Opening Toast
To the Christmas season..
When we soak up enough love and peace
to survive the rest of the year!
*** smash ****
Therm THERMOPOLIS December 22, 2001
Manager's Corner
Hi all..
Callahan's had a great year 2001 and a great December. We
look forward to the future knowing that things will only get
even better..
When I say we had a great year, I don't mean we didn't have
some difficulties or that all of our patrons and friends
were perfectly happy in their lives. What I mean is that
we shared.
Callahans is about sharing. Sharing joy and sorrow. Sharing
dreams, political views, memories.. lives. I'm grateful to
you all.. for giving Callahans another great year..:)
It's hard for me to look back much past our Gathering 2001
in Boston over Labor Day weekend.. But there was so much more
to the year.. New patrons.. new 'tenders.. a new manager..
a wedding.. and new discussions on our board and in conference
that I think ultimately help us become more tolerant - and
love-filled in our lives..
We were joined late this year by a group of fine people
affectionately known as Xoomies.. You will find links below
to the Xoomie Chronicles - which explore the paths they took
to arrive in Callahans. I'm enjoying their company more
and more and may one day write an addendum to The Xoomie
Chronicles to describe events from my perspective!
I hope you enjoy the read..:)
Operation Butterball was a wonderful success this year! Our goal
was 1000 gifts of roughly 5 dollars value which meant 5000 dollars.
As of December 31st, we far exceeded our goal. Total gifts
donated was <drum roll, please> greater than 1500!! Thanks
to all of you who donated your time and money to local charities
- and especially to Sandra and Brigitte - who co-chaired the drive
- without (I might add) breaking a single elbow..:)
As I said, we've shared great sorrow this year.. but we've
also celebrated great joys together.. and we will continue to share
both into the future. It's what brings us together..:)
Lou
Website News
We've done quite a bit of work on the Website this month.. We
had gotten behind somewhat in posting our Bar Rag on the
site but now all Bar Rags for 2001 are happily visible..:)
And we've finally uploaded photographs from the
Gathering 1995 (6 years ago!) which we've added to our
Gathering Photos page. We're grateful to
Laura, who participated in the event, for sending us her
photos of this bit of Callahan's history..:)
Much of the rest of the work was administrative in nature as we
continue to migrate our website from Delphi to 50megs. We hope
you enjoy visiting..:)
And a reminder: we urge everyone to use
our website as a gateway into Delphi. You will find prominent
links to our (Delphi) Message Board and Conference rooms there
but also if we ever have technical trouble at Delphi, we can easily
let you know and redirect you to a backup site if the
trouble is truly serious. And besides - our website itself is
special..:)
Conference News
From Cstar:
The Wizard of OZ was on TV tonight (December 2nd), and it gave rise
to odd happenings in chat. Dixie, KaptnKate and
Crystallange1 decided to wax Walt's legs.
Seems they thought his Dorothy (OZ) outfit would look better without
the hairy legs. Hey - *he's* the one that was reciting
"there's no place like home... " and all the other lines
from Wizard of OZ. He hid in the hot tub, and the ladies seemed to
be content to let it slide... this time.
Nicerguy wondered about the truth of the relationship
between Dorothy and the Scarecrow... Therm (THERMOPOLIS)
admitted he asked an ex-girlfriend's mother not to hate him, but to
forgive him for the house he dropped on her sister. He said it didn't
do much for their relationship... Grey quipped,
"Who votes that Walt stop the Margaret Hamilton impressions? Ok,
the OZ have it..."
From Helen:
Hi all,
I amazed myself tonight and actually stuck around for a night of puns
casually tending drinks and happen to catch some of the horrors that
were extracted this night.
The night got off to a slow start, (even I was confused as to if it was
a going concern) but in spite of Delphi hiding the members it eventually
got underway. THESNOWPEA was elected first guest Ref
and proceeded a short round, topic was Rocks and Gemstones...
Brunotim, Goatboy, Catlaughing and (amazingly enough)
even I were dishonorable mentions, but the round won out to
Tad... an example of his foulness was "I saw a whole
lot of rescue workers going by and I called out to ask what was going
on. One of them said "It's Sapphire""
Tad then took a turn at Guest Reffing a second short round, the Topic for
this was Birds. The round sped by so fast that even drinking was
dangerous... for the keyboard. Thesnowpea and Brunotim got mentioned as
topping out the top three punners of the round.. The Top place going to
Thermopolis for a sheer overwhelming volume of puns along with the horrific
quality of each. Including a series of "Cardinal Sins."
