I’m not going to pretend that anyone reading this hasn’t also spent a significant portion of their childhood reading Greek myths.

Well, according to this, I should take the entire month of July off…

When I was nine or ten, the older brother of a friend of mine–our parents were friends so we spent time together because of that–was killed in an accident. After the funeral, there was a small gathering at their home, and my friend and I wandered off to her room. I do not recollect what we did there; what I remember is the alarm clock in her brother’s room going off.

It was a buzzer alarm and was set piercingly loud. We were startled by the noise and ran into the hall only to stand outside the door of her brother’s room. I remember quite clearly, standing there, stock-still, not knowing what to do. The buzzer was blaring and we just stood in the hall, afraid to enter his room. Our fear was not of ghosts or any such thing, but because it felt so terribly wrong.

After an eternity that probably lasted only a minute or two her father came down the hall, went into his room, and turned off the alarm. I do not remember if he said anything to us, and I do not remember what we did after, I simply remember standing in the dark hallway, listening to the blaring terrible noise, and feeling the noise in the same way I felt the death–something jarring and unexpected and horrible.

Oh. No wonder my ankle has been making me miserable the past two days.

A conversation with Michael led to the following txt exchange with my friend Brian (who is an expert in these matters).

Me Question: If a guy gets a pedicure “just a top coat!” is it fair to assume he is gay?
Brian Yeah. It’s safe.

So now you know as well.

Michigan State 34 Michigan 17

This is turning out to be a very good football day.

Radio is playing post-game interview, announcer asked about penalties, to which Coach Stewart replied, ‘For as long as I am coach, I will never, I will NEVER allow my boys to play dirty football.’

Thank you Coach Stewart.

Sunday morning Michael & I woke up at 5:00 AM to drive to the Pittsburgh airport to fly to Orlando for his conference. 5:15 we got in the car and discovered that the noise that had awakened me at 1:30 AM was a rock breaking our windshield.

Unsurprisingly, it is really difficult to find someone at 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning to drive you to an airport more than an hour away, especially when everyone who you might call at 5:30 AM is out of town. We started to drive to Pittsburgh, but as soon as we were on the interstate realized it was a terrible idea, and so regrouped at the truck stop at Mount Morris.

I’d like to take a moment here to say that USAA may be the best insurance company in the entire world. Sitting in a truck stop I called the insurance company, and was able to arrange everything to get the windshield taken care of. The only thing I had to do on my own was arrange to get the car back to Morgantown after the windshield was fixed. One phone call, 30 minutes, and everything was taken care of. You can’t imagine what a relief that is–or perhaps you can.

Luckily, the airline has a policy that as long as you arrive within 2 hours of your flight, they’ll rebook you on a new flight, so we did in fact make it to Orlando–finding a ride was actually the most difficult part of the morning.

Even better, the rest of the trip was entirely uneventful. Michael’s conference was (of course) in an insanely expensive hotel, and (of course) there was absolutely nothing within walking distance, so I had no choice but to eat at the hotel restaurants. Although expensive, the food was very good, and I got away with only eating a late breakfast and an early dinner. I also did a lot of walking along the lakes–they had a very nice footpath. Though in retrospect, I’m thinking perhaps I should have stuck to sneakers instead of wearing sandals. (Yes, I did see the aftermath of this–rumor is he or his wife was there for the conference Michael was attending, but there were several conferences going on. Don’t know anything for certain.)

I took my camera and took pictures, but am having issues with the exposure on my PowerShot–or I’ve just been spoiled by my Rebel–so it seems like the better pictures were actually taken with my cell phone, which is just….wrong.

I was fascinated by the boccee court, but couldn’t really find a good way to photograph it.
(more…)

Michelle: I’m trying not to be cranky.
Michael: It’s OK.
Michelle: No it’s not; I’m failing.
Michael: OK, going downstairs now.

Frustratingly, I ordered these a year ago AND I wasn’t wearing these for most of the summer.

That’s it for you Eastland. No more shoe purchases from me.

Sadly, I’m kinda stuck, because I can’t order shoes on-line (I have high arches, so I have a hard time finding comfortable shoes).

The weather this weekend was beautiful, and when we stopped at the Cut on 68, you could see the first leaves just starting to change color.

I had a Monday. How about you?

Nothing to see here, move along.

OK, well, if you insist:

So You Need a Typeface

iFixit

Russian, in color, a century ago + this + this

The start of the awesome Chickweed Lane comic WWII thread

Supernatural collective nouns (Wondermark)

Flickr – The Commons

Flickr – Pulp Fiction Cover Gallery

The Chart of Fantasy Art: Urban Fantasy

Trends in Fantasy Art Covers

The Best of Miss Sweetie Poo (Improbable Research/IgNobels)

Well, I did say they were for ME, and not for you. It’s not MY fault if you were bored.