Bearing down on me.

Did anything happen today that I need to know about? Because I was sort of immersed in this and that. Have a lot on my plate at work, and this weekend looms a rather hastily thrown-together graduation / bon voyage party for Princess Katharine. I looked into catering it, then decided to do it myself. Are those famous last words? Who knows. I’m planning a taco-fixings array, and this week I’m slow-cooking a pork shoulder, a beef brisket and three pounds of chicken thighs. Ring me up Sunday morning and ask how it went. I’m crossing my fingers, but wouldn’t bet against a disaster.

If so, I’ll take some pictures. Anyway, the weather forecast is favorable — sunny and low 80s. Here’s hoping.

Open thread, then.

Posted at 12:43 am in Same ol' same ol' |
 

44 responses to “Bearing down on me.”

  1. Brandon said on August 19, 2015 at 1:18 am

    Getting turnt up!

    http://www.tmz.com/2015/08/18/madonna-cops-called-birthday-party-hamptons/

    New season of Bad Girls Club started August 11.
    http://www.oxygen.com/bad-girls-club

    191 chars

  2. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 19, 2015 at 7:08 am

    Mmmm, tacos.

    12 chars

  3. beb said on August 19, 2015 at 8:11 am

    Tacos are very messy and everyone dressed in their best clothes. A deli spread – cold meats, different breads, cheeses, dressing sounds more containable.

    The mayor of Warren is having a fit because a company in Detroit is making personal flamethrowers. As they are not a gun they are not regulated by anyone (in Michigan). Suggested uses of weed removal, wasp and hornet removal seem a bit specious but no more than a civilian buying bullet-proof armor.

    457 chars

  4. beb said on August 19, 2015 at 8:32 am

    Yvonne Craig has died. She famously played Batgirl in the third season of Batman. What hormonal boy could forget that. So much spandex… She also played an “Orion Slave Girl” in season three of Star Trek, also in a couple Elvis movies and “The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis.” Which makes her a lot older than I imagined from her appearance on Batman. She was 78.

    360 chars

  5. coozledad said on August 19, 2015 at 8:38 am

    The most intelligent person running for president, by far.
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/clinton-black-lives-matter-nh-videos

    This is an honest, useful exchange. I believe Hillary will be able to help black people on a variety of fronts. My hope is she will begin by federalizing the elections process with a uniform code of voter rights.

    The Republicans have begun the process of restricting the right to vote to white men, state by state. Now they’re openly advocating the repeal of the 14th amendment and birthright citizenship, and it’s obvious where they’re going with that- a property qualification we haven’t seen since the Confederacy got its ass drubbed.

    The trash that votes Republican don’t seem to have a clue where that will leave them, but rational self-interest has never been a strong suit with goobers.

    837 chars

  6. Jeff Borden said on August 19, 2015 at 9:45 am

    I don’t want to harsh your mellow, but I agree with beb. Tacos are muy messy. Every summer when we are planning our annual 4th of July party, which usually draws 40 to 50 people over the course of the day, my beloved talks about changing the menu to something like ribs. And every year I remind her of how messy it would be for all involved and we wind up with the usual fried chicken from Popeye’s. (Johanna emulates D.C. hostess with the mostess Pamela Harriman, who would buy Popeye’s mild recipe, put in in the oven for a few hours at 250 degrees to bake off the grease, and serve.) BTW, every year we get compliments on the chicken.

    Cooz, I share your fear of Republicans taking the nation back to the bad old days. One thing about conservatives is they never give up. They’ve been trying to undermine Social Security for 80 years, which was bad enough, but now it looks like they’d be downright happy to go back 150 years or so and assure only white male property owners get the vote. How can a nation as diverse as ours with so many smart and capable people field such a pathetic field of pygmies?

    1107 chars

  7. brian stouder said on August 19, 2015 at 9:47 am

    …but rational self-interest has never been a strong suit with goobers.

    See – that’s the key.

