Blog Number 347

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it seems I will fall short of the century mark for blog entries this year.  I don't recall making this a goal so I guess I should be satisfied with 98 (or so) blogs.  The insurance payout / lawsuit as a result of the April crash is progressing nicely and we should hopefully have it all cleared up before we move back to Indiana in February.  We are heading to the next door neighbor's house for a New Year's Eve get together with some other folks on our street.  The son is looking forward to staying up until midnight.  Last year was the first year that he made it (awake) into the new year.  He has been talking about extending his streak to two.  The daughter (7) has no aspirations nor can she see any reason not to go to bed when she gets tired (like every other night of the year).  Maybe the peer pressure will get to her but I honestly don't think she could make it if she tried (short of a caffeine boost sometime late evening).  We will see.

It is time to clear out the 2008 cell phone pics (from the wife's phone remember)...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My (Wife's) New Cell Phone

  

The dog and I have this ritual every morning (and evening).  It seems that her chew bone is much more tasty and satisfying if it is enjoyed while being chewed on my feet.  If I move (or even adjust my feet) she simply picks up her bone and relocates to wherever my feet are.  This is a little painful at times but I allow her this small pleasure for a few minutes each day.

Tiger (the cat) has lost a little weight in the last few months since we put him on some light cat food.  He protested at first but when he figured out that was all he was getting, he ate it willingly.  This photo does not really give you a few of his shrinking gut so you will have to trust me on this one.

This pic is a few days old (duh) but we have started using this small chalkboard as a countdown to our move to Indiana (currently set at 37 days).

I don't usually put pics of other people on my blog but I wanted to share this one with you.  This is from a few weeks ago during the morning church service at the church that we attend.  The girl on the third row is actually playing a Nintendo DS.  This is not the first service that I have seen her doing this   I am not sure which is the greater sin (playing Nintendo during church or posting a picture of someone playing Nintendo DS during church on a blog).  I am voting for the former.

Well the wife just delivered a large bowl of hot oatmeal.  Feliz Año Nuevo!

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 346

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

It was an incredible 75° this morning as we headed out for Panera Saturday.  By the time we arrived home though it felt more like 50° and was quite windy.  Still great weather though.  We made our traditional stop at Half Priced Books and dropped about $20 there (the usual) and then stopped by Ink Stop to pick up some CD carrying cases that they had on sale.  I am getting rid of all my plastic CD cases and keeping the CD inserts (and CDs of course) and putting them in these new carrying cases.  My to-do list for today now includes transferring about 300 CDs into these new carrying cases.

I think that I mentioned that the daughter got a digital camera for Christmas.  Here are a few pics from her point of view...

The left picture is me pleading my case to the Wii bowling gods (there is NO way I should have left that 10 pin!) and the right picture is my reaction to my daughter's comment about my shave and haircut.  Note that I am showing off my new Stellar Kart t-shirt.  This is a band that my son likes and they had some t-shirts on sale at their website.  It was free shipping if you hit a certain dollar amount so both the daughter and I got Stellar Kart t-shirts too.

The wife and are I busy planning for our return to Indiana.  We are trying to figure out the timing of it all (when do we start packing, do we need to make a short trip up in mid January to look at houses, how do we cram in as many final get-togethers with all our friends down here, etc.).  We are about 40 days from moving and it all seems overwhelming from this point of view.

Well those CDs are not going to move themselves...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 345

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Merry Christmas!  We have been keeping a secret from our mother's for about 3 weeks now but today is the day the secret is out.  We are moving back to Indiana!  We called both grandmas this morning to tell them.  The wife's mother (and sister) were quite excited and there were tears.  We let the daughter to the telling and (after a slight malfunction with their phone battery) they reacted with excitement.  We then had the son call my mother to tell her.  She thought he was pulling a prank on her.  After a minute or two he handed the phone to me and told me that she didn't believe him.  Even after a few minutes talking to me, she was not convinced this was not some sort of cruel hoax.  She was dumbstruck and in the end had to promise to call us back later when she had time to soak the news into her system.  Due to some internal issues at work I had to wait until this month to find out who my new manager would be in order to know who I had to ask in order to get permission to move back to Kokomo.  After a call to my new manager's manager (and a call from my manager's manager to his manager [a.k.a. my manager's manager's manager]) it was all approved (albeit with the slight warning that it might hurt any immediate chances of being promoted to management).

So the last 3 weeks has been rough on the wife as she really wanted to tell her mother.  We had to keep the secret from our daughter since she does not possess the same restraint as we do.  We told her last night really close to bedtime so as to minimize the chance of her telling anyone.  My mother was already planning a visit for the first full week of February (even has the round trip airfare purchased) so we are going to use her being down here as our time frame as we will need an extra driver since I will be driving the U-Haul once again.  We have approximately 43 days until the move so January should be busy.  We are going to give away the couch that we bought after we moved and probably the new TV we bought down here as well.  That will basically have us moving with the exact same level of stuff as when we first moved down here.  Gas prices are down and the U-Haul rental looks to be about $100 less than last time so the moving budget is looking good so far.

Well, I am going to get off of the computer and enjoy the day (and the 60° weather).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 344

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I have this feeling that I am not going to make it to 100 blog entries in 2008.  I could still do one per day and make it but I am not feeling that it is going to happen.

Today was a busy day in that my wife had this grand idea that we all should accompany her in the weekly shopping...on Christmas Eve...at stores that (along with grocery items) sold other items that would be purchased and given as gifts...and then that we should make cookies...to be passed out to our neighbors...tonight...oh and did I mention that I needed to head out to the dollar store to purchase some Christmas-y type tins to but said cookies in...oh and while you are out, can you go to the pet store and get some cat food...the expensive weight control kind...thanks.

Right before a late lunch/ early dinner (of homemade manicotti), the daughter spilled a full glass of milk on the floor and wall.  Then the son dropped the serving spatula and the floor (and dog) got some manicotti.  Shortly after that the son dropped a coffee mug when emptying the dishwasher (the mug did not survive).  Then (as if that was not enough), our beloved, 11+ year old Black & Decker mixer decided to shoot some flames out and then begin smoking...

Fortunately, the wife was done mixing the dough at the time the mixer gave up the ghost.  We are done with baking the chocolate chip cookies and are starting in on rolling the sugar cookies in (duh) sugar now so I think we are in for smooth sailing for the rest of the evening (which includes heading to church in about 90 minutes for a Christmas Eve service).  I am also excited about the kids opening up the gifts that we picked out for them.  The wife and I limited ourselves to $25 for each other so our gift exchange might not be that exciting but hey, that is not what Christmas is about, right?  Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 343

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well another pile of days has slipped by without a blog entry (sigh).  Even now I don't have much to type about really.  I took half a day of vacation yesterday and the wife took this opportunity to shop for my Christmas present.  She took the son with her so the daughter and I took off to return some library books and dvds and to to a little shopping / looking ourselves.  After getting out of our subdivision I realized I had forgotten my library card.  I did not really want to back track and get it (and I do have a nice book I bought a few weeks ago to read) so I planned on just returning our checked out items.  On the way into the library I saw 2 pennies on the sidewalk.  I pointed them out to the daughter and asked her if she wanted to pick them up.  I could tell that one of them was a wheat penny (1909 - 1958).  When she handed it to me I was shocked to see that it was so old...

