Wednesday evening: Not for nuthin'

1. Welcome to toqtamish, who was an absolute hero to alethea_eastrid when she was sick in Canada. He just joined LJ today. His icon is him kneeling in front of Alethea.. Go. Welcome him.

2. 'Splain me this. Yesterday, the folks at www.weather.com said the high for Saturday in Lake George, N.Y., would be 32 degrees.

Today? They are saying 20 degrees. Certain parts of my body just retracted involuntarily. (Adverb after the verb?).

The link to donate to my freezing my caljones off?

http://polarplunge.kintera.org/lakegeorge/billtoscano.

Please pass it on.

3. My beautiful wife made me a hat for the Plunge. She cast it on last night, and it's done. It's in a thick, gray yarn (Mystery Bulky handspun from zarhooie). She has about seven feet left over from the skein.

It was done on this pattern:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20812563@N00/2050968068

4. Great Big Sea will be live on CBC Radio 2 in the next hour.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/mediaPlayer.html?

Choose Central.

5. I love Rod Blagojevich. What a great story!!!  Candidate No. 5, who agreed to pay $500,000 with someone else kicking in another million, is apparently Jesse Jackson Jr. NPR is all over this story, which means fewer "Oh, woe is the economy" stories. Except, that is for the "NPR is cutting staff, Day To Day and another show.

6. I used to like C.C. Sabathia. Not so much any more now that he's apparently a Yankee.

7. Speaking of weather, there's an OMFGWTFBBQ storm warning for tomorrow into Friday.

Wednesday evening: Yes, there's more . . .

1. Worse than the CC Sabathia news?

(Newser) – A smaller coffee crop in Brazil could lead to a worldwide shortage in 2009-2010, Bloomberg reports. And the news is already affecting prices: Arabica beans, the kind used by Starbucks, jumped yesterday after a Brazilian official warned of a 22% drop in output. Other countries can't make up for "such a big fall of up to 10 million bags from Brazil," a trade group rep said.

Two factors are expected to contribute to the shortage, which would come on the heels of a surplus this year. Coffee trees in Brazil, the world's largest producer, are on a two-year growing cycle, and the slow half of that cycle is coming up. Another issue is the high price of fertilizer. Other top growers are Vietnam and Colombia.

From yendi.

2. I spent five hours of my life today writing a report for the state Department of Health. Good thing I was at the other office, where I could take a break and read GMail.

3. There are people here geeky enough -- like delabarre, who posted it -- who will appreciate a GURPS -- Vorkosigan Saga Sourcebook.

4. Finding humor in Plimouth Plantation laying off its grant writers. Thanks to hakerh.

5. The Red Sox have made an offer to Jason Varitek. This is a good thing.

6. No deer lately on the ride to and from work, but I saw a big flock of turkeys this morning.

7. I am really enjoying listening to Christmas music, especially "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."

Summus grex agni

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason why I like you. [Continue as you will]

Edited: By the way, if you want to say something nice about me, by all means do! ;)