Bloggeriness

Lego nomenclature

2009-11-11T20:59:00.003-07:00

Found this on Adam's blog, and I think it needs comment. Because how can you read an article about the names for Lego bricks, and not contribute your own? I'm leaving Barney's names in the chart, since I found some of them strikingly similar to Blockburger Lego names.

Clark, feel free to correct me on this if I misuse any names.

Common Nomenclature for Lego Families

Lego Piece	Barney	mine
Angle Plate 2x2	A bent four-er	bent flatsie foursie
Round Plate 1x1	Round flat one-er	round onesie; coin
Plate 1x1 W. Up Right Holder	A flat clippy piece	flatsie clip
Plate 1x2 W. 1 Knob	A two-er with only one bobble	one-knob twosie flatsie
Plate 1x1 W. Holder	A flat clippy bit	side clip flatsie
Brick 1x1	A rectangular one-er	onesie
Plate 1x1	Flat square one-er	flat onesie
Round Brick 1x1	Cylinder one-er	round onesie
Connector Peg W. Knob	A joining bit	short flagpole type thingy (I don't think we ever really discussed this one)
Turn Plate 2x2, Lower Part	Spinny bit	Spinny bit
Flat Tile 1x1	Flat one-er with no bobble	blank flatsie onesie
Lamp Holder	Flat clippy piece	side onesie
Radiator Grille 1x2	Groovy bit	Grill bit
T-piece	T-shaped joiney thing	I didn't have any of these in my Lego set. But I'd call it a t-bar.
Light Sword Shaft	Light saber handle	I wish I had these in my Lego set.
Turn Plate 2x2, Upper Part	The piece that goes on top of the spinny piece to make it spin	spinny top
Roof Tile 2x2 Inv	An upper piece	upside down slanty foursie
Brick 1x2 M 2 Holes	Two-er hole-y bit	skinny twosie with holes
Diamond With Stick	Lego crystal	ooh, that's a fancy one
Brick 2x2	Four-er	twosie
Butt	Microphone	nightstick
Roof Tile 1x2x3	Upper piece	tall slanty
Brick 1x3	Three-er	skinny threesie
Light Sword Blade	Light saber blade	light saber
Bearing Element 2x2, Double	A piece you clip wheels on	flat wheel base
Right Plate 3x8 W. Angle	Wing piece	plane bit
Dragon’s Fire	Fire piece	Fire
Plate 2x2 Angle	L-shape	bent flatsie foursie
Brick 2x3	Six-er	threesie
Rudder 2x3x2	Wing piece	airplane tail
Roof Tile 2X2 45° No. 2	Control set	computer
Brick 1x1 W. 4 Knobs	An attach-any-side piece	fire hydrant onesie
Angular Brick 1x1	A piece that you can clip something on the side	headlight onesie; onesie with a hole

Just checking.

2009-10-29T21:49:00.001-06:00

I was looking around on the internet the other day, and I found the most surprising thing - my blog! I had forgotten all about it.

Looks like several of you (or at least your RSS feeds) did not.

So maybe I'm back. We'll see.

Hello?

2009-10-23T19:00:00.000-06:00

Hello?

Fixing the book list meme

2009-03-06T11:21:00.003-07:00

This is a meme I've seen drifting around on the Internet for a little while now. The idea is that you take the list, mark the ones you've read with an X, then post it on your (usually) Facebook page so everyone knows how well-read you are (or aren't). The origin of this list is often attributed to the BBC, but I haven't done any actual research into it.

The problems with this list are, in my opinion, many. For one thing, it lists The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Chronicles of Narnia as two separate books, whereas one is the first book in a series, and the other is all seven books of that series. So one of those has to go. It also lists The Complete Works of William Shakespeare as one (heavy) book, likewise Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Which is it list, is it one book or a series? Does Harry Potter count as seven? And if you're listing the complete works of Shakespeare, why did you list Hamlet separately?

The list is also very heavy in what is deemed "classic" British literature (bearing out the BBC origin, I suppose) - but that really skews the list in ways I don't agree with.

And you don't agree with it either, do you?

No, you don't. So let's fix it.

Here's the deal. I'm posting the list below, but with the corrections of taking out each book series and replacing it with the first book in that series - except for the Narnia books, which are already represented separately. That one I'm replacing with Prince Caspian. Your job is to remove as many books as you think don't belong there, but with one catch: for as many books as you remove, you must replace them with a book you do think belongs. Post your changes as a comment on this post. At the end, I'll compile everything (if needed) and see where we ended up.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Prince Caspian - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Suzanne likes to . . .

2009-02-22T16:16:00.003-07:00

The saga of the broken finger will appear one of these days, complete with photos! In the mean time, I'm posting fun stuff I find on the interwebs. Clark posted this on his blog, so I thought I'd do it too. Basically, you Google yourself, but with the phrase "[Suzanne] likes to." [You'd insert your own name, of course.] Then you write down the first ten things.

So, without further ado, Suzanne likes to:

Suzanne likes to say, when asked how long she has been singing, she answers "since I was in the Music Womb".
Suzanne likes to be part of the action.
Suzanne likes to contemplate interesting phenomena, like how the three guppies in her aquarium became 161 guppies in five months. [goodness. So far my two are threatening to become more, but haven't as of yet.]
Suzanne likes to travel and take long walks with her dog, Charley.
Suzanne likes to serves these popovers with a salad for a light lunch. [Suzanne likes to haves grammar problems, apparently.]
Suzanne likes to be with her two children, taking them outside and to music festivals.
Suzanne likes to stay active. [well....]
Suzanne likes to mix classic elements with something fresh and new.
Suzanne likes to say that her eight siblings were like having eight built-in best friends.
Suzanne likes to exercise, watch (and make) movies, travel, spend time with family and work on various writing projects.

So there you have it.

television, television

2009-02-17T15:05:00.004-07:00

Today I was reading an article on the New York Times' website, called "Why are there no good parents on TV?"

I liked it. It was a good article. However, what I want to address here is one of the comments posted after the article, by a reader who goes by 'K.'

"Why in the world would an escapist medium like TV bother with anything that was "normal”? I don’t turn on the TV to revisit my boring day. My current favorite shows can be summarized as follows:
the human race running from robots in spaceships.

a spy who is stuck in Miami.

airplane crash survivors on an odd island.

FBI agents investigating strange phenomena.

renovating old houses.

the trials and tribulations of geeks living together, with an attractive neighbor who drops in from time to time.

a nearly retarded man who lives in Rhode Island and offends nearly everyone on some level

an often fascinating hour of television devoted to some kind of science.
I can’t say there’s anything good in it, but boy is it entertaining (and sometimes educational, as well)"

Which led me to ask, "how would I summarize some of my favorite TV shows?" Since Big Bang Theory and This Old House were done above, I'll try some others.

one man's flashbacks to his single days in New York

who knew that the crap in the attic was valuable after all?

the most dysfunctional workplace, ever

the most dysfunctional TV show, ever

deeply weird doctors who work in an often surreal hospital

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.

What are your favorite shows?

So . . .

2009-01-27T13:32:00.007-07:00

It's been about six weeks. Time to check in here again, I'd say.

Firstly, Happy Holidays to all of you (if you're still here) for all the holidays that recently transpired. Hope yours were good; mine were very nice. Things were a lot more hectic this year than usual, but nearly everything was great and the things that went wrong didn't mess everything up too badly.

What went wrong, you say? Oh, where to begin . . . how about beginning with what went right? Yes, a much better plan.

After dating for eight months, then breaking up for nine months, then dating again for 12 months, Elliott and I became officially engaged on January 12. That was our one year anniversary after getting back together again, and the whole evening was a great success. We had been discussing getting married for a while, and I had even picked out a ring, so I knew it was coming. However, Elliott wanted to make it an occasion and had a Secret Plan for a couple months on how he was going to propose, so I didn't know when or how it was going to happen. On the 12th, we went out to dinner at Cafe Trio (site of our first first date) and then to the Gateway theaters to see Valkyrie. (It was pretty good but dragged in the middle.) This continues our theme of not really going to see "date" movies for momentous dates.

First date: Pirates of the Caribbean 2
First Valentine's Day: Blood Diamond
Second first date-ish type evening: Sweeny Todd
Engagement night: Valkyrie

So anyway, as we were walking back to the car at about midnight, Elliott steered us over to the Olympic fountain, got down on one knee, and proposed. It was really sweet. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket - the directions I gave him in August 2006 to get to my house to pick me up for our first date! Wrapped in the paper was a ring. Not the ring I had picked out, as it was not ready, but a stand-in that he purchased (appropriately) from the zoo gift shop. It's a very nice stand-in. The wedding is scheduled for August 1st; mark your calendars!

So this year Christmas and New Year's were very busy, trying to do everything with both families for the first time. We went to Elliott's aunt and uncle's house in Heber for Christmas Eve, then he came over to our house for Christmas dinner, and then we went to his grandparents' for Christmas More Dinner. New Year's Eve (also his birthday) we party-hopped to three different parties, ending up with his friends from high school before midnight.

The only real thing that went wrong and was directly related to the holidays was that Elliott's car was totalled on Christmas night. A big blizzardy storm struck up while we were at his grandparents' house, and once he got me home and then headed back to his house the roads were quite slick. His car was doing great in the snow, but some idiot in a Lincoln Navigator was foolishly going the posted speed limit and smashed into the back of him at a stoplight. Elliott was pretty much fine, but the car was not.

After having to miss work and go without a car for a few days, not to mention a few weeks of insurance headaches (insurance adjusters don't work much between 12/25 and 1/1), he now has a new, used Saturn to drive without paying much of anything out of his pocket. All's well that ends well, but dealing with the mess of a totalled car really takes it out of you for those weeks [ed. note: see the gazillions of posts by me in the fall of 2006].

Pictures will be posted soon of the stand-in ring, the "real" ring, and other stuff.

Up next: the saga of the broken finger!

What is a Blockburger?

2008-12-13T13:24:00.003-07:00

Once again, our readers look to us for insightful answers. Clark has brought to my attention the fact that many persons out on the interweb don't know what a Blockburger is. To wit:

"It's listed as an annual Blockburger favorite. I don't know what Blockburger is, but you could Google it?"

So I'm writing this blog post in hopes that I can help someone who actually does Google it. The answer? I am a Blockburger! So is my brother, and his wife, and their baby. My little sister is a Blockburger, as are my parents. My two older sisters used to be Blockburgers, but they got married and now are other things.

In more esoteric ways, Blockburgers are many things. We are pretty smart (most of the time; sometimes we trip on curbs and break our hands). We are competitive. We tend to have sweaty feet and hands. We're terribly sarcastic.

We're religious. We like to read books and play cards. Many are known to do math for fun. Others like to diagram sentences. We can be pedantic and tend not to recognize rhetorical questions. We're introverted, but talk a lot.

We're really not that athletic.

But we are musical.

Almost every Blockburger I've met has been left-handed, but that ratio is steadily shifting. There may soon be only one left-handed Blockburger.

We enjoy figuring things out before we're told about them. We like to trick people in clever ways. [Ad hoc, ergo propter hoc?] We like puzzles of all kinds.

We sunburn easily.

Have any other suggestions for how to define a Blockburger? If so, please comment below. My sample size, after all, is pretty small.

Delicious Snacks

2008-11-18T14:22:00.001-07:00

Recently, someone brought a batch of delicious smores treats to work. They are made out of Golden Grahams, chocolate, and mini marshmallows. Also, crack and a little bit of evil. I have eaten almost the whole tray and will probably go into a diabetic coma soon.

