This American Life: Fear of Sleep

I was listening to this episode in my car (podcast) and I sat in the parking lot of target listening to the end of this guys story: "Mike Birbiglia talks about the sleepwalking that nearly killed him." He's a comedian and it's really funny (as long as it didn't happen to you).

Colbert Report: Better Know a District

This was my favorite segment on the Colbert Report. Then I cancelled my cable. But now I can watch on the internet ;-)
The representatives that agree to be interviewed are a really good sports!

If you're eating I recommend pausing while whating this. I almost spit my food all over my lap trying not to laugh too hard.

I conquered the refrigerator!

I kind of just happened onto it. The cleaning, not the refrigerator itself.

My intention was just to redistribute some stuff on the door, so that I could fit a few things that were sitting on the shelves, onto the door - where they belong. It's not segregation, I just thought the other condiments would be happier with their own kind.

Anyway, I was moving stuff around when I suddenly found myself removing items from the top shelf and reaching for a sponge. Puzzled by my own actions I figured I would just be cleaning one shelf. Surely I wouldn't go any further. That was so far from my mind that I didn't even contemplate it. Which is probably what, in the end, enabled me go through with it.

You see, one thing just kind of led to another. A reprehensible excuse I know. But that's just the way it went down. What can I say now? I'll be more careful next time, I assure you. In my own defense I can say that this is only the 2nd time I've ever cleaned a refrigerator, in almost 32 years. I think that's a pretty good record.

But you see the sponge was dripping gross, dirty refrigerator water onto the items on the shelves below so I quickly removed them. In doing so I unintentionally set the stage for cleaning those shelves as well.

The middle shelf was easy.

The bottom shelf was, unbeknownst to me, a mass grave for a colony of ants (ok, there were probably only 20 carcasses). I'm not really sure when they appeared (several months ago), but they didn't last long. I'm not even sure how they got in there. Or better yet, why? I've never seen ants filing into a refrigerator before.

Naturally I'm assuming they were part of some cult and they choose my refrigerator for their mass suicide. They didn't leave a note so we'll never know. RIP.

This has really been a three step process. For those of you wondering if you will ever be able to accomplish this same feet I'm including a step by step tutorial, with photos, for your benefit.

Step 1: Accept you have a problem.

If you feel up to it you can click on the image for a larger view. Caution is advised.

Step 2: Remove the inedible items.

Tip: things that have an expiration date of over 4 months ago should be throw out ;-)

Step 3: Clean shelves and restock.

Tip: Do not place items that you do not plan to consume back into the the refrigerator. That's not what it's for. There's another receptacle called a "trash can" that can be used for those items. Alternatively you may opt to compost food that is "past fresh". This should not be done in the refrigerator.

What is that?

I went for a drive today. We'll ok, I went for two drives today. Anyway, on the 2nd one I was stopped at a light (by Amazon dog park). I'm in the lotus with both windows just cracked. The music up and I'm off in my own world. There's a guy standing on the right waiting to cross.

I'm sitting there for like a minute when I think maybe I hear someone yelling. I look over my shoulder to the left and there's a guy standing on the center divider (two lanes on my side, one on the other going the opposite direction). I look over at the guy standing on the street corner thinking he was talking to him. At first it looks like he's responding, but then just stands there. I think he just looked cause the guy was yelling. I hit the mute button and hear, "What is that?". Just then a minivan on the other side of the street drives by and this guy hangs his head out the window and yells back at him: "It's a Lotus."

Oh!

I yell back, "Yeah, it's a Lotus." Just then another car comes up on my left and my view is obscured. The light turns green and I'm off.

unearthed while weeding

Various treasures found while weeding in front today:

And in the back yard last week I found this...

I wonder what else is hiding in my yard!

The Daily Show reviews Obama's acceptance speech.

I LOVE this show! And Samantha Bee is hysterical. Watch this episode and see people look serious while sounding really stupid. I found it non-stop funny.

And here's one of my favorite Samantha Bee spots. It's called "Al Jazeera English". I don't know how she keep herself composed during the part where she's coming up with a new theme song for them. And my favorite part is at the end where she creates her own version of the show and gets the woman anchor to introduce herself as... "Peppermint Gomez".

