i think that we may NEED this book.
you should note that there are a lot of things that we NEED on that website. i think the sheer level of cute AND cool could make a crazy cat lady out of anyone. yes, anyone, even you, janie. 
A new book for the bookshelf April 30, 2009
Have a cookie April 29, 2009
for all of those fauxgressives who want a pat on the head for, say, not being a rapist, or thinking women are humans too.
Word of the day April 24, 2009
Testerical – getting all worked about something ridiculous, particularly in relation to something silly and masculine.
My tiny piece of earth April 22, 2009
it’s earth day, in case you hadn’t heard. for most of my life, i was the average decent person who wanted to do the environment a solid, but was too busy or pre-occupied to really give it a go. i planted a tree on earth day in 5th grade and used recycling bins when i saw them, but mostly, i just thought about it and bought organic fruit when it was on sale. i’m different now. i’m not sure when it happened exactly, but sometime in the last few years, i’ve become that crazy hippie environmentalist who’s about thisclose to stripping naked and rolling around in my organic garden, just to get closer to it all. my favorite activities involve being outside – playing with the ducks, digging for wild onions, riding my bike. and i get really uppity about chemicals and food.
it can be a strange way to live – i pretty much can’t stand most household cleansers anymore because of the odors they give off. i have trouble budgeting on the groceries because i want to buy everything organic that i possibly can. and i feel REALLY bad when i show up at a store without my own bags. vanity and a need to keep my job are really the only reasons i’m not wearing an organic linen maxi dress and flip-flops all day every day. but i’m not going back. this is important to me. i’ve made these choices because i believe that this is what i can do to pay forward everything that’s been given to me. my mother worked hard to put good food on the table and to teach me about fairness and giving to/helping those with less. she taught me to be conscious of others before myself and it was a lesson well learned, even if she didn’t always see it.
so, here’s my hippie soapbox: we’ve created a world where the earth itself is the one with less. we’ve been taking and taking for millenia and giving back only the refuse. i want my kids to learn how to love the earth, both the dirt and the planet, and i want them to know what it’s like to feel pride from growing their own meal. i want them to love the sight of 3 different “trash” cans and get a little happy when they realize it’s been almost a month since they emptied the one with actual trash. and the reason i want them to love it is because it’s important. if they don’t love it, pardon the cliche, they’ll lose it.
so, on this earth day, why not make a resolution that’s easier to keep than some of the new year’s ones? pledge to do just a little something different. get another trashcan and start recycling. call your credit card companies or your phone company and ask for paperless billing. change your light bulbs to compact fluorescents. or, my favorite, get some nifty shopping bags that make you want to take your own to the store.
The official Earth Day Network – Help create a billion acts of green
and, for those of you with a snarkier view of it all, a cartoon.
Meme Time, Meme Time, Memey-Memey-Meme Time! April 16, 2009
I Am A: Chaotic Good Elf Wizard/Sorcerer (3rd/2nd Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-13
Constitution-15
Intelligence-19
Wisdom-14
Charisma-12
Alignment:
Chaotic Good A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he’s kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit. However, chaotic good can be a dangerous alignment because it disrupts the order of society and punishes those who do well for themselves.
Race:
Elves are known for their poetry, song, and magical arts, but when danger threatens they show great skill with weapons and strategy. Elves can live to be over 700 years old and, by human standards, are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. Elves are slim and stand 4.5 to 5.5 feet tall. They have no facial or body hair, prefer comfortable clothes, and possess unearthly grace. Many others races find them hauntingly beautiful.
Primary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.
Secondary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
Detailed Results:
Alignment:
Lawful Good —– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23)
Neutral Good —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22)
Chaotic Good —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Lawful Neutral — XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (18)
True Neutral —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Chaotic Neutral – XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Lawful Evil —– XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Neutral Evil —- XXXXXXXXX (9)
Chaotic Evil —- XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Law & Chaos:
Law —– XXXXXXXXX (9)
Neutral – XXXXXXXX (8)
Chaos — XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Good & Evil:
Good —- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Neutral – XXXXXXXXX (9)
Evil —- X (1)
Race:
Human —- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf —- XXXX (4)
Elf —— XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Gnome —- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Halfling – XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Half-Elf – XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Half-Orc – (-2)
Class:
Barbarian – (-2)
Bard —— (0)
Cleric —- (0)
Druid —– (-19)
Fighter — (-4)
Monk —— (-19)
Paladin — (-23)
Ranger —- (-2)
Rogue —– (-2)
Sorcerer — XXXX (4)
Wizard —- XXXX (4)
Cedar Springs Art Festival April 15, 2009
Come down and see me at the first ever Cedar Springs Art Festival! I’ll be there with my knitting buddies, selling hand-made items (knit, sewn, etc).
a whole drinking aged person April 14, 2009
21 years ago today, my mother picked me up early from 3rd grade and told me my dad had died. as with all things in life, it seems impossible that it’s been that long, and also like it was truly a lifetime ago.
