Garage Door Upgrade

As I mentioned in my just past winter solstice post, I put my brother to work while he was here.  In 2004 somebody broke into my garage and wrecked the service door in the process.  Five years later I finally bought a new door and had Jess install it. 

2004 after the door was broken

2009/2010

He installed the door but had to leave before he/I finished with the spray-in insulating foam stuff and with the brick mold trim.  The brick mold doesn't look too bad except for the large gaps at the corners, and I figure that's why caulk was invented.  I'm sure I could have done better with making the gaps smaller if I had better tools, but all I had was a circular saw and a makeshift sawhorse that required me to "free hand" the 45 degree angles.  Now all I need to do is caulk and paint. 



The first cut I made, I wasn't thinking straight and made the angle going the wrong way.  This meant my careful calculations on only needing one 8' and one 10' piece of brick mold were in danger of being wrong and resulted in a splice on the top of the doorway.The splice actually looks fairly decent in my opinion.  I also had opportunity to use the counter-sink drill bits my parents gave me for my birthday a few years back.

 

Stuff

• Melanaway, I wore teal blue socks with stripes to the Y tonight.  I know you think that's cool.
• Four plus hours on the phone at work in one day is waaaaaayyyy too many.
• If you're thinking of buying anything with electronics in it in the near future, you may have a few delays.  Part shortages are rampant, even with resistors.  The reason?  Maybe a combination of the Chinese New Year holiday and a supposedly recovering economy.
• How much extra are you willing to pay for a car that is guaranteed to never ever have the gas pedal stick versus a 1 in a million chance that your gas pedal might stick once in your life?  I'm for safety, but in some ways I think we've gone a little too extreme.  Sometime I feel like life is risky, and people need to accept that rather than always try to prevent all possible catastrophes.  People say they want higher quality, but not everybody is willing to put their money where their mouth is, and their actions are saying they're willing to get lower quality if they can pay less.  If cars implemented independent safety systems like airplanes or space shuttles, I think it's possible it would price many people out of the car market.  Does that make any more sense than the occasional accident because your gas pedal drive-by-wire module malfunctioned?  Kinda reminds me of the whole Ford Pinto thing.....
• What sparked the previous bullet's line of thought was the full document written by Keith Armstrong that is mentioned in this article.  The full document was forwarded to me from a guy at work since we work on electronics, and the type of stuff mentioned in Keith's article is the type of stuff I think about at work.  Except I don't think about it for cars, I think about it for other stuff.  Here is the link to the full article.
  

Mug Shots

OK, I may have exaggerated a little bit on how awesome my Monday (now Tuesday) post would be, especially considering how funny the video from snowboarding turned out.  But first, some observations:

• Olympic Women's Snowcross/Snowboarding racing was on NBC while I was at the Y today.  Nice.
• The patent applications should be submitted some time this week.  Not only one, but two applications.  "Said touch pads blah blah blah therebetween blah blah blah aforementioned blah blah blah Figure 1 blah blah blah."  It's very riveting reading.
• Ummmm...I got nothing else.

Here's my idea.  I sent my passport in for renewal, which means I had to get new passport pictures.  So I thought I would do a nice little collage of my mug shots over the last ten years.

In order of appearance.....
My 2000 passport picture - while I was in college in my contact wearing phase.
2008 picture to get my visa to go to China - glasses frames in the spankin' new phase.
The 2010 passport picture - same frames as 2008 now in the well worn stage.

Lookin' good, huh?!?  Right.....You know what they say - if you look like your passport, you probably need the trip!  Honestly, I don't think I look all that much older, which means I was an old looking 20 or am currently a young looking 30.

Shreddin' It

It was a good weekend - I went over to the cheesy state (yes, again).  The lift ticket was more expensive than two of the places we went to in Montana, but the day was still good.  The snow was decent for midwest snowboarding, the sun was shining, the temperature was cold but not too cold, the company was great, and we heard some legendary country tunes on the way to and from the slope.  Check out the video - make sure you have your sound on as that's half the entertainment.

The Bright Idea

My day is complete.  I stirred up some trouble on facebook and wrote a goofy e-mail.  Except that I have to go finish some laundry stuff before I head for bed.

I learned about light bulbs today.  A guy at work said he observed/tracked light bulbs for a couple years in his house, and he says GE light bulbs last half as long as everybody else's and that Sylvania makes the best ones.  You can take this with a grain of salt if you want since he did not show me the data, but that's what he said.  In general he's a fairly trustworthy guy, so it could be true.  If you doubt, maybe you need to start your own observational chart of Light Bulb Life vs Brand.

I have an awesome idea for a post, but I don't think it will be implemented until Monday.  I have more important things in my life going on like Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day and stuff and things, you know?  Is it President's or Presidents'?  I think it's plural because they're honoring both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays.  Update:  The first online article I checked does not make the day possessive.  So it may be multiple presidents we are honoring, but they do not own the day.

The winter Olympics start tomorrow - holla!  Even though I don't get to watch much of them (usually it's limited to brief times at the Y or short internet clips), I am a huge fan.  One of my most favoritest things is speed skating, but I'll watch snowboarding, downhill skiing, luge, cross country, figure skating, hockey, etc.  I think the biathlon is also an event - where they do cross country and shooting together - how weird is that?  The games are in Vancouver, which is interesting to me since I was just there this past summer.  And there was that one time I had a plane ticket intending to go to Whistler but changed it to go to Idaho instead.

Enough of the silliness.  The laundry has been procrastinated long enough.  Hasta la pasta, bee bee.

Tires and Feeds

I had Herman's oil changed today at the dealership, and they told me that my tires are borderline.  The car is about 20 months old with 28,000 miles on it.  Does that seem right?  What is the usual mileage life on a tire?  They told me they are high performance tires, which is why they don't last as long.  I will concede that the tires do seem to slip a little more this winter when I'm trying to take off on the ice, but I wouldn't say they feel like they're bald or anything.  I'm thinking maybe I'll see if I can make it through the summer and then buy new ones.  Then again, maybe I'll actually look at the tread and see how bad it looks.  Is it OK to replace high performance ones with normal ones?  Or do the rims dictate that I need high performance tires?  Not sure.

On another topic, I was thinking about blog feed applications.  I've thought about using one, but I think I like the anticipation of going to someone's blog just to see if they've posted something new.  It's not about efficiency, it's about the experience.  For me anyway.

That's it for me today.  I'm keeping it short because yesterday's was so long.  Peace out, peeps.

Enginerding

Since I didn't have anything original to say today, I'll go with Eva's suggestion and tell you all what I do for work.  I'm an electrical engineer, and I design electronic controls.  There.  I'm sure that clears it all up.

I really am not sure how to describe what it is an engineer does.  Even within the field of electrical engineering, there is an astounding number of different things you can do.  EE's can work with large things like the power grid, power plants, space shuttles, and airplanes.  They can work on nanotechnologies that are small enough to swim in the human bloodstream or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that are smaller than your fingernail.  I work on none of those.  I'm somewhere in the middle designing circuit boards that go into consumer goods.  One example of a circuit board is that green thing in your computer with a bunch of square black, silver, yellow, and blue things on it.  Inside your computer there are actually several circuit boards.  What I do on any given day varies widely.  Here is my typical day.

