See Ya Later 2009!

My 2009 has, like many others', been full of ups and downs.

Certainly on paper it looks like its been a lot of downs, including the whole lack of job situation, the ever present thoughts in my head (wtf am I doing with my life? where is my career going? do I even have a career? and (possibly my most thought question) how much would selling all of my stuff get me, and what far away country can I move to and wait this whole "recession" out in?) certainly seem to back up that this year has been crappy and stressful and downright depressing at times. I am so glad that 2009 is on its way out the door - if only because its the year I got dumped by my 2 year old career, and its the year I learned the ins and outs of COBRA and the ever so difficult unemployment office.

However, it hasn't been all bad, this year numbered 2009. In some ways it has been one of the best years of my life. I know that I've only seen 24 years, but this one certainly takes the cake in a TON of ways.

I got laid off on a Friday, and even though it was the absolute worst thing that has happened to me in a long while I had three things to guide me through the first weekend, and then the next 10 months, that have helped me make this the best year of my life:

Hi Ho Hi Ho

I found this image in an old e-mail today from my friend D. Its from a collection of WWII propoganda posters and it makes me giggle. I am clearly easily amused.

Santa's takes a break from toys

to rescue some beach goers in Australia. Also, apparently, Santa is only 15. Who knew? Maybe its like the whole Dread Pirate Roberts deal, where its the name that counts, not the person. Because who would be excited to get a chimney visit from Mr. Wesley Kringle?

Here is the link.

Colbert, you make me laugh...

For those who haven't yet seen the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, here is a photo from the cover shoot ( I think this is the one they used for the cover).

 I'm sure there is a great article in there talking about how and why he's sponsoring the US Speedskating team for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, but the cover is really all I need to know that I'm rooting for the Colbert Nation in Vancouver.

Mad Libs

While waiting in line to see Avatar, Taylore and I were playing MadLibs on her iPhone (seriously, what the hell did I do while waiting in line for movies before my iPhone???). The following is our favorite one:

VACATIONSA vacation is when you take a trip to some bountiful
ADJECTIVE place with your sweaty
ADJECTIVE family. Usually you go to some place that is near a/an oozie
NOUN or up on a/an line in the sand
NOUN. A good vacation place is one where you can ride pangolin
ANIMAL (PLURAL) or play twister
GAME or go hunting for bingo cards
PLURAL NOUN. I like to spend my time massacuring
VERB ENDING IN 'ING' or festering
VERB ENDING IN 'ING'. When parents go on a vacation, they spend their time eating three burrotos
FOOD (PLURAL) a day, and fathers play golf, and mothers sit around mating
VERB ENDING IN 'ING'. Last summer, my little brother fell in a/an cow
NOUN and got poison daisy
PLANT all over his elbow
PART OF THE BODY. My family is going to go to hell
PLACE, and I will practice wearing
VERB ENDING IN 'ING'. Parents need vacations more than kids because parents are always very flashy
ADJECTIVE and because they have to work 42
NUMBER hours every day all year making enough soldiers
PLURAL NOUN to pay for the vacation.


More on Avatar later...

Shelled Octopi

Here is an amusing article (with AWESOME video) of octopi and coconut shells:

Octopi Running with Shells

Happy Friday, and holiday break!

One in Seven

Did you know that one in seven people on this planet live in slum settlements?

Designers around the world are coming together to help provide underprivileged people with homes with roofs, schools for their children, and clean water systems, but at this rate, by 2020 it is estimated that one in three people in this world will live in slums.

I feel like now is a perfect time to highlight one of my favorite non-profits (and the one I'd most like to work for): Architecture for Humanity.

Check out their website: www.architectureforhumanity.org

Their book, Design Like You Give a Damn, is sort of my bible for design. Of all of the books in my bookcase its the one I find most inspiring (thank you Lindz), the one that pushes me to think that design really can change the world, and that I can be a part of that.

Please check out Architecture for Humanity, and if you're on twitter follow them @archforhumanity for loads of updates, lecture links, and a whole ton of other things.

I'm back! *cough cough*

ninacathedral
Originally uploaded by az.lynn

Back from our family cruise to Mexico (a birthday celebration for my Grandma's 80th)! Other than getting bronchitis - as Taylore says, "What kind of cruise were you on?" - it was a fun 8.5 days, with loads of photos and some card playing and wine drinking.

