Tell it to my poor ears

Is Taylor Dayne making a comeback or something? I've heard her two hits every day during the past four days in various places. Friday it was at the Chelsea Salvation Army thrift store. Saturday she was on the radio as we flipped through stations. Sunday it was Home Depot. Today it was in Port Authority. And now she's playing incessantly in my head!

If I Had a Hammer

I've been listening to the Smithsonian's series of podcasts, which is very good, about the American Folkways record label. As I was listening to Pete Seeger lead his audience in singing "If I Had a Hammer," I realized how powerless the person in the song is. He/she has all these wonderful intentions of hammering for justice, ringing in liberty, and singing with his brothers and sisters if only he/she had a hammer, a bell, or a song.

 

But the person doesn't have a hammer, or a bell, or I guess a song (but isn't this the song he/she wished they had? What song do they want?) so what are they going to do in the meantime? Sit around and wait for those things? I mean, what are they going to do about it?

 

If I had some eggs, I could make some ham and eggs, if I had some ham.

Also born on my birthday

I've lived all my life thinking that the only famous person (of whom I've heard) that was born on December 20 was the actress Irene Dunne and today, courtesy of Wikipedia, I've found that

 

1957 - Billy Bragg, English singer and songwriter

1957 - Mike Watt, American bassist

1966 - Chris Robinson, American singer ( Black Crowes)

 

were all born on that day, too.

 

That's better.

 

Bad timing

I took my MacBook to work with me today so I could finally watch Throne of Blood, which is one of my Netflix picks that's been collecting dust for about 3 months, on the bus to work. Just my luck, today of all days I happened to sit next to a young fella reading his day's Bible study.

When I got to the part in the movie when one of the lord's soldiers brings in a big bundle that looks like it could be a human head wrapped in a sheet, I turned it off. I figure that I'd like my fellow passengers to try not to do things that annoy me, so I didn't think my neighbor would appreciate seeing too much gore. Not that they show the head...

Dancing with the Stars

Right outside of the subway entrance in the Port Authority today were two people in gold star costumes and someone taking a picture with them. It was an ad for Dancing with the Stars! A woman shouted at us to remember to watch it tonight.

 

I guess it was partially effective because I remember that I saw them but I'm not planning on watching the show. Then again, it could have been a dream as I was not fully awake from my nap on the bus.

 

Come to think of it, it's a really smart campaign. If the MTA gives them the counts of how many people came in and out of the subway during the time the gold stars were there, they'll know exactly how effective the ad is by comparing the show's ratings with how many people saw the ad.

 

The best donut I've ever had

This morning I had an 8 am meeting, which meant that I had to catch the 6:15 express bus into the city. A lot of my fellow meeting-goers might not have been as "inconvenienced" as I was, but they were equally frustrated by the early start time. Luckily, the guy who called the meeting saved the morning by bringing us a dozen donuts from The Donut Pub on West 14th St. They make their donuts often, by hand, and they're open 24-hours.

Wow.

I had the plain cake donut and it was the best donut I've ever had. It was so crispy on the outside and so moist on the inside but not greasy at all.

Now, I like my donuts with some bite and substance to them so I personally don't go for the Krispy Kremes. If I were to get one off the conveyor, I might not even think they were the best. We had a little showdown about that at the meeting.

How precious!

This has got to be the best commentary on the War on Terror^tm yet:

Send in Jack Bauer!

Dad: Honey, where's your teddy bear?
3-year-old girl: Oh, the terrorist are hiding him.

Overlake Hospital
Bellevue, Washington

Overheard by: Nurse says what

via Overheard in the Office, Aug 31, 2006