happy independence day

I often misread things at first glance, some times to humorous effect. A few minutes ago I read "President Bush" as "Pretend Bush".

stupid crap that rich people buy

This cat costs $22,000.

Or something like that.

My favorite quote:

"Holly Hummel, who has been breeding hybrids for 20 years, says demand for exotic blends is growing, and the pricier the pet, the more sought after it seems. 'The more expensive ones move faster than the less expensive ones,' Hummel said."

Oh, that's a surprise.

if we were on the simpsons

Edit: I should have posted right away that this is from the Simpsons Movie website, plus a little bit of photoshop to put us all together in one portrait.

the cuties

annie!

so, about that baby...

umm...did i mention i'm going to have a baby?

...in about a week? I guess I am of the variety that just doesn't feel like blogging while pregnant. Or doing much of anything. So, that's where I've been, and will be for a little while longer. I've missed you, Internet. See you in a while...

i'm back and i'm irritated

It's October and you can tell by the changing leaves and all the e-mail forwards urging you to buy pink junk food and pink plastic junk. Broadsheet already said it better this week than I could, as did (most especially) Barbara Ehrenreich's original article about the breast cancer awareness phenomenon. I am sick of being manipulated and marketed to, in regard to a major women's health issue. Breast cancer awareness efforts have had a positive impact on the social and economic disparites in research and treatment, in the developed world anyway. But I reserve the right to be sick of all the crap (hand lotion, barbies, candy, perfume, shoes, costume jewelry, puff paint sweatshirts, salty snacks, hair dryers and jewel encrusted tote bags to put it all in) touted as lifesaving. I think I'll just buy the regular chips and dip and donate directly online, thanks.

...

I just inadvertently clicked the laptop mouse button with my voluminous gut.

music + neuroscience = nerdtastic

Interesting review of "This Is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin.

"Humans prefer music of their own culture when they're toddlers, but it's in our teens that we choose the specific sort of music that we'll love forever. These years, Levitin explains, are emotional times, "and we tend to remember things that have an emotional component because our amygdala and neurotransmitters act in concert to 'tag' the memories as something important." In addition, our brains are undergoing massive changes up until the teen years -- after that, the brain structure becomes more fixed, and it begins to prune, rather than grow, neural connections."

This helps explain why I know every single (intelligible) word to every R.E.M. song released before 1991. All six of them.

thinking

If I could make a sandwich out of a bowl of cereal, that would be my favorite food.

fortune cookie

A good way to keep healthy is to eat more Chinese food.

Sure. That's not even a fortune. It's an ad for something I am already eating.

baby, i'm never gonna let you go

Don't leave me, Pluto. Don't go. We had so many good times together. Like that third grade science fair. You were so cute and tiny and brownish-gray. Not like dodgeball Jupiter. And, remember the halloween costume of the solar system I could never pull off, so I went as a shower instead, like in Karate Kid. I guess maybe we could have done it if there were fewer planets, but there aren't. There are NINE. There will always be nine, as far as I'm concerned.