Snippets

When I bought my house many years ago, as I was diligently reading all the paperwork and signing it, I can clearly remember asking about how the escrow account worked.  They explained how it would be evaluated yearly, and if the account was slightly short, I would be charged more for the next year, and if there was any overage, I would get a check back.  I also distinctly remember them scoffing at the thought of ever getting a check back because "that never happens."  I'm here to tell you folks, that it does happen, and the sum was sizable (more than $1000).  I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it can happen.

I am thankful the boil water order lasted only about a day.  It's very difficult to remember not to rinse your toothbrush with the tap water.  The internet said there had been a break in the water pipe, and my house was in the "danger zone".  Apparently it wasn't too dangerous.

That's really all I've got here.  The Labor Day weekend is coming up, which I'm excited for.  That's about it.  Later peeps.

Starting Line-Up

Few things feel ickier than walking smack dab into a spider web you didn't know was there.  That feeling of those fine strands sticking to your face and hair is not desirable.  Usually I hope that the spider wasn't in the web, which would hopefully mean he's not crawling around in my hair somewhere.

Moving on to better thoughts, I forgot to mention in the raccoon excitement that it was myself and the older folks in our meeting yesterday. I was the only person there under the age of 65.  I was also the person elected to start the hymns this particular day.  Before this summer I probably had only started them two or three times, and now this summer I think this was the third time I've had the dubious honor.  It's getting to be such old hat that I forgot to be nervous and accidentally let my mind wander during a chorus, which meant I barely remembered which verse was next once the chorus was finished.  I used to be #4 or #5 on the starter roster, but now I'm about #3.  Plus, #1 and #2 are husband and wife, so if they're gone and I happen to be home, then it usually falls to me.  Maybe I am maturing a little bit.

That's all I've got today.  Toodloo.

Mundane, Yet Not

The weekend wasn't real exciting, but it was still good.  I didn't go anywhere this weekend, so it was a big deal to get caught up on some errands and chores.  I went to Target (twice), Lowe's, Staples, the cash machine at the bank, and the grocery store.  I did so much yard work that I ran out of lawn bags, hence the trip to Lowe's.  I did so much laundry that I ran out of detergent (hence the second trip to Target).  I got part way through the mountain of junk mail that has been accumulating for months.  And then there is the rest of the story...

I attempted to go kayaking on the lake today, but after my first attempt at getting through the large waves, I decided that was not the best idea.  I had to admit defeat there, but Kermit and I were not calling it quits that easily.  We trekked (using Herman) over to a nearby river to put in there and had some great views along with seeing some very nice wildlife.  We saw turtles, ducks, a great blue heron, and butterflies to name most of the memorable ones.  See the photo below.

Living the Wild Life

The score as of today:
MelBMarvis:  10
Raccoons:  -0.5
Chipmunks:  0

Before we went to the river, I noticed that I caught a 'coon in my live trap.  I'm not sure if he was there yesterday or not.  He may have been and I didn't notice, but that might explain all the frantic dog barking I heard yesterday morning that I didn't check out because it stopped before I went out there.  I left the raccoon there until I returned from the kayak excursion.  Then I proceeded to dispense with him.  Unfortunately my large garbage can wasn't quite large enough, so I had to waterboard the poor thing even though he didn't have any secrets to tell me.  Thank goodness I didn't feel as remorseful as I thought I might during the process.  I hardened my heart and got on with it.  On a relative scale, it was less daunting and produced less stomach churning than killing baby pigs or killing baby birds.  Hopefully he won't haunt my dreams tonight.  And, I also hope that one day Gary the Groundhog follows this raccoon's lead in walking into my trap.  I sure do hope Gary isn't able to climb the side of the cage as well as Rocky.  Or, I could buy a taller garbage can I suppose.  We'll see - that would involve another trip to Lowe's.

Quick Trip

As part of my work responsibilities, I was one of the lucky ones who traveled to lovely Iowa this week.  I had been there before, so it wasn't like it was new or anything, but it was still good if a bit silly.  The trip was cut kind of short, so here's the lame list of memorable things:

1. Welcome to Iowa.  Fields of Opportunities.  Mostly I saw fields of corn and soybeans, but maybe the opportunities hide amongst all the other plants.
2. A little snippet heard on the radio:  "It turns out I don't have as many thoughts as you might think."
3. My travel companion was Kadmium, so I had more hours of travel time alone with a married man who's the age of my father.  Our political views are similar, so we were able to listen to a lot of talk radio without inciting heated arguments.  Our taste in food is also eerily similar.
4. I missed having a meal with Uncle Ducky because of silly stuff at work.  They schedule a build and insist people be there to support the build, and then twelve hours before it's supposed to start they finally face the facts they probably knew for several days that not all the critical parts were there to even begin the first steps of the build.  I suspect pride gets in the way somewhere in that decision making process.  So more travel may be in the near future.  Oh well - it may work out well for me.
5. Stopped at the town with the world's largest truck stop.
6. Lots of windmill blades on the road.
7. Lush, green rolling hills of fields with few trees to block the lovely view.  I'm telling you, it gives the interstate a whole different (good) feel.
8. Pizza at the Wig and Pen.  I heard from a colleague that they had really good pizza.  I would give it an average rating.  It wasn't terrible, but it didn't compare at all to Silver Beach Pizza.
9. Seeing some of my "babies" from last year go down the production line.  This was one of the ones that was rated a best buy this year.
10. Humidity so thick it forms a haze over the land.

Fruit of my labor from last year.  Don't mind the missing handle.  They add it later.

We fueled at the Pilot station next door, but we were very close.  I think that counts as visiting.

Cheesin' Again

You'll be shocked I know, but I was over in the cheesy state again for the weekend.  Jack-E and I had signed up for a mud run called Dirty Girl, which includes obstacles.  It really wasn't quite as muddy as I thought it would be, but that could have been because our wave was in the afternoon, and the sun may have dried out the mud some.  If we had gone in the morning, it definitely would have been much dirtier and wetter because it rained in the morning.  Before I give the whole weekend details, I better do the highlights list.

1. Did a 5K run for the first time in several years.  I didn't really do any running as part of my training (because I didn't do any training), so it was kind of pathetic.  I think we finished in just under 40 minutes.
2. I think doing the 5K was mostly an excuse to get together and hang out.  As always, I enjoyed spending time with Jack-E and Share Bear.  Many laughs were had by all.
3. Bicycling on a Sunday afternoon after eating chocolate truffles - good times, good times.
4. Did you know you can eat crepes with non-breakfast food?  I did that for the first time this weekend.  Ham, asparagus, and a swiss cheese almond sauce.  I couldn't really tell where the almonds came into the picture, but that's what the menu said.
5. Dishing out and receiving some good-natured teasing about male prospects.
6. A rousing game of Phase 10.
7. Tentative ski/snowboard trips plans were formulated.  Anyone interested in going with us?  If so, let me know.  The plan is to go to Montana.  Males or females are welcome.  Must be 18 or older.  Ask your doctor if this trip is right for you.
8. Texas Roadhouse - with a sirloin steak and some ribs.  Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.
9. I know I had several things to add to this list, but they escape me now.  Really, the highlight of the weekend was fellowship.
10. Driving and thinking time with an opportunity to listen to my Atomic Trance CD from beginning to end.
11. Learning how thick the concrete walls are in the linear accelerator vault of a hospital's cancer center (7 feet).  I didn't have occasion for any treatments - the hospital was under construction. 
12. Making good use of my rec specs (they're not just for racquetball).

Not So Dirty Girls - After a Quick Rinse

Sweet Summertime

It's been beautiful weather here this week - perfect for volleyball, softball, and tennis.  It still feels like summer, but you can hear fall approaching with all the cicadas singing at night.  It reminds of sleeping in a tent at convention, which is coming soon.

