Useless Sharing

I've complained to the Twitterverse that I need a highlighter for so many things I read and then try to share.  Sure, in so many cases the article is enough; but in a lot of other cases, there is one sentence I really want people to read and my guess is, they'll miss it.  They'll let me down and miss it. 

Even worse is to know they read the sentence and didn't get it.  Usually I see that sentence as what should be the real thesis of the article, the antithesis of the article, or very amusing (usually, it's very amusing).

The whole problem with sharing anything is that upon sharing it, there's a good chance no one will read it.  If they do, they read the first few sentences only.  If they do read the whole thing, I'm damn impressed.  But I worry they missed the details.  Isn't there a saying that the devil is in the details?  Well, it's true.  If you miss the one funny sentence, the one line that makes a difference, what have you got?  Just a damn boring article your brain didn't process.  It's okay, we all do it.  I've also missed so many really important things while I was busy laughing at a bad pun no one else got, not even the writer/speaker. 

Want to know some science about reading articles?  Check out THIS article.  (I shared that article, it was serious and hilarious, and in true form, you haven't read far enough here to know to read that one).

Anyway, enough whining.  My whole point is that I'm sharing two things that either no one will get or no one will read.  Whatever, that's fine.  Break my heart and don't even try.

Both found at xkcd.com (with many thanks to @ibificus for introducing me to all the great comics).



http://xkcd.com/55/ This is my Valentine.

What If? What if we flew a plane in space?  I am absolutely in love with What If?...you don't even have to know me well enough to know why.  It's smart stuff with a lot of humor.  I wonder how many people start to read it and get bogged down with all those devilish details and miss out on so much of the humor.  Anyway, it's great, go check it out.  Also, follow @WhatIfNumbers on Twitter.

Peter Tork, John Denver, and the Accordion

The following quote is from one of the books I'm currently reading called Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez

"[...], every ounce of the Monkees' artistic merit left with Peter Tork"

I wondered as I wrote that if I had ever shared my love of Peter Tork with you, faithful reader...

Once I was intoxicated and told the world how I love Peter Tork. As a kid, he was my favorite Monkee.

I also love John Denver. Sure, he's a bit too hippie like for me, but really, I do have an affinity for him.

One day, when I had time to think and waste, I realized that both Peter Tork and John Denver where a lot alike! [I think it's the blonde hair style]

To steer the subject a bit off course, I saw a tweet about a polka band that played a version of a popular song. I replied to the tweet about my jealousy of those who can play the accordion. Yes, I agreed with @ibificus that my love of the accordion could be considered odd. I suppose that my searching for songs played by accordion makes me that much more odd. But, if you are reading this...you know I'm odd, and now even more odd because I love Peter Tork, John Denver, and accordions!

John Denver's Country Roads accordion style
John Denver's Annie's Song accordion style
John Denver's Annie's Song piano The O'Neill Brothers
Mario Brothers Theme accordion
They Might Be Giants' How Can I Sing Like A Girl (with accordion)

One day I can tell you about the time Eva and I had our photo posted on the front page of the entertainment section of the St. Louis Post Dispatch...we were polkaing!

Save The Elephants

I sign petitions and then wonder if they help. For example, a world can ban whaling, but Japan will whale anyway. Five million people could sign a petition, but does it help? If a world won't stop Japan, why do we believe that 5 million signatures would mean anything more or less to them? While I use Japan as my example, the thought applies to global parameters.

Does anyone know?

Anyway, I saw this post on Twitter from @ibificus. It made me think of two friends in particular (Kelly P.-F. and Amanda S.). I care too, so I signed. I want to pass this along. Browse the site, I encourage you to sign petitions you see relevant. If you find out how much help (or how little), let me know!

SAVE THE ELEPHANTS, a petition to help prevent the breaking of the worldwide ban on ivory trading.

Book of Lost Things

I just finished a lovely book, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. It was a great book with much taken from myths, folklore, and fairy tales. I have to admit that the ending was my favorite part. I won't share it, but will tell you that it has elements of well dressed talking animals [one of my bigger fears]; twisted fairy tales that end not quite like you expect yet the tales all end in some way that you some how did expect; the ending is sad and yet you smile by the shear happiness of it all. I recommend it indeed. On that note, I also think that @ibificus, @Emmet, and @FrankieP would rather enjoy it. First, well dressed talking animals. Second, great imagery for the mind that I think the likes of those fellas would appreciate. Third, it's twisted, and those three seem to like that which is twisted [or I assume since that what I gather from Twitter]!

WHERE AM I?

I am a North American city in the Rocky Mountains.

I am a stylish ski resort for the rich and famous.

I was once a rich silver mining center.

I am in Colorado.

I am located on the Roaring Fork River.

I share my name with a variety of tree.

I am the site of a music festival each summer.

John Denver moved here in the 1970s.

[Not quite so easy today]

WORD

passel: a large number or amount. [This word is similar to the words cuss and bust with respect that it comes from a "linguistic idiosyncrasy" where there is a loss of sound of "r" after a vowel and before a consonant in the middle of a word. curse-cuss; burst-bust]

A Couple of Chuffing Questions

It's been a real fucked up day. My computer program hates me and is using Chinese symbols for my icons/buttons.



I was told to uninstall and re-install to fix the problem. Great! I'm so thrilled you told me that Bentley! Of course, considering some of the things that are happening around me to people I know, I should really stop bitching! I like to bitch about stuff though. I really like to bitch about China!

Here's my real point to writing today! I'm doing a gift exchange with friends. The gift needs to be generic and non-gender specific. In addition to said gift, I am including a small home made gift. What I would like are some ideas! What would you like that is small and relatively cheaply priced?? Small bottle of alcohol? Wine? Calendar? Crossword puzzles? A block of cheese? "Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late" book? [Preferably something I can find that is not made in China, thanks]

So, give me some ideas while I give you some words!

rock:

1. To use. To make do with, usually to great effect.

In use: We don't need you to make the spare bed, we can rock the couch.

2.Streetball term for the basketball.
3. A form of cocaine.

V-Card: Virginity. All virgins have a "V-card" until they "cash it in" for sex.
BA: Badass, pronounced as bee-ay (as opposed to bitch being bee-ya).

NOW, a word question for you! Twitter friend @ibificus used the word "chuffed". Having never heard the word before I looked it up and found several different meanings. Now I'm curious. How do you use the word "chuff/ed"?

chuffed=adjective British Informal. delighted; pleased; satisfied. [As in, I'm chuffed by stories with sheep!]

chuffed=adjective British Informal. annoyed; displeased; disgruntled. [As in, I get so freaking chuffed when people talk to me when my body language says "get the fuck away".]

chuff (chuffed, chuffing, chuffs)=verb. To produce or move with noisy puffing or explosive sounds. [As in, I really didn't want to move those boxes, so in point I chuffed through the task so everyone knew.]

chuff (chuffs)=noun. A noisy puffing or explosive sound, such as one made by a locomotive. [As in, well, you get the idea!]

[By the way, those of you following my blogs (all One of you), you might have noticed my lack of letter writing as I noted I would do...nice of you to notice...I'm a slacker, you should know that by now]

Finally, The Results Are In...

Well, it's been a while since I've written, and you can all blame work for that! I've been working 12/13 hour days most days for about a month now. I've also got a lot of personal stuff going on too. I've been wanting to get around to writing some more, but just can't seem to find time. Since we hit a deadline yesterday, I'm making time to post! Here we go...

So much for polls, they only tell me what I already know!

First the results of the brownie poll. My question was, "what is the best part of the brownie", and your choices where, "corner", "middle", or "edge".
....and the winner is....

Corner

I already knew that though!

The second of polls had to do with a dog contest I was participating in and did not win. I had asked you all to help me choose a photo to submit, your choices were the following:




As you may be aware, there was a tie between Bella as a puppy and Riley with a corncob. The whole point of this poll was to help me decide but instead the poll only narrowed my options down to the two photos I had already really decided on...oh well!

The picture I chose to submit was Riley with the corncob. As I mentioned, we didn't win, *sigh*! Thanks for participating though, that was great fun, wasn't it?!

If you read my last blog, about cat pee, you might be interested to know that I've received a nickname based upon that very true and sad story! Bernie has dubbed me "la reyenita de la gata orina" which translates to "Little Queen of Cat Pee"!

