Top Five “St Louis Things” I’ve learned about since moving here

Telling a joke when trick-or-treating

Gooey butter cake (stop stalking me, gooey butter cake!)

Bob Costas isn’t hanging around anyplace I go

Trivia nights

No one knows how to use four-way stops

Top 5 Friday

Top 5 Random Things that make me Happy:

5. The word insouciance

4. The word corporeal

3. The intro to the Colbert Report (yes, I've seen it a hundred times, but it makes me smile every time)

2. Making my own background on google:

1. This collection of "treasures" at the Menlo Park library:

Not shown are a slide rule and high school diploma from 1957.

Top 5 Friday

Top 5 Things about my neighborhood that are completely insane

5) I can't see my hand in front of my face after dark on the sidewalk in front of my house

4) There are no sidewalks between my house and my kid's school

3) I live closer to the big park in Atherton than the one in Menlo Park, but I can't walk there, unless I pay $125 for a key to a special gate

2) I can't park my car on the street in front of my own house

1) Did I mention that there are no sidewalks? Thanks, Atherton.

Top 5 Friday

My five most-hated MLB teams (in order):

5. The Dodgers. Just because I have lots of friends who are Giants fans.

4. The Yankees. They just win too much.

3. The Braves. Godspeed, Giants. I won't be watching the rest of the series because I can't handle those redneck fans and their tomahawk chop. And too much winning.

2. The Angels. Three words: Rally Monkey. Thundersticks (one word afaik)

1. The Cardinals. I'm pretty sure I don't need to explain this one.

Top 5 Friday!

Top 5 tasks I really want to accomplish this weekend:

5) Unpack CDs

4) Reorganize the garage

3) Repot the basil and jalepeno plants I bought last week

2) Hang a curtain rod I bought in January

1) Make candy

Top 5 Friday!

5 things Caltrain needs:

5) Trains that run past midnight (who comes home from SF at 12?)

4) More mid-day trains (once an hour? Come on.)

3) Conductors who don't act like total jerks

2) Bar cars after 3 p.m. (Wait, what's that about a deficit? You're welcome.)

1) A hole in the floor enclosed on all sides on each car (cleaner than the existing bathrooms)

Top 5 Fridays

5 Best Things in The Hangover:

5) The tiger

4) The baby

3) Naked Chinese mobster jumping out of the trunk

2) Jeffrey Tambor

1) Carrot Top

Top 5 Fridays

Top 5 Things I'd like to see turn up in the move

5) The other one of my favorite earrings

4) My point-and-shoot camera battery charger

3) The wherewithal to get rid of about a quarter of our stuff

2) My bracelet

1) Roughly three dozen Arthur socks

Top 5 Fridays

My 5 Favorite things on the Interwebs right now:

5) Worst toys of the year

4) TLo

3) Cakewrecks

2) Awkward Family Photos

1) People of Walmart

Top 5 Friday!

Top 5 Small- to Medium-sized Home Improvement Projects I'd love to get done by the end of the year:

5) New light fixture in the guest room

4) New light fixture in the front bathroom

3) Get rid of the excess furniture

2) Get some new furniture that works (esp. in the dining room)

1) A low fence around the front yard

Top 5 Friday!

My top 5 beefs with Project Runway:

5) Last night's snooze fest

4) Chris March got auf'd twice

3) Jeffrey

2) Daniel Franco got auf'd twice

1) Immunity

Top 5 Fridays

Top 5 things that could use some editing:

5) This book I'm reading (see left)

4) 95 percent of Hollywood movies

3) My to-do list

2) Ken Burns (seriously, has anyone watched every minute of the National Parks series? I've only had time for the HH bits)

and the number one thing that could use some editing..

1) David Letterman's libido (I know, too easy)

Top 5 things we should all remember today

5) People jumping from 70 floors up to escape burning or being crushed to death.

4) Firefighters climbing past escaping throngs with almost complete certainty that they will not make it out

3) Workers who dug through the rubble and now have asthma or cancer from the toxic dust

2) Airline passengers who fought back

1) The solidarity we felt as a nation as we mourned and moved forward

Top 5 Fridays!

Top 5 designers who have a shot at the Final Three

5) Althea: If Tim says she's gonna blow people away, that's all I need.

4) Gordanna: Love her already for her accent.

3) Louise Black: Always helps to have a full name that rolls off the tongue, like "Kara Saun."

2) Christopher: Producers love drama.

1) Johnny Sakalis: Again with the drugs and the drama.

Top 5 Fridays

My five favorite recipes from the CSA so far this season:

5) Oriental Tabbouleh

4) Double-dutch mac 'n' cheese with chard (scroll down)

3) Carrot-apple-raisin-walnut-etc salad

2) Middle Eastern -style greens

1) Steamed hot and sour bok choy

Top 5 Fridays

I'm nothing if not inconsistent.

Top Five Things I Don't Miss About the MLB Package:

5. Len

4. Bob

3. The same commercials every half inning (at least I could usually fast forward through them)

2. -$180 a year

1. Um, baseball games are kinda long.

Top 5 on-the-go exercises

Oh, yeah, I haven't done this in a while!

Top 5 Strength Exercises For When You Have No Equipment and/or Only 20 Minutes:

5. Push ups (military, knee, bench, wall, whatever you can do!)

4. Tricep dips (when it gets easy, lift one leg straight out in front of you)

3. Walking lunges (keep going until your quads quiver)

2. Bicycle (for abs)

1. Superwoman (lay on your belly and lift all your limbs; for your back)

Top Five Reasons to Vote

5) 8 = Hate

4) There's probably a local measure in your area that is actually really important.

3) "Just because I can see the moon doesn't make me an astronaut."

2) It's really pretty exciting that we get to vote for a black man for president for the first time ever.

1) You get a sticker.

Top 5 Reasons I don't have time to blog much

Top Five Fridays

Favorite of Fall:

5) Wearing jeans again (even though they don't really fit me)

4) Playoffs (except this year)

3) Not sweating as much when towing the trailer around town

2) It's almost time for eggnog!

1) Pumpkins