I got lost on my wedding day

If you've ever wondered how you would rate as a husband or wife in the 1930s, (and who hasn't?), you can take the test to find out at 1930s Marital Scale. I rated as an average wife with a score of 47, but that might be because I'm not married.

Tell me who are you?

According to the How Many Of Me? site, at this moment there are 304,432,235 people in the U.S. Ever wonder how many share your name? You can find out using their search engine.

For fun, I entered the name Varushka and was surprised to see anyone else at all, much less 1,522 people (or fewer) in the U.S. with that first name. As for my last name, there are 207,014 people in the U.S. with it. And it's the 132nd most popular last name. There are 2,452 people in the US with my father's first and last names combined. Only 63 with my mother's.

Create copy & print online

If you need customized address labels, business cards, memo pads, postcards or similar, check out Staples Custom Printing where you can create your own. Like this one above.

Carolyn's Just Curious

Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your friends. Copy this and paste into a new email that you can Send; change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you.

1. What is your occupation? Library technician or similar
2. What color are your socks right now? Blue
3. What are you listening to right now? The computer hard drive whirr
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Crackers for break
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Ha ha! (laughing hysterically) No.
6. What color would you be, if you were a color? Emerald
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Someone who called work asking for Martin.
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Very much.
9. How old are you today? Above 40 but in denial as to the exact number.
10. Favorite drink? Raspberry herbal tea
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Hockey.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Only when I was a kid to streak it green for Halloween.
13. Pets? 2 cats: May and Gus.
14. Favorite food? Pizza or cheesecake or raspberry pie or...
15. Last movie you watched? The Other Boleyn Girl
16. Favorite Day of the Year? Can't think of one.
17. What do you do to vent anger? Scream, slam cupboards, throw things, cry.
18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Little Kiddle dolls.
19. What is your favorite time of year? Used to be summer but maybe fall?
20. Cherry or Blueberry? Cherry.
21. Do you want your friends to email you back? Yes.
22. Who is most likely to respond? Erin.
24. Living arrangements? At my house with the cats.
25. When was the last time you cried? When I had to go to the doctor. I hate doctors with a passion.
28. Favorite smell? Just baked apple pie.
29. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Plain or cheese - or mushrooms if available.
30. Favorite car? VW bug? Or anything Honda.
31. Favorite cat breed? Tuxedo: black & white.
32. Number of keys on your key ring? I have several key rings. House key is on Scottish castle ring. Work locker key on Swedish flag ring. Rest of house keys on Reykjavik ring.
33. How many years at your current job? 23? What year is this?
34. Favorite day of the week? Sunday.
35. How many states have you lived in? 2: NY & MA

Growing beside my garage

These lovely Columbine flowers:

Pilkingtonisms 2008

• It's like a museum: everyone rushes to the weird stuff first.
• If I'm not me, what am I?
• When do you ever see an old worm?
• The Scottish voice sounds old. Even though he was a baby, he had the voice of an old man.
• We've got all these years: See something... But I'm saying, watch it on the telly.
• My brain was quite happy working on the book but my ears got bored.
• Me brain can think better without me ears.
• It's Dunkin Donuts & Starbucks. (regarding Boston)
• Sloths never get the flu 'cause that's when you're replenishing.
• You never see 'em getting run over 'cause they're too small to hit 'em (regarding midgets)

Where the hours go

If there are 168 hours in one weeks, where does all your time go? You can find out at: A Delicate Balance

In my case, the breakdown is an estimated or guestimated:

Work: 40 hours 24%
Sleep: 45.5 hours 27%
Meals: 24.5 hours 15%
Commute: 2.5 hours 1%
Leisure: 28 hours 17%
Chores: 21 hours 13%

That leaves a few unexplained hours, but this survey didn't take into account things like showering, getting ready for work, cleaning up cat puke, etc. And the fact that I tend to eat in front of the television, thereby combining meals and leisure.

