Funny But True

Exercising when you are cold (like slapping on the iPod and dancing yourself crazing, with no coat, in the dark, in the middle of the back yard at 2 a.m.) burns twice as many calories than if you were not cold.


A Puffer Fish can hold more water (in relation to its body mass) in its mouth than any other fish.  (Courtesy of the 11 yr. old marine biologist.)


If you haven't painted in years, and you suddenly go out and buy paints and canvasses, you will stare at them for days before you actually touch them for fear you will find out you don't know how to paint anymore.  I'm getting closer to it.  I'm not sure, but I think I am.


I am staring at them right now .....

It Takes A Country

In the realm of political debate, I hear so many people complain about how big government is and how it should do less for people.  They think all the government is doing is giving money to people who are too lazy to help themselves.  They judge people without knowing a thing about them; what they have been through and fought through.  They are labeled lazy simply because they get assistance of some kind, whether it be food stamps, cash assistance or healthcare.

It has always been the the response of such people that it should be left to churches and the private sector to see to helping these people.  The truth is they don't.  Not in the way they should.  Not in the way they could.  They hand pick those they are willing to help, and some will only help you if you vow to become an active member of their religion, and that means showing up every week for church.  For some that might work just fine, but what if you are a Catholic getting help from the Jehovah's witnesses, or a Buddhist getting help from a Catholic church.  And, if the government didn't help people, there would be millions who fall through the cracks, that don't get the help they need.  Our government can send billions to other countries to help them with poverty, but for some reason it has become despicable to help people in our own country.  I have heard some people say the government needs to help our own people instead of giving so much to immigrants, and yet in the same breath, that people don't have jobs because they are lazy.  Where in the Bible does it say you should only help people who are of your own faith?  Is that what Jesus did?  Yes, I know it says somewhere in the Bible, "God helps those who helps themselves", but it also says, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'  People want God in their government when it suits them, but they went to forget about him when it doesn't.

People in hundreds of different situations need help for hundreds of different reasons.  Unless you are privy to someone's private life, don't judge them for it.  I think there is something about that in the Bible, too.  People need to quit thinking it is beneath them to help someone by way of the government, because they can't pick and choose who they help.  Yes, there will always be people who will take advantage of any system of help, but the majority of people shelve their pride because they have no choice but to ask for help, and they don't do it because they are lazy.  Some would rather die than ask for help.  People lose their jobs and their houses and their families and a lot of times its through no fault of their own.  What is so wrong about collectively helping people who need it?  I wonder sometimes if people were this way during The Great Depression; if it was so easy to look the other way and say, "its not my problem".

I'm not a Socialist.  If you want to call me a 'tree hugger' or a liberal, then I am glad to accept that title.  But really, I'm just a human being.

(If this wanders a little, sorry, I have been awake too many hours)

We Are All At Fault

                                      My nephew, Brian 


There was a time in this country when family was the center of all that was, it was everything.  'Was' being the operative word.  Family knew you better than anyone else.  Making sure you knew your manners was one of your mother's main objectives.  Everyone at the table every night at the same time for dinner was something you didn't stray from unless you were dying.  Having dinner at a friend's house wasn't something you did every day, you did it on rare occasions.  Homework was done without you having to be asked because you knew if you didn't want privileges taken away, you kept your grades up.  People actually hand wrote letters in cursive and sent them through the mail on a regular basis.  Really they did, I'm not lying.  Kids didn't have their own cars when they got their licence, and if they did, it certainly wasn't new.


It seems like what we gained with technology, we lost socially.  First there were computers that were nothing more than glorified typewriters, but damn they were cool.  We thought playing text games were coolest thing ever. No pictures, no sound, just words and commands.  Pagers came along and it was great that people could make contact no matter where you were or what you were doing.  They paged you and you called.  It was a life saver if you had an emergency and needed someone.  It was later when pagers became cell phones and computers opened the world to us, that we began to isolate ourselves from each other.  People now call you anytime they want, and if we have a cell phone we answer it just to be sure we aren't missing anything.  In the old days (damn, I never thought I would use that phrase), we actually had down time.  Now, we constantly have phones in our hands, whether we are talking on them or texting.  Time we used to spend with family, is now spent on the computer in isolation.  Kids don't play outside anymore, they play on computers.They don't climb trees, or build forts just to tear them down and build them again somewhere else.  There are no more conversations over the inner table because everyone has a different schedule.  We wrapped ourselves in technology and lost sight of what was most important.  


When we quit watching, when we quit talking to each other, the world spun out of control without our realizing.  When we quit watching, we forgot about the wars that our people were fighting.  I don't think the people who are fighting in these wars for us were doing it so we could play on computers and ignore the fact that our country was spinning out of control while they were brave enough to do it.  When we quit watching new laws were being made and new bills were getting passed.   We were blissfully ignorant of it all.  Okay, some of us knew, some of us were aware, but were we putting all those pieces together?  Were we so committed to inspecting each piece that we lost sight of the tragic picture they were creating?  


