A lumpling of minnie blogs clustered together.

So I was thinking that I could just write a bunch of little blogs separately and then perhaps my readers (all 3 1/2 of you) would be more likely to actually read them...but instead I'm going to put all the tinies on one blog, and hope you read them anyway.

Speaking of tinies, have you ever read Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies? It's amazing! Love it. Own it. Read it!  http://www.wickedsunshine.com/GoodVibes/TheGashlycrumbTinies.html

Topic one: I feel like a stalker, sort of...

I'm on the emailing list of my favorite artists ever, Brian Kershisnik. For December they sent a link to Brian's wife's blog, http://peoplerunningpeoplewalking.blogspot.com/

I finally got around to reading her Christmas blog and it led me to the Kershisnik children's blogs (...I feel creepy...I will talk about my dislike for caring about stranger's lives in my next topic section). Anywho, creepy/stalker factor aside- not only do I think Brian Kershisnik's art is fantastic, but his kids are rockin' too! His son is this adorable LDS missionary in Hong Kong (jealous!) who seems to have great fashion sense and tastes in costume choices!  http://eldernoah.blogspot.com/

The eldest Kershisnik daughter has an equally entertaining blog: http://asyouhappentoseeitwillhappentobe.blogspot.com/

We apparently have all sorts of common interests, including crafts, Asians and good music. I feel so creepy...that's enough of that...

The point is that Brian Kershisnik creates amazing art and his family seems whickadee whack cool too!

http://www.kershisnik.com/

Topic #2:

Yesterday I took my dad to a doctor's appointment. While I was sitting in the waiting room I read through an entire issue of People magazine. Afterwards I felt icky, poor and stupid and reported my feelings via twitter to Kelsie. Kelsie asked why I felt this way and after thinking about it a moment I realized I was feeling the opposite of what I feel when I read good literature. When I read well written literature like The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis or Paradise Lost by John Milton I feel good. Not only do they have uplifting messages, but the words are arranged so well that they roll off my tongue like minty spit bubbles and wrap around my brain noodles like a kitten in a bed of daisies! As good as reading something that is well written makes me feel, literature that is poorly written makes me feel...bad. As far as feeling stupid, I think I felt stupid because I actually spent time out of my life caring about celebrities...I mean; I am a BIG movie fan. I love movies and I feel that a good movie can have the same effect that a good book can, but caring about a complete strangers life- who cares!? I don' t mean to say that biographies are wastes of time, but knowing that Nicole Kidman walks her dog just like a normal person doesn't really matter to me...and I could care less if Selena Gomez used to date Taylor Lautner, aka Shark Boy. Why did I feel poor? Because I am poor.

Topic number 3: Roswell and other fantastic Teen tantalizers,

or in other words, a bit of a contradiction to topic #2

I've finally reached the vacation part of my Christmas vacation. For the first two weeks of my Christmas holiday in St. George I was booked solid, helping my mom with her first grade classroom and doing this and that for the family. This week, though I am watching my little brother and wiping up puppy pittles all day long, for the most part I've been able to sit around and watch Roswell episodes for hours and hours! It has been glorious! I adore teen dramadies like Roswell, The OC, and the Vampire Diaries etc. Maybe it's because they're nothing like my old teen life...maybe it's the perfectly hot 30 year olds pretending to be 17...the "bad boys" like Chuck Bass and Michael Guerin. Why do I like these unrealistic, hormone pumped fantasy lands? Becasue they are unrealstic, hormone pumped fantasies.

Topic #4: What I got for Christmas

I was abundantly blessed this year with temporal treats. Not only did I get the new water proof and drop proof up to 10 feet camera I wanted (and it's a beautiful blue color!), but I also got a slew of other delightful doo-dads! I got a fantastic dress from Eshakti that Khiah is sure to be a little jealous of ;)...

 a Guess Who game (in Spanish!), some cool earrings, penguin plates, a zebra mug, tights, beads, bug jewelry, a book celebrating man hair (chest, face etc.), a little bee/fairy box, Meet Me in St. Louis on DVD, War of the Buttons on VHS and more that I can't think of right now. Intense! I didn't have anything specific in mind that I wanted and that made the getting all the more fun! It's nice to not expect anything in particular and just be able to be pleasantly surprised and happy with all of my gifts this year!

As a bonus my sister got an external hard drive loaded with music and I was able to put a huge load of new music!

What else...

Goal for this Spring semester in Ogden: Make friends, do things.

Random wish list

See what I mean about blog binges...

