Keen Marketing Insight

Joelle said during happy hour on May 7, 2008

Hire us. We know stuff.

Kathy: if they really want something mainstream they’ll have to ditch the stroke and go all soft focus n’ shit

Joelle: can I quote you on that?

I’ve Got My Boots… Dusty.

Joelle said at some point on May 10, 2008

I’m in Dallas right now visiting my friend and former roommate Nikki. I’m so happy to see her!  I realized I hadn’t seen her in almost five years, so it was high time I took a visit to the land of Bless Your Heart.

So far, I’ve gone to a Cuban restaurant and had the most delicious rum punch I’ve EVER had (red wine, silver rum, spiced rum, pineapple juice, splash of pina colada mix on the rock — mmmmmm!) It was vacation in a glass.  I’ve also been to Target, watched Pride and Prejudice (GFI will be happy to hear that, you know how I feel about corsety period romances), loved on a big fat cat, and the biggest golden retriever I’ve ever seen named Freethrow.

Last night, we went to this “club” called Sting.  I couldn’t possibly express how LAME this place was.  It was one of those club complexes where they’ve got a main dance club, a billiards rooms, a lounge, a restaurant and supposedly… a karaoke bar.  That place was bizarre.  The bus girls kept trying to take our vodka-tonics and they brought us the wrong order of appetizers and never gave us silverware or napkins. And the drinks!  Judas priest!  Heika ordered a vodka-red bull and it was $9.50. NINE FIFTY.  What the hell?  Turns out the one night they didn’t have karaoke, even though it was scheduled on the calendar, was last night.  Hmph!  I didn’t want to sing for you fools anyway.

We left and this friend of Nikki’s, Monk, directed us (us being Nikki, Heika (you may remember her as Macgeezel), Nikki’s friends K. and Monk) to a dive bar in a seedy area. From the outside, we were like, “hmmmm… I don’t know about this.” but once we opened the door, I knew this was MY kind of place.  It was a dive, full of happy, smiling, karaoke-fun havin’ folks.  It was a really good time.  The book didn’t have a lot of the songs I sing, but I found some stuff. I sang… um… “Last Dance” by Donna Summer (the place went NUTS!), “Since I Fell for You” by Lenny Welch, “Someone to Watch Over Me” (which ended up sucking because it was SO high) and then the karaoke host chose a song for me. Ready?  Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles”. I know. I was surprised, too.  It actually wasn’t bad, but during the bridge, I stepped on the mic cord and pulled it right out of the base of the mic.  Rock n’ roll, baby!  heh.

We left at last call, but Nikki convinced the karaoke guy to have me sing “Crazy” by Patsy Cline because she loves that song so much.  I don’t love singing that song, but only because at karaoke someone usually has already put it up or it’s just beaten to death.  But she really loves it and I do like the song itself, so I did.  I got off easy, actually, she wanted me to sing “The Rose”.  hehe!  (When we lived together, she’d make me sing that song to her as we went to bed when we’d come home from a night out..  She loves it!  I personally find it the most depressing song, but who am I do dampen her happiness?)

That bar was great, though. What a crowd!  Everything from khaki-wearing frat boys to overdressed chicks (that would be us) to your typical seedy-dive bar types to the dudes from Medieval Times. I’m totally serious.  The jouster guys were there… though not in full regalia. That would have been too beautiful to express.

Today, we’re enjoying some hair of the dog (or Nikki is, anyway… silly vodka!) down at JR’s in the gayborhood. It’s my favorite place in this town and I’m so excited to see my fave bartender Stephen.  It’ll be the same folks from last night and hopefully anyone else I know in Dallas who happens to read this.  (Raven, I sent you a text, did you get it?)

There will be hardly any photos from this trip because I forgot not only my laptop cord, but my phone charger AND my camera.  I am so full of awesome!

Ok, I better go get in the shower and prepare for more Texas.  Yee haw, y’all.

Eugene Sparkelschitz and the Orgasmic Chicken

Joelle said at some point on May 13, 2008

So I had this post all typed out in the wee hours of Sunday morning, while still feeling the effects of Saturday, but right as I finished it, my laptop powered down and I, forgetting my laptop cord at home, lost the whole thing.  @#$%!  I haven’t had the mojo to rewrite it until now.

Anyway, Saturday started with us rallying around 1pm and hitting JR’s Bar and Grille, my usual hangout when I’m in town. My favorite bartender, Stephen, works on Saturdays, so Heika, Nikki, and her friends Kelly, Monk and I all decided we needed a relaxed afternoon of cocktailing after that hard night of karaoke we put in Friday. After laying some ground work with some burgers (I love their turkey burgers), the cocktails commenced!  And we were having a really good time, too.  Our original plan was just to go for a few drinks, hang out, then go home and watch movies, but we were having so much fun, we decided to throw caution to the wind and go the distance.

I was sticking with something simple, mandarin vodka and tonics, but somewhere around 4:30 or 5pm these shots called “pineapple upside down cake” started appearing and well.... one or more of the following may or may not have happened through the course of the evening:

• A glittery purple unicorn, which Heika won from a claw machine, and who we named Eugene Sparkelschitz, was defiled with various lewd gestures by a table of fabulous gay men then worn on my head as a hat.
• A screaming hot pink giant feather boa magically appeared around my neck (thanks to Heika), which I then sported like Mae West for the rest of the night.
• I danced. 
• Really unfortunate photo booth pictures.
• Hoola hoops and lesbians.

Oh, and in case I wasn’t clear, JR’s is a gay bar. I probably should have mentioned that bit.  And after Stephen’s shift ended at 7:30, we took the party down to Sue Ellen’s, the girl bar around the corner.

Heika had busted out her homemade hoola-hoops, which are really quite cool, taped up with sparkling tape and whatnot.  She’s really good at hooping,too! So was Kelly… she was a natural. I, on the other hand, made a valiant effort to get my swerve on, only to be rewarded with the “ka-thunka-thunk” of the hoop hitting the ground.  I think there needs to be more hooping in my future, though… only good things can come from that motion. 

Everyone in Sue’s seemed to love the hoops, too.  There was such a cross-section of people swinging the hoops on the dance floor… butch lesbians, gay men, poorly-constructed transvestites, sorority girls who were “just experimenting”, you know… the whole lot.  I think Heika should sell them to the local clubs, I bet people would love it.  It was fun!

I think the best part of the evening was that we were all just really cutting loose, something I desperately needed to do.  And gloriously, no one went to that dark place that sometimes happens when you’ve knocked back a few too many. Everyone just danced and laughed and had a great time… and I loved how Nikki and her friends just embraced the environment, even though that wouldn’t normally have been their scene. Nikki commented the next day that she loved how the day unfolded, it was just so random.  So I was happy they enjoyed themselves and it was great to spend time with all of them.

As I said before, I was feeling the effects the next morning, but I had a flight home on Sunday afternoon.  After packing, all the girls headed out to this place called Babe’s Chicken. 

Oh my gravy.  Literally.  Every single time I go to Dallas now, I must go back to Babe’s. That was seriously the best smoked chicken I’ve ever had ever in the history of maybe ... well, ever.  And the biscuits (buttermilk rolls, not cookies!) were… wait, what did Heika say?  Oh, they were “insane”.  Indeed. Insane.  The mashed potatoes, the green beans, the corn, the honey… *faint*.  Seriously, best southern comfort food I’d had in a long time. Needless to say, I passed out in a food coma on the plane.

