06 November 2009

organs can't organ-ize!



The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
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www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
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And people wonder why I love studying this body stuff so much.

03 November 2009

grocery getting by bike during a strike.


a nice view from the helm of the Old Dutch Treat


So you may have heard that we're in the midst of a transit strike here in Philadelphia.  On the Granny Bike front, this means that it's business as usual.  Today I determined that I could no longer live off of spaghetti and without coffee, so I took the ODT out for some grocery getting.


Naturally, as I was going to share with you what that looked like, things didn't go as usual. The tote bag that I usually keep with my pannier had gotten put on gloves and rainpants storage duty, and ever eager to eat, I came home with more groceries than usual.






The bike was a little wobbly to get a full shot. Having only one pannier was sort of a problem today. This is why you don't go crazy buying lemon curd and pickles and healthy snacks, people.




Fortunately, I had my super REI bungee with me to help me manage the paper bag presence up front.





In spite of the minor inconveniences, I still enjoyed myself.  It's fall! I can eat whatever I want! I like spending money on food rather than gas! And of course, nothing beats riding an Old Dutch in red tights!


P.S. The Bicycle Coalition has put together a fantastic Bike the Strike blog together! Lots of great Philly bike info and transportation suggestions over there.




28 October 2009

the eyes of my eyes are opened.

 e.e. cummings' "i thank you god for this most amazing" popped into my head this morning.  To me it's the happiest, sunshiney-ist poem in the world, a sincere prayer of gratitude that I have oft repeated. It reads:






i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)



This morning I considered sarcastically rewriting it, including the damnable heavy rain and the tribulations of being a graduate student as apart of my fascetious catalog of blessings. I decided against it for sake of time (being in such a hurry to leave the house to go to school to read a book that I forgot at home, in the rush) and went on my merry day.


At midday, I hit the wall, admitted defeat, and resigned myself to the misery brought upon me by my own forgetfulness, copiers, my eagerness to sign up for conferences I don't have time for, and even my own acid tongue.  


It was an off day, and when I got home I started to tweet that the only redeeming quality of the it was that I had realized that I had good hair this morning, and throughout the mess of my day had continually been able to say, "at least I have really great hair."


But.


I kept finding things to add on that had made the day better, and had vastly exceeded my number of allowed characters with all of my qualifications.  There were so many redeeming qualities in my day! So many good people that make my life better! So many that I had to name them, one by one:


-an in-depth discussion about gin with L.


-A letting me whine ad nauseum about my troubles, including particularly pathetic complaints about soap residue. What a saint.


-unexpected professional development in class, which included a professor memorably giving a student five dollars for a well timed comment.


-Realizing with R that we constitute a peanut gallery, and getting to liken us to these guys:

(I am the short one, naturally)


-In turn, getting to talk about muppets at school.


-Did I mention how fun it is to have a girl friend here? Finally!


-A very nice girl brought "Happy World Series & Halloween" candy to class that included my favorite, Reese's PB cups.


-Seeing a modest, incredibly smart professor get the accolades she deserves. There was so much love in the room! Why do we wait until funerals to tell people how great they are?


-Free wine. Free wine. Free wine.


-M (a man) talking in a very loud voice about douching (you had to be there).


-My roommate telling me I should make cookies for our party instead of getting candy because my baking is so much better.


-A dry, low traffic, twilight ride home, complete with plenty of yellow leaves on the ground to ride through.


I don't talk to god hardly at all anymore, but some days I just have to put it out into the universe how glad I am that somebody- and so many- make(s) my life as beautiful and wonderful as it is. 


Good hair is a start, but being apart of everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes is so much better.


(excuse the wonky formatting... evil Blogger....)

26 October 2009

why there are still people who don't watch 'mad men,' i just don't know.




NYMag's animated gif basically sums up the best 45 minutes television has to offer, week after week. Joan is my favorite.

24 October 2009

watch out for that pie filling.

I had to share this video with you because really, it just shows that they will put anything on television these days. Don't try this at home: