Archive for November, 2011

Time Change


30 Nov

I blame the fact that it gets dark so early, right now. In the evenings, I just don’t want to do anything productive. After dinner, I want to sit and watch my favorite TV shows and then just go to bed after they are done. I don’t want write a blog post, here or for one of my other blogs.

For now, I’m just going to have to stop holding myself to the 5am PST post time. I promise to post each day if you promise not to mind that sometimes that post doesn’t show up until afternoon or evening.

Sing-Off Finale


29 Nov

I was quite happy with the final three groups going in to the Sing-Off Finale. Pentatonix was my choice to win, but I thought Urban Method and the Dartmouth Aires were good groups, as well. Still, Pentatonix really had been my favorite for pretty much the whole season, and I was so happy to see them win. I’m looking forward to whatever album they get to put out.

The big opening number was just too busy for me. I liked the girls’ Aretha but not so much the boys’ Bruce. Probably because of the sheer number of singers on stage.

My Favorite Console Games: Lord of the Rings Third Age


28 Nov

Because when I’m sick, I like to sit in the comfy chair in the living room and play old console games. I spent a good portion of this weekend playing Third Age.

It is a turn based not quite strategy, not quite RPG. You go from point A to point B. You have some choice when it comes to character skill development.

This is the first time I’ve played it on the 360, so I’m starting all over from the beginning. It feels a little like cheating though, because I know what skills I need and when I need them.

Skipped a Day


27 Nov

Yesterday was a great SaTurkeyDay over at a friend’s house. It was a wonderful second Thanksgiving with people we enjoy. That means we had two absolutely wonderful Thanksgivings this year with our friends. I can’t even begin to say how lucky we are to have such a great group of people in our lives.

And because we hosted one of those meals, my house is filled with leftovers- leftovers and dirty dishes, but that’s okay. The dishes are a small price to pay for having two such fabulous days.

Today is for laundry, dishes, and some football. And avoiding shopping.

MythBusters Wheel of MythFortune


25 Nov

I was aware of the math behind the Monty Hall paradox when it came to switching, but I hadn’t been aware of the psychological tendency to stick instead of switch. I found that interesting. I also noticed that Adam won a lot more than 2/3 of the time with switching and that Jaime won a lot less than 1/3.

In the gun holding myth, target shooting is one thing, but in a gunfight, no one’s accurate, not the military, not the police. I don’t know that how the gun is held matters when no one is actually trying to aim.

Being Thankful 2011


24 Nov

Today I am thankful for the home I have made with my loving husband. I am thankful for our friends, also known as the family we choose, who bless our home with their presence. I am thankful for the food we have to share and the memories we create.

Life sometimes moves too fast, and it’s nice to slow down every once in a while and look around, to take a moment to smell the roses, as it were.

I said it last year, and I’ll say it again. 100 words isn’t really enough, but it will have to do.

Oh, The Places We’ll Go


23 Nov

Sticking with space news for one more day, did you realize that we (and by we, I mean astronomers, not me at all) have found over 700 planets outside our own solar system?

I should clarify, according to the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia, run by Jean Schneider of the Paris-Meudon Observatory, 702 planets outside our solar system have been located. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory maintains a different database called PlanetQuest: New Worlds Atlas, and it currently has 687 alien planets.

What’s really exciting is how quickly the databases have grown in recent years. I love living in an age of discovery.

Back to Mars


22 Nov

On Saturday, the Mars Science Laboratory mission takes it’s next big step- the launch of the next Mars rover, the Curiosity. It will take almost 9 months to reach the Red Planet, and be lowered to the planet in a brand new method, using a rocket powered sky crane  and cables.

Stop and think about everything in that last paragraph- Mars Rover, rocket powered sky crane, the Red Planet. How cool does all of that sound. How cool is all of that? Doesn’t it make you want to be a rocket scientist? Why couldn’t I have been better at Physics?

Fire


21 Nov

Early Friday morning, a major fire broke out near Reno, NV. At first reports, it was burning 400 acres. By Sunday afternoon, it had burned across a 2,000 acre area containing over 4,000 homes. Only 32 were lost to the flames. And miraculously, I’ve only heard about 1 death, and that caused by a heart attack as a man was being evacuated.

I lived in Reno for 12 years. My thoughts are with those who lost so much, and my thanks goes out to the fire fighters and other personnel who worked to prevent things from being so much worse.

Scan This!


20 Nov

Joined the National Consumer Panel- we’re like a Nielsen home, but instead of TV, it’s for what we buy. There’s a bit more work to it than I originally anticipated, but it’s still not too bad. We’ll see if the rewards being worth the work involved.

The biggest problem is that the scanner wants to transmit information late on Saturday nights, and it beeps when it does so. Considering it’s in our room, it wakes us up, resulting in the scanner being shoved in a drawer. Then I have to remember to pull it out and transmit manually on Sunday.

100 Words On

topics explored in exactly 100 words