Northern Lights

My friend Tyler was able to capture some of yesterday morning's northern lights when I could not. I won't exasperate you with any more words. Enjoy the pretty colors!

 

Closeup of Massive Solar Flare

 

Click here to watch the video: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5483193591/ 

We've been getting some huge solar flares lately which explains the spectacular northern lights display we had in the valley this morning! I had to get off the highway and and onto an on ramp to watch for a few minutes on my way into Anchorage. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures but I'll keep the memory of those vibrant colors for years to come!

Lawrence Welk Goodness

I caught a few minutes of this yesterday and decided to shoot a couple snippets. This show brings me a homey type of joy. They did a lot of a silly campy things way back then but they did it with plenty of talent. The Lawrence Welk Show airs every Saturday evening just like it did when I was a kid growing up in Alaska and just like so many other kids (apparently elderly folks too?) for the past 40 years.

Grandma Reminisces

My grandma is coming to a wedding with me next week and while we were started on the subject, she asked me how to pronounce the word, "congratulations". It took her a few tries to get over pronouncing it as, "con-graduation" but she laughed with glee when I told her that she had finally gotten it right. She proceeded to tell me about how good an English student she was as a young mother in Korea. One particularly fond memory of her's was when her instructor one day called her up in front of the class, patted her on the back and said something along the lines of, "This young woman sets a table for her children every day and still managed to be the only one to get a hundred on this test. What have the rest of you done with your time?" She told me that she had found time to study while she ate and did other chores and when it came time to take the test, she realized she knew all the answers. At the time she was so poor that she wore an old pair of nylon shoes that had soles that would fall apart at the front, constantly threatening to make her trip or stumble but only just. She'd sew them back together to remedy the problem so as to walk another day. Eventually she had to stop going to school because she had to take care of her sick mother-in-law who loved her like she was her own daughter. Grandmother ends this story with, "but, oh, how good I could have been!". 

A Face Fit to Advertise

I was at Fred Meyer today looking for a Bug's Life when I spotted this DVD with this dashing gentleman on it:

I haven't seen The Tailor of Panama, though I remember hearing about it when it first came out. So why then, did it look so very familiar? Yes, I have seen every James Bond flick except A License to Kill ( which I WILL find someday, watch and then be able to tell everyone I've seen them all!) but that wasn't it. There was something else... something even closer... and then it came to me!

The Thomas Crown Affair! Oh man, I was so proud of myself when I walked over to the T section and found this little number. It's almost the exact same image, with the exact same expression and formatted in the exact same manner with similar colors and tones as the other. Keep in mind that these two movies are in no way related or sequels/prequels of each other. Here's one more cover, although it's not quite a spitting image of the others it still has ol' Brosnan with the right half his face darkened. 

So good!

Now, for your viewing pleasure, here they are all lined up:

The Great Gatsby

I decided I'd spend my last leisurely day of break with a good book. I've been wanting to read The Great Gatsby for a while now and thought there'd be no better time than now. I'm about half-way through and I picked out a few memorable lines that I just had to share.

"I bought a dozen volumes on banking and credit and investment securities and they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew."

"It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again... there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered "Listen," a promise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour." (Nick describing his cousin, Daisy)

"Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it." - Daisy

"For a moment the last sunshine fell with romantic affection upon her glowing face; her voice compelled me forward breathlessly as I listened - then the glow faded, each light deserting her with lingering regret like children leaving a pleasant street at dusk." (Nick and Daisy on the veranda)

"Mr. Mckee was asleep on a chair with his fists clenched in his lap, like a photograph of a man of action. Taking out my handkerchief I wiped from his cheek the remains of the spot of dried lather that had worried me all the afternoon."(This reminds me of Adrian Monk. I laughed out loud.)

"People disappeared, reappeared, made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for each other, found each other a few feet away." (Nick explaining the early hour rituals after an evening party)

"He smiled understandingly - much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced or seemed to face - the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey." (Nick describing Gatsby after finally being introduced)


"It started because she passed so close to some workmen that our fender flicked a button on one man's coat.
    'You're a rotten driver,' I protested 'Either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn't to drive at all.'
    'I am careful.'
    'No, you're not.'
    'Well, other people are,' she said lightly.
    'What's that got to do with it?'
    'They'll keep out of my way,' she insisted. 'It takes two to make an accident.'
    'Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself.'
    'I hope I never will,' she answered. 'I hate careless people. That's why I like you.'"
(Jordan Baker defending her driving)

I Saved 75% On My Christmas Candy By Being Studious

CONGRATULATIONS TO ME! Why you ask? Because, BY GEORGE, I'VE GOT IT! I've mastered the art of predicting holiday candy clearance sales at Target!

After observing several holiday sales at Target I realized that there was almost no set rhythm, pattern or method to the madness that is the discount rates on holiday candy and the increments of time for which they remain on the shelves. There are of course various influencing factors such as the success of holiday season sales which directly correlate to the surplus of inventory after the season has ended.... ok, so I have no way of figuring any of this out but I have been collecting data the best way I can which is by visiting at varying intervals of days and seeing what the typical amount of time it takes for candy to reach 75% without selling out or being cleared off the shelves to make room for something else. OK, so I'm already starting to feel a little sorry for myself and my lack of better things to do so I'll go right ahead to the point:


- Each holiday is a little bit different (yet)
- 7-9 days after the holiday in question is the average amount of time it takes for   the discounts to reach 75%
- Holidays like Halloween and Valentines Day and Easter will reach their maturity date or peak faster than Christmas candy yet it will stay on the shelves longer without being cleared or sold out because people don't realize that candies get special Christmas/winter editions that are required to be cleared off shelves within a certain time. So in very rare occasions discounts will linger at 90% before disappearing.

People laughed when I told them about my theories (even the dude at the cash register!) but I saved $25 today! Who's laughin' now?

Oh, also circled in red are my fish sticks and custard-filled eclairs. I've been a little sick lately and haven't had much of an appetite but I was watching Dr. Who last night and he was only able to satisfy his hunger with some fish sticks and custard and it sounded kinda good so I thought I'd try some.