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Conference turris::womannotes-v1

Title:ARCHIVE-- Topics of Interest to Women, Volume 1 --ARCHIVE
Notice:V1 is closed. TURRIS::WOMANNOTES-V5 is open.
Moderator:REGENT::BROOMHEAD
Created:Thu Jan 30 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 30 1995
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:873
Total number of notes:22329

810.0. "Quirk-Free?" by MCIS2::MORAN () Fri Apr 15 1988 14:39

    DO YOU THINK YOU ARE QUIRK-FREE?, consider whether you indulge in
    any of these common idiosyncrasies:
    
    * Refuse to take the top newspaper from a newsstand.
    
    * Insist on a certain side of the bed.
    
    * Make sure the smallest denominations of bills are on the outside.
    
    * Wait for the phone to ring at least twice before answering.
    
    * Follow strict rules about squeezing toothpaste.
    
    * Weigh yourself only first thing in the morning, stark-naked.
    
    * Have jars filled with pennies that you never change into bills.
    
    * Keep you watch five minutes fast so you're never late.
    
    (---Washington Post, without permission)
    
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
810.1Almost, but not quite.MILVAX::J_HANSENJulaineFri Apr 15 1988 15:0313
    None of those listed fits, but ...
    
    You would never, ever find me outside the house with curlers in
    my hair (back in the days when it was long enough for them, that
    is)!
    
    Going bra-less beyond the limits of *home*.
    
    Wearing pantyhose without panties.
    
    Walking around with a run in one's hose.
    
    
810.2who me, quirky?EDUHCI::WARRENFri Apr 15 1988 15:587
    Re .0:
    
    Have you been following me around?  
    
    And don't forget that all the bills have to face the same way!
    
    
810.3Mr. Quirk at workLEDS::ORINEPS = Ecto-Plasmic SymbiosisFri Apr 15 1988 17:2844
* Refuse to take the top newspaper from a newsstand.

never read it
    
* Insist on a certain side of the bed.

yes, I sleep on my left side
    
* Make sure the smallest denominations of bills are on the outside.

yes, and facing same direction and no folded corners
    
* Wait for the phone to ring at least twice before answering.

yes, too many lost connections otherwise, don't know why
    
* Follow strict rules about squeezing toothpaste.

always from the bottom, and roll it up

* Weigh yourself only first thing in the morning, stark-naked.

as seldom as possible
    
* Have jars filled with pennies that you never change into bills.

once every 5 years, last time it was $170 !!
    
* Keep you watch five minutes fast so you're never late.

don't wear one but still on time, always leave early


Some more quirks (at least of mine)

* lose things unless they are kept and left in the same place, even though
  they are in plain sight

* certain doors at home must be kept closed, others open, or else I feel
  uneasy (live alone)

dave    
    

810.4RANCHO::HOLTRobert A. HoltSat Apr 16 1988 09:5321
    
    . The top newspaper is usually ragged, especially on
      Sunday. 
    
    . My alarm clock is 5 minutes fast - my watch 
      is on correct time.    
    
    . Always leave for work at 7 am; always park in the
      same stall.
    
    . Always stop at the bagelry; always get 2 onion with
      jalapeno cream cheese... 
           
    . Always run on tracks in a counter-clockwize direction.
      
    . Always read while eating.
    
    . Always have to read myself to sleep (left side)...
    
    . Always wait 3 days between shaves.
    
810.5RANCHO::HOLTRobert A. HoltSat Apr 16 1988 09:554
    
    Oh, and I cannot stand it when someone has read
    a paper and has not put it back in its original
    order... arrgh!
810.6my quirks....IPG::HUNTwell I ordered new ones anyway..Mon Apr 18 1988 09:579
    At home, I never go from one room to another without looking round
    to see if there is something I can take with me!  This comes from
    having a family I suppose.  It helps to keep the place tidy without
    having to have a big tidying-up session.
    
    It is also a RULE that if anyone borrows the torch they MUST put
    it back next to the fuse box!
    
    diana.
810.7CSC32::VICKREYIF(i_think) THEN(i_am) ELSE(stop)Tue Apr 19 1988 13:203
    I always leave my glasses in the same place at night, and if I take
    them off I don't walk off anywhere until I've put them back on, because
    I can't see well enough to hunt for them.
810.8CHEFS::MANSFIELDAn English SarahTue Apr 19 1988 13:303
    
    I bet you find you can't carry on a conversation without them either,
    I definitely need to see in order to hear properly !
810.9that's not a quirk, it's a useful habitVIA::RANDALLback in the notes life againTue Apr 19 1988 13:3721
    Wait a minute.  This article makes it sound like the purpose
    of having a jar full of pennies around the house is to save
    them to convert into bills.  
    
