Actually, I've been saying this for YEARS now.

I don't care what you were originally taught -- or how many years you've been using a different method. I was taught the two-space after some punctuation method, too -- and I used it for many, many years.

If I could change what I was taught, so can anyone else who is willing to try. Period. (Saying 'period' is a joke, but not so much... sigh.)

Happily this was addressed by DailyWritingTips.Com today in THIS entry.

I've been fighting the 'good fight' for ages with numerous people (including people I work with). Hopefully this old-fashioned habit of two spaces will eventually fall out of practice. I can't believe that many publishers still want us to use it, which I find ridiculous in this day and age!

Note the following references regarding the subject:

The Gregg Reference Manual FAQ

Chicago Manual of Style - FAQ 1

Chicago Manual of Style - FAQ 2

Chicago Manual of Style - FAQ 3

I have quite a few photos to save from the Clown Corps pizza party last night! There was a cake provided by Debbie, as well as a birthday cake for Angel that Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I took along (his bday is next week).

We got him a giant birthday card that everyone signed, and Sue suzy_qp, Marilyn and I also took him cards from us. (Angel will be in Mexico with his church group helping work with the poor for a week starting on Sunday, so he won't be home to celebrate this year.)

The Pizza Party was great fun and good food. There were various kinds of pizza (very good pizza), plus salad with various dressings. We also had iced tea and pop to drink. (The cost was only $10 per person.)

Here are some photos of the event:









( More photos HERE! Click me! )

Tonight we're going to an all-you-can-eat pizza party for the Clown Corps (and those of us directly connected to it). That should be fun! Sister Sue suzy_qp is driving, she's picking us up soon (so I need to finish getting ready, pronto!).

Marilyn mistressmarilyn just did the treadmill -- good for her! She's showered and is getting ready right now.

I've had my shower and need to go dry my hair.

I've got a good start on the garbage and recycling (it's Wednesday!), so that's good, too.

Vacation remains relaxing and FUN. Boy, did we need it!

Better run...

Guess what we did this evening???

Marilyn mistressmarilyn, sister Sue suzy_qp and I drove back down to Seaside, Oregon. (smile)

We didn't get to play Coverall (they're now calling it 'Blackout' -- but that's new) when we were there on Sunday (our timing was off), so we decided to go just for that reason.

We took our car this time and Marilyn drove. Sunday we took Sue's car (I gave her some gas money), and Sue drove down -- with Marilyn driving back.

I took a bunch more photos, so once I download them I'll have to share again!

There was drizzle part of the time, but nothing much. It rained while we were in the Fascination parlor (read THIS ENTRY if you missed my explanation of what Fascination is), but we really didn't have an issue with the weather.

We did get to go to Zinger's again while we were there (they stay open until 10:00 p.m., happily), which was nice!

Then on the way home we listened to Marilyn's 'Sockpuppet' mix on her iPod, which has all this great retro music from the late 60's. And we played a game where we talked about our favorite EPISODES of "Frasier" (which we all love). That was fun, too!

Last night we went over to Vancouver (Washington) to see "Public Enemies" again -- this time with sister Sue. Both Marilyn and I noticed a lot more details the second time around. Plus it was interesting to know more from reading the book. I seriously think it's an amazing movie. I'm surprised it isn't getting even better reviews, considering the quality of the acting and the direction. Not to mention the beautiful way Michael Mann has filmed it. He's really captured the time period, in my estimation...

Fascination? What is it? And why do I bring it up almost every time we go to Seaside, Oregon? (smile)

I often forget how LUCKY we are to have a Fascination parlor so close to us, considering there aren't any others on the entire West Coast! But for me it's been around my entire life -- I've literally been playing this game since I was a kid.

For those who are curious, Fascination is a game commonly found in North American amusement parks, boardwalks and arcades. The game actually dates back to the 1920's and was once a popular attraction at amusement parks and in oceanside resort towns -- especially those with boardwalks. (Both Atlantic City and Wildwood, New Jersey had multiple Fascination parlors.)

As I mentioned before, Seaside, Oregon has the ONLY Fascination parlor on the West Coast.

At one point we were really afraid they were going to CLOSE the Fascination parlor in Seaside. Anyway, that prompted me to take several photos, which I'm going to (finally) share below:













While we were in Seaside yesterday (July 5), we went there (to the parlor) and found it quite improved! They had all new chairs (!!!) and the boards were really CLEAN (which was a shock). They used to allow smoking in the parlor, so there were ashtrays and ashes all over. They've taken out the glass cases that used to run down the center of the room, which makes it much nicer, too!

