Getting hit by a bus

This is not a funny story. It's actually really sad that some lady got hit by a bus and died. However, I know this will make us all tune in to our local news tonight:

Just in: Here's an update to the deadly bus/pedestrian accident last week in downtown Madison. We've learned the Metro bus driver has been issued a traffic citation: Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian.


Now that is some brilliant reporting, guys.

Lay vs Lie

Lay means to set down. I am going to lay the book on the table.
Lie means to recline. I am going to lie in bed all day.
Laid is the past tense of lay. I laid the book on the table.
Lay is the past tense of lie. Yesterday I lay in bed all day.


Confused yet?

Burninating my windows

I bought some window markers yesterday so maybe the birds will stop running into my windows. When faced with what to draw, of course this seemed like the only logical answer:



I don't really understand this, but it makes me giggle.

The undead

A teaser for one of our local news programs:

‎15 people have died from Heroin Overdoses so far this year, and the number is only expected to grow

No snarky response necessary.

What it is that makes this post verbose

I'm trying to figure out what it is that makes Alex Gonzalez a better shortstop than Yunel Escobar.


You do this when you're talking. I guarantee it. I do it too. In this sentence, I really want to put emphasis on determining that thing that makes Alex Gonzalez the superior athlete. So I say "what it is that" makes him better.

The problem with this in writing is that it's wordy and confusing. Try reading it aloud. It's likely you'll stumble over it because it just doesn't look right. When you're speaking, the "what it is" part puts emphasis on this intangible thing that you're trying to determine, but in writing it's just extra words that don't add to the sentence and make it more difficult to understand.

I'm trying to figure out what makes Alez Gonzalez a better shortstop than Yunel Escobar.


See how smooth that is? It reads better, you won't stumble over the extra words, and you didn't change the intention of the statement. This is another example of something you can say that just doesn't work in writing.

I think I'm about done with this

Being an editor, I deal with stupid people and stupid mistakes all day long. It's kind of my thing. But sometimes it gets to me, like when I have a five-page interview that looks like it was transcribed by a deaf person. Here's my friendly advice to the transcriptionist on this one:

Delirious

Do you ever have those things you just like for no reason? I do this with music sometimes. For example, I really love the band Augustana. There is no logical reason for this. I mean, they're fine and all. They're fantastic live. It's just that they're not really that great, and I couldn't give you any particular aspect of their music that I like. For some reason I just really love them.

I also feel this way about the Braves shortstop, Alex Gonzalez. No logical reason I should like this player. I could strike him out. I could get Chuck James to strike him out. But for some reason I love this guy.

My other confusing one is my love of brightly colored nail polish and eye makeup. Makes absolutely no sense. I bite my nails, so nail polish doesn't last too long. I don't usually wear any makeup, and if I do it's very minimal. So why the hell am I obsessed with these things?

Just a random observation because I really don't feel like doing any real work.