What we learned in Seattle (si-at-til-ki-a mu-zu-en-de-en-a)
I spent the weekend in Seattle, ostensibly to attend a conference, but also to determine the worthiness of the Seattle area bloggernacle luminaries. Here’s what I learned:
0.5 The sun always shines on Steve Evans. Note that Stapley and Aaron are in darkness. They are all, however, at the right hand of….
0.75 …Justin Butterfield is one of the Three Nephites.
1. Aaron Brown is a giant. Huge. Massive. Hands like plates.
2. Naiah has an evil plan to stake her claim to the faithful feminist niche of the nacle.
3. Nate Oman’s sister told us that Nate read books on the Civil War at the age of 3.
4. Nate Oman’s brother-in-law Matt prefers BCC to T&S. Good man.
5. Steve sits alone in his spartan apartment pining for his wife and watching movies on his Colby DVD player. Poor Steve.
6. J. Stapley is the archetypal “nice chap” who will quietly take over the world whilst saying “dude.†He brews diarrhoea-inducing Xylitol Cola. He is also (along with Aaron Brown) a Neo Con, thus proving that BCC, in fact, is just a collection of conservative sheep in liberal wolves’ clothing.
7. Molly Bennion has a gigantic house.
8. Kathleen Petty’s husband’s brother was my bishop in Baltimore. Very. Small. Church.
9. The dogs of Snowflake, Az. have never recovered from the hi-jinxed days of Levi Peterson’s rascalish youth.
10. V for Vendetta is a flawed masterpiece. Remember: if your government is corrupt, their buildings must be blown-up.
11. Ronan can be tricked into having a picture taken of him that shows his struggle with alopecia.
12. If you bunk church and decide to bless the sacrament at home, is there a special prayer for blessing Doritos?(Thanks to everyone for their wondrous hospitality. Godless Seattle is a very cool place. Too cool, unfortunately, for those of us who live in Baltimore and will soon depart for that Bloggernacle black-hole known as Europa. Sob. Or is it, “Tee hee”?)
uh, that’s a “Coby” DVD player. And yes, I live a lonely, empty life.
Comment by Steve Evans — March 21, 2006 @ 9:50 am
Very, very good times. You forgot: 13. Sumerian blog titles = money. Here is also the big version of the picture.
Comment by J. Stapley — March 21, 2006 @ 9:54 am
For more details right-click on the pictures and select “View Image”.
Comment by a random John — March 21, 2006 @ 9:57 am
Coby/Colby. All I know is that it was the crappest DVD player I’ve ever seen. And, yes, I’ve added the Sumerian title.
Comment by Ronan — March 21, 2006 @ 10:05 am
Ronan,
You haven’t seen my $33 Oritron DVD player. While checking out at Best Buy they asked if I wanted to pay $45 for a three year warranty. I started laughing and the guy at the register sheepishly added, “They make me say that.”
Comment by a random John — March 21, 2006 @ 10:31 am
I don’t know if I’m “huge” or “massive,” but certainly my posture and that sweater make me look fat.
Aaron B
P.S. Justin Butterfield?
Comment by Aaron Brown — March 21, 2006 @ 10:32 am
Aaron,
Not fat. Just a giant. 6′ 7″ at least.
Comment by Ronan — March 21, 2006 @ 10:34 am
You aren’t allowed to bless the sacrament yourself without the local presiding Bishop’s permission. I always knew you guys were a bunch of apostates. QED.
As for Doritos, they arent exactly what I would consider unleavened bread, but in a pinch they might do with the standard prayer.
Why isnt Ms. Prudence wearing a modest below-the-knee skirt like any faithful sister should?
Comment by Extreme Dorito — March 21, 2006 @ 10:36 am
Can giants even be fat? People are too busy worrying about getting crushed to think about the giants’ enormous bellies.
Comment by Steve Evans — March 21, 2006 @ 11:01 am
Did my sister mentioned her repeated attempts to kill me by asphixiation on our walks to the bus stop when I was in kindergarten? I thought not. Be warned; beneath that friendly, slightly hyper uber-mom exterior lurks a homocidal maniac.
It goes without saying that my brother-in-law has impeccable judgment.
Comment by Nate Oman — March 21, 2006 @ 11:07 am
Nate,
But Civil War books? Come on. Tell me you read Spiderman too. (I still do.)
Comment by Ronan — March 21, 2006 @ 11:17 am
Read Spiderman?!? I had Spiderman underoose that could only be stripped off with the help of powerful seditives. Spidey was (still is) my hero! What is not to like about the geek who ends up with superpowers and the girl next door.
But I bet that Peter Parker read Shelby Foote too…
Comment by Nate Oman — March 21, 2006 @ 12:03 pm
Shelby Foote is (was) hot.
Comment by Ken Burns — March 21, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
nice to meet you, too…
*sheesh*
Comment by Naiah Earhart — March 21, 2006 @ 1:04 pm
Too late! Too late! I already scanned Butterfield’s face into my face match matrix and obtained his entire life history, credit card numbers and his real name! All of it is for sale at the right price.
Comment by Eric Russell — March 21, 2006 @ 1:09 pm
I’m deeply disappointed that you didn’t take a page out of Kage’s playbook, and superimpose a Donald Duck head or the like over Justin’s face.
Comment by Kaimi — March 21, 2006 @ 1:16 pm
J.’s a neocon; Aaron’s a neocon; Caswell’s a neocon; Steve Evans is a meh-o-con; and Ronan is a confused limey. And this is a liberal blog . . . how?
