Continuing experimentation...

I've been trying some "experiments" for a couple of months now. The experiments are just for my own personal entertainment, nothing more, and therefore decidedly unscientific and not perfectly controlled. But I am enjoying myself making changes, trying new things, altering my habits, etc. For example, it's fun stepping on the scale every morning and noting the daily gain of about 1/2 pound. It's interesting buying the new (larger) belts, or keeping the tally sheet in my office of the number of flights of stairs that I climb each day, and maintaining my peak flow measurement log. A couple of people have commented on various effects they've noticed. Most observers consider the effects to be improvements in some way. We'll just have to wait and see. For now, however, I'm very dissatisfied with the apparent effects related to my change in diet, but I'm very, very pleased with the effects from some of the other 'treatments'. One in particular relates to the improvement in my asthma which seems to be associated with the burning of scented candles. This is one of several experiments in which I appear to be reacting in the exact opposite manner from that which would be expected based on medical science and conventional wisdom. I'm planning to continue the experiments for the foreseeable future just to see whether the effects are temporary flukes or bonafide long-term reactions. In fact, I'm seriously considering engaging in an experiment that might, just possibly, maybe, turn out to be somewhat dangerous, but since I seem to react opposite to most people, might generate some beneficial results in my case. It'll take several months to explore... As other bloggers say ... more later.

I want one!

Introducing.... the Pomgranate!

How much do you remember?

