BTH - Before Thumb Hole

here's the current state of my knitting project (part of the keep extremities warm coalition) . i am about to start the thumb hole. which should be exciting (hopefully i won't ruin it or i won't get lost enough to have to call sarah). my lovely hand model is keith.

Thanksgiving - A Time to Learn (aka have fun)

every thanksgiving we get together with dan & sarah we have a good time and do cool stuff. i really feel privileged to have them as friends for multiple reasons. one reason is they have cool knowledge. this thanksgiving i learned two new activities (or rather started the learning process) and a couple new games. the two games were dance dance revolution, which i am quite bad at but still enjoy playing, and a card game called apples to apples. my two activities were knitting and shooting a gun.


for the knitting i decided to take it on when sarah suggested a cure for the cold mouse hand... little sleeves for the wrists. so for my first knitting project i am doing those which involves knitting on the round with double pointed needles. so far it is not too bad. pictured below is my gauge swatch which also doubled as my learning how to knit piece. i unraveled it soon after the picture and began a wrist thingy.for shooting we went to a really neat area in oregon called leslie gulch. the rocks had lots of creviaces and nooks. a few arches. the area was really interesting and beautiful. i learned to shoot a 22. which apparently is just above a bb gun (never shot one of those either). once i was guided through how to use the sight properly it was surprisingly easy to actually hit targets.

Just in Time

my wisdom tooth started poking up and interfering in my mouth (technical term i believe is 'impacted') last year. i let it go since it wasn't bothering me but i knew it would have to come out sometime. a month or so ago i scheduled to get it extracted this wednesday. today (monday) it really started to bother me. i think i'll take an ibuprofen when i get home as it is sore and distracting. good thing the appointment is coming up.

Southwest a Bit Too Southern for My Comfort?

last weekend in flying to janell's wedding (which was great!) i heard some terms of endearment used improperly. at least i consider it improper.

on the way to the wedding i heard a 30 something woman working for southwest tell a 50ish man 'there you go sweetie." (on one level i found it amusing that a man was called this because so often it is just done to women.) and then on the return trip i heard everyone being called dear or such things when getting drinks.

now, this may be a southern culture thing. or maybe just a culture i am out of touch with. but i totally think that terms of endearment should be reserved for use by those you actually have a personal relationship with. i love it when grandma calls me dear. but someone taking my ticket? forget it. in retrospect i think on a number of southwest flights i have noticed this 'personalization' and so maybe they train everyone to say that so they don't have to use sir, ma'am or miss. (side rant... why another set of terms that identifies the womans state of marriage but not the man's) maybe southwest just hires people from a region where this endearing is considered normal. maybe i just am too sensitive... ya probably.

Hey, I've been there!

This snopes story talks about an actual place I've been. It really is an awesome place to go, nice views and a cool bridge. Wish I had been there for the story!

Save the Giraffe?

this ultra short news piece about a giraffe that wandered into a township says that the locals wanted to kill it for eating. the area has a significant food shortage. giraffes aren't endangered. so i think they should have let the people kill it and eat it. maybe peta will come get me for saying that, but really people should be allowed to eat stuff, even if it unusual.

Stop the Junk (some of it)

so i know some of you, eh-em sarah, like playing the credit card games. but for the rest of us who are tired of getting pre-approved whatever you can opt out of the junk mail that originates from your credit bureau data by visiting www.optoutprescreen.com

Something to Reflect On Before Going to Teach a Class

Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.
- Laurence J. Peter

The Floor

we've hit bottom... okay not really since the first floor is really the second floor but anyways we got a new floor. the old carpet in the halls was coming up and was definitely a safety hazard... long story end we have a new floor that we didn't choose. it was supposed to be white with random gray & maybe some blue tiles. instead we get the flag. okay well at least it isn't in the pattern of the flag, but the whole thing just reminds me of a grocery store. it also clashes quite horrendously with the ugly 80's mural near the g chem labs.

Cool Nerd god

in response to kev's post

Delisting

okay i'm officially out of my depth in stock. actually i know next to nothing about stock and honestly am not too interesting in learning right now... i'll leave that to keith.

today i looked at my yahoo portfolio and found that my BF is no longer listed. turns out that due to the expense of being listing on an exchange in the US they decided to stop trading over here. they still trade on the frankfurt exchange, apparently. good thing i plan on keeping it a while...

If you host a picnic

an end of summer party/picnic always sounds like a good idea. and then people go and make it complicated. like by inviting people to go sailing. one of our dept. members recently bought a sailboat and decided to invite people onto the boat during the picnic. here's some observations in no particular order.
1. don't get your prop caught in a buoy line while motoring to the dock.
2. go sailing several times yourself before inviting others along.
3. don't assume that anyone on the boat knows or cares to help.

one trip back to the dock the boat almost didn't make it back because the sails suddenly caught some wind... another trip the passengers had to tell him that there was no way they were going to help since they didn't know the first thing about sailing and weren't in a mood to learn in 2 minutes from a complete novice... the final and third trip didn't make it out of the bay (on a small lake) since somehow they got stuck in the weeds without any wind and the motor quit...

finally, i have learned my instincts regarding boats is good: never own one. maybe rent one. learn, yes take a class, if you plan on doing anything complicated like sailing

Vitamins

Every so often I read my Adventist Review stuff that comes in my inbox. I was interested by one of the health questions and so I clicked. To my surprise I found an answer that I agree with. (I say surprising because so often Adventists push 'natural' and vegetarian as cure alls and I don't agree.) Read below and then consider consulting your doctor before taking supplements, even if they seem innocuous.

