Day 9: a long strange trip

I think day 9 was a Thursday. This is not important. What is important is how far we drove. Go to this map. Find Waterford (its at the bottom) now find Kilkenny above that. We drove from Kilkenny to Waterford to just outside Cork then north to Cashel then back to Kilkenny, it was quite a day.

One of the places I had to see was Waterford, the home of Waterford Crystal. This turned out to be a good choice. Chris really liked the tour. We got to see them making crystal from start to finish. It is really fascinating. All the workers apprenticed for 8 years before they could be called master crystal makers and only masters work on the floor. Everyone can do every single job from blowing to engraving. There are no cheat sheets so the cutters have to have every pattern memorized. There are also no seconds. If any piece is not perfect, it is smashed. 

The coolest thing that I think we saw was in the cutting area, there was a guy working with this cabinet/chamber. We asked what he was doing and he stopped to show us. They were using sand blasting to etch very fine snowflakes in a champagne flute. The designer then wanted it acid dipped (what makes it sparkle) and more snowflakes etched after the dip so they would be white instead of clear. He was doing some R&D to see if what the designer wanted could be done. So cool!

In the showroom, were yes I bought crystal even though I was already wondering what to do with all the crystal we got at out wedding.

We then headed on in to County Cork to see Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone. It was weird because Blarney only got a tiny blip in our guide book but doesn't every trip to Ireland need a trip to the Blarney Stone. The answer is No! I am not even going to put up a photo. There is not historical tour. There is no learning. You can wait on line for over and hour to kiss a rock that locals pee on at night. No thank you, I want my money back. If you go to Ireland and your friends say, "aren't you going to see the Blarney Stone?" Just tell them "no, it is crap." You heard it from me.

Luckily our foul castle mood was saved by our final stop, The Rock Of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel is actually a hill and on it sits a very old monastery and residence. The chapel contains some of the oldest frescoes in the world. It has an interesting history in architecture and residence. It was here that St. Patrick converted the King of Munster so it is sometimes known at St. Patrick's Rock.

 The round tower at Cashel

 St. Patrick's Cross (a replica actually, the real one was moved indoors). Our guide said if you could get your arms around it then no more toothaches for life. Chris made a "that doesn't look hard face", there was a solid 3 feet between my hands.

We had a late lunch so we just stopped off at a store some pastries and ate dinner in our room at the B&B. Day 10 was our last day in Ireland.

Day 8: The long road

So on day 8 we reluctantly left County Meath and headed south.Once we clear Dublin, we head down the East Coast and make out first stop in Enniskerry at Powerscourt Estate. It was really nice to get out and stretch our legs in these breathtaking gardens.

I loved the tower gardens. This is what most of Ireland looks like except here it is on purpose.

Chris was intrigued by the pet cemetery. Here you see the grave of Eugenie a beloved Jersey Cow.

We then drove on to Glendalough, which I had been looking forward to all week. This was however, the one stop where it would rain on us. We did get a nice look around. Glendalough is home to St. Kevin, a monk that so admired for his practices of solitude that a monastery will built by his followers. Ironic, yes?

Getting wet at Glendalough, you can see the round tower in the distance

It was in Glendalough that we ran out of Euros and I was very concerned with our lack of funds. We didn't have anymore stops for which we might need cash and we did have our credit cards. Luckily as we drove through tiny village after tiny village we saw a Bank of Ireland which advertised a Bureau de Change. I felt so much better once we had cash again.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving through the countryside on our way to our next B&B Moonarch Inn in Callan.

This is what Ireland looks like mostly

and this

Once we had unloaded and checked in, we drove back over to Kilkenny for dinner. Even though we weren't super hungry, I had picked Langton's out of the guide book and decided to try it. The food was stellar as was the beer and we recommend it. 

After, dinner we walked down to Kilkenny Castle. It was closed but we looked in the gates. We then strolled about town and even though most shops were closed, it was fun to window shop and people watch.

