Things that make you go hmmm.

I won my fantasy baseball league... is that such a big deal?

2007-10-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

I participated in a fantasy baseball league with two of my brothers and each of their oldest sons. I really enjoyed it again this year. It is fun to keep track of your players each day and makes you root for them to do well and makes you a bigger fan of major league baseball. It ended up that only one of my brothers and myself were still actively managing our teams at the end of the season. I was able to keep the lead for a big part of the season and the last couple of months my brother was pretty much keeping pace with me only a few points back. Then during the last week I was checking my stats and noticed I was in danger of losing some points in a couple of categories to my other brother and the two boys WHO WEREN'T EVEN PLAYING ANYMORE. I ended up only dropping a point and a half at the end and finished still ahead of my brother, but it was close. I hope to play again next year and might have my son play this time since he was very interested this year and has enjoyed watching baseball lately.

By the way, have you seen this sign that they have at Safeco Field where the Seattle Mariners play? Did you know that it is actually also a clock on the Mariners symbol in the middle? I never realized that until recently.

Movies that are nothing like they are advertised... in good and bad ways.

2007-09-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched a movie and thought "wow, that was nothing like the trailer advertised it"? This seems to happen for me often and fortunately it is usually in a good way. Often the movie trailers are so dumb or advertise the movie with certain aspects that really don't do the movie justice and don't give a good picture of what it is really about. A recent example is the movie "Bridge to Terabithia". I hesitated watching this movie when it was first released and even when it first came out on DVD because it looked more like a fantasy land story with giants etc. and I didn't think my kids would want to see it or should see it. However, when we were able to request it and get it free from our local library, I figured we would give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised that the fantasy part was really only a small part of the film and it really had a good story and I thought it was really well made. Have any of you seen it? What did you think? Do you have any examples of movies not being like they were advertised in a good or a bad way?

Part-time job ...donating blood plasma

2007-08-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

I just recently got a part-time job. I signed up to donate blood plasma twice a week. This is actually a pretty good gig. I get paid $25 cash for the first donation and then $30 for the second one. It only takes about an hour and a half (it could be longer if they are really busy). That is about $18 an hour. A lot better than most real part-time jobs and I can do it after work and/or on Saturdays. I looked into this after I saw an ad in the paper when looking for actual part-time jobs since we need the extra $$. It is pretty relaxing too, they have TVs set up around the room with movies playing. It is kind of a strange place with all these "bed/chairs" set up next to centrifuge machines that separate the plasma from the red blood cells which are then pumped back into your body. The only draw back is that you have to be adequately hydrated which isn't really a drawback since it is good for you to drink a lot of water except you have to go to the bathroom alot more often. I am fairly healthy and don't have any reasons that disqualify me so it was pretty easy to sign up. You see all types there, and it seems pretty safe as they use new packages of everything. Blood plasma must be worth quite a bit, because they have all these workers, all this equipment, a pretty large office, and they have to use new packages of needles, tubes, container, gloves, etc. each time. Plus they pay each donor, and there must be 30 stations in this place and each time I have been they are mostly full. Hmmm, what exactly do they use all that plasma for anyway? Maybe there is something to my son's question he asked me after the first time I donated. I told him I donated blood plasma and explained what it was and then he asked me why they use the same word for the new plasma TVs. : )

A late post about Father's Day

2007-07-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

I know Father's Day has come and gone, but I forgot to post this then and I can't think of anything else to post about. While we were driving to church on Father's Day, my wife asked my two wonderful children "do you have anything to say to Dad" hoping to prompt them to say "Happy Father's Day". These are the separate but simultaneous responses I got. My 4 year old daughter says "thank you" apparently thinking we were getting after her like we so often do to remind her to be polite and say thanks. And my 8 year old son says "sorry" apparently thinking he was in trouble for something he had done although he hadn't. My wife and I just looked at each other and started cracking up.

Going 50 down the highway... in a wheelchair!

2007-06-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Did you see this story on MSN? Talk about a wild ride!

Trip to Boise

2007-05-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

I recently had to make a business trip to Boise for a few days. I don't usually have to travel that much so this was something out of the ordinary for me and my family. I had to do a few things in preparation for the trip like pick up the rental car, buy sunflower seeds to keep me busy and awake during the drive, pack my bag, etc. In my preparations, I'm sure I mentioned several times to my kids that I was going to Boise. My little four year old daughter even asked where Boise was and why I was going there. I didn't think anything of it until later she asked her older brother if he gets to go to Boy-see and when he said no she said cause I was wondering if just boys get to go there, and was there a Girls-see for girls to go to. After a second of silence, all of us just started cracking up.

Snap, Crackle, Pop in your ear!

2007-05-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had the fear that some bug or something might crawl in your ear. I have often had the thought of how horrible an experience something like that would be if it ever happened. I have seen something like this depicted in movies or TV shows, and I have even heard about it actually happening only to find out later that it was just an urban legend. Now there is a story on MSN of a boy that this actually happened to. He kept hearing popping sounds "like Rice Krispies" and he ended up having an earache so he went to the doctor. The doctor discovered two spiders that had crawled into his ear and they were walking on his eardrum making the popping sound. The doctor irrigated the ear and one spider came out dead and then flushed it again and the other one came out still alive. They were both about the size of a pencil eraser and were probably feeding off the boy's earwax for the two days they were inside his ear. Ugggggh!

Baby doll that goes tinkle

2007-04-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

My daughter got a new doll yesterday I think from saved up money from gifts we never got for her. She proudly showed me this new doll when I got home from work yesterday. It is quite amazing. You feed it water from a bottle and then sit it on this special little potty and it goes "tinkle". Yes those are the words used in the product decription here "The Little Mommy baby will not go tinkle until she is on her special potty seat just like a big girl. Take her off the potty and she stops going...put her back on and she goes again." It is astonishing how realistic the whole process is. I'm just a little scared of what they will come out with next. My girl was telling her grandparents about this doll and said "...no, sher doesn't go poo poo, just pee pee." Thank goodness. It's called a "Little Mommy Potty Training Doll". My little girl has actually been potty trained for a long time now, but she loves being a little mommy.

In another funny, little doll related story, we got a hand-me-down set from a neighbor of little figures that are kind of like Polly Pockets except they are teens. They have a little car that you can put them in. They have magnets that will occasionally set off sounds or lights, etc. When you put one in the car, it says "Hey girls... like, what's up." Like, what's up with that. I guess this is how the young girls learn to talk this way early on.

Extreme sport taken to the extreme

2007-04-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Did you happen to see this story back in February? I saw it on MSN and copied the link hoping to go back to it but the link was no good anymore. I did a search and found the story here from the West Australian. An amazing story of a paraglider who was sucked up in a storm and carried to a height higher than Mt. Everest and she survived. She was pounded by hail, barely avoided lightning, and was covered in ice as she was carried away by this fast moving storm cell that suddenly appeared.

Sudoku at 8!

2007-04-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

I want to take a moment to brag on my son. Actually, I could spend a long time bragging on the little guy as there are a lot of amazing things about him, but I will just pick this one for this post. How many of you have ever played Sudoku? This is not a very easy game in my opinion. It can be quite challenging. Basically, this numbers game is a grid with 9 rows and 9 columns with a few of the boxes filled in with numbers and the object of the game is to fill in the missing boxes with the numbers such that every row and every column has the numbers 1 through 9 with none repeating. The 9 rows and 9 columns are further broken down into 9 squares that are 3 by 3 that also have to have the numbers 1 through 9. My son is only 8 years old and he can complete one of these in about 10 to 15 minutes. He is only 8! I have a hard time even completing this, much less in this small amount of time.

Protecting your children is not always good

2007-04-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Whaaaat!! Yes, you read it right. There are certain times that I think we can do more harm to our children, and to others for that matter, by protecting them. Maybe I should use the word "sheltering" instead of "protecting".

There have been several instances recently where I have seen parents sheltering their children from the "evil world we live in" and I think it is to the detriment of these kids and to those in the world. Many, no I guess all of these instances stem from home school parents and their overzealous attempts to shelter their children from influences that can harm their children. I know there are several positives to home schooling and I agree with many of them, but in my opinion these positives are outweighed by the negatives. I'm sure hours could be spent arguing the negatives and positives, but I just want to focus in this post on one of the biggest negatives that has come to my attention recently. This negative is an overriding attitude by some home school moms especially that seems to point to an unwillingness to associate with "sinners" of this world. This attitude can be very dangerous in my opinion. Sounds an awful lot like the Pharisees in Jesus' time.

Such things like not wanting certain kids to come to the youth group because of the way they look and being afraid of their worldly influence. Aren't those some of the kids our youth should be trying to reach in order to share Christ? This has even affected our own church where these home school moms have made themselves into almost a club that looks down on others if they aren't home schooling their children like they are. And we wonder why our young adult Sunday School department hasn't grown. Not that this is the only problem or the only blame, but an obvious division has developed in our church. Many feel they are having a hard time feeling accepted if they aren't part of this exclusive home schooling club. It has even come to the point of an attitude of some of the home school mom's not wanting their kids to associate or play with public school kids out of a fear that they will somehow influence their kids in a negative way. Shouldn't the opposite be the case? Shouldn't our kids be light and salt to the world? I know our son has already taken several opportunities to share Jesus with kids at his public school and is a positive influence for the other kids in how to behave etc.

This negative attitude also comes across in how people respond to people in public. My wife is a great example of someone who shows friendliness and love to the public in her day to day activities. I think she is being a great example of Matthew 5:16. We have witnessed several instances where some of the home school moms we know respond to others in public with almost an attitude of discust.

I almost didn't post this worrying that I might offend, but you know maybe if you feel offended then it might be a good thing to at least be more aware or take a serious look at your own attitude. Also, I figured this is not very likely given the fact that hardly anybody reads this blog anymore. : )

Give me a little honey and I'll feel all better

2007-03-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

I just read an article on MSN Health & Fitness that says honey can speed healing on superficial wounds such as cuts and burns. I guess "honey acts as an antibacterial agent, rapidly cleaning out and preventing further infection". One study showed that on average, burns treated with honey healed in 11 days which was 4 days less than burns treated without it and it helped reduce swelling and minimized scarring. I guess it has to be a locally farmed product instead of the commercial brands. And hey, it can be quite convenient if you burn your finger while making yourself a spot of tea. Just stick it in some honey and then you can use it to sweeten your tea at the same time.

FedEx mad at DHL

2007-02-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

I left the office the other day and drove past a FedEx truck like this one that had just been to a nearby business and was leaving the parking lot. Just down the street is the DHL office. I can see the FedEx guy in his truck and all of a sudden I see him gesturing towards the DHL office in anger. I wonder if something just happened that made him upset (like the business he just visited said they have switched to DHL or maybe DHL messed up a shipment and they blamed him) or was his gesturing just out of a competitive nature that FedEx employees do any time they see a competitor?

