procrastination is fun!

First, I did play with a new layout. The new one lasted all of about 5 minutes, using the WYSIWYG editor in Blogger Beta. It completely FUBARed everything, so I'll have to hand-code it all. Again.

In the mean time, this is what happens when I get bored, have yarn, my Firefly DVD box set, and a cat.





Way too much time on my hands.

And for those of you who are wondering, Maleficent isn't the least bit upset by this. In fact, she was happier in the second photo since she could "burrow" into the hat. It took genuine work to snap a shot with her face visible.

i need a new layout

I've had my current design for over a year and I think it's getting a little stagnant. I'll be playing with the new features in Blogger Beta since I finally was able to convert my account.

If this site starts looking a little, odd, over the next day or so, that's what's up. I'll be making a backup of the current template just in case things don't go well.

bad kitty!

No pirogi for the kitties! Mine, they're all mine!

Yes, there's some backstory here. I'm lazy so I don't make pirogi from scratch. I buy the frozen ones and go from there. Usually, once I boil them and attempt to saute them in butter. I generally end up with a pile of mangled, yet tasty, dinner.

Tonight was different, I managed to finally use enough butter to keep the buggers from sticking. I'm happily munching away at my plate of perfectly browned and intact pirogi. Sadly, there is a drawback to tonight's plan. Ok, so there's a couple of problems with tonight's plan. Maleficent and her fat ass thinks she needs a pirogi or 10. She already had her dinner, she needs to leave mine alone.

The other major problem is the brand I buy has 12 to a box. Neither S or K (formerly known as Tom and Luke, respectively; I'm getting lazy) like pirogi, so I get the entire box to myself. Now, I can (should) only eat about 6-8 at a time. I put the extras in a baggie and pop them back in the freezer. Unfortunately, it seems I never use the ones in the baggies and simply buy another box.

Tonight I was a good girl. I pulled out two baggies of pirogi, cooked them, even managed a perfect golden crust. Unfortunately (and there's always an unfortunately), apparently at one point I bought both the Potato and Cheese and the Potato and Onion varieties. Now I have a plate of pirogi roulette. Perfectly browned, crispy, pirogi roulette. I don't like the onion ones; I may have picked up a box for S to try. Or else I couldn't read that particular day. Or both.

You read it here first, pirogi roulette. Go ahead and insert your jokes about Eastern European ethnicity. I'll come after you painted in woad swinging a halberd.

still here

Despite the generally shitty weather in North Alabama over the weekend, the Oubliette and it's occupants are still kicking. Or napping or swimming, depending on the species.

Storm total for the area: 2 confirmed tornado touchdowns within about 40 miles of Huntsville Friday afternoon/evening. No major damage, no injuries that I'm aware of. Here at Chez Oubliette, we managed to avoid the worst of the weather on Friday. Yes, I did watch a supercell form over the house and start to rotate, but no funnel cloud/tornado formed. Friday was all isolated supercell storms, not a line. For those of you who aren't into meterology, isolated storms are generally more violent and unpredictable than a line of storms ahead of a front.

Saturday night was actually the worst weather at my location when the line of storms ahead of the cold front moved through. Wind gusts were approximately 35mph (56kph), enough to sway entire trees. From what I can tell, no damage occured in my neighborhood. Over the whole weekend (Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon) rainfall totaled 1.8 in, or 4.6cm for you metric people. Ok, so I measured in cm to start with and used a calculator to convert to inches. Why, yes, I can use metric when I feel like it.

Now for some photos of the storms.


The storm that spawned the F1 tornado approximately 40 miles SE of Huntsville in Albertville, AL. The dome is the tornadic updraft.


A second supercell thunderstorm approximately 40 miles south of Huntsville. This storm did not spawn a tornado.


The back (southwest) edge of a supercell thunderstorm that formed directly over my house. It became severe but did not spawn a tornado.

All of the above photos were taken within 10 minutes of each other on Friday. It was an interesting afternoon.

musings on power and those who seek it

One should always be suspect of those who seek positions of power. Power attracts the power-seekers, those who would use their positions for personal gain. The more power a position grants, the more we should distrust those who seek that position. Power attracts corruption. The more power a position grants, the more corruptible those who actively seek that position. The individuals best suited to wield such power are those who are competent yet have no desire for power. Unfortunately, many existing power structures encourage those who actively seek power and ignore those who are qualified yet have no desire for personal power.

catblogging

Cats! I can blog about the cats! (It's one of those days, just go with it.) I've been tuning out the furry tumors that sprouted Monday night, so I forgot that I hadn't posted any pics or written about them in a while.

When I walked in the door Monday evening, after having been a bad mommy and abandoning them to fend for themselves for 4 days, I was mobbed by the little furry beasts. At least they thought they had been abandoned. Luke was here all weekend and he did feed them, despite what they claimed. Noah became my head-warmer in bed, Eep and McCullough sat aside their differences so they could each claim a hip. You have no idea how happy I was that they didn't start fighting with me in the middle.

So, right now all the kitties are lounging around, sleeping the afternoon away. If I hadn't been sleeping for the past 3 days solid, I'd probably be doing the same thing. So, without further ado, photos of Maleficent, Noah, and Mac.

ramblings from the sub-conscious

Well, I survived the weekend in Atlanta. Barely. Just for the record, marble tile + water = very bad. Yep, I am truly talented and managed to re-injure my back. Did something resembling the splits in a friggin' ball gown and damn near broke a toe. In a ball gown, complete with petticoats. I did make it to the ball that was going on at the Con, but there was more than an hour wait to get in the room.

So, what did I do? Went to the Stargate room and watched episodes half the night with the other really cool people who decided to hell with the parties that night. All 5 of us. We probably had one of the most intelligent discussions going on in the entire place, aside from maybe the true science tracks. We're geeks, I admit it. Who else would spend a Saturday night discussing medical ethics, genocide, and physics? Ok, some of the science people, but I deliberately stayed away from that group. Mainly because I knew I would know some of the people. (And I was right. Gods, I love Huntsville. An entire city of geeks.)

Why, yes, I am rambling. Why do you ask? Vicodin Land is back, because of my back. So, while I may be posting, don't expect anything stellar. Oh, there may be some gems scattered among the stream-of-consciousness ramblings. I guarantee it will be accidental, though. C'est la vie.