If your last name is different from mine, you can use Wikipedia. Otherwise, see if these questions bring back memories: 1. Which of the following trains uses the "Chunnel"? a. NMBS b. Thalys c. Eurostar d. DeLijn e. Thomas 2. The Carousel Pannekoeken huis in Amsterdam next to the canal boat dock serves: a. Ostrich patties b. Leonidas chocolates (but not from Sparta) c. Green tea with orange sherbet d. Pancakes, dry, with grated cheese and pieces of meat sprinkled on top e. Beer made out of ground-up newspapers 3. A "crocque monsieur" is: a. the sign on the caiman's cage in the Paris zoo. b. the nickname for an alligator, used by natives of New Orleans c. a tool used for extracting teeth from French dental patients d. a toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich e. a derogatory term, used by the French, referring to drivers of Italian automobiles 5. The famous "London Eye" is actually located in: a. Norway b. the lobby of the South Bend, Indiana, municipal airport c. the large intestine d. most European restrooms e. London 6. Every member of my immediate family has stayed in the Ibis, located 2 blocks from the entrance to the St. Mande station, on the Metro line that runs between: a. Cairo and Istanbul b. the Alamo and downtown St. Paul c. Paris and Vincennes d. Space Mountain and It's a Small World e. Fairbanks and Homer 7. The Battle of the Golden Spurs was fought between the French and the inhabitants of the picturesque medieval Flemish town which today is the location of: a. a chocolate museum, a huge belfry, the Basilica of the Holy Blood, the Lake of Love, and a beautiful beguinage b. Charlemagne's forearm, Pope Leo's stuffed miniature dachshund, and Napoleon's middle finger c. the original Smokey the Bear d. a statue of Spongebob Squarepants e. the studio where "Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast" is filmed 8. Henry VIII's hunting lodge, Bolebroke Castle, is located a few miles from: a. the Idaho state capital b. Poohstick's bridge c. the manufacturing plant that makes Toyota accelerator pedals d. Paradise Falls e. The River Po 9. Princess Diana, Lady Spencer, died in the Pont d'Alma Tunnel, almost directly underneath: a. the Sydney Opera House b. a small replica of the torch from the Statue of Liberty c. the penguin's cage in Madagascar d. Hogwarts admissions office e. Mt. Everest 10. The ubiquitous "DeLijn stops" can be found all over the place throughout: a. Tiger Woods' little black book b. the Milky Way c. Dr. Seuss books d. Flanders e. Disney DVD's 11. To a man in Europe, a "pissoire" on the street corner serves the same purpose as: a. a fire hydrant serves to a dog in New York City b. a pocketwatch serves to a train conductor c. a camera serves to Steve Spielberg d. a GPS e. an internet cafe 12. A "doner kebap" usually comes with: a. her own set of oil paints b. a broom c. a piano, a banjo, and a kazoo d. frites and looksaus e. a sincere apology 13. Which of the following is durn near impossible to find in Europe? a. a place where someone has used the bathroom on the sidewalk b. a long line of people waiting for something c. a lady sitting at a card table demanding 50-cent pieces from everyone who wants to use a public restroom d. Oreo cookies, graham crackers, oatmeal, and maple syrup e. dogs walking around inside department stores 14. The low birthrate in Europe is due primarily to: a. the prevalence of cobblestone streets combined with the widespread masochistic use of bicycles by the male population -- in a misguided effort to see who can be the most manly (and thus ends up being the least manly) b. a diet high in mussels fished from the North Sea c. attending church in cathedrals filled with 16th-century paintings of people wearing little or no clothing d. European bed design and construction, which in America has been adapted for use as picnic tables at interstate rest areas. e. the low popularity of deodorant among the European population 15. "Schloss Lembeck": a. is a beautifully maintained castle surrounded by a moat and gardens b. is German for "tiny dog wearing a red plaid sweater and too stupid to be embarrassed about it" c. is the proper reply when a Frenchman sneezes on you d. usually comes out after two or three launderings e. is something you buy at a German drugstore when you have a severe bout of constipation 16. "Carrefoure" is: a. an Olympic figure-skater from Switzerland b. a Belgian dish made with chocolate, mayonnaise, witloof, cheeseballs, and beer, c. the Belgian version of Walmart d. the clear plastic glove you wear to pick up after your dog in the park. e. the plus-sized French porn actress who made a fortune writing a book on how to read German highway signs 17. A "Buzzy Pass" is: a. the impolite noise you make after eating too many bean-and-onion wontons at Smiling Charlie's Chinee takee-outee place b. the feeling you get when you take those aspirin tablets they hand out for free on Ryan Airways c. a monthly unlimited-use tram ticket for teenagers in Flanders d. the Flemish name for the ring tone on a cell phone e. a haircut popular among elderly Belgians 18. The "Grote Ganz" is: a. the part of your body you usually sit on b. the official title of the Belgian legislative assembly c. a river in western Pakistan d. a restaurant in downtown Antwerp, with straw on the floor, candles on the tables, no fire extinguishers, no salt shakers, waiters who wear tights and neckerchiefs serving meals starting at around $20 per plate... and not a single fork anywhere in the whole place... but you get to take your wooden spoon home with you. e. the Belgian nickname for a clogged drain 19. How many different brands of beer are there in Belgium? a. only one, but lack of quality control makes it seem like dozens b. six; one for each province c. fifty-one; one named for each of the 50 American states, plus Stella Artois, which Belgians believe will one day become the 51st U.S. state d. 477 e. Belgians don't drink beer, they drink tap water 20. The sign "Gesloten Zonnedagen en Feestdagen" means: a. No cats allowed in here b. Keep your hands to yourself and there won't be any trouble c. I've got a bad case of athlete's foot d. Flush after every use e. Closed Sundays and Holidays 21. The term "Mind the Gap" refers to: a. the rough abrasive texture of European toilet paper b. the inability of the French to understand French when spoken by anyone who is not being haughty, arrogant, rude, obnoxious, condescending, and therefore obviously not really French. c. the tendency of Americans to back up two steps when talking to a European, who naturally wants to stand close enough that his eyebrows tickle your nose when he talks. d. the maddening habit of London subway architects to build their stations on curves in the track rather than straight sections of track. e. the 20-minutes per day that any given store, bank, or other commercial establishment is actually open for business, along with the wild guess as to what time of day that 20 minute period will occur.

Pancakes... Popcorn...and Creme Soda!

