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

Never! All that asses milk you bathe in has to have worked its magic by now

Bath in it?

That's what I was supposed to do?

Wait right here.



Honey! I just figured out why my car won't start!!

I think both you and GreyDesk need to call Click and Clack

Only if you agree to be Cluck!

Hi I just got back from my 19th Anniversary trip. It was going to be to Disneyworld, then we discovered we had no money for such a trip, so we changed to Chicago, and further discovered we had no money for such a trip then we ended up in Grand Rapids. But my brother-in-law is the chef at the 1913 Room which is a 5 Diamond restaurant and we had a wonderful anniversary meal. Then daytrips to the park and zoo and shopping rounded out the long weekend. All with temps in the 80's!

<--a 5 Smiley trip!

Ooo! A rave review!

How about them Tigers?!

Hey Shea! Great to see you. I thought something unseemly might have happened to you!

The Tigers had been going great, then reality set in or more specifically AL West leading teams came to town and now they're on a 4 game losing streak, leaving them under .500 for the first time this year.

How are those Mets doin?

Shea was having a rough time of it - check out her journal.

Good to see you again LScott! How's tricks?

I did check out Shea's journal. Very nice, leather bound with the gold leaf lettering on it and the red ribbon that marks the spot she's currently writing. Quite pretty.

Seriously. I'm sorry for the ordeal you went through Shea. I hope things are better now. (make sure TJ's the only reason to make you head spin, now)

Tricks are for kids, you silly rabbit!


Things have really heated up here in Lancaster... too hot to breathe, but not nearly as sickeningly hot as when the meet was held a couple summers ago.


The outdoor pool is open where I swim already , and today's the first day I went in the outdoor pool instead of the indoor pool. Of course I didn't stay in it all that long seeing as how I didn't happen to have any sunblock with me, but got sunburnt anyway. Not bad, but for some reason, as the day wears on, my skin looks pinker and pinker. I guess the sun is really deceptive when the water is sooooo cold.

Yeah. I always get caught by a surprise sunburn out in late April or early May out doing yard work. Usually it's still cool so I never feel as if I'm burning. Then there's the inevitable large pink forehead glowing into the night!

I can't believe you've already had weather you could describe as "too hot to breathe"!!! Dratted Global Warming. Ooops. Sorry I forgot a team of the president's "scientists" say global warming doesn't exist. So PA must have been under the effects of "Forehead Warming" curtesy of me!

Too hot for *me* to breathe, that is...

Which doesn't take much. When the humidity rises, it's difficult for me to breathe once it rises past about 75, so you can imagine how miserable I am once it hits about 90.

*imagines LScott miserable*

Oooh. I don't like that!

*imagines with twinklie lights, sparkles and flowery thingies*

There that's better.

Twinkly lights, sparklies and flowery things?

*sigh*

Not nearly enough of those in my life...





Anyhow, much cooler here today - only up in the mid-70's. It's been cloudy and breezy so the pool water seemed a teensy bit nippy when I got in it, even though it was the same temperature it was last week.


I adjusted quickly though and did my usual swim.

We will be opening our pool soon. Probably Memorial Day weekend. So in preparation we've enrolled our daughter in swim class, in hopes she'll be a somewhat proficient swimmer by summer. But I'm changing my mind. Five classes may not be enough time to teach anything concidering how the class is run. She's in her second class she is up to holding onto the poolside and kicking her legs.

Well they make all the parents sit at the far end of the pool building from where the class is held, with 12 children and only two teachers I guess they hoped to hold the 3 and 4 year-olds attention by separating them away. At the end of the lesson they combine with the class of 5 year olds and bring out the pool toys and all mayhem breaks loose. Little Ellie and another girl had lost the ball they were playing with into the pool, so naturally they were reaching for it and Ellie fell in and went down. With the staff overtaxed with all the chaos I was the only one to notice, while leaping to my feet and running toward the other end, she bobbed up and managed to make it back to the side. So I stopped and waited to see how she reacted, but there were no tears and she just went right back to playing.

Afterwards she asked if I saw when she bobbed by herself. Since I can't even get her to put her face in the water of the bathtub, I think it ended up being a positive experience for everyone but my Cardiac Doctor.

It's great that you're raising her to not be fearful of the water. I've got a couple of friends that are so frightened of the water, that they can't enjoy themselves ... and we live on an island!

The Tigers are still in 3rd place! Their winning percentage may only be .486, but think of it this way ... they're only 5 games back!

The Mets are also in 3rd place, but the NL East is so pathetic, we're only 3.5 games back with a winning percentage of .474! Go figure.

I had the outdoor pool all to myself today - except for about 10 minutes when two college age girls came outside, jumped in and shreiked at the top of their lungs in shock at how cold it was!

It really only takes a couple minutes of hard swimming to get warmed up, even though the water is still pretty chilly.

Are these the very first swimming classes that Ellie has ever taken? If they're Red Cross classes, they really don't do very much in that first level, although I still think Red Cross swimming classes are the best all the way around. If she passes this level and is old enough to go on to the next level, you might want to arrange for her to take the next level a little later on this summer so she can learn a little more.

Irational fears can be quite humorous, Shea, but to live on an island and fear water is particularly good! My only irrational fear is of irrational fear itself.

The Tigers are playing well enough for me now. It actually feels like they can win any game. For the long-trem they just need a couple mature starting pitchers. This Johnson they picked up from Baltimore isn't much different than the unproven guys they have now. It would be nice to trot out an Al Lieter every 4 games.

Hiya LScott! Little Ellie's classes are at the YMCA. I think they are just working on getting her comfortable with being in a pool and basic swimming fundamentals. She's been in our pool the last 2 summers but has always used floaty toys and water wings. Our friend Tom has been a highschool swim coach for over a decade, so we're going to tap into his expertise this summer.

My irrational fear is of heights ... just ask TJ about me on the rollercoaster!

I was very lucky that we had local pools in Levittown where I grew up. You just had to show a bill proving where you live to get a pool pass for the season! They had free swimming lessons, too! I started taking them when I was 6. I remember just *loving* John the Lifeguard, the fellow who taught us. He was probably all of 16 at the time, but he was so great and patient with the kids. Mom loved him too!

Irrational fears... Irrational fears... Hmm...


I can't really think of any right off hand.


Well, there's my fear of...oh no, that one's not irrational.



Of course there is my fear of... No, that one's perfectly reasonable too.

I guess I'll have to get back to you on it.