Blog Number 101

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well since up until 3 months ago I was a Hoosier, yesterday was my first ever time to "fall back" due to daylight saving time.  This would also be the first time my cat had to fall back.  He didn't.  He was trying to get us up at 4:30 instead of 5:30.  Not really a problem as I had decided that having this extra hour would be a great time to head down to the workout room and add a little exercise to this diet I am on.  So for I am down 8 pounds and with Thanksgiving and Christmas lurking I need all the head start I can get.  There was another person in the workout room but that is a blog for another day.

Since Halloween is so close everything everywhere reflects this.  The daughter and I were out tonight to the grocery store to get some milk (organic), water (filtered) and bread (whole grain).  Immediately upon entering the store we encountered some scary balloons.  The daughter is very observant of these things, pointing out every little scary thing she sees.  I am not sure if she remembers a lot from this time last year so I am sure that to her, things are just getting more scary for no apparent reason.  The wife and I don't discuss Halloween really.  It is not that we are against or for it really, we just don't celebrate it.  Hence, I don't even think the daughter knows what Halloween is.  This makes for awkward conversations in lines at places like (oh, I don't know) grocery stores.  A grandmother behind us was buying 6 or 7 bags of Hershey's Miniatures and asked my daughter if she was looking forward to Halloween.  She has no idea what this nice lady is talking about and could produce only a blank stare.  The lady in front of us was buying some pumpkin carving gifts.  "Are you carving a pumpkin?", she asked?  Blank stare.  The checkout lady then asked what she was going to dress up as - blank stare.

As uncomfortable as this is for her to go through, it cannot be worse than "the look."  "The look" is what people give me after quizzing my children and finding they know nothing about Halloween.  It is a look that conveys that they assume I am some sort of religious kook or something.  I have found that saying nothing is really the best defense.  I have tried the "we don't celebrate Halloween" approach but people then feel like I think they are some sort of heathen for observing it.  I don't know what to say to them that will stop "the look" from continuing.  Oh well, it will be over soon.

The church we are attending is having a fall festival on 10/31.  I have never been into the "fake" Halloween thing.  If you show up with kids somewhere on 10/31 and they give out candy, then that is Halloween, not some sort of fall festival.  Our church is giving away 700,000 pieces of candy tomorrow.  Seven Hundred Freakin' Thousand pieces!  Insane!  I don't really want to go but I am sure I will be suckered into attending somehow.

I still haven't decided what I will tell people though - whether I went to a Halloween party or a fall festival.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 100

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

The daughter is quite hooked on anything having to do with the Disney Princesses.  Now I know that a lot of little girls are really into these gals but mine might be a little overboard.  She has a DVD that came with a plastic mat that is about 3 foot in diameter.  She puts the DVD in and it tells her where to step on the map to do various dances that they do in the movies that involved the princesses.  She watches it about every day.  The DVD also came with a wand (of course, what princess would not keep her wand handy).  Many of the dances make use of the wand as well.

Her infatuation does not stop there however, it seeps into everyday life.  Take her prayers for instance.  When she prays over her food, she also prays that "Mommy and Daddy's dreams all come true."  I looked and that prayer is nowhere in the Bible per se.

Last night I was trying to catch up on some work email so I had my work laptop up and going and was dutifully sitting in front of it.  It was the wife's turn to bathe the daughter but as she came out of the bathroom in her pajamas, she made a beeline for her wand.  She then walked over to where I was working, waved the wand around me and said, "Bippity, Boppity, Boo.  Now get off the puter!"

Too cute.  In this case, her wish did come true.  What do you know, the wand actually works!

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 99

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

My daughter is really into books lately.  My wife has taught her to read and although she it not quite past the Bob Books, she is doing pretty good for a 4 year old.  She really likes any book about animals.  During the football game yesterday I was looking through a particularly detailed books on cats.  I had to point out the pumas, leopards, ocelots and panthers (and many, many more).

Today the wife and daughter made another trip to the library and came home with "Antarctic Antics: A Book Of Penguin Poems" by Judy Sierra.  The wife suggested I read one particular poem.  Here it is...

It's been one whole hour since I ate.
Why is my mother always late?
While you and Mom procrastinate.
I might become a featherweight.
You know what I'd appreciate?
Cough it up, Dad.  Regurgitate.

The poem is quite simple.  All the end words rhyme like a good poem should.  But seriously, how did this get into the book?  Did they need one more page or two to meet some sort of minimum criteria for book length?  This also begs the question, "Were there poems that did NOT make the criteria for the book?"  If we saw the ones left out of the book would we find the following...?

