He's the Man.

After all the complements (duly passed on) regarding the man modelling the Dr. Who scarf, I thought I'd say a few more words about the man I married.

1. He's really clever. He can knock together scripts like no one's business.
2. He's creative -- from sculpting to cooking to game design to cartoons, he rarely disappoints.
3. He makes me laugh. A lot. Once, he famously made me redirect a Mocha coffee drink through my nose. Ouch.
4. He has a webpage and his own blog, though he is scornful of both.
5. He is a great dad and a great husband (actually maybe that should have been point #1...)

Late February will mark 9 years since we met. Perhaps later this month I will tell that tale.

Project progress

After finishing the Dr. Who scarf in the fall, I started work on a blanket for my daughter whose birthday is in March. My plan was to knit a number of stripes the width of her bed then crochet them all together. So far I have finished two stripes and have three more in various stages. After finishing those three I need to knit three to five more, but I'll be happy with two more!

Im using a variety of yarns (mostly acrylic) with a base colour of denim blue. She knows I am knitting it, so I actually have some pressure to finish!

See more progress on: knit a blanket for my daughter

MORONS!

Bangor University (Wales) considers removing librarians

"In essence, there will remain 4 professional librarians serving a 'research-led' university of 8,000 plus FTEs and with 8 library sites."

Woke up this morning...

...born under a bad sign, with a blue moon in your eyes.

Sigh.

Seriously, I woke up early. 6 a.m. early. Either I (in my sleep) or one of the cats bumped the "nap" button on my alarm clock which resulted in loud radio announcer yapping about something not just once, but twice before 7 a.m. Now, most of you know that I work nights, but even worse, Fridays are the start of my weekend, since I work Sunday to Thursday.

I got up, stumbled around, made coffee and plunked in front of the computer. Hubby comes down and laughs, "Wife not sleep well; enter Blog mode." I considered throwing something at him, but settled for a glare. After all, he was correct and he had to leave for work, while I got to slum around in my PJs for a while.

***

It's been a week since the posting closed that I had so eagerly applied for and I've heard narry a peep from the other institution. The experience did make me think though and now hubby and I have "unofficially" widened our search. If we could both get jobs in another city (country?), now would be a decent time to pull up stakes. We both have stable jobs right now, but we are both looking for a change/challenge; and perhaps living somewhere with a lower cost-of-living would be nice for a while; and moving before the kid enters kindergarten and starts making friends and all that... I figure that's the smart thing to do. So if you think you might know of a juicy job for either of us (me: library assistant/clerk; him web programming/writing), fling me an email (I really don't want to bore all of you with the gory details of our resumes).

Must! Have! Cubes!

Spied at Archie McPhee (naturally!), The Cubes are minifigs that live within the cubicle farm you build.

For those who thought Dilbert was the best thing since, I dunno, Dagwood? Or freaks like me who love both office humour and anything remotely Lego-like.

On the persecution of a celebrity

Paul Reubens (known to millions as Pee Wee Herman) is being put through the wringer by a particularly vindictive city attourney according to Richard Goldstein writing in the Village Voice. The case is not getting as much attention as the Michael Jackson spectacle, but they centre around similar themes.

Thing is, I totally feel like Reubens deserves better and that Jackson deserves what he gets. Why? Have I been played by the media? Possibly. Is it because I have always had a softspot for Reubens and his quirkiness? Maybe. More likely it comes down to this: I have almost certainly looked at similar photos to those Reubens is being charged with owning (i.e. vintage porn) whereas I have never partied with young children in any manner that could be construed as inappropriate, let alone criminal.

In the end, neither man will truly get the same kind of trial offered to the average American and either trial could result in the total ruin of a performing career -- even if the defendants are found "not guilty."

Quirky Outdated Book #3,119

OK, so I pulled that number outa the air... but there are a lot of outdated books lurking in the library. Recreation in America, edited by Pauline Madow (H.W. Wilson, New York: 1965) is no exception.

