Birthday Swap

I got my package from my birthday swap partner, Kate! It was beautifully wrapped in pretty pink tissue paper and some of the items had pretty yarn as ribbon.

So, here's the swag:

Noro yarn!
Knitting book!
Boston cookie (it's the shirt cookie, I have it the wrong way in the picture)!
Tea!
I'm so excited, I can't wait to knit and read (more about how to do that some other time) while sipping tea and nibbling on the cookie! Yay!

Thanks!

I just wanted to say thanks for the birthday wishes!

Someone Else's Article: Ugh

Are romance readers dumb or is the people who don't read romance we should be worried about? Check out this over at Smart Bitches.

Week 5 Picks

Note: Contains reference to a racist sports team name.
Detroit Lions at *Minnesota Vikings - Struggling teams but the Vikings should take this. Yep. 1-0
Tennessee Titans at *Indianapolis Colts - The Colts had some issues last week, but I think they can work on them successfully. Just barely. 2-0
St. Louis Rams at *Green Bay Packers - Both struggling, and when in doubt go with Favre at home. (Usually). But not this week. 2-1
Buffalo Bills at *Chicago Bears - The Bears are the last unbeaten team and I'm sure they want it to stay that way. Oh yeah. 3-1
Cleveland Browns at *Carolina Panthers - The Panthers are on a roll. That's it. 4-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at *New Orleans Saints _ TB is short a QB, so NO will go. Close though. 5-1
*Washington Redskins at NY Giants - It'll be a tough defensive battle but the Redskins should prevail. So sad. 5-2
Miami Dolphins at *New England Patriots - The Pats are doing better than the Dolphins right now. Yep. 6-2
Oakland Raiders at *San Francisco 49ers _ Two struggling teams, advantage home team. And they took advantage. 7-3
NY Jets at *Jacksonville Jaguars - The Jaguars are pretty sad about losing to us last week. They should feel better. Quite a bit better. 8-3
*Kansas City Chiefs at Arizona Cardinals - The Chiefs crazy offense is in gear. Althought AZ didn't look so bad there. 9-3
Dallas Cowboys at *Philadelphia Eagles - Should be a nasty game with TO back in town. Oh yeah. 10-3
Pittsburgh Steelers at *San Diego Chargers - The Chargers are out for blood after last week. And they found some. 11-3
*Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos - Big defenses, but I always count on the snake being unreliable. Apparently I should stop doing that. 11-4
Updated with scores.

Don't Mess With the Comma

President Bush recently said that when we look back, the Iraq War (part the second) will be nothing more than a comma. There is a lovely editorial on NPR as to the ridiculousness of calling a war a comma - so I will let you check that out. But I want to stand here in defense of the comma.

The comma may be little, but it is important. It can not only clarify a sentence, separating items, indicating sequences or pauses, but also change the meaning. (The title of the book Eats, Shoots and Leaves is based on that very premise.)

But the comma has a spiritual association for me as well. The United Church of Christ (UCC) partnered with the Unitarian Universalist Association on the Our Whole Lives sexuality education program. At the time i did the training I was unfamiliar with the UCC - this was before their recent ad campaign. One of the UCC people in the training shared a saying that is used a lot within the UCC: "Never place a period where God has placed a comma." (Attributed to said Gracie Allen.) They have used this phrase, along with their, "God is still speaking," campaign (note the comma after the speaking). The idea is that faith is a continuous thing. God didn't stop talking to us - not just on the little stuff, but on the big issues also. And I find this so appealing. I certainly don't want to step on anyone else's faith, but the idea that faith and my and our relationship with God is continuous really appeals to me. That God didn't make a bunch of pronouncements way back in the day and then disappear, instead that the conversation is ongoing. So don't minimize commas.