A letter from Emily
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Carmen
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Carmen
Dinner
I tried to make this:
and this is how it turned out:
What do you think? Which one looks better? I think mine looks like a pile of meat which I don’t mind. It was delicious, steak with mushrooms and red wine reduction sauce. Boringest post Evar! (I’m out of practice) -
Carmen
did i hear you correctly?
Whats that you say? You have money burning a hole in your pocket and you would like to buy some new shoes? Well have I got a deal for you!
Made by Iris Scieferstein
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Emilily
Wow. I didn’t even notice the little gun on the back of those shoes at first glance. I was pretty focused on the gold hoofs and realistic ankle-bone styling, and then bam! there’s a gun for a heel. I mean, I had to completely revise my opinion; initially I thought they were shoes for people who love goats, but clearly, they are for people who hate goats and want to shoot them. Or maybe they are shoes for people who love goats, but hate sidewalks…?
But it does give me a good idea….what about shoes with little mace canisters on the heels, so when you ran away from a potential mugger, or maybe just an annoying date, they could spew little clouds of pepper spray in your wake. I am not sure what the rest of the shoe would look like…I guess if anti-goat shoes look like goats, anti-asshole shoes would have to look like little assholes? I am not sure I want to walk around with a pair of little assholes on my feet.
Did we ever decide if we were going to use swear words on this blog?
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Carmen
I think we should now decide yes, emphatically yes, we can swear on this blog. Nobody reads it but us anyways! And I like swearing doggonit!
So, I think these shoes are for the devil and I would totally wear them cause they look super comfy.
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Carmen
a beautiful day…
I kind of want to just pick this up where we left off and not even mention the quiet year and a half of no blog posting. It was such a momentous year and a half though. It would be difficult to ignore all that has changed so I will let the details unfold naturally. I AM SO HAPPY YOU’RE BACK! I know that starting the blog up again might be difficult for you since you still have to drive your ship out in the ocean for months at a time but I think we can do it. And at this point I’ll take anything.
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Carmen
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Carmen
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Carmen
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Carmen
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Carmen
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Susan
Thank you for sharing these beautiful skies and what a wonderful blog. Love you, Susan
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Carmen
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Carmen
Sunrise
Our blog is on haitus since Emily joined the Navy. So now I’m just going to post pictures of the sky.
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Carmen
Ahhh, sweet freedom…
Well, she made it. Emily is now in Mississippi but I received her last letter from boot camp only yesterday. For your entertainment…
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Briana
I laughed so hard I started crying!! Hilarious! Is this the whole letter or is some missing? It seems to have stopped rather abruptly. (ps. I’m so glad those weren’t Emily’s lips! That would’ve been hilarious though! :0 )
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Stella
We (Em’s mom, dad,and brother) just got back from her graduation. Really, her hair looked cute, not as scruffy as she thinks. She looks great in her dress uniform, which is black wool, and had to be worn where ever she went with us. During the grad. ceremony they had to stand for over an hour, ramrod straight, clad in wool. A few fainted, it was so hot for them. Emily and another girl had to reach out and grab a girl as she started to go over. They managed to keep her upright as she came to, and that brave girl stayed in formation for the rest of the ceremony. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend much time with her, just Friday day (we went into Chicago to the Field Museum of Natural History, and a walk downtown) and 3 hours Sat. morning as she waited to fly out to her “A” school. At this new place she has more freedom, and is living in semi-apartments, and right next door to her is a friend she made in bootcamp, another young woman in her early thirties. She’s ready to study hard and pass all her tests with flying colors. In about 2 weeks we should know where she will go next!
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Carmen
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Carmen
Apparently my countdown is off by 2 days…
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Briana
Apparently she hadn’t received my letter yet! ={0 That’s what I get for being such a lagger! LOVE YOU EMILY!!
