mp3 experiment four

Last Saturday was a great deal of fun. I participated in improv everywhere's mp3 experiment four. Some of you may have remembered last year's mp3 experiment III and my report on that. It was a lot of fun. This year was a little different but equally as enjoyable. Here were the biggest differences:

-Instead of 4 different mp3's, everyone listened to the exact same one
-We weren't in Central Park
-Instead of meeting in groups with a leader from Improv Everywhere to know when to press play we all started scattered out on our own within the same general part of Manhattan and just needed to have our clocks synced up
-We were all instructed to wear a colored t-shirt (red, green, blue, yellow)
-There was aerial photography involved (from the top of a skyscraper looking down on us)
-We didn't see Steve :(

I'm glad I was able to go and enjoy the activity. I almost didn't. Long story short--when I attempted to transfer the mp3 (something I should have done earlier, but instead waited till I had like 30 minutes to get out the door) I saw this:
NOT a pretty site for anyone to see...EVER.
Notice the time. We were suppose to be in place pressing play at 4:00. With the subways running local on the weekends, transfers, and the fact that the experiment was taking place all the way down in the financial district, I was planning on it taking me about an hour to get there. I had wanted to leave at 2:30/2:35 so that I'd have plenty of time to get there, meet up with friends, and would get there early. At this point I was beginning to seriously doubt my ability to make it there on time with a working ipod.

After some struggles, I ended up running out the door with my inoperative ipod sitting next to my computer and Chateau's ipod shuffle in my pocket. I was definately going to be late, but I just figured I'd start it ontime while in the subway and then catch up with everyone when I got there. Easy enough, right? I knew my cellphone was only a couple seconds behind the online clock they had asked us to sync our watches to so no worries there...Oh wait, in my mad dash to get out the door I had left my cellphone! How was I going to know what time to start the mp3? How would I sync it up to the right time when i got there since the ipod shuffle doesn't have a screen where you can see the play time? Also, we were suppose to have a camera or camera phone to use during part of the experiment. I had planned on using the camera built into my phone. And how was I going to find all my friends during/after the experiment among so many people? Frustration!

This is where I make the long story short: no worries, it all worked out perfectly.

As for the actual mp3 experiment...well, rather than detailing out the whole thing here...I'll let you go someplace else where the wheel has already been invented. If you want, you can read more about it here at the mp3 experiment post at improv everywhere honestly, they have a great breakdown with pictures and video of the whole thing.

Friends who came and posted on their own blogs about it:
becca
seth

Also, check out beccashim's post (cool "Where's Waldo" style pics...I'm wearing a green shirt and khaki cargo shorts; see if you can find me).

a day late and a dollar short

Originally I wanted to write more about this, but I'm beginning to realize that setting aside time to compose really well thought out blogs can be difficult of late. So instead, you get this several days after the fact:

Last Friday night i saw this movie with a group of friends. It was good.

I'm intrigued

On my way to work Friday morning I saw the following written on a post-it note attached to the cover of this book a girl was beginning to read:

Stephanie,

This is one of my most prized possessions.

Cheers,
Colin

The name of the book was "The Man Outside" by Wolfgang Borchert. I have no idea what it's about, nor do I know Colin, but his note really intrigues me.

Overheard in New York

Girl on her cell phone:
"(I can't) I'm going to this nude party on Sunday."

Overheard on the corner of 8th and Broadway
7ish PM, 15 August 2007

Jazz Mobile

I got off the subway at 125th on my way home from work today and as I walked past 127th I saw and heard this:


Well...not exactly. I just found that picture of the Jazz Mobile trailer/stage on the internet. That's basically what I saw...what with the cool stage and signage. The band was different though. What I heard was this guy.

It was great. Nothing quite like good jazz in Harlem -- good free jazz on the streets of Harlem.

A missionary Sunday

I just read this blog post from a parent of one of my brother's students. It made me cry. If anyone wants to feel a little inspired, check it out.

On a similar note, the mission president and his wife visited our sacrament meeting today. They spoke on missionary work. During their talks the following question came into my mind: "Why don't we share the gospel?"
As I thought about this question, a new question arose in my mind:
"Why do we share the gospel?"
I realized the first question is all wrong. The question we should be asking ourselves and changing if necessary is Why DO we, not why DON'T we. If I ask myself why I share the gospel and my answer is something like:
"Because I'm suppose to, or because that's what good members do, or because I should be a good example in my calling..." It's no wonder why we struggle with sharing the gospel and find so many reasons why we don't share it more readily.
If our reasons for sharing the gospel are founded in a strong testimony of the love of God, His plan, the Atonement and an eternal perspective, the answer to the question "Why DON'T I..." will not exist. It won't have room to exist against the overwhelming strength behind your motivation to share the gospel.

i got a haircut today

good news:
it was at a hair styling college so it was super cheap
good news:
he did a good job
bad news:
his "good job" wasn't how i wanted it done
good news:
i think i can make it work anyways

indifferent news:
maybe you'll get a picture later but i'm not promising anything

Limiting Ads of Junk Food to Children?

