February 27; The Top Ten

Top Ten things that have happened in the past 365 Days.

1. February 29, 2008 - Andrea and I were married in the Chapel at Concordia University, St. Paul. We had discussed April 1, but I thought that was too close to my birthday. Then we realized that February 29 was on a Friday! Perfect! Only our immediate families and two friends were invited. The Drs. Schuler also played a big part.
2. March 6, 2008 - Having only been employed by the Boys and Girls Club for just over one month, I assumed the role of "interim Unit Director" while my boss went on maternity leave. I soon realized I did not want her job yet.
3. April 6, 2008 - I turned 23 and got a Wii (that rhymed)
4. Late April 2008 - Travelled back to Minnesota for the Jones' wedding. Hit a blizard around the North Dakota/Minnesota border. At one point, we spun around 720 degrees. Thankfully we ended up on the "authorized vehicles" access road. We were even facing the right direction.
5. Early May 2008 - My boss came back. I reassumed my original role as Program Manager.
6. June 10, 2008 - Summer Program at Castle Rock Clubhouse begins.
7. Mid June 2008 - Having taken, and passed, all required Praxis II exams (and doling out an extra $400 total) I, finally, recieved my diploma from CSP. I still think it's ridiculous that "taking the test" is a requirement for recieving your diploma. I understand the concept of taking the test, but you don't even have to pass it... I had better not get started on this... On to number 8.
8. August 8, 2008 - Summer Program at Castle Rock Clubhouse ends - THANK GOODNESS!!
9. December 2008 - Andrea and I interviewed for and were offered the position of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) educator at TAA (Turkish American Association) in Ankara Turkey.
10. January/February 2009 - Andrea and I accepted the position in Turkey and also committed to volunteering on the last year of the Archaeological Dig at Hippos, Israel. Concerning the latter, our decision making was made all the easier when Dr. Schuler said that he could pay Andrea's way if she would draw for him.

My Latest Post Ever

Andrea was wondering this evening about the origins of the terms "to boot" and "cold feet." It turns out "to boot" has absolutely nothing to do with your feet. In fact, it's actually an Old English term derived from the word "bat" which meant "good or useful." The Old English bat is also a root of the modern word "better."
In addition, according to the source below, there is no legitimate explanation for the term "cold feet."


For this and more phrase origins visit here.

A Weekend Away

As promised on Friday, here are some of the highlights from our weekend trip to Yellowstone.

Our first stop was at the Boiling River. The Gardiner river, near Mammoth Hot Springs, is heated by a hot springs flowing into it. 

As you can see in the above photos - the steam from the hot springs has frozen. It's amazing to the see the juxtaposition of heat and cold.

Mammoth Upper Terrace in Three Seasons - July, October, February

Just a couple of pictures of us - less than halfway through our FIVE MILE snowshoe excursion.

Coming Soon

Have no fear - new blog entry coming later this weekend complete with pictures... pictures that have not been taken yet, but will have been taken by the time we return from our overnight trip to Yellowstone/Gardiner, MT. 

Snowshoeing in the park tomorrow - relaxing by the pool at the motel tomorrow night. 

See you on Sunday!

And yes, I did just take that picture with the MacBook - this thing rocks.

Countdown Begins

Groan Worthy

The amazing thing is that, even though I know the real words, all I hear is what is written on the screen.

I hope you enjoyed this, it's going to be stuck in your head all day.

Painting With Light

 This, to me, is absolutely incredible. 

Welsh artist Michael Bosanko creates the amazing light graffiti effect using only five coloured torches and by leaving his digital Canon camera on a long exposure.

The 39-year-old has spent the past five years perfecting his art which is created in a similar way to how people write their names with sparklers on Bonfire Night

For more of his artwork, and to read the full story - click here.

Found on the Upcoming Queue on Neatorama

I need a DSLR that can take long exposures - my camera thinks 60 seconds is long enough...

Happy Presidents' Day

It's the Third Monday in February and you know what that means...PRESIDENTS' DAY! Hooray!