SOMEbody loves me and got me a carton of IBC Creme Soda. I've been on something of a "health" kick for about 9 or 10 weeks now, eating smaller portions, cutting out fats and sweets, eating whole grains, taking natural vitamins and minerals, and getting lots of aerobic exercise to get my heart racing. So far I've gained almost 10 pounds, put on almost three inches around my waist, and my blood pressure is the highest it's ever been. I can't say that I've actually been on a starvation diet or anything, but I've been trying to eat a lot healthier than I used to. Today, however, I decided to throw in the towel for a bit, and I had pancakes for breakfast. I had to chip ice with my Mississippi toothpick today. The snow on the roof of the garage melted into ice, then fell off the roof in front of the doors and melted into a single solid 28-inch-thick ice berm, so I had to use the heavy 20-pound steel pick pole to chip it away. After chipping my way into the garage, I then wrestled the "new" used steel filing cabinet Dubby brought home a few weeks ago, out of the garage, across the snow (there's still about 14 inchecs of ice/snow combination on the ground) into the house. So I was very pleased when I came inside and discovered that there was an ice-cold IBC creme soda waiting for me in the fridge! To celebrate, I made a bowl of popcorn, (although I put only half a stick of butter on it). As for the healthy fare, well, Dubby made some great ground beef and onion dish for dinner, with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and zuchini and a baked potato. Yum. It will be interesting to see whether I lose some weight by going back to popcorn, butter, creme soda, and pancakes today. I'm getting tired of oatmeal, whole grain bread and brown rice, small portions, and tuna sandwiches. And no, I'm not interested in entertaining any other suggestions -- no matter what any study says is good for you, there are a dozen other studies contradicting it, so I'm just gonna play around a bit until I find a food regimen that does what I want it to. We ate out last night for the first time in several weeks... I only ate 2/3rds of my dinner (letting Dubby put the other third in the take-away box). We rented the move "Up" tonight, and watched it together. Nice, but not one of the Pixar/Disney's better ones.

Toyota Recall

More Snow...

The snow is really piling up. We got another 4 to 5 inches of snow last night. Normally a 5-inch snowfall is a big snow for around here. But coming on top of last week's 28-plus-incher, 5-inches seems downright paltry. Notice the curved icicles, next to straight icicles. Do you know why there are two shapes of icicles?

A friend loaned me a "salamander heater" to thaw out my garage, and possibly get some of the ice on the metal roof to begin sliding off, taking some of the weight off the sheet metal and 2x4 rafters. Look up "salamander heater" on Wikipedia. It puts out a lot of heat.

Question: Does anyone make a kerosene heater that doesn't make everything smell like kerosene?

Notice the depth of the ice up by the house. You can see the salamander in front of the door. That's a blue five-gallon kerosene can, for size comparison.

Who are these people?

Who are these people? And what are they doing on my blog?

Picture 1 -- Who is this kid? And what's with the hair? Piccture 2: Who is the girl on the left? (That's her younger sister on the right.)

Picture 3: Who is the lady below? Hint: This picture was taken about three years after the Titanic sank.

Picture 4: Below is the same lady again, but this picture was taken three months after the Andrea Doria sank. This lady is holding the first-born baby of the girl on the left in picture 2. Notice the baby's hair. (Oh, and look closely at the curtains ... and the chair.)

Picture 5: Who are the rug-rats below? (hint: notice anything about the background?)

Picture 6: Who is the kid below? (Hint: notice the chair.)

And yes, those are real suspenders.

Play Sherlock Holmes and put it all together. It's elementary.

'Round, 'round, get around, I get around...

Yeah, get around, get around, I get around....

Pretty day today, although many streets are still completely iced over. Took the garbage down to the dump, went to the bank in H'burg, had lunch with my ham radio buddies, got a new 6volt gel-cell battery for the halogen spotlight, dropped a prescription off at the pharmacy, refilled the gas can for the snowblower, picked up some more lithium batteries for the weather station equipment, filled up the green Camry, went by the post office...

I took the halogen spotlight apart to replace the battery -- a bazillion pieces fall apart as soon as the six screws are removed. It took an hour to get all the pieces back on place and sealed back up after installing the new battery.

I fixed mom's wooden TV-dinner table with some wood glue and a couple of screws, although it was such lightweight wood, I had to get the drill out since I didn't want to take a chance on splitting the wood further.

I finished cleaning up the bedroom, finally got the last of the Christmas decorations put back out in the garage, brought in a network hub for Dubby so she can share a single Ethernet line for both her new computer and her printer (although the printer is a sore spot right now), and worked on the ham room in the basement a bit, although it is still only about 5% cleaned out.

They are predicting another 6-12 inches of snow tomorrow night. I hope the roofs can take it... the snow is piling up and I know that weight is tremendous.

I saw in the news where they just found Ernie Shackleton's cache of whiskey that he left behind during his aborted 1909 effort to reach the South Pole. Trivia question: Who was actually the first to reach the south pole? It was in 1911, by the way. No fair looking it up on Google or Wikipedia or anything else, either!

