Author: admin

I tried calling Katy when I got home today, as usual. Except, this time, things didn't go as planned. For a while there, I thought i was in an episode of the twilight zone. I kept calling her number, except I never got her. I got a fax machine, some random bloke, and an old couple who didn't understand a thing I was saying. I finally called Bell, to be told that there's an unknown bug in the switching system that's mucking up comminucations with the UK. Niiiiiiiice. The operator managed to connect us, but instead of the nice cheapie rate from the calling cards, this was full-on Bell goodness, so we couldn't talk as much. Blergh.

It was kinda ok though, cause I had a counter full of dishes that had been slowly evolving sentience that I had to battle with. I managed to get rid of most of it, but my patience finally ran out after 2 hours. I still have the cutlery to do, blergh.

Spent the night watching TV and brushing enough fur out of Boris to make myself a spare cat, with a set of kittens on the side. Speaking of brushing, I just brushed my teeth. Now this in itself might not be newsworthy, but I had to go buy a new toothbrush cause Boris licked mine yesterday. I decided to splurge a bit and buy an electric one – they were only 10$. Yes, I admit it, I'm a commercial whore and I'm the bitch of Oral-B, but it was FUN!

Off to bed now, tired.

I'm reading The Stupidest Angel, by Christopher Moore.

You gotta love a book whose author feels the need to put the following warning as a preface to the book:

If you're buying this book as a gift for grandma or a kid, you should be aware that it contains cusswords as well as tasteful depictions of cannibalism and people in their forties having sex. Don't blame me, I told you.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA! *falls out of chair*

I must find the source of that voice!

Ever see bad japanise anime where some poor schoolgirl gets molested by a tentacle-monster? Know that high-pitched squeeky voice pleading for mercy? Well, by god, those things actually exist!

Somebody just passed by my office talking like that!!! The fact that they were having a serious debate about protein translation would seem to indicate that this is in fact their normal voice!

SA-WEET!

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – One partridge, seven swans and eight maids may be a bargain this year, but the prices of three French hens and six geese-a-laying have soared, according to an annual estimated cost of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” song shopping list released Monday.

PNC Advisors has done an estimated tongue-in-cheek Christmas Price Index each year since 1984. This year's index put the cost of all 364 items mentioned in the song, along with all the repetitions, at $66,334, up 1.6 percent from last year. The modest increase pales in comparison to last year's 19 percent increase, which may be due to lower consumer confidence this season, according to Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC Advisors, which published the report.

Buying each item just once would cost $17,297, up 2.4 percent.

The three French hen posted the biggest percentage increase — up 200 percent to $45, while the price of the six geese rose 40 percent to $210. The price of two turtle doves actually fell 31 percent to $40, while the cost of a partridge remained unchanged from last year at $15. According to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, the escalating price for French hens and geese may be due to fewer hatchlings during this breeding cycle creating an imbalance in the supply-demand chain. Turtledoves, on the other hand, may have had a more fruitful breeding cycle creating an oversupply of birds and falling prices.

Additionally, hiring the nine dancing ladies this year will pinch the wallet a little more than last year. The total cost for the dancing ladies rose 4 percent to $4,400 this year, up from $4,230.89 in 2003.

“The Christmas Price Index reflects the changing economic mix in the U.S. away from manufacturing to a more service based economy,” said Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC Advisors, which published the report.

“The abundance of cheaper labor in countries such as India and China has resulted in pressure on U.S. manufacturers to outsource unskilled labor,” Kleintop said. “As a result, the cost of skilled dancers has steadily increased while the unskilled milk maids haven't managed an increase in pay for their services in many years.”

Other labor-intensive gifts saw increases as well. The cost of 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming both rose 3.6 percent; the price of 10 lords-a-leaping rose 3 percent. And don't think you'll save more by shopping for the same goods on the Internet. The report warns that most items are more expensive to buy online primarily due to the cost of shipping, which continues to go up because of rising fuel costs.

Original link here: http://money.cnn.com/2004/11/29/news/economy/cost_christmas/index.htm?cnn=yes

Just got off the phone with Expedia/Air Canada. Apparently, the good old days where you could request an allergy-friendly meal are over. With AC being in such dire straits, it's actually a surprising thing that I have a meal included in my ticket at all… I guess I'll be packing a lunch. Blergh.

I decided to go to Ottawa this weekend, bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing. Took the bus early saturday morning and just came back now. I spent a relaxing weekend fixing my dad's computer (only a minor thing to do this time), eating lots of mom-cooked food and generally doing nothing. Oh, and talking with Katy at decent hours too :) That last part was very, very nice and did wonders for my morale.

Started and finished a new paperback by Carl Hiaasen, a new author I discovered by fluke. Fun stuff to read. I recommend Skinny Dip, his most recent book. I'm going to start reading the new Christopher Moore book I also bought, which promises to be just as zany and fun as the others, yay!

This week should be fairly slow. I need to go over the fallout of last friday's conference call with IBM with my boss, as I think that what they're offering to do really won't suit our needs. Anyway, that's what's ahead for me this week.

Oooh, and the Salon des metiers d'arts is also starting this friday, so I'll be able to get some xmas shopping done there as well. I realized that I needed a parent-friendly gift for Katy, among other things.

Off to bed now, toodles all.

SOME Victorian nursing homes have become “grey light zones” with prostitutes visiting elderly clients for sex.

Aged care and sex industry figures said it was a common practice in public and private nursing homes to sneak “escorts” in. Some homes set aside special sex rooms.

Anna Priamo, a nursing supervisor at an inner-city nursing home, said frisky patients who harassed nurses were referred to a doctor who might arrange for a prostitute to visit them. “It's not something we put in our brochure,” Ms Priamo said.

“(The residents) might ask for it or if they make smarmy comments to nurses it would be mentioned to the doctor and the doctor would ask them (if they wanted an escort to be arranged). Most homes would do it if asked. It is part of our job to make sure people are socially and sexually and emotionally happy and healthy,” she said.

The Victorian Association of Health and Extended Care, which represents 70 per cent of the state's aged care providers, has formed a taskforce to examine the issue.

“As the population ages, this issue of sexuality in residential aged care is coming to the surface,” chief executive Mary Barry said. “Residents have rights. But it is a difficult, sensitive and touchy area.”

Krystel, a Melbourne prostitute for 18 years, said she had been hired to visit nursing homes to see people with Alzheimer's and intellectual disabilities. “It's usually done very privately,” she said. “I mean, you don't go in with fishnet stockings and that sort of thing. You see clients during the day so it looks more discreet. You go to the person whose name you've been allocated by the head charge nurse.”

Despite risking potential six-year jail terms under the Prostitution Control Act for providing prostitution services without a licence, some nursing home managers routinely give the practice the green light.

Ms Priamo, who has seen prostitutes brought in for elderly residents about five times, said there was a good reason relatives and other residents were kept in the dark about the practice. “What children would like to know their parents are using a prostitute?” she asked. “So, who would want to put their parents in a nursing home that does that?” she said.

Gabby Skelsey, who works for Resourcing Health and Education in the Sex Industry, said the sex worker organisation received about six inquiries a month from nursing homes wanting to order a prostitute.

“Carers will ring us and we will refer them on,” Ms Skelsey said. Krystel said her nursing home clients had usually lost a partner and were not visited by family. She said they would hire her only a couple of times a year because they couldn't afford more.

original link here: http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11502543^13762,00.html

I was getting tired of always seeing ashre79's fortune cookies and never being able to get one for myself. So I made my own:

Get one for yourself :

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Edit: if you have suggestions for fortunes, let me know :)

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Edit #2: if you want to see the complete list of fortunes, click here : http://www.flubu.com/cgi-bin/cookie.cgi?dump=true

If you were a Pirate! by TheHalveric
Username
Yer Pirate Name!
Name yer ship!
Why be ye a Pirate?	Damned pansy Navy wouldn't take me!Revenge against the establishment!I like booty!!!I'm really good with knots…Cause lawyerin' be too cruel.Chicks dig eye-patches.Buggery on the High Seas!All the rum you can drink!!!
Yer First Mate!	sbourge
Yer Cabin-boy! (or girl)	petkatyyazzick
Ye're chief rival be the Dread Pirate	raspberrysalmon
Ye'll be pursued by Admiral	shirogirl
Cut to ribbon in a freak cannon accident…	keyef
Yer pirate captive to use fer yer wicked pleasures	judyna
Number o'ships ye'll sink and women ye'll plunder!	526
Chance ye'll be hanged… or worse.: 82%
Quiz created with MemeGen!