~Off Topic Thread~

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Yay!! Welcome back Maven - we missed you too!!!

I feel totally out of things in the middle of the desert - maybe I am the only one insane enough to live here?! As for central air - I am kinda fed up with our whole apartment sounding like it is about to take off Ohhh for a peaceful night's sleep!!! I swear there must be better systems than what we have but as it is our electricity bill is looking to prevent us from ever having a mortgage or children or even for me to visit the UK ever ever again. It really sucks and it is all so alien to me that I don't know what to do about it

You've probably arrived at the worst possible time for living in the desert - think how AWESOME it will be in the winter when its 75 and everyone else is covered in snow. Have you been to Idlewyld yet? I recommend a visit for some cooler temps!

I recently found the receipt from that night in my purse and realized exactly how many drinks we each consumed. It is VERY ugly (except for sensible Dev).

I see a new member title in my future...

Actually evil Dev might be more appropriate - was it your master plan to maintain control in order to get me and maven to do karoake?

Welcome back maven! Glad to hear you guys are settling in nicely.

Well, I'll be MIA until the 28th or 29th as we're off to the UK tomorrow for some much needed R & R. Kids are off to camp and we are free to imbibe til our hearts are content. No need to be sensible!

See you guys soon and take care one and all!

Have a great trip Julez. Bizarrely, this weekend I had a dream that we met and you were trying to get me to buy life insurance.

Good to hear you are settling in Nicky - I didn't realize the Lollapalooza festival was still going - I went in 1992 at the Michigan Speedway. Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Edited July 21, 2008 by rkl57

[Robyn-n-Kris 72]

Afternoon everyone! Feels like i've not been around though i've been lurking. Julez.. have a wonderful trip. Kris and I are planning on making a trip to the UK next summer after we do our proper ceremony. I can't wait. I wish we could take the boys but not this first trip.

Poor Kris is getting so anxious. He wants to work badly and hates to just sit at home. Thankfully it shouldn't be too much longer. Now if only we could win the lotto he could work and I could stay home and just write LOL

[NickyMcMillan 0]

Good to hear you are settling in Nicky - I didn't realize the Lollapalooza festival was still going - I went in 1992 at the Michigan Speedway. Pearl Jam, Chili Peppers and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Lolla is now a Chicago festival. Has become one of the biggest in the US. Radiohead headline this year.

What I'd give to be able to see The Jesus and Mary Chain live!

Received our AOS notice of action letters today.

[NickyMcMillan 0]

Poor Kris is getting so anxious. He wants to work badly and hates to just sit at home. Thankfully it shouldn't be too much longer. Now if only we could win the lotto he could work and I could stay home and just write LOL

Yeah I know how Kris feels right now. I'm not enjoying sitting at home everyday being the househusband, with my main task of the day is doing the dishes/laundry etc.

Shouldn't complain really as I knew this was coming. Hopefully EAD isn't too far off.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Taking a break from work to have a ramble here...

Things I have discovered in the past 2 weeks in LA

• My car insurance has actually gone down as CA is allowed to take Bruce's 18 year unblemished UK driving record into account, whereas CT doesn't
• You can cook pretty okay with just a big saute pan and a small stock pot while you wait for your really nice kitchen stuff to arrive from CT
• Certain highways seem okayish to me (I-10, I-5, 101), others like imminent death (the 405, the 134)
• There is a large and I mean LARGE flying insect out here in Burbank that looks like a scarab beetle. LA peeps -- ####### is this thing?
• Why did no one tell me about the dollar stores out here? I mean, our Dollar Tree back in New Haven was like a bodega in comparison to the palatial Dollar Tree and 99-cent stores. I am now the proud owner of a tortilla warmer, numerous tea towels, and former owner of scrummy organic (yes, organic!) raspberries and blueberries, all $1 or under
• Now that I only work from home I can wear a beach cover-up all day if I want to (and I am right now)
• Not everybody here is slim and gorgeous. Then again, I do visit the Dollar Tree, so maybe I'm going to the wrong places.
• I am not allowed to drink that much cheap gin ever again, or so Bruce tells me

Edited July 21, 2008 by elmcitymaven

[ginger1981 0]

There is a large and I mean LARGE flying insect out here in Burbank that looks like a scarab beetle. LA peeps -- ####### is this thing?

Is this what you are seeing flying around?

June Bug

I hate those things. Hate them hate them hate them. Just looking at the picture on wiki gives me the willies.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

There is a large and I mean LARGE flying insect out here in Burbank that looks like a scarab beetle. LA peeps -- ####### is this thing?

Is this what you are seeing flying around?

June Bug

I hate those things. Hate them hate them hate them. Just looking at the picture on wiki gives me the willies.

Yes! Bleccch. Thanks for the info; now I know how to curse it by name.

[no name 1]

Taking a break from work to have a ramble here...

Things I have discovered in the past 2 weeks in LA

• My car insurance has actually gone down as CA is allowed to take Bruce's 18 year unblemished UK driving record into account, whereas CT doesn't
• You can cook pretty okay with just a big saute pan and a small stock pot while you wait for your really nice kitchen stuff to arrive from CT

  ditto!

• Certain highways seem okayish to me (I-10, I-5, 101), others like imminent death (the 405, the 134)

  all highways suck 4:30-7PM

• There is a large and I mean LARGE flying insect out here in Burbank that looks like a scarab beetle. LA peeps -- ####### is this thing?

  I never see them over here in the real LA but Saturday we were accosted at Helms by what I SWEAR was a small hummingbird/GIANT beetle

• Why did no one tell me about the dollar stores out here? I mean, our Dollar Tree back in New Haven was like a bodega in comparison to the palatial Dollar Tree and 99-cent stores. I am now the proud owner of a tortilla warmer, numerous tea towels, and former owner of scrummy organic (yes, organic!) raspberries and blueberries, all $1 or under

  Don't trust that 'organic' label.

• Now that I only work from home I can wear a beach cover-up all day if I want to (and I am right now)

  Good for you!

• Not everybody here is slim and gorgeous. Then again, I do visit the Dollar Tree, so maybe I'm going to the wrong places.

  

• I am not allowed to drink that much cheap gin ever again, or so Bruce tells me

  Gin is evil.

[Ban Hammer 13,206]

There is a large and I mean LARGE flying insect out here in Burbank that looks like a scarab beetle. LA peeps -- ####### is this thing?

Is this what you are seeing flying around?

June Bug

I hate those things. Hate them hate them hate them. Just looking at the picture on wiki gives me the willies.

they are harmless, unless you hit one while riding a motorcycle

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I hate (in no particular order):

The moving company that keeps changing its mind about when our stuff is arriving (is it this Thursday? Friday? Sunday? Next Monday? Who knows?)

UPS (deliver my freakin' new SIM card for my phone -- I am sick of seeing its "Out for delivery" and not having it)

Cranky hubsters complaining about the moving company

Bleh. Having a poo day, sorry for the whingeing. I have over a week's worth to catch up on so look out!

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I hate moving companies almost as much as I hate Northwest Airlines, especially Mayflower. I think the original wooden ship moved faster than their vans.

[ginger1981 0]

There is a large and I mean LARGE flying insect out here in Burbank that looks like a scarab beetle. LA peeps -- ####### is this thing?

Is this what you are seeing flying around?

June Bug

I hate those things. Hate them hate them hate them. Just looking at the picture on wiki gives me the willies.

they are harmless, unless you hit one while riding a motorcycle

Ewww...I imagine they make quite a mess. For some reason they love my hair and Ive had a few occasions where they have flown into my hair and got stuck. I'm still in therapy :-p

[Gareth's Girl 0]

Have a nice trip Julez!!

As it stands, I woke up at 6.30am to a huge thunderstorm, get the cat in and try and get things in from outside when I get a call from the bedroom - our roof is leaking. Like we need any more to deal with on top of the humungous pile of ####### life has already dealt us?!

So I take the bag out of the kitchen bin, gather the bucket that was collecting water from the leaky aircon unit in the living room and a number of other receptacles and run into the bedroom.

Current situation:

The bed has been pulled up to the closet and my nightstand has been pulled aside to the back door. My lamp is drying on the bed, as is my reading book and bank stuff. Behind the bed looks a little like the washing up scene from Fantasia, with pots and pans everywhere catching water...

I was going to clean today

I am sorry to hear that you are having a crappy time right now. You just got here and everything is just kind of happening all at once. It happens to all of us at one point or another. Just know that it is going to get better.

[Jeraly 4]

Off Topic is over there.

eric...............

Poor Kris is getting so anxious. He wants to work badly and hates to just sit at home. Thankfully it shouldn't be too much longer. Now if only we could win the lotto he could work and I could stay home and just write LOL

Yeah I know how Kris feels right now. I'm not enjoying sitting at home everyday being the househusband, with my main task of the day is doing the dishes/laundry etc.

Shouldn't complain really as I knew this was coming. Hopefully EAD isn't too far off.

I'm not too bad being at home - there are days where I have to catch up on all my e-mails and VJ etc and clean the house, do the laundry etc - other days are pure PS3 days but even that gets a bit dull when it is all you do. I want to start making my jewellery again but feel loathed to when none of my stuff really has a proper home yet. As soon as we get our things all organised it will help - having no money so does not help though

BUT!! We have some plastic drawers from Walmart now that we can hide in our wardrobe and at least have somewhere to put stationery, computer parts, tools etc instead of using boxes! Ohh for some decent furniture and storage space... the perils of renting are that you can't bash down walls and really organise things properly

Not everybody here is slim and gorgeous. Then again, I do visit the Dollar Tree, so maybe I'm going to the wrong places.

Yeah - I'd say so!! Of course, I love them because they have EVERYTHING!! Well - almost And having no money means we are allowed to shop in these places... I mean - it's still an improvement on living in a poisonous spider-infested trailer in cabazon

My mum goes on holiday to Morocco tomorrow for two weeks - she gets back the day before our legal wedding so we won't speak til after - she really wanted to be there but it was just too expensive. She sent me a lovely e-mail when I told her I couldn't phone on Sunday like I normally do (the day of the in-caving ceiling )

Hi Aly

I know that you are asleep at the moment - i presume you are. I suppose you need to contact the landlord and tell them that you have got the leak and if anything got ruined with the water, then you need to claim against any insurance that he might have or you for that matter! I really feel for you at the moment as everything you seem to be touching is going wrong. I think you are coping very well - at least from this end you are.

I don't blame you for wanting to get out of the house. Four walls are very boring and really makes you appreciate being able to work or go out to have fun. I hope you had a good time with your friends on Saturday.

The men arrived to collect your stuff this morning at 8.45. They only took about an hour to complete the pack. You were lucky in that there was some free space, so I have sent over some of the other stuff from your suitcase and your shelf in the bedroom. I hope that it gets there ok. It does mean I can bring your wedding cake over and the flowers if you want.

Call me if you feel you need to. I am always here for you regardless of your mood and I always enjoy our chats.

Speak soon

Love mum

xxxxx

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Have you dollar store afficionados visited Big Lots yet?