november19 posted:

maybeedeluxe posted:

azonei posted:

@maybeedeluxe: "summer balls"? lolz!!!
I have relented, and am wearing shorts the past few days.. though i REFUSE to leave the house in them (pasty white legs & tanned arms is a rather stupid look to carry off..)

Yummy tourist look *lolz

"Summer balls" by courtesy of PEEL_E - i thought it was a common british term -hehehe

PEEL_E posted:

^ hehe, the indignity of summer balls!

They pulled the original(which was epic with Alec Baldwin) but you get the idea! :p

oh dear, look what i started!

was very humid today... 'nuff said!

awww bless you mate.

Hope you feel better soon and enjoy the er...game (?) malfunction

Sticking it to the man..............


Please forward when you finish reading!
A little background:

Neiman-Marcus, if you don't know already, is a very expensive boutique shop (they sell a typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00)

My daughter and I had just finished lunch at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas , USA . Because both of us are such biscuit lovers, we decided to try the 'Neiman-Marcus cookie'. It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe. The waitress said with a small frown, 'I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe.'

I asked how much, and she responded; 'Only two fifty - it's a great deal'

I agreed to that, and told her to add it to my bill.

Thirty days later, I got my Visa statement, and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285. I looked at it again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two sandwiches and about $20 for a scarf. At the bottom of the statement, it said, 'Cookie Recipe - $250.00'. That was outrageous!

I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress had said it was 'two fifty', which clearly does not mean 'two hundred and fifty dollars' by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money because according to them; 'What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money.

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the state of Texas . I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and The Texas Attorney General's office. I was basically told: Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back'

I said, OK, you've got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the world with an e-mail account gets a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus for free. She replied, 'I wish you wouldn't do that.' I said, 'Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you RIPPED ME OFF!' and slammed down the phone.

So here it is! Please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny from this recipe!
NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved as this makes heaps)


2 (500 ml) cups butter
680 g chocolate chips
4 (1000 ml) cups flour
2 (500 ml) cups brown sugar
2 tsp. (10 ml) Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp. (5 ml) salt
2 (500 ml) cups sugar
500 g Grated Cadbury chocolate
5 (1250 ml) cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. (10 ml) baking powder
2 tsp. (10 ml) vanilla
3 cups (375 ml) chopped nuts (optional)


Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder.
Cream the butter and both sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and bicarbonate of soda.
Add chocolate chips, grated Chocolate and nuts.
Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes at 375°F (180°C).

The above quantities make 112 cookies. Enjoy!

PLEASE KEEP THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2009 02:10AM by prettihaytmachine.

its not my story lol, was in an email posted thru me work lol

november19 posted:

prettihaytmachine --> wow :O what a scam!

before i make these cookies, i have to ask...do you know this person at all? do you think this is a true story or just a joke?

hi, afraid i dontknow the person involved, i googled it and it appeared on urban legends.com [urbanlegends.about.com] loos as tho its a joke based on a tale from 1948 lol

plus NM publish the recipe on their website free lol, i assumed it was true at first

[www.neimanmarcus.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2009 08:25AM by prettihaytmachine.

Dr_Lloyd posted:

*Runs in at the call for a lawyer: takes one look at contract law (American at that!): and then speedily runs away again*

see, i liked the contract law stuff when I was at uni. one of my better modules
that & Competition Law; didn't care much for Employment Law though..
if only I'd decided to pursue that side of my degree, instead of faffing about with teaching..

if anyone knows how I can break into legal work, drop me a PM. or IT support (legal or otherwise); I have a wasted degree in IT & Business Law otherwise..

yes, I'm on the prowl for any recommendations from anyone for potential jobs out there.. if anyone knows someone who's looking for someone...
I'll even work for peanuts! (figuratively, not literally; that'd be silly!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2009 02:14PM by azonei.

if i thought that was a serious offer, i'd jump on it!!

edit: given that the job centre 'forces' me to take on jobs with up to 90mins commute each way, that'd actually be do-able...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2009 03:54PM by azonei.

azonei posted:

given that the job centre 'forces' me to take on jobs with up to 90mins commute each way, that'd actually be do-able...

