Poo Corner

Predictable

2012-02-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

I've just realized how predictable I've become. I always wear my hair in some ponytail or pigtail style, or a bun. When Marcos is not home and I'm watching TV, it's always the same few shows.... Big Bang Theory, Friends, That 70s Show, Frasier, or The Golden Girls. I always dress the same way. I'm just in a rut, I think. I may have to cut off my hair or something.

Confessions

2012-01-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

I have turned totally girly. There was a time in my life when that would have angered me- in college, for instance, when I was wearing flannel shirts and torn jeans and combat boots. Or perhaps in high school when I was busily trying to ignore the fact that I was a girl altogether, and failing miserably. But over the course of the last few years I have begun to embrace things that are typically "

2012!

2012-01-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

This year, due to one of the worst colds I've ever had, I rang in the new year with a tiny saucer of sparkling apple cider, Marcos having woken me a couple minutes before midnight. I then went immediately to bed. I've always felt that New Year's Eve is a bit anticlimactic. You spend the entire evening counting down to... what? The hour changing? Years are just human constructs, after all. It's

Feliz Navidad!

2011-12-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas from Denver, where we have tons of snow on the ground!

Happy Festival of Lights!

2011-12-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

From www.chabad.org: What is a Dreidel? Dreidel is Yiddish for a spinning top. A dreidel is a pointed, four-sided top which can be made to spin on its pointed base. Dreidels are normally made of plastic or wood, though there are silver or glass “designer dreidels” available on the market, usually intended for display purposes. It is customary to play dreidel games on the holiday of Chanukah.

"The Cloud"

2011-12-09T08:49:00.001-07:00

I don't understand this new trend of storing data in "the cloud." Is it just me, or does that sound completely unsafe? The newest Mac Mini doesn't even have a CD drive; you're supposed to download everything and store it in "the cloud" for backup. Wat da? I have a very expensive CD collection spanning years of my life. I'm not about to go and buy all those songs on iTunes just because Apple

Two types of people in this world

2011-11-30T14:14:00.001-07:00

You always hear people say, "There are two types of people in this world....," followed by some vague, mutually exclusive categories that easily divide us into two camps. Today, I was thinking to myself, "Self, there are two types of people in this world: those who prefer to make things, and those who prefer to buy things." I definitely fall into the making things category. I'm giving mostly

The Nightmare Before Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

This morning, I dreamt that Marcos asked me for a divorce. In the dream, I told him, "But I love you!" And he said, "I know, but that doesn't change anything." I woke up sobbing. All day today, Marcos has taken great pains to ensure me that he does, in fact, love me, and that he does not, in fact, want a divorce.

Ya want cute? I'll show you something cute!

2011-11-15T20:56:00.002-07:00

Lazy

2011-11-13T13:17:00.002-07:00

There are so many things I could be doing right now. I could be finishing my quilt. I could be reading. I could be Christmas shopping. I could be exercising. But what am I doing instead of all of these things? Sitting around, randomly surfing the internet and not accomplishing a damn thing.

A Cautionary Tale

2011-10-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

About 17 years ago, give or take, I was in college, and one of my best friends was a guy a couple of years younger than me, who was named Andrew. He was tall and lanky, with long curly hair. He liked to dress up for Halloween, and he was also a bit of a provocateur (as I fancied myself to be as well). That year, he was thinking about what he wanted to be for Halloween, and he thought about

Miami Beach Memoirs, Vol. 3

2011-10-23T12:59:00.001-06:00

At the Beach It's about time to finally include some pictures of the reason we took our vacation to Miami- the beach. I love palm trees. They are the only thing I miss about California, other than my family, of course. So I was in heaven looking at these trees all over the place. Miami also has lots of other kinds of trees, but the palms grow like weeds. I love the way the sky and

Miami Beach Memoirs, Vol. 2

2011-10-19T08:23:00.002-06:00

Sign O' the Times There are a bunch of hilarious signs in Miami, especially at the zoo. Someone down in paradise has a sense of humor, for sure! It made me think I should start another blog and post only pictures of unintentionally hilarious signs. But I'm sure someone has done that before. Click on any of these to make them bigger for the full effect. The part that makes this