Quantum Cello

The latest from RadioLab involves some great Cello music. Listen here.

I love the sound of the Cello. Hearing this makes me want to go out and get one.

SciAm: McCain's Veep Pick Palin - Open ANWR to Drilling

"... But it's a big question mark whether they will cotton to Palin's conservative leanings: She is antiabortion and an advocate of drilling offshore as well as in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)."

"...Oh, by the way, Palin is also in favor of teaching Creationism in schools."

Article here

watering the trees

It's so nice out this morning!

nice shaped head

A lot of people latey have said I have a nice shaped head. Not a comment you get when you have long hair.

That's what the person said who cut my hair today. Honestly I don't think it looks much different than when I cut it myself.

It's hard to tell on your own head though. I'll have to ask Mel. She'll have an opinion.

I kind of like it shorter. Maybe I'll keep it like this for a while.

SciAm: Hotel Guests Throw in the Towel on the Environment

60 Second Podcast: When it comes to using towels in hotels, it's herd mentality, not eco-principles, that leads patrons on a greener path.

SciAm: Cows Tend to Face North-South

Article: Cattle and Deer May Sense Earth's Magnetic Field. Google Earth photos and field studies reveal animals lining up north–south.

lotus of portland

Made the drive to Portland today to get new front tires. The fronts last a lot longer than the backs. I'm on my 4th set of rear tires :-P

I had someone in town change the tires once and they spilled coke in my car which bubbled up the plastic on the side pillar so I'm not sure I'll really trust them again. I didn't go up just for the tires. I also had to get the passenger window adjusted. This adjustment is almost as frequent as the rear tire changes. Also, the rear view mirror fell off in the 100 degree heat the other week. So I thought I'd just get all that taken care of before the warranty ran out, which will probably happen next week since I'm about 200 miles away from 36k.

As per my routine I took the blue line (the train is like two blocks away from the shop) into downtown and watched a movie. The timing was perfect. I dropped off the car, caught the train, found a movie to watch & got a sandwich. I took the sandwich into the theater and sat down just as the previews were starting. It was kind of like I was at home. I was sitting in front of a giant screen but I was the only one in there.

Or was until an older gentleman showed up a few minutes into it. About 1/3 of the way into the movie his cell phone rings and he answers it. Thankfully he went out of the auditorium to talk to the person. And then we he got back he asked me if he missed anything, lol.

I got back and it took and extra hour for the car to be ready. So I played games on my iPhone - tetris, solitare and some cannon shooting game. I left at 4 so I wasn't really stuck in traffic although it was a little slow going at first. I utilized my new iPhone accessory to play my iPod over the radio. I found you get better reception if you're touching the part where you set the station. And, as I learned today, it's even clearer if you stick it on your stomach. So I kind of tucked it into the seatbelt for the ride.

I listened to This American Life: You've Got Pegged on the last leg of the trip. It was funny and had me laughing in car which was a nice break from the monotony of interstate 5.

in the ground

Here's what the trees look like in the ground. This was taken a few days ago when it had rained the night before.

There's four of them in this pic but the Cherry tree in the corner of the yard is hard to see because the leaves of the Pear tree up front kind of blend together with it. To the right is a plum tree. The one on the left is a Liquidambar.

Blue skies

I got up and had some orange juice for breakfast. I looked outside and the sky was really blue and the temperature was already warm. I decided to mow the lawn before heading to bjj for day 2 of the seminar. The weather was perfect.

Mowing the lawn you cover every inch of the yard, so you get to see it from every different angle. With the trees all around and the big blue sky in the background it was great. There was even a sliver of moon in between a few stretched out white clouds.

The great weather lent itself to a nice bike (motorcycle) ride over to NWMA for the seminar. We did gi and no-gi today. Yesterday the seminar started at 11 and then we took a short break around 1:15 and people got smoothies and such. Then we continued on till 3. But nobody was too excited to put the wet gi's back on after the break. So when the option came up to do some no-gi stuff today almost everyone was on board - just so they wouldn't have to put the sweaty gi's back on after the break.

