WORD BY WORD

All riled up and no place to unload: food, religion, foreign policy, literature, and other stuff that gets me going, plus a little dash of omphaloskepsis

11 March 2007

Too many blogs!

OK loyal fans and readers — hi Lyrical Robot and Uncle Ron! -- this blog is going away. It has served its purpose, and rather than letting it languish here like a piece of rapidly molding cheese, I shall take it down. But do not weep, my piglets: as one blog dies, another is born. Hüsbando and I have decided to join forces and chronicle our "uncredibly inglamorous" life together over at The Nagwells. At the very least, you can look forward to exciting in-progress photos of plumbing and drywalling!


31 January 2007

We get celebrities in NorCal, too!


Look who I photographed on campus today. Too bad I don't watch "Reno 911," or I would have been more excited about Lt. Dangle, Deputy Junior, and Officer Wiegel visiting. The students seemed to be thrilled, though.

27 January 2007

A fun Friday night at the Nagwells

Want a brain teaser? Hypothetically, how would you divide two 350-pound hogs among 28 people who each wanted from 10 to 25 pounds of specific cuts like spareribs or fresh belly? Oh, and just for fun, pretend like you're paying a flat per-pound fee for all the pork, but you have to figure out how to make the prices for all the various cuts, from kidney to ham, add up to the big fat check you're writing.


We're just pretending, of course, because doing a hog share like that would be insane. A butcher told me so, and more than one chef. But if you were an ornery person who just felt committed to doing it, you might spend many, many hours making spreadsheets and staring at them before finally color-coding a whole mess o' Post-Its and spending the evening moving them around on a piece of foam core. That is, if you were a MEAT GEEK!!


Life really was a lot simpler when I was a vegetarian. In so many, many ways.

20 January 2007

Mystery Science Theater


After the break: Find out why this woman ended up at a poodle grooming shop instead of a beauty salon!

Sometimes I look up from my laptop and Hüsbando is watching the weirdest things on TV.

I'm sitting on the chaise for what feels like the 18th night in a row, trying to figure out how to divide and price two 350-pound hogs fairly among 29 people. Tell me again why I stopped being a vegetarian?

17 January 2007

Georgeboards

My mother forwarded me a list of George-boards — like Billboards, only dumber. My favorites follow. I'm sure these are ancient, but if I were a bumper-sticker sort of person, I would get one of these. Hey! Maybe I could cover up all the hit-and-run scrapes on my poor car with them...as long as I never left the Bay Area, I'd be fine. In so many ways.

If You Can Read This, You're Not Our President

Bad President! No Banana.

You Elected Him. You Deserve Him.

Impeachment: It's Not Just for Blowjobs Anymore

At Least Nixon Resigned

America: One Nation, Under Surveillance

Bush Doesn't Care About White People, Either

We're Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them

Whose God Do You Kill For?

Bush: God's Way of Proving Intelligent Design is Full Of Crap

One Nation Under Clod

If I Wanted a Nation Ruled By Religion, I'd have Moved to Iran

Dubya, Your Dad Shoulda Pulled Out, Too

The Republican Party: Our Bridge to the 11th Century

Of Course It Hurts: You're Getting Screwed by an Elephant

2004: Embarrassed
2005: Horrified
2006: Terrified
1/20/09: End of an Error

13 January 2007

It's the little things that count

The New York Times had a brief article yesterday about what sounds like some boring bureaucratic maneuvering, but is actually quite cheering for those of us who live in the Reality-based Republic instead of the Dictatorship of Truthiness.

A year ago the White House Office of Management and Budget proposed that federal agencies like the EPA change the way they assess environmental hazards, health threats and other risks. A lollipop for those who can guess whether there would be more, or less, "good news" created by these changes. Amazingly, someone made them back off: a panel of experts appointed by the National Academy of Sciences declared that the proposal was so scientifically flawed that it “could not be rescued.”

The Bushies have slithered off to go see if they can do some drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge under the guise of "Natural Fuel Liberation."

Only 737 days left...

11 January 2007

Once upon a time...

...I had a blog that I used to rant about Bush, Cheney, religion, chauvinism, and many many other things that tickled my angry button bigtime. And then I started another blog and fell so in love with my new topic that I completely neglected the first one, so much so that months went by without a new post.

And this, my little piggies, is why I should never have children. That's No. 42 on the list of reasons, by the way.

I should start writing here again. All food and no intellectual navel-gazing is turning me into a fathead.