You can just see Kilkenny Castle in the background

Day 7: Green

Man, I am so glad the title bar prompts me or I would have no idea what day I am on.

We wake up to this double rainbow (you can barely make the 2nd in this photo, it's to the right). I am not kidding when I say you could see the end in front of those trees! Just unreal.

Ita at the B&B serves us toast, bacon (like ham not really bacon), sausage and eggs. We then get the breakdown on what we should see. Ita tells us to go back to bed because I look tired. To be honest I was exhausted so after breakfast we take her advice and go back to bed for an hour.
She then suggests that we check out Trim Castle which is close by. We did miss the turn and have to loop back around but I am so glad we found it. I think Chris and I both agree this was in the top 3 of things we saw for our entire trip. It is run by the equivalent of the Irish Park Service so there was en excellent guided tour. The wooden floors our mostly gone and so on the inside you use the stone stairs and walk across walkways. The tour was just amazing and I really learned a lot about castles. Including that they were all white inside and out - so movies are wrong when they show gloomy slate colored castles. We also learned the source of the phrases "stir the pot" & "shit stirrer" as well as why the person in charge is the Chairman on the Board.

Trim Castle was used as the stand in for York in the movie Braveheart

Next we headed out for Newgrange an ancient burial site. We had to drive some back country roads to get there and that is when I first noticed what I shall call the Irish Castle Phenomenon. Every town no matter how small has a castle. It may be a well preserved castle and furnished castle, it may be a gutted but well preserved in recent years (like Trim) or in most cases a round tower and few standing walls. Most of them are just in a field with some cows or sheep, no one pays them any mind. This just blew my mind! Who just takes the dog for a walk out past the castle! Unreal!

Anyway, it was after lunch when we got to Newgrange. Because the monument has timed entry the next possible time was too late for us to get back to Dublin on time. This meant we couldn't go in the burial site but there is a visitor center with a museum and great exhibit about how the site was used. Luckily since it was a closed passageway a lot of archeological evidence exists and unlike Stonehenge historians paint a pretty convincing picture of its purpose.

The 3 main sites with Newgrange being the largest were built 800 years before the pyramids in Egypt. The massive stones used were similar in size. One guide was kidding a young boy and said, "Go back to school and when your teacher asks who built the pyramids, say the Irish. Oh no, I am just kidding, don't say that. The Irish didn't build the pyramids. But we bid on 'em!"

Newgrange from the road

When I say that every point of interest has a cafe, I am not kidding. I also don't mean hot dogs and pre-packaged sandwiches. Every place in both England and Ireland has a nice cafe with tasty hot food. Since it was past lunch, we had a nice meal in the Newgrange visitors center. I had a chicken and mushroom puffed pastry thing and Chris had a Guinness meat pie. I will come back to how I think meat pies are a food overlooked by America. One of the interesting Irish condiments is Brown Sauce. We had already been ed offered some at breakfast but I declined. At lunch there it was in little packets just like the ketchup and mustard. I decided to try it. It was almost like thickened Worcestershire sauce. Very curious. 

Wikipedia says it is like A1 but it wasn't tangy like A1

We then took a scenic drive back to the B&B where we regrouped and again caught bus to Dublin. By the time we arrived, we were a bit hungry again and about go to go drinking so we needed full bellies. We popped in Abrakebabra - see what they did there. 

I made Chris take this photo. It is me being the most beautiful girl he has ever seen with a kebab.

We then headed out to our featured activity The Dublin Literary Pub Crawl. If you go to Dublin, you have to do this. But book in advance online, we did and were glad because we watched others get turned away. The tour is led by two actors who take you around to famous pubs and do sketches from works of famous Irish authors. Chris and started with 1/2 pints because we didn't want to over do it. There are only 4 pubs so we should have went with full pints. We also stopped at Trinity College and few places right on the side walk. It was fun. I am not sure Chris learned anything about literature though. 