We'll be of no help

2007-02-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

After the memorial service for our dad, the family was taken into a "welcome center" room where people could come by and offer condolences, etc. Several of us initially didn't want to have to do this, but after it was over I am glad we did. It gave us an opportunity to again see all those who were touched in some way by Dad, or who had a connection to one of us and it gave them the opportunity to show love, etc. One such individual, we'll call her L., came up to me and my family and introduced herself and asked me which son I was. I knew who she was. She has a distinctive look and had not changed that much since the last time I saw her several years ago. I also remember that she was one who would readily give her opinion. L. was assuring us that Mom would have a good support group of the other widows in the church. She then asked, "now where are you from?" After we told her that we lived in the Pacific Northwest, L. immediately said "well you'll be of no help." We started to giggle a little and then realized she wasn't at all joking as she didn't even crack a smile. While it is somewhat true that it will be harder for us to directly help my mom, we hope that we can be of some encouragement and help in ways that we are able, but you have to hand it to L., she came right out and stated the obvious.

On another note, since tomorrow is Valentine's Day I thought I would share a little more related to this love-filled holiday. A guest pastor on Sunday told us what he and his wife do for Valentimes Day. I think I may use this in the future. He and his wife go to the store and each of them finds the biggest, most expensive, gushy card they can find that says everything they want to say to each other and then they walk over to the other and say "Happy Valentine's Day" and they read it and give each other a hug and a kiss ... and then put the cards back. Perfect. You take care of everything with out having to waste... er spend any money.
Did you notice above how I spelled "Valentimes"? My wife hates this after years of previously teaching grade schoolers who say this every year. It's even worse when adults have never learned the correct word and still say "Valentimes".
Anyway, here's my Valentimes wish to my lovely Valentine. I will love you always!!!

Music at a Memorial Service

2007-02-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen a choir sing at someone's funeral or memorial service? I don't think I ever have. Well there was a huge choir from my parent's church that sang at my dad's memorial service. My mom and dad were faithful members of the church choir. Dad had even been "president" of the choir for awhile. When Dad passed away, Mom pretty much left the music up to the choir director to handle. Wow, they did a wonderful job. They sang 3 songs and they were so powerful and almost like a host of angels. I'm not sure how many there were, probably 50-100, and it looked like they had to bring in extra chairs for them. This was quite amazing in itself as this was during the day on a Monday and with not great weather outside. It was also sweet watching some of them and their emotions as the pastors spoke about Dad. They sang special arrangements of two familiar hymns and one other more somber song that the choir had sing on a trip that my parent's went on. It was all quite a tribute and a blessing.

Outpouring of love

2007-01-31T07:50:00.000-08:00

It has been amazing to see the outpouring of love and sympathy to our family after the death of my dad. Before we left, close friends called to say how sad they were and expressed sorrow for what we were going through. Most of them were friends of my wife that she talks with on the phone quite often. One phone call that meant a lot to me was of one of these ladies who called and talked directly to me and then her husband insisted on talking to me also and expressed his sorrow and offering anything that we needed.

When we flew to Texas to be with the rest of my family, we saw more amazing examples of people's love esp. from my mom's church. She had people coming by in a constant stream. The whole week we were there we had meals provided for us or leftovers that fed us every meal. A few days these meals fed more than 20 family members. There were then many who sent flowers, sympathy cards, and memorial gifts. It was a wonderful testimony of the love of Jesus being shown. I think it also showed the number of people who were touched in some way by my father. There were hundreds of people who came for the funeral even with bad weather and bad road conditions. I'll post more about the memorial service later.

For us personally back at home, we were blessed again by ones who expressed sorrow even though they didn't know my dad. My dad was active in the Gideons and Mom had listed this organization best known for placing Bibles in hotels as one of the memorial requests for people to donate Bibles in memory of my dad. Several at our church did this for us too. Everyone has really been amazing and we really appreciate it.

Well... not quite "everyone". There were a couple of ladies who really had no sensitivity and were plain rude to my wife. We got back late on a Friday night from Texas. On Saturday, we slept in and then most of the day we were recovering and it was really a day when things were quiet and it really sank in for us so we were quite weepy that day. There was a big baby shower that my wife was supposed to go to and even help some with, but she really wasn't able to do that and her friends understood and helped. I didn't have time to prepare my Sunday school lesson to teach, and we didn't really feel like going to church on Sunday. Well, we went to church on Wednesday night and were still struggling with seeing people, not knowing what to say, and trying not to cry a few times. Then there were these two ladies that my wife walked up to that stunned her with their comments. One chastised my wife for being on the phone several times when she tried to call and the line was busy. And she wasn't calling to offer her condolences... no she was calling to brag about herself and something she had just accomplished. Then the other asks my wife when we got back. When she said on Friday, the lady proceeds to say "so why weren't you at the shower on Saturday, and then you didn't even come to church on Sunday????" My wife was taken aback so she didn't have a good comeback as this gal made her feel dumb and like she had to come up with an excuse. How insensitive is that? It is really no huge surprise from these two as they are generally always negative and they wear their true feelings on their sleeve and rudeness often spews out of their mouth and they are often very self-centered and often critical of others and very envious of others and ... well let's just say they are a great example of relying on the Holy Spirit's power to show them love.

Now that I go back and read this, I wish I had made a separate post for the negative because it may overshadow the positive. It really shouldn't. It has been really neat to experience God's love for us during our loss. It also has really convicted us that we need to be sensitive to others when they go through these times and to not hesitate but offer your sorrow and help. It really does mean a lot and we are Christians and know my dad had a relationship with Christ. I think it may be even more meaningful to show this love to those who may not know Christ and to show His love to them in their time of sorrow.

Duck in the fridge

2007-01-29T08:37:00.000-08:00

Did you see this story this morning? It is on MSN here. How crazy is this? Not that a hunter shot a duck and put it in the refrigerator. Not that the duck lifted it's head and looked at the hunter's wife after supposedly being dead and in a refrigerator for 2 days. But what is crazy is that they took the duck to a vet who operated on the duck to repair the gunshot wound. And then to top that, the vet had to perform CPR on the duck when it stopped breathing. The duck is now recovering from the ordeal. This, a duck who was originally shot by a hunter who intended to eat it for dinner.

DAD

2007-01-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

My father passed away on Thursday, January 11, 2007. He was just 72 years old. He died of lung cancer that had slowly spread near his heart. He battled valiantly for about 6 months. I think he continued to think he could beat it. I did too, never giving up hope until the final days of his life which went so quickly. I thought about doing a post as a tribute to him, but I feel that I couldn’t put in enough words and in the right way to say all that could be said about my dad. I didn't feel it would really be the right place for it either. I’ll simply say he was a wonderful man. He truly loved the Lord and served Him diligently up until he was called home to be with Jesus.

We spent a week in Texas with my family as we celebrated his life, cried together, remembered him, and tried to take some necessary steps to face life without him. I’m so thankful that each of my immediate family members has Christ as our Lord and Savior and can trust in Him to comfort and guide us and that we have the assurance that Dad is now free of pain and with the Lord in Heaven. I’ll try to post some more about our experiences on our trip when I get the chance.

I love you and miss you Dad!

Boise State's Fiesta Bowl Win

2007-01-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

This has to be one of the best games ever. For sure one of the most fun to watch. I loved it. There was the classic "underdog" smaller school who went toe-to-toe with the big boys and won. There was the comeback by Oklahoma in the final minutes including the two-point conversion that required three tries to tie the game. There was the interception thrown by Jared Zabransky (who is from nearby Hermiston, OR by the way) for an Oklahoma touchdown the next play after the Sooners tied it. I seriously was going to be very disappointed if it ended this way. There was the awesome Boise State drive to tie the game again and force overtime. This included the 4th-and-18 hook-and-ladder play that worked out flawlessly with just seconds left. There was the great run by Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson to score a touchdown in the first play of overtime. There was the great play Boise State called on fourth down where the quarterback went in motion himself and it was snapped to another player who rolled out and threw a touchdown pass which was required since Oklahoma scored a touchdown. And then there was Boise State going for the two-points to win the game instead of one to tie to go to a second overtime. Not just a great run up the middle or a leaping catch in the end zone but the Statue of Liberty play again executed to perfection to win the game.
A game to make me go hmmm!!!

God's Love

2006-12-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

How awesome and amazing is God’s love? We celebrate the most wonderful expression of His love at Christmas when we rejoice in remembering the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this glorious gift of His birth, we are also able to see the best, complete, perfect example of God's love through the life of Jesus and ultimately the supreme act of love in His death on the cross to forgive us our sins, to pay the price to redeem us, and in His resurrection conquering sin and death so that we could have life eternal.

Do you ever really think about how awesome and amazing God's love is, especially when you compare it to our human capacity to love. We had a very good study of this on Sunday looking at "the love chapter" I Corinthians 13. What a beautiful look at how we are nothing without love and everything we do is nothing if it is not done in love. Also what love is and what love is not and how love is eternal. In our human weakness, it is too often easy to display what love is not with our relationships with others. I thought the other day how many times we are selfish and don't care to even listen to others tell of their hurts or difficulties much less to care for them and show them love. How huge is God’s love!! He cares so much for us that He wants to hear our troubles and to help us through them and show His love to us. Multiply this by all those who have a relationship with Him and call on His name. Wow!!

He also wants us to show His love to others. He wants to use us as instruments to share His love. Are you willing to love others with God's love?

Have a wonderful, joyful, love-filled and very merry Christmas!!

Name that Carol

2006-12-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

See if you can guess these familiar Christmas Carols for which the titles have been changed with alternate words with similar meaning. I'll give the answers in the first comment.

1. Ecstasy toward the orb.
2. Hey, miniscule urban area south of Jerusalem.
3. Removed in a bovine feeding trough.
4. The slight percussionist lad.
5. Quiescent nocturnal period.
6. The primary carol.
7. Embellish the corridors.
8. Approach, everyone who is steadfast.
9. I'm fantasizing concerning a blanched Yuletide.
10. What offspring abides thus.

I saw these in a recent men's devotional magazine. I'm sure glad the writers of these songs went with the words we are familiar with.

Additional comments on the pear ball dilemma

2006-11-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

I previously posted about our "ornamental" pear trees and the mess that we had to clean up after a wind storm. I incorrectly stated that all of the pear balls had come down when in fact there are still a few hundred still hanging on in the trees with a few that fall each day. When I was out picking up the few that had fallen yesterday after work, I noticed some pear stains on our driveway and sidewalk and wondered how they could be there since it hadn't been that windy. When I looked closer at these stains, I noticed they were not just random splats, but they had a definite "design" to them. How could that be? Then I realized that these stains weren't splats from the pears falling off, but they were the prints from the feet of birds that have also been interested in these fallen pear balls. I guess as they trapse through the mess of pear balls looking for a meal they get the gunk on their feet which leaves a mark as they hop on the cement. I would assume these are mostly Magpies which we have seen recently around the trees.

Speaking of Magpies, did you know that the word pie may be from magpie, shortened to pie. The explanation offered in favor or this is that the magpie collects a variety of things, and that it was an essential feature of early pies that they contained a variety of ingredients. Hmmm!

Speaking of pies, what kind of pie do you most enjoy at Thanksgiving? Do you have the traditional pumpkin pie? We usually have pumpkin and pecan. I think pecan pie is one of my favorites. I have decided that I definitely like pie more than cake, how about you?

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I wish you all a wonderful time with family and/or friends this week, and I hope you truly recognize that we should be thankful to the one and only true God for His love and blessings.

