4.04.2011

Manic Monday Blogarrhea

I resisted for a long long time, but I've finally welcomed emoticons into my life. I prefer the keyed out ones rather than the produced or animated emoticons. Like :-) or :-( or even, <@:-) (clown hat, curly hair, smily face). I use them sparingly, and only in emails or tweets. I feel good about my policy. However, I have a grammar question. When I am using them at the end of a parenthetical statement, specifically with the smiley face, where the smile on the face is actually the close parentheses symbol, do I still go ahead and close the parentheses? In other words, does it look like this (:-)) or this (:-)? Help. What's the etiquette on this? Also, I refuse to get rid of my dash nose. A face needs a nose!

Many people think that texting while driving is the biggest risk to safety on the roads. I agree that it is the biggest risk, and that there are many other equal risks while driving which take your attention away from your main responsibility... driving. I would like to submit what I believe to be high up on the list of safety risks while driving. Sneezing. Especially sneezing after you've had a few children and have weakened pelvic floor muscles. Sneezing, for enthusiastic sneezers (like yours truly, :-)) (See, here it is in action... what do I do with that?) is more than just a quick event. Nose tickles, eyes close, snot flies, eyes water, and if you aren't prepared and mind the pelvic floor, there's an entire other crisis possible. Lather, rinse, repeat, because nobody sneezes just once. I don't trust someone who sneezes just once. The only thing worse when you're driving is when you THINK you're going to sneeze... and you wait for it... and wait for it... and prepare for it... and then... don't.

I sort of get the concept that the shape of the noodle really does change the flavor of a pasta dish, but how can it be that spirals and cheese are so vastly superior to traditional macaroni and cheese? You can argue with me about this (if you dare), but it is a well known fact. (Shells and cheese is of course THE best, but that has more to do with the processed cheese-food than the noodle shape. Trust me... I know these things.)

Remember the olden days on this blog, when I used to challenge myself once a week? Well, I did another challenge... and I am going to tell you about it tomorrow. I cannot even believe I did it, and I kind of feel like a rockstar... so check back tomorrow, and see how I fared!


8 comments:

  1. You are a rockstar! Granted, my idea of a rockstar is any mom who can get out of bed in the morning and resist the urge to crawl back in.

    That said, I think emoticons are a helpful tool. Maybe not in the strongly worded letter to the editor, but in an e-mail, tweet, or message board post, it can help clarify the tone being used with the written word.

    Now, please share more of the mysteries surrounding Macaroni and Cheese. I'll go pop some popcorn.

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  2. Strange and intriguing post today Colleen. So many topics, so little time :(

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  3. I think the surface area of the noodle changes how much sauce you get in each bite so that influences the taste. Having a picky eater who argues with me constantly that spaghetti with parmesan is good but other noodles with parmesan is bad even though they are made by the same company etc drives me batty. So I am well aware there is a distinction;)

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  4. I think the spirals create perfect nooks for the cheese to grab on to opposed to just elbow pasta that you hope the cheese gets inside of. Just my own crazy theory on it.

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  5. Love it! So glad I met you!

    Plus, I totally agree that the different shapes have a HUGE affect on the favor!

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  6. Who knew that noodle shape would be such a popular point of discussion. I was going to take you down about spiral noodles being far superior to traditional mac'n'cheese, but I'm not going to start a blog fight.

    (See, I totally just wanted to put a winking smiley face at the end of the above)

    In college, a TA use to hound us over exclamation points and only using 10 in your life... yes, I was an English major... that rule flew out the window with blogging.

    ;)
    Ha.

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  7. If I'm using parenthesis with an emoticon, I change the direction of the emoticon. So a smiley face by and end paren would be "(-:)"

    As to the sneeze, I'm told that if you push your tongue to the roof of your mouth, it will stop sneezes. I've had it work a time or two -- but I usually sneeze before I get a chance to do the tongue trick. (I sneeze in threes.)

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  8. I try to avoid using emoticons inside of parenthetical statements but when it is absolutely necessary (like this) ;) I just put them after.

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Comments are cool, being mean is not, so please... just don't do it. Hey, thanks!

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