Prom theme: "Hold on to the Night" ... really

[Editor's note: I have no idea what kind of art to use with this post, except my prom picture, and I'm simply not going to put that up on the Internets, so just deal with not having any nifty picture with this tidbit.]

You know how people are always saying that it's a small world? Well, here's the latest proof of that, guaranteed to make you giggle: I dated a guy named Brian in high school. He was a year younger than I, which made him a junior, at the time, and actually, was my date to prom. We liked each other enough, but once I left for college, that was kind of the end of that. It was a very amicable split, if I remember right.
Cut to 16 years later, and Lisa tells me that Brian is an English teacher at our old high school ... where my niece, Ashlee, attends school. Lisa, Ashlee and I discuss this, last year, and giggle about how funny it would be for Ashlee to see him on campus. Yesterday, Ashlee texted me during her first day of senior year, to tell me that Brian is her English teacher! How funnily amazing! She says he's nice and funny, which I remember him being, and he's her fave teacher so far.
Okay ... here's the weird: I was a senior and dating Brian when Ashlee was born. She was about 10 weeks old, I think, when she (and her parents, of course) attended my graduation from high school. And now she's a senior at the same school?! I am old! It's not possible that it's been almost 18 years since all that happened! Yikes!

Cows like it north/south

Okay, so here's an interesting, if slightly bovine, article for you:

It's a moo-stery: Cows seem to know which way is north By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Talk about animal magnetism, cows seem to have a built-in compass. No bull: Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world.
Most cattle that were grazing or resting tended to align their bodies in a north-south direction, a team of German and Czech researchers reports in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
And the finding held true regardless of what continent the cattle were on, according to the study led by Hynek Burda and Sabine Begall of the faculty of biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.
"The magnetic field of the Earth has to be considered as a factor," the scientists said.
This challenges scientists to find out why and how these animals align to the magnetic field, Begall said in an interview via e-mail.
"Of course, the question arises whether humans show also such a spontaneous behavior," she said, adding, what "consequences does it have for their health."
The study sent Tina Hinchley, who with her husband Duane operates a dairy farm in Cambridge, Wis., to take a new look at an aerial photo taken of their farm a few years ago.
"The cows that were in the pasture were all over the place ... about two-thirds were north-south," Hinchley said.
Two-thirds is close to what the researchers found in their look at 8,510 cattle in 308 pastures. In the study, 60 percent to 70 percent of cattle were oriented north-south, which Begall termed a "highly significant deviation from random distribution."
Hinchley stressed that one factor that must be considered is cow comfort.
"They don't like to get hot. Their body temperature is 102, and they are wearing black leather jackets, literally! If turning north-south would keep them cooler, they would stand that way."
The research team noted that in very windy conditions cattle tend to face the wind, and have been known to seek out the sun on cold days. But they said they were able to discount weather effects in the study by analyzing clues such as the position of the sun based on shadows.
"This is a surprising discovery," said Kenneth J. Lohmann of the biology department at the University of North Carolina. "Nothing like this has been observed before in cattle or in any large animal."
However Lohmann, who was not part of the research team, cautioned that "the study is based entirely on correlations. To demonstrate conclusively that cattle have a magnetic sense, some kind of experimental manipulation will eventually be needed."

I absolutely frickin' love that so much brain power and research has gone into this cow-based, north-south phenomena. Cows are cool.

Olympics: over; television: finally able to rest

What are we going to watch now? The Olympics have dominated our television-viewing lives for 17 straight days, half a month, and now, we're like, what do we do now? It'll be an interesting day tomorrow. I'm pretty sure we'll be rolling with some withdrawal all week.
As a sofa-bound, non-expert analyst on the Games, I'll say this: I really quite enjoyed them a lot. The drama and tension lived up to the hype; the athletes performed spectacularly; the venues and pageantry were awesome; and, of course, as Americans, we kicked butt. Who doesn't love watching their home country come out ahead of everyone else? However, and sadly, through no fault of his own, I'm totally over Michael Phelps. I'm calling it Phelps Fatigue. But Brian and I did stay up until 2 a.m. this morning watching the men's basketball gold-medal game, and the ceremony following it, because we're that kind of obsessive lately. Besides, it was the first game I was able to watch in its entirety.
And what about London in 2012? The commentators were right tonight during the ceremonies when they said that no other host country would ever be able to match China for its ceremony, dollars spent, and sheer resources used during these Games. I'd hate to be the London organizers right now. They've got their work cut out for them.

