good for a half hour or so of entertainment: the TerraServer USA website, where you can type in your (or any) address and call up an aerial photograph of your 'hood. or the 'hood of whomever you might be stalking ;).

*snort*

the blizzard of '05...tried to go out snow driving today, and all the darn roads were plowed. well, almost--ray was able to steer me toward one nice unplowed (albeit short :P) road. after making me wear a bucket on my head at sears. but that's another story.

not much of a blizzard when all the darn roads are plowed. ah well...the winter is still young, right?

it's an engine block. it's a coffee table. it's a wine rack.

it's damn cool, is what it is!

this is silly. people, they are charging you $30 for a half of a sock with the bottom stitched shut. okay, okay, a pack of half-socks. but still. seriously, if you're reading this, send me socks and i'll make 'em for half the price. less, actually. for all the time it would take me, you could just send me a nice thank you note and we'd be square. and since i'm feeling the sewing bug today (already made two pillowcases), i might just go and prove the ease with which one of these bad boys can be whipped up right now...

[edited to let you know that it took me less than 20 minutes to find a sock, make the iPod cover, take the pictures, upload them, and create that page.]

i think that this is an excellent alternative for april to use if her laser isn't working properly by the time she has to leave for new mexico...

what do you think, april? :D

it's cold. i know that in the grand new england scheme of things, it's not technically *that* cold, but...when it feels like negative 11 F out, it's hard to remind youself of that sometimes. my face turned numb just walking from the jeep to my office this morning.

however, on the bright side, they are predicting lots o' snow this weekend...i haven't seen any forcasted accumulations, but i keep hearing people refer to it as a nor'easter and saying that we might get a foot of snow. and that would be *so* much fun to drive in :D. so, cross your fingers and do some sort of snow chant for me so i can have some fun in the jeep this weekend...

dopey? me? okay...maybe a little.

okay, okay. a lot.

:D

finally got myself registered for two classes (what? classes only start tomorrow! it's not *that* last minute). not my fault i was the only person to sign up for advanced soil chem, and had to find a replacement course last minute...

i'm a smidge nervous about TA-ing this semester, but i think it'll go well. i'm really excited about the class; it's one i enjoyed a lot as an undergrad, and i think the guy who's teaching it this semester is putting a really interesting and relevant spin on it. so...it should be fun.

let's just hope i don't suck :P.

ahahahahahahha! *wipes tears from eyes.*

nipular magic. that's friggin' hysterical.

**amazon took this down...which is too bad, b/c it was hilarious. i'll see if i can find more info about it and repost...**

it's sunday. it's sunday and i have to go the lab and count e.coli colonies on bacteria plates. half of me says "meh. it's sunday. i don't wanna go to school," but the other half really wants to know what's going on on those plates, so...if you're curious later, drop me a line and i'll give you the grand tally.

my life, it's just so darn exciting ;)

**UPDATE**
okay, not that many of you really wanted one. okay, okay, i know no one cares. just humor me.

water coming into wetland: loads of e.coli.
water coming out: none!

stop looking at me like that. it's cool. it is.

whoo hoo! i have *comments* now! (thanks blogger help people!)

so, uh...leave one!

i'm not sure what i find to be more odd: the fact that this even exists, or that fact that it's actually *sold out*.

*shakes head*

but these... these, i can get on board with :)

always looking for new music to listen to, and i've stumbled across/been directed to several websites to perpetuate that lately. one of the most visually appealing is musicplasma.com, an engine that lets you input musicians that you enjoy and get back an interactive, color coded by "likeness" map of similar/similarly inspired musicians. very cool. go try it and find some new music to inspire yourself with :)

i'm itching to go somewhere. which is completely unrealistic and out of the question right now...but not this summer. the plan: maine. acadia. baxter. katahdin. hiking and camping and not thinking about anything else.

who's with me?

the neatest idea i've seen in a while: Google SMS. you can actually text message queries to google, and get responses right to your phone. and it doesn't cost extra or anything...it's the same as sending a regular text message.

neato mosquito!

happy 2005 everyone, and happy 30th anniversary mom and dad!

merry two days after christmas, everyone...i know i've not been around much as of late, but those of you who know me know that things have not been exactly swell lately. christmas was a nice distraction for me, though.

that bright blue thingamabobber is my new leatherman juice CS4 multitool that my parents...err, santa got for me. i've already used it to hang a light from my ceiling and put together a ridiculously heavy bookshelf, so it was definately a great gift. i hope everyone hade a safe and happy holidays, and will have fun and be safe on new years. more later...

goodbye, bellarina...

let me just preface this by saying that belle was the best. dog. ever. she came from the humane society at 3 months old, all giant ears and puppy kisses. a german shepherd/great pyrenees mix, she grew to be one of the biggest lap dogs you could imagine. smart, joyful, attentive, sweet, friendly, protective...she was everything anyone could possibly want in a dog.

last thursday, belle became suddenly and extremely sick--what turned out to be an acute onset of immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. basically, this means that her white blood cells started attacking her red blood cells, limiting the amount of oxygen available to her organs. she had a blood transfusion on friday night, and despite every effort and what i know must have been a fierce fight on her part, she continued to decline. my parents made the difficult but compassionate decision to put her down on sunday afternoon. belle was only 6 years old; she would have been 7 at the end of the month.

i will miss so many things about bella...the way she bounced up and down like she was on a trampoline, the way she gazed at people, the way she loved to go for rides, the way she loved to give kisses and be pet...even her klepto tendencies of stealing toys and groceries from the neighbors :). she was sweet and good and i hope that everyone gets to have a puppy as wonderful as her in their life at some point.

i love you so much, belle-face bear...

click here to see more pictures of belle

!!don't forget to vote tomorrow!!

i don't care who you vote for (okay, that's not entirely true), just get out there and vote. polls are open from 6am to 8pm, so you have no excuse. don't make me come over there and go jukido on your punk ass. oh yeah. you know i will.

a bear votes