Would you rather...

...sit in the sun, afloat on the 'Hood, and drink a beer?

OR

...sit in your office and finalize documents for next week's department retreat?

Choose very carefully.

Burning Man? Really?

People still do the Burning Man thing? It stuns me. But I guess it's sort of cool to know that pseudo-hippie strangers find my friend's life inspiring...

Complete and Unabridged

Sarah Palin and I have SO much in common.

1. We are both in our 40s.

2. As hockey moms, we represent an artificial demographic, no better or worse than any other kind of mom. (I heart Jon Stewart.)

3. We love low-cut satin shirts and leather mini-skirts. (Thanks for the photo, GVB, via AW.)

4. ummm....

Okay. Sarah Palin and I have three things in common.

Unexpected Gifts

I turn 40 today, and the emails and cards and visitors and gifts are all rolling in. Perhaps the most unique birthday gift of all, though, was a visit from Ooky, the Birthday Slug! He was oozing across my kitchen floor as I prepared the morning's coffee, and we shared some tender birthday words before I scooped him up on a piece of cardboard and hurled him into the ivy in the back yard.

Sorry

I can't help but like her.


I still want the Obama/Biden ticket to crush those spectacles into tiny shards of glass that shred her anti-feminist views...


But I sort of liked her tonight.

Sorry.

Things I learned in the International District

Lunch at Uwajimaya with 8 incoming 8th graders is an education all by itself, but here are two of the more generally applicable things I noted yesterday during my right-in-the-thick-of-puberty-fueled excursion:

1. White people who shop at Uwajimaya believe themselves to be unique and remarkable for doing so. The air of pretension in the soy cheese aisle was (dare I say it?) palpable.

2. Hello Kitty is still very, very popular.

Back, by RPD demand

For those of you who aren't in the know, these are the Bad Idea Bears. The BIBs tend to wail and gnash their teeth when folks like me don't respond to their encouragements toward more wine and less work---but I can proudly say that I've given them no cause for tears in recent months. Go ahead and read GVB's blog for the general overview of my summer (minus the sailing, running, climbing and riding)... and watch for future posts, now that RPD, the honorary BIB, has encouraged me toward electronic record-keeping...