OOPS! I dropped the ball - AGAIN

Tonight was the Lumberjacks homecoming game and things started off poorly, then got worse quickly. Then got worserer quicklier. I was left wondering if some of our fine players didn't sneak off to tequila sunrise with the rest of the student body. Either that or dem Mormon boys from Weber State had the spirits on their side. Fourty-something to something-teen.

Fall is Falling?

Did I say 20's? I mean early morning temps in the teens; high teens, but teens. The flip side is that town hit 69 today. Gotta love that dry climate that gives high daily temp swings. I also love the PHX weather personalities who tell people to wear a jacket when it is 60 degrees, because 60 degrees is chilly. Up here on the mountain, 60 is nearly run nekkid weather.

Can't think of a title.

Happy Thursday. Mornings keep getting chilly, in the 20's anyway. At least there was no wind today. Now if we would get some moisture, we could have some snow. This morning as I was riding to work, I saw a street cleaner on campus leaving a nice trail of a thin layer of ice behind it. How cool is that?

That Sinking Feeling

So my daughter was relaxing after homework and was watching some insipid program on the Disney Channel when I said something that made her immediately switch to the Weather Channel for an hour. Yes, she watched the weather channel for an hour. What, you may ask, would make a nine year old abandon the Disney Channel for MTV for geezers? Why When Weather Changed History, of course. Tonight's program was on the Titanic. To say that my daughter is into the history of the Titanic, is an understatement. Robert Ballard's interest in the ship pales in comparison to that of Kim's. When she grows up and has children she will probably give them names like Harland and Wolff, Southampton, Titanic, White Star, or Iceberg. She even drew a picture of the Titanic during the program, and exclaimed "Darn it!" when it was over.

A Non Repentent Apology

A few days ago a friend posted a blog with a music video embedded in it. The song enumerated the stereotypical advantages of being male. Although I do not agree with all of the listings, I have examined some of my traits and behaviors and I wonder if I am self centered because I am male, or if it is because I am the center of the universe. I have had friends be apprehensive about medical procedures, and not relate to their apprehension. Is it because the science behind the procedure is just another application of that found in some chemistry labs, or some innate "it's just a MRI" maleness, or because I have had a smaller MRI myself (and an angiogram, and a nuclear bone scan.)? I feel like a jerk about it, but these things happen when one is the center of the known and unknown universe. It is also true that despite some of the drawbacks to being male, I have NEVER felt like singing "If I were a girl." So I apologize for my self centeredness, but doubt I will do anything about it.

Twist and Shout

If you have been so bored that you have been following my blog, you may remember a post during the summer where my daughter finally went down the simple slide at the athletic club. I remembered the problems we had trying to get her to go down that slide when we checked out the new city aquatic center with the much bigger dual slides. Dreading a repeat of the drama, we asked if she wanted to go down the slide. We were greeted with a "I'm thinking about it." I tried the old "If daddy goes down, will you?" Without any hesitation, the answer was "Yes!" So up the steps we went to sit at the tops of the slides and down we went. During the trip down my tube, (twist twist turn turn in semi-dark) I figured my daughter would hate me forever. Nope! Again and again and again. No tantrums, no hesitations, no bribes. Anyway this is a pic of the outside portion of the slides.

Wow Lao Ben Baw?

Last night after getting flu shots, we went out for Chinese food. As it turned out our waitress was from Thailand so I thought I'd ask (in Thai) where she was from. It has been over 20 years since I lived there and my tones are usually a little off, but I was surprised by what came out of my mouth. All I wanted to say was "mah jahk nai?" but out came "mah deh sai?" The waitress looked confused for a second, then laughed-smiled and said "That's not even Thai!" My response was "Well, yes, but it's the northeastern dialect." (In dialect) She agreed. The problem was that I couldn't for the life of me speak Thai, and was left "wowing lao." Fortunately the waitress was from Issan. For a few moments, English was also a problem. Is this a reaction to the vaccine?
On the other hand, our daughter is quite ill today with an "overactive gut" which means she had something before the shot. Massive purging. No fever, no aches, no headache. Just purging.

Daughter and Daddy do Shots

Tonight is the night of the Hunter's Moon, the full moon in October. The air is crisp and the needle cast has been noteworthy this year. The high winds last Friday and Saturday accelerated the annual shedding of the pine nedles. The gutters were overflowing with them, and there was a good layer in the "valleys" of our roof. Today was also the day that they were offering free flu shots for employees of NAU and their families. The cut off age for children is 9 years old, which happens to be the age of our daughter. We held of on telling her where we were going until we got to the room where the shots were being given. Then we bribed her with going out to one of her two favorite restaurants. There was some quiet protesting, but no screams of terror. A few words of comfort from the nurse, and a moment later it was done. No tears. But, of course, I'm 46 so that would have been poor form.

And They Shall Be Termed Equini - even if it is wrong.

