Pedestrian travel

Does pedestrian travel always mimic road travel? In the US, we drive on the right side of the road. When we walk down the hallway or sidewalk, it seems that, for the most part, we walk on the right side as well. Does the opposite hold true in places where people drive on the left? I am just curious.

No cakes or Cookies in 2014

This was my goal for 2014. It did not survive past the first two weeks of January. Mostly because I kept forgetting.

I am punishing myself this year by giving up two things, soda, and processed meats, as I define it.

Out: Hotdogs, sausage, pepperoni, salami, bologna, pastrami, etc.
In: Ham, bacon and lunchmeat

So far, so good. I did grandfather in some cherry coke zero and a summer sausage that I got for Christmas. When those are gone, we'll see.

Creativity in dreams

Do you find that you do "complex" thinking and creating in your dreams?

I recently dreamed that I was at a casino somewhere, and I was getting ready to leave, and the dealer, or some employee of the casino, suggested that I play a different game. The game involved a box that opened on one side, via hinges on the other side. Inside the box were equal squares in two rows of four, each row containing a number, 1-8. In the game, I was the player, and I would circle with a marker of some kind, one of the numbers. The dealer would be allowed to watch my hands, but could not see the numbers because I was blocking his view with the "lid" of the box. Then the dealer would be guess a number as I looked down at the number I had circled. If he guessed right, I lost, if he guessed wrong, I win. He made his guess by watching me circle, and watching where I looked as he began his guess.

When I woke up and started thinking about the game, I was surprised that I had basically invented a game during my dream.

Should I have been surprised? Does this happen all the time and I just don't notice? Do you create or invent in your dreams? Is there a difference between creating a place to be in your dream, like flying somewhere or being in a city or place you've never been, and inventing or creating a game or something else? It seemed to me to be a more complex creation for a dream. I don't know. Maybe not.

Little Girl

There is no sweeter sound to my ears than that of my 3 year old daughter singing randomly to herself. It is beyond adorable. Sorry for the lame post. Had to be said.

And you thought your 1990 calculator watch was cool.

The watch in the below linked article will save your life. In an emergency, specifically, an emergency where you are lost, on an island, in the forest, etc., you can deploy an antenna, and activate a signal, detected by satellites, that will tell people where to find you. Price tag is a bit steep, but that is a cool watch.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/29/breitling-releases-the-emergency-ii-a-watch-that-can-save-you-if-youre-trapped-on-the-island/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Red, Yellow, Green..... and Pink?

We were playing a card game at Danyael's parents' house yesterday, and Andrew threw out a gem. The card game was being played with Uno cards, but only the red, yellow, and green cards. Andrew observed this, and drew the comparison between those colors and traffic lights. He has know for some time that red means stop, and green means go. Yesterday, he said that red and yellow mean stop, and green and pink mean go. ??? I asked him what he meant, why pink, and he reasoned that red and yellow go together, and there are two colors for stopping, and therefore there must be two colors for going, and pink goes with green, so obviously, green and pink mean go.

Okay then.

Stimuli - Our brains are smarter than we are

According to this blurb, and apparently this information comes from a video, our brain can effectively process only about 1% of all the stimuli that it takes in. Our brains have filters to filter out non-meaningful information.

My question is this: What would be different if we could effectively process all the information that we take in? Does this ability differ to any degree from one person to another? Does this ability change in the afterlife?

Starting simple, would we be able to avoid ever tripping again?
Would we be a lot better at sports?
Would we be able to perceive more colors?
Would we be able to communicate with each other a lot better?
Would we be able to understand animals and babies better?
Would we be able to see a lot farther?

Getting deeper, would we be able to see things that we previously simply could not see? Like ghosts?

I don't know.

Progressive Dreams

Does anyone else have progressive dreams? Dreams that progress over time through multiple dreams?

My most recent example is a dream that I had a week or so ago. I had a dream that was chapter 3 of a story. In chapter 1, Danyael and I found out about some apartment units in a series of buildings that were being built in part to generate capital for Real Salt Lake. The apartments were in buildings located somewhere near the stadium, though in the dream, I'm not sure where it was. We purchased an apartment unit in the dream and had it for a monthly mortgage payment of only $200, which was awesome as a cheap investment property. In the dream we visited the unit, and it was nice, but unfurnished. In Chapter 2, which was a dream somewhere between 6 months to a year later, we were able to purchase a second unit at the same price. We never visited the second unit, but did visit unit 1 again. In Chapter 3, which was last week, we had some family in town, and showed them the first unit. It was now furnished, because Danyael had made a deal with the developer that for an additional $100/month, they would purchase all the furnishings. It was really nice. We still did not visit unit 2.

I am sad every time I wake up from the dreams because it would be a nice thing to have. But most of my dreams are not progressive this way. Anyone else?

Burger Frenzy

I went all of 2012 without eating a single cheesburger or hotdog. And I missed it. I didn't miss the hotdogs as much because I did eat things like polish sausage and bratwurst. But for the cheeseburgers, there was no substitute. Starting on Jan 1, I have tried to make up for it. To the point that a stroke may be imminent. The good news is that I have now scratched the itch and will limit my cheesburger consumption to more normal patterns.

This year, I am going without cakes and cookies. Cupcakes are out. Cake donuts are out, but not raised donuts. Brownies are in. Cakes won't be a big deal, other than cake donuts, but I will miss cookies. We'll see how it goes.

Thanksgiving 2012

Things that I am thankful for this year, other than family, faith, friends etc.

1. The end of the election season. Fatigued by the whole thing.
2. Football
3. Sausage
4. Cheeseburgers. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
5. Good books. World War Z tops the list this year.
6. Good movies
7. Technology

It's been asked before

Sometimes it feels like every question has been asked before. And not just asked, but asked frequently. When I have a question, I often do what everyone else does, which is, consult the Google, and ask my question. It seems like every time I do this, I'm a few words into my question, and Google, in all its infinite wisdom, has already completed my question with the little suggestions that it provides. Which I think means that that search is not a new one, or that the question has been asked before. For instance, the other day, I wanted to ask why some planes leave visible trails, and others don't. If you already know the answer, and have known it since you were six, don't judge. In any case, I Googled my question, and it popped up immediately. And now I know. Contrails, apparently, and something to do with moisture in the air. This happens a lot, asking questions about weird rashes, horses, cars, you name it. I guess this is a good thing, because the answers are out there, but it makes me feel like I'm late to the game with all my questions.

Sugar

My no candy for a year successfully concluded on New Year's Eve. On Jan 1, I ate too much candy. I avoided a diabetic coma, but I did get a bit of an upset stomach. Well worth it though.

This year, the new goal is no cheeseburgers or hot dogs. Its already been tough. I saw a commercial for the "Big Carl" the other day, and I thought, "ooh, I want to try that", but then remembered that I can't. Bummer. I think the biggest problems will come in the summer with BBQ's. I will be grilling a lot of chicken and bratwurst this year.

Every year, multiple people ask me why I'm doing it. I still don't have a good answer. Its not really for health reasons. I suppose the no soda thing made a difference in my caloric intake two years ago, but last year, I substituted for the candy with other sweets.

I guess the only answer is that I want to see if I can do it. This will be the hardest yet.

Which Little Piggy Are You?

Megan, like most little kids, is a big fan of finger games and songs. I think I did This Little Piggy about 15 times last night. It got me thinking, that the finger game of This Little Piggy could be an interesting personality assessment.

Which piggy are you?

1. One little piggy had roast beef.

2. One little piggy had none.

3. One little piggy went to market.

4. One little piggy stayed home.

5. One little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.

Which one you identify with kinda says something about you right?

I think I either had roast beef or stayed home.

Something Smells

I am sometimes blown away by how powerful the sense of smell is. It has a variety of really strong behaviors for me, and I think most.

1. Smell makes food taste so much better. Walk into a room where a Ham has just come out of the oven, or where bacon is frying, and the ham or bacon becomes so much more desirable, and more tasty when you eat it. This is especially true when you were already really hungry.

