Burial

Little Tim was in the garden filling in a hole when his neighbor peered over the fence.

Interested in what the cheeky-faced youngster was up to, he politely asked, “What are you up to there, Tim?”

“My goldfish died,” replied Tim tearfully, without looking up, “and I’ve just buried him.”

The neighbor was concerned, “That’s an awfully big hole for a goldfish, isn’t it?”

Tim patted down the last heap of earth then replied, “That’s because he’s inside your stupid cat.”

Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1999 14:34:01 -0500

Christmas For men

When she says: “What would you like for Christmas?” Here’s what to suggest!!

This is enclosed in case you want to drop it somewhere for someone to read.

Christmas is just around the corner so it’s time for me to share some gift ideas for those special men in your life! Buying gifts for men is not nearly as complicated as it is for women. Follow these rules and you should have no problems.

Rule #1:
When in doubt – buy him a cordless drill. It does not matter if he already has one. I have a friend who owns 17 and he has yet to complain. As a man, you can never have too many cordless drills. For that matter any power tool is a good choice. He may not need it, or know what it does, but it will look good hung on the peg board in the garage.

Rule #2:
If you cannot afford a cordless drill, buy him anything with the word ratchet or socket in it. Men love saying those two words. “Hey George, can I borrow your ratchet?” “OK. Bye-the-way, are you through with my 3/8-inch socket yet?”

Rule #3:
If you are really, really broke, buy him anything for his car. A 99-cent ice scraper, a small bottle of deicer or something to hang from his rear view mirror. Men love gifts for their cars.

Rule #4:
Do not buy men socks. Do not buy men ties and never buy men bathrobes. If God had wanted men to wear bathrobes, he wouldn’t have invented Jockey shorts.

Rule #5:
You can buy men new remote controls to replace the ones they have worn out. If you have a lot of money buy your man a big-screen TV with the little picture in the corner. Watch him go wild as he flips, and flips, and flips.

Rule #6:
Do not buy a man any of those fancy liqueurs. If you do, it will sit in a cupboard for 23 years. Real men drink whiskey or beer.

Rule #7:
Do not buy any man industrial-sized canisters of after shave or deodorant. We do not stink – we are earthy.

Rule #8:
Buy men label makers. Almost as good as cordless drills. Within a couple of weeks there will be labels absolutely everywhere. “Socks. Shorts. Cups. Saucers. Door. Lock. Sink.” You get the idea. No one knows why.

Rule #9:
Never buy a man anything that says “some assembly required” on the box. It will ruin his Special Day and he will always have parts left over.

Rule #10:
Good places to shop for men include Northwest Iron Works, Parr Lumber, Home Depot, John Deere, Valley RV Center, and Les Schwab Tire. (NAPA Auto Parts and Sear’s Clearance Centers are also excellent men’s stores. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know what it is. “From NAPA Auto, eh? Must be something I need. Hey! Isn’t this a starter for a ’68 Ford Fairlane? Wow! Thanks.”)

Rule #11:
Men enjoy danger. That’s why they never cook – but they will barbecue. Get him a monster barbecue with a 100-pound propane tank. Tell him the gas line leaks. “Oh the thrill! The challenge! Who wants a hamburger?”

Rule #12:
Tickets to a professional sports game (any team within 300 miles) are a smart gift. However, he will not appreciate tickets to “A Retrospective of 19th Century Quilts.”

Rule #13:
Men love chainsaws. Never, ever, buy a man you love a chainsaw. If you don’t know why – please refer to Rule #8 and what happens when he gets a label maker.

Rule #14:
It’s hard to beat a really good wheelbarrow or an aluminum extension ladder. Never buy a real man a step ladder. It must be an extension ladder.

Rule #15:
Rope. Men love rope. It takes us back to our cowboy origins, or at least The Boy Scouts. Nothing says love like a hundred feet of 3/8″ manilla rope.

Rule #16:
Clamps. Men can never have enough quick grip clamps. No one knows why.

