jamais deux sans trois

Jamais deux sans trois, loosely translated from French, reads "never two without a third".

So first there was Ed McMahon - someone not well known outside of the US, I think, but a name that even I recognised.

Then went Farrah Fawcett - the Charlie's Angel who went public about her battle with cancer recently; I remember seeing that Ryan O'Neal had proposed to her, and that she had said yes, then she passes away. I'd like to think at least she's no longer in pain, no longer suffering.

And now, breaking news - Michael Jackson is dead! A suspected heart attack, details sketchy right now. But wow. Love him or hate him, he was a HUGE presence in the 80s and even in the 90s.

Yes, I broke my "break" because there's no way I could NOT mark this somehow.

And now, back to procrastinating on packing!

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Is it KitKat time?

Life After Work will be on a short break for slightly over a week, until early July: the Naranek household will be moving (within Chicago, no worries), and will be needing a lot of non-internet time to pack, move, unpack and settle in the new place.

^^ no, that's not me!

By all means, please follow me on Twitter for random updates over the next week or so, and beyond. And in case you haven't already done so, how about taking this opportunity to subscribe to this blog via email or in a reader? This way you'll easily know when I'm back in action! :)

Cheers!

[Photo Credit: Moving Woman by jynmeyer]

Tagged: the 10th in the 1st 3rd!

Patricia at Subjective Soup tagged me in this photo meme: "Post the 10th photo from your first photo file"

I ran into a bit of a problem: my 1st photo file has 2 images; the second file has 5 images; so I went ahead and took the 10th image from the 3rd file. Here it is:



This was taken at the end of 2001, at a 70s-themed New Year party to ring in 2002.

Can you figure out which one is me?

As usual, I won't tag anyone... if you want to play along, feel free to do so! But do drop me a line in the comments so I can check out your "10th in 1st" image, k?

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book bummer

... so about three weeks ago, I was doing a circuit of the Popular Library at the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago, when I noticed The Well of Ascension, Book 2 of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series.

I decided to check it out, even though I wasn't in a big hurry to continue the Mistborn tale yet. I ended up taking my time with it, catching a page or two here and there during el rides to/from town, and therefore not making much progress. Then we went to visit my Kosh's sister and family, which included an overnight stay, babysitting services and taking two of the three kids out to see Star Trek (yes, finally!! and wow!! more to blog about that later!).

I managed to get some serious reading time in, too, and am now at page 223 (out of 578). It's due back today, though.. but no biggie, just go online and renew it....

*sigh*

... someone else has asked for it, so I can't renew it. Waaaaaaahhh!!! It's been out for two years already! I found it on a shelf!! Why oh why if there a hold placed on it?!! :( Waaaaaahhhhhh!!

Rather than incur a 20¢ daily fine, especially since I can't guarantee I'll buckle down and finish the book off in a day or two, it looks like I'll have to make a quick trip to a local library to drop it off, then promptly put a hold request on it for myself so I can get it back soon to pick up where I left off.

Ugh. That'll teach me to not whizz through books as I usually do! :p

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Please be smart(er) about the photos you post online!

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you've probably noticed that in an attempt to maintain some illusion of privacy / pseudo-anonymity, I don't usually post photos of myself online. If I do, half the face is usually covered, or blotted out somehow.

I'm a little more lax on Facebook, but not by much, since half my friends there I only know via blogging, and not in real life. For friends who do know me in real life, and who happen to post photos that include me, I'm happy to report that they are happy to cooperate to blur me out; in their Facebook photo albums, I just go in and 'untag' myself, no biggie.

Then for space-saving reasons, once I figured out how to do it, I have made it a point to not post hi-res images on my blogs: no need to have something at 1024 px width out there! I usually resize photos to 300-400 px before uploading, followed by further shrinkifying if necessary.

Why am I bringing this up? Well... A recent story has confirmed that I'm on the right track: have you heard about the Smith family from Missouri whose family Christmas photo ended up on a huge storefront advertisement in the Czech Republic? You can read about it here.

The high-resolution image had been sent out via email to family and friends, posted on a family member's blog and to some social networking sites. How the image then made its way to the storefront advertisement is being investigated.

The Smiths are fortunate that the photo wasn't used "in an unseemly manner", serving only to inform potential Prague shoppers about the Grazie store's delivery service.

According to Danielle Smith, the next time she posts a photo on the Internet, she's going to lower the resolution or add an electronic watermark to make it hard to reproduce.

