was he sure pimping his article about shamrock shakes? sure.
did I mind? no.

Marcus, you can tweet or retweet me anytime!

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Oh and if Mickey D’s was only picking on the shamrock shake, then I’d be more upset, but it seems all the shakes got spiffed up with whipped cream & cherries…and frankly they need to go back to focusing on the triple-thick more than the extras.

This may not make up for my lack of blog-stardom but I just bought these shoes and somehow that makes me feel a lil better.

For the record here are the blogs I’ve been reading:

Candice Does The World
The Everywhereist

OK, I have many weird quirks.

But the one I personally find most enduring is my obsession with naming things. My car, my computer, my phone, plants, and people. I make up stupid words for things when I can’t think of the proper name (generally a lot of hand gestures are also involved here). Anytime I’m around nail polish, lipstick, blush, or makeup/beauty in general, I like to flip over the product and see what it’s called. In my purse now I have lipstick/glosses called: swoonderful, rose defile, and friends in high places. My favorite name out of that bunch is swoonderful – I wish I would have come up with it myself! I want to name lipstick and nail polish, paint colors, anything! How fun would that job be? You could be as silly as you want! It seems my desire to name things is shared by other people. I was this tweet from Bus2Antarctica …double sigh…because not only do I think that’s the perfect name for a crayola but I want to go to Cartagena too.

As a contributor for two different online magazines, I get solications, press releases, odd emails, and the like from tons of people….some creditable and some not.  I don’t post everything I get but they are a source of information and generally I don’t hide my source…but I’m not really an investigative reporter.  With all eyes on the travel industry- especially airport / airline security I think the goverment in being reactive instead of proactive.

Two travel bloggers have been subpoenaed over posting TSA security directives – Fishing With Fish Steven Frischling and Elliot.org Chris Elliot.  So far Steven have complied with the TSA and Chris has submitted an objection… it waits to be seen what will happen next.

I read a quote by Thomas Jefferson that says “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when thegovernment fears the people, there is liberty.”  I just don’t get this reactive mentality. Yes we need to ensure this doesn’t happen again but making people fear flying, fear traveling, fear blogging – this is not progress or change!

Since 9/11 there has been a significant increase in airport security and like most travelers, I get that this security dance we all do, is in many ways, a worthless. Security around the world varies, some have a more casual approach then others and as an outsider it all seems to work just as well.

Maybe because I’m more intune with the ongoings in the US that I see the TSA and other policies are just smoke & mirrors, giving the general public the mirage of safety…that they are doing something for you, that you need to rely on them. I don’t want to start sounding all government is bad, because it’s not. But I do think government under estimates the population….though sometimes for good reason.

I recall a time I was flying from Bozeman to Chicago (yes that same flight I mentioned last post that I thought we were literally going to fall out of the sky) that TSA made me cry. I fly frequently for business and generally pack really light for these trips. I asked at the hotel, as I always do, generally how long the security lines are — the lady at the front desk laughed and ask what time my flight was – it was 12:30, she told me to be at the airport by 12:15 and I’ll have time to stop for a cup of coffee before boarding. She wasn’t kidding, the security line was all of one person deep…and I apparently set-off all sorts of red flags – I forgot to remove the small bottle of hotel lotion from my bag, then I was scolded for not declaring my inhaler (I didn’t realize asthma was a federal issue) but the real kicker was— my pepper spray. I took my pepper spray to Israel and never once was questioned about that…but in Bozeman, it was such an issue that they almost arrested me for it. Why? Because I asked why! I said I had traveled through many major airports and it had never been questioned…so I never thought it was an issue. I was told if I “gave anymore lip” they’d have the deputy arrest me and then they informed that “they don’t know where I travel” but in Bozeman they take national security serious. uhm. Yah I’m pretty sure JFK, ORD, LAX, and DIA could careless about national security, I’m very happy that the Bozman TSA are taking things seriously. They took my pepper spray and wouldn’t even me back the handy like holster I had it in…which I thought was very rude.

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update: apparently DIA does care – I flew through DIA on 1/12 and had my second pepper spray confiscated…I didn’t ask questions this time.  I must learn to pack it in my carry on.

The movie is Youth in Revolt and it stars Michael Cera and Portia Doubleday. I went to a screening last night…funny, awkward guys are the best.

There is a lil singing about 1/3 of the way through the clip.

Clips from Q & A session after Youth in Revolt

I’m happy –so I shop. I’m sad –so I shop. Events, birthdays, meetings, new months, new seasons, whatever — I shop. And sometimes I shop because I saved money. If I go to the grocery store and plan to spend $75 but I only end up spending $50, I’ll take that $25 and buy new earrings.

So today when the dude at the Genius Bar told me he’d fix my laptop for free, I almost made out with him, but then I took that money “saved” and blew it at H&M on tons of accessories.

In college I took Greek as my foreign language…and not modern Greek, Ancient Greek. Why? Because I was a borderline geek and took Latin in highschool. I was never stellar in Greek and I was pretty sure my professor hated me, but I still loved the class. Even though my ability to read & translate Greek have fallen by the wayside, I do still “write” in Greek. I write my notes, especially personal-just getting-my-thoughts-on-paper notes by writing the greek equilveant for a roman letter (or as best as it can fit) so the word “all” I would write alpha lambda lambda and so on. It makes me feel less conscious about getting my feelings and thoughts out in public because who is really going to take the time to decode my stuff?

I’m sure when I’m famous and have gone crazy, people will go bonkers for these greekish notes.