Also, I dragged my family to Tiffany's this afternoon. I used my $131.55 credit and bought the Elsa Peretti open heart pendant. The saleslady, feeling sorry for me because of my indecision, gave me the black cord for the necklace, in addition to the silver chain that comes with it. Here, I've got the cord on the heart. I think I like it better that way. Tomorrow though, I'll wear the silver chain, just to see if I can like it that way, too. Who knows, maybe I will end up changing back and forth.

Use the five senses to describe it

I just finished the first draft of my third assignment for the writing course. It was an interesting project actually. The purpose of this exercise was to work on detail in writing, so the task was to put myself in a childhood environment and detail out everything about it, including the sights, smells, sounds, feel and taste of it. I am actually pretty happy with the place I selected. I chose the playhouse that Daddy built under my bed when I was a kid and we lived in Canoga Park. And the time frame? I picked the day that Mom had the carpets cleaned, and I chose to hang out in my house while they dried. I remember the day pretty well, and I was really surprised with how I remembered the layout of the house and all the stuff I had in it.
Some of my details:
...spiky acidity of the cleaning solution...
...dusty smell of the stuffed toys...
...a pink, paint-chipped, metal kitchen play set, its sink was overrun with red and blue plastic bowls, pretend vegetables and a rose-printed teapot...
Alphabet picture books, animal picture puzzle boxes, and Disney coloring books were stacked...
Covered in vinyl decorated with various circus animals, the [toy] box stood open...
...outside walls of the house were decorated with self-adhesive stickers in the shapes of flowers, grass, trees and a shining sun.
Of course, I did add some poetic embellishments, but on the whole, the piece is pretty close to autobiographical. I realize that I may have issues with describing something well though, and am eager to let this assignment sit for a night and to tackle it again tomorrow during Sydney's nap time. It's my intention to have this one in the mail Monday.

I'm thinking something silver, duh

So the state of Arizona wants my Tiffany's credit. I got a letter from the fun jewelry store yesterday, telling me this:
"The abandoned property laws of Arizona stipulate that when a merchandise credit has gone unused for a significant period of time ... with no communication regarding specific reference to the credit, [Tiffany & Co.] are required to transfer it to the State's custody."
Arizona wants my $131.25 so bad that it's going to be all collections agency on me? Well, forget that. Tiffany's says that the last time I did anything with the credit was on October 19, 2003. I remember that day, actually. I was at the store in Boston's Copley Plaza.
Thankfully, Tiffany's is as opposed to Arizona getting my credit as I am. First of all, the store did its homework, because I got this letter at my current address. I know that I haven't done anything with Tiffany's in a while (2003?), let alone in the last two years, so how did it know how to find me? ... Of course, the fun is that knowing that Tiffany's can always find me!
But back to the letter, also, it came with an affidavit that I could sign and send back to Tiffany's (I did), letting them know that I still have the credit (I do), so they don't have to give it to the state (now, they won't).
And with this letter, and my reading it this morning when Brian was home, comes this declaration from my husband: "Jeez. Just go buy something with it and spend it." Um, okay! Of course, his comment came with a caveat of spending "about $150," but I'll choose not to acknowledge that one when I'm at the store this afternoon.

They're for Archery and Badminton

I've got this crazy-long post about the Olympic sports, but decided that I should wait until the games are over before putting it up here. Who knows what will happen over the next few days? Let's wait and see! But I did get intrigued by all the sport logos; you know, the pictures designed for each sport. I'll post one of my favorites up here for you.
But can you believe that both the men and the women in the 4 x 100 relay dropped the baton? I agree with the runner who suggested that someone's got a voodoo doll trained on U.S. track athletes.

I'm sorry. I'm drained creatively right now. I'm like, "Kimmie? What's with your head? You haven't had a decent post in too many days. Get it together!"
It's like I need to be hit in the head with a birdie or something!

She's a Cancer, born on June 23

If a new relationship that has been picking up speed suddenly comes to a screeching halt, right now, don't worry! This is not a bad sign that means things are not going to work out between the two of you. It is merely a change, and you should not read anything into it. If communication doesn't pick up again in a few days, then it is perfectly reasonable for you to find out what's up. But don't freak out right away. You will send out desperate vibes, and that is not who you are.

Is it at all wrong that this horoscope totally hits to the heart of what my issue is lately ... if we put it in perspective of Daisy in my house? Oh yes, we've been doing fine, and rolling along wonderfully. But last night we made a visit to the animal emergency clinic because of a protracted rectum muscle. Sexy, yes? Apparently, little miss ended up pushing too hard at some point yesterday afternoon and popped her poop muscle. The vet pushed it back in (too much information today? You get the bad with the good, my readers), and applied a compress. All is well today, though she's a bit sore, and my job over the next few days is to just watch her butt carefully, apply a compress if it happens again, and keep her on soft food to lessen any effort she must put forth. (Have I told you lately how awesome it is to be the mom?)
But to the point of the horoscope: weird, huh? How it almost nailed the situation right on the head? I guess I just need to be sure I don't get too "desperate."

O.G. haiku #2

When all else fails, post up a picture of the most awesome dog on the planet. Oliver is sitting in the front seat of my car in this photo. I actually have no idea when this was taken, except to say that it wasn't too long ago. Notice the tongue; he's licking his chops about something.

An Oliver-centric haiku:
His life is different now;
Daisy has changed all.
He barks more, but still owns it.

Score on blog: 10.0

Check out the new avatar for the rest of this month. I totally should have known that Yahoo! would have something cool for the avatars for the Olympics. I hate that I'm so behind on getting this up here. However, you will notice that I did win a gold medal in blogging, so I can't be too hard on myself, right?

Jeez, NBC, share the love

I get that Michael Phelps is an amazing swimmer. And I appreciate his tremendous achievement. And this is, in no way, a negative post about him. It is, though, a commentary on how Phelps-centric NBC was during its coverage last night. I speak specifically about the medal ceremony after the relay last night. Yes, it was Phelps' eighth gold medal. But I know for a fact that three other guys won that race, too. And what about those guys? Brendan Hansen, Jason Lezak and Aaron Peirsol were standing on the podium while the national anthem was being played, as well. I'm irritated with the coverage director who decided that the best course of action was to pin a camera on Phelps throughout the entire anthem, without a single wide angle or pan to Phelps' left at all. Through the entire song, we were forced to stare at Phelps' smile, and not a second of coverage of the other guys. Brian and I both had the same thought, "What the hell? Where are the other racers? Aren't they there?" I'm not even a member of their families, and I'm indignant about this! Of course, Phelps is a classier guy than NBC (really, not difficult), and gave plenty of props to his teammates in every interview after the race. Bad form, NBC, bad form. You should do better.

