It seems we have moved.

If the book thing doesn't work out, we'll return here.

But for now...

Don't you wish you could say this all day long?

This one is funny too:

Hungry Little Caterpillars

Apparently it is the 40th anniversary of the book THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR (according to UnBeige) and that is why it is the Google banner today. Love it!

Spring09

Here's to women reading novels

Interesting factoid in the article about Ian McEwan in the New Yorker from a few weeks ago:

Three years ago, McEwan culled the fiction library of his London town house, in Fitzroy Square. He and his younger son, Greg, handed out thirty novels in a nearby park. In an essay for the Guardian, McEwan reported that “every young woman we approached . . . was eager and grateful to take a book,” whereas the men “could not be persuaded. ‘Nah, nah. Not for me. Thanks, mate, but no.’ ” The researcher’s conclusion: “When women stop reading, the novel will be dead.”


I know there ARE men who read novels. But there are definitely more women who do. But in contrast more men are writers than women. So...what does that say?

What engineers do on a snow day

This is what is in the park behind my house. It's intense.What engineers do on a snow day

Waiting...

For the big snow. This is what it looked like in b'burg today. I'm sure it will look that way in NY at this time tomorrowWaiting...

I know an embarassingly lot about reality tv

This is my first mobile post. Yay! It will be brief. The essence of it is that reality tv is one of my passions. I like it more than reading and writing. But not more than I like NPR. But sometimes when my, ahem, extensive knowledge becomes clear in public, I become embarassed. I mean I am supposed to be a smart person and yet I adore a category of things that is SO silly it isn't even a question to mock it. And yet, I go on watching season 2,499 of the bachelor and wondering if temptation island will ever make a comeback. Now THAT's appointment TV.

This song makes me happy

And it will make you happy too. Watch the silly dancing. It is by Dent May who lives in Oxford, Mississppi.

In case you were wondering...

Hello Darling Blog Readers. I know that it is either very exciting or very disappointing that all I do here these days is post links to thinks I think are funny. For me, it is exciting, I think it would be for you unless you actually WANTED (for some reason) to know what I am thinking about or interested in. Ahh...the navel gazing...it is no longer interesting to me.

Is that something about turning thirty? Am I complacent? I think actually I am sort of bored by the public nature of the internet.  Being that my life is completely exposed on Facebook to the point that if someone writes something personal or of ACTUAL interest on my "wall" I rush to take it down so the work contacts that are connected to me aren't offended. Plus, I am supposed to keep up a stream of interesting factoids on Twitter. But what if one day (or every day) I lack factoids?! Then it is as if I do not exist at all.

So, I think the blog will continue for now to be a repository for things I think (and therefore think you will think) are funny. I wish I could post a link to this segment they replayed on Howard Stern this AM of a garbage man talking about how he knows what ethnicity someone is based on their garbage. The Jews apparently drink a lot of Kedem grape juice...just in case you were worried.

In case your heart needed a little warming...you'll be happy to know that Simon and Garfunkel briefly reunited at the reopening of the Beacon Theater. I love the Beacon.(AG comes out at the 2:00 mark of this video).

Now they're saying you can't blow your nose.

I'm just going to quote the whole article b/c it is short.

The Claim: Never Blow Your Nose When You Have a Cold

Blowing your nose to alleviate stuffiness may be second nature, but some people argue it does no good, reversing the flow of mucus into the sinuses and slowing the drainage.

Counterintuitive, perhaps, but research shows it to be true.

To test the notion, Dr. J. Owen Hendley and other pediatric infectious disease researchers at the University of Virginia conducted CT scans and other measurements as subjects coughed, sneezed and blew their noses. In some cases, the subjects had an opaque dye dripped into their rear nasal cavities.

Coughing and sneezing generated little if any pressure in the nasal cavities. But nose blowing generated enormous pressure — “equivalent to a person’s diastolic blood pressure reading,” Dr. Hendley said — and propelled mucus into the sinuses every time. Dr. Hendley said it was unclear whether this was harmful, but added that during sickness it could shoot viruses or bacteria into the sinuses, and possibly cause further infection.

The proper method is to blow one nostril at a time and to take decongestants, said Dr. Anil Kumar Lalwani, chairman of the department of otolaryngology at the New York University Langone Medical Center. This prevents a buildup of excess pressure.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Blowing your nose can create a buildup of excess pressure in sinus cavities.

May 2009

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31            

Recently Read

  • Per Petterson: Out Stealing Horses: A Novel

    Per Petterson: Out Stealing Horses: A Novel
    I was totally amazed by this book. It is beautifully told and serene and then there are these shocking moments of violence that literally make me gasp out loud.

  • Muriel Barbery: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

    Muriel Barbery: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
    A thoughtful and elegant novel about a precocious girl and a building concierge. I loved these characters and would have read about them for MUCH longer.

  • Joanna Scott: Follow Me: A Novel

    Joanna Scott: Follow Me: A Novel
    A truly lovely novel about family secrets and the unexpected path that life takes us on. I am amazed at what Joanna Scott can pack into one sentence, one paragraph. It is more than I could imagine doing in a whole book. She is a master.

  • Lionel Shriver: We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)

    Lionel Shriver: We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.)
    There are some books, like Native Son, that you recognize as good but it is difficult to say that you LIKE because they are so utterly disturbing that your heart aches for them. This is how I feel about this book. I see the goodness, but I can't say I liked this book. In fact, reading it was excruciating. (For those who don't know, it is from the point of view of the mother of a school shooter and chronicles his evil life.) On the other hand, I couldn't look away. I can't say I recommend it because the experience is just unpleasant. But on the other hand, it is fascinating. That is all.

  • Luis Alberto Urrea: Into the Beautiful North: A Novel

    Luis Alberto Urrea: Into the Beautiful North: A Novel
    I have to admit that I never got into Urrea's other books, although I love the KIND of books he writes. But this one grabbed me from the start and did not let go. He is able to find beauty in ugliness in a way that I really admire.

  • Lucinda Rosenfeld: I'm So Happy for You: A novel about best friends

    Lucinda Rosenfeld: I'm So Happy for You: A novel about best friends
    This is one of those books that as I was reading it, I was thinking: "why aren't I smart enough to write like this?" She's able to balance really lovely writing with a very relatable plot. I mean, there is an almost-too-real quality to this one that made me have to look away. And yet, you can't. Because all of her characters are so great and in so much trouble that you must, must, must know what happens to them.

  • Michael Connelly: The Scarecrow

    Michael Connelly: The Scarecrow
    Such a good read. Michael Connelly is able to weave together an amazing (and super intelligent) plot with the decline of the newspaper industry and a creepy cyberstalker. There's even a bit of a love story. Something for everyone. Read this one. For real.

  • Patrick Somerville: The Cradle: A Novel

    Patrick Somerville: The Cradle: A Novel
    Really admired this novel that is so brief and yet brimming with so much.

  • Tess Callahan: April & Oliver: A Novel

    Tess Callahan: April & Oliver: A Novel
    What a moving and suspenseful story of relationships and how childhood mistakes/experiences can influence one's adult life. And the ending is just gorgeous. This is not a story for the faint of heart though, it's as much about love as it is about violence and also about where the two converge. I adored it and am about to read it again because there is a symmetry to the story that I think would do well for a second reading.

  • George Pelecanos: The Way Home
    Am constantly amazed by the depth of Pelecanos' writing. His characters are so real, their dilemmas so relatable. Anyone who has had a child who has ever gotten in any trouble will relate to the parents in this novel. And any person who has ever given their parents any grief will relate as well. SO, anyone who is a child of parents or a parent of a child should read this. (That means everyone, right?)