I'm fortunate to make it through the day without another string of power outages. As I write this, there's heavy rain coming down outside and the inside temperature is very comfortable. Perhaps I'll be able to maintain a regular schedule of posting, as I continue with today's…

Da Duck at Misfit Duck asked if she could get any dumber. She used someone else's lock to lock her locker at the gym and yes, it was dumb move. I can't help but laugh about it because I'd seen it happen many times when I was in the military. I'm just thankful it never happened to me.

Christina at Paris Romance unleashed her rant against Florida, where she lives. It's humid and she doesn't like living there. I'd trade her the weather in a heartbeat. Here in the Philippines, the humidity drives me inside nearly every day except during December and January when it's cooler and the humidity doesn't bother me so much.

James wrote about the "Blue Monster" gaining visibility at James Moody: Geek in Paradise. The Blue Monster is Microsoft's unofficial mascot and if you want to see what it looks like, check out the Blue Monster Lithograph James received in the mail.

Stef (aka The Skinny Cook) registered his complaint about a darkly-cooked Nasi Lemak chicken he ordered at an expensive restaurant over at Quick Dinner Recipes. I agree with him. The dish should be checked before the customer complains, not afterward.

Nirmal at Life Rocks! 2.0 post his list of the top Gmail notifiers. I, of course, left a comment that I don't use any of them. I leave a tab open, logged into Gmail. I didn't used to do that; I let Thunderbird pull it in by POP. Too many legitimate messages were ending up in the spam bucket, so I started leaving the tab open and pointed at the spam bucket.

Baxter wrote about insanity in the news at The Far Corner. The insane part is that every item on his list is completely true. How far does society have to devolve before this kind of nonsense stops?

Kyte at Hamarana gave us her impression of Picasa Web Albums, one of the Google Applications that are available to all of us. She included a demo slideshow. It seems to work well and will probably be of greater use to those that are not self-hosting their blogs.

Mack offered his own list of eight easy ways to grow a blog at The Viral Garden. Although he's targeting small businesses/companies, most of the tips apply to all bloggers.

Aileen of An Apple a Day listed her top 10 favorite Pinoy chocolates and biscuits. I can't stomach a lot of chocolate myself because it acts like a laxative, but she left out one of my favorites (that I don't eat anymore) called "fudgie bars". I do agree with her about the Skyflakes though. These are like American saltine crackers but better! And yes, they go with anything.

Bugsey at BUGSEY'S FRUITCAKES (and Nuts?) posted an article by Nancy Reyes that shows in polls that most Filipinos are not anti-American and explains why some of them are. It's an interesting article even if it is difficult to read in my browser.