A few thoughts about Nascar

Nascar is a boring sport. Watching drivers go around the track 500 times, waiting for a crash is not my idea of entertainment. I propose the following to improve its appeal and interest level. 1) Cut the number of laps down. I heard one driver on the local radio station say that it really comes down to the last 30 or so laps. Why bother to have the first 470? Cut the number of laps to 50. Then we'll see who is really skilled. 2) Take all of the ranking numbers. Draw two of them from a bucket. Make them switch places. Let's see how well the third place driver does if he has to start at 47th. 3) Base the starting line-up on the amount of money that sponsers give. After all, more money equals a better car and a better driver, right? 4) Base the starting line-up on a 500 list or one of the other company ranking lists that exists. These are just a few of the changes I would make if I were in charge of Nascar. I'm sure all think of more as I am forced to watch it on Sunday as it dominates all programming on that day.

A.Simple.Blog

A new blog for me to read. I like his turn of phrase. The Brits always have a little different perspective on things.

Book Reviews by Danny Yee

This is man is my new idol. He only works part time and spends the rest of his day reviewing books. I would lean towards fiction, if I could do this. But the variety is amazing. I'm going to have to read some. Maybe I'll even find a few that I would be willing to check out.

Answerbag.com - All the FAQs you can use

Need an answer? Go here. Got an answer? Let the world know it.

WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language /

This site is fun, fully interactive and informative. Words are ranked according to usage. "The" is the most used word in the world. "Stacie" isn't in the archive - by that spelling anyway. "Penney" is; it comes in 42,964th. One hundred is "got," while "milk" is 2,083rd. I would think that the proliferation of the phrase "got milk" would have affected the placement of "milk." Evidently not.

I'm Old

I don't mind getting older; it's inevitable. I don't mind not being "cool" anymore either -- not that I was to start with. I don't mind the gray hair that I find either. What I do mind that that the three gray hairs have decided to sprout along my part line. No matter how I style my hair, there they are, bright and shiny for the whole world to see. I haven't been pulling them, but I gotta figure out a way to get them to hid under the others. A little bit, at least.

John Titor - Time Traveler

The whole concept of time travel fascinates me. I'm linking to this site so I can look into it further. I don't have time to right now, as I am, in theory, working.

BugMeNot.com

You know how some sights require that you register in order to use them? Check at Bugmenot.com and use a fake registration to avoid all of those nasty junk emails.

Boxcar Eddie's Chicago Style Pizza

The worst thing about living in Oshkosh is the sevre lack of fantastic pizza. On Friday I was determined to fix this and order a pizza from Boxcar Eddie's, as I was going to be in Fond du Lac and would be able to pick it up for supper. Their Chicago style is 6.5 lbs of pizza, measuring 14 inches across. With three toppings it was $18.47. It fed my family for three meals -- now that's saying something! I'm going to have to make this a once a month trip, regardless of whether or not I'm in FdL. It's just too good to miss. And nothing in Oshkosh even comes close.

Bourne Supremacy

My husband and I went to a movie together for the first time in I don't know how long. Considering it generally cost us $17.00 just to walk in the door, we rent instead of visiting the local theater. I had to make an exception for Bourne Supremacy. Matt Damon is a wonderful Jason Bourne. The best part of this movie was that I had not read the book first. Amazing, eh? I started in when I was in high school, after finishing the Bourne Identity, but never completed it. Probably needed to return it to the library. Now that I have seen the movie, most likely I will read it. The first book/movie were different without being annoying. I'll probably find the same of the second set.

Jennings still winning on Jeopardy

All I can say is, "About freakin' time." If you are smart enough to be on the show then you should be able to rack up the money like this guy has.

MSNBC - Bigger breasts offered as perk to U.S. soldiers

Yep -- you read that right, folks. The short and sweet of it is “the surgeons have to have someone to practice on.” And this statement coming from an Army spokesWOMAN. What a crock of bs. I'll need to find and read the New Yorker article this is based on. There simply has to be more to it than this is showing.

I love DSL

I knew there was a difference.  Afterall, I have broadband at work...but the network makes it slow...and as I don't do the same stuff here (aka home) that I do there (aka the hell hole) I'm noticing it more tonight with my new connection.

Phone Service is Back!

Now I just need my modem and life will be faster.  If I don't get it by Friday, I'm going to have to call.  Otherwise I'll need to renew my dial-up ISP for another month.

Direct Marketing Association Scam

J-Walk's blog always has interesting things to look at, especially when I should be doing work-related tasks. What really makes the blog, though, is the comments and discussions through them. If read regularly, individuals become as familar as J-Walk. This discussion is quite similar to one recently had at my own home. I love seeing how the views and opinions of those far from me relate to my own.

No Phone Service

As I am tired of everyone in my house complaining about my ISP being incredibly slow, I weighed the options of fast service vs. the cost of service.  While I'm not upgrading to the 3 gig service provided by the location broadband, I did find a nice DSL package that was reasonable for the amount of time we spend on the Internet.

I made all necessary arrangements and submitted the application.  On Friday the technician tests my line and says its fine; expect the modem in a few days.

