Bit of Ivory

I just tried to modify my template, and it worked! So I’ve been able to make small little changes and have them actually be REMEMBERED! Oh, frabjous day!

So at my house, we name our cars. This has a long and glorious tradition. It all started when my mom bought her brand-new 1977 Toyota Corolla before she even met my dad. She named it Alex after Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Dad has, rather unfairly, been accused of marrying Mom for her car (and her piano), which we kept for years and years. We finally had to get rid of Alex in 2000, when the body started falling apart, although he still ran great. It was a sad day when he was towed away by the Kidney Foundation. (The piano has also been replaced, and Mom and dad are still married. )

The next car to recieve the treatment was our 1978 Oldsmobile station wagon, which we bought used in 1983. My folks had just watched the miniseries “Lillie” on Masterpiece Theatre, so it became Lillie Langtry. Mrs. Langtry (as she was usually called) survived until 1992, when, after having replaced practically everything on the car but the engine in order to keep it running (including the locks on the inside of the doors), we donated it to the Kidney Foundation and bought a brand-new Toyota Previa (We’d learned our lesson. Toyotas last. American cars don’t.). More on the minivan in a minute.

Our next car purchase was in 1996, when we bought a used 1992 Toyota Tercel to faciliate getting back and forth from high school. It has been christened Gussie Fink-Nottle, after a character in P.G. Wodehouse’s hilarious Jeeves books. Then, in 1999, we bought a used 1997 Toyota Corolla for me to use to communte to BYU, which was promptly named Lizzy, after Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Finally, my grandfather sold us his practically-mint-condition 1978 Chrysler Cordoba a little while back. We didn’t really want it, but Grandpa has Parkinson’s Disease and can’t drive anymore, and he wanted to sell his Pride and Joy to his oldest son before Grandpa had a chance to wreck it. So we bought the boat. Grandpa served on the U.S.S. Saratoga in World War II, so it seemed appropriate to name it Sara (the sailors called the original Saratoga that back in the day), although we usually call it “The Sara,” since it’s such a boat.

Which brings us back to the Previa. We’ve had the car since 1992, right? And in all that time, we haven’t thought of a good name for it. We’ve tried several– everything from Teakwood Underclutch (one of my uncle’s made-up names, he’s really good at it) to Strider. But nothing seemed to fit. On Saturday, we were driving up Parley’s Canyon on the way to Heber for a family reunion. Now, if the Previa has a fault, it’s that it only has a 4-cylinder engine, and is therefore rather gutless. It was having a hard time getting up Parley’s Summit. Gussie has the same problem. When we want Gussie to go faster, we usually say “Come on, Gussie! You can do it!” Mom attempted to say something similar, but it’s rather hard when the car doesn’t have a name. This brought up the old, familiar subject of a name for our poor, nameless (but beloved) minivan. I said “This is just the Car-That-Must-Not-Be-Named.” Which gave me a wonderful idea.

From now on, the Previa will be known as You-Know-Who.

Perfect.

Okay, I just had a really big laugh. The American Film Institute has released its One Hundred Years, One Hundred Passions list, of the 100 greatest love stories of the 20th century. Usually, I disagree with AFI’s lists. They’ve been COMPLETELY off on a whole bunch of them. But I actually agree with most of this list: Casablanca at number 1, Roman Holiday and An Affair to Remember in the top ten. There are a few I disagree with, but overall, sounds good.

This is what gave me a laugh. Number 68–What’s Up, Doc?! Right above number 69–Harold and Maude! The two movies I was complaing didn’t make the “Cult Classics” book! What’s Up Doc? does have a love story, sure, but even the love story is treated in true screwball comedy fashion. One of the best lines in the whole movie is at the very end. Howard is played by Ryan O’Neal, who had just finished filming Love Story the year before, which contained the famous line (which O’Neal spoke)– “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” So in What’s Up, Doc?, Judy (played by Barbra Streisand) tells Howard “Let me tell you something. Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” The camera moves back and forth between the two of them, then comes back to focus on Howard as he says “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” See? Love is a means to a screwball end.

Harold and Maude, on the other hand, is purely black comedy. The love story is disturbing (a 17-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman?!? Even RJA would object!), not inspiring or tragic, like good love stories should be. So can you tell me why those two movies (which I love, don’t get me wrong, I just don’t think they’re love stories) made the list, while Somewhere in Time is nowhere to be found? And why they’re ranked over Dirty Dancing, Barefoot in the Park, and even The Princess Bride? Nope, I just don’t get it.

