Circles and Dots and Other Distractions

Interview with a One-Year-Old

2012-01-25T00:26:00.003+01:00

Just in case you haven't seen this yet:

The Shins' "Those to Come"

2012-01-20T20:06:00.000+01:00

"Those To Come"

Eyeless in the morning sun you were
Pale and mild, a modern girl
Taken with thought, still prone to care
Makin tea in your underwear
You went out in the yard to find

Something to eat and clear your mind
Something bad inside me went away

Quaking leaves and broken light
Shifting skin the coming night
The bearers of all good things arrive
Climb inside us, twist and cry
A kiss on your molten eyes

Myriad lives like blades of grass
Yet to be realized, bow as they pass

They are cold,
Still,
Waiting in the ether,
To form,
Feel,
Kill,
Propagate,
Only to die
[x2]

Dissolve
Magically,
Absurdly,
They'll end,
Leave,
Dissipate,
Coldly
And strangely
Return

Who Takes Checks?

2012-01-19T20:33:00.000+01:00

I had to write a check this week. A check. Remember those things? I was glad I even found one that I could dust off before trying to remember how to fill it out . . . I thought and hoped that they would soon be extinct when I last wrote one SEVEN YEARS AGO. But of all the places to require a check, a governmental department doesn't really surprise me.

I'm still waiting for Google to take over the government and make it awesome. And that would include banishing checks forever (and the necessity of trips to official offices).

That is all.

Heidi's Happiness Sun

2012-01-19T02:31:00.000+01:00

My friend Heidi asked students in her daughter's class what happiness meant to them and then put their answers on the rays seen in the photograph (sorry that you can't really see the kids' answers, this is a phone picture). After hours of painting to get everything to her satisfaction, she brought her artwork to the school and sold it at a school auction. Isn't she talented?

Nephew and Simon Pegg

2012-01-12T20:13:00.000+01:00

It was pointed out to me that my nephew looks like Simon Pegg. What do you think?

Why I Love Google So Much

2012-01-10T15:13:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's true. For over five years now, I've had "I love everything Google" on my resume. So when a potential employer emailed me and asked why I love Google so much, I had to do a write-up. It's by no means perfect or complete, but it was enough for him to ask if I'd already written that before he even asked me. Of course, it was also enough for him to ask me why I don't just work for Google. Anyway, I thought I'd share:

Why I Like Google
by Michelle Glauser

I like Google because it was started by nerds who understood that usability and fun/art/interesting stuff/[insert something here] can go together, such as in the case of Google Doodles. I love the way that Google will take on diverse (dare I say "lofty"?) projects that seem worthy, whether monetarily promising or not. Google is admirable for its way of not even making the effort to brush off criticism; criticism doesn't stick because of Google's confidence in its products and its dedication to improvement, such as the way Google responded to an inundation of emails about Google Video being discontinued by saying they "should have done better" and creating a button to transfer videos to YouTube.

I think Google is the postmodern company--the company defies traditional boundaries for technology as well as for company culture. Some people hear about what Google employees enjoy and wonder how Google can ever get anything done with its employees jumping in ball pits and playing on giant chess boards, but Google understands that people will be attracted to Google's uniqueness, happy employees will stay longer, and creativity can blossom.

I love Gmail's seemingly paradoxical way of having a plethora of settings and yet a clean, simple design. I heart the settings that make their way out of Labs. I love the simplicity of Google Search, Google Analytics, Google Image Search, Google Books, Google Translate, Google Maps, Google News, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Chat, Google Docs, and Google Voice--all of these tools make my life easier. Google's dedication to realizing ever-better dreams hits a good note with me. Many times when I've thought, "Google should make something that would [fill in the blank here]," it hasn't been long before I've seen my uncommunicated idea come to pass. Impressive that Google can read minds, no?

I love that Google is unafraid to do silly things such as to come up with a setting so that before sending a message at night, you have to solve some simple math equations in order to prove that you're in a right state of mind. And what other technology company's name has become a verb in so many languages? I think that if other companies, individuals, and dare I say even governments would incorporate Google's products and attitudes into daily life, they would be making a step in the right direction.

I could go on and on (I'm sure you've seen that on my blog already), but I hope I've given you at least a glimpse of why I love Google so much.

Showering is Still Lame

2012-01-09T23:33:00.002+01:00

I forgot to mention another reason why showering is lame: it's COLD. No matter how warm the water is, there is always a point when I am covered in goosebumps. (Great for shaving.)

In heaven, I hope that the bathrooms are kept at a constant 80 degrees Fahrenheit. That might just be enough motivation for me to live a good life.

But at least I can say, ten days in, that I've kept up with my goal, and it feels kind of nice to be completely ready each day.

A New Year

2012-01-05T16:34:00.002+01:00

A few notes:

When it was mentioned to me that I could be a book blogger last month, I said, "Book bloggers read a book a day or something. I can't do that." This year review confirmed my failings. And then I saw that this book blogger read 56. I counted on my Goodreads list, and I read 64 last year. Hmm.

A question: why can I not be an eclectic blogger and be successful? Why must people always be so limited? Whatever happened to the honor assigned to Renaissance Men (and Women)?

But at least I am working on one very focused blog, Blabbergasted, about funny language mistakes.

Two confessions from 2011: I have no idea who the Kardashians are and I don't even care to Google them (please don't tell me, I am quite comfortable in my naïveté), and I decided I hate showering. I like the clean feel and I like to look nice, but showering itself is totally inconvenient. And now you know why I hate swimming: it requires extra showering.

Big goals for 2012: shower every day even though I hate it (no more every other day, oh, and try to blow dry my hair at least almost as long as it should be blow dried, wear earrings, and put on makeup--none of this in any way implies that I will make any promises about not wearing my moccasin slippers everywhere).
Another goal for 2012: learn to make good tofu and good mutter paneer.
Other, bigger goals for 2012: I'm not telling.

In 2011, I never really lived anywhere. I tutored in every junior high and high school subject under the sun. I became the last girl in my local Mormon ward church group growing up to not be married. I moved to California for a while to help my sister during a tough pregnancy. I revamped landscaping and grew a garden. I made cheese and lots of great friends, married and single. I served for a short time in the Young Women's program. I attended my first quinceañera. I met a persistent, selfless, wonderful guy while playing soccer. I bought a new MacBook. I went to Yosemite and Lake Tahoe and Tiburon and I attempted hiking Mt. Olympus. I ran 15 miles in one week. I got my toenails fixed. I finally saw the Northwest. I received an offer and made a counter-offer before it all slipped through the cracks. I learned how to wear a sari. I cooked a lot of new things (Yorkshire puds=favorite). I worked on writing and math and reading (using four different libraries) and crafts and organization and efficiency and getting fitter and web design and all sorts of other things. And though this isn't really my life, I have to add that my best friend had her first baby.

In short, 2011 wasn't as bad as I thought it was.

Nevertheless, here's to 2012.

Announcement Announcement

2012-01-05T05:51:00.003+01:00

Announcement time! My friend Autumn and I are starting a blog called Blabbergasted. It's for short, funny stories of mistakes made in a second language. Have you ever blabbergasted or do you know someone who has? Please spread the word. http://blabbergastedblog.blogspot.com/

Full-Size Beds

2012-01-04T08:16:00.003+01:00

I have decided something. Full-size beds are silly. Either get a twin for a single person and save space, or get a queen so that a couple can comfortably fill the bed. The end. (Not that I'm not grateful to have a bed.)

Announcement

2012-01-04T02:01:00.001+01:00

A friend and I have a big announcement tomorrow!

The World According to Student Bloopers

2012-01-01T07:58:00.000+01:00

To get you laughing in the new year, read this collection of history student mistakes.

December's Links to Love

2011-12-31T10:09:00.001+01:00

Artsy:

1-second snippets of beauty:

Seconds Of Beauty - 1st round compilation from The Beauty Of A Second on Vimeo.

Zooey Deschanel contributes at HelloGiggles.

12 Drawings a Day:

12 Drawings a Day - 12 Dessins par Jour from Denis Chapon on Vimeo.

Couples' outfit switches.

Street calligraphy (though I wish people would stick to spray painting on their own property):

Herbert Baglione Nuart 2011 from NUART on Vimeo.

3.2 million dots:

Hero from Miguel Endara on Vimeo.

Facebook van.

What do you see in these clouds?

Literary:

BetterWorldBooks donates a book for every book you buy, and the books ship free!

Yes, I Love Technology:

Share self-destructing links. (They appear only once.)

Birth of icons: Susan Kare's sketchbook.

Translate the web while learning a language:

Cool use of Facebook timelines.

Can red light runs be predicted?

A gaming device that can read lips. Great technology for the deaf community, right?

AirPod: air-run car (imagine less than $.50/100km):

French tech company bans email. Wow.

Random:

Cool ski video:

JP Auclair Street Segment (from All.I.Can.) from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo.

I just about died laughing while I read Damn You Auto Correct's Top 25.

Funny Taiwanese animations about U.S. topics.

I think sloths should replace the whole internet cat thing, don't you?

Nerdboyfriend.

For pet haters out there: stuff* my pets ruined (*not real word).

Lobby for businesses to change through CarrotMob.

Rate snowmen.

Lovely cover:

Netflix-like toy rental.

Pre-Photoshop fashion mag cover.

Pogo stick coolness:

Elderly animals:

Elderly Animals: Photographs by Isa Leshko from Mark & Angela Walley on Vimeo.

Woolly mammoth to be cloned.

History of Glitter:

All That Glitters: The History of Shiny Things from Etsy on Vimeo.

Bad wedding photos from Ellen. I swear at least two must be German. And bad school photos. And her best scares:

The Rap Board: rappers' signature faces and sayings. And typography portraits.

The Goodwin Project:

The Goodwin Project from Avocados and Coconuts on Vimeo.

Here's to the end of 2011, peoples!

Hypnobirthing

2011-12-28T10:19:00.001+01:00

If the subject of birth grosses you out, read no further.

Since my best friend was getting ready to have her first baby, I read up on hypnobirthing, which my sister highly praises, and which is not as freaky as it sounds. And though it may sound weird to have a single girl reading up on such subjects, I really enjoyed what I learned and I'm now completely convinced I will use my own personalized version of hypnobirthing some day. Here are my rough notes from my readings in hopes that they may help someone some day:

