dooce

Dooce makes the Times: "I had a hard time containing my glee — not because I and some of my fellow women writers were made out to be selfish, resentful, overreacting pigs in search of validation; funny that none of us were informed that the article would run with that notion when we were interviewed — but that my child’s green eyes were staring at me from the pages of a national paper."

I can't link to her everyday, can I?

Siena Villa

This is a google friendly entry about the Siena Villa apartments in Elk Grove, California (within the Laguna West subdivision.)
I'm hoping that prospective tenants will find this entry and understand, as I did not, that once they get your money they will quit being nice to you.
Anytime I ask for anything they are not contractually bound to provide, the answer is "No". Or, "I can't now, I have to talk to this prospect". Which is sales & marketing for "now that you've signed the lease, we don't have to do bubkes for you."
The apartment is fine. The walls aren't painted white, instead it's sort of a brown theme. It's only about a hundred square feet smaller than the first place I owned. All appliances are provided, albeit, the cheapest, least energy efficient, noisiest available for bulk purchase. And I'm grateful I don't have to schlep my clothes over to a laundry.
That's enough Yiddish for one day.

Bad Mother

Bad Mother "Ayelet Waldman" Politics and motherhood. And Topomax vs Trileptal.

And, an article in the New York Times about blogging parents.

At some point, however, parents may find themselves at a crossroads. Molly Jong-Fast, who has been a frequent subject for her mother, Erica Jong, said, "There comes that inevitable moment when parents who write about their children need to choose between their writing and their children's privacy and honor." Ms. Jong based a children's book on her daughter as well as a pilot for a Fox sitcom. "There's no compassionate way to do both, so either the parent or the child will end up feeling resentful."

Which is why I'm not talking, so much, about the divorce here.

iTunes buy of the day

Holy pot-smoking tax-dodging outlaw cowby singer, Batman. 55 Willie Nelson songs for $9.99. Stardust is a great, great album. The rest are free!

Whining

Mike Connolly, who is a nice guy and shouldn't have to have his office in a waiting room, has an M&M dispenser on his desk. This morning I stopped by to help myself and noticed that it was empty. I ragged on him about false advertising, etc. He told me he'd received instructions from his wife to replenish the thing and he promised to do so by lunch. Then I harangued him about former employees who would ask for stuff, but couch it as a request from their wives. Which isn’t what he was doing, but I can go off on a tangent like no one in the world.
So, I'm sitting here minding my own business and Mike comes in to say that the M&M bank is replenished. I let him know that as long as he validates my whining, I'll continue to whine. He thought that line ought to be shared. So here it is.

Safe, Legal, and Never - Hillary Clinton's anti-abortion strategy

On Slate: Hillary Clinton's anti-abortion strategy "Hillary Clinton just endorsed a goal I've never heard a pro-choice leader endorse. Not safe, legal, and rare. Safe, legal, and never."

a) This is a reasonable approach.
b) It could defuse the red-meat anti-abortionists.

No Pun In Ten Did

• A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The Stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."
• Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and ays,"Dam"!
• Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
• Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says "I've lost my electron." The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive."
• A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."
• A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
• These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.
• And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them smile. No pun in ten did.

Bel Air, The Stores That Care

I'm inspired by customer service. Good and Bad, I think about what happens and file it away. (some people collect stamps, get off my back.)
Anyway, last night, at Bel Air, I needed two sausages for spaghetti sauce. One spicy, one not so spicy. I asked at the meat counter and the butcher went out and opened two different packages, each of which contained five or six of the little beggars and gave me a new custom package. Total cost? $1.00. The whole thing took five minutes.
Tonight is Spaghetti night with sauce from scratch.

Nice Melons You Got There

Somewhere somebody is doing something that never would have occurred to you.

Yellow Jell-0

LILEKS (James) : Gallery of Regrettable Food : Jell-O: "Would Madame like the Jell-O this evening? But of course. Would Madame care to confront the fact that the entire family fortune was wiped out in the crash, and that the days of elegant Napoleons, fancy sorbets and delicate pastries have been replaced by Jell-O? But of course she would not. Would Madame care to pay the servants some time before the winter strikes, and we are left without money to pay for our fuel? But I speak out of place. Apologies. Madame. Apologies."

