Biology Collides with Sociology

I've never even imagined these two words together until I saw this tub at work. It makes me chuckle.

Oh yeah, and we added a link to this Vegas guy's blog. ...Quality bottomfeeder themes. Check it.

File under: You can't make this stuff up.

So I've been meaning to share the story of Corvallis' state representative with all the out-of-state readers. I've hesitated 'cause I wanted to make sure that I had all the facts straight, but then I realized that this was a blog and I'm not a reporter. God, this would be way better around a bar with a couple of pints of Fat Tire or Cut-Throat Porter (which isn't available in Oregon by the way - but I digress).

To keep this blog entry to a manageable size, I'll just give you the synopsis:

• Young female state rep gets run down by a jealous woman who claims that the rep was having an affair with her boyfriend,


• Incident breaks both legs of the rep and confines her to a wheel chair.


• Boyfriend, a janitor at the state house, denies the whole thing and claims sexual harassment.


• State police find a small amount of Methamphetamine in the rep's car during the crime scene investigation.


• Rep is forced to resign from the state house, but before she leaves, essentially zeros out her annual operating budget by giving huge raises to family members on her staff.

Is that the craziest thing you've ever heard of? The only thing that could elevate this tale to the level of Marion Berry is a very public apology followed ultimately by renewal, forgiveness, and re-election. But there's still plenty of time....

Now, the back story to put some meat on 'dem bones:

• In its fight against the recent surge in meth' use, the Oregon state house recently voted to take sudafed off the shelves and make it perscription only. I don't think our rep voted for it.
• Our rep had the worst attendance record in the house and was nearly defeated in her second term re-election because of it.
• The janitor quit his job and got a relatively big pay-off from the state government to make his sexual harassment claim go away.

...Crazy. ...completely crazy.

Political discourse at its best.

Excerpt from the today's Washington Post article about the recently passed House Bill to either reduce federal spending and allow for hurricane relief or pay for Bush's tax cuts by beating down america's poor (depending on how you view such matters):

"The budget debate was marked by acrimony and personal attacks. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) mocked the deficit-minded "Blue Dog" Democrats, calling them "lap dogs." Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) called the youthful, redheaded Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) a

"Howdy Doody-looking nimrod."

Either way, I thought it was pretty funny stuff.

Table Manners

So I'm going to take the honor of having the 1st post that is even remotely related to the title of this blog. We live in Oregon, a state that I'm very proud of for being so blue come election time. I like that I live in neighborhood filled with stable loving lesbian relationships and they don't have to live in fear of someone burning a cross in their front yard. The punk ass kids on our street even seem accepting of non-traditional lifestyles. It's great. I don't even mind the dirty hippies, except for the trust-a-farians - move to Boulder where you belong. But there is one thing I have a near zero tolerance for and that is people who force their alternative food lifestyles on everyone at the table. In Corvallis - there are many.

Today I ate lunch with the Girls Locker Room crew - 2 girls in the adjacent lab that I bullshit with all the time and who get subjected to my many rants about whatever happened that day. We'll call them Abby and Trina to protect the innocent. Abby invited a new chick - a friend of a friend type thing. Let me introduce Vegan Vera. Vera informs us as she opens her soy yogurt that she is, in fact, vegan with the exception that she eats fish. But not just any fish, you have to catch the fish yourself that day (and serve it to her). And not just any freshly caught fish, it must be only salmon or halibut, because those are the only fish she has tried so far. So your thinking - "big deal Holly, quit your whining". Well, it doesn't stop there. Abby is planning a birthday dinner for her friend Jan. Jan is vegetarian (not vegan), but Vera starts dictating to Abby exactly what she can and cannot make for dinner b/c Vera is going to be there and don't forget she's vegan (except for freshly caught salmon and halibut), not to mention another friend in common who only eats fresh food as in not cooked, is also going to be there. At this point Trina ponders out loud if she is going to go buy some cottage cheese for lunch. Vera jumps on this and informs Trina that of all the cultured milk products out there, cottage cheese has the lowest nutrient density and instructs Trina to eat yogurt instead. At this point, I can't take it anymore. The entire conversation of the lunch has been about Vera and her food issues/wisdom. But just then I'm delightfully saved when Bob and his wife stop by the table and announce their plans to make a TurDucken for Thanksgiving. If you're not familiar, a TurDucken is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. I pipe up and insist Bob shouldn't stop there. There has to lots more tiny birds that can be cooked inside of slightly larger birds.

I have put Vegan Vera on par with the girl not so lovingly referred to as Lactose-Intolerant Girl. I went to a business, potential client schmoozing, dinner with Holly's Boyfriend and his then boss. We went to a high-end Italian restaurant where the meal was served family style. Lactose-Intolerant Girl put her restrictions on ALL of the 7 entrees that were ordered and proceeded to make her condition the focus of converstaion for the next 20 minutes. It was a fucking business dinner. Make your request for a couple of cheese free dishes and move on with your life.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with being vegetarian, vegan, lactose intolerant or whatever else - just don't spend my lunch hour trying to convert me or criticizing my food choices. Especially not if we just met and you are a vegan who eats fish, but only freshly caught fish and only salmon or halibut because that's the only ones you've tried.

Mundane but blog worthy

...went to the OSU Rec Center Climbing Gym last night. By the time I finished with a mere 4 routes on top-rope my forearms and hands were reduced to gnarled, useless clubs. I've never been one for endurance climbing but last night may have marked a new low. That evening, however, found me in a rare optimistic mood. I saw the potential for a renewed emphasis on recreation and getting into the outdoors.

In other news, I received my score for the Professional Practice Soil Science Exam. I passed with a 90%. This should be the last hurdle to getting the vaunted Certified Professional Soil Scientist (CPSS) title. ...not sure what this gets me except a couple of letters to throw after my name. However, that's what I set out to accomplish when I signed up for the Fundementals Exam last year when I was in the job market. In the end, I think I've finally gotten straight all those cryptic terms that they use in the biz: albic, kandic, ustic, udic... bleh.

Lately I've been thinking about bentwood boxes. Not just their beauty and unique construction, but their utility in traditionally storing the most valued possessions of a family. It leads me to pose the following question: What would go in my bentwood box (if I had one)? What would go in your's?