While you're down there...

Lately I've been reading Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss. Truss is the author of the critically acclaimed Eats, Shoots and Leaves which is an amusing book about the abuse of grammar and punctuation in modern society. I enjoyed Eats, Shoots and Leaves so when I saw Talk to the Hand at the local DollarTree, I picked it up. It's amusing...but not as interesting as Eats, Shoots and Leaves. Talk to the Hand is mainly a commentary on how rude we have become. Today I was reading and got a good laugh over her comments on this Ad campaign from UK's Keep Britain Tidy organization.

From Talk to the Hand: "I have to report that my reaction to 'While you're down there...' posters is, to say the least, mixed. I am actually revolted by their cynicism, disgusted by the explicitness, concerned that teenage promiscuity might be a high price to pay for less litter, but on the other hand relieved and pleased that, in a poster aimed at young people, the ellipsis has been used correctly and that there is an apostrophe in the 'you're.' In other words, it actually could have been worse."

Updates and Such

I had to delete the article that I was in process of posting because I started having problems copying and pasting (my problems led to me accidentally posting it for a few minutes, even though it was incomplete--so I apologize if you ended up with it in your feeds). I'm wondering if it has something to do with downloading the newest version of internet explorer yesterday...I don't know that they have all the kinks worked out.

At any rate. I'm back at school after my break. We had a great time at the Ben Folds concert last Wednesday. I got about 10 feet away from Ben Folds and he sang all of my favorites. The crowd was a pretty good one too...mostly 20+ and not a whole lot of pushing.

This week I've been thinking a lot about my friends and family in the Fargo area.

They are making the national news again...just like in 1997. The flooding there is expected to surpass all old records.

I even found an article from a Canadian newspaper that refered to Argusville as a "new residential development." :) But kidding aside, I hope that everyone stays safe and that your houses are spared. Mother nature is one fickle woman.

Weekend Away in Iowa

Rob and I took advantage of a weekend getaway package at the Royal Amsterdam Hotel in Pella, IA. As many of you know, we haven't lived in Iowa all that long, so we still have many places to explore. Pella touts itself as a touch of Holland in Iowa, so we thought we'd check it out :).


The downtown is full of old historical buildings and new buildings made to look historical. The whole town is filled with step-gable facades (even the McDonalds and Wal-mart take part in the local Dutch Flavor). There are windmills ALL over the town. Including a real windmill and one that houses a bank and another that houses the tourist information center. We had a delightful time going to the local food specialty shops. Rob came home with Beef Jerkey from the Ulrich Meat Market and we had lunch at In'tVeld's Specialty Meats. The Jaarsma Bakery was so wonderful that we went twice so that we could get more goodies (and breakfast danishes for Sunday morning)!

In addition to exploring downtown, we also went out to Lake Red Rock on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, we saw the Watchmen at the local movie theater (movie tickets were part of our package). It was great to get away! We look forward to visiting Pella again when they have their tulip festival some year (or at least to return when the tulips are actually blooming :).


Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahjanesetnes/sets/72157615271223953/

First Family gets a Rainbow Swing Set

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/politics/sns-ap-obama-swing-set,0,1199711.story