Palm trees in the Pacific NW?

2006-11-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

If you read my previous post you may have wondered about the picture of the palm tree blowing in the wind. You may have asked yourself "do they really have palm trees in the Pacific NW?" Well, the picture is just a free-use photo I looked up on yotophoto, so it isn't an actual picture of the wind storm we just had, but it made me think of another post of something that will make you go hmmm. We do actually have palm trees here. Actually, we used to. There was a little strip mall parking lot that the owner lined with palm trees. Our climate isn't one that could support palm trees year round like in Florida or SoCal, so the owner of this strip mall would put these palm trees out each spring and keep them out during the summer and then uproot them before the winter and store them in a barn or something and bring them out again the next year. I think he either got tired of this or they finally died, because we haven't seen them there for awhile now.

Update from the cleanup of pear balls. It took me about 2 hours and 21 5-gallon bucketfulls to pick up all the pear balls that were in our lawn yesterday. My back and legs are sore. Now our trash container is half full of them. Glad the trash man comes tomorrow.

Pelted with little pear balls and garbage

2006-11-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard the phrases "what do you want... wicker?" or "they pelted us with rocks and garbage"? For some reason I remember these from many years ago from one of David Lettermen's first top 10 lists of the top 10 new catch phrases. Actually I know why I remember these, because my brother used to say them over and over. I guess they really did become catch phrases for us even though they don't have any real meaning.

Anyway, I thought of the second phrase when I thought about the results of the huge windstorm we had last night. We had a high winds with gusts I think up to 50-60 mph. We were awake for a few hours around 2 this morning because of the noise and because our little girl woke up scared by the wind noises. Our son slept through the whole thing.

When I left for work this morning, I surveyed the mess that I will have to clean up. There were tumbleweeds everywhere. Our neighbor's trash was strewn all down the street. Another neighbor's trampoline was lifted out of their backyard and landed near the entrance to our neighborhood and with the netting around the edge, it looked like a huge spider waiting for oncoming cars. But, the biggest mess was all the little pear balls that pelted our windows, garage, and house. The splats make our house look like it was used for a paintball tournament. Yes, there were thousands of little pear balls in our "ornamental" pear trees that were nearly all blown off this morning. I know there are thousands because I have picked up hundreds in the past few weeks that have already fallen off. What is up with our two pear trees that are supposed to be "ornamental" pears which means they aren't supposed to produce fruit right? Well ours and our next door neighbors trees do. And they create quite a huge mess. At least they are now all off at once and I should be able to clean them all up once and for all.

Are you ready for some football?

2006-11-08T15:57:00.000-08:00

Monday, I got to leave work early to pick up my son from school. He didn't ride the bus home because he had chess club after school. This is amazing in itself as there are like 70 kids in his elementary school chess club that meets every other week. Anyway, on the way home I had the radio tuned to the ESPN sports talk station and they were talking about the Seattle Seahawks and the upcoming game. My son recognized the names Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander who are injured and wouldn't be playing. He couldn't remember what position Matt Hasselbeck played. I told him quarterback and he said something like "that's one of the most important players on the team right?" and "that's the guy who takes the ball and kicks it..." I tried to explain the position to him and he made another comment that indicated that he really didn't know much about the game. I decided at that point that he and I needed to sit down that night and watch Monday Night Football. He watched and was interested for a few plays, but then he lost interest and was tired and had to go to bed. So what age do most kids start to want to watch sports on TV? I have to admit, I hope that his interest in sports increases and I wouldn't mind his interest in chess club waning a bit over the years.

What are the chances?

2006-10-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

The other day I went off to the grocery store to buy a few necessities. As often is the case, my daughter wanted to go with me. I usually don’t mind and it gives my wife the opportunity to get things done or to just enjoy a break from having to care for one of our two children. Before we left, I got my wallet and cell phone and the list of 6 things that I had to get (the cell phone is always an absolute requirement in order to verify that I am getting the exact 6 items that are desired). My girl wanted to put on her necklace, bracelet, ring, and her “clip-clop” shoes. I convinced her to just put on tennis shoes instead of the dress shoes with heels which she calls “clip-clop” shoes because of the sound they make on a hard floor when she wears them. My wife gave in on her wearing the jewelry with the condition that I periodically check to make sure she still has them on.

Having just turned 4, my little girl is not yet the best at being responsible with keeping track of her things herself. Of course I forgot about the condition to check until we got home and we discover that our daughter doesn’t have the ring on her finger. After going back and forth laying the blame (for not checking periodically or at all, and for not letting her wear it in the first place) and after checking everywhere in the car and at home, I decided to go back to the store to retrace our steps to see if I could find it.

What do you think are the chances that I would find this little ring? As I was driving, I was thinking my chances were pretty slim, but I could see if anyone had turned it in or leave my name and phone number in case someone did eventually. When I got to the store parking lot, I parked in the space next to where we had parked and looked all over the pavement. Nothing. While we shopped, we used one of the neat new carts that has a little kid car in front and I was disappointed to not see it in the cart return area where I left it. So I walked to the front doors of the store while staring at the ground to see if it happened to be there. Nothing. Then I noticed 3 of the special kids carts lined up by the front door. I checked in the first one, nothing. I checked in the second one, nothing. Then I had to squeeze between some other regular carts to check in the third one. I bent over and lifted up the little seat belt and there was the little pink ring!!! Can you believe it? It must have fallen off in the seat and never fallen out and it was still there. Now how often does something like that happen?

Cellphones

2006-10-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

Does anyone like to play the games that come on their cellphone? I do. I have a Nokia basic model phone and I like to play Sky Diver. My current high score is 17,260. Can anyone beat that? Does anyone have a clue what I am talking about?

Now I know people like to have their cellphones with them anywhere they go, but this ---> is ridiculous. She will have some pretty funny tan lines.

Check out this picture.

<--- It is the headquarters of the cellphone company T-mobile Austria in Vienna.

Zippers

2006-10-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

As a result of my previous post, I came across some more interesting information about zippers.
Some of the history about zippers goes all the way back to 1851 when a device similar to the zipper called an automatic continuous clothing closure was patented by Elias Howe, but it was not of practical use and did not reach the market. In 1891, the aforementioned Whitcomb L. Judson patented a similar device called a clasp locker for fastening shoes and boots, and he marketed the invention through his Universal Fastener company. These two designs used hooks and eyes. The true zipper, and the design used today, is based on interlocking teeth.

When I further researched Whitcomb L. Judson, I found out he obtained several other patents and also made several automobile improvements during his life. One of these inventions is what we now know as the cupholder. It also says that a high school in Texas was named in his honor. I assume this refers to Judson High School in Converse, TX and whose mascot is the Rockets, which leads us full circle.

Not until the 1920s and 30s did the zipper become popular for children's clothing and men's trousers. In 1934, Tadao Yoshida founded a company called San-S Shokai in downtown Tokyo. This company later changed its name to Yoshida Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha and then eventually to YKK. They have now become the world's largerst manufacturer of zippers and fastening products. If you are wearing an article of clothing or have some other product with a zipper, take a look at it. It probably has YKK on it. I wondered what those letters were before and thought maybe it somehow had to do with the year 2000, Y2K. Guess not. Hope you enjoyed this interesting look at the useless information regarding the zipper.

Team Mascots

2006-10-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

I think I'm pretty good at knowing most of the mascots for college teams. There are some strange ones out there that I'm not exactly sure where they came from or what they are, but I do know what the name of their mascot is. Like the #1 team in the country the Ohio State Buckeyes. Why would you choose to name your team Buckeyes after the nut of the state tree? Or Syracuse Orange? They must have thought they asked what was their team color instead of team mascot. And how would you like to be a Boilermaker from Purdue? How about a Hokie from Virginia Tech? There are also some mascots I know that most people wouldn't know like the Southern Illinois Salukis or the Wichita State Wheat Shockers (now shortened to just Shockers) or the Idaho Vandals or the New Mexico Lobos.

Now I think I found a new favorite mascot that I had never heard of before. The Zips from Akron. I have to admit I don't follow the Mid-America Conference as shows by the fact that I had never heard of the Zips even though they are the defending MAC champions in football. The University of Akron's athletic teams are known as the Zips which is short for Zippers which were overshoes that were nationally popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and also the zipper was an invention from Akron by Whitcomb L. Judson. The university's mascot is "Zippy", a kangaroo. What are some mascots that you know that maybe aren't well known? What is your favorite mascot?

Comment on this funny picture

2006-10-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

I am interested in what funny comments you can come up with for this odd picture.
How about "Our local police... keeping toddlers in line", or "let's clear our streets of thieves, murderers, rapists, and five year olds"?
I'm sure you can come up with a better one.

Discover the '08 Mercury Mariner

2006-10-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

The '08 Mercury Mariner. Yes that is 2008. That was the advertisement I saw on MSN the other day. Whaaaat's up with advertising and selling autos ahead of time? It is usually around 4-5 months ahead of time, but this is one year and 3 months ahead of time. I did click on the ad and it said that the 2008 Mercury Mariner will be available in early 2007. Why not just sell new models during their corresponding model year. Now someone who buys this 2008 vehicle in early 2007 may put 15,000 miles on it before 2008.

Farmland

2006-10-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Iowa has more land under cultivation than any other state? They are followed by Texas, Illinois, Kansas, and Minnesota. Are you surprised by any of these? With how big Texas is and I know there are a lot of farms, I'm surprised that they aren't first. And Illinois, I never knew there was that much farmland in Illinois. I guess it's because I have never been there and I just think of Chicago. And Minnesota, I just thought there were a bunch of lakes and that it was too cold there.

Roly-poly to me, how about you?

2006-10-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

What do you call this common bug? I always called them roly-polys growing up in Texas. My wife calls them pill bugs growing up in the Pacific NW. I was surprised to find out that they are listed on Wikipedia here as woodlice and that they are crustaceans. Hmmm. Other common names for woodlice include: armadillo bug, cheeselog, doodlebug, monkeypea, pill bug, roly-poly, potato bug, roll up bug, slater, and sow bug. Some of these sound good, maybe I will change what I call them. Check out their giant aquatic cousin, the Giant isopod here. Ahhh. I don't think I will be sticking out my finger to let that thing crawl on me or to watch it roll up.

No Muslin Tolerance

2006-09-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

My favorite TV show "The Amazing Race" aired last night. Did you all watch it. I am not too happy that it is on Sunday night, but we will see how this season goes. I have to admit I was not terribly disappointed that the Muslin duo was ousted halfway through the show. They were about to make me want to throw up with all their ... Anyway, I wonder what the show is trying to display in choosing this duo. Muslin tolerance?

Before you comment on my misspelled words, I am using what we saw on the local news last night. We had to laugh when the story about them being upset with the Pope had the subtitle at the bottom "Muslin leaders react to Pope..." or something like that. Even funnier was that we know one of the guys who does the text for this local station that goes to our church. Maybe he meant to misspell this since their reaction is just absurd.

I'm not sure, but I think this picture shows some muslin.

