On November 4, 1862 Gatling patented the machine gun.

Mithridates (163-132 bc), King of Pontus, was so afraid of being poisoned he “inoculated” himself by taking little bits of poison everyday.  After he was defeated by Pompey, he tried to really poison himself, but of course that didn’t work so he ordered a mercenary to stab him to death.

Art Garfunkel and I share our birthday.

Bezoars are just gross.

Tchaikovsky committed suicide by taking arsenic to avoid be accused of having a homosexual affair.

George Orwell said: Good prose is like a window pane.  Either he needs to finish that sentence or someone smarter than me needs to explain it to me.

I had a fantastic birthday extra-long weekend with my girlfriends.  Blind Pilot wished me Happy Birthday at the end of their set.   I didn’t take any pictures because I am lame.  But I did make Lori Lemon Budino which was really yummy.  I miss everyone already, but that probably goes without saying.    Tonight I am going to a Brazilian steakhouse with Mom and Jim.  Brian just gave me a fortune cookie that read : Your dearest dream is coming true.  I’ll hang on to that one.  But I think this is the official end of the birthday season.  It goes so fast!

If you are an Erin Mckeown fan you can download her new cd from Amazon for $1.99.

Two of my friends have new blogs: Courtney writes about her adventures of buying and selling items of Craig’s List on  Tales from the List.  Sarah had a great idea post pictures of things that are blue or green or both on her new blog blue][green.  She takes submissions and of course I jumped on that.

I’m reading The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood.  After that I will take Katie’s advice and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Julia and I are finally going to take Lori’s advice and watch Battlestar Galactica. This may serve as my official reminder to Julia to add it to her Netflix queue.

Otherwise I am waiting for New York I Love You to come to a theater near me!

101 famous people answer some cool questions.  Equally cool would be a book of answers to the the Inside the Actor’s Studio Questions.  Julia already knows her answers.  But (if you want) pick one of these questions and answer in comments:

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
2. What is your greatest fear?
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
5. Which living person do you most admire?
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
7. What is your current state of mind?
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
9. On what occasion do you lie?
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
11. Which living person do you most despise?
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
16. When and where were you happiest?
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
21. Where would you most like to live?
22. What is your most treasured possession?
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
24. What is your favorite occupation?
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
26. What do you most value in your friends?
27. Who are your favorite writers?
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
31. What are your favorite names?
32. What is it that you most dislike?
33. What is your greatest regret?
34. How would you like to die?
35. What is your motto?

I “had a cold” for 3+ weeks before I finally broke down and went to the doctor who told me that I had not a cold but walking pneumonia.  Julia now has a new saying–Don’t be a Shelby.  Which is funny and sad at the same time.  But I guess I really don’t want my friends to be like me.  I am stubborn and will tend to underestimate when I am sick, having spent a lifetime being told that I am a hypochondriac.  So two of my friends are suddenly not feeling good today and I want them to Not be a Shelby and go to the doctor.  I looked up the symptoms of H1N1 .  Good news iPhone users–there is a Swine Flu App.

If you don’t have an iPhone here’s what to look for:

How do I know if I have the flu?

You may have the flu if you have some or all of these symptoms:

• fever *
• cough
• sore throat
• runny or stuffy nose
• body aches
• headache
• chills
• fatigue
• sometimes diarrhea and vomiting

*It’s important to note that not everyone with flu will have a fever.

If you don’t feel good, go to the doctor.  Don’t Be A Shelby.

Julia’s favorite part of the Fair.

I think that is in the Bible somewhere. I was going to make Sabrina-inspired chicken sandwiches for lunch this week, but last night it was cold and I just couldn’t see me going to the effort of preparing a rather involved sandwich every morning so I decided I’d just throw it all in the food processor and see what would happen. Turns out deliciousness happens. It’s like a fancy chicken salad. I baked chicken breasts and refrigerated them over night. Then I cut them into cubes, added some fresh basil leave, roasted red peppers and goat cheese. Hit the pulse button a couple of times and yum. On toasted 7-grain bread, it’s pretty fantastic.

I’m so in love!

For work I have to write up a quick report to determine if this monument is eligible for National Register listing.  It was erected in 1910 by the Daughters of the American Revolution.  So my boss gave me this reference to the history of DAR in North Carolina.

They were some snooty women.  It’s a very exclusive club.  One of them said, “It must be remembered that it is the chosen few who bear the burden and the heat.  From time immemorial quality, not quantity has held the power of the world in balance.”

Hmmm.  My mother’s aunt is tracing our family tree.  She has found a link from us to Normal Rockwell. I’m going to call her and see if we can claim to be descendants of our Founding Fathers.  I think DAR would welcome me openly, as clearly I am one of the “chosen few.”