Apparently I'm Presidential Material

I'm sitting on the deck of an inn and cafe on a lovely Wednesday afternoon, eating lunch with my family. We're taking a break from visiting a great museum. As the kids chatter, I hear snippets of an interesting conversation behind me on the deck between three people. Were eavesdropping not so astoundingly impolite and uncouth, I would have listened harder. As I said, the snippets that did waft over were interesting, and I figured out quickly that two of the three were higher-ups in the local public radio station.

Almost through our lunch, I hear one of the women remark, "I'd sooner vote for that woman in the pink shirt over any of the mainstream candidates." The second woman catches my attention and says, "She's talking about you, you know."

And a fairly hilarious (to adults, not so much to kids) ten minutes ensued of friendly verbal volleys. Jokes were made about not having inhaled anything but salad, pretend coughs of shock, snarky comments about a certain candidate's wife (see here), observations about wanting power, and so on, with smatterings of truths about or political system tossed in for good measure.

Walking off the deck and back to the museum, two of the three were on their way, but the third, a friendly older gentleman, got to talking with us. He told us the names of one of the women, who happened to be the station manager for the radio station and had led the station from backwoods ho-hum to national award-winning excitement. He obviously had high respect for her.

Finally, we were all on our way, grins all around. Okay, maybe not on the kids.

When we arrived home this week, I looked up the radio station and made a small contribution to it. I also included a shout out to the two women in the comments section of the donation page that included the joke, "Counting on your support in 2012!"

Yesterday I received emails back from both women. One, the station manager, has promised to be my campaign manager. :-D

I'll let you all know when I file exploratory committee papers. (Snort!)

A Note to Americans Traveling Abroad

Whether you are 2 miles, 20 miles, 200 miles or 2000 miles from the US border, don't expect the locals to be chummy and warm when you wear shirts that read, "America: Better than all the Rest!" or similar "patriotic" slogans.

Just sayin'.

No Good Vacation Goes Unpunished

As a friend of blaugustine's likes to say.

Some punishment is work-related. That I can handle.

Some punishment is family-related.

I just spoke with my sister for the first time since returning home. Trying to wrap my head around some family events.

And again I am reminded that I live 3000 miles away from them for a reason.

Sigh.

Vacation by Numbers

42.70188171657805, -73.11422824859619

42.61229612450321, -75.00263214111328

44.34195929184658, -76.05036735534668

(including 44.32900573504008, -76.16503715515137
44.29399840866365, -76.15224838256836
44.23794325434499, -76.0898494720459
44.344414619784324, -75.92265129089355
44.365710274141115, -75.95423698425293)

45.426407377512774, -75.70060729980469

46.42933871009928, -74.41520690917969
(including 46.209418049302556, -74.58017349243164)

45.5014442390623, -73.57659816741943

And finally, 44.352332351790416, -72.73893356323242

Yes, I am a geek.

If You Find Yourself in Montreal Looking for a Restaurant...

...try this place.

Yum.

Five Rings

I don't know about you, but I get so anxious watching some of these competitions taking place half the world away.

Did Someone Say Darwin?

We're a little frantic trying to pull ourselves together for vacation. This means my husband and I are running at a serious pace while trying to keep the kids in order. Not succeeding, it appears.

Three incredibly intelligent things my children (namely my boys) have done in the last 48 hours:

• Leaning far out a window on the second floor of our house, over the driveway (which, given the garage is under the house means they were three levels up), trying to play catch with a friend in the driveway with a baseball.

• C trying M's hands behind his back with rope on the beach, and pushing him face down into the sand. ("But he told me to!")

• C and M playing "frisbee" with a plastic dinner plate, thus resulting in a plate to M's face - and a cut straight across the bridge of his nose.

Pass the wine, please.

Rhinoplasty

The other day I looked at all the statistics that come with the visit counter I've attached to this blog. It was eye-opening and slightly amusing.

Among the searches that brought people here over the last month:

• nose ultrasensitivity
• tongue tied small nose
• small nose
• hit in the nose now crooked
• I have a really small nose
• good looking people with crooked noses
• does everybody have a crooked nose
• nose crooked right
• taking pictures of a crooked nose
• small chin and crooked nose
• please give me idea for getting nose in correct direction
• fix crooked nose
• I want a bigger nose than a small nose
• crooked nose after breaking it
• crooked nose at birth
• my nose is a little crooked
• why is my son's nose growing crooked
• inside nose splitting
• my 9 yr old got hit in the nose and it's crooked
• crooked girl nose p*rn
• I am disgusted by my husband's affair
• small crooked peppers
• crooked nose spell
• crooked nose hot
• dog crooked nose
• happy pitcher
• deborah harry nose
• what is crooked bumper
• crooked nose can't breath good
• open face blueberry pie
• photos of crooked noses
• a nose that looks like a bum
• meaning of crooked nose
• catching chipmunks
• new hair style for crooked nose
• crooked nose in ultrasound
• leaving christian science
• fractured first metatarsal photo
• resent my husband's job
• what is happening to my crooked squash
• my nose aches
• poop nose
• crooked noses corrected
• how do you know if you have a crooked nose
• my transition to smaller nose
• small crooked nose (yes, my exact blog name)
  
• costochondritis

Huh.

I mean, I knew people would be concerned with the appearances of noses, but I didn't really consider until now search terms and all that. At any rate, interesting.

Also, the stat counter notes location of persons visiting. Hello to:

• Canada
• Ireland
• Slovenia
• UK
• Phillipines
• India
• Morocco
• Australia
• Sweden
• Norway
• Bahamas
• Germany
• Poland

Very interesting indeed.

So that prompts me to say...to all of you who find this place through a search engine: Welcome!

Small Annoyances

One of my favorite guilty pleasures is Project Runway. The bizarre challenges, the fabulous designs, the even more fabulous personalities, the snark - I love all of it.

This summer, Project Runway is on at 9PM. It used to be 10PM. Try as I might, I just can't get the house settled to sit and watch at 9PM. S is just to bed at that time, and I am trying to corral the boys. And the evening's episode isn't repeated until midnight. Sadly, I cannot stay up that late. Work and all.

It also used to be that the previous week's episode aired just before the new episode. Not anymore. I have no idea how I am going to catch up.

Not a big deal, especially the the grand scheme of things, but an annoyance.

Sigh.

Sunset