Nature And Stress

First, Kahn stressed out his participants by giving them a series of math tests. Then he placed some people in front of a window overlooking a grassy lawn with trees, others in front of a large plasma television screen displaying the lawn in real time, and still others in front of a blank wall. As expected, those in front of the window experienced the quickest drop in stress levels, as measured by their decreasing heart rate. Participants also spent far more time looking out the window and at the plasma screen than at the blank wall. But the researchers found an unexpected result.


“Surprisingly, the blank wall and the plasma screen were no different in terms of stress reduction,” said Ruckert. Their study indicates that gazing at an authentic natural space reduces stress, whereas a digital replica of nature soothes only as well as a boring blank wall.

I dig these types of studies. Read the rest of the short entry from Wired Magazine here.

Music Monday | The Arcade Fire

I could post about any of their songs, but I'll go with this one for the way it fills the moment.

From The Bowels Of My Brain IX

Let's  get it started    in heeeeeeere.

Running, running and running, running:

>> "For your convenience" means you're about to be inconvenienced.

>> "With all due respect" means you are about to be disrespected.

>> "We're unable to make it" means your party sounds lame.

>> "Please listen as our menu options have recently changed" means we changed our automated voice response menu options a year or two ago but it was really annoying to change them so now we don't feel like updating the pre-recorded message.

>> "To make a long story short" makes your story longer.

>> Based on a lengthy study and in-depth statistical analysis I have determined that 79% of the time someone writes "lol" they are lying. This is assuming you still believe "lol" means "laugh out loud" instead of the definition I've adopted; "A response used to acknowledge that something is either funny or an acknowledgment that someone attempted to provoke laughter or provide amusement"

>> Billion dollar idea: Bananas that don't bruise.

>> And I wouldn't even know how to spell bananas were it not for Gwen Stefani.

>> One of the many great things about From The Bowels Of My Brain is that you get to relearn your Roman Numerals.

>> Whoever wrote the ABC song should've made the whole L M N O P section a little easier for the children.

Until next time, peoples. Gohead doyur thang.

Hey Dada

Kessler has gradually started to say "Dadadada" and "Hey Dada" enough as a response to seeing me that we think we can confidently say that's what he's saying. While he doesn't understand what it means that I'm his dad, it's still pretty fun.

Hey Kessler.

Music Monday | The National

"We're half awake in a fake empire. We're half awake in a fake empire."

Music Monday | Fleet Foxes

Bath.

Kid Conversations

Kid dialogue is the best.

I guess we've gotten to the age where a lot of our friends have kids. And those kids do say the darndest things. The things I laugh at the most on twitter are 140 character kid stories. Like when @sarah16 tweeted this a few days ago. Or this, when @McKieDJ was tucking his seven year old in to bed.

Then there's the kid dialogue that I get to witness in person, like when Ashley walked into the kids' classroom at church on a cold morning and was greeted by a six year old with, "Pssst. You have a red nose." Ashley couldn't quite hear her and said, "Huh?" The girl, in the loudest whisper she could muster said, "You have a red nose!"

Well one night during dinner at the beach with Ashley's family, our 2 year old niece, Livy, provided some fun kid dialogue.

She chugged her cup of water, set it down abruptly, looked at her mom and sweetly said, "More water."
Heather said, "What do you say?"
Livy said, "More water."
Heather said, "No, what do you say?"
Livy, still calm, said, "More water."
Heather firmly said, "Livy, what do you say?!"
Livy said, "MOOOOOORRRRE WAAAATERRRR!"
And we all laughed uproariously.

Eventually she did say "peese" and she wasn't trying to be defiant. It was a lot of fun to watch her brain process it all. She let out the cutest giggle when we all laughed.

Kessler isn’t saying much more than “blababababwa” or “EeeeeOooo!” now, but I’m pretty excited about the endless supply of comedy he'll provide throughout his toddler and elementary school days. After that he'll probably just be annoying and have stinky armpits ( I jest. I jest).

Music Monday | Mumford & Sons

Cold is the water

It freezes your already cold mind

Already cold, cold mind

And death is at your doorstep

And it will steal your innocence

But it will not steal your substance

But you are not alone in this

And you are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand

Hold your hand

And you are the mother

The mother of your baby child

The one to whom you gave life

And you have your choices

And these are what make man great

His ladder to the stars

But you are not alone in this

And you are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand

Hold your hand

And I will tell the night

Whisper, "Lose your sight"

But I can't move the mountains for you

The Difference A Year Makes

One year ago we were at Holden Beach and I took a picture of Ashley, and the little guy in utero, except at the time we didn't know the sex of this child, or the child's name, or that the child would have a smile that lights up the room and the sweetest disposition in the world.

This year, I snapped a picture of the same people in the same spot and it looks quite different.