This weekend is looking like it will be fun and dirty.  You'll understand later.  As part of some training at work today, I demonstrated how to use parts of our CAD program today for two hours straight to about twenty engineers.  It went really well, but I guess I must have been a little bit nervous about it because I felt like I didn't sleep well last night, and I woke up long before my alarm went off this morning.

Other than that, it's pretty mundane.  Dishes need washing, the lawn needs mowing, bushes need trimming, flower gardens need hoeing, and I plan to ignore most of it for the next week or so.  Like Grandpa used to say, it's called "carefree housekeeping."

Farm out, peeps.

Weekend Shorts

I can see you're all busy, so I won't take up too much of your time today.  I thought I had some comments to make on my weekend, but they escape me at the moment.  The weekend was only moderately busy.  However, I predict the next four to six weeks to be busy, both at work at in my personal life, partially because work will be crazy like a fox.

The weekend was kind of busy.  I got so engrossed at work on Friday night that I lost track of time and had to ride my bike home in the twilight.  For those that don't live here, twilight is around 8:45 PM.  Then I quick packed an overnight bag and drove half an hour north to stay with some friends overnight because we were leaving early for bee/work day.  On the way to their house I had to make a quick Wally World stop to buy some bread and jam and Cheetos and blueberries for lunch the next day.

This was the third annual car pool event to bee day (before that I drove by myself).  The past two years there's always been three of us on the trip, which helps share the conversational burden.  This year there were only two of us in the van, so I had to do my part to help the conversation along.  I didn't do too bad - the pauses weren't too awkward and neither were the topics we covered.  It was slightly weird to spend five hours in a vehicle with somebody else's husband when it wasn't a work trip, but really he's more like a second dad, so it was cool.  We were the only ones willing and able to go from around these parts, so that's what we did.

Sunday was pretty much easy street.  I took a three hour nap if that tells you anything.  That's all for today folks.  Thirteen hours until you're halfway through the work week.

Century of Innovation

As I mentioned so long ago that I probably can't find the post, I've started reading a coffee table book I have called A Century of Innovation - Twenty Engineering Achievements that Changed Our Lives.  Yesterday I covered two inventions as I will describe below.

With #1 and #2 being electrification and the automobile respectively, #3 is the airplane.  I think this one is pretty obvious.  It caused the world to go from taking days or weeks to cross the ocean to crossing it in hours.  Of course you know the Wright brothers:  Wilbur and Orville.  What you may not have known is that several people knew how to fly gliders before them and had several published works on aerodynamics and suggested next steps for flight.  What the Wright brothers did that was breakthrough was to gather more accurate data on cambered wings.  The biggest thing they figured out though was how to control the roll of an airplane.  Most people thought you should avoid it, but Wilbur figured out that instead of fighting it, you should use it in the same way you do while turning a bicycle.  In their first prototypes they actually moved the wings.  Someone who came later figured out how to do it with ailerons.

And there are so many other aviation accomplishments too.  WW I and WW II greatly sped up the development of aviation.  We're lucky the Germans weren't a little bit faster in their engineering since they invented the all-metal airplane near the end of WW I.  One other interesting tidbit of information is that the DC-3 (Douglas Commercial 3) was in production in 1936, and there are still DC-3s in the air today.  The first jet plane was flown in 1942 by a German - thank goodness they didn't have that perfected by the end of WW II.  Boeing has also been a big player for more than 50 years in the aviation industry.  The final thing that allowed a huge leap in aviation was electronics.  Weight could be greatly reduced by replacing many of the mechanical systems with electronics that even had redundancy.

Invention #15 is household appliances.  You can understand why this one had particular fascination for me.  However, I was not particularly impressed with this section.  My company only got one passing mention (for the first top-loading automatic washer).  This means one of two things.  Either my company isn't all that innovative - we're just really good at designing and making quality appliances (not necessarily inventing new ones), or else the people who wrote the book were biased.

This one is fairly obvious as far as how the invention of household appliances transformed the last century.  Instead of slaving over a cast iron stove that had to be fed on average with 50 pounds of fuel in a day, now you can tell your stove to turn on in two hours, bake for three hours, and then turn off.  Instead of slaving over a washboard and boiling pots, now you just toss your clothes in the washer.  One thing I was surprised by was that the electric clothes iron was a huge hit.  Instead of weighing 15 pounds like it used to, now it could weigh 3 pounds, and you didn't need multiple ones you could rotate in and out of sitting on top of the stove.  Another invention at the turn of the 20th century that we still use today is the good old automatic pop-up toaster.  The underlying invention that supported many of these things was the invention of electricity and the invention by Albert Marsh of a nickel-chrome alloy.  The special thing about the alloy is that it could take the heat without rusting.

There are many other household appliances and I could probably go on and on.  How can we forget the vacuum cleaner?  The coffee maker?  The microwave is another interesting one.  An engineer at Raytheon who was working on radar development during WW II noticed that microwaves heated up water, fats, and sugars.  This spawned the creation of the microwave, which at first was a behemoth at 5.5 feet tall and 750 pounds for the small price of $5,000.  Last but not least, did you know that the first patented clothes dryer was invented by a man from North Dakota in 1935?  J. Ross Moore built an oil-heated drum in a shed next to his house so his mother didn't have to hang wet laundry outside in the winter.  He had both an electric and gas model.  Due to financial difficulties the next year, he sold his invention to the Hamilton Manufacturing Company.

OK, I think I've bored you enough now.  Have a good inventive week people!

Theories of Massage and Engineers

I was at the massage therapist today, and it was a different therapist I'd never had before (her name was Nikki).  Her touch was kind of light.  I told her she could use more pressure, and she did, but it still wasn't at the firmness level I prefer.  Occasionally she did get to the level I prefer, and then she would always ask if it was OK and I said it was, but then she'd back off the pressure again.  But that got me to thinking that maybe there are conflicting theories out there on how much pressure should be used.

I'm more from the school of thought that I prefer to be a little bit sore the next day.  If I'm not, I feel like I didn't get my money's worth.  No pain, no gain, I say.  I don't like brother-torturing-me kind of pressure, but I don't mind a slight amount of pain.

Is there a different school of thought that says you shouldn't try to wig your muscles out quite that much in one laying?  Also, I went and played tennis after the massage.  Is that bad?  Did I ruin all the effects of the massage by doing that?  I have submitted these questions to a professional for her opinion, but I'll take some amateur opinions too.

On a different topic, at work we reviewed this joke again.  It's a good engineering one and is reminiscent of Dilbert too I think.

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The woman below replied, "You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground.  You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude."

"You must be an engineer," said the balloonist. "I am," replied the woman, "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is, technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip."

The woman below responded, "You must be in Management." "I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air.  You made a promise which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."

Interesting Things

The study for BS tonight was I Corinthians 7.  I don't know how familiar you are with that chapter, but it's one of those where after you read it you wonder if you'll have anything to speak about because it seems to be filled with landmines and subjects that you might feel a bit uncomfortable discussing with mixed company or with people who are your parents' age.  Fornication is one of the big topics of the chapter.  Anyway, it was still good.  It was one of those special times when somebody who spoke before me expressed much better than I could what I was trying to get my thoughts organized to say.  One of those real "amen" moments.  I stumbled through my own thoughts when I spoke, but that other lady said it much better.  I know it can't always be that way because you need variety to feed everybody, but it's nice when it happens every once in awhile.  The thought for the day is that each one of us needs to be content in the place where God puts us because it's the best place for us.  It's not a new thought, but it was fresh again today.

The ride home from BS was very nice too.  It's probably the best one yet since the car pool dynamics changed a couple months ago.  Don't get me wrong - the change in dynamics has not been for the worse.  In fact, I'm sure it's for the better.  It's just that we've been going through an adjustment period, and tonight it felt like we were over the awkwardness hump.