Where the songs are

Sort of an audio form of youtube (and no wonder since it seems they take the audio from a lot of the videos at that site), Songza is a music search engine. Type in the artist you want to hear and with luck you'll receive a list of songs you can play streamed. You can also make playlists and share which songs you like via e-mail. As for copyright, it all seems above board as the site says "Songza pays for licenses from all the major performing-rights organizations, who then pay the publishers and writers in proportion to the number of plays." And they have a surprising amount of Icelandic and other foreign music.

Lost: There's no place like home Pt 2 Hour 2

Lost: Ben explodes the vault and explains to Locke that whoever moves the island can’t come back. It’s Locke’s turn to lead the Others. Ben goes into a tunnel or cave until he finds a frozen wheel which he turns. Sawyer swims to the island where Juliet watches as the freighter burns. Frank thinks he can reach the island with what little fuel they have but the island disappears. He orders everyone to put on their life vests before they crash in the ocean. They pull themselves onto the life raft. Someone drags in Desmond, who’s not breathing until Jack performs CPR. Hurley reasons that Locke moved the island. Jack realizes they have to lie after all. A Portuguese boat finds them and Penny happens to be on board (or she found Desmond by tracking his phone call) so they can have a happy reunion. Jack hopes he never sees Frank again.

In the flash forwards, Kate is troubled by nightmares, including one where she’s warned by Claire not to “bring him back.” Bring Aaron back to the island or bring Sawyer back off the island? Sun confronts Widmore in London and urges him to call her. Jack breaks into the funeral home where Bentham awaits burial. Ben creeps up behind him. Bentham spoke with Jack about a month ago and mentioned Ben was off the island. Bentham also said that bad things happened after they left and it’s Jack’s fault. Jack feels he must go back. Ben knows the island won’t let him go alone. They must all go back, including Bentham who turns out to be Locke, or an incredible simulation.

Lost: There's no place like home Part 2 Hour 1

Lost: Keamy takes Ben to the chopper. Kate and Sayid, being chased by Others, run up. Keamy is about to kill Sayid when Dr Alpert, still the same age as ever, shoots Keamy. Ben keeps his promise to allow Kate and Sayid to leave the island. Jack/Sundance and Sawyer find Hurley at the greenhouse. Locke wants Jack to stay on the island, reasoning they’re not supposed to go home. Not a good enough reason for Jack, so Locke asks him to lie to protect the island since miracles happen there. Big talk from someone who couldn’t find the anthuriums. Ben sends Jack to the chopper, then descends the elevator with Locke who watches a video from Edgar Halliwax/Candle about experiments in space and time and negatively charged exotic matter. He warns viewers never to place metallic articles in the vault, which is what Ben does.

Keamy finds the elevator and explains Alpert didn’t kill him because of his body armor. He’s sure Ben won’t kill him because he has a heart monitor masquerading as a bomb detonator strapped to his arm. Locke wants to talk but Ben goes ballistic & kills Keamy, thereby killing everyone aboard the boat. With Sayid, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate and Jack aboard the chopper, Kenny Rogers/Frank realizes they’re losing fuel due to a bullet hole in the tank. Hurley seems nervous they need to lose all excess weight. Sawyer whispers something a la Lost in Translation to Kate and orders her, “Just do it.” Then he jumps out into the ocean. In an unrelated event, Dan can’t convince Charlotte and Miles to accompany him on his next trip to the freighter.

Meanwhile, Desmond figures out the explosives are on a timer, triggered remotely (Boom!) by a signal. Michael thinks they can freeze it with liquid nitrogen while they work out the wires. But the red light comes on. Desmond rushes to get people off the boat while Jin & Michael stay in hopes of deactivating it. The chopper has no fuel and has to land, despite Desmond’s warning. Luckily Sun and Aaron hop on. Michael sends Jin out but he doesn’t reach the chopper that takes off again before the freighter explodes. Can we hope Jin jumped into the ocean?

