Browncoat

I'm really looking forward to having a lot of time in Edinburgh. I've been before, but generally only had three or four hours, which isn't nearly enough if you want to do anything other than tour the castle and maybe go see Greyfriar's Bobby and the kirk yard. On another trip, I went to Mary King's Close, which was great. There are several hotels quite close to Waverley Station, including The Old Waverley Hotel, which is currently the front runner for in-town hotels. It's actually less expensive than a lot of the others, believe it or not. The Skylink/Airlink buses run all night, so I don't think getting back to the airport in a timely fashion will be a problem. Thanks for the input!

I ended up buying the carry-on size from July. It's purple-ish, the right size, and the lightest weight of all the currently popular bags. It also comes with a charging pack, and you can personalize it pretty much any way you want -- including emoji! That was what really sold me. That and the color. Oh, and that it's several ounces lighter with greater capacity than the next best bag. The luggage cart I tried to order never got off back order, so I cancelled it. Still trying to work out something for my other bag, but I have the new wheelie bag for my trip to Scotland this summer. Yes, Scotland is finally happening! I looked back through this thread, and saw that I posed in February 2020 about going that summer, but, well, we all know what happened then. The UK is fully open now (for now) with no restrictions! I am joining a tour group on 20 June, but want to go a couple of days (2.5, really) early to putz around in Edinburgh and kind of get over jet lag a little bit. Which leads me to this question -- Do I want to stay in a hotel near the city centre, taking the Skylink bus in from and back to the airport to join the group, or do I want to stay out near the airport and take the bus into town each day? I can't quite figure out from the bus line's website if there's a suitable pass for a tourist (the site seems more geared for residents) for three days. There are pros and cons to each. The airport hotels are less expensive, but the difference might be made up in bus fare. It would be convenient to be near all the things in town, but it would also be convenient to be near the airport when it comes time to meet the group. Or should I split the difference? Stay the first two nights in town, and the last night in an airport hotel? Anyone have any thoughts?

I cry a little foul on the pill bug clue. Not everyone grew up calling them pill bugs. Some people call them sow bugs, and some call them rolly poly bugs. Or however you spell "rolly". Spellcheck really doesn't like that word at all, no matter how I try to spell it.

Now that my hair has dried and shrunk (y'all curly folks know what I mean), I can see that it is kind of bad. Not the worst I've had, and not so bad that I'm going to try to get it fixed, but it's bad in a really weird way. Most of it is the same length, except for the front-most pieces that usually get tucked behind my ears anyway. Those look like they're about 1/4 to 1/2 inch shorter than the rest. It might be an optical illusion, and when I wash it myself it might magically even out, but I'm not optimistic. As long as I keep those pieces behind my ears, I doubt anyone will notice except me. Oh well. It'll grow out.

OMG, I just realized I got 5/5 this week! Amazing!

Another instaget FJ for me tonight. It probably helps that I was involved in both my high school and college newspapers, though I was more a behind the scenes person than a writer/reporter. I also got the TS of exchange rates, what, Hollandaise, Easy Rawlins, Narragansett, and loupe. I loved the limericks! I hope she gave a copy to Ken.

Perpetual peeve, exacerbated today because I got my hair cut. Why is it that no one can cut my hair properly? It should be really easy -- it's parted in the middle, no layers or anything fancy, just take 2-3 inches off the total length. It is curly, though, and apparently that is a problem. Today, the girl (and she was a girl -- she was 18, and only recently acquired her certificate) just simply couldn't get it even. It's still not even, but it's as close as she was going to get. When she first stopped and had me look at it, one side was a good half-inch longer than the other. Then she tried to even it, and the other side was longer. And back and forth until I just said to stop. One side is still a little longer (maybe 1/4 inch?), but I hope it isn't too terribly noticeable, or won't be when my hair finishes curling itself back up. It is a bit shorter than I wanted, but it'll grow back.

Instaget FJ for me tonight. And I'm kind of glad Joel didn't win. His antics annoyed me. I also got the TS of eclipse/sunrise, Bolshoi, diving, lion, Dalai Lama, Boxer rebellion, obverse, and Vitamin K. It made me sad that no one knew Elsa was a lion. Born Free was probably the first movie I ever cried at. I think I was about six or seven when I saw it.

I loved Ken's comment to the guy about wanting the tattoo of his name to be on the guy's dominant arm.

Instaget FJ for me tonight. So much so that I questioned it for the entire 30 seconds, but couldn't come up with anything else McConaughey was known for saying. The only TS I got was drag. Oh, wait, that was a missed DD, so I guess I didn't get any TS. I feel like I should have gotten Spiro Agnew, but I forgot and/or didn't understand the category. This is why you need to start at the top, people!

I work for the government. We're lucky to get any raise at all. Ever.

I'm going to go with Pterry the Pterodactyl.

Catching up from last night -- I waffled between hurricane and tornado, but decided in the end on tornado because they are less predictable. Hurricanes have not always been as predictable as they are now (read "Isaac's Storm" about the Galveston hurricane in 1900), but they don't generally seem to come out of nowhere like tornadoes sometimes still do. The only TS I got were Flushing and saber dance. Late to the party for the name discussion, but I have what was once a very very common name. There were five of us in my high school class of 42 people, and we all had to go by FirstName LastName. There were just not enough nicknames to go around. And while mugs and keychains and whatnot with my name existed, they were usually sold out.

Every time I read "Manson" in a post here, my mind immediately goes to Charles. I am old.

I still have that jingle in my head! I'm glad I recorded this episode -- I'm definitely going to watch at least the end of it again.

That's why I guessed Gallipoli. My even guessing that was lucky due to lack of knowledge. That was about the only place I could think of that was related to WWI. Sometimes ignorance is a plus. I also got the TS of aerie, UHF, Bethesda, alpha, and breeder.

Nooo!!! His character had one of my favorite lines from The Big Chill -- one I quote often -- "Sometimes you just have to let art flow over you."

Quoting myself to recommend this book. It was really well done.

3/5 this week.

I would like to thank Sean Penn for my instaget of FJ tonight. I honestly have no idea if I'd heard of Harvey Milk prior to that movie. I also got the TS of honey crisp, Frida Kahlo (a wild guess), The Time Machine, aberrant, and Androcles.

I really want to see Cyrano, but none of the theaters around here have deigned to show it. I have seen Dinklage's face in the previews, though, and agree, @Spartan Girl, that it is a masterpiece. He is a brilliant actor.

If you don't want to watch all the other seasons, at least watch seasons 1-5. There are some others that are really good, but I can't remember the numbers off the top of my head.

That was great.

I randomly guessed for FJ, based on the year and the location, and was gobsmacked when my guess was correct. Hey, whatever works, right? The only TS I got was measles. I also knew both "perforated states".

I had no idea for FJ tonight, and would not have come up with the correct response in a million years. However, I did get quite a few TS, including credenza, Jane, Buzz Aldrin, Genesis, Nevada, Grandma Moses, Gizmo, and speech.