"Icon Icky Vent"

I went last night -- girl date -- to hear Jennifer Egan at Seattle Arts and Lectures, after our traditional happy hour at the Alexis. It's pretty much the only place I eat beef, and I was craving their amazing burger with cheese and fries ($7) after spending the day putting two coats of paint on my dining room walls.

I could say lots about Egan -- she spoke so comfortably for nearly one hour about how her non-fiction journalistic work informs her fiction, which is never about her real life -- but then I'd be late to school. So instead, let me mention the whaddayacallit that posts the words she's speaking on a screen so people with hearing issues can read them.

But who is typing the words? Is it a machine? Is it a super-fast human? I try to ignore the screen as much as possible, just like I ignore the horrible TVs in restaurants and bars, but last night, just caught this phrase: "icon icky vent."

Get it?