Two Years

My calendar at work yesterday mysteriously says "tomorrow will be two years" and I sit and ponder what in the world I was talking about. I assume it is something intensely personal and that's why I didn't put what it was (in case of snoopy coworkers) and I decide to check my blog to see if I can remember what was happening October 6th, 2003. Well, duh! That was the day I started my blog.

731 days during which I probably

worked close to 4,000 hours (167 days)
slept for 5,600 hours (233 days)
watched 2,800 hours of television (117 days)


Last year on this day, I posted about My Movie DataBase and my personal top ten movies of 2004 as of that date. So, in keeping with tradition here are my top ten of the year so far:

Batman Begins
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Interpreter, The
Kingdom of Heaven
Madagascar
Must Love Dogs
Serenity
Sin City
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

We are Legion

This is probably one of the best blog posts I've ever read. It's on Waiter Rant, which is an always interesting look into the lives of servers.

Which Serenity character are you?

You scored as Zoe Alleyne Washburne. The Soldier. You are the second in command, and that is fine. You like a chain of command, but only when the one in charge has earned your respect. Those who earn your love or loyalty will find no one better to guard their back.

Which Serenity character are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

*I was busy this weeked so I haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard great things*

Did you know

that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that we use only 10% of our brains?

MIA is at the Fine Line tonight.

Tickets are $18 and you might run into me there.

Soda Fountain

Cool: get a 2-liter bottle of diet soda and some Mentos and make a mess in your local park.

Conquer the world all over again

There is a demo available on the official website of Age of Empires III, which will be released on October 18th. I loooved the first two as well as Age of Mythology. The first PC games I played were SimCity and Civilization and I think they had a profound effect on the types of games I like to play. No first-person shooters for me, I prefer turn-based empire building followed by a swift defeat of my enemies with my technologically superior army.

Civilization's sequels Civ II and Call to Power were great, especially with the expansions like Fantastic Worlds. Unfortunately, Civ3 was a massive disappointment and I haven't risked getting any expansions for it. The good news is there's a Civ4 on it's way, releasing October 25th.

Superman, Superbucks

The budget for Superman Returns is nearing $326 million, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's budget is $305 million. Add the cost of Titanic and Spiderman 2 (only $200 million each) and you have four movies that cost over $1 billion to make.

Surftracks

Drive to China: a proposal for a bridge over the Bering Strait

IGN interviews Billy West, the voice of Fry, Zoidberg, the Professor and Zapp Brannigan on Futurama.

Placeopedia connects Wikipedia articles with their locations.

See the world from the top of Mt Everest.

Want to watch live tv from around the world?

MIT offers OpenCourseWare which is "a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world."

Read who made the list of the 50 biggest nerds of all time, including what their Defining Nerd Moment was. Example: 14. Millhouse Van Houten Bart Simpson's bull-nosed sidekick. Defining nerd moment: Millhouse manages to out-nerd other Simpsons' characters, even Martin Prince, Professor Frink and Lisa, when he buys Bart's soul for $5 and sells it to Comic Book Guy for Alf pogs.

Keep track of the numbers that shape our world, and then visit the hunger site and the five other tabs it links to so you can help save the planet a little each day.

What makes Uranus unique?

The planet of Uranus has an axis that is almost parallel to it's orbital plane (most planets' are close to perpendicular), so it looks like it's rolling as it orbits the sun. This means the polar regions would experience 42 years of light and 42 years of darkness, since one Uranian year is equal to 84 earth years.

As for the mythological figure Uranus, he seemed to have a problem with not having kids the usual way. He is credited as the father of the Erinyes, Hecatonchires, Cyclopses and Titans (and therefore the grandfather of Zeus). Then, there was the whole thing where Gaia (his mother and wife) got tired of him constantly reproducing with her and hiding the kids that she convinced their son Cronus to cut his manhood off with a sickle. Cronus then threw the body parts into the sea and stories differ as to whether Aphrodite was born of this, or if it produced the island of Corfu. The blood from this fun family activity fell to Earth and produced giants and nymphs.

Wizard DNA

I finished the Half-Blood Prince last night and ran across a post that discusses the ancestry of Harry and some of his classmates.

Dark, acrid smoke now rises above Victoria Falls gorge in place of the mist

ZWnews.com reports on the current state of the area surrounding Victoria Falls. This is the result of Operation Murambatsvina (Shona for Operation Drive Out Trash), where the government destroyed the homes of urban poor people claiming it was just a crackdown on criminal activity.

Geeking out over Harry Potter

The last four weeks of my life have been dominated by Harry Potter books. I started reading the first one on August 13th, and am nearing the end of book five today (600 out of 870 pages). On Wednesday, I saw the trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the theater and have now watched it several times on Netflix. It opens by showing Harry in each of the three previous movies and then showing the longer-haired version of him that will be in the new movie. They show Ron and Hermionie the same way, and then quick shots of various parts of the Triwizard tournament, along with Dumbledore's ominous quote. In order to fit all 734 pages of the book into one movie, neither the Dursleys nor Molly Weasley will be in this one. I wish they'd keep it all in, but I realize how confusing the story would be if it was split into two movies. I really can't wait until November 18th!

The Wisdom of the White Stripes

Black Math - Is it the fingers or the brain that you're teaching the lesson?
Fell in Love With a Girl - My left brain knows that all love is fleeting.
I Wanna be the Boy… - I never said I was the heir to a fortune, I never claimed to have any looks.
Seven Nation Army - And I'm talking to myself at night, because I can't forget.
Sugar Never Tasted so Good - Until her soul fell next to me
We Are Gonna be Friends - Tonight I'll dream while in my bed, when silly thoughts go through my head.

Puttin' on the Hits

Do you still have nightmares about a man with an orangutan puppet around his neck when you hear the song 'Guitarzan'? If you have any clue what I am talking about, you remember the lip synch game show from the early 80's, Puttin' on the Hits, with your fabulous host Allen Fawcett:



He now has that typical former star look (slightly bigger head, still too-large hair and pain-hiding smile) and held a show at the Palace Station in Vegas.


But seriously, I loved this show and can still hear him saying, "... a perfect score of 30!"

It's been one week since you looked at me...

Last Wednesday I saw Must Love Dogs with my sister, the MiddleChild. It was your typical rom-com but had some extra comedy in it, especially the opening sequence.

Thursday, Mom, MiddleChild and I went to the Minnesota State Fair. I had one of those Nut Rolls and a basket of scallops and chips. We visited the dogs, horses and cows and pet all of the ones we could reach.

Friday, I went to the bachelorette party for Wedding #2. We were instructed to dress up, and it's a good thing because I probably wouldn't have been admitted to 'drink' (the name of the bar is 'drink') wearing my typical casual Friday outfits. It was packed as usual in there, which is so rare with the places I frequent in my old age. Loud music, sweaty strangers and overpriced rail liquor is no longer my idea of fun. But, on the rare occasions I still participate in that debauchery, I have a good time despite it all.

Saturday was shopping (fabric and a Kodak photo printer that I returned) and another movie, The Brothers Grimm. I'd say it's 2 out of four stars, because there were so many ways it could have been so much better. There were too many characters that were unnecessary and we never had time to get to know or like the leads. Something tells me this movie was very different before it went into the editing room.

Monday I had my first meeting of Intro to Drawing. I hope to minor in Studio Arts, which means 5 art classes. We have to do 5 blind contours, 3 modified contours, and ten regular contours over the next 2 weeks. In class, I did a contour of a plastic army man that I really like, even though his head is completely wrong.

Tuesday I went back to Best Buy to return the printer that was not compatible with my camera. Kodak Digital Cameras older than two years appear unsupported as far as accessories go. I also went to Michael's to get all of my drawing supplies, which was almost as much fun as getting them in Diagon Alley. I got a salad and went to Fish Lake Park for a picnic and to repack my supplies into an arty box that I painted black, green and copper. I went home and did one regular contour of a shirt on a hanger.

Wallpaper on vacation

Whoa, this is very pretty. I have long had an idea of painting my pictures (that give a 360 view) from the top of the Empire State building on the four walls of a room someday.

Sean Astin on 24

Scooter's comment is right on:

This must have you in an absolute frenzy:

Astin making '24' debut in 4-hour opener Reuters -

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sean Astin, who starred in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is joining the cast of Fox's real-time drama "24," which will again kick off its season with four episodes screening on two consecutive nights.

I really can't take a Monday class in January, since there is no way I can miss that.

Nanotechnology

Scientists have discovered a way to make sheets of carbon nanotubes very quickly. "The new technique should allow the nanotubes to be used in commercial devices from heated car windows to flexible television screens."

Cute Animals 2

I babysat for a couple who owned a hedgehog, and it was really cute when it yawned. But I had no idea how cute they are when they're babies.

Why on Earth are you watching that show?

