Archive for 2011

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

No Place is Perfect

Aug

17

2011

This conversation took place a while ago as we were driving somewhere.

Alpha: Daddy, can we go somewhere where we don’t need to worry about anything?
Me: Why? What do you have to worry about?
Tornadoes.
I think we’ll be okay. Every place has something like that.
Paris! Maybe the Eiffel Tower will fall over.
Maybe, but probably not.
Beta: What does Florida have?
Alpha: Gators!
Me: And hurricanes. And California has earthquakes.
Alpha: And lots of fires.
Me: Oh, and we have mosquitoes. And we have bees.
Beta: Bees are nice. They help the flowers.
Alpha: Male mosquitos are nice.
Beta: They help the flowers just like bees?
Alpha: But female mosquitoes are not nice. They sting you.

I hope he learns not to worry so much – he’s going to have plenty more worries as he grows up, so it’s best to start with as few as possible.

From the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire

Isaiah 29:6

Posted in Conversations | 1 Comment »

Airplane Mode

Aug

16

2011

I think that someday people will look back to this decade and wonder “What were they thinking?” regarding cell phones and tablets and notebooks and laptops. It’s about the same way that we wonder what people were thinking regarding cigarettes 50 years ago.

There are studies and research and stuff about the negative effects (or lack thereof) of radiation from cell phones. The results are mixed, but studies are always like that. (And by “radiation” I mean electromagnetic radiation, not nuclear radiation. “Radiation” as in something that radiates or travels outward from a point source, in this case the radiation is electromagnetic waves.)

Until the results start converging, I prefer to play it safe.

Every year, there are more and more signals added to the air waves. First it was just radio. Then came TV. Then microwave ovens.
Cordless phones.
Baby monitors.
Video monitors.
Cell phones.
Wi-Fi.
I don’t know what the breaking point is, but I don’t want to find out.

  • I use my cell phone as my alarm clock, so it stays on my nightstand (right near my head) all night.
  • My kids will occasionally play games on my phone. And their bodies and brains are still growing and developing.
  • No one ever calls me, other than my wife. That’s fine – I like to keep the cell phone for urgent matters (They’re out of the sausage links that you put on the grocery list. Do you want something else instead or should I skip that one? Okay. Bye.) and not for chit-chat.

Because of all those reasons, I put my cell phone into airplane mode when I get home from work each day. There are still cell signals flying through the house, but they are reduced. My phone does not generate any cell signals (or wi-fi either).

As an added benefit, I don’t need to worry about my kids inadvertently buying or downloading games or clicking on ads or calling someone while they’re playing a game. And most of the games use a server to generate the ads, so without an internet connection, the ads don’t even appear in the games. And no phone call will interrupt my game.

That’s only at home. At work, I keep my phone in normal mode. But I don’t wear it. I set it on my desk so the radiation-generating point is not so close to my body.

Time may prove that EMR does not effect any health problems. But until then, why not play it safe? It takes me just a couple of taps to put my phone in airplane mode. It’s free and easy.

For the waves of death encompassed me;
The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me;

2 Samuel 22:5

Posted in Ponder | No Comments »

Check Your Prices

Aug

11

2011

Two recent experiences have taught me the lesson that you should always check the per-unit price:

Light Bulbs

I was in the store to buy light bulbs. There was a pack of normal light bulbs, and there was a pack of double-life light bulbs.

The double-life light bulbs are supposed to last twice as long as normal light bulbs. At least that’s what the packaging said.

I was tempted to buy them, because then I would have to change (and therefore buy) light bulbs half as often.

Then I noticed the price – they cost more than double the regular bulbs.

So I could spend $2.48 twice or $5.48 once for the same amount of light-years.
(what? that measurement is already taken? How about light-hours? Okay.)

I went with two packs of the normal bulbs.

“New and improved” might mean a price hike.

“Chocolate” Syrup

Yes, I added those quotes on purpose. The syrup has “real chocolate flavor” not necessarily “real chocolate”, so I feel those quotes are appropriate.

My kids are going through a chocolate syrup phase right now, probably similar to the Nestle Quik phase that my side of the family went through about a dozen years ago.

At the grocery store, I reached for the larger container of Hershey’s syrup. For some reason I felt like looking at the price. And I compared the per-ounce price to the smaller container. The smaller bottle had a better price.

The large one (48 oz.) was $3.79 and the smaller one (24 oz.) was $1.75.

“Buy in bulk and save” might not apply to whatever you’re buying.

All in all, I saved about 81 cents on those two items by buying the smaller or worse item. If I were paid by the hour, that probably would not have been worth my time to stop and do the comparisons.

Every little bit helps, I suppose. But there has to be a point at which it’s not worth it.

What’s a good threshold for saying “ah, skip it” and just buying an item without comparing prices (either within the store or between stores)?

Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense?

Proverbs 17:16

Posted in Finance | 5 Comments »

Warrior Dash 2011, Part II

Aug

9

2011

Welcome back to the Warrior Dash recap. When we last left our hero, he was running the race. Let’s see where he is now…

The Obstacles

I’ll just list each obstacle and what I thought of it. And I have listed some helpful tips and hints for how to handle these Warrior Dash obstacles. After I realized that the obstacles were prime locations for passing people, my goal was to pass people in the obstacles. Note: the term “cargo net” means ropes connected together to make a grid of one-foot square sections.
(more…)

Posted in Sports | 10 Comments »

Warrior Dash 2011, Part I

Aug

8

2011

Since I know most of you weren’t there with me at the Warrior Dash, here is my recap of the day:

Background

Warrior Dash is a 3.1-mile race with about a dozen obstacles, most of which require climbing or crawling plus mud.

In my preparation for the half marathon in September, I wanted to do a 5k in July and a 10k in August. There were some 5k races in July around here, but this was the most appealing. If I want to run 3.1 miles, I can do that just about anywhere. A 5k obstacle course, however, doesn’t come along every day.
(more…)

Posted in Sports | 3 Comments »

S’morfs

Aug

4

2011

I haven’t seen the new Smurfs movie, nor do I intend to see it. Some reviews say it’s okay, some say it’s bad, but I don’t know of anyone who thinks it’s a great movie. Maybe if you have a couple hours to kill and some money to burn… But even then I could think of a lot of other things to do instead.

Regardless of what you think of the movie, you might be interested to know that I was talking with Gargamel and got an old family recipe from him. In the spirit of sharingness, here it is.

Recipe for Smorfs

1 graham cracker
1/2 chocolate bar
1 Smurf

Roast the Smurf lightly over an open flame, being careful not to let him catch on fire. Break the graham cracker in half. Place the chocolate on one piece of the graham cracker. Then place the Smurf on the chocolate. Finally, cover the Smurf with the remaining piece of graham cracker. Enjoy with a glass of milk.

picture of a Smurf in a smore to make a smorf

Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails.

Exodus 12:9

Posted in Humor | 7 Comments »

Flowcharts for Mealtime

Aug

2

2011

Some of you may have ignored this post when you saw that the title contains the word flowchart. But that would mean that you’re not reading this, so why am I bothering to explain that?

Here are two flowcharts that document how we possibly handle things here in our family. “Things” being the two most commonly-asked questions at dinner: May I be excused? and Can I have dessert?
(more…)

Posted in Life | 4 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »