Margie on the phone, Kitten searching catalogs, Mist sacked out, and a basket of laundry … this post enabled by airblogging.com….
Margie on the phone, Kitten searching catalogs, Mist sacked out, and a basket of laundry …
this post enabled by airblogging.com.
People do worse at picking out gifts for others the closer they are to them (emphasis mine). Past research has argued that lack of diagnostic information causes this sort…
People do worse at picking out gifts for others the closer they are to them (emphasis mine).
Past research has argued that lack of diagnostic information causes this sort of misperception, but Davy Lerouge (Tilburg University, the Netherlands) and Luk Warlop (Katholieke University, Belgium) found that we buy unwanted gifts even when we have plenty of knowledge. In fact, we frequently have the most trouble understanding the tastes of those we know a lot about. Not only do we feel overconfident that we’ll pick something they like, but our tendency to assume that we are extremely similar to the
ones we love also motivates us to ignore cues that don’t support preconceived notions.“Our results suggest that familiarity caused [people] to put an overly heavy weight on pre-stored information,” write the authors. “The pre-stored information that people possess about their partner is extensive. This elaborate knowledge makes predictors overly confident, such that they do not even attend to product-specific attitude feedback.”
In fact, the couples who participated in the study (all of whom had been dating for at least six months), were more likely to pay attention to feedback about their partner’s preferences when they were told they were the attitudes of a complete stranger.
Margie, I hasten to point out, usually buys gifts I really like. Really, honey! (And she’s always very polite about the gifts I give her. “Just the thing I need, how nice …”)
I’m thankful for where I live — both my lovely home, my beautiful state, and my nation. I’m thankful for my friends, here and far, for putting up with me…
I’m thankful for where I live — both my lovely home, my beautiful state, and my nation.
I’m thankful for my friends, here and far, for putting up with me (if nothing else).
I’m thankful for my family, by blood and by marriage. A great group of people.
I’m thankful for my job, since, as much as I bitch about it, it’s really a great job and makes my life a lot easier than it would be otherwise.
I’m thankful for my daughter, who make me burst with pride and love every day.
I’m thankful for my wife, who makes all of the above even spiffier, and my life even brighter than I could have imagined.
Amen.
Crawled out of bed at the B&B relatively early (for having stayed up late the previous night, reading, enjoying a bit of wine and a few truffles in the hot…
Crawled out of bed at the B&B relatively early (for having stayed up late the previous night, reading, enjoying a bit of wine and a few truffles in the hot tub, etc.), went down and had a yummy breakfast, then slowly packed up and checked out. Cheyenne Canon Inn is a lovely place — we’ll have to go back
there again (hopefully sooner than another seven or eight years).
Drove north by roundabout routes, through Garden of the Gods and various neighborhoods to bypass the freeway construction. Eventually, we were back on the interstate, headed for …
Castle Rock?
Yeah, Margie had left her jacket at Helen Hunt falls, and despite a night-time-by-headlamps search, no joy. So we decided to swing by the London Fog outlet down there on the way back home.
Only to discovered that it didn’t exist any more. Which didn’t stop us from doing a bit of wandering and shopping and picking up a few things. Then back in the car and headed for home.
Jim and Ginger, whilst we were gone, had been a whirlwind of activity, and the new guest room is nearly empty and all repainted in a sort of creamy pumpkin color. Katherine’s room is thoroughly cleaned, too. Wow!
Margie and I got sent off to buy some more stuff for the project — four 16-foot lengths of baseboard, among other things — and then we had a quiet evening of opening birthday gifts, eating yummy pork roast, and just relaxing.
We’re taking today off, the both of us, to hopefully get a bunch more work done on the Project. So posting will be (still) light. But, work should be heavy and results visible, so that will make it worth it.
A very, very pleasant trip. A thousand thanks to Jim and Ginger for making it possible, and for my lovely wife for making it so enjoyable.
The advantage of eschewing TV and making a relatively early evening of it is that you can get ten hours of sleep and still be up by 8 in the…
The advantage of eschewing TV and making a relatively early evening of it is that you can get ten hours of sleep and still be up by 8 in the morning.
