The Great Pumpkin!

So my pumpkin patch was very fruitful this year. Every pumpkin in this picture was grown by my own two green-hands (you know, instead of green-thumbs…). In addition to these pictures, there were half-a-dozen that were two big for me to move, plus a few given to neighbor kids. I don’t know what I’m going to do with them all, but for now, they are chilling in my yard.

The Red Queen Hypothesis

Lewis Carroll wrote “Through the Looking Glass” in 1872, a sequel to “Alice in Wonderland.” In chapter 2, Alice finds herself walking along with the Red Queen. They move through a valley and then up a hill. At the top of the hill, the Red Queen begins to run, faster and faster. Alice runs after the Red Queen, but is further perplexed to find that neither one seems to be moving. When they stop running, they are in exactly the same place. Alice remarks on this, to which the Red Queen responds: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place".

This led to the development of a scientific principle with regards to co-evolution – evolution between predator and prey. The theory is that each evolves as quickly as possible, only to remain where they are.

Recently, I have taken this hypothesis into my own life. (Not in terms of evolution, that was merely a bit of trivia for you all, so this blog entry doesn’t make you stupider. Which, frankly, is always a risk if you are reading something I have written…) My hypothesis is that it doesn’t matter how much I accomplish in one day, I don’t get anywhere.

I have stacks and piles and lists of projects and things that need my attention. I work on them constantly, but I never feel like I am winning the project war. To paraphrase: I run all that I can to keep in the same place. Am I alone here?

I would take more time to rant, but that isn’t running…

It's ALIIIIVE!!!!

Tuesday morning started like any other day. I got up early, started a family DVD copying on my computer and I went off to do some yard work. When I got back in, I noticed that my computer had frozen. I tried shutting it down properly, but I was severely stuck so I had to hard shut it down. This happens from time, to time, so I wasn’t so worried.

But it wouldn’t start back up again. I pressed the button over and over, and there was no response. Only a small double orange blink. So, I got out the computer manual and looked up the flashing code. Ice froze my stomach as I learned that that flash meant either a bad power supply unit, or a bad motherboard. The first one I could fix, the latter would be utter disaster. Upon further research, I learned that a bad power supply can fry a motherboard before it goes bad, so it could be both.

Fingers crossed, and prayers going out to the computer gods, I ordered a new power supply. I waited anxiously for my new equipment to arrive, and I ran to the door when the UPS man rang the bell. Luckily, after 2 hours – and only half-a-dozen cuts on my hands – my computer, my life and baby, fired up. Oh, the relief I feel now…

I would like to send my thanks out to PC Power and Supply for having in-stock the equipment I needed, and for giving me free shipping. I thank my family, for putting up with my bad mood for the last several days while I fretted about the future of my expensive investment. And finally, I want to thank the computer gods, for seeing fit to grant my computer its resurrection.

Peace, Out!

Dental Hygiene

For a long time now I’ve wondered how much time each day I spend brushing my teeth. This only came up because there are new lines of products for kids to make sure that they spend enough time on this task. I don’t know if you’ve seen them. There are battery operated toothbrushes that vibrate or make music for the 2 minutes that you are supposed to spend. There are also toothpastes that come with flashing lights, and you are supposed to brush as long as the lights flash.

So I wondered, how long do I brush? Well, I couldn’t just set a stop watch and check, because chances are, knowing about the timer would affect the integrity of the experiment. So I waited patiently, until just the right opportunity presented itself. I won’t go into the how’s, just suffice it to say, it was pretty much an accident. However, I learned that I spend 5 minutes brushing my teeth at each setting. This doesn’t include mouthwash or flossing, this is just brushing teeth.

The rest of my family says that I must be OCD about my dental hygiene. My sister tried brushing that long and she had to give up; she said that it hurt her gums. I don’t know about the whole OCD thing, but I have an internal checklist and a process for my proper cleanliness. Maybe I am a freak and I brush way too long, but my teeth are white and silky smooth, so I don’t care what other’s think! Now, I want you all to ask yourselves: How long do you brush?

Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

My niece loves to play with bubbles. Ever since she was six months old she loved to pop them. But when we got new carpet, she was no longer allowed to blow bubbles at Grandma’s house. We really didn’t want the bubble goo all over the new off-white carpet. Primarily because it would attract and hold on to dirt. Go figure, why would soap hold onto the dirt. But then I guess that is its job, it holds on to the dirt and then you wash them off together.

But I digress. We decided to do Ultimate Bubbles outside. I mixed up a little kid’s swimming pool with homemade bubble solution and we had a blast. I put a chair in the swimming pool and my niece would stand on it, then I used a hula-hoop to pull a bubble all around her. She thought that was great. In addition we had tons of bubble wands and blowers. She was a little confused as to why she couldn’t pop the bubbles after she had been dipping her hands in the bubble pool. But, she’s only two years old, the principles of physics and bubble popping would have been a bit too advanced for her, so I didn’t explain.

So if you are ever sitting around with a kiddie pool, a hula hoop and the makings for bubble juice (I know that I’m always in that situation), I highly recommend this activity.