    At some point (maybe the 2016 election cycle) there will be a massive train-wreck for our Republican friends….and then, what?

    The goobers will be sitting there, ripe for the plucking… and a major party will always go for them; and if an established party will not, then a new one will spring up.

    418 chars

  8. Dorothy said on August 19, 2015 at 10:07 am

    If tacos are a preferred food, then have tacos. But have lots of extra napkins and paper plates. You have to serve what the guests would like and it sounds like you already decided that!

    I haven’t mentioned this yet but I’ve known about it for about a month. My daughter has a new position at the paper where she works. She’s the night editor, responsible for the print edition. She was offered a 10% raise and asked for more, and got it! We’re very proud of her. She had been so unhappy when the Editor resigned in February (she is NOT his replacement). Denis was widely loved there and many people were upset when he decided to leave. Laura was exploring other job possibilities herself. But then this position was created. She is ready for the challenge and thinks it is a very good fit for her talents. Oddly enough, her first day in the new position was the last day for her long-time boyfriend, who was a page designer. He’s been taking classes to get a degree in Accounting, and starts back with a full time schedule very soon (he’ll be done in two years). He does an Internet side business that brings him more income than he had at the paper.

    In December our son will get his Master’s in cybersecurity, which he’s been doing online since he was deployed in May 2013. We’re all traveling to Penn State to see it because he wants to walk in the grad ceremony. This is a big year for the young people in our family!

    1439 chars

  9. nancy said on August 19, 2015 at 10:18 am

    Jeez, you people. I asked the guest of honor what she wanted, and she requested tacos, so tacos it is. Anyway, I’m not stopping the train at this point. The beef goes into the slow cooker today.

    And “dressed to the nines?” What sort of graduation parties do you go to, Beb? This will be held in our back yard, and if anyone dresses beyond back-yard casual, I’m sending them home to change.

    393 chars

  10. coozledad said on August 19, 2015 at 10:22 am

    This country needs to put its terrorists to death, but it won’t even arrest them.

    http://wonkette.com/593044/man-brings-bomb-to-abortion-clinic-definitely-not-there-to-bomb-abortion-clinic

    191 chars

  11. Bob (not Greene) said on August 19, 2015 at 11:51 am

    Yeah, you fancy pantses! What the heck’s wrong with you! Tacos are great. I want tacos too. I’ll be there at 6.

    111 chars

  12. MichaelG said on August 19, 2015 at 11:56 am

    That Kansas story is truly unbelievable. What a fucked up state. I used to think Texas was bad. Still do, I guess.

    117 chars

  13. nancy said on August 19, 2015 at 11:59 am

    Tacos and CAKE, too. And likka drinks.

    38 chars

  14. 4dbirds said on August 19, 2015 at 12:09 pm

    What, no handmade sushi? Hope everyone has a great time.

    58 chars

  15. Judybusy said on August 19, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    The tacos sounds delish. Have a wonderful party!

    Dorothy, wonderful news on all fronts! So glad your family is doing well.

    My sister and husband are throwing a surprise going-away party for their middle child tonight. Tomorrow they leave for a small school in the far northern reaches of Minnesota, Bemidji State. One interesting thing is that my niece and her new roommate have already connected via Facebook, so already know each other a little bit.

    I heard about a book on Fresh Air, Give Us the Ballot which I want to read this fall. In the interview, the author reminded us that Florida had done a massive voter purge prior to the 2000 election, wrongfully removing many eligible voters. If they hadn’t done that, Gore likely would have carried the state and the world would be very different. And that reminds me, I need to get in touch with friends who do voter resistration and drives!

    1001 chars

  16. brian stouder said on August 19, 2015 at 12:33 pm

    Our last Big Event was Grant’s graduation, and we did tacos and nachos and pulled pork (think lines of crock pots and tables of goodies) – and everybody was happy.

    And indeed – if there’s CAKE, too – fuhgetaboutit!!

    219 chars

  17. beb said on August 19, 2015 at 12:52 pm

    Gee, I’m sorry, Nancy. I just thought that since “Princess Katherine” would be there your guests would want to dress to impress the royalty….

    Brian Stouder dreams that someday there will be a massive train-wreck for Republicans and then what… I hate to burst Brian balloon, but the GOP had a train wreck in 2012. They ever organized an autopsy, then threw it away and went even crazier than before. Will there ever be a come-to-Jesus moment for the R’s? Nope. Never. Conservatism can never fail only conservatives.

    522 chars

  18. Basset said on August 19, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    I wasn’t going to bother with HS graduation but my parents made me go. my dad didn’t show, afterward we went home and there was a cake but I don’t remember much else except that “In Concert” was on tv and Slade was playing, with Noddy Holder shaking a top hat covered in little mirrors. Probably just went back in my room afterward, already had my sights lined up on IU Bloomington and had pretty well checked out long before then. Blew off IU commencement some years later and nobody at home would believe I’d graduated till my diploma came in the mail.

    557 chars

  19. brian stouder said on August 19, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    Basset – my graduation was similarly low-key; honestly, I don’t specifically remember anything about my graduation, at all.

    I DO recall being in a play – Arsenic and Old Lace (I was Teddy) – in my senior year at good ol’ South Side. Mom and dad came to that, and dad was fairly beaming at the end of the show…so there’s that.

    330 chars

  20. Basset said on August 19, 2015 at 1:43 pm

    i dont remember plays, or choir, or anything musical that didnt support the sports program.

    91 chars

  21. Brandon said on August 19, 2015 at 1:59 pm

    http://blackagendareport.com/blm_and_democrats_disruption_to_collaboration

    74 chars

  22. brian stouder said on August 19, 2015 at 2:14 pm

    My brothers did all the sports* stuff; I had no such ability. But I did write space-filling stuff for the South Side Times, and as the South Side Totem (yearbook) staff met and worked, it occurred to me that I’d have nothing next to my name in my senior year, if I didn’t do a thing or two – and (really and truly) THAT is what got me to go for the play, and also a musical (I got a non-singing part in South Pacific), and so on.

    And nowadays, I am learning that most young folks do not buy the yearbook; presumeably since they have FaceBook and all the rest, instead.

    *A photo of my brother Alan in his football gear still to this day resides in a hall at South Side, amongst many other sports-related photos

    723 chars

  23. Sue said on August 19, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    “Did anything happen today that I need to know about?”
    Well, there’s this:
    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/first-almost-fully-formed-human-brain-grown-in-lab-researchers-claim/ar-CCU8K?ocid=DELLDHP
    If the last sentence in that article (‘For now, the team say they are focusing on using the brain for military research, to understand the effect of post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries’) doesn’t give you a little shiver of Jade Helm paranoia, you have no imagination.

    501 chars

  24. Joe K said on August 19, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    Bemijie state, ufta, tell her to pack warm clothes, they do have good hockey and a huge statue of Paul Bunnion and Babe. HS graduation was good left the next day with a buddy at 4:45am with a hangover and drove to L.A. Why? Dunno seemed fun at the time. Nancy flying a charter into Colman field Saturday about 5pm, could stop by for a taco, but would seriously like a recommendation for a hotel, or at least a area with in say 30 minute drive, do know I’m not staying by the airport.
    Went to Gettysburg on Tuesday after Antitiem on Monday, weapons were so far ahead of the tactics, you would have thought after 4 yrs they would have changed tactics.

    Thanks
    Pilot Joe

    674 chars

  25. BethB said on August 19, 2015 at 3:00 pm

    Bobby Kennedy was assassinated the day I graduated from high school, so that kind of put a damper on celebrating. I was one of four commencement speakers that year, so no party or anything, but we did have a family outing to Frisch’s afterward for strawberry pie.

    264 chars

  26. brian stouder said on August 19, 2015 at 3:20 pm

    Frisch’s always seemed so much better than Azar’s (Fort Wayne’s Big Boy franchise).

