And in related news, the world is flat, the moon is made of cheese, and the holocaust never happened.
I mean, 3,000 years of two of the oldest foods known to man not being compatible?
Dr Hildegard Heymann, who led the research, found that after eating cheese, wine tasters could not tell the difference between expensive wine and cheap plonk.
Well, I might concede this point - hence the popularity of the pairing.
I think jennetic was on to something when she posted about having a sleep hangover the other day.
I had a great, quiet weekend. Putzed around the house, worked on the blog, talked on the phone to friends, went for a swim, read, watched a movie or three, ate reasonably healthy, drank a lot of tea and mineral water, organized the clutter on my desk, got some correspondence completed, did load after load of laundry, and started to gather the info necessary to do my taxes. All good right?
Then last night, after I put fresh sheets on the bed, I took a bath. I am not, by nature, a bather. I am a shower person. But about 4 times a year, I get a hankering for a good, old fashioned, soak in the tub. So I did. Candles, bubbles, the works. I defoliated, exfoliated, and relaxed to within an inch of my life. I was so smooth afterwards, I nearly slid off the sheets. I was also so relaxed that I fell asleep before Gray's Anatomy was over (thank you Tivo!). So why....am I so exhausted this morning? I feel about as foggy as the day outside. Maybe it's a delayed reaction.
If you enjoyed watching fallen literary darling James Frey get his comeuppance on the Oprah Winfrey show earlier this week, you'll just love how Garison Kieller dismantles Bernard-Henri Le'vy's newest book, American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville, in this morning's NYT Book Review. Reads more like a WWF smackdown than a review.
Well, let me know what you think about the new look while I work out some bugs. I found the basic template format on an Indonesian website and really liked it, but when I downloaded the template and went to add my own coding changes, I realized all the HTML tags were in Indonesian. It took me a while to figure out that [judulkanan] = [header], and [tr] = [p] in English, but after that, it was easy.
I meant to do this over the Christmas break, but was just too busy with family and friends. Then, I tried to get it done by my blogiversary (which was Jan. 3rd BTW), but that didn't happen either, so along with a few other New Year resolutions, it's a little late, but I got it done.
You'll notice I fixed a lot of broken links and updated my blogroll extensively to include all the local folks I read and who read this blog, and more importantly, that I've met (most of them anyway) and become friends with over the last year. So - a big Broadsheet welcome to:
Doubled Dogged Cham Assclownopolis j-e-s-s-i-c-a Supafine The Fat Tree jennetic (Go Steelers!!!!!) In the Rumble Seat Epiphany
PS: Does anyone out there (I'm looking at you Jason), have a list or tables for HTML color codes??
PSS: Gahhhh! How could I POSSIBLY not mention the addition of Fruit Loops and Porn! Sorry Bonanza Jelly Bean!!
If this is true, it makes Abu Ghraib look like a tea party. I can't imagine a more cowardly, despicable, method of "leveraging" an enemy. How many disgraceful, brutal reports of US behavior in Iraq does it take to get Rumsfeld and his cronies fired?
I received one of those West African scam spams the other day, but this one was different. They had somehow managed to incorporate my family surname into the scam as a deceased citizen of Togo and were looking for a handout so I could share the wealth with them. My brother suggested a great response. So here's the scam with "Broadsheet" substituting for my real name, leaving all the spelling and grammar mistakes intact, and the suggested response:
FOR YOUR PERSONAL ATTENTION (Broadsheet )
From The Desk of Barrister Mohammed Kazani Senior& Advocate Kazani Law Chambers 116 Rue De commerce Lome-Togo (West Africa)
Dear Freind,
I am Barrister Mohammed Kazani,a solicitor at law,personal attorney to Eng. W.A. Broadsheet,who used to work with Shell Development Company and Principal owner Heistal Construction Company here in Republic of Togo. Hereinafter shall be referred to as my client.
