Vote Your Heart Out

It seems to me that voting has taken on a weird nuance lately. On the one hand, it's such an important action when it comes to the complexion of our country, our states, and our cities. Whether or not you take it seriously, whether or not you vote, whether or not you agree with those who are elected or the policies and laws they enact, it affects your life. In an election year, that's something more people might want to take a moment to ponder.

On the other hand, voting has become almost like a hobby for us as a country. The "controversy" over phone voting on American Idol this year and last, and the enormous attention paid to the show and the winning contestants. Voting in countless polls online, everywhere from national news to local news (registration required), from entertainment to sports Web sites (or all of them if it's ESPN) on topics of the day. Add in the fun polls on blogs that I'm beginning to see more frequently.

It all takes on a casualness that I suspect caters to people wanting to feel important by weighing in on something without their vote having a lot of importance behind it, even if the subject is serious. It's a lot less mental stress to anonymously express your opinion on the current debacle in Iraq than figuring out if you want the bonehead you know versus an unknown quantity becoming the "Leader of the Free World" later this year, the results of which we all have to live with for four years or the next impeachment proceedings.

Then there are those popular feel-good voting opportunities where there's an outcome to the process, not just percentages posted on a site or read on the evening news like they're gospel, but it's in the spirit of being a philanthropist-by-proxy. It's a stroke to the ego to be able to think, "I'm doing this and someone deserving will benefit." Fairy godparent status with the click of a mouse! Who wouldn't like that?

Along those lines, I'd like to ask you make like a moral compass and point your Lord and Lady Bountiful selves to this opportunity to vote for someone to get a million dollars. Now, before you scoff about it being for some dumb reality show -- because if you haven't already voted, you're probably not a viewer and you're scoffing -- I would ask you to consider the power of that Robin Hood click. Whether or not you're a fan, you will be helping take a million dollars away from rich CBS (which has earned millions upon millions from the Survivor franchise) and giving it to someone deserving of their money. All at no cost, no jail time, and no tights for you!

Even if you didn't actually watch the show, you've probably heard of Rupert, the tie-dye wearing bear of a man who did back-to-back stints on Survivor. This is a man who not only deserved to win but if he'd been less of a nice person and more of a strategist, he would likely have his million already. So even if you really don't care one way or another, I'd like to ask you to go vote for him to get the second million-dollar check CBS will be handing out to one of the 18 players from the All-Star season this Thursday. You don't have to supply any personal information, you just point and click. It will offer you the opportunity to vote for some other things next, but it's not necessary if you're not interested. (Though it might be fun to skew the numbers by voting things without knowing anything about them!)

Go on, do it -- help a good guy and make a little notch on your karma belt.

How Sweet It Isn't

An article on Krispy Kreme caught my eye because, as I've learned, mentioning ye old Krispy Kreme seems to catch my readers' eyes! But also because I'd been told that the company cut its earnings forecast and their stock took a hit, so I was intrigued as to why. In checking on that I saw another, far more shocking article that has me shaking my head with wonder at what the country is coming to these days. You can't go anywhere around here without a restaurant announcing that they've jumped on the "low-carb" bandwagon! Today alone I found that Quiznos has begun selling low-carb "Toasty Flatbread" versions of all their sandwiches and a Japanese restaurant in the same plaza where I ate dinner had a huge banner out front touting their "Lovin' Low Carb" offerings, like sashimi -- gee, really? No carbs there, huh? That must be new.

This whole thing is getting out of hand, in my opinion. I've already expressed my views on how nuts I think the Atkins diet is, but the way the food and restaurant industry has latched onto the idea is just phenomenal, and phenomenally frustrating. There are so many real issues with food and the way we eat that need to be addressed, and catering to a fad like this --one that has not been proven to have real benefit and could, in fact, end up contributing even further to the nation's obesity trend -- gives it far too much credence. While people with a serious and life-threatening disease like diabetes have to search high and low for products that address their dietary concerns. And while, of course, people with diabetes need to limit their carb intake as a part of a balanced diet, not all these new products will help to that end. The reason for that is on the label, something I think a lot of people either don't read or don't really know enough about to get benefit from it. For instance, in the grocery store today I also saw for the first time this new offering from Hershey's that is their Atkins-friendly gimmick. I looked at the label and sure enough, there is one gram of sugar in the three flavors of bars. But right below it is "Sugar Alcohols - 10 g." While sugar alcohols cause blood sugar to rise less than sugar, they still have an effect. I didn't see which sugar alcohol(s) it contained, but that means anywhere from about 20 to 40 calories derived from them. That's certainly not diabetes-friendly. Does it have to be? No, but with the millions of people who truly have a need for foods that will help them, as opposed to people who are on a diet to lose vanity pounds, creating confusion over what foods are actually "good for you" is somewhat of a disservice. To give credit to Hershey's, they do also have a sugar-free product that they recently introduced, and it is intended to be an alternative to people with diabetes. But...what do you want to make a bet that the "One Gram" product gets a huge promotional push and rakes in a lot of cash, where the sugar-free product came in with a whimper and was difficult to find until recently?

A Clean Toilet is a Happy Toilet!

This article just cracked me up. Anybody want one of these for major US or European cities you visit? I'm sure it's terribly bleeding-heart liberal Democrat of me to have the thought that starting a program to create something like that could be a good job-creating proposition for people without jobs living in those cities. Not to mention providing something amazing for tourists in places like San Francisco, where finding a bathroom you can use is as hard as finding a parking space that won't either blow your budget or end up in a ticket. Since it'll never happen here, I'll settle for simply getting people to actually turn the hell around in public restrooms and make sure that the damned toilet has actually flushed! With these low-flow toilets, one little push on the handle doesn't get the job done and people are too lazyor too dense, apparently, to take a second to make sure they're not leaving a mess for the next person. It drives me nuts on a daily basis.

Furnulum pani nolo

The above is the answer to "Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?" It, apparently, means, "I don't want a toaster." This is the most accurate quiz I've ever taken! That's absolutely true -- I don't want a toaster because I have a perfectly serviceable toaster oven that does a much better job than any regular toaster I've ever had. That's probably more (and, surprisingly, less) than you really wanted to know.

It goes on to say, "Generally, things (like this quiz) tend to tick you off. You have contemplated doing grievous bodily harm to door-to-door salesmen." Okay, now this is getting eerie. Apart from the fact that the quiz itself didn't actually tick me off, this is a dead-on assessment of my personality. Well, the ticked-off part of it, at least.

I'm tired so I didn't check out the other possible answers. So, if you take the quiz, I'd love to hear what result you get...if you're not afraid to face up to the insight it might provide!

Now, lay off the doorbell, step away from my door -- NOW -- and take your spiel with you. I've got toast waiting for me.

A Cornucopia of Competitive Eating

After coming across a number of articles in the last few weeks about competitive eating and its participants, I decided to do a little looking into this burgeoning phenomenon. Some of the articles are a little older, but the guy at the top of the heap in the oldest article, Takeru Kobayashi, is still at number one so it all seemed pretty relevant and the article is a good place to start before reading any of the others as it's fairly comprehensive.

I think we've probably all heard of the Nathan's Famous world hot dog eating contest held at Coney Island each year on the Fourth of July, which is where Mr. Kobayashi set the current record of 50 1/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes in 2002. And since I watch a lot of shows on the Food Network, I often see segments on various pie-eating and chicken wing-eating competitions, many at festivals devoted to certain food. But I had no idea that there was such a range of foods that were eaten competitively! (Check out the list of records and see if there aren't more there than you expected.)

Now to the faces that are seeking fame and fortune by stuffing themselves. Some are big. Some are really big. Some are small. Some (though few) are women. Some have had movies made about them and their mothers get interviewed and asked some really insightful questions! Some are small-town folk trying to live up to their reputations. Some are famous faces from the past who are in it either for fun or for a shot at seeing their name in print again.

Is it a sport? Since ESPN covers it, it could be either sport or entertainment. Is it rigged or are people cheating? Who knows. But then, given the state of sport today, the kind of controversy it sparks almost gives it more credibility. All I know is that after reading so much about it and trying to imagine myself competing in any of these events, even for foods I love, I'm torn between admiration and revulsion. But I bet I could take on the cops if it were eating Krispy Kremes!

Why you won't see me on the evening news for ripping off old people

I just don't think I have a devious enough mind! When I read about this auction mini-frenzy I was almost completely blown away. I mentioned in an earlier post that I took advantage of an opportunity from Blogger to open a Gmail account in its beta version. I have started using it for limited purposes -- I forward to it e-mail that I don't want to "time out" on my AOL account and send links there that I plan to use here at some point -- but I haven't spent a whole lot of time with my inbox. So I never noticed the "Invite a Friend!" link there and had no idea that: a.) I could invite two people to open an account; b.) Anyone would actually pay for that opportunity; or c.) Anyone would think to auction off the opportunity!

In checking out some of the auctions, I came across this blog, whose owner claims to have set up the first such auction. (His blog started out being focused on A9.com, the new search engine from Amazon.com that is also in its beta stage, but he has broadened the focus to include "other search technologies.") I think his doing so was more of an experiment than anything, but the speed and rapacity with which other people jumped on board is somewhat astonishing, though I suppose it really shouldn't be -- people will do most anything to earn a buck, by hook or by crook. What I'm not clear on is how people find out about these auctions so quickly -- between this and The Wedding Dress Guy, I've spent more time checking out eBay this week than I have in the last year. What I am clear on is how the blog world is spreading the word on these auctions like wildfire. After I posted about The Wedding Dress Guy on Hope Springs A Leak, I saw it mentioned on more than half a dozen other blogs within a day. Considering how many blogs there are and how relatively few I check out on a daily basis (though it seems like a lot to me!), that really speaks to the way in which ideas bounce or, dare I say it, hopscotch around.

Hold Your Horses -- This Isn't about The Derby

This one is for Sean. Be sure to check out the fourth picture. It's a...uh...a...well, part of the engine...oh, yeah, an air filter, that's it! One that the owner has really had customized. While I don't share my brother's deep love for Mustangs, I do like them and appreciate them, and for a while I owned a Mustang II. Not the same thing, I know, but it was all I could afford. (Or rather, all that The Bank of Mom would let me afford!)

If I were able to post pictures here, I'd put one up of his current Pony, which is really quite lovely. (Could there be a more namby-pamby way to compliment a muscle car?!?) If there is a link to a picture somewhere, Sean, please feel free to share it in the comments.

Anyway, if you're a Mustang freak, too, or you just find yourself up Antioch way this weekend, the car show mentioned in the article is tomorrow. If you go, let us know how it was!

Slower, Lower, Weaker?

Swifter, Higher, Stronger. Ah, the Olympic motto, which strives to capture all that is admirable and worthwhile about the Games. A good friend of mine is a huge fan of all things Olympic. We were recently discussing by e-mail the state of the impending Games in Athens -- which, I'm afraid are not shaping up to meet the lofty motto thus far -- and, with all the articles I've seen on the subject recently, I decided to turn my reply to his e-mail into a post. E is he. :-)

E: Looks like all the major stuff will get done JUST within time. A lot of the extras won't be done. I would expect there to be some problems because they won't have any time to fix anything that might not be right...No roof over the swimming pool or stadium. So what? Outdoor sports don't need no stinkin' roof!...The marathon route may not be landscaped as planned.

That's pretty much what I've heard, the latest being that there will be...might be...should be...could be a stadium roof. Woo-hoo! (I should point out that we have always disagreed about the need for roofs on outdoor venues and this is part of a bigger, very long and determined, overarching and ongoing argument about the nature of The Sport vs. The Fan. Sounds almost intellectual when I put it that way, doesn't it, E?) The most comprehensive article I've read is this one, since it really hits all the points of concern in my opinion. I truly think the IOC should have taken the games away from them when it was clear that the worst was coming to pass, due to massive corruption, huge cost overruns and cultural proclivities, and it wasn't too late. I fear that the description of "razor-thin" deadlines in that last article is scarily accurate. The other cities hosting the Olympics in the modern era have managed to get their preparations ready in time, and usually with enough time to have the test events that they're supposed to have. I just hope some hastily built structure doesn't collapse and cause a disaster.

E: A major item is a transit line that may not get finished. But, as long as the athletes can get around that's all that really matters in the end.

I must respectfully disagree. Considering that people pay dearly to get to go to the Games -- and without them and their tourist dollars and euros this thing doesn't happen -- I don't agree that it's only important for the athletes to get where they're going. This shouldn't even be an issue! The roads in and around Athens, and a fragile transportation system, have been a concern from the start and addressing them should have been one of their highest priorities. I hope if something does go terribly wrong -- apart from terrorism because I do believe that they're doing all that can be done there, even if it took them a long time to ask for help -- that the selection committee gets a major shake-up and learns a valuable lesson. Nostalgia, sentiment and history should not have played a role in selecting them as a city when there were strong indications that these very circumstances could come to pass and that the infrastructure of the city just might not be able to handle it all.

I have nothing against Greece -- it's not that I think they didn't deserve to get the Games, the way I don't believe that Beijing should have been awarded them -- but Samaranch should have stuck to his guns and his initial declarations and revoked their status when they didn't meet the first couple of important deadlines. I find it highly interesting that the people of Athens, who were portrayed as desperately wanting to bring the games back to its place of birth and were just crushed when they didn't get the 2000 Games, are mostly planning on fleeing the city and are bitching about the Games -- a once-in-a-lifetime event for them -- possibly disturbing their vacations. I think they should be a little less concerned about missing or delaying their holidays this one time and a whole lot more concerned about the state of their septic system, so they don't come home from their month-long vacations to find their city floating in crap and toilet paper!

But, hey, let's forget about all that and start looking forward to the sterling quality of NBC's coverage of the Games and how many "human-interest" stories we'll get to see about sweet little gymnasts and other adorable or deserving athletes, 95% of whom will be American, instead of actual events! (That sound you hear is me opening another can of worms, labeled "Bone of Contention." It would seem that I am a glutton for punishment.) Let the Games begin!

Baby, you can park my car

I know that when I read these two articles earlier today, I had an idea about how to tie them together in a terribly incisive and clever way. That was many hours ago and the synapses simply aren't firing properly to bring back the ephemeral thread I'd hoped to use. I hate it when that happens. But in the interest of getting to bed at a reasonable hour (and no, the time of this post is not the actual time it is right now -- it's quite a bit later. What can I say, I'm a night owl.) I'll just bumble along and hope it all comes out in the wash.

So first is yet another interesting (to me) story about parking in a big city. The most shocking part as far as I'm concerned isn't the amount paid for the spot in Boston, it's the casual passing reference to the cost of some spaces in San Francisco. I knew it was expensive, but really, that's beyond the pale. And, as far as I know, none of the SF spaces are even in automated garages! (See the 4/1/04 post if you don't know what I'm talking about. And if someone can tell me how to create permalinks so I can link to my past posts, I would be very grateful.)

Second is another story related to cars and, tangentially, parking spaces. I did a little searching and these cars would probably retail here for under $9,000. I had a chance to check out and sit in one at a car show and it's totally viable from my perspective. I don't really understand why they're waiting a few more years to sell them here and not capitalizing on the success of the new Beetle and the Mini. They don't seem too different, style-wise, than the electric GEM cars and they're starting to catch on, too. Maybe if more people had cars like these they either wouldn't need to pay so much money for parking spaces because they could actually wedge it in somewhere on the street, or they would save enough money on the cost of the car, registration and gas to be able to afford one of those "wow" spaces. Hey! That could be that thread I had in mind. Lucky me for stumbling back over it in my sleepy-fogged state.

Oh, and by the way, I know a lot of people depend on the BBC for their international news because they supposedly don't have the same degree of bias in their reporting. But they sure seem pretty critical of the U.S. -- and its citizens with their sense of "civic entitlement" -- in this one and, deserved or not, that seems a bit like bias to me.

Just not feeling it

Nothing really popped for me today in terms of what to post. Too much on my mind and not enough time to surf around for inspiration. So I'll share a little time waster I came across recently. Enjoy!

A side of horseradish with your slice of gluttony?

Another rare weekend post! The blogosphere trembles. I saw this article and it cracked me up, so I thought I'd take a minute out from watching the Formula One qualifying I taped earlier to share it. Twelve slices of hand-carved roast beef at an $8.99 buffet? And you have the nerve to be upset when they ask you not to have more? I find the whole Atkins concept ridiculous to begin with (as I do with any "all-or-nothing" fad diets, it's not just this one), but for crying out loud -- because you decide to gorge yourself on beef you're being "discriminated against" when a business stops you from taking advantage of their service?? I think anyone who has experienced true discrimination could justifiably be outraged by that. If you were very obese (as you well could be when you've finished playing with your body's chemistry thusly) and they refused you service on that basis, yes, you could claim discrimination. But this? Take your beef elsewhere, folks!

Five for Friday: Guilty Pleasures

Lately it seems like I have too many things to say and too little time to say them, or since I can't blog as soon as I think of it, the thoughts evaporate before I get to a keyboard. It also seems like many of the things I want to write about, unto themselves, aren't really "worthy" of a whole entry. I decided a while back to only post once a day because...well, because I often write too much! Things kept getting pushed down the page too quickly. So generally I think about things throughout the day and post at night (after The Daily Show, of course) about whatever resonated the most. So I think once in a while I need to kind of gather the random stuff that doesn't make the "solo post" grade. Guess I need to start writing them down. Hey, maybe I need a digital pen like I saw for the first time at the Sharks playoff game the other day -- they won, in case you hadn't heard -- when they had one up for grabs in an intermission game.

Anyway, today is going to be one of those days and the theme is the abovementioned Guilty Pleasures. Those little things that I should probably be too embarrassed to admit that I like, but I'm gonna anyway.

