The 5th of July

I keep telling myself I’m going to write a blog post when I think of something that I should share and then when I have a moment to write about it in a way that would do it justice. I don’t know when I decided my blog posts needed to be some literary work or something. I mean, my last post was about a cats scream yawning youtube video… why do I think that I need to change my posting/writing style? I think that my 1-2 readers would be really disappointed if I started talking about some deep BS anyway. 

So this is good news, because it takes the pressure off of me and I can just post anything I want. I’ve been brainstorming things to write about: awkward encounters (I’ve had plenty since my last post… just have to choose one), funny websites, summer time, random adventures, relationships (totally not sharing that info on the interwebs… a girl’s gotta have some secrets!), or the awesome recipes I’ve tried on Pinterest lately. 

Nothing really seems to be jumping out at me though. This is probably because it is the 5^th of July. Yes, that means the 4^th of July was yesterday. On a Wednesday. Today is Thursday and everyone has to work. We are all being abruptly knocked out of our holiday coma and back to the real world a little faster than appreciated. The worst part about it is that about half of the world decided to take today off. So all of us that are working are stuck waiting for everyone else to get back before we hear responses on any of our projects. I understand that we can’t really move the 4^th of July, but there has to be some way that we can flex days off so we can all have the 5^th of July off too. I think this is really what Congress should be focusing on. I think they should pass some sort of bill reinforcing the July 4^th government holiday, but following up with a caveat that if the 4^th is to fall in the middle of the week, the 5^th will also be considered a national holiday. I think that is something both parties can agree on. I don’t even think this has to be a federal thing. Could Colorado make some sort of law or something? After thinking about this, I did look up quite a few other things that the Colorado government thought was important like “One may not mutilate a rock in a state park” or “throwing missiles at cars is illegal”. Seriously, there’s a list of ridiculous things here. If lawmakers have enough time to work on those laws, I think that it would be great to have the 5^th of July off of work. I have obviously provided quite a solid case. Boom. Lawyered.

Listening to Rusko.

Fun Friday Finds- Tubalr and Cats Scream Yawn

This week has gotten away from me. I had the best of intentions of writing a post this week, but it just didn’t turn out the way I anticipated. From budget hearings to hockey games, the days slipped away from me. The good news: I still had time to find random goodness on the interwebs to share with you. You’re welcome. 

  

Wednesday was a pretty rough day for me and everyone that works in my department. I decided to cheer up everyone by sending out this video on Thursday morning. Cats Scream Yawn. It is amazing. I don’t have a clue what would make someone come up with the concept of this video and it is absolutely ridiculous, but it also was a good stress reliever to start the day. I recommend. Side note- don’t go crazy looking for other animals scream yawning, you may come across Screaming Bunnies, and they are much less cute and more terrifying.

If you are looking for a sweet decorating item and you are as obsessed with colleges as I am, check out City Prints. These are basically maps of your college town (you can also customize them) but are much more artistic. It requires more of a trained eye to realize that they are maps rather than just a cool piece of artwork. Check them out. Feel free to buy me one.

Last weekend I went to Nederland for the Frozen Dead GuyDays. If you haven’t heard of this, it is basically a festival that celebrates this guy that decided to “cryogenically” freeze himself in his shed. There are coffin races, a polar bear plunge, air guitar contests and more. If you have never attended such a thing, you should probably schedule your next vacation around Frozen Dead Guy Days so you can see the spectacle. 

 

Ever wanted to watch Youtube videos of bands that you like but despise all the clutter and random junk that goes along with it? Want to find bands similar to the ones you like also? Then Tubalr is for you. Totally easy and you can even narrow it down by genre if you want. Good stuff. 

Well I’m off to watch some wonderful Tubalr selections. Happy Friday!

Listening to Bloc Party.

Fun Friday Finds- Porcupines and Hank for Senate

Well I wanted to give my millions (or dozens) of readers some fun things to check out this Friday. I mean, if you are stuck at work, you should probably find something to entertain yourself. I, on the other hand, will find all my fun this Friday by making fresh tracks on the mountain with some friends. Mountains are reporting anywhere from 3-11 inches of fresh and I intend to check that out! Sound like some other friends had the same idea, so it should be a pretty sick day. If I haven't sold you on how amazing my day is going to be, you should probably watch this and have some Pow for Breckfast!

So for those of you that aren’t so lucky, here’s some fun for your Friday:

Porcupine Eating A Carrot. Not much further explanation needed, but it is amazing.

Hank for Senate. Why wouldn’t you vote for him? He look great in a tie. Don’t pay attention to those negative campaign ads!

Oops! Running late. Don't want to miss the snow. Just watch Porcupine eating a carrot on repeat. It will pass the time.

Listening to M83.

Leap Day

Leap Day. Not really sure what to make of the whole thing. I can't tell you where I was 4 years ago at this time celebrating such a glorious holiday. Well, if you can even call it a holiday. It's not like I had the day off or anything... well, I didn't have President's Day off either, so who really knows what constitutes a holiday nowadays, but I digress...

The two perspectives about Leap Day that resonate with me the most are the following:

• The Leap Day. All because Earth takes 365 1/4 days to orbit the Sun, and we ignore the fractions 'til they add up to 1. 

•  Leap day: An extra day of work this year without extra pay.

Yep, those about sum it up for me. We ignore the fact that it's not magic that created this day, but science. Then we work more than usual and get paid the same amount.

