Pink is the New Yellow

In honor of their King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who recently made an appearance wearing a pink shirt and blazer, people in Thailand have gotten all excited about the color pink.

See article.

"The Commerce Ministry is preparing to produce 30,000 pink shirts in the coming weeks to meet rising demand, said Yanyong Phuangrat, chief of the agency's domestic trade department."

-Washington Post

Catching up on old post drafts

I've had about a dozen drafts of posts from this summer that I never finished, either because I hadn't uploaded my pictures to my computer yet, or because I was lazy.
Since it's November already, the former must stem from the latter, so let's just be honest with ourselves and call it laziness.
So there are about 15 "new" posts starting in June through present... if you care.

I almost didn't know my own strength

Eddie is my witness.
I broke this apple in half with my hands.
(It really wasn't as graceful as it was supposed to be; I struggled with it for a long time - again, Eddie witnessed the ungracefulness of it)

But TA-DA!
I hadn't tried it for years, but I'm back in the game!







(update 11/17/07: I totally had a dream last night wherein I broke an apple with my hands! I was just around the house, talking with Lara, did it, and she was like "cool," and I was like "thanks."

Me and the future POTUS

Stephen T. Colbert!

(POTUS = President of the United States)

Ads with a sense of humor

I just saw this in a real estate ad:
"Small pets are ok w/ small deposit, and as long as they keep their deposits to themselves, it can be fully refundable."

heeheehee

Every Girl Needs a Good Hoodie

Calista sportin' hers...

It Might as Well be Snow!

It just started raining, and it's GLORIOUS!!!!!!!

I saw it out the window and almost squeeled like a little girl.

People are running around inside saying things like
"It's raining!" "Have you seen it?" "Rain!"
"Hey guys - you gotta see this!"

It seems like it hasn't rained in forever. That fact, plus the fact that we had temperatures in the 90s almost every day in August, this truly is a day of jubilation.

Standing out on the (covered) steps of building I work in, watching all the students running around, I thought of Sarah, Plain and Tall, celebrating that the drought has given way to much needed rain.

I love the smell of rain on concrete, and I can't wait to hear the ping-ing sounds it will make in the parking lot (there's something about the way that parking lot is paved that makes it ping - and I love it!)

Word of the Day: Solecism

Today's word of the day is solecism

solecism \SOL-uh-siz-uhm\, noun:
1. A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction; also, a minor blunder in speech.
2. A breach of good manners or etiquette.
3. Any inconsistency, mistake, or impropriety.

Crush

My old crush on Jason Bateman has come back around again.
I love watching him play Michael Bluth on the hilarious TV show "Arrested Development" and he has been in some more movies lately, too.
(And that's not "too" as in "Teen Wolf Too")

Knowing Durham vs. Knowing Durham

In German, there is a distinction between knowing something (like a fact) and knowing someone or a place (being familiar with it).
Ich weiss _______ .
I know that there are a zillion things to do for fun in Durham, and hundreds of great places to eat.

Ich kenne _______ nicht.
I am not personally familiar with a lot of the fun things there are to do in Durham, and I haven't eaten at very many local (non-chain) restaurants.

I love living in Durham.
Ten years ago I never would have guessed that I'd be living in North Carolina.
Fifteen years ago I never would have guessed I'd live on the East Coast (including going to college out here).

ORD vs. PDX: The Toilet Wars

On my last trip, the airports tried to do their best to impress me with the bells and whistles in their restrooms.

At Chicago's O'Hare airport they had automatic seat protectors.
There's a plastic covering - which reminded me of a shower cap - that covers the seat, and when you're done you push the button and it slides another length of the covering over the seat.
I was not impressed. Seems like a waste of plastic, especially if a user changes it when they're done and then the next person changes the unused one before they use it.
Plus, what our mothers told us for years about how you can catch diseases from toilet seats is just a myth.
The hover method works just as well as any seat cover or elaborate draping of a dozen strips of toilet paper. And it doesn't waste resources. AND it works your quads!

At the Portland (Oregon) airport each toilet had two options for flushing:
Flush up for #1 - uses less water
Flush down for #2 - uses more water than for #1
I especially love how they actually use the terms "#1" and "#2".
PDX wins!!!!!!!!!









(Update 11/17/07: They recently installed the dual flush system into the restrooms in my building at work! And here I thought it was all sci-fi, west coast technology.)

Raccoon Coat

One of the restaurants in Oregon where my family gathered one night had a
rack of raccoon pelt coats near the front door as part of their decor.
My uncle dared me to try it on.

Dang, those raccoons were heavy!