1. Pimp My Ride - Okay, even I can't believe that I like this show, but if I see that it's on, I'm there. I have no idea who Xzibit is and I feel quite sure that his music and I will never have so much as a passing acquaintance, but I get the biggest kick out of watching what they do to these cars and watching the reactions of the kids who hand over a POS and get back a piece of automotive art. The people who do the actual work on the cars, as a whole, look like a group of guys that you wouldn't EVER want to mess with in a dark alley...or anywhere else. But they're a bunch of big pussycats at heart who I think enjoy coming up with the most outrageous customizations they can in order to flip out the owners. The fact that, so far as I've seen, the kids they've hooked up are pretty deserving of having something nice happen to them is just the frosting on the cake.

2. Wienerschnitzel - Not the most popular fast food place around, and if you live east of the Mississippi you've probably never heard of it, but it has a very long and interesting history with my family (a story for another time, perhaps) that goes way back into childhood, when it was still known as Der Wienerschnitzel. This was, apparently, not grammatically correct in German and sometime between when I left California in 1976 and returned in 1993 the name changed, much to my puzzlement for a while. My particular guilty pleasures of eating there are the completely unhealthy and completely delicious Corn Dog and Chili Cheese Fries. They're not something I indulge in all that often, for obvious reasons, but there are times when I absolutely crave them and I slip off to my favorite location (and no, I'm not saying which one because I don't want you all horning in on my fries) for a fix.

3. Classic Password - The former Game Show Network, now GSN, shows the old, black and white episodes with Allen Ludden as host nightly at far too late an hour for regular watching. But if I'm up when it comes on, I'm probably there for the whole half hour, unless Buddy Hackett is one of the guest celebrities (like tonight) because I can't stand him. There's something just strangely compelling about it. Even if I don't know the celebrities, it's just fascinating to listen to the way they talk and to watch the way they conduct themselves, especially the women. They were always dressed to the nines and being there was a real opportunity to promote their current project, so they took it fairly seriously. And it's a glimpse at a time in our country that is long gone from television and will not be seen again any time soon. I also love watching Match Game, since I loved it as a kid and I still find it highly entertaining, but it's never on when I'm home!

4. Lipstick, Lip Balm and Lip Gloss - I'll keep this one short because the guys are already rolling their eyes. All I'll say is that some women have their shoes, some have their designer clothes, some have their purses and some have all of the above, and for them there's no such things as "too many" -- I have my lip products that I'm willing to shell out the bucks for and they're a hell of a lot less expensive, take up less room and give me that same little boost and satisfaction. So pass me my purse so I can wet my whistle and let's move on.

5. Contests, Sweepstakes, Samples, Free Stuff and Other Offers- This is no surprise to those who know me well, but I think that even they don't know how eagerly (and frequently) I go after these. I like to call it a hobby, but I don't really think it qualifies. If I can sign up for something and it won't cost me anything, I probably will! Let me share the latest example. I went to the Blogger home page earlier today to post something on Hope Springs A Leak and spotted a box that asked me if I'd like to try out Google's Gmail, their somewhat controversial new e-mail service. (FYI - Google owns Blogger.) I hadn't given it a lot of thought when I read about it and the hubbub over whether it was a good thing or not when they announced it. But their little come-on was like catnip to me so I signed up out of curiosity, even though I don't particularly have any need of another e-mail account and have no idea what I plan to do with it. Eventually, when I'd gone all through the registration procedure and tooled around to check things out, I got around to making my post.

What guilty pleasure are you willing to share?

Have I been turned in??

I'm wondering if my anti-Bush feelings (which are, of course, "unpatriotic" because if you're not with them, you're against them...) have gotten me in hot water. All my links on the right side and my archives seem to have disappeared, no matter what I do.

I'm thinking it's just the first step in Big Brother making my life difficult for my heretical thinking, seeking to silence a voice that can actually articulate her thoughts on how freaking disastrous having Bushy in office has been for our country, can spell them correctly and knows that "nuclear" isn't pronounced "nuke-yew-lar," unlike our Fearless Leader on Terra (that's "terror" for the rest of us).

That or I just can't see that side of the blog on my work computer all of a sudden. Corporate Big Brother knowing I was going to goof off for five minutes while I checked a few blogs? Considering some of the stories I hear from IT guys about the kinds of things people are dumb enough to view and/or store on their work computers and subsequently get fired for, I'd think blog surfing was pretty darned minor. Of course, there is the list of "nighttime viewing" blogs and the list of "daytime/worksafe" blogs that one must be careful never to mix up...like I did just before I started this post. I stopped it from loading before I got the dreaded "Forbidden" page, but there was that moment of tara...terra... extreme fear when I realized that I had clicked on the link below the one I actually wanted. The worst is when you click on something from the results when using a search engine that you don't realize is going to come up as "Forbidden" because your search had nothing to do with anything related to sex, gambling, hate or any of the other things they keep behind the firewall. I always have this image of some geek tucked away in the basement (though I don't think our building has one) rubbing his hands together and muttering, "Ah-ha...got her...knew she was up to no good...this is going on her permanent record..." whenever my inadvertent indiscretions set off alarms and pop up on the mega-monitor he's hunched over 22 hours a day. (Gotta have time to eat and catch "Call for Help" on TechTV, ya know.)

Vivid imagination aside, if you in fact can see the links to the right, would you be so kind as to let me know via the comments? Before they come scan my badge to see if the hidden GPS tracker chip has any juicy details on it...

You're Fired! (Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease)

The ultimate firing in my estimation. Maybe the last three years have just been a big experimental reality show and we'll get to November to find out that Mark Burnett is really the devil and he put us through this for ratings. Or we'll all wake up and have a Newhart Show moment to discover that this administration was all a bad dream. There's a good reason to go to sleep early.

I belong to True Majority and if you believe that we need to do what's necessary to get Bush out of office, as well as make our voice heard on other issues where numbers count, you should check them out.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up

New Jersey. Not enough to make me want to go there again anytime soon. If you have been to any of these places, please feel free to share...but first please step through the decontamination chamber, we don't really want you bringing that Newark "aroma" with you! And if you live in the so-called "Garden State," please tell us what exit you're off of there. ;-)

This just sucks

Now, all of a sudden, the Merc has decided that you have to register to read their stories. Since I tend to check them out on a near-daily basis, it has been a good resource for registration-free articles...until now. I read their FAQ and it says they won't sell your address and won't spam you. As my e-mail address is pretty much out there for the world to spam me already (and, say what you will about AOL, but their spam filter has been very effective for me, so I don't get much junk mail) that frankly doesn't concern me all that much, but I know other people worry about that.

So, I will be registering -- okay, the allure of winning stuff is part of it, but only a small part, honest! -- and I encourage those of you who are either local and/or who actually click on my links with some regularity to do the same. I will continue to use their articles for posts, and I'll try to remember to point out that registration is required. According to the "How it Works" info at the first link, you can read all of the headlines and information on a main page, and can read one article as usual, with no interruption (i.e., without registering). But a second story will require signing in. So if you clear out your cache with regularity, I imagine you could click my links there from time to time without a problem, but if you don't clear that out and usually go on to read other stuff then you'd need to register.

Got it? Good. Now get out there and have a great weekend!

Mmmm...doughnuts!

Well, the fog seems to be starting to lift from my head -- I can now put together at least three thoughts in a row! It's the little accomplishments that get you through the day. :-)

There was only one "news" item that really caught my attention today and it was this article about my household's favorite sugar-coated indulgence: Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Or "donuts" if you choose to spell it that way. We actually had an extended debate on that topic at work a while back. What can I say, we're a thrilling crowd. Anyway, I digress. I really do love their dough...don...product! And it's funny (to me) because I didn't crave them at all until they became a "thing" here in the Bay Area a few years back when the first store in the area opened and it was an event. Not that I liked them because they were a thing, but I tried them for the first time then. The funny part is that I spent years of my life either living in or frequently visiting Scranton, PA, where I knew of at least two Krispy Kreme shops and I never once stepped foot inside them. Nobody made much fuss about them, certainly no one made special trips there to buy them by the dozens, and the shops looked pretty dingy and old. Just not the place for a non-coffee-drinking college student. And, in restrospect, it's probably for the best because those Freshman Fifteen would have been more like the Freshman Fifty!

When there was only the one store in the Bay Area, it was a big deal for us to make a "Krispy Kreme run," since it took at least an hour to get there and back, not counting however long you had to wait in line, and there were always lines inside and at the drive-through. But I come from a family of people that likes to drive, so that usually didn't stop us! Then a shop opened a little closer to home and once the lines died down there it became a much simpler thing. Now, of course, they sell them in most every Albertsons I know of (and a good thing, too, because their own doughnuts kind of sucked) and a few other grocery stores to boot. It's not quite the same thing as going to the actual KK store in the middle of the night and being handed a free Original Glazed fresh off the line, but if you like 'em, you like 'em no matter where they come from. I've found that if you don't like 'em, though, you really don't like 'em! (Heathens.) That's fine...more for the True Believers among us.

Now, please let the debate begin on whether the Original Glazed, hot, are the ONLY ones worth having. I don't personally subscribe to that (Iced Chocolate Kreme Filled holds that particular honor...yummmm) but I know many feel that way. But please, no flinging of any Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles -- they're hell to get out of the keyboard!

