Kitten jazz hands

Yes, I know -- YouTube is like a library of cute baby/kitten videos (mixed with equal parts of footage showing people extracting their own tonsil stones and/or demonstrating how to use a flat iron).

But this kitten video is, even in that great repository of kitten videos, a stand out. So cute.

A month of laundry

What happens when you have a migraine headache for more than a month, off and on, more or less? Well, a few things, but one thing is, if you're me, that you don't do laundry. At all. Not a sock, not a pillowcase, not a dishtowel.

Until the day you run out of underwear, that is, and mercifully, that day happens to fall on a day you're pain free.


I have done I think 10 loads of laundry all told yesterday, including sheets and towels. Ten loads. For one person. That's a lot of laundry.


And here the majority of it sits, more or less folded or draped on the dining room table and chairs, waiting for the next wave of ambition and domesticity to hit me so I can put it all away.

A song about acne

I love this guy! Via Schmutzie.

Whom do you follow on Twitter?

Twitter is a strange, wonderful thing.

By reducing people's thoughts and comments effectively to haikus with its 140-character limitation, strange, funny, beautiful phrases and observations come often from people you'd least expect. Too, it's a little like the great equalizer -- so many famous people tweet under the own names or obvious handles (like Ashton Kutcher, who tweets under aplusk) that non-celebrities can get a small window into their lives and minds.

So -- who's following whom on Twitter? I follow many friends and colleagues, obviously, and lots of publications, but here's a list of other folks who amuse or inform me with their little blurbs.

• WilliamShatner: Need I say more?
• HalfPintIngalls: Yep, Laura Ingalls Wilder from Little House on the Prairie is a hilarious, anachronistic poster.
• MarkFinan: Local weather guy. Hugely helpful to have weather forecasts tweeted to my phone a few times a day now that rain's on the menu.
• NotRickWarren: He gets it, even if Pastor Warren doesn't.
• FakeJohnPiper: Screamingly funny at times. Actually makes me laugh out loud.
• FakeAPStylebook: Does anal retentive have a hyphen?
• HowardKurtz: Writer for the Washington Post and CNN media commentator.
• Sh*tMyDadSays: Generally profane, mostly amusing posts of a 29-year-old man who lives with his dad and tweets the little gems of wisdom his dad spouts throughout the day.
• Dooce: Mom of two kids in Salt Lake City who blogs and tweets about her life and raising a precocious five-year-old and baby, living with dogs (one of whom is crazy) and a funny husband.
• Wonkette: Caustic, potty-mouthed political commentary from the left.
• ShoeBlogger: Very, very funny man who blogs and tweets in an homage to Manolo Blahnik about shoes and society.
• PostSecret: The postcard art project I love so much in a Twitter version.
• LigonDuncan: Mississippi pastor I admire (and have a small crush on) provides bits of doctrine and God's Word.
• Hodgman: The humorist and embodiment of the PC in Apple commercials is a regular and frequent poster. His brain is a strange and funny place to be.
• ESVDaily: A daily Bible verse from my preferred version of the Bible.

What are yours? Share in the comments, please.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all

This time last year I was in New York with Eric and Shu! and their beloveds, surrounded by real cold weather and hustle and bustle and about 8.3 million other people and the start of the holiday season. It was an amazing, amazing holiday.

This year I'm in California, looking forward to food and fellowship (and fun!) with my church family. The pecan pie is in the oven, the black bean corn salsa is macerating in the frig, and Daisy and Boo are both snoring on the couch while "Modern Family" blares from the DVR. This, too, is amazing.

I'm so, so blessed.

Genius

Jimmy Fallon does Neil Young doing Will Smith's "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Sorry about the dumb ad that may or may not be at the beginning of the video. But it's worth sitting through.



There are no words.

Ha!

President Obama in remarks to some Washington, DC school children on Monday:

"As president, I believe that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering. And I also want to keep an eye on those robots in case they try anything."

I'm so with him on the robots.

16 golden retrievers + the atom = science!

Via BoingBoing, a bunch of (incredibly well trained) golden retrievers show us the basic mechanics and construction of atoms. If Daisy were somehow part of this atomic demonstration, she'd be making a quark or an isotope or something.



I love science. And golden retrievers.

Um, what?

Those crazy French. I have to say -- this is not an experience I've ever wanted to have myself.

From Reuters:

French hotel offers guests a night as a hamster
Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:15am EST

NANTES - It's a unique concept according to its creators, a hotel in the French town of Nantes is offering the chance for people to become a hamster.

For 99 euros ($148.10) a night, you can eat hamster grain, run in a giant wheel and sleep in hay stacks in what is called the "Hamster Villa."

It's a unique experience and, the guests say, just something
different.

The owners, Frederic Tabary and Yann Falquerho, run a company which rents out unusual and bizarre places.

"The Hamster in the world of children is that little cuddly animal. Often, the adults who come here have wanted or did have hamsters when they were small," Falquerho said, dressed as a hamster.

However, the price is soon to go up as today's hamsters need, according to the owners, Wifi and a giant TV screen. (Editing by Paul
Casciato)

So, so proud

So two of my sisters in Christ, Lynnie and Doria, are running a marathon today. I mean, running it on purpose, because they want to -- not because someone with an axe is chasing them, which is I think what it would take for me to run 26 miles.

I've watched them over the months leading up to this race, and their example has just been amazing. They've been committed to their training regime -- consistent with a schedule of running and time in the gym, mixing up running outside together and pacing themselves alone in the gym on a treadmill to get their distances up and their times down. It's been convicting and inspiring, their ability to see a far-away goal and deliberately, one day at a time, take the necessary steps to meet it. Challenging steps that pushed them physically and mentally. Uncomfortable steps that they worked through time and again.

On top of this, they are are also beautiful and smart and kind and generous and godly and funny and all-around great women.

I am so proud of them -- and I am a better person for counting them as friends and sisters in Christ.

What's wrong with this picture?

I wore two different colored shoes to work today.

And I didn't even notice until a coworker pointed it out.

Remembering veterans today

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
-- John F. Kennedy

Two great things that go great together

I love the Beastie Boys -- this is not news. And I love "Star Wars" -- the original trilogy, anyway.

Apparently there are other Star Wars geeks out there who love the Beastie Boys, too.

Day, night, day, night, day?

Scenes from a long couple of days in the building...

Poor Piglet, scapegoated again

More swine flu humor at Piglet's expense. From Lindsay. Who I miss and think should go to a community college here in Sac for a couple of years instead of going away to school.

Pet flu

Not swine or Asian or bird. Pet flu. They both have something that has caused them to barf all over the place since about 8:00 this morning. Maybe they have some sort of Stoever sympathy virus?

Probably hard to tell from this picture, but they are very subdued. Definitely out of sorts.

At least they're sleeping now. But I'm leaving the paper towels and Spot Shot out on the counter for a bit longer.

I love this commercial

Geek humor. I just saw it on teevee for the first time and laughed and laughed.