"Here's Your Sign"

I can't tell you how many times at work I hear people say, "well how do you turn it on?" Okay, are you FOR REAL? I think by now, in our technologically consumed world (whether you're a techie or not) it is safe to assume a universally accepted symbol for the power button has been established. Google time, shall we?

Ah, yes. Yes, indeed! Eureka!! If you can locate this little symbol, you can usually find the power source.

Would you look at that?!

Now, I'll admit ... some devices can be tricky, but a little trial and error won't hurt, folks. Harness your inner 4 year old ... "What's this button do?" Go ahead and press it! Even us kiddos that grew up with computers, cell phones, and game consoles a-plenty can get thrown for a loop. Enter one eve when yours truly was dog sitting for a coworker. Keep in mind, I've grown up with PCs, and all she had was one of those fancy new Mac desktops that has everything built into the monitor. She usually kept it on, and would just go into sleep mode if you walk away for a bit. But one day, it powered down completely. Well, I was looking for that magical power symbol but it was nowhere to be found. I even tried feeling around and glancing at the back of the monitor, but no luck. I couldn't get a good enough view. I was kind of embarrassed by myself that I couldn't figure out how to turn on this stinkin' computer. It CAN'T be this difficult. Soooo, after much contemplation, I pulled out my phone and Googled it. I figured if I couldn't figure it out, there had to be more people out there in the same boat, but I wasn't about to ask my coworker how to do it! Seriously? Hey, Google! Where is the power button on a Mac desktop? Oh. My. Gosh. 

Why thank you starcelaeno! This made me feel much better! 

So I turned that bad boy around, and there it was! I must have slid my hand back there a dozen times, and definitely didn't feel anything! Glad to know I wasn't crazy after all ... I just had one of those pretty moments. And yes, it did have the power symbol! In the words of Bill Engvall, "here's your sign!"

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Doodle 4 Google: What I'd Like to Do Someday ...

One of the many things I love about Google (and I'm not just saying this because the Google Big Brother is watching) is the Google Doodle waiting for me on the home page on different holidays, anniversaries, and other unique historical events. As a doodler and artistic person, I appreciate the creativity and innovation that goes into these famous Google Doodles. Tip of the imaginary top hat to you, Google, for establishing such an engaging brand and loyal fan base.

Not only does Google believe in creativity and innovation, but they also believe in the future leaders of tomorrow. Google said, "We love to encourage and celebrate the creativity of young people, and we are always excited to see the range of inspiring doodles that are submitted." And with all of the recent budget cuts in education, it's so refreshing to see such a global leader investing in our future - which brings us to today's post. (Disclaimer: It's not the typical crazy ramblings, but hopefully it will at least leave you with a smile and spark your imaginations ... which is still pretty Marcy in essence, no? Unless of course you hate art, then proceeding from here will neither make you smile, nor give you an ounce of inspiration; it may just bore you to tears. In which case, may I suggest you stop reading this post and check out one listed on The Crazy Craze over there on the left?) This year, Google partnered with The Whitney Museum of American Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Girl Scouts to host their 4th Doodle 4 Google competition.

From the Doodle 4 Google Homepage:

At Google, we believe that dreaming about future possibilities leads to tomorrow’s leaders and inventors, so this year we invited U.S. kids to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, "What I’d like to do someday…"

Whether students wanted to find a cure for cancer or take a trip to the moon, it all started with art supplies and some 8.5" x 11" paper. One lucky student artist will take home a $15,000 college scholarship and $25,000 technology grant for their school, among many other prizes.

K-12 students all over the U.S. doodled their dreams for Google. By the March 16 deadline, Google received over 107,000 entries (almost 75,000 more entries than the previous year). Along with their Doodles, each contestant had to submit a brief statement explaining the Doodle 4 Google theme: "What I'd like to do someday ..."

