Car show and stuff

Every April, the "Majestic's Car Club" in Regina has a car show. I went to it when I was in grade 11 or 12 and ever since then (almost every year) I have said, "I should go to Majestic's this year".... and then I don't! So this year - I did!

Shady Shane (a buddy from town) and I met a couple of other guys (Dennis and Justin) up there and went to the show. It was really fun! In particular, I really enjoyed visiting with the guy who had the late model stock car shown in the picture above. When I walked up and started looking at it he said, "Jump in - see what it feels like" - so I did and then got out and visited with him about the car, the tracks in Regina and S'toon, the tour, the costs of running a car - it was cool.

The show had everything from older cars done up in original condition, to hot rods, to custom bikes and even a Lotus. A Bible camp was selling tickets on a brand new Harley - draw being made on Father's day - so there are going to be 3 999 sad little Daddies when I drive away with that bike! :)

From there we went to Princess Auto, Peavey Mart and a motorcycle shop. When I got home the girls had started a fire in the fire pit so we sat outside and enjoyed the nice night with the first camp fire of the season.

I almost stayed home. I had other things that I could have/should have been doing around the house and what sense does it make to go to Regina just to look at a bunch of cars..... but I am glad I went. It was a good day!

You know you live in a Redneck town when...

Three examples.....

1. Vanity plate on a car that I saw today...... "Sea ya" (Now maybe "See ya" was taken but how about "C ya" or something...... it ain't a boat!)

2. Neighbourhood kid (child of the people that we used to refer to as "The Hillbillies") rides her bike down the block (usually plays in the street but that is another matter).... runs into the side of my motorcycle! There literally is not another vehicle parked on our side of the street for the whole block and this kid still hits my bike.... she falls over.... lays on the ground for a while.... after about 3 minutes - without crying or saying a word - just gets up and rides off like nothing happened. Sari sees this and tells me about - so while I am out checking the bike to make sure nothing is wrecked I overhear this conversation between the kid and her dad - 20 feet from me.....

Kid: I ran into that motorcycle

Dad: Well.... did you scratch it?

And that was it! Didn't ask about the kid. Didn't acknowledge the fact that I was now 10 feet away looking at the bike..... no "Hey I am so sorry man!" Nothing! Just taking the word of a 4 year old kid.... "Did you scratch it? No? Good!"..... and that was it. Then they played in the front yard and on the street as if we did not exist (which is odd b/c we usually can't get them to stop talking).... "If you don't acknowledge it.... it didn't happen!" :)


3. Actual conversation at school recently.

Dad: Here is my kid's band instrument. He forgot it at home.

Sari: Oh - I think they had band already - he missed it

D: Well - that is ok. I don't see why he has to take band anyway - that is stupid. That and french - two stupidest things in the world

S: Well - he does not have to take band next year. He gets a choice I guess, but he may want to keep up with it - and with french - good to have in high school

D: My kid ain't going to high school. He is droppin' out after grade nine. All I got is my grade nine and I am making $1000 a day in the oil field. Kid doesn't need to waste his time in school. He gonna go and get a job and do something with his life. Sit in school - that is just stupid! :)


And there you have it......if you have seen or heard these things - you may live in a redneck town.


PS. Still waiting on someone to give and opinion re. the Tim Horton's winner rule - buyer wins - yes or no (See below)

That is funny!

So I a friend of mine - lets call him "Sally" (why? Because I like the name Sally and no one ever names their kids Sally anymore. Why is that? When is the last time you met a Sally? Does anyone know a Sally? Seriously! Even more rare would be a guy named Sally - so that is the name I am giving him to protect his identity because it is not really Sally) - came and got me for coffee this afternoon. We ended up going to Tim Horton's and - because Sally drove - I paid.

We sit down at the table and I offer Sally the choice of "roll up the rim" cups and he chooses one. I look at mine - nothing (I have not won a thing all year). Sally rolls his up and it says, "Win a netbook!"

Sally says, "What is a netbook?"

I explain that it is a mini-computer.... worth maybe $300 - 400.

Now here is the question: What should Sally have done at that point?

I bought the coffee - but I gave Sally the choice of cups. Sally chose his and I got what was left over (by my choice - I could have gone first but didn't).

Should Sally have said, "You bought coffee - it is your cup and your computer" or did Sally win on the cup that was Sally's and the computer is his?

As it turns out, Sally said, "Lets go claim this thing". He got the form to fill out and that was that. Sally is taking the computer.... and the funny part is that Sally does not like computers - Sally does not even have an internet connection. :)

It may turn out that Sally comes back and offers it to me after all, but even if not - it is worth it just to have this story to tell. :)

PS. Please don't ask the identity of "Sally" - I could tell you but then.... well you know the next part right? :)

Thatsa Nice!

I am not sure why I wrote the subject line with a cheesy Italian accent, but none the less we had a nice weekend. Sari had an unexpected meeting for the magazine that she helps with (ask if you need more details there) so we ended up going to Regina and hanging out with the Mooneys Friday night and Saturday.

- We stayed up way too late Friday night (2 am I think)

- Fed my "I want to go to New York" addiction by looking at their pictures and hearing about their trips out there

- We walked around Wascana - along with everyone else who lives within 30 hours of the place (Don't get me wrong - it was nice - but obviously it was the first nice Saturday of the year b/c everyone was out there)

- We got slurpees and played road hockey in the back yard

- Then today church was good - especially our Bible study tonight (if you have not come you are missing out - it is really interesting to hear what people have to share)

- We worked in the yard for a while this afternoon

- And I went for my first motorcycle ride of the year. I put plates on it on Friday, but I was so busy changing oil in our vehicles and getting ready to go to Regina that I did not have time to ride. (Funny thing: I went to SGI to get the bike registered and there were like 5 people in line.... then more and more came in.... until we had a group of about 10 people. The last guy to come in said, "Huh - I thought I would just run in here - plate my bike and be gone quick". The guy behind me said, "Me too". The guy in front of me said, "I am plating my bike too". I said, "Me too". All 10 of us were there to put plates on bikes. It must be spring)

So - a nice weekend - a good day - hopefully a good week as well.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!!

Wwwwoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! NHL playoffs start tonight!!!

The first round especially = 4 games per night, drama, tension, late nights, double overtime that goes till 1 am, lost sleep..... it is great! :)

The good news: I am in two hockey pools this playoffs (One family pool and one with the guys at the radio station in town)

The bad news: I got beat by two little girls in our regular season family pool!

The good news: They are my kids, so I can claim part of the victory as they have my genetics

The bad news: In both playoff pools I ended up taking a bunch of guys from two teams that I do not like (LA and Philadelphia)

The Good news: My brother in law is a Philly fan - so I will either have someone to celebrate with or someone to cry with

The bad news: San Jose lost in the last minute tonight (I have Nabokov - SJ's goalie in the radio station pool)

The good news: Detroit lost (I have none of them- others have lots)

The bad news: I have not won the family pool in a long time (came in 2nd and 3rd a lot - no wins)

The good news: The guy in the radio pool gave everyone cool nicknames like "Spittin' Matt Litton" and "Rippin' us Tim Pippus" (Not bad - what are you gonna do with Pippus??? I think he did ok)

The bad news: I now have to wait almost 24 hours for the next game to start!

The good news: There are lots more games to come

The bad news: It is going to be really hard to stay awake all day after a few double overtime games b/c my office is so sunny and warm and my chair is so soft and recliney and there is no one else in the building and it is hard to read when you are tired and after a while the words all run together and the traffic noise is sort of lullying and ...... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Why Not Minot????

Ok - so I have not been a good blogger lately - I will try to remedy that this week. Part of the problem is the "No pressure" aspect of not having to blog every day. No commitment = no writing... but I will see what I can do.

The other issue is that we went away for three days and I was completely "computer free" - in fact, I had a total "computer-ectomy" (Something that - having survived the procedure - I would recommend to everyone once in a while). I did not touch a computer... I did not look at a computer... I did not even sit down in front of the free one at the hotel.... nothing! And guess what???? Contrary to popular belief - the world did not stop spinning.... I did not really lose any "quality of life" by not knowing every time one of Sari Facebook friends blew their nose..... NOTHING BAD HAPPENED!!!! (Spread the word!!!!!!)

In fact, some really nice things happened.....