Even though it was over 80 years old, this penny is not worth much.  Still it is exciting though to find old coins in general circulation.  You have to wonder how many times this penny has been used over the years.  How many things it has purchased or piggy banks has it sat in?

We did attend to Christmas parties in the last week (ABF on Saturday and one for coworkers on Wednesday).  We had a great time at each one and managed to walk away with a 9 piece wine cork screw type kit that was pretty cool (I am quite sure it was a re-gift though) and the wife scored some Godiva chocolates (which she has subsequently hidden from me).  Its only 5 days ‘til Christmas so she should be good for goodness sake!  I will try to squeeze a few more blogs in before New Year's.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 342

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Another week slipped by without a blog entry.  The in-laws got safely back to Indiana and I had to return to work on Monday after my long vacation.  So things are pretty much back to normal.  We did do our birthday dinner for the daughter's 7th birthday.  She chose Macaroni Grill (her favorite restaurant) and got to order for everyone (as is our tradition).  The waitress / waiter always enjoy waiting on us on the kid's birthday dinners and the time was no exception.  Other that that, the week has been normal so I have nothing in particular to blog about.

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

The Wednesday before last, our church had some sort of bazaar going on or something.  There were all kinds of booths selling artsy-craftsy stuff.  I found this one interesting.

 

Last Thursday (since the in-laws were in town), the wife and I went grocery shopping together.  Soy Nog or Goat Log anyone?

Last night for a change of pace, the wife made a quiche with broccoli, onions and cheese.  It turned out OK but looks much prettier than it tasted.  In the end it did what food is supposed to do, namely make me not hungry.

Sadly, this will be the last installment of "Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone" as my cell phone is no longer in service.  I did keep my old cell phone and it is back in service again but I do not have a way of getting pictures from it.  This picture was taken with my wife's new cell phone.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 341

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I decided last week that one of the things I would accomplish during my vacation time was to give up coffee (again).  I have blogged about past attempts to stop drinking coffee and because of past experience I decided to wean myself off slowly over a period of days.  I usually drink 2 cups in the morning with the wife and then 1 or 2 more cups (or 3 or 4) at work during the day.  My method involved lowering my intake by a 1/2 cup each day...

• Thanksgiving Day: 2 cups
• Friday, November 28th: 1 1/2 cups
• Saturday, November 29th: 1 cup
• Sunday, November 30th: 1/2 cup
• Monday, December 1st: none

I stuck to my plan and other than a slight headache and a little dizziness on Sunday and Monday, all has gone well and I have had no coffee for 4 days now.  I did get a decaf latte at the Starbucks inside our local Target but only because we had a buy one get one free coupon and the wife talked me into it.  I have also had a cup of hot tea twice as well.  The true test will be next week when I am at work and there is free (already made) coffee nearby and no one to watch me.  I will have to let you know how it goes.  I have given up coffee so many times that I feel I am an expert at it now.

Since the in-laws are only in town this week and they will not see us until next year sometime, they had us open our Christmas presents this morning that were from them.  The kids each got a sweater and the wife got a housecoat.  There was one big combined present that was TO both kids and they were surprised and excited to see that their aunt and grandma had bought them Nintendo Wii.  This left my gift.  My wife snickered a little as I began to open it and said that SHE would really enjoy it.  After I opened the box I realized what she meant.  Inside the box was 4, 8 oz packages of gourmet coffee.  So it seems I ruined Christmas.  I am told I am difficult to buy for and when I take out one of the sure things (coffee) then it is just that much harder.  There was some chocolate in the box as well so I am sure I will enjoy that.

Well I am told that I get to go grocery shopping with the wife today.  She seems way to excited (if you ask me) about this.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 340

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Today is the daughter's 7th birthday.  She has been counting down for quite some time now (like since 30 days or so ago).  We are delaying our birthday dinner tradition until next week after our house guests have departed but she is bringing cupcakes for her class tonight at AWANA.  We really have not done anything special today to celebrate as we had both a chiropractor visit and the weekly gymnastics already on the calendar (along with AWANA tonight) but we will open her presents in a little while.  The wife, mother-in-law and sister-in-law took off this morning to go shopping at the nearest American Doll store so I pulled chiropractor visit duty.  After that we headed home to wait for the shoppers to come home.  I decided to get up in the attic and retrieve the Christmas decorations.  The wife has some little cottage / town houses and we have some other seasonal things as well.  However when I opened one box I discovered this...

This is a Christmas candle that has been melted then hardened while engulfing the ornaments that were packed with it.  It has sort of a modern art feel to it I think.  The elf legs sticking straight up on the top right give it a slightly morbid (but still Christmassy) look.  I have it sitting on the mantle on top of our fireplace.  I really think that I could market the whole "melted candle art" and make a killing.  This is what happens when you put a candle in an attic in Texas for the summer.

Well, I am told that it is time to open birthday presents so I have to go.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 339

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

It was about 11 pm when we arrived home from the airport last night.  My son always brings his change whenever there is the slight possibility of a vending machine appearance.  Despite his knowledge that airport vending machines are extremely overpriced, he was prepared to convince us that he needed candy at 9:00 at night.  Once we arrived at the baggage claim area where our guest's luggage would arrive, he found a vending machine over in the corner but was met with this...

Nothing!  Not even gum at the bottom.  Suffice to say, he was disappointed.  He and I decided to wait by the area where people come out but unbeknownst to us, there were other flights arriving at the same time at nearby gates.  After about 10 minutes we got a call that the plane had arrived but was still not at the gate.  At this point in time the daughter said she was tired so she and I found an empty seat (far away from the arrival area but next to the baggage claim) and she fell asleep on me.  So I had 15 - 20 minutes to do one of my favorite things, namely people watching.  I kept myself occupied with a game of "guess which one is the passenger and which one is there to pick them up."  This is usually an easy game since the passengers either have comfortable clothes or are cranky since they just traveled in uncomfortable clothes for 3 hours.  It is also fun to watch people greet each other who appear to be very close or have not seen each other in a long time (or both).  After a few minutes though, that usually wears off and then everyone plays the "I think that might be my bag" roulette as the luggage comes up piece by piece.  It is amazing to me how many people don't remember what their luggage looks like after having to have just seen it 4 hours ago when they checked it in before leaving.

Eventually, our plane and then our luggage arrived.  Once we pulled the first bag off of the carousel, it has this sticker on it...

I had never seen this type of sticker before.  Seems like it should be bigger or more colorful to call attention to itself.  Either way, this might be the reason it was one of the last bags to come off the roulette wheel.

This afternoon and evening the wife and I are taking off for a date night and some Christmas / birthday shopping as we plan to make full use of the free babysitters we picked up at the airport.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 338

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well December has arrived (even here in Texas where today it barely broke 50°).  In this household we are on countdown until 9:20 pm for that is when the mother-in-law and sister-in-law arrive for a week long visit.  We are all going to pile into the van (yes, the same van that I vowed never to ride in again) around 8:30 and head to the airport.  I tried desperately to convince the kids that I should go alone to the airport (alone in the BUICK that is) since it was past their bedtime but in the end I had to agree to drive the van so we all could go (all of us except the dog of course).

Speaking of the dog, we did go out on Black Friday but only to the pet store and only in the late afternoon and only because we were bored.  We needed to buy some better quality dog food and a dog bed / pillow.  The below pillow was on sale for half off...

