So, I saw this cop dancing in the middle of the street the other day. By the other day, I mean yesterday, but honestly the days are a bit blurred together right now. I only slept for a few hours, and what sleep I got was about airplane quality sleep. Still, it was a good Christmas Eve, and a good Christmas.
So, about the cop. I don't know if she was just feeling the Christmas spirit, or if directing traffic around minor accidents is just that boring, or if she had a bomb strapped to her waist, and Santa, with the detonator switch, was playing her like a puppet. Whatever the case, I thought right then that I've got to tell someone about it.
I was up north of here, just south of where all the real houses stop and the farm type houses begin, heading home from church. It wasn't my home, or my church. I was spending Christmas Eve with the girl I did the movie/old chicago/stargazing thing with. We'll call her MJ. Her extended family was over, and I was let in on a couple of odd family traditions. They have a toy police car they keep re-gifting to anyone who has recently gotten a ticket or a licence, or an accident. They have a big pile of boxes, each containing a towel. Everyone picks one. The only surprise with these gifts is what color your towel will be. Mine was yellow. There was a big dinner, and I threw her cousin in the snow, with a bit of help from the other family members he had been throwing things at, and then we watched the RM. I don't recommend it. MJ fell asleep right away, I watched the entire thing. While some Mormon movies are really quite good when you consider the budgets they're working with, this one isn't. Oh well, good night anyway.
Apparently MJ got the third degree from all the old ladies at church when they saw us together. I didn't notice. I was talking with a guy up there who gets together with a bunch of people every Saturday, and plays with fake swords. They have banquets and dress in medieval gear. The best thing about this group though, is that it is not the SCA. I might have to check it out this weekend. If anyone in my area is interested, I'm sure he won't mind a couple more people. He's got a ton of fake swords and shields.
Well, I'm off to bed. I'm still pretty tired, and she'll be coming over for Christmas dinner with my family later today. I guess Berserk and Valkyrie can meet her. I hear they'll be coming over too.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Snowboarding
I've lived in Utah and Colorado all my life, or at least all my life that I actually remember, and I've never gone skiing or snowboarding. Until today. It's strange, but every part of me hurts. Also, I totally sucked. For the whole first third of the mountain I was basically sliding on my butt more than I was standing on the board. I thought I wasn't going to get the hang of it. Thankfully, I went with someone who has had a little experience teaching others to snowboard, and a little more experience snowboarding himself. He had a few pointers, and I was looking like I was snowboarding on purpose before I got too far down the mountain.
Still, it's amazing how much snowboarding hurts. It was mostly in the feet. There was a lot of leaning towards my toes, which they didn't mind at first, but it's kind of like the feeling when your climbing shoes are way too tight, and are cutting off the circulation, or the bizarrely strong muscle fatigue you feel in your feet when ice skating, or rollerblading. I think it's because I unconsciously clench my toes to try to hold on a bit better. It can't just be the shoes, because I once felt the same thing while riding a segway. It's a strange vehicle, one that I recommend trying out if you get a chance, and you stand on it wearing your regular shoes. My feet were killing me by the time I got off, not much more than ten minutes after I got on. Also, the rented boots were plenty comfortable when I was not attached to the snowboard.
Well, that's all that hurt then, but everything hurts now. Maybe it was all the falling and pushing myself up. Maybe it was some unconscious clenching. I don't know.
If anyone is thinking of trying this out, I recommend going with a friend who can tell you what you're doing wrong, grabbing a can of Lysol to kill the mildew stink in your rented boots, and wearing not just snow pants and goggles (and yes, regular clothes), but a coat, and some good gloves. I got snow in the rudest of places, sneaking in down the back of my pants, and you do not want to fall into a big deep bank of powder with nothing good between your long sleeve shirt and your crappy small gloves. The good part is, once your skin gets numb it doesn't hurt anymore.
All that aside, I really didn't get too cold, and it was a blast. I've got to go again some time when I have some more of that green paper stuff in my wallet.
Still, it's amazing how much snowboarding hurts. It was mostly in the feet. There was a lot of leaning towards my toes, which they didn't mind at first, but it's kind of like the feeling when your climbing shoes are way too tight, and are cutting off the circulation, or the bizarrely strong muscle fatigue you feel in your feet when ice skating, or rollerblading. I think it's because I unconsciously clench my toes to try to hold on a bit better. It can't just be the shoes, because I once felt the same thing while riding a segway. It's a strange vehicle, one that I recommend trying out if you get a chance, and you stand on it wearing your regular shoes. My feet were killing me by the time I got off, not much more than ten minutes after I got on. Also, the rented boots were plenty comfortable when I was not attached to the snowboard.
