Looks like &rico decided to stop stealing from me.

Uh-huh. That’s right. We bad.

A little memege fun courtesy of Jen’s Vanity Page

1. What time did you get up this morning?

7 am, like I do for any normal workday. No snooze alarms for me. One of my quirks.

2. Diamonds or pearls?

Neither gets me gushing, but I suppose pearls. I’m not a bling kind of gal.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?

Hah. Cinema? No cinema would allow the likes of me inside. Last time I set foot in a movie theatre was to see {blushes} The Howard Stern Movie.

4. What is your favourite TV show?

I love TV. But if I must pick only one, then it’s gotta be The Simpsons.

5. What did you have for breakfast?

Coffee. 3 cups.

6. What is your middle name?

Same as my maternal grandmother’s middle name.

7. What is your favourite cuisine?

Southern, with extra butter.

8. What foods do you dislike?

Anything chock full of preservatives, additives, artificial flavors, and/or artificial sweeteners

9. What is your favourite chip flavour?

Chocolate

10. What is your favourite song of all time?

All time? I can’t play along here.

11. What type of car do you drive?

I don’t. Mike drives me around in a Toyota.

12. Favourite sandwich?

While a French Dip comes in a mighty close second, I’m going to have to go with a reuben. But it must include dark pumpernickel, not that light rye they use here in the south.

13. What characteristic do you despise?

Narcissism (she types as she fills out this self-indulgent meme)

14. Favourite item of clothing?

Any of my sweatpants.

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?

If it’s a peaceful, tropical island, I’m in.

16. What colour is your bathroom?

Is butt ugly a color? It applies to both bathrooms.

17. Favourite brand of clothing?

Goodwill or Salvation Army. I don’t usually buy new clothes and certainly not because of brand.

18. Where would you retire to?

One day, retirement will be looked at by historians as an interesting, but failed, social experiment. I don’t expect to be able to have such a luxury.

19. Favourite time of the day?

This is just one of those things I don’t rank.

20. What was your most memorable birthday?

I guess my 18th. It involved a lot of jaegermeister and the janitor’s closet on my dorm floor.

21. Who is the love of your life?

Mike. He’s stuck with me for good.

22. Favourite sport to watch?

Live? Baseball. On TV? Whatever’s on. I don’t really care.

23. Who do you least expect to send this back to you?

Didn’t send it to anyone but you beachcombers are always welcome to post your own.

24. Person you expect to send it back first?

See #23

25. What fabric detergent do you use?

Surf for soap and All or Cuddle or Downy for fabric softener

26. Coke or Pepsi?

Coke if I must.

27. Favourite movie?

Insert lame, cop-out response here. I’m sure you are all sick of hearing me tell you how I am not a movie person.

28. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Night, I suppose.

29. What is your shoe size?

An itty-bitty, teeny-weeny 4. Yeah, I buy kids’ shoes. Wanna make something of it?

30. Do you have any pets?

3 adoring cats

31. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with your family & friends?

My mixer will be here after the first of the year. Woowoo.

32. What did you want to be when you were little?

An architect, but “girls aren’t good at math.”

I commented to Mike just this morning how much I hated the internetism ‘pwn3d’ because of its overuse. Yet, here I am using it, probably for the first time ever on teh Internets, and only because it is actually appropriate in this case.

See, this mope has been stealing an image of mine. I found it when I noticed an overwhelming number of Surinamese and Dutch visitors. Once I determined where the pic was posted, I recruited Mike to aid me in the ol’ switcheroo.

Now, instead of this pretty little pic, he gets: this.

&rico, if that really is your name, need I remind you that stealing is wrong? Tsk. Tsk.

Huzzah virtual vigilantes!

There are two America’s Debate members that have been blogging for a bit that I’ve failed to mention.

Independent powerhouse, christopher, is blogging at Bright Rockets. If we all had just an ounce of your optimism, christopher, our spot in the universe would be far better off.

Also blogging is the adorable Juber, but as I type this and check his site, I see it is not functioning. Well, when he gets his sails back up, I’ll link you over.

Ahoy mateys!

Ok beachcombing ladies – I have a fashion question for you. When and why did it become cool for women to wear knee-length loose pants, like capris but really loose, and knee high black boots? The first time I saw a woman dressed like this, I thought it was just a bad fashion accident. However, I have seen similar combinations on at least three different women since then.

