Blog Number 384

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

My yard is not cooperating.  Is it too much to ask that it ONLY need mowed on the weekends and that it be READY to be mowed at that time?  By this I mean that it should self regulate its growth to coincide with my life.  I allow it free reign on my property and charge it no rent.  It can suck all the nutrients from my ground at leisure and I do ask nothing of it other than some simple growth management.  Too be honest, the front yard has done just that.  It needs mowed every 14 days give or take.  The backyard, well that is another matter.  I tried to mow it every 7 days but it just can't keep up and I don't like having to determine where I have mowed and where I have not.  However, it definitely needs mowed more often than every 14 days.  It has settled into about an every 8 or 9 day cycle now.  On the one hand this is good as only every 3 or 4 weeks do they sync up and need mowed at the same time.  The son does not like this as I pay him to help  per yard per mowing ($2 for the back yard and $3 for the front).  Below is a pic of the back yard (which we mowed tonight)

Those semi-submerged walking stones are not fun to mow near.  I basically mow the outside perimeter and leave the son a nice large square to complete.  I have tried to encourage him to keep the rows straight but he always ends up with the last 10 feet or so being in some trapezoidal configuration.  One of these days he will get the hang of it (this is only his first year in assisting me with the lawn).  We push mow our entire 1/2 acre for now.  It is good exercise and gets me out of the house (and out of in front of the computer).

The daughter snapped a photo of my the other day and I thought I would post it since is shows me sin anteojos (without glasses).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 383

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

The kids are spending the night with their aunt and grandmother so the wife and I had our monthly Date Night tonight.  Date Night usually occurs during the first week of the month.  I took off work about an hour early (since I worked over the last 2 nights) and we had an early dinner at Applebee's.  I used not to like Applebee's but lately I have grown to like it.  They have a 2 for $20 deal where you get an appetizer and 2 meals for $20.  We brought home enough leftovers for a nice lunch for both of us tomorrow.  Not wanting to head home we ended up at the mall.  Well, let me clarify, I wanted to head home but the wife wanted to go walk around the mall for a while.  I want nothing more at the end of the day to enjoy my house and the wife (after spending most of her day at the house) wants nothing more than to escape it.

We typically start with the bookstore (Books-a-Million) though we have been spoiled by the Half Priced Books store so we seldom buy anything.  Next we headed to Old Navy.  We were in the men's jean section and I asked the wife which jeans looked better on me between Boot Cut, Straight or Loose Fit.  Now I was only looking for a simple answer.  You know like A), B), or C).  However she evidently saw a "And Explain Your Answer" at the end of the question and began to explain WHY certain jeans do NOT look good on me.  She pointed to these parts of my body and with a series of faces and hand motions made it clear exactly why I should stick with the Loose Fit option (I won't forget, trust me).  Then I hit the clearance rack and picked out a few pair of pants to try on.  I have been putting off buying any new pants until I reach my weight goal but these were a pretty good buy.  I am proud to say that the smallest sized jeans that I picked up were the ones that fit me the best.  I got them for only $9 (probably about 70% off list).  Eventually we ended up at Sears and I was able to score some 70% off dress socks.  My ability to walk into a store with little or no indication that I am even shopping and then end up finding a great deal on clothing but also find clothing that is in my size and is nice looking is quite upsetting to the wife.  It does not help that I reinforce this fact I guess (Hey look, this is in my size AND 90% off!).

We made it home a little after 8 and after putting away my new clothes and letting the dogs roam a bit, we trudged through another 40 minutes or so of the 10,000 BC movie that we started last night.  She nodded off quite quickly but I am sticking it out.  I think if I had not just seen Apocalypto a few months ago then this movie would be more interesting.  The storyline seems close but overall it is not quite as intense.  I think I will make it through to the end and will provide you with my expert review soon.  Well it is getting to be bedtime again.
Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 382

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I guess I have just been in a blogging mood lately.  Even with dial up access, I still have the desire to log on and express my (random) thoughts.  I worked an hour late last night and almost 2 hours late tonight hosting more training for people in Mexico.  I did have an interesting meeting with a lady in Romania this morning (another country to add to my list).  I am still continually impressed with people who have learned how to speak English.  It has to be one of the hardest languages to learn I would think.  I was IM'ing with a lady in Pennsylvania today about deciding if I was the important one on the call (when dealing with non-Americans) or if they were.  My (American) ego wants to think that I am important but if I am honest with myself I am still the one with but one language to chose from when communicating.  I suppose it does not matter.  The fact that I deal with so many international people gives me a little more job security and that is enough.  We did polish off a movie this morning (watching it in only 3 sittings).

