Does Hillary have a chance?

Okay, please permit me to bring out my nerd statistic side out and ruminate a little bit on the state of the Democratic Presidential Election race.

According to Wikipedia (the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom), Barack Obama has collected 1415 delegates from the primaries that have already been held, while Hillary Clinton has collected 1255 from the same. This puts Barack at a lead of 160 delegates. Estimates of already-pledged superdelegates gives Hillary a lead of 246 to 214, taking Barack's total delegate lead down to 128.

Using the map at Electoral-vote, I used a large amount of personal interpretation of data (I pulled it out of my booty) to come up with the following estimated totals for the remaining contests:

Using a model that is fairly generous to Hillary (giving her a 60% victory in PA, MT, and OR and a 70% victory in WV, and a 50% tie everywhere else and not really taking into account the crazy way the delegates are split, which will actually work against her getting this big a lead), I come up with her winning 309 of the remaining delegates from the states yet to vote, while Barack gets 243. When you add that to the totals so far, you get an 1872 (1415+214+243) to 1810 (1255+246+309) lead for Barack. With that total, the candidates would need 152 and 214 superdelegates respectively to get to the magic number of 2024

According to Wikipedia (the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom), there are 328 superdelegates left to be seated. In order for Hillary to take this thing, she would have to pull in 65% of the remaining superdelegates along with winning fairly dramatically in what are, admittedly, fairly friendly states for her. Unfortunately for her, however, if you give Barack a little bit of a break and change the primary delegate allocation to a more reasonable (bit still somewhat Hillary friendly) 290 to 262, then you have a total of 1891 to 1791, meaning that the number of votes needed to seal the deal would be 133 and 233. In this scenario, Hillary needs to convince 72% of the superdelegates to vote for her.

Of course, all of this does not take into account the fact that none of the superdelegates are bound to the candidate that they have endorsed, and in fact, many have already changed affiliation.

In the end, this is likely still Obama's election to lose. After the Jeremiah Wright debacle, I thought he would lose it, but Hillary came to his rescue with her trademark wild exaggerations that seem to have evened out the tables a little on which candidate is least suited to be President. This is one election that I believe is going to come down to the wire. Hillary will close the gap significantly with fairly large victories in some key states from here to the end of the Primary season and those wins will certainly sway a number of superdelegates toward her, but when all is said and done the superdelegates will be looking at an election where Barack Obama won 1677 delegates through the primaries and Hillary won 1545. Then they will look at an election where anywhere between 100,000 and 500,000 more people voted for Hillary than Barack, and they will be facing a very tough choice. Do they follow the Gore 2000 sentiment that the popular vote should count, or follow the rules as they are set up. In either case, the losing side will be able to present a very reasonable case for why the nomination was "stolen" from them.

Whatever the outcome, I have my popcorn ready. Lets enjoy the show!

More Jenna Videos

We'll continue to try to get more walking on camera, but I need another pair of hands, and Jenna has a tendency to not be in the mood when we're trying to do it. :)

Standing

Here's a video I just uploaded to YouTube of Jenna standing up by herself. This was on Friday, I believe, judging by her boyish clothes. We were in BabysRUS (Baby's Roose? What's a Roose, like a rude moose?) and I asked an employee where the swimming stuff was. She took one look at Jenna and said, "Boys stuff is along the far wall." I grinned and said, "Okay, but what about the girls stuff?" She really did look like a boy, but this time I didn't dress her. :)

Anyway, as of a few days ago, Jenna's figured out that we get really excited when she stands up, so when she does, she yells, usually after we're done shouting, "YAY!!" It's her impression of our "YAY". She does it in this video.

Can't...Quite....Reach...

Last night we were all in the living room playing. I was in Jenna's tent, Jenna was just outside the tent door, and Braden was right behind her. Jenna's been standing up more and more in the last week, so she was at it again. She stood up and was not quite close enough to the tent opening, which she wanted to reach, so she took a step toward it...and then another step! Three steps in all. I was like, OH MY GOSH, after I saw the first step, and Braden started laughing. Then Jenna sat down hard on her rump, which is her way to get down from standing.

We don't think she was aware of what she was doing, and when we tried to duplicate the situation (with the video camera close at hand), she wouldn't even stand up, of course.

Also, today, when Braden put the tent (opening side down) over Jenna, she took a step towards him. We'll have to take Braden's word for it, since his exclamation of surprise startled her into sitting down immediately. I had run over there to see, but no dice. :)

It's just a matter of time now, follllllllks.

Bubbles

Britain can be quite strange. Even so, this video from Britain's Got Talent is pretty funny. For the nuts and bolts of it, watch from 1:10 to the end of the act (about 3 mins in, or so?).

Um, yeah...can't you just see the Queen watching that?

A Little Weird News #4

A Little Weird News for March 29, 2008:

YouTube Edition

1. I'm not a huge basketball fan, but this pass may be about the best play I've ever seen. I had to watch it several times before I could believe that it actually happened. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, just fast-forward to :40 seconds in to see the super-slow-mo.

2. There is nothing quite so infectious as a baby laugh - especially in person - but how can you watch four of them laughing at the same time without wrinkling your cheeks at the same time. Check out the one on the left just chilling.

3. Last week at the end of a training class the subject of Peter and the Wolf came up and I couldn't for the life of me remember who composed it. Everyone said Tchaikovsky, but I knew that wasn't correct. It turns out it is Sergei Prokofiev. After watching this performance of it, however, you may wonder if it wasn't Busta Rhymes.

