I just got a steel string Martin Backpacker. I'm one of the people who loves this little funky guitar. 
However, originally I wanted the nylon string version, but changed my mind in the store because 1. they didn't have a nylon backpacker and 2. I've only played a nylon stringed once for about ten minutes at the store, and I don't know enough about the sound/ tuning/ quirks to know if I would like one or not. 
I have 30 days to return the guitar for a refund or an exchange, and I'm seriously considering swapping for a nylon string. But, I'm not sure. I know that I like this one, but I think that I would like the sound of the nylon strings better... So, if anyone plays a nylon string guitar I would love some insight as to the differences and what to consider when choosing. 

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=c01d15c1fc895e609fe92096a311b7a4

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/12/27.html

expatiate: to speak or write at length.

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=faccd11448ffa09b64c3cbdfa2c7d3e3

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/12/26.html

hauteur: haughtiness; arrogance.

After a long international custody battle, man is reunited with his son. This man's wife died visiting relatives in Brazil. The relatives wanted to keep her son, who was with her when she died. After a long international custody battle, the man is finally reunited with his son.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wondermark/~3/oumil4iQ2Bk/

http://wondermark.com/?p=4870

I was doing some Christmas shopping this week, trawling the ol’ mall, and discovered, in the charming little family-owned boutique known as Pottery Barn, a series of reproduction antique globes, carefully crafted with strange woods, metals and lines to give the impression of being “authentically old-timey” and thus interesting, but also brought fully and boringly up-to-date to reflect modern global political boundaries. These globes are now totally and utterly 100% accurate in every way.

oh wait

p.s. if you don’t get it

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=8d50aaa9e8b016cea633ee3e041137ad

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/12/25.html

embonpoint: plumpness of person.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Who wants me to get the 2010 version of this calendar? :D

Poo nugget for this weekend: The Ritual Poo - The Ritual Poo occurs at the same time each day. Due to the clockwork nature of this poo, you can prepare by having a newspaper ready and your favorite bathroom location scoped out ahead of time. The regularity of these poos may provide comfort in an otherwise unpredictable world. Synonyms: Rite of Passage, Palm Poo, Calendar Crap.

Poo nugget for Monday, December 21: Johnny and the John - The Great Toilet Paper Scare was triggered on December 19, 1973. Late-night comedian Johnny Carson joked about an impending toilet paper shortage in the United States. This announcement in front of millions of television viewers caused massive hoarding of toilet paper, depleting supermarket inventory for a period of three and a half weeks.

Poo nugget for Tuesday, December 22: Doo You Know? - Doo-Doos and Don'ts of Hiking Etiquette - The incredible popularity of hiking and climbing has made waste disposal a big topic for outdoor recreationists and organizations. In 1990, Hikers Against Doo-Doo was founded. It is an international organization dedicated to keeping human and animal excrement off mountain paths around the world. The group claimed a thousand members as of 1994, and attracted nineteen people to its 1993 International Congress in Moscow.

Poo nugget for Wednesday, December 23: Bidet Backpack - Looking for the soothing comfort and thorough cleanup of a bidet while you're on the go? The Phess traveling bidet system includes a spray wand and container with manual pump that allows you to perform your post-number-two cleanup virtually anywhere. Touted as hygienic and environmentally friendly, this "misty mate" adds moistness to the cleanup process and reduces toilet paper use.

Poo nugget for Thursday, December 24: Dr. Stool Says - Rapunzel Syndrome - This rare condition occurs when patients who compulsively eat hair form a trichobezoar, an indigestible bolus of hair particles in the stomach and small intestine. Patients can develop abdominal pain and vomiting if this hair ball causes intestinal obstruction. As humans lack the ability to digest these particles, surgery is the only treatment option.

Poo nugget for Friday, December 25: Gift Poo - Surprise! - A Gift Poo is a dump that someone left behind in a toilet without flushing. They come in all shapes and sizes, and are most prevalent in public restrooms and fraternity houses. These gifts are sometimes left as trophies to anonymously show off accomplishments, sometimes as pranks, or occasionally as absentminded accidents - often resulting from multitaskers trying to talk on the cell phone, and wanting to avoid the flush that gives them away. The origins of these poos may remain a mystery, but they can linger anywhere from minutes to days, depending on when the gift is first seen or smelled.

Merry Christmas, wordjunkies! And happy whatever else you celebrate if you celebrate something else. Happy Giftmas for those that celebrate the gifts and booze, and happy Festivus for those with 1990 goggles on who still think Seinfeld was funny. :D

For those of us not fighting this silly War on Christmas, I hope you all have a fantastic day with family and friends, or at least a nice day by yourself avoiding the whole thing.


I have no word for you today, but something a little extra special - a Christmas poem, written by yours truely!


T'was the night before Christmas
and all around Earth
no creature was stirring
for what it was worth.

With sugar-hyped children
asleep in their beds
and visions of Santy Claus
Bouncing 'round little heads

From under the world
there came a great howl
as ancient old evil
arose for a prowl

The dread lord of madness
Cthulhu, his name
prowled 'round the Earth
To chew spicy brain

To rend and to tear
And devour souls, all
the dread lord Cthulhu
was having a ball.

Quick as a lick
He nommed, and was gone!
Back into deep space
Where evil did spawn.

So beware you, this Christmas
Of dreaming to bargain, for
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu
R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

NORFOLK, Va. - Last year they lost their mother. This year they almost lost Christmas.

Shirley King said the past 12 months have been hard. Her daughter Joyce died the week before Christmas 2008 while giving birth to her 15th child. King said, the children's father abandoned them a month later.

"All they had was me," she said.

King, who moves around her home attached to an oxygen tank said she gets help from her family when they are able to. She also relies on the Toys for Tots program to help with Christmas gifts. This year, however, there was a mixup with paperwork. King was told her children would miss out.

"A lot of major organizations turned us down and said it's nothing they can do, they can't help us...try again next year; it hurt," she sobbed."

Afraid her grandchildren would wake up December 25 with no toys, King was overjoyed when she found out renowned Realtor Judy Boone heard the story and offered to help.

"She said she just had to do something and couldn't see these children without anything for Christmas and that was a blessing," King noted.

Boone and her staff brought dozens of presents to King's home and plan to bring several more this week.

"I want to thank Ms. Judy Boone for helping us, God bless her," one of the children said.

King said with everything you can see in her home, one thing you won't find is a spirit of despair. "If I cry, it's because I was sad, but now am happy. I'm not sad no more," she said, "God was showing me then that He was in charge and had the situation already taken care of."

link

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of childhood into maturity."

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=d7131865ad9fe73b33134ca2d751aaef

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/12/24.html

lambent: playing on the surface; flickering.

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."

I wonder what would happen if a man wrote an article like this.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200907/divorce

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=21c80dc7f86a40d5a9e2d3f485b7fe23

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/12/23.html

clinquant: glittering; tinsel-like; also, tinsel.