We were, and, after lounging about a bit, went downstairs …
… well, back up first. The suite’s bathroom is huge, with a large two-person jacuzzi tub in the corner. It also has a tiny corner “coffin” shower (reminiscent of the one in my old town house). That wasn’t the main problem with the morning toilette, however. The main problem was the thrice-bedamned “Global War on Liquids” which meant that I’d removed my antiperspirant, toothpaste, facial scrubs, etc. from my travel kit and put them into a nice Zip-loc bag — which, of course, I’d left
at home. Mutter-mutter-mutter …
Anyway, went downstairs to a yummy breakfast — veggie fritata, pumpkin pancakes with both maple and home-made apple syrup, spicy chicken sausages, oatmeal … even after a huge dinner the night before, we ate a fair amount.
After breakfast, we took a little walk up the hill to the Starr Kempf estate. The former owner created a bevy of beautiful, huge, metal kinetic sculptures, most of which are still on display on the property (despite the neighbors’ best efforts).
We then bundled into the car and headed off toward Seven Falls, “the grandest mile of scenery in Colorado,” and, again, right up the street (you can basically find the Cheyenne Canon Inn by following the signs for it and for the Starsmore Discovery Center).
Well, it may be grand, but it was also something like $8/head for admission, and we decided to hell with it. Instead, we drove into the free North Cheyenne Canyon Park (again, right next to the B&B). We drove up some pretty, winding roads, and then got out at Helen Hunt Falls, and hiked for about an hour up to Silver Cascade Falls and back. Very
pretty, and we took many pictures. Drove back down the dirt Gold Camp Road on the back side, and back into the Springs.
From there, we stopped by Van Briggle Pottery, a cool old pottery center located in an old railroad round house (we have a vase from them from a previous visit). Then …
… the Old Dinner Restaurant Mystery.
Last time we stayed down here (several years ago), we’d gotten a recommendation to a little hole-in-the-wall not-quite-strip-mall restaurant nearby, opened by a couple of (as I recall) young chefs formerly from the Broadmoor. We’d gone there and enjoyed it greatly, and I believe when Eric and Janine visited, we went there, too (since Eric was at a medical junket to the Broadmoor).
We just couldn’t remember the name of it. We’d finally found it last night driving back from Mona Lisa, on 8th — currently named La Belle Vie.
Problem was, we didn’t remember it being a French restaurant.
Now, restaurants can change at the drop of a hat. We went by it on the way back to the B&B, noted the address, glanced at the (yummy-sounding) menu, then started Googling when we got to our room.
Nada. No mention by name. No mention by address (in case the name had changed). Nothing.
So we changed our nascent dinner plans.
Instead, we headed back over to Manitou Springs and did a bit of wandering about and shopping (I picked up some ceramic stuff for Margie for Christmas at Filthy Wilma’s; Margie picked up some fun clothes at the Cotton Club), before heading over for dinner at Blue Vervain.
That restaurant is located at the west end of town, where Park almost comes back into the main drag again. While the menu sounds a bit more offbeat than at least my tastes would go (“an eclectic array of creations featuring classic cuisine with contemporary twists influenced by French, Italian, Asian and Southwest traditions”), everything we had was yummy.
One of their specialties is steak (either flat iron or fillet) with chimichurri. They were having a special that day with some free-range grass-fed (from Lassiter Ranch) beef filet, prepared the same way. So Margie and I ordered one of each, to compare.
Mmmmmmm.
The lot-fed fillet was tender. The grass-fed one was flavorful. Both were excellent, esp. along with the chimichurri sauce and veggies. Oh, and the gnocchi and tuna carpaccio appetizers, the yummy salad, and the desserts. Oh, and the wine (Orin Swift Prisoner). Oh, and especially the company.
Faboo. It was all good. I highly recommend the place.
And then back to the hotel to lounge about and … well … blog about the day. Which was, on the whole and in nearly every particular, very nice.
So the Ks offered kindly, as part of their long stay to gift Margie for her birthday with a “We’ll watch Katherine for a couple of days, you and Dave…
So the Ks offered kindly, as part of their long stay to gift Margie for her birthday with a “We’ll watch Katherine for a couple of days, you and Dave go off and have a nice time somewhere.”
Who could turn down an offer like that? Especially since Jim is busy doing work in the office refurb into the new guest room while we’re away?
So we’re staying at the Cheyenne Canon Inn, just outside Colorado Springs and a half mile or so from the Broadmoor. It’s a very nice B&B, nestled up against the mountains, with a long history as a restort, a bordello (in the 1910s-20s), and a casino/speak-easy (in the 1920s-30s). These days it’s just scenic and comfy, and we have a great room with a great view (and, ahem, WiFi).
