Chicago miscellanea

No idea what this is advertising but I like it.

Sculpture at Navy Pier.

Flower in the indoor gardens at Navy Pier.

Cars looking like they're about to go off the edge at Marina City -- two towers that look like corn cobs.

One more place invaded by advertising

On grocery store conveyor belts. From Ad Age:

"Conveyor belts have never been on anybody's radar screen for marketing," said Frank Cox, president-CEO of EnVision Marketing Group, a Little Rock, Ark., firm with a patented system to print digital, photo-quality ads directly on conveyor belts. "But a store with eight to 10 checkout lanes, well, you're talking about 100 square feet of wasted ad real estate."

As someone who works in marketing, I find this intriguing. As a consumer this makes me want to cry. We're already over stimulated and over advertised. It seems like every surface is becoming the equivalent of those annoying chasing Christmas lights. No wonder everyone is medicated.

Take me back to the lunch room

Archie McPhee always has the best, weirdest stuff. I love the Lunch Lady action figure. She comes with various unidentifiable foods and even has the slightly beefy arms!

Silly universe

Today's Note from the Universe:

Just for the record, there isn't a single thing I would change about you.
The Universe

I even love your funny clothes.

Lovely Chicago

I had a great few days in Chicago. The conference I went to was suprisingly good and I met up with two great friends for fun. I just love Chicago. Lovely architecture, Lake Michigan, the Art Institute. I'm always ready to go again.

Overheard

I'm addicted to Overheard in Minneapolis. People post things they overhear in the Twin Cities. Most of the postings are really funny, quoting people who are self involved, crabby or just plain dopes.

Here are some things I've heard lately:

• Is barf the same thing as vomit? (My eight-year-old niece to me.)
• Did you comb your hair with a nervous chicken? (Mary Lucia on The Current, quoting her father.)
• Do you get the feeling he wanted to grow up to be national hall monitor? (Panelist on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me, referring to Joe Liebermann.)

A couple of funny things:

• Plaque: Five out of four people have a problem with fractions.
• In the back of a truck, in those holes where you'd fasten a truck top, two poles, one on either side. On the top of each, a female mannequin head.
  

Stu Pooh Pooh's the Blues

Welcome to Optimism is one consistently good blog. I read it at work for ideas in the marketing realm. They also provide some just plain fun and goofy stuff. Every Monday they post Stu Pooh Pooh's the Blues. It's about an hour of this and that audio, not always appropriate for an underage audience. In this week's episode there is a hilarious bit by Jerry Seinfeld about crime. And, there's also a gentle-listening version of Panic by The Smiths (sung by the Puppini Sisters). I was very glad not to have liquids in my mouth when it came on. It's one of the funniest things I've ever heard. If you don't know The Smiths or Morrissey it might not be as funny. The Smiths are quite often extremely dark. (For example: "If a double decker bus, killed the both of us. To die in your arms, the pleasure, the privilege would be mine.") Note: there is a Dolly Parton song you'll have to get through to get to Jerry and The Smiths in this week's edition.

I love The Smiths. Their songs become ear worms quite easily. During my brother's wedding weekend in Las Vegas* the song Bigmouth Strikes Again was in my head all weekend. Not exactly wedding material: "Sweetness I was only joking when I said, I'd like to smash every tooth in your head. Oh sweetness, Sweetness I was only joking when I said by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed." And to top it off, my brother hates The Smiths.

*Unlike many Las Vegas weddings, Mike's wasn't in a chapel called Wee Kirk O' the Heather or the Chapel of Love. It was in a big Catholic church. Very interesting juxtaposition. The reception was at a big casino/hotel. Can't remember the name of the place, something Station?, but I later learned that a friend was at the hotel the same weekend but we didn't run into each other.

Periodic tables

I don't know that I ever memorized the whole periodic table in chemistry. Science knowledge just swam around in my head and then exited, unable to find a spot to land.

The Table of Condiments that Periodically Go Bad is one I could maybe remember. Who knew that hummus can go off after a week? I guess condiments are just more applicable to my world.