• Get into work around 8:00.  Start computer boot-up process.
• Prepare my oatmeal breakfast while computer boots.
• Check e-mail.
• Respond to urgent e-mails.
• Send out e-mails to other people.
• Call some other people.
• Go to the lab and make sure you "squeak" so they get your work done.
• Go to lunch.
• Return from lunch.
• Nap.
• Check e-mail.
• Write some more e-mails.
• Make some more calls.
• Attend some meetings.
• Snack
• Check e-mail.
• Shut down computer
• Leave work.

Seriously, some days it feels like that's about all I get done.  I do actually do some "real" work every once in awhile.  I'm in the "execution" (otherwise known as delivery) part of the company, so that means I don't do a lot of inventing, but I do a little bit of design work, I re-use a lot of stuff in my designs, and we are the "experts" in how to make a circuit board dirt cheap while still trying to walk that fine line between cost and quality (robust design) and jamming 40 pounds of potatoes (otherwise known as features) into my 20 pound circuit board, so to speak.  No two days are ever the same, so it's hard to describe.  Maybe as a compromise I will describe the last two days I worked (Friday and Monday).

Friday

• Get to work around 8:15
• Start computer boot-up process.
• Prepare oatmeal for breakfast while computer boots.
• Check e-mail.
• Go to 2.5 hour long weekly project summary meeting where we discuss progress of the projects, issues, give status updates, etc.  There are about ten people in the room and people on the phone from India, Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S.  I don't work on all of the projects, so while they're discussing projects I don't care about, I.....
• Update a parts list for an upcoming prototype build and send it to our contract manufacturer.
• Upload the parts list changes into our document management/storage system.
• Update a couple other documents in the aforementioned system in preparation for the project review happening that afternoon (don't want to look bad when the managers review it!).
• Review some test results, put my analysis in the test request, and resubmit it to the lab so the test request can be closed.
• Respond to some e-mails.
• Instant message with people from work about various tasks, tests, etc.
• Give my input on projects I am working on - resources needed, issues that need to be addressed, items we need to watch closely, ideas on possible root causes of strange behavior from the circuit boards or systems we are responsible for, etc.
• Start my weekly update e-mail but don't have time to finish it during the meeting.
• Finally, the marathon meeting ends.  Go from the conference room back to my desk.
• Do some more e-mails and maybe check my voicemail.
• Instant message with a co-worker to find out the plan for lunch.
• Have a discussion about where to go for lunch and reluctantly agree to Long John Silvers
• Lunch
• Return from lunch - I am double-booked with meetings starting at 1:00 PM.  I tell my project leader I won't be at the project review (I'm sure she can handle it without my help).  Decide to go to the Six Sigma training meeting from 1:00-3:00.
• Review someone else's data for the first 1.5 hours of the meeting, give ideas, suggestions, ask questions, etc.
• For the last half hour of the training, I present my project and begin collecting ideas, questions, etc. on how to approach the test planning I'm working on.
• Return to my desk.
• Finish my weekly summary e-mail I started in the morning.
• Check e-mail.
• Sort through e-mails - deleting, saving attachments, reviewing documents, sending reminders to people on stuff I need them to do, etc.
• Respond to instant messages.
• Respond to urgent e-mails.
• Leave a phone message for the lab manager about a test request that is not getting completed in a timely manner (in my opinion anyway).
• Upload more documentation to the document storage system.
• Review simple circuit board drawing and send e-mail stating concern with design and drawing and how the concern can be fixed.
• Try to get my mind organized - make a to-do list for the things that didn't get done this week that need to be done next week, etc.
• Realize how late it is and that it's a sign of how lame my personal life is that I'm there so late on a Friday.
• Enter time into time tracking system.
• Check personal e-mail and take a quick gander at facebook.
• Shut down computer
• Leave work.

Monday

• Get to work around 8:15
• Boot up computer
• Prepare oatmeal breakfast while computer is booting
• Check e-mail
• Respond to urgent e-mail
• Decide I'm going to "crank through" doing documentation and project updates on a cost improvement project that has been lingering for months.
• Print out parts list drawings, mark them up, and give them to the documents guy so he can get that started.
• Call into conference call on the UL approval status of many different projects.  Make a suggestion on how to more efficiently test one control to get IEC approval.
• Make sure schematic for the cost project has everything changed that needs to be changed, make sure the title block is correct and that nothing "weird" happened to the CAD project (sometimes weird stuff happens).
• Create official revision B schematic for engineering notice release.
• Work on generating documents for parts list changes so that the parts lists can be uploaded into procurement's tracking system.
• Have inner debate about most efficient way to accomplish this task and choose course of action.
• Get engrossed in this task, and then realize how late the hour is getting.
• Instant message lunch buddy to see what the lunch plan is - he is delayed in a meeting, so I decide to go home and eat leftovers.
• Return from lunch and continue with parts list work where I left off.
• Finish parts list file generation.
• Upload completed files to the parts and bill of materials system.
• Call vendor representative and leave a message about when I'm available this week to meet with him.
• Make sure ECAD files are all hunky-dory and load them to the network drive where the CAD guy can access them.
• Walk over to the CAD guy's desk and ask him to generate his part of the revision B documentation.
• Upload parts list files to document storage system.
• Get revision B documentation from CAD guy and review it.  Give him the "green light" to send all Rev B ECAD documents to the document guy for official file system storage upload and engineering notice preparation.
• Have discussion with cube mates about the Super Bowl.
• Check e-mail - got a lot of them while I was working on this other stuff!
• Start sorting through e-mail.
• Call into conference call to discuss project status and schedule.
• After conference call, read through and respond to some more e-mail.
• Realize it's 5:00 and I need to be out of there to make it to racquetball on time.
• Enter time into time tracking system.
• Check personal e-mail, looks for comments on my blog, and check facebook quickly.  Not much going on with any of them.
• Shut down computer.
• Leave work.

You might be sensing some themes:  Oatmeal for breakfast, lots of e-mail and instant messaging, project management, meetings, documentation, and asking other people to do stuff for me and reminding them when they don't. :-)  On paper it sounds kind of boring and tedious, and there is some of that.  It's hard to describe the fun stuff like the challenge involved with doing my work though.  If you made it to the end here, I'm surprised.  A gold star goes to you for your reading fortitude!  That's all I got folks.  On the rare day I even get to go into the lab and do some testing, or I might actually get to *gasp* design something!

Random Thoughts

I almost let the day pass without a post, but after checking a few other blogs I was feeling slightly inspired.

Facial cleanser manufacturers are missing a very obvious market.  I was at Walgreens the other month looking for an airplane carry-on size facial wash tube/bottle.  All I could find was the large-enough-for-two-years ones or the really tiny only-enough-for-a-day ones.  They need to find a happy medium.  In my opinion, there is a large market for 3-1-1 sized stuff that is not being fully tapped.

