Man, things have been busy around the Liloia household over the last few weeks and I feel like I have neglected the site a little bit. Hopefully, this week will make up for it. Trevor's school is closed this week, therefore he and I are on vacation together. We have a bunch of things planned to do, and my family is coming for a visit later on this week, so it should be fun. I intend to bring the camera with us everywhere and post it all here. Also, tomorrow is Trevors birthday. He has been fully partied this whole weekend and we are going to go out for dinner tomorrow night together after Tara gets out of work. Should be a good time.  

Heely's - Just when you thought it was safe to walk in the Mall, think again. Heely's are the newest form of transportation out there. These regular looking sneakers come equipped with a wheel hidden in the heel of the shoe. When triggered the wheel pops out and allows the user to glide along the ground while they run. I don't think I will buy them, but they are pretty cool.

XFM - In the past, I have mentioned a few music sites where you can listen to live music. This morning, I was turned onto a new one, XFM.co.uk. This radio station is an indie rock station located in the UK that plays all the music that you will never hear on the radio. Granted, I never hear UK radio as it is, but this station is pretty cool. Thanks to Marcia for passing that on onto me.

Poke the Bunny - Okay, this one, I flat out stole from Marcia, but since I figure most of you don't visit her site, I wanted you to see it. Besides, I asked her and she said it was cool. It's very simple, poke the bunny, fast, slow, whatever. It's just really funny. If you click fast enough, he reacts to your prodding, heh. This site also has a few other Flash items that are neat. 

Last week on the way to work, I witnessed a landscape contractor, during their normal cleanup at a local restaurant. They were cutting the grass, trimming trees and shrubs and spraying for weeds. As I was stopped a red light, the worker who was applying some herbicide (weed killer) stepped off of the property and onto the street to spray some weeds that were growing out of the city's sewer drain. Being a former licensed pesticide applicator in 2 states, I knew right away that this was a major no-no. When I got to work I immediately called the DEP for the Boston area to report this misapplication so that they could take the proper measures. I was shuttled to a number of different offices and phones until I was instructed to leave a voice mail for someone representing the DEP. A week passes. No call back. I call today and I actually get a live person, he took my information and wrote it down, but barely seemed concerned and actually led me to believe that he was not going to follow up on this. I was really disappointed that there was such a lack of concern for this instance. Yes, it might have been a small error and only a small amount of herbicides was applied but it should be handled more swiftly and effectively. I strongly believe that chemical control of nuisance pests (weeds, insects, rodents, etc.) is appropriate and necessary, but only when used responsibly and with the proper control. To make myself feel better, I called the restaurant and spoke to the manager. He was very receptive and said that he was going to speak to the owner of the landscaping company. 

It's been a while since I have focused at all on gardening, so I figure I am due.

MyDeerGarden.com - This website which is run by a landscape design company out of Pomona, NY is a great resource for the frustrated gardener. All too often one of the biggest problems the rural gardener has is dealing with deer and other animals wreaking havoc amoning their gardens and shrubbery. This site (and landscape company) is completely dedicated to helping people deal with these hungry foes and selecting the plant material that will reduce your exposure to attack. Along with helping solve for deer problems they also offer a newsletter, backgrounds and graphics, a fantastic plant database and online garden design.

Plants Database - If you are looking for information on just about any plant that is grown or grows in the United States, this is the place to go. As per their site; "The PLANTS Database is a single source of standardized information about plants. This database focuses on vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens of the U.S. and its territories. The PLANTS Database includes names, checklists, automated tools, identification information, species abstracts, distributional data, crop information, plant symbols, plant growth data, plant materials information, plant links, references, and other plant information." Basically, any plant you can think of, they have cataloged in here. Great site for students and avid gardeners.

OrganicGardening.com - If you are a lover of organic gardening or just are looking for some great information about general gardening techniques, this is a great site for that information. Brought to you by the people at Rodale, a publishing company focused on healthy living, this site is a good resource for all organic related information. If this is of interest to you, here are their other publications. 

I have just invented a new form of punctuation. I know... it seems far-fetched, but really, inventing new forms of punctuation is not that hard. I'm filling a need here, just like Ron Popeil. Anyway... in print, there are question marks to indicate queries, exclamation marks to indicate emphasis and periods to indicate a statement, but nothing lets a reader know that a sentence is meant to be sarcastic. I am often online and I participate in several forms of written communication on the Internet like chats, bulletin boards and email. I'm sure that you do as well - since you're here reading this. I'm also sure you've seen a joke or sarcastic remark taken the wrong way because the reader doesn't regognize the author's intent. Why do we let this continue to happen? Is this a question? Yes, it is. You knew because of the question mark. What I am proposing is a punctuation mark that clears up all confusion about sarcastic remarks for the reader. The closest thing to a sarcasm mark is the winking smiley - and he isn't really a professional tool. You can't write a missive to a business associate with little cutesy ASCII faces it in. It's just not done. And no one can claim that sarcasm isn't professional. If the amount of sarcasm in the American workplace is any indication, sarcasm is nothing but professional! My solution is the tilde. ~ We use it for practically nothing so it's free for the taking. Sure, the Spaniards and Mexicans have an affinity for that little squiggly. And web hosting services like Tripod have brought the tilde out of the obscure place where the thing above the 6 lives and back into our vocabulary. But what I propose is on a much grander scale. The sarcasm mark would be appended to the end of any sentence that was meant sarcastically. Think of all of the different places where the sarcasm mark is applicable! Why, The Onion alone would use hundreds of sarcasm marks each day. Man, the Onion is one great newspaper~ Did you catch that? It was a test sarcasm mark - it worked, didn't it? You knew I was being sarcastic. I'm telling you, 10 years from now when the sarcasm mark is in the dictionary, you'll thank me.

