Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

I finally watched CMU Professor Randy Pausch‘s “Last Lecture,” which he gave in September of this year.  Randy Pausch was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in August and given a 3-6 month prognosis.  (From his blog, his health is currently stable.) His last lecture was about how to live life… and was a message for his kids.  If you haven’t watched it already, I definitely recommend seeing it.  You can grab it here, or read more about the lecture here or here.   Here are some of his words that stuck: Brick walls are there for a reason. They let …

Laundry Tags: What the #($)U@$ Does That Mean?

I finally got curious.  A web search later, TIDE comes to the rescue with a “The Language of Laundry.”    To wet your appetite, here are the “Machine Wash” and “Water Temperature” symbols.  (Who knew those dots meant something??)

Bees Bees Bees

I was catching up on my stack of New Yorkers, and read a great article on honey bees & their mysterious disappearance.  Highly recommend. I also learned a couple random facts about bees: Honeybees are the only animals besides humans known to have a representational language: they convey to one another the location of food by dancing. When the queen lays an egg, she is able to choose its sex. Males, known as drones, perform no useful function except to mate. They are loutish and filthy, and the workers?sterile females?tolerate their presence for a few months a year, then systematically …

Ratatouille

Last night, my friend and I went to see Ratatouille.  It was HILARIOUS.  I was trying to remember the last time I had such an easy “laugh out loud” experience… and then it hit me: The Incredibles.  Of the two, The Incredibles is definitely better… but I saw both late at night when I was super tired.  And both managed to wake me up and keep me laughing for two hours. Hats off to Pixar (and Disney).

Karen, from South Park

I’ve started seeing South Park aviators pop up everywhere, and was a bit jealous.  So, of course, I had to make my own.  

Karen Simpson

Here is “Karen Simpson.”  🙂  … also knows as 5 minutes of blissful randomization. You too can create your own Simpson avatar at the Simpsons Movie website.  BTW:  Hats off to the Simpson movie marketer.  The website plus the Kwik-E-Mart/7-11 promotion have been nice PR touches. 

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

Edited 7/23. So, I first published this post half-asleep Saturday morning at 9am, which is when I finished.  🙂 I’ve thought about it a bit more, and here are some musings.  Don’t worry – there are no real spoilers. It’s much darker than the rest of the series.  Which, given the progression, is not surprising.  But there is a lightness that’s usually in the series that is much rarer in this book Prisoner of Azcaban, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows are the best of the series.  Thinking about it more, I really can’t say which is my favorite of the …

Potter Mania

It’s two days away!  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows releases at midnight on Friday.  It’s rumored to be 784 pages… and it’s the last Harry Potter book in the 7-book series. The excitement is definitely all over the news: Images of the book (and rumored PDFs) are already all over bit-torrent sites. Tim Dale, beloved voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks, has already recorded the 7th both.  His readings (and the voices he does) are awesome. The books are under “heavy guard” in a warehouse somewhere in the US, getting ready for home delivery to those who “pre-ordered.” Me?  I plan on …

Hiking: Annette Lake & Mt. Rainer

It was GORGEOUS this past weekend in Seattle.  Took advantage of the sun and did some hiking…   annette lake trail: a bit of a cheesy shot, but attempting long exposure mt rainer  me glaciers squirrel about to take off

Good Weather = Fire Hazard?

I’m not sure if it’s me or Seattle…  But one of us is definitely a little wacky when good weather causes a fire hazard bulletin: Elevated fire danger expected this week… High pressure aloft will build over the region this week… generating mostly clear skies … above normal temperatures… and lower than normal humidities.  Afternoon high temperatures Wednesday and Thursday are forecast to be in 70s to mid 80s… … These conditions will combine to lead to an increased fire danger situation this week.