Kessler's First Lie

Our usual weekday rhythm is Ashley gets up around 6:15 to shower while I relish my last prone moments. I listen to the monitor and wait for Kessler to let us know he's tired of laying in his topless cage.

One particular morning while I'm on monitor duty, Kessler starts to fuss a little with some soft grunts and quiet squeals. Longing for a few more minutes of shut-eye, I hope and wish for him to calm on his own. Maybe one minute passes and he gets quiet. Shwew! I could finally go back to sleep. Thirty seconds of silence pass and I think I'm safe. Then, it happens.

He begins to cough as if he's a Newsie trying to sell his last pape. I give him a few measures before deciding I need to go check on him in case something is actually wrong, even though he didn't show any signs of sickness the night before. I peel myself off the mattress, shuffle into his room, slowly open the door and peek my head around the corner. As soon as our eyes meet, this is the face I see. He starts wiggling his legs and laughing. He didn't cough again for a week.

 

This is an actual picture from that morning. I ran and grabbed my camera. He was so cute and it was such a unique moment, I knew I needed to memorialize it. Remembering your baby's first steps is way overdone. The cool thing now is remembering your baby's first lie.

Music Monday | The Weepies

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands.

YouTube - Life In A Day

YouTube is organizing the creation of a film made by you on Saturday, July 24. This is a really cool concept. I plan to participate and you should too. Some may think it's just a way for YouTube to exploit its users for financial gain, but I'm going to give them credit for trying to add something to the world in an interesting way.

Check this out from Mashable:

YouTube has announced a project called Life in a Day, which attempts to document one day, July 24, seen through the camera lens of people around the world.

The project will be executive produced by Ridley Scott of Blade Runner and Gladiator and edited by Kevin Macdonald, best known for directing films such as The Last King of Scotland and One Day in September.

The film will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival; if your footage makes the final cut, you’ll be credited as a co-director, and 20 contributors will be selected to attend the premiere. If you’re hoping for financial gain, however, you’ll be disappointed; for this one, glory is your only reward.

To contribute to the project, you need to capture July 24, 2010, on camera, and upload the footage to the Life in the Day channel sometime before July 31. As for what your footage should consist of, YouTube wants you to have no limits, to be personal, to film anyone you like and to preferably film the footage in high resolution. You can find a full set of guidelines over at the official channel.

 An introductory video for the project:

From The Bowels Of My Brain VIII

It's time for the eighth compilation of what I think about when I'm not thinking about anything.

Choo-choo:

>> Words matter.

>> Punching a police officer after getting pulled over for speeding is not a good idea.

>> A well-run business is, to me, truly beautiful.

>> Being responsible for a kid while you're there drastically changes the experience of eating at a restaurant.

>> "Understood", for some reason, looks funny to me when written.

>> You ever thought about how many cows had to die for them to perfect the recipe for Hamburger Helper?

>> Pain is about perspective

>> Those executive games people have in their office feel archaic.

>> Been doing it for 5 years and if there's one thing I've learned about investing in stocks it's that I don't know anything about investing in stocks.

>> Bad breath is the most under-discussed, awkward-interaction-maker there is. I feel like I'm changing that one Bowels Of My Brain at a time.

>> You know how when you get near the end of the shampoo bottle, you start using smaller amounts to make it last and still get the same clean hair. We should just use smaller amounts the whole time.

>> Toilet paper is more efficient for blowing snot into than facial tissue. (You really think I'm going to give Kleenex a free mention in From The Bowels Of My Brain?!)

>> Do we still really need those random 4-letter combinations that start with a W to identify radio stations? No. The answer is no.

>> If it's your birthday, happy birthday.

Hasta luego señoritas

Music Monday | Foy Vance - Hallelujah

This is the millionth version of the song, but the song's a classic and Foy does it justice. The payoff comes around the 4 minute mark.

Kessler With Tia

Kessler with Tia after a day on the beach.
Tia = Aunt in Spanish

Beach - Large Group Photo

It's a fun group. 

 

Sitting from left to right: sis, cousin, other cousin's girlfriend, aunt, Meemaw, Mom, sis-in-law, niece, wife, son, Meghan with an h, Mama Kess, Meghan with an h's son Grady

Standing from left to right: random guy my sis met at the beach, cousin's boo, cousin, cousin, Hartman, Uncle T, Pops, Drizzle, B. Hill, Uncle Jak, Jimbo, B-Kibbs

Kessler Kisses

Kessler's started this new thing in the past few weeks where he grabs your face with both hands and pulls it toward his. We call it a Kessler kiss. It feels sweet, even though he probably just thinks a human head is a more lively version of an O-Ball. Still, the guy is one of the coolest dudes ever. I'm not even kidding.

Cliche Family Photo

From Ocean Isle Beach 2010. 

The only non-Hill in the photo is this random guy my sister met while we were there. His name is Allan.

Music Monday | The Avett Brothers

Beautifully written, musically and lyrically. And, they're fellow North Carolinians.