...which Nina took an immediate liking to.  Her legs seem rather long compared to the rest of her body still but (according to the vet) she is in fine health and is currently 35 lbs at 4 months.  The kids wanted to know why we call it Black Friday.  I have to admit that I did not really know but I (in true fatherly manner) made something up.  I told them that it was called Black Friday since it was still very dark (black) out when the doors of the stores opened.  They seemed satisfied with that answer (the real answer is HERE).

While it was not immediate, Nina evidently has taken a liking to her new food as well.  I came to this conclusion based on what happened about 30 minutes ago in our house.  The wife was out in the back yard for her 2 - 3 times per week ritual (involving a pooper scooper and a plastic baggy).  She came back inside in near record time and explained to the dog (and the rest of us who were listening) that, "Pro Plan is Great!"  She appeared like she could go on from there extolling the virtues of the Pro Plan diet and its effects but I asked her to stop as we all knew all we really needed to know.

Four and half hours until we leave for the airport.  I promised the kids some Uno to help pass the time.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 337

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I am taking all of next week off.  That will mean that I will have 11 days off in a row (including the Thanksgiving holiday and weekends).  I don't know if I am going to make it as it is only the tail end of day 2 and I am getting a little stir crazy.  We did rediscover Uno though so we have played about 30 hands so far with many more to come I am sure.

Yesterday we started the day with a big breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, bagels with cream cheese and some blueberry maple sausage links.  I was skeptical of what these blueberry links might taste like and I can now report to you that the did not really taste like anything (including sausage).  We did manage to eat them all however.

Earlier in last week the wife had asked me if I wanted ham or turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.  I told her that I wanted a meal that I could truly be thankful for and suggested that her homemade pizza would be perfect.  This got an instantaneous yes / yes vote from the kids and just like that (I think) a Dieterman Thanksgiving tradition was born.  Throw in some barbecue chips and some soda and you have a meal that I guarantee everyone was thankful for.

Speaking of being thankful, last week while I was at the Dollar Store, I bought a 100 pack of post-it notes.  Their were 4 different colors in the pack so each of us picked a color.  We had about 10 days until Thanksgiving.  I took a jar down from the cabinet and donned it the Thankful Jar.  I explained that we were to write down something we were thankful for on our color of post-it note and place it in the Thankful Jar without showing anyone what we had written.  I also explained that if you could not spell a word then you were to do your best.  This last instruction passed over the daughter as 5 minutes later (with pencil and paper in hand) she asked, "Dad, how do you spell allowance?"  Fast forward to Thanksgiving and as we finished up our pizza, I took all the notes out of the jar and read them out loud.  We had a few laughs and a few "ahhhhhs" and then I took all of them and put them back for historical purposes (and possible bribery).

Thanksgiving night we walked down the street to the neighbors (with pumpkin gooey bars in hand) for a dessert get together.  We even got in 3 games of doubles table tennis (the wife and I won the first 2 games handily and lost the 3rd in overtime).  The menfolk watched a little football (though all the games yesterday were blowouts) while the womenfolk drank coffee.  The kids just played.  Eventually it was time for bed so we walked the 1 block home.  All in all, a great day.

I will mention that none of the thankful notes mentioned my blog (sigh).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 336

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I am beginning to wonder if I am going to make it to 100 blogs this year or not.  There are only 37 days left and I have to average a blog every 3 days to make it.

I just finished reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins.  It was a very interesting read and challenged me in my way of thinking with each chapter (as a side note, I have checked out "The Dawkins Delusion" which is a rebuttal of this book).  I forget exactly why but in one chapter he was referring to the (almost) universal concept of North being Up on maps.  I had not really thought about this but he did mention that there are maps in some southern hemisphere countries (he specifically mentioned Australia) where North is Down.  Here is an example...

Looks very strange, doesn't it?  I bet you don't even recognize our world!  I wondered if people in the southern hemisphere really think this way so I asked a lady that I work with who is in Melbourne, Australia if she thought that we northerners were just a little uppity for thinking we were on the top of the world and that they were on the bottom.  She admitted that she had not thought about it that way but then confessed she was really from England (a fellow northerner).  I then remembered that a co-worker just one row of cubes over was originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina.  When I asked her about this she got lost in thought for a moment then exclaimed, "Yes, how unfair!"  She admitted that she had never thought about the whole north-up / south-down thing but I could tell that she was considering being offended on behalf of her mother country and its neighbors.  This discussion segued into a talk on how on street maps it is easier to be going up (even if that makes south up) and how we each would turn a map so that we were going up the map instead of down it.

When I was researching the up side down maps I did see in a side note that some maps originally had east as up.  Now as strange as south being up is, east being up is way more weird.  I think I need to stop thinking about this for now.  On a non related note (and as a way of an excuse to stop typing) we checked out a DVD with 7 episodes of season 2 of I Love Lucy and the kids love it.  We have time to watch the last 2 remaining episodes yet this evening.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 335

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

It is time to clear out my cell phone's micro SD card with another installment of...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

Just to prove that I did indeed vote back on November 4th.  With all the concerns about long lines and massive turnouts I was pleasantly surprised (and a little shocked) to find out that I was the only person in the gymnasium (other than the poll workers) when I arrived to vote around 2:45 in the afternoon.  The poll workers seemed excited to see me and by the time I left there were a few others that arrived (looking equally shocked and surprised as I was).

The daughter and I were at Dollar Store last Sunday and the man wearing these M&M pants was acting a little too friendly with the people in line.  So much so that I thought he might be mentally unstable.  The pants he chose to wear in public only adds to my side of this argument.

I was shocked to learn of the "2008 Meal Worm Shortage" as it has been left off of the major news networks.  Fortunately there was this warning in the local PetSmart to keep me informed.

I saw this a week ago at the local Half Priced Bookstore.  Either someone was not paying attention to proper sticker placement or they were trying to make a joke.  For the record, I did not have my cell phone with me so this picture was taken with the wife's new cell phone.

Well that clears out the cell phone.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 334

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

My goodness, is this really ONLY my 2nd blog entry this month? Wow!

About a month ago my wife (and kids) took the dog to the vet for a normal, puppy check up.  On the way home an event occurred that I refer to now as the "4 poo incident."  Evidently the dog had a bad reaction to a shot or riding in the car (or both) and this triggered the "incident" to occur.  The "4 poos" were spread throughout the van and (as the wife tells it) were none too pleasant to be around.  By the time that I arrived home, the wife told me the story but had to pause several times due to laughing fits.  While the incident was not funny, the kids reactions (and her knowing that she would have to tell me what happened) were.  It was at that time that I vowed not to ride in my van again.  A month later, my vow is still unbroken and every time we need to go somewhere as a family, we take the Buick.

Fast forward to today.  Today was another vet visit.  Both the kids (the memory fresh in their minds) opted (wisely, as it would turn out) to stay with a neighbor.  Nina (the dog) "turned it up a notch" this time and even threw in some puke (on my wife's arm even) for good measure.  When they arrived at the vet's office, the wife asked for some cleaning supplies (after telling the story of this new event) and a young guy came out with the supplies and (to my wife's surprise) actually said that he would clean it up.  The wife tried to explain the extensiveness of the damage but the guy insisted.  The wife took the guy out to the car and opened the door.  At this point in time I would like to point out an obvious fact.  This guy (as part of his normal job) cleans up after pets that have unfortunate reactions to car rides.  OK, now that you are reminded of this fact you will appreciate the damage done when I tell you that all this guy could say (after a moment of awkward silence) was, "Whoa!"

