Rainbow Sandals's Return Policy

I just saw the above photo on a friend's flickr photostream. I had heard that Rainbow Sandals come with a warranty. So, I looked it up to see if it were possible for her to return her sandals instead of throwing them away.

It looks like she won't be able to return them, but the return policy was humerous. So, I thought I would share it here.

RAINBOW® SANDALS will NOT Repair or Replace your sandals if they become defective as a result of any circumstances not involved in the manufacturing.

For Example:

- Bottom or Top Sole Wearing Through to Soft Colored Insert
- Motorcycle Kick-Pedal Gouges, etc.
- Skateboard Abuse
- Chewed Strap from Dog
- Ripped Rubber from Walking on Curbs, Jagged Rocks, and Coral
- Cuts, Slashes, Burns, etc.
- Torn Straps
- Excessive Abuse
- Cracked Rubber / Materials

Have you ever tried to return a pair of sandals with kick-pedal gouges?

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Tonight, we crashed a house warming party for a new neighbor. Well, actually he is Daniel and Mandy's new neighbor, but he's still pretty close to our house.

We met Lodge for the first time last year at the Lavin's Christmas party. All I remembered was that he played kickball and made a video about VMWare that won a contest. I wasn't sure to expect at his party that we were crashing, but it turned out to be awesome with a capital awesome.

There was some good food, some beer, and lots of interesting people. We ate. We watched a movie outside. And, we got to enjoy a concert by Ben and Lodge. Two of the best songs were Enchilada and On Purpose.

As great as the entertainment was, the people were even better. The Lavins and the Morrises were there, who we already knew, but I met several new people.

Here's a list of the new people I met:

• Allen Emory, who until recently was the president of the Triangle Mac Users Group. You can follow him on Twitter @LQQK


• Kaci and Katie of acroentertainment.com. It turns out that Kaci went to high scholl with my sister, Capri.


• Walden of engineeredpoetry.com.


• Jess, who is a specialist at the Apple Store at Crabtree Valley Mall. She doesn't have a blog and doesn't twitter, but you can be her friend on Facebook.


• Paul Miller of varietyartsblog.com.


• Brian of theweborganic.net. He is the star of the VMWare video. You can follow him on twitter @bmbouter.

It was a great night of networking.

Wanted: Child Entertainer

No, we are not looking for those guys. We are looking for a babysitter for Saturday evening. We have a wedding to go to for the third Saturday in a row and we need someone to watch Palmer for the evening.

Let me know if you are interested.

Vacation

We are about to leave for the beach. We will be down in Carolina Beach from Sunday to Sunday. Our condo doesn't have wireless internet. I'm not sure how I'll survive.

I plan to read and ride my bike some, but probably not at the same time. I am also going to work on my Ragamuffin Top Challenge video for this past week and get it up somehow.

Anyways, my internet access will be very limited this week. I'll miss you all.

Rad Tees

My friend Davo tagged this site recently on del.icio.us. There are a ton of awesome tees on there. This one is my personal favorite:



Which ones do you like?

When did it become summer time?

What the heck!?! It's so freakin' hot all of the sudden.

I'm glad we got our AC fixed last week.

Tragic Situation

This is a truly tragic situation.

Wow, God. It's hard to see the good in this. I can't even imagine going through something like this. I'm not even sure how to pray about something like this. God, I pray that this family will somehow be able to experience your grace and love, right now.

If you're the praying kind, or even if you're not, pray for this family.

ht: Carlos

Twitter

You may have noticed that recently, I have hit a lull in my blogging.

There are a few contributing factors to this. One, I have a ten month old son1. Two, I have a wife, who, coincidentally, also has a ten month old son. Three, I have a job, which has recently become very time and energy consuming.

So, here's how the math goes, for good or bad. I have been spending more time and energy on work stuff, which means I have less energy when I get home, but I have a family, which I love more than I love to blog. Therefore, my energy has been directed towards my wife and my son, and thus not toward my blog.

I have, however, found another way to keep the world up to date with the goings on of my life. A week, or so, ago I signed up for a Twitter account. For me, Twitter is in the realm of away messages on AIM, or text messages. Twitter allows users to provide updates of 140 characters or less. So, in a time when I am low on time and energy, Twitter's character limit provides a way for me to share without having to put together a thought through post.

Twitter has some great features that make it even more appealing to me. My Facebook status is now updated every time I "tweet". That's what the cool kids call it when you post an update. Also, I can link my gchat account to my Twiiter account, and I can post to Twitter by sending an IM.