It includes shocking facts:

"A Gallup poll in April 1959 found that only 21 per cent of adults questioned had read a book within the month"

support for non-standard leisure activities:

"There is much evidence that hot-rodding has involved boys of widely varying economic and social backgrounds; and there are indications that it is relaxedly interethnic."

and criticism of societal pressures:

"...the plain working stiff, who has a job without prestige, is better off than the more pretentious employee, for when he is at leisure his mind is free of the job. "

And it hasn't left the library in 9 years.

Childhood Shame Game

I was reminded by a coworker of the gestere where one points their left index finger toward a person, rubs their right index finger along it (as though whittling wood) and says a little rhyme. In my schoolyard the rhyme was always:

"Shame, shame, double shame,
Now we know your boyfriend's** name"

Now I see that other people had variations on the rhyme, as seen here: What gesture do you use to indicate 'Shame on you!'? Of course this article also brings up other "shame" gestures, such as the wagged finger which often accompanies that "tsk tsk" noise.

Anyway, we were trying to decide what that wood-whittling gesture was supposed to indicate. Is it phallic? Is there a sign-language equivalent? For that matter, how do hand signs/gestures evolve as language? Dammit! I'm going to have to do research now.



(**girlfriend's, if we were pointing at a boy; same sex was not an option, unless we were feeling particularly nasty.)

Bugs Bunny vs. Spongebob: Who's More Gay?

OK, So there are people who think that SpongeBob is a little, well, gay. Fine. But RobotJohnny points out (with many many stills to illustrate) that Bugs Bunny has been doing this schtick since the 50s.

To those who build washroom stalls:

If I have to straddle or squeeze in beside the toilet in order to shut the stall door, the stall is TOO SMALL.

Morons.

our own personal censor

So the kid is merrily playing away while hubby and I are tapping at our respective keyboards. The television is tuned into Sex and the City on Bravo (hey, I'd rather raise a lover than a fighter!) and one of the characters says "ass" in a sentence. The kid, snaps out of her world of make believe long enough to say "Hey! She can't say ASS on TV!"

Hubby replies, "Well, actually, this is Canada, so she can."

One lousy meatball.

Decided to meet hubby for lunch, and we chose Boston Pizza so that the kid could get "Bugs and Cheese." Today, they were out of bug-shaped pasta, so she glumly ordered "noodles" (spaghetti) with a big sigh. I ordered the half meatball sub with a side salad. I expected the "half" to mean half a sub, but I wasn't prepared for "meatball" to mean ONE meatball cut in half. That's it. One meatball. Bummer.

Landmark retailer leaving Victoria?

Well, this sucks.

A&B Sound is a landmark in Victoria and other (Western) Canadian cities. For many years it was the cheapest place to buy music, movies, and electronics -- their Boxing Day sales are part of local legend. But, with competition from big box stores like Future Shop, Costco and Wal-Mart; an ever-more vacant downtown core (businesses nearby have been folding for years and there are way too many storefronts featuring "for lease" signs); and even (maybe) the impact of file sharing, A&B Sound has filed for creditor protection in the face of a buyout followed by reorganization and restructuring of the company. Included in the plan is "strategic store relocation." My guess? The Victoria and/or Nanaimo stores -- both located in decaying/struggling downtown neigbourhoods -- will be among those moved or maybe even closed.

Full story from the Canada NewsWire.

How does your garden grow?

Now that the snow is a distant memory, and the rain has let up a little, I went out to check my garden containers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my bulbs have begun to shoot forth and that my salad greens had largely survived being buried and subsequently soaked.

The red-leaf lettuce was especially hardy -- something I will file for future reference. I was able to snip enough leaves that when added to some packaged spinach will make a tasty side salad for dinner. Yummy.

Stop the press!

This just in: people in Hell are requesting parkas.... because I just saw Emeril Lagasse prepare something I might actually want to eat: Savory Leek and Apple Wood Bacon Tart (from Food Network.com)

Of course in the same episode, he said "Oh yeah, lard can make anything taste good. You put lard on a bumper and it would taste good."

The man can cook, but his "stoveside manner" rubs me wrong.

Stuck in my head.

The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down
In rushing, rising riv'lets,
'til the river crept out of it's bed
And crept right into Piglet's!
Poor Piglet, he was frightened,
With quite a rightful fright.
And so, in desperation
A message he did write.
He placed it in a bottle
And it floated out of sight.

And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down
So Piglet started bailing.
He was unaware, atop his chair,
While bailing he was sailing!

And the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down

(and so on.)

All I can say is "Holy Rainbarrels, Batman!" according to the UVic weather station, we've had 17.8 mm of rain in the past 5 hours, and it's not stopping. That's a really ridiculous amount, even for Victoria.

change in the air?

Deep breaths. Deeeeeep breaths.

I just sent in a job application to another employer. While this may not seem a big deal, I have been with the same employer for most of the past 15+ years. Sure, there was one summer where I bounced all over and held many different part time jobs. And I have applied for a few jobs over the years, here and there. Those were mostly whims, though. This one, I might possibly have a shot at.

I don't want to say much more for fear of "jinxing" things... the posting closes on Thursday then I will patiently wait and wait. And wait. With my fingers and toes crossed.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths...

The Interventionists

If you participate in WTO protests; hate multi-nationals; have issues with GMOs; do not take homelessness lightly; or are otherwise leftist or even anarchist on the political scale, you might want to skip over to your local library to get your hands on a copy of The Interventionists from The MIT Press. The book was designed to accompany an exhibit of the same name at MASS MoCA, but it really is a guideline to many levels of "artful" disobedience.

My favourite projects featured were the paraSITE, a plastic homeless shelter which attaches to HVAC ducts; and the Surveillance Camera Players, who perform "skits" with placards in front of security cameras in public locations.

OoooOooh. Pret-ty.

In the Apple vs. PC world, I am still on the fence. The first computer our family owned was an "Apco II+" -- a knock-off that landed somewhere between the Apple ][ and the Apple ][e. I learned Basic to program that sucker, and joined the computer club at school in grade 9. (You didn't realize my geek roots went that deep, did you?) I got an A+ in the first "Computer Science" class ever offered by our school; it was taught by one of the gym teachers -- probably because he was the youngest teacher on staff -- who was basically giving us assignments and then learning from us.

When we upgraded, we bought a PC desktop unit -- another clone -- that ran DOS and that was "good enough for us." My first purchase was also a PC. I think it might have been a 386. At work, we were as likely to be given a Mac as anything else, and I learned to be ambi-platform. Now we have a curious mixture of desktop PC, "classic" iMacs and HP thin clients -- and they don't exactly play well with one another.

At home, I still use PCs, though I will admit to Apple envy -- especially when I am considering anything in the multimedia editing world, or just looking at the amazing design. I mean, look at the Apple - Mac mini; it is a marvel. Not just because of what's packed into the little box, or its price, but just the fluid lines and clean sci-fi/world-of-tomorrow look.

I love that kind of sexy design. Reading glossy quasi-academic art or architecture journals (like Flash Art and Architectural Design) is one of my favourite passtimes in the library. It's oddly also what I love(d) about Tupperware... but that's another tale.

Bagless Haggis

Along with Free Robbie Burns Day E-cards [January 25th] this page includes a recipe for "Bagless" Haggis. If you didn't already know, Haggis is traditionally cooked in a sheep's stomach [gak] but modern variations abound -- even vegetarian. If you're serving haggis, you'll need to read Burns' "To A Haggis" (the link also includes a RealAudio recording of the poem).

Need more haggis in your life? Check the webcams at the Haggis Hunt 2004/05. Spot the haggis, win prizes!

bad diet days.