A friend sent me this article today. When I read the title I was like, "Wow! That's kind of a big deal." After actually reading the article I was extremely disappointed. If you don't care to read the whole article I will attempt to give you a brief rundown of what I gathered in my quick reading and why I was disappointed.

Apparently 11 big food companies (McDonalds, General Mills, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, etc.) agreed to limit the advertising of products that don't reach a certain nutritional standard to children under 12. They came to this agreement on their own accord (great PR move). Cool huh? That's what I thought. To bad the pledges were "made under the threat of regulatory intervention and, in some cases, the threat of lawsuits..." I'll say it again...great PR move.

Here's another interesting tidbit regarding the "regulation."

"while General Mills will no longer be advertising Trix to the 12-and-under crowd, it will continue to peddle Cocoa Puffs, which have one less gram of sugar per serving. And it will be able to continue advertising Trix on television shows and other media that are considered to cater to “families” rather than just children.

That qualifier amounts to a major loophole, given the media-watching habits of children. An episode of Nickelodon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” for instance, is viewed by an average audience of 876,000 children age 6 to 11, according to Nielsen Media Research, and falls in the category of shows that are off-limits to ads for junk food. But “American Idol” from Fox, which qualifies as a family show, attracts 2.1 million children in the age group."

Overall, I guess it's at least a step in the right direction. Who knows, maybe this is the beginning of something bigger.

So what does this really mean?

• The involved food companies will attempt to tweak the amount of sugary goodness and fat in their products to reach the "nutritional standard." (Apparently Cocoa Puffs meets the standard but Trix, with it's extra gram of sugar per serving, does not.)
• Advertisers will look for more creative ways and media vehicles to reach their target.
  

Any thoughts?

Flight of the Conchords

I suppose there is some good about working over the weekend. Two of my coworkers introduced me to these guys today when we needed a quick break.

(Just to warn you: these videos contain some mild sexual humor and a few choice words, but nothing I would deem exceptionally offensive to the majority of my readers.)

Business Time



Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

Jared says it better

Everyone should read this post.
I'm serious. It is good.

In memory of...

Ingmar Bergman.


I meant to blog about this Monday night when it was a little more timely, but this week has been crazy busy for me at work. The time has passed, but I still feel obliged to post at least something.

For those of you who don't know, Ingmar Bergman died Monday at the age of 89. He's known as "one of the greatest artists in cinema history" (AP).

It's rather interesting how I fell upon that article on Monday. I had been reading something for work entirely unrelated. Then later this week while in Home Depot, I ran into a man from Sweden with his two kids. He and I had a short, but enjoyable chat. I ran into him maybe an hour later further down the street as I was leaving another store. Funny how if I hadn't have fell in love with movies like Winter Light and Kitchen Stories (not a Bergman film) I probably wouldn't have recognized the language he was speaking to his children and been compelled to strike up a conversation.

To be honest, it's kind of perplexing to me, Bergman's death. I mean, I didn't know the man or have any formidably strong connection with him, nor do I possess any great deal of knowledge about his history...and yet I feel as though something is missing. I suppose it's the feeling that I've lost some sort of opportunity. An opportunity I can't quite explain in words at the moment.

It's true, I studied film for a small portion of my undergrad experience, but I've only seen three of Berman's films:
Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries)
Sjunde inseglet, Det (The Seventh Seal)
Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light)

That being said, I've enjoyed all three. And many of you know that Winter Light is one of my most favorite films. (Thank you Jared for introducing it to me, and thank you Mom for getting it for me as a birthday gift last year.)

Perhaps I should just close the post by saying how much I love film's ability and power to communicate on such a deep and beautiful level. Mr Bergman, thank you for expressing and sharing with us a piece of what it means to be human.

In honor of

In honor of the final stage of this years Tour de France finishing on Sunday I wore this shirt today. Not that I really need an excuse to wear it. Anyone that really knows me knows that I wear it all the time and that it's one of my favorites.
Why?
1. It's just a cool shirt
2. It's got a bike on it
3. It was a gift from my little sister and
4. Shirts from threadless seem to fit just so well

Advertising at its worst?

