Michael J. Fox and Rush Limbaugh

I'm just putting this here because I want to talk about this with my team tomorrow. It's like the greatest current science story ever.

First, Michael J. Fox filmed several ads for this election season advocating stem cell support. Here is one of them.

Second, Rush Limbaugh accused Michael J. Fox of exploiting Parkinson's for political reasons.

Third, or at some point, the First Lady commented on the whole thing.

Then, Michael J. Fox finally went and talked with Katie Couric about the whole thing. This is a longer version of that story.

The thing I want to talk to my team about is: how do you decide who is telling the truth? If everyone is telling the truth, how do you decide whose behavior is acceptable and who has violated a social norm? When they turn 18, how do they decide who to vote for? Then we'll talk about science literacy and how it helps with decisions like this.

I'm putting the longer version of the Katie Couric interview down here. If you saw the one I already had posted, only the first couple of minutes are new.



Here's the link to the video on the YouTube site.

Ok, these are the ones I knew

Stephen Colbert Interviews (oh, I forget) who wants to put the 10 Commandments in Courthouses. Watch the video.

The ones I can name:
1. I Am the Lord, Your God. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. something about not worshiping idols and swearing, don't know the exact phrase.
3. Honor thy father
4. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife
5. Don't steal (again, don't know the exact phrasing)
6. Thou shalt not kill
7. Thou shalt not bear false witness

And I even got 1 and 3 because I've seen that episode of the West Wing. (Maybe more explanation here.)

Anyone besides Kelly who can tell me which ones I missed without looking it up somewhere?

For my friend Kelly

I'm posting this Dilbert cartoon here for Kelly who apparently had a lousy bus ride today. This made me think of you.



From http://www.dilbert.com/ on 30 October 2006.

because I couldn't go a day without posting

Because I couldn't go a day without posting (you knew that already)...

Microsoft Firefox Professional 2007: One of the Funniest mock ups I've seen.

Since Firefox just released version 2.0, everyone seems to want a piece. Given my recent troubles with some of the extensions I'm open to the discussion, although I'll still take Firefox over anything else. Here's a list of nine reasons not to upgrade to 2.0. I do agree with the bullet about the options screen hiding important features. Although some of that went away with the stable release and some extensions working properly again. To everything else I say, change is hard, deal with it.

Finally, I've seen this interview before, but I forgot how much I like it. I love when Jon Stewart talks about "the human condition".

a small but meaningful post

Today was super busy. Can you tell since I'm writing this at midnight?

Here are two cool things I saw. First, I totally didn't know they were making a movie of this, but I really want to see it. It's called Conversations with God. I've read parts of the books and they're fascinating.

Second, unless you've been living under a rock recently, you've probably heard about Rush Limbaugh's criticism of Michael J. Fox for overplaying his symptoms related to Parkinson's Disease. Katie Couric recently interviewed Michael J. Fox and asked him about the experience. The begining is fine but I love the end when he talks about science, and how science can help people, and his respect for how people make decisions about science. This may be something I make my teens watch. I'm posting the link to the video on YouTube's site on this page. Or you can just watch the video here.

6th District Congressional Debate

The Minnesotans reading this blog will know that in ten days, we'll go to the polls and there's a few really tight races. One that everyone is watching is the 6th Congressional District. There was just a debate on television and I didn't watch all of it. (In my defense, that's not a race I'll be voting in. I live in the fifth district.)

Here's the Star Tribune's Take on the Debate. The most disturbing part of the whole piece to me is at the very bottom when the Independent Party candidate calls the Mark Foley scandal "minor compared with real issues facing America". There are more mandatory reporters than ant hills in America. As one of them, I'm offended that elected officials aren't held to the same standards of behavior and responsibility as an eighteen-year-old working in a day care.

It's a great day for RSS feeds

It's a great day for playing on the internet. Here's what I've found so far.

1. The funnies sentence I read today is in the second to last paragraph of this story. Seriously, don't even read the whole thing if you don't want to, it's basically a one-liner anyway.

2. More tips on configuring Firefox

3. Tony Blair is seeking to ban Habits traditionally worn by monks and nuns. I wanted to remember to show this to a few people I know.

4. A great story the teens at the Science Museum will love, the 10 dirties jobs in science.

5. Firefox: The Honda Civic of web browsers. That's pretty much how I was feeling about Firefox 2.0 yesterday when it freaked out on me.

6. A nice comparison of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates' presentation styles. Sometimes I want to show this to my professors and classmates who have the most overblown power point presentations ever in life, and add to their own complication by having the slides and bullet points zoom in and fly out every direction known to man.