"Trash" on America's Roads

2006-09-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Motorists traveling outside Salem, Oregon saw one of the "litter cleanup" signs crediting the American Nazi party. Marion County officials had no choice but to let that group into the adopt-a-road program. The $500 per sign was picked up by Oregon taxpayers. The Ku Klux Klan is also involved in the adopt-a-road program in the state of Missouri.

I came across this photo trying to find one that would fit with this post. Not much success in efforts to keep our highways free of "trash".

Folding paper

2006-08-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Did you know that no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times?

I tried it with a regular piece of paper and it is true, but I wonder what if the paper is reeeeaaallly big? or reeeeaaallly thin? Probably still true.

He's not Goth, he's Emo

2006-08-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

What in the world? My wife heard this phrase from a youth in our church when she referred to a teenager she saw the other day who was dressed in all black. According to what this youth told my wife there is a new group (new to us anyway) of strange dressing youngsters that look Goth, except instead of baggy and loose fitting, their clothes are tight fitting and too small. I guess the males even buy shirts in the boys dept. that show their stomachs and wear low riding, off the hip, tight girls jeans. They love it thinking that they look better than the girls do. They have the long hair that covers half their face and probably wear the makeup and black painted nails. They are often known to be "bisexual" and they get the name Emo because their emotions are right on the surface with any little thing setting them off. I guess there are other weird offshoot groups that some kids identify with these days. It is sad and scary that kids can get mixed up in groups that influence them in negative ways like this. Often they are just looking for acceptance from someone. Probably depressed and lonely. Shows that we need to pray for our youth and their parents.

Can you iterpret this dream? And would you really want to?

2006-08-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

OK, here is a weird post that I hope doesn't cause me to lose my faithful readers (so I hope it doesn't offend or gross out the four of you : ) I have had several dreams that are just weird, gross, odd, and a little disturbing. I had a similar dream last night and several times in past years. The dream is not always the same but it involves trying to uhmmm... ok I'll just say it, trying to take a dump in a public restroom. The nightmarish part of the dream is when I try to find a "clean" stall there is poop all over. Or if I flush, the toilet backs up and again there is poop all over. What kind of meaning can this have? Now tell me that doesn't make you go hmmm.

More SPAM please!

2006-08-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

OK, I decided that I would go ahead and give you some facts about this type of SPAM -->.

People wonder what this product is made of. The ingredients are actually quite simple and a short list compared to a lot of other food products with all their chemical preservatives, etc. The ingredients include:

Chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added.
Salt (for binding, flavour, and firmness)
Water (to help in mixing)
Sugar (for flavour)
Sodium Nitrite (for colour and as a preservative)

By World War II, Hormel had sold twenty thousand tons of Spam. Then, during the wartime meat rationing, Spam became very popular.

If all the cans of Spam ever eaten were put end-to-end, they would circle the globe at least ten times.

Residents of Hawaii eat an average of four cans of SPAM per person per year, more than in any other place on Earth.

By 1959, a billion cans of SPAM had been sold. The two billion mark was hit in 1970, followed by three billion in 1980, four billion in 1986, and five billion in 1993. That's a lot of SPAM!

In Korea, SPAM is sold in stylish presentation gift boxes of nine cans each. SPAM stolen from army PXs can be found on the Korean black market. And there are Korean imitations called Lo-Spam, Dak, Plumrose, and Tulip.

Nikita Krushchev once credited SPAM with the survival of the WWII Russian army. ''Without SPAM, we wouldn't have been able to feed our army,'' he said.

SPAM is sold in over 99% of U.S. grocery stores.

Over 141 million cans of SPAM are sold worldwide each year.

SPAM

2006-07-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Do you hate spam? No, not this kind of SPAM, the spam messages you get in your e-mail inbox advertising all kinds of things. Here are some interesting "facts" I read:

The time spent deleting SPAM costs United States businesses $21.6 billion annually.

Some spam filters with strict settings that catch the word "cialis" will not allow many work-related e-mails through because that word is embedded inside the word "specialist".

Why is it called spam? Unsolicited email earned the name "spam" because it resembled a Monty Python skit where a chorus of Vikings drowned out other sounds by singing "spam, spam, spam." Early digital marketing pioneers contend that spam is actually an acronym for Simultaneously Posted Advertising Message.

77 percent of Yahoo! Mail poll respondents said they are more aggravated by weeding through spam than they are by cleaning a dirty toilet.

Baseball, Shaved Ice, and Dancing in 100+ Degree Heat

2006-07-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

We went to a minor league baseball game on Friday with a group from our church. It was a great time despite several conditions that could have made it not so great. The most obvious of these was that the high temperature on this day was around 102 degrees. Actually, it could have been worse, on Sunday it got up to 110. We brought our own supply of bottled water to make sure all of us stayed hydrated. We also gave in to the enticing shaved ice they were selling. Of course, I had to go stand in line during the game to purchase these refreshments, and of course it was a long line, and of course I didn't realize until I got up there that it would cost me $4 apiece, and of course I missed three runs the home team scored. I did get to see the replay of what I missed on the news that night so no big deal. There were also 5 more runs including a homerun that were made in later innings that I did get to see.

While standing in the long line, I was accompanied by my 3 year old daughter. I asked her if she was enjoying the game. She said yes. I asked her what she enjoyed most, again referring to the baseball game. She said dancing to the music which they were playing in between innings. Yes my wife and I are a little scared. At only age 3, our daughter has pretty good rhythm and has some dance moves of which most teens would be jealous. Right now it is pretty innocent and fun.

Another condition that could have been good or bad depending on your viewpoint was where we were sitting. We saw some friends and their kids came and sat next to our kids. We thought it was only going to be to say hi but they stayed for almost the whole game. They actually behaved pretty well, but watching other people's kids wasn't what we had in mind. Also, I ended up sitting right next to our pastor. Some would have seen this as a great opportunity. I just saw it as a situation where I had to be nervous the whole time. It ended up going pretty well as he is a great guy and it was relaxed and we had some good general conversation.

My son probably had the best time. He got a free hat they were giving away and he got it autographed by the team's mascot. He got to spend time with the friends that sat with us and he enjoyed watching a great baseball game. He also got to stay up way past his bed time.

All in all, a fun time of baseball, shaved ice, and dancing in 100+ degree heat.

Japanese R for L

2006-07-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought it was funny how Japanese pronounce English words that have "L" in them with an "R" sound. I just found out the reason for this is because there is no letter "L" in Japanese. In the Japanese language, they use "R" instead of "L". There are also no letters C, Q, and X in Japanese. K is used instead of C; K followed by a vowel is used instead of Q; and E - KU - SU is used instead of X. Also, B is often used instead of V, but this one can vary.

I found out about there not being an "L" in Japanese this past week. My wife's brother lives in Japan. He went there to work for a company that teaches English to Japanese. He met, fell in love with, and married a wonderful Japanese lady. They now have a beautiful baby girl and they were here visiting last week. We had a great time with them. They met when she wanted to learn English and he was her teacher. Now she speaks very well and understands almost everything we say to her. I wish I could say the same for us. We should really try to learn to speak some Japanese. Maybe the next time they visit.

Independence Day Number Facts

2006-07-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

In anticipation of Independence Day on Tuesday, July 4th, I thought I would share some odd number facts related to that day:

2.5 million
In July 1776, the number of people living in the colonies. On this July 4th, the population milestone our nation soon will be closing in on is 300 million.

150 million
Number of hot dogs (all varieties) expected to be consumed by Americans on this holiday.

$201.9 million
The value of fireworks imported from China in 2005, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imported ($211 million). U.S. exports of fireworks, by comparison, came to just $14.9 million in 2005, with Australia purchasing more than any other country ($4.4 million).

$5.5 million
In 2005, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags; the vast majority of this amount ($5 million) was for U.S. flags made in China. Only $993,000 U.S. flags were exported in 2005. Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $529,000 worth.

There are 30 places in the U.S. with "liberty" in its name. 32 places are named "eagle" or have it in its name. 11 have "independence", 5 have "freedom" and 1 place in Indiana is named "Patriot".

Have a happy and safe 4th of July celebration.
God bless America!

Dentist Difficulties

2006-06-26T09:45:00.000-07:00

I had to go to the dentist last week and will go again this week for some under the gum scraping. Oh joy. Yes, I have gum problems. Apparently not only has my hair line receded (all the way to the back of my head) but my gums are also receding. Actually they have been for years, but in the last few years it has gotten noticeably worse. I do a very good job with brushing, flossing, and other procedures but it hasn't stopped the receding and now they are taking more agressive action by going under the gums and cleaning/scraping. I have had this done before several years ago and it is not a pleasant experience.

Anyway, back to the point of my post. Do you have the same difficulties that I have when you go to the dentist? I'm not talking about the cleaning and other procedures they do that can be so dreadful, but the other "social" difficulties that occur. It never fails, the dentist or hygienist or other assistants always will ask you a question when they have their dental instruments stuck in your mouth. Don't they know it is impossible to reply when they are pushing your tongue away from your teeth where they are cleaning, drilling, or scraping? Actually you are able to reply, but never intelligently. It sounds more like the-tha-thu-thu. Or you figure you can wait until the next time they stop working and give them a more complete answer, but by then they have already gone on to the next topic so you don't say anything. It can be a little easier when they ask you a yes or no question and you can say ah-hum or uh-uh, and hopefully they can understand your grunterance esp. if it is in dealing with whatever procedure they are doing. The other problem is that you are usually lying down past horizontal and it can be very difficult to be cordial in that situation. Usually it is when the hygienist is working on your teeth and the dentist comes up to do the quick check to justify that you have actually "seen the dentist" and he will greet you from behind and you try to find him from where his voice is coming from upside down. He may then come around and extend his hand. Maybe he is wanting to shake your hand, maybe not but you try to reach up and hopefully you are lucky and can give him a firm handshake and not the wimpy one that us guys hate when that happens. Or is that just me? I hate to shake another guys hand and not get your hand in there firmly before they grab yours and you end up having them shake your fingers and you feel like you all of a sudden have lace on your shorts. Anyway, then when they are finished they sit you up and as you stand you are a little dizzy and at least a bit disoriented. Of course, this is the time that they are telling you all the instructions for you to take care of your teeth in between cleanings or explaining that you have to come back for under the gum scraping etc. All the important things that it is good for you to pay attention to, but for which you only half way get because you were just laying down with your head lower than your feet for about an hour. This is also the time when they have you swish that nasty fluoride wash for 3o seconds twice. Do you have to do that? It is awful. My vote for the worse part of the whole dentist experience. It tastes awful and you want to just keep spitting and you can't drink or eat for 30 minutes afterward and you get this upset stomach feeling and even when you can eat, nothing tastes good.

What are your dentist difficulties? Do you share any of these or is it just me? I didn't get into the whole worrying about your breath smelling bad or even worse when the dentist's breath is really bad. Fortunately, they have to wear the surgical mask now adays so I haven't had this experience in awhile. : )

Moon Size: Big to Small

2006-06-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Have you ever commented on how big the moon looks at different times esp. when it is closer to the horizon and then just an hour or so later you look again and it looks smaller? Why does it look smaller when not much time has past? Is it really further away? It may just be all a matter of our perception in relation to familiar objects like trees (like in this picture) or buildings. Maybe you saw this article on MSN yesterday about this subject from Bill Nye the Science Guy. Check it out. You can do a test by marking the size of the moon on a piece of paper and then mark it again a few hours later and although it appears smaller, the marks on the paper show that the moon will be the same size.

