MSN Astrology: Gemini

Hmm, I'd forgotten that the Gemini cycle begins today (since I usually associate it with June, and it is still May), but here's my monthly horoscope.

These are always fun to glance through, :]

MSN: Astrology: Fun Facts: Gemini
http://astrocenter.astrology.msn.com/msn/ArticleAstrologyHome.aspx?sd=20080513&GT1=21001

I remember there was this one guy that sat across from me at Strada one year who took trying to guess my star-sign waaay too seriously.

14 tons of Oreos outside of Chicago

True story.

The driver of a truck full of double-stuffed Oreo cookies fell asleep at the wheel, tipping his truck over and dropping its 14-ton's worth of boxed Oreo cookies all over a highway 50 miles outside of Chicago, Illinois.

YUMMY. :]

MSNBC: Slam Dunk: Truck full of Oreos crashes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24707718/?GT1=43001

I really want this: Morehouse's Puff the Merino Dragon Scarf KnitKit

This is a dragon-patterned scarf that is so cute!

I'd really love this, even though I really do lack the skills to do anything more complicated than basic knit and purl. It looks so cute on the mannequin, although I do suppose it'd be harder to tell what it is in reality.

Morehouse's Puff the Merino Dragon Scarf KnitKit
http://www.morehousefarm.com/K2/02/

why I go through Facebook friend-purges

To all those I have purged, I write:

Hello dear former-Facebook-friend--

Hope you're doing well; we haven't talked in a while. In fact, it's likely that I haven't even seen you for several years, or if I have, we don't recognize or pretend not to see each other. Or else we've just each changed so much, on our own, that we're no longer the same people who friended each other in the first place. Just think of it as falling gently out of love into a soft, gray feeling, except that of course, it's a little more jarring on Facebook.

Sorry; I mean no malice. It's just a sort of apathy, is all. Blame it on me, if you want.

So Facebook notifies me that you're currently in X location; I hope you enjoy it there. Maybe you've moved on, or I have, or we're just both no longer on the same Location page, so maybe we can let go and be free. Or perhaps the old adage about absence and the fondness in one's heart does ring true after all? Who knows?

Anyway, you may have noticed (or maybe you haven't, which gives me further reason to do this) that we're no longer Facebook friends. I know that really, in our 'way of doing things', it's very 'not PC'. Because you know, it's not official unless it's on Facebook.

Or in your case, not.

It's not that I don't like you, and it's not that I don't inherently care about you as a human being. I do, really, I do.

It's just that darlin', you're crowding out my Newsfeed and Friends page. It's nothing personal.

It's just that somehow, I don't think this is what Mark Zuckerberg had in mind when he introduced us to each other. Or maybe he did.

But I can't be bothered to read about your newest exploits, or the latest drama, or who you've been SuperPoked! by or received a Free Gift!!! from, or the newest application you added. I'd love to hear about it over lunch sometime, but clutter is clutter, and it's time for spring cleaning.

I know you understand, or else we wouldn't have gotten close enough for me to accept your Friend request in the first place. But don't worry; I'll still remember you, regardless of whether or not you show up on my Recently Updated! list. We had some good memories, and maybe one day we'll meet up again and make some new ones.

But for now, my profile is looking kinda clean, kinda pure, kinda tabula rasa, and it's kinda nice.

Anyway, best of luck; hope we can be friends again soon.

-c

---

Newsweek: How Many MySpace Friends Is Too Many?
http://www.newsweek.com/id/137512&GT1=43001

MSNBC: How China's earthquake struck

Because B and I were wondering, since it doesn't seem that China has any obvious fault lines.

MSNBC: How China's earthquake struck
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24647213/

baby names

B and I, in a typical girly fashion yes, you are girly, B have always talked about what we plan to name our respective child(ren) if/when we have them. We discovered a disturbing? well, no, I don't think so... trend among my names that the girls tend to have really simple names, either with the long-'e' sound in the last syllable or ending in an 'a' (well I think they're cute and sweet, :] ) whereas the boys tend to have rather ancient classic, refined, and tend towards presumptuousness? pomposity? haha old English-types with prominent 'L' sounds names

Here's my current list, in no particular order alphabetical order. Of preference, I mean:

• Girls:
• Abby (short for Abigail)
• Aeris/Ariel
  
• Ali (short for Allison)
  
• Alice
• Allegra
  
• Annie (for Anne or Annabel? Annalise?)
• Ava
  
• Beth (shortened from either Elizabeth or Bethany)
• Carys/Keris (is that even short for anything?)
  
• Celia
• Daisy
• Dani (although I don't know if I want the 'official' name on the birth certificate to be 'Danielle', though...)
• Delia (short for Cordelia or Delilah)
• Elise/Eliza/Elena
• Emily
• Gillian/Jill
  
• Hallie/Haley (what would that be shortened from?)
• Layla/Lola
  
• Lily (short for Lillian? dunno, don't really care either way...)
• Maddy (short for Madeleine; such a cute little-girl name, :] )
• Maggie (shortened from what? Magnolia? Magdelena? haha)
  
• Mimi (shortened from some 'M' name, I suppose; haven't really thought about it...)
• Noelle
  
• Jane
• Susie/Suzie (although I'm not terribly fond of 'Susan'-esque 'official' names... )
  

• Boys (haha, I have a feeling my son's going to either love or hate his name for being so different):
• Alister/Alistair (shortened to Ali)
• Calvin
• Caspian (Scout's honor, has nothing to do with the fact that I think the character from the movie adaptation is hot; the movie just got me to thinking that it actually isn't half bad a name; after all, neither 'Peter', 'Edmund', 'William', 'Ben', nor heaven forbid Skander made the cut)
• Colin (shortened from Cornelius; yeah, I know it doesn't exactly shorten correctly, but I'd hate for him to be teased with a nickname like 'Corny', and I'm not terribly fond of 'Neil')
• Eriol
• Ethan/Evan
• Jules (short from Julian? or fine on its own)
  
• Liam
• Lucas/Luca
• Max (for Maximilian? hmm... I dunno)
• Milo
  
• Nigel
• Noel
  
• Orion
• Phinneus/Phinnaeus
  
• Rowan/Ronan
• Thaddeus
• Vaughn
  
• Virgil (although I worry that middle-school/hihg-school tauntings of 'virgin' might be undue, negative peer pressure; actually don't care either way about the original Virgil, just like the name, haha)
  

• Cats:
• Soba (for a gray or seal-point)
• Spot (for a calico somehow, a cat with a dog's name amuses me)

---

Actually, this list came out to be longer than I had originally thought, haha. At least I've somewhat narrowed it down from tons of other baby names? And I haven't really given much thought to the names' meanings yet either (I guess I should, huh, or run the risk of the kid getting some weird meaning like mine, C = 'lame'...WHAT?)

Washington Post: Crises cloud China's Olympic Mood

Washington Post: Crises cloud China's Olympic Mood
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24675108