Happy New Year to those out there still reading this. Ive had this journal since my time in Seattle and so many many things have changed since then. Not only for me but in my friends and peers, not to mention in my family.

So many bad things and quite a few good things have happened over the years. I am glad I still have some close friends that have stuck with me through it all.

Ill try not to be to sappy. But Happy New Year to everyone. May 2010 be worth the time and effort and may all of you have happy, healthy and prosperous months to come.




あけましておめでとうございま!!!

• 18:25 #10yearsago I was living in MI working in CA, and having the time of my life living in a hippie commune w/a bunch of great folks. #

http://xkcd.com/683/

• 10:01 @El_Dickman I feel for you. That's why I quit my last job. Except it was 5 good people vs. 8 counter-productives. Servers looked like shit. #
• 13:31 @girlardee Yeah...Pandas' just cant hold they're liquor! [sic] #
• 13:31 @girlardee do you know how hard it was to type that last tweet? :-) #
• 14:43 I think my father was posessing me as I unwittingly drank to what would have been his 58th birthday last night. Mmm...I was whiskey good. #

Hi friends - I have a beautiful vintage jacket that needs repair: the velvet collar seems to have suffered dry-rot and split, so it needs to be removed and replaced. Can anyone recommend a seamstress or tailor with the chops to take on a detailed repair like this? Thanks!

Thanks to fflo

In 2009, aabassplayer resolves to...

Volunteer to spend time with delta blues.
Pay for my computers on time.
Go cuddling three times a week.
Ask my boss for an art.
Connect with my inner whiskey.
Find a new dumbek.

Get your own New Year's Resolutions:

http://xkcd.com/682/

• 10:48 cannot wait to leave the midwest tundra and cruise the Bahamas! #

Hey all, I'm kind of new to town and I will be needing a way to get to the airport tomorrow in the middle of the night. Can anyone recommend a cab company? A few weeks ago I called one of them from the phonebook (can't remember the company), and after nearly 90 minutes of waiting and two repeated calls I got offered a ride from a lady at Auto Zone. D:


Thanks a lot!

Name: jenna
Wedding Date: February or March 2010
Wedding Location: Southern California backyard wedding
Wedding colors/theme: Tea Party, don't really have a color theme atm
What DIY projects are you doing for your wedding? Making fingerfoods/cupcakes, some decorations having to do with tea cups, cupcake holders, tea lights. I am at a lost of what to do!!!

( Read more... )

Good analysis of a key provision of the Senate version of the health care bill:

The bill that passed the Senate with such fanfare on Christmas Eve would impose a confiscatory 40 percent excise tax on so-called Cadillac health plans, which are popularly viewed as over-the-top plans held only by the very wealthy. In fact, it’s a tax that in a few years will hammer millions of middle-class policyholders, forcing them to scale back their access to medical care.

Which is exactly what the tax is designed to do.

The tax would kick in on plans exceeding $23,000 annually for family coverage and $8,500 for individuals, starting in 2013. In the first year it would affect relatively few people in the middle class. But because of the steadily rising costs of health care in the U.S., more and more plans would reach the taxation threshold each year.

A point worth considering is that most people who would be subject to this penalty don't even know it.  They get health plans covered by their employers and never see the employer contribution to the plan.  So what you'd likely see is that the insurance plans of many people currently insured would get rolled back to lower quality plans to avoid that penalty. 

He goes on:

Proponents say this is a terrific way to hold down health care costs. If policyholders have to pay more out of their own pockets, they will be more careful — that is to say, more reluctant — to access health services. On the other hand, people with very serious illnesses will be saddled with much higher out-of-pocket costs.

So it basically just pushes the ball down the road a bit further.  Then all these plans start getting more and more expensive and harder to come by.  We'll all be forced to pay for insurance because of a mandate even though the quality of the plans will be degrading. 

Now, the final punch line:

We all remember learning in school about the suspension of disbelief. This part of the Senate’s health benefits taxation scheme requires a monumental suspension of disbelief. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, less than 18 percent of the revenue will come from the tax itself. The rest of the $150 billion, more than 82 percent of it, will come from the income taxes paid by workers who have been given pay raises by employers who will have voluntarily handed over the money they saved by offering their employees less valuable health insurance plans.

Got that?  So what their theory is is that my employer will drop my coverage and then I'll be paying income taxes on the money they'll give me instead of buying coverage for me. 

If that provision stays in this bill still needs to be killed.  I was relenting on that notion but this is a horrible provision.  I'll admit that part of my aversion to it is that it would likely affect me. 
 

