Today, Daniel and I were checking the weather on my iPhone (yeah, I totally just said that to sound cool), and the temperature was 45 degrees. So, I sang to him that it was "fowerty-fahve degwhees," which is my crude rendition of a line from the song "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil. I'd never realized it before, but as I thought about the words to the song, it occurred to me that a) Midnight Oil is from Australia, and b) Australia probably measures temperature on the Celsius scale. From that, plus the fact that the full line from the song is "the western desert lives and breathes in fowerty-fahve degwhees," I concluded that 45 degrees is probably pretty warm to them. So I Googled it (you can view the process here), and sure enough, 45 degrees Celsius turns out to be 113 degrees Fahrenheit. Definitely not the chilly western Australian desert I'd previously subconsciously imagined. I also learned for the first time in my life exactly what the conversion process between the two systems is. It's just C = (F - 32) x 5/9, or F = (C x 9/5) + 32. I'm not sure how I failed to learn this in school, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was taught but not extensively tested because the teachers knew we'd never need it. It definitely didn't feel like, "Oh, yeah, I remember this." It felt like completely new information. Which is fine. Now that I'm an adult, I am a lot more interested in the type of information that I'll never have a legitimate use for than I ever was as a student. Like all that Base 6 stuff in math class. Raise your hand if your using that in your current job. Exactly. I can see no hands. There you go.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tea Readings
Angie's been sick this past week with a horrible cold, and as such, she's been drinking a lot of tea. While I wait for the tea to steep, I like to read the box. Most of the tea boxes have some little piece of prose on the sides. It tends to be this very flowery, exotic-sounding language describing the blissful surroundings from whence the tea has been plucked and basically making tea sound much more like a relaxing weekend vacation in an English garden than a cup of hot water turned brown by a bag of leaves. Celestial Seasonings is probably the most entertaining, including quotes from philosophers in addition to the more standard pastoral scenes. The Bigelow folks have their own blog, and a catalog that reads like a poetry recital at a flower show. Even the generic "Publix" brand boxes have something to say, giving an extremely brief history of tea, worded as follows: "Tea originated in ancient China more than 5,000 years ago, and ever since has provided the world with a relaxing pause of refreshment." And, with that, I think I'll take a relaxing pause myself.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Breaking the Chains (and the Rules)
Ask anyone that I work with to describe me in 3 words or less, and the odds are good that, to a man, the answer you'll get is: "compulsive rule-breaker," particularly if I've had a chance to coach them on what their response ought to be. This post is only one example of how well-deserved that reputation really is. We've now been tagged twice, once by our friend, Angela, and once by our friend, Wes, to post seven (7) random / weird facts about ourselves. The actual wording of the rules for this are as follows:
So far, you've read through my complicity in the first rule. What follows will be my adherence to rule #2. After that, though, I'm goin' rogue, baby. Look out! There will be no further tagging or linking. I don't know what may happen to me if I break this chain, but I'm willing to take the chance.
Okay, really, I just don't know 7 bloggers who haven't already done this. I'm getting into the game late, and all the good taggees have already been taken. So, without further ado, 7 random facts about Davis (Angie may do one on herself later, but she's tired now. Pregnancy will do that to you.)
1) Okay, I suppose one odd thing about yours truly is that I don't mind the chick flicks so much. I truly enjoy the Jane Austen movies that we own, and have even been known to request You've Got Mail without prompting or provocation (we're watching it right now, in fact, at my request). I like the way it moves through the seasons, and since it starts out in the Fall, it puts me in an Autumn mood, with an eye towards Christmas. This oddness does not extend to Sleepless in Seattle, however; I am still male, after all.
2) Immediately after my 7th grade year, I toured Ireland for two weeks (I think, maybe just one; time was different then) with a boys' choir, culminating in a performance in Dublin for the Millennial Celebration of the founding of the city (of Dublin). As I recall, there were maybe 10 people in the audience who weren't with our group. Apparently, the Dubliners did not get the word that they were supposed to celebrate 1000 years of city-hood by watching a bunch of prepubescent boys sing. Still, we sang well, and the small audience of our chaperones and the event organizers was duly appreciative. Also, the rest of the trip was awesome.
3) I always thought I'd make a pretty good father: my dad is and always has been a great dad, and he always seemed to enjoy the role, so I felt confident I would enjoy it, too. Having said that, the day after Daniel was born, I completely freaked out. We got moved from the spacious delivery room to this post-partem shoebox, and I started to go a little stir-crazy. At some point, Angie evicted me from the room, and I went out to our car and cried and prayed for about 30 minutes or so, after which I was completely fine. Okay, not completely fine; still pretty shaken up, actually, but confident enough that I could handle suddenly losing the luxury of being completely selfish, of having *gasp* responsibility for someone who couldn't otherwise take care of himself. I went to the hospital gift shop, bought a teddy bear or a "Proud Dad" pin or something, and re-entered the shoebox content in my fatherhood and ready to help out. I think I may have fallen asleep in a chair immediately thereafter.
4) I have several relatively-recently-discovered food allergies, including: raw carrots, cabbage / sauerkraut, raw apples, certain raw peaches, and certain brands of refried beans (but not Taco Bell's, thank goodness).