The wife explained that she could clean it up but he insisted.  The wife then counter offered by asking him only to take care of a few key areas and he agreed.  By the time that the dog was done with the vet visit and they returned to the car, the car was so clean that it looked like it had been detailed.  The wife was very happy and (fortunately) no further incidents occurred on the ride home.  I have reiterated my vow however not to ride in the van anymore.

I will try to get a few more blogs in before the month's end.  Sorry.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 333

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well I wish I could say that I did something useful with my extra hour due to Daylight Saving Time ending but that is not the case.  For, you see, Tiger (my cat) has a belly that does not change time automatically like my cell phone clock does.  Nor does it offer the option of setting it forward before going to bed the night before.  As such, my extra hour was definitely not spent sleeping.  Notice the "I don't care what your clock says" look in his eyes (note also the empty food bowl in the background).

For the last 2 months, the wife and I have been keeping a very strict budget.  A few days before the end of the month, we have a meeting and plan out our expenses for the next month.  We have the normal things you budget for (rent, van payment, electric bill, etc) and some other reoccurring things (eating out, gymnastics, books, etc).  We run a $0 sum budget meaning that every penny is allocated (even if it means allocating it to savings).  As the month progresses, we can see if we are running ahead and perhaps can throw a little extra on the van payment.  I have blogged before what happens if there is extra money left in the Eating Out budget.  Anyway, the son has watched us with interest.  He asked me last month if we could do a budget for him.  I explained that since he really had no expenses (oh to be a kid again) that we really could not do his budget.  Since he has been baking (and selling) cookies lately, I offered to figure out the profit margin was for a batch of cookies.  He makes a few different types of cookies so we settled on chocolate chip as our initial type.  Here is the ingredients list...

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 (12) oz. bag of chocolate chips

We got down each ingredient and decided what it cost for a certain measurement (cup, ounce, etc.) so we could figure our per batch cost.  We had to do some converting (the 4lb bag of sugar said that there were 454 tsp. in the bag) but eventually we ended up with our cost as follows...

• $0.17 sugar
• $0.40 brown sugar
• $1.50 butter
• $0.25 vanilla
• $0.16 egg
• $0.34 flour
• $0.02 baking soda
• $0.00 salt (rounding)
• $1.75 chocolate chips

We even calculated the cost of the use of the oven ($0.40) and the dishwasher ($0.15).  These were based on a 2002 report I found so it might be a little off.  The total cost of the batch of cookies totals $5.14.

Since the batch makes 30 good sized cookies and since he sells them for $0.50 each, his revenue is $15.00 and his profit would be $9.86 per batch.  He then figured he put 3 hours into the cooking making / cookie selling process and was quite pleased to see that he makes over $3.00 / hour for his work.

I was ready to quit this exercise about half way through but his enthusiasm spurred me on.  He wants to do the rest of his recipes soon so I will have to keep you posted.

P.S. I still have not got my sweater back (see previous blog).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 332

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

From time to time I have the need to pick on the wife, so here it goes.  I blogged a while back (like maybe a year ago) about a Mr Rogers like sweater that I bought on clearance at Kohls.  We have had a few days lately that were in the 40s overnight.  This causes me to want to wear a jacket (or maybe a sweater) on my way to work.  However, since we also now have a dog that needs to be taken outside in the morning, the wife also wants to wear a jacket (or MY sweater) in the morning.  We sat over coffee on morning this week and discussed this.

My side of the discussion reasoned that since it was my sweater and since I needed a sweater (or something sweater like) it followed that I should be allowed to wear my sweater.  Her side of the discussion mainly relied on the argument that she liked the sweater.  I then offered to sell her the sweater.  I could then take the money and put it towards another sweater (albeit probably not as nice of a sweater since I got it on sale).  She did not like this idea.  I then offered to give her the sweater and I would then simply purchase another sweater out of my clothing budget.  Now, you would think (if you were a reasonable person) that this would be the end of the discussion.  Well, you are wrong for my wife then told me that if the sweater were no longer mine, then she would no longer wish to wear it.  Evidently, part (or most) of the desire to wear the sweater did not lie in its warming properties but in the fact that it was not her sweater but rather belonged to me.  Somehow (through her logic) if I bought another sweater for my use, she would no longer wish to have this one.  Part of the lure of this sweater was the fact that while she was wearing it, I could not wear it (or any other sweater).  She said all this with a straight face and with an expression that would lead you to believe that she was dead serious.

I might point out that during this conversation, she was wearing the sweater.  When two people have a disagreement like this and one person uses logic that the other person cannot comprehend then you come to the conclusion that I came to in that I had no rebuttal and was forced to concede her point (whatever it was) and continue to have her wear the sweater.

Some of you have asked for more pics of Nina so here you go...

  

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 331

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

My mother came for a short visit this past week.  The kids got their intense dose of grandma and the wife and I got a night out together since our free babysitter was in town (and staying at our house).  It all ended to soon though and soon it was time to drive her to the airport.  For reasons I won't go into here, she had to be at the airport by 5:00 AM on Monday.  This meant that I had to get up at 3:30 AM (something I have not done in quite a while).  I had a job about 12 years ago that required me to be at work at 4:00 AM.  It was about  a 30 minute drive so I had to get up around 3:00 (6 days a week).  I was in my mid to late 20's then so I could pull that kind of thing off much better than I did yesterday.  I was really feeling it around lunchtime let me tell you.

Our Panera Saturday was scheduled for when she was here (this is the once a month Saturday when we go to Panera for breakfast).  I think I have mentioned before that we budget $80 per month for eating out ($30 x 2 for dinner out, $10 for Panera Saturday and $10 for our Ice Cream Social).  This month I told the kids that any money left over from the $80 budget would be split 4 ways at the end of the month.  It was my simple hope that I could not have to deal with the leftover cash at the end of the month.  I have a strict "every penny accounted for" budget and dealing with leftover small piles of cash is not worth the hassle.  With this profit sharing program, I can write off the balance of the $80 rather easily.  Since mom was here for Panera Saturday, she paid for our breakfast.  The kids were quick to point out that they were making $2.50 each on the deal.  Tonight we had out 2nd dinner out night and the kids opted out of Italian Villa for Brooklyn's Pizza when the were reminded that Brooklyn's was about $10 cheaper.  It does not matter to me where we eat out and the wife does not care that much either (since she just does not want to cook) so the kids usually pick anyway.  Now they have incentive to figure out where the cheap night out places are.

Speaking of pizza, I was reminded of a great idea I had a while back for a restaurant.  I would call it Leftover Pizza and the basic premise would be that the only meal we serve is breakfast and the only thing we would offer is leftover pizza from the night before.  Basically each table would have a small microwave oven on it and people would order slices of pizza left over from the night before.  We would have to hook up with a local pizza shop and order 20 pizzas or so at the end of the night.  They would deliver them and we would refrigerate them overnight.  When we ran out of leftover pizza then we would close for the day.  We would even leave a small percentage of pizzas on the counter overnight (not refrigerated).  We might need to have the customers sign a small waver removing our responsibility for any sickness they might incur.  We would server coffee and soda and probably make a killing.  We would not have the need to have an actual kitchen or hire kitchen staff.  We would just need a few wait staff really.  I still think this is a great idea so who knows, maybe someday I can still do this.