In the flash forwards, Kate’s incensed that Jack says they have to go back. He appears to have left her and Aaron three years ago. Sayid kills a lookout at Hurley’s hospital, then asks Hurley to go with him. Jeremy Bentham is dead, ruled a suicide. Hurley won’t go. He finds paranoia is keeping him alive. Later the now high school aged Walt and Grandmother visit. Bentham dude, before dying, visited Walt who asks why the Oceanic 6 are lying, Answer: to protect everyone who didn’t come back.

Where the weeds are

Now that I finally have a yard, I’ve been trying to learn more about how to take care of it. So I took home a video from that practical gardening guy, Jerry Baker, to see what advice he offered. He suggested mowing after 7 pm as it’s better for you and the lawn. Obviously he doesn’t wake up at 3:30 am like I do. By 7 pm, I’m on the couch, fighting off the zzz’s. Only feed plants in the morning, which makes sense as far as needing daylight to photosynthesize and whatever else they do. Lemon scent repels flying insects. Use salty water to kill weeds. That’s something I’ve read before and have been meaning to try for the couple cracks in my sidewalks. Then he mentioned something about including hair when planting and I fell asleep, only to wake during the credits. So yep, that’s it for me and gardening.

Except to say, I know Veronica is a weed, but I still find the flowers very pretty.

Lost: There's no place like home (part 1)

Lost: The Beach Gang can’t use the phone to call since it is monitor only. Hearing Keamy discuss a secondary protocol worries Dan. On the way to the chopper, Kate and Jack run into Miles and Sawyer who mention the Chopper Gang tried to kill them. Jack and Sawyer rush to the chopper and find a captive Frank. Meanwhile Sayid lands on the beach and says they must go to the freighter because the Chopper Gang plans to kill them. Kate and Sayid go after Jack and Sawyer. Dan drops off the first group. To make up for what he did, which it doesn’t, Michael got the engines working but something on the boat is broadcasting and causing interference. Desmond discovers a room of explosives. Kate and Sayid run into Dr Alpert and find themselves surrounded.

Locke, Hurley and Ben head to the greenhouse. Never mind the crackers are 15 years old, what did Ben communicate via mirror to the Others? They find the Orchid Station but the Boat People are already there. Ben encourages Locke to go to the greenhouse, past a patch of anthuriums (it’s all in the detail) where he’ll find the switch that activates the elevator. Ben has another plan for himself: surrender. He also has the best no kidding line of the episode with: “I wasn’t being entirely truthful.”

In the flash forwards, a chopper carries Bad Mojo Cargo: the Oceanic 6. Jack thinks it best they keep their mouths shut. At a press conference, it’s said they used an Indonesian fishing boat that washed up on shore of their island, Membato, to reach another island. Sun says her husband never survived the crash. Kate says she gave birth to Aaron. Sayid finds Nadia waiting for him. Sun ends up buying a controlling interest in her father’s company. Hurley’s parents throw him a surprise party. His father fixed up the old car but the speedometer has The Numbers and Hurley runs from it. At his dad’s funeral, Claire’s mother informs Jack that Christian went to Australia to see his daughter Claire, who happened to be on the plane with Jack. Funniest line from Hurley’s mother: “Jesus Christ is not a weapon!”

Where the squirrels are

A few weeks after hanging up my new birdfeeder out in the back yard, I looked out one day and to my horror found that it was no longer hanging. It was on the ground with a pesky squirrel (who had chewed through and broken the hanger) happily munching away at its contents. As if what the birds had dropped on the ground wasn't enough for the critter. So when I saw a video titled Squirrel Wars and How to Win Them, I decided to watch and see what they had to say.
The emphasis was on placing a feeder 5 feet off the ground with a clearance of 7 feet on both sides and 9 feet on the top. How on earth you would fill the feeder, I don't know. A pogo stick perhaps. Other things suggested were:

• Empty soda bottles attached to a wire (squirrels slip off them when the bottles spin).
• Dome baffles or some sort of inverted cone on top of the feeder.
• Wire mesh.
• A slinky attached to the bottom pole so the squirrel ends up with a bouncy ride which looks very amusing.