4. If you aren't one of the 4 million-plus peeps who have already watched Mariah Carey's song get slaughtered by a contestant on an American Idol ripoff from Bulgaria, you should definitely go give it a look. I feel bad laughing at her expense, but it always feels good to laugh.

5. While we are talking about American Idol, one of the contestants this year who I thought had a lot of potential, but who has not lived up to it at all is Michael Johns (formerly Michael Lee). Imagine my surprise (go ahead, I dare you) when I came across this video from his former band that is actually pretty good. Certainly better than anything he has done on AI.

My New Nursing Blog

What?!!??!??!?????!!! Braden has made another blog?

Yes. Get over it.

And while you are at it, get over to it and check it out. I only have one post up so far. It is about why I named the blog 20 out of 10. I'll also put up the emergency rap soon.

Why so many blogs? One word: ScribeFire.

Emergency Nurse Rap

I've been expanding my nursing blogroll and in doing so I came across this post from a blog that hasn't been updated in forever. Rather than try to be creative, I'm just going to lift it straight from their blog and land it here for your enjoyment. Watch this video and you will know why I am so cool.

Here is the video in question: It is available in Quicktime format or in Windows Media format.

In 2004, Craig
Barton, RN, and other ED staff at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham created an irreverent one-minute rap video, in response to a
hospital-wide nurse recruitment video contest. They won. Their
low-budget video is a clever and infectious slice of the life of an
urban ED nurse, with a focus on nurses' life-saving skills. There's
nothing angelic, maternal, or handmaidenish in it. And the joyous video
gives viewers a better sense of what modern nursing is really like.

Here are the lyrics:

Ka-boom! We're the emergency room!
And we treat every single patient from the womb to the tomb!"

Any kind of patient is accepted, our skills are well-perfected.
We expect the unexpected, that’s why we’re well-respected.

We’re ER Nurses. medications, we disperses.
When things get the worses, our talents just emerges

"Room 10, there's a patient with a hurtin' in the belly,
Look, there goes the intern with the KY jelly!"

Got a cat scan in room 6, xrays in room 8
there’s a chest pain in room 1 that really cant wait

He’s got a positive history, get a 12 lead EKG,
Better draw some blood for labwork when you start that IV

Got a migraine in room 2, room 3 has the flu,
Room 4 can’t pooh pooh. room 5 is plain Cukoo.

Lots of traumas on the way, right into the trauma bay
It can get a little loud, but yo, we like it that way

Yes it’s hectic, yet it’s clear, there’s no job that can compare
But don’t sweat it, have no fear, yo, we’re saving lives up here

Yeah were state of the art , so, yo, come be a part
Of this one-of-a-kind family that's 100% heart!"

American Idol Blog

So as not to clutter up our family blog with American Idol blogging, I have created a new blog on which to post my ruminations about the popular talent show that we all* know and love.

Come visit it at http://amillionpercentyes.blogspot.com


* well... some of us don't. To each their own.

Fancy Feast

I sometimes read the occasional cooking blog, and one of them (I'm not going to link to it here) is from a certain person who shall be the subject of this post. Let me start off by saying he seems like a really nice guy.

He frequently makes very pricey meals and even more frequently, it seems, goes to fancy schmancy restaurants, and we are talking many course meals. How does this guy afford all these meals? I mean, these are the type of meals that are really, really expensive. Braden and I don't like if a meal ends up costing more than $15, and that's for both of us! And when I do make an "ethnic" meal or something like that, it has cheap ingredients or I don't make it.

This guy always takes pictures of what he's doing, so he posts each course and what it was. I'm never impressed. Probably only a couple few things have actually looked tasty (or even edible, really) out of the many meals he's posted online. I don't know, maybe I'm just uncultured when it comes to food, but I just don't get a lot of these meals. What's the attraction? What makes someone say, I'm fully prepared to drop the price of a plane ticket from Seattle to Cleveland on this dinner for two??? To me, spending $40 on dinner for two is almost unheard of. And even if I could afford to spend as much on food as he does, I would choose to use my money in other ways.

Maybe my palate is just not "refined" enough.

American Idol top 10 liveblog

Yes, I'm a nerd.

But Kerry and I have enjoyed watching American Idol this year and we have enjoyed reading other people's opinions on different blogs (most notably Snark Raving Mad), so I'm going to give it a go this week and see how I do. We don't have cable, so we are relying on members of the YouTube community to help us out, and generally speaking, they have done so just fine. If you are interested in seeing the videos, you can check out the profiles of idolfreak08, idolfanatic4, and 23getready23.

So without further ado, here is what you have been up all night waiting for: Braden's opinions on a bunch of random kids singing songs that are as old as they are.

