Abecedary

I think I read this twice before realizing it not only rhymes, but is a most traditional sonnet.

A Primer of the Daily Round
by Howard Nemerov


A peels an apple, while B kneels to God,
C telephones to D, who has a hand
On E's knee, F coughs, G turns up the sod
For H's grave, I do not understand
But J is bringing one clay pigeon down
While K brings down a nightstick on L's head,
And M takes mustard, N drives into town,
O goes to bed with P, and Q drops dead,
R lies to S, but happens to be heard
By T, who tells U not to fire V
For having to give W the word
That X is now deceiving Y with Z,
Who happens just now to remember A
Peeling an apple somewhere far away.

I have three eyes and I love myself very much.

La la la... here I am still viewing the mountains in Mountain View (psst, it's actually very flat here, but I have it on good authority that I could see mountains from somewhere nearby), while heisenbug is back with the kitties. What am I doing here? Now that laundry is done and I found a place to work out, I'm down to basics.

1. Raving about the food
2. Whining about the weather
3. Getting acquainted with my new Mac

On the first topic, it's not just at work -- I had a sandwich for lunch today that was to die for, a shrimp salad melt on sourdough. I am going to try to make those when I get back home. On the second topic, I stick wtih my previously stated opinion: I could do without the roasting and freezing on a cycle of about 0.2 Hz, but that's just what happens here. On the third topic, this Mac is oddly stripped down... no iPhoto, no iMovie, no Photo Booth... I actually ended up BUYING something so that I could play with the built-in camera.

Hosted at my new Picasa account:



I have also been reading, which is easy to do a lot of when the trains are slow. One book I read was The Female Brain, which was a little fluffy but interesting. When is an enjoyable book not enjoyable? --oh yeah, when it scares the snot out of you.

Biology can hijack circuits in spite of our best intentions.... "Baby lust"... can hit a woman soon after she's cradled someone else's soft, warm newborn. Suddenly, even the least child-focused females can start craving the tender, delicious feel and smell of babies. They may chalk it up to ticking biological clocks, or the "me-too" influence of their peers, but the real reason is that a brain change has occurred and a new reality has set in. The sweet smell of an infant's head carries pheromones that stimulate the female brain to produce the potent love potion oxytocin--creating a chemical reaction that induces baby lust.

This does have a reference to an established pheromone researcher, but the article referred to isn't online. Hmm. Has anyone been sniffing baby heads lately? If this is true, then it's the first bit of really practical advice I've ever gotten from a gender studies book, even if it's only inferred. Do not sniff their contagious/addictive little heads if you don't want to like it! Sure, I know what you're thinking; the first time's free.