Thanks for all the kudos on the new kitchen! I'll let my contractor friend know. I think he did a pretty fab job.

Look at all those plugs!

I KNOW! There's more power in that room than in the rest of the house put together practically. I actually can't run a hairdryer and my ac upstairs w/out the power going out (it's on circuit breakers so easy to rectify but still it's rough in the deep summer). But the kitchen is wired up, yo!

Happy birthday late, javachik! You are SO pretty!!!

And happy birthday also, askye!

Is it on 34th St? If so, then yes. It should be -- I've been in the same place for four years.

Yep. And thanks, you'll be getting something in a few days.

Dana, sometimes I use a matchbook cover to sand it off. Probably not good for your nails, but it works.

Oooh! Happy birthday, askye!

I think it's more Entire freakin' planet and whatever is on Mars except for the US..

Wait, but NASA sent that last Mars ship, right? Are they working on it with centimeters and their friends, rather than those units who need other units in order to simply say the height of a person (and which I still can't convert properly)? lori? Oh, and does that mean that if a Martian posts here, s/he/it will have to do so in the UnAmerican thread?

What can I do, here at the office, to complete the job of getting nail polish off my nails?

Dana, is there a chance that anybody around you may have some sort of chemical stuff, for whatever reason, containing acetone or the like?

At some point I may have to ask you how you managed the pets while the work was going

Anne, my contractor Will is a pet person. They have a bunch of cats and, until last year, had an elderly dog a la Frank. So he was very concientious of and aware of them all the time. For example he made sure the cats didn't run out when he needed to have a door open. He put up plastic between the kitchen and dining room for the first few weeks while the demo was going on. And that pretty much kept them out of the mess. He also would take Frank for walks a few times when I needed to do something right after work. And gave them lots of attention all the time. Really it was an ideal situation.

Canadian astronaut brings first bagels into space:

MONTREAL - The famed Fairmount bagel is reaching new heights thanks to an astronaut with a yen for that distinctive treat.

It seems Montreal-born astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who began a six-month stint aboard the International Space Station yesterday, was quite excited about the idea of floating in space with the comfort of the chewy, slightly sweet variety of bagel this city is famous for by his side.

When NASA officials asked Chamitoff for a favourite food to take aboard space shuttle Discovery, he picked the humble bagel as his preferred snack for the flight.

And thanks, you'll be getting something in a few days.

Thanks!

Oh no -- Big Boss just came into the office. She was supposed to be on jury duty! But I guess she postponed it again.

Dana- I don't think anything will get it off besides acetone. Maybe there is some sort of cleaner that has acetone? Or lighter fluid, maybe?

Nilly, yes we usually use metric for everything, but end up having to convert back to Imperial for press conferences and the like. Har.