Fear is a problem. No fear=no pain. Pain comes from tensing up and it is not inevitable. We have conditioned ourselves to believe it is a curse. Let your body do the work. Endorphins are natural pain-killers. Amnesiac condition: mother draws into herself and her baby and forgets the world. Bodies naturally know how to birth, proved by other cultures and animals where birthing is no big deal. Birth is about family fulfillment. Women, partners, and babies are the main roles and should be listened to. Pregnant women are not diseased, nor are they ill, thus birthing does not have to take place in a medical facility. HypnoBirthing allows for aware, happy infants, and mothers who feel tired but well immediately after birth. HypnoBirthing cuts down on medical costs and length of labor.
What is experienced in the body is determined by the mind. Use positive words to discuss birthing plans (don't talk in "victim language"). Hypnosis is not as negative as people think--no one can be caused to do something they don't want to do through hypnosis. It is a natural state of focus that we use on a daily basis. Labor while in self-hypnosis means you are focused on being in charge and relaxed, in being part of your body and baby. Babies are affected by screaming, tenseness, and drugs: why make their birth traumatic?
Bond with the baby before birth as much as possible, through music, massage, conversation, singing, empathic imaginations.
Breathing (slow, deep breaths: draw in for up to 20 counts, then exhale equally slowly, with body still and limp, with body visualized as a bowl for your baby to rest in), relaxation (dim light, no disturbances, empty bladder, comfy clothes, background music, focusing on relaxing each muscle, light massage on back/arms/neck, repeat letters through the entire alphabet, of time going by without being noticed), visualization (of being in beautiful places, moving through different colors, of opening blossoms, floating upward with balloons) and of being energized, deepening. Practice daily just as an athlete would, and with your partner/coach.
Practice having your birth partner give you an anchor, or a sign, like a hand squeeze, that signals that you need to relax more deeply.
Practice birth breathing on the toilet: shorter intakes with nudging breaths downward (not too forceful)
Pushing is not good. Breathe your baby down gently instead of forcing it out, otherwise you will be limiting your baby's oxygen as well as your own, weakening both of you.
Stretch inner thigh muscles twice daily. Squatting (called the "Leaping Frog stance--with your arms inside your spread knees or behind you at the side of your hips so there's room for the baby and attendant and it relieves pressure in your butt) is a good birth posture, but we're not used to it as other cultures, so squat.
Perineal massage with oil stretches muscles and readies them for birth without tearing. (Practice relaxing and visualizing then.)
Have a list of birth preferences and discuss them with health provider and partner ahead of time.
If baby is breech, relax and get it turned by health provider.
False labor=practice labor.
Remember that due dates are just guesses. Relax. Let mother nature and your body and the baby ripen.
Read affirmations daily.
Partner: make labor go as you've envisioned (ask others to be quiet and calm, answer questions for you, etc.), touch, massage, wipe sweat, retrieve cool/wet cloth, get snacks, running the music and lights, changing positions, bathroom breaks, etc.
Begin labor relaxed and at home, in quiet and comfort, with the support of your partner. Calm down "ready-to-go" feelings. Get ready to go when surges are three and a half to four minutes apart.
Don't clench, clutch, or curl up. Walking is not necessarily helpful, nor is it relaxing during surges. Only do it if you feel the need to.
Passing time through slow parts of labor: birth ball, tub or jacuzzi, shower, humor, nipple stimulation, light touch massage, walking
Expect: body heat to go up and down, spotting, hiccups, burps, nausea when the diaphragm first reacts to labor, the feeling of needing to escape (relax in this case)
There are many positions. Move as you feel is best. Lateral position (on your side with a pillow to hold up a leg)
You or your partner can catch the baby and instantly cuddle, skin-to-skin. The baby will even instantly seek milk.

Salt Lake City is Pretty

2011-12-21T23:34:00.000+01:00

Salt Lake City is pretty.

Found here.

Underestimated Present for Guys to Give Gals

2011-12-15T09:00:00.000+01:00

I don't think guys will ever know how absolutely fabulous it is when they can do hair. It feels nice and it is so personal and something to brag about. Agree?

Nice work, Michael.

Kill Facebook

2011-12-12T08:34:00.000+01:00

I can think of some better things to kill. (Spotted in Portland, Oregon, minutes before passing an "End Petlessness!" billboard.)

More Adventures in Face Recognition Technology

2011-12-10T23:03:00.000+01:00

Remember when Picasaweb started tagging faces in my photos? Years later, face recognition technology still isn't perfect. Thus, iPhoto also provides great fun:

Because making a mean face makes one look like Paul, apparently.

Nice job, iPhoto. That is a face. Or a drawing of one, anyway.

No grumpy child will be named.

Non-faces that iPhoto thinks are faces:

Anything shaped like a diamond must be a face.

This hair looks more like a landscape if you ask me.

?

?

I sincerely hope no one's face looks like this, don't you?

Childcraft Book on Gender

2011-12-08T07:23:00.000+01:00

Do you ever glance at books that have been around forever just to see what they hold? I laughed at the obvious generation gap that showed up in a Childcraft book on my parents' shelves. Just look at this page:

"It's fun to be a girl and wear a gay costume. It's good to be a mother and sew. Such companionship makes a girl want to be like Mom."

Wow. So many levels of discomfort for someone of my generation and feminist leanings (not to mention the use of a word which was so great for rhyming but which now has a very different meaning). Being a girl is all about being fun, huh? And girls should all be interested in dressing up? What about mothers--is it bad to be a mother and not sew? Does that mean girls won't have companionship with their mothers? What if they don't want to be just like Mom? How do you like that capitalized "Mom"? We could do a close reading just on that . . .

And man, that poor mother looks like she's at least fifty years older than her daughter. Sad.

Last question: is it just me, or does that girl's profile kind of look like mine?

Adventures with Sadie

2011-12-06T10:29:00.001+01:00

Wonder how tall a tower built out of every wooden block in the Bankhead playroom would be? Wonder no longer:

Want to know what Sadie's hair looks like after I cut it? Like this:

Elite Education

2011-12-04T04:55:00.001+01:00

People seem annoyed with Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's decision to get a tutor for their kids, but I think it's because they're jealous. They're jealous that they can't afford the same for their kids. They're jealous that they didn't get that kind of treatment. They're jealous of the person who has enough training so he or she can fill the position. (Oh, and as for that bit about the kids being too young to work on other languages, pshaw! Young is when you really learn languages. Everyone knows that and I wish I'd had that luxury.)

I'm certainly jealous. Every time I read a Victorian novel and see how kids were educated at home by people who stayed by their sides for years, I think how that would be so ideal. I guess letting the classes even out a bit has ruined that for most of us.

Now, if I had enough money, these would be my requirements. The tutor I hire would need to:

be good at kindly keeping kids in line
be fluent in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, and German, and teach in one of those languages on separate days of the week
teach piano, violin or cello, and guitar (including intense music theory)
spend a lot of time outdoors with the kids
play basketball, soccer, volleyball, chess, Scrabble, Settlers, and a variety of face card games
do creative, hands-on and abstract projects with the kids
teach philosophy, writing (not as in handwriting--I really don't care), religion, psychology, art history, world history, business, math, good morals, typing, web design, other useful computer skills, and how to be physically healthy
teach communication and social skills

I can dream. What else should I add to my list?

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2011-12-02T10:23:00.000+01:00

Kid quotations that will make me happy forever more:

Amy at Family Night: "When God does something amazing, that's a miracle. And God can do anything."
Three-year-old Sadie: "Can He do a handstand?"

Sadie upon waking: "Mom?! . . . Mom?! . . . Mom?! . . . Fairy Godmother?"

Five-year-old James while playing Scrabble: "You dropped most of the bag's contents."

James upon describing a dream: "Gladly, no one was hurt."

James while painting: "Unfortunately, some paint got on the table."

Me: "In the meantime . . ."
I can't remember which kid but it's still funny: "Why is the time so mean?"

Amy: "Everyone has to eat, every day."
Sadie: "Even Jesus Christ?"
Amy: "Umm, probably."

November's Links to Love

2011-11-30T22:37:00.008+01:00

Artsy:

Typography heaven.

This is the first time ever that I've thought about keeping a pretty fridge.

Nifty gadgets.

Google Earth rugs.

Google Street View art.

Slow mo paint photography.

Beauty for the house.

Inspired by makers:

OFFF Cincinnati 2011 - Let's Feed The Future from OFFF, let's feed the future on Vimeo.

Literary:

Writing cheat sheet.

Full text of "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell.

Yes, I Love Technology:

Yelp for outdoor trails: Alltrails.

Google X Lab.

WTF Mobile Web: making fun of bad mobile web design.

Public breakup in Burger King made even more public.

Re-invented video with Mozilla's Popcorn.

What do the internet and a strawberry have in common?

Swiss village Facebook success:

Random:

10 coolest climbing walls.

Long-distance relationship pillows.

Did you know all eyes are blue (there just might be brown tissue in the way)? This doctor can make brown eyes blue.

Bert and Ernie are recording TomTom GPS instructions:

The history of the curiously strong mint, altoid.

The craziest hobby:

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Secret passageway/light switch.

Edible spray paint?

A murmuration of starlings:

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

I really have been wondering about daddy-long-legs for a long time.

Easter Island heads have bodies!

Hilarious adopted pets ads:

And if you ever need a hug, here are some.

The Truth About Chocolate

2011-11-28T19:11:00.001+01:00

Sometimes you can find inherent, eternal truths in strange places, like the creepy Oregon coastal town where you stop for lunch and can't find anything but antique shops.

Happy Hobby Cards

2011-11-26T08:00:00.001+01:00

I recently had the chance to meet a man named Allan Linde. He had clear blue eyes, endearing dimples, and it was obvious he loves people. See, here he is:

Doesn't he just look like the nicest guy? I ended up asking about how he had met his second wife and he told me how much he wanted to help singles find happiness the way he had. The next day, he showed me these awesome cards he'd come up with to help singles start up conversations or just to get people to smile (he has some great stories about doing so). He has thousands of these clever cards and he'd love to get the word out about them, so I promised I'd spread the word.

(I'm sorry that I kept them to myself in my bag for so long before taking pictures.)

Allan promised me that these cards would start a conversation and/or a friendship, and so far, he's been right!

Some unique invitations:

And especially for the woman who requested a card to turn down that overly-persistent guy:

Aren't these cute? Stop over at happyhobbycards.com and leave a note of encouragement for Allan! Or call him at (360) 671-1690.

Why is it Called Health Care if it Feels Like Nobody Cares?

2011-11-24T20:16:00.000+01:00

True that, though I highly doubt that this health care group is any better than any other in America. (Spotted in Seattle.)

Lovely Electric Boxes

2011-11-22T20:29:00.000+01:00

Canada paints its electric boxes (is that what you call them?) to make them a little less unsightly. Cute.

Happy birthday Amy.

Glorious October Glory Maples in November

2011-11-21T22:31:00.002+01:00

Do you think the October Glory maple trees I planted are glorious?

Noun: A Person's Place for Things and Saint Cupcake

2011-11-20T19:53:00.003+01:00

Noun: A Person's Place for Things in Portland, Oregon. Though my visit to this place was completely unplanned, I walked in feeling like I'd been there before, like I'd seen this place on one of the many design blogs I read and that it needed to be shared, especially with my boutiquing mom and my crafty sister.

The store is reached through an equally-cute cupcake store called Saint Cupcake. Every special item was tagged with a simple story of its origin. For example, flat felted circles declared, "Some would call this a trivet. We prefer 'modern doily.' Use it as a coaster-for-two, or as a buffer between your favorite lamp and your scratch-prone end table!"

I just had to share (and I hope the owners of both stores aren't too put out by the pictures I snuck--it's free advertising, right?).

Saint Cupcake:

Noun: A Person's Place for Things:

Natural Geometry

2011-11-18T19:11:00.000+01:00

These trees by Mt. St. Helens intrigued me. Can you see all the straight lines?

Getting in Touch with My Indian Side

2011-11-16T22:15:00.000+01:00

My Indian friend Archana was nice enough to lend me a sari for Halloween this year and even to teach me how to wear one. I hope I did a good job. Saris really are a beautiful item of clothing and I'm thinking of getting my own. Think I could pull it off at church?

Archana also showed me the latest smash hit song in India. It keeps getting stuck in my head and I keep it open in a tab so I can see the awesome dancing. See for yourself:

(FYI, "chammak challo" means "hip shaker.")

Temple Tailgate

2011-11-15T23:18:00.002+01:00

I don't know why there was a tailgate at the Oakland Temple. Maybe they were camping and needed a place for lunch (like yours truly at the Vancouver Temple)?

Northwest Trip 2011

2011-11-14T22:14:00.000+01:00

I've been wanting to visit the Portland/Seattle/Vancouver corner of North America for quite some time, and I'm glad to say that I finally did so!

Day 1: Michael and I got ready to leave Fremont, excited that our National Park annual pass had arrived, but flustered to discover that my passport was nowhere to be found. Some quick online research inspired me to call my parents and ask them to express my birth certificate to a destination a couple of days down the road. We made it to Klamath Falls, Oregon, where we first experienced non-self-serve gas. Unfortunately, the nearby campground was closed. We pulled into a church parking lot and slept in the car.