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Candace
Guess she hadn’t gotten mine either – I sent one as soon as I got hers too!!! At least we know they’ll keep making her smile
And of course I’m slack in sending a birthday card that would arrive on time so in advance…. HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY! Hope it’s the beginning of your “end of bootcamp” celebrations!!! Congrats on all your hard work and smarts! We all knew ya had it in ya!!!LOTS to catch you up on
We love you!
C & E -
Mia
Happy Birthday Emily. Not sure what you’re doing today at the end of this experience but I hope someone there is celebrating you! Wonder if you got all the letters and card from the Synectics crew… but at least you got one of them. Probably the one that just involved 3 sheets of typed paper. I’m guessing the one with the little ziplock of shavings from your favorite Lush massage bar didn’t make it through. In hindsight that probably looked a bit suspicious. Oh well, the thought was there. Perhaps they also didn’t want to let the Hoops and YoYo audio card through. Not good to get a card that talks right? Can’t wait to hear from you when you get out. Miss You!!!
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Aunt Nancy
Happy B-day and almost “end of boot camp day” to you! Hope you have a grand celebration with all who come to honor you! Keep in touch and send the new address when you get to your next destination.
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Briana
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!! Love you and miss you and can’t wait to see you!
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Emilily
Aw, you guys are awesome.
Mia – the Lush bar shavings did make it through, and I secretly rubbed it into my feet at night after the lights were out! Nice work smuggling it in – if I ever go to prison, I pick you to send me the cake (chocolate) with the file in it.
Candace – I just got your birthday card last night – they re-routed it all the way to Mississippi for me
Briana – I got your letter, too, and I’m calling you soon (I have limited phone hours and locations, but stand by!)
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Carmen
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olga
How exciting! To think… we are friends with the smartest person in the camp! We always knew she was smart though… after all, she hangs out with Carmen. 22 days to go, WOW, that still seems a long way away. I really enjoy reading the letters! Thanks for posting them.
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Carmen
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Carmen
Please let me know if anyone has a hard time reading this and I’ll post it again in larger format.
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olga
I can read it just fine. Well, reading the letter makes me happy to be a civilian. I think a person would have to be very tough to deal with that situation. I would be a puddle of tears pretty much all of the time. GO EMILILY!
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Briana
Sounds like you are definitely kicking ass!! I remember right after I had Linda, that the most pleasant time I had was getting up just a few minutes before the whole house woke up and it was the best! Just those few minutes make all the difference in the world! We love you so much and hope to from you again soon! We went to see the family and are back now. I can’t imagine how cold it is where you are because we just went to the midwest and were freezing our butts off!
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Carmen
Letters from weird places
Well, at long last I have a letter to share with this lovely blog. I surely do miss posting stuff, but it just wouldn’t be the same without Emily to comment back. She wanted me to apologize for her bad handwriting but I find it charming. Please see her letter below…
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Olga
Oy vey, me tinking me not want to doing what dat chil’ doingk.
On the other hand, when she is through boot camp she may be in for the adventure of a lifetime! I’m so proud of her for sticking with it. So in honor of Emilily, I have joined the gym and so far have gone 3 days this week and it’s only Thursday! Yeah! Also I have stuck to my new weight loss program. “The Belly Cure”. I’m so not into this sort of stuff but I have a buddy that is… so in order to have a buddy I will follow the belly cure plan which is less that 100 carbs and only 15 grams of sugar a day. So far the results are good. -9 pounds -4 inches from the waist.
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Olga
Wait a minute… isn’t Great Lakes Illinois where all that snow is coming down? Double OY VEY!
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Carmen
Thats awesome! Good job and keep it up! I will be printing out any comments made here and sending them to Emily – fyi.
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Mia
Just tell Emily that her Synectics family misses her very much, especially me. Things just aren’t the same with her gone and if I think about her absence too long I start to tear up.
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Briana
Ok. So my life isn’t looking all that bad! You are awesome Emily and keep kicking ass! Missing you oh so much. We all love you here at the Traylor house!! Letters will be coming soon, but unfortunately my uncle just passed away and Lily and I flew out to Kansas City for the service. Be back soon and I’ll get out some paper and a pen. Love you!