They did some promotions yesterday. I got another stripe. I can't say that I was comfortable getting the first one so I didn't really think I needed another. But you can't really say no, right? I guess they know better than I do. I just want to have trained harder. I think I've been pretty consistant the last three months though. So that's good. And I guess it has been a year since I got the belt so I guess the pace isn't too bad. It always seems to early to me to get stripes.

A couple guys got their blue belts and the next day when they came in and already had new belts. Stormy said, "Looks like they pre-ordered!" It was kind of funny, but I think they had just ordered it with their gi earlier to save on shipping. It is kind of odd to just have your next belt laying around at your house though. Maybe I should just order myself the next 3 belts so I'm ready to go. Or not.

Went on an extended ride after the seminar was over, the long way home. The sky looked nice so I thought I should ride around and enjoy it.

When I got back I made myself a nice sandwhich when I got back. I was pretty hungry by then.

Flying Pigeon

There was a piece on the Flying Pigeon bicyle on the Olympics coverage today. It was pretty funny. I was laughing out loud as they compared them to the $10k olympic indoor racing bikes.

"The Flying Pigeon was the single most popular mechanized vehicle on the planet."

people

Fun interactions I've had with people today:

• Stormy at the bjj seminar
• The two ladies in front of me at baskin robins
• Several people staring at my car when I went for a drive

Decided to go for a short drive. Realized it was pretty warm. Pulled over to take the top off the car. I'm never going to get tired of that. Love the wind blowing around. Especially when my hair isn't getting in my eyes ;-)

The bjj seminar was really good. We went over a couple take downs and then some koala guard and half guard stuff. I like when people explain when a good time to use a move would be. And also when there's several different options that work together. We had both of those today. Tomorrow we're going to do some Gi and some No-Gi.

good review

It's always nice to get an unsolicted good review from your clients...

Thank you for all this info and for continually responding to our needs. I’m always grateful for the way you handle yourself and have expressed this again to John. You have integrity, work hard, make no pretenses. I just want you know how much I appreciate that.

august things

• 2003 yosemite trip (really, really great trip, took like 300 pictures)
• 2004 bought yamaha scooter (fun, but now replaced by honda rebel)
• 2005 trip to oregon (to find a house for my mom)
• 2006 ny/canada trip (first time to east coast!)
• 2007 worlds bjj trip (Jill and I won our division and got blue belts!)
• 2008 ... cut hair & planted trees? I'm having a good month.

bad losers

Team USA loses bid for fourth straight softball gold medal

I saw this on my start page and clicked on it because I remember hearing about how the team hadn't lost since 2000. Personally I found myself laughing as I read it. These players do not know how to lose. It's kind of embarassing. They're all crying and saying it wasn't supposed to happen like this. But, OMG, they won for how long and they have ONE loss and they freak out. Whatever.

On the other hand I'm pretty excited for Yukiko Ueno of Japan who the day before "had pitched 21 innings -- the equivalent of three complete games -- to get her team to the gold-medal match." ... "Though it's rare for a pitcher at this level to work consecutive days, Ueno's performance can stand with any in these games. Not only was it physically demanding in China's thick air, but she couldn't afford a misstep in two matchups with the U.S. or against the free-swinging Aussies, who won bronze." Now that's exciting.

But the US team crying about a silver and saying that's not how it was supposed to be? That's embarassing.

Laptop fun

I'm sitting here going thru my work email on my laptop as I watch the Olympics on the projector. I just measured the "screen" on the wall: 8 feet by 6 feet. Big.

The couch is really comfy as well. A very relaxed work envoirnment. But considering it's 9pm it's really extra cirricular work.

Showers: now 80% faster and 300% more fun

I think the thing I notice most about having short hair is how much more inviting it is to take a shower now. It's much quicker without having so much hair to wash and when you're done you don't have to wait for it ot dry. Oddly enough, I think this has made the most impact. It's just so much faster and easier.

It's offical; the trees are in the ground!

4 times in 3 days

I've went running 4 times in the last three days. It helps to have the running shoes waiting for me in the closet. I got them originally cause Mel said she wanted to go running. We only went a couple times. Then the shoes were sitting there waiting for me.