Hint: He (below) was a Norwegian. (The head of the competing American team, Admiral Robt. Scott, reached the pole a few weeks later, but died along with his entire party, on the way back.)

Snow Wonder...

Officially, 29 inches fell. Because it packs down, we have right at 24 inches on the ground. I have a 24-inch snowblower. You can see that the snow comes up to the top of the blower intake. Yes, that's me under the parka. I had to make several passes, because the wet snow stuck to the tines of the auger. Slow going. Look closely at the car, and find the side mirror (the car is facing left). Compare th level of the snowdrift with the side mirror. There is just short of 2 feet of snow on top of the car. This is a full-sized 1999 Toyota Camry.

Compare the level of the snow with the mailbox. Click on the pic to enlarge, and compare the leve of the snow to the doors and windows on the house.

A set of mailboxes next door.

While a Fairbanks or Rexburg resident might not be impressed, this is a honkin' lotta snow for Virginia.

Oh, and the offiicial low temperature this morning was -7. The high was 28. The low tonight is predicted to be zero, but I'll bet it gets colder than that.

Camry under the snow...

There's a 99 Camry under there somewhere. Check out the depth of the snow on the side. It's almost up to the trunk lid level. You can begin to see the car now.

There, all done.

Driveways...

Yes, all blown off by... me. 1. Our driveway. 2. Mrs. Lilleys driveway, next door. 3. Mrs. Craun's driveway, across the street. 4. Mr. Kay's driveway, next door. Mr. Kay's, behind our house.

5. Bill Wright's, across the street next door to Mrs. Craun.

Man, I'm tired, sore, and my muscles are stiff.

