Sleepwatcher Alarm Clock - I’m going to leave this as the top link for a while - sounds amazing. It wakes you up during the lightest part of your sleep cycle so you feel rested when you get up. But get this, the reviewers seem to think it really works. That would be amazing - if I get some more sources saying it does, I would certainly consider buying one.
Fastest Production Motorcycle - Yes, it’s the Suzuki Hayabusa GSX1300R - recorded by Guiness at 194MPH. Now you know.
John’s Dad’s veterinarian clinic needs an 800 number. That’s 1-800 followed by 7 digits that represent their business. I’ve been thinking up names for about two minutes so it has been a grueling brainstorming session. That said, here are the results:
1-800-HEALPET
1-800-PETCARE
1-800-CLAPPIE
1-800-CATPOOP
1-800-LALALAL
1-800-PETLIFE
Post your ideas, you could win … the honor of having supplied the Hudson Road Animal Hospital with a toll-free one eight hundred number! Act now, and for the low price of $14.95, this great sign of creativity can be yours. Quantities are limited so act now.
I told you this was a good idea - ShuffePhones strike again.
PowerPoint Viewer - Open and print Microsoft PowerPoint documents without having PowerPoint installed. Nothing new, but very useful.
Publicity Stunt - So the idea was, imitate the iPod shuffle so blatantly (down to the marketing), but never even intend to produce it, get a ton of attention, and build different MP3 players from the companies attracted by the stunt. Unbelievable.
Frankly, I pity those in the future with their fuel-cell devices and silent-drive everything. They will miss out on a fundamental enjoyment of life: starting an engine. When there is a need for something to happen, a lawn to be mowed, leaves to be blown, or (as was the case tonight) a driveway to be plowed, starting an engine by hand is a most gratifying thing. You take a still, lifeless piece of metal and machinery and give it a purpose. Exhibit A: our trusty Tecumseh snowblower was always a stubborn starter. Then, my Dad figured out we had the wrong model spark plug in there the last 5 years. Now, one knows the thing should start - but it’s never an easy feat to accomplish. I’ve been playing with the perfect combination of engine priming, choke settings, and throttles, and that combination has been difficult to find. I have had to surrender my manlihooderness’es on numerous occasions and either (a) use the electric start via a wall plugin by running an inconvenient extension cord or (b) convincing everyone around me that I truly am a moron and reading the manual.
Tonight was different. Six full engine primes, a gentle push on the spark plug, full choke, and full throttle. Grab the handle, lock it against the flywheel, quick pull. No start, but the faint rumble of a turnover. Once more, grab the handle and, certainly this time, a definite hint it was about to start. One final pull and the thing roared to life. It’s this feeling, of sparking something bigger and more powerful than you, of a putting into motion, that the fuel-cellers of our future generations will lose out on.
Before you die, give this starting a try: but don’t cop out and start a lawn mower - give power to something stubborn, something tough to get going. It’s an experience that will stick with you.
It occurs to me I haven’t made a real post in somewhere north of one and a half weeks. This saddens me; I like to record life. That said, the more I can write tonight the more life I will feel I have down on this silly site I call my own. This past week was ridiculously intense - I could not even keep up with my email, the first time that has ever happened to me. Professors just kept sending information on review sessions, internships, test date changes, review suggestions, suggested media, lab information, reading assignmented, and more. The deluge was unprecedented. (I almost wrote that as “heretofore unprecedented” but that would have been redundant). Yes, Chem, Bio, and Theo all struck within 2 days. Tests, tests, tests. Then, we suddenly went hardcore statistical in Animal Behavior, analyzing our squirrel foraging lab for four straight hours in Excel. Superfun.
This week is over, though, so to recap on the fun things in the past couple of weeks. Mykala’s birthday gifts came: her “The floor is made of lava” bag from toothpastefordinner.com and her iPod mini. The bag is far sturdier and well made than I would have thought, and the iPod is, of course, very lovely. (Plus, today she got these awesome K2 blades - if you’re in the market I would seriously suggest K2 rollerblades for their softboot alone). Also, I have eaten at three great places in this past month: Punch features authentic Neopolitan style pizza (and is close to us on Cleveland Avenue in St. Paul; they’ve won a bunch of Twin Cities magazine awards), P.F. Changs (we were treated by the Clark family - and a wonderful treat it was; great sophisticated-without-stuffy ambience, wonderful take on Chinese-American food), and Buca di Beppo (family style Italian dining, high energy warm atmosphere, great comfort food). The last we were treated to by the Markoe family in celebration of Ryan’s birthday. I’ve had so much free food thrown at me, it’s been fantastic.
I ran out of ink in a pen for the first time in my life this past week. I always lost the pen or gave it away before running out. Interesting.
I was so preoccupied that when I came late from my Bio test to Theo lecture, I entered the classroom one floor below my actual classroom. The entire wrong class stared at me as I strode confidently (for a half pace) into the lecture. I wanted to sink into the floor.
It blows my mind that having strawberries and cream Oatmeal can bring back such vivid memories of camping over five years ago. All of the sudden I was back in the vestibule of the tent reading by lantern late at night, cooking food at the camp stove, around the campfire with three generations of my family, canoeing into the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. All right there, in packets of food mixed with water. Perhaps we live on the edge of bliss, but let our lives get in the way.
After eating the oatmeal, I entered my floor bathroom with the bowl to clean it, and somebody was sitting in a stall whistling (quite loudly) the song “Cecelia” by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. They continued this action in spite of my presence. Their motivation for this musical action will forever puzzle me.
‘The 30 least hot follow-ups to the 30 hottest things you can say to a naked woman’ - Nobody but Defective Yeti can make something as inane as a Men’s Health article this unbelievably funny. Best comment: “holy christ dude, that was awesome.”
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