All of that is to say that I am miss blogging, but I have found an outlet in Twitter. So, you should follow me on Twitter. Better yet, you should sign-up, and I'll follow you.

1. backFor those who are unaware, children becoming increasing more difficult to contain and entertain. Our Son can now crawl to , pull-up on, and shimmy across anything that is three feet and below.

Traffic Survey Follow-up

About a week and a half ago, I put out my traffic survey to try and determine what kind of drivers you all were.

Probably the most interesting comment in the bunch was Amanda's comment that made it seem like it is impossible to survive as a #2 in NC. This was most interesting because other people made NC out to be a safer environment for #2's, as compared to LA. So, I guess it comes down to point of reference.

Percentage of #1's in LA > Percentage of #1's in NC > Percentage of #1's in Ohio

Here are a few charts that give you a picture of the kind of drivers that read, and are willing to comment on, my blog. The "Line Walkers" are people that claimed one side, but admitted tendencies on the other side. I was in the #2/#1 camp, though I am rarely on the #1 side; pretty much only when I am feeling like Ricky Bobby and want to go fast.




I was a little disappointed that I didn't find anything super insightful in the data. Maybe you can come up with something better. Let me know if you do.

When were you born?

Last night, Erin asked me what time I was born. She was somewhat shocked that I didn't know. I sort of thought just remembering the day was enough. Dana suggested that knowing the exact time allows you to count down to the actual time you were born and celebrate then.

So, my question is who actually knows the exact time they were born?

Consider this yet another survey. Please respond and let me know when your birthday is, and if you know your "birthtime", post that, too.

Warning: Posting your birthday on this blog may result in you receiving an email from me that says, "Happy Birthday", on the date you enter.

Today was a good day...

Today was my birthday. In general, I don't get excited about birthdays, but today, birthday or not, was a really good day.

I think it all started on Wednesday night1. I went to bed at a decent time. Before going to sleep, I read a little. Then, I had a good conversation with my wife. Then, I turned out the light and went to sleep while it was still Wednesday, i.e. before midnight2.

I have decided to start waking up earlier3 in an attempt to spend more time with Palmer, which in turn helps my wife get her day off on the right foot4. So, I got up right when the alarm went off. Kim, who was not super excited about the idea of the radio blaring at 7:15AM, wasn't fazed. She didn't even know the alarm had went off.

I got up, checked my email, listened to an Andy Stanley podcast and did some reading. I wanted to fit in some blogging, but there just wasn't time. Then, I got Palmer up, I fed him, changed him, and got him dressed for his day. I then passed Palmer off to mommy, hopped in the shower, and shortly after, headed off to work.

Work was work. Nothing super exciting happened there. I did go to lunch with some guys and they all chipped and paid for mine, which was nice.

After work I came home for a few minutes before we jumped back in the car to head out to dinner. In the short time I was at home, I got a card from Kim's parents (Thanks for the gift card!) and a gift from Kim. Did I mention that my wife is awesome?

Kim knows I am not into birthdays, but she is, so she got me a gift anyhow. She made me this great card, one because she is creative and does things like that and two because she knows that I am not a fan of paying $3-4 for a piece of paper, i.e. a card.

The gift she got me was white undershirts and socks. I need the socks, the ones I have are well past their prime, and I tell Kim that the undershirts I have are "broken in", but she just sees them as holey. So, now, I have some non-holey undershirts and some new socks. She also included two get out of jail, I mean... the house, free cards.

She created these two gift cards that are each redeemable for a round of golf whenever I want. I've been telling her that I want to get out and play some golf, but that I feel bad leaving her with Palmer for five hours while I am out chasing a little white ball into the woods. She's great.

For dinner, we invited all of our friends to meet us at Chipotle. We ended up with about nineteen people there. It was great food mixed with great company.

After dinner, Kim and I came home, got Palmer in the bad and then snuggled up on the couch to watch Lost and the Biggest Loser. Then, we headed off to bed, again at a decent time.

It was a really good day. Thanks to everyone that took part in it.

1. back I once read that the Jews look at the time you go to bed as the start of your day. That's why their fasts last from sundown to sundown and not sunup to sunup. The idea is that the sleep you get the night before has a huge effect on your day ahead.


2. back "Before midnight" may not sound like a "decent time" to you, but it's a rare occasion when I lay down to go to sleep before midnight.


