Except for one thing. The song goes, “you didn’t RSVP… that’s okay, that’s okay.”

Really, Kerli. Miss Manners would be ashamed. How could you teach our kids that not RSVPing is in any way okay? Next thing you know, kids will be running around starting food fights and generally showing horrible manners, all because of this one song.

.

.

.

/satire /mock outrage

The little girl began playing with YMCA Lady’s necklace. YMCA Lady shoved her hand away and said, “That’s mine, leave it alone, it’s older than you.” Umm, a. she’s just doing what babies do – explore; b. she’s too young to understand “it’s older than you,” and c. perhaps if you don’t want to risk babies playing with your precious antique necklace, you shouldn’t be wearing it?

YMCA Lady and Friend go back to talking. Meanwhile, a little boy, perhaps 3 or 4, crawls up to me while pushing a firetruck and said, “hi!” I said “Hi!” He said, “Look at this firetruck!” I said, “I see!” Him: “It’s got a ladder!” Me: “That’s a big ladder!” Him: “It’s got lights too!” *showing me lights* Me: “Wow, that’s neat!” Little boy wanders off and continues playing.

Around this time Friend turns to me and I said, “That little guy was just showing me his firetruck.” YMCA Lady: “That’s OUR firetruck.” Uhh, okay lady, it’s not like the kid could hear me, and I’m sure he either knows the toy has to stay or Mommy or Daddy will explain it to him. Jeez.

I am not sure if she would be my boss or not if I got a job there, but I don’t think I could stand to work with her if she’s like that all the time.

I think So Long Suckers is my favorite…

My mom doesn’t even know this woman’s name, but she mentioned she was just home from basic training and going to be deployed soon, although she didn’t mention where to. I know we don’t all have the same beliefs, but if you see this post, please say a prayer or a thought to keep this woman safe on her tour.

I was never a talk show viewer, but my friend really loves Steve Wilkos and so we went to see a taping yesterday. (He used to work on, and guest hosted, the Jerry Springer show.) It was fun, but tiring. The taping started more than an hour late, and some people in the audience would not shut up and ended up getting kicked out. We didn’t have the best show… one of the guests on the show would not stop yelling and cursing, and she simply wouldn’t change her ways so Steve could help out. Our show also didn’t have the usual lie detector test, either. They did try to salvage it and think it will air in a couple of months. We have a phone number to call every Friday and wait until we hear when our taping will air.

Neat things about the taping:

The producers (mostly the executive producer, I think) don’t hesitate to pipe up during the show. When the one guest wouldn’t stop yelling, he first told Steve “you need to take control of this situation.” Later, the producer even yelled at her to shut up.

The stage manager (a great, friendly woman named Annette) told us ahead of time not to curse. I never heard anyone in the audience cursing (although admittedly it was very loud in there when we were applauding), but boy the guests did!

Steve is very friendly and seems to be just like he is on TV… very genuine. He answered questions before the taping and stuck around afterwards for pictures and autographs. Also, they do several tapings in one day.

The set looks a lot more orangey in person than it does on TV. I knew that most of it had a rust-colored look, but it never looked so vivid on TV as it did in person.

It was a neat experience to have. I’d love to go to a sitcom taping next.

I think if I were going to use candles to light a walkway, they’d have to be sheltered in some way, like placed inside small lanterns.

My 3 favorite bento blogs:

Bento Yum, with lots of great sets for beginners.
Adventures in Bentomaking
Lunch in a Box

1. We Shout – Tatu
2. I Want Someone To Love – Sailor Moon soundtrack
3. Hands – Jewel
4. I Can’t Stand It – Danielle Paris
5. Wild One – Faith Hill
6. YMCA – Village People
7. Never Get Over You – Expose
8. The Lover After Me – Savage Garden
9. Home Is In Your Heart – Care Bears
10. Fernando – Abba

Huh, I love dance music and not a single dance song came up in that list. Oh well, that’s randomness for you!

Story on Eagle Tribune

I don’t carry an exceptionally large purse, but when I type out what’s inside, it’s a huge list. My current purse is no longer listed, but I got it at Purses Boutique. My secret to packing it all in is my Purseket organizer and using mostly travel sizes.

