tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62939082026-07-23T22:59:22.474-07:00Featuring tech tips, weird/interesting web sites, personal stuff, political opinions, and whatever else infests my pointy headJanethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.comBlogger258125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-85480754685640466732016-07-24T11:18:00.005-07:002016-07-24T11:18:53.744-07:00

Lately I've found myself composing blog posts in my head while I'm taking a shower (one of the first signs of insanity in the 21st century). I've also found myself following several political bloggers that impress me (especially Jim Wright over at Stonekettle Station), and while I have no illusions about joining such illustrious company, I do feel the need to voice a few opinions to someone other

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-74854360994981276662015-09-27T13:42:00.000-07:002015-09-27T13:42:25.425-07:00

So I'm doing some research for the quasi-historical novel I'm attempting to write.  Note for the uninitiated: "research" is a euphemism for, "avoiding writing."  Anyway, as part of my, ahem, research, I'm going through old newspapers for this area so I can write an excerpt of an article in the right style for 1910 and also describe what else my character might see on the page.  See

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-41050980277873462012010-12-18T21:12:00.000-08:002010-12-18T21:12:19.435-08:00

I just finished about 30 Christmas cards. No, I'm not looking for a pat on the back. If I really had my act together, they would have been done two weeks ago. But at least they won't be New Years cards. I had planned to send the family Christmas letter via email this year, but today I decided I really wanted to send old-fashioned snailmail cards. That's odd for me, because I usually find

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-16754142993808936322010-11-03T20:14:00.000-07:002010-11-03T20:14:29.669-07:00

So we're driving around San Dimas last Saturday, running errands, when we pull up behind this SUV at a traffic light: Check out the license plate. In case you can't tell from the blurry cameraphone photo, it's a personalized plate that reads, "TOETAGN." But that's not all! The license plate frame reads... wait for it... "Hug a mortician... while you still can." Yes. Really. I

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-88052281057477840092010-07-23T20:43:00.000-07:002010-07-23T20:43:16.094-07:00

In case anyone ever wondered whether California's reputation as The Nanny State is justified, I give you the following paragraph from the Statewide Buyer and Seller Advisory, part of our home-buying paperwork: 18. ERRANT GOLF BALLS: Buyer and Seller are advised that if theProperty is located adjacent to or near a golf course there is apossibility that golf balls may damage the Property or

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-19780251676308374632010-06-21T22:18:00.000-07:002010-06-21T22:18:08.211-07:00

Long time no post. I have a good excuse--relocating to another state and starting a new job--but I'll explain that in some future post. Right now I want to share something I witnessed this morning that reminded me of what it means to be a parent. I was leaving the library at City of Hope (that's the new job I mentioned) this morning to go to lunch. There's a small pedestrian-only street

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-17569353577814050392010-01-24T12:52:00.001-08:002010-01-24T12:52:07.283-08:00

Yesterday the husband and I were listening to Chuck Berry's classic, "Johnny B Goode" courtesy of Taco Del Mar and wishing it could be re-recorded with today's sound quality and maybe with crunchier guitars. Then one of my Facebook friends (hi, Kevin!) posted a couple of cover versions, so I decided to visit that fine cultural repository known as YouTube to see what other versions I could dig up

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-40394287540872575272009-10-29T08:15:00.000-07:002009-10-29T08:29:02.500-07:00

Sam Ford at Fast Company wrote a gem of a piece: 10 Things Corporations Can Learn from Pro Wrestling. The headline is nearly as attention-grabbing as the oversized mouthpieces of the WWE, but the content actually has some substance. I'm trying to work in a wrestling analogy, like seeing The Rock on Saturday Night Live and discovering that there's a little more to him than just what he's cookin'

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-2506620791063647152009-08-21T19:29:00.000-07:002009-08-21T19:31:49.821-07:00

Tomorrow I leave for four lazy, relaxing days in Seaside, so tonight I'm packing. Well, at the moment I'm procrastinating writing, but I'll be packing shortly. Because I prefer wasting time writing to packing, I'll explain to my California friends--and anyone else who lives where beaches are warm and sunny as God intended--how a Northwesterner packs for a trip to the coast. Here's what most of

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-51370695369301337932009-07-31T22:00:00.001-07:002009-07-31T22:06:29.026-07:00

Today's spam subject line is: Conjugate like a hero.Which hero? Grammar Man? Hmm... come to think of it, Grammar Man is a great idea for a superhero. He could swoop down to punish all the apostrophe-abusing, word-misusing, preposition-misplacing evildoers out there. Does anyone have ideas for a costume or weapon of choice?

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-38595527995742774782009-06-13T22:28:00.001-07:002009-06-13T22:28:34.293-07:00

I was cleaning the bedroom tonight (try not to faint from the shock) and found some draft blog posts I scribbled out at various times over the last few months. Sometimes when I'm stuck waiting somewhere and didn't bring a book, I'll grab a scrap of paper and start writing. Then I bring the papers home and put them down somewhere "till I can get to them." Months go by, and they get buried under

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-21883643659121565442009-06-08T16:12:00.000-07:002009-06-08T16:17:05.655-07:00

25 years ago today, I graduated from high school. I can't quite wrap my mind around the idea that it's been that long, and I'm sure if you'd asked me that night what I thought I'd be doing in 25 years, I would have had no idea. I remember that I couldn't imagine a life beyond school, so I guess it was a good thing I was college-bound. It freaks me out a little to think how much my life--and I-

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-73803797513806840362009-01-26T21:07:00.000-08:002009-01-26T21:10:04.239-08:00

