Random Thoughts (Yet Again)

Random thoughts taken from an e-mail I received recently:

• I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
• Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
• I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
• The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
• Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it, and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.
• There is a great need for sarcasm font.
• How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
• The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
• Was learning cursive really necessary?
• LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
• I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
• Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
• How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
• I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
• Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"
• What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
• While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
• I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water. (Mel: Actually, I don't find this hard to believe since I do this all the time.)
• Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. (Mel: Totally on board with this one).
• If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
• Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
• Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
• There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
• I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
• "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
• While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.
• I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
• I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
• Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
• As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists. (Mel: OK, not totally true since sometimes I am that cyclist).
• Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what to do with it.
• It really grinds my gears when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text. (Mel: I frequently think this.)
• I wonder if cops ever get ticked off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
• I think the freezer deserves a light as well. (Mel: Maybe. How much are you willing to pay for this feature in the store?)
• The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself.

I think my favorite is the Waldo and Carmen San Diego one. Totally from my growing up era.

Meddling

I may not be allowed to comment on this article much, but seeing how you know how near and dear refrigerators are to me, I found this article interesting. In general I am not a fan of government stimulus packages, and I agree with some of the opinions expressed at the end of the article that this probably will not do a whole lot to stimulate the purchase of appliances.

Speaking of meddling, check out this link. You can see what you would have looked like many years ago (as long as you didn't actually live through that era - then you have "real" pictures). This is what I looked like before I was born. Apparently I dyed my hair a different color every decade.

1954

1964

1974

'Vention

This weekend I went to convention several hours away with some friends who live an hour or so away. Like usual convention was great, and the ride to and from convention was also lots of fun. I don't think I have laughed so much since the last time I took a long trip to convention. Gin, I think I know another person who rivals you in getting laughs. I'm kind of at a loss for words on how to describe the weekend other than to say we had some great fellowship and I'm glad I decided to go after all because I was kind of waffling on my decision to go. I even got two new e-mail addresses out of the experience.

This weekend my step grandmother passed away. It's hard to mourn her passing since her life on earth didn't have any quality for several years now, so we rejoice that she has gone on to a life that is so much better. And, we're thankful for the years she had with our grandpa and the happiness they brought each other while they could. I remember being impressed when she told me that she worked in a factory in Milwaukee at one time in her life soldering components on circuit boards. I suppose I should make a list for her, but I'm just not feeling the urge, so here's a picture of Grandpa and Bea on their wedding day instead.

Goodbye, Bubble Eye

Tomorrow we will say goodbye to a legend, an era, our glue, goofy, the bubble eye. A guy I work closely with will be retiring tomorrow after more than 35 years at the company. In the six years I've had the privilege to work with him, he's taught me many things, many of them about using a personal touch in your everyday life. Here are just a few of the things he taught me.

1. Taking an hour and a half lunch (often involving an errand) is lots of fun and a good way to bond with your coworkers and clear your mind.
2. Doing something as simple as finding out when a person's birthday is and then remembering to wish them a happy birthday can make them feel special.
3. Rule #6: Don't take yourself so seriously.
4. To combat things in the water in Mexico, make sure you always drink tequila while you're there to help kill the germs. (This may be a wives' tail, I'm not really sure since I haven't tried it.)
5. The performance management system is pretty much a joke.
6. If upper management or the bean counters can figure out a way to manipulate the system so that you get paid less in a subtle manner (usually by cutting your benefits), they will.
7. If they ask for volunteers and you don't take a step back, everybody else will step back and you'll be the "volunteer".
8. Remember to always Fish! at work. (I know that was totally a fad book, but this guy actually knew how to do this before the book came out.)
9. A "simple change" never is. If you hear someone say this, run fast in the other direction.
   
10. If it was easy, everybody would be an engineer.
11. If you don't want to know the truth, don't ask an engineer.
12. If you want to get an even straighter answer than you did from the engineer, ask a guy who has nothing to lose (like an engineer about to retire).
13. Stay out of jail.
14. You better start cutting those pills in half.
15. Some people wash their cars more frequently than when they get the free wash with their oil change.
16. Some people will go to great lengths to park in a spot that will minimize the risk of dings to their vehicle.
17. Planning ahead.
18. Nascar fans are very rabid. Some well-known Nascar drivers include Dale Earnhart Jr., Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart....
    
19. Everybody needs a good nickname.
20. How to verify a test fixture.
21. Where to get the best hot and sour soup in the western hemisphere.
22. Your friends are one of your greatest natural resources.
23. Everybody needs a hobby, and for most men (regardless of age) that involves watching girls.
24. People who have lots of money stand in their backyard and burn wet mules with it.
25. Sometimes you can sweat like an imbecile trying to do Chinese arithmetic.
    

He will be greatly missed, but lucky for us he'll be back after a couple months working as a contract engineer. Good luck John!

You Can't Spell Geek Without a Double E: Part III

One important thing I forgot to mention last time was how great my seat assignments were on my trip. I don't know how it happened - if the planes were full and they had to upgrade me by default or if the travel agent at work was good or what. Anyway, on my four flights my seats were as such: exit row, first class, bulkhead seat, and first class. Not bad, huh? If you ever get the chance to fly first class, I would recommend it. Don't get all high and mighty and think you're too good for that and you would prefer your economy seat. Let them upgrade you!

In a different line of thought, I have a new book called "A Century of Innovation" that I'm starting to work my way through. The number one innovation for the century is electrification. Electrical energy could be harnessed before the 20th century thanks to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Charles Steinmetz, George Westinghouse, and other greats, but it was a huge achievement to basically get the entire nation "wired" during the century. Actually within a couple decades. Also, did you know that since 1970, emissions from coal-fired power plants have fallen by nearly 50 percent, even while the amount of electricity generated has tripled? Take that Al Gore.

Another interesting fact is that the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington was completed in 1942 and is still the third-largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world. It's actually much larger and produces more electricity than the Hoover Dam which was built in the same era. Have you taken that dam tour?

Guad MX

Miss me?

This week I went to Guadalajara, Mexico for work. When I first knew I was going, I figured it would be blazing hot since it's farther south than Monterrey. However, I learned that Guadalajara is actually more mild than Monterrey and it's currently their rainy season. So, the weather was really nice. What little I saw of it anyway.

