Want to know what I think?

Shrieking in Horror

Mrs. Dredd — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 16:12:49 GMT

This should be front page news, and it's not. Everyone should be scared shitless, and they're going about their daily business like nothing monumental has happened. Habeas corpus has been suspended. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15053727/ I had to hunt to find this article. Why aren't more people screaming about this? Even scarier, that there are those who think it's a good idea. We are ignoring history, I only hope enough people will wake up in time to keep us from repeating it.

Pedestrians in Seattle

Mrs. Dredd — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 08:36:54 GMT

My habitual route to work takes me through downtown Seattle. It's not exactly my favorite, but usually it beats the hell that is I-5 at the evening rush hour around the I-90 and West Seattle Bridge region. I usually end up heading east on Yesler from the waterfront all the way up the hill, ALL the way. If you know the area, 'nuff said. If not, let me give a brief description. This is the region of downtown known as Pioneer Square. It's home to a number of storefronts: art galleries, toy shops, the ubiquitous Starbucks, other retailers and a few nightclubs. A popular (and fun) walking tour on Underground Seattle starts here and you can catch ferries down at the docks. All in all, a popular place, populated by tourists, working class types and the crack-spun, meth-head or just down-and-out homeless. Sometimes my trek through down town is humorous, sometimes entertaining and sometimes just plain frustrating. You see, what I've found is no matter what the apparent intelligence, socio-economic or education level of the pedestrians downtown, for some reason the simple act of crossing a street strips everyone down to the level of low-grade moron, somewhat stupider than the gopher snake I used to have. Downtown pedestrians habitually ignore the streetlights, signals and crosswalks carefully placed to aid them in their journey. Ok, I've jaywalked myself a time or two, but herein lies the difference, I look both ways, and wait for the coast to be clear. Downtown pedestrians seem to think they can blithely ignore the signals they so cautiously obey while driving when they're out walking and unprotected by their armoring vehicles. I've had to slam on brakes to avoid people who step off the curb because they're so completely enthralled by the screen of their Blackberry that they didn't notice the helpful, red DON'T WALK sign and big red light for the direction they're crossing. Then there's the next level of offender, the challenger, as I like to think of them. They're usually striding along at a good clip, and god forbid they should have to slack their pace simply because they have to cross a street. Oh no, like the Really Important People they are, they'll step right off that curb in full swing, giving me their best forbidding stare when I'm about 2 feet from their position and maybe, to emphasize their point, hold their hand up in a 'Stop' motion. This usually happens when there's a car about 10 feet ahead of me, and at least 3 cars behind me (hey, it was break in traffic, right?). Sometimes it's in the middle of the street, sometimes it's at an intersection when I have the green light. And lastly, there's the homeless. They typically shuffle to midway across the street, and then as I approach them, stop and wait, in my lane, usually with an angry look on their face. Let me be clear here, I don't roar up on them and screech to a halt, I see them from a good ways off and slow down, giving them ample time to finish crossing. Their anger is difficult to fathom. Are they angry because I have a car and they don't? Or because I didn't hit them and thus give them an opportunity to sue my ass off and earn more heroin money. Perhaps their mid-street pause is their way of giving me a chance to strike them, thus equalizing the obvious social inequity between their state and mine. I guess this really goes back to what's taught as a kid. Anyone remember 'look left, right, left?' In London, they have painted on the crosswalks 'look RIGHT' for us silly Yanks who drive on the wrong side. Hell, even my dog sits and plants his ass when he comes to a curb and waits for the signal to cross. Believe me, it only takes a few more moments to stop, look and maybe wait for the light to be on your side. Try for a little more common sense. Or am I asking too much these days? I suppose that makes my dog smarter than the average downtown pedestrian. Not surprising.

Comments?

Mrs. Dredd — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 08:17:40 GMT

Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me -- it can only be one word long. Then copy and paste this in your blog so that I may leave a word about you. Stolen from Marie and Kassee...

OUCH!!

Mrs. Dredd — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 23:06:06 GMT

I had a minor procedure done to my left foot this morning; I had several layers of skin scraped off the ball of my foot, then 3 (yes 3!!) different types of acid applied. Why? To get rid of something called plantar warts. Never heard of them? They grow inward and they make walking painful. Now the doc warned me that this procedure would hurt a bit, but, hell, I'm tough! I've been attacked by a wolf, by god! I figured I can take it. Well, shit! I have to work tonight and now my foot is screaming like a two-year-old that's had it's candy taken away by a bullying older brother. Shit! In 3 more hours, I have to be on my feet for 12 hours. I've asked for the night off, but I have no guarantees that that's going to happen. Dammit!