7. A great interview with Steve Jobs from 1996. In the interview, Jobs discusses Pixar and what will be the next big thing on the internet. He also gets in a nice dig at Microsoft and the way they have killed the desktop industry by owning everything and refusing to innovate. I don't think he meant to be right about that one ten years later, but it's still true.

8. And, for the social worker in me, an article about using the internet to help treat depression.

An unfortunate typo

Hee hee. Too bad spell check can't get this one.

NFL Star Drops Plan to Build YCMA In Northern Kentucky. For those of you who haven't seen a map lately, Northern Kentucky in this context means "the suburbs of Cincinnati". Go Bengals.

A couple more things everyone should see

Here are two more things everyone should see (now that I've recovered from my Firefox glitch).

First, The World's Most Unique Urinals. Not dirty. Unique.

Second, Muslim leader blames women for sex attacks. This is a story from Australia. Obviously I'm offended for the women who are being told they deserved to be attacked. I'm also offended for the men who are compared to "voracious animals". I'm relieved to hear others in the Muslim community in Sydney were also outraged by this sermon.

I've changed my mind

I'd like to recant my statement that I love Firefox (see number 8) because it royally screwed everything up for a while. Side note if I try to spell "Firefox" with a lowercase f, the spell check comes on and corrects me. Hee hee. It knows its name.

What really happened is I have an extension called Wizz RSS that decided to reinstall itself for reasons passing all human understanding. Then the Google tool bar, McAfee Site Advisor and All-in-one Sidebar reinstalled themselves. I have no idea why. My heart nearly stopped when I couldn't get the about:config screen to show itself.

What really made me sad/frustrated/totally bummed is that when Wizz RSS reinstalled itself, it lost all of the URLs for the feeds I read regularly. Sadly, I can't remember the sites for some of the more random and obscure things I read so I will just be missing those pages.

On the plus side, now that Firefox 2.0 is a stable release the overwhelming majority of my extensions work again including Tabbed browser preferences which is the best extension ever in life, and Mile Wide Back which makes dragging my mouse to the edge of the screen and clicking the same as click the "back" navigation button. I'm glad they're back.

As seen on

Here's some of the things I want to remember from my web-browsing experience today.

1. 10 Steps to Guarantee Failure seems especially relevant when working with teenagers to develop new science projects.

2. Here's something for the ladies to look forward to.

3. A hilarious application I can't wait to put on my Mac. Yes, that's right, I have a Mac and a PC. I'm a switch-hitter.

Anyone know why blogger hasn't worked all night long

No, I didn't blog yesterday. I wasn't slacking, just really busy. This morning I didn't get up and walk. That was slacking.

I found tons of things I think everyone should see since I didn't even turn my computer on yesterday.

1. The New Jersey Supreme Court has created an opening to allow gay marriage. Law makers have 180 days to re-write the law to allow either civil unions or marriage. Someone once asked me why I would get married when there were so many people who aren't to form a legally recognized union. It did make me stop and think about if I got married, would I get a marriage license from the state.

2. I'm hoping Kelly can explain this reference. I've got nothing.

3. Hee hee.

4. Keeping an eye on the machines that count Minnesota's votes is an editorial written by the League of Women Voters of Minnesota (which is a nonpartisan group before anyone even gets mad). It's a really interesting look at the perception of computerized voting and how we safeguard against fraud on computerized voting machines.

5. A 3-year-old got stuck in a vending machine trying to get a new sponge bob toy". Check out the picture. I want that to be my new desktop.

6. A little story about websites that are blocked by the Pentagon and the information our troops have access to while serving in foreign countries.

7. A great Wiki on how to exercise at your computer.

8. Firefox 2.0 tweaks. Yes, I love Firefox.

9. It's called Dumbthings.com. Do you need more information than that?

10. I'm putting this on here because I want your opinion: Is this a current science story I could discuss with sophomores, juniors and seniors?

11. This is a story I can talk about with high schoolers. It's really cool. Check it out.

Back to walking

Yes, I've decided to give my leg an actual break, no matter how hard it is for me, and stop running for a while. I'm giving it at least a week so the earliest I'll run again is next Sunday. You never know, that may get moved up to Saturday...

As always, I've been playing with the RSS feeds.

In this story, Why There Almost Certainly is No God the author details why science is right and there is no God. I think there are both. I think we just haven't been able to use science to prove that God exists, and that makes some people believe there is no God. Must be lonely for them.

Is it wrong that this story about portion sizes makes me crave Olive Garden. Seriously, Kelly, Amanda, I'm talking to you.

Finally, a slightly biased yet totally hilarious look at Why Target is Better than Wal-Mart. As a girl whose family still lives south of the Wal-Mart/Target Line, this story is particularly poignant.

