Nothing Interesting To Say, Part 1 (Czech Republic Edition)

So I can't really think of anything terribly interesting to report at this point, so I thought I would share a picture and a question with you all.



Here's the view from my hotel "mini balcony" (which is just big enough for two feet and an ashtray-- already provided-- so very European!)





Fascinating stuff, right?



And now on to my question-- which incidentally is in no way related to the above picture:

Does anyone know what "Steak from Chicken Legs" is?

Procrastination is an Art

It is that time again-- time for me to be packing for a work trip.....and yet what am I doing? Well, other than laundry....nothing productive. So, in the spirit of doing anything and everything but what I should be doing....I present to you a list of random facts about the last few days:

*Yesterday morning when I was walking out to my car a bird fell like a rock out of tree about 6 inches in front of me. That, understandably, made me yelp. It wasn't until that same bird tried to fly up my skirt that I really shrieked.

*Today at lunch I randomly remembered the time in 5th grade when I found our class pet, a Guinea Pig named Snowball, dead in his cage. And then our teacher decided to truly make it an educational experience by bringing a vet in THAT afternoon to dissect Snowball in front of the class. I didn't excuse myself to go to the nurse until the vet broke out his little teensy saw and started sawing the skull open so we could see the brain. Looking back on the story as an adult-- I wonder several things:

1. What was the thought process that led our teacher to the belief that the best way to help a bunch of 5th graders deal with the death of a beloved class pet would be to watch the aforementioned pet be systematically dismembered and gutted?

2. Where on earth did she find a vet that would come in at the last minute like that and bring his tools along so as to be able to better traumatize young children?

3. Would a teacher today be able to do something like that without getting in trouble?

4. What did our baby Guinea Pig, Joey, think about the whole thing?



*If any of you doubt me on the above story, Heather can back me up. She was there too!

*Matt Damon has agreed to do a 4th Bourne movie. I am happy. This is all.


*Jon Stewart is officially the most awesome Oscar host EVER for letting Markita Irglova give her acceptance speech for "Falling Slowly" from Once after the stupid orchestra dude cut her off.


*Random question of the day: Since when can "Fran" be a boy name? Did I miss that memo?

The Unknown Kryptonite! (This post is for the girls!)

As some of you know (and are highly amused by), I've had a bit of a problem over the years while making the occasional trip to Super Walmart. I seem to have a strange ability to draw attention from the sort of men who sometimes feel compelled to, uhm, well, let's say they like to compliment me. (And if you think I'm bragging about that fact with this post, well then, you just need to have faith that these aren't the guys you really WANT complimenting you and leave it at that).

I'm positive I'm not the only woman who has had this problem over the years-- and tonight I realized something amazing-- something very freeing. There is apparently one special thing that can render you totally invisible to all men-- even the creepy ones!!

So what is this miracle phenomenon, you wonder?

Drum roll please...............



BRAIDS!!!






On second thought-- maybe it was the crazy look on my face. Mental note: From now always take the braids AND the crazy face!

I am an Addict and Masterpiece Theater is My Dealer

It is time for another true confession. For the past month, I have been a complete glutton. And what has been my poison, you ask? It was just over a month or so ago that PBS started "The Complete Jane Austen". That's right-- once a week they have been delivering a new version of each of Austen's novels on Masterpiece Theater. The main exception to that so far seems to be that they are reshowing the classic version of Pride and Prejudice instead of a new one. (But really, when you have Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy for 6 hours, why on earth would you bother filming ANOTHER mini-series? )

My point is this-- it's set me on a binge. Once a week is now not enough. I'm rereading the novels (again). I'm watching the movie versions that I own too. And just now? PBS really pulled a low blow-- they showed a MONTAGE of the scenes from the new movies they are playing to the soundtrack of COLDPLAY. Evil! They are EVIL GENIUSES!!

So why? Why does she suck me in so much? It's so cliche to be a woman and obsessed with Jane Austen. I mean, they made an entire movie about THAT too!

But I can't help it. Jane Austen is crack.

Happy Day Before The Day After the 14th Day of The Second Month of 2008

I'm starting to wonder if the world is tiring of celebrating the day before the day after the 14th Day of the second month of the year. Usually Carol the front desk receptionist at work is buried behind a mountain of flowers and chocolate. But today? Not so much. And it leaves me to ponder if people's attachment to the middle of February is waning.

Cloverfield: The Lesson?

I saw Cloverfield this weekend with my friend Andrew. It was an interesting combination of entertaining and traumatizing. The most unexpected reaction I had to it, though, was laughter.....and that was because I couldn't help but notice that the moral of the story seems to be this:

For some men, the only way they can get in touch with their emotions and admit they might be in love is for them to be caught in the center of a massive attack on New York City by a monster of unknown origins. Nothing says romance like immanent death!

Andrew didn't seem as amused as I was by my observation.