Posted by episode81 on July 29, 2009
I was in downtown Palo Alto for a quick dinner when I thought I could smell burning. Then a couple of fire engines screamed down University Avenue. I have never seen a real fire so I rushed down the street to see what was going on. I was hot on the heels of a newspaper reporter. He had no furry microphone. There were no inexplicable celebrities. What can I say?
The street was closed off and smoke detectors were going off at Mad and 5th. It was so exciting!!
Take a look at the pictures … no digressions here …
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Posted by episode81 on July 28, 2009
You know where you are when you've got your towel
On May 1st, I picked up my new bunny from Save-a-bunny. He had spent his entire life in a cage – albeit a very comfy one once the fine folk at SaB rescued him. I called him Noodles.
Noodly Jowls
It took the Noodster 6 weeks to come out of his 5ft pen loaded with special Noodly toys and tasty vegetables. Then there was no stopping him! I have discovered that the Noodle-Doodle likes to “taste” everything … including me. He also likes to snuggle, on the sofa, with a towel. The towel is his best friend. He is constantly rearranging it to his liking. I guess you could call it Noodling 
Mr Noodles, as he likes to be called, has a splendid face. Oh, he is cute, but what I really love are his joggly jowls! At the risk of sounding weird, I really like joggly jowls. I often stop to snuggle with dogs on my way into town to joggle some jowls. When I was in Costa Rica, I spotted a cow with a huge dewlap – sort of jowls. Didn’t get to touch them, but I tried 
Anywho, I digress …
Happiness is enormous jowls
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Posted by episode81 on July 19, 2009
Much has been made in the US media of the passing of the US newscaster and journalist Walter Cronkite. As a foreigner, I missed his era in its entirety. I was vaguely aware of his name and of ‘the voice’ from TV clips shown since I arrived in the US, but that is it. It is a different perspective, looking at this as a spectator. Someone asked me what I thought about him and I said “He meant nothing to me” … which was clearly insensitive, but true.
I read in a post (and comments) from the NYT MediaDecoder blog, that back in the day, there were only a few newscasts to choose from and that may have added to his iconic status. Growing up, I had 2 newscasts to choose from (BBC and ITV), but in reality only 1. My parents would not tolerate ITV, so I watched the BBC. Frankly, the news bored me stiff until I was in my late 20’s. Now I absorb news like a sponge from both the TV and the internet. And yes, I do get some of my news from Jon Stewart!
Anywho, I digress …
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Posted by episode81 on July 6, 2009
I have posted before about my love of some words. I heard a new word for the first time on the news this evening – braggadocios. What a great word! I have seen braggadocio written before (in the font list!), but never spoken, and certainly not the plural braggadocios. Love it! The news item itself was incredibly unpleasant, but I am pleased to have been introduced to such a fabulous roly-poly word.
It is odd the first time you hear a word that you have only seen written before. Sometimes, it has taken me a while to match the two together. I had lived in the USA for a couple of years before I realized that Arkansas and Ah-Kansas were the same thing. Yes, really. If Bill Clinton had come from Idaho, I would still be in the dark.
Anywho, I digress …
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Posted by episode81 on July 1, 2009
On Tuesday, I attended a presentation hosted by the Western Automotive Journalists. It was all very interesting – both the presentation and the audience. I have never spent any time with journalists and didn’t really know what to expect. I was prepared to be appalled. Fortunately, I was disappointed. The people I spoke to were polite and insightful. Nothing like the journalists we see on the TV, chasing inexplicably well-known people down the street with a large furry microphone.
Anywho, I digress …
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