The "Conservatives" Strike Again

""It is incredibly naive to believe that they are doing this for our youth's good," said Mark Crutcher, president of the pro-life advocacy organization Life Dynamics, Inc. "This is part of their strategy, and to suggest that they are doing this for the betterment of the people is hypocritical."


Crutcher said Planned Parenthood deliberately profits from abortions and is also partly responsible for the rise in teen pregnancy. He said the website will not prevent teen pregnancy or educate teens."


Seriously, now? Planned Parenthood has this great scheme to cause more teenage pregnancy so that they can profit from the resulting abortions?

I watched these ads. . And I agree that they're humorous and relevant. A little ridiculous? sure, but they were a good time and I hardly see them promoting pregnancy or putting down the black community. I wish that they were still up so that others can see what the hubbub is about.

Awesome anti-fire grenade

What I think is perhaps the most awesome... is the amount of water potentially saved. Even though it's a $1300 expense, if it saves 6000 gallons of water, that drastically reduces the additional cost of the product.

Furoshiki wrapping cloth

How cool is that? I think I want one.

I strongly dislike applying for jobs.

However, I have just applied to another two. Woo! I will find gainful employment, I will! And then a nice place to live! (or at least a cheap but somewhat cozy place. . )

31/100 , I think

Stolen:

I didn't italicize or underline 'cause I was too lazy. It's not in my LJ because I don't do that.

"The Big Read thinks that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who’ve only read 6 and force books upon them"

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (in progress)
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

This is the poncho that I made for my niece, that I was working on forever. I'm quite pleased with it. And she doesn't even look tortured to be wearing it! Finished early March, 2008.

Only a month

Last night was one of the least restful nights of sleep I've had in a long time. It's not that I didn't sleep, or that I couldn't fall asleep; it's that I woke up every hour or two. Each time I'd look at the clock, be amazed that it was still so early and go back to sleep. This happened until five in the morning or so.

Then, of course, my morning sleeping was marked by a dream where I was effectively kidnapped by the FBI. He came into my room and told me it was time to go. I had time to grab my phone and Beluga, and then, prompted by the agent, a pair of panties. And that was that. We were off and running. I was at some point allowed to return to grab a key for work and some more clothing but it was all very fast-paced. Just to clear things up, I wasn't kidnapped 'cause I'd done anything wrong but for my own protection. I don't think I ever figured out who was after me so badly but I'm sure they were mean.

Anyway, it's Spring Break, woo. Can you hear my excitement? No? Well, that's probably because there's not much to be excited about. I don't have classes this week but that's a mixed blessing because I really like one of my classes and am sorry not to have it this week (the other I am pleased to not have). I suppose the best thing about not having classes tonight and tomorrow is just that it makes my horrible 2 days less horrible than they would have been. Leave home at 8. Work 9-5. Class from 6-8:45. Take shuttle, then bus, get home around 10. Leave home at 6:45 for mandatory work meeting at 7:45. Go to meeting and then work 9-5. Go to class from 6-8:45. Get home around 10. Personally I'm fond of the 14 hour day followed by 8 3/4 hours home to eat/sleep/rest and then a 15 hour day. Since I don't have class I'll be allowed to return home when I get off work at five. Except, of course, that my manager has Strep (ack! keep it away from me!) so I may end up staying at work later than five.

It's a crazy world we live in

So today was the day that I was to go to campus and possibly be a guine-- err, patient for the dental boards since my lovely dentist James had pimped me out to his dentist, K. (Seriously. He brought her over and tried to sweet talk me. . . after showing off my x-rays and qualifications.)

So what happens is that you go and the student pays you to be their patient (also, all procedures done are free for the patient but mine would be covered by my school dental program, anyway). I was a backup for K so she might not have needed me but showing up earned me $50 -- and there was more if she actually used me. I arrive on time and enter the massively busy waiting room which is full of patients, dental students taking exams, and dental students organizing the situation (there are two different exam dates, one in Feb and one in March). There was pizza, and Pepsi. It was nice to have food. K arrived and gave me my card, told me her primary patient was being checked out so I just needed to wait it out until she found out if she needed me or not. About an hour later she returned to tell me that her patient was suitable and that she was actually already working on him so I wasn't needed. However, I had two options. I could take my money from her and leave, or she could tell the woman organizing the patient situation that I was available to be used. This would lead to me making more money. As she put it "just name your price and I'll go tell _____." I giggled at the absurdity. The earlier conversation about James pimping me out seemed so relevant -- though now I could set my own price. "Yeah," she responded, "we're kinda selling you."

I decided to leave 'cause I needed to study for my quiz later this week (which is why I'm in the computer lab looking for yarn stores and updating my blog). It's all just absurd. For the record, I wasn't motivated my the free money -- they didn't actually tell me about that in the beginning, James was pimping me out apparently for free (or at least I wasn't getting a cut). I thought it would be a cool experience and I'm willing to help out a student, after all we're all occasionally at the mercy of someone else and it's good to help others. The money was merely a bonus.

Anyway, I really *should* try to get some studying done and perhaps eat. We've got a board meeting at 6 tonight a bar so I could either eat now or wait and get food there. Or get a small snack now. The question, of course, becomes where do I want to go for an hour and a half to two hours and study. Perhaps a coffee shop? I'm not really familiar with such things in the area, but maybe I'll get lucky.

I'm rich!

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If only I could spell better. . .

51

Seriously, though. If I could spell better I would have made a better showing.