I'm a firm believer in news-by-flier, and there have been some gems around T-town lately.

Take the postcard I snagged the other day at Blackwater, published by Rusty George Creative, a local marketing firm.

It seems that today is Create Something Weird Day.

Says RGC:

We know what you're thinking. We forgot to make a Weird Holiday this month and now we're passing the buck. Like one of those fondue restaurants that make you cook your own food. Au contraire! This is an unprecedented opportunity for self-discovery. YOU may be even weirder than you ever imagined.

Imagine that.

Anywho, you can go to www.rustygeorge.com/weird to make up your own weird thing.

I'm proposing a Dress Up Your Cat in an Irksome Costume Day. I got inspired looking at the photos in our reader-submitted pet names gallery. Especially this entry from a reader who writes, "This is my cat Gummo in his bat suit, which makes him feel fierce and also very peeved."

I know the feeling.

My own dear Sescie Sugarplum would look ravishing in a similar getup.

So do your part and Keep Tacoma Weird. We're so good at it anyway. And if anyone has any of their own weird ideas, please do share. It's what we live for.

Few things are as quintessentially Northwest as a Bigfoot art chainsaw carving contest.

The roadside event over the weekend was part of Pemco Insurance's "We're A Lot Like You" campaign that highlights the stereotypes of the Northwest.

You might have seen some of the ads, such as the "Blue Tarp Campers." The complete list of 43 profiles lives here.

But one thing stood out: Tacoma didn't make the list.

Maybe we're not unique enough. Maybe we're not readily identifiable. Maybe they couldn't think of anything nice to say.

But here's the good news: There's space for user-submitted profiles. I want to write one that represents our city (in a good way). The question: What's our stereotype?

While you think, watch this video ...

Bigfoot statue photo by News Tribune photographer Russ Carmack.

This is absurd. It's actually sticking. Is anybody out there catching flakes on their tongues? If so, you shouldn't do that you know.

Maybe next year.

"What's that over there?" "Oh, I think that's the distant chance of victory."
Photo by Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/MCT

If there's one thing I can't stand in sports, it's a team that considers itself anointed to the throne (see John McGrath's column today for more on that). I love underdog upsets and, also, I love the Palouse as a former Idaho Vandal, so I'm absolutely rooting for the home team today.

Are you all watching the game today anywhere special? Do you even care since the team is from the barren side of the state? I'll be in the office with my neck craned to view the TV directly above my head (I'm praying there's never an earthquake while I'm at work).

FYI, if WSU does something spectacular today and I'm inexplicably fired shortly after, it's because my boss went to grad school at UNC.

If you like Terry's Berries (and I do) then you'll be happy to read this.

Is it snowing anywhere else or do we work in an especially cold corner of Tacoma here at South 19th and State streets?

This has got to hurt today's Slurpee sales at the 7-Eleven.

Kelly says if the computer system hadn’t decided to disallow her password, she would’ve written:

Holy smokes, snow! My left arm feels all tingly — barometric pressure shift or flu shot? You decide — and all I can think of is stockpiling cookies and holing up at the conservatory at Wright Park among the giant lemons until the temperature rises about 60.

Good god, is that too much to ask?

She doesn’t live in Tacoma, but she sure is proud of those lemons.

With the appropriate word in the blank spaces, this 100-year-old editorial can still apply to Tacoma today.

What word should it be?

Looking Back: March 24, 1908
Editorial excerpt from The Tacoma News:

“Any action that tends to embarrass or even slightly delay the progress of this city in any way is to be deplored. Particularly is this true as regards to ------ development. For years Tacoma has struggled for new ------. These are now at hand. Aid and encouragement should be furnished to them just as far as possible without, of course, entailing sacrifice on the people.”

It's only a matter of time until the robots are telling us what to do. Thankfully, for now, we have humans like this on our side.

Congratulations to the Tacoma School of the Arts team that's headed to the international championships in April in Atlanta.

It's finally here: A comprehensive guide to Tacoma's restaurants. And the best part: You get to add your thoughts to it.

I was planning to highlight some of the site's features, but that would be boring. So instead, just go check it out for yourself and play around with it.

It still needs a few additions (Herban Cafe, Stadium Bistro) and subtractions (Gary's Steak Out – R.I.P.), but in time I think this will become one of the most useful online resources for Tacoma.

On the way to the meet 'n' eat at Frost Park today, GritPup and I walked through an empty Fireman's Park. The giant totem pole whispered to me that it was lonely. How sad!

Maybe we should have progressive park lunches?

Anyway, it was fun to finally meet some people I previously knew only as a screen name.

Here are some other Tacoma parks that the dog and I have "taken back" by leaving our mark. Actually, the dog did most of the marking. Most.

In this last one, we're taking back Wright Park from dog molesters.

Kelly and Laura and I are e-mailing each other, and we keep saying the same thing: We want to post something, but we don't have anything to write about. Maybe we're just lazy. Maybe we need Niki to come back from Olympia.

