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daily journal
My Hot Car Weather.com has an interesting slide show that illustrates how quickly, and dangerously hot, the inside of a car can become during hot weather.  In 90 minutes they have the inside of a vehicle reaching almost 140 degrees. Now I know that the rate of temperature increase isn't exponential, otherwise the temp inside my car that sits under the blazing sun all day in the train station parking lot would be topping out at something like 1,000 degrees, but it still makes me wonder what conditions I�m subjecting myself to when I jump in the car to drive home. My car bakes in the sun for over nine hours. When I open the door it is blistering hot inside, the driver-side window doesn�t roll down, which means I can�t air out the interior very quickly, and the air condition � bless its little heart � just doesn�t seem to have the umph anymore to really cool things down. The drive home in weather like we are experiencing now is always more of an endurance test than just a journey. Labels: General, Observation posted by Brendan | 4:57 PM | permanent link
Fearing the Unknown I found this Opinion piece in the New York Times by Daniel Gilbert interesting. Using the results of a few different studies, Gilbert points out that what makes people nervous/depressed/less happy isn't knowing that something bad is going to happen to them, but rather not knowing when those bad things are going to happen. That�s because people feel worse when something bad might occur than when something bad will occur. Most of us aren�t losing sleep and sucking down Marlboros because the Dow is going to fall another thousand points, but because we don�t know whether it will fall or not � and human beings find uncertainty more painful than the things they�re uncertain about.Gilbert's point is one that I think most of us know in our gut, but rarely acknowledge. That if we understood and embraced the notion that we cannot sit in fear of what might happen, but rather worry only about what we know will happen; then overall life would be much better for us. That being said, I think just not worrying about what might happen is easier said then done. Human nature is to fear the unknown. But I also understand how fearing all the uncertainties in life can end up crippling a person from living. It's obviously a constant struggle that we have to deal with on a daily basis. Strange as it may sound, I found help from Gilbert's essay in understanding my own concerns - particularly when he discusses the different experiments used to understand the role known or unknown events can have on a person's happiness and well-being. Seeing how fear manifests itself and affects a person through a control experiment makes me feel like I can take those observations and apply them to my own situations. Maybe that will work, maybe it won't. But I do know that knowing why I might be concerned about something gives me advantage of overcoming that concern. Labels: General, philosophy posted by Brendan | 12:43 PM | permanent link
Kids' Letters to President Obama 826 National collected a number of letters written by kids for (then) incoming President Obama and published them in Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama. The letters continue to roll in, so McSweeny's is publishing some of them on their website. A first set is up and they are a fun, and sometimes touching, read. The letter that stuck with me was from 11 year-old Alex from Ann Arbor, MI. The kid shows thoughtfulness that surprised me. In particular, this passage: Something unique about me is that I'm an honor-roll student with a grade average of 4.0. For fun, I like to climb high into my willow tree and then find a firm branch and sit on it. It is peaceful. Will you have a peaceful place to sit in the White House?That's a pretty impressive insight and demonstration of self-awareness for a 11 year-old. Or at least it seemed like it for me. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:15 PM | permanent link
Waving At Trains The other day as I was rushing to catch the train home in the evening, I noticed a father and son standing on the platform. They were there to get on a train � at least not yet. They were checking out all the trains that were currently in Union Station, pointing and talking excitingly to one another about what they saw. Suddenly, the train they were standing nearest to began ringing its bell as it slowly started to pull out of the station. The boy, who was probably about seven or eight years old, immediately began waving frantically at the engineer as a huge grin spread across his face. That made me wonder � why do we wave at trains as they go rumbling by? I�ve been riding a train to and from work for almost nine years now. During that time I have been waved at countless times by countless people while riding on a train. Young and old, male and female; I�ve seen all sorts of people raise their hands and swing them back and forth emphatically as the train I was riding rolled past them. Most of the time I wave back � even though they probably can�t see me behind the heavily tinted windows of Metra�s commuter train cars - because I don�t want their act of friendliness to go unanswered. But I still don�t understand why so many people wave. Maybe it�s because people assume train riders are off on some grand adventure? I imagine that the romantic ideal of traveling by train still lingers about inside most people�s conscious, so seeing cars full of faces rumbling past on a track might stir up those emotions. It's why George Bailey explains to Uncle Billy in It�s A Wonderful Life that the three greatest sounds in the world are anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles. Trains, boats, plans � they represent opportunity for travel and adventure. They are a mode of escape from where ever you are to someplace new and exciting. Trains, plans, and boats hold the promise of something grander. Therefore, winding up and throwing a big sweeping wave when you see people speeding past in a train is probably the natural thing to do. �Hey! Have fun riding that train!� The problem is that most of the people behind those faces on the Metra are just exhausted folks like myself; schlepping our way to or from a job, packed into an aging commuter rail car that first went into service during the Eisenhower administration and now smells like stale beer and cabbage. We�re too burned out or tired to think about how fun riding a train might be, and certainly not on a trip to an exciting adventure. For us the train is just a means to an end. We ride a train every day. It�s as mundane but necessary as brushing your teeth. Maybe that�s why I don�t wave at trains as they rumble past anymore. Monotonous use has jaded me to their romantic potential. If it has, then I want to figure out how to return to being the kid waving frantically as the train leaves the station. That just seems like more fun. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:58 PM | permanent link
Happy New Year!  Hope you survived 2008 in one piece and are ready to take on 2009. posted by Brendan | 12:00 AM | permanent link
