So – the funeral prep checklist was all done, Mrs Mom was in a pretty goood mood and so we suggested we get her out of the house for ice cream! I called my mom and invited her along (since the mom’s get along fab and mine lives like 8 miles away). In the course of eating the radio station mom works at comes up, she’s doing a show again there, and how different is it from the late 70’s hippy days on the bohemian campus station with long haired burnouts in thread bare tshirts. It’s now filled with khaki clad yuppies with mocha lattes.

So, I mention how when I was young during the marathon years how this one time when I was a kid I seem to recall being told I ate some pot brownies (I think after a few days after the fact), or maybe that I was told here were some and to stay away (or somethign) at the on air marthon week potluck table. No one told anyone there were pot brownies (my parents were hippies but NOT into that stuff) and were livid. Now I was pretty young, maybe 10. So my memory fades but someone told me Mom ripped the guilty party a new one. And how once I’d gotten this weird rash after one night at the station… wait a minute.

I’m telling this story and mom is cringing.

I suddenly remember that at some point I also had ginger ale after some brownies, (and this is still clear) I got hives all over my scalp and down my back and had to soak in a ice cold tub to bring them down. Mom told me I “had to be allergic to the ginger ale” because I’d hardly had any before, but had had brownies before.

Turns out, Mom saw my rash and figured out I was allergic to pot (at least digested pot) and kept it under her hat for later years as a sign if I ever got into pot as a teenager. She’d know! Ha! We all cracked up.

Mom said she never told me about the brownies, (though I think she did, if not Dad did). I just didn’t remember them being the same day as the ginger ale. (but i’m not even clear on that since when it clicked it all made total sense).

So we get back to Mrs Mom’s house and I go to the bathroom and I’m still rolling this over in my brain and it hits like a bolt… I’m not allergic to ginger ale!

I have avoided ginger ale since that rash like the plaque for like 30 years. I have that naked and shivering my ass off in a ice bath burned in my memory and any thought of ginger ale immediatly brings it back.

Oddly that never even noticed I was allergic to pot. Never tried it. It smelled so bad and the idea of smoking it seemed so replusive that what chances I had were never taken.

No word if I had a trip or anything, obviously as this was all a blur till today. I called mom on the way joking that I just figured out my lifelong avoidance of ginger ale was a lie! I was gonna go home and pick up some Schweps and see if I was still allerigc to pot.

She laughed and she’s still more than little embarrsed about all this. I think it’s hilarious.

Mr Dad’s obituary is here

Okay, I know I haven’t written in a few days here’s the scoop: The sadness I mentioned before has happened. Mr Man’s father has died. We’ve been going up daily (an hour trip one way) since Saturday.

He’s been sick for sometime with kidney and liver ailements due to a inept doctor who didn’t read page two of his test results for two years and Baycol (and Ohio’s weak malpractice laws). He had been on various forms of dialysis for over five years and finally when his tissues were breaking down, he hurt more after dialysis than before and was in near constant pain, liver was failing, heart problems – he decided enough was enough.

He had seen far too many in the dialysis center get to this stage he was now at. Due to his tissues breaking down where they did his dialysis he would have to take the final stwp – get a jugular port instead. He knew it wouldn’t do anything but give him a few weeks more. He knew it would mean more pain and was futile to even try it. So he didn’t.

Last Monday he notified his doctors he was done and stopped dialysis. He entered the hospice care system the next day and he died around 3pm in his home yesterday. He’d missed four dialysis treatments. He went very peacefully I’m told. Mr Man’s mom was there alone with him (My brother in-law had *just* left to fill a new Rx) so she got to tell him all the stuff she needed to say.

Mr Man is a Junior. And he’s every bit his Dad’s son. Seeing him wither away , especially over the last six months, has killed us all a little inside. All three sons are chewed up, naturally but at the same time, we’re rather relieved. It’s over. We don’t have to look at him and wonder ho wmuch pain he was hiding.

My mother in law is hovering like a hummingbird trying to do fourty things at once. When her wings give out she’s gonna crash hard. She’s been remarkably good (better than us) with no weeping spells so far, but that fine thread holding her together is fraying.

The funeral is Sunday. So I don’t know how much more I’ll have until then. Just haven’t felt liek scouting crap for you guys. I just pull the laptop with me and play popcap.com games or the like.

Despite the bad news yesterday there is, I guess, good news. I have a job.

It’s temporary (for now), but is full time for Proctor and Gamble here in Cinci. Now It’s webdesign, and the ad was basically asking for me by name, so that’s nice – but what for I have no idea as I’m supposed to be going to a chemical research lab. This is the last you’ll prolly hear of this as I have a non-disclosure doohickey, and I never blog about work or jobs anyway (no matter how mcuh I might want to), becasue I’m WAY too smart for that. But, If I turn any cool colors, sprout an extra arm, or see an alien aircraft I’ll be sure to tell you all, but past that nada.