    Jars of pennies are for propping doors open.  (They work well
    for propping up windows, too.)
    
    Jars of pennies make great rattle-toys for smaller babies.
     
    Older kids, who can be trusted not to eat them, can count the
    pennies and make piles of them.  (Pennies stack nicely into
    structures like forts.)
    
    A jar of pennies is the right size for a hand weight for
    wrist-strenghening exercizes.  Or get two and use them for a good
    workout.  As you gradually add pennies, the weight goes up,
    thus increasing the benefits of the workout.
    
    Why would I want to turn them into bills?
    
    --bonnie
810.10I feel comfortable with mine!LAIDBK::RESKELife's a mystery & I haven't a clueTue Apr 19 1988 19:089
    
    Ok, so I'm guilty of most of those things! 
    
    You mean people only set their watch 5 minutes fast?  My alarm
    clock is 1 1/4 hours fast.  It makes me feel better if I think
    I slept later.  My mind isn't quick enough that early to know
    it was only a joke. ;-)
    
    Donna
810.12Shower curtainsWAGON::ANASTASIAI've got mnemonic plagueTue Apr 26 1988 18:126
I always leave the shower curtain bunched open so no goblins can
hide behind it.

(I'd rather have mold than goblins.)

Patti
810.13Janitor hates me.FLOWER::JASNIEWSKIWed Apr 27 1988 08:076
    
    	I never use a cover for my coffee. If I make it to my office
    without spilling any, it's going to be a good day! Sometimes, I
    dont even make it out of the cafeteria...
    
    	Joe Jas
810.14Need improvement in the area of quirks...NEXUS::CONLONWed Apr 27 1988 08:2714
    	During the winter, I always park my car (in the DEC parking
    	lot) so that it faces the same direction, no matter which
    	way the rest of the cars are facing in my lane.
    
    	I do that so that the sun will shine on my windshield and
    	melt any ice or snow that may have landed there while I was
    	working.  [In Colorado, we have approx. 330 days of sunshine
    	per year, which means that many of our winter days are sunny,
    	even if there is snow everywhere.]
    
    	Not much of a quirk, I admit.  But I *am* faithful to it. :-)
    
    	Some of the other quirks in this note sound so useful, I may
    	give them a try as well.  :-)
810.15What, me compulsive?NAC::BENCEShetland Pony School of Problem SolvingWed Apr 27 1988 12:107
    
    When eating a box of M&Ms from the vending machine at work, I always
    dump the contents on my desk and sort them (my algorithm's a secret)
    before eating.
    
    And then, of course, there's the correct way to eat Oreos.
    
810.16RANCHO::HOLTRobert A. HoltWed Apr 27 1988 13:115
    
    Do M&Ms have a consistent proportion of colors, as I
    heard on a talk show?
    
    
810.17oreosKRYPTN::GERTZBuTRflysRFreeWed Apr 27 1988 13:275
    I used to love watching a small child eat an oreo cookie.
    They'd always split the cookie in half and eat the frosting first.
    
    I always dunk em...;-)
    
810.18old habits....BPOV09::GROSSEWed Apr 27 1988 13:347
    re.17
    
    Gee! I still munch on an Oreo like that, only I'm a little
    less messy with the dunking than the old days ;-))))))
    
    cb
    
810.19DPDMAI::RESENDEPfollowing the yellow brick road...Wed Apr 27 1988 14:405
    I don't believe I've ever had an Oreo whole.  I thought you were
    SUPPOSED to split them, eat the filling, then eat the chocolate
    cookie!  (^;
    
    							Pat
810.20my algorithm isn't secretVIA::RANDALLI feel a novel coming onWed Apr 27 1988 14:4614
    Re: M & M's
    
    I don't know about the proportions, but they have RED ones
    again!!!!! 
    
    I usually sort them into rows of each color.  Sometimes I eat them
    across rows, dark brown, light brown, green, yellow, orange, red,
    and sometimes I eat one color at a time (fewest first). 
    
    If I'm feeling particularly nervous or paranoid, I'll arrange them
    in other ways.  You can usually tell how tense the day has been by
    the arrangement on my desk. 

    --bonnie    
810.21Yes! M&M sorting3D::CHABOTLo, what Augustan years...Wed Apr 27 1988 15:428
    I don't always do this anymore, but for the longest time I always
    ate M&Ms and jelly beans in pairs.  Especially Jelly Bellys, because
    they're so small.  Always two of the same color or flavor, also.
    