A Lousy Way To Start a Monday As I headed out the door Monday morning, I knew that the weather had turned frigid after nearly 48 hours of warm air and rain. What I didn�t know was how that rapid change in the weather had adversely affected the road conditions. After a few wiggly turns as I weaved my way out of our subdivision, I could tell that the sudden drop in air temperature and had resulted in a slick, nearly invisible, coating of frost on the roads. Once I left our subdivision I learned that the slippery conditions weren�t limited to the lightly traveled side roads, the main roads were just as icy. Didn�t know where the salt crews were in Aurora, but they weren�t anywhere near my house.  I made some adjustments for the driving conditions and slowly made my way to the train station. Being that it was the Monday between Christmas and New Year�s Day, the roads were pretty deserted. I didn�t see much risk in navigating the icy roads. Still, I drove cautiously, slowing down well in advance of intersections and being extra careful in turns of the road.So what happened next totally surprised me. The road I was driving on goes into a lazy little S-curve. Nothing too dramatic, but curvy none the less. It�s a four lane road running north and south, I was headed north in the far right lane. My lane position choice was a conscious precautionary move � I didn�t want to be in the left lane and start sliding in one of the bends in the S-curve only to find myself in oncoming traffic. The posted speed limit is 35 m.p.h. and I was going around 25. Because of all these precautions, I didn�t panic too much when the back end of my car swung out from behind me on the driver�s side when I hit the first bend in the S-curve. There weren�t any cars around me and I had the entire two north-bound lanes to get my car back under control. I slammed the steering wheel to the left � in the direction of the skid - and took my foot off the gas. The maneuver I�ve always used with great success to bring a swerving car back under control. Maybe I didn�t execute the maneuver correctly or maybe the S-curve got in the way, because instead of straightening out and staying on the road I ended up sliding up over the curb, across the sidewalk, and into the grass on the other side of the walk.  I still remember the commentary screaming through my head as the car was jumping over the curb and I could see the trees and bushes rushing towards me through the windshield, �Don�t hit a tree! Don�t hit a tree! Sweet Jesus, just don�t hit a tree!�Actually, maybe that�s what the commentary I was screaming out loud. Luckily, I did not hit a tree (or a bush or anything else for that matter). The car came to a quite little stop and I took a deep breath. It was then that I realized hitting a tree wasn�t what I should have been worried about while my car was sliding out of control. It falling into the retention pond I was sliding towards. The car had come to a stop not more than five feet away from a 3-4 foot drop into a large retention pond that sits near the road. A little more skidding and I would have been taking an early morning bath in some very cold water. The car had come to rest just at the apex of the little berm that divides the pond from the side walk. Climbing out of a partially submerged (hell, could have been fully submerged � I don�t know how deep the pond is) Neon was not what I had in mind when I left my house that morning. Thinking that I came five feet from having to learn how to escape a car that�s landed in the water sort of got the adrenaline going, but the relief in knowing that I didn�t have to take that lesson helped calm things down. Amazingly, there were no other vehicles around � at least none that had stuck around to see how the idiot in the Neon sliding across the parkway had ended up. So I put the car into reverse, slowly moved back onto the road, and pulled up about fifteen feet to another side street and parked. A quick inspection of the car didn�t reveal any problems. Everything looked good. So I got back in and went about my way � driving even slower than before. Considering what had just happened, I figured that my brush with a watery death was the sign of a shit-storm of a Monday and I dreaded the rest of my trip into work that morning. Thankfully, my concerns were ungrounded. Sliding off the road and almost ending up in a pond proved to be the only crappy thing to happen that day. Then again, with that sort of start to the morning, I think I set my crappy-Monday bar sort of high � insuring a smooth rest of the day. If that was the case, I�d rather just deal with Mondays as the come. No need to condense all the frustration and anxiety into 15-seconds of white-knuckled excitement. All take things spread out across the day. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:50 PM | permanent link
I Went Caroling - And Liked It For years my wife Heather has wanted to organize a group for Christmas caroling. Going out caroling with a bunch of family and friends was an annual event for her as a child, and she�s always wanted to share that happy experience with me and the kids. This past Friday night she finally made her wish to go caroling again a reality. Four families, 6 adults and 13 kids, went door-to-door singing Christmas songs down our side of the street in our neighborhood. Our modest group sang three songs per house; and all counted, our caroling trip lasted about thirty minutes.  It was my first time Christmas caroling, and I enjoyed the experience despite a wind chill Friday night that hovered in the single digits. I had equal amounts of fun at the low-key but festive Christmas party we hosted at our house afterward. It was a good night all around, and sort of what I had hoped for.What surprised me about the evening was the compliment I received on my singing. We were at the second or third house when one of the women who were caroling with us turned around and told me that I had a really nice singing voice. She wanted to know why I wasn�t in the choir at church. I replied her that I didn�t want to embarrass the other members of the choir. Seriously though, I was flattered by the compliment. Nobody�s ever said I was a good singer � at least not that I can remember. Of course, it�s not like I put myself in a position to be complimented on my singing. I�m not the sort of guy walking down the street belting out the catalog from Guys and Dolls. I reserve most of my singing for the car ride to and from the train station. Ten to fifteen minutes stuck in a vehicle with no radio will force you to resort to such activities. None the less, it was refreshing to be complimented on something other than how well I manage a project or coordinate development assignments. The kind words about my singing abilities did as much for lifting my spirits Friday night as spending time and having fun with all of the families caroling and socializing. Even if it was only one person�s opinion, to be admired for something artsy meant a lot to me. I�ve always wanted to be more than just that guy who goes to work and brings home a paycheck. If not for the time I spend writing in this blog, I don�t know how I would sustain a dream of being more than just �that guy.� Receiving that new compliment Friday night was a great gift to me. While I may not have been wildly enthusiastic towards Heather�s plans for caroling initially, I am extremely grateful that she followed through on organizing the event. Labels: Christmas, Family, General posted by Brendan | 4:51 PM | permanent link
100,000 Baby! Yesterday evening around 6:30pm our Neon hit the 100,000 mile mark. This is the first car I've ever owned long enough to knock out that many miles. Even the used cars I had in high school and college never rolled over one hundred miles. I waxed poetically enough about the Neon when the car passed 90,000 miles on November 26, 2006 that I don't feel like I need to say anything more about the durability of our little Neon. Just go read that post again. I'm just surprised it has taken almost 2 years exactly to tick off those last 10,000 miles. It's almost a little freaky.  Considering the condition of the car, the slow rate we are putting miles on the vehicle, and the good gas mileage the Neon gets, I might be driving this vehicle a long, long time. Maybe it's time to get the radio that crapped out in 2000 finally fixed. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:33 PM | permanent link
I Miss My iFM One of the great flaws of the iPod was Steve Job�s refusal to include an FM tuner in the ubiquitous little media player. It was why I had loved my Griffen iFM so much. That little device gave the freedom to listen to live radio through my iPod when I grew bored with my collection of music and podcasts. It was always refreshing to turn over the programming to someone else for awhile. Not only could I be surprised by the songs I would hear while listening to the radio, I might hear something completely new. There are plenty of current residents in my iPod�s music collection that ended up there only because I discovered them first on the radio.  So it was with great dismay last week when I realized that I had left my iFM on the train. I had taken it out to use while riding the train home for a dentist appointment, and didn�t realize until the next morning that the device had never made it back into my bag.I checked both the lost and found offices at the Aurora train station (where that afternoon train I was riding finished its run) and the main lost and found office downtown at Union Station. Bumpkis. My iFM is gone. But even though I still love listening to the radio, do I need to replace it? It�s true that I hadn�t been using the iFM as much since Steve Dahl switched from afternoon drive-time to a morning slot on the radio, but I was still pulling the iFM out a few days each month to either mix up my listening options or to make use of the convenient iPod control the iFM also provided. But does that really define a need? Could I not continue to get by with just the songs and podcasts on my iPod and save the radio listening for at home? Possibly. I found a lot of places selling the iFM online (new and in-box), and fairly cheaply too. Heather�s parents just gave me some money for my birthday that I was looking to splurge with a little. So there would be some guilt free cash I could free up to buy a gadget like this. Heather suggests I wait a week or so to see how much I really miss the iFM, then make a decision on buying a replacement or not. However, in the week since I left the mini-radio on the train it isn�t not having the iFM to listen to that I am missing. It�s not having the option of being able to listen to the iFM that I am missing. I just want to know that I could listen to the iFM, regardless of whether I do or not. I guess I need to figure out if I want to pay money for the option of doing something or if I learn to live without that option. posted by Brendan | 11:23 PM | permanent link
Thank You Jesse White  First, I�d like to thank you for your tumbling team.I�m not sure if the Chicago Bulls franchise could have outlasted the 1980�s if it wasn�t for your troop of entertaining acrobats and their halftime performances. Second, thanks for opening the Secretary of State Express office in downtown Chicago. I was in the door at 8:03 am to renew my driver�s license and back on the street by 8:10 am. It was amazing. Before visiting the express office, I had resigned myself to losing this Saturday morning to sitting in lines and waiting around the Aurora Secretary of State office so I could get a new license. But thanks to express office in downtown Chicago, my weekend is still free and I have new license. All in less than 10 minutes Labels: General posted by Brendan | 1:35 PM | permanent link
Finally The cool temperatures. The crisp air. The interesting colors.  I am so glad autumn is finally here. Now I just wished I lived where I could enjoy colors like those in the photo above. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 11:36 PM | permanent link
Nike - Courage I saw this commercial last night while watching the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics and thought it was pretty neat. It's a beautiful mix of images and music. If you go to the Nike website, you can learn about many of the athletes featured in the ad. posted by Brendan | 7:07 PM | permanent link
Things I'm Thinking About Today Enough With the Drugs Already The American Academy of Pediatrics released a set of guidelines today that recommends starting children as young as eight years-old on cholesterol-fighting drugs. The kids don�t have to be suffering from high cholesterol, in the opinion of these doctors. These second and third graders can simply be at-risk kids. Meaning they come from a family that has a history of cholesterol disease or early-age heart disease.Cool Art Room How could any kid in first grade NOT love taking art classes in this classroom?Who Wants a Reheated Breakfast Anyways? I read today that JC Penny is basing its back-to-school clothing campaign on the 1985 uber-teen flick The Breakfast Club. posted by Brendan | 10:42 PM | permanent link
Happy Independence Day In the past I've posted patriotic images or inspirational quotes. This year I've decided to go with something more in line with my personal sensibilities: a pretty girl in a bikini and an angry cartoon duck  Hope you had a happy Fourth of July. [learn about the art] Labels: Comics, General, Illustration posted by Brendan | 2:02 PM | permanent link
Cool Space Photos I discovered that NASA has an �Image of the Day� feature on their website. Most of the photos seem to be of past explorers or shots of moments in NASA history, but every few days they throw in breathtaking space photographs like this one.  This is photo, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the star V838 Monocerotis, captured an example of a astronomical event called a light echo � �light from a stellar explosion echoing off dust surrounding the star that produces enough energy in a brief flash to illuminate surrounding dust.� There are plenty of fascinating photos over at NASA�s site. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:55 PM | permanent link
Earth and Moon This is a photo of the Earth and the Moon as taken by a camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  Besides it just being wicked cool to have a photo snapped from another planet, I love seeing the scale and distance between the Earth and the Moon that this photograph captures. The image makes me contemplate and appreciate the enormous amount of work that went into the Apollo missions of the last 1960s and early 1970s that sent a man from the little blue mass on the left all the way across the miles of nothingness to the little white mass on the right. And they did it with a fraction of the technical advances we have today. Hell, the computer I am typing up this blog entry on has more juice in it than the computers that ran the Apollo spacecrafts. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:15 PM | permanent link
Tornado Season This is one of my least favorite times of the year � tornado season.  Chicago isn�t the hot spot of tornado activity that the Great Plains are, but a twister has been known to touch down from time to time in Northern Illinois. During my lifetime (that I can remember) no tornado has come closer to the greater Chicago metropolitan area than DeKalb to the west and Plainfield to the south (and I�ve always lived within that geographical ring), but that still doesn�t stop me from being absolutely terrified of them.As soon I learn that the weather is ripe for a tornado I begin obsessively watching the Weather Channel and checking weather websites. I want to see radar, hear reports, understand what is going on outside, and can�t stop until I feel that any threat (real or imagined) has safely passed. And if there is an actual Tornado Watch announced? Then I am in full emergency alert mode until the expiration time for the watch has passed. If the expiration time is two or three in the morning, then I am up until at least 1am watching the radar loops on nbc5.com and mentally reviewing my plans for evacuating everyone in the house down to the basement. I am afraid to go to sleep, less I fail to hear the warning sirens should an actual tornado materialize. (One of the worst nights in recent memory was the tornado watch that went until 6am. I was exhausted the next day at work.) Now, there aren�t any traumatic episodes from my youth that have fostered this almost paralyzing fear. I�ve never been in a tornado. I�ve only ever seen them on TV and in movies. In the end, I think the root of the fear springs from the realization that there is little I can do to defend or protect myself, my family, and my property from the destructive force of a tornado. I can�t tie anything down or board anything up. Pretty much all I can do is run and hide and hope that any damage is minimal. That sense of helplessness bothers me. I want to be able to do something directly to impact the outcome.  In fairness to myself, I have mellowed a bit from where I was a few years ago. I still keep the Weather Channel tuned in when severe weather is rolling in, but I�ve learned that the weather is what it is and I can�t change it. So where as I used to sit and do nothing but continuously check reports, now I just let the weather reports broadcast in the background and I go about whatever it is I�m doing at home. I still get to monitor the situation, but keeping busy diverts my mind from obsessing over what might happen.Still, I can�t wait for tornado season to blow out of town. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 8:50 PM | permanent link