But first I will eat one more.

Eating like a grown-up

2008-11-11T09:41:00.002-07:00

So, after reading Shannon's tales of vegetable-eating, I felt that I should be a little more of an adult about food. So recently, I have tried eating more things I would normally not even consider. I ate seafood three nights in a row in September, and then this past weekend I had yams. Twice! Not bad. I won't be seeking them out, but I'll have them on Thanksgiving. Then last night - sushi! I can't afford it, but I'll eat it.

Except for that one that had a whole crab on top. Too lifelike.

Dear Fly:

2008-09-24T11:09:00.003-06:00

Dear Fly that is flying around my office:

Thank you for visiting. As you know, I am a big fan of insects in general.

However, I would deeply appreciate it if you would respect my personal space, and moreover, if you would allow me to get some work done. As you see, my office is roughly ten feet by ten feet square, giving us 100 square feet of room to fill up. It's another eight feet tall, giving you 800 cubic feet of flying space. Feel free to explore the area. Points of interest include:

The fish tank
The shelf of bug paraphernalia
Rubbermaid tubs of stuff
The vase of dried roses
The candy dish

It is really not necessary for you to be within six inches of me at all times. I am flattered that you like my hair, now get out of it. I neither need nor enjoy your attempts to help me click the mouse buttons. I do not wish to hear secrets whispered in my ear.

Perhaps you would like to become better aquainted with one of my coworkers?

Sincerely,

Suzanne

One Word Answers

2008-09-24T11:03:00.002-06:00

I've got to answer all these questions with one word and one word only. Here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocketed
2. Where is your significant other? Switzerland
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Dead
5. Your father? Engineer
6. Your favorite thing? Snuggling
7. Your dream last night? Peril
8. Your dream/goal? Love
9. The room you're in? Office
10. Your hobby? Origami
11. Your fear? Alone
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home
13. Where were you last night? Gateway
14. What you're not? Fashionable
15. One of your wish-list items? Europe
16. Where you grew up? Utah
17. The last thing you did? Email
18. What are you wearing? Green
19. Your TV? Flat
20. Your pet? Fishes
21. Your computer? Movies
22. Your mood? Wistful
23. Missing someone? Yes
24. Your car? Johnny5
25. Something you're not wearing? Makeup
26. Favorite store? Barnesandnoble
27. Your summer? Over!
28. Love someone? Elliott
29. Your favorite color? Green
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Sunday

NYTimes.com

2008-09-18T10:01:00.004-06:00

While we're perusing the New York Times, check this one out: From Mars! Wow!

Math skills

2008-09-18T10:01:00.002-06:00

For years, I have maintained that I am not very good at math. I cannot do matrices without specific, detailed instructions for every single problem. I sometimes transpose digits. Geometry and trigonometry I can do. I think because there are pictures.

Anyway, I just found this interesting article on the New York Times website, about two main different types of math: approximation, and calculation. Approximation is what you use when you glance up and down the check-out lines at the store and decide which one to join. Calculation is how you figure out exact math.

This article reminded me a lot about some of the posts on Clark's blog, approximating how many balloons it will take to fill the room, etc.

Along with the article, they have a test you can try to see how good your approximating skills are. I got 100% on 25 tests, so I am a good guesser! I think a calculation test would yield far different results. (See: academic decathlon math test)

Fish

2008-09-16T16:59:00.002-06:00

So, I have been making a tentative foray into the field of fish . . . owning. Fish-tankery. I've got this great bow-fronted glass fish tank in my office, 35 gallons, and it seems a shame to waste it. It's full of water, it's got gravel in the bottom, nice decorative chunk of wood in there. All ready to go. Bunch o' snails keeps the glass clean.

I can't get a fish to live in it.

Well, not exactly. I had a fish in there that I pulled out of a creek in Park City. I think he was a mosquito fish - the kind you put in your backyard pond to eat the mosquito larvae - and he lived in there for nearly a year, all on his own. Just him and the snails. During that time I think I cleaned the tank twice, but he was very happy and swam all over and came up to the top to get fed and everything.

Then I went on vacation to Colorado and he vanished. I think he may have died and been flushed by someone who won't own up to it, but the mystery lingers.

So anyway, after this happened I decided to get serious about this fish business. I cleaned the tank, vacuumed out all of the gunk, gave the filter some serious time and elbow grease, hauled around more 5-gallon buckets of water than I care to think about, and finally had a sparkly clean tank fit for vertebrates to live happy lives.

I went to PetCo, and bought some beautiful fantail goldfish. I like them a lot. So I got three of them and put them all in the tank. They swam around, very happy. All week, happy fish. I go home for the weekend, come back . . . dead fish.

Sigh.

So, cleaned the tank again. Replaced water. Let the water age so there wouldn't be chlorine. Bought a new light bulb for the light that had stopped working. Went to Wal-Mart, bought some wonderful little pearl scale goldfish, nice fat round ones that could barely move and were round like golf balls. Great fish. They swim around, all happy, I go home for the night, come back . . . dead fish.

Sigh.

But one of them lived! So I had one lonesome fish. I also had bought a ghost shrimp that accidentally got scooped up with the goldfish at the store. After he was put in the tank (and named Agadore), he was never seen again. I don't know; maybe he's still in there.

So I have one fat cute fish who seems pretty content with his lot in life. I went home for the weekend, come back . . . dead fish.

COME ON!! This is just crazy. How do fish even live at all? They're like the houseplants of the animal kingdom. (I can't keep houseplants alive either.)

So now I have a very nice empty fish tank. Well, not quite empty. When they scooped up my pearl scale goldfish and accidental shrimp, they also scooped up two tiny baby fish. They're each a little more than a quarter of an inch long. These two little fry are swimming around quite happily in their humongous empty tank, apparently healthy.

So I guess what I've learned from the experience is this: fish that you pay for will die the moment you walk out of the room. But free fish . . . free fish are happy to live for a long time.

High School Tag

2008-08-13T17:23:00.004-06:00

Hey looky, it's been two months and no blog post. I'm a bad blogger. To make up for it, I am going to post the high school tag even though no one tagged me.

1. Did you date someone from your school? I dated John Young for a while between sophomore and junior years. Then we broke up for no reason at all, but stayed friends until he moved away after college. It was better that way.

2. What kind of car did you drive? 1987 Chevy Cavalier named "The Skunk."

3. It’s Friday night...where are you? Driving around in Doug Minnick's car (or John's), listening to The Best of Queen.

4. Were you a party animal? Absolutely not.

5. Were you considered a flirt? No, too socially awkward.

6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Choir? Never! I was in the jazz band for like a month.

7. Were you a nerd? Have you met me?

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Academic Decathlon team (unofficial) captain. Woo! Only we weren't that smart so our shirts say "Academic Decathalon." No kidding.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled?Nope.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? "Through all the seasons of the year / and all the years to come / we sing our praises loud and clear / to Hillcrest High we love so dear / something something / mumble . . . rolling hills!" In senior year we all made a big show of pulling out our student ID cards every time we had to sing the school song, since the words were all on the back of the card. That's the only reason anyone knew them.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? The lovely Ms. Victoria Brinton.

12. Where did you sit during lunch? In the hall, just down from the Coke machines and across from the door to the courtyard.

13. What was your school's full name? Hillcrest High School

14. School mascot? Husky. Though the cheerleaders insist that "h-u-s-k-i-e" is how you spell it.

15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? Yes, in junior year with a kid named Jason.

16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? . . . No. I had no responsibilities, but the drama . . . ugh. Anyway, all the mistakes I made then are what got me where I am today. And I like that place.

17. What do you remember most about graduation? It was during the NBA finals, Bulls v. Jazz, and everyone had a radio plugged into their ear. Including the choir. The speakers would give score updates. Jazz lost. Zak MacKay wore orange and green striped socks and rolled up his pant legs, so when he walked across the stage you could see his socks from the back row.

18. Where did you go senior skip day? We kidnapped Stephen Reynolds and forced him to miss a day of school. We took him to Arby's then returned him to school again. Then we went . . . somewhere else. Though now that I've typed all that, I'm not sure if that was senior year or some other year. Hm.

19. Were you in any clubs? Dead Poets Society.

20. Have you gained some weight since then? Sigh.

21. Who was your prom date? Tim Price.

22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Skipped it.

2008-06-21T14:53:00.001-06:00

What to do with an aged lemur?

Happy Birthday to ME!

2008-06-18T13:04:00.003-06:00

Hey looky, it's been a month and no blog posts. I should do something about that. Soon I will post many interesting things about what went on in my month of May, but in the mean time you will have to make do with a birthday report.

I turned 29 yesterday (for reals, I'm not one of those 29-repeaters) and it was lots of fun. I had been looking forward to this birthday - which is not usual for me - so it was doubly fun, I think. It was the first day of having all the kids back at work, but everything went like clockwork despite my not having received their uniform shirts yet (oops).

My boss Chris brought in wonderful gourmet cupcakes from Minis that were absolutely delicious and beautiful to boot. We all went out for lunch at Rumbi (peanut sauce - yum). And then, at the end of the day, Elliott showed up at the Zoo with a card and some beautiful pink roses!

From there we went and picked up Meme, and then went to dad's for the usual cake and ice cream after dinner. Christy had cooked a mountain of spaghetti for dinner, and Elliott finished off every single noodle of it. I love spaghetti.

After presents and cake (chocolate with banana frosting! Woo!) we got to watch the Celtics DEMOLISH the Lakers. Delicious. Elliott and I took Meme home and then played some PS2 before calling it a night.

I got some fun gift cards, a book, cash, Lego Indiana Jones, and some cute flip-flops and matching bag. Good times. Tonight my friends and I are all going out to dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Hooray for birthdays!

Sad News

2008-05-15T14:25:00.000-06:00

http://www.legacy.com/DeseretNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=109097570

Thievery

2008-05-07T11:54:00.002-06:00

Either someone is stealing letters off our signs, or they have begun to fall off on their own, but this morning as I arrived I noticed that I now work at:

HO LE ZO

TV again

2008-05-07T11:44:00.002-06:00

For those of you who watch TV early in the morning, I will be on again tomorrow. (Sorry for the late notice!) Rebekah and I will be on channel 2 between 7 and 8 AM with a couple of animals, to talk about . . . something.

Oof.

2008-04-18T17:47:00.002-06:00

Went to the gym last night. Good times - did some cardio, Elliott showed me how to work with some weight machines, then worked on some abs a little.

Then - and I don't remember this happening - apparently some time in the night I was hit by a truck. Tonight I think I will just go home and sleep it off.

Congratulations!

2008-04-17T18:15:00.002-06:00

Hooray to Clark and Shannon, but especially to Julia! Welcome to the family.

Elliott Saves the Day

2008-04-02T10:48:00.002-06:00

Last night was way exciting. Elliott and I were at the laundromat, finishing up a load of laundry at about 10:00 pm. The place has a lot of traffic in and out of the door, since it's next door to an apartment complex and people don't stay to keep an eye on their clothes, but there were only the two of us and another girl actually hanging out in the laundromat. She and I were both reading while Elliott was folding his clothes. Suddenly the girl shouts "that guy took my purse!" as some kid goes running out the door. Elliott asked which way the guy had went, and took off down the street at a full sprint. Elliott is FAST.

