Ship's Blog: September, 2007

Yesterday I had to venture into the dusty Archives, the ones stowed away in the land of Deepest Darkest Garage. I was on a mission to find a greeting card that I remembered someone giving me in 1985, one that I will need for an upcoming blog entry.

Getting to it was no small feat. I had to push aside not only cobwebbed boxes but also yank out pale morning glory vines that were again twining their way through the dim light. (That's right; by the hammer of Thor, the vines are back.) I stomped and stretched to get to the box. A cricket skittered under a tool chest, startling me momentarily. But at last, I reached my goal: the box containing the 1972-1989 archives.  Read more »

Today, I am really feeling the love for New Scientist magazine. NS is a cutting-edge science publication out of the U.K. featuring breaking discoveries and opinions on all sorts of intriguing topics, from technology to biology to physics. It seems like in every issue, there's something that leads me to think, hmmm, if that's true, then what about this? What might this suggest about that other thing?

For a recreational thinker like me, NS is like a big box of Godiva chocolate truffles. Yum!  Read more »

I have never made a secret over the fact that I hate Wal-Mart. Absolutely hate it. I'm not a fan of their business practices and their stores, with that weird flickery-gray ambiance, feel like an assault on my sense of aesthetics. As a result, I stay away. Actually, I do more than stay away: I even signed a petition to stop them from building in my community. I dislike them that much.

This makes what happened all the more embarrassing. I, Alix North, hater of all things Wal-Mart, had a Wal-Mart shopping adventure. Not a shopping trip, but an adventure. Sigh.  Read more »

A month or so ago, Laurie Perry (aka Crazy Aunt Purl) wrote a blog post about Kim & Aggie, the Queens of Clean from How Clean is Your House. That reminded me that, hey, I like that show! Wanting to find any episodes I missed, I promptly set up my DVR to record the thrice-daily showings on BBC America. This would be fun!

I had no idea what I was starting.

For those who haven't seen the original British version of How Clean is Your House, here's how it goes. Kim and Aggie go to a filthy house somewhere in the U.K., usually one that is filled to the brim with clutter as well as dirt. With horror music as their accompaniment, they explore the mess in such a way as to leave no question about how little care the homeowner has taken. They push monster cobwebs to one side, stick their finger into a half inch of rancid fat in the kitchen, and sniff stained carpets and bedclothes in such a way as to make you shudder.  Read more »