blogwaffe

In years past, I’ve been a part of a Secret Santa party with a bunch of Pasadena folk. To ennerdify the proceedings a bit, I volunteered to make a web site that would automate the task of drawing the Secret Santa names out of a hat. This, apparently, put me in charge of the whole party… in saecula saeculorum.

This year, I decided to abuse that power and completely change the rules. Instead of Secret Santa, we’d be celebrating the holidays just like the magi did: showing up late with questionable presents. Melchior’s Mixup Madness was born, and it was born in the holy form of a White Elephant party: everyone brings a gift and the presents are doled out over the course of a game involving lots of backstabbing and treachery.

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This is my favorite beer; it tastes like Fruit Loops.

The Decemberists were playing at the Hollywood Bowl on July 7th (several weeks ago), and michelle and I got cheap tickets.

They put on a really good show. Very engaging and energetic. I also really dug Andrew Bird and his Leslie-like cartoony speaker setup. His live performance, though, was head and shoulders better than his Armchair Apocrypha album I got off of iTunes after the concert.

The crazy part of the evening, however, was meeting Morena Baccarin.

Wait, what? Yeah, she was at the Hollywood bowl and, after a double take, I asked for a picture. She was super nice and graciously agreed. It was my first opportunity to interact with a celebrity in LA despite all the small world stories you hear from here and my living in the area for the past four years.

From a Caltech press release: Study implies certain types of brain damage can improve utilitarian moral judgments

The study constrained itself to “utilitarian moral judgments” which were themselves limited to having only two allowed answers, so maybe people with damaged prefrontal cortexes (cortexen?) are just faster at choosing between two options. You should read the paper and let me know. I’m not going to bother :) Here’s an excerpt from the press release, though.

Quick response! What’s the best thing to do on a lifeboat with one too many people on board? Should one throw a mortally injured person overboard to ensure definite survival for everyone else, or refuse to act and ensure certain death for all individuals in the boat?

If you said “throw the injured person overboard”, science has concluded that you have brain damage.

Seeking adventure, michelle and I drove up to Montrose, California to check out the scene and have some lunch. Having heard of (googled) its reputation, we decided to eat at the Black Cow Cafe (terrible website).

It was awesome: Pleasant ambiance and really good food. Apparently it’s the place to eat brunch, so the staff was a little swamped, but we were seated and served fairly quickly.

I highly recommend the Banana Bread French Toast; totally amazing. Michelle really enjoyed her omelette and even finished her whole breakfast!