Sunday morning: Coffee is my friend . . .

1. You will remember how much I enjoyed the NY Times Olympic blog last month,

Well, as I expected, they are following that with coverage of the Paralympics.

You want joy? You want tears? Go there now.

There's a lot of great stuff there. I recommend this one to start with.

New York Times
Before about half of her Paralympic teammates were even born, Barbara Buchan lay in a coma, her skull shattered and part of her brain removed, unaware that doctors were telling her parents that she would probably die.

And yet on Wednesday, 26 years after a horrific bicycle crash and just days after her 52nd birthday, Buchan won the gold medal in the women’s individual pursuit in Beijing — topping off a comeback older than much of her competition.

“I think I’m still flying and floating around,” Buchan said by telephone from Beijing. “It still hasn’t hit me. I’ve wanted a gold medal since I was 15, and now I have one.”

Buchan was a top American cyclist before a devastating crash during a 1982 race left her in a coma for two months and forced her to undergo six years of painful rehabilitation. (The accident spurred the requirement that cyclists wear helmets, which Buchan was not doing at the time.)

2. EKU stories. I need EKU stories!

3. If you like beer at all, go to your local "good" package store and get a bomber of Southern Tier's "Pumking" Imperial Pumpkin Stout. This may be the best beer I have had all year. It has a very special quality to it. Chill it and serve it in a tulip glass. This is the only beer alethea_eastrid has *ever* asked me to get more of. (That was last year, and they were out). Some of you won't be able to find it, I am afraid, and I don't know if it's available beyond New Jersey or so, but let me know where you live, and I will make a recommendation).

I got mine at EBI in Saratoga Springs.

4. Speaking of the NY Times, here's the weekly spanking of Gov. Palin. Yeah, Steve I *know* you went there. When I think of Palin, I think of Anthony Bourdain's view of Rachel Ray and the fact that he would gladly have dinner with her if she was wearing a ball gag and "assless chaps." Yes, I know chaps that are not "assless" are leather pants.

5. I am on Tribe.net as LiamStLiam. (Surprise, eh?). I know some folks here are there.

6. No Print On Demand job for me. Still waiting on the NY Special Olympics job. I have one other active resume, for Albany H.S., which postponed opening for two days because of scheduling issue and which features a parade of kids getting into fights every day on the walk home from school.

7. The Rocky Mountain News editor explains why his paper twittered  a 3-year-old's funeral.

Sunday morning: Running cleaning thread and links for my friends . . .

1. Beer = Thin Mints. I was cleaning the pantry closet (hush!) to make room for the beer we are going to store (cellar is the geek term), and I discovered, when I moved several boxes of ZipLoc bags that there was an entire, unopened box of Thin Mints. Into the freezer with you!

2. One for shadesong and one for yendi.

BPAL raises money for RAINN. Via fabricdragon.

John Scalzi collects links for Bacon! (I am undsure if you read Scalzi blog).

3. Speaking of BPAL, one of the reasons I like the Southern Tier Pumking Stout that I mentioned in the last post, is that the taste reminds me somehow of BPAL in its richness and intensity. I have to figure out what the note is.

PS: BPALers: Got any suggestions for me? Mad Sweeney is my go-to scent right now. What do you think would smell good on me.

4. There's something for everybody on NPR's In Character series.

Go look! These are profiles of fictional characters such as Willie Stark, Unle Tom, Auntie Mame, Charlotte (as in Web), Norman Bates and Nancy Drew. I love listening to them, and I just discovered the link to all of them.

Yes, I *am* cleaning. Why do you ask? I load up my NPR player first.

5. And here I thought they were all fencing thugs. ;) [That's a joke, folks!]

The Tadcaster Militia has a variety of excellent articles posted on its website.

6. The first time I heard this joke, it involved two ferrets at a bar.

A drunk walks into a biker bar, sits down at the bar, and orders a drink. Looking around, he sees three tough-looking bikers sitting at a corner table. He gets up, staggers to the table, looks the biggest, meanest biker in the face, and says, "I went by your grandma's house today and I saw her in the hallway buck-naked. Man, she is one fine looking woman!"

The biker looks at him and doesn't say a word. His buddies are confused, because he is one bad biker and always gets into fights at the drop of a hat.

The drunk leans on the table again and says, "I got it on with your grandma and she is good, the best I ever had!"

The biker's buddies are starting to get upset, but the biker still says nothing.

The drunk leans over one more time and says, "I'll tell you something else, boy, your grandma liked it!" At this point, the biker stands up, takes the drunk by the shoulders, looks him square in the eyes and says, "Grandpa, go home, you're drunk!"

7. Why, hello. Here's nomadwe in  an old-school photo.

Sunday evening: A little of this . . .

1. I have to chuckle when I think about how many folks here just might qualify for the open position of Stable Manager at nearby Skidmore College.

2. For albreda: A friend of mine went to Northshield Coronation

Here's what she said:

Me: How did the meeting go?
Her:

Well I think
 There were a good 10-15 people there and some really cool sounding projects
 (I went in accidentally and sat down since I knew a few of the people there and started chatting.  I didn't know what it was for, but I'll be thinking about projects now)
 There was a great deal of enthusiasm
Petronella is doing 50 sets of skin-out garb and is already 13 in
 How cool is that?
murasakinoyoroi: It is a really neat idea.

zarhooie: She uses Beth in the SCA and goes to the University of Minnesota. You oughta meet her.

3. A couple of requests.

A. Does anyone have cat-free crash space for Crown Tournament for a dear friend?

B. Does anyone fairly close to Medford have crash space for one nice man for Coronation?

4. Even high school football coaches can be rules lawyers.

5. The Washington Post tells us that Karl Rove was critical of Sen. McCain, yesterday, and Sen. Obama's camp reacted quickly.

The Obama campaign quickly put out a statement: "In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove -- the man who held the previous record -- said McCain's ads have gone too far," said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.

I will admit, ladypeyton beat me to this one.

6. Again, thanks to crosslet for great coverage of the jousting circuit.

Hard to tell, but that's Sir Ankara on Thunder the Big, Mucking Percheron. How many people immediately though "Pigface bascinet?" That's one of my favorite SCA terms. (Or as Master John Inchingham would say, "Piggy-face bascinet."




7. There is someone out there in LJ Land who is using me as a "sanity check."

Mull that one over for just a minute, will ya?