Reunion premieres September 8 - Mathew St. Patrick may be the only reason I am tuning in to this murder mystery chronicling the last 20 years. I also wonder how they are going to handle aging these people from 18 to 38.

Simpsons premieres September 11 - I read an article between one and two years ago that said some of the old writers were coming back, and the series was expected to improve again, since most consider its quality to have waned. Using data from IMDB, it looks as though the only person to have returned to directing after a hiatus is David Silverman, who directed 19 episodes in seasons 1-7, and then one each in 14 and 16. As far as the writers, it looks like the only people with significant spaces between credited episodes are George Meyer and (1-5 and 10-13) and Jon Vitti (1-5, 7, 13, 15-16). So where is this resurgence of talent from the old days?

Survivor: Guatemala premieres September 15 - Rumors abound that Steph and Bobby John from the last season are going to reappear this season, since the original number was said to be 18, and there are only 16 contestants on the official site. Jamie looks like the cute one this season, but I'll reserve judgment until I hear him speak.

Arrested Development premieres September 19 - Fox's site acts like the network has always championed the show and never treated it like a red-headed step-child. This year it gets a time slot that is less prone to being delayed by NFL overtime.

Kitchen Confidential premieres September 19 - the poor actors in this picture have been airbrushed so badly they look like wax figures! Seriously, the guy on the left Nicholas Brendan, a.k.a. Xander, does not have eyelids covered in hair, but the picture makes it look that way. It's also nice to see John Francis Daley (from Freaks & Geeks) in another show.

King of Queens premieres September 19 - a.k.a. Fat Guy, Skinny Wife #1, but Patton Oswald and Jerry Stiller make this one worth watching.

How I Met your Mother premieres September 19 - again, it might just be Jason Segel that makes me want to give this one a chance.

The Office premieres September 20 - I tried watching the BBC version, but it couldn't hold my interest. This American version does an excellent job with Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson providing some of the best cringe-worthy moments.

My Name is Earl premieres September 20 - Jason Lee playing Banky/Brodie about ten years older and after a spate of bad luck. Well, Mallrats was ten years ago, so it fits.

Lost premieres September 21 - Undoubtedly last year's best new show, I didn't get to see it as often (or as clearly) as I would have hoped, even though I did see the finale. Thankfully, Season 1 comes out on DVD September 6th. My favorite characters are Hurley and Sayid.

Still Standing premieres September 21 - a.k.a. Fat Guy, Skinny Wife #2, but this time it's their kids that make it worth watching.

Joey premieres September 22 - Another one I didn't see as often as I wanted to last year, but I don't think I missed much. It helped with the Friends withdrawals I was suffering.

Numb3rs premieres September 23 - I saw only two episodes of this last season, but my sister and mother have both insisted I will like it. Sabrina Lloyd from SportsNight is a bonus.

Grey's Anatomy premieres September 25 - I have never seen a second of this show, but I have read so much about it that I must start watching. I've always liked Sandra Oh and Patrick Dempsey.

L&O CI premieres September 25 - Chris Noth comes back as Mike Logan and partners with Annabella Sciorra in the fifth season.

Amazing Race premieres September 27 - Teams are now made up of four family members and travel fewer distances this season. The challenges are supposed to be more family friendly, the Yields more effective, and I wonder if we will see less inter-team bickering?

Will & Grace premieres September 29 - I find myself hoping that the eighth season will be the last one. Still a good show, but the reruns are often better than the new episodes.

That 70's Show premieres November 2 - This is the first season without Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher, since they are 'big' movie stars now. The other four, Laura Prepon, Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama haven't really hit it big with any movies, which doesn't seem fair. I know they'd make much better stuff than "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton" and "A Lot Like Love". It's not that Grace and Kutcher didn't make great movies ("Traffic" and "The Butterfly Effect"), but I think the other four would do well in starring roles. Kunis does great as Meg on Family Guy.

This Fall in Network Primetime

Starting at 7pm Central / 8pm Eastern

Monday:
ABC - Wife Swap - Monday Night Football (new lineup in January)
CBS - King of Queens(Sept19) / How I Met your Mother(Sept19) - Two and a Half Men / Out of Practice - CSI: Miami
FOX - Arrested Development(Sept19) / Kitchen Confidential(Sept19) - Prison Break
NBC - Surface - Las Vegas - Medium

Tuesday:
ABC - According to Jim / Rodney - Commander-in-Chief - Boston Legal
CBS - NCIS - Amazing Race(Sept27) - Close to Home
FOX - Bones - House M.D.
NBC - The Biggest Loser - My Name is Earl(Sept20) / The Office(Sept20) - L&O SVU

Wednesday:
ABC - George Lopez / Freddie - Lost(Sept21) - Invasion
CBS - Still Standing(Sept21) / Yes, Dear - Criminal Minds - CSI: New York
FOX - That 70's Show(Nov2) / Stacked - Head Cases
NBC - Apprentice: Martha Stewart - E-Ring - L&O

Thursday:
ABC - Alias - The Night Stalker - Primetime Live
CBS - Survivor: Guatemala(Sept15) - CSI - Without a Trace
FOX - The O.C. - Reunion(Sept8)
NBC - Joey(Sept22) / Will & Grace(Sept29) - Apprentice - ER

Friday:
ABC - Supernanny - Hope & Faith / Hot Properties - 20/20
CBS - Ghost Whisperer - Threshold - Numb3rs(Sept23)
FOX - Bernie Mac / Malcolm in the Middle - Killer Instinct
NBC - Three Wishes - Dateline NBC - Inconceivable

Saturday:
ABC - Movie
CBS - Crimetime Saturday - 48 Hour Mysteries
FOX - Cops - America's Most Wanted
NBC - Movie

Sunday:
ABC - Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - Desperate Housewives - Grey's Anatomy(Sept25)
CBS - Cold Case - Movie
FOX - Simpsons(Sept11) / The War at Home - Family Guy / American Dad
NBC - The West Wing - L&O CI(Sept25) - Crossing Jordan


*The purple shows are what I watch, plan to watch, or will admit to watching.
*It seems the networks' official sites understand they need to tell us what time and day these shows are on, but neglect to give us the dates they premiere. Epguides did that for me.
*No WB or UPN listings, they have nothing I watch from 7-10.
*Returning in 2006: 24 and Less Than Perfect

Office Marathon tomorrow

On Wednesday, NBC is having a marathon of The Office where they will show four episodes: Pilot, Diversity Day, Health Care and Hot Girl. There were two more, The Alliance and Basketball, which the really should show instead of a L&O rerun. Odd thing is, I have seen those two episodes, and not much of the other four, so I will have seen all six by the time the new season starts.

Also, Thursday brings two Scrubs reruns in the 8E/7C time slot. That would be a great Thursday line up (Joey, W&G, Scrubs and The Office), 4 shows that can hold their own instead of two heavy hitters with two losers at the :30 time slots.

Minneapolis woman was not even drunk

One semi-circular table, two empty wine glasses, two small saucers, two sets of silverware and one tea light candle in a glass holder were all unceremoniously tipped over a small ledge and shattered on the floor of Louis XIII at 1:03 pm on Saturday, August 13th. Witnesses report the diner and her companion escaped without injury and blamed her new shoes and abnormally large feet for the table mishap. A waiter and bartender rushed over to the site, now boasting lots of broken glass and two beat-red customers, in order to reseat the offender at another table with an identical potential for disaster. No further entertainment was provided after the woman's sister arrived and the trio was served lunch without incident. Further coverage of the incident here.


This is certainly the most embarassing that has happened to me this whole year. What about you? Post your story in the comments.

Cute animal alert:

Two new species of lemurs have been found.

You know those infomercials are lying to you, and here are some sites that prove it:

Kevin Trudeau is under an order by the FTC where he's only allowed to promote books, newletters, publications or non-branded products.

Don LaPre, has declared bankruptcy twice and has had many brushes with the law in regards to his "businesses".

Carleton Sheets seems to be selling bad advice, and has many people upset with billing problems.

Wonderfalls

Jaye is near the breaking point and furiously asks the brass monkey in her shrink's office, "Why do you talk to me?" and his reply is a simple, "Because you listen."

Yes, there are talking animals in this show. Don't let that scare you away. Don't let the stiff, pinched-faced women who play her mother and sister scare you away either, or the Horrid Haircut who plays her brother. (I can tell you're almost convinced!)

There are runaway macaws, nuns, class reunions, liars, cheaters, fat guys named Pat, a sad delivery guy, an inept security guard, lesbians, a hostage-taker, a mail-order bride, a whole tribe of Seneca Indians, a fake documentarian, an injured father, a Canadian housekeeper, and a mouth-breathing manager. And then there is Jaye and her friends Mahandra and Eric, the really good parts of the show.