I wonder what it would be like to be a species,
That did not take the time to eat their own feces?

I'm telling you, I should write a book of poems myself.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 98

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I had a particularly hectic day at work.  Fridays are all about the escalations and today was no different.  Well, I take that back, today my team leader took the afternoon off.  Oh, and he asked me to back him up.  Oh, and my manager was on vacation.  Oh, and his manager was on vacation.  This meant that all escalations for the afternoon had to be dealt with by me.  I have done this before and typically I have found that if you sound angry and speak like you are important, people will believe you.  Some of my teammates will ask me to call a supplier and use my "angry, important" voice.  This works with amazing results.  I feel a little guilty pretending to be important, but speaking calmly and softly does not work on Friday afternoons when the weekend is looming.  So anyway, that was my day.

I got home around 5:40 and noticed right off the bat that dinner was not started.  The wife knew at about 5:20 that I was heading home and I was promised spaghetti and meatballs for dinner so I found it odd that there was not at least some water boiling.  After the normal greeting reserved for a father / husband who has been gone all day, the wife then asked me if I was sure that I wanted spaghetti for dinner.  For those of you guys out there that are not married, let me roughly translate this for you from marriage-speak - "We are going out to dinner."  Now that is a rough translation but the syntax is correct.

We had not had pizza in a while so we headed down the road to Brooklyn's Pizzeria.  We had been there once before and it was really good so it was an easy choice.  The place was a little crowded and there were only a few tables left so we headed to the counter to place our order.  After we ordered, we were handed a little plastic number to put at the end of our table.  By the time we were done, there were no tables left.  I did notice though that several tables were taken by people without numbers so they obviously snagged them while someone else who was with them was waiting in line to order.  This seemed a little unfair but in a few minutes a group left and we got 2 tables for 2 by the register.  This area is a little busy but at least we were sitting down.

Right above my table was a sign indicating the sizes of pizzas that they offered.  Most pizza places have these.  However most shops have the words "small", "medium", "large", "extra large", etc. on the sign.  This one did not have sizes but rather measurements (12", 14", 16", and 18").  Hello?  Anyone else see the utter pointlessness of this?  If your pizza sizes don't have the names "small", etc., and are rather indicated by actual measurement, what is the point of having them visible on the wall?  Can you not visualize how big a 14" pizza is without a picture?  14" is 14" no matter what you are ordering.

Anyway, the owner is this older dude that seemed to know all the regulars there and called them by their first names.  He came over toward the end of the meal and asked me if the son was good or bad.  He needed some bad boys to wash some dishes and was wandering around recruiting (or so he said).  The son almost believed him for a second.  He talked to us for a few minutes and gave each of the kids a quarter to put in the gumball machines.

All in all it was not a bad time despite the crowdedness and how my day had went at work.  I was just sitting there though by the register waiting for someone to ask how big the 14" pizza was.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 97

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Wednesday nights we take the kids to AWANA.  This starts at 6:30 and so we need to leave at around 6:20.  I don't usually get home from work until around 5:30.  Hence, Wednesday evenings at our house are a little hectic.  Tonight was no different.

I actually did not get home until about 5:50 so that left precious little time for dinner.  The wife had fried up some chicken breasts, baked some potatoes and steamed some corn (am I making you hungry?).  There was only one problem.  The chicken breast was not boneless nor was it skinless.

I prefer my chicken with no bone and no skin (the way God intended it to be).  Whenever I am eating any meat that is still attached to the bone, I feel like some sort of Neanderthal man.  I do not know why this is, but it is.  Now truth be told, my wife did not buy this chicken.  It was purchased by her mother when she was here on a visit and it was on sale (for like $1 / lb.).  Be that as it may, I still don't like it.

So here I am, pressed for time, trying to avoid my primal instincts to grunt while pulling the flesh from the chicken carcass.  My son (who is very much like me) struggles with this as well.  This blog cannot convey the range of facial expressions he had during dinner.  I really feel for the kid.

I survived.  We all got enough to eat and the kids got to AWANA on time.  Unfortunately, we still have (4) more bone in, skin on, chicken breasts in the fridge (grunt, grunt).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 96

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I think I have given up on the idea of blogging every day, no matter what.  Maybe the newness has wore off.  Maybe I have writer's block.  Maybe I have just run out of ideas.  Maybe I will change my mind tomorrow.