3. back I used to not set my alarm and I let Palmer be the alarm, but he must have had the same kind of idea because neither one of us have been waking up before 8AM. The new plan is to set the alarm for 7:15AM.


4. back ...or left, which ever is a good one that day.

Asking for Forgiveness vs. Asking for Permission: A Traffic Study

While carpooling in traffic, you have time to take in a lot of observations. Recently, I have started noticing the different ways in which people use their turn signals. I'm sure they could be described better, but here are the two main ways I see turn signs used in traffic...

1. "By the way, I'm coming over."
   These are the people that when they are ready to move over, they see a gap in the other lane, and as they merge, they throw on their turn signal as to say, "By the way, I'm coming over." These people can be seen checking their blind spot every half second as they prepare to make their move. Then, they either speed up or hit the brakes to get their car in line with the gap and when the space is there, they move in for the kill, throwing their turn signal on as an after thought. This is generally followed by a courtesy hand wave that to me says, "Please forgive me."


2. "I'd like to come over, please."
   These are the people that know they want to get over, so they put on their signal well in advance of when they are actually merging, and wait for the people in the other lane to back off and make room. These people may even slow down a little to let other cars pass them as they wait for the person that is going to make room for them to move over. Once in the new lane, this person will also gives the courtesy hand wave, but this time it is to say "Thank you." At some point, soon after merging, this person will turn off their signal.

These are definitely over simplifications, but they cover a lot of people. I know this because I have ridden with many of you.

Now, I'd like to perform a very non-scientific experiment1. I'd like you all to respond and declare your allegiance to the group you feel best represents you on the road.

So, which are you?

1. back After a few days I'll follow up with the findings. I work at an analytics company, this is what we are known for. Well, analytics and intramural sports.

Guys Weekend: Saturday Recap

Palmer woke up around 4AM on Saturday. Kim was sick all week and by the end of the week, Palmer had caught the bug. He woke up coughing and the coughing led to crying. I tried propping him up, so as to allow the sinus drainage to drain down his throat and not sit in his sinuses. Unfortunately, they are not selling infant cold medicine any more. So, this is the only advice our pediatrician had for us.

Well doc, that didn't work early Saturday morning. I ended up having Palmer sleep in the bed with me where I could prop him him on pillows and hold him close to comfort him when he would start crying. This is something "they" say you shouldn't do, but Palmer and I both survived and got a little sleep, too.

Saturday morning, after some breakfast, Palmer and I headed to the gym for some basketball. I brought the pack-n-play along to contain Palmer, as he is becoming more mobile. I can't say that he was happy about being there, but he did okay. The guys joked about my parenting when I put the pack-n-play in the office and turned out the light, but it was time for a nap.

After basketball, we came home and we both took a needed nap. Palmer slept for three hours, but I only slept for about one. While he was sleeping, I took the time to paint the ceiling in our downstairs bathroom, one of the many items on my "honey do" list.

Saturday night, Palmer, Jeramie, and I went over to Mike Baumann's house to hang out since his wife, Amanda, had gone out of town for the weekend, too. Mike had made some of his award winning chili and wanted us to come help him eat it. The chili was awesome. It really was award winning. He said he won the "people's choice" award at a chili cook off last year.

After chili, we decided to play a game of Risk. NOTE: Risk takes a long time to play. We ended up quitting the game at midnight with no clear winner. It was a lot of fun, but it was time to go home.

Palmer slept and coughed again in my bed on Saturday night. However, there was more coughing than sleeping.

Guys Weekend: Friday Night Recap

Last night Jeramie and Matt Rowe came over to join in with Palmer and me for our guys weekend. We started off with a well rounded meal of some leftover box lunches from Matt's work (Roast Beef and Chicken Salad Sandwiches), a can of soup, a box of Oven Crispy Popcorn Shrimp, and we finished it off with some White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies. Who needs vegetables anyway? Palmer did eat come Sweet Potatoes.

Then, we pretty much sat around with the TV on. We made lots of jokes, laughed a lot, and talked about random things. We all have similar humor styles; lots of sarcasm and jabs at one another (typical guy stuff). We did watch Jeopardy to make sure we got some educational television in there. Other than that, Matt caught up on the last two weeks of Lost and we found out who got kicked off American Idol.

The one thing that we watched that was not on the DVR was probably the most entertaining. It was a 20/20 segment titled 'What would you do?'. I'm going to follow up this post with one just on that. So, hold tight.