I forgot a billion important things on my trip in addition to my laptop cord… like my phone charger and my camera.  Fortunately, I picked up a phone charger at Target and at least had my camera phone to take some shots.  I think Monk took a ton of photos, so hopefully he’ll share them with me so I can have some documentation from this past weekend.  I have a feeling there are things I don’t remember…

I can’t imagine why. *looks shifty*

Drawer Etiquette

Joelle said in the early morning on May 14, 2008

Do you fold your underwear?  I’m just curious.  I’ve never really been a big underwear folder, though, in my defense, I’ve not had any bureaus or dressers in which to keep them folded for a decade. They’ve been living in various storage trunks and Rubbermaid yard-sale post-college contraptions.  I decided to become a grown-up, so I recently bought some chests of drawers for my bedroom.  And I have since discovered I’m ambivalent about how to handle my unmentionables.

Folding seems like such a hassle. They’re not that big. I’m not a thong-wearer (though I do own one or two for some unknown reason), but it’s not like they’re grandma’s bloomers, for pete’s sake.  Yet, I noticed this weekend when I packed for my trip that when I folded my panties, I was able to fit more stuff in my suitcase, which leads me to believe the same applies to my drawer.

When I finally got my dresser and started to put away my clothes for the first time. I realized that my panty population had exploded like Mogwai after midnight and I had far, far, far more panties than one woman should really own. And not broken down, thread bare, saggy-butt panties, either.  Decent knickers!  Some lacey, some comfortable. Sexy ones, even… but many. Oh, so many.  Huh.  Where did they all come from?!

I suppose I could thin the herd a bit and toss the ones I don’t like/wear, but then after that… what? Fold?  No fold?  Just throw them in to mingle with the one-off socks and the get-lucky lingerie?

*sigh* Being a grown-up is hard.

Holy Havarti

Joelle said during happy hour

Kathy came online after wrangling Reilly into bed and her greeting went a little like this:

Kathy: christ!

Joelle: yes, my child?

(pause)

Kathy: what is the meaning of life?

Joelle: cheese.

Kathy: totally...

I realize this isn’t riveting, but we’re easily amused. Oh, by the way, look over here.

The Moxie Girls Summer Cocktail Contest!

Joelle said in the early morning on May 15, 2008

Well, we’ve finally done it!  We finally got around to relaunching our website. This design was in the works for a long time, but we just never had a spare moment. While we loved our Air Moxie Girls in aqua and pink, it was time for something a little different.  We’ll also be launching two more sites this year that will be full our usual bold color choices, so don’t fret if you’re missing our other colors.

When we initially designed this, it was when the trend was in the throes of the “horizontal, web 2.0, let’s make everything really big and use charcoal gray a lot” phase.  We decided we didn’t want that, but did want to bring a slightly more sophisticated look, hence the yummy chocolate plum-ish color.  We call this Moxie-a-Go-Go and we’re having some fun with it.  You can read more about our new site on our blog, which now is open for comments.

What I wanted to tell you about is our Summer Cocktail Contest.  It’s not really a contest, per se. It’s more of a drawing, but there are prizes to be had, regardless.  You can read all about it here on our blog, but here’s the scoop:

Grand Prize Winner will receive:

• A Cosmo Caddy, which includes a cocktail shaker, 4 cosmo glasses and a retro-esque carrier valued at $55.00 courtesy of LiquidPlanet.com
• A signed copy of The IT Girls Guide to Blogging with Moxie!
• A tube of Jaqua Hand Creme (flavor may vary!)

Two Runners-Up Winners will receive:

• A signed copy of The IT Girls Guide to Blogging with Moxie!
• A tube of Jaqua Hand Creme (flavor may vary!)

Here’s how to enter:

• Send us your favorite Summer cocktail recipe… your tried-and-true, your awesome party punch, your blended fruit favorites… whatever!  Send us your favorite Summer-themed cocktail recipes.  Drink recipes must include at least three (3) main ingredients (Garnish doesn’t count!  No rum and coke with limes you sneaks!) For extra credit, include a recipe for a “pairing”, or a tasty snack to go with your cocktail.  You can get even *more* extra credit by posting your entry on your blog and sending us the link.
• Then, send an email with the subject “Moxie Girls Summer Cocktail Contest!” in the subject line to .  Please include your full name (and nickname for announcement purposes if you would like to remain private) and a full address where your prizes will be sent.
• One entry per person.  You can get an extra entry into the contest if you include the aforementioned “pairing” or snack idea.  Like a 2-fer!  Make it a 3-fer by posting your recipe on your blog and linking back to our entry here. If you blog it, be sure to include the link to your entry in your submission so we know to give you an extra chance.  That’s up to three chances to win!  Winners will be drawn at random.

The winner(s) will receive full credit in our blog postings and mad kudos for their win, but any and all submissions become property of The Moxie Girls™ and we reserve the right to reprint, rename, or modify original recipes at our discretion for future use.  Trademarked and/or copywritten recipes submitted must contain the source of the recipe in order for it to be considered. Multiple entries, or entries missing information will be disqualified so make sure you include your recipe, name and address!

Contest will end at midnight EST June 6, 2008, so please have all entries in by then and we’ll announce the winners on our blog on Monday, June 9, 2008.

So there you have it!  We hope you’ll submit your ideas. And tell a friend, maybe they’ll want to get in on it, too!

Next up, Put Down the Donut…

Retouch My Body

Joelle said before her coffee on May 16, 2008

I saw this on Daniel’s blog, ...was I there?, this morning.  Even if you’ve never heard Mariah’s new song, “Touch My Body”, (which I personally don’t feel is all that, creatively, but then I’m not a Mariah fan) it’s still pretty funny.

The Matrix Loaded

Joelle said around mid-afternoon on May 17, 2008

Whenever I say the name of this car, I expect two things: someone will make a crack about Keanu knowing Kung Fu or similar or that Duran Duran will jump out from behind something and start doing a bastardized rendition of The Reflex.  These are the things that go on in my head from moment to moment.

I bought this car today.   It’s a 2009 Toyota Matrix and she’s red and I like her a lot.  I’m also quite proud of my haggling. I brought mikey with me because I didn’t want to get bamboozled. Not that I couldn’t hack it myself, but car salespeople are professional manipulators (no offense to any car-slingin’ readers I might have) and there is safety in numbers. I would have brought GFI, too, but she’s in Panama getting tan.

I’m honestly surprised it only took 3.5 hours. Normally a car purchase is an all-day affair, but this was a cakewalk.  I went in knowing what I wanted and I have to say, the folks at Mossy Toyota, especially Theresa, were really helpful.  She had all the cars and/or colors I said I was interested in, with the appropriate features, ready for me to test drive when I got there.  And when I refused to budge from my deposit amount (I had a number, people, and I wasn’t paying a penny more!), she and her GM were more than willing to get it down to my number without changing my monthly rate.

I did end up leaving with a higher monthly than I’d planned, but not by that much. I also managed to get a quote and purchase my car insurance online myself while I waited so I didn’t have to use their 30-day highfalutin oh-my-god-that’s-expensive temporary insurance.  Though, since e-surance didn’t have the 2009 models in their system yet, I did end up having to get on the horn with someone. But I daresay, even Justin at e-surance was pleasant and made parting with my money as smooth as possible.  And my payments were less than I thought because someone out there thinks I’m a good driver. 

Anyway, for those interested in the specs and whatnot, I’ll direct you to the Matrix S trim and specs, but those interested in the bling and how cute it is, it’s got a 6-speaker, 6-CD changer stereo that plays my iPod and has access for satellite radio.  There are plugs all over the place for hooking up laptops and charging phones and all that jazz. The inside is a dark black/charcoal sporty interior, which will soon be “F-Touched” (which I’ll refrain from making a crack about) with a Teflon-like coating, as will the outside, to prevent me from being charged for every ding, nick and spill. 

I love the wee spoiler… you know, for all those aerodynamics I require and the cornucopia of cup holders and console storage and room to sleep twelve.  OK, not really twelve, but you could fold down all the seats and perhaps fit a Yeti longways through the trunk.  The front seat even folds completely in half presenting a flat, almost rubber-ized surface so you can make it a desk and you can easily wipe out the hatchback/trunk area because it’s not carpeted.  It’s like a Honda Element like that. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that all that time I spend running on the beach won’t be as messy when I come home.  Yeah.

