swivel- random useful data

"Swivel is a place where curious people explore all kinds of data."








i think this site is pretty cool to check out from time to time...

people can leave comments and discuss graphs and what could be better than that?

michael jackson- the good days

if you're like me, you love michael jackson from the early days. billy jean, the way you make me feel...

well here's a little blast into the past for you, including a few new spins...

mj- billy jean (first moonwalk)



cute redhead- beat it


Cute Redhead Dances Like Jacko - The best video clips are right here

mj- black and white



wedding party- thriller



weird al- fat

frozen four- michigan state wins the championship!

aaron and i went to the frozen four hockey tournament in st louis this weekend. scott richard was not able to go =( , but we had a great time, just the two of us. here are some of the things we did (and here are all the pics we took):

- went to the first two games on thursday- super fun

- went to bissinger's (they have the best hand made chocolates, hooray!), picked out a whole slew of different kinds of chocolates and are sharing them ever so slowly to make them last.




















- froze to death- st louis had a cold spell. we didn't bring our winter coats, but we should have. weather.com said 40's and 50's. damn weather.com. with wind chill it was barely 25.



- walked past the arch about a zillion times. there was a line outside (in the cold) for about an hour for those that wanted to get in. aaron and i have been up in the arch together about 11 years ago (hard to believe it was that long ago, or how different we are from those young kids), so we skipped it this weekend. we did go sit by it for awhile, though.

- ate lunch at morgan's brewery twice, which was absolutely fantastic

- froze some more

- ate dinner at zia's (thanks for the recommendation gabe!)



- watched 'blades of glory' at the moolah temple theater. this theater near the st louis university campus reminded us a lot of the uptown theater in mnpls since it's a very old building, only shows one film, and is packed every weekend. moolah was cool for one other reason, though. it wasn't originally a theater, so it's just a huge room with a screen added in. the floor in front of the screen is filled with leather love seats for couples like us to get comfy in. oh, and you can drink beer or wine in there. it was sublime.

- drove around town to see the different types of homes / architecture / mansions / slums



















- visited the courthouse where dred scott had sued for his freedom. aaron sat in the judges chair and pounded on the 3000 year old furniture.



















- ate dinner at the drunken fish (sushi, yum)

- froze some more

- took the metro to the games (LOVE the train)

- talked to my brother during the games, which eased the sadness of his not being there.



- watched some seriously fine hockey (violent mansport, as lori likes to call it). michigan state won and that made me very happy. boston college, by the way, is a very fine team. they are super talented and their fans are super awesome!!! they stand out in my mind as a very fine group of people, and they have always been so. would have rather beat UND for the title because their fans are outrageous and deserve to lose in the last 19 seconds of a game.

here is the comment i already wrote in flickr, repurposed here for your convenience:

michigan state tied the game with six minutes left in the game, then scored a goal with 19 seconds left to ensure victory. after bc pulled their goalie to try for a tie, state got the puck and skated back for one more goal to win 3 to 1. it was a damn fine game.
























- we had an awesome weekend. THANKS ST. LOUIS!!! (you may not be as wonderful as minneapolis, but you have some good things goin' on)

my babies (email from my sis)

stephers wrote this email to me recently, which sent me into high high spirits as I excitedly anticipate the arrival of my niece and nephew!!! i have to share it with you:

All time on here is Michigan time!!
1. They usually both usually get up around 8 am and go to bed around 9 (give or take a half hour), Cole naps around 1ish. Some days Cole will sleep in pretty late, don't worry about it. Cole gets maybe 2 oz. of water in his bottle at night and nap time (break it if you can) and Alicia likes story time before bed.

2. We try to get them a bath every other night, they both love baths. They are very messy in the tub though, water goes everywhere and I mean everywhere. Alicia will take showers, Cole despises them. They are both starting to need conditioner, Cole is getting knots in the back of his head now.

3. Usually have lunch around noon and dinner about 5:30 or 6.

4. They both like yogurt, bagels with cream cheese, most pasta's, all meats, all potatoes, all kinds of cheerios and rice krispies (they prefer no sugar). They will both drink milk and juice, they both like bacon, sausage, pizza, french toast, pancakes, chocolate donuts are a treat for them. They love corn on the cob, and all green veggies (even brussel sprouts). Cole isn't too good with sandwiches, Alicia will eat almost 2 of them. Alicia will not eat eggs, although she does like them cooked over easy so she can "dip" her bacon in the yolk (but still won't eat the egg, lol). They both like Tilapia, I am amazed at that. They both pretty much like everything, these are just some starters.

5. Alicia is usually a pig and will eat a lot, but she does like to say she is full and ask for snacks 20 minutes later. Cole goes in spurts with eating, sometimes he does really good for 3 days and then won't eat much for a week. Just remember they say that their tummies are only as big as their fists, someone gets mad if they don't eat.

6. 11/2 tsp for Alicia and 1 tsp for Cole with Motrin or Tylenol. Don't forget if you take their temp under the arm to add 1 full degree.

7. They both love art, told Alicia that Aunt Susan does too so get ready for projects!!

8. Alicia started grinding her teeth, I have to get her to the dentist, I will take care of it.

9. [a little too personal to share this one]

10. Alicia loves all cartoons and Cole loves any Sponge bob, Little Bear and all Nick Jr.

11. Neither of them has any allergies to anything that we know of yet, just in case you wondered :)

I think this is all the good info for the kids. You will get an insurance card with a letter from John so you can get them medical attention while with you. Good luck and any questions just call me!!

Love you,

Stephanie

the tenth dimension? ouch

if you have a few minutes and an unrelenting desire to stretch your brain in a new direction, check out this site- imagining the tenth dimension.




















after watching this, i find myself thinking about time a little differently. pretty interesting stuff.

borrowing children

aaron and i have asked my sister and her husband, john, if we could borrow their children for a few months this spring/summer and they have (who knows why) agreed. =)

cole will be joining us on april 22nd and alicia will follow a couple of weeks later. they'll stay with us until june 16th.

we can't wait to have two little tornadoes running through the house.

of course, if you've been to our house, you know it's not big. aaron and i are going to set ourselves up a little bed area in the basement and relinquish our bedroom to them...

i know that our lives will change a lot to accommodate their visit, but i'm really looking forward to testing ourselves out as parents. i think it will be very fun for us, and i'm hoping they enjoy the stay as well. i'm already thinking of all the fun kid things to do around the twin cities. if you have any suggestions, feel free to share.

also, if you'd ever be willing to babysit... er, borrow them for yourself... let us know that too. =)

are you a coffee fool?

the accusation on this site is simple-

you've probably been drinking stale coffee and you're missing out.

the solution is also just as simple-

you need to drink the stuff that has been roasted in the last few days to taste truly great, sweet, amazing coffee.

although i'm not a full fledged coffee drinker (caramel decaf mocha's don't count as coffee), i can understand the attraction to good coffee, so i thought i should share this site with all you good coffee drinking folks.

young burt reynolds

this ad is barely stomach-able, but so worth sharing with you all...

check it out in all it's glory here.

guess who...

someone i know and love sent me this update recently, amusing me to no end... I won't reveal her identity, since she was kind enough to let me post these embarrassing details, but if someone guesses, i'll give them a dollar.

and I quote:

Did I tell you about all the fun I've been having lately? I was taking a new prescription med for about 3 weeks when my body decided to let me know it was allergic. Wuhoo!! I started getting hives on Wednesday night and I was like, "Hmm, better take some benedryl." and went to bed.

Thursday morning....I had itched myself bald (okay, not quite) and I had hives so thick on my neck I could hardly turn my head...not to mention hives everywhere.

So I called the Doctor's office and saw the PA at 10:30. She sent the nurse in with a shot and went to consult the Doc. The nurse gave me the shot and left the room. Suddenly, I'm sitting on the nice, high table feeling like I'm going to pass out. I moved to the doc's stool and was sitting there with my head between my knees when the PA came back in. She was like, "How are we feeling." I said, "Would you like to tell me about the side effects from the shot you gave me?"

Seems passing out is a possible side effect.

I ended up laying on the table with a cool wash cloth and not passing out but geez. I could hear them in the hallway talking about the poor woman with the hives that they almost made unconscious.

Then I was on Prednisone and Loratadine for a week. The pred made me want to eat everything....everything... even when I was full. I swear I gained 10 pounds.

Then they taper you off that and the minute I went to the lowest dose, it started making me naseated all day....decided I'd had enough of that yesterday.

I go back Friday to make sure I'm not dead.

Plus, I have Polaroid skin right now, whenever I get warm the hives would pop out at first (which I swear the pred made me about 3 degrees warmer...my palms are sweating right now). But now it's just if I scratch my face or whatever, it turns bright red. I've been threatening to write messages on my forehead.

