Autumn Apples

One day in college, Lauren found a huge bag of apples in the parking lot. It had been there for at least two days, so she took it, and we ate ALL of them.

Hands Free

So pup called me Wednesday just as I was about to do some dishes (after Monday's post, I'll spare you the description of how badly the dishes needed to be done). Blast. My plans are foiled! I thought, somewhat disappointed, because I only very rarely actually FEEL. LIKE. doing the dishes.

Foiled? Not so.

I am, as you know, an engineer, fascinated - since a very young age - by finding creative solutions to everyday problems, as evidenced by the the it's-raining-but-I want-to-ride-my-bike photograph below:


Apparently I peaked early, though, as the bike + umbrella (umbrellycle?) seems to be a much more elegant solution to the rain problem than the following solution to my most recent dilemma involving dishes and a cell phone. Witness... hair scarf + puce-colored binder clip + phone.


Instant hands-free device!!! Ugly and awkward, yes, but still it seemed to function as I imagined.

Seemed to, that is, until Julia and I got disconnected. The phone was set to vibrate, so when she called me back... let me tell you THAT was a bizarre feeling... IN MY EAR. My hands were covered in suds and water, and I KNOW from experience how cell phone + water = very bad* things happen.

So, naturally, I flipped out and ran into Beth's room. AHHH IT'S RINGING. DO SOMETHING. I leaned my head over her desk where she was working on some writing. STICK YOUR THUMB IN THERE AND ANSWER IT. STICK YOUR THUMB IN THERE AND ANSWER IT.

I have such a good sister.




You know, just a day in the life...




*i.e. now the little camera flash is constantly shining and the display screen no longer works even though I did everything I was supposed to like letting it dry for 24+ hours and NOT plugging it in last time I got it wet.

Don't Even Care

It doesn't matter that I'm twenty-five. It doesn't matter that I am a civil engineer. It doesn't matter that I'm a hard core feminist. It doesn't matter that the rear neighbors can see directly in, since we don't actually have any blinds. I don't even care.



There are few things in life that compare to spinning atop the hardwood floors in a swirly twirly poufy flowy white skirt.

And I am doing just that.



I guess I'm just lucky sometimes. To be doing exactly what it is that I want to be doing.

Totally Looks Like

Thanks to my friend Feng: totallylookslike.com


For example:
Young Albert Einstein Totally Looks Like Shia Labeouf.
Open Coat Totally Looks Like a Piranha.
“Weird Al” Yankovic Totally Looks Like Disney’s Tarzan.


Yay. What a delight.

a baby dinosaur named Pleo

Spazzity Spaz Spaz

Just after lunch, my coworker called and I picked up because the person who normally answers the phone had stepped out. "Katie? I need your help. We're in the car and we've got three people following us."

Holy crap! I thought as intense chase scenes flashed through my mind. They are in danger! How will I know what to do? Then that rational voice came in, Pull yourself together, woman.

"Okay," I replied calmly. "What do you need?"

"We're in Burlington and we need directions to this restaurant. Are you at your computer?"

hahaha... can we say overactive imagination?

Dante's Rump

Sometimes in the bathroom at work you can hear somebody flushing the toilet from one of the floors above or below us and you can hear it trickling in OUR toilet. It reminds me of that part in Dante's Peak when the two young lovers are in those hot springs and the lava bubbles up slowly at first but then it engulfs them and they sort of burn up and evaporate to their deaths. Such vulnerable little humans, and really there's no stopping the universe like that. So then I freak out a little bit about lava coming up out of the toilet and searing my bum. Then I have to ask myself, honestly, why worry about such things? If something like that is going to happen, it's going to happen.

And also, probably it won't... right?

Re-do

Okay okay so that last one was a depressing post. Upon thinking about it overnight, I would like to retro-conclude it with this:

...and that is why it is not a good idea to have delusions about marriage as a final destination, as the "happily ever after," because without either of us putting the effort in, it very well could end up like I described. I can see it working out too though. It is about learning to balance when to build forts and when to get things done, just like it is when you're NOT married. As other factors change (outside or within the relationship), it will be necessary to reevaluate and possibly shift that balance to maintain a healthy tension between these two distinct people trying to live as a part of each others lives.

And I imagine that to be immensely rewarding.

A Nerdy Traffic Post for Donald Tetto

Okay I have been somewhat lackadaisical regarding my newtiness of late. Sorry guys. As some of you know, I have started work, which turns out to be delightful. I couldn't ask for nicer co-workers, and the projects we are working on are all so fascinating to me (although, as a Junior Engineer, I'm more in charge more of the grunt-work than actual design, but you've gotta start somewhere).

Last week I helped conduct a study for the town of Dedham (pronounded like DEAD-'em). See, many of the residents believe that a significant number --- or, as we say in the transportation world, "volume" --- of cars are cutting through their neighborhood (please refer to my AutoCAD drawing below) to bypass the traffic light where the two roads intersect.
You can imagine why this would be unsafe, with people speeding around to shave off a few seconds from their travels while little kids wait for the bus or play soccer in the street. So we placed several of our finest staff at key intersections to record the vehicles entering and exiting the neighborhood. A simple way to check whether the same vehicles were cutting through or not was to make note of the last three digits of the license plate (and the state, but they were mostly the same state anyway). If that same vehicle made a right-hand turn into the neighborhood off of the first major road and then appeared turning out of the neighborhood onto the other road, there is a pretty good chance that the vehicle was cutting through. It is not a foolproof method, because we did not write down the exact minute and second that we observed these license plate numbers. So there is no way of knowing how long a vehicle actually spent in the neighborhood. It is possible, therefore, that some of the people who actually live in the area arrive at their house through one route and leave via another.

Apparently it does not matter though, because a total of one car made the cut-through movement during the morning rush hour and less than fifteen made that same movement during the afternoon rush hour. It is safe to assume that there are even fewer cars during other times of the day.

Also we have an office volleyball team and are going go-cart racing in August. All in all, I am pleased with the career move.

Yo I'm on Fire!!!

Dude, let's all take a moment appreciate Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Especially that fourth movement. And while we're at it, let's appreciate these beautiful lyrics based from the poem by Friedrich Schiller:

Freude, schöner Götterfunken (Joy, beauteous spark of divinity)
Tochter aus Elysium, (Daughter of Elysium)
Wir betreten feuertrunken, (We enter drunk with fire)
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! (Heavenly One, your sanctuary!)

Deine Zauber binden wieder (Thy magic power reunites)
Was die Mode streng geteilt; (All that custom has strictly divided)
Alle menschen werden Brüder, (All men become brothers)
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. (Where your gentle wing abides.)

Fancy

So I was at the dollar store (formerly known as 99¢ Forever ) to pick up some supplies for my lesson at church tomorrow, and you’ll never believe what I found there...

That’s right. 8 Fancy Erasers. What I shall do with them all remains a mystery at present. I gave Lauren and Donald one apiece, but I still have six… I don’t know if I’ll do that much erasing in my whole life.

Plus I’m not sure if I could bear actually erasing with one of them, not sure how I'd feel about the gradual wearing away of their brightly colored bodies from the long term effects of friction.

Man, they have so much spunk! Just look at them… Aren't they superb?