Ahead now with words...and speaking of words, I heard one today that gave me a chill along my spine! Parlance...now most of us have heard the word parley...and so parlance is just a variation on that word (which means vernacular; vernacular is the term I more commonly use in lieu of parlance). Parley comes from parle which I believe is the sourced from parable (you know, the stories told to teach us stuff, like "don't cry wolf"). I of course heard the word on Twitter [where else do I socialize?] from @ibificus: "I think it's what would be called, in modern parlance, an epic fail. http://tr.im/B61y The laughing cop makes it". Did you get a chilly spine?

Okay, off to the urban words yo (I owe you many):
microvisit: The real-world equivalent of microblogging. Stopping by to talk to someone for 140 seconds or less. [Here's a funny video about this...from @That1EBD]
renob: "Boner" spelled backwards; a less derogatory way to coll someone a boner.
less than three: The literal form of <3; which is in turn supposed to represent a sideways heart (love). [I've wondered if "<3" is love; is "< B" broken hearted?? But after entering that in, I realize the compy only sees it as bold text, oh well]
lickle: To tickle by licking.
phishing: Tricking people so you can steal their personal information. Usually done over the Internet.
askusation: A question and an accusation.

I Always Say Too Much!

Okay, I have an agenda of topics, so pardon my "bulleting"...I've had a magners, some chocolate, and a long effing week...buckle in and hold on to your britches!

ONE...I've decided to be Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween. I'd love to have the whole berry gang too, so if you feel compelled to dress up, and if you feel compelled to hang out with me [for plans yet undecided], then please, by all means, pick one of the gang and dress up with me! I plan on making my costume, but if I fall short on time I'll be dressing up in a premade sleazy Shortcake costume. Mike, you'd make a cute Huckleberry Pie. If we were talking in person I'd use my smirk to charm you into to it! ;)

TWO...this story was boring, I deleted it...I will assume you are grateful. Please save your thanks for later! [Had to do with me using power tools is all]

THREE...I was going to complain about going to the girly doctor. I even had it all written out. But, then I felt like it revealed too much medical information that I shouldn't share. I will assume you are grateful. Please save your thanks for later!

FOUR...So yesterday I got home from a really long day of work. I walk in to find out that my beautiful bully Bella was grey. You may not see the alarm in this, but you should know that she is a white furred doggie....covered in ashes from rolling in the burn pile. To say the least, I was not pleased, but this did mean that she and I had to shower together [the only real productive way to bathe a dog]. Here are some snapshots!

the bait	the beast	smile!

FIVE...Just a few things to some people who may or may not read any of this...Shane posted on Facebook today, he IS alive, I am completely elated with this knowledge, I hope to hear more! I am hoping @ibificus is enjoying his Friday that is leading to a hangover for Saturday...which is sure to be "impressive". Those boys in Ireland worry me sometimes! Speaking of boys in Ireland, another I'm sure I should worry about is @FrankieP. If there were ever a human that enjoyed scaring themselves, it would be him. I could see him dressing up in frightening costumes and then jumping in front of the mirror for the simple pleasure of the heart racing fright he might get! He inspired a nightmare I had about a masked person. To @sheehanpaul, I hope you are enjoying your trip to the west coast of the US. You inspired a dream I had about a Tommy Gun [see nightmare link above]! To my sis Holly, I've not heard from you in days. Yes I am aware I should sign into MySpace more often, the phone works both ways, etc; anyway I hope you are well. Becky, I got the invite, I plan on attending the shower. Brandy, I got the invite, I plan on attending the party. Mike C., your birthday is approaching, what would you like to do? Kelly G., your birthday is approaching, I have some gift ideas! Kelly P.-F., we need to get together sometime for tea, popcorn, and board games!

Phew, that was a lot...now, your words...
peep this: similar to "check this out".
anysexual: One whose sexual preference is not limited to man or woman or both. Targets include dinosaurs, rocks, fish, plankton, and balloons. To see an anysexual, please peep this!

Three Is My Lucky Number

They [whomever 'they' may be] say, deaths come in threes. Lots of things come in threes...wise men; Columbus' ships; witches of Eastwick...the list could really go on, in fact so much further than three! My point is that yesterday I found out about three famous deaths: Patrick Swayze, Darren Sutherland, and Jim Carroll. Patrick by cancer, Darren by suicide, and Jim by heart attack.

I thought about some of my own 'threes'...like how I need to take three Tylenol for this. When working in REVIT, I save after every three modifications I make. For some odd reason I only keep three of my drawing aides on my desk.

