A rule that will allow public libraries in the US city of Dallas to ban people who are considered to smell badly has drawn criticism by charity groups.Since when have these been OK in libraries?
Under the guidelines, which come into force in February, sleeping, eating, loud talking, fighting, bare feet, sex and washing will also be banned.
I love this kid.
An American 16-year-old has secretly travelled to Iraq on his own as part of his school project.This is what they call taking things to heart.
Farris Hassan from Fort Lauderdale was studying a high school class in "immersion journalism".
I just finished reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseneini. Actually I read the entire thing in one sitting and it isn't exactly a flimsy book. I read the first 1/3 but then I got this strange awakeness so I decided to read more, then I couldn't put it down because I was at a good part, and then my eyes started to burn with every turn of the page, but I was already 2/3 of the way done, so then I had to finish it. The Kite Runner is about a boy growing up in Afghanistan who deals with some heavy issues. I would definitely recommend it.
The famous bun has been preserved with shellac. 
Today we hit all the after Christmas sales! I got a sewing machine for Christmas so we stopped at Joanne's to get fabric and stuff to supplement it. I want to make a dress, pajama pants, and a jacket. I put up a picture of some of the stuff I got, plus a pic of my Christmas outfit (that matches my bedspread freakishly well).
Earlier we went to the mall, and at the BON TON I said "Look, Michelle, sewage is dropping from the ceiling. Don't stand under it. I turn around for a second to look at something and when I turn around she is standing right over the giant stain on the floor where ugly brown water has been dripping out all day. I say, "What are you doing? I told you not to stand under that," and what does Michelle do? She looks up, and a big drop of sewage drops on her face. That made my day.
Awww, look at Tara's big puppy. Isn't he sooo cute? Awwww. Who's the cutie? Who's the cutie? Cute things have a way of reducing people to baby talk. An interesting concept, eh?
We had lots of fun in NYC. Sure, it was cold and the subway was closed down, and we had a few bad things happen, but for the most part our trip was successful. Everything started out fine, the traffic wasn't as bad as we had expected, but after I got off the bus, the door closed and Tami and Emily kept going. My life flashed before my eyes as I figured I had been abandoned in New York City, left to fend only for myself. Fortunately they stopped again and we met back together. 
First we got standby tickets for the View because they are giving out Christmas presents to audience members, but they ended up turning away even ticket holders. Next we walked around, got Starbucks, ate at Rachael’s, went to Macy's, and tried to get tickets to Letterman. Little did we know that they interview you when you sign up for them. 
They asked how often we watched the show, so we lied and said a lot, of course, but then they wanted to know what our favorite bits were, and we morons just sat there like lumps on a log, looking at each other. Needless to say, we didn't get those tickets, lol. Finally we made our way to Rockefeller Plaza to look at the Christmas tree and NBC studios to go to Conan! 
They threw us free t-shirts so that made us happy. We had very good seats to watch the show, but I was a little disappointed with the stage. It is so grand, and seemingly large on TV, but kind of small and crappy in person. Conan is really skinny and tall, but he seems like a very cool guy. Tami had the lucky red mark on her chair so she had to crawl out of her seat while a member of their staff sat between Emily and me. So the side of my face made it onto TV, how exciting! After Conan, we went ice skating in Bryant Park which was a nice outdoor rink. That was definitely fun. 
Then we made our way to a comedy show, but after walking 20 blocks we decided we had hit a bit more of shady area and decided not to go any farther for fear of our well-being. 
Obviously we took the NJ turnpike south but after never finding a place to turn onto I-78, we stopped at a service center and asked 'Joe' for directions. We had to go way out of our way north to get back to Pennsylvania, believe it or not. And after napping at a Wendy's we finally made it home!! I'm glad we decided to go even despite the strike. Fun, fun.
Why? Who is it that wishes malice on us? Those Conan tickets were so hard to get, we planned our whole trip perfectly even at a minimal cost. Fortunatly NJ transit is still working, which we were planning on using anyway, and a "contigency plan" is supposed to be in place by tomorrow morning for the subway and buses. I know we can still go and still have fun. This will not hinder my last piece of excitement in the year 2005, I will still go to NYC, and that is final!