An online friend of mine is doing a three-month internship at Farm Sanctuary and blogging about it: [link] There are some great photos a few posts down. (Her other blog is one of the most specialized vegan blogs I've ever seen -- recipes for vegan versions of food eaten in Harry Potter books. I think the only more precise one I've seen was one that has reviews of vegan Reuben sandwiches from restaurants in Portland.)

I'd actually feel more comfortable with eating an animal that I killed than one I bought already cleaned up at a supermarket. If I'm going to be sacrificing a living creature for my food, the least I can do is confront the reality of that, rather than letting someone else handle all of the messy stuff. (I still wouldn't, except in an emergency, but I'd feel better about it if I killed it myself. As long as someone told me how to do it so that I wouldn't just add to the animal's suffering by not knowing how to handle a knife.)

I can see that. On the other hand, there are lots of horrible jobs I don't want to do. I've never worked in a sewer or collected the garbage or dug a subway tunnel, yet I cheerfully flush, toss, and ride every day of my life.

I'm wondering how much of my like for Kim Yu-Na is that I always adored Bryan Orser and I'm so happy to see him finally get his gold.

Thanks, msbelle. I'm going to ask his special ed teacher for recs on Monday. Books are always a good idea with Owen. I think he had a classmate whose father died. I've heard the kids mention it so they may have read a book together.

On my way home from the restaurant, I saw a man walking a tiny tiny dog. The dog was wearing a camouflaged winter coat - probably to reduce the chance of it being carried off by an eagle.

I'm a happy, hypocritical omnivore. No desire to kill my food myself, would prefer to avoid it, but will happily eat my chicken and occasional beef. Food chain! I R at teh top.

My fridge is kinda overfilled at the moment. I think it is the result of all the damned storms. Basically, for a month, storms fucked up my shopping and I was pretty thin on options, so now I have overstocked. Like I need 3 different kinds of tortillas, 3 different soups, 2 bread mixes, 4 cheeses, 3 deli meats, an extra box of instant oatmeal (I eat it maybe a couple times a week,) 4 indian frozen dinners and 2 veggie lasagnas and then all the produce. Usually? My fridge contains enough for the week, no more.

I just had to link these, because, well, they're adorable. Dark Mark cookies [link] and Golden Snitch cupcakes [link]

Evan Lysacek's exhibition skate was beautiful.

Am I the only person petty enough to wish he'd just gone out, hauled ass across the rink, landed a quad, and skated off?

That would rock.

Am I the only person petty enough to wish he'd just gone out, hauled ass across the rink, landed a quad, and skated off?

Not the only person.

In retrospect, perhaps I just resented the cows because I had to do chores every day starting at age 7-ish.

Also, some cabbage is smarter than cows.

Since my father and grandfather spent their careers in meat packing and my great-grandfather was a butcher, I never had any illusions about where meat came from. I am glad it's easier to get cage-free eggs.

I am glad it's easier to get cage-free eggs.

A lot of the animal-friendly claims on egg cartons aren't actually regulated in the US. [link]