This is coming off my facebook wall, but I want to immortalize it forever

"Ten Steps to Get to my Crush
1. Become friends with his friends.
2. Become the basketball team manager
3. Walk by the weight room if he is in there (but not too many times in one day)
4. Find the word "sandwich" in as many languages as you can.
5. Watch WWF when you get the chance
6. When you see him in the hall, Smile!
7. Have friends say good things about you.
8. Find out what he's into - get into it!
9. Practice basketball at open gym, maybe show off your moves?
10. Talk to him."
- Excerpt from a friends middle school diary

updates

On the ride back from Seattle the other day, as Matt R and Marti slept peacefully in the backseat, Patty and I talked talked about what's going on in everyone's post graduate life. This inevitably led to a talk about facebook stalking, which is how most of us keep up with our peers. This type of social information network comes with many pitfalls. Pat told me he that now when people ask him what is going on with so-and-so, he may know, but he will censor what he says because it's hard to remember if that person told him, or if he found out via internet stalking, which is far less socially acceptable gossip. We agreed that the social stigma of being a facebook stalker is unwarranted, because practically everyone uses this tool for information whether they admit it or not. What you put on your facebook or myspace profile is fair game, I say. There should be no shame in knowing a ridiculous amount of useless information like favorite music, movies and relationship status updates about that one kid from that one class freshman year.

Camping this weekend was a huge success. We scared away the people who would have camped in the site next to us after they pulled up and saw all of our "beer wands" which were all the beers we drank over the weekend duct-taped together to form long poles. Since there were upwards of ten people hanging out, you can imagine that there were quite a few beers cans to string together... the would-be neighbors relocated to a site down the road a ways.

If you get bored of your facebook stalking check out these sites, my most visited internet hotspots besides face/myspace:

www.postsecret.com
www.songmeanings.net
www.crimelibrary.com
www.dictionary.com
www.by-art.com
www.nytimes.com (to Maureen Dowd)

I love book club better lovers, beaver Don, and songstress Maria Taylor

What Love means to 4-8 year olds ...

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?'

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend
over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even
when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'

Rebecca- age 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'

Billy - age 4

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'

Karl - age 5

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'

Chrissy - age 6

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'

Terri - age 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'

Danny - age 7

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'

Emily - age 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'

Nikka - age 6

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.'

Noelle - age 7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'

Tommy - age 6

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared
anymore.'

Cindy - age 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at
night.'

Clare - age 6

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'

Elaine-age 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.'

Chris - age 7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'

Mary Ann - age 4

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'

Lauren - age 4

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image)

Karen - age 7

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.'

Mark - age 6

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'

Jessica - age 8

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And the final one

The winner was a four year old child whose next door
neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently
lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the
old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just
sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the
neighbor, the little boy said,

'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

The Year of Living Biblically

In the new book club book, The Year of Living Biblically, the author tries to follow the Bible as literally as possible. This has already led to some amusing and embarrassing scenes for the author. Aside from putting tassels on his clothes and having unshaven facial hair, the author has to abide by some pretty tough rituals, one of which has lead to my favorite moment so far: Jacobs is not allowed to touch his wife or sit anywhere she has sat during the time of the month when she menstruates because in the old testament it was considered "unclean." Highly affronted, Jacobs' wife retaliates by sitting on every surface in the house; every chair, bed and countertop. Jacobs solves this problem by purchasing this "handy seat". He then proceeds to write about why this handy seat is a wonderful commode for his situation: 1. It "looks like a staff." and 2. Most likely all public seating is "unclean" and so he can whip it out on the subway or a restaurant!

Point being: this is a funny book because living the old testament in modern times would be very difficult, yet comedic. You should read it.

My right shoulder hurts. Actually my whole right side hurts and I'm wondering how it happened. Either my right side has been doing a disproportionate amount of work, or I've had a minor stroke. Hmm.

MBI

First day back at MBI. Familiar familiar familiar in a good way. In a better way than I envisioned at first. This also means that I have time again every day to check/stalk people's blogs, facebook profiles and general wikipedia wonderings. Not too much time (like in Burlington), just down time. Yay! Plus I am making lots o' money.

The "L" List

This is Blake Lively, she is now at the top of my L-List, and I haven't even seen Gossip Girl:
The rest are as follows:
2. Jessica Alba
3. Kate Hudson
4. Eva Longoria-Parker
5. Keira Knightley

Now write and leave me your "top 5" L or G lists. Pretty please.