Those of you who know me shouldn't be too surprised, I would think.

( Under a cut, for the sake of your friends' page... )

The questions on everyone's lips is, "When is the economy going to recover?"

In a 3 minute YouTube video, here is my company's chief economist telling you just that.

I entered the following in Glimmer Train “Best Start” contest. The terms of the contest:

Best Start is meant to encourage new writers to tackle that story!

This category is different from our others in that the piece should be an engaging and coherent narrative, but it does not need to be a complete story; it needs to be an important part of a story in progress. You could think of it as a writing sample, but we hope you’ll feel free to reach a bit. Maybe you’re experimenting with a new voice, developing a character, working on clarity in a complex bit of plot or trying to make your dialogue believable and significant. You could be playing with point of view, working to build tension, or looking for a satisfying ending. Or you might be two pages into something brand new.

What we want is to read is an engaging slice of a story you’re excited about writing.

So here it is.

http://elizabethfoote.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/spidersilk/

I have been an advocate of Zicam for a number of years now. I have sworn it reduces the duration of my colds, recommended it to my friends, and claimed I have never had a really nasty cold since I started using it.

It's entirely possible that it was all placebo effect--and that it was putting my health in jeopardy. The FDA has asked the makers of Zicam to take their Zinc-containing products off the market while they investigate the significant reports that some consumers who have used the nasally-applied Zicam have permanently lost their senses of smell.

Yeah, so... lots of water, Vitamin C, and rest for all future colds.

Well, now that we've got the contract in hand, it's official: whatkyndylan and I are headed to LA!

Several months ago, Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg of Buffy fame) visited Johnson and Wales University, where whatkyndylan goes, in search of a new personal chef. (Apparently she had gone to the Culinary Institute of America first but hadn't been satisfied by anyone there. You know how she's got that rep for being "high maintenance.") She stopped by one of the classrooms in disguise, posing as a "friend" of whatkyndylan's chef, and insisted on doing spot tastings of the dishes. Well, she tasted whatkyndylan's cocoa-chipotle-seared tempeh and fell in love! She was pregnant at the time and getting weird food cravings, and she became fixated on it--she couldn't imagine going without cocoa-chipotle-seared tempeh ever again! Right then and there she threw off her disguise (though frankly, the curly blonde wig and fake boobs had fooled no one), and insisted that whatkyndylan come out to her home in Santa Monica and cook for her and her husband as their personal chef... on the condition that he cook without a shirt on all the time (though she said she'd make an exception for cooking bacon). Apparently, she digs guys with tattoos and an impish smile. How could he say no?

But because he is so diligent, he insisted on finishing up his term at school (despite the hefty sums of money Alyson offered him to just pick up and go--my guy is so responsible). So she's been flying him out there on the weekends for the past couple months. I've come along, too, when I could, and can I just say, that Alyson and Alexis are the nicest couple you ever want to meet. They're so down to earth; their memorabilia from "Buffy" and "Angel" only takes up a modest-sized wing of their house, and they only conduct public tours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They leave the weekends for their "Friends and Family Only" parties, which are each themed in the style of a different episode of "Buffy." Very tasteful. (The party they cooked up for the musical episode was WILD--they got Andrew Lloyd Weber to compose a couple new songs for them. My personal favorite was "Don't Cry for Me, I Still Kick Ass.")

Anyway, whatkyndylan wowed both Alyson, Alexis, and all their friends with his cooking skills, of course (Alyson was in absolute ecstasy over his chocolate-covered cream puffs) and now that Alyson has finally had her baby (welcome to the world little Satyana!) she's begging to have him out there making gourmet meals for the family full time. So in just a few weeks, whatkyndylan is heading out to LA and I'm heading out with him! I've always wanted to live in LA--after all, isn't "LA Story" one of my favorite movies of all time? I hear the writing scene is killer out there. Alyson has crazy connections; she put me in touch with Francesca Lia Block (author of the Weetzie Bat series, ee!!) who actually said I could come by her writing group sometime! I guess she's working on a screenplay for "Weetzie Bat" and could use some advice! Eeee!

I have so much to do! Post an ad for my apartment, pack up all my possessions (anyone got any extra boxes?), but man oh man, am I excited! I'll miss you all, but sometimes you've just got to seize the opportunities life hands you. Maybe... just maybe... Alyson will let me try on her "Vampire Willow" costume. Or... maybe she'll try it on herself. Either way, I'll be sure to take pictures. :-D

There really is such a thing as too much swiss chard.

Do you love Jane Austen? How about zombie stories? Now, you can have them both rolled into one.

From the description:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
The Classic Regency Romance—Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Coming soon from Quirk Books

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans.

...Wow.

Stolen from rheabhecc.

This is HILARIOUS.

Pride and Prejudice as told through Facebook.

Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested.

Four (4) two-bedroom oceanfront condos at Makena Surf, an exclusive secluded compound on a private beach in Maui, have suddenly become available from 12/20/08 to 1/3/09.

Reason: Large family vacation, terminal illness in a family member who cannot travel.

We pre-paid each condo at $13,000 for two weeks, a full year in advance in order to score the best location/best condos in the Makena area of the island (quieter and less crowded than the Kaanipali coast area). Daily rate is $997 - $1135/day if that suits you better.

