ideas

I knew there was a word for THAT

Courtesy of Daily Candy's Lexicon VIII

biphonal
adj. Holding multiple phones to your ears or in front of you at the same time.

doggerel
n. A girl who bears an unmistakable resemblance to her dog.

drimming
v. Drunk instant-messaging.

HIT
n. Homosexual-in-training. He may not know it yet, but everyone else does.

lush flush
n. The rosy hue one gets in her cheeks after a few too many glasses of wine.

me-Jane
n. Someone who has obviously misused an animal prints for some crucial part of her outfit. ("What is that me-Jane thinking with that giraffe-print tank top?")

PST
n. Acronym. Code for "poppy seed in teeth" or "piece of sh-t in teeth." Pronounced "pssst" so as not to alert everyone else at the table.

Reverse Evolution Princes
n. Men who at first seem to be princes but turn out to be frogs.

posted by Leigh Householder

Happiness

Friendship
By: Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words - but pouring them
All right out - just as they are -
Chaff and grain together -
Certain that a faithful hand will
Take and sift them -
Keep what is worth keeping -
And with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.

[Word of explanation: I'm organizing and cleaning today ... and, I came across this - something I've always found lovely.]

posted by Leigh Householder

World War II Memorial - NPR Style

One of the reasons that I am so intrigued by the whole range of media I indulge in - from NPR to blogs to zines - is my love of stories - of that essential piece that shapes the way we know ourselves and rips us out of our roles (as wife or daughter or employee) and shows an unexpectedly deep and moving moment.

Long distance advertisers delight in people like me - enough empathy to be taken in by a sad or longing story and a quick tear-reflex. I have been known to sob at a radio story or two....

Including this one: Kate Nolan, WWII Combat Nurse

Grandma Kate - mother to seven, grandmother to 14, great-grandmother to one. Were it not for this story, you'd never guess that she is a war hero, who earned medals and blood-stained hands and saved lives just behind the front lines ...

The World War II Memorial is being dedicated this weekend ... this story is a lovely dedication in itself...

posted by Leigh Householder

Memories of the Office Space

See my feature today on Knot - written especially for anyone who hated office politics and personalities so much that they had to get out...

posted by Leigh Householder

An open letter to supporters of DOMA and the proposed Constitutional Amendment

Welcome to Ohio. We lost 200,000 jobs in the last three years. We lead all other states in the loss of 25- to 39-year olds. We have the third highest tax burden in the country. This year, we finally got around to ratifying the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the measure that initially gave freed slaves citizenship and later would be used by courts to extend virtually every personal liberty and right granted in the Bill of Rights.

Yet, we still have time for fresh bigotry.

Ohio is one of 24 states that have introduced proposed constitutional amendments to permanently ban same sex marriages. Signatures are being gathered to place an anti - gay marriage amendment on the ballot through the citizen initiative process. We already passed DOMA which effectively legislates bigotry – in a manner that is eerily similar to previous Ohio laws regarding interracial marriage.

Whether gays will be permitted to marry is an open question; whether they will continue to do many of the things married people do is not. According to a pioneering study of gay demographics by Gary Gates and Jason Ost, researchers at the Urban Institute, some 1.2 million homosexuals report living together in America as "unmarried partners." (The actual number is doubtless much higher.) According to the authors, same-sex couples account for nearly one percent of households.

My comment to those that continue to push this discriminatory agenda based on the religious principles and squeamishness of a few – your bigotry will not outlive your lifetimes. You are again going down a road of creating Evil where there is merely Other. How many times do we have to make the same mistake of limiting the rights and privileges of groups based on your wrong-headed perceptions of superiority?

The study mentioned above concludes that gay and lesbian couples are found virtually everywhere: in 99 percent of U.S. counties, according to the 2000 census. And more than a quarter of same-sex couples are raising children; these couples, like straight parents, have an average of two per family. So ubiquitous that might almost be considered NORMAL?!?

Ohio is an aging state with a loud, obtuse conservative voice. It’s time that someone else spoke up –

posted by Leigh Householder

Know an Atkins bitch?

Thin waist or happiness? People who avoid certain foods or are reducing their food intake are famous for irritability, but many who are testing low-carbohydrate approaches like Atkins and the South Beach Diet are reporting unusually high feelings of anger, tension and depression. One study found that rats have shown a connection between a diet low in carbohydrates and low levels of serotonin—a neurotransmitter that promotes feelings of happiness and satisfaction. In the research, rats placed on a ketotic, or low-carbohydrate, diet for three weeks were found to have lower levels of serotonin in their brains. The same rats binged once starch was reintroduced into their diets.

I do the same when Pringles are reintroduced to my habitat after a period of more responsible eating.

Other researchers believe a low-carb diet may have an adverse effect only on those prone to low moods. Philip Cowen, chief of psychiatry at Oxford University in the U.K., reported in a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry that the mood problem on low-carb diets was measurable but mild in women fighting depression.

posted by Leigh Householder

Surviving Officemates

Resumes are such lousy, incomplete documents. Full of action verbs and bottom-line pronouncements highlighting documented successes. They glaze right over the important stuff – like, when was the last time you broke down in the bathroom because your boss yelled at you and have you survived enough layoffs and fiscal uncertainty to ride out the rough spots or will you completely shut down at the first hint of change? Sure, your manager loved you – but what about the guy at the desk next to you?

