What's In A Name?

Would a nor'easter by any other name be less annoying? No power loss is a good thing, but when most of the buildings on campus suffer some degree of flooding it's hard to look at the bright side. 24+ hours later, and my feet are still wet. I've spent my day walking in circles, cataloging damage for the insurance claim, and dealing with yet another staff shortage. Eh, who am I kidding? It's the unexpected crises that keep me doing what I do. Of course I hope to leave for home soon (and hopefully the return commute won't take the three hours that it took to get here) and deal with the water in my own basement. DH has been contemplating running a solo bucket brigade, but at last call the water was below the pilot light in the hot water heater...

I almost hate to say it this early in the year, but I'm starting to get excited about the Red Sox. Schilling seems to have found his control, Beckett is pitching with attitude, and Dice-K should be dependable-if not lights-out brilliant. Give Wakefield some run support and we're talking 4 genuine starters. It's too early for outright confidence, but my fingers are firmly crossed.

Brace yourselves now for the return of the stream-of-consciousness blog. This is a tradition (I use the word loosely) established by my twin in her blog. It involves two authors alternating sentences on a random topic to tell a story. And no, as you will see there is obviously no need for it to make sense. Without further ado, the team that presented the "Dark and Stormy Night" brings you "Is It An Ingrown Hair?" (yes, twin, this one's for you)

Is it an ingrown hair?

I found it on my elbow – a big, ugly bump – and I didn’t know what to do.

It’s really hard to look at. It’s kind of like that thing where you can’t lick your elbow.

My boss told me how to fix it. She said I needed a swordfish.

What is a swordfish exactly? Does it have ties to the Deadly Samurai Ninja Cat Squad?

Cats like to eat swordfish; any fish, really.

I once saw this cat munch on a staple monster.

Not like the ones from your office supplies. It was a real monster with big teeth and purple fur.

It used to hang out with letter opener. You know letter opener from 86th st.

There weren’t any swordfish on 86th, so I had to go fishing.

I took with me my fishing rod and a picture of my easy button.

It took almost two days to catch a swordfish. I guess the easy button has to be there – a picture isn’t worth a thousand buttons.

So back to the ingrown hair. Is it supposed to be burning like this?

I used the fish’s sword to cut it open and low and behold, there was a… what is that thing?

Ay dios mio!! It’s a senor from el casa!!

Te namos un problema!! He started dancing on my elbow, around his sombrero.

The care bear stare just didn’t cut it for me this time.

I swatted him to the floor. Maybe one of Wheeler’s ninja cats would like an hors d’ouvre.

Word on the block was that there was a new Cat looking to make a name for himself.

The moral of this story is that little men with sombreros are always bad news, it’s hard to catch a fish in the Sound, and purple fur can be sexy in the right shade.

And really, where can I go from there? I don't think there's anything else to say.