Well the election is almost here. All day long, I have been singing "It's time for some campaigning," created by the wonderful folks over at jibjab.com. Here it is, with special cameo appearance by the lovely Megan..

EDIT 2013/8/31: Looks like my custom video finally died. Here's the original, without the hawtness.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The birth and death of a legend

When I finished up my mission, one of my goals was to at some point grow a beard. I have tried a few times, but I just get fed up with the itchiness. This most recent time was no different, but I did keep it considerably longer than past times. Below is a short chronology showing me in various stages of beard growth. Shortly after the final two pictures, (they were taken at the same time), the beard met its tragic end. Note that in the second photo, I may or may not be wearing a shirt.

Victory for LSU!!

So the other day (ok, a week and a half ago) I was wandering about the LSU campus on my way to the bus stop, and I happened to pass the fountain that is located in the quad. But this day, the fountain looked a little...odd. The following video resulted. WARNING: This video contains copious amounts of foam. Viewer discretion advised.

A tribute to American Heroes

From whence does today's subject come? I refer today to the series of commercials produced by one Anheuser-Busch. The original spots were "Real American Heroes," but after a while switched to "Real men of Genius." They chronicle the great works of human achievement that have been accomplished by the unsung heroes of America. Perhaps you've seen or heard them; perhaps you haven't. But one thing's for sure: once you do, you'll never be the same again. Below is one I particularly enjoy. For a hundred of the radio spots, go to http://thefuntimesguide.com/2004/10/bud_light_real.php. For more videos, look on Youtube.


As I watch/listen and laugh, I am reminded of the kafafle a few months ago about Kirby Heyborne (of The Singles Ward and The Best Two Years fame). In order to support his family, he appeared in a Miller Lite commercial, and being a prominent member of the church, was subsequently lambasted throughout Utah for his decision.

I personally believe in the 11th commandment "Thou shalt mind thine own business."

Back online

We're back online! Now it's time to start looking to Ike.

Whistling in the Dark...

Well, it's been 5 days since Gustav hit us. It turned out to be a very destructive storm. The levies in New Orleans held, and that city is looking pretty good. However, other parts of the state were hit harder. Baton Rouge still has hundreds of thousands of homes without power (including ours), along with traffic lights, etc. We're feeling pretty blessed because our home was relatively undamaged and the city still has water and sewage running. A lot of our shingles were ripped off, though, so we had some water leak into our home (which means more damage in the walls and above the ceiling). But other than that (and no power), we're fairly well off. We have lots of food stockpiled so we're ok in that department.

The one thing we really needed was ice, so yesterday morning at around 6, we headed off to the nearest FEMA distribution center to pick up some. The line was already forming when we got there, though we were near the front. By the time they started distributing items a little after 8, though, the lines were probably a half mile or more in two directions, with two lanes in each direction. We were glad we couldn't sleep and so went early. The Army Corps was there distributing MREs, bottled water, tarps, and ice. They just loaded stuff into the back of cars, except for the tarps, which they asked if you needed. We didn't, so just took the food, water, and ice. I was never so excited to receive two bags of sleeping water (Malagasy for ice).

Right now we're holed up at school in my office, since there are lights, internet, microwave, and most importantly, AC. Geaux Tigers!

Power out

Our power went out for about an hour, but it's back on now. I'm going to post this, then work on getting some video up before it goes out again. We're fine, so far. The wind is gusting pretty well, and rain is coming down, though not torrentially. I'll try to keep updated as power permits.

Slowing down

Well, Gustav has just about hit land, though according to the dudes on Channel 2 ABC, it isn't considered to officially make landfall until the center of the eye is over land. As Gustav has approached, it has slowed down a bit and started hugging the coast. So it continues to move more west than northwest. The more it does this, the further south and west it will pass us by, and the less we'll get here.

In church yesterday, one of the speakers jokingly (though seriously as well) said it would be better to pray for the storm to weaken than to pray that it goes off and hits someplace else. It makes sense to me. Right now, though, it looks like Gustav is just hugging the coast, which in some ways is worse than if it would just get here already. The coastal areas will still be getting essentially the full brunt of the hurricane, but if it keeps along the coast like it is, rather than one area getting hit, several will. We'll see how long Gustav keeps playing this game, though.

Another observation: a week or so ago, I was watching the news and the anchors were talking about wind shear and how it can weaken or destroy a tropical storm. And they sounded sad that it might be happening to Hanna. They were saying things like "it doesn't look good for Hanna," etc. Like it's a bad thing if the storm dies out. Come on! Isn't there enough to report on without a hurricane? And the reporters are all putting in long extra hours right now; I'm sure they are salaried employees, so it's not like they even get overtime. Why would they be sad if a hurricane died?

