"Report: Jolie, Pitt expecting child"


Holy oh my shit. I don't think the world is ready for a second coming of the CHRIST CHILD!

Vengeful mouse sets house ablaze

Sunday, January 8, 2006; Posted: 5:40 p.m. EST (22:40 GMT)


FORT SUMNER, New Mexico (AP) -- A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man's house and set it on fire.

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

"I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house," Mares said from a motel room Saturday.


**Serves you right, old man. You don't throw a mouse into a fire without Consequences and Repercussions.**

This is definitely my NHL. Two years ago, being down 3-0 in the first would be reason to not want to watch the rest of the game. This year, it's the reason to not leave the room. So freaking awesome to see come-back wins like this. 6 unanswered goals. It sucks to have Marty get pulled from two games in a row but when Hedberg can shut out the rest of the game, it's all for the best.

If you haven't made a point of watching Firefly, you should. This will be brilliant once you do. And maybe even if you don't.

Chinese language catching on in U.S. classrooms

Monday, January 2, 2006; Posted: 1:17 p.m. EST (18:17 GMT)


PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Twenty-four young faces in the kindergarten class at Woodstock Elementary School watch intently as their teacher holds up a construction paper cut-out of a large red circle, and waits for them to identify the shape.

Piece of cake for a roomful of savvy 5-year-olds, except that teacher Shin Yen is looking for the shape's name in Mandarin Chinese. It's the world's most widely-spoken language, but one that's only just beginning to surface in U.S. classrooms, especially at the elementary level.

In years past, I would rearrange rooms monthly. I'd dump the contents of every dresser/bookcase/box on the floor and move all the furniture several times till something clicked. Or broke. Well, until I broke, anyway. And then I would spend a couple hours sifting through all of my stuff, tossing the bits and pieces I didn't want anymore and re-stashing everything I couldn't live without.

Today I'm using bhg.com's Arrange-a-Room. It's much easier.

After moving the big ugly bookcase out of the bedroom and back into the office, I decided it would be a good time to see if my claim to have a couple hundred books was a lie. The easy thing to do would have been to count them as I put them away. That would have been simple. Instead, I also figured now was a good time to inventory everything. That's right, I made a spreadsheet of my books. It only took me about an hour and a half. I didn't organize it according to fiction/nonfiction or entertainment/edification. I should have. I probably will later. The last time the books were rearranged, they were grouped that way on the shelf. They still almost are but trying to keep track of that while listing them according to author/title was more than I felt like undertaking.

Anyway. Now I hate the bookcase even more because I'm seeing AGAIN all the gouges in it from the cats clawing it. Dumb cats. They only claw it because they can't read.

This is what I want:


or this:



I'm not picky.

Über-List 2006
Birthday- Throw my own party. No one else is gonna.
Birthday- Throw the boy a party.
Books- Finish reading Meditations
Books- Try some of the books on my wishlist: Kerouac, Ovid, etc.
Books- Read books I've bought and stuck on the shelf
Cooking- use more real recipes
Cooking- plan out weekly menus
Cooking- master a new dish to make from memory
Creativity- Plan out and finish quilling projects: sell online or use in Dad's lamp ideas
Creativity- Knit more than scarves and blankets.
Creativity- Organize a craft area in the house: second desk in office?
Creativity- Sew placemats/napkins for mom
Creativity- Make new curtains for office/bedroom
Creativity- Find/fill all picture frames.
Creativity- Make new curtains for kitchen - retro print
Education- Find photography classes
Education- Find yoga classes
Education- Visit the museum more.
Education- Use "French for Dummies"
Exercise- Pilates or yoga routine at least three times a week
Exercise- Start running with Puck
Exercise- Get bike from the parents' house and bike with the boy
Family- Have pictures taken and framed
Family- Start scrapbooks
Family- New patio furniture for the parents (IKEA)
Friends- Make more time for friends: Girls Night, etc
Friends- Roadtrip with Nicole and Jill
Friends- Dinner party - wine and everything.
Friends- Go camping!
Friends- Visit Justin or see if he can come down here
Good of Society- Donate to SPCA
Good of Society- Volunteer somewhere: entrap friends if you have to
Good of Society- Donate unused books to local library
Good of Society- Crochet/knit and donate baby caps
Good of Society- Donate clothing to Goodwill
Good of Society- Vote!
Health- Find a balanced diet that works for both of us
Health- Whiten teeth
Health- Make appointment for the boy with the behavioral health doctor
Health- Workout with the boy: good for morale, good for me
Health- Stay on top of teeth!
Holidays- Host 4th of July?
Holidays- Send xmas cards first of December
Holidays- Halloween party - new/better theme ideas
Holidays- Put tree up day after Thanksgiving
Home- Finish half-bath
Home- Patch hole in kitchen
Home- Replace doors in laundry room/paint
Home- Paint bedroom
Home- Patch holes in living room and paint
Home- Find out about leveling house
Home- Hang picture frames in living room/office.
Home- Replace floor in office
Home- Comforter for bed: IKEA: also,comforter covers
Home- Baskets for under futon: storage
Home- New bookcase for living room
Home- Transplant Mimosa
Home- Put shelving up in shed
Home- Organize movies/games better - new bookcase from IKEA?
Home- Paint house
Home- Get tv out of bedroom
Home- Replace doors to AC/hot water heater closet
Home- Rewire washing machine connection
Love- Read/practice strip-workout lessons
Love- Make more dates
Love- Find a dance class we can take
Love- *personal*
Love- *personal*
Movies- Watch Goonies
Movies- Watch A Christmas Story
Movies- Watch Chicago
Movies- Watch at least one foreign film
Music- Go to a concert
Organize- Backups! Pictures/music/documents
Organize- Sort pictures into categories
Organize- Dressers/closet
Pare Down- Get rid of unused kitchen items
Pare Down- No more sentimental-hanging on - ditch old toys/notes/pictures
Pare Down- If you haven't used it in 6 months, it's time to find a new home for it.
Pare Down- Throw away old mail/magazines/etc.
Pare Down- Throw out old shoes BEFORE buying any new ones
Pare Down- Clean out closet in office: if it's outdated, you can't upgrade with it
Pets- Take Puck to the vet for updated shots
Pets- Clip Puck's nails weekly
Pets- Tag animals: collar for Nermal, ChiChi
Pets- Clip Nermal's claws once a week
Pets- Get shots for Cats
Pets- Make a pillow for ChiChi so she's not on the lovesac all the time
Random- Start uberlist for next year in October
Site- Redesign soap website
Site- Figure out hosting if 1&1 isn't going to be free anymore
Vacation- Mexico?
Vacation- Canada - see hockey game while there?
Vacation- Colorado?
Vacation- Vegas?
Vacation- Galveston? Take Heather?
Work- Get job situation sorted out
Work- Become indispensable
Work- Look into schooling that will make job searches easier
Yard- Clean up dead branches
Yard- Plant Daffodils
Yard- Empty pots with only dirt in them
Yard- Level out dips in the front and back yards
Yard- Replace plants in the side flower beds
Yard- Organize front porch flower pots
Yard- Find a bigger pot for the wisteria