The closest thing I can come up with as a comparison would have to be Northern Exposure, with it's cast of eclectic townspeople and offbeat sense of humor. While not all episodes are exactly even, there are so many shows on right now that are so much worse than Wonderfalls. It succumbed to that all too familiar fate of many FOX shows and was cancelled after only 4 aired episodes. All 13 are on the DVD release, and complete the story arc quite nicely.

Puzzles

I am the geek you see sitting in the corner, doing puzzles and eating lunch alone.

Webkitchen London has had some puzzles related posts lately, and I was lucky enough to solve one of the puzzles posted in the comments. Those posts all started from the fish puzzle, which is just like the Logic Problem magazines sitting in a pile behind my couch.

I always get Games magazine, and one of my favorite puzzles is the Paint-by-Numbers which have been recreated on TylerK's PiCross page. One of my other favorites is Soduko, which was featured on the Kare11 Extra.

1am?

I can't go to bed without telling you to read this. I've always found having the whole bed to yourself to be one the joys of single life.

Beverages

More than 2.6 billion people, or more than 40 percent of the world's population, lack basic sanitation, and more than one billion people lack reliable access to safe drinking water.

But, they can always get one of the five different kinds of Diet Coke, not including Caffeine free, Lime, Cherry or Vanilla.

July at 85

That's 85 MPH, not 85 degrees, since I have been enjoying the heat. It seems like July just started and it's already gone. For me, July consisted of the following (in no particular order):

-being unimpressed with the newly remodeled Walker Art Center
-going to Duluth on a slightly random Saturday
-falling behind on my Calc 2 homework, but holding my own on the tests
-eating at Erte, McCormick and Schmick's, It's Greek to Me and Tiburon
-trying to keep my apartment clean
-spending an afternoon on Medicine Lake, only sunburning my arms
-helping redo my mother's kitchen and bathroom (sanding, painting, tiling)
-not getting a good view of the fireworks downtown because MPD closed the Third St Bridge "for security purposes"
-intending to see Fantastic Four but ending up getting passes to The Island while standing in line (too much action ruins a good story)
-playing inselkampf, ItsYourTurn and KOL
-installing and playing Sims 2, passed on by my sister
-watching Disc 2 of Wonderfalls, the last three discs of Freaks & Geeks, and all of Entourage: Season 1
-work, school, sleep

Over the next three months, I have a record setting four weddings to attend. Two are cousins and the other two are friends, and all are at least an hour away. I'm not complaining, though, just marveling at how weddings always come in clumps.

Origami Tessellations

Flickr has a pool for them, and here's a seven level Fujimoto.

There's also an awesome hex tessellation here. That page is part of origamitessellations.com, which is complete with both English and Portuguese instructions.

SCOTUS?

When did this become a widely used acronym for the Supreme Court of the United States? It's all I hear these days. It must be a rip-off of POTUS.

No circles

is a Flash game where you have to figure out the rules before you can play. I found it on Good Experience Games.

The Wisdom of Garbage

#1 Crush - I will wash away your pain with all my tears, And drown your fear.
A Stroke of Luck - A stroke of luck or a gift from God? The hand of fate or devil's claws?
Breaking Up The Girl - My friend you must be careful, They've a million ways to kill you.
Queer - You're hungry 'cause you starve
Stupid Girl - You pretend you're high, Pretend you're bored, You pretend you're anything, Just to be adored

Hello, this is MIT, can I please get some info?

Order the DVD, meet the star

Amazon.com is enlisting celebrities to help deliver some of it's products to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

More advice from Carolyn Hax

How do you know when it's time to leave a relationship?
When you're lonelier with the person than you would be alone.
Which is why it's so screamingly important to learn to be happy alone before you tie yourself to someone. You need to have that reference point to be able to judge a relationship soundly.

Chicago

Tuesday I flew into O'Hare, landing at around noon. I rode the Blue Line downtown to my hotel, but it was too early to check in, so I left my suitcase there and headed over to Grant Park. I perused my Not For Travelers book and decided to take a free trolley to Navy Pier and get some late lunch. That turned out to be the one and only time I rode the free trolleys, since they had no air conditioning and were always way too full. I had a 3 day transit card, making the busses as free as the trolleys, so I got off at the next stop and walked north over the river. I caught a bus that brought me right to Navy Pier. I checked to see what was playing at the IMAX theater, which turned out to be Batman Begins. I had thought about seeing it while I was in Chicago, since I always see a movie when I am on vacation. It was very crowded, they had assigned seating and it cost about $22 after ticket soda and popcorn. Despite all of that, I loved the movie, especially Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman. I headed back to the hotel after stopping in the Crystal Gardens. It was very hot and humid while I was in Chicago, but as long as you could get into the shade, it wasn't that bad. The wind from the lake keeps you cool. I waited a bit too long to head out for dinner, since it was about 8:30 by the time I headed back into the Loop to find a restaurant. I ate at a bar and grill called the Exchequer, which looked like it could have held a few Mafia meetings in it's heyday.

Wednesday was my 28th birthday and I went to the Field Museum since I was disappointed I'd missed it last time. Although the Maccu Picchu exhibit was gone, it was still an eye opening place. They have a hall of gems with all kinds of precious stones, metals and even replicas of famous diamonds. There is an entire section of jade artifacts, a mock up of a whole African village, and more stuffed and mounted animals than you can imagine. They even have the skeleton of a black right whale on the ceiling. I was resting on bench when I overheard a security radio someone to call 911 and then a man yelling, "I just had to use the washroom." and "I just got out of jail." He was the same guy who had tried to sell me copy of the Onion by the jade stuff earlier. The special exhibit that I picked was the dinosaurs from China. They had about 15 skeletons of dinosaurs that ranged in size from eagle to horse that were all found in China. Behind most of them is a mural depicting what they think the animal looked like when it was alive. The best preserved and most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found, "Sue", is also at the Field. It is freaky to look at something that is not only so ancient, but was also alive at one time.

In the gift shop, I came across a book called 'What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World'. I expected some partisan slant, but it has turned out to be pretty neutral while pointing out that most of the world's woes are related to oil, religion or the arbitrary borders and leaders that were inflicted on each country in the last century.

For dinner that night, I went to a place downtown that is 3 Italian restaurants in one building, and I went to the one in the basement, La C.... I had some of my favorite foods: scallops (with tomato, garlic, pasta and olive oil), Chianti and cannolli.

Thursday I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free and located in, you guessed it, Lincoln Park. They had an entire building filled with smaller primates, including sugar gliders and colubus monkeys. The polar bears and seals both have an underwater viewing area where you can watch them swim, and they seem to put on a show for the visitors. The big cats were all inside due to the heat, and most of them were sleeping, except the tiger. The weirdest animal was probably the Sand Cat, which looks like a regular housecat with a slightly larger head and more muscles. As I was heading back downtown, I saw the same huge group of tourists you see everywhere waiting for the free trolley and looking jealously at those of us who got on the bus instead.

Friday I went to the Adler Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium. At the planetarium, I saw a show called The Stars of the Pharoahs, which was the best part. They discussed what the Egyptians thought of the sky, some of their legends about the gods as well as the many ancient buildings that are aligned with various constellations. The other exhibits seemed geared mostly towards kids, but also seemed to bore most of the kids I saw there.

Sitting in front of the Shedd Aquarium is one of the most vivid memories I have of my trip to Chicago in 1991. It was just as I remembered, and all week I had been enjoying the view of the Lake from the Museum Campus, which juts out on a peninsula. When looking back to the Loop from the campus, you see some of the tallest buildings in the world right next to a calm, picturesque lake. I got some good pictures of some jetskis playing around near the harbor.

Inside the Aquarium, I ran out of room on my digital camera that holds about 250 pictures. I had to delete some duplicates every once in a while. The coolest animals are always the rays, Skate and Sting, in the Caribbean reef. There is a hallway that is set up like the Amazon, complete with different tanks showing the varying water levels and reptiles in the Amazon. I saw poison frogs, a caiman and an Amazonian Python that was so big you couldn't find it's head. I saw a show with Pacific White-Sided dolphins, which look like the Atlantic Bottle-Nosed but have a big white stripe on their side. They also had Beluga whales, sea otters and a huge sea lion in the Oceanarium section. The penguins were being fed and monitored when I saw them, and a tour guide walked by and explained how penguins cool themselves by raising their wings. He also said that a penguin is full grown by the time it is 3 months old, so it's hard to pick out the younger ones. As I headed out to my hotel near the airport on Friday evening, downtown was getting more crowded by the second, since Taste of Chicago had started that day. That was obviously the reason I couldn't find a hotel in the city on Friday night.

My camera is being fussy about sending the pictures to my computer, so I can't upload any of them right now. I'll post them as soon as it behaves.