Oh, I am on a roll

Here's two more really funny things I've found.

Over at BoingBoing, there's a story regarding the US government's decision to ban Vegemite imports. Go ahead, let yourself laugh.

On this blog I often speak of The Colbert Report. While it's a great show, I don't want to ignore the original fake news show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (Careful, both these sites may play sound.) Here's one of Jon's editorials about President Bush's confusing (some would say contradictory) moral stance.

hee hee

I found this hilarious comic. I wonder if this is what people think about Social Workers.

I viewed the picture at http://www.3guys.com/sfun/funarc5.htm.

Here it is. Hee hee.

Normally this would get me in trouble

Normally, I get myself into trouble when I write about politics on this blog. I am once again wading into the quagmire. I am reasonably assured that this time I won't get too many angry responses because I want to talk about an item that's on the ballot in Minneapolis. (Since the people who read this blog and know me live in St. Paul, I'm feeling ok.)

An issue is on the ballot in Minneapolis for Instant Runoff Voting. Instead of primaries, voters rank their choices on a ballot on election day. Here's my thing, I'm not totally sure I understand the negatives to this idea. There must be some or we would have done it sooner.

Here's a hilarious, although biased, video on instant runoff voting:


I also found an article about IRV in San Fransisco which adopted it a couple of years ago.

Finally, I found a poorly done website trying to teach me the ills of IRV. I wish there was a better website listing the arguments against Instant Runoff Voting so I could make a more informed choice.

Things that make me go hmmm

I was reading a post over at Boingboing that absolutely baffled me. In this article the author is talking about how publishing houses recognize most books aren't going to make the Best Seller list.

The part which caught my attention was this line:

"while book publishing may be greatly driven by our need for bestsellers, in the same way that many American policies are “driven by” our national need for easy access to petroleum, we don’t in fact spend every second of every day wandering around in a frenzy obsessing about bestsellers, any more than everyone in America spends all their time invading Middle Eastern countries or grovelling at the gas pump. "

Seriously, Americans aren't "spending all our time invading Middle Eastern countries"? I knew I should have changed the channel on my TV more often. I should have known that by now. Also, they misspelled "grovelling". It only has one L.

quick running update

As always: I did run yesterday, which I think I said, 3.8 miles. Today I tried running. I made it about 1.5 miles before I made a fatal error. I stopped to walk down a hill and just never got started again.

Here's what's happening for anyone who knows about sports related injuries who may be reading this blog:

My right quad gets stiff sometimes and then it's painful to walk on. If I go on a long walk that loosens it up and it feels normal. When I run I feel stabbing pains going up the front of my leg which a really bad at first and then get way less severe as I keep running. The pain always increases when going down hill (which is not a surprise) and almost disappears when I'm running up hill. If I stop running at all, like to wait for a crosswalk, and then start again the stabbing pain is as bad as it was when I started running.

I really enjoy walking but not as much as running. I just don't feel like I've worked out unless I get good and sweaty so this who "my leg hurts like a money while I'm trying to run thing" just isn't working for me.

The great Apple Debate

As I mentioned last night, I was using a friend's PowerBook (that's a Mac for those of you who don't know) to write part of my blog entry. I have been so torn between windows and Mac's since starting at the Science Museum (where Mac's are used). It's becoming slightly more distressing because some point soon I'll be in the market for a new computer and I will have choice to make.

The reasons I'd like to stay with Windows:
1. Windows Media Center Edition so that I can watch/record cable TV to my computer. This may seem silly or shallow. Here's the deal: My DVD collection is growing. I would like to see it grow at a slower pace which means have a DVR instead of a DVDR to record TV shows. If I'm going to shell out tons of cash for a new computer I'm not going to also shell out tons of cash for a separate DVR.

2. More available formal and informal tech support for Windows. This is true. However, my network of Mac-savvy-friends is growing.

3. I love Firefox. Some people like Safari. I am not one of them. Firefox runs slower on a Mac than it does on a PC and it kills my internet experience. While a software problem seems like the easiest to deal with, I haven't found a good workaround yet. The bulk of what I do on the computer is internet (and therefore Firefox) based, so while it may seem trivial, this is really the thing that would keep me from getting a Mac instead of a PC.

What got me thinking about this? I was on Digg and found This article about the Pro's and Con's of switching to a Mac, and the follow up the author had to write to respond to all the comments left on his blog and on Digg.

On to other stuff.
I found a nice article on American and immigrant views of poverty. Check it out here. I love the line about "attitudes of abundance". It's a good value to keep in mind.

Here's a hilarious anecdote of what happens when laptops get too big. Check out the video.

