Animal Fact of the Week: new idea for a super-power

Hopefully in a couple years this will be a reality.

Grasshoppers can jump a distance of 20 inches, 27 times their length. If I had that power I could jump 150 feet. Outrageous. On this map I would be able to jump from my apartment in the top right, to the red car in the bottom left. That would really be overshooting my bike in the center of the map, but if I could jump that well I might jump to campus instead of bike.



If you're getting as excited as I am about the prospect of jumping to campus, sit down before I tell you this next part : I would also have a vertical leap of 37 feet. With some practice, I could probably hop up to the balcony of my third-story apartment, instead of taking the stairs.

I'd have to see. I don't know if I would be naturally good at jumping without seriously injuring myself.

the game plan

5 days from today : fly to Portland, best city ever (it's a three-way tie with Minneapolis and Marseille)

6 days from today : see the Decemberists in their hometown



Then hang out in this forest for a week, jamming with them.

11 days from today : fly to France and be terrified, lost, and homeless.

Cross your fingers that I don't lose my passport, miss my flight, or tell an off-color joke at a fancy party.

it is finally the future

French word of the day: robot de cuisine

Literal translation: kitchen robot



Actual meaning: mixer or food processor



Really unfortunate.

Reasons it's time to leave

Today three people told me they thought I had left already.
I'm out of cereal.
An saxophone player just moved into the apartment next door.