You Should Paint Your Room Blue

Peaceful and soothing, blue rooms have been known to reduce blood pressure. Your blue room will encourage deep rest and great sleep. A blue room is the perfect oasis for a stressful life.

What Color Should You Paint Your Room?

The ironic thing about this "blogthing" is that I have repeatedly said blue is my favorite color but I would NEVER decorate with it.

Fun At Ikea

I went to Ikea today with my friend AB. She always spends quite a bit more than I do and this trip was no different but I did decide to purchase a couple little lamps. They are small, about 5 inches in diameter and would produce better light if I was able to put them up a bit higher. I set them on my nightstands and they are a nice addition to my room.

I love Ikea. If you are choosy you can find some things that don't look as cheap as the prices.

Hell Is A More Likely Destination

What is kind of amusing about this is that this kid thinks that if he died (via suicide or doing something so bad that the cops would shoot him, I'm guessing) that he would go to heaven. Equally amusing is that he thought that once he got there that he would somehow have the ability to kill Jesus. The article is pasted below.

FLORENCE, S.C. — Federal authorities say a South Carolina teen accused of plotting to blow up his high school told police that he wanted to die, go to heaven and kill Jesus.

A dark portrait of Ryan Schallenberger emerged Tuesday in a federal courtroom as prosecutors argued the teen needs a psychological evaluation.

An ATF agent says Schallenberger told a sheriff about his wish to die after his arrest. Prosecutors also played a 911 tape of the teen's mother calling police after he smashed his head into a wall. She says on the tape her son threatened to shoot police if they were called to his home.

Authorities say the teen bought materials to make several bombs and had written a journal detailing his plans to attack Chesterfield High School.

What's sad is that someone actually thinks that way.

Oddly Enough...

My fellow writer/editor friends should find this amusing.

I just read this article in defense of the semicolon. I have a list of things about it.

1) I wasn't aware that there were semicolon haters out there.

2) the author doesn't use a single one in her article other than briefly as an example.

3) they need to use proofreaders before they post this stuff. (They didn't even use the right kind of dashes so how can they be any kind of authority on any punctuation at all?)

The Former Brazen Bean

The other evening after closing at work I happened up Glisan Street. Brazen Bean, normally very busy and lit up, was of course quiet and dark. I would have imagined it was pretty common knowledge by now (three weeks later) that the bar had shut down. Not so, considering I saw people venturing up steps. I know for sure that I would have noticed before even approaching the first step that the bar was closed.

Another odd circumstance happened but two days later. A rudimentary sign was placed out front, saying only "sale." There was some random furniture down on the lower landing but what was more interesting is what was on the deck. Un-notably, there was a couch. But on the couch was a dumb-looking guy. And ON the dumb-looking guy was an even more dumb-looking girl bouncing up and down as if they were "doing it" right there in broad daylight even though they were both fully clothed.

It was, ahem, quite a sight.

Penguin Wetsuit

This gives a whole new meaning to the term "penguin suit."

Best Recent Invention Yet

This will make a whole WORLD of difference in flying.

Too bad only Delta is the only one signed up for it (mostly too bad since I prefer to fly Continental when I can).

Earth Day Commitment

My work place is celebrating Earth Day by asking employees to volunteer some kind of environmental commitment for the week. Someone created a poster where everyone can write the thing they are doing to help save the planet.

The point of it is to get individuals to volunteer to give something up, not to force everyone to. Some people wrote that they would walk to work this week, others said they would save electricity by turning off the lights in unused rooms and closets. There were several others.

At some point in the afternoon, a coworker decided that everyone would play along by removing all the paper towels from the employee restroom. She announced it gleefully over the walkie-talkie that "now everyone can do their part." Immediately, another coworker turned to me and said "I think that is really rude. The point is that we can choose whether or not we want to do this." While there was an additional reason for my position, I agreed completely.

I confronted the person who removed the paper towels. Those of you who know me may be surprised to find out that I actually really hate confrontation and I was sort of nervous to talk to her about it, even though she is not my boss in any way.