Having nice running shoes makes running seem more inviting. I'm glad I got them even if I didn't end up using them for the original purpose. This past week and several other times they've really made the prospect of taking a jog a lot more inviting. Times when I wasn't sure if I would go or not, these made the difference. So thanks shoes. I've never gone running and wished I hadn't.

tree guy coming tomorrow

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The trees are being planted tomorrow. Very exciting :-)

rain

It's raining today. There were more lightening storms last night. I like the rain today. It feels cozy.

convenience

Yesterday I went driving in the morning. It was warm out but not too hot yet, but as I drove along I rolled down one windown, then the other... then I just pulled over on the side of Territorial Hwy and took the top off the car. Ahhhh, that's better.

By that time it was warmer and I grabbed my handy travel size sun block and applied it to my face.

Pulling over and taking the top off the car was so satisfying. That car is so fun to drive that I don't care that the rear view mirror fell off while I was driving and the windows need to be adjusted every 7500 miles ;-)

Lightning Storm

It's lightening out there. Bright enough that I could see it with my eyes shut from inside my bedroom where I was attempting to go to
sleep. The first time I saw it thru my closed eyes I was facing the window. The second time I was facing the wall. The thunder was deep
and long and rumbling. So I went outside to check it out. There was a lot more lightning. It was so bright it was blinding. The whole sky went white and for the next minute I could see the impression of it when I blinked.

Now, 40 min later, the first raindrops are starting to fall. I have to run outside again. I've been waiting for this moment to feel the rain on my head with the new haircut.

lotus stories

This is funny... or maybe that's scary.

------------------

"No good deed goes unpunished" AKA: STUPIDEST Ticket EVER!

Today, I pulled over to move 15 or so 8ft long sections of copper tubing that were laying in the middle of a four lane divided road. I had piled about 1/2 on the roadside and was about to head back into the street when County Patrol pulls up behind me. I'm thinking, "Good. Someone else to help me move these or at least he can hold traffic back for me so I don't have to serpentine around grandma anymore."

But, no. He proceeds to lecture me about securing loads. . I thought he was kidding, which apparently p*ssed him off. I tried to explain that the tubing was not mine, that I had just pulled over to clean it up, and that there is no way that I would be carrying all of that copper ON TOP of my Elise and there is absolutely no way it could fit inside. The lecture then proceed with choice of appropriate vehicle to carry items in. <-- me, knowing that he is kidding now. <-- him, not kidding at all. me. him. <-- me, thinking 'oh, cr*p.'

I got ticketed for failure to secure a load properly. What's even stupider is he threatened to ticket me for littering if I didn't get the tubing off the side of the road. I, we actually, as he didn't leave until all of the tubing was gone (a$$hat), sat on the side of the road until I could flag down a pickup truck that was actually interested in having 120ft of copper tubing for free.

I talked to my lawyer when I got home. He never said a word, just heard . Then he hung up. I called him right back and he said, "Oh, you weren't kidding? . I'll take care of it."

busy weekends

This weekend the tree guy is coming to mark off where I'm gonna get my 7 trees planted in the back yard. Yeah, that doesn't seem that busy I'm sure but I have to be here to get that done and I'm gonna be bussier the other weekends so it's part of the schedule. I really want to get the trees planted.

I'm in a get things done kinda mood. I like completing projects. I think that's why I've gotten into this strange habbit of cleaning my house. I like having it done. And not having little things laying around making a mess. This may be why. I've kept my house clean for like 4 months now. I know, I know. I'm even amazed myself. I'm really not even sure how it happened.

Actually, I've been saying that for months and I think I'm getting an idea now of why it happend. Now I'm just hoping it's a learned pattern that I can keep. The thing is that once you get on a roll it's not that hard to keep up. I've always known that. I know that about a lot of things. It's just hard to get started a lot of the time.

That's something I've been thinking a lot lately as well. It's strange how something can seem SO hard to start. So hard to take that first step, but then once you do, sometimes without even thinking about it, you realize just how not hard it was. It's like the opposite of a glass wall. You think you see something, but nothing is really there.