More on the new house

Mrs. Dredd — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 07:48:59 GMT

Ok here's a link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsdredd/ I've uploaded a bunch of pics of the outside of the house. Next time I get a chance to go in, I'll take indoor pics and put them up.

A new home

Mrs. Dredd — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 08:54:08 GMT

Joe and I have been looking to buy a house since March and after two disappointments, we found our new home! The first place we found was big (5BR, 3 full baths), new (built in 2002) had a big yard and well, was terrific. Until we had the inspection done, when it was discovered the foundation had cracked and was sinking around the entire basement! The entire square of the basement floor had broken loose from the footings and sunk as much as 2 inches in some places. Shit. That's why you have inspections. We backed out of the sale and got our earnest money back and kept looking. Going from the brand new to extremely old, I found a place built in 1919. The upstairs was about 1200 square feet and completely redone in 2001. Completely. Redone. Everything brand new and shiny, this place was even better than the first. Better neighbor hood, better yard, a view and a basement with square footage to match the top. The basement was unfinished, but could easily be finished and a stair dropped from inside the house, no problem; instant doubling of our square footage and instant equity. We wrote up a strong offer, Joe had to agree to buy it sight unseen since he was out of town, even waived the inspection (our friend, a contractor did a pre-inspection for us) but lost it in a bidding war by about $5000. Shit again. However, as they say, the third time's the charm. After a few depressing days of looking at places neither of us would want to live in (too small, too ugly, scary neighborhoods) and dragging poor Joe out during the day, depriving him of sleep we finally found a place. Built in 1928, it's about 2100 square feet and has a lot that's 8800 square feet. Huzzah, lots of space! The inspection, thankfully, found nothing too scary, such as sinking foundations, and everything that could've been an issue the seller agreed to fix. According to the inspector, someone spent a 'ton of money' upgrading the systems in the house. The plumbing is all abs plastic, and while there is still some knob and tube wiring, it's in good repair and plenty of new, modern wiring has been installed to carry a modern load as well as a good panel. It's biggest downfall is that the bedrooms have no closets. Weird, I know; back then they used armoires and dressers, so I guess so can we. However, it's got plenty of space otherwise, 3 BR and 2 full baths. The upstairs bath is quite clearly the men's room as it has a urinal. Yes, you read that right, a urinal. Joe loves it. So we'll be moving soon. No more paying someone else's mortgage, now we'll get all those nifty tax breaks and refunds. Sweet! No more having to go outside and down stairs, usually in the rain, to do laundry. No more missing out on half the living space in the house. Stay tuned, I'll post some pics soon.

I learned an important lesson last night.

Mrs. Dredd — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 16:58:17 GMT

I was getting ready for work last night, and the charge nurse called and offered me the night off. This often happens when more nurses are scheduled than they need and/or when we have fewer patients. Me, I'm greedy and I needed the money, so I said, Nope, I'd rather come in and work. Well, talk about night from hell! Busy, busy, busy all night long. I never got a break, I gulped my lunch down in about five minutes (at 4 a.m.) while frantically writing my charting. It was literally the only time I sat down the entire 12 hour shift; I didn't even get to pee from the time I started my shift until after I'd clocked out at 7:30 this morning. Guess what, the moon is almost at full, technically it's 94% full tonight and I have to work again, tonight. Damn, I think I'm glad I'll be off Saturday and Sunday when the full moon hits it's fully power. My lesson for the night: Don't be greedy. If someone offers you the night off, TAKE IT!

A desire for comfort food leads to a treatise on people.

