If you ever wondered what PEZ means or why Rolling Rock bottles have the number 33 on them, you must check out The Straight Dope. I’ve sat in the bookstore and spent hours reading random questions from his books and now, most of them are on the Web.

At noon, I go back to New York Society for the Deaf. It’s really interesting being there and working with deaf people. I’m always amazed at how flexible their fingers are and how quickly they sign. It also fascinates me how they make up signs for certain words. For example, last week, I helped a few women fill out a form for housing aide. One of the items on the form asked if they currently live in substandard housing. Another item asked if their rent is subsidized. I kept wondering if there is a sign for subsidized. The only way I managed to explain it to her was to ask if anyone helped pay her rent, but I bet there is a sign that would have conveyed it better. Sign Language is really amazing. It’s the only language where you can say two totally different words at the same exact moment.