Gen Plus » Funny Stuff

Owling Replacing Planking? Sez Who?

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:20:48 +0000

So, you want to be ahead if the latest viral trends? Remember planking, where people would take pics of themselves, lying like a plank (in a stiff as a board position) in odd places. Except that a few errors in judgement had a couple of kids falling to their deaths from planking in unsafe spots…like on a balcony railing many floors up…yeah. Well here it’s the latest viral trend. Owling. Couple of days old. Silly, funny. Caution advised in choosing staging areas. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/owling-replacing-planking_n_896415.html

Super Funny Google April Fool’s joke

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 04:03:35 +0000

Once again, Google humor finds its rightful place. Complete with entry form.

http://www.google.com/adwords/blimpads/

Happy April Fools’ Day!

Little dog, big toy.

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:59:13 +0000

I think this is so funny. This little guy is smaller than his toy.

Do you practice Safe Breath?

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:21:32 +0000

I LOVE innovative marketing campaigns and Dentyne has hit the mark with this one, at least in my books! Keep reading for a chance to win a very cool, fun prize.

The Safe Breath Alliance (SBA), the first completely made-up organization committed to educating Americans about the importance of practicing safe breath, led by actor, comedian Marlon Wayans, has officially declared February 2011 “Safe Breath Awareness Month.” I LOVE it! ….more>>….

Together Step

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 07:05:29 +0000

My little thought for the day.

My daughter, in Grade 5, 10 1/2 years old, has a creative teacher whose experiential teaching background (think LAUSD meets Outward Bound) comes up with all sorts of inventive ways to challenge the kids forward. One of the exercises (pre-pre SAT prep, really) is looking at word derivations and roots. He’s using word roots so the kids get an understanding of vocubulary construction.

Our Friday morning drive to school includes me quizzing her on her words, since Friday is test day and a chance to win stars. Enough stars and you can cash them in for anything from a prize from his secret goodie box, up to being teacher for a day. So my daughter, who likes the idea of being in charge (wonder who she gets that from…) is very motivated to get her 60 stars and be teacher for a day. I say the words, my daughter tells me the meaning. This past week was about walking and stepping. In-gress. E-gress. Di-gress. Con-gress.

Being somewhat politically astute, “congress” caught my attention and hit my sarcasm bone, which used to be a funny bone until about mid-2009. It’s word roots are “con” meaning “together” and “gradi” meaning “walk or step”. Congress literally means “together step”. When you think of the US Congress, the idea is that together, the two bodies — the House and the Senate — step our country forward.

However, when you look at the past couple of years, in fact, it might, should, perhaps be renamed Digress. Or “away step”. No?

Battling the squirrels

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Wed, 26 May 2010 18:28:04 +0000

My garden includes flowering plants and many fruit trees. Right now the nectarines are ripening, which means that the squirrels will start their annual fight with me. They try to eat up all my nectarines before they are big enough to ripen off the tree and I try to chase them away (with the help of Daisy the Wonderdog and the occasional help of Roxie the Beautiful) long enough to get a couple of dozen fruit from my tree. Now that I’m even more invested in locally grown and organic produce, every nectarine won is a triumph over the mulitnational conglommerates that ruin run our food chain. The squirrels are creatures of nature and just doing their thing, but they don’t seem to understand my mission. I’m happy for them to take a nectarine…if they would eat the darn thing. But they take a fruit, take a bite and drop it back in my garden. Daisy and I have tried to re-educate them. Daisy by barking at them viciously with an orange ball in her mouth, and me by running outside and glaring at them. (That doesn’t work, by the way.)

I’ve tried tying moth balls in pantyhose and dangling them from branches. Doesn’t work. Dangling pie-plates from branches. Doesn’t work. Wrapping the trees in mesh. Only works if you seal every possible gap with plastic ties.

I need to reframe my view of squirrels for you. When I was a little girl, growing up in Montreal, I LOVED squirrels. Thought they were the cutest things ever with their little bushy tails. They were mostly grey and some were brown. Moving to Toronto in 1982, I encountered, for the first time in my life, black squirrels. Strange looking, but I got used to them, too. My grandmother, however, did not. She was convinced they were rats with bushy tails. She had never liked them in Montreal, but now, in Toronto, the black squirrels were evil rats, ready to pounce on her. She would NOT take a walk in the park and would only gingerly venture into my mother’s spacious garden, backing onto a stunning park. Sadly, the image of bushy-tailed rats ready to jump on one’s head, is what has stuck with me. So my battle with the squirrels, is a battle with rats.

Darn it. That fat grey rat with the super-bushy tail just grabbed another nectarine. That’s MY organic produce! Gotta go and chase it away with my big orange fruit-picking pole (doesn’t work, but makes me feel better.)

Happy Birthday Hans!

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:36:10 +0000

Just loving Google this week. Today they have an illustrated tribute to Hans Christian Anderson. Make sure to click the teeny arrow at bottom right of the illustrated Google!

Have you got your April Fool’s hat on? Google…um…Topeka does!

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:14:14 +0000

If you’ve headed over to your Google page this morning, you’re in for a fun surprise. Google has come up with the ultimate April Fool’s joke (resonating over to Gmail, and likely other google apps.) Grab your coffee, head over to google and read all about their “new” name…and then do your Topeka search!

As for me, I’m moving away from looking at career issues and anything relevant to Boomers and 50 Plus. I’m going to start exploring music of the 30′s, 40′s and 50′s (because that is really a great way to attract more readers), and strong focus on the sexual inclinations of men in the 18-34 demographic (because that doesn’t attract any traffic at all.)

Happy April Fools.

January 10, 2010

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:41:16 +0000

Today is 011010 — I like the binary code appeal of the date. Switch on. Switch off. We have a base 10 system, 10 fingers and toes. We like $10 bills and $100 bills. Appreciate decades and centuries. Ten Commandments. I’m sure there is some meaning to the numerology of today, so if you are a numerologist or kabbalist and have some insights, feel free to share. On top of the actual date, today is a Sunday which is the start or the end of the week depending on how you look at your calendar. If you are a coding expert, love to hear what you think 01/10/10 stands for.

…and here’s a blast from the past

Janet Wendy Spiegel — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:21:27 +0000

An old (well…longtime) high school friend noted on his Facebook that he was selling off his Get Smart collectibles. Of course, that sent me on a frenzied google and bing search for Get Smart collectibles. Here’s the site: http://www.wouldyoubelieve.com/collect.html The prices some of these items can fetch is worthy of note…but the chuckles you’ll get when you see the toys we bought, and the memories of that wonderful show? Priceless.