    ++++
    
    I'm happier if I can balance my checkbook without using a calculator.
    
810.22Patterning behavior?VALKYR::RUSTex- ::RAVANWed Apr 27 1988 16:3031
    Hmmm. Why do people call these "quirks"? Sound like perfectly rational
    behavior to me...
    
    Of course, I don't *sort* my M&Ms. I save the red (hooray!) and
    the dark brown ones for last, though, as I find they look the most
    appetizing together. 
    
    It goes without saying that Oreos have to be eaten from the inside
    out - although when I was a kid I'd eat the filling and ditch the
    cookies!

    Let's see. Other areas of - if not quirkiness, then let's say "personal
    patterning behavior": 
    
    I straighten towels. If I ever just shove a crumpled towel into
    the rack, or even leave one hanging unevenly, it indicates that
    I'm upset about something.

    Having found nothing appetizing in the refrigerator (a common
    occurance), I will often go back and look again later, as if in
    the hopes that something new has appeared. Don't know why, but it
    always seems reasonable at the time. (There's a sniglet for this
    but I don't remember what it is.)

    I can't sleep if the closet door is ajar. (This is Stephen King's
    fault.) And I need hardly add that one never, ever, leaves a portion
    of one's anatomy hanging over the edge of the bed...

    These are not quirks. These are matters of survival!

    -b
810.23preserve those fingers and toes!VIA::RANDALLI feel a novel coming onWed Apr 27 1988 16:4410
    re: .22
    
    My mother tells that when she was about five, a little creature
    with a flashlight came out from under the bed and proceeded
    to count all her fingers and toes.  Then, satisified, it went
    back under the bed where it came from.  
    
    She assumes she was dreaming, but we know better!
    
    --bonnie 
810.24RANCHO::HOLTRobert A. HoltWed Apr 27 1988 21:552
    
    I couldn't balance mine with the whole cluster...!
810.25only peanut M&Ms...LEZAH::QUIRIYThu Apr 28 1988 13:5816
    
    I always eat peanut M&Ms, but one of two methods:
    
    1.) I very carefully hold the M&M in my mouth, or roll it around 
    with my tongue if I think I can do it without cracking the candy 
    shell, until the shell is almost all melted off.  Then I bite 
    the chocolate off from around the peanut, stuff the peanut into
    one of my cheeks, eat the chocolate, then the peanut.
                                              
    2.) Sometimes I just crack the candy shell and the hard chocolate
    away from the peanut, stuff the peanut in a cheek, eat the chocolate,
    then eat the peanut.
             
    I never just chomp into them!
    
    CQ
810.26Green M&M's mmmmmmmmNSG022::POIRIERVacation soon!Thu Apr 28 1988 14:2210
    Don't you know that it is bad luck to look at the color of your M&M
    before eating it?!!!!!:-).  I never look at the color until it's ready
    to be popped in my mouth.  And you know what they say about those green
    ones...see if you eat all the green ones on purpose then you are
    cheating!!!  And if the green one is the last one to come out of the
    bag - well your in luck cuz that's double strength. ;-)
    
    Well when I was real little I use to run and jump onto my bed from a
    far enough distance so that those little people under the bed couldn't
    grab my feet.  But I've grown out of that quirk (almost).
810.27M&M triviaTOLKIN::JOYCEMy LAST name is Joyce!Thu Apr 28 1988 18:367

I'm also an M&M sorter, both plain and peanut.  Has anyone else 
noticed that the plain ones have one more color than the peanut 
ones?  The peanut ones don't have the light brown color.

Maryellen
810.28How to eat an OreoOPHION::KARLTONPhil Karlton, Western Software LabThu Apr 28 1988 21:2811
    I can see you people really don't know how to eat Oreos. The "right"
    way is unscrew two of them and eat the cookie with no frosting from
    each of them. Then you press the two remaining cookies into a big
    sandwich. Where do you think the idea of DoubleStuff Oreos came
    from?
    
    For some reason, my Oreo consumption has gone way down since I found
    out that the filling is mostly lard and sugar. Must be a sign of
    getting old.
    
    PK
810.29yes!GNUVAX::BOBBITTshowtime, Synergy...Fri Apr 29 1988 10:4023
    re: .28
    
    YES!  But doublestuff oreos are like cheating, they're too easy
    to come by and can be eaten too fast - it also takes skill to make
    sure all the "stuff" comes off on one side, leaving the other bare.
    
    Quirks...hm...I like saving the best of things I eat for last. 
    When it's a main course, it's usually the tastiest part that sits
    on the plate til the very end (often the entree).  When it's a salad,
    the yummiest stuff waits til last.  When it's cake, the frosting is
    the last part to be eaten (infinite sweet tooth).  Of course, I
    try not to think of the bomb being dropped in midmeal...that would
    really irk me...
    
