44 posts tagged “qotd”
What are five things you take for granted?
Submitted by meowkitty.
I don't know. I take them for granted. Isn't that the point?
After all the recent season and series finales, what are you watching on TV these days?
Our DVR is almost completely full of Mythbusters at this point.
What's that secret dream job you've always believed you'd be good at, but never gone for?
Submitted by wedgeh.
Film maker. Film director. Film editor. Writer. Cartoonist. Musician.
What's that secret dream job you've always believed you'd be good at, but never gone for?
Submitted by wedgeh.
Filmmaker. Film editor. Cartoonist. Writer.
I am working on a project right now that I hope I can parlay, ultimately, into making some money from writing: The Chain Smoking Blue Monkey.
What is the most creative gift you have ever given or received?
Submitted by Nacwolin.
When my 40th birthday was coming up I tried to find a way to have all of my friends all over the country participate in some way. I have friends in Texas, Alabama, New York, etc. and it's kind of hard to have a big party without a lot of planning.
So, here's what I did: Jamie's 40th Birthday Photo Scavenger Hunt
Basically I put up a list of a variety of things in my life and asked people to take 10 photos of whatever any phrase in the list inspired them to photograph.
It was the most inspirational and creative gift I ever gave/received at the same time.
Tell us about a lesson you had to learn the hard way.
The story needs some background. It's related to this Metafilter thread about the new H.R. Pufnstuf cartoon show. Back in the 70s, Sid and Marty Krofft actually tried to open a theme park, which closed in short order, but man, I wanted to see it.
Here's the inquiry that led to the post:
God smallerdemon, I never knew about the park until BoingBoing posted a
map two or three years back, and thinking about the park shuttered and
unavailable to kids filled me with a profound melancholy. But you've
actually SEEN the thing in mothballs. Did you get to look around at
least?
posted by JHarris at 10:48 AM on May 8
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And here's my response that ended up being the lesson I learned the hard way:
The way the Omni was laid out was that big skating rink in the center
and then open all the way up with the building having several open
balconies facing out into the main atrium where the skating rink was
located.
The (at the time) world's longest escalator was how you got up to the place, and so it was turned off. Funny thing about escalators how they can still be functional when they're off. I went up as far as my 11 or 12 year old mind thought was safe, which was probably about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way to the top of the escalator, which was a sufficiently good vantage point to see two levels of the shuttered "park". It was basically stacked on top of each other, about two or three levels high, and walking up the escalator I could see two of the levels.
One level had a carousel on it, and looked to be almost entirely covered up in tarps, with one of two of carousel creatures not covered. I think I remember seeing a unicorn, but it was the 70s and you could see a unicorn just about anywhere you looked, so that could easily be a false memory.
The other level, that was the one that was heartbreaking to me as a 12 year old kid to see shuttered up because I could see it! It was so close! It was the giant pinball machine ride, in which you got to ride around in the ball in a big thing that was very reminiscent of Number 2's chair from The Prisoner. Except it was big, HUGE and silver, like a giant pinball (duh). And I could see it! Just sitting there, inside the ride itself! Like they had shut it off in mid-ride and dragged the patrons out and threw them over the balcony (and probably yelled "We're closed!" while the bodies fell down several stories into the mall of the Omni). You could see it because big chunks of it, both the carousel and the pinball machine, both faced outward into the Omni atrium itself. There wasn't any wussy glass up either, it was just that the rides were put close to open balconies, I guess so you could get natural light or see out into the atrium.
I kid you not, that was 30 years ago, and I am still bitter
that the place was shut down when I finally was able to make my way to
Atlanta as a 12 year old kid (through begging to go with my father to a
convention) and then coercing my mother to go to the Omni while my
father was at the convention. Is bitter the right word? I lament my
lost opportunity is really a better way to describe it. Yes, as an
adult, it would have been an utterly lame experience of yet another
carousel and a silly track pulled ball on a stick (similar to what you
would experience at Epcot Center) acting like a big pinball machine,
but as a kid, you know, that would have been amazing. Instead, I got a
rather rude awakening about the impermanence of ideas and fantasies.
posted by smallerdemon at 11:56 AM on May 8
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What are you going to do with your tax return?
Submitted by KB.
This year I turned over our finances to my wife to manage. Under her excellent management we are getting a healthy return this year instead of paying in an abnormal amount.
I have told her in no uncertain terms that the return in large part should go directly back to her as her seed money for starting her business she has been planning. We wouldn't even have the money otherwise, so I feel like she's the one that deserves the payoff for all her hard work.
When is the last time you stayed up all night?
Easy. December 9th, 2006. Butt-Numb-A-Thon 8.
What's your favorite blend or brand of coffee or tea?
Little late on this one, but can't pass it up.
First off, generally, I don't buy brands you can get in the store. I've moved up the ol' coffee snobbery ladder pretty high since moving to San Francisco, and frankly I am all the better for it. :)
I have three places in town I will buy beans for espresso that I make at home:
•Blue Bottle Coffee Company - Any of their espresso blends listed on that page will do. Their stuff is great. I highly recommend actually visiting the kiosk in San Francisco down on Linden Street (right next door to Dark Garden custom corsets - ah San Francisco, where you can get a great cup of coffee in between getting you measurements for a custom corset).
•Cafe Lo Cubano's espresso beans for making great stuff at home. This is probably the one I get the most because it's quite easy for me to get.
•Coffee To The People - Their Beatnik Espresso is pretty good, although admittedly not my favorite of the three. Still, it's better than Starbucks for sure, and sadly better than the local guy down the street that roast his own beans. I'd love to be a customer, but the coffee isn't good. Which is kind of sad.
If I'm doing drip or French press I generally go with Coffee To The People's Peace and Love Alliance blend.
Now, if I had a great choice, well, I would have to say that I would probably spend a lot of money and time at Chicago's excellent Intelligentsia. My Chicago friends often bring me a pound of it when they visit, and when I visit Chicago I always bring some back. The Black Cat Espresso is a decent day-to-day espresso blend, but for really amazing stuff their La Perla de Oaxaca is just some of the most amazingly smooth coffee I have ever tasted. Great stuff.
As far as tea goes... well, I'm not a big tea drinker. I can enjoy it, and I have had great teas at Samovar over at 18th and Sanchez in San Francisco.
