@Stephie LOL

@Cindy Very very good

Fast and dense

Fast and dense is my middle name

I considered cracking a joke too, but mine involved bread.

Hi Kiddo.

Good morning ma'am

Independence Day is on TV, I haven't watched this (close to its entirety) in years upon years.

So bad it's good

the two guys are taking off right now to try to infect the mothership with a virus.

Let's uhhhhh give them a cold

yes, but I don't think I saw it as quite as campy when I saw the theater

The X Files is back in January!

With Mulder and Scully!

Scully!

it came out in 1996, so my marriage was starting to hit sour notes.

How is she looking these days?

I've seen him, but not her. Of course she must look pretty darn good or she wouldn't be reprising her character.

Pretty damn good!

thewrap.com/…

Money does help! :)

What are you insinuating? >:|

She is naturally perfect!

I'm sure she is :) I'm not even actually suggesting that she's had work done, but just that money buys excellent products and lots of spa treatments.

Humph

;)

She's a little short (pun intended)

5' 3"

That reminds me of a conversation I had while I was in the hospital (of all times)

Mrs the Tall would beat her in the ring hands down

wow, I never noticed that she was that tiny on X-Files.

Shit, I could take her out by stepping on her.

How tall are you?

I was just over 5'8" prior to my hip surgeries. since then I am somewhat shorter, but it kind of depends upon who measures me how much.

apparently I'm a bit lopsided.

Bless your cotton socks

Although you can't tell it from my x-rays. I look more symmetrical than I would necessarily expect me to be otherwise.

There's a username there

LopsidedExceptForXrays

while I was in the hospital they wanted to know exactly how tall I am to do a dosage calculation. I answered that I was 5'8' prior to the surgeries.

I thought they went by weight

so she pressed further, "so 5' 7 1/2" then?"

Most are, but some are figured in meters squared.

(skin surface)

so I looked at her and asked, "if I lost height due to a hip surgery, does how much really matter?"

she didn't think so either

(after she thought about it)

"what the heck, it probably won't be lethal"

the whole m2 thing makes no sense anyway.

Not if you give your height in feet and inches

Unless you're on the burn unit and you're actually ...

<snort>

Perhaps they convert it via acres

"carry the one and.... 0.05 bushels required"

... putting precise measurements of medicine on your skin to treat a precisely measured burn that is precisely measured as a percentage of your entire body surface, weight simply makes more sense ( mass actually, but you know what I mean)

despite what you may have heard from Jeene, my BSA (body surface area) has never been measured in acres

apparently, really abnormal fat deposits are more common than extraordinarily big feet. in the history of ever no doctor has ever measured my body fat percentage. Only the Army did that, because I was ( imagine this) heavier than most women of my height of equal fitness.

By the height weight chart I was overweight, but when they did actual measurements, I was perfectly average by Army standards.

Good enough for army work

yeppers

I think that's the closest I've ever been to normal anything

Did you ever have designs on getting a commission?

only briefly. They offered me what's called "Green to Gold", basically paying me to finish my degree at my current rank (which would've been E5 had I reenlisted), then I would have become a lieutenant upon graduation. by that time though, it was apparent that Scott was not going to be invited to reenlist. So, I left the Army as soon as they let me out after the Gulf War.

It's one of those alternate universes I would like to visit.

Indeed. For the pension if nothing else

Man, you could have been General Jolene

That reminds me, the media is making a big deal out of the fact that one of the wounded in the UCC shooting is a veteran. If CNN had just left it at that, that would've been fine. But they brought up the fact that he had "achieved" this rank of Specialist (E4) and had been awarded the National Defense Service Ribbon. Since he had been in for five or six years, that's tantamount to saying that he sucked as a soldier. But nobody seemed to be aware of that on CNN.

Everybody gets the National Defense Service Ribbon unless your entire enlistment happens to be entirely during peacetime.

and if you don't make E4 in five years, you have serious issues.

A lot of people stay at E4 for years, but it shouldn't take more than three years to get there.

I made E4 after I had been in Korea for about six months. Granted I started as an E3, but E1 to E3 is quick.

Some people who started as E1 were E3 before we finished training at Fort Gordon.

(secondary training after basic)

if CNN hadn't mentioned his two glorious accomplishments, I would have assumed that he was a perfectly good soldier. But as they reported it, I knew he was a dweeb.

And apparently a dweeb with a hero complex and not much sense.

They referenced Space Command in Independence Day. That was my husband's unit while I was at NSA. That almost makes us sound interesting.

Heh

American units always sound like something from the movies. Rangers. Space Command. Force Recon. Delta Force.

British units sound like delivery companies. Special Air Service. Special Boat Service.

Ha!!

We like to lull our enemies into a false sense of security. "who is it?" "special Air Service! Got an express delivery here for you! "

At least I can maintain a certain air of the exotic by truthfully saying that I can't say any more than I already have.

That what I would have left to say is decidedly non-glamorous can't come up :)

Top secret coffee making eh?

well, perhaps more glamorous than that

I was more like a top-secret special cappuccino machine whisperer.

Operation Froth

shhhhh! Ears are everywhere!

Vienna! 1995! You left me high and dry man! Covered in crema with Russkies all over me! I spent ten years in the gulag for you!

Sorry dude.

No probs lolz

I had to pull a shot when I could.

Hmmm

Let's hope your as good with espresso shots as you are rifle shots

You're*

not even close, as a matter of fact, I'm going to switch to decaf since I can't tell the difference anyway (and even in the morning I don't need a stimulant)

Oh! I meant to say something to you about your bullet idea for reducing gun violence in the US.

I'm of the opinion that people think decaff tastes noticeably different because they usually buy a cheaper brand of decaff due to not using it as much.

That makes sense.

The bullet idea was only half serious

You aren't the first to suggest it, but it is not a good idea for a few reasons. some of those reasons have to do with supply and demand and the criminal element, other reasons have to do with what would replace guns once bullets are rare. madmen can do more damage with a bomb than they can with a gun.

I really do believe that the best, most important thing we can do now is to begin a huge public education campaign about mental illness.

Speaking of mental illness, did you read about what I learned about mom from Kristy? I always knew she was a bit nuts (mom), but she was a full on loon.

I really didn't have any idea because by the time I spent any time with her after I was an adult, she was already completely mentally disabled from MS.

I want to run a lot of my new knowledge by Dad, but I'm still not quite ready to talk to Dad any more than is absolutely necessary after the events and conversations of this summer.

I talked to Kevin for a while (Kevin is Sherri's son, my half brother), but he remembers even less than me.

Do you have any interest in seeing The Walk?"

I need to take a shower and do some laundry. Back in a bit.

Sorry, it's the weekend. No, no interest in the walk really.

Quiet today