Small Talk: The Library

[trudi-tru]

10 hours ago, buffyjunkie said:

caramel apples at an orchard. 

What heavenly place is that?

I'm glad you are giving yourself a break, buffyjunkie. 

Today is my parents 42nd wedding anniversary.

[Erratic]

Happy Parental Anniversary, Trudi Tru :)

[buffyjunkie]

Ohh, 42 years - very impressive trudi tru.  My caramel apple had salty peanuts too. It made up for the microbrewery beer which was meh. Gorgeous weather though, beautiful sky and clouds and weather. It is good to have friends.

[romantic idiot]

On 16 September 2016 at 11:30 PM, Chyna said:

OMG doing tech support for your parents via phone is THE WORST. #firstworldproblems

I just leave it to my brother. His computer degree and interest in it has to be good for something. I did my tour of duty on VCRs. So bless you. (And lucky me)

[Erratic]

Awww, Brangelina is over.

[Valny]

9 hours ago, Erratic said:

Awww, Brangelina is over.

My co-worker a few desks down from me, was at her desk and said loud enough to the office, Oh, wow... Brad and Angelina broke up! I was pretty shocked actually.... so I half didn't believe her. Then I jumped on the internet to check it out.

Too bad, from the outside looking in, they seemed like they were solid, especially since they have all the kids.... but you can never know.

Brad, call me!

Edited September 21, 2016 by Valny

[trudi-tru]

As soon as I read the news, I yelled out to my boss (she's in the room in front of mine): Angelina filed for divorce!

[buffyjunkie]

Ohh, 42 years - very impressive trudi tru.  My caramel apple had salty peanuts too. It made up for the microbrewery beer which was meh. Gorgeous weather though, beautiful sky and clouds and weather. It is good to have friends.

I too was hoping they would make it. They seemed more active than most celebs in supporting good causes and family -oriented. Which seems to be a phase for husbands who grow out of it when their mid-life crisis hits.

[Chyna]

On 9/18/2016 at 3:37 PM, romantic idiot said:

I did my tour of duty on VCRs.

Ha! I did that tour as well. But I was maybe 11 or 12 years old at the time. Because I was the only one willing to sit down with the instruction manual and figure it out (I'll cut my little brother a break because he was 6), setting the timer on the VCR became my job. Every day at breakfast, there would be a sticky note on the table by my chair with the times and channels to be recorded. Then one day, I recorded channel 32 instead of channel 2 (I maintain to this day that I was given incorrect information, not that I made a mistake) and my dad missed something he wanted to see, and I got scolded. So I announced at the dinner table that I was tired of being the only one responsible for recording everyone's stuff, and that I would be holding an instructional session on how to do it, because I would no longer be recording anything for anyone else (except maybe the 6-year-old). They actually came to my instructional session. :)

[trudi-tru]

If you can spare a couple of minutes go read this. Trust me, it's worth it.

[Chyna]

I love Tom and Lorenzo.

[trudi-tru]

I don't know who they are, somone posted the link in other forum. I had to share the brilliance of it. Though I do feel a tad bad for poor Tom, who is not having the best year.

[Chyna]

Check out their reviews of the "national costumes" portion of the Miss Universe pageants.

[romantic idiot]

Who the hell was the ex girlfriend?

[trudi-tru]

If you're talking about the Tom Hiddleston link, they're referencing his brief romance with Taylor Swift.

[romantic idiot]

Cool, thanks!

[Hostile16]

I'm blaming the election for the fact that I literally teared up when I heard the Rosetta rover crash-landed onto the comet it has been orbiting for two years. Was it because after working so hard, it has been abandoned in the dark and the cold and the silence? Or am I just jealous?

[trudi-tru]

Are you saying you want to be abandoned in a cold, dark and silent place?

Piss off some mob or drug dealer and you got your wish.

[Hostile16]

True enough. My secret cold, dark, and silent place is the bedroom our vampire hero had in the TV show Moonlight. IIRC, it was a converted kitchen cooler. To sleep under a pile of blankets every night in absolute darkness... possibly beside a hot (pun intended) vampire? Livin' the dream. 

And while that ventures into TMI territory, here's news you'll all appreciate: I am not needed for jury duty tomorrow! Woot! All the benefits of fulfilling my Constitutional duty with none of the hard chairs, tedium, and miles-away parking. Yea, me.*

* This is either my seventh or eighth summons so I'm not whatever the jury equivalent of a scofflaw is.

