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September, October, November 2008
7 September 2008, Sunday Don Haskins passed away today (CNN; NYT). He was 78. He was the basketball coach at UTEP and led them to the championship against Kentucky in 1966. While many coaches have won many championships, that one was significant because of who his starters were. There are many people in Kentucky who it seems still haven't gotten over it. Two years ago they made a movie about his life, Glory Road. He even had a small cameo in the movie (which I pointed out to the theater when I saw it. I've been to at least one game as well where he was coaching. I wasn't cheering for UTEP at the game, but I remember watching him walk the side. 17 September 2008, Wednesday
22 September 2008, Monday
Elephants basically walk on their tip toes all the time. They can swim. They don't drink with their trunks any more than you drink with your nose. But they do suck water up with their trunks and then squirt it on their backs to cool off or in their mouth. They flap their ears to help cool all the blood that is flowing through them and then that cooled blood goes through their bodies and cools them off. Elephants have thick skin, but it is sensitive. They don't like sun burns or bug bites, that's why they put mud on them.
I like elephants. 24 September 2008, Wednesday Ah, the beauty of fall colors. I had to put them here on my web site because there just aren't that many leaves to turn colors here. That, and I doubt it will ever get cold enough for the leaves to even think about changing to begin with. So I'm going to be grateful for the foresight I had to take pictures of the fall leaves in Utah while I was there the last few years, and just enjoy them. I've added the fall colors to the blog as well. MissGiggles.com turns 5 in less than a month. I've been debating doing a redesign of the whole site for a year or so now, and that five year mark seems like a good time to actually do it. Trouble is, I'm not sure exactly what I want it to look like when I'm done. Less simplistic and more sophisticated, but I'm not sure what exactly I mean by that. I based the current design off a modified version of the web site my brother had back then. I like the look of the front page now, maybe something like that would be enough of a change for me. Figuring out how to do more than fake my way through CSS would be good. If there are any particularly well designed web sites you enjoy, let me know what they are so I can get some good ideas. 26 September 2008, Friday
Go eat an apple. 29 September 2008, Monday Happy one month Goobi! 30 September 2008, Tuesday
Happy virus appreciation day! I think. 4 October 2008, Saturday This is just a warning, that this web site is going to be a bit "off" for the next few weeks. In honor of it turning 5 on the 20th, I'm finally getting around to standardizing several things and cleaning up the behind the scenes stuff. Depending on how real ambitious I get, I might also give it a new look. The server this site is on is case sensitive, so part of my clean-up is putting all the file names in lower case. That means if you book marked something other than this main page, there is a good chance that link won't work any more. I hope that doesn't cause any problems. I needed to put it up on the server right now though knowing that there are several problems because when I test it on my computer, case doesn't matter. So I'd be less likely to find any problems that way. I've also tried to standardize the size of all my photos. Because of certain settings, some of them might look real weird for a while until I find them all. This main page will always work, and other than a few image glitches on the blog that I'll be working on, the blog won't be touched while I do this. We'll see if I can get any noticeable changes done, or if it will all be behind the scenes for now. If you notice anything that is acting a bit wonky (images, links), let me know in case I haven't found it yet. Gosh there are a lot of pages on this site. 6 October 2008, Monday
13 October 2008, Monday
Why don't we have holidays for all the other explorers too? 15 October 2008, Wednesday
17 October 2008, Friday
In school it always took me a long time to do my vocabulary homework because I'd get distracted by all the other words in the dictionary and forget which word I was supposed to be looking up. Maybe I should read the dictionary some day. I also remember there being twin girls in my grade who were descendents of Noah Webster, the man responsible for the American dictionary. 18 October 2008, Saturday I finally have one. I've wanted one of these for years, and now I have one. And I love it. Thursday I went to the craft store to buy a frame, but they were still out of the one I wanted. So I bought two bunches of fall flowers on sale, a small pot, and some styrofoam (and got a coupon I can use next week, I hope they have my frame by then). Today I went to another store and bought one bunch of fall leaves and a package of pencils. I believe I spent a total of $6.50 on everything. After twenty minutes I had this (and I have a cute pumpkin this year too):
My very own bouquet of newly sharpened pencils! 20 October 2008, Monday
In honor of this event, and because I can, I hereby proclaim October 20th to be Miss Giggles day! Hard to believe it, but this site has now been up for five years. Wow! A lot has changed since then. When it went up I was just barely figuring out how it all worked. I planned to use it to keep track of the books I read. I now have a whole separate site just for that (Miss Giggles' Book Log). There are 146 reviews on it so far.
I also wanted to use this site to put up pictures of me every now and then so my mom would be able to see what I was up to. And I have done that. And I've had a lot of fun with my camera too. Growing up I used to imagine what it would be like to work for National Geographic as a photographer. I'm not that, but I do enjoy photography. I still think my mom is my biggest reader. I added a blog in 2006 when I started graduate school. It was an assignment. I have no idea if the professor ever read what we wrote or not, but I've really enjoyed having that addition. I was in my second year teaching when I started this site. My fifth graders that first year nicknamed me Miss Giggles, and it stuck all six years I taught at the school. Those were good years.
Now I'm in my third year as a graduate student (the first two years were while I was still teaching and resulted in my Masters). In the five years I've had this site I've gone on trips. I got a brother-in-law. Two months ago I got a nephew. I've moved. I earned a Masters. I learned to belly dance. I was the Relief Society president of my ward for two of those years. I've met some dear friends who have forever changed my life. And all of that and more can be found some place on this site.
Over the last several weeks I've been making a lot of changes to the site. Most of them are in the code and you'll probably never know they are there. And that's okay. One or two changes went up before now. And there might be one or two more that come a bit later. But there are a few visible changes right now as well. I hope you like them. Some of my photography is more visible now. Here's to another five years of MissGiggles.com! 30 October 2008, Thursday Last November I participated in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). The object was to post every day for a month. And I did it. And it was a great mental-exercise-stretch-your-mind-see-how-long-you-can-talk-about-nothing kind of thing. Several of my friends did on their blogs as well. One of them took the challenge to blog every day this year. Well, it's November again, and I've been mentally preparing to go at it again this year. So every day in November there will be something new on my blog. AmandaStretch, The Book Guardian, set an extra challenge for herself, and her readers, last year. She started titling all her posts with lines from a song. She challenged her readers to see if they could name all of the songs she used at the end of the month. In July of this year I took key phrases from the Declaration of Independence for the titles of my posts. In the spirit of both of those probably slightly insane ideas, she's going to try and use the lines from one single song this November (I don't know what the song is yet, and I'm guessing, she's not so sure yet either). And I will be using either a song or poem as the titles for my posts. By midnight Saturday I'll know what I'm doing. My server has been a little wonky lately. So if my site does go down for a day or so during November, I will write the post elsewhere and put it up when I notice the server is back. Another fun little thing you can try - make more comments on the blogs you read during November. I try to comment on at least one friend's blog a day during November, especially the friends who I know are trying to write every day. If most bloggers are like me, they love comments. Let's see what random stuff pops out of my head this November. 31 October 2008, Friday
1 November 2008, Saturday
I simply love books. 2 November 2008, Sunday
Just wanted to remind you. I'm going to have to watch and make sure my electronics remember that they have all moved to Arizona. 4 November 2008, Tuesday
6 November 2008, Thursday I keep reading about snow in other places. And it just seems a bit wrong, out of place, unreal, or something. Possibly because we just cooled down to the upper 70s this week. I took a jacket with me to class Wednesday and Thursday because by the time I get out of class it's dark, and in a desert that means it's cooled off very quickly. But it's hot when I go to class. I know it's fall, and starting to be winter in other places. The calendar clearly says November. But it just seems so weird to me to think about it. I mean, I just barely pulled out pajamas, and people are already shoveling snow? On another note, the jacket I've been taking is one I made. A week and a half ago I made myself a black corduroy jacket. It was a LOT of pattern pieces. And I went over pretty much each seam four times, going through a whole bobbin and a half. Stitch the seam, trim one side of the seam, zig zag the other side and press it over the trimmed seam, edge stitch, top stitch. It was a lot of stitching. The fabric was so thick that I had to do the button holes by hand on the front. I used grey buttons that look kind of like stone. It looks great. (And it got black fuzzies all over my apartment from cutting the fabric. I vacuumed, but I'm still finding a few.) I made the right size pattern for my body, a 14, but they must expect someone with my chest measurements to have HUGE wrists. I could've fit both my arms in the sleeves. So yesterday I cut off the old cuffs (more fuzzies) and brought in the sleeves by an extra thumb print seam allowance from the old seam. I graded the seam starting about my elbow. Putting in a pin to mark my left elbow was easy. Getting a pin to mark the right elbow was a lot harder. Then I cut new cuffs, which ended up being smaller than the size the pattern says for an 8. The new cuffs are perfect though. It's a real soft corduroy too. So that's my new jacket. I'll take some pictures one of these days. Now that I know how the pattern works, I also have some deep red wine colored corduroy for another jacket as well. 10 November 2008, Monday Last Monday evening, just after 5pm, my phone rang. I didn't recognize the phone number, so I didn't answer and just let them leave a message. And boy did they ever! Apparently I'm a handsome man named Daniel and I'm engaged to a girl who drinks way too much for that early in the evening. Through the magic of technology, I recorded her message on to my computer and now present it here for your listening pleasure. All I can say is this, somebody is in trouble, either him for not calling her back, or her for not knowing his number even though she's marrying him. The number she says at the beginning of the message (I edited out the first two numbers she says in the interest of privacy) is not even close to my number. 11 November 2008, Tuesday
On this Veterans Day, I would like to thank all those I know who have fought for this country. I honor those who returned, and those who gave all. I hope to never forget all that they have done. And I pray that one day there will be no more need for war of any kind. In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow We are the dead. Short days ago Take up our quarrel with the foe; - Lt.-Col. John McCrae 20 November 2008, Thursday
After the papers I've been writing this week and looking at the take-home stats test I got yesterday that I have the next two weeks to stress over, I'm feeling sufficiently absurd today. But if that isn't absurd enough for you, you can go read the news. Like this article in the BBC about the apparently undemocratic process that just took place in California where the majority people voiced their opinion on an issue. The article actually says, "majority rule should not set the law." Okay, so if the majority doesn't get to set the law, who does? The minority? That's just absurd. 21 November 2008, Friday
And this weekend is rivalry week. I have a diploma from both schools sitting in my living room. But I'm Cougar Blue all the way through. I'm not the only one with possible split devotions though. The presidents of both schools graduated from the other one. The news has been wondering if they cheer for their employer or their alma mater. There are always news stories about neighborhoods decorating for the game too. (Other news stories - the history, mayors make a wager, magical moments from the past.) I'm wearing blue this week. And I will be cheering for the Cougars. But if I'm honest, I won't be upset if Utah wins. Somebody has to bust up the BCS. And at least the game is in Salt Lake this year. 24 November 2008, Monday
I think it was worth the drive across town to walk on some snow. Then I drove home with the window down because it was such a warm day.
