Wouldn't that Bore a Hole in His Head?

"On a Buffalo power play, Thomas Vanek fired a laser beam that found the glass behind the Montreal goal, bounced right back in front over the top of the net, hit Price in the back of the mask and rolled down his back and in."
Source: Plekanec and Price are peerless in victory over Sabres, Friday, February 29, 2008, 10:15 PM ET, CBC Sports

I watched the game on RDS (French TSN). I have no idea where Vanek even got the ray gun from. I personally did not see the laser beam so maybe the sports writer was wearing special infra red glasses. Since the ref was also not wearing infra red glasses could be why no penalty was called. I think the Habs need to petition league officials to review the tapes; shooting laser beams at least deserves a three game suspension. I've seen fans kicked out of rinks for using laser pointers during games so I'd imagine a player using a ray gun would be way worse.

Thomas Vanek and the offending ray gun




Author's Note: Yes, I know I'm ridiculous. Am I any more ridiculous than a man who writes about metaphoric laser beams?

Idiom Shortage Leaves Nation All Sewed Up In Horse Pies

WASHINGTON—Authorities expect the shortage to subside by April, but until then, urge citizens to skip shy the rickshaw until the flypaper marigolds can waterfall.

Ode to My Mother

My mommy is the bestest. She anticipated my need for .7 HB lead for my mechanical pencil.

Puzzling

I got the "whattup" nod from a 19 year old boy today. I have never seen him before in my entire life so it wasn't a greeting "whattup".

As Seen on a T-Shirt...

"You laugh at me because I am different, I laugh at you because you aren't"

Weird Question but...

Today someone during office hours at a location in the suburbs of Cleveland looked at my post about Bea Arthur wrestling dinosaurs four times. They may or may not be marginally clever. Any theories as who it could be? Any theories why they looked at it four times?

The Reality of My Finite Nature: Part 2

Here's a review of part 1.

I really feel like garbage. I ran out of time on my physics midterm and got a terrible grade. So much for bringing up my GPA. I had high hopes that physics was going to be my highest mark. It got me thinking about what will my average have to be to bring up my GPA to even consider applying for grad studies:

Current GPA: 76%
Classes Completed: 42
Needed GPA: 80%
Classes to Complete: 21
Total Classes: 63

(42/63)*76 + (21/63)x = 80
(2/3)*76 + (1/3)x = 80
3[(2/3)*76 + (1/3)x = 80]
2*76 +x=240
152 + x =240
x = 88

That's right folks, 88% average over 21 classes for 3rd & 4th year honours math classes, some second year physics, some first year chemistry and biology classes. I realized I may have blinded some of you with my mad algebra skills* but you don't need to be a mathemagican** to know that is a tad on the improbable side.

Why do I feel like I'm being punished for choices I made in my late teens and early twenties? I made a conscience effort to settle for doing "okay" so I could have a social life. Forty of those classes where completed before age 22. At the time, I needed at least 70% in my major (secondary math education) and 65% in my minor (secondary English education). I had well above that. Now I have 23 classes of the 40 that do not count towards my degree but do count towards my GPA.

I was getting help on an assignment this afternoon when the prof said "An intelligent person like yourself...". He was impressed*** that I figured out how to do a question that he did not teach in class and it isn't covered in the textbook. He was convinced he had covered it and went as far as looking through all of my notes to make sure. It made me feel a little better but compliments from profs do not bring up one's GPA.

People in my life, be prepared to see me even less for the next two months.

* I did the math in my head in the shower, that is why it is mad skills.
** Nickname a student gave me. I was also referred to as a mathlete. He was much more interested in math-related nicknames than the actually math.
*** Yeah but it took me two hours. Well it mostly took me two hours because I was watching hockey and then Sport Centre. C'mon, it was Trade Deadline '08. My boy Cristobal Huet was traded so how could a girl concentrate fully on linear algebra? It will be a future blog rant, trust.

You Go Girl

Emma Thompson Fights Miramax's Weight-Loss Demands, NYMag.com, "The Cut", 2/25/08,4:57 PM

7 Odd Things About Me

Yes, yes, tag I'm it. I finally got to it.

1. When bored I often imagine sound effects to people’s words or that the people around me break into elaborate dance sequences and /or musical numbers. My mind is very amusing.

2. When I was a first year teacher at a conference, I found out that my ability to learn by hearing is incredibly low and learning by doing and seeing are incredibly high. Learning by hearing is so low that the teacher facilitating the session was surprised I got good grades in school. People learn less by hearing than by seeing or doing but I learn way less than normal.