Slowly I'll get through these photos, although not too slowly, I'm making a dvd of our trip for everyone, and you'll see them start to show up on my flickr page...

Oh NPH!

NPH and Frosty the Snowman.

A totally inappropriate mash up of NPH and Frosty the Snowman.

Thank you CBS for making my day.

Things related to the XX persuasion...

For some reason today I'm feeling like some crazed woman concerned with the well being of women around the world (actually, that is sort of my every day mode now that I think about it). I think its just the overwhelming number of feminist posts on Jezebel today - and considering its a site for women it seemed to be a heavier day than most.

So here's what has been on my mind today, with the links that caught my eye:

1. The best way to fight climate change/global warming is population control. DUH! I've always been a firm believer that people need to get better about that whole pesky birth control thing, and that trying to control the human population is the best measure we as a species can take for salvaging this world we live on. Its nice to see mainstream media starting to talk about the negative effects population growth has on many of our environmental, cultural, and economic sustainability issues at home and abroad. Here's an article from today's Telegraph describing the organization POP Offset's family planning and carbon offset program.
   
2. The UN Foundation and Nike Foundation have teamed up to work in Ethiopian villages to educate families against child marriages. On average, girls in Ethiopia are 15 when they are married off - preventing them from any educational opportunities that may be available to them and furthering the spread of HIV/AIDs. Check out The Daily Beast's article on this exciting and already successful program!
3. Here's a question for you, why does Forbes Magazine measure a woman's worth in terms of influence instead of financial terms as they do with men? Here's an interesting article from Jezebel today. I actually think that a list of influential women is more interesting than a list of women's salaries and investment portfolios, but that's because I care more about what people do, than how much they are fiscally worth. I also agree that Forbes magazine probably doesn't want to get involved in the Men/Women pay gap issue and that that is most likely the main reason for measuring a woman's worth in terms of her influence over her finances.
   
4. Apparently the reason Americans (and other crazed fans abroad too) are so in love with the Twilight story and Edward and Bella's relationship is because its abusive. Not surprising, I guess. As a society we dig abusive relationships in our fairy tales, and furthermore I think we have trouble counting fictional relationships (and then actual relationships) as romantic if they don't have an edge of abuse to them - and I find that thought incredibly terrifying. Isn't it wrong that some of our favorite stories are based off of abusive relationships? I mean Beauty & the Beast (he locked her up in a building and threatened to kill her if she left), Peter Pan & Wendy didn't exactly have the sanest relationship either (especially in Hook - that whole you're old so I'm moving on to your grand daughter bit is bizarre), and now Edward & Bella (I can't live without, but I'll probably kill you, and then I'm going to go off myself) - its totally WACK! This LJ post goes through some of the criteria of an abusive relationship, as defined by the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and finds that 15, I argue 14, of the NDVH's criteria for abusive relationships are met in Edward and Bella's relationship. And this is now the most accepted and known relationship example for teenagers in our country - I am seriously concerned.

With that I wish you a good night, and encourage all of my independent and strong willed girl friends to keep up the good work and to stay away from over bearing vampire boyfriends ;)

Urban parks need help!

And you can help out by going onto the American Society of Landscape Architect's page here:

ASLA Advocacy for Urban Parks

Thanks!

If Luke & Han had Facebook...

This post is brought to you by Armchair Commentary - and my friend Amie.

If Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the gang were on Facebook a long time ago in a galaxy far far away if may have looked something like this!

I AM SO IN!

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Certainly this year has been one where I've been thankful to so many people for helping me get through a very difficult and frustrating time.
All of you know who you are. Thanks to my family and friends for keeping me entertained, buoying my spirits, buying me the occasional drink or meal, and just generally being supportive and awesome.
I appreciate all of you so much!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and their families.

Barbies and Burkas?

Here is an interesting image, and an interesting awareness and fundraising campaign: barbie in a burka. I thought we'd seen most of it with her - but this one is sort of mind blowing/ironic/bizarre.

Chuck Lorre Makes my week

Aside from creating the show The Big Bang Theory (which btw was AWESOME this week), which thoroughly entertains me every Monday night, Chuck Lorre is also the creative genius behind the vanity cards at the end of the show. Its the ultimate rant spot as far as I'm concerned. This weeks was my absolute FAVORITE and to be honest is the first vanity card I've seen that is so popular, here's the link:

Chuck Lorre Vanity Card #269

Two weeks ago he ran card #111, his "I have nothing to say card", that he always ends with a joke. His joke: "Glenn Beck is sober".

"Can I hear a kumbaya?"

Got my hair did...

I got most of my hair cut off today. Its the shortest its ever been. Also, back to red again - its been two years, and I'm not gonna lie - I kind of missed it.

This should be interesting.

iPhone + Threadless = Awesome

Short little post here today.

If you are an iPhone junkie like myself, or a Threadless junkie like myself, you should check out the link:

Threadless and Griffin make iPhone Case magic!

Star Trek = super happy Az

I've never anticipated a dvd release this much and I am certainly not disappointed. 6 months seems like a long time to wait for a dvd - but it was totally worth it.

Star Trek on dvd was everything I wanted. I still need to watch the blue-ray version of the special features, for the additional 1 1/2 hours of extras not on the special edition dvd, but my thirst has been momentarily quenched by the fantastic special features I watched today. For a look at what's on the DVD and Blue-Ray release of Star Trek, check out the Sci Fi Wire article -- or man up and go get the movie!


I've NEVER worked my way through every special menu on a dvd in one sitting, but I could not work my way through fast enough this time. Between the documentaries on casting, make-up, masks, and prosthectics, the hero production team, the score, and the development of the story I was seriously like a kid on Christmas morning. Oh man. I loved watching footage of Abrams and his AD shaking the cameras (did you know that the film was shot on anamorphic film and not digitally?) and then while watching the movie seeing the scenes where Abrams was shaking the camera while filming. Its a technique he really developed on Mission Impossible 3 and I love it. (More after the jump)

They say its your birthday...

Today is birthday day. While one of my friends is celebrating his 26th birthday today, he's sharing it with the US Marine Corps' 234th birthday, Sesame Street's 40th birthday, and the stop motion animated duo Wallace & Gromit's 20th birthday.

40 years ago today, Sesame Street aired its first episode! Back in the '60s educational television was a new idea and the Carnegie Institute provided the Children's Workshop an $8 million grant to revolutionize television. The main goal was to provide children, especially those in low-income areas, an opportunity to learn and prepare to go to school while using the most engaging techniques possible. With large corporations like Xerox, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Ford adding in their own dollars, Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969 to almost 2/3s of the nation's televisions.

Sesame Street's muppets and people taught a lot of us numbers, letters, days of the week, and colors. They also encouraged us to brush our teeth, to look both ways before crossing the street, and to eat healthfully (although it kind of irks me that Cookie Monster has to eat vegetable before his cookies now). They also introduce a lot of kids to the real life hard ships of divorce, the death of loved ones, the current recession, and a whole host of other things that can be traumatic in a child's life. During its first season Big Bird was on the cover of Time Magazine, and the corresponding article inserted that not only was the show the best children's show, it was also the best show for parents! Imagine that - television that prompts children and their parents to come together, learn a little something, and then have a jumping off point for discussions!

While they have a lot more competition now a days, Sesame Street is still a staple in children's television - and from me to you, I think that's awesome! Where else are a giant bird, a grouch in a trash can, and a cookie eating monster all going to be so helpful and cool? So happy birthday Sesame Street, and I wish you many more!

Destruction of higher education in California

An op-ed piece in the LA Times that struck a chord:

"California's higher-education debacle:
Watching the decline of the California State University system from within its boardroom mirrors the erosion of the California dream.

For nearly six years, I have served on the Board of Trustees of the California State University system -- the last two as its chairman. This experience has been more than just professional; it has been a deeply personal one. With my term ending soon, I need to share my concern -- and personal pain -- that California is on the verge of destroying the very system that once made this state great.

For more of the op-ed by Jeff Bleich, Chairman of the CSU Board of Trustees visit the LA TIMES

Jon Stewart Parodies Glenn Beck...

... and I nearly fall out of my chair laughing!

If you haven't seen it yet - here's 8.5 minutes of pure hilarity on The Daily Show last night!

-------

In other news: don't get into a discussion over the icthys symbol, skeletons buried at Masada, or the "Jesus family tomb" outside Jerusalem with the Turkish Catholic guy at the local post office unless you want to have a seriously awkward conversation.

