Fly to the Moon with Jake and Let the Cliches Flow

Get your Bachelor update before Monday night!

Yes, the Bachelor, that train-wreck of a reality show where one man is set up with a train-load of women who want to be his wife. Who can admit to watching such a pathetic display?

Me, that's who. For some reason, this season has grabbed my attention. Perhaps it is the witty recaps of Mamarazzi which have made me want to see the original episode, perhaps it is the glimpses of life as paleolithic humans that is so intriguing. Many women compete for the man. It's disgusting, it's base, it's shallow....

...the next episode is Monday, 8 pm. Spending the evening in the slimy depths of television may not be respectable, but it sure is entertaining.

Rumbunny

We have three cats, and one of them has not been featured on this website in the way that showcases her lolcat personality.

Rum is an 11-year old female. She likes to be scratched, not held. She decides when, not you.

And now, Rum says:

Gravity Cat can holds lawndree down dis way...



...or dis way. Kitteh is versuhtyuhl.



Iz reddeh for mah clows up so u mai admyur mah byootee.



Ur not clows enuf. Clowsr, plz.



Iz bettr. Now u seez mah pretteh. Iz mor pretteh than u iz.

Sawree.
One more lolcats. Another lolcat. And this one, too. We love the lolcats.

More With the Sock

You know what's fun? Taking breaks from knitting with yarn the size of angel hair pasta and seeing what it looks like when you use it as a viewfinder.

I see a kitty. He is not amused.




I see a girl. She is highly amused, and more than a little confused at what her mother is doing at the moment. Bad news, OC, you are related to me.



She's rather patient, as I mess around not knitting her sock.

New Project

Socks!

Well, A sock. And it's not done yet.



I have to knit this part to six inches. Since this is fingering weight yarn (thicker than sewing thread, but not much) it is taking forever.

The yarn is Tofutsies a unique blend of wool, soysilk, cotton, and chitin. Chitin is material from shrimp and crab shells, and is naturally antibiotic. This is one of those times that I ask myself, "Self, who thought of grinding up shrimp shells and adding it to yarn? And, how did they figure out it was antibiotic?" And I cannot answer myself because I DO NOT KNOW. But it is cool nonetheless.

(I am not being paid to endorse this product. But I have to tell you, if someone sent me free yarn and asked me to give my opinion, I would do it. I would be honest. Hello, Debbie Bliss...Rowan tweed...)



My child anxiously awaits her sock. And as soon as I finish the first one, it's more than likely that she will want the other one.

I Like to Make Things

This morning was delightful. I sat by the window watching the snow come down while I felt the cool air from the outside on one side of my body and the warmth from the cozy room on the other. I read a book by the natural light and had a cup of warm coffee. Unfortunately, it had to come to an end.

I like the rain and clouds, or snow, because it makes me feel creative. I don't know why, that's just the way it is. I don't make the rules.

It wasn't long ago that I began beading, and OC wanted to bead, too. I even have pictures of her when she was four, beading away along with me.

Speaking of four, remember this?

I have to be careful when scrolling through the archives for 2005. There are plenty of funny, happy memories, but also land mines such as, "After the funeral for..."

It's hard to go back and read some of it. I won't link to any of that, for today is Friday and I think we all would rather see pictures of adorable blonde children than contemplate death, for now.

I remember this whirlwind trip. And after rereading that, I asked myself, "Self, why are there no pictures?" And I refused to answer myself because I don't know why there are no pictures accompanying this post. To have them would have been nice.

WARNING: Some older posts include curse words. Sorry. I can't help myself sometimes. It must be the merchant marine in me that caused the salty phrases to come out.

As of November 27th 2009

Tooth # 8 is so outta here...

Frost

The weather has been a tad cold in recent weeks.

Moon Day: 6

Pine Mountain Observatory is operated for research through the University of Oregon's Physics Department, and is open to the public on the weekends during the summer. OC and I headed there on the last weekend before it closed for the season.



Located one hour east of Bend, the dirt and gravel road takes you to the site at the top of....Pine Mountain. What a suprise. At 6300' the air is cooler than the surrounding desert.

It was SO COOL. Evidence: OC kept saying, "This is so cool!"

It was fun. They have big telescopes inside buildings with movable roofs. Plus amateur astronomers with their telescopes set up, and people will answer all your silly questions without laughing at you.

ADVICE: bring warm clothes. No kidding. Even in summer, it gets cold at night. Bring a flashlight and snacks.

Get up there this summer and we'll geek out together.

Nine

Birthday Girl







Before fancy father/daughter dinner at Juniper Hills Golf Club.




Among the many thoughtful birthday gifts was this giraffe water bottle, her favorite animal. She was excited to dig into the birthday gifts. Getting dressed and brushing hair are hassles that can wait for later.



Imitation is the best way to goof off.



What tongues? There are nothing serious picture-takers in this house.

Breakfast

Let me ask you something: how often do you clean your toaster?