A fascinating look at computers that were supposed to be popular but weren't. My personal favorite: the tech support advice given to owners of the Apple 3 (#5 on the list).

Finally, here's something we should all wear to the airport at least once in our lives:



Viewed on a site called (I swear I am not making this up and I'd like to thank Digg and BoingBoing for helping me find this site to begin with) TerrorTshirt.com.

Blogger in Safari

I'm using my friend's Mac to write this post. The Blogger interface is really screwed up in Safari. My only options are the spell check box, the add image box, and the preview and recover post links. I can't do the edit html/compose tabs and the text options like bold, colors and the palate.

I ran this morning, almost four miles. My leg actually loosened up for part of the run. That felt nice.

The rest of the day I spent at the museum. I taught a class on how to write the essay for the ACT. I love writing. I need to remember that's not true for everyone.

Ok, so I'm back in Firefox to finish this blog. I found a bunch of stuff on the web today.

First, here's a story from Kare11 in Minneapolis. The story's not interesting but I've got a prize for anyone who can find the typo. Fliers about Lawyer Filled With Damaging Lies.

Second, Project 365 is an idea from Photojojo that encourages people to take a picture every day in order to document a year of their lives. It sounds like a blast. If I had a digital camera I'd totally do this.

Third, Overheard in the Office is a fantastic blog of all the stupid things your co-workers say. Here's the reason people don't like to work with silly people, and here's the reason we shouldn't hire silly people in the first place.

Fourth, Scrybe is a web 2.0 app that looks like it would be cool if I had the time to figure it out. If it doesn't sync with Palm in a quick way (it might, I haven't read the whole article or the specs), it's of no use to me.

Fifth, I have no idea how I found a website called PoopReport.com. I don't ask questions like that.

Sixth, did you know the Boy Scouts of America (yes, everyone's favorite group) are giving a merit badge to scouts who don't download pirated music. All in all this sounds like a good idea. A couple of things I'd like to say to the BSA (besides the fact that I believe the BSA is a prejudiced group that teaches kids it's ok to exclude people) I think this is a good idea. I know a couple Eagle Scouts that wouldn't have earned that badge. In the future though, it's much easier to increase a behavior (such a legal downloads) than to decrease a behavior (such as pirated downlaods). For those of you wondering what I learn while earning an MSW, increase behavior: easy, decrease behavior: difficult. There you are.

Finally, I'm enjoying putting YouTube stuff on my blog. You should tell me if you don't like it or if it makes the blog take too long to load. Here's a clip of Bill Nye talking about Pluto. I love the part where he talks about it being good if kids have to learn more, and it's good if teachers have to learn more. I love how passionate he is about these things.

As seen on tv

Things seen around the internet:

Here's an article from Field and Stream explaining Seven ways to light a fire without a match. It reminds me of Eric on a camping trip.

Boingboing has a collection of apologies and excuses for not blogging.

Here's a great explanation of how to get out of a speeding ticket but a guy who's been pulled over 30 times. I'm so happy to be on the road with you.

Finally, an editorial clip from MSNBC posted to YouTube. It's one reporters take on the new legislation (Military commissions act) signed into law by President Bush and similarities with previous legislation in the course of American History. (Kelly, I bet there's some on here you'll recognize from History class.)

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I didn't run

I didn't run this morning, but I did walk. My leg feels much better. Thanks for asking. I walked two miles. I tried to go as quickly as I could. This may be a good plan for winter ice and snow conditions when I still want to exercise but running is perilous. I'll let you know how I do tomorrow.

After that, I worked frantically all day. I'm the English speaker with the most Spanish skills in the high rise I work in for my internship. No good can come of this. It is nice to speak Spanish more often again. I'll miss it until Monday when I go back.

Now for my daily "Things I've Seen on the Web". One reader pointed out that some workplaces have stronger content filters than others, so I will add more description to sites you may miss.

This is a blog entry that uses Dilbert as a teaching tool. Need more? It's called "The Zone of Mediocrity". Ah, yes, now you can see how Dilbert would relate.

Oddly, that's all I've got for now.

Many many things

First off, a good "Liz is an idiot" story: My alarm went off this morning at 5:15am, the time is usually goes off when I run. I decided that I wasn't going to run this morning (my leg still hurts, anyone know what to do for quad pain?) so I tried to reset my alarm. In the dark. At 5:15am. The next time I woke up the clock said 8:46am. Turns out I reset the clock and not the alarm. Woops. I actually wasn't late to work but I didn't shower and skipped some other parts of my morning routine.