I was at the grocery store tonight and whilst I perused the cereal aisle in search of good deals I heard this cute little girl say to her mom, "I want that cereal," as she reached for the box.

The funny thing was, you couldn't even tell what kind of cereal it was. All you could see was that it was all red with a spiderweb design and a big Spiderman logo. The little girls mom laughed and said, "you don't even know what kind of cereal that is."

I felt mixed emotions at that point regarding my chosen profession. It strengthens my position regarding the need to teach children how to intelligently decode the many media messages they come across every day. Teach your children. We don't want a bunch of media illiterate kids running around eating, drinking, wearing, reading, and listening to who knows what just because it's got [insert favorite color, logo, movie/tv/book character, etc. here] on its box.

What a wonderful day

So yesterday was great.

We had a client workshop all day, so work was really busy, but a good busy. The client we're working with is quite a joy. Really laid back, fun, and humorous people. Their playfulness certainly makes the job a lot more enjoyable than it otherwise could be.

The workshop was also a great learning experience. I was able to see principles of strategy research being exercised in a way that was quite similar, yet different from what I've learned from my schooling and internship.

After work I was suppose to go home teaching, but due to some planning issues our hometeachee called and rescheduled. It was actually quite perfect. I got off the subway to find I had two voicemail messages. #1 was from hometeachee girl saying we were rescheduling for Thursday night, and #2 voicemail message was from my friend RJ saying that he and a couple people were meeting up at Fort Tryon Park to go bouldering.

I was kinda bummed that the hometeaching appointment had been rescheduled but what perfect timing. The last time RJ went bouldering up at the park he gave me a call, but I wasn't able to go.

Bouldering was great. I was able to help RJ solve some problems he had been working on and it was just a lot of fun to be climbing. It had been awhile since the last time I went climbing so my endurance was definitely not up and my hands certainly took a bit of a beating. As expected, my muscles were sore today, but it's a good feeling.

The end to a wonderful day: so I was already in the area so I decided I'd give my friend Meredeth a call and stop by to get caught up on the Tour de France. She's way into the tour and has been recording it on DVR every day. Tuesday was a rest day so they had done a recap. I figured it would be a good one for me to watch since I haven't been able to watch much of it (what with work, and then not having any covering TV channels at the apt, etc.)

All in all it was a good day. I didn't get home till about midnight so it was definitely a late night. I was a little tired today as will I be tomorrow for staying up and blogging tonight (I was over at Meredeth's with a roommate catching up on todays Tour activities...talk about crazy).

Anyways, it's time for bed.

Internet!

I now have internet at my house, but we haven't been able to set up our wireless just yet. As of right now, we've just got a cable modem with one ethernet hook up out the back. Wireless will come soon and make life a lot easier.

Brace yourself for a revival of blogging from my neck of the woods.

Safe and Sound

I made it to NYC safe and sound early Sunday morning. Just thought you'd all want to know. The trip was great. Definitely made some lasting memories that will be some of my favorites for awhile.

Details will follow when I get more time.

ttyl

I'll see you all in NY. (in person, online, or otherwise)

Cross-country road trip

Change of plans. Instead of flying from Provo to New York, I'm going to be riding with a friend of mine who just graduated and is moving out to DC for an internship.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what route we take and/or where we stop for pictures, refueling, eating, sleeping, peeing, etc??? If anyone has family or friends along the route that would be willing to feed us and house us for a few hours while we stretch our legs and sleep that would be awesome to! Let me know.

I've driven long distances for work over the summer, but never this long and never cross-country. I've never been to some of the states that I will be passing through later this coming week so I'm excited (I leave Thursday morning).

Darth Vader video

My roommate Taylor just showed Sean and I this. Oh so funny. Behold the power of editing.

10 Hoodies!!!

I discovered tonight as I was preparing to pack some things for my move to NY that I own 10 hoodies (well, pretty much only 9 since the 10th one is a work hoodie and has reached the point where it should be thrown away.) Most of you would consider me a fairly reasonable and frugal person so let me just say on my defense, that I only purchased 3 of these hoodies. The other 7 were given to me for one reason or another. BUT...needless to say I am still shocked that I own 10 freakin' hoodies.

Obviously they are not ALL going to come with me to NY so I need to make a decision. Any suggestions?
black Stars and Stripes*
green H&M*
black/grey/yellow Senate

brand new green Sessions hoodie (not cotton)*
white Volcom*

dark blue DC Shoe
plain black

grey Americorp
grey BYU