The Brain!

Learn about the brain!


"Pinky, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think so Brain, but where are we going to get peanut brittle and a neck tie at this time of night?"

Word Jumble

Unscramble these words...if you dare!

wderpasl
ihfguinahtl
ltoeunp
pcneyrian
eedudn

This blog post brought to you by "Wordy Wednesdays"

Taking Suggestions

I've long thought my blog needed a little revamping. The Thursday and Friday weekly segments effectively disappeared sometime ago, and I'm looking to fill the vacancies. Friday's new segment is all squared away - it's called The Friday Five. Here I will post 5 random questions for any and all to answer. Unfortunately, I do not have anything to replace "Thoughtful Thursdays," and I am looking for suggestions. If you have any, then send them my way.

Twin Peaks Season 2!

It's finally available! YAY!!!

As you all may know, this is my favorite show of all time. I've been waiting for years for season 2 to come out on DVD, and had all but given up hope. I can't believe it's actually happening!

The network didn't allow Lynch to do the show they way he intended (he did not intend to reveal the killer of Lara Palmer, but ABC insisted), so season 2 strayed from his vision. Consequently, many people don't like season 2 as much as season 1 (David Lynch was away doing another project for much of it). I never fell into that camp, and while I can identify differences in the two seasons, I don't think season 2 is inferior; it is still a solid season, full of mystery, quirkiness, and my favorite townspeople. And Lynch was certainly not absent: he wrote and directed the first episode of season 2, and directed the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and last episode. He also appears in several of the episodes as Agent Cooper's boss. In fact, he only directed 2 episodes in season one (including the pilot) and wrote the pilot and episode one, totalling 6 episodes total that he directed, although he was very hands-on during season 1 and directed all the crucial episodes.

Mark Frost, who gets not props, as far as I'm concerned, for this show wrote 11 episodes. He and Lynch created the show together, and I think their collaboration is what made this show the gem that it is. It is important to note that Lynch gives Mark Frost props, and just that some Lynchians don't give him his due if you ask me.

Additionally, I have a certain nostalgia for the last season, probably because when we saw the cancellation writing on the wall Panda and I started recording the remaining episodes of Twin Peaks. At this point there were 6 episodes left, and we labeled the tape, "The Beginning of the End: The last 6 Episodes." Also, Billy Zane appears in season 2 as an environmental activist lawyer, and I was totally in love with him (as you can imagine). Subsequently, I watched these 6 episodes over and over and over again because they were all I had for years, and I know them better than the rest of the series. I'm excited for Season 2 to complete my set! Whoo-hoo!

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Congratulations, FishFrog!

The totally awesome movie containing the quote in question is, indeed, Bottle Rocket! A great movie, by the way, that all should watch. Way to go, FishFrog!

Movie Quote Game!

In what totally awesome movie would you find this quote:

Person 1: Why is there tape on your nose?
Person 2: Exactly!

The winner will recieve cookies!
Matt- your cookies for last week's movie game are baking today!

Call me old fashioned

Call me old fashioned, but as much as I like computers and technology*, I am a little weary of the way things are changing. It is just all a little too fast for me. I am reminded of this weekly in my technology class when the professor and most of the class oohhs and awws over new technology and laughs at the thought that anyone would try to do anything with paper and pencil (if I told them that my dad runs his business without any computers, I'm sure they would not believe me).

Specifically, the following irks me: My professor reminded us that things we traditionally underline, like say book titles, should not be underlined on the web. Why? Because now when people see something underlined, they assume it is a link. They will try to click on it, and when it does not work they will think the web designer is an idiot. Book titles are supposed to be underlined, people! He says, instead, to italicize them or put them in quotes. Call me crazy, but I think the person who can't use context clues to figure out that the underlined portion of text is a book title and accept that it is not a link is the idiot.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of technology: I can't imagine life without TiVO, I blog, I *heart* my iPod. It's just that the blind acceptance of (computer) technology as being better than everything else doesn't sit well with me.

*for the purposes of this blog, technology means electronics/computers/etc. I realize that technology encompases many different tools, but I don't have another word to use that gets my point across. And also, in keeping with my rant, I don't think most Tech-lovers even realize that they don't own the word technology.

The Great Condiment Debate

Whenever we get together for family meal, the conversation at one point will turn to condiments. Which is better - salt or pepper? "Butter is the answer, you fools!!" my brother will exclaim. The conversation goes from there.

Here is my question to you: if you could only put one of these items on your dinner table each night for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
1. salt
2. pepper
3. butter

Explain your answer in detail.

You may also tell us your thoughts about mustard v. ketchup (catsup not allowed).

Bubble Gum flavors

I think the following should be made into flavors of bubble gum:

• Pasgehtti's bread
• Cinnamon rolls (not hot cinnamon like most gums are)
• Hot pretzels w/ nacho cheese
  

King of Carrots Flowers

I have 2 versions of King of Carrots Flowers on my Ipod. One, by Neutral Milk Hotel, and one version preformed by Tessellation Monkey Head. On random, the version by TMH just came on, and it served as a reminder that Matt has a really nice voice (Panda remarked on this the last time this song shuffled up on the playlist). He should sing more often. And the band should put out more music.

Refund made RIDICULOUSLY difficult

So, in all its infinite wisdom, my university has decided that issuing refund checks is not in our best interest. Instead, it is better for students to be required to open a second checking account and be issued refunds through this new account's debit cards. It's so great! It's so easy! It's such bull crap!

Here is what our new account can do for us:
*We can go to 1 ATM in the metropolitan area to pull out cash for free!
*We can be charged every time we use our new MC/Debit as a debit card!
*We get to be charged $2.00 every time we want to withdraw money from any ATM except the one on campus - with a w/drawl limit of $500!
*Best of all -- We can pay $25 to transfer money from this refund account to our regular bank accounts! YAY!!!

