Follow up

I'm not dead: The scary voices upstairs were indeed MPR playing on the alarm clock, not someone waiting in a closet to kill me (I know, you're surprised). I was relieved, until I realized the clock/radio was turned off...and yet the voices continued. It was totally a Lost episode in my bedroom. I shook the clock a few times and water poured out of the speaker--leading me to believe certain cats had some fun with a certain half-empty glass of water on the bedside table.

I chickened out, sorta: I did not buy the neti pot. I could not get over the fear. One of the budget ladies convinced me that an Americanized nasal irrigation kit would be less intimidating. I bought one, I tried it, and it was terrible. The gross -ness, the water draining, the sensation--it was awful and I felt worse afterwards. I'm trying to convince myself to give it another go, but so far no luck. Rach, yes it was mostly that woman's vacant look that scared me away. Katie, any tips on how to make this work?

I'm freaked out

Earlier I noticed that my bed-side alarm clock was set 15 minutes ahead, which is weird because I don't recall it being wrong this morning. Due to my intense fear of the dark and the creepy Lost episode I watched tonight, my paranoia is running high. So of course my first thought was someone had broken in and changed my clock to mess with me and this same person would very soon jump out of a closet to assault me. I managed to convince myself I was crazy, and came downstairs to sit on the couch--you know, like a normal person. But moments ago I started hearing strange voices coming from upstairs, and I am again sure that I'm going to die.

Intellectually I realize that it must be the radio alarm going off, playing MPR--it has probably been going off intermittently since this morning when I forgot to turn it off. If it's measuring the time since I woke up, that would explain the incorrect time. Unfortunately, I cannot convince myself this is true. I am at this moment quite sure someone is waiting to kill me.

So while I work up the nerve to go upstairs, I'll share that I'm also freaked out by the neti pot. My stupid sinus pain is interfering with sleep, work, and general life. Plus Paul is sick of my bitching. Since western medicine is not working, I'm seriously considering an "alternative." Apparently the eastern solution is nasal irrigation. Sounds all well and good, until you watch this:



I'm going to buy one tomorrow. I could use some encouragement, because at this point I'm afraid of actually using it.

Roundup

The Strib did a particularly nice job on the Sunday paper today. A few gems:

Amid soaring grain prices, a dying cry: A business section feature on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, accompanied by an opinion section feature on the nostalgia-inducing Grain Exchange Building. I think futures markets are pretty fascinating, and the Grain Exchange particularly so. I agree that the Grain Exchange building is really cool, although the opinion piece did nothing for me beyond the pictures.

High-tech sweat: A North St. Paul community center opens the first XRKade, or exercise gaming facility, in the state as a way to attract teens and promote exercise. Besides being a great idea, what's most interesting is that the author describes the idea for XRKade as coming from a city official (unclear whether it's the city manager quoted or somebody else). New, good ideas are rare in government--so that's exciting to see.

While U of M sleeps, our military leaders are born: This is notable only because it marks the first time Katherine Kersten (hired to represent the "conservative" viewpoint) has managed to produce an informative piece that extols a nominally conservative virtue without bashing anyone (well, indirect bashing of the remaining U students and the idea that only conservatives support the military aside). I have no trouble with the Strib hiring someone to represent the conservative viewpoint (although I would prefer they devote energy to less biased coverage throughout the paper instead), but I do object to it being done poorly. On a sidenote, I would like to take a military decision-making class; that sounds interesting.

Some ideas are confusing

Have you ever noticed the Atlantic Buffet in Bloomington? Big yellow sign, south side of 494, proclaiming itself to be a sushi/Mongolian restaurant?

So I ask you, if Mongolia is landlocked and sushi was invented in Japan which is very much in the Pacific Ocean, how did they settle on the name Atlantic Buffet?

It's coming

I heard this commentary on All Things Considered tonight, and thought it was funny and well done. It's only about 4 minutes.

Some ideas are bad

A prolific blogger reminded me of the biggest unanswered question coming out of Super Tuesday: Were Romney supporters waving mitts and batts at his not-a-total-failure-
but-not-remotely-a-victory speech?

Mitts for Mitt? See for yourself (you can see one in the still, but get a better look at 00:16):

And not just because...

...Eli reminds me of a scruffy new puppy or a well-loved teddy bear, but because I know many of you are fans:



(I borrowed this from youtube because Animal Planet unwisely did not provide embedded links in its fine series of videos from the big game, complete with the kitty half time show.)

But on the actual game, an AP reporter described it best: "It was a scintillating closing chapter to a crazy week that seemed to have everything: the perfect team; the upstart underdogs; the cover boy quarterback in the Patriots' Tom Brady; the kid brother in Manning." By far the best moment was when they cut to Eli at the end and his look clearly said, "f%#k...I just won the Superbowl...wow."

In comparison I found the commercials quite lackluster. I have to disagree with Cyndy and say that Coca-Cola was the only company that brought it this year (both Jinx and It's Mine), with an honorable mention to Audi and Bud Light for remembering their audience.