Miami Beach Memoirs, Vol. 1

2011-10-15T22:13:00.002-06:00

We just got back from a vacation in Miami. We had a great time. Neither Marcos or I had ever been there, and it was wonderful. We've decided we're going to retire there, and if we happen to win the lottery or something in the meantime we'll move there before retirement. We both love the beach, and it was a very nice surprise for me to discover that I like humidity. Not only did my hair look

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-10-03T08:11:00.001-06:00

October 1 begins what I like to call Halloween season, otherwise known 'round these parts as my favorite time of year. I love Christmastime too, but Halloween is where I truly shine. I guess I'm just a little dark all year, so having license to dress up as something ghoulish and play tricks on people, in the name of fun, is just my speed. What is your favorite holiday?

Back

2011-10-01T16:18:00.003-06:00

I'm back. We had a rough couple of weeks. My mother-in-law passed away a little over a week ago. We had to go to New Mexico and spend time with the extended family, which was emotionally draining for both of us. Our regular cat sitter was out of commission, so we had a stand-in cat sitter. Not being a cat person, he took good care of them, but the cats were PISSED OFF when we got home. Plus,

Bluuurghhhhh!

2011-09-19T21:54:00.002-06:00

Have you ever had one of those days where you want to go to Google and type in, "Oh my goodness someone HELP me!" This is one of those days for me. I don't care to elaborate. But suffice to say you may not see blog entries for a while, because I'm completely overwhelmed by my life right now.

I Love NY

2011-09-11T21:06:00.000-06:00

All my life, I've had a secret love affair with New York City. I've never been there, so it's obviously an unrequited love. But still, it persists. I think there is no city more glamorous, more inviting, more fabulous than NYC. Once, when hubby and I were preparing to move away from Hell Albuquerque, he asked me, "If you could move anywhere in the United States, where would you go?" I didn't

Nearing the end of it

2011-09-09T13:08:00.000-06:00

Our workplace told us all, in April, that we had to use all of our existing vacation time by the end of September, because on October 1 they are switching over to a new system and they won't allow us to carry over our vacation from one year to the next (there were a number of people laid off or who quit, who were paid weeks and weeks of vacation time). As a result, I've been taking a lot of time

Nothing But a Bunch of Hoarders!

2011-09-02T09:11:00.000-06:00

I just read this story. I think it's an incredibly sad state of affairs when we, as humans, have junked up not only the land we live on, the oceans that surround us, and the air, but also the space between us and the other planets. The fact that the space junk was created entirely by scientists, who should have known better all along, gives this an extra push into the surreal. That's just the

The White Bear

2011-08-27T02:44:00.000-06:00

I just had an absolutely terrifying dream from which I have't quite recovered, so I thought if I write about it and think about how absurd it is I might be able to go back to sleep. In my dream, Marcos and I were coming home from an outing in wintertime with my friend Diane. As we were driving her home, Denver was bizarrely quiet, with no one out about about except for us and some huge, white

Anthropomorfic Hogs

2011-08-12T21:06:00.000-06:00

In TV form In blog form In cartoon Form

Not all Republicans are Michelle Bachmann.

2011-08-12T20:15:00.000-06:00

In Which I am Overwhelmed and Dissapointed by Ikea... At the Same Time

2011-08-07T16:20:00.001-06:00

Today, we went to Ikea. Yes, it was that bad. It was my idea. I take the full blame for this folly. Ikea opened on the 27th of July, and before it opened, the nearest one was in Tempe, Arizona. Since Marcos doesn't like to carry his citizenship papers around, we couldn't go to that one, so we went to the one here in Centennial. First, on the way there, they have one of those informational

A Few Leaves Must Fall

2011-08-06T16:23:00.000-06:00

I long for autumn. Right now, nothing sounds better to me than to be sitting in my living room, smelling something sweet and delightful baking in the kitchen, wearing a sweater and crocheting while my husband watches a football game on the TV. I don't even like football, that's the crazy part. I am going to bake some sugar cookies later today, to test out my new cookie cutters (now, in addition

