1st Great Idea of 2013

You know how they have "undocumented" workers hanging outside of Home Depot and Lowe's? They are there to help you with what you just purchased inside the store.

We could really use this for places that sell computers, printers, and anything technical.

Outside of Best Buy, Fry's, or even Target, instead of guys in jeans and T-shirts, there could be freelance geeks, dressed in rogue Geek Squad white button-down shirt and black tie, ready for hiring on the spot. You negotiate a price, drive them to your home and let them put everything together for you.

Then later, when your 2-year-old computer gets a particularly tricky virus, you can return to the store's parking lot and bring home a geek to fix your latest problems.

How great would that be?

Last Minute Random Thoughts

I was wondering, "Where is Waldo?" It occurs to me I have never met or heard of anyone actually named Waldo. Did that name fall out of favor, or was it always rare?

Great vocabulary words for today: deft, flourish. Both are also fun to say!

See you in 2013!

Brilliant Post-Thanksgiving Idea

For the day after Thanksgiving, someone should sell leftovers!

If you are someone's guest at Thanksgiving dinner, and your hosts are not relatives, you are very likely to leave sans leftovers. This has happened to me on more than one bittersweet occasion. The solution, I realize now, is for someone to offer a meal for the day after, complete with turkey, gravy, potatoes and/or stuffing,and maybe some green bean casserole. Not the family-feeding production the supermarkets sell; you rarely eat as big a meal the day after a feast. Maybe a lunch size. But a little post-Thanksgiving turkey would really do the trick.

Random but interesting

-I wish I knew whether I should start speaking to my cat like an adult. She is 14 now; maybe she no longer appreciates the high excited voice I use to make conversation.

-Not flattering: Recently I had a revelation about myself. It's not reading books I am hooked on - it's reading book titles. I can rummage through hundreds of them at book sales, but when I get them home, I don't care whether or not I read them.

-Tattoos used to brand you as unusual and interesting. Now they just make you one of the pack. I guess if you want to identify as a chef or musician, they're required.

What's the opposite of infamy?

Today was somewhat monumental. I filled my tank, and for the first time in a year, my car didn't need more gas than I had cash. It's a good day!

Best line I've heard this week

It's from the sitcom, "The Middle," starring Patricia Heaton. Her rather dimwitted teenage son hits on his cute, smart history tutor, who responds quite negatively. After she's done telling him off, he says, "If you're trying to insult me, you'll have to use smaller words."

Yay!

Happy Halloween!

What a relief to be on the west coast and unaffected by the candy-collecting crimp caused by Hurricane Sandy.

I'm not proud of this, but I confess I keep enough candy on hand to feed trick-or-treaters any day of the year. If I answered my doorbell, that is.

Happy Halloween!