Things that make you go hmmm.: June 2005

Thursday, June 30, 2005

I think my Pop Tart just moved!

I took the leftover Pop Tart (actually it was the Flavorite brand of toasted pastry) to the toaster and when I pulled it out and plopped it down on the paper towel so it wouldn't burn my fingers, I noticed it was quite a bit more crumbly than usual. I didn't think anything of it. I had eaten the first one from the package of two the day before and it was yummy, so I was looking forward to eating this one. I finished off I would say about 7/8 of the pastry and had a bite still in my mouth when I looked down to get the last bite and I noticed something moving. I looked closer and noticed there were several little bugs crawling around, maybe 10 or 12 that looked like tiny ants. Yuccccchhhkkk! I spit out the bite I had in my mouth along with several more spits followed by several swishes of water. I looked at the package and the box they came in and where I had these stored in my office and saw a line of about 50 more of the little bugs' friends and promptly took to cleaning them up, throwing them away, squishing them, whatever it took to get rid of them. I had feelings of bugs crawling in my mouth and on my arms etc. for a few hours after that. I have never had a bug problem before, but I guess the open package with that yummy pop tart was too enticing for them this time.

You have probably seen reality shows on TV where they eat bugs or disgusting things. I actually watched the first couple of Fear Factors, but now they have so much of the disgusting eating etc. that I don't watch it anymore. Well I ate several bugs and I didn't get to be on TV or get any money or prizes or anything. OK, they were really tiny and weren't as yucky as those you see on TV. Oh well. A little extra protein I guess.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Ice Cut

Have you ever cut yourself on a piece of ice? I did this past weekend defrosting an old freezer. Some friends of ours gave us this ancient appliance a couple of years ago. We have it out in our garage and have only used it to hold a few things, but recently we haven’t had much in there. During the summer months, it seems to work extra hard and is probably costing us quite a bit on our utility bill, so we decided to unplug it and may plug it back in during the cooler months. Anyway, back to the ice cut (are you still with me after that unnecessary explanation about the freezer?). While pulling out big chunks of ice, I was wondering what these little red spots were that I kept seeing on the ice every once in awhile. I didn’t realize I had punctured my finger on a sharp piece of ice. I didn’t know ice would do that.

The wound is on the tip of my finger and is bad enough that I need to wear a band-aid, which brings up another interesting question. When you have a boo-boo on your hand, do you take extra effort to not get it wet every time you wash your hands? Or do you just wash it like usual and replace the bandage all the time?

And another observation, isn't it cool when a scrape on your finger heals and you still have the same fingerprint. When does this not happen? Does it depend on how deep a cut you get. Hmmm. I have a big scar from an unsuccessful surgery (a long story for another day) on my ring finger that has changed my fingerprint. Now I have a big Z cut into my fingerprint.

I have also been putting hydrogen peroxide on my ice cut to clean it and keep away any infection. Who was it that came up with this, and what did they think after they put it on their wound? Wow that sure did sting, but it is so cool to watch it bubble up. I guess it is worth the sting to keep away the infection which would hurt much worse.

One final question, have you ever wondered if you melt dry ice, can you take a bath without getting wet?

Monday, June 27, 2005

Practice Makes Perfect

OK, maybe not perfect because if practice makes perfect and we know no one is perfect why should we bother practicing? Seriously, when you practice something or do something over and over again you do get better at it. I thought of this yesterday when I had to pray in front of the church for maybe the 5th or 6th time over the past few years. I get extremely nervous when I have to get in front of a large group of people and my voice starts to tremble and it is all together not a pleasant experience. The first time I had to do this, I worried about what to pray wanting to make sure I didn't forget anything and just getting nervous thinking about it. The day before, I realized that I need to not worry about what to say or get nervous because I need to just talk to God like a conversation as I do in my personal prayers and not worry about the crowd or what they think. I think this helped me especially having the words to say, but I still got very nervous and my voice was quivering. Anyway, yesterday I didn't worry about it quite as much and I don't think my voice trembled as much and I felt like the Holy Spirit was helping me pray the right words. I still got nervous, but it wasn't as big of a deal. I also have seen this in my teaching Sunday School. Whaaaat!? You teach SS when you don't like talking in front of a crowd. Exactly. I hated it for quite awhile and really didn't do very good at it. But it is actually a small class (never over a dozen people) so it's not that big of a crowd. And now after several years of teaching every Sunday, I really don't get nervous (unless we have several visitors) and I think my personal inhibitions don't hinder the lesson. Although, maybe that's why it is still a small class. Hmmm. : )
So what about you, do you have any examples of things that you feared or didn't want to do or struggled with that after you did it several times it wasn't as big of a deal or you got better at?