So it got me thinking, Has everything already been written about Tacoma?

UPDATE: We've been cordially invited to leave our cubicles and eat lunch at Frost Park at noon Friday.

It's time for another verse of our favorite anthem, "O, Tacoma, how do we love thee (when few others do)".

Today's installment comes courtesy of one of my favorite design-porn blogs, apartmenttherapy.com. The writers, based in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and LA, champion green living, greenmarkets, shopping local, nice furniture, and IKEA hacks (sweet!).

You'll note that this excerpt speaks to Cole's previous musings on what other city Tacoma would be were it not it. (Oakland came up, I believe.)

So here is one Oaklandian's words on why she loves her city.

• Urban, walkable neighborhoods: I live within two to three blocks of a grocery store, a farmer's market, a movie theater, about 10 restaurants, five bars, three coffee shops, two bakeries, a handful of cute stores, as well as a shoe repair shop, florist, and drugstore. And that's just off the top of my head. There's a casual carpool pick-up and a transbay bus stop within a five-minute walk.
• Affordable rent for a great place: in the interest of research and disclosure, I'll come out and say that my boyfriend and I pay $1600 a month for a 1200 square foot two bedroom, 1 bath lower unit of a 1920's duplex with hardwood floors, built ins, a formal dining room, a working fireplace, and off street parking.
• I read somewhere that Oakland has the highest concentration of artists of any city in the US outside of New York.
• Oakland is the second most ethnically diverse city in the country (as of the 2000 US census), with over 150 languages spoken inside city limits.
• People are nice. You know your neighbors, the shop owners, the mailman, and the random strangers who walk their dog past your house at midnight (well, that one might just be me) and everyone says hi. It's probably all that aforementioned sunshine.
• For lack of a better term: Oakland has moxie. Yes, we've had and are still having problems with crime, blight, underfunded school systems, etc, but when you're in Oakland you really get the sense that people want things to keep getting better (as they have been over the last 20, but especially last 10 years) because people really love this city. It's a hard city not to love if you let it in. Most neighborhoods have very active neighborhood associations - if you move here or live here already I suggest checking yours out.

I won't beat a dead pony, but sometimes it's nice to see that we're not alone in defending our little gritty city.

In other, more pressing news, some other newspaper reported this week that an Official Top Pot Doughnut Representative made this statement in response to a question about possible future markets:

"Tacoma is an option, as is Portland."

Be still my heart.

Back when the neon "art" in the Tacoma Dome was actually in style, there was an indoor soccer phenomenon called the Tacoma Stars. And I'm kind of sad I wasn't around for the height of the fanaticism. It's a different level of Tacoma love.

But thankfully, someone managed to record parts of it, then set it to amazing '80s music, then post it on YouTube. Call it historic preservation. I'll let you make your own judgments about the cultural or socio-economic statements made by the shots of our fans. But I will say this: I wish I were there in the Dome, because it's better than an RV show.

If you start to get bored with the first song and scenes, skip ahead to 3:33 and you won't be sorry. And if that's not enough for you, skip ahead to the woman at 5:02. If anyone can identify her, I'll buy you a coffee or a beer.

I'm getting jittery just thinking about it:

When: Friday, March 21 at 9 p.m.
Where: Supernova Hair and Tattoo, 817 Division Avenue, Tacoma
Bands: Eddie Spaghetti & Rontrose Heathman of The Supersuckers and Bob Wayne & The Outlaw Carnies
RSVP: satellitecoffeeco.com/invite.html
Freebies: One free 8 oz. French press coffee between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Here's a little something to tide you over:

Speaking of doughnuts, a study released today gives us the science behind the drool.

The London Daily Mail headline reads "Why our brains are programmed to eat doughnuts."

OK, I'll bite.

An excerpt:

Apparently our brains are programmed to leap into action when presented with the sugary treats.

A study found that when hungry volunteers were shown a picture of a Krispy Kreme doughnut or a screwdriver, the sugary snack sent the brain into overdrive.

The same response did not occur after participants had stuffed themselves with up to eight of them.

I can't comment on the methodology of this study, but I can say that I'd be happy to participate in any follow-up research. Like, call me.

So I post these photos in the name of science. You be the judge, Tacoma. Doughnut or screwdriver?

It's hard to believe the Tacomic is already a year old. It seems like just yesterday, if yesterday were 366 days ago (leap year!), that R.R. Anderson's brilliant and relevant sketches took root in Tacoma's thriving virtual landscape.

To celebrate the event, I sat down to interview one of his first characters, who was kidnapped right out of my own Chihuly-glass-bearing office: Little Fatboy Tribnet.

R.R. served as translator, since it's hard to understand what the little guy is saying through his generous and gravy-stained jowls.

Cole: How are they treating you in Tacomic Land?

