Dan Brown Mad-Lib

Whether you like or dislike Dan Brown, this fact is undeniable: he has consistent plot elements that repeat through out every book. If one knows the pattern (i.e. if one has read a single book of his), then the mystery is gone. You know what is going to happen. If you've read one you've read them all. Beware of pattern spoilers!

Prologue:
Little did he know, that his actions in the last 24 hours would lead to his demise. He wished to speak, but could not, and could only feel the life draining out of him. (continue with ominous demise and unusual method of death bit)

Chapter 1:
(beautiful brilliant single woman's name)awoke early in the morning by a phone call.

Chapter 2:
(handsome brilliant single man's name) discovered a very unusual message left on his cell phone.

Chapter 3:
(Barely mysterious antagonist) secretly plots in a disguised voice over the phone to his lackey.

Chapter 4:
(Father figure) is involved in seemingly innocuous meeting with (handsome single man or beautiful single woman).

Chapter 5-15:
Development of plot delving deep into either historical or scientific minutiae. Then plot thickening, involving misleading cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, eventually uniting (handsome single man) with (beautiful single woman) as they either run for their lives or get perilously close to uncovering a secret at risk to their lives. (Father figure) appears to be helping them. Meanwhile, attraction grows between (handsome single man) and (beautiful single woman).

Chapter 16:
Carefully researched plot explodes with the (father figure) revealing himself as the (barely mysterious antagonist). (handsome single man) and (beautiful single woman) are shocked and have no one to trust but one another, driving them closer together as the (father figure/barely mysterious antagonist) hunts them down.

Chapter 17:
(handsome single man) nearly dies, but manages to save the day.

Last Chapter:
(handsome single man) and (beautiful single woman) finally get time to hang out.

glimpse

I work in Oakland, California. For the last leg of my commute to work, I take the train (BART) to downtown Oakland where there were 127 murders committed in 2007. This earned Oakland 5th place for the most dangerous cities in the nation ranking (which was apparently an improvement from 2006, where they were in 4th place). Also, one of the favorite places for mugging in the city is at the entrance to the BART station that I go in every day. Such pleasant thoughts!

I have recently relocated to the 3rd floor of my building (from the 9th floor). Also on this floor is a new regional manager who still lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. He flies home every thursday afternoon and flies to Oakland every monday morning. He said today that it was 29 degrees when he left Salt Lake City and that it had recently snowed. How delightful! I don't get glimpses into the weather of my lovely Rocky Mountains very often.

My relocation to the 3rd floor is a result of joining the Seismic Hazards group at work. That, combined with the legal change of my name should result in some new business cards (not that I ever gave any away, except the one time for reasons unrelated to work--family not counting). I'm now an "earthquake engineer" and no longer the dull civil engineer of yesteryear:)

one gallon axe

David and I watched another episode of Mary Tyler Moore recently on Hulu.com. It was about how the anchorman, Ted, temporarily lost his inflated ego. During the 5+ commercial breaks, Hulu shows the same commercial each time. (This is a major flaw in the hulu operation. They really need to vary their commercials, and perhaps do some age targeting based on the show. But then, CWTV.com does the same thing half the time.) However, I did not mind watching the same commercial 5+ times because it was SO AWESOME. It featured some rocker called "White Gold" who has super long white hair and plays a guitar filled with milk (his "one gallon axe" that he drinks from occasionally) singing an awesome song about how drinking milk makes him cool. He's the new face of GOT MILK? and is sponsored by the California Milk Processor Board. Newsweek calls the music "surprisingly excellent." It's targeted for teens, so if you end up hating it then keep that in mind:)

I've never been so delighted by a commercial. At the end of the MTM episode, there was a link to www.whitegoldiswhitegold.com. If you go to it, you can participate in an interactive music video and gain access to the "milktastical" realm where if you complete 7 quests/tasks, you can download the White Gold album, "The Best I Can Give is 2%." Here's a little taste:

the pink distraction

A few weeks ago in el barrio (the ward), the missionaries were speaking. Can you guess how many missionaries come to my ward every week? Ten. Four sets of Elders, and one set of Sisters (Hermanas). Since there are really too many to keep track of, I say ten because there were ten missionaries who sang in the primary program last October.

One of the odd things about being in a Spanish speaking ward is that the missionaries don't have very good Spanish. The amount of Spanish language learning that would take a missionary in Ecuador (total immersion into Spanish) 3 months, takes 3 times as long for the missionaries in my ward. They have too many people (like me--a bain to their existence!) who talk to them in English--including many of the investigators they teach.

But on this particular Sunday, while the missionaries were speaking in sacrament meeting, there was a pink distraction. A little girl with a pink dress and pink bow was running around the aisles, crawling under benches, snuggling up to random people on random benches, tripping, giggling, and occasionally running back to her mom before taking off again. This went on the ENTIRE meeting. I had lots of opportunities to check and see if she was wearing any other pink items, but her tights were white, and her shoes were black, alas. I think she might have had a pink undershirt on though.

pumpkins!

These were pumpkins carved as an assignment by a Stanford art class, and put on display at a professors home on halloween night! Oogabooga

autumn and roundabouts

Autumn is here in Palo Alto. It is so lovely. I noticed today that trees on my block have leaves of every color, even some hints of orange (the coveted color). If anyone is bored and would like to make a list of trees with leaves that turn orange during the fall (and send it to me), I'd be most grateful!

Do you see my car?

It may look from these photos that I am standing in the middle of the street, but that is not quite true. I am standing in the middle of a roundabout! These roundabouts are getting a lot of attention lately. Not only are they very small and don't require you to slow down to get around (veering is sufficient), but they put them in the same intersections as stop signs. A lot of people ignore the roundabouts and just turn left the short cut way. Whenever I witness people doing that I make sure to pause and glare at them so they may know I am VERY unhappy with their choice of action.

While standing in the middle of the round about I got some funny looks, but it made me think. Nobody ever drives through the roundabout. It's perfectly safe to stand there. I might put a tent there sometime. Or play a game of boggle. I looked down at my feet and saw the sewer cap, and noticed that the sewer has the same logo image as Stanford University. The TREE!

Look at the flowers my wonderful husband got me when I got sick last week.


If any of you have noticed a marked change in the number of photos I post, it's because I've married into a digital camera.

election sign archive

I took some photos of the election signs around my house. The proposition passed 52 to 48 percent.






The Palo Alto library system put Measure N on the ballot also. None of the libraries have air conditioning. They were desperately in need of help. This measure passed. Across the street from the Yes on N sign was the Yes on Y sign. It was a hilarious joke. Fraiche yogurt is a new yogurt place in Palo Alto.