Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Things That Make A Book Geek Happy

Finding out that you live in one of the Top 11 most literate cities

1) Minneapolis (tie)

1) Seattle (tie)

3) Washington, D.C.

4) St. Paul, Minn.

5) San Francisco

6) Atlanta

7) Denver

8) Boston

9) St. Louis

10) Cincinnati (tie)

10) Portland, Ore. (tie)

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Clutter

It's a rather sad thing to admit to, but I'm a person who keeps a very cluttered desk.

How cluttered?

The other day, I cleaned up all the old mail, filled up the bin on the shredder (it's a good-sized bin) and, in the end, my desk looks no different.

That's how much clutter.

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Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Way To A Man's Mind, Follow-up

Apparently Adrianne agrees with my assessment:

Any woman who thinks the way to a man's heart is through his stomach is aiming about 10 inches too high.
Adrienne E. Gussoff
US teacher, humorist and greeting card writer

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Friday, December 26, 2008

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Having my own set of phobias (snakes, spiders, heights, crowds), I know how terrifyingly real they can be, and how difficult they can be to overcome. So, I don't wish to mock other people's. However, this is just too interesting to pass-by without sharing.

An article on phobias in London's "The Telegraph" reports:

Louise Arnold, from Gloucester, has a pea phobia which means she cannot walk down the frozen food aisle of a supermarket.

Explaining her dislike of peas, she said: "They tend to just look at me – ganging up on me. All the hairs on the back of my neck go up. I have to know where they are in the supermarket before I go in. It's just controlling my life now. I would like to be a dinner lady at my daughter's school, but I'm not even able to be in the same room as someone eating them."

I've never been fond of peas, and perhaps now I know why: they're watching me. Pesky little buggers. Can't ever trust anything small, tiny, round and green.

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Confetti

Confetti has it's uses: at a parade, at a New Year's Party, throwing it at a wedding.

Confetti does not, however, belong inside a greeting card, to be scattered all over when you take the card out of the envelope. You end up picking up confetti for the next year in all kinds of odd places. Just when you think you couldn't possibly find more, low and behold, a few stray pieces show up again. Confetti in cards is not cute; it's not funny; it's not in any way a positive thing.

To those people who sent confetti in this years Christmas place, I say this: there is a special circle of hell reserved for you.

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The Way To A Man's Mind

It seems that Viagra is the latest addition to the U.S. Intelligence cache of gifts (read "bribes") to coax information from reluctant informants. Which, when you think about it, seems rather appropriate, as Viagra is used for coaxing a certain reluctant body part. I guess it's all rather Zen, in that 'everything-is-connected' way.

The Washington Post reports that:

For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.

In their efforts to win over notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services. These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said.

Just more proof, as if any were needed, that the penis truly is the filter through which a man thinks. Which begs another question: how many men are there that would sell out their country for the chance to have a 4 hour erection? I think the answer might be very scary.

(via Benen at Political Animal)

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Thursday, December 25, 2008

Behind The Bush In The Garden There Lies A Cat

We had a very cold spell around here not too long ago: bitter wind, below-zero temps, some snow. It's nothing too unusual for this time of year. What's unusual about it is that there seems to be a new addition to our house: a black cat. It's been around the neighborhood for a very long time; Julian says it's been around since he moved in a few years ago. I don't know that I ever paid much attention; there have always been a lot of cats roaming our neighborhood.

A week or so ago, when it was especially cold, we noticed that the cat was in the garden, behind a big tall bush, huddled up against the house. It didn't seem right that whoever owned the cat would make it stay out on such a cold night; and, if it didn't have an owner, it was pretty cold out. The cat spooked easily, and ran off. We decided that it could probably use some food (we have 2 cats inside, so food wasn't an issue), and it needed something warm. So we found a box, and put in several old towles that we were planning to get rid of anyway.

The first night it seems that the cat just enjoyed the food, and not the box. It took about 4 days for the cat to get into the box. Now he seems to have moved in. (I use the generic 'he,' as I don't know if it's a he or a she. ) He's been there every day, for hours at a time. I've not been feeding it too much, as I don't want to be responsible for it (and I feel guilty when I say that, that's why I keep putting food out ever few days) What to do? I don't know, but, hopefully, you will enjoy the photo:


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Mailbox Drama, The Image

After sharing the story of the mailbox drama here and here, I thought I'd share an image of what the mailbox now looks like.

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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Mailbox Drama Redux

In our house, December will forever be known as The Mailbox Month. Not because of the obvious connection to Christmas, but rather because of the drama of The Mailbox. It began with an incident where the security door was not opening. After having that issue resolve itself (it seems that it just opened, we changed the batteries, and all is good again), today, The Mailbox was a victim of a hit-and-run.

Until this afternoon, The Mailbox stood proud and tall, perfectly perpendicular.

Now, The Mailbox leans at about a 45-degree angle.

Thankfully The Mailbox's support pole is implanted in lots of cement. So, since it was much more of an immovable object that just a standard mailbox that's stuck in the dirt, we did find several pieces of The Evil Automobile that did the mean deed to The Mailbox.

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Procrastinate? Who? Me?

Newsweek has an article this week about procrastination and how we can stop. Being a huge procrastinator, the title caught my eye.

Perhaps I'll get around to reading it and maybe I'll blog about it sometime.

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Inaguration Day

Could this happen any faster?!?

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