Proverbs 18:24a says, "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly..."  This verse is nowhere proved more to be true than by my daughter.  She is just about as friendly as you can get.

Today was grocery day for the wife and daughter.  Since I get paid twice a month, the wife has to stagger her grocery shopping days every other week so that there are exactly 4 grocery days per month.  I think that this week was really supposed to be a Sunday grocery day but given that the stores are so busy on Sunday's, she would rather put it off one more day.  This makes Sunday dinner and Monday breakfast to be slim pickin’s.  However, she is more than willing to have us sacrifice so that she does not have to shop on Sunday.  I have pointed out to her on occasion that we should not have to suffer (with whatever food is left) so she could avoid suffering (not shopping on Sunday).  This type of complaint typically is met with deaf ears.

Anyway, back to Proverbs 18:24.  Although we have taught my daughter not to talk to strangers, we do allow her some leeway when she is with us.  I usually ask her about her day when I get home.  Today was no different and she proceeded to tell me about a lady she met today.  She started by stating the obvious, "I met a lady with just one leg."  "Really," I said.  She then told me that this lady's leg was sick so they had to take it off.  My wife filled in the details.  Evidently she saw this lady in a wheelchair that was obviously missing a leg and in a very truthful and curious manner, asked her what happened to her leg.  The lady politely explained what had happened at which point my daughter looked long and hard at her legs and then stated to the lady, "I have two legs."  The lady said that she was glad that my daughter had two legs.

This happened with my son as well when he was around 5.  He saw someone in a wheelchair and inquired as to why the person had to be in a wheelchair.  They politely explained at which time my son said, "So, you get to sit down all the time?"  The person had evidently not thought of it that way and had a nice chuckle.  The wheelchair must have been an electric one as he then asked about the buttons on the chair.  This person explained that they made the wheelchair go.  This then started a discussion about how fast it could go and how neat that must be.  When my son left this person, their face was beaming.  This had truly made their day.

Fast forward to the wife and daughter coming home today with groceries.  There was another person walking toward the apartment building.  My daughter said hello to him and he smiled at her and walked on at which time my daughter said to my wife,  "He did not say hello to me."  The man overheard this and turned around and came back and apologized and then said hello.

Now I know that this does not work as well if you are (oh, say) 37.  But I think a lesson can be learned here.  Show yourself friendly.  You would be surprised of the effects.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 95

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Our friends from around Austin, TX, were coming up today but because it is about a 4 hour drive they were not due in until slightly after noon.  I knew that both of our kids would be eager for their arrival and I remember being that age and how time just drug on when you were watching the clock in anticipation.  Because of this, around 11 I corralled both kids into the Buick and headed toward Starbucks for hot chocolate.  I say "hot" chocolate but really it is more like warm chocolate.  If you order any kids drink, they keep the temperature down.  I would guess it is mostly for safety reasons but part of me thinks it is so they don't get sued for burning some pour kids tongue.

I ordered coffee and added a little half-n-half to it.  I am cutting most sugar out of my diet in order to lose a little weight and I am not a fan of any artificial sweeteners.  A few years ago I cut most sugar out of my diet and lost about 50 lbs. over 6 or 8 months.  Since then I have put about 35 of it back on.  I knew what I weighed but it wasn't until I was looking at some pictures from Christmas 2003 that I realized how much heavier I looked.  I started my "diet" on Thursday and am already down 2 lbs. in 2 days.  If I can keep up this pace (which is not likely, nor is it healthy to lose weight this quickly), I will be down to my target weight by Thanksgiving.

Because the "hot" chocolates were not that hot and since my coffee was both hot and not sweet, the kids finished their drinks before I finished mine.  The kids sat quietly while I sipped my coffee and I even convinced the 8 year old to take a sip of my coffee.  I don't think he has ever had coffee before but if he had, it more than likely had a lot of sugar in it.  Either way, he agreed to try a sip.  In my opinion, the coffee had cooled down enough for him so he tipped the cup up and took a swig.

The look on his face was priceless.  It was obvious that he did not much care for the taste (this is Starbucks coffee with no sugar mind you, probably an acquired taste).  But the look on his face was more complicated than that.  His face said much more than just, "This is awful."  I have thought about his expression off an on during the day and the best way I can describe it is this, "This is awful, and you are drinking it?  On purpose?"  He must think I am crazy.  I stopped about half way through the cup.  Drinking coffee without sugar is going to take some getting used to.  Maybe he is right, maybe I am crazy.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon