failblog & row vs wade

You should click here right now. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here.

Saw this shirt on shirt.woot
It made me laugh.

Excellent adventure

There are times when I'm writing my thesis when I just don't know what to say. I feel like I'm stuck, blathering on about nothing specific. At these moments, I really just wanna write in all caps:
SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!

a joke that will cause a kerfuffle

Little Tommy went to school one day wearing a BYU shirt. His teacher asked him why he was a Cougars fan. He said, "Because my parents are." His teacher replied, "That's not good enough. What would you do if your parents were drug dealers and hookers?" He replied, "Well, then I'd be a Utes fan."


*Before you have too much of a freak out, let me put on my Utes sweatshirt.

International HP Trailer

I'm still annoyed at how they moved back the release date, though. I'm protesting by not seeing it the weekend it's released. We'll see if I hold myself to that.

Saturday

Anyone else nervous about BYU's football team? What's happened to them? They used to play like a well-oiled machine and now they're playing haphazard and their defense makes me wanna go crazy. I'm struggling with the knowledge that'd it'd be better for the U to go undefeated this year (beating BYU) and making it to a BCS game. I might have to do a Megan Neeley and pray about the game.
(She's home on Thursday!!!!)

The TB Rays lost tonight to the Phillies. This makes me sad.

I hit the wall today in thesis writing. Today was more like the camel through the needle syndrome.

I saw the 4th Indiana Jones this weekend for the first time. I ended up rolling my eyes at various moments, fastforwarding at others and then simply freaking out about this:
Iguaçu Falls is NOT in the Amazon. I know this doesn't really matter a whole lot, because they were stupid enough to bring in aliens, thus unwisely destroying the believability of the show (yes, I totally believe the others are possible). But seriously! They're thousands of miles from each other.

Sign that Sarah Palin is mailing it in, not believing the ticket can win, and setting herself up for later political and television opportunities.

But, honestly, they should have had a better feel for her politics before they tapped her out of nearly nowhere. Then they should've let her talk to people rather than muzzling her, just making sure that she doesn't stray too far off the reservation.
Speaking of, wouldn't it have been nice to have a campaign where McCain was also McCain?

Presidential Trivia

Most of you probably know I'm addicted to trivia. Anyway, learned this today:
The last time a Republican presidential ticket won and it didn't have the name Nixon or Bush on it was...


guessed yet?


1928!


What the heck?
2000, 2004: George W. Bush, prez
1988: George H.W. Bush, prez
1980, 1984: George H.W. Bush, veep
1968, 1972: Richard Nixon, prez
1952, 1956: Richard Nixon, veep

a family photo

ew.

Okay, I know I'm a nerd

I think guys in argyle sweaters is really hot, you know sexy. I didn't realize how bizarre this was until recently. I'm pretty sure my cousins think I'm a nut case.



But one thing that is a big turn off is a guy's v-neck t-shirt. ew.
V-neck argyle sweater with a shirt underneath, okay.


And some great Gov Palin SNL vids. Oh, sorry about the initial adverts, once I get the videos, I'll change things around

This is how I got it done and who sang to me on the way

Over the last three days I've gotten 11 hours of sleep. That explains the 25 or something pages of the thesis. Surprisingly, today at work I did not turn narcoleptic.
Would you believe that part of this lack of sleep is that when I get into the writing, I'm having so much fun that I have a hard time stopping?
I think I'm a mental case.


I've also become a Van Morrison fan. I put his music on every night when I'm working.

This is how I feel about tonight's BYU game

I think I might've decided on something

I have been trying to figure out what to wear for Halloween. Granted, I might not have as great of an idea as Jenny, but I think this idea comes from my life right now, as I blog this at 2:43am after having spent X number of hours working on the thesis. I have produced 9 pages in the last couple of hours (woot!). Enough vainglory and tired rambling.
I think I should go as a zombie. I'm thinking a thesis zombie. My deadline is the 31st of October, which is oh, so fitting, ¿no?

Truthfully, though, I've wanted to go as Marion Cotesworth Hay of Marblehead, NY, for a very long time. I want to have people look at me and ask, "Who are you?" just so that I can respond, "I'm Marion Cotesworth Hay."

See below at 1:20 for explanation.