OK, since it has been a while since I blogged, I think it is time for...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

 

The wife and I went to Central Market and there were pumpkins / squash galore.  I had never heard of the Fairytale Pumpkin.  The do look pretty cool.

  

The one on the left was just plain ugly.  I thought it was interesting that they had to call out the "Edible" varieties of the squash with special signs.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 330

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I made the mistake about a month ago of answering a question.  Let me explain.  Each morning, the wife and I get up around 5 am.  One of us usually puts on a pot of coffee and then we sit and drink a few cups together (I think I have blogged about the unfairness of the distribution of the extra/odd/"5th cup" of coffee).  Anyway, as we sit there and sip our "sweet nectar of life" that gets us up and going for the day, the range of subjects we talk about vary.  Usually we talk about church, home schooling issues, politics, our childhoods, etc.  Every once in a while I will get lost in a thought and she will see the far off look in my eyes and ask, "What are you thinking about?"  Usually I just give the universal male answer of, "oh, nothing".  This keeps me out of trouble.  This is the question that I made the mistake of answering.

On this particular morning I was actually thinking this: If our Sunday school (ABF) class were going to do a play based on a script from Gilligan's Island, who would be the likely cast members for the 7 roles of the castaways?  After the slightly awkward period of silence that usually ensues whenever I actually answer this question (my wife cannot fathom why I waste my time thinking about such things I guess), she formed a small smile and decide to play along.  I refused to tell her who would play each role (the Skipper, Gilligan, the Professor, Mr. and Mrs. Howell, Ginger and Mary Ann) until she told me who she thought would make the best cast member.  We debated back and forth the merits of our choices and the downfall of casting certain people in certain roles (Person A would not make a good Mary Ann as I cannot picture her in cut off jeans, etc.).  We had a laugh out loud good time and all was well until...

Fast forward a few weeks after this conversation.  I was coming back into our ABF class (before it started) with a cup of coffee when I overheard my wife talking to (the person that we cast as) Mary Ann about our discussion.  I think she was slightly offended in our choices and then someone else overheard the conversation and pretty soon the whole class joined in.  People wanted to know why we would even talk about this, why was I picked for this role or that, why wasn't I picked for this role or that one, why didn't I get a part, etc.  Mercifully, it was eventually time for class to start and the whole matter was put behind us.

From now on when the wife asks me what I am thinking about, I am gonna stick to, "Nothing".  It is just safer.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 329

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I had a great idea the other day at work.  After thinking about it, it is a really selfish idea as it mostly benefits me (and those like me which, as you may have guessed, that is a small number).  First a little background.

We have a very nice cafeteria at work.  It is probably 3,000 square feet and contains tons of different things to eat.  It is more like a food court at a mall really as there is a place to get Italian, Mexican, burgers, deli sandwiches, soup, baked potatoes, etc.  Anyway, over by the soft drinks and energy drinks there are 2 microwave ovens.  Inevitably there is a line to use them.  Outside of the cafeteria is a small room with vending machines and in that cramped room are 3 more microwaves.  There is typically a line for those as well but since the room is so small, it is not a traditional line.  It is more like a bunch of people hanging around holding imaginary "take a number" numbers in their minds.  The cramped room microwaves are used less than the 2 in the vast openness of the cafeteria.

OK, now that you have a complete understanding of how my lunchtime starts off (either in a traditional line or holding an imaginary number) let me explain my idea.  There are 2 types of people that are in these lines.  The first type of person brings with them a frozen meal.  These typically take 5 minutes to heat up.  The second type of person (the group that I fall in) brings leftovers that were refrigerated and we simply need to reheat the food.  These typically take 2 minutes or less (in my case only a minute) to heat up.  I think it is incredibly unfair that those of us in the 2nd group should have to wait on those other folks in the 1st group so I am suggesting a microwave designated as "reheat" and one designated as "I don't care that I have to make you wait.  I am a very important person and that is just how it is.  I might even turn on my food and leave so that those that come after me look around at the others in trying to figure out who is using the microwave especially when the timer goes off and I am not there to retrieve my food knowing that no one will take my food out and set it aside and when I decide to return and free the microwave up I will more than likely check the food and decide that it needs 2 more minutes."  I might have to make the 2nd microwave type name a little shorter as it might not fit on the sign.

This is no different than the "10 items or less" lines at the grocery store.  I think that anyone using the reheat microwave for a frozen meal should suffer the same hateful stares that someone with a cartful of groceries tries to convince the rest of us that they are counting impaired (63 items, really, coulda swore there were only 9).

I shared this idea with a fellow re-heater person on Thursday and he was in agreement.  Once he left, a lady (also a re-heater) applauded my idea and even expanded on how we might sell this to management (increased productivity since less time was wasted in line, encouraging folks to eat leftovers and not expensive frozen meals thereby allowing less raises, etc.).  Since I only needed 55 seconds (including a pause, stir, reheat cycle), I did not have much time to discuss the further merits of this idea.  I guess that is one drawback of being a re-heater, you do not have time to socialize in front of the microwave.  Well, I take that back as I do have plenty of time since I am always waiting on some Lean Cuisine type person and their food but those folks do not care to hear about my ideas.  Oh well.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 328

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it is October already.  This year has flown by.  I normally do not say things like that but for the first time in my life, it seems like the year truly has gone quickly.  Part of it for sure is because of the car accident that my wife and kids were in around April and part of it (though it pains me to say so) is due to the fact that I am 39 years old now.  I have a theory about this (I know, I know, this shocks you, right?).  This does involve some math so if you want to skip down a paragraph or two then I won't blame you.

You see, my theory is that it is all relative.  Meaning that we compare current time to past time and the more past time there is (i.e. the older you are) the less current time seems to be in comparison.  For instance.  When I was 8, 1 month of time was about 1% of my life but now that I am 39, 1 month of time is about 0.2% of my life.  So, in comparison time seems quicker only because compared to past time, it is small (and getting smaller).  The bad news is that with every current passing second, that second becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of our past time.  This is a more sound theory than the theory I have about each of us only being given a certain amount of words to speak before we die (I think I blogged about that in the past).

Speaking of speaking words, I did manage to start back up on my Spanish lessons this past week.  It has been about 6 month since my last Spanish lesson.  I do remember how silly some of the phrases are in the software that I am using.  For instance, one phrase in this week's lesson is...

El payaso de la izquierda es bajo y gordo.
(Translation: The clown on the left is short and fat).

As you can see, a truly useful phrase that I am sure will serve me well should the need arise to speak Spanish at a circus.

Yesterday afternoon, the daughter and I went on a walk.  We cut across a vacant lot at the end of our street and into a (sort of) field.  I took along the camera to talk pictures of any interesting flowering weeds that we spotted along the way.  Ever since I took a summer class in college called Summer Flowering Plants I have been interested in flowering weeds.  I think it is all the days of driving up and down county roads at 10 miles per hour looking for more weeds that has somehow cursed me with never being able to just ignore the beauty of weeds.  Anyway, we did capture this picture while we were out.

