Bastet

I understand how it would sting; when we're feeling something profound and see someone lament a similar but, to us, lesser experience, it's natural to react badly to that. But I don't find it thoughtless on her part at all. I would if she had responded directly to a comment from you about the loss of your mom by bringing up the loss of her pet (like the incident in college, only without the mitigating factor of it being a young woman struggling to relate), but it was simply a post about how this holiday season is hard for her because her dog isn't here. She's not obligated to keep that to herself just because other people have suffered losses that were worse to them.

I don't even need all the fingers on my second hand to count the number of movie musicals I love (I like musicals on stage just fine, but only a few screen versions make the cut), but Love Me Tonight is on that short list. And not just because of my beloved Myrna Loy - although I do wish her lost musical number could be dug up, and make the film even better.

In an interview during the early days of the show, Tarek revealed that Pete was their 50/50 partner on all real estate investments; while we only saw him put up the money for certain homes featured on the show, he was actually putting up half the money (and taking half the profits) on each one. I have no idea what the situation is now, though.

It won't be Christmas until I hear, "Remember, possession of cane is a privilege, not a right!"

No need for spoiler tags here (so long as it's something that has already "aired" on LCK). I don't watch programming online, so I never see LCK; I'm thankful for those of you who do and post about it here so I can keep track of who's waiting in the wings. I'm not surprised Annie lost, but I also don't think Gerald will stick around long. I suspect that, unless a super-talented chef goes out unexpectedly early, there will be a lot of turnover in LCK for the first half of the season, and after that we may see someone go on a winning streak.

I love Jane Fonda, for reasons that are probably obvious, and Lois Nettleton, for reasons likely less so. Among her many credits, the latter is most memorable to me from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and her guest starring role on The Golden Girls, as Dorothy's friend who develops a crush on Rose.

There was a time when Frigidaire was almost as synonymous with refrigerator as Xerox later was with copy machine, such that people with another brand's fridge would still call it a Frigidaire, just like decades later folks using another company's copier would nevertheless call it a Xerox machine.

Yikes; I take the second quarter off to watch something else, and the Raiders wind up giving the game away and never taking it back. It's still a better season than I've enjoyed in a long time, but losing to the Chiefs? Blech. With JPP out on defense, and the danger the Giants offense will play as poorly as it has the last couple of games, the upcoming game against Dallas threatens to make this a bad football weekend for me!

Because, as a Senator, he had a "D" after his name. That's likely all it took, but perhaps it's assuming too much to think they even knew he'd been a Democrat (since he was pretty moderate); the fact he was part of NASA, with its focus on, you know, science and facts (which apparently have a liberal bias, are elitist, and otherwise should be dismissed in this Bizzarro World in which we now live), probably didn't help.

I'm going to do that tonight. I love that movie, so need little motivation to pull out the DVD. And Ed Harris does such a terrific job as John Glenn! (The cast as a whole is wonderful.)

I loved Keely and the dog. I'm glad the victim's sister was able to come get Molly (and, for all my criticism of them, that NOPD apparently sat there until she could) and care for her until she could be reunited with her owner. We didn't get an update on the woman who was shot (grazed) after attempting to fight off a purse snatcher, but I liked the way it was handled in VO. Keely said it was easy to Monday morning quarterback and say, of course, you just give up the property, but, really, you don't know what you'd do in that situation. And I loved Keely saying there is a lot of random, senseless violence in New Orleans, but that's not what defines the city - citing as evidence the number of people who spilled out of their apartments to help the victim when they heard the shots. Between the Wal-Mart worker last week who walked to work in the wee hours and the cook this week who biked to work, I like the respect the EMS crew is showing for the working class victims they encounter. Not surprising, certainly, but still heartening. It always freaks me out how many loose animals we see on the roads when police are in pursuit, EMS is heading to a scene, etc. I've visited New Orleans several times, as it has always been one of my favorite vacation destinations in the US. I find it more racist than the participants' interviews would suggest, but I do love their spirit -- if you don't accept people based on their race, sexual orientation, etc., we do not accept you here -- and enjoyed the selfie of Dan and Titus with Keely as she participated in the Pride march.

I feel a little bit sorry for Annie; I suspect she's right that she's a better chef than she is competitor in this particular environment. She should have stood up for herself more about what she wanted to make, fundamentally, but group dynamics can be tricky, and women especially can be bulldozed over, so I have some sympathy for the fact she died on a dish she never wanted to make in the first place. I'm pleased Casey won, not just because I've always liked her, but because, while I sometimes cook collard greens long and slow, my favorite is to cut them into ribbons and lightly cook them with other ingredients to just enhance the flavor enough. I prefer the texture, and I think the flavor is intact. So I was glad to see her win for a similarly unconventional preparation. I dislike okra and eggplant in most dishes, but can like them under the right circumstances, so I had particular respect for the two chefs who prepared dishes rooted in those ingredients and got people who normally dislike them to enjoy. (And both looked good to me.) For a team challenge at the beginning of the competition, when there are still a gazillion people, I think dividing them up between first-time competitors and veterans makes sense, but I'll grow tired of that really fast if it continues. I had forgotten Sam was a diabetic; I always like seeing how someone makes the necessary adjustments. I wonder when this was filmed. The squash casserole was made with summer squash (incidentally, the "watery" criticism of it particularly struck me as the squash casserole served at home looked very watery to me), indicating summer, but Brooke had to go searching for corn. So, early summer? At any rate, it looked like two delicious meals. I haven't made dinner yet, and now I'm hungry for something far more delicious than I can whip up quickly with the ingredients I have on hand.

I was obsessed with the space program as a kid, particularly the Mercury Seven. I met John Glenn in the hallway as he was exiting his Senate office when I was in junior high, and during our brief conversation I told him about a report I'd written in fifth grade on the Mercury program. He asked me to send him a copy when I got home; I did (back then, that meant taking my typed report down to the copy shop, heh), and got a nice little note back.

I keep thinking of a quote from Roseanne when Dan says they're screwed, and Roseanne clarifies that screwed doesn't begin to cover it: "We are so far beyond screwed that the light from screwed will take one billion years to reach Earth."

Mine, too. Of all the chefs who have competed over the years, there are only a few I know by name, but if I see their faces I can at least say, "Oh, yeah - she/he was on Top Chef," even if I don't remember which season. Amanda? Absolutely nothing. Not a single flash of recognition. I could not stand John Tesar the first time around, so I'm hoping it's true that he's a new and improved version of himself. He seems to be a congenital asshole, so I'm not sure how much stock I put in that, but whatever. I loved Brooke and Shirley during their seasons, and liked most of the rest (I liked Sam until he assaulted Marcel [I probably would have torn my own hair out having to live/work with Marcel, but come on!], and I think I went back and forth on Katsuji). I think Brooke has the most to lose by coming back, so I hope she doesn't regret it. For the newbies' QF, I don't know why any of them bothered trying to make more than one dish, since the winner was going to be whomever made the (one) dish Tom liked most. Thus, the guy who put three spoonfuls of food on a plate winning over someone who'd made another one of Tom's favorites plus a second dish, because that one dish was so good. So just concentrate on making one chicken dish the best it can be. That QF win felt like a storyline to the cynic in me - let's give the first win to the underdog - but I want to believe Tom has more integrity than that, so I'm going with it. Same philosophy for accepting the sudden death QF results - they were there to eat the food, so I'll assume they're right that John's tasted better. Without that crucial bit of information, I was thinking the newbie would win, because in an oyster ROAST competition, he followed the challenge prompt while John poached his oysters.

Same here. I've worked with the homeless and other low-income populations in various capacities over many years. There are assholes among them as there are in every group. But abuse of the public benefits is infinitesimal (unlike those entitled to but improperly denied such benefits), and abuse of private charity also enough of a rarity that I have zero hesitation helping out without worrying how the aid will be used. (And if my life ever devolves to the point I'm living under a freeway overpass and depending on the kindness of strangers, damn right I'm using some of any money I come up with for booze.)

When you're all stating your cases for a position in the Trump administration, you're only addressing the first requirement -- your near-total lack of qualifications for the job. You also need to make clear you meet the second prong of the test -- you must drip with contempt for - and thus desire to completely dismantle and privatize - the services provided by the department you'd be overseeing (above and beyond your basic, ideological hatred of the federal government in general). Then, and only then, will you be put in the "maybe" pile (at which point the son-in-law will check to make sure you've given enough money and/or public praise).

As a Daily Show viewer, I found it interesting to watch Jon Stewart lose respect for and then become disgusted by McCain, since it largely mirrored the trajectory of my own feelings.

Bailey used to bolt as soon as he heard the snap of the flea medicine dispenser being opened. He took insulin injections like a champ, but pour some flea medicine between his shoulder blades? Get out of here! Baxter got fleas one summer, so I had to treat him and Maddie for a couple of months. Bandit and Bailey needed it a few times. Otherwise, thankfully, fleas haven't been an issue, so I haven't had to deal with the Frontline or similar very often. (I never give it as a preventative, only if I see evidence of fleas.) ABay, I'm glad your kitty is doing so much better! Riley caught her first cricket last night. She's terrible at catching flies, but the cricket didn't stand a chance. I wish it was the other way around.

I've missed Al Jazeera America every day since it went off the air! It provided the best journalism on American television, and I feel its absence keenly, especially now.

Space heaters are notorious for blowing circuits -- anything containing both a motor and a heating element draws a lot of power. If you plug it into an outlet that's on a circuit with a 15-amp breaker, the space heater alone is using most of the available power, so it doesn't take much else on that circuit to overload it and trip the breaker. Even a 20-amp breaker can be a problem if there are enough other things running on that same circuit.

Holly does that a lot, too. Keely does it, too, but Holly and Arkady are really big on the "baby" thing.

I love the "dog" post-it stuck to the dog's head, and the dog brushing it off. And the man watching an American movie, then repeating "I'm going to fucking kill you" to his rubber ducky in the bathtub (followed by "I love you, you are perfect.")

This happened to me when I got my hair cut just before Thanksgiving. I knew my hairdresser was a Republican, but was hoping that didn't translate to voting for Trump. (I figured it didn't, since, despite our differences she has always seemed, you know, sane, but you never know.) It didn't, but as we talked she spouted off with some things about Hillary, protestors, etc. that were patently false. I corrected her, and she was not just receptive but thankful, talking about how increasingly difficult it is to evaluate the veracity of shared information today. (And she wasn't just going along to get along since I'm a paying customer, as we've had some lively discussions over the years. And I don't think it's that difficult, but whatever.) Unfortunately, this has been a singular experience.

Well, if turns out that a) she's interested in going outside and b) she can do so safely (be that on a leash, let loose in the backyard with me standing there, or, if remarkably obedient for a cat like Maddie and Baxter were - there's no sign of that thus far, heh - trusted to stay in the yard on her own even if I go back inside for a little while), then she'll be able to do that -- if she's into it and can be outside safely, I think it's good for her to get some fresh air and sunlight, and sniff green things. (If not, too bad - she can get the fresh air and sunlight that comes in through the windows and sniff her catnip-stuffed sock.) But I'm not sure she will want to go out even once she's finished working out her skittishness (and her issues with being picked up, so that I could even get a harness on her without it being a skirmish); she's followed me to the door twice, but otherwise stays away, and I think she was probably outside more than she wanted to be in her previous home. We'll see; her personality is still revealing itself, which is a joy to watch. I love when it's raining, and a cat walks to each and every exterior door, like, "Damn, it's raining outside this one, too!" Semi-related, I dropped an ice cube on the kitchen floor the other night, and Riley played soccer with it briefly before looking at her paw like, "Wet! Cold! Horrors!"