carefree

this week, medical students on a break from classes have been out in the courtyard playing 6- or 9-square (expanded version of 4-square, the game you played in elementary school, remember?). i may have to go out and join them sometime. it looks like fun.

high class cuisine

you have got to check out these weight watchers recipe cards from 1974. and don't just look at the front page-oh no. you need to click on a couple cards and read the names of the dishes as well as the commentary. i promise it will give you a good laugh for your friday.

personally, i would be especially scared of the 'fluffy mackerel pudding'. those are three words i never thought i'd see used together.

smarty pantalones

kudos to my 17 y/o high school senior neice, shayla, for kicking some college math class booty and getting an 'a' in her calculus course at dartmouth. she's going to conquer the world someday you know.

mark morford is still god

right on.

lonesome?

this little list of the 50 most loathsome new yorkers is great.

when i first saw it, i read it as 50 most lonesome new yorkers, and then was confused when i saw ethan hawke on the list...isn't he married????

post script

and jeez, remember dancing to jungle love by morris day and the time?

those were the days

i just heard a cut from the soundtrack to purple rain on kfog's 10 @ 1. i remember going to parties in college where they would just put the record (yes, an actual vinyl lp) and just let it play so everyone could dance to every tune.

i also recall the acting-out-the-lyrics-dance that went with 'i would die 4 you':
"you" (point to dance partner)
"i would" (point to self)
"die" (make hand into gun shape, point it to head)
"4" (hold four index fingers up)
"you" (point again to dance partner).

we were soooo bitchin'.

dear god please make it stop

i have seen not one, but two women this morning wearing light colored dresses (one pink, one cream) and black stockings. is this some kind of new england winter/spring transitional fashion thing?

war is hell

this blog is getting lots of hits, i'm sure. read about the war from salam in baghdad. he hasn't posted since friday, 7 am, who knows what the situation is since the big bombing last night...

current events

the headline on the valley news this morning said 'saddam hussein ridicules president bush' (or something very close, definitely using the word 'ridicule'). i don't know about you, but brian and i both had this image of saddam hussein appearing on iraqi television with his thumbs in his ears, waving his hads and stating 'neener neener neener'.

also, from abcnews.com: "New Technology Will Bring the Iraq War Into Viewers' Homes as it Happens" does anybody really want this? i mean, it sounds kinda messy.

i'm actually kinda glad we don't have tv connected to cable right now, because i could easily get depressed because there's going to be nothing but war, war, war on for a while.

so surreal

so tomorrow, after hearing about all this crap for months, we could very well be headed towards war with iraq. the whole thing is pretty mind boggling to me right now. i mean, the way the people in the present presidential administration think and act is so foreign to the way i think and act that i just don't get it.

ridiculousness

we were doing our usual saturday morning thang, listening to the NPR radio show wait, wait don't tell me (a show i hope to be on someday). a contestant came on and said she was berated in her grocery store for buying brie cheese. because it's french. don't people have anything better to do?

and, by the way, french toast is named after a person, not a country. an AMERICAN person. so there.

my sister is so creative and talented

she's a graphic artist and she just won one gold, one silver and 2 bronze addy awards for websites she designed. here's the gold medal winner.

so high school

three of my very favorite bands (still! to this day!) were inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame over the weekend: the police, elvis costello (who performed sans attractions), and the clash.

best quote of the evening (from what i read): Police guitarist Andy Summers: "I'd like to make it very clear that there is absolutely no ego in our band whatsoever.

perhaps one of the stupidest things i've ever read in the news

The cafeteria menus at the three House office buildings will change the item "French fries" to "Freedom fries" and "French toast" to "Freedom toast." The decision was spearheaded by two Republicans who held a news conference about it today.

how petty and childish can this administration get?

so seventh grade

ess
ay
tee
uuu
ar
dee
ay
why

night!

(hint: sing it out loud to yourself, and try to channel the bay city rollers)

a one and a two

today is the birthday of bandleader Lawrence Welk, born in Strasburg, North Dakota (1903). He started out playing with a band called "The Hotsy Totsy Boys" across North Dakota, then Chicago and, finally, California.

i say a little prayer for you

i can't tell you how many mornings this winter that i have thanked god and the automotive industry for seat heaters.

a girl no longer has to ask herself 'is he sponge worthy?'

the today sponge will soon be back on the market...

worth noting

It was on this day in 1965 that a Civil Rights march was held by about 600 people attempting to walk from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama as part of a voter registration drive. The group, made up mostly of African Americans, was driven away by more than fifty Alabama State Troopers and a few dozen possemen. That night the ABC network interrupted its feature film Judgment at Nuremberg to broadcast footage of the police suppressing the march and people falling on the highway. It was about a week later that, President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of congress in which he embraced the cause of the voter registration drive and used the phrase "We shall overcome." Dr. Martin Luther King was watching the address on television, and at the end of it, he burst into tears. He had stayed home from the march because there was word he'd be assassinated, but he led a second march from Selma to Montgomery, after he was granted permission by a Federal judge. The second march began with a group of 2500 and ended with about 25,000 marching into Montgomery. When King arrived there on March 25th, he delivered a speech in which he said, "I know that you are asking today, 'How long will it take?' I come to say to you this afternoon however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth pressed to earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long, because you still reap what you sow. How long? Not long. Because the arm of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
(from the writer's almanac)

and more on colin powell

apparently, harry belafonte was less than pleased with him, too. (thanks to sarah for pointing this one out...)

and more about resignations

if you haven't read this letter of resignation from u.s. diplomat, james keisling, you should. it's quoted in the article linked below about colin powell. (you will probably need to resigster with nytimes.com to read it, but it's free)

one of the few, very few republicans i kinda like

here's an excellent article about colin powell and whether or not he should salvage his reputation by resigning (warning: you have to watch an ad to be able to read the whole thing)

beat it

when oh when will my next issue of vanity fair arrive? this is the talk of the internet today.

remembering mr rogers

from the sunday new york times...

March 2, 2003
A Lifetime of Beautiful Days
By TAMAR LEWIN

FAREWELL, Fred Rogers, with your cardigan sweaters, your unwaveringly sincere gaze and all your words of wisdom, intended for tough moments just like this one.

In all those years on public TV, Mr. Rogers, in front of all those children wondering how to handle the world's surprises, you never shrank from the hard stuff — from divorce or disability or even death. You scooped that little dead fish right out of the tank and held it up to the camera so everyone could get a good look.

You told a child that whatever their bad feelings, whatever the trouble, it is something you can talk about and it is important.

So let's talk.

As you said: "I like to be told when you're going away. I like to be told if it's going to hurt."

Or, "There's so much to think about when someone you care about has died."

It wasn't just the hard stuff, though. The trick was to make a child feel comfortable in the world.

And you, too, were very special, Mr. Rogers — "the way down deep inside you, not the things that hide you."

It showed in your questions: "What do you do with the mad that you feel when you feel so mad you could bite?"

And your certainties: "No person in this whole world is a mistake. . . . You can never go down the drain."

And, of course, in the bottom line:

"There's never been anybody exactly like you before, and there will never be anybody exactly like you in the future. You're the only one."

mr brown can moo, can you?

happy birthday dr suess!