Blog Number 302

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

We have owned the game of Boggle for quite some time now.  If I had to guess it would be going on 2 years, maybe longer.  Up until this week, we had yet to play it even once.  Oh, the kids got it out of the box and the instructions are missing along with the 3 minute sand timer but the shaker and the 16 dice are still there.  We used the stopwatch feature on the cell phone and played it last night and this afternoon.  The 6 year old daughter has slightly modified rules in that she can use any letter anywhere without having to have them connected.  Also, since she just finished kindergarten, she gats credit for any alternate spelling that makes sense to her.  Also, it really does not even have to be a word (e.g. blont, kimb) in order for it to count.  The rest of us follow the normal Boggle rules and it is really fun.  The wife has beat me by the narrowest of margins every time so far and so tonight over dinner as we were discussing playing again I informed her that she had better throw a few games if she knew what was good for her (and my ego).  We will see.

It has been a pretty normal / boring week really so I am going to jump right into...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

While shopping at Sprout's today I came across this sign.  20 years ago this sign would have made no sense at all.  I mean, what different kinds of water could there possibly be?  Nowadays though it is not the case and hence the above sign makes perfect sense.

While the wife was shopping at Fashion Bug, the kids and I walked down to some other stores in the same strip mall.  We stopped at Petco, Game Stop and also Staples where I snapped this picture.  This presents one of life's paradoxes.  What happens if you use a stapler remover inside of Staples?  Ok, maybe it is a stretch but I was really bored and I made it a point to go down the staple aisle just to take this picture.  Like I said, it has been a boring week.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 301

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

The wife really enjoys jigsaw puzzles.  The kids enjoy them too as long as they are 100 pieces or less but if we are working on a puzzle as a family (meaning that the wife does the bulk of the work and the rest of us find a piece or two here or there) we usually stick to those that are 1,000 pieces in size.  My father did many jigsaw puzzles when I was a kid but he leaned toward the huge ones (2,000 or 2,500 pieces).  Anyway, I was considering the concept of 1,000 pieces and trying to do the math.  Since AREA = LENGTH x WIDTH it follows that number of pieces on the left (or right) side of the puzzle times the number of pieces on the bottom (or top) of the puzzle should equal 1,000 exactly.  1,000 only has the following factors...

1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20, 25, 40, 50, 100, 125, 200, 250, 500, and 1000

This means that the only possible combinations are as follows...

1 x 1000 - 2 x 500 - 4 x 250 - 5 x 200 - 8 x 125 - 10 x 100 - 20 x 50- 25 x 40

To me the most logical choice is  25 (h) x 40 (w) but as I counted the pieces on the current puzzle there were only 37 pieces across the bottom.  Also there were only 27 pieces up the sides.  Now 37 x 27 = 999 so this (my friends) is false advertising.  I am not suggesting that the puzzle box actually say "999 piece puzzle" but it could say "1000 piece puzzle*" and somewhere in the fine print elsewhere on the box it can say "* puzzle only contains 999 pieces**" and yet somewhere else "**get over it".  I am fine with that.

Since the wife cannot drive right now (her shorter cast does not come off until June 9th), I have been both driving the son to school and picking him up from school.  The one way trip is 9 miles making my daily mileage 36 miles.  I get about 24 mpg in the Buick so I am blowing through 1.5 gallons of gas.  We drive right by a gas station on the way so each morning I have him figure how much money we will save when school is out.  Gas was $3.799 per gallon on Friday so our cost for the day was $3.80 x 1.5 = $5.70.  Doing the math, in June we will have over $100 less gas expense.  His last day of school is this Wednesday and they only have fun things planned for both Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  I thought about this a little and then made him the following offer.  I offered to pay him $5 not to go to school.  He wants to go on Tuesday as there is a field trip to a park but he is still considering my offer for Wednesday.

