Tuesday, June 23, 2009

In English please...

Does anyone watch So You Think You Can Dance? I will do a post one day about my love for that show. I love it. I was just watching last week's show and all I have to say is...

Dear Lil' C,
What???? Please speak in English. No one understands what you say. Not because your depth surpasses our understanding, but because you make no sense. So from now on, a simple critique in English will do.
Sincerely,
Erin Hamilton

This week is REdic. I will post better soon.

(Update: Apparently I'm unoriginal. I watched the results show and they did a whole montage of people's faces while Lil' C was talking. Everyone's face was either confused or amused. Which is exactly how I felt. But let the record show that I have thought this about Lil' C for several seasons. He's wacko. I just happened to put it in writing during the same episode that the producers did.)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I run to you (or maybe bike?)

Have you heard "I run to you" by Lady Antebellum? I love it right now. I first heard it last Fall-ish when they opened for Josh Turner and liked it then. Then when we were up in Kentucky over Memorial Day it was all over the radio up there and I decided I loved it. Then we come back to Atlanta and... nothing. Nowhere to be heard. But finally, 3 weeks later... I heard it last night, and twice already today! So I think it's finally made its way down to Atlanta radio. So here are some theories I've come to when it comes to music and geography. It seems that Kentucky gets the good new country first (or at least before Atlanta). Atlanta seems to catch on to the good hip-hop/rap first (or among the first). And Florida gets everything last. Ha! That last one may not be true, I can only base it on my limited time in Tampa. Maybe they get something first that I haven't experienced yet. Thoughts on those theories?

This morning I went for my first bike ride on my new bike that my precious little Lee got for me. And I must say that I love it. And him. So a new discovery: Smyrna is HILLY! The Silver Comet Trail is 3.5 miles from our house, so no problem, I'll just include that in the bike ride. Well getting to and from the trail was quite an undertaking, and it definitely introduced me to the magic of proper gear shifting. The SC Trail itself is just absolutely wonderful. I love it. It's perfect for running and biking, nice level of slightly difficult but not too difficult, and beautiful scenery. And if you get there early enough, you will definitely see bunnies, which always makes my heart a little bit warmer. This was my first time biking on the trail and I got to see a lot more of it than when I've run it. And I wasn't disappointed. So my bike ride's total distance was 20 miles, which I was really glad I was able to do since I'm supposed to do 18 miles as part of the mini-triathlon I signed up for, so I feel some reassurance.

Here's a couple pictures of my bike, one straight out of the box, and one of it fully assembled.


Lee and I did go to Boston 2 weekends ago and had a fabulous time, and I will post about that soon. It just takes more time when I want to add more that 1 or 2 pictures. So it will come, as soon as I get some good quality time in the blogging world.

Have a great Wednesday!! Pretty much the weekend, right?

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Things that I was amazed by today

Number 1: The winter/cool months are just long enough for me to forget how stinky the Georgia Tech Trolley can be. The university setting brings lots of different nationalities, backgrounds, and cultural norms. One that I will go ahead and say that I can't really appreciate is the lack of deoderant, especially combined with what I can only assume is a lack of showering. And I forget this during the winter when there isn't as much sweatiness and there are lots of clothing layers to restrict the flow of odor. But I can always count on GT's university transportation (cleverly called the Stinger (go jackets!) and the Trolley) to bring this fact back to full conscious memory. Today I sat on the trolley and was just continually met with wave after wave of stench. Every stop prompted movement that introduced me to a new aromatic-experience. And the funny thing is that each time it happened, I was equally shocked. There's no desensetizing. But here's the thing, before you think I'm mean. I honestly can put up with a little B.O. On a hot, sticky summer day, moments of unfreshness happen to the best of us. But these are honestly like punches in the face. Someone might as well smother me with a pillow (although that might be more pleasant), I literally can't breath. I hate to admit this because I am not one for public displays of drama, but I have put my face in my bag before. But it was literally for survival. A girl needs oxygen. So here is my question. In cultures where this is normal, are they able to breathe? Do you get used to that? Or do they get bothered by the extreme cases as well?

Number 2: It took me over an HOUR to get home today. It is normally a 15-20 minute drive. It was POURING. The reasonable results of rain are obviously that people are slower and more cautious, and also slightly worse drivers because of the visibility restrictions. This I understand. What I am amazed by is that when it's raining it seems like there are at least 2 to 3 times the normal amount of cars on the road. Where do they all come from?? I never see as many cars on the road as I do when it's raining. Does rain give people the urge to drive? Or maybe cars are like gremlins and they multiply in water.

Number 3: People are strange. Everyone has their oddities, particularly in social settings, but there is a lady at work that I am confused/baffled by on a regular basis. When I walk by her and give the obligatory smile/nod/hi, she laughs. And I am always wondering what's funny. It's in the place of where normal people would smile. She giggles. I've never understood. I know this lady is odd just from being in meetings and seminars and watching her function, so I always have my little curiosity of what is going on in her head, but generally just blow it off and smile. Well today I walked into the bathroom and she was standing in there by herself looking at what I assumed was the wall, and laughing. As if someone just told her a funny story. So I smiled, definitely thinking it was odd, but didn't want to make her feel judged, so acted like she was normal and proceeded to a stall. So she goes "I'm laughing at this hand sanitizer." I was dumbstruck. I had nothing. How do you respond to that? So I smiled and finally said "hmmm new technology huh?" and went into a stall.

Number 4: I witnessed two grown people get into a screaming fight today at the Costco gas pump. Apparently one almost hit the other when they were pulling in, but usually people just honk and drive away. Well these people honked and got all hot and bothered, and then had to park next to each other and get out of their cars to pump gas. Which turned into two normal looking grown people screaming at each other until another man came over and asked them to stop because his kids were there.

Number 5: I am amazed at how differently two people's brains can work. I am a Teacher's Assistant for a class that is about engineering design (for medical devices). It's a Biomedical Engineering course, but there is a guy from the Industrial Design department working with the class to really give them the full perspective on the "design" side. And I'm the representative for the "engineering" side. Which makes sense since they're both really important for the course and it's good to get the different perspectives/backgrounds. But it is also the perfect environment to realize some major differences. He's a super nice guy by the way, it is just a situation that has me constantly thinking "Really??" He and I have meetings to discuss the content and assignments, how we're gonna run the class, how we're gonna communicate the concepts, etc. And I honestly have never felt more like I might as well be speaking Spanish. Our brains work in SUCH different ways that I think I could communicate just as well with him by barking or chirping at him. We would get the same results. I will explain a thought to him. Then he will respond with something that to me has NOTHING to do with what I just said. Or in fact might be the exact opposite of what I said. And I am left wondering did you not listen? Or did you really totally misinterpret what I just said? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying back to me? Or did I just get transplanted here and am joining a completely different conversation already in progress? Total confusion. And I feel certain he probably has the same experience on his end. The more I interact with him, the more I realize that we both have great intentions, but it's our thought processes. He's all creative, free-flowing, "oh this would be really coooool and beautiful"; while I like to keep a goal in mind and keep some practicality (a.k.a. don't waste my time). When he is talking, sometimes his flow of thought is SO different from mine that I literally MUST stop listening and processing what he is saying or my brain might explode. It's amazing. I would LOVE to see a brain scan of both of our brains during our conversations just to see the difference in the activity areas. I guarantee it would be complete opposites. But like I said, he's a super nice guy, it is just a genuinely baffling situation.


And those are my reflections for the day. Thoughts?