They must be sadists.

Anyway, the winds are starting to pick up here. I'll be back in a bit with some video.

Gustav update

Rain has started coming through the Baton Rouge area. No serious wind as of yet. Tornado watches are in effect.

Gustav begins

As you have probably heard, a major hurricane named Gustav is moving towards the south coast of the United States. This will be Megan's and my first hurricane since we moved to Baton Rouge. Now Baton Rouge is about 60 miles from the coast, so storms have usually died down somewhat by the time they get here. As such, we don't expect the effects to be as devastating here as they will probably be in say New Orleans. In other words, Baton Rouge is a place someone might evacuate to, rather than from. But that doesn't mean it's going to be a total picnic either. From other residents, we've heard that power can and probably will go out (how long, though, is anyone's guess. Some people lost power for 3 hours from Katrina, while for others lost it was 12 days). And if there's no power to pump water to the towers, that could go out too. School for me has been canceled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

At any rate, I'm pretty excited. I think extreme weather is fascinating. And there's always the possibility of hurricane induced tornadoes (I've never seen one; I'm hoping this might be my chance). I'll keep this place updated as the storm starts rolling through and I can get some video. Excuse the low quality of this. I snapped it with a phone camera.

Michael's evolution

For anyone who has been under a rock for a few years (or perhaps is chronologically challenged), "The Office" is a TV show that originated in Britain but is now a US hit. Of particular interest to me and other midatlantic-ers are the numerous Wegmans products placed throughout the show. Oh I miss that place. But that is neither here nor there.

Megan and I started watching The Office on the internet after Heroes finished up it's season (we pretty much only have one show at a time that we watch; in fact, we never even bothered to hook up an antennae to our TV, so we can't even watch stuff on that). We like The Office for it's humor, and even for it's awkward situations, though sometimes the awkwardness gets out of control and we have to remind ourselves that the characters are actors, they aren't really that ridiculous. We hope. Also, the plot does not move along very quickly, so missing an episode is no big deal, or in fact missing the first three seasons is no big deal. The laughs still come, and the plot is pretty much unimportant. I remember the first time I saw The Office was the last episode of the second season. After watching that episode, I felt I had a pretty good grasp on everything important that might have happened since the show began. I promptly didn't see another episode until the current season. And we felt fairly confident that we hadn't missed much.

After we finished season 4, we decided to go back and watch previous seasons, just for the fun of it. We started with season 1. And thought we'd stepped into some hellish recreation of Michael Scott, the manager of the office The Office takes place in. All I can say is that if I had started watching the show that first season, I can almost guarantee I would never have watched another. Steve Carell's character was so much more awkward, mean, crude, and unpleasant that it made the potentially funny situations go straight to painful. We were shocked and disheartened, and we wanted to cry...tears not of sadness, but of anger, and vengeance. Could this be the same lovably goofy Michael we had come to know and identify with? Our whole world seemed to be crumbling around us.

Apparently, we weren't the only people to feel this way. As we started the second season, we noticed the immediate change (or immediately noticed a change). The writers had altered the character enough that we could once again see the bumbling fool we remember from more modern episodes. It's a good thing too. I couldn't have made it through a whole season with Satan's best friend as the star (luckily the first season was only 6 episodes long).

This post was much more exciting in my mind. Hmmm. Well, we'll finish with one of my favorite quotes from The Office.

Michael: Ladies and Gentlemen. I have some bad news. Meredith was hit by a car.
Jim: What?
Dwight: Where?
Michael: It happened this morning in the parking lot. I took her to the hospital, and the doctors tried to save her life. They did the best that they could... And she is going to be OK.
Stanley: What is wrong with you? Why did you have to phrase it like that?

For more check out the man blog.

Sugary cereals

Today we will be taking a journey back to simpler times. A time when "yes" meant "no" and "no" meant "maybe." I'm talking about childhood, that delightfully carefree time when we were invincible. And one particular aspect of childhood is the desire, the craving, nay the need for cold cereal containing enough sugar to stop the hearts of weaker mortals. I'm talking about the kinds of cereal that are only "part of a balanced breakfast" when they are used for decoration rather than consumption.

When I was a lad, we had a rule at my house that we could only eat a bowl of "sugar" cereal if we first ate a bowl of "non-sugar" cereal. Alternatively, we could mix a bowl of non-sugar and sugar cereals. Under no circumstances were we to eat only sugar cereal, or even eat the sugar cereal first. (Good intentions to then eat a non-sugar cereal were bound to go unfulfilled. Besides, who could possibly choke down something resembling cardboard after the extreme taste bud stimulation caused by something like Lucky Charms?) I always swore that my children would be free to eat as much sugar cereal as they want. At least they're eating, right? And even the sugariest of sugar cereals are required to have a bunch of vitamins added. And it's not like sugar cereals cost much more than non-sugar, especially if you wait for sales. So as long as they're full, what do I care?