Poor, dear Amy

2011-07-25T21:08:00.000-06:00

Poor, dear AmyWinehouse. Watching her over the past five years has been like watching a prairie dog on the shoulder of the highway.... We knew what was going to happen eventually, but we held out hope that it wouldn't happen. And yet, sadly, predictably, it did. The autopsy was inconclusive, but I think we can all guess what did her in. What a sad, sad waste of a promising life. I'm not much

Long Overdue Music Review: Jimi Hendrix’s “I Don’t Live Today”

2011-07-22T09:58:00.001-06:00

I don't know why I never noticed before, but this is one of those songs that makes you realize that great artists have even greater demons. Obviously, this goes without saying in Hendrix's case, who shot heroin into his eyeballs and eventually ended up dying from his terrible addiction. But this song really expresses his pain. Musically, it's pure Jimi- not as catchy as some of his other tunes ,

Random thought for the day

2011-07-22T07:06:00.001-06:00

You know who would probably make a really good phelbotomist? An ex-junkie. They'd hit the vein every time.

How did I live 7 summers there?

2011-07-17T21:17:00.000-06:00

We just got back home from a trip to Albuquerque, and I swear, if hubby suggests a trip down there again between May and September I'm going to cry. It was in the high 90s the entire time, and as if that wasn't bad enough there was this merciless sun which insisted on beating down upon us the entire time. Good news: I've now got a nice tan, the result of getting a bit toasty on Wednesday but it's

Overture, curtain, lights.....

2011-07-11T15:32:00.001-06:00

I just found out that there are BRAND NEW Looney tunes cartoons being made and shown on Cartoon Network. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this, since the "newer" Peanuts cartoons were not very good, in my opinion, at least in comparison to the old classics. But I'm definitely willing to give them a try. I don't want to become one of those old fuddy-duddys who thinks everything was better

Off to a grand start

2011-07-05T08:20:00.000-06:00

Today has already started to suck. I'm going to try to go through this day with a positive attitude, but I make no grand claims as to my success. Yesterday it was 100 degrees outside, and we were home with the A/C on all day, so of course it is logical that that about 4:30, the hottest time of day, it froze up and started blowing hot air into the apartment. We futzed around a bit and ended up

Theme songs

2011-06-30T07:02:00.000-06:00

P Please vote for Marcos' theme song! Voting goes through July 4th so do it as many times as you can between now and then!

Mom

2011-06-24T02:53:00.000-06:00

Tonight I have a case of the wee smalls again. I keep waking up and am not able to fall back asleep. I've often had this happen, since I was a child. I don't think I've slept all the way through a single night in my life. Normally it's not such a big deal, but once in a while my mind gets to whirring and I end up awake at the computer at 2:30 in the morning, like today. Yesterday, June 23rd,

Synesthesia (and other gifts)

2011-06-17T20:11:00.000-06:00

Dictionary.com defines synesthesia as follows: syn·es·the·sia [sin-uhs-thee-zhuh, -zhee-uh, -zee-uh] –noun a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as

Hello, Ms. Cleaver

2011-06-10T15:50:00.001-06:00

As part of my effort to use up all of my vacation time before the end of the fiscal year, I'm taking Fridays off in June. Today, I was supposed to meet with a friend but she had to cancel at the last minute due to a migraine. So I was unexpectedly left with nothing to do for a day. If you know me at all, you know I am physically incapable of not doing anything, and today was no exception. I ended

I Spy...

2011-06-07T22:06:00.000-06:00

My name is Gina, and I am a spyaholic. It's all Bruce Campbell's fault, really. I started watching "Burn Notice" because I was trying to explain who he was to some people at work and I found out that he's on that show. I was hooked right away. Then, once you watch one show on USA, you see commercials for other shows on USA, and they all look really good (because they are). So, that's how I got

The mundanity of it all

2011-06-05T17:28:00.000-06:00

Today hubby is sick in bed, so I have basically had the kind of day I would have if I were single. And ladies and gentlemen, it's not terribly interesting. This morning I made a menu for the next fortnight and then I made a grocery list based on it and went shopping. I stopped at the meat market on the way home for some boudin blanc, and then remembered that my comforter was ready at the

Awesome!

