Autofabrik

It's poorly lit and badly filmed, but this video of a factory built from LEGO Mindstorms sets that builds little LEGO cars is still freakin' awesome.

Mood: Amused
Music: Styx: "Suite Madame Blue"

Dear Diary

The other day I was doing some cleaning at home and came across one of my old journals from when I was in college. It didn't have many entries in it, covering only fall semester of 1996 and very early spring semester 1997. The rest of my journals were lost when my parents' house burned in 1998.

Part of me has been playing around with the idea of posting the journal entries here on my blog somehow, though they will need some serious editing in the form of "The names have been changed to protect the innocent." On the other hand, the not-so-innocent will probably be named outright.

Mood: Pensive
Music: The James Gang: "Funk #49"

Miserable

This weekend was full of miserable jobs that needed to be done. Some jobs, like shoveling snow, I knew were miserable, especially when the snow is wet and heavy. Other jobs, like grouting ceramic tile, I didn't know were miserable.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Animals: "House of the Rising Sun"

Art

Children's book illustrators draw inspiration from actual children's art, and come up with these.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Howlin' Wolf: "Killing Floor"

Good Jobs

Steve Jobs is probably going to lose some fans among teachers. Find out why.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: The Rolling Stones: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

Dream, dream, dream

I had a really strange dream last night. I dreamt that Greg and Jeneen were getting married (again?), and were holding their reception at Cherry Hills. However, somehow they didn't know that Adam was the chef there. I showed up early and had a laugh with Adam about how much of a surprise it was going to be. We began to worry, though, when only a few of the guests started arriving and everyone else appeared to be late.

Later, he and I went to his parents house, where there was all kinds of furniture sitting in the yard. It belonged to his sister Julie, and it included a triple bunk bed. He explained that it was so Julie could sleep in the same room with her daughters. I thought to myself, "She can afford all this new furniture but she can't afford to move out?" It then started raining, and all the furniture was getting wet, but nobody seemed to care.

Later, we were sitting in the living room, and a girl we went to high school with was there as well, and she was flirting with Adam. However, he didn't want to go out with her because she had once dated Adam's younger brother Mark.

It was all very strange.

Mood: Baffled
Music: The Beatles: "Hey Bulldog"

Benny

I thought this would be an appropriate followup to yesterday's post: a long but intriguing piece about Benjamin Franklin.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Deep Purple: "Into the Fire"

Deities

Just in time for Presidents' Day, here's a fairly academic analysis of George Washington's religious beliefs. I recommend it.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Bad Company: "Burnin' Sky"

Built

The American Institute of Architects presents a list of America's favorite architecture.

Why wasn't I asked about this?

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Who: "The Real Me"

Covered

Graphic design junkies should find this interesting. I did, and I'm not that much of a graphic design junky.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: The Kinks: "You Really Got Me"

Payback

Sick of telemarketers? You too might be able to find a way to make them pay.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Led Zeppelin: "In My Time of Dying"

Prank

Any prank you might have pulled in college will pale in comparison to these, that is unless you were involved with one of these. If you weren't, I bet you wish you were.

Mood: Amused
Music: Electric Light Orchestra: "Tightrope"

Shopping

I found this list of ten shopping tricks that stores hate. It's a good list.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Queen: "Son & Daughter"

False Alarms

If there's a conviction in this case, then there's little hope left for our legal system.

Mood: Disappointed
Music: The Eagels: "Victim of Love"

Food for Thought

Anthony Bourdain opines on the current state of Food Network.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: U2: "Where the Streets Have No Name"

I think...

I found this list of the eleven most important philosophical questions, at least according to this website. Bonus material includes the correct way to pronounce Nietsche, and it's not "nee chee."

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: ZZ Top: "Waitin' For the Bus/Jesus Just Left Chicago"

Analysis

Maryanne and I met with our realtor, Kari, recently to go over the market analysis she had prepared for us. She was very thorough, and while our house's value probably isn't as high as we'd like, I was still fairly optimistic. Our next step will be to talk with our mortgage broker again to see how our house's sale price will affect how much new house we can afford.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Cream: "White Room"