Happy V-Day indeed! That’s both in the Valentine’s & the V-Day sense of the well-wishing. I know I mentioned V-day last year, but my, what an interesting & cool movement. I got my V-Day fix this year watching a 2004 speech by Eve Ensler, the woman who wrote the “Vagina Monologues.” On the Valentine side of things, I’ve got another digikitten piece for you to enjoy. This one was for the February’s V-Day Inspired Twisted Pixel and dedicated to my Valentine

Backing up a little, I found Eve Ensler’s presentation on the website of the TED Conference. While TED stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design it’s not really for computer geeks or MTV fans. They bring together people from extremely different backgrounds & have them discuss their passions. For example, another TED presentation I enjoyed recently was by Bjorn Lomborg. In a nutshell, he was part of a committee of economists who have tried to prioritize the world’s biggest problems based on where money would do the most good. They concluded that programs like AIDS prevention & nutritional supplements for regions were malnutrition is rampant are the areas where the least money can do the most good. Meanwhile, global warming is at the very bottom of their list because it will take huge investments to improve the situation, even slightly. So just when I (and everyone else it seems) is getting excited about the issue it turns out that it may not be the best place to focus after all Now, I know I’m not arguing his point extremely effectively, I’m not even sure that his is the best conclusion to come to. For example, what good does it do to aid in AIDS prevention & malnutrition if global warming continues & that in combination with increasing survival rates just leads to huge food shortages. Nonetheless, it’s a compelling & though provoking argument. Well worth the 17 minute watch. Prioritizing global problems also make me think a lot about the political motivations of our nation. Effective Fair Trade was the 3rd most effective way to help the world because it would “enliven the global economy” helping to “pull 200 to 300 million people out of poverty.” Wouldn’t that be awesome! Think it’s something our government (or most of our nation) would be crazy to start? I’m not so sure. I have a feeling businesses would cry foul because it would hurt their bottom line. I’m going to stop ranting before I get too far in over my head, but yeah, watch TED presentations, they’ll get you thinking

So, even tho there weren’t as many standout commercials this year like the cat herders and money out the whazoo of years past, there were some good commercials. The GM robot, the beard combover & doritos crunch come to mind Oh yeah, & I squeezed in a quick Pounce over at digikitten, click the thumbnail to see the full sized version. Anyway, just a quick note before I head to work.

P.S. I know the emails have been coming late. I know why. Now I just need to find time to fix it. Thanks for your patience.

Winter finally caught up to Goshen with a vengeance these past few days. Yesterday we even had a record low of 3 below! *shivers* But there are upsides to the ridiculous cold (few tho they may be). The good ‘ol Goshen trolley, that I take to work most days, actually dropped me off right where I need to be, instead of the usual 8 minute walk down the road where the “official” stop is.

In other news, work at haiku is still going well. We went to a teacher’s convention in Indianapolis two weeks ago & lo and behold, Apple had a booth! I scored a sweet pen Beth, tho she didn’t go to the convention, also took advantage of a pretty sweet deal & is now the proud owner of … you’ll never believe it … the rockin awesome ‘78 Chevy van pictured at left. It was quite the experience getting the thing started, but boy is it a beauty! Complete with mural, shag carpet, a futon & home brewed surround sound! Now we just have to dream up some good road trips & we’ll be set :-D  So, if you have any wonderful roadtrip ideas just leave a comment & we’ll definitely consider them. Last but not least, woot for the Colts! Ok, not that I was terribly invested in either team, but it was a fun time anyway. Anyone else a little bummed about the commercials? Eh, oh well. Alright, I’ve gotta run. Take it easy & don’t forget to submit your ideas (12pt font… double spaced )