I put Palmer down for bed around nine, and then our party moved upstairs to the office/den/room where the computer is located. Matt showed us the most recent plans he has found for the house he is going to build after he rips down his current house. We discussed where Kim, Palmer and I would live in this house because he thinks he would need renters to cover part of the mortgage in the beginning. The also discussed a lot of 'green' modifications he could make for this new house, like using a geothermal heat pump.

I guess I should let Kim know that the Rowes are going to live in our extra bedroom while their new house is being built and that we all are going to move into that new house together. NOTE: This is not true... well... at least it's not finalized. If you know Matt Rowe, you know that doesn't commit quickly and saying that he wants to do this and doing it are two different things. Do I think he will rip down his house? Yes. When? Who knows?!?

We had a great time. Matt and Jeramie headed home around mid-night and after watching the Biggest Loser from Tuesday, I went to bed. too.

Best of Craigslist

I may be late to the party on this, but craigslist has implemented a "best of" feature. When you are viewing an ad, you can flag it as "Best of Craigslist". If enough people flag the ad, it's listed on the "best of" page. There are some great ads there. A few of my favorites have been: To the person who broke into my car last night and Things I've learned.

Reuniting... Or, is it Reunionizing

I graduated from Eastern Alamance high school in 1998. Now, ten years later I am involved in planning our first reunion. Last Friday we had our first official planning meeting. There were about ten of us there. We met at an Italian restaurant in Alamance county for dinner and discussion.

When I got there, I realized that I had not talked to any of the other "party planning committee" members in about eight years. Things were a little awkward at first. So, after making the statement, "Well, this is awkward.", I suggested we go around the table and give a basic update, e.g. where we live, if we are married, if we have kids, etc.. I purposely tried to stay away from the "What do you do?" question, mainly because I don't like to be defined by my job.

I quickly found out that I was the only person that does not live in Alamance County. Some of them had left at some point to go to college, but they all had ended up back in the A-Co. Though I tried to avoid the "what do you do" discussion, nearly everyone gave their current occupation. It was great to hear what had been going on in everyone's lives. That's the main reason I want to go to the reunion.

So, everyone else had given their run down, and someone asked me, "Shannon what have you been up to?" Before I could answer, Marsha1 piped up and said, "Saving the World... at least that's what Leslie said." It was awesome. I was so proud of my little sister.

This gave me an opportunity to talk to them about a few of the things that we are doing at Visio Dei. Hopefully, the future provide more chances to talk to them about these things. It would be amazing if I could some of them involved in my well drilling project, or something else.

1. back I have a younger sister, Leslie. Leslie has a friend, Morgan. Morgan has a sister, Marsha. Occasionally, Leslie and Morgan hangout at Marsha's house. I graduated high school with Marsha. Marsha was at the meeting.

It's Cold

The weather widget on my dashboard says it is 22°F. Maybe it is the left over snow lingering on the lawn, but it seems colder than that. Tonight, when I tried to get into my car to head home after the NFC Championship viewing party at the Gore-Ramsey Mansion, my door was frozen shut. Now, that is cold. I had to reach across from the passenger side and push it open.

Speaking of cold and the NFC Championship game, those people are insane. If you didn't see it, throughout the game, they kept the viewers up to date with the temperature in Green Bay. At one point it was -4°F with a wind chill of -24°F. That's real cold. At what point does it become dangerous to be outside in the cold?

Congrats to Kevin and Pec, the only two Giants fans I know. Tough break to Jeff, I was pulling for the Packers, even though I don't think I am supposed to given my status as a Bears fan.

Father's Day Gift Six Months in the Making

Our son Palmer was born a month early, he due date was July 2, 2007, but he decided to make his appearance a little early. Honestly, it was a lot early; a whole month early. He was born on June 2, 2007. I'm not sure where he got the idea to be early from something. His parents are rarely early for anything, and we're usually not even on time, but late.

Palmer's early arrival meant that I got to celebrate Father's day in 2007. However, anyone that has ever had a child could tell you that mother's of two week olds are not really in the mood to celebrate father's of two week olds. Kim got me a card and a framed picture from Hallmark, but the gift she really wanted to give me would have to wait.

Over the past several months, my wife has worked diligently to make sure that all of Palmer's needs are met. His nutritional, developmental, and emotional needs. She is a trooper. I try to do my part, but she is there all day everyday. She's on the front lines of battling poopy diapers, incessant crying, and an ever hungry baby.