The girl and I went outside and I gave her my phone to call the police. Elliott got down the street to the parking lot of the apartment complex where the kid had disappeared, and walked off into the dark lot. A few minutes later, the girl was still on the phone with 911 giving a description of the guy when Elliott comes walking back - with the purse! He had walked around a corner in the parking lot and found the kid crouched on the ground digging through the purse. He yelled "Hey! That's not your purse!" and ran at him, at which point the kid panicked, dumped the it in a trash can and hopped a fence.

The girl went through her stuff and found that she was only missing $10 in cash - her phone, cards, keys, etc were all still there. The police arrived and took our statements, and then Elliott and I stayed a little bit to make sure she'd be okay at the laundromat while she waited for her laundry to finish. She's a really nice girl, and I'm glad everything turned out well. She wanted to thank Elliott in some way, but he refused all compensation. I did give her my business card, so I got a nice email from her this morning that I forwarded on to him.

Do I have a great boyfriend, or what?

I think from now on I will be locking my purse in my trunk while I do laundry at the laundromat. It was all totally crazy, particularly since we really should have left there about ten minutes earlier. We had been playing trivial pursuit while waiting on the laundry, and each only had one pie piece left to end the game, so we had stayed until the game ended before folding the laundry.

Happy Birthday Clint!

2008-04-01T15:57:00.001-06:00

Sorry I didn't mail your card on time.

April already?!

2008-04-01T15:30:00.003-06:00

Surely this is some perverse sort of April Fool's joke. I wasn't even done with February yet, let alone March. Where is the backspace button on my life? Ctrl+left arrow, maybe? Rewind? Do over?

Anyway, time races on and I only blogged twice in March. Work continues to be crazy busy, and I continue to be crazy. I've had some interesting emails back-and-forth with Clark, which perhaps I'll blog in the next day or two. I suppose that "interesting," in this context, is really a relative term. They're basically trivia and equation questions that we've asked each other.

But I think they sum up how Clark and I operate rather well. To wit, here is our text conversation from yesterday:

Me: Which high school did [Nobel laureate in physics Richard] Feynman go to?
Clark: Far Rockaway.
Me: OK.

No explanation asked for or needed. Just one of those questions. Like this text conversation with Elliott:

Me: Can you moonwalk?
Elliott: Not well, no.
Me: OK.

No one ever really seems to wonder why I ask these things. Just comes with the territory when you hang out around me long enough, I guess.

Regarding the Feyman question, though: I was reading a book I got for Christmas, The Last Shot, about Stephon Marbury and a bunch of Coney Island projects kids who were trying to get into college to play basketball. It mentioned in the book that their high school was way sub-par academically, but in the past two Nobel laureates in physics had graduated from there. Knowing that Coney Island is next to Brooklyn, and that Feynman was from Brooklyn, I was trying to figure out if he was one of them. Guess not. But maybe Clark knows who they are.

What a fun trivia question that would be: NBA player Stephon Marbury and which Nobel laureates all graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in New York City?

"California! California! California!"

2008-03-14T16:17:00.004-06:00

Name that movie! Imagine a kid with a red lunch box in the back seat of a car....

Anyway, I went to California and tried out for the show. It was lots of fun; I really recommend it. I also recommend staying in the Radisson and sleeping on Sleep Number beds. I do not, however, recommend eating breakfast at the hotel. Unless you like paying $11 for yogurt and granola. (I had Mountain Dew from the vending machine. Breakfast of Champions.)

The Sleep Number beds were nice, though. That Lindsay Wagner knows what she's talking about. At first it was fun just to play with the bed, going from firm to soft and back. But then, when I went to bed . . . aaaaahhhhhhh! I had a stiff back when I got to California, but the next morning it was gone. I am very glad I decided to fly down there early rather than the morning of the auditions.

The auditions were in the Radisson, in your standard hotel conference room. There were 20 of us in my batch of applicants - attorneys, college professors, electrical engineers, me . . . They took our pictures (a bit dicey for me, considering the testy relationship between my hair and humidity in general) and had us fill out some pretty standard forms.

Next up came the written test. I'm not really going to discuss that here (since I can't) other than to say that it was much less stressful than the online test. Really, the online test was the most stressful part of the whole process. After the written test we all got a chance to play the game with the real game clicker thingies, and they chit-chatted with us a little. Then it was all done and time to go home!

Unfortunately, my flight wasn't for several more hours and I hadn't packed a book to read by the pool. So, after lunch at the hotel (a little more reasonable than breakfast) I decided to just take the free shuttle back to the airport, where I could buy a cheap paperback and people-watch until it was time to go home. I read a book all about the MIT blackjack team (finishing it just before my flight took off) and here I am home again.

I'm cautiously optimistic, so look for me on TV in the next year or two.

great big movie list meme

2008-03-06T12:23:00.008-07:00

Or in other words, Elliott's to-do list of movies to have me watch.

The list looks like it’s IMDB’s Top 250.

The rules are simple:
Bold movies you have watched and liked.
Turn red movies you have watched and loved.
Italicize movies you saw and didn’t like.
Leave as is movies you haven’t seen.

The Godfather (1972)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Godfather: Part II (1974)

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Casablanca (1942)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Star Wars (1977)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Rear Window (1954)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Goodfellas (1990)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
City of God (2002)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Psycho (1960)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
North by Northwest (1959)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Fight Club (1999)
Memento (2000)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Matrix (1999)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Se7en (1995)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
American Beauty (1999)
Vertigo (1958)
Amélie (2001)
The Departed (2006)
Paths of Glory (1957)
American History X (1998)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Chinatown (1974)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Third Man (1949)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Alien (1979)
The Pianist (2002)
The Shining (1980)
Double Indemnity (1944)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Leben der Anderen, Das [The Lives of Others] (2006)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Boot, Das (1981)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Metropolis (1927)
Aliens (1986)
Raging Bull (1980)
Rashômon (1950)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Rebecca (1940)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Sin City (2005)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
All About Eve (1950)
Modern Times (1936)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
The Great Escape (1963)
Amadeus (1984)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Touch of Evil (1958)
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Prestige (2006)
Vita è bella, La [Life Is Beautiful] (1997)
Jaws (1975)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Sting (1973)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The Apartment (1960)
City Lights (1931)
Braveheart (1995)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Batman Begins (2005)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Great Dictator (1940)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Notorious (1946)
Salaire de la peur, Le [The Wages of Fear](1953)
High Noon (1952)
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Fargo (1996)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Unforgiven (1992)
Back to the Future (1985)
Ran (1985)
Oldboy (2003)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
The Green Mile (1999)
Annie Hall (1977)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Gladiator (2000)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Diaboliques, Les [The Devils] (1955)
Ben-Hur (1959)
It Happened One Night (1934)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Life of Brian (1979)
Die Hard (1988)
The General (1927)
American Gangster (2007)
Platoon (1986)
V for Vendetta (2005)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
The Graduate (1967)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Crash (2004/I)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Heat (1995)
Gandhi (1982)
Harvey (1950)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The African Queen (1951)
Stand by Me (1986)
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Conversation (1974)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Wo hu cang long [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ] (2000)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
Cabinet des Dr. Caligari., Das [The Cabinet of Dr Caligari] (1920)
The Thing (1982)
Groundhog Day (1993)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Sleuth (1972)
Patton (1970)
Toy Story (1995)
Glory (1989)
Out of the Past (1947)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Ed Wood (1994)
Spartacus (1960)
The Terminator (1984)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Exorcist (1973)
Frankenstein (1931)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
The Hustler (1961)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
The Lion King (1994)
Big Fish (2003)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Magnolia (1999)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
In Cold Blood (1967)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Roman Holiday (1953)
A Christmas Story (1983)
Casino (1995)
Manhattan (1979)
Ying xiong [Hero] (2002)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Rope (1948)
Cinderella Man (2005)
The Searchers (1956)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
His Girl Friday (1940)
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

That tickles

2008-02-23T08:34:00.002-07:00

I have a 35-gallon fish tank in my office, left over from our wetlands exhibit from last summer. It currently contains one mosquito fish (about 1.5 inches), a crapload of snails, and three water skaters. I don't know how long water skaters usually live, but these have been living in the fish tank since the end of July, when I caught them in Emigration creek. I think we may be going for a record here.

Anyway, last week I was cleaning out the tank and changing out 15 gallons of water. I had thrown some ants on the water for the water skaters to eat, and they had been fighting really hard over them. They're good fighters. They're also very good jumpers. As I was vacuuming out the bottom of the tank, two of them got tired and decided to crawl out of the water for a rest. I took this picture right after one of them got back in the water.

Lego Night photo

2008-02-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

My elephant, and my prize.

News

2008-02-15T15:37:00.003-07:00

Got this in an email on Friday:

Congratulations! You have been selected for a follow-up appointment at an upcoming Jeopardy! contestant search for the Los Angeles area, exclusively for those who successfully passed the online test. This is the next step in becoming a Jeopardy! contestant.

!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T15:33:00.003-07:00

Lego Night

2008-02-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

The other night for our FHE activity, we had Lego night. Everyone brought all of their Legos from home and just played for two hours. It was awesome. I was way excited. I rounded up all of the Legos from Dad's house, and even took apart Clark's Lego man because he used up most of the bricks.

I built a wind-up car an an elephant, Missy built a house, and Wes built a pirate ship. The pirate ship won the big prize (a Pixar shorts DVD) and I got the small prize, a copy of Pres. Hinckley's book, which title escapes me for the moment.

Pictures to follow when I get them off my camera.

There Will Be Blood

2008-01-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to see "There Will Be Blood," the new Daniel Day-Lewis movie based on the book "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair. If you're planning on watching this later, be warned that there may be spoilers ahead.

Let me start off by saying that Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing. Just amazing. I don't know how better to articulate that. All through the movie I had this haunted feeling that he reminded me of someone, but I couldn't ever quite put a finger on who. Whoever it was, it definitely wasn't Daniel Day-Lewis. This movie is worth seeing just for him.

This movie is the story of a man who starts out as a gold miner, or possibly someone with the geological survey (I am not sure, though I know they say it), who ends up as an oil magnate in California. He goes into towns that have oil in the ground, sweet-talks everyone into selling or leasing their land to him, and makes boatloads of money. The conflict in the movie comes in when a teenage boy, Eli Sunday, demands money to start up his own "Church of the Third Revelation" from selling his land to the oilman. The oilman promises $5000, which he does not intend to pay. The boy and the man become enemies.

That's pretty much the story. It unfolds over 30 years, as you watch Daniel Plainview start out mining by himself underground, expanding to oil, adopting the baby of a miner killed at an oil well, becoming successful, and then having his life start to unravel when he moves to drill in the town where Eli Sunday lives.

The soundtrack was very interesting. Ominous notes - often just single, discordant notes - hover and buzz as characters go about their business. I don't know that I've ever seen a movie which uses a musical score to convey a sense of doom so effectively. Maybe not of doom, but foreboding. The people in the movie make big, dark decisions and those decisions are underscored perfectly by the score.

For the first several minutes of the movie, there is no dialogue. None. If I go see this again, I'd like to time how long it is before we hear anyone say a word, but it's got to be about 10 minutes. Which brings me to another point: this movie is long. It's long. Nothing is rushed. Conversations take their time. Character development takes it time. This is a long movie which seems even longer than it really is. But you're not sitting there bored, wishing it would end. That's just the pace of the story - the events in the movie set things in motion that take several years to develop, and the movie spools it out at a pace that conveys the scope of the story.

