The endangered delta smelt, a tiny fish

Today I read an article about the drought in California. Although the drought out there is very serious and relates directly to my industry, the part of the article that sparked my interest the most was the very last line, “In 2007, a federal judge said operators of the giant export pumps near Tracy must curtail pumping in order to save the endangered delta smelt, a tiny fish.” I know, it sounds terribly boring. . . and confusing, but it made me start thinking about the general public’s need for immediately labeling and categorizing things. Don’t get me wrong—I do the exact same thing, I just starting thinking about how weird it is and how often we do it. I’m pretty sure it is a constant process. For example, the article could have just written “delta smelt,” but they wanted the public to know for sure it was a fish, and not just any fish, a tiny fish, because that makes the pumping curtailment seem more ridiculous.

A few more daily examples:

· My business card, the first two lines are:
My Name, Engineer
I know it is important for people I work with to have my contact info and know what I do, but my “title” does not represent what I really do at all. It doesn’t even say what kind of engineering I may or may not practice. Regardless, you can’t have a card without some kind of title. (I complain, but I like the mystery)

· How often do you reference one of your friends by saying, “Oh, you know, my friend _______ , the crazy one,” or “Remember________ , my friend who hates wearing pants?”

· Think about how many times people’s names even morph into their labels. I personally have friends/family I refer to as: Work Josh, Little Lisa, Matt Hair, Big Pete, Hot Matt, Crazy Jen, etc.


Weird, isn’t it? I don’t necessarily think it is bad. It’s actually hard to avoid and fairly natural. All that said, doesn’t it make you wonder what little box other people have stored you away in among their brain files?

Erin Goes to the Capitol

The title is pretty self-explanatory. I went to the state capitol for work yesterday. I lived in Colorado for almost 27 years and had never been to the capitol before. I had actually never even been on the steps. Well, there is a first time for everything. . .and a second . . . .and a third. I couldn’t actually figure out how to get into the building, so I had to climb two different sets of stairs three times. After the last climb I realized lowly visitors had to enter through the basement doors, located under the southside steps. I also learned that most people who hang out in the capitol building actually know where they are going and there is no need for signage. I wandered around for about 10 minutes trying to pretend like I was supposed to be there, before I found someone who could point me in the right direction. At that moment I got a dog hair in my eye and the gentleman I was speaking to thought I was crying. I told him I had something in my eye, but I’m pretty sure he thought I was lying. Once I finally got on my way I discovered one of the elevators was undergoing some maintenance. I thought it made sense since the building was old. However, Governor Ritter came and spoke to my group later and told us the only reason the elevators were being worked-on was because some of the senators and house reps. thought it was “too bouncy.” At least he is honest, I guess. Honest and mildly ridiculous.

For lunch, our group was bused over to the Buckhorn Exchange, Denver’s oldest restaurant (another place I had never visited before). This place was crazy! Every wall was covered in various mounted animals: bears, birds, elk, deer, cougars, you name it—they have it hanging on their wall. Some were pretty rough too. The goose next to my table was breaking in half and I could see all of the straw inside. Despite the weird atmosphere, the food, service, and conversation were good. On top of that, the day was good overall, even if I looked like a confused, crying creep wandering the capitol building.

1st Jannual International Pub Crawl

Ok, I know I am way late writing about this event, but better late than never! The weekend after New Years my friend Gina and her new boyfriend Seth came out to Colorado to visit us. Because I am typically boring, I racked my brain throughout December trying to figure out a fun activity to do during their visit. The result of my brain work out: the First Jannual International Pub Crawl. The event led us through the snowy streets of Denver's Berkeley Neighborhood to seven different bars where we experienced drinks and cuisine from 10 different countries, including: the USA, Ireland, Italy, France, Bermuda, Switzerland, Holland, Thailand, Brazil, and Mexico. Highlights included:

1. Sake bombs (check out the video in the gallery)

2. A small Italian woman taunting the menfolk and serving stiff drinks. The quote of the night came from her. While we tried to choke down a shot of Campari (which tastes like dry-wall dust) she stated in a coy voice, "If you think that is strong, I can get you a glass of milk?"

