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

I had to unpack an entire Welsh Dresser to find my pasta mangle. (Do you know what a Welsh Dresser is?). It's full of crockery - mostly odds and assortments that we don't even need. There were crockery avalanches!

Mind you - storage space obeys Parkinson's Law. When we lived in a huge tenement flat, we had several enormous closets - but we still managed to fill them.

In a Glasgow tenement, the kitchen closet or alcove was traditionally used as the maid's sleeping area, known as the 'bed recess'. They'll just about fit a bed and nothing else. According to our elderly neighbour (who dies in January), her husband's boss used to live in our flat, and he had a live-in maid up into the 60's (well - you can't expect a man to cook or clean, can you?)

(I was hoping to find a picture. Doesn't show the bed recess - but this is a preserved Glasgow tenement - smaller and less ornate than ours was: http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/59/ On the same site - this is about a mile from home: http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/28/))

Looks smallish, but quite nice! I sure hope that when we find our "own" place, we find one with a fireplace (preferably woodburning- while they're less expensive than gas, they're also less common).

I suppose if one had a recess that would just fit a bed, it could be fitted with shelving and useful for storage.

I never had much crockery till recently. My grandma has been cleaning out her cabinets and giving me odds and ends each time I visit. Suddenly, I have all these baking dishes and not enough space to store them without taking everything out each time I need one. Of course, that's also partly due to the fact that I need to stand on tiptoe to reach even the bottommost shelf.

I didn't know what a Welsh dresser was, but I looked it up. Our built-in in the dining room is similar to one of those, except that it's built into the wall. It has glass doors over the shelves on top, an open recess in the middle (with a mirrored back that is a pain in the ass to keep clean), and four drawers and two cabinets on the bottom part. Not unlike a Welsh dresser, except it contains linens and board games and books instead of dishes.

And you're absolutely right about Parkinson's Law. No matter how much space I have, I will manage to accumulate enough crap to fill it all and then some.

Even less on the "agenda" this weekend. Tomorrow, to Home Depot to purchase a fridge for the office (and get paid overtime, to boot) and then to Borders to find the newly released Christopher Hitchens and J.R.R. Tolkien books. Anyone read the Hitchens yet? He's published a few excerpts on Slate, and it sounds excellent.

Sunday, K and I go to my gram's for dinner and cake.

My funky portable stair-stepper thingy arrived this week, and K picked me up at work so we could bring it home in the car (it weighs 25 lbs and would've been a bit cumbersome on the el). It's quite sturdy and has a lot more drag than I expected.

Also coming soon is a shiny new box set of Alejandro Jodorosky films (El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Fando y Lis, and a previously unreleased film). can't wait!!

I estimate i actually understood around 47% of the words in that posting. Not your fault or mine, just a reflection of the differences between USAnian/European, age gap & lifestyle stuff.

But whatever, i *think* i wish you well whilst standing on steps with grandparents, eating cake & listening to probably inappropriate music.

Tolkien i understand; he dreamed up Hobbitland about 500 yards away from my home in Birmingham; for all i know, i played with him in My Fairyland....

This weekend i am Seriously, very very Seriously Worming the bloody cat. All else can go fall weeping by the roadside.

zdt

Hmm. Translation needed? Or just details?

Office= the place I work
Fridge= the thing we keep our food and ice in (the one at work broke)

A. Jodorowsky: mid-70s surrealist, here's the box set I speak of:

http://www.amazon.com/Films-Alejandro-Jodorowsky-Fando-Mountain/dp/B000NY1E9E

Home Depot: big box chain of home improvement stores which sell appliances, carpeting, electrical and plumbing supplies, etc. My boss's corporate credit card gave us gift cards to use there to buy the new fridge.

Borders: big box retailer of books, music and DVD. While we normally support indie dealers and small businesses, they don't always have new releases... and I have a member card at Borders that earns me free books and substantial discounts; hard to resist.

Christopher Hitchens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens. While his politics are quite a bit too conservative for me, I like reading his views on religion *in general*.

The portable stair stepper looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00019RBCA/002-3682065-4545636

Won't be dragging it to grandma's, but it fits into the spare bedroom (with the computer and stuff) without being in the way. I needed something else I could use at home. I'd been visiting the gym before work, but I've been going into the office by 6:30 and can't get up any earlier than I already do (4:30). The gym's too crowded during the afternoons to go on a lunch break, and after work, forget about it. This thing seems pretty decent, though.

Good luck deworming the cat. Sounds challenging.

*waves hi* I'm lucky to have a treadmill at my apartment complex.