The overriding theme of the movie, to me, was this: Blood is thicker than water, but oil is thicker than blood. Daniel adopts the son of one of his dead workers to portray himself as a family man. However, when the boy is injured on an oil derrick and becomes deaf, Daniel rejects him and sends him away. Then, when he needs the boy in order to make a key business deal, he takes him in again.

The relationship between Daniel and the boy, H.W., is really quite complex. For much of the movie Daniel shows a lot of affection for the boy, but is then able to cast him away. One of the times in the movie when Daniel becomes the most angry and unhinged is when he perceives that someone else is trying to tell him how to raise H.W. As a boy, H.W. follows Daniel around everywhere, and Daniel actively teaches him all about the oil business and how to succeed - but only as a partner. Start your own business, and you become a competitor. Daniel can not abide competitors.

Midway through the movie, Daniel is surprised by the appearance of his half-brother. Previously unaware of his existence, Daniel accepts this man into his family, and he acts as a surrogate, usurping the place originally held by H.W. As with H.W., however, the half-brother soon finds out where Daniel stands when it comes to family vs. business.

One of the most striking parts of this movie, overall, is that there is no clear "good guy." Daniel is clearly the main character, but I stop short of calling him a protagonist because I'm not sure we are supposed to really like him in any way. His rival, Eli Sunday, is ruthless in his own way. Both characters display a shocking preponderance toward spite and revenge.

There is no heartwarming ending.

I know all of this is probably not adding up to a ringing endorsement for all of you, but I did like the movie. It makes you think. I don't know that it's very rewatchable - it makes you too uncomfortable for that - but I would like to see it again. All aspects of the movie are very well done.

Meat

2008-01-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last night a bunch of us went out to dinner at Rodizio Grill. It was good. I've been to Brazilian steakhouses before, and to nyama choma places in Kenya, and they all have the same basic plan - some side dishes, and the never-ending stream of guys bringing you meat on huge skewers. You like lamb? We have lamb. You want beef? We have beef. Three kinds. You want chicken? No problem. Chicken hearts? Have three. (No thanks.) Sausage, spicy chicken, mahi mahi . . .

All until you beg them to stop. Flip your little table indicator to red and gasp for breath. And then eat one more fried banana for dessert before you die.

I love Rodizio Grill.

Weekend fun

2008-01-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend a bunch of us went bowling. It was a ridiculously long wait for a lane, but that made it so our last 1.5 games were cosmic bowling, so that wasn't so bad.

For the first game, Elliott and Austin both bowled left-handed (Austin actually alternated frames left and right, since he's ambidextrous) and they almost beat me. I'm so bad at bowling! I did break 100 in the second game, coming in last because everyone had switched back to right-handed, but in the third game . . . I won! I bowled a 136 and even got a spare and a strike on the 10th frame. Yay for me!

Saturday night was good times. Very good times.

Channel 5

2008-01-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

This morning, eagle-eyed blog poster Sabrina spotted me on Studio 5 on KSL. Yay! Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually sees me on TV, since no one says anything. Do I only go on shows with no viewers?

Anyway, we didn't think we were going to make it on the air today because of all the President Hinckley coverage, but they ended up doing our spot anyway. I was there to talk about our Mating Dances class for Valentine's Day, which was an awkward topic transition, but I think we did all right. It was the TV debut for our new opossum, Vera, and she did very very well. The only problem was that I wore scented lotion so she was more interested in me than in looking at the camera.

Holly, our PR person was on the air with me. She used to work at KSL, so it's fun to go with her because she knows everyone. Radio and TV people are more gossipy than zoo people! You may know Holly from The Nightside Project on KSL radio, or from the morning show on KZHT. She worked for Simmons media for a while too, but I'm not sure what she did or with which station.

Yet another nerdy thing to do online

2008-01-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

Test your geography IQ by playing the Traveler IQ Challenge on TravelPod. It rewards you for accuracy and speed, so click quick! I can get to level 10.

Jeopardy!

2008-01-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

It's time once again to take the Jeopardy test online. I was not successful the last time I took it, but refuse to give up, particularly since my friend David is now able to introduce himself as "Two-Time Jeopardy! Champion."

The Central and Mountain time zones take the test the evening of January 30. You should try out, too!

Update

2008-01-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

I said I was going to blog more this year, so I guess I'm due for another post here. If you're feeling that I'm not doing enough, you can always go to Clark's blog and read the comments. I'm pretty regular in there.

Anyway, January is our department's "off" season. Yes, one month is now a season. We define it that way because it's the only month in which we don't have a class offered to the public and are not training groups of new employees or volunteers.

BUT . . . January is volunteer recognition and our general meeting, which so far has eaten up all my time this month. And we added a Project Wild class next week. And our February classes start on the 9th, so we have to prepare for that. And we have to get our end-of-the-year reports done. And I'm behind on the podcasting project.

Welcome to our off-season.

Making Dad Proud

2008-01-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

Jessica gave me the George Harrison double album "All Things Must Pass" for Christmas. I could tell, without even reading the liner notes, that it was produced by Phil Spector.

Pistol

2008-01-07T16:04:00.001-07:00

I'd like to take a few moments to address a topic which, I am sure, was on all of your minds this past Saturday. The genius who was Pete Maravich.

Pistol Pete died 20 years ago, and retired at some point before that (I'm no expert here), but all of you should go to YouTube right now and pull up some Maravich clips. That guy was amazing. He did things with a basketball which seem to be contrary to the laws of physics.

Last night Elliott talked me into watching a movie about Pete Maravich - specifically, about his 8th grade year in high school. A lot of the movie was fictionalized, but they kid they got to star as Pete had really great ball-handling skills (and Confidence! A lot of the movie is about having Confidence!). In 8th grade, Pete Maravich was a 5 foot 2 kid starting on the varsity team. His dad, a former professional player, coached at Clemson so Pete would practice with the college team. Unbelievable. He'd play 10 hours a day. He dribbled while riding his bike, or out the door of the car while his dad drove. He spun the ball on his fingertip for an hour. Elliott, correct me on any of this if I'm wrong.

He averaged 44 points a game in college! And this was before the 3-point line was created .

And he had so much Confidence! ;)

So anyway, RIP Pistol Pete. For what it's worth, I liked your movie more than Rocky IV and its inexplicable robot.

Socially responsible time-waster

2008-01-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

If you have some time to kill, want to improve your vocabulary and feed the poor at the same time, check out http://www.freerice.com/. For every vocabulary word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice.

I plateau at vocabulary level 47.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

My resolution this year is to post more often. We shall see how that goes.

This year for New Year's Eve, I didn't have any plans until the last minute. Whew! Thanks to Elliott for having a birthday on the last day of the year, so I didn't have to sit home lonely. A bunch of us went to dinner at Tucci's for Elliott's birthday, and I had the pasta pomodoro. You have never seen such a large group of adults (or, "adults") coloring so industriously on the table covers with crayons. We made very pretty pictures, and at Elliott's request I kept tradition alive and did some Punnet squares. (Elliott x Elliott - he should not breed with himself because his children would be skinny string bean people who would blow over in the breeze. Or so finds my squares.)

After dinner I was invited along to Dan's house for some Rock Band goodness. Rock Band, for those of you who are unacquainted with the concept, is like Guitar Hero plus Sing Star plus Donkey Conga, only with a drum kit instead of bongos. You can also add a second guitar controller so someone can play bass. This kept all of us occupied until 2 in the morning when the PS3 pled for mercy and we turned it off.

I got home way late (I won't say when) to discover that my loving neighbor had decided to park sideways in the alley behind the house, so I had to go out the other end of the alley and parallel park on 8Th South. That's hard for me on a good day, but I think I did very well on my second try, particularly if you take the late hour and snowdrifts into consideration.

New Year's Day was fully devoted to napping, with a brief break to check out the winter sale at IKEA. I got a teapot. Woo!

So, what did you do for New Year's? Discuss.

Spreading some Christmas cheer via the internet

2007-12-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here, for you festive pleasure, is a nice online time-waster for the holidays.

http://www.vml.com/handbellhero

My only question is: where is Carol of the Bells, on expert?

Santa's Using Zebras Now

2007-12-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

For all of those who read Clark's blog, but don't want to go to the trouble of googling up the lyrics yourself:

Santa's using zebras now
to pull his Christmas sleigh
'cause a boy in Africa
wrote to him one day.
"Santa please stop by," he said,
"and bring some toys with you."
Santa's using zebras now
south of Timbuktu.

Donner, Blitzen, all the reindeer
put him on the spot -
they were used to ice and snow
but Africa was hot!
Then some zebras came along
and they pulled Santa through.
Santa's using zebras now
south of Timbuktu.

See the pyramids to by
and there's the Nile below.
Watch out for that tall giraffe;
mustn't fly too low.
Hello hippopotamus
the season's joy to you!
Hello Mr. Crocodile
merry Christmas too!

As they gallop over jungles
lions stop and stare,
wonderin' what those zebras could be
doing way up there.
While the reindeer wait for him
back home in their igloo,
Santa's using zebras now
south of Timbuktu.

Meep! Meep mee mee mee moo.

2007-12-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

I am going through a Muppet's Christmas Carol renaissance here, thanks to Carrie giving me the soundtrack last Christmas and Clark and Shannon giving me the DVD this Christmas. (They gave it to me early - very thoughtful of them - so I can watch it before Christmas is over.)

This movie is a big part of Christmas in the Blockburger household. Big part. Very important. ("Light the lamp, not the rat! Light the lamp, NOT THE RAT!")

Anyway, on the soundtrack there are two songs included which didn't make it into the movie. One is by Sam the Eagle, and isn't that great. But the other is a duet by Bunsen and Beaker, and it cracks me up every time. It's not the best song in the whole world, but the mere fact that it is Beaker singing it just slays me. Particularly on the high parts.

I really recommend listening to it if you have the chance.

I bought a Beaker doll at the science nerd convention, too. It's been a Beaker-filled holiday season thus far. In a good way.

Bad Idea

2007-12-04T11:01:00.001-07:00

Don't order the garlic burger at Skybox. Trust me on this one.

Not worth it.

... or maybe not

2007-12-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Turns out I wasn't on Fox13 this morning. Which is just as well. (Darn you and your long-windedness, President Bush!)

TV appearances

2007-11-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

I was on KZHT yesterday (sorry for forgetting to inform you in advance!

Today I was interviewed by KSL and by the Deseret News, about our Career Day. So look for that.

December 4th I will be on Fox 13 sometime during the 8:00 hour.

One last observation about Denver

2007-11-17T17:08:00.001-07:00

Next post I'll be moving on, I promise.

The 16th street mall in Denver is home to 5 Starbucks. I can't remember if that figure includes the one inside the Barnes & Noble, or not.

Front Range Conspiracy

2007-11-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

The state of Colorado does not want me to leave. I am beginning to fear what will happen the next time I go to Colorado and try to leave it again.

Last year, Colorado tried to keep me there by totalling my car. Fortunately, I was able to outwit it by flying home. This year Colorado was on to me.

Monday afternoon I sat in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for my shuttle to come take me to the airport. I had reserved the shuttle a week in advance, prepaid. I had the confirmation ticket in my hand. They were supposed to arrive at 5:00. I knew that I had scheduled it pretty tight, but was confident that I would get to the airport in time for my flight.

The shuttle never came.

The lovely concierge at the hotel, Brian, got the company on the phone and after 5 minutes on hold and being hung up on once, he determined that they were not going to come get me at all. He gave them all of the information for them to refund my money, and then flagged down another shuttle for me.

