You know it's going to be a good day when...

[[deleted user]]

You get to sleep as long as you like.

And you DON'T have to go to a baby shower.

[evie]

No baby shower!

[Phil]

There's one here, in Pearls Before Swine.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

You are getting your pine scents from an actual grove of trees, rather than an air freshener.

[Laurin]

It's december in the Mitten, and there's a predicted high temp of 62°. :)

[Félix]

Oh yes. Here, too.

[Susan]

The old books were safely packed away in a suitcase! Yay!

[evie]

There are still seven days before I go back to work.

[Jammies]

Your second day at a new job starts with an invitation to the judge's investiture!

[Susan]

Cool stuff, Jammies!

[janine]

Not sure what an investiture is, but yay!

[Laurin]

You get a great parking spot.

[Heidi]

Jammies wrote: "Your second day at a new job starts with an invitation to the judge's investiture!"

WOOT! That's kind of a big deal, Jammies. :) Investitures are some seriously fascinating pomp and circumstance. I hope you get to go!

[Heidi]

BunWat wrote: "janine wrote: "Not sure what an investiture is, but yay!"

An investiture is the ceremony when a judge gets sworn in."

It's a ceremony in which any elected or appointed official gets sworn in - in academia it happens for chairmen and endowed chairmen - they get sworn into position or office or whatever you choose to call it. They are often presented with a fancy pants chair as a gift and token of their new "chair" position/title. Even though I had an invitation to attend an investiture once, I declined so I could babysit for the newly sworn-in chairman's youngest kids and for another member of the faculty who was in attendance. It seemed important to me at the time to help them in that way. The chair he was given during the ceremony had suede covering on the seat and partially on the back. The wood on the chair and chair legs was beautifully hand-carved. He was also given a large medal to wear around his neck during this ceremony as a token of ceremony.

[Phil]

Tee-hee. She said "endowed chairmen."

I wonder how she knows, what with them wearing a robe and all.

[Heidi]

Okay, okay... I should've explained myself - an "endowed chairman" is a department chairman that is appointed to a chair position with funds donated by philanthropists. Those funds, which are typically generous, are used to supplement the salary of the person in office to be used in official business spending to wine and dine and impress potential donors and employees.

[Susan]

Wine and dine and impress.

[Jim]

Congrats Jammies.

[Susan]

::slips plate of jello onto Kyle's chair just before he sits down::

[janine]

Phil wrote: "Tee-hee. She said "endowed chairmen."

I wonder how she knows, what with them wearing a robe and all."

Thank you, Phil.

[Susan]

::drys hair and styles into ultra-cool punk do::

Unfazed.

[Heidi]

Kyle ~Special K: Rebel Leader~ wrote: "When I sit down, I, too am an 'endowed chairman'.

::Prepares to duck daggers::"

Eww.

Eewwwww. Gross.

[Susan]

Kyle ~Special K: Rebel Leader~ wrote: "::spikes Susan's brownies with ex-lax::"

::frowns::

[Jammies]

Heidi wrote: "Jammies wrote: "Your second day at a new job starts with an invitation to the judge's investiture!"

WOOT! That's kind of a big deal, Jammies. :) Investitures are some seriously fascinating pomp..."

Not only did I get to go, I had a chance to catch up with two judges and a councilwoman I hadn't seen in ages AND the judge being sworn in (my boss!) had all of us stand up to be recognized. Her husband held her robe, and her mom held the bible.

[Cynthia]

Cool, Sister Jammies.

It's going to be a good day. My newly-21-year-old daughter wants me to take her out for breakfast.

[Heidi]

Jammies wrote: "Heidi wrote: "Jammies wrote: "Your second day at a new job starts with an invitation to the judge's investiture!"

WOOT! That's kind of a big deal, Jammies. :) Investitures are some seriously fa..."

Dawwww... cute! I bet you had lots of fun. :)

[Jammies]

It was lovely, Heidi, although I have to say that academic investitures probably have a LOT more pomp and ceremony.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

You thought your refrigerator had just died but it appears to still be alive.

[Susan]

Zombie fridge! Yay!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

That's about right.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Normally it's hellishly loud, sighing, clanking, clicking, bouncing up and down. Last night at 1 or 2 a.m. I heard it give an enormous shudder, like a death rattle, then go completely quiet. It was very, very concerning.

It's still much quieter than normal, so it might be dying. But at least I've heard it cycle on a couple times since then.

[[deleted user]]

I would suggest getting someone in to look at it before it carks it.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

It's not worth the repair cost, I'm sure. I would just buy a new one.

[Susan]

I dread the death of appliances.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

When I was a kid I loved it when an appliance died. We kept ours for so long that getting a new one was unbelievably thrilling.

[Susan]

Well, yes. It was the same for me. Things had to die to be replaced and my mom and dad are skilled at keeping things pristine. But now that I am the one paying for the new item, it is a different story. Especially because many of our appliances are old and appliances never die at an optimal time.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Well the nice thing is that they will haul away your old refrigerator when they bring the new one. It would stress me if that was not part of the deal. As it is, I only have to be stressed about the cost of the new one, and the stuff inside that I want to stay cool. I do actually have ice packs and styrofoam boxes just for this reason.

[Laurin]

I'm surprised that our dishwasher hasn't died yet. The seal leaks when you open the door, and there are more of the little prongs broken than not.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

My dishwasher has never worked completely right, so I stopped using it a while ago. It gets used as a drying dishrack now....

[Susan]

Yes, the haul away service is a great thing. I like that you are prepared. The element of surprise is not always welcome in some instances.

[[deleted user]]

I wish my diswasher would die. I am waiting for an excuse to buy a decent one. My current one is held together with paper clips.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I wouldn't mind if my toaster died.

[Susan]

I think my dryer is the next to go. It is only slightly newer than the old washing machine which had a control panel with a backlight. Even the guy that put in the new one was impressed with how old it was.

[Félix]

So just being able to walk seems like a minor miracle to me.

[Heidi]

THIS made my day:

[Jim]

Félix wrote: "So just being able to walk seems like a minor miracle to me."

Ok, let me try this again.

Time to stop drinking!

[janine]

Are you going to keep trying until you find someone who actually fits the description?

[Phil]

Heidi wrote: "THIS made my day:

"

Why?

[Cynthia]

It's the cute little brother from "Freaks and Geeks!" Sam? I remember how awkward it was when he was dating Cindy.

[Phil]

Oh. I never saw that show.