Category: General

I ate its brother this morning, and it was okay. But my mom used to send us to school with overripe bananas all the time. I have no sense for what is acceptable.

What the hell is it?  I can’t figure it out.

Remember several years back when everybody got a check to “stimulate the economy”?  I do, and I also remember do my taxes the next year and having to subtract that money from my refund.  So I wasn’t getting more money from the government, I was getting money that I was going to get anyway when I filed my taxes.  I got a cash advance.  I guess that’s nice, but I don’t think that is what it was sold as, and I was disappointed not to get a refund at the normal time.

So now they are doing it again.  But I can’t figure out if it’s the same thing.  They are going to give me some money.  Hooray.  When I do my 2008 taxes, am I going to have to subtract this, like I did last time?  Or, is the government sending me some of the money I’ve already paid in taxes back?  That’s what a “rebate” is.   That’s what they are calling it.  But I think they called the last one a rebate too.  Obviously, a rebate of “money that has already left my pocket that I wasn’t supposed to get back” is preferable just “getting money I was already entitled to sooner.”  (From the point of view of my finances, of course, not the US government’s.)

If anyone can figure it out, please let me know.  I can’t figure it out from reading the text of the bill, and my Google-fu is failing me.

The question is: “Is the new tax rebate free money from the government or is it an early refund check?”

I just spent about a half an hour explaining this mysterious object to one of my students, a college junior or senior:

They were a completely foreign object to him.  He was amazed that they had two sides.  He was appalled at the notion of fast-forwarding to get to the next song.  Rightfully so.  The re-usability seemed to be its only redeeming quality. All in all, they just didn’t seem like a decent way to record or distribute music.

He also refused to believe that a record could sound better than a CD or digital file.   I had to explain the whole analog-digital difference.   He had never held a record in his hands, he had only seen them in movies, and had never realized that they could hold information on both sides.  Apparently, you never flip a record over in the movies.

It was one of the most fun conversations I’ve had in a long time.

Hi,

So my soon-to-be-mother-in-law had a good idea that I thought I would continue. She asked all the women at my wedding shower to write down their best recipes to give to me. Being in Ohio, there was alot of hamburger surprise and cheez-whiz casserole recipes (not that there is anything wrong with that). Now she is asking me for cajun recipes to get into the New Orleans spirit for the wedding. Since I was just a transplant, I thought I would ask the experts. If you have a good cajun, creole recipe that you would like to share, could you either post them or email them to ambershields@gmail.com? I can compile them all and email them back out to you, if you like. Both food and beverage recipes welcomed! Thanks!

Amber

Here’s a list of the most popular posts in 2007.

10 Most Commented Post

• Big fan of Mardi Gras by Dave – 43 comments – The draft of the greatest team in the history of the Bacchus Bowl.
• Sports Question of the Half-Year by Brent – 39 comments – Some kind of thing about collective bargaining agreements
• Look At These Birds! by Brent – 36 comments – The filthiness of birds.
• Mardi Gras costume fun by Dave – 34 comments – From back when Dave thought Mardi Gras was fun.
• Homosexuals by Dave – 31 comments – Dave says people can choose to be straight or gay.
• Dentistry is a sham by Kent – 29 comments – In which Kent proves that dentists are quacks.
• Hell Sounds Like Pantera by Brent – 29 comments – In which Susan makes the comment of the year: “Brent, you have too much time on your hands. David you just have problems.”
• Happy Birthday Leslie and Bopper! by Kent – 29 comments – Proving that Leslie is the more popular of the Kent and Leslie combo.
• Music: Best of the First Half by Brent and Kent – 25 comments – In which Jamie tells us we are fools.
• The 2nd Bi-Annual Atlanta Tubing Weekend by Leslie – 21 comments – In which Jamie explains Hoosier activities.

Dave may have the most commented-upon post, but in the top ten, Brent’s posts got people talking the most. Good job.

Here is every book I read last year, pretty much in the order in which they were read. Why would I keep track of such a thing? I’m not quite sure.

1. Amalgamation Polka- Stephen Wright
2. Every Visible Thing- Lisa Carey
3. Case Histories- Kate Atkinson
4. The Magician and the Cardsharp- Karl Johnson
5. What is the What?- Dave Eggers
6. From Here to Eternity- James Jones
7. The Ruins- Scott Smith
8. World War Z- Max Brooks
9. The Nimrod Flipout- Etgar Keret
10. King Dork- Frank Portman Continue reading Brent’s brother posts 2007 books read list; accidentally reveals the reason he will likely die alone

This year I am making 20 resolutions, in the hopes that 25% of them stick. They are as follows:

1) Stop saying “no” to things I don’t feel like doing.
2) Write 12 short stories.
3) Write a song
4) Lose weight
5) Grow a mullet (this could be accomplished by the end of the month)
6) Keep a journal
7) Improve as a griller
8) Keep my car clean
9) Keep my work area clean at my job
10) Use my medicine ball
11) Talk on the phone more
12) Buy less Saints stuff than 2007
13) Move
14) Organize my music and pictures better on my computer
15) Lose my free will
16) Only watch TV 3 out of 7 days
17) Work out 4 out of seven days
18) Eat less pizza and hamburgers
19) Try to eat oatmeal
20) Save $5000

The fat devil man in clown suit call’eth all mine friends and relatives to dine at the banquet of song and drink! Wish my buzzards were here for this most special occasion. Merry Christmas to all!

Per Jimmy V: There’s obviously not enough beating going on in your marraige. Someone needs to talk to a fist, or this will never be resolved.

Yea Leslie, give Kent the beat down he deserves. Here’s a little roll playing game: Kent you slip into that little hot pink tube dress that Whitney wore in the video “I wanna dance with somebody” while Leslie puts on Bobby Brown’s My Prerogative and start beating Kent like the little crack whore that he is.
–

In case anyone is wondering about the mall shooting in Omaha, Brent, Chelsey and Chuck are all safe and sound. Chuck did find out that a good friend’s dad was killed. This is a shitty world.