Here are some things I want. I probably wont get any of them, and I'm not asking my blog readers to get them for me, I'm really not! But I feel like my blogging about them makes them mine in a way, so it's like I have them now...

Okay this first one would require that I get a baby first...I'll have to work on that ;)

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/starwars/b38b/

This next one is probably what I want the most of all the things I'm going to list on this blog:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/starwars/bb2e/?cpg=113HB

Sleeping man not necessary, but I wouldn't mind it- especially if he came in a Luke Skywalker outfit.

This nest item isn't a necessity, but it would be fun to have!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/starwars/b322/

I want this phone for four reasons:

a. it looks cool

b. it would be easier to talk on my cell phone without my hands because it's bigger, so it fits better between my shoulder and ear

c. I've always wanted a classic phone like it but I have a cell phone, so there's not much need for a real phone

d. it's ridiculous and mocks bluetooth people, which I like

http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/retro/8928/

This last wish item is just MAGIC. It's so funny and classic from the movie.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/bags/817c/

I hope you enjoyed my random wish list of mostly Star Wars items!

ps.

THANK YOU VETRANS! I LOVE AMERICA!

Essay death

Why am I doing a program that has required me to write about 56 pages of essay in the first semster, when I hate HATE HATE writing essays? I wish I could just paint or something all the time. Maybe next semster will be better? I'm going to be teaching little children. Little children don't care if I can write properly in APA or if I understand the nature of science. I'm okay...I just hate essay writing.

Update

I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a bit of an up and down blogger. I will either blog like 3 times a week, or not at all, sorry about that...but that's how I am... Anyway, an update on my life-a. 
1. I am still pursuing my MEd and it's stressfull and freaking me out.

2. I got a new church calling- FHE committee memeber. I'm super excited for my calling! I used to be a FHE mom at SVU and I loved loved it, so I'm pretty excited to be involved with FHE again!
3. I lost 20 lbs. woot.

4. I was a bee for Halloween...again! My mom made my costume when I was in elementary school...don't ask me how it still fits, I don't know! This year was fun because my neice also dressed up as a bee and we went to my mom's 1st grade classroom Halloween party dressed up together!

5. My mom snatched this faux fur coat, that used to be my great grandma's, for me! I feel so Margot Tenenbaum in it!

6. We caught a mouse in our house! We finally caught it in my roommates bed! I can't kill things so I drove it to a field a few miles away and let it go- my roommates made fun of me for it, but I don't care- it makes me feel good to preserve one of God's creatures!

The mouse (Mortimer) is in my unicorn trashcan!

And this has nothing to do with my life- but did you know...

That most daddy long legs aren't even spiders at all!? It's true! And besides that, they're not even poisonous. It has nothing to do with mouth size and they're not the most poisonous animal ever!

They're not spiders, but they are a part of the arachnid family

There are over 6,400 species of Opiliones! (aka daddy long legs)

Another name for daddy long legs is "Harvestman" (Some suggest that the name is due to daddy long legs being most conspicuous in the fall time)

Harvestmen have no venom or silk glands

Unlike spiders, harvestmen do not suck the liquid out of their prey, they can eat chunks of food (like humans)

Harvestmen often have two shorter legs in the front that work as antannae

Most daddy long legs only have two eyes, although some have none

Harvestmen pose NO THREAT TO HUMANS

Male harvestmen have a penis, while females have ovipositors

Most species live for over a year

Many species of harvestman are omnivores and they eat small insects and plants

Some are scavengers, feeding on dead things and poo

Many male harvestmen defend the female after mating; some even defend their territory around the female

Most daddy long legs are nocturnal

"To deal with predators such as birds, mammals, amphibians, and spiders, some species glue debris onto their body, and many play dead when disturbed. Many species can detach their legs, which keep on moving to confuse predators, especially long-legged species vibrate their body ("bobbing"), probably also to confuse. This is similar to the behavior of the similar looking but unrelated cellar spider, which vibrates wildly in its web when touched. Scent glands emit substances that can deter larger predators, but are also effective against ants."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opiliones

http://www.backyardnature.net/longlegs.htm

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/longlegs.asp

As a little girl I used to read spiders field guide at night before I went to sleep...I loved it and I wish I could find it!

Currently I want to...

Delete my Facebook account- maybe I will have a Facebook fast...

