Paying debt

I almost forgot. I lost a bet. That is correct, I was wrong. I know, I know, it is so hard to believe, but it happened. Mark your calendars because it doesn't happen much!



At the spring fling on Saturday, Eldest Boy won some cinnamon rolls playing cinnamon roll poker. Sunday morning I had seen a couple of the cinnamon rolls on the kitchen table in their container. On the way home from getting the pump at Lowe's he mentioned being hungry. I told him he still has a couple of cinnamon rolls at home he could eat one when we got home.



He explained to me that the rolls were all gone. I insisted that I had seen a couple on the kitchen table. We made a bet. If I lost, I had to make a post on here that I lost. Well, I lost. I was wrong.



Mark your calendars that on Sunday 6 May, 2007 I was wrong. This doesn't happen very often.



Debt Paid.

We're going to PUMP YOU UP!

I was a beautiful weekend in Topeka this past weekend. Well, at least Saturday was beautiful. Saturday we attended our first Mater Dei Spring Fling. The spring fling is a fancy name for a school carnival. I don't know why they didn't have it in the fall as other schools do (and as Assumption did before the merge), but that is the way they roll at Mater Dei now. It was fun. The kids had a great time. Little Sister ran off with her friends almost as soon as we arrived. She hung with us long enough for us to buy her some tickets, but after that, there was little use for mom and dad. The boys showed up late as they went canoeing out at Lake Shawnee with the Boy Scouts.



The Troop is planning on a three day float trip this summer, probably in June. The usually try to fit one in every summer. Two summers ago they cut it short because the temperatures were well over 100 degrees and there was worry about sunstroke and heatstroke. That year the oldest was with them while I was with the middle boy at the Webelos three day summer camp. That was one hot weekend. I must have gone through seven or eight gallons of water each day. It was so hot that even getting in the lake to swim wasn't much of a relief.



So the boys showed up quite a bit later than the rest of us, but they still had a good time. There were some activities that were geared towards the older kids. There was a bungee run, and an inflatable obstacle course. The parents and some of the kids seemed a bit dissapointed that there was no cake walk or cake shuffle. That had always been a great revenue stream. At Assumption we always had sugar poker, which was another great revenue generator. People would spend $10 in tickets to try and win $2 worth of sugar. The poker at this carnival was for cinnamon rolls. The rolls were good, heck they are delicious, but I simple didn't see people lined up to win rolls, like they were to win the sugar.



In the evening there was a dinner. Ribs ($9) or chicked ($5). We took mom with us as she was alone for the evening since poppy was up at the casino (natch!). The dinner was good, the ribs and chicken were excellent. The sauce could have been a bit hotter, but I suppose they had to cater to the greatest amount of people as far as the heat level of the sauce goes. We didn't win anything in the raffle, but we only put about 15 tickets in so that is not real surprise. All in all, Saturday was good, day. The kids had fun and nobody ticked me off.



Sunday. Sunday was a different story. The 5/8th had gone to bed early on Saturday night as she was simply worn out by the days activities. I stayed up and watched Saw III. It was ok as those types of movies go. I'm not a huge blood and gore fan, but I like to see what contraptions the Jigsaw Killer will come up with for each succeding movie. It always amazes me what people can imagine. I watch things like that and think 'man, someone had to think that up. Thank God he writes movies and doesn't act out these dark thoughts.'



On Sudnay morning I awoke and the rain was pouring down. Coming down in sheets. The light outside was that muted purplish blue of thunderstorms. The lightning and thunder were in full force. 'This is a Monopoly kind of day' I thought. 'After breakfast, I'll have Little Sister break out her Sponge Bob Monopoly game, and we'll just have a great family game day and play Monopoly all day, and crack open some rootbeer and have some rootbeer floats and just have a great day.'



Making my way to the kitchen I pulled open the freezer to find some sausage to go with my eggs, but couldn't locate it. I sent Middle Boy down to the basement to check the big freezer for some. "Oh wow, the basement's full of water." he exclaimed. I replied that the basement gets a bit damp when it rains. It always has. We have a heavy raid, and we get some water on the floor. Nothing much, but the floor gets a bit damp. After a while though, I thought I'd better go and see because he knows the basement gets damp, and yet he thought enough about the wetness to say something. I peeked down the basement steps and sure enough, we had about 1/4 of water covering about 75% of the floor.



