Not A Dollarshort

Six Facts About Neanderthals

Some facts I've learned about Neanderthals from this post by David Byrne and this article from Archaeology.org.

1. Neanderthals aren't primitive humans -- they were a fork of an earlier species that homo sapiens are also descended from.

2. Their brains are larger, their bones are thicker and apparently they were pretty clever. Byrne suggests to imagine Mike Tyson mixed with Kenneth Lay mixed with Einstein.

3. The bulk of DNA we have comes from 11 remains of MURDERED Neanderthals. Not only were they murdered, but they were eaten in a cannibalistic feast.

4. They were most likely anti-social. See point #2.

5. They had red hair.

6. They probably became extinct because they were too smart/resourceful/dickish for their own good.

Here's the kicker: Scientists are interested in CLONING these ass-kicking, brillant, cannibal, jerky red-headed super non-humans.  Yes, that's a great idea! While we're at it, let's give them a cloned T-Rex to ride around town.

Miss Tified

The other day I decided that I wanted to reinvest in my TypePad blog by taking the really personal stuff out and focussing on some sort of review model. I chose to use TypePad instead of Vox since (1) it's good for me to use multiple platforms and be familiar with the limitations and benefits of all of them (2) I wanted this blog to have AdSense integration (3) I wanted to be able to experience blogging from both the personal (Vox) and Commercial (TypePad) perspectives.

So I decided that I'd write about beauty and makeup at a blog called Miss Tified. My description of the site explains why:  "What is Miss Tified? It's a blog that's meant to answer one fundamental question: How the heck do I master all the products and techniques out there that are supposed to make me look good? And, frankly, how did I get to be 30 years-old and be so utterly clueless about make-up and beauty."

Seriously, I have -- since I was a kid -- been such a mess when it comes to beauty and beauty products. Like I say in the blog, I don't ever intend to be obsessed with it all but I'd just like a better idea of what I'm doing wrong or right. Over the past year I have actually begun enjoying shopping for makeup and beauty products. Yet I don't know how to do a good eye with eyeshadow or keep my lipstick on for more than an hour. This blog is my attempt to document my (and other women's) mishap and spotlight products that I'm using.

So go visit Miss Tified now!

Where I've Been

Just a heads-up that I'm posting more over here on my Vox blog. And, right now I'm testing out Windows Live Writer. It allows you to use the tool to publish to weblogs that support the MetaWeblog API.

I have to say that this is a very nice editing experience -- especially the preview portion of the application.

Four Things

After I saw David get tagged today, I thought for sure that he would tag me to post my four things. When he didn't, I felt safe (but disappointed) that I had escaped the meme. Thanks to Anil for remembering me and finally getting me to get that June 13 off the top of the page.

And, like Anil, I love the fact that this crossed from LJ to the popular blog world. Memes, quizes and polls will get the most reluctant person to post.

Four jobs I've had:

Volunteer Library Worker
Hostess & Salad Maker, Mary's Pizza Shack
Web Designer (all jobs prior to Six Apart since I was 18)
Co-Founder, President of Six Apart

Four movies I can watch over and over:

Brain Candy
Back to the Future
Dazed and Confused
Peggy Sue Got Married

Four places I've lived:

Woodland Hills, California
Petaluma, California
Santa Clara, California
San Francisco, California

FourTen TV shows I love:

Project Runway
America's Next Top Model
Survivor
Lost
I'm Alan Patridge
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
24
The Sopranos
Arrested Development
Freaks and Geeks

Four places I've vacationed

Bath, England
Cannes, France
Tokyo, Japan
Charleston, SC

Four of my favorite dishes:

Spaghetti and Italian Sausage (by my grandmother)
Curry Udon (from here)
Crab Cakes (from here)
Sushi from (from here)

Four sites I visit daily:

menatrott.livejournal.com/friends/
Yahoo's Most Popular
FP
Google

Four places I would rather be right now:

New York
Disneyland
Tokyo
Hawaii

Tag Four Other Bloggers

Ben
Andrew
Krissy
Mie

Performance Anxiety

Link: Seed of extinct date palm sprouts after 2,000 years.

