America's Edgiest Home Videos

One of my old high school peeps has suddenly taken to posting artistic, emo videos of himself on facebook. They are compelling, edgy and massively creative, as his projects always were, back in the day. I finally figured out that the whole time I'm watching the evolving series, I'm mostly waiting to hear him talk, which he has not, although he's singing along with a really loud song in one of them. People always sound exactly the same as they did twenty years ago. Find someone you haven't seen in forever and meet up, or get on the phone or Skype. It's very weird and cool.

Ironically, the most recent video features him holding up signs with sentences written on them. Seriously?

I was listening to BT's old Emotional Technology cd yesterday. It's been quite a while since I've run through the whole thing. I love almost every song.

One of the best tracks- "Somnambulist". The complexity and movement of the sound is just mesmerizing, and best heard through awesome headphones, which I don't have at the moment. :(



My favorite part- the second verse- begins at 1:30. Favorite moment of the whole thing at 1:55. "...DARK..." And the rewind at the end is pretty cool. That's on the album, not just for the video.

Simply being loved is more than enough...

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Oh Say Can You See

I'm two days late on this, but I forgot to comment on the whole Christina Aguilera Super Bowl national anthem thing.

She has one of the best voices in music, today or ever. That being said... What actually bugged me more than the screwed up lyrics, which could happen to anyone I guess, were the constant riffs and runs. You can feature your voice and interject some of your personality into that song with a simple run or two, and hitting the "land of the freeeee" with some extra zing. No need for a bunch of theatrics.

While we were watching, I commented, "This isn't a concert. It's the national anthem." But she actually finished with her hand up in the air and a "thank you!"

Unless you are under the age of ten and/or it's your MakeAWish, I don't want to see you perform your own special version of the Star Spangled Banner and then practically take a bow and blow kisses to the audience afterward. It's an honor to sing the anthem, not your second encore at Madison Square Garden.

*bows*

*blows kisses*

*steps down from soapbox*

Quote of the week (technically last week, but we just watched the episode on DVR) goes to Laurie on Cougar Town, when she was doing the boudoir photo poses and she did the "Yeah, I Sit Backwards on a Chair Cuz I'm a Rule Breaker."

LOL

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Feel the Burn

I've lost five pounds in the last several weeks, but my clothes are not any looser. I must have lost muscle mass while I wasn't able to work out after surgery. Blah! Good news is I'm back to regular workouts since last week, and I didn't lose any of my stamina, although I do notice a little difference in my strength.

I read an article the other day that said that of the common workout regimens, aerobic kickboxing burns the most calories per hour (800). I never understand why people look at it in that way. Like, I've worked off 600 calories! Heck, the treadmills even give you that info. It's irrelevant to me. I don't exercise to run off a particular piece of food; I exercise for aerobic and cardiac fitness so I can feel good when I climb the stairs or otherwise exert myself, for muscle tone, and for an increase in metabolism (from increased muscle mass) so I can eat what I want.

You can use those absolute calorie numbers for a comparison of relative exertion, which then indicates a more effective and strenuous workout. Excellent, because my favorite thing to do is kickboxing! So glad I can finally do it again!

KathyL recommended the Wii walking game Walk It Out, particularly for Jeff, who is just starting to work out. (I like playing but I'm still doing my FitTV workouts.) It's really fun, except for two things- your steps aren't easily registered either on the balance board or by holding the controller, and it's difficult to aim at the items on the screen while your controller is bouncing around as you walk. Jeff ordered a dance pad controller to see if it will work better. You walk around an empty space and for each step you earn points towards populating the scene with plants, signs, benches, etc. You have to aim and shoot the symbols to get the items. You also shoot and collect "rainbow spheres," which do something I have yet to figure out.

It has good music, too.

We also got Wii Fit Plus, which I haven't played yet. Lauren says the Kung Fu is hilarious. My favorite thing on Wii Fit is the hula hoop, which hurts so good after twenty minutes. Abs of steel, baby. They have it on Wii Fit Plus as well, it seems. KathyL also recommended the running game on that one. I like the one on Wii Fit, and this one is supposed to be better.

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Saturday Nine on Monday

Saturday 9: Margaritaville

1. Tell us about a time that you had way too much Jose Cuervo.
The Jeffs and I were at the Hyatt Regency on Town Lake several years ago. The Hyatt had several sizes of margaritas back then, with useless names that indicated only the relative volumes of the glasses, and I accidentally ordered the one that came in something like a fish bowl. When it arrived, I asked if the guys would share it with me, but they said I ordered it, so I had to drink it. I didn't actually plan to drink it all, but I did. It was one of those things where I felt just fine, until I stood up from my chair. Then the room started swaying. I didn't get sick or anything, but I absolutely hate the feeling of being that "out of it." We went straight home after that... I think...

2. Do you agree with the following statement: "The older you get, the faster time goes by."?
Nah. It seems to go by at the same rate it always has.