1 Ramiele Malubay: She was born in Saudi Arabia and she looked "Bomb" when she was born. She bites. She started "singing singing" when she was 12. You mean she isn't still 12? My bad. Ryan says that this is a "crucial time". Isn't every week? She is singing "Alone" by Heart. Here we go: Ouch. Not starting off so good, and what is that school-girl outfit with built-in girdle that she is wearing? She is off-key as she hits the big notes, and in fact she is being out-sung by the back-up singers. Kerry: "You gotta knock that out of the park after Carrie Underwood did it, and she didn't". Randy: Too big a song, a little pitchy. He gets Ramielle's but-look-how-cute-I-am pout as a reward. Paula: Blah blah blah I'm trying to nicely say that you sucked it up blah blah blah. Simon: Not as bad as Randy said, but calls it shrieky and shouting. Then he ends with a very strange non-compliment. Simon is wrong and Randy is right and Paula is dumb. Kerry agrees with Simon about the shrieking. Ramiele says that her voice went bye-bye. After that performance, so will she. Braden's rating: 3/10 Kerry: 4/10

2 Jason Castro: Apparently today is his birthday. Apparently he is celebrating by getting really high and then being interviewed. He is singing "Fragile" by Sting. Here we go: He starts out by burping into the mic... or if those were words, I didn't understand them. I can't listen to him sing without being endlessly distracted by his breathing heavily into the mic. Every H that he sings comes out as a mini-boom. I have nothing remarkable to say about this performance. Typical Jason: good voice ruined by a boring selection and his breathing into the mic and his constipated facial expressions. Kerry: "He's pretty gutsy to keep throwing in foreign languages" Randy: It was aaaight. It was nice. Paula: blah blah blah a little safe blah blah blah. Simon: he starts out with "okay" everytime that happens it is going to be bad... sure enough, he says it sounds like someone outside the subway station and then says Jason isn't taking it seriously. Then he ends with "sorry"... doubly bad. Ryan asks Jason if he takes the show seriously... what is he supposed to respond? "um, no Ryan, actually I hate being here and hope to get voted off, but thanks for asking. By the way, do you want to smoke a joint with me afterwards?" Ryan's brilliant follow-up: "But you are in it to win it, right?" This razor-sharp in-depth reporting brought to you by Seacrest enterprises. Braden's rating: 5.5/10 Kerry: 7.5/10.

3 Syesha Mercado: Glad to know Syesha wasn't born on a hot winter's day. Thanks for clarifying, Syesha. This interview makes her sound of low intelligence. She says "I'm still a kid" and she sounds like it. She is singing "If I Was Your Woman" by Stephanie Mills. Here we go: She starts off with some odd animal mating call sound. Now we are halfway in and I'm still bored. She needs to get better quickly. And now she can't keep in sync with the backup singers for the 5 notes that they sing with her. Now it's over and I'm still not blown away. Kerry: "I think she sang it pretty well, but I don't really like the song, so maybe that's skewing my view of the overall performance." Randy: This is the best I've ever heard you sing... steller, unbelievable, etc... he doesn't know how to end a compliment. Paula: blah blah blah flipped it blah blah blah big compliment from Paula. Simon: doesn't think it was as good as Randy. Paula was smiling from the first note. Perhaps if we can figure out which animal mating call the first note was, then we will learn more about Paula. Braden's rating: 4/10 Kerry: 6.5/10

4 Chikezie Eze: He's a 9/11 baby. Do you notice that sometimes when he talks he keeps his eyes closed? He is singing "If Only For One Night" by Luther Vandross. Here we go: Another first line off-key moment. Now he is playing the mac daddy with his front row fans. All-in-all he puts out a fair performance of a boring song. Kerry: "It was all right. He didn't suck as bad as I thought he would." Randy: I don't like making comparisons, but... she rocked, you didn't. Paula: blah blah blah great job blah blah blah textures blah blah blah. Simon: You sang it well, but your performance was cheesy. I agree. Simon: Show originality. I agree. So does Randy. Braden's rating: 6/10 Kerry: 6/10

5 Brooke White: So Brooke is a piano prodigy. Figures. People that can play by ear make me mad. I'm jealous. She is singing "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. An odd choice, I think. Here we go: I like her hair straight. Ouch she had to restart after one note. She recovers well, though. I love Brooke. I want to move next door to her so that we can hang out. I'm watching the plants in the front rows of the crowd and they can't keep their silly hand-waving in sync. Did I mention that I love Brooke? I can't wait to buy her album. Maybe she and her husband can come over and we can all bake cookies together. Kerry: "it was pretty good, but I cringed for her at the beginning." Randy: (about her starting over) "A lot of good professionalism there." Brooke: "No, that's not good." That's my girl keeping it rizzle. Paula: blah blah blah better than last week you have your own niche blah blah blah. Simon: Definitely good enough for another week, but.......... Ryan says it was brave to restart. Brooke: "Generally you shouldn't do that." Keeping it rizzle. After we bake cookies, we can play a board game. It'll be fun. Kerry: Thanks so much for making me crave cookie dough. I think Braden should go make me some now. Braden's rating: 8.5/10 Kerry: 8/10

Paula doesn't seem too drunk today.

6 Michael Johns: Michael can't remember his birthday. Stuff. He is singing "We Are The Champions" by Queen. A tall order. Here we go: He comes out rockin! I'm loving it so far. Awkward transition from the We Will Rock You part of the song to the Champions part. A couple funny notes here and there, but I'm plum impressed so far. He isn't doing too much original with the song, but I'm not sure what can be done with it. He is having a hard time with some of the high notes. Kerry: "I was entertained" Gladiator: "Are you not entertained?" Randy can't speak because of the cheering crowd. Randy: You used the big old voice you got. That was the best performance yet. I agree. Paula: blah blah blah shut my mouth blah blah blah shining city on a hill blah blah blah. Simon sees star potential for the first time. Simon: tonight you just got it right. I have to say that it seems like he can sing Queen, but I haven't liked anything else by him so far. Braden's rating: 8/10 Kerry: 8/10