Is the Concorde still up and running? I bet I could get you a job here..

azonei posted:

Dr_Lloyd posted:

*Runs in at the call for a lawyer: takes one look at contract law (American at that!): and then speedily runs away again*

see, i liked the contract law stuff when I was at uni. one of my better modules
that & Competition Law; didn't care much for Employment Law though..
if only I'd decided to pursue that side of my degree, instead of faffing about with teaching..

if anyone knows how I can break into legal work, drop me a PM. or IT support (legal or otherwise); I have a wasted degree in IT & Business Law otherwise..

yes, I'm on the prowl for any recommendations from anyone for potential jobs out there.. if anyone knows someone who's looking for someone...
I'll even work for peanuts! (figuratively, not literally; that'd be silly!)

I'm afraid I can't help here. The only way I got into legal work was by contacts and a love for the intricate details of Critical Legal Studies. Practice was never my plan, so I made a bee-line for academia, and this just meant working with the right people and keeping fingers crossed.

And what's wrong with teaching? ('',)

prettihaytmachine posted:

Ears still ringing as i type after a severely heavy Faith No More set last night, for guys in their 40,s they blew bands half their age away, as me 18yr old FNM tshirt was toooo faded i wore one of those nin tshirts and had my hand shaken several times congratulating me on my taste in musik, wot a nice bunch us NIN,s are.

the heat at the gig was the worst in yrs, typical event m,anagement - keep the air con off to get the customers buying more expensive beer.

RUTH - have a brill time over the pond and looking fwd to hearing how a US nin gig compares with one we had

Patton always brings the noise. Saw Fantomas being supported by The Locust in London last year - noisy as anything.

And yes, we NIN-peeps are the dogs!

azonei posted:

@Dr_Lloyd: teaching is fine for a few years, but it does become wearisome being called a wanker every day after a while..
teaching is moving towards a style of management synonymous with regular work; target-driven. fine if you have a class of good students, but not so good if all the students in the class/school don't give a shit. how're you supposed to achieve a target if the kids will NOT complete coursework, don't bother to write anything in the exam, and even their parents don't give a flying fuck? 0.o
thats just my more recent experience; there are some good schools out there..
but 8 yrs teaching (including abroad & training) leaves me feeling i need to do something different to regain some sanity..

I wouldn't disagree with anything you've said, and would only add that higher education is no different! Neither of us have gotten off lightly! But actually working in the law. Yuk. But I mean I've got lots of friends who are teachers, I know what it's like. And as much as I'm sure I do have it a little easier, I haven't exactly had a summer off either - prep prep prep.

We just have to keep telling ourselves that there is an inherent value in imparting knowledge that makes us special.

azonei posted:

@Dr_Lloyd: teaching is fine for a few years, but it does become wearisome being called a wanker every day after a while..
teaching is moving towards a style of management synonymous with regular work; target-driven. fine if you have a class of good students, but not so good if all the students in the class/school don't give a shit. how're you supposed to achieve a target if the kids will NOT complete coursework, don't bother to write anything in the exam, and even their parents don't give a flying fuck? 0.o
thats just my more recent experience; there are some good schools out there..
but 8 yrs teaching (including abroad & training) leaves me feeling i need to do something different to regain some sanity..

But but but... you're a cool teacher! Come work at my school!
I'll personally pay the more than peanuts... however due to my wages it will be less than £200 a month

Ruth I hope you have fun across the pond, we will be waiting for your return with a nice cup of tea ready!

best lookin lurker ever :-)

Thanks Pretty

Would you believe it's absolutely chucking it down. Apartment is beautiful, but we were unaware one of the beds was actually a sofa bed in the living room. :-/

Proprietor feels awful and supplied another bottle of wine and beers so I'm just waiting for Djred & daughter and another friend to arrive to 'discuss'. Think we'll end up settling for it tho. Befriended a large black cat last night whilst outside having a fag....weeeeeeeeeeee Just hope this rain stops 2mz and Sat. After that - who cares!!!!

Hope everyone's ok.