Eat some pizza

Cry

Go to sleep

Skip ahead into the future to see if it's any good

Go to St. George

See Where the Wild Things Are

The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science

January 31, 2003
The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science By ROBERT L. PARK

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is investing close to a million dollars in an obscure Russian scientist's antigravity machine, although it has failed every test and would violate the most fundamental laws of nature. The Patent and Trademark Office recently issued Patent 6,362,718 for a physically impossible motionless electromagnetic generator, which is supposed to snatch free energy from a vacuum. And major power companies have sunk tens of millions of dollars into a scheme to produce energy by putting hydrogen atoms into a state below their ground state, a feat equivalent to mounting an expedition to explore the region south of the South Pole.
There is, alas, no scientific claim so preposterous that a scientist cannot be found to vouch for it. And many such claims end up in a court of law after they have cost some gullible person or corporation a lot of money. How are juries to evaluate them?
Before 1993, court cases that hinged on the validity of scientific claims were usually decided simply by which expert witness the jury found more credible. Expert testimony often consisted of tortured theoretical speculation with little or no supporting evidence. Jurors were bamboozled by technical gibberish they could not hope to follow, delivered by experts whose credentials they could not evaluate.
In 1993, however, with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. the situation began change. The case involved Bendectin, the only morning-sickness medication ever approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It had been used by millions of women, and more than 30 published studies had found no evidence that it caused birth defects. Yet eight so-called experts were willing to testify, in exchange for a fee from the Daubert family, that Bendectin might indeed cause birth defects.
In ruling that such testimony was not credible because of lack of supporting evidence, the court instructed federal judges to serve as supporting evidence, the court instructed federal judges to serve as "gatekeepers," screening juries from testimony based on scientific nonsense. Recognizing that judges are not scientists, the court invited judges to experiment with ways to fulfill their gatekeeper responsibility.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer encouraged trial judges to appoint independent experts to help them. He noted that courts can turn to scientific organizations, like the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to identify neutral experts who could preview questionable scientific testimony and advise a judge on whether a jury should be exposed to it. Judges are still concerned about meeting their responsibilities under the Daubert decision, and a group of them asked me how to recognize questionable scientific claims. What are the warning signs?
I have identified seven indicators that a scientific claim lies well outside the bounds of rational scientific discourse. Of course, they are only warning signs -- even a claim with several of the signs could be legitimate.
1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media. The integrity of science rests on the willingness of scientists to expose new ideas and findings to the scrutiny of other scientists. Thus, scientists expect their colleagues to reveal new findings to them initially. An attempt to bypass peer review by taking a new result directly to the media, and thence to the public, suggests that the work is unlikely to stand up to close examination by other scientists.
One notorious example is the claim made in 1989 by two chemists from the University of Utah, B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, that they had discovered cold fusion -- a way to produce nuclear fusion without expensive equipment. Scientists did not learn of the claim until they read reports of a news conference. Moreover, the announcement dealt largely with the economic potential of the discovery and was devoid of the sort of details that might have enabled other scientists to judge the strength of the claim or to repeat the experiment. (Ian Wilmut's announcement that he had successfully cloned a sheep was just as public as Pons and Fleischmann's claim, but in the case of cloning, abundant scientific details allowed scientists to judge the work's validity.)
Some scientific claims avoid even the scrutiny of reporters by appearing in paid commercial advertisements. A health-food appearing in paid commercial advertisements. A health-food company marketed a dietary supplement called Vitamin O in fullpage newspaper ads. Vitamin O turned out to be ordinary saltwater.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work. The idea is that the establishment will presumably stop at nothing to suppress discoveries that might shift the balance of wealth and power in society. Often, the discoverer describes mainstream science as part of a larger conspiracy that includes industry and government. Claims that the oil companies are frustrating the invention of an automobile that runs on water, for instance, are a sure sign that the idea of such a car is baloney. In the case of cold fusion, Pons and Fleischmann blamed their cold reception on physicists who were protecting their own research in hot fusion.
3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection. Alas, there is never a clear photograph of a flying saucer, or the Loch Ness monster. All scientific measurements must contend with some level of background noise or statistical fluctuation. But if the signal-to-noise ratio cannot be improved, even in principle, the effect is probably not real and the work is not science.
Thousands of published papers in para-psychology, for example, claim to report verified instances of telepathy, psychokinesis, or precognition. But those effects show up only in tortured analyses of statistics. The researchers can find no way to boost the signal, which suggests that it isn't really there.
4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal. If modern science has learned anything in the past century, it is to distrust anecdotal evidence. Because anecdotes have a very strong emotional impact, they serve to keep superstitious beliefs alive in an age of science. The most important discovery of modern medicine is not vaccines or antibiotics, it is the randomized double-blind test, by means of which we know what works and what doesn't. Contrary to the saying, "data" is not the plural of "anecdote."
5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries. There is a persistent myth that hundreds or even thousands of years ago, long before anyone knew that blood circulates throughout the body, or that germs cause disease, our ancestors possessed miraculous remedies that modern science cannot understand. Much of what is termed "alternative medicine" cannot understand. Much of what is termed "alternative medicine" is part of that myth.
Ancient folk wisdom, rediscovered or repackaged, is unlikely to match the output of modern scientific laboratories.
6. The discoverer has worked in isolation. The image of a lone genius who struggles in secrecy in an attic laboratory and ends up making a revolutionary breakthrough is a staple of Hollywood's science-fiction films, but it is hard to find examples in real life. Scientific breakthroughs nowadays are almost always syntheses of
the work of many scientists.
7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation. A new law of nature, invoked to explain some extraordinary result, must not conflict with what is already known. If we must change existing laws of nature or propose new laws to account for an observation, it is almost certainly wrong. I began this list of warning signs to help federal judges detect scientific nonsense. But as I finished the list, I realized that in our increasingly technological society, spotting voodoo science is a skill that every citizen should develop.

