ChgoRed, Girl Editor

Vote! Vote! Vote!

In honor of the Iraq elections, another contest that may or may not be rigged, and that may or may not have any real influence on future events. But you get to vote in this one!

I know--you’re all a little gun-shy after that last time we voted, back in November. But this won’t hurt nearly as badly. You can even watch the returns come in.

I’m trying to think up a name for this card-making venture dealio thing. I want something to put on the back of the cards, especially if I’m going to sell them. But coming up with a name I like for more than five minutes has been a real brow-furrower. I’m trying for something that incorporates a little art, a little style, and maybe a slightly more classic or retro feel. Obviously, the Cards/Designs/Greetings at the end is variable.

The top candidates:

Malabar Cards. I like this one the best. I’m currently reading about the history of the spice trade, when Malabar meant a faraway magic place in India where spices come from. It was a place of many rumors and much speculation. You could get eaten by monsters there, or you could make a fortune that would change your whole life. Only the people who came back knew for sure. I like all that mystery and portent. I like the way it sounds. The Boyfriend says it sounds too much like “Mallomar Cards,” which…whatever. Gah.

Cardisan Designs. Like “artisan,” but with cards. I’m tepid on this one.

Bellhop Greetings. It sounds cute and snappy, like you’re getting a telegram.

Some others I’ve considered:

Billadoo. It’s a play on the French word “billet-doux,” which basically means “love letter.”

Lost Leaf Papers.  Like "loose-leaf," but taken further.

Ambra Designs. Italian for “amber,” which I like to wear.

Burlesk Designs. Yes, sometimes they spelled it that way. Probably a little too retro, though, and everyone will think it’s porn.

There’s your list. You have until Saturday, February 5 to register your opinion in the Comments section. I can't guarantee the winning name will be used, but I will certainly consider it.  And if you change your mind and need to vote more than once, that's cool, too. 

I'm from Chicago; we're used to it.

Where Have I Been?

1.) At Work.

January in the financial industry means reporting season--that is, nearly every company you can think of is reporting quarterly results. This means all the people who follow those companies (i.e., my analysts) have to review all the new data, rejigger their numbers, and then write reports on it all. Plus, since it's the January reporting season, nearly all those companies are also reporting end-of-year earnings. It's like two, two, two reporting seasons in one! Whee!

I put out 16 reports this week. Go me. I'm so tired.

2.) At the Doctor's Office.

Nothing serious. Just needed a new prescrip for the seizure meds, and to have this...thingy taken off my stomach. I thought it was a mole, but my Probably Gay Doctor from South America calls it a "skin tag," which sounds ooky to me, but whatever. The Getting of Surgical Materials and "gauzes" (his word) actually took longer than the procedure. Some swabbing, some local painkiller, a snip or two, and gone. Now I just have a little c-shaped cut that's healing nicely.

It was highly informative. I learned:

--Even if you don't think you need it, they will do a biopsy anyway. As he put it, "We biopsy everything we take off somebody. You wouldn't believe how many people come in here with a melanoma? And they only have three months to live." Surprise cancer--juuuust what I didn't need to hear about.

--Something else I didn't need to hear. The doc talking to his assistant while she was prepping his work area: "No, not that one. I need the one with the red thing." Whatever the "red thing" might be, he knows  the proper name, right? Doctors don't just go around calling things "things," do they?

"He's got a problem with that one thing...What's it called again? A Ballgladder? Something like that. Anyway..."

--One more job I would hate to have: Pharmaceutical sales rep. There was one of these guys in the waiting room when I arrived, and a different one in the waiting room when I left. Both of them were trying to get just a few minutes to talk to the doc (already running late, so good luck, fellas), and both of them gave off a definite whiff of Desperate Salesman. You know it's bad when the second salesman is pulling vertebral castings out of his bag to show the doctor's harried assistant/secretary. "...and this is from the spine of a woman who used the drug for six months. See what a difference it made?" She must have shut him down fast, because we ended up on the same elevator. Well, us and a guy who had an entire shopping bag of Clarinex samples, i.e., Salesman #3.

3.) At home.

Last weekend, we were snowbound. OK--maybe not actually snowbound. But we did have enough snow that we didn't leave the house until 4 in the afternoon. And when we did, it was just to get hot drinks, play in the snow, and stop at the deli for dinner sandwiches. We gave serious thought to stopping at Amy & Jim's, just to ask, "Can you come out to play?" but decided against it. No need to convince them that we're nuts; I'm sure they suspect already.

Much of my home time this week has been spent in front of the computer, working on this year's project: Greeting cards. As some of you know, I've been making my own Christmas cards for a couple of years. This year I want to take it a little further, designing and printing cards for birthdays and other holidays. It goes really well, I may MAY sell some at the DIY Trunk Show this November. Assuming they have another one, of course; assuming the preparations don't bankrupt me (guess who could use a new printer?); and assuming I actually have the nerve. Right now I'm just kicking around designs and themes, and creating cards as needed. One step at a time. But I am totally enjoying the artistic outlet it's providing, and am excited to see just what I could do with this.

Also at home: Preparing for the Oscar Party I've decided to host. Repeatedly promising The Boy that yes, I will take down the Christmas tree (this weekend; I swear). Attending a friend's CD release party. Wondering when the heck it will warm up. Trying not to have a stroke over the latest gas bill. Smooching The Boy often.

And oh yeah. The anniversary. As of next Tuesday (Feb. 1), it will be two years with The Boy. Ain't that something?

Happy 76th Birthday, Dr. King

From "The Drum Major Instinct," delivered Feb. 4, 1968.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.

And that's all I want to say… If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, if I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, if I can spread the message as the master taught, then my living will not be in vain.

More speeches and recordings here.

We Call It “The Incident”

Sometimes, when a man and a woman love each other very much, they purchase an electric device to help them express that love. And one day, if they’re feeling especially frisky, they may take that device with them on vacation.

Say, to Las Vegas.

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Is New Year's over already? Damn. And we were having such a nice time, too.