No. Really. I couldn’t eat another bite.

Another trip to Cincinnati, another trip where we seem to spend the majority of our time in restaurants.

It was lovely.

We had dinner three times with Andy and Heather, in addition to having every meal with Susan. And for the most part the food was excellent. For some reason the food at Uno’s in Cincinnati seems better than the food in Morgantown’s. Of course the fact that Michael can get his Bianca (garlic) pizza might have something to do with it. And we went to Thai Café, of course. And we had a small dinner at Don Pablo’s, which has very delicious sweet cornbread (I need to figure out how to replicate it). And some excellent seafood at the fishmarket by Newport Aquarium. Susan and I both got garlic shrimp, which were excellent. One night we ended up at P.F. Chang’s, which was okay, but I’d just as soon have take-out from the Great Wall. Especially for the price.

And Graeter’s. We went to Graeter’s for ice cream four times, and brought home ice cream as wel–two pints for my parents (black raspberry chip and fresh peach) and one pint of peanut butter chip for Michael. Better yet, no one mocked me for only eating chocolate or strawberry.

I probably should subsist solely on salads and water for the next month to make up for the absolute decadence of this week.

And I got to shop in the kind of stores we don’t have at time, for the kinds of things I don’t necessarily want to mail order. We went to Sur la Table where I got a mortar and pestle and lemon oil and ceramic pie weights. I also saw a pink Kitchen Aid mixer. Now I’ve drooled over the cobalt blue Kitchen Aid before (clashes with my kitchen unfortunately) but pink? It was a nice enough shade of pink, but for me, pink is the color to wear to funerals. I also picked up some other kitchen odds and ends including an electronic scale to replace my current scale, at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but most of my drooling was at Sur la Table. I could easily spend an obscene amount of money there, if given the chance. But I didn’t. And we didn’t even go near William Sonoma.

Which is too bad, because I didn’t find an 8″ sauté pan I liked.

Plus, I got to go to Wild Oats, Trader Joe’s, and best of all, Jungle Jim’s. Even trying to be good I spent just over $100 at Jungle Jim’s. Of course I did get two kids of beer for Michael. And a significant amount of chocolate. And some lemon lime English marmalade. And cheese. Lots of cheese. Thought we got a fantastic sharp cheddar at Wild Oats we ate with a loaf of bread and bunch of grapes for lunch. (It was dairy and fruit! It was all kinds of healthy!)

Books. Cooking Stores. Aquarium. Dinner with friends. What more could I ask for from a vacation?

(Pictures from the aquarium will be forthcoming.)

I’m off this week. Small vacation.

We will return you to your regularly scheduled blogging next week.

If you’re bored at work, I suggest a perusal of my weblog.

ADDENDUM the First:
Blogroll. Not weblog, BLOGROLL. Jeesh.

Word of the Day

Kleptocracy
n
A government characterized by rampant greed and corruption. [Greek kleptein, to steal + CRACY.]

We’re gonna go again! Woo!

ADDENDUM the Second:
How is it that I, who didn’t read comics and was restricted in what I was allowed to watch on TV, knew that Gotham City was “New York” and Michael did not?

ADDENDUM the First:
It was even better the second time. I already knew where the scaryish bits were, so I could concentrate on the story.

I also caught some things that I missed the first time, so the story made even more sense.

Even cooler, I finally understand precisely what vambraces are and how they work. I also understand the advantages of leather armor over metal armor. (But, Kevlar–better yet.) Suddenly Aerich is that much cooler.

However, I’m still bothered by one thing.

SPOILER:
(more…)

To memer and pericat and everyone else living in Our Great Enemy to the North.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Birthday Kathy!

And also to me!

This is why I love Teresa at Making Light.

I’ve somehow managed to forget to read the Arcata Eye Police Reports for awhile.

Monday, June 6 7:49 p.m. When a BB impacted a trailer on Oasis Street, police quickly found a neighbor busily “assassinating slugs” on his porch. The mulleted mollusk murderer agreed to cease demising the slimies.

# Wednesday, May 25 10:53 a.m. A dog was reported overheating in a vehicle parked on H Street, but police found the windows rolled partway down and the pooch well within comfortable thermal parameters.

Tuesday, May 17 12:38 a.m. A 17th Street resident agreed with an officer that this would be a good time to stop hammering.

Yay!

ADDENDUM the First:
However, I could have done without 20 18 stinking minutes of commercials and previews. For putting up with that they should be paying ME.

ADDENDUM the Second:
Eighteen. Eighteen minutes of previews. Star Wars had twenty.

One in 10 UK websites fail to work properly on the open source Firefox web browser, a study shows.

Some 100 leading consumer sites were assessed by web-testing firm SciVisum.

It astounds me–yet doesn’t surprise me–that businesses would fail to meet web compliance standards. I mean, can you imagine a business that failed to allow 10% of potential customers through the door? Yet by failing to employ web standards, that is precisely what these businesses are doing.

I can’t understand how someone who is being paid good money to design web pages can fail to meet web compliance. It’s sheer stupidity–unfortunately it’s a rather common stupidity.

I teach the two sets of web design course we offer. One series of courses on HTML, and the other series on Dreamweaver, and something that I emphasize repeatedly in every class is to check a website in multiple browsers before posting. I’m sure that people get sick of hearing me say it, but it seems that it really can’t be said enough.

You have people sitting in their offices creating pages in Front Page that load great in Internet Explorer over a T1 line, and then never bother checking to see how the page loads in other circumstances, such as using Safari on a Mac, or using like Mozilla or Opera, or accessing the page over a dial-up connection.

When I teach my classes I emphasize all of these things, and also that the whole point of the Internet is that it should not matter what computer you are using, or what browser you are using, the page should be accessible to everyone.

Of course I also emphasize content over style, and strongly advise avoiding flash and javascript, so it’s quite clear I’m in the minority.

Some of this may be due to the fact that I work for a university in a rural state. Many of those accessing our websites will be coming in over a dial-up connection, most likely using an old computer, because that is what is available to most residents. (You may think I’m exaggerating, but last time I was in my mom’s 5th grade classroom, the majority of the computers there were using Windows 95 and 98.)

But these dial-up connection, old computer consumers are the very people who should be the very people Internet Commerce should be targeting. If you live in a small town, then the Internet may be the only way to access a variety of goods. Even living in Morgantown, which is pretty cosmopolitan for WV, there is a limited selection of goods available in local stores compared to what I can find elsewhere, and so I make a lot of purchases over the Internet. I find it unlikely I’m a rarity.

By failing to meet compliance standards, these web designers are not just ignoring, but actively excluding a number of potential customers.

How stupid is that?

ADDENDUM The First:
What say we change that title from garbled nonsense to English?

New design day here and on the main page.

If you don’t already know about it, check out Freecycle.

We live on a busy street, and have had success with placing things on the curb with a “FREE” sign, but not everyone has that option. Plus it’s good to know where things are going.

Players may now only wear cabbage by presenting a doctor’s note in advance.
…
Mr Park said he was glad he helped to clarify a rule, but that he was planning to stop using cabbage anyway.

It never fails to amaze me how ten years of dance classes were completely ineffective at giving me any sense of grace.

Walking to the mailbox I managed to stumble and fall into the road (luckily not into traffic) bashing the side of my bad kneee in the process (a knee made bad by another bout of sheer clumsiness and stupidity in college). Then carrying laundry upstairs I manged to smash a toe under the door. Not broken, but there’s going to be a bruise. Only when I went to change my pants did I realize that my knee is already swollen and bruised from the fall.

So I sit in the living room, legs propped up on the sofa; Ice pack on my knee.

And to add insult to injury, I just realized that the book I picked up to read–which is quite good so far–is part of a trilogy, and I only have books one and two.

BAH!

So my request for the day: If I ever come across a wish granting fairy, remind me to ask for grace as one of my wishes. Or at least a reduction in clumsiness.