Try me

I was at Fashion Place Mall tonight with a friend who was looking for something at one of those specialty soap and lotion stores. I was wandering around, looking at the different varieties that they had. Then I realized that there were body washes and shower gels that had a green sticker on them that said, "Try Me"
How does that work? I looked closer at a bottle and realized that it was only about 2/3 full.
I really don't know what's been going on in that little store, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing I want to be a part of.

I was done posting for the day, until...

Until I found this:

Just thought I'd share.

A scary teammate, a poll and BOOKS!!!

Would you want this guy on your team?

So far I'm the only one who's voted for wassail. Unsurprisingly hot chocolate is leading the way. Eggnog's gotten a vote, too. I call on all wassail lovers to unite by voting in mine olde polle.

And, Merry post-Christmas! I made off with a happy haul: bookity book book bookey book.
I made off like a bandit, if you ask me.
Then, Barnes and Noble was having a sick sale online. So, I got this, this, this and this. With shipping and everything, the total was only $26.52. I meant to get this one, too, but that's what I get for ordering at 5am. It was only 3.99 or something when I was ordering (wistful sigh).

Have you read this? It's great fun. You should all check it out of the library or something.
Oh, and this book, too. You can get it at Deseret Book, I think. Probably at Seagull, too.

Astronomically cool

**You're probably not seeing the whole image, b/c I just checked and my computer isn't showing it. Just click on the picture and the whole thing'll show up.**


These pictures are hard to believe, but they're real.
Isn't that amazing?

Anyway, just outside (in galactic terms) of our galaxy, we find the Large Magellanic Cloud. (There's a Small M.C., too.) Inside the cloud there's star building going on like you can't believe. Some of these stars are gargantuan. Their length of life is a fraction of the length of our sun and they can be 10-60 times heavier than our sun. This means they burn faster and when they explode, man, it's HUGE.
Here's a nice view of the Sombrero Galaxy:


Here are some other shots that I fancy:



I get lost looking up at the sky. I love constellations.
What got me on this specific kick today? An article about NFL football on ESPN. Go figure.


All of these pictures are courtesy of the Hubble Telescope.

tears, tears, tears

I just want everyone to know that I'm in mourning:

ASU 76 -- BYU 75
Arizona 31 -- BYU 21






As of right now, I am boycotting the state of Arizona--even though it's nice and warm and is mostly snowless. Those that know me will understand the depths of my sorrow if I'm willing to boycott warmth and no-snow.


A video that I think epitomizes today:

Devil's advocate and feigned opinions

I have a nearly insatiable need to understand things. I can get into tight spots because of this. But the desire has also led me to learn a whole slue of things (often the trivia which comes in handy at our family dinners). I've often felt that if I could understand the minutia/facts of an event, I could understand the reasons why it happened. This has, at times, led me to the Devil's advocate in conversations. I've tried to rein that one in.
Anyway, anyone who knows me at all, knows that I love talking and having conversations. I'm horrific at small talk, but anything deeper can keep me going for hours. I often portray ideas as my fixed opinions, which is a problem, I know. But what I'm really trying to do is throw out ideas to learn more about life.
I guess I'm too abrupt. Anyone got any ideas about how I could throw out ideas without making them seem like my set-in-stone opinions?

Maybe this all stems from my paranoia about being cocky and a know-it-all. (shoulder shrug)

Wrap-up and poll intro

Hi. It seems as though slap bracelets were overwhelming the most important accessory from the 80s.
Now the poll intro. I know Chex isn't exactly as interesting as leg warmers, slap bracelets and fanny packs, but there's history to this one. I semi woke up earlier this year and was oddly uber depressed. For some reason I had decided that I just couldn't go on anymore or something. Remember that I was mostly asleep. But the, luckily, I remembered that I had some Wheat Chex. Suddenly everything was okay. I was happy again. I fell back asleep. When I woke up again later, I started to laugh out loud.
Anyway, there's the background to the poll.
And I'm still sick of being sick. Every once in a while I start to feel better, but then it hits me again and I start tipping over to the left. Scottie think I need to drink some V-8.
I think I need to play some Wii. Or correct finals.

A bit more HP madness

What do I do when I'm sick? This:

I know that some of the last one has already been posted. But it's good to review.

I don't know why I found this so funny

But it made me laugh right out loud, enough that Scottie and Mom heard me downstairs**.
**I recognize that it's not a big stretch that someone would hear me guffawing from a level down.

coverear

That's my newest Spanish verb. It means "to cover someone else's song."
Jimi Hendrix covereó una canción de Bob Dylan, All Along the Watchtower.
The verb's almost as good as googlear. That's a great verb, too.

blown mind

Not because of anything cool, but I have altogether too many things floating around in my mind. This is a note to let you know that if you've contacted me and I haven't gotten back to you, it's not because I'm ignoring you, but that I am totally scatterbrained right now.