2011-06-02T11:51:00.000-06:00

Wanna see something cool? This is the all-time pageviews of this very blog, Poo Corner, by country. Well, at least since I started tracking these things. United States 4,496 United Kingdom 331 Canada 273 France 165 Germany 160 Netherlands 152 Russia 58 Australia 54 United Arab Emirates 44 Italy 37 The part I am most excited about

Ouch!

2011-05-31T18:24:00.000-06:00

Today we went to the zoo and saw the tiger cubs celebrating their first birthday by wrestling, playing in the pond, and attacking their mother from behind. She quickly put the babies back in their place, though. They were just too adorable. I find it really sad that they had to change their name from "Siberian Tiger" to "Amur Tiger" because their habitat has shrunken so much. I don't want to live

Rapture

2011-05-21T19:00:00.002-06:00

Did the rapture happen? Crystal, are you still here? You're the only person I know who might be taken.

A Lesson in Economics

2011-05-16T08:17:00.001-06:00

Tonight's Dinner: Tuna Noodle Casserole 1 can of LeSueur Peas (they're the best): $1.89 1 can of cream of mushroom soup: $1.00 1 can of Campbell's Fiesta Cheese soup: $1.50 1 bag of No Yolks Egg Noodles: $1.99 1 can of tuna: $0.60

Free Range

2011-05-04T21:55:00.000-06:00

I sent a late birthday gift to Shoshanah, and now that I know she's received it, here's a picture. Sure, Shoshanah, use it for your egg cartons! It's not a very good picture- I don't think it does it justice. The real thing is three-dimensional. The two little chickens on the bottom are buttons (and I hope they didn't fall off in the mail!) Ah, fowl love.

Art Collector

2011-04-25T22:26:00.000-06:00

One of the things that people always notice when they come into our apartment- other than the fact that it's tiny- is the plants. We have two enormous philodendrons that are pretty much taking over the living room; we're talking Indian-restaurant-huge plants. The last time I repotted them, I had one of them in the kitchen sink while I stretched out one of the vines to untangle it, and I ended up

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T11:53:00.001-06:00

Easter has gotten the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Really, if you think about Christianity (which I do from time to time), Easter is a much bigger deal than Christmas. I mean, sure, Jesus was born on Christmas- although that may not be true; let's rephrase that- Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth. But Easter- now THAT is a big deal. Everyone is born, but no one rises from the dead three

Happy Birthday, Iggy Pop!

2011-04-21T06:49:00.001-06:00

The latest accessory

2011-04-18T08:27:00.000-06:00

I am so sick of the media fascination with the baby bump and all it implies. Every time I turn around, there's some story on the internet about a celebrity dressing to accentuate their "baby bump." I find this really annoying, because it makes it sound like it's a necklace or something. It's not a damn fashion statement, people, it's a baby. We know she's pregnant because she has an enlarged

Meditation with chlorine

2011-04-11T08:25:00.001-06:00

(I actually stole this entry in its entirety from my other blog, because I haven't posted there for two years and I don't think anyone reads it anymore. --Ed.) I have not been meditating for these many months. It seemed like I was being a big fake about it. I would go into my bedroom every night and sit there for 45 minutes, trying to meditate. I wasn't very good at it. Then I would start

What kind of Foo are you?

2011-04-08T18:59:00.000-06:00

Behold the rock.

