This One Goes Out to Emily and Peter: A documentary about the National Scrabble Championship is winning at Sundance. I especially like their tagline-- "This is not your grandmother's Scrabble." How much more perfect does it get?

Shameless Plug: My cousin Adam's blog, which is almost alwasy very funny, made me laugh out loud today. Had to share. Anyone who is in NYC should go catch him at one of his comedy shows...something I need to do soon too.

Party Time Friday Five:
- How many parties will you go to this weekend? Three! A game night birthday party, a baby shower, and the annual Oscar party!
- When was your last "office party"? Last night. We went out to drinks at the Muddy Charles (MIT bar where a PITCHER of beer is $6) to celebrate/mourn the last day of a co-worker.
- When was the last party at your house? My Super Bowl Party. Did I mention that the Pats won?
- What is your political party? Hard core Democrat.
- If you could party like it was any year (as in "Party like its 1999") what year would you chose? 2110. Don't know what that would look like...but I bet it would be cool.

Blasphemy!: A Yankee's fan has won the rights to rename the Fleet Center after Der*k J#ter! Oh dear!

Wanta Take A Ride in A.J.'s Taxi? A fun shot from the Venice (California) Canals 

A Belated Super Bowl Victory Shot (Kevin E., Laura, Karen, Justin, Amy, Emily, Brandon, Kevin C, Me, Peter) 

No Wonder I Became a Sex Educator: My parents send me sex jokes...Here is a selection...
"Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand." ---Woody Allen
"Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake a whole relationship."-- Sharon Stone
"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." --Jack Nicholson
"Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is." --Barbara Bush (Former US First Lady, and you didn't think Barbara had a sense of humor)
"Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place." --Billy Crystal
"According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, where, of course, men are just grateful." --Robert De Niro
"There's very little advice in men's magazines, because men think, 'I know what I'm doing. Just show me somebody naked'." --Jerry Seinfeld
"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time." --Robin Williams
" It isn't premarital sex if you have no intention of getting married." --George Burn

Just What We Need: I spent many a hour at the (im)famous Mall of America while I was in college at Macalester. Triple Five of Minnesota Inc. plans to double the size of the Mall of America, the largest US shopping center, at a cost of more than $1 billion. The plans, presented to city officials in Bloomington, Minn., where the 520-store mall is located, include the addition of a casino, department stores, boutiques, and restaurants, closely held Triple Five said in a statement. Included in the expansion will be a hotel with themed rooms including an igloo room and a Hawaiian room; a concert center; a hockey rink for public skating and ice shows; and a canal with gondolas surrounded by dancing fountains, Triple Five said.

MIT in the Globe...TWICE: Today's Globe reports that MIT will soon announce the creation of a biological engineering major, the first of its kind, much as it was a pioneer in the areas of creating chemical engineering and electrical engineering. They also report that the new head of the MIT Museum (of which I get free admission) is looking to majorly revolutionize hwo it is seen at MIT and beyond.

Sunday Blahs Revisited: Thanks to Miss Em for sending me this article from the Wall Street Journal about grown ups (even those who like their jobs) having the Sunday blahs. In middle school I would often throw up because I was so stressed about school (thanks again for sitting with me all those evenign Dad) and I still often have trouble "turning off my brain" on Sunday nights. (As discussed in a recent Friday Five as well.)

Apple Falls Far From the Tree: The daughter of conservative Republican Alan Keyes referred to herself Monday as a "liberal queer" and urged support for gay and lesbian young people who have been deserted by their families.

Adult Content Warning: Savage Love, one of my favorite guilty pleasures, had a particularly funny letter today. (For those of you who don't know, Savage Love is an sex/sexuality advice column which is fantastic.) Here is the question from this week's column.
I have a question regarding medication transference in semen. My husband is currently taking ...But I need to know if his medications could transfer to me during sex, and if so, would it react with the medication... I know with intercourse, chances are slim that there would be any problems, but I give my husband a blow-job at least once a day, very often twice, and I do swallow his semen. (By the way, we have been married 31 years.)
a) At least one blowjob once a day?!?!
b) After being married 31 years?!?!
I hope my sex life is that good when I am married 31 years!

Quick Update: Back from five days in California (San Diego and LA). Had a great time, events went well, meetings went well, saw Judi and Paul which was great. Ate good food. Travel was easy. Weather was medium (poured for one whole day). Got home last night.

