This quiz has been making the blogging world rounds. Sounds about right too.

Yep. A snow day. School was cancelled so the kid headed for outside. The wind was wicked but, as you can see, she was well covered. It takes more than a couple of inches of snow and howling wind to stop the fun around here.

I stumbled across this great podcast, PediaCast. The podcast is run by a Pediatrician, Mike, who discusses issues with kids and answerers listener questions. The podcast address everything from vaccinations, tooth fairy, potty training, bow legged toddlers, and much much more. If you are a parent this is a must listen. The podcast has a blog written by Dr. Mike's wife, Karen.

Excellent post on Business Pundit earlier this month:

Grossing over $150,000,000 in its first two weekends at the box office, “Iron Man” has come out of the gates as one of the top blockbusters of the year. If you haven’t seen it – believe the hype. Bar none it is the best ‘hero’ movie I’ve seen.

This is the kind of stuff that makes my day. (Thanks, Todor.)

Find out more about Bulgaria here.

Well, you just knew that the Giants Super Bowl upset of the Patriots would bring the loonies out of the woodwork, sending really idiotic letters to the New York papers. I saw two letters in today's "Sound Off" sports feedback column in the New York Post that are true beauties. Check these out:

Dear Boston: "The Curse" is back! Love, New York.
MONTE ABRAMSON
Manhattan

Ever stumble over something while web surfing and think, "Oh cool! I've never seen anything like this on the internet" only to find out you're the last person on the planet who hasn't heard of it.

Here are some of the things recently discovered by me and of course I have to share with you. Kinda like Columbus 'finding' America, they've already been discovered by thousands of people. It's my blog; I'm planting a flag in these:

My Live Signature: (Above)I could spend hours making these. (Yes, I'm that vain.) Try experimenting to find your best autograph for when you're rich and famous.

Esty: Drool over what the creative people are making. I wish I had that kind of talent.

sk*rt: Interesting stuff on the internet rated by women. If you have a profile, friend me. I'm, guess what, chrisbookarama.

I saw a pair of black swans yesterday. I had no idea swans could even be black - let alone seen one before. They were smaller than white swans, and completely black, with long red beaks. These two looked like they were preparing to build a nest as well, in underneath a curtain of long, green tassells of weeping willow down at the edge of a pond, shovelling up bits of reeds and dried leaves with their bright red beaks and shaking it all into loose piles.

Apparently it's a phrase too, a noun: 'a black swan'. Didn't know that either.

One week until Lent is over and I can eat chocolate biscuits again. It's all I can think about recently.

365 Sketch - 12/365
Originally uploaded by m.Lee First, I would like to thank everybody who participated in my little Valentine's Day contest. I gave everybody who commented or wrote me a number and then picked a number at random.

The winner has already been sent her lovely prize.

I have a lot of information to go through as there were so many great suggestions. Apparently I need to get started carving some monkeys and Ron Paul along with using more metallics, bringing back monotypes, and working in black and white.

Happy New Year, Chinese style. I met Sachiko for dinner tonight, and we tried a small restaurant favorite of hers on the edge of Chinatown, New Hong Kong Menu. I apologize for the blurry photos, the lighting and camera were just not in sync.

This seafood based soup had everything but the kitchen sink in it, and it tasted good!

StrikeSwag.com - the non-profit site which donates all profits to the Writers Guild Foundation Industry Support Fund to assist non-WGA members of the industry who are in financial distress as a direct result of the strike - is out with its January 2008 line which Fashion Week boldly called "the black and white shield tee." This 100% cotton shirt a variant of the official WGA West strike shirt.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 26, 2008

Writers Guild Members Overwhelmingly Ratify New Contract

Legitimate MVP, or simply the poster boyfor a vast white-wing conspiracy?
white-wing conspiracy (wit wing kuhn-spir'-uh-se) noun. The theory that there is a vast positive bias -- be it unconscious or calculated -- given to white basketball players by the mostly white media. Some people believe that this prejudice led directly to Steve Nash's back-to-back MVP awards as well as his overall reputation as an NBA savior.