I didn't get new photos, but need to do that sometime soon. Many of the rubber balls used were actually BLUE (rather than the standard dull red), so that was another surprise!

As for the game, it's played by rolling the ball up and into the holes, trying for five in a row (bingo-like). As your ball drops in a hole, the corresponding light on the board is lit. You play against a room full of others players, racing to see who can get five in a row first.

It's MUCH HARDER than it sounds -- and keep in mind I've played it all my life!

You win a coupon that's worth 99 points -- and these can be redeemed for merchandise. As I mentioned yesterday, Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I got a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer Deluxe with coupons we've collected from our joint wins. And we've gotten countless other 'goodies' over the years (including a microwave oven, fancy CD boombox with remote, set of pots and pans and more).

Most of all, it's great FUN to play! Marilyn won three games in a row at one point (which totally amazes and disturbs other players, believe me).

We love 'Cover All' the best. In this form of the game, they turn down the lights and you have to light up every single light on your board. They usually play it twice a day (at 4:00 and 8:00) -- but they have to have a minimum number of players to do so (and it costs more to play). (Normal games are 25¢.)

If you ever get to a place that has Fascination, I seriously encourage you to give it a try! And as I mentioned before, don't be discouraged when you have trouble playing it -- EVERYONE does (even those of us who have played it for YEARS). But you'll get hooked, believe me! (grin)

Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I went to tan. Then we drove down to Seaside, Oregon with sister Sue suzy_qp.

We played Fascination and Marilyn and I turned in our tickets to get a fancy juicer (I've always wanted one).

Before going to play Fascination, we had dinner at the Taco Shark restaurant, a new Mexican joint that replaced our (beloved) Vista Sea Cafe (I mentioned that it was for sale HERE, but this is the first time we've been to Seaside since it closed).

The food was fine, but I doubt we'll get hung up on the place. (They didn't have many people there, by the way...) And it wasn't at all like having the wonderful chowder and beer bread that we used to eat at the Vista Sea Cafe. (sigh)

After Fascination (Marilyn won seven games, I won five and Sue won one) and getting the juicer, we went over to Zinger's to get ice cream (they almost always have Licorice!). Then Marilyn drove home (Sue had driven down).

One of the funny things was Sue bringing up going to see "Public Enemies" -- wondering if we were interested in going! She'd apparently left Marilyn a voice mail about it during the festival, but Marilyn never got it. So she was all upset that we'd already gone -- but we told her we wanted to go again, anyway.

We considered going to the movie tonight, but the times didn't work well, so we might go tomorrow.

On Friday (July 3), Marilyn and I went to Costco (which I never mentioned that day when I posted). We got those fabulous burgers I mentioned LAST YEAR that are sold only at Costco (at least that seems to be true locally). We wanted them for the our 'picnic' on the Fourth.

They're pre-cooked Angus burgers, which means you only have to toss them in the microwave for less than five minutes to have delicious burgers ready to eat! (And I do mean DELICIOUS.) Yes, you can grill them or fry them, but why would you bother??? The brand name on the box is Quick 'N Eat -- but the website they list is lopezfoods.com. They've improved their website since last summer, by the way!

You should always add a slice of Tillamook cheese (they'll melt nicely in the microwave, too). If you can't buy Tillamook cheese locally, then check out the store on their website! We like Medium Cheddar, and it comes in packages already sliced, which is ideal.

We had the burgers on both Friday and Saturday, by the way. Yummy!

While at Costco, we picked up the book "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34," by author Bryan Burrough. I'm really enjoying reading it!

The Wimbledon final this morning was a pretty impressive five-setter. Roddick did a good job, even if he wasn't able to win.

And now I'm going to play some Zuma! We're half way through our two week vaca.

Vacation rocks!!!

Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I had a GREAT day. The yard is nearly finished (close), we had a nice drive up the Gorge and we ate tons of good food.

We also watched TV, napped, read and played games. Fun, fun!

In the evening we watched fireworks on TV in Washington, D.C. and New York.

A really lovely Fourth of July!

I hope all my American friends had a good holiday, too!

Time for a (very sad) Wimbledon update... (sigh)

Roddick won.

Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I feel so sorry for the Brits...

Time for a Wimbledon update!

Murray and Roddick are in the fourth set. I would soooooooooooo love to see Murray win and get to the finals. (Actually, I'm pulling for Andy Murray to win this tournament!)

Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I are listening to Radio Wimbledon and today it's driving me crazy. This main guy today just screws up so frequently. (yikes) Can he PLEASE keep the two Andys straight??? (sigh)

LessCSS.Org

"Less is Leaner css. Less extends css by adding: variables, mixins, operations and nested rules.