At a coffee shop in Chicago I saw the Periodic Table of Desserts. It, too, would be more memorable than the elements table. There is also a pictoral version (below).

Simple pleasures

Some of this evening's lovely simple pleasures:

• Took Sophie for a walk after work. Her body language is so happy on walks and she adores smelling the whole neighborhood.
  
• The weather is lovely again. Low humidity and high 70s (about 25C).
  
• My neighbor is barbequing something and spreading one of my favorite summer smells -- lighter fluid.
  
• A lovely salad with salad cream. I found salad cream at a cool grocery in Chicago. I got hooked on it while I was in England. It's not so easy to find here.
• And lastly, listening to music by Eros Ramazzotti. (Bambino Nel Tempo and Yo Sin Ti are current favorites.) What a great voice! I have no knowledge of Italian so he could be singing something really foul. But he makes it sound so nice!

It's a terrible thing to lose one's mind

At work we were just mourning the fact that our brains aren't able to handle all we need to remember. "Why did I leave my desk?" "Why did I walk over to the printer?" "Where did I leave my water bottle?"

Multi-tasking and too much to do certainly take their toll. I thought it would be nice to have a secondary brain to house the information that falls through the cracks. Kind of like how cows have more than one stomach. To which Sheriboo replied with the soon-to-be-classic line, "I just want to remember what I already know."

Fun with German

I have a German flip-a-day calendar on my desk. Every day there's a new vocabulary word and sample sentence. I just love words so this is right up my alley. (Hmm... how do you say that in German?)

Here are two recent words and sentences that made me laugh, for different reasons:

• der Honig -- honey. Das war kein Honiglecken.
  That was no picnic. But literally it means, that was no licking of honey.
  
• die Muttersprache -- mother/native tongue. Duetsch is nicht meine Muttersprache.
  I am not a native speaker of German. This made me laugh because anyone who heard me speak German would probably think I sound like a hillbilly without me pointing it out! By the way, hillbilly or hick in German is der Hinterwaeldler, or in my case, die Hinterwaeldlerin. It literally means backwoodsman/woman.

I just love the word die Waffenruhe -- the word and what it is. Ceasefire. It literally means weapons quiet. Isn't that grand? And I love that there's a ceasefire in Lebanon. How are you supposed to broker a peace when you're still shooting at each other? Keep praying for peace man!

Membranes?

I found this story quite confusing yet oddly fascinating. It's from Water and Wastes Digest. A pub I did not know existed. There really is a newsletter for everything. (There was a link to this story in a marketing e-letter.)

Membrane Sales for Food & Beverage Processing to Reach $230 Million by 2011
August 4, 2006

According to a new technical market research report, Membrane Technology for Food and Beverage Processing (MST030B) from BCC Research, membrane sales for food and beverage processors will reach $185 million in 2006. At an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of about 4.6% through 2011, the market should reach the $230 million mark...

Manufacturers are placing increased emphasis on using membrane methods to replace functions formerly performed by chemical processing. One area of focus is removing or minimizing problems associated with diatomaceous earth (DE) in beverage processing. Substituting membranes for DE in these applications contributes to a more positive environmental impact, protects the health and safety of the labor force, and more efficiently and economically resolves maintenance and disposal issues...

Shudder. I just finished listening to Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America by Morgan Spurlock (of "Supersize Me"). It was full of reasons why not to eat processed or fast food. Cleanliness or lack thereof, treatment and feeding of animals (cows eating ground up cows, that's wrong), energy consumed by production, treatment of workers, the continual sitting of most Americans, etc. So many reasons to say No! Membranes, however, has put me over the edge.

Oh my grossness

Lorelee pointed out this blogworthy image at a Chicago 7-Eleven. Chili and plastic cheese for your 'meat' hot dog. The drips looked solidified. I wonder how long they had been there.

Art Institute of Chicago

This weekend was my first visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. I was at a conference. Lorelee took the train up for a couple of days of fun!

The museum is superb! So many gorgeous and moving pieces. And some really odd ones, too. Above left, "A Group of Houses and Figures" by Lyonel Feininger. It's funny. Perhaps not on purpose.

