So this Malfeasance write must apologize for not updating his blog...note that this is something "I must" do, not something "I should" do...because, frankly, I've been busy.

I stole this little post du jour from Grey Street:

I am cuddler --- yes
I am morning person --- not really
I am a perfectionist --- definitely
I am an only child --- no
I am currently in my pajamas --- no
I am currently suffering from a broken heart --- no
I am okay at styling other peoples' hair ---ehhh
I am left-handed --- sometimes
I am online 24/7, even as an away message --- never
I am shy around the same/opposite gender at first --- sometimes
I bite my nails --- once
I can be paranoid at times --- yep
I currently regret something I have said --- nope
When I get mad I curse frequently --- no
I don't like anyone --- haha...no, I like some people
I enjoy country music --- some
I enjoy jazz music --- some
I enjoy smoothies --- yep...with real fruit :)
I enjoy talking on the phone --- no
I have a car --- no
I have/had a hard time paying attention at school --- no
I have a lot to learn --- probably
I have a pet --- no
I have a secret that I am ashamed to reveal --- no
I have all my grandparents --- no...only one yet
I have at least one brother/ one sister --- yes
I have been to Europe --- darn tootin'
I have been told that I am smart --- yep
I have been told that I have an unusual sense of humor --- haha, all the time
I have broken a bone --- apparently not...they didn't believe me
I have caller I.D. on my phone --- yes
I have bathed with someone --- not since I was a little guy
I have changed a diaper --- yes (both baby and adult)
I have changed a lot as a person over the past year --- sort of, in some respects
I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color --- no
I have had major/minor surgery --- no
I have killed another person --- no
I have had my hair cut within the last week --- no
I have had the cops called on me --- no
I have kissed someone I knew I shouldn't --- no

Well...after calculations...it looks like I'm boring as ever, hehe...

Memed again...

So Lisaopolis has memed me...this time it's supposed to be a list of six interesting / strange things about myself. So let's give this one a whirl:

(1) I enjoy cleaning bathrooms and kitchens.

(2) I've never been west of State College, PA....that will change in one week though...Illinois here I come!

(3) I was so addicted to cooking shows when I was younger that I would pretend to make delicacies with fresh mud and grass out in the yard...all the while narrating what I was doing.

(4) I never use the f-word.

(5) I watched someone die...it ain't nice at all.

(6) I taught myself how to play the piano when I was younger...using only the family hymnal...which means that I can pump out a mean "How Great Thou Art."

Since Lisaopolis has memed most of my fellow bloggers...I shall end the meme here. But I send out a wave of my finger in the general direction of those fellow bloggers...get to meming...darn tootin'.

So a dandelion walks into a bar...

Dear friends, it has been a month since my last post and I can assure that I have not:
a.) retreated to the lower Chilean coast in search of rare minerals.
b.) become addicted to "scratch-n-sniff stickers" and spent a not-so-proud ten month stint in rehab
c.) decided to be a llama herder.
d.) moved to Iowa to open my organic strawberry preserves factory.

I have been busy with all sorts of stuff...too numerous (and raunchy) to mention. For this reason, I will keep the topic of today's post as down-to-earth as possible. I would like to discuss something very near and dear to my heart...but before I do, I want to remind all of tomorrow's significance: Green Thursday. If you grew up in PA Dutch country like I did, you know that the Thursday before Easter is Green Thursday and you must eat greens...well, not just any greens...one in particular: the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).

Those who know and love this divine weed, know of its delicious and versatile properties. You see, as a small child, we would arm ourselves this time of year with blunt kitchen knives and paper bags...head out to the wild unknown to hunt the elusive dandelion...well, actually just tramp across the neighbors' yards to find them...of course, you had to watch out for Mrs. Swanson's yard --- her dog pees too much...them best pickings for sure in the Snyder's yard.

So, to help the novice...some steps to dandelion picking perfection:
1.) find dandelion...green weed...make sure that it's only the green leaves...any sign of a flower and you're in Bitter-town, friend.
2.) holding the knife, gently poke under the leaves and proceed in circular motion to free the leaves altogether from the ground
3.) throw into bag
4.) bring home and rinse with cold water
5.) completely cover with warm bacon dressing (a hollandaise sort of thing with lots of bacon fat)
6.) ENJOY!

