Context?

Because my brain is currently on strike, I thought I'd provide some context to my Gtalk tag today.

Zales has an add running (a lot) right now that says "Love Rocks" this holiday season...It took me three or four viewings before I realized that they mean it as a noun-verb exclamation I kept, and keep, hearing it as a verb-noun imperative (i.e. love is awesome not you must like rocks now!) because really, everyone should love rocks this holiday season and every season.

Sighting

Yesterday I went to Hilaritas and was reminded that faux-hawk girl is a violinist. I haven't seen her lately, possibly since last year's Hilaritas, but she used to have a class near my office and I see her ever week or two. Her hair is a bit silly looking but it also inspires a bit of awe. It is amazing that she gets her hair to do this. I wasn't sure I could properly explain it so I tried drawing it. This is the best I could do:


(see why I'm not an artist?)

The faux-hawk (as Honu-Girl and I christianed this 'do) has near vertical sides. I've never gotten a good look at it from behind so I'm not sure what happens at the back. I'm really don't know how she gets her hair to do this. Maybe she has some oddly geometric deformity on her skull?

I'm a bad person, because her goofy (IMHO) hair gave me a smile when Nettie had been annoying me with her impateince (why can't we just go sit down???), and why do we have to wait for Mom and Dad (because I have the tickets) and where M&D were (on their way), and why isn't your phone working (IDK, it's AT&T's problem) and are they waiting in the lobby for us even though it was after the 3* and would they think to check at will-call for their tickets (uh, yes because they're not stupid)...OMG, relax child, it will be ok, it'll work out, CHILL!

P.S. I should add that I've seen a similar hair do on a girl with "black" hair. It looked equally silly but I could understand how it was achieved with coarse textured hair.


*When we finally went in to our seats there was some girl (college age, I guess) sitting in my seat. When I said "excuse me that's my seat, # 27," she says "but I'm in 27, too." She was in seat 27 row D, not 27 M. I pointed this out to her and she says "well where's that?". "Somewhere up front, about the 4th row". Has she never sat in assisgned theater seats before? I guess that is possible. The ticket said "MN FLR D 27" and underneath that "section row seat", is it really difficult to figure out seating assignments?

Ramblings, part infinity

I have half a rant about science literacy (inspired by Chad); a half a post to parallel Honu Girl; a exasperated rant about Ellen getting in an accident and the other lady not getting a ticket for an expired license (everyone was OK, cars are a bit bent up); and a ramble about psych meds, their effect on me, my ambivalence about taking them forever, why I wish I'd gone on the field trip this year but it's probably just as well I didn't because being on the edge of completely falling apart is SO attractive (or just makes me retreat to the point of being effectively invisible*). But all I want to do is crawl under the covers and stay there for, like, forever. (Yay, for a week of half-doses!)


*This artist does pretty well at urban-camo but visually blending in really necessary for being invisible.

Wha?

I agree with i09 - someone is missing the point.

"There's really no beer like it because it uses 100 per cent barley. Our top seller is the Black Label brand, using additional ingredients such as rice. This one doesn't, and is really a special beer," said Junichi Ichikawa, managing directory for strategy at Sapporo Breweries.(Telegragh.co.uk)

Okay, I don't really now how much a difference there is in barley beer versus other grain beers (although my nephew tried some rice beer once and didn't like it at all) but I'll except that an all barley beer is special. The thing is the really special part of the beer is:

Sapporo Breweries, one of Japan's major breweries, went on to use the crop of barley grown in space to create 100 litres of a 5.5 per cent proof beer ­ aptly named Space Barley.

I've never developed a taste for beer (besides liquor is quicker;)) but I think I'd have to drink a glass (bottle/can/pint/whatever) of Space Barley. It's made from SPACE BARLEY, how could I resist?

This could be one way for the space station to offset it's maintenance costs. Although to be commercial they'd need a lot more room for crops.

Turning Off Inner-Geologist - Fail

Many of the pictures I took at the beach were geology related. Here are the best:
The nearly pure quartz sands of the Alabama coast. It's squeaky clean!

Funny true story: One summer my folks rented a place at Virginia Beach for a few days and my older siblings came, too. One of my then sister-in-laws actually tip-toed across the sand because it was "dirty". She'd only been to the sugar sand beaches of Alabama and Florida before, she apparently thought all those feldspars and heavy minerals were dirt.


Ripples

Future trace fossils? Bird tracks Crab borrow


rain drop impressions with human tracks



Future fossils? Shell hash at the high tide line.

Knitting Project #1

I am so excited about this. I can't really explain why, either. I'm making a little bag* for Nettie for Christmas. First off I found some really pretty yarn.

And the knitting is going easily. Except I couldn't find the end of the skein inside the ball so it's not pulling out all nice and easy, I keep having to unwind the ball as I go. My plan is to make a rectangle about twice as long as it is wide, then decrease the stitches from both ends to make a triangular end. I'll fold the rectangle in half and sew it up with the triangle for a flap (with a snap closure added later). Then I'm going to felt it!

Like I said, I'm unreasonably excited about the project. I'll post pictures when I'm finished.


*Like a comsetic's bag or for odds and ends in her backpack or something, it'll be about 4"x4" when I'm done.

Monthly Reports SUCK!

Particularly when the contract came back 3 workdays before the end of the month but you have to make it look like you did something on the project because 2 people are charging a week and a half to it (the contract was signed 10/30). I really suck at saying nothing in 50 words or more. The worst part is that one of the things to fill in on the report is "significance of the work" - so when I get some data I can put it straight into the model? Because eventually we'll have data to evaluate but we have to wait on everyone else to send us their data?...Oh, and Wednesday I get to have a conference call about the all the (non)work I've accomplished* (and all the other research partners) that'll last about an hour. ARGH. My boss is in Spain for all of this -yay for him.

So, while I rack my brain for better ways to say 'nada' here's what I did for Thanksgiving:



Yes, that is my little sister going swimming in the northern Gulf of Mexico the morning of November 29th. If I'd had my suit, I'd have been in there, too**. We had gorgeous weather until Saturday afternoon, when it started raining. And Dad only tried to kill us once while driving.:)



*on this project, I've done lots on another project. I'm glad I now have something else to do than rename files and calibrate rasters.
**The forecast had said upper 60s to low 70s for the high so I didn't pack my swimsuit, but it felt much warmer, like well in the 70s maybe even 80 Friday afternoon. I'd've also had to shave my legs. It has been a long time since I even planned on going swimming based leg hair.