Day 2: Crater Lake was only a short drive away and it dazzled us with its beauty. We continued on through beautiful country (while listening to the book on CD of Pratchett's Nation) to Mt. Hood, where most campsites were closed for the winter. We found one that wasn't monitored, but still open, and set up camp away from the two other campers. After I read about flooding that happened there many years ago and told Michael about it, he became scared that we will be swept away in a flood, which makes me laugh.

Crater Lake

Day 3: We drove through even more ooh and aah country, filled with trees and hills and lakes. On the way to a town in the middle of nowhere that I insisted upon visiting, we had a lady at a gas station say "oh cute" to us and we got pulled over (the officer was nice enough to tell us just to slow down). We arrived at Leavensworth, Washington, a town built to resemble southern Germany. We enjoyed some rouladen, Jägerschnitzel, and spätzle--which hilariously wasn't pronounced correctly by the dirndle-wearing waitress. We also visited a bakery, a chocolate store, and an enormous Christmas store--which hilariously only had one single Schwippbogen in the entire place. We continued on to Seattle, where we spotted a zillion lawnmowers in the area called Fremont. Unfortunately, everything was closed when we arrived, but we saw the outside of most of my listed desinations, including the Space Needle, the shiny and colorful Experience Music Project Gehry building, the sculpture garden, and Pike Place Market. We picked up something resembling Döners, remarked at every lonely yuppie we saw walking through the city with a small dog, and took off for my friend Crystal's grandma's house, an hour and a half north. After almost hitting a small white dog in the street and pausing to have a discussion, we chatted for ages with Crystal's grandma and aunt, only to find out that the white dog was theirs.

Leavensworth, WA

Gehry EMP Building, Seattle

Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle

Day 4: The day started with rain and us making crepes for our three hosts. After breakfast, I helped Crystal's grandma use her new iMac to print photos of Crystal. We got a tour of the property, which has been cleverly and frugally built up out of garage sale finds. After spending a frustrating amount of time talking on the phone and using a nearby library's wifi to take care of mostly non-vacation items (where a man who was leaving started singing "One Enchanted Evening" to us as he passed by), we successfully crossed the border into Canada even though the officer who questioned us seemed confused at the fact that we would be staying with someone we'd never met. Once again, we arrived too late to see most destinations on our list, but nevertheless visited the grounds of a garden, the art museum (which was flooded with Occupationists), the library, an Inuit art gallery, and several hip neighborhoods. After splitting a bento box, we visited the divine-pizza-smelling-Granville Island neighborhood, gawked at lovely houses on our way to a beach that looked across the water to downtown Vancouver, and drove up to Grouse Mountain. I saw people looking at something moving behind some trees and approach, fascinated, to discover amazingly large wolves separated from us by a fence. Finally, we continued on to meet our generous hostess and her fiance. We marveled at the IKEA-inspired apartment and laughed about the eternity it took to blow up my mattress when I put the pump into the wrong hole.

Bellingham, WA

Occupation in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Vancouver at night

Wolves on Grouse Mountain

IKEA in real life

Day 5: We attended the church on the Vancouver templegrounds, and, since we had nowhere better to heat up some ramen on a small borrowed camping propane tank, set up lunch at the picnic tables to the side of the temple parking lot. Although we had planned to continue on to Victoria, we followed the suggestion of a ward member to visit the Golden Ears Park. We found a campsite among huge, old-growth trees, and made our way down to a thin beach accompanying a gorgeous landscape: pristine Alouette Lake accented by tree-covered mountains and clear skies. As it got darker, I purposely left off the flashlight so that we could enjoy the stars as I learned to count from 0-10 in Mandarin. The only thing that reminded us that we weren't far from Vancouver was the planes that flew overhead now and then.

Lunch after church at the Vancouver Temple

Golden Ears Provincial Park

Believe it or not, there wasn't much light for this photo--oh the joys of long exposure shots!

Day 6: After hiking out onto a sandstrip in Alouette Lake, we drove back to civilization to catch up on some emails, then took the ferry to Victoria. As seemed to be the pattern, upon arriving in Victoria, we found all of our touristy destinations closed. When we discovered that the ferry to Washington only leaves twice a day, we decided to stay to go whale-watching the next day and enjoyed dinner at a fabulous pizza place. Our campsite was one of the nicest we'd been to, with isolated campsites and a very clean, heated bathroom.

Alouette Lake, Canada

Alouette Lake, Canada

Day 7: In the morning, a campground ranger came by to pick up our money and as we drove away, we guiltily read scriptures about being servants to the devil--we'd sealed the envelope with American dollars in it, having never withdrawn Canadian currency. The gardens Michael jubilantly drove over hilly, curved roads to were way more expensive than they were worth, so we turned around and headed to downtown Victoria. Though the whale-watching companies claim they'll put together tours as needed, the low amount of tourists in October made them limit their first tour to noon, which would make us get back too late to get on the ferry. The museum also seemed more expensive than it was worth, so we walked to artist and author Emily Carr's house (which we could only look at from the outside), visited the Undersea Gardens where we saw a scuba diver hold up crabs and fish and an octopus, and then went to check out the famous "tea time" at a grand-looking hotel that dominates the harbor. When told that tea was 48 Canadian dollars per person, we opted out and instead ate at a posh seafood restaurant. The ferry officer informed us that our box of Costco oranges would have to go and so Michael kindly donated them to the local guys at the check-in booth. Washington greeted us with a confusion of one-way streets and even a glimpse of a store dedicated completely to Twilight paraphernalia (no, we didn't stop). While Michael drove, I revised our trip, cutting out several small cities and searching for a still-open campsite near Mt. Rainier though Michael's service kept cutting out. Finally, I called an RV place and asked if we could set up our tent there. We arrived at what looked like a white-trash dead end, where Michael informed me that we couldn't get out of the car because there was "a dog out there." "Where?" I asked incredulously, after looking around. "Right there!" he said, his head pulled back and hesitant. "Can't you see the ears?" Finally, I looked down from his driver's side window and saw a friendly mutt panting at us. "He's a nice doggy," I said, and opened my own door, offering a gently-closed fist while whistling. "See?" I asked, as he silently but excitedly sniffed at my hand. After telling us that the dog's name was Bentley, the lady in the white trailer who had answered my phone call took our ten dollars and showed us where we could set up our tent. I wanted to be away from the road and in the dark, but Michael wanted to be by the streetlight. We compromised by putting the tent behind the car--lucky, because I felt very sick in the middle of the night and ended up sleeping in the car with one hand on the door handle. (I also accidentally set off the car alarm at 3 in the morning, oops.)

Victoria, Canada

Day 8: In the morning, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we could see the entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park from our tent. Though the air was freezing, even with fleece pants over my jeans and three jackets/coats on, the mountain was absolutely beautiful, so I made oatmeal while Michael took pictures. A ranger pointed out a rare fox to us. Our next destination, Mt. St. Helens, was reached by way of small logging towns. We were glad we skipped the visitor's center to the volcano, which is miles and miles from the volcano. Johnston Ridge, on the other hand, boasts an observatory with personal accounts of the day of the blast, models, a documentary, and a view straight up the collapsed side, where lava domes are still forming today. Once again, we put aside our embarrassment and made ramen in a parking lot. Then we headed to Astoria, Oregon, to see a column overlooking the bay. For the first time since starting the trip, we were shocked to not be able to find a Starbucks, since they'd been the source of our internet connection and bathrooms at every stop. I suggested we stop at a Mormon church, and sure enough, a Halloween party was going on. While Michael had his appointment with Mother Nature, I complimented costumes while avoiding conversation with adults and ate a cupcake decorated to be like a ghost. Then we stealthily slipped away to have clam chowder and a sandwich at a restaurant in Seaside. Once again, finding a campsite was difficult. Our original goal had a sign up that said, "No tents." The next place I called said they were closing in three minutes, and when I told them our location, they said it'd take us fifteen minutes and didn't offer to wait. We found a KOA about twenty minutes away. As I hurriedly set up the tent, Michael repeatedly shone his light into the trees behind our site. "There are eyes over there!" he said, scared. "What? Eyes?" I glanced over to where his flashlight shone and saw nothing. "Look!" he repeated. Finally, the third time, I saw what he meant. "They're getting closer!" he insisted as I shook my head. Suddenly, an animal lumbered out of the bushes. "It's a raccoon," I said. "It's coming towards us. Do raccoons attack?" he asked, nervously. "Not unless provoked. And I think you're annoying it by shining that light on it." I had no qualms about sleeping twenty feet away from a bunch of raccoons, but Michael couldn't forget about them and asked me more questions. "They like shiny things," I said. "And they're nocturnal. They don't really do anything to humans, so stop worrying."

Mt. Rainier

The cold dance that appears after posing for a lot of pictures

Mt. St. Helens from Johnston Ridge

Day 9: Though I slept well, Michael apparently dreamt that a raccoon slashed through the tent with its claws. We marveled at all the amenities KOA offers, but had no time to enjoy them. At Cannon Beach, I was careful not to get my recovering-from-ingrown-toenail-surgery toes wet, but as I ran towards a plethora of birds, I got sand in my toes. Upon arriving in Portland, we found a restaurant on Yelp and had a delicious tuna sandwich with soup and then a piece of blueberry pie served up by a lovely, quirky woman, who gave us a free peanut butter cookie on the way out. We toured the Pittock Mansion, drove through the Alberta Arts and Pearl Districts, and randomly found a store that I feel like must have been featured on one of the many design blogs I read: Noun: A Person's Place for Things. It was full of lovely items and I wished that my mom and sister could have been there. We enjoyed looking at the charming Belmont/Sunnyside area houses, laughed at the hippy places we saw (I even saw a billboard that I unfortunately didn't get a picture of: "End petlessness!"), saw the entire Portland Art Museum in an hour, ate some of the best sushi I've ever had for dinner, and visited the Portland Temple. Finally, we drove an hour south to reach a KOA, where this time there were bunnies hopping around--more Michael's style.

Day 10: We started out the day by buying a toothbrush and hydrogen peroxide, and then Michael, in an act of purely selfless charity, scrubbed the sand out of my toe wounds. We got off the freeway to find a few covered bridges, then got right back on to head back out to the coast. When we stopped for lunch in Charleston/Coos Bay, it took us a while to find a place that didn't look kind of iffy. If you like antiques, head there. We wandered through enormous warehouse-sized antique stores and drove past what seemed like hundreds of them after finding tomato bisque and a panini at a Christian cafe. We stopped for some Oregon jam and then again every ten minutes once we reached the road that offers amazing views of the coast (starting at Port Orford). Upon reaching the national park campground near Crescent City, we read a sign saying, "This is bear country. By law, you are required to have bear-safe food containers." When we saw the prices for camping there, we decided to try a nearby KOA, where we were both relieved to see nothing about bears upon checking in.

Day 11: This morning, we left the earliest we had and drove through huge redwood forests to get back to Oregon. The lodge by the Oregon Caves Monument was nestled in a most picturesque place surrounded by fall colors. I even felt sorry for people who had only ever been there in summer. A geologist named Derek gave four of us a 1.5-hour tour of the cave. I was surprised to get really great answers to the many questions I asked while Michael took pictures with the last camera with remaining battery life--his iPhone. Then on to Berkeley for dinner at Cioccolata Di Vino. (AMAZING.)

I tend to take pictures of things that remind me of people I know, so look through the entire album for those.

Oh, and this little illegal immigrant (we named him Alouette and then switched to Pierre) hitched a ride with us from British Columbia all the way to California, where he hopefully found a new home somewhere in Michael's front yard:

11.11.11

2011-11-11T11:11:00.001+01:00

I remember sitting in Mrs. Grover's 8th or 9th grade science class and discussing the far-off 11/11/11. One kid talked about hiking Mt. Everest before then. I remember thinking, "When that day comes, I'm going to have a huge party, and at 11:11, we'll all celebrate!"

