The Smell

There’s a smell in my kitchen like… I don’t even know how to describe it. Like something died, rotted, the corpse reanimated only to be killed by Bruce Campbell, and rotted again.

But the worst part is that it’s not very strong. So you walk through the kitchen a few times and everything seems fine and dandy. But then, when you’re standing at the sink, rinsing some dishes to go in the dishwasher, it comes out of nowhere and assaults the senses.

Damned if I can figure out where it’s coming from. I’ve sniffed the sink. I emptied the trash can. I asked the Butcher to come in there and give a sniff, but he claimed he didn’t smell anything.

It’s weird, but the smell seems to be located right in front of the sink. Which made me a little worried. What if it’s me that smells so bad?

But at work today, everyone kept coming in and out of my office even though I was clearly trying to work, so I must not smell as bad as this smell or they’d have been finding excuses to be elsewhere, I’m sure.

Now I’m worried that one of the animals has dropped something small in my nose and it has lodged in my sinuses and started to rot, so that it’s a smell only I can smell.

You’d think that people would not be able to get things up their noses, but my dad once got a peanut stuck up there, so it’s entirely possible. I don’t know why the animals would stick things up my nose while I slept, or even how they would accomplish that without thumbs, but they’ve been spending a lot of time in-doors since it’s so unbearably hot out. And the tiny cat has moved from her spot on the suitcase in my room to a perch on the step-stool in the kitchen, which lends even more to the theory that the pets are involved in some kind of psychological experiment on me.

Or maybe something has crawled under the house and died.

Anyway, my dear friend, The Professor, has volunteered to come over and see if she can smell it too. If she can, we’ll locate the cause of the smell and rid the house of it. If she can’t, I may have to read up on pet-induced psychosis.

Who the Hell is Shaun Groves?

I don’t know. But if enough of you click through to his site, he might send me some free stuff.

That would be cool. I like free stuff.

So, click away. He doesn’t say that he’ll be checking to see if all of the clicks come from different IP addresses, so you know I’ll be “checking to see if he’s updated” often.

Just as a side note, I think a contest is an awesome idea and wish I’d thought of it.

What about blogs?

Yesterday, I got an email from the Professor that started out “I don’t think I get blogging. I really enjoy TCP, but I think it’s almost entirely because I know you and I like to watch you put things together.” Interestingly enough, Paul Chenoweth seemed to be meditating on this same thing yesterday.

What exactly is this thing the “blog”?

Paul says:

I am convinced more than ever that blogging is not about the technology, nor is it about rankings, nor even the passionate messages (however distorted those messages may be). There seems to be a groundswell of need to come from our 20th century cocoons and engage one another. Blogs can be a catalyst to connect people in conversation: some online, and more and more in a much more intimate, heartfelt, personal way.

I have to say, I like this, the idea of blog as catalyst. I don’t like “blog” as a word, for all the reasons Brittney mentions. But I do like its capacity for connecting people. And for providing opportunities for delight.

I love all of the different things people are doing on line from Jon’s performance art to Egalia’s impassioned outrage to Tim Morgan’s voracious ability to pull everything in, make it funny, and put it back on display for us.

And I love that I can point you to them and know that you’re both going to have an interesting time reading them and going to know a little bit more about me from seeing the things that catch my eye.