KOL is complete

Back when I started playing Kingdom of Loathing (over a year ago), there was a plan in place to reset the entire game as soon as all of the bugs were worked out. This meant that any items, meat and accomplishments you had gained would all be lost. Over time this plan changed into Ascension, which means that you keep your stuff with limited access to it for 1000 turns and all your stats are reset to your starting numbers. So we waited, and waited, and waited until finally there was rumor that testing of the ascension code would begin in March. I assumed April 1st would be the glorious day, but it came and went with fun in-game events, but no word on ascension. Alas, we had to wait until June 8th for the chance to battle the Naughty Sorceress and see all of the cool new post-ascension content and get the chance to change our race.

I started out with six characters, but I let my Turtle Tamer atrophy and it has probably been deleted by now. Today I ascended my fourth character which is my Pastamancer, and it only leaves my Disco Bandit unascended. The new content is everything that was promised, with new challenges, jokes and items. You now get to pick an astrological sign and it affects an entire region of the map, including some of the quests that are required of you.

Time off for Good Behavior

My birthday is on Wednesday, so I'm flying to Chicago tomorrow for a few days. I hope to hit some of the places I didn't get to in October, like the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows on Navy Pier and Lincoln Park Zoo.

Some Scottish fisherman pulled a ten foot Yellow Submarine out of the ocean.

Making a living the old fashioned way

"Becoming a certified emergency medical technician in Hennepin County, for example, requires only 142 hours of classroom, skills sessions and clinical time. Similarly, after a six-hour class, one can apply for a license to carry a concealed weapon."

But if you want to perform traditional African hair-braiding in Minnesota (which involves minimal scissors use and no chemicals) you must be licensed. Getting licensed costs nearly $15,000 in tuition and requires at least 1,550 hours (10 months) of schooling and forgone earnings. None of this training includes braiding either.

Luckily the Institute for Justice has filed suit on behalf of three local braiders to get the licensing requirement changed.

Ride the light - to a dark place

Back in 2002, I had a problem with Qwest jerking me around about my DSL bill. I love to read things like this: How Jennifer Palmquist brought down the Roaming Empire.

laugh to keep from crying

Guess what? You'll never guess, not in a million years! Go on, guess!

How the [bleep] did you know? No, Earthlink did not fix the problem, but the best part is that when I inquired about the escalation, it was mysteriously missing. One would never expect that, now would they? This time they put in a new wrinkle, "Due to a system issue, I will not be able to transfer the chat to a supervisor." Wow, that's a new one! Did you think one up just for me?

I was finally able to extract a "case number" and a promise that a Senior Technician will call me tomorrow evening. I got about 15 apologies, but I still doubt my phone's gonna ring anytime soon.

hee hee hee hee

I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long.

Earthlink hates me

Irate consumer below - feel free to skip if you don't want to hear ranting:

In March, with my shiny new computer, I got to choose six months of free dial-up access from either AOL or Earthlink. I've had AOL and not been impressed, so I picked Earthlink and I continue to be unimpressed. My problem with Earthlink is that I get randomly disconnected in the middle of surfing, sometimes after 30 seconds, sometimes after 90 minutes. I've gone through about 15 different remedies that they have suggested and nothing has worked. I started off emailing them, called once and finally started chat sessions. They keep asking me to do the same things and I have to tell them that I have already tried that. Finally towards the end of May, a rep tells me he will escalate the issue to his engineers. On June 2nd, I chat to inquire about the escalation and the rep tells me she will reescalate since it is still happening. Yesterday, after the 72 hours she told me to wait, I chat again to find out the status, at which point I am told that I need a ticket number, which was never given to me. She gives me another thing to try and says that will fix the problem (it didn't - big surprise). This evening, I chat for the seventh time to check on my problem and am told there was never any escalation put in. I ask for a supervisor who tells me he will escalate the issue. I ask him for the ticket number and he tells me "no ticket number is generated for these escalations"!

This is driving me insane, one "brush off" at a time. I have a number for Complaints (404-815-0770), which I will be using on Thursday - the day the supervisor assured me the problem would be resolved. The reason they offer you 6 months free is to get you to keep their service after your trial period. If this ISP is not even good enough for me to use when it is free, why would I pay for it?

You have been chosen

Trailer for The Island

Firefly reruns on TV

FIREFLY (FOX) - The Sci Fi Channel has landed the repeat rights to all 15 hours of the short-lived FOX series (and basis of the upcoming "Serenity" feature film). The network's July schedule lists the series as joining its Friday lineup on July 22 at 7:00/6:00c where it will precede original episodes of "Stargate SG-1," "Stargate Atlantis" and "Battlestar Galactica."

901 Marquette Ave

20050322 089 Originally uploaded by metabietz.

My building, the top seems so hollow.

Matriculating

In order to get my degree, I will need to take 35 classes.
I have taken 15, I am taking 1, which leaves 19.
I need 120-124 credits.
I have 41.67, I am taking 4, which leaves 81.

I have taken 42.8 percent of the classes I need, but only have 32.8 percent of the required credits, which means I will need to work much harder on the remaining 11 semesters of my college career.

The Wisdom of the Wallflowers

God Don't Make Lonely Girls - I can't get the girl with the Spanish tears out of my mind
Letters from the Wasteland - May take two to tango, but boy it takes one to let go
Into The Mystic - I want to rock your gypsy soul
One Headlight - This place is always such a mess, Sometimes I think I´d like to watch it burn
Invisible City - Now all of these voices, And all of these noises, With all their illusions of choices
Closer To You - I’m sorry too, But don’t give up on me

Fool your eyes

Kottke tells us to check out this page of optical illusions. I love how these dots appear to rotate both left and right.

I'm published!

I couldn't pass up the chance to have literally tens of people read my words about geometry and quilting in the City Pages. No, it's not a terribly important issue and I even hesitate giving this guy any more publicity, but I had to say something about this obvious ploy for attention.

Your moment of zen:

I got up to a score of 734 on Reaction Effect, but it's not really a game as much as a relaxing way to get yourself thinking about catalysts and chain reactions. Or maybe I'm just a geek.

Oh please, oh please

Bring us new Futurama content on DVD!

Life begins as spat:

Feeling a bit odd today, so I regale you with the following:

Oyster Reproduction: Au Naturel

Members of the genus Ostrea are bisexual, that is, they alternate between being male and female during the course of a single breeding season. During a female phase, the oyster deposits eggs within the shell, and these eggs are fertilized by sperm released when the same oyster switches to a male phase. After a 12-day period of incubation, the larval oysters, or spat, swim away from the parent in search of their own place to settle.
Members of genus Crassostrea are intersexual. They begin life as males, and then change to females the following season. After this, they remain primarily female but revert from time to time into males. Reproduction is quite a bit more haphazard for this genus, because the eggs and sperm are released directly into the water, and fertilization takes place when a pair happens to cross paths. Successfully fertilized eggs, should they survive, rapidly grow into spat, and they, too, swim off in search of a home.

After fourteen days, the spat, whether Ostrea or Crassostrea, must attach themselves to a stationary object - a rock, a mangrove tree, the post of a pier, even another oyster. There they will remain for their entire lives -- unless they happen to be cultured oysters, in which case, the spat has settled on a collector planted there by an oyster farmer

Conspiracy Theory

This morning's dream:
My sister had a moving violation of some kind and had me drive her to the DMV, which was on a busy corner with a small parking lot. I parked in a spot with a sign that said "Speeding 1", and when we came out, my car was gone. I went back, in furious that they had towed my car and talked to the woman behind the counter. The Impound lot was in the same building as the DMV and I demanded my car back, saying they'd stolen it. She kept mumbling something and I asked her to repeat it several times until finally she yelled, "I don't have a turban on! I didn't steal your car!". I was shocked, and I saw that the next person in line was a woman from work who is Middle Eastern. I said to the woman behind the counter, "I can't believe you just said that. That's so racist and this woman is Middle Eastern!" At that moment a couple came out from a room where the guy had obviously had to take some sort of test to get his license back. I recognized him as another person from my job, but he was black in my dream even though he's white in real life. The woman he was with also used to work with me. I start yelling about how the DMV and Impound lot was conspiring against people who work at AT&T.