75 Skills Every Man Should Master  Esquire Magazine published a list of 75 Skills Every Man Should Master.I read through them all. Looks like I�m doing fairly well � at least from Esquire�s standpoint. Can�t tie a bow tie, make one drink in large batches very well, or play gin, so there are things for me to work on. But I was pleasantly surprised on how many items I think I could handle, more or less. In particular I liked #40: 40. Speak to an eight-year-old so he will hear. Use his first name. Don't use baby talk. Don't crank up your energy to match his. Ask questions and wait for answers. Follow up. Don't pretend to be interested in Webkinz or Power Rangers or whatever. He's as bored with that shit as you are. Concentrate instead on seeing the child as a person of his own.People have commented (usually by way of Heather) on how I talk/discuss/explain things to our kids like they are adults � younger ones who might not have the benefit of the experience or language skills of a grown adult � but adults nonetheless. I don�t sugar coat or dumb down my message. I talk to them like an intelligent person. I have never used baby-talk - even when they were babies. It wasn�t something I consciously knew I was doing, but felt good about when I learned that�s what other�s saw. I want to be challenging my kids, not insulating them. Talking to them like a person and expecting the same sort of treatment/level of discourse in response, forces them to think about what they are saying, their world around them, and their relationship within it. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 8:45 PM | permanent link It Was a Pirate�s Life for Him A former �Jack Sparrow� told Los Angeles Magazine about his experience portraying the pirate at Disneyland in sunny California. As funny as the stories about drunken women making it clear that they were ready (and willing) for Captain Sparrow to come aboard, what I found more interesting was the former Disney employee�s recounting of how the company treated their character actors. I suspected that as image conscious as the House of Mouse is that they would institute strict rules on how their properties could be presented in their theme park. What surprised me was how overbearing Disney could be on their employees to adhere to these rules, and how these rules impacted their personal life. I�ve always felt sorry for the guys and gals who were walking around in the silly costumes with un-naturally happy smiles plastered on their faces while dealing with over-sugared little kids. But after reading about Jack Sparrow�s experience I get the feeling that suffering the attention of the public is only half of the chore these costumed Disney employees face. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 8:40 PM | permanent link
Why Gen Xers Hate Their Jobs I'm not sure if I agree with everything that is stated in this article from BusinessWeek on why Gen Xers are unhappy at work, but there are few points that the writer makes that do seem to make sense for me. Take a read. Certainly, from a professional standpoint I am not where I thought I would be ten or fifteen years ago. But I credit that as much to poor planning and a general lack of direction as I do to working within a corporate environment that doesn�t know how to motivate me. None the less, I found the article intersting and it did give me a few things to think about. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 9:13 PM | permanent link
Random Bits  �Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold�, is a line delivered by Princess Leia, in case you aren�t up on your Star Wars quotes.www.thingsididlastnight.com It also, apparently, frees up people to think up little projects like this: ManBabies I don�t know if it is sublime comedy or borderline disturbing, but I had to look at them all.  posted by Brendan | 9:42 PM | permanent link
The Brain and the Nature of Memory I read an article in the Harvard Business Review this morning where noted neuroscientist John J. Medina was interviewed. The preview that drew me into the story touted it as an article on how to unlock ways to think smarter and be more productive. I found little useful information related to that topic. But while I didn�t necessarily find clues to thinking smarter, what I did learn was no less fascinating. Instead, Medina spends most of the time talking about how the brain works and responds to external influences. Medina prefaces nearly all of his answers in the interview with the disclaimer that the scientific community still knows very little about how the brain works. The brain is an almost unfathomably complex organ. However, the knowledge base surrounding the study of the brain is always growing, and there are things we know today that can help shape how we use and treat our brain. Take the impact of stress on the brain as an example. He explains that the human brain was designed to handle stress in short bursts � like the ancestral man faced with the threat of a mountain lion. Either he is going to be devoured or he is going to escape to live another day. Either way the threat spans a short timeframe - mere minutes. These 60-second stress events can happen a number of times in one day and the human brain (and body) is no worse for wear. The problem develops when stress becomes your common companion. As Medina states: Nowadays, our stresses are measured not in moments with mountain lions, but in hours, days, and sometimes months, as we deal with hectic workplaces, screaming toddlers, bad marriages, money problems. Our bodies aren�t built for that. If you have the tiger at your doorstep for years, then all kinds of internal mechanisms break down, from sleep rhythms to specific parts of the immune system.The negative impact of constant stress on the human body seems like common sense, but I�d never seen this warning presented in such a manner. Certainly not in relationship to how stress plays on the brain�s functions. The idea resonated more deeply with me when framed around the different stress events of historical man and modern man. Not only have we created a modern society that is destructive to our planet, but also we�ve shaped an existence that breaks out bodies down. It would seem all around we are asking our world and our bodies to do things nature never intended. But that wasn�t the only interesting point I found in the article. Later Medina talks about the nature of memory and the brain. Brain research is pretty clear on this point. Bona fide recorded memory is a very rare thing on this planet. The reason is that the brain isn�t interested in reality; it�s interested in survival. So it will change the perception of reality to stay in the survival mode. Unfortunately, many people still believe that the brain is a lot like a recording device�that learning something is like pushing the �record� button and remembering is simply pushing �playback.� In the real world of the brain, however, that metaphor is an anachronism. The fact is that the actual moment of learning�the moment of fixing a memory�is so complex that we have little understanding of what happens in our brains in those first fleeting seconds.�The brain isn�t interested in reality.