Chubby Tacomicharacter: Good. I'm making friends with Tacoma's other, smaller newspaper cartoon metaphors. I get goofed on 'cause my weight and 'cause my family is a bit more well-to-do, but I'm used to it.

Cole: When you are transferred from R.R.'s brain, through the pencil, to the paper, does it hurt?

Chubby Tacomicharacter: As a two-dimensional character the experience is quite exhilarating … kinda feels like licking a 9-volt battery but throughout your whole body, which just turns out to be lines of graphite. Some drawings like to heap all kinds of metaphysical explanations on this, but I like to stay objective.

Cole: What do you miss the most about living at The News Tribune?

Chubby Tacomicharacter: I miss the routine. I miss the glamour. I miss the influence. I miss riding that big escalator each morning. I miss all the Mariners tip-ins. Most of all I miss the paper tricorn hat lunch parties.

Cole: You get to come out in public once a year for your birthday party, but what are you doing the rest of the time?

Chubby Tacomicharacter: Sometimes I get invited to Rotary Club luncheons.

Cole: Which famous cartoon character would you most like to have two-dimensional sexual relations with?

Chubby Tacomicharacter: The Baroness or Æon Flux.

Cole: Me too.

What: Tacomic's 1st birthday party, with R.R. Anderson's creations on display and for sale.
When: 3-5 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Helm, 760 S. Broadway, Tacoma

Don't ask me what I may or may not have been Googling, but I ran across this item: Tacoma Screw is now open in Pasco.

It gives me no small sense of pride when I drive around the state and see that Tacoma's very best screw products company has expanded beyond the reaches of our fair town. (And apologies to any and all inferior screw products companies who may be hurt by my declaration that Tacoma Screw is tops.)

In other news, it's 11:30 and I'm in Olympia, watching lawmakers do their business. Yesterday someone sent a Hillary Clinton nutcracker to the capitol, causing the building to be evacuated.

You should watch this video. It'll be more than worth your time:

I think that's enough for tonight. I don't want to blow anyone's mind.

Manhattan's Grey Lady has a story out of our fair city today. And they didn't even call us gritty. (Consider this your invitation to speculate whether the tide has turned on our reputation.)

It's a sweet tale about Sandie Andersen, a Starbucks barista at the Proctor store (where I get my Top Pot doughnut fix, holla), who's donating a kidney to a regular customer, Annamarie Ausnes.

On March 11, the two women are scheduled to go into surgery at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. If all goes well, when they come out Ms. Ausnes, 55, who has polycystic kidney disease, will be the new owner of Ms. Andersen’s left kidney.

Ms. Andersen, 51, has worked at Starbucks for more than four years. She said she had taken the job for the good corporate health benefits, which her husband’s job does not provide. Her husband, Jeff, did not realize his wife would also be providing health benefits.

“My husband said, ‘Next time someone comes in and says they don’t feel good, don’t give away another body part,’ ” Ms. Andersen said.

I am restraining myself from making any jokes about complicated Starbucks orders and internal organs.

I'm biting my lip.

I mean, I'm really trying.

(Besides, that's what the comment section is for.)

cwtv.com

Tyra Banks is so out-of-this-world ridiculous that it's impossible for me to not be hooked on America's Next Top Model. I can't help it. I love her antics and the absolutely insane "fashion shoots" they make the girls suffer through.

I've watched this train wreck since "Cycle 2" and we're now at "Cycle 10" and I hate myself for it. This cycle, however, my ANTM knowledge might pay off for the lot of us as we have a regional girl competing and she seems to be a strong contestant.

Her name is Aimee (there is no trace of a last name anywhere on the innerwebs), she's 18 and she's a "hostess" from Spanaway.

My second favorite moment so far this cycle was when Tyra realized there was an Aimee and an Amy on the show, so she forced Amy to change her name. She changed it to Amis (pronounced Amos).

I'm not making this up.

For the girls' first photo shoot, they were supposed to be high fashion bums. The judges' criticism of Aimee's shot was that she didn't look homeless enough. But she did look beautiful enough, so she's sailed on through the judging. This week is the infamous "makeover" week in which half of the girls lose all of their hair and cry about it. I can't wait!

Here's a 12-second sneak peek at Aimee. May she make Spanaway proud.

In the eternal race to be Seattle's runner-up, Tacoma and Spokane share a healthy rivalry. But I'd say Spokane wins when it comes to overall weirdness. Exhibit A, I present these two excerpts from weekend Associated Press stories:

"Spokane health and animal control officials have quarantined a pet monkey that bit three people after escaping from its owner’s South Hill home. The 15-pound macaque monkey is being kept at SpokAnimal."

And ...

"Spokane County sheriff’s deputies detained nine people Sunday after a basketball game argument turned into a fight. People were swinging shovels and rakes at each other."

I can imagine only one situation in which I'd swing a rake at someone: If he were from Spokane, wearing a T-shirt that said "SpokAnimal" and chasing me with an ornery monkey.