3. What do you usually do during your "down time?"
surf the web, play video games or do logic puzzles

4. When it comes to the opposite sex, do you feel you have a grasp on 'em - or do they continue to just surprise you?
I think I have an excellent understanding of the opposite sex. I've had several close male friends through the years. Also, five years of engineering school.

5. What is your home town famous for?
NASA

6. How many romantic relationships have you had?
Serious boyfriends? Three. JohnH (1.5 years), Evans (2 years) and Jeff (23 years in total, not counting the year lapse in 1988). JohnN was a significant romantic relationship for about 3 months in college, but I hesitate to include him in the "boyfriend" list.

7. What's the best concert that you've ever been to?
Duran Duran, Sing Blue Silver Tour, final night at Wembley Arena in London, Dec. 23, 1983

8. Which famous person would you like to meet? Why?
Anderson Cooper. The guy has got to be one of the most interesting people in the world. He's been everywhere, in every sort of situation. He's got a big heart and a great sense of humor. Considering his privileged background, he is remarkably down-to-earth. He's experienced a lot of life's extreme ups and downs, and I would just love to hear his stories and get his personal take on important issues. Our politics differ on some things, so it would be fun to debate a bit. And I would have to tell him I grew up hanging out on the beautiful, sandy shores of the Mexico Ocean. Heh.

9. Has a newspaper or television reporter ever interviewed you? If so, what were the circumstances and what did you think when you read or saw what you said?
As a school newspaper reporter, I interviewed a whole lot of people, but I've never been interviewed myself. I think Anderson should interview me about my expert understanding of the opposite sex.

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Mock Surgery

We went to Mock Surgery at Brackenridge yesterday. SO cool. Lauren wants to be a NICU nurse, and some of it was geared towards young people wanting to go into health careers. She talked with several awesome people there about nursing school, including a nurse in charge of Seton's RN residency program, a student from Texas Tech nursing school and a NICU nurse from Seton.

They had a wide variety of stations set up all over the Clinical Education Center. They use robotic mannequins for simulation training, chock full of nifty features like pulses, voice, breathing, etc. In all the stations, you could do (or help with) procedures on them. In one room, there was a very specialized one that GAVE BIRTH.

The experience of watching the birth simulation was many things:

1) Weird. Not only because it was a room full of people pretending that this was a real person having a child, but because a mom let her two-year-old daughter volunteer to be the one to deliver the baby. The nurse helped her, but I kept thinking there would have been way too many questions from my own two-year-old, had she been doing it back then.

2) Amazing. A plastic dummy was actually ejecting a gooey, plastic baby from its girl parts. (Jeff saw the "Mannequin Lube" on the counter. I could not make this stuff up, folks. Sounds like something they would carry at the Adult Superstore for less than the hospital pays for it.) The baby and mother breathe and move. It's really something to see!

3) Hilarious. There was a staff member doing the mannequin's voice from another room, and she was screaming and asking for her husband. A woman from our group went up and gently pushed the mannequin's hair from her face and said, "It's going to be fine. You're doing a great job. I'm here." Everyone was laughing. When a couple of Texas Tech nursing students walked in, the dummy said, "Oh yay! My nursing student friends are here!" When the nurse was helping the two-year-old deliver the placenta, the little girl was somewhat disturbed by it. She asked "WHAT IS THAT?" More laughter from us. Right about then, Jeff discovered the lube. Oh man. It was like a party in a labor-delivery room.

Some mannequins are male and some are female. Problem is, they all have the same manly head. So, the female ones looked like men with breasts. (When we hit the plastic surgery station, I commented that this was where the men would come to have their breasts removed. Ha.) It turns out, those mannequins are modular and have interchangeable genitals, so the nurses said they are never sure of the sex of the dummies unless they look, and you can't tell just from the boobs or lack thereof. One nurse's comment- "This is Austin! We see everything and it's all OK with us!

At the plastic surgery area, the surgeon showed us the teensy-weensy needle and thread they use to suture veins. The sewing has to be done while viewed through a surgical microscope, which he let us look through. Then Lauren screwed a metal piece onto a shattered skull. All in a day's work.

The most amazing piece of equipment we saw was a new machine that uses sonography to visualize veins. It just shines like a light onto the skin! Perfect for people who have bad veins that are difficult to locate, to get blood samples or place an IV.

Lauren's Veins

Cool, eh?

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What is 'BTHO LSU'?

Two people came to this blog last month via the keywords "what is BTHO LSU?" I'm very thankful to have a platform by which I can educate the public on Aggie sports jargon. It stands for "beat the hell outta LSU." We say it for every opponent each week. BTHO Baylor/t.u./Tech/etc.!

 
Of course, people are still arriving in droves from the slight variations of the search term "anal girl." I just have to embrace it at this point.


Patrick's Saturday Six

1. What do you fear most about flying in an airplane?
crashing during takeoff

2. Have you ever had a provider lose your luggage? If so, how long did it take for them to find it?
I vaguely remember being in the lost luggage office at an airport (maybe our Toronto trip?). I'm pretty sure they sent it to our hotel within hours.

3. Where would you prefer to sit on an airplane: by the window, the aisle or in the center?
Aisle, which is based 90% on being able to get up whenever I want to, without disturbing anyone else in the row... and 10% on being completely claustrophobic in the window seat.

4. Take the quiz: What Airplane Seat Are You?
You Are a Middle Seat
You are an outgoing, friendly, and likable person. You enjoy being in the middle of the action. You trust others freely. You enjoy cooperating and collaborating with people from all walks of life. While no one likes being in the middle seat, you're happy to make the best of it. Your positive outlook creates a lot of stability and security... both for yourself and for those around you.

5. If you had to book a flight this evening, which airline would you prefer to fly with?
Delta

6. What’s the last place you flew to?
Miami

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TGI-Snowday

My father-in-law was lucky to get home from Africa via DFW airport. Yeesh, man. It's been downright treacherous up there all week long.

Snow day today! Got a call from the district at 5:45 am. Then a call from the school at 6:20. And just now a repeat call from the district. Good grief. They're pretty proud of their automated phone system, aren't they? The parents are all complaining on Facebook now.

We have a pretty blanket of snow outside. Can't wait to go out and play!

Friday Five

1. What’s your favorite kind of cracker?
I like the ones that have lots of texture and substance, with all kinds of seeds. You live in Austin long enough, you start eating twigs and stuff.

2. What part of your residence gets the best natural lighting?
the gameroom

3. What song have you frequently listened to lately?
"Show Me How You Burlesque" Christina Aguilera

4. What could you use a little break from?
the Foundation website

5. What’s going on in your town this weekend?
Carnaval Brasileiro at Palmer, Mock Surgery at Brackenridge Hospital, many Super Bowl parties and viewing opportunities--- and game night at Scott and Julie's :)

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Joke du Jour

No, I cannot post PowerPoint files on Blogger. I'm not coming to your house to click through the slides and narrate either. :p

Joke of the day... (thanks to my hubby for this one!):

I met a genie today who said he would grant me one wish. I told him, "I want to live forever."

"Sorry," said the genie. "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that. That violates the rule against perpetuities."

"Fine," I said, "then I want to die after Congress get their heads out of their asses!"

"You sneaky bastard," said the genie.

Bwahaha!

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Revisiting Tuesday

Have I mentioned how much I detest coding html by hand? Just because we can doesn't mean we should. If WordPress weren't such a wretched biotch...

...ahem... Good Morning!

It's actually a great morning. I hope yours is as well. :) And happy Groundhog Day, too. Something tells me we're in for six more weeks of frozen tundra. Brr!

Grab a cup of coffee and make your way to the conference room. If I see any of you on Facebook during this presentation, you'll be retained and forced to watch it again.

A PowerPoint to accompany yesterday's post:

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Random Tuesday

Thank you, Laura, for calling just to say, "NICE RACK!" I'm touched. *wipes tear*

First, Clooney gets malaria, and now I see Mark Sanchez wipe a booger on a teammate. The sexy quotient is going down rapidly for these two.

These random thought blog entries should be in Powerpoint format with lots of bullets. Hey. You know you like it. It's beats the crap out of an entire post on education finance.

My awesome Dad is still using his slightly-off version of English. He calls image thumbnails "thumbprints." Prints--photos--- I get it. Thank goodness I'm not five and won't use the word "thumbprints" incorrectly myself for ten years, like the infamous "nightgallon."

I read somewhere a long time ago that one of the reasons we fall in love with a person is the way we feel about ourselves when we're with them. It was borne out in this oddly-worded observation Brad made on The Bachelor last night, which, if you're watching too much reality TV paying attention, is a comment on his being pleased with himself, that he affects her in that way. He smiled and said, "Whenever I'm around Shawntel, she just lights up!" Too cute.

Shawntel. Sounds like a communications company.

I will second (or ten-thousand-and-second) the sentiment by other viewers that if the bachelor is 38, the bachelorettes should be older than 24-25. Lauren and I have both commented that the girls seem really young for him.

Yeah, yeah. Mark Sanchez is all of 24. I'm not looking to marry the guy. Especially after the booger incident.

I made one of my famous amazing soups last night, after it was almost 80 degrees yesterday. Should have waited until tonight, but there is plenty left over, so that works! This one is called Chicken Pot Pie soup- all the stuff that's in pot pie- lots of chicken and veggies in a somewhat creamy base... and then I bake a pie crust and everyone crumbles some on top of their soup bowl. Neat, eh? It takes FOREVER to make, because of all the veggie chopping, but it's worth it, because it makes probably almost two gallons of soup. It'll be perfect tonight by a fire.

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