This really pisses me off. I want to put this money in my actual (grown up) bank account, and it's virtually impossible to do without losing money. My only option is to take out several withdrawals at an inconvenient ATM machine and take a dangerous amount of cash to my bank.

What's more, the great people at this business got my DOB wrong, so my account was suspended for security reasons. Then, they entered in my new password (that they had to give me after my account was reopened) wrong, so guess what - my account was suspended AGAIN for security reasons. I talked to 4 different representatives today (all very cheerful), and spent about 1 hour and 1/2 try to gain access to my money in this SUPER EASY NEW WAY! I just want my f*ing check, people. This is total bull crap!

Lunch gone wrong

Q: If a freezer meal says it takes 20 minutes to cook, how long do you think it takes to cook?
A: 50 freaking minutes!

Did the makers of this frozen meatloaf just pick a time limit out of the air? They must have; there is no other explination. I expect to cook something 5 minutes longer than the package says, but this was ridiculous! My side dishes, which I had timed perfectly to be be done when the main dish was, sat cold while I waited the extra 30minutes after the meatloaf was supposed to be done! UGH! Cold peas - not tasty!

Congratulations, Matt!

Matt won this week's 6 degree's of separation! Way to go, Matt!

6 Degrees of Separation!

The first person to connect these two actors in 6 degrees or less by Thursday at 10a.m. will win cookies!

Alec Baldwin and Tea Leoni

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

Super Bust A Move 2

I've found a new video game that I love: Super Bust A Move 2. I can't stop playing it, so much so that I played it in my sleep last night. If you are a fan of games such like Tetrus, you will probably like this game.

Happy Birthday, FishFrog

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Do you know what I love?

Professors that let you out early! We got out a 1/2 an hour early!! This makes up for my professor last semester who always ran 15-30 minutes over his alotted time.

My alibi

Panda and I watched Law & Order SVU the other night. The "perp" in question did not have an alibi because he was home by himself watching T.V. The cops said that that just wasn't going to cut it, and the dude replied that that was the way it was. This happens a lot on Law & Order, and this is a problem for me. I am often home by myself watching T.V. There have been days when I have not encountered another living person. On any given night, my "alibi" would be that I was home watching T.V. It would be so easy for me to be falsely accused, and perhaps convicted because no one could vouch for me. The television could not even vouch for me because I watch nothing in real time. It's a little scary.

Love Letter Template?

I've been asked to write a letter of recommendation/reference for one of my former volunteers. Although I'm happy to do it, I've never written such a letter, and so have begun looking for a template from which to work. In my search, I stumbled upon a website that has tons of real examples of job-realated letters: job rejection, job acceptance, letters of resignation, invoice letters, love letters, letters of recommendation. Wait, did I say love letters? Yes, that's right. Mixed in with all these job-specific letters are two templates for letters of a more personal nature: Love Letter and Romantic Love Letter. So helpful, these letters even point out that the writer should use personal or plain stationary (as opposed to business letterhead).

Where I've been

This map shows the states I've visited(in red). If I only drove through the state, I didn't count it, but if I drove through and took a detour (to a National Park or tourist attraction) and spent some time there, then I did.

Make your own map here.

Forming Habits

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions. In general, they don't stick so I say "why bother." Besides, I'm pretty much perfect already, so what's to change? Don't answer that.

The reason the new resolutions don't stick, I've decided, is not because I don't want them to, but because I haven't erased the bad habit (I want to change) with the new habit. For instance, let's say I make a resolution to have a clean room. The habit I need to get into is doing my laundry and putting it away regularly, and not letting it pile up and take over my room (as I currently do). It's easy to say that I need to keep my room clean, but the it's more beneficial to look at the root cause-habit of my messy room (laundry) and replace it with a good habit.

So, how to form a habit? Experts (my old college roommate J) said it took 21 days to establish a habit. I remember this because she decided to get out of the perfectly good habit of drinking soda and replace it with the insane habit of NOT drinking soda. To do this, she began her 21 day journey, and if I recall correctly, she made it.

I've also looked at a couple of websites, and the consensus seems to be that it takes 3-4 weeks of consistency for a habit to form. I've also read that small rewards are key to encouragement. Also to note, if you break your habit, you need to start over from day one.

Happy habit forming!

This blog post brought to you by "Thoughtful Thursdays"

Six Degrees Winner

Well, I am a little shocked no one submitted a entry for six degrees, especially once I opened it up to movies. My answer is below - it may not be the best, but I opted to only go through television shows.

Bruce Campbell was in Ellen with Joely Fisher
Joely (recurring) was in Desperate Housewives with Felicity Huffman
Felicity (recurring) was in Frasier with Kelsey Grammar
Kelsey was in Cheers with Kirstie Alley

Bumper Sticker

I saw this bumper sticker today:

Laughter is the best medicine
Your face is curing the world

Six Degrees of Separations - TV Style

Connect these two actors in Six Degrees or less using TV shows only!

Bruce Campbell and Kirstie Alley

Be the first to connnect these actors in the shortest number of steps by Thursday at 10 a.m.

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Movie Quote Game!

In what movie would you find this quote?

I'm the guy who's telling you the way it is.

2nd quote:

I'd like to introduce my associate, The Bear. Movie stuntman, champion bodybuilder. Throws out things I don't want.

Word of the, er -- Month!

Yes, I finally have picked the winning word from the Word Box opened and closed over a month ago. Thanks for your patience! The words were very unusual but I've picked the one I like best!

