I’m such a sucker for stuff like this. I used to dream when I was little that I could breath underwater - and that I could fly. I’ve often thought it would be cool to be invisible - see what’s going on and what people say when I’m not around. So I guess my results for this quiz fit in with my personality. You can click the link to find out your super-powers

Your Superpower Should Be Invisibility

You are stealth, complex, and creative.You never face problems head on. Instead, you rely on your craftiness to get your way. A mystery to others, you thrive on being a little misunderstood. You happily work behind the scenes… because there’s nothing better than a sneak attack!Why you would be a good superhero: You’re so sly, no one would notice… not even your best friends Your biggest problem as a superhero: Missing out on all of the glory that visible superheroes get

What Should Your Superpower Be?

Tiara-tip to CalTechGirl at Not Exactly Rocket Science - I saw this at her place first.

I just got my Reader’s Digest magazine in the mail this week.  During a nice, leisurely Saturday morning session of reading, I read the following article (p. 60 of the February 2008 issue):

Contagious Obesity?

By Cynthia Dermody

It seems you can “catch” obesity the way you do a cold.  When thin animals are infected with adenovirus-36, most get fat, without eating more.  The virus has the same effect in people, says Richard Atkinson, MD, director of the Obetech Obesity Research Center in Richmond, Virginia.  He collected blood samples from 502 people and found that about 30 percent of the obese people had antibodies to Ad-36, meaning they’d been exposed to the virus at some point.  They weighed, on average, 50 pounds more than those who hadn’t been infected.  Just 11 percent of thin people had antibodies.

When Ad-36 enters fat cells, it stimulates fat production and instructs cells to store fat faster.  About 15 percent of us have been infected by Ad-36 (which can cause pinkeye, diarrhea and a stuffy nose) and are fat or gaining weight because of it, says Dr. Atkinson.  He hopes to find an antiviral drug to fight the virus’s fat-inducing effects.

Now THAT is quite interesting, isn’t it?

I spent my afternoon at a meeting.  The person who was facilitating the discussion was a man (an elementary school principal) who had THE worst toupee I’ve ever seen.  The toupee in the phototo on the left is similar to what he had.  Obvious, miss-matched, should be embarrassing, hilarious.  It actually was almost uncomfortable because you feel so sorry for someone who doesn’t appear to have a clue that he looks so ridiculous.  He just kept talking abou thow wonderful his school is how he is such a wonderful principal.  Really, I’ve rarely seen such a undeservedly confident person.

Unfortunately, we were sitting around a large conference table, and the toupee’ed school principal was sitting next to me.  He was very talkative and, as I said,  quite proud of what a wonderful speaker he is.  In fact, he’s the kind of person who completely monopolizes meetings. So, out of courtesy,  I watched him a good part of the 3 hours that the meeting lasted.   I wonder if he realized that I was studying his horrible toupee most of the time I was looking in his direction.   My thought was that I couldn’t wait to get home so I could write about his bad toupee.  The color was a fairly good match, but it was obvious that his own hair was straight, and the toupee was curly.  In the back, the toupee stuck out away from his shirt collar - making it even more obvious.  At his temples, you could see his real sideburns underneath the toupee.  And the toupee is not new.  He has apparently been wearing the same toupee for years. 

Since I sat close to him, I was able to see the toupee close-up, and I could see how awful it really was.  I guess educators don’t make much money but SURELY he could save enough money to buy a decent toupee.  Many years ago a friend loaned me a wig, and I wore it a couple times - just for the fun of it.  It was hot and felt miserable.  Yet this man wears a toupee every single day.  I can just imagine how uncomfortable that is.

One day last week I forgot to set my alarm clock, and thus when I woke up it was 7:16 a.m.  I remember the exact time because as soon as I saw those numbers on the alarm clock, I panicked.  There was no time to shampoo my hair.  By the time I shampoo my hair, dry it and curl it, forty-five minutes have passed.  And since I had to also shower, iron my clothes, get dressed and grab a bagel and a cup of coffee, and since I had to leave by 7:30 in order to get to work in time, taking the time to shampoo my hair was out of the question.  The result is that I went all day with greasy-feeling hair. 

As I’ve gotten older, I have found that I can occasionally skip of day of shampooing.  Unfortunately, that day last week wasn’t one of those days.  I had to prioritize my get-ready-for-work routine.  I took the shower, wore something that didn’t need ironing, skipped the bagel and coffee and headed to work.   Although I got to work on time, I went through the day with my hair looking stringy and limp.  And, if I’m having a bad hair day, I’m having a bad day.  Really, it’s almost ridiculous how much the state of my hair affects   

Then I read about the availability of a dry shampoo.  Salon Grafix has a Spray Powder Shampoo that acts like a dry cleaner for your hair.  It has a color match formula, easily brushes off, leaves hair revitalized, clean and shiny, and leaves no white powder or oil residue.