Transit

I live about twelve blocks from the building I work in, which is another eight blocks away from the school I attend. I take the bus every morning, and at least 3 times a week on the way home, even though I own a car. Parking in downtown Minneapolis is between $9-11 per day and it wouldn't save me that much time anyway. Metro Transit changed the route I ride last year so that it goes down Nicollet Mall instead of using 8th and 9th streets downtown. They reason that it's a more direct route to Northeast Minneapolis. What I don't agree with is placing another route on an already over crowded street, a street that hosts a parade every night in December that requires the busses to be rerouted, as well as a Farmer's Market every Thursday in the summer that makes for a very crowded evening rush. For Metro Transit, rerouting busses means moving them to Hennepin, which is two blocks away from Nicollet and also hosts a few too many bus routes as it is. Doesn't it make sense to move the routes to Marquette, which is only a block away and has express routes on it? Southbound busses could use Marquette and Northbound busses could use Second Ave, as they are both set up to handle one way bus traffic. Another solution would be to move the express routes on Nicollet to Marquette/Second and the local routes to Hennepin. That's something that I've always wondered about, why they have express and local routes on the same street downtown. Express busses are pay-as-you-leave routes in the evening, so they don't waste time waiting for passengers to pay their fare in busy downtown traffic. But it defeats the purpose to put these same routes behind a local bus that has to wait for passengers to pay as they board. When I raised this question to Metro Transit in a recent complaint, they said it's valid but they'd never heard it before, so they weren't going to do anything about it.
Now they are running an experiment where the Nicollet routes will be on Hennepin from 6:30pm to 11:30pm over the summer. They plan to survey their customers, business owners, pedestrians and downtown residents to see what people think of the change. Oh please, let them ask me! I pay $1.75 right now each time I ride, and for that I get a slow ride on a bus with at least one person who smells, one kid who can't keep her hands to herself, and three people talking way too loudly on their phone or to another passenger. They want to raise fares for a local ride to $2.00 this summer.
So, if Personal Rapid Transit isn't coming soon to a metro area near me, then a revamp of Nicollet Mall is needed. Since we are too backward to have any kind of subway system, we need to have a bus tunnel that goes under the current Mall that only allows busses; no taxis, no pedestrians and no bikes. Bikes would be allowed in a special bike route in the middle of the Mall, which would be a version of the current street with a wider sidewalk and curbs that are much closer together. Stairs and ramps would connect the street level to the bus tunnel, and could even rise up to the skyway system. The tunnel could act as a subway station by providing information to those waiting on which busses are nearing the stop, and which ones have already left.
Instead of improving the current system, there are plans to cut back service and raise fares. It doesn't seem like such a pipe dream to me to make transit profitable, or at least reduce it's dependance on government subsidy. It would just take some passion and creativity, or maybe some privatization?

24: Season Finale

Dear God,
Please don't let Tony really be dead.
Thanks

Dear God,
Thanks for bringing him back, now please don't let Jack be dead!

Okay, cool.

Celebrate Good Times

A friend has a birthday on Monday, so we spent the last two days celebrating in various ways. Friday night we went to Gasthof Zur Gemuetlichkeit for dinner and then saw a burlesque show at Lili's Burlesque Revue. I had a fish and scallops dinner at the restaurant, and I loved the scallops. That could be because I don't get to have them very often, but they were delicious. They have a seafood platter for two that I would love to try sometime. The show was funny, with great music and a real retro feel.

On Saturday, we ate lunch at Salsa a la Salsa and were going to head over to the Walker. We had to meet someone on the way, and ended up playing for about an hour at the playground in the park where we met. These are the same friends that I've been flying kites with lately, so we obviously have some issues about being "responsible adults". We ambled over to the Walker, which closes at 5 on Saturdays. I'm not sure why it's not open until 9 like it is on Fridays, but since it was 4:45, we didn't go in. Since we'd recently been to the Cathedral in St. Paul, we decided to visit the Basilica which was holding Mass at the time. We didn't want to walk around during the service, so we headed over to Espresso Royale and had some gelato. We had been walking the whole day, so we headed back to my house and picked up my car so we could go have a bonfire in Como Park. The three fire rings were occupied, so we ended up using a grill to make our fire, but it was a good size for toasting marshmallows. Finally, we went home to watch Team America: World Police and drink some Bacardi Big Apple. I was so tired I feel asleep before the end, but I'd already seen the movie. I trudged back to my house and realized that was the most time I had spent outside in quite a while.

Only too true

The Onion sums up the state of schools in America pretty nicely. The "location" of this article is the town where I went to high school.

PS less than two hours until I see Revenge of the Sith!

TiddlyWikis

I came across a website yesterday that I can only describe as ingenious. The site describes itself as a reusable non-linear personal web notebook - but it's best if you check it out and see for yourself. It's called GTDTiddlyWiki and the best part is that you are encouraged to save the entire html file (a mere 123 KB) and create your own version for personal use. Even though the project is intended as a system for GTD - or Getting Things Done (according to the site, a simple and effective personal productivity method by David Allen), it could easily be used as an actual blog or about a hundred other things.

I find the term GTD a little corny, and think it's easy to turn GTD into just another thing you have to do, instead of using it as a tool. But, I do recognize that as an adult I have Things, most of which need to be Done at some point and it's easy for me to forget about them when they number more than 3. At work, I use Outlook to manage my projects, which works well because most of my incoming requests are via email. It's not that way at home, so I am going to try this out and see how it goes. My current system at home consists of piles of mail and lists that often get misplaced. Something tells me this will work better.

Dream

I had the following dream on Saturday night:

There were two brown recluse spiders, a male and female, loose in the apartment where the dream took place. The male was the size of a human hand and looked like a white crab instead of a spider, and the female was tiny. She was made up of 3 or four tiny brown things shaped like toilet plungers, but they were only about a half an inch long. I knew they were dangerous, and my sister's grey kitty was trying to attack the female, so I shooed the cat away when the female bit me on my left hand. In the dream, I knew it was a fatal bite, but someone told me I would be okay, and it was no worse than a bee sting. I looked on my hand, which was hurting by this time, to see a big slash, two teardrop shaped wounds and two puncture wounds. We kept trying to trap the two spiders, but they kept escaping out of the cups and jars we'd catch them in.

High School: I hope these aren't really the best years of my life.

Seventh grade: on to the big, scary high school. Again we got an influx of new kids, this time from the neighboring town that my huge crush was from, so now I got to see him all the time. I assume from this point on that my grade hovered around 275 kids. My niece was born this year, and I found a group of three other girls and we formed a cliche, finally realizing that just because we weren't popular, we could still have friends if we banded together. One of the girls in this group, Windy, decided she liked my huge crush, too, which caused some issues between us since she knew I liked him as well. I met my first official boyfriend in the math class they put me in, although we didn't start going out until the summer. He was from Pennsylvania, and we only dated for about three weeks, but we stayed friends throughout high school. I was the only girl in my Industrial Arts class, which wasn't as bad as it sounds. I learned quite a bit, even when I was lighting the oven to melt something, and I felt an explosion of heat across my face, because I'd left the gas on to long before lighting it. Everyone seemed pretty scared, but I didn't even think anything much had happened. The ends of my hair and eyelashes were singed, but there was no long term damage. Social Studies class was moderately interesting, since we had many debates over "issues" the teacher would present. They consisted of 5 of us doing most of the talking, and the teacher trying to engage the rest of the students who were too shy or apathetic to have an opinion. I joined the Math League (shut up) but didn't do as well as the older kids, who'd had Trigonometry already. We got to read Romeo & Juliet in Lit class, and saw about 20 minutes of the tape, since they wouldn't let us see the nudity and used the Fast Forward button with reckless abandon.

Back to the elementary school building, now magically transformed into a Junior High for Eighth Grade. In making a new school, the administration tried to be forward thinking about policies, which amounted to us all buying an official school version of the Trapper Keeper, and cutting the year into trimesters instead of semesters. This time, my homeroom was the Industrial Arts room, and consisted of both seventh and eighth grade kids whose last names were adjacent to mine. Science had us studying chemistry, denaturing wood, fusing hydrogen and oxygen into water, and running experiments on a mystery mix of stuff to determine what it was (pond water and wood shavings). I went to a MathCounts competition, where I took home trophies in one team and two individual events. Once during a study hall, a substitute librarian decided there were too many kids in the library and started kicking us out. I refused to go and ended up getting disciplined for "Insubordination" (learned a new word that day, too). I told the assistant principal why I had such a bad attitude and she decided I was bored and should read more books. Thanks lady, did you think I hadn't thought of that? I was trying to tell you how the system was failing me and you brushed it off, refusing to think critically about the bureaucracy you were perpetuating. This was the same woman who tried to ban us from wearing t-shirts that said "Button Your Fly" and handkerchiefs on our heads. All of us Bad Attitudes were ready to stage a walk out when they repealed the ban. Geography proved to be an entertaining subject, not the curriculum as much as the teacher. To call this guy a Beach Boy was not only accurate, but also something he would have taken as a compliment. He was one of many teachers who seemed to think injecting their personal opinions into lectures was a good thing. In his case, he used his desk as a platform to tell us our schools were underfunded and it was our parents fault for not wanting high property taxes. He seemed shocked at our apathy.

My romantic life sort of took off this year as well, and I ended up "going out" with eleven guys from September to May. Some of them were Summer Boy again, my huge crush from sixth grade, and a cute but shy swimmer. My best kisser of the year award would have to go to this skinny little blonde guy who had the sides of his head shaved and four sets of braces, (top and bottom, inside and out) when I met him. He was short and skinny, but oozed sex appeal, sort of like Prince. We got caught kissing in the hallway after school, when my Speech teacher walked by and made some comment. I look back now to see she was probably just teasing us a little, but we thought it was serious enough to move our good-bye sessions to the bike rack outside. We went out for a week in January and then 4 weeks in April and May. He broke it off because I confessed to him that I'd thought about cheating on him once after school. Cheating, at this point, meant making out with another guy. At the end of the school year, I started going out with one of my friend's ex-boyfriends. He'd rollerblade over to my house and we'd walk around the lake in the middle of town. We even went swimming at the city pool a few times.

