Very funny . . . errr . . . spiritual site

Not to make fun, but this site popped up in my gmail account as one of those customized ads they do. This is my kind of business. All you have to do is computer generate a few Book of Mormon prophets in action, transpose a pertinent scripture, and then wait for the orders to start pouring in. You don't even have to spend anything until you get an order, and then you just take it your thumb drive to the local OfficeMax and have them print your poster. Send it off to the happy customer and you're $10 richer minus your OfficeMax fee. After awhile you invest in a nice color printer and you're set. Why didn't I think of this. My favorite is Samual the Laminite. He looks like he's in the middle of a video game. Actually, maybe this started out as a video game and then the guy decided to scrap it and just sell pictures of the characters. I just know that now someone is going to buy me the set of twelve as a joke.

What I imagine is happening in this picture

"Hey students! It's me, Dean Magleby. I'm just walking up these spiral stairs that don't go to my office. In fact these stairs don't really go to anywhere. Most of the time they just lead to a sign that says 'Exhibition construction in progress. Do not enter.' Come to think of it, what am I even doing here? My office is on the 9th floor of a completely different building. I'm glad that you all fanned out nicely on the stairs. If I were hovering on some sort of magical platform to the side of the stairs, I could probably get all your faces in a picture. Just nobody move while I amaze you all with an impromptu lecture on Family, Health, and/or Social Science."

Hit by a car!

Now that I have your attention -- I'm fine. It happened on the way to work this morning. An old man was entering Washington Circle, which is a large and extremely busy roundabout, and he must have been paying more attention to the cars in the circle than the aspiring intern 2 feet in front of him. I sort of jumped in the air and didn't really fall or anything. I started to yell at him and then I saw it was an accident and I just kept walking. He looked pretty shocked and his wife was squawking (that was a hard word to spell) frantically out the window, asking if I was okay. I just waved and kept walking. The incident was at the entrance to the circle at the very top center of the picture below. It was my first run in with a car after even after a whole two years in crazy Sao Paulo. This one was totally his fault though. There's not much I could have done to avoid it. If I die like that it's just my time to go. Luckily there was a hospital which is visible in the lower left part of the picture.


Washington Circle, minutes from my house and seconds from a hospital!

Google Reader

For all of you who are constantly reading other people's blogs or constantly checking your favorite news site, you should consider consolidating your efforts with Google Reader. Using your Google account, you are able to follow blogs, news sites, and pretty much any other website that you use regularly. Google reader keeps you up to date by putting posts and news updates in chronological order all in one place. It gives you a brief summary of what the post or news update says which gives you a chance to quickly decide if it's something worth your time or not. I've enjoyed getting my updates quickly and in one place. I've been using it mostly for academic blogs and national news sources, but I think I'll start adding family members to the update list.

I need a diet

If this study is true, then I might be in trouble -- or gaining some much needed weight. I'm glad to know that "none of the phantom pregnancies resulted in actual birth." Also check out this.

Actually, I think I'm in the best shape of my life. Without Camille around I've filled my time by running. To prevent scurvy I've begun eating large quantities of fresh broccoli and tomatoes. I feel great. No phantom lumps developing just yet.

Myth Uncovered

I overheard someone talking on the phone with a friend, propagating this, one of the world's most malicious myths. This reminded me of my personal crusade against the falsehood. Together we'll kill it once and for all!

Another week in DC

I'm going to try to write at least once a week. I've been very busy between school and work (and playoff basketball), so I may not be writing more than that for at least the next month. On Friday we were finished with class pretty early in the day. We went to a place called Wise Miller's home of Wisey's Chicken Madness (a sandwich). It is apparently a big Georgetown hangout. The first time we went a few weeks ago, we went to the original Wise Miller's which is a real hole in the wall place. You can't even sit down. In fact, there are signs which explicitly state that you cannot eat inside the store. They want to get you in and then get you out the door. The first time I thought the sandwich was great. This weekend, we decided to try the more popularized version which is much newer and actually has seats. This one is sort of a health food place with salads's and smoothies. It wasn't nearly as good as the orginal.

Later that afternoon I went in search of used book stores. I hit the jackpot at the first one I tried. It's called Capital South Bookstore and it was great. It's an old house south of the Capitol building. Every nook and cranny is packed with books. The shelves are stacked three or four rows deep with books and some stacks are just free standing, all of which makes it very difficult to actually browse through the books. Everywhere throughout the store are little sarcastic notes, providing a commentary on everything in the bookstore. For example, one section is labelled "Politicians and their Political 'Science.'" An old water heater in the dimly lit basement sported the label "Totally Inoperable" as if the patrons care about using the water heater. The bathroom is the foreign language section. The owner of the bookstore reminds his customers to leave the door open after they use the bathroom so that others can get to the books. The best part is that the owner buys books as well as sells them. Not only are his books comparable to online bookstore prices, I can get most of my money back after I read the books. It's a pretty great place. I think I'll be going back soon.

The week before I tried "The Bone" at the recommendation of Aunt Celia. It was delicious as promised. I'll have to get a group of people and go back. On the wall they had a timer counting down the days, hours, minutes, and second to graduation. I was lucky enough to be there when the clock struck 22 hours. I was tempted to go back 22 hours later just to see if the clock would reset.

I spent my Memorial Day in Herndon, VA with my friend Micah. It was nice to stay in a real house and eat real food. My diet is designed completely around microwavable foods. Micah's brother-in-law served his mission in Italy, and one night while we were talking I watched him whip up an absolutely delicious chicken alfredo from scratch. I should have paid more attention to how he did it. It was a great weekend and I had a great time.