. . . I was thinking about stacking up some dead people in a room of my house, would you just keep reading my Space? Or quickly click away in horror and revulsion??

 

OK, that's what I thought you would do.

 

Here's what I am talking about: I check my stats. My Space stats. I check out where people are coming from. Quite a few end up here by Googling some strange, weird, or frightening data and coming up with  . . . yeah, that's right, this very Space! The one that my fingers are tapping out right now. I used to get a lot of Hugh Jackman searches, Hmmm . . .  I wonder why that could be?? . . . until I ripped off his Speedo and threw it into the sea.

 

Ok, I admit I purposely planted that quote about ripping off Speedos, just to see what would happen starting tomorrow. But seriously. I get some strange references directing people over here to see me about the weirdest things.

 

If someone really wanted to Google up some good info all about:

 Man who killed family a stacked them on top one another in one room

do you really think they would find it over here?? Hey, I am a nice guy, fairly normal, I pay my taxes (take that, Wesley Snipes!!)  I very seldom stack up dead people. And when I do get a hankerin' for that, why beautiful spouse NEVER lets me stack them in the house!!

 

But, I swear this is the truth: someone search-engined with Yahoo! for the phrase above, and not only was directed here, but I actually came up as the Number Two AND the Number Three best references to check. Out of 4, 530, 000 references!! One was to an entry I wrote in Dec 2006, and the other was from Jan 2006. In neither of those months did I ever stack up dead people. Or blog about stacking up dead people. Or even, (I am pretty sure about this, even though my memory sometimes fails me, but not usually for stuff like piling corpses into the house) THOUGHT about piling up some of the dead.

 

Plus, even if I did kill a family and pile 'em up, do you think I would BLOG about it?

Wolf Blitzer (yes, the CNN anchorman):

 

(the clip is three min, the end is where to get jealous)

 

I like building a fire, both campfires and fireplace fires are great to me. We have a small fireplace in our family room, and we don't use it that often but tonight, I am thinking, might be really good. Cool, damp weather makes for a good indoor fireplace evening.

 

Have you ever lost power in your neighborhood, been forced to light candles, and then, just as you got your place all cozy, had the power come back on and felt yourself actually disappointed to see life going back to normal? I like to have a fireplace fire going, and then turn off the other lights around the house, so it seems like you just have the cozy fire. Don't know why that appeals to me, but it does.

 

I like an actual campfire even better than a fireplace fire, though. A couple of weeks ago we were in Indiana at a campus event that included "tailgating" with a big barbecue filled with oak logs that one of the other Dads had brought in his pick-up and set up in a grassy corner on campus near the stadium. It was really breezy, misty and unseasonably cold, and everybody really appreciated the warmth of the fire going. Plus they had some pretty good barbecue.

 

My family has done quite a bit of camping, both ordinary campground type camping, and wilderness camping away from any roads and vehicles. Fires make a huge difference in these circumstances. If you go backpacking you almost always bring a small backpack stove. I generally bring one that burns gasoline (usually called white gas in the US, or Coleman fuel, it's unleaded petrol). A backpack stove is nice to cook with, but even with a stove going we will make a campfire most nights.

 

In the Sierras in California there is generally a limit on campfires above 9500 ft elevation (about 3000 m). There's not much wood above that point anyway. When we make camp above that elevation, it feels pretty spartan. No fire to warm up, and not much air to breathe for a good night's sleep. One night is enough. Then when you spend the next night at, say 8000 ft, it feels luxurious to sit by a fire for an hour or two.

 

All three of my sons can build a decent campfire, but middle son taught himself how to use flint and steel to start a fire the pioneer way. We saw an exhibition when he was about 13 years old, at a Boy Scout event, and he got determined to learn how to do it. Eventually he got good at it. You just knock sparks off of a piece of steel and catch them on a piece of charred cotton material which nurtures the spark until you can nestle it into a bed of combustible material, which is known as "the birdnest," because it kind of resembles a fuzzy soft nest of material. He got really good at it. For one summer, matches were sort of like cheating.

 

I once did a wilderness training course that included a three-day-and-night solo experience. We were allowed to bring three matches. I got myself settled on a rocky shore, gathered some twigs and so forth, and got ready to light a warming fire for the evening. I lit the first match and a small gust blew it out immediately. For the second match I protected it much better and was able to get the tinder to catch. I kept that fire going, at least as coals, for the next three days, and ended the experience with one match left unlit.

 

I think that teaches you something about life.

Today, in D.C.:

 

 

http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?src=quick&contractUrl=1&family=editorial&phrase=Shakira#

We are back from college town adventures. Not everything went as well as Saturday's race.

