the cat is out of the bag

we can't hide it any longer...
firebrand is closing for good december 31st 2009... please come shop and show your support during our final days
thanks to everyone for your patronage and love

<3 firebrand

The Leonid Meteor Shower Simplified

Prime viewing of the Leonid Meteor Shower as seen from the northeast United States will be on tuesday the 17th of November from 3:30am -5:30am in the dark southeastern sky. As compared to the 500 meteors/hour, expected to be seen from central and eastern Asia, our more modest viewing of a few dozen meteors/hour will still be impressive as meteors are expected to trail for a number of seconds, possibly even minutes.

For more information please visit the following website:
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/091101-leonid-meteor-shower-2009.html

calling all earthlings

it's earth day children... here's a list of 10 really easy things to do today to help our planet:

1. air dry those hands... really? how long does it take to let your hands air dry? 10 seconds?.... stop with all the paper towel nonsense.

2. skip the shower for a day... let's all be stinky, just not too stinky.

3. pick up 15 pieces of garbage off the street today.

4. unplug something stupid... I have my ihome plugged in all the time, even though I haven't used it in months it's still sucking power.

5. byo coffee cup ... often times this will also save you a few pennies as well at your local cafe.

6. turn your heat down 1 degree... 2 degree's if your nasty.

7. get your bike tuned up... I just got mine back from the fabulous campus wheel works and I'm psyched about it. f my car, I'm going to leave it unlocked with the keys on the seat all summer.

8. donate something... jim cielencki from sunday is gathering food for the friends of the night people, also I'm gutting my closet and making a clothing donation.

9. check your energy settings on your computer.... stop being a pig.

10. eat more organic... less chemicals, less packaging, often times tastier, and makes mother earth happy.

there's a zillion ways to make a difference without being a total crunchy granola hippy... try it.

personal victory

back in the world war two days times were tough and american's were at risk of running out of food. households were asked to plant small vegetable gardens in their own backyards to help combat the threat of food shortage. millions of families made it their civic duty to cultivate their own 'victory garden'. in the 1940's victory gardens were the source of 1/3 of the veggies consumed by the american population. Today, victory gardens are popping up all over the country again. This time around their sprouting from threats of global warming, increased gas prices, and an economic slump.

firebrand is going to plant a garden in their front flower bed this summer, and we're urging others to do the same. If anything it'll be a lesson in horticulture, but hopefully by mid summer we'll have a fun little crop to snack on.

if all goes really well... we're going to have a big homemade spaghetti dinner to close of the summer, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

to read more about victory gardens visit http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/

there's a little freegan in all of us...

I'm down with o.p.t... other peoples trash. here's a schedule for buffalo's 'big trash pick up'

I'll be throwing out some old junk and looting the curbs for buried treasure.

fucking allergies

I keep getting hives... so I've scouring the interweb trying to figure out what the fuck is up. Well here it is my good people, after weeks of food journals, a home made allergy scratch test, and 3 hours of extensive cosmetic research I think I know what I'm allergic to:

your mom.

jkjk... here's what I found:

1. diet pop like diet 7up and coke zero contain the artificial sweetener 'acesulfame potassium' it is not good, it gives me hives.

2. most shampoos contain 'methylchloroisothiazolinone' no I'm not making that word up, it is a preservative and it is not good, it gives me hives on my scalp.

3. my mascara, l'oreal voluminous, contains 'imidazolidinyl urea' which is pretty much pee... on my eye lashes, it is not good, it makes my eyes burn.

4. johnson's baby shampoo, which I bought with the notion that if its sensitive enough for baby it must be ok for me, contains 'quaternium-15' AKA formaldehyde. It is not good, it gives me hives.

that's all I have for now, but I'm sure there is more... until I get a real allergy test.

if there was a problem yo I'll solve it...

my winter hat was getting stinky... stinky like my stinky stinky hair. I needed a quick fix, and I remembered what a very dear friend told me about de-stinking his jeans: put them in a freezer. sounded crazy, but I took my old hat put it in a plastic bag and tucked it away between the waffles and the vodka.

this morning I took it out and gave it a sniff... no more stink!



too cold.

google tasks

nifty!

I've never seen this until today and I'm impressed. That is all.

Jingles.

What happened to my delicious jingles?!

Seriously, I went to Wegmans and all they had was Santa's Favorites. Were Jingles a figment of my imagination...those yummy sparkley christmas treats?

I had to investigate, here's what I discovered:

Jingles are real... at least they were. Back in the day Salerno made 'Jingles', a delicious anise flavored cookie in various christmasy shapes. Then, Keebler bought the Salerno brand and threw away all the Salerno favorites, except Jingles. Keebler changed the Jingles recipe leaving out the anise flavor, but still called the cookies Jingles. Years later, Salerno reemerged in the cookie industry and brought back the original Jingles recipe. However, because Keebler had rights to the Jingle name, Salerno had to rename their old classic. And thus Santa's Favorites became the new Jingles.




"Jessie, I can't believe we're blogging about Jingles." - Matt

Believe it.

fur-real-tho

circa 1941

giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!
It's 8:41am and I'm already up making brussel sprouts for tonight's feast. my house smells like a fart and I'm super excited about the upcoming parade. Only problem is I don't have a television. For anyone who shares my sorrow, here's a helpful solution:

The parade can be viewed live via webcam by clicking the picture above. I recommend using camera one and playing THIS radio station in another tab. I never really liked listening to Al and Meredith anyway.

Next up is the National Dog Show presented by Purina.. this one is a little more complicated. It looks like HULU will be airing the show later today, but that's no good. My solution is watch the 2007 National Dog Show by clicking the picture:

then GOOGLE the winner at 2pm. No one will know!

thank you modern technology.

reputation comes from the company you keep

President elect Barack Obama spent his morning with members of his new Economic Recovery Board...

Paul Volcker, chairman (left) and Austan Goolsbee, chief economist.

Meanwhile, President Bush spent his day with a different crew...

with turkeys 'Pumpkin' and 'Pecan' at the 61st annual turkey pardon.

donate blood

and in 56 days do it again.

sign up here

if this doesn't make you vegan...

Turbaconducken (Turducken Wrapped in Bacon)

Apparently a 'turducken' is the common name for a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken... or is it a chicken stuffed with a duck?

either way just add bacon for a 'turbaconducken' and watch me puke!

holiday stock

click the picture to see what's in stock.

google research

I decided to research the internet frequency of a few ways to say "i'm cold".

the results are posted in the chart below....



no results found for:
shitbox
bananaconda
dumper
weenie
labia majora
pork and beans

learn your muscles and bones

i have a nerdy obsession with human anatomy, and I just found this great game...


poke a muscle!

also try whack-a-bone

dirty sneaks?

clean them up! with toothpaste (not gel, paste). It works great on rubber soles as well as polished leather. fabulous.

kava kava

puke-a puke-a