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Austrian scientists suggest “that for a man, sharing a bed can momentarily decrease brain power.” Apparently we women disturb their sleep and stress them out, while we ourselves sleep too deeply to be affected. Unfortunately this study is FLAWED, because they failed to introduce the “F” factor. (That stands for “effing feline.”) Dr. Amy Jones has decided that since the sun is coming up earlier, she should get her breakfast a little bit earlier every day too. She got me up at 5am yesterday. The Snook somehow sleeps right through her ploys, whereas I go through a five stage process: 1) being rudely awakened by the feeling of four pounds of cat sitting on my stomach; 2) rolling violently from side to side to get her off me while I try to get back to sleep; 3) passive-aggressively wishing the Snook would wake up and deal with her while I frantically kick out with both legs at the foot of the bed, where she’s scratching; 4) throwing myself out of bed dramatically and stomping to the kitchen, where I kick open her automatic feeder and tell her to choke on it; 5) seething for half an hour in bed while recognizing that I should never, ever have children. AND DO YOU THINK THAT’S GOOD FOR MY MENTAL STATE, FANCY PANTS AUSTRIAN SCIENTISTS? I DON’T THINK SO. (Original rant-prompting link from Christopher, who has his own bed and no doubt sleeps the sleep of the blessed and just.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOEY! My little little brother turns five today, and he sang me a cheery song about it on the phone. Love you, bubby!

These are all from the Garbericks’ visit to Australia earlier this year. The first is me and Joey standing amidst the fountains at Darling Harbour. Next (my absolute favorite shot) is Snookums, Joey, and me kneeling at the Opera House railing and looking out over Circular Quay. Third is Joey modeling the Snook’s Boba Fett helmet and showing off some light saber action. Lastly is me and my little brother out in our garden.

I forgot to mention that my Mom is now actively selling her quilts on both eBay and her own website: Heartland Quilt Company. One of those will definitely keep you warm this winter!

Murphy’s Friggin’ Law
Last night we moved everything out of the knitting shop so we could get the carpet steam cleaned. It looked gorgeous. Within four hours this morning, a customer spilled fruit salad all over it.

Congratulations to Jeff and Tricia on their wedding this past weekend! Have a great honeymoon, you guys…

The Anorexic Camera. That’s ridiculous. Sure, I like a skinny mirror as much as the next girl, but this is taking things a little too far.

The Race results are now available! There were 7824 finishers in all, and we didn’t do too badly. The Snook came in with a net time of 57:48 to finish 5176th, while my net was 58:14 for a place of 5262nd. I did slightly better against my age and gender groups, mostly because the Snook got bumped into the 30-39 male group and I think most of them are hardcore runners. Our next event is tentatively going to be the Gladesville Bridge-to-Bridge run (10K) on October 15.

Wow. My six year blogging anniversary came and went this month without me even noticing. Average number of posts per year: 1001. Wow.

Get Well, Roger! A Flickr group devoted to photos of people giving the thumbs-up to my favorite movie critic. The idea is from the folks over at Chicagoist.

Idol Roundup: So last night was the big rock show, and I have to say Ricky rocked. I agree with the judges and prefer him as a rocker rather than a smooth RnB type. Lisa took a (deserved) beating from the judges on her aimless stage presence, but I thought she did a lot better than before on singing outside her genre. Mutto bores me. When I see pretentious middle-age singers writing slogans on their hands and crouching all over the stage, I think “Bono.” And I hate Bono. Klancie, to me, is a total Redshirt. She’s cannon fodder. Yes, there have been successful country crossover acts in this country. But I have to agree with Holden; she’s from another era. Bobby was Bobby. I was hoping he’d really rock out at some point, but does it really matter? He does mesmerize. Reigan’s performance was great, but Kyle’s comment was spot on. That’s the third obscure song she’s picked in a row. Is she mental? You’re never gonna win singing songs people haven’t heard. Damien’s song choices, on the other hand, have been perfect. Popular but not obvious, and always with a great falsetto highlight. Again, I just wish he’d rocked out a little more. Jessica did an unexpectedly great job and it was nice seeing someone having so much fun. I did notice the jelly belly though (before Kyle pointed it out), but mostly because I too have the jelly belly. Chris Murphy can do no wrong for me. He’s just too fun. I hope we get to hear his husky voice croon some ballads though. Lavina was also unexpectedly excellent working outside her comfort zone. I don’t even like Evanescence but she rocked that song. Dean got the big finale, but his vocals left me a bit bored. I hope he doesn’t coast through to the finals on his looks alone.

One last note – I am loving Andrew and James this year. They’re really coming into their own as hosts. Their snarky little jokes just really amuse me. I also appreciated how they leapt to Jessica’s defense after the “jelly belly” comment. “SHE’S SIXTEEN!” And then later to point out Kyle’s hypocrisy for not calling out Chris Murphy as well… That was genius. I don’t think Kyle is being malicious with his weight-related comments, but he could stand to be a bit more even-handed in giving them out.