Hey, I could run on the beach!  You don’t know! 

It’s very roomy… roomier than I thought.  I liked the Corolla, which I also test drove, but I felt like the World Tallest Woman inside.  If I really sat up straight, I think my head would have hit the ceiling and there’s just something very “clown car” about that. And I don’t like clowns.  So that was out.

I was pretty much sold when I drove this red one, but like I said, I had a number in mind and I just refuse to put myself in a financially precarious position… at least not any more than one can be when they’re self employed and living in America’s Finest City.  But I did feel very grown-up today, as it was the first time I’ve ever been taken seriously in a major purchase.  This was the first time I bought a car that 1) someone wasn’t helping me buy 2) I wasn’t 18 and being taken advantage of or 3) my financial and credit situation wasn’t so bad (meaning I’m no longer 24 years old) that it was the only car I could get.  This was the first time I bought a car on my terms, the car I wanted at the price I wanted to pay for it.

She needs a name, but I’ve not decided on that yet. I need to drive her a few more times before it comes to me.  As much anxiety as having a new car payment gives me (and I’ll get over that as soon as I finish this glass of wine), I really, really love my new car. 

Next Up: The Jetsons Clean the Toilet

Joelle said in the early morning on May 19, 2008

I’ve been known to spontaneously make up songs for any given occasion. I also take existing songs and replace the words to suit my needs.  Sometimes I don’t realize I’m doing it… like today.

While taking my vitamins in the kitchen just now, I found myself singing to the tune of the Spiderman theme song:

Vita-min, Vita-min, does whatever a vitamin can!
Make me healthy!  Feelin’ good!
Just as a vitamin really should!
Look out!  Here comes the vita-miiiiiiiin!

Ok, so it wasn’t syllabically sound, but more curious is why Spiderman was my chosen melody.  It’s not like I stood there pondering the appropriate diddy to parody while I took my vitamins. It just came out of my mouth for assessment later.

Anyone else do this?  Certainly someone must… my dad used to do this, too, now that I think about it.  I wonder if it’s genetic…

You Be Illin’

Joelle said at some point on May 21, 2008

This is a look, isn’t it?  I am just baffled that this poor guy actually thought this looked good.  We’ve all made some bad fashion choices in our lives, but that slightly off-kilter hat is purposeful.  Those sunglasses are intentional.  That chain… sweet mercy, that chain… that was a choice.

But doesn’t the skinny jean sort of trump the whole I’m a Big Baller bling he’s got around his neck?  Homeslice is just missing a bandana and he’s straight out of Breakin’ 3: Emo Meets West Side.

I really shouldn’t mock this guy. He was just there looking to get a $1 fish taco, but hey, if you want to dress like an extra on Fresh Prince, you’re asking to be put on the Internet.

Bettie

Joelle said around mid-morning on May 22, 2008

My friend Heika came up with the name “Bettie” for my new car. It totally struck a chord, so I’m keeping it. Bettie it is!  It suits her.  Plus, I like a lot of Betties. Betty White… Bettie Page… Betty Crocker…

Betty Boop is out, though. To hell with Betty Boop and her creepy meatloaf head!  I’ve never cared for her. I never knew I felt so vehemently about it, though.  Live and learn. Blogging is catharsis, people.

Anyway, Bettie is getting her drivers-side window replaced today and the aforementioned “F-Touch” done to it. It’s that Teflon whatever they do to the interior and the paint.  They’ve given me a Yaris as a loaner and you know?  It’s not a bad little car!

Don’t get me wrong, I love Bettie.  I’ve been making a point to drive her a little every day. We’re bonding.  But this Yaris is a zippy little thing! And it had a lot more in it than I expected.  The stereo was fantastic (I want to say better than mine, but I think it’s just because I haven’t figured mine out yet.  ) and it had power windows and everything.  I love the Matrix, but the Yaris was far more car than I was expecting.

There are some oddities… like the odometer and speedometer being in the middle.  It’s disconcerting. I keep trying to glance down at the gauge, but instead have to dart my eyes to the right a bit.  Not having the gauges in front of me makes me feel a bit like I’m in a go-cart, but otherwise, not bad.  It’s got more pick-up than I thought, too.  I guess I assumed the Yaris would be like a Geo Metro, which I’ve proudly (sort of) owned and drove under the back of a Chevy van.  But this is far more substantial of a car for the wee car-let that it is.

I get Bettie back tomorrow. I’m impressed they decided to replace my window. I honestly didn’t care that much about the scratch, I just wanted it noted so I wasn’t charged for it when I turned in the lease, but Mossy Toyota went above and beyond. They’re replacing it with a factory window (which they had to order because they obviously didn’t have 2009’s in stock yet) and also adjusting my alignment at no charge because I noticed it seemed to be pulling to the left a bit on my ride home from the dealer.

And miracle of miracles, they called yesterday to confirm my appointment and when I arrived at 8:45 on the dot, there were tons of people milling around. I figured that I would have to wait at least a few minutes, but no!  Someone took my information, started the process of getting me into my loaner and I was out the door by 9:01.  Seriously.  Every person I’ve been in contact with has been pleasant, courteous and really helpful.

I know… from a car dealer. Who knew?  And I’m totally not even getting paid to say any of that. But I DO need to remember to bring in my survey when I pick up Bettie tomorrow.  There’s a drawing for a free iPhone!  Mmm… overpriced, ultra-cool, relatively unnecessary geekery… *drool*

Subconsciously Speaking

Joelle said in the early morning on May 26, 2008

I had bizarre dreams all night long.  I only remember one part, though, right before I woke up.

I wish I could remember more, but it had something to do with our book and a man wearing a wide-brimmed Dark Tower, gunslinger sort of hat, trenchcoat and a black skin-tight, spandex mask over his whole head, covering his eyes and mouth.  It was somewhat comic book-esque, visually.

There was this big square redwood building with a courtyard or park or something in the middle and Kathy and I were walking along crowded “halls” around the perimeter of this courtyard on our way… somewhere.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the masked man in the hat and coat working his way through the crowd in a hallway across the courtyard. 

I knew him from my other dreams, somehow. You know what I mean? Like, I saw him and while I don’t remember any of the rest of my dream, *in* my dream I knew that I knew this person from before… whatever that means.  I immediately knew he was coming for us.  I grabbed Kathy’s hand and pulled, saying “We’ve got to move. It’s him.” I was surprisingly calm as we made our way through the crowd. 

In my dream there was a sense of danger and urgency as we hurried through the people.  I don’t know if this is my brain filling in things after the fact or if it was actually part of my dream, but I even seem to recall some kind of soundtrack… the kind of music they play during suspenseful scenes in thrillers.  I remember we got to the end of one of the “hallways” and I was fairly sure the masked man hadn’t seen us yet, but he pursued us with a serious, determined gait.  When I glanced over my shoulder to see if he was still coming, I caught a glimpse, strangely, of the cover of our book in his hand.  He was carrying it “boy style”, low along his hip with the cover facing out, so every time he’d swing his black-coated arm, I caught a flash of screaming pink against the black.

I have no idea what that means, but we made a left down another “hallway” and bent down to not be seen as we zig-zagged through the people.  We reached a ramp that led down to the grassy courtyard area and we huddled together behind a few people while the masked man paused for a moment and then headed straight down another hallway and not left in our direction.  Right then, I grabbed Kathy by the shoulders and said, “Run! We have to run. Go!” and watched as she ran full-speed down the ramp, disappearing into the trees (which weren’t there before, but were now, for whatever reason). 

And then I woke up.

