Norm turned 18 this month. As you can see, she so enjoyed having to wear a little party hat.

ZOMG. I’m so torn. On the one hand, I must have this toaster. On the other, $65 for a toaster?!?

(via NOTCOT)

Dear True North,

I know that’s what it is, but perhaps describing your product in your commercials as “an extraordinary nut snack” might not have been the wisest thing ever, especially if you’re not going to say that until the end of the spot. I had to wait until the third showing to see what the product was and figure out that I was mis-hearing what was being said. It’s possible I’ve got more of a potty brain than others, but I if it were up to me, I would have worded that differently.

Just sayin’.

I loves me some This American Life, so I’m just tickled by this Be Ira Glass! piece. Brought to you by the same guy who created the design poster I linked to a couple entries down. Take a spin through his Flikr stream. Some fun stuff in there.

(tip o’ the hat to Tcritic for letting me know where this all came from)

Amount I spent at the grocery store tonight: $3.95

Amount I saved by using the store rewards card: $6.49

The World’s Coolest Niece turned two. Photos from her party are here.

The kid’s too cute for her own good.

In which I catch up on a little reading, go through my bookmarks for things I’ve forgotten to post and post goodies I’ve found today.

- This is probably a bad poster to put up at work. But it does make me chuckle. (via Jesus Chris)

- I’m a bit late in posting this WSJ article on why we talk to ourselves. Bookmarked it and then just forgot to write anything about it. Whoops. Still, I should just print out the article and give it to whatever poor souls have to sit next to me while I’m working. The only thing I talk to more than myself is my computer.

- Finally, someone has come up with a decent argument (with pictures!) as to why it’s more correct to roll the toilet paper over the top. And for those of you who still feel the need to put it on the spool the other way, know that if I ever use your facilities, I will be compelled to correct the situation. (Hey, I can’t choose how my compulsive behavior manifests itself. I just learn to deal with it.)

- The Boys and the Subway. The story is cute all on its own, but the pictures make me smile a little bigger.

- In case I forgot to mention it earlier (which I very likely did), Bank of America has expanded their Museums on Us program for 2008. It’s now good the first weekend of every month. Wish there were some Wisconsin museums included. Also: here’s a quick heads up that the Smithsonian’s Free Museum Day 2008 is set for Sept. 27. Plenty more states participating in that one.

Ok, internet darlings. I’ve got more work to do — lots more work to do — so this will have to hold you for today.

The page is mostly in Russian (or at least in one of the Cyrillic alphabet languages), so I can’t give you any more information than NotCot’s posting can, but descriptions or no, these Romanian grave markers are too wonderful not to share. (Feel free to make up your own story about the second-to-last image. I know I did.)

The LA Times has a nice piece on Milwaukee and the new Harley Museum. It’s always nice to hear an outsider gush about our fair city.

(Via OnMilwaukee.com. And just for the record, that first photo with the article — the one of the art museum — is taken from roughly the same vantage point I’ll have for tonight’s fireworks. Yay!)

Happy Canada Day.

It’s officially summer, which means it’s the busy season at work and Irish Fest coordination has begun in earnest. It also means I have a little less time for blog-tending. However, thanks to the magic of del.icio.us, I’ve found some links that’ll keep you entertained for a bit and possibly help you overlook the fact I’m not paying as much attention to you all as I should be:

- Lovely and creative calendar designs. Not all are terribly practical, but the majority of them sure are pretty.

- Troy McClure’s resume on IMDb. You may know him from such films as…

- Entertainment Weekly’s list of New Classic Books, their selection of the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008. I can’t believe I’ve only read 10 of them (though there are quite a few I own but haven’t gotten to yet). I’ve seen a bunch of movie adaptations of some of the ones I haven’t read, though. Can I count that? (No. I didn’t think so, either.)

- Wonderful old photos of New York in both b&w and color (and one sneaky shot of Philly, just to see if you’re paying attention). I love the brief non-urban intermission in the middle of the images. Very amusing.

Enjoy the links. I’ll find more tidbits for you when I have the chance.

The Republic of Czeltistan is six today. Party hats all around.

Thanks to m@ for reminding me I need to post something about it.

Lebanese food served with a bang

A fast-food restaurant in Beirut’s war-torn southern suburb has hit upon an explosive way to attract customers.

Buns and Guns is made out to look like a military post and diners eat to the sound of gunfire instead of muzak.

(via The Morning News)

Warning: If you haven’t seen the latest Indy movie, don’t click the link below.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: The Abridged Script

The ice cream truck that drives around my neighborhood just went by. It would seem the ice cream man inside is celebrating a work day Father’s Day with his children. There were two of them sitting in the front seat, munching on ice cream bars.

Cat stairway
Cat tree

Actually, many of the Ikea Hacker’s projects are kind of cool, even if you aren’t making them for cats.

(via ModernCat.net)

And yet this is kind of a long entry for me. Bear with me. I’ll be amusing again later.

While I’m not even remotely a religious person, I do have some faith in the power of positive thought and I just outright believe that sometimes things can happen with no apparent reason. I’m even convinced that sometimes they can happen for the better.

It’s for the latter that I’m writing this, hoping that if enough people can think positive thoughts, and send good vibes, maybe something good can happen.

Many of you know that I collect those silly little squished pennies you get in souvenir machines at tourist attractions. There’s actually an entire community of people who collect them and we’re a pretty close group. There are some people in this group whom I’ve met, and a lot more whom I haven’t, but who I communicate with somewhat frequently. I consider many of them to be friends.

One of these friends is a woman named Marie. She’s a sweet, giving woman who teaches and works with a group that brings dogs in to visit children in cancer wards. She’d give you the shirt off her back if she even remotely thought you needed it.

Last September, Marie and her husband, Wayne, were in a horrific motorcycle accident that left them with injuries that are still healing and in which Wayne lost a leg.

Both Marie and Wayne have been more than inspirational to a lot of us over the last nine months. What they overcame and what they’re still going through would be more than many people would be able to handle, but they never seem to give up and they’ve managed to maintain an almost unbelievably positive attitude throughout.

This week, Marie found out she has breast cancer and earlier today she let us all know that they’ve found out the cancer has spread farther into her body.

Today — the day they got the news — is Marie & Wayne’s second anniversary.

They’re still determining what their course will be. Whatever it is, though, it’s sure to be a difficult road to travel. If you’ve got any spare vibes and good wishes to send, point them toward Ohio. Marie could use every last ounce of positive energy people can send her.

For the good of mankind, we must stop ordering stupid drinks.

The Case for Cocktails

I must disagree with some of the settings and messages, though. I’m a drinker of sidecars, Negronis and Manhattans, and yet I fit none of those descriptions and feel the Manhattan’s setting is the best setting possible for all cocktails.

It’s been absolutely pouring for the last two days. Severe weather, thunderstorms, flash flooding, all that good stuff. So when we get a break in the rain for a couple of hours, what do the kids across the street do to entertain themselves?

They turn on the sprinkler and run through it.

*sigh*

BB sent me this little chuckle earlier today.

‘People Magazine’ Confuses Somewhat Intelligent NPR Producer

It’s writing like that which serves to remind me why I’d never make a good English teacher. I’d spend too much time weeping over the fact that people actually write like that. Also, for the record, I’d like to state that, not only did I not know who was pictured in the photo accompanying that story, I also thought it was a woman. Hi. My name is Czeltic Girl and I’m completely out of the loop when it comes to reality TV.