Melyssa-with-a-Y

Every once in a while, in the cartoons, Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny would realize they were "naked", and cross their knees and cover themselves up. We always knew they were naked, but it was a cartoon! Who cares? Well, somebody thought that chickens should be spared from running around naked, so voila! Chicken diapers! ... I mean, "chicken suits." To check out the various available designs, and meet the "models", click here. Actually, I could even knit a chicken suit ... if I knew anyone who had shy chickens! Here's the knitted version from the website - tres chic chicken!

In addition to a great article about Al Gore (and his pic on the cover), last month's issue of FastCompany had a huge article on the massive quantities of bottled water we drink in this country: the amount of money wasted in the process; the damage we're doing to the environment by trucking it around everywhere; and the irony of buying those neat square bottles of Fiji water when half of the nation of Fiji doesn't have potable water. Here's the quote that got me: If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000. The article came out just as Coke and Pepsi 'revealed' that their own bottled waters, Dasani and Aquafina, are just filtered tap water . I have to say, the FC article really made an impact on me. When I do buy bottles of water, I re-use them for a week or more before I recycle them. I look for recycling bins everywhere I go now, and am always surprised when I go to an event (or a house)...

I've been busy! So sue me! Thursday night, I went up to Pflugerville to watch 'Lady Jane' with some girls from my book club. Our book last month was Innocent Traitor - a historical fiction novel about the life of Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for 9 days when she was 15 years old. The movie is also her story, although it paints a decidedly different picture of her life, and particularly of her reign. The movie (1986) stars Helena Bonham Carter as Jane and Cary Elwes as her husband, Guilford Dudley. The book portrays their relationship as painful and awkward... the movie, clearly taking liberties, spent a lot of time making it into a love story. But at least Patrick Stewart was in it. :) The heat has finally arrived, so it's been 100-plus degrees since last week. But that didn't stop us from going out dancing on Friday night! About 15 of us went to Cedar Street to see Skyrocket, a great 80's cover band. We took a bunch of 'before' and 'aft...

If you've ever eaten out on the patio at Rudy's in north Austin, you've seen the clear plastic bags of water hanging from the rafters. (I think we talk about those odd fixtures every time we eat there.) We've been told that the bags of water keep flies away, but I was never sure that was true. But if you hear something kooky like that from many different sources, does that make it true? Alton Brown is back on the road in "Feasting on Asphalt" on the Food Network. This year, they're riding up the Mississippi River, starting in New Orleans. In the first episode, AB was in a seafood shop, and noticed the bags of water hanging from the ceiling. Sure enough, the proprietor told him the bags were keeping the flies away! Here's a pseudo-scientific explanation . Believe what you will. (Having been to Rudy's and met up with some flies that clearly weren't intimidated by the bags of water, I'm still not convinced that it works!) And here's ...

Two interesting news tidbits today: First, the heroes. An interesting interview in Wired with the author of the forthcoming book, Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics and the Creation of the Superhero . In case you didn't know, Jewish comics creators and co-creators include Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel(Superman); Bob Kane and Bill Finger (Batman); Will Eisner (The Spirit); Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, the X-Men); Jack Kirby and Joe Simon (Captain America); and of course Stan Lee (who helped create Spider-Man and a whole bunch of others). It's an interesting look into why so many of these guys got into comic-book-making, and how their background influenced them. Now, the villain. Glenn Beck seems to think that Al Gore and Adolf Hitler have a lot in common : "Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization. The goal is global carbon tax. The goal is the Un...

From the minute Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade left the theaters in 1989, the rumors started about "Indy 4." And now they're not just rumors, as Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg are already working on it. [I love that theme music!] Of course, we all know that Harrison is getting a little long in the tooth for these action hero roles-- he turned 65 two weeks ago -- particularly since he likes to do all of the stunts himself. So they had to bring in some new blood... enter Shia LaBoeuf , who is cutting his movie-blockbuster teeth this summer with the Transformers movie. And who does Shia play? Indy's son. (well, ok, that hasn't been officially announced, but really, that has to be it.) But if Indy has a son, who is the mother? I've been saying for YEARS that it had to be Karen Allen's character (Marion) from the first movie. There's no way he had a kid with the shrieking ditzy woman that Kate Capshaw played in 'Temple of Doom.' And...

