In case you missed it

I'm not sure why this hasn't been all over CNN this last week, but we have another picture of Bigfoot! I found it very interesting that half the sites I found covering this story didn't include the picture itself. Why have a story about a new bigfoot picture, and not post the picture? In any case, in honor of Halloween, here's Mr. Foot.



PS. Detractors claim it's a mangy bear. As in, a bear with the disease mange. Who's right? Well it could always be Cain.

Google-famous

I heard an editorial some time ago about measuring your fame by how quickly your name comes up on search engines. Basically we're all in competition with people who share our names, to see who's the most google-famous.

I don't do very well. I looked through the first 20 or so hits for Christopher Sorensen. Unfortunately for my google-fame, a number of them are professors who publish, so get lots of hit, or entrepreneurs who own businesses, which also get lots of hits. Oh well.

I do however own every instance of Ranteumptom that comes up. I guess making up a word will do that. As I scrolled through my Ranteumptom credits I came across this blurb:

Chris Sorensen studies neuroscience, like most successful writers. He frequently writes for Schooled magazine, but this is his first entry into a reputable publication. He is devastatingly handsome. He returned home to New York to attend medical school. His favorite color is green, and you can read more of his musings at ranteumptom.blogspot.com. He cannot be taken seriously.

It would be much cooler if someone else had written this, but then I remembered writing it one night when I was asked to contribute a bio to Inscape for their issue that I was published in. Here’s the link if you want to read my article:

http://inscape.byu.edu/winter2006/sorensen_satan.php

The things I find to do instead of studying. Writing silly articles and then finding them on the internet.

Catagorize me

For someone that’s so interested in personality, cognition and himself, I really have a hard time pegging down my actual personality type.

I usually think of myself as a very type B person. I’m very casual and relaxed. I don’t tend to get stressed out. I don’t fight for points at our exam review sessions. I feel zero compunction to provide answers or exert leadership over class discussions, whether at school or church. I drive places without maps. I prefer to be late than early. I have no idea how much money is in my bank account. Et cetera, et cetera.

But then I go and exhibit some very type A traits. Last week I decided to go to the ballet, which I don’t think particularly labels me as A or B, though certainly a less manly version of either. When I discovered the tickets I had planned on purchasing were sold out and I must rely on rush tickets, I immediately came up with several alternate plans. I looked into how much each set of tickets would cost. I ordered the film version of the ballet (Dracula, incidentally, which made it a bit more macho) from Blockbuster online. Because I wasn’t sure if the film would arrive by the day of my date, I looked into all the public and university libraries in Columbus. I spent a trip home from a friends house stopping at each store which might conceivably have this DVD (Borders, Barnes and Nobles, Circuit City, Hollywood Video, Target and Walmart, which all happened to be on the same road.) With no luck I went to the ballet box office a couple hours before I was to meet my date in order to be there before rush tickets were sold. Point being I ended up acting in a very anal manner, making me question if I am in fact a type A. In the end I both received my DVD on the day of the show and got my rush tickets so we were able to see the show, and had a good time.

Now type A versus type B is hardly tried and true psychiatry. It’s everyman psychobabble. And even using this generic system, there’s a continuum involving type AB. Which I guess defines me, as well as 90% of the population.

Easy to Please

I dislike very few foods. I have two possible explanations: I lack passion (thus have few strong likes or dislikes) or I lack a sensitive palate. Actually it’s probably both of these things. In any case, it’s a very helpful characteristic when I’m at the mercy of another’s cooking. Conversely, it’s inconvenient when trying to be decisive over a meal choice. Although I’d hardly say this is a comprehensive list, it’s everything I’ve been able to think of in the last few weeks.

Black Licorice – This stuff is gross. I fail to see how anyone enjoys it. I’m glad that much of the population agrees with me on this one.

Mayonnaise – Totally gross. I realize that I enjoy many things that contain mayonnaise, but the mayo on its own is disgusting. I refuse to purchase it, which means that I consequently don’t eat a lot of tuna. It’s worth the sacrifice.

Tofu – Gross. I guess that saying gross to these is pretty superfluous. If tofu is disguised it can be edible, but on its own it is a nasty gelatinous block of evil.

Rye Bread – This bread is edible only on Reuben sandwiches. Even a brick would taste good when smothered in Swiss cheese and sauerkraut. Otherwise rye is just a bitter waste of carbohydrates.

Stuffing – I have no qualms against store-bought anything. Sometimes I even prefer it to homemade. Bu while certain varieties of homemade stuffing are tolerable (but highly overrated) anything else is gross.

Quiche – This is very surprising, because I like most of the ingredients of quiche. And sometimes I have some and it’s fine. But usually it inspires an inexplicable gag reflex.

Celery – I simply have a moral opposition to food that requires more calories to eat than it provides. I realize that it has next to no taste, but I still avoid it whenever possible.

I think that’s it. There are many foods that I feel aren’t nearly as good as everyone else seems to think they are (watermelon, pepperoni, baked potatoes) but these seven are the only ones that I actually dislike. I can’t really think of any dishes or genres of food that I oppose, except obviously those which are chiefly comprised of these seven ingredients. So if you’re having licorice and mayo on rye, don’t invite me over.

Useless, but tempting

I have no need for more t-shirts. But it is on sale . . .

Now I can be preppy too

There are five Starbucks within five minutes of my house. Now keep in mind, I don’t live in NYC. This is Columbus. It’s not even downtown Columbus. There’s a company that makes steel bars behind my house. This is not the trendy part of town.

But if I need coffee, and need to pay an exorbitant price, I have five choices. I can pretty much drive in any direction and will pass one of these options on my way to wherever I desire. So I was very relieved that when a new store opened down the street, it wasn’t a Starbucks. Instead it was a Chocolate Café.

Never heard of this company? Neither have I. For all I know this is the first, but it certainly looks like a chain. I had little idea of what to expect (I suppose I wouldn’t been surprised if there weren’t any chocolate) I entered yesterday. Turns out that the Chocolate Café is to chocolate as Starbucks is to coffee.

The majority of my experience with Starbucks is from China, which may not be completely accurate. But they seem to have a wide variety of coffee, as you’d expect. In addition they have coffee related products, coffee paraphernalia, coffee-like drinks (cocoa, steamers etc) and various gourmet goodies. So the best reason to go is certainly coffee, but you have a lot of options. Chocolate Café is a chocolatier on one side, an ice cream shop in the middle, which shifts into chocolate desserts before settling on chocolate drinks. I’ve never had Mexican Cocoa or a Banana Steamer, and look forward to doing so when it’s cold enough to justify it. In addition to a full range of coffees they also include gourmet sandwiches and salads, which admittedly have nothing to do with chocolate. Unless there was cocoa in the secret sauce of the Reuben sandwich I sampled. As with Starbucks the atmosphere was pleasant, the prices were a bit too high and everything generally tasted pretty good. My sandwich was pretty great, and the free samples in the chocolate area (I am a student after all, I’m not going to buy something when they provide free samples) were quite tasty.

Welcome to my neighborhood Chocolate Café. Feel free to build three or four more so I’m not forced to travel in a Northwest direction to get some more chocolate goodness.