I had to work really late yesterday to do it, but I managed to finish the big chunk of documentation that I've been chipping away on for months.  That felt good!  Now I can go on to more *exciting* tasks related to my project.  Speaking of my project, the first phase of it is going to production in April, so that's kind of fun.  Since we're talking work, what has been happening the last few weeks is when I look at my schedule for the next week, it always looks pretty open, and I think I'll get tons of stuff done with not many meetings.  But, then the meeting invitations start rolling in a day or two beforehand, and every day fills up with a whole bunch of stuff that I hadn't intended to spend time on.  Oh well, such is the life of an engineer.

I had a sore throat most of the week, but it feels like that is starting to fade, which I'm totally OK with.

I ate lunch at Long John Silver's today.  That was only the second time in my life.  The thought of that much fried food all in one meal disturbs me a little.  It's not that I don't like the food, but I don't think I'll be making it a habit either.  That's about the only place I know of to get hush puppies around here.  The woman working the counter was super friendly.  Good service with a smile makes up for a lot of other shortcomings.

I had to use some airline miles before they expired, so I ordered an iPod shuffle with them.  It's supposed to arrive some time in the next 4-6 months or something like that.  We'll see how I like it and if I ever use it.  I'm just getting so high-tech these days.  What will be next?  Purchasing a GPS?  Getting a new cell phone?  Yikes, that sounds like it would involve spending money!  I gotta go squeeze my pennies and nickels.  Later.

Chuggin' Along

This past weekend was a whirlwind trip home to ND for the funeral of my first cousin once removed.  In the span of 46 hours I was on the train for about 24 of those.  For those of you doing your math at home, that's more than 50% of the time!  I don't think I took many pictures, but I'll check my camera tomorrow just to be sure.  Here's my "short list" from the trip:

• We cut our arrival to the train station really close.  Like close as in sort of late.  We must have been living right because the train was late too.  We even had time for a Vienna pure beef hot dog before we boarded. They did not serve pork in any of their food, just FYI.
• May have made it on the WISN 10:00 PM news as they were filming us while we boarded the train - thank you Obama for the publicity.
• We ate in the dining car for supper.  Can you say high brow?
• There is something invigorating about 5 degree F weather.  It makes me feel like I still have that true pioneer spirit.  We just don't get much of those temperatures here.
• Another good thing about 5 degrees is that it usually comes with lots of sunshine.
• Sometimes funerals can be like weddings.  You make a lot of effort to get there for a short service followed by a brief moment of face time with the grieving family/wedding couple.  Actually, I can see more of a point in going to funerals than to weddings.
• I didn't have any words of wisdom or comfort, so hopefully my presence and a hug or handshake was good enough.
• It's always good to see so much family even when the occasion isn't such a happy one.
• You see/meet all kinds on the train - and sometimes they're your relatives! (just kidding, Mowla)
• Wreaked havoc on my sleep schedule.  Lack of sleep often means I get a cold, which is why I must end this post so I can go to bed early.

P.S.  Forgot two yesterday:

• No 3-1-1 luggage screen process on the train.  Yay.
• Train bathrooms are pretty much like airplane bathrooms.  Is that crooked soap dispenser bottle for fashion or function?  The train does have a dressing room, which airplanes do not have.
• Seeing a huge "harvest moon" rise over the Chicago skyline in January.

Souls

In a discussion with some guys at work today, we happened to talk about how there was a guy who once experimented to try to measure the weight of a soul.  That guy's hypothesis was that the soul actually did have mass.  I don't know why exactly I think this, but I would hypothesize that the soul does not have mass, although I'm not sure I have any verses or other reasons to think that.  Dad, maybe you'd want to install a special bed in the Good Sam's dying room to measure if their weight changes by a couple grams when people die?  The tricky part would be defining exactly when the soul leaves the body.  While I don't know about the weight of a soul, I do know its worth:  priceless.  And that's way more important than its weight.

Redemption

Well, I'm gonna do it.  I'm giving old Amtrak a chance to redeem themselves.  For you long-time readers, you may remember my last experience with them was not the best.  If they fail again, then I'm going to like, totally, like, take my business to that other passenger train company......like......ummm.....wait.....they don't have any competition.  Except for Herman of course, and he's not happy about being left behind.

Other than that, not too much is happening except sending kind thoughts towards my cousins who are mourning the death of their dad.  While not completely unexpected, it was still kind of sudden if that makes any sense.  If you've gotta go, you might as well do it quickly I guess.

Three Generations

Since I've been on such a shoe buying spree, I also bought some new tennis shoes last weekend.  The new pair of those did have laces because no self-respecting pair of sneakers has anything but laces.  This means that I now have three generations of exercise shoes in the house.  At the far left are my outside use / going to be doing something where they might get ruined shoes.  The center pair just got demoted to my occasional outside / sometimes inside pair, and of course the far right ones are my inside only pair.  Well, at least for maybe the next month or so until I get lazy and don't feel like carrying them into the Y to change shoes there and just put them on at home.

You may also notice that they all look very similar.  Yes, I like blue, and I like the Asics brand even more.  It's called customer loyalty, folks.  I tend to be that way about all my shoes.  When I find a brand that fits just right, I stick with them.

This and That

Is your computer in need of a cleaning?  Try this.....

I always have the same thought when I eat Runts.  First I start out wondering why they make a fruit-shaped candy that's a heart instead of a fruit, and I wonder what hearts are supposed to taste like.  If I'm on my game, then I usually realize that the "hearts" are supposed to be strawberries.  I think.

Cast your vote on this serious issue....

I've decided how I might describe Facebook:  a social minefield.  I don't know this person real well, but I know who they are....but I'm not sure if I know them well enough to approve their friend request.....but I don't know them well enough to know if they'll be offended if I reject or ignore their friend request....I'm not sure if I want them to know lots of details about my life.....what if one of my friends from work posts something that might offend my grandma when they're both my friends (because my friends at work do sometimes like to go with the shock factor)....it's all very stressful.  :-)

More Than I Can Chew?

Wow, I must say I feel a bit overwhelmed and surprised.  When I joined FB yesterday, I invited less than 10 people to be my friend thinking maybe I could keep a low profile.  Not even close.  Within a couple hours I probably had ten new friend requests, and when I checked earlier today that number had risen to a total of maybe 25.  What surprised me even more than that was who the "first responders" were to my joining.  It was just a whole mix of people.  Now I guess I better go review all those people and decide if I want to approve their friend requests.

Peer Pressure and Blackmail

That's what was used to get me to join the whole social networking scene again.  My friends at work play dirty.  They send their social inviations through Facebook and said there were lots of pictures of me that they had posted.  That got me curious enough to join again.  We'll see how it goes.  Don't worry faithful readers, I don't plan to totally abandon this site for the old FB.  And that's not the reason I haven't posted much the last couple days.  I just haven't had any inspired observations is all.  Unlike last week when I was, like, posting every day.  Later peeps.  Stay out of jail.