I don't want to paint an inaccurate picture because it is not all bad, or even mostly bad. She'd tell you that the good far out weighs the bad. There are days when you just can't get enough of him, but there are other days when you can't stand anymore of him. I guess that's called being a parent?!?

So, back on topic. So, Kim has been working really hard since Palmer was born, but when she has found time, she has been working on my Father's Day gift. She has always been creative, but for the most part, outside of coloring in coloring books with our nephew, she hasn't had a way to put that creativity to use. However, for Father's Day she wanted to create a scrapbook for me, documenting mine and Palmer's relationship.

It was her first attempt at scrap booking and she did awesome. The pages look really cool. The pictures look great with the text, and she added all these stickers on there that say things like "Top Pop". I wish there were a way to show it off on here. If you come by the house, I'll probably show it to you.

My wife is super. She is an amazing woman. Thanks for the scrapbook, dear.

And We're Back

Earlier today my domain expired and I thought kimandshannon.com had gone bye-bye, but thanks to the fine folks at SimpleURL, we're back online and better than ever. Well, really we're just the same as normal, but you get the point.

More posts to come soon.

Lunchtime Adventures

The other day, I went with Daniel to the bank during lunch. I didn't have any business at the bank, but my afternoons always feel shorter when I make it out of my office for a while at lunch.

After conducting his business at the bank, Daniel and I headed down Walnut Street towards downtown Cary. As we approached the end of Walnut, where it intersects Kildaire Farm Road, we passed by the Walnut Street Church of Christ, or more aptly, we passed by where the Walnut Street Church of Christ meets.

Why the clarification? Well, obviously, their entire church community wasn't standing on the side of the road, but more interestingly, it was written right on their sign. Check out the link. Their sign actually says "Church of Christ" on one line and directly below it it says, "MEETS HERE".

I thought that was incredible. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn't have my camera with me. Lucky for me though, they put a picture of it on their web site. Now, I can show you all. I also like the statement of who they are on the right side of the home page.

For lunch, Daniel and I decided to stop by the Ashworth Drug Store1. Ashworth is an old school drug store with a soda shoppe style counter in the back. You can get grill food, like hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches, as well as root beer floats, malts, milkshakes, and such.

It turns out that Daniel and I picked the right day to stop by. On Wednesdays and Saturdays you can get two hot dogs for $2.25. It's probably not as cheap as it was back in the day, but lunch for less than three bucks is hard to beat.

After lunch, we went back to work, which isn't nearly as exciting, but one can only have so much excitement in a single day.

1. back Wow, their site is cheesy.

Happy New Year

I just got around to taking the pictures from New Years Eve off my camera and putting them on my computer. I took this video as we counted down the seconds to January 1, 2008, which happens to not only be New Years Day, but it' was also Bobbi Jo Ramsey's 30th birthday. If you listen real closely, you can hear some people scream Happy Birthday and not Happy New Years.

We had a great time at the party. I'm glad we got to ring in the new year with so many great friends.

Help a brotha out...

My friend Matt has moved to Pennsylvania, but he still needs to rent out his condo here in Raleigh. It's a super sweet place in an awesome location. If you are into the downtown scene and you are looking for a place to live, this is a place you should check out.

You can see his Craig's List add here.

Big Brother is Watching

The other night, I set up a web stats site to monitor traffic on my blog. At first I just wondered how many people visit my blog on an average day, but now I am intrigued by all the other data that's gathered.

If you clicked on a link on another page to get to my blog I can see that. For example, someone in Roanoke gets to my blog via a link on Corey's blog. I get other traffic from Jason's blog, Jeramie's blog and one hit from Rebecca's blog.

Another cool thing is that I can see what keywords lead someone to my blog. For example, I now know that if you search for "shannon smith" in google my blog turns up at the bottom of the first page. You can also search for rob bell nooma clips, nooma critics, or do i follow my heart and not my head and you get a link to my blog.

I can also see what browser people use to view my blog. I am proud to say that Firefox is at the top of the list, followed by IE7, IE6, and Safari comes in at a disappointing fourth. Safari is most likely at the bottom because all my mac owning friends are also Google Reader users and those views are not calculated.

The last cool thing that I'll mention is that I can see where people are that are visiting my blog. 95% of my visitors have been from the US, but I have had one from South Africa, one from Germany, some from the UK, and some from Canada.

Oddly most of my international visitors have hit the same page, which is found by searching for baby's mama on google images. My beautiful bride's picture is the second image that comes up. She beats out Paris Hilton, Matt Leinart's baby's mama, and Shenelle(Jay Z's baby's mama).