- We went to Minot for a few days (more in a moment) and just relaxed! It was great! I even enjoyed wandering around the mall (which I normally HATE!!!!) I guess that is what happens when you get trapped in town for like 8 straight months - it makes you appreciate freedom!

- On the way down, we took a detour over to Newtown so that the girls could see the big lake/bridge etc. They whined about it a bit.... "Lets just go to Minot" - but in the end they were really impressed and had a lot of fun looking around (Sari even got "Whooped" at by a passing car as we walked a trail by the highway - nice hey?) :)

- In Minot we just hung out, shopped, ate out - I went to motorcycle shops - nothing intense - but really really nice. Good just to hang out together with nothing to do.

- I even brought out "the special wallet" (The is a quote from a Scottish comedian we saw one time who said, "I bought ice cream cones for the kids.... note the plural.... two cones... because when I am on holiday I bring out the 'Special wallet'")...... so we ate ice cream at this 1950's dinner place (some one told us the shakes were good)..... we went to a 3-D movie (the girls really liked that.... and we got some "cool" glasses out of the deal)...... the girls bought enough stuff to load the whole back of the van (When i got home I realized I should have spend more on myself - just in "self-defense")

- I did buy three NASCAR coats though.... regularly $60 - 80 dollars ...... on sale for $5 each (I did not even need the special wallet for those ones). They are not teams that I particularly like so I may just give them away.... but $5!!!!! I could not just leave them there.

But the best was just being there together. We laughed and hung out and stayed up too late and slept in too long and drank too much coke and ate too much chocolate..... and it was great! I am looking forward to summer holidays now..... and to the next weekend getaway. Hopefully it will not be another 8 months away.

Hiking, snakes and water

Sunday afternoon found us out at the dam again - walking along the shore - throwing rocks in the water - trying to determine what kind of skull we found on the beach (after some research tonight I am saying it was a White Tail deer head).

Not only did we find dead things - we also found some living ones..... snakes!!! Sari was walking ahead of me and all heard was this yelping scream - turns out that she almost stepped on a garter snake. There were actually two of them ahead of us - so we watched them for a while (I did not pick this one up this time) - it was neat b/c he was out enjoying the nice sunny day like the rest of us - so we just left him alone.

Shady Shane and his boys met us out there so that was fun too. We don't get to see them that often these days. The we ran into a whole bunch of our Ukrainian friends who were out there having a picnic and playing "football" (soccer) - it was cool to see them all together - speaking their own language and having fun. I am certain too that the laughter after I left had nothing to do with the Ukrainian comment that one of them made while pointing at me..... right????? (Actually - I just made that part up - those guys just would not do that - they are about the nicest and most respectful people around - good guys)

Church this morning was nice too. I often get up and say "Well - lots of people are away today" (usually about 30 on any given Sunday - a different 30 every week but 30 none the less) but today most people were there (a handful still missing) and it was really nice! Nice to see the place full - nice to have to look for a table to sit at during lunch b/c they are all full - nice to hear the singing with that many people - nice to see people smiling b/c it is nice out...... it was just nice.

On a not so nice note: My mom's husband's brother passed away this weekend. He had been battling cancer. The family knew that it was just a matter of time and so it was not a surprise - but not easy either. Mom and Laurie are coming down tomorrow for "prayers" tomorrow night and then the funeral is Tuesday in Lampman. It will be nice to see mom and Laurie - but the circumstances could be nicer.

So - off to another week. Looking forward to our trip to Minot over Easter break. It is not an exotic destination - but I am really looking forward to just getting out of town - seeing something new - eating out - wandering the mall (some) - going to the motorcycle shops - sitting in the hot tub....... it is going to be lovely!!!!

Have a good week!

Tell us where to go (30 of 30)

So Sari and I spent most of the day discussing where we are going on vacation this summer (this discussion usually begins in Feb sometime - when I am getting very stir crazy from being trapped inside and continues until she threatens to kill me - sometime around now usually).

Today we discussed..... two family reunions (one at Kenosee Lake and the other in Bozeman, Montana) - the Oregon coast and the scenic highway that runs the length of it (we almost booked hotel rooms there today) - the Black Hills (looked at lots of campgrounds and attractions) - Clear Lake/Brandon..... we even talked about going to Oungre (For those who don't know - Oungre is a small town about 30 minutes west of here..... population of 13..... seriously! There is a little regional park near the town that has a swimming pool, etc.... we were joking that maybe we should just go out there, set up the trailer and forget the rest of the summer)

So we are a little confused and in need of some help. We are locked into the reunions - but are looking for ideas on how to spend the other two weeks of holidays that we may be able to squeeze into this summer..... we are going to be in Montana for sure.... likely going to Glacier National Park....... give us some options! (Come on people - we obviously can't do this ourselves if we talked about it all day and then only came to the conclusion that we would go to the reunions that we already knew that we were going to)

Fortunately I did find a stock car track nearby and they are racing on the weekend that we will be there. Would it be bad form for me to show up on the Friday - say mid-afternoon - then leave at like 6 pm so that I could make it to the track - watch the races and come back at say 11 pm? (comment below - yes/no and rational behind your answer)

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We did not spend all day in the house talking about this though..... Since it was a relatively nice day we took the dog out to Boundary Dam and took a big walk along the beach. B/c the water is way down at this point (they let some water out to accommodate the Spring run off into the dam) you can walk for a good mile (or more) in either direction from the main beach along the side of the water. It was really nice - sunny - quiet - etc. We explored all kinds of rocks, drift wood, the odd fish or crayfish part that had washed on shore, talked to a fisherman, met his dog, climbed some trees, threw stones in the water, tried to see who could leap the farthest from rock to rock - it was nice!

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You may notice that this is "30 of 30" - actually I think it is almost "60 of 60" (but I think I took a couple of days off in between the two 30 day blogging stretches) - so that means two things.....

1) I have no life outside of this town!!!! I have been home so much that I can blog for 60 nights in a row and not miss one?????? COME ON!!!!! :)

2) I am not committing to blogging every night for the next little while..... I am not quitting (so please keep checking back). I will commit to not letting it go for more than two straight days (unless I miraculously get to leave town for an extended period of time) but I may not blog every day. I do like the pressure of someone expecting something of me (even if that someone is just me) so I will try to do the "at least every other day" thing.

Thanks for reading - thanks for your comments - and thanks for being our buddies (or our relatives who don't really have any choice as to whether they read this or not - it is in their contract). Bye! :)

Well - that was unexpected (29 of 30)

Megan was playing over at a friend's house tonight - so when I went to get her I sent Katie to the door. Soon Katie was back saying, "Debbie (the mom) wants you to come in and meet someone".

So I get out of the truck thinking, "What is this about?" Go inside and she introduces me to two friends of hers from college. I say hi and then the man says, "You have a church of Christ background right?" I said, "yes" - so he says, "Do you know a guy named Ed - he is a truck driver from the Church of Christ in Weyburn?" I think for a moment and say, "Oh - you mean Ed Roelfsema" and he goes "Ya! He and I grew up together and I have not seen him in 30 years. Way back then he changed one day and started going to church - so I went with him some". Then this guy went to university in S'toon where he met our friends that live in town.

So the guy goes on to say, "So - maybe you would know some of the people that we go to church with now..... Clint and Dawn Mitchell.... Mark Elford..... Lonnie Goodwin" - I said, "I have been to all their places and 1/2 my church is related to them!" Turns out that this guy is going on the trail ride that those guys organize... etc, etc. Anyway - it was cool to be able to swap stories with this guy and how knowing the same people makes you instant friends.

So I went shopping with Sari and the girls today - played in the garage a bit - the girls are getting ready for room painting and basement renos (spring must be around the corner). We are hoping for a nice day tomorrow - and the next day and the next and......

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From Just for Laughs tonight......

"My wife does not understand my interest in Sports...... The other day she says to me..... Ok - so you went to the game in person ......then you came home and watched the highlights on Sportscentre....... then you got up the next day and watched the highlights on a different channel and then read about the game in three newspapers.......