Here are a few pieces that I really liked. I guess I'm simple in the art world. I want it to be pretty or moving. "Pergola with Oranges" by Thomas Fearnley










Cheeky little monkey, part of "Still Life with Monkey, Fruits and Flowers" by Jean Baptiste Oudry









Very beautiful and intricate bracelets.

Young football player dreamland

If you are between 6 and 9 and live near Munich your football (soccer) dreams could come true on Friday. The Bundesliga kicks off with FC Bayern München vs. Borussia Dortmund and they're looking for 11 kids to walk hand-in-hand as with the players as they go onto the field. Then the kids get to watch the game, I'm assuming they get great seats!, with their mother or father. Schade (too bad)! Tori, my eight-year-old niece lives in Minnesota. She would love this!

Kevin Kling!

We have Kevin Kling tickets! The description does include something about possible audience participation. That makes me shudder. But for Kevin, I'm willing to brave the possibility.

My friend MJ loved Kevin Kling. A couple of years ago I went to visit her in the hospital just after she had cancer surgery. She was her usual exuberant, crazy self. She asked me, "Guess what I got for my birthday?" Before I could answer she yelled, "You'll never guess! Some friends took me to see Kevin Kling and we got to go backstage and meet him!"

Kevin Kling is a hilarious storyteller. Some of his stories are about growing up and all the trouble he and his brother got into. You can listen to his advice on winter survival. He says things like this, about his dachshunds: "I've never seen so much can-do attitude in such a cant'-do body.

Illusions

Today's Note from the Universe.

Remember, the illusions in your life - good, bad and ugly - thrive on attention. Something to consider when choosing which to keep and which to Kung Fu.
CHEW-HA!
The Universe

Airport chatter

Yesterday as I was waiting for my flight to Minneapolis there were four 30-something women sitting near me. They had been in Chicago on a 'girls' weekend.' They were talking at length about Brittany Spears and commenting about celebrities in a magazine. "Look! She's not wearing her wedding ring in this picture."

My cubicle

For everyone in cube farms.

Tea Partay, Preppy Rap

Smirnoff has this new ad for their tea. It's phenomenally silly. New England gangstas, "Yo, yo, where my WASPs at?"

Left Below

I received an e-mail today advertising a Webinar, "Top 10 New Technologies for Internal Communicators." The vendor shall remain unnamed. It was typical hype but it closed in an obvious-to-anyone-who-can-read scare tactic.

Other leading companies are already using these technologies. Can you afford to be left behind?

Slimy on several levels. They're advertising to communicators. People schooled in messaging. Ergo, they should read right through this frightfully lame attempt to get them to register out of fear.

On the up side, it led me to remember the Left Below edisode of the Simpsons. It makes fun of the rapture rants in the Left Behind books and includes these classic lines:

• [Homer walking around, ringing a bell and yelling] It's the end of the world. God loves you! He's going to kill you!
• [At the end of their interview, newsman Kent Brockman to Homer] Well we have 30 seconds left. Any other cuckoo yip yap?
• Marge: Homie, I'm glad you're getting exercise. I just wish it wasn't crazy exercise.
  Homer: Marge, in a world gone mad, only a lunatic is truly insane.
  
• Mo: I'm going to steal God's secrets and sell them to satan.
  

I still think the e-mail was slimy.

Speaking of hobbies...

Check out this pattern at Knitty. You could make this wig hat in multiple colors to coincide with any outfit. Then you'd be ready for any kind of bad hair day.

Weird hobbies

I was listening to Weekend America today. They feature news items but also things you won't hear about anywhere else. Today there was a very odd, to me, hobby: collecting and transforming Barbie dolls.

The guy featured in the story, Jim Faraone, wasn’t as weird as you’d think. His source of income is making over and selling dolls. He’s written books about it and teaches classes on it. The story was very interesting as well as, seeing as I’m not into dolls, quite freaky. I have to hand it to him though. He’s quite talented. How he has the patience to work on such tiny items of haute couture is beyond me. Take a look or listen to the amusing story.

Speak English, please

I was in a meeting with co-workers the other day. One of the people in the meeting kept using phrases like this: the metanarrative of the dialectic. I am not kidding.