Mrs. Dredd — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 07:44:15 GMT

I don't hate people; just look at my icon and you'll get an idea about my profession. You can't deal with sick people and their worried families if you do. One thing I've learned is that it's not that hard to be nice, or at least courteous. Really. Try it sometime and you'll see. Why is it then, that there are so many mean-spirited, unhappy, spiteful, discourteous people populating this city? And it's not just Seattle. What I hate is poor attitude, lack of common courtesy and this disgusting entitlement complex that many people seem to have acquired. Here's a little history; it may border TMI for some, so skip or read as you choose. It's "that time" during the month; I had a truly astonishing migraine a few days ago, I just finished my workweek and I was looking for some comfort food. During "that time" all I want is cheeseburgers and chocolate. Lucky for me these cravings only hit once a month! So off I go on my quest. I walk into the store for my chocolate, it's right at the front, I should be able walk in, maybe wait behind someone, slap down my money and go. Well, I do have to wait in line, oh well, no big deal. There's one man in front of me but he takes 10 MINUTES to buy batteries, some beer and cigarettes. Why? Because he makes 3 separate transactions! Guy: Um, I need to pay for those batteries separately, okay? Yeah, just, um, just ring them up first. Yeah, thanks. Insert clinking of cash register and silence, transaction #1. Guy: Okay, okay, no I don't need a bag, just put them in here. Yeah, yeah, now the beer. More cash register noises and silent humans. Transaction #2 is now finished and Guy starts craning his neck and scanning the cigarettes behind the register. He walks the length of the counter, then: Guy: You don't have brand X, huh? Damn. Um, how about brand Y? Yeah, yeah, okay. Um, damn. Well, I guess I'll take one...no, no two packs. Yeah. This my friends was transaction #3. And I'm thinking, WTF???? Are you such a control freak that you have to give the exact change to whomever it was gave you the fiver for that pack of batteries? Or are you just a cheapskate and can't spring the $0.99 for a pack of AA's for a friend. Jeeebus freaking Christ just pay for everything at once. And how slow are your thought processes that you didn't know you wanted the cigarettes when you were paying for the batteries. You couidn't mention it then and pay for it with the beer? Maybe he was coming down off a 5 day tweaker bender and couldn't force his mental faculties to work faster than a slow twitch. During the time I'm standing waiting for this mental gymnast to make his decisions the line behind me has grown, from 1 to 5 people. Another employee standing behind the counter shuffling papers from one pile to another occasionally glances up, scans the line then goes back to his rearranging of papers from one stack to another. The girl who's helping battery/18-pack/cigarette guy looks over, then announces over the PA that she needs some help. Paper Stacker realizes that he may actually have to ring up a sale; he stalks over to a register, saying with a notable dearth of enthusiasm: "I can help the next person." Salvation. I escape with my choco-fix and hit the drive-thru. The ant-like workers in this establishment exhibit the same astonishing lack of anything even remotely resembling common courtesy. Again, WTF? I realize flipping burgers isn't exactly scintillating or stimulating employment, but come on; use it, learn from it and move on to better things. Neither of the prime examples of customer service who helped me made eye contact, or smiled. In fact one of them was completely silent, leading me to wonder at first if perhaps she was mute. I was swiftly disabused of this notion however when I made a request; she was capable of at least grunting and rolling her eyes as she complied. Which lead me to wonder if someone had cut out her tongue and all she could produce at this point was grunting and sarcasm. At this point, I'd like to say to all the gum-smacking, eye-rolling, holier-than-thou, sullen, sarcastic people who think their life just sucks because they work in retail, and mommy and daddy won't pay all their bills, and their boyfriend, like OMG kissed their best friend and like what do they do now, who can buy Ipods and Xboxes and big label clothing but can't pay their rent or feed their kids, (I guess you get the picture here) and want to pass on their own personal miseries to everyone else they encounter. To them I say: suck it up, you stinking whiners! Make better choices, learn from your bad ones, move on and most importantly, don't make the same bad choices over and over again. Christ on a whole wheat cracker, it's not my fault your life sucks, but out of the goodness of my heart, I'll pass on these little tidbits of wisdom I've managed to pick up. Are you ready, it's not really earth-shattering, but...well, here: Smile more, it's easier than you think. Say 'please' 'thank you' and 'you're welcome' and when you do, be sincere. Common courtesy goes a long way. Spend a little time thinking about and planning for tomorrow, try and move beyond the instant gratification outlook. This is one that most people generally dislike; you have to actually work for a living. No one is going to just hand you wads of cash so you can live like rockstar with no effort whatsoever. And even rockstars work, really. Belive me, I know this as firsthand fact and even the most glamorous, fantastic fantasy job is going to have it's down days, again this is something I know for a fact, firsthand. Another fact of life; you're going to have to work shitty jobs to move up, and you'll never move up if you have shitty attitude about it. Deal with it. I'd also like to know who told you that life was going to be perfect bliss 24/7/365? Here's the awful truth: they lied, it's not. Again, suck it up, deal with it, learn from it, let it go and move on. If your problems loom so terrifyingly huge that you can't see your way around them, well, in the name of all the gods above and below, get yourself some help. There are scads of programs out there, free ones even. Don't believe this particular lie: "God never puts more on your plate than you can handle." LIE. Life can heap fresh, fragrant, steaming piles upon your plate and then add more by the bulldozer full. Swallow your pride and ask for help. Believe me again, it's out there if you make a sincere effort. So you, my friends get to hear about my experiences. Thank you for bearing with me. Feel free to comment if you like.

