School Starts Again Today
16 May 2011 3 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
And in honor of that, and in honor of mother’s day last week I give you “the Biologist’s Mother’s Day Song”.
Happy Monday!
Bucking the System
14 Feb 2011 2 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
For your listening pleasure, one of the least romantic songs ever written (that’s not of the “love stinks” variety).
Happy Valentine’s day.
Life Altering Decisions
31 Dec 2010 8 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
I’ve decided to be 33.
Questions for the Universe
29 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
Does “turn off the TV” always have to be code for “go bug your brother”?
I’m Just Sucker With No Self Esteem
10 Nov 2010 5 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory, the Princess
A few thoughts:
I got an email today from one of my friends at work who’s also sort of my boss (it’s complicated). He sent it to me and another guy who had been having an email discussion about something that didn’t get done by the people that it should have and… anyway it was pretty dumb and it was something that I was done with. The email that I got this morning was telling us to drop it. It wasn’t aggressively worded or unkind. And yet, I feel like a puppy who’s been slapped. I find myself wanting to send an email saying “I was done with it anyways so nanny nanny nanny” or ” maybe just pointing to the other guy and saying “he started it” or… I don’t know, it’s dumb and I’m over it. (But I did think it was funny how I initially reacted.)
I was reading some of Elizabeth Smart’s testimony in court yesterday (holy crow, the crap that girl had to go through…) there was a statement in there that through the whole thing she always knew that there were people who loved her and that she was a person of worth. Say what you want about the Smarts but they had them some crazy effective family home evenings in their home.
Lately the Princess has been very sweet, kind and mostly reasonable. Now I know that kids go back and forth between testing boundaries (and just generally driving their parents nuts) and living comfortably within those boundaries so this turn of events may be totally organic but I can’t help but give at least some of the credit to her current best friend Katie. It’s not that Katie is some amazing perfect child, I occasionally find her to be very annoying and an insufferable know it all, but she does have one thing going for her. She’s one of those kids who’s perfectly happy being who she is, and more importantly I think for little girls, being the age that she is. Before this the Princess was spending a lot of time with a girl who was a year older than her and who herself wanted to be older than she was. I think that just makes for a lot of angst. But when you accept where you are and just have fun with it it makes you a much more pleasant person. (There might be a life lesson there…)
Happy Wednesday Everyone.
Stuff You Should Love
27 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
The year for Christmas (yes, I’m mentioning Christmas before we’re even past Halloween) the adults in my family are giving each other something we love. Here’s my sister’s description of the plan:
Everyone brings enough of their favorite thing to give everyone one. It could be chap stick or gum or pens or notepads or whatever. Just something little, or big, if you are really rich, that you love. So everyone takes home 9 things. (Mom and Dad and Aunt Kay are included so that makes 9 right?) If you want to bring one thing from you and one from your spouse then it will be more than 9 but whatever you want to do will be great. Brian and I are doing two things and it sounds like Cat and Scott are as well so whatever works. This is very unofficial but I think it is amazing what you can learn about people from this and its fun to take home things you wouldn’t normally think to buy. There really is no wrong thing here Al. Nobody is gonna hate whatever it is you bring.
Most of you don’t know any of the people mentioned there but you get the idea right (yes, the Al referred to is me, I maintain that I can come up with something that I love that Cat will love and something that I love that Brian will love but that those things are not necessarily the same thing).
However, I’ll keep thinking about it and no doubt, come up with something brilliant.
In the meantime I thought I’d tell you about something I’m loving lately.
About a month ago I downloaded my first podcast (yeah, I know, very very behind the times) my first (through fifth) podcast(s) was (were) LDS General Conference and may I say that I highly recommend. Reading through the talks again is great and I’m doing that too (how much do I LOVE the church’s use of technology? So very very much!) but I really like listenting to the talks spoken as well, there’s a different spirit there.
But that’s not what I was going to tell you about. I was going to tell you about stuff you should know. Or more accurately ‘Stuff You Should Know”.
For those of you not aware of this show it’s a podcast, usually two guys, Josh and Chuck, and they just talk, appropriately enough, about stuff you should know. Just all kinds of random interesting stuff. Listening to this show I’ve learned about pirates and mercenaries, about how organ donation works (I already knew that but their take on it was interesting) and about the Vikings. And I’m all set to learn a lot more, I’ve got “how mirrors work” and “how tone deafness works” all queued up.
