Thursday, September 24, 2009

Crazy Dream - Mad Men

I think all dreams are a bit crazy, this one was wild! I wasn't sure when I'd get a chance to write it out, but this evening I didn't get anything done and forgot to do the run I was supposed to do (speedwork: 5 miles including 1600m (1 mi) @ 8:15 min/mi with 800m (0.5 mile) jogs). So, I'll describe the dream.

I don't know if anyone's been watching Mad Men lately, there's been a merger and a bunch of the other stuff going on... Anyways the scene starts there.

I don't remember much before the part where I'm given a weird little quiz book and I sit down to fill it out. Then this woman comes and sits down next to me and starts taunting me, I tell her to shut up! She won't, she keeps saying that now that there's been a merger that her dad will be my dad's boss. I don't like that so I knocker her backwards in her chair and tell her to shut up, she gets up and leaves.

I go back to the test, one question I remember is that somebody's wife hosted a themed dinner around A) a letter from the EPA or B) a bill from the EPA. I think the wife in question is Don Draper's.

Next scene is the British guy with the red hair walking the office about to tell everyone about the merger, there's a blown up W-2 form with the new name and address of the new company projected onto a screen he walks past. He says "But, first let's show you this movie to show you how this all happened."

The movie starts in a bright, shiny lobby with a black and white tile floor, the camera starts out above Don Draper as he walks over to two other men that I got the impression were reclusive owners of the other company. Then, Roger Sterling walks over and the British guy walks over, all three are wearing London Fog rain coats. Then they have like a group hug (maybe a manwich) and smile really big. Then Don Draper and Roger Sterling walk to the right of the group and open up umbrellas. But, the umbrellas turn out to be organic like flower shapes that suck them up.

End

Monday, September 7, 2009

Cupcake Party

I went to the Hoot's condo with Hanna for a cupcake party. I used some 'no pudge fudge' brownie mix, but with the cake option. Then put some of our homemade peanut butter on the top, healthiest cupcakes there. But, I ate like 6 cupcakes and a few glasses of wine, definite sugar crash happening now.

I need to develop a savory cup cake! Tortilla chips and cheese and beans?

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Street Breakdancing

Audio Book Run Down (1)

I got a new job, woot! But, when I was searching for work I was also doing stuff around the house (see the tags marked home project and while I did them I often listened to OPB, music I've got, or audio books. I'm sorta new to audio books and devoting a little bit of the focus to the story while doing something else can be tough.

Here's the list:

Homer's The Illiad then The Odyssey -

Both were great tales of mythological conquest and adventure, I liked the Odyssey more because there was more travel involved while the Illiad is staged in and around Troy, when names are mentioned it's harder to keep track of what they are doing if they aren't moving somewhere. Made me want to reread Route 66 A.D., a great book about the beginning of travel and tourism in times of Ancient Rome.

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers then The Tipping Point then started Blink - Outliers is about individuals and other groups of people who have bucked the trends and been successful or limited their success by the culture, period of time in which they lived, and social interactions. Once example I found interesting was about some airline pilots in Korea, because of their social structure the co-pilot often speaks in a differential tone to the captain even when there are serious problems the plane may soon encounter, this made Korean Airlines an outlier because accidents were happening more frequently not because of inexperienced pilots or planes needing repair but because there was an ingrained culture of hierarchy.

I liked The Tipping Point to learn how some new fashion trends had gotten started.

Blink, seemed like stuff I already knew so I didn't finish that one.

Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues, Freaky Deaky, City Primeval, Bandits - These were all great bubble gum novels about detectives bending the law, con men setting up a grift, organized crime, but what made them all great was that they were read by Frank Muller. I just found his personal website and learned that he's dead! He's the best!! Luckily I've got more Frank Muller narrated books for the bus rides.

Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes The Sign of Four - Good story, I couldn't really get into it, but I've got just about the whole Sherlock Holmes collection so I may do them all.