Scientific Method at Work

I'm in the middle of a scientific experiment. Last October, when I was in Florida visiting my dad just before he passed away, I was in the waiting room, waiting on my turn to visit him in intensive care, when I overheard a lady saying she had eaten at a Krystal restaurant one time, and it was so greasy that it made her sick. Since Krystal is one of my mainstays when I'm in Florida, this struck a chord with me. I started noticing what I eat. My profile over the past few decades has slowly becoming more and more like Orson Welles' in his latter years. I made some new year's resolutions which I've kept to, about 90% or more: I cut out my almost-daily dose of fast-food fare. I used to eat Whoppers, Double Whoppers, Big Macs, Wendy's Baconators, etc. along with large french fries and supersized sodas with free refills. Every weekday. No more. I've kept track: In the last eight weeks, I've eaten at a burger joint just seven times since mid-December, and five of those were on a trip with Dubby in Florida in early January. I've started eating a healthy breakfast. Oatmeal. With raisins. Every day. And not the instant oatmeal, either... the natural stuff that takes 10 minutes to cook. Every morning. A single-serving portion. I hear a lot about how you are supposed to have servings of natural fruit (the ingredients on the box of raisins says: "Sun-dried grapes". Period. You can't get more natural than that.) I also heard that eating oatmeal is supposed to lower your blood pressure, lower your cholesterol, and have other healthy effects. They also claim that eating whole grains every day is good for you. Oatmeal contains "whole grain oats". I've also reduced the number of times I eat pancakes (with syrup, with a side of eggs and bacon). I used to eat this about once a week (and it was the only breakfast I'd have all week). I read where eating breakfast every day is healthier for you than eating it some days and not others. So now I eat oatmeal almost every day. I've had pancakes (with egg and bacon) twice since mid-December. Last summer the gastroenterologist that gave me the black-snake test told me that I need to eat more frequently but less at each meal. Okay. This semester I teach at lunchtime. Perfect. Instead of a huge supersized fast-food meal at noon, now I take my lunch to work in a bown lunchbag (although I've forgotten it twice and Debbie's graciously brought it into town for me both times). So after a small but healthy breakfast at 7, I eat a single sandwich at 10 (egg salad made by Debbie, or tuna salad made by me, or chicken salad, etc. at my desk. I add a handful of mixed nuts and a handful of Frito's corn chips. (No, I'm not overdoing the corn chips. I purchased four 9-1/4 ounce bags of Fritos at the beginning of January, and I've gone through one, and am halfway through the second, so I'm eating about 3/4 ounce of Fritos per day, four or five days a week. Nuts are supposed be healthy too when eaten daily in small amounts. The nuts are a mixture of cashews, pecans, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, and almonds. Debbie bought a huge jar at Costco in January, and I'm most of the way through it, so I eat about a quarter cup a day.) After my noon class, I eat a second sandwich (usually peanut butter and jelly or tuna). I should add that I'm drinking water (plain water out of the water fountain) for lunch, not the soda's. I haven't had a single canned drink out of the drink machine since Christmas. Then I eat my normal dinner with Debby around 6 pm, and I have cut out seconds. I don't eat dessert anymore, unless we are going out to eat, and even then, I skip dessert more often than I have it. I've cut out over 98% of my soft drinks. I've consumed probably a grand total, all put together, of about two liters of sodas -- total -- since we got back from Florida January 7. Normally I would have consumed about two liters per day, for lunch, snacks -- every day. I've also cut way back on my popcorn. No longer do I have a big bowl of popcorn with a half-stick of butter every other night. I've had popcorn twice since the tenth of January. Other than that, I haven't changed my diet much. I certainly haven't picked up on any vice-type eating to compensate. I don't snack between the four meals. I haven't started pigging out at dinner to compensate for the lack of grease and oils at lunch or to make up for all the high-fructose corn syrup I'm missing in the sodas, or the half-cup of butter on popcorn in the evening after supper. Debbie usually prepares for me a serving of mixed vegetables, a large serving of meat, and a large serving of potatoes or rice -- the exact same dinner I've eaten for years and years -- she hasn't changed anything, and I've not started eating seconds or thirds or anything. One more thing: I've been taking the stairs up and down to my fifth floor office instead of riding the elevator. Since I teach three classes with an hour in between them, this means that I'm climbing and descending five flights of stairs eight trips per day. And I've worked up a real sweat behind the snow blower a couple of times. And in the course of cleaning off my dresser, cleaning off the floor of my bedroom, and keeping my mom's books over the past few weeks, I've been going up and down the stairs in the house and going out to the garage and back a lot more than I used to. As suggested by my doctor, I've been drinking a single 8-oz. cup of unsweetened chamomile before bedtime several times a week, and wow has it made a difference. I've been falling asleep quickly, and my sleep is deep and refreshing. I wake up in the morning fully rested. I've also been working on being less "bothered" about things, although for me this is harder than it sounds. I've stopped my rants about being surrounded by idiots, and while I still mention it occasionally in a normal tone of voice, Debbie can verify that I've not ranted and shouted about it like I used to do. I consider myself a little more calmer than I was last fall. Finally, I've been taking vitamin supplements every day: a "man's" multivitamin tablet, a 1000-unit D3 capsule, and a calcium tablet (since I don't drink milk -- I'm allergic to it). I've also tried an occasional B12 tablet, perhaps once a week, that Debbie suggested. Results? I have to say that I'm quite surprised at what's happened. The changes in my diet have had a real, noticeable, significant and even drastic effect on my body. Eating oatmeal, a serving of fruit a day, cutting out soft drinks, cutting out the fast-food, fries, and grease, eating smaller meals more frequently, cutting out the popcorn and half-stick of butter, and exercising a bit more, has had what I consider to be a huge, major, measurable and noticeable effect on me: THE CHANGES? I've GAINED seven pounds (eight as of this morning), and my tummy is GROWING FASTER than it ever has before! (My larger pants I bought last fall so I'd have some loose baggy pants to be comfortable in, are now so tight I can't fasten them at the top.) And on top of that, Debbie took my blood pressure with two (2) different blood pressure meters and they both agreed: my blood pressure is now HIGHER than it has ever been before. It's gone from 120/70 (where it has resided rock-solid steadily for the last forty years) to 145/85. So -- What are the conclusions of this experiment? It's still too early to tell -- I plan to continue the experiment a few more weeks. But initial indications are: It appears that eating a healthy breakfast, adding whole grains, adding a serving of fruit, cutting way back on fried foods, eliminating almost all fast foods, eliminating practically all sodas and soft drinks, eating two smaller lunches instead of one huge one, exercising more, eliminating popcorn with loads of butter, and taking multi-vitamin and mineral supplements, all have worked to significantly raise my blood pressure, significantly increase my weight, and significantly expand the fat around my middle. Go figure. I have to admit, I'm a little bit calmer than before, and I'm sleeping better at night. But I attribute at least part of this to the fact that I'm becoming accustomed to my fate of always being surrounded by idiots. I'll give it another month or two. But I honestly can't afford to go on like this, gaining weight so fast, putting on the belly fat so fast, and having high blood pressure. So at the end of this experiment, if things keep going the way they are, I may have to go back to skipping breakfast, eliminating the whole grain, and going back to eating the double-whopper, large fries, and supersize Dr. Pepper with the free refills every day, and eating the nightly bowl of popcorn with the half-stick of butter again. I won't have a choice, I'll have to do that to keep from ruining my health.