The summer after eighth grade was when I joined Marching Band with Windy. This one time, at Band Camp... okay, I won't go there. Really, Marching Band is a bunch of kids (some with talent, some with too much free time) once again deciding they can still have fun even though they're not popular. This is where I met RichBoy, right in the midst of his break-up with a girl who was essentially me with glasses. He was about to be a Senior, had a car and was exactly my type. The band took a trip to Chicago, where we cemented our relationship by hanging out in each other's hotel rooms until curfew and sleeping next to each other on the bus. I got back from this trip and still had to tell the Rollerblader that it was over. It was easier when I discovered he'd also met someone else. We didn't really think of it as cheating, since we'd never made any kind of commitment. RichBoy and I went out for the rest of the marching season, which was through July, and then I met his friends. This was where it all started getting complicated, since I was liking him less and his friend Jay more. Windy and I found ourselves pulled into this little cliche of RichBoy's that seemed to consist of ten guys and girls all going out with each other, flirting with ones they weren't going out with, and making seven other people jealous in the process.

Ninth grade started with Jay asking me to go to Homecoming with him, but we broke up and RichBoy asked me to go with him instead. It was the last high school dance I'd attend, since I really didn't see the point other than an excuse to dress up. It was much more fun to go out with a bunch of people and bowl or hang out at a restaurant. My social life for the first few months of ninth grade was pretty much Jay, Windy, RichBoy and I breaking up, making up and then driving each other crazy again. Summer Boy and I got into an accelerated Math class that took place after school once a week. This helped us stay close for the next two years. I had been lusting after one guy in particular since the beginning of the school year, but I thought he was way too cool for me. Not in the "I play football and drink too much" way, but the "I have a skateboard and listen to Alternative Music" way (this was 1991, Nirvana was just hitting it big). I'll call him Sky, which works because that's his real name. The friend who had dated the Rollerblader before me was now dating Sky's best friend, who was a big geek, and might have just been a weed connection for all I know. Somehow, I ended up hanging out at her house with Sky and his best friend quite a bit, which led to us going out for two months. Once while at his house, he told me about this cool band he loved so much that he'd worn out the lettering on the tape. I thought he said they were called the Violet Fence - only later did I realize he was talking about the Violent Femmes. We were all hanging out a the local skating rink quite a bit these days, and that ended up being our downfall. One cold day in February, I got to the rink to see that none of my close friends were there, not even Sky. There were two guys that I knew, so I sat with them. I'd had a thing for one of them earlier in the school year, but I sat with the other one and ended up getting very cozy with him through the evening. I'm still very much dating Sky at this point, and I confess this to him, but he has no reaction and says we should just move on from it. I was relieved at the time, but maybe I should have seen that as a warning sign. We grew apart and I had my friend, who was still with his friend, break it off with him two months to the day after we started going out. I probably owed him more than that.

Academically, ninth grade meant that I got to take a Russian class as well as General Drafting and Graphic Design. The Drafting class showed me that I probably didn't want to be an architect, like I had been planning. Russian was enlightening, because I got to learn the Cyrillic alphabet and sit by a dreamy junior with long blonde hair and an extremely sarcastic sense of humor. Last time I saw him was at a record store in my hometown. I had Science and Civics with this hot, preppie guy that I always seemed compete with for the highest grade in the class. I wonder what happened to him. Anyway, this Science class was taught by a woman so humorless and morose that we called her Morticia. At one point I even told her straight out that the other kids weren't understanding what she was teaching, implying she was doing it wrong. She reacted like any adult would when told by a fourteen year old that they're wrong, by telling me to keep my opinions to myself and telling the class to come to her if they had trouble. They didn't listen to her and kept asking me for help instead.

The next summer's marching season introduced Windy and I to a new cliche of girls, one of whom was the older sister to an ex-boyfriend of mine. There were six girls and one guy in this cliche, and he was younger than all of us. I had a mad crush on this guy, as did one of the other cliche members (surprisingly not Windy this time), so we played it off by teasing him mercilessly about having a thing with one of the chaperones. These girls introduced me to the humor that is Dr Demento.

I don't remember all of the thinking and decisions that led to me attending private school for tenth grade, but I know being bored out of my mind in public school was part of it. This school was about 45 minutes away from my house and was a Catholic school that helped prepare students for college. There were kids from the surrounding towns who bussed in, and also a large number of residential students from other states and countries. We had maybe 150 students in 9th-12th grades. I was still taking accelerated Math after school, was in accelerated German, took a Law class with Seniors, had to take a Theology class and was pretty well challenged the first semester. To help pay my tuition, I worked the snack bar every other lunch hour, cleaned the school on Saturdays and even helped lug equipment for the soccer team. I had one best friend, and through her I had a close circle of about five more. Girls were in the minority by about 4 to 1 at this school, but I still wasn't able to make any guy friends, much less get a boyfriend. It seemed like I was surrounded by hot guys, but I was just not comfortable enough with myself to make a connection with any of them. I had put on some weight, due to stress I think, and was generally unhappy by the time Spring arrived, so I told my mother I'd like to go back to public school. RichBoy and I were still friends and he sensed how unhappy I was. He wanted us to start seeing each other again, but I turned him down. To his credit, it didn't make things weird between us. During this year, the Good Kisser, Windy and Sky all ended up dropping out of school. In retrospect, going to another school probably shielded me from being involved in some of the more criminal activities that related to their departures.

Marching band over the next summer was yet another cliche of seven girls and one guy - sensing a theme here? This time, Windy got this cute cymbal player, Mitchell, into our little group, which was up to ten when we included one of the girls' boyfriend and the guy who followed them both around. We usually took over the back of one of the busses and generally raised havoc. Mitchell and I got to be better friends, and in fact he was the only friend that lasted from tenth grade to post high school. I got my first job this summer as well, cashier at a discount store. It was nice to have cash, and the young guy from last summer worked there as well. He didn't go to my school and had quit marching band, so that was the only time I got to see him. I was still a chicken, however, and never told him I liked him. That's probably a good thing, since it's possible that he's gay. I had no gaydar back then, but I think if I met him now, I'd assume so. The same is true of Mitchell, except that he has actually told me that he's gay, but not until just a few years ago. Of course I wish these guys would have felt they could come out to me at the time, but I also realize they had their own stuff to deal with that had zilch to do with me.

Eleventh Grade brought me back to the public school I'd attended in seventh and ninth grades. I was on the Yearbook staff, since my sister was the editor, and I took classes at the local college for the first half of the day. I took an entire year of College Russian, a quarter of German and one of African Literature. I also did poorly in Chemistry class that year. My friends were a cliche of girls that I all knew from different places, a few from marching band, Summer Boy's little sister, and two girls from my church. We ate lunch together and did crosswords puzzles in the library after our homework was finished (wow, that's enough to put you sleep). I stupidly took an AP History class this year, instead of regular one, hoping to get some College credit. My teacher did a good job of mixing his political views with the dryness of American History, and I did a good job ignoring him while cross-stitching in the back of the class. I'd never needed to study before, but this was the rare class where the required reading really was required. I think I managed a C-. There was really only one guy that I hung out with that year. He was a bit of a geek that had a crush on me in seventh grade. We saw each other at school and talked on the phone, but never actually went out for some reason.

During the marching season after eleventh grade, Mitchell and I made a small cliche out of Windy's cousin and the Drum Major's little sister. Sometimes we included two other friends of his, a very skinny girl and a chubby guy. Mitchell had switched from the cymbals to the trombone, and I was now captain of the Honor Guard because I was the only veteran. I got to carry around a saber and whip it around when I saluted. Too bad it was only sharp at the tip! I quit my job at the store in August so I could go on a trip and take Driver's Ed. In October, I got a new job at a fabric and crafts store.

In Twelfth Grade, we took the ACT and my score was a 33 out of 36. I don't know how that translates to an SAT score, but I do know it's pretty good, even though my counselor just said I did "a good job" in a weird, non-encouraging way. I was taking a few college classes and some back at my high school, but it was just too easy to take a day off here and there. My sister had gone off to college, leaving her car behind, and I taught myself how to drive after I got my permit. I found that I had all the mechanics and rules down, I just needed practice driving so closely to other cars. I had a poetry class with one of Richboy's friends, who recognized me and brought me over to the dining hall with him one day and I got to see Richboy. I knew he had recently become a father and got an invitation to his wedding, which I had skipped for some reason.