Today we have 2 things on our shopping list.  The wife wants (the word she used was "needs" actually) a Tempur-Pedic pillow and (since I dropped the 10 year old tea maker this morning and broke it) we need a need iced tea brewer.  I have racked my brain but I do not know of a store that sells both these items so it seems we will be traveling to at least 2 stores today.  Maybe I can grab some interesting low quality pics with the cell phone.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 300

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well the Wednesday doctor visit went almost exactly like the Monday one.  Namely, we had an appointment at 1:15 but did not see the doctor until 5:05.  The good news is that the wife can take off her neck brace and wear it as needed.  She walked out the car triumphantly carrying her neck brace in her hand but still not moving her neck at all.  Once we got in the car she immediately put it back on since there is some bumpy roads around the clinic (truthfully, some are so bad that I wish I had a neck brace too).  On the way out of the clinic we saw a man who we recognized from our 3+ hours in the waiting room.  Evidently he was parked over by the hospital 2 blocks away and had caught a shuttle over to this clinic.  Since we got out so late, the shuttle was no longer running so we gave him a lift back to his vehicle.  Still though, with the shorter cast and no neck brace, the wife is like a new woman (well like a new woman with a stiff neck and small cast on one of her arms).

While waiting, I was able to finish the book "Julie of the Wolves" which I had found on our bookshelf.  Evidently the wife had read it as a child and saw it at the half priced book store and bought it.  It is about a 13 year old Eskimo girl who runs away from her new husband and his family.  She tries to cross the unforgiving arctic and only has the skills her father had taught her (he being a true Eskimo and her mother having died when she was 4).  Anyway, it is a very good (albeit short) book and covers her few months in the cold while backfilling her past and how she arrived at this point in her life.  As we waited for the doctor, we made jokes about our time there being as long as Miyax (Julie in the book) and how we had better hurry up and do things like gather caribou dung for fuel and go hunt for lemming nests for food or follow the wolf pack to the hunting herds.  No one around us got our inside jokes but so be it.  We did spend about 45 minutes in the actual examination room waiting for the doctor.  Time in that room goes real slow as there is little to occupy your time.  I killed time by playing with the blood pressure machine (though the wife constantly told me not to) and by looking in all the cabinets and drawers.  This leads us to...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

This box was on the counter next to the sink.  I was amazed that it had in addition to English, 9 other languages translated.  I am used to many products having both English and Spanish.  Some items even throw in French.  But 10 languages!!!! Come on!!!  I could make out English, Spanish, French and German.  As for the rest I have no idea.  Attempting to pronounce all the various translations helped us kill a few minutes so it served its purpose.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 299

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

How did my day go?  I am glad you asked.

10:50 am - The wife, the daughter and I get in the car to start our trip to the clinic where the wife has an appointment at 1:00 pm.
11:15 am - We arrive at friend's house to drop the daughter off.
11:45 am - We arrive at a hotel that is having an A beka Home School Materials Display on our way
12:05 pm - We are back on our way to the clinic
12:30 pm - We stop at a Taco Bell about 2 miles from the clinic and get some lunch to go
12:45 pm - We finish our lunch in the parking lot of the clinic
12:55 pm - We check in at the clinic
01:05 pm - We are called to booth 2 and sign paperwork and pay for our visit
01:15 pm - We are called back to the secondary waiting room
01:20 pm - The cast is removed from the wife's arm
01:25 pm - We are called into a small room and the wife's blood pressure and temperature are taken and they ask her several questions including (and I don't know how this is relevant) if she finished high school
02:00 pm - We begin to realize that the other folks in this smaller waiting room are a little grouchy but we do not ask any questions
02:30 pm - We start to get a little grouchy as within the last hour no one has been called in to see the doctor
03:00 pm - The wife exchanges stories of "why I need a cast" with our fellow cellmates (I mean patients)
03:30 pm - I run down to the car to grab some change only to realize that once I get to the soft drink machine, every selection is sold out
04:00 pm - A man (who looked like he could pass for a homeless person and who actually brought a small suitcase with him to the clinic) decides he has waited long enough and leaves
04:30 pm - We begin to wonder if we will be late for our WEDNESDAY appointment that is at the same clinic
04:37 pm - Gloriously our name is called and I have a mock heart attach (I'm coming to join you, Elizabeth!)
04:52 pm - We begin to realize that just because we are now in a room, we are not necessarily closer to seeing an actual doctor
05:07 pm - The doctor arrives
05:09 pm - The doctor leaves
05:15 pm - The wife has a new (albeit shorter) cast on and we are on our way home (just in time for the evening traffic)
06:05 pm - We arrive where the daughter is and pick her up
07:15 pm - We arrive where the son is and pick him up
07:45 pm - Only 9 hours later, we arrive home

Since I had a lot of time today, I have concluded the following...