� It�s why two people can witness or experience the same event and when asked to recall and explain what happened they both provide different stories and both believe their own version of events to be true. The brain isn�t necessarily interested in storing the facts of an event; it is concerned with storing the truth of the moment as perceived by the brain. Truth and fact are not always the same. It bothers me how these terms are so often used interchangeably. A fact is undeniable. Trees are plants. This desk is brown. A minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour. A truth, however, is an interpretation of fact. It is how our brain stores and recalls the facts that it absorbs. Medina notes a person�s emotional or physical state plays heavy into how a memory is stored, and that the best way to accurately and completely retrieve that memory is to recreate the environment of the original memory-creating event. For example, not only will being sad influence how your brain stores the memory of your reality at that moment; but by recreating a similar sad feeling later you present the best case scenario for full recall of that memory - flawed or biased as it may be. That�s not only fascinating biology, but it is interesting philosophy as well. If you assume that the brain is incapable of honest factual memory storage and that the �reality� retained in the brain is a distortion/interpretation of events filtered through the physical/emotional/temporal external influences on the brain, then it is amazing that people are able to connect and communicate at all. Humans are already hampered by the limitations of language in the transference of ideas from one to another, but if you add in the individual�s unique memory experience it raises the barriers to communication. If we assume that an individual�s understanding of their world � their version of �reality� � is based on the total collective of stored experiences and events in their brain and that those stored experiences and events are not undeniable experiences and events but have been tampered and adjusted by the individual�s physical/emotional state before being committed to memory, then there can not be a true transference of ideas between individuals because each will be approaching the other from within their own reality. Where is the common ground? There can be no real shared experiences. How can an individual know that those around him comprehend his ideas in the same way he comprehends them? That they are experiencing the same things he is experiencing? I could ramble on and on, but I won't. I know men far smarter than I have contemplated these questions and attempted to answer them in much more compelling ways that I have stumbled through here. Hell, I�m pretty sure I have some of their books in my basement right now from back in my college days. Regardless, it sure is fun to consider these questions � and it is something I haven�t done in a long, long time. I�m glad I stumbled upon this article. Labels: General, philosophy posted by Brendan | 10:16 PM | permanent link
Heather, We Need Some of These  Uncommon Goods sells them. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 5:05 PM | permanent link
The Strip-Mining of Oz I never realized how much the basic Wizard of Oz children�s story had been re-worked, re-envisioned, spun-off, and in general tapped dry until I saw this piece over at Comics Should Be Good! Interesting stuff. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 9:59 PM | permanent link
Random Items  Wanna make an easy $5? Grab a garbage bag, a can of cat nip, and head off to Randolph, Iowa. The town has declared war on the increasing number of cats that have invaded the town. Mayor Vance Trively (isn�t that a great mayoral name?) is offering a $5 bounty for each feral feline turned in.The cats will sit at a veterinarian clinic for an undisclosed time period, after which, if the cat is not claimed, it will be euthanized. Personally I liked what the residents of Wisconsin voted to do back in 2005 to deal with their burgeoning feral cat population � let the hunters get a little target practice in as a warm up for deer season. One of my (many) thoughts on what happend to our poor man from Ohio: Couldn�t the guy have just said, �I was sitting in my basement watching a movie�? Did he have to go into all that detail?   Dungeons & Dragons was the gateway drug to every flavor of geekdom imaginable (except, apparently, comic books)  Left: All the water in the world (1.4087 billion cubic kilometres of it) including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers, ground water, clouds, etc. Right: All the air in the atmosphere (5140 trillion tonnes of it) gathered into a ball at sea-level density. Shown on the same scale as the Earth. [via] Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:16 PM | permanent link
My Day In Court In the fall of 2006 Heather and I were in an auto accident. You can read all the details in the post I wrote back then, but the quick synopsis is this: I was headed eastbound on a one-way street. Another driver was sitting at the stop sign of a cross street and pulled out in front of me. I hit her. The police said she was completely at fault. Heather and I have our auto insurance through State Farm, and they have been great through out the whole ordeal. They have paid things promptly and provided us with any help we needed. The other woman � the one who caused the accident � and her insurance company have not been as accommodating. From the start they have refused to pay out the claim or reimburse State Farm for the costs they incurred handling our claim.  The back and forth has been going on for the last year, and though the legal wranglings between the two insurance companies really didn�t impact my day to day, I was looking for some closure on this incident. Plus, if the other insurance company would admit fault I might get our $500 deductible back.Finally it came down to an arbitration hearing, which was held today at the historic courthouse in downtown Geneva, IL. Despite the lousy weather, I still managed to make it to the hearing fifteen minutes before the scheduled 9:00 am start time. The attorneys and the claims investigator from State Farm didn�t show until after 9:00 am. The defendant wandered in around 9:40 am, well after the hearing had begun. I had talked with the attorney representing State Farm and me earlier in the week to make sure he understood all the details surrounding the accident. But our preparation was for naught when the attorney forgot to bring the file to the hearing. He seemed a little frazzled as he and I worked quickly to re-create his notes, which had me a little concerned about how things were going to go during the arbitration hearing. When he asked me if I was nervous, I told him that things like interviews and Q & A sessions never made me nervous. Plus, I had re-read my post from 2006 a number of times this week; the events were almost as fresh in my head as the day the accident occurred. I would be good to go. The hearing started when our three-man panel sat down and introduced themselves. I don�t recall their names or if they were judges or not, but they looked like three flavors of the types of guys I�ve seen hanging around my dad�s law offices and judge�s chambers for years. These guys were legal lifers for sure. Looking back I can't imagine being nervous at the hearing, it was like sitting in a room full of younger versions of my dad and his cronies � and I�ve been handling them just fine for years. The plaintiffs went first and we flowed through the line of questioning without a hitch. Considering the hectic beginning, things went rather smoothly. After talkng to me, our attorney asked the State Farm rep a few questions and then rested his case. Then it was time for the defense to step up for cross-examination.  It was clear from the opening statements and the nature of the questions directed at me that the defense attorney wanted to show that I was either 1) not paying attention, 2) driving too fast, and/or 3) did not follow a particular rule of the road to the letter.He asked me repeatedly about the nature of the road; its configuration, flow of traffic, speed limit, other vehicles traveling in my direction, and the location of traffic control devices. He questioned me on when I first saw the defendant�s vehicle and what I observed concerning the activities of the defendant�s vehicle at the stop sign. In all cases I think I answered the questions consistently and factually. Furthermore, I believe my testimony proved out that I was an attentive driver who was aware of everything going on in the road and side streets, was correctly obeying all traffic laws, and took all measures to try and avoid an accident that the defendant caused. By far my favorite exchange was when the defense questioned me about what was going on inside our van before the accident occurred. Attorney: I see from the photos that your vehicle was a mini-van.After the hearing was over our attorney told me that I had done a great job. In fact, he seemed almost giddy with my performance. In particular he loved when I threw in the comments about the kids playing with their GameBoy and looking for McDonald�s. He said that answer elicited some smiles and laughter from Larry, Mo, and Curly � our arbitration board.  