Do other parents have trouble getting their kids to take out the trash?

I found a solution. My kid knows the distance between the trashcan and the end of the driveway. She also knows the distance between the trashcan and her room.

Guess which is shorter?

I know. I'm such a bad mother. But it's amazing what the power of suggestion can accomplish. If I gotta haul it, I'm takin' the shorter route.

"There are at least a dozen ways to parse and think through the acknowledged underrepresentation of women opinion writers, and yet—to the extent that we are having a national conversation on the topic—it is a conversation so far almost wholly lacking the voices of men."

Yes, I agree it is a landmine. A sort of "damned if you do and damned if you don't" for any man commenting. But isn't it about time they took that chance? Women have been walking on those eggshells for years.

Maybe it isn't in a women's make-up to indulge in that sort of commentary. But suppose it is? How long do you think it would take to earn that "bitch" label? A millisecond? And let's face it - that "bitchiness" of Murphy Brown could not have been passed off as an endearing quality if she looked like Helen Thomas. TV character or not.

The freakin' copier at work is in love with me.

Put in a large run and as soon as I walked out the door, it jammed. Fixed it, it ran for a few copies. I walked out the door, and it jammed AGAIN. Repeat the scenario, one more time.

The next time it happened, I said to the machine "ok, you want me to stay in here with you, I'll stay." Yes, now I'm talking to the office equipment

Fifty copies. NO PROBLEMS.

So I walked out the door. Not TWO FEET from the room, it JAMMED AGAIN.

Went back in, fixed it, promised I'd stay til the end of the run. No more problems.

Just what I need. Office equipment with separation anxiety.

Wired News: Need a Building? Just Add Water: "'The Concrete Canvas product tackles the key issues of portability, ease of assembly, durability and cost,' he said. 'The applications in the humanitarian field are immediate and obvious, but there are many other fields where this technology could successfully be deployed.'"

Great in emergency situations - a way to get hospital units set up quickly.

I'm a little concerned about the "other fields". Will we be having little concrete pod towns?

Watched another of our Netflix movies - I (heart) Huckabees. From one end of the spectrum to the other...

Not my kind of movie. Too cerebral. I prefer books for that, not movies. If not for Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman, I don't think I would have watched the whole thing. Not that it was a bad movie on any critical level - just not my kind of entertainment.

But it did help to get the other one out of my head. Shudder.

The 'spring and I watched The Grudge last night.

OH. MY. GOD.

We both slept with lights on.

I'm not a big fan of recent scary movies, mostly because they seem to be more "let's see how much fake blood we can use in this scene" than letting you use your imagination. Although there were some rather bloody scenes, there was a lot of "what was that" to let your imagination run wild. Which I think is much scarier that laying it all out there.

Well, at least for me.

And apparently for the 'spring, too. Not that I enjoy scaring my kid, but it's nice to see she hasn't been desensitized like so many other kids. So the "But, Mooooommm, the other kids can watch it" moments paid off.

"But what kind of power does your sexuality bring you, if everyone at the table can see your crotch when you sit down?"

I now have the interest of my local school district. They're jumping like spit on a griddle.

Got my copy of the papers from my lawyer in the mail today.

Seems they got theirs, too.

Let the fun begin...

Ah, yes, the reliable fast food shuffle. We always check the bags before we leave the drive thru - can't tell you how many times the orders have been screwed up. And we don't even go that often. Really.

How hard is it to remember to put in the friggin piece the damn meal is built around?

Seen the Popeye's "Naked Chicken" commercials?

Shouldn't the guys actually be dressed? But with, you know..... no skin?

Searching for my spiritual path...

1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. New Age (91%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (83%)
4. Mahayana Buddhism (72%)
5. New Thought (67%)
6. Hinduism (66%)
7. Liberal Quakers (65%)
8. Theravada Buddhism (63%)
9. Jainism (53%)
10. Reform Judaism (53%)

Of course, now I forget where I took the damn test...