These are REMARKABLE units with central A/C, ceiling fans, cable TV, high speed internet, free local and long distance calls, beach towels, maid service, etc. Snorkeling, tennis courts, hot tubs on property.

Pictures are available on request.

You can take all or some of them by simply making us an offer -- no reasonable (and possibly unreasonable) offer will be refused.

This is a unique circumstance for us, an unrivaled opportunity for you to see Maui at its absolute best.

Family contact person for condos:

David Foote
772-231-2704 or 772-231-1946
dfoote at footepartners dot com

It's that time again, people. This year, we are sadly absent mosephine (sniff! we miss her), but the concert will nonetheless be wonderful. I'm excited for the music we're singing. The "Gloria" is a very playful (and thus faintly irreverent) setting of the Latin mass. Hurray transgressive!

TICKETS: You may get them from the Harvard Box Office, OR, if you contact me soon, you can get them from me. The choir gets to keep a higher percentage of the sale on tickets that are sold directly by choir members, so please, I urge you to get them from me! Especially if I'm going to see you between now and the concert.

Francis POULENC: Gloria
Peteris VASKS: Dona nobis pacem

Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus
Harvard Academic Festival Orchestra

Elizabeth Keusch, soprano
Kevin Leong, conductor

Saturday, December 6, 2008
8:00 pm
Sanders Theatre
Harvard University

Tickets: $18 general | $9 students & seniors
available at the Harvard Box Office at
617.496.2222 or
http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/tickets/details.cfm?EVENT_ID=8077

For more information, please visit
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/hrc/

=====

The Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus, conducted by Kevin Leong, will perform
Francis Poulenc's radiant "Gloria" and the haunting "Dona nobis pacem"
by contemporary Latvian composer Peteris Vasks on Saturday, December
6, 2008, at 8:00 PM in Sanders Theatre at Harvard University. With
185 voices, soprano Elizabeth Keusch, and professional orchestra, this
concert promises to be a festive start to the holiday season.

RIP Tia Cultir

You touched the lives of many and you will be missed.

I was 15. It was in November, after a football game, in the parking lot of my grandmother's condo complex. It was snowing. Romantic, actually. :-)

'Still Alive', the final song in the video game Portal, in sign language. Made of awesome. Because of this, I have now picked up the signs for "science," "dead", "alive", "sincere," "fire," "angry", "gun", "line", and "ha ha."

Anyone who figures out what he says at the very end of the video gets ten points and a cookie.

For those of you who are House of Leaves fans...

Here is another reason why I love xkcd.

I'll take 'em down, the little anklebiters...

( How many 5-year-olds could I take in a fight? )

I was looking through a "Where are they now?" feature on msn.com and came across this story:

Jerri Nielsen: Courage Under The Knife

Then: In the spring of 1999, Dr. Jerri Nielsen was serving as camp physician at a South Pole research station when she discovered a lump in her breast. With the Antarctic winter already setting in, evacuation was impossible. Nielsen performed her own biopsy, using an ice cube as a deadening agent. When the lump proved to be cancerous, she treated herself with chemotherapy.

Now: Rescued and rushed to a hospital in October of 1999, Nielsen survived her ordeal and her cancer is now in remission. In 2002, she wrote a book about her experience. Today, she's a motivational speaker.

I can't... even imagine...

So, I'm getting addicted to Black Cherry Citrus Fresca. It's 0 calories because it's full of aspartame, but it's also full of YUM and is very refreshing on a hot summer night. But I am highly amused by what's on the side of the box of 12:

Does your body tell you if you're getting enough to drink?

Say you had a good night's sleep, but come mid-morning, you're running out of steam. Could be you're a little thirsty. Nab a soda, water, coffee, anything will do the trick. Women may need as many as 9 cups of fluid and men may need up to 13 daily. Bodies do talk. We just have to listen.

Right... all liquids are created equal... So that's why I still feel thirsty after I drink soda or coffee...

*facepalm*

From oh_treehugger, who crossposted a bunch of cool Edmund Dulac icons to told_tales.

Yay!

I was a big fan of Barbie as a kid. I loved to dress her up, dress her down, and act out all sorts of wild stories, though most of her adventures did not involve boring things like going on dates with Ken. They involved kidnapping and the threat of human sacrifice and almost always being tied up. So, I guess S&M Barbie is the perfect Barbie for me!

Ok, so it's actually "Black Canary Barbie", modeled after the Superhero in DC Comics. But there are a lot of religous groups saying how inappropriate the outfit is for a children's toy and how it sends a filthy message. Clearly, little girls are going to start dressing trashy just because of a Barbie doll that is being marketed as a collector's item for adults only. Not because of any of the other questionable children's toys or images that bombard them every day in our culture. I mean, come on; at least it's not Cock Ring Ken, which was actually marketed for children. (Under the unbelievably silly name of "Earring Magic Ken." Who thinks these things up?)

Besides, I don't see them making such a big deal about other collector Barbies, like Little Red Riding Hood Barbie. I think this Barbie sneaks under the radar because she caters to the more subtle and creative fetishists. Black leather, fishnets, and dominatrix fantasies? Been there, done that. Sexy Little Red Riding Hood power play? Now there's some good fodder for the imagination...

Just team her up with the Bratz Kidz Fairy Tales and you'll be all set. "Here kids, let Aunty Red give you a little lesson on how to treat that Big Bad Wolf when he sidles up next to you in the deep dark woods..."