Talking a mile a minute

2006-06-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

Do you know people like this? People who have the communication skills to "talk a mile a minute". My wife is one of these types. It is quite impressive how her brain can work so fast to a. be able to speak and add something to a conversation; 3. be able to keep up as the conversation quickly goes from one subject to another; and d. be able to listen to what the other is saying while thinking about what she is going to say next. Sometimes when my wife is talking to one of her friends like this, I try to keep up and just when I am about to add something to the conversation, I realize they are already on to the next topic. I admit that I talk pretty slow and it usually takes me awhile to get something out, but the way these ladies do it is pretty amazing. I say "ladies" as a stereotype because that has been my experience. Not too many guys have these kind of skills. Usually these are instances when I gladly will divert my attention to keeping the kids in line or something else just so I don't stand there with a blank look on my face as I try to keep up with the conversation.

This is often the case when trying to leave after church. My wife and I will often go together to pick the kids up from their class, but it usually ends up with me and the kids waiting for Mom in the foyer as she is stopped several times on the way. In between the worship service and Sunday School, I usually try to wait for my wife until I remember that it is a wasted effort as she stops for several of these conversations along the way, so I end up just going on. I think this might be a common thing for guys as one of my fellow church-going friends said it best that we ought to come up with some tool similar to blinders for a horse to lead them out of the church in a straight line to the car. I guess this shows I need to work on the area of fellowship a little more.

Flag Day

2006-06-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

Did you know today is Flag Day? Do you even know what Flag Day is? Or why it is observed annually on June 14th? It is an annual observance in the United States to celebrate the national flag. June 14th is the anniversary of the official adoption of the American flag by the Continental Congress in 1777. According to this article, the first Flag Day may have been back in 1885 when a Wisconsin schoolteacher celebrated June 14th as "Flag Birthday". President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first nationwide flag day in 1916, and in 1947, Harry Truman signed legislation for Flag Day to be observed annually.

Do you recognize or celebrate Flag Day in any way? Growing up, we usually celebrated it in a round about way since one of my family member's birthday is on June 14th. The cake and/or decorations would often incorporate the American flag in some way. Sadly, sometimes we don't recognize this day until we see someone with a flag being flown and we wonder why and then remember, oh yeah today is Flag Day.

More of kids say the funniest things

2006-06-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

I have a few more funny things my 3 yr. old said recently.

For some reason we were talking about money or earning it or something and our little one says "I have some money" referring to some dollars she got for her birthday awhile back from relatives. We have tried to stress the importance of tithing, esp. to our 7 yr. old recently on the small allowance money he earns and we often will give our 3 yr. old some coins to "give to Jesus". We proudly hear her proclaim "I want to give my money to God". Then she says "you know, in one of those cantelopes" referring to the little offering envelopes.

We were out in the backyard the other evening and I was tired and ready to go in. Our 3 yr. old says "Daddy, you have to come swing Ma-Lisa on the rope swing". Now this is her favorite of the recurring imaginary friend names that she uses. I am spelling the name like she says it. It is not Melissa. She will call some of her dolls this name and sometimes an invisible little friend like in this instance. Being tired, I tried to get out of it saying "Ma-Lisa doesn't really want to swing, she's ready to go in." In order to avoid the little fit she was about to throw, I agreed and went over to push the rope swing. I played along and said things like "wow, Ma-Lisa is having fun" etc. The next time I pushed the swing, I pushed it too far and it almost hit the frame of the play set so I said "Whoa, I almost knocked Ma-Lisa off". She looks at me like I'm nuts and says "she's not really real". Of course five minutes later as we are going in, she hands me two imaginary friends to take inside and says "Ma-Lisa and Joshua are ready to go in now".

Our 3 yr. old disappeared for a few minutes and then came in the living room with a little piece of paper that she had scribbled two splotches on and shows her mom. My wife says what's this? She says "it's thhhhppffff and thhhhppffff", making the little toot noise with her tongue sticking out and blowing.

New roof in a can

2006-06-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

We get random junkmail faxes at my work all the time. If I walk by the fax and notice something came through, I check it and deliver to the appropriate person, or trash can in the case of the junk ones. This time, I read the fax and had to laugh. It's an advertisement for Aerosol Instant Roof Patch. "Spray it on, walk away... you're done! No more leaks!" This product may actually work, but sure sounds fishy to me. All I could think of was telling someone that you just got a new roof... and it came in a can.

Kids say the funniest (strangest) things

2006-06-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

We really should start writing down or recording some of the funny things our kids say. They always make us crack up, then it seems we forget about them when trying to recall these random bits when telling someone how cute our kids are. Also, they are usually instances where "you had to be there" for it to be really funny. Anyway, here are a couple of these that I remember that our 7 and 3 yr. old said recently.

When eating at a KFC recently, our 3 yr. old pointed to her chicken and said "what is this?" pointing to an indistinguishable piece of chicken that comes on the cheap meal plate. My wife said "chicken parts" and right away and in all seriousness, our 7 yr. old questions "chicken farts?". We all start laughing with everyone in the restaurant looking at us.

Last night I took the kids to Wendy's (I guess we've been eating out too much this week) while Mom is getting her hair done. We observe a family with 4 wild children come in and go to the counter to order. The dad is dressed in a tie and looks like he just got off work and is pretty much just staring at his kid's as they crawl all over the line divider railing and making all kinds of noise. The mom is trying to order and finally whips around and with a very angry tone and angry face to match yells at one of her kids "I told you to stop it, now go sit down!!" where everyone could hear. My 7 yr. old and I look at each other with expressions of "Whoa!!" on our faces and then he says "that sounded just like you or Mom when you yell at ___ 3 yr. old when she is acting up".
Nice. Nothing like thinking how terrible this mom sounded and then have your 7 yr. old compare you to this "bad parent".

While driving home from Wendy's, the 3 yr. old says "I want to tell Mommy about where we ate" or something like that and I say that she won't be home for awhile because she is getting her hair colored (actually highlighted, but I said colored). A moment of silence, then she says "what color is she going to get?" I chuckle and say it will be the same color just a little brighter. I later found out she was thinking pink or purple would be nice. When Mom got home, our 3 yr. old greets her at the door and says "I like your bright hair".

The other day as I was bending over brushing our 3 yr. old's teeth, she is looking up at me and says "when you get older are you going to have hair all over your face?" Now I am clean-shaven but think maybe she is confused since she has seen me with a few days growth before so I say no, I won't have any more hair on my face than I have now. She then says so you won't be like that guy we saw on TV that had hair all over his face. I then realize she is referring to a documentary we watched briefly several month's ago about people who have the genetic condition Hypertrichosis or "werewolf syndrome" where they have excessive hair growth all over including their faces. I guess our daughter must have been affected more than we thought by this show. I wonder how long she has wondered if/when her loved ones like her grandparents will begin growing hair all over their face as they get older. I explained it to her.

Now that I have typed all of this, I read back through all of this and think not only did you have to be there, but you also probably have to be their parent to really think these are funny. Oh well.

By the way, do you remember what you were doing 16 years ago today?
"I do" !!!

Funny Shoes

2006-06-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

On our recent trip to the emergency room which I mentioned in yesterday's post, we were greeted by a staff guy who had on some pretty funny looking shoes. We later saw a nurse that had on the same kind of shoes. They are called Z-Coil shoes and look like a normal athletic or running shoe with a big coil spring in place of the heel. Check them out at the Z-Coil website. They are apparently great for pain relief and for people who are on their feet all day.

Kid's Play Revisited

2006-06-06T12:29:00.000-07:00

In light of my last post regarding a parent's responsibility to watch their children in order to keep them safe while playing, we had an incident occur last night that goes right along with that topic. My son fell while riding his bike and tore a gash in his chin. Both my wife and I were out watching him ride his bike up and down the street and our daughter as she rode her scooter. We rushed over and helped him into the house and thought it may not be too bad as it didn't bleed too much, but looking closer we decided we better take him to the ER. Sure enough, it was pretty bad and he needed about 10 stiches with 5 internal ones to "push back in" the exposed area and 5 on the outside to seal it up. He was a real trooper and did great and even the doctor commented on how mature he was in handling this.

So what can we gather from this related to my previous post? Well, I guess a few things come to mind. It could have been a lot worse. He could have broken something. If we weren't there watching him, he may not have been able to make it inside on his own and his little sister may have not known what to do. On the other hand, it goes to show you that no matter how much you try to protect your children, there still may be things that happen that you couldn't prevent. We just need to trust God to protect them while still being responsible doing our part. We can also thank God that he wasn't injured more severely and he will be ok. I guess on the bright side, now our son will have a neat scar he can show his friends and it is not in a real prominent place. He also has something else in common with me as I got a gash on my chin when I was a kid, which is actually a somewhat humorous story. I was sitting with my brothers watching TV and I needed to go to the bathroom, but I didn't want to miss the program we were watching (probably one of the Gilligan's Island reruns). Anyway, my oldest brother said why don't you just cross your legs like this and he pulled my legs in opposite directions. I don't know if I was just startled or stupid or both but I fell off the couch hitting my chin right on our uncarpeted floor. I don't know why my arms didn't work to break my fall, maybe it was the same reason my son's arms didn't work either. : )

Kid's Play Questions

2006-06-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Would you let your kids (age range from 2 to 7) go out in the front yard by themselves to play? Would you say go ahead if they saw the neighbors across the street come home and ask if they could go ring on their door and ask to play? Would you not even check on them for over an hour until they come home and then not even thank the neighbor for watching your kids? We don't, but our neighbors do all of these. We figure that in the world we live in today that we can't be too careful with our kids and like to know where they are at and with whom to make sure they are safe at all times. Oh sure, we are made fun of by our neighbors and have to deal with their comments about never seeing our kids, etc. Maybe our kids suffer some because we don't just let them wander the neighborhood playing, but they have a great backyard they can play in. We suffer too with feeling like we have to go with them when they go in the front to ride their bike or play with the neighbors' kids. But at least we can be more confident in their safety. Also, our kids seem to be alot more respectful of the other kids and property etc. With the way some of the other kids act, I'm not so sure I want my kids hanging around them that much anyway. What are your thoughts?

Drunk Jokes

2006-05-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Now, you may know that I don't drink and think getting drunk is destructive and idiotic behavior. I even posted about it here back in August. But, these jokes about drunks just tickled my funny bone. They are just jokes.

Never question a drunk...
A woman was shopping at her local supermarket where she selected:

a half-gallon of 2% milk,
a carton of eggs,
a quart of orange juice,
a head of romaine lettuce,
a 2 lb. can of coffee and
a 1 lb. package of bacon.

As she was unloading her items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind her watched as she placed the items in front of the cashier. While the cashier was ringing up her purchases, the drunk calmly stated, "You must be single."

The woman was a bit startled by this proclamation, but she was intrigued by the derelict's intuition, since she was indeed single. She looked at her six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about her selections that could have tipped off the drunk to her marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she said "Well, you know what, you're absolutely correct. But how on earth did you know that?"