Some more ideas from the internet:

• Mix hot pepper in the birdseed. The capsaicin within is too spicy for mammals but the birds don't taste it. (Although it will bother the birds eyes, so this doesn't seem like a good solution to keep birds around.)
• Put cayenne pepper and crisco on the pole or any wires near the feeder. Slip and slide time.
• Use safflower seeds instead of sunflower seeds. Squirrels don't care for safflower.

Lost: Cabin Fever

Lost: Locke and Ben are following Hurley to Jacob's cabin which is a pretty good trick considering Hurley isn't "even in front." Locke has a dream of meeting Horace who keeps chopping down the same tree as part of building a getaway place for him and the Mrs or a break from the Dharma Initiative or a way to kill time since he's been dead 12 years. He tells Locke to find him and Jacob. Ben used to have dreams too. Hurley wonders if the three of them can see the cabin because they're the craziest. No one argues. Locke gives Hurley the chance to leave so he's not in harm's way except the jungle is no safer. After finding the cabin plans in Horace's skeleton, Ben refuses to go inside, figuring the island wanted him to get sick which must mean his time is over. Hurley's cool with Locke going alone. Locke discovers Christian Shepherd who is not Jacob, but can speak on his behalf. A spaced out or drugged Claire is there too. Locke learns to save the island, he must move it. Which gives us the chance to echo Hurley's "Uh, what?"

Frank and the mean guy Keamy chopper back to the freighter with a smoke monster casualty. "A pillar of smoke ripped his guts out," not your average epitaph. Keamy's upset that Ben knew everything about him and beats up Michael for telling Ben. The Captain stops him from killing Michael. They need him to fix the engines since he's the one who broke them. Sayid enlists the Captain's help in getting the people off the island before Keamy torches it. But Keamy goes berserk, threatens to kill Frank, does kill the doctor who washed up on shore in a previous episode and then shoots the captain who we'll miss because he was mighty good looking. Frank relents and the chopper flies to the Beach Group. Unknown to Keamy, Frank drops a bag with a tracking phone. Jack figures they're meant to follow the signal.

In the flashbacks, a 1950s Reese Witherspoon or similar sneaks out to meet her twice her age boyfriend but is hit by a car. She informs ER she's pregnant and they save the baby, Locke. Dr Alpert, who either time travels or never ages, visits the child Locke but doesn't believe a knife belogns to him and deems him not worthy for his school. In high school, a teacher resuces the geeky Locke from being stuffed in a locker and mentions how Locke was noticed at the science fair by a representative from Alpert's Mittelos Labs. Locke doesn't want to go to science camp, even if he isn't a superhero. Later during rehab, the orderly, or a lot more since he recruited the Chopper Gang, discusses needed walkabouts with Locke. Best exchange: Locke and Ben's: "I'm not you." "You're certainly not."

Where the birds are

Should you want, you can keep track of what the birds or other wildlife are doing around your bird feeders, baths, houses or in their nests while you're not there with the Wingscape BirdCam. It's weatherproof and motion activated and can capture photographs or videos which you can then upload to your computer. Batteries not included, though.

Where the poets are

While poetry isn't as popular as it used to be in the happenin' romantic 18th century when Brits were harking all over the place, it still exists and thrives. To find poets in your state, head on over to Poets and choose where you live to bring up a list of names.

Lost: something nice back home

Rose doesn’t care for Charlotte’ tone. Or possibly hair color. Because we’ve seen the previews, we know Jack’s not okay. He keels over, claiming food poisoning. Juliet respectfully disagrees. His appendix must come out. She sends Dan and Charlotte, under Sun and Jin’s supervision, to the medical hatch for supplies. Rose is as confused as views why Jack would get sick when the island makes everyone better. Ask Ben’s tumor. Jack’s ego wants Kate to hold a mirror so he can see the surgery. Yes, we’re all surprised he’s not doing the surgery himself. Jin realizes Charlotte knows Korea and gets her to admit it by threatening Dan. He demands Sun be on the departing helicopter, which is the same in Korean as English.