7 Carly Smithson: Aaaah! Naked baby picture. Aaaaah! Scary little girl picture. She is singing "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" by Bonnie Tyler. This is a song that I think Kristy Lee should sing. Here we go: I hope she will be wearing sleeves. NO!!! she isn't. At first I liked how she started and then I realized it was one of the backup singers. Man she is ugly with that crappy makeup and hairstyle. Oh here comes the big part of the song, get ready for screaming in 3, 2, 1, and yes here it is. And she ends on a terrible note. Kerry: "I'm not impressed with that ending. I don't like it when she gets shrieky shouty." Randy: I didn't love it. The note at the end went sharp. it was just okay. Paula: blah blah blah I love what you did at the end (Randy makes the reasonable point that what she did at the end wasn't in tune) blah blah blah. Simon: Parts of the song you sang well, but something didn't quite work. You should lighten up. Carly's excuse: I went to the bathroom before. Ryan continues his reporting brilliance with this question: "did you flush?" I'm just disappointed that he didn't wait for a response. With Carly's PR skills she probably would have answered. Braden's rating: 5/10 and only that high because she did okay in the non-shrieky parts. Kerry: 6.5/10.

8 David Archuleta: He might miss prom by being on American Idol. Lots of girl volunteers. Oh he has a girlfriend. She looks like a nice Mormon girl. I've never seen his Dad without a baseball cap on. Now we are seeing a very cute video of young David dancing. As we are watching Jenna is over in her corner dancing around. How cute. David is singing "You're The Voice" by David Foster. Here we go: Bad start. Too low for him. Oh no it's another commie song. He's doing much much better on the singing. It got a little sloppy at the end. Great middle, though. Kerry: I think he was trying to show he can work the crowd. Randy: strange song choice (I agree) but very nice. Paula: blah blah blah I'm just kidding blah blah blah. Simon: didn't like it at all. Sounds like a theme-park performance with animated creatures and everyone joins in together. "I would be amazed if you chose the song yourself" This brings up a rumor that Kerry heard that David's Dad is picking the songs for him. Braden's message to David's Dad: STOP PICKING COMMIE LIBERAL FEEL-GOOD SONGS. Braden's rating: 7/10, mostly for the middle of the song. Kerry: 8/10.

9 Kristy Lee Cook: A Seattle baby! She looked exactly the same at 4 as she does now. She is singing "God Bless The USA" by Lee Greenwood. Here we go: She starts off well enough. Nothing special, though. She just said God Bless the USAaaaaayieaaiaaaaaieeeaa. Nothing liking singing the number 1 patriotic song around to try to rouse up votes, and she needs them. I think she came into tonight as the one on the chopping block. Kerry: "I just can't really get excited about her but it was better than the past couple weeks." Randy: very nice performance. Paula: blah blah blah um blah blah blah. did she just say "pitch problems"? Simon: You're best performance by a mile. Clever song choice, and it will keep you in the competition. Kerry disagrees. I disagree with Kerry. I think Ramiele is going to go tomorrow. Braden's rating: 6/10. Kerry: 7/10.

Wow, this live-blogging thing is a lot of typing.

10 David Cook: My first thought at seeing David's baby photo: "What is that huge noggin!" David: "I had a huge skull". Me: yeah. He is singing "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. What? Did I read that right? Michael Jackson? Okay... Here we go: I can't understand what he is mumbling. Well he is certainly coming at this song from a non-MJ direction. So far it actually isn't that bad. In fact, I kind of like it when he isn't mumbling. Kerry: "It was better than I thought it was going to be but the ending was crap, so it lowered my rating. And by the way, FREAKING CUT YOUR HAIR! I mean, what is that mop?" Randy: You might be the one to win the whole lot. Then he doesn't know how to finish his compliment. Paula: blah blah blah will you have my baby? blah blah blah. Simon: amazing. Braden's rating: 7/10. Kerry: 6.5/10.

So now to put those in order (average Braden and Kerry score):

Brooke: 8.25
Michael: 8
David A: 7.5
David C: 6.75
Kristy Lee: 6.5
Jason: 6.5
Chikezie: 6
Carly: 5.75
Syesha: 5.25
Ramiele: 3.5

Finally, predictions for the bottom 3:

Braden: Ramiele, Kristy, Carly. Ramiele goes home.
Kerry: Ramiele, Kristy, Syesha. Kristy goes home.

Will the Real Slim Jenna...

Okay, so she's not exactly slim right now. Chubby bubby is more like it. Regardless, I am happy to say that the Divine Miss J stood up on her own as of last Friday, and she is doing it more and more in the days since then. Last night, Braden watched as she stood up and sat down 4 times in a row! I came downstairs and saw 2 out of 4.

She still won't do it on command, though. Stubborn girl. Just like her mother. :)

I wonder how soon until she's walking?

Oops... sorry Hillary

It is tragic how often our presidential candidates are getting shot at. First Barack can't even fill up at the pump, and now Hillary is dodging sniper fire.

But wait... did Hillary really dodge sniper bullets? The quote at the end of this video says it all. "in politics, memory should always match the videotape". The comedian Sinbad, who went to Bosnia with Clinton reportedly reacted to Clinton's statement with a "Say What?" and said that the "scariest" part of the trip was wondering where he'd eat next.

It seems like Hillary often has a very politically convenient memory. Like when she talked about the origin of her name and where her daughter was on 9/11.

