More pictures

So, I found a better way to post pictures. Here are some more for your viewing pleasure (or, maybe just mine):

A penguin in Seattle.

Mt. Rainier. A view from a neighborhood near my apartment.

War protesters with really big heads that came by the press house a couple weeks ago.

In Tacoma. I think this was a part of the art museum.

The Chihuly bridge in Tacoma. Dale Chihuly is a famous glass artist who lives there. He's actually "world renown." His stuff is beautiful.

The Chihuly bridge.

The Chihuly bridge.

The office cat not looking happy.

At the Pacific Coast in Ocean Shores, Wash.

View of the Olympic Mountains from the Tolmie State Park in Lacey. (It's like five minutes from my apartment.)

View of Mt. Rainer from Tolmie State Park.

A cool looking tree stump in the Tolmie State Park.

The City of Roses

I went to Portland today. It was great. It doesn't have one of those must-see landmarks (ie: the Space Needle in Seattle, the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Arch in St. Louis.) But it is one of the most "livable" cities I've been to. It's got good public transportation, ample parking, open spaces and beautiful parks. I think it's going to be one of those cities I'll always love because the first time I went, it was a beautiful Saturday. Denver was that way. Anyway, here are some pictures I took:

So this game made me nervous...

The Big 12 tournmanet championship game made me nervous, but it was a great win for KU!! And I see now that the Jayhawks are the No. 1 seed in the West, but are playing first round games in Chicago. So, how does that work? I would not think of Chicago as "West," but maybe they're changing the way they do things now.

Anyway, I'm excited about the tournament (even though I probably won't get to watch much of it because of the darn Legislature...) Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!

This might turn into the "Friday Night Lights" blog

So, even though I was working last night and couldn't watch it live, I was really bummed this morning to find out there was no Friday Night Lights last night. Since I know one of the loyal 'Nest readers is also a fan of this fabulous show (shout out to Heid) I think I will spend quite a bit of time writing of it's wonderfulness in future posts. Hopefully, if it doesn't get cancelled.

Which brings me to ... I stumbled across the Save Friday Night Lights site, and wanted to share it with the world. You know, I've never really cared about keeping a TV show around quite this much. I actually wrote an e-mail to NBC!! (Which I'm sure will carry oh so much weight.) I guess I just think there's so much crap out there, that worthy television (even if it doesn't get high ratings) should stick around. I really think this show would get higher ratings if NBC wasn't stupid, putting it up against "American Idol." I mean, come on, Kyle Chandler (the coach) is smokin'!!! And all the players aren't bad either :-)

This is a great show. If you're not watching -- and you have the time -- or, even if you don't have the time -- you should start watching. All the episodes are available to watch for free even!!! Come on, how much easier is that?

So I think I've heard this...

So, this is how Missouri became known as the "Show-Me State":

From the Missouri Secretary of State Web site:
The most widely known legend attributes the phrase to Missouri's U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903. While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver attended an 1899 naval banquet in Philadelphia. In a speech there, he declared, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me." Regardless of whether Vandiver coined the phrase, it is certain that his speech helped to popularize the saying.

BIG 12 CHAMPS!!!!

WHOO-HOO!!!! I'd like a little more ROCK with my CHALK!!!

The office cat!

He goes by many names. "Copycat," "editor," "the lobbyist," and "dog" are just some. But he makes our day in the press house much happier with his presence!! Photos by John Frosh (not me!)

Love me some Jayhawks

So, I don't live in Lawrence any more, so I'm not quite as plugged into Jayhawk men's basketball happenings as I used to be, but after watching a few recent games, I must say -- love, love, love KU this year!!! I'm uber-excited about watching them play Texas on Saturday (even though it'll be 9 a.m. out here--yikes!!) And, I have all kinds of final four dreams. I wish I was around more people who could appreciate the awesomeness of KU basketball!!!

Will Smith at the Oscars

To paraphrase:
All of these American movies have one thing in common: They have nothing in common. They're all distinctive, like the people in this country. We may not all agree on things, but we damn sure make sure we're heard...

or something like that...thought it was a good line.

I have a crush on...

...the TV show "Friday Night Lights."
I downloaded the free pilot off itunes this weekend (to test my new video ipod with) and became slightly obssessed. It's really good!! I did some googling, and found that it's been a critical success, but the ratings haven't been very good.

Some fans have started sending care packages to NBC. I don't really want to go that far, but I would definitely sign some kind of a petition. Keep good television!!!

So at least there are some other people who are spreading the word. A McClatchy writer wrote a column urging people to watch. Time also had a story about it.

Please NBC, keep Friday Night Lights!!!

"Things sort of happened"

Great quote from the NY Times article on the new president of Harvard, Drew Gilpin Faust:

“One of the things that I think characterizes my generation — that characterizes me, anyway, and others of my generation — is that I’ve always been surprised by how my life turned out... I’ve always done more than I ever thought I would. Becoming a professor — I never would have imagined that. Writing books — I never would have imagined that. Getting a Ph.D. — I’m not sure I would even have imagined that. I’ve lived my life a step at a time. Things sort of happened.”

