Kaycee Nicole makes the pages of the New York Times.

I went to hear Chuck Palahniuk read from his new novel, Choke, last night. The local independent bookstore was packed full. It was quite a different scene when I first heard him read about two years ago at a different bookstore. That reading was pre-Fight Club, the movie. It appeared as if a lot of the crowd last night may have been turned on to Chuck after seeing the movie and discovering his body of work. A lot of alternative young hipsters were in the crowd. Listening to him read and tell stories was amazing and highly entertaining. He is very charismatic and charming in person. He said he used to hate doing press for his books, but that was because he only did the bare minimum that was required. Then he started giving more time to press and now he goes over the top and sends out packages to fans, stays after the reading for however long it takes to sign any and all books of interested readers. It is truly inspiring to see someone who has reached a high level of success and remain quite modest about it. He took questions after reading a couple of chapters from the book. I wanted to ask him why he is always photographed lifting big rocks. Unfortunately, he didn't have the opportunity to answer. See him if you have the chance.

A painful affair of the Internet heart MSNBC's report of the Kaycee Nicole hoax.

"Shrek" is not Shrek! I was just discussing the animated movie Shrek this morning with a friend. She said she wanted to see it and I said I didn't because what I saw and heard about the movie doesn't even reflect what the original book is about. William Steig's Shrek has been one of my favorites for a long time because it was such the antithesis of what a fairy tale is commonly known as. The movie completely takes the story and changes it into something else. I hate it when movies take already written material and alter it so that it makes more interesting fodder for the general public. Why don't producers and scriptwriters just start from scratch?

The whole MetaFilter thing was a joke. Wow. My reality has been altered again!

Wow! Lots of action going at at MetaFilter. First the Kaycee Nicole thing turns out to be a hoax and now MetaFilter. Wow. I am shunned and shocked and really have no words. I just happened to read through most of the archives of Kaycee Nicole this weekend. I must admit, I was duped. Dave Winer has some good reads related to all this commotion at his site.

Canada reportedly agrees to resign: It was only a matter of time as to when this resignation would actually happen. Apparently financial officer Jim Scherzinger will be interim superintendent.

Portland Parks Sniffing Out New Off-Leash Area: It's about time. I wish I had a dog again. Every time I visit friends with dogs, a sense of nostalgia sweeps over me. Each dog has such a distinct personality. They are the best pets around. I love them!

I was playing around with this new search engine iLor that uses Google's technology. It's pretty cool. Once you enter search terms you can mouse over the results and get a menu to appear with four options of how you want to view your results, save them, etc. Check it out.

Very funny.

Thanks to everyone that remembered my birthday and sent me good wishes!

I stopped eating beef after our family had some bloody prime rib for a Christmas dinner some 16 years ago. I still continue to eat other meats. I don't know if this news would stop me from ordering McDonald's fries though, which I consider to be the best fries of any fast food establishment. And how do we know that other places, like Burger King or Wendy's, doesn't do the same thing? This article from Malcolm Gladwell is also interesting.[via astrogirl, Metafilter]

It's my birthday tomorrow. As I get older I seem to care less about this particular day, yet with the expectations that come along with birthdays, I can't seem to just forget about it like I want to. For instance, last night, my mom called me and asked if I wanted to go out to dinner for my birthday. I said no. I told her I wasn't going to do anything and didn't want to do anything; it was no big deal. But in actuality, it was a big deal because she was a making a big deal about it, which was making me angry! I plan to just have a nice meal and enjoy the day.