January 31, 2009 • Uncategorized •

Saturday Review 1-31-09

Bulletin Board

>> I’m “guest-professoring” the Weekend Assignment at Outpost Mâvarin again. Care to join in? Here’s the topic:

Weekend Assignment #253: You’ve got no electricity, no Internet, no phone, and no car for two whole days. What do you do with yourself?

Extra Credit: What do you usually do in real life when an evening power shortage leaves you in the dark?

Post your answer on your own blog, and leave a link to it in the comments here.

>> Here’s another writing assignment for this weekend, and this one comes with a prize! Your 10-word short story about a dysfunctional family could win you a copy of Karen Harrington’s novel Janeology. Enter the contest at her blog – it’s open until Monday (2/2/09) at 5 PM CST, and multiple entries are permitted.

>> The next Bookworms Carnival will be hosted by Jessica at The Bluestocking Society. The theme is a fun one: “Books into Movies.” Details and submission instructions are here, and the deadline is Friday, February 13. (Don’t let that scare you!)

Newcomers in Google Reader

The Caffeinatrix
Aberration Nation, author Penelope Przekop’s blog

Also…members of the Silicon Valley Moms Group sites are supporting each other by subscribing to each other’s personal blogs (and following each other on Twitter). This adds too many new blogs to my Reader to list them all individually, but it will provide so many more places to find linkage for the Review!

Across the Blogiverse

One of the themes discussed in this week’s SVMG Book Club for Who By Fire was family members attempting to rescue one another – here’s a “rescue” attempt that didn’t take, and that just might turn out OK. But sometimes, rescues just aren’t possible: trying to understand a suicide

Confronting cultural differences while traveling as a single woman in Morocco

Still catching up on posts from last week: a reflection on the first president from my generation. Or, as I (born in 1964) said to my husband (born in 1962), “We’re the ones in charge now. YIKES!”

Lefties are all right with me – after all, I am the mother of one. And I’ve had experience being the only female in the house, too…

A biological explanation for the vicious cycle of weight maintenance; an effective weight-loss method with some miserable side effects

Most of these perks of being a working mom have applied to me, too, at one time or another

Ten more reasons to appreciate living in Southern California in January, via Minnesota

25 maybe-almost-universally-true things about citizens of the blogiverse

A theory that “most bloggers are introverts” – do you agree? Take the poll, and join the discussion! Also, not connecting=unsociable social media usage; and can you successfully assume a new blogging identity? Via a Twitter contact (of course), a really good explanation of Twitter for the non-Twitterer (or the merely confused); tweeting through journalism class (as part of the assignment!)
 
“Which blonde is witch?,” via Not Always Right:

Retail | Terrace, British Columbia, Canada
(A woman who had gone through my line earlier that day came up to me.)
Customer: “Give me back my g****** keys!”
Me: “Excuse me?”
Customer: “My car keys! Give them back!”
Me: “I wasn’t aware that I had them. Ma’am, are your keys lost? I can get someone to help you find them if you want.”
Customer: “No! I know it was you who took them! I put them up on this little tray– *points to the tray next to the debit machine* “–and when I got home I couldn’t find them anywhere!”
Me: “When…when you got home? Ma’am, did you drive home?”
Customer: “Well, duh! What kind of idiot are you? Do you think I’m poor?” *gives a disgusted look*
Me: “No…how did you get back here, ma’am?”
Customer: “I drove here, of course!”
Me: “With your car keys?”
Customer: “Yes! Now give them back!”
Me: “Ma’am…if I had taken your car keys, would you have been able to drive home and back here?”
Customer: “No! But I know you took them!”
(I then notice the keys shining in her hand.)
Me:: “Open your hand please, ma’am?”
Customer: *upon seeing her keys in her hand* “Oh, you little witch! What did you do, ‘magic’ them back into my hand?! What kind of store lets witches work for them?!”
Me: “Ma’am, I’m not a witch…but you are a complete stereotypical blonde.”
Customer: “Oh, how dare you! I demand to speak to your manager.”
(My manager, who is a Wiccan and has been listening to this exchange for the past few minutes, comes up behind me, playing with her five-pointed star necklace.)
Manager: *in a mystical voice* “Well, hello there, earth-walker. What can I do for you?”
Customer: *sputters curse words and quickly storms out*
Goofy Blogthings Quiz of the Week:
You Are “Love Shack”
If you were transported back to the 80s, you would enjoy anything and everything underground.
You love the alternative aspects of 80s culture, and you’re a bit disappointed that they’ve been forgotten over time.

You’d be goth, punk, new wave, or a rapper. Just not a yuppie, a preppy, or a jock!
You would relish living in a time where identifying with a subculture actually meant something.