    Joe – I was quite taken with how different everything feels, at Gettysburg, compared to Antietam.

    Gettysburg seemed to have all the frippery and gaudiness (for lack of a better word) whereas Antietam struck me (at least the times we were there) as much more subdued and…funereal.

    Another place to see, which is very beautiful, and very, very (hauntingly) quiet – is the Shiloh battlefield near Corinth, Mississippi (about 40 miles east of Memphis, in Tennessee)

    556 chars

  27. Joe K said on August 19, 2015 at 3:38 pm

    I agree Brian, I think it’s because Antitiem is much smaller size wise, seems about half the size of Gettysburg, I have a hard time thinking how close together the opposing forces camped to each other before battle, and most the officers new each other from West Point.
    Pilot Joe

    280 chars

  28. brian stouder said on August 19, 2015 at 3:43 pm

    Antietam is definitely close-quarters, with the beautiful mountains framing everything.

    The one place I visited where you see young and old weeping was Andersonville.

    They have a wrenching display of American prisoners of war from all our wars (and not just the Civil War, for which that place was a huge POW camp)

    Plus, there is a military cemetery there that had fresh (less than month-old) graves when we were there, a decade ago

    442 chars

  29. Joe K said on August 19, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    Brian,
    I have also been to the Pea Ridge battle field in Arkansas, in fact I ran around it one time, around 8 miles, you want to talk ghost? Not only a battle field but the trail of tears also runs thru it. I was there on a cold windy low hanging cloud day, spooky doesn’t begin to describe it.
    Pilot Joe

    307 chars

  30. Dexter said on August 19, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    I am excited about Michigan football commencing in 15 days… Thu., Sep.3 at Utah TV-FS1 Salt Lake City, Utah 6:30 p.m. MT. There has not been this excitement in the air since Bo was at the helm, back in the 1980s.

    Personally, my Veterans Administration Tele-MOVE weight loss program concluded today. I view the experience as sort of a food eater’s re-hab. I learned a new way of eating, focussing on using a smaller plate and making smaller, wiser selections, eliminating some horrible foods, and really paying attention to the weight-scales.
    My diligence yielded a 29 pound weight loss in 85 days. However, just as an alcoholic’s rebab stint is simply the gateway to sobriety, my weight-loss program is just the jolt I needed to remain being a sensible eater. And I am not a zealot either…to celebrate the end of the daily communicating ritual, I drove to a convenience store and bought an apple-filled donut. But just one, and I only ate half, and I won’t allow myself another for two more weeks.

    1014 chars

  31. Joe k said on August 19, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    Way to go Dexter, losing it slow is the way to go. Maybe you didn’t see my post the other day. Ever play baseball in Hagerstown Maryland? Saw a game there Monday. Willie Mays played his first pro game in that stadium.
    Pilot Joe

    228 chars

  32. ROGirl said on August 19, 2015 at 5:10 pm

    You know who spoke at my high school graduation? George Romney. He told the girls to get married and have children.

    115 chars

  33. Charlotte said on August 19, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    My brother combined his senior year and freshman year in college (at Sterling College in Vermont — a terrific hippie liberal arts school). Because he wasn’t there to rehearse, they wouldn’t let him walk at his high school graduation — so we sat up in the stands. When they said his name, all his friends parents turned around and made What? faces. Best thing about that graduation was the boy with muscular dystrophy who wasnt’ supposed to live to graduate — he took a victory lap in his electric wheelchair and there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
    Graduations were always a trial — divorced parents who hated one another, someone always made a scene, someone always drank too much. Ugh. That was the best one because it was just Patrick and me.

    751 chars

  34. Brandon said on August 19, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    You know who spoke at my high school graduation?

    Robert Kekaula spoke at mine.

    88 chars

  35. Deborah said on August 19, 2015 at 8:19 pm

    I have no idea who spoke at my college graduation. Since it was a Missouri Synod Lutheran College it probably was no one I would care about today. The president at the time of the LCMS’s daughter was in my graduating class so it was probably him but I’m just guessing. She was kind of a case, I felt sorry for her, we crossed paths a few times on campus but not much.

