Posts Tagged ‘holidays

Lights! It is Christmas time

Posted in Insightson Nov 3, 2008

Last year I critisized BYU for setting up Christmas decorations just a few days after Halloween.  This year, I’ve been looking forward to Christmas for weeks already.  Perhaps it is because stores have already been selling Christmas for weeks.  On Halloween-eve, I wandered through Walmart and enjoyed looking at the different Christmas trees that they are already selling.  A couple of weeks ago, I started scouting out the different varieties of Christmas lights available.

Speaking of Christmas lights, this year you will be able to find a wide array of LED lighting available.  These LED lights are less likely to burn out and will use a lot less electricity.  They also will cost 5-15 times more money.  For something that is used only seasonally, I don’t think there will be masses of people to buy LED lights.  I do think that LED lights could sell quite well if they were made available in new colors, shapes, and brightnesses.

I’m not really sure what sort of lights I may want to buy.  If I decide to have a small 20 inch tall fake tree in my office, I may decide to use LED lights on it.  For my tree at home, I’m still carefully looking at all the different light options.

(photo source)

Google Docs celebrates Valentines Day

Posted in Funnyon Feb 14, 2008

Google Docs is an online service that provides a word processor, spreadsheet application, and a slide show program. It is available as part of Google Apps, for a specific team, or directly from Google.

Today I visited Google Docs to upload a document with a sugar cookie recipe, and I found that they’ve gone pink for the day. I did’t know the Google Docs folks were so into Valentines Day, but it looks like they’ve got pleanty of love to share.

Google Docs of valentines day

Is it Christmas already?

Posted in Generalon Nov 6, 2007

I was walking through the student center of BYU the other day, and I noticed that they had some of their Christmas decorations up already. This happened more than 50 days before Christmas! It used to be that the Christmas season started with Thanksgiving, but apparently this year it is starting with Halloween. I’ve even seen Christmas merchandise appear in some stores already too.
Christmas trees

What a nice way to wake up

Posted in Generalon Jul 11, 2007

On the Fourth of July, I intended to wake up early, but I didn’t set an alarm. How fortunate then, that I had another type of alarm, something unusual, and perhaps even something magical.

In my sleep, I heard noises, but I didn’t readily recognize them–they weren’t a lawn mower or a garbage truck. Then, as I was waking, I realized that they were from the burner of a hot air balloon. I jumped out of bed, only to see my apartment building being buzzed by a such a balloon, and the sky all around me being filled with various hot air balloons, flying as part of Provo’s freedom festival.
A couple of hot air balloons over university villa on the fourth of july A few hot air balloons looking down 160 W in Provo A red white and blue hot air balloon over the Provo skies

Masticated words; remember to swallow

Posted in Lifeon Nov 17, 2006

It stopped raining today. It was so great that I opened the window. But you really don’t care about the weather here, do you?

I made my pie, and I’ve eaten most of it. I’m not generally a calorie counter, but I figure as long as I don’t eat more than half of the pie in a day, I’ll live.

I accidentally fell asleep early last night. I was going to take a quick nap before the eight o’clock television hour, but I ended up sleeping through until midnight. So what do you do when you wake up at midnight? I read some blogs and went back to bed, although I didn’t sleep very well, but it didn’t bother me. For most of the night I felt like I was just kind of floating on day dreams, but during the night. That didn’t make sense, but oh, well, swallow. Sad thing is that I slept in this morning too.

Jennifer once told me that punctuation is an art and something to be passionate about. I’m not sure if I’m passionate about it, but I do think it is an art. Following the metaphor, my punctuation is like throwing cans of paint at a wall.

Why do all bombs on the TV shows have wires where if you cut the right colored wire it disarms the device? I bet that in real life it doesn’t work that way.

Is spirit matter? It doesn’t seem to be a solid, liquid, or gas. Maybe the type of matter of which spirit is composed exists in an alternate dimension, meaning, not height, width, nor depth, but spirit. Scientists claim there are at least 11 dimensions, maybe spirit is one of them.

Having been reading many blogs recently, I think I observe a trend of frustration and stress. I think this might be due to the fact that many are working hard at school in a stretch of hard work right before the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m kind of stressed out too. But I think that if we all spend a moment to think of one or two of the things we enjoy, and then do those things, then we can see a reprieve in the rains and storms that come out ways.

Someone told me they loved me the other day. Well, actually, they just wrote it and I read it. I’m pretty sure they were meaning the kind of friendly platonic sort of love, but it felt good anyway.

Change is a funny thing. I mean, sometimes we grow up in life expecting things to be a certain way when we are a certain age. And then we reach that age, and it isn’t what we thought it would be like. Do we give up our dream and follow some more practical ideology, or do we continue to follow our dreams trusting that we will someday grasp them?

Ah, my heart doth ache for that which doth not disappoint.

Themes for Halloween dances

Posted in Generalon Sep 6, 2006

I’m always trying to help out my readers, so when I saw that one reader arrived at my site by looking for “themes for halloween dances” I thought that maybe I could help him or her out.

I think perhaps the best theme for a Halloween dance is: Halloween. You can have pumpkins, spider webs, costumes, fake or real ghosts, and other creepy Halloween oriented things.

Of course, I am not a fan of Halloween dances, mostly because people wear costumes and costumes make it difficult to meet new people. My advice is don’t plan a Halloween dance, plan an October or November dance, without costumes. I’m afraid, however, that you are on your own for finding a theme for such dance.

Happy Birthday Oregon!

Posted in Generalon Feb 14, 2006

For those of you confused about the holiday which comes every year on February 14th, let me educate you.

Today is Oregon’s birthday. I already have my oregon flag hanging from the wall, more proud than a Texas flag. 147 years ago, Oregon became a state, but not without some controversy. In 1859, the balance of power in the United States was carefully balanced between those opposing or supporting slavery. While the Compromise of 1850 dictated that Oregon would be a free state, its two newly elected senators were proslavery Democrats. However, congress finally acted and on February 14, 1859, President Buchanan signed the bill, causing Oregon to be the 33rd state.

I thought I would share some ideas about how to celebrate this very special day:

  • Think about all the things you like about Oregon
  • Bake an Oregon birthday cake
  • Fly the Oregon flag. If you don’t have an Oregon flag, print a picture of one off of the Internet and proudly display it
  • Hate Utah drinking water
  • Hug a tree
  • Recycle
  • Ride your bike to work or school
  • Use an computer powered by an Intel processor
  • Make Oregon cards and give them to all of your friends
  • Kiss someone romantically under some Oregon grape.
  • Purchase or consume some Western Family food products
  • Adopt a salmon
  • Convince someone else to pump your gas for you
  • Sing the Happy Oregon Day song.
  • Read blogs of Oregonians

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