It's all about fear really. That's why people hesitate. I do it too, everyone does. I just try to be aware of it becasue that's the only way you can break through. But the more you practice breaking down the invisible wall the more you realize how easy it is. It's all about practice. It's about just going for it and then realizing it wasn't that bad. After you do it over and over and over you start to see a pattern. And yes, maybe you are still afraid at the beginning, but you know from experience it's not as bad as you think. Or maybe it's not bad at all once you get through it. Often it's really good. That's what I've found. So I like being challeged by things I'm afraid of. Because there's usually something good that comes out of it. Like you learn something or realize something and that is one of the best experiences there is.

(um, that was long and completely off track. back to my schedule.)

I'm also watching the Olympics this weekend. That takes some time. I've TiVo'd the whole thing and even though I skip over the parts I don't really care that much about it still takes a while to get through it all. I'm up till like 1am every night. Some nights I can't even finish; I'm too sleepy and have to turn it off.

It's awesome to watch these people who have trained so hard and can do these crazy things. I can't even believe I'm interested in the swimming competion. I only watch it every 4 years. I could care less the other three. But somehow it's fun to watch every 4th year. That men's relay where the american passed the french guy right at the end. That was crazy. The photo finish in the 100m men's butterfly. That was crazy. 0.01 seconds apart. And taking that extra 1/2 stroke vs. gliding in is what did it. Dara Torres - she kicks ass! Can't wait to watch more of her.

So next weekend. Well Friday is Oshian's b-day party, which is being held at my house because of my excellent yard space. And on Sat/Sun there's a two day jiu-jitsu seminar at NWMA.

The next weekend is Mel's b-day. Plans for that are in flux but something is happening I'm sure.

The next weekend I'm going to SF to visit cuzin Sara before she jets off to London. The trees will be planted while I'm gone.

The next weekend their having the rise fights on at the fairgrounds. A bunch of guys from NWMA are competing. That should be fun to watch. Then Sunday is my b-day, whatever that means. Not sure I really care or what it's supposed to mean but I'm excited to be alive so that should suffice.

The next weekend (seeing a pattern here?) there's a Marcelo Garcia seminar in Washington. A bit of a drive by Ryan said he rolls with everyone there which would be pretty cool, although I'd go even if that didn't happen.

Well, that's the next six weeks for me.

brilliant

Yesterday was hot, like 100 degrees, literally. Today was also hot, high of 96, but it wasn't like yesterday. Yesterday it was 90 degrees still at 9pm. Today it was about 80 degrees at the same time.

  

I've been riding my motorcycle to jiu-jitsu lately. I heard someone describe riding on hot days as, "like riding into a hair dryer". Funny but pretty true. Luckily I there's several different sections to my motorcycle jacket and I unzipped the outside layer before I left. So the ride over was actually pretty nice.

  

I had expected the gym to be pretty hot as well but I guess since it was Friday and maybe because of the Fair and maybe because it was HOT, there weren't a lot of people there. In fact there were 5. And all the fans were going so it was actually cooler in there than outside, which is most often not the case. The class was good and I did fairly good rolling with some of the bigger guys.

  

I got off the mat just in time to call back Jason, the tree guy, who'd literally just left a message. So my trees are now scheduled to be put in the ground. Which is very good. I can't wait to get them planted!

  

So I left NWMA and hopped on my bike. I was going to just ride home but then two things happened. First off I was hot and the breeze was nice, really nice when I started riding. Second I noticed the clouds in the sky and thought about the sunset. We've had some really intense colors in the sunset the last couple of days. So I thought, why not, I'll just go for a little cruise on the way home. I turned left instead of right and headed for Willamette.

  

I looped back up Jefferson and then up Charnelton in the College Hill area. You can get some good views up there because you're on a hill and can see out over the city. On the right I could see the sun like a giant orange disc on one side, just about to drop below the hills in the distance. And on the left was the moon!!!! Just as big, rising over the mountains.

  

I kept checking glancing up at the clouds all the way there. I could tell it was going to be a good one. I rode out Willamette, up the hills and out of the city and this is what I saw...

  

Is this insane or what?

  

Not bad for the iPhone right? Sunsets are always better in real life though. It was so amazing I just stopped on the side of the road to watch for a few minutes and snap a few pics. After that I thought it couldn't get any better but it did. The entire ride was amazing, from the moment I left the parking lot.