My line may be fine for DSL, but it sucks for the telephone. Ever since he was there I have had no phone service. It makes everything a bit tricky as this is the time of the month that all the credit cards are due and I depend upon my internet connection to keep my buddies Discover and Mastercard happy.  So, instead, we used cell phones all weekend and will continue to do so until further notice. If you tried to call over the weekend, sorry, we weren't intentionally ignoring you...maybe (tee-hee).

Turning Tables on Scammers

This article made me laugh so hard. I have got to find a job with this company. They answer the email requests from the scammer -- in this case the Nigerian Prince who just needs to borrow your bank account for a few days to get some money out of his country. But the tables are turned when the responder agrees, only if the Nigerian Prince will join his church. You've got to read it!

I Hate Work

I hate it when I am assigned a task that is menial and pointless. It's even worse when I have another task that is meaningful and interesting but not for my boss. My boss must think I have the brain of a betta fish and enjoy looking up archane information manually for thousands of parts.

Birthday Tomorrow

The baby turns 1 tomorrow. I'm not one of those nostalgic moms who can't believe that a whole year has passed. He came out at 6lbs. 9oz. He now weighs 27 or 28 lbs. He eats everything in sight -- even if it isn't food. He sleeps through the night, even if he is an early riser. He walks with few falls and says two or three words -- depending on how you listen. He has a head full of blond curls and loves to play in water -- any water, even the dog's dish. Every day I can see that he is learning something new. I don't need a calendar to tell me that a year has passed. I just need to look at Jonathon.

A Guide to Alternative Handwriting and Shorthand Systems

Does any school system actually offer courses in shorthand? I wonder, if taught early enough in schools, would it be beneficial in high school or college? I know from experience that note taking during lectures requires an expertise that cannot be perfected until one has almost reached the end of the semster. Each lecturer's style and test formats limit the ability to effectively take notes until then. Maybe I'll experiment on my kids and see if it would make a difference. Of course, my kids are under the age of five. It's going to be a while before I get any results.

Why do people have websites?

The above question was recently posed to me by my mother, upon her discovery that I have a website. "Why?" said she. "What's the purpose?" A just question. A fair question. Perplexing to answer in simple terms. True, it takes up time that probably could be better spent. I always have housework to do afterall (two kids, a dog and husband. Need I say more?) True, I'm probably closer to polluting the electronic void than publishing worthwhile endevours, but I know that my posts are more enlightening that some of the other blogs that are out there. At least I post regularly. A quick search quickly reveals how many are started with fair to middlin' intentions that are never followed up on. True, I have some personal writing goals that are being neglected even as we speak, er, type, er, read. But all forms of writing are good, I argue. And a writer should spend a portion of each day writing. In theory, this is a small portion of my writing day. Praytell, how did I answer said question? With a shrug and a smile. Afterall, what truly is the point of doing anything? Love or money. And I haven't received any checks in the mail lately...

Thick Skin Grapes

As I sit at my desk, popping green grapes in my mouth, I notice that the skins don't seem to go down as smoothly as they should. When I start to pay attention to the food I am consuming, realization awakens in my senses -- the skin is too thick. While I'm not going to pull out my millimeter measuring devices and start a comparison study, I am going to go with my gut and say that this batch of grapes has extraordinarily thick skin.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for leaving comments. Getting in touch with some of my oldest -- meaning longest -- friends has been wonderful. It reminds me of nights in the dorms, or at the apartment. Trips to Mankato so we could get high on caffiene at the Klatch and share all of the weird thoughts, gripes and laughter. I miss the people we were and love the ones we've become.

Birthday Parties

Next month I'm having a birthday party for the Baby, who will be one year old. A monumental moment for a child, especially when you factor what they learn in the first year. The Baby has learned to walk. He runs, really, with his arms straight in the air. He can go from person to person and is starting to walk to inanimate objects as well. And he has been doing this for about a month. The problem is, who do you invite to a party for a one year old? I want to invite people he knows, who make a point of knowing him, regardless of distance. Unfortunately, we have some family members who simply assume that we are going to have something and that they will be invited. Any other day they don't make the 60 minute drive to visit. Really, what makes the birthday so special then? It makes my heart tear just a little to be so calluous. But if it isn't worth the time on an ordinary day, why make an annual visit? They've missed watching him take the first tottering steps and subsequent falls. His first word (depending on who you ask) was "Elle," the dog. It continues to be his favorite as well. He can eat as much ice cream as his four year old brother and devours ravoli at the same speed. If someone is upstairs, he can climb them in the time it takes for me to blow my nose and throw the tissue away. He loves lift the flap books and playing with Thomas the Train. These are the things that are important, not watching him eat cake. One day doesn't make a difference. One day thirty times will.

Expiration Date

Last night, after discovering that we were out of the preferred cereal for this morning's breakfast, we headed to the nearest grocery store to get another box of "Shrek." (Marshmallows, kids, it's all good.) On this particular box, on this particular day, I happened to notice the expiration date -- January 2005. After checking the calendar and confirming, yep, it is in fact the middle of summer, a cold fear settled over me. What kind of perservatives are they putting in my cereal box that it can sit on a shelf for half a year and still be good? Some kind of study should be done on this...by the way, Tiffany, how is the twinkie?