For dinner, we wandered over to nearby Manitou Springs and dined at Mona Lisa, a fondue/raclette place we’ve visited before. Very yummy food, a faboo wine list, and, of course, excellent company.
No idea of our plans for tomorrow, aside from sleeping and enjoying ourselves. Huzzah!
UPDATE: Pictures of the weekend are here.
Most amusing reason to oppose gay marriage to come out of this year’s political debate, out of a debate in Florida’s governor race, featuring Republican Charlie Crist. Crist, who currently…
Most amusing reason to oppose gay marriage to come out of this year’s political debate, out of a debate in Florida’s governor race, featuring Republican Charlie Crist.
Crist, who currently is Attorney General and who has dogged suggestions throughout the campaign that he is gay, had one of the more unusual reasons for opposing same-sex marriage, saying marriage is a “sacred” relationship – “like I had, before I got divorced.”
Now, I will say, as someone who was divorced, that I do consider marriage a sacred relationship (and one, for that matter, that continues, in its way, post-divorce). But, of course, the discussion shouldn’t be about how the state recognizes sacred stuff — we don’t regulate or require or restrict baptisms, or (in most cases) religious orders. Marriage is an issue because of its social ramifications, and how that is impacted by civil law.
What I suspect Crist was trying to argue was that the “sacred” issue of marriage was a sufficient reason to forbid marriage to gays — the irony, of course, is that most of the “sacred” arguers over the issue also come from a tradition that considers marriage to be a life-long sacred institution that ought not be broken. Much of the arguments are made around how society values marriage for its child-rearing environment and social stability, which, again, implies permanence. So making the
argument while admitting to a divorce points out the elephant in the living room: a lot of the pols who sling around the “sacred” argument don’t like to admit how many of them have had divorces, often nasty and quite “unsacred” ones.
All the more reason to keep that church/state thing nice and unentangled.
(via Culture Wars)
Well, if you’re Margie, you spent it huddled in front of your computer until, oh, 1 in the morning, catching up with some major assignments/deadlines. We’d been scheduled to go…
Well, if you’re Margie, you spent it huddled in front of your computer until, oh, 1 in the morning, catching up with some major assignments/deadlines.
We’d been scheduled to go over to Doyce’s to game around 5, and around 4 Margie said, “You’d better let Doyce know I can’t make it. But you can go, honey.”
Yeah. That would work really well.
Instead, I lent a hand, getting a sense of why data entry people aren’t paid nearly enough, offering moral and clerical support to my honey.
Which, I suppose, was a nice birthday gift, too.
More work this morning and early afternoon. Tonight, though, I have dinner reservations for just the two of us (thanks, Doyce), and we are not going to be keying in any data then. So there.
One of the arguments that keeps coming up in discussions of gay marriage (or legal approximations thereof) is the idea that marriage is for the rearing and protection of children….
One of the arguments that keeps coming up in discussions of gay marriage (or legal approximations thereof) is the idea that marriage is for the rearing and protection of children. I.e, society and the state offer favorable status to married couples because they are presumably having kids and providing a stable, sheltered existence for them.
Now there’s a kernel of truth there — though it’s wildly oversimplistic. If nothing else, marital benefits do not at all track to actual child-bearing or child-rearing. Thousands marry with no intent (or sometimes capability) to have or raise kids. Parents can be the most awful, abusive monsters in the world, such that the state removes their kids from their custody — but those parents will still be allowed to inherit automatically from each other, make medical decisions for each other,
file jointly, etc., all exclusive of their actual “taking care of kids” status.
But beyond that, the people making such an argument often as not are also busy pointing (indirectly, if they’re discreet) to the Bible as the moral foundation of how society should order itself, Which is ironic, because marriage isn’t fundamentally presented in the Bible as an institution for the rearing and protection of children. Children don’t even factor into the primary statements made about marriage … which just happened to have been lectionary readings this past Sunday:
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Neither God the Creator nor Jesus says, “Men and women ought to cleave to each other so they can raise babies to be good, productive, morally straight individuals.” Marriage is couched here solely as the individuals joining together, as helpful partners, because, “it is not good that the man should be alone.”
Now, I’m not here to preach these (or other passages) as the final word on the matter — for one thing, folks can turn around and start noting about the genders being described (which opens a longer discussion), and for another thing there’s that whole “divorce” issue (which is also a post for another time).