I simply said, "I disagree with your decision to remove the paper towels. I am a complete germ-o-phobe and I require paper towels to feel comfortable and sanitary about exiting the bathroom. I am sure that not everyone who works here washes their hands and I know I am not the only one who uses the paper towels on the door handle. Also, I believe I have an equal point when I say that I'm doing my part to conserve by not wasting electricity with the hand dryer."

She didn't argue. I don't think she expected anyone to say that to her though.

Funny Stuff

Here are today's best conversations from overheardinnewyork.

Douchebag trying to get on an over-crowded train: Move in!
Annoyed lady: There's no more room!
Glib red-headed chick: It's a subway, not a clown car!

Professor: So your answer is "Yes"?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Ok. Well, let me tell you that the shorter and more accurate answer is "No". [sic]

Little girl: Daddy, what's that building?
Harried dad: The Goldman-Sachs building, I think, in Jersey City.
Little boy: What town is that on top of the hill?
Harried dad: Union city.
Little girl: What are they building there?
Harried dad: Condos. Jesus, will you two turn around? I didn't pay $45 for you to look at New Jersey.

Must See

This cat loves this horse

Here is a comprehensive list of the types of weather that we drove through on our way to Seattle.

Sun
Rain
Snow
Rain
Sun
Hail
Rain

All that in a 3 hour drive.

Third Trip To Seattle

I went to Seattle again this weekend, this time with my friend KJ. The purpose of the trip was to visit with her friend Tim who was contributing to an art show put on by those receiving their BFAs. After the art show, we met my friend KP and his friend Dave for dinner at Boom Noodle just before heading to the party held in Tim's honor.

KJ and I stayed at the Ace Hotel. We had a cute, small room with what appeared to be an airplane sink in the bathroom, but was otherwise quite livable. The hotel is located on First St in Belltown. Our hotel, being of very close proximity to Downtown, gave us exactly what we were hoping for: Seattle experience.

For Sunday breakfast, we found a nice little eatery, Bacco, where we consumed egg sandwiches on croissant rolls. They were delicious and it set us up for the rest of the day. After breakfast we stopped off at a fragrance store where I think I may have found the perfume I've been looking for. We then walked up to the big mall where one can find Barney's of New York, which we do not have in Portland. There, I sampled my first pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes. I have resisted the urge to try them on because I knew the inevitable would happen and I would rationalize with myself how to obtain a pair of these shoes. (No. I did not buy a pair...but, oh.)

Finally we meandered down to Pike Street Market where we obtained Piroshki, which is a Russian sort of pastry. I bought a few varieties because half are for my sister. We took a break down by the waterfront and enjoyed the brief interlude of sunlight before heading back to the car and returning to Portland. When we got home, we went to Cafe Castagna, where KJ's fiance works and ate a delicious hamburger and Caesar salad.

I Wish It Were A Joke

Saw this article this morning.

Now what?

I'm actually too annoyed and suffering from complete disbelief to make any more comments about it. I would only hope that it turned out to be a hoax of some kind but it doesn't seem the case.

WTF? Seriously.

At first I thought this was kinda funny.

Then I thought it was pretty enlightening (and I became a little agitated) because a lot of guys actually do behave like they expect their woman to heed these kinds of things.

Notice how "the man" expects "the lady" to never see her ex but he himself makes no concessions about his exes. He insists on a few things that seem funny individually at first glance but then when combined with all the others just make him seem like a jerk. I guess he simply wants his woman to give in to everything he wants and essentially give up anything she wants...

I'm all about getting what you want from a relationship. But at least be fair and hold yourself to the same accountability and expectations to which you hold your partner.

(Was he really serious about that "side of the bed" thing? Oh brother. If a woman is perfect in every other way but won't give up her side of the bed if it happens to be the same as his side, what's he gonna do?)

Michelle's Fallacy

"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."

The above quote has been all over the news and blogs today.

Does it paint a pretty picture? Terrible grammar ignored, not at all, for the following reason.

