jello. goodbye.

(circa 2005-6?)Sometimes life surprises. Because you never expect it to be that. Dangerous disguises.
That you never expect to see-
built to spill

dinner or a casting call?

"I wonder how much it costs to rent a baby" wondered Adam after watching an episode of buffy tonight about a baby-eating sewer-dwelling demon.

Hmm, interesting question. How much do baby actors earn?

Apparently it's a lot for twins:
-about $200 a day as extras
->$2,500 per weekly episode of a sitcom
-$75-125/hr for print media




And now to ruin your breakfast:
babies chosen to play newborns are coated in cream cheese and jam to simulate birth (ewww, a breakfast baby bagel)

bumper cars

Ranae: I think the drive down the mountain was way less sketchy
Weazy: Yea, except for the head-on collision
Driving home from snowboarding we managed to get hit head-on by a minivan skidding out of a turn while it was going UPHILL.
If that doesn't make sense to you, well that's because it really doesn't make any sense.
Add this front-end damage to the smashed windshield and obsceneties scratched all over it and I'm confident that I now have the most white trash vehicle in Vancouver. Any challengers?

biking 101

Bike Basics- always carrying the following:
a spare tube, patch kit, tire irons, allen keys, and a bike pump.

And I usually do... dammit.
I got school'd today though. Got my 5th flat of the winter on my way down to watch the sunset from 3rd beach with no spare tube or pump. Had been planning on buying a portable pump on my way home. ha! Lucky for me a cyclist appeared among the countless unequipped tourists riding past me.
Patched the 4cm long gash in the tube and tire to only get a pinch flat while pumping up. Round 2 was a success and I even managed to get the last bit of tire back into the rim by myself...a task that has eluded these weak-ass hands of mine until today. Feeling good that I could do it without another pair of hands.
Oh yea, and tomorrow is new pump day.

an expatriate xmas

My favourite xmas quote this year:
"I won't be home for a few days, don't drink my tang"
-words uttered to a 14yr old wade by his dad who was calling from jail.

so this was my 2nd xmas away from home. got a tree to make it feel more seasonal. Woke up late to open presents with Frances, which was a first for us.

I was fortunate to spend last nite and today with good folks, new and less new, and retire with an overly full belly of yummy food, beer, and wine each night. Feeling thankful alright.
Had a Guinness-themed xmas eve dinner at my place with a few fellow residuals. Dinner included:

Guinness chicken, guinness gravy, southern biscuits,bruschetta, walnut salad, and pasta salad all washed down with many pints of the geenniuss. Mmm, mmmm.

satan's xmas discography

Here are my holiday song suggestions, which are sure to spice up any xmas party:

Ramones- Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)
Pansy Division- Homo Christmas
Run D.M.C.- Christmas In Hollis
De La Soul- Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa
Crass-Merry Crassmas Album
The Vandals- Oi to the World! Album featuring the following hits:
'Nothing's Going to Ruin My Holiday' and 'Christmas Time for My Penis'

the twitching hour

still awake, still feeling mildly industrious. Much fun was had tonight in celebration of kimmay's b-day. had to eat some stuffed cabbage under threat of expulsion, lucky for me I love that hunky ass food. i should, i grew up on it. now that i think of it, we never got to the heart shaped b-day cake. hmmm, distractions.
well now it's time for nutella on toast and juice.
mmmm, my kind of nightcap.

semantics of safety

Remember kids: be safe in the snow out there. don't be the victim of the NARSID. Not only will you die but your death will lack any zazz.




Now the NARSID is not to be confused with the Narutard or Narwhal, the unicorn of the sea.

Like a hot knife thru butter

Grad school can be a bitch but it has it's perks. For example, blowing off data analysis yesterday and heading to Mt. Baker @ 6am with denny. My grin is the cumulative product of the following:
first tracks through 41cm of fresh powder, warm feet via the use of adhesive toe warmers, changing my hat so that the simpsons tossel didn't create gaps in my hood, nerding out on the chairlift, and getting the fuck outta Vancouver for a day.
A bit of snowboarding therapy is just what i've needed.
Barely anyone was there. We rode our asses off and pushed our limits in some gnarly, steep glades. As I fought to haul my ass up out of the deeps I realized I really need to work my abs more often. eek.

We ended the day practicing with our avalanche beacons, a great last run down in the twilight, and some ritual hot chocolate. Mmmmm.
I've said it before, and hopefully you've felt it as well, but i must state again that there is no feeling i know quite like carving through fresh powder.
It's the closest I think we will ever come to weightlessness.
Ahhhh.

boiling it down

Ranae: you know beck is a scientologist right?
Steph: what? seriously?
Tomasz: so what is the deal with scientology anyways?
Ranae: that alien ghosts infected the planet with negative energy
Tomasz: (incredulous laughter)
Ranae: yea, so basically god is a whore and scientology is his case of VD

nerdery

I made these maps today. it was tedious but fun. Here's what you're looking at:



map 1- the dots represent routes drawn by my research participants. They had to draw a 'safe' route from pts A-B.


Map 2- This a density plot of the routes in Map 1. Pretty neat.

GIS is often a evil repetative-task-master but sometimes you can make neat shit with it. I'm gonna have to go back and include some of the 'test' routes I drew. They included some pentagrams, 666, and various stick figure death scenes.
Science is fun!

Ohm nom nom

The 9 most badass bible verses

I found this on boing boing a few weeks ago (linked from cracked.com)and thought i'd share it with you all. 'Tis the season afterall.
The commentary accompanying these versus are priceless.
Trust me on this one and read it.

(ps- i think i finally got the formatting bugs worked out. woot!)

computerless

and break your laptop? My POS laptop has finally shit the bed, maybe it was heavenly retribution. Or maybe it was just a POS. Got a loaner but the internet hook up isn't working. My recent digital silence is combo of not having the internet at home and working my ass off on my thesis. I think it's safe to say that there is a significant correlation between those two.

Some good news: I finished a draft of my literature review and am hoping to finish my methods and results chapters by the end of the year. Freedom is getting closer and closer.

The bad news: I won't be back in the 'burgh for xmas. I am charging all the hoodrats to raise a pint for dear old me when you're all together at the hotrod this year. I'll be there in spirit. And somebody please give Swiss a 'welcome back from Africa' hug for me and then check his oil. You know, make him feel at home.