Yay for unique birth control!

I can't describe it in words, just watch this WoW ad!

Quality Virtual Crap

I definitely blame this idea on being up too late and watching QVC people try to sell tech stuff. Suddenly features that warrant dropping $1600 include a modem!, software: PeachTree, Nascar game, Acrobat Reader (wtf!?!?!), etc., and "lots of plug areas". Whoa buddy. The next item was some flat TV, I wasn't really paying attention because this idea popped into my head... I want TV "tiles". I want to be able to buy these tiles as I go so that I can start off with maybe 4 5x5 tiles and add to it as I get more money. They should be thin and be able to be hung on the wall. Connectors on all 4 sides similar to how waffle blocks used to mesh together could sense the edges because there would be no connection on one or two sides. Theoretically you could have an entire wall as your TV :). I would draw a picture now, but I'm going to make the last intelligent decision of the evening and go to bed!

Senti-Mental

As I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel getting closer now that it's my last semester, I've already started getting nostalgic. While I was on campus yesterday I took some pictures of interesting things and favorite places that I've decided to share with the rest of the world.


This first one is outside of the Design building and either pleases or annoys me depending on the day. I don't really know why, but it is still interesting to look at.

This one is from inside the Design building and it's awesome up close! It's a full scale representation of DaVinci's flight invention thing. Some architecture students made it for a project. I want to see it in motion!



Ok, this is the last picture from Design. I was in there because the view from the roof is THE best, but unfortunately the access was locked. Maybe they don't want people jumping off since it's the first week or something. So because of that you have to deal with this picture of Science Row from the top floor. Look at all of the green! Love it!





Water is the next best thing to green, so here is a small picture of one of the water features outside of Howe Hall, the big Titanic looking building for Aerospace Enginerding, I mean Engineering :). Anyone have a big thing of bubbles...?



Moo U and proud of it! Where else would you see a cute kitty on campus next to horses and new ponies? No animals were harmed during the photo session, but this cat is very clingy. It wouldn't leave us alone last year when we would visit the horses and kept jumping into Keith's lap when he would bend down to pet it. It again brings up the debate between getting a cat or a dog... which do I want?


And now time to reveal my favorite place on campus! Since I'm leaving soon, I decided that I need to pass it on to others that have not already experienced this gem. To the normal eye this may just look like the steps up to Catt Hall, but the cool part is when you stand on the stairs. Depending on your height relative to me, if you sit or stand around the INVENT step and face toward central campus everything you say will be echoed back to you. This comes in handy if you feel the need to talk to yourself or would like an invisible audience, and it has entertained me since my freshman year when I discovered it.

Of course these are only a few of the things that make ISU great, but maybe it will bring attention to the details that you haven't noticed or show you things that weren't there the last time you visited. If it's the latter, get back and pay homage! You know you want to.

"God don't make lonely girls..."

So the CD that the above song line belongs to made it into my player on the way to Ames and it reminded me how many of the songs I enjoy on there, even the radio played ones which tend to get on my nerves. But then again, I bought the CD back around middle school so the annoyances could be trumped by time. It also provided me the opportunity to post this picture of three of us in our apartment. I'll have to get an updated one with Katie sometime. Back the the music... I especially like Invisible City because his voice is hot on that track, and Josephine just because. Guess the CD and artist/group and you don't win anything but a time check of how old you are :). If you're The Cheat and look up the answer, it's ok, I won't tell.

On the school front: week one is done (oh yeah, no Friday class!). My most time intensive class looks like French and only one class presents the need and opportunity to multitask. This is good because then I will only feel like I could be doing something more productive twice a week instead of the usual twice each day. I am also proud to say that I have started on my workout attempt for the semester and so far it's going well. I'm going to make a formal plan on here so that I have to live up to my post and not just what is in my mind.

And now to make this post more interesting to you, here is the most awesome college apartment artwork ever! I know you're jealous...

Drool!

So I went down to Des Moines today and test drove the Lexus RX400h the luxury utility vehicle (luv) hybrid... and I love the luv! It would take some getting used to because it's so quiet when it's just running on electricity and you don't get the familiar "start up" sound when you turn the key. But with all of the techy gadgets, including Bluetooth, that come standard and especially the fact that I didn't feel dwarfed inside of it along with its awesome handling in town and on the interstate, I'd say that it is highly likely that I will get one... eventually. Until then, I will just have to savor my test drive and save up my money. Oh and I'm now taking donations. Your benefit in the deal will be the opportunity to be a passenger when I finally get one! So who's first?

