That Hansel, he's so hot right now

Today I saw a 65 year old man struggling to climb up a slight incline on a Razor Scooter.

I wanted to tell him that it would be a lot easier if he were just walking because every time he lifted his kicking leg off the ground he would slow down, and actually slide backward a little bit. But I didn't.

Plus, he is 65 and should probably give up the Razor Scooter since not even 10 year olds think they are cool anymore.

Then I thought about a friend from college who loved his Razor Scooter and realize that I was actually seeing a version of him 40 years down the road and it made me smile.

Never stop learning

Last night I finally redeemed one of the many gift certificates the ear doctor has given me as a gift over the past year.

I went down to the seasoned chef cooking school and had my first cooking lesson.

At first I was a little nervous that I would be the youngest person there and no one would be nice to me, but boy was I wrong.

It was SOOOOOOO much fun!

I was one of the younger people there, but it really didn't matter. Everyone was so nice and the food we all made together was AMAZING.

Here is the list of stuff we made last night:

Field Greens with Champagne Vinaigrette

Penne with Roasted Tomato Sauce

Sauted Filet of Salmon with Chive and Oregano Aioli

Perfect Herb-Roasted Chicken

Rice Pilaf

Broccoli with Shallots and Mustard Seed

Rustic Apple Crostada

Doesn't that all sound D-lishious! It was. My favorite was the chive and oregano aioli with the salmon. I willdefinitelyy be making that some time soon.

She ain't nothin but a gold digger

Ever heard of that "Languages of Love" book? I borrowed it from my friend James about 5 years ago and just couldn't bring myself to read it all the way through. After reading the first chapter it just seemed too self-helpish for me.

Anyway, what I did get out of the book was the main tenets of the theory (I think).

The author stated that there are 5 different ways that people show and recieve affection.

After at least 5 minutes of thought I think I've determined my own "Language of Love." I think I am tokens of affection.

Normally this wouldn't cause me any concern, let alone enough to write a post about, but a comment left me on my previous post made me stop and think. Is it shallow of me to feel loved through the recieving of physical tokens? Does that make me some kind of Tiffany's bracelet craving, superficial girlfriend?

Who is to say that recieving a note or little gift is a lesser method of expressing affection than wanting to be around someone or telling them you love them?

Because really, for me, when the ear doctor leaves a little treat or surprise on my bed or under my windshield wiper it is just as good or almost better than when we sit on the couch and cuddle. It means that he was thinking of me, even when we weren't together.

And that means a lot to me.

My take on Valentines Day

Yesterday I ran an informal statistical survey about the importance/legitimacy of Valentines day.

My results were somewhat shocking.

Not one person polled was in support of the holiday.

I asked a wide demographic of people, but stayed mainly with my age range. I polled married people, single people, people in long term relationships, people who date around and all were opposed to the holiday.

One person said, "I'm not really into obligation, and that's all the Valentines Day is"

I replied, "If it feels like an obligation to show someone you love them then you're probably with the wrong person."

Everyone said it was just a holiday invented by hallmark and the 1-800-flowers to suck money out of the public. They said it was dumb and built up too much. They commented that no one should need a specific day to show someone you love them.

On their first two points, I may marginally agree. The holiday is perhaps blown a bit out of proportion.

To the last one I raise my right eyebrow, tilt my head and wonder, "true, but do you actually show someone how much you care everyday?"

I'd bet the answer is no.

I know I don't tell the ear doctor how much I care about him as often as I think about it. I don't tell my roommates how much I appreciate it when they ask my how my day was and honestly care about the response. I don't send my friends all over the country the letters they deserve to keep in touch.

So what is so wrong with having a designated world-wide day to show people that you care.

It's a lot better than letting the time slip by assuming they know.

My Olympic post

Now, I don't want to dis the Salt Lake City Olympic opening ceremonies, but did any of you happen to catch the one in Torino. Holy cow, it was awesome!

Where we had a bunch of singing hand-cart pioneers they had a huge choreographed ski jumper, and Pavorati, and cirque de solei.

I watched the whole thing. (Thank you TIVO for letting me fast forward through the many commercials and boring speeches).

I only have a few comments.

1) What is with our outfits? Why on earth must we cling to the stupid beret for a head cover? Why can't we wear beanies like every other American winter-sport enthusiast does? Seriously.

2) I was so happy to see that at the end the Italian athletes got more screen time and attention. It's nice to not feel like the center of the universe for a change.

3) That torch lighting was AMAZING. Defiantly a high-light.

4) If we are going to send a woman to represent the US in carrying in the flag, I think we could have done a little better than a movie star. She was seriously out-classed by the rest of the women carrying that flag and I felt a little bad for her.