The happy couple in a field. Next to a Snapple bottle. With striped stockings on. They may not be named Liloia, but they're broken too.

I used to be an adrenaline junkie. I used to ride on any amusement concoction dreamed up by any strung-out traveling fair operator the world over. I would dangle from fraying cables and rocket around in rusty cars with missing bolts. These days, I stick with rides that stay upright and under 10 MPH. Even twirling teacups give me the heebie-jeebies. I don't know what brought about this gradual change of heart. Maybe it was the time I almost fell off of a poorly-designed park waterslide and 10 minutes later a child behind me did fall off. Maybe it was the time I was a teen and I went on a swinging pirate ship ride and my little brother kept popping up off the seat next to me. I was sure he was going to fall out and get smushed on that huge spinning tire under the ride. Well, it's stories like this that reinforce my decision to stay grounded. Two roller coasters collided at Six Flags New England; one was sitting at the boarding station when the other came crashing into it. This is one of several accidents or malfunctions at New England amusement parks this summer - and I learned from the article that "Massachusetts is one of 14 states without a state-administered inspection program for parks." We go on these rides for the danger and excitement, but should we really keep going on them when there's real danger involved?

She Who Prefers to Remain Nameless This woman apparently wants to find an employer with "perspective". Let's all band together and help her out.

MICHAEL J. MAAG Okay kids, let's all repeat after me: "It's illegal for employers to inquire about your marital status or age." Let's not help them out by adding this information to our resumes.

Wayne Harrison Richard A. Camp, Sr. IMHO, unless you look like Claudia Schiffer, a picture on your resume cannot help you get a job.

Edward S. Marshall A lovely resume, I'd interview him, but in his skills rating section he forgot, Somewhat Good, Likely to be Good, Somewhat Terrible, Mildly Capable and Halfheartedly Able. Too many choices for skill levels - especially since you don't want to tell an employer you're Terrible at anything!

Yong Huang My only wish is that more people would put animated bunny rabbits on their Electronic Engineering resumes. It really lightens the mood.

Are you a Maven or a Connector? The Tipping Point is about epidemics; how things spread across a population, from the flu to casual shoes. Malcolm Gladwell explores why some fashion trends become worldwide fads while some languish in obscurity. There is a fantastic chapter which compares the educational principles behind Sesame Street and Blue's Clues that every parent should read. The Tipping Point lacks hard scientific explanation and metrics, but it's rife with warm, fuzzy anecdotes. It's a fast and enjoyable read that will leave you with a lot of great party stories; "Hey - do you want to know about the seasonal spread of syphillis?" This is trashy beach reading for the modern intellectual. The most valuable take-away concept from this book is that small actions can influence larger movements. "Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push - in just the right place - it can be tipped." 

Play Pong once again! This banner ad for HP was created in 1996. It features a fully-interactive game of Pong with AI that is programmed to increase the difficulty of the game each time you score. One of the only non-annoying, actually useful banners I have ever seen.

Muji Online Muji, a Japanese housewares store, is now offering online shopping for its loyal customers. Muji offerings are designed to suit space-limited Japanese homes and are compact and simply designed using inexpensive materials. Check out Muji for an elegant gift or streamlined office furniture.

The Spice House Need a hard-to-find spice for a special recipe? With hundreds of available spices, The Spice House probably has what you're looking for. From Asafoetida Powder to Tahitian Vanilla Beans, spice up your life at a decently affordable price. Take a look at their FAQ page for some good advice on storing spices. 

Fresh Samantha The juices are great, but the Web site isn't particularly meaty. Go have a look at the upbeat marketing spiel and cutsey graphics, but don't expect any award-winning content. Fresh Samantha seems to be talking to kids (t-shirt offers and coloring pages on their site) but no kid I know would choose a $2.50 bottle of juice over a $1.00 bottle of soda.

Zingermans This is quite a specialty store! From rare vials of wild italian fennel pollen ($20.00 a tube) to rich, mellow bottles of organic olive oil, you'll find the most exotic and distictive food finds at Zingermans. The site is a bit graphics-heavy, but well laid out with a fairly accurate site search. Don't miss the Zing Clubs where you can receive regular deliveries of bread, cheese and other savory edibles.

SOLAR Wow, just when I thought I was the biggest loser I know, along comes these people. They dress up in fantasy costumes and run around public parks hitting each other with foam swords and beanbags marked with the names of magic spells. They say, "Obviously, we can't have people running around with flame throwers or pelting one another with phials of acid." I say, "Why not?!" 

Sometimes you come across something that is so badly done, that it is hysterical. This is one of those things.