Brrr

It's really cold here! It is 43 degrees. Last week it was in the 80's. Arrrgh! I have to get my non-sandal shoes out of storage!

Where is my spring?

The art is Girl With Red Blanket by Austrian Expressionist artist Egon Schiele. I don't have a date for this, but it was probably around 1912.

I wish I hadn't put away my blanket for the summer. Brrr.

Pimping Pandora

I feel like I am always begging my friends to suggest music to me that I might like. Today a friend told me about this site today and I like it. It is called The Music Genome Project at Pandora.com. You type in the name of a band. That opens up a radio station that plays other music similar to the music you chose. You can vote thumbs up or down for each song they play.

It's pretty cool. I typed in Keane and got a couple of songs by bands I'd never heard of. They suggested Back in Time by a band I'd never heard of called Beach Mercer, Home by Red Umbrella (never heard of them either) and Breaking my Heart by Aqualung.

They missed on a few others, but overall it was on mark.

Check it out if you wish.

http://www.pandora.com/

The art is Pandora by French Symbolist artist Odilon (Bertrand-Jean) Redon, c.1914.

Maybe I'm Not Cursed

I live in Boston and own a car. So I move my car for one of two reasons - To go to Ikea, or for street cleaning. When I am working from home I usually wait until the beginning of the street cleaning time (in my case the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays from Noon to 5pm), then go wait in the car. When I see the tow trucks coming to clear the street for the sweepers I drive around until the sweepers have passed. I always get the primo spot on our nice clean street if I time it right, and get to run a few errands as well.

Last street sweeping day, however, things were much more exciting. As I started to move, my car died. There are never any spots on street cleaning day. Cars are either in the legal spots on the other side of the streets, or they are driving around like me. My car died right in the middle of a street cleaning street. I could see the tow trucks at the beginning of the street headed toward me. I started to panic. I'd let my AAA membership lapse.

I suddenly remembered that my Amex Gold Card had some kind of roadside assistance feature, so I called them. I said, "My car died. It is street cleaning day, and the tow trucks are headed toward me. I can see them coming. Help!"

She proceeded to explain the rules and whatnot for the service. I stopped her, saying, "You don't understand. They are coming now! Can you just skip the explanation and send a truck?" She said she would try to speed things up, but it usually took about 45 minutes. I was panicking big time.

The city tow truck reached me. I begged. "Please don't tow me. I have a tow truck coming to rescue me. It is on its way."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't have a choice in this." Whenever they call you ma'am, you know you are in trouble.

I stalled them, saying, "Look, see what happens when I try to start it? Nothing. See?" They backed the tow truck up to my car anyway. The operator got out and started messing with the chains. I got out, defeated.

Then the driver said, "Oh. We just got a call that we are the truck to help you out." He smiled. I applauded.

I still had to have a tow, but it was on Amex, not on my dime. And they towed me to my favorite auto shop, not to some unknown tow lot somewhere in the far reaches of the state. I even got to ride in the tow truck with the driver rather than paying cab fare down to said strange faraway lot.

Yay! Then I wondered, what are the chances that the same tow truck that was first instructed to tow me for street cleaning was also the one they called to help me out?

Maybe I'm not cursed after all.

Have you ever had your car towed? Was it fun? Do you ever have good luck?

The art is American painter Edward Hopper's Morning in a City, 1944. This painting is at the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamburg, MA, where it was recently restored.

Mmmm.... Testicles

The AP reports that in Wisconsin, a popular dish is deep fried testicles. Mmmm... Testicles....

More than 300 people paid $5 for all-you-can-eat goat, lamb and bull testicles Saturday at the ninth annual Testicle Festival in central Wisconsin.

They fry up to 100 pounds of testicles every year.

"What else can you do in a small town?" one person who was interviewed said.

Another person said he likes the parts sandwiched between bread with tartar sauce.

Yeah, what else is there to do in a small town other than eat testicles? I dunno. Scrabble?

Have you ever had this tasty treat?

The art is Leonardo Da Vinci's Madonna in the Rock Grotto, c.1495. Some people claim to see a giant penis and testicle just above her head. Of course, they probably also see scary nightmare pandas in ice cubes.

Dress Your Age

I saw this television show that purports to help women dress better. The victim was this cute 40 something woman who wore short skirts and low cut tops. She looked great to me.

These horrible 20-something fashionazis informed her that she needed to dress more "her age." They put her in a freaking knee length skirt suit with pumps. She looked well, old. They stole her hotness. I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle those creeps.

Of course, I might be biased. I call my own fashion style style "teenage slut."

I wear the smallest jeans that I can fit my 50 year old booty into. My T-shirts or tank tops are also probably too tight, and my favorites are kind of low cut. I don't dress my age.

Anyone who doesn't like it can just look away.

What about it? Do you dress your age? Do you think there is an age at which we are no longer allowed to dress sexy?

The art is German Northern Renaissance painter Grien Hans Baldung's The Seven Ages of Woman, c.1535.