On the wedding night, Lin slept fully dressed and wrapped with a quilt, the daily said, without citing any sources. When Chen tried to sleep with her, the report said, she pushed him away shouting: “You are ridiculous!”
What a crack up. He was being ‘ridiculous’? What did this ’shy’ woman think they were going to do when they got married, play checkers? She fled to her mother’s house feigning illness and would only get back together and have sex if it was for having children — which still didn’t stimulate any lovemaking.
If Lin’s quote didn’t make you smile, then read some of the comments at digg. This wouldn’t be a laughing matter of course if there was some medical reason for the rejection. The article is a little lean on details, so the digg commenters are out in conspiracy mode as well, suggesting she might not have been interested because it was an arranged marriage or something.
Lin’s suitor Chen was awarded roughly $9,000 USD in a divorce settlement.
Must admit I’ve heard the term beer goggles quite a few times but didn’t know exactly what it meant. Did you? For those who also don’t know it essentially means that after drinking alcohol other people look more physically attractive.
Learned this morning that the beer goggles theory has actually been tested and shared at howstuffworks:
When you’re looking at another human being, the nucleus accumbens is the area of the brain that decides how attractive that human being’s face is. If you look at, say, George Clooney or Angelina Jolie, this area of your brain probably experiences increased neural firing. In other words, it’s stimulated. As it turns out, alcohol, all by itself, stimulates the nucleus accumbens. So when you’ve have a few drinks, and you look at a face you may have judged as unattractive when you were sober, your brain, under the influence of alcohol, tells you that this face is in fact somewhat attractive.
While I could be classified at best as a lame social drinker this still got me thinking if my nucleus accumbens are stimulated by alcohol when looking at geek stuff? Maybe the next time I do a review of a gadget, I’ll chug down a few beers first and see what the result is. Will the face of technology look better?
Any fellow geeks tested this theory? Who needs college kids, we just need a few semi-inebriated tech bloggers. That might be a fun topic for a mini blogathon someday in the comfort and safety of homes and not where anybody would be driving vehicles, of course.
The relatively short, sad and active life of Anna Nicole Smith is destined to become a movie. Who will play her, I don’t know, but the news has hit the wire that she’s gone and her death, like her son who died recently, is under investigation.
Anna Nicole Smith, the pneumatic blonde whose life played out as an extraordinary tabloid tale _ Playboy centerfold, jeans model, bride of an octogenarian oil tycoon, reality-show subject, tragic mother _ died Thursday after collapsing at a hotel. She was 39.
Smith was labeled a gold digger after marrying an oil tycoon many years her senior and can’t say I disagree, but still believe the news of her son dying was tragic and sad. I don’t like to hear that anybody has died, even alleged gold diggers. The family of the oil tycoon probably won’t have to continue fighting any more although — and this is purely speculation — it wouldn’t shock me if news comes out that somebody paid to take Anna out. I hope that’s not what happens but then I hoped Enron wasn’t real and believed that President Bush would do the right thing with the war. What I hope for and what actually happens tend to be different things in life sometimes.
Whatever happens, I fully expect more twists and turns. This will be one of those cases where death doesn’t end the story.
Last night I learned that Kara will be doing some beta testing at Microsoft a week from now. Yes, on Valentine’s Day but I promise it’s not revenge or anything for getting her a deep fryer as a gift (really, she liked the fryer). We’re going to make a day of it and maybe we’ll take advantage of the following tasty offer:
Go there, print and use at the participating Cold Stone Creamery store nearest you for buy one, get one free. I didn’t see a breakdown of what stores are participating, but the locator will give you numbers to call ahead first.
In our marriage my wife and I each have our own space. As with any marriage concessions are needed on both sides and the kitchen — a place where I would actually like to have more flexibility and access — is her domain. With Valentine’s Day less than two weeks away I had an opportunity to jump on an early gift for my sweetheart and what better gift than a new fryer?
Hold your leering and jeering, I know, it’s not diamonds or chocolates, but it’s not a cheap fryer either. She likes it. That’s all that matters. Not going to say if this will be the only gift she’ll receive since she reads this blog.