Rule #17:
Buy your man Duct Tape. This is a man’s most universal repair tool. All men know, if you can’t fix it, duct it.

Thanksgiving Outlook

by Elliot Abrams, excerpted from the book, “Weather Prognosticators and the Media: Fallacies, Facts,
and Fun in Forecasting”, by Norm Macdonald

Turkeys will thaw in the morning, then warm in the oven to an afternoon high near 190 F. The kitchen will turn hot and humid, and if you bother the cook, be ready for a severe squall or cold shoulder.

During the late afternoon and evening, the cold front of a knife will slice through the turkey, causing an accumulation of one to two inches on plates. Mashed potatoes will drift across one side while cranberry sauce creates slippery spots on the other. Please pass the gravy.

A weight watch and indigestion warning have been issued for the entire area, with increased stuffiness around the beltway. During the evening, the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers, dropping to a low of 34 F in the refrigerator.

Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, high pressure to eat sandwiches will be established. Flurries of leftovers can be expected both days with a 50 percent chance of scattered soup late in the day. We expect a warming trend where soup develops. By early next week, eating pressure will be low as the only wish left will be the bone.

Especially Odd

Today is an odd day, meaning that all of the digits are odd, 11-19-1999.

The next odd day after today will be 1-1-3111 (over a thousand years away).

The next even day will be 2-2-2000 (the first one since 8-28-0888).

This will be your last odd day on earth. Just thought you should know.

New Training Courses

THE FOLLOWING TRAINING COURSES ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR WOMEN

1. Silence, The Final Frontier: Where No Woman Has Gone Before.
2. The Undiscovered Side Of Banking: Making Deposits
3. Combatting The Imelda Marcos Syndrome: You Don’t Need New Shoes Every Day
4. Parties: Going Without New Outfits
5. Bathroom Etiquette 1: Men Need Space In The Bathroom Cabinet Too
6. Bathroom Etiquette 2: His Razor Is His
7. Communication Skills 1: Tears – The Last Resort, Not The First
8. Communication Skills 2: Thinking Before Speaking
9. Communication Skills 3: Getting What You Want, Without Nagging
10. Driving A Car Safely: A Skill You Can Acquire
11. Telephone Skills: How To Hang Up
12. Introduction to Parking
13. Introduction to Petrol
14. Advanced Parking: Reversing Into A Space
15. Advanced Petrol: How To Take The Filler Cap Off
16. Water Retention: Fact or Fat
17. Cooking 1: Bran And Tofu Are Not For Human Consumption
18. Cooking 2: How Not To Inflict Your Diet On Other People
19. PMS: Your Problem…Not His
20. Sex: It’s For The Married Couple Too
21. Classic Clothing: Wearing Clothes You Already Have
22. Household Dust: A Harmless Natural Occurrence Only Women Notice
23. TV Remotes: For Men Only

THE FOLLOWING TRAINING COURSES ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR MEN

