You Learn Something New Every (Thurs)Day

I'm starting a new Green Room tradition. It's called You Learn Something New Every (Thurs)day.

I'm kicking off You Learn Something New Every (Thurs)day with something short and sweet that will probably make your day.

You how it's annoying when someone asks you a question that they could just as easily Google themselves? Like the other day, this guy at work asked me, hey E. Peevie, what league are the Chicago Wolves in? And I'm all like, I don't know, dude, probably the AHL (American Hockey League)--but I can't swear to it.

And during this conversation, he's sitting in front of his Dell computer, which I'm pretty sure has a keyboard and Internet access and the capacity for Googling--maybe even an actual Google button.

Well, I discovered the perfect way to respond to said annoying questions (props to my colleague, The Psychiatrist's Daughter): Let Me Google That for You.

If you are the one (ahem, Mr. Peevie) who gets the stupid, eminently google-able questions from lazy family members (ahem, me) or colleagues, you will find this site to be the answer to your unspoken prayers. 


You're welcome.

Can I Call You Joe?

Sarah Palin redeemed herself in the VP debate with Senator Joe Biden this week. She didn't win, obviously, but she didn't make a fool of herself, either--and that's pretty much how low the standards were going in. If I were voting Republican, I'd breathe a huge sigh of relief.

I enjoyed the VP debate much more than the presidential debate a week ago. This time I watched the whole thing--from the "Can I call you Joe?" kick-off to the "God bless you" finale. Excluding, of course, the minor (though annoying) kid-related interruptions. (They obviously do not have any appreciation for the historical importance of this political season, or they'd be more cooperative.)

Here are my random observations:

• If I were playing a drinking game during the debate, the drink-word for Palin would have been "maverick." She must have used it 20 times to describe herself and McCain. Maverick means "independent in thought and action." Palin was not specific about the policies and accomplishments that qualified either of them as mavericks, and I don't buy it.
• Here's the transcript if you want to check for yourself.
  
• Actually, I observed that Palin was not specific about much. Biden challenged her several times to specifically elucidate how McCain's policies would be different from W's, and she could/would not.
  
• Someone needs to tell Sarah Palin that soccer moms comprise perhaps 3 percent of the total U.S. population--so she needs to find a way to relate to the rest of us.
  
• The whole country wanted to swat at that little clump of bangs stuck to Palin's left eyelash every single time she blinked. Or maybe that was just me. (Props to Queen.)
  
• Biden's drink-word was "fundamental"--he used one form or another at least nine times.
  
• Biden deserves a medal for refusing to correct Palin when she twice referred to the commander in Afghanistan as McClellan (a Civil War general) rather than McKiernan--especially after she corrected his take on "Drill, drill, drill!" to "Drill, baby, drill!"
• Both Palin and Biden got their facts wrong at times during the debate. This website is a great source of fact-checking analysis.
  
• Gwen Ifill was no Jim Lehrer, if you know what I mean. Why did she not make any attempt to rein Palin in, especially when she blatantly said she would not be "answering questions the way the moderator would like"?
  

I know we tend to see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear, but I came away from the debate with a renewed respect and admiration for Senator Biden. I thought he did a great job keeping on point and responding to Palin's criticisms with specific, pointed replies.

What did you think? Come on: Tell me what you really think.

Gerbils on Stilts

The Fug Girls do NOT need my help boosting their readership, but this made me snort Diet Coke out of my nose:

"As Paula Abdul would say, it's just not connecting with the audience, and also, gelato unicorns don't talk to gerbils on stilts unless there's a rainbow involved."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! They've totally got their P.Ab impression nailed! In the proud tradition of Simon Cowell's favorite eye-roll target, it's a comment that vaguely alludes to an actual aspect of a performance, but then it veers off into a surreal, nonsensical, hallucinogen-inspired homage to Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky!

And after I read that line, I searched on the Fugly site, and discovered that these bee-yotches can totally channel Paula, every single time. OMG. I'm still laughing.

Plucky People You Should Know

Earlier this month, Samantha Larson (age 18) reached the summit of Mt. Everest, becoming the youngest person to have scaled the "seven summits"--the highest mountain on each of the continents.

Her first summit experience was Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa when she was 12 years old--and apparently, she was hooked.

Check out her web site at http://www.samanthalarson.com/index.html.

She's got a a pretty amazing level of focus and determination--not to mention pluck--for anyone, let alone someone so young. I wonder if that's something you're born with, or if you pick it up somewhere along the way.

I know a few people--very few--with that kind of focus. One of them is Mike Barratt, a NASA astronaut and mission specialist who's training for a long duration flight on the International Space Station. Here's a link to Mike's NASA biography: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/barratt-mr.html.

I don't have that kind of focus or pluck. (BTW, isn't "pluck" a really great word?) My kind of focus is the kind that enables me to write a blog post a few times a week on top of all the TV I've got to watch. Sometimes I just don't think I'll be able to get it all done.

Oh well, I guess there's a reason that there's all kinds of folks in the world. It would be so dull if we were all like Samantha Larson or Mike Barratt--everybody would be all fulfilled and high-achieving and stuff, and nobody would want to stay home and do the laundry. Then there'd be heck to pay.

Helium Update

The jury is still out on whether Helium is good or evil or somewhere in-between. But, no matter, I'm still wasting a lot of time there.

And so far I've raked in 19 cents! Whoo-hoo! (I estimate that that works out to approximately 1.8 cents per hour. Not my most lucrative career choice, but still more profitable than blogging.)

You can read my profile and my articles here: http://www.helium.com/user/show/168920.

(Still don't know how to do that linkie-embedded thing.)

Yet Another Time-Sink

Great. I have just discovered another time-sink of a website: www.helium.com. It's a website for writers to read, write, and rate articles on hundreds of topics.

I can't vouch for whether it's really any good or not, because I've only just discovered it today. I'm guessing you don't really make much money on it, and the writing quality on many of the pieces I read today was pretty bad. Some were pretty good, though.

Nevertheless, I have already sunk two hours of time into it, both writing and reading articles. I'll keep you posted.

Website: Honorable Mention

I forgot to list another favorite website: Dave Barry's 24 blog. Here's the link:

Oh man, it cracks me up. At this point, I'm enjoying his blog more than the show itself.

Virgin Green Room Post

Welcome to the virgin Green Room post, from your blog host, E. Peevie. We'll be talking about all sorts of things here, including books, movies, TV shows, language, parenting, Jesus, and much, much more.

I'm new to blogging, so you'll have to be patient while I maneuver the learning curve. I"ll try to learn quickly.

Today I finished re-reading Bridge to Terabithia, anticipating that my kids will want to see the movie, and I always want to read the book first. I remembered from my long-ago first reading that there was tragedy, but still it took me by surprise, and I was surreptitiously wiping tears from the corners of my eyes as I was reading on the train.

So, the obvious question is, what does the bridge mean? Why did Jess build it? I'm going to think about these things before I write what I think.

Meanwhile, I'd like to invite you to visit one of my favorite online communities, if you haven't already: LibraryThing.com. Oh, man. It's so cool, it's like opening a fire hydrant at a Chicago block party in August.

OK, that's all for now. Gotta go catch the latest installment of Battlestar Gallactica with Mr. Peevie. It's our bonding time.