Dead bugs down the toilet (5) Aug 9, 2007
I flush dead bugs down the toilet because I have an irrational fear that they'll come back to life and take revenge on me by crawling in my ears, nose, or mouth while I'm sleeping. #psychology
Gender-specific colors (2) Aug 9, 2007
I wonder if color-gender relationships are universal (international), e.g. blue is for boys, pink is for girls?  I just saw a non-American guy on a purple mountain bike.  He didn't seem to mind. 

Some internet research claims that blue and pink were actually reversed in their gender representation as recently as the 1940s or 50s.  Boys wore pink because it's essentially watered-down red, which is a fierce, bold, dramatic color.  Girls wore blue for some unknown reason. 

Wikipedia has a little information on the subject, noting that while purple is often associated with royalty in certain cultures, most Asian cultures have adopted yellow.  And while black is often a symbol of death in western cultures, the Chinese use the color white. 

Update (2007-08-21 9:09am):  A recent article talks about the same thing. #psychology
Pizza bushes, beer trees Aug 9, 2007
From a recent email correspondence with my sister Stacy, who's in the army and currently in Iraq: 
Me:  What's the plan when you get home from Iraq?  Leave the army, move into the woods, and live off the land? 
Stacy:  Wow - who told you about my future plans?!  I AM going to live off the land!  But only if that land has pizza bushes and beer trees :-)
In stark contrast to the email from my other sister.  But seriously, wouldn't pizza bushes and beer trees be awesome? #psychology
Waiting in line to talk Aug 9, 2007
A few years ago, right after I graduated college, I went to the church I grew up in.  I was recently engaged, and I remember seeing a guy there who I hadn't seen or talked to in a few years, and I heard he was also engaged.  After the service, I went over to talk to him.  At the moment, he was talking to someone, likely about how he recently graduated from college and/or had gotten engaged.  I waited patiently for a chance to have a word with him, seeing that we had quite a bit in common.  I remember trying to make eye contact with him as a silent "Hey, good to see you; we'll talk in a few minutes."  I waited for an uncomfortably long time and finally reached the point where I couldn't care less whether I talked to this guy or not.  So I went home and didn't think about it again. 

But a similar experience last week reminded me of it.  I was standing in line to sign up for a graduate class, and two people ahead of me was a guy I had previously traveled with for work.  At one point, he turned around and started talking to the person behind me.  My plan initially was to avoid him altogether, not because I didn't like him, but because I literally don't enjoy human interaction, especially when we have so little in common and therefore so little to say to each other. 
Him:  Done any more traveling lately?
Me:  Nope.  You?
Him:  Nope.
But since he turned around, I felt obligated to say hi.  I attempted to make eye contact with him, again as a silent "Hey, good to see you; we'll talk in a few minutes."  What would normally be a simple endeavor turned out to be a massive internal struggle about how long it would take to stare at a person before things got weird.  I decided the length of time I had already stared was plenty, so I looked away and thought about other things.  We both signed up for classes and left the building without talking to each other. 

Moral of the story:  I refuse to wait in line to talk to people.  If it's really important, I'm sure you'll come find me.  Otherwise it's just not worth my time or effort. #psychology