The BBC lists 50 Places to See Before You Die. I’ve seen seven of them: Florida, Sydney, New York, Venice, Paris, Rome, and Singapore. Pretty cool.

Many thanks to my cousin Jenny for sending me photos of Marshall Field’s 2003 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Christmas windows. I like the designs of some of the characters – the Oompa-Loompas in space helmets, especially – but overall I think I’m more a fan of the Schindelman illustrations for this particular book. Some of the windows look oddly bare to me too. (They couldn’t throw a couple two-dimensional squirrel cutouts in the Nut Room?) Thanks again, Jenny!

I can’t resist. This is from today’s Herald:

A man walks into a bar with a dachshund. The dog is wearing a England rugby jersey and is festooned with England pom-poms. The bartender says, “Hey! No pets allowed! You’ll have to leave.” The guy begs, “I’m desperate! We’re both big fans, the TV’s broken at home, and this is the only place where we can see the game.” The bartender relents and lets them stay and watch the game. The Poms receive the kick-off, march down field, get stopped at the 22, and Wilkinson kicks a penalty goal. The dog jumps on the bar and walks up and down giving high-fives to everyone. The bartender exclaims, “Wow, that is the most amazing thing I’ve seen! What does the dog do if they score a try?” The owner replies, “I don’t know, I’ve only had him for three years.”

Suggestions needed! I’ve been thinking of coming up with a proper name and logo for my burgeoning little craft business. You know, something I can print up on tags and stuff. It should be fairly general, as it could end up on everything from knitted things to jewelry to record bowls. Any ideas? If you suggest the one I end up using, I’ll send you something!

Australian Idol is finished… and the good Guy won!
I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I watched the whole damn show. I liked seeing Courtney Act again (he has better legs than me!) and Stu is pretty cool. I winced all through Rebecca’s song. (If I never hear “I Believe I Can Fly” again I’ll die happy.) Marcia Hines is a legend. Once they got inside, I cheered when Millsy sauntered out for his song. “Now that’s a pop idol,” I said. “Yeah, he shagged the biggest hootchie in the world!” Rodd replied. Does anybody else think Cle is kinda weird? I admit I rolled my eyes when they all launched in to “I Still Call Australia Home.” (I thought you Australians weren’t super patriotic?) The Snook and I had a running argument over whether Shannon’s stupid coat was more Matrix or Garth Brooks. I can’t believe after six months he still doesn’t know how to move on stage. He was fiddling with his coat in the middle of his song! I was so happy when Guy won. He totally deserved it, even if he is a little troll doll.

By the way, I’m taking Guy’s victory as a sign that the Wallabies will win this Saturday. I’m normally a huge jinx but in the past few weeks all the teams/people I’ve cheered for have won: Australia, Notre Dame, Guy. Obviously I’ve tapped into the fates of the universe. Australia will win the World Cup!

My mom forwarded me a message from The Breast Cancer Site announcing that they’re having difficulty getting enough clicks to fund needed mammograms this month. If you’ve got five seconds to spare, go to that link and click on the button. It doesn’t cost anything (other than you looking at a few ads) and it could save a life. I’m going to add it to my daily surfing ritual.

Today I found an article about Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The film was Peter’s only movie role and he went on to become a veterinarian. Sounds like a pretty nice guy!

Kirsty has created a page for all her knitting projects. They’re gorgeous. I especially love the Shooting Stars Jacket. I feel a sudden surge of inspiration!

[Fellow Knitters: That jacket looks like a raglan, right? I’m wondering if I could Sweater Workshop it and thus knit it without seams. The only difficulty would be doing the sleeves in a different color from the body. I guess I’d need to do a kind of intarsia-thing, where I’d twist the two colors together there at the raglan seamline to keep it from falling apart. Hmmm… may be worth thinking about. Done in cotton, this could be an awesome jacket for the fall. Ooh ooh ooh! Now I’m picturing it with a hood!]

Sometimes my job rocks. I just scored a projector to watch the Rugby World Cup Final on this weekend!