On the 21st of April 2002, my client, his wife and their only daughter were involved in auto crash along Ecowas express road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost there lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to his embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you. I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the Fund valued at US$14.5 million left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable account by the Bank here in Lome-Togo where this huge amount was deposited with other treasures.
The said Bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next seventy two official working days. Since i have been unsuccesfull in locating the relatives for over 2years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be release and transfer to you.
Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.
All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
Best regards.
Barrister Mohammed Kazani. ******************************** Dear Barrister Mohammed Kazani,
Thank you for your kind letter informing me of the death of my dear Uncle Broadsheet, his wife, Tabloid, and their daughter, Rumor. We were devestated by the news! How sad to hear of their passing as we had not been in contact with them for a few years.
We are very interested in helping you retain our family fortune, but we too are suffering hardships. I was laid off from my job, they foreclosed on my house, and I found out I have only months to live. It would be so good to travel before I am unable to, and I would love to visit my Uncle's home to retrieve some family belongings. Would you please send a $20,000 advance from my uncle's account so that I can travel to Togo to meet with you and discuss my inheritance?
Thank you again for your kindness in telling me of this devastating news.
So, I head to the monthly blogger Happy Hour (thanks for hosting Bonanza Jelly Bean!!! (3 exclamation points!!!) - her post sums the evening up nicely. Although, when this gentleman (and he is) caught sight of some of the more private body art on BJB, he remarked; "I love fairies!!" - only two exclamation points, and no extra credit for the SATs, Frank.
Anyway - my observations are two fold:
1: I SAW (hah!!) the eye doctor today and he gave me brand new contact lenses. This means that not only can I see all the leaves on a tree, but I could also read the close captioned writing on the TV screens at Happy Hour. And, in addition to having great food and 2 for 1 drink specials till 7:00 PM, what other bar do you know that has four screens simultaneously showing (I'm not making this up!)
1) ESPN 2) "The Waltons" 3) World Cup Soccer, and 4) Flavor Fav "Bachelor".
That's messed up.
Oh - and observation #2: - What the F---k was with the weather tonight? Thunderstorms in the last week of January?? And not just a minor rumble, but a hands down, Zeus worthy, jagged strike of lightning party worthy of June or July. Maybe they got the "J" months confused??
I haven't promoted Grand Rounds in a while, but my buddy Kevin is hosting this week, so if you want the latest in health care blogging.... Check it out!
This is a PSA for Maryland bloggers. Please go to Equality Maryland, and take a stand against the "Marriage Protection Act". Everyone, regardless of race, sex, creed, nationality, religion or sexual preference, should have the right to love whomever they choose, and be afforded all of the legal protections and rights that accompany the legal union of two individuals. All men are created equal - right?
Looks like ‘Time’ magazine has a sense of humor. Dark humor, but humor, in this week's cover story on the trials and tribulations at Ford Motor Co.
...Ford announced this morning that it will close 14 North American plants, which means laying off up to 30,000 workers. The Time article was written by Dorinda Elliott. Who is a scion herself — a newsweekly scion, the daughter of legendary former Newsweek editor Osborn Elliott. Also, she was laid off by Time Inc. just before Christmas.
I predict that Canadian election results get less coverage in the US today than the recent election of Chile's first female president, last week
And who else thinks it's just plain weird that the CBC has a political anchor named George Stroumboulopoulos??? Wonder if he's asked for career advice from this guy?
I'm not sure this is a good idea. It's over folks. Stick a fork in it. Watching some struggling 20 somethings stumble through first jobs and relationships was fresh and entertaining, but watching those same people stumble around at 40 is just sad and pathetic.
UPDATE: OK, so this TV reunion is even more useless and pathetic than Friends. By about a factor of one million.
Well, we went from spewing coffee grounds all over the kitchen this morning to watching the Steelers completely dominate the Broncos for a berth at the Super Bowl!!!! OK jennetic where is the Super Bowl party taking place?? We have some planning to do at Blogger Happy Hour on Tuesday.