Of course, as long as I'm getting political here, we may as well be fair and mention the news that John McCain was apparently trying to run as Kerry's (the ugly one, not my wife) running mate in 2004.

I'm not liking any of these candidates.

Ronald McDonald 2008!

A Little Weird News #3

A Little Weird News for Monday, March 24, 2008:

1. Sometimes I try my hand at filming things that are important to me, but invariably, I mess up and it looks and sounds unprofessional. It is at times like that when I should just bite the bullet and let the real pros have a go at it.

2. For those who like the TV show 24, there is a little-known prequel to it that you should see. This is the first attempt, and unfortunately, it didn't quite cut it.

3. If you think online shopping is boring, you should try buying some of these products. Let the page load all the way before you do anything.

4. Here is one that is maybe only worth a minute of your time, but give it that minute. When the picture loads (I think it is Toronto), slowly move the mouse from left to right across the picture.

5. I got frustrated several times trying to figure this puzzle out, but in the end I did it, and now you have to as well. One trick that took me a few minutes to figure out (so much for reading the directions) is that you can rotate the puzzle pieces by using the arrow keys. Good luck.

Makeage-O

While lamenting the squishyness and crampedness of the dining room with a high chair in it (among other things):
"Nothing is, like, any room!!"

I realized what I had said and started laughing my head off. I meant to say that there was no room anywhere.

I'm really tired.

Rush to floor!!!

So if you are reading this post first today, skip down a few to the "I think not" post and work your way up.

This picture is from a few months ago. New desk calendars arrived at Group Health to go with the new year. I found it funny that it said on the side of the box "rush to floor".

I'm not sure if I actually did it (knowing me I probably did), but I was at least tempted to run over and kick the box over.



Well, at least I thought it was funny.

Maybe Mommy wasn't wearing deodorant

This picture goes way back to before Jenna was born. We were in one of our pre-natal classes and the instructor passed out little dolls to everyone to demonstrate something. The girl sitting next to us must not have put on her deodorant or maybe she said something, but whatever it was... her baby wasn't happy about it:

thanks a lot

So a few months ago I went into the bathroom (I think it was in Half Price Books) and noticed a little problem with the "Rest Assured" toilet seat covers.



Let's just say I wasn't so assured.

The magic french fry

Today during the incredibly boring 8 hour lecture on neuro and stroke that I was subjected to (which is too bad, because I was actually looking forward to it), I had the chance to look through a bunch of pictures that I have previously taken with my pocket PC. So today I'm subjecting you to some of them.

This one is the magic french fry. Kerry and I were going to get haircuts many months ago and on the way we stopped at a fast food place and got something to eat. There was a problem with one of the French fries and so I rolled the window down a little and tossed it out, but it landed on the outside ledge of the window... and stayed there... and stayed there... and stayed there. The picture is after we had driven several more miles and arrived at our destination.



It's... tenacious.

I think not

You can't see it very well because I had to snap a photo with my Pocket PC as I drove through the stop light, but that little yellow sign in the picture says in messy permanent marker, "I buy houses" and a phone number to call.


You can afford my house, but you can't afford a sign?

No thanks.

Atari HELP!!!

There is this game Dan and I used to play on Atari, and for the life of me, I cannot remember what it was called. I've tried to explain it before to other people, but I just get these looks like I'm crazy. And maybe I am. But not on this! I have vivid memories of playing it, and it was really fun.

Here's what I remember:

It was a black background with stars twinkling that made you feel like you were in space.
There were bars like this, but thicker, almost like gold scaffolding:
___________ ___________ _____

__________ ______________ _______ ______

So, varying lengths of bars abound.
Your character is a rudimentary gold stick figure.
At some point (probably the beginning of the game, heh), a timer starts going, and your goal is to get to the bottom of the screen, wherever the bars may end. You keep going down, down, down as fast as you can, and it's your choice what bars to take as you go down.
I sort of remember that maybe you were trying to rescue someone trapped at the bottom, but if time ran out, the game was over. Also, as the time got closer to running out, the music got faster and louder, as if your 5-year-old self weren't freaked out enough already.

Did anyone play this game ever????? Obviously, this thing is hard to explain in this format.
It's one of those things I just can't remember, and it's really bugging me!

A Little Weird News #2

A Little Weird News for Monday, March 17, 2008:

I was going to make this a once-a-week posting of my interesting internet investigations (okay so I went for the alliteration and killed the sentence... shoot me), but I discovered that I have so many that if I wait and post them once a week I will develop a backlog that would make the federal government proud, so from now on my Sunday Funnies will just be called A Little Weird News and will be posted whenever I get around to writing about 5 different links, or else whenever I feel like it. Love it.

1. You want some interesting/scary statistics? Then check out this youtube video. If you get bored and don't want to watch any more? Well then just skip ahead to 3:26. Oh yeah!!! Otherwise, you may consider watching it with the volume muted to save being annoyed by the repetitive music. Also, check out this quote (from 6:44): "We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don't yet exist... in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet."

2. This little art show seems pointless, but keep watching, keep watching, wait for it... you'll see. I sure didn't see this one coming. Maybe you will.

3. Pictures taken at just the right time. Exactly what the title suggests.

4. Do you ever get tired of those stupid compilation commercials selling you the newest CD that they put together by downloading songs from napster? Well maybe you'll make an exception for "Kids Rock". Not only did they find a great selection of songs, but they are family friendly kids songs... shall we say... redone.