[AnnieF]

Yay for no jury duty! I keep wondering if I am ever going to get called; we've been back in NV for 15 years, not been called once. I did enjoy (for a given value of "enjoy") the one time I was on a jury when I lived in CA, but that was a murder case, so, kind of inherently interesting. And depressing; seeing the sausage of justice being made is not terribly pretty. :/

 

It snowed over Donner Summit last night and it's all frosty and icy here this morning. Brrr!

[Valny]

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 10:03 AM, AnnieF said:

 

 

It snowed over Donner Summit last night and it's all frosty and icy here this morning. Brrr!

Did anyone read that as Donna Summer? Oh come on! You did!

 

Quote

This is either my seventh or eighth summons...

wow!  In how many years??  Did you serve for any of them?   I forget, how many years can you be called again between being

called for jury duty? four, six years?

Edited October 6, 2016 by Valny

[trudi-tru]

4 hours ago, Valny said:

Did anyone read that as Donna Summer? Oh come on! You did!

Ha! Yes, I did.

[Chyna]

6 hours ago, trudi-tru said:

Did anyone read that as Donna Summer? Oh come on! You did!

So did I. :-)

I've been called for jury duty just a handful of times, but I've ever had to actually serve. I've been argued over before (the prosecutors usually want the educated white lady who has never been the victim of a serious crime, but the defense doesn't), and I've spent mornings cooling my heels at the courthouse only to be sent home, but never actually served on a trial. My husband, on the other hand, has been selected numerous times. Whenever he gets the summons, we know he's in for at least a few days.

[AnnieF]

I feel pretty comfortable in saying that, without a doubt, Donna Summer was sometimes snowed upon. She grew up in Boston! :-)

[Boliver]

Last month, I had federal district court jury duty scheduled (they didn't end up needing my group number to show up), and then state court jury duty scheduled 2 weeks later (which likewise didn't end up calling my group in). I'd scheduled the jury duties around the Memorial Day holiday so they'd be less likely to have trials, with a lot of judges and attorneys taking August and September vacations; I don't know if it worked, but I knew my boss would be super stressed if I was called, especially after me not being willing to ask for them to let me off because it would cause him anxiety. 

I do read all these posts, by the way, every day in an email, and I'm here in spirit. :-)

[buffyjunkie]

Yeah, I find it surprising to have only been called once given my consistent voting. 

May I just say that Crete with friends and a driver named Costas rocks.

[Hostile16]

Donna Summer aside, you can be called for jury duty once every two years in these parts. It's just a one-day thing unless you're chosen for a panel, but you're assigned a day instead of being able to choose a time like Boliver. I suspect I'm called so frequently because I'm registered as an Independent, and they probably try to choose an equal number of Democrats, Republicans, and Whatevers.

Over the years, I have served on two juries; been dismissed once for being a single, childless journalist and once for having gone to college with a judge (and running into her on my way court); never empaneled once; excused once (my mom was ill, and it was two days shy of being two years since I was called -- keep track of that, people!); and twice told my services weren't required.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Hostile16

[trudi-tru]

35 minutes ago, Hostile16 said:

been dismissed once for being a single, childless journalist

Well of course. What kind of person are you?

[Earl Is Dead]

Here you're eligible one day out of every year, (and like Hostile, we can't choose the day) and whether you're picked or not as long as you reported to the courthouse you've fulfilled your obligation for the year.  Although I haven't had to report since college because these days you can check in the night before and find out whether or not you're needed.  If you don't have to go, your name stays in the lottery for that year.  Part of me has always wanted to serve on a jury and see the ordeal for myself but, alas, even when I had to report my number was never even called for an interview.  I remain a jury virgin.  :o(

Edited October 7, 2016 by Earl Is Dead

[Valny]

Quote

you can be called for jury duty once every two years in these parts

Huh, I guess it's different for every state then because I know it's at least 4 years in NY between getting summoned. I guess I thought it was the same everywhere. 

My sister is visiting us until Tuesday or Wednesday. I took off Friday and I have a floating holiday to use so I also took off Monday for Columbus Day, so it's like a mini vacation, which I'm all for.    She was first in LA visiting her kids and on the flight here on Wednesday, she sat in back of Reese Witherspoon!  My sister said it looked like she was reading a script and she didn't hear her talking much with her assistant.  Said she was tiny and cute and smiled at each other when my sister passed her seat.  I'm so oblivious I probably wouldn't even noticed anyone famous.

Sister also went to NYC with friends to see the play Waitress which she liked...but didn't think it was amazing or anything.
Raining and pretty cold today. Thinks it's part of Hurricane Matthew.   Speaking of, is everything ok in your parts Hostile16?