Michelle Obama's statement makes the claim that each individual has his or her own pie. Well if we all had our own pie then no one would be giving any up because everyone would have enough. The truth of the matter is that there is only one pie, and it is split 300,000,000 ways.

Consider this pie. It is only so big and everyone gets a slice of it. But that piece varies depending on many factors. Michelle Obama's piece is bigger than yours but who do you think she is talking about when she says "someone" is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so someone else can have more? Certainly not herself. She means you, and she means me. She means to take it from people whose piece of pie is barely enough to feed themselves.

This is the way politics works. The political figure (or his wife) makes a pretty picture out of something that in the end only benefits a few. The majority of us are going to suffer no matter what.

Am I the only one who remembers Hillary blathering on and on about this same thing when Bill was running for president? This comes to mind:

"We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." (And she is your other choice!)

Whose idea of "common good"? Something is pretty clear here...

A HA!

Finally! A man who grasps what it is like to be a woman in the dating scene.

Now if only ALL men could have this realization.

Girl's Night Out Report

Last night, I met up with three girlfriends and two others who are friends of one of them for girl's night out.

We met at a place called District. They have a simple ambiance---not too many tables, unfinished wood on the walls, plexi light fixtures.

I took L's recommendation and ordered a Champagne SupernoVa. It is a delicious blend of Stoli vodka, champagne, and pureed strawberry. It comes with a whole strawberry garnished on the sugared rim. It has an average Pearl District price point of $8.

For dinner I had District's version of gnocchi. It consists of two little potato patties in a bed of mushrooms in a cream sauce. It is really good. Unfortunately, it too is $8 but the portion is very small. I could have eaten two. (Though, for reasons I will get to later, it's good I didn't.)

After dinner I ate a piece of their New York cheesecake. It was drizzled with a berry sauce and there were almonds sprinkled on the plate. We told the waitress that she should recommend they put more raspberries on the plate with it. The cake was also $8. (Notice the trend. Most of the menu is $8.)

When it was time to go we got our bill. It was pretty big between the six of us and the restaurant added a 20% gratuity. We all agreed that 20% is pretty steep. With most places adding 18% for parties of 8 or more, we felt it was excessive---especially since the service wasn't that spectacular.

We left District for an unknown destination. We walked around a few blocks and ended up almost back where we started, but this time at Henry's. We've all been there before but the additional girls were from San Fran so we thought we could take them there. When we walked in I immediately noticed the weird smell and within about ten minutes I was not feeling well. I silently excused myself from our table and went in the bathroom. I thought it would pass so I was just hanging out there for what I thought would be a few minutes. No. My nausea kept getting worse and worse so I finally ended up sitting on the bathroom floor against a wall practically praying that I wasn't gonna lose it. (Conveniently, I was able to prevent at least 5 different women from using a stall that had no supplies in it, so at least my illness let me be a Samaritan. L came in after a while to see what happened to me. I told her I couldn't leave the bathroom because truth be told, I wasn't sure I would make it outside before vomiting. I released her back to our friends and eventually my stomach settled enough to move so I took the opportunity and rushed through the bar and to our table. I notified the girls that I had to get outside so everyone moved their things.

While outside many things happened. Numerous members of the restaurant's wait staff and managers asked if I was okay or if they could get anything for me. Several customers asked what was the matter with me. At one point after the girls left L and me at the table to go get the cars, a large (tall and hefty) man waddled over to offer us his food. He told us we needed to eat. L said "we eat more than you do. We aren't anorexic." He wouldn't let up, however, so I mustered all my ability and opened my eyes and said "I'm really nauseated. Could you take your food away please?"

In the end, I felt better once I got in the car and it was moving toward home. Odd, I know. But I still wasn't well, and when I woke up at 3 am my stomach still hurt. But that was it. I was fine when I woke up for work and I will probably look back on this and wonder what the hell that was about.

Are They Serious?

A Texas sergeant and his son recently found themselves separated not only by an eight-hour time difference, several bodies of water, hundreds of miles and a war, but by a high school official who suspended the boy for answering his dad's call during class.

