Monday, August 31, 2009

Procrastination? Really?! Already?!!



Originally uploaded by juli
I feel like it's WAY too early in the semester for me to already feel like procrastinating on my homework, but alas. I have homework due tomorrow/today because it's so late. It's not even half-done yet. Hmm... this should be becoming remedied, but no... here I am wasting more time in stupid cyberspace. I think I'm ready for a really long break from the internet, but the sad thing is that I work for the computer labs on campus and I'm going to need to use it there. I couldn't take a complete break if I tried.

I miss Gandolfo's.

I have nothing special to write about except to say that it's funny how just as you are figuring out one part of your life, the part you had previously had figured out goes to pot. In other words, life is a balance, and I'm feeling like I'm swinging pretty violently from one side to the other. Is this even making sense? I know what I mean, and I guess since I'm about the only person that reads this blog except for the hundreds of people searching for my entry on the stupid Chevy Volt commercial and the dozens searching for lists of funny songs, that's good enough.

Cool picture up above, eh?

I really am liking the social life side of my life right now. It's good. It's where I want it to be. Dating will pretty much always continue to be a struggle, but whatever. Then there's school. I'm just having a hard time being as motivated as I usually am at the beginning of a new school year. That's lame. I think I need to start over and pretend that tomorrow is the first day of school and I'm wicked-jazzed that it's happening.

I have my first day of school tomorrow! Woohoo!

K, see ya.

Lame. Entry. Bye.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Defending Madonna? What the...? (RANDOM COMBO INCLUDED!)

Yes. You read the title right. I find myself in the awkward position that I have struggled to imagine ever happening... defending Madonna. She apparently got crazy boos and jeers at a recent concert of hers in Romania. She has Roma dancers (also known as Gypsies) in her concerts. Their music and dancing is very popular in Eastern and Southern Europe, THEY, however, are NOT. Just after the crowd received the dancing of these Roma with cheers and applause, Madonna felt it necessary to bring up the struggles of the Gypsy people of these countries. According to Yahoo! she said, "It has been brought to my attention ... that there is a lot of discrimination against Romanies and Gypsies in general in Eastern Europe. It made me feel very sad." Apparently there were some that were cheering about what she said, but the loudest sentiment in the roughly 60,000-strong crowd was a negative one. The Roma have long been a people that has been openly discriminated and has struggled to get all the rights due to them in Italy, Romania and some other nearby nations. I am always glad when celebrities use their fame for some good, even if it's someone as creepy as Madonna. Way to go, Madonna. (Eew, that still feels weird.)

Anyway, on a much lighter note, I'm planning on doing something I haven't been able to do in months due to the lack of Photoshop... a RANDOM COMBO! Coming right up!

Sources:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/odibusmacsimus/2455520805/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum/2488968515/


The BK Pharaoh


The BK Pharaoh was recently discovered in southern Egypt amidst the largest Egyptian archaeological disclosure in over 50 years. This unprecedented chunk of ruined monument proves an incredible link between our modern world and the ancient Egyptian world exists. Burger King has not released any statement on the monumental discovery and generally keeps very secret the goings-on of their corporate headquarters. However, Gary Hodgkins of Fakeville, Alabama had some information from the inside that he finally felt justified in spreading. He was recently fired from BK headquarters, but had signed a non-disclosure document restricting his ability to share information of the ancient traditions hidden in the burger empire. He has informed us that Burger King's uppermost leaders participate in "interesting clandestine activities involving fry-pyramids." He was reluctant to name any names, but it seems that Burger King's leaders have amongst them a person still referred to as Pharaoh. It seems that ancient Egypt has lived on through many other secretive organizations and now has a home in BK. Now that's a Whopper of a revelation for archaeologists, businessmen, and the world alike.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

To continue the series of updates about my life...