The ides of April

2011-04-03T14:05:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I worked for a few hours in the morning, then I was able to go home and enjoy what turned out to be an 84 degree day. Hubby and I went to the park and attempted to fly a couple of el cheapo kites I got at the dollar store a few weeks ago. We managed to get them off the ground, but not far off the ground. Then, mine broke away, flew across the street, and possibly

HIndsight

2011-03-26T17:10:00.001-06:00

Assuming that you have moved a time or two in your life, do you ever go back to the place that you left, and realize that moving was definitely the right thing to do? Or do you wonder if you should have/could have stayed there? In my case, it's always the former. I've moved several times in my life, and I am better off because of each move. They were all good decisions on my part (with the

Hair

2011-03-24T20:35:00.000-06:00

This week, I love my hair. Last week, not so much. Next week, who knows? Women have a love/hate relationship with their hair. My hair is wavy, so naturally I spent most of my formative years wishing it was straight, and much of the rest of my life wishing it was curly. We often spend much of our time trying to make our hair look somehow different than it does naturally. We dye it, we highlight

Cat Madness

2011-03-21T08:03:00.001-06:00

Our cat, Bill, is going to be 6 this April 1st. He is near-constant source of joy to my husband and me. I say "near-constant" because he has also developed a very annoying habit over the course of the last couple of years, which is meowing loudly until someone gives him gooshy food. It all started right after we had Scout put to sleep. Bill was home alone all day, and he wasn't used to it. He

Viva la Ferguson

2011-03-17T10:26:00.001-06:00

Things that have always brought joy to my life

2011-03-07T22:38:00.000-07:00

When I am feeling down for a long time, I often find it helpful to think of things that bring me joy. This sentiment was expressed cloyingly in that old song "My Favorite Things," but that song is NOT one of the things that brings me joy, so I won't dwell on that. 1. Reading Books were my first friends. Before my brother was born, I could always amuse myself with a good book. I learned to read

2011-03-05T07:19:00.001-07:00

Holly gave me a mobile kit for my birthday, to make a butterfly mobile. It was very pretty and I was so excited to make it! It turned out to be quite a bit more work to put it together than I was expecting, though. I love the way the butterflies seem like they are floating. They are very soothing. Both Marcos and I have spent a lot of time staring up at them while we lie in bed and read or

What the heck are you, a customer?

2011-02-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

I have today off because I work one day this weekend, and after I dropped hubby off at work I needed to go to the store. I should preface this by saying that there is a King Soopers less than a mile from our apartment, but generally we drive halfway across town to go another one that's in the Jewish neighborhood on the edge of town. Mainly, it's because it's a better store, with a better

Blue.

2011-02-20T17:29:00.002-07:00

I apologize for my extended absence from the blogosphere. It's odd; apparently I completely withdrew from it, both reading and writing, without even realizing it. A friend came over for dinner last night and kept mentioning things she had read on a mutual friend's blog, and I realized that I hadn't read any blogs since before the Super Bowl, and I hadn't written any since January. Which really

Community

2011-01-31T11:11:00.001-07:00

I want to give a little shoutout to another blog I am involved with. I'm Still Alive and Not Dead This is a community blog where the first 100 people who ask are added as authors. Every month there is a topic, and any or all of the 100 authors can write on that topic. I don't know how many authors there are right now, but I'm sure there are spaces left. It's a cool concept, and I hope it takes

Meta-blogging

2011-01-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

Today, I was looking at the stats for my blog, and there's a function that shows you what people typed in to Google (or whatever search engine they're using) to be referred to your blog. Now, I just blog about whatever pops into my head, without regard to getting a huge online following: and I know that, with a few notable exceptions, people who read this blog regularly are friends of mine, or

Animals laugh, too.

2011-01-25T06:43:00.001-07:00

Panzanella

2011-01-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sometime a couple of weeks ago, I don't know what brought it up, but I ended up telling Marcos about panzanella. Panzanella is an Italian salad that consists largely of stale bread. I had read about it on food blogs, and I think I saw Rachael Ray make some once, but I had never had it. It always intrigued me, though. I love bread, and I love vegetables. So it's really an ideal dish for me. For

Angel

2011-01-20T20:00:00.002-07:00

I just got my first birthday present in the mail! It is from my mother-in-law. Of course, I opened it, rather than wait for my birthday like a good girl. It's an angel, with a kitty! My new angel Look at those tiny whiskers! I think she's really cute- she's very folk art-y, which is a style I've always liked. And I didn't even notice the tiny whiskers until Marcos pointed them out to me

Sweets

2011-01-17T08:09:00.001-07:00

You know how, in American pop culture, you always hear or see references to how the English have horrible teeth? It's never been true in my experience; I've known a handful of Brits and they all have perfectly normal teeth, and I don't have the best teeth myself, to tell the truth about it, so there you go. But this weekend, Marcos and I decided that if it is true that the English, on the whole,

Tech gone wild

2011-01-14T07:14:00.001-07:00

I am really going to sound like an old fuddy-duddy in this post, but I think technology is going too far. Well, not too far, per se, but in the wrong direction. There are just so many gadgets and so many new ways to do things, and I don't think the old ways were broken. I love email and internet technology (obviously). But what's up with the iPad? What, exactly, is a tablet computer? To my

Vinegar Memories

2011-01-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

I had a good friend in college named Haruki, who was from Japan. He wasn't an exchange student- he had been in the United States for the duration of the school year since junior high. He went home every year over winter break and usually for at least part of the summer. As a result, embodied a very odd combination of the Japanese and American cultures. For instance, he was the only person I ever

Er... something went wrong.

2011-01-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

I set up a post to publish at 12:01 on New Year's day, with some funky purple lettering saying Happy New Year. As you can tell, it did not publish as it was supposed to. I've only done that once before, so I'm not terribly surprised that it didn't work. I guess that's what I get for trying to cheat on blogging. Oh, well.... Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I hope it's off to a great start. Mine is off

Completely Unsolicited Endorsement

2010-12-28T21:42:00.001-07:00

I'm the type of person who always buys generic groceries. We go to the supermarket and look at refried beans, and I am pretty much guaranteed to buy the store brand, unless there is a good sale on the national brand. There are certain exceptions I make for trash bags and toilet tissue, but I am generally generic. Because of this, I don't feel guilty spending $6 on a small bit of fantastic cheese

Goodbye, Teena Marie.

2010-12-27T08:11:00.001-07:00

It seems like every year at Christmas, some celebrity who had a big impact on my childhood dies. This year, it's Teena Marie.

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-24T09:21:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas to all!!

My weird world

2010-12-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to think that I inhabit some very odd space in the world that other people my have tasted a part of, but there is always something that they have no idea about. I have two examples: Mince pies. I recently decided that it had been entirely too long since there was a nice slice of mince pie in my life, so, being the DIY-er that I am, I decided I am going to make one for Christmas.

As long as you're burned, you're not going anywhere.

2010-12-09T14:29:00.001-07:00

A year or so ago, a friend recommended the TV show Burn Notice to me. She said it was a good spy show with lots of explosions. I went home that night and turned it on, but I regret to say that I made a mistaken snap judgment about the show. It's set in Miami, and two of the main characters, Michael and Fiona, were at a pool party (spying on someone, no doubt). Somehow I got it into my head

Remember

2010-12-08T13:47:00.002-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, Violacious Euphonia

2010-12-05T12:32:00.000-07:00

I did not take this picture. I found it at http://www.jonkhill.com/caribbean/trinidadbirds/trinidadbirds.htm. Isn't he adorable? I first saw this little bird at the Denver Zoo, and of course, being who I am, I thought his name was wonderful. It's such a big name! Bigger than the bird! But then the little guy came flitting out from behind a branch, and I was in love. No wonder he has such a big

The season is upon us.

2010-11-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

The giant houseplants and cat tree are not part of the holiday display. We just have very limited space in which to put our tree. Yes, there are already presents. Those are going to torment us for the whole month. I love the combo of tiny and gigantic light bulbs. It adds a certain I don't know what. Bill is exhausted and must drink water from his Kiss cup. This is in no way related

Remembering a friend

2010-11-23T17:46:00.001-07:00

Lately I have been missing my dear friend Carla, who passed away in April in a car crash. I was really depressed for a while, and then it got better, but lately I keep thinking about her. Her birthday is December 26th. Yet another reason to be bummed out at Christmastime (my mom passed away 10 years ago on December 24th). Carla was a lot of fun. She was very smart, and really good at making

Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

I think Thanksgiivng is one of the coolest holidays in America. We can all celebrate. Tenth generation Americans and people who moved here last week; Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, and everybody else; we are all united on this one day in giving thanks for what we have. And that is it. There's not some big mystical story that we may or may not believe. We know that the tradition of

I made Kimchi!

2010-11-13T10:39:00.001-07:00

My Fresh Kimchi! It's a bit early to brag about this, because it's busily fermenting on my kitchen counter right now, and who knows how it will turn out? But it smells fantastic- though I know that will change soon enough. For years, I was afraid of kimchi. I had always been told it was this vile-smelling stuff which was buried in the backyard for months before being eaten, that it made people

NPR does it again!

2010-11-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

My life has changed in myriad subtle ways since I began listening to NPR. I have become more interested in politics, while at the same time being more disgusted by them. I've found that in conversations with people, I often pick apart their arguments in my head because they've obviously been misinformed. I shake my head in pity for people who listen to commercial talk radio, or who watch the

Turkey

2010-11-03T19:26:00.001-06:00

This year, we're trying something new at our house. We're having a free range turkey from Mary's Turkeys instead of a commercial bird. No "Up to 15% saline solution" injected into the breast. This makes me worry about juiciness, and I start contemplating all sorts of things. So I looked in my French cookbook: In it, there is a recipe for turkey, and it tells you to lay strips of bacon over the

Interactive post

2010-11-01T20:44:00.001-06:00

If you were an animal, which animal would you like to be? And why?

The Lonely Limb of Plastic- an Illustrated Tale, told in Installments

2010-10-31T18:21:00.004-06:00

On a walk through the dusk to parts yet unknown, The loneliest limb heard a sorrowful moan. Towards the sad sound (though his heart grew afraid) Went the lonely limb of plastic. Rounding the bend, he saw a fearsome sight, Our poor, lonely limb nearly collapsed from his fright. And yet he approached the specter so huge, The brave, lonely limb of plastic. A sorrowful tale the huge

I don't care!

2010-10-26T07:07:00.000-06:00

I must be an atypical American. I don't care about whitening my teeth. I don't care about Taylor Swift and how her latest album is full of songs about our supreme douchebag, John Mayer. I don't care if my friends wear ridiculous clothing- I may make fun of them from time to time when they aren't around, but really, it's more interesting if they do. I certainly don't care what Stacy London has to

19th Nervous Breakdown

2010-10-24T22:38:00.001-06:00

I've been terribly lax about posting lately, and I apologize. I've been in the process of quietly approaching a nervous breakdown. However, as the refrigerator magnet I saw today said, I just don't have time for the nervous breakdown I deserve. So I guess I'll just keep at it. Before you get too worried, I'm not turning in to Sylvia Plath or anything. I haven't climbed to the top floor of a

I think we are related.

2010-10-11T20:47:00.002-06:00

Impulse Buyer

2010-10-04T07:58:00.001-06:00

Last night, I purchased these boots from Zappos: I LIKE: Riderlite 2 by Roper I couldn't help myself. I've been wanting some cowboy boots for a while, but I am very specific in my requirements. They have to have round toes, they have to be cute, and they can't cost a fortune. Since most cowboy boots have pointy toes, it's no mean feat to find the round ones around. So, last night, when I was

2010-09-29T16:33:00.002-06:00

Today, as I was getting on the freeway, the car in front of me suddenly stopped. A truck coming on from another ramp stopped, apparently to wait for the car. But the car didn't budge. Much honking commenced. I have to admit, I was one of the honkers. Why couldn't these people decide which of them should go?! Why didn't one of them just go, for chrissakes??!!! Don't they have somewhere to be?? I

When I grow old, I want to be like Betty White! But with purple hair.

2010-09-26T16:51:00.002-06:00

The Best Christmas Song in the World

2010-09-24T22:26:00.000-06:00

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that there are... Only 3 months 'til Christmas!!! (I was always the kid who shouted that at my mother at random intervals throughout the year.) In honor of this milestone- our officially entering into the final quarter of 2010- I would like to share with you my favorite Christmas song ever. It's just not Christmas

Why don't you take a picture? It would last longer.

