I actually was able to update my site with pics of miscellaneous stuff seen here.
It includes my Kubrick and Kinder Hippos collections. Yes, Hippos.
Take a gander!

Isn't she lovely.   

I saw this program on A&E (I think) the other night about competitive eating (I believe it was called Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating). Basically it just followed this one guy and his attempts at getting into the "circuit" of competitive eating. It was pretty fascinating, really. The guy would see an eating contest, then try it at home. He'd make a science out of it by attempting different methods and such. His attempts at butter were almost nauseating.  He went on to actually win an oyster-eating contest, and became a member of the IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eating). Yes, really.

Anyway, the next day I visited the IFOCE website, and took a gander at all the eating records. Some are pretty astounding, but others are questionable. Most of us know about the hot dog eating record of 53 1/2 in 12 minutes, and there is also a record for Matzo Balls (21 baseball-sized in 5 min., 25 sec.) and Turducken (7 3/4 pounds in 12 minutes), but the record for corn dogs is only 12 in 10 min., and there's a record for 2 pounds of candy bars in 6 minutes, but what type of candy bar?--surely that makes a difference.

Other records:
7 quarter-pound sticks of butter in 5 min. yuck!
11 pounds of cheesecake in 9 min.
49 glazed donuts in 8 min. (what type of donuts?)
65 hard-boiled eggs in 6 min., 40 sec.
1 gallon, 9 ounces of vanilla ice cream in 12 min.

There's also a couple records that are beyond disgusting, including:

4 32-ounce bowls of mayonnaise in 8 min. double yuck!
6 pounds of SPAM from the can in 12 min.
and 17.7 pounds of cow brains in 15 min. Ugh!

I've never tried or even thought of eating something for a record (or even a t-shirt), but I have been know to be able to put away my share of certain items (especially for a tall, skinny person). Personally, I think that corn dog record is weak and reachable, but I'm not about to try. A cookie or brownie record is mysteriously absent from the list. Takers?

Sounds like everything is okay. We're about 230 miles north of the epicenter, and we felt both quakes during our meeting. I think I was the only one to immediately get away from the windows...everyone else was either just standing still or actually going toward the window to see what they could see. At least made the meeting somewhat palatable.  

We have an ever-annoying little mutt--a poodle/Lasa/Cocker Spaniel mix. He is completely untrainable. He prefers to be dirty. He likes to hump and tear apart his "indestructable" bed. Ick. He will eat anything he thinks is food...even when it's not. The harder I try to restrain him with his leash, the harder he will pull the opposite way. The frequency of his misdeeds is only outnumbered by the frequency of his gastrointestinal emissions. Really. He and our 10-month old daughter have formed an alliance bent on driving me and my wife bonkers. While one is at rest, the other invariably cries/whines/gets into trouble. I miss having cats.

jokabofe, that's a really great photo. Looks a lot like a cat I used to have.

Wow, two important birthdays in 1969--the Internet and yours, truly (though mine was several months earlier). 
I'm pretty sure Al Gore had nothing to do with me, though.

And to disprove or deflect the idea that I'm old (or just prove that I'm really quite immature), I still giggle when I say '1969.' 

DriverLicenseSearch.com  

Brilliant!!  

Those very, very loud chopper motorcycles. Sure they may look cool and ride smooth, make the rider feel important, or whatever, but why do they need to be so jack-hammer loud? No less than three times this weekend one of those bikes drilled down our street, and since we have the windows open (being August and all), the sound was deafening enough for it to hurt my ears; however, my 9-month old (who is just happily playing in her own living room) doesn't know to cover her ears, and I can only imagine how much it hurts her little ears. Getting her to stop crying after one of those stupid bikes blows by is a chore.