 

On Saturday night several peripheral events began (see yesterday's entry, below, for major clue about peripheral events) which then continued into Sunday morning. One peripheral event that began as winning-team members celebrating at a local campus spot, continued as selected team-girlfriends dancing on tabletops, and culminated in race-champion getting arrested for punching out bar bouncer. My son's girlfriend was not in attendance, and my son was not involved in the altercation, but the events have created a rather sad aftermath to a very happy occasion for these college guys.

I started writing this entry from a humorous angle but my heart wasn't in it, because I am worried about how the arrests are going to play out for the two guys involved. One of them wasn't really in the fight (he was attempting to break it up), but I am guessing he will still need to hire an attorney. And the other guy who was in the fight may have some serious charges since the bar employee was cut by a ring he was wearing.

Yes, it was the championship ring from winning the race.

We are in a college town today. We drove last night, through rain, in order to arrive in time to particpate in pre-race festivities and then take in the "Greatest College Weekend in America." (Self-proclaimed, right?  I'm not sure there is an official governing body to decide these things. I think it is more like the small town in Minnesota that has the self-proclaimed Largest Hockey Stick in the World. Now it is a big hockey stick, I'll give you that. But how would you know there might not be a bigger one in Siberia, say? The Russians are big into hockey.)

 

The center of the festivites (college-town, not Siberia) (keep up, Please!) (and I am guessing here that you might be able to visualize most of the peripheral events all on your own. Remember: college town) is a big bicycle race on a quarter-mile track. It's like a normal track that you would find at  any college campus, except that it is made of cinders and mud, and it is banked in the turns. There are different campus organizations that put together teams of four students, so they can race around the track for 200 laps. They call it the "Little 500." (Two-hundred being a snaller version of five-hundred.)  (Either that ,or they started the festivities before they got the name thought up. And by then it became a tradition.) This race is now in its 58th year, and it is about the biggest event on campus (other than basketball games).

 

This year's Biggest Weekend in America was held in the rain and wind. That dampened some of the peripheral events, but the main event went off nicely, including the tailgating. The tailgate parties were informally organized team-by-team, and the one we went to had a big oak-fired barbecue pit made out of a 55-gallon drum cut in half lengthwise with about 50 pounds of pork slow-roasting. Me and barbecued pork get along pretty well, but eventually I accompanied beautiful spouse to our seats.

 

That's where the awkward part came in. Our son (did I mention we have a son who attends school here?) (Come on! You don't think we drove 5 hours through rain just to get to the Greatest College Weekend in America, do you?) has a new girlfriend. We had coffee with them in the morning. But at the big bicycle race, old girlfriend was there as well. We love this girl, and she is from our hometown. They started dating in high school, and then ended up going to the same college together.

 

(I know.)

 

Anyway, we like new girlfriend too. She has an interesting family background, and has lived in different countries, so it was fun to get to know her. The big bicycle race had an exciting finish (and our team won). So everybody was happy, and afterward we all tailgated again. Partly because there was so much food left, and partly because everyone was freezing and that oak fire was nice.

 

Right now I am sitting in a motel room in said college-town, warming up before we go out to eat with son and new girlfriend. We also have a bunch of stuff in our car to drop off for old girlfriend before we leave campus tomorrow. Old girlfirend, new girlfriend, old grilfriend, new girlfriend.

 

It's like going around (in circles).

On April 22 the world's favorite Colombian will be in Washington DC, testifying in front of US Congress on behalf of universal education. She is serving as honorary president of Global Campaign for Education. Link:

 

 

 

I don't go out of my way to visit Starbucks for coffee. I like coffee, but their brew has always been only tolerable to me. I like their cappuccino, but I like it a certain way (frothy with a lot of milk foam and not so much hot milk itself . . . thanks for asking) and I don't often receive it that way even when asking. Plus it costs almost $3.00 a cup. So I usually just order a medium size Coffee of the Day and add cream.

 

My favorite coffee is probably Dunkin' Donuts, and I like McDonald's coffee also. There is a chain where I live called Caribou, but I don't know how widespread they are. Their coffee is good, better than Starbucks in my opinion.

 

I like our own coffee that we make in our kitchen as well as any of the chain coffee places though. We just use a drip coffee maker, not even sure what brand it is. But we do buy a dark French roast and grind the beans fresh every morning.

 

According to an article Starbucks is trying  a new "normal" coffee brew, and recently lost a taste test to McDonalds over at Consumer Reports. Here is a link:

 

 

I usually drink two cups of coffee, made at home, on a normal day. That is it. Though if we go out for dinner I will sometimes have a cup of decaf with cream and sugar in it, especially as a way to forego the temptation of a dessert menu. Unless they have any kind of chocolate mousse, then I order that (for beautiful spouse, of course) and share it with her.

 

Coffee is the most valuable agricultural commodity in the world (of the legal sort, anyway). But I like tea too. And I think they're both good for me.

Our family surgical patient is back home from the rehab facility. This weekend he was actually released with tthe knowledge of the nurses and the permission of his doctor.