Rumor has it that Tom Ford is trying to get Anderson Cooper to lend his name to a new fragrance. Wonder what that will smell like? What will they call it? p.s. With all of the rumors that continue to fly about whether the man is gay or straight, when you publish a story with a pic like this one... what are people supposed to think?

When I went to take out the garbage tonight, I noticed a HUGE rainbow across the sky. (My picture-joining skills aren't that great, but you get the idea.) The colors on the left side were really bright and sharp. After the day I had -- I felt like I was juggling a chain-saw, an axe, and a bowling ball, and was waiting for one to fall on my head -- seeing a gorgeous rainbow made everything better. :)

... if I can carry bags like these! From Perpetualkid.com - the " Xposed" bag comes in grocery (see left), cosmetic, and shoulder size. I'm not sure the TSA would get quite the same giggle out of the gun image on the side of the bag... but they'd just have to deal. So if that one's not your style, perhaps a throwback to the "good-ol'-days" -- the Classic cassette tote. Isn't that cute? I'd bet half the teenagers in the mall wouldn't know what the heck it was. Sigh. Perpetualkid has lots of fun stuff, although it definitely reminds me of Archie McPhee in Seattle. Do not be surprised if your Chanuka presents come from one of these two places. I've bookmarked them. :)

Dani sent me a link to the "Nerd, Geek or Dork?" test. My Score: Pure Nerd 56 % Nerd, 47% Geek, 30% Dork For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd . [How does 56% make me a "pure" nerd?] The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations! Your turn: Take the test here .

¡Hola! First, I think it's very cool that Google and Blogger have automatically detected that I am in CR (based on IP address, I'm assuming) and both immediately loaded in Spanish instead of English. So I am in "Crear" instead of "Edit" and when I want to see my blog, I click on "Ver blog." I guess it's not really surprising that there's no Spanish translation for blog. ;) The country is absolutely beautiful. Very green and lush, and not hot at all (it's been in the 70's all week). Humid, yes, but not hot. We're staying in an apartment-hotel about 15 minutes from downtown San Jose. It's very nice and modern. Reminds me a lot of Spain. The building we're meeting in is the old AID building. When Costa Rica started doing well enough, the AID left, and they left a huge bunker-like building, which has been taken over by the National Advanced Technology Center. It's named for Franklin Chang-Diaz , a Costa-Rican who was the...

I don't normally go out of my way to see a celebrity. (although I was very jealous that Dani saw Bobby and Jamie Deen last year ) But I just looooove Ace of Cakes . Duff is a nice Jewish boy, after all. ;) Duff is the chef/owner of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore. They do cakes for all kinds of events, from weddings to the Superbowl to housewarmings and everything in between. They did a Taj Mahal cake for a wedding last year that was amazing. Apparently they just did the cake for the Harry Potter movie premiere in Hollywood... they did a 4ft x 5ft model of Hogwart's! and then had to drive it to LA in a Winnebago. Apparently there will be an episode about it later this year. So for the demonstration at the mall today, he finished decorating a guitar. by painting the wood-stain on the top. The bottom half of it is for support, but the top half is cake. He went to a music store and bought the guitar neck and strings and put them on -- and played it! He tuned the guitar, and took out...

On July 12, 1960, the first Etch-a-Sketch went on sale! "How Stuff Works" has an explanation of the magic that he created from simple aluminum powder and beads. The technology behind this children's toy is both simple and complex. Simple, in that an internal stylus is used, manipulated by turning horizontal and vertical knobs to "etch a sketch" onto a glass window coated with aluminum powder. Complex, because the Etch a Sketch employs a fairly sophisticated pulley system that operates the orthogonal rails that move the stylus around when the knobs are turned. The stylus etches a black line into the powder-coated window to create the drawing. The Ohio Art Company even has an Etch-a-Sketch that you can play with online ! (Use your arrow keys) Here's my lame attempt at writing my name... Happy Birthday, Etch-a-Sketch!

As I've said many times before, the current "ruling party" in the United States has not been particularly friendly towards science. Today, the former Surgeon General of the United States testified that he was basically "muzzled" by the administration on a host of topics that they didn't want the American public to learn more about, from the very controversial (stem cell research) to the very well-documented (effects of secondhand smoke). Here's a bit from the NYT article : (you might need to login) "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation's top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee. "The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalizing the voice of science for ...

