best telemarketer response ever

So this conversation necessitates staying on the phone with the telemarketer in question and I can't see myself actually doing it, but I think it's hilariously brilliant.

fear of heights, anyone?

You won't catch me going anywhere near this rock in Norway. I'll be the one hiding my eyes while my husband (who happens to be of Norwegian descent) clambers on happily. Yes, that's a 3000-foot drop.



From Deputy Dog via Neatorama

quirky and fun

So far, the focus of this here blog seems to be: randomness. Is that legitimate? That is why it is so named, after all. Casual being somewhat of a euphemism meaning random (thank you, thesaurus!). Today the randomness that strikes my fancy is other blogs.

I give you: quirky blogs that I've discovered along the way.

Mustaches of the Nineteenth Century

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

BSC Headquarters (Baby Sitters Club nostalgia!)

Food Porn Watch

Facehunter

Tesla rocks!

What I know about electricity could fit neatly into an outlet, so when I Wikipedi-ed Tesla coils I still didn't really understand a word I read.

What I do understand, though, is that THEY'RE AWESOME!



Also, so fun to hear them rocking out the original Super Mario Bros. theme!

got a spare $3M?

You could buy a town in Texas! It reminds me of the slightly creepy but happy little town of Spectre from Big Fish.

friday happiness

5 things I'm happy about this Friday:

1. Celebrating my brother-in-law's 40th birthday with him tomorrow

2. Sick time, so I can go home and hack up my lungs in peace

3. The crafty projects I have waiting in the wings

4. Squash season (as in butternut and spaghetti, not the sport, though I do love me some racket sports)

5. Beautiful fall weather

it's like crack

Who wants some bubble wrap? You have to have sound enabled to get the full experience. And don't say I didn't warn you! Thanks to my hardworking father for the link!

oh, THAT'S why

Overheard today:

"Yeah, they changed Daylight Savings Time so the trick-or-treaters would be out when it was still light."

seven things

Wow, my little baby blog has been tagged, and I'm finally following up on it. Thanks Susan!

So, seven true things about me.

1. I am a lazy perfectionist with a short attention span and an eye for detail. (Like my dear sister, I have a bit of a contradictory nature.)

2. My favorite snack food of late is New York Style Roasted Garlic Bagel Crisps.

3. I am a voracious reader and will sometimes be taken in by books I'd rather not admit to enjoying. A recent example of this is the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. As I read the first book, I marked the pages that contained the ultra-cheesiest lines so I could go back and crow about them. It's wildly popular with the teens, but it reads like a paperback romance and it's terribly edited. So why am I now reading the second book, wishing the whole time that the writing and characters were living up to their potential? I want to know what happens with all the teenage vampire and werewolf drama! Definitely going to have to read some Philip Roth or something after I shake this off.

4. I daydream pretty regularly about vacationing in the Caribbean.

5. I worry about getting cancer, having a heart attack, diabetes, and losing my husband. Perhaps because all of the above have been visited on our families in 2007.

6. The Last Unicorn has been my favorite movie since I was 3 years old.

7. I have new glasses, a new haircut, a new computer, and a new job!!

tentacular

EEEEE!!!
From Boing Boing.

two angels

Will you look at them? Oh, I just want to squeeze them both.Robert Plant and Alison Krauss did an album together! I know, it's mind-blowing. I heard a track on the radio this morning, actually a cover of an Everly Brothers tune. Their voices meld together hypnotically, like a super-angel.

primitive

I was planning to post a couple personal pictures to show my faithful readers this week. But I can't... because our computer is dead. This comes, of course, one month after the protection plan expired. And guess what else? It died right after we said, "hey, the Slaughterhouse computer is running slow and acting funny, we need to go get an external hard drive and back up all our precious pictures, music, and financial information lest our computer stops working," but before we actually did it. I know, silly us, there were probably other ways to back it up, but alas, it didn't happen. We're hopeful that we didn't lose any data, because the problem seems to be with the power supply (it started having trouble waking up from sleep, then just wouldn't turn on).

Where does this leave us? Well, after Leopard is released, we'll go shopping. First order of business: set up a regular backup schedule! And yes, we're getting another Mac. You should have seen Jed's face when I shyly admitted to him that I'm actually kind of liking my work PC. It was decided that I probably like it best because it's new and super-fast, instead of THREE WHOLE YEARS old.

Meanwhile, we'll hobble along in this primitive state of existence; a reversion to the time before we did everything on the Web. For me, this will only be necessary when I'm at home. But we'll continue having conversations like the one we had yesterday*:

"Honey, do you know what the weather is supposed to be like this week?"
"I don't know! I haven't been able to check the two weather websites I check every day! Oh nooooo, what are we going to do? How will we know how to dress?
... oh, I guess we can turn on the weather channel when we get home."

(Heart rate slowly returns to normal. We will survive.)

*Transcript of conversation may be slightly embellished. Slightly.

beautiful and mostly free

I am so excited about the Wellcome Image Archive, from the Wellcome Library in London.

I discovered this amazing database through Science Books and Films and keep going back in wonder. From the website: "Wellcome Images is one of the world's richest and most unique collections, with themes ranging from medical and social history to contemporary healthcare and biomedical science. ...Whether it's medicine or magic, the sacred or the profane, science or satire - you'll find more than you expect." And the images are downloadable and freely available for noncommercial and private, individual use! Oh, the possibilities! You should really check it out.

I possess ideal qualities

One of the many reasons librarian was the right career choice for me, from Mr. Library Man:

Q: Is sarcasm a good quality for a librarian?

A: Considering the overwhelming absurdity of the modern era, sarcasm is a basic survival skill.

swearing at work? f**k yeah!

I can't quite explain why I've always felt a tiny wave of delight when one of my coworkers or supervisors lets loose with a little profanity.

Well, when I was teaching preschool profanity wasn't so delightful. Out of the mouth of a small child it was usually hilarious ("Can I say dammit? My mommy doesn't like when I say dammit. Do you let me say dammit?"), but never acceptable, so needless to say I developed quite a strong censor on my trucker's mouth.

Post-career change, I spend my days with adults and the occasional PG-13 language has been known to escape our lips. I love it! And today I found out why swearing at work delights me so much: it actually boosts morale.