Cove High School in Texas, where half the students have at least one parent deployed, justified the punishment against Brandon Hill by saying he had violated the no-cell-phone policy when he took the call from his father, who is serving in Iraq.

"I have been going through a lot of stress lately and my dad’s like my best friend, so I go to him for everything," the sophomore told FOX News on Saturday.

"I needed to talk to him, so my mom got a hold of him on Yahoo and told him to call me, so I answered the phone call in class."

When he learned of his son’s punishment, Master Sgt. Morris Hill said he was unsettled.

"When my wife told me, I was pretty disturbed by it," he said in a phone call from Iraq.

"I was pretty shocked, considering that several months before we left I had talked to the … assistant principal and thought everything was fine," Morris Hill said.

"Since my kid’s been going to the school we’ve had a pretty good working relationship."

And when his mother, Patricia Hill, tried to contact school officials, she received no response until her son’s story garnered media attention.

The matter has since been resolved, Patricia Hill said, but she added that more must be done to protect children around the country from being punished in similar circumstances.

This is pretty outrageous. If my dad was in Iraq, I would take the call too. I'd probably be willing to expel myself to get the chance to talk to him. Were I the teacher, I would also be more understanding rather than reporting him to "school officials."

Wow. Nothing Else To Say.

I originally saw this video on the shoeblog. The blogger said the woman's accent was terrible basically. What I find funnier is that the subtitles are written out exactly as she is saying the words. I am guessing someone added it in later to make it more obvious.

Watch the video to see what I mean.

Also, she isn't a good singer. Why would someone choose to sing a song that her voice is physically incapable of singing?

American Ruins

American Ruins may be the most impressive photography book I've seen. It isn't a photo how-to but a collection of beautiful infrared photos taken of ruins around America.

I saw the book Borders or Barnes & Noble for $45. I'm glad I didn't get it then because I saw it on Amazon today for just under $30. I'll probably order it in the next few days.

I'm also now inspired to try out this infrared film. Once I get the chance I will post some pictures.

Here is the site for the book. If you click on slide show you can see some of the fantastic images.

Portland's Worst Drivers

This may come as a surprise to you but Portland's worst drivers are pizza delivery drivers.

I know this because I had encounters with three of them on Barnes Rd. between Tigard and Portland this evening.

First was Round Table. The guy nearly hit my sister who was driving in the car ahead of mine. He wasn't looking at all when he pulled out of the side street. Then he paced me for a while when suddenly he decided to change into my lane, which forced me to break, so I took note of the New Yorkers and honked at him for not paying attention to what he was doing. (He honked back which essentially meant he was honking at my sister because you can really only honk at the car in front of you.) If you cause another driver to have to break because of your lane changing, then you aren't doing it at the right time.

The second incident involved a second pizzeria but I wasn't sure who it was. He was holding up a long line of traffic trying to turn left on Barnes in a difficult spot, and then the third was immediately following when I was almost rear-ended by a Pizza Hut driver.

Fun times. My sister and I are still deliberating on whether or not to complain about the Round Table guy...he almost hit us both in two separate cars. Bad driver!

Too Absurd For Words

A friend brought this to my attention today.

Pray tell, what exactly is wrong with the haircut? How is it breaking rules? My suspicion is that other kids may have (gasp) liked it!

Anyway, as is always true in these sorts of incidents, the officials weren't available for comment. I am guessing they are in hiding, trying to avoid the proverbial lynch mob that IS the press. Not to mention thinking people who can't figure out what was going through these people's heads.

Holy Elephant!

This is utterly awesome.

I read a supporting article recently that talked about how elephants are self-aware. They placed a blue dot on an elephant and then placed a mirror in front of her. She studied the image in the mirror and then reached for the blue dot. The clincher, the evidence that she knew it was her own reflection, was that she reached for the physical dot on her body---not the one reflected in the mirror.

Untitled, The Third

I think life is far, FAR too short to put up with other people's bullshit.

I don't even think I need to elaborate on that.

:)