Alas, whimsical notion, we hardly knew ye.

You recall that the day after the election, I sent President-elect Obama two books and a letter. Friday I got the books back with a nice note from one of his staff members:

"Senator Obama thinks the public should have confidence that their elected officials are solely focused on representing their interests in Congress. In light of recent abuses of the congressional gift rule by a few members of Congress and the lobbying community, Senator Obama wants to lead by example. Instituting a clear cut, no-gift policy should eliminated any appearance of an individual or organization attempting to influence him or his staff through any means other than the power of their policy arguments."

Is that not cool? And my letter/policy argument is somewhere in his office.


P-doobie was momentarily bummed about the books.

Shoe! Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to my wizardly sister! I'm very glad you were born, Shoe.

Huffing at Otowi Station

One of the products we carry is a glue that you spread on your completed jigsaw puzzle to preserve it. It's like Elmer's Glue, with the same milky white color and mild acetic odor. This week we've found two open jars of the stuff spilled in the museum section--and gosh, was it fun to clean up.

Apparently some kids are unclear on the concept of glue sniffing, and thought they could get high by huffing puzzle glue. I checked the material safety data sheets for the glue, and it's harmless unless misused; two of the byproducts of decomposition are carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, so the kids could possibly get a little light-headed if they huffed long enough.

We've put the glue in a case on the counter. 

The National Inhalant Prevention Coalition has lots of good information about the dangers, signs, and prevention of huffing.

Queen Victoria weighs in

Thank you, Chuckbert, for introducing me to The New Adventures of Queen Victoria. You'll need to click on the images to enlarge them.

My first act after the election

I sent Senator Obama a copy of Power to Save the World: the Truth about Nuclear Energy and encouraged him to call for a new Manhattan Project to develop economical, sustainable, safe energy that will help combat global warming. (I also sent him a copy of The Shadow of the Wind, for those times when he's too tired to start a new project but not sleepy enough to go to bed.)

I also asked him to use independent bookstores when he and his staff need books and to let Otowi Station know when he needs scientific and technical books.

Let's get to work! We have a lot to do!

I'm gonna be a white Oprah!

The scariest Halloween costume

Every year the Chamber of "Commerce" sponsors "Trick or Treat on Main Street," an event downtown that provides a safe venue for the kids to get their candy fix. Otowi Station participates, and this year we handed out about 70 pounds of candy and all our glow-in-the-dark monster fangs, skeletons, and tops. (And what is it with sour Twizzlers? The smell of them made me gag, but the kids snatched them up, and, even more interesting, actually ate them.) We also had dog cookies for the pooches. Pet Pangaea sponsored a Hallow-wiener constume contest for dogs.

One mom dressed as Sarah Palin, and her bodyguard kids were dressed in suits and sunglasses and were wearing earphones. Indiana Jones was out in force, as were men dressed as nuns. The kid wearing the scariest costume of all was dressed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

AUGGGGGGHHHHHH!