annearchy, posts by tag: miscellaney - LiveJournal

(I didn't write this...just passing it along...)

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee... You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil.. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied. ( Collapse )

1. The New Yorker has an interesting article, The Child Trap: The rise of overparenting, that talks about "hothouse parents". While DD has her issues, I don't think we can be accused of the sort of 'overparenting' detailed in this article. I'm talking "going off the deep end" enmeshment in the kid's life. Oy.

2. I see some irony here: A warning to all: Driving and text-messaging don't mix. On the same web page, near the bottom: A place to sign up to have breaking news texted to your cell phone.

3. A scientist at the University of Maine has discovered a sea slug that is apparently the first plant-animal hybrid found in nature. o___O

4. My 6 sisters and I were thinking of buying a smaller HDTV for our dad for Christmas this year. But he knew about our plans, and yesterday one of my sisters emailed all of us to say that Dad doesn't want us to spend a lot of money on him this year due to the recession. Instead he wants gift cards, either to Dillard's or to restaurants. Does anyone know if I can buy a Dillard's gift card on line? Otherwise I'll send him a gift card for Applebee's or some other national restaurant chain.

5. Stolen from rosina_alcona:

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

Mmmm, Gingerbread. Nom nom nom.

6. Upskirting? Downblousing? I am waaay behind the times.

1. Public service announcement:
Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes a couple seconds to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising. It takes 45,000 "clicks" for one woman to get a free mammogram -- and you are allowed to "click" more than once a day!

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/


2. My half-sandwich of meatloaf (left over from last night) and red leaf lettuce on multi-grain bread fell apart in my hands as I ate it today. Bah humbug.

3. Mr. Annearchy called me after lunch to say that our 18-year-old (though purchased only a few months ago) Ford F150 pickup truck was in the shop again. A belt snapped and there might be trouble with the water pump. I hope #2 and #3 are not the start of a trend.

4. IT WAS COOOOOOLD here this morning. Like 22F. Remind me not to wear low-cut tennis socks again on a cold day like this. My ankles were freezing at the bus stop.

5. Like the Dwights and Lyndons of Old, Baby Baracks All Over. The article notes that "Barack" has a similar etymology to the Hebrew name Baruch - "one who is blessed".

1. Less than 24 hours until the polls open. I've already voted but dayum, I'm trying not to sweat bullets. I must adopt the Zen attitude of the guy I voted for last week: "We've done all we can do." Well, I know I could have done more, besides voting for him and giving a total of maybe $100 spread out in $20-$25 chunks over several months, but honestly, due to various circumstances not totally in my control, that's all I felt I could do and retain my sanity. I felt bad when someone called and asked me to canvas and do phone calls a few weeks ago, but honestly? I did what I could. So anyway, I hope everyone who hasn't voted yet will do so on Tuesday. Regardless of whom you support, please use your voting franchise. It's a civic duty. I wish Election Day was a national holiday; then we wouldn't have to worry (so much) about people being annoyed by waiting in long lines.

2. Monday miscellany:

A. Man bowls 300 and then dies of heart attack: "It was like a book, a final chapter," says Place. "He threw his 300 game with all of his friends, gave each other high-fives and it's like the story ended. He died with a smile on his face."

Well if you've gotta go, you should at least go while you're doing something you love. My former boss, for example, died in 1999 while clearing brush on his place Up North.

B. Military men are crashing on sport bikes: "Twenty-five Marines have died in motorcycle crashes since last November -- all but one of them involving sport bikes that can reach speeds of well over 100 mph. The Navy says it's had 33 deaths on motorcycles over the past 12 months -- a 65 percent jump from the previous time period."

C. Boy gets shocked stealing political sign: "Turschak, with a degree in electrical engineering, hooked up a sign to a power source for an electric pet fence Monday and also put up a surveillance camera." Couldn't he have just Tased the kids? Or he could have done like the woman in Texas whose Obama signs got stolen repeatedly - he could have spray-pained a McCain sign on his lawn!

D. Earthquake rocks Dallas area: "The U.S. Geological Survey says a 2.5-magnitude earthquake centered in the Grand Prairie area was reported at 11:25 p.m. Thursday. A slightly stronger 3.0-magnitude quake centered in the Irving area occurred 36 minutes later."

E. 'WATER MONSTER' NEARS EXTINCTION. Mexican cultural legend beset by pollution. - I wonder if it's any relation to the northern snakehead (aka "frankenfish") that caused some consternation a few years ago.

1. It's finally starting to feel like autumn here. We had our first killing frost 2 nights ago. I think that's about 2 weeks later than usual. /random weather observation

2. Word Nerds, we've got a "Partners in Giving" charity program at work, where you can donate money to a gazillion charities (or just a few) via payroll deduction. I signed up for next year and included the Brain Cancer Foundation of America as one of my 7 designated charities. GO, ADAM :)

3. Stolen from minerva_fan

Your result for What's your key signature?...

C# Minor

C Sharp. C sharp run. You'd only know I was reusing this joke from C# Major's headline if you cheated.

Take What's your key signature? at HelloQuizzy

4. Political stuff: My Sarah Palin baby name and that idiot in South Carolina. ( Collapse )

1. I wonder if Viktor Krum wrote this? Never let it be said that I get only hypes for the lottery, Nigerian scams and Viagra in my email. Today I received this: An Eastern European history of the cheap shoe, in English.

2. Quote of the Day
“The mayor sucks. The governor sucks. The legislature sucks. The president sucks. The only thing that doesn’t suck is that team. They brought hope to this city, and I’m going to the airport.”

- Stan Gelpi, a New Orleans resident and lifelong Saints fan, expressing the lingering frustrations of many in his hurricane-ravaged city after the Saints were defeated by the Chicago Bears in their bid to face the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl (Source: ESPN.com)

3. Too much change happening at work. We're moving in less than 4 weeks. We're switching over to a new way of posting web pages around February 8th, which I'm not yet trained on. And my supervisor announced yesterday that he's retiring March 31st. Oy. My head hurts.

4. Did I mention how incredibly glad I am that it's Friday? :D