Speaking of practice, have you ever wondered why doctors call what they do practice? Hmmm, isn't that a little unnerving? Shouldn't they be good at it by now?
And speaking of doing things again and again, have you ever wondered before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

Friday, June 24, 2005

This is taking forever

How often do you say that? In our fast-paced world this is a pretty common sentiment. We want things now, we don't want to wait, we hate it when we have to endure things, we wish we could make time go by faster. Sometimes, we can literally count the seconds while waiting on something. I actually do this sometimes and it seems to help. The Bible speaks often about waiting upon the Lord and about patience. Do you think we need to learn to do this more? I have a bunch of things running through my mind, but I am struggling with how to write it all down. I'll just write a few more phrases and let you comment on what may be your thoughts about this subject. Besides if I kept going, you might end up saying "this is taking forever".

We need to take time to stop and smell the roses.
What kind of a witness are we showing to others when we are impatient?
It's all in His timing.
Fast food.
Endurance, what is the purpose of "having it"?
The tortoise and the hare.
Enjoy the moment.

We've talked about how time goes by so slow, how time flies, the longest day, wishing your life away, and time healing wounds. These are just a few of the many areas in our lives dealing with time. You could probably have a whole blog devoted to just this subject. One final thought, spend each moment you have investing in the kingdom of God, it is the only thing that will last forever.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Time heals all wounds

Haven't you heard this phrase before? I think this is true in some instances, but not always the case. Something I am going through right now shows the truth of time healing a wound at least for this occurrence. I just got this nasty gash on my shin a week ago and it is just now almost totally healed! You are probably saying "wait a minute, isn't this phrase talking about emotional wounds where you get your feelings hurt?" Yes, I suppose it is usually used in this way, but I think it has more truth with physical wounds. I got this scrape when I was taking my family to the airport after their visit. I opened the lift gate in back of our van and the luggage had shifted and a piece fell out right on my leg. I sure could have used one of those warnings they give you on planes about being careful opening the overhead compartments because the luggage can shift during a flight. Or would I have just ignored it like most people do when the flight attendants give those messages? Anyway, the piece of luggage was one that has the roller assembly and the hard plastic targeted my shin bone and left a huge scrape and now an ugly bruise. Yesterday, I had that itchy feeling on the scab that you get when you can tell that a wound is healing. Now you are probably saying "nice, thanks for sharing". But isn't it awesome how God made our bodies! This was another reminder to give praise to God as our creator and the wonder of his work. I know it is a small example, but it is still amazing to see how our bodies can heal a wound over time.

What about those emotional wounds we get? I think time can help heal in some ways and in some instances, but again I think it is more a work of God that is required to truly heal us when someone has hurt us. It is so difficult in our human nature to forgive someone and/or to not let something mean someone said hurt us or affect us deeply. With God's power through the Holy Spirit we can. What are your thoughts? Topic for discussion: Can time heal all wounds? Discuss. Talk among yourselfs.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Don't wish your life away

