Hang in there, London

I'm glad to see that no one was killed this time, and my heart goes out to those people in London who are just trying to carry on with a normal commute and instead confront terrorism.

Again.

Let's hope it's the last time.

Also in my Links I Like section...

"How to Hawaiianize your name:

There are two ways to determine the Hawaiian equivalent of your name. The first is to determine the meaning of your name and then obtain the Hawaiian word for that meaning. The second, and the most common, is by the process of transliteration -- that is, to replace the letters in the English name with Hawaiian letters. This is not so easy since, as noted above, Hawaiian only has twelve letters.

So here is the formula:
Replace B, F, P with P

Replace C, D, G, J, K, Q, S, T, X, Z with K

Replace H with H

Replace N with N

Replace L, R with L

Replace V, W with W

Replace Y with I

Vowels remain the same. Also be sure to separate all consonants with a vowel. For example, Barbara would be PALAPALA because there must be a vowel between the "r" and "b" in Barbara."

This makes me Elike, pronounced Ay-Lee-Kay. If I go by translation, Elise is a derivative of Elizabeth, which is from the Greek Elisabet from the Hebrew Elisheba, which means "my God is an oath" or "my God is Abundant."

Translated into Hawaiian, Abundant God = Nui Akua, and God Oath = Akua Ho'Ohiki.

What's your Hawaiian name? Add it to the comments.

C'mon people, a little more audience participation, hmmmm?

Euphausia Superba

Hi all. I don't know how many of you have bothered to click on the "Antartic Krill" link to the right...so I thought I show you what you'd find.

From the web page about them: "special: some scientists describe Euphausia superba as the once most abundant multicellular species of the planet - some scientists describe Euphausia superba as one of the most flexible of our planet - some describe Euphausia superba as the most physiologically dynamic - some as a most interestingly designed - a famous scientist as "of almost extraterrestrial appearance, endowed with magical powers ", another: "The high importance of lowly krill"- and most of those few humans who were lucky to observe Euphausia superba alive, under water, lights still on, with the right optics, as utmost beautiful and fascinating."


Euphausia Superba. Aptly named.

I believe I found these by doing a search on Bioluminescence, but the website doesn't confirm if they're bioluminescent or not.

Still, bioluminescence has to be one of the coolest things on earth.

Though I would say, tied with some cephalopods' ability to shift color and irridescence. See my "Links I like" section to find out more.

Have a Great Oink Time

This is a fabulous site: http://drawapig.desktopcreatures.com/

You'll have to draw one first...

Draw yours first!!

Draw it!!

As they say "looking at other drawings will change the way you draw a pig and will change the results of the test."

Then -- THEN you can see mine. (Go to "Main Gallery," then to "Search the Piggies" and type in "E House.")

PLEASE copy the link to yours in the comments below!!

I'm about to be explaining this post

Recent IM conversation between me and a friend. I'm in regular green font, my friend's in purple. (Keep in mind that when you have typed conversations, replies are often one step behind the statement they're replying to...so try to keep up!)

TMC: When I grabbed lunch today I heard (to me) such a funny exchange. Two guys walk by, one goes "Where you fin to be?" and the other goes "I'm about to be right there." Translation: where are you going to sit? Right over there.
TMC: I like the "I'm about to be _________."
TMC: Like he's psychic about what happens next
FNL: hahahaa
TMC: FNL, I'm about to type the letter J.
TMC: J
TMC: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!
FNL: LOL
TMC: Not to be snide. It's actually the whimsy in me coming out. I want to popularize it beyond ebonics
FNL: i'm about to support you.
FNL: yeah
TMC: i'm about to be psyched
FNL: o my, omg. i'm about to...laugh
FNL: LOL
TMC: I'm about to laugh too
TMC: rofl
TMC: ROFL (*editor's note: ROFL means Rolling On the Floor Laughing, and is often symbolized by an emoticon laughing so hard it's crying)
TMC: whew, that was a close one.
FNL: whoa. did you know you were about to cry, too?
TMC: I was almost about to just abbreviate without laughing
TMC: yep.
FNL: i was about to say!
TMC: I said that out loud. you just didn't hear me. I'm about to be misunderstood!
TMC: I said that too
FNL: too late
FNL: i was about to be almost misunderstanding.
FNL: wha?
TMC: Dude, I'm about to be about to being.
FNL: NO WAY!
TMC: Seriously. It just happened. What did I about to tell you?
TMC: Hee hee. Can I post this conversation on my blog?
FNL: I'M ABOUT TO BE FORGOT
FNL: i don't know if i'm about to agree or not.
TMC: It's okay, I'm about to remember you
TMC: you what? Play'a pleeze. Everyone who's anyone is about to KNOW
TMC: ha ha
FNL: O.o
TMC: I'm about to be drinking fruit punch.
TMC: (sip)
TMC: (aaaah)
FNL: i'm about to pee my pants if i am not about to go to the bathroom
TMC: LOL
TMC: I hope you're about to be there
FNL: i'm about to hope, too.
FNL: who you about to be foolin!?
TMC: Ha ha, you were about to be fooled but then you're about to be getting wise to how about to be you are
TMC: word

