does Shemar need someone to give him a sponge bath? If so, I volunteer. I'll even throw in an oil rubdown out of the goodness of my heart.

Now that I think about it, it's probably simplest if you left that to someone local.

billytea, I've listened to the Australian anthem twice in the last two days. Apparently you're all "young and free."

It's all true. Incidentally, when we actually adopted this as our anthem (not until the early 80s did we replace "God Save The Queen"), both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition wanted Waltzing Matilda.

both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition wanted Waltzing Matilda.

It's a shame you guys didn't get an anthem about a criminal who commits suicide rather than give up and becomes a ghost.

Batman Reference Manual

The insomnia fairies are visiting me. I have been up since 2. I am not sure whether or not to try to go to sleep at this point, because I still have to pick up my house and be ready at 9 to go take my mother 2 kittens, and I am pretty sure if I fal asleep now, I will ant to seep until 10.

I have had a lot more energy lately, and have gotten a lot of things done (like clean my whole apartment, get rid of large pieces of furniture, getting a new sofa, ordering bookcases so I can reclaim my back porch from the 40 boxes of book, but now I am having a hell of a time sleeping.

How to move from one house to another in Israel

My family is about to move to another place. Here's how we did it:

First demand: weather wise. My dad can stand the heat and the humidity.
Second demand: security and political belief-wise. I won't live in a settlement, no matter if it's in the Israeli territory in the road map.

The discussion:

1. Around Be'er Sheva:
Nobody's too excited about it. I think it could work, but it'll make my mom's life a bit harder.

2. The North:
Good on the climate front, but nobody think it'll be safe in case of when another will break.

3. Souther:
Worst on the weather front. And the idea of the moving is to make our parents life easier, living in/closer to big cities (we're in the periphery now, they're getting tired of the driving), so it won't work.

4. The coastal plain:
Not even being considered, due to horrible climate and this family's hate to Tel Aviv.

5. Jerusalem area
Where we'll move, apparently. War-wise, no one will dare to shoot at and accidentally wipe out a holy place. Excellent weather, and as I said, the only city I ever felt comfortable at. disadvantage: almost no way to decide what's "Israeli" and what's not. According to my family and the road map, Ma'ale Adumim, which is a settlement counts as Israeli territory, but I refuse to move there. Also, since there are only 3 neighborhoods which are "officially" Israeli since the Jews went outside of the walls of Old City in Jerusalem in 1886, it's very hard to tell (officially Jews couldn't buy lands in that area for a very long time).

The result: it'll be Jerusalem or the area, but we're very busy these days in discussion of what counts as occupied territory, 48' boarder lines, 67' boarder lines, and the fact that my university is technically on occupied territory.

The funny part: "Say, do you think that when they're moving in other countries they're doing all of this? "Thou shalt not live a step east of Hadrian's Wall?".

A "vest" is a US tank top, right?

Vest: [link] . Generally refers to something you wear under your clothes. Not exclusively, though.

So what you call a vest, I call an undershirt. And everyone else calls a wifebeater.

And everyone else calls a wifebeater.

Heh. Some things cross the language barrier.

Seriously, weather gods are on The List. Only 40F when I got up this morning. Off to visit my niece and warm up in the car which has a more efficient heater than my house. Burrrrr.