I really like this group. I love working with them. But I was very tempted to use Whoopi Goldberg's line from the movie Jumping Jack Flash. She's trying to find a figure out the key to a mystery. She thinks the key may be in the lyrics to the Rolling Stones' song, "Jumping Jack Flash." She's sitting on the floor next to a speaker listening over and over to the lyrics, trying to understand Mick Jagger. At one point she bangs her hand on the floor and yells, "Speak English, Mick!"

List-o-mania

I picked up The New Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information at the library today. It's perfectfully scannable.

• 11 Mammoth Cheeses
  
• #1: 28.5-ton cheddar -- 6 feet high, 32 feet long and 4.5 feet wide, made in Canada (#1-7 are cheddar cheeses)
• #8: 1,200-pound cheshire -- made in Massachusetts and shipped to Washington, D.C. by sled, boat and wagon to honor Thomas Jefferson's triumph over the Federalists.

• 4 Places with More Pigs than Humans
• #1: Denmark (13.2M pigs, 5.4M humans)

• 12 of the Oddest Items Found at London Transport's Lost Property Office
• Two human skulls in a bag
• Dead bats in a container
• Lawn mower
• Box of false eyeballs

• 8 Unlikely How-to Books
• How to Be Happy Though Married -- published in 1895. A book by the same title is on Amazon and is authored by Tim LeHaye, author of those silly Left Behind books.
• How to Become a Schizophrenic
• How to Start Your Own Country -- published in the 1980s and still available on Amazon.

• 7 Bizarre Sports Events
• Rock, paper, scissors
  
• Law mower racing

• 22 Things That Fell from the Sky
• Hay -- "A great cloud of hay drifted over the town of Devizes in England at tea time on July 3, 1977. As soon as the cloud reached the center of town, it all fell to earth in handful-sized lumps."
• 3,902-pound stone -- Fell in 1976 near Kirin, China.
  
• Meat -- "Famous Kentucky meat shower" happened in 1876. "The local explanation was that a flock of buzzards had disgorged as a group while flying overhead."
  
• White fibrous blobs -- "Blobs of white material up to 20 feet in length descended over the San Francisco Bay area in California... Migrating spiders were blamed, although no spiders were recovered." Whaaat?

• Mark Twain's List of 27 People and Things to Be Rescued from a Boardinghouse Fire
• #1: Fiancees
• #2: Persons toward whom the rescuer feels a tender sentiment but has not declared himself
• #27: Mothers-in-law

Smells and words

I was at a meeting today in a church. A Lutheran church. The restroom smelled the same as every Lutheran restroom I've been in. Kind of like cleaning supplies but with something else. Not stinky. Kind of institutional and particular to churches. Is there a church restroom brand of cleaning products? Do different denominations have variations on a similar smell?

Linguistic fun -- Riechen is the German verb for smell. It's pronounced reek-en and reek in English means stink. And reek, in German, is stinken.

Brain snack

Mental Floss' trivia page is a infogeek's dream. For example:

Vocabulary words -- " garrulous (adj.) , given to constant chatter; talkative"
Questions -- "You’ve seen it in the movies, but can your car really blow up on impact?"
Quizzes

The blog is also full of info that you didn't know you didn't know.

Wallpaper (Tapete)

Interesting timing. Just last week the last of the wallpaper in my house went bye bye. Today I read about The Collection in Springwise. The Collection is a company that does really arty wallpaper and home design items. I love the big spoon on the back of the door but at 159 Euros, I think I'll pass! They also do trompe l'oeil, which I am completely smitten with. I've taken a couple of stabs at it but haven't ventured into big wall murals, yet.

Germany vs. Greece

I miss the World Cup (WM) games. Four more years seems like such a long, long time. In the interim, here is a recap of the Germany vs. Greece, refereed by Confucius. Monty Python is brilliant!

Haiku activism

In the latest e-letter from the Better World Club, readers are encouraged to tell Congress what they think of tax breaks for Exxon/Mobil and drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. A sample haiku from the e-letter:

driving with doo-doo
fossilized dinosaur poo
when will it run out?