The words:

Invidiousness (adj):
Tending to cause animosity or imply a slight

Bucolic (adj) :
1. Relating to flocks or sheperds: pastoral
2. Rural: rustic
(n): A Pastoral poem

Inure (v) :
To make accustomed to something usually undesirable; harden

Desultory (adj):
1. Marked by lack of continuity : disconnected
2. Aimless

Mulct(n): A penalty, especially a fine
(v) : 1. to penalize, esp. by fining
2. To defraud, swindle

Bruxism (n):
the habit of unconsciously gritting or grinding the teeth especially in situations of stress or during sleep

Antipode (n):
A direct opposite

Monopsony (n):
An olgilopsony limited to one buyer
This lead me to look up olgilopsony, which means: a market system in which each of a few buyers exerts a disproportionant influence on the market.
Superannuated (adj) :
1. Retired from active duty because of age or infirmity
2. Obsolete

The Winner of the Word Box is ....

Bucolic!!

According to Wikapedia,

"is a noun originally describing a type of pastoral poetry that praises rural life over that of the city. The manner of a bucolic is usually somewhat fantastic, and the poetry tends to contrast the pleasant and pure life of the country with the corrupt and corrosive world of society. The term derives from Virgil, and "Bucolics" is a reference to a collection of poems. One set of bucolics was written by Virgil, while Theocritus and others also wrote collections of rusticated poems. In contemporary poetry, W. H. Auden wrote a sequence known as "Bucolics.""

gloomy weather, a good book, and the beach

It is a rather gloomy day outside. Made all the more gloomy when I took down the Christmas decorations. It was past time, but I was sad to wrap up all the cool sculpie ornaments and put them away.

Aside from putting away decorations, I've spent the better part of my day reading a book Panda gave me for Christmas. It is called Case Histories and is by Kate Atkinson. So far, so good. It is a mystery (I love mysteries), but like the weather today, the story is rather gloomy. It begins with the tale of a 3 year old disappearing in the night, then switches gears to a new set of characters, one of whom was slain in the workplace. It seems as though the two cases may be intertwined, and I'm looking forward to finding out how.

Here is a picture from my trip to Florida that might cheer up those of you who are down on the gloomy weather:



Anyway, that is all. I just wanted to break my non-posting streak - the first post back is always the hardest. Hopefully normal posting will resume in the days to follow.

Merry Christmas!

Sculpeys!!!

Well done, everyone! Well done!!

Discover all the Cleaning Possibilities!

Mr. Clean! Mr. Clean!!
















I just bought Mr. Clean's Magic Erasers, and man oh man, I am in love! I'd heard the raves about this product, and I finally purchased it tonight to get rid of some scuff marks. The scuff marks came right off - virtually no elbow grease was needed - just Mr. Clean's Magic! I don't know what these things are made of (not listed on the box), and I'm somewhat scared that I spread toxins all over my walls tonight, but the erased scuff marks* are adequately distracting my fears. I still recommend baking soda as a cleaning agent whenever possible, but the awesome power of Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser cannot be denied!

*in no way does this mean I have cleaned all the scuff marks in our apartment.

Yeah, sometimes I miss it...

I started playing the violin in third grade. I took one year off (7th grade) and missed it so much that I rejoined the orchestra in 8th grade and continued all through h.s. I was not the best violinist ever, but I was pretty good (improving from a 2nd violinist to 4th chair first violinist in a year's time*).

I loved it. I loved how so many different people could come together and create a such spectacular sounds; ensemble pieces really are quite cool. I think you also become close to the people with whom you make music. Perhaps that is because everyone transitions from suck to (hopefully) great with each new piece of music leaving little room for peer judgement, but quite a bit for encouragement and camaraderie.

When I went to college I again stopped playing the violin. I was not nearly good enough to be in college orchestra, and playing the violin solo was just not for me. Piano - that's a solo job. Violins belong in an orchestra. So, I hung up my violin and have rarely looked back.

Occasionally I find myself missing it, however. Like tonight. Tonight I'm sitting here writing a paper on the rise of China's soft power and I'm listening to a CD of my old violin teacher's quartet. The tone from the instruments is just beautiful and right now, at this moment, I miss playing in an orchestra.

Ah well... that is all.

*Having played both, I don't think it's quite fair to assume 2nd violinists aren't as talented as 1st violinist (although that is how we were ranked in my h.s. ). Generally, 1st violinists play more of the melody, and many times that is easier than what the 2nd violinist had to play.

This blog post brought to you by "Thoughtful Thursdays"

Accepted

Watch this movie. It is very funny. It stars Justin Long. Need I say more? I don't think so....

Seriously, it is really entertaining. I don't understand how someone could watch this movie and not love it unless they are a fanatical movie snob. Your run of the mill movie snob will love it.

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

A "came from" treat

I must be in the "next blog" rotation or something because I've noticed I've been getting some traffic from unknown blogs on blogspot. One such blog is A Day In Boredom.

The author, a high schooler, uploads his YouTube videos to this handy-dandy blog. I think this dude is pretty entertaining and creative. What's more, he's obviously having a lot of fun. He often sings songs and his "Bunch of Things" segments remind me of Sifle and Olly's "Calls from the Public." I've spent a big chunk of time watching his videos and I liked many of his posts. You may enjoy this one and this one, or (for a song) this one. Aside from his YouTube videos he makes music (some of which can be heard on his blog, but he also links to his MySpace Music Page).

Thing 2

I came across this PC & Mac commercial today. It brighted my day because I love these commercials and I love Justin Long. I am also hoping it means that Matt was wrong, but I do not have time to investigate and I don't want my hopes shattered right now. Anway, enjoy:

Thing 1

I have not forgotten about the word box. I simply have not had adequate time to devote to the words in the word box. Hopefully I'll get to it this weekend, but more likely it will after finals (which is a week from today).

Cute or down right scary?

I went to Cute Overload today because I needed a little pick me up. As well as some really cute photos of adorable pets, I came across "The bears are hogging the playset again" Maybe it's just me, but I find the idea of several bears hanging out at a playground disconcerting. At first I thought it was a zoo and the playground was for the bears, but I don't think so - if you look at the picture I think it's more likely that this is a playground in some picnic area of a national or state park. Can you imagine coming across that scene? I'll bet Panda can...