I've loved Mad Libs ever since middle school, so as soon as my son got old enough to appreciate them, we bought a stack, and the hilarity commenced. My son is a Star Trek nerd, so awhile back he asked me if there were any Star Trek Mad Libs. As far as I could determine, there weren't, so we did what any self-respecting nerd family would do: we made our own! Dear Son has a book called The Star

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-86710490670446338472009-01-22T09:01:00.000-08:002009-01-22T09:03:16.139-08:00

I'm in Denver for some meetings, so I'm accessing the internet from my hotel. I log into Facebook and accept a gift someone sent me with one of the *many* Facebook gift apps (Do we really need so many? But that's a rant for a different post.), and I see this:Now I've been in Denver since last night, and I've spent almost all that time in my hotel room, so I find it hard to believe that 2 people

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-88580293860837343342009-01-07T19:00:00.000-08:002009-01-07T19:00:06.830-08:00

I've been really slacking on my blogging lately. I'm blaming Facebook. Anyhoo, when I haven't been working or Facebooking, I've been traveling. We were supposed to go to Crater Lake over New Years, but our workhorse SUV got damaged from driving in the snow and ice of Christmas week. Our temporary replacement rental car wouldn't make it over the snowy passes, so we (by "we" I mean "I") decided

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-72328962729507350372008-12-13T18:36:00.000-08:002008-12-13T18:38:34.259-08:00

So I was slogging through Target today, along with what seemed like most of the population of greater Portland, trying to finish my Christmas shopping before it starts snowing. I was loitering in the electronics department, waiting for my husband to stop being mesmerized by the DVDs, when I noticed an adorable little girl. She was probably about 5 years old, blonde hair, blue eyes, pink jacket,

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-17153084980304458392008-12-12T17:54:00.001-08:002008-12-12T18:12:41.929-08:00

Wow... I've gone a whole month without posting. I think that's a record for me. I have a bunch of ideas, but I haven't been very motivated lately. Thanks to FKV, though, I have some space filler - the Omnivore's 100 meme! Here we go: Omnivore's 100My score: 26. Not too bad I guess. There probably should be more stuff on the Won't Eat list, but I don't know what some of these things are. I

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-17754259471378392112008-11-14T19:28:00.001-08:002008-11-14T19:45:32.786-08:00

Today my friend Mo emailed me this great downtime message he came up with. The lyrics are from "Epic" by Faith No More, which, much to my embarrassment, I didn't recognize. That proves that Mo is way cooler than I am, but I digress. Anyway, Mo also came up with some great ideas for OHSU fundraisers starring various 80s bands: Bret Michaels, for the Oregon Poison CenterBilly Squier, for the

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-2334756087368898152008-11-06T16:34:00.000-08:002008-11-06T16:38:52.394-08:00

OK, so I'm listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks for what must be the gazillionth time, and I noticed an inconsistency (yes, there are a number of inconsistencies in the series, but I'd never noticed this one before). In Chamber of Secrets, Ginny's eyes are described as green (last track of disk 1 at about 1:10 if you want to check for yourself), while in Deathly Hallows they're described as

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-58517222305455620042008-11-04T22:16:00.000-08:002008-11-04T22:32:42.135-08:00

*I wrote this piece earlier this evening but am just now finding time to post it.*As I write these words, election returns are coming in fast and furious, and it looks like Barack Obama will be our next president. No matter which candidate you support, there's no denying that this election has been a groundbreaker. I started to say that it marks a turning point in our history, but it's really

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-4900439675116649962008-10-21T21:39:00.000-07:002008-10-21T21:40:09.446-07:00

I'm behind on my blogging, so I'm just now posting pics from my church's annual weekend at Camp Magruder, even though it was the first weekend in October. This year we went a week earlier, hoping we might have better weather than we usually do. No such luck. It was rainy most of the time we were there. It took me, a transplanted Californian, awhile to learn that rainy weekends at the beach

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-53741598715511687492008-10-14T13:48:00.000-07:002008-10-14T13:49:57.328-07:00

Just when you thought it was safe to return to my blog--time for more monkey butts! After my last post on this fascinating topic, someone on Flickr saw my monkey butt pics and asked where she could find this classy product. Librarian that I am, I searched various arcane sources (OK, I Googled "monkey butt powder") and discovered that the manufacturer has a web site: http://

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-70966292203087461742008-10-11T21:03:00.000-07:002008-10-11T21:04:56.980-07:00

A couple of years ago, I wrote a brief post about the 2005 extreme pumpkin contest winners. For awhile that post came up as the third results when Googling "extreme pumpkins," so I got a lot of blog traffic around Halloween. In case that happens again this year--and as a public service for all those weirdos out there who, like me, enjoy gutting and carving innocent squash--I've decided to put

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-27464194302508430092008-10-07T22:01:00.000-07:002008-10-07T22:02:27.098-07:00

What's more fun than drunk dialing? Drunk emailing, of course! Now, instead of just embarrassing yourself with one person, you can have your drunken ramblings forwarded to 250 of your closest friends, your boss, and probably 10 or 20 total strangers. How can you prevent such a devastating occurrence? Well, you could cut back on your drinking, but where's the fun in that? Instead, the company

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6293908.post-38492191081686832752008-09-30T21:37:00.000-07:002008-09-30T21:40:28.586-07:00

I took my cameraphone shopping again, so you might want to log off right now.OK, don't say I didn't warn you. This time we're going to visit Ace Hardware and Spirit Halloween. First up: My new favorite toy that I can't afford: a life-size animatronic Jason! I think he'd look great on our front porch, menacing door-to-door salesmen with his bloody machete. Then, when Halloween is over, we

Janethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14340315090793740760noreply@blogger.com0