Toronto's i maid cafe: [link]

a Japanese cafe where women dressed up in anime maid outfits wait on patrons with lavish attention.

Geek girl jewelry: [link]

Earrings, bracelets, etc. made from microchips, resistors, etc.

Shepherds hook earrings with real electronic resistors. Midnight blue seed beads make up this fun design. They are lead free and the color bands (resistance value) may vary from pair to pair.

Heh.

How very Bob Cratchett. Jesse, are you working for Ebenezer Scrooge?

Ha! That's what I said to my officemate! She totally looks like Bob Cratchitt.

My mom grew up in Georgia during the depression. I was very shocked to find out she never got toys for Christmas. She got apples and Brazil nuts (not what they were called in Georgia in the thirties, of course), a twig of raisins on the stem and, if it was a very good year, an orange.

When we drove through the Florida orange groves her eyes lit up like she was seeing Santa's workshop.

Do the sushi ones come with a fish? This is obviously something I really need to know.

They come with plastic sushi! And different pieces are in each box! It's very exciting (obviously).

Gingerbread TIE fighter: [link]

My grandmother grew up in a little town in Delaware called Principio Furnace in the 1920s, and they were pretty poor. She told the same stories about getting oranges in her Christmas stocking, and what a treat it was.

oranges are exotic as durians, if you're in, say, Nebraska in 18-whatever.

The first time I read the Little House books, I remember being so freaked out at the idea of only having two oranges total before your 15th birthday and remembering eating both of them so clearly. It's interesting to see how much more "civilized" their South Dakota town became between the Long Winter and her marriage, because Almanzo's announcement of bringing Christmas oranges wasn't viewed as all that big of a deal (a nice present, but nothing that they hadn't had before). Of course, being on the grassland prairie, Christmas trees were also in rare supply--the town tree was a big event, and something that Laura's youngest sister hadn't seen before the last book.

Mmm. I have oranges right now! I should go eat one. My big Christmas tragedy is that in moving to Arizona, I have deprived myself of my traditional shipment of giant Texas ruby-red grapefruit from Zeyes' (sp?), because they can't ship here. It is traumatic.

Yay, plastic sushi!

About TAR:Not having anyone to root for happened to me once the Cho Bros were gone.I thought I'd try to cheer forBama, but I just couldn't. Everyone annoys me. So I guess it's Addiction, Bama, Dysfunctional for me. Loved that the blondes lost legitimately, too, because their gameplay irritates me to no end. I wish so much of the strategy didn't rest on totally inconveniencing random locals.

I just think in general, this show is reinforcing negative American stereotypes worldwide, what with all the shouting and public scenes and running around and not looking at or appreciating the local people, culture, or environment.

WHA? I just got a spam email with the subject line: My answer is floppier than Gumby in a microwave.

TAR: I wish that the producers would set a rule stating that racers can't use a local as guide without paying them, as they do the taxis who lead them to locations. That would most likely cut down on the amount of shanghai-ing involved.