Best Weekend Ever

I don't generally like to do posts that recount my activities unless they are unique to my experiences as a grad student or Texas transplant or something else that my far-away-friends might find interesting. I don't want to bore anyone with the mundane. Still, this weekend was so great I think it bears chronicling for posterity. I'll keep it to bullet points of the highlights, though.

• Date night with Pat at Flying Saucer, the restaurant we went to in Houston after we got engaged. I love this place. Not only do they have hundreds of beers, but they've also got Rocket Tots, which are tater tots with queso in them. I'm telling you, this combination is the fried food equivalent of chocolate and peanut butter. Yum!
• Turkey Trot: getting a long-sleeved T-shirt, helping out a good cause, seeing different areas of Austin, doing a lot of dog watching, and having good conversation with friends. A pretty delightful combination.
• Multiple iterations of having friends over for food, fun, and games.
• Football victory over A&M. Too bad the BCS didn't catch on...
  
• Decorating our first family Christmas tree! (Pictures to come later this week.)
• Very lucrative shopping trips to the City-Wide Garage Sale and the Lakeline Mall. My Garage Sale take: a wedding ring, "antique" Pyrex mixing bowls just like my Nana has, and a 1943 map of Boston. Plus, halfsies on a gift for Allie.
  
• Beating Pat at Wii bowling. Ha!

Oh, and somewhere in between all that I finished my final project that was due this morning.

SherbeRt?

An interesting article about the evolution of a word:

Sherbet with no R-tificial ingredients.

I thought this part was particularly interesting:

In spite of what many people believe, dictionaries are supposed to follow the language, not the other way round. In fact, that's exactly how dictionaries are made: by observing and recording how people are using words. Every time you say or write a word, whether it's cursing or a three-page letter or a one-line e-mail, you are casting a vote for how language should move. You are marking a ballot for what a word should mean and how it should be pronounced.

EW's 18 Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks

Happy National Library Week!

In celebration, here are Entertainment Weekly's 18 Sexy Trips to the Library Stacks.

Ken Jennings gives Rustic a shout out

Yes, Ken Jennings the Jeopardy guy. In his blog, he listed the best band from each of the 50 states and he chose my very own favorites the Rustic Overtones as his choice from Maine. :)

Check it out.

I think we all know that now that I've brought up my very favorite band in the world who just happened to reunite within the past year, I'm about to bring up another favorite of mine that has also happened to reunite...in the last week: NKOTB. Yes, it's official. Yes, I'm freaking ecstatic.

R.I.P. Jeff Healey

Sometimes, I find that I am surprisingly upset by the death of a celebrity. I know I'm not alone in this, but it's kind of a strange phenomenon that we grieve so much for people we don't know.

First Roy Schneider, and now this:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003718419

And yes, I'll freely admit that the only reason I'd even heard of Jeff Healey is because I love the movie Road House, but that movie did make me a fan.

If you weren't previously aware of my Patrick Swayze or Jaws obsessions, now you are.

Funny 'cause it's true...

A little marching band humor for you.

http://xkcd.com/389/

And so it begins...

It's AI and DWTS time again! They just announced the celebrity dancers yesterday and I'm already pulling for Marlee Matlin. I lurve her. I'm pretty excited to see Kristi Yamaguchi, too.

As for last night's AI, I have only three observations:

1) Did they deliberately pick the 12 most awkward dudes in America?
2) 60's night = so unkind. To everyone.
3) Luke Menard, hell-o.