2. Go without candy for awhile, then take a whiff of some M&Ms or some red vines. Makes me want it so bad I feel like a recovering addict.

3. Smell has a strong connection to memory. Sometimes a whiff of something brings back really specific memories. For instance, I was walking down a street in Seattle a few years ago, and I was hit by a pollution-related smell common in big cities. It triggered very specific memories from my mission in the Philippines, where that specific smell was much more common. I went to my Grandparents house in LA a few years ago for a visit with my Dad and brother. The smell in their laundry room (soapy?) was the exact same smell that their laundry room had the last time I visited them, at least a decade before. That smell hit me and my brother like a wall and was almost the highlight of the trip for me. The smell of Lilacs always makes me remember summers in Rock Springs, where we had a Lilac bush in our front yard.

Smell is awesome.

Thanksgiving

One year I would like to try the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special meal. Popcorn, Toast, Jelly Beans. Sounds good.

This year, aside from family, faith etc., I am thankful for, in no particular order:

1. Curry

2. Football

3. Soccer, specifically Real Salt Lake, Liverpool FC, and the USWNT

4. Megan and Andrew wrestling matches

5. ESPN3.com

6. Christmas Music (I wait till after TG, and the anticipation is high right now.)

7. Sushi

8. Good books

Candy

So it is now November. I am sticking to my goal, no candy yet this year. Halloween was a tough test. I am now finding that I am beginning to keep candy and save it for next year. I have a few peanut butter cups in my drawer at the house. I have some mini snickers under lock and key at the office. Is this bad? I'm afraid that I'm going to go into a diabetic coma in January due to overindulgence. I've requested that Santa fill my stocking with redvines, reeses and butterfingers. The early part of the new year could be ugly.

Phantom Itch

Do you ever feel itchy because you are thinking about itching, or bugs crawling on you or something else like that?

I do. I have noticed that if I have an itch, and I scratch it, all of a sudden, I am now itchy somewhere else, and somewhere else. I have to make a conscious decision to stop scratching and distract myself and move on.

Now scientists are trying to explain this. The following article has a few possible explanations for phantom itching. I think I side with Giesler.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/01/7561543-spiders-ants-did-that-make-you-itchy-heres-why

"the threshold for sensation of itch is lowered by thinking about it."

Amen Glen.

Now, I'm feeling itchy.

Remembering

Shannon posted a brief memory of her experience ten years ago yesterday. It was short, but compelling.

For me, I got up that day and turned on the TV while getting dressed. The first image I saw was of the towers, already burning. The news lady was attempting to describe the seen, but there was still a lot of uncertainty. Within minutes, the first tower collapsed on the screen. That is the moment that is burned in my memory. I didn't just witness that moment, I felt it. The rest of the day, the other tower, the Pentagon, Flight 93, were moments that hit while I was already at the bottom.

Candy

The year is almost half over and I am sticking to my no candy thing.

1. I am eating more cookies and drinking too much soda.
2. I am suprised by what I am missing the most. I thought for sure I would miss Reese's the most. I do miss them, but I miss licorice the most. I want Red Vines.
3. I discovered/created a loophole. I eat candy if its in ice cream, or in a salad (I had a salad that is made of whipped cream, apples, and crushed snickers early in the year, and the loophole was born.) I prefer ice creams/desserts that are fruit based, not chocolate based, so this hasn't come up that much, but it has happened.
4. Still not sure I have a good reason for this, but on we go.

Commercials

I think that anyone who has watched more than 20 minutes of TV in the last few months has seen the advertisements for the Shake Weight, which is the newest fitness fad for women, which promises amazing results in a six minute workout.

Near the end of the ad, the announcer says that callers can get the Shake Weight Deluxe, which includes 3 bonus DVD workouts, all for the low price of $Whatever it is.

I keep waiting for them to say "But wait there's more. Order now, and you will earn the same results in only a 3 minute workout!!"

I think that would be hilarious.