I know that NBC and 30 Rock want us to run around in our blue and yellow celebrating (don't worry, I did cave and wore blue and yellow because it's humorous), but I just don't really get it. Don't get me wrong, I understood the humor in the episode and laughed out loud quite a few times. I also have been looking for Leap Day William so I can get some candy, but to no avail.

People keep saying today is a chance to "take a leap" and do something you wouldn't consider doing any other day. I think that's a bunch of BS. Really? You have to wait once every 4 years to do something that you've wanted to do but were too chicken? Ridiculous. Not only that, but I then ask people what they are going to do to "take a leap" and their responses are even more ridiculous. No, eating a greasy hamburger when you normally only eat healthy does not constitute as "taking a leap". The more people talk about this day that doesn't seem to be anything important, the more annoying it becomes. Maybe I'm a cynic. Maybe I should find a reason to celebrate every day, especially the rare ones, but for some reason I can't get on board.

I think I may be more interested in getting on board if I lived near Disneyland. That is one thing about this day that is fairly amazing: Disneyland is open for 24 hours. Yep, 6am to 6am. I am slightly disappointed that I didn't know about this until yesterday because I would have taken a trip down there to ride Space Mountain at 3 in the morning when there are no lines, but o well. Maybe in 4 years...

 

 Listening to Passion Pit.

Lessons We Can Learn

My friend sent me this today. Sometimes these cutesy little stories show up in your life at the exact moment you need them... this was one of those times. 

Here's the story:

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers. A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. 

When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.' The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. 

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.. The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand. 

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers with a friend.

Listening to Trevor Hall.

Reasons I Need A Boyfriend

Yes, you read that correctly. 

Let me give you a little background on this first. I don’t really feel like I need a boyfriend most of the time. I like my life. I enjoy pretty much every aspect of it. My work is great. I have friends that I hang out with and the rest of my schedule is full. The fall: college football. The winter: skiing. The spring: baseball. The summer: hiking and random adventures. Finding the time to deal with a significant other just seems exhausting to me. As my friends say, I’m #notgirlfriendmaterial. That is a consistent response I get from them when I explain a date gone wrong, my lack of desire to meet up with their “really great guy friend who would be perfect for me” or how every guy I meet ends up being an idiot. I may not be girlfriend material, and that’s ok. I’m pretty self-sufficient. I like being independent. It makes me cringe when I see a female relying too much on her partner. For example, the other day I saw a boyfriend carry his girlfriend’s skis. What?! Don’t even get me started. First rule of skiing: carry your own stuff. But I digress… 

Right now you are thinking “wow, your life is pretty great. Why do you even need a boyfriend?” That’s a great question. I discovered this fall that there are a couple. Here’s my list of reasons I need a boyfriend: 

1. To remove dead mice from mouse traps.
2. To fix the garbage disposal.

Yep, it is a two item list. I admit that it is pretty girly and ridiculous. I ran in to some situations this fall that led me to these reasons. As the fall became the winter, mice felt that the best place to live would be in my house. Clearly they didn’t consult me before making this decision. So I had to set up mouse traps throughout the house. Which means I had to dispose of the dead mice that were trapped. Needless to say, the experience was gross. I kept imaging the limp mouse coming back to life as I was picking it up and biting me or something. Basically it is a job that I would like to pass off to my significant other if at all possible.

 

The situation that led to item two on my list was because I like to keep my house clean. I was cleaning out the fridge and getting rid of anything that was old. My roommate had some old food in Tupperware that I sent down the drain. I flipped on the switch to the garbage disposal and it made weird noises and wasn’t disposing (as the title of the appliance suggests). I turned off the disposal and had to figure out what was wrong. This led me to stick my hand down the drain. I had to dig through a bunch of muck while visions of my hand being chopped off by the disposal flashed through my head. After about 30 minutes of digging through old food, unscrewing parts of the contraption and random tampering, I fixed it. Yes, it’s exciting to think that I can be handy and take care of something like that, but what is even more exciting is the idea of never having to dig through that nastiness again. [Insert my need for a boyfriend here].

I know those two reasons are ridiculous. After realizing those two things on my list were so silly, I figured I could come up with a much longer list of things that I extremely dislike doing that I could pass off, but I can’t. I have no problem fixing a car (or taking it to a mechanic if needed), doing yard work, moving furniture, or doing any of the other “boyfriend chores” I could think of. So the list of two items is my all-encompassing list of reasons that I “need” a boyfriend. Maybe I just need a really brave and handy neighbor. I guess that would also work…

Listening to The Shins.

Fun Friday Finds- Gotye and Johnny Russia

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm back. Well, sorta back. I'm just not that interested in writing too much these days. So at least my Fun Friday Finds are short and I can spew out some words for you. 

*Many of you know the song Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye. Good song. It was even better when it first came out and people weren't overplaying it. Let's also be honest and point out that Gotye can look kinda creepy.

 
There is a pretty sweet cover out there by Walk the Earth. By pretty sweet, I mean that there are 5 people playing the same guitar. Impressive. I also like some of their other covers, so look around on their You Tube channel for sure.

*I've been skiing a lot lately. Our first trip up to the mountain, we run in to a guy wearing a bit of an interesting look. We found out that he is the owner of the company that makes such a look. AND that they charge $98 dollars for such a look. You intrigued yet? Well you should be. Apparently Johnny Russia is an "up and coming" clothing line. Order quick before it sells out!

*Finally, on a follow up, you are probably wondering if that tumblr site is still showing us the same picture of Dave Coulier every day. http://samepicofdavecoulier.tumblr.com/ Don't worry, it is.

Happy Friday!

Listening to Tegan and Sara