Explaining the Card

I got a few questions about our card--if it is PhotoShopped. Nope, it's all real.

We went to the Natural Bridge Zoo in early September, and they had 2 tiger cubs, both female. One was a rare white tiger; the other an extremely rare "Golden Tabby". As you see, we had our picture taken with the white tiger.

The baby tigers are pampered during this time, so they love to get their pictures taken. The white tiger cub was eager to jump in our laps to get the bottle. She put her paw on Frank's hand, and it wasn't much smaller. She wasn't very soft, which surprised me. Her fur was kind of wiry. It was quite an experience that lasted about 30 seconds!

The site now only mentions the white tiger. I wonder what happened to the Golden Tabby cub. Since the Golden Tabby was so rare, I wouldn't be surprised if they sold it to a larger zoo or something like that.

I need to bug Frank to post his movies of the tigers getting baths. They complained less than Sydney does when she gets a bath.

Merry Christmas!

Where Does the Cat Go?

Using GPS to Monitor Your Cat Slideshow/Video

The video is a little long, but it appealed to my geeky side, which rarely shows itself.

Special Guest Star Appearance

(It's a dream note, but I'll keep it short.)

Isn't it fun when your dream features someone you haven't seen in a really long time. For example, you're on a subway, and you're trying to dodge some creep who is hitting on you, and you run into XXX, who you haven't see since you graduated from college 10 years ago. The dream audience cheers and whistles as the special guest comes on screen and your guest has to pause a bit until the cheers die down.

Later, you exchange phone numbers because he doesn't want you to get lost on the subway. But it takes forever because you can't find his phone number on the phone screen he shows you and when you do find it, you can't copy it because the numbers keep changing. (Your brain can't fake a number? Or just can't remember a number long enough?) You're frustrated and you start to realize that it is a dream and begin to wake up.

But, it was good to see XXX. He hasn't changed a bit in 10 years.

The end. See, that wasn't too bad.

Oxymoron?

I read an ad in Glamour that says "state-of-the-art, vintage technology."

I guess that's possible if the state of the art hasn't changed, but...

Is this an oxymoron? Or, does it just not make sense?

Carbon Footprint Calculator

Carbon Footprint Calculator -- from IEEE, not sponsored by someone selling carbon offsets. I haven't played yet because I don't have access to my electric bills, but I will.

How My Boyfriend Shows He Likes Me

An email from Frank: "Did you leave yet? I have a table reserved at Friendly's for 7:30."

The Start of a List

Pairs of famous people who died on the same day, from Dad:

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
Jim Henson and Sammy Davis, Jr
Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie
Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson

Today's Rant

At a recent research group gathering, several people didn't know who David Lee Roth was. Not that I'm biggest fan, but I know who he is. I joked that I was going to have a series of lectures on pop culture. Today, I explained that David Lee Roth is the lead singer of Van Halen. The response: "Who is Van Halen?" The top songs I came up with by Van Halen were "Jump" and "Right Now". Emily piped up, "You Really Got Me."

What? That's not Van Halen. It took me awhile to come up with The Kinks as the originator of that song. (I'm disappointed in myself too.) I didn't know (or at least remember) that Van Halen had a cover of the Kinks' song. Emily insisted that the Van Halen version was the famous one. What?!? I'm not sure how to measure that, but it just seems wrong to call that song a Van Halen song.

I was searching for the lyrics to a Christmas song on the Web, and the first page that came up was one that was titled "Hanson Lyrics". Sigh.

Emily said that she likes some remakes better than the original. I suggested Madonna's "American Pie", which Emily claimed she had never heard. YouTube to the rescue, and she was scarred for life.

Transformers Sequel

A while ago, I saw the trailer for the Transformers sequel with a friend. The trailer started with Shia going to college and the Transformer said something mildly amusing. And then the action starts. My friend was a little disappointed in the movie. He thought it was going to be a buddy comedy: Shia goes to college with his robot friend and hilarity ensues. Maybe that can be the next sequel.

Yea, Get Fuzzy!

Get Fuzzy Made Me Laugh

Sneak Attack

Frank and I explored a local park last weekend. We took a little path along the river. There were stacks of hay on the trail. I'm not sure for what. Frank was walking in front of me. Suddenly, he gasps and spins, which makes me gasp and jump backwards. It was a squirrel. A squirrel. It was behind a hay stack, eating something and didn't seem to notice or care that we were coming. The squirrel ran up a tree next to the path.

I teased Frank, "A squirrel?" He said, "It was going to kill us."

On the way back, Frank made a bunch of noise so the squirrel knew we were coming. I reminded him that squirrel wasn't afraid of us, and we knew where the squirrel was this time.

In the Family

My dad's cousin Julie had a birthday party for her mom, my dad's Aunt Norma. Aunt Norma turned 80! My sister is a big fan of Aunt Norma, so she was bummed she couldn't attend. (Jessie lives in Der Fatherland, Germany.) Dad told Aunt Norma that Jessie would have attended if she had more notice (so it was Julie's fault that Jessie didn't attend). Aunt Norma said, "80 years wasn't enough notice?" oooo, burn! Aunt Norma's last name may be Wise but she's all Sprenkle.

Unuseful Translation

When I'm going to need to have to translate this?

Spanish: Tu gato parece muy alegre.

English: Your cat seems very happy.