Should you have the opportunity to interview your future officemates, remember that you’ll spend more time with them each week than with your sweetie, or, even, your (gasp) television. Interview them like the aggrieved roommate you really are:

- How many days / week will you make our shared bathroom stink to the point of inspiring uncontrollable gagging? Are you willing to change your diet to bring that number down?

- What kind of crap will you layer your desk with? Just a few harmless family snaps and a comic or two? Or, are we talking full-out pet montage, mardi gras beads from the local bar and a zoo of beanie babies?

- Will you be microwaving elaborate meals that will make concentration impossible? (of course, you do realize, that microwave popcorn is completely unacceptable?)

- Do you understand the concept of vacation time? Will you make me feel guilty if I do?

- How often are you in a raging bad mood that makes you impossible to work with? How often are you so hungover that I cannot count on you for anything?

- I don’t want to invade your privacy; so, I’ll just ask, do you think it’s appropriate for people with stinky feet to de-shoe at the office?

- How sticky is your keyboard? How screwed up is your mouse?

- When you break the copier / empty the stapler / use the last of the printer paper, do you fill it /fix it or just pretend not to notice?

- Do you gossip? Is it good? Would it ever be about me?

- How loud is your phone voice? Do you have any internal volume control?

- Laugh for me. No really, I want to hear it. Cackle, squeak, guffaw – what are we working with here?

- If you do listen to others’ phone conversations, will you solemnly swear not to “continue the conversation” like we were talking to you?

- How many things will you ask me to donate to this month? Do you have children who sell things? Girl Scout cookies?

posted by Leigh Householder

My Parrot Dad

For my birthday, my dad decided to introduce me to a piece of Americana I had previously, um, missed ... we piled in the car on a sunny 90-degree Saturday afternoon to tailgate before the Columbus Jimmy Buffet concert ... Although the grownups said this event was very tame, there was still plenty to see and hear: see the pictures.

The thing about Jimmy Buffet is that the music isn't really that good - it's perfect for background noise, but sounds kind of monotonous when left the center of attention hour after hour. Nonetheless, women (and men) of all ages screamed at deafening decibels, possibly in a fog of margarita madness.

It's the kind of music that can make the white folks purse their lips like fishes, curl their hands into fists and wiggle around just slightly off-time to the music. It's the kind of music that brings beach balls and margaritas and open parties. And, it's the kind of music that can inspire the building of a delightfully squishy indoor shark blimp.

Fins to the left, fins to the right ... four encores later, I'm back to the real world ...

[And, a good time was had by all! Thanks, dad!]

posted by Leigh Householder

Congratulations to me

So, I was made a partner in my company this week. Actual ownership of something that could one day (in the not too distant future) be very big. Part of me is vain enough to think that I deserve it in some way - while another part of me is floored by the unbelievable generosity of it.

Today, I presented our business concept to a room full of venture capitalists and angel investors (as well as a standing-room-only audience). And, this morning, I co-presented an online demo to an enterprise that we could really do amazing things for. I will admit to being excited when one of the VCs said, well, the value proposition is clear.

All those years rambling around high school hallways, mumbling to myself in preparation for an extemporaneous speech or a policy debate, got me ready for this. As silly as it seems, it sort of embedded this ability to just stand up and talk - to take the questions and not get flustered by them. I think it gave me a bit of a presence that coupled with the quiet composure of growing up and growing older lets me be honest and open and comfortable in front of a crowd.

It's exciting to be part of something that you can really see the promise of - the possibility in. The kind of thing that makes your potential clients finish your sentences for you. We're working with these amazing convergence technologies - the product itself is called Expression. It's a smart server-side technology and easy-to-use software that enables non-technical users to author and deliver multimedia messages to anyone, anywhere in formats that automatically fit any device.

So, congratulations to me - I think the partner opportunity means I delivered on the promise of the vanity in my resume.

Cheers!

posted by Leigh Householder

Foil head

I have never been much for salons. Maybe it was all the spiral perms of the late 80s or the unfortunate bangs cut back to the crown of my head incident. Mostly, though, I think of myself as a little too casual, a little too tom boy for the pomp and pageantry of the salon. Getting my haircut around all the beautiful people in their perfectly sprayed coifs and brightly lipsticked smiles seems, in a word, ridiculous.

But, still, not wanting to be hacked away at in the mall (inevitably walking away with a sprayed up column or crown), I go to the salon. My favorite was under the El in Chicago where a fabulous woman talked about lost 80s icons and flipped aside her waist-length lavender and white dred locks to clip away.

Still, you take chances letting the dyed and pierced crowd at your head; so, I made a more conservative choice in C-bus. Sophisticated Aveeda salon in a fun low key, loft environment. And, I went crazy - way opposite of tom boy - and tried highlights and flips. I just went back for my touch up tonight - and though y'all might enjoy the picture of my foiled head!

If you live in Columbus, you cannot do better than Holly for a stylist!

Ask for Holly
Rafiel's Signature Salon
2927 north high street columbus, ohio 43202
614.784.1177

posted by Leigh Householder