I was having a nice conversation with a friend on the phone last night when all of a sudden I lose the connection, my phone reboots and then takes me through the setup. I had lost everything! Mind you, I don't have a home phone and this one had been having trouble synchronizing with my computer since Feb 15. The store couldn't fix it. Now I have no idea what's on my now-blank calendar (or what was added like bdays, appointments, weddings!, etc) nor what I did on record since Feb 15. Ugh!

So, with that in mind, everyone back up your hard drives, phones, & mind now!

And here are the links that I've neglected to put up over the past month, so quickly, before I lose them...

Top 10 Amazing Chemistry Videos (from Wired)

While looking to create a blueprint of my remodeled basement, found this great free graphic program called gliffy!

Commercial for Wendys that they never used.

Blog entry about Oklahoma passing a new law that allows religious views to substitute for science answers.

You may have seen the original video this is based on, but clever advert from the UK.

Amazing story of a baby being "flushed off a train" in India.

South Park has done it, they've put ALL of their episodes online for viewing for free! I have a few favorites - I still recommend the Emmy winning "Make Love Not Warcraft" episode.

Old op-ed about the costs of the Iraq war - may be more worthwhile to check out the latest book on it.

My colleague, Ted Mikuls, just got two big awards at the university. Big ceremony and seminar. Was very cool!

NYTimes article about our new local art-house theater.

And just for kicks, CBS article about why sex is good for you.

Too much to combine this time, its own post!

How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib - interview

Some complicated mazes you can either solve or just read about.

I have 20+ links related to home theaters for my recent research, but will keep only this one, audiovideointeriors.com, for examples of the uber rich and/or just the creative have down to create their own home theaters.

There have been a lot of hilarious pics this last month on ICanHasCheezBurger.com, but this one has been on my wall for a wall - so damn funny! (OK, here's another for reference to one of my fav Beatles' songs)

NASA baffled by unexplained force acting on space probes (new force drawing them toward the sun or just wrong wrt gravity or just nothing?)

Some amazing pictures of parts of earth from space. Some false color is used at times, but still breathtaking.

More cool pictures, this time of the nanoscale level.

New NIN uber album, Ghosts I-IV, that you can get cheap or first 9 songs for free!

Hilarious Maki Lemur video w THX theme (original was removed by THX, but u get the jist from this)

I've officially begun remodeling my basement. Last week I took down all of the ceiling in the large open basement room and today I took out the walls and ceiling in the bathroom. I'm exhausted. MUST get help next time (stubborn), but it is cool to know that I can do so much of it. Plumbers begin their work this week, then electrician (Dad) arrives next weekend for wiring. Must seal walls/floors somewhere in there, too, and start finalizing final layout of rooms/equipment (theater). FUN!

It's been a while since I put anything here. The sinus infection didn't go away, just lingered. Got CT scan to show just how bad it is. On the longer kick of antibiotics, steroids (hence doing so much work today! ), and other sinus gunk removal. TMI!

March 1 brought a beautiful day - ~65F! Most of the snow/ice melted, though I was in a work meeting for most of daylight. And today, it rains, then snows and now freezes to everyone will slide around into each tomorrow. Back to the miserable winter! (Ok, I like precipitation most times, but this winter has been brutally cold - coldest on record in a several decades. So I don't complain as an ex-Californian, but along with the locals.

Celebrated my uncle's birthday on Friday - only his 13th! The joys of being born on Feb 29. (OK, it's sad that I don't know any of my other uncles' bdays or even that my Grandmothers was a week or so ago. Bad habit of not knowing/recording from being a kid and being far away from extended family (ie. never celebrated with them).

Visited my close friend Teresa over V-day weekend in Memphis. Got to see her "perform" in Vagina Monologues, met some of her fellow faculty, and she & hubby treated me lots of good bbq pork, breakfast, and some hippy homemade food to help clear out the damage.

Saw Gaelic Storm last Thursday in a live show - very fun with bagpipes, guitar, fiddle and many other unique mix of folk and rock performances. Hosted an Oscars party last Sunday. Played Scene It, had food/movie competitions and, of course, the requisite ballot for the awards. Came in 2nd with 10 correct. Was disappointed that Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn't get any awards (or even nominated for best foreign language film, but overall was content. Not quite sure why Bourne Ultimatum was so popular for sound though.

Hosted one of the annual game nights, too, with lots of Indian food. SOooo happy and full! Good to know that I can prepare a few things, but still managed to burn the basmati rice (no one knew, I think ). Also have been playing some weekly indoor basketball/ultimate. Last Thurs/Sat drove home to Kansas for work and fam - got it down to 380 miles in 4.5 hours as my standard time (only interstate for a third). Never a dull moment!

In the big geek department, Frash did the Endless Setlist in Rock Band - we did all 58 songs in a row in one night. Whew!!! We still get stuck on The Police's Next To You, but feel that we're getting better and better.

On a more somber note, an amazing man, Gerhard Kander, that I had the pleasure of meeting 3-4 times in the past 2 years died on New Years (I noticed that many others that I knew or friends died that day). Nice little write-up about him. He introduced me to fine cognac and had stories that kept me enthralled.

Falling asleep, but wanted to get a full "Life" update out! Pictures will arrive one of these days!