It's That Time Of Year Again ...

Be there, or be square!

Nick's ChickenGrams®

Who could resist the cuteness of a
ChickenGram®?

(Now we just need to get the El Camino/delivery vehicle and we're in business!)

Countdown to Break

In a shameless bid for sympathy, here's my schedule for this week:

(with things crossed off as accomplished)
Monday:
Psych readings/quiz
Italian paper
Read Henry IV
Shakespeare quiz

Tuesday:
Nothing (if by "nothing", you mean "study my butt off")

Wednesday:
Psych readings/quiz
Italian test; hand in lab manual
Shakespeare paper
History test

Thursday:
Photography project

Friday:
Psych test
Shakespeare test

This is going to be the most welcome weekend ever.

Best Title Contest

Thanks to Emily for the photo!
(glad you didn't get a ticket;-)

Not really a surprise, since it *is* my favorite punctuation mark

You Are a Semi-Colon

You are elegant, understated, and subtle in your communication. You're very smart (and you know it), but you don't often showcase your brilliance. Instead, you carefully construct your arguments, ideas, and theories – until they are bulletproof. You see your words as an expression of yourself, and you are careful not to waste them. You friends see you as enlightened, logical, and shrewd. (But what you're saying often goes right over their heads.) You excel in: The Arts You get along best with: The Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

The "Tobacco Troupe," after some rave reviews from small-town bar owners, has decided it's ready for the big time.

"If you want to start listing cities where this is going to happen, you're going to run out of space," said Mark Benjamin, the Renaissance Festival enthusiast and lawyer who cooked up a theatrical loophole to Minnesota's smoking ban.

Like many good plays, the plot in Benjamin's increasingly popular plays is simple and direct: Bar patrons light up. They aren't required to speak, gesture or — for the most part — dress up.

"They're required to dress as they did before the ban," said Brian Bauman, owner of the Rock Nightclub in Maplewood, which allowed its patrons to be part of Tuesday's production of "Before the Ban."

"It's a period piece," Benjamin said.

Styles haven't changed much: The statewide ban, which prohibits smoking in bars and restaurants, went into effect in October. Also included in the ban's final version was a provision allowing smoking as part of a theatrical production.

Left out was what, exactly, a "theatrical production" was.

For the rest of the article ...

(Yes, while smoking is a disgusting, vile, unhealthy habit, a little Libertarian voice in my head is railing against the fact that market forces couldn't have been relied upon to take care of the bar/restaurant situation and MN had to legislate a ban throughout the state.)

Hat Tip to Jenni who noticed this article

Bringing up the gifts

Mass celebrated by Archbishop Neinstedt and Father Jon Vander Ploeg, February 9, 2008

Someone even madder than we were!

Best Buy sued for $54 million over laptop
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A woman from Washington, D.C., is seeking $54 million from Best Buy because she claims in a lawsuit that the consumer electronics retailer lost her laptop while it was in for repairs and tried to cover up its disappearance.

"It's a ridiculous number," admitted Raelyn Campbell, 37, of the $54 million figure. "I had to come up with a number that was significant enough that might force them to pay attention to me."

She wants Best Buy Co. Inc. to change its practices and ensure customer privacy protection in the future.

A classified ad in today's Observer:

Free to a good home. Boa constrictor. Very affectionate but I got ResLifed.

Sorry, but I don't think the 4.0 GPA rule applies if your roommate is killed by your pet snake...

Maybe I won't send it to Leno ...

but it's amusing anyway. Before I hung Jen's Ikea lights I read the instructions:

Electric lamps are much safer than candles, go electric, no candles on your tree or anywhere near it. You may know they are just for show but someone else during the festivities might think lighting the candles is a great idea. Go electric. Have you got young people in the house? Have you a working smoke alarm? Have you tested it? Go-on, do it now, you know it makes sense. Then go and buy a battery, it is so very necessary for a happy Holiday. First the smoke alarm, then the fancy decorations.

A Demonstration

Alright, people, I'm only going to say this once. Contrary to what *some people* say, and as I tried to demonstrate to said person this evening, there is in fact a difference between a journal and a diary. A journal is a means of recording occurrences, thoughts, and observations. A diary, in contrast, details melodramatic swooning over a boy's slightest attention. Also, it is typically written in pink glitter pen. Observe:
However, please observe that the use of black ink does not necessarily indicate "journal" status. Observe the emo journal below (with constructive feedback left by he whom I was educating).

Consider yourselves educated.

(Click on the image to see the complete album on Facebook)

Clearly, all those art classes are paying off big-time.

Curious?

Ever wonder what a day in the life of Holly is like?
You can view her photojournal project here.

Just in Time for Valentine's Day!

A secret admirer for Squeaker!
(This dropped out of her pocket this evening at church.)

Sincere admirer?
Creepy stalker?
Not-so-elaborate prank?
Precursor to a ransom note?

Only time will tell.