My point is, though, that if the opponents of gay marriage or domestic partnerships want to argue that, sociologically or socio-biologically, marriage between man and woman has certain unique benefits toward children that means that it should remain a uniquely heterosexual institution, they are welcome to do so (and be debated on the subject). Except that raises all sorts of other issues about how society might want to “tweak” marriage “for the children,” and most of the people involved
in so arguing find assertions from sociology and other squishy sciences to be anathema.
But on the other hand, if they also want to claim that marriage is a divinely-ordained institution, steeped in the Bible as the paramount relationship all the way back to Genesis, then they can’t have it both ways. Marriage, the “cleaving” of the two together, is not fundamentally presented in the Bible as being for or about children, but about two individuals becoming deeply, divinely-ordained partners.
And we can take the debate on from there. Thus endeth the lesson.
Responsible adults should always use … well, let’s just say they should always seek a meeting of minds first. (Not safe for work) (via Randy)…
Responsible adults should always use … well, let’s just say they should always seek a meeting of minds first. (Not safe for work)
(via Randy)
I continue to be in a ratcheted-up work mode, backfilling for a very hard-working direct report whose departure has left a big hole in the organization and in the project…
I continue to be in a ratcheted-up work mode, backfilling for a very hard-working direct report whose departure has left a big hole in the organization and in the project she was running. And, of course, while trying to do most of her job and most of mine, I have to also search for a replacement (four hours last night on Monster.com and Dice.com netted one hot lead, four warm ones), decide whether to bring in a temp Project Manager (up side: a bit less work for me in the short run; down side: project disruption), and, oh, yeah, my day job.
On the home front, Katherine’s activities continue to ramp up — doing more homework at night, Girl Scouts starting up, etc. An Adult Ed program at church I really want to go to (and which Margie is cooking for), but realize I can’t. Growing intensity in rehearsals for the “Cotton Patch Gospel” re-do in early October. Stuff like that.
Then there’s the fun stuff. Doyce is doing more GMing of games — and I’m getting the bug, too. And Jackie’s doing the house hunting thing, and we’re helping her with that. And lots of other Big Blocks of Time. Maybe even get in some CoH.
And, of course, everything that needs doing. Like fixing my MT installation, updating my Wiki software, all that jazz. Oh, and keeping the house clean and the bills paid and the yard in shape, and all those sorts of thing.
So … if I am occasionally slow in posting here — or else go through an escapist spasm of posting — or if I react in an odd fashion to an invitation to do something (unexpectedly surly or unexpectedly enthusiastic) … those are some of the reasons why. 🙂 Don’t try to second-guess or not invite me to fun stuff out of fear my head will explode — it’s liable to, regardless. 🙂 Just … that’s where things are.
(And thank goodness for my Sainted Wife, Margie. 🙂 )
At Macaroni Grill. UPDATE: Bad lighting, I fear. Romantic fripperies (complete with a putto in the upper left corner), colored in by Katherine. this post enabled by airblogging.com….
At Macaroni Grill.
UPDATE: Bad lighting, I fear. Romantic fripperies (complete with a putto in the upper left corner), colored in by Katherine.
this post enabled by airblogging.com.
During the debate on the Gay Marriage (Shudder!) Amendment, Rep. Lincoln Davis (D.-Tenn.) spoke to the whole sanctity of marriage thang — with a perfectly straight face. His concern with…
During the debate on the Gay Marriage (Shudder!) Amendment, Rep. Lincoln Davis (D.-Tenn.) spoke to the whole sanctity of marriage thang — with a perfectly straight face. His concern with the bill is that it doesn’t go far enough.
Marriage is for life, and this amendment needs to include that basic tenant. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I think we should expand the scope of the amendment to outlaw divorce in this country. Going further Mr. Speaker, I believe in fidelity. Adultery is an evil that threatens the marriage and the heart of every marriage, which is commitment. How can we as a country allow adulterers to go unpunished and continue to make a mockery of marriage? Again by doing so, what lessons are we teaching our children about marriage? I certainly think that it shows we are not serious about protecting the institution and this is why I think the amendment should outlaw adultery and make it a felony.
Additionally, Mr. Speaker, we must address spousal abuse and child abuse. Think of how many marriages end in a divorce or permanent separation because one spouse is abusive. And, Mr. Speaker, I personally think child abuse may be the most despicable act one can commit. This is why if we are truly serious about protecting marriage to the point we will amend the constitution, we should extend the punishment of abuse to prevent those who do such a hideous act from ever running for an elected position anywhere.
