Techno Jeep

This is sort of amazing, but also cracks me up...mostly because they dedicated so much time into figuring it all out! With so many jeeps in Provo, there should be people doing this here. Awesome.

Butterflies, etc

Today I saw a butterfly. It was something that reminded me of Hope flying out of Pandora's box after all the bad things surged out (in some versions, Hope takes the form of a butterfly). It was there to remind humanity that after all the evil/bad/sad/etc things that are happening in the world, there is still Hope. When I saw the butterfly I was walking down a humongous hill on campus from class to work, thinking of how miserable I was feeling with the cold and the drear and the deadness of the world. Then all of a sudden, there it was! A sign of life, of happier times, of hope. And I was lifted in spirits a little, because I realized that even though life is so dreadfully dull and sad and cold and whatever else, spring will come, then summer, and life will go on and get better, and I will be happy again.

And even though I really love Peter Gabriel's cover, I do really rather like the original of "The Book of Love," by Magnetic Fields.

Because I Can

I got a Camelbak for Christmas-- a gift I'm very excited to use once hiking season swings around again. The one I got is the same model and nearly the same color as Adrien's though, so I thought that I'd differentiate it from hers by embroidering something special onto it.

I picked a Dwennimmen, an Andinkra (in West Africa) symbol of humility and strength.

I picked it because in order to get by in the wild (or anywhere, really, but since this applies to hiking...) one must be strong but also recognize the strength that you have and realize that with it come responsibility, humility, and (hopefully) an awareness of the earth around you.

Anyway, here's a picture of it on my 'Bak:

I'm such a nerd.

Endless Benefits of the Didgeridoo

Maybe you should learn to play the didgeridoo-- apparently there are medical benefits, according to this manufacturer. I learned to play it in a couple of hours, it's really not very hard.

Hand to Hand

Last night Autumn was over at my house when we discovered that Jimmy, one of her pals from the engineering department, lived less than a block from me. So we strolled down to his house to hang out. When we got there, he showed us numerous videos of the brothers Marco and Paulo Lorador doing their act in Cirque du Soleil called “Hand to Hand.” It’s really quite incredible. People say they have superhuman strength, and while it does indeed require a great amount of muscle toning and strength training, most of it is about balance. Of course, after watching the videos, we had to try it ourselves—or rather I watched while Autumn and Jimmy attempted a few moves together (sadly, I can barely lift myself off the ground, let alone balance on my head upside down).

I wish I had the pictures of Jimmy and his friend Eric doing some rather incredible things like the ones in the video…oh wait I found one! Hopefully no one ever sees this and thinks I’m creepy for acquiring this:

Anyway, watch the video of the brothers doing their act in the Saltimbanco show, it’s really quite amazing. Sadly, embedding is disabled, but please go to youtube to watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tx3qtW3hIY

This...

...Is quite possibly the most important thing you will ever see:

Found here from here

WalMart

I hate going to Walmart. The people there make me want to laugh and yell (with anger) at the same time. They take everything so seriously. Today I went there for a couple of things that I needed at the price cheaper than the grocery store and, to my dismay, all of the self-checkout lanes were closed. Instead, I got in line for the 20-Items-or-Less lane. The couple two ahead of me sidled up to the counter and began to swiftly (perhaps guiltily?) load on the cereal boxes, cans of cranberry sauce, and gallons of milk. I counted at least fifty things. Apparently they haven't learned to read. I half expected the cashier to turn them away with a sigh and a tired finger pointed at the large "EXPRESS LANE" emblazoned across the sign above his head, but he did not. Just as well, I suppose-- they probably would've put up a fight.

When the Million-Item Couple and their nosy child had left with their cart full of purchased goods, the lady in front of me moved up and put her six tape dispensers, two perfumes, five boxes of Christmas lightbulbs, and two gift cards (paid for separately) onto the counter. The cashier had checked only one tape dispenser when the lady halted him, claiming it had been rung up as $2.22 when the bin she'd gotten it from had clearly stated it should have been $.50-- "I even checked the barcode myself!" She insisted. The cashier, thankfully a patient man, punched in a code that erased the previous price and rechecked the price of the tape. Six times. After the lady had paid for all her sale items and the two gift cards both with one-hundred dollar bills, she stood at the counter slowly stuffing the cash change into her fat wallet while I (impatiently, I admit) put my three items onto the counter.

"How are you today?"

"Good."

Beep beep beep

Swipe, punch punch punch

"Have a good day!"

Bing Bang Boom. No need to buy 8 jillion jugs of milk and cans of whatever. No need to purchase the entire Christmas sale bin. No need to get in the way, be tedious, or annoying in any other way.

Gone in sixty seconds.

A few days before this past Independence Day (this blog post was a long time brewing) I went to Walmart for some groceries (probably the last time I ever did that). As a treat for myself I got a tiny container of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I felt incredibly ridiculous pushing around the humongous cart with a tiny carton of ice cream the only thing in there. I might've actually laughed out loud as I watched the other fifty people in the frozen section with me anxiously push past each other and feverishly consult lengthy shopping lists.

While I appreciate the concept of lower-priced goods, I can never allow myself to be in that monstrosity of a superstore for very long without getting irritated. For some reason, everyone is in a battle with each other the moment they drive into the parking lot (where, by the way, it's hard to avoid hitting or being hit by at least three giant SUVs and twenty pedestrians).

If Drawings Were Photographs

I found this today and thought it was pretty interesting and probably fun to do:

If Drawings Were Photographs

It's interesting because both the drawings and the photographs take artistic composition, but they're still very different.

Does that make sense?