h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've tried Splenda in my baking with widely varied results: in brownies and butter cookies, it was awful (very chemically tasting) and in cornbread it was great. I recommend baking a small batch of whatever you fancy with the Splenda before going all out and doing something major, like three dozen cookies or something.

I'm having major issues with my Windows OS, so I might not be able to drop by the Atelier a lot this week. I keep getting the following error message whenever I try to run a program or a feature on my desktop:

"X has caused an error in . X will now close." Then whatever I've tried to open closes down. It's hit everything--from Outlook Express to Internet Explorer to even the Recycle Bin and My Computer and I can't do anything.

*checks dave's goosing for soot marks*

Ah, I love summer. I really do. I must say that living 3 miles directly inland from the ocean certainly helps...always a nice cool breeze.

Well, boys and girls, I am officially someone's girlfriend, which believe me, is a very weird thing to be. I have a boyfriend? Um, the last time I had a boyfriend was more than 12 years ago. Any suggestions for me, since I'm a bit rusty on the whole "girlfriend" thing?

[MTG]

Ach, what do I know about being a girlfriend? I have been a wife and a mistress and a lover, but haven't managed the girlfriend thing since 1983!

Do what ever works for you, gal! Redefine the paradigm!

B

*relaxes in the afternoon sun, eating corn chips with guacamole and drinking OC beer*

*hands Witty a juicy cheeseburger*

There you go, enjoy, enjoy.

*hands Phil a slice of grilled orange*

You said whatever right?
Just kidding, here you go.

*hands Phil a plate with a cheeseburger and a hot dog*

Now, for myself...

*dave produces a bowl of macaroni salad, and a pan with french fries*
*he covers one half of a plate with the mac salad, and the other half with fries.*
*he then puts two cheeseburgers on top, and then drizzles some sort of brown sauce on top of it*

For me, a Rochester Garbage plate. OH yeah, this takes me back...

French fries, huh... very fancy. We always had to make do with the tater salad.

I'll take a couple of those burgers, please, and are there any sausages?

How 'bout a Dos Equis? Glug. Ah, much better.

Caerwynn, R. is doing much better. He has become very irritable, which I know is due to depression, anxiety, and general angst - so I'm doing my best not to kill him and cheer him up at the same time. He's going through cardiac rehab, which has helped him feel confident about exercising.

Just a moment, I'll get those sausices going for you. While you wait, here's a platter of burgers - help yourself to fixins.

*shows Lentilla large stack burgers, fresh off the grill*

Sounds like you've heard of the plate before. Yeah, I initially got it with home fries, but then upgraded to french fries - I like the crunch it provides. Beans was another option, which I never got into. Of course, there was also the plate where they replaced the burger with fish...never even met anyone who tried that.

[Hati]

Actually, the fish sounds rather disgusting! I could see doing that with sausages - brats or some such like.

Around here we have garbage burgers, which are basically a large burger with whatever happens to be in the house on top. Usually mushrooms, chili, cheese, beans, onions, tomatoes, pickles, etc. If you can fit your mouth around it, it's not big enough.

Speaking of brats - a friend of mine did up a mess of brats with sauerkraut at a party just recently. Now ordinarily I don't like sauerkraut, but G. had taken the kraut, drained all the sauer out of it, and then put it in a crock pot with apple cider vinegar. He also had at least that much sliced purple onion in the pot, (boiled lightly to take the bite out.) Then he throws the brats in the pot, and turns the thing on low - delish! I've never had sauerkraut and bratwurst like that, and it was wonderful.

MR, the important thing is just to have fun. Don't try to put strictures upon what you should be doing, or when. Reeeelaaaax.

Was very bored tonight so, I started recataloging all of my recordings of the Dr. Demento show in preparation of getting them copied to CDs. I have 30 tapes all told, I have completed cataloging 12 of them in about 3 hours. If I keep this up I should have them done by the end of the week. Then the real fun begins, recording to CD. I have to copy each individual song to the puter and then burn them to CD, that is going to take a lot of time but when I am done, I will no longer have to worry about my tapes going bad.

GDZ, when you're bored you catalogue things??

This evening I can actually see the end of the Ordinance project: about 10 more images to go. If I can get the minutes of the last meeting done tomorrow I'll go down to Carrizozo the next day with all this stuff and hold my hand out for some money.

And then from orthographic line drawings to the sketches of young Henriette Wyeth, daughter of Andrew Wyeth, who never went to a real school but spent her time learning art at her father's knee. The sketch book I'm reproducing dates back to the early 20's, when she was 14. She was left-handed! I could tell right away by the smudges. And she was handling male and female nudes with aplomb.

*bites daintily into a cheeseburger garnished with lettuce and tomato and Matina's home-made mayonnaise*

In-n-Out Burgers...yum. Particularly animal protein style.

Wackiness: 64/100
Rationality: 34/100
Constructiveness: 74/100
Leadership: 64/100


'You are a WECL--Wacky Emotional Constructive Leader. This makes you a people's advocate. You are passionate about your causes, with a good heart and good endeavors. Your personal fire is contagious, and others wish they could be as dedicated to their beliefs as you are.

Your dedication may cause you to miss the boat on life's more slight and trivial activities. You will feel no loss when skipping some inane mixer, but it can be frustrating to others to whom such things are important. While you find it difficult to see other points of view, it may be useful to act as if you do, and play along once in a while.

In any event, you have buckets of charisma and a natural skill for making people open up. Your greatest asset is an ability to make progress while keeping the peace.'

Rationality 34? 34?!!! No no no no no.

Anyway...

*takes a burger, adds a few extras rather randomly and tucks in*

Morning all!

Isn't it lovely out here on the terrace!

*Takes and starts munching*

You know that unavoidable paperwork I have been avoiding? Well, I can't avoid it any longer...

On the other hand, Carole is coming round to help me put up the shelves and the mirror. I haven't finished painting the tops of the walls in the bathroom yet, but - hey - lets do the fun things first!

B

Morning all,

*nibbles calorie-free *

For dinner last night I had a salad made from lettuce I grew myself in my garden I love not living in a flat any more!

Did it taste better than store-bought? I'm sure it did, actually. I'm jealous!

It's one in the morning here, and I can't sleep. I deliberately didn't have caffeine today, because I've been having trouble sleeping, and it didn't work. Dang it all!

Sol, you are the same as me, we have three wackies now

Lentilla, I am sure R will be feeling more confident and generally more equible once the trauma of the whole procedure has a faded a bit from memory. Is there a support group he can join? Just talking it all over with others who have been through it can help get things back into balance.

MR, I don't think you need any advice on being a girlfriend, what ever you are doing is already working

[Amy] *snoozes in the sunshine*