With the Superbowl looming a mere two hours or so from now, I can already smell the onion rings. Have you bought your sweetheart something yet? Started thinking about that perfect gift (or gifts) yet?
It’s easy to forget sometimes how wonderful the internet can be for senior citizens like Don Crowdis from Canada, age 93, who blogs at Don To Earth. Before the internet, seniors were much more limited in their ability to share with the world their wealth of personal experience and knowledge outside of traditional print media. Sure, they could keep a diary or scrapbook, but the primary benefactor of these treasured memories would be family.
In a recent post that made del.icio.us popular — congrats Mr. Crowdis — he describes how he doesn’t want to leave this earth yet:
For too long I have behaved as if I could postpone going indefinitely, and thus have so many things that I must do first. I don’t want my successors to find out how much I could have done that isn’t done, not by a long shot. There are numerous notes and letters I must write. There are places I’ve wanted to travel, but never had the chance. Actually, each of you can, if you think yourself into my age, fill out the list.
I wonder how many even have a list of the things they want to do? Sites like 43 things can help.
If Mr. Crowdis and I were talking face to face I’d say something like: ahh, but there have been places in time you have been that others like me cannot visit. Like back to the time when the Twilight Zone was running (before I was born). And what about the gangster and depression time when bootleggers ran hooch? Maybe Hollywood has glorified some of these times in history, but people like Mr. Crowdis actually lived through these times in history. As they depart this earth, off goes these memories with them … unless they save them somewhere.
Perhaps it is more difficult for seniors to physically visit the places they still want to see today, but they can visit virtually with tools like Google Earth. Seniors can use the internet to talk to people from these places they want to visit or who have visited there and experience the place through their eyes. There is still time for that, Mr. Crowdis. Don’t even need to buy a plane ticket or gas or even get dressed.
Mr. Crowdis’ post also reminds me of why I would like to retire in my 50’s. Not sure if my wife is down for that plan, but I hope she will be. That means we have roughly 15 years left to save enough money for retirement. Even if we don’t meet our financial retirement goals in time, I still would like to have a good 10+ years before the government says “you’re officially retired” to travel the world and see the places I haven’t seen.
Never been outside the US, Canada and Mexico and there is too much of the world I’ve yet to experience and explore firsthand. I suspect my travel-related writing will increase exponentially in my yearning years. And just for the record, the day I retire from writing is the day my heart stops beating. I don’t really consider writing ‘work’ and never will. I don’t believe it’s possible for writers — people who really have it in their blood and can’t stop — to ever retire from something they love.
That doesn’t mean this blog will continue on until I die, but my writing will always continue on somewhere. I still have millions of words written that deserve to be shared with others someday in some form. MakeYouGoHmm is kind of like the Star Trek Enterprise, on a five year mission. After those five years are up, maybe the mission continues, maybe not. Ask me now and I’m leaning towards continuing on because I’m having a great time, ask me in a year and who knows? We’ll all find out what happens on July 4, 2008.
I realize my time, just like Don, is limited on this earth, so I want to make sure it’s utilyzed accomplishing as much as I can on my list of things to do as possible. Every year I try and start at least one new major project and this means that every year I must also look at ending, reducing time spent on, or selling away at least one past major project. It’s all how the sands in the hour glass are distributed.
There are things I’ve yet to do that would be more difficult to complete with my current work schedule, so retirement will afford me the luxury, health willing, to get those things done. Those 10 or so years I will also complete most, if not all, the travel-related goals I have in life. If I die before that time, then I’ll have few regrets. I’m not that excited about travel, to be honest, but it’s something I would like to do more of in the future. Also, I believe there are plenty more travel possibilities beyond death.
What about you, if you die tomorrow will you have that many regrets? There’s no telling when our number comes up. I’m pretty happy with life the way it has turned out so far. Got a great family with three healthy teens and a wonderful wife, own two good businesses, a few good friends (never have enough good friends though), own and operate some busy websites, several millions words written and shared and a couple million boxed for the future. The way I see it, I’m a 78 year old man in a 38 year old body. If this should be my last post ever (hope not of course), I’d be OK with that.