1. Introduction to Common Household Objects I: The Mop
2. Introduction to Common Household Objects II: The Sponge
3. Dressing Up: Beyond the Wedding and the Funeral
4. Refrigerator Forensics: Identifying and Removing the Dead
5. Design Pattern or Splatter Stain on the Linoleum?: You CAN Tell the Difference!
6. Accepting Loss I: If It’s Empty, You Can Throw It Away
7. Accepting Loss II: If the Milk Expired Tree Weeks Ago, Keeping It In the Refrigerator Won’t Bring It Back
8. Going to the Supermarket: It’s Not Just for Women Anymore!
9. Recycling Skills I: Boxes that the Electronics Came In
10. Recycling Skills II: Styrofoam that Came in the Boxes that the Electronics Came In
11. Bathroom Etiquette I: How to Remove Beard Clippings from the Sink
12. Bathroom Etiquette II: Let’s Wash Those Towels!
13. Bathroom Etiquette III: Five Easy Ways to Tell When You’re About to Run Out of Toilet Paper!
14. Giving Back to the Community: How to Donate 15-Year-Old Levis to the Goodwill
15. Retro, Or Just Hideous?: Re-examining Your ’70s Polyester Shirts
16. Knowing the Limitations of Your Kitchenware: No, The Dishes Won’t Wash Themselves
17. Romance: More Than a Cable Channel!
18. Strange But True!: She Really May NOT Care What “Fourth Down and Ten” Means
19. Going Out to Dinner: Beyond McDonald’s
20. Expand Your Entertainment Options: Renting Movies That Don’t Fall Under the “Action/Adventure” Category
21. Yours, Mine, and Ours: Sharing the Remote
22. “I Could Have Played a Better Game Than That!”: Why Women Laugh
23. Adventures in Housekeeping I: Let’s Clean the Closet
24. Adventures in Housekeeping II: Let’s Clean Under the Bed
25. “I Don’t Know”: Be the First Man to Say It!
26. The Gas Gauge in Your Car: Sometimes Empty MEANS Empty
27. Directions: It’s Okay to Ask for Them
28. Listening: It’s Not Just Something You Do During Halftime
29. Accepting Your Limitations: Just Because You Have Power Tools Doesn’t Mean You Can Fix It

Graduate School Barbie ™

Graduate School Barbie comes in two forms: Delusional Master’s Barbie ™ and Ph.D. Masochist Barbie ™. Every Graduate School Barbie comes with these fun filled features guaranteed to delight and entertain for hours:

  • Grad School Barbie comes out of the box with a big grin on her face that turns into a frown after 2 weeks or her first advisor meeting (whichever comes first).
  • Adorable black circles under her delightfully bloodshot eyes.
  • Comes with two outfits: a grubby pair of blue jeans and 5 year old gap T-shirt, and a floppy pair of gray sweatpants with a matching “Go Screw Yourself” T-shirt.
  • Grad School Barbie talks! Just press the button on her left hand and hear her say such upbeat grad school phrases like, “Yes, Professor, It’ll be done by tomorrow” “I’d love to write it all over again” and “Why didn’t I just get a job, I could have been making $40,000 a year by now if I had just started working with a Bachelor’s. But noooooo, I wish somebody would drop a bomb on the school so that I’d have an excuse to stop working on my degree that’s sucking every last drop of life force out of my withered and degraded excuse for a soul…” (9 V lithium batteries sold separately)
  • Grad School Barbie is anatomically correct to teach kids about the exciting changes that come with pursuing a higher education. Removable panels on Barbie’s head and torso allow you to watch as her cerebellum fries to a crispy brown, her heart race 150 beats per minute, and her stomach lining gradually dissolve into nothing. Deluxe Barbie comes with specially designed eye ducts. Just add a little water, and watch Grad School Barbie burst into tears at random intervals. Fun for the whole family!

Other accessories include:

  • Grad School Barbie’s Fun Fridge ™ Well stocked with microwave popcorn, Coca-Cola, Healthy Choice Bologna (99% fat free!), and small bottle of Mattel Brand Rum ™.
  • Grad School Barbie’s Medicine Cabinet. Comes in Fabulous pink and contains Barbie sized bottles of Advil, St. Johns Wort, Zantac, and your choice of three fun anti-anxiety drugs! (Barbie Medicine Cabinet not available without a prescription)
  • Grad School Barbie’s Computer Workstation. Comes with miniature obsolete PC (pink of course), rickety desk, and over a dozen miniature Mountain Dew cans to decorate your workstation with (Mountain Dew deposit not included in price, tech support sold separately)

And Grad School Barbie is not alone! Order now and you’ll get two of Barbie’s great friends!