So, I just thought I would let you know that even though you do not leave comments, I know you are out there. I felt I had a moral obligation to let you know that Big Brother is watching you.

I saw snow.

This afternoon when I was going into the library I was surprised to see tiny snowflakes drifting towards the ground. I stopped for a moment to take it in. They were barely visible, but they were there. Oh, how I hope that we see much more of that this winter.

Next time I'll just drive it there...

People often complain about government agencies. No one celebrates when they have to go to the DMV. The term going postal does not bring about thoughts of puffy clouds, rainbows, and bunnies.

I generally don't like to complain. So, I am going to try to offer a solution to what I see as a deficiency in a system. In my opinion, the problem with going to places like the DMV and the Post Office is a lack of knowledge, or ignorance.

Take, for example, my trip to the post office today. I went into the Post Office to mail some books to a friend in Florida. I enter the Post Office with my box of books unsealed. I walk by the line of seven people and go over to the counter where the labels are. I see words like priority, first class, express, certified, etc.. I take my best guess and pick up a priority label and put my address and the destination address on it. Then, I proceed to take my place at the back of the line, which is still about seven people long.

While standing in line, I notice that they have tape for sale. Assuming that they are going to want me to buy the tape to seal my box, I pick up a roll and carry it with me. When it was my turn I took my box, my label, and my tape to the counter. I attempted to be as pleasant as possible with the attendant. The sentiment was not returned.

I informed her that I would like to send this box of books to the address on this label. She asked me if I wanted to send the box Priority. I told her I was unsure because I didn't know what that meant. She told me I had three choices: Over Night, which is self explanatory, Priority, which means 2-3 business days, or "Regular" Mail, which is 5-7 days. I say that I am in no big hurry and I choose "Regular". At this point she throws away my label. "You can't use this for regular mail. You'll need to buy a label or write the information on the box, and seal it up." I had assumed they would want to see that I had not enclosed any narcotics, human hands, or aerosol cans in my box before I sealed it up. I was wrong.

So, I go back over to the label counter and tape up my box. Then, I write "To: Michelle From: Kim" on the box. In similar fashion to a Christmas label. Then, I go back to wait in line, it was still about seven people long, though by this point it was an entirely different seven people.

This time when I get to the front of the line, I am called over by another USPS employee. I tell him that I would like to send this box via "Regular Mail" and that I also need to pay for a roll of tape. He proceeds to pull out a Priority Mail label and tells me that I will need to fill this out. I couldn't help but laugh. I told him that I had done that and the other lady threw it away and had told me to write the addresses on the box and I pointed them out, just in case he had not seen the large letters. Then, he told me I had done it wrong.

Wrong?!? Again I point to the addresses. I point to where I had labeled each addresses and say I want it to go "From:" here and "To:" here. Well, evidently they have a magic machine or a genius monkey in the back that reads addresses in search of zip codes and the first one it/he comes to is aways selected as the from and the second is always the to.

In the end, as my charming personality was quickly waning and the line had backed up to more than the required seven people, he gave me one of the labels that I would have otherwise been required to purchase, and he marked out my original writing on the box with his Sharpie.

Maybe Michelle will get her books. May they will show up at my house. I honestly can't say for sure.

Like I said in the beginning, I don't just want to vent about how ridiculous the system is at the USPS. I also don't want place any blame on the USPS employees. Aside from them seeming to be having bad days, the only thing they did wrong was that they assumed I knew as much as they did, or anything at all, about how to mail a box of books from North Carolina to Florida.

So, my suggestion for the USPS is to install a kiosk in the lobby that would allow me to avoid waiting in line twice and still having done something wrong when trying to mail my package. Let me walk up with my package, touch a screen, and answer some questions like what type of mail service I want to use (with an explanation of the services available), where I want to send the package, and what my address is. Then, the correct label will be printed and the screen would give me further instructions like seal your box, attach your label, and get in line. Then, I just have to wait in line hand them my box, they weigh it and I pay them.

I either need them to do that, or I need them to raise the price of stamps by a penny and get another one of those genius monkeys and have him sit in the lobby to show me what to do.

Goals for 2008

These are sort of like New Years Resolutions, but they are not things that I hope to change about myself beginning today. They are things that I want to accomplish or do in the next 365 days. I plan to write them here so that I can come back later to see how I am doing and come back at the end of the year to give myself a final grade.

Here's what I have so far, in no particular order...