And with that, I wish thee a good weekend!

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

The gunpowder treason and plot,

I know of no reason

Why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

If you don't know who Guy Fawkes is: look it up!

Even though I don't believe in blowing up Parliament, I do believe in citizens getting together and holding their governments accountable - and I know of no other day to better celebrate and recognize people who have tried to do so in the past and people who will continue to do so in the future!

Or as was so aptly put in V for Vendetta: "People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people."

Good Luck little Sharkie

The Monterey Bay Aquarium released its 5th Great White Shark back in to the wild today.



Congratulations to them (she's been living in their Outer Bay Exhibit for just about 2 months) and good luck to her! Check out the aquarium's Great White Shark blog for more details :)

Open Letters

There is this great website called Open Letters to People or Entities Who Are Unlikely to Respond, that I was reintroduced to today by a friend. There are many fantastic letters to all sorts of things, a husband's pillow, J.J. Abrams, HBO, people with silly shirts.

Here is my favorite: An Open Letter to my Doppleganger.

Tee hee

My roommate knows me too well:

What's Up Maldives?

The Maldives hosted their first underwater cabinet meeting yesterday. Its the first such meeting ever to take place underwater and was orchestrated by the country's President Mohamed Nasheed to bring some awareness to the country's current and future challenges that are mounting due to global climate change.Due to rising sea levels, the island nation will most likely find itself completely submerged in the Indian Ocean in about 100 years. Clearly, if they want to keep living on their islands, everyone is going to have start getting used to this sight.
While the President of the Maldives pledged in March to have his country be completely carbon neutral by the end of the decade, I don't think that is really going to help their situation at this point.
Nevertheless, the man clearly understands the drastic effects that climate change is having on our planet, and I applaud his theatrics!

Climate Change meet Art

I first was officially introduced to installation art during my landscape architecture theory course at Cal Poly. Each fall for several years LA 320 students rubbed Cal Poly students' faces in the reality of the world outside our little hidden town. We erected these installations overnight and watched students interact with them by day. It was for many the most demanding, overwhelming, emotional, and interesting class we had and for a few weeks each fall we challenged our students to think about green space, gay marriage, pollution, and a host of other issues.

Since that class, art and design installation as a form of activism and education has become near and dear to my heart. Art can be an incredibly powerful tool in bringing awareness of ideas and events to people and provides a great jumping off point to educate people and get them to do some introspective thinking.

Its with a smile on my face that I see artists taking on the challenge of climate change, here are some that have been in the news this year:


January 2009: Eden, a British television channel devoted to all things nature, floated a giant polar bear sculpture down the Thames River in London to bring awareness of of climate change, thinning ice, the demise of polar bears, and their new tv series (got to give it to them, pretty brilliant advertising).

May 2009: the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) placed 200 cardboard sea turtle mockups on a beach in England. While their goal was to alert people to the travesty that is poaching and to teach the public about ways to avoid supporting black market and souvenier animal products, I think it also helps raise some awareness about the diversity of life forms on this rock of ours, and how precarious it all is.

June - October 2009: The Schonbrunn Zoo in Vienna (the oldest zoo in the world, and host to one of the best parties I've ever attended) has let 2 artists loose in 6 of their animal enclosures to show the effects of climate change on wildlife. The images are pretty iconic, and to check out some more, see treehugger.com's coverage. Also, I think this is interesting in that artists are providing environmental enrichment in these enclosures while teaching the public about climate change.

October 2009: Artist Nele Azevedo of Brasil did an installation of 1,000 little ice men perched on the steps of the Berlin Concert Hall. The installation was funded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to coincide with the release of their report Global Climate Change. This is not the first time Azevedo has done this installation, she originally did these as critiques of the use of mounuments and public space in urban areas. Nevertheless, little melting men seem pretty provacative and have gotten people talking about climate change.

Fun with Best Friends

One of my very best friends came to visit me for four splendid days this week. The trip included a lot of movies (including a viewing of the newly remastered and amazing Wizard of Oz), tv (yay Glee!), Woodstock's Pizza, Julian Pie, photo shoots (check flickr soon for photos), Oktoberfest, and talking. It was truly a fantastic few days, and I'm so glad she was able to come and visit.