The last few days have been "bad diet days" I fell off the wagon, went back to grazing and greasy foods. Now I feel all icky. That'll learn me, eh? Back to healthy choices for dinner...

Remembering When

Hmm. Getting old, I must be. Looking for inspiration to get myself writing again, I peeked at my "published work" file and found this piece which was published as an "honorable mention" in Monday Magazine's "What the 80s Meant to Me" contest; it appeared in their last issue of 1989.

I could subtitle the eighties "My life as a teenager": I turned 13 in 1982, and I breathed, ate and slept the popular culture of the eighties. To me, the eighties was music: Madonna, Prince, George Michael and Live Aid. The eighties was movies: E.T., Footloose, the Brat Pack, and endless sequels. The eighties was fast food: Chicken McNuggets, two-for-one pizza, Nutra Sweet, and Coca-Cola Classic. The eighties was technology: the Walkman, the home computer, the compact disc, and the VCR. The eighties also was trends: break-dancing, Rubik's Cube, Swatches and Cabbage Patch Kids. The eighties was new innovations and improvements on old ideas and will always have a special place in my memory: the eighties will be come the "when" of my "I remember when," and the "good old days" of my later years.

It was published with my full name and the photo, above. I was soooo proud of myself, and I still smile at the piece but I get a bit embarrassed when I realize the last paragraph has already come true!

teen reading

We had friends over for brunch today, and two of them exchanged a book. One explained, "We're trading books that we were reading when we were 15," they saw my raised eyebrows and added, "oh, Cheryl, you should totally join in."

So now I have been wracking my brain, casting my mind waaay back (20 years!!). What was I reading in grade 10? I know in class I was reading Inherit the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird. (I enjoyed both, and even ended up taking on the part of Henry Drummond in a performance of a scene from the Inherit the Wind.)

In the spring of grade 10, I started work in the public library as a page. I tried to remember how that influenced my reading. I remember reading the first page of Judy Blume's adult novel, Wifey with eyes very wide (it opens with the protagonist witnessing a stranger flashing her and I believe masturbating outside her house) and the same year I read chunks of Erica Jong's Fear of Flying. Of course neither of those books were read in full -- just the juicy bits -- and I'm certain neither represents what I was reading that year. I remember branching into non-fiction (biographies mostly); my parents' bookshelves (filled with fantasy and sci-fi); and reading a lot of books about the process of memory (I raided the shelves at the university library).

But in the end, the book exchange is about teen fiction. I considered Paula Danziger (I was bummed when searching for her bio found she had died last year) -- I remember reading the Divorce Express and the Pistachio Prescription; and Paul Zindel -- The Pigman and Pardon Me You're Stepping on My Eyeball; but then again I may have read those 2 or 3 years earlier after devouring everything Judy Blume had written. I am certain I read The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend which was published in 1984. I also read Ghosts I Have Been by Richard Peck; I had been on a bit of a horror/occult kick which included Peck, Lois Duncan (Stranger With My Face; Killing Mr. Griffin) and my first forray into Stephen King via his short story collections, Night Shift and Skeleton Crew.

I really love a good book.

I was up late last night because I really wanted to finish the book I was reading, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. When I heard that Hayao Miyazaki had adapted the story for his most recent film (to be released in North America sometime this year) I felt compelled to read the book.

It was, as you can guess, a great book. At the end, I found I was physically smiling; not just my typical "Hmm, that was clever" smirk, but actually happy and content -- that's a rare feat for a novel these days. Howl's Moving Castle is teen fiction but it's suitable for pretty much any age. It's about a girl named Sophie who becomes enchanted by an evil witch and stubbornly takes up residence with the only person she thinks can help, the Wizard Howl. Howl has a reputation for eating girls' hearts and lives in a castle that floats above the heather on the hills nearby. There are mysteries she must unfold and while she solves them, she learns a lot about herself in the process.