After stopping at a few other hotels, we set off to the airport. About halfway there (and remember that DIA is somewhere near Kansas), it occurred to me that I had no cash. Why would I need it? I had prepaid for my shuttle.

This shuttle driver only took cash.

So, upon arriving at the airport (quite late) I had to run inside, find an ATM, get money, pay the guy, collect my bags and head off to check in for my flight. Too late for the sky hop - but he directed me to the airline counter. Too late to check in on the kiosk - it logged me out and referred me to an agent.

The agent took one look at me and told me I had missed my flight. I, happy just to have finally arrived, agreed to be placed on standby for the later flight. I had never flown standby before, but people do it all the time. Couldn't be too hard.

Having now given up on the 6:45 flight (it was 6:10), I checked my bags and took a much-needed restroom break. I then casually headed for security. TSA was understaffed, with only two attendants staffing the x-ray and metal detectors. We had to load our own stuff onto the x-ray conveyor belt.

I put my shoes and tote bag in one tray, then took my laptop out of my bag and put it in another tray. There was a line of people crowding up to go through, so to save space I put the laptop bag on top of the tray, like I always do. Went through the metal detector, no problem. However, just as my second tray came out of x-ray, a third TSA person walked up and was informed of a problem bag. He took my tote with my shoes in it and started rifling through my tote bag. While he did this, I got my other tote and put the laptop back in the bag.

"Is there a laptop in this bag?"
"No . . . in this bag."
"Is there an iPod in this bag?"
"No . . . in this bag."
"I need to see that bag."
"No problem."

I gave him the other bag.

"You didn't take the laptop out of the bag?"
"No, I did. I just already put it back in again."
"Oh . . . that's a problem. I need to see the laptop."
"Okay, I'll take it back out."

I started unzipping the bag.

"No! There has been too much touching already! You need to step away."

Oh, dear. Now, this is the part where it was really good that I had already given up on the 6:45 flight. Since I had hours to kill at this point, I was willing to do whatever it took to make these guys happy, at their own pace.

"Hey Bob, these bags haven't cleared security. And now she's touched them and gone through them, so she hasn't cleared security either."

Oh dear, oh dear. Have I mentioned that we have been upgraded to an Orange Homeland Security alert level?

Bob, fortunately, is a reasonable guy, and he walked me back out of security, and then back through again. They re-x-rayed my bags and everyone was happy, and they sent me on my way. That easily could have become a very tense situation but they realized that they had sort of caused the problem so they sent me on my way. Good thing I'm not a terrorist!

Checking in done, bathroom done, security done and done. I head off to my gate, and hear over the PA system: "Passenger So-and-so, please report to gate A65 for flight xxx to Salt Lake City.

My original flight hadn't even left yet!

Whatever. I got some food, settled in, read a book for a while. About an hour before the flight, I asked the gate agents if I was going to get a seat. They took my boarding pass and told me they'd get back to me.

It makes me nervous to be at an airport with no boarding pass, but I'm sure that is always how it goes when you fly standby, right?

At 9:10 they started boarding. I still hadn't gotten a call and was starting to get a little nervous when finally they called me over and gave me a boarding pass with a seat assignment. I got straight on the plane. We finished boarding. We sat there, and sat there and sat there . . . finally, at almost 10:00, the pilot came on to announce that the passenger manifest did not match the boarding list, and now they had to go through ticket by ticket to match up who was on the plane and who was not.

This made me very nervous that they were going to kick me off the plane. (Stranger things have happened at the airports, recently.) I just wanted to go home! Why won't Colorado let me leave!

Finally, though, the plane doors were closed and we got on our way. It was a very bumpy flight, but we made it back okay and finally at 1:00 I was snug at home in bed.

But if I never go back to Colorado again - or, more importantly, never come back from Colorado again - you'll know why.

It's a conspiracy!

Religious experience

2007-11-12T11:37:00.001-07:00

Today my breakfast order was taken by Zeus, and my food was served to me by Jesus.

Now that's what I call service!

Some DAM artwork

2007-11-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

bernini bust of pope urban viii:

rembrandt: velasquez:

saw a wood copy of this michelangelo:

Formatting headache

2007-11-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

If anyone can tell me why blogspot won't put spaces between my paragraphs, I'd really appreciate it. They don't seem to work no matter what I do.

More from Denver

2007-11-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

So, I guess the trip to the US Mint is out for tomorrow, since it's a federal holiday. (Yay veterans!) I am not entirely sure what I am going to do with my afternoon, but I'm sure I will come up with something.

Today I did some work on the laptop in my hotel room, and then went to the ESPN Zone for dinner. The food is good, the staff is good, and it's a wonderful place to go and watch the Colts lose. (Who saw that coming? And Vinatieri missed two field goals? Seriously? And Peyton Manning threw six interceptions? Wow.)

It's not too often that Peyton Manning only scores 3 fantasy points. That's all I'm going to say about that.

Anyway, it's been a nice trip to Colorado, overall. I got here Wednesday for the National Science Teachers Association conference (read: Science Nerd Convention). The workshops were good, the free swag was okay (but how will I get it all home?), the abundance of nerd toys was great (I bought myself a Beaker), and I got to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

The DMNS is currently home to the Titanic artifacts exhibit, which is pretty cool. I thought it would be old hat (haven't we seen enough Titanic stuff yet?) but it was really interesting. They have a lot of old artifacts they found at the site of the wreck, including clothes, shoes, and papers. I can't fathom (pardon the pun) how those papers survived over 80 years under two miles of water, but they did. The exhibit is also set up so that you travel through the first class cabins to third class, ultimately ending up in the engine rooms before hitting the open ocean. They even have an enormous "iceberg" - a block of ice over 6 feet high and 12 feet long.

When you enter the exhibit, you are handed a boarding pass for the voyage, with all of the personal info of one of the actual passengers. Not until you are leaving the exhibit do you find out whether you lived or died. (I survived.) They also had actors playing several of the different people who were on the ship - one first class passenger would not talk to you if you had a third-class boarding pass. If this exhibit travels to your town, you should check it out.

Surprisingly disappointing was the Louvre exhibit I saw at the DAM. I guess gilded chairs just don't do it for me. The sculpture was very cool - everything from the Roman empire to Louis XIV - and the paintings were also very interesting. There was a Rembrandt, a Titian, bust by Bernini, a drawing by van Dyck, drawings by Reubens, some Duhrer sketches . . . I think I liked the portrait by Rembrandt the best. It's nice seeing some stuff I learned about in art history up close and personal, too.

So tomorrow it's back home. I'll try to post some pictures sometime this week, since I think I got some good shots at the DAM.

Greetings from Denver

2007-11-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hello! I finally got the computer to talk to the wi-fi at the hotel, so now I can blog from Colorado. I'm sure you were all very concerned.

Anyway, I just flew into Denver on Wednesday, and boy are my legs tired! I opted not to get a car on this trip, and as a result I have been walking everywhere. On the one hand, it is good exercise. On the other hand, my legs are tired. Of course, this is much better than DC because in DC everything is much farther away than it appears, and in Denver everything is much closer than it appears.

One reason for the rather large amounts of walking is my general desire to reconnoiter. I like to know where things are in relation to other things, thus making it much harder for me to get lost. So every day I took a different route to the convention center, just so I'd know what was there. I walked to the Denver Art Museum down 16th street and around the park, but came back through the park. I walked all the way down to Market street on 16th, but came back to the hotel on 15th (I recommend 16th). I have walked the entire length of the 16th Street Mall twice.

Another reason for all the walking is that I have a hard time deciding where/what to eat. I'm really bad at picking a place to go to lunch at work, and I am equally bad at it when I'm by myself. I think I did laps on the 16th street mall for over an hour the other night before finally settling on Chili's.

I know, I know. I'm a little ashamed by it but I stand by my decision because the honey chipotle chicken crispers are really good.

I wish I weren't here all by myself, as going out to eat is so much better when one is not by oneself, but I'm adjusting. Tonight I have scouted out many other fine restaurant chains to dine at, including: Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's, Chipotle, and Subway. Hmm . . .

Tomorrow, since I already visited the museum today, I plan to do some work in my room, then go to the ESPN Zone to watch football. Monday is a bit more up in the air, since the weather is supposed to take a serious turn for the worse. I am going to try to go to the US Mint, but may just hole up at the Corner Bakery with the laptop. (They sell Swiss oatmeal for breakfast! Name one other American restaurant that sells that. I dare you. Oh, it's so good. Why did I waste two days of breakfast on Einstein's?) I fly back home on Monday evening, and then it's back to work on Tuesday.

Another Halloween idea

2007-11-02T12:22:00.000-06:00

Spicy guacamole Pringles make my lips swell up. I don't know if it's the salt or the spices, but they do. Try it at home! If it works, you can be Oprah for Halloween next year.

UEA

2007-11-02T12:16:00.000-06:00

I went to the UEA convention on Tuesday. Not very exciting, I gotta say. I think the National Science Teachers Association convention next week will be much more interesting. Science teachers have all the fun toys.

But, having gone to the conference (really, just the exhibitors hall - no workshops), I now can make the perfect elementary-school teacher costume for Halloween next year. It's easy!

Festive, holiday-themed jewelry
Festive, holiday-themed sweater
fold-up milk crate with handle and wheels (sold by 3 exhibitors - the deluxe has a drink holder) - fill with bulletin board borders, phonics books, die-cuts, Crayola swag
Glasses on a lanyard around your neck (jeweled lanyard extra)
Diet Coke
Chalk or white board eraser-tray line across your backside
Ink stains on fingers

Blueberry muffin tops

2007-10-29T18:43:00.000-06:00

I was meandering down the cereal aisle at the SuperTarget last week when a cereal brand caught my eye: Blueberry Muffin Tops. Intriguing. I like blueberries, blueberries in cereal, muffins, and muffin tops in particular. Sounds like a win-win! Also, it's a Malt-o-Meal cereal so it's one of the cheap kinds in the bags. Target is good for bagged cereal. Their cereal aisle is so big, they have lots of room for bagged cereals.

Anyway, I bought the bag and I have to say that they're pretty tasty. They do taste just like blueberry muffin tops, so they're true to advertising. My only problem with them is that they are very similar to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. They have the exact same consistency and mouth feel - in fact, they could have been called Blueberry Toast Crunch and it would have been just as true to advertising. Anyway, we all love CTC but is has a major failing: it kind of makes you sick if you eat more than one bowl. BMT cereal does the same thing.

So anyway, it's a good cereal. It's tasty, but gets soggy fast and I don't recommend eating more than one bowl.

David update

2007-10-19T09:12:00.000-06:00

I know all of you were watching my friend David on Jeopardy!, but just in case you missed it . . .

Actually, you know what? If you live in Salt Lake, you never saw David win. His first appearance was on a Friday, and KJZZ preempts Jeopardy! on Fridays for high school football. Then there was a week off for kids' Jeopardy!, and David was back on the 15th. KJZZ then preempted Jeopardy! again for a preseason Jazz game. Then David was on Tuesday, but he lost.

He really went for the gusto, though. He bet all of his $11,000 on Final Jeopardy, but didn't come up with the right answer and ended up coming in third (parting prize: $1,000). I was yelling "Adam Smith! Adam Smith!" at the TV, but since he was several hundred miles away and the show was actually taped in July, it wasn't of much help.

Well done David, though. I will be eternally jealous that you get to call yourself "two-time Jeopardy! champion." I will also be jealous of the $30K+ that you won, but maybe not eternally.