Transparent Language doesn't know my cat at all.

Can It Be True?

Greg Paulus Visits Ann Arbor, May Transfer to Michigan for Football

I agree with my dad's take on the story, but he also backs up his thoughts: "I had heard that there was a chance that Greg Paulus would be drafted as a quarterback. That seemed unlikely when I heard it, and I think it's a story because it makes a good story. I doubt that the NCAA will let him play college football. I remember Art Schlichter who was a quarterback at Ohio State and with the Colts. At some point, he decided to go back to college and play basketball. The NCAA said he had already used his eligibility."

Relationship Revelation

Tonight, I found out that Frank doesn't like Oreos. He claims they are his least favorite cookies. This may be a relationship breaker. I'm pretty sure that's one of the first questions they ask at eHarmony to determine cookie compatibility.

My Pick for Best Quote of the NCAA Tournament

"This is the guy who has to get it done for Binghamton. He’s their CPU if this is a computer…. He’s the operating system…. He’s the processing unit, the one that makes everything happen."
-- Clark Kellogg on Emanuel Mayben

Like Roommate, Like Roommate

Sydney and I are so much alike. We both are competitive and hate to lose. When we sense that we're losing, we grab our opponent and bite.

New Poster in My Bedroom

Steve Martin Ironing a Kitten

A New One

Dad reports

I started taking a grammar course. Since it's such a chore to try to take these courses, I decided to skip the instruction and just take the tests. The first test was on sentence fragments and subject/verb agreement. I only got 1 question wrong. There was a hypothetical question about a guy taking a grammar course and the results he might expect. There were 5 answers, and there could be more than 1 answer. One went something like, "His colleagues may appreciate his effort." I was torn, but since it said may, I picked it, but the computer told me I was wrong. That's a bit disappointing. "No way will his coworkers appreciate his effort. Doing well in this course is like wetting your pants while wearing a dark suit: You get a warm feeling, but nobody notices." Well, it didn't say that exactly.

I have heard many of Dad's lines many, many times. (Like that my mom and dad considered combining their last names to "Stinkle", but he can't remember why they decided against it.) This one about the warm feeling, I don't remember hearing before.

Surprising stories behind 20 Muppet characters

I'm not sure the stories are so surprising. I liked the story about Bert and Ernie best. Boring can be interesting?

The Story

My Fight Cat

Jeopardy!

I nearly swept the Double Jeopardy! category of Classic TV Drama Episodes. The TV dramas were Bonanza, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI, Dynasty (the one I missed), and China Beach. The China Beach one surprised me; I don't think I've ever seen that episode. No one else got it or CSI. Nerds.

I also swept the Prime Numbers category, but it was ridiculously easy. The last one was "81, 85, 89". If you couldn't figure out that you have to pick which is the prime number, well, I can't help you. If it was "81, 87, 89", that would have been a better challenge. You shouldn't have one that ends in 5 and one that adds up to 9.

Discover The Power of Carrots

Link thanks to (blamed on?) Jessie: Carrots in Today's World

End of An Error

Dad wrote: I hope you are never happier to see a President leave office.

Stories of My Life that I Didn't Know Happened

I talked to Andy yesterday, and he reminisced about the time Philip Rivers (now of the San Diego Chargers) was next to us at a Better Than Ezra concert. I asked him to repeat this a couple of times because it didn't sound familiar.

Andy: "Don't you remember those two tall guys near us?" Nooo, I do remember someone with a cigarette that I had to dodge to not get burnt. Me: "Why was Philip Rivers there?" Andy: "He played for NC State." Me: "He played for NC State?" Andy: "Argh!" or something along those lines. He was pretty frustrated (rightfully so).

Andy and I can't figure out when we attended the concert. Somewhere around 2001, maybe. It was after BTE released the album Closer, which is my favorite BTE album. BTE played some songs from that album. I was impressed because the crowd sang along with the new stuff, which meant that they were real BTE fans.

So, that is pretty cool. I wish I remembered it happening. I wonder if I remembered this as being a significant event around the time it happened.

Signs of the Economy

Days stars' exit sure sign of recession

I don't agree with her take on John as "studly", but I appreciated her comparison of the economy and Stefano Dimera.

Slinky Cat

See more at Today's Big Thing.

That Crap

Frank said his mom bought Christmas trays to use next year to give people cookies on. I said, "No one wants that crap!" Frank said, angrily, "My dad makes all those cookies. What is she supposed to do?" I said, "I was talking about the trays. No one wants the Christmas trays. She could just use red plastic wrap or something ... Why did you think 'that crap' was referring to your dad's cookies?" Frank cracked up and couldn't explain his response.

New Year's Resolution

I thought about it a long time: what do I want to improve? After much reflection, I decided that my New Year's Resolution is

To continue being perfect.

Brief Update on My Injury

My cut is much less noticeable now. I don't think it will scar. It was tense for a little while, but Sydney and I friends again.

Local Celeb Sighting

Frank and I went to the Olive Garden yesterday for lunch to use a gift card. We saw the Daniel L. Crandall--the lawyer from the local TV commercials who helps people who have been accidents.

Frank was waiting for me to come out of the bathroom. When I came out of the bathroom, I saw DLC right away. I turned to Frank, who was oh-so-subtly gesturing with his head toward DLC. He's not as cool as I am when seeing local celebrities.