Dang, Perkins. That's no way to start a day. Hope it improves quickly.

There are workmen here today putting down new cork flooring and (a separate job) painting the hallways. The fumes from all of the above are rather strong and unpleasant. Officially, these fumes are going to be my excuse for not getting anything done today.

The good news is the fine people of LexisNexis are taking us out to lunch.

$2.85/gallon

And I though $2.49/gallon was expensive...

Hope it improves quickly.

Does spilling coffee on my shirt count?

Does spilling coffee on my shirt count?

I think that it's an improvement over spilling gasoline on your shoes. YSpillMV.

Sparky read my mind.

My painkillers were a $25 copay. (Oxford's non-generic-non-preferred rate.) These had better be the best drugs EVER.

Morning Lovelies!

Happy Birthdays to Robin, Kat Bee, and Ms. H!

Empathy/Sympathy/and feel-better-ma to Sean and Jess.

Virtual Chocolate to Perkins. Here's hoping you get a re-set of the tone of this day.

Thanks guys!

I think you may well be right about the coffee/gasoline thing.

Well, Fahrenheit 9/11 grossed $119 million, and MotP just passed Bowling for Columbine (which made $21.6 million), so MotP has a ways to go to pass F9/11.

Yep it surely does, but with family appeal and good reviews, I think the shelf life of the penguin movie will prove to do well. Especially if they add more theaters, which is very likely what with the receipts.

happy birthday to Katie B and Mrs. H.

((Perkins))

Erin! Yay for Erin! Whom I evidently missed by a matter of minutes.

Also Go Team Tea, with the date-making and date-having!

I am now drinking beer with banana juice

I've seen banana juice in the store, and I keep wondering how one juices a banana. But honestly, I'm with meara on this one.

Well, I was equally dubious, but it was entirely delicious. You can't use any old shitty beer, though - it needs to be a specific style of White beer that they get in Germany, which is crisp and delicious. It's not that much odder than Shandy.

thinks

Do y'all have Shandy? Maybe not.

Barnsley! That's one of the places my DH keeps talking about us moving to (as our real residence). That and Heslington, and a couple other places in Yorkshire I don't recall.

Good God. Really? Barnsley is much-dissed, but actually secretly rather fabulous as a place to live. It's only a half hour or so drive to Sheffield or to Leeds, (good sized cities, excellent shopping, the latter boasting numerous posh shops and gorgeous Victorian architecture) and the countryside really is second to none.

We're a ten minute drive from The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which is just gorgeous. Here are twelve pictures of the countryside, although I don't think they begin to do it justice. Cawthorne is one of the prettiest villages in the Barnsley area imho, incorporating Cannon Hall Park, which is beautifully landscaped & fab for a nice walk on a weekend. There's a fairly standard cinema in Barnsley town centre, but far better is the independent cinema in the amusingly-named Penistone, a 15 minute drive or so away. It's a proper Old Skool cinema, complete with bar - you can take your coffee or beer into the cinema to drink. They always have an interval in which you can go and purchase said refreshments, regardless of the movie. It's also got a working Organ (heh), and the Paramount still hosts bands and pantomimes and live gigs in addition to the movies.

Barnsley Football Club actually has its own Poet In-Residence, and according to him, "It's a cliche that it's grim up north. It's not been grim up north since they did away with industry in 1984. Leeds is full of footballers shopping in Harvey Nichols, Sheffield is full of men in hard hats building things and Barnsley is the new Tuscany."

Ahem.

Go Barnsley! Choose Barnsley!