5. Watching things get blown up is always very cool. I especially appreciated the exploding barbie doll head near the end. Enjoy.

Names changed to protect... us

You may notice that any post that used to be from "Braden and Kerry" are now listed as from "Braden"

this is because we corrected the problem that had both of us using the same gmail account to post to Blogger. Now anything that comes from my gmail account (the one we used to both use) will be listed as from "Braden" while anything from Kerry will be labeled as such. So as you look back before this week where I started posting for real, you can't believe anything that says from "Braden" unless I signed it as being from me.

Just thought you were dying to know that.

Please, don't die.

Kerry likes that I'm posting a lot

I just thought you might want to know.

Sunday funnies

Here for you with 7 of the most crazy, funny, bizarre, educational and/or dumb things I have found on the net, it's:

A Little Weird News:

1. The power of our minds never ceases to amaze me. I have tried this reading test before and it still blows me away. See how you do.

2. I had to laugh at some of the 20 Worst Engrish ever. This is a collection of photos of signs demonstrating why it helps to go with the Kerry's of the world instead of whoever will translate your text for the cheapest. (warning if you explore the rest of the site: there is a somewhat suggestive picture at the top of many other pages, though this one appears safe)

3. Next up is a comic strip about a kid with a problem. I kind of saw the punchline coming, but it still made me laugh.

4. How well do you know your anatomy? At this next site, you get to see a little picture of some part of the anatomy (ribs, muscles, etc) and you have to click on the corresponding body part on the disgusting looking model. Hmm... it is not nearly as pornographic as I just made it sound. In fact, it is from the Smithsonian.

5. I don't have a cat, but even still I enjoyed this little animation. I've seen it before somewhere, but enjoyed watching it again anyway.

6. Why do Americans die? Click here to find out.

7. And finally, this one had me just about falling out of my chair. I'm speechless. Just watch this hilarious prank.

Lookalikes

Some straightforward, some scary, some funny, check out this rather large page of famous lookalikes. I especially like John Kerry's lookalike.

-B-

The mall

So last night to get away we went to the mall.

As per usual, we left very late and so when we got there and went straight to the food court (Kerry needed food ASAP, NOW, PRONTO), it was already nearing closing time. By the time we finished eating, we had 15 minutes to look around before it closed. I guess that's okay, because we usually don't buy anything from mall stores anyway, because you can almost always find similar or better items for cheaper elsewhere.

Anyway, I decided that the mall food court is a great place to go out to eat when we have Jenna, because 1) it has a wide variety of food, so even if we don't know exactly what we want, we can usually find something and 2) Jenna can yell and scream and throw things all she wants and it wont distract the huddled masses (they are already too busy being distracted by the rapper wannabes being escorted out by the police).

-Braden-

As an aside: why is McDonalds the most frequented resto at the food court? If I'm going to the mall it is because I want variety, not something I can find on every street corner in America.

Had to post this picture

I accidentally stumbled on this picture while searching for another. Not sure if it is photoshopped or not.

-B-

Most Hated Songs

So we've gotten really into American Idol this season, due to Braden's parents. There will be another post on that, BUT I was thinking about the songs I really can't stand, and let me tell you why. One of the contestants on AI this season picked a song that I loathe, and it was during 80s week. So I had to endure it twice, for Braden's sake, and I couldn't even really judge his singing of it. I'm so biased against the song that all I could hear was DEATH. Anyway, so here are some songs I can think of that I absolutely detest:

1. It's All Coming Back To Me Now - Celine Dion (this was sung by David Hernandez on AI a couple of weeks ago)
2. My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion (are you sensing a theme? No, I actually do like Celine, but I like her much better in French...she just happens to have two songs on my death song list)
3. I Touch Myself - The Divinyls
4. B**** - Meredith Brooks
5. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) - Meat Loaf

What are your most hated songs? We're talking about the songs that as soon as you hear the first note, you immediately change the radio station.

Cool Soccer Moves

This video appears to be some sort of trailer for a video game, but if the moves these guys are doing are real, it's pretty amazing. Of course I can do them too, but I don't have the expensive video equipment to be able to record it, nor do I have crazy Spanish music to go in the background. Enjoy.

-Braden-

The SUPERmall

This past Monday we all went out to the SUPERmall to hang out a bit. It was really fun! I could not believe that Jenna stayed asleep through being removed from her carseat, placed in the stroller (in the rain) and wheeled around through 1/3 of a very big mall. That's unheard of. Even if she's only been sleeping for 10 minutes, she'll usually wake up when you take her out of her carseat. But it was allllll good, because she obviously needed the sleep.

I thought I'd share some pictures with the huddled masses, but apparently ScribeFire bites when it comes to posting images. Hmm. Well, I guess I will have to go into Blogger to fix my post.

This image is from the "As Seen on TV" store, which contains a bunch of products most normal people never buy. The product below is one of them.



Jenna trying out a new shoe style in Burlington Coat Factory


Having fun with mirrors


The rest of these pictures are from a little playplace for kids where we let Jenna crawl around. She had a blast!

Believe it or not, here Jenna is intently staring at a lesbian couple sitting nearby.


LEMME OFF!!!




Showing off her flexibility


She had so much fun with this puzzle thing. She kept flipping the pieces around and around.

Silly "about me" questions

10 YEARS AGO:
Braden: I was finishing up High School. I don't want to remember.

Kerry: I was at BYU trying to get into the graphic design program, but I didn't get accepted. I was heartbroken, because I thought, "this is what I want to do."