Second, I know i often write how much I love Chipotle but I have seen the light and it is called Pineda Tacos. The thing about the outside looking crappy, that's true also. But the food is so good. The meat is better, the rice is better, the beans are better, the burrito shell is better. And seriously, anytime anyone says "would you like cilantro on your burrito?" I know I've found my home. Yum. (And it's cheaper than Chipotle.)

As always, I've been poking around the internet and found a bunch of cool things.

When we went camping this summer I tried to convince Jenny that pictures of people jumping are cool. I rest my case.

A list of the most influential people who never lived.

A list of classy insults made by classy people from a long time ago. No, seriously, give it a try. They're actually pretty funny.

This is a story about lucid dreams or dreams that the dreamer controls. I didn't know they were special or hard to have. I've been having them off and on since I was a kid. I love them (when they're not scaring the crap out of me).

This made me sad.

This is for all the techies and the people who don't want to pay for a TiVo out there. Oh, dude. Firefox does not like the word "techies". It has some really funny suggestions for what I meant to spell. Seriously, no one taught Firefox this word?

There's no possible way a story like this could ever encourage racisim or any other prejudices.

This picture is only one of the reasons why the next computer I but won't be made by Toshiba.

Believe it or not, that's all I have for now. I should really eat and do homework.

my day of people saying nice things about me

Yes, people said many nice things about me. My favorite was when someone told me I looked prettier than a movie star. (It was a volunteer at DARTS so it made me feel good. There are definitely circumstances when the same compliment would have made me feel dirty.)

Second, a note for Kelly: This is what you can expect when you become a teacher.

Finally, I woke up this morning, turned on my light, lay in bed, decided not to run, turned off light, felt bad, got up, went outside... And it was raining. I ran anyways. I got very wet but it felt good. I miss running in the sunshine. That's perhaps the hardest part of this whole exercise thing.

two things

First thing: Why would you do this to your children? And how much did they have to pay that kid to get him to smile for the photo?

Second thing: Christmas is coming up. If you're not sure what to get me, click here for instructions.

my new favorite picture ever

From Mozilla and Firefox.

More fun things I've learned on my day of rest

That's right folks: it's Sunday, my day of rest. I can't believe I'm still awake either. Here's a few more things I've learned while plodding around the internet:

This is both wrong and the best idea I've ever seen.

This NYT article on Microsoft got better as it went on. Check out the very last question and the response about people working together on the internet.

I think I've read studies on this before. I would just like to say when I start speaking Spanish I become much more extroverted and my interests actually change from when I speak English and I don't speak Spanish that often. For example, I love social work and there's literally no way I'd ever be a nurse while speaking English. (I just had this conversation with Amanda among other people.) However, speaking Spanish I'd be a nurse in nothing flat and I doubt I'd ever do true social work.

Finally, I think I should show this story to the kids who are not always the biggest fans of blogging. I don't know why, I (obviously) love it.

In my life and In the News

First off, in my life:

I'm not sure if I wrote this already. I earned a raise and promotion at the Science Museum (yeah me). I'm sad to loose Travis to another job but excited for the chance to do some new things.

I worked an overnight last night that mostly erased the bad memories of the week before. It was seven kids and two adults. (Yeah, that's like ridiculously not a lot of people).

Classes are going well. I have a mostly easy week. I have a couple of things due but they are well on their way to being complete and it's only Sunday. I was planning on working on those things more later. Although I think I just realized I have another paper due that will be much harder. (Doh.)

I am happily awaiting the next episode of Studio 60. I'm also getting into Heroes although I missed the last episode. I'm not quite to the place where I feel like I need to download it off iTunes.

I think everyone is clear on my love of Postsecret. Here are a couple of the pictures from these week I enjoyed.

Haven't we all had days like that?

I'm so glad you said that. I feel the exact same way.

Both these images were posted to http://postsecret.blogspot.com on Sunday 15 October 2006.

As seen on the web

I love RSS feeds. I devour them. Some of my favorites include CityPages, BoingBoing which truly is a directory of wonderful things by the way, and two feeds from Del.icio.us.

While checking out the news around Minneapolis, I found this article about prayer. I love the part where the person talks about praying in colors, also that prayer is a relationship with God.

Second, back to the nerd side of me, here are some less-well-known bits of information about Windows.

Third, this is mostly for Kelly who has a cat, but also for anyone else who's had a cat or had this question, a story about how important cat litter is to your computer (no, seriously).

Fourth, something about Firefox that I may choose to care about one day. This seemed like something I'd need to know someday but probably don't need to fix right now.

It's really windy today

It's really really windy today. I did get up and run. In the wind. It wasn't that cold so it wasn't totally painful when the wind was blowing.