New Shoes

Love, LOVE, L-O-V-E my new shoes

The end of the world as I know it

Woke up this morning thinking about the same thing I think about every Friday morning...yup, you guessed it...the friday doughnut.

Realized that I woke up early enough to actually do my hair and still get one of the chocolate ones (they always go the quickest).

Stepped out of my house and saw the 5 inches of beautiful new snow piled on top of car and wasn't annoyed. Rather, the thought of the doughnut luring me to work really put some ferocity into scraping arm.

Checked watch and saw that it was still early enough to sweep the snow off my front steps so that the mailman would deliver the mail. Sure, that meant probably gettgin stuck with the plain glazed doughnut, or the weird coconut covered one, but felt like it was ok since my roommates would appreciate my work.

Hopped into my car and started to drive to work.

The drive took 25 minutes just to get across town. Saw two sliding wrecks on the way. Nervously looked at console clock realizing that every minute that clicked away reduced chances of even getting said doughnut.

Almost sprinted across the parking lot in eager anticipation.

Rounded the corner to office and stopped dead in tracks.

No doughnuts today.

Can't even start to describe the crushing dissapointment.

Feel too bad about going out of MY way to actually get myself a doughnut, especially as am lugging my rockstar bag filled with gym clothes.

Not so great to be me today

Wow, sometimes I am really impressed by other people.

In a stunningly hurtful and immature move I mistakenly sent an email that was meant for a friend to and entire group. The contents of said email included some very mean and I'd like to think totally out of character sentences. Well, as I'm sure you've guessed, I had clicked the stupid "Reply All" button instead of just "Reply" and this scathing email to the target of my fury.

When I realized what I had done waves of grief and embarrasment flooded over me in such intense waves that I immedaitely was blinded by tears. There were many reasons I was so affected.

First, I imagined myself getting a similar email and the hurt I would feel. It would crush me.

Second, I realized that despite the mature grown-up reflection of myself that I have started to become slightly narcassistic with, I still have those ugly, gross, childish, backbiting, mean, judgemental spots of tarnish looking back at me.

Third, I have put a serious speed bump for our entire group and this project we have to do together.

So I followed this email up with a personal apology asking her for forgiveness.

Not only was her response completely classy, but it was totally forgiving.

This person who I thought was obnoxious and slightly lacking in social graces proved to be way better at them than myself. She showed me how a real adult should deal with problems. She taught me more than I could ever have learned about myself in the span of 2 short hours.

Thoughts

Right now I'm feeling pretty freakin awesome.

This morning I wasn't. I read by friend Bryan's post about being stoked about MIT and I started feeling like my choice of grad school wasn't challenging/impressive enough. I started feeling in the pit of my stomach like I'd opted for the easy way out and that I wasn't really pushing myself. I have so much to offer and I was feeling like my choice to go to CU wasn't going to get me where I should be going.

I just spent all morning working out a hefty piece of code that shows how light bounces around inside a telescope and it rocks. I feel like I'm learning cool things and succeeding at them so the earlier feelings of inadequacy and unimportance have subsided and I realized that my experience and contribution to this field is going to be what I make of it, regardless of where I've picked to go to school.

Oh, and I finally got a REALLY cool bag that can hold all of my stuff. Brown leather with brushed gold studs. Tres cute.

Watch that first step....it's a doooooosey

Ever since Bill Murray immortalized the little guy in that famous movie, Punxsutawney Phil has caputred my immagination.

So much so that last week I tried to see how much it would cost for me to buy some tickets and jet out to enjoy the festivities.

I mean, come on, how can you say no to this:

I can't really think of many more fun things than gathering together at a place called "Gobblers Nobb," joining hands with the locals and dancing in circles to celebrate an almost rodent's prediction of the weather.

Ungrateful

This semester I am taking a class that should be really cool. The whole class (of about 30 students) is broken into 3 groups and in those groups we write up a spacecraft proposal. That's it. For the whole semester.

The only down side is that there is the most annoying person in the whole wide world in my group. They talk about inane topics incessantly and it drives me up the wall.

Yesterday I went to a kick-off meeting for a new club at school (SEDS in case you're wondering) and the annoying-monster was there. They took one look at the 8 foot long FREE sub sandwich the club had provided to anyone who wanted any and said, "um, next time you might want to consider a vegetarian option."

I was floored.

I wanted to turn to them and say, "Hello, it's free food and you don’t have to eat it if you don't want to. Why should an entire room full of people cater to your needs?"

But I didn't. Because I have some MANNERS.