We need a new emoticon

I was cruising for recipes when I came across this: "Is there an emoticon for trying to sound humble and poke fun at yourself while looking for pity? No? Oh well. :)"

Recipes

Thanks to the Sacramento Bee I came across this site. The Carrot Cake that Lilah refers to is here: (it's not done yet. Cake last night, frosting tonight. We'll see how it goes. I tried to blend the carrots into submission. That was amusing.)

This chicken dish is the other thing I've made from Elise's Simply Recipes site. It let me use my new rice cooker.

Reality, Not TV, Dinner

Lilah is proud of me. : "When confronted with the reality of having to cook for himself, my dad does not become a frozen pizza/TV dinner/bucket of ice cream addict, oh no, he learns how to make an entire damn carrot cake"

Of course, it's a little pathetic that I'm 48 and only now learning to do this... Better late then never, right?

dooce: Dear Cranky Old Bitch Who Cut in Front of Me at Canter's Deli

I am sooo loving this site.: "I don’t care that you’re only four foot nine inches tall, or that you can’t apply lipstick in a straight line or choose a hair color the average person should be able to see without the aid of polarized sunglasses."

dooce

dooce: "I started this website in February 2001. A year later I was fired from my job for this website because I had written stories that included people in my workplace. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Never write about work on the internet unless your boss knows and sanctions the fact that YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WORK ON THE INTERNET. If you are the boss, however, please don’t be a bitch and talk with your hands. And when you order Prada online, please don’t talk about it out loud, you rotten whore."

New to me site, thanks Zeldman.

Social Security: There Is No Crisis

Social Security: There Is No Crisis

CNN.com - Poll: Nation split on Bush as uniter or divider.

CNN.com - Poll: "On the eve of President Bush's inauguration, a poll shows the nation is split over whether he has united or divided the nation, but a majority believe his inauguration festivities should be toned down because of the war."
You can't make this stuff up.

del.icio.us/leehinde/recipes

I'm tracking recipe sites now. Check it out.

A year ago right here.

It hasn't gotten much better. The first poem went out with our wedding invitation.

Global : Ideas : Bank - Listening with affection and excitement

Ouch. As we used to say - Convicted!: "And don't say, 'How was school today, dear?' which really means: 'Please entertain me (mama) who is mentally totally lazy at the moment with not one witty or interesting thing to offer, and please give me an interesting and stimulating account of high marks.'
"
I start most 'just-got-home' conversations with "how was school today."
The rest of the article is about active listening...

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.

Dress to Kill Transcript: "And the National Rifle Association says that, 'Guns don't kill people, people do,” but I think the gun helps, you know?" - Eddie Izzard.
Reading it isn't as good as seeing it, but it's better than a poke in the eye.
And for John...

And I grew up in the 70s, when the careers advisor used to come to school, and he used to get the kids together and say, "Look, I advise you to get a career, what can I say? That's it." And he took me aside, he said, "Whatcha you want to do, kid? Whatcha you want to do? Tell me, tell me your dreams!" "I want to be a space astronaut! Go to outer space, discover things that have never been discovered." He said, "Look, you're British, so scale it down a bit, all right?" "All right, I want to work in a shoe shop then! Discover shoes that no one's ever discovered right in the back of the shop, on the left." And he said, "Look, you're British, so scale it down a bit, all right?"

Ewww Gross

Lilah thinks my medical condition should be a conversation limited to me and my doctor.....

Eh?

I went to the doctor's today. Had my ears cleaned. Hadn't had this done in years, did it this time at the advice of LWJ. It's weird. I'm hearing new frequencies. Typing, for instance, sounds different.

I also have a foot problem.

Feeling Cranky

So, could all those people with the pretty yelllow magnetic ribbons on their cars just send them to Iraq? The troops can use them as additional armor.

And, the U.S. declared war on terror after 9/11. Are we gonna declare war on God after the disaster in the Indian ocean? They'd have equal chances of success. Can you think of any war against human suffering that has been won? The War on Poverty or the War on Drugs are two that come to mind where we've wasted billions. The former is a noble goal, but not winnable as a policy issue. The latter is a waste of time and money and lives.

Turn down the speakers if you're at the office...

Hilarious Dude Lip Syncing
And while you have time to waste: British Yahoo Email Attachment Awards

Twenty Gifts That Go Easy on Your Budget

Great Gift ideas!
I, of course, find the gift suggestion site a week after Christmas. But, since it's the new improved me - it's a new year, right? - I may just buy now and save them for this year's Christmas.

Best quote on this page: Smoking is a dreadful habit with impeccable accessories.