1. They get you into the Pay Here booth awful quick
2. They get your cast off really quick as well so you cannot leave the clinic (or at least we could not since we needed another cast)
3. Being forced to sit in a room full of people who JUST got their casts off is not something I would wish on anyone.  Not only was the smell not great nor the skin that was under the casts pretty to look at but having to watch as people scratch and itch their arms is just gross (especially when they get up from their chairs and there is a pile of dead skin laying there for the next person).
4. I am not looking forward to going back there in 2 days.

But enough about that, it is now time for...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

My wife has commented to me several times that "she is really going to miss having a wife" when she is recovered.  The above was what I made for breakfast this morning for the family.  Nothing too fancy really.  Eggs with shredded sharp cheddar cheese, toast and a sliced strawberry as a garnish.  And yes, those are puzzle pieces in the rest of the picture (don't ask).

As far as I can tell, in every room of the clinic that is one of these printed out calendars.  I have been part of a paperless group where I work for about 7 years so I am very aware when someone wastes paper.  In this case, can you imagine the phenomenal waste of ink or toner?!?  Jeesh, who's bright idea was it to print out 50 or so of these all-black calendars?  Maybe the copier ran out of ink and that is why there was so long of a delay at the clinic today.  I wouldn't doubt it.
Well, it is late and I am tired but...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 298

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I know that I am getting lazy now and not keeping up on my blogging.  I could offer excuses but it comes down to an uncommitment to blogging really.  I still have the mindset when I see something or something happens to me I am rating it as either blogworthy or unblogworthy.  Lately though my standards have been raised and nothing blogworthy happens to me much anymore.

Last Sunday was the Kidz Praise program at our church.  Our kids had faithfully gone to church each Sunday evening at 5 PM since the beginning of the year and this was the big grand result.  We arrived early (as instructed as the drop off time was a few hours before the program) and then hung out in the coffee shop that is located in our church's atrium.  When it came time to go into the gymnasium and find a seat I noticed that many seats were "saved" (and not in a spiritual sense).  When I was little, I would call a seat "saved" so no one else would take it.  Typically you were saving your spot on the couch when you got up to get a drink or go to the bathroom.  I cannot recall a time since I was 12 years old though that I ever saved a seat.  My kids to this all the time but I have kicked the habit now for going on 25 years.  Some adults it would seem still are in the habit of doing this.  As we were looking for a seat and were eyeing one good row of seats (all but one were empty) we were told (by the single occupant of the row) that the first 7 seats were saved (taken was the word she used I think).  I gave her my best "what are you, 12 years old?" look but it did not work.  I then gave her the "hey, my wife is in a cast and neck brace" head nod.  Nothing.  So we moved 7 spots down and then sat down.

This past Friday night was our son's school program.  We had been submitted to listening to the music for this program endlessly for about the last 6 weeks or so.  We knew the songs by heart and most of his movements.  We arrived 45 minutes early (the kids had to be there 30 minutes early).  There was a silent auction and some of the items were rather nice.  We only bid on one thing however and that was the "day at the teacher's house" item.  My son's teacher was to offer the winner and 3 of his/her friends a morning at her house that culminated in a water balloon fight and a cook out.  I out bid the initial bidder and then came back later to out bid another bidder that had gone over us.  Eventually the price got too high (it was $70 about 15 minutes before the auction was to end) so I gave my son the bad news (though he was convinced we could afford to bid higher).  When we were ready to go into the sanctuary to find our seats for the program we were greeted with more seat saving.  This brings us to...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

It is hard to make out the writing on these slips of paper but they had someone's last name written on them.  This is a step up (or maybe down) from the lady sitting in the row and saving 7 seats.  These people had the audacity to think that by simply arriving early and possessing the ability to write that they somehow warranted better seating.  Two rows behind this one was the following scene...

There are the slips of paper again but also staking a claim on these seats was a purse.  I give this person a little more credit in that they risked a personal possession (namely the purse) on these seats.  I had a few thoughts / ideas in my head as I was wandering around the area taking these photos but though better of it (like moving the purse and notes to other rows or maybe marking out their last name and writing my last name on the papers).  It would be par for the course if while these people were NOT in their seats, they were out there out bidding me on my one auction item I was interested in.  I have no way of knowing but my gut tells me that soon this purse will be carried by a lady dropping kids off at my son's teacher house for burgers and a balloon fight.  Sigh.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 297

