Accents are funny things. In boot camp, I got told I had a German accent. And while I am from Wisconsin, I don't think all Wisconsinites have German accents, much less myself. It's not like my parents were immigrants with an accent I might have picked up on. Later, I got mistaken for southerner just because of my use of "y'all." It was a word I swore to g-d I'd never use (I was one of those who mistakenly equated southern with dumb, apologies to Susan and Bev and Laura and, well, all the southerners on this board and others who have been my friends over the years), but my use of "you guys" tended to annoy people (for PC reasons) and I finally switched over while I was living in Arizona because it was what was used there and it stuck with me for the following 15 years. I'm back in Wisconsin, now, and the "y'all" has gone by the way, I dusted off the "you guys" and all my California friends tell me I sound like I'm from Wisconsin. One word, people! One word.

It's the nasal vowels. Daniel, I feel like a tech genius now. Thanks for posting that.

Support calls from Hell

Those were pretty good, but I was starting to get flashbacks and I had to stop reading.

It's the nasal vowels

Too right, erika. I think I lost them in the Navy and just couldn't hear it because it was me, y'know? You don't hear yourself the way others hear you. So, yeah, how about them vowels? Urk.

Some where around here I have a support call on file that would be right up there with those.

Uch. The aforementioned 80s-themed charity benefit shindig is tonight. I don't even feel like being social, much less trying to put together an outfit that was ugly 20 years ago.

Huh. It's a little unnerving to refer to the 80s as "20 years ago." I mean, they *were,* obviously (I can do math!), but they don't *feel* like they were 20 years ago. Jesus.

Doubtful I'll take a picture of me, but maybe. I actually bought blue eyeshadow, since I wasn't willing to buy 80s clothes. Blue eyeshadow = $1.99. That's fine. But I ain't spending $$ on clothes I will never wear again.

I'm thinking pink-striped polo shirt w/collar turned up, under a pink oxford-cloth button-down shirt, jeans with the bottom pegged, blue eyeshadow, maybe a floppy bow in my hair if I can find something, and -- I have no idea what shoes. Maybe just my Keds. They aren't 80s, really, but they also aren't blatantly 2005.

Bah. I didn't sleep well last night at all, and I'm exhausted, and feel SO unsocial. Fortunately the party is literally 1 block from my apartment, and so I can zip over there and zip back home with very little effort.

Guess I'll go get ready.

Keds would definitely work for that version of the 80s.

Guess I'll go get ready.

I think the outfit sounds good. Hoping that it's much more fun than you think it'll be and you wind up glad that you decided to go, Steph.

We had a bit of a wind and rainstorm last night, nothing that dramatic, but apparently it was enough to split our neighbor's lovely front yard shade tree in half. It's standing, but not looking especially stable. We've moved all our cars out of range, and now DH is out strategizing with Mr. Neighbor how to get the tree down without taking out power to our street.

We got most of it down, without snapping any of the lines or pulling the weatherhead out of our house. We had every tool for cutting the tree except a chain saw, and by the end of it we wished we had the chain saw to begin with. The front of both houses is now nothing but piles of branches. As an added bonus, I had the super-annoying rhody in the side yard taken out too.

On inspection, it was bleeding obvious the tree was diseased and rotting on the inside, but we never looked closely enough to see it. The leaves were covered in tiny yellowish spots, and little white flying bugs hovered like a cloud over the fallen branches. The fork from where the main two branches came out of the trunk was rotten deep into the trunk. If this had been a major windstorm, the would have likely blown apart and taken cars and power lines with it.

There's some morality tale buried in this.

gaaaahhhhhhh knocking off for the night with paper, uh, well, "writing" is not quite accurate... paper-getting-stuff-organized-and researched. And stuff.

I guess writing will be tomorrow.

Will anyone be around and be willing tomorrow to take a look at a 5 page rough draft regarding the history and challenges facing 2 specific salient characteristics of American Higher Education?

My plan is to bang out a rough draft from all my notes/outline tomorrow between 9ish or 10 and 1ish, so I'd be sending it off for other blessed eyes at around 1 or so... Then take a nice break, clear the brain, and then start pruning between 3 and 7.