Category Archives: Favorite Thing of the Day

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I love you, Robot Johnny

I’m a Blogsliner. Plain and simple. I’m not as savvy with the computer as people seem to think so as RSS feeds go I pick the nice cotton candy way to view my favorite sites. A couple of my favorites that I frequent are:
-the obvious Dooce, who I think is brilliantly funny and sometimes I think is just me in some parallel universe
–The Sneeze who wins me over with his occasional experimental eating entries
-and finally Robot Johnny who participates in Illustration Friday, but also seems clever and cute and I think I want to meet him.

Today Robot Johnny shared something wonderful with me. Well, okay he shared it with the Internet, but I felt like he was speaking to me. He has finally found something he’s been searching years for and I had even rooted him on from my Pacific Northwest perch hoping he would be successful in finding his Holy Grail. Library Thing [dot] com.

My sister, Maddy, used to have all her books catalogued in a steno pad and she made me a library card so I could check books out from her. I may have already referenced this in an old blog entry, but even then I racked up late fees. A nickel here and there sure adds up when you’re 8 years old.

So Mad, check out this site. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if we had this back then? I know it was only 1984 and we didn’t even have a computer yet (or maybe we already had our IBM PCjr and were programming simple games with 10 think of a color 20 type color 30 if red go to 40… What is that, BASIC?) but wouldn’t Library Thing have been a much easier way to track your little sister’s overdue items?

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Bright Copper Kettles

As a little girl my dad was away on cruise a lot (for you non-military brats, this means he was off on the USS Enterprise for months on end, flying his A-6 on and off the ship, cruising around some ocean somewhere, with ports in exotic lands from which he would send me postcards) so up until I was 7 years old I was used to my mom putting me to bed and bringing me water every time I yelled for her (which was usually at least three times a night). When my dad would be home for a stint here and there it was always a bit disconcerting to call for water and have him bring me a glass. Here was this man I had yet to form a relationship with coming into my dark room telling me I should really be asleep. Yes Sir, Daddy.

Luckily, it turned out my dad was not the drill sergeant father I feared him to be and over time I started to look forward to him putting me to bed. At a certain point he stopped having to go away on the ship and we got to have him home all the time. Occasionally when he would put me to bed he would come in and tuck the sheets in tight around me and tell me, “Close your eyes and pretend your camping in a forest somewhere and you can hear the sounds of nature all around you and it’s beginning to rain. Listen to the rain pattering on the tops of the trees and the tent and you are all snug and warm in your sleeping bag.” I loved this. The sound of rain was always something I liked or maybe this is what started that love for rain. Sometimes he would describe us as being in the back of a truck with a canopy covering us and the rain sounding tin-like on the roof. He didn’t do this every night, but I can even remember a couple times in high school when he came in to make sure I was going to bed and would reenact this tucking in routine.

To this day, I love the sound of rain. Currently I’m working at a clinic where there is a giant skylight over the nursing station. And when I say skylight I really mean the entire ceiling is like the pyramids at the Louvre. It’s been raining here in Spokane and around 3pm each day I sit in one of the Nurse’s chairs and close my eyes as the rain beats down above us. There are moments you can’t hear each other speak because it is so loud. And I think it might be the most peaceful thing in my life right now.

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Bright Copper Kettles

After a regrettably pathetic drunk display a few weekends ago, I was feeling like a vessel of poison. After wandering around the store looking for the Ruby Red Grapefruit Tea already featured as a Favorite, I discovered Triple Leaf Detox Tea. It sounded divine, even if it is a crock of shit.

Things it claims:

  • Supports healthy function of the liver, kidneys, lungs, and blood.
  • Cleanses your body of toxins
  • Promotes clear, healthy skin.
  • Increases the flow of energy (chi) to the body and mind, thereby promoting calmer, more positive and peaceful emotions.


I’m still waiting for the positive emotions to kick in, but maybe that’s how Bright Copper Kettles was born since I started this feature post-detox tea purchase.

Truth be told, I love the flavor and it definitely doesn’t make me feel any worse. I’ve always figured if I like something and it’s supposed to be good for me, whether it really has a positive effect on my health or not, it can’t hurt. I’ve started almost every morning with it for the last two weeks.

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Bright Copper Kettles

This may look like I’m into gimmicks, but it’s not totally like that. I had the pleasure of visiting the Celestial Seasonings Factory in Boulder, Colorado. Those who know me well, know that I love factories. I blame Mr. Rogers. I have clear memories of him taking us to factory after factory, watching straws or crayons being made and packaged. I always felt giddy watching the machines do what seemed impossible! How could the machine know how to wrap the crayon or cut the straw? Don’t we need people to do this? Little did I know that the very thing that wowed me about these factories was putting thousands of people out of work. Why didn’t Mr. Rogers ever tell us that? Well, Fred? I wonder if when he passed away he had to go through some conveyer-belt-like-factory to get his ass up to heaven? I wish I could draw because I have a lot of comic strips always going on in my head.

Man, I always get side-tracked. So there I was at the Celestial Seasonings Factory, wiping tears from my eyes from visiting the Peppermint Tea room, and we get handed sample upon sample of tea. The Metabo Partner Tea tastes like Ruby Red Grapefruit only not as acidic. I bought some and all last summer made ice tea out of it. It was the perfect summer drink. I highly recommend it. Now the problem is, good luck finding it in a store. You’ll have to order it online. Enjoy!

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Bright Copper Kettles

For those who don’t recognize the reference, I’m starting an entry for my Favorite Things as I either discover them or rediscover them. Not to mention that I just love saying “bright copper kettles.” copper kettles, copper kettles, copper kettles. I mean we have three types of linguistic stops in there. We have the labial ‘p’ and the alveolar ‘t,’ but that Velar Stop of the ‘c’ and ‘k’ feels amazing. You know I used to think I liked glottal friction the best (i.e. “uh-oh”) but I realized it’s the word “glottal” that I actually like, thereby glottal stops being my favorite, as in ‘bottle’ or as indicated before ‘glottal.’ Hmm….it’s been years since I took a linguistics class and I’ve probably gotten all this wrong, but I digress.

I just realized that my first entry sort of screams of my older sisters and me. The alcohol represents Maddy, the Starbucks represents Marie, and the adding of fattening cream or milk and drinking too much of it represents me (I’m a walking deadly sin). A true family delight.

Starbucks Coffee Liqueur and milk over ice. (Soy milk will do, for you Vegans) It’s like a white russian, sans vodka.