Better late than never... but yes, please do exercise greater caution about what you choose to share online, okay? And that goes for all of you readers too, okay?

*climbs down from soapbox*

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World Blog Surf Day!

It's World Blog Surf Day again!

I'm participating, over at a malaysian abroad, by talking about the Farmers Markets in Chicago.

Please drop by, and follow the chain of THIRTY TWO bloggers all the way around the world!

Btw, the theme this time around is ~food~ so be prepared to get hit by major hunger pangs as you surf, LoL!!

Have a good weekend, y'all!

Photo credit: NASA, Public Domain

Beyond the Rim: David Carradine

The Young Grasshopper, no longer that young at age 72, is now Beyond the Rim.

Not that I watched the show religiously, but I really enjoyed Kung Fu back when I was a grasshopper myself: there was something about the character of Kwai Chang Caine - a Shaolin monk half-breed Chinese making his way across the wild wild west of America, ever the fish out of water, ever the quietly honorable in the face of the baser aspects of human nature, ever reluctant to unleash the deadliness he is more than capable of while facing such baser aspects. The Young Grasshopper was all growed up and truly living the life lessons he might have previously learned, but perhaps might not have truly understood, until his experiences in America.

Yesterday when I saw the headline about his death, I felt... weird. Even now, I'm... disconcerted.

Caine is dead.

Heck, Bill is dead -- deader than when he got hit with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.

At age 72, found hanging in a Bangkok hotel room.

Other details are emerging:
- Found naked.
- Rope around his penis.

Whoa... a 72 year old, practicing auto-erotic asphyxiation?

ummm... tmi?!

But what if it's actually foul play, made to look like a sex act gone wrong?

.. because, come on!! At 72?! Doing that kind of stuff?

Is this just the prude in me talking, or do y'all find that a bit hard to swallow too?

...
... ...
... ... ...
... ...
...

May peace be with you, Grasshopper.

If you want to read more:

• David Carradine Bangkok death mystery: manager claims 'foul play' - Telegraph UK
• David Carradine wikipedia page
• Barefoot Legend (TM) - the official David Carradine website

Image credit:

• Kung Fu: ripped from imdb (I think) a long time ago, previously used here (see #25).
• David Carradine: by Jano Rohleder via wikipedia

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#1006: first millennium recap comes to an end

This is it, folks! The final countdown!

= = =

Post #950: January Book Update! [January 19th, 2009]
One of my many book posts, this one looking at what I was currently-reading and what waiting to be read, hopefully before they were due to be returned to the library :D

Post #962: this is gonna raise Kosh's eyebrows... [February 18th, 2009]
... where I share my intention of looking for and partaking of MOK YEE, a type of fungus that is supposed to be excellent for reducing cholesterol, and acknowledge that my Western-minded hubby would be shaking his head at my Asian-remedy finding.

Post #973: ... my ghostly school? [March 18th, 2009]
If you're one for ghost stories, do revisit this post, where I share tales about my old school that sob! sob! doesn't exist anymore.

Post #984: What a sight! [April 10th, 2009]
Kosh and I took a walk downtown, and were awedumbstruck by some newly-installed pieces of "art" in Millennium Park.

Post #988: I won! [April 21st, 2009]
My first ever winning of tangible stuff through the internets! Of course, the card, and gift card, have since gone missing :(

Post #997: My niece and I [May 15th, 2009]
What better way to end this recap than with my adorable niece? Click on through to see the sweetie for yourself. She'll be turning all of one year old in just a few weeks!

= = =

With that, the ~10% recap of Life After Work's first millennium of posts now draws to a close.

'Regular' programming to follow.

Right after I...

• respond to a 4+ month old interview by Culture Shock


• actually ~write~ something for a planned post-exchange with Roz @ Life in Australia


• get a handle on my queue of, umm, stuff... let's leave it at that...

Umm, yeah... this might take a while!

(Old books... image by nkzs)

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#1005: 15 of 2008

Continuing the 10% selection of past Life After Work posts in conjunction achieving more than a millennium of posts, today please read on to explore fifteen random-ish posts from 2008. Enjoy!

[image from sxc]

= = =

Post #811: Mindblock [January 7th, 2008]
Where I share one of my favourite scenes from Family Guy.

Post #821: A ratty new year [February 7th, 2008]
Wishes for a happy & prosperous Chinese New Year.

