Saturday, April 01, 2006

Email: Something New [AS]

I've been marginally interested in seeing Diary of a Mad Black Woman. If it had scenes [of] gratuitous booty shaking, however, I can pass. I greatly enjoyed Something New; it was intelligent and sensitive, if a bit emotionally dry.

I think normally women know exactly how many days, hours, and minutes it's been since he said he'd call -- whereas men would say "It's been five days?" because [like it or not] it is not the most important thing in our lives, it's as important as everything else (or slightly lower than our career).

Friday, March 31, 2006

Musings: Molley or a cat?

My dachshund Molley is the closest thing to having a real cat like my old pal Dickens.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Trivia: Invention of Coca-Cola

(via The Writer's Almanac on American Public Media)

"On this day [March 29] in 1886, John Pemberton perfected a headache and hangover remedy he had cooked up over a fire in his backyard. It contained coca leaves and extract of kola nut, and he advertised it as an Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage. He had been making something called Pemberton's French Wine Coca, but Atlanta had just passed a prohibition law, and he had to come up with an alcohol-free formula. He sweetened the new elixir with sugar instead of wine, and his bookkeeper suggested he name the beverage Coca-Cola."

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Web: Storybook animal postage stamps

(via Pop Culture Junk Mail) Curious George, now on a stamp!

Web: Star Wars Episode IV versions

(via Pop Culture Junk Mail) Star Wars: The Changes by Chris Gould

Words: dint [MW]

Pronunciation: 'dint
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English dynt; akin to Old Norse dyntr noise
1 archaic : BLOW, STROKE
2 : FORCE, POWER
3 : DENT
- by dint of : by force of : BECAUSE OF

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Typos: diagnosis (diagnose)

(via Michael Schaivo's Side of the Story on MSNBC) "In November 1992, Michael sued Terri’s physician, accusing him of failing to diagnosis bulimia while treating Terri for fertility problems prior to her collapse at 26."

Proverbs: Time and money -- you never have both at the same time

Musings: Trash and plugs

No matter what job I've had, even as president of my own companies, I've never been able to get away from two ugly tasks: taking out the trash and crawling around under desks plugging and unplugging things.

Proverbs: It's amazing what one truly devoted and/or maniacal person can accomplish

Humor: Slack the Monkey

I just ran across the "seriously caffeinated escapades of a mutant engineering Super Monkey!" -- Slack the Monkey -- in Design News magazine. Herewith are episodes 1 (Monkey Pee), 2 (Pas de Q), 3 (Break-In at the EPA), and 4 (Geek Envy).

Monday, March 27, 2006

Musings: Passing the torch

Since age six, I have always read the daily paper's opinion and comics pages -- the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press until 1997, the Houston Chronicle since then. There have been stretches when I did not get the Chronicle for reasons of time and, let's face it, it's about as light on news as the Pioneer Press (published in a city 1/16th of Houston's size) but with fewer Pulitzers. When traveling, I always steep myself in the local journalistic fare. Newspapers are in my blood.

My youngest son and I have been reading Far Side cartoons in book form for a while. Last Friday, I ran across a Rubes cartoon that tickled my fancy since it portrays a small canine-American with some of the same chutzpah that I see in Twerpette. My son got the joke and even drew a 12-panel cartoon riff of his own. This morning, he asked for the funnies so he could read them on the way to school. He likes Vikings so we discussed Hagar the Horrible's premise (husbands and wives argue -- but only if they don't listen to each other). Suffice it to say, I think he's caught the bug and the torch has been passed.

Words: cull [MW]

Pronunciation: 'k&l
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French cuillir, from Latin colligere to bind together -- more at COLLECT
1 : to select from a group : CHOOSE culled the best passages from the poet's work
2 : to identify and remove the culls from

(So cull carries the positive sense of reserving the best from a group rather than skimming the impurities from a pool.)

Email: Off the deep end [CH]

It's not about you, and the problem with people [who] "really care" is that they wrack their brain to find a way where they are or are not at fault for something perceived to be wrong. Usually however there is nothing wrong or the other person has simply been uncharitable (which is no reflection on the recipient).

I do not believe in the cut-off-and-throw-out school of life. In other words, everything I do is about the larger issues, learning and staying in touch, not I'd-better-not-talk-to-anyone-else-lest-someone-be-jealous. This is how it is in business, this is how it is in my world, and the woman who is right for me will understand this. Besides, I have learned that if someone doesn't trust you, then no amount of bending backwards will assuage a woman's [or a man's] insecurities.

Women jump in the pool at the deep end; men move towards the deep end gradually. I don't know of any exceptions to this rule. Do you?