I also don’t think West Side Story deserves number 3. But most of the top ten– yeah, sure, I agree with that. I think the AFI needs to get more consumer input when choosing their movie lists.

I know that my birthday was a week ago, but I celebrated it again last night. You see, Every month the extended Bytheway family gets together to celebrate the birthdays for that month. So last night, we celebrated the month of June. We have SEVEN birthdays in June, more than any other month. Anyway, when I was little, Bytheway birthdays meant lots of little presents. Now, it means money. I raked in $42 last night! See why I love birthdays? *grin*

Okay, Morgan seems to be having questions, so I’m going to have to explain it again. When I make a change in my template, the outward code changes, because my page changes. But when I go back into the template, the code looks like I never changed a thing. In fact, the code is so old, that it’s giving me the code from the way my template looked back in MAY!! It’s as if I never changed anything at all. So the page looks different, but the code that comes up in my template box is the old code. As long as I don’t click on “SAVE CHANGES” in the template window, the page stays the way I want it to. But if I do press “SAVE CHANGES,” it’s going to revert back to the code I used back on May 31, before I changed the YACCS code on June 1. It’s like the server doesn’t remember that I made changes.

So I can’t just go in and delete the extra break after Rebecca’s name, because there’s also a whole bunch of OLD stuff there. I have to make every single change I’ve made in the past 10 days, because while the website itself seems to remember I changed my code, the template hasn’t remembered a single change I’ve made since May. I’m not trying to change my template, just update the info thats IN it.

Does that make any sense?

Okay, so Blogger’s having some stupid problem with their template server, so when I go to update my template on what I’m reading, it brings up my OLD template, from before I changed my YACCS code. So even though the intended changes are made, the page actually REVERTS back to the old code. So I notice this, and go back to the template to change it, and it’s STILL the OLD template! So it’s still my old template code in the box, even though the changes I made are reflected in the blog itself. This means that I have to re-do the WHOLE template if I see even one little mistake!

I’ve now put the new YACCS code in 3 times, changed my links section 4 times, and my “stuff about me” section 5 times. It’s getting really old, but I think everything is the way it should be now. I just can’t change my template until they’ve got the problem fixed, or I’m going to have to do it ALL OVER AGAIN!!!
So I thought everything was all right, but I just noticed an extra line in my links section, between RJA’s and Teri’s blogs. Too bad. It’s staying that way.

Grrr.

All right, everyone, get yourselves on over to the Sugar Quill and read Ancient Prophecy by Raven Snape, aka Elizabeth York. Don’t just read, review! And, if you feel interested by the premise, there’s 3 more chapters over at Schnoogle!

So go! Read! Review! Let Elizabeth know you want more, and maybe she’ll post all 6 chapters she’s got written!

The old ones had 42 flavors, 5 of which were weird (horseradish, booger, grass, black pepper, and sardine). Now, they only have 25 flavors, 8 of which are weird (black pepper, booger, dirt, ear wax, grass, sardine, spinach, and vomit). I actually don’t mind the grass ones, and the black pepper are pretty good, but the vomit almost made me live up to its name, and I’ve never liked spinach. I’m glad they got rid of the horseradish ones, though. They were so strong they even made the peppermint ones taste like horseradish.

The new ones come in little boxes instead of in the cool red bags. I guess I should be glad for this, as they’re much cheaper. They used to be about $7 a bag, but now they’re only $2.99 a box. Not that I’ll be buying them very much, as the chance of getting a sardine one is now 1 in 25 rather than 1 in 42. Blech!

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information about
the disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart, who was allegedly
taken from her home at gunpoint early Wednesday morning.
Victim Description

• 14 yrs. old
• blonde hair
• red pajamas
• 5′ 6″
• 105 lbs.

Suspect Description

• white man
• 5′ 8″
• dark hair
• light jacket
• light baseball hat

I just thought I’d post this, in case anyone stumbles across it and can help. She was kidnapped from the upscale Federal Heights subdivison of Salt Lake City at 2:00 this morning. Her 9-year-old sister was in the room, and the kidnapper told the little girl not to say anything, or bad things would happen to her sister. Just terrible that things like this can happen.

Look what Morgan over at the HJP made for me!

It’s already been a great birthday, and if everything goes as planned, it’s only going to get better. Elizabeth York is home from the hospital, and has e-mailed me a couple of times. She could still use your prayers, though, so keep praying!

I’m now divisible by 11!