot for saying yes, and then continuing to say yes even when he asked her if she's sure as time went on and she was very obviously not committed. "Wait until you get the bar bill." "No, that's going to Tag." That did make me laugh, though, and I liked Carol's speech, and then everyone having fun at the reception despite the lack of a wedding. Nice end to the season. POP appears to be airing three episodes a day now.

Finally! Off to mark my calendar ...

Yep, we have Goose and Slider, and now Jester. I checked Tom Skerritt's IMDb page - since he's in everything - to see if Viper ever made an ER appearance, but no.

Okay, I almost gave up on that, because the first 30 seconds or so were doing nothing for me, but I stuck with it and that was, indeed, an enjoyable rendition. It has nothing on Dolly's (1974 or 1982), of course - but what does, other than Whitney Houston's version, which was basically its own song - but I, knowing her only from Before He Cheats (which I love) and her MNF anthem (which I don't) - liked it.

I think this is a universal law for anyone who works from home (whether that be for one day, full time, or anywhere in between) -- dead silence when it's just you, but as soon as you have to get on a call, the cat/dog/kid starts hollering, a lawnmower/leaf-blower fires up right outside your door, someone nearby embarks on a jackhammering project, etc.

Very nice job, @MargeGunderson, and great design choices! I like that there's a hint of symmetry between the floor tile and the wallpaper. And, while I personally hate pink, it's a good accent color for that color scheme and you incorporated just the right amount of it, and spread it around the room (not just the trash can on the other side of the room, but I can see in the mirror there's some pink in a print hanging on that side). I dislike wallpaper 98 percent of the time, and the two percent exception is largely made up of scenarios like yours, where it's used on the focal wall of a small room.

I, too, had forgotten that "Jester" joined ER's Top Gun reunion. I missed most of his first episode; I saw the beginning when they kept mistaking him for someone else, and the end when he was surprised to learn Susan is only a second-year resident (after asking if she was applying for Chief Resident). That's a nice boost for her after a rough bout of gaining her confidence. That happening at the same time Mark is dealing with the fallout of the Love's Labor Lost case makes an interesting flip of the dynamic they'd been dealing with lately. I like their friendship. Relevant to the discussion in the Unpopular Opinions thread about what area of medicine Carter is most suited to, we learn in one of today's episodes that he first wanted to be a doctor as a kid, when his brother was very sick; the way the doctors treated the two boys made him want to be a doctor when he grew up. Like Chen said, he really likes taking care of people. But I don't think that necessarily means (going back to the UO discussion) he's not cut out for emergency medicine or even surgery. His type of doctoring would be a good fit for a primary care physician, who gets to know his patients and sees their care through, yes, but I also think it's a great temperament for the ER because it's such a nice bonus to have that little bit of connection in the midst of treat 'em and street 'em. And if he had the skills, he'd be popular as a surgeon; more of them are like Benton than Carter, in terms of personality, so when you luck into one who has both the skills and the bedside manner, it's wonderful.

You never understood because it has absolutely no scientific basis (an "old wives tale" of sorts). In fact, it's healthiest to spay before the first heat.

That's how it works at the (independent) market where I do the bulk of my shopping; they set things up to make it as clear as possible who has first crack at a newly-opened register, and when that isn't enough to make people follow the rules, they step in and say, no, she was first. They would never allow what ari333 experienced to stand. Between that and the fact the cashiers are well-trained not to abide people not following the posted guidelines for the express line, I love shopping there - plus, their express line sign is grammatically correct (15 items or fewer, not 15 items or less). But I've seen cashiers at Ralph's and Smart & Final step in when someone tried to jump into a newly-opened line out of turn, too. In ari's situation, I'd be almost as annoyed with the cashier who said "next in line" and then took someone who wasn't next in line as with the jerk who pulled the "should've been faster" remark. (You could always yell "Towanda!" and ram her cart. "I'm older, and I have more insurance.")

Oh, it wasn't just your post, @MrSmith -- all posts after that one have been about hitting or not hitting animals while driving, which is what had me wondering if I interpreted it wrong, but now I've circled back around to thinking I had it right and conversation just shifted a bit. Monday Morning Brain, I guess.

You wanted to be able to turn around so you could be sure you wouldn't hit the cat, or because you were afraid it was going to put a curse on you (or something)? Because I took it as the latter, but then discussion shifted to talking about running over animals, so now I'm second-guessing myself.

I'm hoping she'll decide pregnancy and childbirth would be too hard on her much-afflicted body and opt to abort, but I can't tell what they're going for.

Bingo; the purpose is to entice drivers to carpool, rather than drive separately, because having fewer cars on the road a) alleviates freeway congestion (the primary purpose of HOV lanes, at least here), and b) reduces emissions and thus improves air quality (a secondary purpose, which is why, while electric and hybrid cars may quality for an HOV sticker [which allows use of the lanes even with a single occupant], such programs are limited and a recurring subject of legislative debate; a single driver in his Leaf helps with Goal B, but not Goal A). Junior tucked into his car seat while Dad runs errands has zip point shit to do with either purpose, so I don't think it should confer eligibility.

The sauce they made for the wings is pretty similar to one that I make, and the episode made me so hungry for it (unfortunately, I didn't have any wings in the freezer). Then Julia (or Bridget? I've already forgotten) and Adam kept talking about donuts, and made me crave them instead; I resisted the urge to run out and buy some. Anyway, yes, it is nice not to have to deal with Chris's reactions to the slightest bit of heat.

A cat may have shown up in one of her films, as they sometimes did in the silents, but I don't think the cat in the doodle was meant as an allusion to any movie, I think it was meant to evoke that photo. I checked the Google Doodle blog, and it says nothing about the cat (or the hair), but I've seen some commentary about the doodle referencing the "iconic" photo I linked. I wouldn't go that far, but that photo does spring quickly to mind when I picture Mary Pickford, so I can easily imagine it being in the minds of whoever worked on the doodle.

How funny - I almost mentioned in my first post that I once did that with very thing (minus the sedation and antibiotics) with a duck. It was a lakeside campground, so the duck was fairly used to people, and the poor guy had a fishing hook in his beak. We lured him into our campsite with food, my dad caught him and held his body, my mom held his beak still, and I snipped off the hook so I could pull it out the other way. Clean and easy, and Mr. Duck waddled happily back to the water. Riley is so fidgety when held, I'd probably have to take her in if that happened to her. With Maddie or Baxter, though? Oh yeah, I'd have just grabbed my pliers and taken care of it. (Then clean the wound, dab on some antibacterial ointment, and watch for any signs of infection. Mr. Duck didn't get those luxuries, but he seemed fine.)

That picture of her with a cat perched on her shoulder (I know there was more than one, but this one seems quite popular) tends to come up first when searching for images of her, so that's probably why they went that route. Why they gave her dark hair in the doodle, though, I have no idea.

Me? I only saw the second half of the episode, so I saw the "kitty is fine, we put the fishing gear away" wrap-up at the end, but never saw the actual story. Pray tell. That was one nasty-looking spleen (and a lot of blood) they took out of the older dog. I was glad to hear the tumor was benign, so there are no significant long-term impacts from this incident. If that adorable kitten's inner ear infection is all cleared up, yet she still has a head tilt, does that mean there's also something neurological going on? Is it not completely cleared up? I've dealt with a friend's cat having a tilted head, listing walk, etc. because of a fungal infection, and that took a long time to clear up.

Bandit (my parents' cat) is the opposite; he loves being brushed, and demands it several times a day (by hopping up on the "brushing station," which is a built-in dressing table in the master bedroom, and howling). If you open the drawer the brush is in to get something else, he comes running in and jumps up there, expecting to be brushed. Very well, thank you. She still doesn't like other people; she'll let them look at her from a doorway, and she'll sometimes let my mom pet her depending on the circumstances, but that's it. The important thing is she is no longer afraid when people come over, just uninterested or annoyed, so if that's as good as it ever gets, that will be okay. But, when it's just us, she's completely relaxed into a "normal" cat. She still flinches sometimes at sudden movements close to her and occasionally runs away - for about two feet - if I'm moving too swiftly towards her, but by and large she just chills. I can even pick her up and carry her out to the bonus room (it's attached to my detached garage, so we have to walk through the backyard) and she'll happily hang out with me there. (It's where my nicest TV - and my bar - is, so I usually watch sports, movies, and TV shows I want to concentrate on rather than have as background entertainment while I putter out there. Now that I can take her out there with me, I don't have to worry about "abandoning" her if I want to spend hours out there.) That's the only circumstance in which I'm allowed to pick her up and carry her for more than a foot without a lot of wiggling (and then the claws come out). I'm now allowed to touch (and trim) her back claws, but the front ones are still verboten. We'll get there. I'd also like to be able to put her in a harness so I can walk her out through the backyard rather than carrying her (and let her explore the backyard), but right now I wouldn't be able to wrestle her into one. I put a collar on her for the first time last week to see what she'd do, and she was not amused. I've never had a cat care about wearing a collar (I only put them on my cats when they're going outside, but my parents' cats have always worn theirs all the time), but with Riley new things must be eased into VERY slowly. Oh, one other thing she hasn't completely come around on yet is the fireplace. She's not scared of it, but she won't yet sleep on "the fire cushion" (where Baxter lived in winter, and where Riley thus far will only hang out if there isn't a fire going). Hopefully one more winter will do it. Here she is debating whether it's safe.

It's entirely possible I'm misremembering, but didn't we hear the buzz of the vibrator?