Flower Light

One of the two days it rained on me in Spain. This picture was taken at La Alhambra (which, by the way has candidacy for the New 7 Wonders of the world: vote online at www.new7wonders.com) in Granada, España (Spain). It's not photoshopped. It really did look like there was light coming out of the center of it, which may be why I took a picture of this particular flower.

Piggy Bank

I haven't had a piggy bank in about ten years. But as of last Sunday, I have one that I'm now working on filling up. The container used to be a "party ball" (a 5 liter mini-keg-type-thing) of Warsteiner beer that I bought for my FSU v. UF party. After we drank all the beer out of it, I decided that I didn't want to throw it out, or just put it in my aluminum recycle. Whitney told me that I could make a lamp out of it, but I don't need another lamp. Neil suggested that I turn it into a piggy bank. A few modifications were needed so that coins could go in and out, but Neil's got the tools for that and he let me borrow them to do the job.

I wonder how much money there will be in that thing if I ever get around to filling it up. I think that I'm going to have to start making a lot more cash transactions if I want to get any change to put in it. I'm a big fan of using my credit card...you know, it's a one month interest-free loan. But credit card transactions don't give you change for filling up a piggy bank.

Maybe the thing that I like the most about this piggy bank is that (I think) it is unique. I've seen 5-gallon water jugs used as piggy banks, but never party balls. Plus, I came up with a creative way to reuse something (ok, ok, it was Neil's idea...I lack creative insight).

p.s. it makes a crazy-loud noise right now if you shake that bitch up. I bet you could annoy a whole bunch of people at once with that thing. :::clank::: :::clank:::

Wanna Ride Bikes?

On two consecutive weekends (but not the ones just past) I have gone "riding bikes" with some of my friends. The first time was the weekend before the second econometrics test. Paula, Glen, Stephanie, & I went riding bikes up north of town by Paula's house. Pretty easy big loop, then some funner, tighter, windier trails in the middle of the big loop. It was pretty cool when I recognized where we were at a point during our trip. It was a place that I had been walking with Sarah, but Sarah & I approached it from the opposite direction that us bikers did that day. After that outing, we annihilated our hunger in a Mexican restaurant (much the same way that the M matrix annihilates the X vector). After dining, Paula & I studied 'metrix for a ridiculous amount of time.

The following weekend, I met Glen & Stephanie (Paula's car had a flat tire) in a different location and we rode for a couple hours on some alright trails that are pretty close to their house. Afterward, we went back to G&S's house and had some homemade pizza. It was good. And I got to meet their dog, Pria (sp?).

Here's the point: I feel like a little kid. My friends are planning these trips to go ride bikes. Isn't that what I did when I was in elementary/middle/even-into-high school?? It's kind of different now, though. I threw my bike in my trunk (gotta love the Grand Marquis) and met these people (also with bikes in their cars) and went riding. Glen & Stephanie are married (to each other), we're all grad students, Glen/Stephanie & I own our houses, and well, I don't know...it just seems weird. Maybe riding bikes is something so cool that one never outgrows it. I saw some older people, probably older than 50, riding on the second weekend.

Furthermore, it's nice to be able to use my bike for leisure/recreation instead of just transportation all the time. But I feel a sense of irony when I stick my bike in my trunk & drive it somewhere in order to ride it.

Bringing it back to the kid aspect: a couple of neighborhood second graders came by my house the weekend before the first big-kid outing and they asked me if I could come out & play (how cute). They had ridden their bikes to my house, so I was like "umm, so, do you guys want to ride bikes??" and they responded with an enthusiastic "yeah!!" So, there you go, it's still popular with kids.

Poco de práctica

Alexis Dorf me ha dado un consejo: "tu debes escribir tu blog en espanol." Tiene razón. No voy a escribir todas los capítulos en español, pero creo que es una buena forma de practicar. Ahora, para no perder mis habilidades del idioma, veo la televisión española (más bien latina como no es de España) y a veces construyo frases o dichos con mi poesí magnética en español. También escucho la música grabada en español, pero no todos los días. Tengo miedo de perder mis mañas de hablar o de entender. Escribir es más fácil porque se puede buscar palabras que uno no sabe.

Ahora en Tallahassee, no estoy rodeado por gente que habla esa lengua como solía en el HC. Solamente encuentro el castellano cuando juego el fútbol (que sorpresa, ¿no?). Sé que podría encontrar amigos para hablar (como Paula), pero la trampa es que es casi siempre más fácil o conveniente hablar en inglés.

Sin embargo, no me han huido las frutas de todo mi estudio de este lenguaje. Tal vez no estoy todavía en un nivel muy alto de producir comunicación en el castellano, pero puedo comunicar. Ahora, mi barrera más grande es entender la gente con acento muy fuerte, con sonidos omitidos (como los cubanos).

Prison Break

After Neil & I returned from Thanksgiving dinner @ Whitney's house, we both passed out for about an hour, which means that the food must have been pretty good. Then he encouraged me to watch some Prison Break (he has the first season on DVD). I said that I would watch 2 episodes. Ended up watching about 7. There are 22 episodes in the first season, and I watched all of them between Thursday night and Saturday night. Mind you that these are hour long episodes, not half-hours (~45 minutes on DVD sans commercials).

I don't watch much TV. But it's somehow different on DVD...maybe because you don't have to suffer through commercials. The thing about this show is that they leave you with ridiculous cliff hangers every time. You just feel compelled to watch the next one. And maybe it's harder to exercise self-control when all you have to do is hit a button on the remote to satisfy your curiosity. Better than waiting a week. For sure.

Prison Break doesn't seem like a TV show. It's more like an arpeggiated movie. Neil pointed out that it's filmed like a movie, and I think that the plot more or less follows something like a movie's as opposed to something that is different every week, independent of prior episodes (like Family Guy).

This event kind of reminds me why I should not read for pleasure or get into TV or anything like that during the semester. I neglect my studies because that other stuff is so much more fun than school. I'm starting to not enjoy school so much. Maybe that will change next semester. I decided to take this weekend off of school work because I'm shifting into a higher gear next week in order to start studying for finals. My first final is on Dec. 8 and I have 2 the following week.

Mabry Mill

This is the Mabry Mill, located on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. This picture makes me ask myself a question: how do I feel about taking the same picture that everyone takes (for postcards, books, magnets, keychains, etc.)?? I like the picture. I took it. I guess that makes it original. Nobody else took one at the same time from the same location (but that's true of EVERY picture). I guess I don't have a philosophy of photography. Maybe I don't know enough about the topic to have a philosophy of it yet.

I usually take pictures for one of the following reasons: documentation (I was here; look what happened; check out the hurricane damage, you insurance companies, you; aesthetic value (see above or the Cotopaxi picture below); something's funny (like "80 months 'til completion of a new building on the MacArthur campus); or for show & tell (usually taken then almost immediately sent through email).

Lately I've printed out some of the awesome pictures I've taken and framed them and put the up for display in my house. I think I will make a rule that the only framed pictures hanging in my house are ones that I have taken, even though there are some great pictures by Sarah or my dad or other random people that would look cool. If you're close by, you should check them out the next time you come to my house.

Cotopaxi (as seen from TeleferiQo in Quito)