Rose bud

Roses are brown.


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Broke down bus

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Tic tac to solo

It's not that fun to play tic tac to solo!


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Test mon

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I'm back

Test test 123 - Mobile Post

Cool San Diego Hiking Site

I'm surfing the Web in search of ideas for hiking in San Diego over the weekend. One promising site is below:

http://www.100peaks.com/

I was hoping to find a cool organized hike to join up with...but no luck so far...

Update! I should have checked here first...since i'm a card carrying member of the San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society...duh! http://www.cnpssd.org/field.html

snow day mix up

my mom's snow day is all wrong...instead of getting to say home from work b/c of the snow...she went to work with an overnight bag and is sleeping at work...so she can also get to work tomorrow...

foot-tastic cooking

My clogs (aka: house boots) are my usual cooking footwear. But tonight, I'm going without shoes...trying to focus on my left arch and the movements that will not further the progress of my bunion. A related picture on my yoga blog.

Stormy Week part 1

We had the first in what is supposed to be a week of storms in so cal. I lifted weights and did meditative breathing while the rain poured down...and then came a rainbow...i know...hollywood ending...but it IS southern california after all.

pointsettia still going strong

should someone tell this pointsettia that it's not christmas any longer?

nah...let's keep it's little fantasy alive :)

movie snobs?

So...I was going to go see A Single Man w/ Italian bf...but then I read the NYTimes review by Manhola Dargis and I decided I'd just re-read the book...and we saved $21!

holy cow it's dec 12

Holy cow, is right. It's December 12. And I'm sitting in my office doing something Christmas related that I can't do at home due to software limitations. Said software just crashed...i'll be back later.

the tree trunks are growing lights

first the swine flu, and now the trees get lights. what's next? ocean waves with mistletoe?

santa got run over by a dildo

hang, hung, hung

I was thinking about paying someone to feel the christmas spirit for me, so I wouldn't have to...but then I would have to pay them to stop feeling the christmas spirit for me on dec 28...and what if they refused? what if I was locked into an eternal scam in which I was forced to pay someone to feel Christmas spirit for me until I died?

Best Use of a Boogie Board by a UPS Guy...

...and the "Hell-Yeah!" goes to...

The San Diego UPS guy who used a pair of boogie boards to try to hide the toddler car seat that arrived 3 weeks in advance of italian bf's nephew. Too bad one of the boogie boards fell down before I got home.

I bet this guy is really into hiding his kids' christmas presents...he's the guy who builds a false floor in the basement and loads it up with toys...this is the same guy you do NOT want to piss off later in life, b/c that false floor in his basement can be used for all sorts of things that I can't even think about.

Cyber Monday: Beware of Early Morning (online) Shopping

If you plan to your christmas shopping from your computer during fleeting early-morning moments of silence, look out!

don't cyber shop before breakfast!!!!

Saturday morning, I awoke and bought vacuum bags online. Really.

Mornings are when I am most amenable to bureaucratic and other uninteresting tasks.

I did a little Googling on Saturday morning and found my vacuum bag make and model for the same price listed at Target (which of course didn't have the bags I needed when I was at their brick and mortar.)

Boom-batta-click-click-click.

Done!

But as I hit confirm, my eyes caught the shipping and handling. $7.50!

Frickin' $7.50 shipping and handling for $5.99 vacuum bags.

If I had been a little more awake, I'm sure I would have checked the shipping and handling before hitting "buy".

maybe there was some way to stop the online purchase, but that seemed like too much for a Saturday morning. So I'm just complaining about it on the Internet (and gradually trying to earn back that $7.50.) I think i'm almost there. I made coffee this am instead of buying a favored Monday-morning latte. Last night, I bought white wine that is a dollar cheaper than my homer-simpson-inspired, "I'll take a bottle of your second least expensive wine." I also stopped myself from buying a cookie-cooling rack. I don't know how important they are...but my mom uses them...and since I am trying to re-create her cookie magic this Christmas, I thought I should have a rack...but I used plates instead, and it seemed to work ok. So...I think i've almost earned back my saturday morning blunder...but be forewarned...don't cyber shop before breakfast!!!!

I also practiced yoga at home over the weekend rather than going to studios...but that was not for cost-saving reasons...

bowling alley is xmas free

I'm happy to report that the complete and utter lack of Christmas decorations at Kearney Mesa Bowling alley (which by the way is NOT on Kearney Mesa road. My female Korean buddy suggested they change the name to "NOT ON Kearny Mesa Bowling".)

but I am getting off track. The point is that the bowling alley has absolutely no Christmas decorations up...but I can't wait to go back when the Italians are in town to see what has changed--Charlie-Brown-Christmas-tree-wise.

Googling my brain for "bowling" and "Christmas" reminds me of being at a bowling alley as a little kid sometime after Chrsistmas, but before the decorations had come down. I remember being very sad as I looked at the bowling alley christmas tree, knowing it would not be up much longer, and knowing that that meant that Christmas was over and that regular life would soon be starting.

Hallo-tinsel-ween: Big Box Retail Brings Holidays Together

So yeah...christmas and halloween...they overlap in the "Land of the Big Box", for sure. We know that. But what does it mean for our understanding of the holidays (broad definition)?

I raised this question at a Yale-based telephone conference today focused on the emerging interface of Halloween and Christmas in retail America. One of the conference participants forwarded me this picture, taken on Halloween night 2009.

Anyone who claims that Halloween and Christmas exist in their own Big Box bubbles--with no interactions--needs to rethink their (not "his or her") hypotheses. Tinsel is clearly used to make a dress in the above photo. Sure, anyone can go dig into the closet and find random Christmas objects for use in Halloween costumes...but the sheer promiximty of Halloween and Christmas merchandise in the pre-Oct-31 Big-Box retail environment is fueling increased--and potentially novel--interactions between the two formerly-disparate holidays.

Look for an increasing number of Christmas-inspired Halloween costumes in the years to come. In addition, look for evolving notions of holiday boundaries in current and future generations. Jack-o-lantern Bubble lights on the Christmas tree. Jumbo Christmas stockings as trick-or-treat bags. These are just the beginning.

New Haven Santa Update

Santa made a surprise move today. The red-suited maverick took time to leave his sweat shops in China, and to go to a mall in New Haven, CT, according to Absurd Christmas freelance reporter, Douglas the architecture grad student.

According to a text message from the field from Douglas,

"Santa is at the mall no joke. All alone."

We look forward to additional updates on this breaking news story.

THIS JUST IN:

Douglas provided a photo of Santa...perhaps the first time he has been seen outside of his compound in China since he appeared at a "Christmas in July" used car extravaganza in Indianapolis.

Apparently, moving the North Pole to China has decreased mid-November interest in Santa...at the New Haven mall "not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse."
**as douglas suggested, please note rotisserie chicken in foreground of photo.