Andrew Shannon
Bronx, NY

You have to be a member of BWC for them to send your haiku. If you're not, find e-mails to contact the man: U.S. senators, U.S. representatives.

Happy poster project

This is so silly. I just love it. The Happy Poster Project.

OBJECTIVE: Undetermined.

METHOD: Download your favourite poster(s) from the selection below. Print/photocopy as many copies as you think you'll need. Put one up at work or home. Then walk down your local High/Main St asking shop owners and managers if you can put a happy poster in their window.

You'll feel a bit silly at first; that's to be expected.

Who needs a chump slap?

I love this cover of The Independent. Well, I don't love it. It's heartbreaking. But I hope it drives home the point of how out of step the U.S. is. Really, are we trying to promote the immolation of the Middle East?

Laughing at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart's new site for kids is a bomb. I refer to the store as the Devil's Little Sweatshop. I'm dancing with glee at their misfortune.

From Advertising Age:
Wal-Mart's New Online Children's 'Hub' a Real Bomb
A Poorly Executed Project With Writing That Makes Us Cringe

...If you happen to be an incredibly macho and worldly 51-year-old man, try putting yourself into the head of the many demographic target cohorts to which we, strictly speaking, do not belong. Not only are we not in the bull's-eye -- 18 to 34 years-old -- we're also not a skateboarder/gamer, a soccer mom or, to the best of our knowledge, Japanese...

Is there anything more excruciating than some lametard adult copywriter trying to speak to teenagers in their own language? To see this stuff is to cringe...

In fact, it's totally not well-executed. It's the most not-well-executed ever. The site -- schoolyourway.walmart.com -- is called The Hub. It's a hybrid of an ordinary webpage and a social-networking engine ... a la MySpace.com...

Full story

Monday greetings from the Universe

A lovely note from the Universe this morning (except for that 'dude' part).

Thinking that the past or present somehow forecasts the future, neglects the otherwise obvious facts that one of the greatest certainties of all time and space is that things always get better. That no matter how challenging any given set-back is, eventually it will make possible the attainment of even greater heights than were previously imaginable. And that you knew exactly what you were doing when you once said, "Time and space? I'm totally there, dude..."

You always were hip...

The Universe

And wise

Sound and memory

I was in Lowe's (a big DIY store) the other day and was transported back my vacation in Switzerland last summer. Before announcements in the store, there is a little bing, bing sound. It's a gentle noise, similar to a couple of notes on a xylophone. It's the same sound that you hear in a Swiss train station just before an oncoming train announcement. Now if I could find a place where I could hear the tinkling of cow and sheep bells on a nearby hill.

Bonehead of the Day

The Bonehead of the Day Award e-mails piled up the last few weeks before vacation. Thankfully, the stupid stories are just as funny on time as they are a few weeks later.

It was probably a bad idea to repeatedly make harassing phone calls, complete with "yelling and screaming," to the ex-boyfriend from a pay phone located in the Cambridge, MA Police Department lobby, especially when already under a restraining order to leave him alone.
Somerville Journal (Massachusetts) 6-Jul-06

And, as stupid frosting, there is this story from WPVI in Philadelphia:

A woman spotted leaving a K-mart last week with a bag of goods she allegedly didn't pay for ran off, with three K-mart employees in pursuit. The woman, we're told, jumped a guardrail and darted into some woods where she got stuck in a swamp.

You're no Superman

Some Signs You're Not Superman (from BBspot where the complete list may be found)

• Your X-Ray vision only enables you to see through glass.
• You look pretty dorky in a cape.
• The armor piercing bullets rip through your flesh like a hot knife through butter.
• The only way you got the pickle jar open was by smashing it with a hammer.

Car Talk funnies

I was listening to Car Talk today and heard a rather funny list (about Car Talk here).

Normally the "you might be [fill in the blank] if" lists aren't very clever (e.g., you might be from Minnesota if...). But this one made me laugh out loud. Maybe it was because the car guys were giggling and guffawing through the whole thing. The list was "you might be white trash (armer Weisser) if your friend's last words were." Some highlights (full list):

• I wonder where the mother bear is?
• Watch this
• That's odd
• Nice doggie
• What does this button do?

