The other day, I realized that I can “take notes” and highlight passages when reading books in iBooks. Not only that, but iBooks keeps a list of them that both shows the passage and contains a link to the page where I made the note or highlighted text.

Really, this has made more than one of my days!

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Here are some of the best things I’ve read recently…

From Momastery: A Mountain I’m Willing to Die On

Children are not cruel. Children are mirrors. They want to be “grown-up.” So they act how grown-ups act when we think they’re not looking. They do not act how we tell them to act at school assemblies. They act how we really act. They believe what we believe. They say what we say. And we have taught them that gay people are not okay. That overweight people are not okay. That Muslim people are not okay. That they are not equal. That they are to be feared. And people hurt the things they fear. We know that. What they are doing in the schools, what we are doing in the media – it’s all the same. The only difference is that children bully in the hallways and the cafeterias while we bully from behind pulpits and legislative benches and one liners on sit-coms.

Diana Nyad talks at TedMed about how extreme goals can release you from living with regrets large and small.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?” –Mary Oliver

Don’t Carpe Diem has been making the rounds, and makes me want to wave my fist in the air and yell “Yessssss!!!!!”

When I started this post, there were a couple other things I thought I had seen. Maybe I did, but I can’t find them now. Oh well. Maybe that means there will have to be another post like this sometime.

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1) Santa + Siri
I think I showed this one to about 5 different people, just in case they had missed it.

5qcmCUsw4EQ

2) Darth Vader Volkswagen
Stagg has the music as a ringtone option on his phone. I can’t hear it without putting my hands up like the little kid. He won’t make it my ringtone, though, since it probably wouldn’t be that flattering to me to the casual observer. Ah, well.

3) Allstate Mr. Mayhem – GPS
This is a great series of commercials, and I think this one is my favorite.

4) Citi Thank You Points Vacation
Love how this turns all the things women buy before a trip on their head. Girl Power!

5) Google Chrome Dear Sophie
Can’t watch this without getting teary. Its like a Hallmark commercial on steroids.

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Hail to the What?

I am sure that whatever group, coalition, committee, or such that monitors television commercials must be in a tizzy over FDS’s new catchy phrase, “Hail to the V.” I mean, was it not enough that the general public was bombarded with ideas of male impotence during most sporting events that someone decided to take a stand with a feminine version? CNN hosted quite a rousing debate on their comments page over such an idea. Many, many people were offended over the idea of discussing private, intimate issues on such a public forum. However, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that the same group will be outraged because some company dared allude to the all-powerful vagina on prime-time television.

Have you seen the commercials? These powerful images of women kicking butt over the centuries tied up neatly with the idea that as long as your vag smells like a Glade Plug-In, you’re someone to be celebrated. Only as long as you’ve watered the flower, mind you. And that you’ve chosen to use their product to do it. Because Cleopatra had access to aerosol sprayers, and, in her spare time, made sure to attend to, ahem, personal hygiene, when she was sending her armies to pillage some city. Yep, she was a butt kicker and quite the hygienist, no? That fact seemed to be omitted from my history book.

Sorry, FDS, I’m not buying your line. I think you’re trying to take a feminist stance here and celebrate our “secret power” and all, but only if I use your product? The one that can actually exacerbate and irritate the sensitive area you want to perfume? That if a TSA agent takes it out of my purse because it’s a liquid over 3.5 ounces, I am supposed to say, “Don’t detain me. Hail to my V!” Right. Or if it falls out of my purse at a bar, men are going to fall to their knees in a state of tribal worship and chant the praises of my vajayjay? (That could be a legendary evening, actually). What I think would really happen is an awkward silence, with me on the floor, scrambling to get everything back into said purse before being seen.

Thanks, FDS, but I think I can kick some ass all on my own. But if I need a signature scent to leave in my wake, it will probably be my Clinique Aromatics. Thanks, but no thanks.

I have not seen these commercials on television yet. I can hardly wait to explain them to my daughters.

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I can do that.

But, YIKES! This means the 3 Day is 24 weeks away! It sounds like such a long time, but I know it is coming up sooner than I think!

