The Blog Readability Test

I'm guessing that the high readability level is from some of the articles I've posted, not from my own "I studied engineering so I wouldn't have to write papers" style of writing. Or maybe because sustainability is a long word.

Side note - most government websites are supposed to be written so someone with a 7th grade education could read and understand everything on the page.

Regardless, a fun thing to check out if you have a blog, myspace or facebook.

Oh, and I did "buy nothing" yesterday. :) It was pretty easy though. The only thing I would have done is started to do Christmas shopping online while procrastinating or put gas in my car so I'm ready to drive up to Santa Rosa on Sunday to go mountain biking with PP and DB.

Did any of you lovely readers score any deals at the stores yesterday? Or did you join the buy nothing movement too?

Today is Buy Nothing Day

Biggest shopping day of the year... and also a day to try to buy nothing at all. I'm going to try to buy nothing today by doing some homework and going on a bike ride. I have plenty to eat in my apartment already.

Buying nothing may get more difficult if I decide to go out tonight. Hmmm...

Tropical fish... no water needed

Check out this article in Reuters news about the Mangrove Rivulus, a tropical fish that can live outside of the water for over three months!

Educational fur shure, but I decided to share it because of this last paragraph - a quote from the scientist, "This is probably the coolest fish around, not only do they have a very bizarre sex life, but they really don't meet standard behavioral criteria for fishes," said Taylor in a summary of his paper.

Scott Taylor is probably a pretty hilarious guy - I love the mix of the very colliquial "coolest fish...bizarre sex life" right before the very serious-researcher-sounding "standard behavioral critera."

Geeks rule.

Horribly wonderful pun

As seen on the back of a truck...

Modesto Food Distributors
"Poultry in Motion"

Insight from Best of Craigslist

Once again, Craigslist is awesome. If I end up with one more CL related post, it's going to have to get its own label. Until then, I <3 Craigslist.

Best of Craigslist is usually filled with such interesting nonsense and a good read when you're just winding down the day or looking for a distraction, assuming you're not at work where you're going to get flagged for looking at a potentially pornographic website.

Anyway, today I found this little essay about "Dating in my 40s."
A gentleman from Denver lays out for us his rules about dating. #1 really got me thinking, but I'm not sure I agree with all that he has to say. Sure would be nice for me if he was right (as much as one can be about this sort of thing). Your thoughts?

1. I never seriously date a woman who terminated her last relationship because she wasn't "happy". Happiness is an emotional response to external stimuli. To break the vow of "til' death do us part" over an emotional state that may or may not be another person's fault, is shallow and shows a lack of emotional maturity. It tells me that woman is too self absorbed to be a reliable partner in the future.

job search begins... back where i started?

I graduate in May 2008, so it is time for me to get going on the job search. I'm not tied to San Francisco, though I love my friends, the city and the lifestyle. So I've been thinking that I'd open up my search to other areas, thinking that the city AND job would have to be pretty awesome to get me to move.

(though there would be something nice about having a fresh start somewhere new)

I hopped over to SustainableBusiness.com and found on their Green Dream Jobs listings...
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Sustainability Coordinator
University of Illinois at Urbana/ Champaign
Champaign, IL
US

Job Type: Full Time

The Division of Engineering Services of Facilities & Services of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) seeks a Sustainability Coordinator.
-------
The rest of the listing is here.
In some ways, this qualifies as a dream job. But C-U? It was great for the 4.5 years of undergrad... EB is there, so I'd have a friend. And it's <3 hours to Chicago. But could I go from San Francisco to Champaign-Urbana???

Not that I really have to worry. I doubt I'd be the best applicant. But still. This job search thing is going to really make me think and possibly, make some very difficult decisions.

Your thoughts?

vote!

just a reminder...tomorrow's election day.

don't forget to vote!!!

5.6 earthquake yesterday

Many of my readers (ok, my friends who continue to read my blog) do not live in California. I am a relatively new Californian - I just moved here in early 2001. So, I've only actually felt two earthquakes. Sometimes I'm traveling, often times too far from the epicenter to really feel it. Both were, obviously, minor. But, I got a concerned text message from a dear friend about last night's 5.6 earthquake and decided to try to describe it.

Luckily, I was at G$'s apartment. We were standing there, talking and then all of a sudden the bookshelf seemed to move away from the wall a little. Everything kind of shook. It was as if you were standing really close to a slow jackhammer. And then, what seemed like 5 seconds later, it was over. We then jumped up and down "Yay! Earthquake!" Big hugs, and that was it.

Of course, these mini-earthquakes are still novelties to us native Midwesterners. However, I am scared of the next big earthquake. There are some theories that say that these mini-quakes would lessen a potential big one, but some other experts say that these minis are also just leading up to an intense earthquake.

USGS Earthquake Map

Caveman in the city

So I'm walking to the bus stop today after work. There's a generally normalish couple in front of me. Woman looked normal. Guy guy was a little... off. His legs were shaved (not all bad, I'm a biker, after all) and he was a lovely shade of fake-tan orange (I guess that's why he shaved) and he had horrible posture.

But what really did it for me was the way his palms were facing when he was walking.

I dare you. Stand up and take a short walk. Which way do your palms face?

...
...
...

I'm guessing they face in, towards your body, right?

This guy's palms were facing back. So he, bright orange legs and all, was reminicent of a caveman. No, I haven't actually had the pleasure of meeting any cavemen , but that's how I think they would have walked, based on movies, pictures, museums, etc.

Even more proof that San Francisco really *is* accepting of people just as they are (we'll just talk about you behind your back).

The day after...

You know you had a good night out when your legs are sore the next day from dancing so much.