On a happier note, today I had a Pastel de Romeu e Julieta. yum yum yummy

To make it:
click here for the recipe.
To understand the recipe, click here and here.

oxymoronic

I just saw this album and thought, "Uh-uh. Really?"

What I did on the lonely streets of Brazil

In some of my mission areas there were long empty streets and fields where there was no one to contact. In one of these areas I was in a threesome with Síster Horne and Síster Costa. Síster Costa would teach us random things about the culture. One thing she taught us, along with the hand motions, was Cinco Patinhos as performed by Xuxa.



Ahh, good times...

SNL keeps them coming

New Poll!

Ahhh, the beloved 1980s:
Slap
Fanny
Bow
Clip
Warmers
Suspenders

who, me? no: JULIE RAE!

Dec 3's Shirt Woot.


But what is the most important thing about today?
Britney Spears' birthday?
Georges Seurat's birthday?
The University of Leipzig opening for the first time?



Mais, non!
Happy Birthday, Julie Rae!

You're so cool we say your first and middle name.

bizarrely androgynous voice?

I take care of a whole slue of online courses where I work (UVU Distance Ed). Because I contact the students about their courses and answer phones, often they think that I'm their professor. Today I got a phone call from a student wondering about a Math 1050 course. Near the end of the conversation, he asked me if I were Professor Christine Walker or Professor Joseph Hwang.
It reminded me of this line by National Security Advisor, Nancy McNally, from the West Wing:

"I'm the only woman on the conference call; Delaney can't tell when it's me talking. Do I have a bizarrely androgynous voice?"

Take on me.

Don't king away?

Well, she tagged me

Since I can't come up with anything über substantial to blog about, I'll finally post (sorta) what Anna-Lisa tagged me to do:

7 Things I Can Do:
1. Speak Portuguese
2. Play softball
3. Drive a stick
4. Find random things on the internet
5. Make spectrograms of sounds
6. Eat fish (a big step)
7. Make a mean feijoada

7 Things I Cannot Do:
1. Tread water worth beans
2. Control my pocketbook in bookstores
3. Run fast (Swenson slows)
4. Eat a chocolate and peanut butter together and not gag (Chris, remember my crazy reaction?)
5. Handle watching Seinfeld
6. Control my laughter
7. Do pull-ups

7 Favorite Foods:
1. Beans and Rice
2. Swenson family pizza
3. Pie
4. Christmas breakfast at the Swenson home
5. Broccoli (it's how I decide what to get at restaurants)
6. Flavored drinks
7. Salgadinhos

7 (of the) Books I'm currently reading (yes, this is a problem I have)
1. Les Mis
2. Harry Potter et le Prince de Sang-Mêlé
3. The Bourne Identity
4. 1776
5. Lectures on Faith
6. Reagan Diaries
7. Meet your Match

7 Most listened to songs on iTunes
1. Hypnotic, Craig David
2. Time, Sarah McLachlan
3. Samedi soir sur la terre, Francis Cabrel
4. Use Your Words, Owen
5. Femme Fatale, Owen
6. The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi, Owen
7. If You Ain't Got Love, Mason Jennings

7 of my favorite words:
1. Irokesenschnitt (mohawk in German)
2. paralelepípedo (cobblestones in Portuguese)
3. ustedes hermanas (I totally misunderstood the Spanish at the Santiago temple and shouted out a wrong answer. Scared the poor sister)
4. d'ac (French for "agreed)
5. Яд ([Yad] it's "Venom" in Russian and is what Megan, former Sister Neeley, calls me)
6. sipo (Chilean for yes, uh huh, right)
7. rã (frog in Portuguese, pronounce like huh? but nasally)

7 of my favorite quotes from the West Wing:
1. I'm Marion Coatsworth Hay. (CJ)
2. I thought my reflexes before, in the press room, were catlike. (CJ)
3. I don't understand. Did you trip over something? (Toby)
4. You want to tempt the wrath of whatever from high atop the thing? (Toby)
5. Abbey: Hon, this is like, nerd hot talk.
Bartlet: Who's your Commander in Chief?
Abbey: You are.
6. Margaret: Can I - can I just say something for the future?
Leo: Yeah.
Margaret: I can sign the President's name. I have his signature down pretty good.
Leo: You can sign the President's name?
Margaret: Yeah.
Leo: On a document removing him from power and handing it to someone else?
Margaret: Yeah. Or... do you think the White House Counsel would say that was a bad idea?
Leo: I think the White House Counsel would say it was a coup d'etat!
Margaret: Well. I'd probably end up doing some time for that.
7. CJ: "What are you, 4'10"?"
Annabeth: "4'11"."
CJ: "I can't believe we're the same species."


There. I sorta doctored what Anna-Lisa did, but it's close enough, at least in the spirit of it all.