Alright, break's over...back to work!

what's better than snow?

School closings!! I do not have to go to class tonight! Whoo-hoo!!

Tonight's Forcast from weather.com

...becoming all snow overnight. Windy. Low around 25F. Winds NNW at 20 to 30 mph. 5 to 8 inches of snow expected.

Snow!!

mmmm....cookies

My apartment smells so good! Sadly, I do not deserve these cookies. Arfanser and Matt do.

Word Box!!

The word box will be open until Friday, December 1, 2006 @ 12noon.
Happy Wording!

Can People Night!

Last night, some friends and I entered a whole new world. A world of Can People. Basically you take a soda can and decorate it however you want. You could, literally, make a Can Person, or you can have a theme on your can. The possibilities are endless. The only rule: there are no rules! We created these cans last night - they turned out pretty rockin':

bwaha ha!

This makes me laugh everytime I watch it.

Amy & Martha

So, I came across the below clip on U-Tube today. It is of Amy Sedaris on The Martha Stewart Show. It's pretty funny. Funny because Amy Sedaris is hilarious, but also because Martha is funny. Martha really won me over when she was on Ellen (I think it was last season), and I think she has more humor about herself than the amount for which people give her credit.

Own it!

So, I've been on U-Tube a lot lately and I've noticed that often times people will post videos of themselves doing really lame things:

• lip-syncing
• dancing like fools
• reenacting scenes from movies
• making music videos - usually for characters in T.V. shows that had huge "shipper" fan bases.
  

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm all for the above; I don't want to watch real people doing stuff, but I think its probably fun for the friends of the people making the videos. What I am not for, however, is lame descriptions (excuses) that accompany so many of these videos.

For example,

• "I made this video late last night, so it isn't very good, but I'm bored and am going to post it"
• "My girlfriend put me up to this."
• "This is crap, but I'm putting it up anyway."
  

You know what? Don't tell me how good it would have been if only you'd tried at all. Why do I want to watch your video if even you think it sucks? I much prefer the person who says, "This is my first video! I hope you like it!!" Why? 'Cuz that person, while still showing modesty, takes ownership of her project.

Own your silliness.
Own your dorkiness.
Own your skills.
Own your shipper loving self!

Consider my bubble burst, my balloon popped

I was so excited the other day because I found a scanner at my parents' house. Paint Brush just doesn't do it for me, and I wanted some old fashioned drawings. So, I woke up bright and early (okay, so not so much early, but bright with anticipation for putting my scanner to use) and drew a totally awesome picture. Sadly, however, the scanner does not work.

Good Morning, how are you?

This has sound, so don't listen to it in class. That would be awkward...

Call me Stumped!

Well, it's never happened before that I could not connect two actors in 6 degrees or less, but with the movie only restriction set up by Arfanser, this week it happened! So sad for me!

Here is how I connected them through T.V.:
1. Kristen Bell was in Veronica Mars with Allyson Hannigan (recurring)
2. Allyson was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Nathan Fillion (recurring)
3. Nathan was in Firefly/Serenity with Summer Glau.

Sadly, it was not enough to get the job done! I wasted my look up on Summer Glau because I didn't recognize the name - I felt so stupid when I saw her picture! What a waste!!

Likewise, Matt stumped me with his movie quote. I just looked up the quote and it is from Space Camp.

Congratulations to you Arfanser and Matt!! You may happily await your cookies now. I'll bake them sometime this week!

Which Twin Peaks character are you?

You should take this quiz even if you are not a Twin Peaks fan:

Which Twin Peaks character are you?

You're Special Agent Dale Cooper. You're often too brilliant for people to really follow, but your infectious enthusiasm makes up for the fact that you're frequently incomprehensible. You are smart, intuitive, clear-headed, compassionate, and cute as hell -- about your only flaw is your insane coffee consumption.
Take this quiz!

History Museum

The history museum is fun. I went there yesterday to work on a project I have due for tonight's class. I visited three of the exhibits - all were interesting (one was, you guessed it, on the World's Fair). Exhibits also center around Charles Lindbergh, the auto industry, John Caspar Wild's Early Views of the Midwest, and one called American Visions of Liberty and Freedom. I really wanted to go into that last one, but I ran out of time and it was not one of the exhibit review options that my professor gave us, so I want to go back. As with just about anything in our city, there are days when everything is free - that day for the history museum is Tuesday. If anyone would like to take an afternoon or evening trip to the museum some Tuesday, just let me know! I would be happy to go with you.

Stump Fuzzy

I'm turning the tables today, this Movie Monday, and giving you the chance to stump me with movie quotes or 6 degrees. Why? Two reasons: 1. I can't think of a movie quote today, and 2. I feel like it.

If you stump me you will recieve the satisfaction of knowing you stumped the master. You may even get some cookies -the number of cookies depends on how many people stump me & on how much time I have to bake!

My only rule, and this is really for Matt and Y: please do not quote kung fu movies or some other movie that you know damn good and well there is absolutely no chance I have seen because no one has ever heard of it except for you two!

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

Public Service Announcement

Hey, if any of you are going to my friend's comic, Stuperheroes (under my links), he updates it on Mon/Wed/Fridays now instead of just two times a week.

Making up for a week of not posting!

• Thank you Squishy for letting Panda and me borrow Corner Gas. It is my new favorite show. We watched it on Saturday night and I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. I couple of times I even had to pause the DVD because I was laughing so much.
  
• I think I get a lot more work done in the computer lab at school than in front of my computer at home. I'm not sure why this is, but I think I'll be testing this theory out by spending more time at school. With my extra time I plan to do the things I love: actually see my friends, blog, crochet, and watch T.V.
• I have a lot of crochet projects to start and finish before Christmas. I'm getting worried.
• After class tonight (yes, tonight - Sunday), I went bowling and bowled a 139 - personal best! Yeah, I rock.
• Subway no longer sells Sour Cream and Onion Baked Lays. As you can imagine, I am extremely upset about this.
  
• If you want someone to find your home or your place of business, then post your freaking address where it can be seen easily from the road! I cannot stress this enough.
  
• I am in love with the song Fidelity by Regina Spektor. It has been on both Veronica Mars and Grey's Anatomy. Those two shows have the best music!
  
• I have the 2nd Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. It is great (as you might expect), but I didn't fall as madly in love with it as I did with the first one. If anyone wants a listen, they are welcome. My favorite song on there is I Hate Everyone by Get Set Go (they also sing Wait, from the first album - this song is so good it makes my heart hurt just a little). A close second is Homebird by Foy Vance followed by I Me You I'm Your by Jim Noir.
  
• I went camping a couple of weekends ago, and I had s'mores that were out of this world!
  

6 Degrees of Separation!

I have to say, I am a little disappointed that no one was able to get last week's movie quote. It was a hard one though, so I'm not too surprised. The answer was: License to Drive. That's done, so let's movie on to 6 Degrees of Separation!!!

Connect these two actors in six degrees or less! For a review of the rules go here and here.

Christian Bale and Pauly Shore

The Prize: a box of baking soda!
To Win: be the first to connect these actors in the fewest steps before Thursday at 10a.m.
Reminder: "anonymous" cannot win the prize - you must show yourself!
NO CHEATING!

Riddle Me This...

I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water. What am I?

This blog post brought to you by "Thoughtful Thursdays"

No doubt about it

I'm in the mood for ice cream.

Unfortunately, I have no ice cream.

Pinwheel, Pinwheel...

Some of you may remember the show Pinwheel from Nickelodean. My memories of this show are few; I mostly remember the theme song and that the show seemed to go on FOREVER with out end. I would get so mad when each new episode started up (for some reason Nick played the show all morning long!).

I also remember a few of the characters such as Herbert and Lulu (two bugs that would drop down and talk to someone through a window), and Admiral Bird. My strongest memory, after the theme song, is of all these different sized and shaped boxes and that when someone (I don't know his name) would open the boxes he would hear sounds.

Anyway, here is a YouTube clip of the opening credits. Below you will find the lyrics in case you want to sing along. Even though this was far from my favorite show as a child, I still have a soft spot for it & the song.

Pinwheel, pinwheel, spinning around. Look at my Pinwheel and see what I've found.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, where have you been? Hello, how are you, and may I come in?
Pinwheel, pinwheel spinning around. Look at my Pinwheel and see what I found.
Pinwheel, pinwheel, breezy and bright. Spin me good morning, spin me good night.

Theme song music by Jay Lee, lyrics by Janet Gardner

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays: Early Edition"

Movie Quote Game!

In what movie would you find this quote:

Could you take the car out of neutral? We just got passed by a street sweeper.

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Monday's"

Free Speech

Hello lovely law students! I am currently working on a unit plan for one of my classes, and I've decided to focus on the First amendment and Free Speech Issues. Along with my unit plan, I have to research my topic extensively and turn in a research paper wowing my prof with all that I have learned through my extensive research. This is where you come in: If you have any suggestions of journals, articles, cases, books, etc that would be beneficial for me on my quest to learn all I can about this subject, I would be much obliged to hear from you!

He-Man!

so, you thought you could fly below the radar?

The name may have changed, but he's back: Media Dump

Yay!!!!!!

Bank Card

Found.

Dammit!

Wow, you watch a lot of T.V.

The other night I was over at the Anti-blogger's house watching a movie with Matt & the Washrambler. After the movie was over, Matt began flipping channels and commented on my ability to name even the most obscure T.V. shows in just a few seconds. At first I was defensive about this - as if my being able to identify Still Standing in a split second is a bad thing.

Then I got to thinking: it's not a bad thing. I'm impressed when someone can name a song after only a few notes, so why not be impressed when someone possesses the same knowledge about T.V.? So to Matt I say, "Thanks."

This blog post is brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Happy Halloween!

I was going to post a picture of the awesome jack-o-lanterns we carved at FishFrog & Nell's party, but blogger is not letting me. BOO! Boo!, I say!

I hope everyone is having a frightfully awesome Halloween! I will be learning about Classroom Management this All Hallow's Eve. ooohh, scarry!!

setting feminism back 20 years

So, last night Panda noticed a lot of her lights and outlets were not working, so she rightly thought to look at the fuse box. We both looked at it and determined that a fuse had been blown. This afternoon when our friendly handyman came to look at it, he told me that the fuse was not blown, but that we simply need to make sure that we flip the switch totally off before trying to flip it back on. I felt pretty dumb, and trying to explain that we had flipped the switch to no avail seemed pointless & unbelievable.

This reminds me of when I worked in a Wal-mart's tire and lube. Yes, I said tire and lube (and yes, I said Wal-mart). I worked out front - I helped people use the computer that tells them what kind of battery they need, and helped them locate various other car things. I also ran the register for the oil changes, etc.
Each day, without fail, This would happen:

Older Gentleman: I need to speak to one of the men in back.
Me: They are currently busy, is there something I can help you with?
O.G.: I'd rather talk to one of the men, but thanks sweetie.
Me: I can try to answer your question, and if I can't, we'll get one of the guys from the back. What do you need?
O.G.: I need some turtle wax.
Me: Here you go.

I'm not kidding, this happened daily! Unfortunately, it would also sometimes happen that the older gentleman would have a actual question regarding cars that I couldn't answer. The conversation would go much like the one above but instead of asking for turtle wax, he'd ask something about alternators & I would have to get one of the guys from the back. I hated this even more because it was as if I proved that little girls don't know anything about cars, when in fact it was just that THIS girl knows nothing about cars!

I never understood why Big Ed hired me for that job - I told him straight out that the only thing I knew about cars was how to put gas in one, but still he hired me.

Lost and gone forever

Not only is that the name of a guster cd, but it is the fate of my debit card. I just called to cancel my card & it will take about a week before I get my new one. This really sucks. You don't realize how much you use your debit card until you don't have it to use. What is really going to suck is when I find my debit card in the back pocket of some jeans when I do laundry this weekend.

Happy Anniversary!

Thanks for reading!

StuporHeroes!

A friend of mine has a web comic called The StuporHeroes. It is actually quite funny. I suggest you check it out - comics are updated 2 times a week & I suggest you click on "first" and read from the beginning.

Part 2: The Word of the Week!

Wow, great words! Several of the words pop out at me as frontrunners for the word of the week. Still, there can only be one that holds that title!

This week's Word of the Week is:

Insouciance

1. The quality of being insouciant; lack of care or concern; indifference
2. Blithe lack of concern; nonchalance
3. the cheerful feeling you have when nothing is troubling you

Insouciance - it sure is a good feeling! Just be careful not to let it rule your life, because it's important to get hot and bothered about something every once and a while.

I know a lot of people LOVED fishfrog's submission of imitate v. intimate. And, it was a cool submission; I loved it too. There were several words I wanted to pick, but only ONE could be this week's word.

Part 1: The Words

You all outdid yourselves with submissions for the word box and I could not be happier! I apologize for the delay in getting the words and word of the week winner to you. Alright, let’s look at our words!

Encompass
1. To form a circle about; encircle; surround
2. To enclose; envelop
3. To include comprehensively
4. Obsolete. To outwit.

Insouciance
1. The quality of being insouciant; lack of care or concern; indifference
2. Blithe lack of concern; nonchalance
3. the cheerful feeling you have when nothing is troubling you

Protean
1. readily assuming different forms or characters; extremely variable
2. changeable in shape or form, as an amoeba
3. (of an actor) versatile; aple ot play many kinds of roles
From Classical Mythology: Proteus, a sea god, son of Ocianus and Tethys, noted for his ability to assume different forms and to prophesy.

Samizdat
1. a clandestine publishing system within the Soviet Union, by which forbidden or unublishable literature was reproduced and circulated privately.
2. a work or periodical circulated by this system

Solecism
1. a nonstandard or ungrammatical usage (example: “unflammable” or “they was.”
2. a breach of good manners or etiquette
3. any error, impropriety, or inconsistency
Orgins: Soli was an ancient city in Cilicia (present day Turkey) where a corrupt form of Attic Greek was spoken.

Obloquy (the entry was oblequy, but I couldn’t find anything for that word, so I’m assuming you meant obloquy).
1. Censure, blame, or abusive language aimed at a person or thing, esp by numerous persons or by the general public.
2. discredit, disgrace, or bad repute resulting for public blame, abuse, or denunciation.

Is (alright, arfanser, here you go!)
1. to exist or live
2. to take place, happen, occur
3. to occuby a placy or position
4. to continue or remain as before
5. to belong, attend, befall
6. used as a copula to connect the subject with its predicate adjective, or predicate nominative, in order to describe, identify, or amplify the subject
7. used as a copula to introduced or form interrogative or imperative sentences
8. used with the present participle of another verb to form the progressive tense
9. used with the present participle or infinitive of the principal verb to indicate future action
10. used with the past participle of another verb to form the passive voice
11. used in archaic or literary constructions with some intransitive verbs to form the perfect tense

Intimate (the verb) Vs. Imitate & why fishfrog get them confused
Intimate (v)
1. to indicate or make known indirectly; hint; imply; suggest
2. (archaic) to make known, announce

Imitate
1. to follow or endeavor to follow as a model or example
2. to mimic; impersonate
3. to make a copy of; reproduce closely
4. to have or assume the appearance of; simulate; resemble

Fishfrog, I suspect you (and many others) confuse these words because they sound & look rather similar. As you can see, the definitions are not similar, so it’s probably best if you stop mixing them up.

Nincompoop
1. A fool or simpleton.

Squirrel
1. any of numerous arboreal bushy-tailed rodents in the genus Sciurus of the family Sciuridae
2. to store or hide (money, valuables, etc), usually for the future

Somersault
1. an acrobatic movement either forward or backward, in wich the body rolls end or end, making a complete rotation
2. such a movement preformed in the air as part of a dive, tumbling routine, etc
3. a complete overturn or reversal, as of opinion
4. to perform a somersault

Thanks Dictonary.com for all your help!

Even 10 more things I love

1. The Bourne Identity
2. Halloween
3. Turning leaves
4. The great words in this week's word box
   
5. Pumpkins
6. Alvin, of Alvin and the Chipmunks
7. Pulp (the band, not the annoying part of orange juice)
8. A clean house
9. Road trips
10. PaRappa The Rapper 2 on PS2
    

Movie Quote Game

In what movie would you find this quote:

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

Word Box

The word box is hungry for some words.
It will remain open until Wednesday @ 12noon.
Happy Wording!

Clang, clang!

When I was 10, my parents bought my brother and me Nintendo for Christmas. We played Mario Brothers so much that at the end of the night, when all was quiet and dreams were beckoning me, I would hear the "clang, clang. clang clang" of collecting coins from the game. Now, nearly 20 years later I've been reintroduced to video games (see this post). Instead of the sound of coins ringing in my ears, now when I close my eyes feel as though I am rolling my katamari ball around to pick up the many things on earth. It is very unsettling, much like I image motion sickness to be. Instinct tells me these games are rotting my brain. Panda tells me they are making me smarter, however, so I'm going to continue playing them.

*yet another amusing blogger spell check example: replace "katamari" with "stammer"

Get your folk on!

Ani Difranco concert tonight! Whoo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something I never thought I'd say:

Grand Theft Auto is totally awesome!

Last night Panda and I borrowed PS2 from a friend & he included Grand Theft auto in the bag of games. I was not hip to play this game, what with all the violence and misogyny, but Panda insisted. It turns out, the game is pretty fun. It's totally inappropriate for kids & I'm opposed to it in every way, but damn! if it isn't fun. If you want a car, you just pull a driver out of his and get in! When you shoot at people, they run away screaming and it is really funny. Panda found out that you do not beat up old ladies 'cuz they will beat your ass down until you are dead.

How did this game get made? For all that is holy DO NOT buy this game thereby giving the creaters any money, but DO borrow it from a friend and play it.

Happy Fall!

It is chilly!

I can hear the wind blowing outside and it is quite chilly in my apartment. Poor Lucy is curled up by the heater. She is also kind of annoyed with me because I've been on my computer all week. Mostly, I've been working on a unit plan for my class. I'm actually quite annoyed, not because I had to make a 10 day unit plan, but because our only instruction was: make a 10 day unit plan. Now, I realize I'm in a masters class & it would be easy to assume that everyone in my class is already a teacher, but in fact only 4 of us are. The rest of us have never seen a unit plan before or attempted to put one together. We are all at a loss. I finished my plan yesterday, and it was probably crap, but at least it's done. It is also on a topic I care about - Indian boarding schools and Indian Identity. So, hopefully once I know what I'm doing I'll be able to salvage parts of it and make a new unit plan. It just annoys me that in this program I am in there are no classes on the basics - the thought is we'll learn it during our practicum and student teaching. Well, um...what about all the assignments before then? I guess I'm going to have to learn it on my own because apparently the thousands of dollars I'm shelling out to this school is not enough for them to offer even one workshop on lesson plans! Alright, rant over.

Six Degrees...

Connect these two actors in 6 degrees or less!

Christian Bale and Patrick Dempsy

GOOD LUCK!

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

Matt's Neat Links & Missoula

If you go to Matt's Blog, and all 5 of my readers do, you probably have visited some of his "neat links." Right now, there is one titled "Bear vs. Tranquelizers vs. Trampoline." I suggest you click on it. This is amusing to me because the clip actually takes place in my favorite town, Missoula, MT. Bears in trees are actually not all that uncommon there. During my sophmore year of school there was a bear stuck in the tree outside of my freshman year dorm. Another time a bear was found sleeping on the quad ouside of the building where I checked my e-mail every day. Luckily for me, the bear was snoozing at the same time I was (early morning) so we did not encounter eachother. Ahh, Missoula....the last best place.

The hell?

I went to the farmer's market on Wednesday. Everything seemed as it should be for a fall visit to the market: fresh vegetables were plentiful, bags of candy corn were on display, toy spiders and scare crows adorned the shelves, and pumpkins littered the ground waiting to be bought and carved. Something was off, however...Something did not seem right. Next to the beautiful orange pumpkins sat ugly white pumpkins.

White pumpkins!?! "The hell?," I say, "What the hell?" The little ones look like cloves of garlic - what's the fall fun in that? The big ones are just unsetteling, and I imagine will look like the bald heads of mad-men when carved into jack-o-lanterns. White pumkpins are weird & I am appropriately vexed.

Yay!

I lost my glasses about a month ago. Thinking I'd merely left them up at the farm, I asked my dad to look around last time he was up there. No luck. I was bummed, not because I particularity like my glasses, but because glasses are expensive.

Jump to tonight: Tonight, I am having trouble sleeping. Since my "retirement" I have reverted back to my natural sleep patterns: stay up late, sleep in late. Well, I'm trying to get back on a normal schedule because I'm going to have to start subbing soon & my current schedule isn't going to fly with that. But I digress... Basically I couldn't sleep, so I started cleaning my room. As I was putting away my duffel bag I heard a noise. "That's odd," I thought, "I cleaned this out weeks ago." (I had just neglected to put the empty bag away). When I looked inside the pocket I found nothing. Then, I noticed a rip in the lining - inside: my glasses!! Also inside: a 50 dollar bill left over from my MT vacation. It is a good night tonight!

TV Trivia!

Answer me this:

Family Matters was a spinoff of what show?

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Philosophy of Special Agent Dale Cooper

Never drink coffee that has been anywhere near a fish.

The Class

You may have seen the new show on CBS called The Class. All the characters were in the 3rd grade together, but for the most part had grown up never to see each other again. That is until the pilot, when one member of the class (who was dating another) threw a 20 year 3rd grade reunion of sorts. At the party he got dumped, and as you can expect, hilarity ensued. I admit that the show is not that good, but I like it. I think it has potential once they get rid of, or tone down, some of the over the top characters.

There are not enough enjoyable sitcoms out there. Everything is drama, drama, procedural drama, and more drama. Great sitcoms like the Office, My Name is Earl, and Scrubs are too far and few between. While The Class is no Scrubs, or even How I Met Your Mother (yes, I said "How I Met Your Mother" – it's actually very funny) the thing is, I am completelytickledd by this show. I hope it stays on the air long enough to find its stride and work out its kinks.

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

We Have a Winner

Congratulations, Matt! You are correct!

The quote "A naked American Man stole my balloons!" is from the totally awesome movie An American Werewolf in London!

Movie Quote Game

In what totally awesome movie would you find this quote:

A naked American man stole my balloons!

This blog post brought to you by "Movie Mondays"

Tetrus best!

I just got to level 36 on tetrus! Level 36!

wow...my last event

I just got home from my last event as a paid member of my organization. I've got to admit: I'm a little sad.

blogger spell check oddities

• If you type "wierd" it suggests "wired" and "weirdo" for you. It does not suggest "weird."
• If you type "agains" it suggests "aging," "Asians," and "agony," but never "against."

Changing Taste Buds...

You know what I did today that I haven't done in a long time? I hit the "next blog" button. I came across mostly blogs in foreign languages - one of them about animals facing extinction. "Next Blog" just doesn't seem as interesting to me anymore -- I've lost my taste for it.

You know what else I've lost my taste for? Regular soda. I don't know how it happened. Believe me when I say it was not deliberate. I have always railed against diet soda and the gross aspertaine taste, but my tune has change as my taste buds have. It began gradually enough. I was drinking a Coke and I thought, "Man, this tastes sweet!" (not "sweet" as in "sawheat!," but in the literal sense). I thought it was a fluke. Apparently it wasn't because I found myself reaching for Panda's diet Cokes over my Dr. Peppers. Now I even order diet sodas in restaurants! I'm still not 100% sold on diet Coke; I really don't know why anyone would choose to drink it when other sodas are out there, but I do seem to be off regular soda. Sure, I'll drink it when I'm craving something sweet, but it is definitely not an everyday beverage anymore. This is a very weird realization for me. Very weird indeed.

It boggles the mind....

Enjoy!

This blog post brought to you by "Wordy Wednesdays"

Life List

Ellen has been talking a lot about her life list, and this has inspired me to write a life list of my own. It is still a work in progress, but here is my life list:

• Visit all the National Parks
• Travel to Malaysia
• Crochet an afghan
• Backpack through Europe
• Get a dog

I encourage all of you to create a life list a la Ellen. It is fun and highlights your priorities. I made sure I have both "big to do's" and "little to do's" on my list, because (as with any To Do list) I want to have some things that are relatively easy to check off. Feel free to share anything on your life list that you would like.

This blog post brought to you by "TV Tuesdays"

Sifl and Olly

Several years ago the most awesome (if not somewhat obsurd) show was on MTV, and it was called The Sifl and Olly Show. It was freaking hilarious, and I just found a website, YouTube, that has a bunch of clips and episodes. Here is a clip from one of my episode segments, Calls from the Public:


For more clips, go here.

Happy Birthday, Scarlet Panda!

I hope you have a wonderful birthday today!!!

Alter Ego

Today I am not warm fuzzy. I am cold prickely.

bee in my bonnet

My co-workers made fun of me the other day because I said I had a "bee in my bonnet" about something or other. This led to a conversation about other sayings we hear each other use...okay, so it was more them spouting out things I say that are (according to them) silly or outdated, most notably: "ducks in a row," "...say 'boo' about," and "...running around like a chicken with its head cut off." When they finished having a good chuckle at my expense, I went back to work.

I like idioms and learning their origins and this got me to thinking: I am not the only one who uses idioms in daily conversation, and I'd like to hear some of your favorite idioms. These could be sayings you find yourself using or that you've noticed in other's speech.

This blog post brough to you by "Wordy Wednesday: Early Edition"

spend some time in the 'lou

Over the last year, several of my friends have selfishly decided to move away to far off states. Sure, they e-mail, call, and invite me to visit them, but I gotta tell ya – I’m sick of people moving. This does not bode well for me since a sizable number of my friends have resolved to flee this fair city come May. I don’t like it. Not one bit! And so, I’m here to list just some of the reasons why they should stay in St. Louis; I encourage them to think about this list as they apply to different lawyer type jobs in the coming months.

1. There is a ton of FREE stuff to do in St. Louis – the Zoo, The Art Museum, The Science Center (and more)
2. You can camp without fear of bears!
3. Provel Cheese!... like no cheese anywhere else!
4. We have a top ranked Children’s Hospital
5. This is home to the Gateway Arch – the tallest American monument. Also, it's the coolest...
6. Face it: moving is expensive, and all your stuff is already here.
7. Ted Drew’s Custard... so delicious, and only available here!
8. Like musicals and plays? We’ve got the Fox, the Muny, The Repertory Theater, and several college theaters.
9. Our Autumn and Spring seasons are beautiful.
10. (perhaps most alluring) I am here.

Please note, this list is not complete; it simply shows some of the few (out of many) reasons to stay in St. Louis.

Best zombie movie ever!

Last night I watched Shaun of the Dead with some friends. Oh my god, this movie is flipping hilarious. I had heard of the movie, but kinda thought it was a "so bad it's funny" kind of movie, but no, it's supposed to be funny. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it.

This blog post brought to you, a head of time, by "Movie Mondays"

Leading authority...that's me!

I was browsing through my stat counter thing to see who was visiting my blog. I rarely see anything of interest; usually I just see a bunch of hits from a certain nearby university. Today, however, I came across this came from. From the page, if you click on "Soulard Farmer's Market" you are sent back to my post about farmers markets. Apparently, I am a great source for information about "fun things to do in St. Louis." Who knew?

There is a difference between mostly dead and all dead

And my blog is just mostly dead. I attribute it to the fact that I quit my job (whoot!). Before, while at work, I could justify taking little blogging breaks, thinking, "I can do x tomorrow." Well, my tomorrows are running out! I have several open projects, and only 3 weeks now to finish them. Additionally, it is a busy time at work, with 3 different sports seasons overlapping, (one of which is our biggest sport) and I need to secure volunteers for all 5 competitions before I leave.

I am so happy to quit my job, but as happy as I am, there is some sadness too. This week, I've begun telling some of my key volunteers that I'm leaving. It's not easy, and I'm beginning to realize there are a lot of people who have been part of my life for the last 4 years that I'm likely never going to see again.

Anyway, my blogging has suffered because of this business of busyness, so sorry, dear readers. I know how much this blog means to you, how it gives you a sense of purpose, how it brightens you day. So, I will try to post more often, and because of that I offer you this Saturday post! Who knows, I may even post a couple more before the day is done!

In other news...I finally figured out how to use spell check on this thing. That is to say I did the same thing I always do (click the spell check icon), but this time it worked. Ironically, the blog spell checker told me that "blog" was misspelled, and suggested "bloc." Also a little ironic: I misspelled "misspelled." heh.