Swedish furniture and accessories rule

How cool would it be to have an empty shell of house and an unlimited amount of credit to decorate and furnish it at the local Ikea?
Hmm. Guess where we went today? Yep, Brian made a simple suggestion: "Let's go to Ikea." Um, okay! There is so much great stuff in that store. Given the options and the credit described above, I'd have easily replaced my bedroom furniture, added a dining room set, restructured my closet, bought Sydney her own little table and chairs, re-lighted my entire house, torn out my carpet and installed wood flooring, and draped pretty fabric from the ceiling in every room. Oh yeah, and I'd have picked up a couple more of those pretty vases.
But what I did get is this mirror (pictured); a hanging net/toy holder; a beaded puzzle; and a vase with a pretty flower etching on it. I'm not sure how done shopping I am either. I've held on to the store's most-recent catalog, and I'll be interested to see how much I fantasize about the lamps I saw this morning. An extended shopping fantasy usually means one very specific thing: I must go buy it right now. We always forget how awesome Ikea is until we get back in there.

Take your time, dudes, there's no late fee

Since I'm sure you all are so concerned, I'll alleviate your worry: Yes, we are one of the thousands of Netflix subscribers dealing with a shipping snafu. But here's the fun -- we don't really care, since we're hanging out with NBC HD every night anyway. Sure, I could be going conniption fit over my overwhelming need to have Jericho, Season Two; Disc 2 in my home, but I'm not. I feel bad for all those people out there who are freaking out because they don't have their movie in the their mailbox. As in fact, I've got Disc 2 of The Big Easy: Season One chilling on the movie shelf, and I'm so dying to sit for a night and watch the second six episodes, but as a matter of importance, the Olympics are a bigger attraction for nighttime entertainment. So I'll hang out, watch the Games and patiently wait for Netflix to figure themselves out.

Pretty, yes? We should check that place out

I'm beginning to think that my lack of fantastic daily activities has become a bit of a detriment to the blog here. Like today, I mean, we went to Gymboree and had fun and everything, but it doesn't really lend itself to blog material. And without anything else going on, I find myself in this position all too often: sitting in front of a blank "Create Post" page, and nothing to write on it. Grr.
So, here's a pretty picture of some buildings in Kiev, Ukraine.

The Summer Games of the 29th Olympiad

I'm just not getting enough sleep with this whole Olympics thing going on. Here it is, the ... what? ... fifth night in a row that I'm up way past my bedtime? What's more, I'm very awake, alert and loudly patriotic that far past my bedtime. I'm digging it though. The Olympics are rocking this year, and Brian and I are having a great time watching them. I think the HD has something to do with it, too, actually. But more than that, we're watching the Games together, happily sharing the sofa, and snacking through the five hours of coverage every night.

Too loud, too loud

My house is loud lately. (This is a blog post topic suggestion from Brian, who, I think, latched on to it simply because I had a small freak-out about it not too long ago.) Yes, it's loud. Add up a screaming, tantrum-throwing, 21-month-old child; a growling and barking, stubbornly angry, 8-year-old fart of a dog; and a whining, yipping, irritatingly toothy puppy; and you've got my house. As I told Brian, once four o'clock rolls around, I'm ready to tear my hair out, in addition to curbing an intense desire to lock myself in the bathroom to get away from the sounds of it all. But then, I just kinda smile at the ridiculousness of it all, and sit back: I allowed Oliver and Daisy to have their little doggy arguments all day. I hate that he gets bugged by her, but she'll never learn to leave him alone if he doesn't give her plenty of lessons. And as for Daisy's issues, I'm trying to improve on the art of selective hearing, so the whining isn't too bad, and also am picking her up every time I think of it, and putting her on the puppy pad to pee. I'll tell you, that kind of proactive thinking made for only a single accident on the carpet since 10 this morning. As for Sydney, well, don't we just have to deal with her in every way, shape and form; and with a smile? ... But what's nice is that right now, Syd's sleeping, Ollie's set-up camp on the chair, and Daisy's chewing on plastic keys. It's quiet, except for the sound of the Olympics, and as I think about it, it was an okay day.

