I just went to Wikipedia to look something up and was highly amused by main link of the day.

Gropecunt Lane

*is 12*

Apologies for the spam, but bless my Catholic Governor's little liberal heart!

Several of you asked for recipe for the fake potato salad I mentioned. It's from Hungry Girl which has loads of low-fat, tasty recipes (a lot of which are Weight Watchers compliant). I've made this several times and always have someone who has no idea it's made with cauliflower.

( I Can't Believe It's Not Potato Salad )

I'm prepping the ribs for the slow cooker, getting ready to make a scrumptious fake potato salad (made with cauliflower), the weather is GORGEOUS (mid 80s, no humidity), and I'm playing the Beach Boys at full volume from my iTunes.

Perfect summer day!

Hope your day is great too!

Anderson Cooper, on Sarah Palin's resignation:

"Stunning announcement, not just grammatically but politically."



I am not discounting her yet, she still has a lot of appeal to some people. But I can't help but wonder how she'll ever get past this.

I read two books during the trip to Ireland:

( Inkheart )

( The Graveyard Book )

In other reading news, I came across a reference to a brand new magazine: HerStoria which proposes to explore history from a female perspective. It's based in the UK and only one issue has been published. It's meant to be quarterly, though. I've ordered the inaugural issue and the next one. I'll let you know what I think when it arrives.

And, finally, in writing news, I read a fabulous article in Newsweek today. The Author's Roundtable interviewed six authors (Lawrence Block, Susan Orlean, Kurt Andersen, Annette Gordon-Reed, Robert Caro, Elizabeth Strout) on their experiences as authors. There were some really interesting insights about the process of writing.

I had a completely lazy weekend, which I really need as the last month has been just constant.

Anyway, we are watching Episode 3 of Merlin (YAY!) and I'm explaining to my son who everyone is and we are watching Gwen fawn over Merlin and he says, "Obviously, she likes him. Who does Merlin like?"

And it took everything in me to not say, "Duh! Arthur!" LOL

Ugh - I was really hoping by now that I'd be able to sleep past 6am, but this morning the A/C repair guy showed up at 6:30. He's nearly done, which will be nice to have A/C upstairs again, but omg, I want to sleep!

In the meantime, here's a story about a ghostly encounter we had in Ireland.

On the last day of our trip, we drove across the country from Galway to Dublin to be close to the airport for our flight home the following day. We made several stops along the way to break up the trip. As we got close to Dublin, we started to wonder where we might have dinner and decided that we'd head to Malahide, an area just north of Dublin that was close to our hotel, is a seaside resort with nice restaurants, and the home of Malahide Castle.

We got to the castle at 4:45pm, just 15 minutes before closing, but they let us join the last tour of the day anyway. This was not a guided tour, but it did have an audio portion that began as we entered each room. As we went along, we saw staff come along behind us to close up rooms we had just left. We finally made it to the last room, which is the Great Hall.

We entered the room and listened to the spiel about the Talbot family and their role in the Battle of the Boyne and other various bits of info about the room. Off to the side was a small library and we all (about 12 of us) wandered in there and looked around. I was one of the first to walk back into the Great Hall and realized that all of the doors had been closed and I was not sure which one was the exit. Surely it wouldn't be the door we just came through and so I looked to other end of the hall when the door there (the one I've circle in red) opened slowly but surely.



At this point, a few others were in the room with me and we all looked at each other as if to say, "Did you see what I just saw?" On the other side of the door was a small threshold and then another door. No one wanted to open the other door and finally I decided to just try it and see. As soon as I turned the knob, I knew it wasn't the right way as the room on the other side was pitch black. Closing it quickly, we all turned back to see the door that we'd originally come through open and a guide appear to show us the back way out of the castle. When I explained to her what had just happened, she seemed very uneasy and admitted that the castle was purported to be haunted. She anxiously ushered us out the door and we stood outside still at a loss to explain what we'd just witnessed.

When I got home on Wednesday, I did some googling and found out the door just left of the one that opened (the one that is arched) leads to what is called Puck's Tower. Depending on the source, Puck was either a caretaker/lookout or the the Court Jester. Either way, his ghost is said to haunt that area of the castle.

Freaky!

I missed a couple of birthdays while I was gone, so Belated Happy Birthdays to sheryll and zorb!!!

And a very Happy Birthday TODAY to Miss kaalee!!

Cake and llama-riding bananas for everyone!!

Today's surreal moment: sitting in an Italian restaurant, in Ireland, listening to the people at the next table speaking French!

On September 11, 2001, I sat in my house weeping, with my son by my side, full of fear for the future.

This morning, I sat in my house weeping, with my son by my side, full of hope.

I was able to watch the majority of the President's speech to the worldwide Muslim community live [read the text of it here] and it was so amazing to watch the man that I voted for, my President, give voice to so many of the things I believe. I had chills nearly the whole time.

I know one speech isn't going to fix all of the problems, but I hope it's a good start.

One of the discussion points in Race Fail was how difficult it was in countries outside the U.S. and western Europe for children to find books with stories about people who looked like them and lived lives similar to them.

So, it was with great interest that I read this story in today's Washington Post. Since you must be a registered user to read it (it's free to register but not everyone wants to do so), I'll post it in its entirety behind the cut.

( For Indian Kids, 'a World Beyond Harry Potter'. Local Writers Find Burgeoning Market In Changing Nation )

I finally caught the season finale of How I Met Your Mother last night which was just completely adorable. I squeed when ( spoilers )

I also watched the whole American Idol finale. Somehow, this was the year that I was somewhat interested in AI, although I did not watch religiously. I went into the finale, though, pleased because I like both Adam and Kris and was happy with either of them winning. I was a little surprised that it was Kris (I think everyone was), but I'm confident Adam will be around for a long time.

Also, I've not watched the other AI finales, was this one one of the better ones? I have to admit that I really enjoyed the KISS sequence. Beth is still one of my favorite songs. And poor Rod Stewart - I had not realized how badly his voice was damaged since the surgery.

Finally, this site is genius! RunPee.com. It lists the current top films and the point at which it's safe to run to the toilet after you drank the 64oz "large" drink (because it's only 50 cents more than a medium!). Seriously, until they figure out that they should just put toilet stalls under the seats with windows so you can still watch the film, this is the next best thing.

Nicked from imaginarycircus.

( That 70s Meme )

Not that I plan to make a habit of this, but I know several of you have had different reactions to Uhura and to the depiction of women in general in the film. This article had a great perspective on it and pointed out some real positives.

Women in the New Star Trek Movie

Also, I'll say again that I really do enjoy this blog! There are some great fandom nuances explored here.

There's a great article in the Washington Post today about how fans react to adaptations of their beloved canon sources. You have to be registered to read it, so I've copied it in its entirety under the cut. Includes references to Twilight and Harry Potter fans, natch.

( The Trouble With Quibbles )