Now I do not show you this picture for the flower but rather for my 6 (almost 7) year old daughter's foot.  It does not look as small as I remember it.  In fact, it looks like someone else's kid's foot really, not mine.  It could be the nail polish or that those are relatively new sandals but I just think that my youngest child is growing up at a faster and faster rate than I care to admit (sigh).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 327

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

From time to time when I get home and log onto the computer I am met with this sight...

This (of course) is Notepad, the simple most important application that ever came (free) with windows.  I have used Notepad since Windows 3.1 days and still use it everyday at work (despite having Microsoft Word 2007 at my disposal).  Anyway, when I come home and someone has left a Notepad session open, I never know what there might be there.  In times past it has contained grocery lists, home school curriculum lists, copies of web pages or (at times) a song that my 10 year old son has written.  Tonight was a rare treat however as it contained this...

Face: Murdock, do you want to go to Burger King with me?
Murdock: Yeah sure face i love Burger King.
Face: We better take BA with us.
Murdock: I agree.
Face: Let's go tell go tell BA and Hannibal to come with us.
Murdock: BA! Hannibal! We're going to Burger King.  Come with us to be our protection.
BA: I'll come with you guys.
Hannibal: This is a nice place  BA you sit down first.  You're the king.
BA:  Thank you Hannibal .  You are very kind.  I would give my life for you.
Face: BA!  Look, there's guys coming with guns.
BA: I'll hide you guys.  Come with a plan.
Deke: Get off that chair,  I sit there all the time.
Grad:  You too, nerd.
Deke: What's your guys names?
Face: My name's Face and his name is Murdock.
Deke: My name's Deke and his name's Grad.
Face: Deke, you're very nice.  Don't you agree Murdock?
Murdock: Grad, I told ya you needed a little more salt. So here's some in your eyes.
Grad: Ah, my eyes!
Face: (Punch) How did that feel?  Don't come in here with guns again.

Evidently this is a scene from the script for a lost episode of The A Team.  I can almost see the scene in my head (really).  This MIGHT have something to do with the fact that we just finished season 1 of The A Team but I can't be sure.  Maybe tomorrow when I get home there will be more.  Who am I kidding?  It will  probably just be a boring grocery list.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 326

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Wow!  Two blogs in two days!  What am I thinking?

Recently my son purchased his first CD.  Now he has other CDs that he has from birthdays or Christmas or whatever but this is the first CD he ever purchased with his own money.  There are some teenagers that come to his Sunday school class and do a short praise and worship and one of the songs has a catchy chorus that basically says, "Life is good.  Eternal life is better" (repeat ad nauseum).  Anyway, after having heard him sing those 7 words over and over (and over) and over again (his sister usually chimes in as well), we discovered that it was actually a real song (and had other words).  The song is by a band called Stellar Kart and so we set out to find the CD that it came from.  Turns out they just released their 3rd CD but this song came off of their 1st one.  We found the CD at the local bookstore for $11 (with tax) but since he only gets $6 / week he asked if I could find it cheaper.  I searched and eventually found a seller on eBay that only wanted $8.25 for it.  Actually it was only $1 (with $7.25 shipping) so I bought it and we waited.  It took almost 2 weeks to arrive but when it did he was pumped.

I made a copy for my car as I was sure he would want to discuss my thoughts on the album.  Of the 11 songs, only 2 are better than average but I would like to call your attention to one song in particular.  That is their truly forgettable cover of "Livin' On A Prayer" (originally by Bon Jovi).  Wow, really hard to listen to all the way through.  They do OK on the chorus but the verses are a little rough (the lead singer does not have that great of a voice).  To be fair, they are not on a big label and this was their first CD so I am sure the budget was low.  My son is already decided to save his money for their other 2 CDs so for the sake of my ears I hope they got better.  If you head over to the Pure Volume site, they do have "Finish Last" off of their first CD so check it out.

I just finished a book (not any that were listed on my recent blog) called "A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama And Why He Can't Win" by Shelby Steele.  It is just over 100 pages but it was an interesting insight from an author who (like Obama) has one white parent and one black parent.  The books talks about many of the inner struggles Obama must be going through not only during this election season but for his entire adult life.  Anyway, it is probably worth a read if you can find it at the library.

Well, it is time to head to the front room and finish up the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie that we did not get to finish this afternoon before church time.  I offer no promises as to the date of the next blog.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 325

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well another month has almost slipped by without a blog entry. I do not know why all of a sudden I am not in the blogging mood after having been so into it for the better part of 2 years. Maybe I am finally outgrowing the need to express my frustrations to an (albeit small) audience. I haven't really thought about it much actually until today (just now actually). The big news in our household is the arrival of our new dog...

Her name is Nina (long I on the first syllable like the number 9) and she is a Doberman. We purchased her from local a local breeder. In fact, they were the same folks that turned us on to Gabbi (our dog that was lost in the auto accident in April). We got our deposit in early and were able to snag our pick of the litter. You might be wondering about the name Nina, but before I go into that let me tell you some of the names that we were thinking of...

Latte: This was a close 2nd. Part of the reason was because of her coat's color and part of the reason was that (at $375) we were going to have to give up latte's for a while in order to pay for her.

Caspian: This would have been our pick if we ended up with a male puppy. It seems like a very noble name for such a noble breed. Having just now seen the Prince Caspian movie helped a little too.

Shelby / Sugar / Ginger / Princess: These were all the names our 6 yr old daughter added to the mix. We ruled out Sugar and Princess our of mere principal. Ginger was actually a name of the mother of one of the kids in her swim class. I guessed she really liked the name as there is no better honor (from a 6 year old anyway) than having them name their pet after you.

(Insert arbitrary German, female name here [Heidi, Helga, etc]): The wife was convinced that since the Doberman is a German breed that it had to have a German name. She fought very hard but in the end she was outvoted.

Meecham: OK, a little explanation here. A long, long time ago (like 20 years ago) I worked at a local bowling alley. They had the first automatic scoring system in town and so you had these monitors that hung 10 foot in the air to show your score. You had to punch your name into the lane system before you could bowl and when it was your turn it would display your name at the bottom of the screen (along with flashing some arrows in the row for your score). Anyway, one night I was bowling a few lanes away from some teenage girls that were also bowling and from my angle I swore that one of the girls was named Meecham. I thought that was such a cool / unique name. I wandered over to behind their lane to see how good they were bowling and then noticed that the name was actually Meagan and the extreme angle I was at had tricked me. Ever since then though I have remembered that name and swore I would name something Meecham. The wife did not like this name for a dog any more than she liked it for our daughter's name when she was born.

This brings us to Nina: We have not had good luck with dogs since we have been married. In our defense, we lost one dog in a car crash and had to get rid of two dogs due to moving. The other 5 were just bad dogs that we got mostly from the local dog pound. This dog (if we counted correctly) is our 9th dog. She is also the 9th born out of a litter of 10. So I decided that Nina (9-a) would be a great choice. I am also convinced (though I have no proof) that dogs respond to short names (1 or 2 syllables) that have a long vowel in the 1st syllable.