Shrmp ... hee, hee

"What do you call a fish with no eyes?"
"Fsh."
And that's what you get on a drink napkin at a new-to-us fish restaurant that we tried today. And actually, our lunch was very good. Brian started with a yummy clam chowder, and I dined on some good fried shrimp. It's been a while since I had a good plate of fried shrimp, and I won't lie to you, I enjoyed it.
But more important than that, I re-discovered one of the things that really makes me happy: having a good lunch and enjoying a movie without a single worry in my head. Of course, that's not fully true, because everyone's got some worries throughout the day, but when Brian and I are out lunching and movie-ing, I'm a happy camper. What did we see? Step Brothers, with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. I think I made some kind of promise to myself recently about not seeing any more Will Ferrell movies, but since it was Brian's choice, I couldn't veto it. I'm somewhat irritated to say that the movie made me laugh out loud a few times. But really, any flick that makes my husband giggle like a little kid is a good one for me.

And here, I digress. I'm watching the Olympics right now (which, by the way, have rocked so far), and simply must comment on the exchange between Bob Costas and President Bush. But first, Brian's question: "Does it bother you that the guy on the right is so much smarter than the guy on the left?" I had to laugh, because, yeah, it does bother me. But then, we all know that Bob Costas is that brilliant. But what I took away from the interview was that the president actually came off as a regular guy (is that a good thing? Discuss). And that he even hinted at a sense of humor; and that he's persistent in bugging the Chinese leader about religion; and that he didn't grasp the irony of rebuking the Russian president for having a military conflict proceed during the Olympics.

Help the honeybees

This is what I would look like if I were a honeybee that still had most of my facial characteristics. I created and downloaded this off the Haagen-Dazs web site devoted to saving the honeybees. It's really very cute. (Check it out by clinking HelpTheHoneyBees.) Anyway, the ice cream company has latched on to this cause for a very solid reason: honeybees pollinate the ingredients in the ice creams. A chief example is strawberries. But as a fact, bee pollination is essential for ingredients in nearly 40 percent of Haagen-Dazs flavors.
From the literature: Over the last several winters, more than 25 percent of the honeybee population in the United States has vanished, many under mysterious circumstances. Early reports from beekeepers show that this phenomenon is continuing in 2008. Everything from poor nutrition [and] invasive mites to Colony Collapse Disorder -- a phenomenon where bees from a colony abruptly desert the hive and die -- is affecting the bees. The disappearance has scientists stumped and has the potential to affect many of our favorite nuts, fruits and berries.
So here I am, doing my part to raise awareness to the plight of the honeybee, so I can help save my delicious Haagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream.

He was a funny guy

Bernie Mac died? How is that possible? He's one of the funniest cats on the planet, and now he's gone? Dude, you guys, Bernie Mac died today. I never watched his show, but I can honestly say that I've seen most of the movies on his IMDB page. And he always made me laugh! Seriously! In Transformers? As the car salesman? Gold!
You know what else it is though ... He's only 50. At what point did 50 become "only 50" to me? When I did the math and realized that I'm a mere 15 years away from "only 50" myself. And that it could all end so early, too. Scary, really.
Anyway, a moment of silence for Bernie Mac.

Only their accessories know for sure

I know I installed a moratorium on posts about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes several, several months ago, but I've just got to ask: Is he not going to be happy until she looks exactly like him? Is he going for some kind of slight of hand is quicker than the eye magic trick here? A moment where people will see them walking down the street and perhaps mistake him as the taller one? It's just disturbing, really. She looks too much like him. They could be twins. ... Or clones, like in that Michael Keaton movie, Multiplicity, you know? "Steve."

My kid and I look alike

According to my Blogger Dashboard, this is the 805th post to It's All About.... Crazy, huh?!