  

I got back on the bike and followed Willamette to Fox Hollow. Right past "Bill's Bench" I saw two, yes TWO peacocks hanging out on the side of the road. One of them walked a little to get out of the road. The other one flew up in a tree. Seeing peacocks fly up into a tree is so awesome. One of my favorite things I have ever seen.

  

After that I thought the show was probably over. I headed down the twists and turns of McBeth and when I came out of the woods, there was more. More colors! This time pastels. The sky went from yellow to lavendar to blue. I wasn't sure I was seeing it right so I had to lift up the windscreen on the helmet. Then I looked into my rear view mirror and there was the moon hovering boldly in the sky. It was crazy!

  

I caught Lorane Hwy from McBeth and looped back to Chambers. When you're on Lorane you're next to the hills so you can't see the sunset for a few minutes. So again, I thought the show was over. But nope! As soon as I hit chambers I could see it again. The sky glowed orange all the way home! It was like the horizon was on fire. Crazy beautiful.

  

Oh, and I saw several deer too.

helmet head

Caution: taking a long ride after sweating in jiu-jitsu is not a good idea if you plan to take the helmet off in public. Luckily I ended my ride at home ;-)

This is not pretty.

email trouble leads to...

I was having trouble with my email (google what's wrong with you). So I ended up opening an old email program I have and there were a bunch of old emails. It was interesting (or horrifying, depending on how you look at it) to read through some of them. I came across this one that my brother fordwarded me. It was just as funny the 2nd time around so I thought I'd post it here:

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry midterm. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving.

I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.

Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Teresa Banyan during my freshman year that "...it will be a cold day in Hell before I give you my number" and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in acquiring her number, then #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze.

The student received the only "A."

visiting the goats

Went to the fair with Mel and Oshain.
The goats were fond of Oshian's
shirt, as an appetizer.

seat belt tan line!

I went for a drive this morning. I want to go early before was super hot. (It's currently 95 at 4pm.) I took the top off the car and had a nice drive... but I got a faint tan line from the seat belt cause I was wearing a tank top, ha ha ha!

bad singers

Interesting how many different components there are in this...
Tone Deafness and Bad Singing May Not Go Hand in Hand

Chupacabra... or Pit Bull

Chupacabra strikes Texas town?

Texas biologist: Cuero chupacabra is a pit bull

2nd office

I did a lot of work today from the extra room. My office got some ants. And I can smell them. And even though I couldn't see where the little buggers were hiding I could smell them. And it was awful. I cleaned the floors, the desk and the trash cans later and don't smell it anymore. Although I still see a few stray ants every now and then. Don't leave a cup of water overnight when there's ants. Apparently they really go for it. I did that two nights ago and they were all over the thing in the morning. Blech.

So in the morning I got my laptop out and did some work from the extra room. It's a nice room to work in because it's so light. It's got lighter floors than my office and lighter paint. And the window just lets in more light as well. It's a pretty empty room though. It echoed when I talked on the phone.

I kind of want to move my office in there. Or maybe just set up an alternate office. Seems kind of odd though. Two offices??? Wierd. Maybe I'll just use my laptop every now and then for a change of pace. I do like this screen better though. I've got a 19" monitor on my main computer. Plus the mouse is nice. I was using the finger pad on the laptop and the tip of my finger was getting hot from running all over the place!

guard sweeps!

Charuto was at NWMA today and taught class. We went over some mount submissions and there were some good details we learned.

After class I went in the ring to practice some guard sweeps with Jill. Charuto saw us and came over and helped us with the sweep for like an hour. It was really great. I've been wanting to work on that sweep for a month now. I've asked a few people about it but haven't had too much of a chance to practice it yet.

This was perfect!

oregon summers

The weather has been EXCELLENT lately. I love driving with the top off in the Lotus in this weather. And it's extra fun with the new haircut. The wind feels like a massage on my head.

sports and politics

In watching the Olympics I've seen several news reports on different political factors that have influenced the Olympics in the past. I remember watching the 1984 Olympics on TV. We were staying at someone's house at the time. I was young so I don't know why. I do rememer that they had a washing maching that sounded like a spaceship taking off durring the spin cycle. But I was only 8 so I didn't know any of the political stuff. I just thought watching the Olympics was cool. Interesting to hear now about how China made their return that year based on a certain envoy going there and convincing them not to boycott the games with the Soviets.

I was excited for the US Men's gymnastic team to get the bronze because it was such an interesting story with all the alternates that got put in after the main guys dropped out. It was really great to see a lot of them do their best when the commentators seems like it wasn't necessarily expected from them. I think they did a good job of holding it together despite a lot of changes.

But actually I think I was more excited for the Chineese Men's gymnastic team to get the Gold. They looked like they had worked really hard and I was excited for them. It was great to see them doing such solid routines and also just seeing them get the Gold while the games were held in China. This clearly meant a lot to them. So, Go China! Congratulations.

tree planting

Trying to dig a hole in your back yard to plant a tree... Not Easy!!! And I have some blisters to prove it.

checklist

• Went for a drive
• Washed laundry
• Washed dishes
• Swept the floors
• Washed Lotus
• Washed Bronco
• Cleaned out inside of Bronco
• Went for a drive

Why I will never be a fencer...

I've never watched fencing before but I saw a few matches today. What threw me off was the screaming every time they got a point. It just looks stupid. Apparently the reason is to convince the judges that they got the point. But I don't care. They way it plays out (I was watching women's fencing) they just look like some rich girl throwing a tantrum. High pitched screaming and fist pumping and... it's just embarrassing to watch.

On top of that, while there seems to be a lot of athletics involved, I think I prefer contact sports. I've never really thought about it like that. But in this sport all you try to do is touch your opponent with the tip of the sword. The judo and boxing look a lot more appealing.

Olympics Live!

I'm watching Women's Olympic Judo live on the internet right now. It's really good. I've never watched Judo before. Makes me want to work on my stand-up game.

I guess you can win by holding your opponent down for 25 seconds. Interesting.

On the agenda for this weekend...

• Go through my closet and drawers and get rid of lots of clothes. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this ;-)
  
• Wash the Lotus. And if I'm feeling energetic I may even vacuum it out. I've had it 2 years and haven't done that yet so don't hold your breath. Maybe I'll wash the Bronco and the Rebel while I'm at it.
• Watch some Olympics! They're supposed to have a lot of online coverage which should be good. Usually with TV they only put on certain things. With the online coverage you can pick and choose what you want to see, like: Boxing!!!!! Trampoline sounds interesting. I've never seen that. I'll probably check out the Judo and try to see if I can learn anything about takedowns. I might watch some Taekwondo. Not that invested in it but anything where there's two people kicking at each other has to be fun at least sometimes. I'll also check out the: Gymnastics, some Swimming, some Diving, maybe Fencing just to see what it's like and some Track & Field. Things I probably won't be watch: Badminton? Table Tennis? Handball? I'm sure some people will enjoy watching these. I'm just not one of them I don't think. How come they have Badminton in the Olympics but girls can't box in the Olympics. That's just wrong. Really, really, wrong. Looks like they do have some women's wrestling though!
  
• Yardwork: pull out some weeds in the front so I can water the blueberries more. There's so many on the plan and they'd be so much more big and juicy if I watered them more. Also, figure out where to put the trees!

But for now I'm off to kick some butt in jiu-jitsu!

badass

Somebody today said my hair was "badass" ;-)

cell phone statistics

Cell minutes used in the last three months...

• May - 1645
• June - 1287
• July - 2285

Apparently last month was very verbal for me.
Actually, let me grab a calculator...
2285 minutes translates into 38 hours... Jeez!

despair.com

GOVERNMENT:
"If you think the problems we create are bad,
just wait until you see our solutions."

Other favorites:
Achievement, Agony, Change, Cluelessness, Compromise, Conformity, Demotivation, Discovery, Give Up, Goals, Hazards, Humiliation, Idiocy, Ignorance, Ineptitude, Mediocrity, Meetings, Motivation, Persistence, Possibilities, Potential, Procrastination, Propaganda, Quality, Stupidity, Teamwork, Tradition

Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks on August 12

This is going on my calendar!