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Carmen
And the countdown begins…
As all of us are having a normal day today and going on to have a normal day tomorrow Emily is off to embark on a true adventure. She’s off to bootcamp to train for the Navy, to get challenged in body and soul. I feel like I’m getting a little melodramatic but its kind of a big deal and if I can’t get serious about this then what can I get serious about?!
As a tribute to her decision and strong will there are (at least) two people who have told me that they are planning to challenge themselves physically while Emily is at bootcamp in the hope of supporting her from afar. Frankly, I’m “challenged” all the time so I’m just going to keep on keeping on (except I’ll be dealing with the extra added bummer of not being to talk to Emily for a while). So, if anyone would like to add their support in any way feel free to explain yourself in the comments section.
While Emily is gone I’ll be scanning and posting her letters, keeping us apprised of her weird world that she’ll be joining. Its also possible that I’ll be doing a little posting here and there if I just can’t help myself. Other than that we’ll be counting down until she returns…
66 days left (give or take)
C+E
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Emilily
66 days is all? Heck, I’m sure I can last that long! We just arrived at Chicago O’Hare and we’re about to be briefed. This will be the last post from me for awhile…thanks you guys for all your support and encouragement, and Carmen, I’m going to be sending you good post ideas via telepathy, so make sure you receive them!
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Briana
I for one am completely sad and excited at the same time. I know Emily, Tuesday and I will all be buff by the time she comes back, but I can’t help but feel a little lost knowing we have no contact with Emily. It was easy when she was in town and I could call her if I found the time, but now…….nothing! How weird is that!?! You are missed already! I also feel sad because we played phone tag 48hrs. before she left and I didn’t find the time to call before it was too late. (We did have an excellent dinner, conversation, and coffee several days before she left though.) Love you Emily! And of course I love you too Summer aka. Carmen!
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Carmen
Instead of using the phone…
We should probably discuss the fate of this blog right here …on the blog. For all of you just joining in on the conversation – Emily is joining the Navy. Yes, thats right, at the ripe age of …well, whatever, not 18. She has gone through all the preliminary process and the last step is getting on the plane to go to bootcamp. Strangely, they do not allow blogging at bootcamp. I know, weird. They don’t even allow phone calls! *cry* And this final step of getting on a plane to funtimes bootcamp happens in … 2 days *more cry* So I propose we put this blog on hiatus until we can both participate at full force, whenever that may be. Everyone who comes to this blog during its hiatus is still welcome to comment on anything and everything and you will still reach a wistful Carmen awaiting the return of her friend. *sob!*
Does that sound like a good plan Emily?
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Emilily
Yes, it does, sadly. However, I think that maybe it could be not a complete hiatus…how would you feel about scanning and posting letters I send you? Because I only have 5 hours once a week for “holiday” (and I have a feeling the Navy’s idea of a holiday is not quite the same as mine) during which I can do things like sleep, take a long shower, attend a sermon (denomination of my choice, they have 7 I think) and, most importantly, write letters. So I expect that I will not be able to put everything I want to say in an individual letter for everybody, but if I put it all in a letter to you, you can scan it and put it on the blog? I will make sure to write big enough that it can be read. What do you think? Does this sound doable? Also, I will mention right now, now that we have EVERYONE’S attention – you can all write me letters at bootcamp also! My recruiter will call you and my parents, within a few days of my arrival, and provide my new address, so it is possible you could send me a letter there before I even have a chance to write one to you! Exciting! There is one caveat – if you make the envelope look really cool and intriguing, they just might open it and read it, possibly out loud. So make the envelope look really boring, that is, unless you have something you are just dying to say to the 80+ other recruits that will be in my division.