Had to Share the Whole Damn Thing: The following are all replies that Dallas women have written on ChildSupport Agency forms in the section for listing father's details. Or putting it another way..... Who's yo Daddy? These are genuine excerpts from the forms. (so they say..amusing even if they are made up)
1. Regarding the identity of the father of my twins, child A wasfathered by Jim Munson. I am unsure as to the identity of the fatherof child B, but I believe that he was conceived on the same night.
2. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my child as I wasbeing sick out of a window when taken unexpectedly from behind. I canprovide you with a list of names of men that I think were at the partyif this helps.
3. I do not know the name of the father of my little girl. She wasconceived at a party at 3600 Grand Avenue where I had unprotected sexwith a man I met that night. I do remember that the sex was so goodthat I fainted. If you do manage to track down the father, can yousend me his phone number? Thanks.
4. I don't know the identity of the father of my daughter. He drives aBMW that now has a hole made by my stiletto in one of the door panels.Perhaps you can contact BMW service stations in this area and see ifhe's had it replaced.
5. I have never had sex with a man. I am still a Virginian. I amawaiting a letter from the Pope confirming that my son's conceptionwas immaculate and that he is Christ risen again.
6. I cannot tell you the name of child A's dad as he informs me thatto do so would blow his cover and that would have cataclysmicimplications for the economy. I am torn between doing right by you andright by the country. Please advise.
7. I do not know who the father of my child was as all blacks look thesame to me.
8. Peter Smith is the father of child A. If you do catch up with him,can you ask him what he did with my AC/DC CDs? Child B who was alsoborned at the same time....well I don't have a clue.
9. From the dates it seems that my daughter was conceived at DisneyWorld; maybe it really is the Magic Kingdom.
10. So much about that night is a blur. The only thing that I rememberfor sure is Delia Smith did a program about eggs earlier in theevening. If I'd have stayed in and watched more TV rather than goingto the party at 146 Miller Drive, mine might have remainedunfertilized.
11. I am unsure as to the identity of the father of my baby, after allwhen you eat a can of beans you can't be sure which one made you fart.

Priorities!: Ok, how dare I post something, anything, before writting about my World Champion New England Patriots! YEAH! The parade is tomorrow, so I actually might be able to slip out of work at lunch! (The last two times if was VERY cold, and I thought I would be in CA for this one) YEAH PATS! What a year for Boston sports!

Preemptive (and Proscribed) Friday (Monday) Five: Not only will I be out of town for this week's FF, but Major Mocha has just "tagged" me with these questions I am supposed to answer:
1. What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
Zero! I haven't gotten into this music downloading thing.
2. What was the last CD you bought?
It was a long time ago...I think a Becky Chace Band CD. The last CD I acquired was a holiday mix care of DJ Jeff, all the way from Germany!
3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
Carolina in My Mind (James Taylor) as I was driving into work.
4. List 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
I Will Survive, Blackbird, Imagine, That's What Friends Are For, and Mary's Place (the Boss)
5. To whom will you pass the stick and why?
My blog readers...because then I don't have to pick!

They Had Me at the Headline: "Blowout bowl: Ten reasons the Patriots will rout the Eagles"...GO PATS!

TGIF Friday Five: (Explanation should be abundantly clear)
- What are you doing tonight? Nothing much planned...just as I desire! I will pull together some dinner from the fridge/freezer and watch some of the DVD's I have from Netflix. I will straighten up a few things too, as I am having people over on Sunday for the Big Game (not that I would only clean up because people are coming over)
- On the scale of 1-10, how stressful was your week? I would say a 6. In terms of comparing this week to recent times, it is an 8, but I must admit that things have been pretty calm as of late. Several details of my London event are not falling into place, I am trying to wrap things up before my trip to the West Coast next week, and I am (completely voluntarily) trying to support a friend during a hard week.
- Where will you be next Friday? Los Angeles! Yeah! I will actually start the day in San Diego...go to Pasadena for lunchtime, and end the day in LA.
- When you hear the expression TGIF, does the "g" stand for Goodness, God, Goddess, or something else? Goodness.
- What is your favorite day of the week? I used to have sooo much anxiety on Sundays (often even becoming physically ill when in middle school) but now I think it is my favorite day. It is often the only day of the week that I sorta sleep in, I love reading the Sunday paper, I sometimes have fun plans during the day, and seem to just be in a good state of mind on Sunday. However, I still sometimes have trouble falling asleep on Sundays, as I begin to anticipate and plan for the week...all as I lay in bed.

Horray!: For everyone who did something brave today, I salute you. Be proud of yourself.

Mini Tantrum: Why are almost all of my favorite shows in repeats this week, and last week too for that matter?!?!?! Ok, done.