GRADUATE ADVISOR KEN: Barbie’s mentor and advisor in her quest for increased education and decreased self esteem. Grad Advisor Ken ™ comes with a supply of red pens and a permanent frown. Press the button to hear Grad Advisor Ken deliver such wisdom to Barbie as “I need an update on your progress” “I don’t think you’ll be ready to graduate yet” and “This is no where near ready for publication.” Buy 3 or more dolls, and you can have Barbie’s Thesis Committee! (Palm Pilot and tenure sold separately.)

REAL JOB SKIPPER: When Barbie needs to talk, she knows that she can always count on her good friend Real Job Skipper ™, who got a job after getting her bachelor degree. Press the button to hear Real Job Skipper say, “Sometimes I wish I went for my masters degree” and “Work is so hard! I had to work a half an hour of overtime!” Real Job Skipper’s Work Wardrobe and Savings account sold separately. WARNING: Do not place Grad Student Barbie and Real Job Skipper too close to each other, as there have been several mysterious cases of children leaving the room and coming back to find Barbie’s hands mysteriously fused to Skipper’s throat.

Short Stories

My friend likes to read his two young sons fairy tales at night. Having a deep-rooted sense of humor, he often ad-libs parts of the stories for fun.

One day his youngest son was sitting in his first grade class as the teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs. She came to the part of the story where the first pig was trying to acquire building materials for his home. She said “…And so the pig went up to the man with a wheelbarrow full of straw and said ‘Pardon me sir, but might I have some of that straw to build my house with?'” Then the teacher asked the class “And what do you think that man said?” and my friend’s son raised his hand and said “I know! I know! He said ‘Holy smokes! A talking pig!'” The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor thy father and thy mother,” she asked “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, “Thou shall not kill.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An honest seven-year-old admitted calmly to her parents that Billy Brown had kissed her after class. “How did that happen?” gasped her mother.

“It wasn’t easy,” admitted the young lady, “but three girls helped me catch him.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One day, a little girl is sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly notices that her mother has several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head.

She looks at her mother and inquisitively asks, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?”

Her mother replied, “Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.”

The little girl thought about this revelation for a while, and then said, “Momma, how come *all* of grandma’s hairs are white?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. “Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, ‘There’s Jennifer; she’s a lawyer,’ or ‘That’s Michael, he’s a doctor.'” A small voice at the back of the room rang out, “And there’s the teacher; she’s dead.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood. Trying to make the matter clearer, he said, “Now, boys, if I stood on my head the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I should turn red in the face.”

“Yes, sir,” the boys said. “Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn’t run into my feet?”

A little fellow shouted, “Cause yer feet ain’t empty.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For weeks, a six-year old lad kept telling his first-grade teacher about the baby brother or sister that was expected at his house. One day the mother allowed the boy to feel the movements of the unborn child. The six-year old was obviously impressed, but made no comment. Furthermore, he stopped telling his teacher about the impending event. The teacher finally sat the boy on her lap and said, “Tommy, whatever has become of that baby brother or sister you were expecting at home?” Tommy burst into tears and confessed, “I think Mommy ate it!”

Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 09:22:10 -0500

Loyal Fans

Four Alumni were climbing a mountain one day. Each was from a different college and each proclaimed to be the most loyal of all fans at their almamater. As they climbed higher, they argued as to which one of them was the most loyal of all.

They continued to argue all the way up the mountain and finally, as they reached the top, the Orangeman hurled himself off mountain, shouting, “This is for Syracuse U,” as he fell to his doom. Not wanting to be outdone, the Mountaineer threw himself off the mountain, proclaiming, “This is for WVU!” Seeing this, the Hokie walked over and shouted “This is for everyone!” and pushed the Cavalier off the side of the mountain.

Robbery

Two lawyers are in a bank, when, suddenly, armed robbers burst in. While several of the robbers take the money from the tellers, others line the customers, including the lawyers, up against a wall, and proceed to take their wallets, watches, etc. While this is going on lawyer number one jams something in lawyer number two’s hand.

Without looking down, lawyer number two whispers, “What is this?” to which lawyer number one replies, “It’s that $50 I owe you.”