Did you ever wish that you were older when you were a kid for whatever reason? This may especially be true for kids with older siblings. For example, “I wish I were older like (older brother/sister) so I could stay up late too. Or, I wish I was old enough to drive, or go somewhere by myself, etc. Often when that topic would come up, someone older and wiser would say "don't wish your life away kid". I loved a post and comments by not1jot talking about youth being wasted on the young. Enjoy the moments when you have them, don't wish them away. I was going to write some more deep philosophical thoughts regarding this, but I am having a hard time putting them into words so I will let you readers do that in your comments since so many of you are better at that than I am.
Somewhat related is this same attitude that we as parents have sometimes when our children may be going through a particularly rough time. We wish that they were grown up a little more so they wouldn't act the way they do or wouldn't require so much of our attention etc. I write this as our daughter is passing a milestone in her life, she is actually going potty and she wore big girl underwear yesterday and stayed dry the whole day. Don't worry, I'm not going to start another series of potty posts. : ) We are so proud of her, and it is hard to believe that our little girl is growing up. We as parents also need to enjoy the moments God gives us with our children and not wish they were older because it does go by so fast.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Longest day of the year

Today is the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. Whaaaat!? Tell this to a young child (or someone who is basically clueless) and that may be the response you get followed by "I thought it was already summer, the kids are all out of school and it is already hot", and "longest day, I thought every day was the same length of time". Here is a link that can help you explain exactly what you mean. Of course the day is the same amount of time as any other day, but you do have more time from sun up to sun down than any other day.

So do you do anything different being that you have more daylight? Do you take advantage of having more sunlight to get more things done? Some might try to get a project done outside that they have been putting off like putting another coat of water seal on the deck. OK this is something I need to do, but I think it looks ok and I think I will just put it off one more year. Besides I would rather do something fun and/or relaxing like we did yesterday when we set up the slip and slide. The kids had a blast and then we were still able to relax watching the sunset after putting them in bed. Anyway, I put in my time a few years ago with building a retaining wall, putting in rock all around the house, etc. (so I'm not totally lazy). On occasion, I will take advantage of having more sunlight after work to get in a full 18 holes of golf, it can get a little tough on the last few holes to still be able to see your ball as the sun goes down. This is usually a great time as the course is not too crowded usually and I can enjoy playing with a friend or taking my son for a special day. Notice I said on occasion, due to the high prices and lack of funds not to mention the amount of time it takes away from home these occasions are quite rare. I do sometimes take advantage of more daylight to get the lawn mowed after work instead of having to wait until Saturday. So how are you going to spend your days of summer with the extra long days?

Monday, June 20, 2005

Time flies when you are having fun

I thought I would do a series of posts on the concept of time. Have you ever said "time sure flies when you are having fun"? Why is it that when we want moments to last because we are enjoying the time, it seems to fly by? We had my parents and one of my brothers and his wife visit us last week when I was taking time off and it seemed like the time just flew by and all of a sudden they were getting back on the plane to leave. We had been looking forward to this time together for months and when it got here, their visit seemed to be over very quickly even though their trip was 7 days long. We had a very enjoyable time with them, but it was over way too quick, esp. for our two kids. What are your experiences? Can you share times when time seemed to fly by? How many times can I type the word time in one post? : )

Friday, June 17, 2005

Living Securely

It seems like I have typed about this before, but I can’t remember where so if I am repeating myself just bear with me I guess. Is this signs of some sort of blogger senility? Maybe I was away from the blogger world too long. : )

Have you ever heard someone say why would you want to live there with all those _____? Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods you fill in the blank with your favorite natural disaster possibly coming soon but you hope not near you. I used to live in an area that is part of what is commonly referred to as tornado alley. Millions live in Florida where it seems they have hurricanes or at least threats of hurricanes coming ashore every year. Others live in flood plains and after their house gets flooded when the river rises higher than it has been in ?? years, they rebuild their house on the same location where it was before hoping that surely it won’t flood like that for at least another ?? years. But hey, now I live near one of the most secure places. At least according to someone’s opinion with a major insurance company who just rated the area where we live at the top of their list of the most secure places to live in the United States. I read this in a recent article. The rankings took into consideration crime statistics, extreme weather, risk of natural disasters and job loss numbers in 331 U.S. municipalities. Now that Whaaaat! is home after all that travel last week and a little bit of real travel this week, it is nice to know that I am in one of the most secure areas of the US that I could be. At least until I walk across the street and get run over by a bus or something, right?

Something our pastor says all the time though is that the safest place that you could possibly be is in the center of God’s will. If you are there, you should have no worries. And of course the only way to have real security is to receive the forgiveness of your sins by believing in Jesus Christ who died on the cross to pay the price for us and to reconcile us with God. He wants to have a personal relationship with you and give you the security of eternal life which is only possible by making Jesus the Lord of your life. Have you made this decision? Don't wait until it is too late if you have not.

Friday, June 10, 2005

Where's Whaaaat! # 5

OK, for my wife's sake this will be my last post in this series of Where's Whaaaat! She was just being nice in her comment on # 3 on Wednesday. I know because when I asked her what she thought of my post yesterday, she said that she saw it was more geography stuff and didn't read it all the way through. Whaaaat! I said you missed a nice surprise at the end. She went back and skipped the "boring" stuff and read it. ; ) For those of you still with me, it's time for me to head towards home. This one is a little harder, if you aren't familiar with this place you may have to do a little Google research.

I am at a place that is in the state that I call home.
I am actually suspended above water.
The place I am is a second version. The first version was destroyed in dramatic fashion in 1940 and this was captured on film and has been replayed now 65 years later. They are actually building a third version right now since this version is so busy.
Part of the name of my location is a word that I thought was just an adjective that means slender, but when I looked it up in the dictionary it is actually a noun that describes the body of water above which I am suspended.
Another part of the name of my location is a city that was named after Mount Rainier’s original name.
It will take you until zoom level 12 on Google Maps before you see the name of the location where I am.
Do you know where Whaaaat! is today?
Note: You may be still wondering where’s Whaaaat! next week because I won’t be posting for a few days. I am taking a little R&R and will try to post again on Friday the 17th.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Star Wars Everywhere

Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars. Have you ever seen a movie with this much hype and promotion? I actually thought it must have already been released weeks before it was because of all the hype. I enjoy the movies and probably would like to see this latest one but will likely wait until it goes to DVD. What makes this series of movies so special that it has such a huge following? On Sunday after church we went to Burger King and were actually about to leave to drive across town to the other one because they had run out of the Star Wars kids meal prizes.
My son loves Star Wars, especially Star Wars Legos. He is too young to see the latest movie "Episode III", but he is totally into all the promotion. We borrowed the videos of the trilogy "Episode IV - Star Wars, Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI - Return of the Jedi" and he loves to sit and watch esp. certain scenes like the snow fighting with the AT/ATs. His little sister sits and watches with him some to, mostly just because big brother is doing it. She is so cute with things she has picked up like when her mom said "you're a little angel" she replied "I not angel, I'm Princess Laaaya". Or when she puts her hand up over her face and makes the breathing noises like "Dah Vader".
I saw this cartoon on this blog that I thought was hilarious about the reasons Anakin turned to the dark side.

Where's Whaaaat! # 4

A little more interest (thanks again), so I'll keep traveling.

I am in a place whose name appears in the Bible.
The nickname for this place is also used in the name of something you eat.
This place is famous for some pieces of paper that aren’t even here anymore and for something that can be very loud but has been silent for many years.
Looking at this place on Google Maps zoom level 5, you may mistakenly think this place is actually in the “Garden State”.
It's easy to learn history lessons here.
Do you know where Whaaaat! is today?

He had better get home because this is a special day for him and his wife. He loves her so much and thanks God for placing them together for a decade and a half. OK, I better stop writing in clues. Happy 15th anniversary Mrs. Whaaaat!!! I will love you always.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Where's Whaaaat! # 3

I wasn't sure about these posts, but a few of you have commented (thanks) and hopefully they can be somewhat entertaining. So I guess my wife will have to just continue to be bored with it :) since I have already spent time looking up the info. and I struggle to get material as it is. So let's go.

The area where I am today has a large area of deep blue on one side and another side is quite foreign.
This place can be known for having a lot of animals.
There is an NFL football team that plays in a stadium that has been named for a telecommunications corporation and a MLB team that plays in a new stadium named for a food retailer although I would never eat their food.
A PGA golf event is held here every February and in 2008 a major is scheduled to be held here.
I keep hearing music that sounds like “Anchors Aweigh” mixed with “Fun, Fun, Fun” being played.
According to Google Maps directions, this place is 355 miles from a city that is said to “rise from the ashes”.
Do you know where Whaaaat! is today? Remember, don't click on the comments until you are ready for the answer.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Where's Whaaaat! # 2

Did anyone figure out where I was yesterday before checking the comments? Did anyone read the post yesterday? : ) Let's try it again.

The place where I am now is right on the border of two states which are divided by a river that has the name of a totally different state.
Google maps doesn’t even display the name of the place I am at until zoom level 9 even though there are many people here. Zoom out to level 4 and you can see a portion of 10 different states but you can only see the names of 6 of them.
They say you can see horses here, but I must be too late because I don’t see any.
This place is also known for baseball, but not really for any team.
Also popular is college basketball, the team from the university that has the same name as where I am was very successful last season.
Do you know where Whaaaat! is today?

Monday, June 06, 2005

Not Where's Waldo, but Where's Whaaaat!

Not related really to the title of my blog, I thought I would do a series of posts just for fun where I will give clues to see if you can figure out where "Whaaaat!" is each day. I will be referring to the Google Maps site for some of the clues. This is a really cool map site where you can click on an area and drag it to the middle of your screen as if you were turning a globe and then zoom in on that area. I will give the answer in the comments so don't click on it until you want to know if you have guessed the correct location. See how many clues it takes you to figure it out each time. Hopefully this will be fun for you, if not let me know so I don't spend all week on this.

Where's Whaaaat! # 1
They say everything is bigger here.
I am somewhat near I-35, but there are no roads in the exact spot where I am at.
It is very wet here.
Part of a nearby town’s name sounds like something you might have played with as a child that you shoot, or maybe something you might say you lost if you do something crazy.
Using Google Maps, the zoom level bar goes right through Las Cruces and you can see all of Louisiana when you are on zoom level 3.
This place is named for a past president.
Do you know where Whaaaat! is today?

Friday, June 03, 2005

Why 9:00, 8:00 Central?

Have you ever wondered why the Central time zone has a different time for TV programs? Who decides that kind of thing? Do you think it could possibly be based on the mid-westerner stereotype of being more of the hard working type, early to bed and early to rise? What do you think, or maybe you know?

I spent most of my life watching TV in the Central time zone until I was almost 30, so it was weird when we moved out west to have prime time shows not start until 8 and the local news not on until 11, but I am used to it now. It used to be no big deal to stay up to watch at least part of the late night talk shows, but I never hardly watch them anymore. This is probably a good thing since there is a lot of trash on these programs anyway. Even though there is a prevalence of filth on Saturday Night Live, I do miss some of the hilarious sketches on there. One of the favorites for me and my wife was Chris Farley as the motivational speaker with the classic lines "in a van down by the river" and the one we repeat often to each other "well lah-tee-freakin-dah".

Thursday, June 02, 2005

A few one-liners

Have you ever wondered why is the person you hire to invest all your money called a broker?

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

Why do croutons come in airtight packages since they are really just pieces of stale bread?

Why doesn't overlook and oversee mean the same thing?

If horrific is akin to horrible, why isn't terrific akin to terrible?

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Clean underwear

Did your mother ever say “make sure you have on clean underwear just in case you are in an accident”? Or maybe you have said or thought this yourself. We actually heard this phrase the other day on a TV commercial, so this saying continues to be repeated. Clean underwear?? Who puts on dirty underwear? Maybe the saying should be nice underwear; you know ones that don’t have holes in them (I might be in trouble if that is the case). Really, if you are in an accident bad enough where people might see your underwear would you really be concerned about your underwear? I don’t think so. If it is a matter of the cleanliness, maybe your mother should say “a shower a day keeps the stinks away” or something because if you take a shower surely you don’t reach into the dirty clothes pile to fish out some dirty underwear to put on. Or do you?

Things that make you go hmmm.