WHAT? ARE YOU SLOW?????? AM I MARRIED TO A SIMPLETON???? YOU DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED THE FIRST THREE TIMES????? THEY LOST!!!! THEY AREN'T COMING BACK..... GET OVER IT!!!!!!" :)

Fun (28 of 30)

Those Acadian singers that we saw last week, "Chuck and Albert" (see post below) were talking about how in the maritimes people still do what they call "Kitchen Parties" - you invite a bunch of people over, visit, eat, someone plays a fiddle.... it is just a good time.

Well - we had a version of the "Prairie Kitchen Party" our house tonight. About 25-30 people (counting kids) - food - coffee - stories - a few people even played the piano (but no one did any "Step dancing" like in PEI).

It was nothing special - and yet it was. We didn't do anything - but it was worth doing. It was fun just because we got together.

Hopefully when we decide to do the next one it will be warm enough to be outside with a BBQ and a fire - that would be nice too.

Hmm (27 of 30)

On Wednesday nights, our church runs a program called "FriendSpeak" which is basically a "EAL" class. ("English as an Additional Language" - I am not sure why it is not "EAAAL" - maybe more vowels were too costly.... then too - it is English where "lives" and "Live" can sound completely different).

We teach English by getting our readers to read from the Bible - the book of Luke to be exact. Tonight, my buddy Juyon and I were reading through the section that says, "Do not worry about what you will eat.... what you will drink.... look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or harvest but your father in heaven looks after them..... and he knows what you need".

So after we got a handle on the concept that God looks after us and that worry is not only unproductive but "unfaithful"..... we moved on to the questions. Now the questions are mostly there to make sure the reader comprehended the words and the big idea of the lesson - so they are often just "fill in the blank" things.

However, tonight one of the questions was, "What do you worry about?" Juyon looked at me and asked, "What do I worry about.... now?". I said, "yep". He replied, "Nothing! I do not worry. I have wife.... I have job..... house..... everything is ....... (then he swept his hand in front of him in a way that meant "going smoothly").... I am good!"

Now you have to understand..... Juyon came from Korea..... he is almost 40 and his wife is about that age. They both have work - but they are not high paying or fun jobs (waitressing and pumping gas). They live in an apartment that is costing them - because it is Estevan (where there are literally no apartments to be had) - probably four times more than it should (it takes most of one of their cheques just to pay the rent). They have trouble communicating and therefore, even doing even the simplest tasks can be daunting - and yet he sits there and tells me - "I don't worry. Life is good!"

And you know what? I believe him. Why? Because over the last 8 months or so that I have known him, I have never seen him be anything but happy, nice, kind, grateful and smiley. I am sure that he has his days - but I am also sure that I would have a lot more "days" if I were in his place.

Over the past few months, I have been sort of bothered by people around me who are running after "stuff", buying more and more things, going more and more places and still being unhappy and grouchy.

I have even found myself being jealous of people - only to find out later that it was just a facade. That all the "show" was hiding some really deep problems and unhappiness.

And then there is Juyon.

I have said this before and I will say it again.... I go on Wednesday night to help Juyon with his English, but I often leave wondering who is really the teacher and who is the student because I am learning a lot from him.

A Smart Game and A Smart Crow (26 of 30)

Sari's and my winter long Scrabble tournament continued tonight.... we have not played as much this winter as some others - but has been fun when we have played. I tried playing online a bit with other people and I have to say.... #1) it is not the same as playing against Sari (not hardly as romantic when it is over a computer, over several days and with some dude) and #2) I hate some of the cheesy "Scrabble words" that they allow - like "ef" for "F" and the like.... we don't play those pansy words. If it isn't in the real dictionary - if you can't use it in a sentence - then it can't be played. So there!
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Someone sent me this video today.... I used to hate crows (especially when they would wake me up at 4 am when I was camping) but this changed my mind about "stupid crows" (PS. Youtube has a bunch of similar videos - just so you don't think that this was a fluke)


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Just for laughs joke of the day..... this guy says, "I am pretty sure that my ex-wife is doing weekly lessons with the Devil on how to be more evil...... I am just not sure how much she is charging him!" :)

Hockey Knowledge (25 of 30)

I am losing my family hockey pool..... to two girls under the age of 15!!!!! What is up with that????? My girls really have no clue at all about the NHL - but with 10 games left in the season - they are currently beating me, my brother, my sister and brother in law (who dedicated entire weeks to figuring out who they were going to pick), Sari, my sister in law Tracy and my two nephews.... all losing to two little girls.

I agree with Don Cherry.... Something is wrong with hockey in Canada!!!

But it is not the first time.... one year Sari did really well in the pool because she picked all the guys with names like Sergei (That was actually a good strategy - if they made it over here from Russia they are likely pretty good). Another year she had a good team by picking all the cute players (I tried this once too - apparently I have bad taste in men!)

So I don't know what to do - my ego is taking a beating here! The only good news - we aren't playing for money!

Sunday night (24 of 30)

This was a good weekend... Friday night hanging with friends and going to the concert (see below)... Saturday we worked a bit at the church building and then mostly just hung out.... today we went for a big drive out around the dam - visited some friends who are building a house - went and checked out the guts of a VW Jetta..... all very interesting stuff - but not worth blogging about - so a couple of things from "Just for laughs" and off to bed......

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Why did the chicken cross the road?

BECAUSE HIS HOUSE WAS BOMBED BY THE RUSSIANS!!!! STOP YELLING AT HIM.... DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO HAVE YOUR HOUSE BOMBED AND THEN END UP WALKING DOWN THE STREET CARRYING EVERYTHING YOU OWN????? OH - YOU DON'T LIKE THE POLITICAL STUFF HEY???? WELL - LEAVE HIM ALONE - HE IS JUST A CHICKEN!!!!

What???? What is that????? Ohhhh - sorry.... "Chechen!"

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It is a hard time to be an American. My boy was sitting next to me on the couch the other day and he said, "Daddy, why do all the bad people hate us???? Why do they hate us???"

Brought a tear to my eye...... BECAUSE HE IS 18 YEARS OLD!!!! I'm like - read a paper and form your own opinion ya idiot!!

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Well - I am on my second marriage... and if there is one thing that I have learned its that my first wife was right...... I am definitely the problem!

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That is it - have a good week! :)

You know you live in an affluent society when... (23 of 30)

About 25 of us (including Sari and the kids) met at the church building today to do some sorting in our free clothing outlet. Bags and bags of donated stuff had been piling up and with Spring cleaning coming (and likely more donations) we thought we better move some stuff along down there.

Granted, some of the stuff that people donate is terrible - old, ugly, has holes in it, dirty or bad in some other way..... but I was shocked at the huge amount of really nice stuff that goes through that place. One bag we opened had about 20-30 pair of designer jeans in it..... easily a couple of thousand dollars worth of jeans that looked like they had never been worn. In some ways, it was just baffling.

A quick look at "Stats Canada" states that... "In 2002, consumers spent $11.5 billion on women’s clothing and accessories and $6.1 billion on men’s clothing and accessories" (that was the most recent year that I could quickly find info for - I am sure it is higher now).

So a little math..... $17.6 Billion total on clothes and accessories.... divided by roughly 30 million people and you get..... $586.66 cents per person per year. Now, take out children, seniors and prisoners (all separate categories) - take out all clothing purchased in the States (out of country) - anything purchased online or second hand (these were just "retail sales" numbers) ... and that number is (in reality) probably 3 times as high or more.

Someone is spending a lot on clothes every year - especially when you consider how poorly I am doing at pulling my weight in this category - someone has to make up for my lack of spending.

But you don't need a bunch of Stats to prove that we buy more than we really need or use.... just come to the Clothing Exchange sometime.

Chuck and Albert (22 of 30)

Tonight, we went to a Stars for Sask concert in town - two Acadian dudes from PEI who call themselves "Chuck and Albert". They are buddies who were in a group called "Barachois" that we saw here about 7 years ago. Since then, Chuck and Albert have gone out on their own - they each play several instruments, they do a little comedy, teach a bit about the Acadian traditions and (of course) play the Acadian music.

It was a great night out! We laughed - we clapped (who can sit through this music and not clap) - it was fun.

Below is a little sample of the night - not my recording (I found this on Youtube) but it is the part of the same routine we saw. Enjoy!

PS. We also had supper with the Hills and the Bouchards and then they went to the concert too - then back to Hills to play games and hang out. It is nice to have good - long time - friends. Brought back good memories of hanging out over there - and added to them as well.