It really made sense to me. People have accused me of being hard of hearing and I usually retort that I am hard of listening. I can’t really spell something by sounding it out but rather remember what it looks like. Sometimes I even forget what word sounds match with what letters. Telling me a phone number or how to spell a word? You have to slowly say one letter/ number at a time. If I’m occupied with something else and someone starts talking to me, they will be half way through what they are saying even before my brain has processed that someone is trying to talk to me. I have a hard time watching TV if people are talking. This is why I often sit in the basement by myself to watch TV.

3. I was one of the shortest girls in my class up until grade 8. In two months I grew about 4 inches and became the second tallest girl in my school.

4. I hated apple juice even from the time I was a baby until I started getting allergy shots. I loved orange juice but it started making me very sick. I can only drink in it if it mixed with other juices or if I only have half a glass occasionally.

5. I can’t seem to eat crusts on bread. They are all scratchy on the roof of my mouth. If I’m eating a sandwich I’ll eat the crusts of the first half but not of the other. I used to dip my crusts in orange juice but now cannot (see above).

6. English was always my best subject in high school. I was always good at math but I was passionate about literature (still am). I didn’t get passionate about math until my second year as a teacher.

7. I can rewind and fast forward songs in my head. This may sound contrary to #2 but it actually isn’t. People’s ability to remember music is different than regular listening skills.

Tennessee Helpless Against New Basement Tornadoes

Tennessee Helpless Against New Basement Tornadoes

Seems oddly familiar...

E-Mail From Aunt Accidentally Opened

Sew Not Over

Shows With More Episodes this Season

Here's a list of shows with new episodes that will be produced before the end of the season.
The Return of Mother, Life and, Oh Yeah, Lost, Kristin Dos Santos, Eonline, Wed, Feb 13, 2008, 4:42 PM

Where's Will Smith when you need him?

Senate Passes Bill to Expand Government’s Spying Powers
New York Times, ERIC LICHTBLAU, Published: February 12, 2008
The Senate vote, a major victory for the White House, also gives legal protection to phone companies that aided government wiretapping.

Most Fun Photo Shoot Ever

To promote his upcoming movie, SI interviewed Will Ferrell for their swimsuit issue. You need a swimsuit model so get the one with the sense of humour to pull it off.

The Fug and the Fab

NYmag's 100 Most Fabulous Looks for Fall/Winter '08 from NY Fashion Week - including two looks from a Project Runway designer.


Even more amusing is NYMag's 100 Most Hideous Looks for Fall/Winter '08 from NY Fashion Week - vibrant plaids! yeti arms! paratrooper wear!

Those Wacky Communists

Kristin Dos Santos was covering the WGA union meeting in LA yesterday for E!. She noticed "Communists were distributing literature at the gate under the vague guise of being WGA helpers, but one wag who managed to duck the handout quipped, 'Oh, god, the Scientologists are everywhere!'"

Source: Strikewatch: Live from the Shrine Auditorium, Kristin Dos Santos, Sun, Feb 10, 2008, 12:51 AM



Like my new tag? Ten points for the first person who gets the reference.

V-Doub Representing Deutschland

My favourite commercial of 2007:


There is something inherently funny about Germans.

The Reality of My Finite Nature

I had to withdraw form a class and I feel terrible. It was a difficult class and I just didn't have the time or energy to dedicate to it. I have been thinking about for awhile and thought it would be enough to quit my job. My semester is just too heavy, especially for my first one back. I still need to take the class in the future but now that I know what to expect I can plan my semester accordingly. I still feel like garbage about it.

I need to think about the future : bring my GPA so I can get my honours degree and be eligible for a MSc. I'm not saying I will pursue my master's degree but I want to have the option. Not that my GPA is bad, the standards are different for an education degree. I did well enough but I could have done better. As it stands, my average is fine for an honours degree but not so fine if I even want to consider applying anywhere for a master's program.

Yes Mom, I know it is late. I'm just too wound up to sleep. You know how I get.

The Talk Show Throw Down

Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert make a surprise appearance on Late night with Conan O'Brien. A "feud" erupted between O'Brien and Colbert over who made Mike Huckabee a viable presidential candidate. It culminated into:
'Vicious Cross-Network Melee Leaves Stewart, O'Brien and Colbert In Critical Condition' on Defamer*






* Sorry, I tried to embed the video but NBC website kept on embedding the wrong clip. I could only get the correct clip form the Defamer website.

SuperBowl Ads

Since when are Super Bowl games exciting? Apparently exciting enough to take me away from my mounds of homework and watch it. I'm usually meh towards the NFL. It isn't that I don't like football, I just don't have a team that I'm passionate about. Whether you like football or not, you need to check out The Only Super Bowl Ads Worth Watching.

It is like Christmas twice a year...

New York Fashion week is once again upon us. The Fugly Girls are back posting for New York Magazine's fashion blog.

Nutcracker of Truth sez...

"Lyn is pretty."

I've finally uploaded more pictures on Flickr, check them out.