I got nothing

That's right, folks, I'm so miserable from spring allergies that I can't even concentrate enough to find anything that I care enough to blog about right now. The tank is M-T. And, frankly, typing is more effort than it's worth at the moment. So I appeal to you, the faithful but often silent few, to post a comment and make my day! Be a blogger for a day -- write a small novel in the comments, if you want, or send me an e-mail and I'll post it. Right now, the oblivion of sleep beckons...

"It's okay to love your pet...

...it's not okay to love your pet." This article immediately brought to mind that line from the very funny movie, "The Truth About Cats & Dogs." I don't think I personally know anyone that over-the-top about their pets (though a few come close and creep closer to that line once in a while), but I know they're out there!

Moment of joy, moment of pique, moment of mourning

The 2004 Masters opened today and there's just something special about that tournament. Having the first day end with the youngest player in the field leading while the veterans struggle is just the kind of shake-it-up result you expect from a challenging course. There's something about the Masters that also ticks me off, because of the whole issue of women not being allowed as members at Augusta, but I'm not going to get into that now as it has been discussed to death in years past.

Both matters and this opening day were overshadowed by the death of caddie Bruce Edwards this morning. If you follow golf at all, you can't forget the scene at the first day of the 2003 U.S. Open when Tom Watson finished up an astonishing and touching round with Bruce, his health already visibly deteriorated, by his side as they both struggled for composure when the crowd showed its appreciation of their last moment in the sun together.

Caddies have what seems to me to be a very odd and unique place in the world of pro golf, especially on the mens' side. That Watson and Edwards were a team for so very long, and friends in the deal, spoke of respect in a world of sports (as a whole, not specifically just golf) where earnings, image and titles are the currency, not the esteem of your employee. Tom Watson may never win another green jacket, but his kind of class will always be in style. And Bruce Edwards will always be a part of his game.

Something old, something new

Okay, so maybe you will be able to swipe a card in the cab you have to take when your high-tech garage goes kaput... (See the April 1 entry for what I'm talking about. If I knew how to link to a specific day's entry, I would.)

And for a nice break in your Wednesday, check out this video. It requires Quicktime and takes a little while to load, even with a fast connection, but it made me laugh so hard that it's worth it. (Thanks, again, to Ernie for the link. Really, you could just go to his site half the time and check out his mini-blog...but then we'd miss you!)

My New Heroes

With thanks to Ernie at Little.Yellow.Different, I have gained two new heroes today. CarpoolCheaters.com is now officially my favorite Web site. If you don't live and drive in the Bay Area (or a similar metropolitan area with heavy traffic and HOV lanes), you may not appreciate the valiant effort put forth by this site. Traffic and parking space cheaters are like the plague here. Read the article on the site and the guys who run it, then check out the Carpool Cheater Poster Boy featured in the article.

Seeing red on a near-daily basis at some of the antics and sheer stupidity of people in their cars (as will be amply demonstrated in Hope Springs A Leak), my appreciation for their endeavor knows no bounds. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. I have never given money to a Web site to help support it, as deserving as I know in my heart that many of them are. It's just not in my nature. But these guys will be getting a donation and my endless admiration.

If you live around here, please consider sending the URL to like-minded people that you know. As it states in the article, "The hope ...is that some diamond-lane outlaws might recognize themselves on their site and say: Oh, I'm busted! I won't do that again.''' It would make my cynical heart proud to further the cause. :-)

Amulet schmamulet

Okay, so we've established that I'm not terribly superstitious. But apparently Michael Schumacher is. That's his secret? That's how he has managed to dominate Formula One racing year after year after year? Not his hand-eye coordination, his training, his superior car, his crack support team, (the fabulous AMD processor-based computers used by his support team), his driving prowess? A charm is the difference? Wow. If I were the other drivers, I'd try slipping him a mickey and making off with the damn thing. It may be the only chance some of them have since he's already so far ahead in the points with only three races completed!

A Cheesy Personality?

I've been taking the weekends off from blogging lately -- lots of things going on and I tend to surf too much in order to look for interesting things to post about when I have more time. Not good for the wrist. But I just found this cute, brief, well-done quiz that I enjoyed taking so I thought I'd share.

It turns out that I am one of my favorite cheeses, Brie! It says, "You are a cheese with a complex flavor. Your moods are affected by your current environments. You are sophisticated and mature but sometimes a little superstitious." I think I would have to agree with most of that, with a little less emphasis on the superstitious part as I have few superstitions. Anyway, it gave a lot of info about Brie that I didn't know before, and it lists at the bottom what the other results are and you can click on them to read more. Nice to see a nice little non-Quizilla quiz for a change. Go grab a good bottle of wine (or whine, if you're so inclined) and take a cheesy quiz.

Five for Friday

No, it's not the Friday 5. For the longest time I didn't understand what a blog meme was, so hopping on board one didn't interest me. (Please don't ask me to explain it beyond what the "Best Meme" category of the 2004 Bloggies says about it: A replicating idea that spread about weblogs. Just go to the Friday 5 yourself -- on a Friday when there is one -- and you'll get the idea.) Now that I do know, I haven't found one that hasn't been done to death, so I'm still not interested. Oh, and I usually have enough to say on my own that replicating someone else's idea seems superfluous. :-)

Instead, these are just five things that I want to touch on today:

1. This weekend is the first-ever Bahrain Grand Prix in Formula One. Great idea, isn't it? Put a racetrack for the ultimate in high-performance vehicles in the middle of a desert with sand blowing about. But if Ferrari isn't worried about it, then neither am I. I object to having a race there at all because of the restrictions put on the race due to the strict Muslim culture, but money talks, baby. Find yourself a TV with Speed Channel and tune in!

2. Thanks to frogblog for pointing me in the direction of a blog that is a nifty combination of both the sweetest subject matter and some fine writing that I know I'm going to so enjoy. Take a hop on over to Chookooloonks and meet beautiful, young Alexis, whose world I look forward to peeking in on frequently.

3. Darn! I've got to motilate or Ms. April will have my head when I'm late AGAIN to meet her for the Sharks game. (Not really, that turtle cookie is one very understanding chick. :-) It's almost the playoffs and her beloved team has captured their second division title...so of course they'll go and lose tonight! But it'll be fun anyway once I get myself into the trance I need to achieve in order to ignore the blowhard in the next set of seats over. Go Sharks! I'll have to round out the post with the last two items when I get home post-game.

4. [Picking up so seamlessly that if you blinked you wouldn't even notice...] Opening day for baseball is almost upon us. Yay! I realize there is pre-season and exhibition stuff is going on already, but I simply have no interest in that. Once the first real first pitch flies, though, I'm there. Then (sorry, April) it's "Sharks who?" Life is once more "Go Giants, baby!" I am fortunate to live close enough to their ballpark to go with some regularity each season. It's an absolutely beautiful ballpark that makes their former home look like the crumbling wreck it really is. In the time I've lived here in the Bay Area, that locale has undergone, apparently, four name changes: Candlestick Park, 3com Park (at Candlestick Point), San Francisco County Stadium, and the current and former Candlestick Park. This last change was news to me because I'd heard that they weren't going to go back to that name. But if the SF Recreation and Parks department says it's Candlestick Park, then it's Candlestick Park! And, honestly, I'm thrilled because I'm tired of having a certain argument with certain people in my life -- and you know who you are -- about whether or not "They" can just up and change the name of a ballpark when They want to. I maintain that, like it or not, They own the damn building and can do whatever They damn well please with the name. My verbal adversaries maintain that They can't because the name is the name. Period. Now, sadly, I believe I'm in for still many more years of this same argument; same players, different names. The home of the Giants, the lovely and successful Pacific Bell Park, has undergone a similar corporate-driven name change and is Pacific Bell Park no more. It is now SBC Park. And the fans are just as peeved as they were in the 3com Park days. I say: GET OVER IT. If you were so passionate about not having "meaningless" corporate names over the gates of today's facilities, you should have found a way to pony up the money so that the name didn't need to be sold. Remember the propositions and bonds you defeated that would have funded these facilities over the years? Money builds ballparks, not fan sentiment. If the fans had become a part of the process, maybe they could have arranged to have the names protected as terms of the funding. But that's not the reality, so quit whining and realize that the name is what it is now. If you want something to bitch about, work on doing something about the outrageous price of the concessions at ballparks. Money talks there, too, and when it comes to buying a $6 hot dog, the fans do have the power.

5. Now that I'm all worked up over that particular topic, it's the perfect time to introduce Hope Springs A Leak. The initial post explains it pretty well, so take a gander when you need to vent your spleen.

Have a great weekend!

The big boys' Matchbox garage

Tell me this isn't the coolest apartment feature ever. Let other people have their waterfall showers, their floor-to-ceiling windows, their amazing views, their doormen and their building-wide wireless Internet access, I want me a rack 'em, stack 'em and pack 'em garage. That is if I lost my mind first and decided to move to a city where that kind of apartment building would actually exist. Then I would owe it to myself to spend $25K a year to wave a card at a panel and send my car to its little cement coffin for the night.

I do have an important question, however: What if there's a blackout or other power failure of any duration? Can you wave the little card in front of the cab driver you'll have to call and have the apartment manager pay for it?