What a good idea!  The next time I wake up too late to wash my hair, or after RT and I ride our dirt bikes and I take off my bike helmet only to find that my hair is now pasted to my head, or I want to work out before a meeting, I’ll get out the Spray Powder Shampoo that I will start keeping in my car, and my hair will end up looking fresh and fluffy again. 

BusinessWeek writers and editors have come with ten predictions for 2008 - things they believe will likely happen.  The list is predictable (as in predictable predictions…) until we get to prediction # 3. 

So here’s prediction #3:

Prediction No. 3:

Bloomberg’s Historic Run
Michael Bloomberg will enter the Presidential race in February, after it becomes clear which nominees will get the nod from the major parties. His billions and organization will impress voters and stun rivals. But Bloomberg will come up short, as he comes in for withering attacks from both Democrats and Republicans. He and Clinton will split more than 50% of the votes, but John McCain will end up President.

What do you think?  A couple of interesting items there.  First is the assumption that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president.  Second is that John McCain will be the Republican nominee.  But those are in the realm of possibility.

If Hillary is brought to tears by a simple question about  how she’s making it through all the grueling campaigning, can you imagine what this development would do to her?

At the BusinessWeek website, there are lots of comments about the predictions.  Here is my favorite:

Jim Kasprzak Jan 8, 2008 3:50 PM GMT

Bloomberg will run for President? Who came up with this prediction, your proctologist?

 ha ha ha!

My lovely daughter, Stinkeroo, is 32 years old - almost 33 - and it’s scary how much we think alike.  Last week I found a purse that I love on eBay, and so I bought it.  I bought it because it is very similar to a purse that she has - just a different style, but the same pattern/fabric.  Everytime I’ve seen her purse the past couple months, I’ve commented on how much I like it.  The purse I ordered arrived on Friday, and I love it as much as I thought I would!  So yesterday I called my daughter to tell her about it - only to find out that she had already bought the exact same purse for me as a Christmas present. 

Another example:  Last week we were talking and she said she’d found the perfect gift for my mother.  It turns out that her gift was exactly the same thing that I had already bought for my mother for Christmas.  I told her I’d get something different. 

Stuff like that happens all the time, and I feel a little guilty about it.  Now don’t ask me WHY I should feel guilty that I went ahead and bought the purse that I wanted - I had no idea she’d already bought it for me - or why I should feel guilty that I had bought my mother the same gift that she had bought her.  Still, though, I feel a little guilty about it.  Like maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to handle things sometimes.

I keep trying to convince myself that this is a GOOD thing - that we are so similar in nature and thoughts.  However, it does get to be a problem at times.

I found this “Find Your Candidate” questionaire that’s supposed to let you know how well your beliefs match up to the candidates.  Surprisingly, I found that I was a 95% match to Mike Huckabee.  Although my niece is working for his campaign, I have not paid much attention to him at all and had no idea where he stood on all the issues - and certainly I was unaware that my beliefs matched his so well.  My match with Fred Thompson was 90% and - at the bottom was Barack Obama at 40% (I was surprised it was that high) and Hillary Clinton at 37%.  All the other candidates were somewhere in between.  It wasn’t surprising that ALL my top matches were Republicans.   I could not morally or ethically support a Democratic candidate at this time.

The question of the day:  Are you a spender or a saver?  I’ve been both.  During my first marriage, I was a spender.  Maybe not entirely, but I don’t remember being particularly worried about money.  I bought what I wanted without thinking much about it.  That changed, though, when I became single.  Being single for ten years taught me to be a saver.  There’s nothing like being solely responsible for mortgages, insurance, loans, bills and other responsibilities to learn quickly to change a spender into a saver.  I started listening to a radio money show and started following its thrifty advice.  Now, I’m married again, and my saving habits from my single years have carried over.  The best advice I could anyone is to make a budget and stick to it which ends up seeming like you got a raise.

Apparently, some of the upscale hotels no longer provide a Bible in their rooms - even though the Bibles are provided free by Gideons International.

Here’s the story:

We’ve seen a lot of hotel trends over the years, plasma TVs, the rise of free wi-fi, pillow butlers, in-room fitness equipment and all sorts of adjustments as hotels adapt to the greening of America but the latest might just be the disappearance of an old favorite. ABC News has a story on the fact that luxury hotels are ditching the tradition of the Bible tucked in the bedside drawer. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the number of luxury hotels that stock the Bible and other religious items has dropped 18 percent since 2001. Luxury chains taking part in the trend include Kimpton Hotels, the Borgata in Atlantic City and the Gansevoort Hotel Group. The hotels all offer various religious materials that are available by request.

This trend is on the luxury side. In other motels, hotels and inns, the number of in-room Bibles has increased from 79 percent in 1988 to 95 percent today. In fact, a survey from the American Hotel and Lodging Association reveals that the more you pay for a hotel room the less likely you are to see a Bible. A full 99 percent of economy hotels have a Bible in the room but just 73 percent of luxury hotels provide one. Also Bibles are least likely to be found in urban hotels and resorts and are most often at hotels near interstate highways or at airports.

I guess rich people don’t need anything to worship  other than their money.

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