Colleen Taylor

"I've def been thinking of you though Colleen -- I told my boss he needed to put down the bottle the other day."
--email from a friend

At first blush I was a tad offended-- I thought my friend was saying that his boss' alcohol problem reminded him of me! But I then realized he was referring to the fact that "put down the bottle" is a phrase I use frequently when someone (sober or not) says or does something goofy.

Either way, I suppose, it's nice to be remembered for something!

A couple of statements I encountered today basically begged for a very, very facetious response of "You don't say?" 

--After being told of a new outsourcing scheme undertaken by a company in the past fiscal year, a shareholder at an investor conference said to the CEO ( in all seriousness and as if it were something that differentiated him from other investors): "I'm a very big fan of low cost processes, so, kudos."

--The cover story in my alma mater's alumni magazine this month is an introduction to Michele Moody-Adams, the new dean for Columbia's undergraduate college. The headline on the magazine's cover describes her only as "a strong advocate for undergraduate education."

I feel like I have Tweet-worthy thoughts, but if I signed up for Twitter now I'd just be awkwardly, far-beyond-fashionably late to the party.  Not sure what to do about this in general, but for now I'll just post a couple micro-thoughts on my macro-blog.

• My favorite "Wait, what?" sentence from the September 2009 issue of Harper's Bazaar: "Because it's smothered in sequins, making it the perfect wear-anywhere item for our times." 

• I was recently shopping for a petcare gift certificate (my sister's starting a Ph.D. program this fall and would probably enjoy a day or two off of caring for her Yorkie.) Turns out, reading reviews of pet boarding places on Yelp is a sure-fire way to get freaked out. Is this because lots of pet owners are ridiculously over-protective and will never be satisfied with anyone else's care of their pet? Or is it that no matter what cute name you give it (doggy daycare, luxury puppy hotel), it's a kennel, and most kennels just aren't especially nice places?