Overheard at Kohl's in Stow:

They are a couple, aged 35-40ish, walking purposefully toward the checkouts/exit.
They pass the women's underwear section.

She: without breaking stride, scoffs, says, "Who would wear those striped bras?!"
He: whiplash-turns to look, stops walking so suddenly I hear sneakers squeak on the floor, pauses, says, "...well I hope you will."
She: continues walking, says nothing.

Sad, funny, or both?

I laughed.

[image saved at about 9:30 this morning]

10 below, biatch. I don't care who you are, that's cold!

Neighbor's car wouldn't start this morning. I managed to make it out a few minutes early & tried to start my car so we could jump hers, and... no dice. Luckily, Zi was able to start her car, so she drove. We attempted to jump Neighbor's car when she got there, but even with it hooked up to life support it was only emitting little clicks (mine, otoh, was coughing and wheezing and trying to turn over... so not dead yet). Fail! Anyhoo. Interesting morning. And Zi & I still made it in to work on time to grab breakfast before logging in. What can I say? We're good.

And that's all for now, kiddos. Back to the working I go.

Okay, I'm taking the bait. Here's my book list from 2008:

1) Hand Felted Jewelry... (nonfiction), Carol Huber Cypher
2) Ragtime, EL Doctorow, unfinished
3) Fifty Degrees Below, Kim Stanley Robinson, unfinished
4) Terra Antarctica... (nonfiction), William Fox, unfinished
5) Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Anne Rice
6) Christ the Lord: Road to Cana, Anne Rice
7) Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
8) The Last Continent, Terry Pratchett
9) The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
10) The Difference Engine, William Gibson
11) The Assassination of Jesse James..., Ron Hansen
12) A Model World and Other Stories, Michael Chabon
13) The Years of Rice and Salt, Kim Stanley Robinson
14) Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
15) Altared... (nonfiction, essays), Colleen Curran
16) Beast, Donna Jo Napoli
17) The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon
18) Mandala: A Novel of India, Pearl S. Buck, unfinished
19) Weddings for Grown-ups (nonfiction), Carroll Stoner
20) Sanctuary, Paul Monette, unfinished
21) Talk to the Hand..., Lynne Truss, unfinished
22) Consider the Lobster (nonfiction, essays), David Foster Wallace, unfinished

22 books total, including 7 unfinished and 1 re-read (Bridge to Terabithia)

Top picks, not counting the re-read: The Years of Rice and Salt, Beast, The Assassination of Jesse James..., Prodigal Summer

Forgettable: The Difference Engine, A Model World..., Christ the Lord... (both titles), Ragtime

Thoughts: I really should just purchase any future Kim Stanley Robinson I intend to read, because his writing style is so dense that it takes me forever to finish them. I ended up snagging The Years of Rice and Salt from Amazon, and I'm really glad I did. It was definitely worth the effort I put into it.
I'd like to revisit some of this year's unfinished/forgettable titles someday. Maybe I'd get something different out of them at some point in the future.

What's on my list for 2009: More Kingsolver. I'm amazed I haven't read her complete library yet.
David Foster Wallace. Consider the Lobster was fascinating; I've heard great things about The Infinite Jest. If I get ambitious I'll dig into that.
I found The Call of the Wild (Jack London) at a yard sale this summer for a couple of dollars... I LOVED that book as a kid, and I read it probably 8 or 10 times. I'm looking forward to re-reading it. In that same vein, I'd like to read the Newbery Medal winning titles. I've read a good chunk of them, and it would be nice to read them from an adult perspective and see what else I can gain from them.
I wouldn't mind reading a couple of popular titles (The Secret Life of Bees, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Lovely Bones, etc).
Finally, I've been meaning for years to get to the big name authors one is supposed to have read (Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I actually have a couple of paperbacks of his that I haven't cracked yet, Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway). 2009 may be the year to check off some of those authors.

I tend to be a rather ADD reader, so having several parallel plans/lists works for me. I'm sure I won't get to everything on them this year, but I'll make an effort to hit one book from each category and see what catches my fancy.

Is this a meme post? Only if you want it to be! I've love to know what others are reading, so feel free to post away.

Still to come: the 2008 year-end gas mileage post. Thrilling, I know ;)

The world is tiny.

Sometimes I hate MySpace.

Straight from the source, a Megz original:

and OMG I CANNOT STOP LAUGHING. Seriously. Tears.

Best. Comic strip. EVAR.

1) read THIS. You will not regret it. It is sublimely hilarious.

2) I will be in Pittsburgh on Saturday, at or near the IKEA, with Zi & Beth (Zi & Mo's friend from Kent). I will call you 'burghers as the details of my excursion become a little more concrete... perhaps a rendezvous? We shall see.

That's all I've got. Bye now!

All I will say is that the label for Stonyfield Farm Vanilla yogurt looks a hell of a lot like the label for their Banilla (banana + vanilla) yogurt.

Grr.

I love teh internets.

Everyone go visit PaperToilet.com.
Best. Website. EVAR.

That someone actually took the time to create this astounds and amazes me.

SRSLY. I love teh internets.

Sometimes, DECISIONS have to be made.

That is all.