In the Land of the Dine (Navajo)

3 of the best engineers ever!

Last week I left you all on the note that I was adventuring out into the Land of the Dine (aka Navajo Reservation) to work on service, engineering, and how I learn! Well here is the post you've waited all week for! What did she actually learn??

(Besides that engineering, service, and the Navajo are awesome!)

Developing Knowledge Skillz

According to the Learning Outcomes for this class I should learn new knowledge skills. Therefore this will just be a short post while I go off and develop some. This weekend I am going with BYU's GEO club to Blanding Utah to work on some engineering projects for people of the Navajo Nation. In that time I will take advantage of several opportunities to develop some of my knowledge skill.

FYI: Evernote

In a comment responding to this post. Dr. B asked if I would share about sharing Evernote folders. First, I need to answer the question running through your mind right now, "What, in the name of Sam Houston, is Evernote?"

Screenshot of the Evernote site.

Evernote a great website that lets you take and store notes in the cloud so you can access them anywhere, anytime. (Provided you have access to the internet, or they are on you computer)

I especially enjoy it for this class because of the variety of actions I can use to manipulate the notes I take.

Where do the French come into this?

This week I was taught to do my own French Manicure by Alyssa Cardon, another girl in my civilizations class at BYU. The first time I had ever had a French manicure was at age eleven, when I begged to be an adult. My mother agreed and that was that. After this manicure I began to neglect my nails. Ever once in a while I'd get my nails done or maybe file them but not until now have I known how to do my own French manicure.

Whereas a normal manicure for women is dated to around 5,000 years ago, a French Manicure's original design is a little unclear. Some claim that the French manicure was invented by Max Factor in the 1930s for French fashionistas but some attribute the look to the 1800s and others presume that because the first home French manicure kit was created by Jeff Pink that he was the creator. But how does this really relate to the French? Like stated earlier, Factor, presumedly, created the look for French women, but many believe that the that when the word 'French' is applied any product, that it can make it sound sophisticated.

In place of henna women in India would use henna. The people of southern Babylonia 4,000 years ago used gold tools to achieve gorgeous nails. In 3,000 BC, nail polish

was developed in China and used to show a person’s social rank. Similarly the Dowager Empress of China always kept her fingernails extremely long and during the Ming dynasty, the shades of nail polish among the upper class were red and black. Nail polish as a way of esablishing rank in society can also be seen in ancient Egypt. Cleopatra and Queen Nefertiti were also followers of red nail style. All of these origins of the manicure have morphed into what we have today. A little more information on the history can be found here.

Speaking of the color of nails being a status symbol sounds so silly. I can see the connection people make between pretty nails, to clean nails, to clean hands, and being clean and taken care of in general but it still seems very superficial. Don't get me wrong, I like a nice pedicure and foot rub but how often do we associate good looks with status?

Teaching: Voices of Angels

My apartment is a very musical one. We all randomly break out into song. Some of us can hit the notes and some... Well I'm surprised our light bulbs haven't blown. In an attempt to increase the quality of singing, I decided to give my roommates a lesson. This was going to be fun :) 

Hands On Learning: Part Two

Pretty Awesome for just learning!

For the second part of the assignment I started in this blogpost . I decided to teach french braiding to a my 12 yo cousin. After this experience I'm pretty pleased with my self as a teacher especially for something I've never taught before! I'm also pretty pleased with my students! They did very well for only a 1/2 hr of instruction (that's all the time I could get them out of their chores for). So here's how it went!

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

Like Erin, I taught the art of braiding. I taught my best friend, who happens to be male, since braiding is a valuable skill for all members of both genders. You know, in case you get stranded on a desert island and have to make a rope out of plant fibers, or if a damsel in distress with 60 foot hair needs her hair styled.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

It started out on accident. My friend somewhat invited herself to come along with me to the harp practice rooms in the HFAC, which is an art building on the BYU campus. We were lucky to find the big practice room, which always has two harps in it, open. So as I practiced, she sat and did homework, but soon enough, we got around to goofing off and she wanted to play. So I thought I’d teach her the easiest thing I knew; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She plucked one finger and hand at a time, a little like the video below.

Cars: The Movie is the Only Good Thing About Them

I hate driving. I hate it. I hate how there's other people on the road who get mad at me. I hate the feeling of the pedals under my foot and the steering wheel in my hand. I hate having to pay attention. I just hate having to deal with cars. So, I decided to learn how to change a tire.

Learning with Both Eyes Open

The day my brother got a bbgun was the day he became a man! (at least in his eyes) My family lives in the mountains so he would just walk out the back door and go shoot some squirrels. He has actually gotten very good at hitting what he aims for. This being so, I decided to ask the expert (Ethan) to teach me how to shoot his bb rifle. Eager to show off his knowledge, he agreed.

Hands On Learning Part 1

We all admit to having our moments on the road, but hopefully nothing like this...I'd skip to minutes 2:50-4:00 and 6:00-7:00

Because I wanted to put more sub-par drivers on the road...I decided to learn how to drive a manual car.