Jenna: Twinkle


5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST:
Braden:
1 Catch up on bills
2 memorize cardiac rhythms
3 get an alignment for the car
4 finish this post and upload it to our blog
5 feed Jenna some solid food

Kerry:
1 Finish the freelance project I'm working on
2 feed Jenna more solid food
3 get a menu going
4 get boxes unpacked
5 eat better

Jenna:
1 Eat
2 poop
3 pull down the blinds in the living room
4 poop some more right after being changed
5 whine at Mommy when I'm hungry, even if Daddy is right there


5 SNACKS I ENJOY:
Braden:
1 Puffed Oreos (or whatever they are called... found them at Wal-mart)
2 popcorn
3 chips and salsa
4 Triscuits
5 7-11 Cheeseburger hot dogs with cheese and salsa and chili

Kerry:
1 Chips and salsa
2 Mashed potatoes and gravy
3 KFC Snackers
4 popcorn
5 Smoothies

Jenna:
1 Cheerios
2 oyster crackers
3 Kix
4 Saltines
5 cardboard boxes


5 Places I've Lived:
Braden: Stillwater, OK, Rochester, NY, Salt Lake City, UT, Provo, UT, France, Tahiti, Washington

Kerry: Ohio, Utah, Arizona, New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Oregon, Virginia

Jenna: Mommy's belly, Washington


WHAT WOULD I DO IF I SUDDENLY BECAME A BILLIONAIRE:
Braden: Get Kerry a second car, single-handedly fund a few thousand wards with a tithing check, lower my FTE at work and go back to school for fun.

Kerry: Get a second car, pay off my debts, and travel.

Jenna: Buy more formula.


5 JOBS I'VE HAD:
Braden:
1 AutoCAD Technicien
2 Food Server at the Olympics in SLC
3 CNA at Nursing Home, Hospital Floor and Emergency Department
4 LPN at pulmonology office and Group Health
5 RN at Emergency Department.

Kerry:
1 Cashier at a Grocery Store
2 Fast Food Worker
3 Sign Team Member (putting up signs at Macy's)
4 Advertising Artist
5 Freelance Spanish Translator
6 Typesetter.

Jenna:
1 Currently unemployed and collecting benefits.


5 THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME:
Braden:
1 I am a Top Ramen gourmet
2 I won a prize from a state-wide photography competition when I was in High School
3 I have completed nearly 20 quarters of College and only have an Associate's Degree to show for it
4 My bowling team won the Saint Martin's College bowling league championship despite a team average of less than 150 per game
5 Although Classical music is my favorite, I also enjoy Metallica, Stabbing Westward, and Life of Agony.

Kerry:
1 I'm a pretty good artist
2 I have many, many song lyrics memorized, along with random music trivia
3 I think it's hilarious to take pictures of random people without them knowing, but I seldom do it
4 I really wish I would have done Study Abroad when I had the chance...but I didn't know I had the chance!
5 If there is a strong smell near where I'm eating, it makes my food taste like that smell. This is why I don't like to eat near other strong smells.

Jenna:
1 I make a good soccer goalie
2 I've been wearing size 4 shoes since I was 8 months old or so
3 I stick my tongue out when I babble
4 I love looking at myself in the mirror
5 I lost my glasses a few days ago

Wow...just wow

An anchorman and a reporter go at it here.

Pretty Peas

I just tried to feed Jenna some peas, and she wouldn't even open her mouth. In fact, she shoved my hand away and made me drop the pea on her pants. I guess she pea'd her pants. :)

I think this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the kid's mine.

Church

I remember Dan saying once that it's pretty common for them to leave church very frustrated due to kids being loud, fussy, etc. That happened to me today, and not for the first time. With Braden's new job, he has to work every other weekend, which is common in the healthcare industry. When he was an ER Tech before we were married, he had a deal with someone that he would work every Saturday and this other guy would work every Sunday. Obviously, something like that is ideal, but Braden just got this job and hasn't found anyone to do that with yet. So, for the second time on a Sunday, today I dragged Jenna out of bed and drove Braden to work at o'dark thirty so I could have the car to go to church. I really don't like being dependent on someone for a ride anyway, but especially with a child. I want to be able to leave if I need to and not inconvenience anyone. Anyway, Jenna went back to sleep pretty quickly after returning home and eating, and then she slept until right before we left for church. Church was a doozy today. Jenna was having NONE OF IT. We were both exhausted from a long day yesterday and then getting up so early this morning. We lasted until after the sacrament was passed, and then I had to take her out in the hall and the Relief Society room for the rest of the meeting. I went back in for the closing hymn and prayer, and Jenna was being loud and cranky through all of it. (Does anyone else pray for the prayer to end so your kid won't sound so loud? Puts a whole other perspective on long prayers.)

I'd been kind of looking around for someone to take Jenna just for a minute so that I could go to the bathroom, because wow, I had to go. The thing is, we're new in the ward, so I don't really know many people, and I'm not going to hand my kid over to just anyone. I finally asked a lady with a kind face if she would and she was happy to. Thank goodness. I was getting really desperate. Haha, I actually thought to myself, well, I think that's her daughter and grandson with her, so she's not likely to abscond with Jenna. When I told Braden that, he said that it's pretty sad that you have to think about that even in church, but in my opinion you do. I've heard some stories, and yes, in LDS meetinghouses. Anyway, I don't know how single moms do it. My hat goes off to them. When I returned from the bathroom, I took Jenna back, and she immediately started fussing very loudly. Cheerios worked for about 2 minutes, and then I had seriously just had it. I was like, we are both very cranky, and we're disrupting the meeting for other people. So I decided to go, because Jenna was about to have a complete meltdown. Sometimes church is very difficult...it sure helps to have your hubbin there!