One Piece Short of a Puzzle

Megs and BIL-Dan, I finished the puzzle last weekend to the best of my ability anyway.  You can rest easy now.  Unless Sully ate that missing piece.

Is there a new ettiquette nowadays on answering the phone with the large proliferation of Caller ID?  In my opinion, back when only a few people had caller ID it was a bit creepy if somebody answered the phone by saying "Hello, Whatsherbucket".  It almost felt like they were spying on you and knew you were going to call them.  Actually, until about two months ago my phone at work was an older model where I couldn't see who was calling, so I had to gamble every time I answered the phone.  It was hard to screen out the vendor reps' phone calls.  Now that almost everybody  has Caller ID and everybody knows that, is it not creepy anymore to answer the phone and state the person's name before they talk or identify themselves?  It's getting to the point now where I feel almost foolish telling somebody who it is that's calling because I know they probably already know.  Unless there are extenuating circumstances of course like I'm not calling from my phone or I'm making some kind of cold call or it's a stalking call.  Oh wait, no, I don't identify myself on my stalking calls.  Then it's not stalking anymore.

Just Past Winter Solstice Holiday

I never summarized my "few days past winter solstice" vacation/holiday.  I didn't actually go anywhere, so I think that means a summary list is not required.  All of the family but Ananias drove out to my house.  They came Thursday evening and started trickling out the door Saturday afternoon with the last ones leaving on Monday morning.  We played some games, ate, visited, puzzled, etc.  I put my brother to work for a few hours.  All in all, it was some good family time.  I've never taken the actual survey, but I think probably my primary language of love is quality time.  Anyway, I digress.  I have a few pictures, but none of them are that great.  I'll post a select few, and that will have to do.  Here are some other random thoughts from the long weekend when they were here.

Who knew nine people could eat so much food?  Good thing I had some help with making the food while everybody was here.  It felt like every time we made a meal that I was making enough food that would last me for two weeks.  I'm not sure how only two heaping grocery carts was enough to last our family two or three weeks back when I was a teenager

Gingerbread houses look cool and are fun, but did they really eat them after they made them back in the old days?  It seems like they would have felt obligated to eat them back then, but I can't imagine they tasted very good.  How did gingerbread houses ever become a "holiday activity" in the first place?

I can appreciate some "acts of service" language of love stuff too.  It's nice to come home after a day away from the house to find that before your guests left they shoveled the driveway for you.  It's also nice to have a handy brother who can install doors and investigate roof leaks for you.  More on that at a later date.  This was also when my birthday present from my brother and his family was delivered.  Finally, here are the pics.

Ready for the smorgasbord.  I pulled out all the stops for the family: fancy tablecloth, my best plastic card table, and my fanciest water pitcher.  I also messed up and accidentally bought the low sodium black olives. Whoops.  Not cool, Mel.  Not cool.

That one gingerbread man didn't run fast enough to stay ahead of Sully.  He also sampled the corner of the gingerbread house before any of the rest of us.

View from 25 feet.  Awesome, isn't it?

Epitome

This is my birthday present from my brother and his family.  They said something about it reminding them of me.  I'm not sure why...I only have one gray hair, and I'm also a female.

So far the start of a new decade has been fine.  I got a couple cards, someone made me a birthday cake, and I got sung to twice.  Plus I got chocolate as a present from one person.  Not bad, not bad at all.

Starting the 100 list?

I figure this should be easy for me seeing how I'm not all that wordy even though it may be difficult to tell that from how much I post on this blog.  We'll see.


Here are the Rules:
Use only one word to answer the questions. 

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your hair? disheveled
3. Your mother? courageous
4. Your father? humorous
5. Your favorite food? potatoes (maybe - this one is very difficult to pinpoint)
6. Your dream last night? none
7. Your favorite drink? juice
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. What room are you in? office
10. Your hobby? exercise
11. Your fear? criticism
12. Where do you want to be in six years? unknown
13. Where were you last night? school
14. Something that you aren't? old (at least for a few more hours)
15. Muffins? chocolate
16. Wish list item? vacation
17. Where did you grow up? prairie

18. Last thing you did? ate
19. What are you wearing? clothes

20. Your T.V.? nonexistent

21. Your pets? nonexistent

22. Friends? nonexist.....oh, I mean....precious

23. Your life? nontraditional
24. Your mood? happy
25. Missing someone? no
26. Vehicle? Herman

27. Something you're not wearing? pants
28. Your favorite store? grocery
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? unsure
32. Your best friend?(s)  special (ed!) :-)
33. One place that I could go over and over? Y (and I do)
34. One person who emails you regularly? spammer
35. Favorite place to eat? parents'

I think that counts toward my list of 100, don't you?  I'm 1/3 done!  Here's my last word for you:  Tag!  :-)

Lots of Randomness

First, a couple of worthy links.  A friend told me about this cool music site where you can type in an artist or a song, and then the website will play songs with similar musical characteristics.  Then, there is also a great song that Mow sent me a link to after my first Christmas song post.
Pandora
Mow's Christmas recommendation

In other good news, I had an e-mail in my inbox at work this morning saying that the legal department wanted to interview me about a possible patent filing.  This is by no means a guarantee of a patent, but it's kind of exciting anyway just to think of the possibility.  So, this got me to thinking about how I would say my life is going well right now.  Promotion a couple months ago, now this possible patent thing, a great Christmas and New Years, no broken bones snowboarding, etc.  Sometimes when things are like this it makes me wonder what's up ahead - will there be some really hard times in the future that will be just as hard as these days are good?  Is there something coming down the road that will completely shake up my world?  I'm reminded of something I heard two Sunday mornings ago:  "We need to build in times of peace."  I guess for now I will enjoy the goodness and be very thankful while I can be.  I better get to that building while I can.

Old and Tired

Like my socks, that's what both my brown and black pair of shoes were.  It broke my heart to do it, but I decided that they needed to be retired from regular use.  I know you all think I probably bought lace-up pairs just like my old ones, but the store didn't have any of that type in my size, so horror of horrors I had to branch out a little bit in the footwear department.  No laces on the new black and new brown shoes.

I know I could have gone online and ordered some shoes with laces, but I'm very particular about shoes.  They have to fit just right, and I don't want to have to do all the trying on of shoes via mail order.

Just ignore the dirty kitchen floor in the pictures with the Sully hair.  It hasn't recovered yet from the Christmas company traffic.

Black shoes

Age:  5+ years
Use:  Heavy - worn 3-5 times a week their whole lives.
Replaced by:  Dansko shoes without reverse.
Travel:  All over the U.S. and to Mexico.
















Brown shoes
Age:  Just under 2 years old
Use:  Heavy - worn 3-5 times a week their entire lives.
Replaced by:  Born loafer type shoe
Travel:  All over the U.S. and to Mexico, Canada, and China.

