I understand the objections to stealth cilantro, but I think exceptions ought to be made for cuisines like Indian or Mexican where it's in almost everything by default.

Arrrgh. No idea why Epson.com is giving me no love all of a sudden, but I replaced the link with my T-mobile version of the photo.

waiting patiently for Dana's next installment

ok maybe impatiently

Ditto.

On the cilantro v. basil sitch (it was supposed to have basil, right?), it sounds like someone just grabbed the wrong green pile by accident. Wrong, clearly, but not on purpose.

aHA! And how cute are YOU?!

Sorry, husband came home and derailed me. I might not get through it all right now, but I'll keep going.

During the punishment phase, we didn't know what additional witnesses we might get. The first person the prosecution called was a patrol officer who had responded to a 911 buglary call two weeks after the first crime. It was at a big apartment complex just up the road from the location of the first crime.

The officer got there, and a woman told him a man had broken in and robbed her, then climbed out the window (I think, a couple witnesses were hazy on how he got in and out). While the officer was there, another resident came up to say he'd seen the guy go in and out, and then walk off. They both gave a description of the guy, and the cop drove around the complex looking for him.

He saw the guy, tried to get him to stop, and the guy took off. The cop chased him on foot and apprehended him with the help of a maintenance man and the other guy who'd seen him breaking into the apartment.

As they walked him back to the patrol car, yet another resident came out, her hand bleeding, and screamed "That's the man who raped me! That's the man who raped me!" He had broken into her apartment in the early morning, put a tire iron with a sharp end to her neck, and told her to take off her clothes. He (graphic)

put his fingers in her vagina, then put his penis in his vagina, though she apparently managed to fight him off before he ejaculated.

She broke a window to get out of her apartment, which was why her hand was bloody. They called her to testify later on. She was 60, and much more visibly upset than the first victim. She didn't want to go into the details of what had happened. The prosecutor would ask her a question, and she would look pleadingly at the translator and say "Ay, dios mio," or she would look at the prosecutor and say, "Ay, senora."

I dislike cilantro and find it in a number of things I didn't expect it in, much to my dismay.

Another thing that gets thrown into a lot of things is artificial sweetener. I went through a period last fall when any artificial sweetener tasted nasty to me - it started overnight and gradually went away. I could handle it ... except for my TOOTHPASTE. It was really nasty getting a foul sour taste instead of that "minty fresh" taste. Tried several brands, including Tom's of Maine, and got it from all of them. bleah

The prosecutor would ask her a question, and she would look pleadingly at the translator and say "Ay, dios mio," or she would look at the prosecutor and say, "Ay, senora."

Aiyeee. This is why Capt. Beefheart wrote a song titled "My Human Gets Me Blues."

Toddson, did you never find a brand that wasn't artificially sweetened? I use JASON or somesuch, and it's fine.

I could handle it ... except for my TOOTHPASTE.

I have a tube of toothpaste with a taste that triggers my gag reflex hardcore, and yet I am all, "But it's almost brand new! I can't throw it out!"

I need to get rid of it because you're supposed to brush your teeth after you puke.

I have a tube of toothpaste with a taste that triggers my gag reflex hardcore, and yet I am all, "But it's almost brand new! I can't throw it out!"

I have at least one tube of toothpaste that's artificially sweetened and two or three things of hand soap or lotion whose scents make me migrainey. Just sitting there, taking up space. In case of...something I haven't worked out yet.