I had my anxiety group presentation. It was long but it went well. I hate group presentations because I never know what all the other people are going to do. Lots of people said they liked it. I think it did have some high points. We showed a video called Fish on a hook (opens a video) that just about gives me a panic attack every time I watch it.

Now I'm making chicken stock with a whole chicken. The lesson I've learned from this is that in the future, I need to buy wings or thighs or legs but not the whole damn bird. Partly it's too much meat and there's not enough room left in the pot to make a lot of stock. Also I can't deal with the whole carcass.

Great picture

First, and most importantly, I just wanted everyone to see this picture. It's from Gizmodo.com.

Second, it's still cold. If you're not from around here, or if you are from around here and have been staying indoors because it's so cold, wise move. It's very un-Minnesotan of you to stay inside when there's snow, but wise move nevertheless.

I ran this morning. I have a hard time figuring out what clothes to wear in this weather. This morning it was sweatpants, a long underwear shirt and a fleece vest. Tomorrow it may have to be more wind protection. It's actually going to be a few degrees warmer but the wind may gust up to 40 miles per hour.

I have a group presentation on anxiety tomorrow. Oddly, I'm not anxious about it, but I'm not looking forward to it. I'm really sleepy. I may not be awake much longer. Is it bad that I'm this tired and it's not 9pm yet?

I was checking the news again

I was checking the news again when I saw a post directing me to Shelfari which apparently is to books what YouTube is to television. Since I'm in school, I'm not allowed to read for fun. However, some of you love to read and should check this out. Some of you have also abandoned your blog which makes me sad.

It's still cold

I didn't run today. I woke up at 4:30 and it was raining and wet and really cold so I decided I would just sleep for another hour.

I'm planning on running tomorrow when it will be even colder than it was today. I'm planning out my outfit in my head. It gets very hard to dress for running when it gets this cold.

Science and things

Quick update: I ran this morning. It's friggin cold.

On a different note, I came across this article about science and spirituality while I was reading the news. Anyone else love RSS feeds as much as I do? I think this is a hot-button issue. I am going to point out that the article exists and it may or may not hit home with the reader.

Next, who can give me the back story on House, particularly is there supposed to be something going on with him and the one girl? Before everyone tells me everything, I've seen one episode. It was the repeat that was on last week that I finally watched tonight. An old friend comes back with a girl claiming to be friend's daughter and she has too much iron in her blood and the one girl was getting injections to prepare for invetro fertilization.

Finally, I'd like to point you to some of my new favorite pictures ever. This is what happens when I have a new volunteer, a new youth and way too much (fresh) toilet paper.

what my points got me

Kelly was offering points to the first person to tell her who the president was during World War I. As my reward for knowing it was Woodrow Wilson, Kelly made it so this pie will have no calories or fat and be completely healthy for me. Thank you.

My lastest inspiration

I ran this morning without the knee brace. I think the couple of days rest I took last week helped out my poor leg. My quad still hurts a little but nothing like last week. I'm still breaking in my new shoes but I love them. They make my feet happy.

At my field placement I get a lot of news about seniors. I was checking one of the rss feeds when I saw a story that is my new inspiration. How cool is that?

Things that make me smile

I had a rough night at the overnight last night, so I am particularly aware of things that make me smile (and even bring a tear to my eye).

If you haven't seen the Free hugs video on YouTube check it out. (This link opens a youtube video with music, turn down your speakers if you're at work.) I would like to join the ranks of those who are totally touched when he kneels down to hug the older lady and she puts her hand on his face. I'm tearing up just thinking about it.

This homemade postcard was on Postsecret this week. It makes me smile.

I'm not sure how I found these

I'm not sure how I found these pictures, but the web page is called Unusual Japanese Inventions.

This one I could see being useful. Yeah, that's right, I really don't like being wet.

What amazes me about these other three isn't that someone invented them, it's that people will wear them in public. Yes, that may be a touch of my anxieties coming out but seriously.

Pictures from http://sqzm14.ust.hk/gt-inventions.html.

Sleepy and Lazy

I worked an overnight last night and so slept most of the day. I tried to watch Diary of a Mad Black Woman but I just couldn't get into it. That's one that'll just have to go back to Netflix.

I did find some totally cool pictures on the web. Did you know there's a human tower competition? I think I'd be dizzy if I were one of the people at the top.



From http://www.ebaumsworld.com/humantower.html.

I'd like to recommend

I'd like to recommend a few things:

Brooks Shoes. I got a new pair yesterday. I've had a pair of their trail shoes for a while. They make my feet happy.

Running. I ran this morning. I feel good.

This YouTube Clip of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Just stick with it because somewhere towards the end is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Trust me, you'll know it when you hear it.

