I constantly run into disturbed and addled people talking on cell-phones or walkie-talkies. I don't give them a pass, just because there's another nut at the other end of the line.

(Yes, midtown is getting to me...)

finished with finals (yay!). But here's the thing- it's not as liberating as I thought it would be. It's a little depressing. For the last month I have had purpose and direction. All of a sudden I am aimless and I don't like it. I want to be aimful!

Relatedly, it turns out my favorite time of the exam process is different from most people. I think the few minutes just before an exam are the very best ones. There's no studying to do and you can't feel bad about an exam you have not yet taken.

Whoa! Well, you've been in this thing with 5 women! The rest of 'em are just trying to get laid.

Surveillance cameras everywhere.

I was at a store the other day. The cashier forgot to give me cash back. I forgot that I had asked. I went back to the store for my $40. In the old days the cashier would cash out her register. At this store the security guard went to the back of store to look at security tapes. He came out about 20 minutes later, "she didn't get her money. Giver her the $40".

Customer with an accent wanting an English Christmas pudding. I take him to them and we get to chatting. He's originally from Swansea, in Wales. He went to school near where I went to school in England and we discovered that our schools used to have dances together. (All of us upper level females would be piled into a bus, taken to one of the local boys' schools, allowed out for 2 hours - huge grope session with strangers - and then trucked back to school.)

Those were the days.

Anyway....

We began talking about "A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas, created and performed by some Austin musicians. He had just been to a performance with his kids and said how much he enjoyed it. He grew up two doors down from Dylan Thomas' house. His father was his physician. Thomas never paid his bills. So when Thomas died, the town of Swansea decided to erect a memorial to him. They hit up this guy's dad for a donation. His dad got out all of Dylan Thomas' unpaid bills, stamped them "PAID", and sent them to the fund-raising committee!!!

This story made my day.

Now that is the best holiday story I've heard in quite a while! Thanks.

I think Mongo's mom just hung up on me. I was calling to discuss slash express my envy over two blizzards in two weekends coming for Alu and Gobi.

we're in philadelphia, and nervous about not making it back to the dogs on schedule.

Mongo, darling, I'm worried you're going to be snowed out til Saturday. Come on up north!

luckily, we are in the home of old friends outside philadelphia. we hope to get back to the dogs on schedule on saturday night, but the snow may have other plans. even if the flight does land in denver on friday night (luckily we're booked on the last flight in, so they'll have maximum runway clearing time) not sure if the bus from the airport to our parking garage in boulder will be running. and if it is, not sure what the state of the roads from the garage to lafayette will be. i do know the roads to our house inside our neighbourhood will be unpassable--so we''ll probably have to park some distance away and walk the last bit with our luggage (luckily, not a whole lot of that). wait, this should be in "annoyances".

my mother tells me that while gobi is largely unmoved by our failure to return, the slightest outside sound sends alu running to the kitchen/garage door. they are apparently eating and pooping on schedule though, and sleeping in the parents' room at night.

This bears all the signs of an ADVENTURE in the making. Wasn't the Donner Party in your neck of the woods?

didn't they do most of their business in california? if not for the dogs and parents we would leap at the opportunity to turn this into an extended east coast trip.

You're right. Apparently on December 26, 1846, the party "resorted" to cannibalism for the first time.

No snow up here at the house. Not even a trace. It's 32 degrees at 11:30pm.

That's raw when you can't even get a snow day.

It's more winter in Israel than it is here!?!?

Do not understand. You left parents taking care of dogs and have perfect excuse (weather) to extend time in The East. Time to party and explore new knosh nests, yes? Oh. I forgot. Your gas stove only works intermittenly . . .

Over the holiday, having to pay close attention when surfing news broadcasts, because only certain keywords would clue you in on which famous dead person was in play. Y'know - "Apollo Theater", "football", "small town values", "pompadour".

my sister just sent me some recent pictures of my nephews, including one at a well-known outdoor food/shopping area in delhi. sitting at the table right behind them are a friend of a friend (and one time friend) and his wife--they live in los angeles and my sister doesn't know them.

New York has long been over-run with banks and drugstores, but the the northwest corner of 5th Ave and 14th st is is a first. On the ground floor is a Commercebank and right above on the second floor is a Chase.

The man who saved a fellow from death in the subway was on David Letterman tonight. He is the genuine article. A person who says he had no choice but to come to the aid of another person in danger, even at the risk to his own life. If I ever knew of an altruistic act, this was it.

This guy has touched me to the core.

It's like the flipside of the Kitty Genovese story.

I was, at the time, living a few miles from where that happened.

Please tell me he's on YouTube. Let Mongo find it.

Not Letterman but CBS News. When I heard this story I kept thinking about his little girls -- can only imagine what they must have felt like while it was happening. Amazing story.

Wesley Autry first rescued the man from a seizure, opening his vomit-clogged throat and reviving him. Then after the fellow recovered, he stood up and fell onto the tracks. Autry, who was with his two toddler daughters, gave them to the care of two ladies on the platform and jumped onto the tracks in the path of an oncoming train. Failing to lift the man out of harm's way, he pushed him into a 22" drainage ditch between the rails and lay on top of him pressing himself and the victim down. Five cars passed over them before the train stopped.

Before he went in, he said to himself "fool, there's no one else here. You're gonna have to do it."

Just amazing. He even referenced the idea that New Yorkers cannot just walk past another person who is in distress and say "Oh I have to get to work." He said there must have been 80 people on the platform and only three, two "ladies" and himself came to the aid of this young man.

He took immediate responsibility to act, thinking to himself that he had to protect his daughters while he did so.

This is a rare and admirable man.

Genuinely. That may even be understatement. "Greater love hath no man . . . ."

Something like this happened in the Toronto subway a couple of years ago, but it didn't make the international news and Donald Trump did not get involved. Not to lessen Mr. Autrey's achievement one bit, but there are overlooked heroes everywhere.

But, Fly, everyone expects that sort of thing to happen in Toronto: Canadians are all so nice.

Whereas we NYers are still fighting our longtime image of . . . well, yes, Kitty Genovese.

And did you hear about those two guys in the Bronx who caught the kid who fell off the fire escape?

Why didn't you help?

I tried but was too busy graduating high school.

The story has extra poignance because Autry is African American and the rescued guy is white. But the NYT seems to be at pains to not mention this.

Which I believe is a positive thing. The more "color blind" we become the better. I thought it quite remarkable that this fellow saw another human being in need and felt an obligation to help him, even at risk of his life. Race was simply absent from his equation. Would that more people had such an outlook.

The 1 train operator stopped the train when he saw someone on the tracks. The men were trapped under a car (the Daily News says the second, the Times says fifth), and Hollopeter reportedly said to Autrey, "Am I dead? Am I dead?" Autrey told him, "No, we're under the train. 'You're touching me. You feel me touching you? We're very much alive."

From Gothamist

THAT kind of touching is okay.

Got the following customer service email:

The Two-Headed Girl. Freaky.

The Hensel twins. There was a profile of them in the New York Times Magazine when they were about 5. I was so moved by how normal they were, despite their profound physical situation. I'm even more moved now. And I think it's perfectly awful that someone would try and freakify them by calling them the “the two-headed girl.” For shame.

Very hard for me to watch.

Sincere apologies -- I copied it verbatum from the DrudgeReport from whence the clip was posted. No offense intended as I had never even heard of them before.

I wasn't pointing a finger at you, 24k; whomever posted the video chose that title. The video itself is pretty unslanted.

The latest TV commercial for Clear Blue Easy home pregnancy tests: a shot of the product with a stream of liquid hitting the business end. Voiceover - "The most advanced technology you'll ever pee on."

well, that's only because nasa won't let me pee on their precious deep space telescopes.

Sounds like the battle of the phalluses.
mongo, are you gonna be a guest prof at Occidental?

i realize i am part of the problem for this op-ed writer but most of these courses sound good to me.

And here I thought you were all of the problem.

Never has this emoticon seen better use.