Well, CRAP family game dat was just cancelled, and here comes 'family clean the basement day.' After returning from Lowe's where I purchased their last affordable water pump (Home Depot was already sold out of them by the time I got there), we set to work. Really, it could sort of, kind of, in a round about way be seen as a good thing the basement succumbed to the water. Some parts had gotten fairly rank in the junk pile categroy. So this was a time we could get all that junk out. We'd been meaning to for some time now, but just didn't have the motivation. The wet floor gave us the motivation. At least we weren't alone. Driving through the alley one could see most of the houses in the area had garden hoses sticking into the alley with water spewing out of them. Since the alley doesn't usually require watering for the weeds to grow, I am assuming they, too, were draining their basements.



And that was the weekend in Topeka. It was wet and messy, but it wasn't near as bad as those that suffered so tremendously in Greensburg, KS. Man, that place has been almost literally wiped off the map.











Technorati Tags: Storm, Flooding, Rain, Water, Carnival

Memed (again)

Ok, I still don't know what a meme is really, but I'm a good sport. I've been tagged by Christy of Christy's Coffee Break for five reasons why I blog.

One
This ol' boy has things to say, and he wants to say 'em.

Two
Because someone has to chronicle life in the slow lane. Fly-over country is dismissed by too many too often. Things that happen here may not be exciting, but they are real.

Three
It is fun. I enjoy the comments, and seeing people visit my little corner of the world.

Four
Money, yes, I know it is the root (or is that route) of all evil. But everyone I know would not mind having a little more. I don't get much from it, but every little bit helps pay for the fun stuff.

Five
Community. Seriously. Not when I started. I had no idea about what this whole blog thing was. But I have since found people in blogging communities like MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, etc. that are fun to interact with.

So there are my five. Now I tag the following folks:

I'm forty-what??!!
Becoming and Staying Debt Free
Make Money Online The Quick and Easy Way!
Big Poppa G's Fun Stuff And Movie Reviews (man that's a long title)
All Aboard
Rantings, Ramblings, and Other Miscellaneous Stuff

Ok, I was supposed to tag 5 other bloggers, but I tagged six. That's just how I roll. Deal with it baby.

And thanks for visiting!





Technorati Tags: Why I Blog, Meme

a pair o' ducks

I am a freak for time travel shows and movies. I don't know what it is about them, but when time travel is involved, I almost always have to see it. This kind of weakness has forced me to view movies such as "The Butterfly Effect", "The Butterfly Effect II" and "Millennium". So I was really excited about last night's "Heroes." The teasers all week promised a "what if" style of episode, that is, what if the explosion in New York wasn't stopped. What if the bad guy doesn't get caught. In essence, what if Isaac Mendez's visions come true. And it was everything I had hoped it to be.

Basic premise is, Hiro found his sword, grabbed Ando and transported both of them 5 years in the future. New York has been devestated. Nathan Petrelli is the Prez. Hiro heads to Isaac Mendez's studio not knowing that just before he transported, Sylar opened Isaac's head and had a little snack. While in Isaac's studio, Hiro runs into....Hiro.

WARNING: If you TIVOed this, or if you watch it Fridays on SciFi network, don't read any further.

Most time travel stuff deals with people from the future heading into the past. These actions can create a paradox. The problem comes because one never really knows what actions lead to other actions, which lead to other actions which lead...you get the picture. It is called the butterfly effect (not the movie). It is the notion that a butterfly beats it's wings in China, causing air
movement. This air movement causes some other action, which cause something else to occur, and the next thing you know, you have a monsoon in Hawaii.