Scumbags

Mrs. Dredd — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 08:14:03 GMT

Some shit-sucking low-life scumbag just tried to break into my house. MY HOUSE! While I'm at home alone, husband at work, with my big, black dog inside. I'm sitting on the couch, watching tv when I hear the doorknob turn. My dog hears it too and starts to growl. Real low in his chest. A definite, "I mean business and I will kill you" growl. Good dog! I get up off the couch, which is two feet from the door and say "What the fuck?" Next thing I hear is the screen door slam shut. This sets my dog off. He goes ballistic, and I can't hear anything else because he is barking to terrify the damned in Hades. Good dog! I grab my phone and call 911. The cops finally get here and walk through the yard and on the deck. They tell me they don't see any sign of forced entry. They said they were going to bring a dog, but never did. Dammit. I wanted to see the dogcop chew the motherfucker into tiny pieces. I was however quite relieved just to see them come out. They said to call again if he comes back. Believe me officer, I will. It's times like this when I'm glad I have a big, black scary looking dog. He is very, very, very protective of Mama. You hear that low-life shit suckers? Do not be deceived. If you come back he will chase you down (and he's faster than you), knock you over and rip out your liver and heart. And then eat them. After I've cooked them up for him, nicely seasoned with a little garlic (he loves it) and served them on the best china. Mother fuckers. I just got off the phone with Joe. He was inclined to come home, but I told him the excitement was all over with for the night. I don't think I'll get any sleep tonight though.

Creature of the Night

Mrs. Dredd — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 05:40:11 GMT

I have finally found my niche. I always knew I was a night person. I have always preferred staying up late and sleeping all day to having to drag myself out of bed when the alarm clock started shrilling in my ear at 5 am. I'm amazed that for the 10 years I lived in San Diego I did the day thing. Although, when your shows are during the day and you work for a major So Cal attraction, well you do sort of have to live by their schedule. But damn, it's good to be awake when the rest of the world sleeps. It's also a good thing that my husband and I share the same work schedule, even if he does work more days than I do. Perfect example: this morning at 4 am I went to the gym and worked out. Sweet! Six other people were there. Six! I've been lax lately, haven't been to the gym but this opened up a whole new world to my eyes. Never having to wait for equipment, not having to listen to the other gymrats doing the stupid flirty thing (Hey, are you going to USE that piece of equipment, or just pose on it?). I made a quick trip to the grocery store and lo and behold, another miracle! Empty aisles, except for the stock clerks. No crowds, no lines and, heaven! No screaming kids to dodge. Alright, I don't hate kids. Some of them are just entirely too cute for words. But for the most part, when they're at that screaming, bratty toddler stage, I can't help feeling that they should be locked in a cage somewhere. I look back on my childhood and can clearly remember that if I ever behaved the way I see kids acting these days I'd've been marched out of the store, my backside swatted, taken home and sent straight to my room. What ever happened to disciplining and consequences? *sigh* Anyway, back to my original subject...I love the night. I can now fully embrace my creature of the night status. Although, I did enjoy waking up to the winter wonderland this afternoon. I took some fun pictures of our snowy deck and yard, complete with my dog doing the reverse dalmatian thing.

What do you mean? An African or a European Swallow?

Mrs. Dredd — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 09:55:25 GMT

Found this on a friends blog: http://www.style.org/unladenswallow/ And what is the capital of Assyria? My favorite color is blue. No. Yelllllooooowwwwww.