The Judean date is chronicled in the Bible, Quran and ancient literature for its diverse powers -- from an aphrodisiac to a contraceptive -- and as a cure for a wide range of diseases including cancer, malaria and toothache.

No pressure there, little plant.

Wall O' Hot Brains

On one of the walls of my office I have a growing collection (where growing means two) of pictures of guys that meet the criteria of "Hot Brain." So, I of course have received tons of grief about tonight's episode of The Daily Show which just happens to put these two hot brains in one room together.

Considering that Steven Johnson will no doubt see this post, I guess my secret is out.

Now, Jon Stewart, if you want to do crossword puzzles with a cute software developer in California, just email me.

Self-Esteem Builders for $500, Alex

From the just when I started feeling good about myself department:

So my plane home to San Francisco is delayed for two hours and I manage to get on an earlier flight as a standby passenger. It's only after I've been sitting on the plane for ten minutes, reading my book, that the steward calls out my last name to say I need to take my belongings and get off the plane.

The reason: The plane load is too heavy.

Despite the fact that I do understand I'm being removed because I was standby, that sort of answer just stings a bit too much.

Looking Back Fondly

This may be the two-margaritas-on-an-empty-stomach talking, but I got a real chuckle today reading some old entries from dollarshort.org -- posts I don't even remember writing. I miss the days when I could write this shit (because of free time and my lack of fear about offending people). Still, I'm glad that I have a record from this part of my life.

Here's some posts that I enjoyed today:

With Much Hope: I recount why I never think I'll be ready to have a child.

Five Steps to a Better Me: Ben heckles a priest and I try to improve myself.

Random Vignettes from the Past Week: Ben once again pretends he's listening.

Apron Strings: I *am* the American Baby.

Hey McFly!: I am, once again, obsessed with Back to the Future.

I Heart Plaid: Groucho Marx was right.

Fiery Furnaces

In our relationship, Ben is the one who explores new music. I’m the one who, on first listen to Ben’s music, will then disparage Ben for being an artsy-fartsy fuck who needs to listen to obscure shit or pure pop to feel better than me. Of course, this is all insanity on my part. The thing is, almost without fail, I end up loving the stuff Ben introduces me to. Of course there are exceptions: I will never ever like Scritti Politti on principle alone.

So when Ben introduced me to the Fiery Furnaces last year, namely “Blueberry Boat,” my to-the-point response was “what the hell is this?” After listening to it a lot in the car, I realized that I really really loved the Fiery Furnaces -- especially E.P. (You should really check it out).

After ten years of Ben introducing me to new (to me) music -- you should have seen the shit I gave him when he first bought a Serge Gainsbourg CD -- I've finally come to accept that I do indeed like Ben's taste in music and there is no point fighting.

In fact, I really need to embrace his taste since its the only way for me to discover new stuff. Take Maxi Geil! & PlayColt. Another Ben introduction that turned out to be one of my favorites of last year.

That said, I'm still not going to get into Scritti Politti, though. Or Klaus Nomi, for that matter. Ben will say "you like Sparks, you should like Klaus Nomi."

I won't give on that one either.

Back to the Fiery Furnaces. They'll be performing at the Great American Music Hall this Friday. If tickets are still available, you should definitely check them out.

Flat Stanley

Here's the thing: I'm a shitty cousin.

My cousin, who's in 2nd grade read a book called Flat Stanley where "Stanley" travels the world in an envelope or something Here's the backstory. Anyway, because I travel all the time, I was designated to be the person who would send postcards to my cousin, Alexander.

Since I can barely remember to bring my toothbrush on trips, I wasn't the best travel companion for Flat Stanley. He is due to return back to my cousin at the beginning of May.

Sadly, Flat Stanley (me) only sent him 4 postcards.

Here's where I could use help. If you live anywhere in the world (preferably Europe or Asia) and you're interested in sending a postcard to my cousin's class, please email me. Or, if you live near some sort of landmark, I'll send you a scan of Flat Stanley and you can take a picture of him in front of the landmark.

The deadline is really soon and I'd feel really bad if he gets the least amount of postcards/pictures.