Less uses existing css syntax. This means you can migrate your current .css files to .less in seconds, with virtually no learning curve."

I've got to check this out for sure!

Today was a busy, productive vacation day for us! But actually, today was the first of five unpaid furlough days where the festival office will be closed during the next five pay periods. (The other days are: Friday, July 31; Friday, August 7; Friday, August 21; and Friday, September 4.) Our office is also be closed tomorrow (Friday, July 3) for the 4th of July holiday. So today and tomorrow don't count against Marilyn's mistressmarilyn actual vacation days (if that makes sense).

I guess a lot of businesses are having unpaid furlough days in order to keep going, so it's no surprise that the festival needs to do it, too. It comes to around a 10% pay cut for the Staff, which is nothing to sneeze at, but it's better than not having a job at all.

Anyway, that aside, Marilyn and I did get our impatiens (mentioned HERE -- in the entry that didn't post correctly!) -- and then we planted many of them tonight when it had cooled down a bit. We have a TON of work to do in the yard tomorrow, as we want things looking nice for the Fourth (which is obviously Saturday). But we did get a start on it today, anyway!

It was 96° here today! (whew) That may not sound hot to many of you, but for Portland that's really up there.

We're so very thankful for our air conditioning, I have to tell you. We realize how very blessed we are to have it!

I'm sitting here in shorts and an American tank top (the American flag in the shape of a map of the country -- it was $3 brand new!), sweating like a pig. I need a shower after being out working in the dirt planting. (ugh) Marilyn is showering now as we were both a mess.

One of our unusual tasks was trying to poke holes in the bottom of one of our large pots. It looks like pottery, but it's that formed plastic. These are terrific, easy to clean, can be left out in the winter and won't crack -- and they look great! But why-oh-why don't they have an easy way to make drainage holes??? I'd had a fern in this pot, but it got too much water during our water-logged winter, which killed it. The same is true for this really huge pot we've got. I don't know what we'll do about that one, as we can't lift it (we have to drag it to move it at all) -- so we can't dump it upside down like we did the smaller pot. (sigh) I hate killing plants with too much water, which is something I've been known to do in the house, over-watering my plants.

Anyway, we're going to have a late dinner once I've showered, so I think I'll get to it!

I made an entry this morning and (supposedly) Saved it. But when I came to do another entry now (almost 12 hours later), the entry wasn't displaying!

It did offer to 'Restore from draft?' (as if I'd never posted it!!!), so it was there. And I edited the time to the correct hour from this morning -- but I'm still annoyed!

I wonder what happened???

We went to see "Public Enemies" last night, and it's FABULOUS. I love Michael Mann, I really do. This is such an incredible piece of work. You really feel like you've fallen into the 1930's...

(Apologies if you follow the above 'official movie website' link and find it DIFFICULT. I really hate the Flash sites created for movies -- and this appears to be an especially bad one... sigh...)

All of the acting was excellent in the movie -- and the constant closeups work quite well. I'd recommend it to anyone, whether you're a Depp and/or Bale fan, or not.

We didn't get home until around 12:30 a.m. -- then I still needed to do the garbage and recycling (!!!). One of my bags of soda cans got blown over and Marilyn mistressmarilyn kindly went out and picked them all up out of the street. Then my garbage bag with the used kitty litter got a hole as I was putting it in the garbage can, spewing litter all over the grass. Plus we were picking up cushion stuffing that the squirrels had turned into a nest. This week they suddenly started throwing it all over the ground! Marilyn suggested the two squirrels had 'split the sheets' (broken up), as they were both there and chattering unpleasantly for ages. What a mess they made! The stuffing was EVERYWHERE. (From them ruining the cushions on our swing.)

Bo and Earle finished up the job yesterday. I need to take photos and share them.

Marilyn got up and started cleaning our lawn furniture this morning. I planted begonias in the front bed (she helped, of course) -- and we have many left to plant in pots in the back. Now we want to go get our impatiens for the big flower boxes out back (near the deck). It's late to be planting them, so we really need to get them in!

Time for a Wimbledon update!

Hewitt and Roddick are in the fifth set. I like both players, but am actually pulling for Hewitt to win...

I love listening to Radio Wimbledon, to tell you the truth. Very entertaining stuff!

For those who might not know it, Firefox released version 3.5 yesterday.

I like that some of the features I was getting via addons (plugins) are now STANDARD to the browser (as they should be). And happily most of my essential addons are available for the new version.

I still think the browser loads really slowly (???), but it's FAST once it has!

Anyway, I continue to love Firefox. I did try Google's Chrome (Ron loves it), but I found it far to minimalist for me, personally.

