Today's update is a shoutout to teh ryan--apparently, a breathless nation agrees with you that your birthday is awesome. One more week! ;)

Have a good weekend, peeps! Smell ya later!

I am sucking at coming up with a blog entry today, so I'm gonna just get a little Neruda-y. Deal!

Take bread away from me, if you wish, take air away, but do not take from me your laughter. Do not take away the rose, the lance flower that you pluck, the water that suddenly bursts forth in joy, the sudden wave of silver born in you. My struggle is harsh and I come back with eyes tired at times from having seen the unchanging earth, but when your laughter enters it rises to the sky seeking me and it opens for me all the doors of life. My love, in the darkest hour your laughter opens, and if suddenly you see my blood staining the stones of the street, laugh, because your laughter will be for my hands like a fresh sword. Next to the sea in the autumn, your laughter must raise its foamy cascade, and in the spring, love, I want your laughter like the flower I was waiting for, the blue flower, the rose of my echoing country. Laugh at the night, at the day, at the moon, laugh at the twisted streets of the island, laugh at this clumsy boy who loves you, but when I open my eyes and close them, when my steps go, when my steps return, deny me bread, air, light, spring, but never your laughter for I would die.

Wow, this is a great idea...

FOR ME TO POOP ON!

I'm up against approximately 122 deadlines today, so in lieu of words, here are some new pictures of Madeleine. I hope even Amber will overlook the lameness of a "daily update" consisting only of pictures, in light of their cuteness. ;) (I hope this works...Photobucket = teh suck today. I'll try to rotate the horizontal images when it's working again.)

Can someone please enlighten me as to how Mensa has, in the course of its existence, "identif[ied] and foster[ed] human intelligence for the benefit of humanity"? I had always assumed it was a way for smart people to remind themselves and everyone else how very smart they are, but who knows--maybe I'm just not smart enough to get what's going on here.

I'm also unclear on how said group can be of benefit to a toddler, or she to them. What, is she expected to help other members shore up their mastery of drinking from a big-kid cup and using the potty? Or maybe they can help her with learning to throw a ball and to color ONLY on the paper.

But hey, now a bunch of people who read the news online today will know that some English couple's two-year-old is really smart. And in the end, isn't that what it's all about?

Have a good weekend, peeps!

Chickens don't clap!

Quiz Yourself!

1. Chinese fried foodstuff:
a. Crab rangoon
b. Eggrolls
c. Both, please
d. Blech, I hate Chinese food

2. Composers/pianists:
a. Duke
b. Monk
c. They rule equally
d. Who?

3. Pets:
a. Cats
b. Dogs
c. All of the above
d. No thanks

4. Funny movies:
a. Anchorman
b. Office Space
c. a or b, I can't decide
d. They both suck

5. Meat product:
a. Sausage
b. Bacon
c. Wait, what kind of sausage are you talking about?
d. Eating animals is wrong and/or gross

Answers (listed in order of correctness):

1. Chinese fried foodstuff: a, c, b, d. I don't think I've ever known anyone who didn't acknowledge that crab rangoonies are delicious. I don't think I want to know such a person.

2. Composers/pianists: c, a or b, d. If you put a gun to my head and made me choose, I'd have to say Monk.

3. Pets: c, a or b, d. I don't trust anyone who answers d.

4. Funny movies: b, a, c, d. If you answer d, congrats on being on the same side of judging funny as pck.

5. Meat: b, a, c, d. The pig is a wonderful, maaaaaaaaagical animal!

Which event that occurred yesterday in Illinois's state capitol is more ridiculous: this or this?

No, seriously, I don't know.

This is kinda awesome.

Yesterday I thought Maddie, Julia, and I all were just having bad allergy days. Today, I think we all have the same dumb cold. :( It bothered Maddie enough to wake up at 3 and not go back to sleep until like 6, so, yeah--I've been up since 3. I feel a lot like this:

I'm on no sleep, NO sleep!

While looking for that, I happened upon this. Yes, that's George Costanza workin' the Miami Vice look for McD's. How did McD's ever get so huge with advertising like this? (Edited because I apparently messed this one up, too. Geez, I suck at the Internets.)

George!

Also, looks like I messed up my links in Friday's entry...better go try to fix it!

THINGS THAT HAVE MADE ME CRY TODAY (now with actual links!):

Limey mobile phone salesman who sings opera

The other link I had posted was just a Yahoo article about Ruth Graham's having died, and that's where I got this quote:

"I am so grateful to the Lord that he gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we've had in the mountains together. We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven."

I looked for a link to the story and found this related one, which I enjoyed because of the third-to-last paragraph. ;)

But actually, I probably could've used some of this "education"

Sorry 'bout that!

Ha! And you thought you'd surf by and laugh at me for not posting anything, didn't you? Take that, people who know how I operate!

Today I present...

THINGS I WAS WRONG ABOUT

* The Office: I'm on record as stating that this show is way overrated and its humor is forced. After halfway watching it for a season because my husband likes it, I am now compelled to admit that it is kinda funny.

* Sweet potatoes: I can't believe these literally made me throw up when I was a kid. They are one of my favorite things to eat now.

* Macs: Yep, they're better than PCs.

* Politics: When I was a teenager, I thought liberals were right about everything. When I was in my twenties, I thought conservatives were right about everything. Now I think that none of them are right about anything.

* Recycling: I used to think this was a stupid, boring waste of time. Now we regularly recycle plastic and glass at home, and I even bring home plastic and glass I use at work because we don't have recycling on site. Also, I just printed a paper with a small error on it, and I was going to correct it in the file and print it again, but I felt too guilty about wasting the paper so I'm using the printout with the error.

Maybe tomorrow I'll work on a list of things I was right about. That one's a lot longer than this one. ;)

MAJOR UPDATE!!!!

I'd like to announce an exciting initiative that I think will make this blog more entertaining for the two or three people out there who still check it every other week or so.

I'm gonna, like, post messages on it.

No, seriously!

A post every day for the next 30 days. (Well, weekdays--not necessarily weekends.) I can't promise exciting posts, but I can promise posts.

No, seriously!