Snowboarding Nirvana

Here's the short and sweet vacation summary: Drove to the cheesy state, met Sharin' there at the airport, and then we flew to MT where we were met at the airport by Ananias. During the course of the next six days we also saw/met a whole bunch of cool people (including relatives). We went snowboarding three days and did a lot of soaking in hot water and saunas after the strenuous exercise. Those are the boring details.

What you're really looking for is my summary list of "favorites" from the experience, not necessarily in order of importance.

1. Got to see a "blue moon" rising on the starboard side of the airplane while at the same time seeing the sun setting on the port side. We also saw a sun dog while driving to the slope one day.
2. You know someone is a hard core tea drinker when they carry their own tea bags with them in their carry-on and then order hot water at a restaurant so they can brew some tea with aforementioned tea bags.
3. As I've mentioned before, God is no man's debtor, and that was reinforced again on this trip with all the excellent hospitality we had from everybody.
4. Until young Sharin' pointed it out, I didn't realize that most ladies with that name are approximately sixty years old (young Sharin' is not 60, btw).
   
5. We hit what I like to call the trifecta of ski slopes in the Bozeman, MT area. Moonlight Basin, Big Sky, and Bridger Bowl.
6. Snow conditions at Bridger Bowl: AWESOME!!!!! Can you say powder hound?
7. Went to the top of Lone Mountain at Big Sky, and Sharin' likened it to being on the moon. I tended to agree.
8. At my uncle's household, they eat what he likes to call the Real McCoy (Smart Balance), but some of us other people like to eat that fake margarine because it tastes better.
9. We were rebellious and went to Big Sky in our snow outfits that were NOT from the 2009-2010 season. I know, terribly uncouth.
10. Fellowship with others who enjoy talking about spiritual things. While I was there I did realize it was special, but it was reinforced just how special when I got back to work and returned to the usual grind.
11. Seeing an 80+ year old braving the new frontiers of iPods and Skype.
12. Having an acquaintance/friend move solidly into the friend category.  It's always good to have more friends.
    

I suppose it's not a complete trip summary without a couple pictures, so here you go.

Ananias, MelBMarvis, Sharin'

Lewis and Clark were quite advanced for their time - one of them even wore goggles.

Shredding the slope in the powder.

The Boiling River in Yellowstone National Park.

Finland

I bet there were a few of you not in the loop who were afraid my New Years resolution was to blog a whole lot less, huh? Well, no such luck for you. I'm still very alive and blogging. The issue was my vacation was so exciting that I couldn't take much time to give a shout out to all you homies.

So, it's a new year. I can't remember what I resolved to do last year and feel too lazy to check, so I'll focus on this year. I really don't feel like making many resolutions this year. The last couple of years I've had an exercise goal, but I've reached the point on that where I've established a fairly good exercise habit, so there isn't much to resolve there. Maybe this year I'll make a conscious effort to reach out more to other people rather than hanging back and hoping others will reach out first. That's a bad habit I have sometimes. Or, maybe I should really work on polishing up my Spanish this year just for fun/to learn a new skill. I don't know.....I'll see what happens.

I got back last night, and I don't think I've ever had a Thursday feel so much like a Monday in my life before. I'll probably do my vacation summary post tomorrow. For now, here's a link to a song about Finland that I was trying to sing for Ananias while I was on vacation.


P.S. You won't want to miss the vacation summary -there was someone with me that I've never gone on vacation with before. ;-)

Tidiness

The great thing about December 31st is what a tidy day it is. All the radio stations have such nice summaries like top 50 hits of the year, top 50 news stories of the year, etc. It appeals to my penchant for bullet points and my love for a good, concise summary. The only thing I sometimes struggle with is doing reflecting on my own life and personal development. I get kind of bored with analyzing myself.

Hoo Doggies!

We squeezed all the family except Ananias in my tiny house this weekend including the nephew dog. I don't have a comprehensive post organized in my mind yet, so here's a picture of some of the family playing Wack-a-Mole. It's just as good as going to Chuck-E-Cheese.

It felt good today not eating some kind of sugary delight. Good old hearty leftovers were just fine.

Christmas Music: Part II

I wasn't lying in my other post about trying to appreciate Christmas music more, but it is the truth that I like the funny ones first. I like a few "normal" ones too. Evidence is below. Gin's list is probably much longer than this.

1. Let It Be Christmas. It's hard to beat the smooth voice of Alan Jackson and acoustic guitar.
2. Where Are You Christmas. Also from the Grinch movie with piano, cellos, and the soaring vocals of Faith Hill. I like to leave messages on my sister's phone to the tune of this one.
3. Belleau Wood. As I mentioned before, a lesser-known Garth Brooks song.
4. Silent Night. I couldn't find the Garth Brooks version of this classic I like, so I had to link to Jim Reeves.
5. The Christmas Guest. It always reminds me of Matthew 25:31-40.
   
6. Pretty Paper. Willie Nelson has a nice rendition.
7. Silver Bells. I'm not a huge fan of jazzed up Christmas classics, but Dwight Yoakam did well with his jazzy version. The Judds also do an awesome Silver Bells. While searching for one of these examples, I also found many not-so-good attempts at this song, which is why I don't have a link.
   
8. Do You Hear What I Hear. I like it 'cause it reminds me of high school music concerts. The thing that bothers me though is the gross historic inaccuracy when it implies that the king was all about celebrating Jesus' birth.
   
9. Christmas Eve Sarajevo. Trans-Siberian Orchestra: best ever.
10. All I Want For Christmas is a Real Good Tan. It almost made the other Christmas list from yesterday, but I put it here instead.
11. Angels Among Us. Not really a Christmas song, but radio stations seem to think it is.
12. Christmas Cookies. A fun little tune by George Strait.
13. Hard Candy Christmas. Dolly Parton - what would Christmas be without her?
14. Christmas Shoes. It kind of depresses me, but has a good story line.
    
15. Feliz Navidad. Nothing says "Christmas" more than trumpets and maracas.

Now that I wasted way too much time on that, there is one final song award to give out. The unique thing about this song is how the first two or three times I hear this song I like it, but by the fourth or fifth time I can't stand it. The good old generic "The Christmas Song" - sung by every person who ever made a Christmas album.

Trickery

Since I didn't have to work today and didn't have any guests yet, I looked at the Y schedule and saw that there was a class today from 9:15-10:15 AM called "Reebok Flexible Strength". I was envisioning some stretches and maybe some stuff like jumping jacks, push-ups, etc. So, I went. It turns out that's just a fancy name for yoga. It actually wasn't too bad and had some nice stretch exercises. The instructor wasn't quite as new-age as the other time I took that yoga class. We concentrated on our breathing some, but we didn't stretch our innards like last time. The stretches made my neck feel a little bit better too, so maybe I'll have to make yoga part of my regular routine.

Christmas Music: Part I

My friends Gin and Avis are avid Christmas song fans, so this December I've been trying to make an effort to hear through their ears and gain a better appreciation for Christmas songs and not hate them so much (the songs I mean) once they get overplayed the first week after Thanksgiving. It turns out I've found several Christmas songs I can appreciate.

1. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. The song mentions "cousin Mel". Really, how much cooler can you get?
   
2. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. Any song where they say hippopotamussusses is great in my book.
3. All I Want for Christmas. My mom used to sing that one to us. If you catch the right version of the song, it has an overbearing irritant factor, which means everybody hates it. That's why I like it.
   
4. Nuttin' For Christmas. Mom used to sing this one too I think.
5. Christmas Underwear. This song is only halfway about Christmas, but it totally cracks me up and kind of reminds me of this post. No, the song is not X-rated.
6. Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas Song. Because chipmunks singing is always funny and it reminds me of good times playing computer at Gene and Eva's at Christmas time. Alvin......Alvin! I'm sure we drove our parents crazy playing that CD on continuous loop.
7. Redneck Days of Christmas. Because you can't really consider it a Christmas until you go down to the penitentiary to visit your mama.
8. You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch. I read the book but never saw the movie. There's something special about being a toadstool and sauerkraut sandwich.

Aged

Guess what I ate today? Seven year old summer sausage. It's quite the delicacy here in these parts. Not. A friend had given a guy at work this summer sausage back around 2002 because it was shaped like a beer bottle and apparently thought it was cool. The guy at work was a little creeped out by the shaped sausage and put it in his cupboard where it sat aging until now. Apparently he was cleaning out his cupboards recently and found it. After consulting with our resident sausage expert at work who said it was fine to eat, we partook. It was a little dark around the edges and very soft, but the flavor was still good. It was vacuum packed, I'm sure it was fine. Nobody who tried it got sick so far. Here's an idea - now you could serve wine, cheese, and sausage as appetizers at your next party that are all the same age! It will likely become the next rage soon.

Close Calls

Between my house and the Y, there is this ravine that the road dips down into and back out of. The road is relatively steep going both down and up it, and the speed limit is 45. Yesterday evening as I was returning from my exercising at the Y thinking about random stuff and things, I was going at a good clip down the hill, and maybe 30 or 40 feet before I reached the bottom I noticed the Pontiac in front of me had his brakes on. So, I hit my brakes and felt the anti-lock brakes come on. Uh-oh. Not good. The road didn't even look slippery though. I continued to step on my brakes, but I could tell that I was not going to be stopping before the car in front of me did. I got ready to pull into the on-coming traffic lane to avoid the collision, but then noticed there was a car coming, so I swerved back into my lane, waited for the car to go by, and then swerved back into the oncoming traffic lane and made sure there weren't any more cars coming. I managed to slow enough so that my car came about even with the car in front of me. He pulled ahead of me, and then I got back in the correct lane just as another on-coming car was getting close to reaching me. Whew! That was close! The apparent reason for the slow-down was somebody had their car pulled over to the shoulder right by the guard rail. I'm not sure if he had just pulled over or if it was gawkers causing the pile up. Thankfully it didn't ruin my fresh special meeting spirit.

On Saturday, I borrowed a coworker's truck and picked up a door at Lowe's. Getting the door and the receipt, etc. was a bit of a rigamarole, but not too bad. Anyways, after being satisfied with all the paperwork I went back out to the truck, got a ratchet strap from the back seat, and hopped up in the bed to tie down the door before I took off. I hooked the first side of the strap in, and then needed to step across the door to get the other side done. As I stepped across, I felt something give a little bit. Rrrrrip. Hmmmmm.....sort of felt like my maybe-a-bit-too-straight-to-be-straddling-doors skirt might have ripped just a little. I strapped that side in, then went to step back over the door again. Rrrrip a little bit more. It still didn't feel too drastic though, so I bent over to get the ratchet strap thing all tightened down and such. Then I climbed down and got back in the truck. At that point I felt to see how bad the rip was, and it was a bit worse than I had thought. The Lowe's patrons didn't get tooooo much of a show, but I did expose a little more leg than I had planned. Good thing I could head straight home without any further stops. Silly skirt. It was only like 10 years old and had been repaired twice before. This time the rip was big enough (like 4 or 5 inches) that I decided to retire it. It was tough though. Tough stuff.

Finally, here's some holiday cheer for you. Somebody appli(anc)ed himself, and it wasn't me.

It's Workin'

God must have thought I needed a little extra help this year. I had the special treat of two woika visitors two nights this past weekend during their special meeting rounds. Besides the obvious enjoyment of fellowship, what I also enjoyed was one of the woika's almost childlike excitement at the prospect of a new adventure. It's fun to see that in a grown lady. We braved the elements to get some pictures like this.





I also picked up a couple catchy phrases from them. When something positive happens, you say "three cheers", and when something not so positive happens you say "oh sick". :-)

Dater Analysis

As requested, here are the results of my poll on whether I should join Facebook or not. To summarize, the vote ended in a tie. Five people thought I should not join Facebook, five people thought I should, and two were riding the fence. When I started this poll, I was predicting that the majority of people would be giving Facebook high recommendations, so this data is a bit surprising. Since I was in the "no" camp before the poll, I will continue to not have a Facebook account for the time being. This will likely result in me continuing to be very "out of the loop", but it's not like I was really in it to begin with.

I think my biggest reason not to have Facebook is that I'm not sure how I feel about my personal life, my work life, and my past life intersecting. It just seems weird, and I'm afraid too many skeletons would start walking out of their closets. :-)

Not So Much Work

There is a guy at work who is notoriously lazy, and pretty much everybody in our hardware engineering group knows it (except maybe our manager). You can't really dislike him because he's a very nice guy and went through a difficult divorce a couple years ago, but his work ethic since the divorce does leave something to be desired. He regularly comes in late, leaves early, takes extra long lunches, "works from home", parks in the visitor parking or handicap parking spots when he does arrive because he doesn't want to do the long walk in from the parking lot, and spends a good part of the time when he is actually at work on Facebook, Yahoo! fantasy sports leagues, etc. Sometimes the guys at work make fun of him and compare him to the Fedex busy bee commercial.

So, this guy happened to be gone today, and his cube mates noticed he had left his sweatshirt draped over his chair so that it almost looked like he was sitting there (whether that was accident or on purpose we don't know). They proceeded to add some enhancements by propping the hood up on the sweatshirt so it really looked like he was sitting there. Once other people came to see what they had done, they added additional embellishments like his "hands" and pseudo data on his computer screen. I have to admit, it did look pretty funny. See below.


The amazing thing about this guy is that his work is not particularly good when he does it, and he's been slacking like this for two years with no apparent consequences. It's sort of a mystery how he has managed to go this long doing what he has been doing.

P.S. This is another hilarious Fedex commercial. I may have linked to it before - I can't remember. My favorite part is "like a lawn chair."

Work and Play

The guys in the quad of cubicles next door to ours had a coffee machine in their cube. It quit working, so they took it apart, figured out what was wrong with it, and then they used one of the electronic controls they designed to substitute for the broken part. Now they're back in business making coffee in their cube. I call it the Sahara brew because that's the name of the project that the electronic control came from. This is proof that engineers are nerds, and electrical engineers have a double portion of nerdiness.