I won't lie, James Joyce is probably the one great author I can't stand but still going to Davy Byrne's is a little surreal. 

Day 6: Give Chris a drink and....

First let me say a few words about European Budget Airlines. We flew on Ryanair. They are dirt cheap. However, that is because you barely get a seat. Checking baggage costs a fortune and the carry on limit is one 15lb bag. No personal item. No "I am a lady so I get a purse". No duty free shopping bag. It must all fit in this one bag. Since I had to take my c-pap, we were forced to check a bag. Next you must know that Ryanair flights will always leave from the bit of the airport that is being remodeled or needs to be remodeled or has actually fallen down from lack of remodeling. Finally, there are no seat assignments and since everyone is taking the largest carry on bag possible none of them will fit under the seats and if you are not one in the first 50 people then you do not have room for your bag and will thus be charged the checked baggage fee to have it stowed. Also, in flight there are no free snack, drinks or water. They will try to sell you duty free (which you couldn't get before because it would have to fit in your carry-on) and also try to sell you charity lotto tickets. 

Chris likes to play a game called "Chris has two or more beers and tells you about things he hates", Ryanair is the current topic.

Once we landed we went to Enterprise to get our rental car sorted. We got an upgrade to larger car!

Chris say,"I hate to see what we got an upgrade from"

Thanks to a new toll road and Dublin County's attempt to make everyone on it go through the toll, we missed our exit and went through the toll. Once we realized our mistake we followed the signs to the town our Bed and Breakfast was in. We had to ask directions in town but quickly found it. The owner said since they made it a toll road they took down the signs to make everyone go to far and loop around. She was right that if there had been a sign and we exited it was much easier to find.

At first we we sad about staying 14km outside of Dublin but it actually worked out for the best. We didn't fight traffic or pay to much for parking, and we were very close to some of the Meath County highlights. We stayed at Killeentierna House which I can't recommend enough. 

After we checked in we began the I am hungry fight so we walked just up the road to County Club. The County Club is a nice restaurant and lounge. It was about 2 pm so we weren't sure what they would be serving. We walked in and chatted with the Chef who was just wrapping up what they call a Carvery Lunch (carving station). He said it was almost over and there wasn't much. We only wanted a snack so as not to ruin our dinner in Dublin so it sounded great. What we got was beef, carrots, cabbage, 3 scoops of mashed potatoes and a whole roasted potato. It was delicious but way too much. The chef was the first of many Irish people we met who has a cousin who works at a stud farm in Kentucky - not kidding, everyone is Ireland knows where Kentucky is! 

The folks at County Club were so nice that when we asked to make smaller change for the bus, they found out what the fare was and made sure we had exact change for a return because the bus driver will not give you change.

It was about a 40 min bus ride to Dublin, but again it was worth it to get dropped off right in the city center.

Here I am waiting fer the bus.

Our first order of business was the Guinness Storehouse. It was a great tour. We learned history, how to make beer, how to drink beer and saw the sites of Dublin at The Gravity Bar. My interesting tidbit - Aurthur Guinness signed his lease for 9,000 years. St. James Gate was already a thriving brewery area and he didn't want the competition to think he was a fly by night brewery but that he was here to stay - for 9,000 years!

Chris is excited!

Our drinks at the end of the tour in The Gravity Bar which overlooks the entire city.

We ate at Gruel which was recommended in the travel guide. By far the best meal that we had for the entire trip. I can't recommend it enough. If you are in Dublin, check it out. It is tiny and you may have to wait but everything was fantastic.

After dinner we hiked it back to the bus station to catch our bus back to the house. The Dublin Bus Station is called Busarus. Which is pronounced just like it appears. I personally, think that they should change it to Busasarus.

