Waiting to be sick

Sabrina and I are currently visiting some friends in St. George. On the ride down, Adie threw up 3 times (first time was chunky with peas, nasty stuff). We didn't think too much of it as she's had a cold, and we assumed that she'd swallowed mucus and that had caused an upset stomach. Turns out she also had the runs. Anyway, we made it through Friday night and Saturday she seemed pretty much normal. Saturday evening, Sabrina and our friend Clark both got sick between midnight and 1 am and threw up off and on for several hours. Our friend Shannon got sick this afternoon. I'm currently the only one in the house not sick with the flu. I feel like I'm just waiting my turn. Tonight, for the first time ever, I'm sleeping on the couch; hopefully I'll avoid the getting sick too. I've washed my hands so often that they're dry and scaly. But believe me, dry and scaly skin is nothing compared to the awfulness that Sabrina says she has.

Deja Vu

For any of you who knew me several years ago, you would know that one of the things I enjoyed most was staying up late, playing Starcraft and eating Pasta-Roni. (These were not mutually exclusive activities.) So, 7.5 years after I first stepped foot into Young hall and met my roommates with whom I did these activities, I find myself up at 2 am (it's still early, I know) eating Pasta-Roni, having played Starcraft for several hours this evening. It's deja vu all over again.

Christmas Music - Best and Worst

In a previous post I said I loved music and I am opinionated, which is why you get the following post. I love Christmas music, love it! Of course, I like some songs more than others and I truly despise a few. So, without further ado, here is my best and worst Christmas song list for 2007.

My Top 4 Traditional Christmas Songs (Songs that have been around for a while and have been sung by a number of different people):

4. O Holy Night (Favorite Version : Celine Dion) - This used to be my all-time favorite, but I hear it so often it has moved down a few notches. However, the melody is so beautiful and so are the words. I will always love this song. As a side note, I am not normally a Celine fan. I recognize she is talented, but the music she chooses to sing just doesn't normally do it for me. However, I have heard no one else that can give me chills on the final noel of this song like she can.

3. Mary's Boy Child (Favorite Version: Charlotte Church) - What a sweet song and the message is perfect!

2. Silent Night (Favorite Version: Don't have one. It is always beautiful) - This song often brings me to tears. It is simple and humble and truly magnifies the spirit of the real meaning of Christmas.

1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Favorite Version: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir) - This song is gorgeous and majestic. I can't even explain how I felt to hear it sung live by the MoTab last year while attending a Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. I wanted that moment to last forever.

My Top 4 Original Christmas Songs (Songs that are written and sung by the same person, not so traditional):

4. Christmas Day by Dido - I just think this is such a cute song.

3. Christmas Song by Dave Matthews - I love that Dave is singing about Christ, very well written and sweet.

2. Christmas by Blues Traveler - The polyphony at the end is so great and Blues Traveler is always fun to hear.

1. Arise and Shine Forth by Michael McLean (thank goodness he has someone else sing it though) - The words of this are so amazing. It really makes me think about Christ's mission and what we need to do to be his disciples.

My Top 4 Worst Christmas Songs (I really have to change the station any time I hear any inkling of these songs):

4. Christmas Shoes - Ok, so the message of this song is very sad and sweet, but it goes beyond the realm of tolerable cheesiness for me.

3. Santa Baby - So whiny and commercial. I know a lot of people think it's fun, but I can't stand it.

2. Hey Santa - I don't know why I dislike this song, but I really, really do.

1. Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart - I can't stand the synth in this (the synth needs to be used very wisely in any music in my opinion) and it just goes downhill from there.

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my opinions, because that's all they are, my opinions. However, I'd love to hear what some of your best / worst Christmas songs are.

9 Years

Last night Brett and I were up in SLC after a family party in the afternoon. The plan was to wait in the standby line at the Conference Center to try to get into the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert (heaven!). However, by the time we finished all the visiting and to-dos up there it was getting late and we had heard they turned several people away the night before. We decided it probably wasn't worth standing in the cold since we wouldn't get there early enough to get a seat. In lieu of this plan we opted to go out to dinner since my mom was already planning on babysitting Adie. We went to a cafe near my mom's home, which usually means I'll see someone I knew from high school, and of course I did. I actually saw multiple people there from high school, at least at a distance, none of which I knew well enough to get up and talk to. I wasn't even sure they would remember me.

There was one individual there though that probably would have remembered me, but maybe not. He was at a distant table, but it was very distinctly him. The funny thing is I realized, as we were sitting there, that he took me to the Christmas dance my junior year and it was probably this very same weekend NINE YEARS AGO! Hello! Where did the time go? I was a junior in high school nine years ago. I swear I didn't graduate that long ago, but yes, I did. I am almost to my 10 year reunion.

Now, the challenge I pose to those of my blog readers who knew my in high school...Who did I see yesterday at the Red Butte Cafe that took me to the Christmas Dance nine years ago? My hint is that I was super, super excited about it ;)

School - What do you really want?

I was talking with one of my neighbors at church today. He's an electrical engineer with interests of study quite similar to my own. We were discussing finals and how they might go, as well as what he might do after he graduates. While we were talking, I once again realized the fact that I'm a good test taker. So good in fact, that I can fail to pay attention, study, or read for a class through the whole semester show up for the final (having crammed for a couple days) and pass with flying colors. (Note, I have a final tomorrow at 11 am; check back and see if I'm so confident in my abilities to this after the test.) The problem is, I don't retain the information like I should. After this semester is over, I probably won't be able to tell you the difference from a Banach or Hilbert space, or how to do LU decomposition without looking it up. The education system we live in inherently produces students with similar types of abilities. Now and then you'll get someone who actually reads the whole semester, pays attention in class every day, and studies as the class progresses.

One of my professors made an interesting comment while quoting someone else. He said, "Education is a funny thing, it's the only product where most people don't want their money's worth." But is that really the case? Why do you go to college? Do you go to learn? Do you go to get a better job? Or possibly both? I was never a fan of thermodynamics, and as I'm not doing anything related to that in my research and have no desire to pursue a degree in that area, will it matter that I can't remember the difference between a Grashof and a Nusselt number? Anyway, I'll quit now so I can wake up early to study Bayesian Classification and projective reconstruction in imagery. Yay.

Digital Music Rights Rant II

For all my talk of not expressing my opinions, I probably shouldn't have started, because now I feel compelled to follow it up with more opinion. Two opinions today, both of them having to do with a bill in Congress.

First:
The government wants to filter your internet. If anyone believes this is a good idea, I have a book you should read. It's called "1984" by George Orwell. It's starting with filtering for movies. But we've already seen that our government can't be trusted, as evidenced by the illegal wiretapping which the government is now, retroactively, trying to legalize. Whoever controls the information, rules. If our government starts by trying to filter certain types of content, who's to say that they can't interrupt or even replace content through filtering. Really, if you support government instituted filtering, go have your head examined.

Second:
For once, I agree with a portion of the government, not for the same reasons, but hey, we're aligned, sort of. The DOJ is opposing the passing of a bill that would create a position some are calling a "copyright czar". A position overseeing IP (intellectual property) enforcement which reports to the White House. They don't like people messing with their internal operating structure. I'm fine with them not wanting the bill because it makes their jobs more difficult. I don't like the bill because it's rediculous legislation which, if passed, only continues to illustrate how many politicians are on the payroll of the RIAA and MPAA. Rick Cotton, executive vice president and general counsel for NBC Universal and chairman of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy said, that IP issues tend to "fall down the 'to-do' list". Well, shoot. I'm sorry mister. I'm sorry. I didn't know that IP issues were the most important thing in this country. I'm actually quite pleased he feels that way. It is my opinion that most, if not all people really don't know what technology will be doing for us in 10 years. Our laws are being written by politicians who likewise are unable to imagine the possibilities and direction that technology will take our society. We are currently being pressured by industries to implement laws to deal with last years problems, stifle innovation by making the next great thing (youtube, etc.) more susceptible to lawsuits, and the penalties of which are exorbitant and totally out of whack with reality (the latest bill would allow you to be fined $1.5 million for you or your children sharing a single CD!).

This is my plea for people to be less apathetic about the laws that are being written in our society. The industries which are pressuring government now are far different than the oil companies, corn industries, and railroad barons which have influenced the government in the past. You can have a major update to an operating system (Ubuntu) in the time it takes to grow a crop of corn, or a new internet buzzword (google) in less time than it takes to drill a well and setup a refinery. The lives of everyone, including yours and mine, are being shaped by special interests groups who don't understand and really, can't image, the possibilities which lie before us. We live in a time which has greater potential for good, and for bad, than ever before. While pirating isn't the answer, neither is the response of the RIAA and MPAA (though to be fair, they're not the only groups who are pushing for bad IP legislation). Anyway, enough ranting for a day. Tune in again soon for the next session of my rants.

Digital Music Rights rant

I'm not one to really publicly express my disgust with the RIAA or the MPAA (though I do have it). As a disclaimer, I don't download music off of P2P software, or any other illegal channels. The latest and greatest (well, actually worst) that they are working on is trying to peg mp3s as evil. In Atlantic vs. Howell, they specifically call out mp3 and say that if the songs are ripped to a person's computer in mp3 format and in a shared folder, the songs are no longer authorized copies. If successful in their claims, "fair use" of music which you've purchased will continue to be eroded. The music industry would like nothing more than to sell you music on a CD that you can only use in your house. It would then like to sell you a copy for a musical ringtone for your phone, and a DRM encrypted copy to play on your non-mp3 music player. Oh, and then maybe one more copy that you can only play in your car, if they can swing it. I don't think a lot of people realize how much is at stake as the RIAA continues to sue people. I realize I'm degenerating into a rant, but this is a modern monopoly changing laws and rewriting fair use to help maximize the paychecks of the executives and the lawyers associated with the RIAA. And they're just planning on succeeding based on people's apathy, but that's a rant for another day.

