Proof I Am Alive

After several days of ODing on the football playoffs, I figured I'd better get my rear end in gear and prove I am still alive.

Today it warmed up to a glorious 42 and tomorrow it might even hit 45. That meant that L and I and Molly went walking in the park this afternoon. I wore shorts since it exceeded the 20 degree threshold, but L had on a bit too much with a sweater and a coat and gloves and .... So L was shedding layers all the way along the walk. Molly didn't care about the temperature;  she just walked in the snow rather than on the cleared path. If she thought it got too warm, she just sat down in the slush and grinned at us. Given that she does the same thing when it is -10F and the wind is blowing, that was no surprise.

I read a number of blogs (my Google Reader list has about 230 in it) and suffered unrequited bouts of glee whenever I read that someone felt guilty that their Christmas tree was still up after the New Year. But I couldn't make snide comments on the blogs because our tree was still up. L and I finally took our tree down today. Now I no longer have to restrain my glee to, I can make snide comments the next time I come across a posting saying the tree is still up. (Especially since this year it got put up earlier than last year.)

Finally, I have found the perfect bed. For whom I am not sure, but who could resist trying to get fitted sheets for this bed:

And while we are looking for new and different furniture, how about this "Rocking Hot Dog":

I think a room outfitted with the bed and rocking dog would be sufficient to drive me crazy. How about you?

Reminisces

This afternoon I was watching a football game with Molly asleep at my feet and L napping in another room. As I sat there, the thought struck me that it just doesn't get any better than this. The year passing behind us may have been filled with ups and downs and challenges, but having the people you love safe and sound and being able to relax with your nearest and dearest has to be the best of all possible worlds. Of course, life would have been better if the Broncos would finally act like a real team and win.

L had a number of pictures in her cell phone when she arrived here for Christmas, so I figured I'd share a few.

First up is the lighting of the Breckenridge Christmas Tree from earlier in the month:

It is a tradition in the community to hold a lighting of the tree. Always well attended even when the temperature is well below zero!

And then of course there was the Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge which L just had to trek out and go see in person in the wind and cold.

There were others, but L managed to photograph her thumb in them.

Finally, there was this picture of a life-sized bust that the Son and his friend managed to inherit and which now sits in L and the Sons living space.

Recognize the face? Nothing like having Ronnie's smiling mug to scare you at night as the moonlight gleams from his greenish bronzed face.

Oh, those of you who were curious as to why I got a roll of toilet paper with a note in it all gift-wrapped - well, I made the mistake of mentioning to mom one day that a certain periodical went immediately from the mail box to the bathroom since it was ideal light reading. So the roll of toilet paper with the cryptic "this goes with the real gift" was the clue to let me puzzle out that mom was gifting me with a renewal to the periodical in question. You have to stay on your toes in this family to know what you got from whom.

Sleepy Sunday

It is good that there are only a few more days left in the month of November and thus only a few more days left in the daily postings for NaBloPoMo. My fingers have begun their annual cold weather crack and split along the corners routine. That can make typing excruciating - especially when you beat the keys as hard as I do. I suffer from a certain lack of feeling in my finger tips due to neuropathy and thus appreciate the full scale tactile feedback that banging the old keys supplies just to make sure I have actually struck the key. That is how I explain the blood all over my keyboard while not even writing a novel!

On a different topic, do you ever find yourself trying to remember how to do some simple task that you do once in a blue moon? I do. It usually involves something changing the behavior of my computer desktop or some other task that I typically attempt only once every few years. Instead of having written it down the the last time I did it, I invariably am on my own yet again. You'd think something like "stand on your left foot while rubbing your tummy with your right hand and pressing the 5th mouse button 3 times with the left hand" would be intuitively obvious. After all, the software publisher and their support organization certainly think so. (This rumination was triggered by trying to remember a simple tweak to the server I had apart yesterday and then wasting hours using Google to find the key step I was forgetting.)

Finally, the odd question of the Sunday. You have been digitized like the protagonist in the movie Tron and released on the internet. What is the first site you would visit? Why?

Glossophobia and Beer

In lieu of watching the Broncos lose yet again, I did the crossword puzzle. What to my wondering eyes should appear but the clue "Overcome glossophobia." The appearance of that particular word made my day.

Why? I can't tell you the number of people who have stated to me that they suffer from glossophobia. Usually in a meandering manner because they don't know that what they suffer is called glossophobia. And usually directly after I have evinced an utter lack of the affliction. Have you caught on to what glossophobia means yet? Here's the definition from Wikipedia: glossophobia. Clearer now?

Now that you know what it means, you have probably figured out that the answer to "Overcome glossophobia." is orate. I.e. if you have a fear of public speaking, the cure is to speak in public.

I suffered from glossophobia in my teens and twenties. Speaking in public had some aspects of pulling teeth without anesthetic. Not pleasant at all. But then somewhere along the path of life, I realized that most people dread public speaking and are just so happy it is you standing up there in front that you could recite the alphabet and they would applaud. That recognition coupled with the realization that I have already embarrassed myself in almost every way possible and survived leads to a complete lack of fear of blithering in public.

I'll leave you with a section from this post of long ago.

