Weekend Wrap-Up

• Well, March is almost over, and it wasn't as depressing as it has been some years.
• Thanks Melanaway for the great idea a while back.  I finally purchased my exercise ball and am enjoying using it as my computer chair.
• No offense to some of my relatives and I will defend my home state to the death, but I heard something that made me laugh the other day.  A simile was made between a part of someone's brain and western North Dakota - not a lot going on in either place.  Not a bad joke if you're from Minnesota.  Right, BIL-Dan?
• No problem getting ten debit card transaction this month - I had that done within the first ten days, maybe less.
• Muggles and BIL-Dan, you can rest easy now.  I found the missing puzzle piece while I was cleaning this week.  Unfortunately, I had put the puzzle away the night before, so I didn't get that rush of satisfaction from making the puzzle fully complete.
• Speaking of cleaning, I was cleaning because I had woika company coming.  Twice in three months - I think that's a record for me.  It was good old JC staying again.  Short but sweet.
• The first daffodil bloomed today.
• A lot of my posts recently have been pretty boring.  No pictures, lots of bullets.  Sorry, but there just hasn't been a lot of things picture-worthy recently.  Although I hear I missed out on some good icicle pictures this past week when I passed on a pier walk opportunity with some of my coworkers.

Scientifically Beautiful

Driving back to work at lunch time, I was stopped at a red light, and across the street on the corner there were seven, count them, seven men wearing their reflective green vests inspecting a manhole.  I assumed they were government workers, but their truck said they worked for the power company.  Oh well, you can't always be right.

This morning I was in some training on semiconductors, and they were talking about silicon, the base element used to make semiconductors.  Silicon forms a crystalline structure when processed in a certain way, and that crystalline structure is part of the beauty of electronics.  Anyway, one slide was showing where silicon is in the periodic table of the elements, and I had never noticed before, but silicon is in the same column as carbon (directly below carbon).  The beauty of carbon is that it's the main ingredient of all life forms (organic chemistry) and because of its electron structure can bond with lots of other things and form unique chemical bonds if I remember my chemistry classes correctly.  There just seems to be some scientific poetry in carbon being the basis for all life, and silicon, right below it in the periodic table, supporting electronic life.  :-)

One other thing.  I think that someone must have painted a target or sign on my back that says "needs to be fixed up with someone".  I had another offer from someone today (different from the last person who made an offer) to meet someone they know (the second one in the space of a month).  What is up with that?  Is there some kind of invisible lettering that starts to become visible on your back once you hit a new decade?  Maybe it's because I'm a "late bloomer".

Spring Memory

To get from the lobby / cafeteria at work up to my desk, you have to walk through a moderately long hallway with windows on both sides that afford a view of the back dock on one side and the front lawn on the other.  As I gazed longingly at the morning sunshine on the frosty / dewy grass, I was transported back to my childhood - elementary school to be exact.

That view reminded me of mornings on the playground.  You see, we rode the "late bus", which meant we got to school early every morning (15-25 minutes before school usually) and left school late (15-20 minutes after the other kids).  The beauty of this arrangement was the extra "recess" we got.  After quickly stashing our book bag on our hook outside the classroom, we'd head out to the playground.  We actually had a large playground at the school that included a tennis court, teeter-totters, merry-go-round, half court basketball, some super-awesome-super-high swing sets, some lower swing sets, and a rudimentary baseball diamond.

Ah, the baseball diamond.  Depending on the time of year, different parts of the playground would get used, but in mid-April and May we made heavy use of the baseball diamond.  It wasn't anything fancy - just a backstop, grass over the whole field (including the infield), and mud holes for bases.  We'd bring our metal bats and baseball gloves on the bus from home and then play baseball in the early morning.  The number of kids who showed up to play would vary depending on which kids from "town" showed up early to join in the early morning fun, but on average we probably had ten kids to try to field two teams.  That's real North Dakota pick-up baseball - where you have one, maybe two infielders, and you just hope that they hit a fly ball to the outfield.  The rules on which team had to field a catcher were fuzzy at best.

It would feel a bit chilly outside at first, but once I got warmed up I'd shed my green spring jacket and have a great time.  That's also the time of year when the dew is heavy on the ground and I'm sure our shoes got soaked every morning, although when you're a kid you don't really notice that kind of uncomfortableness.  The afternoons after school were nice too - lots of sunshine, and it feels great to thaw out after the winter frost.  I can still feel those gusty winds blowing dirt into my eyes and mixing with the sweat on my face.

Them thar's good mem'ries.  I'm fortunate to have so many.

Hunger

Last Thursday evening while I stood in line at the grocery store, I happened to be right in front of a co-worker, and we got talking about exercise.  He said that aerobic exercise suppresses his appetite, and weight lifting always makes him feel really hungry.  I had never really noticed that correlation before, but I think he's right now that I think about it.  I started lifting weights again the last couple weeks, and since he mentioned it I've noticed that I do feel hungry much more frequently than I had previously.  If I gain weight now, I won't know if it's because of my increased appetite and eating or if it's because I'm actually building some muscle.  Great excuse, huh?

Yet More Stuff and Things

More bullets today.....

• When someone throws a housewarming party, is it normal etiquette to give a gift when you go to their house?
• I hear that some states have so little money that taxpayers may not get their state tax refunds until the middle of the summer, and sometimes they don't have to pay any interest even if the state has held the money for a month or two after you've filed your taxes.  Now that's outrageous.  You put in a little bit extra, and that's how they repay you?  By keeping your money longer and not paying interest? How about they start managing their budgets better?
• Speaking of taxes, I heard this morning on the news that the governor of the state where I reside is thinking about/thinks the legislature should start imposing a state tax on services to pay for education funds.  How about you quit making education the first victim of tax cuts and make it the last victim instead?  (I have no facts to back up that last question, it just seems like they do that to put pressure on taxpayers to get on the bandwagon for more taxes.)
• I ate lunch with my brother today, which is unusual considering we live a five hour drive from each other and we were both at our normal jobs today.
• Do you have your eye on the health care issue?  Looks like they might try to "sneak it by" the taxpayers on Sunday.  Seriously, if you have to be doing that kind of backhanded stuff and voting on the weekend, maybe you need to think harder about what you're trying to do and why.

Little Bit of This, Little Bit of That

• We actually do real work sometimes, but yesterday in our cubicle we started discussing getting old, which led to fear of prostate exams, which led to talking about mammograms, gynecological exams, etc.  To be clear, this discussion was not with the same guy who gave me TMI last week even though I did get some TMI from this discussion also.  Anyway, the question came up:  "If a female doctor gives a prostate exam, does she have a male nurse present for legal reasons?"  Anybody know the answer to that one?
• Also, did you know that most (maybe all) medical facilities do not allow males to be mammogram x-ray technicians?  I can see why, but that's a tricky one to balance.  Apparently they like to take the risk of discrimination lawsuits rather than sexual harassment lawsuits.
• This electrical engineering joke from Gary via my dad:  What do you call a priest wearing a nun's habit?  A transistor (tran-sister).
• Gary also says that if it ain't broke, an engineer thinks it doesn't have enough features yet.  However, I think I would disagree.  It's the marketing person that thinks it doesn't have enough features yet, and then it's the engineer that has to struggle to make it work with all the new features for 80% of the cost of the original thing that ain't broke.  And, it has to look cooler than the competition's latest product.
• Eva, the joke came from when I was a kid and Jay and Ananias were laughing at someone, and you scolded them and told them it wasn't nice to get a laugh at someone else's expense.
• P.S.  I stole this off Facebook, but a friend from North Dakota wrote on her status that she had ordered her high-heeled hip waders to be fashionable for the month of April in ND.  If you're from there, you know why that is funny.

Weekend Wisdom

Made the old trek to the cheesy state and back.  I better be careful - I'll have so many friends I need to visit over there that I'll be spending every weekend over there.  Remember a couple weeks ago when I was talking about discovering the beauty of podcasts?  I listened to podcasts all the way home on my iShuffle, and here are a few nuggets from them plus a couple other things that crossed my mind.

• God made March so people who don't drink alcohol know what a hangover feels like.  (Finally!  The dreariness of March clearly explained.)
• Farts smell so deaf people can enjoy them too.
• A television show that CNN probably shouldn't start:  "The Awkward Situation Room".
• Approximately 75% of people who own iPhones have slept with them on their pillow.  (I totally don't get that.  I always put my Blackberry under my pillow along with my gun and pepper spray.)
• Thirty miles to the gallon when it's all highway miles, baby!
• I met a MelBMarvis blog "fan" at GM that I was not previously aware of (Hi Sharla! Or Charla?).  Well, I think she's a fan and not just a reader, but it's possible she can't bear to look away from the train wreck.
• Struggled into work this morning not happy with going to work in the dark again, but I felt better when the sun wasn't setting until 7:45 this evening.
• Listened to one podcast of "This American Life", but I can't say I'm as enthusiastic about it as Melanaway and BIL-Dan.  I'll give it one or two more tries and see if it grows on me.

Wrappin' it up

It's not nice to laugh at another person's expense (right, Eva?), but it's hard not to when you hear a co-worker with a Chinese accent speak over the phone the first day after she gets braces.  You need to have a specially tuned ear to understand in that situation.

Today I signed the patent application paperwork.  The company gives you a $2 bill for that.  Here it is.  It kind of reminded me of my birthday when I was a kid - my aunt used to send those to us on our birthday.  Two dollar bills, not patent applications - just to be clear.

Stuff and Things

Had supper with the woikas, Matt and Brad, tonight.  That's always nice, especially since I rarely see them out of the meeting setting.

March started out so promising with lots of sunshine.  Now we're into the doldrums with lots of clouds and rain.  The temps have been in the 50's the last couple of days and a possibility of 60 on Saturday, so I won't complain too much.  Daffodil buds are poking out of the ground already.  Maybe I'll try to tear myself away from scrapping on Saturday to enjoy the warm temperatures for a bit.  Speaking of scrapping, I'm looking forward to seeing some extended family this weekend.

If I'm complaining about the weather, I think that means I really don't have much to complain about, especially when I think of those going through some much harder experiences now.  They have real stuff going on like a brother in the hospital with a collapsed lung, watching their daughter die one inch at a time, dealing with the grief of a recently deceased relative, etc.

I feel like I may be coming down with a cold - had a slightly sore throat today.  Ugh.  I despise sore throats.  So, I am off to bed early in hopes it won't get too bad.  Lack of sleep, not enough water, and not eating healthy regular meals gets me every time.  You'd think I'd learn.  I'm done complaining!  Farm out everybody.

Protection (PG)

Today when I was talking to a co-worker via instant message about playing floor hockey with him and some other people, I asked him if I needed to bring any special gear, and he replied not really, although, fyi, he does wear his "manly protection".  I know, TMI.  Anyway, that got my mind thinking about stuff like that, and I was reminded of this Bette Midler song.  It's totally not the true story, but it is funny.  My roommate in college had that song on a CD, which is where I heard it originally.  I like the part about "aerodynamically this girl was a mess."  I wonder if they make "armor bras"?

I thought I had some other cool stuff to say today, but it slips my mind at the moment.  Peace out, peeps.

Here and There

I was getting a little bit of kayak fever yesterday when the sun was shining so nicely and the lake was really calm without any wind.  My only problem was I couldn't figure out how to get my kayak over the huge icebergs on the shoreline.

Question:  When someone tells you they want you to meet some really nice guy/girl because they think you'd be a good match, do you:
a. Get excited - yay!  A new opportunity to meet someone!
b. Feel skeptical - you've heard that one before, but you try to keep an open mind.  You never know, right?
c. Become contrary - Because you're the cantankerous kind, you don't want to like the new person just to prove them wrong.
d. Whatever.  What will be will be.
e. Depends on the friend who says they want to introduce you to someone.

Sometimes you don't realize how much you miss GM until it starts again.

A guy asked this question the other day, and I have to agree it has some merit:  "Are there any women out there who enjoy baby showers and bridal showers?"   What is the purpose of them other than to play awkward games and make awkward conversation with people?  Did someone have one of them once like 200 years ago, and then someone felt the need to reciprocate, and now it's a tradition nobody knows how to stop?  I'm sure there must be a good reason like getting to see people, helping the people "get started" on a new phase of their life, making the mother/bride feel special, fellowship, etc., but showers really aren't my favorite thing to do.  The one thing that gets me the most are the "prizes" at the showers.  Really, there is no need for prizes - why don't the people who are throwing the shower spend that money on a better gift?  Or, they could upgrade the food.....now there's an idea with some merit.  I have an even better idea: how about only the people who win at the games get cake?

Today

Oh Suzanna! I thought of you today
While going 'round the ice skate rink
College hockey club did not stay.

Showers were the rage here today.  Not only did I literally take two showers with water, shower stall, soap, etc., I also went to a bridal shower.

Another lovely day with clear skies and sunshine.

Spring Sorta Sprung

Well Ananias, it has been very sunny the last three days, which is always a huge bonus and almost makes me consider taking back the nasty things I said about March being depressing here.  So in that sense it has been very nice recently, although the temperatures during the day are in the 30's.  And, we do still have snow on the ground as evidenced by the more revealing picture below.

 

I would like to point out the little acorn cap on top of one of the buds - that was not coerced there, it actually grew that way.  True story.  To answer your question, yes, I took this picture on Tuesday March 2nd.

My iPod shuffle arrived last week, and I used it for the first time tonight while I was at the Y.  Very nice - it's only 2GB, but that's plenty for me.  It's not like I'm going to be at the Y for 30 hours straight anyway.  I like the thin and tiny profile that makes it easy to clip to my shirt.  The solid state memory is also a plus.  Question though - I notice the headphone plug is slightly different than your standard one - will it damage the headphones if I plug them into the exercise machine headphone jack?

Oh yeah, Gin reminded me of one other thing.  I heard on the radio the other day that Sea World has resumed their killer whale show, but the trainers will not be swimming with the whales.  What?!?  That doesn't make any sense.  The trainer that was killed wasn't even in the water with the whale when it attacked her.  It grabbed her off the side of the pool.   It sounds more like a case of a bad apple whale if you ask me.

Enough Money Talk Already

Soooooooooo......apparently you guys don't like it when I talk about money and politics, huh?  One more money comment, and then I'm done.  I have a checking account that earns interest every month as long as I make at least ten purchases a month with my debit card.  I used to think that would never be a problem since I usually make most of my purchases with my debit card, but this month with only two days left I was still five purchases short.  I had to fill my car with gas when I had more than half a tank and go to the grocery store just to buy groceries I didn't really need.  This is how you know you are squeezing your pennies hard enough.  :-)

I learned something new today.  I learned that in professional or semi-professional bowling tournaments the bowling lanes can oil the lanes in a different pattern than normal so that the lane is "tricky" for the pro bowlers.  They can also program the oiling machine so that every lane has the same tricky pattern.

That's all for today folks - stay out of jail.

Health Care?

When I'm at the Y, as a general rule I never watch CSPAN while doing the stairstepper.  However, yesterday was a really slow day on television, so I stopped on that for a few minutes to see what was going on.  I was partially interested because of all the publicity about the health care summit on CSPAN last Thursday.  Saturday morning, they were televising a democrat congressman from California doing some kind of questioning/interview of some CEOs from an insurance company called Wellpoint as near as I could figure out.  However, the D from CA didn't seem all that interested in getting any real data from them - mostly it seemed like he would ask them a leading question, when they tried to answer or give a complete answer that didn't make their company look totally bad, he would interrupt them and go on to a different question or try to ask them a further leading question to make their company look even worse.  I don't know what the purpose of the questioning was, but I was not impressed.  Really, I wasn't impressed by either side of the microphones.

I searched online, and found a link to an article about the aforementioned CSPAN thread.   If you read through the article, it's very obvious the writer is an anti-insurance company, pro-Obama person.  I'm not saying I love big insurance companies - a 39% increase in premiums does seem excessive at first glance, but they should be given a fair shake.  First of all, that "measly" 3% of the 1.7 trillion dollar health care industry spent on malpractice litigation is $51 billion - at least 20 times as much as Wellpoint spent buying back some of their stock shares last year.  It's also at least 4 times, possibly more than 8 times as much as Wellpoint's profits last year.  I'm not saying Wellpoint is a great insurance company, I have no idea if they are.  My main point is to listen and read very critically to any numbers you hear people spout.  Like we learned in Six Sigma training, you can pretty much say anything with statistics.  To stay ethical you shouldn't, but it is possible.  "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." -- Benjamin "Dizzy" Disraeli

For comparison, I looked up how much the company I work for makes in profits each year.  Turns out, we only did $17 billion in sales this year, and because of the industry we're in, the profit margin in very low.  The operating profit last year was $688 million.  That's only 0.4% of total sales!  Net earnings available to stockholders were just $328 million.  They aren't the largest company in the world, but they do employ 70,000 people.  I may be doing an apples to oranges comparison too, but it was interesting nonetheless.  To think about it from another angle, America spent $676 billion on Medicare and Medicaid in 2009.  That's only 13 times as much as all that malpractice stuff mentioned in the article.

Annual Tax Report

It's the tax time of year again.  I haven't done the official filing, but I got most of the information entered into the tax software and just need to confirm a couple property tax numbers.  Similar to last year, my effective tax rate they tell me again is near 12%.  My income decreased because of the company not giving pay raises this year and having a really low bonus multiplier.  Anyway, I wondered if this 12% included the 8% FICA tax they already take out of my check every month.  Turns out it doesn't according my calculations.