I was bored - as I had been for most of the last thirteen years. I didn't see the point to all of this, so I started skipping two days here and taking an afternoon off there. I wrote myself excuse notes and made up any homework I'd missed in the two high school classes I was still enrolled in. The irony is that some of the days I skipped my school, I hung out with Mitchell and his friends at their high school. Finally I didn't go for 5 days in a row and the school called my mother at work. When she called to see what was going on, I told her how bored I was with all of it, and that I really didn't think I could take it anymore. She was great about it all and didn't make me feel as if I'd disappointed her in any way. She said I had to see a shrink and talk to my counselor at school about my options. He gave us some guff about them "giving me all kinds of opportunities" and basically defended the system again. I told him I just wanted to finish what I needed to and get my diploma, since I had enough credits but not all the required ones. For the last few months of my senior year, I went to the alternative high school where so many of my friends had ended up. I even saw the Good Kisser and Windy a few times. The set-up was that I had two credits of English and one of Social Studies to finish, so I got about 10 minutes with each teacher on the days I chose to come in, and after about 15 assignments, they'd grant me one credit. The 10 minutes consisted of me handing in my homework, a little discussion and them giving me the new assignment. My English teacher had me read A Thousand Acres, Jane Eyre and King Lear, which quickly became my favorite Shakespeare play. All in all, it seemed like this is where I should have been for the last two years. But I had not put my slacker ways completely behind me and I didn't exactly finish both of my English credits by the end of the year. They let me go through the regular ceremony anyway, but no diploma. I never went back to finish that credit, and ended up getting my GED in 1998.

Maybe I'll have some reflective analysis on this soon, as I've never written it all out at once like this.

A Decade has Passed

2005 is the tenth anniversary of both Yahoo and the end of my high school career (I didn't graduate, more about that later). The first 13 years of my formal education were a disappointment overall, mostly due to me not being a normal kid, I think.

I went to kindergarten, first and second grades at an elementary school in a town so small that we had less than thirty kids in each class. I have vague memories of being in Junior Great Books, which was a group that read and discussed stories. We were also let out early each Wednesday to attend Religion, even though we went to a public school. Being Protestant in a Catholic town meant we had about ten kids in our section, while the other section had about 60 and was taught by nuns. I also remember having one best friend each school year, but not much else about the other kids. Kindergarten was full of projects and fun activites, but first and second grade were mostly sitting at my desk doing assignments.

We then moved to the larger town where I finished elementary at one of the two large primary schools in town. When I started in third grade, we had K-6 in the building, but by the time I got to sixth grade, we had only 4-6 in the building, as the town was in the midst of a growth spurt. In third grade we learned cursive writing, I got chicken pox, and the whole class wrote letters to President Regan about the Cold War. I got a form letter back and I still have the picture of him on horseback that came with it. They gave me some test when I first got there to decide what reading and math classes I should be in. Even though I did well on them both, they put me in the second best math class, until my mother found out and sent a note with me to school one day telling them to put me in the best one. I had one close girl friend in third grade, and I got kissed by a boy for the first time since preschool. He was from Laos, we wrote each other notes and he walked me to the bus after school. We made kites in art class, but I don't think mine flew very well.

Fourth grade was a time I felt I needed to carry way too many books, and I had an English teacher who seemed to understand that I was smart, but needed some organization. She gave me a nice leather bound schedule book. We did one project where we wrote our names in cursive, made a mirror image of it and then tried to make a picture out of the result. I ended up making a bed, since 'Sarah' is high on both ends and low in the middle. In art class, we got to dip candles, but the teacher had an odd system of penalties if you "double dipped", with cards and time-outs. He must have been bored. We also had to learn our multiplication tables, and once we could recite all ten of them by memory, we got to work on word problems in these color coded books that were like 20 pages each. I finished all of my tables the first day, and got through all of the books while the rest of the kids memorized their tables.

In fifth grade, the town changed many of the boundaries for each school and the size of my class swelled to around 200 kids, which meant we had 8 classes, split into two pods of four classes each. The kids in each pod would split between the four teachers for each subject, except Art/Music/PhyEd. We went to different rooms for those. My homeroom teacher was from New Zealand, and I remember her giving us a spelling test and saying the word "tropics", but I couldn't understand what word she was saying. When we were studying Ancient Greece, we had to do a class presentation, and I did a puppet show of Oedipus' story. I also became part of a cliche for the first time in fifth grade, which meant I had more than just one friend. There were a total of six of us, and I was the last to join. My membership in this cliche only lasted until the end of the school year. I think we were split up into different classes the next year. Fifth grade was also the year I thought it would be a good idea to repeatedly put valentine candy on the desk of the boy I had a crush on. I think I did it about 5 times and he never found out it was me.

Sixth grade was the same set up, with 8 classes in 2 pods. We found out the they were turning the school into a Junior High between our seventh and eight grade years. This meant we would go to the big high school for 7th, back to the elementary building (now a junior high) for 8th, and then back to the high school for ninth grade. Split from my friends of the previous year, and the first time at a different school from my sister who was only a year ahead of me, sixth grade was not a fun time for me socially. We had to do science projects, and I remember helping some of the other kids with their projects, but not doing very well on mine. I had a lime green notebook that I drew a logo for Guns N Roses when I was bored during class. This was 1988, so there was a Presidential Election to keep track of, and we had a whole class on public speaking where we had to do a Demonstration Speech and recite poem in front of the class. It was not fun. We got to write plays, and we actually performed four of the ones the kids wrote. I played both a bird and priest in one of them. During this year, I also met a boy that I would have huge crush on for the next two years. He went to my church, and he was in a program that I attended Saturdays for gifted kids. He went to school in a small town near mine, and played trombone in the school band. His school came to play with mine on Mondays, and he sat right in front of me, since I played the baritone.

Stay tuned for another post detailing my high school years. West Beverly High had nothing on me!

haircolors

haircolors
Originally uploaded by soelo. My natural color is a dirty-dishwater blonde, but I experiment often.

Serenity Trailer

Serenity, the movie version of Joss Whedon's short-lived series Firefly, comes out in September. You can watch the trailer here. Can't wait...

Silent Bob Speaks

Read the blog post from Kevin Smith where he talks about getting to see Revenge of the Sith sooner than all of us mere mortals. My inner geek got a rush when I read that he loved it, and what he says about his wife is so sweet: "I love talking to Schwalbach. I can have endless conversations with her - which might have a lot to do with why I married her."

Music vs Lyrics

According to a source quoted in a SFGate article about playlists and personality, "People who were more extroverted tended to have songs in their music collection that had lots of singing ... People who leaned toward instrumental music, meanwhile, were more introverted."

Hmm, lyrics always mean more to me than a few notes strung together, and I have less than 5 lyricless songs on my HD, but no one would ever call me an extrovert.

South Park

Make yourself as a South Park Character:
http://www.planearium2.de/flash/spstudio.html

Here I am, so next time you see me giving you a dirty look on the bus, say hello and tell me how much you love my blog.

murse = the best word I've come across to describe the bags that men carry that are too small to be called bags

Earth Day

It's Earth Day, but if you can't go out and do something to help the planet, take some time to learn about it:
Oceans: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Cities: All 428 metropolitan areas with a million or more inhabitants
Mountains: Wikipedia's entry about mountains.
Flora and Fauna: Endangered Species
Planetary Observation: NASA

Recovering the Satellites

Check out this airplane graveyard on Google Maps, as well as Death Valley and the coast just south of Miami.

I'd also like to know why two thirds of the downtown Minneapolis satellite photo is all blurry. What, you can't focus from that far away? ;-)

Papal Trivia

The new Pope has selected Benedict XVI as his regnal name, but some of the previous Benedicts have had some bad luck:

Benedict V was deposed by Otto I, and Benedict VI was deposed following Otto I's death and then strangled by order of Crescentius, the son of the notorious Theodora. This was after a period of over fifty years known as the Pornocracy (literally "rule by prostitutes"), where the popes were strongly influenced by Theodora and her daughter Maroiza.

Benedict IX was given the papacy by his father, at a young age in 1032, and had 3 seperate terms due to his first selling the office to his godfather and then being deposed twice.

But all of that pales in comparison to the Cadaver Synod, in which Pope Formosus' body was put on trial nine months after his death!

RSS address

You can subscribe to an RSS feed of my blog with this URL: http://www.soelo.com/atom.xml.

Did you know

how the moon was formed? Sam's archive explains:
"...an object the size of Mars hit Earth once in the dim and distant past. Rather than simply bouncing off, the object destroyed much of both itself and Earth, causing a VAST spray of matter to be hurled off from the impact point; this matter coagulated into what is now the Moon."