40 Regional Finalists were then selected for the voting process based on the following criteria:

• Artistic merit: based on grade group and artistic skill
• Creativity: based on the representation of the theme and use of the Google logo
• Theme communication: how well the theme is expressed
• Appropriateness of the supporting statement

Here's the bracketology for the National Title:

Here's where you come in, dear friends and strangers - the polls are open and it's time for a little voting! You can help select the winning Doodle that will be displayed on the Google Homepage. You will be voting on the 40 Regional Finalists which will determine the 4 National Finalists. Public voting is open through the end of this week, so you have until Friday, May 13, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Google will announce the National Winner at an awards ceremony in New York on May 19, 2011 and the winning Doodle (which you helped pick) will be displayed front and center on Google.com, May 20, 2011. Take a second or two to check out all of these talented young artists and cast your vote for each grade group. It's truly impressive!

Click here to vote now!

Here are my favorites from each group:

Grades K - 3

"Space Life"  

By Matteo Lopez, age 7

Monte Verde Elementary School

South San Francisco, California

"What I'd like to do someday ... is become an astronaut and explore space life. I want to wear a space suit, fly in space, walk on the moon and make friends with aliens in other planets."

I love the little alien on the G. 

Grades 4 - 6

"Smile for Life"

By Omar Amin, age 11

Kings Glen Elementary School

Burke, Virginia

"What I'd like to do someday ... As the sun shines and spring blooms around me, I enter my clinic. This clinic is built upon my dreams of dentistry and desire to help people smile beautifully. My mission and dream: help each and every patient of mine to have a sparkling smile." 

Ya can't argue with a smile! It's simple, but well executed - love the style. And, he ties it together with a great supporting statement.

Grades 7 - 9

"The Majestic Sea"

By Justas Varpucanskis, age 13

Mokena Junior High School

Mokena, Illinois

"What I'd like to do someday... is to take part in the conservation of our underwater universe. There is no doubt the last decades were an environmental catastrophe. The underwater world is a haven for many sea creatures, thus being crucial to our existence. We need to preserve our underwater ecosystem."

This is just crazy good - I love the detail and intense colors. The water at the top of the drawing even looks ripply! This kiddo is obviously a talented artist and is very passionate about a great cause.

Grades 10 - 12

"Google Noir"

By Megan Kelchner, age 16

Tiverton High School

Tiverton, Rhode Island

"The Google sign looks like an unfinished comic, pens and pencils still on the paper. This expresses the theme "what I'd like to do someday" because I wish to be an illustrator."

I picked this one solely on the level of artistic skill. It looks like she took a picture of her work-in-progress with the pen, pencil, and eraser still on the table. This would be my favorite over all if the artist provided a more in-depth supporting statement expressing the theme instead of just describing the picture. But come on, it's an insanely good Doodle.

Pretty cool, huh? Go vote!

And if you're bored / curious about all the previous Google Doodles, it's Google Time, baby!

Source:

http://www.google.com/doodle4google/ 

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The Royal Wedding: Holy Brow!

In case you were living under a rock last Friday, Kate Middleton wedded Prince William at the Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, in front of the Queen and thousands of their closest guests (and the entire world ... so if this is breaking news to you, you really were living under a rock.) Kate was a beautiful blushing bride and William was the giddy grinning groom. I must admit that I didn't wake up at 3 A.M. to watch the royal couple exchange vows live, I was resting up so I could turn another year older - it's kind of exhausting, you know. So I watched a little bit of the coverage of their big day on Saturday, and boy, was I glad I did.

 WHAT IS THAT?! CHECK OUT HIS EYEBROWS!!!

Can we just talk about this for a minute?

I would have been thoroughly upset had I missed this. This picture doesn't even do those crazy brows justice. I originally saw those squirrel tails on NBC in HD as the camera man panned the Abbey and circled around the royal couple and padre for different views. Let me see if I can find a close up for you. Google time!

I'm ready for my close up!

Holy Archbishop of Canterfurry, Batman! ... What? ... How? ... I just ... ah ... uh ... DUDE! HIS EYEBROWS!

