Someone should totally buy this coat. It's LA. I don't need any more coats.

I know we have talked about company swag here. I have a few things amassed over the 19 years I have been at this job but they are all things that live in my office. A project I started to work on recently just hit it's one year mark and the PM is actually letting us pick a shirt or sweatshirt from our company mall. I picked a black zip up that is more like a fleece jacket than a sweatshirt. That will also live at work for those days when it is brrrr cold.

While I was trolling around the company mall site, I found a section for service awards - 5, 10, 15+ years with the company. Since I hit 20 next May, I figured I'd take a look. I started in the jewelry section (yes, very stereotypical). In addition to a nice collection of watches, there were some .5 caret diamond earrings set in white gold. Made me go hmmmm. Then as I cruised the other sections I found a 14 piece pot and pan set and my hmmmmm got replaced by a YES.

That is an AMAZING coat. Do want.

java, it is true. But it helps to keep fear in context. Being aware of people is the best defense against sexual predators.

That's some pretty remarkable stuff at that Vintage Martini site. It's really surprising me to see some colors and combos I didn't expect were around in that period. Like the lime green and fuchsia Edwardian evening dress. Or the chartreuse and brown '40s dude ranch outfit.

Kat, now you have me considering getting into bootlegging kombucha! I'll be a hundredaire!

Just joined a site beta that was a little disappointing when I got inside (the structure is pretty much what's available elsewhere at the moment). Hoping it doesn't turn out to feel like another splintering of my online time and instead ends up helping me make creative connections as promised...

I'd say find out what the charges are before worrying too much. the guy we caught at the library - very mild charges. The bigger problem for me - he was in violation of his prole. ( Actually , the big problem for me -- we got a report from a 8/10 yr old girl about him saying things that made her uncomfortable -- my manager did not want us to call the police. about a week later the list came out - and we found him on it. If I had been directly involved I would have called no matter what my boss said. )

I'm arguing with someone on another board that white board chick (forgetting that it's a hoax for a moment) is more or less employable after the stunt. I argue that HR and companies won't want to go near her, even if individual bosses might like her moxie. I'm trying not to read youth and inexperience into the position of the other person, but judging from our last extended discussion and how upset she got that people kept listing exceptions to her positions, I do think she's at least emotive over practical.

ita, in this era, she may not get a regular job, but she'll get her own reality show on E. Along with the beer and escape chute flight attendant.

But Kombucha is gone because of the big scandal.

Interesting. Though I know a number of people here who make their own. I find the whole thing creepy, though I know I shouldn't, because the whole thing isn't that different from sourdough bread, and YET...

I only get snippets about the kid but he is deaf, trached, g-tubed and lived with his (32-year-old) grandparents who immediately began drinking alcohol upon arrival home.

32 year old grandparents?? Holy crap! I would have a hard time dealing with that kid as a 32 year old PARENT, but DAMN!

Buffistas, I need some of your famous ~ma to cheer me up. We just determined that its not possible financially for me to go home to visit this year. I have been surviving every day of homesickness by looking forward to a trip home in the fall. And now I have nothing to look forward to. I am a bit of a mess. I have a wonderful baby and a (usually) wonderful husband, but I have nothing else here and I am finding it very difficult to be happy.