Attention-Deficit Disorder -- in Cars?

I took this photo in the town of Waterloo, Belgium. It was a used car lot, full of old American cars for sale. No telling where they got the cars from, or how the cars got to Belgium. But the sign struck me. A.D.D. Cars? It was a couple of years ago. I was on my way to visit the historical monument marking the famous battlefield where Napoleon suffered his decisive defeat. As a typical American, I didn't do much research before heading out. Being a typical American, I figured I'd learn all I need to know once I got there. I found Waterloo on the map, figured out which train to take, and embarked on my day trip from Antwerp. I naturally got off the train at the Waterloo station, south of Brussels. After walking the mile from the train station to the center of town, I followed the tourist signs to the Wellington museum. Wellington was the British general commanding the allied armies which arrayed against Napoleon, along with the Prussian army which blocked Napoleon's retreat. As is typical with establishments in Belgium, the museum was closed for no apparent reason, in the middle of a standard weekday. No explanation, just a closed sign (in French). So I followed more signs to the tourist center, where to my great dismay I discovered that the actual battle of Waterloo was atually fought -- not in Waterloo -- but in a field five miles SOUTH of Waterloo, near the tiny farming community of Braine D'Alleud. After the battle was won, Wellington had moved his headquarters from the battlefield to the town of Waterloo, where he commandeered the local hotel for him and his officers to lodge in relative comfort. He wrote his dispatch back to England informing them of the victory, and used the hotel stationery which prominently displayed the location "Waterloo". The English press, following a tradition which is still the hallmark of media today, got the facts dead wrong by jumping to conclusions rather than reading the dispatch or listening to the official announcements, and printed the story calling the epic conflict "the battle of Waterloo". Rather than take the train, since it was a pretty day, I decided juist to go ahead and hike the five miles from Waterloo down to the monument. On the way, I happened across the car lot shown above, obviously advertising attention-deficit American autos. Below is the Wellington Museum in downtown Waterloo. This is the actual hotel where Wellington and his officers were staying when they wrote the dispatch advising London of the victory. It took me well over an hour to get from Waterloo to the monument. The monument is still at least mile away from where I was standing when I took the photo below. The huge building to the right in the foreground is a really cool panorama attraction, museum, interpretative center, and video theater where you can spend a very pleasant couple of hours learning about the battle's details, before climbing the five hundred stair steps to get up to the huge 30-foot-high lion at the top of the man-made hill. Since the British are the ones who take credit for the defeat of the emperor (even though the Prussians contributed mightily to the effort), all of the exhibits, video soundtracks, narration, and audio stuff is in English (as well as French, Dutch, German, and a host of other languages). If you click on the photo below for the large version, you can see the tiny people on the left side of the slope climbing the stairs to the top. The man-made mountain was constructed in the months after the battle by Belgians who created it by scraping up the earth from the farm fields where the battle was fought. It was intended to be a monument to inter the thousands of bodies, bullets, cannonballs, shrapnel, wreckage, and other destruction wrought from the battle. Oh, and the answer to the identity of the guy in the post below is, Bob Denver, better known as the little buddy from castaways on Gilligan's Island.

Who is this?

Hint 1: He was very famous. Practically everyone in western civilization knew him by sight at one point a number of years ago. Hint 2: This picture was taken before he died in 2005 of pneumonia. Hint 3: He was most famous when he was younger than he is in this picture. Hint 4: Most people have never seen him dressed like this.

Swear Jar...

Clothing Drive...

Vocabulary...

Click on the cartoon to enlarge it where you can read it...