I found this really interesting website today.

This website makes the words on any webpage into links so you can look them up in a dictionary or other word-reference-site of your choice.

Check it out.

I saw an incredible concert tonight. The performers were a handbell choir called The Bells of Joyful Sound, and my UPC advisor, Jim Grierson plays the bass handbells in the choir.

What amazed me was that most of the people in the choir had six or seven bells in front of them, and every third or fourth note they had to set down one bell and pick up another. Quite often, some of the ladies on the higher bells were holding four bells (and playing them!) at once. They used many different alternate methods of ringing the bells (striking them on the table, with mallets, etc.) and really stretched the different types of sounds you can get out of a handbell. They even had some interesting bells that were shaped differently and sounded more like some kind of brass instrument.

I spoke with Jim afterward and told him of my experience with handbells in High School, and asked him about the process involved in becoming a part of the group. He gave me an email address to contact, and made it sound like there was a good chance I could get in. Tonight was their last concert for the season; they won’t start up again until the fall. I think it would really be a blast to play with them. I also gained a newfound respect for Jim tonight. He is really an incredible musician! 

That’s right. The same horse that took the Kentucky Derby had an excellent win at the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel in the Triple Crown. That means if he wins the Belmont Stakes on June 7, 2003, he becomes the first Triple Crown winning horse since 1978, and the first New York bred horse ever to capture a Triple Crown.

I didn’t see the Preakness (I wasn’t really interested to tell you the truth), but I was able to find a video on MSNBC.com. June 7 just happens to be the two year anniversary of mine and Janene’s first date, so I plan to be out somewhere having fun, but you can be sure I’ll be recording the Belmont! Go Funny Cide!

If you’d like more info, there were a number of articles on Reuters.com.

Funny Cide’s Triple Crown Dreams Lie in Belmont
Funny Cide Guns for the History Books
Funny Cide Crushes Preakness Field 

I feel like I’ve finally arrived. I have business cards 😄. This UPC job is really spoiling me. They’ve already booked me for an I-LEAD leadership conference in Indiana around the first of August. They’ve also offered me the opportunity to go to an EMS conference in Colorado in mid-July. EMS stands for Event Management System, and it is a software product the Union is going to start using. It’s mostly going to be used by our reservations secretaries, but they want me to know how to use it since I’ll be implementing a web interface so that individuals and organizations can log onto our website to book reservations in the Union building.

So, business cards are fun. I already gave one out when I met the ASUU Technology Director. He runs the ASUU and ULife websites. From what I understand, he’s really interested in working more closely with other organizations this year, which is exactly what I was hoping for. ULife is an excellent program and probably one of the most recognized names on campus.

In other news, I got a paycheck today for $132. Needless to say I’m a little pissed off. If I haven’t been motivated to find a job lately, I think that about did it. I got online tonight and finished filling out my resume at jobs.utah.gov. Then I went through and printed out all the job listings I’m qualified for. Some of them wouldn’t let me see the contact info because I haven’t taken a typing test. First thing Monday I’m gonna go down to a Workforce Services office and take one. Depending on whether they’ll let me use Dvorak, I’m confident that I’ll score at least 60 WPM. I won’t rest on Monday until I’ve either got a job or applied for more than twenty. Wish me luck. 

It’s extremely late and I should really be going to bed, but I just watched a really cool PBS documentary about the city of Venice and some of the problems it faces in the near future.

Apparently, the whole city is built on a salt marsh, which has always been sinking since the city was built. The people have always found ways around the sinking problem (such as using canals to route water around the city), but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep the city above water because of rising sea levels (caused by changing weather patterns and global warming).

What really caught my attention is a solution they’ve been considering for many years. It is a system of movable dams that would be used only during high tide seasons to keep water out of the city. A lot of people are against it because of the environmental affects, but no one has been able to come up with a better solution. The debate has been drawn out for over thirty years now! One reason it has lasted so long is that the government of Italy is replaced every two years or so, making it difficult for big decisions like this one to reach conclusions efficiently.

There was a lot to digest in the documentary, but I found it extremely interesting. I learned a lot of stuff I would never have realized otherwise. Most of the info can be found on NOVA’s website listed below.

NOVA: Sinking City of Venice