I wish I could fit a treadmill in here! Treadmills are the best. While I have the physical space, it'd be "in the way". I had the same problem with the stationary bike, which is now out on the back porch. It's accessible there, but there's no outlet to plug it into. I'm so much less likely to *use* things that I have to drag out and put away, or assemble/disassemble...

*waves hi back*

Hmm. I'm not sure that Hitchens' politics can be described as 'conservative'. He's a radical who comes to different conclusions. As I've said on my blog, I agree with about 98% of what he says - but the remaining 2% us massive. He's a self-styled 'contrarian'. I consider it good that he annoys me. He makes me think.

I've been looking forard to the new book. I must have pointed you at this before:
http://www.hayfestival.com/archive/2006/05/blasphemy-debate.aspx

The best bit is when it becomes apparent that they're holding a live audience discussion while simultaneously playing chess. Oh - and part of it is edited out, but a woman is ejected for objecting to him smoking.

Yeah, you did point that out to me before- but I'll enjoy checking it out again.

I'm about half way into the new book (bought it on Saturday), and it's really good so far. I actually think I like it better than I did "The God Delusion". Both are quite informative, but this one's a more engaging read. Can't pinpoint exactly *why*, but the difference in writing style is noticeable.

Bought another related book called "God: The Failed Hypothesis". I'll read it next.

Possibly the difference is that, unlike Dawkins, he started out a professional writer. He's written several literary and political biographies. His book on Mother Theresa is savage!

I also expect him to deal with the tricky aspects that Dawkins dismisses.

I am absolutely itching to read his Mother Teresa book. What a big, rotten phony that woman was. It's almost enough to make me wish there were an afterlife, in hopes that she might suffer half the misery the people she claimed to be "helping" did while under her "care".

I loved Hitchens' sheer chutzpah in speaking against her at her canonisation hearing.

well, to be fair, the vatican did invite him to speak at the debate

Yeah, obviously someone neglected to think that decision through very well.

Hi, Ictoan!

I think I'm going to order that book from Amazon today. I absolutely have to read it- all I've seen of it so far are various reviews and excerpts. I really, really disliked that woman.

Apparently they used to deliberately bring in an 'Advocatus Diabolus' to put the case against (or 'Devil's Avocado' as Hitchens describes it in that podcast). But JPII streamlined the whole sainthood process. He was particularly keen on fasttracking Mother Theresa. Now Pope Ratzo is fasttracking JPII.

Hitchens said he gave his contribution 'pro bono'.

That stair stepper thing seems to come with all sorts of add on stuff, looks like a torture device to me!

I suppose i am sort of lucky (er?) because i have to do my shopping by hand up & down the wretched hill; i hauled back 20 kg of litter yesterday, which i imagine counts as excellent weight bearing aerobic exercise! That was all part of the Big De Worm campaign, i reckon she might get re-infected if i don't completely change the litter after invading her poor little system with noxious chemicals.After nearly losing fingers trying to force tablets past fangs last time, this time i tried doing it by a "spot on" treatment, praying that she didn't get an allergic reaction (she has sensitive skin, of course); so far all seems well; though she took one sniff at the new expensive litter, sneezed several times & ran off to sulk. So no doubt next problem will be constipation.

I know bugger all about Mother Teresa, other than i share my name with a dead Indian nun; i assumed she was just famous for doing nun-type stuff with poor people, do enlighten me! I have however been known on many occasions to scream in a loud, very un-nun like voice "I am not sodding Mother Teresa!" when i feel taken advantage of...

zdt

She was meant to be a selfless servant of the poor and infirm of Calcutta. The reality was that while she took the sick of the streets, she did little for them medically or in terms of basic human comfort. Instead, they could "Give their suffering as a gift to god."

But for herself she was happy to receive the best, modern medical attention.

As her fame grew, she was able to solicit donations from all over the world. Notable big money donors included likes of Papa Doc Duvalier. The money went not on new medical facilities, but on...a series of convents, worldwide, each bearing her name.

One donor was a multi-billion dollar fraudster, who gained his wealth by embezzling from small investors who were ruined by their losses. There was a class action against him, presided over by Judge Ito (of OJ fame). She sent a letter to Ito, asking him to "Do as Jesus would have done." After the guy was jailed, the Prosecutor wrote to her, saying:
"Jesus wouldn't keep the money, if he knew it had been stolen. If you like, I can give you a name of the investors so that you can return it to them personally." He didn't receive a reply. They didn't get their money back.

Etc. etc.

And they make her a saint?!

I remembered that last part- I think that it might have been in another discussion here with you, Edward.

What a bitch.

You, Terri, however, are a saint.

"I'd fight Gandhi." (Ed Norton in 'Fight Club')