Admittedly it was the first time we`d seen them, but the SO & I were delighted to see both of the twins` developmental status.
 
Ooh, and Kat, I need some reconnaissance on D. You might know since you set her up in her dorm. Like, does she have a coffee maker? Microwave? Freezer? Hotpot?

Happy birthday, Polter-Cow!

Dana, I'm sorry for your loss.

Kate, NP, I don't think I've ever said. It's about 50 miles east of Nashville, near Carthage, in the middle of fucking nowhere, where "fucking nowhere" = "no cell phone reception on any carrier".

Zen, hope you guys made it there OK! And if you feel like escaping to Nashville for a little while, I'd love to meet up, but no worries if you don't have the time or energy.

Mmmmmmm, now I want salty caramel ice cream!

Someone on the Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild list had this link to a cool site that takes donations of old patterns, hooks people up with missing pattern pieces, and allows people to trade for patterns. Such a cool idea and I wish I'd discovered it sooner! [link]

Ok, could you folks use a laugh? Because I had the funniest texting conversation in my entire life last night, so much so that I decided I had to immortalize it. I typed up the transcript and am thinking about cutting/pasting it over here. It was between my two best friends (C and B) and me. The two of them went to the Hollywood Bowl to see a concert last night and proceeded to get very drunk on red wine, despite the fact they had to catch a flight to Mexico today for C's sister's wedding. Hilarity ensued.

Happy Birthday, P-C!

Best Text Conversation EVER

C’s phone: We might be drunk at the bowl. Thank heaven for public transit
Me: Hee hee hee. You’re just practicing for the rest of the week.
C’s phone: OMG. Driunk and llospt.
Me: Oh dear. I hope you get ffoundp!
C’s phone: Oh deargodo
Me: Do I need to rescue you two?
B’s phone: C stole b Phonw. Ausw mined died. Still lost but b confibsrnr.
Me: Wow. That text was worthy of Drew on drugs.
B’s phone: I blame the red sine. Wine
B’s phone: It’s all b’s fault
B’s phone: Oh ignore het. Sesame st!! N
Me: Are you two arguing with each other via text over the same phone? That’s awesome.
B’s phone: Maybe. Bur too drunk to notice says C
B’s phone: Where us subway?
Me: Um. Down the hill? A long way?
B’s phone: Oh jeeZ. Maam? R u kidding mr
Me: Where ARE you two?
Me: Oh right. You don’t know.
B’s phone: We are at mr fuzzy. I love mr fuZzy.
B’s phone: O think b lives near here.
Me: Mr fuzzy?
B’s phone: YES subway time!
B’s phone: I the subway took my cc. Win
Me: Water. Water is your friend.
B’s phone: We like salsa
Me: Also water.
B’s phone: Who ate them people?

[At this point, I had to text our friend Fionn to share this awesome conversation. Apparently he and a couple of our other friends started texting B’s phone commenting on their texts.]

B’s phone: Dis you tell fionn of Joe re wheat bread???
Me: Um. Wheat bread? What?
Me: Fionn and I exchange things that make us laugh. At the moment, you two are making me laugh. Joe and Leia happen to be hanging out with him.
B’s phone: Yeah. We are so not drunk. I swear. )this is c. Phone still dead
Me: Riiiight
B’s phone: No swear. Phone dead.
Me: It’s really a damn shame texting won’t be possible in Mexico. I could start a blog.
B’s phone: Bacon? You had bacon?
B’s phone: B is curious.
B’s phone: Blog!!
Me: Bacon? What? Are you meaning to text me?
B’s phone: U blame Fiobn
Me: Fiobn is to blame for many things.
B’s phone: Thai food = good
B’s phone: Yep.
Me: Yes. And now that I know you two are happily eating and not lost on a subway platform somewhere with Mr Fuzzy, I need to go to sleep. Night, besties!
B’s phone: Night! (I lost b. This is C.. Bur there is food)
Me: Try to lose B. She is cute.

[I never heard back, but hopefully C eventually found B, charged her phone, and made it home.]

That`s hilarious.

Ooh, can I answer apocalypse stuff in thread? I can`t easily click over to email at the moment.
 
Barb, Rosetta Stone is supposed to be excellent, although pricey. My sister, who is a linguist, recommends it. Jonquil doesn`t like it because of its associative learning style, but that`s pedagogically correct according to my sis.
 
smonster, there are a couple of options. Does the nonprofit in question already have a merchant account (i.e., accepts credit cards?), because if so, you can probably do it through the merchant bank. My org uses the paypal button at the moment, too, and then we have some donors who automate through their banks electronic bill pay.
 
The other option is the way we`re going because we don`t have a merchant account (too expensive, and our board doesn`t want people to donate on credit), which is setting up an account that allows ACH transactions. That is, our donors will sign authorization forms and then we`ll deduct directly from their checking accounts on a periodic basis. I find this more intrusive, but some donors really want to do it this way.

Barb, Rosetta Stone is supposed to be excellent, although pricey. My sister, who is a linguist, recommends it.

Ooh. I've considered getting Rosetta Stone to learn Hindi.