The drunk replied, "Cause you're ugly."

Gotta love drunk people...

A man and his wife are awakened at 3 o'clock in the morning by a loud pounding on the door. The man gets up and goes to the door where a drunken stranger standing in the pouring rain is asking for a push.

"Not a chance," says the husband, "it's 3 o'clock in the morning!" He slams the door and returns to bed.

"Who was that?" asked his wife.

"Just some drunk guy asking for a push," he answers.

"Did you help him?" she asks.

"No, I did not! It's 3 o'clock in the morning and it's pouring out there!"

"Well, you have a short memory," says his wife. "Can't you remember about three months ago when we broke down and those two guys helped us? I think you should help him, and you should be ashamed of yourself!"

The man does as he is told, gets dressed, and goes out into the pounding rain. He calls out into the dark, "Hello, are you still there?"

"Yes" comes back the answer.

"Do you still need a push?" calls out the husband.

"Yes, Please!" comes the reply from the dark.

"Where are you?" asks the husband.

"Over here on the swing!" replies the drunk.

I paid $2.85 for gas!

2006-05-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

No, not per gallon but for a whole tank. I didn't really, but that is about all that people in Venezuela pay for a tank of gas. That's right, they have the world's cheapest gas prices at $0.12 a gallon. Did you see this report a few weeks ago? Here is an article on MSNBC from May 10. I think it has gone up to a whopping $0.14 since then, but you can still fill a 20 gallon tank for less than what you pay for one gallon here. Most of the stations here have been stuck at $2.99 a gallon for a few weeks. Apparently afraid to go over the big $3 mark.

I remember just about 10 years ago, we paid $0.89 a gallon. What is the cheapest price you remember paying for a gallon of gas? I also remember how when it was starting to inch up to $1, thinking that I can live with that. Ugghhh! Now it is three times that. How have the gas prices affected you? Or have they? Do you drive less, have you changed to a more fuel efficient vehicle, or do you still drive the same and try not to think about it?

I got an email forwarded to me the other day about water fuel with a story of a man who has developed a way to change water to HHO instead of H2O (I think) and can burn it and use it as a safer way to weld and he also was able to develop a deal for his car so he can safely use water instead of gas for fuel. I also heard from a coworker that she heard of a converter you can put on a diesel vehicle to burn used cooking oil. I wonder what new technology will take off and be used in the years to come.

Cute Quote # 5

2006-05-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

"My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.'"
--Paula Poundstone

Cute Quote # 4

2006-05-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle:
"Take two aspirin" and
"Keep away from children."
--Author Unknown

Cute Quote # 3

2006-05-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

"When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep.

Not screaming like all the passengers in his car."

--Author Unknown

Cute Quote # 2

2006-05-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base."--Dave Barry

Maybe this should have been my Mother's Day post... ummm, maybe not.

Cute Quote # 1

2006-05-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

"A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: 'Duh'."
--Conan O'Brien

Similarities???

2006-05-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Taylor Hicks - See http://www.americanidol.com/

Benny Hinn - See http://www.bennyhinn.org/default.cfm

See any similarities, or is it just me?

Animal Oddities

2006-05-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some more things that I found on the internet, this time all about animals and insects and other creatures. Some of these make you wonder if they are true and for sure make you wonder who and why someone would have tested such things.

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue. (why should he?)

A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. (now come on, how can you test this to be true?)

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Another Post about Elevators

2006-04-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

After posting about things to do on an elevator, it reminded me of an elevator of a different sort, a grain elevator. There aren’t that many elevators of this type around here either, but they were a common site when traveling the highways of the Texas Panhandle where I grew up. There was one in particular that we always paid attention to when we drove by it. My family may be able to share more or correct me on this if they remember better than me, but I think it was a fairly large structure somewhere near Lubbock maybe along I-27. There were several column-like rounded silo sections and the name of the company (I think “CONE” maybe but I can’t remember) was printed with one large letter on each section. As you drove past it, parts of the letters were hidden from view because of the rounded edges. At just the right spot, it looked like a giant clock with the parts of the letters you could see forming squares marking the numbers and two hands in the middle. Any of you know about this and want to share about it? The link below to a picture of a Cone elevator might be the one, but maybe not. Take a look at some of the other pictures at this website. These grain elevators can be huge and quite a sight. http://www.bnsf.com/markets/agricultural/elevator/bin8/ele2248.html

Elevator Shenanigans

2006-04-25T13:36:00.000-07:00

I read this on someone else's blog and copied it because I just had to laugh at the thought of doing some of these, but I can't remember where I read it and I didn't copy the reference. So if you are reading this and it was yours, sorry and/or thanks. I don't really see myself doing any of these esp. since there aren't that many buildings with elevators around here, but some of you who read this may frequent elevators on a daily basis. If you try one of these let me know.

Things to do on an elevator

1) When there's only one other person in the elevator, tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't you.
2) Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.
3) Ask if you can push the buttons for other people, but push the wrong ones.
4) Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and ask if they know what floor you're on.
5) Hold the doors open and say you're waiting for your friend. After awhile, let the doors close and say, "Hi Greg. How's your day been?"
6) Drop a pen and wait until someone reaches to help pick it up, then scream, "That's mine!"
7) Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.
8) Move your desk in to the elevator and whenever someone gets on, ask if they have an appointment.
9) Lay down a Twister mat and ask people if they'd like to play.
10) Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets on ask them if they hear something ticking.
11) Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exit with the passengers.
12) Ask, "Did you feel that?"
13) Stand really close to someone, sniffing them occasionally.
14) When the doors close, announce to the others, "It's okay. Don't panic, they open up again."
15) Swat at flies that don't exist.
16) Tell people that you can see their aura.
17) Call out, "Group hug!" then enforce it.
18) Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"
19) Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"
20) Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.
21) Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce in horror, "You're one of THEM!" and back away slowly.
22) Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to the other passengers.
23) Listen to the elevator walls with your stethoscope.
24) Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.
25) Grinning, stare at another passenger for a while, and then announce, "I have new socks on."
26) Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers, "This is my personal space."

Letters, words, typing and such

2006-04-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

Here are a few interesting tidbits I read somewhere on the internet. Just for your reading pleasure, no references, nor any assertion that they are 100% true. But they must be true... as I said I read them somewhere on the internet and we all know you can believe anything you read on the internet, right?

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. This is true even for those of you in the South who can make most words have multiple syllables. : )

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. Not true, my father-in-law told our kids just the other day the color of his burps... burple.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

"Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right. Flight attendants and suckers please don't take offense.

The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing. Makes you wonder why more people don't have the nickname "Lefty".

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. I tried to disprove this but gave up when I spelled out these words using all the letters from the "TOP ROW YOU QUITTER".

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet. So does "The wicked queen jumped as the hazy fog covered her last box". And my sentence makes you want to read more doesn't it? What is in the box? Why did she jump?

The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left! (palindromes). Can you think of any others? "refer", "radar", "madam", "mom", "dad", "noon"

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious." Who careious.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. This just made me think of one of my favorite words from Buddy the Elf "ginormous".

Things that make you go hmmmt.

Stinking in Absentia

2006-04-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

My wife calls me while I am at work last week trying to contain her laughter. She tells me that she and the kids are dying Easter eggs so she is making hard-boiled eggs. Our little 3 year old sniffs the air, scrunches up her nose and says "I think Daddy is stinky". Man, I'm not even home and I get blamed for it. : )

Good Friday & Glorious Sunday

2006-04-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

I was wanting to do a post about Easter, but I think the best thing I could do is to refer you to some wonderful posts this week by others who have done a great job of detailing the events of the week that we are celebrating. See The Danny Sims Blog and Joe's Jottings .

Praise the Lord, on Friday He conquered sin and accomplished His mission giving us forgiveness through His shed blood. It is finished.
On that glorious Easter Sunday, He conquered death giving us hope, joy, and the opportunity to have eternal life if we believe and place our faith in Him.

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

"Easy" Recipe for Tuna Casserole

2006-04-11T17:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my wife and kids were out of the house when I came home from work. On a normal day, (well actually we don’t have very many “normal” days so maybe I should say quite often) my wife will have dinner ready or in the works when I get home. Well on this day, she calls me and says she and the kids will be late and asks if I could get this tuna casserole started. She had a new “easy” recipe for it from a Campbell’s soup can or something like that.

Now, I am definitely not a great cook and gladly let my wife handle those duties for us while I am much better at cleaning up which she gladly let’s me handle in return. But I figure that if I can make Tuna Helper, this can’t be too much harder than that, so I say sure and look at the recipe and it says prep time is only 15 minutes and cooking time is something like 20 minutes, so I ask if she will be home by the time this is done or should I wait to put it in the oven. She says she thinks it will take me longer than the 15 minutes prep time so not worried about that. I hang up and start reading the list of ingredients and get them out and ready to put together. Everything is going smoothly and I have everything put together after just 20 minutes and I even have the oven preheated so it is ready.

I call my wife and proceed to brag to her that it only took me 20 minutes of preparation and ask if I should go ahead and put it in the oven. She asks are you sure you have everything put together properly, clearly questioning my cooking skills. I say yes and start reading over the list until I come to the last ingredient. Two cups of cooked egg noodles. She says so you were able to cook the noodles and still get all that together in just 20 minutes. Whaaaat! Cook the noodles? Dohhhh! I read right over that word “cooked”. Why didn’t they include that in the list of steps? Or at least highlight it more by calling the ingredient “previously cooked” egg noodles. I had just mixed the hard uncooked noodles in with the other ingredients I guess assuming that they would get cooked in the oven. Now I really felt stupid after just bragging about how I was pretty quick in getting this dinner ready. So now what do I do? I could start all over, but that would take too long and waste all the ingredients. So I decided that since we had plenty of egg noodles that I could just redo that ingredient, cooking them this time. That means I would have to take out all the uncooked hard noodles. I pulled out a small pot to heat up some water to boil while I began the very long process of fishing out the uncooked noodles. It took me forever, but I was able to do it with only a few hard crunches I missed and without losing too much of the other ingredients. While cooking the noodles and fishing out the hard ones, the doorbell rang and the phone rang which further made the process difficult. By the time the family got home, we only had to wait a few minutes and it actually tasted pretty good, but once again this whole experience sure makes me appreciate all my wife does for us.

Another Tease

2006-04-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here is another post that will make you hungry and tease you with scrumptious pictures:
I got another interesting forward in my email that is pretty neat. It can guess your age by the number of times you like to eat chocolate.

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH
DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute. Work this out as you read... be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!
Ready?

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1756 .. If you haven't, add 1755.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).
The next two numbers are YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)
THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2006) IT WILL EVER WORK

Now this makes me go... who spent the time to figure this one out?

Ribs and Apples

2006-03-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

Sounds good. Did the title make you hungry? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm going to talk about the two parts of our bodies that are associated with Adam. Also, there may be some misconceptions or legends related to these two body parts. Have you ever heard or believed that men have one less rib than women or that women aren't supposed to have an Adam's apple?

There is a legend that men have one rib fewer than women, and originates from the Bible's description of the creation of Eve (from the rib of Adam). Both sexes have the same number of ribs. A possible explanation of the myth is that missing floating ribs occur more often in women.

Have you ever seen a woman that may have some masculine features and you notice that she has a prominent Adam's apple so you conclude that she has to really be a man. Not so quick. The larynx grows during puberty in males much more than in females, and as a result the laryngeal prominence more commonly known as the Adam's apple is typically more prominent in adult men than in women or pre-pubescent girls or boys. This growth of the larynx is also the reason for the voice breaking in teenage boys. The laryngeal prominence is obvious in both sexes, but it tends to be larger in the adult male.

Mandisa

2006-03-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

Have you seen Mandisa on American Idol? She is awesome and she is a great witness for Christ. Check out her contestant bio on the American Idol website where she names Jesus as her hero as He has saved her life. She also mentions Beth Moore, who is a noted Christian author, teacher, conference leader who founded Living Proof Ministries. Mandisa sang in her praise team. My wife has been to a couple of Beth Moore conferences and remembers Mandisa. It is pretty cool that something so mainstream as this show has not steered away from singers with at least some Christian influence. We like some of the other contestants this year too, but I think we are pulling for Mandisa to be the next American Idol.

My roots are in Texas

2006-03-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

My sweet mom wrote me an email the other day telling me about the weather down in Texas where they live and where I grew up and I'm sure used that as an excuse to get in another jab at me for moving away from home, now being the only one of their kids who doesn't live in the great state of Texas. I thought my response was pretty clever, trying to inject some humor.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mom
To: whaaaat!
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 2:36 PM
Subject: Texas

Hi whaaaat, how is it there? Coooollld here, but very little snow. Those in NM getting several inches.

I just sent a deal to your home about Texas. Don't forget your roots are in TEXAS!

----- My Response -----
From: whaaaat
To: Mom
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: Texas

Howdy Ma,
I ain't forgot that I were born and raised down yonder.
Ya'll are downright cold are ya?

We have been having typical spring weather, sunny and in the 60s.

So that's where I left my roots. No wonder I don't have any hair on top anymore. : )
Love, whaaaat!

No, this isn't me. I'm much better looking. : )
Actually, I have a little bit more hair on top, but not much.

The UPS guy with attitude

2006-03-21T16:56:00.000-08:00

Have you ever surprised yourself in how you respond to something or someone? I did the other day. A UPS delivery guy showed up at our little office that is connected by a shared kitchen and bathrooms (see Potty-Talk # 3 ) with another small office behind us. He had a hand cart stacked with four boxes of various sizes. He just says "where do you want 'em". So I say "are they for My Company's Name or are they for The Other Company's Name" which is what I usually ask so if they are for the other company the delivery guy can just take it straight back and have them sign for their own deliveries. He says they are for us, so I look at the one on top and it clearly says The Other Company's Name. So I tell him so and he gets clearly agitated and says they just have the shared address and he wasn't told there were different offices. Clearly he was a new guy or just filling in since the other FedEx, DHL, and regular UPS guys never have any problem. Anyway, he acts all upset and wants me to just sign so he can drop them off and get on his way. Not wanting to have to carry all these boxes back to The Other Company, I look at them and see that there is one box that is for My Company and the other three large boxes are for The Other Company. So I say I will sign for this one, but the other ones are theirs. He basically says "what's the difference, just sign so I can get going" and obviously has attitude. Don't most of the delivery guys usually show at least some common courtesy? And usually they are extra friendly which makes sense since there is so much competition in their business. Well this guy wasn't friendly at all and all of a sudden I found myself saying "what's your deal?" and he looks at me and says "what do you mean?" so I say "you sure have attitude" which surprises him and he quickly changes his tune and says he's not trying to have attitude, and proceeds to change his little scanner so I can just sign for the one box.

What is funny is that another service guy had come in to service our AC units and he heard this whole thing. I wondered if he was a little scared of how I was going to treat him. A few minutes later he stopped by my office on the way out and says that I was right about the UPS guy being a jerk because apparently he overheard him being rude to the Other Company employees when he gave them their packages too.
I wonder if the UPS guy told all his delivery compadres "Don't mess with the guy at My Company Name". That's right, don't come to me with attitude, I'll set you straight.

Here are some pictures that I found at yotophoto that I thought could be a "humorous" depiction of my response to the UPS guy with attitude:

Yes, I have super powers to melt delivery trucks.
Of course, this would be the expected response, just switch to Fed Ex.

I guess we could install a bell like this one and add Only "if it is for My Company Name and if you don't have attitude".

Happy one year blogiversary ttmyghmmm!

2006-03-16T14:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is hard to believe that I started this blog one year ago tomorrow. My family members who first got me started have quit posting on their blogs and some of their blogs have disappeared completely. I took a break for awhile and am now just sporadic in posting. I still read most of my favorite blogs (some of them have stopped posting too), but I rarely comment any more which is probably why not many of them visit or comment here. So, any suggestions for this blog? Do any of you like reading it? How could it be better?

Today is also the birthday of someone who is very special. Happy birthday!!!

I thought this picture was hilarious --->. Wow, how old do you think that person was whose cake caught on fire? A few too many candles don't you think? About time to start using those big number candles.

A truly significant claim related to the aforementioned Rattlesnake Mountain

2006-03-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

I know in my previous post I was joking about the "significant claim" of Rattlesnake Mountain being the tallest treeless mountain in... somewhere, well I can make a truly remarkable claim that is somewhat related to Rattlesnake Mountain. No, I have never climbed it. I can brag that my son has played T-ball with the daughter of a professional football player. Not just any pro football player, but a 12 year veteran defensive tackle for the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Whaaaat?! How does that relate to Rattlesnake Mountain? Well, Kimo Von Oelhoffen and his family spend their offseason in the same area that we live and our kids played on the same YMCA T-ball team a couple years ago. Maybe even more impressive is that my wife went to high school with Kimo's wife, so we would spend some time talking with them as we cheered on our kids. Ok, still don't get how that relates to the mountain. Kimo opened a really neat restaurant here that used to be called Rattlesnake Mountain Brewing Company. I think he must have bought the name as well as the restaurant/brewery because he still uses the name. Impressed?

The Tallest Treeless Mountain

2006-03-07T14:43:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of nearby Rattlesnake Mountain in Washington. It is the tallest mountain in the world. Wait, that's not right. It is the tallest treeless mountain in the world. The whole world? Ok, maybe it is the tallest treeless mountain in the Western hemisphere. Maybe it is just in North America. Perhaps it is the tallest in the "lower 48" states. Anyway, what a claim!!! I have read each of these claims about it being the tallest treeless mountain in the world, the Western hemisphere, North America, and the "lower 48" at different places in brochures and on the internet. I also read that it has an elevation of 3,630 feet, 3,600 feet, and 3,560 feet. You would think with such a significant claim that those making the claim would get it right. I guess it goes to show you that it's not really that significant of a claim.

The Amazing Race in Sao Paulo, Brazil

2006-03-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

My favorite reality show was on last night. The Amazing Race. Most of the show took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is a huge city of around 10 million people which makes it the most populous city in Brazil and in all of South America. The greater metropolitan area of 18-20 million makes it one of the most populous areas on earth behind Tokyo with estimated populations similar to Mexico City, New York, and Mumbai (Bombay) India. But how much do you know about this huge city? Obviously, some of the teams last night didn't know much about it as they kept calling it San Paulo. If you are like me, you probably don't know that much about it either, but my wife and I probably know a little more than some since we had a friend in college who was a MK (missionary kid) who lived there and her parents were still serving there while she was in college. Also, our church took a mission trip there not too long ago. Do you know anything about this city? One thing I do remember that makes you go hmmm is that you don't want to give the OK sign where you touch your thumb to your index finger with the other three fingers in the air. Whaaaat! That's right, apparently in Brazil it is the same as gesturing to someone with your middle finger extended.

Simple Discoveries in Life

2006-02-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

I thought this was a cute picture. It kind of reminded me of my sweet little girl when we observed her watching her own shadow as she was singing a little diddy and moving around. Isn't it neat to see how excited little ones can be when they discover new things. Even things that the rest of us wouldn't think twice about. Another example of how we should be like a little child and find joy in life and in discovering new things, having enthusiasm when faced with a challenge, and not worrying knowing that our Father in heaven can be trusted.

Happy Valentine's Day Trivia

2006-02-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

Did you know
-- that 192 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year and that doesn't even include the packaged kids valentines for classroom exchanges.

-- that 1,271 locations employing 43,379 people produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2003. California had the most, not Pennsylvania which you might would guess, but it had the second most. All of these locations shipped out $13.5 billion worth of product.

-- that there were 22,022 florists nationwide in 2003 employing 113,270 people.

-- that I am cheap; therefore, I try to avoid contributing to the above figures : )
Sorry honey, you know I will always love you!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Automakers conspire against short people

2006-02-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

What do you think this guy is thinking?

I know I am only 5'9", but this is ridiculous.

I guess if we do get in a wreck, my adam's apple will stay in place.

Maybe this is payback for all those years that I didn't buckle my seatbelt.

I work in a basket.

2006-02-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Check out this building!!! Is that cool or what? It is the home office of The Longaberger Company in Newark, Ohio. I guess they are the nation's premier maker of handcrafted baskets... yeah whatever, I just think their building is cool. I guess this building is 160 times the size of their Medium Market Basket. For a better picture and description, go to the company's web site at http://www.longaberger.com/ and click on Visit Us and then Home Office. Also check out the picture of the Longaberger Homestead. They also have other interesting facts and features of the building. Can you imagine working in this basket/building. Hmmm.

Amazing card trick!

2006-02-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

You may have already seen this in your email, but I thought this card trick was pretty clever. I changed it slightly in order to get it to show up here.

This card trick will freak you out!

Pick one of the following cards. Don 't click on it; just keep it in your head.

Now, think about the card you picked in your mind for a few seconds, then scroll down past the blank space. As you think about the card, I will attempt to "read your mind" and remove the card that you have selected.

I have now removed your card!

SCARY ISN'T IT. Now scroll up and do it again, this will freak you out.

Try this a few times and see if you can figure it out. Don't fret, it took me awhile to figure it out and I have given you the simple explanation in my comments.

Have a great day!
Remember, this is just a silly card trick. Turn to God and you will find out that everything about Him is truly amazing!!!

N5156H

2006-01-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

Does anyone recognize this set of numbers and letters?
See comment for the answer.

Interesting dates and times

2006-01-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

Do you ever notice dates or times of the day that have something peculiar or interesting about them? I'll give you a couple of examples. It seems like I am always looking at the clock when it is 12:34. Both am and pm. For awhile, it would seem like I would frequently wake up at night and look over at my alarm clock and it would be 12:34. What would really be wild is to look at the clock right at 12:34 on May 6, 2007. 12:34, 05/06/07.
I always thought it would stink to be born on the last day of February when it is leap year. Maybe worse than having a Feb. 29th birthday would be to have June 6th as your birthday. That is, this year anyway. 06/06/06.
I know someone close that has their birthday on November 11th. In five years, he will celebrate on 11/11/11.
Do you have any other examples like these?

M

2006-01-20T09:54:00.000-08:00

M! What does it spell?
See comments.

