long long time ago

Spending the last two weeks in Texas was a necessary vacation for me. As always its so nice to go back to Texas, its hard to explain to people that have never been to Texas and have these silly misconceptions about the place but it is really a wonderful state filled with good food and great people and good weather. My body needed to feel 70 degrees again, since in Erie after all that snow it was getting hard to believe in the existence of the sun and warmth. From the moment I got there though I realized I didn't belong there anymore. Houston changes at a ridiculous pace, old buildings are torn down and freeways are erected. All that traffic, all those people. It was a bit overwhelming.

The city feels different too. All those plates from Louisiana, making all the more real the fact that in a year an entire city of people have been lost. In my isolation here I've grown accustomed to white faces at the supermarket and post office, completely forgetting how adorable it is to see little brown children running around Target. I still long for home. For Texas. But being in the north these past 4 years has changed me. All that traffic now seems unnecessary, excessive. I feel less overwhelmed in my day to day life. Its kind of nice. Nicer still because its temporary. Perfect even because of who is here with me.

So that's that. Here are some links that entertained me this morning:

*The battle over what it means when women stay at home continues.
*Why its hard to share the wealth.
*Design Without Reach. An homage to Design Withing Reach. The satellite bowl is actually pretty ingenious.
*My outsourced Life. A fabulously funny article on outsourcing.
*Being Poor. A post that hits you in the gut.

And finally a really funny end of year list from the BBC. Here are my favorites:

8. Devout Orthodox Jews are three times as likely to jaywalk as other people, according to an Israeli survey reported in the New Scientist. The researchers say it's possibly because religious people have less fear of death.

11. One in 10 Europeans is allegedly conceived in an Ikea bed.

41. Tactically, the best Monopoly properties to buy are the orange ones: Vine Street, Marlborough Street and Bow Street.

69. First-born children are less creative but more stable, while last-born are more promiscuous, says US research.

94. Bill Gates does not have an iPod.

Most of these links came from kottke.org