That's right. The new LOTR trailor is out!

Watch It!

Okay. I've plumed the depths (PUN!) of the internet world to bring you the latest in communication trends.

Viola: Trouser Semaphore!

Apparently stories of satanistic calculus teachers don't cut it in this day and age.

Life has been a bit hectic these days - work has been busier than normal (I do a lot of my blogging at work), school is in full swing (I've aced my first 3 exams), and I'm working on a video project (I took the video from the trip to Boston and am making a Moulton Video).

So - posting has been light. I also haven't found anything work sharing of late - like the naked Japanese singers. No movies lately (Though I've been on a Christopher Guest movie binge lately. Best in show, Guffman, and Might Wind).

I'll see what I can dig up!

I have this really nice Calculus II professor. She\rquote s a little scattered, but very nice. I have to give you a full picture of the woman \endash it\rquote s important. She has a (I think) Russian accent \endash and she reminds me a little bit of a Russian version of Elise Keaton (from Family Ties).

Anyway \endash she was wearing a necklace and matching earring that, from where I sit, I swear look like inverted crosses. Now, realistically, it could be birds, of airplanes or even the letter \lquote X\rquote (she is a math person). The thing is, that at the beginning of class I noticed it \endash and noticed it looked like an inverted cross.

For the whole rest of the class, as she\rquote s explaining the surface of revolution, I keep picturing her going back to this house, painted all black, with the skull candles and metallic posters on the wall.

Need less to say, I\rquote m a little shaky on the Surface of Rotation theory.

I created a quick and dirty FLASH program, which will turn any image into a puzzle.

Try it out here.

It will also do images that are online. Try copying this html and pasting it into the input box.

http://www.phibetamoulton.com/images/photos/Bowl/cam_booze.jpg

I have some pictures. Can you guess who the new A&F model will be?

Sometimes, when I'm in a good mood, I actually look at some of the email that gets sent to my 'bulk' (which is Yahoo-speak for Junk) email folder. Today I got an email that contained the following:

f x lrWesEmailpYouraAditou2pMILLIONoPEOPLEp pontificatetrumpetjudge t$55hypodermicbenny

sophomoric jWebcSitel1agricola1 vWebsSiteg2i automobile9 cosmetic
borderland
trundle4
hadesEmailvRemovaldoleful germinate ct cfsyix ocniakddojcibo wb yl dy lvxphqq ogudconty

In a moment of pure curiosity (and the fact that I'm on a work computer), I decided to click (all of the above text was a useful link). It was an 'Bulk Email' company (read Spam) telling me how much $$ I would make.

The process confuses me, though. Why send gibberish as an ad? I guess, in tricking me in clicking it, it could grab my email address - though they must have had it already, as they sent me email.

Curious.

As Young Asian mentioned, before he lost his senses and delved into the whole 'women whine - men don't' topic, apparently not knowing that there's an 80% chance both my sisters are on a plane to SF right now to beat him senseless, I did run in the Susan G Komen Breast cancer Foundation Race for the Cure.

My number was 3025. You can see my results at RaceResults.com(Available 9/10/03). The race was 9/7/03.

I may have some pictures to post later - the only 1 I actually have is a group of us with Milk Mustaches - that the Milk people took for us (Our friend Clark organize it, so we ran with Him, Will, and like 6 of his friends).

My milk Mustache wasn't very good.

The milk people hate me.

The results came in! I finished 1064 out of 3906, which doesn't mean much because I was running against pregnant women pushing strollers and what-not.

A better number, is that I came in 99 out of 185 of all 30-34 year old men. Right in the middle!

That's me. Mr. Average!

I thought I'd try start my first entry with what I call "Catherinisms". Catherine is my four year old--who has a funny way of putting things--enjoy

(1) MMMM ZEBRA MUST TASTE GOOD

Catherine is an Animal Planet junkee. My husband is not. He was cruising the cable channels and stopped briefly-at Catherine's request-when he saw some lions. He quickly realized that the lions were stalking zebra. He started to change the channel (Dennis has a weak stomach!) and Catherine screamed "No Daddy, I want to watch the lions get the zebra". Well..the lions do get the zebra (much to Dennis' dismay) and while the lions are eating their "lunch", Catherine looks at Dennis as says"MMM ZEBRA MUST TASTE GOOD".

(2) WELL I HOPE THEY WASHED OFF THE MUD - Catherine is fascinated with what eats what...spiders eat bugs, sharks eat fish and (of course) lions eat zebra. One breakfast Catherine was eating a piece of bacon. She asks me "Mom what is bacon." I tell her that it is made from a pig. She looks at me for a minute (taking another bite) and says "so this was a pig?". I nod. She walks away--still eating the bacon--and says under her breath..."WELL I HOPE THEY WASHED OFF THE MUD".