Robert L. Park is a professor of physics at the University of Maryland at College Park and the director of public information for the American Physical Society. He is the author of Voodoo Science:
The Road From Foolishness to Fraud (Oxford University Press, 2002).
http://chronicle.com/ Section: The Chronicle Review Volume 49,
Issue 21, Page B20
Copyright 2009.

UFology pseudoscience lab

This is a paper I had to write for my Understanding Science Class at Weber. It's not so formal as my other masters classes and it's definelty not written in APA. I guess that might just mean it's more readable.

-Laura

UFology

The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) claims that some UFO sightings are alien spacecraft. “A sub-set of the ETH, the Staging Hypothesis, prevalent up until the 1980s, speculated that extraterrestrials have "stage-managed" encounters as a deliberate policy to "educate" humanity.” Ufologists Wilhelm Reich and Jerome Eden have the hypothesis that UFOs and UFO passengers, or at least some of them, are hostile. They claim that the waste product of the UFO engines is what they call "Deadly Orgone," which ruins the atmosphere, dries it out, and is one cause, if not the most important cause, of the development of deserts. Eden, like other researchers, attributes the Cattle mutilations to aliens. They claims that aliens abduct persons, manipulate their feelings and thoughts, and cause military aircraft to crash or disappear, but they do not make open contact to government or military. They also claim that aliens try to "educate" mankind in the way that the human beings develop a spiritual attitude towards aliens and UFOs, hoping that the aliens arrive as the saviors for the big problems of mankind and earth, when, in fact, their agenda involves exploiting Earth's natural resources and destroying its water and atmosphere. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufology) In general, Ufologists claim that alien life exists, has made visits to Earth, and continues to make visits to Earth.

Most UFO websites will provide physical evidence in the form of electro-magnetic effects, vehicle interference cases (where a car or other vehicle's performance is disrupted), physical trace cases (“Usually these involve a landing trace, such as depressed grass or soil, but also burned or broken vegetation, residues, and more exotic traces” (www.ufoevidence.org/topics/physicaltracecases.htm), physiological effects, and radar cases/readings. Other than “physical” evidence, a majority of Ufologist's beliefs and theory seems to be based on accounts of people.

The Ufologists from ufoevidence.org claim that Dr. Edgar Mitchell, an astronaut from the Apollo 14 mission, is now claiming that UFOs do exist, the government knows about it, and they're hiding it from ordinary citizens. Ufologists from ufoevidence.org utilize an appeal to authority, specifically pointing out Dr. Mitchell's qualifications, and use those qualifications as “proof” of the validity of Ufologist claims. The interview states, “Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated.”

As Robert L. Park states in The Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science, “The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.” Ufologists claim that governments know the truth about UFO's and aliens, but are doing their best to keep the truth from the public. (http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/Government.htm) Ufologists play on the natural human tendency to question authority by seeding distrust in government as a means to validate their own claims. Ufologists use both appeal to authority, and in contrast, encourage a distrust of authority, as arguments for UFO/alien existence.