M

2006-01-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

M

2006-01-19T12:27:00.000-08:00

H

2006-01-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Tumblin' Tumbleweeds

2006-01-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

We have been having some pretty high winds recently and where we live there is an abundance of tumbleweeds that always gather along our fence. This picture isn't of our fence, just a typical example of a tumbleweed caught in a fence. We actually have a "traditional" cedar wood fence, but I made the mistake of placing our fence line further back than our neighbors on both sides, so invariably all the tumbleweeds end up on our property.

What would you do with this excess of dried up moving vegetation? I'm not talking about a few like the one in the picture. I'm talking about 20 that size and about 20 that are 2 to 3 times that big. You are allowed to burn tumbleweeds that blow onto your property, but we live in a neighborhood and no real place to do this on our lot. There are way too many to fill up our trash can (one of the bigger ones would be all I could stuff in there).

So what do you do, you ask. Well, a larger street runs behind our back yard and I usually end up throwing all of them over the fence I'm sure to end up down the road to get stuck in somebody else's fence. I know that sounds bad, but what would you do? Actually, they will most likely end up in an open field down the way or up against a farmer's fence both of which I figure the owners are more capable of handling than we are. Hey, where would they end up if our house and fence weren't there to catch them. So really I am just freeing them up to continue on their tumbling journey. However, they could end up hitting a car or get blown into our neighbors' yards. And if there is no wind for awhile after I throw them over, they could just sit there behind our house along the road which is a real eye-sore. I actually heard a coworker say that when he had this trouble he loaded them into the back of his pickup and drove around until they all emptied out. Sure wouldn't want to pull up behind him. Now that sounds worse than tossing them over the fence, doesn't it? Besides, I don't have a pickup. : ) This overload of wind blown dead flora can do some damage too. Awhile back, my work had to repair a section of chainlink fence that was knocked over due to an overabundance of these rolling nuisances. So, I'm sure after work I had better get out and starting tossing before my fence is pushed over.

It's time for Keith Jackson to retire... again!

2006-01-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

I was definitely disappointed when I heard that Keith Jackson announced his retirement as a play by play sportscaster for college football after the 1998 season. I mean he is an icon for college football with his classic "Whoa Nellie!" and "Fum-BLE!" and my fav "AL-a-BAMA". Then all of a sudden, there he is again the very next fall annoncing again. What's up with that anyway? But after his recent performance announcing the Rose Bowl on Wednesday night, I think it is definitely time for him to retire again and this time for good before he ruins his reputation. He did a terrible job missing huge plays, not saying anything when something needed to be said, and getting several things wrong. I think it is just because he is too old at 77 to be right on top of things as a play by play announcer. Actually, there are plenty of other sportscasters that are way worse that should hang it up too. But anyway, his performance or lack thereof couldn't take away from the awesome game that night. Hook 'em Horns. I am only sorta jumpin on the bandwagon here as UT hasn't always been my favorite team or anything, although I have never had anything against them. But now I can say I am a Longhorn fan as I have been rooting for them all year, and I have several connections to UT as we used to live in Austin, we have family that lives there now, and I also have a nephew that goes there.

Happy Birthday Jesus

2005-12-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

Does it really make sense?

2005-11-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

My company gives all 23 of us a turkey each Thanksgiving. About a $20 gift, it could be cheaper but our office manager buys them fresh from an organic farm, whatever. I would rather have the $20. For one thing, we didn't even cook the turkey this year since there is a smaller number of us and easier to just buy and cook turkey breast meat. And b., I could buy just as good a turkey for a lot cheaper and save the extra money. And four, I had to plug in our old freezer just for this turkey that we didn't eat which I unplugged since not much in there and wasting energy and money. I know, I should just be thankful, but it really doesn't make much sense. My wife had a good idea though, she said we should just cook it up and divide the meat into bags that we can thaw out periodically and have it for turkey sandwiches.

Thanksgiving facts

2005-11-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun and/or interesting facts regarding turkey day:
The estimated number of turkeys raised in the US in 2005 is 256 million with about 45 million or about 18% eaten at Thanksgiving. I would have guessed a higher percentage.
In 2004, the turkeys produced weighed 7.3 billion pounds.
The top state raising turkeys is Minnesota with 44.5 million.
Cranberries are estimated to be at 649 million pounds produced in 2005 with Wisconsin producing the most.
Sweet potatoes produced in the US in 2004 totaled 1.6 billion pounds.
The typical American consumed 13.7 pounds of turkey in 2003 and another report showed 18.5 pounds last year.
There are 3 places in the US with Turkey in the name. Turkey, Texas was the most populous in 2004 with 496 residents. The other two are Turkey Creek, LA and Turkey, NC.
Age is a determining factor in the taste of turkeys. Old, large males are preferable to young toms. The opposite is true of female hens as older hens are tougher birds. I can vouch for that, I know some tough old hens. : )
Turkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere.
Turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining. They can also have heart attacks: turkeys in fields near the Air Force test areas over which the sound barrier was broken were known to drop dead from the shock of passing jets.
Do you get tired of eating turkey after Thanksgiving? Cooked turkey is good for about 3 or 4 days, while gravy and stuffing only make it for 1 or 2 days. Frozen turkey will keep for 4 to 6 months.
Giblets are the edible internal parts of a fowl, including the gizzard, heart, liver, and neck. The gizzard is a part of the turkey's stomach that helps it digest harsher items, like seeds. They are normally removed, placed into a plastic bag, and then reinserted into the turkey's vacant body cavity. A Southern tradition is to make gravy stock from it, while most people just give them to their dog or threaten their children with them. By the way, do you pronounce it with a g sound or a j sound?
What is your favorite part of your traditional Thanksgiving meal? Turkey, stuffing/dressing, sweet potatoes (with or without marshmallows?), green bean casserole, Grandma's green jello salad with whipped cream on top, or something else? And what kind of cranberries do you like? I like the kind that comes in a can served just like that.
OK, had enough? Don't forget to thank the Lord above for all His many blessings. True throughout the year, but esp. at Thanksgiving.

The Bible says "Be Angry"

2005-10-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

In studying for my Sunday School lesson, I read a verse that made me go hmmm. In Ephesians 4:26-27, it says "Be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, and don't give the Devil an opportunity". Whaaaat!!! Yes, it says "be angry". Anger is a natural emotion that God has created us with. Notice how Paul quickly follows it with "and do not sin". Although it is ok to be angry, it can quickly take hold and lead us to sin. So anger must not last long as we shouldn't let it last until the next day (don't let the sun go down on your anger) which is probably the more well-known part of this verse. If you continue being angry too long or you don't control your anger Satan can use it as an opportunity to lead us astray. So go ahead and be angry, the Bible says it is ok. : )

Hello again, hello

2005-10-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

In the words of Neil Diamond, "Hello again, hello"!!! Hmmm, I don't even really like Neil Diamond's music but oh well it fits. Thanks for some of your kind comments and for still coming to check my site. All is well, just busy. I am still fighting the withdrawals from blogging and I still check several of my favorites every once in awhile.

Here is something to chew on if you haven't already been thinking about it in light of the terrible news of the major earthquakes in Pakistan and other major natural disasters that seem to be happening more frequently. Did you know there are three passages that mention earthquakes in the Bible? Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 quote Jesus talking about the end times and mention earthquakes and pestilences (would a bird flu breakout count as this?), and fearful sights and great signs from heaven. Makes you go hmmm!

We should all be ready for Christ's return at any time. Are you ready?

I'm baaaack! Kind of... well not really.

2005-09-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be saying I didn't know you left. See the August 11th post. Well, I couldn't disappoint all of you. Thanks for the nice comments by the way. Well I am still going to quit blogging from work, but I thought I would make one last post of all my material I had put together to possibly post about some day since I had it anyway and spent time to put it together. I saw on other people's blogs that you can use a date in the future. So, I thought I would give everyone at least enough posts to take it through the end of the month. I guess kinda like my 2+ weeks notice. : ) You will just have to scroll down to the day of the week. Unless of course you have nothing to do and want to read it all at once. God is good!!!

The best thing that makes you go hmmm...

2005-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

Jesus Christ. Do you know Him? He is the Son of God and yet he was willing to come to earth as a man and die a horrible death even though he was innocent and lived a perfect life without commiting a sin. He died on the cross to pay the price for you and me. He paid our debt so that we could have our relationship to God restored and so we could have eternal life. If you don't know Him, you can. It is easy. Just say a prayer to God telling Him that you realize that you are a sinner and that you can't make it to heaven on your own. Tell Him that you believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for you and washed away your sin by dying on the cross and that He defeated sin and death when He arose again from the grave. You are forgiven just by believing. Tell God that you want to accept Jesus into your life to be Lord of your life and you want to turn away from a life of sin. The next step would be to share this decision with a fellow Christian or a pastor and join with a group of believers that can support you and help you grow as a Christian. Here are some verses in the Bible that can help you:
John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, John 1:12, I Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 10:9, 13, John 5:24.

Excess surplus one-liners

2005-08-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

How do people get discombobulated? Have you ever seen someone who was combobulated?
If we call people from Poland poles why don't we call people from Holand holes?
If a rabbit's foot was actually lucky, wouldn't it still be attached to the rabbit's leg?
Why does Goofy talk and wear clothes while Pluto barks naked?
If you wanted to mummify a fly, would you use dental floss?
If the husband dies, the wife is called a widow, if a child's parents die, it is called an orphan. Why isn't there a word for a parent that loses a child?
Why do they call it baby-sitting when all you do is run after them?
Why is it called American football when they rarely use their feet to play?
Why do you put suits in a garment bag and garments in a suitcase?
What if there were no hypothetical situations?
Why does an alarm clock said to go "off" when it actually turns on?
Why are they stairs inside but steps outside?
How does a fish sleep?
Why are feet smelly and noses runny?
Who closes the door when the bus driver gets off?

An overabundance of one-liners

2005-08-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

How do you throw away a garbage can?
How does a thermos know if the drink should be hot or cold?
How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings?
If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
Why do tourists go to the tops of tall buildings and then put money into telescopes so they can see things on the ground close-up?
Why is it that night falls but day breaks?
Why is it that you must wait until night to call it a day?
How do you remove a club soda stain?
What if the Hokey Pokey IS what its all about?
What happened to the first 6 "ups"?
How do blind people know when they are done wiping their behinds?
Why do people sing "Take me out to the ball game" when they are already there?
How do hearing aid companies expect potential customers to hear their commercials?
When a fly lands on the ceiling, does it do a half roll or a half loop?
Why does the arcade game "Donkey Kong" have a monkey? Why isn't it called Monkey Kong?
Why do lumberjacks cut trees down and then chop them up?

Additional one-liners

2005-08-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

Why do banks charge you a "insufficient funds" fee on money they already know you don't have?
If you get cheated by the Better Business Bureau, who do you complain to?
What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too?
What are Preparation A through Preparation G?
In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?
How come there aren't B batteries?
How do "Do not walk on the grass" signs get there?
Is a metaphor like a simile?
How is it possible to have a civil war?
If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
Could crop circles be the work of a cereal killer?
If crime doesn't pay does that mean that my job is a crime?
Did Noah keep his bees in archives?
How can there be self-help "groups"?
How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?