I am a big fan of Presidential Trivia and, therefore, I really enjoyed this recent post on Mental Floss - The Quick Ten: 10 Weird Facts About Presidents

According to a recent poll conducted by C-SPAN James Buchanan was the worst President ever... In fact, there were three presidents who were ranked worse than William Henry Harrison. A fact that I find rather odd considering the fact that Harrison was only President for 32 days before he died of pneumonia. Ouch. The other two Presidents ranked below Harrison are, Franklin Pierce at number 40 and Andrew Johnson* at 41.

Not surprisingly, Abraham Lincoln was ranked number one.

Rounding out the top five were: George Washington, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Other notable rankings:

JFK was ranked sixth. Does he really deserve this?

John Adams was voted number 17. I find it interesting that Adams' Presidency was probably the "low point" of his political career.

And, George W. Bush was 36. Apparently, not "the worst ever."

See the complete list here.

*If they ever make a movie about Andrew Johnson, I nominate Tommy Lee Jones for the lead role.

Sunny Sunday

What a great day! Andrea and I went to Pioneer Park and played some Disc Golf. 

Definitely a little bit rusty - my disc was caught in a tree twice. The first time it was within my reach, the second time I had to throw another disc at it to dislodge it. 

My least favorite hole on the course - a straight shot down a relatively steep hill directly into the creek that runs through the park. My first shot, from the top of the hill, sailed high and was the second of two to get stuck in a tree. It took me a few minutes to get the disc out. Luckily the course wasn't very busy.

Andrea hit me with the frisbee on this one... to be fair I was standing behind the basket.

Pretty sure that Andrea made this putt.

Blank

My brain is tired.

According to Wikipedia: February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 321 days remaining until the end of the year (322 in Leap Years).

Labels

Do many people look at the labels on these posts? My best example of this concerns my post from a Feb. 10 concerning the switch to digital which was labelled sarcasm - still not sure if a certain person related to me through marriage was being serious when they commented on that post...

I find it funny that one of the suggestions for a possible label is "scooters." It makes me laugh quite consistently. I think maybe I'll start using it randomly.

TWO HUNDREDTH POST?!

According to my blogger dashboard this is the 200th post on this blog.  

The first entry was July 29, 2006 and read something like this...

"This is a test, it is only a test. Do not shut off your computer. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This is only a test?!!!"

As you can see, the whole thing started out rather innocuously. Since then, its gone through some drastic overhauls. From my "completely random" phase to my "nothing but odd news stories" phase to my "getting a bit more serious" phase to the "I forgot about the blog, and I'm gonna start again" phase which happened about three times to now...which, I guess you could say is a conglomeration of all of the above (minus of course the forgetting about the blog). This blog has seen me, essentially, grow up. Since I started it I have; walked at college graduation, proposed to a girl, been told yes by said girl, completed my student teaching, received my diploma in the mail, gotten married on Leap Day (not many people can say that), gotten my first "real" job and accepted a position in Turkey as an English teacher. 

Pretty awesome, I'd say. 

In other news, here's a haiku I just wrote...

Persnickity Pete

Proudly Pontificated

Pure Profundity

Seven Days

Just in case you haven't heard, on February 17, 2009 TV makes the switch from analog to digital. This is just a reminder. I just found out... I mean, I don't know why they didn't advertise this sooner. The message scrolling directly across the top of the screen, in front of the character's faces, during the first five minutes of Scrubs was the first time I had ever heard of this new technology. 

I Can't Stop Thinking About This...

Every Pepsi is tainted for me now...

This is pretty entertaining though. I laugh whenever I see it. 

Link via Neatorama.

A Mystery

Today we went for a hike below the rims with my parents. As we were walking we came across this pipe which came straight down the rock face, curved around a few more rocks and then headed down toward the street. The purpose of this pipe is a mystery. Mom commented that "maybe there's a urinal up there somewhere." 

Is Fatigue My Muse?

It's after 1:30 in the morning and here I am, still at my computer, still looking at odd occurrences from around the globe, and wondering... why is it that, when I'm absolutely exhausted, I feel compelled to write. Not only that, but the later it gets the easier the words seem to flow; the more creative I become. 