 

Last weekend was a different story. On Sunday morning he got impatient waiting for family members who were going to show up to visit. The rehab facility has a weekly service in a small chapel, and he decided to wheel himself there without telling anyone. Everything went well for a while. He had the papier-mache head that he had made in the craft class, and the hacksaw smuggled into the . . . oh, heck, all he really had was the wheelchair. I just got a bit carried away.

 

However when the elevator door opened he was met by the glaring faces of several staff who had noticed that he was AWOL. They were not real happy that he had decided to wheel himself off of his floor without telling anybody. Ever since then he has been anxious to get home. I think he was embarassed and felt that they had made a big deal out of nothing. They even equipped his wheelchair with a sensor that sounds a tone when it leaves his room.

 

So now he is home whre he has to negotiate stairs in order to go to bed at night. That part is going well. He also has to get out of his ordinary bed instead of the hi-tech one that had motorized things that would help. That part went well, too. He also has to go back to managing his own blood sugar numbers. That part has been a disaster so far. He likes everything sweet. And there are loads of foods that he is looking forward to because he hasn't had any in nearly a month. So his numbers are way high, and he really doesn't remember too well what that really means.

 

Unfortunately it means failing eyesight and circulation problems in the legs that can result in severe difficulties in the lower legs and feet. He used to know that, but now he has to relearn it all.

 

But not this weekend. Yesterday and today was sort of a break from all that. He's home and glad of it.

 

 

In yesterday's post I forgot to account for . . . about 3 minutes. Sorry.

 

 

 

This entry inspired by Zeynap, please click link at botom of page. (Her routine is way more interesting than mine.)

 

 

1. I wake up. First, I check body for bruises. (see number 12) I consider beautiful spouse my alarm clock these days. If I remember, I stretch out my back before getting out of bed. I don't know if it helps, but I have a couple of "healthy-back" habits that are now a habit every day. I get up about 6:30 a.m. on weekdays, an hour or so later on weekends.

 

2. Take a shower. I use a deodorant type soap, but I do not use a separate deodorant anywhere on my body. (If you are American, you might be thinking of clicking away right now. However, if you are not, then it might seem perfectly normal. In my country it is considered unusual.) I shave face, sometimes in shower, sometimes at sink.

 

3. I get dressed in bedroom then I go downstairs to kitchen. First stop is drip coffee machine. If I am up first (weekend probably), then I make a pot of coffee. We grind our own beans each morning. If it is a workday, spouse usually starts coffee before I am down. All I have to do is pour into a mug. In goes American coffee cream (called "Half & Half" meaning part cream-part milk mixture). No sugar.

 

4. We have breakfast together every morning. Usual: toast with jam or peanut butter, or both. Or cereal with milk, walnuts and some fruit. Or  fried egg & toast. Finish coffee mug with the breakfast. I take vitamin C, a multivitamin, and a vitamin D.

 

5. I brush teeth, put on clean shirt for work, and get ready to leave. I drive car to work every day, only about ten minutes away. Last thing before leaving house is pour a second mug of coffee which I bring in the car to drink while driving to work. Spouse drives to her job in separate car.

 

6. Arrive at work about five minutes late. This is an important tradition. If I arrived earlier, colleagues would be in danger from shock. I eat lunch at work at same lunchtime every day, usually a sandwich with some milk.

 

7. After work I either go home, or go to workout facility operated ny local park district. I use exercise equipment and do some weightlifitng. Nothing really impressive, just fitness stuff.

 

8. When I get home I usually drink tea and log on here, plus check home e-mail. It is hot tea with milk in it (pretty much like British tea, brewed in a ceramic teapot). If spouse is home we have tea together, that happens maybe once a week that we both get home early enough to share tea. (If summer, then probably iced tea instead of hot tea.)

 

9. We cook most nights. We sort of take turns, sometimes we cook together but usually not. I cook soups, omelettes, and anything that is cooked outdoors on charcoal grill. Spouse cooks most other things. If not cooking we go out for a sandwich or pizza. On Friday we usually have fish fry at a local place where we have been going for many years.

 

10. Most nights I drink a bottle of beer, either before dinner or with dinner. Spouse will have a glass of wine. Usually just one drink unless someone comes over to join us for dinner. Wednesdays we are usually joined at dinner by oldest son, sometimes with his friends as well. We look forward to this each week.

 

11. After supper: clean up kitchen (usually whoever did not cook). Then maybe watch a movie on television. Or sports. Or History Channel or some other non-fiction type channel. We don't watch any regular network TV shows anymore, not even Grey's Anatomy or CSI or American Idol which are most popular American television these days.

 

12. We go to bed and read (her) or work crossword puzzle (me). We kiss at bedtime. I sleep on left side, she kicks me if I snore.

  

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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