Well, that's all that hurt then, but everything hurts now. Maybe it was all the falling and pushing myself up. Maybe it was some unconscious clenching. I don't know.
If anyone is thinking of trying this out, I recommend going with a friend who can tell you what you're doing wrong, grabbing a can of Lysol to kill the mildew stink in your rented boots, and wearing not just snow pants and goggles (and yes, regular clothes), but a coat, and some good gloves. I got snow in the rudest of places, sneaking in down the back of my pants, and you do not want to fall into a big deep bank of powder with nothing good between your long sleeve shirt and your crappy small gloves. The good part is, once your skin gets numb it doesn't hurt anymore.
All that aside, I really didn't get too cold, and it was a blast. I've got to go again some time when I have some more of that green paper stuff in my wallet.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
I know a giraffe has to pee too, but...
I finished the last of my tests for the last of my classes for a while. The plan at this point (seeing as I'm an EMT-Basic, and I've got the IV and EKG down, and I've finished all of my paramedic prerequisites) is to actually get a job doing something that I've gone to school and trained to do. This is something I've never actually done. I've applied at one of the big hospitals in town. They're well known for getting a lot of the trauma cases around here. I'm hoping that goes well, but not hoping so hard that I'm not still looking for other places to apply.
Also, I went to the zoo with a bunch of people from church tonight. We went primarily to see the Christmas lights that have been set up, but I saw so much more than that. Until now, my best zoo story has been about the time I went to Anchorage, and saw an elephant poop. They were big, and they made a thud when they hit. And then the elephant peed, and it came out all at once in a torrent of urine. That was my best story. Now, it's the giraffes.
The big draw in the zoo this time of year, and this time of night is the lights they've got set up, but they still have some of the indoor attractions open. This year, the giraffes were included. Now, when a giraffe pees it's not like an elephant. It's more the way I, or any guy, pees. It's just a big stream. Bigger in this case, and certainly higher. People stop and take notice. The good part though, is a second giraffe bent down, and started drinking the pee midstream. It was like a big nasty drinking fountain. I know urine is fairly clean, having just been filtered out of the bloodstream and all, but still, I rarely ever (never) drink urine myself. The second giraffe drank a bit, stood up, drank a bit more. Of course the whole crowd seeing this was totally mature, and didn't erupt in disgust. Or, it did. Either way.
Also, I went to the zoo with a bunch of people from church tonight. We went primarily to see the Christmas lights that have been set up, but I saw so much more than that. Until now, my best zoo story has been about the time I went to Anchorage, and saw an elephant poop. They were big, and they made a thud when they hit. And then the elephant peed, and it came out all at once in a torrent of urine. That was my best story. Now, it's the giraffes.
The big draw in the zoo this time of year, and this time of night is the lights they've got set up, but they still have some of the indoor attractions open. This year, the giraffes were included. Now, when a giraffe pees it's not like an elephant. It's more the way I, or any guy, pees. It's just a big stream. Bigger in this case, and certainly higher. People stop and take notice. The good part though, is a second giraffe bent down, and started drinking the pee midstream. It was like a big nasty drinking fountain. I know urine is fairly clean, having just been filtered out of the bloodstream and all, but still, I rarely ever (never) drink urine myself. The second giraffe drank a bit, stood up, drank a bit more. Of course the whole crowd seeing this was totally mature, and didn't erupt in disgust. Or, it did. Either way.
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Christmas Parade
Okay, so I went downtown with this girl for a Christmas parade. She was just a bit difficult. For someone with absolutely no sense of direction, who doesn't have a driver's license or learners permit, and who certainly doesn't understand downtown traffic, she sure has a lot of advice on how to drive. I thought I was going to kill someone. I wasn't quite sure who, but there were only two of us to choose from.
Once we got down there it was better. I've noticed advice on driving from her before, but this was nuts. Anyway, it was better once we were out of the car. We had a couple of blocks to walk to get to the parade, and we met some people there. Not people I know, just people. They were pretty cool though, and the parade was not bad. We got there just before the people who fling torches and burning things went by. Anything with fire is obviously the highlight.
We all went out to dinner afterwards. I recommend Buffalo Wild Wings to anyone. I don't recommend the boneless wings, as the breading is to thick, but aside from that, good place. I wasn't sure what this girl was going to eat. She's a bit of a vegan. At least she has been in the past. I'm hoping that was an experiment that's at it's end. She looks like someone who could use a hamburger or two. The whole vegan thing seems to be waning for her though, unless hot wings are allowed. It was good to see her eating a couple though. I've been to enough pot luck dinners where I watched her eat plain salad with no dressing.
Overall, it was a good night. Met some new people who seem alright, hung out with a couple that I knew.
Also, I've decided I like Blogger beta. Getting the little bit of artwork up there helped turn me. I wasn't sure for a while that I could totally get behind this. It seemed a bit too cookie cutter. I love Photoshop and Leonardo da Vinci. Good combination.
Once we got down there it was better. I've noticed advice on driving from her before, but this was nuts. Anyway, it was better once we were out of the car. We had a couple of blocks to walk to get to the parade, and we met some people there. Not people I know, just people. They were pretty cool though, and the parade was not bad. We got there just before the people who fling torches and burning things went by. Anything with fire is obviously the highlight.
We all went out to dinner afterwards. I recommend Buffalo Wild Wings to anyone. I don't recommend the boneless wings, as the breading is to thick, but aside from that, good place. I wasn't sure what this girl was going to eat. She's a bit of a vegan. At least she has been in the past. I'm hoping that was an experiment that's at it's end. She looks like someone who could use a hamburger or two. The whole vegan thing seems to be waning for her though, unless hot wings are allowed. It was good to see her eating a couple though. I've been to enough pot luck dinners where I watched her eat plain salad with no dressing.
Overall, it was a good night. Met some new people who seem alright, hung out with a couple that I knew.
Also, I've decided I like Blogger beta. Getting the little bit of artwork up there helped turn me. I wasn't sure for a while that I could totally get behind this. It seemed a bit too cookie cutter. I love Photoshop and Leonardo da Vinci. Good combination.
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Beta
I've done a bit of work on the site here as you may have noticed. I thought it was about time to rework things a bit. That was over three hours ago. I logged in to blogger to have a shot at updating the template, and was pleased to find that the whole Google/Blogger combination thing was coming together a bit more. I can now log in to blogger using my Google login. Also they've done some serious spiffing up of the template making thingey. I used to know bigger words, but they all seem to be escaping me just now.
Anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot. In case anyone else is using blogger and decides to go for the update, you should know that the new Google login bit seems to work just fine, but the template is still in beta. Fortunately, you can go back to the classic template at any time. You can't go back to the classic login, but I'm not so sure I'll miss that.
The new template thing seems okay as long as you intend to put out a generic run of the mill blog. You can edit colors, or put in a picture somewhere, but if you want to write your own HTML you better stick with classic. The new one uses XML, and gives no shortage of warnings when you try to put in a bit of html code. At least it gives me no shortage of warnings. I don't know much about XML. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to work harmoniously with HTML, but I don't know how to do that.
The most frustrating thing, the thing I spent most of my time trying to fix was the commenting. It set me up with Blogger commenting and I couldn't get Haloscan up and running. I managed to find someone who did though. If anyone wants to get Haloscan commenting running on their New and Improved Blogger, this *http://logicalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2006/09/getting-haloscan-to-work-in-beta.html* is the man to see about it. I assume it's a man. I really don't know. Whatever it is, it's a genius.
I didn't spend the whole three hours working that out of course. I spent the bulk of that chatting with a sister who is in town for the evening. I only spent a bit over an hour working on this site.
Anyway, all that said, I'm going to bed. It's freakin' late.
Anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot. In case anyone else is using blogger and decides to go for the update, you should know that the new Google login bit seems to work just fine, but the template is still in beta. Fortunately, you can go back to the classic template at any time. You can't go back to the classic login, but I'm not so sure I'll miss that.
The new template thing seems okay as long as you intend to put out a generic run of the mill blog. You can edit colors, or put in a picture somewhere, but if you want to write your own HTML you better stick with classic. The new one uses XML, and gives no shortage of warnings when you try to put in a bit of html code. At least it gives me no shortage of warnings. I don't know much about XML. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to work harmoniously with HTML, but I don't know how to do that.
The most frustrating thing, the thing I spent most of my time trying to fix was the commenting. It set me up with Blogger commenting and I couldn't get Haloscan up and running. I managed to find someone who did though. If anyone wants to get Haloscan commenting running on their New and Improved Blogger, this *http://logicalphilosopher.blogspot.com/2006/09/getting-haloscan-to-work-in-beta.html* is the man to see about it. I assume it's a man. I really don't know. Whatever it is, it's a genius.
I didn't spend the whole three hours working that out of course. I spent the bulk of that chatting with a sister who is in town for the evening. I only spent a bit over an hour working on this site.
Anyway, all that said, I'm going to bed. It's freakin' late.
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