As I mentioned earlier, the woman who caused the accident showed up almost thirty minutes into the proceedings. The defense attorney was going to have her testify, that is until he realized she didn�t speak any English. So the defense rested his case on the closing arguments and whatever he could pull from my cross-exam.In closing the defense claimed that in any accident both parties have a certain level of culpability in preventing the accident. He argued that I should have slowed down before entering the intersection and the extent of the damage to both vehicles was evidence that I was not traveling at a safe speed. In his opinoin defendant�s responsibility for restitution should only be 70% of the incurred costs. I understand that the attorney has got to make his play and he�s being paid to mitigate his client�s exposure, but I can�t see how the arbitration board can side with the defense�s arguments. If I was to drive in manner like that attorney claims I should have, I would be slowing down to a near stop before entering any intersection � regardless of the presence of a traffic control device/sign or not. Bullocks, I say. This girl screwed up and now it�s time for her and her insurance company to pay up. I�ll probably find out the result of the hearing tomorrow or later this week. The best I can expect is to get my $500 back. If the ruling is in favor of the defendant I don�t know if that impacts me at all. That�s something I really haven�t thought about. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 10:38 PM | permanent link
Loch Ness in Tokyo Bay To promote the premiere of The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep in Japan, a giant Loch Ness hologram was created for Tokyo Bay. Using some well timed water fountains/sprays, night-time visitors to the bay experience the emergence of the legendary Loch Ness monster.  The pictures are pretty cool, but what really looks wild is the video of the beast's performance.Labels: General posted by Brendan | 7:57 AM | permanent link
36 Pints Later LifeSource is the non-profit organization that handles blood donations in the Chicagoland area. Ever since a previous employer of mine held a company blood drive back in October 2000 I've been regularly donating blood at a downtown LifeSource center.  I like donating blood. It's simple (I usually get to watch some unbelievably cheesy movie or Oprah when I donate at the Thompson Center) and it helps me feel like I am doing something to help others. Plus, I really think it contributes to my own health. Giving up a pint of my blood forces my body to make new blood. I like to think some nasty old toxins or germs go out with the old blood. I'm flushing things out a bit, if you will.This month LifeSource launched a new website for its donors. Besides allowing donors to manage their profile and schedule donation appointments, from 2008 going forward the site will begin tracking the vitals that are collected/calculated at each donation event (body temperature, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc). Plus, they have a complete history of every blood donation. Even all the way back to my first donation in 2000. Is was through this donation history feature that I learned just how much blood I've given up over the last seven years. The total to date: 36 pints! That's roughly 4.5 gallons of blood. To put that in perspective, an average sized adult human has approximately 1.5 gallons of blood coursing through his body. Which means, in a manner of speaking, I have flushed out the complete volume of my body's blood supply three times. I find that remarkable.  What also put 4.5 gallons of blood in perspective for me is that I know from first hand experience what 4 gallons of a liquid looks like. Heather and the kids go through about 4 gallons of milk a week. To understand just how much blood I've donated, I just need to look in the fridge the day Heather returns from grocery shopping. That's a lot of liquid.I don't really feel a sense of pride in knowing I've donated 4.5 gallons of blood, more astonishment. Astonishment that I've given up so much blood. One pint doesn't look like a whole lot in that little bag. The donation process- the actual needle in the arm stuff - only takes about ten to fifteen minutes. I never would have thought that all those little visits could add up to something so large. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:39 PM | permanent link
It's a Start I'm not much for New Year's Resolutions, but if I were, I might draw some inspiration from this list: 60 Things Worth Shortening Your Life For Labels: General posted by Brendan | 11:31 AM | permanent link
Happy 2008  Heather and I didn't stay up late to ring in the new year. We had driven home from Ohio that day, so that evening we were pretty wiped out. Just hung out on the couch and watched some of the silly television coverage of New Year's Eve. My favorite: TelemundoLabels: General posted by Brendan | 11:42 AM | permanent link
End of the Year Writing Blahs It's that time of the year that the writing juices sort of dry up. I don't have the daily Christmas Comic Book cover post to move me along, there aren't a whole lot of interesting stories going around, and the Bears aren't in the playoffs. I'm just sitting at work, in a nearly deserted office, struggling to be productive. I tried some ideas (Favorite 5 movies from the last 5 years, discovering stories I had written back when I was 11 years-old), but I'm not feeling the inspiration. Maybe I will later. So instead I'm writing about the difficulty in figuring out what to write about. Guess it's back to writing Business Requirements. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:41 PM | permanent link
Winter in Chicago We've already had some good storms here in Chicago this winter. A sizable amount of snow and then two weekends of ice storms. With forecasts calling for some snow showers scattered over the next few days, I think we might enjoy a white Christmas this year. This week the Chicago Tribune published a gallery of great photos taken around the city during winters past. In particular I like the picture below, showing motorists stuck on Lake Shore Drive following a particularly hearty snow fall back in 1967.  From what I've read, that '67 storm was a real whooper. The biggest snow storms I recall is the blizzard that hit Chicago back in 1979, which ended up costing a mayor his job, and the massive blizzard of 1996 that had Heather and I snowed in for a while back when we lived in Cleveland. Hopefully we don't get anything quite that big in Chicago before Christmas. posted by Brendan | 12:38 PM | permanent link
Oh, Shit! Saw this photo on ChicagoTribune.com.  We're in the middle of some nasty cold and wet weather here in Chicago.Rain, sleet, freezing rain - the whole smear. Hopefully this driver slowed down enough not to totally drench that poor girl. Nothing's worse than being cold and wet. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:27 PM | permanent link
Is It "Winter" If It Doesn't Get Cold? That's what I'm wondering. While riding in the elevator at work I read on the little Captivate Network screen that researches have found that people who have been treated for high blood pressure will experience an increase in blood pressure during winter months, even in regions where the temperature remains the same .  Can you really call it "winter" if it doesn't get cold? I�m thinking about places like San Diego. The daily average high temperature increases July through October, but the rest of the year it remains mid to upper 60's.Where�s winter? According to the American Heritage Dictionary, winter is defined as: 1. The usually coldest season of the year, occurring between autumn and spring, extending in the Northern Hemisphere from the winter solstice to the vernal equinox, and popularly considered to be constituted by December, January, and February.Do people in places like San Diego refer to December through February as "winter?" The average high temperature is around 65.3 degrees Fahrenheit. There isn�t even a 10 degree swing from the high in August down to December. In Phoenix, AZ the temperatures at least swing from 65 degrees in January to 104 in July. It's still hot all year, but at least there is change in what the high temp will be. By the dictionary definition, Phoenix is experiencing "winter" because it is the coldest season of the year � relatively speaking. In San Diego I don�t know who anyone could tell January from July from October. I guess to a guy raised in Chicago on 20-below wind chills in January and 101 heat indexes in summer, living in constant climate isn�t something I can easily imagine. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:19 PM | permanent link
