So last night I was watching The Bachelor with the gf-f (go ahead and make fun but it’s a solid show) — and the Bachelor dope kept referring to all the contestants on the show as ‘women’. He’d say stuff like, “I can’t wait to go on my group date with those women.” Or, “There’s so many great women to choose from…” Or whatever.

But every time he said, “Women.” It didn’t sound quite right. Like maybe it was too formal. Just didn’t seem right for a group of dumb dumb chicks all jockeying over a dopey guy. “Women” doesn’t seem casual and fun. It seems like a part of a larger organization or something. Too important and strong. Or on the flip side– too associated with a bathroom door sign.

I guess it’s on a par with ‘Men’– but Men has ‘Guys’ as an alternative. And last night I realized that, women don’t have a good casual alt.

The closest to ‘Guys’ is ‘Gals’. But gals is a no-go. Gals works better in the context of, ‘The gals are all getting together to organize the bake-sale…’ Gals seems dated or maybe for older women or something— but besides ‘Gals’, everything else is condescending or too cutesy.

‘Chicks’ doesn’t make most ‘women’ happy. ‘Ladies’ has been stamped with sarcasm ‘Here come the Layydees…’ (Plus, it got ruined by the song Ladies Night). And there’s some Euro stuff out there like, ‘Lass’ or ‘Bird’– or you can kick it old school with ‘Dames’ or ‘Dolls’. But none of those are going to be a full-time replacement.

So I say it’s time to launch a solid counterpart to ‘Guys’ — so I’m not all distracted while watching my Bachelor tv show! Maybe I should contact the National Organization of Women to tell them to get cracking on this? Those chicks would have the clout to make something respectable stick.

ok bye!
tOdd

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tOdd,

When I saw this less than 4 minute video I immediately thought of you and Rosco.

Beautiful Day at the Dog Park

I hope this video gives you some ideas tOdd.

Jim M

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**(CONGRATS TO DAVE R! LONG TIME FRIEND OF THE SITE!) **

Friends and Family,

Though many of you may have already seen this on Facebook, I wanted to send something a bit more personal to those of you receiving this.

Back in November I finished the first draft of a novel I have been working on for the past three years. As part of the process of making the manuscript as appealing to potential agents and publishers as possible, I have been working on publishing some shorter pieces so that the polished manuscript can stand beside a compelling list of credits.

I have completed 140 submissions in the last six weeks. I received one acceptance letter back in December and, remarkably, three more today. My piece, ‘Glass,’ was accepted by The Avalon Literary Review in December, and I found out today when I received my contributors copies of the magazine that one of the other pieces, ‘Worms,’ was also selected at the last minute. Additionally, Epiphany Magazine has picked up ‘The Abstract’ and ‘Tepid’ for their June issue.

(continue reading…)

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So for a while I got kind of burnt out on apps for my ipad and iphone. After the initial glee of Angry Birds and Tiny Wings there was a downward spiral into football kicks and home run hitting without much satisfaction other than obsession to conquer a game nobody cares about.

I had a quick affairs with Temple Run and Where’s My Water but they were whatevery. Fruit Ninja got a fling but I’d get my asskicked all the time playing multiplayer– and got tired of it. Couldn’t stand knowing that there was some 12-year old laughing about how pathetically slow I was at slicing fruit samurai style.

I tried a few adventure type games or shooters but they were also sort of whatevery. Am I really going to sit here on ipad and kill zombies or race cars for hours on end? I started to wonder about apps in general. They started feeling way disposable and repetitive. And I felt relief that I stopped combing through the App Store looking for the latest greatest ultimately disappointing or scammy freebie. (continue reading…)

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