• Weigh no more on December 31 than I do on January 1. I weighed myself tonight and I came in at 226.5. That's more than I have ever weighed.


• Travel to state that I have never been to before.


• Pay off my Circuit City bill (~$1000 (TV))


• Pay off my Capital One bill (~$2600)


• Raise money to fund drilling a well in Africa. All of it.


• Get a library card. (✓ 1-2-2008)


• Read books written by MLK, Jr.. He was an incredible man.
  
  • Measure of a Man (✓ 1-2-2008)
  
  


• Learn more about Gandhi and St. Augustine.


• Read the New Testament


• Build Palmer a toy chest


• Do not drink any bottled water.


• Take more time to pray. I almost put make time, but the time is already there. I just have to choose to do it.


• See a therapist (...if it's cheap with my insurance). I don't think there is anything wrong with me, which probably means that there is. I'll let someone else decide.


• Work more while I am at work. That's what they pay me for. I should make sure they get their money's worth.

There are probably more that I will add, but that is what I have come up with so far.

What are your goals for 2008?

Super Powers

Recently, I started watching Heroes on NBC. They have a contest going on right now where you can submit a super power that you think a character should have and if you win, they will put your character on the show.

This got me to thinking, not necessarily about what power I would like to see on the show, but more about what power I would like to have if I could have one. I came up with this one... I would like to have the ability not to need to sleep.

I don't want the curse of not being able to sleep. I just want it to be a power I can turn off and on. I love napping on the couch on Sunday afternoons whilst watching golf or football, but I am often annoyed by the need to sleep during the week when I have things that I want/need to get done. I don't think my super power would make for good TV, but it could come in handy.

So, my question to you is... What power would you choose?


NOTES:
* I realize that I only want this power because I am over committed and I have not set healthy limits for myself. Maybe I need someone to repeatedly tell me, "You don't have to live this way."

* I'm assuming you don't already have any super powers. If I am mistaken, you can just tell us which you already possess, but you can't take any more. That would just be greedy. Maybe you could trade with someone like a White Elephant gift exchange.

Cornbread

Often when I walk through the aisles of the grocery store with Kim, I am drawn to yellow, grainy substance found somewhere between the flour and the sugar, better known as cornmeal. I think, "I really like cornbread. I should buy some of that stuff and try to make some cornbread." Recently, I took the plunge and I actually bought some cornmeal.

The package I bought was labeled "Old Time Stone Ground Cornmeal". I have this picture in my head of an old man making a donkey walk around in circles to turn a huge stone wheel that is crushing corn into bits. There's a good chance that my cornmeal did not come from a manufacturing process like that given that I paid less than a dollar for the entire package. There's also a good chance that the image of the donkey pulling the stone wheel comes from the House-Autry commercials they show on the jumbotron at Carter-Finley.

So, for those of you that stuck with me, here's my point. I have followed the directions on the cornmeal package twice, and both times I have been disappointed in the resulting cornbread. I'm not sure what is wrong with it, but it just not all that good. So, I am looking for some tips on cornbread making. I realize that the majority of the people that read my blog are not making cornbread on a regular basis, nor do they particularly care about reading about someone making cornbread, but you all have mom's or grandma's that have probably made some delicious cornbread. So, if you don't have any advice, ask them and get back to me.

In the meantime, here's a pretty funny video about cornbread.

Cornbread Samurai


NOTE: The guys that made this video are from Wilmington, NC.

Professional Eater

Last night, I ruined my status an amateur eater.

We went to South Point Mall to meet the Rowes. Matt had to go there to participate in a survey. This means he comes in and gives his opinion and they give him cash.

Well, when we got there, we found that Traci had decided to participate in a different survey. She had to give her opinion on a Boston Market frozen dinner, for which she would be given $5. As we sit in the waiting room, Traci yells from the back that we should do a survey, too.

This prompted an older Eastern European lady into action. My guess is that she gets paid to get people to fill out surveys, and Traci just made her job easy. Only one person per household was allowed to participate in the frozen dinner survey. Kim was completely okay with letting me be their guinea pig. She's not quite as adventurous as I am, and honestly we did not know what we were getting into.

So, Kim and I go into this room with Lisa, the survey administrator with the thick accent. She begins to ask me questions and it is determined that I will try a Boston Market Salisbury Steak frozen dinner and give my opinions about.

I had to answer questions beforehand, cook the meal, eat it, and answer questions afterward. So, what it boils down to is that I got a free meal, which was really good, and I got paid five bucks to eat it. That is a pretty good gig. Too bad I can't participate in those amateur eating contests anymore.