Shout out to Sarah, again! and some less interesting stuff

Happy Columbus Day. Shout out to Sarah and her Leif shirt. Oh, and I should probably give a shout out to Leif Ericson, too. This is a darn cool map.
Oh, speaking of Old Norse, does anyone else think that if the Dwarves from Lord of the Rings were around, they'd be speaking a language that looked like this? Or this? ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.")
So cool, seriously a nifty, barely comprehensible language, Old Norse.


*Columbus monument at the pier in Barcelona. He's pointing west, which is toward the land because of where Barcelona is in Iberia.



There's also a lot of blah blah blah going around about taxes. Both of them are set to give a tax cut to people like you and me. Well, I say you and me, because I don't think I know anyone who reads this blog who makes a half a million.
Here's a basic breakdown of the tax relief from the candidates.
Make of that what you will.
If I find any more info, I might post it.

First Snow in the Valley, BYU game #6

Tonight as Mom and I were walking out of Macey's, we caught the first snowflakes of autumn. Yet again I was confronted with the question, "What in the Sam Hill am I doing living where it snows?"


BYU won their game today 21-3 (really, it should have been 21-10 because New Mexico had a TD taken away on a bad call). They looked a bit sluggish and couldn't seem to overcome some of the Lobos' defensive moves. This could be a problem come Thursday against TCU. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the way the Cougars played defense. TCU's offense is quick and mobile, especially at the quarterback position, which will be a problem. But BYU handled the Lobos pretty well today. This bodes well. BYU's offense needs a little bit more pop for this Thursday's game, too, or the winning streak is going to end at 16.

Three top five teams lost today, too. #1 Oklahoma lost to #5 Texas, #17 Oklahoma state beat #3 Missouri and #4 LSU lost to #11 Florida. I don't know what this is going to mean for the top 10, or if BYU is going to stay in. How much do you want to bet that BYU's going to get leapfrogged by Florida and Georgia, maybe even Oklahoma State, and those top 5 teams that lost will stay in the top 10?
I'm hoping that I'm wrong and that BYU can stay in the top 10, because if they can beat TCU in Texas, the Cougs could conceivably go as high as #7 or #6.
*As a side note Texas Tech--at home--had to go to overtime to beat lowly Nebraska. BYU could beat Texas Tech at their home. They're ranked above BYU. Overrated? Yes.

The trick to all of this is that teams in the top 10 are starting to play eat other in their conference play. The conferences essentially cannibalize teams, meaning that teams that are currently undefeated cannot stay that way. We need to cross our fingers that these teams can beat each other up and that the Cougs can stay undefeated.
#7 Texas Tech is going to end up with possibly 2 losses. #6 Penn State will lose at Ohio State, most likely. #2 Alabama could lose any game because they're in the SEC. Georgia will lost at LSU. Florida could lose another game. #8 USC will win out because the Pac-10 is pathetic.
Anyway, BYU could get into the top 3 or 4 if they continue to play well and stay undefeated. Oh, this is such a pipe dream...

phhhbblltph debate, more 80s

Did anyone else absolutely hate tonight's debate? It was just dumb. Brokaw was driving me crazy, too. I want Gwen Ifill, she's the best moderator out of all of them.

But since the debate was thoroughly annoying, onto more fun things from the 80s that we want back:
**Special for Marie found below**
American Gladiators--hey it started in '89. "Visually interesting"

The Delorean.

Perfect Strangers.


Arby's 5 for 5 deal


Michael Jordan dunking.


Fun Christmas Movies.

My afro?

Excellent Star Trek Movies.



KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!

Hot French Captains.


Nintendo, the original NES.

John McCain thinks that Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill need to get back together.


Mary Lou Retton



This is just for Marie, since she thinks The Edge is the beanie god.

The Good and the Bad of the 1980s

Lately I've been slammed with flashbacks from the '80s. Well, I don't know how much of it is really flashing back and how much of it is that history is repeating itself. Some of it I don't mind. But some of it I'm very opposed to. To wit:

Things that I want to see repeat from the 1980s:
BYU football undefeated season, with a national championship.
Friendlier relations with Russia.
New Wave Music.
80s Cartoons.
Mormons Rapping. Bepa?
The Cosby Show.
Slap bracelets.
New Kids on the Block. Wait: Wahoo! Donnie was my favorite.