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Carmen
Well, geez I didn’t know you were required to sign away all your rights! They can’t open your mail and read it! Thats against the law! We better not get on this topic, I might get angry. Anyways, I like this idea! I’ll totally scan whatever you want and post it that way everyone can stay up to date. And maybe I’ll do some posting too for you to read when you have access to a computer. Frankly, I think this is going to be really fascinating. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Maybe I can put a post at the top and make it sticky and it will be like a count down until you get back, so newcomers know whats up. (not that i’m expecting any) -
Emilily
Oh, a countdown! I love that idea! Remember in the Julie & Julia movie she had a countdown timer on her blog…maybe we can get a widget that does that?
I am pretty sure reading my mail falls into the “it can happen but probably won’t” category; however, as a private citizen, under the homeland security act, they can also read your email, listen to your phone calls, and open any international mail sent or received…just making sure you hadn’t been lulled into a false sense of privacy!
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Olga
I think that all these ideas are superb! I really want to hear/read what is going on with dear Emilily. I for one will miss my daily blog read. I wish Emily all the best.
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Emilily
Thanks for the nice wishes, I will definitely think of you guys when I gone!
Speaking of phone, I just wanted to say that AT&T is super awesome (for once!) and they have a plan for military people where you can suspend your account whenever you are out of a service area or unable to utilize your cell phone for any reason (like basic training!) and they reduce your bill down to $10 a month and you get to keep your phone number and all your roll-over minutes. The point being, if you call my cell after January 20th, you will get a message saying “This user is not accepting calls at this time…” and then I can turn my phone & service on again as soon as I am back!
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Carmen
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Carmen
Last skills acquired in 2009…
Right before the end of 2009 I learned how to saber a champagne bottle! This is a useful skill to have especially if you happen to be riding a horse and someone hands you a bottle of champagne to toast your nobleness. Well obviously you would just bust out your trusty sword and slide the blade upwards with a smooth, swift motion hitting the top lip of the bottle at its weakest point and the top shears off. Of course the force of the bubbly keeps any glass from entering into the bottle but if you do it right there are no extra pieces of glass anywhere. Brilliant!
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Nurse Ratched
Being a mom, maybe not your mom, but somebody’s mom, I instantly see danger in this practice. I see slices in esophageal tissue, a hasty trip to the ER, swollen membranes, difficulty breathing and the like. I understand the principle of the bubbly forcing the shards of glass up and away from the point of impact. However I think it must be said that principles are abstract rules that should never be confused with proven science. All in all I think it safe to say that saberizing a champagne bottle can be hazardous to your health. So was it tasty?
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Carmen
Yeah I’m wild!!!
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Tuesday
What up with that?!!
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Emilily
I am really impressed by this skill. I told my parents about it, and they had the same reaction as Nurse Ratched, namely, that you could potentially be sipping glass shards along with your bubbly. While I admit this seems like a valid concern, sometimes there is probably no way around it, like when you are swinging from the mast of your pirate ship, ready to celebrate your exploits, and all you have handy is your cutlass, your peg-leg, and a one-eyed monkey…
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Carmen
I have been coughing up blood lately, is that weird?
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Emilily
No, I am sure that is perfectly normal, especially for people who have been drinking glass shards. You should probably take some Advil or something for that.
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Carmen
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Atom Ant
How appropriate. The next blue moon we will see in December will be 23 years from now. Well, that’s what I heard anyway. Some say that a Blue Moon is the second moon in a month. Others say that a Blue Moon is the forth moon in a season (3 months) and at least one person says that the drink above is a Blue Moon. What ever it is… i say happy new year and bottoms up!
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Emilily
I have heard the first – that the Blue Moon is the second full moon in a month. Hoooooweverrrrr…I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and it appears I was wrong. Wikipedia says it is the 13th full moon in a year, an explanation I like better because thirteen is a prophetic number on its own, so it makes the Blue Moon extra eerie.
Hmmmm, there’s actually a ton of really cool information on this article, so I’m going to do a post on it instead!
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Carmen
Finally!