Gulf of Mexico coastline on the way home.

As usual, the manufacturing plant was brightly lit and a bit hot with my smock especially around 2:00 PM. I think I started to sweat more as soon as I stepped out of the airport in Chicago than I did in Mexico. It felt way more humid in Chicago anyway.

Since it was a short trip and I worked most of the time, I don't have a very long list:

1. The "after-dinner mints" at Applebee's were tamarind with chili powder flavor. It's actually not a bad combination. I know it's totally lame to eat at an Applebee's in Mexico, but that's where my Mexican travel companions wanted to go, and I wasn't feeling that well and thought it sounded OK to not eat something spicy. Ironically, I ordered the fiesta lime chicken. Go figure.
   
2. Gotta love the corporate nurse for sending us with drugs when we travel internationally just in case we need them. I think it was the sandwich with the scary lunch meat and "special sauce" that did me in. The only other food option was a fresh lettuce salad, which is another frequent source of contamination, so what are you gonna do when you're hungry? Eat first, suffer later, break down and take some drugs. Great diet plan.
   
3. Speaking of food, Mexicans actually make delicious cheesecake, which may or may not surprise you.
4. "The Silence of the Lambs": A very freaky movie not meant to be watched while you're in a foreign country in a hotel room by yourself. I didn't even care that it was English with Spanish subtitles, I changed the channel quick. "I'm having a friend for dinner...."
5. Spanish word of the trip: planta baja = ground floor

I only took a couple pictures while I was there since they didn't allow us to take pictures in the factory.

In case you sat and can't get up. Or, you need to call the maid to bring more toilet paper? Not sure...

Fireflies and Sunrise

Today I asked myself the question "How do fireflies light up, and could this mechanism be reproduced synthetically to produce artificial light?". I found the answer to the first part here, and the chemical reaction is used for some things, but I didn't find any reference to it being used to produce "artificial" light. So if you patent that idea, you should include me in on it. Since organic LED is already taken, I choose Organic FireLight for the name.

Some other thoughts: Getting up any time before 6:00 AM is not good for my attitude. And 5:10 AM is just WAY too early. The only benefit of getting up that early and starting to drive somewhere before it gets light is that you get to watch the magic of a sunrise while listening to country's weekly Top 40 or something equally awesome. Today was slightly different than that since it was pouring rain and there wasn't much of a sunrise. It was more a gradual lightening of the sky today. Oh, and there wasn't any music this morning either.

Yesterweekend

As I mentioned before, my aunt and uncle came to visit a few weeks ago along with my cousin. OK, they REALLY came out here to buy a camper, but they stopped by to see me too as an added bonus. In between their camper excursions, we toured a blueberry farm/patch/operation, watched some sunsets, walked on the beach, checked out the festival going on in town, watched some awesome fireworks, ate some almost-exactly-like-Mexico food, and hung out with some friends from meeting. Did I mention we got to ride the blueberry picker, and I even got to drive it? Yeah. I know. Totally rad.


It was a great time, and thanks for visiting Betharoni, Palt, and Wearl! As the pictures might indicate, it was not the warmest weekend in July and may have set a record for being the coldest year that weekend. But our hearts were warm inside... (*gag*) The moral of the story is that if you come to visit me it really is a good time despite the spartan accommodations here. I mean, it's no Formerly Anderson hotel, but it's decent. One step up from a Motel 6 anyway.

I'm not feeling "listy" today, so that's all I got.

Maturity

Have you ever seen the movie "28 Days"? It's about a person going to drug rehab, and in it they talk about how you shouldn't start a romantic relationship while in rehab or for a while after rehab. In the movie, the recommendation was: first, get a plant. If the plant is still alive after six months, then get a pet. If the plant and the pet are still alive after six more months, then you're ready for a romantic relationship (assuming you don't get a hamster or something like that with a short life span). The theory is that if you can maintain the health of a plant and a pet, then you are selfless enough to think of something/someone else beside yourself and the relationship has a chance of working. I'm guessing you have to know how to do that in a relationship anyway.

How I got thinking about this was because I dog-sat Friday evening through Sunday morning this weekend. I've always thought I was sort of a dog person, but I must say that it's way easier to kitty sit than to dog sit. With a dog you always have to let them out to go to the bathroom and take them on a walk so they get exercise and play with them so they don't get too hyper. And, *gasp* scoop poop. The only thing was I forgot that I would need to be scooping poop on my dog walk, so I didn't have a little baggie to put it in. I ended up using a leaf to kind of scrape it into some tall weeds near the dog's deposit site. Why would I remember a baggie? On the farm we never had to do that.

I'm not sure I'm ready to have a dog yet, which I guess for sure means I'm way too selfish to be getting into a relationship. But maybe dogs and relationships are like having kids. You're never fully prepared, you just have to have one and then you learn to be selfless as a result of the experiment. For now though, I think I'll pass on the dog even though they are fun and sometimes therapeutic.

Triathlon

Here's a partial glimpse of what was going on around here today. In the morning I was a volunteer for a triathlon going on here. It's a half ironman triathlon that is a qualifier for the world championship half ironman competition. So, I got to stand on the side of a road handing out gel packages/water/Gatorade to triathletes. It's trickier than you might imagine since some of those people ride by on their bikes going about 20 mph and grab the stuff as they fly by. I forgot to bring my camera to that part, so all I have are pictures of later when I was cheering on the athletes as they were nearing the finish line.


The day started out beautifully. No wind with temperatures in the upper 60's or lower 70's. It was nice and sunny and starting to get warm. Then, the wind started to pick up and was blowing against the bike riders, which I'm sure was terribly miserable. By the time a lot of the people were finishing the running, it had started to sprinkle/rain. FYI, a half ironman is a 1 mile swim followed by a 56 mile bike ride and ending in a half marathon. 70.3 miles total. You can't just walk onto this event and expect to finish without doing some fairly serious training.


If any of you readers are looking for a good half ironman triathlon to enter for next year, come and visit me - I won't even charge you lodging! Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that to be a volunteer you have to fill out a waiver form. Seriously, I can see why since I started bleeding when we were prepping the Gatorade bottles before the bikers started coming by. Those freshness seals under the cap are a pain in the neck.

