For Our Little One’s First Christmas

Perfect Stocking Stuffer

One funny thing, almost two

Mayor “Just Curious” If Obama is the Antichrist. I need not say more. I think the headline is just great. The article is slightly less amusing, and of course, depressing if you really think about it.

I cannot bring myself to post the second funny thing. It is religious humor. My Baptist relatives would find it terribly offensive. But I cannot gauge how offensive your run of the mill Christian would find it, even with disclaimers. So only one funny thing for you today.

Elizabeth who has so much work to do and just can’t quite get to it.

Lawyer Referral?

My partner and I are looking for a lawyer to go over our will with us, update it and such. We would love to go to someone who comes recommended, even a UU perhaps, although that is not at all necessary. If you know of someone competent, nice, easy to work with and did I mention friendly and competent in the Greater Boston area, feel free to post in comments or email me. Gracias!

I just ordered this.

Oh, Jordan, Angela, Rayanne, and Ricki, If only you had lasted more than 19 episodes. But with each sweet episode, all of us other 14-year-olds ached with you. You are not forgotten. Amen.

On another note, this website also sold a shirt with the phrase, “If you got a problem, Yo, I’ll solve it.” I wanted to order that but $22 is A LOT for a t-shirt and of course Jordan took precedence. I was just entertaining my family the other day by downloading 90s songs from itunes and singing along every word, along with some very 90s dance moves. Oh, yes, I know every single word to Ice Ice Baby, Baby Got Back, Nuthin But A ‘G’ Thang, Funky Cold Medina and so on. A few beats and I am back at the skating rink. Oh, those were the days.

Crossfire equivalent?

So apparently Crossfire went off the air in 2005. I was planning on using it as an example of non-thoughtful political communication in a project I am working on, but 2005 is a little out of date. Is there a more recent equivalent where both the left and the right are unreasonable and polemical? I obviously could use Fox News, but I was hoping for something where both the left and the right are showing their bad sides.

Cuddle Parties

I saw this promoted on a UU listserve and it sounds like my worst nightmare. Touching people I don’t know and probably having to talk to them as well.

Grammar Note

Sometimes, I like a blog because it is a place just to “put things out there” that perhaps the world would want to know.

I have always felt like I wasn’t sure if the possessive form of something that ends in s should look like this Dickens’ novel
or like this Dickens’s novel.

I tend to like the second one. So I finally decided to look it up and guess what Chicago Manual of Style says?

Ugg! At first I thought the answer was easy, but it isn’t. There is a whole set of rules depending on if it is a proper noun or not and what the last sound in the word is. For instance, Raoul Camus’s anthology (where the s is pronounced) would look different than Albert Camus’ novels (where the s is unpronounced).

But, lo and behold, rule 7:23 saves us:

7.23 An alternative practice
Those uncomfortable with the rules, exceptions, and options outlined above may prefer the system, formerly more common, of simply omitting the possessive s on all words ending in s—hence “Dylan Thomas’ poetry,” “Maria Callas’ singing,” and “that business’ main concern.” Though easy to apply, that usage disregards pronunciation and thus seems unnatural to many.

So there you have it. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, if you want to make a singular word (or a plural word with a singular meaning, like The United States) that ends in an s possessive, you can just throw an apostrophe on the end of a the word and that’ll do it.

Times They Are a’ Changin’

So I am doing some research about how foundations can set up a system where letters of inquiries, proposals, and such can be submitted online. In my search I turned up this great article from 1997 – only 10 years ago. It is titled: “Why the W.M. Keck Foundation Went Online.” It is a whole article about the cutting edge decision of this foundation to – yes, that’s right – develop a web page. The question at the heart of the article is: What motivates a Foundation to venture out onto the Internet?” and we are told that “her candid responses offer a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse of how this respected foundation established itself on the World Wide Web.” This was only ten years ago. Could you imagine having such a conversation today?

In a week when I had a computer crash and our internet stopped working at the same time, and I am highly annoyed that  my adobe acrobat isn’t working and that Mcafee won’t install correctly, it is amazing to see how much technology is a part of our lives (and how #*%@(#& difficult it is to fix stupid little things on a measly little computer) and how fast it has happened. I know. Not some sort of rare revelation, but I found the article amusing and food for thought.

I can’t believe how disruptive it is when my computer isn’t working well and web pages load too slowly (for some unexplained reason).

I need to go to the beach.

Special Love Your Life Issue

This shouldn’t be funny. But it is in a weird sort of way. Somehow I get Ladies Home Journal (that’s not the funny thing).  I don’t pay for it, it just started showing up one day. Of course LHJ isn’t quite my style, so I just throw them in the “Goodwill” bag and I donate them. I can’t stand to throw away a magazine someone else might read.  But anyway.  The funny thing is that  the May 2007 issue which just arrived today has at the top “Special Love Your Life Issue”.  Yet.  Yet, some of the other headlines on the front cover include “The Best Low-Fat Ice Creams,” “The Most Important Insurance You Don’t Have,” “Sensational Summer Skin: The Safe, Natural Way,” “Win a Free Stress Makeover” and “Deadly Superbugs: How to Spot and Stop Them.”  I guess love your life except for fatty foods (because, really, you know you are too big)… love your life except in that you don’t have the right sort of insurance… love your life except that you could easily be killed by a deadly superbug and your skin isn’t good enough AND you need a “stress makeover” whatever the hell that is.   Thank you LHJ.

Make Maps of Where You Have Been

A great way to avoid doing more pressing work.

Austria – Germany – Luxembourg – Austria – Ireland – Spain – Greece – Belgium – Liechtenstein – Italy – Netherlands – Belgium – Switzerland – Vatican City – Czech Republic

I only included states that I could actually remember being in. I think I have been through Georgia and Maryland, but I figure if I can’t remember when, it doesn’t count.

We have a world map in our office with little pins in it where we have been so I thought this was fun. W. of course beats me having been to China, Taiwan, etc. I didn’t count countries where I only landed in the airport. I wish it showed boarders and names of the country on the map. You can do it here http://www.world66.com/myworld66

I wanted to add Nicaragua and Costa Rica, but they didn’t have a Latin American map.

Gosh, I feel like I would be such a good professional traveler.