Anyway, you can catch all of David's Jeopardy! time on youtube, if you follow the link from a few posts ago.

Go Pats!

2007-10-17T14:42:00.000-06:00

Sunday's football game between New England and Dallas was really good - perhaps made better by the fact that I wasn't watching it all by myself. A few small critiques, though:

Why did it seem that the Patriots couldn't tackle anyone? They totally blew getting a safety in the second half, and it seemed like there were a lot of Cowboys who were able to shake off tackles. A little troubling from such a dominant team.
Fantasy football makes watching football much more stressful. I co-manage a fantasy team that includes Patriots players Sammy Morris and Wes Welker. Sammy Morris ended up getting injured in the middle of the game and went out, which meant he wasn't scoring many fantasy points that day. Fortunately, or so I thought, Wes Welker was having a career game, running for over 100 yards and scoring two touchdowns. Good news, at least until my co-manager texted me during the third quarter to lament that he had benched Welker this week. 25 fantasy points, down the drain! I think I'm going to be double-checking my rosters on Saturday nights now, to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Best Home-teachee ever!

2007-10-14T20:26:00.000-06:00

Today my home teachers came over to watch the Patriots game. A good time was had by all.

I think there is a good chance that I will be home-taught 4 times per month. :)

Yay for David!

2007-10-05T15:27:00.000-06:00

My friend David was on Jeopardy! today - and won! I didn't get to watch it, so I'm excited that I'll be able to see him next Monday (the 15th - kid Jeopardy is next week). Yay!

You can watch it on youtube. If anyone can tell me how to imbed that, I would appreciate it.

The trouble with blogs

2007-10-03T08:50:00.000-06:00

I've decided that the hard part about blogging is that you feel compelled to have something interesting to say. And most of the time . . . I don't. Sure, it was easy last fall, what with the crashing of the car and the whole insurance debacle and all that. But these days, I'm pretty much settled down into a routine. I go to work. I go home. I try and find something I want to eat. I watch Scrubs. Maybe read a book. Next day, I do it again.

Well, so much for that.

2007-09-20T13:49:00.000-06:00

Hand another victory to The Man: Floyd Landis was found guilty today and got a 2-year ban.

Will he appeal to the CAS? Stay tuned.

Well hello there.

2007-09-20T10:16:00.001-06:00

I figure that after two months, it's about time to post something on the ol' blog again. Partially, this is to see if anyone still checks it any more - which, after Carrie's comment on my last post, I don't think they are.

I'm also trying, a little bit, to get Clark's Grammar Nazi to come over here and reveal his or her identity. I'm not going to do that by deliberately making grammatical errors, but I figure that my complex sentence structure leaves plenty of opportunity for inadvertent mistakes. At least this thing has spell check, right?

I don't really have a good excuse for why I haven't blogged in a while, though blaming it on the exasperating Tour de France seems as good a reason as any. That thing sure was a mess, wasn't it? The doping rumors surrounding the winner, Alberto Contador of Discovery Channel, have died down, but the whole doping circus continues unabated. Jan Ullrich is getting swept back into everything again despite having retired, and the wolves are out for him because under the statute of limitations they can still revoke his wins. Bjarne Riis, now sport director of CSC, admitted to doping during his Tour win but did it enough years ago that they can't actually do anything to him now.

We are still waiting to hear who is the official winner of the 2006 Tour de France. The Landis affair seems to be a never ending thing. The whole "trial" happened in May and the verdict should be out this week. It will be interesting to see what the result turns out to be. No rider who has gone before the panel has ever been found innocent. I think, however, that Floyd and his attorneys made some very compelling points about the accuracy and competency of the lab in question - enough to introduce "reasonable doubt" as to the veracity of Floyd's test results.

The whole Greg Lemond issue I am not going to touch, even with a ten-foot pole.

It's all a mess, really. It's even so bad that sponsors who have been in the sport for years are starting to fall away. T-Mobile ultimately decided to stick with it, as has Astana (currently the dirtiest team, in my opinion), but the big shock this summer is that Discovery Channel/Tailwind Sports is throwing in the towel. Current champions of the Tour, winners of the Tour 8 times in the last 9 years (several as US Postal Service), champions of Tour of Georgia and Tour of California, winners of the Vuelta and Giro, holders of the US National Champion (George Hincapie) . . . gone. This is the team co-owned by Lance Armstrong.

If Lance Armstrong is giving up on professional cycling, something is wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. And I don't know what it is. I don't know how to fix it. But I'm troubled. How far back do we have to go to find a Tour winner without an asterisk next to his name? How far down the placement list do we need to go to find the "clean" winner? Why don't UCI and WADA get along? Why can't French labs seem to do anything cleanly? Why can't the UCI and ASO get along? Why am I investing so much energy on this when football season has already started?

These are the mysteries for the ages.

p.s. I started a sentence with "and." Sue me.

Oh, I GIVE UP.

2007-07-25T16:51:00.001-06:00

First Astana, then Cofidis. Now this.

Rasmussen removed from Tour.

Rasmussen fired by Rabobank; team may not continue Tour.

la dopage

2007-07-25T12:36:00.000-06:00

Clark said...
Somehow, even though this post is 8 days old, my RSS aggregator just barely got to it. But, now I'm relying on you for some good detail and analysis. Team Astana is gone? Why? I understand that Vinokurov failed a test, but why would the rest of his team drop? Didn't Kloden still have a chance?Another topic: I've heard this argument made in Floyd's defense: "Why would he dope and win if he knew he was going to be tested? It makes no sense!" I agree. It makes no sense. So then, can we make the same argument for Vinokurov, or is he really that dumb?It seems like the argument makes logical sense, but then tons of people are out there proving that they are just dumb enough to dope and win.

Okay. Now that a day has gone past, maybe I can get some coherent thoughts together on this one. I was devastated, devastated, when I got this news yesterday. My favorite Tour racers from 2005 (Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich, Hamilton, etc etc etc etc) were all out this year - retired or doping - and Alexandre Vinokourov seemed like the last great hope. Yes, Leipheimer is a good guy, but Vino seemed to be the one with the nerve and the skill to win this thing. He's had a podium finish before. He got locked out of last year's race. Last time he was here, he won on the Champs Elysees - a sprint stage! He just went out there and won. Because he can. Because he wants it more.

Saturday's time trial seemed to prove my point. Here's a guy who has stitches in his knees, losing to his teammate, and he went for it. No holds barred, a one-man race to the line and he wins the day. Moxie. Followed, the next day, by a catastrophic failing on Plateau de Baille and losing half an hour. Is the man out? Why no, Monday he goes for individual glory, having already literally waved goodbye to his chances for the overall win. So he goes out and clobbers everyone. Beats them into dust. He's a new man.

Fatefully, I turned to my friend and remarked: "This is so reminiscent of Floyd last year. Don't count the man out. He will come back to make you pay."

24 hours later, he's persona non grata at the Tour - both him, and his team. Gone. Stripped of wins (pending B sample results), out of the Tour, probably finished. He's 33. You don't come back from a 2-year ban that starts when you're 33.

So reminiscent of Floyd.

Actually, this mess wouldn't be possible without Floyd. Yes, Floyd had a sample come up positive after a win. But his whole team didn't get instantly removed from contention. Without last year's doping mess, this year's [over?]reaction wouldn't have happened. Kloden would still be in there, in the top 5, racing for glory with his broken coccyx.

Almost as devastating as the doping, almost as damaging, is that he went about it in the most stupid way. For a year now I've railed against Floyd's positive result. Why would you dope and then set out deliberately to win the stage? You are guaranteed to be drug tested only on three days of the Tour: the first day, the day you win a stage, and the day you wear yellow. The whole point of Floyd's resurgence last year was to win the stage and get back yellow. The whole point of Vino's Saturday was to win the time trial. Both of these guys knew that if they did what they had set out to do, there was a 100% chance of getting tested that day. 100%.

That has led me to protest for 12 months that Floyd must be innocent, but now . . . Vino not only kicked the sport while it's down, not only made Rasmussen's job that much harder [more on that another time], but dragged whatever chances Floyd had down with him. Floyd's done now, thanks to Vino. There's no way arbitration is coming back in his favor now.

Edited to add: Another one bites the dust.

For further viewing, go to http://www.velonews.com/ and watch their video interview with British cyclist David Millar (convicted former doper) from yesterday afternoon, right after Millar heard the news.

le Tour

2007-07-16T17:43:00.000-06:00

...because la Tour is the Tower.

But I digress. Clark's been blogging a lot about the Tour in the last week, and it's been a while since I've posted here, so I thought I'd put down a few thoughts.

The Tour this year has been really interesting, partly because no rider in this year's Tour has ever won before. It's wide open. No defending champion is riding - in fact, there currently isn't a defending champion at all, since Floyd Landis still has not been declared the official winner from 2006. But that's a story for another day.

Without Floyd ('06), Lance ('99-'05), or Jan ('97), the peloton is a bit empty. We're even missing CSC sport director Bjarne Riis ('98) because he decided not to come to the race this year since he admitted to doping during his winning year.

As a result, the peloton seems a little lost. No one rated a real GC (general classification) contender has been putting in attacks. No gusto. No guts. Again and again during yesterday's stage, the announcers questioned why no one was dropping the injured Vinokourov and Kloden (both major talents on the Astana team). Why the GC contenders all huddled together on the mountain.

So here we are on the first rest day, only one day left of the Alps, and it's all a muddle. The Flying Chicken is in yellow, of all things!

[Side note: two years ago when Danish rider Mikael Rasmussen first took the lead in the King of the Mountains competition, he got the polka-dot jersey. In following days, he later added polka-dot shorts, helmet, sunglasses and bike to the ensemble. Goodness knows what the man will do with yellow.]

So who do I think will win? I have no idea. No one seems to. It would be nice for Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) to win, adding to the American winning streak, but I don't think he has it in him. The most dangerous man still riding is Alexandre Vinokourov, but he's riding with 15 stitches and his man backup man has a broken coccyx. It remains to be seen whether he can really come back from his stage 5 crash to win the whole thing, but if gambling were legal, that's where I'd put my money.

The thing about Vino' is this: he's nuts. He came in third a few years ago. He's won pretty much everything else. In 2005, he won the (usually ceremonial) final stage on the Champs Elysees, just because he can. I mean seriously. That stage is 60 km of chitchat followed by a sprint. And he's not even a sprinter. Then in 2006, he wasn't allowed to ride because too many of his teammates were DQ'd for doping. That's got to make him mad. He's out to prove something now. Keep an eye on him.

One last word: poor T-Mobile. Yesterday they lost three guys - and yellow! One withdrew as planned (this was his first Tour, and you don't always plan on finishing your first) but two others crashed out. Team leader Michael Rodgers rode bravely after a bad crash on a mountain descent, but ultimately had to face up to the fact that you can't ride up mountains with a dislocated shoulder. Then, after the stage ended and everyone was heading to their hotel rooms, his teammate Patrick Sinkewitz* crashed into a fan on the road, fracturing his cheekbone and putting the fan in a coma. All of this just 24 hours after Linus Gerdemann, a 24-year-old T-Mobile rider no one had ever heard of before, went out on a breakaway and won the stage along with the yellow jersey. C'est le Tour!

Another famed rider, Stuart O'Grady, also crashed on the way to the hotel, breaking his ribs and puncturing a lung. Maybe next time these guys should wait for the team car, no?

