You’ll be glad to know that the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has finally been cleared for occupation (*cough*cough*), and that the 950-person staff will be moving in throughout the month of May.
Sure, it’s about 6 months late and $140 million over budget…..but isn’t that just a pittance compared to the expected annual operating cost of $1 billion…..not bad for 21 buildings over 104 acres, replete with 600 blast-resistant apartments, huh?
I recently had the opportunity to see “The Devil Came on Horseback” on the National Geographic channel (where it will be shown again Friday at 6 p.m. EDT).
It is the story of a U.S. Marine Captain named Brian Steidle, who takes an ‘oversight’ position in Darfur, armed only with a camera, to monitor a cease-fire between the Muslim north and the Christian south.
by the way, the EMM entry mentions Nick Tosches. Amazing stuff. Highly recommended The fiction book In the Hand of Dante is kinda pedantic, well no, it’s EXTREMELY pedantic, but amazing nonetheless. My favorite is probably Where Dead Voices Gather
Cow Cow Boogie was her first big hit, but I don’t care for it, so I’m not going to link to it. It may have been named for Cow Cow Davenport http://www.redhotjazz.com/cowc…
who could really bang the ivories, and his Cow Cow Blues has nothing to do with cows.
Davenport learned to play piano and organ in his father’s church from his mother who was the organist and it looked like he was going to follow in the family footsteps until he was expelled from the Alabama Theological Seminary in 1911 for playing Ragtime at a church function.
Back to Ella Mae
I like this one. Can’t really say why, it’s kinda schlocky too. Oh well.
House of Blue Lights w/jive
You may tip Ella Mae, but do not recommend this Pony Party.
There are many excellent Earth Day Essays, along with other great work on the Front Page, read one or two if you haven’t already, then feel free to come back and boogie.
On a side note, I was given the secret Turing Test code, but ya’know, fuck it, who cares.
My dogs have been sick. Really sick. Both of them. We first noticed one was acting funny on Thursday night – nothing alarming, but he wasn’t 100%. On Friday morning, we noticed that he was still lethargic, so we called the vet. We were able to get an appointment for 3 pm.
We were able to leave work at noon. Fortunately for us, we have flexible jobs. I guess that’s an advantage of working such long hours. Anyway, when we got home, the sick pup was even sicker and the other was also showing signs of illness. Both were lethargic and walked like their joints were sore. So, we called the vet and moved up our appointment to 1:15 pm.
The vet took their temperature (to the utter dislike of my pups) and drew blood. The blood work looked normal. The vet said that it was possible that they had eaten something that was making them ill. We tried to think what they could have eaten, but we hadn’t changed anything around our place. No new plants, no new food, no new cleaning products. Why would they suddenly eat a plant – both of them – that they had previously ignored? They’re never outdoors without being on a leash. It didn’t make sense that they would both be ill.
The vet decided that they should stay overnight, with fluids administered intravenously. He said he’d call in the morning. So, we spent an unhappy night at home, without the warmth of our beloved critters.
In the morning, we called the vet – he said they were doing well – still acting lethargic, but better. We could take them home. Happily, we rushed to the clinic. They were still walking funny and had goopy eyes. But at least they were coming home.
They hadn’t progressed from Saturday afternoon. By Sunday, they appeared worse. Neither was eating anything of substance. They would barely walk and were really not happy. So we took them back to the vet. They again spent the night on IV.
Today, the vet called to say that they are both showing signs of renal failure. They’re about to examine them using ultrasound. The vet should be calling soon. I’m really scared.
I don’t know when I’ll be able to comment, but thanks in advance for your thoughts.
A man who pretends to understand women is bad manners. For him to really to understand them is bad morals.
Henry James
For Nocatz…..
Cats and monkeys; monkeys and cats; all human life is there.
Henry James
It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance… and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.
Henry James
P, Masslass, Victory Coffee, and I met in Boston for a DD girl get together. Special thanks to OTB for getting us the t-shirts. We would have loved to have had you join us.
Yes boys you were invited. Yes, we talked about all of you. In a joyous and admiring tone. Not one negative vibe invaded our evening despite the fact that once we started arguing, we did not all agree.
The girls thought I would be taller. I am short. And VC had a hard time picturing me as anything other than a cat. Naturally, I took that as the highest of compliments. We also picked up a stranger, a nice woman who was attending my conference. I saw her the next day and said,”I hope you didn’t think my friends and I were too crazy, we’re truly harmless.” She told me she enjoyed herself. Nurses tend to be ever so slightly nutty when taken off their work place leashes. Never. Never go drinking with a group of young nurses. You will be under the table. Engineers, at least engineering students, tend to think of themselves as being wacky hombres, nursing student can generally match them.
It was like meeting with old friends. No awkward moments, just glee.
