Mary J’s December List of Opposites: Black – White Up – Down Hungry Cat – Sleepy Human Clean House – Lazy Human Christmas Cookies – Liver Too Many Christmas Cookies – No Such Thing Writing/Blogging – Reading/Napping Exercise – Lazy Human Part II Christmas Carols – Punk Rock No Christmas Carols before Thanksgiving – Really? Friendships and a Social Life – You Need to Come out of your Basement Cooking Everything from Scratch – Lazy Human Prologue Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/TikTok – PointingRead more
Posts filed in: Snark
Public Service Announcement
To those individuals who continue to defy the practice of social distancing by having house parties, congregating on beaches and in parks, walking en masse down the street, escaping a quarantined state by traveling to a non-quarantined state, and other similar behavior, I bring you this public service announcement: “COVID-19 kills, being bored at home does not.” There is also some thought that stupidity kills. If true, there is not a vaccine for this, so please wash your hands, STAYRead more
One-Liner Interview
“Can you tell me what I need to bring with me to the interview?” This question came to me in an email from a candidate after I had sent out interview invites. One might think is is a normal question, except that I sat staring at this email with a dumbfounded look. Then I rolled my eyes and laughed a little. I finally replied to the candidate, “Please click on the link HERE to return to SignUp Genius and readRead more
The Facebook Calculator
“You’ve shared 2 days in a row and your friends are responding.” ~Facebook~ Wow, really? I’m glad Facebook told me this as I am evidently unable to count or read. And I’m blind. This statement made me roll eyes at its propensity for mockery and in-your-face presumptuousness. I realize Facebook isn’t intentional in making fun (or are they?) of our brain’s ability to function. However, the statement struck me as knowledge that most Facebook regulars would already know because theyRead more
The Dawn of a New Melange
The thoughts of yesterday forgotten I like the way this new skin feels Bring me splinters of tomorrow Collect the parts where I win ~from the song Dawn of a New Day~ It went without fanfare, without neon lights or trumpets sounding. March 17th was the third anniversary of Mary J Melange on WordPress. I actually hadn’t thought about it until today. It was an “oh yeah” moment, followed by a cough or two from this dang cold. I’m homeRead more
The Picard Maneuver and Wine
Girlfriend Natasha and I are Star Trek nerds. Some of you already know this. We’re not the full-blown “know-every-word-to-every-episode-and-attend-every-Star-Trek-convention” kind of nerd, nor have we ever adorned the Christmas tree in mini versions of the Enterprise and its shuttlecraft, but nerds all the same. Our personalities are opposite in many ways, yet Natasha and I have found common ground in clean eating (not counting last Tuesday’s chocolate donuts), exercising and watching Star Trek episodes on Netflix. The almost nightly exerciseRead more
Days and Weeks and Months
Q: What has 2 arms, 2 wings, 2 tails, 3 heads, 3 bodies and 8 legs? I’m not going to answer at the moment. I’d like you to think about the answer while I ramble through this post. Today, February 9th, is Fat Tuesday. In many Polish communities around the U.S., it is also Paczki Day, although the traditional date is Fat Thursday. Two days in which to eat to excess. From Wikipedia: In Poland, pączki (pronounced PAWNCH-ki) are eatenRead more
Thank You for Holding!
Mom’s right-ear hearing aid broke a couple of weeks ago. I’ve since been trying to get it fixed and waiting for the audiologist to call me. The hearing aid needs a battery cover/holder that has to be ordered. Mom is down to one hearing aid and I’m sure that she and those that take care of her are struggling to have pleasant conversations. Wednesday, as I was on the highway, headed home from a meeting, the phone rang. Unfortunately, I didn’tRead more
Gray Tubes for Sale
For those of you who read the latest edition of “What the Heck?”, I’m here to provide closure. (Click on the answers to #1 and #2 to see images.) Daisy Wheel. I was astounded to find this object amid the closet junk. We had thrown away its companion Canon typewriter in the trash years ago when the computer made it obsolete. I have no idea how the daisy wheel hung onto life in the darkness, but it did. I believeRead more
What the Heck? *Office Edition*
I had originally planned to be on vacation the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Instead, I had this hairbrained marvelous idea: I would go into work on Tuesday, when it was quiet, and start relieving the office of its dust-covered, no-one-really-wants-it junk. It appears our office will be moving before summer of 2016 and there is absolutely no need to move items that belong in the dumpster or at Goodwill. I knew that over the 15+ years IRead more
Another Year Washed Ashore
This started out as a Wordless Wednesday post. I was going to title it Wordless Waving Wednesday or Wordless Wednesday Waving Goodbye. Something like that. It would have included this video… Did you like that? Repeat several times if you’re stressed. If you were drinking a lot of water before you watched the video, my apologies. Anyhow, as you can see, the post is titled differently from my original intent and I’m typing words. This is my birthday week. On Saturday, I say goodbyeRead more
The Build of Summer
THIS is the view outside the bedroom patio door. I stood facing the northeast, with a bit of a zoom setting, in order to take this photo. Nice, huh? This used to be a field filled with a farmer’s crop and the daily gathering of geese and sandhill cranes. Not any more. It’s the new Costco, in the building stage, almost in my front yard. This mess started in June with a monumental landscaping, earth-moving project. From there, they movedRead more
Mary J Melange 