Pictures from Seattle/Port Townsend/Port Angeles

Light house in Port Townsend.
Mt. Baker across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Port Angeles.
The pizza cutter at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle.

Olympic Sculpture Park.

New pics

Here are some new pics I've collected lately, but haven't gotten around to posting...
These aren't great because the weather has been bad. But hopefully I'll have some better ones eventually.


Stadium High School in Tacoma (featured in the movie "10 Things I Hate About You")

Seattle!

Hey, everyone. I'm moving to Seattle in January. Whoo-hoo!! Sushi, coffee, technology, yeah!! I'm excited. (For full disclosue--Staci--I stole this picture. But the photog's copyright and name are at the bottom, so hopefully I'm OK on this.) If anyone has any Seattle contacts they'd like to pass on, I'd be very, very grateful to have 'em!

Checks.

Why do people still use checks? I'm sure there are reasons out there, but I just can't think of them. Debit card and credit cards are so much faster! And you can see all the movement on your account on the Internet.

Last night I went to the grocery store and got in the WRONG LINE (if you know what I'm saying.) It didn't look like the lady had too much stuff, so I started unloading my groceries on the belt thingey. The cashier looked like he was in high school -- he'll probably end up a drama major. He had a comment about EVERY item she bought (not kidding.) And, of course, this slowed him down significantly. Then the lady had coupons he struggled with. Had to call a manager. Finally, a total!!! Yes! Then, the lady pulls out her checkbook and proceeds to write VERY slowly. Oh, he didn't use one of the coupons! OH NO!! The lady had already started writing 71 and she now had to change it to 68. The travesty. She wrote a new check. Finally, it was over and the cashier started to check me out. I think the look on my face gave him the idea I didn't want any commentary.

OK, OK--not too bad. But then, today at lunch, I got stuck behind another person writing a check. She had her checkbook out, so I looked to get in another line. The line next to where I was standing didn't look too busy. I checked it out. Another lady writing a check!! Jeez!!! Why? Why? Why??????

A sampling of bumper stickers...

I was out walking around today (had the day off) and decided to take some pictures of bumper stickers on cars around my neighborhood. I thought you might find some of them entertaining (and they said Montana was conservative...disclaimer, I am in Helena, home of state government, aging hippies and health food nuts.)

Proof of snow

OK, here it is. I finally went out and took a picture of the mountains south of Helena. Proof of snow. It's actually been really nice this week, so most of the snow has melted. But a couple of weeks ago it was everywhere. I have to drive back and forth between Butte this week to cover a meeting, so I really have my fingers crossed that a blizzard doesn't decide to pop up. I don't have "chains" or “studs” for my car tires yet. I'm kind of wondering if I even need them. I guess I'll need to figure that out soon.

Watching the New Orleans-Atlanta game on Monday Night football now. Somebody (hint, hint--not me) needs to do a study on this. The role of football/the Saints/Superdome in the recovery of New Orleans. Sports and society is such an interesting topic (yes, I know, I'm still talking about it even after my disastrous thesis experience.) I just keep hearing all kinds of interesting things that I think would make a good paper.

Cake.

Wow. That's the most comments I've ever had on a blog entry, I think. And it was about cake. So I'm thinking about making that the focus of my blog. Maybe I should change the name. "JByrdie's Nest o' Cakes" has a nice ring to it.

I went out and bought a cake last night. It was all about research, of course. I had to figure out how they make all those flowers. On the cake was this sticker. I put it up because it reminds me of a funny KU story. Lisa got up in front of 500 freshman and sophomores and told them one of her biggest pet peeves was the word "moist." So, of course, the kids tried to work "moist" into all of their papers during the semester. I don't really get it. Moist doesn't seem like too bad of a word to me.

Most of the snow has melted here and I was too lazy to go take a picture earlier. So sorry. But don't worry, I'm sure I'll see plenty more and will eventually get a picture up.

Here are some of my favorite cake-gazing links, for your pleasure:

Cakes by Sam
Cake diva
Mike's Amazing Cakes
Colette's Cakes

Yes, it snowed

I'll put up a picture of the snow-capped mountain peaks tomorrow. It's actually quite pretty. None of the snow stuck in the valley though. But it has been in the 50's. Kind of weird for September... I think it's supposed to snow later this week too.

I went to Missoula today. That place is awesome. So pretty. The college-town vibe reminded me of Lawrence, which was great. Had some sushi too, which was great. I haven't had sushi since I was in Chicago in June. Yum, yum.

I have a new favorite show: Ace of Cakes on the Food Network.

I love the cakes these people make. It really makes me want to go to culinary school and become a professional cake decorator. That would be AWESOME (mind you, I've never actually decorated a cake before...oh well, details.)

For more awesome cakes to look at, go here.

It snowed here today

But this isn't a picture of that. It was too cold outside to do that...
This is a picture I took coming back from Great Falls. It's a lonely looking tree, don't you think?

I kept meaning to update my blog, but I'd go to and see Rocky and think 'I don't need to update, Rocky is so cute!' Anyway, I figured the first snow fall was a reason to blog. Not much to say here, actually. I just wanted to change things up.