What I loved most about Sophie was that she was convinced that she would amount to nothing and could not do anything right. Throughout the book, she is perturbed, bothered or grumpy. In other words, I could totally identify with her.

For about the first page and a half, I was distracted because I was imagining how Miyazaki would render the characters on film -- after that and until the end of the book I was able to push that aside and build the world inside my head. Once I put the book down, and realized I was smiling, I also realized that some part of my happiness was that this book was a perfect match for Miyazaki's style. I would trust no other animator (or studio) and few fimmakers to create this world with any kind of respect. Now, more than ever, I am looking forward to the release of the film.

43 Things

Curious site. Goal management via publicly stating one's goals. Hmm. Well, I am there as triviaqueen. Inspiration comes from Carrie (thanks). Of course right now I can only think of a half dozen goals... nowhere near 43. (Personally, I think it should have been 42, that being the answer and all.)

EDIT: I keep thinking of more things. There will likely be more than a half dozen by the time you take a peek.

Messin with MTV

Thanks to Sarcasmo's Corner I have a new task today.

You see, MTV's Total Request Live is lame because it is multiple choice. Fortunately, they have a spot for "other". Even better, they don't seem to care that Canadians vote (under state there is a spot for "other" too). I shaved a few years off my age and used a pseudonym and voted for Devo's Whip It.... and then I got a page that says "Thanks for voting... Feel free to vote again."

Don't mind if I do!

tsunami relief fatigue

While I was astonished by the reports of the tsunami that hit a lot of the world on the other side of the Pacific -- especially once satellite pictures were released -- I have not donated to the relief effort. (My reason is simple: when I donate to charity I donate locally -- I firmly believe in fixing one's own back yard before the neighbours'... but I digress.)

The images on the nightly news (and the morning, noon and 24-hour cable news) are relentless and border on pornographic in the exploitation of others. At some point one has to consider whether we should glaze over and be desensitized to these images or just accept that we are being fed a 24/7 snuff film. Personally I wonder how many donations have been made out of guilt and/or peer pressure rather than honest concern.

It has become so easy to donate to this cause -- click here, drop a coin there, enter a contest with a donation, buy a concert ticket, send your kids to school with a buck or two -- but the response has even overwhelmed the aid agencies. Some are urging people to consider other causes; other agencies are explaining that all further donations will be directed into a general fund.

I'm not the only one who has been pondering why this particular disaster has promted such a response; this post on marmalade.ca (selective charity) is what prompted me to share my thoughts.

Keep asking until you know what they want.

The first rule of answering any reference or information question is to be very certain you know what the person is really looking for. Sometimes one has to ask several additional questions to arrive at the conclusion.

Tonight's example: a student asked where to find "chemistry books." I could have just sent him to the QD section to let him browse, but instead asked if he was looking for a specific book, such as the text book for his course. He let me know that all he wanted was the Periodic Table of the Elements... which I let him know was in the dictionary under "P." Since the dictionary was within sight of the desk, I walked over, opened it to the correct page and he set off to photocopy it happily.

See? I can be helpful when I want to.

Haiku published

Look, I got published: The Tyee: The Collected Works of The Tyee's Haiku Contributors (they decided to publish all of them). I'm about halfway down the page as "Cheryl" with 3 haiku. I also ended up being one of 30 entrants to win (by random draw) a copy of A Stain Upon The Sea. I will likely donate it to the library, as a bleeding-heart book against salmon farming is not going to make it to my "must-read" list any time soon.

I'll just be over here in the corner.

Need access to 7,000 recipes? Check out the Recipe Vault which hubby built this weekend. Yep, while we were housebound (between the weather and our collective head colds), I sluffed around the house, knit a few dozen rows, read a little and surfed both TV and the Web; he built this fancy dancy little archive (he's still working out some issues as I type... but it'll soon be fully active and useful).

He also cooked me most of the meals we ate and of course pulled more than his weight in the co-parenting department even after having walked into work in a blizzard on Friday morning -- which is why I am still kicking myself several hours after realizing that yet again I got the date of his birthday wrong.