Wish I Had An Extra $700 American Express is running their My WishList promotion again this year. Every day they offer incredible deals to AMEX card holders (like myself) at specific times. Today's big deal: a 42' 1080p Plasma TV for only $700.  That's nice. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 8:45 AM | permanent link
Campaign Poster Analysis  Ward Sutton provides an interesting analysis of political posters and campaign logos over at the New York Times.He takes on both Democrat and Republican logos, and delivers a fairly balanced assessment of the logos he critiques. There seems to be very little political snarking coming from Sutton. You might want to infer Sutton's political leanings because he is an artist, published in the New York Times, and his comments on the Bush/Cheney poster from 2004 shown at right. But he takes the time to skewer the imagery used by both sides of the aisle in their campaigns. In particular, I enjoyed the critique he leveled on the Fred Thompson poster. Sutton's comments on Thompson's poster reveal, in my opinion, how much the campaign poster can really be an extension of the candidates campaign - intended or not. Labels: General, Illustration posted by Brendan | 12:38 PM | permanent link
Happy Thanksgiving  I found a whole bunch of Thanksgiving themed covers from the Saturday Evening Post, but I really thought this one was pretty neat.I hope you have a complete Thanksgiving - watch football, eat a lot, bicker with family, and fall asleep early in the evening. It's what I plan on doing. Heather and her mom will be waking up before dawn tomorrow morning to head out and fight with the other crazies to snag doorbuster deals and discounted items. I will staying home to watch cartoons with the kids. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 7:57 AM | permanent link
Planning My PBS Viewing It's pledge time at WTTW, Chicago's main public television station. Which means they will be trotting out the best of the best that PBS has to offer. Two items in this week's WTTW programing announcement email that caught my attention:  Sure I'll have to sit through hyper-happy people begging me to send in money, but at least they are more honest and sincere than the marketing-madness commercials I would have to suffer through if I was watching The Office or Mad Men. Plus, you can't find anything like Foods of Chicago on commercial television. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 4:54 PM | permanent link This Post Isn't Going Where You Think Its Going Before the kids go to bed, they like to have either Heather or I sing them a song. (Even Ian, though I don�t think he would ever admit this to anyone other than Heather and I and he certainly wouldn�t let anyone other than Heather and I sing the song) We gave up long ago on singing any sort of traditional songs. Now the kids suggest a topic and Heather and I have to make up a song on the spot. For Heather and I the singing improve is either exciting or annoying, depending on our mood and the topic. Ian has taken the process a step further and will let Heather or I chose our own song topic, though he has the right to veto our selection. Heather tends to go with the safer topics, while I lean to the more obscure. �Cheddar is my favorite cheese� or �I wear socks on my ears because it scares the cat� are just a few samplings of my song styling skills. The other night I launched into �We close our eyes when we sleep because it is dark out and there wouldn�t be anything to see anyway.� After finishing the song I had a thought, �Do blind people turn on lights in their house?� I don't mean any disrespect, but it wasn�t something I had ever thought about before. If you are blind, why bother turning lights on in a room? It isn�t going to help you move around the room or find things more easily. A person robbed of their vision relies on their other senses and other means to navigate through the physical world. This thought conjured the image in my head of a blind person coming home from work at night, moving about their apartment or house, making dinner, doing dishes, reading, whatever � all while the house remains completely pitch black inside. Factual or not, that image fascinated me. For someone with no vision, there would be no light needed to aid seeing of things. Even if lights were turned on, how would the totally blind person know when the light bulbs burned out and needed replacing? For that matter, how would they know if the light was turned off or on? They could be flipping a switch every night when they come home and actually be turning the light off, when the light had been on all day while they were at work. How would a blind person necessarily know when the power went out? I�m sure not hearing a radio or the computer not responding would be an indicator. But when the power comes back on, how are the alarm clocks reset? How do you know that you�ve set the clock to the right time? I�m sure that there is technology today that allows someone who is blind to easily overcome these obstacles (i.e. 'talking' clocks), but I imagine things were more challenging twenty or thirty years ago. But those sorts of details are something I�d never considered before. I often wonder what it would be like to be blind. I think most people still graced with their vision ponder about things like that. Mostly I�ve thought about all the activities or hobbies I wouldn�t be able to do and about how life changing losing my ability to see would be. But it wasn�t until singing Ian that goofy song that I thought about the little details of being blind. It made me appreciate more how much of our world is a visual world, and that there is so much of that visual world that people with sight take for granted. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:55 PM | permanent link
Happy Halloween  I'll be heading home early from work this evening to take the kids out trick-or-treating while Heather stays at the house to hand out candy. I'm looking forward to taking the kids around the neighborhood. The weather will be good and all three of the kids are really excited about the holiday. Last night we carved two pumpkins. One with a traditional face, the other using my drill to put a bunch of holes all around the pumpkin. It creates a great lighting effect. Ian thought the holey pumpkin looks like a disco ball, and he's probably right. I just think it looks pretty neat. Interestingly, we spent $0 on costumes this year - a first. In the past Heather has either made the kids' costumes by hand or found deals on eBay. This year, however, the kids all decided (on their own, no less) that they wanted to dress up using items that we already had around the house. Zoe - Scooby-Doo using a costume that was bought a few years back. Emma - a Princess using dress-up clothes she and Zoe have received as Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, etc. Ian - a solider using my Dad's old army shirt that I have, some green pants, and a toy rifle from the toy box. I can certainly get into celebrating Halloween on the cheap. Plus, I think their decision to throw together costumes indicates that the kids are more focused on having fun than on what they wear. "Just get me any old costume so I can get out there and grab me some candy!" I like that. I'm still not a big Halloween celebrator, but its hard not to get caught up a little in the kids' excitement over the costumes, the decorations, and the trick-or-treating. The allure of the holiday for Ian, Emma, and Zoe will probably wane over the years, so I should enjoy their excitement now. posted by Brendan | 1:14 PM | permanent link