Vacation, sweet vacation

On Saturday I went to my niece's birthday party wearing two different shoes. I didn't get dressed in the dark and I didn't rush getting out the door. It took me about three hours to notice this. Both shoes were Birkenstock sandals but they were two different colors and two different styles. I think it was another sign that I really do need this week of vacation.

Today's note from the universe

You see, latent within any clearly imagined dream lies the innate potential to literally craft the entire sequence of events necessary to make it manifest. And if you move with that dream, demonstrating both faith and belief, making yourself available to "accidents and coincidences," not insisting on the hows and rolling with what may come, the sequence is permitted to play itself out. Yet because you can only perceive this sequence with the physical senses through a linear time line, it will likely seem that much of your journey doesn't make sense, is unpredictable, or may even appear off-course.

About as clear as mud, huh? Well, it's Monday for me too, you know.

Tallyho,

The Universe

Any how, if your journey at the moment isn't making much sense, seems unpredictable, or even appears to be off-course, let's just say that in the bleachers, right now in the unseen, your name is being sung in a deafening chorus with each syllable being punctuated by primal drum beats, while cheerleaders are cheering, fans are hysterical, and happy-tears are flowing. Un-gawa.

Welcome to Hades

I hate this summer. Well, not everything about it. Really, just the weather.

It's now almost 10:30 p.m. and it is 86F (30C). With the humidity it feels like 99F (37C). Uggh! Yesterday it was 100. It's been like this, again, for a few days. It's supposed to be in the 90s until Thursday. It might be 89 that day. I'll need to wear a coat.

I promise not to complain about winter no matter how cold it gets this year. With the mess escalating in the Middle East, it's hard not to go all apocalyptic.

Leave the babies alone!

This baby conveys what people all over the world think of George W. Bush.

Cake for good

Bakers in Rust, Germany have made the world's largest Black Forest cake. It weights three tons. The picture at right is of a normal-sized version -- feeds about 14. The cake in Rust feeds about 16,000.

Proceeds from selling the cake will go to children who need heart operations. I would love to see that cake, and the mixer and other kitchen implements they used to make it. You could probably use an airplane propeller to frost it.

Larvae and flowers

There's nothing like photos of larvae to make you itch all over. I took these while on a bug hunt with my niece and nephew. The ants and egs are kind of interesting to look at -- in a repelling sort of way.


Here are a couple of flower shots from my Mom's garden to balance the visual stimulae. She has a lot of lily-type flowers. I just love them. So majestic. I don't know what the little purple flowers are called but I think they look like little shoes.

Tchuess Klinsi!

Juergen Klinsman quit as coach of the German national team. He's going back to California to be with his family. What a disappointment! (Story here.)

I was so impressed with him throughout the WM. Especially after the horribly disappointing loss to Italy in the semifinals. Players were sitting with their heads down. He walked around the field patting them on the back and comforting them.

The Fan Fest in Berlin, after Germany's third place victory, looked like a great event! The players all wore t-shirts (see left) that said Thanks Germany. (Cool photos here.) It certainly seems like the World Cup had an extraordinarily positive effect on the country!

Sophie Ueberhund (super dog)!

Today is a big day! It's my niece Tori's eighth birthday. And seven years ago today Sophie came to live with me. She is such a funny, sweet dog! She makes me laugh every day. Here she is with her new toy, her blauer Stern (blue star). Happy, happy day Sophie!

Happy, happy, joy, joy

I received a new CD in the post today. Hooray! Spruenge by Herbert Groenemeyer. It's not a new release -- 1989! In some ways the '80s were a great music decade (if you ignore the hairdos). There's a very fun song on the CD called Kinder an die Macht (Power to the Children -- I think). Here are some of the lyrics:

Die Armeen aus Gummibaerchen
Die Panzer aus Marzipan
Kriege werden augegessen
Einfacher Plan
Kindlich genial...

