Recently eaten: fajita platter from pollo sabroso
Recent annoyance: the bus smelled unsavory this morning
WMATA redesigned their website! Do I wish they had kept the trip planner and the service status box on the right hand side? Yeah. Am I embarrassed to admit that I'm digging their Mac-esque 2.0 icons? Oh, yeah. But, I have to give them props for keeping everything above the fold, even if it looks like a family of widgets threw up on the screen.
Recently eaten: brisket sandwich
Recent annoyance: is it even possible to eat all the apples gotten from apple-picking?
Good to know as Election Day approaches.
Joe Biden wants you to gird your loins (Slate)
At a Seattle fundraiser on Sunday, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden warned supporters that, if elected, Barack Obama will be tested by "an international crisis" early on in his first term. He also advised the crowd to "gird your loins," since the tasks ahead for the next president will be "like cleaning the Augean stables, man." What's the best way to follow Biden's advice?
Recently eaten: asiago bagel
Recent annoyance: bums who pee on the bus
This "in-the-closet" story refers neither to LGBTQ issues or the latest installment of R. Kelly's music video hip-hopera. We're talking about full-on gremlins in your closet...stealing your food...and living undetected. I am kind of okay with this lady living up in my closet if she picks up around the house while I am gone.
Japanese woman caught living in man's closet (Yahoo News)
A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.
Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.
The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.
One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.
"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."
The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.
She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."
"Closets, lies and videotape"Recently eaten: italian eggplant pizza
Recent annoyance: back to oatmeal for breakfast
Mexican jail really gets a PR boost from Blacky's experience. I'll go to Mexican jail if I get to gobble food from a bucket. Although, I am sure the donkey was put into solitary for his own safety. There are a lot of weirdos in Mexican prison.
Mexican donkey freed from jail after assault
A Mexican donkey has been freed from jail after doing time for assault and battery. The Televisa network on Wednesday showed "Blacky" gobbling food from a bucket after spending three days in a jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances.
"Community service sucks!"Recently eaten: turkey burrito
Recent annoyance: AC is blowing HOT air and that's NOT okay
The Grilled Cheese Invitational is a time-honored event going back centuries to the first grilled cheese created in the Middle Ages during castle sieges. Okay, so the pedigree isn't that good. Does it matter? do they use irons to make grilled cheese like in the movie Benny & Joon? It wouldn't be worthwhile unless they had some crazy contraption to make the sandwiches.
Recently eaten: stir fry
Recent annoyance: lockjaw
I know most people have some grand idea of what they're going to put on their tombstone (see Royal Tenenbaum's epitaph), but I kind of like this macabre little Hello Kitty. It says I am dead, but also was very cute in life.
Hello Kitty tombstones in Japan
Recently eaten: spaghetti and portabello mushrooms
Recent annoyance: am I coming or going?
I don't know how they get those little uniforms on the monkey. Heck, I don't even care. I just want to know if these little guys can jump over a tiny bus.
Little monkeys ride tiny motorcycles
Recently eaten: meatless tacos
Recent annoyance: something has up and died in the walls at work
Recently eaten: filet mignon ( I need to get my iron somewhere)
Recent annoyance: that gunk in my keyboard
Truly a classic.
Recently eaten: blackened catfish
Recent annoyance: dry eyeballs
Man, I would be all over the library if they had stuff like this. Heck, I'd even turn my books in late. Maybe Blockbuster will catch on to this...or, maybe they'll just keep offering little to no selection that is always checked out, and bad customer service. yeah, that's the ticket!
Librarian will lower late fees if you play Dance, Dance, Revolution
Library users with unpaid fines had a chance to redeem themselves Thursday during the annual Patron Appreciation Day at the Wadleigh Memorial Library.
Instead of a scolding when they arrived, delinquent patrons were received like party guests.
Patrons were invited to make good on unpaid fines by donating canned and packaged foods for the local soup kitchen or by entering a dance competition, “Dance Dance Revolution.”
To sweeten the pot, during most of the day the library served coffee, bagels, pastries and ice cream, donated by area businesses.
By midafternoon, the cans and packages were piling up on a table inside library director Michelle Sampson’s office while circulation assistant Katie Spofford was setting up the video dance game on a PlayStation in a carpeted room upstairs.