*last name unspellable; all names in this post are approximate.

KSL

2007-06-12T11:45:00.000-06:00

What time to you all arrive in Utah on the 29th? Because I will be on KSL TV some time between 11 and 12. I probably won't be talking, but I will be holding an owl.

IKEA

2007-06-08T08:46:00.000-06:00

Everyone in town has been tingling with excitement - IKEA is here! People actually camped out the night before the store opened to be the first ones in. I can understand the excitement, but camping out for furniture (which they're not going to sell out of) is a bit crazy.

Anyway, Blake, Cameron, Linda, Cathy and I made our pilgrimage last night to check out the store and see if it really was that cool. And: it is. Wow! I want all that stuff! And it's an incredible amount of stuff, too: 310,000 square feet if I'm remembering the newspaper articles correctly. That's twice as big as Cabela's, for those of you keeping score at home.

We didn't get there until 8:00, and the store closes at 9:00 so we only had time for brief reconnaissance. But first order of business was dinner so we headed upstairs to the restaurant before it closed at 8:30. I had vegetable soup (forgot my cash except for $2, and soup is $1.69) that was very good. Linda and Cathy had poached salmon, Cameron had a chicken Caesar, and Blake got the Swedish meatballs. Everyone thought it was great, and cheap. You have to clear your own tables, but that's how they keep costs down. They are very good at informing you throughout the store on stuff that they do to keep costs down.

Anyway, the furniture is very neat but most of all this store has thought of everything. Hands full when you walk in the store? Use a convenient locker. Got kids? Drop them off in the supervised play land. Need a sturdy bag? Use one of ours! Bag got too heavy? Borrow a fold-up hand truck! Need a cart? They're on the first floor, so pop on the elevator! Want to know if this will fit in your house? Here, we have paper measuring tapes in metric and standard! Want to make a wish list? Grab a golf pencil and paper! Please note that there is a map of the store on the back of the paper, so you can write down the coordinates of the thing you like. Hungry? Please, stop in the restaurant, or bistro, or Swedish foods store!

Really, it's like they thought of everything.

Another cool thing they have done is to have set up a few model homes. Each has a bathroom, front room, bedroom and kitchen decked out in neat IKEA stuff, and on the outer wall they tell you exactly how many square feet it is. So you can get an idea if the stuff you want will fit in an apartment that is 579 square feet, or 340 square feet.

So anyway, I'll go back some time for dishes or cushions or a tiny couch or something. All I've bought there so far is the soup, and Linda got cinnamon rolls for all on our way out. (Hot and fresh, at closing time.)

This couch is very comfy.
This chair, with the footstool, is perfect for dozing off.

Wild About Wetlands!

2007-06-06T10:45:00.000-06:00

Whew! The wetland exhibit, she is finished. It about killed us, but it's done. Pretty much. Still some finishing touches to put up, but finished enough to be open and up and running.

If I haven't been writing or calling you back lately, this is why. Working 80 hours per week isn't fun. But we took the building from totally empty with white walls on the 16th to open to the public on the 26th. Not too shabby!

Photos:

Linda finished painting the heron at 2AM on the 26th.

Every zoo should have a sea monkey exhibit, don't you think?

Tell me now, who am da man?

2007-06-06T08:38:00.000-06:00

I rock! Yes, that's right. Me. Rocking.

We had some little baby snakes get loose at work several months ago - October and February - and went missing. We all assumed they'd perished in the winter or wandered off somewhere. Well, last Friday night I was walking to my car after an after-hours event at work. It was dark out; about 10:00. Suddenly, my cell phone begins to ring. It's Alex, who was walking down from the front gate with Elliott and Brindi when they saw a small snake on the path. I told them to keep it in sight, dumped all my stuff in my car, and ran over to where they were.

Brindi was using her cell phone as a light to watch the snake, which was curled up at the base of a tree. I had thought that maybe it would end up being a garter snake or some other wild snake, but no! It was one of the missing gray-banded king snakes! While I was still trying to register all this, he began to crawl away. Without even thinking, I grabbed him by the tail and picked him up.

It was very much a Crocodile Hunter moment, me holding the cranky snake by the tail, and trying not to get bit. I took off running for the reptile house - Alex, Elliott, and Brindi following close behind. I managed to get the door open with my right hand, and then threw a pillow case at Elliott so he could hold it open for me.

Success! Single-handedly brought in a snake, months on the lam. Granted, I'm not the one who spotted him, but I did catch him. Anyway, I called the curator of the zoo who instructed me to put that pillow case in another pillowcase in a locking snake carrier in my office, to make sure he wouldn't get out again before the vets could pick him up in the morning.

The next day, the vet came and got him, pronouncing him to be in excellent health. It also turned out that he was the one who escaped in October, meaning he'd lived out there for almost eight months before we got him back. What a guy. Now if only we could find the one we lost in February...

Raison Cookis

2007-06-06T08:37:00.000-06:00

On sale at Smith's today! They tast grayt.

Here we go again

2007-05-31T13:16:00.001-06:00

Okay, I will be on 97.1 KZHT Friday morning about 7:00 or 7:15. I will then be on 98.7 around 8:15, which I think also includes a Fox 13 live spot at the same time.

I will then be in a pre-recorded spot on 98.7 on Monday morning, but I don't know what time since I recorded it already.

Victoria Day

2007-05-29T11:10:00.003-06:00

Last Monday, the 21st, was Victoria Day. I found it fitting to celebrate with donuts, Legos, and Victoria.

40 degrees

2007-05-22T09:49:00.000-06:00

I was watching the news yesterday, and the weather person said that it was 40 degrees cooler at that time than it had been 24 hours earlier. 40 degrees! I was just getting used to hot weather, and now we're back to jackets again.

But the rain was restful and needed. So that was good.

More strange things afoot at the Circle K

2007-05-18T09:39:00.000-06:00

Okay, all of you physicists and chemists and engineers out there. What on earth would cause my ice cubes to form like this?

These were from two consecutive trays of ice I made over the weekend. The spikes aren't from drips; rather, they appear to have grown upward.

last night's news

2007-05-12T08:33:00.000-06:00

If you missed it - and you may have, since they edited my part down to half a second - you can watch it online.

The News Authority

2007-05-11T10:20:00.000-06:00

I will be on TV tonight, on channel 5 (KSL) for a story about our baby orangutan, Acara. It's supposed to air on the evening news, and then a longer version for the 10:00 news. So if you're into that kind of thing, there you go.

2007-05-01T15:35:00.000-06:00

Apartamente Nuevo!

2007-04-12T14:49:00.000-06:00

Okay, since the last post has kind of left you all hanging for the last week, I'd better elaborate on it a bit.

Last year, I decided that I would move out and get my own apartment some time during 2007, since my car was going to be paid off in the summer. Well, then my car got totalled in October and things were a bit of a mess until the end of the year.

I gave it a lot of thought, and even though I will have a car payment for a while now, I decided that I would still move out in 2007. It is time. The question then remained: when? In the spring, before the crazy summer season? After the crazy summer season? At the end of the U semester, when things are available? After the IKEA store opens on May 23?

So I got an apartment guide and started looking around online, just to determine what was out there and for how much. I don't want to spend my whole paycheck on an apartment when I could still be at home for (almost) free, so I was looking at the low end of the scale. Trying to avoid a studio apartment, that got a little tricky.

So I was passively looking through stuff but not actually going to visit any actual apartment complexes when someone at work told me that a 1-bedroom unit was coming available in the house she lives in. I called for more info on it, and the landlord invited me down to check it out on the first. It was okay, but dirty because of the previous tenant. She was cleaning and repainting, and deciding whether to replace the carpet, and said she'd get back to me.

Two days later, she offered me the apartment. Quandary! I don't have any stuff! IKEA is still 2 months off! What to do?

Well, I decided to go for it. It would be hard to get that much apartment for that little money elsewhere, and it is actually (21 blocks) straight down the street from work. Hard to beat.

So the apartment will be ready after the 15th, and I need to get ahold of a bed and some other furnishings so I can move in. It's in a house, 807 S 500 East, and I have a bedroom, front room, bathroom and kitchen. I share the back yard with another apartment, and I have access to free laundry through my co worker's apartment. I can walk to the park or to Trolley Square, and Smith's is just 3.5 blocks away. People at work have already offered me a table and chairs, two bookcases, an end table, and a $100 couch.

Movin' on up, to the east side

2007-04-05T11:47:00.000-06:00

Apartamento nuevo! Not very glamorous at the moment, but it's still being cleaned and repainted.

Put me on the DL

2007-04-05T11:32:00.000-06:00

I pulled a hammy! I've always wanted to be able to say that.

Turns out that was a foolish wish, because it's really not fun to have a pulled hamstring. Particularly when you can't take any anti-inflammatories. Plus it's way awkward trying to find a way to stretch this particular muscle.

The fridge

2007-04-04T12:20:00.000-06:00

Just your average day at work for us.

The saga of the ant farm

2007-04-04T11:57:00.000-06:00

I got a nifty cool ant farm for Christmas. It's the same kind they use on the space shuttle! Instead of using dirt, it's filled with a cool blue gel that the ants can both dig in, and eat. A pretty nice all-in-one deal. They use this on the space shuttle because the tunnels in the gel don't collapse during takeoff.

Since I got it in December, I wasn't able to fill it right away. Ants are a bit thin on the ground in the winter, and they weren't able to ship any to me until the weather got warmer.

Then, in March, things began to thaw and I noticed that I had ants in my office at work. They ran around on the walls mostly, but soon found my tiny flower pots on my windowsill and attempted to move in. These pots are about 2 inches tall, so not much room there for an ant colony. They'd work all day, transferring one grain of dirt at a time out of the pot and onto my carpet.

These ants, being much larger and seemingly more industrious than the average sidewalk ant, seemed ideal for my ant farm. I began capturing them for relocation. Once I had about fifteen, I put them in my nifty cool ant farm.

Where they promptly fell asleep.

These ants were so boring. The first several days they just hung out, cleaning their antennae and attempting to escape when I'd add a new batch to the mix. The first eight actually did escape - I put them in and then went to a meeting, and while I was gone they crawled out the air holes and got away. A little masking tape solved that problem.

Eventually they did dig a tunnel, all the way down the corner of the container, straight down to the bottom. When they hit plastic down there, they must have been a little disappointed, but they didn't let up on their new found industry. Instead, they found that there was a tiny gap between the bottom of the container and the gel, and began wiggling their way in to explore. Unfortunately, it was a small gap - even for an ant - and the ants would become lost underneath the gel and weren't able to find their way back to their tunnel in the corner.

One by one, all of the ants ventured down the tunnel, never to return. You can see them there still, dead where no one can reach them.

Perhaps when it gets a little warmer I'll send away for the fancy mail-order ants. We'll see.

Citing irreconcilable differences, Suzanne and Elliott split amicably

2007-04-04T11:55:00.000-06:00

Reuters - After 8 months of dating, Suzanne and Elliott recently broke up, citing irreconcilable differences. In the heartfelt discussion, Suzanne and Elliott decided that the relationship had been "strained" for some time.

The long relationship was the first for Elliott, 25, and second for Suzanne, 27. Her first relationship was with Justin and ended after six weeks. Suzanne and Elliott first started going out in August of 2006, after having worked together for a few years. News of the union stunned fans around the world.

One aspect of the breakup that raised a few eyebrows was that in spite of the fact both Suzanne and Elliott have vastly different ways in which they approach the world, they reserved the right to remain "close friends" and still see each other often. Elliott is the only child and sole heir to the estate of Paul Zgraggen.

