I ate at a neighborhood Thai place hidden in a converted Victorian house in a residential district today. Very good noodles. Not so good having the manager threaten a waiter with firing in front of me—that sort of thing really needs to be conducted out of sight of the customers.

I need some Excel help.

I have a column in a survey where respondents should only be able to answer W, M, or Y. How can I make that happen?

This is the way I'd do it: Select the range where the user can enter answers, then go to Data / Validation, set Validation Criteria to Allow: List and then enter a range of three fields somewhere that have the W, M and Y in them.

eta: If you do it this way, you get a combobox arrow thingie (on the current cell) where the user can select one of the three values.

Thanks! That seems to work.

Dear Dude Who's Systematically Destroying My Will to Live,

I hope you're enjoying yourself, man. I really do. Because if you're not enjoying yourself, then this was all for naught. I don't think I can take that much vacuity so early in our professional relationship. If you're a Bastard Operator From Hell, I totally can deal! I've got a goat ready to sacrifice and everything.

shrift

Arson, murder charges filed in wildfire

Authorities on Thursday filed murder and arson charges carrying the death penalty against a man suspected of setting a Southern California wildfire last week that killed five firefighters.

Good. Bastard should rot.

eta: Ahem, if found guilty, the bastard should rot. Basically the person who started the fire should rot.

I've lived in a lot of areas where wildfires roam (including near this one) and the idea of firefighters killed? Makes me sad. The idea of them killed because of an arson fire? Makes me sick.

Dear [my firm's] IT people,

Can I smoosh your heads? It might hurt a little, but not for long, and really, you've kind of brought it on yourselves.

OKTHNXBY

Me

I feel bad that others' work angst provides me with so much entertainment. Between that and brenda's offices' telenovela-like goings on, I'm losing the need to watch tv.

Reading about brenda's office, is like reading about an office where every person above her on the org chart is a clone of Michael Scott. They're all out of their minds.

Top Chef:

But obviously they didn't hold the entree thing against sam for his fruit salad. Who knows, man. But I think Cliff and Betty definitely got it right with the classics, and a twist. I wanted to eat them myself.

I feel bad for Mike, though, because he is so screwed and he doesn't even know it. He's just blustering around in that kitchen, and he might make good food, but it's like Betty said--Top Chef is all about versatility. You have to make comfort food *and* give it presentation.

I can't wait for Marisa to kick her ass kicked off. Sooner rather than later, please. Though I actually find Elia more sleazy, especially after the Marcel drama. While I realize it was all very framed, he was being a whiny little bitch and needed a swift kick. I can see the comparison's to Stephen from last season, but Stephen, at least, was amusing to watch. I liked him, even as an asshole. I just don't like Marcel at all.

Criminal Minds: That, while being a really thin plot to make it all happen, was an intense and creepy as hell episode. I loved it. Particularly the part where Mandy Patinkin is like, "I've got a bad feeling about this one." That's when you knew it wasn't going to end well. Also, JJ was really exceptionally hot in this episode, which I appreciated.

30 Rock: Anyone else watching? It was really damn funny this week. I loved the shots of Kenny, because they were totally an excuse to get long panoramic shots of NYC while still being hilarious.