Patients with a variety of chronic diseases have not been benefited by supplements; in fact, some have been harmed by them.

In an analysis of more than 60 randomized trials involving nearly a quarter of a million persons, vitamin supplements were tested, both singly and in combinations.

In the 47 studies with the best methodology, beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E, given either singly or in combination, were associated with between a 4 to 16 percent higher mortality. Vitamin C and selenium had no effect on mortality risk.

These are relatively small risks, but they do suggest we have no basis on which to promote such supplements.

In One Day

long ago, in a land somewhat far away i used to have a job that i hated. i was the receptionist for a mortgage broker. i hated answering the phone, still do, messed up a few things and mostly it was boring. but the great thing about the job was i read a book a day. really i did. i would finish a book in the morning. walk to the library at lunch to get a new book and then read half of it in the afternoon.

yesterday morning i met my mom at the bookstore, sorta. we live many miles apart so i went to a bookstore here and she went to a bookstore in rapid. but we were both at the bookstore picking out a book and then sat down and had coffee while starting on the book. it was a lot of fun and i think a new tradition. in any case i got ghost brigades by john scalzi. i had read old man's war a while ago when i checked it out a the library. i knew he had done a sequel but hadn't gotten around to requesting it through inter library loan. since it was paperback it was relatively inexpensive and i was in the mood for some good sci-fi. rather than write a review here that is inadeqate i direct you to sfreviews, which has a great review of the book. once i got started i couldn't put it down. i did some work on the poster of our alaska trip while reading (my computer takes a while to process some things). but mostly i spent sunday reading. so i finished the book all in one day. yup it was that good.

Americans Don't Know Geography Anyways

we went to see the simpson's movie on sunday. i found it worth the time and money because i enjoy the humor of the simpson's. everything gets reduced to absurdity. so i really enjoyed when ned flanders pointed out the four states that you can see from a hill by springfield--ohio, kentucky, nevada, and maine. i bet many americans don't even know those states are in different regions of the country (okay except ohio and kentucky are next to each other). this joked paired well with when homer said that leaving alaska would be returning to the united states.

Petty Battles

Today I had lunch with two people from the department to discuss why our Introductory course doesn't count for General Studies requirements when other courses do. Basically it came down to petty battles between people. We think we have a strategy, including the strategy of not pointing out the obvious stupidity of others, to get the course accepted as a general studies course.

This afternoon I was reading C&EN and found a quote in there about nomenclature. Don't get me wrong I think that nomenclature is highly important, but I found the following both hilarious and sad.

'It was probably one of the low points of my career,' one attendee tells C&EN 'when we spent 30 minutes arguing whether the word should be spelled co-crystal or cocrystal.'--C&EN, June 18, 2006 page 28

My department chair pointed out a while ago that if people agree on something don't discuss it. I nearly lost my non-battle to have all students wearing goggles and not safety glasses in lab because I brought it up for discussion.

Meetings and discussions... tell me about your most pointless one.

Bad Choices

it haunts me how many bad choices students make. they don't study. they don't show up on time to class or tests, they don't answer 10 questions on a 70 question multiple choice test with no penalty for guessing, they sleep with people who hurt them, they stay up late at night, they turn in papers late, they ignore generous hints, they wear revealing clothes (guys and girls) without understanding, they choose what they want to do based on money, they lie, they don't get help.

there are other students i'm so proud to have taught. the one who we gave a g. chem award to which meant a CRC handbook. the professors got thank you notes from that student and mine included a note about how the book had to be put in the closet since it was distracting from studying from finals. the student who earnestly asks questions because knowledge is desired rather than a grade. another student who pays attention, works hard, and doesn't try to pretend everything is fine when things are not. that student asked for help and will get an incomplete that i am sure will be made up as soon as possible. the student who says thanks for the help even when a C- is assigned.

The problem with bookstores and libraries

i went to the library this morning for some inspiration and to prepare some stuff for class. i ended up buying two paperback books (hey only 50¢ total). then i went back to the library for my class today since i had a library/computer assignment for them. i left with two books checked out that look interesting. when am i going to read these? i don't know, but that is the problem/nice thing about libraries and bookstores. i just can resist getting a book or 10.

Frustration

i wish...
that keith had a job down here
that our house would sell
that we had our own place down here

it is getting frustrating that thinks aren't working out. making me think, what if? i wasn't supposed to take this job? i am not supposed to stay in this job? we have to stay apart for a long time?

maybe i should not be here... maybe i projected my will and made it "God's will"

frozen squirrels....as weapons

need i say anything more than to get you to read this snopes post? ... i thought not.