Day 5: A couple big rocks

So before even leaving the states, Chris and I had decided we wanted to see Stonehenge. I don't know why. Because it is a big deal. I have to tell you that it was sort of a let down. I mean it is incredible to think about how ancient peoples moved those big stones, but it is no more incredible in real life than it is on the History Channel. Honestly, I think I expected to feel tingly with magic or something. I did get my mom the most awesome present of a really hard jigsaw puzzle. She loves puzzles.

No kidding, her puzzle is pretty much this picture. Hard!

It wasn't a total loss because as we walked around it in a circle listening to our audio guides about how no one knows what it was for I snapped this awesome picture of Matthew.

After Stonehenge, we headed over to Windsor Castle. It has it's own shopping mall. Windsor Castle was very nice. We got to see Queen Mary's doll house which was really pretty awesome. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday there was mass in St. George's Chapel and we could not go in. Chris wouldn't have been allowed anyway because * spoiler alert* King Henry VIII is buried there.

Check out the link above to Wikipedia for the aerial view and to see just how big the castle is.

After Windsor Castle we went into the mall to at Gourmet Burger Kitchen (gbk). Chris had been looking forward to this as it is a Kiwi burger chain. Chris ordered the Kiwi Burger (not actual kiwis), an L&P (Kiwi soda) and a Mac's Gold (Kiwi beer).

Chris's dinner.

A description of the KiwiBurger: beetroot, egg, pineapple, cheese, salad (this means lettuce and tomato), mayonnaise & relish. We will make a voluntary donation on your behalf of 25p which will go to help save the Kiwi in Whakatane**

That was for our Sunday jaunt. Chris and I needed to get some sleep so we could leave for our early flight to Ireland. Luckily, we now knew which train to take.

Day 4: Good Morning, this is Floris, how may I direct your call?

So, I had been looking forward to Saturday because we were going to meet up with Megan my friend from Middle School who lives outside of London. Our plan was to go to the British Museum and we met at a book shop just down the street. 

We decided first to get breakfast. Megan's husband Sam had seen a Dutch Pancake house (called My Old Dutch Pancake House oddly enough) and it looked promising. The pancakes were thin and eggy and took up a huge plate. I had apple and bacon (which was actually ham). The key to the whole meal was that we ordered dutch fruit beers - for breakfast! I was excited enough about beer for breakfast but I had a beer called Floris Ninkeberry. Doesn't that sound like the name of a receptionist? They should definitely get a new Dutch receptionist on Mad Men named Floris Ninkeberry. 

Megan and me in front of the BA. It's an awful picture of me but sadly we didn't take more.

This is some very expensive, feat of engineering, took 10 years to build ceiling that they put over the courtyard at the Museum. Chris was fascinated, I was ...... Oh, look kitties!

Kitty mummys actually.

After we had seen all the treasures pilfered from Egypt and Greece (Egypt is over it, Greece not so much), we walked around Covent Garden and then settled in for a cuppa and some chitchat. 

Unfortunately, Megan and Same had to leave all to soon and Chris and I were back to walking aimlessly around town. We considered seeing a show, but all the ones we wanted to see were across town and about to start. We walked to a restaurant recommended by the guide book but the menu turned us off so we continued to wonder around and finally had dinner in a nice pub called The Wellington (maybe just Wellington but something like that) near the Theater District. We had a lovely meal and caught a big red double decker bus back to our hotel adding another one of the important public transportations to our list. 

Day 3: Tower and Tower like things

Day 3 started another early day. At the top of my list of must see things in the Tower of London. On the walk over the went my Monument because we could. it is a big monument. 

As I have said previously, we watch The Tudors so that makes The Tower of London even more exciting because some episodes take place there. Some fun facts - the Beefeaters and staff actually live there, they have a church, a doctor and a pub which is all you need to survive. The doors are still locked at midnight and no one goes in our out. 

This is me with our tour guide. The house like area behind him is where some of them live and the area where most imprisoned VIPs (such as Anne Boleyn) were kept. The guide lives in Sir Isaac Newton's old house!

The tower is really a massive fortress. It was home to the royal mint and is currently home to the Crown Jewels. You can see them but no pictures. We actually learned that they aren't insured but there has only ever been 1 attempt to steal them.

Tower Bridge was my favorite thing just to look at. We actually didn't go up in it and that is my one regret for this trip.

After out trip to The Tower we schlepped over to Spittafields Market for a coffee and then departed from Hope and Matthew so we could make our appointed time at The London Eye. This was one of the few things Chris hadn't done when he lived in London so we were both excited. It is essentially a giant ferris wheel with a pod that holds about 12 people. You only go around once, but one revolution takes 30 minutes. Sometimes it felt like we weren't even moving. The views are incredible and it is well worth it.

A view from the London Eye

After the eye, we hoped on a Thames Clipper. My travel guide said that we should do every form of public transportation so we had been planning on taking one of the boats and the Waterloo Millennium Pier is at the London Eye.

We departed at The London Bridge Pier and walked down the Thames path for our final destination of the evening Shakespeare's Globe Theater. On our way we stopped off and had dinner in a pub near The Clink.

Our first proper English meal. Fish and chips and a pint.

At The Globe which was really awesome. We saw Anne Boleyn which while not Shakespeare it was a subject we know about. I couldn't believe that all those people in the middle stood through the whole play. Also the top of the theater is open and they got rained on a little bit.

Day 2: Buckingham Palace and a steak

Buckingham Palace is only open in August when the Queen makes her annual visit to Scotland and as luck would have it, it coincided with our visit. So rather join the throngs of people watching The Changing of the Guard, we got to see inside the Palace where many fancy parties are held. They also had a nice exhibit called The Queen's Year which highlighted her official duties. Like most historical sites in London, they offered excellent audio guides with your tour. This made everything very quiet which helped punctuate Matthew "what's that?" 's

Buckingham Palace does not have mildew

After the Palace, we had a nice lunch with Hope and Matthew at Wagamama. The waitress acted like I was the first person to ever actually eat the Kimchi which makes me wonder why they serve it. They went off to a Dr appt for Matthew and Chris and I continued to explore.

Our first stop was Harrod's, where we found out "I cannot has" and rode the escalators all the way to the top and back down.

Then we headed off the Westminster area.

After some photo's with Big Ben, we did a tour of Westminster Abbey which even at the "at your own pace" audio tour takes several hours. Chris and I watch the Tudors (I know, right!) and so he was engaged in this tour seeing where some of his favorite characters are buried. 

We then did a quick run through of Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. We were running on empty so we literally ran in, saw the Monet and Van Gogh and ran out.

We detoured through Piccadilly Circus on the way to get back to the hotel.

I am the only person in the world who like pigeons

For dinner, Hope and Ben took us to Gaucho's an Argentinian steak house. Chris had warned me that they don't eat a lot of steaks in England. Since I come from beef country, I am a little snobbish about my steaks. The best part of the evening came when the server asked Chris if he wanted a sauce on his steak and Chris said, "Sauce? I thought it was supposed to be a good steak."

It was a good steak but my dad cooks steaks just as good so I wouldn't write home about it. We did have excellent Argentinian Malbec, and my wine knowledge seemed to impress Chris. He is glad I took that class at UT. 

Bonus Post- London is not for the OCD or even just the really anal

So my first thought as we rode the train from the airport to the city was, "Gee, this place could use some Spackle" I like to Spackle and I like to fill in cracks so the amount of cracks already perplexed me, but London is an old city and old cities have cracks so I needed to get over that.
The first thing I noticed about our hotel room was the mold and mildew in bathroom. It happens, I think of not perfect hotels like camping. There is mold and mildew in the outdoors and people go camping all the time. I used to love camping (but then I became sane).
But as we went around the city I began to notice that pretty much everything was mildewy. Old and moldy castles aren't the only thing that smell like old and moldy castles. They say it is the dampness but there wasn't really much humidity. I lived in Miami, it's damp. You do have to fight the mildew a little harder but it can be fought. So the reason I can't live in London is that I would walk around armed with two bottles of Tilex like a wild west sheriff and spray everything. Maybe start a pressure washing business and when I didn't have any paid work, I would just go around and pressure wash things with Tilex.

Chapter 7: In which we go across the pond - Day 1: London Arrival

It's a fact that I write a mean travel blog. Unfortunately, all my other blogs are half-ass. So, we are 8 days back from our trip to England and Ireland and I am just now blogging about it, but at least I am so shut up.

Let me start by saying that sleeping on the plane is important. Get tranquilizers or something because cheap airline wine won't cut it. Chris and I arrived in London exhausted. Then we had to haul our luggage on the train. I am now 100% against trips where no one picks you up at the airport. Even in Mexico, Vacation Express sends a shuttle to haul you 1.5 hrs down to the Riviera. Well, not it London. You are expect to schlep (and I mean schlep) your goods and services across town. Of course, Chris and I wanted to maximize everyday in London so we landed at 7 am. Big mistake! The train we took into town (which even though it was called the Gatwick Express, we now know was not our best choice) took us to the busiest tube station in town at morning rush hour. Not long after we go there they announced that they were not going to let anyone else in the station until some people left because it was too crowded. Not only was it too crowded but there is clearly no ADA in London because there are 100 steps up or down to get to anything. This is good for your fitness unless you have four 50lb bags then it is good for heart attacks and hernias. So finally about 10 am we get to the hotel. We stayed at the Travelodge on City Road. It was insanely basic with the 2nd hardest bed I ever slept on but it was pretty cheap for the area. Since we were early the front desk gave us flack and said no rooms were available. When I got my bitch face on, she offered us a disabled room for a 10 pound early check in rate. We took it because our other choice was standing around 5 more hours with our 200 lbs of luggage.

We dumped our stuff and embarked on our first site seeing adventure. It lasted 10 minutes before Chris and I started screaming at each other, it turns out we hadn't eaten in 7 hours (and only had 2 hours sleep in about 12). We quickly realized this and ate at Wasabi in silence. Once the blood sugars were normalized, we were magically happy. We also discovered that with a CitiCard we could exchange currency at CitiBank which had better rates than the Bureau de Change.

We then headed off to St. Paul's for our first of many tours. - In case you don't know, it's a really big deal that the German's didn't get St. Paul's in WWII. In fact, WWII is a really big deal in all of London since it really was a center of action.

This is me, standing on the Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background.

We then had a bit of a walk before I literally ran of steam. I think I looked at Chris and said, "I think that was my last step for the day." Back to the hotel for a power nap. I slept so soundly that when my phone went off, my heart jumped out of my chest. We then headed over to The Barbican to visit Chris's sister and our nephew Matthew.

Matthew at dinner

I was pretty late night for 2 people who now had slept 4 hours of the last 34. I actually think it wasn't until the next day when I noticed how hard the beds were. 

Geography for the masses

So our office radio, which is totally in another room but I have mad hearing skills, is on a country station. I personally do not like country music so this is my exposure. Like my favorite 80s-90s-and today station it plays the same 3 songs over and over. One of these songs has a refrain in Spanish. I am pretty sure the song is about going to Mexico. I have been to Mexico and I think it is the kind of thing that a person would want to sing about. Anyway, in this song the dude loves Mexico so much that he even learned enough Spanish to sing the one line in the refrain. Also, in the refrain he says that they will drink some Jager(meister). Now again, I have been to Mexico and let me assure you that you can drink whatever the hell you want and lots of it. But if I loved Mexico so much I was going to write a song about it, I think I would at least promote one of Mexico's main exports such as tequila or Kahlua. I'm just sayin'.

Boogas needs a photo blog

Sometimes I think if I had a photo blog it would be so much easier. Well, today I found Basket Cat Blog (warning: In Japanese, but its just pictures). Boogas is 10 times cuter. She needs a photo blog.

This is my new life philosophy

It is no secret that I like to say "bitches".

Well, I just saw an item for sale by regretsy (which is where DIY meets WTF). I NEED this. If you, like me, plan 7 months ahead for all birthdays then you should go ahead and buy this for me today.

Namaste, Bitches - t-shirt on regretsy

I farted during Yoga

I tried to think of a better title but there isn't one. That's what happened and that's the best way to say it.

We were doing boat pose. Now I am only about 1/2 way there on boat pose. I can't let go of my knees. Even though I don't think holding them is doing anything, it is just psychological. So there I was in boat pose thinking about letting go of my knees and TOOT!

It was a serious toot, more like a honk actually. Very gooselike. I had been sniffling all night so for second I hoped everyone would think it was a sound I made with my sinuses. No one said anything. I didn't say anything. I usually don't say excuse me because usually there is no one around. I am a toot in private kind of lady. Or my husband is there but if it just us and someone farts we both immediately say "kitty?".

By virtue of being late Chris and I were separated by two mats, I hoped this meant he was our of earshot because I would never live this down.

So fart thoroughly dismissed we went about the rest of class. I swear to you it was like the instructor dared himself to make it happen again. Every pose we did put pressure on lower stomach. I have expected him to say this is the downward colon evacuater, good for detoxifying and passing gas.

I made it the rest of the class silently, but after class when Chris said, "It was you, wasn't it?" I said yes, and I am going to blog about it.

Retail therapy this is not

So my great love of all things shopping does not apply to houses and/or mortgages.

Every time we come back from meeting our agent someone asks if we found a house. We have only looked at two! Plus when we do find a house there is a process. We will not come home and say, "We are back. We bought a house, can you help Chris get it out of the trunk."

I would not be so cranky if I wasn't sick. I just want someone to come in and say, "Here is your house. It is exactly what you wanted. Just sign this mortgage application and you are good to go."

My bra is good for a lot of things

So yesterday some really bored 15 year old girl wanted a way to tell the cute boys in her class that she had just gotten her first sexy bra. I bet it was light pink and black lace trimmed. Anyway, she posted it on her face booked status like so

Slutty McSlutterton light pink and black lace trimmed

How does one get away with this? By sending an e-mail telling all your girlfriends to also post the color of their bra as their status and to not tell any guys what it is about (so coy, the little ones). Why would the friends agree to do this? Because it is for breast cancer awareness of course! My friend Slutty, she is the smart one too.

What annoyed me about this whole thing is that it caught on like a California wild fire. Why do my grown and knowledgeable about how the world works friends think posting a color would do anything to help the fight against breast cancer? It doesn't. Maybe there are people out there wearing bras who don't realize that they have breasts and are thus affected by breast cancer but I seriously doubt that.

What would really help the fight against breast cancer? If everyone of those women made themselves an annual gyno/mammogram appointment and got a friend to make one too.

Or if every woman who shared her bra color with the world donated the cost of that bra to

Susan G Komen

American Cancer Society

Avon Cancer Charities

Lee Jeans Cancer Charities

or a number of worthwhile charities. Last year my friends raised over $2500 for breast cancer charities so you and your red bra can go suck it.

So help me spread the word and the next time one of your friends asks you to repost something to save a puppy ask them how that works, and offer this suggestion - go to the pound and save a fucking puppy!

Update: This was so riveting that Washington Post weighed in

Happy New Year!

Let's be honest about New Years' Resolutions

If you couldn't quit smoking in 2009 then you aren't going to quit smoking in 2010.

I am not going to work out more. Maybe a tiny bit more, but not because it is a resolution but because as I get into better shape it becomes easier and it makes me feel good.

I am going to start blogging more (you've heard that before haven't you) and I think I will. Not because it is a new year but because we have moved and now I am here in my office where I am the IT department and I can do whatever I want.