The game, which was developed in Japan, consists of two pads electronically connected to the video with identical square patterns and arrows. The same arrows show up on the screen, directing the dancers, step by step.
The players program in how many will be playing and the level of the dance’s difficulty. They also choose a song.
With feet on the mat and eyes on the screen, they move their feet to the beat of the music, following the arrows on the screen with their eyes and those on the pad with their feet.
Milford High School student Arienne Stearns, 16, was the first contestant.
Last year, Stearns said, she borrowed 16 books for a school project and returned them two weeks after they were due, racking up a $14 fine she still hadn’t paid.
“I gave them to mom to drop off, and she kept forgetting,” the teenager said. “I said, ‘Mom, you’re gonna make me pay a lot of money.’ ”
Stearns, who has been playing Dance Dance for three years, approached the dance mat confidently, selecting a challenge one level higher than her opponent’s.
The pressure was on. The screen flashed red-lettered words that said “perfect” or “great” or “boo” while the dancers took their steps.
At the end, the electronic judge delivered the results: Stearns scored a “C,” a grade higher than Spofford’s “D,” and exactly what she needed to have her debt forgiven.
Almost 10,000 patrons, from children to the elderly, borrowed more than 205,000 items, books, magazines, music, movies and more from the town library last year, and many of them were late in returning those materials.
Sampson, the library director, couldn’t say how many late fines hadn’t been paid. Nor had she tallied the number of books and other things that were either lost or returned in damaged condition, situations that couldn’t be remedied by donating food or entering the dance contest.
“If they’re damaged or lost, replacement costs of the items are due,” she said.
The teen and preteen girls who showed up to play Dance Dance included 18-year-old Missy Hutchins, who owed $5 in fines, and Elicia Vallier, 12, and Maria Romanenko, 11, who had no debts to pay.
Hutchins, who has been playing the video dance game for four years, including several as part of DDR club at Milford High School, won her round against Spofford and happily reported to the front desk with a coupon she used to pay off her $5 obligation.
The other girls took second turns competing against the librarian, just for fun.
“Video games are things kids like to do, and we thought this would bring them in to the library,” Spofford said before the dance contest began. “If they have fines, they don’t come in. We don’t want them to be afraid to come in.”
Recently eaten: shrimp and mushroom lo mein (homemade)
Recent annoyance: the CFL bulb in my desk lamp burned out
So, did you think I wouldn't report on this important and breaking news? Of all the things that make me a Bostonian -- loving the Pats and the Sox, eating scrod, complaining about the weather -- the New Kids is my last and best hope for immortality.
Yup, they're getting back together.
Recently eaten: italian sub
Recent annoyance: it's October people, give me a break on the heat and the mosquitoes
I thought this was a pretty cool and seasonal idea. I ahve no idea how brewing beer in a pumpkin might affect the taste or hygiene of said beer, but who cares. Smashing a beer-filled pumpkin is way cooler than just throwing one of the ones with seeds in it.
Btw, I went pumpkin patching for the first time recently. I wasn't really feeling it. The patch was full of vines and rotting pumpkins. There were small children underfoot trying to roll enormous pumpkins around which was a lawsuit waiting to happen. And then you have to carry the mofo out of there yourself. No thanks, Whole Foods has perfectly respectable jack-o-lanterns.
Brewing in a pumpkin
Recently eaten: italian sub
Recent annoyance: the cable who did come between 9-12 but came at 11:58...you win this time, Comcast.
Another birthday rolls around and I get crankier by the minute. It's really that everyone else is getting more annoying. It's relative really.
For those of you wondering what to get the girl that hates everything, this could really come in handy.
And, finally, this is what I would like etched on my gravestone:
Recently eaten: whole wheat tortellini, asparagus
Recent annoyance: the ONE fruit fly buzzing around my desk all day
The Oslo IKEA has opened a hostel for customers who want to stay and continue shopping the next morning. IKEA's corporate innovationos know now bounds! First they manage to market to college students and young professionals their cheaply-made, yet easy-to-construct line of furniture. Then they lure the unsuspecting to their cafeteria full of delights like swedish meatballs and strange cakes. Now, they might get honeymooners to stay over, then spend their wedding cash on a new dining room set. Diabolically brilliant.