Post #831: beaten at my own game??!! [March 21st, 2008]
The Boggle queen is dethroned?!

Post #841: 2 am [April 12th, 2008]
A late night (or early morning, depending how you look at it) meandering post about what books to read next.

Post #851: "creamy" [May 7th, 2008]
At last, a pottery post!! This was about my first experience throwing porcelain.

Post #861: a tongue tale [May 30th, 2008]
My experience with an extremely aromatic person (no, I don't think it was our Mr Stinky!)

Post #872: ori & spoof reviews [June 25th, 2008]
where I review two sets of original vs spoof movies, and find myself all CGI'd out.

Post #881: *more* piles of pot ... [July 27th, 2008]
Where I show off more of my pottery products...

Post #886: ... mashed potato pizza, or how I can now create a new blogroll ... [August 10th, 2008]
Where Kosh and I break out of our shells and (kinda) interact with other Chicago bloggers during our first-ever Davecago!

Post #892: ... of hurty fingers, magic and avatar choices ... [August 22nd, 2008]
Wow, hard to believe the avatar I adopted was created less than a year ago! I offer two to choose from, plus a bit of whining about how my birthday was marked.

Post #901: ... has marriage made me more of a geek? [September 8th, 2008]
Where I compare results of a quiz taken two years apart, and discuss the differences.

Post #911: catching up! [October 3rd, 2008]
Where I talk a bit about my allergies, and paperwork blues.

Post #920: Book Review: The Sword-Edged Blonde [October 26th, 2008]
One of my many book review posts. But this one book is special. Or, the author is, anyway. He dropped me a comment, and later also emailed me thanking me for reading and reviewing his book. I had quite the geek-out moment, twice! :)

Post #931: Foody Friday: mega-pumpkin bread!
[December 5th, 2008]
Where I share my great pumpkin bread experiment :) It was even more delicious than the photo implies!

Post #941: humped and tongued on Christmas! [December 26th, 2008]
On Christmas, I got humped and (in a separate incident) accidentally bit my tongue, but all that was forgotten with the discovery of boymongoose's Indian-themed spoofs of The Twelve Days Of Christmas and Jingle Bells. Click on through to watch/listen, it's totally worth it, I assure you :)

= = =

The next post should wrap up this review of Life After Work's past posts.. stay tuned!

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#1004: Life After Work '06 - wedding pix and onwards!

The recap of Life After Work's past 1000 posts continues!! Up until yesterday, the posts were written by me as a single person.. today that changes: from here on out, I was married to Kosh, and the "Lynne Naranek" persona emerged fully. I wonder if it shows in the posts... read on and see for yourself, k? :)

= = =

Post #619: ... and the bride wore black! [September 19th, 2006]
Okay so I'm not going every tenth post right here, because hey I might as well highlight the first blog post announcing the wedding :)

Post #627: long overdue... [September 22nd, 2006]
... and this post features the wedding announcement we sent out, only a few weeks late, LoL!

Post #632: Saturday Sanity [September 30th, 2006]
I watch a lot of tv with Kosh, and here I blog about two separate movies / tv shows that had actors I recognised from elsewhere. I heart imdb!

Post #642: Warning! Major time waster ahead! [plus some pix] [October 14th, 2006]
... and that warning in the title is SO true ... upon reviewing the site pointed to, I ended up spending more time than I wanted just re-exploring a whole bunch of funny pix... back then I said there were over 800 images... now there are over 1800!

Post #652: Fillers: WWTD & a tiger jigsaw puzzle [October 27th, 2006]
... where I share two hilarious jokes... you're missing out if you don't click through and check them out!!

Post #662: November's Bits & Pieces [November 12th, 2006]
A post complaining about getting ZAPPPPPED by static electricity, and gushing about Bat out of Hell III :)

Post #668: no more grandparents for me! [November 29th, 2006]
I mark the passing of my Swiss grandmother, the last of my direct links to that level of the family tree...

Post #672: I'm a cunning linguist! and other stories [December 5th, 2006]
Another quiz result and other news.

Post #682: X-factor [December 23rd, 2006]
LoL! I totally forgot about Letters from Bad Santa!! Will have re-feature it in an upcoming December post :)

Post #692: "Hey, he/she looks familiar...." [January 22nd, 2007]
Another I heart imdb post, this time involving Galaxy Quest, Angel, Bones and Law&Order!