Well, here I am back at school. Giving you yet another example of my uncanny photogenic nature. (See awesome picture to the right.) I'm at work right now and I'm surprisingly busy. It's funny because last night I had a shift in this same computer lab, and it was EMPTY. So I had nothing that I HAD to do. What should I have done? Study for the LSAT! I didn't do that though. So today I came in to this shift determined to study for the LSAT, and of course, this is the day that I'm swamped with people to help and things that I have to do for work. It's funny how it works that way. Well, not funny haha, funny OBNOXIOUS maybe.
This also reminds me of the previously written about tendency of car washes to attract weather phenomena. Yes, I washed my car again after a few weeks ago it was dumped upon by an apparently filthy rain storm, RIGHT after I had finally washed it. Well, the day after this new washing, once again, it was dumped upon by a crazy rain/hail storm, and by some sort of sticky tree garbage. It's official that when I wash my car, it WILL rain/hail/snow/sleet/tree poop within 24 hours. Forget rain dances.

School's going alright. I don't really want to vent about it right now, but then, there really isn't much to vent about. So...
see ya!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

So. I'm here. I'm kinda moved in. Yup.


One of my new roommates is blasting the ugliest song I have ever heard. It's obNOXIOUS! Well, here I am, just sitting on my bed. The very end of my bed. All my stuff is piled on top of it. It's kinda uncomfortable. I got here yesterday and discovered that the person who had been in this room before, hadn't really moved out. He just barely got back and started moving his stuff now. I understand why it all happened so I'm not upset with him or anything, however, it is kind of frustrating when you expect to have an empty room to move your stuff into, and you find that it's full of someone else's stuff.
Anyway, I'm feeling really weird that school starts tomorrow. I'm not really ready for it. I mean I'm just not mentally in the right mindset yet. I'll get there, or at least I had better hurry and get there.
I don't really have too much to say. Everyone here seems really nice. Only one of my roommates seems kind of not cool, but that's just first impressions, ya know. We'll see. One thing about my new roommates is that I definitely think I won't really fit in with their attitudes about social things. We'll see. I don't really care. I just want to get through this last year of my undergrad.
Well, I feel like napping about now.
Hmm... lame entry... how about some random bullets:
  • Obnoxious music doesn't get any better with increased volume.
  • Grundle is a weird, weird word.
  • I want to go fly fishing again.
  • I like my ward. They seem cool.
  • I once listened to a rapper named MC Dangermouth. He made me laugh. (Unfortunately it was at him, not with him.)
  • Ahh, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir just came on. MUCH better than whatever the crap he was just listening to.
  • Dinosaurs?
  • I seem to enjoy the phrase "tuckered out" lately.
  • Nappy time.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Utah State University starts school on Monday... OH! THAT INCLUDES ME!!!

Do you know what you see here to the left of this text? HARDCORE DENIAL! (And an example of my uncanny photogenic nature.) I really have been in denial that I'm moving to Logan tomorrow... oh... well it's past midnight. I guess I'm moving to Logan today. Whatever, anyway, I think some great evidence about this denial is that I haven't even mentioned that I'm going back to school on this blog. And I'm usually scraping the bottom of my idea barrel for crap to write on here. So... yes. I have school on Monday. There. I said it. ARE YOU HAPPY!!!?
I hope that I can get everything figured out and that I don't forget to do stuff. Forgetting things really is not great. I have a lot to do, too. My mom offered to take me to Costco to buy food n' stuff. She's a kind gal. I have issues with Costco though. I think that Costco has successfully duped thousands of moms into thinking that they're somehow saving money on all those vats and massive crates of products. (Or twin packs, those seem common.) I watched as we purchased not any great number of various types of products, but paid an UNHEALTHY amount for one cart of groceries. I asked my mom if she always spends that much, and she said, "Yeah, well... it's probably usually more." I can't believe this Costco place! The reason I think it is one big fat ripoff is that I watch my mom buy so many things in bulk, ESPECIALLY PRODUCE, and she ends up throwing half or even more of it away when it rots because the three occupants of this household just couldn't consume all of it. It drives me crazy. Oh well, it's her money. Not mine. Thanks again Mom for the food! (I made sure to try and purchase stuff that I'll actually use in its entirety.)
(Remember how my denial just kicked in again and I forgot that I'm supposed to be writing something about how I'm going to start being motivated right now to hurry and figure out everything I need to accomplish before going to Logan... yeah... well... I forgot that.)

I feel like this entry has crashed and burned. Abandoned

Evil Clandestine Colony of Gnomes...


STALKER
Originally uploaded by ukmcbo
Don't ask about the title. It randomly made an appearance in one of my texts today.