So here is my paradox for this time travel adventure that I am guessing will never be answered, and that the writers are hoping doesn't get brought up much (yeah, like geeks don't watch this show. puuuuhleeeeeze). Ok, so future Hiro recounts his battle with Sylar, and how Sylar didn't die because he had the cheerleader's regenerative powers. But as we know the Claire was alive and well and working in a diner in future-Hiro's timeline (at least until Sylar - in the guise of President Nathan Petrelli - kills her). That means that Sylar did not kill the cheerleader in the past, and did not have her regenerative powers during his battle with future-Hiro. So in the battle with future-Hiro, Sylar should have died. But he didn't because he had killed the cheerleader and had her powers, but he didn't kill the cheerleader and take her powers because past-Hiro caused Peter to save her, thereby denying Sylar her powers, but he had her powers because future-Hiro could not kill him.

See how that all works into a nastly little loop? That is the paradox created when the cheerleader did not die. So by saving the cheerleader, it should have allowed future-Hiro to kill Sylar. Still would not have saved the world because it was Peter that destroyed New York and not Sylar. But that is something different completely (probably, future-Hiro did not know it was Peter and not Sylar that was the destroyer).



Technorati Tags: Heroes, Time Travel, Paradox, Hiro

I'm a hot toe-picker!

I know it may seem hard to imagine, but growing up and living in Topeka is not the cat's meow it may seem to be on the surface. This is not a destination town for anyone (okay, except maybe state politicians...but they are barely people anyway). Topeka is, for lack of a better word, boring. When you tell someone you are from Topeka, the silence is so loud you can barely hear the crickets chirp.

Television and movies use all kinds of different places in their plots. Almost never do they ever use Topeka. Sometimes they might mention Kansas. I think the problem is that they don't want to have to explain to the folks watching the movie or TV program that Kansas is not the mythical state where Marshal Dillon lived, but instead a real, live state. Heck, most people don't even realize that Topeka is the home base for the notorious Phelps cult of 'god caused 9/11' fame.

So, anyway, when Topeka gets mentioned in a national TV show or movie, it is kind of a big deal for those of us who live here. For instance, some time ago, one of the hotel guests on Las Vegas (one of my fav shows) was from Topeka. Heck, the 5/8th and I were so excited about that we even stopped the recording and backed it up to hear it again, and to get a better look at the character's ID. And sure enough, they even had a semi-valid zip code (our zip code starts with 666 - which may explain that Phelps cult thing after all).

Then for quite some time, my kids have, on and off, run around the house claiming "Its hot in Topeka." I wasn't sure what this was, but I found out today. I had some extra time, so I hit the YouTube and put "Topeka" in the search box. What came back was the following animated segment:

I found this segment fairly hilarious, I don't know why. My kids tell me it is from a cartoon called "Foster Home For Imaginary Creatures" or something like that. At any rate, Topeka was mentioned in a national cartoon, maybe the little blue guy caused some kids to google Topeka so they could learn something about it. Probably not, but a guy can dream can't he?

XXXs and OOOs

Little Sister is not big on displays of affection since about the time she was about two. Between two and maybe three and a half or four, it was like pulling teeth to get a hug from her. Oh, for her mother, the hugs and kisses were a plenty, but for anyone else, not so much. In the past four years or so, she has gotten much more liberal with her hugs. Giving hugs to dad, and the brothers and even her Nana and granddad.

I suppose it could be said she gets this part of her personality from me. Rumor has it when I was just a tyke, the only persons in the world who could pick me up were my mother and my gramma Helen. And the only reason gramma Helen could pick me up is because she didn't take jack from anybody, any time, anywhere. She was the kind of woman who could make an IRS agent call her "Ma'am", and follow orders as if he were some kindergartener lining up in the hallway. No, really - one time she caught some guy trying to break into her car, and she attacked him with her giant old lady purse, and this was when she was in her 70s! I'm not kidding, that was one tough old broad. She worked almost every day until she was finally hospitalized, too weak to do most anything, at the age of 97. But I digress. She, other than dear ole mom, were the only two people who could pick me up when I was a baby. At least, that is the rumors - I don't really remember my baby-hood all that well.