Claire’s woozy and seeing things as she, Sawyer and Miles walk back to the beach. Miles hears voices which lead him to Karl and Danielle’s very shallow graves. The Boat People, though, are not Miles’ buddies and he didn’t sign up for whatever he’s doing. Seeing him leer at Claire a few times, Sawyer places an imaginary retraining order on him. Frank runs out of the jungle and warns them to hide from the Boat People. The night after they escape, Claire sees her father and walks off with him. As far as we know, she’d never bee told Dr Shepherd was her father. Due to the retraining order, Miles could not stop her. Sawyer finds the baby, but not Claire.

In the flash forward, Jack trips over a Millennium Falcon toy. Not the first or last shout out to Star Wars. He and Kate are raising Aaron. Dr Stillman contacts Jack because Hurley isn’t taking his meds. Jack visits. Hurley says they’re all dead. He was happy for a while, but then he saw Charlie. Hey, we all feel that way. Hurley’s message for Jack is that he’s not supposed to raise Aaron. Jack returns home and asks Kate to marry him. A co-worker actually says that engagement is supposed to reduce stress, not create it. There’s someone who never planned a wedding. Jack briefly sees his dad again. Worse, he doesn’t trust Kate. She admits she’s doing something for Sawyer who chose to stay behind. Jack reminds her that he saved her and nastily reminds her she’s not related to Aaron, suggesting he knows he is.

Lost: the shape of things to come

Jack’s not feeling too spiffy. He thinks it’s just a bug. Let’s all laugh. The Beach Group find a drowned man who didn’t down since his throat was cut. Dan identifies him as the freighter’s doctor, who was fine when last he saw him, although “when is kind of a relative term.” Somehow Bernard knows Morse code and figures out Dan and the Boat People are never going to take them off the island. Meanwhile Alex is taken by said Boat People to the security fence and told to deactivate it.

Hurley, Sawyer and Locke are playing Risk and it’s probably not a coincidence that “Australia is the key to the whole game.” The phone rings with code 14J, obviously for Ben, not pizza. The code was Alex’s warning that the Boat People are on their way. Ben thinks Locke should stick close to him because they won’t hurt him and Locke needs to survive so they can go to Jacob. Hurley needs to survive because he knows where the cabin is. Sawyer makes a mad dash to get Claire and is ambushed. Claire’s house blows up but she’s alive. Miles ends up at Ben’s door. The Boat People have Alex hostage. Formalities are dispensed with. They refuse to fly away and forget they ever heard of the island. Ben claims Alex means nothing to him so the Boat People kill her. And more of a surprise, I felt sorry for Ben. Rules should never be changed mid game. No goal!

Ben quickly heads into some secret room and releases the smoke monster to off the Boat People. Hurley regrets following the wacko’s. In the flash forwards, Ben’s in the Sahara and ambushed by some camel dudes that he overpowers rather expertly. He ends up at a Tunisian hotel under the name Dean Moriarty on October 24, 2005. On the news he sees Sayid is about to bury his wife. Was he married to Nadia? Ben approaches him and together they set up the man who killed the wife and kill him. Ben visits Charles Widmore and vows to kill Penny as payback for Alex. Charles is sure he’ll never find her. Ben is sure Charles will never find the island.

Iceland Rocks - or Socks

While we're having fun, here's your chance to send a sock-o-gram from Iceland. Visit Iceland Express's site and send your friends a "sock movie." Sort of a channelling of Sherri Lewis and Lambchop, you choose the two socks you want to appear in the little clip, name them and write in a phrase for them to say.

And while we're on sock puppets, check out one of the truly inspired entries in last year's YouTube competition for make and post your own video for non-Icelandic but still genius Kristin Hersh songs.

Four wheeled friends now

For a bit of typing fun, head over to Type Racer and see how fast you can type. More fun: play against others and see how many your cute little VW car can beat. I got a 2nd place, which makes my day and says pretty much how uneventful the day has been. But if whoever won 1st place can not fulfill his or her duties, hey, I'm ready to take the crown!