When You Have Way Too Much Time …

2010 February 8

Sometimes you’ll come up with a silly idea.  An idea that pretty much makes anything important you might want to say rather suspect.

Such is the case recently with PETA (the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) AKA (People Extremely and Totally Absurd).  They now want us to free Punxsutawney Phil – you know, the groundhog – and exchange him with a robot.

Yes.

Quote: It’s time to consider “retiring Phil to a sanctuary and replacing him with an electronic groundhog,” says the official PETA blog. “Phil is forced to be on display year round at the local library and is denied the ability to prepare for and enter yearly hibernation…. Add to that the displeasure of large, screaming crowds, flashing lights of cameras, and human handling.”

Um, okay. read more…

The Guy You Want By Your Side

2010 February 4
by winjaw

There are certain people you just want by your side when all whatever is about to happen.

“Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?”

Gimli, the dwarf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, ready to die for a friend.

Dude.

          

Wise Words No. 32 (GPS)

2010 February 2
tags:
by winjaw

You know you’re lost when you start yelling at the GPS in your car

The Little Black Dress Can’t Smell

2010 January 31

Please note I did not say the Little Black Dress smelled or has a smell; rather, she can’t smell.

Seems she developed a cold – and on our anniversary no less.  As we were somewhat restricted due to the ice/snow storm, she spent much of the day preparing her mom’s super-secret, passed down from ages past, meatball recipe.  All this was fine until she tried said meatballs and pointed out they had no flavor.

This immediately led the Sons of Thunder to “taste-test” said meatballs. The first tastes were inconclusive, requiring a second meatball for each, followed by “just one more.”  I nixed a fourth test as we wouldn’t have any left for dinner. But the SoTs gave their heartfelt approval.

That did not suffice for the LBT. Her thinking was since she couldn’t smell, she couldn’t taste; therefore she could not enjoy the upcoming feast.

If the LBT is not happy, no one is happy.  read more…

The Iceman Leaveth

2010 January 30

Well, that was interesting.  The “big one” sorta fizzled. We got a little ice, but mainly snow.

The forecast: an inch of ice, 6-12 inches of snow, and probable power outages for days. Forecasters compared it to the “big one” of ‘07, where power was out for 11 days. We got a dusting of ice, 4-6 inches of snow and power continues to flow.

As an aside, I need to point out I’m getting old when I base life experiences on weather.

Anyway, the Sons of Thunder spent the night in front of the fireplace – promising to wake up every two hours to keep it burning when the power went out. Yeah, right – the waking up part I mean.  We woke up, we had no fire. We did, however, have power.

All this simply proves the corollary that when you are prepared for Event X, said event does not occur. read more…

The Iceman Cometh

2010 January 28

Let’s call it the iceapocalypse.

And we are sitting here on the point at the lake, waiting for it.  Expert opinion varies, but we’re anticipating up to an inch of ice, followed by snow. Followed by “potentially severe” power outages.  As we are in the country at the “end of the road” so to speak, that means if anyone loses power, we lose power. And it means we’ll be the last to get power restored.

The Little Black Dress, the three Sons of Thunder and yours truly. In a small house, no power, potentially for days.  Betting as to who will crack up first and run off into the lake will begin this evening.

The coming storm, expected within hours, has raised the “anticipation” level of the Sons. This is partly our fault, as we let them watch “The Day After Tomorrow” (half the world freezes to death) recently. Big mistake, big, big mistake.

Because the middle SoT now thinks today is the day after tomorrow and we’re ALL GOING TO FREEZE TO DEATH!!!  read more…

Wise Words No. 31 (God Requests)

2010 January 26
by winjaw

“Let me ask you something.  If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience?  Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?

“If they pray for courage, does God give them courage, or does he give them opportunities to be courageous?

“If someone prayed for their family to be closer, you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings?  Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

God, from Evan Almighty

Life May Be Hard, But Board Games?

2010 January 24
by winjaw

We, the Sons of Thunder and I, are in the hunt for a couple of games.

For once, something that does not need booting up, plugging in or charging up. Read: no electricity.  A key search ingredient is  factoring in age-appropriateness.  Nothing too easy, boredom will set in quickly. Too difficult, and we’ll lose the younger Sons within seconds. A Goldilocks-sorta thing.

Just a simple board game.

Why is every friggin game tied to some cartoon show.  I understand marketing as well as anyone, but I’m sitting there staring at Buzz Light Year, ICarly, Star Wars and Sponge Bob Square Pants. I get enough of them from the television, I do not want them joining us at the dining room table.

And then I see it. A game from my youth – “The Game of Strategic Conquest”  aka “Risk.”

Ta da. Mission accomplished; a game even the Little Black Dress will play.

We get home and I eagerly tear open the box.  read more…

Wise Word No. 30 (Punctuation)

2010 January 20
by winjaw

Sentences are meaningless without punctuation.

A WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS NOTHING

Option 1:

A woman, without her man, is nothing

Option 2:

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Why Are They Picking On Sea Salt?

2010 January 19

I am at the grocery story looking for sea salt. With mission accomplished, I glance at the label.

“THIS SALT DOES NOT SUPPLY IODIDE, A NECESSARY NUTRIENT.” And yes, it was in all caps. And it was not on that tiny warning label you can’t read anyway. It was right there smack on the front right below “SEA SALT” and ‘IDEAL FOR RUBS, ROASTING AND FINISHING.” Whatever “finishing” means and again, yes, all caps. And said warning was on every sea salt product on the aisles.

Now, I know what Iodine is, but I was clueless what Iodide was. Off to trusty Wikipedia.

An iodide ion is an iodine atom with a −1 charge.[1] Compounds with iodine in formal oxidation state −1 are called iodides. This can include ionic compounds such as caesium iodide or covalent compounds such as phosphorus triiodide. This is the same naming scheme as is seen with chlorides and bromides. The chemical test for an iodide compound is to acidify the aqueous compound by adding some drops of acid, to dispel any carbonate ions present, then adding lead(II) nitrate, yielding a bright yellow precipitate of lead iodide. Most ionic iodides are soluble, with the exception of yellow silver iodide and yellow lead iodide. Aqueous solutions of iodide dissolve iodine better than pure water due to the formation of complex ions.

So, that explains that. read more…