Hey, Fay! So, I see you're unsure what you'll do if your boss refuses to let you come. I say come here, then couch-hop around the U.S. until it's time to fly to your new job.

Okay, it's not very realistic, but it is a GREAT idea.

Here is my plan: request 17th - 25th off. (7 working days). If that's a no, I try to negotiate 5 days (because if it's less than 5 days, the flight is way more expensive) and ask my travel agent to try and sort that out for me. If they're not prepared to let me have 5 days, I maybe try for 3? And if it's just no no no...well, at that point I have to ask myself whether I'm prepared to say "Well, I love my job, and I've really enjoyed working for you, even though you've screwed me over in several interesting and creative ways over the past year, but, bottom line, I'm going to this event. You can just deduct the missing days from my salary (keeping in mind that I've only taken one sick day this year, and have been a good and conscientious worker at all times), or you can sack me. Your call."

And that would be really dumb. I'm due salary through to August and my flight back to the UK, so I can't just walk out.

And yet, if it comes right down to it, I may. Because I really, really really want to be at the F2F, and I don't think I'll get the chance again for a very long time. I'm not a class teacher. My absence WILL have a negative impact upon children, but I'm not their primary educator - I'm a support teacher. In the future, it's just not going to be an option if the F2F is during term time (which I guess it always will be).

Er. So - who knows, there may be a Fay Grand Tour of the US, if I end up having to pull a Thelma & Louise.

Yes! Or, or, you and I could team up, find a middle school teacher, and we'd be like traveling schoolteachers of the Old West. Hired Chalks, they'd call us. We Fight Crime! And ignorance.

Now THIS I like the sound of...

I just told my boss about turduckens. She is horrified. "Turkey is awesome, duck is awesomer, and the chicken is just a waste. Chuck the turkey, chuck the chicken"

"You want a duck in a duck in a duck?"

"Yes!"

"How about a duck in a duck in a goose?"

"Duck duck goose!"

Upon further discussion, we decided that pate in a duck in a goose could work as well.

Could NEVER eat that. Blech. Having new empathy for vegetarians who torment me over my sandwich meat just thinking about it.

Apropos of nothing, over in LJ-land I just saw a friend describe a really bad cheeseburger as a "grease-soaked cheese food with bread-like handles." Yum. Just had to share.

I can't even describe it or explain the plot to someone else, because I get very very emotional about it.

I remember the day my boss was telling a recap of the story and everyone in the office was bawling by the end.

Dude...don't give up the day job to be a food critic, okay? Although my beloved literary boyfriend George pulled something like that by having a character say his chicken was so tender he could fuck it. And then another character took an extra plate in case the gf wasn't in the mood that night. Ew. But I still love him anyway.

Um...there was stuff. I read it, and I felt for people and bad shit happened, and I cared. And then I forgot what it all was, 'cause I suck! So, hugs and kisses all around.

Hey, vw, mind if I tag?

Absolutely not! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. There was NYC, then there was a bus ride, then a nap. Now I’m functional.

{{{Cass and niecelet}}}

Owen’s such a cutie!

Deena, have I seen pictures of Aidan in his glasses before? ‘Cause if I have, I’m forgetting. He looks SO CUTE!

I don’t think I’ve seen Lilo and Stitch. Now I don’t think I can.

I just saw a friend describe a really bad cheeseburger as a "grease-soaked cheese food with bread-like handles." Yum.

I stopped ordering the (lame) burgers at work when they started keeping the cooked patties warm in a thing of some sort of oil over a heater. They do something similar with the chicken breasts. I can't even look at them without feeling queasy.

The patties sit in the oil?

What prompted this from DH was that when we were discussing South Dakota, is that the entire state of SD has roughly the same population as the city of Columbus--but they get 3 electoral votes. I'm sure he could support his position with pie charts and graphs and stuff.

Actually, every mathematical analysis I've seen has shown that the electoral college gives more power to voters in larger states. Basically, it's true that a citizen of South Dakota has a bigger influence on where South Dakota's votes go than a citizen of Ohio has on where Ohio's votes go, but Ohio's votes have a bigger influence on where the country goes -- it's a pretty rare election that will be decided by South Dakota's three votes, whereas it's much more likely that Ohio going one way or the other will make a difference. Once you compute all the probabilities together, it ends up that the people in the bigger states have more power.

Personally, I don't totally like this analysis, because all the probabilities are built on the assumption that there's an equal chance of any outcome -- pretty much, when calculating how much power a citizen of Ohio has to influence the election, it goes with the assumption that there's an equal chance that California will go Democrat or Republican. I've played around with the numbers a little bit -- nothing formal, just some "hey, what if...?" things -- and pretty well convinced myself that the electoral college gives the most power to people in large swing states. (Which seems to be borne out pretty well by the real world -- Florida and Ohio would both count as large swing states.)