Well, today is the day that I've thought to for so long, and it even happens to be a Friday--a perfect day for a party. But I don't really have a place to throw a party, any ideas for a party, enough friends to really have a party. When I talked to my 98-year-old great uncle recently, I mentioned 11/11. "You've been waiting for this day for 98 years," I said. "Yes," he agreed.

I think I'll enjoy a nice evening and maybe even eat some good chocolate at 11:11.

Happy 11.11.11!

Thurl Bailey's A Song for You

2011-11-08T04:02:00.002+01:00

Have you heard anything by Thurl Bailey? Wowee, his voice is wonderful. I was so glad to be able to be introduced to his music on the way to the temple. This CD is definitely on my wish list now.

And he even sings one of my favorite sacred songs: "Holy, Holy, Holy."

Proof of Labor Day Glauser Reunion 2011

2011-11-03T11:48:00.000+01:00

A's game in Oakland:

Half Moon Bay (with photog):

Amos's baby blessing day togetherness time:

Family pictures (couldn't help zooming in on that detail of baby Amos looking like a grumpy old man):

Natural Curl

2011-11-03T06:51:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd just document the one random piece of hair I found that has any amount of natural curl or coarseness. I bet that hair follicle will be the first to produce gray hair. What do you bet?

Juli's November

2011-11-01T23:10:00.000+01:00

Frag' nicht nach morgen,
denn er bleibt dir verborgen.
Frag' nicht was gestern war...
Wir zieh'n unsre Kreise
auf unserer Reise.
Wo eben noch Sonne war...
Wir ertrinken zu zweit
in unseren Worten.
Wir ertrinken zu zweit
in Einsamkeit.
Irgendwann im November...
Irgendwann im November...
Zu lang, zu weit, zu viel passiert...
Irgendwann im November...
Wir verlier'n uns im Regen
auf endlosen Wegen.
Warum laesst du mich im Stich?
Wir zieh'n immer weiter,
denn wir sind Schattenreiter
auf unserem Weg ins Licht.
Wir ertrinken zu zweit
in unseren Worten.
Wir ertrinken zu zweit
in Einsamkeit.
Irgendwann im November...
Irgendwann im November...
Zu lang, zu weit, zu viel passiert...
Egal was noch kommt,
egal was du sagst.
Auch wenn du jetzt schweigst,
ich habe versagt.
Egal was noch kommt,
egal was du sagst.
Auch wenn du jetzt schweigst,
ich habe versagt.
Ich habe versagt.
Ich wei, ich habe versagt.
Denn es ist Juli...
Denn es ist Juli...
Denn es ist Juli...
Irgendwann im November...
Irgendwann im November...
Irgendwann im November...
Irgendwann im November...
werd' ich geh'n.
Irgendwann im November...
ob du's willst oder nicht.
Irgendwann im November...
ob du's willst oder nicht.
Irgendwann im November...
ob du's willst oder nicht.
Irgendwann im November...
werden wir uns nicht mehr seh'n.

October's Links to Love

2011-10-31T20:24:00.005+01:00

Artsy:

Well-timed photos.

Creative breakfast lecture series.

Look for subtle movement in these cinemagraphs.

I never knew science could be so artsy:

Whale Fall (after life of a whale) from Sharon Shattuck on Vimeo.

Mini book jewelry.

Dam.

Cheese or font?

Words as image:

Quiz: telling Arial and Helvetica apart (I only got 3 wrong, yay!).

We need more of this kind of dancing:

Can you do this with stills?:

Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.

Minimalist fairytale posters.

Beauty of dance:

Danse(s) from Sosh on Vimeo.

How well can you kern?

Emotional revolution of typography.

Literary:

Small Demons, connecting stories for literature buffs.

Insult like Shakespeare.

Cliffnotes meets Twitter meets book club.

Haiku for the single girl:

Haiku For The Single Girl from Dan Meth on Vimeo.

Fake English:

Mormon:

Funny reasons why Mormonism is not a cult.

Steve Young birthday flash mob:

Yes, I Love Technology:

Wouldn't you rather text business with your questions? (Y'all know I'm not a fan of phone calls.) TalkTo:

Stash stuff you find online at Pistashio.

See what happens when you scan your barcodes.

Meaningful conversations at Roundtable.

Finally, Apple's going to work on their map technology.

Prescreen: Indie movies online.

Meet Gatsby: meet nearby people based on shared interests.

Panoramic ball camera (don't drop it!):

Integrating technology and education at Imagination.

Employees and potential employees using Twitter to sway businesses.

Using social media to gang up on Bank of America.

Play with the history of Google Earth.

Google's 3D Amazon.

How to conduct personal networking in a new city.

Freecycle for your computer files! Bwa ha ha:

QR code for your roof (satellite usage).

Mix tapes and Hallmark turned QR code cards:

Playlist Cards from Stupid on Vimeo.

Shoebox: photographing memories:

YouTube insult generator (seriously, though, what is it with YouTube comments?).

Adidas online fun.

Random:

Subscribe to receive mailed packages from influential people.

Apparently I have 22 slaves working for me. (I was shocked at the amount of clothes the site assumed I had!)

A candle to take care of your smell-the-newspaper needs.

If I actually had health insurance, I would use Cake Health to help me figure it all out.

Slow-motion, flying dogs with laser lights:

A German advertiser records his parents' reactions to the latest ad technologies.

Touchscreen gloves that won't leave your fingers cold.

Soapy fruit stickers.

Punjammies look divine.

I've often said that if I had a lot of money, I'd donate trees to cities. I like the look. But the "calmed traffic" of complete streets? I don't know if I want people to drive even slower.

Along the same lines, obligatory green roofs.

Cobra Weave Exploding Stick Bomb:

And, happy Halloween--photos of people in a haunted house!

Oops. House sold with corpse inside.

Patagonia and eBay get together.

Peel garlic easily:

How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com on Vimeo.

Shopping guide to live by.

A sister's eulogy for Steve Jobs.

Fake or Real, They Still Gross Me Out

2011-10-28T07:36:00.000+02:00

Random dislike: almost as bad as ants or spiders in my living space are the creepy ant and spider pictures on ant and spider sprays. And when you have to look at the dead ants and spiders gathering somewhere and eventually remove them . . . yeck.

"A Nosty Fright" by May Swenson

2011-10-25T19:14:00.000+02:00

A Nosty Fright

The roldengod and the soneyhuckle,
the sack eyed blusan and the wistle theed
are all tangled with the oison pivy,
the fallen nine peedles and the wumbleteed.

A mipchunk caught in a wobceb tried
to hip and skide in a dandy sune
but a stobler put up a EEP KOFF sign.
Then the unfucky lellow met a phytoon

and was sept out to swea. He difted for drays
till a hassgropper flying happened to spot
the boolish feast all debraggled and wet,
covered with snears and tot.

Loonmight shone through the winey poods
where rushmooms grew among risted twoots.
Back blats flew betreen the twees
and orned howls hounded their soots.

A kumkpin stood with tooked creeth
on the sindow will of a house
where a icked wold itch lived all alone
except for her stoombrick, a mitten and a kouse.

“Here we part,” said the hassgropper.
“Pere we hart,” mipchunk, too.
They purried away on opposite haths,
both scared of some “Bat!” or “Scoo!”

October was ending on a nosty fright
with scroans and greeches and chanking clains,
with oblins and gelfs, coaths and urses,
skinning grulls and stoodblains.

Will it ever be morning, Nofember virst,
skue bly and the sanppy hun, our friend?
With light breaves of wall by the fayside?
I sope ho, so that this oem can pend.

-- May Swenson --

Hilf einem "älteren" Menschen

2011-10-21T07:20:00.000+02:00

Have you ever read The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks? It might only be funny for people who like to edit things, but it's certainly worth a look because of the witty meanings sarcastically gleaned from unnecessary quotation mark use. Ever since I first read it, I've run into things I thought would be great to send in. Like this one:

This faux-pas was committed by none other than the Leipzig Institute Student Council in a document about living more spiritually as a group for a few weeks. "Hilf einem 'älteren' Menschen" means "Help an 'older' person." Is the definition of "older" to be decided by the individual helping--so would a roommate or coworker who was older than I count, for example? Or was the student council afraid of offending by calling someone "old," so they substituted a quotation-marked comparative to soften the adjective's negative connotation?

Despite the hilarity of the vague definition of "older," I loved the idea of the program and read the assigned scriptures and completed suggested activities each day during our Holy Weeks Program. At the end of the few weeks, we were supposed to do a write-up about how we liked the program, which I promptly wrote and sent. Interestingly enough, not another thing was ever said about the program in institute. Apparently only one person participated. (No, not even the brain child's parents participated. Too bad; they missed out.)

Sniffin Sticks

2011-10-19T06:40:00.000+02:00

Before I had sinus surgery in Germany in 2009, I had to go through some tests. Everything on the list looked perfectly German except for one suspiciously different item:

Sniffin sticks? Ha. They were exactly that--sticks that were held up for me to sniff and identify. But how funny that they couldn't come up with their own German version of that name. And even funnier to me is the fact that they left off the G. Did someone just write it the way they heard an English-speaking person say it, dropping the G? Or did some doctor feel witty as he gave it that official name? Or is it a typo? I'll never know. But it still amuses me.

Some Inspiration from Steve Jobs

2011-10-07T05:10:00.002+02:00

"Sometimes, life's gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith." -Steve Jobs

Adventures of Late

2011-10-05T22:04:00.001+02:00

Tiburon and Sausalito:

Here's a video of the same bubble guy:

Oakland A's Game with the Glausers and Bankheads:

Half Moon Bay:

Hiking El Capitan in Yosemite:

Getting a nearly-perfect pumpkin from the garden (still no great tomatoes, though there were several small good-tasting ones this year):

Playing soccer once a week: no picture. :(

Saying goodbye to my Belgian friend, Adeline:

Learning to use Michael's fancy camera:

Lake Tahoe:

Saying goodbye to my German friend, Patrick:

Celebrating Uncle Al's 98th birthday:

Running 15 miles in one week (record distance for moi): no picture. :(

Hiking Mt. Olympus:

Hamster Art

2011-10-03T06:05:00.002+02:00

When I was (how old was I? I don't remember) some undetermined age, I decided I wanted to get a pet hamster like I'd had when I was younger. My grandma said she'd let me pick one for my birthday. At the pet store, I asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?" The store employee picked up the hamster, took a look at its parts, and said, "It will be a boy."

Will be? How strange. And how strange that we didn't really ask for an explanation.

That hamster was easy to name. He became Wilby.

A few weeks later, rushing out the door to piano lessons, I glanced into Wilby's cage. To my surprise, there were things that looked like maggots in the corner of the cage. My first thought was that I had just cleaned the cage and it couldn't have possibly bred maggots that quickly. Then I realized the wiggly pink things were hamster babies.

Wilby was called Wilbyetta after that.

I don't even remember what we did with the babies, but Wilbyetta produced quite the second brood later. Watching those babies grow was fascinating. I learned about separating parents and babies and did so by building elaborate walls for the many-leveled cage I owned. I loved watching their shading develop, and I even recognized personalities. Most memorable was the tiny one I named Boo. He would always get so scared when I opened the cage that he would cower in a corner, holding his paws in shaking fists. (Boo ended up belonging to my next-door neighbor, who loved him until the day he died of cancer. Really. Cancer.)

After the second brood, though, two things happened: there were more babies than we knew what to do with, and an obnoxious and seemingly strategic comment about the smell of hamsters given by a classmate one morning made me a little hesitant about my hamster hobby.

My family joked about giving the babies to someone with a snake. I think my mom was finally the kind one who asked the elementary school teachers if any of them would like to have a class pet.