The day also improved when I made plans with my friend D. in Providence to go here for St. Patrick's Day weekend, and attend this annual event with all the other wannabes from around the country and be queen for a day. We'll be attending the SPQ post parade ball at Hal and Mal's and bask in the royalty that is the Sweet Potato Queens. It ain't New Orleans, but it's a great alternative!
I started off the day by stumbling downstairs to put on a pot of coffee so that I could partake in my weekly Sunday morning ritual of Charles Osgood, and the NY Times.
Filtered water, and freshly ground beans (mmmm Hazelnut cream no less). Freshly ground beans which, upon hitting the filter basket, caused it to unhinge from the coffee maker and spray all over the kitchen floor. A fine carpet of coffee grounds all over the kitchen. F---k. Get the vacuum, Hoover them up, and start over. Not an auspicious start to the day.
I'm test driving the slow cooker I got for Christmas today with a lamb daube. It's been marinating in wine for 2 days now, so I plugged it in, and hopefully, eight hours from now, I'll have a nice dinner with leftovers for the week.
Oh well, maybe a swim will make things a little better. I joined the Meadowbrook Aquatic Center as part of a New Year's resolution (it's right by work, so I have very little excuse), and have been trying to be good about hitting the pool a couple of times a week. I was on the swimming team as a kid, and it's the only exercise I really enjoy, besides hiking. No Michael Phelps sightings yet (he trains there), but then again, I try to go in the off hours to avoid doing laps with Olympians. Anybody know of a reliably waterproof MP3 player?
Oh Yeah - and GO STEELERS!!!!!! May have to go for that swim AFTER the big game today.
Sorry internet - it's going to be quiet on Broadsheet this week and perhaps next week as well. I even had to cancel a much anticipated lunch with Snay yesterday.
You see, something known as the JCAHO showed up on our doorstep yesterday for their tri-annual onslaught and inspection of nearly every process, policy and procedure throughout our hospital. In the world of Hospital Administration, it is the equivalent of answering a knock on your door, only to find Mike Wallace and a camera crew standing there and saying "Hi! We're from 60 Minutes. Can we get your comment on a few things?" - Bad juju. VERY bad juju.
Anyway - everyone here has their panties in a bunch, and it looks like I'll pretty much be living at work for the foreseeable future. I was here from 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM yesterday, and today's looking about the same.
Well, yeah, this poor woman needs help, but this has GOT to be the safest beach in the world if you can be saved from drowning in all weather, at all times of the day or night, all year long.
They've been working very hard to remodel and expand the SUPERfresh Store at the 41st street plaza in Hampden into something that can compete with the new trend in mega suburban grocery stores like Wegman's. It's all fancy-like with slick new cabinets, lots of aisle space and all new signage to make it easier to find things in such a big, shiny, new, store.
So big in fact, that there is an entire aisle with a big new sign labeled "Deserts". Yes - imagine that - you can buy a desert in a grocery store in metropolitan Baltimore!!
I have no idea if they carry desserts, but they have plenty of deserts to sell ya!
It's Friday the 13th, AND a full moon today. So far, so good. At least it's going a lot better than the last time we had a Friday the 13th back in May.
That's what I did. TODAY. At lunch! It was so sunny, and nice, and WARM outside today, that a colleague and I sat outside and enjoyed the 60+ degree warm sunshine on our faces. In January.
I know it won't last, but it was really nice while it did....
So, the lights on the ceiling fan above the island in my kitchen have been on the blink for months now. The only light source is the range hood and the under the counter lighting, which, while rather mood setting, makes it difficult to find things in the pantry and locate cutlery. This problem wasn't a big issue until daylight savings time hit, and then the kitchen was plunged into darkness during the dinner hour.
So, NY resolution and all that, I called the electrician the day after the Holidays. He came this morning and told me that, yes indeed, he could fix the short circuit in the light box by replacing it, but that it would cost $197 to do so. I've never been truly fond of the style of the light in the kitchen (it screams 80's contractor special), and for $200 or so, I can get a whole new ceiling fan kit, so I paid him $29.50 for the service call, and this weekend - it's off to Lowe's or Watsons to buy a new kitchen ceiling fan and light.