• Swing Vote: An election year comedy that really delivered.  The wife and I spent a little too much time trying to figure out where we had seen one of the minor characters before (Whose Line Is It Any Way) and the supporting cast were all great (Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, George Lopez).  Kevin Costner was very convincing as well in his role.  Overall a nice, smart comedy.  One thing though is depicted in the below screen captures from the DVD.  During the opening credits the left scene is displayed showing a bowling alley in town that offered 12 lanes.  Now this fictional town only had 400 voters so it is unlikely they had more than one bowling alley so imagine my surprise about 70 minutes in when they are in a bowling alley with only 8 lanes (right screen capture).  I might be the only one to have noticed this and my wife just rolled her eyes this morning when I pointed this out to her (and queued back and forth to show her this glaring error).  So other than this faux pas by the continuity people, this was a great movie.

Tonight I revealed a secret to the son.  We are going to go see his favorite band (Stellar Kart) in concert next month.  They are not going to be in Indiana at all so we are making a 5 hour trek to Illinois and then spend a night in a hotel.  He is way pumped about this (shocked was how he described it as I was putting him to bed).  We will be in South Haven, MI over Labor Day weekend and this concert is on Labor Day so I will be taking the next day (Tuesday) off of work to pull this off.  I have not been to a concert in a while (since Stryper's reunion tour - to which I also drove 5 hours to Detroit and was glad a I went).  I will be sure to fill you in on how it goes (as will the son on his blog).

We started 10,000 BC tonight but it might get abandoned as it seems a little hokey.  Well bedtime approaches.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Tuesday Weigh In

Greetings,

    Not a great week really.  I feel like I am stuck around 186 but comparing today to last Tuesday, I am down 1.67 lbs (about the right pace to make 180 in 20 days).  I know one night I did a no-no and ate some very salty chips right before bedtime (water weight is a killer of momentum).  The Pace column got me a little excited earlier at it stayed in the 170's for 5 straight days (my previous record was only 2 days in a row).  Other than that, maybe I am suffering from "the last 10 lbs are the hardest" syndrome.  Ate any rate, here are the results for the week.

Jon

Date	Weight1	Weight2	Weight3	Average	DaysToGo	Lost	Last7	Pace
07/29/09	186.0	186.0	186.0	186.0	26	26.67	3.00	178.8
07/30/09	185.5	185.5	185.5	185.5	25	27.17	3.50	178.5
07/31/09	186.5	186.0	186.0	186.2	24	26.50	3.00	179.7
08/01/09	185.5	185.5	185.5	185.5	23	27.17	2.67	179.2
08/02/09	186.0	186.5	186.5	185.7	22	27.00	3.17	179.7
08/03/09	187.0	186.5	186.5	186.7	21	26.00	1.33	181.3
08/04/09	186.0	186.5	186.0	185.8	20	26.83	1.67	180.6

Blog Number 380

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it's about 9:30 and the wife is dead to the world.  Once we get the kids to bed it is tough for her to keep her eyelids open.  She is just the kind of person that needs at least 8 hours of sleep to function properly.  Me, well I do OK on 6 with a nap or 2 on the weekend to catch up.  We only got about 20 minutes viewed of Swing Vote tonight so that puts us a little past half way.  So far I like it but I am gearing up for a disappointing ending.  We did finish off one movie recently though.