It's not today or anything... it's a few months away. We were discussing my vacation requests -- one week of which was based on his birthday -- when I realized I missed the actual day. So I'll be over here in the corner (with a big-ass Dunce Cap on) while I resubmit my vacation request, adding the extra day.

=Sigh=

Big Brother?

Hmmm. Some countries erect huge statues to their unelected leaders, but in market-driven America, they erect billboards.

As reported in The Blue Lemur (a "progressive" website) via Raw Story (a "liberal" website), Mysterious ‘George W. Bush: Our leader’ Clear Channel political public service billboard graces Orlando freeway

Creepy. (Thanks, Carrie for pointing this one out.)

oOOoh, snowy.

Well, they were a day late, but the weatherpeople did get it right, Victoria got snow today.

By 10 a.m. there was about 3 inches on our patio, and we are close to the water so you know parts of Victoria are under a lot more white fluffy crap. Still, it is pretty:



I'm just really, really glad I am off work for two days (even if I am stuffy-headed), though I felt bad for hubby who ended up walking to work this morning because BC Transit couldn't drive through it (not well, anyway).

So we'll be curled up inside today. (My brother emailed from Ottawa to make sure we had enough food and batteries! Yes, we do thanks. And candles, too.) I plan to do much knitting this afternoon, and watch a movie or two (as long as the power stays on -- knock wood!).

Dominant, eh?

You have a dominant kiss- you take charge and make
sure your partner can feel it! Done artfully,
it can be very satisfactory if he/she is into
you playing the dominant role MEORW!


What kind of kiss are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


(I might beg to differ... but maybe true since I do have a firm handshake... perhaps that comes through in my smooches? Only one reader can confirm or deny.... hubby?)

snif-snort-=hack=-wheeze.

Yep, I'm officially "sick" again. With what seems to be a base model sinus cold. I dragged myself into work tonight even though the weather people have been threatening snow.** When I got here, I found that my supervisor had already called in, making me "senior staff" for the night (we close at 11, so I'm "in charge" after 6:00). Luckily they managed to find an extra body for the last part of the shift, so I'll be able to sit and direct people and hopefully not have to do too much on-desk "public interaction" stuff.

On the home front, the child again proved herself to be a right stubborn brat, her excuse for not running off to the potty being "but I was eating." I lost my temper at her and after a level 2 decontamination, confined her to her room with no TV. Naturally, she opted for an anger-induced nap. [Reports from hubby indicate that after she was left in his care, she upped the ante with a series of tantrums in his workplace.] If these incidents were not tempered by "cutest-kid-in-the-world" stunts, we would be considering boarding school, possibly military.


**Snow in our fair city is rare. We usually don't get more than a few inches, and it rarely sticks around for more than 3 days. Back in '96 we had a helluva snowstorm that shut down the city for a couple of days (see, we had just sold all our snowplows...). But even with just a hint of snow, it's so rare that 95% of the people on the road (including many city transit and cab drivers) don't have the first clue how to drive in the stuff***. So threats of snow are taken very seriously.

***Alas, technically I am in that 95%, but I will keep my distance, drive below the speed limit and just try to get home in one piece. The other options were an expensive ($20) cab ride or a tedious ($2) 45 to 60 minute bus commute (with a 10-25 minute "transfer" after 11 pm in my choice of crap neighbourhoods).

New year, same size.

I had been avoiding stepping on the scale for many days as I waded through platter after platter of holiday treats... Worse in fact, were the few days of non-social cave-dwelling days that hubby and I indulged in where I was bad [slaps self on wrist], allowing myself to eat chips and other fat/salty snacks right from the bag! (Hell, even allowing them to be in the house was a no-no as they are oh-so-tempting!)

