(no subject)

I have rated the states of the USA in order of preference. Why? Because I'm odd that way. The states received weighted scores for access to movies, art, culture, scenery, hockey, food, weather, and intangables. There may be some changes as I tweak my numbers. Here's list v1.0:

1 Illinois 7.65
2 Michigan 7.12
3 Massachusetts 6.57
4 New York 6.00
5 Texas 5.66
6 Pennsylvania 5.40
7 Minnesota 5.37
8 Rhode Island 5.29
9 Oregon 5.06
10 Washington 4.95
11 Hawaii 4.75
12 Maryland 4.66
13 Wisconsin 4.66
14 North Carolina 4.62
15 Washington,D.C. 4.57
16 Colorado 4.54
17 Virginia 4.15
18 Connecticut 4.05
19 New Jersey 4.00
20 Missouri 3.97
21 Delaware 3.91
22 Vermont 3.77
23 California 3.69
24 New Hampshire 3.60
25 Maine 3.57
26 Arizona 3.11
27 Tennessee 2.82
28 Ohio 2.78
29 Indiana 2.74
30 New Mexico 2.35
31 Florida 2.31
32 Wyoming 2.20
33 Nevada 2.17
34 Louisiana 2.15
35 Alaska 1.98
36 Kentucky 1.97
37 Georgia 1.60
38 Oklahoma 1.15
39 South Carolina 1.05
40 Utah 0.83
41 Iowa 0.69
42 Arkansas 0.66
43 Kansas 0.18
44 Idaho -0.22
45 Nebraska -0.38
46 South Dakota -0.38
47 Alabama -0.78
48 West Virginia -0.82
49 Montana -1.02
50 Mississippi -1.11
51 North Dakota -1.11

If you didn't know, I live in Illinois and was born in Michigan. :)

(no subject)

I suck with trauma. If someone has just gone through a traumatic experience, or it they're just having generally pissy times, I don't know what to do. That explains why the only funeral I've ever gone to in my grandmother's. Anyway, when my friends are having bad times, I rely on a hug to make them feel better. Usually they're well-received, and damn it I'm a good hugger. But then there are my internet friends. How can I help them? i just want to wrap my arms around them and tell them that everything will be okay, but i can't. Yes, I can tell them that i love them and i can listen to their problems, but I really feel out of my element. Think time it's KM who seems to be having a rough patch with her family, and i hope knows that she is being hugged from afar. Everything will be okay.

I do have to say that I had a good handling of traumatic experience when my friend ruth's cat died. She'd had that cat for 12 years and it was a child to her. She cried when she had to give it shots, but she did everything she could do for that cat. Everyone knows someone who they would say "that cat/dog is like a member of the family". it's not LIKE a member of the family, it IS a member of the family. So when she sent an e-mail telling her friends that Cinnamon had died, I replied: "He had a long and happy life and never suffered from a deficiency of love, so perhaps he is to be envied in that respect." I was very happy that I managed to put my thoughts into words that well. may not seem like much, but Ruth was touched. Had I been forced to comfort her face-to-face, I would have frozen like a deer in headlights.

Speaking of people who suffered recent traumatic experience, I'm going out with Tish today, not as a "date" but just to keep her occupied. EXTREMELY bad weekend last weekend, so she deserves a good one. Of course, we're just going bowling, it's not really that exciting. Maybe she'll want to go to the local bar (The Greenleaf) and have a few beers, too. If she wants to, I will. I could use some dancing, too... it's been a while.

Ricky Schroeder is leaving NYPD Blue. He's really good on the show, and I really love the show, so I'm upset. They're replacing him with an actor from "Saved By the Bell". I should be kicking and screaming, but no one thought that Rick Schroeder would be any good, and he kicked all ass.

I had a great breakfast today. I didn't have it until 2pm, but it was still great. Bacon that i ate with maple syrup (a craving that I've had for a week since someone brought it up), eggs fried in the bacon grease and eaten on english muffins that absorb the yolk nicely, and some nice orange juice. The eggs formed that nice crispy crust that I just adore. And the orange juice had that orangey flavor i like so much.

malkavia keeps hitting me with a trout in #straightdope. I think she's hot for me.

On Pork Rinds

Pork rinds are a gift from the gods. I picture some butcher's apprentice guy in ancient times (the 1950's?) turning to his mentor asking what to do with the skin off of the hog. "Good question, son, and I've been trying to figure that out for some time. There must be something, but what?" The apprentice thought for a moment and asked "What if we cut them into squares and fried them in their own fat?" A new taste creation was born. That butcher's name? Leroy Something-or-other.

But all is not right with pork rinds. For one thing, they're made of pork. This, of course, means that my Conservative Jewish friends will never be able to enjoy said tasty snack treat without suffering eternal damnation and brimstone and shit. That would totally suck, so I do not condone the eating of pork rinds by any conservative Jews. But there must be a solution. I propose government funding of the snack food industry until such time as a kosher pork rind can be developed. We can no longer stand idly by and watch our conservative Jewish friends be deprived of tasty pork rind goodness! (Sapphy, when you get elected, work on that, okay?)