A few weeks ago, I think I finally grew up. In my heart, I was still a kid. Now that I'm out of the house, (where, I might add, the kids can eat whatever they want. What's this world coming to?) I can eat the sweetest cold cereal I can get my hands on, and no one gives a care. And I was doing just that. It happened very suddenly, almost like my body was revolting. I ate my breakfast, began my day, and within an hour, my stomach was growling, saying things like "You forgot to feed me!" and other nonsense my brain knew to be false. But there it was. The stomach refused to listen to reason. The next day, I ate raisin bran, and "Voila!" problem solved. Since that time, whenever I have eaten just cold sugar cereal, I feel like I haven't eaten at all.

These are perilous times. I feel more satisfied having had a piece of Amish Friendship Bread with ice cream than a bowl of the stuff I once craved. My sugar cereal has been relegated to being eaten as an afternoon or evening snack, and must be followed by something more filling. It saddens me, but I see no recovery from this chilling condition.

Colorectal surgeon

In anatomy yesterday, we studied the second half of the digestive tract (from stomach to anus, plus accessory organs such as the liver). It was some rather interesting stuff. Then, to top it all off, we got to watch this video. Generally I'd prefer Weird Al, but these guys aren't too bad.

The iRack

This video is absolutely amazing. I laugh each time I watch it.



Is that not the greatest thing you've ever seen? And it's true! Well, sorta. The beauty of the satire brings tears to my eyes. Surely the world could be a better place if MadTV ran it.

Credit scores - what's the point?

So about a year and a half ago, I decided to check out my credit score. Nowadays it is easy and free to check out your credit report at http://www.annualcreditreport.com, thanks to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, but the credit score (that magic number that is supposed to represent your entire history of credit use, but in actuality is probably just the result of some chimpanzee throwing a bunch of dice into the air, then typing the result of his throw into a computer) must usually be purchased. (As a side note, when applying for a loan you might be able to get a copy of the score if you ask nicely. And if you are denied the loan, you definitely are entitled to your score, plus you have the right to find out exactly why you were denied.)

Anyway, I checked my score by signing up for a free 30 day trial membership of some Experian product. I got my free score, then canceled the membership that day. Easy peasy.

A few days ago, I decided to check my score again. I figured a while had passed, I'd opened and closed a few accounts, let's see what's changed. I went and signed up for the same trial and got my free report and score. To my chagrin, the score was exactly the same as it was a year and a half ago. The report reflected all of my credit activity since that time, but the end "score" was exactly the same.

I'm convinced of the chimps.

DISCLAIMER: As a side note, the score Experian gave me was their proprietary PLUS score, not precisely the FICO score. The latter is the standard score used by most lenders. So Fair Isaac (of FICO fame) may not use chimpanzee's for their score calculation. There are dozens of other mammals that are just as capable.

Dear oh Deer

So yesterday as I moseyed on home from campus, I happened upon this gal and her fawn (whom I sadly did not photograph). I was reminded of an awesome exchange in the Daily Universe's Readers Forum. (In the first link, the relevant letter is at the bottom of the page; in the second, it's the 4th one down.) It was a great experience. I really treasure it.

Homemade bread

I would like to publicly thank my home teachers for their visit today. We enjoyed their message immensely. Then, to top it all off, Stephen made us bread. It was magically delicious.

USPS: When will they learn?

*begin rant*

Time to vent some steam about the post office. Just when I think they're getting their act together, they go and trample on my good faith like a seven year old jumping up and down on a water bed while wearing daddy's golf spikes. What brings forth this angst? you may wonder. Well wonder no more, for I now will chronicle the ineptitude of the United States Postal Service.

It was a quiet day in February. Like most days, I checked the mail. To my surprise, there was a change of address form in the mailbox. Further was my surprise when I saw that the address to be changed was ours. Instead of living at 159 North Unit B (we live in the basement, and I felt weird calling it Apartment B, since there is no apartment A, and #B just jives wrong. Hence, I always called it Unit B), we were now to be 157 North. Now this was not a "notice of address change," nor did it bear resemble to anything official from the post office. It was the standard change of address form you use when you want your mail (hopefully, possibly) forwarded to a new address. There was no note of explanation, nothing even suggesting it came from anyone with any kind of actual say in the matter. We asked our landlord (the amazing Kurt Peterson) if he or his wife had put the form in our box. He said they had not, but mentioned that the town of Provo was changing all unit B's to individual numbers. However, he had just filled out the form with the town that day, and was surprised that we already had received the form. He said that we should just wait to hear from the post office about the matter. I heartily agreed. I mean, how many people would just blindly fill out the remaining fields of some half-completed change of address form they found randomly one day in their mailbox? My guess is few.

