Who am I?

2011 is not looking good so far. After spending my life as an Aries, I was dealt a HUGE BLOW yesterday when I realized that I'm actually a Pisces. The moon looks to be the cause of this development. Going from a ram to a fish? Are you kidding me? What am I going to do about the daily horoscope emails?? Bigger question - what does this mean about my Zodiac compatibility? Also, I'm not ready to give up being a fire sign and the first sign of the Zodiac. No offense to Pisces, but I'm not keen on "constantly trying to adapt itself to its ever-changing feelings and to the moods and whims of other". I've spent my life ruled by Mars being "energetic, vibrant, and lively". They don't even have cool tattoo designs!

The New Signs:

Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16

Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11

Pisces: March 11-April 18

Aries: April 18-May 13

Taurus: May 13-June 21

Gemini: June 21-July 20

Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10

Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30

Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23

Scorpio: Nov. 23-29

Ophiuchus:* Nov. 29-Dec. 17

Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.
* Discarded by the Babylonians because they wanted 12 signs per year.

Cutting Edge

When I first saw this letter last night I thought it was fake...just look at it! Emotions were running high about LeBron and "the Decision to end all Decisions". This morning people seem to be reposting it so I guess that means it's real. LeBron going to the Miami Heat is lame, but the owner of the Cavs writing a letter in Comic Sans? Did he type this out in 1994? Good grief. Way to add insult to injury Cleveland.

Silly Bandz: The Silent Killer

Maybe from now on I'll just diss on other sites/news outlets' (is JOP a news outlet?) writing. Today's is an insane alarmist piece on (shocker) Fox News...about Silly Bandz!

“See these cute little bracelets? They’re called Silly Bandz, and I think they could potentially be harmful to children if they’re not careful...Dr. Manny was especially concerned for kids who wear numerous Silly Bandz for hours at a time, or even fall asleep at night with them on."

Hmm, food for thought. Speaking of food, I think the only way this could be any kind of problem (the issue is apparently that they could cut off your circulation temporarily)(shaking and crying over here, just thinking about it) is if your child is so morbidly obese that a rubber band is that tight on her/his wrists. Which...you got other problems, in that case.

Fake Problems

From kottke.org, which is a pretty good site.

I do always wonder how difficult life must be for some people if these things count as problems. Are they just clumsy? Or is my life just too easy?

Bad on bad on bad

Bad news, that is! Three of my favorite places in Raleigh are going to be gone within 2 months (max). I'm sad and mad about this.

1. Rockford. Closed suddenly yesterday! Rob and I had dinner there just on Saturday and it was great. I was so thankful for the cozy little second-story space and unpretentious servers and cheap sandwiches and drinks. So thankful, but I guess not thankful enough! CLOSED.

2. Jackpot. I had mixed feelings about this place and occasionally would hem and haw about going there; but like many fun things, I quit my complaining when I got there and would usually stay until closing time. Especially after the smoking ban! Lots of complaints about "hipsters," blah blah, but it was cheap there and you'd always run into someone you knew. And the music was good most of the time. And IHOP is right across the gravel parking lot! Closing "imminently."

3. Get Dressed! If you know Greensboro, it was a little like Design Archives but not as pricey and right across the street from the bead store, Ornamentea...aka perfect! I bought a lot of things there that I now wear weekly or even daily, like my favorite little silver-feathers ring. I hate that this place is closing. It's happening next month though, so there's still time to go. I bet the final sales will be amazing.

This is all sad partly because I enjoyed these places and partly because they gave Raleigh some needed character and community. Community is a "buzzword" these days but I don't know what else to call walking into a bar and knowing everyone in it.

One commenter on the blog where I read all my bad news lately, New Raleigh, wrote this and I have to agree. Well said, "Synaesthesiac":

It is ironic that many of the qualities that make a city a popular new area for growth get bulldozed to support that growth. It occurs because of a major disconnect between developers and the street level of culture. Rarely a developer like Empire bridges the gap. It is the cultural elements that help make the headlines, attracting both good growth as well as soulless capitalists. I always wondered what is the fundamental difference between the Glenwood South scene, Jackpot, and Fayetteville St. scenes. Some casual interviews revealed that the Glenwood South crowd is dominated by very recent relocees, often northerners, whereas the other spots are mostly North Carolinians. The out of towners move here because of the headlines, but aren’t properly sensitized to understand the culture once they arrive. They have no sentimentality about a place like Jackpot, and will pay to move in to some new condo without a wince. It is a sad but inevitable process.

Not to detract from Haiti relief, but I gotta talk about Twitter.

Let me level with you folks. I joined Twitter maybe a week ago and it's been rough going. That stuff is great for making fun of celebrities and being the "first" to know about viral videos, but as far as real-people go, it's horrible. Probably because none (1% ?) of the real people in my life are on it, so it's nowhere near as compelling/entertaining/wtf-ing as facebook. So this is me saying: are you on Twitter? Should I even bother?

The reason I think I should bother is because it's a big deal in my department. Twitter this, crowdsourcing that...honestly people, I think it's here to stay. If not in this version, then the next, but it's coming for us. If you're a heretofore anonymous reader and you follow me, I won't reveal your identity. And it won't be weird! Twitter isn't weird, right?!???

So what do you say? Surf into the future on the Twitter wave with me?

this time o' the year (continued)

[photo credit: Roche Roche's facebook]

This Post Is About College Football

Fair warning. You know what you're getting into JoP faithful.

Now, about Boise State. This is so radical, so important in the history of college football, and especially the BCS, that this next statement warrants its own paragraph.

Boise State can win the national championship.

Believe it. First they must win all of their games. They can do it. At the moment only three of their remaining opponents have winning records. But that Boise State could go 13-0 in the WAC is not the story.

This week the Broncos are ranked #5 in both polls that play a factor in the BCS, which determines who plays for the national championship. Number 5 is neither #1 nor #2. But ahead of them are 3 SEC teams. Alabama and LSU play each other this season. Whichever team wins could play Florida for the SEC championship, provided the Gators remain unscathed in their division.

This means that AT LEAST 2 teams ahead of Boise State MUST lose later this season. All they would need is for the third SEC team, or Texas, to lose once this season, at any time, to move into that #2 spot in the polls. This is how college football polling has always worked. You keep winning and you move up. No one ever passes you.

If it happens this year, it will be an all-time injustice. If Texas and the SEC champion are unbeaten, well that sucks too, but less badly. This season I'm rooting for Boise State, the ultimate underdogs.