During the course of starting a new little project she and I came across the following poem by Rudyard Kipling called The Female of the Species. It makes me laugh and I find a lot of inspiration in it.

WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man's timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husbands, each confirms the other's tale—
The female of the species is more deadly than the male.

Man, a bear in most relations—worm and savage otherwise,—
Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise.
Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact
To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act.

Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low,
To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe.
Mirth obscene diverts his anger—Doubt and Pity oft perplex
Him in dealing with an issue—to the scandal of The Sex!

But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame
Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same;
And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail,
The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.

She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest.
These be purely male diversions—not in these her honour dwells—
She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else.

She can bring no more to living than the powers that make her great
As the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of the Mate.
And when Babe and Man are lacking and she strides unclaimed to claim
Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same.

She is wedded to convictions—in default of grosser ties;
Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies!—
He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild,
Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

Unprovoked and awful charges—even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish—like the Jesuit with the squaw!

So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands
To some God of Abstract Justice—which no woman understands.

And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male.

Keeping up with art is hard work...

This article about the graffiti artist known as Banksy is off of Stuff White People Like - a very amusing commentary on a ton of random things.

Being that some of my favorite artists are in the "you look like you're trying too hard and don't know anything" category (i.e. Jeff Koons), I apparently am not really an art fan according to these guys, but at least, according to them, I don't have an art history degree.



I do like Banksy (see above), and I do kind of agree with them about Thomas Kinkade though. It weirds me out how popular he is.

More Cthuhlu :)

I know that a week or so ago I posted a fake ad council ad about this guy, but SCI FI Wire is doing a 31 days of Halloween countdown, and I felt the need to share more Cthulu stuff from their most recent post:


I know he's like the most evil thing in science fiction, but all of a sudden evil is pretty cute! Happy October everyone!

Mariner's Baseball :: Call of the Year

So, this link is courtesy of Jeff (T's man and co-founder and writer of the popular Mariner's site Lookout Landing):

Call of the Year

There are two audio links - one is Mike Blowers prediction of a play, the next is audio from the top of the fifth inning.

Freakin' insanity!

Cthulhu madness!

For those of you who don't know who this scary evil monster in science fiction is - check out the Cthulhu wiki for a background.

He's pretty much a scary as it gets.

I pulled this off of Wil Wheaton's blog earlier today,
please excuse the language:

Random thoughts from people 25-35 years old:

I received this email from a friend this morning, and felt the need to share, enjoy:

Random thoughts from people 25-35 years old:

-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.

-I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to
have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and
sticks when they've invented the lighter?

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're
going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to
be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the
direction from which you came, you have to first do something like
check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to
yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're
crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-That's enough, Nickelback.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know"
feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose
not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't
work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically
fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all
know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards
or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and
suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first
saw it.

-I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually
becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting
90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's
laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little
bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the
only one who really, really gets it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than
take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear
your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to
finish a text.

- A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the
spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

- LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron
test is absolutely petrifying.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart",
all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod
and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up
to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in'
examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete
idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and
said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and
instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I
know how to get out of my neighborhood.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the
person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the
shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,
and you can wear them forever.

- I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu'
to be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an
overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their
profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got
the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if
I do!

- Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring
would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go
around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly
nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be
a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work
when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything
productive for the rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't
want to have to restart my collection.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are
going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me
if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I
swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people
watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will
they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't
watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and
leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?
Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and
goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone
and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not
seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she
hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light
internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle,
then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising
speed for pedophiles...

- As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers,
but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still
not know what time it is.

-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would
happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

-It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

-Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car
keys in a pocket and Pinning the Tail on the
Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze
button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time
every time...

-It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and
the link takes me to a video instead of text.

-I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they
drive behind obeys the speed limit.

-I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

-I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Harry Potter Wizarding World

Universal Studios in Orlando is opening a new 'land' called the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Its scheduled to open sometime in the fall of 2010 (altho from construction photos it looks as though they have a long way to go). The link to their media site with photos and video and designers' renderings is here.



So I don't really know what to think about this. Obviously at some point I'm going to have to actually check this out once its open, but it looks mostly like a bunch of huge cafeterias and shops. Only time and a little bit of magic will tell.

Stormtroopers on College Humor

I have never really been a fan of collegehumor.com, but on occasion I hear about a video on their site that is funny. This one, I found to be kind of fantastic. Especially with the blue milk.
I'm sorry if the September 11th reference is too soon for people.

Anyway - here's to Star Wars fans, and survivors of the death star (even if they are a storm trooper), and wacky conspiracy theorists.

Oh, and have another round ;)

Where were you when the Death Star blew?

NASA Mission Patches

I got this article off of Wired from a friend today with several images of some of NASA's strangest mission patches. Not only are some of these absolutely ridiculous (see right), but some are downright awesome (see below right).


After spending a couple of weeks during my consulting gig this summer tracking down various military units, I've seen a ton of bizzare US military patches lately and I thoroughly enjoyed the NASA collection and their sister site's links to various crazy military unit/mission patches.

You Betch-ya!

I think anyone who knows me knows I'm no fan of Alaska's soon -to- be former Governor Sarah Palin. I do however find her incredibly entertaining. Even more entertaining than watching her stumble through her words, watching the great William Shatner translate those same words into free verse poetry last night on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien! Enjoy :)

At 90, George may still have it!

Having seen Lonesome George, and thinking he looked rather sad, I'm pleased that he's still gettin' some, and amused that he actually may still be capable of fathering baby tortoises at the ripe young age of 90.

Check out the article here at the UK's Daily Mail.

Penguins!

Some kind of sad, and kind of funny, news was on the BBC today.

Apparently, 9 little penguin bodies have been found outside Sydney, Australia mutilated by some sort of canid. That's the sad part.

Little penguins (also known as fairy penguins outside Australia) are pretty darn small, and certainly can't put up a fight against foxes or dogs, SO (here comes the funny part), traps and snipers have been deployed to protect these little guys. Yeah, that's right, SNIPERS!

And people wonder why I like Aussies so much.

I do wonder what the snipers are instructed to do if a predator comes around - are we going to start having Aussies stand up and protect foxes from snipers now? Hmmm....

June Twenty Twee

Well, at long last, I’m back from my fantastic trip, and actually starting to edit my photos! This may be a personal record for me considering that it is 2 years since my trip to Europe and 8 months since my trip to Africa and I still haven’t made a real dent in editing or posting any pictures. We’ll see how long it takes me to get through the Ireland and England bunch. Check out some fisheyes of my lomo

Anyway, truly excellent trip!!!! Which I really needed. Apparently I’ve been so stressed out that my body decided that having shingles would be an excellent way to do a trip (I’ve certainly had worse on my travels). Luckily I had it for over a week before we left, so I got through the painful stuff at home.

In Ireland we had some really great experiences, saw much of the country (which really is as beautiful as everyone has made you think it its), had sunny gorgeous “adventure perfect” weather, drank a lot of Murphy’s and Guinness, and drank A LOT of Jameson. We also sang that song that goes, “My baby takes the morning train/ he works from 9 to 5 and then/ he takes the train back home again/ to find me waiting for him” by Sheena Easton. I don’t know why, but Chris got it stuck in all of our heads. There was also a plethora of Lady Gaga, Shania Twain, and Lily Allen. Someday soon Taylore will complete a movie of our trip and I’ll post it here somehow - it will give a much better account of our hooligan-ish antics than I can here.

England, likewise, was fantastic. The conference was amazing! The English Riviera is beautiful. It was really great to see my UK friends again, especially Holly, Jo, Kathy, Tony, Andy, and Mark as well as the Brasilian girls and Robynn from South Africa. I learned some new stuff (which is always good) and did some networking and work for Shape. After the conference I tagged along with my Mom, Karen, and Jackson for a lovely weekend in London (where I’ve decided I need to move to) and then two more days in Dublin before heading home.

It has been busy since I’ve been back, with family visiting and starting a new job sub contracting with an engineering firm here in San Diego, all the meanwhile catching up with friends, family, and applying for all sorts of jobs. There has been loads going on in the almost two weeks I’ve been back, and I’ll catch up on that at a later date.

Taking the KodaChrome out of Kodak

As some of you may have heard today, Kodak is stopping production of their Kodachrome film. Considering the difficult developing process (only one lab in the world processes it), the expense of manufacturing the film, and that it makes up some miniscule portion of their product market, Kodak has made the economically sound decision to stop production.