Very Odd (21 of 30)

Worth Bookmarking (20 of 30)

I like knowing things whether I will ever use the info or not.... if you are like me then bookmark this site......

http://www.thenightskyguy.com/

It is one of the best sites that I have found if you are interested in stars, planets and whatever else is up there. It has articles, things to watch for, videos, warnings about upcoming events (like meteor showers, etc) - it is really interesting.

The guy who hosts it is the same guy that you see on the Weather Network from time to time. He is very non-technical and makes things easy to understand.

I have always wanted to get into astronomy (mostly because it would give me an excuse to creep around in the dark) - but in spite of the fact that I have several books on the subject - it was just too confusing. This makes it easy.

So the next time someone asks - "What is that bright star up there?" - you can tell them "It is not a star - it is Venus, you dope!!"

Your friends will be impressed! :)

Just so we learn something today (19 of 30)

I have spent most of the evening reading a book called "Exploring New York" (Sari got several NY city books from the library) and I am ready to go.... I could take a test right now.... drop me in there and I could find my way around and tell you a few things about the place (Ok - so maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but I did spend a lot of time reading about and locating things on the map - seeing where they were relative to one another - trying to spot landmarks on photos, etc). Let's go! The only thing stopping us now is like ..... several thousand dollars!

Anyway - your fact for the day.... anyone who has been there likely knows this but......

All my life I have heard people say (when things are busy), "It is like Grand Central Station in here" - but that is wrong! Grand Central Station does not exist.

As the book says, "Many people, including lifelong New Yorkers, often erroneously refer to 'Grand Central Terminal' as 'Grand Central Station'. In fact, as trains can only begin or end their journeys there, 'terminal' is the correct word to use" (And its proper name).

The article goes on to point out that the only proper use of the term would be if you were referring to the post office that is located near-by.... it is actually called "Grand Central Station" - but is is no where near as busy as Grand Central Terminal - and you would have a hard time catching a ride home from there (Unless you stuffed yourself in a box and mailed yourself home - which would be a whole different topic and discussion)

So there!

Seriously: The TV Edition (18 of 30)

Have you seen the new Boston Pizza commercial? The one where a lady is sitting at a table like a cop in an interrogation room and a man comes in and says, "How long you been here?"

"A couple of hours" she responds.

"Why don't you go get a coffee" he says. "I will take over". Then he says, "So you are a tough guy hey? Look Ricky - just eat your dinner and you are free man".

The camera pans to his approximately 5 year old kid who is sitting at the end of the table who then reaches up for the plate... and dramatically pushed it away.

Next shot - they are sitting in Boston Pizza laughing, eating and having a great time and the voice over dude come says, "When they won't eat at your table - bring them to ours"

ARE ---- YOU----- KIDDING ----- ME????????

This is the stupidest commercial in the history of television!!!! What on earth sort of logic is that???? Your kid is a total brat that has just DEFIED his mom for a "couple of hours" and you are such and incapable boob that you can't get him to eat....... so you reward him by taking him out for pizza??????

I think the voice over guy should have said, "When they won't eat at your table....... kick their snotty little behinds (I know that is a mixed metaphor there - but I am ranting so it is ok) up the stairs to their rooms and do not let them come down until they are BEGGING to eat those green beans (or whatever it was on his plate)!!!!!"

Or maybe he should have said, "If he won't eat at your table...... take him to the window and show him the Boston Pizza and the playground and the bike that he will not see until he is 36 years old because there is no way that pulling a stunt like that is a going to get him anywhere near what he wants for a long long time!!!!!!!"

I thought people were stupid - but not that stupid!!!!! Maybe I was giving them too much credit!

I may have to boycott Boston Pizza now.

(Please note: No real children were harmed in the making of this rant...... and since I live in a small town where there are not that many restaurants - and because my life is not ruled by TV commercials - I will not likely actually boycott Boston Pizza - though I may give the place a snooty look as I drive by next time.)

(Please note - part 2: The above is the content of my "Father of the year" speech. That is not to say that I have won "Father of the year" - but I think this little rant just may push me over the top. Vote for Pedro! I mean - Tim......... that was a little "Napoleon Dynamite" reference for y'all........ it is post Oscar week after all right?)