Now, if Her Royal Highness has declared a dress code for such royal events, you'd think that would include a little personal grooming, no? Go get those bad boys under control, Padre! WOW! How does one even get their eyebrows to do this? And, why? The higher the hair, the closer to Heaven I guess, but sheesh! Those are some crazy brows.



Sources:
The Royal Wedding
I'm ready for my close up!

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Street Names

Winner, Winner!

I like how different areas have themed street names. My neighborhood is a collection of places around the world - except for one that sound like a girl’s name -Sue. Ok, well actually I just learned Sue is a city in Japan. So they are all places. Others areas or neighborhoods have street names inspired by literature, art and music, things found in nature and historic landmarks, local people and Presidents of the United States. And then you have the part of town which you can always tell has been around for a while because of the boring letter/number street names. I guess that’s why we have such interesting street names everywhere else – you can’t exactly make up more letters to the alphabet, but you could just keep using increasingly larger numbers … no, then it just starts to look like the address number. That could get a little tricky, but then I suppose you could just (wait for it) spell out the number! But remember – the number 40 is spelled f-o-r-t-y.  Here’s a theme I’d like to see: the English translation to Native American names. By the way, I mean absolutely no disrespect to the Native Americans.  I just think the longer names would be a little comical when addressing an envelope. No? I mean how do you keep these centered?

Beautiful Badger Going Over the Hill Avenue

Spider Woman at Middle-Age Lane

Singing Chicken Hawk That Soars Parkway

Where the Wind Blows Down the Gap Highway

Yellow Jacket Nest Rising Out Of the Ground Boulevard

Soaring Turkey Vulture Plaza

HAHA

P.T.

This reminds me of the first time I went to Costa Rica with Elle and her family. (Sidenote: if you have not been, you MUST go! No, really, you have to go. I’m passing a law that makes it illegal not to go visit Costa Rica at least once. Ok, fine, just kidding on making a law, but seriously you just need to go. How awesome of a law would that be? By the power vested in me, by the States of Texas and Magoo, I demand each citizen take a trip to Costa Rica. It is absolutely beautiful, the people are friendly and there’s so much to do. Pura Vida!  Ok, back to the original P.T.) After getting our rental car, we went to the leasing office for the condo in Coco and asked for directions on how to get to there. When we asked for street names, she just kind of gave us one of those blank stares and said, “Oh, no, there are no street names here.” I think we ended up getting there by way of landmarks and a hand drawn map … I can’t even remember because I was enamored with the place. But by the end of day two, Elle and I had our own street names for the place because we were trying to figure out how one would send mail to someone in Costa Rica. The “major” highways in Costa Rica have names, but once you get into the smaller towns like Playa del Coco, it would go something a little like this:

Condo A with Ninja Courtyard Pass the 2 groceries, make left turn before all the restaurants and shops, swerve over to avoid hitting stray dogs and quickly approaching oncoming traffic, wave at the man who owns the watermelon fruit stand with the roosters, say “what’s up?” to Shorty – the cute stray puppy you named because he’s adorable and you see him in the same area every time you drive by, veer  left at the bird houses, no wait, those are water and/or electric meters that look like bird houses so they stay dry in the rainy season, continue down road with pretty flowers, squeeze the cheeks a little as you force a smile and nervously wave at the gatekeeper  holding the gun, make sharp U-turn (so really, it’s more like a V-turn) and start the uphill roller coaster ride through the big flowery bushes, immediate steep turn-of-death number one, continue up one lane road on hill, admire pretty houses  on the right, continue around the bend and look out across the bay at the three big rock forms out in the water that you take 50 pictures of, pass the road to nowhere on your left, make final curve around bend, and attempt a very precise three-point-turn-of-death up the steep driveway in your standard vehicle, Coco, (pregnant pause) Costa Rica.

Pull up “Father Rooster’s” in Costa Rica on Google Maps. This is a restaurant right on the beach that we frequented. The address?

Costa Rica

2670 1246

One of the hotels on the main street in Coco? 

