Blue fin

Magnet #1324 - Provincetown Blue Whale

Some friends brought this rather big whale magnet back for me from the Cape.

I've always wanted to go whale watching. Well, sorta.

I think I like the idea of whale watching, rather than the actual practice. I'm sure seeing the grandeur of a blue whale, the largest mammal on earth, would probably be all types of awesome. But, to actually go out on the open sea (already do not like), walk around decks staring into the ocean (which I kinda like), and seeing wildlife swim around me (probably would not like), is another story.

There was an incredible report about a blue whale sighting off of Provincetown last month. Sightings are rare and far between and they're not always in Cape waters - apparently the guy leading the tour has been on 6,500 whale watch trips and has only seen four of them. And this recent one was something like 75-80 feet long. I mean, whoa.

But here's something. A 2YO human could crawl through a blue whale's arteries.

I'm sorry.

WHAT?

And like, how do we know this?

Zoinks!

Magnet #1323 - Scooby Gang

"Oh, Joy. Scooby-Doo won't marry you."

- My mother, upon hearing that I was watching yet another episode of Scooby-Doo mysteries.

What? I can admit it - long into my 30s and I still love a good Scooby marathon. Honestly, when I bought this at Comic-Con a few weeks ago, I couldn't believe this is my only Scooby-Doo magnet.

You would think that watching all those Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?s growing up (and now, to be honest) would desensitize me to anything hokey scary. But nothing could be further from reality.

When I was 12ish, I beat up a Disney World attendant. To let me out of the Haunted Mansion.

When I was in college, I screamed, "You can't do this to me, I'm an American citizen!" to the Jack the Ripper dayplayer who fake grabbed me and held a fake knife to my throat at the London Dungeon.

And just this past Halloween weekend, I was laughing hysterically with tears streaming down my cheeks, literally quaking in boots and wondering if I should yell out the safeword "safety" at the fake scary Haunted House downtown.

Yep. When it comes to scaring easily, I would pretty much roll with Scooby and Shaggy, thankyouverymuch.

Do a barrel roll, Google, do a barrel role

Magnet #1322 - Loch Ness Takes Manhattan

Love this magnet my sister got me. It reminds of that latest Mashable article on the special Google Easter eggs - one of which is when you set your Google home page to the beach theme and at 3:14am Nessie comes out to play.

Mind you, I haven't done it, but it does crack me up.

As does making Google do the barrel roll.

Or going looking for Chuck Norris.

Seriously. Go read that article I linked above.

So interesting how Google has become such a presence in our lives, that we totally take it for granted. You could extend that to all of the Internet, plus mobile technology. Still...for all the wonderful things it's brought us in the last 20 years, I have to say I am still very, very, very glad that I went to college without the presence of either Facebook , mobile communications or any form of instant communications.

My UNC experience would have been so much different had they been around. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been for the better.

Tall tales

Magnet #1321 - Giraffe

Bought this one at NY Comic-Con a few weeks ago. Yes, yes, I know, I dunno, I end up buying the oddest magnets in the oddest of places. But NYCC has come to be the place where I buy my cute things, this giraffe being one of them. Wait til you see the rest of the set!

Just read a bunch of facts about giraffes - they have black tongues and spend 16-20 hours a day feeding, they sleep for about five minutes at a time, and no one's ever seen them bathe.

OH! And their tails are like 8 feet long! Like, I always knew giraffes were tall, but I don't think I've ever noticed how tall their tails were.

See what I did there?

I like Ike

Magnet #1320 - I Like Ike

So funny, without meaning to, last weekend, both my sisters and my parents from DC/NC and I from NY converged on the snowbound Pennsylvania - without meaning to. But we didn't meet up.

They headed to Gettysburg, while my friend and I went to Tannersville.

What kills me is that my friends and I have specifically gone to visit Gettysburg many, many years ago. But how is it, that we didn't stop by the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Historic Site nearby!?! For shame!

Looks like we definitely have to plan a trip back there. Especially since we went long before they re-did the Gettysburg experience. Before, we just drove around the sites, walked the streets of the small town, bought a copy of John Jakes' North and South, and that's pretty much it

But, I do love this magnet my sisters bought me, because I do, in fact, like Ike. When I was little, my dad and I did a research project together (I can't remember if it was for fun, or for school) where I learned all of the five-star generals of World War II, and their backgrounds. There's Ike, MacArthur, Marshall, Arnold, and then Bradley.

So that's why I nearly wanted to jump out a window when one of my 20somethings here in the office said, "Wait. President Eisenhower was a WWII general?"

I cringed at my desk, and without turning around, I said quietly, how do you not know this, (kid with political science background)? He said something akin to, I don't know all those historical facts!

Headdesk.

MI-CrookedletterCrookedletter, etc. - Guest Blogger, Save the World Brother-in-Law

Magnet #1319 - Mississippi Gulf Coast

The BIL's taking another turn at guest blogging for me, on a magnet he and Save the World sis got me from his home state of Mississippi.

Anyone else always do the MI-SS-ISS-IPPI or MIcrookedlettercrookedletter, Icrookedlettercrookedletter, IhumpbackhumpbackI chant to remember how to spell it?

Yep, me too.

- joy

____________________________________

You know those moments in life when you’re looking at something that is so normal and yet spectacular? That is how I remember sunsets on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. If the timing was right and I was driving or riding west along Highway 90, I would watch as the neon colored sun slowly lowered across land and water. It’s those types of memories that paint my picture of where I’m from, but it is a slightly different reality I return to when I visit.

Some people ask why our beaches don’t have the clear blue water you’ll find further east in Alabama and Florida – and the simple answer is our barrier islands don’t allow the tides to clear out all of the silt. Maybe that’s why the Mississippi Gulf Coast has always had to have that extra something to attract people to it.

There are still white sand beaches to stroll on and majestic-looking live oak trees (some of which are centuries old) with Spanish moss hanging and swinging in the gulf breeze. Gamblers of all ages still make their way to casinos stretching along the coast to try and hit the jackpot, without as much glitz and glamour as Vegas or Atlantic City. You can always find your favorite Cajun, Creole, Southern, and Seafood cooking calling your name at places like Mary Mahoneys, the White Cap, Vrazels, Lil Rays, and Catfish Charlies. You can have it all from fine dining to po boys.

If you want history and art, there is also something for you. Beauvoir was the last home of Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederacy). He lived out his final years there, although he was never granted his US citizenry back. Pirate Jean Lafitte frequented the area and laid low on the barrier islands when the law was searching for him and before he helped win the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. Artist Walter Anderson painted canvases, rooms, and boats in wonderful designs. George Ohr was nicknamed the Mad Potter of Biloxi and his works gained popularity after his death.

I also think people are attracted by the resiliency of the people there. Female hurricanes haven’t always been kind to the coast. Hurricane Camille tore Ship Island into two halves before smashing the shore, Hurricane Elena left a hole in the roof of my parent’s house, and Hurricane Katrina did her worst in her path of destruction. Driving along Highway 90 today will still give you a great sunset, but not all of the houses, hotels, and businesses have returned to their former locations.

It’s a slow process, but the coast won’t stop calling visitors to its shores. So whether it’s Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Long Beach or Pass Christian, you’ll have a great day on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

I'm back?

Magnet #1318 - Change Your Life

So, I took a break for a month to figure out whether or not I was quitting on joy magnetism. The answer is, I don't know.

I bought this magnet from a dude outside of the Guggenheim (during a trip to the gift shop, not the museum), because it's definitely indicative of the last year for me.

I've been talking about the #funtimejoy initiative for a while, which is to make sure that I take advantage of every fun thing that comes my way, in order to make up for the lost funtime years of my late 20s and early 30s.

The trouble is, between architecture class, ziplining, the ballet, haunted houses, accidentally stalking Samuel L. Jackson, trips upstate, shopping trips, and just general carousing, being #funtimejoy is totally wearing me out! And all of the above? Was just in October. Oiy.

Anyway, I'm debating on whether or not to start tumblring joy magnetism, but for now, blogger will do. But here's what's odd...I've been blogging since February 22, 2008, but this October, even as I haven't posted a single magnet an entire month? Site traffic (which has never really been that high), has actually doubled.

What up with that?