Off the mark

Where does one buy a pair of 3D glasses?

I found myself pondering this very question just yesterday when I was preparing to watch a "very special episode" of NBC's Chuck. Luckily, I asked the right person. I think Amber could produce a white cheetah who only spoke Bangladesh-ese, if called upon. Turns out it was 45 minutes of reddish-tinged people running around to no great effect. No one seemed to pop out in any special manner. In fact, I definitely prefer TV as it was meant to be delivered to my eyes--in full, natural color, without having to block out the middle bar from the cardboard glasses. Perhaps my eyes do 3D well enough on their own and need no extra help?

Picky, Particular, Peculiar, Persnickety

Thank you, thesaurus.com . . .

One would hardly think it was possible for me to find something else to be fussy about, but I find--much to my surprise--that I am a jigsaw puzzle snob. The knowledge of this finicky-ness has been lurking on the horizon, but it popped up into full view this November. For the period of perhaps two weeks, I was fully engrossed in watching the new(er) series of Battlestar Galactica. Every day at lunch I would squeeze in an episode, and frequently I would either stay after school to watch more, or (when I was housesitting and not at B&N) take it home to continue the series. But I felt like kind of a lump just sitting there watching, so I started working on a nifty little puzzle. Well, a nifty little puzzle with a semi-sordid past. I actually bought this puzzle to give to a friend on bedrest in the hospital. She ended up having her baby several weeks early, though, so I rationalized to myself that now she would have no time, energy or patience to tackle what purported itself to be the World's Smallest 1000-piece puzzle. So, with a slightly disturbed conscience, I took the puzzle to work, to happily employ my fingers while rotting my brain on the pretty moving pictures before me.

Well, after that puzzle was finished, I found myself getting jittery if ever watching TV without one. So I bought the next puzzle in that series and fed my addiction some more. Meanwhile, I started noticing that I didn't have puzzles at my housesitting houses, or my own home, to work on if I were to grab a few spare moments to watch my show. So I bought more puzzles and set them up. The Christmas Ravensburger was a fine choice (though my mom did kind of take it over while I was gone), but the 10-puzzles-in-one Thomas Kinkade fiasco. Goodness. If I have to shuffle through another one of those hazy, pastel, poor-quality cardboard experiences again, well--I WON'T. Having unearthed this new snobbishness, I found myself wandering the stores, searching for an acceptable puzzle. Oddly enough, they are not plentiful to be had. The search will continue, perhaps for a lifetime, but I WILL satisfy my puzzle peculiarities. For those of you who are a bit mystified as to what a good puzzle entails, may I suggest the following:

-1000 pieces optimal

-Something entertaining in the photo (not just a mountain range or so)

-Ravensburger is a great brand, but anything that feels like it took more than 50 cents to make

-Hard to say, it just has to be worthy!

Upon reflection, it mystifies me as to how I've had so much time this month to watch three seasons of Batttlestar Galactica, or work on 6+ puzzles. I've been working both jobs, housesitting like crazy, working on Christmas projects, snowblowing, snowblowing, snowblowing, Book Club, Thanksgiving with family, planning the Ward Christmas Party, etc. I think cleaning fell through the cracks. I could literally live out of my car (it has all the necessities in it, including water--frozen--and breakfast shakes--semi-frozen), and I can hardly see the floor of my bedroom, due to all of the clothes strewn about. Ah, well, sacrifices must be made.

"The Office" Wants Me

Why else would it name the new (albeit extremely temporary) receptionist in the pilot after me? An obvious shout-out, right? No? I'm reaching?

It's an understandable reach. Before this fall, the only Rahni/Ronnie/Ronny/Roni references I had to lean on were unimpressive at best, mortifying at worst.

Consider:

~Bobby Brown song . . . Roni, "The truth about Roni, she’s a sweet little girl . . ."

~Eddie Money song . . . Take Me Home Tonight, "Its just like Ronnie sang 'Be my little baby' . . ."

~a President who--while handsome in his youth--no GIRL wants to resemble

~obnoxious man on the cell phone commercial ("If Ronnie's phone could receive messages right now, he'd know not to . . ."