I’m kinda fascinated personally at this point what I might be doing, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be starting till the 10th now so I have 2 weeks to get back on a normal human schedule and get all my Tivo watched up.

So that’s the news, such as it is. Still no IKEA, I’ve been watching.

Okay the new season of Celebrity Poker Showdown has started and I have to say i’m not terribly happy.

First, they replaced affiable Phil Gordon with petulant poker prat Phil Helmuth. He has all the personality of a poker chip and as a result Dave Foley, the grandmaster of adlib, is carrying the entire show. The fun banter of Foley and Gordon has been replaced with tense noodling. The reason of course is the online poker joint Helmuth works for is the new main sponsor.

Second the thing is awash in sponsorships. The “loser’s lounge” has been redubbed the “oCo Lime Lounge” and each episode is awash in abonoxious SoColime commercials.

Third, Dave Foley shaved off his Devilish looking Vandyke. it gave his baby face such a naughty overtone. I liked it.

I’m fine with it moving to New Orleans, really, as all the charities are Katrina Relief – I just HATE Phil Helmuth I guess.

HELL YA!

And oddness courtesy of my oddball brother, funkyblue… what’s with this song, anime babes and leeks anyway?

Also it’s at the top right hand sidebar and in the line of links at the bottom of every post so if you ever want to later that’s where to find it.

Does anyone else see the plastic trash bags along the highway from the clean up crews and wonder if any of them have bodies, or body parts, in them?

Or wonder if that car passing you in such a hurry has a body in the trunk?

Uh… yeah, me niether.

I have been swamped today between family stuff (sadness ahead) and an interview scheduled on Tuesday – that would be busy for anyone then add on a few reporter phone calls about IKEA (yes more) and the IKEA North America Media and Location Planning guy (the voice of ikea I guess you could say) called as well… just to say “hey we see you over there” and remark how stupid the CIncinnati news guy was.

I’ll just send you over to OHIKEA to read what I’ve put up over the last couple days. Today I’ve been typing up a storm over there. why bother to repeat it.

Media darling status still fully locked and engaged. A reporter asked me how it felt “to be famous.” HA! I wish.

I’ll be moving ohikea to it’s new domain soon (thanks sugi!) after all this damned traffic slows back to normal. I hope it goes well – I’d so hate to loose my google ranking!

A young doctor goes missing. No body, few clues. Her family believes she died a hero in the World Trade Center, but cops tell a very different story. The mystery of the 2,750th victim.

This is a highly interesting article, regardless of what happened.But then I’m a bit of a mystery hound.

it’s been a BIG OHIKEA news day! – go read!

To top it off, I’m in the Plain Dealer today too! AND a reporter from the Dispatch called to see abotu doing an IKEA story featuring me.

I should be on the freaking IKEA payroll by now!

The good: I’m iin the Cleveland Plain Dealer today with OHIKEA. My media darling status is due to run out any minute.

The bad: I need to find a job.

The ugly: This site beats even some japanese sites as busiest piece of pixelated crap I’ve ever seen.

Caligraft – pick a tool, when it starts just type and hit return.

How cool is that?

I would not advise clicking from work, not because he is naked (not, but nearly) in his lace and frills but because someone might see and think you are into that kinda thing but BeeLira wins the scariest Flickerstream… at least of the week. I’m Sure I’ll find a “ever” thats far worse.

How did I find it you may ask? One of these lovely pictures was in the Explore. Ugh.

My pal Dave, AKA ADDBlogDaddy, master of a thousand and one blogs of varying and indeterminate lifespans, (as opposed my three) has closed one door and opened another. Dave, who also blogs at TUAW for pay as well as other publications, is a blogoholic. And I’m largely responsible as I gave him his first blog off VBB a few years ago that started all this madness. His wife should sue me for being a bad influence. I feel like a unachieving mentor who’s student has far surpassed them.

Anyway, DaddyDaze (his daddy blog) has killed “kermit the blog” (his personal blog) in deadly hand to hand combat for the dave.typead.com title in a three round battle.

Long live his new non-dady blog, TEH_SUCK. Blog list it.

Today he posed the challenge:

I’ll bite, since I’m at a loss for more interesting posts, below are mine. I’m also very eclectic, so I could do five for each of the last 5 or 6 decades (and a few different genres). One will do for now. I’m an 80s girl, so I stuck to that.

