your secret is safe with us, Laura.

I got all verklempt reading about the stealth hotel giftage by JZ to Tom. That stuff is always just so awesome.

TomW has been playing Super Mario Galaxy for the past hour and a half, heh.

Cashmere, I'm SO sorry about your uncle. My thoughts are with you and your dad.

I should call my own dad today, see how he's dealing with a similar situation.

What I meant was that Dulles may be farther geographically, but it will take less time to get to Falls Church than from National and the route will be far less complicated. but, hey, I just live here.

Vortex, that's often true, but the only times I've really gotten stuck in traffic in recent years have been trying to get to points inside the Beltway from points west such as Dulles. I prefer National because I find the airport easier to get around and I can catch the Metro to a point closer to home.

For someone unfamiliar with the area who has to drive, Dulles might be easier. Of course, day of the week, time of day, road work, accidents, exact location (are we talking City of Falls Church or the Falls Church part of Fairfax County?), etc. all factor.

Kat,you need to give me your cauliflower soup recipe. And my mom needs to give me her coleslaw recipe. And La Posta, theirs. And I need to figure out if I can make beans in my crockpot.

Maybe that will inspire me to eat better. Today, I've mixed cabbage in with a noodle bowl, and that's all I've eaten today.

Canyon de Chelly is pronounced Canyon de-SHAY.

Mogollon is mugee-YOWN.

This announcement brought to you by a bad radio announcer. Oy.

Anybody have a better knowledge of photography history than I can google? I found a box of glass negatives in my grandparents' stuff. Based on where I found it, I can narrow it's origin to Europe, probably Vienna, definitely before WWII. It's glass negatives, about three by four inches. (Next thing I'm going to do is try scanning them with white paper behind them, then use photoshop or something to switch the black/white colors, to see if the photos themselves give any clues. Of the people in my family who I know were living there then, I think there are only two or three that I can recognize from a photo.)

t edit: OK, I got better google search terms. 1850-1920 for glass negatives, it seems. Judging from the clothes I can see in these, I'd guess the later end of that period.

And I need to figure out if I can make beans in my crockpot.

What kind of beans do you have in mind? What size crockpot?

New TSA regulations on flying with lithium batteries: [link]

The TSA has discovered that on January 1st, 2008 lithium batteries are going to become more dangerous than they were on December 31, 2007. Thankfully, they've taken action by forbidding them beginning in 2008.

Lithium Metal Battery, Spare or Installed (over 2 grams lithium):
In checked bag? Forbidden
Carry-on? Forbidden

Oh for fuck's sake. Does this effectively ban all laptops, iPods, cell phones, etc?

what the fuck? do they want people to stop flying altogether?

They are fucking insane.

Hey, my laptop screen is on. How weird. Yay?

I have a small crock pot that runs only on low. We made beans at my parents, but theirs has multiple settings, and I don't recall what we used. Need to ask my mom.