Oh how I love Firefox

So even in general Firefox is awesome, but when connecting to the Iowa State University network, it's even better. If you happen to be an ISU student, listen up and I'll tell you how to by pass the crappy AIT (or whatever they're called now) software.

Background: When connecting the to ISU network and "NetReg-ing", AIT forces you to download their software to check if your system has virus protection on it. Good idea in theory when a couple of years ago naked computers were connected and spread viruses like wildfire during move in. But if you know that you have protection, it's a waste of time and if you run it for fun, it usually gives you the wrong information. Imagine that!

Solution:
1. Get Firefox. Get it before you come to ISU, install it from a CD, I don't care, just get it.
2. Open Firefox and type "about:config"
3. Right click and select New -> String
4. Name this string general.useragent.override click "Ok"
5. Type anything your heart desires for the string content, but be creative (AIT sucks, smacky the frog, etc.) and click "Ok"
6. Restart Firefox and NetReg! Voila, you can now bypass the crappiness that was.
7. Spread the news and enjoy.

Subliminal message: Play WoW

Just as a funny side note, the spell check suggested that NetReg should be neuters :)

Hook me up.

Have you ever felt that you just needed an extra zap in the morning to get you going? Or maybe you're the type that forgets to charge the cell phone before heading out the door. Or even worse, you leave your charger at home while on vacation like I do. Well soon the wonderful Iowa State University will solve these, and other, problems for you. Right now research is being done on wearable solar cell technology.

I don't think I'll buy any of these techy items until they come out in a color that matches my eyes, but I'm definitely interested to see if this idea goes anywhere and what items, if any

Fly me to the moon...

so I can mow the lawn! Check out this awesome video.

Talk about a reason to look forward to your grass growing, and you could even take care of your trees and bushes at the same time.

Don't try this anywhere but home

So I have found the PennySaver good for two things so far: finding events to go to if I'm really desperate and making me laugh. The latter especially when my roommate is trying to figure out the acronyms in the personal adds. But today my humor was found in an ad for Muddy Waters which included some cheesy pick-up lines at the bottom. So for your personal enjoyment I am including them under the suggestion that you never actually try them unless you're already dating or married to your victim.

"You be my Dairy Queen and I'll be your Burger King. You treat me right, I'll do it your way."
"You must be an adverb, because you sure do modify me."
"I'm no Fred Flinstone, but I can make your BedRock."

Wow, those are some winners. There was a fourth, but I had heard it before and it's not all that funny. Anyway, enjoy at your own risk!

Epiphany!

So I had a random theory occur to me as I was walking from work today... For some reason I was thinking about the fact that a lot of engineers and other science related people tend to act immaturely on occasion if not all of the time. I included myself in this statement, and then I began to ponder the reasons. I then reminded myself how I try not to forget what it's like to be a kid because kids are some of the most intelligent people I know. They haven't yet learned to think "realistically" and therefore are prone to more creative solutions and ideas. Then I put the two thoughts together and concluded that people who enjoy scientific fields are probably more in tune with their creative side which could be tied to still being a kid inside which leads to being immature at times. I have no proof, but I could be on to something here...

As an example provided by my roommate tonight, who happens to also be a computer engineer, he demonstrated how he can toss grapes in the air and catch them in his mouth and then we proceeded outside to see how high he could throw and catch them. Ahh, such fun.

I'm back!

Back from Utah and completely pooped. I just spent 5 days dancing from morning until way past night and about 31 hours total driving through some of the good ol' USA's most boring states. Because I devoted an entire week to the BYU dance camp, I decided that I should at least give some of the highlights. First off, I was quite impressed by all of the instructors: Pierre Allaire and Mireille Veilleux, Jean Marc Genereux and France Mousseau, Hunter and Maria Johnson, and Ron Montez. I think Maria was my favorite instructor especially since my awesome boyfriend succeeded in surprising me with a private lesson with her for our waltz! (For those of you who don't know, this is particularly impressive because I have been able to sniff out all of his previous surprises.)

While the dancing and socializing was fun, there were some non-dance related things that I found interesting. Since the camp was hosted by BYU, we had to follow the university's rules including not showing our knees, shoulders, or drinking caffeine. I tried to follow these as well as I could out of respect, but I found that because I was told I could not do certain things, I wanted them more. For example, I'm not a big caffeine drinker at all, but once I was at BYU I suddenly craved the option for pop. Kinda weird how that works.

So to sum this blog up I thought I would ask a question. To people who have done ballroom dancing, do you remember what you thought it was before you started? And for people who have not done ballroom dancing (yet) what do you think it is? I have found that many people don't really know all that it encompasses.