When I was much younger I was camping in my grandparents back yard for the night. I was alone, stargazing, and I noticed that when I was in my tent some of the stars looked elliptical and larger than other stars and then when I stuck my head out of the tent the ellipses disappeared. I convinced myself that these ellipses were UFO/aliens, and that they could see me if I stuck my head out of the tent. For quite some time I was paralyzed with fear, unwilling to stick my head out of the tent door, even though I had to use the bathroom very badly. Finally my bladder could take no more and I rushed out of my tent. When I looked up and saw the stars a thought came to me- those ellipses I saw in my tent might not be UFO's, but merely a result of the netting at the roof of my tent distorting the appearance of the stars. When I returned to my tent I felt rather foolish, realizing that I had allowed my being alone at night to make me paranoid enough to think something with a simple explanation could be something entirely different.

UFOlogists take verifiable information and events, like optical phenomena (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_phenomenon), and milk extraordinary conclusions from them. Just like I combined an ordinary optical allusion (tent netting/stars) with ordinary human psychology (fear, isolation, paranoia) and concluded that aliens were above me and could see me. Take away human fleeting emotions and thoughts, and you are left with simple, everyday events.

Ufology is a pseudoscience; it includes several of Park's “indicators” of pseudoscience, including, a focus on a powerful establishment trying to suppress the work, limited detection, evidence is anecdotal, past evidence is used as a support for modern validity (ufoevidence.org/topics/general-ancientastronauts.htm), and new laws of nature must be made to explain observation (hyper.net/ufo/summary.html). Personally I do believe that unexplainable things can and do happen all the time. However Ufology appears to be more of a exploitation, intentional or otherwise, of human psychology, as opposed to anything valid or really extraordinary.

As a human and citizen it is important to recognize something as a pseudoscience so that one does not get caught in a mental, emotional, time-consuming or financial trap. As an educator it is important to teach students about the differences between fact and fiction, reliability and folly. The objective of science should be to find the answers to questions about how things really are. Science shouldn't be about how things appear to be, or seem to be, but as they really are. As a science instructor, teaching students how to discern between reality and appearances can help them not only in their science studies, but with every aspect of their lives.

I love this song

I could listen to this song 20 times in a row- and I have.

Colors of the Wind

So basically I love Disney's Pocahontas! I know, it's unrealistic, but who cares! Cinderella was unrealistic, Aladdin, Pinnochio- all of them, because they're fairy tales. Pocahontas is just a modern-American fairy tale. My American Indian History teacher (from highschool) said it romantisized American Indians and he called it "Hoax-upon-us", but like I said, whatever!
Anyway, now that we've moved on past that issue...I was just thinking, how great is the song "Colors of the Wind"!? For funsies I thought it would be cool to find scriptures that correlate with the lyrics, becasue that's just how I roll! To make it simple and legit, I've linked the lyrics to the scriptures etc. at LDS.org, have fun!
Here are the (Vanessa Williams version) lyrics:

You think you own whatever land you land on
The earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name (It's wonderful; it changed my life & how I think about everything)
(Also  D&C88:13) (Also Moses 3:5)

You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you (2 Nephi 26:33)
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew (hymn 29, especially verse 7)

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned ? (It seems to me that if God knows and loves all of His creations, he wouldn't want us to abuse or mistreat them. We should love God's creations and creatures- Moses 1:35)
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain ?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ? (One of my all-time favorites, D&C 128:23)
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ? (The beauty and wonder of the Earth are testimonies of God's love)

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest (D&C 89:20)
Come taste the sun-sweet berries of the earth (Moses 2)
Come roll in all the riches all around you (Gen. 2:9)
And for once, never wonder what they're worth (D&C 56:17)

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers (D&C 61:14; Gen. 1:20; Rev. 8:10) (Also see Abraham 4)
The heron and the otter are my friends (The 8th set of song lyrics he mentions, about shooting birds)
In a cirle, in a hoop that never ends (D&C 132:19-24)

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon (D&C 88:6-13)
Or let the eagle tell you there hes been (Deut. 14:12- Don't Eat eagles!)
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain ? (Isaiah 44:23)
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ? (Mark 4:37-41)
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind ? (Genesis 1:1- God really DID paint the colors of the wind, and someday so can I!)

How high does the sycamore grow ?
If you cut it down, then youll never know (1 Nephi 15:36- How high can our eternal glory grow?! Don't you want to find out? The better I live, the better my reward will be! Thank you George Harrison!)

And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon (D&C 88:45)
For whether we are white or copper-skinned (1 John 4:7- Love everyone, God does!)
We just sing with all the voices of the mountain (Isaiah 40:9)
Need to paint with all the colors of the wind (The Work of Creation)
You can own the earth and still
All you'll own is earth until
You can paint with all colors of the wind (One last gem for you! Be nice to the animals and the earth!)