Geez Louise, I get too busy to blog anything today, and while I'm not watching, the entire literary world has a little meltdown. First, about the NYT article outing truck-stop-child-prostitute-turned-literary-darling and AIDS sufferer, JT Leroy, as the 40 something sister in law of Leroy's supposed adoptive mother, and then there's the VERY thorough trashing of James Frey and his Oprah best selling "memoirs", as - how shall we say - embellished fiction? Exposed by none other than the Smoking Gun just to add insult to injury.
People are mightily betrayed and dismayed. I mean, poor, poor Susie Bright, her self aggrandizing publicity pal JT Leroy duped her. And let's not forget to mention that although the blogosphere jumped all over these two stories today, that apparently Steven Beachy broke the JT Leroy story in New York magazine back in October of 2005, even though the NYT seemed to promote it like scoop today.
Kind of reminds me of the Milli Vanilli scandal back in the 80's.
Santa brought me a black iPod Nano for Xmas, and I was looking for a case for it. What do you think of this one? For a mere $12,495, it seems reasonable, no? Actually, I think I like the DLO version from Best Buy and the Belkin carbiner look from Target myself.
Actually - only in Hampden. On the side of a building going south on Falls Road, just south of 40th street. Gotta love it! The "noodles" are swimming pool tubing, and the "meatballs" are upturned plastic washer tubs.
According to the guys over at Wonkette (it's a long story), today marks President Bush's three hundred and sixty fifth day of vacation in his five years in office. That's an entire fricking YEAR of vacation. One out of five. How can the most powerful man in the world manage to take one out of five years off? I mean, in the last five years, I've probably only taken 10% of that time off, and in 2005, I took exactly 12, count 'em TWELVE vacation days, not counting weekends and holidays. And that includes the week I took off in between jobs - I was technically unemployed!
....is when you lend your BMW to your Holiday houseguest from London for the day, so that she can drop you off at work, while she goes to renew her soon to expire US Driver's License. Especially when she's been driving on the wrong side of the road for the last 5 years.....not to mention the fact that for the last 2+ of those years, she hasn't even owned a car thanks to public transportation in the city of London.
Sadly, as everyone now knows, only one survived. I can't wait to see how they explain publishing this information without vetting it completely. I can't begin to comprehend the pain the families went through during such short lived and cruel, joy and hope.
Let's start a game kids!! We'll call it Abramoff Bingo, and the first person to get 10 points wins! I have no diea what you win, but you get the idea. I have either read, or heard, the following phrases in the MSM in the last 24 hours. So here goes: Every time you, dear reader, hear or read any of the following over the course of the Abramoff Scandal - award yourself the points listed:
1. "We're just waiting for the other shoe to drop" = 2 points 2. "The shit is really going to hit the fan on this one" = 4 points 3. "Congress (or insert name here) is running scared" - 1 point 4. "Abramoff sang like a canary to avoid the harshest sentence" - 2 points 5. "We're going to follow this wherever it goes." - 3 points 6. "...biggest government corruption scandal in history" - 2 points
Today's Washington Post has an article regarding an unprecedented, but certainly not unexpected, side effect from Katrina. A Puppy Boom, the likes of which animal shelters throughout the Gulf Coast have not seen before. Seems that dogs simply did what came naturally once there were no fences or leashes to keep their natural instincts at bay.
Brian Calhoun rushed for 213 yards, John Stocco passed for 301 and Brandon Williams had 173 yards receiving, lifting the 21st-ranked Badgers to a 24-10 victory over No. 7 Auburn in the Capital One Bowl on Monday.
It was a fitting farewell for Alvarez, who led Wisconsin to eight bowl wins in 16 seasons and now will focus on his duties as athletic director. The Badgers (10-3) were 1-5 all-time in the postseason before his arrival and sent him off with his fourth 10-win season.