Wandering Wonderings

• Is it difficult to tell when pepperjack cheese is starting to mold? It's already white with blue and greenish flecks, so the only thing you can look for is the fuzz I guess.
• I'd like to give a shout-out to Weeds who apparently has been in Hungary on vacation checking my blog. It's nice to know I warrant a vacation blog check. I don't even check my own blog when I'm on vacation (most of the time anyway).
  
• It always surprises me which posts people choose to comment on. Some of my best work that I think will get lots of comments gets none, and sometimes posts that I think are totally lame get tons of comments. I really don't know my audience very well, do I?
  
• Is the iPod really on its way out? I read an article yesterday saying iPod sales went down last quarter for the first time in history. I'm totally bummed! I haven't even joined that fad yet and it's already over. I'll just have to get an iPod Touch or something to stay hip. Maybe sales are down because of the economy. Ever think of that? Huh?
  
• Speaking of being hip, I find it ironic that my 60+ year old aunt and uncle have a Crackberry and a GPS, and all I have is my bare bones cell phone, an Atlas, and printouts from Google Maps. They probably have an iPod too.....
• Now that I mention my aunt and uncle, I realize I totally forgot to mention their visit. I'll have to do that on my next post.
• Shout out to Ananias: It's blueberry season. I'm just finishing a five pound box here at my house. :-) Are the june berries or goose berries or whatever they are "on the bush" yet there in your big sky country?
  
• Tomorrow is Thursday. Woo-hoo! Lots of work to do! So, I gots! to! go! to! bed! Latron. Also, I believe Thursday is "sweep the floor day". I'm just saying....I gotta jet before this gets more ridiculous.
• I'm dying of curiosity to find out who in Newton checks my blog. I have a suspicion who it might be but can't figure out the connection of how they stumbled on it to begin with.
  

Alaskar Trip

Short Summary

People I traveled with: 27 relative and friends. Lots of aunts and uncles, first cousins and their spouses, and some other friends who thought it would be fun to go on the trip with us (go figure).
Person I shared a stateroom with: My sister Megan. She left BIL-Dan at home to work.
Cruise ship: Holland America Line MS Statendam
Port of embarkation: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Ports of call: Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway: Alaska
Other points of interest: Glacier Bay National Park & College Fjord
Port of disembarkation: Seward, Alaska

My most favorite/memorable things about our Alaskan cruise trip are below. They are not necessarily listed in order of importance.

1. The awesome breakfast buffet. It rivaled and maybe even surpassed the college dining center. Now that's an accomplishment.
2. Afternoon taco bar. Not as good as "late night" in college, but not bad either.
3. Lots of adventures (kayaking, rock climbing, ziplining, etc.)
4. Spectacular scenery.
5. It was the perfect situation to wear my blue Smartwool sweater.
6. Hanging out with family and friends and getting to know some of them better.
7. Whale watching. Wow.
8. Lots of other wildlife too. Since you know of my fixation with that kind of thing, you understand how fun that was.
9. Delicious suppers every night. Mmm...Salmon.
10. You get to go to lots of different places and your hotel moves with you.

Long Summary

I had way too many pictures of great scenery to try to pick just one from each day that gave the "essence" of the day. Taking pictures of people is my second priority behind scenery, so I had way less of those each day. I decided to post one "people" picture for each day since there were fewer to pick from. To see all the awesome scenery and a few other people pictures, you'll have to go here. I know there ended up being a lot of pictures of me, but hey, it was my camera and my memories. Leave a fair chunk of time since there are just over 300 pictures to check out. For those not sleeping yet, you can carry on with reading all the dry details below that supplement all those pictures.

Saturday. We flew into Vancouver late Friday night, and after the continental breakfast (can’t beat Holiday Inn Express cinnamon rolls) Megan and I hung out at the hotel for awhile. I learned from “What Not To Wear” that if you have large hips you shouldn’t wear a jacket or shirt that ends at your hips. It should end right at your waist. That’s a wise bit of info for you there. We also had some good sushi at a local restaurant, and it was dirt cheap. We're talking less than $5 for two good sized sushi roll things. Then Megs and I went to Stanley Park with Dad and walked around for several hours. We ate downtown, went up to the observation tower thing, and watched the sun set from up there. The taxi drivers, just like in New York, often wear a turban.

Mermaid Mel

Sunday. After meeting at a conference room in the hotel, it was time to head for the docks. We stood in line to go through the metal detectors, stood in line to get our ship ID, and then Megan and I had to wait for the nurse to come and check me out because I had answered honestly on the health form that I had a cough (was recovering from a cold). Once the nurse took my temperature and decided I wasn’t going to infect the whole ship, we embarked, stopped by our stateroom, and headed for the Lido deck for our first meal at the trough. We took a tour of the ship and then suited up for the life boat drill. One thing I didn’t get during the life boat drill was that the sick and elderly were supposed to get in first and sit in the middle. Why? That would totally slow down the loading process, and why make the most effort to save people most likely to die? No offense meant, I'm just saying...it wouldn't be real efficient. Megan and I signed up to take a pilates class on the days we were at sea. What I didn’t realize is that there would be an entertainment show every night. That was always entertaining, hence the word entertainment. Since our ship was the Statendam, they have a lot of fun with that. When you do activities like Bingo on the ship you win “dam dollars” that you can use to purchase “dam prizes” like a "dam T-shirt" at the “dam gift shop”. You get the picture. Oh yeah, and they are very obsessed with telling you to wash your hands or use the alcohol hand sanitizer stuff.

Safety First, Sister

Monday. We were at sea. At breakfast we saw some kind of small sharks swimming alongside the ship. The swells that day were 4 to 7 feet, which caused a few to slap their patches on, eat their ginger, or spend some time lying down. Other stuff: galley tour, walking around the ship, taco bar, pilates, nap, cooking show, formal dinner. Megan and I had the policy that we weren’t going to take the elevator if we could help it. Let me tell you, going from the 5^th floor to the 11^th floor on the stairs leaves you winded! It was our warm-up exercise in the morning before we could eat. That night was the captain’s toast, which ended with “The best ships are the dam ships, and may they always be!”. Another classic from the captain that day was “As always the ocean is in motion.” I would say the stateroom was a cross between a hotel room and an airplane. The room part looked like a hotel, but the bathroom was kind of small and the toilet flushed like an airplane toilet.