Other 'fast' things today include Andy Murray at Wimbledon, who won his match against Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets, 7/5, 6/3, 6/2 (which took an hour and 41 minutes). Yes, I am so very much pulling for Andy to win Wimbledon!

Plus Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I went to the track (at Roosevelt), meeting sister Sue suzyqp there. We walked 3 miles (12 laps), while Sue did 2 miles (3 laps). Our fastest time yet (listening to music on our iPods really helps with speed).

After that we went dutch to Starbucks.

Bo is here working on the fence and deck -- his goal is to finish up today (fingers crossed).

I think I'll go have some Cheerios now (I love Yogurt Burst)!

Guess what came today???

That's RIGHT! Here's a photo of my very own CorningWare 'Spice of Life' casserole dish:



It looks just like NEW, seriously. You'd swear it just came off the shelf. I can't believe I didn't think of eBay MONTHS ago.

And now I think I've also located some casserole carriers (totes) that are like the one Mom gave me (just different patterns). So guess what I'll probably be buying next? (smile)

I slept in again this morning until 9:00 (!!!). Marilyn mistressmarilyn didn't head to the track until around 10:00. Wow, it was beautiful there, with clear, blue skies. A guy was setting up the sprinklers to run while we were there, and one is right near the edge of the track (they sprinkle the center football area) -- so the inside lane was wet and we got misted every time we passed that spot.

We were both listening to our iPods today. Marilyn has a new Gold iPod Shuffle that she got through Avon (and we've been calling 'Goldie'). It holds up to 240 songs (but she'd never load that many on it), and has a cool clip that makes it really convenient to use for working out. I was using my old nano that has the sport cord that makes it so easy to wear and use. The music helps you keep a steady pace and we were probably going just a tad faster. Anyway, in order to go our 45 minutes, we had to do an extra lap -- so we decided to just do three miles. That was good.

In weight loss related news, I tried on three pairs of pants this morning that I wanted to wear to the track -- and all three were too big on me (literally falling off me), so I couldn't wear them. I finally found a pair that almost fit and wore those. I certainly don't want to get new clothes while I'm losing weight, so I plan to wear my belt with some of my jeans and other pants for now. It was annoying this morning, but I guess it's a good problem to have.

Bo and his cousin Earle are here again today and power washing (pressure washing?) the fence and deck. I never mentioned this yesterday, but they had a broken part so they couldn't do anything as planned yesterday. Being Sunday, there was no place they could go to get it fixed until today.

We did tan yesterday, but we didn't get our manicures and pedicures. We decided we'd go today, but we haven't discussed it so far, so I don't know if we're still going to do that or not.

We went to see "Terminator Salvation" again last night. It's not playing too many places now, so we wanted to go again before it was gone. Afterward I told Marilyn that I really enjoyed it. I was wide awake and comfortable and in the right place to see it, if that makes sense. I still think it's a good movie, personally. I like the story and I love the various actors. It's all good by me.

It's funny, but so far our vacation days have been like festival days -- really stretched! This is hard to explain, but during the festival you'll have ONE DAY, and it will be so packed with stuff that when you talk about it the next day it will seem like it was days ago! Anyway, we've been doing so much that last night it felt like we'd been on vaca for days, not just the weekend. That may partly be the fact that we've been getting up in the morning, when often we don't do that while on vacation. We've been known to stay up into the wee hours during vaca, then sleep really late (like noon) to make up for it. Often we stay up all night long, because we can -- unlike when we're working. (We keep weird hours even when we're working, so I guess that's not all that strange...)

We want to keep up the walking in the mornings, so that should keep us going to bed earlier than normal.

Well, it's around noon now -- and we're starting to think about having a chicken sandwich (our little bun sandwiches that we make). We got chicken at the grocery store last night -- and stopped to get the tomatoes we forgot (!!!) after we left the track this morning.

We also got two flats of begonias, so we can at least plant our front bed by the porch. We're dying to our flowers in, but we can't do the back yard until after the fence and deck are done.

Well, Marilyn had a shower and washed her hair, and I'm thinking I'll go do the same.

Summer! Gotta love it! Vacation! It's GREAT.

When I went to the DOCTOR back on June 10, I'd lost 15 pounds (since my previous visit). That's not really a big deal, as it had been ages since I'd been. I'm thinking the last time was November, so that's months.

But I just randomly decided to weigh myself this morning, and I'm down another six pounds. It's been two weeks since I saw the doctor, so that's three pounds a week (!!!).