Economically sound it may be, but I think it also signals something all of us who are into photography or other types of print media or art are constantly aware of - the end of an era. Don’t get me wrong, I am a digital photographer and a fan of digital art work, but there is something to be said for the beauty of a photograph taken on a roll of film and processed in a dark room.

There are definite bonuses on either side of the print vs. digital argument, and my friends can spin very heated circles around the issue, so I don’t really feel like getting into it here. However, having recently purchased a Lomo Fisheye, I’ve rediscovered the joy of getting back my film, the time it takes to get through a roll, and making every shot count. It reminds me of growing up and using the first camera that I could call my very own, or borrowing my Mom’s SLR to take to Alaska.

Nowadays I use digital cameras, so I make sure I increase my chances of getting a good shot (incredibly useful when your subjects are critters, as mine often are), but I am trying hard now to apply the film paradigm of shooting to my digital photo taking. Except of course, as some will tell you, when I travel ;)

Away we go!

Off to Ireland and then England today for three weeks!!! Very excited! I’ve never been to Ireland before, and my friends Ty, C, Di, and CO and I are bound to get into some trouble on our adventure. After they head home I’ll be heading over to Torquay for the enrichment conference, which will be good fun to see all of my cool int’l zoo type friends, and do some work for Shape.
Photos to come of these adventures in a few weeks when I get back!

The Shape of Enrichment

The Shape of Enrichment, Inc is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of animal welfare through environmental enrichment and behavior management. It was started by two pretty incredible women, Valerie Hare (my Mom!) and Karen Worley, in 1991. What started as a small newsletter to allow keepers to exchange enrichment ideas for their animals has become a multi service international non-profit organization.

Shape still publishes the quarterly newsletter (which goes to about 40 countries), runs enrichment video libraries out of several region branches, is the official publisher of the International Conference on Environmental Enrichment’s (ICEE) proceedings, and provides workshop curricula and instructors to institutions around the world. I’m now in the Core Group for Shape, and am excited to announce our new website at www.enrichment.org.

Also, I’m excited to go to the 9th ICEE conference, hosted by the Paignton Zoo during the first week of June in Torquay, England.

Star Trek - May Have Just Rocked My World

Don’t worry - no spoilers for the new Star Trek movie here!

All I have to say is that its AMAZING! I’m a long time fan of J.J. Abrams and Star Trek (I’m more of a TNG kid, but still), and he got it right, all the way around. If you have the opportunity to see it in IMAX do so - the sound is INCREDIBLE! I saw it last week on preview night in regular format, but the THX sound in the IMAX theater made it an entirely different movie!

Also, keep your eyes peeled for a tribble and for R2-D2.

Check out these Star Trek links on Hulu:

Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto on SNL's Weekend Update

The Onion News Network Covers Star Trek

Some People Are So Inspiring

Fotokids

I’ve heard of this organization before, but until recently had not looked into it. By introducing photography and education into the lives of young people in Central America this organization is giving children opportunities they would never have to travel, learn, and grow up safely. Through their photography, these children are able to bring awareness to the world of conditions in poverty stricken areas of Central America.

Mutants, mutants, mutants

Went to the midnight showing of the new X-Men movie last night / this morning. As far as movies go, especially the comic book adaptation types, it was pretty okay.
At first I didn’t give it much credit, but it was actually a funny, well choreographed, well filmed, action packed movie. Lots of good fight scenes, really good explosions and action sequences. Logan finally gets his backstory, and a lot of fan favorite mutants who were noticeably missing from the first three movies make appearances.
There are a few portions of the movie that I take issue with on a consistency basis (like Logan’s trademark leather jacket), and there is one particular mutant at the end who was literally photoshopped in, which makes me sad.
Of course Gambit was in it, which makes me happy, and now I’ve found an on screen mutant I’d rank with an awesomeness factor over Wolverine. Liev Shreiber was awesome as Sabretooth (but then he’s awesome in every movie he’s in), and Ryan Reynolds as Wade kept up with Hugh Jackman’s off the cuff humor. Stryker was played perfectly evilly by Danny Huston.
Any comic book fans will probably be overly disappointed, the characters are all over the place, even more so than in the original three X-Men movies. All in all though - a good show!

Favorite dialogue:
Stryker: “You boys were supposed to be killed by firing squad at 1000 hours, how’d that go for you?”
Logan: “It tickled a little”