• You have lost all fear of public speaking, no matter how small, large, friendly, or angry the audience. (You figure that by now you have already embarrassed yourself in every way possible. The challenge now is finding creative new ways of attaining embarrassment. After the time you drunkenly recited the Beer Prayer, nude, from the second story balcony, to an audience of thousands, everything else is simply anti-climatic.)

For those who don't know the Beer Prayer:

The Beer Prayer

Our lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink.
Thy will be drunk,
At home as it is in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head,
And forgive us our spillage,
As we forgive those who spill against us.
And lead us not to incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers.
For thine is the beer, the bitter, and the lager.
Barmen.

(This version from Ted Guhl)

P.S. No, I haven't ever recited the Beer Prayer in the nude from a balcony. Close, but not quite.

Odd Facts of the Day

First, the NWS got it partially right. We had a few inches of really wet flock snow overnight. But, it warmed up to the 40s during the day so about 80% of the stuff melted, leaving wet and mud to run rampant. Now this evening, the temperatures are already in the low 20s, so I expect the morning to be an icy slipping and sliding affair. On to more interesting fodder.

Here are three trivial questions featuring the odd facts of the day. They were brought to my (rather odd) mind by the plethora of factoids presented by the announcers at tonight's New England Patriots versus Indianapolis Colts football game. Do you know the answers?

• NERF (as in Nerf Ball fame) is an acronym for what?
  

• The very first American 911 system call was made on February 16, 1968. Who made the call and who answered the call?
  

• An average person typing an average text corpus in English uses one hand more than other, which hand is used more? For extra credit, what is the percentage of characters typed by each hand? (You can assume a standard typewriter layout - no Dvorák or other special keyboard.)
  

(Answers are in the first comment so you can check yourself. But be honest and no fair Googling!{*grin*})

Sunday Going Down

Tonight it was time to attend the annual 4-H awards banquet. I took my MIL as my guest and we had a good time, especially comparing notes to see it either of us could figure out why we thought we knew this person or that person. It is always interesting to see the kids who are doing the right stuff and working hard at it reaping the recognition and rewards they deserve.

Before the dinner, I spent much of the afternoon with my head in the innards of the partially disassembled clothes dryer isolating which part(s) needed to be replaced. Once the trouble shooting was done, it was time to order the parts so that maybe by next weekend I would have a working dryer.  (You might remember I reported on the issue when it was breaking news last weekend here.)

There is, of course, a corollary to the "fix the dryer" saga, and that is the "dry the clothes" saga. Tonight I washed a load and it was too dark to hang them outdoors, so I used my mad skillz and rigged an indoor clothesline in the family room.  So the view in the family room is a bit different for the nonce, looking like this:

 

Now I ask you, with my stupendous sock removal tool and now this indoor clothesline, is there any problem I can't tackle? The ceiling fans even supply the gentle breezes needed for fine drying! (Both mom and MIL offered the use of their dryers, but for one load late at night, it is easier to emulate Rube Goldberg.)

Time to head for bed; tomorrow is yet another day.

Sunday Going Down

Sunday evenings are an emotionally down time for me. L has ususally headed back to the mountains and I am left with that sad feeling that comes with each new separation after spending time together. It beats the other feeling - you know, the one where you are overjoyed to see your spouse leave. A friend once described his feelings about his soon to be ex-wife in the following way. They had been out and she was driving. They came to the house and he got out to open the garage door and she drove on around the block. He said "I saw the tail lights going away and I just wished with all my heart that they and she would just keep on going and never come back and that I would never have to see her again. I didn't even care if it meant I spent the rest of my life alone." That feeling.

The weather isn't helping that low feeling one bit today. It has been overcast and cool all day. But the weatherpeople got it wrong once more. It was not windy. It just never got warm after the low of Saturday night. Combine the still, gray, overcast day with the chill and you have a great day for curling up and feeling sad. Unfortunately, I didn't do that and instead had some other stuff to work on. It would have been a great day to curl up with some hot tea, a good book, Molly the wonder dog, and some really dreary music in front of the fireplace. Oh well.

You may have noted that I added an avatar picture on the right side of the page. If you are curious, you can build your own "Mangatar" on the Face Your Manga site. It's fun and simple to do. If I can do it with no artistic ability, you certainly can. Make sure you click on the FACCEYOURMANGA tab in the toolbar on the top of the site - the create it now square in the middle of the page has a broken link. Other than the fact that the avatar is a lot more handsome than I am, it is pretty close, including the white hair and wrinkles. Here are the mangatars I made of L and I:

L came out well except for the hair color. L has almost platnum blonde hair as opposed to the flaxen hair on the mangatar. (Makes it so you can't tell that she is graying like me - her gray is almost the same as her natural color. I'm jealous!) Those of you that know L and I in real life can make your own informed judgement on the avatars.

I'm always amazed by the number of bloggers who try to be or believe they are anonymous on their blogs. That will certainly never be the case here. I know that my mom, MIL, L, the Son, some city council members, friends, and others read this blog. How do I know? They comment on what I write face to face or via email or telephone. One recent exception was that L left an anonymous comment on this post. Otherwise, I write and they respond in real life. Does that happen to you via a vis your blog? I assume it must happen for those of you that write family update sites, but what about the rest of you. Is you blog life divorced from your real life or is it an integrated part of your life? Do the two intersect?

Well, time to get back to doing something real - like letting Molly back indoors so she can continue moping over the departure of L.