A Chip off the Ol' Cookie

It's been a while since I found an online quiz I wanted to take. But mention the word "cookie" and immediately my thoughts jump to "chocolate." As longtime readers (okay, week-long readers) will recall, I adore chocolate in all its myriad forms. So when I saw a "What kind of cookie are you?" quiz, I was compelled to take it.

That was almost a month ago. I wanted to let some time pass and then take it again to see if I got the same results twice. There have been a few quizzes (which I didn't later blog about) that gave me different results when taking them on different days. Clearly, my mood affects my responses and my cookie-based psyche could be swayed by the vagaries and whims of my day. Knowing what kind of cookie I am is far too telling and important a matter to take so lightly.

So it is, with great pride and authority (not to mention a sudden craving), that I share with you this basic truth about myself: I am a Chocolate Chip cookie. I have decided not to divulge the details of what this means about my personality. Based on the sheer wonderfulness of Chocolate Chip cookies, I fear that it could unduly influence you in your approach to answering the questions. Since I got the same result twice, it's the only answer I've seen, so I have no idea what other cookie profiles there are that people might get. And while my Chip-tastic self knows that none of them can rival what is, essentially, cookie royalty, I would be interested in hearing what results the rest of you poor doughballs scrape up.

Just an interesting article

I think most of us can't navigate the Web, newpapers, magazine or television news these days without tripping over an "inspirational" human-interest story. Heaven knows that sports broadcasts can't seem to live without 'em anymore. But I find that this article is less inspirational than it is just plain admirable. People generally can't keep up with a hobby for more than a few years; this guy has spent almost his whole life in pursuit of one dream that he believes is attainable, while the world at large disagrees, and he hasn't lost his focus.

I do wonder how a guy who has been almost single-mindedly pursuing something like this, as well as all the sideline ventures it spawned, managed to find three different women to marry him or the time to pursue them, too!

California offers its two bits

At long last, the design for the California edition of the state quarters has been revealed. I can't remember if this is the design that I voted for, but I know it was one of my top choices. The only thing I don't like about this story is the accompanying picture, with Gov. Arnold and his cheesy movie star smile.

And I have to wonder if there actually are any CA Condors in Yosemite. I don't know that I've ever seen any there, but you would think that maybe they'd check on that before sticking one in there, wouldn't you? I probably wouldn't have placed it where they did, so that it looks like it's about to take poor John Muir's face off.

I don't know how many people are collecting the state series of quarters (a lot of people I know are, as am I, though I think I'm a bit behind), but I do look forward to seeing them as they come out. I don't particularly like all of them but I make sure I get a pretty, shiny one anyway. :-) This article from 2002, when 19 of the quarters had been issued, I found interesting as it made me aware of the patterns into which the state designs fall and how downright bad some of them are!

Buckle up, Fluffy

On the face of it, this sounds like a pretty dumb thing to be reading about. But in reality, I think it's a pretty darned good idea and I hope it catches on. How many times have you driven down a street where the traffic is moving at a pretty good clip and seen a dog hopping around on the driver's lap, alternately getting between them and the wheel and sticking their head out the window? Or seen a Lab in the back of a pickup running back and forth in the truck bed at a traffic light then lurching to keep its balance once the light changes? Or seen a mid-size dog with more than half its body sticking out a window, feet propped up on the window opening, where it seems only a good bump would have them flying out onto the pavement?

I recently read a letter in the Merc from a driver who witnessed a woman on the Lawrence Expressway (a busy, four-lane, 50mph+ road) who was grooming her dog in her lap while speeding down the road! People like that are clearly short of common sense all on their own and maybe a requirement to restrain their beloved pets would give them the guidance they obviously need. Before they find out that Fluffy, in addition to being a loving and wonderful pet, makes a wonderful (if messy) air bag in the event of an accident.

Feel free to share your "You won't believe what I saw...!" stories in the comments.

One nation, divisible by patriotism

This article from Slate, written in 2002 when the Ninth Circuit court's decision on the "under God" portion of the Pledge of Allegiance caused a storm of controversy, sums up my feelings toward the issue rather well. It provides a detailed background (or, at least, a more detailed one than you get on CNN, et al.) about the political and social climate with respect to religion when the phrase was added, and illustrates that the point of adding it certainly was to promote religion, something I hear many people disclaiming in the debate on the current case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

I think anyone who tries to make the case that the Founding Fathers didn't really mean that there was no place in government for religion should first read the second paragraph of the Slate article, then should take another look at the Bill of Rights. First Article, first words: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

If people in the 50s weren't so afraid of being labeled "Red" or politicians weren't so afraid of being run out of Washington on a rail (or, in this case, a pew), maybe the right thing would have happened when the bill was first passed and it would have been declared unconstitutional. The Knights of Columbus and other organizations could, and can, say whatever they want at their meetings -- another bonus of the First Amendment. Congress enacting a bill inexorably linking God and the United States in a recital declaring one's allegiance to their country of citizenship, a country born from a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that expressly do not link them and expressly prohibit the legislative branch from doing so, is intrinsically contrary to the very tenets upon which the country was founded. If that's not unpatriotic, I don't what is.

"Yum," said the mouth to the hardening artery.

I love chocolate. I love many deep-fried foods. Both of these statements are attested to by my waistline. :-) But this "delicacy" might be just that wee bit beyond the pale. I know that bread and chocolate are a very common treat in much of Europe; when I studied in Spain I was surprised at first to see people slathering chocolate spread on slices of bread and calling it their afternoon snack. But I didn't realize that they had caught on to what I had assumed was a wacky American thing of deep-frying everything in sight! And here we have the Scots to thank for that. Between this and haggis, I do believe they may have lost the right to call their food "cuisine."

Drop and give me 20...autographs!

Now this is about the last thing I expected to read regarding Tiger Woods. Unlike some people I know (Ed), I am a fan of Tiger's, but this is kind of weird even for me. I'm not buying that it's some "I want to be like Daddy" complex. I think it's a very unique individual's last hurrah (of a sort) before he goes and gets married. Some guys want to do Vegas, some guys want to have flings...maybe some guys want to be forced to run, take orders, get yelled at, and clean toilets with toothbrushes. Hey...there could be something to that in terms of marriage training!

Has anyone told Bush about this?

How about Bushy and the religious right devote some of their overzealous attention to this little item of interest. Do you think it's enough of a moral problem for us to decide to invade India? I wonder what we'd call that particular war. Operation Eww, That's Just Gross?

I guess it's "okay" for the local officials, even though it's illegal, since she's too old to produce any offspring from the union?

Cheers!

Life has been busy, busy, busy! So busy that I feel a bit like I need a drink at the end of the day. :-) Which makes this article very timely and a good reminder of how we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking we're "fine" after a few drinks. Now, clearly, Mr. Roadshow is a teetotaller so I have to imagine that he was more affected by those two glasses of wine than someone who regularly consumes some wine with dinner. (Strict interpretationists of how peoples' bodies handle alcohol would likely disagree, but this is my perception.) But it never hurts to have a reality check on the real dangers of drinking and driving. Too bad he didn't print this on or before St. Patrick's Day, however.

Probably not a case for Airborne

I don't know why it works but, taken properly, I believe that Airborne really does help prevent people from catching all sorts of icky things swirling around when they're in crowded places like airplanes. However, I think this story represents the kind of thing that Airborne probably can't help you avoid. It sucks enough to come away from a flight with a cold or sore throat and the like, but measles? Yikes.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do 101

I love the "Oddly Enough" news, I really do. It reminds me of how critically ass-backwards this world has become. Check out this article for a prime example. My favorite part is that "being able to think about ethical questions and being able to do rather criminal acts" isn't a contradiction. Well, true, a criminal can definitely think about ethics and ethical questions. But hiring one to teach ethics?!? And someone who attempted to take another person's life, to boot. The next highlight is that they're not sure whether to go forward with a class he's to teach on evolution. Seems to me that he'd be a much more likely candidate for that class than ethics, because trying to knock off your wife has somewhat a Darwinian feel, doesn't it?

What's black and white...

...and often wrong all over? A referee! Ever wonder, as I have, why they dress the way they do? Well, the answer lies here and I must say I feel terribly edified after reading it. I still don't really get why baseball officials don't wear the zebra stripes (or why they're "umpires" instead of "referees," for that matter) but at least I now know who gets the credit for the look.

If Mr. Olds had come up with the idea in the 80s instead of the 20s, he'd have trademarked the look, made a fortune, retired from officiating, bought a football team, lost all his money through high living and bad player deals, sold the team to pay off his debts and would now be a TV spokesman for Foot Locker. Or working in their store in Bayonne.

What gall

After what feels like a very long absence, I'm back! I decided last night that if I could open a soda bottle without pain, I was well enough to blog again. My wrist brace will now (again) be my constant computer companion, but I'll live to type another day. :)

I can't tell you how much I missed "being" here. Oh, the stories I've missed, the discussions I would have liked to spark...the quizzes I didn't get to take! So, following along on the pain theme, I'll open with this article about the apparently widely reviled John Ashcroft and his gallbladder surgery. Talk about bile, forget what the gallbladder oozes, the rancor I heard being spewed in reaction to the news that Ashcroft had experienced a painful gallbladder attack and was going to have surgery caught me completely off guard. My own mother was glad that the bastard was in pain! I heard quite a few similar reactions from others, including one blog I visited yesterday (forgot to make a note of which one).