And there are tons of them. I guarantee that you can find something that will tickle your fancy as well.
In addition to being interesting these guys have a fun interesting rapport that’s pretty fun to listen to.
It turns out that the podcast is just an offshoot of a whole website about “how stuff works” where there are articles and blogs and podcasts and … well, just about everything you could want.
And that my friends is my gift to you.
Of Course There’s an App For That
21 Oct 2010 8 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
I’m writing this post from the wordpress app on my iTouch because, of course, there’s an app for that. I also have an app that let’s me play scrabble with my friends (two as a matter of fact). And one that let’s me text (and make phone calls apparently). I have an app that makes the vuvuzela noise that was all the rage during the world cup (and that I intended to remove I just haven’t gotten around to that yet).
I have an app that tells me to exercise, or at least lays out workouts for me. And another where I keep my shopping lists.
I find that there’s a hierarchy to my apps. My favorites, facebook, scrabble, email, my contacts and my indispensable datebook not to mention the IMDb app (how did I ever make it through any TV shows or movies before I had the IMDb app?) all live on the first page of my touch. There’s also a hierarchy associated with the importance that I think my apps should be given even if they’re not. For example, I have both my scripture and my LDS study materials (scriptures plus the latest conference talks and the relief society/priesthood book and the SS student manual) apps on the front page. I don’t open either one except at church and there it’s pretty much always the study materials (I bring my scriptures but somehow can’t manage to bring my RS book) but I just don’t feel right about either erasing or even relegating the scriptures. (As if the Lord’s going to check my iPod to determine my spiritual status.)
Less interesting or at least less frequently used apps are on the second page. That’s where you’ll fund the link to the app store (oddly enough) and the Jillian Micheals app (I’m not sure I love it although I used it for my workout Monday and boy howdy was I sore on Tuesday!) and the mapmyrun app (worthless on the touch, probably great on the phone).
And then there’s the third page. Talk about losers. I relegated the stocks app (that I can’t figure out how to get rid of) to the back as soon as I got my touch (and realized that I couldn’t delete that one). I’ve got the pocket vuvuzela on there and some drawing app that I only downloaded in a vain attempt to find something to distract the Pea while he was getting stitches.
And then there’s the Holy Grail of app placement, the bottom row. The row that appears on every page. On the bottom row I have my music, photos, pandora and… hmmmm, I can’t remember what the 4th one is. Which is a fairly conclusive indicator that it ought not to be there and yet…
The hierarchy isn’t absolute. I have a few apps, netflix for example, that by rights should be in the first page (because seriously, I can watch any of their watch instantly shows instantly on my itouch. Hello Friday Night Lights.) But what do I take off there? I could move the calculator or the sudoku, I don’t use either one all that often but moving an app presents a whole new set if problems. Suddenly I can’t find things where they should be, everything looks a little but wrong and nothing’s quite how it should be. New placement takes a lot of getting used to. And so the sudoku’s cushy placement is maintained (bottom row, inside left) despite the fact that haven’t sudokued for quite some time.
What’s scary to me is how dependent I’ve become. I mean it when I say that that I can’t make it through a dhow without my IMDb. The fact that I couldn’t quite place dr. Chang from this week’s episode of House (Lane from Gilmore Girls) world have driven me crazy. But in the plus side at least my addiction is cheap, I (almost) never pay for apps. But I am always looking for more.
So what are your favorite apps? What apps could you not live without?
Party Girls
24 Aug 2010 6 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
“Hey Alison, I’m having a party this weekend I was wondering if you could come?”
“Um, yeah probably, when is it?”
“Saturday at noon”
“Yeah, that should be fine. What’s the party for? Is it your birthday or something?”
“Oh no, I just have some candles/lingerie/tupperware that I wanted to show you.”
“Oh.” And just like that we’ve gone from Yea, I’ve been invited to a party! to How the heck can I get out of this party high pressure sales situation? (You can call it whatever you want but no matter how you slice it, you trying to sell me something is not a party.) And then it’s, “Aren’t these candles great? I’m not really that into candles actually You know, with a product as great as this you should do more than just buy them I should…burn them?, you should sell them to your friends! Not if I want to continue to have friends These candles are so great there’s not really any selling involved, they literally sell themselves then what is it you’ve spent the last hour doing?. You can be the president of your own company, you can make so much money in your free time So much money? doubtful. Free Time? , it’s just like getting paid to go to parties No, no it’s not…”
Now you want me not only to buy but you want me to sell as well?!
