The Tiroler Hutte has a website. For some of you, that fact will blow your mind. I’m just pissed I never saw the “Cow Bell Cabaret”.

Happy (belated) birthday to Matt at Scrubbles! (On a related note, the Snook discovered a retro furniture shop a few blocks away that looks like exactly the type of place Matt and Christopher would run. I’ve got to take a picture so you can see what I mean. I covet the pristine pink and gray 1950’s formica kitchen table set in the front window. *sigh*)

Wow. Moire found a review of a film about Amish teenagers. It sounds fascinating. I can’t believe there’s so much I don’t know about them, despite the fact that they’re everywhere in Lagrange County. Apparently they don’t baptize any kids, because you’re supposed to consciously choose to be in the religion. Thus teenagers go through a period where they can “try out” all the pleasures of mainstream society (“the Devil’s Playground”) before committing themselves fully to the Amish life. Some of them don’t make it back though.

The Snook and I need to go on the Shake Ya Ass Dance Cruise of Sydney Harbour. Seriously. Don’t you think?

Wow. Is it really only 53 days til Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets comes out? That’s not long at all! The Herald‘s got some nice pictures that I hadn’t seen before. Draco’s Dad looks like Celeborn the elf from Lord of the Rings. Kenneth Branagh looks pretty good as Gilderoy Lockhart (though I still think Hugh Grant would’ve been better). And as I said before, Tom Riddle is hot.

The Lovely Bones discussion is still going on, for those of you that read it. If you haven’t graced us with your opinion yet, drop in. And don’t forget, we’re supposed to be reading Neil Gaiman’s Coraline for this month! (*grumble* Still haven’t gotten my nice illustrated copy yet… *grumble*)

Snookums sent me this fun movie quiz this morning. It shows thirty film scenes with the actors digitally erased. How many can you identify? Together we managed to get nineteen. Here are the folks that made it. They’ve got some others if you’re really bored. (Warning: the first link is a 300K Excel file. I’ll host it for a while so y’all can grab it, but if tons of folks start linking to it, I’ll take it down. So get it while it’s hot!)

Thanks for everyone’s commiseration. The work disaster turned out to be not as bad as I anticipated. I still had to re-do everything, but it was easier the second time and I even improved it a bit. The biggest pick-me-up was provided by Mama Snook, who sent me some knitting needles, a ball of yarn, and a groovy kids’ book entitled “Fun With Wool.” As soon as I get the quilt done, it’s time to tackle knitting!

And the fun keeps coming.
Before getting started on the task of rebuilding two weeks’ worth of work, I thought I’d spend a few relaxing minutes in the garden. I watered the flowers and checked on the new baby lemons. I dampened down the worms and observed that another crop of mutant pumpkin seeds have sprouted. Then, satisfied that I could face the day, I replaced my watering can near the worm farm and stood up with confidence… and whacked my head on one of our big hanging ceramic planters full of new flowers, which promptly fell off the wall and shattered before my feet.

The universe is conspiring against me folks. I’ve got some bad karma goin’ on and it’s probably best if I sequester myself for a while til it goes away.

ARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!
I just lost the last two weeks of database work I did on the project I’m contracting. “Upset” doesn’t begin to describe my state at the moment. “Frantic and wailing” is more like it. If anybody needs me, I’ll be drinking my face off for the rest of the night before trying to pick up the pieces tomorrow.