And now, children, it's time for a short lesson to "expand your horizons": learn to use Yiddish words in your daily life! The Times Online gives you the top 10 most useful Yiddish words . (Can't say I totally agree with the spelling, but it is a British publication...) Bonus points if you recognize #4 and #5 from Laverne & Shirley. :) And speaking of chutzpah, it was one year ago today that cousin M and I set off on our 1,500 mile odyssey to get from DC to Austin! Time flies when you're having fun!

Meme Stolen from Stick: I've come to realize that my last kiss was… lovely, but possibly not with the man of my dreams. Ah well, he's out there somewhere. I am listening to… Large Texas bugs (okay, saying "large" and "Texas" is probably redundant) smacking into my living room window as they try to "go towards the light." I talk… a lot! ha ha. I talk to Dani and Rebeka and my mom every day. I love… my family, my job (yes, really!) and my friends. And I love Austin! My best friends… help me keep my sanity, more than they could ever know. My car… makes me smile. It's gone just over 8,300 miles since I left DC last year. I think I'll reset the trip odometer next week when we get to the one year mark. My love life… is a little roller coaster-ish right now, but I'm expecting that to improve. I hate it when people ask… if I'm glad I moved. Yes, I love it here, and I'm glad I left DC. Yes, I still miss my friends, but I'm ...

"I didn't vote for him but he's my president, and I hope he does a good job." So much for that idea. Again, Keith Olbermann says what so many of us are thinking. (The text, if you want to read it, is at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/070407Y.shtml along with the video.)

In case you were wondering, I finally made it back to Austin on Friday afternoon. Let me tell you, when that plane took off from St. Louis, I could have jumped for joy. (although that might have hurt, what with the seatbelt and all...) Given that we left DC late, I'm lucky I made the connecting flight -- I had to run through the STL airport, and knocked down a few old ladies in the hallway. (just kidding, they weren't that old.) ;) Went to see Ocean's 13 on Saturday night with Marcia, Rebeka, Andy and Jay. I think Andy and I were the only ones who stayed awake for the whole thing - and he had seen it already! I really liked it... it was SO much better than the second one. [In an interivew, Director Stephen Soderbergh called this one "Ocean's The-one-we-should-have-made-last-time"] Al Pacino always plays great bad guys. Ellen Barkin was good, although not quite as smart and snappy as her usual characters -- too much of a sycophant. But her 'cougar' s...

There was a great piece in the Sunday WaPo on our illustrious President and his lack of concern for how badly things are going in his administration. He lives in his own little dream world, defined by good vs. evil , America vs. the rest of the world, and his mandate from G-d... nothing gets through! My favorite quote, from a Republican lawmaker: Beyond Gonzales, the discontent with the Bush presidency is broader and deeper among Republican lawmakers, some of whom seethe with anger. "Our members just wish this thing would be over," said a senior House Republican who met with Bush recently. "People are tired of him." Bush's circle remains sealed tight, the lawmaker said. "There's nobody there who can stand up to him and tell him, 'Mr. President, you've got to do this. You're wrong on this.' There's no adult supervision. It's like he's oblivious. Maybe that's a defense mechanism." So between a VP who thinks he's G...

Last minute trips to DC are always fun. I went to water aerobics on Sunday, had lunch with Dani and dinner with Jen (steamed crabs, yum!), spent some time schmoozing on Capitol Hill, and even gave Brad a quick tour of the monuments at night (he'd never been to DC before!). Yes, it's a little hotter here than it is in Austin, but that's to be expected, summer in DC. But going home, well, that's a different story. Here I sit at National Airport (I REFUSE to call it "RRRr..." -- I can't even say it), dreading the impending thunderstorms and hearing flights cancelled all around me. My flight is delayed by 2 hours, but so far, still scheduled to go. Cross your fingers that I can get to Dallas! Worst case scenario, I'll rent a car and drive home from there. Best case, my flight to Austin is also delayed, and is still there, so I can make it. From now on, I solemnly swear will only fly early in the morning in the summer -- even if it means getting up at 5am (...