"Thank goodness you're here Mesmerized-by-Moving-Objects Man!"
Random "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" quote that I just heard.

Alright, now that I've gotten most of my randomness out for the moment, today I listened to a couple songs on my iPod that I've long thought of as potential stalker anthems. So I've decided to compile (with the help of some friends (trust me, some of these songs are NOT in my music collection)) a list of the TOP TEN POTENTIAL STALKER ANTHEMS:

10. "Endlessly" by Muse
9. "I Would Walk 500 Miles" by The Proclaimers (The VERY dedicated stalker.)
8. "I Love You Anyways" by Travis
7. "I'm The Man Who Loves You" by Wilco
6. "I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab For Cutie (One of the ones I listened to)
5. "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get" by Morrissey
4. "Invisible" by Clay Aiken (my friend played this for me, and yes, it is VERY creepy)
3. "Every Breath You Take" by The Police (This was another one that came on my iPod)
2. "Johanna" From Sweeney Todd (my friend played this for me and pointed out that he sings about coming in through the window and being next to her or something)
1. "Blinded" by Third Eye Blind (The lyrics about him going in her house even though he knows he's not supposed to and watching her in her bathroom, and "look down on you for an hour" are VERY creepy stalkerish things.)

I've just realized that very many love songs have potential to be stalker songs, but I think this is a pretty good list. I just searched the internet to see if there were any songs that I've missed that are critical, but I think this list is good as many of these songs were on others' lists. Pardon the creepy nature of this song list, I just think it's kinda funny.

Before I go, I need to announce that Vermont is the lamest state in the United States. Ok, that's a bit harsh, but I've been watching my Google Analytics for this blog for over 3 months now, and Vermont was the last state for me to have a visitor from. It took forever! I'm proud to say that I now have had visitors from all 50 states and Washington D.C.. Quite the accomplishment. (Might as well toot my own horn.) Also, since I started using Analytics I've had 53 different countries visit this blog. I'm pretty much amazing is all I'm trying to tell you.

Really, I just wonder what random person in Namibia cares about my blog enough to visit. I must have somehow tricked them into thinking it was a worthwhile visit. K... well... see ya.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Campin', Fishin', Hikin', Burnin'

I'm sorry. I don't know why it is, but I always have to use the apostrophe instead of the G's in those words. Anyway, I did all of those things yesterday and today. (Well, the last one was done to me by the sun.) I really love camping, and I really really love fishing. I've been wanting to go camping since this last winter, and now that summer is almost over I finally got to do it. We went to southern Utah and camped in the Boulder Mountain area. We fished at a couple different lakes. Yesterday we fished at the lake near where we camped called Lower Bowns Reservoir. It was AWESOME. I caught about 10 fish in just a few hours of fishing. They were all about 9-13 inch rainbows, so there wasn't much variety, but it was dry-fly fly fishing at its best. I love it. I also got to don my waders for the first time this year. (Except for the fly fishing winter disaster mentioned around the beginning of this blog in March-ish.) After a frigid night in a tent, we decided to go to Oak Creek Reservoir which is at the top of a two and half mile road. I use the term road, but the street sign called it a "primitive road." In other words, unless your vehicle is a mountain climber, do not pass go, do not collect $200. So we hiked up there. (Impressively, my 2 nephews made it up there and back down in good shape, including Jacob who's just 6. He let us know it was hard for him, but he was a trooper.) I caught zero fish. I was, however, glad to have done the hike, and I still had an enjoyable time. My dad and his friend Lyle caught quite a few brook trout. So there's the short of the trip regarding the first three verbs in the title of this post. As for the fourth, OUCH!!! My skin is pretty fair, and burns very easily in the sun. I tend to look bright red after a day in the sun. (Hence many jokes from my friends and family including: I look like a lobster, I'm Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (my nose is usually included in all the burning), and my personal favorite, I don't get sun burned, I get sun RAPED!) My hands look like I'm wearing red gloves right now, and my neck is highly uncomfy, but I'm fine. Unfortunately, I probably have skin cancer in my future.

Well, there was my summer adventure. I'm glad I got to have a good one. I'm tuckered out!
Pics:

We climbed to the top of some red rock formations. (This is me and my nephews Jacob and Ryan.)

