The "Starkey Effect"

You've seen Jesus in toast and Mary in grilled cheese...



Now witness the greatest miracle of all. Ringo Starr's face in a droplet of water bouncing on a lotus leaf.



Yep, a Duke University team researching water-repellent leaf behavior took high-speed images of water drops bouncing off a lotus leaf and saw the face of Ringo. (Full story here.)

And this inspired me to post Mr. Starkey himself and Photograph...

checking in...

We're in Portland for continuing education. (It's being held at the Convention Center -- pictured at left.) The last class of today was a particularly fun one (an adjective one doesn't usually use with CE classes). It was done as a Jeopardy show, pitting half the class against the other. That was right up my alley, 'cause I'm a very competitive student. :) Not to brag, but I helped sew up my side's victory with my back to back answers of "Possner-Schlossman glaucomatocyclitic crisis" and "pharyngeal conjunctival fever". Oh yeah!

good news / bad news

The Good News
We're going to a concert in Portland next month -- Billy Joel and Elton John together.
The Bad News
The good seats cost waaaay more than we wanted to spend, so we opted for the cheaper seats. Our view will be something like this (only considerably further back):



The Good News
Went to the dentist today -- no cavities.
The Bad News
Chastised for brushing too hard. (Who knew?!)



The Good News
Marble agreed to wear a costume for Halloween.
The Bad News
He selected one I feel is in extremely poor taste.




----------------------------
googled all the pics

whoa whoa, she loves the monkey's uncle

I am really not fond of The Beach Boys. (Cars, girls, surfing. Yawn.)
However, they did do ONE song I liked (perhaps because Annette helped them out), and it seems like a good one to post for a mid-week break.



And now I feel like dancing -- who's with me?!

peeps!

The Washington Post recently posted their Peeps Dioramas, and, frankly, I'm inspired. Next Easter, I'm definitely going to create one!

This year's winner was "NightPeeps", Melissa Harvey's tribute to Edward Hopper's famous "Nighthawks" painting.



My personal favorite was "Peeps of Wrath" by Diane Page. I think the Joads look great all "peepified".



You can see all of the top 40 finalists here.

hooray for the cinnabon people!

I have a soft spot for cinnamon rolls. (Or maybe I'm getting a soft spot because of cinnamon rolls...)

In any event, I heard that Cinnabon is giving away free mini-cinnamon rolls on April 15th. It's their "Tax Day Bites" promotion. (Is that a clever title, or what?!)

Details here!

Because I want a donut...

...I went to Dunkin' Donuts and created one:

It's pumpkin cake with peanut butter icing and pink and orange sprinkles.
Oh yeah.

Actually they are having a contest. If you are the winner, you'll get a tidy sum of money ($12,000 to be exact) and the honor of having your donut creation produced. If you are one of the finalists you get a year's worth of free donuts and $1,200. I think the $1,200 is to help defray the cost of the cholesterol medicine you'll be needing.

You can make your own donut (and enter the contest) here.

Prognosticating Animals

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning and predicted six more weeks of winter.


Mr. Tumnus shredded the toilet paper this evening and predicted a reprimand.




-------------------------------------------------------------
groundhog picture from here; picture of mr. tumnus by offspring #1

painting update

I finished painting the kitchen yesterday. Aargh -- so many annoying little nooks and crannies! At one point I had the idea to dip Marble's tail in the paint and let him get into some of the tight spots. Here was his response:



Yeah, he's like that.

I was contemplating finishing the laundry room today, but I think I will remain in 'contemplation mode' and finish it another day.

the problem with leftover halloween candy

I am hooked on these:



Especially the red ones.

sunday snippets

Today was the first meeting of my brainchild, "The Short Short Book Club". The idea behind the club is to get together once a month for a short discussion of a short story (or two). Really low key! A short cup of coffee is also included, and so far the membership list is short as well. (But enough with the word short!)

The book we are using is The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008. The first meeting was fun! If you want a low stress book club (low prep time!), short stories are the way to go.

In other weekend news...

I painted! I did the downstairs bathroom, hallway leading into the kitchen, and started the laundry room. Used a color called "Soft Brie". Yummy. :) Next weekend I'll probably complete the laundry room and tackle the kitchen. On the down side, it always takes longer than I anticipate, but on the up side, everything is looking clean and fresh.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
all pics googled; top one is a composite which I played with a bit...

yearbook yourself!

Found a cool website called "yearbook yourself". It allows you to upload your photo, then see what you would have looked like during different eras.

Here's what I might have looked like in 1954:
(I think you'd agree those glasses are totally hot!)




Here's the theoretical me in 1966:
Very nice.


I skipped the 70's, because I graduated in '74 and already know what I looked like then! :) But here's what I might have looked like in 1986:
(For some reason this screams Beaver Cleaver's mother to me. Maybe it's the necklace.)



If you want to have some time-wastin' fun, try it out!

because all the cool kids are doing it...

Saw this bit of fun fluff at Presbygal and Hotcup's.

Here's the deal: You google your name and the word 'needs' after it. Put the text string in quotes to limit your search. (i.e. "Barbara needs") List the first 10 items where your text string shows up in a complete sentence and see what you get.

Here I go...

1. "Barbara needs a good swift k@#$" -- Holy Smoke! I am not off to a good start. Why would someone feel the need to kick me in the @#$ ? (OK, I have a few theories, but really, it's still rude.)

2. "Barbara Needs Hero Names" -- Umm... why? That's a head scratcher! Well, my birthday IS right around the corner. Perhaps I am getting a new kitty as a surprise and I need to choose a good, strong name. Yeah, that's it.

3. "Barbara needs to move her focus from herself to others and learn to love in order to receive love from other people." Hmm... this might explain why someone wants to kick me in the @#$.

4. "Barbara needs our prayers and thoughts" Everybody can use those! And at least that's an improvement over the @#$ kick.

5. "Barbara needs to be thin again". Gee, I thought I looked ok. Are people talking behind my back?!

6. "Barbara needs the help of the nip/tuck crew" OK, now I'm getting a complex.

7. "Barbara needs to retire and write more trashy books." YESSS!!! I am totally up for this.

8. "Barbara needs to open her eyes and see why they have not won any Emmy". Good idea. Why haven't Presbygal and I won an Emmy for our remake of Cagney and Lacey?!


9. "Barbara needs to learn how to cook." Is my family posting about me on the internet?

10. "Barbara needs to retire and she needs to take Larry King with her." OK, maybe Larry and I can write those trashy books together (see #7).

snippets from the week

Monday Hop n' Bop
We had the day off (extended 4th of July) so we decided at the last minute to hop on Amtrak and bop around the Pearl District in Portland. We ended up at Powell's (best book store ever) and I, of course, bought a book. It's called The New Yorkers: A Novel which had "fluffy summer read!" written all over it.

Tuesday Lunch 'Break'
My assistant went to the credit union over her lunch break. Besides the employees, the only other person in the branch at the time was .... a bank robber. Yikes! Luckily nobody was hurt, but her return to the clinic was delayed as she was interviewed by the FBI, swat team, etc.

Wednesday 'Easy Rider'
Rode my bike to work! It was a really pleasant ride in (part of the way goes by our city lake) -- took about 35 minutes. Going home was less pleasant because I was bucking a headwind -- took about 45 minutes. Overall it went well, so I'm definitely going to commute with my bike part time, weather permitting.

Thursday...
Going to watch The Royal Tenenbaums now. I don't know much about the movie, but with Ben Stiller in it, how can I go wrong?!

some assembly required...

At last! You can own a genuine BJÄRBJARKE! Made of solid birch (but not from intact natural forests), this lovely table is sure to enhance the décor of any room. Wipe clean using a damp cloth and a mild cleaner. Only $99.99.

OK, I made that up. There is no such table. But you, too, can generate IKEA-ish products which incorporate your name at this site.

today

Did you ever have one of those days (e.g. at work) where you were so busy it felt like you were playing this?



Yep, that was my Wednesday!

yikes!

What do you get when you cross Presbyterian Gal and me?

Hint: It ain't pretty.




If you want to play too, go here
It's a promo site for the new Tina Fey movie ("Baby Mama") and it allows you to upload photos of two faces and merge them as a composite baby. Freaky!

Schussing!

Because I love to mess with Presbyterian Gal's head:

dancing with the (blogging) stars...

Click here if you want to see Presbyterian Gal and me spreading a little holiday cheer.

The big question: Are we good dancers?
The bigger question: Will Presbyterian Gal be ok with me "borrowing" her picture?

thanksgiving break draws to a close...

Later today I will drive Offsprings #1 and #2 (along with Offspring #2's GF and marie's SBC) up to Seattle where they will catch a shuttle bus the rest of the way back to college. We'll try to allow plenty of time for traffic, but that is soooo tough to gauge. It's been a nice break. We had a good Thanksgiving, went to a cute movie, put up some Christmas decorations, drove to Portland for a little shopping, etc.

While waiting for lunch at the Macaroni Grill in Portland yesterday, Offspring #1 quickly rendered this little scene to kick off the season, using the 'drawing paper' tablecloth and crayons provided at the table. (She only had 4 available crayons which begs the question: What masterpiece could she have created with an entire box at her disposal???) I think all restaurants should allow you to color on their tables and unleash your creative potential. (Hmmm... now that I'm thinking about it, wouldn't it have been interesting to do lunch at the Macaroni Grill with, say, Magritte or O'Keeffe?)