A little webcam fun

To try to alleviate the separation anxiety faced by mrs. floporama and myself, we decided to buy webcams. After purchasing the cameras with free two-day shipping (thanks, Amazon Prime!), they arrived today to be put to the test.

After a short setup, we were on our way. Since we got Microsoft webcams, we decided to try a video chat with Windows Live Messenger. The experience was a mixed bag. After a few minutes getting everything going, the connection was decent for a few minutes. Then it would crap out. Close the chat window and restart. This time there was a very annoying echo. Try again. Works for a few minutes, then freezes. Finally give up for the night.

All in all, it was a nice experience. It was great to see my wife's smiling face and also my lazy lazy cat. I wish the functionality were a little better, and I wonder how much of it has to do with the somewhat unreliable wireless network adapter on her computer. However, we will definitely be giving it another try. Slow video is better than no video, I always say.

Actually, I never say. In fact, until just now I've never said it. And come to think of it, I still didn't say it--I typed it. Okay, but now I did say it out loud. You'll have to take my word for it though, because I didn't record myself saying it. Which means, it may have never happened at all. If a guy says something in an empty apartment and nobody else hears him, does it make a sound? Also, I'm retarded. Kill this post now...

Yet another cat video

Today's cat video of the day--the cat vs. the ferret:


via neatorama

Kids are random

Nothing spectacular here, but one thing I like about kids is how random they are. On the shuttle bus from the rental car lot to the airport yesterday I was eavesdropping on a little (about 6 years old) girl and her mother. They had been talking about something completely different and out of the blue, the girl says:

"There are only two kids in my class who wear glasses."

Followed by stunned silence for about 5 seconds. Then the girl says, "Brittany and Hunter wear glasses."

More silence and then the mom finally says, "that's great honey." And the girl moved on to another random subject.

Back in Oregon

After a Thanksgiving trip to Utah to visit mrs. floporama, I've returned to Oregon. While there are plenty of things I will miss about being in Utah (my wife, my cat, my home, my bed, etc.), there is one thing that I will absolutely not miss--Utah drivers.

I've lived in Utah for the better part of my adult life. However, I grew up in the Atlanta area. I've taken multiple business trips to southern California. I've driven rental cars in New York City, Chicago, and many other cities across the country. And I am convinced that drivers in Utah are the worst.

What makes them so bad? First is the passive-aggressive nature of many LDS people. It makes for an incredible amount of road-rage fueled drivers. Since they will likely never interact with their fellow drivers outside the confines of their vehicles, they can act out the aggressive side of their passive-aggressive nature. The road rage I encountered on the relatively tame roads of Utah puts New Yorkers to shame. In New York or Los Angeles, you will get honked at, but it's expected. In Utah, the same person who might be teaching your gospel doctrine class on Sunday could be flipping you off on Monday.

For me, this would be mostly forgiveable except for the one behavior of Utah driving that I truly truly hate. As soon as a driver gets on the freeway, they immediately get over one lane to the left. This happens even when the right hand lane is completely empty. Then, every lane except the slow lane will drive THE EXACT SAME SPEED. Granted, this speed is sometimes fairly quick, but the fact that the best place to pass cars on the freeway is the right hand lane is very messed up.

The situation is so stupid that the legislature felt it needed to take action recently. (I'm too lazy to find a link to prove my point, but I read about it in the paper about six months ago.) They passed a law stating that if you are in the far left hand lane and someone behind you wants to pass you, you need to get over as soon as possible and allow the pass. It's amazing that lawmakers had to waste their time on a common sense driving principle, but then again, the Utah legislature has to meet in Salt Lake, so I'm sure it's passive-aggressive members encountered many bad drivers themselves.

In California or Georgia, drivers understand the principle of increasing speeds as you move leftward on the freeway. Or at least they do if they can actually move--traffic is hideous in both places. You might have drivers going 65 in the right lane, 70 in the second-from-right, 75 in the next, and so on. In Utah you have people either not driving or going 60 mph in the right lane and 75 in every other lane. It annoys me greatly and I'm delighted that I don't have to face it again on a regular basis.

I drove to the SLC airport this evening and just had to laugh at how many times I got caught in the so-called "Utah Box". In three weeks of driving in small-town Oregon, I've never once experienced road rage or felt like some other driver was angry with me. Slow and easy is the way it goes here, and that's just fine with me.

One of these things is not like the others

My temporary apartment is right next to an elementary school. On a
walk today, I noticed the following signs:

I just can't help myself

I know, I know...two cat videos in one day. But after going onto youtube to grab the html code for the previous video, I couldn't help but search for my all time favorite cat video. Mrs. floporama is a big fan of this one as well.

The Cat and the Crawfish

I defy anyone to watch this video and not end up whistling a certain tune that shall not be named for the rest of the day. Enjoy! I love that the dog is completely uninterested in everything going on around him.