And that, my friends, is a quality conversation you too can be about to hold with me on IM.

The footnote being, that in the conversation that I overheard that sparked this hilarity, the first guy says, "where you fin to be?" "Fin" is slang for "fixing," or "about," so he actually said "where you fixing to be?" or, more importantly, "where you about to be?" Which shows that he is so obviously not psychic like his friend. Ha!

I'm about to be ending this post!

Evil Orchids

If I'm ever sick or in the hospital and delirious or on pain meds and stuff and you want to send me flowers, please don't send orchids.

If you take a close look at them, it's pretty clear they want to eat you. Look here, or here. This one practically has a beak. Look at the evil little guy in the center of this one, plotting your demise. Here's an after shot of the first one, still spattered in the blood of its last victim. And you think I'm kidding?

I'm serious. They have what appear to be little tiny evil faces tucked inside their 5-6 groping, clutchy petals. If I ever woke up one night in a dimly lit room and "saw" their little mandibles grinding, I do believe I'd have a heart attack...but it would still come as no surprise.

This musing was brought on by the fact that I had a little stem with two on them tucked into a bud jar on my desk. One flower fell off. I felt bad, and looked at it closely.

I'm now missing an eye.

Well, not really, but looking more closely showed me the evil being piloting the orchid. I'm pretty sure it fell off because it was straining to nip at my elbow.

Sylvia Plath made Poppies grotesque...I'm calling orchids out as alien carnivores. I'm not saying they're not pretty...just that beauty is such an apt disguise -- a diversion to keep you from noticing the insidious little monster in the center.

Be warned.

Beyond Bonding

I have just been informed that my Mom and her Steve now drive the same car.


Hers (4 cylinder)...

His (blue, 6 cylinder)...

People, this goes beyond bonding. They already got His 'n' Hers dogs, now they have His 'n' Hers Highlanders -- what's next? His 'n' Hers houses?

Oh wait...riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

It's only a matter of time before they start wearing matching Hawaiian shirts, hats, and black knee socks on non-tropical vacations.

Not that they don't deserve the right to do that...but...but...

(Splutters, falls victim to saccharine-sourced aphasia...)

Wu Lou for you

Nearly every one in my immediate family has fallen prey to a recent illness -- be it crippling back pain, gastrointestinal adhesions, viral gastroentiritis, or involuntary incisions of the big toe. THAT'S IT PEOPLE: I'm feng shui-ing my website. May I present to you, Wu Lou, bringer of health, vitality and longevity. GAZING UPON THIS IMAGE MEANS YOU ARE NOW CURED.


Image provided by way of Dragon's Gate. I love their monthly alerts and all their merchandise -- if you're looking to feng shui, may I recommend them...

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!

As I recall, my friend Jack was the one who figured out* that if your store-bought coffee is leaking with no perceptible looseness in the cap, the culprit may be the seam of the cup, which, if perfectly oriented towards your mouth, will sometimes, under the pressure of all the coffee tipping towards your gullet, create a tiny airspace under the cap from which to leak.

As you can probably tell by the subject heading, this happened to me today.

However, while we're discussing coincidences, I submit to you the following:

1. I indulge in mochas sporatically.

2. I chose to wear a WHITE skirt today.

3. Said white skirt not only shows brown coffee stains in the starkest contrast of any other pants or skirts I own...

4. ...it also TURNS TRANSPARENT WHEN WATER IS APPLIED to clean it.

If you need me, I'll be rendered immobile behind my desk for the next hour, thank you very much.

*I very much wanted to cite the specific reference on Jack's website, House of Cheer. So I hit CTRL F "coffee" through each and every one of his monthly archives until I found it in March '04...that's 33 times for just one reference. Do me a favor -- at least GO and read what he wrote!! Click on the hotlink! He really explains it so very well...and consider yourself WARNED!!

