5 posts tagged “things that make me go hmmm”

• Seeing random shoes (not pairs of shoes) alongside the street or road. How do shoes get thrown out of a car? And why do they throw just one? Does it make sense to throw one and keep one? What good is one shoe? Unless you're a pirate, I guess, but to my knowledge there aren't a lot of pirates in Rochester.
• Old guys with ring tones that sound like porn. Seriously, I witnessed this today. This guy who had to be 80 was standing there and just as I passed him by, his phone rang. Boom-chicka-bow-wow.... Well, ok, to be honest, I've never watched porn (and have zero interest in doing so), but that's what everyone says the music sounds like.
• Why I say I'll do things that I know I have no talent or capacity for doing. I think it runs in certain parts of my family that people think they're capable of things they're not. I really hope I didn't inherit that gene. I might have, though. We're having a baby shower for a coworker tomorrow and I thought a rubber ducky theme would be fun. I have this recipe for a ducky cake, and in the picture it's just the cutest thing. I've made it before, but what I apparently forgot is that to build this cake requires an ability to transcend the laws of physics. It was one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in a while and it looks terrible. (I had to pour myself a glass of Malbec afterward.)  I'm going to bring it in tomorrow because I'm too tired to run to the store right now for a normal cake, and I'm going to ask opinions. Like anyone would say that it looks dumb anyway...  I've come to the conclusion that I'm an idea person. Which means I need to work my way up enough to where all I have to do is think and I'll have people to do the actual work for me.
• What posesses people to steal pumpkins off of people's porches and smash them in the street. Someone please enlighten me: how can this possibly be fun? It's rude, it's stealing, it's destructive, it's messy, and it makes little kids cry. Where is the pleasure in that? Or maybe the more appropriate question is, what kind of person finds pleasure in that?

[Insert something witty here that summarizes this post in to a nice tidy package. I never was good at introductions or conclusions.]

My father-in-law informed me yesterday that he read in the weekend paper that the school we'll be sending Bailey to next year just got approval from the state to go to a 4-day school week, as a cost-saving measure. We don't get the paper and the online version didn't say anything about it. And the school's website doesn't say anything either.

Three questions come to mind about this:

1. Is this official? Don't the parents get to vote on it? We signed the statement of faith which means that we get to vote on important matters. So either that doesn't take effect until fall when she's actually a student, or the vote took place before we were "in the system," or the parent vote hasn't taken place yet because they were waiting for the school board & the state to approve it first.
2. I find it a little bit curious that they didn't at least mention this to us as a possibility when we were interviewing. On the other hand, that was way back on March 2, so maybe the idea was still so far in its infancy that it wasn't worth mentioning. Maybe it hadn't even been born yet.
3. What will we do with Bailey on those off days when the rest of us suckers are at work/school? She regularly stays home by herself for a few hours at a time while we go out, and we have a security alarm, so she would probably be fine staying home by herself. Maybe I could give her a chore list or something. I would also have to find out if there's a state or city law concerning how old a child has to be in order to stay home alone, and for how long. For some reason I'm thinking it's 10, but I'm not sure. My mother-in-law said that Bailey could come to their house, but I don't know how serious she was. Also, we were hoping to completely do away with any day care costs as far as Bailey's concerned.

So I guess we'll see. Hopefully we will be hearing from the school soon so that we can figure out how this will all work. I'm not against it; on the contrary, I think it's a smart idea. Do you think I could convince the Mayo Clinic to follow suit so I could work a 4-day week? Nah, probably not.

From FOXNews.com:

New York doctor who gave his wife a kidney is suing her for $1.5 million — or the return of the vital organ — after he says she cheated on him with a physical therapist.

Richard Batista, 49, is demanding the sum in the middle of a messy divorce with his now-estranged wife, who suffered kidney ailments for years before the transplant.

The Long Island surgeon said he gave the gift of life to his wife in 2001, but things turned sour just two years later while she was recovering from a karate injury, the New York Post reported.

His wife, 44-year-old Dawnell Batista, had an affair with her physical therapist in 2003, he said. She recovered from the knee injury, but he says her low blow has him all out of joint.

This is wrong on so many levels. Obviously, the woman shouldn't have cheated on him, but when you give an organ for transplant, it's about altruism and caring. And the way I understand it, organ donors undergo a psychiatric evaluation prior to giving up the organ to ensure that they fully comprehend what they're doing.  I wonder if they ask, do you realize that you won't get this thing back? or if that's a given.  I'm sure the guy's angry and hurt, but what kind of person demands an organ back? And if he's a surgeon I'm sure he doesn't need the $1.5 million. You don't have to be a genius to realize that this is all about revenge, but wow.

Oxford University has come up with a list of most annoying phrases.  I'm not sure exactly who they polled to get this data, or how scientific it is, but here it is:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

You know, a lot of these sayings don't really bother me that much.  As a matter of fact, I think I've been guilty of using #1 more than once.  And I say "absolutely" all the time (and am even sometimes tempted to say "absosmurfly" although I'm not sure why; it must be some weird flashback to my childhood).

I was trying to think of my own list of hated phrases, and the only one I could come up with was "it's a win/win situation," which doesn't really make me cringe too much either.  What sayings do you all hate?

I just bought some new sweat socks for running (with arch support!).  Why is it that when you buy gym socks, they come in a resealable bag?  Am I the only one who just opens the bag and dumps out all the socks and throws the bag?  Does keeping my socks in a Ziploc bag guarantee that they'll always be fresh?