Skipped 45 posts. Have to get cracking on cleaning and cooking around here.

Hivemind question:

I like getting the german Lola dish brushes because they're made of natural bristle, wood and metal...all of which feels better to me environmentally. However, the design is such that the brush inevitable comes out of the wood handle housing after a couple months. Has anyone seen a natural bristle and wood handle brush that has the handle secured by wood glue or joints rather than just being a metal tab pushed into a hole?

THANK YOU to non-coffee-drinkers who have coffee making capacity at home, for guests. I am still traumatised by my friend's parents who felt that Folger's crystals were sufficient for this purpose.

Does a Quickie Mart half a block away with decent coffee count? I keep meaning to get a Pod machine, but I was worried that that was only welcoming the coffee monkey to leap onto my back again.

Peep Jousting is one of those bizarre things you get up to on inside sort of days, or in my case, silly sort of days. The concept is simple: Arm two Marshmallow Peeps with toothpick swords. Place them opposite each other on a plate and put them in the microwave. The first to expand and stab the other is the winner. This can literally be hours of fun. Plus they're edible afterwards.

My most memorable match was the time we had the white Peeps, and some of those edible markers that come in the "color a cookie" kits. Our combatants that day included mimes and TIE fighters (an entertaining pun that popped out after I drew two of them with neckwear).

The painter is (finally) finishing my apartment today!

I should get him something, I guess. I'm thinking a bottle of vodka, except that I don't know which Eastern European country he's from.

Cashmere, I am much more sympathetic toward people who are Not Drinking Coffee on purpose -- the family I'm thinking of never had caffeine because they were SO! NATURALLY! FULL! OF! VIM! AND! VIGOR! It just didn't occur to them.

I don't keep decaf on hand, so I try not to be judgmental about people who don't have emergency guest coffee. (I *do* warn people that without my morning coffee, I am extremely cranky and unpleasant to be around, but I'm more than happy to walk to a deli or cafe and get it myself.)

Launch.com is playing "It's Tricky". Half my office is dancing. And giggling.

It's "Coke machines selling things that are not Coke" where everything went tragically wrong....

Prexactly.

Waitress: What would you like to drink?

Me: A coke.

Waitress: What kind?

Me: Dr Pepper.

See, this confuses me. Why say Coke if you don't mean Coca-Cola? (Not ragging on regional customs, it just hurts my brain.) I understand it's similar to way Kleenex means tissue and band-aid means bandage, but the difference is if I ask for a Kleenex and get a Puffs, I'm not going to complain, but if I ask for a Coke and get a Sprite, I'm going to be annoyed. I realize they'll ask what kind but, having to say Coke twice when you really want a Coke (as opposed to directly asking for a Dr. Pepper) seems rather ineffecient.

I guess I'm a soft drink bigot.

the family I'm thinking of never had caffeine because they were SO! NATURALLY! FULL! OF! VIM! AND! VIGOR!

Without coffee? Cause that's just wrong. When Dad visits, he says he likes the walk for the coffee. It's either that or percolator coffee really is that bad. (I do have a tiny percolator in case of coffee emergencies.)

We just introduced Owen to peeps. We had to since I bought him this book. It's comedy gold watching a kid eat a peep for the first time.

David Johanssen pronounced it "BOW-teek" in "Funky Funky but Chic", FWIW. And I gather he's as Noo Yawk as they come.

Staten Island, specfically. Most of the boroughs are represented in the NY Dolls, including Manhattan (Hell's Kitchen), Brooklyn and Queen's.