For most people spending time in the bathroom has become just plain dull. Now there is finally a way to alleviate the tedious task of using the toilet with this quick-fix mix of pop culture, trivia, fiction, humor, history, quizzes, and wordplay. Amazing distractions to help pass the necessary time: - How to build an igloo - 12 reasons ya gotta love Alabama (and other states of the Union) - Obscure Aesop Fables-what Aesop didn't tell you - Everything you didn't know about butter - Ben Franklin's naughty advice on taking a mistress - A concise history of bathroom graffiti - Food, Law, or Ailment: A Latin Quiz - How to translate diner lingo Composed of jokes, stories, sayings, facts, and other quick-read articles, the Companion is sure to cause a big splash in the smallest room in the house.
this photo of our little family arriving at the picnic held in Oregon at the end of the riding season.
Feel free to mentally add a soundtrack.
Here was one of the coolest thing about riding with this group;
they were not scary biker people!
Now Mr. Logo, who doesn't particularly frighten or alarm me, apparently feels comfortable with a broader cross-section of the biking population than I do. There are some bike rallies and events where I feel incredibly out of place, and maybe that is just because of my petty hang ups but...
I really enjoyed this group of riders.
I am looking forward to more riding and seeing them again next year.
For now Red Molly is all winterized and tucked away in the garage but my helmet is still hanging on the hall tree and whispering to me on occasion.
I have to say, taking up riding a couple years ago is one of the best things I've done in a long while.
There are a couple other things I don't really buy. For example, listed below are the character traits listed for a star sign. Any guess on which group of people it might purport to describe?
Positive Traits: Honest, open-minded, straight forward, ethical, charitable, generous, good sense of humor, sexual.
Negative Traits: Exaggerating, blunt, impatient, pushy, tactless, restless, talks way too much, and rebellious.
Likes: A sense of adventure, Honesty, Freedom, Intellectual compatibility, Taking risks, Flirting, Socializing, Feeling trusted, Active partner, Daydreaming
Dislikes: Routine, Being doubted, Having to explain self, Control, Being forced to make promises, Apathy/laziness
Ideal Careers: Veterinarian, Priest, Lawyer, Writer, Teacher, Athlete, or Small Business Owner
Think you know that one? How about this one?
Positive Traits- Playful, friendly, spontaneous, caring, devoted, liberal, understanding, tolerant, benevolent, charming, patient, free-spirited, independent and open minded.
Negative Traits- Erratic, undependable, self oriented, cold, aloof, mean, self centered, and judgmental, fickle. May have equilibrium issues with a propensity to run into objects or fall out of chairs.
Dislikes- Jealousy, Possessiveness, Control, Ego plays, Pointless meetings, Narrow mindedness, Being ridiculed, Routines, Fighting/violence, Inequality, Being taken for granted
Ideal Careers- Astronomy, Scientist, Aviation, Admissions, Photography, Acting and Music.
I don't believe fortune cookies either.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The other night I was making sausage and tomatoes in a red wine sauce and while it was simmering I got involved in something else and sort of, well... forgot about dinner. Mr. Logo came through the door which reminded me that there was, in fact, a world outside my own mind and so quickly made my way to the kitchen where my sauce had become a thick reduction. It's a good thing I caught it just then; it would have burnt within a minute or two. Mr. Logo watched all this with a bemused expression on his face and I explained, "I uh, got distracted." "I know," he said. "That happens, it's just another charming part of who you are." Feeling understood, and appreciated, and loved I said, "Really?" He shrugged, "Well, it seemed like the appropriate thing to say."
There is a moral in that story somewhere for someone. I'm just sure of it. Alternately, I'm just rambling and...oh look! A chicken!
The bamboo flooring is lovely and the walls and trim are just about done.
The baseboards still need to be painted and reinstalled and there are some curtains yet to come.
We are going to replace the chairs, possibly the light fixture, and put some cute storage cabinets into the room as well but I already love it. The absence of pink probably has a lot to do with that affection.
Here is the flying frog in his new home; he seems comfortable.
does Musical Monday, and well, I'm a little behind schedule. This is Carbon Leaf (and their myspace, which I only post so you can hear some tunes and this should not be considered an endorsement of myspace). They are going to be on the Ships and Dips cruise with mah boys, if their music was not already reason enough to love them they also keep good company.