• 21: A movie about math geniuses who count cards to beat the house at black jack.  What's not to like.  Jim Sturgess (who was in Across the Universe which I have previously reviewed) is back only instead of singing Beatle's tunes with his native accent, in this one he is an MIT student looking to somehow pay for Harvard.  I could have used a little less of the partying in Vegas scenes but this was a really good movie.  It also stars Kevin Spacey who I would have swore was in more movies that I had watched (I could only find Beyond The Sea, K-PAX, and A Bug's Life [the voice of Hopper]).  The movie is based on a fact (there really were 6 MIT students that had a card counting scheme that worked for a while).  Also in this movie was Laurence Fishburne who I have recently scene (as a much different character) in CSI and of course in The Matrix movies and in one of my all time favorite movies, Searching for Bobby Fischer.  Anyway, great movie and a neat twist at the end (which I will admit that I guessed).

I worked an hour later than normal tonight as I had to host a virtual training session with some co-workers that are based in Mexico.  I was blown away at how well they spoke and understood English.  I know many co-workers who speak English as a second language and having any grasp of English is impressive enough for me (since I have tried to learn Spanish) but these folks (or at least the 1/2 dozen or so that interacted with me during the training) were top notch.  One cool thing about my job in the last 2 or 3 years has been interacting with people all over the world.  I can think of people that I know in Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, UK, The Netherlands, Hungary, Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, China...the list goes on.  I am eager to ask them about their countries while trying not to ask the wrong question and be offensive.  If you stick to food and weekend activities you can stay pretty safe.  I did have a lady in Brazil ask me a question that was kind of odd today but I think she thought I was in India (not Indiana) and she quickly caught herself.  You are usually safe asking about musical tastes but I have not found a good way to respond when someone says they like The Backstreet Boys (which has happened more than once).  OK, time for bed as I just looked around and the dogs and the wife have retired to the bedroom.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 379

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.
We attended the annual Indiana Home School Convention this year in April (at least I think it was April, honestly it is not quite the highlight of my calendar year that it is to my wife).  Anyway, one way to kill time (err, one great thing about it) is to wander through the vendor booth section.  To you non-home schoolers out there, you just have no idea the number of choices out there.  I have attended a few of these things and I am still shocked each year.  One thing I remember seeing this year is many little card games.  Some taught history, some math, some grammar or phonics, etc.  Others were just cool little games (Uno had to start small like this I would think).  One game that we saw was called Manners for Mealtimes.  The basic idea (according to the box) was to teach your children (and maybe husbands) some manners (all while having fun presumably).  I treated this game about like I did all the others (as a means of killing a minute or two) but the wife must have also seen this game as it arrived at our house the other day as part of our fall curriculum order.  Upon reading the more detailed rules we discovered that there were 2 levels of the game.  You move on to level 2 after you have mastered level 1.  Everyone brings some of their own money to the table (preferably all the same denomination [we chose dimes]) and each time you are caught breaking one of the manner rules, you put a dime (or quarter if you prefer) in front of your plate.  At the end of the game, whoever has the least amount of money in front of their own plate, gets all the money in front of the other plates.  If there is a tie, you split the winnings up as fair as possible.  Some of the level 1 rules are...

• Place your napkin on your lap
• Use polite conversation
• Use your utensils properly
• Ask for food to be passed rather than reaching

Level 2 uses all the level 1 rules and adds a few...

• Sit properly using good posture
• Ladies are seated first, boys/men should pull out chairs for ladies
• Always compliment or thank your hostess for the meal they prepared for you

Anyway, the kids were excited to play this game and so we each brought 15 dimes to the table and after a few meals realized we were already ready for level 2.  After playing the game on level 2 for a few meals I made the executive decision to stop playing the game.  Here is my reasoning.  The games original intent is to teach you proper mealtime manners and cause you to be mindful of YOUR manners and what YOU need to work on.  This seems like a great thing and would have likely bettered our family had we adopted this view of the game.  Instead, it appeared that we were all greatly interested in pointing out OTHERS mistakes.  We would sit and stare at each other in silence in hopes that someone would mess up.  We did not talk at all (for fear of breaking the Use Polite Conversation rule) and the kids ate much slower (this is not something we needed since they are incredibly slow eaters already).  So if your family is like ours (extremely competitive [with greedy kids] and already pretty good at table manners) then I would recommend you save the $6.95 and not buy this game.  However if mealtimes at your house more closely resemble feeding time at the hog pen than a family eating together and if you are not super competitive then perhaps this is the game for you.  Please contact me if you are interested in buying our copy, just don't pay us in dimes (we all have plenty of those).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 378