Filed under Weird Coincidence number 44NM1A

Recently a coworker, K., joined my gym -- I gave her a guest pass when she was looking into where to join and she got hooked on their fun classes. For the last two months, I've been going regularly -- two or three times a week.

This week I went on Tuesday. Last night I had volleyball so I didn't go.

This morning my coworker caught me as I was walking in and handed me my gym card...which I didn't even know I was missing.

The gym's lockers are set up so that you insert your card on the inside of the specially-made lock and said insertion allows you to pull the key on the outside out of the lock when you close it. The locker is thus locked. When you return the key to the lock, the card is released for you to take home.

So here's the coincidence part: My coworker went to the gym last night, walked into the locker room, and somehow selected the exact same locker I'd used the night before -- where my card, which I must have forgotten to take out, was still sitting -- undisturbed -- 24 hours later. Either no one happened to use that locker until K. came in, or any one who did open it decided to leave the card there, without turning it in at the front desk or taking it themselves. And then K. just happened to walk in, choose that locker, and find it!!

What's more, I was going to go to the gym today but changed plans to go shopping with Leslie for a birthday present for another friend -- so if it weren't for K., I would have had NO idea where my card was come Monday.

Lucky Ducky!

May I present...me, if I were a character on South Park!


If you would like to do the same, go here and be sure to explore -- there's lots of options!

Eerie and evil...

A coworker of mine found this pic on the web and sent it to us. I apologize for not being able to credit its source (I tried a google search but didn't turn this one up).

It's a picture taken from someone's camera phone in the tube after the blast in London. It's simply haunting. It could be a still from a disaster flick or a zombie movie.

Dark. Smokey. Everyone is faceless, practically featureless. Yet clearly distinguishable as people, en masse.

The phrase, "what is this world coming to?" comes to mind...

London 7.7.05 by way of someone's camera phone.

Flying Saucer lands in Oakland!!!

Just kidding. It's actually the Good Year blimp. I was so amazed to see that the Good Year blimp can actually be seen "around" (especially in Oakland, of all places?) that I took a picture with my camera phone.

Of the course the zoom function is about as magnifying as one of my fingernails, but um, posterity doesn't care if the details are fuzzy, as we've all learned by now.

Now, prepare to be astounded...

...no really, go ahead...

...I'm waiting...

Blimp!

You're in the right place!!

I was attempting to configure my blog so that you can write comments.

Note the "Comment" link at the bottom of this post.

This way, if I launch into a cascade of profound questions or beg you to enlighten or entertain me, you now have a forum to. Keep in mind that other people can see your comments. ;o)

But then I saw that Blogger had updated their templates...and this one's all pretty...so I put in a little elbow grease and updated all around.

Hope you like it -- with the Comments enabled, you can tell me if you do!

Good afternoon, and happy day-after-independence-day to you all.

I had a lovely long weekend.

I played doubles volleyball on the grass in a park in Berkeley with Leslie and my old wesleyan men's vball pals. It's been a loooooooooong time and it felt great.

Steve and two of his friends and I checked out a pinball "arcade" in Alameda, if by "arcade" I mean "one man's private collection of approximately 14 pinball machines housed in the auxilliary room of his housing complex which he opens up to the public two nights a week with a $5 donation and then all the free pinball you can play, BYOB." It's decidely hipster but also quite fun, and free play means you can actually linger on any given machine until you get the hang of it without blowing $25 in quarters. And most of them are old and show depictions of the usual buxom women only they're completely covered up except for the occasional short 70's style mini-skirt dress. It was fun.

Steve's former coworkers also had a bonfire on ocean beach on Sunday night which we went to.
We were not the first people to think of this -- not only were there enough bonfires to resemble a small military encampment in the cannonballs and musket era, but we hit up three different Safeway supermarkets simply seeking jumbo marshmallows for S'more roasting purposes and they were completely sold out, and we only just barely stumbled on a fresh shipment of firewood in the last one, which was so fresh as to still be industrial-saran-wrapped to the pallet when we pounced. We also saw a lot of amateur beach fireworks that occasionally endangered surrounding clusters of beach-happy Fourthers, but for the most part just frightened the dogs. The Rottweiler simply went (by all appearances) in to a comatose state of "I'm going to die" depression by the fire; The German-Australian Shepherd mix barked his panic until we learned to cover his ears for the boomy ones, in which case I believe he rather began to enjoy the displays of light.

The actual Fourth, a.k.a. yesterday, we went out and got breakfast, and relaxed our vigorous weekend away for the rest of it. It was nice.

Today I'm back at work. It feels weird. I could get used to a four day work week...