Of all of the songs of the ‘60’s, my far and away favorite is Happy Together, by The Turtles.
And lately the song has been haunting my brain. I’ve been thinking of it and singing it for days now. Today in my car, and then at work in the warehouse and in the stairwells, and in the elevator up to my apartment [basically whenever I was alone for a few moments], I was bellering the chorus to this song. The melody line and the harmonies are just gorgeous. Even when I perform it!
This song came out back in 1967, when I was a mere lad of four years old!

Ah, viral and buzz marketing. Good stuff. Remember the personalized phone messages Samuel Jackson sent out to your friends' cellphones to let them know about Snakes On A Plane two years ago? Well get ready, because The Dark Knight is taking their guerilla/buzz marketing campaign a few steps further.

Pure genius.

Most people would just call it half-baked but this quiz says I'm rare.

Have a fun-filled Tuesday!

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)
Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense.

Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men
You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.How Rare Is Your Personality?

Square Art Magnet Set
Originally uploaded by m.Lee (or lack of them)

Monday! What a long weekend it was for me. Not terrible, but with some difficult moments for sure. Hope others fared better than I did.

This morning we heard from representatives of the Children's Defense Fund, who discussed the Fund's report and campaign called Cradle to Prison Pipeline. Using what a take to be the method called Life Table Analysis (although they didn't actually say so), CDF has figured out that a Black boy born today has a 1 out of 3 chance of going to prison during his lifetime, and a Hispanic boy a 1 out of 6 chance, compared to 1 out of 17 for a white boy. Ratios for girls are similarly disproportionate, although the absolute chances are lower.

The CDF points out that 1 out of 6 children in the U.S. are living in poverty, and that the numbers living in poverty, and the poverty rate has increased during the reign of the current Christian moral values administration -- most dramatically among the very poor. Poverty is of course associated with all sorts of problems for children -- failure in school being the most pervasive. The CDF goes on to talk about all the other ills that afflict poor children, and disproportionately afflict poor and minority children, but I want to get to the bottom line.

In a related note to Thursday's BBT (thanks to Jamie)

Your Quirk Factor: 36%
You have a few little quirks, but you generally blend in well with society.
Only those who know you well know how weird you can be.How Quirky Are You?

That's probably about right.

Doh!
Originally uploaded by m.Lee Dear sweet Gocco machine*, I'm sorry I ever spoke ill of you. You were never an ill device devised by the evil one at all, you just had a mealy old press bed that was keeping you down. Replace that and suddenly using you isn't hard at all, almost like you were designed to be used by Japanese children or something.

Kookiejar started this and then it spread like Chicken Pox in a Daycare. I had to do it too!

Here's what you do:
Set your Mp3 player on shuffle and write the title of the first song that comes up as an answer to each question no matter how stupid it sounds...(savvy? Here we go.)

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY?" YOU SAY?
1234 (Feist) That's how long you got until the sheet hits the fan, dawg.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Tom Sawyer (Rush) Though my mind is not for rent, don't put me down as arrogant.

I saw this meme at Fraternity of Dreamers. It's a weird one but it'll give you an interesting view of my world:

What kind of soap is in your shower right now? Ivory Body Wash and Dove Bar Soap (with the little nibblets in it).

Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? No but I do have a Pomelo.

Part nativity story, part work of art, part Christmas decoration, and part family heirloom, Jan Pienkowski's The First Noel: A Christmas Carousel is on a wholly different level from the ordinary pop-up book.

The Illustrated Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë’s sweeping Victorian romance is reborn through the striking illustrations of the inimitable Dame Darcy.

This month my book club will be discussing Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair. What a perfect excuse to read The Illustrated Jane Eyre, which I've had on Mt. TBR since September 2006, and that's exactly what I did this weekend.

First of all, I should say that I'm pretty sure I'd never read Jane Eyre before. I thought I had, way back in high school, but now I think I'd only read Wuthering Heights (by younger sister Emily).

This is actually quite humorous. The White House has been extremely reluctant to say anything at all about the CIA tapes scandal -- except that the President knew nothing about the tapes -- for a couple of weeks now. But today's New York Times story prompted an immediate, impassioned official response, which you can read here.

(This just in from the WGA... I've heard similar sentiment from friends and family all over the nation. The temperature I'm reading -- the whole country is fed up with corporate conglomerates caring only about the bottom line, and not about the welfare of their workers.)

what I did with my day (while blee sleeps)
Originally uploaded by m.Lee