Once upon a time...

Several months ago, I was semi-forced into doing some cleaning at my house. This was not the kind of cleaning where you pick up around the house and vacuum, but the type of cleaning where you have to open the closet, see all the junk you have accumulated, and then you have to do something about the mess that you have been hiding behind those doors.

In my cleaning, I found my five gallon water bottle that I had used to collect change, back when I was a server/bartender1. The water jug was about 1/4 full. Later, I poured all the change out onto the floor and pulled out all the quarters. The quarters alone totaled close to $200.

The joy of counting my loot quickly faded when I moved from sorting the quarters to sorting the other denominations. It was at this point that I had the idea that I should donate the rest of my change to something. I had the clever, if not corny, thought that my change could help change the world. I wasn't quite sure where, or to what cause, I was going to donate my change, but I did have a plan for possibly gaining more change while I tried to come up with a good destination for these coins that so longed to get back in to circulation.

I took the water jug, which was now somewhere near 3/16 full, to the Visio Dei building. I sat it next to the coffee dispensers2. My hope was that people would see the change jar next to the coffee and drop in whatever change they had in their pocket, sort of in exchange for the coffee. I put an extremely ambiguous sign on the jar that said something like Change: It's What's For Dinner. Sorry, wrong marketing campaign. It said Change: To cause to be different. I had found that definition on the internet and thought it was as good as anything else to put on the water jug as a label.

The jar set there for a few months. Every time I would come to the building, I would make it a point to bring change in and I would add it to the jar. I'm not sure anyone else ever added anything to the jar on their own accord. Jason would add stuff to it when I was around. I think he wanted to support me and my unknown cause, or maybe he just pitied me. Either way, he added to the funds.

This abruptly ends chapter one of my story.

1. back Since leaving the food service industry and entering a nearly cashless existence, my water jug had been neglected and left to live a sad life in the bottom of a closet under old clothes, blankets, and boardgames. My uncovering of the water jug was a joy filled event. I was like a pirate that had just discovered his lost treasure.


2. back We serve coffee at our Sunday morning gatherings. We give it away.

Which is better...

So, in my last post, I talked about the new electric lawn mower. I was talking to a friend of mine and we got into a brief discussion about which is better the gas version or the electric version. I have thoughts on the matter, but I thought I would ask for your opinions.

So, what is the best type of lawn mower? The definition of "best" is open to interpretation.

New Toy

Well, it is more of a tool than a toy.

On Monday, a lady posted that she was giving away an electric lawn mower. She indicated that it had a small mechanical problem, but that it "sort of" worked. I told her I would take it. I figured I would look into fixing it, and if I couldn't, I would get rid of it.

I picked the mower up from her on Tuesday. She gave me a quick run down of how it works, how you charge it, and what was wrong with it. I loaded it up and drove it home. It looked like a nice mower, but I wasn't sure if the "broken" part would be something I could fix.

When I got home Kim helped me unload it. Once we had it out, we decided to give it a try. The thing started up on the first try. We were kind of shocked. We stopped it, and on the the second attempt it failed like the lady had described. It took me all of five seconds to see the problem, which is not really a problem. It is more of an annoyance, at best.

There is a lever on the right side of the handle that you must press down to start the mower. The mower cuts off when that lever comes back up. There is a second lever on the handle that you pull towards you before depressing the starter lever. This second lever is much like the gas lever on a typical mower.

So, here's the problem...

When you pull the one lever toward you and then depress the starter lever, there is a small piece that shifts over to block the starter lever from returning to its original off position while the second lever is engaged. When you let go of the second lever, the blocking piece shifts back to its original position and the starter lever is allowed to return to its off position. The "broken" part is that sometimes that blocking piece does not shift over into the blocking position. The solution... Jiggle the handle, while holding both levers down, until the blocking piece engages.

I was able to mow my entire yard and the thing never turned off once. As far as I can tell, there is nothing else wrong with the mower.

Someone mentioned that those mowers are usually pretty expensive. So, I looked it up online. I found that the mower I got for free sales for $400. When I told Kim that, she said, "Well, it looks like you got a good deal."

Does anyone have any experience with electric lawn mowers?

Seriously?

On the way home from the Not For Sale Campaign event tonight, I saw Christmas lights for the first time this year. Seriously folks. It is November 8th. We still have a major holiday to go before Christmas. Or, maybe those were Thanksgiving lights.