All of this background information is so you can look at only a tiny sampling of the thank-you notes I received from the elementary school kids. Before I finally toss them, I had to share some of them with you so you can appreciate the cute things kids say and their awesome artistic skills.

(Than cuw=thank you, get it?)

(What an evil-looking, but tired hamster!)

(I just really liked this one.)

(So the teacher told the kids about the horrible ending the hamster might have faced. But isn't that a just-having-eaten lump on that snake? And why is there a dog but no hamster in sight?)

(Nice drawing! And you've gotta love the "hole" instead of "whole.")

September's Links to Love

2011-09-30T18:04:00.002+02:00

Artsy:

Making toys from kids' drawings.

The Leonardo, a new museum in Salt Lake City, has wonderful countdown videos (and I'm sure everything's going to be just as amazing inside):

Obsessive organization can be beautiful.

I'm pretty sure just about any time lapse of the Bay Area could be made to look nice--except for traffic. Anyway, watch this:

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

100 years of London fashion and dance:

These latticed cookies look pretty, but I'm pretty sure they're waaaay too much work.

After hearing that the costume designer from MadMen made a Banana Repulic line, I think the Inception dude should do the same.

Paintbrush for the iPad.

Extension cord lamp:

Large map initial.

Split Decision Pie Pan. (I don't think I'd like the extra crust, truthfully. Just make two pies!)

You've gotta love fall foliage.

Beach garbage mural:

Beach garbage art:

One Plastic Beach from High Beam Media on Vimeo.

Average font.

Cool homemade chair:

Picnic in a lunchbox.

I've discovered another lovely blog where repetition is appreciated.

Mormon:

Quotations about Heavenly Mother.

President Uchtdorf's five lessons of the forget-me-not.

Just wanted to point out President Monson's fan status:

Literary:

Feminist sarcasm for you, "Why I Want a Wife" (makes me want a wife, too).

The Giving Tree, narrated and harmonica-ized by author Shel Silverstein:

Yes, I Love Technology:

Happy 13th birthday, Google.

Crittercism to give feedback to mobile apps.

Bump world map (thanks to Mr. Christoffer Perry).

I've been waiting for something like this sheet music app to come along. I knew it wouldn't be long.

Better gifts and easier good-gift-giving at Social Gift.

Another fun online time waster: draw a stickman.

Startup namer. Ha.

New Dynamic Blogger Views.

:D G-Male:

Peektree for sharing and rating your pictures.

Grow a virtual tree to improve your life (Mindbloom).

Washington Post Social Reader. Hurry up, Google, and get Google Reader and Google Buzz onto Google Plus!

Have you heard about reconstructing images from the brain yet? Fascinating:

I know people are still too freaked out, but I firmly believe there will be a live satellite cam of the whole world some day. New York's on the way.

Yet another ask-a-local-or-expert platform, Askalo.

Random:

Eye close-ups.

With the right music, watching feather starfish swim could really be mesmerizing:

Mindy Kaling's Flicks and Chicks article from The New Yorker. (By the way, I think her soon-to-come-out book might be worth reading.)

Legend of Zelda theme song:

Pet peeves.

After watching the first video of the Haka, I wanted to see if women ever do the Haka and found the second:

Haka from Ben Hall on Vimeo.

Weezer and Haley Williams' version of "The Rainbow Connection."

Muppet movie should be sweet:

Teeth tattoos--right up there with tooth jewels.

I'm not a big fan of milk, but I think that post-cereal milk is nice sometimes. Would you eat it as an ice cream flavor?

International Space Station night view:

I like these hanging measurers and these colorful knives.

Need a high five?

Ingrown Toenails: Fixed!

2011-09-29T01:53:00.002+02:00

Hopefully after this I'll never post anything about toenails ever again (I make no promises about inherited bunions!).

My mom says my toes look like clown noses.

Pie Month Man

2011-09-16T22:21:00.001+02:00

During pie month, reminders pop up all over (on the fridge, on the door, in the mail, in emails).

Dad, you rock. Pie month is only a few weeks away! Aren't you excited?

Real Ute Fans

2011-09-14T06:18:00.001+02:00

You're not a real Ute fan until you have one of these lighting up your house, your life, your neighborhood:

Ever wondered where to snag yourself one of these? I'll tell you a secret that really shouldn't be a secret: my dad makes them! (The one shown is actually the biggest one he's ever made . . . so far.) And you can easily secure one for yourself from him (daveglauser AT qwest DOT net), the boutique or the boutique blog, or even through me. You will love them. And you will always see one up and flashing after a victory at my parents' house. Go Utes!

Childhood Birdhouse Painting

2011-09-10T06:53:00.000+02:00

I've always been proud of this dinky painting I did on a birdhouse for an activity day project. I guess for an 11-year-old it was pretty good, right?

Do You See What I See?

2011-09-03T10:24:00.000+02:00

Forgiving sharks?

August's Links to Love

2011-08-31T04:08:00.004+02:00

August was a good internet month, eh?

Artsy:

A rolling table made of pallets.

Milk art.

Draw your own headboard.

A card for any occasion.

Day/night photos of New York.

Split photos of relatives.

Dribbble, a site for sharing creative web design.

Loveliest small dining room.

Have I already linked to this animated contemporary dancing video? Thought of You.

Just do it dancers:

If I were a shoe crazy, I might use my shoes as home decor. (But I'm not.)

Philadelphia graffiti artists turned mural artists.

Move, Learn, and Eat videos:

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Exposing the brick wall made all the difference--I would looove to live here.

Can biking be an art? Maybe:

Mormon:

Daughters of Mormonism podcast.

Literary:

Save Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore house!

Sartalics to indicate sarcasm?

More Dr. Seuss books to be published!

Harry Potter trivia.

Harry Potter-related book ideas.

Backyard Scrabble.

Idiot-proof CAPTCHAs.

Yes, I Love Technology:

Search for hotels by date on a map (Google Hotel Finder)! Why didn't anyone think of this earlier?

Google Please Hire Me.

Random:

Need to improve your body image? Have a baby.

Put a bird on it:

Heartbreaking video about rape in the Republic of Congo:

Musical squares.

"Lolita" by Throw Me the Statue:

"Lincoln's Great Depression."

3D Printing (thanks to The Graphic Bee):

A politician who takes a tank to demolish problems:

Darling clothing line. (But, as usual, out of my budget.)

Human pinball:

Get a professional hassler to motivate you.

Transfer accelerator, a.k.a. "slide" in a subway station:

Rethink the food label.

Ziploc ice cream.

I first heard this song during a fitness class and thought the use of "Sound of Music" lyrics was brilliant:

I kind of like this clear glass tub.

Planet made of diamonds.

Sayde Price's "Dirt":

Peter Bradley Adams' "The Longer I Run":

Where children sleep.

Crappy laws of parenting.

The Kid Should See This collects fabulous videos, like these two:

Big Sur

2011-08-30T01:08:00.004+02:00

Have you ever had your eyes soak in beauty everywhere you looked? That is Big Sur. We hiked at three different locations and enjoyed every moment.

I really wished I could go down to this beach:

When we got to this curve at the top of the hill, we, and every single other driver on the 1 spontaneously pulled over to breathe in this:

I was completely fascinated by this big rock out in the ocean that had a bunch of buildings on top and a road winding all the way around. Apparently it's some navy base or something:

Thanks to my friend Adeline for the photographs.

Trophies

2011-08-27T08:25:00.000+02:00

In case I ever have any desire to prove that I had these trophies, here it is:

(For practicing the piano, winning the district spelling bee, and learning a concerto.)

Look-alikes?

2011-08-22T20:54:00.004+02:00

According to some cute girls in the neighborhood, I look exactly like this girl in a movie they love:

I can actually see my sister Amy in her, but it seems easiest to get a view of that by watching the video (yes, it's cheesy). Her part starts at about 20 seconds:

What do you think?

4th Grade Poetry Book

2011-08-17T08:00:00.000+02:00

(I remember my teacher wanting me to change "tinny" to "tiny" in the above poem. I felt mad, because I knew the difference, and I didn't want "tiny." I really meant "tinny.")

Jahresbericht

2011-08-15T10:45:00.001+02:00

So I realized I never published this post about the University of Leipzig's yearly report, the Jahresbericht. (Pretty sure I originally wrote this post in May of 2008, ha ha!)

The University of Leipzig's "Annual Report" asked me some questions about being here and sent a photographer to get some shots of me. Yeah, they're a little cheesy, but enjoy.

The orange building is the building where my department is (it's a shame you can't see the rest of the building, it's got really cool modern architecture), and the gray building is the amazing library right across the street. Leipzig (and my location therein) is perfect in so many ways. (Lena, do you remember this shirt? You gave it to me forever ago. Thanks!)

The photographer asked if I could see the light he'd set up, and I thought he meant I should look at it, when really he just wanted to know if it was working. I never know what to do with my hands.

This picture is really good at highlighting my crooked nose. Wow, I felt like a dork with my hands like that. And why did I leave that elastic on my wrist and stuff in my pockets? Oh well, that's how I always am, so I guess the pictures are realistic.

That book just happens to be one I had in my backpack for my immigration class. Coming to America. Should be Coming to Germany.

Let's Poke Some Fun at Ourselves, Shall We?

2011-08-13T22:17:00.000+02:00

Why I Currently Never Want to Go to Target Again Even Though I Love the Place

2011-08-12T05:04:00.001+02:00

I've had bad luck with Allegra-D. When my mom said it had helped alleviate her allergies, I asked my doctor for a prescription and was shocked to pay over $100 for a month's supply. When I found out less than a week later that Allegra-D is now available without a prescription (and thus cheaper), I was, to say the least, annoyed that my doctor hadn't known that.

Unfortunately, Allegra-D is still restricted, meaning your license has to be scanned and you are only allowed to get 20 pills every 10 days. Since 20 12-hour pills take ten days to run out, there are never extras--you have to go to the pharmacy on the tenth day if you want the small amount of relief that Allegra-D can give (I have yet to find an allergy pill that really helps). A box of 20 costs $23.66, meaning each pill costs more than a dollar.

To try and stretch my dollar a bit, I only take a pill once per day. In other words, I use the 12-hour pill to get me through 24 hours. And it doesn't get me through. I wake up during the middle of the night, unable to breathe, with eyes so itchy that I'd rather have black circles under my eyes for the rest of my life than not scratch.

Taking all this into consideration, imagine my consternation . . .

I took the kids to Target, bought some Allegra-D at the pharmacy, assigned James to carry the Allegra-D and Sadie to carry the goggles, looked at a few other items, and then went to the register to purchase swimming goggles for Sadie. As we started to walk away after receiving our receipt, the lady in line behind us said, "Don't forget your bag," and held out the small paper Target pharmacy bag. "James," I said, pushing him forward, "You forgot the bag." He grabbed the bag and we returned home. A couple of hours later, I decided to put the Allegra-D away in the medicine cabinet, and grabbed it from off of the dryer by the back door.

To my shock, the bag was empty.

I looked in the garage we had walked through and all over in the car, to no avail. All I could think was that the box must have fallen out some time before the lady handed the bag to James. Why, oh why hadn't I looked in the bag? Why hadn't I held it myself in the first place even though my hands were full with other things that I didn't end up purchasing?

I called Target and explained, only to be told that I'd have to come in and have the security guard look at the security videos. I figured I'd go there on the way to institute, but I ended up being at Target for an hour and 20 minutes!

Luis, the Guest Services guy, looked through the lost and found bins, though I told him that the medicine didn't have my name on it and would have just been brought back to the pharmacy. "Can you ask the guy who rang up the goggles?" I asked, producing the receipt and describing what he looked like. "Maybe he saw the box or if the bag was empty." "Sorry," Luis answered, "there's no way to know who that cashier was, even with this receipt." He was really nice and obviously wanted to help, but he didn't seem to have any power, so he took me to Crystal, a supervisor. She asked for a description of the cashier and said she could ask him. Then she told Luis to talk to Victor at Security. Victor came back and said he saw the lady hand the bag to James, never saw anything fall out, and couldn't tell if the bag was empty or not. He then took me to a supervisor named Amado to ask about what to do next. Amado never once looked at me while Luis and I explained what had happened, and then he said that he didn't want to make a decision when Crystal might make a different one, so he sent us back to Crystal. Crystal told Luis to go ask the pharmacy if they'd had anything turned in. The lady there said no, but I was concerned that maybe someone else had accepted the medicine and not told anyone. We went back to Crystal, who decided she wanted to go ask the pharmacist herself. As Luis and I waited, a lady waiting in line heard what was going on and when Crystal came back, she said, "They should just suck it up and give you a refund or something. It could be anywhere in the store." I asked if I could get a store credit so I could buy some more. Crystal said, "We have no proof that you dropped it anywhere," but she encouraged me to talk to the pharmacist about getting some more. "It's not allowed," I said, "because it's a restricted item." "I'll talk to her about that," she said. When she came back she announced, "The pharmacist isn't sure how much you can get, so you can go ahead and try. And ask her about getting a credit." Then off she went. Luis apologized for not being able to help more and left as well. I stood in line for several minutes before anyone could get me another box of Allegra-D and try ringing it up with my license, which failed as I'd suspected, because I'd just bought a box the same day. When I talked to the pharmacist about the credit, she said, "You mean an advance?" "Well, more like a gift card." Though the pharmacy had just closed, she went into a back room to call up Crystal. When she came back, she said, "We have no control over the law for this medicine, so we can't give you an advance."

"Oh! No, I didn't want you to just give me more medicine. I'd never ask you to break the law. I just meant credit so that I won't have to pay again when I'm allowed to get more in ten days." So she went to call Crystal again, who came to talk to me. "We don't have any proof," she said, "because the security guard couldn't see anything fall out of the bag." "How high-tech are your cameras?" I asked. "Is there any way he could follow us before we got to the register?" We were then interrupted by another customer and I ended up waiting alone for several minutes. As I waited, I heard her voice coming from every employee's walkie talkie in the whole store as she instructed the security guard to search the video. Finally, she came back and told me to go wait at Guest Services. I stood there, waiting and waiting, while my ingrown toenail throbbed and my stomach reminded me that I had missed dinner. As I waited, I thought about how if the employees would just believe me, I'd be a dedicated and loyal customer forever. I thought of how if I were to get some kind of credit or something and then found the box in the parking lot or who knows where, I'd return the credit without a moment's hesitation. A lot of time passed. I was beginning to think I'd been forgotten. Amado walked by, never acknowledging me, and I wondered if I should ask him if he could find out if Victor was done scanning the videos. Finally, I saw Victor come out and waved to him so he could find me more easily.

He said, "I saw you guys leave the pharmacy and I saw you at the watches, but our cameras aren't high-def enough in the other sections you went to for me to see anything." I thanked him for looking and asked if I could still somehow get a store credit. "I'll ask Crystal for you," he offered, and he grabbed his walkie talkie. "Tell her please and that I'll be the most loyal customer ever!" He gave a weak smile and walked off to confer with her for ten minutes on the other side of the store. "Any good news?" I asked as he re-approached. "Unfortunately, no," he answered. "She says that since we don't have any proof we can't do anything for you," he apologized. I in turn apologized to him for having to be the conveyor of bad news. Shouldn't a supervisor do that rather than a security guard?

An hour and twenty minutes of being passed around and having to suggest the next steps of action to employees so that I could be disappointed, out almost twenty-four bucks, and aware that though the last couple of weeks had been full of hardcore hayfever, the next ten days were going to be even worse. I admit it, I cried a little as I left the store.

I walked out to the parking lot and checked every inch of the way to the parking spot we'd been at earlier that day. Nothing. I checked the car and garage again when I arrived home. Nothing. My one consolation was that maybe the box would turn up while the store was being cleaned at night, but then I realized that with the way things are communicated there, even if the Allegra-D were to show up later, no one would say anything and it wouldn't ever get back to me anyway because no one had wanted my contact information.

So there's my long, drawn-out vent. I still love Target's selection, good prices, bright/cool/filtered-air stores, and clean designs, but I'm currently harboring bitter feelings. Even though I know I'm to blame for giving a five-year-old the responsibility to carry a bag, I feel cheated out of the benefit of the doubt that it seems like Target would want to give to its customers. That is more disappointing to me even than knowing that I will be wanting to cut my eyes, nose, and sinuses out in the next few days even more than I do now. Oh, Target. I'm sure I'll go back, but maybe just not to that one. And I'll cross my fingers that I'll never have to deal with customer service again.

The Horrible Glauser Birthday Tradition

2011-08-11T05:27:00.000+02:00

This is what'll be going down for my brother Mike today. I hope he enjoys it. (And if you want to wish him a happy birthday, check out his Lucha shoe company, similar to Tom's.)

Clay Castles

2011-08-05T06:00:00.002+02:00

I took pottery classes from a good family friend who had a kiln when I was younger. It was in these classes that I built a castle. That castle sat in my room for years and there were little things about it that bugged me--like the one turret that had to be added within a matter of minutes, and the blob of clay that randomly ended up in the corner of my castle during the firing process.

About seven years later, when I took the high school pottery class, I decided to build another castle and see if I could make it more to my liking.

Compare:

I think I improved upon my methods, don't you?

Exercise Tip

2011-08-02T07:42:00.001+02:00

One way to make your exercise regimen more enjoyable:

Let kids join you.

July's Links to Love

2011-07-31T07:04:00.001+02:00

Artsy:

Make your own abstract art.

Childhood photos.

La Luna.

Chapter on a wall.

One Day on Earth:

One Day on Earth - Motion Picture Trailer from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.

Literary:

Rainn Wilson's favorite sci-fi books.

Mormon:

Ritual within Mormonism podcast.

Yes, I Love Technology:

Know someone who is in the ice ages of email (with a hotmail, yahoo, or other non-gmail address)? Intervene!

The Internet of Things.

Snooze emails that will be important!

Smile turned groan:

Random:

German video in Dresden:

Bunte Republik Neustadt 2011 - Another world is possible! from david campesino on Vimeo.

America's history on a Facebook page.

What can you get away with at an Apple Store?

Stinky singles?

Hipmunk's YouTube spinoff:

A whole blog dedicated to IKEA Billy bookshelves.

Make your own wheat thins! Yum!

The Man Without a Facebook:

An old episode of "Look Around You" about the brain (found here):

Should I get navy, red, white, or tan saltwater sandals?

Edith Rosetta Smith Glauser's 82nd Birthday

2011-07-29T18:29:00.007+02:00

Edith Rosetta Smith Glauser, my grandmother. She got baptized in a tiny town in Nebraska, moved to Salt Lake with one sister at the age of 13, married who turned out to be a stubborn and grumpy man for 45 years, raised six kids, cleaned the whole house every Friday, loved to ski and play tennis, stayed dedicated to her marriage despite advice of church leaders, hosted monthly fast Sunday dinners, served a couples mission in Czech Republic, did enormous amounts of genealogical research, enjoyed the last years with her husband, and died of a second bout of cancer. If I'm doing my math right, today would have been her 82nd birthday. I thus find it appropriate that I finished reading the eight years of her journals this week.

There were parts that made me laugh out loud and others that enlightened me about family. I gobbled up every word. One entry was entirely dedicated to me:

February 26, 2003
Today is Michelle's 18th birthday. It is hard to believe she is that old. I can see her so plainly the day she was born in that little hospital bed. She had dark hair. Dave's children are all blonds so it was quite a shock. She has grown into a beautiful, bright and industrious girl. She gets good grades, is in a miriad [sic] of things and works at the East Mill Creek Library. We love this girl!!

When I got to her last journal entry, I thought, "Surely it doesn't end here . . . she had almost a full year left." I'm eagerly waiting for some family members to get back to me about whether there are more journals and a personal history that she mentions writing. I wanted everyone else (especially those who knew her) to read what I had read. I could go on forever about my grandma.

There is one picture of her that makes me think I look like her (I inherited my longer nose from her), so I've posed it with one of me at about that age (just try to ignore the glasses):

Here's another sample:

I miss Grandma. I feel bad that I didn't do baptisms as often as she wanted--she mentions over and over in her journal how important genealogy is to her. I wish she could be here to meet my future kids. But I also feel sure that I'll see her again.

Next week there's a Sunstone symposium about Mormon material culture (and they'll also be talking about the Pagoda chapel, which my grandparents helped build), to which I submitted some photographs and the following about my grandma's journal.

My academic interests lie in women’s autobiographical acts—anything from historical spirituality-seeking journal-writing to today’s to Tweeting, blogging, and Facebook status updates of today. Though some characteristics of women’s autobiographical acts haven’t changed, modern forms seem more exciting; they have bright colors and pictures and videos and links, discussions can ensue through commenting capabilities, and readers receive current updates rather than posthumous access.

But when I read a copy of my paternal grandmother’s journals, I couldn’t have been more delighted. These journals wouldn’t win any literary awards; as my sister said, “She kept a captain’s log.” But it is the plainness of her account that keeps my grandma alive. I can’t imagine her, as one logical, hardworking, house-making Mormon mother, Edith Rosetta Smith Glauser, recording anything besides how much she paid for the quantity of hams she cooked for Sunday dinner and how many people showed up to enjoy her efforts. She describes helping ward members, welcoming visitors into her home, making quilts with and for grandchildren, and taking trips with my grandpa—because that is what she did and that is what made her happy.

And her adjectives! She describes people and food and work and parties as “dear,” “delicious,” “satisfying,” and “fun.” She sounds upbeat even while undergoing long chemo and radiation treatments. She often bears her testimony of God’s love, the Atonement, and genealogy, and remarks upon the happy miracle of finding the Gospel as a teenager living in rural Nebraska.

Many events she describes I recognize; many are news to me. Whatever the case, my grandma’s words make me want to be more hardworking, close to God, positive, and loving.

When side effects of cold medicine caused her to feel “terrible to have accomplished so little,” I laughed, because her definition of “so little” was to “take down the Christmas lights, clean[ed] the two upstairs bathrooms, clean[ed] the kitchen (the floor was sticky from the Christmas celebrations), change[d] the sheets on [the] bed and d[o] three loads of laundry.” Have I, cold medicine-less, done more than that today, even if my roles are different?

I had an umbrella of Grandma’s—when it broke I fashioned a skirt that still happily reminds me of her. I also have some of her clothing and books. But I find the journals, though copies (maybe someday I will be overjoyed to own the originals), to be the most precious material hand-me-downs. I can never make them truly my own, the way Grandma’s umbrella became a skirt. Her journals will always speak with her voice, with her handwriting, and with her experiences—that is what makes them so powerful to me.
I have three requests. First, dig your own ancestors’ memoirs or diaries out of closets and archives and read them. Secondly, copy, distribute, and please, even digitize them—it is these words from the past that encourage each generation to be better than the last despite differing lifestyles and challenges. And third, record your own experiences and ensure that they will be available to your descendants.

Happy birthday, Grandma!

EFY Love Poetry

2011-07-26T22:58:00.000+02:00

I re-discovered this treasure recently. As we EFY counselors of 2009 were cleaning up after a week of fun fun fun exactly two years ago, one of us found this hilarious and yet tragic love poem. (I've blurred out the signature for the sake of the poor, love-sick soul and included English translations under each picture.)

I'm sitting by the lake, sitting on a rock, and enjoying the romantic sunset that is letting itself be reflected in the water. Suddenly, ~~I look over to you, and see that~~ I look over to a faraway field that is letting itself be moved gently by the wind. I see a young woman who is more beautiful than the most romantic sunset possible. ~~I see a young woman, the eyes~~ ~~the~~ As I look up, I see a face that glows more than the strongest sun ~~in the whole universe~~. ~~The wind lets her golden~~ ~~The wind has set itself in motion again and lets her gol~~. As the wind sets itself in motion again . . .

it allows her golden hair to float across my face. ~~I feel a fine hint/breeze~~ ~~Before [illegible]~~ I look in your eyes and ~~see~~ say to you, "I love you." You touch my cheek with your soft lips ~~and then starts~~ After this tender kiss, the wind carries you ~~far, far away to the beautiful horizon~~ far, far away over the horizon.

[Blurred signature.]

Do you think the object of his affections got a non-rough draft? If so, what did she think? Where is the poet now, what has been his history of love, and what would he think if he saw this poem again (besides being mad at me for publishing it)?

Oh, the woes of young twitterpation.

Google Street View Surprise

2011-07-22T07:12:00.000+02:00

I'd never looked at the street view of my parents' house, but when I did, I saw my old neighbor taking out the trash! I wonder if she realizes that. I'll have to let her know.

Oh, and by the way, the street view label spelled the street name wrong.

Keep a Fork Handy

2011-07-19T07:16:00.000+02:00

Good thing Sica's got a fork under her hood.

She even discovered the perfect position so it will stay there while driving. Happy day, Sic.

More High School Pottery Projects

2011-07-16T05:44:00.001+02:00

I wanted the first one to be Greek-like. Making the curls of hair with an extruder was fun. Now I just wish I had done a better job at smoothing out the clay before I fired it.

And a puppy (talk about wrong glaze choice!) and a skull.

Zaz

2011-07-15T11:26:00.000+02:00

Another sound I'm loving (just don't look at her teeth):

Dressed to Fit In

2011-07-13T06:46:00.000+02:00

Every time I see this picture of me at EFY in 2009, I remember what at least ten people (both counselors and youth) said to me as I sat there. Can you figure out what it was by looking?

Hint: camouflage? The funny thing is that I really loved those chairs when I saw them, and I really love that brown dress. I guess I just like patterns like that.

Agency Lesson

2011-07-11T04:41:00.003+02:00

I gave a lesson on agency.

Worksheet (download here):

Worksheet key with teacher contributions (download here):

And my jumble of thoughts in preparation.

Ugly Pottery

2011-07-06T08:27:00.000+02:00

During high school pottery, I had this theory that the uglier you made something, the more people would like it. Or at least praise it. So I purposely made some pretty ugly objects. And what do you know? People like liked them.

But I don't like them. So I'm throwing them away.

iPod Complaint

2011-07-02T07:59:00.000+02:00

I'm one of those people who doesn't like a lot of volume, and I often like to listen to my iPod when I'm trying to fall asleep. But my new iPod's volume won't go quiet enough; even when it's supposedly off (the bar of volume has disappeared completely), there is still sound coming out that is more than I want while falling asleep.

Has anyone else noticed that the newer iPods don't turn all the way down? That bugs.

June's Links to Love

2011-06-30T19:40:00.001+02:00

Artsy:

Sun in a jar!

Art for Harry Potter fans.

DIY sprout-a-couch.

Egg carton crafts.

Don't miss these epic photos.

Make a modern paper lamp.

Need people to sketch? How about your Facebook friends?

Allover stencils.

Modern house numbers (and cheap).

Make-your-own modern firepit!

I was recently thinking I'd like my silverware to be color-coded. I didn't think of this.

Colorful doors.

Mormon:

Contribute to the giant Jesus statue fund! ;)

See where Mormons fit in the American religion income chart.

Kind of weird, but here's MoTab doing a surprise street performance:

Literary:

What should I read next?

Yes, I Love Technology:

Google Calendar now has appointment slots!

It took long enough to get a Blogger "Blog This" button for Chrome.

10 gadgets for your GMail. Here's the whole directory of Google gadgets.

Random:

The real way to go non-white-water kayaking.

Only Jake Scott would unicycle with a stroller.

Shoes I'm tempted to get. I also crazily like these rose ones.

Why I can't make mom friends:

93-year-old still teaching ballet.

Amusing ultrasound pics.

U2 has a fan cam. If you've been to a concert, find yourself here.

Less lawns.

Why are amazing stories on talent shows so touching? I don't know. But here's a Korean one:

A recipe for one of the best meals I've ever bought (at Wagamama's in London).

The USDA's "My Pyramid" has been replaced by "My Plate."

Ever tried a room escape game?

Beauty of Mathematics:

Anyone heard of Snapdeal.com, India?

Sleep process with a new baby.

Richard Dreyfuss reading Apple user agreements.

Beautiful bike culture:

Boredom busters for kids.

Everyday things you didn't know had names. (Sica: petrichor.)

Car salesman lie detector:

Paronychia

2011-06-30T06:35:00.001+02:00

I'm sure you want to know all this.

Every time I've mentioned that I think I have a toe infection, people say they've never heard of it. Well, neither have I. And every time I look up my symptoms, it is suggested that I get help with an ingrown toenail. But that's not the problem!

I wake up every morning with the toe part right below my toenail swollen and painfully throbbing, and it gets hot again at random parts of the day. No amount of digging at the nail is going to affect that part of the toe. And after yet another try at going to a doctor for the never-ending problem in January and not getting relief like I was promised, I again scoured the internet.

And I found that there really is something like what I'm describing. It's called Paronychia. Sounds better than "toe infection," right?

Now I just want to know: has the problem cleared up for a while each time I was on antibiotics and I just didn't make the connection? And does topical cream really help with something that seems so deep? And lastly, how come the internet and I often seem to be better at diagnosing me (and sometimes treating--especially in the case of this lame toe) than doctors?

Cork Oak Tree

2011-06-28T05:54:00.000+02:00

I know this sounds dumb, but I've been dying to know what this cool tree is that I saw recently. The bark was unlike anything I'd ever seen. I even went back weeks later to take pictures and gather specimens, hoping I could identify it using the internet, but I had no luck.

And then, simple as that, I showed my friend a picture and she knew right off what it was. Cork oak. Awesome.

That Moment

2011-06-25T16:42:00.001+02:00

A moment came when I could feel that we were no longer jousting with each other, that things between us had already been settled. In thinking about this moment now, I am tempted to use the traditional language of love. I want to talk in metaphors of heat, of burning, of barriers melting down in the face of irresistible passions. I am aware of how overblown these terms might sound, but in the end I believe they are accurate. Everything had changed for me, and words that I had never understood before suddenly began to make sense. This came as a revelation, and when I finally had time to absorb it, I wondered how I had managed to live so long without learning this simple thing. I am not talking about desire so much as knowledge, the discovery that two people, through desire, can create a thing more powerful than either of them can create alone. This knowledge changed me, I think, and actually made me feel more human. By belonging to Sophie, I began to feel as though I belonged to everyone else as well. My true place in the world, it turned out, was somewhere beyond myself, and if that place was inside me, it was also unlocatable. This was the tiny hole between self and not-self, and for the first time in my life I saw this nowhere as the exact centre of the world.

-pg. 232 of The Locked Room (in Paul Auster's New York Trilogy)

Real Backyardigan Kids

2011-06-23T10:07:00.000+02:00

Sadie's favorite position in the hammock in Redwood Corner:

(And she'll always remark on the "phone," which you realize later means "fern.")

James's favorite gardening tool:

(With which he'll make "nests" or "tornadoes" out of weeds.)

Women in 19th Century China

2011-06-21T07:44:00.000+02:00

A few months ago, I read a book called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, leant to me by a friend. I learned fascinating things about 19th century Chinese women's culture.

There were really detailed accounts of foot-binding. I never knew that the toes were curled under the foot until the toe bones broke and then further until the foot bones broke. The girls started around 7 years of age at the latest, 3 at the earliest, when they were kept in the upstairs "women's room" and made to walk around with their blood and pus-filled bandages. Who knows if the number is correct, but the book said one in ten girls died of complications of foot-binding. Who even came up with such a painful tradition and how in the world did it spread?

I also heard the first I'd ever heard about nüshu, a script created by and known only by women. Cool. This writing is the most simplified written form of Chinese ever concocted--it is phonetic instead of having each symbol stand for something. Women made contracts with friends so they would be committed to each other for life, and they wrote back and forth to each other.

It was interesting to see how much of women's lives were directed by religion and traditions that seem rather old-fashioned and superstitious coming from my perspective--so much was based on numbers, for example.

And to close, here are some favorite quotations:

"I am old enough to know only too well my good and bad qualities, which were often one and the same." (3)
"We women are expected to love our children as soon as they leave our bodies, but who among us has not felt disappointment at the sight of a daughter or felt the dark gloom that settles upon the mind even when holding a precious son, if he does nothing but cry and makes your mother-in-law look at you as though your milk were sour? We may love our daughters with all our hearts, but we must train them through pain. We love our sons most of all, but we can never be a part of their world, the outer realm of men. We are expected to love our husbands from the day of Contracting a Kin, though we will not see their faces for another six years. We are told to love our in-laws, but we enter those families as strangers, as the lowest person in the household, just one step on the ladder above a servant. We are ordered to love and honor our husbands' ancestors, so we perform the proper duties, even if our hearts quietly call out gratitude to our natal ancestors. We love our parents because they take care of us, but we are considered worthless branches on the family tree. We drain the family resources. We are raised by one family for another. As happy as we are in our natal families, we all know that parting is inevitable. So we love our families, but we understand that this love will end in the sadness of departure. All these types of love come out of duty, respect, and gratitude. Most of them, as the women in my county know, are sources of sadness, rupture, and brutality." (59)
"But the love between a pair of old sames is something completely different. As Madame Wang said, a laotong relationship is made by choice. While it's true that Snow Flower and I didn't mean all the words we'd written to each other in our initial contact through the fan, when we first looked in each other's eyes in the palanquin I felt something special pass between us--like a spark to start a fire or a seed to grow rice. But a single spark is not enough to warm a room nor is a single seed enough to grow a fruitful crop. Deep love--true-heart love--must grow. Back then I didn't yet understand the burning kind of love, so instead I thought about the rice paddies I used to see on my daily walks down to the river with my brother when I still had all my milk teeth. Maybe I could make our love grow like a farmer made his crop to grow--through hard work, unwavering will, and the blessings of nature. How funny that I can remember that even now! Waaa! I knew so little about life, but I knew enough to think like a farmer." (60)
"'I am thirty-eight years old,' Aunt said, not with sympathy but with resignation. 'I have lived a miserable life. My family was a good one, but my feet and my face made my destiny. Even a woman like me--who is not so smart or beautiful or is deformed or mute--will find a husband, because even a retarded man can make a son. Only a vessel is needed. My father married me to the best family he could find to take me. I cried like you do now. Fate was crueler still. I could not have sons. I was a burden to my in-laws. I wish I could have a son and a happy life. I wish my daughter would never marry out so that I would have her to hear my sorrows. But this is how it is for women. You can't avoid your fate. It is predestined.'" (78)
"Uncle Lu was the ultimate master, but I secured my place by being the first daughter-in-law and then by giving my husband his first son . . . For these reasons I have told the young women who have married into the Lu family, and the others I eventually reached through my teaching of nu shu, that they should hurry to have a baby boy. Sons are the foundation of a woman's self. They give a woman her identity, as well as dignity, protection, and economic value. They create the link between her husband and his ancestors. This is the one accomplishment a man cannot achieve without the aid of his wife. Only she can guarantee the perpetuation of the family line, which, in turn, is the ultimate duty of every son. This is the supreme way he completes his filial duty, while sons are a woman's crowning glory. I had done all this and I was ecstatic." (151)

Hairdy Hair Hair Hair

2011-06-18T22:01:00.001+02:00

I like trying out new hairdos. So when I saw one I thought was cute, I decided to try sporting it at a wedding reception I went to with a friend. I thought my hair looked pretty good. See?

