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