Gebt den Kindern das Kommando
Sie berechnen nicht was sie tun
Die Welt gehoert in Kinderhaenden

Armies of gummi bears
Tanks out of marzipan
Wars would be eaten
Simple plan
Childishly resourceful…

Give children the command
They don’t calculate what they do
The world belongs in the hands of children

I'm not providing any more lyrics here because my translation skills are very poor!

Beware of bears

I love these ads from a Norwegian candy company. The tagline is "sweet outside, nuts inside." To see two other ads, click here.

Donuts you don't eat

I haven't decided if these fabric donuts at Sewdorky are cute and funny or just stupid. I didn't really understand what you would do with these. Unlike sushi pillows, for example, they're not big enough to provide pillow-like assistance. I do prefer sprinkles in the edible and inedible versions.

Bugs, bugs, bugs

Except for Germany losing in the semifinals, I had a lovely weekend in Alexandria.

When I saw my youngest niece Kessa (she's going to be three) she yelled, "We have matching bracelets!" Well, they are both made out of beads.

After our family's July 4 picnic, Cale, Kessa and I went looking for bugs, etc. under rocks in my Mom's gardens. Bugs give me the shivers but it was fun watching them search. Cale (who is 6) wanted photos of everything we found and made me promise that I would send them to him. I have some really disgusting photos of ants and larvae. I won't post them here but I'm sure Cale will love them!

Stink, stank, stunk

The Germany-Italy game was another nail biter. The Italians won, unfortunately. Oh the disappointment! I so wanted to see Germany in the final. I've already to committed to hosting a World Cup Final party next Sunday. Now I have keine Lust dafuer (I don't feel like it). Well, it will be a good game and by Sunday I'll be out of my funk.

On one hand I would like to see the Italians go down. On the other, they are a very good team and maybe I'd like to see them stomp on Portugual, the team that knocked England out. I'm going to try to make dishes that correspond with the countries. For that matter I hope that France wins today. I don't know any Portuguese dishes. I'd have to make a trip to the library or do some online research. Oh, how I was looking forward to cooking German food on Sunday. I feel bad for the German team. To get this far is such an accomplishment!

Deutschland schreitet fort! (Germany advances!)

Yesterday's Germany-Argentina game was a real nail biter! Very physical. Lots of yellow cards. I woke up a sleeping Sophzilla several times with my yelling, especially during the penalty kick showdown at the end. She'd wake up and walk over and look at me to see if something was wrong. Jens Lehmann, Germany's goalie, rocked! And poor Michael Ballack had to keep playing, though injured, since Germany had used up its subs. I got to see the anthem part of the game yesterday. I love how the players walked out holding hands with little kids. It was so sweet! What lucky kids!

I can't imagine how fun it would be to be in Germany right now! The frolicking! Julia has photos and commentary on her blog. It's now down to just four teams -- Germany, Italy, Portugal and France. Oh, the tension!

Today I went to Brit's in Minneapolis with Heidi and her sister Lisa. We watched a tense game between England and Portugal up on Brit's roof. We sat on the edge of the lawn bowling yard in the sun. It was hot and lovely. That crazy Wayne Rooney got himself kicked out of the game for stepping on another player. It came down to a penalty kick showdown and England lost. Rats!

Germany plays Italy on Tuesday, July 4. My family always has a picnic at my godparents' house on the 4th of July. I will need to hide away at 2 p.m. in order to watch the game. I look forward to this time with my family but serious times call for serious measures. I hope that Marcelo Balboa (ESPN) won't be doing commentary on Tuesday. He's loud, annoying and the king of the obvious. For example, during overtime: "No one wants to make a mistake right now." Another ESPN sports guy referred to the Ukrainians as the Ukraines. Where do they get these people?

A different kind of World Cup

A Ph.D. student in Finland started his own version of the World Cup on his blog: the World Cup for Modern Systematic Theologians. In the latest match, Jürgen Moltmann was victorious over Joseph Ratzinger.

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On a completely unrelated note, Scott Simon had a fabulous soul singer on Weekend Edition today -- Irma Thomas. Take a listen to the interview and songs. The phenomenal "Shelter in the Rain" is about 30 seconds into the interview.

Mutts!

The Mutts are just so sweet! This could be Sophzilla.