The Birthday Bear of Friday

For everyone who's had a birthday this year that I have forgotten to acknowledge. Forgive me. And for Kristin, whose birthday is on Election Day, Happy Bearthday!

Facebook?

Hmmm. So I just joined Facebook although I'm not exactly sure how the whole thing works or what I supposed to do with it.

Help me?

A sign of impending insanity?

Have you ever had a memory double back on you? Today as I was driving to work along a somewhat windy road, I suddenly felt like I was driving up the twisty road that leads into Paradise -- the road I used to drive almost every weekend to go see my parents.

The road that leads from my house to the highway couldn't be flatter, but for a second, or a few of them, it actually felt like I was going uphill around the big, sweeping curve on Clark Road that always let me know I was about 15 minutes from my parents' house.

Strange.

Biking

So, I've ridden my bike every day since I got it except for one, and I am already seeing improvement. Or I should say "feeling" improvement. My ass hurts less from the seat, so that's a good thing. heh heh. Actually, I noticed tonight, while riding on my dinner break from work, that I could go further without needing to catch my breath or just jump off for 10 seconds to let my tired legs rest.

I found a new subdivision near my house where no homes have been built but most of the roads are in and paved, and it's a perfect place to ride -- no traffic, no one around, a steady series of tiny inclines that make me work a little harder at regular intervals, and the whole three-mile track takes a little less than 20 minutes. I'm hoping that soon, it will take 15 minutes and I can do it twice without needing any stops at all.

Now if I can just avoid the peanut butter pie my evil, evil roommmate made.

I might not know art...

...but I know what I like. There have been some gorgeous photos from the presidential race this year.

As someone who has a hard time photographing people at all, I particularly admire when photographers get not only that great light, but that great expression on someone's face or that one critical moment. It's a skill, an art and a science.

I saw these today and just had to borrow them.

There's a particularly beautiful photo gallery from today's Obama rally in Denver on www.denverpost.com. The rally is the lead story, and just below it there's a link to the slideshow, which has one of the best pictures I've seen of Obama, but it was not copy-able (rightly so, of course -- copyright infringement is wrong, wrong, wrong).

So I'll just urge you to check out the Web site and enjoy these for now. Click on them to enlarge the views.

I like the one of McCain, particularly, because I think it does what all news photos aim to do and that is tell the whole story. You can almost see the whole span of his life in that one shot. At least that's what it feels like to me.

The Polar Bears of Friday

It's so chilly here, it makes me think of polar bears.

The Daily Beast

It's one of my new favorite reads. I tried to add it to my reading list there on the right, but for some reason, the link won't work. Something about no feed for the URL or something. It will work here in this post, though, if you click on the red "It's." You also don't get a good link from my right-hand menu to The Huffington Post.

In any case, you might like them, too.

The Naughty Little Bear of Tuesday

I can just hear my mom, saying "Get out of that garbage" in her gruff voice.

I love his little belly! I want to pet it while feeding him sandwiches and honey.

Wonkette loves Cheap Trick

On Wonkette today, there's a tidbit about McCain "surrendering" (get it?) Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa, and some GENIUS over there posted this picture to go with the item.

Brilliant! And what a surprise to be cruising the political sites and see my favorite band! Happy Tuesday!

Also, look at Robin's pretty, pretty hair. It's hypnotic, blowing in that breeze -- back in the 70s.

The Bike

I went for my first ride this morning, down at Huntington State Park. It was really fun, and it felt great.

I like to call this picture "Bike with Jetta."

As you can see, my bike is nothing a real cyclist would consider, but I like it. It's comfortable and I don't feel like I'm perched atop some forward-leaning death machine. My feet can touch the ground if I need them to, and I can carry things in my little basket.

I wanted the cherry-red model, but the one bike store here that sells Elektras didn't have them. They had this one and pink. Pink. Like Pepto-Bismol pink. Blick. This was the last 2008 model in blue, and I think it's pretty. Because this area is very flat, I didn't feel I needed to get into gears -- or even hand brakes. I love that I just back-pedal to stop.

Still, it needs a banana seat, don't you think? It also needs a name. Help me?

The best thing ever

Thanks to Patti who sent me PENGUINCAMS! The California Academy of Sciences has Web cams on the African penguins. Sweet! Just click on the red text and let the cameras load up, and you can watch the penguins, too!

My new bike

Yep, it's official, I bought a bike today. It's on the back of my Jetta right now. I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but it's blue and white and looks like the bikes we used to ride when we were young, minus the banana seat and the playing cards in the spokes.

