50 FIRSTS #20 -- 20th Century, Here I Come!!

This almost counts as 2 new 50 FIRSTS -- tonight I Skyped for the first time AND it was part of a conference call. Yep, Lesley and Jaime ushered me into the previous century, as we spent an hour or two making the final decisions about this summer's NSF-REU Fellows. It was a painful process (choosing, not Skyping) - but in a good way - lots of exceptionally qualified applicants! Occasionally Matzel contributed to the 'conversation'.

Brings a Smile, Every Time

I was in a crumby mood Thursday/Friday, so fell back on a few of my favorite you tube videos for a smile:

50 FIRSTS #18: Easter Ratatouille

Enjoyed the Johnson family's hospitality for Easter, as is becoming the tradition. Great lamb by Randy, excellent fare all around. And apparently I added a 'first' by enjoying some ratatouille. I've obviously heard of it, never tasted it tho'. Fun to say, tasty to eat - figured it could go on 'the list.'

The day was topped off as usual by the lamb cake decapitation (apparently these little lamb cakes are a South Bend area specialty). Moment captured below:

50 FIRSTS #19: Internet Help-Chat

I have to confess, 10 years into the 21st century and I've never actually used one of those live interactive options while on one of my financial pages. But today, I couldn't find my end of year tax info from my mortgage holder, so went online, tried to set up an account, it dumped me, so I timed the online chat option against calling. The person was online before I'd finished entering the 1-800 number in my iphone. It was pretty interesting to answer her questions about loan amounts, interest, etc. by having to bounce around to other websites to pull the answers. Never had to touch a piece of paper. I don't know if that felt convenient, or a bit scary ;-) Regardless, it was a first, so it's on the list!

Ape Language Studies

Scientists Successfully Teach Gorilla It Will Die Someday

50 FIRSTS #17: 1st Census Form

I'm not sure how this is possible, but I just filled out and sent in my first census form. I was in Jerusalem for the year in 2000, so must've missed doing it (maybe Yorke filled it out for me??) In 1990, my then husband must've done so. 1980 - last year of high school so I guess my parents did it.

I have to confess that although short and certainly not difficult, some of the questions did make me think "should I really be answering this??" I did it, but wish there was a more secure way to do so.

Sunbathing

We have a new contender for "favorite position" I think. I walked into the living room this afternoon (stayed home to work on our summer website) and found a giant hairy slug on my sofa. He was o-u-t cold. Really very cute. When I pet the sunny side of him, he was like a hairy heating pad.

50 FIRSTS #15: Rest in Peace Ted Kennedy

Watched the endless back and forth on the floor for several hours, in order to see this historic vote. Watched it on Fox News to see what they were saying during the process. Insightful comments like "who ever designed a graphic that uses white letters against a bright background?? The graphics people at Fox certainly wouldn't do that." When they brought on Trent Lot who said this vote represents the destruction of the country and the Constitution, I changed channels.

50 FIRSTS #9: Sunrise Balloon Ride Over the Nile's West Bank

This was not on the archaeology tour plan for Luxor, but when we checked into our hotel, we noticed a sunrise hot air balloon trip over the Valley of the Kings available for the next morning at an amazingly inexpensive price. Too good to pass up. Definitely one for the "firsts" list. Very cool. It included breakfast on the Nile, then about an hour long flight. Here are a few shots:

Stewart as Beck

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50 FIRSTS #14: Called my Congressman

I have often thought about calling my congressman at various times, but finally did it today when I read that Donnelly still hadn't made a decision about how he is going to vote on the Health Care bill. Seems a bit cowardly -- time's a ticking. So, I sent an email, posted a comment on his webpage, and called both his DC and South Bend offices. Then posted a notice on my Facebook page as well as the ND Faculty & Staff FB page. I even made this nifty little skeleton action figure just for him...

When I called, the aide took my name, occupation, and then said "so, you want him to vote "no"? He received a rather surprised, then emphatic response from me... ;-)

Come on Donnelly, you know what the right answer is!