Post #702: another meme - book related [March 13th, 2007]
... a book meme, concentrating on sci-fi/fantasy. I didn't fare too well then, and I don't think I've read any others from that list since then!

Post #712: misc on monday [April 2nd, 2007]
A throwaway post on more internet quiz results.

Post #722: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf Tech? (Part Two) [April 22nd, 2007]
Part Two of two (I never did get my thoughts together for the promised Part Three) about the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Post #732: grrrrrrr! [May 12th, 2007]
... where I am frustrated with mysterious effects arising from a template change. I've since changed templates at least twice, I think, LoL!

Post #742: seven hundred forty two [June 13th, 2007]
Thank goodness for this post! This helped confirm my suspicions that I was "off" in my counting of blog posts... by 201!! :D And why would I mark such an odd number in the first place? I don't know... perhaps a part of me knew that in the future, this particular post should be numbered so that when I do this recap, I can go back and fix some things with minimal heartache? :D :D

Post #751: I was never a huge fan, but ... [July 1st, 2007]
Upon hearing news of their reunion, I reminisce about the Spice Girls a little, and wonder who got boob jobs done!

Post #761: fan tail my a** [July 20th, 2007]
... this post continues to score search hits from other victims of the useless piece of hair accessory called the fan tail.

Post #771: cancelled?! [August 24th, 2007]
Just a short paragraph about Kosh's canceled flight to Zurich, due to horrendous weather. Thankfully he managed to get on another plane the next day. The already short trip was made even shorter, and he was a zombie for most of the time, the poor guy!

Post #781: Friggin Facebook! [September 20th, 2007]
Heehee my first post about how much of an insidious timesuck Facebook is! Oh, and excellent cat pix, so please click on through!

Post #791: postcard recap! [October 29th, 2007]
A recap of my first ever I'll send you a postcard! effort, which was later reborn as The Postcard/Link Exchange of 2009.

Post #800: kitchen eggventures! [December 6th, 2007]
... where I share some (mis-)adventures in the kitchen, and a humorous X-mas card :)

= = =

We're reaching the home stretch now! We have about 20-30 representative posts of the remaining 200 posts to go... stay tuned!!

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#1003: Life After Work: posts from the end of singledom!

Continuing the 10% sample of past Life after Work posts: featured this time around are the final posts written by me as a single woman! Read on...

= = =

Post #493: Slow Sunday [May 7th, 2006]
A quick recap of a relatively uneventful and -- slow -- Sunday.

Post #503: Particularly nasty weather... [May 12th, 2006]
... where I talk about a particularly nasty storm that ripped through KL.

Post #513: Thought for the Day [May 18th, 2006]
A thought-provoking Tim Robbins quote.

Post #523: oh boy did it rain yesterday! [May 26th, 2006]
.. where I describe a pretty productive day that ended with my getting soaked to the bone in an extremely heavy downpour.

Post #532: a tragedy strikes (for the FIFTH time??!!) [June 1st, 2006]
A rant about yet another landslide, and yet another politician talking bull about blame. What's even sadder is reading this post three years later and knowing that nothing has changed...

Post #542: i suppose i was an early bird... [June 17th, 2006]
... where I share the photo of the eleven of us who met up for what turned out to be the first of many reunions of fellow St Marians :)

Post #552: 2006 books (Part 1) [June 30th, 2006]
This was the first time I'd actually kept track of books I'd read: in the first 6 months of 2006, I'd already gone through just under 50 books!

Post #562: audience participation required, part deux [July 15th, 2007]
This was a pretty different type of meme requiring audience participation (hence the title..!). Maybe I should resurrect it? :)

Post #572: Long overdue! audience participation and aura [August 1st, 2006]
LoL! Ten posts later it's another installment of the audience participation meme, and I recap my visit to an aura reader.

Post #582: Movie Revue [August 12th, 2006]
... where I review a few movies, and jump through a few connections to Dexter!

Post #592: ... to quiet the mind ... [August 21st, 2006]
... where I meditate upon my meditation experiences...

Post #602: Rain rain go awayyyyyy! [August 29th, 2006]
... a date with a personal shopper, and trying to identify celebrities from their high school yearbook photos...

Post #612: Maybe Lorena Bobbit works for a mamak shop? and other rambling thoughts [September 7th, 2006]
An all-in-one post covering t-sheets, the pee-less cat, torpedo soup and exercise, or lack thereof.

= = =

so, did my writing style, focus and content change upon getting married? Find out for yourself tomorrow! :)

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