Anyway, Nina is doing great. She is very smart and has already (at barely 10 weeks) mastered the sit, lay, shake, high five and speak tricks. She is almost sleeping through the night and stays in her cage without whining too much. The 1st week was rough but she is shaping up to be a great dog. We don't want to have to go out and get our next dog (temporarily named Rin 10 10) anytime soon.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 324

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

We had a great get together at our next door neighbor's house yesterday from around 2 until about 8.  Several other neighbors from our street were there along with friends of the hosts.  The July 4th get together was 2 doors down from us so I think (doing the math) that makes the next get together at our house.  Unfortunately the next holiday on the calendar is Halloween (which we typically do not celebrate).  Also, based on the amount of wine, mixed drinks and beer at the last two get togethers I think we need to start saving up in order to afford to host a party for our street.  The wife and I were talking over our coffee this morning and we decided it took us moving to Texas in order to make some true friends.  Back in Indiana, we had our family we could always rely on but here we have to rely on people who we have only known a year or two.  We decided it was a good thing.

We went to the Allen public library on Friday evening to return some books and check out some new ones.  Once I got home I started reading one of the 3 books that I checked out.  When I laid the other two books down on the bookshelf, I noticed all the other books with bookmarks in them.  Since then I have made a search of the house to see how many books I am actually reading concurrently.  Here is the list...

1. The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis - I read this to the kids one chapter at a time on some evenings.  We are almost 1/2 way through the book (pg 95 / 217).
2. Couplehood by Paul Reiser - This was a birthday gift from my mother.  I am pretty sure she got it at the Goodwill store.  I am only a few chapters in to this one but it reads like a stand up comic routine so you can just read it a little at the time as each chapter is not necessarily based on the last.  The book actually starts on page 145 (it is explained in the forward as to why) but I am about 1/2 way through it (pg. 197 / 348).
3. Dogs Don't Tell Jokes by Louis Sachar - This is my 10 year old son's book and I am reading it so he can narrate to me after he reads it.  Louis Sachar wrote Holes (which was turned into a movie a while back).  I am about 1/3 of the way through it (pg. 72 / 209).
4. You, Inc. by Harry Beckwith - Another book from my mother.  I think she bought this one in an airport.  I have not read anything in this book for better than half a year but it sits in my back bathroom ready for my return.  I am about 1/2 way through it (pg. 170 / 316).
5. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green - I might abandon this one actually.  I just can't get into it really.  This one is hard to read if it is not the only book you are reading as the names are long and hard to remember.  I am only about 1/5 of the way through it (pg. 71 / 330).
6. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - Though I just started this one (it sits next to You, Inc. in the back bathroom) I really think I am going to like it.  Many of the books in this list (and many of the books in our house) are classics that we purchased for a ridiculously low price at the Half Price Books store.  In the last few months I finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Treasure Island and these were both books from that store as well.  Somehow I escaped school without reading either of these books.  As for The Yearling, I am only about 1/7 of the way through it (pg. 48 / 354).
7. History of the Millennium (So Far) by Dave Barry - Another "mom" book.  Back in Kokomo, the wife and I would take turn reading chapters of Dave Barry's books to each other.  We had to take turns because it was to hard to read while you are crying due to laughing.  This book is a few years old.  I am about 1/6 of the way through it (pg. 35 / 208).
8. Religious Literacy (What Every American Needs To Know - And Doesn't) by Stephen Prothero - I like to peruse the 200 section of the library (200 being the Dewey Decimal system number for religious books).  I enjoy reading how other people view religions in general and my religion in particular.  This one however better get interesting quickly or it might not stay on this list for long.  I think perhaps the 18 page introduction (where he describes what the book is about and why he decided a book like this needed to be written) was a little long.  Still, since I deal with many countries on a weekly basis (Malaysia, Egypt, etc) where the dominant religion is not Christianity I thought this book would do me well..I am about 1/9 of the way through it though I just got it from the library on Friday (pg. 27 / 233).
9. All the Names by José Saramago - I just returned Blindness by this same author and it was excellent.  Saramago has a strange writing style that involves such quirks as infinitely long run on sentences (I think one sentence lasted 3 pages) and the phenomenal lack in the use of quotation marks during dialog.  He also does not start a new paragraph when someone else starts speaking.  So you have these tremendously long conversations between two or more people (or perhaps a character and his conscious) that do not stop when the speaker changes and seldom us the "he said" or "she said" to indicate who is speaking even.  This was very annoying at first but the story was so good that you look past it.  They are making a movie based on Blindness (trailer is here).  Anyway, All the Names is the book he wrote after Blindness but even though I am about 1/2 way through it I think I will give up on this one.  I did check out the sequel to Blindness though (titled Seeing) so I hope to start it soon (what's one more concurrent book really?).

I wonder if it is strange to have 9 books going on at the same time in my head.  I would think that since people can juggle the ongoing plot lines of that many TV shows, that I could do so with books.  I am running a little low on bookmarks though.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 323

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I have forgiven myself for not blogging for 2 weeks so I will assume you will join with me and do the same.  Since I got my new cell phone I have snapped pics of things that interest me or might potentially be a blog subject.  They are not all winners but anything not used on the blog ends up stuck on my computer desktop just in case I decide to use it.  Well, I need the space on my desktop so today's blog is just a cleaning house for...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

 

So we were at a grocery store the other day for the sole purpose of checking their prices on the things we buy week to week.  At the end of one of the rows were all these painted mixers.  There were probably about 15 mixers overall.  They looked pretty neat and there was a small placard with information about the "artist" and how to contact them should you want your mixer painted.  I don't know but it seems to me like someone has a little too much free time.

 

I mentioned in an earlier blog that we stayed at the same hotel to and from Indiana.  The hotel was great and the only thing I can fault them for is the phenomenally low quality of their forks at their continental breakfast.  It is a little hard to tell from the pics but these things were quite thin and provided barely enough resistance to stab your food and forget about using it to cut through your biscuits and gravy.  The fork quality was the same during both of our stays.  Checking some online stores I think you will find that plastic forks are $19.00 / 1,000 count case.  Now that is less than 2 cents per fork (for medium quality).  Spending an extra penny per guest for a good quality fork seems like a small price to pay.

The wife and I were killing some time waiting before our movie time arrived and while in a store near the movie theater I saw this toaster.  It is designated as high speed.  Is there a real need for faster toast out there?  I cannot honestly say I have every used slow toast making as an excuse for being late for anything.  Sorry boss, I would have made it to work on time if it weren't for my cursed slow toaster.

While shopping a week or so ago I came across these Donut Peaches.  After a little research I found out they are also know as Saturn Peaches.  When I checked, even Wikipedia did not have an article devoted to them.  They really do look like a donut to me (more so than the planet Saturn).  Also in the parking lot of the grocery store where the above peaches were for sale I snapped this picture...

At first glance you might not catch what I saw but look in the background and you will see a SmartCar.  In the foreground is the front of a cart made for people with small children.  I could not help but notice the similarity in overall design especially from the profile view.  I just thought it was funny.  I should have moved some of the carts in front of the car for a better comparison pic but I was afraid the car's owner would come out and ask me what I was doing or perhaps be offended or embarrassed.  I can tell you that the SmartCar does not have 2 steering wheels like the front of the cart does (I peeked in the SmartCar to check, just in case) so there is at least one thing NOT in common between the two.

Well that almost clears up the desktop (I threw a few pics out since they were even lower quality than the above ones).  In family news, we are getting a new puppy (puppy pics here).  We should be able to pick up our new pet in mid September.  I will keep you posted.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 322

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

It has been a while since I have scolded the wife publicly via this blog so it is about high time for one of those kinds of blogs.  First, exhibit A...

This is a close up shot of the 2006 Kia Minivan that we bought recently.  The line in the middle of the driveway divides the driveway roughly in half.  I have complained numerous times to the wife when I come home from work that I do not have enough room to park in our driveway and still get my Buick's door open.  She claims that she is trying to stay on her side but just can't seem to do it.  Exhibit B...

Notice how far to the right that I am parked.  This is so I can still open my door and not bang it into the minivan.  About 10 minutes ago, the son and I measured the driveway.  The overall width is 196 inches.  I measured my half of the driveway and discovered that from the right side of the driveway to the dividing line (shown in the first picture) and it came to 102 inches.  This left only 94 inches for my wife's "half" of the driveway.  Researching further I found that my Buick is about 73.5 inches wide while the Kia is just a shade over 78 inches.

So it seems I owe my wife a (small) apology as it is harder than it looks to park her van and not crowd the center line.  Maybe I will suggest switching sides so it is more fair.  Speaking of switching sides, I was able to regain my side of the bed.  Ever since our wedding night, I have slept on the right side of the bed.  I remember making that choice over 11 years ago.  Since she was moving into a house that I already lived in and since the bed we bought was delivered a few days before the wedding day, I had the advantage of making sure I had the side I wanted.  I did everything but sleep in the bed (for some reason, I wanted us to sleep in the bed for the first time together).  But I did lay on both sides of the bed checking for key things like proximity to the alarm clock and bathroom and maybe the quickest exit in case of fire.  I ended up choosing the right side of the bed (facing the bed from the foot).  As we moved from one house to the next to an apartment to another house to another apartment (this time in Texas) and then finally to our leased house that we are in now, I kept the right side.  Overall I think it was a good choice.  Things changed on April 10th.  That was the day the wife came home from the hospital after the wreck.  I spent the first month either on the couch with her or on an inflatable mattress next to the couch but when she was able to return to the bedroom, I moved her to the right side as it was closest to the door and was the easiest side to get in and out of bed.  As she recovered, she remained on MY side of the bed.  That is until 2 nights ago when I reclaimed it.  She claims it feels weird but to me things are a little more normal now.

I will let you know if I can talk her into switching sides of the driveway.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 321

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I have thought about blogging many times this week but never got up the gumption to do so.  Usually I think about it as I am snapping a picture with my cell phone (and I have many potential blogs based on them) but by the time I get home and get the picture off of my phone and onto my computer, the desire has passed.  But I have some time now and have nothing in particular to do so here we go.

It was 103° the other day...

...per the handy dandy outside temperature feature of our Kia so we decided it was time for some ice cream.  I have mentioned before how we schedule an ice cream night once a month.  With the vacation to Kokomo, we missed our usual night so given the temp outside, we headed to Braum's.  It was good (as always).  Today (and up until Monday night) we are under a heat advisory as temps will be upwards of 105° for a high.

When I checked the national gas map before our vacation, I noticed that Missouri was one of the states with the lowest price gasoline and that in particular, Springfield was really low.  I made a point to fill up there...

This was about 30 cents lower than Texas and 40 cents lower than Indiana.  I filled up on the way there for $3.52 and on the way back (see above) $3.56.  Even now (at the time of this blog) gas is $3.33 at the same gas station as this picture.  Each time we drive back and forth to Indiana, we dread Missouri.  It is the state that we spend the most time in (about 5 hours total) and there is nothing interesting to see other than the arch in St Louis.  The wife and I have come to view Missouri as more of a necessary land bridge connecting Oklahoma and Illinois.  The east half of the state is very hilly making it tough to navigate by the semi's going slow up the hills and getting the heck out of their way as they come from behind you down a hill.  The west half of the state appears to be there only to host several "World's Biggest Fireworks" stores and many adult themed "book" stores.  There are no less than a half dozen (with billboards advertising for them) dotted along interstate 44.  Our favorite name is The Lion's Den book store.  Without thinking about it too much, it sounds like a proper name for that kind of store since there is danger in going there (or at least the wife indicated that it would be dangerous for ME to go there) but remembering the biblical story of Daniel and the lion's den, I don't think the title makes much sense.  The only way to avoid Missouri is to head through Arkansas and as I recall (from the one time we did go that way) there are too many "vasectomy reversal" and "dentures in 24 hours" billboard signs for my taste.  What is it about Missouri that there are so many adult stores and what is it about Arkansas that you need to have fake teeth quickly and cheap reversals of vasectomies?  I hope never to find out.

We had a knock on our door at 8:30 pm one night this week.  Usually anyone who knocks is looking to see if one of the kids can come out to play but they know better than to ask this that late at night.  Sure enough it was a neighbor kid but they were telling us that there was a rainbow outside...

You can't see it real well from this low quality cell phone pic, but it is actually a double rainbow with one faint one just to the right of the main one.  We stood outside with the neighbors for a bit watching the rainbow and chatting then it was time for bed for the kids.
Well, that is enough for now.  Hopefully I can get back into the habit of regular blogging.  I have plenty of pics still on the cell phone.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 320

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Whew!  We are so glad to be back home again in Texas, in our own house, able to sleep in our own beds.  The drive back home was not too bad really.  We did hit rush hour in Indianapolis but even that was not too bad.  We did manage to forget the wife's pillow back in Indiana so my mother has shipped that to us (it was an expensive Tempur-Pedic pillow).  We stayed at the same hotel on the way home as we did on the way up and we arrived there early enough to be able to catch a matinee showing of Wall-E at a theater 1/2 mile away from the hotel.  We slept well and were up and on the road by 8:00 am.  We had a late lunch and arrived home around 4 pm yesterday.  We unpacked, got some laundry started and then relaxed for the evening (though I did have to make a CVS run as the son forgot his toothbrush somewhere along the way).  All in all, we are very, very happy to be home.

I realize that I did not blog much while on vacation so let me give you a highlight or 2.  One place we went to lunch was Louie's Coney Island...

Louie's used to be in uptown Kokomo (like for 50 years) but I seldom went there.  They moved about 3 years ago to right across from the building that I worked in while I lived in Kokomo.  I could walk over there for lunch whenever I wanted.  I would get 2 bakes for about $2.50 total.  A bake is a hamburger that is in the shape of a hot dog.  It is served on a hot dog bun and has been sitting in the Louie sauce for a while.  Throw on some mustard and onion and you have a little slice of heaven here on earth...

 

Still as tasty as I remember!  Louie's is not high tech and your bill looks something like this...

As you can clearly see, we sat at table 4 (T4) and I ordered 1 Coney (C) and 1 Bake (B) as did the wife.  We also had an order of French fries with cheese and chili (FF w/ ch & chili).  The wife had a large coke (LC) and I had a large root beer (LRB).  As you can see, the bill is actually just a post it note that I had to bring up to the take out section in order to pay (ours totaled around $11 before tip).  We had 30 minutes of pleasure while eating but about 2 hours of feeling not so well during the afternoon.  Still, I am glad we went.  If I remember correctly, they sell these during the Colts home games down in Indianapolis in the RCA Dome.  I am sure it would be more than $11 there though.

I have more pics (all taken with the handy cell phone) of our vacation but will save them for another blog.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon