future suicide bomber

I just read this article on msnbc... it's hard to imagine a situation in which the intelligence could be so wrong as to bomb the life out of a large wedding party.

Iraq:
Confirmed US dead: 4151
Confirmed US injured: 30,000
Estimated Iraqi dead: 1,033,000 (as of August 2007) acc to Opinion Research Business survey

Afghanistan:
Confirmed US dead: 582
Estimated Afghani dead: 2700

World Trade Center attacks: 2974

I don't think this math adds up very well.

And I think I might want to join up and fight against anyone who bombed the life out of my future spouse and entire extended family.

dry drowning

I read recently about the case of a boy who died of 'dry drowning.' Essentially, he got enough water in his lungs to start the shutdown of the lungs but not enough for anyone to really notice anything was amiss, other than a general lack of energy and lassitude. Poor kid took a nap and never woke up.

My job is slowly dry drowning me. Just enough at a time that I don't storm out cursing all of them to perdition, but still drowning me, nonetheless. My job should be done by 2.5 people (the .5 working half in German inquiries, half in other organizations) and right now, there's just me. What I remind myself is that I have extraordinary job security (compared to many in the American workforce at the moment) and that the job itself is interesting enough to ignore a lot of the unhappiness that comes attached to being overworked and undercompensated. I wonder how long I'll be able to continue to convince myself of that....

Aquarium and Underground

Totally awesome fish at the aquarium:

Largest octopus in the world.... while sleeping:


The Seattle "underground" looking up:


Seattle was originally built on tide flats, thus making flushing the toilet rather hazardous at high tide:

And... a list

Because I'm a follower. I'm good at following. And there have been entirely too many pictures up on my blog lately.

Things I have been good at:

• Music - started violin at 5, flute at 9, Baritone at 11, piano at 13, trombone at 16 and French Horn at 17. I have officially stopped starting new instruments. Too much effort. I've always been able to sing fairly well, but I probably wouldn't get very far on American Idol - not enough of a diva.
  
• Cooking and baking - both of which I find relaxing, which my friends have, on occasion, found convenient. :)
  
• Organizing - this may sound silly, but I can create a kick-butt filing system, complete with color-coding and neatly printed labels that is both intuitive and efficient.
  
• Languages - I admit that I am lazy and haven't always done the vocab memorization that I ought to have, but I can learn the basics of a language - any language - very quickly. Getting to the more advanced concepts usually took more effort, which was where I hit my wall, not because I have a problem with language, but because I am inherently lazy.
• Writing papers - I once wrote a 26 or so page paper in 24 hours. And it didn't suck. Getting through grad school would have been a lot harder if I weren't good at stringing words together.
  

Things I have been bad at:

• Getting things done on time - I am quite possibly one of the biggest procrastinators you'll ever meet. I almost always get things done; it's just usually right under the wire or late.
• Swimming - I can't swim. I understand the concept, I spent the better part of two months in the pool every day, but I used one of those kid's training boards the whole time. Water and I just don't get along.
  
• Balancing my bank account - now that I have built in overdraft protection, I'm safe. But I know that my overdraft fees supported my bank for years. The one I disliked most was the $5 check the park service waited five months to cash. Exactly when I had only $3.50 or so in my checking account.
• Personal relationships - I can't help it; I don't like people as a general rule. So I generally find it most convenient to stick with the people I know.
  

The Meatrix

http://www.themeatrix1.com/

Flora - Butschart Gardens, Victoria