Dad update

Mrs. Dredd — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 20:45:54 GMT

He's still not out of the woods, but he is making progress. He's still a little confused, he's scared and they're talking about sending him to a rehab facility. This is actually a good move, means he's not sick enough for the hospital anymore. He just needs to get stronger so he can ultimately go home. Now, I'm up here in Washington, he's down there in Southern California. My brother and sister have both been down to see him. My brother is a doom-and-gloom'er, saying 'he'll never go home again.' Two minutes later, talking to my mom, who's just talked to the doc, I hear 'no, he's doing much better.' Then my sister tells me, he can't walk to the bathroom without help. When I tell her that's actually a good thing, a big step (since he did have a catheter in, and was using a bedpan and not walking at all), she acts like I just slapped her; she shut down verbally and said 'I have to go now.' WTF? Since I work in the medical field, I do have some basis for making the statement 'sounds like he's doing better' I'm not just talking out my ass. Now I'm working on getting down there sometime in the next few weeks to visit. Thanks again everyone for all the spinach and good thoughts. You're all good friends and very much appreciated.

But this...

Mrs. Dredd — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:44:47 GMT

Nothing like a good belly laugh when you least expect it. I'm awake, it's the middle of the day for me and I'm surfing the web for useless funny shit and found this. I submitted Magic's picture that I posted earlier. http://www.mycathatesyou.com/

Well, Shit.

Mrs. Dredd — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:35:54 GMT

I got 'the call' tonight; my dad's in the hospital. Apparently he fell at home, while mom was at work. It's his second fall in 2 months. He doesn't remember how it happened. He has a concussion and his cardiac enzymes are elevated which means he had another heart attack. He's pretty out of it; lethargic and confused, doesn't really know where he is and doesn't know what day it is. That's the bad news. They're keeping him for a couple days of observation but at this point the feeling is he'll rally in those few days and be able to go home. That's the good news. It's also good news that Joe doesn't have to haul ass home from Oregon and miss work taking care of the critters while I hop a plane to Southern California. Damn, there's never a 'good time' for this shit to happen is there? But, I'll keep thinking the good thoughts and hoping for the best.

New Toy!

Mrs. Dredd — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 02:01:23 GMT

I spent some of my hard-earned cash and bought myself a new Nikon D50 digital SLR. FUN! I've already learned how to take, download to Mac and post a picture. Now I just have to learn how to use all the fun bells and whistles on the thing. Yippee! This is Magic, and while she can be a sweetie, right now she's wearing her "Do NOT mess with me" look. Kind of summed up how I felt earlier. I've vented and am feeling better now. Three, a record, three posts!

Kneel before Zod!

Mrs. Dredd — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 01:17:31 GMT

A friend sent me this website, looks like a winning candidate to me. http://www.zod2008.com/

Now that's funny

Mrs. Dredd — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:38:04 GMT

I found this on the BJ A Day website: http://waterthread.org/images/ktg/ Scrolling through the cards I found some were amusing, some were kind of sad, but this little gem made me laugh out loud, so I just had to share. Yes, it's late on a Wednesday, and I don't have to work tomorrow. I do have to do some housecleaning and then I have a date at Gene Juarez for some serious pampering. aaaaahhhh! Nothing like a nice, relaxing day of people taking care of you. Yes, it's spendy, but dammit, I'm worth it. Besides, with the new job, now I can afford it, at reasonable intervals. I highly recommend the whole 'spa experience' thing, it feeds the soul, recharges your batteries and just in general makes you feel better and more able to take on the world. Wow, how'd I get from Katrina the Gathering cards to here? It's late, I'm rambling and I'm suffering from husband-deprivation; thank the gods he comes home on Friday!

My faith in humanity and computers is restored

Mrs. Dredd — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 04:21:57 GMT

I've been off the Internet for a few days. You might not have noticed as it did somewhat resemble my usual pattern of not checking in or writing anything for days at a time due to work demands. However, my beloved, brand-new IMac quit on me over the weekend. Now, in times past, when I was a PC user and said PC broke, I would ask my brother (whom I was renting from at the time) to fix it. Nicely, I should add. And he would get around to it when he could, or when he felt like it. Hey, I admit I wasn't paying him. This time though, it was different. It was special, it was fast and even, dare I say it - pleasant! Yes! You see, I took my IMac to the Apple store at Southcenter Mall. I plunked it down on their "Genius Bar" (a pretentious name, yes, it does make me shudder a little) and said "it's broken." And they fixed it. Yes, fixed as you can plainly see! They were nice, they were friendly, and I wasn't even wearing makeup or a lowcut top. Sheesh, maybe if I had they'd've fixed it in less than 2 hours (doubtful, it was well and truly fuckered up), but hell, I got to spend a couple hours wandering the mall and spending money. I'm happy.

If you have pets or small children...