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

We have dubbed next week as "Liberation Week" in anticipation of the large cast coming off (on Monday) and the neck brace coming off (on Wednesday).  There will be a newer, shorter cast put on and there is no guarantee that the neck brace is coming off but we are hopeful.  Earlier this afternoon, everyone but the wife had a visit with the chiropractor.  I do not usually go but since I spent a month's worth of nights on an inflatable mattress I figured it could not hurt.  Tonight we were treated to a rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and a nice salad from yet another person in our ABF group from church.  Also, we started watching the latest Survivor (Fans vs. Favorites).  For the last few seasons of Survivor we have waited until it was over and then watched all the episodes in a row (usually 1 per night for 2 weeks).  It is much more fun this way and since we do not get CBS on our TV, we are none the wiser each week who is being voted off since we do not see commercials each week for the next week's episode.  Well enough about my day, it is now time for my favorite new hobby...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

We made a trip to Big Lots on Sunday and here are a few photos from that excursion...

This brush was about 6 - 7 inches in diameter and I could not get over how huge it was.  I don't think I could get much used out of it really.  The bristles were very firm and for all I know I think it might have been a steel brush.  That was the most interesting thing we saw until we arrived at the toy section and found this...

The My Scene - My Bling Bling Bikini doll.  This came out in 2006 (according to the Wikipedia article).  I must be way uncool since I had never heard of this line of dolls.  It was only $5 and it was at Big Lots so how popular can it really be?  This afternoon we had some time to kill before the chiropractor.  The son's school let's out at 3 but our appointment was not until 4.  It was only a 15 minute drive between the two places so we killed some time at the Dollar Tree where we found (among other things) this wonderful (and educational) snack..

I don't now if you can make it out from this (low quality) picture but the tagline says, "Watch the Ant-ics, then eat the candy ants!"  Note the exclamation point at the end.  This is exciting stuff!  The net weight was only 2.1 ounces so this would make this candy about $7.50 / pound (and that is taking into account the 10¢ worth of fun you would have playing with them before you ate them).

Well that about wraps it up for the low quality pictures and for this blog.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 296

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Yesterday was the Spring Garage Sale Day in our community / neighborhood.  Normally garage sales are strictly forbidden as noted in the Home Owner's Association guidebook however twice a year you are allowed to register to have a garage sale.  We moved in last August just before the fall garage sale date and picked up our living room chairs.  Lately, any excuse to get out of the house is cause for celebration so we were pumped to get out and look around.  We bought some paperback books at a sale one street over and the son was able to get a really nice telescope for $3.  It was originally priced at $5 but as he sat there and hesitated, they lowered it to $3 and he jumped at it.  The daughter picked up a purse for 50¢ at one sale and a metal basket (who knows why she wanted it) for 50¢ at another sale.  I didn't get anything but I was only searching for CDs and to my surprise not one of the dozen or so garage sales we stopped at had any.

Later in the day we took the kids out for haircuts and headed to the Super Target for some clothes and a few groceries.  This brings us to today's segment of...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

 

We were in the extreme back of the store looking for some orange juice when I noticed 2 signs that displayed extreme amounts of truth and falsehood.  We are all about the organic in our house.  At first it was very difficult to find a good selection of organic produce and product but as stores like Target and Wal-Mart saw there was a profit to be made they started stocking them more and more.  We still buy most of our fruits and vegetables at other stores but it is good to know they are available at more places.  On the other hand there is the myth that soy is healthy.  The wife and I got a good chuckle at these 2 signs that were on adjacent cooler doors.  Joe average consumer (those who trust places like Target for their information about health) are still in big trouble.

Another thing I noticed yesterday while at Target was toes.  Every woman that I saw was wearing some sort of open toed shoe / sandal / flip-flop.  On the one hand, there is comfort.  On the other hand there is, well there is the ugliness of the toe in general to consider.  Ladies, please, if you have bad toes do not wear open toe shoes.  Or at least do something to pretty them up like painting your toenails.  Please be considerate of those of us who have to look at your feet.  Well the kids are begging for some M&M pancakes (ok, they are not but once I tell them that is what I am making, they will be excited).  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 295

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it was a full week.  Since my mother returned home last Friday, it has just been me and the kids to help take care of the wife.  Fortunately our ABF group jumped in and brought us meals on Tuesday and Thursday.  Tuesday was a freakin' huge lasagna (consequently that was Wednesday's dinner and Thursday's lunch).  Thursday evening we were brought massive amounts of chicken enchiladas (consequently that was tonight's dinner and will likely be tomorrow's as well).  They already have meals planned for next Tuesday and Thursday as well.  The wife and I were recalling the last time we were brought meals.  That would have been when the daughter was born (6 1/2 years ago).  It was exciting to be surprised by a different dinner (and dinner prepare-er) each night.  I never ate so good in my life up until then.  I will have to let you know how next week's meals turn out.

With this blog I would like to introduce something called...

Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone

This was just outside all the rooms at the clinic that the wife has to go to.  I thought it was kind of neat in that when you go into the room, the nurse flips the flag of who is supposed to see the patient in that room.  Maybe I was just too bored from spending a lot of time in the waiting room.

This is probably hard to see but there is a hot air balloon going down in a field just behind the houses.  We spotted this while turning into our housing edition but did not get pulled over to a safe spot in time to get a good picture.  Hey, what do you expect from a segment called ,"Random Bad Quality Pictures With My New Cell Phone"???

The kiddies are in bed and the wife and I are going to watch the latest episode of LOST now.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 294

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Life is not fair.  Shocker, huh?  I was told once that it all depends on your definition of fair.  Probably though in no one's definition would my the things my wife had to go through (and is still going through) could her current lot in life qualify as fair.  I try to teach my kids this often.  For instance, look at the way the family eats M&Ms.  "Oh," your probably saying "this is going to be good (or interesting at least)".

Recently we received a package via Fed Ex (or maybe DHL, I forget - this detail is not important to the story really so I don't know why I am even bringing it up).  Inside that box was a 56 oz package of plain M&M's.  The package was meant for the wife however based on my interpretation of the note inside, it was OK that I have some as well (note that I am not including the wife's interpretation of said note - how unfair of me).  At any rate, when the kids saw the package, they assumed (without even reading the note) that it was for the entire family to share.  Tonight we decided to open the bag and eat some.  I counted out roughly 100 of them in a bowl and then explained the rules on how we would pass them out.

1. Each person picks a color of M&M (there are six: green, red, yellow, blue, orange and brown)
2. Each person gets all the M&M's that are the color that they picked.
3. Since there are only 4 of us and 6 colors, the person who has the LEAST amount of M&M's (from the color they selected) gets the REST of the M&M's

Tonight the daughter picked green (19), the son picked blue (25), the wife picked orange (17) and I picked red (15).  This gave me the yellows (12) and the browns (12) as well for a total of 39.  Now, I was nice and gave some of mine to the wife and daughter (just a few) but in the end, I still ate more than anyone else.

I would guesstimate that we have enough candy left to do this for the rest of the month (this is one huge bag).  Well, it is time for the daughter's shower and then bedtime for the kids.  Maybe the wife and I can play the M&M game again after the kids are in bed (I know it's not fair, but what they don't know about they can't complain about so shhhh!).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 293

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well for the 2nd time in 3 days I have had 3 showers.  Let me clarify.  Since the crash, I have had to help my wife in the shower.  Also, since my mother returned to Indiana on Friday morning, I have re-taken over bath / shower duty of the daughter.  Throw in a shower for myself and this is how I got to 3 showers today (and also on Friday).  I spend way too much time in the bathroom (for a guy anyway) but (on the upside)  I am very clean.  I am seriously considering that everyone puts on their bathing suits and we all shower together.  This would be more convenient for me anyway.  I don't like my odds of convincing the wife or the daughter of the idea (sigh).

May is shaping up to be a rough month.  The wife is getting a little better each day but still it is just us four now so we all have to pick up the slack.  The kids are suffering from a disease that I like to call "post grandma visit syndrome."  Symptoms include...

• The sudden realization that I will not get whatever I want
• The sudden realization that I will not get whatever I want, whenever I want it
• The not understanding of the phrase, "No, you may not."
• Withdraw from high fat / high sugar / processed foods
• etc.

There is no known cure (that I have found anyway) but you just have to let this thing run its course.  They catch this disease several times a year and have built up zero immunity thus far.  In fact, if anything it has gotten stronger after we have moved to Texas.  If anyone out there knows a cure (or a prevention) please let me know.

Tomorrow we are returning to Sunday church service for the first time since the accident and we are all looking forward to it.  For now, it is time to watch the conclusion of Blue Hawaii (yes the one with Elvis) since we only got through a little more than half last night.  Until next time...

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon