Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I Heart Radio Lab

For anyone interested in adding a little variety of radio listening to their lives, I have a diamond in the rough for you. Radio Lab. "It's a radio show and podcast, with Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, that weaves stories and science into sound and music-rich documentaries." I stole that from the website. Seriously though, it's a great show. If you're a This American Life fan - and you should be, I recommend this show too - you're naturally going to heart Radio Lab. They make science fun! Covering an array of topics from animals, to tumors, to limits, to time, to phantom arms, to statistics, to... you get the picture.

The episode that got me hooked was the one about a phantom arm. A man no longer had his arm (I forgot how he lost it, the military?) and for several years had severe (phantom) pain coming from where his arm once was. He said it felt like his fist was clinched tightly and like his nails were digging into the palm of his hand. It was all psychological. He visited several doctors for many years and no one was able to cure his pain... since there wasn't any arm to treat. Finally the man went to see a new doctor (with a Eastern European accent, it seems appropriate, doesn't it?) who McGyver'd up a mirror that created the illusion that he had his real arm. The doctor instructed him to move the hand on his real arm (that looked like his phantom arm while looking into the mirror) as if he was un-clinching his fist. After several weeks of doing this, he no longer felt any pain in his phantom arm! Cool, huh?

I know, I didn't do a very good job of explaining the story. You're just going to have to check it out yourself. Along with some other Radio Lab podcasts. I think you're going to heart it too. :)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Pond Oswego

My lake...is gone! Apparently they're fixing the sewer line because they thought it was going to bust or something, something. Whatever the reason, it better be back to normal by Memorial Day Weekend 2011! That's a threat! Aside from Hawaii, the Lake Grove Swim Park is the place I prefer to be in the summer. I never thought these words would pass my lips, but I hope it rains a lot this winter... since that is the means they're using to refill Lake Oswego. Until then, we will refer to it as "Pond Oswego" in our home.

Lake Oswego before (courtesy of Jen VW :) )

Lake Oswego after (notice the dock of the swim park - from the picture above - located in the background of this pic? I know, I too shed a tear...)

Pond Oswego (it kind of makes me think of a movie about the apocalypse - or Arizona)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Brave Little Toaster

I'm sitting here trying to enhance my resume in hopes to catch the eye of at least one perspective employer. Needless to say it is mind-numbing work. So naturally my mind started to wander... This time to the Adobe class Wyatt and I took four years at the local community collage. I wanted more skills I could list on my resume. And as it turns out, I had the opportunity to apply what I learned (which was peanuts) while employed at my previous job to create newsletters, brochures, ads for industry journals, and the new company business cards. Did I fool you? It sounds like I'm a lot more advanced than I really am. Believe me, I have a ways to go...

Even so, I thought I'd share one of my assignments from ART225. We were asked to take an existing movie and create a new poster and DVD jacket. I chose to add a different twist to the "Brave Little Toaster". It kind of has a "Brave New World" feel to it. Despite my novice skills, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Even four-years after the fact.


Poster



DVD Cover