I had been tasting an essence of "burnt" on my toasted foods lately, a lot like the "smoked" flavor we pay a lot for at restaurants. This morning I thought about the last time I had cleaned the crumbs out of the toaster. The answer? Never, or at least, close to never. Maybe once.

I pulled out the tray on the bottom of the toaster, and wow! That's a lot of chicken food. There were enough crumbs that if one were to add a few drops of water, one could form an egg. It wouldn't taste like egg, but it would be the same size as an egg. That's a lot of crumbs.

Our five hens will recycle those crumbs into an egg, and it saves one day's worth of chicken feed. And for us? No more "blackened pop tarts" for breakfast.

Sounds expensive, tastes bad.

Fifty Years Ago Donald Hebb Proposed a Rule

The Hebb Rule says that if an initially weak synapse repeatedly fires at the same time that the postsynaptic neuron fires, the synapse will become strengthened. After several firings, the synapse becomes strong enough to fire by itself. LEARNING HAS OCCURRED.

Hebb was unable to determine if this was right or wrong. Can you imagine the suspense?

Learning is happening all over the place right now, in fact. Five chapters left plus twelve cranial nerves (and their functions). My dysfunctional dalliance in biopsychology officially ends tomorrow at 3pm. I can be drunk by 4, removing most residual knowledge with the destruction of a few million brain cells. Hey, math major: with 16 upper division credits, how much tuition is lost from the consumption of one twelve-dollar bottle of rum?

The economics of that plan aren't looking good...

Global Cooling

Did you know, there are places in the world where the winters are commonly harsh? This may seem obvious, but think about it. When we get a bad week or so of very cold temperatures, it's pretty unusual. It only lasts for a few days. We complain for a while, turn up the heat, and except for a higher electric bill, nothing really bad seems to come from it.

As I walked to my French final last night breathing air that, at 4 degrees farenheit, froze whatever mucous could be found in my nose, I thought about people in the places where this kind of weather was normal. There are places where it is not unusual for people to live in apartments with little heat, who do not own clothes that are warm enough. There is a lot of suffering.



People die all the time from the cold, but we never really think about it. The other night, I thought about it.

Our forecast will warm up in a couple of days. We have enough money to pay the electric bill, and there is a large stack of firewood outside to keep the woodstove going. I have a pile of wool yarn that I can make into socks and scarves, but in the mean time we have a closet full of clothes to wear.

I think it's time to be grateful for what we have, and to share what we can. Spread the love, be nice to one another, because life can be tough.

Economics Solves Crimes

I remember hearing about the case of Kitty Genovese, but I didn't know the story behind the story.

I read Freakonomics and found reading about the application of statistical analysis to everyday conundrums more interesting than you might think. For example, have you ever wondered why, if drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their mothers? The answer is, it's not all that different than Amway.

Halloween

Four hours before dark, this is what lay on my dining room table.



A cape in colors excitedly chosen by a little girl in a fabric store in an enthusiastic bout of 'we've got so much time!' kind of shopping trip one month prior, her mother confident in her ability and time frame to sew a simple cape. Now, H-Day, it sat waiting to be completed as the minutes ticked by.

Four hours before trick or treating commenced.

Four hours to determine whether a child would be disappointed or elated with their halloween costume. Would this child learn to depend on her mother to provide, as promised, or were mommy's promises nothing but hot air?

As it turned out, the Vampiress was happy.












Happy Halloween, All Saint's Day, Marine Corps Birthday, Veteran's Day, My Birthday, and Thanksgiving.

Sing it Like You Mean it

Good Morning!

I started my day by bathing my 15-year old long-haired cat's behind that was covered in diarrhea. And then, I trimmed the long hair around his behind.

How was your morning???

Every Other Word Is Capitalized, But I'm Not Screaming

I keep meaning to learn how to knit socks. I think that learning requires a class for me, because I can't learn from a book. I need to be shown.

Earlier this year I was busy with school, then it was summer and who wants to knit with wool in the summer? Now it's fall and I'm busy with school again. What a broken record. Then I found this on the internet, which is a VIDEO that SHOWS you HOW to KNIT socks.

WOW.

Murphy Forgot To Include This One

The law of When You're In a Hurry says that when one is trying to check something online quickly before rushing out the door in order to be somewhere, that will be the exact moment your computer decides it needs to perform an update and restart itself.

Be Patient With Your Cell Phone Signal

It has to go to and then return from space! Maybe give it a minute before you start complaining. Remember the rotary phone? Yeah. How about the guy with two zeroes in his number, how much did you hate calling that person?

Louis CK talks to Conan about the miracle of technology, making some great points.

From me to you. Or actually, from my French class friend, Emily, who sent me the link, to you. Enjoy.

It Was Awesome

Giving my child a classical education while she attends public school means we do a lot of work at home. School homework and home homework. Poor girl.

We began with the moon, learning the difference between orbit and rotate. We've moved on to the planets, the study of which will culminate in an artistic rendering of a 2-D model of the solar system.

All of this to say that today we found a really cool website that shows the solar system in motion.