Life went on as usual. We stuck the form on our fridge (using magnets from www.kjmagnetics.com. Best magnets ever), and quickly forgot it. Several weeks later, Megan got a knock on the door. It was the postperson (the same one who never picks up our outgoing mail. I guess it's too hard to see or something. We always have to put it in our landlord's outgoing slot if we really want our mail to get picked up. Or chase him down the street, when he doesn't bother to check either.). He then proceeded to speak in a condescending manner concerning the aforementioned change of address form, asking things like "Couldn't you figure it out?" and saying things like "It's easy. Look I'll show you." You know, completely missing the fact that we hadn't received any kind of official info from them that our address needed to change. Megan asked why it had to be changed, and the postperson relayed some story about the police or something couldn't find an address that had a unit B in it. This is either a boldfaced lie, or a sad testimony to the incompetence of some people. It's not that hard people, especially considering that right now we don't have any kind of number on our house at all. Our landlord has the 159, but we have nothing. At least before, if you found the house and had a functioning brain stem, you could easily infer that Unit B meant "the basement." Now, genuine confusion could result (well, I see 159, and 149, but where's 157?), even for mildly intelligent individuals. I hope we don't require any emergency assistance any time soon. At least until we move. Or while we're moving. In fact, as long as it's not while I'm at home.

But I digress. In the end we filled out the form and placed it in our own outgoing box (if they want it, then they're going to have to do their job correctly at least once). After a few days, it was gone. However, I wasn't about to go and change all of our credit cards, bank accounts, etc etc, since we're moving to Louisiana in August. It just wouldn't be worth the hassle, since we're going to do it all over again in a few months. Since we still lived in the same physical place, and we filled out the change of address form, our mail would still get here. And it did. Until today.

Earlier this week, I ordered a surprise for Megan from Amazon (I'll refrain from posting the contents of this surprise, as it is still a surprise. Sadly, though, it should no longer be...). Everything was hunky dory, until I checked the tracking number again today (I was expecting delivery today or Monday) only to find the following unfortunate words: "Your item was undeliverable as addressed at 8:45 AM on May 17, 2008 in PROVO, UT 84606. It is being returned if appropriate information is available." Why? Only the USPS gods could possibly know. And of course it is Saturday, and I didn't find this out until late in the afternoon, so of course no one was at the office to figure out what's up. The package clearly made it to the local post office this morning, then was almost immediately deemed undeliverable, when they KNOW where we live, we have duly forwarded (as per their instructions) our mail, and it requires no extra effort than it would have had we had the "correct" address on the package to just deliver the thing here. And why would they make the silly decision to return the package to its sender? The whole thing boggles the mind. I would like to return with good news on Monday, but my faith has been shattered, and to hope for a positive outcome is more than I can do at this point.

*end rant*

In some better news, I found a nice place to paintball today.

Water movement

Currently, the underground lab of the Eyring Science Center is under major construction. It was scheduled to be done yesterday, so we can safely assume completion by December. As part of the construction, the building distilled water has been shut off down there. Last semester, I was mostly writing my thesis, so I wasn't affected by the lack of water. Now, however, I am back at the research grindstone (I will probably detail what I do in a later, far more boring post). In short, I can do little without access to a source of distilled water. So I spent this afternoon trying to get a 15 gallon container filled with distilled water up into the utility room above my lab. It was insane amounts of fun. There is a 1 ton pulley system that is used to haul things up there, and I felt very cool using it for the far less than one ton jug of water (which I had only filled half way at the chemistry supply room. For FREE! Hooray! Free!). It got up there in the end, but then I realized that once I started siphoning the water through, I wouldn't be able to stop it. So now the jug sits alone, closed, and unused. I pity it's sad state, but hope that it will soon fulfill the measure of it's creation.

Why I'm here

Why the blog? Basically, I want to keep a journal. But I'm really bad at it. So I'm going to try something new.

Right now, I am putting off studying for my anatomy quiz on the lower muscles. I never dreamed I could put so much effort into a non-physics course. This anatomical experience has certainly been different from what I'm used to. The massive amount of memorization boggles my mind. I salute with greater gusto those who become surgeons and doctors. And I giggle when I realize we "only" learn 1500 or so anatomical parts in this course. Unbelievable. For the last several nights, I have dreamed about anatomy. It's a vicious cycle.