Kisses...kisses are another story. Since she was two, I have received two kisses from her. I don't know if she realizes how that feels to a father, to not get a kiss from his only daughter. It didn't seem to phase her in the least. After about a year in kiss exile, she finally let me kiss her goodnight on the head or cheek. I tricked her into it though. I would give her a kiss on the cheek, and she would wipe it off. I explained to her that she could not wipe off dad kisses, that by rubbing the spot she was only rubbing it in farther and that is what helps her to grow. So she quit trying to rub off my pecks.

Once, after she had fallen asleep on the couch and after I had dutifully carried her up and laid her in her bed and told her good night, she gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I don't know if this really counts an official kiss because she was tired and mostly asleep and I cannot be certain she was aware of her actions. Several other times I caught her slipping up and almost, but not quite, kissing me good night.

Then last night, out of the blue, as she was giving me my customary good night hug, she tilted her head up, hesitated, and gave me a peck on the cheek. She looked me in the eyes as if seeking approval. It seemed as if she wanted to kiss me good night, but wasn't certain that it was an appropriate action. This struck me as somewhat strange. Maybe I read it all wrong, but that is the impression I received.

For the past six years, I had been pining for that stupid little display of affection. I had been lamenting that I did not receive kisses from my little girl. But last night I realized, it ain't all that. The kiss was nice, it made me feel good. But it didn't make me believe that she had any more affection for me than she did yesterday. It wasn't like it sealed any bond between us. It wasn't like, suddenly she liked me more, or cared about me more. It just was.

I realize now that the kiss I had been wanting was not all that important. Like when one wants something they cannot have, only to obtain it and find out it wasn't all that important after all. The kiss did not change any of my feelings for my daughter. It did not make me love her any more. Just as I realize that the kiss was not a result of her loving me any more now than before. I don't know why she gave me the kiss. I will probably never know. She is a very guarded little girl. She keeps things like that to herself. If I were to ask her, she would simply look at me and not say a word.

Gift giving occasions on the horizon

Everyone who is anyone knows that fast coming our way is Mother's Day. Now is about the right time to head online and buy a gift for that special mother in your life. I love shopping online. It is easy, saves on gas, and I don't have to go to the mall where the crowds will just tick me off.



Some sites, like Coupon Chief offer special deals. You hit their site, and they have a list of stores for which they have coupon codes. They have deals at places like Sears, Lane Bryant, HP, Diamonds.com, HP.



Come to think of it, just after Mother's Day is Father's Day, and what better place to shop for dear old dad than the HP Store? Seriously though, moms get the good stuff. Diamonds, vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, food processors. What do dads get? Dads get a tie. Dads get gypped. So, head on over the HP store and get dad something he deserves, like digital cameras, or an HP tx1000z Notebook!



This post sponsored by:

Coupon Chief

74.7!!!

Wow, it is amazing what good tires and fresh oil will do for one's mileage. Yesterday to-and-from work, my little roller skate managed 74.7 miles per gallon. This was one of my best mileage days. There was one day, about three or four years ago, that I got - now, I know this is barely believable, but it is true - 100.2 miles per gallon on the way to work. This was before work moved from I-29 and Armour to Mission Towers. I have never, ever gotten even anywhere close to that again. I suppose it was the correct mix of tail wind and humidity and temperature.

Now THIS is cool

The BBC reports that scientists have discovered a new mineral in a mine in Siberia. A mineral with a unique makeup. The chemical formula of the mineral is "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide."

For those not in the 'know' that is almost exactly, but not quite, the chemical make of...wait for it... KRYPTONITE. That is correct boys and girls, the evil green crystal rock that makes Superman mere putty in the hands of his enemies.

In the movie "Superman Returns" evil doer Lex Luthor steals a box of kryptonite from a museum, the box contains the formula "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with flourine" - an almost exact match to the mineral discovered in Jadar, Siberia. Sadly, they cannot pay homage to the 'inventors' of the chemical formula:

The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas.

Instead, they are going to call it "Jadarite" after the place in which it was discovered. But hey, if only they could merge flourine with this stuff, maybe we'll have a defense when those pesky Kryptonians break out of the Phantom Zone and come looking for trouble!





Technorati Tags: New Mineral, Kryptonite, Jadarite, Siberia, Superman, Lex Luthor