5) Another fascinating tidbit about me is that I have recently acquired high blood pressure. At 33. Thirty-three. I'm not sure how this happened. I didn't ask for it, and I'm not sure who I would have caught it from. My cholesterol and all the other little things they check are well within normal parameters. Okay, I'm also a little overweight, but I don't see how that counts, as I have been a little overweight for a large (Ha!) portion of my life without HBP to accompany it. Weird.
6) I am an extremely efficient eater, and I inspire similar efficiency in others! Some folks just touch their chip into dip or salsa; I use the chip as a shovel, a bulldozer, to make sure I deliver as much of the salsa or cheese dip or hummus or whatever into my mouth as I possibly can. Just talent, I guess.
7) I am not terse. In conversation, I take the approach that if a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm looking to fill the Louvre. "Never say in a minute what you could say over the course of an afternoon," that is my motto. This really only tends to affect my friends, as I'm pretty quiet around people I don't know very well. Once I get to know you, though, you get to know me, through stories and anecdotes that tend to take a LOT longer than they would for anyone else to tell. Still, I'm sure it's part of my charm.
Okay, evidently I need to spend a little more time in self-reflection, as it took me almost a month to think of seven things that I even KNOW about myself, much less that might be interesting to others. Still, there you have me. Oh, and for the bonus round: I'm an expert on The Simpsons, seasons 1 through 8. Go ahead, quiz me.
*Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
*Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
*Tag seven other people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
*Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Okay, really, I just don't know 7 bloggers who haven't already done this. I'm getting into the game late, and all the good taggees have already been taken. So, without further ado, 7 random facts about Davis (Angie may do one on herself later, but she's tired now. Pregnancy will do that to you.)
1) Okay, I suppose one odd thing about yours truly is that I don't mind the chick flicks so much. I truly enjoy the Jane Austen movies that we own, and have even been known to request You've Got Mail without prompting or provocation (we're watching it right now, in fact, at my request). I like the way it moves through the seasons, and since it starts out in the Fall, it puts me in an Autumn mood, with an eye towards Christmas. This oddness does not extend to Sleepless in Seattle, however; I am still male, after all.
2) Immediately after my 7th grade year, I toured Ireland for two weeks (I think, maybe just one; time was different then) with a boys' choir, culminating in a performance in Dublin for the Millennial Celebration of the founding of the city (of Dublin). As I recall, there were maybe 10 people in the audience who weren't with our group. Apparently, the Dubliners did not get the word that they were supposed to celebrate 1000 years of city-hood by watching a bunch of prepubescent boys sing. Still, we sang well, and the small audience of our chaperones and the event organizers was duly appreciative. Also, the rest of the trip was awesome.
3) I always thought I'd make a pretty good father: my dad is and always has been a great dad, and he always seemed to enjoy the role, so I felt confident I would enjoy it, too. Having said that, the day after Daniel was born, I completely freaked out. We got moved from the spacious delivery room to this post-partem shoebox, and I started to go a little stir-crazy. At some point, Angie evicted me from the room, and I went out to our car and cried and prayed for about 30 minutes or so, after which I was completely fine. Okay, not completely fine; still pretty shaken up, actually, but confident enough that I could handle suddenly losing the luxury of being completely selfish, of having *gasp* responsibility for someone who couldn't otherwise take care of himself. I went to the hospital gift shop, bought a teddy bear or a "Proud Dad" pin or something, and re-entered the shoebox content in my fatherhood and ready to help out. I think I may have fallen asleep in a chair immediately thereafter.
4) I have several relatively-recently-discovered food allergies, including: raw carrots, cabbage / sauerkraut, raw apples, certain raw peaches, and certain brands of refried beans (but not Taco Bell's, thank goodness).
5) Another fascinating tidbit about me is that I have recently acquired high blood pressure. At 33. Thirty-three. I'm not sure how this happened. I didn't ask for it, and I'm not sure who I would have caught it from. My cholesterol and all the other little things they check are well within normal parameters. Okay, I'm also a little overweight, but I don't see how that counts, as I have been a little overweight for a large (Ha!) portion of my life without HBP to accompany it. Weird.
6) I am an extremely efficient eater, and I inspire similar efficiency in others! Some folks just touch their chip into dip or salsa; I use the chip as a shovel, a bulldozer, to make sure I deliver as much of the salsa or cheese dip or hummus or whatever into my mouth as I possibly can. Just talent, I guess.
7) I am not terse. In conversation, I take the approach that if a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm looking to fill the Louvre. "Never say in a minute what you could say over the course of an afternoon," that is my motto. This really only tends to affect my friends, as I'm pretty quiet around people I don't know very well. Once I get to know you, though, you get to know me, through stories and anecdotes that tend to take a LOT longer than they would for anyone else to tell. Still, I'm sure it's part of my charm.
Okay, evidently I need to spend a little more time in self-reflection, as it took me almost a month to think of seven things that I even KNOW about myself, much less that might be interesting to others. Still, there you have me. Oh, and for the bonus round: I'm an expert on The Simpsons, seasons 1 through 8. Go ahead, quiz me.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
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