Sorority Girls from HELL!!!!

Yeah, I know that The Other Matt posted this before ... but Scott introduced me to this years ago and rediscovered on YouTube, so I just gotta share it ...

My favorite lines:

• "She wore her nylons backwards - which is REAL tough to do"
• "She put the pin through her skirt, through her leg, then back through her skirt again"
• "Please - no more!!!!"
• "She was real smart, she could see around corners and stuff"
• "Leave me alone, I've done nothing to you!"
• "Dun - DAAH DA, dun - DAAH DA!"
• "'Cause that's how you walk when you're gonna kill somebody"
• "Are the mussels fresh?"

Enjoy.

Yeah, I'm a big softy ...

I saw this a few days ago and almost posted the video, but somehow I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

It's about a serviceman who has been in Iraq the past seven month returning home to Washington State, so it was all over the Seattle news stations. His 6-year-old son didn't know his Dad was coming home, and his Dad surprised him by showing up at his school.

Just the beginning - of the son running to his Dad's arms - had me crying. Literally. I showed it to Scott, and he got all teary, too.

I'll make my opinion clear (for those who don't know it already): we should not be in Iraq. We should never have gone. We need to get out. But, I have respect for our troops who are there. They are doing what our Commander in Chief ordered. It wasn't the troops idea, they are just doing their job, and admirably. That's what they have sworn to do, and I would never argue that.

I'm glad this little guy gets to hug his Dad again ...

A heartfelt obituary

Dance Inventor Dies

What with all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the almost unnoticed death, recently, of a very important person. Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote the Hokey-Pokey died peacefully at home. He was 93.

According to a reputable source, the well-known participatory dance became popular in the USA during the 1950's. It originated in 1949, when Larry LaPrise, Charles Macak, and Tafit Baker created it as a entertaining novelty for the ski crowd at Idaho's Sun Valley resort. The trio were granted the copyright for an accompanying song in 1950, and Ray Anthony's big band recording turned the song and dance into a nationwide sensation. Hokey-Pokey appeared on the B side of Anthony's Bunny Hop single.

Hokey-Pokey has virtually the same lyrics as the Hokey-cokey, a song and novelty dance which had been popular in England since the mid-1940s. In addition to the lyrics, the two songs also share similar dance moves. Specific body parts are named; these are sequentially put into the ring, taken out of the ring, and finally wiggled around manically inside the ring.

There's a wonderful, summertime connection. Hokey-Pokey is New Zealand's national ice cream flavor: crunchy toffee in vanilla. In England, Hokey-Pokey is a traditional name for ice cream, probably originating from the Italian vendors who peddled their wares shouting, Ecco un poco ("Try a little...").

LaPrise's funeral was private, attended mostly by family and close acquaintances. The most traumatic part was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in ... and, well, you know ...

George W. Bush re-enters the corporate world ...

April Fools' Day

My partner Scott is a big prankster (as you may have guessed). He pretty much lives for April Fools' Day. When I got up this morning, he had switched the right- and left- button functions on my mouse, and switched my keyboard to Dvorak (which makes everything you type come out oh so very very wrong). He put a big rubber cat (one of our Halloween decorations) in the refrigerator. He asked me what was all over my feet (yes, I looked down). He put a Mrs. Miller CD in my car stereo so it would play when I started the car, rather than my usual NPR station. He put together a "Microwave Use Tracking Form" to put up at work, asking people to log what they heated, when, and for how long (he worked today - I can't wait to hear if anyone actually logged their microwave usage).

I had planned on doing the mouse-button thing to him, but he beat me to it. I still did it today - although I'm sure he's expecting it when he gets home. I wish my mind was as creative as his.

Since I listen to NPR a lot, I love their April Fools' Day posts. This is my favorite, from last year - about how maple trees in New England explode when they're not tapped. It's so deadpan, you think it's a real news story at first. And here's this year's story - not as good (in my opinion) but still pretty funny.