Bastet

That was a line on Major Crimes several years ago; Sharon was teaching Rusty how to drive, admonished him for not signaling his intention to change lanes, and he said exactly that -- in L.A., that's just asking people to speed up. This morning's peeve is with myself; I had a headache (regular, not migraine, thankfully) overnight, and what works best on my headaches is Excedrin due to the caffeine, but caffeine irritates my heart condition, so I lay there dithering about whether to take one for so long that I finally just fell back asleep, but it was a crappy sleep, and I woke up tired.

How Blanche would fare under our sexist society/judicial system, especially as it existed at the time, should she pursue a claim wasn't the issue raised. The question was why would she refuse to be coerced into Behavior A, given her history of engaging in Behavior B? And the answer is that A and B are two different behaviors, so that embracing one does not negate the ability to refuse the other. With that, I'll stop flogging the poor horse and wish the forum a good night.

Yes, I distinguished my words from yours, because your response changing that crucial word and thus attempting to draw a false equivalency had nothing to do with my original point distinguishing the two different scenarios, in response to the question as to why it was different. They are two significantly different things, and that Blanche engaged in consensual sex that came with some added benefits has nothing to do with her resisting a harasser's attempt at coercing her into sex where her refusal would allow him to enforce a negative consequence because of his position of power. Apples and oranges. Because they're such different scenarios, how does engaging in one ruin her credibility when she calls out the other? That's a lesser version of the same line of reasoning that says a victim of date rape is less believable because she's engaged in sex with numerous previous dates. Choice is the key element. The professor attempted to take that away from her, which makes it different from any prior scenarios in which Blanche opted to engage in sex for reasons above and beyond having a good time.

There's no evidence she ever engaged in quid pro quo sexual harassment as her professor did; when did we ever get a story about her being in an institutional position of power over someone and telling him you will lose this job, fail this course, etc. if you do not have sex with me?

I still eat raw dough any time I make cookies. Between my immune system and the fact I use eggs from pastured chickens, I'm not worried.

Another driving peeve is people who get in a minor accident and leave their cars in a freeway lane rather than pulling off to the side, so I was very pleased this evening to tune in to the traffic report in order to learn why I was sitting in stop and go traffic and hear "The [freeway] is jammed up at [location] because three cars collided in the far-left lane and the drivers are standing around taking pictures and exchanging information. Move your cars off to the shoulder, idiots." Ha! I've heard traffic reporters make general admonitions when reporting on similar situations in the past, but never quite so snippy. I loved it.

If I had an ex-spouse of 40 years, who was the other parent to my children, whom I still loved as family (just not as a spouse), and my current spouse got mad at me for, along with our kids, leaving a play because we got word she was being taken by ambulance to the hospital, I'd have a big problem with that.

I think if Sophia had told her she sent him away, Dorothy would have flipped her lid, and John would have been all the more attractive to her. But I think better to try to explain why she sent him away, giving a lesson on demanding respect, than to let your daughter think she was stood up for prom. Self esteem is so fragile at that age.

Because she was being coerced. Blanche may sleep with someone partially to have a good time and partially to get some external benefit out of the relationship (as with the favorable age mention in the newspaper example), but that's a freely-made choice, of her volition, which is a world of difference from quid pro quo sexual harassment.

With an instructor, yes, because if she's on the road with an instructor, she or he is going to make her speed up or move over, so she'll no longer be impeding the flow of traffic. And, by learning, she'll no longer be doing that on her own in the future, and won't lack confidence in her skills. So, win-win. This morning's driving peeve: There's a big rig parked at a corner, so when you're trying to pull out from that side street onto the main road (on which the truck is parked), it is impossible to see what's coming until you inch your car out so far you're asking to have it clipped. The truck was there last night, and I figured it was just unloading, but, nope, still there. So I have to hang way back and check traffic from behind the truck.

Take some lessons, so she gets road time with someone who can instruct her how not to hold up traffic. It's just plain rude to toddle down the road with a bunch of people bottled up behind you because you're driving too slow for road/traffic conditions, as the peeve described; speed up or move over, and if it's caused not by being inconsiderate, but by lack of skills, get some help.

I think if someone is disrupting the flow of traffic because they lack the confidence to keep up with it, they should stay off the road until they've improved their driving skills.

Oh yeah, she's clearly open to that, since she was happy with Barry. She just doesn't want to marry that one person, so that was this nicely resolved thing -- Barry wants it, she doesn't, he leaves, Frankie assures her if it isn't right for her, it isn't right, Brianna is comforted, and we've moved on. Then all of a sudden she's stalking him, trying to get him to cheat on his girlfriend with her.

I finally got around to watching this episode, and oh my god. I'm not the target audience for that segment, anyway; it's just me, and I compost and recycle, so there isn't enough left to necessitate a large trash bin in my kitchen -- I neither need one that size nor want one just sitting out in the open. My rubbish bin is is a "regular" (bathroom?) size one kept under the sink. But if I was going to have something sitting out, of a size it wouldn't take me months to fill, I'd want it to have the qualities they tested for -- but no way in hell I'd pay nearly $200 for it. It's a trash receptacle! This may be the one time I wind up missing Chris, because I feel as if he'd have had an appropriate WTF? reaction.

I have a bathroom window I could easily fit through to get out, especially because I have retractable screens, so I wouldn't even have to mess with that (there is the fact I'd land in a rose bush, though), but all previous places have had small windows pretty high up the wall. So, had I been held hostage in any of those homes, I wouldn't have been able to pull the "Please, I really have to pee" ruse and escaped out the window.

I didn't know any of the contestants in this first round of the Star Power Tournament, which is to be expected as they're the "internet sensations" contingent and I don't watch anything like that. I had it on, but couldn't pay much attention, so I'll have to watch the re-airing, but I heard one woman say she was playing for the Southern Poverty Law Center, so I was rooting for her. The man who won seemed cool from the little bit I was able to watch. The final group consists of actors (athletes and comedians in between), and Alan Thicke is competing. That will be a bit sad to watch. I like that Food Network is not, at least that I've seen, using him in their promos for this tournament; it would feel tacky.

I really like in the second episode, when the helicopter crew is off-loading the patient and giving Doug his vitals, George Clooney keeps turning his head and leaning in when the Life Flight paramedic speaks – Clooney doesn’t need to hear what the actor is saying, as he has no lines to deliver in response, but he still does what Doug would do. Carter dragging the crash cart behind him is hilarious. I also love him being (seemingly) proven right when he wants to run basic tests and discharge for follow-up with the personal physician if they come back normal and Benton wants to check for a thrombosis. Even though Benton was an ass (surprise) by insulting him in front of the patient, and while Carter gets a kick out of being validated by the other doctor, he tells Benton he was right to want to do an angiogram. Their dynamic is one of my favorite parts of the show. This episode brings home how important it is to both discuss with your family and write down what you do and do not want done (re. organ donation, going on a respirator, etc.), so that emotionally-overwrought family members don’t make the wrong decision because they can’t face reality in the heat of the moment. The third episode, with Rosemary Clooney, is good, and I think it’s when they start finding their rhythm putting the show together. But the thing with Doug and Carol is odd, with him talking to her like she’s single, because in the pilot she has a fiancé, but then later in this episode it’s said that she and Tag have been dating for a couple of years, so I guess they backed off the fiancé storyline once they decided to keep the character; just one of those things that changes from pilot to series. I like Susan’s M&M, where Greene joins the chorus (of “slicers and dicers” as Susan puts it) and says he’d have done angioplasty.

Maureen O'Hara is the reason I watch The Parent Trap.

"What do you think I am, a beautician?" It's hard to pick a favorite part of that, but Violet saying, "I'm no fool, I've killed the boss; you think they're not going to fire me for a thing like that?" is certainly a contender. I love that movie, and there's also something LOL funny on the blooper reel. In Violet's fantasy sequence, as she's prepping Hart's chair to launch him out the window ("Because I'm a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot?" "Bingo"), she does that sing-song "Ha ha ha ha ha" and sticks her tongue out at him. During filming, the chair malfunctioned, so as Lily Tomlin went to put it into launch position, it didn't move. Dabney Coleman didn't miss a beat before perfectly mimicking the "Ha ha ha ha ha."