And then I arrived at the wedding reception and realized that I had the exact same hairdo as . . . the bride. Oops. I hope she didn't notice. And at least she was blond.

Christina Courtin

2011-06-15T04:47:00.000+02:00

Loving this sound:

Benjamin Button's Wise Words

2011-06-11T12:27:00.000+02:00

Redwood Forest Steam Engine

2011-06-10T10:09:00.000+02:00

Apparently there are only two running steam engines in the U.S. We went on one that goes through the Redwood Forest. Sweet.

Satisfying, Though Seemingly Worthless, Projects

2011-06-09T08:36:00.002+02:00

I put my enormous music, movies, and books lists in spreadsheets showing availability at libraries and online sources.

Then I finally got around to finding album covers for every album in my iTunes (the program was able to find a lot, but I had to manually find about 500 of them).

Finally, I took a whole Saturday to go through my folders and files. I merged file backups and deleted and created files and folders with four or five Finder windows open at a time so I could drag things to where I wanted them.

The number of items in the Trash after the project? 34,000.

Even the pain in my wrists was worth it for the satisfaction of seeing a clean desktop and having an organization process that enables me to know where everything is without having to search.

Michelle Glauser, Discount Landscaper

2011-06-08T05:50:00.002+02:00

Paul to me: "You should start a landscaping company."

Time for yet another shift in career?

By procuring root barriers, trees, weed cover, and workers (myself included), and by finding a cheaper garden supplies place for the bark and rocks, the total cost of a recent yard project for Paul and Amy was at least $4125 cheaper than the estimated price. How happy to accomplish such a huge task so successfully. :D

New trees that will eventually provide shade to a window-filled kitchen:

A cited-by-the-city park strip before I worked on it:

Same park strip after, with weed barrier, landscaping rocks, a cleaned-up weedy hill, and bark chips:

Weed-surrounded, empty garden boxes (this picture is actually from 2010, so it's not quite true to the pre-project situation):

Turned into this, with weed barrier, bark chips, landscaping gravel, and a thriving and varied crop:

Yay!

Hair Diaries 2011 Part I

2011-06-06T06:55:00.004+02:00

To all you people who have hair that isn't super thin and straight, praise the heavens right now. I've been wanting to do something with my hair for years. Truly! I snuck this picture of one of my students at the Universität Leipzig almost two years ago:

(I love that intense German swoop.) But have I done anything? No. People probably presume that I just like having long hair. The truth is, the thin, straight, bland-colored nature of my hair discourages me from moving in any direction.

Then, in January, a friend told me about something called a digital perm. After I discovered this picture on Google Images, the wheels wouldn't stop turning:

The process was invented by a Korean company. Doesn't it look great?

I finally called to schedule a digital perm for myself a few weeks ago, after finding some care tips and another great results picture here. But, sadness. They told me on the phone that it usually works only on rough Asian hair. They told me to come in anyway and they'd take a look at my hair's texture. One look and they said, "Sorry, not gonna work." (I kind of knew that. I do have super fine hair.)

So I went for the second-best thing. I decided to get a body wave. These are the pictures I brought with me:

But no matter how much I insisted that these images were labeled as body waves, the beauticians told me that hair will only look like that after being dried and curled with an iron. Boo hoo.

They said it would look more like the following, which I labeled "grody":

I decided to get a body wave anyway, if only to use it for body and not for the curl. What an interesting experience. The place I chose was a most diverse beauty college. Two girls were assigned to work on my hair. The Indian girl had trouble understanding me, and the Vietnamese girl couldn't understand the Indian girl or me.

It took forever. And I don't like what it did to the coloring of my hair--the contrast between my roots and the darker ends seems (to me at least) even more extreme and spotty. A Chinese teacher started combing out my hair after the whole process, and I thought, "Yikes, I don't think she's supposed to be doing that." Luckily, another teacher leapt across the room and said, "Don't comb it, you'll loosen the curl!"

But at least I didn't pay as much as I would have anywhere else, my hair does have more body in it, and I got two shampoos/head massages.

My hair kind of feels like hay now, in a positive way, of course. I haven't even tried doing it curly, because I don't want to look disgusting. Maybe the next step would be some cutting options, like these:

Even so, I often think I'm almost done with the long hair thing. How about one of the following?

One thing though: bangs don't work with me. And even these hairstyles (with or without bangs) wouldn't look the same with my kind of hair and my lazy hair-doing habits. Meh. My sister Amy does a pretty great job with her similar hair, though. Sometimes I think I need to stop lusting after the green grass on the other side and just accept what I have. After all, Ellen Page can pull off thin hair, and I think she's cute.

But before I reach that point, let me go write part II . . .

2011-06-04T20:39:00.002+02:00

I am loving the beauty of collected images at Pinterest.

Here is my Pinterest account.

Cheese Making

2011-06-04T09:55:00.000+02:00

Did you know with one gallon of whole milk and a few other ingredients (two of which are a little hard to get, namely rennet and citric acid), you can make three kinds of cheese?

My friend Lindsay and I tried it. See?

DIY mozzarella instructions.
DIY ricotta instructions.
DIY Norwegian gjetost instructions.

Waffle-Ironed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-06-02T06:19:00.001+02:00

With no oven for a few weeks, we were delighted to discover that it is possible to make a plethora of food items using a grill (like a chicken and biscuits) and a waffle iron.

Chocolate chip cookies? No problem:

(Anyone with that many stripes and a cookie in each hand should look that happy, don't you think?)

May's Links to Love

2011-05-31T15:26:00.000+02:00

Artsy:

Pretty paper wreath (I want to try doing it with colorful paper).

Pia Jane bag!

DIY chandeliers.

"No One" cover by Morgan:

No One by Alicia Keys from Morgan Rindlesbach Rapp on Vimeo.

Light bulb ceiling.

Make a ruffly shower curtain.

Behind family/group pictures.

Staple art:

The Making of Ephemicropolis from Peter Root on Vimeo.

Skinniest house.

Charming front door.

Mormon:

Video about chastity for youth:

White House Mormon Youth Round Table.

Literary:

Languages' levels for learning. (I know you won't believe me, but German totally fits in the easy level.)

We had a black list for the yearbook in high school ("pearly whites" was quickly banned from captions), but I think Kurt Andersen's list is much more interesting.

Existential despair in Peanuts columns limited to three panels.

Re-enactments of romance novel covers.

Yes, I Love Technology:

If web browsers were celebrities.

I definitely need a KVM switch.

Add a tip jar to your blog. I'm not yet sure if I like this idea yet.

Flipboard, a personalized magazine. Cool.

Random:

Biblical sex quiz.

Baby's gender a secret?

Bicyclical benefits.

Bikers getting yelled at have several options.

For mothers with biologist children:

The reverse psychology of no smoking signs.

High education=less chance of divorce.

Creepy house decorations.

Butterbur for allergies?

Funny dubbing:

What would you take from your burning house?

A hilarious but explainable side-by-side of a couple at engagement and again three years later.

Egg Hatching

2011-05-30T04:42:00.004+02:00

Baby peregrine falcons:

Watch here.

Passing Down the Nostalgic

2011-05-27T06:03:00.002+02:00

I totally understand now how people can want some of their childhood for their children and how they can want to disregard all budgetary limits. After converting my nephew and niece to Melanie Hoffman ("Oh Boy, I've Got Joy") and laughing about Mary Miché's Earthy Tunes and Nature Nuts, I want to get these for them, cheesy 80s music and all:

Safety Kids Set:

Sometimes you've just gotta yell and scream! Even if it costs $29.95!

Wendy Murdock Shurtliff's "I've Got Joy" ($8.99):

What else am I about to covet for someone else's sake?

This:

KidTunes: Lucky Diaz and The Family Jam Band - Oh Lucky Day:

Peregrine Falcon Video Stream

2011-05-24T04:55:00.005+02:00

My dad has watched hawks nest across from his work for years. He recently sent me a link to a video camera installed to watch peregrine falcons that "nest" (they don't really build nests) on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake City. I've enjoyed waiting for a glimpse of the eggs/flap of the wings/vocalization more than you'd think.

Watch the falcons yourselves (for Mac users, try using VLC). Here's a screen shot I took a few days ago:

And look at these cool pictures that someone who works across the street took. (I love the comment about being sealed in the Temple. Ha.)

The four eggs should be hatching between May 24th and May 26th, so tune in!

Apparently these are some of the fastest birds in the world (they catch other birds mid-air at speeds up to 200 MPH), and these two birds come back to Salt Lake each year. Fans even block off the sidewalk below when it's time for the baby birds to be pushed out of the nest for flying lessons.

Best Reluctant Sound Ever

2011-05-15T00:29:00.000+02:00

I re-discovered this treasure as I was moving all my Google Video videos to YouTube:

Ha ha.

What Kind of Weed Killer Do You Use?

2011-05-13T19:33:00.000+02:00

Oh my, look what I found:

Watch The Phone Call in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

My Kind of Celebrity Sighting

2011-05-12T01:56:00.001+02:00

I saw Carol Lynn Pearson in person. Just sayin'.

The Only Lip-to-Lip I'm Getting Around Here

2011-05-09T07:27:00.000+02:00

I've posted about my beloved chapstick of choice, Natural Ice, several times. I've gone off it before and I didn't like being without it, even after more than a month, so I went right back to it after a surgery and never looked back. Natural Ice is a chapstick that I often think only my family knows about. I've only met a handful of people who know about it, and apparently it's hard to find in just any store. Luckily, my mom has somehow been able to find it at random stores and stock up on it for Christmas presents each year, so I haven't had to go without (thanks, Mom, birthday girl today).

Well guess what happened the other day?

I was at the library with two kids in tow. As we headed to the checkout kiosk, one of the kids kind stumbled over something and continued walking as she turned her head back to look at the culprit. Naturally, I glanced down, too, and discovered that it was my own chapstick lying on the floor. Oops! I was so glad that I hadn't lost it. I scooped it off the floor and into my pocket and within minutes we were in the car. After buckling in the children, I paused to apply my chapstick. The moment it touched my lips, I knew something was wrong.

In horror, I looked at the chapstick and saw immediately that the chapstick wasn't rounded the way I always have mine, and it had a dirty rim, which grossed me out. I quickly wiped my mouth and threw the chapstick into the seat next to me, then reached into my pocket to find my own chapstick safely there. I'd picked up someone else's Natural Ice! And put it on my lips. Yeck!

When I told the story later, my sister laughed and said, "Maybe the person who dropped it watched you pick it up and felt just as confused as you did."

Then she asked, "Are you going to cut off the end and use it?"

Yes.

Heroes of the Holocaust

2011-05-08T18:30:00.002+02:00

While reading about Czech author Tom Stoppard, I learned that the owner of the shoe company his parents worked for, Tomáš Baťa, helped get his Jewish employees (mostly doctors) out of Czechoslovakia and to places where they could continue to work for branches of his company. What a commendable act.

When I visited Sofia, Bulgaria, I briefly wrote about their commendable actions in regard to the Jews of their city. Can you believe that they were able to get 49,000 people to safety? Can you believe that people got together to help instead of fearing what could happen to them personally? I wish there was somewhere to read more about it (there probably is, I just don't know about it).

Here's to 66 years since the end of World War II.

"Angels"

2011-05-06T05:22:00.000+02:00

I can't describe the relief I felt that I had said no to singing when I heard that this was the song to be sung (and the joy I feel at making fun of it):

http://www.ldssacredsongs.com/music_manager.php?album=relief_society&song=1

Blech. Blech. Blech! If I had said yes, I would have vetoed it without a second thought. Blech.