I'm it!

I got tagged last week and meant to do this so long ago, but last week was definitely busy, so finally, here goes...7 things you may not (or may) know about me.

***Disclaimer: I am not trying to fish for compliments here, just merely stating facts, so don't feel like you have to tell me, "no, Sabrina I think you're wonderful at x!"

1. I love music, and I especially love to sing. I sing to every song in the car, even to the lyrics I don't know and to the instrumental parts. I will even drive Brett nuts by singing obnoxiously to songs I don't like. I often keep singing as I arrive at my destination and get out of the car. I am sure more than one person has heard me in the grocery store parking lot. I also love being in choirs and love rehearsing. I am actually sad that ward choir is only once a week for only a half hour or so. One of of things I'd really love to do in life is sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. This probably won't happen because, well, despite the amount of time I put into singing, I am really not to good at it (please see disclaimer). I don't have a vibrato at all and part of my register has been damaged so my voice is all scratchy when I sing certain notes. This doesn't deter me from singing, but I prefer to sing in groups so I can just sort of blend in and no one has to hear my not so stellar voice. No matter, I just want to sing!

2. My favorite TV show is Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It makes me (and Brett) cry pretty much every week. It's amazing all the things they do for the families they help. When I first started watching the show I thought Ty Pennington was somewhat obnoxious, but he's really toned it down and I think he genuinely cares about the families they help, so I really respect him. He's probably the celebrity I would most like to meet.

3. I am very opinionated. If you tell me about an issue I am not familiar with, chances are I will have formed an opinion by the time you finish telling me about it. I read the opinion page of the newspaper practically everyday and I like to read the comments on online news articles, so I can understand others' opinions as well. I think it's good to have healthy debate about issues every once in a while, and it's good to know what you think about things. I do think it's important to consider other points of view though and be willing to change your mind. I don't know if I am really good at that yet, but I'm trying.

4. I dislike almost every condiment or salad dressing out there. Exceptions are sour cream and creamy pesto salad dressing from the Spaghetti Factory (but you have to order it on the side because they put way too much on). I like things plain, I guess. I actually have no problem with seasoned or hot foods, but I don't need a lot of seasonings to enjoy food either. I think the natural flavor of a lot of foods is better than being drenched in ranch or ketchup. The worst condiment, in my not so humble opinion, is mustard. That is one disgusting flavor.

5. I love to cook. The fact that I don't like condiments and I like things natural (AKA bland to some people) though hinders me from ever becoming a great cook. I'll make something and think it tastes fabulous when, in reality, many people find it under seasoned. If I just follow a recipe I am usually ok if the recipe is good, but I like to experiment too and this is a bit more tricky. That's ok because I keep trying.

6. I also love to bake, especially bread. We have a bread maker, which can be quite convenient, but if I have time, I prefer to make it all by hand. I think it tastes better and it's fun to knead the dough. My latest baking feat was baguettes. They were a lot of fun to make and pretty darn tasty. Good thing bread can be bland ;)

7. I am fascinated with other languages. I would like to be trilingual someday. I guess you could consider me bilingual now, but my Spanish is pretty rusty. We are hoping to one day live overseas for a time and I would love it to be a place where I can learn another language.

Stories of Couplism: Toast

Couplisms: The manifestation of differences between a husband and wife. These differences in mannerisms can lead to quirks and inside jokes which many may laugh at because they too experience them.

Toast. It's a common enough breakfast food. Many people enjoy eating it with breakfast. I actually eat it for breakfast. I don't take time for anything else in the mornings and it's convenient to eat as I walk out the door. I like toast three different ways: with butter and garlic salt, with butter and honey, or with butter and cinnamon and sugar. (On a side note, garlic salt is better than you'd expect) However, there is something I don't like eating for breakfast: croûtons.

It's funny how much difference an 1/8 turn of the knob on the toaster can make. For those who don't know the story, I am sometimes accused of eating warmed-over bread. However, these stories are blown wildly out of proportion. I turn the knob on the toaster to half way, a "medium" setting. The bread actually does turn brown. However, I prefer not to have the desire to put Caesar dressing on it.

This morning, like many mornings, I dropped my two slices of bread in the toaster, and low and behold, out popped croutons. The crouton elves must have been using our toaster in the middle of the night because I know that Sabrina would never leave the toaster set to "croutonize". She would know that I might accidentally drop my toast into the toaster without realizing that she was eating salad for breakfast.

Well, maybe that's not the case. Maybe she turned it that extra 1/8th of a turn so that she could enjoy her well done toast (she'd have it burnt everyday if it weren't bad for her). But just in case, keep an eye out for the crouton elves, will you?