I'm no fan of his, no way, no how, and I think he is one of the most destructive elements of our current administration. The day Bush and his crew are out of our lives will be one of the happiest days in mine. But Ashcroft is still a person and I simply can't find it within myself to be glad that he had this happen. The only thing I can think is that people either really hate him with a passion that precludes compassion or that they've never had a bad gallbladder attack. I've had the same surgery Ashcroft just went through, with the same kind of pain preceeding it, and frankly I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, even an enemy (or a perceived enemy). Let someone else cast the first gallstone if they wish, but nobody's actions make them deserve that kind of pain in my book.

Pingless

Big-time tendonitis problems with my typing hand going on right now resulting in lots o' pain. Surfing the Web to find links is all but impossible and typing with my left hand is very tedious. (Case in point, I started this at noon ;)

So, sad but true, OPO is going on a (hopefully) brief hiatus, far too soon for its short life! If you stop by again before I am back at it, please visit any of the Blogs I Like to the right for fresh perspective while I'm off babying my wrist. Making its debut on that list today is one of my daily must-reads, April's Addictions.

Because I finally caved in and subscribed to the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy when it came to Reality TV, I, too, am addicted to certain of those shows, and I always look foward to getting April's recaps and perspective on the shows we both follow. Please stop by and lend her your ears, your support and your comments!

While I have no idea how many of you actually frequent this blog (because I just haven't gotten around to adding the function that would tell me that), and I know that many of the people in my life seem to keep "forgetting" to check in, please know that I enjoy the heck out of writing it and every day I'm not here posting I wish I were. Now would be a good time to tell me what you like, what you'd like to see more of, or what I'm not covering that you would find of interest. Thanks for your support, silent and otherwise. :)

Oscar de la Ranta

Please go see The Rant King's recap and commentary on the Oscars in his post today for "my" take on the ceremony and its participants. Except for not mentioning how funny Adrien Brody's presentation of the Best Actress award was (oh, and substituting in a "shameless Irish plug" for how cool the father/daughter/daughter scriptwriting team of In America is), he pretty much touched on everything I would have!

Since my wrist is hurting today from excessive computer use, thank you, Kevin, for writing today's entry for me. :)

To sleep, perchance to dream

Among the great, unanswered questions in life: Why do we sleep? Followed by: Why do we dream when we sleep? While I don't have much insight on either of those questions, I have experienced what this article is all about. (Thanks to Ann for the link.)

For some reason, I usually have my best flashes of insight in the shower. But that could be because I don't really wake up until I've been in there for a couple minutes! However, recently a friend and I were listening to music from decades past and trying to identify who the artists were. We were doing pretty well until we came to one song. We both knew the song but, for the life of us, could not come up with who sang it. Throughout the day I thought about it off and on, making a few guesses but with no luck. After that, I pretty much forgot about it and filed it in the "I must be getting old" category. :)

My mind obviously decided to continue to puzzle over it, though. The next morning when I woke up (without benefit of an alarm, which may have helped), it was as if a switch had been flipped, and my first conscious thought was the name of the band. Okay, not earth-shaking like literally dreaming up the periodic table of elements, but not something that I have happen every day and the force with which the name popped into my head really caught my attention.

Oh, geez, look at the time. I'd better go to sleep so I can work on figuring out that chicken and egg conundrum...

Don't take this sitting down

At last, women, too, can now enjoy the freedom of standing up while using the bathroom. Or, rather, do so without leaving an unholy mess behind like they do now. (Don't ask.) I'm not entirely sure how I feel about having to tote this thing around in my purse, but then it beats some of the alternatives.

Hmmmm...

And somehow gay marriage is more of a threat to our puritanical way of life in this country than this? How about the "sanctity" of being a child, unmolested by someone your parents and your religion told you to trust? Nah, let's just punish the consenting adults who made a mutual decision to share their lives and their love with each other. Because surely the Bible-quoting faithful who can find passage after passage to support the discrimination of the gay population can find something in there (a book which, by the way, I don't ever recall being designated as the charter of our country, I'm still laboring under the impression that it's the Constitution) to justify the defilement of innocent children by their religious mentors.

Oh, wait, that's a sin, too? Just like homosexuality is? Wow, so the Church was able to let this go on for decades (that we know about) to protect the priesthood from being sullied by the institution of marriage (even though that was all about greed and property back when it was put into place) but now they feel the need to protect the institution of marriage from being sullied by homosexuality.

Taking it one step further, all priests are men. The children that they've sexually abused were, according to the report above, were mostly male. Seems to me that therefore the Church has aided and abetted homosexuality all along as this went on, was reported, was known and covered up. Add to that the fact that having sex with a child is illegal based on our secular laws, and that every instance of abuse meeting the threshold of statutory rape was a crime against the state and not just against religious canon, and the pedophilic priests are as doubly guilty as the religious Right claims the gay people getting married are.

The utter hypocrisy of it all is absolutely mind-boggling.

Scary local news

I just read this article about yet another elderly driver having an accident and hurting others upon mistaking the accelerator for the brake. Upsetting and traumatic for her, yes, but how about the young woman who is probably now bedridden for the remainder of her pregnancy?

I'd really like to know how many more of these stories we have to hear before AARP loosens its stranglehold on this issue in the U.S. It's not about age, it's about ability. In CA the law is changing for younger drivers, too, and I say hallelujah. I read that 16-year-old drivers have this hugely disproportionate number of accidents, so that change is needed. Coming to our senses and stopping people who have lost their ability to drive safely from having licenses is also needed.

I'd also like to know what actions (if any) were ever taken against the elderly gentleman in southern CA who plowed into that farmers' market and killed some people. Thankfully this story wasn't as serious -- that we're aware of -- but it could easily have been deadly, too. I wonder if we'll hear that this driver has also had other instances of minor accidents and near-misses lately that should have tipped someone in her life off to the fact that she should not be behind the wheel.

Delusion or naivete?

I think this editorial from the Merc sums up quite nicely how I feel about Ralph Nader deciding to once again run for President. Another article or blog I read said that Nader deserves to have a better legacy than enabling eight years of George W. Bush, and I agree. And that's too bad because he has a lot to say and a lot to offer. Just not now and not in this situation.

As he seems to be living in another dimension where he believes his candidacy will have a positive impact on this presidential race, it is my sincere hope that the people doing the electing will keep one foot in reality and not make this election any more scary than it already is.

We're getting screwed

Life in the Bay Area: Last night I paid $1.95 per gallon for gas in my car and considered myself lucky! Because I was stupid and I didn't stop for gas over the weekend when I meant to, my tank was near empty so filling it cost a lot. Given that the trend is continuing upward, I went ahead and filled it anyway since I figured I was getting a relative bargain. The two other places I passed on my way to the station I chose had their lowest grade price at $2.03 a gallon. This morning, one of those was up to $2.09 a gallon. And it's only going to keep going up!

I am so sick of being gouged by gas prices for living where I do. How the state can continue to look into this and not find that the prices are being fixed out of line with the rest of the country is beyond my comprehension. Hell, forget the rest of the country and just look at the rest of the state. If I lived in Smog Central down south, I'd be paying less. This has been seen time and time again.

For the time being, all I can do is continue to keep my eyes peeled for price fluctuations in the area (already a family hobby) and make the trek over to the area of San Jose where traditionally the prices have been lower when Costco isn't the better deal. For anyone local, I recommend this site for seeing where the prices are lowest.

Cautionary eBay tale

The most recent posts (2/23 & 2/25) on this blog caught my eye while I was doing my nightly compulsive check of the "fresh blogs" on Blogger.

I'm not a huge eBay user, and I don't have a PayPal account (I read the terms of use and something about it made me very uneasy so I decided it wasn't worth the risk), but I'd gotten almost a dozen e-mails last year telling me that someone had tried to access my eBay account and change my password. I knew I hadn't even been to eBay in ages so I certainly hadn't tried to change it, so I ignored it. I figured that someone forgot their account name and thought it was mine, etc. After about the sixth time this happened, I looked up my account info and went there myself to make sure my password still worked. It did, no one had used my account fraudulently, I complained to eBay, the e-mails stopped and I didn't really think much more about it. Until today.

I really feel for anyone who goes through what she's going through and I'm glad that the sites where her info was used are working with her. I'm not surprised that the bank's not being very supportive, but I bet that with enough perseverance they'll eventually do the right thing. Her warning about not responding to any e-mails you get asking for eBay info is one to take to heart.

Toasty!

I had lunch with a co-worker at Quiznos today. Yum! That brought to mind this article I'd recently read about their really weird commercials. My position on their new, furry little spokesrodents is simple: I can't stand them. In contrast, my position on their subs is the complete opposite: I adore them. Thankfully, I was able to endure one of their commercials long enough...okay, I didn't reach for the remote quickly enough...to hear about their dollar off promotion. You bring in a coupon, any coupon for anything, and they give you a dollar off a sub. If you don't have a coupon sitting around (and, if you don't, I imagine you're not the type to use one, so this is probably pointless, but anyway) you can go to the Quiznos site and print out a phony coupon to bring in. Though, personally, I just enjoy pulling the lever to see what comes up and be intrigued by the "sexy chick" coupons that never quite come fully into view.

