the realm of unmatched socks, pocketed business cards and unused social networking pages

I was a Friendster once.  Technically, I still am.  One of my housemates urged me to sign up sometime in 2004.  He was trying to explain the concept to me, and I must admit that at the time I had a bit of difficulty grasping it.  It was something about having friends and being able to see friends of friends.  It sounded strangely similar to the practice of collecting baseball cards.  

a Walgreens toy frog that might scare Miss Piggy

So my co-worker has this frog that says "Ribbit," and then emits this cartoonish, hysterical, and yes, somewhat maniacal laughter that can be heard across the room.  I think it just lasts thirty seconds, but it seems a lot longer because it just keeps on going and going and going.  Upon hearing this laughter, my first reaction was, "Okay, what kind of mind would conjure up the notion of a frog laughing so hard that it would sound like a screeching monkey?"  My second reaction was, "Bartender, I'll have what the amphibian is having."

an irritating yaccent

I discovered something funny about myself the other day. I was at work dealing with a difficult caller on the phone. No matter what I said to her, even with some coaching from some more senior co-workers, she was never satisfied with my answers, and the call probably dragged on for some twenty minutes. When I got off the phone, I was listening to myself talk about the call with my co-workers, and was shocked to find that my Chicago accent had resurfaced.