Ikea opens instore hostel in Norway
It brought us Swedish meatballs, Billy bookshelves and endless queues on the London North Circular on Saturday afternoons. Now Ikea is going one step further and opening the Ikea Hostel, where customers can stay overnight if they haven't finished their shopping.
Later this month, Ikea Norway will let shoppers sleep overnight in one of its two Oslo warehouses, an operation that will last a week. "It will be like an alternative hostel," said company spokesman Frode Ullebust.
"There will be the regular dormitory with lots of beds stacked up together. We will also have a bridal suite, with a round bed and a hanging chandelier, and the luxury suite, where customers can enjoy breakfast in bed," he said. Family rooms will also be available for parents and children to join into the Ikea fun. None of the guests will be charged for their stay.
Mr Ullebust said that, as far as he knew, this was Ikea's first foray into the hotel business. Every night, the 30 lucky few will be able to stack up on meatballs, Norwegian salmon and cranberry mousse, as Ikea is offering free dinner and breakfast at the usual canteen.
Whereas Brits may associate the Swedish furniture giant with screaming kids, traffic jams in the parking lot and an occassional riot when a new warehouse opens, it seems Norwegians see a trip to Ikea as the ultimate tourist attraction.
"Around 900,000 visitors come to visit Ikea during the summer holidays. It's more than one of the biggest attractions in Norway, the Holmenskollen ski jump, gets in one year," claimed Mr Ullebust.
"We have five Ikea stores in Norway, all situated next to the four biggest cities, which are all in the south in the country. We found that people from the north of Norway include a visit to Ikea as part of their holidays," said the spokesman. "The Ikea Hostel will make the destination complete."
Overnight stayers can check in to their new abodes from 10pm, an hour before closing time, but will have to be quick in the morning. "The shop opens at 10am so if they are lazy, people might get woken up by shoppers testing out their mattresses," said Mr Ullebust.
Customers will also be able to take their bedsheets home afterwards. "It's a nice souvenir," he added, "We will also give them bathrobes with the Ikea Hostel logo on, and some slippers, so they won't get cold at night."
Recently eaten: greek salad, grilled cheese
Recent annoyance: nothing to blog about
Recently eaten: ziti with mozzarella and spinach
Recent annoyance: overslept
If there is one characteristic I would look for in a parolee, to really prove that he has paid his debt to society, it would be the ability to dance the entire Thriller dance.
Recently eaten: quinoa
Recent annoyance: blister on my baby toe
Thank the lord that this wasn't World of Warcraft. This is about as good as the classic twinkie defense though. Gee, Officer, I stole all these cars and beat all these people up, but I didn't think there was any consequence to it. The craftiness of these felons is astounding.
Man thinks he is living inside Grand Theft Auto video game
A young man was admitted from prison to a psychiatric facility after reports that he had been acting in a bizarre manner. He had been arrested for stealing motor vehicles and assaults with weapons. At interview he was found to be experiencing the delusion that he was a player inside a computer game (adult-certificate game, widely available) in which points are scored for stealing cars, killing assailants and avoiding police vehicles.
Psychotic symptoms had emerged slowly over two years. His family had noticed him becoming increasingly withdrawn and isolated from social activities. He developed delusions that strangers were planning to kill him and also experienced auditory hallucinations, constantly hearing an abusive and derogatory voice.
Previously a computer enthusiast, he began to play computer games incessantly. He felt that the games were communicating with him via the headphones. In a complex delusional system he came to believe he was inside one of these games and had to steal a car to start scoring points. He broke into a car and drove off at speed, believing he had `invulnerable' fuel and so could not run out of petrol. To gain points he chose to steal increasingly powerful vehicles, threatening and assaulting the owners with weapons. Later he said he would have had no regrets if he had killed someone, since this would have increased his score.
Recently eaten: tortellini, garlic bread
Recent annoyance: heat advisory
Man, I am a little sad that this cat is cooler than I am. Maybe they should slip him some Bailey's and see what happens. I won't be shown up by some alley cat. It's on TC.
Morning Tonic: Tavern Cat
A. Leupp writes, “So I’m in a local neighborhood tavern, and I look up and all of a sudden there’s a cat sitting at bar next to me. The bartender informs me it’s TC—Tavern Cat—who comes in every night, sits at the bar, and gets a little “shot” of cream. He had just finished his when I took this.”