Memo to Owens: Your ego may now leave the building

Kevan Barlow - yay! Julian Peterson - yay! Terrell Owens - buh-bye. Anybody want to make bets on which team will have the pleasure of taking on a new diva? It would (almost) make my day if he ended up a Raider so he could clash with Al Davis, but then we'd still have to hear about him in the local sports news all the time.

I AM Ireland!

Okay, I wasn't going to even take this quiz, let alone blog about it, but the result startled me so much that I had to. The other blogs where I'd seen what country people are were all kind of weird, Swaziland, Togo, and the like. But in one of my "between project" blog-reading breaks, I decided to give it a whirl while reading frogblog and connecting via the link she provides.

Here's what it said: "You're Ireland! Mystical and rain-soaked, you remain mysterious to many people, and this makes you intriguing. You also like a good night at the pub, though many are just as worried that you will blow up the pub as drink your beverage of choice. You're good with words, remarkably lucky, and know and enjoy at least fifteen ways of eating a potato. You really don't like snakes."

I think the next-to-last sentence is pretty darn apt; I don't know about the rest except that I really don't mind snakes. And I think that anyone who really knows me will find it as hysterical as I do that it would have pegged me as Ireland, given my heritage.

A note about these kinds of "You are..." quizzes and my blog: Most other bloggers will post the results using the code provided at the end of the quiz, which will put up a picture (in this case, a big flag) and the accompanying text. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not me, so you'll probably never see that here. But if you go elsewhere (which you should, especially the referring blog!) and see them, I thought I'd let you know why I don't do it...before you go thinking I just haven't figured it out. :)

"Up With People" is sounding better and better...

...because if this is the Janet & Justin legacy, we're all doomed.
***Update - the current day's cartoon will now be at this URL. Click on "Next" a few times to get to the one with the singing nuns.***

Goodbye to Sex

It would be superfluous for me to offer my opinion on the final episode of "Sex and the City" here. In the last week, it has pretty much all been said; the good, the bad, the unflattering. I can say that the series ending is about as traumatic an experience as a television viewer as I can recall enduring. Usually I have lost interest in a "favorite" show at least a season or two before it goes off the air. The only other time I can remember being really saddened by a finale was M*A*S*H back in the 80s, and it was definitely time for that boat to sail.

Being single in a different city, with a completely different kind of life...oh, and not having HBO for the first three seasons or so...I didn't think much about it when it started, other than being a fan of Sarah Jessica Parker in general, and I never imagined identifying with it very strongly. But once they put out the first season on DVD (back when they put a whole season on two discs instead of four, which made it four times as difficult and expensive to rent them at Blockbuster) and I was able to get a sense of what it was all about, I guess I kind of fell in love with it. Not just the show and the way it turned the perception of being single on its ear in the face of the media, but with these four amazing characters. By the way, I highly recommend watching any episodes on DVD that have the writer commentary with it turned on. The insight on why they made the decisions they did for show is very eye-opening.

So, now it's all over but the syndication. Charlotte got her ideal life, Miranda uncovered the unselfish love in her life, Samantha found the love of her life plus rediscovered her post-chemo libido in screaming magnificence, and Carrie got both Big and her beloved City back. I truly do hope that they begin to make movies based on the show because they would do it right and it will be like having old friends pop back into your life for a nice visit; not too short but not too long, either. And that would be just fabulous.

Boohbah update

Well, the Boohbahs have made it to the big time as far as I'm concerned. They've made the leap from the humble pages of Slate, when I made an entry about them, to the lofty heights of VH1. They did a segment on the episode I just saw of "The Best Week Ever," and the semi-celebrities they had commenting on the show were all hypothesizing on which Boohbah is "the gay one." That pretty much elevates them to "Teletubbies" status, doesn't it? In the blog world, the real sign of having arrived will be when I see a "Which Boohbah are you?" quiz popping up on every other site I visit!

If you haven't visited their Web site yet, and really need a time-waster at work on Monday, turn down your speakers and have a ball. Booooohhh-baaahhhh!

"Anyone But Bush"

I found my way to yet another blog yesterday and this first entry resonated with me so much that I had to link to it. (If it's no longer on top, scroll down to Feb.19th) Does anybody know where I can get a bumper sticker with that on it?

Keep those (knitting) needles to yourself

A warm and cuddly quiz for the grey and rainy weather we're having here in the Bay Area today, and anticipated over the weekend. (Quiz courtesy of Quizilla. Some fun quizzes, some good quizzes, some not-so-good quizzes.)

I am, apparently, mohair. I don't believe that I've ever worn mohair in my life, but I guess I share some of its properties. What kind of yarn are you? (I bet you thought no one would ever ask you that. Kinda leaves Barbara Walters' "What kind of tree would you be?" question in the dust, doesn't it?)

Jumpin' Java Beans!

A little article from the Oddly Enough category. I somehow think that Dunkin' Donuts (the country's largest purveyor of coffee by the cup, don'tcha know) won't be shaking in their go-go boots over this one. I also think that "Hon, I'm going down to the coffeeshop," will generate a few more questions in the good town of Madison, ME than it used to.

What I find somewhat odd is that the story is out of Reuters in the UK, where toplessness isn't such a big deal.

Yuck!

I love you, but stay away from me with your germ-infested self! An interesting article from the Merc about the colds people always seem to have this time of year and never seem to get rid of quickly. Flu is always the one making headlines each winter, but this sounds just as bad and no shot or antibiotics can help; it's up to us to take better care of ourselves.

I have a sheet of paper clipped next to my monitor -- so it's the first thing I see when I get to work -- of hints that I printed out to remind me of what I can do to stay healthy.

"People can do simple things to avoid getting infected:

- Wash your hands frequently
- Get plenty of rest
- Avoid contact with people who appear ill
- Avoid touching your face with your hands

Hand-to-hand contact is the most common form of transmission for viruses."

I add to that "Touch as few door handles as possible," because so many people don't wash their hands when they should! The biggest challenge for me is not touching my face because I do it often and without thinking about it. Like now. My chin is itching simply because I'm aware that I don't want to touch it! Guess it's time for a trip to the ladies' room so I can wash my hands, scratch my chin, use the facilities and encounter even more icky germs, wash my hands again, come back to my desk and put on hand lotion for my now over-dried skin, which will be ready to trap still more germs at my desk. Ah, the circle of life!

Spam scam

A cautionary article from Eric Sinrod, a very nice lawyer (no comments about that being an oxymoron, please) I had the pleasure of hearing speak recently at local meeting of some attorney's group -- I was "playing attorney" for the lunch, in place of my boss -- and whose newsletter list I subsequently got on without requesting it. (No, the irony is not lost on me.)

I can just imagine, given the combination of the recent hype over the Do Not Call Registry, the recent Federal anti-spam legislation and how so many people overall are just plain naive about the Internet, that this fake spam registry will get more than a few people happily handing over their addresses. Don't be one of them! Believe me, when there's an actual Do Not Spam Registry, you'll hear all about it on the local news.

If by any chance you're interested in receiving his e-mails (essentially letting you know that he has a new column and, briefly, what it's about), please let me know and I'll send you the info. Since the area he covers actually relates to my job, I decided to keep getting them. And, hey, how many nice lawyers do you actually get e-mail from these days?!?

Five will get you ten

You know, I've never fully understood that phrase. Five what? I have some theories, and maybe I can run them past the writer of 5ives. It's a blog unlike any I've come across before and I've really enjoyed some of the entries, among them this and this.

Many of the entries are pretty damned obscure and/or so personal as to not make to sense unless you're him, I imagine, but its fun to check in on and a quick read.

Quiz do dia

Seeing as how I spent a great deal of time today at the hospital, I thought this would be an apt quiz for the day. I did not do as well as I'd expected to do. Good luck!

Snagged! Part 2

Oh, man, would I have loved to see the expression on the Good Gentleman from Some State's face at the end of this conversation. What a jerk. I only wish the author had chosen to offer us some clue as to what state the "gentleman" is from so he could endure a small shitstorm of letters.

Snagged!

Ooh, and we thought people in the highfalutin' world of literature didn't do things like this. (This is a NY Times link. I believe I've gotten one that you do not need to be registered to read; please let me know if that's not so.) I think Mr. Rechy has a very good point about people being able to anonymously trash books on Amazon. It would have been more honest to say "I am the author of this book and I'd like to respond to that" -- didn't there used to be an "I am the author" function in the review section? -- but then people probably wouldn't believe it was them!

The new black?

Yes! Finally, I will be "in fashion" according to Elle. I knew slavish devotion to one color would eventually pay off! :)

German highway fun

One of my favorite kinds of news stories from the Internet to share with people are the astonishingly frequent tales of weirdness on the highways and byways of Germany. It seems that nary a week goes by when there isn't one that makes the "Oddly Enough" category on Yahoo! Today we have a sticky situation that the good people of Berlin recently encountered.

A two-fer Blogger find

I get a kick out of clicking on various blogs that show up under "Fresh Blogs" on the Blogger homepage. I'll admit that I'm completely biased toward the more interesting-sounding ones, those that use actual words, those that are in English, and those that are a play on words of some kind. One I found tonight is called The Rant King and I decided to post it for two people: April and Ed. April because he's a hockey fan with some interesting observations on proposed changes to the game (scroll down to the Feb. 12 entry), and Ed because I figured he'd get a kick out of the post about the singing of the national anthem (the Feb. 16 entry). This is one of the many Canadian blogs I've come across since I started blogging and I think I'll be checking back for fresh rants.

Sports news you won't hear 99% of the time

Congratulations to US skier Bode Miller on winning the slalom in Austria yesterday. Sorry, Ed, we're just not a country that focuses on World Cup skiing or World Cup skiers...unless it's time for the Winter Olympics!

Quiz for Presidents' Day

Let other blogs quiz you on the Presidents or point you toward where you can find out which president you're most like in character! Here at OPO, we're going to take the road slightly less-traveled and offer a quiz on the power behind the Oval Office, the First Ladies. I did miserably on it. I'll offer you one tip -- Martha Washington is not the answer to any of the questions!

Back in Black

Heads up to Bay Area "Daily Show" fans (Sean), Lewis Black is in town at the Improv this weekend. Tickets aren't cheap, but seeing as how he makes me laugh my ass off, I'd say he's worth it.

Virtual chalklines

I have come to the conclusion that, for me, the blog world is like a giant game of hopscotch. For one reason or another, you start a game with one click that takes you to a blog. That click can take you to one, two, three or more other clicks to other blogs. Those blogs may take you to still other blogs or sites of interest. Then, depending on whether you reach the end of the line or you make a misstep (landing someplace iffy, tired, or just plain wrong), you go back to the start and take another click taking you to another blog or site. Sometimes you play alone until you get tired of it, sometimes you play with other people by blogging about the one out of 100 things that you deem worth sharing and they take that first click. It's kind of always the same in the way it's played, and always different because there are a couple million clicks available to take you on a new path.

Personally, I like this analogy so much that I may incorporate it into my description paragraph at the top. It's time to take away the explanatory text -- if the people who are reading this don't already know what it's all about at this point, they never will, and anyone new who stumbles onto it should be able to grasp it quickly enough -- and find a zippy way to sum it all up. I was hoping to know enough about HTML at this point that I would also be able to change the font color from that odd green that I find hard to read, but I haven't gotten there yet.

Speaking of changes, I've gotten the comment that it would be preferable for the links I provide to open up in new windows instead of the same one, requiring the use of the back button to return to the blog. I believe that I have now learned how to do that, thanks to a recent round of hopscotching to Calpundit, a blog I found and have been frequenting for the last few days and that I'm hoping will be my first successful attempt at making this work. ***UPDATE: It wasn't. I'll keep working on it*** I think his recent blog on Google is both apt and some small support for my hopscotch analogy.

Feedback on whether it's better with new windows -- if it works! -- would be most appreciated. :)

Well, what happened was...

So it's Monday...again...and some of us poor souls actually do have to work today. Mistakes will be made, others will be blamed. But if there's no one else within fingerpointing distance, consider consulting the Excuse-O-Mat. I happen to think the "self-loathing" ones are the most tempting to use. However, if you do, and you get slapped down, don't blame me!

Woof

With the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show recently being completed for this year, with a large and lovely Newfoundland named Josh taking the Best in Show, I found myself again asking that perennial question: Why are poodle haircuts so weird? Fortunately for me, Slate magazine had the answer. Makes sense, yes, but it doesn't make them look any less ridiculous, even for those at the top of the (dog) pile.

A penny for your thoughts?

As most of the people in my life know, I am a big fan of picking up pennies that I find out and about in the world. Okay, any coins, but pennies are definitely the most common find. I always seem to find them, I guess, because I'm always keeping an eye out for them. While found coins are my "specialty," I just like coins in general. That's why this site about "Smooshed Pennies" caught my eye. I don't always succumb to the temptation of making smooshed penny souvenirs when I find a machine while travelling (usually because it seems a little nuts to spend fifty cents to destroy one cent) but sometimes I do. Given that I have no good place to put them, I plan to send some of them to the person who runs this site -- she has far too few from California! I also found the hint on which kind of pennies smoosh best helpful. I had noticed that some come out a lot better than others, and now I know why. I was always trying to use the shiniest, newest penny I had and older ones work better because of their zinc.

Be mine...if you dare!

And for those of us not in a Hallmark frame of mind for tomorrow (or if you are but the selections just don't quite grasp your complex relationship), here are a few alternative postcards to send to when you care enough to send the very oddest.

Quiz del giorno

Ahh, a little (but terribly difficult) quiz about Valentine's Day from that country of love, Italy. Thankfully, it's not gushy and it's actually got interesting questions. I got only half of them right -- if someone gets them all, could they please send me the answers?!?

One Comment Only

'Bout damned time.

Dr. KFC?

If you haven't already checked out Notfoolinganybody.com (either from the link to the right or when I sent it to a few of you a while back), you should! Start with this article, which gives a pretty good idea of what it's all about and how one business responded to it. And if you have checked it out, it's time to go back because there are some new additions (check the Index and head to the bottom).

I get such a kick out of not only her pictures, but her commentary. Now that I have my very own digital camera (many thanks, Sean!), I plan to take a few pictures of Bay Area converstions and send them in. If you can think of any good ones in particular, let me know in the comments.

On a snow break

I'm off in beautiful, sunny and cold South Lake Tahoe right now, with limited access to the Internet, so I'm taking a little blogging break. I'll be back on Wednesday with more!

Another Blogger find

I can't really say this one is random, as it was featured by Blogger as a blog they "noticed." And I noticed them noticing. :)

The description at the top sums it up pretty well...at least up to "Daily Show." (After that he kind of loses me.) It's a funny take on the current elections that I'll be checking in on from time to time, as it hits the right tone for me and will save me having to blog about much political stuff myself! The only complaints I have about reading it -- not that anyone asked -- are that it's easy to miss where one day ends and the next begins, and some of the entries are so short that I keep mistaking the one-liners for headings because there's no time notation or signature following them.

Quiz del dia

A very short quiz that probably no one but me will enjoy! (Yes, I got them all correct. :P )

My, what a flap

It was obvious that there was going to be talk, talk and more talk - not to mention speculation - about the Janet and Justin moment from yesterday's halftime show. However, the anger and criticism has gotten way out of proportion to the deed in my opinion. This story fills in some of the "What happened?" gaps pretty well (and seems to confirm my theory that the red part of the outfit was supposed to stay in place...if in fact full-on flashing wasn't planned) and touches on the furor it has caused.

I feel that the threat of investigations and fines is so typical of a TV society that is okay with violence, even in shows for children, but is so uptight and repressed about sex that one moment of one bared breast causes a storm of controversy. (Do you hear that sound? Yep, it's all of Europe laughing its collective ass off at how stupid this whole thing is.) However, ads about making sure that men can have erections -- doesn't get much more sexual than that, does it? -- are hunky-dory. I happen to have been a lot more annoyed by the immature ads featuring horse flatulence and crotch-biting dogs than I was by what I saw somewhere referred to as Breastgate. Not to mention that the entire batch of the non-Janet performances at halftime were utter crap. (That's what MTV should be apologizing for!)

So, in the spirit of saying *nyah!* to all the outraged ninnies and hypocrites who made calls to CBS over the whole thing, here's some background on what it was Janet was apparently wearing under her ripaway bustier. Forget pasties, girlfriend was sporting a nipple shield! I knew she had a piercing (at least one), and is fond of wearing chains connecting said piercing to...wherever...but I'd never personally heard of a nipple shield. Being the curious sort, I did a little more looking and, in case you were wondering, here is how they work. (Yes, it has pictures. If you're easily offended, be smart and don't click on it.) Not really my cup of tea, but I can appreciate the decorative nature of them if you've already gone down the breast piercing road. I'd take that over an eyebrow piercing any day!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Gee, ol' Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. A few upstart competitors didn't, but the consensus is that there will be "six more weeks of winter." Wow, what a shock. Since winter lasts exactly until March 20th every single year, this is not exactly what I call news. I think it's a cute tradition that has gotten out of hand, due in no small part to the popularity of the movie Groundhog Day. I love that movie -- it's one of those that will make me stop and watch if I come across it, no matter how many times I've seen it before -- but when they interview people every year who are disappointed that spring won't be here early...whatever.

Justin, oh Justin

Forget the game. Forget the commercials. Forget the Lingerie Bowl. It was all about the Boob Moment. I think there will be endless debate about whether it was an accident or on purpose, but either way it was absolutely jaw-dropping. I love the look she's shooting him in the second picture...that makes me think that it wasn't planned. I think they had planned for him to grab the black piece only, to expose the red-covered breast. But then, the question is begged as to why she was wearing whatever that was "covering" her nipple. Regardless, I think it had the desired effect...Britney and Madonna who?!?