Four Random Things

A Friday Hodgepodge

1. Phrase of the Day: Kitty Party. This armchair linguist encountered it in an Oxford English Dictionary article titled "Introduction to Indian English."

kitty party, n. (1991) – a social lunch at which those attending contribute money to a central pool and draw lots, the winner receiving the money and hosting the next lunch.

Maybe it's nostalgia speaking to me a little bit, but I love the idea.

It reminds me a little of my grad school days when we'd regularly meet for a pot luck dinner each week at a house a few of the math students rented.

Rotating hosts would have been interesting, and, while lunch might pose challenging logistics, it might make for a faster pace and livelier conversation.

2. Small Things to Improve Work/Give as Gifts. At Ask a Manager, the answers to a post asking What's something you’ve gotten for work that greatly improved your work day? are worth a read. Some notable finds after a skim:

• a Jettle -- a kind of portable kettle,
• a toaster-sized refrigerator -- a possible way to avoid lunch theft from communal refrigerators (although perhaps themselves vulnerable to theft), and
• a small mirror -- valuable for not being startled at a desk facing away from a traffic area

You will get ideas, be they products you may not have heard of, or creative solutions to common problems.

3. A Model Railroad Enthusiast's Dream Comes True: A man in Australia discovered an extensive model railroad network beneath the house he and his wife had just bought.

My brother and I had a small HO scale layout on a table in the bedroom we shared growing up. We both still have our parts from it, but no concrete plans for getting back into the hobby, which is expensive and takes up space, not to mention basically being impossible to pursue if you (a) move a lot and (b) have toddlers.

If this guy ends up having kids and stays there, he'll be able to use this as a man cave when the kids are really young, and then be able to share his hobby when they're old enough.

I am jealous.

4. Easy and Good Recipe of the Week: Crock Pot Pulled Pork. I visited my brothers a few hours way on Independence Day, and one of them smoked a pork butt for the occasion.

It was great, and my recent success with a crockpot pot roast inspired me to see what I could do.

Thanks to Sharee of Savory Spicerack, I have an even easier recipe (with even fewer ingredients) for crockpot pulled pork.

Everyone, including my son, Mr. Picky Eater, loved it and happily snarfed up the leftovers the next day.

-- CAV