27 November 2008, Thursday
Turkeys better watch out!
28 November 2008, Friday Yup, I got up before the sun this morning to go shopping. I refused to wait in the line outside the store though. So I sat in my car and waited for the store to open and the line to go in. Then I walked in, found the one thing I definitely needed and the two things I could use, paid, and walked out before the sun had even come up. It was a fabric store. And they had one bolt of the color fabric I need, but it's one more bolt than I've seen all year. So it was worth it. I went by my house to eat some food because the next store didn't open for more than an hour. I drove past Wal-Mart. I could not believe how many people were there. The parking lot was more than full, as were the parking lots for the office buildings on that corner. The second store was also a fabric store. I got the patterns I needed/wanted and the fabric I'll need for the last few things I'm making for Christmas. Then I came home and went to sleep. I got my boxes of Christmas decorations out of the storage closet. I'm trying to figure out where everything goes now. Putting the tree up required one more shopping trip out tonight. I first stopped at the mall because I had some coupons. It's the day after Thanksgiving, but when I was ready to pay at both stores I went to, I was able to walk right up and all three registers were open. No wait! Then I went to Lowes and bought a board. (I needed to level off the boxes I'm putting the tree on.) (I was wearing my BYU sweatshirt and a random family walked past me while I was trying to decide what type of wood I wanted to get, and the wife said, "Go cougars!" Her son was wearing a BYU baseball hat. It was random.) So now the tree is up, the music boxes are all out and I'm trying to figure out where they all go, and I'm trying to pretend it isn't still so warm outside. Now, who decided that I should have to write papers and do statistics while I'm trying to work on Christmas presents? 30 November 2008, Sunday It's still hot outside, but my Christmas decorations are all up. And they look great. I can't remember where I packed my popcorn, so I need to go get more of that and then I can throw it on the tree. My tree looks beautiful. And all of my music boxes are out too. And this year's is wrapped and waiting to be opened. I think I remember what it looks like. I'll find out soon enough. Both of my spinners spin, but one of them only does so occasionally. And my stocking is hung by the chimney with care. I need to talk to Santa about statistics still. | ||
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Random Giggles
Ooh Shemo
Miss Giggles' Book Log
Not only is today the equinox, but it is also 
In elementary school when we would write reports on animals, I always wrote about the elephant. The male elephant is called a bull. The female is called a cow. And the baby is a calf. There are African and Indian elephants, and the differ in their size. 
Happy Johnny Appleseed Day!
Conference was great. I wrote down three things I wanted to learn about before it started. And I have to say, only one of them was really kind of addressed. But there were a lot of talks that would help me find the answers on my own. 
And was it really nine years ago today? It's hard to believe. 
The world is definitely a different place because of what they did.
Today is the first ever 
Yesterday was Dictionary Day. I like dictionaries. I have three (nope, four) of them sitting on my computer desk at home (two are Portuguese and one is Spanish). I know I can look up words on internet dictionaries, but some times I'd just rather grab the actual book and look them up.
MissGiggles.com Turns 5 Today! 
So now that both the site and myself have grown over the last five years, I decided it was time to do some house cleaning and redecorating, especially since I've learned a bit about web design since then.
It was on this day in 1918, the eleventh day of the eleventh month, and at the eleventh hour, that hostilities ceased in Germany and ended World War I, the war to end all wars. Until 21 years later when World War II started. 
I got to see snow in Tucson on Saturday. Santa arrived at one of the malls, so some of the radio stations made about 30 tons of snow in the parking lot at the mall. It was real funny to go watch people in shorts, t-shirts, some wearing flip flops, and gloves, playing in the big pile of snow and throwing it at people. It was one of the more random things I have ever seen in my life.