Yeah, I've been a happy, happy girl. Hopefully, that's behind me now though....no more better living through chemistry even if the doctor says so!

to the person i know and love: feel better soon!!

pb+j rediscovered

when i was a kid growing up, my older brother scott would make my sister and me lunch, and he would always make our pb+j sandwiches without much pb and probably too much j. i hated those sandwiches. they stuck to my mouth and really had no redeeming qualities. ick.

well, anyway, i blame my longstanding dislike of pb+j sandwiches on scott- and i think he knows that he deserves that.

i have ever since avoided pb+j's; they just don't appeal to me.

well that's all different now.

recently, i had lunch with my friend tracy at her home, and i told her that i'd love to eat whatever she wanted to make. =)

she made soup and pb+j sandwiches.

she did ask if that would be okay, but since i had just stated that i would love to eat whatever she made, i thought it better to push myself than to be picky to my super sweet generous friend. besides, it's always good to push oneself to re-evaluate food preferences (and actually, all types of preferences).

well, she made me a gloriously yummy pb+j and i have been craving them ever since.

i've made myself two since then (one of which was devoured just moments ago), and i couldn't possibly imagine living my life without eating at least one a week until forever and a day.

i've missed a lot of lovely pb+j moments because of you, scott richard. i can't forgive you for this, so don't ask. =)

aaron is an uncle, again

andrew charles was born on sunday and is already home with his mom, dad, and big brother carson.



















congratulations bridget and james!!

Need a 'break'?

I just can't get my break...

Beatbox Fame Game
Uploaded by loranger

... to turn out like his (hers?).

turns and then more turns

i love love love the photography on this site- Bill Sullivan

this guy takes pictures of people coming through the subway turnstile, and i think it's so fun.


























































i probably wouldn't think it was so funny if it was me with a stupid look on my face.

geni- neat family tree site

this site makes it easy to create a family tree- geni


you sign up, and enter in the family members you know. then, if you want, you can enter their email addresses and they can login and add in additional family members that they know about, but whom you might not know so well.

this way, the family shares in the fun of creating the family tree, and it's probably more accurate because of that. it's all secure and everything. i think it's a great idea!

smoking kills

my sister sent me this video.



hunny go upstairs and look thoroughly...

(thanks sister)

warmest, softest scarf in the whole world

i may have mentioned the hand-spun alpaca yarn that my aunt linda gave me, and i may have even mentioned that i was making a scarf out of it...

AND i may have even shown the finished scarf to some of you...

OKAY, i may have even made some of you try it on to see how soft it really is...

BUT... have i shown it to the whole world on the internet?

Not until right now, folks.





























you guys are pretty lucky.

(thanks aunt linda!)

neat and thought-provoking stories

home page

stealth toaster =)

these are the kinds of short stories aaron writes. i told him to contribute, but i don't know if he will. very cool site.

old versus new

so i'm a few weeks into my new job and so far, i'm really enjoying it.

i promised my friends at my last job that i would post pics of my new office so they could see the new digs and dream a little. =)

here is my last office...






























and here is my new one...

also, i couldn't resist taking a little video (i'm a total geek, yes).



notice, both offices are gray- it's amazing what a little natural light does for a place, eh?

wikileaks.org- applause!

so i just ran across this site called wikileaks.org which i am instantly fascinated with. the purpose of the site is to be an untraceable, uncensorable place for people to leave classified documents that might reduce corruption and other non-niceties in the world.

my first thought, of course, goes to the bush administration, but when i read a little further, i'm ashamed of my provincialism. this resource could be so much more important:

"Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations."

they do mention our western political and corporate systems, but think of all the other more global uses of the tool!!!

i love love love this internet thing. it still amazes me: how much good (and bad) it can do for the human race.

there is an example of an article and document up there, but it looks like they are still in development.

i can't wait to see how this thing develops. i imagine there will be a flood of crap at first, but then, it's true purpose will gain momentum.

kat's surprise 30th birthday party

all kat's friends and family threw her a surprise 30th birthday party on 01.03.07.

it's taken me awhile to post the pics, but here they are.

kat was so surprised, that she had to stand in the porch for a few minutes (there were a few tears) before she was composed enough to then go stand in the kitchen for a few minutes (there were a few more tears) and at that point, she was finally able to join the party. =)


































i'm glad that we could all make her day so special for her.

hope you have a great year, kat!!