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Emilily
I know, right?!
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Carmen
What a joke…
So, these are on sale today on Gilt and I’m just floored by the balls these people must have. And I’m floored by the gullibility of the people who buy this. I mean, somebody must be buying them or they wouldn’t be in business right? Anyways, apparently if you put these on your face you won’t get pimples and it will reduce wrinkles, depending on which one you use. Officially:
“Using superior technology developed by NASA, the Baby Quasar works by stimulating the natural production of collagen in the skin, thereby diminishing the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and enlarged pores. Extremely effective in firming and toning the skin and increasing blood flow and circulation, the Baby Quasar uses 24 LED’s in four discrete wavelengths of red and infrared light.”
This is pure bullshit. And even if it wasn’t and by some miracle the light from LEDs did something beneficial for my skin I’m not going to pay $500 bucks for it! I’ll just go rub my face in the christmas lights! Cmon people, this isn’t the 1920′s! Actually the 20′s were better, at least they were advertising for things that worked – Coke! Delicious and refreshing! (Yeah it was, cause it had cocaine in it), Stay slim with your very own tapeworm! (hey, you will actually lose some weight. In fact, I’m gonna go get some tapeworms right now and start my new business! “Lose weight by meeting my little friend!”)
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Olga
Don’t forget the key phrases in your worm/diet business. You must use important sounding lines like “developed by a New York Cardiologist” it wouldn’t sound the same if you said “developed by a Mississippi Bariatric MD”. Don’t forget the all important timetable. You must keep it very specific, example “Lose 300 pounds in just 32 weeks! not 31 weeks, not “lose 300 pounds in about 7 months” 32 Weeks and I’m done! So when can I get my worms? Were they trained by NASA to eat fat fast? Are they discrete?
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Carmen
Movie Review/Science Education
So I watched Angels and Demons last night and my official review is this: SO Good!
It was actually quite beautiful as it takes place in Rome and the characters are whisking themselves to all the gorgeous historical buildings with all of their statues and fountains. Also, I’m sure it was factually accurate so all of the information that Dr. Langdon spouts regarding Catholic and architectural history is an education in itself! Not only that, but they show the Vatican Archives! (I’m sure its real and not a replicated set) Now, the best part of this movie is in the beginning when they show the Large Hadron Collider in all its glory. I had no idea that this movie was going to be such a treat with all of my favorite things, including a great soundtrack. So in the beginning they show all the scientists busy at their LHC computers in a crisis about how and when to “harvest” some stuff which turns out to be antimatter. Antimatter looks pretty cool in the movie – all glowy and powerful – but what is it exactly? I have no idea. So I’m doing a little research…
Turns out CERN (home of the LHC) has an Antimatter Academy. Their site has tons of information about it and I am still trying to understand it and its implications. Antimatter is definitely the way of the future.
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Dave
Carmen, how does antimatter relate to strange, degenerate, exotic or dark matter? Speaking of elusive dark matter, indicators of it’s existence have been felt in a mine in Minnesota: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/dec/17/dark-matter-detected
Happy Winter Solstice to you both!
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Carmen
Good article! Very interesting. I had no idea there was a group called the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search, I’ll have to contact them and see if they’re looking for new members. There is one thing in that article that seems contradictory… They were saying that dark matter has a unique characteristic that allows it to move through matter as if it didn’t exist and yet the only way they can detect it is to wait for dark matter particles to bump into their high powered sensing machines. Maybe what they meant to say is that their machines can sense when dark matter particles are passing through them, not bumping into them. Anyways, if thats true dark matter is probably in here right now!
Also, thanks for the pop quiz Dave! Lucky for me the answer to your question is simple = Theoretically. -
Emilily
I have not yet seen the movie, but I did read the book, and really enjoyed the parts about the LHC. I am not really crazy about Tom Hanks, I feel he is a little too old and soft-looking to play the dashing Dr. Langdon (who is, I like to think, more of an Indiana Jones type, but maybe that’s just me romanticizing it) especially opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones, but I will probably check it out nonetheless…my superficial view of what the characters are supposed to look like will not get in the way of my love of CERN!