Do the women who partake in this particular fashion trend realize how absolutely freakin’ stupid they look? Short pants AND boots? It’s like Condi Rice and Long John Silver are collaborating on dressing these women.

If you wear such an outfit or are planning to, please know us regular folks are laughing our asses off at you. You look stupid. Really you do. Thanks for the laugh.

Link: The Where Should You Live Test

Rowhouse ‘Hood
People know you as: The Bohemian Gentrifier
Quote: “That crack house just needed a little paint.”

Your score indicates that you are a city-dweller of the old-school. You
like a dense, finely grained neighborhood with restaurants, churches
and brothels all on the same block. Although you’ve never spoken to him
personally, you know that guy Eddie down the street is a pimp and
you’re sure to tell your lame suburban friends about him at every
opportunity, just to freak them out.

The bad news is that as more and more people like you move
into your neighborhood it gradually becomes less cool and more
expensive. Enjoy things while you can, because in 5 years you’re going
to have to move to the next ‘hood uptown.

Examples of places you should live: Baltimore, Philadelphia

Some Christmas funniness: Thoughts & Musings by Kathy McMahon.

Cheers!

Two more for the Christmas cookie line-up. Last night Mike and I made pecan balls and jan hagel. We plan on getting butterscotch cookies done before tonight’s online gift exchange. So my family can watch us eat them, of course.

Do any of you beachcombers know if jan hagel is really a Dutch cookie or if it’s just one of those American food inventions we like to pretend came from elsewhere (like pizza and chow mein)?

Mike and I have been quite festive this season so far. In previous years, Mike has had to drag me pouting and brooding into the holiday season. I’ve been slowly coming around and confess I’ve actually enjoyed myself so far this year.

Our house is all decorated, including a live tree and front porch pillars wrapped to look like candy canes. We made 8 different kinds of cookies including lemon and peppermint kaleidoscopes, chocolate chip, peanut butter kiss, candy cane cookies, pinwheels, oatmeal icebox, and toffee bars.

We took Mike’s nieces and nephews ice skating – quite a workout. The office I work in had a nice Christmas lunch at one of the frou-frou members-only type clubs. Of course, I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu.

Tomorrow Mike and I will celebrate with my family in Illinois like we have the last few years – by internet video conference. We all nestle up by the warm glow of our monitors and open the gifts we sent earlier in the week. (By the way, major kudos to FedEx ground who shipped over 25 lbs of gifts for less than $16 in 3 days!). We’ll make some calls to Mike’s family on Christmas eve also and maybe even try a video meeting with his dad.

Christmas day we’ll spend with Mike’s sister’s family in the Savannah burbs. We’ll have a nice fat Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Monday I have off, so I intend on sleeping and maybe some laundry, but mostly sleeping.

Mele Kalikimaka, beachcombers.

(Cross-posted to America’s Debate)

This company is scum:

Hallandale Marketing Inc
3075 W OAKLAND PARK Blvd
Oakland Park, FL 33311
954-677-8695

They call the office I work in multiple times a week with a recorded message from “Jan” telling us that we have qualified for a vacation in Orlando. I star *69′d to get the number, then reverse directoried it to get the above info. Every time I try to call them to tell them to stop calling us, it’s busy.

How is this type of marketing even effective? Do people actually fall for crap like this?

Hallandale go to hell.

Thanks to Cyan and Doc for the face recognition fun.

After seeing my results, my inclination is to believe that this program is set to “flattering” mode. Using my Innkeeper’s Bio pic, my match:

It obviously didn’t factor in height…among many, many other things…

The weather here isn’t exactly beautiful (rainy and in the 50s). But it ain’t this:

Ok, so that is kind of pretty…from a 1,000 miles away.

Beachcombers, welcome to the blogosphere my AD friend, bucket. She’s a sharp debater and a delightful person to chat with. bucket doesn’t disappoint. So go welcome her already.

Courtesy of The Chicagoist via Eileen Byrne:

Church To Close On Christmas (Seriously):
In an effort to get its members to focus on a more personal Christmas experience at home, Willow Creek is asking its members to stay home and spend the day with their families. The Tribune reports that senior pastor Rev. Gene Appel said “The best way to honor the birth of Jesus is for families to have a more personal experience on that day.”

Sorry folks, no one is welcome in Jesus’ house on his birthday.