Hmmm. . . . Deli Creations  I know that the amount of wasteful packaging that goes into this product is probably a sin against the environment and the amount of sodium (around 1400mg) per sandwich is probably a sin against my body, but I don't care. I loves me the Oscar Meyer Deli Creations.All the fixin's for good-sized sandwich that you put together yourself and then warm up nicely in the microwave without the bread getting soggy. Heather buys them for me every once and a while. She calls them "Adult Lunchables". Oscar Mayer makes five different kinds. I've had three of them: Turkey Monterey, Honey Ham & Swiss, and Steakhouse Cheddar. My favorite so far has probably been the Turkey Monterey. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:22 PM | permanent link
Today's Moment of Zen  Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:44 PM | permanent link
Lovin' The Land of the Cleves  In my thirty-five short years, I�ve lived in two major metropolitan areas: Chicago and ClevelandBeing in Chicago is great and I know economically Cleveland is still struggling to regain some of what it had in the past, but I can�t help but notice some compelling reasons for becoming a Clevelander again. One: Cleveland Indians � The teams current run against the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS reminds me of the great string of Indians teams from 1995 through 2000 that coincided with when Heather and I were living in Cleveland. There was so much excitement in the city when those late-1990�s Indians teams were winning division crowns and going to World Series. It was a fantastic time to be in Cleveland. During the playoffs, and especially during their two World Series appearances, I had this sense that every house in Cleveland had a TV tuned to the game. When something big would happen I swear I could hear a roar go up across the city. I miss that kind of excitement. I�m still a fan of the Tribe because of my time in Cleveland, and I�m watching and pulling for them to pull it out against the Red Sox.  Two: Polish Boy sandwiches � this combination of sausage topped with barbecue sauce, French fries, and cole slaw piled high in a thick roll has to be eaten to be appreciated. It is a one of a kind taste that I have never been able to locate anywhere other than in Cleveland, and I miss it something fierce. The need to taste one of these belly-busting sandwiches again is almost reason enough to justify a trip to Cleveland.Three: Dick Goddard � People talk about the Power of Skilling here in Chicago. But WGN�s weather dude Tom Skilling can't hold a barometer to Dick Goddard when it comes to pure weatherman charisma. The Cult of Goddard is amazing. Four: Cleveland Browns � QB Derek Anderson seems to be answer for the team right now, leading the team to three straight home wins and they�ve got Brady Quinn waiting in the wings. The Browns have struggled since returning in 1999, but it certainly seems like they are an exciting group to watch now.  Wish I could say the same thing about the Bears, whose defense looked like a high school squad on Sunday against the Vikings. Chicago loves the Bears, but I never experienced a town being in love with a pro team like the relationship native Clevelanders have with the Browns. It really is like a religion. Five: Dennis Kucinich � Yes, I think this perennial Presidential candidate pretender is a goofy little elf with a personality flakier than Jerry �Moonbeam� Brown, but the dude knows how to do two things right. First, He knows how to poke fun at himself. Just take a look at his appearance on last night�s Colbert Report. That was funny Second, he knows how to land himself a wife. I don�t know how a munchkin like Kucinich convinces a woman nearly twenty-five years younger � and about eight inches taller � to put on a marriage band, but he did. And I�ve got to give the guy credit. Sure, you don�t have to be in Cleveland to marvel at the Kucinich wackiness, I just think it would help. At the very least the local news coverage would bring another surreal layer to enjoying the Kucinich mystique. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 11:10 PM | permanent link
Today's Moment of Zen  Can you feel it? Labels: General posted by Brendan | 12:48 PM | permanent link
Is Autumn Finally Here? 37 days after the unofficial end of Summer (Labor Day) 17 days after the official start of Autumn (September 23) 10 days into the month of October The weather in Chicago finally seems to match the season and this comic book cover.  Labels: General posted by Brendan | 1:12 PM | permanent link
Ain't It The Truth Found this artivle on Editor & Publisher: NEW YORK A new Gallup poll reveals that, as the organization puts it, Americans now "express less trust in the federal government than at any point in the past decade, and trust in many federal government institutions is now lower than it was during the Watergate era, generally recognized as the low point in American history for trust in government."The poll results reflect my own feelings. What do you do to fix something like this? Labels: General posted by Brendan | 8:17 PM | permanent link
It's in the Air When I left for work this morning it was a balmy 45 degrees outside. The air was cold and crisp. No frost on the ground yet, but I can feel where we are headed.  Autumn is my favorite time of the year. Gone are the extended hours of daylight and the searing heat of summer. The days are shorter, the nights darker, and the crisp air outside has a nice kick to it. Meanwhile, the trees and bushes provide the outdoors a colorful makeover. Apple are ready to be picked from trees, football starts up, and the fireplace in the family room starts begging us to toss some logs into it. I find it all so much more relaxing than spring or summer.Labels: General posted by Brendan | 8:06 AM | permanent link
Why The Dollar Coin May Never Catch On  I went to CVS to pick myself up an afternoon snicky-snack.Paid for my stuff with a gift card nearing $0.00 and a dollar bill to bridge the difference. The change was to be $0.44 and the clerk handed me some coins that felt about right. But I didn't look at them until I was out of the store and walking back up to my office. Glancing down into my palm where the coins sat clustered together I saw a dime, a nickel, a bunch of pennies, and a gold coin. She had mistaken a George Washington dollar coin for a quarter, and used it for my change. I had a $1.19 in my hand. Not $0.44. CVS had just paid me to take items out of their store. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 4:34 PM | permanent link
Our Spider the Maverick Architect  Last Sunday morning it was my turn to get up with the kids so Heather could sleep in. When I yanked up the blinds covering one of the windows in the family room, I was surprised to see a monstrous spiderweb suspended in front of the glass.The web was huge. It was attached to the fire place chimney on one side, and presumably the roof and the ground on the other side. I�m still not sure how the spider built it. The web seemed to be floating a foot and half away from our house � supported only by the webs connection to the chimney. The spider was sitting in the middle of the web � and he was as big as you would expect based on the size of the web. I grab our digital camera and rushed outside to snap some pictures.  I was kinda wild. I could walk around three sides of the web. I took photos on the front, back, and one side of the web. It�s kind hard to see the web against the light color of our house, but it was large.While photographing the spider, I saw a fly become ensnared in the web and watched the spider pounce. It is remarkable how fast that spider moved. In a fraction of a second it was on the fly and began covering it in silk. I tried filming a little digital video, but I couldn�t get it focused fast enough. He was moving fast. The next day the web was completely gone. It was like the spider and his web had never been there. A few days later we found the spider again on a new web. This time he had suspended the web from our gutters, anchoring the web to the ground by attaching it to a single stone. However, the stone wasn't strong enough to counter the upward pull of the webbing, so the stone ended up being suspended about a foot in the air gently twirling about. It made the whole web a tab more precarious to traverse, but our spider didn't seem to mind. Labels: General posted by Brendan | 3:30 PM | permanent link |
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