I went to Zumba for the 2nd time tonight. There was a substitute teacher there tonight, so it was more low key than last week. My opinion of the class is still the same. It's not my favorite class at the Y, but it's not terrible either. I like the music, I'm terrible at the moves (it's all in the hips you know), but it's still kind of fun. I also went to give moral support to Maggie, one of my volleyball team mates. She loves Zumba class. She's relatively new to town and wanted someone to go with her to class. The thing I find interesting about Maggie is that she's not shy about saying what she's feeling, whereas I'm usually on the opposite end of that spectrum. Every time our volleyball team goes out to eat after a game, she always talks about how she doesn't have any friends and feels strange because she's one of the few people she knows who isn't married. Anyways. BIL-Dan, they played your Hawaiian "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" song at Zumba tonight.

As I'm getting older, I'm also getting smarter. I started the semi-annual house cleaning process about a week ago, and I am on schedule to meet my deadline. The only things left to do are to clean the bathrooms and go grocery shopping before company comes on Friday. This is a step up from waiting until two days before company comes and cleaning like mad until 1:00 AM the night before. I don't know why I hate to clean bathrooms so much. It's not really the grossness factor. It doesn't really take all that long. I just hate it. Some people hate cooking or washing clothes because it seems futile. Cooking and washing clothes doesn't bother me. What seems futile to me is cleaning house.

Bathroom Behavior Observation #10

It's a slow day here in the 'hood, so I'll have to settle for one of my "reserve" bathroom posts. I do have to admit, the bathroom at work where this sign hangs is one of the better-smelling ones. Of course, it might be because there are only two stalls instead of five. I don't use this bathroom very often, which means I normally don't contribute to the scents (good or bad).

Need Tips.......?

OK, I need some advice on etiquette. Following is the situation. I occasionally go to a massage therapist. The massage therapist is located in the chiropractor's office, which is how I started going to the massage therapist in the first place. You are allowed to go to the massage therapist without seeing the chiropractor if you want to. The technical term for the massage is "myofascial release". This is billed to my insurance company (I think - I'm still in the deductible stage though).

I typically do not leave a tip for the therapist. In fact, until a couple weeks ago I didn't know people tipped massage therapists. My question is: Are all massage therapists expecting a tip? I know the ones who work at the spas probably are, but what about the ones at the chiropractor? It seems weird....I don't tip my dental hygienist or the nurse at the doctor's office. If I am supposed to leave a tip, where and when do I leave it? The credit card receipt when I pay for the massage doesn't have a place to add a tip. Do I leave cash on the massage table or something? What if I don't have the correct mix of bills on my person at the time? What percentage of a tip is appropriate?

If I'm supposed to be tipping, I bet I'm one of the most hated customers they have. Really tense muscles they have to work really hard on, and then no tip either. They probably don't put fresh sheets on the massage table and they probably spit in the lotion too.

Addicted

I ran across this list on Yahoo! news the other day. It's someone's opinion of the eight most addictive foods. I have added my own opinion on this....

• Dark Chocolate M&M's. That’s right, we said DARK. Ever since M&Ms surfaced in this flavor, we’ve been in heaven. They’re teeny tiny – therefore easily downed by the handful -- and completely delicious -- a deadly combination. With these little suckers the trick is to avoid eating the entire bag (and we’re talking the 8 oz size here). (MBM: I agree, they're good. Addictive? Not any more than any other flavor of M&M. Probably less addictive than the peanut butter M&Ms.)
  
• Guacamole. Fresh ripe avocados take on an entirely new level of tastiness when mashed up with garlic, cilantro and tomatoes. Even non-avocado fans love this chunky stuff – spread it on bread, dip veggies in it, or just enjoy it straight up by the spoonful. And we’re not sure why the chips and guac combo is so unstoppable, but there’s a reason restaurants serve them by the basket! (MBM: Amen)
  
• Popcorn. Sure, microwave popcorn is addictive but that movie theater stuff is what sends us over the edge. It must be freshly popped to make the cut. Dousing it with hot, melted butter just ups the ante. Give us an XXL tub slathered with oozy butter (or butter-like) topping and we’re in heaven. (MBM: A definite probably on this one. Real butter is better than the butter-like topping. And for me, it's not even required to be the movie theater stuff.)
  
• Rolos. We try to be good and always make the mistake of thinking that popping a single one may do the trick of satisfying a sweet tooth. Not a chance. The caramel center is so perfectly chewy and delish that 5-10 seems to be the minimum requirement. We often place a dish of these on our coffee table when guests are coming over (because the little gold nuggets look so pretty) and they magically disappear -- within minutes. (MBM: When I read this a couple days ago, I was ready to kick this one out of the top 8. Then on Monday somebody brought in some Rolos to work, and I was reminded that they are pretty good. They can't beat a Snickers though. Rolos still gets kicked out of the top 8.)
  
• French Fries. An ill-tasting fry is hard to find, right? They’re also fun to eat. Everyone has their favorite method – traditionalists do straight ketchup, adventurers mix it up with ranch dressing or spicy mustard. For us, those time-tested buggers from McDonald’s still top our list. Full disclosure here: We kind of miss the Super Size. (For make-it-at-home goodness, devour a bag of Trader Joe's frozen sweet potato fries.) (MBM: I love potatoes just as much as the next person, but french fries so totally do not make this top 8 list. I almost always skip the fries at fast food joints.)
  
• PopChips. Maybe they call them PopChips -- not because they’re really and truly popped -- but because you can’t stop popping them in your mouth. Light, crispy and woops…all gone! Better than full-fat greasy potato chips in our book – healthier and every bit as tasty. We recommend the original flavor. (An honorary mention to Kettle Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper chips.) (MBM: Huh? Never heard of these things. Seriously)
  
• Chocolate Chip Cookies. Anything “bite size” is dangerous and one store-bought cookie is never ever enough. While we love homemade, we go ga-ga for Health Valley Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re all natural and made with organic ingredients, so we don’t feel somewhat less guilty after polishing off one of those bags in less than thirty minutes. (MBM: Oh yeah....traditional and hard to beat! However, I disagree with them on part of this. Store bought is gross and mini ones are pointless. Fresh homemade is always where it's at, especially if they're soft and not crunchy.)
  
• Ice Cream. The sweet and dreamy creamy texture makes most flavors irresistible, but Haagen-Dazs classics, Chocolate and Vanilla, take the crown. The chocolate is rich, rich and the vanilla tastes like true vanilla. (The strawberry, coffee, and dulce de leche are also insane!). (MBM: Errrnnnhhhh. Wrong answer. If you're into ice cream (I'm not), tin roof, rocky road, and peanut butter fudge ripple beat chocolate and vanilla.)
  