"Life Less Ordinary" Live a life less ordinary Live a life extraordinary with me Live a life less sedentary Live a life evolutionary with me Well I hate to be a bother, But it's you and there's no other, I do believe You can call me naive but...I know me very well (at least as far as I can tell) And I know what I needThe night you came into my life Well it took the bones of me, took the bones of me You blew away my storm and strife And shook the bones of me, shook the bones of me By the way, I do know why you stayed away... I will keep tongue-tied next time Live a life less ordinary Live a life extraordinary with me My face had said too much Before our hands could even touch To greet a 'hello' (So much for going slow...) A little later on that year I told you that I loved you dear What do you know? This you weren't prepared to hear I'm a saddened man, I'm a broken boy I'm a toddler with a complex toy I've fallen apart, since the ambush of your heart The night you came into my life Well it took the bones of me, took the bones of me You blew away my storm and strife And shook the bones of me, shook the bones of me. By the way, I do know why you stayed away I will keep tongue-tied but... Honey understand, honey understand I won't make demands Honey understand, honey understand We could walk without a plan. Honey understand (honey), honey understand I won't rest in stone all alone Honey understand, honey understand I'm all ready to go But you already know... Live a life less ordinary Live a life extraordinary with me. If I could name you in this song Would it make you smile and sing along? This is the goal: to get into your soul If I could make you dance for joy Could that be the second-chance decoy? The bird-in-hand I would need To help you understand? The night you came into my life well, it took the bones of me, took the bones of me You blew away my storm and strife And shook the bones of me, shook the bones of me By the way, I do know why you stayed away I will keep tongue-tied next time.
and I only just found out. She passed away in September. Most people know her best for this book,
and perhaps this one.
but she wrote many other things and her thoughts about science, art, and faith have resonated with me in a way few other authors or poets ever have. She said all good art is Christian, though not all Christian art is good. She said this because she believed that the creative spark and impulse was, in the most literal sense, mankind displaying the image of a creative supreme being.
Here is a quote from her, “Bad art is bad religion, no matter how pious the subject.”
Anyway, here is one of her poems that I really like.
Pharaoh's Cross
It would be easier to be an atheist; it is the simple way out. But each time I turn toward that wide and welcoming door it slams in my face, and I- like my forbears- Adam, Eve-- am left outside the garden of reason and limited, chill science and the arguments of intellect. Who is this wild cherubim who whirls the flaming sword 'twixt the door to the house of atheism and me?
Sometime in the groping dark of my not knowing I am exhausted with the struggle to believe in you, O God. Your ways are not our ways. Your ways are extraordinary. You sent evil angels to the Egyptians and killed; you killed countless babes in order that Pharaoh, whose heart was hardened by you (that worries me, Lord) might be slow to let the Hebrew children go. You turned back the waters of the Red Sea and your Chosen People went through on dry land and the Egyptians were drowned, men with wives and children, young men with mothers and fathers (your ways are not our ways) and there was much rejoicing at all this death, and the angels laughed and sang, and you stopped then, saying, "How can you sing when my children are drowning?"
When your people reached Mount Sinai you warned Moses not to let any of them near you lest you break forth on them with death in your hand.
You are Love, and you command us to love, and yet you yourself turn men's hearts to evil, and you wipe out nations with one sweep of the hand- the Amorites and the Hittities and the Peruzzites- gone, all gone. It seems that any means will do, and yet- all these things are but stories told about you by fallen man, part of the story (for your ways are not our ways) but not the whole story. You are our author, and we try to listen and set down what you say, but we suffer from faulty hearing and loss of language and we get the words wrong. Listen: you came as one of us and lived with us and died for us and descended into hell for us and burst out into life for us:
I find as a parent my vocabulary is sometimes limited by what I am willing to have my children hear. Therefore when I find words that are expressive and satisfying and yet not likely to get either myself or my children in trouble I am pleased. For several years one such word has been, asshat. Recently Mr. Logo was debating whether or not asshat is a real word. I submit to you all that it really, really is, and here is some evidence to support my claim.
Definitions found on Urban dictionary 1. ass-hat A general term for someone who carries out actions with such stupidity that they might as well wear their ass as a hat.
2. ass-hat One whose head is so far up their rear end it could pass for a hat; used to describe a person who is stubborn, cruel, or otherwise unpleasant to be around.
4. ass-hat Someone so incredibly stupid and/or ignorant that everything above their waist is useless; i.e. a hat for their ass.
According the online fount of all reliable knowledge, wikipedia...
Arsehat is a slightly trendier and less severe variation of arsehole, graphically describing someone who has his “head up his own arse” (i.e., not knowing what’s going on): one is wearing one’s arse for a hat. A more modern usage of arsehat describes a person doing something stupid, and can apply to anyone: “The boss is up to arsehattery because he broke the computer even though he knew he was doing the wrong thing.” This meaning was popularized by Something Awful character Jeff K. The word is popular in many online communities, serving as a more palatable version of its antecedent. According to Google’s Usenet statistics, the word only saw a token appearance every day or two starting in July 1999, but following a slow rise in 2002, it entered popular usage in May 2003. As it continued to grow in popularity, arsehat began to be used by online gamers, in first person shooter and massively multiplayer role playing games. It was a commonplace word on servers where vulgar language was not allowed.
Ok, so, I'm just saying, it's a word, ok, it IS. So there!
P.S.
For those of you who are still popping in on my little blog, I'm very glad to see you and I am reading your comments even though I'm not replying to them much. For those of you who have the details on the current sitch, thanks so much for your prayers and good thoughts and for those of you who keep showing up here even though I'm more absent than present in the blogworld, thank you!