Sufjan Stevens. I really like acoustic music and I've just discovered this artist. Check out Singingfish to find his music.

Singingfish. I love this site as well.

I am such a girl

I am such a girl, and to prove it, I bought two pairs of shoes today. To make myself not too much of a girl, one pair was running shoes and one pair was to work.

I also found that there is a wonderful program to get music off your ipod and onto your computer. It works with someone else's ipod on my computer.

Anyone know why the Lake Street bridge was closed tonight? It was blocked by police at both ends and I saw the 21 on Mississippi River Blvd. If you're from the Twin Cities and you've ridden the bus then you know the bus had to go across Lake Street east to the river in Minneapolis, south 15 blocks to the next bridge into St. Paul and then back north on the other side of the river to get back to Marshall. Never a dull moment.

I'm trying to watch Men in Trees. I can't get into it.

I didn't run this morning. I find that I eat more on the days I don't run. Also, it's a time when I crave more carbs anyway.

Why yes, yes I do

You may be asking yourself, "Why did Liz make her blog pink? Doesn't she think this is the ugliest thing ever?"

I'd like to say, "why yes, yes I do." I'm having trouble making the pink thing work. However, I didn't think I could legitimately have an "I've Gone Pink for October" button on my blog and not have anything even remotely pink anywhere else on the blog. But seriously, if anyone finds a more attractive pink blogger template, or if anyone knows how to change the background of my old template to pink, let me know.

Reasons

Reasons why I should have a boyfriend (even though I currently do not)
I was buying shoes today when I overheard a woman say, "Honey, do these look too chunky?" This is not a fair question. There has never been, in the history of the universe, a time when this was a fair question. This will never be a question that is acceptable to ask your boyfriend unless the topic is peanut butter.

I would just like to say in advance of any possible relationship that I understand "do these look chunky?" is not an ok question to ask.

did you know

Did you know there is a website called Wrongdiagnosis.com. I feel better already.

The Joys of Del.icio.us

I was playing around on the Del.icio.us web page looking at the popular tags. I know, but I've just discovered this site so it's still fun for me.

One of the things I read is:
Are you interested in the efficiency of luggage carousels? Do you long for a better way to defrost windscreens? If so, you are a dull man, and this is a site just for you.

Is it wrong that when I read this I thought, "oh, yeah, I know some guys who would love this site."? It's Dullmen.com

The antics contiune

The antics continue on many levels.

One: I still am not doing my homework. I am so bad.

Two: In addition to identifying Mark Foley as a democrat, which FoxNews fixed by not identifying him at all, another FoxNews anchor is blaming Florida voters for electing Foley in the first place. It's funny, I've always thought of the Democrats as the party more likely to eat their young, but apparently it's the Republicans for now.

Three: My knee still hurts. It's locking up when I walk, although it doesn't hurt in the morning when I wake up and it doesn't hurt when I run. It hurts when I've been sitting all day. Hmmm, maybe this is a sign I shouldn't go to school. Rats, now I'm actually thinking about not going to school. I really am bad.

Four: He's still calling once a day, although today he didn't leave me a message.

Homework for sale

Homework for sale! Any takers? No?

While I put my homework off, researchers at Indiana University have confirmed something I've always know. Although, I actually like The Colbert Report (turn your sound down if you're at work, this site will load a streaming video) just as much as I've enjoyed The Daily Show. I miss cable.

My favorite segment of The Colbert Report is "The Word". My favorite word is Psychopharmaparenting (This is a YouTube link to a nine-minute video.) I will point out that the first time I saw this particular Word, I was with my parents who did put me on meds as a child. Who can say "Elephant in the room"?

Second, I ran this morning. That whole fartlek thing went ok. My knee still hurts really bad. Anyone know why that is? Me neither.

Why I am a heartless b!tch and other fun things

One: I had a conversation with my mother a while ago in which I do believe I was called a heartless b!tch. It was, of course, in relation to Cesar, and it is this time too. He's called me at least once a day for the past few days. Today he finally left me a message. Which I deleted before I heard anymore than "helloo Elizabet". (Is that wrong?) He called me last week and promised he wouldn't call anymore so I don't believe anything he says. (I would just like to say, it's behavior and decision making like this that were the reason I couldn't be with him in the first place.)

Two: St. Paul has lost its balls. Ok, that is a bit crude, but here's the deal. A few years ago The City of St. Paul recognized that forcing people to work in environments where they were exposed to second hand smoke is a health risk and not a fair employment practice. To that end, the city created a city wide smoking ban in all public places including bars and restaurants. Except now, The City of Saint Paul has lots its courage. St. Paul is giving bar owners money to build patios where people can smoke. This is money that was designated for neighborhood revitalization. I've always wanted my neighborhood to be revitalized by giving the money to people who sell the alcohol to help them build a place for their customers to smoke. I hope the City of Minneapolis does the exact same thing.