On a side note, I would like to know how moms go to the restroom when you have your kid(s) with you, and they're not old enough to walk or listen to you. What do you do? The bathroom floor is nasty nasty. One mom whose blog I read said that her 3-year-old was in the stall with her at the airport, and the little girl opened the stall door. The mom didn't realize it until she looked up a few seconds later and saw a long line of women staring at her. EMBARRASSING!!! And what about trying on clothes with a kid? I don't even do it with Jenna right now. She'd just crawl right under the door when I was half undressed, I just know it. :)

Garbage

About a week ago, Braden asked our landlord if he could please fax a copy of part of our lease agreement to the garbage company, who had requested it so we could prove we are new tenants. Apparently a previous tenant has an outstanding bill. So Braden sent an email to our landlord asking if it had gone through, and his response went something like this: "I apologize profusely. My wife forgot to fax the documents. My advice to you is to go to the Kinko's at [street name] and fax it from there."

Um, thanks? Does anyone else find this weird? The reason why Braden asked him to do this is because we don't know exactly where our copy is, what with the move. He has that information ready at hand and access to a fax machine, had agreed to do it and said he'd get right on it. We're not going to use him as a fax machine...he could have said no from the beginning, in which case we would probably have asked him to send us a copy of the lease agreement since our other copy is MIA. To me, the latter is more time consuming and annoying, but whatever. They do seem like nice people, but it's just weird to say, "I apologize profusely, but I'm not going to do what I promised, now go do it yourself." The funny thing is that I didn't want to ask him in the first place, and I thought it was cool that he was going to do that for us, but now I'm like, thaaaaaanks. So, I guess he may be coming tomorrow to look at something, and Braden is going to ask if he can bring another copy for us.

Frequency

Kerry said "now that it is much, much easier to post, I expect we'll be posting more"

We'll see about that.

-Braden-

Actually, she is probably right. For instance, this post, which I am doing just so that I can go against her wishes on being quoted, is my first real post in a very long time. And now with it being easier to post to the blog, I may just overcome some of my laziness and tell y'all some stories from the ER. But don't quote me on that.

ScribeFire

So, to clarify, what we now have is a blog editor called ScribeFire, which is a Firefox add on. (Braden just set up Firefox for me on my computer yesterday.)

"ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured
blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post
to your blog. You can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are
browsing, take notes, and post to your blog."

Basically, I click on the icon on the bottom left of my screen, and a textbox pops up (not unlike Blogger itself in its presentation). I can then type what I want, add pictures and links, and then click "Publish to [insert your blog name here]." Then it gives you the option of viewing the blog you just published to. You can have a bunch of different blogs, and you just specify which one you want to work with.

It's cool because I can be logged into Blogger only in ScribeFire, and also logged into Gmail (which is a different password) at the same time, which was the main reason I hated posting, since I always had to log out and log in a bunch of times. So...now that it is much, much easier to post, I expect we'll be posting more. Don't quote me on that, though. :)

Cheers!

Treehouse of Coolness

Got this link from my old standby Mental Floss:

Everybody’s Treehouse was completed in 2007 at Mt. Airy Forest in Cincinnnati, Ohio. Bill Allen of Forever Young talked to the New York Times about it.

Its 160-foot ramp winds among 14 trees (red and white
oaks, maples and ash) as it climbs 15 feet to a 2,000-square-foot house
with two asymmetrical cedar-shingle roofs that give it a
Hansel-and-Gretel look. The structure is made of tongue-and-groove pine
boards with an ipê-wood deck and has eight windows; most start 32
inches from the floor, an ideal height for wheelchair occupants. “For a
kid in a wheelchair,” Mr. Allen said, “it gives a different perspective
of what the world looks like, of what a tree looks like, of what a
forest looks like.”

A stronge collaboration between city officials, sponsors, civic
organizations, and construction crews meant this treehouse could be
built in record time -only 32 days! HBA Charitable Projects kept a photoblog on the construction of the Mt. Airy Treehouse. It is described as having “one of the most whimsical and complicated roofing systems ever seen”. (image credit: Jennifer Johnson)

Just wondering if my Cincy peeps have been there...looks like fun for the kiddos!

Yay!

Yay, we have a new blog editor! This hopefully means the end of my woes with different usernames.

Also, I am currently working on a large freelance project, so that's taking up all of my free time right now. In the immortal word(s) of Ryan, "yayness".

This post deleted

I am testing a new blogposting software and made a boo-boo. Please ignore this post.


Braden

Highchair Behavior

This is how a feeding session with Jenna sometimes goes:











Eventually something other than her foot goes into her mouth. I guess it depends how hungry she is. :)

It's Surprisingly Sunny

...knock on wood. We haven't had much rain lately. Which is, I think, unusual for WA this time of year. But I am not complaining at all.

Jenna and I went out in the backyard the other day, since it was so nice out, and I introduced her to grass. Jenna, grass. Grass, Jenna. She actually didn't eat any!







I LOVE her shoes.