It's here! It's here!

2007-03-17T17:53:00.000-06:00

Allergy season! Hooray! I feel like maybe I'm going to die.

Flickr

2007-03-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Dad's on Flikr now. Can you guess which pictures he posted, and which ones I stuck on there while I was figuring out how to work it?

New hairstyle?

2007-03-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Trying out something different. My hair looks very choppy when it's straightened out.

Leftovers

2007-03-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

Some leftover Valentine-y pictures. A card for Elliott, and a hippo for me.

Not a heathen

2007-03-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Just to clarify. I may have a Starbucks cup on my desk this morning, but it's a tall hot chocolate with cinnamon. I love Starbucks' hot chocolate.

Logan

2007-03-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

Logan is a funny town. It seems to be a pretty good size, but it definitely has a small-town mentality. We were on 7th south talking to someone, and she asked where Rebekah was staying. Rebekah replied that she was at the Hampton Inn, and the girl responded "All the way on the other side of town!?"

Um, no. The one by the Chili's.

"All the way on the other side of town?!"

Well, I suppose. Technically, out of town, in North Logan. But really. It only takes seven minutes to get there. But it was really funny.

Also, Logan has tons of restaurants. Tons of 'em. Everywhere. And they're all empty! We went to Ruby Tuesday (motto: Everything Served With a Side of Broccoli!) and it was pretty empty. Perhaps because they think that "medium rare" means "make sure it's still cold in the middle." But I digress.

The next day, we got sandwiches at lunch. Again, half full. That night, Chili's. Packed at 6:00, right? Nope. Half full. Next day: Subway. Empty. That night, Olive Garden. No wait.

Next lunch? Cafe Rio (way on the other side of town!). Now, Cafe Rio is always, always packed in Salt Lake. Some times you're lucky to get in the building. The line snakes around like you're waiting for Splash Mountain or something. In Logan? No wait. No line. That night we got Thai food, and we only saw two other full tables.

Where do all the people in Logan eat? At home? Then why are there so many restaurants? How do they all stay in business?

It's a mystery.

So busy!

2007-03-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

Where does all the time go? It seems like I have something scheduled all the time now. Meetings, evening outings, trips, full-day retreats, dinner appointments . . . unfortunately, no time for hair cuts! Or laundry. That's becoming a bit of a problem.

Last week I was in Logan from Monday to Friday. Logan is a quaint little town; very nice. Main street in the center of town still looks the way it always has, since like the 50s. Cute little storefronts. Once you get two or three blocks away from Center Street, things open up more to the typical mini-malls that you're used to everywhere. And the temple is very pretty up on the hill.

I stayed in the Comfort Inn, which delivered pretty much on the comfort, but goes down in the books as Worst Hotel Towels Ever. One of them was unraveling, and they all smelled like the swimming pool. Which means they wash them in bleach, thank goodness, but still. Also: no wireless internet outside of the lobby. Our room was about 50 feet away from the computer in the lobby, but no luck. So the Best Western in Canon City was much better in that regard.

Three of us from work were attending the Certified Interpretive Guide training at the Willow Park Zoo there in Logan. If you happen to be in Logan, do stop by. It's on 7th south and a bit west of Main Street (4th west? I don't know) in a city park. Admission is $1.00 (50 cents for kids!) and it's a cute little zoo. Mostly ducks, but they also have emu and wallabies and bobcats and coyotes. They coyotes make quite a racket when they play.

I think Willow Park Zoo only has 5 employees, but the four I met were all very nice, and very good at what they do. They're all very committed to their animals and their jobs. You should all write letters to the newspaper in Logan and tell Logan how good they've got it.

Interpretive Guide training was very dull - most 32-hour training classes tend to be, but I picked up some good tips there, and I should hear back soon on the results of my written test and outline. I'm pretty sure I passed.

We drove straight from Logan back to work on Friday afternoon to do our last evening of the Valentine's class, Mating Dances and Wild Romances. It was a smaller group, since several couples that had signed up to come ended up staying home sick. Then two staff people also had to go home sick, so the class pretty much ended up being the Suzanne and Chris show for three hours. It could have become very interesting there, as we had been up very late the night before working on our CIG presentations, but I think everyone had a good time and things went well.

Then, when I got home, Carrie and Lauren were there! They were actually there the whole time I was gone, so I was happy to be back for a couple days before they had to leave. Lauren is a very cute and very happy baby. So low-maintenance! Lucky Carrie and Clint.

Then, after dropping them off at the airport on Monday, I had to go into work to put out some fires that had developed while I was out of town. Tuesday was an all-day retreat (breakfast through dinner) that was long, but had good discussions and is now over. Yay!

So here I am at work again, trying to get back into a routine and get caught up on everything that came in while I was gone. March looks to be just as crazy as February ended up; so much for the off-season!

March

2007-03-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

In like a lion, out like a lamb. Right?

Please complete this sentence:

In like a sheet of ice, out like ___________ .

Oh, and another thing

2007-02-17T13:06:00.001-07:00

Another Great Achievement from my posting hiatus: five stars on an "expert" level song on Guitar Hero. Beat that, Clark!

Don't Panic

2007-02-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

I will be up in Logan from the 19th to the 23rd, getting trained as a Certified Interpretive Guide by the National Association for Interpretation. So if I don't post any blogs, don't panic!

Scouting

2007-02-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

Seems like Clark always has fun nerdy stuff that I want to comment and expand upon. When he posted that he had found the OOTSSOERAAAP, it became my new "greatest thing ever!" for the day. I am surprised, I have to say, that Clark doesn’t list himself as earning that many badges. They’re all so loosely defined, I figure I qualify for about a dozen of them. Here’s how I see it:

The "talking science" badge.
Assumes the recipient conducts himself/herself in such a manner as to talk science whenever he/she gets the chance. Not easily fazed by looks of disinterest from friends or the act of "zoning out" by well-intentioned loved ones.

Considering that I have ruined dates in the past with discussions about water surface tension and the gory details of the Ebola virus, I'm a shoo-in for this one.

The "Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah, I've got a TV gig" badge.
In which the recipient plays a significant science performance role in TV. This badge is nullified if recipient is always shown wearing a lab coat.

I don’t necessarily have a regular gig, but I’ve been on TV a lot. I’ve wrestled a giant African pouched rat on live TV, and was wrangling an armadillo on Wednesday. Surely that should count?

The "arts and crafts" badge.
Because you can't have a bunch of badges without an arts and crafts badge. This one assumes the recipient has all manner of "craftiness" with a science geek twist.

I'm not well-versed in the girly arts, but I do make origami elephants…I make food chain paper chains…

The "I'm pretty confident around an open flame" badge.
Recipients have demonstrated proficiency around open flames in laboratory settings.

Self-explanatory. Looks like a Young Women's award, doesn't it?

The "destroyer of quackery" badge.
In which the recipient never ever backs down from an argument that pits sound science over quackery.

Do not even TRY to convince me that Intelligent Design is actually science. You won’t win.

The "sexing up science" badge.
In which the recipient has had experience with things such as selective breeding, crossing, mate selection, prokaryotic conjugation, fertility studies, STD related microbiology, and/or any other acceptable interpretation of the badge.

Please see my post titled "I'm not dead."

The "I've touched human internal organs with my own hands" badge.
In which the recipient is "hopefully" doing something that is somehow related to human health.

Human Biology 260, anyone? I think a full semester in the cadaver lab is more than adequate for this badge.

The "has frozen stuff just to see what happens" badge (LEVEL I)
In which the recipient has frozen something in the freezer for the sake of scientific curiosity.

Ah, the infamous Twinkie, Cupcake, and Peeps Failure Testing.

The "dodger of monkey shit" badge.
One of our self-explanatory badges.

Um, yeah.

The "inordinately fond of invertebrates" badge.
In which the recipient professes an arguably unhealthy affinity for things of this category.

It’s not for nothing that the kids at work call me "the bug lady."

The "I know what a tadpole is" badge.
In which the recipient knows what a tadpole is.

Check.

The "I'm a scientist who is fundamentally opposed to administrative duties" badge.
Presumably a badge with a consensus even stronger than that seen in the global warming arena.

Boy, if I never had to do personnel paperwork again, I would be very happy.

Valentine's Day

2007-02-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, as I'm sure you were all made aware. I think the constant onslaught of jewelry commercials ("He went to Jared!") should have been adequate warning. Hopefully now Jared and all of his jewelry compatriots will take it down a notch. Or twelve!

Gah, I hate those Jared commercials. They have basically no redeeming value. Okay, the radio ones aren’t so bad. Not much worse than, say, the Shane Company commercials. But the TV ads are just annoying. "Hey," the ad people must have thought, "I know who will make great spokespeople for our product! People everyone can really relate to! Professional ballroom dancers!"

"Oh, I don’t know, Bob. Is there any way we could make that commercial better?"

"How about an INREDIBLY ANNOYING tag line that can be repeated in totally obnoxious tone of voice by every person in the commercial?"

"Gee…that means we have to pay them all for having speaking parts."

"Trust me, Stan. It will be worth it."

Ugh.

Actually, regarding Shane Company commercials – I kind of like them. There’s something very reassuring about Tom Shane and his general demeanor. This is not a man who will try to rip you off. He won’t pull a fast one on you. He’s barely awake enough to read the ad copy, for goodness sake! But really, I think the Shane Company commercials are the best jewelry commercials, except maybe those old de Beer’s commercials with no talking at all, just that "diamond commercial" music. You can hear it in your head right now, can’t you? A diamond is forever.

So anyway, yesterday was Valentine’s Day and I actually had a date! Amazing, I know. We all thought this day would never come. If you want to know who won the Westminster Dog Show, I can’t tell you. For a change.

But I digress. Elliott and I went out for dinner and a movie. He picked me up at home, and came bearing roses! Beautiful red roses! I’ve never got flowers before. When I woke up this morning my whole room smelled like roses. So nice. I think I would have taken them to bed with me if they were cuddly at all.

We went to Café Trio for dinner (site of our first date, though at a different location because the downtown location had an hour and a half wait), and then to the Century theaters on 33rd (also site of our first date!) for a very long movie after 10:00 at night (also like our first date! Kudos to Elliott!).

Side note: Elliott is wicked good at Ms. Pack Man.

Side side note: Why is it Ms. Pack Man, and not Mrs. Pack Man? Mr. and Ms. Pac Man do get married in the game and start having little baby Pac People, do they not? Such are the mysteries of Namco.

To bring everything back full circle, the movie we watched last night was Blood Diamond. I had wanted to see it for a while, ever since we saw The Departed and Leonardo DiCaprio was very good in it. He’s very good in Blood Diamond too, even if the movie does seem to be about three years long. It’s a compelling story and brings out lots of good points and isn’t too preachy all the time, and is only marginally cheesy at the end (that could have gone very cliché very easily, but didn’t) . . . but . . . I think they could have tightened it up a bit in the editing. How many times do we have to see the main characters be attacked by rebels? How many minutes of footage do we have to watch of people walking all the way across Sierra Leone? It’s beautiful country, but I think a lot of that could have been trimmed without hurting the movie at all.

This is also the third movie I’ve seen wherein Leonardo DiCaprio plays the hero and then (spoiler alert) ends up dead at the end. Oh Leo, will you never win?

Anyway, it’s a pretty good movie. If that’s the kind of movie you like to watch, you should watch it.