It seems that the cable company is blaming solar radiation interference for the reduced reception on some of the channels we subscribe to. The nerve! Did they suddenly become astrophysicists or something? They also say this occurs around the equini - what is the plural of equinox? This drop in service was most annoying last evening when I was watching the Coyotes/Anaslime game. Tracing the puck on our small T.V. set is hard enough without a 2 second outage every 5 minutes, so I propose drastic action. I suggest we either ban the sun, or simply skip over the equini. Or better yet, we should get McCain-Palin to blame the Democrats. This is exactly what they will do unless the Obama folks defuse the Ayers/Wright/Rebel of the day pseudo connections. (I promised some type of jab against the Dems.) As more of these pseudo connections are brought to life, Senator Obama will need to be more detailed in the relationships. I think the Republicans are grab-bagging, but it seems to be working for them. The republicans are also milking the MYTH of the evil liberal media to their full benefit. The Democrats are caving, and the media is adjusting their coverage in a way that only Rupert Murdoch would be proud of. Just in case you are wondering: I find both the McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden camps to have strong points and weak points. I am a registered Independant and politically am between the two camps, but am weary of the influence of the FAR FAR right "Do as we say, think what we tell you, pray ONLY what we pray" philosophy. I am also tired of the Democrats "give us your money and we will redistribute it for you." mentality.

Oh, according to the Astronomical Dictionary it is equinoxes. I can't believe I was wrong.

What I Didn't Know and How I Learned It.

Yesterday, one of the folks who works for the NAU Office of Regulatory Compliance came by my office to get a key to the old stockroom that is being used as storage by the Laboratory Manager. His mission was simple: to estimate the cost of cleaning it out for the room's next life as classrooms and offices. This was one of those things that make me go "Hmmmmmmm." You see, the lab manager intends to use this area as storage forever. It became obvious to me that the administration is not communicating with Chemistry. The Administration even has plans and drawings and people slated to move into these areas, including the offices that are OCCUPIED by personnel in Chemistry and Physics. The funny thing is that the administration has one room labeled as inaccessible - special key needed. I am the holder of that key. That is how I came to know what I didn't know. I decided to let the lab manager know what I learned, and although he knew nothing of the plans, he was less than surprised to know he knew nothing of these plans. Now we have the fun of letting the administration know what they didn't know. The administration also gets to learn that the old chemistry stockroom was used to stock and store things such as CHEMICALS used in chemistry. As a result there is residue of said chemicals from ~40 years of storing chemicals. Don't worry, I'm sure the spilled Hg in the very back room is vaporizing by now. That's not a problem, is it?

Capitalism in the forest.

As I had hoped for, there was a dusting of snow on the peaks today and I am sure it increased the turn out for the annual Flagstaff Ski Club ski swap. We headed out to the Flagstaff Nordic Center for their fall fest. A friend told us about it and the $5.00 parking fee. What she didn't mention was the $5.00 per person fee on top of that. I am still trying to figure out what the $5.00 per person covered. There were games the kids could play, but if they wanted to try for a prize, there was a charge. The food was not free, nor were the pumpkins. I guess the hay ride was free, as was the "stick buddy" which turned out to be a small paper bag with a face drawn on it, stuffed with straw and tied to a stick. The bird seed and peanut butter covered pine cone bird feeder was also free. Now where would one find sticks and pine cones in the middle of all dem pines? Overall it was a good time, but someone is makin' a buck off of it.

The Best Thing About October

Final score Rangers 2, Lightning 1. As the ice is being resurfaced in Prague, the Pens and Senators are battling it out in Stockholm. The air is cool, it is raining, there should be fresh snow on the peaks by morning, and there is a fresh slick surface on arenas across the land. Drop the "pre" IT'S HOCKEY SEASON! Puck yeah I'm happy about it. Forgive me for using a brand name, but I WANNA DRIVE THE ZAMBONI. It rolls off the tongue better than "I wanna drive the Olympia" (or any one of the other makes of ice resurfacers.)

The C Word

In order to pretend to be open minded, I have been watching the debates. Unfortunately, I have found them to be one long dual campaign ad, he said - he said - she said - he said fest. Add food, drinks, drugs and a twister mat and we would have one big dysfunctional orgy. Anyway, I thought I had heard it all before during one of Governor Palin's answers that was an answer to something other than the question asked. Caution: flaming liberal rant ahead! She was spewing the normal republican mantra of DRILL DRILL DRILL EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE NOW NOW NOW! when she inserted the obligatory mention of energy sources other than oil when this came out of her mouth:

So even in dealing with climate change, it's all the more reason that we have an "all of the above" approach, tapping into alternative sources of energy and conserving fuel, conserving our petroleum products and our hydrocarbons so that we can clean up this planet and deal with climate change.

She actually said: "conserving fuel, conserving our petroleum products and our hydrocarbons so that we can clean up this planet and deal with climate change.'

Republican Governor married to an employee of big oil say what?

"conserving our petroleum products..."

Again?

conserving

There has not been a politician seeking to get elected that has used that word in 28 years, and he paid dearly for it. I was shocked, surprised, flummoxed, and almost impressed.

But, I soon knew it was not a dream when the chant for "Drill, baby drill!" returned.

The evening progressed without a re-utterance of the word. Not even from Senator Biden.

The End is Upon Us

My daughter's school has a dress code that bans shorts between October 1st through April 30th, so my daughter had to wear her new jeans today. Her new and pretty jeans with cute dasigns on the pockets. Or as she put it her "hot, sweaty, stupid jeans that I will have to turn the cuffs up on to keep from dying from heat in the classroom in the afternoon that everyone will laugh at me stupid smelly jeans." The ones Patty and I thought looked nice. The ones she said "Are really stupid and I'm the only one who follows the dress code stupid smelly hot ugly jeans." Those jeans.