So I was asked to make this luchador mask for a friend working at a teen camp for the teen’s activity this evening. This is the second one I have made and so I am putting it here for all to enjoy and so I don’t lose it again (my first one is on a hard drive in my in-laws’ basement). I hope you will enjoy coloring the mask and then wresting the first person you see. Send me a photo of you in the mask and I will add it to this article.
Instructions: Download the two parts. Cut them out. Glue the top piece (Part 2) to the top of the mask (part 1).
Luchador Coloring Mask Part 1
Luchador Coloring Mask Part 2
This week we went down to a small town called La Trinitaria about 2 hours away to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity with a groups of teenaged kids from Washington, DC. We just can’t get enough of teens.
It was really fun. Except for the food poisoning I got from the food the family served us. The teens were very energetic & hardworkers. We got to try out a new technique for this area that is more earthquake-proof. Considering we have already felt 2 earthquakes in 3 months, it seems like a good move.
The home owner, Israel, said that he learned the technique from a Peruvian. It involves cementing the walls along wire mesh instead of cinderblocks. This way, the walls are more flexible.
Paco, Isreal’s son, was also a great helper.
It’s hard to say who benefits more from these projects. I’m not sure I would be brave enough to have a bunch of unskilled Americans have at it with my new home. But, the Mexicans were very kind to let us try & help. Even if unexperienced, manual labor is good for the soul, if not for the construction.
Yes, it is true. I have been a derelict in my blogging duties. But, I have a very good excuse: Mexican Youth Conference. I spent all of last week (and the past few months really) preparing for and attending Youth Conference. Youth conference here involves rehearsed numbers. Namely a traditional folk dance, a teen dance skit, a chant, scripture mastery & team banner march.
That’s right. Neil danced in public.
That’s right. I was a dancing nun in front of teens.
It was a blast, but at times made me seem pretty old. For example the music at the dance made me plug my ears the ENTIRE time.
I spent several painstaking hours on the sign. Neil thinks I got too obsessive. All for the love of the teens!
I had a photo selected for www.schmpa.com’s Portland information page. Click on the following link and then click on the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) section for addition information. The information will load in the right and there will be two arrows you can use to scroll through the pictures. My photo is an orange/yellow cut of a pregnant woman’s tummy. Anyway thats all I wanted to say.
Penguins have been the subject of many books and films as of late such as Happy Feet and Surf’s Up, March of the Penguins, and a parody film entitled Farce of the Penguins. What is the allure of these wobbly, feathered creatures? 
This is a traditional woolen doll with an Antarctic twist we found here in Mexico
Is it the tuxedo-like coloring? Is it that they mate for life? Is it the solidarity of the males during the long winter? What makes them fit to be the subjects of so much media?
Popular in Mexico, penguin gummy candies. Seriously.
Certainly, they can do amazing things. They are able to drink salt water safely because their supraorbital gland filters excess salt from the bloodstream. The salt is excreted in a concentrated fluid from the nasal passages. Aka salt snot. Penguins communicate by vocalizing and performing physical behaviors called “displays.” They can recognize their mates & chicks this way. And, of course my favorite habit… the male incubates the egg alone while the female heads to sea to chow-down. The male, for this several-week period, fasts and can lose up to 45% of his body weight.
These are fascinating facts are indeed impressive. But, there are plenty of awe-inspiring creatures out there. Like the naked mole rat, for example. Those things can chew through cement! 25% of the muscle of these little underground rodents is devoted to closing the jaw- compared to 1% of human muscle mass dedicated to the jaw. I became obsessed with the naked mole rat at the Portland zoo in 1999. Did you know that worker mole rats eat their own droppings? This gives them a second chance to digest the fibrous roots that they feed on. Efficient to boot. After watching all available editions of the “Blue Planet” series, I am even extremely impressed with the biodiversity of our world. But, if a penguin and a mole rat were both Homecoming princesses, I’d vote for the mole rat!