Anyway - Just thought I'd share some of my daughter's insights.

Mike and I made a mini-vacation out of the long weekend which just arrived. Here are some highlights:

Saturday
Mike\rquote s parents arrived Saturday Night. We went to an Indian restaurant which Mike has been wanting to try \endash and waited a long time for food which was okay and service which was not so okay. We went to bed early because Sunday was a full day.

Sunday
After breakfast, we went to ogle the redwoods at Muir Woods. It was a nice trip and Mike claimed he saw a fish, though the rest of us think it may have been a fish-shaped rock. And there were trees, and an ominous hand-written sign warning of increased yellow-jacket stings.

After that, we went to see Phantom which was a pretty good show. Mike only jumped once, when they \lquote ignited\rquote the chandelier at the beginning(as opposed to his several jumps during Beauty and the Beast which must have been scarier) . His parents both liked the show.

After a weak dinner at a Korean restaurant, we went to bed.

Monday
We left early for Lake Tahoe. When we arrived, we decided to skip Reno (who, as you may recall stiffed us on the cost of the reservation) and stay at Ceaser\rquote s in Tahoe. If you look at the website, you\rquote ll see the $130 \lquote passion package\rquote . This might explain why the shower was plunked next to the living room, with a \lquote frosted\rquote glass view of the person showering. Also, the showering area has no door \endash so there was no way to shower without the possibility of someone seeing you nude, either as you prepared to shower, or as you showered, and then again after you were done.

I waited till everyone was off gambling.

We had reservations for a tour of the lake VIA paddle boat on the M.S. Dixie II, which was the worst idea ever. If you think there\rquote s more to seeing Lake Tahoe from on the lake than to seeing it by shore, let me tell you. There isn\rquote t. The boat claimed a \lquote glass bottom\rquote , but the actual glass bottom was about 3 feet by 3 feet, and all you see is ...water. I had the same view looking over the rail. On the way back they showed the \lquote Sunken Treasures of Lake Tahoe\rquote video, which claimed to discover hidden treasures, but mostly looked at rocks and pointed out they were very beautiful, and that we (the viewers) were the first humans to see this sight. I was holding out hope that the sunken steamer \endash thinking there was some great story \endash it turned out the owners didn\rquote t want to sell the boat, so they purposely sunk her in Tahoe.

After that, we decided we needed to gamble. Now, I don\rquote t want to brag about my gambling ability, but I left Tahoe losing less than 100 dollars. I also, because of my mom\rquote s genes, joined the Emperor\rquote s club. At the rate I gamble, I figure I\rquote ll be eligible for a free muffin, sometime in 2025.

In keeping with my gambling strategy, which pretty much consisted of handing the dealers my $$ without even being dealt cards, I decided I had my gambling fun. I went and rented 28 days later, because I heard it was \lquote scary as hell\rquote . It was okay \endash but I think hell is a bit scarier.

Tuesday
I took of work, so we could have the extra day \endash which we used to it\rquote s fullest visiting The Ponderosa Ranch. You know. Bonanza? That show. Actually, it wasn\rquote t too bad, though the 10$ pp rate was a bit high. It\rquote s mostly an old west town \endash complete with saloons and mid-day gunfights. Well, if we had been there before Sept 1. After Sept 1, apparently, all the bad guys leave \endash so no shoot-outs. There were goats. And Squirrels \endash which we\rquote ll talk about more in a moment. They did have a cool \lquote mystery mine\rquote which was similar to the old \lquote Rustic House\rquote of Clark\rquote s trading post, but a little different. It was cool.

The oddest thing was, they had a little grave yard with tombs for all the characters, including Hop Sing. Not the actors, mind you, the characters. Sorry to break it to you, but little Joe is dead.

Anyway, after that we drove Mike\rquote s parents to the Oakland airport, and that was that.

About the Squirrels

I\rquote m worried I\rquote m becoming one of those people \'99. Why? I carry nuts for squirrels. Almost all the time. It evolved because I like feeding the squirrels at Golden Gate park. These squirrels are very friendly, and will knock you down and rummage your pockets for nuts. Well, at the very least, they\rquote ll take it right from your hand. Which is fun. Problem is that, we would often head out to GGP and as I neared \endash I realized that I had no nuts for the squirrels. So I would stop and buy some at a very expensive store. So, one day, I bought a big bag of No-Frill almonds (because they\rquote re the right size for hand feeding \endash peanuts are too small) which I carry in my back-pack.

Now, though, I can feed squirrels anywhere. Which I do.

Which might mean I\rquote m a little nuts. But, I hold out hope that \endash If I\rquote m ever attacked anywhere near a tree, I\rquote ll have a legion of small furry soldiers come to my aid. Or, at least, rummage my pockets for nuts after I\rquote m dead.

How was your weekend?