I aspire to have a pile of firm goose down pillows in my life without spending a gajillion dollars. I feel like I am the only person I know who prefers down to memory foam, at least pillow-wise. (I love memory foam mattress toppers.)

I aspire to have a pile of firm goose down pillows in my life without spending a gajillion dollars. I feel like I am…

Absolutely not, just copious amounts of alcohol. We were v. safety conscious.

They played that quote on NPR this morning, and then followed it with, “That is false,” then moved along to the next story.

... what are these tire gifs from?!

We had one of these at my friend’s birthday, but instead of beating it with a stick, she got her boyfriend’s sword and just hacked the hell out of it. Very cathartic. I recommend it.

Same. The boyfriend is an avid mountain biker but started out as a bike messenger in Honolulu, so he’s suuuuuper confident in both country and city traffic (and bloody fast as well). But me? I live in a town of 10,000 and am incredibly uncomfortable around cars (at least when on a bike; as a runner, I’m OK with cars…

She’s aware of the basic details, I promise (I know I am an internet stranger, but believe me, she knows as much as she needs to about the situation). She wants to gory details, which are nobody’s business but the people involved.

Tangent! We had a shitty thing happen in our very small (all-female) department this week, and one of the things that happened were several long, tense meetings.

Spreading the joy one IM at a time! Happy Friday, Cheese.

BRB updating my lexicon.

I texted it to every single person I knew when I first saw it but I might do it again today. It’s been a few years.

I love it so much. It makes me giggle for ages every time. EVERY TIME, I TELL YOU.

I keep this one handy at all times for the same reason. (See also “Willem Dafoe/Willem Dafriend”).

It’s not just New York! Link! What a great idea — thanks for mentioning it.

Good point. Though I was generally more inclined to gnaw on pencils, the occasional Bic pen cap was not unheard of.

$30 ballpoint pens

I’ll have to look for that — this is my first encounter with her, and I am smitten.

It is SO GOOD. I think I like Lusa’s voice the best. Kingsolver has this subtle but very effective variance among all her characters — and the way she reads the men works, even though she doesn’t do a “man” voice.

Your weekend sounds wonderful! I am especially jealous of the trail race, as I have had to defer all my races to next year (stupid foot ... thing ... happening. I don’t know what, so I’m just resting it for now). How long is the race? I love racing — I’m rubbish at it, but it’s a great rush at the end.

My book club picked Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, and since I have had a tough time actually picking up a book, I’ve been audiobooking it — Kingsolver does the reading, and she is phenomenal. It’s a gorgeous reading, and I love the intertwining storylines. It took me a few chapters to realize that was what…