So I made another random change in my house that is going to make my ridiculous neuroses rest easier. I moved the DVD player and cable box back to the top of the armoire, and moved five of my favorite coffee table books into the space under the TV stand on the dresser. The books are too heavy for Sydney to mess with, and the DVD player and cable box are now located safely away from little fingers. (She had figured out how to open the DVD tray, and loved to grab the tray and move it up and down. Not good.) I'm liking the look of it all, and am giddy to have out-maneuvered my daughter.
What else is going on? Aside from Mom being out here for a convention for a few days, not a whole hell of a lot. So ... what? You want a Daisy update? I think ... I think ... she has figured out what the puppy pad is for. I actually saw her go to the pad to poop this morning. And this afternoon, there were a couple little pee spots on the pad too, which were too small to be Oliver's. Right now, she's sleeping her little butt off in the living room next to the sofa. Good sleep right now means that she'll be up and whining at 5 tomorrow morning (as she was today).
Well, here we are, about half an hour later, and Daisy has since woken up, and is a crazy, running around, growling at everything, puppy freak. And in fact, just barked at and attacked her reflection in the closet door. She also pooped on the puppy pad. Dudes, if we get the peeing thing down proper any time soon, I'm going to be one happy camper.
I had a lovely afternoon with my mommy today. Things like that make me a happy camper, too.
Oh yeah, and that's me with my wagon, circa ... some time when those overall shorts were cool.

Update: Mom tells me that this photo was taken in July, 1975. And that my great-grandfather affixed the sticker letters of my name onto my wagon. You rock, Bunny!

I don't think I had blue though ... or did I?

I'm just as tired, but I'm actually feeling a bit better about my little corner of the world tonight. And most of that is due to one simple thing: moving the puppy's "apartment" into a different area of the place. It was, until tonight, in the kitchen, taking up half of the kitchen. It was impossible to maneuver around, and even worse to stretch over every time I needed something from Sydney's snack and food cabinets. Then, this evening, I had an epiphany, and Katy helped me put it into action. The puppy's apartment is now in a more convenient and aesthetically pleasing location: the corner of the living room. Yay! Really, I'm loving it there, and it's made my whole head a bit calmer.
Random aside: There is one of the loudest and most lightning-filled monsoons going on outside right now. It's awesome. Oliver's hiding from the thunder, but I've been darting outside pretty regularly to check it out. A storm like this is the only decent thing about an Arizona summer.
Okay, so this is something that only a few of my oldest friends (and Mom) will appreciate, but here it is: I saw this display of brightly colored Reebok hightops in a Journey's this weekend, and simply had to take its picture. Brian wouldn't let me go in to see them or see how much they cost, so all I have is this excellent, if reflective, image to run with as a topic. Check the colors, my friends! Notice the Velcro straps at the top! See how the Reebok name is the same color as the shoe! No kidding and full disclosure, I had at least two pairs of these hightops in seventh and eighth grade. Definitely the green, though my pinkish ones were a dark shade of magenta. My yellow shoes were lowtops, so that's a difference, but as a whole, this is about as colorful as my shoe selection was during that period of my life. And I thought I was the shit for it, too. Who couldn't be cool when they're wandering around in light green hightops with Velcro?! Sweet!!

And we've named her Daisy

My goodness, I'm tired. Having another kid in the house certainly does add some ... oh, let's say ... excitement to my day. We went to the vet for a wellness check this morning, and aside from a hernia, she got a clean bill of health. Yep, you read that right: baby dog's got a hernia. As the bad: it's a bit bigger than the doctor would like, and surgery is a necessity. As the not-so-bad: if it can stay put and not get worse in the next couple months, once she hits five months old, we can have the hernia fixed at the same time she's spayed, so only one hospital visit. As for how she's adapting, well, she's doing fine. Sydney's doing fine; she digs the little puff. Oliver, my dearest pooch, isn't impressed with a little 3-pound monster chasing him around the living room. He's doing okay though, and it's only a matter of time until he comes around and starts coexisting with the little thing. I swear, I thought we were all done with family drama. And since she's a puppy, you know she had us up a couple times last night. Once at 1 a.m., and again at 4 a.m. What's that all about? I'm tired.

