Mmmm...lasagna

Mushroom and ground turkey lasagna. Yum.

May the Tallest (Wo)Man Win

I've been volunteering on a presidential campaign, although recently I felt more like a glorified pollster than someone caught up in the hustle and bustle of a close political race. And let's face it, both parties are having close races so far this year. Usually, by the time a primary comes in our general direction in the DC area, things are already determined. I haven't done the math, but if enough of the Feb. 5 states have proportional distribution of their delegates, it's possible that for once, DC may matter. And while no one in my office has outwardly said, "I'm voting for [fill in the name of your favorite candidate], we've all mused about the fact that this is the first election since 1952 (Ike v. Adlai Stevenson, Jr.) when there hasn't been an "heir apparent" to the presidency, not that being an heir apparent necessarily helps. We've also considered the folk/urban legend of taller candidates winning the general election (no word yet on what's occurred in primary elections and caucuses). This, of course, led to us wondering whether John McCain was shrinking and how tall Hillary is. Oh, and how tall W is:

Male co-worker: "Well, depending on what you read, he's either six feet tall or five eleven and a half."
Female co-worker and me, in unison: "That means he's five ten."

Heh.

Stuck on you

I never outgrew my penchant for stickers, so I was pretty excited when my SkiTube arrived the other day.

So it doesn't have the worn-in look quite yet. On the other hand, I've managed to hang onto this water bottle for over 6 years, which is huge considering there was once a point in my life when I was losing these things in the urban jungle on a monthly basis.

Honey, iHome

As anyone who's lived in a dorm or apartment building after the prominence of cordless phones but before everyone and his dog had a cell phone knows, the frequencies of cordless phones sometimes got jumbled up, and every now and then, you could hear someone else's salacious conversations. Usually, it was just static interference.

Along those lines, my iHome stereo system has a remote control that is operated by not infrared but rather, radio. That's right. And generally, it's pretty cool to be sitting in my bedroom and be able to turn off the stereo in the living room. However, last night, I was listening to the latest album by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens when all of the sudden, Carl Kassel's baritone filled the air. Then, just now, the entire system just turned itself off.

Trolls? Or, dare I suspect, someone in my building operating something with the same radio frequency as what my remote is set to? It could be worse, though, my stereo could be hooked up to The Clapper.

Book karma

Remember when I wrote about Bookcrossing, the book exchange and tracking website? Well, I've since "released" at least one more book, which I was sure would be snatched up and recorded quickly. Of course, I failed to realize that people at a yoga studio are not wont to semi-permanently snatching up books that don't belong to them, and so even though I released Nicholas Sparks' At First Sight while I was there for a class, the book is still there, albeit in a spot different than where I had initially left it. Alas.

Next time, I'm releasing a book at a college campus or something.....

Yogic start to 2008

I received two text messages this morning at 2:53AM, sending New Year greetings from the west coast, sort of. One message was from the Navajo reservation in Arizona, and I, for one, never know what time it is there. But the oddity of receiving two messages at the same time, neither of which is midnight anywhere, makes me wonder what's going on....

I headed off this morning to the mall to return/exchange a Christmas gift. I came back having discovered a store that I thought was new and hip and perhaps a little Boulder-esque (think Outdoor Divas), but then when I got home and looked them up on the internet, I found out that it's less subversive than I thought. Although, it is Canadian, so maybe that's subversive in and of itself. I saw yoga mats in the window of Lululemon Athletica and thought, "Hey, my mat is falling apart and has divots (don't ask - I don't know how)! I need a new mat." The salesperson, which the company calls "educators" -- err -- was uber helpful and we talked about the type of yoga I practiced and where, and I walked out with a new biodegradable (allegedly) mat. And a neat reusable bag that kicks the ass of the Whole Foods bags. And a sticker. I am a sticker fiend. But I still think that Outdoor Divas is cooler.

Oh, and apparently there is a non-odoriferous way for a city dweller like me to have a compost pile under my sink. I'm not about to try.