Amazing talk!

SMILE!

The Hot Chocolate Effect

In my Understanding Science MED course we did the classic Hot Chocolate Effect experiment.


You make hot chocolate- hot water + cocoa powder + mix=hot chocolate
 After stirring you tap your spoon (this works with plastc, metal or wooden spoons- who knows what else?!) in the cup- and guess what?! The pitch of the tapping rises! What happens if you stir it again? Well the pitch starts low and rises again! Good times!

So my lab partner suggested we make it legit and record our findings in his sound recording studio! Here are the results:

This is what Ron Proctor, who understands this all much better than me, said,

This is, "the audio spectrograph from yesterday's hot chocolate escapade. The left one is regular hot chocolate, the left is sugar free (that's my lab partner and I talking in the middle there). Horizontal axis = time, vertical axis = Logarithmic Frequency (Hz).

Anyway, for some reason the regular hot chocolate's pitch raised a lot more progrssivly, while the sugar free took an immediate jump up! The bright horizontal lines are the pitch rizing. The vertical lines are my spoon taps.

The point- SCIENCE IS FUN. DO SCIENCE OR DIE.

So I've moved.

That's right stalkers, I've moved to Ogden, Utah!

Despite the bitter cold (It's September and I'm already cold?! I'm going to freeze to death!) I'm actually liking the Mormon-packed North. As you know at this point, I like to blog via-lists, and so here we go:

Good things about Ogden:
1. Peery's Egyptian Theater
2. Ott Planetarium3. Fun roommates

4. Ogden LDS Temple 5. I live close to Khiah!6. I like Weber State and my institute classes are sweet-a!

7. Riding the bus

Icky things about Weber:

1. Cold/snow

2. crime rate
3. Creepers on the bus

Bob Dylan explains my life

I really do promise to do a real blog, but for the time being here is a little time filler:

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people you like and include me. You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "my life according to (band name)"

Pick your Artist: Bob Dylan

Are you a male or female: Girl From The North Country

Describe yourself: Covenant Woman

How do you feel: It's all good

Describe where you currently live: Maggie's farm

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Sante Fe'

Your favorite form of transportation: Shooting star

Your best friend(s)? Lenny Bruce

You and your best friends: Katie's Been Gone or Jolene or Joey or Jim Jones

Favorite time of day: Moonlight or Meet me in the morning

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: Idiot Wind

What is life to you: I feel a change comin' on

Your relationship: Lovesick

Your fear: Motorpsycho nightmare

What is the best advice you have to give: Lay, Lady, Lay

Thought for the Day: Man gave names to all the animals

How I would like to die: Knockin' on heaven's door

My soul's present condition: I am a lonesome hobo

My motto: I shall be free

Tribute to Khi and Kate-abees.

So I was sitting by someone in church and they started popping their knuckles...yuck...and it got me thinking about all the little things I miss about my old roommates- Katie and Khiah. So here are a few things I miss about my buddies, in list form of course.

1. They don't pop their knuckles

2. They do not belch aloud

3. They do not swear

4. They recited movie lines in everyday conversation

5. They know what I mean when I say, "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! TELL ME I'M PRETTY!" or "DO SOMETHING!"...okay, that's basically a repeat of #4...

6. They wear slips

7. They do not speak inappropriately about sexual things

8. They would totally gorge on junk food with me right now if they could!

9. But they're not total gluttons, we all like a good strawberry salad!

10. I can be more of myself around them than anyone I know.

11. I feel like I have to be better than I usually am when I'm around them, and it's the most comfortable and natural thing, it doesn't make me feel bad

12. They are always modest in their clothing and languege

13. They read a lot

Now I must do some post-disclaimers:

I am guilty of doing a lot of the things they don't do, like swearing and belching etc...but the thing is, I did it so much less around them. I hate that I've been letting these bad habits slip back into my life...I miss how I was around them.

Another thing, I have some other amazing friends besides Katie and Khiah, and I really hope they don't think I love them any less because of this blog or my love for KK. I don't think people who act differently than KK are heathens, but I can certainly appreciate Khiah and Katie for the way they do, or do not, behave.

Thanks Khiah and Katie, for helping me behave better. For behaving well yourselves. For always making me feel comfortable.

Love, Laur-abees.

A cool artist!

So I recently happened upon this artist, via etsy.com, and I couldn't help but blog about her!

http://www.etsy.com/profile.php?user_id=5318735

http://www.dannaray.com/#/p-o-r-t-f-o-l-i-o

I love her compositions

And the colors!