What kind of mess are our the troops coming home to, and didn't we owe it to them to take care of things here while they were over there fighting?  Did you know it takes a year and a half for a soldier to get a medical discharge?  A year and a half of sitting around and waiting for papers to be shuffled around.  This problem has persisted for years. Did you know that while they are waiting for those medical discharges, they can't go to school.  They are losing their homes and becoming homeless.  Many of them need help but are too proud to ask for it.  


So, what are the rest of us going to do about it?  What are we going to do to help them return to some semblance of normalcy so that the families they have dreamed of returning to, don't fall apart?  They deserve to have that picture of what family used to be in order to have a safe place to fall when they come home.

I Think I Might Be an Interior Designer When I Grow Up ... Or Not

When my parents asked me to gather some information for having hardwood floors put in the living room and hall, I didnt' realize how much you actually had to know about hardwood floors to make a good choice.  They don't just want hardwood floors, they want engineered hardwood floors, because engineered floors are more stable.  Engineered floors are made by cross layering wood with a hardwood 'wear' layer on top. They won't buckle and cup and  get gaps between the boards from shrinking and swelling.  You can also install them as a floating floor (doesn't require gluing or nailing) that snaps together. I learned that from the DIY network.  


Two weeks ago, I went online, found some places to get samples, brought them home and a decision was made.  It's not easy to find a color that bridges the gap between what was installed in the bedrooms fifty years ago, and the 50 yr. old paneling my dad refuses to remove from the fireplace wall in the living room. Something kept nagging at me, it was all too easy.  So, silly me, went online and researched the company I had gotten samples from, and when I googled their customer complaints decided that, umm, no, that wasn't the company for us.  


I read and read and read information on engineered floors.  How they are made, what widths they come in, what the thickness of the wear layer should be, etc., etc. and etc.  I talked to a home re-modeler I know in Texas (he installs a lot of floors) who told me which brands to stay away from if I didn't want a box of 'chicklets' (shorter pieces of wood that are good for saving trees, but make for a really inconsistent looking floor.  My brother-in-law was kind enough to send me information from the Consumer Reports website, because even though we have a subscription to their magazine you actually have to pay EXTRA to look the stuff up on the website.  There is something seriously fucking wrong with that, Consumer Reports! 


With my new found knowledge I figured it would be a piece of cake to find the right floor.  WRONG!  If I found the right color, it didn't come in the right width, the wear layer wasn't think enough or it wasn't suitable for a floating floor.  Though my Dad-the-retired-carpenter didn't know what a floating floor was until I explained it, but now he has to have one as it will make replacing any damaged boards easier.  I went to the place that carries the floor I want to show them for a sample, but they were closed.  Evidently, people don't buy floors on Sundays.


Of course, while new floors are going in the walls might as well get painted at the same time.  My mom is stuck at home in a wheelchair for now, so that means bringing home a million (I am not exaggerating) color cards so she can choose colors for the living room and hallway, kitchen and dining room, the main bathroom and my dad's room.  Next in line is finding a replacement for the dishwasher that quit working last week, an electrician to upgrade the wiring, and possibly a gas fireplace to replace the fire burning one and a gas stove to replace the electric.  Since Dad doesn't know about the last two, I might be saved from doing those.


If people actually get paid to do this for a living, I hope they get paid an awful lot of money for it.  If they do, I might be joining them assuming they haven't slipped me in to a crisp white, straight jacket and thrown me in a padded room by the time its all done.

The Art of Silence

A few years ago someone recommended I read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.  I have to admit that reading a book about a nine year old boy who lost his father in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, was not all that appealing to me.  I said I would read it, but it sounded incredibly depressing.  After months of asking me if I had read the book, I finally broke down and did it.  The author, Jonathan Safran Foer, had placed the first chapter online on The Project Museum site. so I started there.  If I was going to want to slit my wrist after chapter one, chapter one was all I was going to read.  I read the first chapter and was hooked, so I got the book.  Its one of the top three, best books I have ever read.  


The main part of the story of this nine year old boy who finds a key hidden in in his father's closet,, and the extremes he will go to in order to find the lock to which it belongs.  You would swear you were actually inside the head of a nine year old boy, and it wasn't nearly as depressing as I thought it would be.  The critics say it is more like a 28 yr old in the mind of a nine year old, but if you have ever known any kids who love to learn, you will know otherwise.


While the story of Oskar is amazing, there is the quietly profound story of Oskar's grandparents.  Two people who survived the Holocaust in different places and ways, and came together afterward.  A wife made hard and stubborn by her own fear of everything, and a man who feels powerless to help her.  A man who slowly loses his ability to speak and finds comfort in that silence, no matter how much he is misunderstood.


Suffice it to say that it is a great book.  The kind that makes you think about your own life, and who you are; who you want to be.  It makes you consider what you are willing to say or not say, and why.  Whether you are willing to say the things you could or should say when needed, or if you are willing to accumulate forty years of notebooks with the things you wish you had said when you should have said them.


Read the book before the movie comes out next year.  The written word is far richer than any good movie.  If you want to check out the first chapter you can catch it here.