On a lighter note, I sprung for the big commitment and purchased an entire Zac Brown Band album on iTunes.  Oddly, this is a first for me on iTunes.  I liked Zac Brown Band before, but now I'm an even bigger fan.  They have almost everything you need:  good singing harmony, acoustic guitar, fiddle, a little steel drums every once in awhile, and the occasional banjo, steel guitar, or piano.  Plus, they're a little off-beat and goofy.  The only thing that would be better is if they swore a little bit less.  I'm a big fan or their newer songs "Knee Deep" and "Colder Weather", and for a lesser-known one, I recommend "Quiet Your Mind."

Everyday Days

Yesterday my legs were getting kind of itchy and blotchy with a rash kind of thing, and I was really hoping it wasn't the start of another long uncertain diagnosis scabies / poison ivy / bug bite session.  It still itches a little bit, but not too much, and it doesn't seem to be spreading wildly and it's not seeping, so I guess I got off lucky this time.  All three times this has happened, it has been in late July / early August.  I wonder if there is a certain kind of bug or plant that's prevalent at that time that I'm allergic to?

Life goes on here.  Volleyball in the gentle rain left me sopping wet last night.  Softball this evening though was almost perfect conditions.  Work is heating up with some excitement.  I'm working on a quality issue.  It's fun because I'm learning a bunch of new stuff like how to try to measure something you can't see (infrared light).  It's also nice because it's a change of pace.  The only down side is the high pressure where sometimes you get a lot of managers breathing down your neck.

Have a good rest of the week!

Reunions Part 3 of 3

Just a little bit redneck with a few campers and tents on the front lawn.

Highlights of the Y-reunion

1. See #1 of the B-reunion.
2. See #2 of the B-reunion.
3. Fresh food.  Green beans, blueberries, juneberries, red raspberries, and mulberries.
4. Homemade food.  Fresh homemade pies (7 different flavors), tacos, cheesy potatoes, roast beef, homemade jam, homemade buns, crepes, pork burgers, bacon, rhubarb punch, scotcheroos/Special K bars.
5. Slip N' Slide!  It's not just for kids.....
6. Helping one celebrate a significant age milestone
7. See #7 of the B-reunion.
8. Jam sessions (of the musical variety).  Mostly I did the listening part.
9. A few final keepsakes from Grandpa's stuff.
10. See #10 of the B-reunion.

One of the jam sessions.

'Nuff said.

Super long Slip N' Slide.  We eventually got the grass wet enough that I could make it all the way to the cattails.  My abs and triceps were sure hurting a couple days later.  Notice how low the water by the bridge is in this picture compared to the one shown in Part 1 of 3.

Reunions Part 2 of 3

Wahpper, the largest catfish in the world.

 
Highlights of the B-reunion

1. The thing about family reunions is that when you go there you know everybody loves you and accepts you.  Even though they might know that you're a bit odd or strange and you have your struggles, they still support you and want the best for you.
2. Another special thing is the double bond I have with many of my relatives.  Not only are they my brothers, sisters, etc. by human blood, they're also brothers and sisters in spirit by the blood of the Lamb.
3. Speaking of blood (or not), it was also a pleasure to welcome some new ones into the family, whether by blood or marriage.
4. We saw the best zoo in North Dakota and rode the old time carousel.
5. We're always up for an adventure and willing to try stuff, even when it seems as innocuous as a bus tour of a town that is less than 10,000 people.
6. We had water fights.
7. We played volleyball.
8. We showed our creativity and humor at the program where we had some major video editing and dubbing, family trivia, and displays of talent.  We heard a "real" opera singer (not Mom) perform.  I wonder what my niece thought of that?
9. There was a special guest who came to honor some extinguished guests.  I'll post a picture, and if you want to see the full videos of the special guest, leave a comment or e-mail me and I'll send you the link.
10. Some relatives are going through heart-breaking times, but they're keeping a good attitude and their chins up.

Delighted with the petting zoo portion of the zoo.

 

Monkeys escaped from their cages.

Male monkeys escaped too.

Excited for a carousel ride.

Carousels:  Not just for the little kids.

Special Guest Elsie Jensen, ready to honor some extinguished guests.

A lot of pushing and shoving to get on the bus for the tour of Wahpeton

Reunions Part 1 of 3

It was kind of difficult to finalize this post since I was waffling about how much I should respect the privacy of others.  What happened was I went on vacation for about ten days.  Here are the basic mechanics of the trip.  Started from home after work -- drove a few hours -- spent the night at a Formerly Anderson hotel in the cheesy state -- drove the next day to the home of Muggles and BIL-Dan -- hung out there a day or so -- went to Fargo -- hung out there a day or so with some old friends -- went to the 'rents and spent a few days there with the nieces and Ananias -- on to Wahpeton for a lovely family reunion -- home again for another lovely family reunion -- to MSP for the night with one of my cousins and his wife -- another long drive back home.

A sure sign you're in North Dakota - the word lefse on a T-shirt.

There were no major adventures, but it was still a great time.  I will break it up into three lists/posts.  There may be some crossover between topics, but that's OK.

Best things about the non-reunion time of my vacation:

1. Fresh food.  New potatoes, green beans from the garden, blueberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, and juneberries.
2. Home cooked and comfort food.  Fried potatoes, tater tot hotdish, and that five bean dish thing with hamburger and bacon.
3. Learning about steel cut oats (although I haven't tasted them yet).
4. Meeting the young child (also my cousin) at the Formerly Anderson hotel.  She even wanted to stow away for the trip to ND.  That would have been a good idea for about three minutes, and then she would have changed her mind.
5. Seeing some old friends from college (Alli, Suz, and Weeds).  My favorite magnet seen on a fridge at one person's place showed a bed upon which sat a plate holding some seaweed-and-rice rolls.  The caption was "Wake Up Little Sushi."  That totally cracks me up.
   
6. Playing Super Mario Brothers Nintendo DS with my nieces.
7. Herman suffered a minor injury in a bad wind storm.  He was lucky it was only minor.
8. Through observation, I have determined one of the big keys to being a parent is patience.  Your three year old wants to do it himself?  You sit on your hands while it takes three times as long as if you did it for him.  Your five year old wants to help you cook?  You bite your tongue and hold your criticism as they "help" you with some tasks.  Your two year old wants to watch you make pancakes?  You give her a chair to stand on within arm's reach of the hot pan and hope she remembers it's hot and she shouldn't touch while knowing if she does touch the pan she'll learn a lesson the hard way.
9. Good talks and discussion with a cousin on a drive of more than four hours.
10. A good long drive with some "thinking time" after a week of being around a whole lot of people.
11. A visit to the care center to see a dear lady who perks up when kids come to visit her.  She wonders why God hasn't taken her yet.
12. My bicycle needs a name.  I'm thinking Bjorn (nice and rugged), Bernard (Refined yet friendly), or maybe Baxter (sounds tenacious to me).  What do you think?  I drug him along on the trip and he suffered through at least three thunderstorms, but I only actually rode about two miles on him.  Oh well.
    
13. Of course the one day we had big plans to tube down the river, we had strong thunderstorms, cloudiness, and wind.  Thus, we cancelled that plan.
14. Except for that one day, lots of heat and sunshine.  That's a good thing in my opinion. 

Thunderstorm near St. Cloud.

Trying to avoid going stir-crazy by doing some yoga.

 

 

 

Herman's storm damage.

How high's the water mama?  Aftermath of big rain and wind storm.

Return of the MelB

Well folks, I'm back.  I know Linda is happy to know that.  I'm not sure if the rest of you care.  I took a nice long vacation back home to North Dakota.  Summary post(s) are being formulated and are coming along nicely but not complete yet.

Until those are done, I'm not sure I have much else to say.  I'm still buried under a pile of unread e-mails at work, and it felt like I had meetings all day today.  It's nice to be fresh from vacation though - nothing upsets you when you have that nice lazy vacation glow.

All for now peeps.  Keep the bugs off your glass and smokies off your.....tail.  Ten-four, over and out.