Too funny

My favoritest thing in the world, combined with my least favoritest:


(via I Can Has Cheezburger)

OK, I was wrong

In this post from last October, I said the world couldn't get any weirder because Obama and McCain were related.

OK, the world just got a *lot* weirder - see the varied odd people the 3 candidates are related to.

10 degrees of separation once removed, anyone?

10,016

I *finally* broke 10,000 steps a day today - hence the title of this post.

And all it took was walking 1.75 miles over my usual step count: 1 mile at lunch, and .75 miles from my office to the train station. I'm using MapMyRun to map out some varied distances around my office, which is how I know the distance from my office to the train.

One day down, many, many more to come ...

This is the sweetest thing I've ever seen

(If the embed doesn't work, go here.)

Menu for week of 3/23/08

Remember the menu from last week, which looked something like this:

* lasagna
* sloppy joes (really, beefaroni)
* pizza

Yeah, OK, so between my cold and a premenstrual & weather migraine, no cooking got done. So I'm working with the same menu this week, hoping to feel well enough to actually cook.

Blech, all the way around.

Better late than never

I've been meaning to post about this for ages, so here it finally is.

If you haven't been reading Shadow Unit, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's essentially stories that comprise a TV series that doesn't exist. Really. It's being written by a group of science fiction writers. It's a fascinating combination of The X-Files, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and a whole bunch of other things I can't figure out. The "origin of" story is here.

And I'm enjoying the hell out of it. It's creepy and wonderful and I look forward to each new episode just as if it were really on TV.

And I don't even have to pay for Tivo. :)

Love things like this

Somebody tied a disposable camera to a bench in an Atlanta neighborhood, with a note encouraging people to take pictures with it. The results are heartwarming: Stranger Photos Have Happened.

(via Metafilter)

My new favorite holiday

That would be Discardia, the holiday which you celebrate by getting rid of stuff you don't need. It started yesterday (info on future date calculations - it has to do with equinoxes and stuff) and runs through April 5.

Start celebrating!

Oh, and happy first day of Spring!

And a followup to yesterday

I wanted to post a clarification to my political post from yesterday.

No, I'm not becoming a starry-eyed Obama supporter. Whatever else he may be, he's still a politician, and as such I trust him only slightly less far than I could throw him into a stiff wind. I simply distrust him less than I distrust the other candidates.

And isn't it sad that that's a compliment?

Awesomely bad

Posted without comment: The Bad Gift Emporium.

(via Metafilter)

Presidential politics and religion

I'm finding myself fascinated with all the uproar over Barack Obama and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I confess that I don't understand what all the uproar is about. Yes, Wright was videotaped saying things that shock most white, middle-class Americans. But I think that just underscores how little we white privileged folk really know about how our black friends feel about how they and their loved ones are and have been treated in this great country of ours.

Were Wright's words inflammatory? No doubt. Was what he said wrong? Now, that really depends on your point of view, doesn't it. I could hear the anger in his voice, the frustration and the fear and the memories of growing up in a time when your very being was considered second-class simply because of the color of your skin.

And I think Obama did a spectacular job in his speech yesterday of showing what kind of man he is, and what kind of president he will be. I was moved by his speech, something I can't say for many political speeches. It's nice to hear a lofty, high-minded, thoughtful speech from one of the candidates.

So is this the end of religious issues in this campaign? Barbara Ehrenreich doesn't seem to think so. Apparently Hillary has some pretty nasty skeletons in her closet on that count. I'll be interested to see how this plays out, if it does at all. (Link to the Mother Jones article Ehrenreich references.)

Do we need a stronger argument for the strict separation of church and state than the Bush administration? Does anyone think Hillary is really going to be that much of a change of pace, something other than the same-old same-old?

So this is me, saying: Vote Obama. I intend to, if I get the chance.

Very sad

Legendary science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died.

His words lit up my adolescence, opening up worlds and creating magic in a heart that always felt alone. His words were a portal to a place where none of my mundane problems could follow, where anything was possible.

RIP.

Wherein I whine unbecomingly for a moment, and play the part of a funnel

It's apparently been quite a while since I've had a cold, and I have to say I'll be glad if it's a loooong time before I have another one. I'm getting really tired of the feeling of drowning in my own bodily fluids, and my hands and nose are raw - my hands from washing, and my nose from blowing.

I'm also really really done with having my part in the universe be that of a funnel - moving fluids from one container to another, while it's clearly keeping me from shriveling into a dried husk, is utterly boring.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue struggling not to fall asleep at my desk, at least until the next time I have to go empty the funnel.

Menu for week of 3/16/08

A mini-menu this week - I'm wrestling with a cold, feeling pretty low.

* lasagna
* sloppy joes (really, beefaroni)
* pizza

Now I'm off to take more drugs, thanks ...

DST WTF again ...

Oh, my poor body can't believe that we've changed over to daylight saving time already. I'm going to bed at completely unreasonably early hours, and I'm sleeping on the train just as deep as I do in bed. Here's hoping I don't snore and drool all over the other passengers.

I can tell how deeply this change has affected me by my eating patterns. I'm needing more protein, and a lot more brown stuff. I'm even craving veggies, which is unheard of.

Poor bod. But at least now it can talk to me and tell me what it needs. Even if what it really wants is a bottle of Coke, and I have to gently say nuh-uh. :)

Creaking of rusty parts

I'm very slowly re-teaching my brain how to abstract. I haven't done any abstracting work for over 6 years, so I'm really out of practice. Plus I'm working in a subject area I know almost nothing about, and on a type of literature (research) I have no recent experience with.

I'm doing fine with the indexing - I've been indexing in subject areas I know nothing about for years, so that doesn't slow me down.

But getting my brain awake in the right ways to write abstracts is proving to be a challenge. I can feel the rust flaking off, some of it dating back to my college days when I was learning to be a researcher. (That's a loooong time ago, folks!)

But I can also feel the strength of my brain stretching out in new ways, and that's good. It's part of why I took this job, to give myself new mental stimulation.

That, plus lunch with hubby - it really does make for a good day.

No menu for week of 3/9/08

Blech. Migraine all weekend, due to the weather. That pretty much killed any desire I might have had to cook. With Hubby's help, I'll throw something together tonight or tomorrow for dinners this week, and lunches will have to fend for themselves.

Keeping up with program is very difficult when I don't feel like eating. I've only done a fair job, but at least I know what to expect when I start feeling cravings later this week.

Another one for the cat people

This made my day:


If the embed doesn't work, try this link.

Thought for the day

A brown rice cake is still just a rice cake - bland, dry, boring. Even adding sesame seeds and tamari to the mix really doesn't help.

Just in case you were ever wondering ...

Getting grounded

Oh, that Cary Tennis should write like this, on the first day of my new job. He's writing to my heart:

You have to get grounded. Getting grounded is spiritual but it is also physiological. It involves fresh air. ... Just drive for exactly an hour and then stop the car and get out. Place your hand on the hood of the car and feel the heat of the engine. If you have driven to a town, walk around the town and look at the town. Or maybe you have stopped on the road. Look at the horizon. Drive toward the horizon. Sing old Eagles songs in the car. Sing "Hotel California." Or sing "Desperado." Sing the worst song you know, and sing it with heart.

I finally feel like I'm getting grounded, like I can handle my work life (which so far has really done nothing for me but pay the bills) and my creative life (which has patiently waited for me to open up to it again) and my emotional life (ditto) and my physical life (poor thing with its sagging muscles, waiting, waiting).

Like I can handle Life, and not have it be too much, too hard to get out of bed in the morning, to do the cooking and the washing up, to be alive.

I'll sing Eagles songs with joy and vigor, and feel the joy welling up inside.

Life is good.

Menu for week of 3/2/08

The mac & cheese I made last week was a disaster. I tried making it with a "brown" flour, and the sauce was disgusting. So I'm making mac again this week, and who cares about white flour ...


* mac & cheese
* bean & cheese enchiladas
* oven-fried chicken
* pasta & meat sauce
* spanish rice (made with brown rice)