And I shall call it "Timmy"

I threw the summer kick-off party Sunday, the inaugural bash on the new patio. I'd say it was a smashing success. Had a couple of neighbors over, the bro, lots of friends... There was much food, drink and burning of stuff. Adam made pitcher after pitcher of Mojitos, Jenny made some killer peanut butter chocolate bars, among many other tasty treats. We played volleyball in near darkness, then whiffle ball batting practice in complete darkness. As it got cooler we put on extra layers and lit a fire. Hardly anything got broken at all until...

Lee and I decided the patio needed christening (with a bottle of Premium, of course). So after much fanfare and a brief naming brainstorm, the patio was dubbed Kon-Tiki-Tiki-Lau in a glorious spray of golden, foamy beer and shards of glass. It was quite lovely.

I can't wait until the next one...

Planters all done

Before:


After:


Close up:



And good thing I got it done, too. The driveway guys are coming 2 days early! Tear out is Tuesday May 8, pouring Wednesday...

Work in Progress

Inspired by my soon-to-be-installed new driveway, I decided to spiff up the rather neglected area by my front steps. So right now, somewhere around half done is a retaining wall and a couple of planter boxes. I need to patch a step before I finish adding bricks, but after that, a few more layers and voila...

I'll post before-and-afters when it's done.

24, or 12: the halfway point

Season 6, 5:00-6:00 pm

Worst episode ever. Here's my take, in the words of some of the characters who were actually there, but didn't have a chance to say what they really thought:

Secret Service in White House Bunker:
First Agent: Dude, a bomb! Almost blowed-up the Prez!
Second Agent: Well, that's what happens when we bring a known terrorist in to meet with the president in the most secure and super-secret place we could possibly imagine.
First Agent: You really think he did it?
Second Agent: Nah, but I got a wife, kids, and a pension to think about. I mean it's MY ASS.
First Agent: Somebody else must have smuggled it in, I guess. We gotta talk to somebody at the metal detector. I mean it's EVERY TIME with those guys!

Conspiracy in EVEN MORE super secret pipe room:
Bad Guy: You think he'll talk?
Ex-Mrs. Hillary Swank: Nahhhh.

Russian Embassy, exterior:
Jack: Funny, but my Russian is still fluent. I may have lost that slight Ukraininan accent I worked on, but hey, it's been 18 months since I even spoke ENGLISH! Don't make me choke you!

Russian Embassy, interior:
Markov: You know, it's really great to be here in the US of A, in this sunny state of California, where I don't have to work too hard or wait in the bread lines or ration my fuel... But I think we should destroy these filthy capitalist pigs and teach them a lesson!
Soon-to-be-deceased Russian guy: A lesson in what? Why should we make trouble?
Markov: I don't know I guess... Just to shake things up, maybe? I mean, wouldn't it be nice to just go back to the motherland and poison some MF's for the KGB now and again?
Soon-to-be-deceased Russian guy: Da.

Russian Embassy, interior, later on:
Soon-to-be-deceased Russian guy: Jack Bauer just told me something werry, werry important. Now I'm the ONLY ONE who can stop Marko. I have a funny feeling about this...

CTU Los Angeles:
Morris: There's no way ever that we could ever monitor anything coming or going from that embassy. Oh, wait...

Washington, DC airport:
Karen Hayes-Buchanan: Hi Bill, I'm in the Worldperks lounge at the airport. Yeah, another Northwest delay. What do you mean "should have called 5 hours ago"?!

Back in the White House Bunker:
President Palmer: Ouch. How could you let this happen? Are you the head of my Secret Service or NOT??
Secret Service Agent: No, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night!