Me: (to very happy-looking matronly but slightly intimidating tall Latino (HLMSITL) woman picking out the last piece of odd-looking squash that I wanted to try) Ah, so you like that squash?

HLMSITL woman: (waving the rather sizeable squash about as if it were made of sponge) I do. VERY much.

Me: How, would you say, is it different from Acorn squash or Butternut squash?

HLMSITL woman: Hmm... its firm.

Me: You mean firmer than butternut?

HLMSITL woman: Yes, and also (pointing to the acorn squash) this one.

Me: (persisting in the hope that she may realize that I have never tried it and maybe, just maybe give it away) Firm in what way? More fibrous?

HLMSITL woman: No, firm as in even after cooking you feel like it could get caught in your throat and choke you to death while eating it. (Makes a choking gesture at her neck with both hands and rolls eyes around, manages to look rather alarmingly like she is actually choking.) Like THAT. And I LOVE that, you know?

Me (to myself): Nopes, I definitely don't know.

Me (to HLMSITL woman): Wow. How fascinating! *Smile Smile. Edge away*

You just can't deny it [1-5].

---

References:
1. (e:theecarey,50736)
2. (e:theecarey,50766)
3. (e:theecarey,49743)
4. (e:theecarey,45899)
5. (e:theecarey,35925)

My laptop battery goes from 96% "discharging" to 5% "Critical Battery Level, Shutting down NOW" in 20 minutes flat. This is with the monitor off and on lowest power consumption settings. It never reaches 100% charge, according to the battery monitor. I always see it hovering around 95%. Worse, it takes just 20 minutes to charge to 95% .The laptop and battery are just around 1.5 years old. :/

I guess I am partially to blame for this poor battery performance because I really should have run the battery through the charge-discharge cycle all this time, instead of running it from the AC outlet power most of the time.

Maybe Sanyo makes trash batteries. Who knows... Mine is a
LION NS2P3SZNJ5WR

I have learnt my bitter battery lesson in time for my next Chrome OS powered netbook - which hopefully is just round the corner.

(e:himay), "Ack!"? Really? Think again! ;-)

Who knows what miracles you can achieve...
When you believe, somehow you will!
You will, when you believe!

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

I love this song. I could listen to it on a loop for a solid 1 hour or more. I know, because I have done it. The lyrics are so irrationally and completely positive and that, I think is part of its magic. Of course, the other part is Whitney Houston's smashing powerful voice. Anything she sang turned into an impressive crashing waterfall of sonic gold, back in the day.