mitcheaven's Xanga

Things to Do Before I Die

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:21:41 GMT

Since many of you have been clamoring for new posts (yes, I'm just that popular), and I assume that by new posts you mean posts with actual content, and not just links to random Slate articles, I've decided to make a list of all the things I want to do before I die. This way ya'll can keep me accountable, and remind me, when I'm 85: "Nancy, you look like you're about to die. Have you run that half-marathon yet?"

-get a master's degree in something
-finish the dollhouse I started building from a kit when I was in like, sixth grade
-become a liscenced architect?
-design and build my own house (by this I mean design the house and have someone else build it, because, as anyone who saw the doorway I once built for the Wesley shack can confirm, any (full-sized) house I built would be a disaster)
-make jiffy-pop popcorn over a campfire
-go back to the Grand Canyon
-and hike rim to rim? (hiking from the North to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon (via the North and South Kaibab trails) is a 3-day trip and something like 18 miles. Which doesn't sound like much, but under Grand Canyon conditions, that's a pretty serious hike. When I worked at the General Store at the Grand Canyon, one of my co-workers would hike rim to rim to rim (from the South rim to the North rim and then back again) regularly, just as a fun weekend trip. I wish I were that hardcore.)
-go to a latin mass at a big fancy cathedral, preferrably one in Europe with a distinguished architectural pedigree
-take advantage of American Airlines' last-minute weekend packages (or something like it) to take a last-minute weekend getaway to some exotic location
-run a half-marathon? (but not a whole marathon, that's just crazy.) I used to think the best I could do was a 10K, but lately, under the influence of certian people, I have upped the ante.
-marry a man with a last name unique enough so I can google myself

(mostly kidding about that last one. although that would be pretty cool.)

I heart linguistics

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 08:23:42 GMT

Here's an article about, of all things, the contributions tabloids have made to the english language. The phrase "the oxford English Dictionary defines baby-daddy" just makes me laugh.

I'm going to LA!

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 06:28:13 GMT

Because Rachel's going to be on Jeopardy!

So exciting!!

Inspired by the Internet

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 02:37:50 GMT

Things I love (in no particular order):

men
the Grand Canyon
Las Vegas
sleeping

Someday (maybe), I will have a man of my own. Someday I will return to the Grand Canyon and to Vegas. And right now, I am going to sleep.

Promised update coming soon!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 04:03:18 GMT

Gentle readers,

I am aware that my xanga is badly in need of an update. I promise to make one soon. For now, suffice it to say that wonderful things are happening in my life. God has been very good to me. So good, in fact, that I might have to change the name of my blog.

And since this post (which is not so much a post as an excuse for not posting) is so short on content, I offer you...Slate magazine! Slate is one of my new, nerdy, grown-up addictions, along with NPR. It's an online magazine with opinion articles about pretty much anything, combing my love for snarky commentary and things that are easily accessible on the internet.

Just today, I found articles on subjects as diverse as how global warming will affect the Republican party, what your feelings about going to summer camp say about your personality, and reviews of boxed wine. And the article "In Praise of Boxer Briefs: An Underpants Manifesto" was a fascinating insight into the world of men. Happy reading!

edit: Oh my gosh, I love this
Since creating this entry, I have come across an article on Slate that I absolutely could not resist posting. It's a defense of the word "sucks", bringing together my affinities for crude language and for linguistics. I wish I had written this.

I reckon they're settin' with the folks over yonder

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 03:28:09 GMT

Sometimes in the movies, a girl will meet a guy and develop a terrible first impression. Then, years later, they'll somehow be thrown together by circumstances, and then they fall in love. (Right now, the only movie I can think of with this plot is When Harry Met Sally, but there must be others.) This pretty much sums up my relationship with NPR. My first memory of NPR was in my academic challenge coach's car on the way to a high school tournament. I remember listening to a story about parakeets and thinking it was one of the most boring things I'd ever heard. Years later, now that I'm an adult (scary but true), I find myself strangely drawn to NPR. One of my co-workers turns on All Things Considered at 4:00 ever day, and...I actually like it. Maybe it's because NPR has stayed the same and I've gotten more boring.

This afternoon, I was on npr.org looking for a story that I wanted to send to a friend, when I found this article that manages to appeal to both my southern country bumpkin heritage and my love for online quizzes. It links to a quiz that will tell you if you're a yankee or a rebel, based on how you pronounce certian words. (It also includes "A Glossary of Quaint Southernisms", which could be titled "Things Nancy's Mississippi Relatives are Very Likely to Say".) They really had me pegged with question number 17, which indicates that because I would "wrap" a house rather than "roll" it or "TP" it, I must come from Deep in the Heart of Texas. My final score was "63% Dixie". Take the test and post your scores, ya'll!