Perhaps I shouldn’t eat hot sauce before bed.

Easy, Breezy…. uh, Blogger?

Joelle said during happy hour on May 27, 2008

Joelle: Is there a new way to export from Blogger? I haven’t done it in ages.

Kathy: no, I’d have to look it up in the docs

Joelle: Blogger makes it such a pain in the ass

Kathy: I know. Moving from Blogger to Wordpress is a breeze

Joelle: God, not to Expression Engine it isn’t.  I have to export to MT first, do the hokey pokey, then use the MT import utility.

Kathy: Exporting Blogger is like… “crap an anvil, step left, sew a quilt, then download this patch, then call this 800 number, then eat a sardine upside down, bake a cake backwards, enter this key number in the space provided and… voila!”

Joelle: Mmm.... breezy.

The Kitchen of NIMH

Joelle said in the early morning on May 28, 2008 while listening to Ingrid Michaelson

Strange things occur in my apartment from time to time.  It’s a 53-year-old building, so it’s pretty much strange-ready.  I’ve lived here a little over year now and in addition to the toilet paper roll that occasionally unrolls itself, there’s been this mystery squeak.

I’ve been trying to find the source of this squeak for months.  I ask other people and they either don’t hear it or just write it off as something else, but when I’m alone… that’s when I hear it.  Of course, that just makes me sound crazy, but I’m telling you, people, there is some kind of squeaky chirping sound coming from my kitchen!  I may be a little zany, but I don’t hallucinate… much.

This also not the same chirping I heard a few months ago.  Our upstairs neighbor, Slick (of Project X fame), had said he thought he had a rat once, though that seemed to have been taken care of and was an isolated incident. Though, in my opinion, rats aren’t an isolated incident, but no one else has ever reported anything.  For all I know Nicodemus and his posse are holding town council meetings under the building… but I doubt it.

I’ve stood like a lunatic in front of my kitchen cabinets, flinging open pantries and declaring “Ah-HAAAAAA!” like I’ve just discovered it was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick.  Sometimes, I just looked as if I’m slowing losing my mind, stopping mid-conversation and waving my arms.  “Wait… wait!  Did you hear that?  No?  Listen! It’ll happen again in a second.” And then of course… it doesn’t.

For a while I thought the sound was traveling through my heater in the wall or perhaps through the vent above the stove.  I thought maybe I had birds nesting in the ducts, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  The acoustics in this apartment are strange, so the sound travels in unusual ways.

This morning, I finally narrowed down the location to somewhere around the corner of the kitchen, on the counter.  I’m fairly certain this is where it’s coming from, but it’s really challenging to pin down the exact source.  The only logical explanation is that when the coffeemaker is cooling and the lid is shut tight (I have one of those stainless steel keep-it-lukewarm carafe jobbies), and the steam/heat escapes, it could be making a tiny squeak or chirping sound.  Though, I do find it odd that the chirp/squeak is always the same.  *cheep cheep*

Please tell me someone else has had this experience with their coffeemaker and I’m not on the short list for Haldol.

Thou Giveth Beaver

Joelle said around lunch time

In one of our afternoon tangents, I mentioned to Kathy that the song Fever (made popular by Peggy Lee) is pretty funny if you swap “fever” with “beaver"… because sometimes my sense of humor is stuck on pubescent.  I’d just stumbled across it in my media player and I was reminded of a time an old friend of mine and I were in Express at the mall and we heard some Euro remix of it while we were waiting to be rung up.  We could swear they were saying “bevah!”, which of course, sent us into the giggles.

So, I’m telling Kathy about this and we’re listening to the song together, laughing about the lyrics: “chicks were born to give you beaver”, “beaver till you sizzle” and “beaver in the mornin’, beaver all through the night” being our faves… with “what a lovely way to burn” not far behind.  If it burns, you have a situation.  Anyway, after a few minutes, Kathy says, “I would laugh so hard if someone did an animated beaver to this song.”

Well.  Who knew?