If there’s one thing I hate more than being pressured into buying something that I neither need nor want it’s selling. Honestly, I’d rather stab myself in the eye.
I know, I know, times are tough we’re all just trying to make a living and feed our families and all that jazz. But well, times are tough and I’m having enough trouble making a living and feeding my family without having to spend spend time defending my pocketbook at a “party”.
Which reminds me, I still need to raise another $65.
The One Where I’m a Dangerous Part of the Counter Culture
10 Aug 2010 5 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
Before We Begin: There is still one copy of On The Table (my book) available. If you’re interested follow this link and not only will you get a great book, you’ll help a great cause.
I’ve never really thought of myself as particularly rebellious. Sure, I’ve had my moments, mostly in high school, but even then my rebellion was relatively tame. I’ve never smoked anything, I’ve never dunk anything alcoholic, I’ve never even used someone else’s prescription. And these days I don’t feel rebellious at all. Look at me, I’ve been married for 12 years, I have four kids (which is, admittedly, more than the national average but not astoundingly so), I drive a minivan for Pete’s sake!
All that being said…
I have a problem. Today I’m supposed to go take a test. I’m not worried about the test, I’m pretty sure that I could sleep through it and still pass. It’s a pre-req for nursing but since I’m not actually going to start nursing school in this decade (that’s a post for another day) I don’t actually HAVE to take it today except that I’m scheduled to do so and changing the schedule now is problematic, not to mention that they’ll charge me a penalty. Sean’s home from work today so that’s not a problem. It’s just that, well…
This is what the handbook says: “All students must wear appropriate attire to the skills test. Scrubs, hair tied back, watch on, no dangling jewelry and must have closed toes shoes.” That’s pretty standard and too hard to comply with. However, the recording when you call to schedule is a little more … specific. It includes things like not having visible tattoos, not having any facial or tongue piercings, not having spiked hair and not having any unnatural hair colors.
I’m good with the tattoos. I don’t have any visible or not. Likewise, I have no piercings on my face or my tongue (I do still have a mostly patent hole in my ear cartilage but I don’t wear an earring in there and somehow I don’t think that it’s going to be too much of a problem). I don’t usually spike my hair and I can certainly make a point of not doing so today.
However, my hair currently looks like this:
Fuchsia’s a natural color right?
I wonder if I can get away with wearing a hat?
This Message is Brought to you By…
15 Jul 2010 4 Comments
in I'm Too Lazy To Pick A Catagory
I think that we’re all pretty used to product placement by this point. We watch the painful “not-commercials” peppered throughout “Biggest Loser” where the contestants oh so casually discuss the merits of sugar free gum or multi-vitamins. We see the cars that our favorite characters drive on “Bones” or “Burn Notice” and hear them only slightly more casually list the features that they love about their cars. We notice, we turn to whoever we’re watching with and say “hey did you catch that commercial that we just watched?” (At least I do.) And who hasn’t noticed that just about every character in every movie, televisions show, reality show, you name it, uses an iPhone?
However, today I noticed that we’ve reached a new level. While watching some commercials today (yes, I was watching commercials, I happened upon “River Monsters” which I don’t DVR but I always watch if I find it, it’s the best fishing show ever) first I noticed a Gillette commercial in which some guy holds out his iPhone to show the other guy an animation of the “irritating tug and pull” that results from the use of regular razors. It’s quick, it’s not the in your face advertising that we get with some of the product placement on television shows but still. And then the very next commercial was for University of Phoenix. And in that commercial were prominently displayed and iPad and a macbook. Really?!
Have we really come to the point in which we need product placement in our commercials?
-
PS. I would probably have written this post on my iTouch except he went for a little swim this morning. We don’t have a diagnosis yet, he’s in intensive care (the rice bag that we now just keep around for the inevitable dunking of some electronic gadget or other) we’ll have more information in the morning. Pray for me.
Update: Touchy the iTouch has had a complete recovery. I appreciate your prayers.
