Andrew and Joy tried to explain her to me, but I've managed to forget everything about her (including her name) except for two things: the way she looks, and one of her pet peeves. "She has this thing," Andrew said with a laugh, "about butt-warmth. It just grosses her out."

Butt-warmth? What in the world? I assumed it was one of those terms that, while thoroughly confusing on first listen, made perfect and complete sense once it had been explained.

I was right: 'butt-warmth' is the perfect word to describe what her pet peeve was. If forced to define, it would be something like this:

butt-warmth, (noun): The noticeable rise in ambient temperature left behind after a person sits in a chair for a period of time, and then leaves the chair vacant for the next person.

A small dash of serendipity struck this afternoon. Kat and I are going to make arrangements to go to Birmingham sometime soon—probably next weekend. She needs a particular facial cleanser from a store whose closest outlet is in Birmingham, and we both want to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch. We'll combine trips.

Like today; we combined forces at Costco. Costco, like Sam's, sells everything in bulk. (Need a metric ton of crackers? They've got them.) Since we both live in small households, this isn't always useful for us. We all know that meat is significantly cheaper there, but the packages are so large that they're not terribly useful for us. It occurred to me a few months ago that if two of us were willing to combine forces, that we could split some purchases and come out with a lot of meat for the less-than-horrific amounts that we're accustomed to paying.

Courtesy of Brad:

Call it a hack, or not, but either way I find these amusing….$ smart_whois microsoft.com
[whois.crsnic.net]

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

MICROSOFT.COM.IS.SECRETLY.RUN.BY.ILLUMINATI.TERRORISTS.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.INSPIRES.COPYCAT.WANNABE.SUBVERSIVES.NET
MICROSOFT.COM.HAS.NO.LINUXCLUE.COM
MICROSOFT.COM

Okay. I can't help it. I was going to go for a record—two nights in a row of all nice and serious postings on domesticat, and then I heard something and I just can't shake the sillies.

Someone actually makes a Hello Kitty vibrator.

Yes. As in Hello Kitty, that nice little innocuous brand that you remember from your childhood. You cannot understand how much this disturbs and amuses me. The mere fact that this object exists—and has been manufactured—and is being SOLD—tells me that I am NOT the craziest person on this watery little blue planet.Not. Not. Not. It feels SO good to know this for certain.

Anyway. Moving on to things that won't totally shock and disturb…I got the over-the-toilet rack set up in the guest bathroom this evening. Of course, the cats had to give it a serious once-over (what is this and why is it in our bathroom?!?) and then …. shockingly enough….they left it alone.