On the off chance that you are a resident in Indiana's 2nd Congressional District, here's how to contact him:

website contact form: http://donnelly.house.gov/contact/contact-us-form.shtml
DC office phone: 202-225-3915
South Bend office phone: 574-288-2780

Dixie Chick

Yesterday Michael and Doug had to go into Chicago for a funeral, so Dixie came to stay for the night. She's a cutie pie...at least I thought so. Lemur was of a differing opinion. Wiley just looked at her, then went back to sleep, and Maz stayed in the closet for the night. Poor Dixie didn't get much sleep - so many new noises to check out (among them Lemur's fairly regular growl or hiss just for effect).

This morning when I let her outside, she ran into a giant opossum and came right back in. So when I took her for a walk a bit later, she led me (with determination) back to her house and wouldn't budge. She jumped in a chair, laid down, and essentially said "okay, you can go now." I checked back in on her later, she didn't even get up to bark at me as I came in (normally she's quite vocal). Dixie was one tired pup.

She did manage to bark at the Jehovah's Witness who came by while I was hanging out, and gave the UPS man some lip for good measure. But quickly back to the chair and back to sleep.

The pictures below -- a)Dixie responding to Lemur's threat (little foot in the air), and b) Lemur's general hiding place when not c)espousing his displeasure at her visit.

50 FIRSTS #1&2: United Arab Emirates Visit

Got to see 6 of the 7 Emirates in December/January. Lesley needed to collect samples from several collections for her dissertation, which meant visiting numerous museums around the country. The only Emirate we didn't visit was Abu Dhabi (admittedly, the largest). We visited several cool places (Arabia Wildlife Center, Blue Suk, Sharjah Cornish, etc.), but I have to confess that the highlight for me was seeing my first large sand dunes. I've been in the desert before in many places, but there were always bushes/trees n' such. Pictures from Dubai were posted earlier, I've included a few from the various other Emirates below (including some seriously flooded streets after a downpour in Fujairah):

50 FIRSTS #5: Crumby Omani Hotel

After working at several museums in the UAE, we traveled to Oman to see the beehive tombs near Ibri (that's a tale for another post). On the first night we stayed in the Marina Hotel in Muscat. We went with the recommendation in the Lonely Planet guide (which got all manner of things wrong in their UAE/Oman/Yemen book - beware), but clearly should have checked Trip Advisor first. Only one review is good (probably written by the owner), the rest tell the tale.

When we went to check out, they tried to triple the rate from that agreed to on the phone. Argued for a bit, finally got fed up, paid them the equivalent of half the price of one room (we had 2) at our agreed upon price, told the guy at the front desk he had no honor and walked out. Gotta admit, although feeling justifiably self-righteous, I was a bit nervous doing it.

We chuckled for the rest of the day that they had no way to find us since we didn't reserve on-line and didn't pay with a credit card...until we got to the hotel in Ibri and they asked the standard first request -- "passports please." Then we remembered, the Marina had indeed xeroxed our passports like every other hotel we'd stayed in on our trip. Probably to keep people from jumping their bill... So, we spent the day hunting for the tombs, assuming that we'd be thrown in chains at the border crossing ;-) Yep, we showed them all right.

50 FIRSTS #3: High Tea in Dubai

I want to link each of the "50 New Things" to a posting, so I have some backtracking to do. Here are a few picture from our visit to the Burj al Arab, Dubai's 7-star hotel. Gotta confess, while the food was amazing, I wasn't much of a fan of the opulence of Dubai. Conspicuous consumption on an unimaginable scale.

The first shot is of the outside of the hotel, a view from inside looking up, the fountain and Christmas decorations, and the Burj Dubai just before it opened (world's tallest building).

50 FIRSTS #12: Homemade Horseradish

Lately I've been cooking a lot on the weekends (for the remainder of the week), hitting the Farmer's market, using mostly organics, trying to cut out meat for the most part, etc. This has involved some experimenting with new foods along to the way to keep it interesting. For example, several stores seem to have horseradish root available now, getting ready for Pesach (Passover) I 'suppose.

I LOVE horseradish. The hotter the better. "Preparing a Horseradish Root" gave me what turned out to be, very accurate information. I thought they were exaggerating in parts, such as: Grind or grate fresh horseradish in a well-ventilated room. The fumes are potent—a whiff may be stronger than you expect! I thought, really, how strong could it be??

Nope. I think I burned my eyeballs out. The smell was great, but man are the 'volatile oils' released are silent but deadly. Man it tastes great. Painful but worth it. Yum!