Today felt long, probably because it was. I woke up, as is customary on Fridays, at 6 AM and went to early morning Bible study. Came home, watched Sportscenter and then went to work. After eight hours of the "same ol' thing" I headed to our DCE's house for a "guys night." Finally got home around 11:30. Andrea was talking to her old roommate through Skype. She had been watching Oklahoma, but paused it. When she was done talking, she turned it back on... and fell asleep on the pull out couch watching it. Now I'm sitting here, not really paying attention to it and wondering why in the world I'm still awake. Well, at least tomorrow's Saturday. Oops, I meant to say... today...

One of These Things.

Yesterday at work our art coordinator had the kids do an activiy where they had to make as many words as possible using only the letters from the word "rainbow." See if you can pick out the incorrect response from the following list...

RAINBOW

1. bow
2. rain
3. in
4. ran
5. bin
6. nab
7. brown
8. row
9. now
10. on
11. ban
12. rib
13. kitty litter
14. rob
15. no

Clever kids make the day so much more interesting...

How many words can you make? Check the comment thread to see if you can beat me.

How do I become an Odor Investigator...

NYC's mysterious syrup smell tracked to New Jersey

NEW YORK – City investigators have tracked down the source of a maple syrup smell that has puzzled New Yorkers several times in recent years. No offense, New Jersey, but it was you.

The harmless but long-confounding smell, which has drifted through swaths of the city at least nine times since 2005, was traced to a facility across the Hudson River that processes seeds for use as artificial flavorings.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that a team of odor investigators — environmental protection, health department and emergency management workers — "put our noses to the ground" to identify the culprit after another whiff in early January.

Read the Full Story.

Touche Google...Touche

Try this, type "worst band in the world" in as a Google Search and press enter.



Here is the page that you will end up with.



Notice anything? Look closely at the bottom. According to Google, Creed is the worst band in the world.

According to the urban dictionary;

Definition 1: Worst band in the world - "Creed" according to Google. Although it's fixed now, you used to be able to type in "the worst band in the world" in Google and search it. "Creed" would be seen everywhere.

I've got news for you, it's not exactly fixed.

P.S. - Don't bother with the youtube videos, you'll just be depressed.

Zombies on Road?

Pranks with Electronic Road Signs Stir Worry
COLLINSVILLE, Illinois - Hackers are messing with electronic road signs in some U.S. states, warning of zombies and raptors down the road. Traffic safety officials aren't amused.
The latest breach came during Tuesday morning's rush hour near Collinsville, Illinois, east of St. Louis. That's where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES."
Similar pranks have been pulled in recent days near Indianapolis and in Austin, Texas.

Via - MSNBC

KABLAM! Magnetic Poetry!

You gotta love magnetic poetry. Our fridge is covered with it. 

Most of these are leftover from a Christmas party that we had around, well, Christmas time! One of them could be even older than that! And one of them I just made tonight. If you think they don't make sense, I have just one question for you - are they supposed to?

How Poignant.

I have posted an image of my iGoogle fortune cookie before, I thought that this was really poignant for two reasons.

 ONE: In my current position I am, at some points, "handling" up to 200 kids ages 6-18 (not the only adult in the room, but in charge nonetheless). 

TWO: Andrea and I have accepted the position of English Teacher in Turkey - I assume we will be working with large groups of people, mostly adults. 

THANKS iGOOGLE!!

The Vanity Card

One of my favorite shows on TV is The Big Bang Theory. It's intelligent, clever and incredibly well acted. 

Andrea is a big fan of it also, and one of our favorite things about the show are the "vanity cards" at the end of every episode; some are completely random, some are clever rants about life, some have some connection to the episode that preceded them, most of them are really funny. 

It turns out that, Chuck Lorre, the creator of Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma and Greg, Two and a Half Men, and The Big Bang Theory has made a habit out of putting these short, clever paragraphs at the end of each episode AND, even better, the entire collection has been archived here!!

Follow the links to see a couple of our favorites from this season of The Big Bang Theory, and if you have the chance, check out an episode of the show here. 

First Aired: Nov. 24, 2008

First Aired: Jan. 19, 2009

My New Favorite TV Pitch Man

While the products are legitimate, something about these ads seems more like satire to me... 

Slap Chop

Two things: First; celery, radishes and carrots do NOT constitute a salad. 

Second, a hard-boiled egg, pickle, green onion and ham all diced up together for breakfast?!

ShamWOW: Made in Germany, so you know it's good!