2010-09-13T08:21:00.000-06:00

This Saturday, Marcos and I ended up going to a rockabilly hot rod car show. It was unusual for us, but still kind of cool. Lots of people were dressed in rockabilly style (which has an air of the poseur about it, in my opinion, but looks cool), and there were many really nice tricked-out cars to look at- nothing newer that 1973. The smell of leaded gasoline and weed hung thick in the air; there

Three Stupid Fashion Trends

2010-09-10T21:28:00.000-06:00

Shorts with gigantic mukluk-type boots I don't know this girl. Thank God! I found the picture online. But if you consider the fact that this picture was taken on the lovely (and temperate) Santa Monica pier, it makes it even worse. Why on Earth does this girl even own these boots? And what could possibly persuade her to wear them out in public with a pair of shorty short shorts?? If your legs

3 Songs

2010-08-21T16:54:00.000-06:00

The other day, at work, I was listening to my iPod, and I got totally distracted by great ideas for my blog. I know a lot of great music. So, I decided I need to make a short list of songs that for one reason or another made a big impression on me. I may expand or embellish this list later on. But for now... I bring you... 3 Songs that Blew My Mind when I First Heard Them 3. "When I Get You

Unexpected Beauty

2010-08-12T06:56:00.000-06:00

Last night, I was in a bit of a dark mood. I had finally come to the decision that I needed to 'euthanize' by tomato plant, rather than watch it shrivel and die on the patio and wait for the landlord to tell me I had to dispose of it. I have tried valiantly, my friends, for two years running to successfully grow a tomato, with no success. Last year I also had a bell pepper fail. (Apparently, my

Obligatory Cat Post

2010-08-07T16:37:00.000-06:00

It's a hard knock life.

The Poo 500

2010-07-31T16:32:00.010-06:00

500 POSTS (AND COUNTING)!"The perfect is the enemy of the good." - VoltaireI have been seeing the 500th post of Poo Corner coming for a few weeks now. I have racked my brain, trying to figure out what would be an appropriate theme for the Poo 500.As per my usual, I doth thought too much, and now we are at an impasse. No matter what I write about, it will not live up to my heightened expectations.

Paradigm Shift

2010-07-26T22:17:00.003-06:00

I have undergone a paradigm shift. You know, one of those moments when you realize that the way you view the world has fundamentally changed.For years, my favorite food has been grilled cheese, specifically, or any kind of cheese melted into a bread product, generically. Quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, and the like have been a staple of my life for years and years. They got me through

Makeovers are NOT our friends

2010-07-25T19:19:00.004-06:00

Prosecutor's Theory: Plastic surgery should only be used if you have been horribly disfigured, or injured, or otherwise suffer some extensive damage to your body. It should not be used to adjust your looks to your whim that day.Evidence: #1: Michael Jackson, the visage of which shall not be posted here, out of respect to the dead.Evidence: #2: Lil'Kim.Pre-surgery status: HOT. A little on the-

Create Your Own Caption!!

2010-07-22T09:56:00.001-06:00

First Impressions: Muse

2010-07-19T21:29:00.003-06:00

I bought a CD in the used bin at Twist & Shout on Sunday. It was only $7.99, and I had heard a couple of songs by the band that have intrigued me, so I thought I'd take a chance on it, sound unheard.The CD was "Black Holes and Revelations," by Muse:I've only given it one listen, and that was at work, which is why I labeled this post as a "first impression." However, it has made such an impression

Weekend's End

2010-07-19T08:06:00.002-06:00

There is always something unspeakably sad about Sunday night. You've been off work for two days, having fun (or at least NOT having to go to work), and suddenly you look up at the clock and realize that you've got to hit the hay or you're not going to make it in to work in the morning. When this happens to me, I always feel like I've just been slapped in the face- as if life has just yanked the

The Reunion

2010-07-13T23:02:00.002-06:00

Once, I had a dream that there was a Beatles reunion coming to town, or at least as much of a reunion as there could be with only two Beatles remaining. I took Marcos to the place where they were playing- a dark and run-down bar with one of those black baby grand pianos set up on a stage in front of a red velvet curtain. You know the type.The Beatles came out on stage, and lo and behold, it was