Considering Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I just started walking yesterday -- and I haven't even biked during that time -- it's a bit of a surprise, to say the least! I don't focus on weight loss much as a rule, but I am trying to drop some pounds and get healthier. It's all about being able to do things for me.

We went to the track again this morning and did another 45 minutes. Go, us! (heh)

Bo and his cousin (didn't really catch his name) where here at the house to start work at right around 8:00 a.m. -- a full hour earlier than he'd told me. But when we got back from the track their rig was gone and so were they. I guess they've gone after supplies, I don't know. They've moved tons of stuff into the middle of the yard in preparation, so it's all good...

We're going to shower, then go get our manicures and pedicures. After that we need to go tan. (Day of beauty? Starting with overall physical beauty, clearly, getting in that walk!)

Actually, we have a bunch of chores we need to do, which is a good thing, considering Bo wants to sand today -- and our allergies wouldn't deal well with that!

Well, I'd better go jump in the shower now!

I slept in until 9:00 a.m. (but Marilyn mistressmarilyn was up far earlier -- partly that's wrapped up in watching Wimbledon tennis).

We actually went to the track (Roosevelt high school's track) and walked for 45 minutes! It was great, and I hope we keep that up all during vacation.

We had 'bun' chicken sandwiches when we got home. Then a lovely nap. First I read my BOOK (which I'm loving, by the way), then I drifted off to sleep. Perfect!

We got up and played our current computer game ("Escape Rosecliff Island") -- we love these HOGs (hidden object games)!!! The review I've linked reads: "Gamers will have about 20 minutes to complete each of the 25 locations and can ask for a hint or two if stuck..." Our personal goal is to go as fast as we can -- and always try to stay under 10 minutes per level (well under 20 minutes, in other words). We play as a team (Marilyn and I). One person uses the mouse to control things, while the other player will use a pointer to help find things. We've purchased several of them in the past, but this one has lovely graphics and is great FUN!

We just finished eating fried red tomatoes (we each cooked a couple of pans full for ourselves) for dinner, and we've been watching Wimbledon on the Tennis Channel. 17-year-old American, Melanie Oudin, beat Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-2. Oudin seems like a lovely young woman.

Now Marilyn is playing Zuma while I do this blog entry. When I'm done, I'll probably play Zuma, too! (heh)

Both of us did tidy up the kitchen (and I loaded the dishwasher) -- and we need to go grocery shopping later on. But that's okay! Basically we've had a lazy, lovely vacation day -- and it feels great!

We need to get manicures (ouch) and pedicures, but I was rather resistant to the idea today. (If it sounds relaxing, then I'm sorry to tell you that it isn't!)

It got up to 81° today, and we're so grateful for our air conditioning -- it's such a blessing!

I wanted to KILL my poor computer today. Seriously.

Of course, as it kept crashing, I wasn't thinking the fault was actually with my computer! Surprise, surprise, Charlie -- you needed to be looking closer to home for fault...

I was trying to Remote to the office and do some work as the Administrator (IT-related junk, as always), but I had nothing but issues!

Not fair to blame my poor (old) computer, because I had the C: drive (the system drive in my dual hard-drive computer) so FULL it couldn't do anything. So actually this was MY problem -- and I'm to blame!

I had to take off a ton of applications (Dreamweaver and Flash, which I never use anyway -- to name only two) before it started to behave! And I stupidly dumped all my Favorites in Deepnet Explorer (my Internet Explorer clone) and had a bear of a time getting them back again. This is no small thing, considering I have hundreds of Favorites (Bookmarks)!

I have around 4 gigs free now -- but that's NOT going to cut it. (But I was FULL before, so it's all relative, of course.)

I've wanted Ron to work on my computer for ages, so I asked him to look into a new (larger) hard drive. In fact, I might have him beef up BOTH drives, depending on the cost. He can ghost the contents, so we wouldn't need to do a new install of the OS, which would be awesome. (I don't want to lost my email, that's for sure!)

At least I'm able to Remote again. I can't function for doing festival work without it, frankly.

I'm sitting here yawning. I guess I'm hitting the wall. Marilyn mistressmarilyn is still at work (it's close to 5:30), and she had another brutal day -- getting ready to go on vaca for two weeks! It's going to be a pain to have work being done during that first week, but it will be GREAT to get it over with. Plus we'll be happy to have it all looking good this summer, I'm sure!

Right now I'd love to curl up with my book and then have a long nap. It sounds like the perfect start to vacation to me!

Anyway, depending on how much the improvements to my desktop cost, I'm still thinking about finally getting a laptop. I could really use one, if the price is right...

I was talking about it as a luxury item recently, but Marilyn reminded me that it's really a tool for work. So I guess it is justified to get it.