Stuff You Should Know was one I actually found on my own; stumbling across a Top 10 weird holidays or celebrations or something… I don’t actually remember what it was. But I know that it was the inspiration for the page-a-day calendar I ended up making for my little brother for Christmas that year. (During that podcast, they mentioned a day when people gathers along a stretch of train track and moons at the train on a particular day. When I heard that, I knew it was something he needed to know about. So I made a calendar filled with that and other things like it.) I enjoy listening to this podcast both because the hosts are funny, and because I learn so many strange things that I wouldn’t have considered learning about before.

Similarly, I enjoy Stuff Mom Never Told You which also covers a wide variety of topics with humor, intelligence and odd tangents. My brother’s ex-girlfriend actually mentioned this one to me. She might not have been a keeper, but the podcast is.

The other main podcast I listen to is Catholic Stuff You Should Know. Featuring a seminary students (one is a deacon), these guys are really excited about their faith, and it is contagious. These guys pick a wide variety of topics, and I’ve learned quite a bit I didn’t know I didn’t know. And since I’ve banked 13.5 years of Catholic education, I think that is saying something. I can’t say it has gotten me back to church (yet), but it certainly has me thinking about it more.

There are others I listen to occasionally, and some others that I used to listen to, but gave up on. One was interesting and fun, but then dragged some annoying prejudices and politics into the show too many times for me to overlook. Another was really interesting and I learned all sorts of backstories about history, but the hosts voices just got a little too annoying to listen to on a regular basis.

I know this is a popular trend. There are blogs and blogs and blogs containing hundreds of photographs of food. Some seems to make a little more sense to me, like the School Lunch Project where a school teacher committed to eat school lunch every day in 2010, and took a picture and review of the “meal” in an effort to document just how lacking they are. And oh, boy, are they ever. Now, these seem to include what the teacher brings into lunch, and I am less enthralled.

Also, I love the Pioneer Woman’s pictures of her food. These, though, are pictures of food she is cooking, and not food she is ordering. I love the pictures that go along with the step by step instructions. These make sense to me.

And, even pictures in food review blogs make sense to me. I understand why people would want to see what they will get when they order some delectable sounding meal, and I support the use of the technology to bring a fuller review of a restaurant. This makes sense to me.

But it seems there are other people who are just “regular” people who have decided to document what they eat on a regular basis. A cup of bought coffee in the morning? Lets take a picture of how it sits on the napkin. Quick sammy from Subway in the afternoon? Lets take a picture of it next to the bag of chips for posterity’s sake. Dinner date? By all means, lets make sure we get this on the interent. Stat. These aren’t art shots or shots being used to illustrate a point in a more global story. They are just food.

I can’t help but picture myself as the food blogger’s dining companion. I imagine that there is a lovely little conversation going on while we wait for our food, but everything stops when the wait staff brings the food. Out comes the camera, and my companion moves the plates and other items on the table around to get the best shot. Then, perhaps, my own plate is photographed in the same manner. Then what? Attempt to pick up the thread of the conversation that were clearly not important as taking pictures of what we are about to eat?

And how, exactly, do you not feel a little weird about eating the food that has been so carefully photographed just seconds ago? I feel like I would hear the stereotypical calls of the photographer echoing in my head to the food, “work it, baby carrots” “come on, bleu cheese–pout like you mean it” “show me some love you tart little pear.” I’m not sure I could do it.

Then again, I’ve never had a problem eating birthday cake.

Sheila Shelton
sheila@staggandsheila.com

I’m doing the Atlanta 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk!
www.the3day.org/goto/sheilashelton

Helen Austin’s Childbirth song.  Oh boy, funny.

Kelly Corrigan’s Transcending. Loved the book, love the speech. Am totally jealous that my mom is going to see her in person, and so very happy that she will get the experience.

Sound of Music surprise at a Belguim Train Station

Where the hell is Matt? Such a simple idea, such a cool video.

And babies laughing. Seriously, no matter how bad my mood is, I can’t get to the end of the videos without at least cracking a smile.