New puppy, no name as of yet

Okay, it's 9:30 p.m., and I'm super tired. No joke, this has been a rough day. This really should not be the case, since the actual physical activity was minimal. We did ... finally! ... see The Dark Knight this morning. I knew it was a long movie, but when you enter the theater at 9:30 a.m., and the movie's over at noon, you really kinda go, "Damn. That was a long movie." By the way, I totally dug it. Yep, definitely a bit darker in tone than any of the other Batman movies, but that made it better, and more interesting. Heath Ledger was awesome, though I could have done without the tongue, lip-licking thing. And Christian Bale ... well, he's Christian Bale. The more I chew on it, the more I like it.
But of course, after that, we wandered over to way-out Glendale/Sun City to look at a puppy. But, you all know me, I don't simply just look at a puppy. And because Brian's been wanting a new pup for so long, and I have finally allowed it, tonight, we are the happy parents of a new, white, female Lhasa Apso. It took her a while to rest and get her energy up, but the little thing is cruising around the living room now like she owns the place. We've set her up in a little "apartment" of her own for the nights and when we're all home, and I think we'll put her in the kitchen or guest bathroom during the day when Syd and I are out (all of this is for the time being. No doubt, once she gets the hang of everything, she'll expect the same freedoms as Oliver.). But right now, she's doing her whining thing, though that's certainly to be expected on her first night away from everything she's ever known. She's eaten quite a bit though, and pooped twice, so at least she's doing the proper dog thing. Plus, we've had several pee incidents so far. It's all good. That's to be expected with a puppy.
You may be wondering why I haven't told you her name yet. Well, that's simply because we haven't picked one yet. I'll let you know once we settle on one.

It needs 21 hours for a full charge?!

I got my DustBuster this morning. It's red and white, and promises to suck up any number of food items left in places by my daughter. According to the box, this fantastic machine should be able to pick up every bit of saltine cracker, crushed goldfish, dried strawberry, and crumbled graham cracker in between my sofa cushions and all over my carpet. Yay! But since I know you've been so wondering about the where-to-plug-it-in situation, I'll tell you right now: There actually is an extra plug in the laundry room/area! Sweet! I've hung up my new DustBuster above my washer, and it's charging, right now, as I write this. Awesome. Next time that kid goes crunchy with a cracker, I'll be ready for it.
Oh yeah, and I'm so excited to tell you that Brian and I already have our tickets for The Dark Knight tomorrow morning! We'll be sitting in air-conditioned comfort at the 9:15 a.m. show, and then will be trying someplace new for lunch. So it's kind of like our anniversary, but about two weeks late ... and backwards ... and in the middle of the day.

Where, oh where, to plug it in?

I've only got 49 minutes until this day is done, and it's imperative that I have my August avatar up on August 1, for some reason. I don't know. Anyway, I've been watching a lot of Gladiator over the last couple weeks (you know how HBO works), and found this particular outfit quite fetching because of it. No, I wouldn't rather be sporting something like this than my more comfortable uniform of jeans and a t-shirt in everyday life. Still, wouldn't it be kinda neat to be so feminine all the time? And to watch Russell Crowe wander around in a short skirt?
Randoms: 1.) Pamela and I have decided that yes, the Red Sox will be better off without Manny Ramirez. Really, we got his best years of production out of him, two World Series rings (something he won't get with the Dodgers, certainly), and he'll only go downhill from here. Have at him, L.A. He'll miss the Nation, that's for sure. He just doesn't know it yet. And who needs someone so clearly unhappy in Boston anyway? And don't you love that he went 2-4 in his first game, while the new kid, Bay, helped the Red Sox win their game in the 12th? 2.) Once again, Brett Favre has irritated me. Dude, take the money. Go home. Leave the team alone. 3.) Disneyland has raised their park admission prices. 4.) I need to get a Dustbuster. Having witnessed what a toddler with two saltine crackers can do to a sofa this afternoon, it's become a priority. It's on the list for tomorrow, along with the grocery store and pet supply store for doggy food.
Well, now that's a good smattering of stuff, huh?