The Starbucks Puddle Riddle

In the morning I always notice a giant puddle of coffee directly outside the Starbucks down the street from my office. It's a spill worth at least three or four or five large coffees. Do that many people promptly spill their beverages upon leaving the store? Where does this puddle come from?

Try an experiment: Next time you're exiting a coffee shop, note whether or not you drench yourself in coffee. Maybe I spill coffee all over the place every day and just don't notice it. Maybe it happens to everyone.

Hint hint

For anyone looking for something to get me for my birthday, I direct you to an auction for a rare copy of Action Comics #1, holy grail of comics, first appearance of Superman, from June 1938. Current bid: $94,000 -- reserve not met.

Thanks in advance. :-)

Best. Bookshelves. Ever.

This is the kind of thing that makes a book-loving librarian-type like me go absolutely crazy. Scroll down - you don't want to miss any of these amazing designs.

Rhyme Zone

Yesterday, I had to write a haiku and a limerick for a departing co-worker. Last night, I ended up on the train writing limericks about my friends and family members.

I got stuck on one about a recently-engaged friend, and today was delighted to discover this website, Rhyme Zone, to help me find a suitable rhyme for "bride."

I also came up with this one:
There once was a writer named Ben
who preferred Microsoft Word to a pen
he wrote a book about his crush
called The Cranberry Hush
which he revises every now and then

Reunited

My cat rescue group was holding our adopt-a-thon in a local pet store about a month ago. A woman came in and immediately recognized one of our strays as her own cat, which had been lost in early November. She scared the bejesus out of us where she shrieked, "That's my Smudgie!" and tore the cat from its crate to squeeze it to her body, tears already flowing.

The lady was so happy to find her lost friend that we all cried too. What are the chances, five months after Smudgie disappeared, that she would find her at a pet store. We hold adopt-a-thons only once a month, and we are there for only 3 hours. Lucky the lady came in when she did!

The whole tale of the lost and found Smudgie is captured in a front-page story in one of the local town papers. It gave our little rescue group a great chance to get our name out there, as well as to highlight issues like feral colonies.

Steakloft Restaurant

Not a likely place for a vegetarian to go, but anyway, here's my first restaurant review for the local town paper.