Creativity, my lack thereof

One of my good friends and occasional travel buddy has started a new blog where he has already posted some hilarious stories. Reading them, plus the other blogs I read by people I actually know, got me thinking about my lack of writing talent. Yes, I got an A in Writing last summer, but that had more to do with me being able to spell, puncuate and construct sentences than my writing ability. Yes, I can tell a story or pontificate on an idea, but I usually end up saying more than I ever wanted to, and still not effectively getting my point across the way I'd imagined.
I don't usually see myself as being very creative, since I tend toward logic and order, but then I remember the obssession I had with "projects" when I was little, and how it has grown into a full fledged Quilting hobby that includes dabbling in other crafty things like jewelry making. My mother loves plants and gardening, my grandmother sews up a storm, and my middle sister has started making pillows and learning to sew, so it's certainly in my nature and my nurture. This is a good thing, since I am planning on minoring in Art.
I have a deep appreciation for sculpture, some kinds of art, architecture, landscapes and music. I love taking pictures, but they are more often of things as opposed to people. I don't cook at all, I bake very rarely, and I can't decorate my way out of a paper bag. My desk and living areas are chronically messy, but I do know where every last thing is, so that's a bonus.
Okay, gotta go celebrate a friend's birthday. More on "my most inner desires" later.

The wisdom of MIA

10 Dollar - What can I get for 10 Dollar? Everything you want. What can I get for 10 Dollar? Anything you want.
Amazon - Somewhere in the Amazon, they're holding me ransom. Hello, this is MIA, can you please come get me? … Minutes turned to hours and became our dates, when we shared raindrops that turned into lakes.
Bingo - You drink too much rum. You make me wanna run.
Bonus Track - You can be a follower but who's your leader? Break the cycle or it will kill ya.
Bucky Done Gun - Can I get control? Do you like me vulnerable? I'm armed and I'm equal, more fun for the people.
Fire, Fire - You should have been good to me, Then I wouldn't get so rowdy, rowdy.
Hombre - Excuse me little hombre: take my number, call me. I can get squeaky, so you can come and oil me.
Pull Up the People - Everyday thinkin 'bout how me get through, everything I own is on IOU … I'm a fighter, a nice nice fighter.

I bought her CD, Arular, about two weeks ago and I have not been able to stop listening to it. It's high energy, rhythmic hip-hop, which usually isn't my thing. She was born in Sri Lanka and came to London as a refugee.

On the Road Again

Last night, I returned home from six days in Dallas, visiting my sister and brother-in-law with my mom. We missed our flight back because we stopped for some food at the airport, but American got us on another flight pretty quickly. I half expected them to tell us we had to buy new tickets, since it was our fault, but we got standby tickets with no argument.

We went to the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Fort Worth Zoo, and White Rock Lake. On Saturday, I met a friend for lunch and we went to see Sahara, which was exactly what I expected. He tears it to shreds here, which is a much more technical review than I would have given, but it expresses my thoughts of the movie pretty well. I don't usually go for the action/adventure dramas, but I give them a chance when the locale and actors sound like they won't put me to sleep. We did get a very nice view of a Tuareg city, and some highly inappropriate butt-rock songs.

This friend is someone I have been talking to online for about 4 months, and this was the first time we met in person. Meeting new people is not high on my list of enjoyable things, but this time it was well worth it, since we had a great time despite the movie.

Sin City

Whoa! Violence was never made so pretty. For the last two days, all I have been able to say was, "Damn that was a good movie!", but I seem to have recovered. There were so many things I just did not expect to happen, and a few times I didn't even believe what I was seeing on screen. The surprise for me was that I didn't hate Jessica Alba. If she can pull off her role in the Fantastic Four, I'll hate her even less.

Persian Kittens

This one, also named Molly, is my favorite, but you should check out the whole photostream.

Molly
Originally uploaded by Anders Viklund.

Country Profiles

Always a wealth of information, the BBC website has profiles and timelines for all the countries and territories of Europe

Warning:

Overheating may cause loss of filling!

The Wisdom of Neil Diamond

Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show - Starting soft and slow, Like a small earthquake, And when he lets go, Half the valley shakes
Cherry, Cherry - You ain't got no right, No, no you don't, to be so exciting. Won't need bright lights, No, no we won't, Gonna make our own lighting
Cracklin' Rosie - Ain't nothing there that I care to take along, Maybe a song to sing when I want ... We got all night to set the world right, Find us a dream that don't ask no questions, yeah.
Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Don't let them make up your mind
I Am.. I Said - And I am lost, and I can't even say why
Kentucky Woman - She shines with her own kind of light
Shilo - All I saw was the way that she made me smile
Song Sung Blue - Me and you are subject to the blues now and then
Sweet Caroline - Good times never seemed so good. I've been inclined, to believe they never would.
You Got To Me - You got to my soul … Straight ahead and steady as Gibraltar

Lyrics

Another lyrics site, which goes another step and has user discussion about the meaning of each song.

How rich are you? >> I'm loaded. It's official. I'm the 103,478,261 richest person on earth!

Things like Improv Everywhere make me want to live in New York City. Read the MP3 project, it sounds like a lot of fun.

I am going to Fire Lake tonight (a grill house/cocktail bar), and I made reservations at OpenTable.com. I'll let you know how it is.

Firefox

One of the first things I installed on my new 'puter was, of course, Firefox. It had become a very cumbersome ordeal installing things on my old one, so I had it downloaded but never installed. It's not a huge change, since I had been using Netscape, but I do appreciate the little things. Case in point: I surf in tabs, reading a whole page, clicking on the links as I go, but opening them in other tabs, or if I must use IE, other windows. Both IE and Netscape open this new window/tab on top of the page containing the link, so I have to click back on the current page. Firefox puts it behind the current page, so it's there for me to read after I've finished the page I am reading. It's wonderful for surfing del.icio.us and RSS feeds.

Entertainment Miscellany

Arrested Development - Tv Squad has a post about last night's episode of this funny and unique show.

Check out Peerflix, a version of Netflix where you own the DVD, and can trade in ones you don't want anymore.

Fantastic Four

Check out new stills from the upcoming Fantastic Four movie.

Love Me Like a Song

My new computer arrived today (yay) and came with Dell Jukebox by Musicmatch. I am still getting used to it, as well as trying to figure out why the first 25 seconds of the songs from a CD sound like crap. Preloaded in My Music folder are 11 mp3s and one 22 second ad to upgrade the software. One of those mp3s is "Love Me Like a Song" by Kimmie Rhodes featuring Willie Nelson. This is a lovely little ballad that Kimmie wrote with Gary Nicholson. She and Willie recorded a whole CD of duets, and you buy it all or just one track at a time on Willie's website.

Love Me Like A Song

words & music by Kimmie Rodes & Gary Nicholson

Put your arms around me
listen to my heartbeat now
if you want to love me
Baby, I can show you how

Love me like a song
sweet as a melody
learn all the words to me
and sing along
find the harmony
the rhythm and the rhyme to me
on and on
all night long
love me like song

I want to be the melody
you can't get out of your head
Think of me as words of love
a poet might have said and...

Love me like a song
sweet as a melody
learn all the words to me
and sing along
find the harmony
the rhythm and the rhyme to me
on and on
all night long
love me like song

Technophile on board

The current issue of Popular Mechanics rates Minneapolis, as the Top Tech City in the country. It's a great article to read if you live in the Metro area, and I was surprised to learn that there is no heating system in the Mall of America. It relies on lights and body heat. - via Metroblogging

Logic

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. - Dune by Frank Herbert

Did you know

that Spam, Krispy Kreme and Kraft Dinner all came out the same year?

Don't use Hartz Flea and tick products on Cats.

I am heading out tonight for some drinking and general revelry. My computer is currently in the hands of a trusted friend, but it does not look good. I have some evil cold and cough thing that is threatening to turn into pneumonia yet again. I couldn't escape another February without some kind of respiratory problem, and I don't even smoke.

The Wisdom of Green Day

American Idiot - Television dreams of tomorrow. We're not the ones who're meant to follow … One nation controlled by the media, Information age of hysteria.
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - I'm walking down the line that divides me somewhere in my mind, On the border line Of the edge and where I walk alone.
Church On Sunday - Tears down your face leaving traces of my mistakes … If you live with me, I'll die for you and this compromise I hereby solemnly swear to tell the whole truth And nothing but the truth is what I'll ever hear from you.
(Good Riddance) Time of your life - So take the photographs And still frames in your mind, Hang them on a shelf In good health and good time.
Minority - I wanna be the minority. I don't need your authority. Down with the moral majority. Cause I wanna be the minority.
One Of My Lies - Don't give me an answer cause you only know as much as I know.
Road To Acceptance - I'll never do exactly what I want, And I'll sculpt my life for your acceptance … If you'd stop a while And maybe if you'd smile You would realize that We're all the same.
She - Waiting for a sign to smash the silence with the brick of self control. Are you locked up in a world That's been planned out for you? … All her doubts were someone else's point of view.
Walking Contradiction - Talk is cheap and lies are expensive.
When I Come Around - So go do what you like. Make sure you do it wise. You may find out that your self-doubt means nothing was ever there. You can't go forcing something if it's just not right.