Just life

Hello again. I have thought about blogging a few times in the last month but every time I sat down to start writing, I thought Nah, I'm not going to do that. So here's an all at once recap of what we've been up to.

Jeran has been working hard at science and on reassembling his motorcycle. It's been amazing to watch (and very occasionally participate) the bike come together. It's going to look so good. It might even run! This is not a very recent picture, but we'll save that for later.

I've been working a lot the last few weeks, which is great because I can stay busy and make money at the same time (amazing how "work" does that). Unfortunately I've been working on a difficult project which has meant waking up around 5:30 AM many mornings thinking about it. Oh well. The days are so much longer and more productive this way!

I made one of those neck coolers (aka cool ties, cooling scarves) that you put absorbent polymer crystals into and they soak up water and keep you cool via evaporative cooling. I overfilled it a bit so I'll have to try again on another. Good thing they are super easy and cheap. It's too bad I didn't make them months ago because we sure could have used them all summer long, especially on our waterfalls trip and Jeran working on his motorcycle. We've been scorching hot here - when 95 degrees sounds like a reasonably nice temperature you know it's been hot.

Our garden is not doing too great. We have had trouble with deer eating our tomato and pepper plants. We did get three little cayenne peppers and a few little green tomatoes have been on the plants all summer without changing at all. Regardless of the heat, our carrots seem to be doing quite well. I didn't think they would because I think they like sandy soil better than clay, but I pulled one up yesterday and it's the cutest little carrot ever!

A while ago we went on a quest to picnic at "Research Triangle Park". We knew there was a good chance that there was no real "park" park, but we picked up a pizza and drove around looking for parkish places in Research Triangle Park. We found the actual RTP headquarters and it seemed as parklike as anything we were bound to find so we ate there. It was deserted and they have a large grassy field and bushes and stuff. The sky looked amazing. We picnicked on pizza and took a little snooze on our blanket. It was a very nice evening. I'm still convinced there must be a park SOMEwhere there, but maybe not...

And now for three things that are super amazing/cool/brilliant:

1. Opposable thumbs. Think about it. Look at your hand - it's that bottom thumb joint down by your wrist that is opposable. Now try doing things without rotating that joint. VERY difficult. Yesiree, opposition is amazing. We can grab stuff, write, play the piano, create a cup with our hand, etc. I do love my opposable thumbs.

2. That we can turn electrical charges into mechanical motion. After watching the clock spin around and around the other day, I researched this and learned a lot! At first I was surprised when I Googled this and Wikipedia's "Engine" article was a top result but now it makes better sense (see particularly the electric motor section). And now my engineer dad and brother are probably rolling their eyes.

3. Wikipedia. Lame, I know but it is pretty amazing and I've read some really interesting articles, like the Waste Management, Engine, Laudanum, HeLa, Petabyte, Eden Project, etc.

See ya later 2008!

I can't believe this year is almost over! Really family, wasn't it yesterday when Andrew got home and we were all together for fake Christmas? To commemorate the passing year, I attempted to list all the interesting things that happened month by month but it was too boring and empty so I won't do that here. So instead, a series of random thoughts.

I bought a new CD yesterday. I have listened to it twice and I'm still trying to decide what I think of it. It is "Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy & Peace". It is not quite what I expected it to be. I was expecting something more calm and relaxing from the great cellist but it is kind of a smorgasbord collection of traditional and cultural holiday songs done by Yo-Yo Ma with guest musicians. There are a few weird songs that I'm sure are some culture's traditional songs but sound disharmonious and strange to me. My favorites so far are the Dona Nobis Pacem pieces (of which there are at least 4).

I am determined not to see Twilight the movie, at least not for a year or so. I just think that the characters are undoubtedly much better in my imagination and just like happened with Harry Potter, when I later think about it, the movie actors will crowd out the imagined characters.

Did I buy a 4-pound turkey or chicken yesterday? When I bought it I thought it was a turkey, but now I think it might have been a chicken. Oh well, they are both good. I guess I could go look in the freezer. Nah. I'll let it be a surprise.

I own a turtleneck sweater. I tried it on the other day with every intention of wearing it as long as possible and made it a full 5 minutes before having to take it off because it was trying to strangle me. And it was making my head look like a melon floating in midair. Seriously. Every year when I see cute turtlenecks in the ads or in stores I think I might like them better now but every time I try one on, I get claustrophobic and hate it. Oh well. Maybe someday just the right one will come along and it will be magic.