Long live the queen!
That’s right I decided to divert large quantities of my income to creating Biosphere 3: Caterpillar Habitat. Ravaged by bird, sun, and rain the diverse population of NWAF compound caterpillars are under attach. In attempt to monitor and assist the perpetual growth of NWAF compound caterpillars I have decided to collect the most robust specimens and hand rear them in Biosphere 3 to beautiful, healthy, reproducing butterflies then reintroduce them to the NWAF compound. In addition I will help the butterfly cause by giving them a world wide voice via the internet through video footage, photos, and written exposes on their progress and health (so be sure to check back often). Construction of Biosphere 3 is under way and conservative estimates put its complete at tomorrow afternoon with the ribbon cutting, habitation, and sealing at 4 PM CST. Check back tomorrow evening to see how the procession went and for additional information on biospheres, caterpillars, and butterflies.
Please help us build and maintain Biosphere 3!
I read today on NPR’s Blog of the nation that, “the 5-second rule has been debunked. Researchers at Clemson University actually studied this, and came to the conclusion that even carefully observing the 5-second rule will not protect your dropped food from gathering bacteria.” Finally, validation. I am somewhat of a strange germ-freak. Some things that would drive even the most mild misophobia stricken person crazy, I do not mind. But, for some reason I cannot stand having my things (especially food) touch the ground. If my blankets touch the ground, they have to be washed. No amount of Neil trying to explain that the ground is cleaner than the bed will prevent it. I don’t let my bare feet touch the ground, even in my own house.
The 5 second rule has always sicked me out to the ultimate degree. People who I would otherwise consider to be normal and rational will drop food on the ground, proclaim, “5 second rule,” and continue eating the obviously infected item. Yuck.
I am glad to see that a group of scientists wanted to establish once and for all that this myth is totally bogus. Let what falls in the gutter stay there!
Also, check out this list of phobias online. The site leaves something to be desired but, the phobias are a amazing.
I made this poster a long time ago and after reading a blog about conflict diamonds at Sprol.com I wanted to post the poster. So here it is, just click on the pic or the link and print it. Oh p.s. it was made to print 11×17″ but should work on anything smaller.
or click here
I guess there are about 40+ types of yoga and after two months of searching Kate and I finally found 1 yoga shop that does 1 type of yoga. Hatha Yoga is, according to the above linked site, “The discipline of the force exercised by asanas (poses), the physiological activity and pranayama, the breath control.” Unfortunately I know little more about yoga then it makes me feel good when I do it, and so I don’t know if Hatha type is different from the yoga we did in Utah. All names aside, and this is my point, the yoga was very different: it was in Spanish (duh), we did violent leg flopping for warm up which about killed the old man in the class with bad knees (a first for me), we only held three poses one of which I recognized, she made us get energy form the stars, and we ended by kneeling (for me the most painful posture of all) and stare at a candle for 5 full minutes. Although nice to stretch and breath again, the instructor was not very helpful in correcting postures or breathing, the routine was strange, and in the end my back hurt so from now on I think I will just do yoga with a video (any recommendations?).
Afterward for dinner we made, what turned out to be a delightful pizza, and then watched the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, TMNT, which turned out to be not so delightful. Mostly because it was a pirated copy filmed in the movie theater so the sound quality was bad including 10 minutes without sound, the footage dark, and for some reason our tv doesn’t handle crappy dvds very well and spits static across the screen. I didn’t have high hopes for the movie or anything like that, it was just such a chore to watch I was almost manically depressed by the end.
So that’s my amazing yesterday. Crappy yoga and a movie.
Friday afternoon, just after work, I decided to take the office’s macro lens for a stroll around the compound. Actually I want to make a documentary about the bugs I find in the compound so went about collecting images. Shooting with a macro lens is hard stuff because if you move just a shake everything is out of focus, that and the ominous lens scares the bugs away. Here are some samples of the bugs in the compound to wet your appetite for the documentary will be coming out soon.
