Monday, November 30, 2009

Eccentric

So, I guess I'm eccentric. According to someone in the know, I'm quirky and eccentric. So I've added a new poll.
If -3 is steady social norm, on a scale of 1-10, how eccentric am I? Poll at the right -------->
Problem is I understand me and my head, so I don't think I'm as quirky as logic tells me I am.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

8

Mom and I tonight were watching Strictly Ballroom for FHE, when I turned to her and asked if today was the 23rd. It's been 8 years since I got back from the mission. Huh. Que velha sou.
The change in temperature that I went thru in a 24 hour period was 85º in Londrina, 0º in Chicago when we arrived at 5am and 20º in SLC when we finally landed. I'd forgotten my sweater in my suitcase. hmmph.

This is from my last proselyting day in the mission:

Me (bottom left) at the bus station with a bunch of the sisters.

Our grupo de saída with the mission president and wife. I bawled like a baby during the meeting.

And this is me in the middle of what only seems to be nowhere in my third area:

hmmmmm
I love Brasil.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

License Plate Word Game

I like to find words in license plates. The stupid new Utah ones mix numbers and words, so this has become impossible. But the old ones that have 3 consecutive letters are great. To find words, sometimes I have to resort to other languages, and, at times, antiquated spellings. Sitting at stop lights can be boring.
Anyway, the one I saw today made my nerdy self laugh right out loud. Nu in Portuguese means naked, or naked guy. Nus is just the plural form.
So this explains why I this license plate was especially precious. Click on it please:

Props to anyone who can guess where I was when I took this picture.
**I would again like to reiterate that I was at a stop light.**

Friday, November 6, 2009

What the soccer what?

Holy cow, this NM girl must be angry at the world.


Red card?

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Dreamy City Street Planning

I have vivid dreams, this has been established.

The downtowns (and sometimes outer areas) of Utah cities are well organized into a grid format, right? Main Street is 0, the next block over is 100, then the next is 200, etc. etc. etc.
Same pattern for Center Street: 0, next block is 100, next block is 200, etc. etc. etc.
I've had people complain to me that Utah cities make no sense because the streets don't have names, only numbers. I admittedly and very honestly have found this complaint asinine, because the pattern makes lots of sense.

Anyway, I guess my subconscious is even more frustrated by this because last night my most vivid dream was about a pattern that could be created to solve this problem: double street names. The streets get a number, as well as a name. The trick with the name is--wait for it--they will be alphabetized. Main Street then 100 + A-name, 200 + B-name, etc. etc. etc.

Following is a basic mock-up, similar to the one that I created in my dream:

Problem solved.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Mayan Metropolis

Here's a video of perhaps the largest pyramid ever found in Mezoamerica. It's in an ancient Mayan metropolis now called Mirador in Guatemala. The area is larger than L.A; estimates on the population put it at about 100,000 in its heyday, which was from about 600BC to between 300BC and 100AD. But the construction on it was started before 900BC and was abandoned at about that time with people returning centuries later.
The video also mentions and shows a frieze of Popol Vuh, the Mayan creation myth.
The whole abandon/return thing also had me really intrigued.
Pretty cool stuff:
I just realized that if you're in google reader, the video doesn't show unless you click into my blog. hmmph.