• My wallet (soon to be split into an ultra-slim credit card holder and a coin sorter wallet).
• A Rainbow Brite metal wallet (also known as a “cigarette case”) from a seller on Vendio that holds my coupons.
• A change purse that holds nail clippers, Listerine Pocket Pack, mini folding scissors (like in a sewing kit), mini dental floss, artificial tears, and a spare chapstick
• A metal business card holder that has business cards and address labels.
• My cell phone, keys, and USB thumb drive
• A separate keyring that holds keyring-sized store loyalty cards, Blockbuster card, etc.
• Toiletries/cosmetics: Lotion and chapstick (I can’t live without them!), hand sanitizer, travel size deodorant (for those emergencies!), feminine supplies, Ocean (saline nasal) spray (yes, I’m an allergy sufferer), Band-Aid brand anti-itch gel (I occasionally get hives too)
• A small pill box filled with an assortment of Advil, Tylenol, Claritin, and Benadryl (tip: tear off a fourth of a kleenex and stuff in the top to keep the pills from rattling like a box of Tic Tacs).
• Another cylindrical pill container (technically from Gaviscon) that holds my Pepcid AC
• A travel container, like above, of Dramamine
• A telescoping backscratcher (not the best thing in the world… it tends to want to turn as you’re using it)
• Starlight mints and Zetts sore throat drops (15 cents each at CVS but well worth it – best sore throat remedy ever!)
• A mini flashlight clipped inside the top (great for seeing inside your purse in the dark – I got a dozen for $4.95 at Oriental Trading, so I can toss one out when it dies and put a new one in.)
• Sunglasses
• My prescription reading glasses, since I got them about a week ago, in a hard case with a cleaning cloth
• Zeiss Lens Wipes, around before the glasses, since they work great for my cell phone, iPod, DS/PSP, etc.
• Occasionally, one or more of the following: My iPod Mini or 1st gen Shuffle with earbuds, my DS Lite, or my PSP, with games
• When I remember to pack them, kleenex (being an allergy sufferer, I keep a family-sized box of Puffs Ultra in my car, so I always have some around).

Phew, what a list! So, what’s in your bag?

I’m on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies.

Her email recommends a visit to the Bush Bees Web site at Bushfarms.com. Here, Michael Bush felt compelled to put a message to the beekeeping world right on the top page:

Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I’m happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won’t hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.

This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I’ve gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren’t aware, and I wasn’t for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I’ve measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. …What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells.

Are you surprised that the major media reports forgot to tell us how the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support? Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?”

Original article

For those like me who routinely highlight information in a page (screensifters, anyone?), it’s extremely annoying. Here is a way to still highlight text, without disabling JavaScript, if you’re using Firefox:

Press ‘F3′ and type in the first few words of the sentence you would like to mark in the search box at the bottom of the screen.

Firefox will find and highlight the text you typed. Use the Next/Previous buttons to locate the occurrence you want, if there are multiple occurrences of the same text in the page, or just type more of the sentence in the search box until it finds only that sentence.

If you’d like a more permanent mark, that lasts longer than the next click on the page, click the ‘highlight all’ button. It will mark all occurrences of the text with a yellow background until you refresh the page.

You can also get the NoScript Add-On for Firefox and more easily decide who controls your browsing experience.

In IE, you’re probably stuck with disabling JavaScript.

Know what it beat out?

Gardasil, the vaccine to prevent HPV, the virus that most often causes cervical cancer!

I got: A black t-shirt from VideoEgg, a blue, gray, and green massager from Findology (disable your ad blockers or there will be almost nothing there!), an orange pen, keychain-bottle opener, and big sticker from Topix.net, a set of Perplex City cards, and stickers from the Valleyschwag Hoedown, Laughing Squid, and Plazes.com.  And it all came in a snazzy red cloth.

And by the way, go vote for Jonathan of Valleyschwag in Valleywag’s (see the difference?) Web 2.Ooh hotties contest! Come on, he’s way hotter than Om Malik!