Inspired

doing my part!

First of all, let me say that I really like this bumper sticker:

There's a story here. On Sunday, we were at the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Union Station in KC. It's a neat exhibit. If you're remotely interested in archeology or the history of Middle East, including pre- and early Judaism and Christianity, it's really done well. If you're not at all familiar, the essence of this whole thing is that these scrolls are some of the earliest copies known of most of the books of the Hebrew Bible (aka, the Old Testament). They've got them dated to, oh, I can't remember precisely, but somewhere between the third century BCE to about 70 CE. Important historical note: At this time, any followers of Jesus were Jews. Christianity as we know it didn't exist yet. And the New Testament certainly hasn't been set to paper yet. Now as far as who did the scrolls, they're pretty sure the scrolls were related to and created by a Jewish Essene sect that was living in the area. Okay, enough history.

Well, we get done, and as you might expect, there's a gift shop at the end. The gift shop has all kinds of crap... stuffed camels, pottery shards for kids to do their own archeology project, mineral spa whatsits from the Dead Sea, and all kinds of Jewish paraphernalia... Star of David neckties, books about Judaism, the history of... yadda yadda yadda (to quote one famous Jew). And tucked into a jewelry case with some other Israeli crafts and whatnot... are a few gold crosses on necklace.
Me (to Eric): Well that pretty much has nothing to do with anything.
Random lady behind us (at me): {Offended gasp} Uh! Yes it does! It's in the Bible!

Yes, folks, my work here is done.

the poor crickets!

Petsmart sucks.

So I have three things to get on my way home from work today: vegetables for my lunch, goggles, and a live mouse to feed Pythy (he was quite unimpressed by the frozen food we presented him on Wednesday). Sounds like three stops, but fortunately there's a Big Box Store strip on Shawnee Misison Pkwy (same street as my office) that's pretty much on the way home. So I'm able to take care of the first two and head for Petsmart, the last store in the strip and the last stop on my way home. Hurray!

I find a clerk. Tell her I need to buy an adult mouse.
"Is it for a pet?"
"It's for a pet's food..." I say, somewhat flippantly.
"We don't sell mice for food. It's policy."
You've got to be kidding me. It's a mouse. What difference does it make what happens to it. I don't expect Pythy to be terribly inhumane about it. I mean, I really hope that the CEO is a vegetarian, or else this is just a bunch of crap. Is it more humane what they do to cows and chickens before killing them for our dinner? Hardly. I'm not going to torture this animal!
And, really, I don't mean to sound careless about the whole thing, either. This isn't particularly easy for me... I do happen to think mice are cute. But I also am quite found of my little ball python. And he eats mice. That's how things are. I can't help it that most people find rodents cute while very few people find snakes cute. "Cuteness" is a stupid factor upon which to set store policy. Do you think they sell crickets for the lizards they sell there? Crickets might be cute, too! What about the crickets?
It just really pissed me off. Part of was just that I was terribly inconvenienced. And part of it just seems so inane! It's so... biased, so preferential.... what about my poor Pythy? Ya sell dog food, doncha? You think any animals that went into the "animal products" of that were treated well? I don't.

So, in summary. Petsmart sucks. If you want reptile food from there, lie. Here's how the next conversation will go:
"Is it for a pet?" (Meaning: Are you planning to keep the mouse as a pet?)
"Yes, it's for a pet." (Meaning: Yes, the mouse is intended for my pet...snake.)

Petco rocks
"I'd like to buy a mouse."
"Male or female?"
"Doesn't matter. One of the smaller ones."
"Okay, I'll ring you up over here."

Nya.

Events

Oh, Pythy was so cute tonight! We got him out to change the substrate in his cage (he pooped on the Astroturf, and BOY! it's amazing how pungent the little fellow can be) and he was quite active and squirmy. It's a welcome change considering how shy he's been with us. He was doing a little exploring of the floor and our legs and whatnot. He certainly doesn't get free run of the house -- it's not safe! -- but we figured a little exploring where we could watch would do no harm. It's amazing how active he gets once the mouse is gone. You know how tired you are after a big meal? Yeah, that's about a five day ordeal for him. We figure he's about 20" now. At 30", he'll be considered an adult, and we can feed him just once every two weeks.