Mrs. Dredd — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 01:59:01 GMT

I don't normally pass these things on, but this information came from a woman I trust. I will say, I haven't researched it personally, however I felt the information was important enough to post. Do or do not according to your own wishes. She writes: I recently had a neighbor who had their 5-year old German shepherd dog put down due to liver failure. The dog was completely healthy until a few weeks ago. They had a necropsy done to see what the cause was. The liver levels were unbelievable, as if the dog had ingested poison of some kind. The dog is kept inside, and when he's outside, someone's with him, so the idea of him getting into something unknown was hard to believe. My neighbor started going through all the items in the house. When he got to the Swiffer Wetjet, he noticed, in very tiny print, a warning which stated "may be harmful to small children and animals." He called the company to ask what the contents of the cleaning agent are and was astounded to find out that antifreeze is one of the ingredients. (Actually he was told it's a compound which is one molecule away from antifreeze). Therefore, just by the dog walking on the floor cleaned with the solution, then licking its own paws, it ingested enough of the solution to destroy its liver. Soon after his dog's death, his housekeepers' two cats also died of liver failure. They both used the Swiffer Wetjet for quick cleanups on their floors. Necropsies weren't done on the cats, so they couldn't file a lawsuit, but he asked that we spread the word to as many people as possible.

File this under "HUH??"

Mrs. Dredd — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:48:46 GMT

I saw this on a bottle of PMS medication: "Ask a doctor before use if...you have difficulty urinating due to enlargement of the prostate gland." Wouldn't the presence of a prostate negate the need for PMS medication??

Oingo Boingo on American Dad!!

Mrs. Dredd — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 00:50:35 GMT

What?!? C'mon all you children of the 80's, they're the band you love, but are (sometimes) ashamed to admit it. Alright, so 'the band' itself wasn't on American Dad. *sigh* An animated Danny Elfman would've just made my year. Instead, Stan's boss, voiced by the unmistakeable Patrick Stewart ("Number One. Engage!) sang "Little Girls" in Stan's kitchen after boinking Hayley (the daughter) AND when she called his cell, "Little Girls" was the ring tone! I was bouncing so much with glee, I'm sure Joe thought I was having a seizure. Now to go search out Oingo Boingo ring tones to add to my phone....which would mean replacing the Battlestar Galactica theme! Yikes! What a dilemma.

Hurricane Katrina

Mrs. Dredd — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 22:00:21 GMT

You all know how I love the Coast to Coast AM website and George Noory. Even though I rarely listen, I love to keep up by checking his website. Last night he had a guest on who had these things to say about Hurricane Katrina: http://www.weatherwars.info/Katrina.htm Hmmm, I do love a good conspiracy theory, but.....weather war? Isn't that an amazing shot of Katrina's eye though?

Cool things I've seen this summer.

Mrs. Dredd — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 20:05:21 GMT

Bald eagles, three of them, fishing in the Willamette River. They were circling and diving into the water catching fish. I know, to Northwest natives this might not seem like much; you have to remember I'm from Southern California and starved for spotting wild animals in their natural habitat. Granted, I saw wild animals galore working at the zoo, and of course I've seen wild male primates in their drunken state, but cool birds of prey doing their thing naturally, well it was new to me. And just today, Joe and I saw an osprey while we were out walking Domino along Alki beach. Very cool! It did the dip and dive into the water while we watched. Didn't catch anything, and I think I saw a disappointed look on it's face as it flew away.

And the winner is.....

Mrs. Dredd — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 04:51:47 GMT

Jesus! For correctly guessing where the picture was from and also damn close on what. No, wait, you're ALL winners! Thank you for playing, those were some damn imaginitive replies; suitably degenerate ;) If you didn't already, check out the link: www.xenotechresearch.com/mk507a.htm I guess what I really needed was a bigger picture to show the details better. On the site, it shows that it really looks like the pattern on a sand dollar, you know, the 5-pointed star, like the picture? Except it was taken on Mars. Yes, more geeky, science, space stuff. Sigh. I'm such a nerd.

What does this look like to you?

Mrs. Dredd — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 18:59:22 GMT

Be serious, be funny, be outrageous. But, tell me, what does this picture look like? To find out what it is and where it was taken, follow this link: (Don't cheat! Post what you think it is first, before following the link.) http://www.xenotechresearch.com/mk507a.htm Amazing, astounding! Or maybe you'll just yawn and go back to watching tv.