In researching these recipes, I came across a little blurb about Holiday Inn coming out with a whole line of non-alcoholic drinks that's "an industry first." Which it really is, and I've never understood why. Alcohol is not the tasty part of a drink, y'all. Most of those ingredients in fancy mixed drinks are there to mask the flavor of the alcohol. That's why it's always strong flavors like ginger or citrus or chocolate.

The Number: A Completely Different Way To Think About the Rest Of Your Life by Lee Eisenberg

I recently discovered Penelope Trunk’s blog, Brazen Careerist. It has a fantastic name, doesn’t it? She does, too.

(guest post by Annie) I’m on the verge of giving notice at my job, at a place I’ve worked for nearly nine years, the school I came to straight out of high school. I have been here for 12 years, my entire adult life.

I learned to read when I was two or three. There are family stories about this: That I taught myself to read. That when I was two - and a tiny child for two, at that - my mother brought me to the post office and I freaked everyone out by pointing at the door and reading, “Exit.” That by three, I was reading sentences (and after that there was no stopping me). I don’t think I taught myself to read exactly. I don’t know what happened; apparently I just sucked it in through my pores. I’ve met a lot of other people who had the same experience.