    367 chars

  36. Suzanne said on August 19, 2015 at 9:52 pm

    I have no memory of who spoke at either my high school or college graduation, so I am guessing it was no one important. My daughter’s graduation from college had one of the founders of Vera Bradley who gave a lovely speech about starting her company in her basement with $500 & a dream. And, I thought, a husband who was an attorney, a wealthy partner, no need to work a couple of dead end jobs to put food on the table, and if you lost the $500 in the process, you might have to skip a few lunches out with the girls. The year before, the speaker had been Quincy Jones (I think) and the year after, the President of Ireland. She’s still mad about it.

    655 chars

  37. basset said on August 19, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    if I remember correctly, the president of Ireland is an IU grad… so he’s got that much going for him, anyway.

    on another, totally different topic… anyone familiar with Seattle and the surrounding area? starting to think about the next vacation, looks like an interesting city but we’re not sure what we might do there.

    326 chars

  38. Sue said on August 19, 2015 at 10:54 pm

    I consider myself a well-informed voter. How did I not know about Deez Nuts?
    http://theslot.jezebel.com/breaking-deez-nuts-polling-at-8-percent-in-north-carol-1725160034

    172 chars

  39. Sue said on August 19, 2015 at 10:58 pm

    basset, we were there for a weekend several years ago and loved it. Good food, bookstores galore, lovely rhododendrons. We’d go back again except for that huge impending Pacific Northwest earthquake/tsunami disaster thing we were talking about here a few weeks ago.

    267 chars

  40. Jolene said on August 20, 2015 at 12:05 am

    I second the idea of a Seattle vacation. How do you like to spend your time on vacation? Inside or outside? City or country? Rustic or refined?

    143 chars

  41. Basset said on August 20, 2015 at 1:59 am

    outside and eco-crunchy, mostly. last vacation was in Alaska, we went fishing and bear watching. went to portland about ten years ago, had a great time just wandering around the city and going to powell’s bookstore with side trips to the beach, mt. hood, and columbia river. will be at least next spring before we go – also have a do over waiting on the alaska bear trip.

    374 chars

  42. Sherri said on August 20, 2015 at 3:08 am

    Seattle is a great eco-crunchy outside vacation destination. August is usually the best time of the year in Seattle in terms of reliably good weather, but if you don’t mind a little gray and drizzle, it’s not bad in spring, either. (Winter is dark. Really dark.) Seattle is a fun town to wander around. The Space Needle may be a tourist trap, but it’s a cool tourist trap nonetheless, especially on a clear sunny day when you can see Mt Rainier in one direction and Mt. Baker in another. There are ferries to various San Juan Islands north of Seattle, like Orcas Island and Whidbey Island, and ferries across Puget Sound from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, which is kind of a neat little town. Plenty of whale-watching during the right times of year. Lots of hiking in the Cascades (the Olympics are further away.) Pike Place Market is fun to wander through, and you can stand in a horribly long line if you want to get a coffee drink at the original Starbucks. The Museum of Flight is definitely worth a visit, as is the tour of Boeing if you’re at all inclined towards that sort of stuff. Oh, and the Ballard Locks, where the boats come through between Lake Washington and Puget Sound. Be prepared for hills; it’s hillier in the downtown area than Portland is.

    If you don’t mind driving a few hours south, Mt. St. Helens is a fantastic site.

    I have no plans to move away anytime soon, so I should still be living in Redmond for the foreseeable future, so give a shout.

    1475 chars

  43. Basset said on August 20, 2015 at 7:13 am

    seeing whales and orcas would greatly impress mrs. b, what’s the right time of year for that?

    93 chars

  44. brian stouder said on August 20, 2015 at 8:18 am

    I would wanna see a haunt or two where Pearl Jam (et al) began

    62 chars