Turns out I'm not as special as I thought...

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:38:06 GMT

A while back, Craig posted this fascinating link to a website where you can search your first and last names to see how common they are (or view a list of all names to see which ones were the most popular (according to the 1990 census, anyway)). Rachel and I were both surprised that Nancy shows up as the 12th most popular female first name in the U.S. (maybe because there are a lot of little old ladies named Nancy?). My last name, Mitchell, is number 41, meaning that I probably share my name with a lot of people. Because I have some time to kill on my lunch break today, I've decided to use good old-fashioned arithmetic to determine just how many Nancy Mitchells there are.

Assuming that the current population of the U.S. is 299,000,000, and that .16% of these people have the surname Mitchell, there are (299,000,000 x .0016 =) 478,400 Mitchells in the U.S.. I'm going to assume that half of these people, or 239,200 of them, are female. According to the 1990 census, .669% of females in the U.S. are named Nancy, so that means there are (239,200 x .00669=) 1,600 Nancy Mitchells. There are a lot of me out there. And that's just in the United States.

Of course, this assumes the the percentages of Mitchells and Nancies haven't changed since 1990. It also assumes that the percentage of female Mitchells named Nancy is the same as in the general population. This assumption, of course, doesn't work for every first and last name combination. For example, using the same math I did for my name, I determined that there are 2 people in this country with the name "Cornelius Cornelius" ((299,000,000 x .00007)/2 x .00021 = 2.19). Which (despite the fact that Cornelius Cornelius is such a great name) seems unlikely.

Thomas, Here's Something For Your Netflix Queue

Mon, 29 May 2006 19:54:55 GMT

If you like disaster movies (a la Armageddon and Independence Day), allow me to recommend The Poseidon Adventure. The concept is pretty intriguing: on New Year’s eve, a massive cruise liner is overturned by a rouge wave. After the boat flips over, the survivors must climb up to the bottom of the boat (which is the only part above water) in order to be rescued. Unfortunately, the new version, which is in theaters now, isn’t so good. (I haven’t seen it, so I have to trust Rotten Tomatoes on this one (which I do, for the most part, even though they gave Broken Flowers, perhaps the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my life, an 87% fresh rating. Never see this movie. If you do, you will regret it with every fiber of your being.))

However, since I have seen the original 1972 version of the film, I can attest to its being very good. The tone of the movie is pretty serious (owing to the continual possibility of impending death, and all), but there’s also plenty of humor, some of it unintentional. The characters are likable, to the point that you care whether they die or not, and, unlike other movies of this ilk, the deaths of some of the characters actually come as a surprise. After the boats flips, the shots are all inside the boat, of crowded corridors and flooded passageways and such, giving the movie an appropriately tight, claustrophobic feel. I got pretty involved; I was almost as relieved as the characters to see sunlight after they emerge from the hull. So, go rent this movie (or add it to your netflix queue) right now! Because it’s just that good. And because I said so.

This Entry is Dedicated to My Friend Sommer, Who is Now a Married Woman

Sat, 27 May 2006 04:42:20 GMT

(it's also a bit belated, since the wedding was almost a week ago…oops.)

This past Saturday, my friend Sommer married Mr. Corey West. I don’t usually cry at weddings, but when Sommer walked down the aisle she just looked so beautiful that I couldn’t help getting a little teary-eyed. Sommer is special to me because she was my Bible study leader for three years. Every week the wonderful women of our lifegroup would meet and share with each other our joys and trials, including our love for and frustration with the various men in our lives (I think one of the reasons Sommer wanted our Bible study to go co-ed was so we could stop talking about boys so much, but it was always one of my favorite parts. (: ). Some weeks there was more frustration than love. I think at times we wondered (at least, I know I did) if God could ever make something beautiful out of what seemed like such a mess. This Saturday I saw evidence of how faithful God has been to Sommer. It reminded me that God is always good, even when we can’t quite understand what it is that He is doing. Yay for Sommer! I thank God for her and for what a great friend she’s been to me.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Wed, 17 May 2006 17:52:57 GMT

I never watched He-man (since I'm female, and, in 1983, when the show was on TV, I was just getting around to being born), but this article is hilarious. It makes me wish that my job was mocking things on the internet. (Television Without Pity Recaps of the O.C. make me feel the same way, although lately they've been disappointingly bland.) It's really too bad that sarcasm isn't a marketable skill.