Red-Handed Jill

A friend of mine was like that as well. She had been a model as a teenager and used to restore old British sports cars. During college, she worked at an auto parts store and made LOTS of money for them - guys just kept coming back, fascinated by her. Last I heard, she and her boyfriend went down to Antarctica as part of a research group.

Thanks everybody! Hugh - where did you find the double-sized braziers? I've seen the small ones at Jas Townsend and Crazy Crow but ideally would like one about twice that size.

Ummm.... I was a girl like that. But I played the drums.

It was a special edition Mustang GT - the 83-1/2 year model. It was snuck in for true enthusiasts before the 20th anniversary model and I managed to get one of them. I never did get it up to its top speed, but can tell you that it did go 0-60 in under six seconds. It was the fastest non-exotic car for that year. Also, I grew up driving modified, VERY fast cars.

The pirate aspect IS essentially nil, but it's in a central location. If you're going to be staying in SF for a few days, I recommend checking out the Hyde Street Pier, which is home to some historic ships. It's a pity the Maritime Museum is closed for renovations, but there is a visitor center across the street which has some good maritime exhibits. Also, there are several buildings which have ships buried under them. When the Gold Rush happened, many whaling ships just dropped anchor and the sailors abandoned them. Many of them were turned into hotels, restaurants, warehouses, etc. At any rate, check out this map of ships buried under San Francisco. You should also check out the Old Ship Saloon. It is the last place left that is still in operation from the old Barbary Coast days. Here's their website.

You'll undoubtedly be running into a lot of my family, then. That whole area is teeming with my cousins and their kids (and their kids' kids.) I'll have to tell 'em to stop by and say hello.

Good luck!! Don't let 'em wear you down!

I'm looking for a camp cooking stove for reinactments when I can't dig a fire pit. Needless to say, I'm not looking for a propane stove... Can you point me in the right direction?

The Jamestown Glasshouse does hand-blown reproductions of 17th century glassware. They even set up shop near the original Jamestown colony's glassworks. Jamestown Glassworks For Christmas last year, Jack got me: Two of these: Onion bottles Four of these: Beer glasses And one of these: Wine decanter

Pizza. We had a "get-to-know-you" meeting at lunch today.

My mum always told me 95% of my weight was in my right foot. And I drove one of the fastest production cars in the U.S. for seven years. So I know what you mean...

Phil - ya missed your calling. Should be a used car salesman ("Now this trunk will hold LOTS of bodies!") I have a 1998 Saturn SL1 sedan. It's given me no trouble (well, I did have to replace the brakes at 75,000 miles) and gets 42 miles to the gallon. Also, it's not a little box - there's actually room in that car to move around in (and transport small cannons) and it doesn't get blown all over the road. But every once in awhile I miss my Mustang (Holley four-barrel carburator, 0-60 in under six seconds... but it got 15 miles to the gallon. )

I have several of those bottles... They're called hoof bottles, if memory serves. On the BevMo website, when they don't have a picture of a particular bottle of liquor, they show an onion bottle. Hmmm... maybe if a bunch of us convinced a rum distiller that it would be a good marketing tool to actually put one of their rums in an onion bottle...

It's tough to come up with retorts right when you need 'em (hey - you don't throw cold water on a hot horse. Get away from him before you do any more damage!) However, I can tell you that KNOWING that you are in the right will help you answer folks who try to make you inferior. It doesn't sound as if you are at that place right now; my best advice is to really start believing in yourself and your abilities to avoid stuff like this happening again. People like that can sense when someone feels unsure about themselves and they use that as a weapon; they aren't so sure about themselves, but they'll feel superior if they've brought someone else down. This isn't the last time this will happen, but if you start truly believing in yourself, it won't happen as often and you'll come out of it in better shape.

I'm with you on that one; folks thinking that their destination MUST be more important than yours. But I figure if you're not transporting kidneys/hearts/livers - stay off my ass! Went to the sushi restaurant again last night. The nature film was about jackals this time. Yep, it was gory.

^ Jack and I were just talking about this last night - Ernest Borgnine < We were watching "Gattaca" - the building they used for their workplace is just north of San Francisco. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. V Pass the question.

I have a great deal of respect for rum - been drinking it since I was a young kid (my grandmother used to give it to me and my brother so we would be more tranquil when she babysat us.)

Ah, well... Patt - you get along with everybody.

Patt - what size are those slops? Would they fit me? If so, I'll buy 'em from you.

My ribs are starting to feel okay enough that I've started doing my crunches again (200, three times a week.) I started walking again last week and I think after this weekend I'll be able to get back into lifting weights. And I've been figuring out ways to gently cut out even more calories, so my medium pants are starting to not feel so tight. It's a long way to my fighting weight, though - it's damn near impossible for women at my time of life to lose any appreciable weight but I'm determined.

Yeah - the shower in our master bathroom is like that. Has the "rain" setting, couple of different massages, combos - about eight in all. And it's high enough that even a strapping lad like Iron Jack doesn't have to stoop to rinse off his hair. I really hate those water saver shower heads that use air to help "spit" the water at you. Takes all of the joy out of being in the shower. There are much better ways to make a shower head water efficient.

^ Mostly toughie on the outside, somewhat fluffy on the inside. < Nah - I'm mostly squishy on the inside. V Run or walk?

Homemade quesadillas and margaritas!

Yikes! Take care of yourself, Iron Bess! Have you got Phoebe trained to bring you tea and goodies yet?

Started the day out feeling down about myself. I know you're supposed to suppress negative self talk and allow yourself to be human, but that's a lot easier said than done. So, the day started out not so good. Then, I got an email from a client about a long-standing issue. I had a theory about what was causing it and they kept insisting that they had checked and I was wrong. Well - they had someone else check out the issue some more at their end and it turns out I was RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT. Demonstrating an enormous amount of self-control, I did not send an "I told you so" message. The day's gotten better - it's good to be vindicated.