We went out to Carino's tonight for the wine tasting dinner. Now THAT was nice. I'm totally convinced now that there is such a thing as the right pairing of wine and food. Four course dinner, four different wines (all you can drink, I might add!) and at a very reasonable price. They do it quarterly. I think we'll be back. Anyone else interested?

We're making plans with Elie to go do a road trip of Columbia and Jeff City early in March. It's kind of a poor man's road trip... not really poor in money, so much, but poor in time. This vacation to Peru (sweet as it will be) is gonna wipe me out of vacation days. I have a serious case of spring fever, and desperately need to "travel" on "vacation," so I think this'll fulfill the need.

And, lastly, KU basketball rocks. Thank you, that is all.

Baby's First Bath

Oddly enough, these are at my mother's "request," as she asked if we'd get pictures of the first bath...

It's too much...

Now, many a girl, as she starts to grow up, worries about becoming just like her mother. I can't say I'm an exception, either. Sometimes I find myself disturbingly like my mother. But this morning, as I was whistling Reveille in an attempt to get Eric out of bed, I realized it... I'm becoming my dad, too!

(btw, Dad, it worked about as well as it always has: he grumbled, rolled over, and kept sleeping)

Pictures!

You'll have to excuse him. He's a little shy. I'll try to get eating and bathing photos.

Pythagoras

We brought Pythagoras home from the pet store today. He's fabulous. The clerk said he eats regularly (rare for a ball python, I hear), and I believe her b/c (1) she said the other one isn't and so she's keeping him in the back. We have seen said other. (2) I can see the mouse he ate today in his gullet.

It'll be a challenge b/c he just ate and he's about to shed, so we have to try to keep the heat and humidity up even higher than normal.

Oh, he's an adorable little thing, too. So inquisitive and active. Almost as soon as I put him in his new home, he started exploring...looking high, looking low, checking out every little crevice of his hide. I'm so excited for him to finish digesting and shedding so I can take him out and hold him.

I'll post photos next time I get him out of the cage or see him out of his hides. I don't want to bother him right after getting him in, though.

Yay pets!

Valentine's Day

I couldn't say it better myself.

On Valentine's day

Ice

Well, snow days are at least one good reason to go into the teaching profession. However, unlike SOME PEOPLE I had to work today.


(golly, this photo is almost as artsy as an Elie-photo!)

Commercials I don't get

Okay, so I really don't get these esurance commercials -- the ones that offer to sell you car insurance over the internet and you print your policy?

When I think of adjectives that describe my ideal insurance company, I start with 'inexpensive', true, but move quickly into 'reliable', 'trustworthy', and 'enduring.' As in, I want a company who's been around for awhile so that I know they'll be there when I get into trouble.

Somehow, Cartoon Network-style cartoon characters in Cartoon Network-style situations selling me... what, car insurance? just isn't working for me...

The other commercial that cracks me up for its "that's so wrong"-ness is the new one for ... oh, some big luxury SUV -- Lexus, maybe. They're playing this upbeat song in the background, and this song just happens be Morning Wood's self-titled track. It makes me wonder: in this company's target demographic, how many people would be offended by this? Bwar-har.

Okay, while I'm on car commercials, though, I really like the Kia Rondo's...if you haven't seen it, it's what would probably happen if Stephen Colbert got together with the Polyphonic Spree to make an ad.

To whoever thought up the Toyota truck commercial: the phrase "six-speed tranny" should probably have been reconsidered.

I'm done now; this is just proof that I watch too much TV.

Edit: Our snake's name will be Pythagoras.

Pure genius

Yes, I *am* a technical genius.

It's funny...despite "working in software" sometimes I feel like a real dunce, especially when it comes to network stuff. When it comes to...network stuff... I know about enough to fill, oh, a short blog post say. Really short. I've usually left this "setting up a home network" thing to the menfolk of my life.

But I was home the other day when the our new Linksys router arrived (Wireless-G! -- the old Netgear guy just wasn't connecting with TiVo...or either of our laptops...very well anymore). And dadgummit, I figured I could do something about this.

Setting up the router was easy. Run the Setup CD that the hundred or so stickers on the box said to Run First! So I got a LAN connection. Then I went to my TiVo and set up THAT connection easily, too. (Finally we get to stop stealing wireless access from our neighbors...) But I guess I'd never even tested my wireless connection until tonight.

All because I wanted to use the newest, sweetest encryption (WPA2)... got to download a KB patch from Microsoft, update my Intel Wireless card drivers, spend a few minutes chatting with a Linksys representative (whoo 24 hour tech support that speaks English!). So I'm proud of my troubleshooting skillz.

Well, it was probably time to update anyway. But the happy ending here is that I'm posting this over a wireless connection.

Pet Names

I need help coming up with a name for my (future) pet snake. He (She? Oh, who can tell anyway -- coolest name wins) is a ball python. I'm kinda liking hero names or other literary or historical references. I liked Agamemnon, but Eric rejected it 'cause it shortens to "Aggie" and we can't have one of THEM around in a Jayhawk house. I think Classical Greek has some real potential (Kathy, I'm looking at you, here). I kinda like "Achilles" too, but it makes me think of Ender's Shadow's AH-sheel, Bean's nemesis.

Anyway, if you have any ideas, leave them in a comment.

Edit:
Possible snake names:
Fibonacci, Mandelbrot, Archimedes, Leibniz, Riemann, Von Neumann, Bernoulli,
...or maybe something starting with 'O' so I could call him Big-O? Slartibartfast, Galileo

Names I'd save for a dog:
Escher, Fortran, Descartes, Kepler

Euler doesn't sound good, and I hate Newton (though a snake named Leibniz and a dog named Newton would be freakin' sweet)

Votes and new suggestions welcome.

Vista

Y'know when you were little and your mom said, "Don't make me tell you twice!" ? Windows Vista makes you tell it twice. In the name of security. But really, it's just annoying.

More on Vista later. First impressions? Teh suxx0rz.

College? Pft!

People ask me sometimes if I miss college. And I still stand by the same answer I gave even during college. "Naah."

I was reading the backlogs of my Xanga, and found this little beauty from April 15, 2004:

"The calendar says Thursday, but really... this is the day that won't die. It all started at 5am Wednesday morning, you see. A mere hour later, in weather below 40 degrees, our (horrifyingly horrible) mixed 8 was attempting to row up and down the river. We're pathetic, we're frustrated by our patheticness, and let's just say that 6:30am is not the best time to try wearing on someone's patience. And we nearly swamped.

So then, because I have homework due the next day as well as a huge programming project (which I might add, is still not finished) I'm trying desperately to do two things at once all day: stats homework and whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing...such as, for example, class, tutoring, sleeping... And then I do my programming project. Which I will basically continue to do for the next...well, it's been close to 24 hours now. I got 1.5 hours of sleep last night. 4.5 the night before that. I am the walking dead.

This morning, crammed in between the programming, longish nap, aborted practice, programming, programming and class is the ergathon. Basically, it's a fundraiser that Crew does to try to promote ourselves and maybe earn a little money. We just keep an erg going from 8am to ..6? 7pm? don't really know... and invite other people to come try out a 500 m piece. It's actually something I really enjoy doing. Only I had to spend the first hour with a person who, I swear, must be the single most irritating person to spend a half hour with. Major know-it-all. And bossy. And self-centered. And aren't I being charitable today...

*sighs* I stop now. Get back to programming. As good for the soul as self-flagellation."

Now, tell me why I'd miss that? I have more free time, more sleep, more money, less that has to be done and more that I want to do. My health is generally better because I can eat right, even if I don't exercise quite as much as during crew season. I don't see my friends quite as often, but when I do, it's with less stress. And I live with my best friend. Yeah, college was a lot of fun in its time and place, don't get me wrong, but kick me if I ever start getting nostalgic!

Locks of Love

I went and did my Locks of Love donation last night. Here we have before and after photos! (No, the color didn't change, just the lighting)
Before:

After:

I'm reading a book right now called 'A Short History of the World,' and I've reached the part discussing civilizations of the Americas. About the Maya, it says that three of their books have survived, and from this they have learned something of the civilization.

I don't doubt that they have. But think about our world today. What if only three books survived to tell future millennia who we are? What if they were the wrong three? Could there be any right three? Could there be three books that give an accurate picture of who we are as a global civilization today? Who we are as a people because of our history? What would those three books be? Is there any way future researchers could ever know us, really?

Of course, it's all academic. I can't imagine that a culture like ours could ever leave behind *only* three books. There's so much here that would be left behind in even a cataclysm... but it's interesting to think about.

Any nominations for the three books?