The Mets winning the World Series.
Erasure.

Good mustaches.
Black Michael Jackson.

Good Indiana Jones Movies.

Good Star Wars Movies, with marginal dialog.




Things that I don't want to see repeat from the 1980s:
The sweater dress.
--By extension, leggings and stirrup pants.
Short shorts. Eek.

A football team rapping about winning the Super Bowl--before winning the game.
Bad mustaches.
White Michael Jackson.
Terrible Televangelists.
No Hair Rock. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew.
Bad sequels of Indiana Jones.

The Raiders winning a Super Bowl, especially against my Redskins.
Terrible prequels to Star Wars Movies, with absolutely horrendous dialog.




What have I missed?

a smattering

Whoop! for General Conference! Those temple announcements brought tears to my eyes. I admit it! I have a good friend in Calgary, a cousin and friends who have served there. Then President Monson announced Córdoba, Argentina, which made me think of my buddy whose dad was mission president there. I also wonder if Elder Scott had something to do with this... Next, Kansas City, then Philly, but really when he announced a temple in Rome?! My hand flew to my mouth. I want to know what changed so that they could do this. I thought of my friends who had served in Italy and what must be going thru their minds (and hearts). Lily wrote an excellent post to this effect.
And when President Monson talked about the temple dedications, yeah, there were tears then, too. Curitiba! Those Brazilians considered Elder Faust "nosso apóstolo" (our apostle). They love Elder Bangerter, too. I think I've had 3 total Bangerter relatives as Portuguese students, but it might be more. That's a very huge family.
I loved the fact that three of the speakers at the first session spoke English as a second language. The Church is spreading throughout the world and it makes me so happy to see this in General Conference.
General Conference Saturday was a great day. It always takes me a few days to digest Gen Cong, so maybe I'll bring it up again later. I do think Elder Holland's talk was something of wonderful.



Onto other things:
I hate cold weather, as I'm sure you all know. Hate it. But one good thing about this is that it's beanie weather! I love beanies. Even though I can't stand the snow, having a beanie on my head makes me feel just a bit better.

Our poor little doggie, Millie, had surgery on Friday, 4 puppy teeth removed and her last shot. What a terrible day, no?
Speaking of pets, can I get an AMEN!?

Friday was also Laurel's birthday. My younger, taller sister is 23. What the heck is up with that?

No amazing football upsets this week.

The Cubbies were swept by the Dodgers. Those poor Cubs fans. I mean, seriously, can't this team win more than 1 World Series in 100 years? Obviously not. The best they have to hope for is a 101-year championship drought. Maybe next year...
Honestly, though, I didn't want to feel guilty rooting against the Cubs if they made it to the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. I love watching that team win and have all phlangies crossed.


And this is really funny:

New Word for Wall Street

Gormandizer:

MEANING:

noun: A greedy person.

Just learned that one. Yep.

The Injustice Visited upon Gov Palin

Governor Palin has been extremely mishandled by the McCain campaign. She's so much smarter than she's appeared because of all of the talking points they're throwing at her. She seems almost ditsy or uninformed. It bothers me that they've done this to her. I think it does, in a way, force women in politics back a few steps. They pulled her out of Alaska with little warning, then hid her from interviews and the press shoving information down her throat, then set her off to the dogs.
I may disagree fundamentally with a large portion of her politics, but it seriously drives me crazy what they've done to her and how she's become a political punch bag making the SNL skits way too easy.

But tonight at the debate she's gonna come up with some good zingers. She's got a lot of talent for saying little phrases that stick. She's short on the substance though and she'll avoid topics she doesn't like.
Sen Biden, however, will go all over the topic, and make you wonder what the topic is.

It'll be a fun debate.

Get out the vote

I've been trying to find some good links to post on my blog to help people register to vote.

Google has set up something pretty useful here.
They've also created a map where you punch in your address and it gives you the info you need to register.

If you're in Utah, here's how you can find out where you're registered and where you can go to vote.
Or if you're in Nevada.
California info here, here and here.
There's more if you search online for your state, of course.

I'll post anything else that's useful if I can find it.