Mel and Megs

Tuesday. Ketchikan, our first port of call. It was pouring rain when I stepped off the boat dreary and early to go kayaking. After a while the “liquid sunshine” tapered off a bit, but it was still threatening all day. The kayak people were all prepared and had "full dress” rain gear so that I didn’t get too wet. While kayaking we saw some harbor seals, starfish, and bald eagles. I made it back to the ship in time to shop for about 15 minutes, and then we were off to the next port. The entertainment that night was a ventriloquist, which was a total riot.

Kickin' it in a Kayak

Wednesday. The capital of Alaska: Juneau. Several of us in the group took a tour bus to some other docks, where we got on a smaller boat that took us out to go whale watching. It was a beautiful clear morning, so we saw lots of mountains (some with glaciers in them). We also saw sea lions, harbor seals, bald eagles, and the best part of course was the humpback whales. Here I will be a total geek and tell you all about humpback whales. They weigh 45 tons, can be 50 feet long, hold 15,000 gallons of water in their mouth, feed more than 20 hours a day while in Alaska in the summer, and have a throat the size of a grapefruit. Obviously not the type of whale that swallowed Jonah. Anyway, we were some of the lucky people who got to see the “Aurora Borealis of whale watching”. It’s called bubble net feeding where 10 to 15 whales do cooperative eating. For more details see Wikipedia. We also got to see a whale breach in front of our boat twice within a couple minutes. The whale watching may have been my favorite part of the whole trip. After whale watching we ate at our floating hotel, and then Dad and I went ziplining. That was really fun. I would recommend it to anybody who likes adventure and isn’t afraid of heights. We got up to speeds over 30 mph while on the ziplines. Also, did you know that southeast Alaska is home to part of the world’s 2^nd largest rain forest in the world? It’s a temperate rainforest that runs from northern CA all the way up the coast almost to south central Alaska. The Tongass National Forest is part of the rainforest and is the largest national forest in the U.S.

Houston, prepare for launch in 5....4.....3....

Thursday. Welcome to Skagway – home of a hospital without a doctor. I got up early to go up the mountain pass to Fraser, Canada on the White Pass Train. It’s a narrow gauge rail that took two years to build under perilous conditions without modern equipment. Over that period of time, 35,000 people helped construct it. Of those 35,000 only 35 people died, and of those 35 only 2 died in track building accidents. I guess the others got sick or died of old age or something. Once the train stopped in Fraser, I took a tour down the mountain on a bicycle. It wasn’t that extreme because it was on a paved road and there was a pace setter person we weren’t supposed to pass. Not impressed. I would have been what dad called an “eager beaver” on the bicycle ride down. After lunch, I took an excursion to go rock climbing. The first time I climbed outdoors and not in a rock climbing gym! I got to do two climbs and also rappel down the 80 foot rock face. The cost of living in Skagway is actually pretty high. Lots of the guides in town for the summer rent a house that 15 or more people share, and it wasn’t a very big house to start with. I was also told that the popular beverage there was Sitka Spruce Tip beer, and it’s useful to help prevent scurvy because of its high vitamin C content. I didn’t use them, but at the rock climbing place if you needed to relieve yourself they told you to use the “facilitrees”.

Rapacious Rock Rappelling

Friday. We were at sea in Glacier Bay. I thought this would be a relaxing day, but we spent a surprising amount of time running around the ship trying to get the best view of all the glaciers we were seeing. And we did our pilates of course. The glacier we saw calve the most was the Margerie Glacier, and it moves at a rate of seven feet per day on average. There was more than 200 feet of the glacier visible above the water and the park rangers said at least 100 feet of glacier was below the water. That glacier starts more than 21 miles up and into the mountains. The John Hopkins Glacier moves at fifteen feet per day and is one of the few glaciers still growing in Glacier Bay. Also interesting is that fifty years ago the whole bay was choked with ice, and then the glaciers started to recede. They were not necessarily attributing it to global warming though. The sound of glaciers calving is like a cross between thunder and a gun shot. And, one of the activities on the ship one day was basket weaving. I didn’t actually go to the class, but I was surprised they had the class since it wasn’t even a liberal arts college. Friday night was also when they had the late night dessert extravaganza. Lots of fancy desserts and chocolate at 11:00 PM is a great way to settle your stomach.

Relatives waiting for the glacier to have a baby cow or whale or moose.

Saturday. A large portion of the day was spent at sea, and we had the roughest water that day with 7 to 12 foot swells. In the late afternoon and evening we sailed around College Fjord, which is mostly what it sounds like. A body of water surrounded by land on three sides with glaciers in it that are named after ivy league colleges. It happened to be really clear that evening, and we got some great pictures. Also, in many of the pictures you can notice the water has a greenish blue tint to it, and that’s due to the glacial silt in the water. The silt is so fine that it would take the silt many days to settle to the bottom of a glass. Let’s see what else we did: 5K walk around the boat (on deck for the cure), taco bar, pilates, magician/comedian, nap, reading a book. Let me just mention again how much I loved the breakfast buffet every morning. Fresh squeezed orange juice, waffles and French toast with mixed berry topping and chocolate chips and whipped cream, omelettes, crispy bacon, mangoes……Mmmmmmmmmmmm. We also went to the late night buffet at 11:00 PM several of the nights. I found it fascinating to learn about the lives of the people who live and work on the ship and it seems like it might be fun to do that. Like for maybe two weeks. After that I'm afraid I would start to feel like a broken record.

Five sisters and a brother.

Sunday. Sadly, our journey was coming to an end. We disembarked for the final time at Seward. We then took the “Magic Bus” from Seward through Anchorage up to Wasilla. We found out later the Magic Bus is known as a party bus. I guess Eva didn’t know that when she booked it. On the way we stopped at a conservation center to see a bunch of cool wildlife they had there. We got in a pre-convention GM at Wasilla, and then Megan and I rode with Megan’s friend Chandra to Anchorage. We ate supper at a fancy place and I had some fresh Alaskan wild caught salmon, which is the best way to eat salmon I’m told. Then I went to the hotel where I stayed for the night with my cousin and her husband. We flew out early Monday morning from Anchorage to head back home. Some other interesting facts about Alaska include that around Anchorage its five main trees that grow there are the Sitka spruce, cottonwood, willow, aspen, and birch. Moose like to eat willow branches. Alaska does not have any snakes (in the wild anyway). Fossil fuels account for more than 80% of Alaska’s economy. Three fourths of Alaska’s population lives in the Anchorage area, which is why Anchorage thinks it should be the capital instead of Juneau.

This was the closest thing I could find to a human in my picture collection that day.

All in all, it was a great trip! I would recommend an Alaskan cruise to anybody who has not gone on one. Would I do it again? Maybe. Why not try something different though if I've already done this?

Cruisin'

You'll be glad to know that my Alaska Cruise summary is under construction and may be appearing tomorrow. To tide you over, I figured I'd post this "Top 10 Funny Things A Cruise Director Has Heard". I can't claim to be the originator of this. I just stole it from something we heard on the cruise.

Top Ten Funny Questions Heard By A Cruise Director

1. What religion are those people with the patch behind their ear?
2. Does the ship generate its own electricity?
   
3. Does the crew sleep on board?
4. Is the water in the toilets salt water or fresh water?
5. When I go to the photo gallery, how will I know which pictures are mine?
6. Where's the elevator that goes from the front to the back of the ship?
7. Do they really change the day-of-the-week carpet in the elevator every day?
8. Do I have to leave the ship to go on a shore excursion?
9. When we get there, which side of the ship will the whales be on?
10. What do they do with the ice carvings when they're done using them?

Here are a couple other quotes from the cruise trip that struck my funny bone:

• "You know what we say about a Caribbean cruise for two...'Woo-hoo!' " That might be too much of an inside joke for anyone but Megan and I to think is funny though.
• "You young single people who are on this cruise. I guess you didn't know when you booked that Statendam is Dutch for 'slim pickings' ". This was a reference to the fact that Holland America is sort of known to be the "older people" cruise line.
  
• "You're not artsy-fartsy unless you own a potter's wheel." From someone who said she was definitely not artsy-fartsy despite the fact that she majored in music/opera in college. She cleared me up on my misconception thank goodness.
  

Soap Bar

Have you ever thought about the typical bar of soap? Why do companies feel they need to stamp a design into the top or bottom or print the brand name on their soap? So you feel more confident that it wasn't made on the black market? They think stating the name on the package wasn't enough? So that if you have guests over who happen to use the soap that they know what brand it is, and because they liked it so much they'll buy that kind next time? Although that only works for the first half or third of the bar. It probably costs extra to stamp the design in there or else to have a more complicated mold to make the design.

Speaking of molds, why do all the en vogue bars of soap come in all these complicated shapes? You know how if you buy Lizzie's homemade soap from upstate that it comes in a rectangular block? But, all the standard popular brands all come nicely shaped with rounded edges and a nice curvature to the bar. I think it might be for easier gripping and lathering, but that's only an unfounded suspicion. However, it is a big waste of space to have all that curvature. Maybe that's the point. The same sized box, but fewer ounces of soap total because of the roundedness.

Gotta go folks - it's way past my bedtime, but I just had to get this thought out!

666-222 Tag

I've been tagged by Sara......like 3 months ago, but I guess it still counts.

1. Choose the fourth folder where you store pictures on your computer.

2. Choose the fourth picture.

3. Explain that picture.

4. Tag 4 other people.


1. & 2.) My Pictures -> 4th Folder -> 4th Picture. I had some sub folders inside the first folder and I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to browse through every available 4th folder until I got to the end, but I decided not to. I took the instructions literally to reduce the ambiguity.
3.) I organize my digital pics by year with 2000 being first, so this one goes back all the way to 2003. It's my sisters and I at Hunter convention. Muggles (Piles) was in college, I was less than a year out of college working at my current place of employment, and Ananias was still living in the cowboy state doing her PT thing Ananias style (had not offered to become a woika yet).

4.) Instead of tagging four people, I decided to post this "bonus" picture from the same 2003 folder. Ananias sent this to me that year so I could see some of her friends who were hanging out at J&E's. This was back when I really had no clue who Gin and Mow were and how crazy interesting they are. Now that I know those two much better, it's fun to see what they looked like way back then. Sorry Gin and Mow for posting these unauthorized pictures. I won't post a link to Gin's blog so she can stay anonymous. ;-) Unless things have changed, Mow doesn't have a blog, so don't bother to look for that one.

Getting There

My house doesn't *ting* like Linda D's, but it is at *spic* status I would say. I don't know if it will ever add the *span* part as long as I'm doing my own cleaning. At best it might get to be *spic-and-sp*.

This link tells what my house was like before I started the cleaning a week ago. You know it's bad when you wear shoes because you don't like how the grit on the hardwood floor feels on your bare feet.

Later peeps.

P.S. Sorry Ananias, you'll have to wait for the Alaska picture update until Monday or Tuesday.

Insight

I went to an art fair today for a little bit, and I discovered that I really like photos that are printed on canvas. That is totally cool how it looks like a painting, but then all the colors and lines are so crisp. I also like the look where the canvas is wrapped around the edges without a frame too. Just FYI in case you have several hundred bucks just lying around and want to buy a nice 30" x 36" print for me on my birthday. Or you could get me a card. Whatever you feel is appropriate.

What I did buy at the art fair was a cutting board with nice geometrical patterns in it made with different types of wood, just like a real engineer likes. The same guy who makes those also makes wooden kayaks. You can even take a class in town that lasts a week, and in that week you make a wooden kayak that you get to take home with you. Those kayaks looked really sweet. I'm tempted to sign up right now for the class.

You Can't Spell Geek Without a Double E: Part II

Did you hear about the two antennas who got married?
-The wedding was only so-so, but the reception was great.

P.S. For those brave enough to wonder aloud (and for those who weren't), my new glasses are my new "rec specs". I will still be wearing my old glasses on the usual day. My fashion sense isn't that bad yet.

Book Review (Warning: Strong Religious Content)

As mentioned in a previous post, I listened to a book on CD last month. It was "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren the preacher guy, not my third cousin. That is not my usual choice of book, but it was what was easily available in the Melanaway library by an odd twist of events. Interestingly enough, as I was listening to the last CD of the series while driving to the airport a couple weeks ago, I happened to be driving to the same city where the book on CD was recorded.

Some thoughts on the book and some quotes/thoughts from the book:

• "We only grow by taking risks."
• "The best expression of life is love, and the best expression of love is time."
• "If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate. You just need to change your focus."
  
• Someone who is difficult to deal with is an EGR, which means Extra Grace Required. :-)
• Many of the thoughts in the first half of the book, which covered love and fellowship, were fairly on target I thought.
  
• The second half of the book seemed like it lacked a focus on the Holy Spirit. First he would talk a lot about what you could do naturally, and then at the end of a chapter or two he would say "Oh yeah, and to do this you need the Spirit / you need to pray."
• I believe he only mentioned needing a revelation once at the very beginning of the book, which didn't seem like enough times to me for how important that topic is.
• At the beginning of the book he also mentioned how 40 days is a significant time period. Rick did have several examples (40 years in the wilderness, 40 days that Jesus fasted, etc.). But, maybe that was just a good excuse because the book had 40 chapters? Not sure....
• Busy-ness sounds the same as the word business on an audio book. Interesting.
  
• It mentioned keeping a spiritual journal where you record the things God has done for you and the things you've learned from God. Kind of like your own book of Proverbs. I can kind of see how this could be a good thing, and it reminded me of Psalm 116:1. On the other hand, what about the Lord writing his law upon our hearts and not on tables of stone (II Corinthians 3:3)? My jury is still out on that one.
• He does mention "ministry" and is accurate in saying that we all need to evangelize and show our testimony, but he did not mention the way Jesus sent out his apostles.
  

So: lots of good thoughts, but God still requires a life to back it up, and even if they're good thoughts and he does good deeds, it's not a substitute for reading the Bible or for obedience to God. Since I don't know the author of the book, I have no idea where he stands on all that stuff in his life, and luckily I don't have to. I can leave that in God's hands.

Yah, It's a Holiday

Well, not a whole lot went on here over the holiday. I was lazy the whole four day weekend that I had, which I was OK with. Sometimes weekends like this remind me how lame my social life can be and how I need to take more ownership of instigating social events.

I did see some wildlife yesterday. Mr. groundhog made an appearance on my deck and I saw the usual squirrels and such. Plus, I happened to step out my front door to check the weather, and these guys came running across my yard. They even wandered around my neighbor's yard for me so I could get this picture. I don't know what happened to their mother, but I learned that fawns bleat sort of like a lamb or goat kid, only these guys weren't as loud as baby goats are. Maybe it was their independence day too.


Since it's the middle of summer, here's a video tip: Put your swimming suit on before you go to the beach/lake/ocean.

Metaphorically Speaking

This post is for Eva and Avis. So many of these are good, I don't think I can pick a favorite.

Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's "winners".

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

14. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

15. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

16. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River .

17. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

18. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

19. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

20. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

21. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

22. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

23. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

24. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

New Specs 2009

I have returned home, and my new glasses were waiting for me when I got there. Check these attractive babies out in the picture below. More on my vacation when I get to it and once the land quits moving underneath me.

High Seas

Greetings from the high seas of Alaska. Nobody told me it would be so exhausting to be on a cruise. Contrary to what you might imagine, I am not sitting by the pool reading a book and sipping strawberry lemonades. It is lots of fun though! We've seen humpback whales, and the food jokes never get old here. Later peoples.

Even More of the Wild Life

Here are some pictures of the "seamier" side of the wildlife I've seen lately.

Maybe Uncle John can tell me what kind of gigantic spider this is and hopefully he'll also forgive me for killing two of these guys in the last couple of weeks.


A guy at work told me this was a carp - now I know what they would have looked like if Jeff and I had been able to shoot some over Memorial Day.


Well folks, you may go through withdrawals over the next week since I plan to be doing a lot of adventuring and yet more wildlife viewing in the next ten days and will likely not be blogging unless something totally incredible happens. Roger, 10-4, Over and Out.

Here, There, and Everywhere

I drove to Minneapolis (and beyond) again this past weekend. You'd think there was some kind of attraction there or something. I managed to stay at two different branches of the "Formerly Anderson" hotel chain, and both were equally hospitable. It was also great to see a bunch of good old friends. I think it's true what the "Sunscreen" song says: "Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young." I'll maybe go into all this in more detail in a separate post.


On the trip back I listened to a book on tape (more on that in a separate post too), and one thought from it finally explained why I spend my time doing crazy things like driving to Minneapolis on the weekend. "The best expression of life is love, and the best expression of love is time." So there you have it. I guess I must care about those people whose weddings I go to, so that's why I make the time to go. Obviously one of my stronger languages of love is "quality time".

In other news, I have some good wildlife pictures again - also coming in a separate post. It's the middle of June, and I haven't turned my furnace off yet. We had the dubious pleasure of playing softball in the rain this evening. I would totally be OK with summer starting on June 21st or 22nd like it's supposed to.

Advantage

One of the nice things about traveling to different places where you see different people each weekend is that you can wear the same clothes and no one is the wiser. Not that I ever do that or anything.

Who Moved The Paper?

I'm trying to buy some freezer paper - you know the kind you wrap meat in? Where do I find it? I looked at my local grocery store and Target, and neither place has it. I'm looking in the aisle that has the aluminum foil, cling wrap, plastic cutlery, etc., which to me seems the logical place. Doesn't anybody (besides me) use that stuff anymore? Maybe Walmart has a monopoly on it - I haven't checked there yet. I seem to remember several years ago when I bought it that I had difficulty finding it too. Hmmm.....maybe my once-every-three year purchase just isn't enough to keep the assembly line running.

Discombobulated

That's how the weekend felt. I drove to Minneapolis for a wedding this weekend. Before I left I almost forgot a gift and a card. I stayed in my usual "hotel" in Madison Friday night and got up early to (almost) make it to the wedding. I was doing so well - was going to make it with 10 minutes to spare if I hadn't missed the place where Hwy 5 and Hwy 312 split. I wandered around a bit on Hwy 41 until I figured out what happened, and by that time I made it to the wedding just in time to see them walking back down the aisle after being pronounced husband and wife. I missed my golden opportunity to attend a wedding in the rain! It's possible missing my turn was due to the heavy monsoon rains, my unfamiliarity with the area, and trying to watch traffic and navigate at the same time. Not that you care about my excuses. So yeah, I made it in time for the reception. After the reception I returned to my "hotel" in Madison. We won't talk about how I tried to take the back route to the hotel and took a wrong turn there too.

Here's a list of the "good" things about the weekend:

1. Stopping at REI and drooling over all the cool stuff there.
2. The wedding reception, which included good food and a candy buffet.
3. I even knew a few of the other guests at the wedding (I wasn't sure I would since the couple wasn't from my "normal" circle of friends)
4. The bride told me my attendance meant "more than I could know", which negated the usual "is it worth going to the wedding debate".
5. My hotel managers took me to sushi for lunch today.
6. No speeding tickets.
7. Despite it being a weekend without the usual week-day talk radio shows being on, I found some good talk radio programming on public radio (including Car Talk).
8. Seeing my cousin again.
9. Possibly the best white wedding cake I've ever had. Moist white cake with some kind of white frosting that wasn't too sweet and had real strawberries in it. Mmmm. Chocolate cakes cannot be accurately compared to white cakes. It's like apples and oranges.
10. Cheaper gas in WI.
    

A long car drive can't go by without resulting in at least one philosophical question. The best man at the reception was talking about it being important that your good friends like your spouse. Coupled with a conversation with my hotel managers, I got to thinking along that line. If your family/friends don't like your choice of mate, is that a sign of how your marriage will turn out? Can they see something you can't about the true nature of the person? Will they subconsciously sabotage your relationship with your mate if they don't like him/her? Does it just create extra stress on the marriage, resulting in a higher likelihood of the marriage not working? What if the reason they don't like him/her is because they're too similar in personality to your family/friend? If you have any answers, let me know. I'm thinking it may or may not be an indicator depending on the reason why they don't like your spouse.

I forgot my camera on my day trip to Minneapolis, so I don't even have any pictures of the wedding. Maybe I can get one from someone who did have their camera. Don't hold your breath though. And, I forgot to mention that I left my cell phone charger at home, so I spent most of the weekend with my cell phone off to conserve battery. Like I said, discombobulated.

Jen, I decided to try to keep up on the news because it seems like we are in a time of historic importance, and I want to be able to tell the young whippersnappers about it when I'm 80 years old (if I make it to that age).

Grumble Grumble

Things are busy and stressful at work the last week or so, and I'm feeling a bit grumpy today, so this post may be a bit snarky since I can't think of anything funny and witty to say.

I'm trying to make more of an effort to stay updated on the news, and I've been noticing the last week or so how these news articles quote someone who is speaking on terms of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the subject. Yet, they're going ahead and talking anyway.....where are their morals? Besides being morally obligated not to talk about a sensitive subject, they're probably legally prohibited from doing that also, or their job may possibly be in danger. So why would they bother to do that? Is the reporter paying them money, or do they just think it's so cool to see themselves anonymously quoted in print that they want to "dish" out the hottest news? If they're breaking company policy by giving out the scoop, then I say those companies should find out who leaked and fire them big time with no severance package. The exception to this rule is if you're being moral by speaking out, but the info these people were giving was not life, death, exposing an injustice, or even really worth risking anything to get your quote in print.

Today in the news they're talking about an Air France plane that they think broke up in the air while traveling through some major weather. Everybody's trying to get out there and find the black box, and they're talking about an "investigation" into the cause of the crash. Hello......hundred mile an hour updrafts or worse, in very unpredictable weather.....it's called an accident combined with a force of nature, people! Seriously - how is knowing exactly how the plane broke up going to help us? Are we going to require every plane to now be made out of titanium carbon fiber aluminum composite because of one freak accident? Are we going to require pilots to take yet more countless hours of training to prepare for just this situation when it's not likely to happen again? It seems like we're getting too extreme in trying to prevent all accidents and trying to make sure nobody has any hardship. That's why they're called accidents! And life will have hardships - we're promised that in the Bible. Duh. So quit believing it's everybody's right not to have any hardship. The best comes out of people/is made evident in people when they do have obstacles to overcome.

Now I'm off to bed and to get a fresh perspective for tomorrow.

Oil Change

Today after I had my oil changed at the local quick lube place, my car started smoking really badly and was losing power frequently. I took my car back and they said that the oil had been overfilled, which caused those symptoms. So they had to drain the oil again and refill it to the correct levels.

They said since my car was new that there shouldn't be any adverse effects from the experience. I'm hoping not. Apparently if you do that to an older car with older seals and valves that the extra pressure will blow a seal, and then the quick lube place would be paying for a new engine. The quick lube place really lucked out today I guess. I've been going to that place 4 or 5 times a year for the past 6 years, which comes out to about 25 visits total that I've been there. 1/25 = 4%. I'm not sure if that's a good error rate or not.

The moral of the story is: Underfilled and Overfilled are bad!

While I was waiting for my second oil change, the manager guy was talking to me, and he remembered that I previously owned a Ford Escort/Mercury Tracer type of car. I was impressed with his memory. Either his memory is good or I'm a very memorable customer. :-)

In Remembrance of the Weekend

I had a great Memorial Day weekend in the land of cheese and frozen custard, and all I took were a few measly pictures of the world's largest brat fest. When I saw the advertisement for the world's largest brat fest, I was envisioning a bunch of little individual tents where different people sold their brand of specialty brat - apple sausage, beer and bratwurst, Italian bratwurst, etc. In contrast, it was quite the opposite. There was one giant tent selling one (maybe two if you count the boca brats) flavor of sausage. It's not about novelty, it's about quantity. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just different than what I had envisioned. My siblings used to think I was criticizing Mom when I would tell her the hotdish tasted different. I wasn't trying to be mean, I was just stating a fact and wondering why it tasted different. I was an ideal candidate for engineering even back then. I'm not complaining about the Brat Fest, I'm just saying it was different than my mental image. Check out that awesome grill on wheels.


Anyway, here are the rest of the weekend highlights in no particular order of importance:

1. Some hard core bicycle rides (for me - not sure if it was for the guys I rode with).
2. A good visit with my cousin and eye doctor (who declined my generous offer of another link to her blog). Bratwurst and Vietnamese - what more could you hope to eat in one day?
   
3. Some good times with Mowla, her family, and her in-laws.
4. Having batting practice. If only those people would cheer for a real baseball team like the Twins.
5. My first time as a "serious" fisherwoman. I baited my own hook with real worms and actually caught a couple bluegills and a sunfish. It still counts in my book even if it's in a little stocked backyard pond.
6. Going down to try to shoot some carp in the marsh like they were fish in a barrel. Alas, the barrel was empty.
7. Phase 10 Dice - a pleasantly fun and fast-paced game. Also a great math skills helper.
   
8. I actually found a liberal talk radio station in Madison. Now that's a bit of an oddity.
9. By sheer coincidence, there was a single guy staying at my cousin's house this weekend also. I'm waiting to see what the rumor mill can cook up about that one.
10. I heard through the grapevine I have some "lurkers" on this blog from the cheesey state. Hello lurkers! Now I'm feeling the pressure to maintain the *ahem* high quality of this blog. Just an FYI, lack of comments sometimes discourages a blogger from posting more frequently.
    

That's all folks. No bonus number this time. Wait! I forgot one!

11. Finding the long-lost hot dog vehicle. I finally have proof that I was not hallucinating last summer. I found the weinermobile and was sorely tempted to sign up for a chance for it to come to my house over Labor Day weekend. The only reason I didn't was because I'll probably be at convention.

I'm Doomed!

I think I pretty much knew this already, but it does further confirm one of my theories on relationships. Speaking of dating and all that kind of stuff, I was thinking the other day that working with all those men at work has jaded me. I listen to them complain about their wives and warn the unmarried guys about getting married because of all the nagging involved, etc., and I think "Why would I want to sign up to be complained about like that?" I suppose there are good guys who don't complain about their wives (too much) out there and it's not cool to admit you actually like your wife in front of other guys you work with. Who knows. I know there are also wives who frequently complain about their husbands, and why would those guys want to sign up to be a subject of complaint all the time? Maybe some day I'll grow up and understand that relationship stuff better. Or not.

Is it a bad thing to complain about your spouse? I'm thinking sometimes certain actions just get on your nerves and you need to vent a little. But, does it start to affect your thinking and your love and lead to a downward spiral if you dwell on the bad points all the time? I would say yes - what's your opinion on that?

Whew! This is getting too heavy right before a holiday. Later gators and have a fabulous Memorial Day weekend. I'm thinking mine will be.

It Pays To...

Flat of 48 vegetable plants: $13
Fence posts: $8
Fencing with wires closer together on the bottom: $25
Keeping the rabbits and deer from eating your plants so you can eat homegrown vegetables: Priceless.

Now if only my yard had a place that got full sunlight.

P.S. I was mentally prepared for the boot camp lady yesterday, so my spirit stayed intact. :-)

Braving the Gauntlet Again

Tomorrow: Round 2 of the circuit training class at the Y. We'll see if the drill instructor is there and if I can keep a right attitude toward her this time.

Matter of Opinion

I try to keep up with politics a little bit so I don't look like a total ignoramus, but mostly I don't worry about it too much. However, with all the stuff going on recently I felt compelled to write to my congresspeople, so I did that this evening. I wrote to both my U.S. Senators and my Representative. Now that I've said my piece to them, I can get back to my regular programming.

What still burns me about the senators is that as part of the giant Omnibus bill a couple months ago they slipped in a 10% salary increase for themselves. Don't worry, they're not allowed to increase their salary next year though. Yeah, like that's any consolation. They were already making more than 80% of all Americans (>$150,000) - what made them think they warranted a higher salary in these tough economic times and large budget deficits?

Just out of curiosity, I looked back through some of my pay statements. Over the last several years, my merit increase has been anywhere from 0% to 8%. The 8% was when the economy was doing much better and I received the highest performance rating possible. I wouldn't give Congress anywhere near an A+ on their performance recently.

Whew! OK. Done for now. Let me just step down from this box here.

P.S. A critical point I forget to mention in my last post was that I saw some food in a grocery store in Chinertown that was ISO 9000 certified. I didn't know food companies were into getting that type of certification.

Chinertown

I did a day trip to Chinatown in Chicago with a friend today. The trip mostly focused on food. First we ate lunch, then we shopped for various Chinese groceries and delicacies. I had the best fruit freeze/smoothie/juice drink that I've had in a very long time, possibly ever. It was strawberry flavor with just the right amount of sugar (not too sweet) and some mini pearls and a few pieces of real fruit. Almost to die for.

We went to one fairly large grocery store there, and I kind of wondered how the health department has not shut them down. Somebody carted some meat from the meat area through an aisle to the back storeroom and left a trail of blood the whole way. A guy came along behind and mopped it up. It was a pretty long trail and he never stopped to "refresh" his mop or anything. I also saw a couple guys dipping some fish from one tank into a plastic container, and the fish were splashing so much that they were splashing water everywhere (including on the meat cutting area).

That stuff probably happens at regular grocery stores in the back too, it's just less visible. All their meat is USDA inspected, so that's a plus anyway. The meat counter was very fascinating. All kinds of live stuff (eels, fish, crabs, turtles, conches, snails, etc.) were represented. Some of the dry goods stores had large open tubs of stuff, so I thought that was extremely sanitary too. I would not recommend going there if you're a germaphobe. If that doesn't bother you, then by all means check it out. That's about all I know. It's off to bed for me.

The Wildlife

I bet you thought I was over my obsession with animals and wildlife since I haven't posted too much about it recently. Well, you would be wrong. Here are a few pictures to show you some of the natural things I've been observing lately.

A cardinal pair - the male is the bright red one, and the brownish one is the female. Every morning for the last couple of weeks, around 7:00 the male thinks he needs to fly against my bedroom window a bunch of times for some reason. He even does it at other times of the day when he feels like it. Not impressed. He's loud enough that he wakes me up.

Woodpecker. His picture is a little blurry because he was probably 40 feet away and I only have a little point and shoot camera. One day the cardinal tried to teach Woody his bad habit, but luckily the lesson didn't stick.

Spring has sprung! Tulips in my yard.

Hopefully there isn't a "special place" where people who evict the state bird (and their eggs) go. The robins were amazingly fast at rebuilding their nest (see previous post), and this time they laid some eggs before I got to it. I don't know what part of "don't build your nest here" they didn't understand.