Author Archives: Mallory

a whole post on comic sans.

Just as Kathleen has been hesitant to give LiLo press she doesn’t deserve, I know that I shouldn’t humor Comic Sans with frequent posts about it. But I can’t help it. The past few days I’ve gotten a couple of bloggy tips related to Comic Sans, and I knew you all would want to hear about them.

First, Kathleen posted a video on my Facebook wall in which the creator of Comic Sans discusses the history of the infamous font. It’s cool to get the backstory, though I can’t say it makes me hate the font any less:

And perhaps more entertaining (no offense, Kathleeny) is a tip from our A-MAZING, FAN-TASTIC Chicago correspondent. As you might have heard somewhere on the news or the interwebs or the Twitter, LeBron James just announced his decision to play with the Miami Heat, and people are getting crazy about it. (Full disclosure: I don’t actually care. Although I did find this article on James’ move pretty interesting.) What I’m getting crazy about is the fact that Cavs’ owner Dan Gilbert posted a rant on NBA.com about James’ departure and decided to write it in Comic Sans. CNN’s John Sutter echoes my thoughts perfectly:

After Gilbert posted a rant — in the cutesy Comic Sans typeface — about James’ departure on NBA.com, bloggers, newspaper writers and Twitter pundits lashed back with a collective message that essentially said this:

Unless you’re a fourth-grader, or being ironic, or the author of a comic book, or on vacation from the 1990s, never use that typeface.

And they’re right! If you want to be taken seriously in a professional forum, do not use a bullshit font! Would you use Papyrus on your resume? Kristen ITC on your campaign signs? (Well, Sarah Palin might.) In the world of normal, the answer is a definitive no. So why would you use Comic Freaking Sans for the most public document you’ll ever write? And why wouldn’t you have some intern proofread your tirade for excessive use of Caps Lock and unnecessary quotation marks?  (See for yourselves. It’s bad.) We can only assume poor Gilbert was blinded by grief, and for that, our thoughts go out to him.

[Posted by Mallory]

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guess what? i’m not a robot.

Kathleen discovered this song the other day and we (along with my work BFF…hi, work BFF!) have been listening nonstop ever since. I’ve decided that this gal is a mix of Regina Spektor, Kate Nash, and Lady Gaga. Lurve her:

This song makes me a little less depressed to be hanging out in National Airport for the next four hours. Why am I stuck in the airport, you ask? Short answer: because I’m an idiot. Basically, I thought, “Hey, even though normally I’m super cautious about getting to the airport extra early, I’ll calm down this time and just give myself a normal amount of time to get there!” BAD IDEA. As a warning to the rest of you: the second you try to “not have OCD,” the Metro will take forever, the airport shuttle won’t come, and you’ll find yourself pleading with two stoic Frontier agents who are all, “Oh, sorry, I understand that you have 25 minutes [Ed. Note: TOTALLY ENOUGH TIME] to run from here and try to get through security, but we’re going to make you wait for another four hours to fly.” And then they shuffle with papers and try to ignore that you’re crying a little too dramatically in front of them.

So, sorry I’m missing most of your bachelorette party, cousin Ashley. Turns out my neuroses are there for a reason, and ignoring them doesn’t work out well. Lesson learned.

UPDATE: Well, this is interesting. Turns out I wrote a very similar post on almost this exact date last year. I’m flying home for the same trip, the same weekend, AND using a flight voucher borrowed from my father again (which he earned on the same trip two years in a row). WEIRDNESS.

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under adventures, cry face, music, travel

department of things that are unsurprising…

So, remember back around Christmastime when I posted about the best invention ever in the world? Which was a breakfast sandwich-making machine? And remember how none of you assholes bought it for me?

Well, turns out one of you assholes HAD bought it for me, almost a full year prior, in anticipation of my graduation. Two major observations here:

1. How great is the thought and planning that went into this gift? The idea was hatched more than a year before the gift was given, and was kept secret all that time! It still makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to think about it.

2. My favorite gift that I received for my graduation from graduate school was a machine that makes breakfast sandwiches.

The rooms and I got to christen the breakfast sandwich machine a couple of weeks ago, and holy soy sausage, that thing is amazing. Try to imagine it: an average toaster with a sidecar that includes an egg cooker and a meat warmer. You can’t even picture it, can you? It’s beyond the realm of your imagination, isn’t it? Thank goodness Amazon can provide a photo:

Hello, lover.

Here’s how it goes: you pop your bread in the toaster, crack an egg into the world’s tiniest frying pan, place your meat in the meat warmer, press a button, and spend the next ten minutes staring eagerly at your breakfast sandwich machine and reading the instruction manual, which says hilarious things like “Remove toast, egg, and meat. Assemble into sandwich, or enjoy separately.” And then…it’s ready. And the egg looks just like those freaky perfect round ones from McDonald’s. And suddenly, all is right with the world.

It’s the little things, really.

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under adventures, food, health

my heart shall bleed right again.

Currently on repeat:

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under music, YouTube

just six words and a picture.

I think my heart just exploded.

(Via her moments were beautiful.)

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under animals, babies, pictures

edith shain, the kissing nurse, dies.

Edith Shain, now famous for being the subject of “one of the most memorable photographs from World War Two,” died on Sunday at 91. You know the photo, right?:

Now I’ve seen this photo about a million times — and was among the 50% of college girls who had this poster up in her dorm room (there was a poster sale on campus, OKAY?) — but I never knew the story behind it. As I went to post this, I wondered if she ended up marrying that guy, or something equally adorable. Turns out, she didn’t even know him. According to le Wikipedia, “In August 1945, Shain was working at Doctor’s Hospital in New York City as a nurse when she and a friend heard on the radio that World War II had ended. They went to Times Square where all the celebrating was and as soon as she arrived on the street from the subway, the sailor grabbed her in an embrace and kissed her.” As one Gawker commenter pointed out, that almost makes the story more amazing; there Edith was, minding her own business, when all of a sudden she becomes part of this iconic moment, captured forever on film.

Rest in peace, Edith, and thanks for being such a good sport. Next time a stranger tries to give me a smooch on the sidewalk, I’ll go with it, and hope someone’s around to snap the picture.

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under adventures, history, news, pictures, RIP

just six words and a link.

Comic Sans fights back. I die.

Thanks to E.Lee for the tip. For a reminder of how we here at SWTCTW feel about Comic Sans, see here, here, here, and here.

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under humor, pop culture, random

today is a google holiday, hooray!

Today’s Google Holiday: First Day of Summer! Heck yes! (Although based on the amount that I was sweating yesterday while indoors, it’s been summer here in The Swamp for a while now.)

What I was Googling: soldiers’ angels. My roommate recently signed up for this program, through which you can write soldiers letters, send them care packages, etc. It sounds like an awesome idea, and what I like best is that you are connected with an individual soldier (rather than writing a generic letter to an unknown person). Take a look, if you’re interested!

Enjoy the first day of summer, everyone! I feel like I should go get a Slurpee and watch The Price is Right after swim practice, a la 1995.

[Posted by Mallory]

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youtube clip of today: samba baby.

This baby has more rhythm in his tiny little ass than I could ever hope to have in my tiny little ass. I love his sassy attitude, as he points to his invisible crowd of admirers:

[Posted by Mallory]

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Filed under babies, dance, humor, random, YouTube

today is a google holiday, hooray!

Today’s Google Holiday: Happy 100th Birthday Jacques Cousteau! Now, does it count as a birthday if the person is dead? I’m not sure I can support the phrasing of this holiday. They should have titled it, “It Would Have Been Cool If You Were Still Alive, Jacques, Because Then You Would Have Been 1oo!” Then again, if I had worked for Google, yesterday’s National Iced Tea Day and the second anniversary of this here bloggie (!!!) on June 9 would have been featured. They’ll get their priorities straight eventually. Jacques might have done cool stuff in the ocean, but Kathleen and I post funny videos that other people made. I really don’t understand the difference.

What I was Googling: Nothing, actually. (I considered making something up that was kind of awkward/funny, like maybe “the electric slide,” but that would have been dishonest.) I was actually on Google to see if yesterday’s picture party was still going on. Did anyone else see that? Instead of being white, the Google homepage background was a fabulous picture that changed every so often. I think they were advertising a new feature where you can pick any photo you want and have it be your background. I grabbed a screen shot of this baby:

It’s fun, like Fridays are fun! Have a good one!

[Posted by Mallory]

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