Monthly Archives: December 2006

Here’s my end of year best of. Libby was saying that one year I should go all Oprah and give out one of each thing that wins an award. I thought that was a good idea. Maybe next year.

• Clothing Item of the Year – The cardigan. Or as I like to call it, The Office Cardigan. This would be a trend that I tried – and admittedly failed – to kick off last winter. I’m thinking maybe people are confused as to how it works, so allow me to explain: you come to work, you take off your jacket, and you put on your cardigan. Shazam! Instant professorial credibility. Am I missing something about what’s not to love? Because it seems pretty straightforward to me. Here’s hoping it catches on in Winter07.
• Unexpected Like of the Year – Can we talk about Tina Fey on 30 Rock? Because here’s the deal: I honestly never understood why anyone liked her. She was always so smarmy and smug and stuff on SNL. Boo. When 30 Rock started I’m sure I wasn’t the only one secretely hoping it would bomb, just to teach her a lesson. Then BAM! the show turns out to be frickin’ awesome. And it works because a) it’s actually funny and b) Fey is the vulnerable, likeable everychick instead of the cocky, know it all everyprick. And BAM! AGAIN!, now I’m a huge Fey Fan. BAM! What the hell just happened?
• Takeout of the Year – A couple years ago
  

I’ve been doing some work around the house this week. Mostly painting, but also some general maintenance, repair, and unpacking/moving-in. That’s what we in the business like to call “a good use of your vacation time when you vacation time is categorized as ‘use it or lose it’ and you would rather not ‘lose it’”.
Anyway, this afternoon I was doing some handyman work on the top top tippy top shelf of the linen closet and I noticed what looked to be a baseball card or something way in the back. I stretched and picked it up and realized it was, in fact, a baseball card. And it looked to be old. “Here it is”, I thought, “a hidden treasure, right here in the house…Honey, cash out the college savings accounts and go buy some jetskis, we won’t be saving any more money!”.
I held my breath and flipped it over and while it wasn’t a Honus Wagner, it was a 1969 Frank Baker (Topps 704), which I assumed had to be worth at least a couple of thousand dollrs, though I obviously know nothing of baseball cards, but seriously, why would all those people obsess and collect these things if after 35 years they weren’t worth at least a couple of thousand bucks? Dorks.
I raced down off the ladder and ran to the computer. Knowing nothing of baseball cards, I naturally checked the final arbitrator of record for the value of all things: eBay. First the good news: it’s appears that it’s not a forgery. Now the bad news: it’s worth somewhere between $3 and $10. Not thousand. Just three. Or, if I’m lucky, ten. Remind me again why people fill their closets with these things for 35 years if they’re only worth $3? (The first person to mention the 1200 Grateful Dead cassettes I’m still sitting on loses their free pin privileges.)
Bummer.
In other news, when I was tearing down the walls of my kitchen in my old house I found some really old newspaper. It was all wadded up for what I assumed was for insulation purposes. It’s fun to find old stuff in houses. I think KC found some crazy old picture or something in his house one time. KC?

The holidays are here and I ordered up some little pin button badges with the doodlelogo on them. (Crude rendition shown.) If you want one, send me your address and I’ll mail one to you. With luck, someone on the street will see it pinned to your messenger bag and you’ll get to stop and share your fondness for mediocre twin cities blogs. Think of it as 50% badge of honor, 50% mark of shame.
Christmas delivery most certainly not guaranteed. And supplies are most certainly limited.
Ho ho ho.