Anyway, as you may have guessed by the title of this entry, I managed to maintain my weight at my pre-holiday level. This, to me, is no small feat! And so I return to the fat/sugar/calorie-consciousness** I had begun last summer in hopes of reducing another 25 lbs from my frame before my birthday (which is June 30th in case you wanted to know). I suspect that some of my habits have become such that I was subconsciously being careful about what I picked off platters -- and if so, that's very good news.

**Basically all I have done is to reduce my calorie intake to about 1800 per day (give or take 200). In doing so, I have made every effort to increase my intake of good calories (especially fruit and veg) reduce fat, and reduce sugar. I have not cut back my coffee consumption, though I have cut back on the pollutants (sugar and cream; often replaced by 2% milk and/or artificial sweetener). I refuse to eliminate anything absolutely (so don't even try to start that argument) though I can avoid a lot more than I thought.

For the new year, hubby and I are concentrating on avoiding convenience foods -- for financial as well as health reasons. We have done pretty well on the fast food front (sure we still crave and cave to the odd burger, but we don't eat at the drive through 6 or 8 times a month (!!)). Unfortunately, we still spend way too much on prepared foods like sushi or salad rolls which we can make much more economically ourselves.

Hubby is a good cook, so eating at home (or even eating home-prepped food) is not an issue. In fact he's good enough to consider applying to be Canada's next Superstar Chef. (OoooH! Could reality TV come to our house in 2005?)

Hubby-approved!

After many attempts, I finally captured an image of hubby in the Dr. Who Scarf of which he approves! The photo was taken at the top of Mt. Tolmie on the afternoon January 2nd. The long coat he is wearing to complete the "look" is also something I found for him (thrifting, natch).

Clicky-clicky for a peek at the photo.

Coallition of the Bizarre

OK, so I ignore the news for a day and this happens:
Clinton, elder Bush to lead private aid effort (CTV News)

What a truly odd photo to see Bush Jr. flanked by his Dad and Bill Clinton, knowing that they are going to be working together instead of against one another.

Gak!

Let it be known that I do not like kiwifruit. So I just saw this ad with a guy swigging some horrible looking green liquid called Nekta (imagine Paul Hogan saying "nectar" and you'll get it -- though technically it is from New Zealand, not Australia) and all I could say was, "Gak!"

On the other hand, while you will not find me slurping, swigging or sipping the green "liquid kiwi" drink, I can see the benefit and use of the concentrate -- after all, it is rich in vitamin C, potassium and fiber. I might be able to add a tablespoon or two to a smoothie. (If anyone out there has tried Nekta, I'd love to hear a review.)

Sex Mix Tapes

OMG. I laughed so hard reading this. Back in the day, I did make a sex tape -- with different "mood" on each side. Bob, on his blog, My Blog Is Poop waxes eloquent on the pros and cons of making a sex tape, (or now a CD) and whether it is necessary or even possible.

I have no idea what I would even put on a sex mix now. My original mix had songs both obvious (I want your sex - George Michael) and obscure (Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe - Whale), but they all had a common thread: they all compelled me to move (bump, grind, writhe, whatever.) Now, it would have to be a mix that was compatible with hubby's tastes -- in fact probably we'd have to chose them together. Hmm. Perhaps that could be a Valentine's Day activity...

All about levées

From the rather boisterous celebrations of early times to the somewhat more sedate, if informal, event of today, the Levée has evolved into an occasion to call upon representatives of the Sovereign, military, and municipal governments, to exchange New Year’s greetings and best wishes for the coming year, and to renew old acquaintances and meet new friends in a convivial atmosphere.

The quote above is from this Government House press release which includes an extensive history lesson on the origins of the New Year's Day levées. These celebrations are common around here but largeley unknown outside the Commonwealth. (Heck, even here where there are about a half dozen a lot of people don't know about them).

One year I managed to attend three levees -- along with tiny servings of food (soup, teacake, or appetizers) there's usually some form of alcoholic punch. They are however popular enough that one spends the bulk of one's time waiting in line.