I should note that if I went back to the ’80’s knowing what I know now, this is probably about right. It’s not exactly on target about the actual me-in-the-’80’s, though. Also, would it be possible for me to swap this for “Roam” or “Deadbeat Club”? “Love Shack” doesn’t have a great melody line.

Bookmarks: Reading-related reading

I’m not sure I plan to read The Samaritan’s Dilemma, but this response to it, and the related discussion about charity, were definitely worth reading. From the same blog, following up on this week’s Booking Through Thursday question: a defense of e-books and a theory about how they could help bookstores

Putting limits on the library

One blogger’s award list of books that should have received awards for 2008

A very useful FAQ listing for new (and not-so-new) book bloggers

Judging “books for women”  by their covers; also, women don’t have the book-blogging arena all to themselves (and that’s good!)

Books that caught my eye this week:
Maps and Legends, by Michael Chabon

** Hope y’all enjoy this week’s link roundup, and enjoy your weekend!

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11 comments

  1. I just told my teenage daughter that here (the 10 word challenge) was a challenge I was not up to when she gave me one in thirty seconds while doing her Greek translation: "There was a family of two men who had a daughter".
    And we do know it is not politically correct, but I was so impressed by her speed that I decided to take the chance & send it, hoping I am not going to offend anybody.

  2. Thank you for sharing your weekly links, Florinda.

    Thank you for the left handed link. I was lucky that I was born after all the attempted switcheroos. My mother was switched from left to right handed and my father’s teachers failed at every attempt to switch him over. My brother was always the odd man out in our household: the only true righty. I rarely think about the fact that I’m left handed and have been able to adapt for the most part to right handed equipment and tools. There is still the occasional moment when I may curse the creator of whatever it is I am having trouble with, but never have I wished I was right handed. Anyhow, it’s an interesting bit of triva that most of the recent presidents have been left handed. It’s nice to know I’m in good company.

    80’s Karaoke song:
    You Are “Like a Virgin”
    If you were transported back to the 80s, your life would be all about absorbing everything.
    You are practically a virgin (or born again virgin) when it comes to the 80s, and all things 80s are very interesting to you.

    You would sign your heart out to every Madonna hit and memorize every line in the Breakfast Club.

    You’d have the biggest record collection, roller skate like a champ, and would be a dead ringer for Molly Ringwald or Kirk Cameron!

    I had to forward on the Not Always Right post about the keys to my husband the other day. It was too funny.

  3. Dorte – I know that family. They actually have two daughters and a son :-).

    I’m not sure if I can come up with an entry for that contest either, but I’m going to give it a try.

    Wendy (Literary Feline) – I’m so glad to have introduced you to Not Always Right :-)!

    I didn’t know you were a lefty. I remember when my son was about four years old, and my grandfather saw him doing something with his left hand. This exchange followed:

    “He’s left-handed!”
    “Yes, he’s always favored that hand.”
    “So why don’t you stop him?”
    Because he was naturally left-handed, that’s why. I’m really glad we don’t try to change that any more.

  4. My son is a lefty! We did try to discourage it in the beginning, but there really is no stopping it. I think he will be okay, as long as he doesn’t try to write with a quill pen or something. 🙂

    Can I be between and extrovert and introvert? I think that best describes me.

  5. Love Shack is actually a really fun karaoke song, though – it’s my go-favorite whenever my roommate and I are out karaokeing it up. 🙂

  6. Mike – Is your son also near-sighted and good at math? My son is, and I remember reading somewhere when he was younger that most math whizzes are male, near-sighted, and left-handed. Interesting…

    I’ve met introverts who can act like extroverts at times, and extroverts who sometimes need time alone, but I’m not sure I’ve really known anyone who was truly somewhere in the middle. I think that might actually be pretty healthy, though.

    Jessi – Not being a regular at karaoke, I’ll trust you on that :-). I like “Love Shack,” I just have other B-52’s songs I like better.

  8. He’s not near-sighted…yet. He is okay at math, we’ll see how he does as he gets older. He’s a better reader right now.

  9. Anna – I’d probably end up with a nap somewhere in there myself :-).

    Mike – Something to watch for, I guess. Then again, my stepson’s another near-sighted math whiz, and he’s RIGHT-handed. I’ve just found that a quirky, yet interesting, statistic.

  10. Ooh… finally got around to noticing that you mentioned my post here. Thanks for the linkage! I’ll have you know that since I posted that story about how cold it is here, it’s warmed up to a balmy 25 today. I’m practically dying of heat here.

  11. Jeff – Glad to know that spring has arrived :-). We’re getting some cool weather and rain this weekend, which is what passes for “winter” in SoCal.