Posted on November 15 at 11:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Mindy - I thought the same thing.

On Hold the Ho Hos

Posted on November 14 at 8:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"get your sarcasm here, only costs one bushel of potatoes"...

On Free food

Posted on November 3 at 11:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Sometime after high school, I started saying that everyone should work at least a summer at some sort of restaurant-type job where you have to deal with customers. I think it is generally a good thing to have a job when you are young, in terms of figuring out how to save/spend your money, and a restaurant in particular, so you learn what it is like, and perhaps give folks more compassion when they are a customer dealing with the issues that happen at a restaurant, like getting an extra piece of onion on your sandwich, or other such horrible traumatic events.

I also worked at the college cafeteria, and doing dishes was not very fun, though my part of the experience was cleaning the trays, and separating the silverware, glasses, etc. You had to work there for an indeterminate number of years before you could actually wash the dishes. It was high paying ($8 or $10 an hour, I think). Later I "moved up" to monitoring the drinks and washing the tables. Monitoring the drinks was a great job, since you didn't really have to do much - basically being on call if there was a spill, or grabbing some milk when it ran out (a couple times a night), but most of the time you could sit around, chatting and eating with friends - did I mention I gained 15 pounds while working there? The students did complain far worse than normal people ever did.

Hrm - I am now struck with the similarities of that job to my current one: on-call 24 hours a day for whenever something goes wrong, but most of the time, the workload is pretty light, and can sit around and chat during "regular work" hours. I hardly ever hear anyone complaining. The pay is higher, and I don't need to pick up a washcloth, but it is harder to maintain discipline to actually work the hours I need in order to earn enough money...

On From pot washer to bag sorter

Posted on October 21 at 10:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I never considered myself an extrovert - I left that word for the Adam's and Mike's of the world (spacing on their last names at the moment...) but one day was talking to a guy I had met at a lunch table, and we talked for 20 or 30 minutes, and the conversation came around to introverts or something, and I mentioned that I wasn't an extrovert, and the guy burst out laughing... He said that he hadn't talked this much in depth with most of his students that he had known for years, and we had just met 30 minutes ago...

Oh well, extrovert in denial, I guess.

Another time I was coming home from being a chauffeur for college students (after I had graduated, and so not used to being up so late), but as I skipped and whistled as I went along at 2 AM or some other late hour had the thought - this is the definition of a true extrovert, not someone who is loud and crazy in public, but someone who truly gains energy while being with people. That's me.

On On the spot

Posted on September 17 at 10:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

And having heard the story when it happened, when I saw the introduction, I thought, wow - it happened again - you need to move somewhere else...

I had forgotten it was on your birthday - does make for an easy reminder each year. I have a friend whose birthday is on the 11th, and she has a difficult time each year.

On Why I’m happy to be alive

Posted on September 6 at 3:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yes - I was going to mention limosis, but you beat me to it.

On In love with words

Posted on August 17 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)

My earliest memory is walking up a plank to our new house on Pine Ridge Road, and mom telling me to be careful, that I was going to fall, and I said (or at least thought - not sure if I was talking at the time) that I would be fine, and promptly fell off. The reader can decide whether that continued the rest of my life or not.

My second memory is similar - putting on Ben's cowboy outfit on the day before Christmas, and mom asked me to ask Dad where the tape measure was, so I started off down the cellar stairs, and fell part of the way down and hit the concrete wall and we spent Christmas in the hospital. Santa Claus came with lots of stuffed animals. Again, perhaps cracking my head open explains a lot.

However, I wouldn't say I have a negative outlook on life, though I am not the most optimistic either, I suppose I'd consider myself more of a realist than a pessimist or optimist, but maybe that is what everyone says.

On Alexander and me

Posted on August 1 at 8:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What's wrong with "Atlas Shrugged"? I originally read "The Fountainhead", and I didn't understand why anyone cared about Ayn Rand, and why folks at CMU worship her. After reading "Atlas Shrugged", particularly the 100 page monologue towards the end (though it probably helps to have some context; I did have Heather read just the monologue, since she'll probably never read the whole book) I now understand why Objectivism exists, though I find most of the arguments to be strawmen, or at least, not attacking Christianity, which Objectivists tend to think their philosophy does.

On Summer Reading

Posted on July 29 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I recommend a hybrid road/mountain bike. I haven't looked to purchase a bike in a long time, so I don't have specific recommendations, but I have always had hybrids (after the first 10 speed I bought with my money from that above mentioned paper route...) - interestingly enough I don't remember the raffle-won bike - mom just mentioned it last week, and said that I had won the bike and then when you found out about the contest, you told your mom - I want to win one too, and they were a little concerned that you would be setting yourself up for disappointment, but then you won one too...

I find road bikes less stable, with their skinny tires. And "real" mountain bikes to be slow, with the huge knobby tires, and I almost never ride off-road, and certainly not on mountain trails, jumping over logs, etc. I generally replace the tires with very small treads, sometimes "slicks", if I am going on a long ride.

An air horn is very nice for city driving. I have this one, which sounds like a soccer air horn, but can be filled up with a regular bike pump, and lasts quite a while. On the road, people assume they are about to get hit by an 18 wheeler and get out of your way very quickly.

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detai...

Lastly, I think about our trip to Lebanon often - getting stuck by construction on 89, and wondering whether to sneak through the woods past the construction workers who were blocking the bike path or ride on the highway, or (what we eventually did) call your dad to get picked up... It was a fun trip, though in retrospect, we maybe shouldn't have had so many people who hadn't ever ridden more than a mile or two before.

On Getting a bike

Posted on July 21 at 6:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I was in Hillsboro this weekend, and your blog/column came up a couple of times. When I told people how much I enjoyed your sense of humor, they both said that they had enjoyed our interaction - I don't remember writing particularly interesting, but it was funny that they both mentioned it. Anyway, I think you should publish your editorial from third grade - let your readers see if anything has changed in your writing style.

On I can write about the theater