If you appreciate science…

…you should be listening to Radiolab. Which is something like a science-themed This American Life.

I have learned so many bizarre things from randomly downloading old podcasts of this show. Like, did you know that female ducks evolved a vagina with four re-positionable dead ends? It helps them ward off impregnation by boy ducks the ladies deem unworthy of reproducing.

The show on Emergence just explained both how a group of organisms can be collectively smarter than the smartest member of the group, and also why spamming certain websites with links to cheap Viagra is more profitable than you’d imagine. Yesterday, the show taught me that most of the connections from your ear to your brain actually run in the opposite direction. So if your ear is lacking a stimulus to transmit to your brain — like if you’ve gone deaf — it’s possible for your brain to send your ear hallucinations of music it remembers.

Crazy stuff, but every show I’ve heard so far has been fascinating. Check it out if you catch a free minute!

Today was made up of several layers of awesome:

  1. New President!

  2. Donuts for the office in honor of the new President! In fact, my office mates and I gathered together in the middle of the day to watch Obama take the oath of office. We had boxes of tissues at the ready, too.

  3. I finally solved the mystery of who wrote the awesome song that I heard a year ago at Silk City and desperately wanted to download, but couldn’t… not knowing the band name and all. The only lyric I could understand was “trees.” Try googling “popular hipster dance music” and “trees”. Doesn’t get you very far.

    You should have seen my eyes light up when I wandered past a coworker’s desk this morning and heard a chorus of “treeeeeees” coming from her speakers. Turns out it was MGMT. Duh — I own one of their singles. Note to self: buy full albums, dummy.

  4. After living for six months on a table top in my dining room, Phineas is back in his real home. This calls for a first here at this blog; a video post!

[flickr video=3214229110 show_info=true secret=29e08b1e86 w=400 h=300]

New in ’09

I’m a little iffy on the resolution thing. Instead of making a list of things I plan to force myself to do this year, I think I’ll list the things I hope to learn:

  1. How to be less broke. I don’t have a plan of attack for this one yet. Moving on!

  2. Cooking. I hope to start a recipe journal to scrapbook together what I’m learning on that front.

  3. Gardening. I have modest goals, here: keep some tomato and pepper plants alive long enough to get an edible product. Maybe set up an area in the back “yard” for container gardening. I’d like to compost some old leaves, too…

  4. Some new artsy techniques. I just bought a book on mosaic tiling and I’d like to pick up some info on upholstery and sewing soon. The craft projects I do for the house are my most enjoyable hobby at the moment. In fact, I just made a Flickr tag for the crafty things I’ve accomplished in the last year.


That reminds me: I upgraded to Flickr’s pro account, so all of my photos are properly organized now. Photos of the home improvement projects are tagged by room, in sets by season/year, and sets are grouped together in a collection. (I made one for Jack, too, as a Christmas surprise!)


My house: A Flickr Collection

I also have collections of images from trips I’ve taken and of photos from different Philly neighborhoods. Pictures of people, though rare, will probaby go to Facebook.

To my house:

Merry Christmas! This year, I bought you a coat. Of paint!

Next year, maybe I’ll actually unpack the boxes that have been cluttering your floor plan since August. No promises, though.

And one more gift! A new (used) set of shutters.

The shutters are cool not just because they hide the grill of the enormous air conditioner that used to command my attention during each meal. Their original home was actually the Annenberg estate in Merion. The owner of the Eagles bought the place and tore everything out, and these shutters ended up in a architectural salvage shop just a few blocks from me.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with regifting!

New timekill: the YouTube page of Seattle-based Salon of Shame, where writers get on stage and read aloud selections from their middle or high school compositions. There’s lots of diary entries, but also cringe-worthy poetry, creative writing, and “standup routines.” Personal fave: a woman reads from her journal about her High School nemesis, Anna. Her reading features the line “I still feel terrible, though. I feel like God took a mellon baller and scooped me out.”

All the twisted, emotional things you wrote as a kid and now feel totally weird about? Yeah. Everyone else was just as weird, if not weirder.

Sticky situation

Urban Outfitters = $32

That’s right. A fake stick is worth $32. Gee, if only I could find a real stick. I could make my own! If only there were real sticks just lying about on the ground!


Money really does grow on trees, I guess. I’ve got an extra $32 in my pocket thanks to a stick I spotted in the bushes by CVS.

(For those of you who know me, yes — that is every single piece of jewelry I own.)

Accomplished yesterday:

Woke up at 7:00. Answered a work email or two. Yes, I’m lame.

Made it to the gym.

Set up an appointment with a chimney contractor for tomorrow.

Swept and bagged all the leaves in front of my house. Saved some for composting.

Covered two walls of the living room in primer. I haven’t settled on a top color yet, but at least I won’t have to wade through this murky blue-green lagoon of a room much longer.

Took the rest of the unpacked boxes and disassembled furniture down to the basement. Yeah, none of that stuff’s going to see any use this month. Might as well get it out of the way.

Vacuumed. This never happens.

Did the dishes. Not as rare, but still an accomplishment.

Discovered that my mustard lettuce plant is being attacked by what I can only assume are cabbage butterfly caterpillars. A thorough rinsing and some googling of Mike McGrath followed, I’m sad to say.

Sorted, filed, and shred all of the incoming mail. Dear credit card provider who shall remain nameless: if you’d like to extend me extra credit, please apply it to the account I already have with you and stop sending me offers for new cards. Besides, aren’t you guys supposed to be more careful about granting credit to people who don’t have any money? Dear AMEX: thanks for my two new magnets.

Shortened the closure on a new bracelet.

Hung up and de-tagged new clothing purchases from earlier in the week.

Put on real clothes (read: jeans) for a run to Home Depot. Shot down some guy looking for a date in the lighting department. The “I have a boyfriend” line didn’t mean much to him, though. Apparently, I’m not off the market until some other guy comes up behind me and verifies my story and/or threatens violence.

Started basement pot farm:



Really, just trying to extend the growing season for my sad little lettuce/mint plants.

Finished the behind-the-scenes Newsweek article on the election. If you haven’t read it, it’s worth a look. Did you know that the ringtone David Axelrod set for Obama’s calls was “Signed, Sealed, Delivered?” Now you do. Awww.

Blogged!