Me with Oak Creek Reservoir. It was a fun hike. Long, but beautiful country. This would be a beautiful picture, if there wasn't that ugly lake in it. (Oh, and I'm not wearing my hat backwards to be cool, it was my failed attempt at shading my neck.)

My bro Jake with my nephews. At Oak Creek Reservoir.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Smells, the rain, and no more work...

Today was my last day of work at Pinnacle Security. I'm glad to be done, but I wish I had earned more money this summer. Oh well, I'll figure things out. Many of my coworkers and I were distracted by the sudden onslaught of rain today. It was making a loud roaring noise on the roof of our building. After a while, that unmistakable scent of fresh rain came into the building. I really love that smell. It's one of the best out there.

That emanation reminded me of one I experienced last night as well. I went for a late-night jog. I ran around on the grounds of my childhood elementary school. As I passed a familiar doorway an odor hit me that brought back a lot of memories. If I had to give it a name, I'd call it, "back to school smell." It is a distinct smell that I now realize is almost exclusive to that elementary school, as far as all of the places I've been are concerned. I've never smelled it elsewhere. It immediately brought to my mind the cardboard tote-trays that my peers and I used, and the smell of new school supplies. Folders, pencils, pens, backpacks, etc. I really love when something has a very distinct scent that is all its own. Shelley Elementary has it's own flavor.

Anyway, getting back to the rain, I think it instinctively knew to come back yesterday and today. My mission president once told me to always carry spare bike tire tubes with us, and then we would never get flat tires. He gave us that advice because one of my companions and I had been plagued by an unfortunate series of flat tires. His reasoning went a little like this, "You know how every time you remember to take an umbrella out with you, it never rains? Well, if you always have an extra tire tube with you, you'll never get a flat tire." I think he's so right. It's funny how things go that way. The point of bringing that up (sorry about the tangent) is that I think there is a similar relationship between washing your car and the rain. Yesterday afternoon, it was a sunny, clear and hot day. I decided to finally wash my car for the first time in what seems like a year. Of course, the rain knew this was its cue, and came only a few hours later. So the moral of the story: don't wash your car... EVER! It will only bring some sort of weather phenomenon to destroy that beautiful new glimmer.

That's all.

K, bye.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Week Ends When I Say It Does!


cal 2
Originally uploaded by akosianna
Ok, as much as I know that there aren't really instances where having a dictator is a good thing, sometimes I think there would be some interesting elements of being a dictator that would be kinda fun. For instance, you could play with time. For example, I like Fridays a lot, and Saturdays never really live up to my expectations, I'd rename Saturday. It would instead be called, "Friday 2: The Sequel." Wouldn't that be so much better?! Don't answer that. I make the decisions in Rand-o-mania!! (shouted in some sort of Eastern European accent) Heck, I could also make the weekend longer. Or I could just make Wednesday a non-working day, too. Nice, right? DON'T question my policies or you'll be subject to the wrath of Rand-o-mania law! Hmm... or I could maximize the labor of my subjects by taking weekends away entirely.

Anyway, good thing Rand-o-mania isn't a real country.

The reason I bring this all up is because Algeria is apparently moving their weekend for the second time in the last half-century. They did have a Thursday-Friday weekend to try not to be like the west after they achieved independence. Now they're giving into business demands and changing it back to a Friday-Saturday weekend. See? They get to just move things wherever they want! Fun stuff... if you don't mind living under a soul-crushing dictatorial rule.

Hmmm... k, see ya!

7 Random Bullets:
  • Vermont: $5
  • (Announcer Voice): "Welcome to TerrrGisS! With... Tracky Jon-jon and... Jimmy Mooh..." (30 Rock, I love it.)
  • "Too tired to eat, too hungry to sleep." ---"See These Bones" by Nada Surf
  • I hear from a highly reliable source that Hannie Montanie is the real name of Miley Cyrus's cousin!
  • I introduced myself as Thad today. I'm not Thad.
  • I ate a gram of trans fat the other day, am I going to die?
  • Like it or lump it.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Days of Realization...

I'm having one of those nights where I just can't stop thinking. I hate it! I know I need to sleep, but I just can't bring myself to fall asleep. Anyway, I decided to turn on the ol' laptop and just write myself asleep. I kept thinking of random experiences that I haven't thought about in a long time.