And it has a basket. Yeah, it does.

Tomorrow's my day off, and I cannot wait to go for a ride! I'm going to go visit the black-headed squirrels at Brookgreen Gardens.

Sex = terror in S.C.

Apparently, middle schoolers here have a new sex-ed handout. It shows a stick-figure couple kissing, with a label that says "premarital sex." On the same line, there's a syringe, a gun and ... a plane crashing into the World Trade Center.

So stop having premarital sex, you gun-toting, IV-drug-using terrorists! Go to your rooms and play some Grand Theft Auto and watch a few more Saw movies.

The Chimp-Tiger Jamboree of Monday

This is Anjana, a chimp at a British zoo, who's helping raise two tiger cubs, Mitra and Shiva, separated from their mother. Anjana is often a surrogate. She loves tigers and leopards. But who doesn't?

It looks like Shiva is telling Anjana a secret. Or giving her a kiss.

A new look

Just thought I'd update the old blog. Whaddaya think?

One more reason to love South Carolina

So, apparently, it's not illegal to drive drunk on a mo-ped here. It's NOT against the law. In fact, you don't even need a driver's license to use a mo-ped.

I'm getting one of these all-electric Hondas so I can be a drunken-driving jerk AND environmentally conscious at the same time.

I'm gonna paint it candy-apple red and name it the "Liquor-cycle," to be pronounced "liquor-sickle," naturally.

It also needs a sidecar. Or at least a basket for carrying my phone, shoes, an extra bottle (unopened, of course) for when the buzz wears off. And an extension cord so the liquorcycle can get juiced, too.

So humiliating

Ladies and gentlemen -- the wee, tiny chickendog. He's so dejected. Maybe a little angry, too. Someone dressed him up like a chicken. It's not even Halloween yet. This poor little thing. I'd be humiliated, too.

The Boss

I've realized lately that I'm a late-in-life Springsteen fan. I've always liked him, but kind of peripherally. But the more I listen, the more I like. He's an amazing songwriter, but now I feel like I'd like to see a show, too.

Just saw a video of him live in Barcelona, doing "The Rising," and remembered that feeling of pure joy when you're at a show and the band you love comes out on stage and the music starts and everyone's cheering and clapping, and the band is clearly happy to be there.

We need more of that feeling, however it comes.

Gorgeous weather

It's so beautiful here right now. It's been about 80 every day for almost a week with no humidity, and down into the 50s at night. Perfect. It feels like real fall, fall in the Midwest the way I remember it. Last year, we didn't really had a fall here, and maybe this is all we will get this year, but I am really enjoying this.

Jealous...

So, I just had a lovely break from work when our Kim called from Leeds, England, to catch up. Kim's taking a big, big trip this fall to Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Yes, part of it is to see five (FIVE!) nights of Cheap Trick shows, but part is to visit all those lovely places. I cannot wait to see the pictures and read about his adventures, especially on the U.N. tour to see the DMZ.

Three weeks of nonstop travel, plus CT shows? I'm green with envy.

Kim says he cannot bring me a koala bear, mainly because he doesn't think it will do well in his luggage. I think his luggage would suffer more, actually -- all smelly and sticky like eucalyptus oil, plus the claws could cause some major damage. But maybe we'll get a picture or two for the Bear of Friday -- or the Marsupial of Friday, as it could come to be known.

Here's wishing Kim a great, awesome, safe, fun, spectacular trip. Send lots and loads of photos and say hi to my favorite lead singer in the whole wide world for me. Lucky dog!

Coffee and orangutans

Thanks to Kim for the early morning cuteness. There's nothing like some oranguntans to go with the first cup of coffee. I have to parcel these out, because you will NOT be able to stand it. Look at its little buddha belly!

Happy birthday...

...to I-wish-he-was-my-husband Clive Owen, who is welcome to come on over and get his birthday present any time he wants. It's the same thing I had for him last year, but I haven't seen him to give it to him.

One more reason to go to Bangkok

This is Pong. She's one of the homeless elephants of Bangkok, who wanders the streets begging for food.

Look how excited she is to have found some ice cream on the sidewalk. I was that excited about the new Cheap Trick DVD/CD thing, but I'd be way more excited if I could go to Bangkok and take care of these homeless elephants.

It makes me sad to see Pong's face at finding this little bit of food -- not even real elephant food. Look at her eye. Seriously. This makes me feel like crying for some reason.

Ms. Schnakenberg has said I can stay at her place if I go, but I've dreaded the 20-hour flight. But seeing my friend AND Pong the elephant -- that could be enough.