Tough Week For Celebs

With the passing of former President Gerald "Swine Flu" Ford and
singer James "Return Fire" Brown, looks like it's been a tough week
for celebrities.

Which reminds me, how's the appeal coming along, Saddam?

Kaka "the Fan Boy" Eeday

A visiting librarian from Japan came to our department today for a brief tour and discussion. While she was here, I got a confirmation on something that a friend had told me long ago.

It's true: "Ben" means "poop" in Japanese.

She took it all in stride, and I doubt she would have commented on it if I hadn't mentioned it first. However, she admitted that she initially expected me to look more Asian since "Ide" (pronounced "ee-day") is a fairly popular surname in Japan.

After the tour, we sat at my desk while she asked me a few more questions. She kept looking over my shoulder at my computer screen, and it wasn't until she was about to leave that she laughingly said why.

I had completely forgotten that, months ago, I'd changed the scrolling banner of my screen saver to say:

オタク

Which is Japanese for "geek" or "fan boy".

I'm so embarrassed.

First Snow

We had our first snow of the season today. Really, it was little more than slush from on high, but the kids dug it. Nicky built a snowman!



Notice all the green tracks in the lawn, showing where the snowballs had been rolled.



"All done, bored now."

That's the little snowman in the bottom left corner. It's camouflaged by all the yard debris stuck in the snow.

Sadly, the temperatures shot up right after these photos were taken, and Frosty is no more. Perhaps the detritus lives on as compost.

By the way, Gretchen made the scarves. Aren't they great?