1: Duran Duran – Save a Prayer (I limited myself to ONE DD song)
2: The Cure – Charlotte Sometimes (hard choice, I love them all, I just picked one)
3: XTC – Dear God (Brilliant and angry)
4: Elvis Costello – What’s so funny… (ditto)
5: Clash: Rock the Casbah

NYC’s “famous” street performer The Naked Cowboy is from Ohio.

He was born in Greenhills, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. He got his first head shots (during his buff rippled early modeling/stripping years) from a sleazy guy who owned a failing print shop in my hometown, Springfield, who just happened to like pretty young boys on his arm.

As to be expected with someone who was a model, and now makes his living wander NYC in only cowboy boots and briefs, the Cowboy fancies himself an author – he has MANY autobiographical PDFs (I guess one is not enough) to tell the tale of his trail to fame. Be afriad. (and that was what I got in just five minutes of haphazard scanning)

And that is more than I wanted to know about someone I never gave a shit about 20 minutes ago. DAMN you google! I forget what I was searching for now.

The site, it hurts… I-yi-yi!

Am I the only one who is entirely bored by the very idea of a new Superman movie? (I cringe at the media discussing the “superman curse” again ad nauseum… )

Superman is an old an busted goodie two shoes. Boring, puritan, stupid and more than a bit ghey. I have met more exciting and engaging social studies teachers.

I MIGHT rent it on DVD, or pop $4 for it on PPV, if nothing else was on, but there’s no chance in hell I’m paying theatre money for it.

And this is coming from someone who paid to see Daredevil.

Just paid attention to an Advair commercial, the one with the hoarse cuter old guy with the dog…

The voiceover guys says “Advair contains Salmeterol, for patients with asthama medicines with Salmeterol may cause asthama related death”. So what good is taking the medicine if taking it could cause you to die of the disease anyway?

In other news I have fine grainy patch of poision ivy on my lips. I’ve had a couple of BAD outbreaks as a kid, incuding one where my entire face was one huge scab) when I got near a wood fire where it was being burned have left me just incredibly sensitive to poision ivy. It seems like if I even look at it I get it.

I know Mr Man pulled some outside over the weekend, promptly washed up with the poision ivy wash we to keep me from gettng it, and then sometime that afternoon I know he made me a drink. I think a minute amount left tranfered from the glass edge to the corners of my mouth and the area on my lips near it. Oh and it’s spreading. Joy.

Finding nothing on TV (and MR Man having purged Tivo) we decided to use some free movie tickets and drive to the Rave theatre and catch “The break up”, thus skipping the three other movies *I* wanted to see. This movie was his choice. I had been badgering him to go see a movie, t he ones I’ve been wanting to see, for two weeks. Can’t find a parking spot. Drive the 15 minutes home, hit Target for some essentials, decide to go rent a few DVDs for the weekend.

Go to Hollywood Video and pick out four we kinda wanted to see and go wait in line. And wait. And wait. The guy ahead of us is wearing a orange polo shirt. HIs khakis give him a bubble butt and he’s wearing a bluetooth earphone despite not using his cell. He is buying $85 of someting. It’s taking forever. The checkout girl forgot something they have to take it off and ring it up, again. The guy behind us is actively chatting at full volume on his bluetooth earphone about going to Minnesota next week. The other register checks out the fourth person since we were standing there. We wait. The guy gets a second total but he hasn’t moved. They are still working out something. The guy behind us is still talking, now about the difference between the M logos of Michigan and Minnesota. The fifth person in the next line checks. People who hadn’t even been in the store when we first stood in line.

At this point I’ve decided enough. I toss my videos on the counter and walk out the door, Mr Man follows. He says he was about ready to tell me we either needed to change lanes or just go. I said screw it we’re already outside. I wasn’t excited about any of the movies we’d picked to much to feel that we HAD to have them. Screw it. The man in the orange shirt is still at the counter, he’s now staring at me like I’m some retard. I shoot him a look. The guy going to Minnesota is still on the phone and steps up to take our place in line.Customer #6 in the other line walks out past us. Bastards.

What I did do today was hit the Bargain Hole again. Got another of those primo Fieldcrest silk quilted shams for my bedroom set for $2 ($40 at Target) that’s never even been opened and a pillow for the jumbo square one I already had from there for $3. Deal.

So the total for my 400 Thread count egyptian cotton duvet cover, 2 matching cotton shams, two 100% buttery soft quilted coordinating silk shams was $17 total. Retail would have been over $300. Damn I love that place.

Illegal at Princeton – a facinating article about an amazing person.

Brown claims Bush was happy former FEMA head was taking heat for Katrina response

You wondering what I’m wondering?

gwb@eop.gov?