NCSE's New "UpChucky Awards"

This is a pretty fun new award, in name as well as purpose.

The UpChucky Awards

As explained on the website: Enter the intelligently designed UpChucky Award, which recognizes supreme achievement in the field of persistently rejecting evolution in the most stomach-turning way imaginable. This crown of cluelessness, this diadem of density, this badge of bullpucky isn't awarded to just any Darwin doubter.

I think Ben Stein should still be on the list.

SNL Humor Worthy of Blogging Again

For some odd reason, the blogging muse is back with me. May only be temporary, I may quickly be wooed back to the instant gratification of Facebook if no comments appear after a few entries, but for now, why not? Not much of meaning to share, just like having a place to upload fund finds on the web. So let me start with this new political piece, directed by Ron Howard, that brought back all the starts of SNL who played presidents for a dream sequence with Barack Obama. Pretty fun:

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

Neuroanthropology 2009 Student Posts

The student posts for Dan Lende's class on 'Culture and Compulsion' are posted on Neuroanthropology. As usual, interesting reading that shows off the quality of our majors. Pretty interesting stuff, worth a look. Here are the individual topics, go to the Neuroanthropology link above to access them:

• Why Do They Do It? Portrayals of Alcohol on Facebook and MySpace
• Gambling and Compulsion: Neurobiology Meets Casinos
• What’s the Dope on Music and Drugs?
• Tobacco Worse Than Cocaine?
• Caught in the Net – The Internet & Compulsion
• Lights, Camera… Alcohol?
• Confessions of a Shopaholic
• Can Videogames Actually Be Good For You?
• The New Performance Enhancing Drugs

Movie Night: "Up"

Michael, Doug and I have been hitting the theaters over the past few weeks to see a variety of movies. Today was supposed to be "Terminator," but "Up" won out due to the time. And I'm glad it did - what an enjoyable movie. (I made this colorful skull balloon image in honor of the film).

Highly recommended - good story about realizing life goals, friendship, adventure, fatherhood, aging, etc. It's also a very beautiful, colorful film. Totally worth going to - with or without kids in tow.

Here's part of a critique of the film:

As a Depression-era kid, Carl thrills to the newsreel exploits of explorer Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer), who pilots his dirigible the Spirit of Adventure to exotic climes. Brought together by a mutual admiration for Muntz, young Carl bonds with tomboyish Ellie, and their make-believe adventures give way to an achingly lovely montage of their marriage and life together. Alas, real-world demands force the couple to perpetually postpone travelling until Ellie becomes too frail for such excitement.

As a stubborn widower, Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) refuses to budge from the couple's pastel Victorian home, even though it's surrounded by a mammoth urban construction site. Rather than go gently to a retirement home, Carl resolves to keep his pledge to Ellie and sets off for South America with the help of a zillion helium balloons. Carl finds an unwanted companion in the perky Boy Scout Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai). Russell wants to help the elderly man, but never expected to be shanghaied by a flying house.

Docter turns Up's whimsical notions into surprisingly potent metaphors. On arrival in South America, Carl and Russell end up on terra firma, tethered to the house like it's a parade float. Docter shows Carl tugging his home, possessions and memories almost literally on his back, as if he's both treasuring his past and shouldering a Sisyphean burden. Ironically, Carl arrives in the land of his dreams but still drags his mundane reality around with him.

Carl encounters a sinister alter ego when he discovers the fate of long-lost Muntz, but Up doesn't dwell on its heavier ideas. Instead, the film strikes a lighter-than-air balancing act, with dizzying adventure scenes inspired by pulp novels and movie serials. Docter shows his genius for spinning endless variations off a handful of clever ideas. For instance, Dug, a floppy-eared, slack-tongued mutt, has a gizmo on his collar that translates his single-minded canine concerns into words. Dug's ability to speak turns out to be the beginning of a series of uproarious, dog-based jokes that prove as inspired as anything in Pixar's canon.

As two of Pixar's rare human heroes, Carl and Russell have facial designs that wittily reflect their life experiences...The audience feels privileged to soar and drift with them. In fact, you may never want to go back down to earth.

From: "Pixar's new movie Up sweeps audiences off their feet." by Curt Holman, 5/27/09, Creative Loafing blog.