The first was probably the day my mother must have realized that I would be a person that thought I was funny, when I truly wasn't. In my first grade class (Mrs. Peterson's class at Shelley Elementary) we each had to have our parents help us fill out a form about ourselves. We each took turns doing a sort of show-and-tell about ourselves where the teacher read aloud the answers our parents had written in response to the questions on the sheet. I remember clearly that there was this one kid who had scored a big laugh with his answer to the "What's a funny experience you've had?" question. I really wanted to get a big laugh, too. So when my mom asked me, I really wanted her to write about when I had accidentally let one of my shoes float down a river that we were camping by. I was sure it would get laughs. My mom, being the kind lady she is, tried to convince me to go with a different story, but I was determined to get my big laugh from the shoe-mishap. The only thing I remember about the day my sheet was read was that absolutely no one laughed at my story. Ouch.

Another random experience that came to mind was probably the day my mother must have realized that I was kinda prideful. During the summer after 5th grade I went to a summer camp called Clear Creek that is run by my local school district. My mom worked there many summers, including the summer that I attended. It was a fun experience, but I remember feeling a little like I didn't really make very many friends. At the end of the week the counselors and teachers (including my mom) announced those who had won various awards (the most squirrels caught in our coffee-can traps we made, for example; which may sound weird, but that was a highly prestigious award for Clear Creek!) and announced the winners of Mr. and Ms. Clear Creek. The girls all voted for Ms. Clear Creek, and the boys all voted for Mr. Clear Creek. It was supposed to be whoever was friendly, and helpful, bla bla bla. I think you get it. The kind of thing I was ALL about winning at that age. I really didn't expect to win it though. They announced the winners, and alas, I had not won Mr. Clear Creek. So we all packed up and left, and I rode home with my mom instead of riding with the other kids on the bus. As we neared my home town my mom turned to me and said, "Oh, you won Mr. Clear Creek. You tied with the other kid." She handed me the medal. I was shocked, but then my surprise turned to confused anger. My mom had told me in a very matter-of-fact tone, like it wouldn't matter to me. I was very upset that she hadn't announced that I'd tied with the kid in front of the other kids and demanded an explanation. She explained that she didn't think it was a good idea to give it to me because the other kids might think that I just won it because she was a teacher there. I was mad! I wanted my recognition! I now of course can see that she was probably right, and I should have just taken it as a compliment that the other kids had voted for me. But I didn't see all that then.

Another experience that came to mind was the day I think I realized that I would go to great lengths to maintain my ability to procrastinate. I love sleep. I really do. I'm not good at falling asleep, but once I do... oh boy, I take it and RUN with it. (I run in my sleep?) My senior year in high school I had a 12 page research paper due in my English class only about 18 hours after I really started working on it. In what has now become almost a typical fashion for writing papers, I stayed up writing it ALL NIGHT LONG. I didn't sleep at all. I printed it only minutes before leaving for school. I looked even more zombie-ish than usual and had many comments affirming that fact from my friends. I had never done something so crazy on a project so big. But now I almost always count on getting very little sleep the night before a paper is due. (Perhaps that's why it felt appropriate to start writing a LONG entry on my blog tonight?)

Today I kind of came to a realization, too. I realized that while Rand-o-mania set a new record yesterday (according to my Google Analytics) for the most visits in one day for my blog (185), Just Ridiculous Polls had 8 visits yesterday. (5 of which were me.) So, I'm thinking that I may need to just stop posting on there entirely. Or I could just put an occasional random poll on this blog. Anyway, Just Ridiculous Polls is in a sad state, because I've tried really hard to attract traffic to my blogs, but it's only seemingly worked for Rand-o-mania. My one-day record for most visits to Just Ridiculous Polls is 18. Whoohoo. Yeah, I think I overestimated peoples' desire for stupid random polls to grace their lives each day. Or (as proven by the first story) it could just be that I'm not as funny as I think I am and no one wants to visit a blog full of random polls that just don't make sense. Anyway, I'm sure I'll continue it on for a while, but come time for school... Just Ridiculous Polls might go the way of Random Combos and Tiny Observations. (See way old posts in my archives.)

Well, perhaps I could sleep now that I've written a brief novel. K, see ya.


Addition: So the whole stupid whatis230 thing turned out to just be the Chevy Volt, which has already been announced for a long time. What the heck is the deal with the secretive ad campaign??! How obnoxious. Yes it is indeed a car with the potential of getting 230 mpg. Big deal. It will be too expensive for me in the first place I'm sure. That's that.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Quotes...

I'm a big fan of quotes. They're often short, powerful, and get straight to the point of the author/speaker's message. Granted, they can often be too limited in their scope to capture the real message, but a well-framed quote that's humorous or powerful always makes me happier. I thought I'd create a post with a brief collection of some of my favorite quotes.

First we'll start with many random funny quotes from TV/movies:

"If I'm the 'best man,' why is she marrying HIM?!" --Jerry Seinfeld

"Harriet. Harry-ette. Hard-hearted harbinger of haggis. Beautiful, bemuse-ed, bellicose butcher. Un-trust... ing. Un-know... ing. Un-love... ed? "He wants you back," he screamed into the night air like a fireman going to a window that has no fire... except the passion of his heart. I am lonely. It's really hard. This poem... sucks." --Charlie Mackenzie from "So I Married An Axe Murderer"

"I'm smitten. I'm in deep smit." --Charlie Mackenzie from "So I Married An Axe Murderer"

Scene from "The Truman Show":
Meryl: Hi, honey! Look what I got free at the checkout. It's a "Chef's Pal". It's a dicer, grater, peeler, all in one. Never needs sharpening, dishwasher safe!
Truman: Wow... that's amazing!

"Also, I can kill you with my brain." --River from Firefly ("Trash" episode)

Scene from "Stranger Than Fiction":
Harold Crick: So, are you a frequenter of the Metropolitan Transit Authority too?
Ana Pascal: No. I'm just late.
Harold Crick: Big flag burning to get to?
Ana Pascal: Actually, it's my weekly evil-conspiracy and needlepoint group. You wanna come?
Harold Crick: I left my thimbles and socialist reading material at home.
Kay Eiffel: [narrating] So Harold began to engage in small talk.
Harold Crick: [to Ana] You have very straight teeth.
Ana Pascal: Thanks.
Kay Eiffel: [narrating] *Very* small talk.

From Seinfeld:
Elaine: Ugh, I hate people.
Jerry: Yeah, they're the worst.

From Seinfeld: (Talking about George's recently purchased glasses:)
Jerry: Who picked these out?
George: I did.
Jerry: They're ladies glasses. You know all you need is that little chain around your neck so you can wear them while you're playing Canasta.

Also From Seinfeld: (Elaine's seeing a crappy doctor about her dog bite)
Elaine: That's it? I don't need a shot?
Doctor: Not shot, dog bite.
Elaine: No, no, no. I know I wasn't shot. Do I need a shot?
Doctor: Not shot, dog bite. Woof woof; not bang-bang.


Favorite Religious Quotes:

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." -- 1st John 4:8

"Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things ye shall be lifted up at the last day." --Alma 37: 36-37, The Book of Mormon

"O be wise; what can I say more?" --Jacob 6:12, The Book of Mormon


"In my ninety-plus years, I have learned a secret. I have learned that when good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out! Truly, things always work out!"
--Gordon B. Hinckley, Way to Be!

"Happiness is a path that is chosen and endured despite life's pains and sorrows." --Unknown

"It seems that while the average home has increased in size, the average family has decreased in size; and while homes have more time-saving devices, the average family spends less time together. Affluence is up, but happiness is down, as indicated by rising divorce rates. Why isn’t more money buying greater happiness?" --Lynn G. Robbins, "The Cost of Riches"

"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German Army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulses inside us until we try to fight it, and Christ, because He was the only man who knows to the full what temptation means -- the only complete realist." --C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

"I believe in Christ, so come what may." --Bruce R. McConkie, "I Believe In Christ"

Thursday, August 6, 2009

What the...


Whatis230
Originally uploaded by katehayford
You probably can't read it at all, but I was searching on flickr, and discovered the picture you see here. It's a screenshot of my blog!? What the poo!? Who would do that? That's so... weird, and lame! Whatever.

Ok, moving on to something I really want to talk about... my neighbors' alien pets. Ok... they actually have chickens. But if you were to ask me in the morning... I would be very likely to tell you that there is no way that they have chickens, rather they MUST have aliens in their backyard. You see, my neighbors have had chickens for a long time. For quite a while they had a very obnoxious rooster that would crow about every morning. He would let out your typical enunciated "Cock-a-doodle-doo" at all wee-morning hours. That rooster died, and my neighbors got a new rooster... but... I'm not sure where they got this one. It is WEIRD! It doesn't let out a cock-a-doodle-doo, it's more like, "Eeeeeyagg neahh! Eeeeeyaggh neahh!" It's really high pitch, too. Frankly, it's made me miss the normal bird a lot. This new rooster sounds like something out of my nightmares. It's like an alien baby screaming. That's the best way to describe it. It's very much not a joyful sound.

That's all about that.

K, see ya.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Weird commercial with 23 and a plug?

UGH! I've seen this commercial multiple times on Hulu and it's driving me nuts. It's one of those commercials that tries to get you interested by never telling you what the heck it's advertising! I HATE that!

But of course it's killing me to find out what it is. I've searched around on the internet for it, and I can't find it at all. It looks like this:


First the commercial shows a green background and an outlet. It then shows the 23 and the plug smiles about the 23. Then the 8-11 comes in, something I can only assume means August 11th. I really don't want to wait until then to find out though.

If you have ANY idea what this commercial is... please... put my mind at ease and tell me what the heck it all means!


Update: I clicked on the ad, and it takes you to a lame page that basically asks the same question I'm asking now: "whatis230?" So apparently the outlet is supposed to be a zero. That's all that I've learned. There's also a link to Twitter to discuss. I HATE when they do this! Just tell me what it is, you dorks!

Update Update: There's a bunch of speculation about this stupid thing. Some say that it's any of a variety of environmental, electrical, or electronic products. I heard that Nikon was revealing some new camera, maybe it's them. I've heard that the website the ad took me to was owned by a company that works with Apple, so maybe its one of their products. Whatever. I don't even care anymore.

Update Update Update: I totally still care. That last update was kind of a lie. Anyway I just found this at ecogeek.org: "VW has been talking for a long time about their L1 concept, so called because it uses a measly 1 liter of gasoline to go 100 km. For us Americans, that translates to about 230 miles per gallon. Of course, the amazing mileage comes at a price. The car is tiny, more of a tobaggon than a car. The single passenger actually sits behind the driver, like in a small airplane."
Hmm... perhaps it's actually VW that's behind all of this? German advertising can be pretty crazy. Other speculation says that it will be the Chevy Volt, but from info I see, that won't get quite 230 mpg. Anyway, we'll see.

THE FINAL UPDATE: The following link is all you need to know basically. GM is behind it, which makes it almost certain that it's all about the new Chevy Volt. GM has admitted they're behind the ad campaign, but they also have yet to say anything about what it is. Just go here: http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=138346

Monday, August 3, 2009

Ridiculousness...


My brother is ten years older than me. I'm 23, and as I'm sure you know by now, he's 33. (This picture is from about 5 years ago.) Lately we've been having an extremely childish, but I think hilarious, argument about which one of us is faster. We've never really raced each other before, but my brother is convinced that he's still faster than I am. I think he just thinks he is because he's the older brother. He can't remember the last time he sprinted, and hasn't run recently. I've at least run for exercise sporadically this past month, and I definitely remember the last time I've sprinted. Honestly, I think that were he still my age, he'd kill me in a race. My sister says she thinks he's fast. And he is taller than me. But I really think that the age difference and his past injuries put the odds in my favor.

So we've determined that before I go back to Logan for school, we're going to have a race! I'm excited, but nervous that he might make me totally eat my words. Haha, so we'll see how it goes. I should start taking bets, what do you think? Think I can beat him? Or should I not get my hopes up?

I'll keep y'all updated.


Umm... Imagine Dragons.

I thought this was pretty funny...


Ok, apparently I accidentally found a way to embed their myspace songs. Cool! But I was trying to embed their youtube music video, that's what I found funny... I'm trying this again...