How about you? If a comment left below was your last comment written in the world, would you be OK with that? Don’t want that to happen to anybody of course, even my greatest antagonists. I’m curious.
If I can make it to the fine age of 93 and especially if my wife is there with me (one of my concerns admittedly because nobody in her family has lived very long), I’ll be very happy. I hope Mr. Crowdis continues to share the wealth of travels and experiences with others on his blog. Heck, fire up the webcam, and talk to us as well. We’ll watch, listen and learn.
Looking over my past and current reading lists I’m somewhat embarassed not being subscribed to any senior bloggers. Now I am. Any other good senior bloggers readers can recommend? Any senior blogger readers want to recommend your own blogs, go right ahead below.
Remember that episode of Happy Days where Ralph and Potsie were mad at each other and split up their apartment? One got the cooking, the other got the bathroom. With true life being stranger than fiction, check out the following divorce and the house that neither spouse wanted to leave.
Neither one wanted to move out of their beloved Brooklyn house, and so, in one of the strangest divorce battles the city has ever seen, a white drywall partition was erected a few weeks ago on orders from a judge.
As you read more into the couple’s problems in the article, things get stranger. Take the wife’s allegation that the husband bugged their phones. If she’s worried about surveillance from this guy why does she want to live right next to him? Literally, sharing a wall?
I don’t understand loving any house this much, but I’ve seen all sorts of divorces end up positively for both parties. Several couples who divorced we know get along better than when they were married. The non-humorous part of this is the children have been separated by drywall too:
One of the couple’s children is staying with Dad; three others are staying with Mom.
“Have you talked to your dad, lately?”
“Yeah, I just drilled a hole in the wall and said hello!”
Sure hope the couple’s bedrooms aren’t butted up against the wall.
I know outside the US it’s much more common to have water shooting up you know where instead of or in addition to using toilet paper, more commonly known as a bidet. There is this toilet add-on called the Biffy (warning: video onload) that is designed to clip onto the toilet seat and spring into action after doing your business.
Perhaps bathroom humor, but some of the text on the biffy website made me chuckle:
Can we talk? When you are sitting on a toilet seat your bottom is perfectly positioned for thorough cleaning. The toilet seat supports your cheeks while your body weight presses down, spreading your cheeks and exposes your bottom parts to the cleansing rinse of the Biffy.
That’s among the most polite explanations of sitting on the toilet I’ve ever read. And what is with the ‘can we talk’ bolded? The toilet isn’t the place to do much talking, unless one wants to talk over the, er, sounds.
For those unfamiliar, a bidet uses a gentle jet of water to cleanse the body in lieu of, or in conjunction with, toilet paper. The bidet is all over Europe in one form or another, and many Middle Eastern countries use handheld Water Pik toilet wands that clean and sterilize themselves between uses. It’s quick, hygienic, and very effective.
Perhaps a European reader is willing to explain how great bidets are to me. Why don’t we have them in greater numbers in the US? Are we just bidet snobs or what? I’ve never been outside the US/Canada/Mexico so I’m very unsophistocated in the wonders of the bidet. It’s possible we’re screwed up in the US like we are on the metric system front.
The bestselling Biffy version sells for $99 in the Biffy Personal Bidet Store. No, that’s not an affiliate link. 1-877-422-4339 if you have questions. It comes in different colors too.
“Um, how much for a cherry red Biffy, please?”
Or maybe: “I really would like a Biffy with a dragon breathing fire on it.”
Seriously, I do like the hygienic idea but am not sure about the water shooting up part. Do they use the toilet paper afterwards or just let air dry? I’d definitely opt for the ambient warmer to avoid cold water if I did go the Biffy route. The toilet is a good place to read though. Think I’ll stick to TP only and keep the biffy-style rinses confined to the shower. Someday we’ll travel outside this area where bidets are more commonplace and I might become a fan of bidets.
Anybody reading have one of these Biffys or some other bidet installed?
