Venn Zen

Here's some Venn Diagrams to lighten up your Friday afternoon:

11.11.11

Ahhh....Friday...except that I still have to work tomorrow. It still sort of feels like the launch of a weekend. Then Saturday comes and I realize I was deluded and the circle continues.

Anyway, I stumbled on this trailer today:




My first thought was that I'm glad that they didn't make Snow White out to be the weak stereotype princess of Disney fame. They made her a warrior chick. It's a similar treatment to the one the new Alice in Wonderland received. Other than that, you can't really tell much about the plot. Though, it's probably safe to assume the general plot is the same:
Narcissistic queen tries to kill pretty girl.
Pretty girl shacks up with some short guys in the woods.
Narcissistic queen finds pretty girl and kills her.
Prince guy kills queen.
Prince guy brings her back to life with magic kisses.
Pretty zombie girl and prince guy get married.

In an unrelated note, I learned today that the number 11 is mathematically awesome. for example:
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
11 x 11 x 11 = 1331
111 x 111 x 111 = 1367631
11 x 111 x 1111 = 1356531
11 x 111111111 = 1222222221

Seriously. How awesome is that? Eleven (or similar numbers comprised solely of 1s) always makes a palindrome when multiplied by itself. Always.

Oh yeah, and today has something to do with military people too. Armistice Day or Veterans day, I think.

Thanks, Vets!

Spay and neuter your pets and weird relatives.

One More Thing...

I've decided I am definitely too busy and too tired to accomplish my NaNoWriMo goal. I guess there's always next year. I should have known better than to get all ambitious and life-changey. Lesson learned.

I'm not depressed, so if that last paragraph led you to think that, then I'm sorry. And here's a little song to cheer you up, unless you're not a geek, in which case it will probably depress you:

I spent the last few evenings building shelves for my wife. Technically, I guess, they're for my in-laws. Sure glad that is over though. Usually I really like building things, but at this point in my life, anything above what I absolutely have to do is daunting. Like writing somewhat regularly, for example.

Also, this:

And this:

The Best 10 Years

I have been married for <==== that long. Today is Tauni's and my 10 year anniversary. Double digits, baby!

It's kind of interesting to look back over the last 10 years. 2010 was the worst we'd had. 2011 started out just as bad but has gotten better. We had some rough spots, on occasion, but the overwhelming majority of our life together has been wonderful. We, through inspiration, were able to squeeze two wonderful girls into this world before infertility problems hit us. If's we'd done as the world suggests and waited "until we were ready", we'd be kid-less right now.

Ben and Tauni in their naively idealistic youth. 

Tauni, you are the love of my life. After ten years of being with you, I love more than ever. I still look at you sometimes and think "How did I get such a wonderful wife?" I'm convinced I tricked you into marrying me and you're just to lazy to leave me now. :-) You are beautiful, kind, loving, and honest. You always put others first, especially the kids and I. You inspire me to be better. Thank you, for loving me (I almost broke into a Bryan Adams song right there, but I resisted).



Anyway. the time at the top of this post will keep counting up. I hope we never have to stop it.

Here's a bunch of random pics from the last 10 years, most of them are from the last 3...but oh well...

Proof that our girls were once much, much cuter. Why'd they have to grow up?

Me, giving in to my zombie tendencies. Yup, that's a human brain.

I used to fly airplanes. Don't ask me about it, it's kind of a touchy subject.

Here we are at the highest point in Oklahoma.

The NaNoWriMo 2011

I've decided to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo. That's the somewhat quirky abbreviation for the National Novel Writing Month. As a participant, I will be attempting to write writing a 50k word novel in 30 days.

I have always been somewhat lazy in my writing, getting out a paragraph here or there. But I sat down a pounded out 1641 words yesterday. For me, it is a lot. And, I really like how my story is evolving so far. I am pretty excited about it. Hopefully the motivation can continue through this extremely busy month.

I could definitely use some more friends to encourage me. So, if you are interested in writing a novel, join me. There are all sorts of social events associated with the month long project. Sadly, I'll be too busy to participate in any of the write-ins or other gatherings. But write, I shall do.

I will throw out some snippets of my writing onto my blog here, on occasion. I'll try not to make excused for how much it sucks, if you'll remember that I am merely working on a very rough draft.