3. Erin and Gina dominating the shuffle board table

4. Impromptu salsa dancing

5. SNOW!!

6. A green fairy

7. kissing

8. face licking

9. Seth drinking more than 3 drinks in one night. A first.

10. Erin watching 20 minutes of the Sex and the City Movie and then throwing up for about 10 hours

Intrigued yet?? I attempted to document the events of the night. Check out all the pictures (and video) in our photo gallery (link on the left).

The Scent of Seduction

I don’t know about you, but I have been thinking about using a new perfume lately. I told one of my co-workers this and they promptly directed me to this website.

Yes. Burger King does produce cologne: FLAME by BK. Finally, right?!? I’ve always been a little curious about bottling food scents and the description of this cologne is even better than what I expected: “The WHOPPER sandwich is America's Favorite burger. FLAME by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you in the form of a body spray. Behold the scent of seduction with a hint of flame broiled meat.”

After reading the description, I was compelled to go out and buy a bottle! Then I read this review:

“This stuff smells like a wicked lactose intolerant fart. I mean, it's truly nauseating. I sprayed a little bit on my hand and I've nearly thrown up 7 times already. It smells like a combination of Spencer's Gifts, Hott Topix, and adolescent fear wrapped in a skunk's colon.Washing does no good. I've tried everything. I've contemplated cutting my hands off, it's that bad. Please, someone tell me where the antidote is!”

Now I desperately want to order a bottle. The curiosity is killing me!!

Wait a Minute. . .

About a month ago I saw a report on the Today Show about short-sizing. If you are not familiar, short-sizing is when companies change their packaging to look the same but provide you with less product. The bad part is the price doesn't change. You pay the same price you're used to paying, but get less. On the show they demonstrated this with cereal, orange juice, and even peanut butter.


Well, for the first time since I saw the report, I experienced short-sizing first-hand. During one of my lunch breaks I drove over to Barnes & Noble to get a magazine to read during lunch. (I typically eat alone and browsing through a magazine makes me look less creepy.) Lately I have been drawn to Allure for one reason or another. However, this time when I picked up the January issue, it seemed notably lighter. When I got out to my car (I typically have at least 3 magazines in my car at all times) I compared it to the November issue and to my astonishment, the January issue was actually 99 pages shorter than the November issue. I was not surprised to see the price was exactly the same on both. The funny part is the January issue claims to be the "BIG Makeover Issue." Big--ha ha, good one. I know our economy sucks right now, and I'm glad Allure is still in business and providing me with entertainment, but I couldn't help but complain. Now I am on the look out for other proof of short-sizing. Next time you are shopping, keep an eye out for new packaging.

Odd Numbered Years Make Me Feel Weird

We rang in 2009 at Patrick Carroll's, where there is not a champagne toast, but a Guinness toast instead. We actually decided to go there for two other reasons: 1) It is walking distance from our house, and 2) They have trivia on Wednesday nights. At the bar, we met up with Cat & Brent (veteran trivia players) and a few girls from Josh's office: Laura, Emily, and Kristen. Since we had a group of six, we broke into two teams, The Lawn Wranglers (Cat, Brent, Josh, and Emily) and Team Personal Jesus (Laura, Kristen, and myself). There are a few pics of our teams on the Geeks who Drink website. You can also see on the website that Josh's team took first place and my team is pretty much at the bottom of the list. I attribute Team Personal Jesus' poor performance to missing 2 entire rounds and the fact that one of our team members was drunk enough to fall out of her chair at 9:30 pm.

Other Highlights

After trivia, a dark-haired version of Keith asked me to play shuffle board. I dominated and he threw a tantrum (in true Keith-like fashion). Darts with Brent didn't go so well for me. I'm not sure I really know how to play darts in the first place. Emily decided to try and walk home at 11:00. Luckily, we followed her out and noticed she was walking the wrong direction.

Overall it was a good night! Happy New Year!