    Also, another quirk (not so eccentric, perhaps), I don't like leaving
    "stuff" on my screen - remainders of what I've just done, etc., when
    I'm at my desk doing paperwork or whatever (or have stepped out for a
    moment) So I have several screen graphics that just fill in the space,
    and are quite easy on the eyes. 
    

    -Jody
        
810.30HANDY::MALLETTSituation hopeless but not seriousFri Apr 29 1988 16:407
    re: Oreo's (and, of course, Hydrox)
    
    I could've sworn that eating an unopened Oreo/Hydrox cookie was
    made a misdemeanor. . .(and rightly so!)
    
    Steve
    
810.31where do you think cookie ice cream came from?VIA::RANDALLI feel a novel coming onMon May 02 1988 12:344
    Boy, these Easterners are primitive.  Everybody knows the only
    correct way to eat an Oreo is crumbled up over ice cream!
    
    --bonnie
810.32NEVER TOUCH 'EMOURVAX::JEFFRIESthe best is betterMon May 02 1988 13:542
    I have never eaten an Oreo. The thoughts of eating all those fake
    ingredients has never peaked my interest.
810.33what's a quirk?USAT02::CARLSONtotal eclipse of the sunWed May 11 1988 09:109
    I always like parking in the same space at work, and get
    annoyed when someone else has the gall to take it first.
    
    I like to have the fan or some music going during the night
    when I sleep.  (drowns out the ghost noises) <;v)
    
    
    
    theresa.
810.34Heretic!HUMAN::BURROWSJim BurrowsWed May 11 1988 23:546
        Hydrox?! Hydrox?! Cheap, immitation pseudo-Oreos!? You'd eat
        Hydrox?! Yeh, and drink Pepsi, too...
        
        Glad I don't have any quirks.
        
        JimB.
810.35Pepsi? Blech! I like the chemicals in Dr. Pepper3D::CHABOTLo, what Augustan years...Mon May 16 1988 14:261
	       Ha!  Hydrox are far better than Oreos!
810.36No wonder I can't lose weight...EDUHCI::WARRENTue May 17 1988 12:253
    No, no, no.  Oreos and Diet Coke.  The more Oreos you eat, the more
    Diet Coke you have to drink to compensate...
    
810.37psycho-phobia?BPOV06::GROSSETue May 17 1988 13:163
    I always check behind a closed shower curtain to make sure
    that Anthony Perkins isn't there...
    
810.38Please be empty!AMUN::CRITZTue May 17 1988 15:243
    	I thought I was the only one that did that!
    
    	Scott
810.39PSYCHO!!!!NEBVAX::PEDERSONWed May 18 1988 17:109
    re:  .37, .38
    
    GADS....Me too! I have to wash my hair in phases...
    wet then peek around the curtain, soap then peek
    around the curtain, lather, etc.etc. (no wonder
    it takes me hours to shower!)
    
    pat
    
810.4010-2-4STAR::BECKPaul Beck | DECnet-VAXSun May 22 1988 18:079
    re .35
    
>>            -< Pepsi?  Blech!  I like the chemicals in Dr. Pepper >-

    One of my quirks is to point out that there's no "." in "Dr Pepper".
    (Drink the stuff long enough, you notice these things.)
    
    I suppose this means Dr Pepper must be male, as he never had
    a period?
810.41periodicity3D::CHABOTCalifornia bornMon May 23 1988 10:161
    Not necessarily...are all pre-pubescent girls male too?
810.42STAR::BECKPaul Beck | DECnet-VAXMon May 23 1988 12:083
    re .41
    
    Relatively few of them are Doctors. 
810.43MystifiedCHEFS::GOUGHFri Jun 03 1988 13:371
    What are Oreos?
810.44SALEM::REKI want a world that needs no heros!!!!!!!!!!Fri Jun 03 1988 13:464
      Cookies of course. The only way to eat them is to unscrew them
    first and eat the middle....
    
                   REK
810.45A slightly more detailed explanationARTFUL::SCOTTAre we havin&#039; fun, or what?!?Fri Jun 03 1988 14:369
    re: .43
    
    Specifically, Oreos are two very dark chocolate biscuits joined by a
    "creme" filling (confectioner's sugar and shortening).  A kind of
    cookie and icing sandwich.  "Oreo" is brand name:  "Hydrox" is a
    similar pastry produced by another company (with, a distinctly
    different flavor -- I won't say which I think is better).
    
    Don't you have anything similar in England?