New Stuff

Check it out - the new deluxe luxury camp chair that I bought a couple weeks ago. It's a weird color because it was a super savings clearance item on REI. To get a normal color I would have had to pay an extra $40. I have been wishing I had one of these types of chairs for a couple years now, and I finally found the "golden" opportunity to get one. It's great because it's really comfortable, reclines easily, and you can lock the reclining position. Plus, it's collapsible and portable enough that I can take it into my dining room and bask in the sun in the winter when it shines in through the big windows. I've also found it's great for working on a laptop. First you sit down so that you don't jostle the computer too much, and then you can recline.


Also new: I tried the "Zumba" class at the Y today. It's like the pilates of 2009 and 2010. I have mixed feelings about it. First, the things I didn't like: there were a ton of people at the class, and because I got there a minute or two late (I know, hard to believe) I had to stand at the very back where it was very cramped. One benefit to standing at the back is that nobody is behind you seeing how bad your moves are. The bad thing about that is that you're on the edge where the people on the track or the treadmills around the exercise area can easily see you. And, you have to be careful not to accidentally step on to the track while doing your moves. Zumba is kind of a cross between dancing and exercising, and my dance skills are pretty much nonexistent, so I felt terribly uncoordinated during the class. I think my inhibitions are too strong to totally get into the class. However, the great thing about the class is the music. They have some great rhythms and songs. And, of course, it's exercise! I might give the class one more try and see if I warm up to it any more. If I don't, I'll just stick to doing the occasional dance "moves" in the comfort of my own home to Shania Twain blasting from my computer speakers.
P.S. Gin, the music in the class included your "Hey, I love you" song by Michael Franti.

Also new this week: Snow! Yay!!!!

Thanksgiving

Like I said, I went home to the North Dakota / Minnesota area for Thanksgiving. I go there often enough that it seems like there's not much to make a list about, but here's my stab at it:

1. Muggles and BIL-Dan hosted Thanksgiving for the first time.
2. Thanksgiving dinner was probably the smallest one I've ever been to. That wasn't all bad though since you could concentrate more on eating and less on passing all the bowls around.
3. Pie to person ratio was 3:5. That's what I call good odds.
4. We had to look up the difference between yams and sweet potatoes. It turns out most things labeled as yams in the grocery store are still most often actually sweet potatoes. The "true" yam comes from tropical climates and looks much different.
5. Muggles and BIL-Dan's dog Sully doesn't like it when he feels like you are walking him. He likes to put his leash in his mouth and tug on it for you to go faster so that he feels like he is walking you.
6. My sister truly has become a dog lover. She likes to narrate her dog's thoughts. And, they had his picture professionally taken. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
   
7. There's nothing else quite like lefse fresh off the griddle.
8. I put my mom to work while we finished tying the blanket/quilt that she had started for me. It was originally intended to be a "throw" type thing, but it's big enough that it could be used to cover a bed.
9. I guess I'm now the head of the extended family bachelor/bachelorette club since my confirmed bachelor male cousins have been dropping like flies this year. We drove out to western ND for cousin Joel's wedding reception.
10. It was bittersweet to see an elderly servant of God who lives in the care center near my parents going downhill rapidly. I was amazed at her trust while she sat in the wheelchair as she was carried up and down about ten steps. She didn't hang on for dear life to the handlebars or anything. Who would have thought I'd hear news of a 43-year-old friend in ND dying before her?
11. We missed you Ananias, SIL-Lan, Jeddles, Pete, and Repeat!

All 5 of us made it on the picture. If you look in the mirror, you can see Dad taking the picture.

The blanket project

Tinsel and Stuff

Some random thoughts for the day:

• I had "Hard Candy Christmas" by Dolly Parton stuck in my head all day. In my opinion, it's one of the better Christmas songs out there.
• Speaking of good Christmas songs, I heard one by Garth Brooks today that is an old favorite of mine. My roommate in college had Garth's "Sevens" CD, which is how I discovered it. It's not one of your traditional ones. It's called "Belleau Wood". The music is great - a more mellow "unplugged" type of song with some great lyrics at the end: "But for just one fleeting moment The answer seemed so clear Heaven's not beyond the clouds It's just beyond the fear No, heaven's not beyond the clouds It's for us to find it here." I'm sure you can find a place somewhere to hear the song.
• Another Christmas song that I've heard several times lately is "Christmas Cookies" by George Strait. It's decent - for a Christmas song. (that last comment was for Gin and Avis - lol)
  
• I always feel so happy after finishing a strenuous hour of weight lifting class where by the end of class I can't lift my arms and my legs are shaking so much I can barely stand. I know, I'm weird.
• I need to go write up my job performance summary for the year since I have my year-end review with my manager tomorrow. I'm pretty sure with my recent promotion that I'm saddled with a "meets expectations" rating no matter what I do. We'll see for sure when the ratings are dished out in February. This post is a result of procrastinating on that task.
  

Egos and Quitting

A couple weeks ago someone was telling me how they think blogs are egotistical because you think that the whole world might be interested in your life and thoughts, so you feel you should share them. I'm not saying I totally agree with that, but maybe there is some truth to that.

Why do I maintain a blog? First of all, you can blame my friend Melanaway for convincing me to start one. We won't mention how she rarely maintains hers these days. I started reading her blog first and enjoyed the insights into her life seeing how we're friends from college and related to each other. What I'm trying to say is that I thought reading blogs was fun. I also found another college friend's blog (Avis) interesting around the same time. I was content to be a reader for about a year I would estimate. I resisted the peer pressure from Melanaway to start a blog.

Then some of my sneaky friends (Malia was first I think) started requiring me to be a blogger member to comment on their sites, so I had to create an account. I still resisted having my own blog and just had the account. But having the account was the gateway. One lonely Friday night I gave into temptation and made my first "real" post. And the rest is history.

I think I maintain my blog mostly as a way to keep in touch with friends and as a form of therapy. If I don't have anybody to talk to in person and don't want to talk on the phone, I make a blog post. Or if I found something funny and want to share the humor, I make a post. It's also my mini comedy stage. One perk of this blog is that I've become better acquainted with a few people I barely knew at first.

The question is, should I get off the ego-train and quit blogging? Do all that many people even read this drivel? It is a way to keep my family informed of my doings, but I could do that just by e-mailing them daily. :-) If I felt so inclined. Or if I needed some therapy, I could keep a journal.

That is what I was thinking the week before Thanksgiving. When I was home to ND over Thanksgiving I was told in no uncertain terms by my family that I was required to continue to maintain this blog even if I joined Facebook. Whew! The pressure! Oh, and Mow also wrote a nice e-mail last week saying how she enjoys my blog even if she doesn't comment. So carrying on I will be doing.

Speaking of lurking though......if you always read and never comment, please don't take it personally if I meet you and don't respond to you like I know you. It's because I don't. Duh! Lurking is a totally one sided relationship. I don't ask for much from all you lurkers - maybe one comment per year. And of course, you're always allowed to comment more frequently if you want. If you don't want to, that's fine. You're just missing out on an opportunity to share the comedy stage. ;-)