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Emilily
That was a great article, Dave. That was the first I had heard of supersymmetry being one of the goals of the LHC, or that dark matter might explain why time only travels forward. Fascinating! Although, I did question why a dark matter detector was located at the bottom of a mine in Minnesota? I would have thought they would put them in space, but underground? Where else do they have dark matter detectors? How many are scattered around the world…like, enough that I could run into one someday? What does it looks like? More research is in order….
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Carmen
planning for the future…
In preparation for our next blog entitled “How to be More Like Kristopher Dukes” I went and bought some of this stuff, I’ll let you know how it goes:
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Carmen
a dream come true…
Remember when I told you I wanted to find (or make) a cloche hat? Well I found one!
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Emilily
That is really pretty. Where did you find it? You’ll have to send me a picture of how you wear it!
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Carmen
What do you mean ‘how I wear it’? That is how I wear it! Does it look like I’m wearing it wrong?
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Emilily
I meant, when you wear it out, with an outfit, to some sort of public event or outing…I was assuming the picture above was just to show me the hat, but I imagine there will be some sort of cloche-centered ensemble debuting in the future…
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olga
Sometimes,(Emilily) a hat is just a hat.
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Carmen
A little LHC history…
In reading the New York Times this morning I came across an article that taught me alot about the history of supercolliders. Did you know there was a miniature one built really close by, in Berkeley? Way back in 1932! It was only a foot in diameter as opposed to the 17 mile loop of the LHC. And speaking of big loops did you know there was one being built in Texas with a 54 mile loop? Its true. It was called the Superconducting Supercollider (an arrogant Texan obviously thought up that name). But the SS program was shut down in 1993 because costs exceeded 11 Billion. Oh poor babies. 11 Billion? Oh yeah, thats way too much, especially because we have to spend 1.8 billion per week on our wars in the Middle East (according to msnbc). So now because of that brilliant decision by Congress there will be no new discoveries concerning particle physics coming out of the U.S. Which is probably a good thing, Europe will do a better job anyways.
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Emilily
Well, you know I am as big a fan of cool science as you are, so I read the New York Times article too! I have to say, I did not know we had any supercolliders in this country, but props to the one in Illinois – even if it is a measly 3.9 miles around, Tevatron is an awesome name. Although we are about to get our physics butts kicked in a serious way.
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Carmen
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Emilily
Wow, that’s super awesome. What a good idea. Where on your body would you put that?
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Olga
Nice font. I like it. I too want to know where on your bod you would put it?
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Carmen
Oh I don’t know. I just like it. But I can’t get a tattoo and blemish this skin.
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Carmen
My beautiful Grandma…
I found this picture of my grandma (on the right) and her sister. Isn’t she lovely?
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Emilily
Oh she is! I can see some of your grandma’s features still.
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Carmen
Remember when…
Val Kilmer used to be hot? What happened Val? Please get a personal trainer and stop breaking my heart.
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Emilily
I think I am going to cry.
Just for some perspective…
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Carmen
Thank you.
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TuesdayKnight
I wouldn’t be so quick to deny him your desire, his voice is super alluring and he has one of the best tree houses in the world, I’m still a fan Val, call me!
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Carmen
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Emilily
That looks beautiful, like a magical sparkling waterfall raining shopping happiness! Maybe that’s where the free-designer-clothes-fairies come from!
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Emilily is discussing. 
Carmen, and 
Susan is discussing. 
Stella, and 
Aunt Nancy and 3 others are discussing. 
Mia, 
Dave are discussing. 
Emilily 2:11 pm on September 25, 2011 Permalink
Yours looks WAY better. The one in the picture looks like it has something going on besides just meat, like maybe there are some vegetables hiding out under there….also, it is a funny shade of magenta.