Dear Kanye West, We get it... you hate white people. You can go away now.

Did anyone watch the MTV VMA's last night?? Well... I didn't. But I did wake up to radio/tv discussions of Kanye West being his usual ridiculous self. And really, who gives a flying flip about anything Kanye West ever has to say? He's responsible for such jewels as suggesting that he's such an inspiration that he should be in the Bible. I mean, really. Who has time to acknowledge he's speaking? But this time he went too far... WHO except a heartless, ridiculous person could do this to Taylor Swift?? In case you didn't see it:

MTV Shows

I think it speaks for itself. I don't think there are words strong enough to express what a ridiculous human being he is.

Anyway, here's the clip of Beyonce totally recovering the whole situation. I love her. Did this bring a tear to anyone else's eye or am I ridiculous?

MTV Shows

Gosh I just really appreciate kindness. That Beyonce is a classy lady.

On another note, Lady GaGa never ceases to amaze me. My neighbor has a nice wreath on her door that I think would look particularly nice wrapped around my face. Thank you Lady GaGa for opening my eyes to the fashion potential of door decor.

But here is one gem resulting from the whole debacle...

Do you have my perfect sunscreen???

I'm taking a survey... I need some input on a good sunscreen. I need one. ASAP. And I have some specific qualities that I desire in this sunscreen (won't I be sad if it ends up being just me and the crickets here... I have faith in you). Here is what I'm looking for:

1. I need this sunscreen for daily wear. I would enjoy input for the body or for just the face. But am particularly baffled on the options for the body at this point.
2. I would love 45+ spf, but 30 will do. There's lots of lotions with 15 out there, but I want something a little more heavy duty, which is surprisingly hard to find (other than sporty or beachy options... which all seem to violate the next item on my list).
   
3. My TOP priority request (which seems non-existent from what I can tell) is non-greasy. The key here is to satisfy this in combination with #2. And not just for the bottle to say non-greasy, but for the sunscreen to actually be non-greasy. I have long hair and I am particularly bothered by the ends of my hair becoming greasy from rubbing on my greasy shoulders all day. I feel dirty and look dirty. Gross. So this is a must.
4. My next preference is for easy application, which in my mind right now is the spray bottle kind. I would really enjoy a spray bottle. But maybe there are other sunscreen technologies out there that I don't know about. This one is negotiable, I'd be willing to put in the extra application effort if the sunscreen is particularly wonderful and non-greasy. And actually -- side note -- the thing I love about the spray bottle is that it doesn't get my hands all greasy. But I don't mind regular lotion on my hands... so really this requirement has the potential to be satisfied through requirement #3: non-greasy.
   
5. And last, I'd like for it to not cost a bajillion dollars. I'd prefer not to have to make a special place in the budget for my sunscreen. But, ya know, again, this one could slide a little if it's worth the money.
   

This is important, so I need to find a solution! Any thoughts?? Please tell me you have the magical answer!! I will drop everything I'm doing and get it that second.

If you don't have the solution to my endless search... I'd still love to hear what sunscreen you use and why you use it. Maybe you've seen some light that I haven't seen yet.

And if you don't wear sunscreen, you can confess that too. It will make me feel better about my years of bad judgment. And maybe I'll question your judgment and tell you to wear sunscreen.

Ready... GO!

Um, hi.

Weelllll... I hate to assume that there's anyone still out there that might check back for anything new at this point... but juuuust in case... here I am :)

Things got a little hectic and well, something had to give for a little bit. So. I'm gonna attempt to do a quick summary of the last couple months since my last post mid-June. Here goes!

JUNE: We went to Kentucky for Lee's cousin Sarah's wedding, had a great time with his family, then I did the Iron Girl triathlon which was fantastic... JULY: Lee and I ran the Peachtree Roadrace (10K) with his Uncle Allen, lots of fun... I moved my office at school, now am located in an open cube area which stinks a little... We went to a cabin up in North Georgia with my whole family, had an awesome weekend with them... Went on a weekend beach trip with my sisters to Tybee Island, had such a good time being all sistery... Finalized the class that I TAed for the summer at the end of the month... worked so hard organizing and revamping the projects that I got asked to continue on doing a "Design Fellowship" working with the Sophomore level design class (the one that I TAed) and Senior Design as the Head TA for both classes... so YAY my hard work was appreciated... AUGUST: Lee's Mom and sister, Mallory, brought their cheery little selves down to hang out with us for a weekend, such a good visit... My advisor moved to Penn State to be the head of the Industrial Engineering Department there... now we have a long-distance relationship, I talk to him on the phone or Skype every Thursday... Started working with the new Design classes for this semester, going good so far... Also started my LAST class, called "Probabilistic Models" and officially feel like a responsible human being because I'm really enjoying it so far... Found out I had skin cancer (melanoma)... Went a little bit crazy for a few days... Got my skin cancer cut out, was assured that I have every reason to believe it's all gone... Now I have a nice gash on my back that Lee does an excellent job of doctoring (as long as I don't ask TOO many questions about what he's doing, which is against all that I stand for, so really he does a good job while we bicker a little bit)... Celebrated my Mom's birthday... Went to Calloway Gardens last weekend for a Leadership Development Program retreat, met tons of awesome people in my department and hope to keep up those relationships so that their over-acheiverness rubs off on me, luckily the program involves getting together every month for 7 more months... And that officially brings us up to date. If any elaboration is needed, you just let me know.

This weekend Lee's cousin Kate is getting married in Louisville, so we're traveling up for the weekend to hang out with his family and enjoy the celebration. He actually has to work in Tennessee tomorrow, so I'm riding up with him and will do work somewhere (hopefully some lovely cafe with free internet) while he works, then we'll head on to KY. It should be a great time, I'm looking forward to it... just have to figure out what the heck to wear.

SOOOO I hope this officially means I'm back! Have a great week and enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

So I'm pretty sure maybe I could dance...

I am way overdue for a new post, I know, I know. And I just realized that my last post was about So You Think You Can Dance (last week). BUT... it's just that time of the week again. I LOOOOVVVEEEDDD this dance. Janette and Brandon did amazing last night. Both of their dances were unbelievable, but I picked the more crazy one. I had to watch it multiple times. They look like cartoon characters. Just watch. You'll love it. You should probably watch it full screen. And with the music fully audible. They're thieves... All I want is to be the third thief...



So who's gonna be my partner and learn this dance with me?

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.)

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?

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?