Hot dogs can be good - but when I was at the F2F in San Francisco, Deb had Aidell's sausages which are really good. I've found them around here, and enjoyed them (not grilled, alas, since grilling in a small, ca. 1929 kitchen would be ... dumb).

Fay, that book sounds like possibly the cutest thing ever - and anyone who loves a stuffed dog that much deserves to keep him. Until the next Buffista baby story, which will set a new level for cuteness.

Engagement rings - they're basically the first step onto the whole wedding insanity escalator. They're nice if the people involved like them, want them, and can afford them (I got engaged once - we used his grandmother's ring ... which I returned on breaking up with him). But I think a lot of it is part of the big marketing deal; and, yes, DeBeers did get the whole "a diamond is forever" thing started. My mother decided to be original - she got emerald ring guards rather than a diamond ring. After the wedding, when she had to do housework, she discovered WHY emeralds don't make good everyday rings (they chip, break, etc.), so she stopped wearing them. So ... expensive and even more impractical than a diamond!

yay Amtrak ~ ma!

Made it - and it was a pretty good trip!

Excellent! Sox! How long are you there? Just a day trip?

I am going to attempt to bike to Trader Joe's for sustenance, since it seems to be nice out.

Hot dogs should be Nathan's kosher dogs, because that's what I grew up with and therefore am brainwashed to believe. Then again, we are discussing yet another food item my DH won't touch, so I've had maybe 2 hot dogs in 10 years.

Glad Amtrak got you there, Sox!

I didn't want my DH to spend money on an engagement ring, because it just didn't matter to me. Turns out, it mattered somewhat to him and he had one made from a platinum diamond band of his g'mothers and a tanzanite stone from one of his mother's rings. It's very pretty, but it doesn't match our wedding rings, and so when I wear it, it is as a right hand ring. A few years ago I inherited my godmother's diamond engagement ring, which (when I wear it) also ends up on my right hand, about as often as my own engagement ring.

Gronk.

I'm a little concerned as to how much gronk the new telescope is going to add to my life.

Several years ago I saw a story about someone who makes wedding rings out of meteors (metallic ones). I thought that was pretty cool.

The sweetness of Paul and Barney is killing me in the best possible way.

By Big Rock standards, Hec and I are still not yet engaged. Pfft. What-ev. Though at least the whole discussion prompted all the competing Buffista alterna-rings, which are beautiful. And now I need to run off to COMM to make sure cockring is in there.

I never had an engagement ring. We had rent money, which seemed more important at the time. Stephen bought me a ten-year anniversary band, which I adore, though, because he surprised me and it always bothered *him* that he never got me an engagement ring.

I almost never wear it, though. Our wedding bands are gold, because we were young and naively led by tradition, and I really only wear silver. I wear my grandmother's platinum band behind my gold band on an everday basis.

Personally, I hope when the time comes, that I get a ring. I mean, I wouldn't say, "No! I'm not going to marry you!" if he didn't get me a ring, but part of me is still that little girl that wants the whole fairy tale.

I loved my Sister's engagement and would likely emulate it:

Around Thanksgiving, after years of living together, they decided to get married. They talked about a bunch of stuff (kids, the like) and came to certain agreements. She wears jewelry about as little as I do and wasn't interested in a ring. He really wanted to get her one. They agreed to a ring. They didn't tell anyone they'd decided to get married.

A month later he gave her the ring Christmas morning and when they showed up at Mom's they shared the news once someone noticed it (which took an hysterically long time and drove them crazy! I was all "guys, you trained us to stop asking TEN YEARS AGO")

The thing I like about it is they got to enjoy being engaged for a while before everyone went all koo koo about it (Poor BiL had enough trouble with the attention as it was). There is something nicely intimate about it.

Oh, funny thing about the ring: She now likes it a lot. In part because her hub knows her so well -- very simple and small and not fussy. When he picked the setting and the stone they kept telling him "She won't like a stone that small!" and he kept saying "Oh she will. She doesn't want me spending THIS much as it is."

If I got engaged I would want a ring... but mostly because I really want THIS particular ring [link] (its the 24k gold bezel set) but with a smaller stone. Love that designer, love that ring, and some day I'd like to own it -- but it wouldn't be a priority.