Cynthia – Page 9 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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I Want My, I Want My, I Want My O.E.D.

Since the beginning of our relationship, on occasion, Cynthia would get a wistful look in her eye and say to me “Jay, if we ever win the lottery, I’m buying an O.E.D.

I’ve always told her we should just buy one, but it was an extravagance she would not indulge as they are rather expensive. As she has a degree in library science, I’ve always thought she should have one but knew she would frown on me if I paid out the asking price.

Over the years I’ve asked if she would consider the condensed or mini-version of the O.E.D. and she would flatly say no. In more recent years the O.E.D. has been made available in CD ROM format but Cynthia would have none of it.

Last week as I was tinkering around on the Internet I casually typed Oxford English Dictionary into Google. The first search result was an Amazon.com page offering the O.E.D. for $332.00. This was around $800 off off the list price which translates to roughly $600 off the price of most booksellers.

I could not believe what I was seeing.

I checked to make sure it was not the CD ROM – It wasn’t
I checked to make sure it was the 20 volume hard cover set. – It was
I checked to make sure it was being sold by Amazon and not one of their partners – It was

I thought about it and thought I should just buy this and surprise Cynthia. But I couldn’t just move on it without really making sure this was the same thing she wanted and not some abridged version or factory second or something.

I decided to show her the web page.

Like me, she was skeptical. As I suspected she would be.

We tried just searching from the Amazon page and not one of the results returned was the page we were viewing.

We both were very unsure and we even said in unison “If it looks too good to be true, it probably isn’t.” It just didn’t add up. How could it be that they would sell this item, BRAND NEW, at such a discounted price. After some more discussion we agreed to give it a pass.

I had the next day off and I couldn’t let it go. If what I was seeing was correct I had the opportunity to acquire the O.E.D. for not much more than the CD ROM version which runs around $250. This would be a chance to score major spouse points!

I checked it again and I verified the return policy and I ordered it. Of course I couldn’t keep a secret and I told Cynthia. She was dubious but hopeful but didn’t allow herself to get her hopes up too terribly much.

Well, they arrived this evening. 5 boxes containing the 20 fat volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary. Individually shrink-wrapped and in perfect condition. It’s an impressive resource.

Cynthia’s in hog heaven and may not get any sleep tonight….

For The Birds

Cynthia baked a lemon cake from a recipe she found. After it was done she sampled it an pronounced it “inedible.”

In keeping with our “Waste Not, Want Not” policy she decided to offer it up to the birds in the yard…

The birds seemed to agree with Cynthia’s initial assessment and left the cake uneaten and in tact, even after sprinkling it with bird seed to entice them.

Remembrances

Cynthia continues to chug away at the scrapbook for the trip to Spain. She’s completed Madrid, Seville, Segovia and Toledo.

Granada and Barcelona are going to be HUGE.

She’s already filled 1 1/2 giant binders full of photos, ephemera and her own recollections of the vacation. I bet this will be 4-6 binders by the time it’s done.

This has propelled me forward in processing my photos. I have completed the following galleries here at baldheretic.com

Madrid	Madrid – Retiro Park
Madrid – Segway Tour	Segovia
Seville	Seville – Alcazar
Cordoba	Toledo
Granada	Granada – The Alhambra

There’s a partial gallery for Barcelona, but it is not complete.

Oh, and I should not forget the nearly complete gallery for William The Well Travelled Sheep…

William The Sheep in Spain!

[tag]Spain, Madrid, Segovia, Seville, Toledo, Granada, Alhambra, photography, Sony Alpha 100, travel, Europe, Segway, Memories, Jay Lee[/tag]

Oh Possum, Where Art Thou?

At Cynthia’s office there’s been an ongoing battle with an opossum that has taken up residence in a tree next to the parking garage. The creature has been hissing at people as they pass by so her employer tasked building management with its removal.

This has been going on for a few weeks now.
They’ve set a live animal trap, but to date have only captured the occasional stray cat.

I’ve been sending opossum pics to Cynthia’s work e-mail so she can taunt the failures of the opossum squad.

I found a good one that I decided to give the LOLcat treatment…

It was inspired by one I found and sent earlier

12 Giraffes Of Christmas

As in years past, Cynthia’s family sends us a few boxes of Christmas presents via the US Postal Service. It’s always nice to have them to open on Christmas day since we usually just celebrate with the two of us.

This year there was the expected assortment of wrapped gifts from Cynthia’s mother and some of her sisters.

There was also included an unusual set of numbered gifts from her sister Patricia in Florida. These came with a note indicating to open these IN ORDER. There were 12 in all and we puzzled over them a bit before putting them under the tree.

This morning we got up and had breakfast and then proceeded to exchange gifts and open up the presents from Cynthia’s family. We decided the gifts with the special instructions should go first.

Cynthia opened the first one and looked at it and I exclaimed “It’s a giraffe in a pear tree!!!”

It was a hand-made Christmas ornament of a giraffe climbing a pear tree. With 11 more to unwrap, we knew where this was heading. Yup, the 12 Giraffes Of Christmas. Each one hand-made by Patricia and representing a play on the 12 Days Of Christmas. And they’re all ornaments for Cynthia giraffe tree which will now have to be a full sized tree next year.

My favorites are the “calling birds” giraffe dressed in hunting gear with an orange lined hat and a bird call, the “maids-a-milking” giraffe dressed as a cow with a little cow-bell on his neck and the “French Hens” giraffe, replete with beret, baggett and bottle of wine that says “Chateau Giraffe 2007” on the label.

Click on any of the images below to see a more detailed shot.

La Torre Del Oro

On our last night in Madrid (Oct. 24th) we hung out at La Torre Del Oro, a very interesting tapas bar in the Plaza Mayor dedicated to bull fighting.

Neither Cynthia nor myself are fans of this sport and we had no intention of witnessing a bull fight, but this little place was fascinating. Mounted on the wall were the heads of some notable bulls from previous fights as well as photo after photo of various toreadors.

And in the corner was a small television set showing previously recorded bull fights. It was like a bull fighting sports bar!

The bartender and Cynthia had a very animated discussion (in Spanish) wherein the rules and nuances of the sport were explained and discussed. I must confess, it was compelling to watch as the drama played out on the small TV. It was especially odd when they would show a slow motion replay of some particularly noteworthy cape swooshing.

I picked up bits and pieces of what was being said and I recall at one point, as the time was drawing near when the toreador would actually strike the killing blow, the matter of taking an ear as a trophy came up. That was when Cynthia looked at the mounted heads in the room and exclaimed “THEY HAVE NO EARS!”

I enjoyed a few beers while this was going on, all the while just looking around and snapping a few pics like this one of a shrine/alter I can only presume was intended to keep the bull fighters safe from harm.

All in all, a very fun evening.

[tags] Spain, Madrid, Bull Fighting, Tapas [/tags]

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