• 15:09 @girlardee if BC Headache powder tastes anything like those generic excedrine pills, I'd have the same reaction. Geltabs FTMFW! #

My Evenstar necklace:




And a small present to myself ... ;-)



The shawl pin is from Scotts Mountain Crafts on Etsy. It is light as a feather and even more beautiful in person, I assure you!

Wherein we detail the list of awesome Christmas presents!

I still have yet to use the Fyberspates gift card from my in-laws; I'm a) waiting for them to repopulate the website post-Christmas, and b) waiting for myself to use the yarn I have (i.e. finish something already) so that I don't feel like I'm carrying coals to Newcastle.

The Signature US #1 needles, on the other hand, are employed as we speak. And yes, best beloved, they are exactly as wonderous as you've heard. Completely worth the outrageous price. (And I've heard they're starting to make circulars. Be still, my beating heart!)

Dan gifted me a Yankees hat and jersey, which is made of awesome. Also an Evenstar pendant straight out of Lord of the Rings, which is beautiful and sparkley and supremely geeky!

On the aforementioned end table are the following:

The Midwest Gardener's Cookbook, by Marian Towne. This book looks incredibly interesting, and is filled with common sense recipes which are simple and look delicious. It may cause me to rethink what I usually plant in my garden!


Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting by Marianne Kinzel. There's one particular project in here which I very much want to make, but I'm going to have to do some serious finishing of projects before I can even contemplate starting it.


The Enchanted Sole; Legendary Socks for Adventurous Knitters by Janel Laidman. There are so many lovely patterns in this book! And I love all the stories that go with them. The way to my heart is truly through a good fairytale.

Home is Where the Wine Is, by Laurie Perry. I loved her first book, and am halfway through this one already. (Just don't tell that to The Anarchy Archives or Way of Shadows. I'm fickle.)

Victorian Lace Today, by Jane Sowerby. This has become a ubiquitous lace-knitting book since its initial publishing. The patterns do seem to uphold the book's reputation, and I'm excited to start using it!

A Gathering of Lace, by Meg Swansen and Elaine Rowley. Ditto the comment to VLT; everything in this book is gorgeous! These will keep me in projects for years to come.

Scarf Style, by Pam Allen. There are some truly cozy and interesting projects in here, which is good since while useful garments, scarves are my kryptonite. I'm hoping that some of these will be enough to curb my impatience!

And there you have it. I hope that your Christmas was equally pleasant and fruitful!

http://xkcd.com/681/

• 12:31 @kohizeri Wonder if it's the lid switch not working on the washer. Had the same problem with a dryer & just shorted across the switch wires. #

Hi everyone!
I'm new here, and although I've considered myself vegitarian (or pescetarian, more precisely) since I was, like, ten, I just learned that I'm not a very good one.

Anyways, I just found out that both marshmallows and candy corn have gelatin in them! I thought gummy candies were the only candies that used it.
Would anyone like to compile a short list of other things I should avoid? I've looked all over google and can't find one.
It would be a huge help!
Thanks, Aly

(If this type of post isn't allowed, I'd be happy to take it down.)

Basically caught up on laundry... a few other light chores still to go. I'm cheery and fairly energetic. A little bored, but in a good way. Thinking about loved ones and fun yet to come. Appreciating the quiet days at home; I really needed that rest. Stress has melted away, and I feel so much better than I had in probably two months. I made a dent on the piles of backed up projects, too, which is encouraging.

I'm listening to music and enjoying my simple comfortable space. Mmm purrrr.

It amuses me that in this season of chaotic buying, travels, visits with family, storms, etc.... that I am completely content sitting at home with healthy food, skipping the Christmas tree and presents and decorations and everything else.... and just enjoying the peacefulness. I remember Christmas as a child with all of its excitement and such... but when Christmas eve came and night fell, what I remember most is looking out across the snowy fields, miles away from the city, with moonlight reflecting on the undisturbed snow. Silence. No cars, no sirens, no people. Just snow, and silence. It was then that I could imagine what it would be like to hear sleigh bells approaching, a mile away... a half a mile... quarter mile... just around the bend; ah, there they are. A soft jingle in the distance makes such a more beautiful sound than the commercial handbells rung in the cities - that sound like an alarm going off.

It's the peacefulness of winter that I appreciate.

Hi, if i'm not allowed to pimp my community please delete.
buffyquestions is a new community for asking and answering questions about Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse. Got a question? Know a lot about the Whedonverse? Then come on over.

:)