Comment by Kaimi — March 21, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
Really, I’m not a neo-con…I’m more of a libertarian. I am, however, much taller than Steve.
Comment by J. Stapley — March 21, 2006 @ 2:06 pm
Neo-con, libertarian, liberal… Can my profile be more of a mix, like Neapolitan ice cream? I am tempted by libertarianism in theory, but their stances on more than a few things in practice are, well, not great.
Comment by Bob Caswell — March 21, 2006 @ 2:16 pm
Stapes,
You say that you are “much taller than Steve” as if that were an accomplishment. That’s like getting an A at grade-inflation central (also known as Harvard). Sure, you did it - and so did three quarters of your classmates. We’re all above average, man. And we’re definitely all taller than Steve.
I mean, have you ever been to Casa Evans? It’s like going into oompa-loompa land, or maybe a scene from Gulliver’s Travels. You’ve got Sumer at about five foot and Steve who’s five-two on a good day; even the dog seems tiny!
Comment by Kaimi — March 21, 2006 @ 2:20 pm
Uh, J., I think *I* might have been taller than Steve.
Comment by Naiah Earhart — March 21, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
I am actually a monarchist. Guess who I think the monarch should be…
Aaron B
Comment by Aaron Brown — March 21, 2006 @ 2:44 pm
Umm … we are going to eventually change the picture back to what it was, right?
Aaron B
Comment by Aaron Brown — March 21, 2006 @ 2:45 pm
#13
Ronan is on Spring Break.
Comment by Ronan — March 21, 2006 @ 4:03 pm
While my wife did mention Nate reading Civil War books, she did not mention any age. Nate didn’t actually start reading until he was in 5th grade. I think it was a side-effect of all his choking near-death experiences. So while the delayed reading may make him slightly less precocious, it really just means he’s learned more than the rest of us in less time.
Ronan, interesting that you failed to mention what I prefer to do with BCC…
Comment by Matt Jacobsen — March 21, 2006 @ 5:44 pm
Matt: The suspense is killing me! What do you prefer to do with BCC?!?
Comment by Nate Oman — March 21, 2006 @ 6:41 pm
Like the rework of the graphics and the website, even the picture
Comment by Stephen M (Ethesis) — March 21, 2006 @ 8:39 pm
I knew J was plotting to take over the world! No fair! I can picture him sitting at home with a yet unnamed chrony…”What are we going to do today J? The same thing we do everyday. Try to take over the world!”
Comment by Craig S. — March 21, 2006 @ 8:42 pm
sad to have missed the fun.
Comment by B. Bowen — March 21, 2006 @ 11:32 pm
I’m blown away. You even have Sumerian enthusiasts? If I didn’t know better, I would guess that my lonely, confused, southern California Mormon childhood* had willed BCC into existence. My suggestion:
Seattle: AB-til.ki-a
But seriously, who does Sumerian? Ronan? Kaimi/whoever it is that appears to have a dog named Sumer? More than one of you? I think BCC might have just become my favorite place on the web.
*Not that there’s anything wrong with it; it’s just that when I decided to pass on BYU to come here to “Bezerkeley” on the “Left Coast,” my homeward’s attitude was more skeptical (”How’s life up at the Devil’s playground?” and “Well, I guess they need representatives of good conservative thought up there!” Ha!) than supportive. I still can’t tell most members that I study Mesoamerican languages and some ancient writing systems for fear of one of a half-dozen questions which I have no ability or desire to answer to their satisfaction, and which I find to be at best irrelevant to anyone’s testimony.
Comment by SJP — March 22, 2006 @ 2:48 am
SJP,
Welcome to BCC. Stick around. I’m the Sumerologist (it’s Sumerian month at BCC), or better put, the Akkadianist who knows Sumerian. Why AB? (Shoot me an email to discuss the life of antiquarian Mormons: ronan at jhu dot edu.) BTW, Steve’s wife is Sumer, the dog is Gordy, and Sumer is pronounced Summer. (Yeah, I spent a year thinking she was a southern-Mesopotamia Sumer.)
Comment by Ronan — March 22, 2006 @ 7:09 am
Cool pictures.
I still feel moving to Seattle would be like banishment to Outer Darkness, though.
Comment by D. Fletcher — March 22, 2006 @ 9:40 am
It’s more like Outer Grayness.
Comment by Susan M — March 22, 2006 @ 10:04 am
I’m not quite sure that I know what a neocon is supposed to be, but I’m reasonably confident that the term is generally not applied to those who urge a reconsideration of American support for Israel.
Comment by gst — March 22, 2006 @ 4:26 pm
Well noted.
Comment by J. Stapley — March 22, 2006 @ 5:29 pm
My first reaction to the photo was, “Holy s**t! It’s Timothy Treadwell, right there 2nd from the right!”
Comment by DKL — March 22, 2006 @ 8:46 pm
Please do tell who is who in these photos…I’m dying to know the faces behind the voices and all the emails.
Comment by lori levinson — March 24, 2006 @ 8:06 am
L-R: Aaron Brown, J. Stapley, Steve Evans, Bob Dobalina.
Other photo = me
Comment by Ronan — March 24, 2006 @ 9:33 am
DKL, that kinda gives this picture a whole new meaning.
By the way, that was the best documentary of 2005. It totally got snubbed by the Oscars.
Comment by Eric Russell — March 24, 2006 @ 2:50 pm
Ronan-
Delighted to make your acquaintance.
Kathleen
Comment by KathleenP — March 24, 2006 @ 7:56 pm