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

My day did not start well.  Well I take that back, it is the weekend so the day started well in that it was a Saturday and as such 4:45 came and went on the clock and I was still in bed.  I got up around 6 and let the dogs out (dragging Nina off the bed, she is such a slug).  I did my normal weigh in and duly recorded the results on my super duper "heading towards 40" spreadsheet that I keep on my computer.  I then started to make the coffee.  We only make french press coffee here in the Dieterman household.  Ever since I bought one for the wife for Christmas last year, we put our coffee machine up in the cabinet and off the top of my head I don't even know what cupboard it is in now.  Anyway, french press coffee entails boiling water and then putting some freshly ground coffee into the press to await the hot water.  It was then I discovered that we were out of coffee.  Well, that is not exactly true.  It was then that I discovered that I could not find the coffee.  Historically, me not finding something only results in it not being there about 1/2 the time.  I wandered back into the back of the house (the wife was stirring since the dogs [after returning in from there morning, back yard roaming] had jumped on the bedroom door and somehow opened it).  Anyway, I met her hallway and said that I had a serious question for her.  She then admitted that she forgot to buy coffee while out shopping the day before (2 grocery stores mind you).  I had a few options here (and no, going without morning coffee was not one of them).  I could head to a nearby gas station that has fresh brewed coffee.  I could head to Starbucks (a little further away) for much better coffee.  Or I could head (back) to the grocery store and buy some coffee.  The first 2 options would have been faster but not financially wise so I headed toward Kroger around 6:45.  Not surprisingly the store was pretty empty but indeed surprising was that there were no donuts out in the bakery area (I momentarily toyed with the idea of donuts but the fates helped me stay true to the diet).  I would think 7 in the morning on Saturday would be prime time for donut purchases.  So I left with just the coffee and made the 10 minute trip back.  In the back of my mind I had hoped the wife had the water boiling and ready for its appointment with the coffee I had just fetched but alas when I walked in the front door she was right where I left her (in front of the computer using the dial up internet).  She did claim she thought about getting the water ready but since action speaks louder than words her words did not comfort me (and my symptoms that were starting due to caffeine withdraw).  The kids were up soon and then the breakfast menu quickly became the hot topic.  For weeks now the wife has promised the son that we would make souffles (like they have at our beloved Panera).  Each of the previous weeks she was able to delay for another week but this week the son would not be denied.  The cookbook was referenced and once we confirmed we had all the ingredients (much to the wife's disappointment) she dove in.  The prep work took about 20 minutes or so and only then did we look at the bottom of the recipe (where it states the cooking time).  We were shocked to see that it would be 50 - 60 minutes before they were ready.  I took the time to hit the treadmill which sucked up about 35 minutes or so and eventually we sat down with some impressive looking breakfast.

The son said it best when he stated that had we never had had the Panera souffles, then these would have tasted better.  This was his best attempt at a compliment that the wife was going to get.  These had a little bacon and some spinach in them and my only comment (after eating mine and most of the daughter's) was my typical "I am no longer hungry so this food served its primary purpose" (my best attempt at a compliment).  After some more coffee and some showers, we hit the library (as is our Saturday custom) only this week is the last of the free DVD rentals since our library will start charging 50 cents for the privilege on Monday (8/3).  We did polish of a movie last night however...

• National Treasure Book of Secrets: It is very hard to capture the newness of the first time anytime you do a sequel and I think that my hopes were way too high for this one.  After the reintroducing of the main characters, they quickly got into the looking for clues / solving riddles part of the movie.  Mind you, they had to do this.  I mean that was the coolest part of the first movie but I think they jumped into it a little too quickly.  Having had a day to think about it, I can say the movie was pretty good overall (and maybe even worth a 2nd watch someday [I will admit to watching the first one about a 1/2 dozen times {so far}]).  I am not rooting for a National Treasure 3 though.

Only 23 days til 40-hood.  I suppose I can be happy in the fact that I live in a base-10 world and not a base-8 world since I would be heading toward 50-hood (though would only be 47 today).  OK, perhaps I should have kept the fact that I think about these kinds of things to myself. 
Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon