2. Baseball season is here. I am hugely happy about that, except for one thing. My brothers are lazy and pathetic and so I don't get to play fantasy baseball this year. Long story and I'm still too bitter to talk about it.

3. I have been house sitting all this week. Living alone is nice. Animals....nope.

4. Libraries in the metro area offer free passes to various community museums. It is a great program and one that certainly doesn't get the publicity it deserves. One of the participating musuems is the Minnesota Zoo. It is far and away the most popular pass (kicks the Russian Museums ass!) and the past couple summers, zoo passes have become nearly black market commodities. They are first come, first serve and last summer, I actually witnessed a fight over who was there first and should get the pass. In response to the overwhelming popularity and the problems it was creating, the zoo announced last fall that the passes would no longer be available in the summer. May - September, the zoo would not accept any free passes. Economically, this was a smart move on their part, because summer is when people go to the zoo, so they'll make lots more money. Last week we just heard the pull date for the passes and then, today, I hear that they won't be pulling them after all.

Evidently, in response to this economic crisis that we're in, the Minnesota Zoo has decided to continue to allow the free passes throughout the summer so people will be able to afford those simple pleasures. I thought this was an incredible gesture by the zoo, especially since it will actually cost them money. I say kudos to the zoo.

5. It is April. Weather-wise, that should mean the start of spring. It is chilly and on the verge of snowing (so they say)....in actuality, it is bright and sunny today, though colder than it should be.

6. I saw my first robin this morning, means spring to me.

7. At a library in New Zealand, someone came into the library with very large teddy bears and left them. The bears, that is. They just left them in the library, scattered throughout in various poses. Kind of like a prank or something, but no one has laid claim to the plan. I thought it was funny and reminiscent of our own animal prank.

8. And finally, I was reading an email this morning from a librarian and he said, "get yourself a cuppa coffee" and I realized it was not the first time I have heard the word "cuppa". Apparently, it is actually a word, but only because of sheer laziness. It is British (the librarian using it is NOT) and is a word derived from altering "a cup of tea". I mean, come on! We're so lazy now that making the "f" sound is too much work? Say it with me: "a cup of tea" "a cuppa tea" they have the exact same number of syllables--the only difference is the dropped "f" sound in the lazy form. It is absurd that this needs to be a word. I am bugged. Annoyed. Irritated. Chafed. Vexed. Galled. You name it. The sheer language laziness of this needing to be a word and actually being accepted as such is appalling....end of rant.

Do you think that is enough stuff? Hope you enjoyed today's "one fell swoop" posting.

Happy Friday!

20 days.