Then I got to thinking about something totally off track after seeing my drawing utensils. I thought about China. I don't like China. I won't buy goods made in China [there are a few exceptions you'll have to ask me about later].

And since I'm jumping all over the place with topics, I thought I should update you that I still haven't heard from Shane Brain. I did hear, through a Third Party, that he is at least alive. I don't know if I'm allowed to mention Third Party's name since technically I'm not allowed to talk to him. I've never been one to adhere strictly to rules I see as pointless, so, as you can obviously tell by reading, I still speak to Third Party.

You may have noticed how I pulled this whole blog back around to threes (three topics, Third Party...). So, now that I have you wrinkling your brow in confusion, I think this is where I will depart for the day! [Oh yea, another topic you should ask me about one day is my dislike for the celebration of Columbus, bastard Nazi]

Your words...
safety date: A person that accompanies you to a friend's or family event to give the appearance that you are seeing people and not isolated from society or to avoid being set up on blind dates by well-meaning friends.
pop hundies: To spend big bills, such as hundred-dollar bills.
#3: In relation to using the toilet, this refers to diarrhea. Alternately this can refer to a third type of bodily fluid, usually ejaculate.

SheepDay

Today is going to be about sheep! It's going to be about sheep because I like sheep! It's also going to be about sheep in an effort to keep my mouth shut about other things! Grrr kind of things! I do however have a quick question before I move on...is there a word to define eavesdropping with the eyes? And by this I do not mean "to spy"...so, what is the word? If there isn't one, I'll be making one up!

Sheep video by people I do not know, except two of them are twitter cohorts @ibificus and @frankiep


A picture from the lovely Kelly Schmickle


This is a sheep at my desk!


A party sheep from Skweak


A picture of a picture of Irish Sheepeses


[Added later in day]
My dream job listed on sheet of paper I was doodling on while my boss was at my desk!



Words...
paper stack: Money
go Huxtable: To settle down, find a good job, and start a family.

Oh Well, I Bought More Shoes

So I just added an automatic twitter feed for my blog. Not too excited about it because I like to add the feeds myself so that I essentially have control over encouraging what things to read. Oh well, I'll try it and if I don't like it, gone! Anyway, this will be the first test of the feed, so, do your thing you magic maker!

Yesterday I felt overwhelmingly compelled to buy a pair of shoes for which I already had one pair. The thing is, I love those pink/grey plaid loafers. So, I gave into my compulsion and bought another pair (half a size smaller) as well as a pair of plaid Converse All-Stars. Cute, wearing them today. I don't match at all either. Again, oh well!

Yea, so that's about all I have. I did want to share this one picture though, because it's just cute!


[Rude Girl by Matt Mims, to see more by this fellow, click here! Thanks to @ibificus for this introduction]

Word...
B&BJ: A seedy hotel; the kind of place that may even rent rooms by the hour; a place you go solely for sex.

Interventions

I will let you be the judge. You know I hate discussing politics or anything of any seriousness because I either have extremely STRONG opinions, things can/will get ugly; -OR- I have no strong opinion and prefer to ride the fence until I can gain a first hand understanding. In this case, not likely I'll be gaining a first hand experience, but I do have strong opinions on the topic(s) ... so, as I said, You can be The Judge.

The following paragraph was mentioned in an article brought to my attention by @ibificus (via Twitter). [ed note: I'm not being friends with the person (I swear), just following his recommended blogs (yea, I guess that's like stalking his library register, but, not really (I swear))]

Missionaries like Shari believe that sex workers are always victims, that nobody –and certainly not a decent woman, can possibly choose to sell sex willingly and that if offered with the possibility to flip burgers in a Mc Donald they would. But would they? There is little evidence that this is the case, mostly because there are not that many Mc Donald in Cambodia. Their solution? Confining women to traditional craftwork, or offering them goats a tad colonialist, demeaning and patronising but reassuringly decent.

Now, go read the article yourself (click here), and as I said, go be your own judge. Then if you feel like arguing (or not arguing) with me (or really want to know my opinion) I might share it. Curious to see what others think!

Word...
check your vitals: To check your e-mail, myspace, facebook, blog, and/or any daily essential Web sites.

[ed. note: I check my vitals so often, they should be embedded in my head to save time ... Amanda, stop shaking your head at me!]