Blow pop

My hairdryer came this close to spontaneous combustion this morning. I've tossed it and already bought a new one. But a little piece of me fears it's the haunted outlet and not the appliance. We shall see.

Say Cheez

I Can Has Cheezburger is wildly popular. I didn't really get why until last night. But for some reason, I was in a rotten mood and just scrolling through the site made me giggle.

The best part is you can upload your own cat.

Here's Em:

Not a Peep

So after several months of consuming both day and evening programming on a wide variety of channels, I am ready to defend my thesis.

Most TV is crap and watching it is the intellectual equivalent of eating nothing but bad Easter candy. It looks good on the shelf and no matter how many times you've had it before, you think this batch is going to taste better than you remember. But the minute you tear through the cellophane, the suckers go stale, and you're left with the aftertaste of cheap, granulated sugar.

I convinced myself mid-run today that the only solution is to abandon the tube altogether. And then I remembered Project Runway Season 4 starts tonight.

And I like sugar.

Btw, reason #7584924875 why Google Image rocks:

You Don't Know Jack

Now it's hammers. And drills. Someone's building a deck or a garage out back.

If you live in my 'hood, you can lie in bed and play "name that tool" at 7:15am every morning.

I name the guy who decided it was okay to start construction before 8am.

UPDATE: The water workers just kicked in out front. I give up.

Fruit Loopy

I have no idea why I was looking up pomegranates online since I haven't actually had one since I was, like, 8. But this site shows you the least messiest way to extract the seeds. In an odd coincidence, a friend on Facebook posted she wished pomegranates weren't so tough to eat. So I sent her the link. She claims she's got a crate of the things and is going to try the no-mess method and get back to me. I'm oddly excited to find out if it really works.

Once again, I clearly need a hobby.

60 Minutes is Officially Very, Very Old

We were flipping around post-football/pre-Amazing Race tonight and caught about 15 minutes of the 60. My signif was so turned off by this story about a so-called generation of soft, unambitious workers that he left the room. I watched because I'm the more naive of the two of us. I'm still hopeful that a show like 60 Minutes will give me interesting facts to back up its absurd allegations. I was wrong.

I have so much respect for real journalism that it pains me to watch someone like Morley Safer fall victim to a poorly conceptualized piece. Sure, the workforce is changing. Technology is changing. The opportunity to make money in ways our parents never imagined has emerged. Taking advantage of evolution and growth and exploring options doesn't make young workers lazy. It makes them smart. They've learned that given the chance to choose between tossing fifty years into a gig they hate in exchange for a gold watch and a retirement party or finding a career they truly adore, they're picking what's behind door number two.

Maybe these kids aren't moving back home because they're unambitious. Maybe they HAVE to move back home because starting salaries can be pitiful and college loans can swallow you whole. Maybe career counseling has failed to do more than post paper on a job board once a week. I'm not making excuses for my generation because I don't fall into this ridiculously nicknamed genre of younger adults. But as someone who has encountered her fair share of hard-working interns and entry level hires in the course of one of the most competitive/least compensatory industries around, I find the assertion that you have to patronize your employees in order to get them to perform imbecilic at best.

Speaking of downright dumb, Andy Rooney's rant was two minutes of my life I'll never get back. You don't even have to hear it. Just read the transcript. It's absolutely as incoherent as it seems.

This following 12 minutes of what's wrong with America's younger generation. Really?

Utilities not included

So I found out what the deal is with the construction crew outside my apartment. They're replacing lead pipes with copper pipes courtesy of the DC water dept. Good thing. Lead-free potable water is like Christmas come early. You know what else comes early? The jackhammers. Every morning. Earlier and earlier to be exact.

But the real treat is the suprise shutting off of my water. No one mentioned that. It's been burping the last few days as they open and close the lines. But to turn it off completely without notice? That's just terrific on a stick.

Couple it with the fact that my apartment's got no heat, and I've inadvertently taken up camping.

UPDATE: Water seems to be back. At least I think it's water. It's black, but it comes out of the faucet, so I'm going with water.