We should also prevent those who commit adultery, or get a divorce, from running for office. Mr. Speaker, this House must lead by example. If we want those watching on CSPAN to actually believe we are serious about protecting marriage, then we should go after the other major threats to the institution. Not just the threat that homosexuals may some day be allowed to marry in a state other than Massachusetts. An elected official should certainly lead by example.
While I can imagine someone on the Daily Show asserting this with a perfectly straight face, too — reductio ad absurdem — Rep. Davis is evidently quite serious.
Frankly? I wish he would manage to get that language into the proposed amendment, so that the populace can at least see an unhypocritical and logically consistent proposal, and maybe ponder exactly where this sort of sanctimoniousness leads before tossing the whole thing out as rubbish.
For the record, there are at least 29 divorced members of the House (the statistic, though, masks divorced members who have actually remarried).
(via J-Walk)
A list of ten pickup lines, guaranteed to help you ladies get guys to engage in witty conversation with you: “Hi.” (Be generally friendly and strike up conversations and you…
A list of ten pickup lines, guaranteed to help you ladies get guys to engage in witty conversation with you:
Certainly any of these would get my attention (if I was in the market — which, of course, I am not). Especially, of course, #4 …
(Warning: site protected by free but annoying MSN registration.)
(via J-Walk)
How Dave and Margie spent their Anniversary Night (PG-rated version): Margie drops off Kitten at Doyce’s after a classmate’s birthday party is over, and while Dave finishes typing a story….
How Dave and Margie spent their Anniversary Night (PG-rated version):
And that’s all I need to say about that. But it was a very, very nice evening.
(Thanks, Doyce!)
Eleven years. Still very, very, profoundly, deleriously, quietly, surprisingly naturally happy. My life flows on in endless song; Above earth’s lamentation I hear the sweet though far-off hymn That hails…
Eleven years.
Still very, very, profoundly, deleriously, quietly, surprisingly naturally happy.
My life flows on in endless song;
Above earth’s lamentation
I hear the sweet though far-off hymn
That hails a new creation:
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul —
How can I keep from singing?
Google extends its reach, leveraging its broad services to enter yet another arena (in Beta, natch): Google Romance. From the press release: Google Romance users who find one another via…
Google extends its reach, leveraging its broad services to enter yet another arena (in Beta, natch): Google Romance. From the press release:
Google Romance users who find one another via Soulmate Search™ may then select the Contextual Dating option, which offers an all-expenses-paid romantic evening in exchange for viewing contextually relevant advertising throughout the course of the users’ date (learn more). “Our internal projections say Contextual Dating is going to be unbelievably huge, just a total cash cow,” said Google CEO Eric Schmidt in prepared remarks placed into the notes section of an executive PowerPoint presentation and intended solely for internal use but promptly leaked onto the web and then roundly mocked on Digg and Slashdot. The product, a beta release currently residing on Google Labs, can be experimented with at www.google.com/romance/.
And the timing is, as usual, perfect.
(via Beth)
Only five? Running for political office. Like I need that grief? Like I could compete in a political campaign? Especially if they found this blog? Sh’yeah. Now, if someone were…
Only five?
(via Seth)
… well, a bit domestic and geeky for the typical romantic vision. But I stopped by Tony’s on the way home to pick up a couple of fillets and a…
… well, a bit domestic and geeky for the typical romantic vision. But I stopped by Tony’s on the way home to pick up a couple of fillets and a flourless chocolate torte, and Margie cooked up the steaks along with some yummy mashed potatoes, and we polished off an exceedlingly nice bottle of Linne Calodo 2001 Cherry Red.
We never did get to the torte.
Then we played CoH together.
Then we went to bed.
And, y’know, it doesn’t really get all that much better than that.
I love Margie very much. Amidst the inevitable grumbles and frictions between any two people in the same household, the sheer romance of my life with her, after going-on-eleven years…
I love Margie very much. Amidst the inevitable grumbles and frictions between any two people in the same household, the sheer romance of my life with her, after going-on-eleven years of marriage, continues to astound me, whether in a word, a sigh, a touch, a glance, a giggle, a kiss-ping from across the room …
I am just too damned lucky for words.
Happy Valentine’s Day, love.