Just for grins, I looked at my most recent pay statement and graphed what happens to my pay before I even get a check.  See the graph below, which illustrates that my portion of my insurance premiums are almost the same amount as I'm also paying for other people's medical premiums (Medicare).  Somehow I don't think this amount will decrease if the government takes over my insurance premiums too.  Especially considering my insurance premiums include medical, drug, dental, vision, and accidental death & dismemberment.  I realize that some of my insurance premiums are hidden as reduced company profits/bonus/salaries, but still.  If you combine the federal income tax with-holdings plus the FICA tax (Social Security and Medicare), the federal government takes about 20% of my check every month.    Then the state government takes an additional 3+%.  This does not account for my reduced bonus/salary because the company has to use some of their profits to match the FICA 7.5% to the federal government that was taken out of my check.  That's quite enough taxes taken, thank you very much.  Dear congressmen, please concentrate on reducing my taxes instead of dreaming up ways to increase them.  How about I just increase my contribution to my 401K and Health Savings Account and you just remove the FICA tax?

Podcasts and Other Posterity

• I'm beginning to discover the beauty of podcasts.  Now I don't have to hear "A Prairie Home Companion" on a hit-and-miss basis, I can subscribe to the podcast and listen every week at my leisure.  It's a nice change of pace from listening to music.
• I wonder if I could ever have a little show on NPR?  This blog maybe comes close......I think I'll start reserving my thoughts for Saturday, then post them all at once.
• Some other good NPR shows that I like but haven't officially subscribed to yet:  "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and "Car Talk".
• I heard on the radio today that you can buy waterproof iPods with waterproof earbuds so you can listen to your iPod while swimming - that's a pretty cool idea.
• It seems like the unpredicted storms are the ones that bring the most snow.  But maybe it's just because you're not mentally prepared and it makes the snow look deeper?
• Tomorrow I get trained on the weight lifting Nautilus training circuit.  That should be fun and give me more exercise options in these winter months.
• Another report on February dying:  Two coworkers' cats died this month.
• Sunday I'm going to a baby shower with more than 40 people there.  It should be interesting as it's a girl who's the wife of a coworker and on our volleyball team.  It's a shower for all - her family, old friends, former coworkers, new friends, local friends she knows through her husband, etc.

Sundry Subjects

We had a great BS tonight.  It's always nice when one of those is extra special.  Speaking of that kind of thing, I was thinking again tonight about how I usually take notes at GM, C, SM, etc.  However, I rarely, if ever, look back on my notes.  Today I tried to look through them, but I couldn't find the particular spot/thought I was searching for, so I gave up, and the thought eventually came to me without consulting my notes.  I'm not saying there's no use in notes or I need notes 'cause I don't trust God, but I think that they are more a way to keep myself on task when listening than they are a future reference tool.

I'm baking some marinated chicken breasts tonight, and from looking online there are various and sundry methods to bake chicken.  Some websites say to cook it at 350, some say as high as 425 degrees F, covered, uncovered, covered except the last 10-20 minutes, etc.  Are there any expert chicken cookers out there with some good advice?  Have you done any in-depth studies on this?

Finally, do you think there are any engineers out there who don't think MacGyver is awesome cool?

Addendum:  February seems like a dying month, and not just because there's only four days left.  It seems like people are dropping like flies.  It started with my cousin at the end of January.  At work, one guy's elderly mother died, one guy's twenty-something son died suddenly, I've read vague mention of some young person Linda D. knows dying, and now I hear there is an elderly lady in the cheesy state on the verge of eternity.  Plus, there may have been some others I can't remember at the moment.  For being so short, February is dangerous.

Question for the blog feeder people:  When I edit my posts post-posting like I did today, do you get multiple e-mails, or do you miss my addendums?  If I don't get any comments from the feeders, I guess I'll assume you miss my awesome afterthoughts.

Random Stuff and Things

• It's baaaack - remember my quest for freezer paper?  Well, I found it in my usual grocery store tonight.  It must have been out of season before.
• I heard on the radio the other day that the average person spends seven hours a month on Facebook.  That really doesn't seem like all that much - only about 15 minutes a day.
• Turning the corner in racquetball - won 2 out of 3 last night.  And he was a worthy opponent - it's not like he was 100 years old or anything.
• I had a couple other clever things to say, but what they were escapes me at the moment.
• Addendum:  OK, now I remember.  Watching curling in the Olympics is surprisingly interesting.  There's a lot of strategy, and it's amazing how accurate they can be and how much they can make those rocks curl.

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.