my interactive buddy

my friend michael showed me this little stress reliever- interactive buddy.




















after a long day at work, it felt good to take some of it out on napoleon dynamite (but my lips hurt real bad).

i don't know why but my fav is catching him on fire and then throwing rubber balls at him. what would a therapist say about that??

okay, i'm seriously scared about the pleasure i take in stun gunning my victim repeatedly. must... stop... now...

the cave

i know i've told quite a few of you about the cave i work in, but it's time to show and tell.

my coworker (and friend) julie has posted pics of what i call 'the cave' on her blog.

check out julie's blog!















now tell me, does anywhere you've ever worked compare to this?

i wish i had this much time on my hands

who has time to break the record for most t-shirts worn at the same time (155 total)?



matt mcallister does.

$150,000 challenge

since aaron and i took out life insurance policies, we've been joking about who's going to get the money. it makes for fun ongoing conversation... like when i fell down the stairs recently, aaron rushed down to make sure i was alright and when i caught my breath and could finally talk, i accused him of rushing to see if he had hit the jackpot.

today we were sure someone would win the money since we decided to put up christmas lights on our house, which required us to climb a ladder, walk on the roof, and basically scare the crap out of each other.

unfortunately, it was not to be. we completed our project safely (as well as on time and within budget).





























the house looks really cool. better than we had imagined and we're pretty proud of ourselves. make sure you drive by and check it out for yourself.

(if aaron is out front, do me a favor and run him over with your car)

ike reilly rocks!!

buddy and i went to see ike last night, and he was f'ing amazing!!



seriously...

sushi inspiration

aaron and i were inspired to go out for sushi on tuesday when we received this fabulous housewarming gift from my best friend jj and her husband eric.















it's from japan, and her card said 'you'll probably figure it out, but if you need to know what it is, call me'

well, no matter what it is, it made our mouths water for sushi, so that was a plus right away.

here's our theory, we think it's a sake set, but if we're right, then we're not sure what the third cup is for. we might be totally wrong though.

so we're asking for your help (jj, don't give it away too quickly)...

what is this, and what should we use it for?

regardless, it's from japan and it is absolutely beautifully made and gorgeous. thanks jj and eric!!

what do you think of this animation?

i just saw this animation...



...and i'm still processing it a little. what do you think of it?

know any teen boys?

Here is an email a friend of mine sent recently. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please call the number in the flyer below.


Hey everyone,

I'm still looking for some male teens to participate in my study on
parent-teen argument and conflict for my Ph.D. dissertation research.
So if you know any that are 13-19 and fit the criteria (see flyer),
please send them my way. I already have 5 female teens in the study,
but I would like to include the male perspective as well. Each
participant will receive a $20 gift card to either Barnes & Noble or AMC
Movie Theaters. The first interview has been lasting about 1.5 to 2
hours. After the interview is transcribed, there could be a follow-up
interview to clarify some information.

Ideally I can finish my interviews within the next month and begin data
analysis and writing in January. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Chris

neat artists site

this site is fun to check out...




















i wonder how this artist could use their work to inspire people to think deeply about social issues that affect us all. ya know, put all this good work to use for social activism, give it more meaning... take it to the next level...

okay, so i'm a little nutty today. i guess it's nice to just check it out, eh?

another calming interaction

when you find that you've lost a little time to a simple interaction like this one, you have to ask yourself, what is it about the internet and stuff like this that keeps us engaged.

how do we lose ourselves... (we've all done it, if not within this example, within some other one) ... and with the power to engage people, what is possible?

i think we're only beginning to touch the possibilities of this internet thingy.

okay, sorry, back to earth.

i'm no longer an atheist!!

this video has done it!!



somebody snip my umbilical cord and spank my ass.

another addicting game- copter

yeah, so you fly around and try not to hit the stuff in the way.

seems kinda simple and not all that fun, but it occupied a bunch of folks at work for at least a half hour or more as it got passed around this week.

my best so far is 912.















betcha can't beat that, yo!

new social mapping tool

so there is this new social mapping tool called frappr. you can create a map, and either post it on your site or send people to it on frappr. people can add themselves to your map with a picture and other information.

so, for example, if you wanted to identify yourself as someone who likes church, and you wanted to see other people who like church, you might create or join this map.

here's an even more interesting use- nintendo ds lite enthusiasts learned that some stores were carrying the new unit before the planned release date, so they created this map to show which stores were selling them early, where they were located, and how many units were available.













(can you say 'geek')

so of course, i'm thinking in my head about different ways the map could be used, and i'm doing a couple searches to explore, when i stumble upon this little gem... (and laughed my ass off)

mark & saire's wedding- revisited

mark and saire sent us a link to check out their professional pictures taken at their wedding by david kern.

there are a lot of great photos, really there are. but i think this one is the best, hands down:














okay, this is a good one too.














i'm sure the ones of mark and saire were nice as well, but these are surely the best, don'tcha think?

thanks for sharing mark and saire!

southside pride- i wrongly assumed you were journalism...

so i finally picked up the edition of southside pride that has been on my porch since before the election, and was surprised to find some articles and language that i didn't expect.

now, i'm all for neighborhood papers reporting on the truth of the situation, and if that hurts bush or the republicans, well, sometimes the truth hurts.

the first article that surprised me was one about a clinic that is laying people off and may potentially shut down, written by Dwight Hobbes. the first paragraph surprised the heck out of me...

"Layoff notices went out Nov. 1 to staff members at Community University Health Care Center (CUHCC), with those layoffs taking effect the end of the month- right after Thanksgiving and just in time for those people to wonder what in the hell they're gong [sic] to do about next month's bills, including Christmas shopping (after all, jobs, despite George Bush's fictional economic recovery, keep getting harder and harder to come by)."

... but i chalked that up to a really intense election period.

then i opened up to page 12 and found this wonderful gem:

GEORGE BUSH STOLE MY JESUS
Ed Felien


















i have to say, that although this stuff works in the favor of liberals, sorta, and since i am definitely a liberal, there is a temptation to laugh and just say, oh well.

but a big part of me is disappointed in the paper for not being more responsible with their 'journalism'. give the truth, show appropriate balance, and let the people decide.

can you guess what's on the next page?

(if you guessed an article about how mike hatch is the savior, i'll buy you a drink)

photo and video update

i finally posted some pics from kat and scott's fantasticular autumn party here...

and a bunch of us chicks went to see roller derby for the first time tonight, and we realized there is a whole world of people out there that dig roller derby, and for good reason. it was far out!

i posted some roller derby pics here.

oh, and here is a little video...



who knew?

pick on someone your own size!!!

have you seen the stuntman site?












the little stuntman comes out of the package...




















and you get to throw him around a little.

(hit the z key just for me)

it's a little annoying that the link to actioncity brings you to a dead end / under construction.

do you just need to laugh?

cause if you do, all it takes is a little clicky clicky on the play button on this video. i guarantee, you will laugh.



it's not possible not to laugh. try it, i dare you.

successful vote- woohoo!

aaron and i voted without too much trouble.

it should be noted that we both remember registering to vote when we applied for our new driver's licenses in march (after we moved into our new house), but when we got to our voting location, they didn't have us registered. so we had to re-register.

other than that everything went very smoothly.

i heard that in some locations where they've introduced all kinds of new voting machines, they had to discard them and go to paper ballot, since the machines were not working well.

for what it's worth, i imagine a lot of the voter problems have to do with just bad process in general- the kind of bad process that just plagues our society in general. of course, i'm also not convinced that there aren't situations where the vote has been compromised by badly intentioned people.

okay, hope you had fun voting. we did (aaron is still running around yelling 'i voted!')

video the vote

yeah, minnesota will be pretty tame, i think. but it just wouldn't be me if i didn't bring my camera.



things will go well. have fun voting.

the departed- it rocked!!

yeah, so i don't see a lot of new movies, but i'm glad we got out of the house to see the departed.



seriously, one of the best movies i've ever seen. worth seeing in the theatre. worth owning and watching several times. very very fun, laughed throughout. love love loved this film.

ms. pac mondrion

this is the most soothing game of ms. pac 'man' i've ever played!!


















the music rocks, and it's interesting to try and figure out a new version of an old game.

hunny, this one is for you!

the essence of rabbit

i like it.




















i want to order it, but it's not available overseas yet. bummer.

if you look carefully, you'll see some very interesting bunnies...

morrigan is cute as hell!!

my friend tracy has a new puppy.



she is crazy adorable.

thanks for sharing, tracy!!