Love Nick: Feline Jury Duty

Nick G. wanted me to make sure you saw this:  Cat Summoned for Jury Duty.

I realize the big kicker of this article is that a CAT was summoned for jury duty. I, however, am more amazed by the cat owner's quote: "Sal is a member of the family so I listed him on the last Census..." Who in their right mind thinks of a cat like that?!  Dogs, I could understand, but cats?? (Okay, she did list him under "pets," which indicates she's not completely insane, but still...)

I do wish the owners had just shown up with the cat at jury duty. "Sal is here for his summons..."

Love, Nick

Barbie and Ken's Wedding Album

As you know, I sort of love Barbies.  I'm not even embarrassed to admit that sometimes when I'm at Target, if I'm not in a rush, I'll take a walk down the Barbie aisle for no real reason.  I just want to look at all the new Barbies.  So, when I found this wedding album, I was like, "Oh! My! Gosh!"  A photographer, Beatrice de Guigne, posed and shot a Barbie wedding.  It's incredible because she managed to include all the cliches.  I, of course, posted it on Ashley's wall and tagged Brooke in it as well.  I knew they would feel the same as me about it.  Brooke was like, "Why didn't we think of this first?"  I'm so sad that we didn't.  I'm sticking three pictures here, but you seriously need to look at all of them!

Russian Etiquette

I was doing my daily CNN.com reading, and I stumbled upon an article called Etiquette 101: Russia.  Of course I clicked on the link.  I'm obsessed with things having to do with Russia right now.  I think it's mainly because you are learning Russian, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit the concept of Russian spies has totally caught my fancy.  It was that beautiful Russian spy Anna in the news that did it.  Plus, I saw the movie Salt last night, and that just got my imagination all aflutter.  It's very similar to the Ancient Egypt phase I went through earlier this year after I watched that King Tut documentary.  Remember?

Anyway, the article is actually found on concierge.com (whatever that is), and it's basically a Russian etiquette guide.  I read the whole thing.  I think it's interesting to note that Etiquette 101: France (which I also read) is only 3 pages while Etiquette 101: Russia is 11.

Two things I would have pointed out to you in this article had you been home:

In the section talking about what to expect at business meetings in Russia, the subheading, "A Cornucopia of Caffeine" made me laugh out loud.  What an excellent use of "cornucopia."  I don't think I've ever actually seen that word used outside of a Thanksgiving reference except, of course, on that Even Stevens episode where Donny gets a word of the day calender.

I thought this little piece of advice was really interesting: "Don't Show Anyone Your Back(side): When entering a row of theater seats, whether at the Mariinsky or the cinema, work your way in facing the people already seated. It may be uncomfortable to have to look them in the eye, but putting your butt in their faces is considered very rude."  I've never even thought about that before.  It makes sense, I guess.  When I read it, I couldn't help but think of the time you told me, "everyone has a butt" after my negative reaction to being mooned.  Then, I remembered when Brooke said the exact same thing to Golden (secretly quoting you), and he replied, "But only boys have weiners."

Awesome.