Since dandelion keeps popping up in the yard, feel free to let a bunch actually come to flower and pick the blossoms for some lovely Dandelion Wine (freeze if you don't have time to make some bathtub hooch at this moment).

Evil Twins...

I haven't written in a while...been all sorts of busy...and nothing has even remotely come to mind as a good enough blog topic. At the insistance of Madame de Waves Frets and Discs, I have decided to post about "evil twins"...and not the hacker crap that was in the news...no, the real thing...do they exist? what do they want? can you have a non-biological evil twin? What do evil twins do? If an evil twin falls in the forest, does he make a sound? What's the sound of one evil twin clapping? All of these questions, their answers and MORE I hope to compile in monograph length and present on the road in my lecture series "Evil Twins: Real-aroos or Fake-aroos". I'll be waiting by the phone for the Nobel Prize in the meanwhile...

Unfortunately, preliminary evidence discounts any theory on the true existence of the evil twin. According to our friends over at Wikipedia, evil twins are merely existant in science fiction...and the long list of evil twins throughout literary and media history shows what an impact this has had...albeit only in the realm of fiction. However, further research shows that they may in fact exist. Cursory analysis shows that they may lurk within the shadows of dark alleys, hide in musty attics, make appearances at our jobs to fool the unsavvy, and insist on their own representation in our webspace. On the online, Sean even has a webpage linked to his evil twin.

Anyway, apparently you can wander on over to a site to find your own twin! Are they evil?...who knows. But let's test this out...for research's sake. Now, I entered some information about our fellow bloggers and found their twins...to be fair, I simply chose the first picture that popped up...so:

Waves Frets and Discs meet your twin!




Red Red Rine...meet your twin!




Lisaopolis...meet your twin!


And now for my twin....




The similarities are all too shocking...

I've been memed...

Okay...so Red Red Rine has memed me so I'm playing along...hehe. Here's the low down for those of you not yet in the know:

The person who's been memed thinks of 3-5 movies that make them weep. Like really weep. Then that person goes to Google images and finds a pic from the movie that doesn't totally give it away, and paste the image into his/her blog. Then, the memed one highlights the pic and creates a link to the movie's IMDB page (that way, if someone doesn't know what movie the pic is from, they can click on the picture and it'll take them to IMDB so they can find out!).The final step is that the memed becomes the memer. So tag-- you're it, to the following blog friends:

Liz

John

Rachel




a classic tear-jerker and one on most everyone's


















ahhh the plight of small town America...




















most recent...but to quote from the theater:
Frenchie: "Did the girls cry?"
Lisaopolis: "Yep." (points to me)
















one of my favorite movies...funny, moving, southern...I just have one thing to say:
"My personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair."

das Videoconferencing...

So at the beginning of the week, former PSU student and Deutsch-teacher extraordinare, Kraub, sent me an email and an IM...not a normal message, but what do I expect from Kraub?
Anywho, she said that she was getting a little homesick for PSU and was clicking around on the website and had a marvelous idea...yikers...
She wanted Mrs. Darby and I to head over to this bridge on campus near the Alumni Center and stand there so that she could see us on the live 24 hour web cam mounted atop one of the buildings...
We agreed and headed over towards the bridge and, after having some trouble locating the webcam, found it and entertained Kraub in Germany for a few moments with kicklines and Mrs. Darby attempting to throw me into the stream, etc...unfortunately, she only saw us standing around looking at the ground...


So, Kraub, and now a Bitte von mir: I am extremely homesick for Cologne...luckily WDR (producers of some of my all-time favorite German soap-operas) has put a live DomCam up on the web...so, when you have a chance, could you climb the Cologne Cathedral (my favoritest place on the planet) and wave a red hankerchief from the rightmost tower?

A sad day for linguists...

[ ɹɛst ɪn piːs lɑɾəfoːgəd ]