I vote pink and sparkly! (Of course I do!)

Go for it, Allyson! My DH took up guitar at age 44, and it makes him SO HAPPY.

So cool! I keep thinking I want to learn to play bass, but I know I don't have the free time or money for another hobby.

I read the Rookie article on how to buy a guitar and thought, "I always wanted to learn how to play...um, I can still do that. It's not like I'm trying to learn to be an olympic gymnast, I just want to learn a few chords."

I have a coworker who is a guitar teacher, so I've got lessons lined up, and a friend who's a pro musician taking me to guitar center to help me make the purchase.

I had a bass when I was a kid, Jilli. I learned a little, but thought if I couldn't just pick it up and play like a pro then I didn't have any talent and it wasn't worth it. Because I was 12 and weird. So yeah, learning new skills is hard and requires practice. Who knew?

Sounds like you've got everything lined up, Allyson. Awesome!

I don't think the pink sparkly one works, Allyson. Isn't it designed for girls, who aren't musicians, QED and shit?

Rolling Stone just printed its list of 100 greatest guitarists of all time, and there are only two women on it: Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell.

I guess internet guy was right!

I knew it was demonstrandum! I just knew it!

Unrelatedly, I thought I wanted this, but apparently it doesn't really hurt, so I'm less interested now.

You guys, A&E is crazy. I accidentally got sucked into a Storage Wars marathon, about people buying abandoned storage units for their thrift stores, and half of the ads are for "Lady Hoggers," which is apparently about actual hogs, and I'm not sure why.

Not that I use a French press, but wait, what?

I had to look that one up, too:

A 2007 study by the Baylor College of Medicine indicates that the diterpene molecules cafestol and kahweol, found only in coffee beans, may raise levels of low-density lipoprotein or LDL in humans.

Paper coffee filters have a property that binds to lipid-like compounds which allows the filter to remove most of the cafestol and kahweol found in coffee. Brew methods which do not use a paper filter, such as the use of a press pot, do not remove cafestol and kahweol from the final brewed product.

Thanks for that, Tom. I was busy taking my very sick boyfriend to Urgent Care, or I would have replied (because I didn't want to perpetuate the Internet Argument culture I was busy decrying).

I was busy taking my very sick boyfriend to Urgent Care

Ack! Poor Tim. Is he feeling any better now?

You poor guys, Steph!

ION, I am a genius: I added blue cheese dip to the mashed potatoes I was reheating.