The Secret

I have a secret. I can't tell you what it is - yet. If all goes well, it will be the most awesomest news!

Actually, I have lots of awesome news! I went into the records office monday to find out if I am set to graduate. Well - yes, now I know I should have gone last semester - but I didn't know it then. So, it turns out I was 3 upper division credits short of graduation requirements. I was flustered - yes. But I have an awesome advisor, and after looking for 45 minutes, she wasn't able to find a late eight-week class for me to take. So, she is letting me work in her lab for the 3 credits. It will be 20 hours a week because it is so late, but it's all good. I actually get to work in the lab that is researching the one thing that really intrigues me the most. How to improve the working memory of people who struggle! I am so excited. Oh - yeah, and I'll get to graduate in December.

My Physiological Psychology class is a blast. We had our first test today. I think I did about average (for me) on the test. I'm sure I passed it. I just love biology.

My senior seminar class is fun. We are learning about temporal discounting. It's a beautiful math model that researchers are using to learn about impulsivity in people. It's kind of cool. I suspect in the end they will learn the correlations they are finding aren't causing or effecting each other, and that it is another factor altogether at work. (like working memory?)

And Zach is all set to start looking for a place to live. It looks like this program he got on is a really good one. Things should work out just fine for him.

I got my bike all fixed, so even if I can't walk/run, I can ride my bike now!

My car is getting some amazing gas mileage! I don't know exactly what is going on - and I only decided yesterday to collect real data to confirm or disconfirm my hypothesis that I am getting more to the gallon.

And then there's the secret news. I can barely stand it!

"We grow good people in our small towns!"

My dad is a bit of a race car guy. He's from a small town. He's not into the round and rounds. He loves drag racing. In the past he has taken me to Boise, and Pocatello to see drag races where big stars were racing. I had no idea who they were, but he did. At the bigger drag races they will have the funny cars. When we went to fire bird they had one of those rocket engine cars. It was loud - especially for a small town girl.


This weekend, the speedway in Gooding was holding some drag races, and my dad invited me to go. So we did.

Now this race was small. Mostly locals, though there was one guy who came all the way from Boise. He didn't win.



Actually, I don't know who won because we got so bored waiting for them to clean the track after some guy dropped his rear end that we decided to go home. But the guy from Boise didn't win. He didn't make it to the second round.








I didn't really know what to think about the name of this guys car truck. It's tacky in just about every way it can be tacky. But doesn't it just scream small town?







Then this guy dumped diesel smoke every time he went. Big, huge, smelly, ugly, black smoke. But then, we weren't there to worry about the environment, were we. Small town folk don't spend much time thinking about God's business.








Flags waved in the wind. The Amercan flag, of course, because small town people are very patriotic. I was in the port-a-potty when they sang the small town favorite song - the national anthem. crap!




While it was fun to watch these guys clean the track with little a little tractor and a mop, it wasn't fun enough to stick around another hour for.


Yeah, I don't how people in small towns are so good, certainly we're no better than people hatched in big towns, but hey - I thought I'd go with it!



ps. I really had a lot of fun hanging out with my dad today. I had fun making fun of the small town folks, but we were there having fun. There were no drunkin brawls, law enforcement wasn't needed, no one got hurt and everyone was nice. Small town nice, but nice none-the-less.

Reality Presidential Campaign

From the moment she stood next to McSame, I knew she looked familiar. It was one of those things that just gnaw at you. Too familiar, where do I know her from. She's from Idaho, and she's my age! But I didn't know her as a kid. But still, she just seemed so familiar. I'll bet lots of people felt that way. She looks just like Tina Fey! Palin was famous long before McSame found her! Who doesn't love Tina Fey? Well, I think Sarah Palin won't by the time this campaign is over!










It's too funny! Or sad. Or frightening. You know how our society loves celebrity! And she's got lots!

She was never that fat

This ad popped up on myspace. I can't help but feel angry. Look at the perfect, unbroken, firm, buttery skin. There is no way that skin was ever stretched far enough to fit into those pants. She was never that fat. A woman who is twice the size she wants to be shouldn't be tricked into thinking she will ever have the body of a teenager who has never been more that a few pounds overweight. I wonder if the time will come when it's ok to be average?

Blogging vs. Networking

Well, I now have both a facebook page (to check out my kids' pages) and a myspace page (the people I worked with the summer talked me into it). I have noticed some really interesting differences in the way people use the networking sites and the way people use blogging. I have also noticed that people who are into the networking don't know how to navigate a blog, and I have certainly had trouble getting through myspace pages. People cram so much visual crap onto their page that you can't read their words!

I guess it is really great for the young people these days who want to keep in touch with all of their high school and college friends. It's a little late for me. But I did have a lot of fun reading about what other students thought of my college professors on myspace. They have a grade your professor link that is really cool.

My problem with the networking sites is that they are totally superficial. If you don't know the people on your page, that won't change. In a blog, you read a person's innermost thoughts. If you read between the lines (and posts) you actually can get to know a person. Even if they really aren't who they pretend to be, you still get to know something deep down about them.

The conversations a person has on a blog typically stay on topic after one post and anyone reading it can follow along. On the networking sites, you have to toggle between the people who are commenting. It's time consuming and I find I'd rather not bother. But that's me.

But that isn't to say I'll abandon my networking sites. And if someone (who is a real person not trying to sell crap to me) wants to be my friend, I'm for it. I don't see myself abandoning my blog for networking, though. Although I'm sure my poor blog has been feeling rather abandoned lately.

Do you have a myspace or facebook page? Which do you prefer? Am I totally full of it? Or do you find it more difficult to navigate the networking sites?

Perrine Bridge Festival

The Perrine Bridge festival took place this weekend. Megan and I went for about an hour and got to see all the fun stuff they did. We had only been there for about 15 minutes when the plane flew by and guys jumped out. They did a lot of acrobatic things in the sky and left fun smoke trails. Maybe next year they can get together and spell words out or something!





Then we watched some people jump off the bridge. Megan took the pictures of the red bull jumper. I love my new camera! There is no way I could have gotten pictures like these with the old point and shoot! These I took with the zoom lens.

These guys have way too much fun!