I’ve always strongly believed that Wisconsinites have a better sense of humor than most of the nation, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that April Fool’s Day here is celebrated with a remarkable degree of reverence. Or irreverence, as it were. In any case, I would submit that it is celebrated here at least as much as Flag Day. I think.
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.
i am a total Baha’i calendar geek
I have had a geek-fascination with the Baha'i calendar (also know as the Badi calendar) ever since rediscovering the Baha'i Faith last summer.
paper swimming pools and fear of the future
Looking back, I realize that a lot of the choices I’ve made in life have been influenced in part by worries about the future. I spent nearly seven years working for the environmental movement, and my twelve-year fundraising career was indirectly spurred by this desire to make a difference.
paper swimming pools
Then I’d borrow the little Playskool people from my sister’s Playskool house and have them toddle away in this pool. Step by step, I’d get them to make their way into deeper and deeper water until finally I had the Playskool people jumping off the diving boards.
ya hey dere, BBC… have some cheese curds
To our esteemed BBC correspondents covering the primary election here in Wisconsin: You are welcome to the Leinenkugels in the fridge. (I don't drink anymore anyway.) Just remember that they are supposed to be consumed while cold.
just how bad is the weather in wisconsin?
The weather is so bad in Wisconsin that even the local Doppler radar decides it wants to go a to warmer climate. I kid you not.
the pitter-patter of…uh-oh
I pulled the curtain aside and looked outside. It did not look pretty. It was raining out, and the streets were covered with a layer of slush. The three-foot-high snowdrifts were mixing with the rain and turning the sidewalks into slushy canals two to three inches deep. The few pedestrians who were on the street were trying to find solid parts of the sidewalk to walk on as if they were rocks on a shallow lake.
go ahead, make my day :)
I think a lot of us like to fool ourselves to thinking that our scribbles of idle fancy and self-important treatises will somehow make a difference in the world and in other people’s lives. And the most bizarre thing is that this is sometimes quite true…
what if a Bucky Badger saw his shadow?
In reading about the history of Groundhog Day, I learned that German immigrants brought the tradition to Pennsylvania. Except that in Germany, the bringer of the news was not a groundhog, but a badger. The “badger day” tradition became “Groundhog Day” here because badgers could not be found—they are reportedly not native to Pennsylvania. However they are native in the Midwest and West.