Blue fin

Magnet #1324 - Provincetown Blue Whale

Some friends brought this rather big whale magnet back for me from the Cape.

I've always wanted to go whale watching. Well, sorta.

I think I like the idea of whale watching, rather than the actual practice. I'm sure seeing the grandeur of a blue whale, the largest mammal on earth, would probably be all types of awesome. But, to actually go out on the open sea (already do not like), walk around decks staring into the ocean (which I kinda like), and seeing wildlife swim around me (probably would not like), is another story.

There was an incredible report about a blue whale sighting off of Provincetown last month. Sightings are rare and far between and they're not always in Cape waters - apparently the guy leading the tour has been on 6,500 whale watch trips and has only seen four of them. And this recent one was something like 75-80 feet long. I mean, whoa.

But here's something. A 2YO human could crawl through a blue whale's arteries.

I'm sorry.

WHAT?

And like, how do we know this?

Zoinks!

Magnet #1323 - Scooby Gang

"Oh, Joy. Scooby-Doo won't marry you."

- My mother, upon hearing that I was watching yet another episode of Scooby-Doo mysteries.

What? I can admit it - long into my 30s and I still love a good Scooby marathon. Honestly, when I bought this at Comic-Con a few weeks ago, I couldn't believe this is my only Scooby-Doo magnet.

You would think that watching all those Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?s growing up (and now, to be honest) would desensitize me to anything hokey scary. But nothing could be further from reality.

When I was 12ish, I beat up a Disney World attendant. To let me out of the Haunted Mansion.

When I was in college, I screamed, "You can't do this to me, I'm an American citizen!" to the Jack the Ripper dayplayer who fake grabbed me and held a fake knife to my throat at the London Dungeon.

And just this past Halloween weekend, I was laughing hysterically with tears streaming down my cheeks, literally quaking in boots and wondering if I should yell out the safeword "safety" at the fake scary Haunted House downtown.

Yep. When it comes to scaring easily, I would pretty much roll with Scooby and Shaggy, thankyouverymuch.

Do a barrel roll, Google, do a barrel role

Magnet #1322 - Loch Ness Takes Manhattan

Love this magnet my sister got me. It reminds of that latest Mashable article on the special Google Easter eggs - one of which is when you set your Google home page to the beach theme and at 3:14am Nessie comes out to play.

Mind you, I haven't done it, but it does crack me up.

As does making Google do the barrel roll.

Or going looking for Chuck Norris.

Seriously. Go read that article I linked above.

So interesting how Google has become such a presence in our lives, that we totally take it for granted. You could extend that to all of the Internet, plus mobile technology. Still...for all the wonderful things it's brought us in the last 20 years, I have to say I am still very, very, very glad that I went to college without the presence of either Facebook , mobile communications or any form of instant communications.

My UNC experience would have been so much different had they been around. And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been for the better.

Tempting fate...or, Come On, Irene

Magnet #1281 - Accidents will occur

This magnet made me laugh this morning, because as I type, I'm sitting in a rather nice but kind of ridiculous Delta gate at LGA, waiting for my noon flight. To North Carolina. In the midst of a hurricane.

Note: This silliness is only outdumb'd by me thinking I might actually make it home to NYC on Sunday night.

I'm headed to Raleigh, so that Save the World Couple and I can drive up to Richmond and meet up with DCSis for a weekend in Richmond. You know, the town that was superclose to this week's earthquake epicenter and that's now also relatively close to the Irene's path, too?

The airport's pretty calm right now, so I should be totally fine getting down to NC, but I suspect that it'll be DCSis' bus trip from DC down to Richmond that will be plagued with troubles, if not cancellation.

I'll totally admit here that I'm sad to be missing NYC in a hurricane, but at this point, nothing will stop us from heading into a hurricane to celebrate the baby sister's 30th birthday.

Ya'll stay safe out there, Eastern Seaboard!

High Line is your line, too

Magnet #1280 - Locomotive on the High Line

Back in the mid-1840s, NY said ok to having a street-level railroad tracks on 10th Avenue, but so many casualties happened during the next several decades that it became known as Death Avenue.

By the 30s, they built the High Line - an elevated train that ran from Spring Street all the way up to 34th Street.

But, as with many great public works, it went through a decline and then finally in the 60s, they started demolishing parts of it. Sad.

Thank goodness for pictures - love this pin magnet because it shows a downtown train (because that's the ESB behind it) on the elevated tracks.

What I want to do is talk to someone who actually rode that train back in the day - I bet money when they walk around at the High Line park nowadays, they're totally amazed with what they've managed to accomplish up there.

And if you haven't been to the High Line park - go when it's not crowded. For sure, the park's been discovered.

Which is a good thing...I guess.