A 4km De Playa Del Coco
Puerto Coyolar, Costa Rica
2697 1515

It literally means 4 kilometers from Coco Beach. How freakin’ awesome is that? I’m pretty sure I could get used to no street names if I lived 4km from Coco Beach. There’s just one of everything and you just know where it is – Costa Rica.

Photo Sources:

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

Bear Bottom Road

Female Native American Names

Male Native American Names

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One, Two, Three, For

Fourty  Forty dollars and 00/100 cents. 

Four, fourteen, forty, four hundred, fourth. 

WHY is forty not spelled f-o-U-r-t-y?  I’m pretty sure if Forty could be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, he’d like to buy a vowel. Ok, I know. There’s a rule for everything in the English language … but there are also exceptions to every stinking rule. Why can’t forty be the exception in this case? 

Google time! Today's query took me to a Yahoo! Answers forum (read, Pandora's Box of crazy answers and opinions).

WARNING: This little nugget triggered all kinds of thoughts and questions.

1. Sweet Lincoln's Mullet, John P ... you're a genius! You must have many leather bound books and your apartment must smell of rich mahogany. Oh, you're just blowin' smoke and pulled that explanation out of thin air? Well, it makes sense to me, my friend.
2. Which came first - the number '4' or the word 'four'? Or, 'for'?
3. When you use a number in formal documents, why do you have to spell out the number in parentheses, or vice versa? Was someone once confused when they saw the number? I mean, I'm all for having different options, (Sidenote: this is why we ladies  tend to  always over-pack our suitcases. Well, that, and we're indecisive.) but is it really necessary, other than for pronunciation's sake, to make a number into a word? Memo: Please bring 2 (two) forms of identification. 2? Oh, TWO! I thought you meant 9.You can't take the numbers away - could you really imagine doing math with words? Yikes!  Solve: Thirty-nine plus four. OK, thirty nine ... plus four, carry the U, is ... Forty-three ...(43).
4. Speaking of pronunciation ... to, too, and two. Why isn't "two" pronounced "t-woo", and why'd they pick a 'w' of all letters to be silent? The person who spelled bologna must have made that choice.
5. Are silent letters silent because they're deaf? Or, mute? Or, silent because they're sneaky and ninja-like?
6. Is your brain hurting yet? Watch this.
7. Apparently, the addition of the 'u' is supposed to change the pronunciation. If the proper way to say the 'ou' in four is supposed to make a different sound than the 'o-without-the-u' in for, I don't hear it (but I've also got a bit of a twang sometimes). People often pronounce 'for' as 'fer', and 'four' as 'for', due to laziness. Go ahead and practice that one.
8. If there is no other word that sounds like "forty", WHY can't you just make it "fourty" with a U?
9. OK John P, this is where your theory flaws. If sour is s-o-u-r, and four is f-o-u-r, why doesn't four sound like sour? Or vice versa - sour like four? Plus, there's no word sourty. Type that in Word and it will squiggle it red!
10. If vice versa means to reverse the order, what if you vice versa'd vice versa ... versa vice? Would that cancel the reverse and make it straightforward? Nothing in my mind right now is straightforward, so I guess you could kind of say it's in a state of vice versa (and sideways versa).
11. All of this talk about reversing makes me want to play Uno. Ha! What if Uno recalled every "Reverse" card and replaced them with "Vice Versa"?
12. Can we please just make an amendment to the Chronicles of Spelling and Grammar? I know these rules are etched in stone tablets and are kept in Bermuda, but can't you just add "Fourty" as an acceptable way to spell out 40? (That's the real reason why ships and planes disappear when they approach the Bermuda Triangle - they start their voyage in hopes of changing these Chronicles, but the second they pop up on the radar, the Lords of Language laugh at their petty attempts at reform and smite them into ashes. Just kidding. I totally made that up.)
13. Speaking of the Lords of Language, I'm pretty sure the one who made 'syllabi' the plural form of 'syllabus' suffered from a lisp. Just sayin'.

P.W. Did you know the number forty is the only number in the English language that is spelled in alphabetical order? Check it.

P.T. Maybe that's the real reason the 'U' is left out. Hmm!

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