The issue isn't that the work done by the prior owners wasn't done with permits, it's that it wasn't done to code, and the issue is not that Tarek and Christina are going to sell the property, it's that they are pulling permits for the work they're doing. You can easily sell a home where the work was done without permits being pulled (you just disclose that) if the work was done right. There are no city inspectors involved in the sale; the buyer's home inspector will see that the work was done properly and it won't be an issue. (If it wasn't done right, the lack of permits still won't be an issue, because, again, the city isn't involved. The home inspector will tell the prospective buyer something is improper, and the buyer will demand the seller either fix it or lower the cost.) Once Tarek and Christina go to pull permits for their renovation, that's when the city gets involved, so T&C will also be on the hook for correcting things that weren't done to code, or that were done to code at the time but are now, because of changed regulations, in need of alteration, because the city has them over a barrel -- they can't get permits for what they want to do unless they correct the other stuff. Want new windows? Great, here are the permits for those - once we check for smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors, and, oh, by the way, you have to replace all old faucets with ones that meet the new low-flow standards, regardless of the fact you're just doing windows, not anything about the plumbing.

Exactly; as you noted, even though tracking shows the package was delivered, that doesn't mean someone didn't snatch it off the porch (there's a mini-rash of that going on right now in a nearby neighborhood). So if I don't receive a thank-you note, I don't know whether the recipient is an ill-mannered ingrate, or if they're sitting around thinking I'm a big jerk who couldn't be bothered to send a gift because they never received what I sent.

Thankfully, even though I just saw this news, when I went around the dial to see if I get POP, I not only found the channel, but found a re-airing of the pilot just about to start. I watched it in real time because of Sherry Stringfield; I’d liked her as Blake on Guiding Light, and then followed her to NYPD Blue, and then here. (I don’t remember how long I watched; dropping a helicopter on Romano was probably the beginning of the end.) I forgot Miguel Ferrer was in the pilot. (I’ve forgotten most of this series, though, other than scattered moments.) I like when Susan finally backs down from her guarded talk to tell him he probably has 6 months to a year. I’d thankfully blocked from my mind how annoying Mark’s kid was. Noah Wyle is so perfect as Carter; he truly looks wet behind the ears. I love Mark telling him, “I was in med school with Benton, and he used to get sick all the time; don’t let him give you any crap.” And Peter asking him if he’s okay, telling him not to worry about what happened out there, just not to make a habit of it. Him not being able to start an IV serves the story, but I’ve never had a doctor – whatever their seniority – do it, whether in the ER or pre-op; it has always been a nurse. Benton’s little boo-yeah move that made it into the credits. Love. Doug’s student immediately shutting down his Casanova routine was wonderful. One of the few things I remember, that came back to me as soon as Doug started talking to the babysitter, was his confrontation with the mother of the abused child. “How dare you?! He’s a little kid!” Talking about the charges for various services dates the show; I kept hearing a quote and thinking, "That's it?!" I know the producers saw something so compelling in Julianna Marguiles/Carol Hathaway they opted to have her survive the suicide she was scripted to succumb to, but I’m missing it. She’s fine, but that’s it.

They don't exactly exhibit a pattern of being afraid to introduce reality into Blanche's fantasies.

The one where Blanche thinks she's pregnant (but is actually going through menopause) is on right now, and even for a sitcom I just can't deal with this storyline. Blanche, who sees herself as younger than she is, skipping her period and going to pregnancy rather than menopause I buy. And maybe even Rose, as something of an idiot, would just stick with the pregnancy narrative once Blanche puts it out there. But neither Sophia nor, especially, Dorothy, says, "Um, you know there's another possibility here"? Someone Blanche's age misses two periods, and menopause, not pregnancy, is my first thought, yet here no one seems to even consider it.

Seriously, people have stopped doing that, too? Sure, along the way I've had a few people not send one (which immediately moved them to the bottom of the pile), but they were anomalies. Now (it has been a while since I've had to hire anyone), sending a thank-you note after an interview is so rare that sending one stands out?