It was a fun night... however when I left they seemed to be gearing up for
a third quick round with Therm as the ref. I should mention that we had a
new face in the crowd who didn't seem to mind the puns, and actually stuck
around to hear a few.. Her name was XJAYJX, I hope to
see her again.
What a night to start tending again on... maybe I should go back into
hiding out in "Late Night" with Mike. <g>
From Tim:
Wow! What a great chat! (December 18/19th)
Mike MIIRISH, Peter TAX_HOMBRE, and myself were the
'tenders who were there... but we were visited by lots of people. Heck,
I just left, and there were 6 or 8 people still chatting. It was
rockin' tonight!
Mike -- as always -- fell into 'tending like Paladin falling into a
gunfighter's stance, and Peter found time to find a poetry link for
Mick MICKOTINE. (Mick is a friend of mine from another
ficton, and a great guy who should visit more often.)
CATLAUGHING also showed up to brighten the night, as
did PROFESSOR103, BLUERETURNS, LAURENZ, and a whole
slew of other people.
The chat was general, the people congenial, and the banter whimsical.
It was good time, had by all!
High points of the night: Teaching Lauren the significance of '***SMASH!***'
including the mechanics of the '/ACT' command, and seeing her make use
of it, and finding out that she actually *likes* puns! (poor girl!) I
think she'll be back. :)
And visiting with Bee RAWLINSON, a poster from across
the pond who rarely makes it into chat when most of us are awake: she's
a delightful lady.
Talking with several other European folks who wandered in to say hi: it
seems that you have to burn the midnight oil to talk to most of them, but
if you *can* stay awake that late, it's really worth it!
There were lots of first time visitors (at least, they seemed so to me, but I
haven't been here that long) and they seemed to like the ambience and decor.
Maybe we'll see them back again.
And from Mike:
We had the following new people (well at least new to me.)
seanair, laurenz2, bluereturns, defeater00, charlesaw8, alexia8,
mosquito5 and darryl780. And as Tim said, Peter, Bee, and
Catlaughing.
Topics of discussion during the night were Peter's upcoming trip to
France, poetry, Punday nights, seagrape wine, and strange foods
(armadillo, alligator to name a couple.) I left about 2:30 CST. Peter
was still there due to being keyed up for the trip..:)
From Cane:
Oh, me and Bee. Lessee. We had a WONDERFUL conversation (December
21st) about holiday foods (I asked her what "figgy pudding"
was) and about how she's getting her kids a Cairn Terrier puppy for
Christmas. She's doing it right (sayeth the former dog
trainer/consultant.) Putting different accessories in wrapped packages
under the tree. Planning to take pics of the kids as they open boxes
that have things like leash, collar, water bowl. The puppy comes
along later... after the holidays.
We talked some about what the chocolate rocks were that she referenced
in her post about the Xmas package she and the kids got. At that point
CStar was there and we all talked briefly about how
to make rock candy.
Dixie was there for a good bit of the time, and
Catlaughing, too. I was tending and decided that perhaps the Delphi
demons would be happier if we gave them some holiday cheer. As the
demons got inebriated, they started turning colors and patterns. And
didn't boot people so much. <g>
Cat Catlaughing tipped me in cat-friendly
tinsel, which got the others putting lights, mistletoe, etc.
on me. Which was kinda fun..:)
Oh, and Dixie gave me a pressie before I left. A trip anywhere
I wanted to go.. and I get to bring all my friends.
<smile> I'm thinking of starting out at Bee's for the
holidays and then perhaps to Dixie's so that we can ride in a
one hoss open sleigh...
And Cstar added:
When Cane got the demons drunk, I proceeded to
hang them from the rafters and decorated 'em with spray adhesive,
glitter and sequins. I think we inflated them with gas, but don't
remember what kind we decided on. We made rhinestone and ruby
strings, and braided 'em in Cane's and Catlaughing's hair.
Cane forgot to put the top on the blender when she was making
margaritas, it sprayed EVERYWHERE including all over the tree, I
threw salt on it, to make it complete, and the crystals reflected
the colored lights everywhere.
Later on, when Therm came in, I made him the
Chrysanthemas Dragon (based on someone's typo of Christmas) with
a red ornament on his tail, red and green glitter, and tinsel
with edible glue hanging from his left ear. All the better to
nibble on, that edible glue...
Dixie handed out presents: gave Walt a trip to the Islands so he
could get over his URI's; for Lou, she declared that the Jets
would win the SuperBowl; for me... she doubled my goddess powers!
I plan on using them *very* wisely - of course!
From Carol:
The denizens were the usual mood of frolic Saturday night (December 22nd)
Late in the evening Walt and Cane
stood on the table in Callahan’s and sang the duet of "Walking
in a Winter Wonderland" I think Dixie is still
wondering "why" anyone would want to build a snowman like
Parson Brown.
Fishnuts spent most of the evening in the hot tub..
Poor Fish is always flopping around. We plan to build him some legs
in the future..
Callahans is beginning to be known as a 'dragon-friendly' place. In
addition to Therm, and Kitarae (who tends to knock
over things with her tail and drink from large barrels,) from time
to time ZendragonOne stops in for a drink to cool
the heat in his throat. We don’t have a problem keeping the fireplace
lit when dragons are in the room..:) Islelady
dropped in to spend the evening with the dragon.. Welcome to
Callahan’s Islelady!
Message Board News
From Silky:
December was an exceptionally busy month in the General Discussion
folder. We’ve laughed together, turned some fairly serious thoughts
over and had some discussions that, inevitably, have gotten derailed.
Cstar had some carry-over with her manic question
session that began in November, in
Toys? and
Naps, among others. It’s amazing what folks
will answer on the boards, isn’t it? <g>
My li’l brother Tim started us all thinking about
the things that move us, the things that grab us so hard that they
make us cry, in
What Moves You?
Claimsman got some interesting answers in
My Part of the World is... Seems that a lot of us
have moved about just a bit. Hmm... just a thought on *my* part, but
doesn’t it seem that the more cosmopolitan a person is, the more...
tolerant s/he is? That’s one of those things I’m still trying to answer
for myself.
Our own SilentLector started an interesting
discussion on the nature of ugly, in,
What Is Ugly? The consensus of opinion seems to be
that we here at Cal’s look for the beauty within, rather than the
external features. And that ugly is something that is the reverse of
that... anger, fear, hatred within, no matter what the *outside* is
like. Hmm...come to think of it...isn’t that the way it *should* be?
Bhanti kicked off an extended discussion of styles
of thought in
Are You a Circular or Linear Thinker? I’m still
not certain just which type I am, but I’m certainly *thinking* about
it! <g>
Tad gave us the history of Xoom in
The Xoomie Chronicles which we turned into a
special edition for the Bar Rag..:) Therm then...
er...fleshed it out in
An Alternative View
(though *why* a dragon
was fleshing out anything that he wasn’t going to eat, is beyond me!)
You'll find a feast of suggestions for party food in
bits thread
Party Food Ever noticed how many of us are good
cooks? Or at least *try* really hard? I guess the rest of us are just
more than willing to partake of their efforts. <g>
Tim, again, wanted us to get into telling some
whoppin big lies, in
Let’s Tell Some Outright Lies! There were some
interesting... stories... in that one... And it was one of the ones
that got de-railed. Seems that food is a topic we like to talk about.
<g>
Callahan’s, where we think, talk, discuss, swap tales and recipes,
and play... Does it get any better than this?
Oh... and while I’m thinking about it, I hope everyone had a happy,
safe holiday season!
Birthdays Last Month
Birthday Greetings were heartily extended to:
| Tesla |
|
N TESLA |
|
December 01 |
| Mike |
|
MIIRISH |
|
December 06 |
| Walt |
|
WWW3 |
|
December 10 |
| Larry |
|
LATENIGHTLAR |
|
December 13 |
| Tim |
|
BRUNOTIM |
|
December 15 |
| Tam_za |
|
TAM_ZA |
|
December 16 |
| Gaijin |
|
GAIJIN |
|
December 17 |
| Gwen |
|
PUNSTERGAL |
|
December 18 |
Calliversaries Last Month
| Carol LADYLAUGHING |
|
December 12, 1999 |
| Peter PHDESMOND |
|
December 16, 1994 |
| bits LBT1 |
|
December 17, 1999 |
| Cuervo LAURA128 |
|
December 18, 1998 |
| Dick ERUMELIA |
|
December 20, 1998 |
| Cane CANEGURU |
|
December 23, 2000 |
| Gwen PUNSTERGAL |
|
December 23, 1998 |
| Cstar CSTAR1 |
|
December 28, 1998 |
| Saint JIMFIVE |
|
December 31, 1994 |
Joke of The Month
A couple lived near the ocean and used to walk the beach a
lot. One summer they noticed a girl who was at the beach pretty
much every day. She wasn't unusual, nor was the travel bag she
carried, except for one thing; she would approach people who were
sitting on the beach, glance around furtively, then speak to them.
Generally the people would respond negatively and she would wander
off, but occasionally someone would nod and there would be a quick
exchange of money and something she carried in her bag. The couple
assumed she was selling drugs, and debated calling the cops, but
since they didn't know for sure they just continued to watch her.
After a couple of weeks the wife said, "Honey, have you ever
noticed that she only goes up to people with boom boxes and other
electronic devices?" He hadn't and said so.
Then she said, "Tomorrow I want you to get a towel and our big
radio and go lie out on the beach. Then we can find out what she's
really doing."
Well, the plan went off without a hitch and the wife was almost
hopping up and down with anticipation when she saw the girl talk
to her husband and then leave. The man walked up the beach and
met his wife at the road. "Well? Is she selling drugs?"
she asked excitedly.
"No, she's not," he said, enjoying this probably more
than he should have. "Well? What is it, then? What does she
do?" his wife fairly shrieked.
The man grinned and said, "She's a battery salesperson."
"Batteries?" cried the wife.
"Yes," he replied.
"She sells C cells by the sea shore."
- Dave (FLATBUSHSKP) 12/9/2001
Pun of the Month
Two men were down on their luck and decided to paint houses to earn
some extra money. To start their business they asked the rabbi of a
local temple if he would be interested in their service. He agreed and
the men went out to buy the paint.
As they drove to the paint store they decided that they would mix
half paint and half water to try to increase their profits.
When they finished the job they called the rabbi outside to look at
their work. "It looks wonderful," the rabbi said and as
he started to hand them the check a small rain cloud appeared. All
at once there was lightning and thunder and the temple area was
drenched with rain. As the rain hit the temple the paint started
running.
Suddenly, as the three of them stood there in disbelief, a voice from
heaven roared ...
"Repaint! Repaint and thin no more!"
- Dave (FLATBUSHSKP) 12/25/2001
Poem of the Month -
"I Saw Them Arresting Santa Claus"
I saw them arresting Santa Claus
In the airport line on Christmas Day.
They read him all his rights
And locked the handcuffs tight
And then they led the poor old elf away.
Wrapped and sealed were all his packages
Could not search for safety at the gate.
No passport did he hold,
But walked up all so bold
And tried to get on board; it was too late.
No one believes what he says to them,
ID he has none, nor passport too.
The reindeer in the lot
Have by now all been shot,
And Christmas gift delivering is through.
Anyone who spies on kiddies, now,
And knows what they have done the whole year long,
Must be a master spy
To let nothing go by;
The CIA wants Santa to say how!
Oh, I saw them arresting Santa Claus
In the airport line on Christmas Day
They read him all his rights
And locked the handcuffs tight
And then they led the poor old elf away!
- Cortland Richmond December 2001
Closing Quote
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we
have a limited time on earth - that we have no way of
knowing when our time is up - that we begin to live each
day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had."
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Editor's Note
We hope you find the Bar Rag entertaining and informative. We can
always use good pieces and writers here. If you have something you
would like to submit, or have a comment, good or bad, about the
newsletter, simply send us a note.
If you wish to receive the Bar Rag each month via email, simply
send us a note
Your email address will not be made visible to others who receive
the Bar Rag. The Bar rag will, of course, continue to be available
on our Web site..:)