Someone help, I'm eating a bag of pistachio's and can't stop!

Edited October 9, 2016 by Valny

[Hostile16]

Thanks for asking. Here midstate NC, we got about five inches of rain with very little wind. My bestie in New Bern, inland from the coast, but on a tidal river, had street and yard flooding, but no power outages. B

My family back in St. Augustine, FL had the usual "yikes, here comes the water/ phew, there goes the water" quick flooding and tons of yard debris and downed trees. Over the bridge, the beaches were very hard hit, with loss of dunes and beach erosion. The bridge has been closed evidently even to the media, and the newspaper coverage has been very bad. But the rumor is that the county (St. John's), which is fairly small with no big cities, has $2 billion in damages. Like, with a B. So I expect there is substantial loss of real estate from the idiots who build beachfront.

[Endeavour]

I'm glad you and your family are ok, Hostile. 

I think it's 4 years here for duty and, as soon as I can be called, I am. You have no control over the days other than requesting to be excused or postponing to a later date. I've been on 2 cases so far. I was in the pool for a murder trial but was excused. I have to say, I would have been very uncomfortable if picked for that one. 

My sister is here and I'm taking a few days off too Valny. Enjoy the visit!

[Hostile16]

Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in Literature. Thoughts?

[romantic idiot]

Mixed. Not sure what to think. 

[Erratic]

Dylan has always been a poet who performs ('sings' is pushing it), but as the music is 50% of his work, it just shouldn't fit into 'literature' because that is to rob it of its entire form.

That being said, they have Obama a Peace prize his first year in the White House, and whilst I adore Barrack Obama, he never earned a Nobel Prize then, or since (ymmv).

[romantic idiot]

Re: Dylan, thinking about it again, I'm into it. We've done a song of his in our literature course, I think. And Tagore was primarily a songwriter too. 

I don't know if it says anything about the dearth of good literature right now. 

And at least it wasn't Rowling or something. 

[AnnieF]

I find Nobel prizes hard to take seriously. I assume the sciencey prizes have more, I dunno, rigorous standards or something, but the peace prize and the literature prize are, for me, not so prestigious. Giving the lit prize to Dylan just makes me laugh. Okey dokey, Nobel committee. Y'all are hilarious. ;)

I mean, Henry fucking Kissinger has a Nobel peace prize. 'Nuff said.

Edited October 15, 2016 by AnnieF

[Harvester]

Henry fucking Kissinger. I love you all.

[Harvester]

Man, I think the new job is giving me an anxiety disorder. How is everyone else doing?

[trudi-tru]

Oh no. Can you do something about it? The job, I mean.

Things are fairly good here. Last Friday I went to see Giselle (the ballet that made Angelus cry. Heh.) at La Scala. It was my first time there. It was gorgeous. The scenography, the coreagraphy, the costumes.

[romantic idiot]

It usually gets better? What's the problem?

[Endeavour]

What's going on with the job, Harvester?

I made up my mind a while ago to change jobs but haven't had the time to update the resume and prepare. I need to carve out the time and get it done. 

Honestly, I'm not in the best of moods these days. 

[Erratic]

I have a sinus cold.

 

Sorry your job sucks, harvester

[Endeavour]

Feel better, Erratic. 

[Harvester]

I am better tonight. I am just dealing with a situation full of deep, awful corruption. I am still swinging though, so I haven't given up.

[Chyna]

Ugh. I have a friend dealing with corruption in a nearby school district, and it's been going on so long, it's like folks don't know there's another way.

[Valny]

Virtual hugs to all who could use it.    Hope that sinus clears up soon Erratic.

Hey who are the Walking Dead fans here? Are you psyched for the premiere where we finally find out who's getting offed? On my FB page I asked who you think will be saying goodbye.  Chime in over there if you want to add your guesses.

I'm going to my BFF's to watch the show and have a little premiere party. I made some chili dip and some awesome Oreo balls They are decadent. I can barely eat one, they are so chocolatey. Yes I said that.

Edited October 23, 2016 by Valny

[Harvester]

I watched it. It felt like torture porn, so I started doing other things for most of it. I think this is going to be a long season full of Negan speeches.

[Chyna]

I'm not even going to look at those Oreo balls. I'm trying to abstain from sugar for a few days and Oreo balls might be more than I can handle.

[Erratic]

'Walking Dead' may never finish, but they do have to keep ramping shit up each year, and it is tedious. But, that being said, I was shocked by this episode.