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.