Ratphooey

Elevating the mundane

Naptime
#2 sleeping
[info]ratphooey
The only thing cuter than a child is a sleeping child.

#2 is a champion sleeper. When he's out, he's out.





Gotta have his bunny.



This is the only time I am allowed to mess with his hair.

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LJ Coupon
Rat crossword
[info]ratphooey
Apparently I can now send 10 non-Paid friends a $10 coupon with which you can purchase a Paid Account for $9.95 (instead of $19.95) for one year by enrolling in the automatic payment plan or make a manual payment of $15 (instead of $25).

Anyone want one?

Chanukah Progress Report
Solid gelt
[info]ratphooey
We're just past the halfway point of Chanukah 2009 (or 5770 for the frum in the house), and so far it's been lovely. Candles and latkes and, of course, presents.

I've succumbed to the gift-a-night thing, but the gifts have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, from #2's very own ukulele (so he will stop fighting over his brother's) to robot underwear (#1 asked for purple, but I couldn't find any; robots seemed the next best thing).

#2's favorite is of course the aforementioned ukulele, though Whack-a-Mole is also popular (personally I find it quite cathartic!).

#1 says it's a tie between Connect Four, which we've played daily since the weekend, and the darling tweeting alarm clock he opened last night.

Bathtub crayons and paints are coming up, but I'm saving them for a night on which I'm not too tired to immediately plunk them all, boys and toys, in the tub. Maybe Friday.

Also, courtesy of today's Woot shirt, I have a new yiddishe icon!
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At last
MBA
[info]ratphooey
My grade for the international residency has been posted.

For that fabulous experience, full of learning and food and friendship and fun (and the occasional dull seminar to go along with the fascinating ones), I earned an A.

My last grade ever in my MBA program.
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Diner daze
life in philly
[info]ratphooey
I'm not a big fan of the Aramingo Diner, but I love this story of diners paying it forward.

Don't say cheese
life in philly
[info]ratphooey

Don't say cheese, originally uploaded by ratphooey.

He's such a pleasant companion, that boy. We went to dinner with last night and he enjoyed sauteed salmon and bowtie pasta and the Mad Libs-style game on the kids' menu.

Oh, and the escalators at Raymour & Flanigan.


Chanukah Cookies
life in philly
[info]ratphooey

Chanukah Cookies, originally uploaded by ratphooey.


Today
life in philly
[info]ratphooey
This morning the bus we were on was rear-ended by a truck.

This afternoon I spilled a plateful of oyster sauce down my favorite jacket and a white shirt.

This evening I feel sad and depressed. Chanukah has begun, and now the holiday season will barrel along til it's January and bleak and cold.

I would like it to slow down.

Please?

Light blue or cobalt, that is the question
House
[info]ratphooey
Poll #1496049 Tile my bathroom!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 34

Which color of penny tiles will make my 2nd floor bathroom perfect?

View Answers


12 (35.3%)


22 (64.7%)


This could be bad
Moo juice
[info]ratphooey
I really, really wish I didn't know that the cafeteria in my building sells delicious, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies.

Okay
life in philly
[info]ratphooey
Today was not as good as yesterday, but it was okay.

I am sleepy now, and there is much to do tomorrow.

Things I like right now
Gene Kelly Leap
[info]ratphooey
  • Diet Pomegranate 7UP

  • Kettle corn flavored Quakes (Quaker rice snacks)

  • Said Quakes with cottage cheese

  • Getting up in time to not have to rush to get out the door

  • Being taken to lunch by my new team at a place that serves one of my favorite salads

  • It's Friday!

Break Up Insurance Monopolies
Politics schmolitics
[info]ratphooey
America's health insurance companies have had a pretty sweet deal for decades.

They can pick and choose their customers and deny coverage to anyone with any sort of pre-existing condition -- even acne. They can get away with dropping your coverage when you get sick.

And since 1945 they have been exempt from the antitrust regulations that apply to nearly every other industry, rules that protect consumers from anti-competitive business practices like price-fixing.

That's why I just sent a letter to my Senators, supporting the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act, which will eliminate the outdated insurance industry antitrust exemption, and force health insurance companies to compete fairly -- like virtually every other business in America.

Please join me by sending a letter to your Senators as well:

http://ga3.org/campaign/hcr_antitrust

Midweek Miscellany
Cheese screed
[info]ratphooey
  • Can you touch-type? Does your computer keyboard need more color? These stickers are for you! Because B is for Bowie.

  • We don't just need more jobs, we need good jobs. And we're not getting them. When Robert Reich is worried, we should all be worried.

  • Even if your marriage is pretty good, could it be better?

  • This might be a good place for #2's 3rd birthday next month. Their grownup menu looks delicious! Thanks, [info]drinkingcocoa! Pesky winter birthdays. But does he have 13 little friends we'd invite?

  • These amps go to 11. Though per my husband, Fender’s old amps went to 12, and since Spinal Tap, Marshall makes one that goes to 20 in honor of Nigel Tufnel….

  • In honor of Ipsie, the Lorem ipsum generator
.

My 2009 Holiday Cocktail
Swanky devil
[info]ratphooey
The Clementine Cocktail

2 ounces gin
1-2 teaspoons créme de cassis
4 clementines, juiced
Ice cubes

Place ice in glass. Pour gin and cassis over. Add clementine juice. Stir just once.

I'd be tempted to add a dash of bitters, as well.

Happy New Year
fireworks
[info]ratphooey
In a move guaranteed to delight millions of young Philadelphians (not to mention their parents), Philadelphia will be offering not one but two New Year's Eve fireworks displays.

The traditional midnight event, and another.

At 6 PM.

The boys will be so excited!

How I love that boy
JBabyHead
[info]ratphooey
Having watched the "Super Caillou" episode of Caillou this morning, #2 went off to preschool as Super J!

Cape and all.

If only there were photographs.
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Really most sincerely done
MBA
[info]ratphooey
I did a final edit / rewrite / proofread on my team's final paper for Strategic Management this morning.

And then I e-mailed it to the professor.

So now I am really and truly, utterly and completely done with my MBA.

It still hasn't sunk in yet. I was all but done last Wednesday, when I submitted my individual paper, but only had flashes of euphoria. I kept walking around feeling the stress of the past two years, noticing it, and having to remind myself that I could let it go. I was at the playground with the boys and realized I was breathing shallowly. I had to talk myself down from the angst, and remind myself that there was nothing else I needed to be doing right then, no reading to do, no papers to write.

I dimly recall a time before I started grad school when I somehow managed to keep all my plates spinning such that I rarely felt as though I should be someplace else instead of where I was right at that moment. I could do work at work, and be home at home (aside from the expected, periodic soupçon of maternal guilt to be working outside the home), and be fine with that.

I wonder how long it will take me to feel that way again?

Because I am absolutely, utterly, totally and completely done.
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Printing
Doctor Who
[info]ratphooey
We haven't had a working printer in the house for ages, since our second-hand laser printer gave up the ghost, oh, last year some time. My SIL then gave us their old one, but it never worked for us - wouldn't even feed the paper.

With printers at work, not having one was generally not a problem, but there have been times when it would have been nice to be able to print out a coupon or a movie schedule from the comfort of our own home.

I finally ordered one a few weeks ago, but then didn't get around to opening it and setting it up. Until this evening, when I had to print out snapshots of #1 and Biscuit to paste into Biscuit's journal.

It's wireless, the new printer. The joys of wireless printing are too numerous to, er, enumerate. I can sit on the sofa and hit print, and then the printout appears across the room, as if by magic!

It doesn't take much to excite me, does it.
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Swinger
life in philly
[info]ratphooey

J swings, originally uploaded by ratphooey.

We took advantage of the lovely fall day to spend a couple of hours at the playground.

#2 is fearless on the slides, even the steep fast one, but may love the swings the most.