Curbside Stories

   Today is the last of September and that means Christmas is definitely nearing.  I am getting excited already.  Although I have not yet decided what exactly to do this Yuletide season, I am definitely going to celebrate it with a bang.  So, goodbye September and hello October! Photo from here .

It is Oktoberfest once again and of course that means overflowing beer and non-stop parties.  Oktoberfest is a 17-day celebration that started in Munich, Germany 200 years ago to commemorate the wedding of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.   It is held every second week of September until the first weekend of October at a place called Theresienwiese.  It is the most popular event in Germany and the world's largest celebration with millions in attendance excluding other countries' Own Oktoberfest. Overflowing beer is paired with hendl (chicken), schweinsbraten (roast pork), brezn (pretzel) and wurstl (sausages) among others.   Where will you celebrate Oktoberfest?

Nothing could possibly be more literal than this.  Do you still send mail via snail mail?  I could not remember the last time I did.

This library information desk design is so ingenious.  It is made of stacked books. Photos from here .

I began monitoring my bone density three years ago.  I get free scans because I work in a hospital. My first bone density scan was fine, I was still in the normal range--that was before I got pregnant.  After I gave birth to my son in 2008, I was scanned again and I was surprised of the result--I was osteopenic.  Just last week, I had my bone density scanned again and I am still osteopenic.  I guess I have to take extra efforts in avoiding what needs to be avoided and doing what needs to be done to make my bones healthy again. Osteopenia is having bone mineral density that is lower than the normal range.  A score above -1 is considered normal, a score between -1 to -2.5 is considered osteopenic, and a score below -2.5 is considered osteoporotic. Bones become naturally thinner as we age but having osteopenia means greater risk of having osteoporosis.  According to studies, women are more likely to have osteopenia and osteoporosis because women have a low...

I hate meetings, specifically long meetings without an output.  I think those are just a waste of time, energy and resources.  And more often than not, in the middle of a boring and pointless discussion I end up making doodles, frequenting the bathroom, sleeping with my eyes wide open, or practicing out of the body experience.  I actually am running out of things to do just to keep myself  looking awake during meetings.  Today may be my lucky day.  I have found another kill-boredom-during-meetings-activity that will, well, kill boredom during meetings.  Thanks to the Desktop Diva . *Drum roll, please. Just cross out the words that will be mentioned during the meeting.  If the five blocks are crossed diagonally, horizontally or vertically, just like in Bingo, you win.  Stand up and shout BULLSHIT!!! I think I am going to win in less than one minute.

This is so icky... a mouse bit my finger last night while I was sleeping. I was awakened by a sharp ache on my right hand and when I looked at it, I saw my pointer bleeding.  The mouse did not take a big chunk out of my finger but it punctured deep enough to let blood out.  I wiped off the blood with an anti-septic and went back to sleep again.  The mouse entered our room when I left it open for hours yesterday.  I saw it running and sneaking into corners last night, I tried to ward it out of our room but it just doesn't want to leave soon. I had an anti-tetanus shot today just to be sure.  I will get back to that mouse when I get home.