Word of the Day: Moose

Thanks to this very informative article on how winter is chasing moose out of the mountains and into the city of Anchorage, Alaska, I now know things about the moose that I never knew before:

1. Moose eat up to 40 pounds of wood a day, enough to fill two large garbage cans
2. In a normal winter 130 moose can die from car collisions within the city limits
3. A normal winter in Anchorage produces 68 inches of snow. This year they've already had 76, and there are four more months to go.
4. Residents pay anywhere between $195 and $265 for a moose retrieval service
5. Moose weigh half a ton and will lose a pound a day due to winter conditions.

Word of the Day: Censure

1. To find fault with and condemn as wrong; to blame; to criticize severely.
2. To express official disapproval of.

Recent census data shows that for the first time, more women are unmarried than married. Not only is the divorce rate skyrocketing, the number of women choosing not to marry at all has risen, which indicates a major change in societal norms.

One article seems to think that women are now more critical than ever of our mates. Men aren't bringing home the "bacon" as much as they were before -- in many cases the woman is now the breadwinner of the family -- and men are not contributing as much as a woman expects. So us women have decided we don't need men afterall! Or is it really that we're just too critical?

I've always thought I have way too high a standard for other people. I am doubtlessly too critical of men I date. Not because I think he needs to be perfect -- because I am far from perfect myself -- but because he is ultimately a reflection of me, and if I wouldn't allow myself to behave that way, why would I want my mate to behave that way? He doesn't have to be perfect, but his normal behavior has to be fairly similar to my own or we're not going to get along. And since I no longer have to rely on another human being to make a living, or maintain my standard of living, I have the ability to be very selective. And if I never find him, that's okay too. Being single isn't the worst thing in the world.

Word of the Day: Ramen

I feel horrible about my neglect. I meant to blog about this last week and with the craziness of selling my condo and finding a new place to live, I neglected the Noodle Guy. A few weeks ago, the man who invented instant ramen noodles died. His name was Momofuku Ando. And can we all agree he's the most brilliant man to ever live? What would many of us have ever done without ramen noodles? Two thirds of all college students would die of hunger, refusing to cook anything that required more than hot water and two minutes worth of effort. My dad still uses ramen to supplement his own cooking -- which usually includes noodles, the flavor packet, salsa and some Franks Red Hot sauce. I personally use ramen noodles to make oriental cabbage salad. I crumble the noodles into the coleslaw, and if I didn't have the chicken seasoning packet how would I make the dressing? Thank you, Mr. Ando, for your unmistakable contribution to society.

Ramen noodles, by contrast, are a dish of effortless purity. Like the egg, or tea, they attain a state of grace through a marriage with nothing but hot water. After three minutes in a yellow bath, the noodles soften. The pebbly peas and carrot chips turn practically lifelike. A near-weightless assemblage of plastic and foam is transformed into something any college student will recognize as food, for as little as 20 cents a serving. The Whole Story

Word of the Day: Amnemonic

amnemonic: unknowing

I'm filling out some paperwork today for which I have to recall every detail of the last seven years including, but not limited to, every place I've lived, every job I've held, every person I've ever known, every country I've traveled too and every topic of conversative I've ever had. Okay, well, not the last part, but seriously. Who remembers all those details? Frankly, I'd like to forget half of those decisions. One of the best years of my life I spent traveling all over the world and when I returned, I was jobless and worked a bunch of temp and freelance jobs for various people. That one year is now costing me days worth of time I'll never get back, plus insane amounts of brain power spent trying to recall where I went after I left Rome.