"The Perseid Meteor Shower occurs when the Earth enters the path of debris left by the comet Swift-Tuttle in its last trip past the Sun. Swift-Tuttle follows a highly eccentric orbit around the Sun with an orbital period of about 130 years. The comet last passed by the Earth in December 1992. " OMSI

me trying to figure out where to put the trees...

wind in the hair

Went for a drive this morning. Had both windows down. The wind was blowing, but there was no hair in my face ;-) The wind blowing through your hair feels funny when it's really short. It feels like a massage on your scalp. It's kind of nice.

sleep

Went to bed at 6pm last night. Woke up a few times, including once at 8pm but didn't want to get up so just kept sleeping. Then I woke up at 3ish and was awake so I listened to a podcast, took a shower, did some work and went back to bed at 5am and slept till 9am.

party weekend

Went to Jill's party last night. Today there's party for NWMA today, a potluck at Armitage State Park. So busy busy busy. Especially considering the 6 hours it took to shop for, purchase and transport the trees yesterday.

There was a lot of me reaching up and touching my head last night. It feels funny, like I'm not touching my own head. I would forget that my hair was gone and then remember periodically. Interesting experience. I had a funny conversation with this one guy there. I was talking about all the new sensations. He had the same haircut so he knew what I was talking about and we bonded over our haircuts. It was funny. Here are some fun facts about a buzz cut:

• Touching the top of your head is fun - for your hand. Not so much for your head. It feels weird to have all the little hairs moving individually under your fingers. Like over stimulation. I think my head is slowly getting used to it though because I keep reaching up and touching it.
• When the wind blows through your hair you can feel it passing around each of the hairs. Totally weird!
  
• You can also feel the sun seeping through. I think I'll need to put sunscreen on my head today so I don't burn my head. My hair looks more blonde now that it's short. It's not providing much protection.
• Laying on your pillow feels strange. The back of my hair grows down and it's short so it grates on the pillow a little. The hair on the top of my head stands up though, like grass in a lawn.
• The back of your neck gets cold easy! I need more jackets with hoods.
  

trees, trees, and more trees

This one should be the biggest, at 40 to 60 feet...
eventually ;-)

2 Cherry trees, 2 Pear Trees, 2 Plum Trees

According to the tags the cherries should get pretty big as well,
maybe 25-35 feet. The others are dwarf or semi dwarf so around 8-12 feet.

Now I just have to figure out where to put them. And then there's a lot of digging involved!

gas station hair-do review

I stopped for gas on the way home from the store just now and there was a gas station attendant that I'd seen there a couple times before. He probably remembered me because of the car. He said my hair looked good. It ended up to be the longest conversation I'd had with a gas station attendant (and probably the only one that didn't have to do with my car). He told me about how he had longer curly hair in high school and how he likes his current cut (similar to mine) a lot better.

So first review is a thumbs up.

I think I'm going to buy some more earrings to wear now that there's no hair to brush.

correct me if i'm wrong...

But I think this haircut pretty much makes me look more like all the other Rippbergers who've had a similar cut.

It feels cool though, I keep touching my head.

why am I still surprised

I don't know why I still get surprised by this kind of thing, but I really do.

This morning I went over to my mom's to drop off a job for Ben. I got out of the car and was walking up the door and this minivan with a load of kids in it was driving by... very slowly... and staring. I looked over my shoulder several times wondering why they'd slowed down to like 5 mph. I must have had a really confused look on my face. I couldn't figure out why they were all staring.

So I ring the doorbell and as I'm waiting it hits me. They were looking at my car, not me. Duh.

(fun) sore

I'm a little bit sore everywhere from boxing on Wednesday. It was really fun and I'm totally going next week. But I almost sneezed yesterday, but couldn't. The buildup was there but when I got to the point where I should sneeze the muscles refused to comply. Even my forearms are sore. I'm definitely going back next week ;-)

hair review

I like it. Lots of people said it was cute. I'm not sure how I feel about having cute hair, but we'll see how it goes.

I was tired of the long hair, so it was a good change. I think I'll try a bunch of different styles now. I'll try to have more fun with my hair. I pretty much only put it in a pony tail or just left it down, which took no effort. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it but I don't want it to just be in the way either. That's what it seemed like to me before.