Three: This is just funny. I love BoingBoing. It truly is a directory of wonderful things.

Four: In an effort to be even more "fair and balanced" FoxNews is identifying Mark Foley as a democrat. Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that Mark Foley is a former congressman from Florida who resigned when inappropriate emails he wrote to a teenage boy were publicized.

Totally random stuff

First: While I was typing my last blog post I could hear music coming from the courtyard. I decided to investigate because it sounded African. Yes, I can tell that just by listening. There was some woman listening on her balcony. A while later I could still hear it so I went out and talked to her. And then I went up to her apartment and met her. My neighbor is called Yasmine (rhymes with Jasmine) and is from Senegal.

Second: Here's an interesting question. How does that work?

Third: Having been to the hospital recently, I can safely say that this is not what I want to see on the doctor or nurse walking in to take care of me.

more running techniques

I ran this morning and I was feeling like I've been doing the same old thing so I decided to change it up a bit. There's a training technique with a cool name, also described here. I had read about it before. I went a little faster than usual for a block and then back to normal for a block for the last mile or so of my run. I could actually feel it in my abs when I got home which is something I haven't felt in a very long time.

I'm also excited about this because I think I may have mentioned a few thousand times this summer how slow I am. This seems like a way that I can deal with to improve me speed.

Why is improving speed important? Well, I've been thinking about running a marathon. Those of you who live around here know that the Twin Cities Marathon took place last Sunday. I've thought about running a marathon for a while. It's always in the back of my mind every time I start running. For the Twin Cities Marathon this year, runners pace just had to be faster than a 13:45 mile. Even right now I run (slightly) faster than that.

I'm thinking I have a year to train for it so why not. I can just keep running short distances now and then start building up once the snow starts to melt in the spring. That's right folks. I said the snow here doesn't melt 'till the spring. Normally it takes 20 weeks to seriously train for a marathon. If I started in April or March it would give me 25 or so. Hey, this is my first one. I need all the help I can get.

I've also thought that if this is something I'm going to do, I should join a running club around here. I think the running clubs here do have marathon training programs. Do you think the runners there would care that I'm so slow?

found around the web

I'll start by saying I've recently discovered Del.icio.us and I love the idea. I haven't had a chance to play around with it too much, but I'm having a blast so far. Sadly, the "add to my del.icio.us" button is not yet compatible with Firefox 2.0 Rc1 so I'm stuck with the beta 2 version until that gets upgraded.

Second, I found this Dilbert comic that gets the award for best use of a southern expression ever.


From Dilbert.com.

Finally, I'd like to pass on this little gem for all of my friends who are currently or soon will be involved in higher education.

The Joys of Writing

I ran this morning, as always. I bought a knee brace yesterday because my leg has been weird ever since I fell down while I was running. It didn't totally make the pain go away but it did help. Sadly I got it too sweaty to use for the rest of the day.

I ran a support group that went very well for my first time. The struggle I have in that group, and that I think I will continue to have for a long time is owning my role in the group as a leader. This is a group of people who are much older than me and my brain tells me I can't and shouldn't tell them what to do. It's just how I show respect. However, my education and my experience (what little there is) and my role means that I do have some power in the situation. The thing is, the group needs me to own that power a little more than I did. The group needs a leader to set boundaries (or something like that) and not leave them hanging in the wind. Is this making any sense. Write me if you have any experience with this sort of thing.

Also, Cesar called. Twice. After he promised he wouldn't. To his credit, he did not leave me a message this time. It's a pain and sort of heart breaking, but it's also helpful to feel that I don't need to go back and tie loose ends up. I'm done and that's ok. (Thank you, Kelly.)

Also for Kelly, I found this quote and it made me think of you for some reason. (You know, someone is going to read all of the things that make me think of you and get the wrong impression about you.)

On the lighter side

I was looking through the pictures on my computer and found a few really funny ones of the signs in front of churches inviting people in.

These are nice but funny.

These are just wrong:

This last one if for my friend Amanda who once saw a sign that said "stop drop and roll doesn't work in hell".

The Big Pink

As you can see, I've gone pink for October. I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to do this. Being totally honest, part of me wanted to play with the html code to write the new button. Scroll down to see it. Also, I think almost everyone knows someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, especially since the incidence of breast cancer has soared recently, and the lifetime risk is 1 in 9. I'd just like to say that's ridiculous.

I was most recently really touched when someone shared a very honest story of his mother's diagnosis of breast cancer and what it was like to watch her undergo treatment.