The computer is smarter than the VCR.

When I woke up this morning my clock said 8 AM.

I went downstairs and turned on Meet the Press.

I looked at the VCR and it said it was 7:04 AM.

"What?"

I walked in the kitchen.

The microwave said 8:04. The oven said 8:04.

I shrugged it off.

Earlier tonight I was at my parents.

The microwave said 7:15. The oven said 7:15.

The VCR said 6:15.

I thought I was in the Twilight Zone.

I walked into my Dad's study.

HIs VCR said 6:15.

"Why do all the VCRs think it's an hour earlier?" I asked.

Ah ha! It occurred to both of us at the same time. They moved Daylight Savings back a week this year. The VCRs were on auto time-set but were uninformed about the change. I checked the computer and the computer knew what was up. I watched my dad try to manually change the time on the VCR twice. The stubborn machine would have none of his nonsense and kept switching the time back.

Pictures and pictures and pictures...

Thanks to all who came to the Pictures and Pitchers of Water Party on Friday!

And a particular thanks to those who helped out with the food (Kristi, Joe, Mike, Maria).

Notes to me: pigs in a blanket are way better when you use lil smokies. Next time, make more Jell-O Jigglers.

And thanks to Rhett for the lending of the water cooler. I still need to get that back to you.

I’m so glad it was a warm night so we could hang out on the porch as well as inside. I was thrilled that so many participated in the photo contest. I just realized I didn’t submit anything, but that’s OK. I also didn’t get a chance to vote. Oh well. Plenty of other people voted. I apologize for not keeping track of the runners up. I was kind of busy downstairs so I sent Pete up to tally the votes. And our winner is yet again, Jon Madsen. Congratulations Jon! Sorry there’s no prize. If you want a prize, tell me what you want and I’ll get it to you. But for now, all I can offer is a slide show of the submissions with “winner” attached to yours.

I apologize if you submitted a photograph and it’s not in this slide show. I had to use what people left and what people emailed me at my request. If you submitted something and it’s not here and you would like to see it here, simply email me and I’ll slip it in. This slide show also includes a couple photographs by people who were unable to bring photos to the party, but wished for their talents to be represented.

I Won! I Won!

I am on a roll with the drawings lately! Friday we had our DCC meeting. That is, the Department of Community and Culture – the Utah Arts Council’s parent department. They always have drawings at these meetings: at the beginning, the middle, and the end. A strategy to keep people from leaving I assume.

I remember my first department meeting. I was still a little part time temp at the Utah Arts Council. But I won the drawing. I won a $50 gift certificate to Thanksgiving Point. That was a great prize.

And then there’s this prize: 2 hours off. Woo hoo! My coworkers cheered (with the exception of one that enviously shouted “Booo….” I know who you are…

Anyway, I know I should be grateful for this little certificate and all, but c’mon…what kind of a prize is that? It even says it’s subject to supervisor approval. Geez. The department is getting cheap if you ask me. State History was giving away historical photographs. They probably found those laying around at the last minute and brought them as prizes, but still, that’s a heck of a lot more interesting than two hours off. Whatever work I miss during those hours I’m away I’ll have to make up for later, right?

I wouldn’t be surprised if at the next department meeting they use the new DCC golf shirts as prizes – the shirts they offered us for free on Friday. Or maybe they’ll take away our sick leave benefits and then offer sick leave as a raffle drawing.

I don’t know one person who enjoys these meetings. (Read about last year’s by clicking here). When I walked up to get my 2 hours off certificate I thought about asking if my two hours could begin now and then excuse myself from the meeting. But that would have been disrespectful. So I returned to my seat and continued my game of Yahtzee with George on his blackberry.

Actually, there was a segment of the meeting that I thought was interesting. David Hart from the Capitol Preservation Board gave a presentation on the Capitol Renovation. I love State Capitol buildings, and I absolutely love our Capitol Building. I love that I live right by the capitol, but I hate that it’s been dark for the past few years and surrounded by heaps of dirt and yellow tape. Last week I drove up Apricot Avenue and saw even more lights coming on the capitol building as I pulled into my drivewy. It made me so happy. I volunteered to be a docent for the re-opening tours, so I’m excited about that.

If you’re interested, you should visit utahstatecapitol.utah.gov. They have a lot of photographs on there. They have a virtual tour you can take, and they even have webcams logging the construction from day one so you can see a time lapse progression video from different angles of the Hill. Pretty exciting stuff!

Did you know...

Pork is the world's most widely-eaten meat.

I read that fact online. That's interesting, because I would have thought chicken. But maybe that's just because I'm not thinking outside my little United States of America.

So today, when I ordered a taco from the Rio Grande Cafe for lunch, instead of defaulting to chicken as my meat of choice, I thought, "You know what, let's do pork. Like the rest of the world."

I like random facts. I gathered a bunch of factoids from http://www.didyouknow.cd/ that I was not aware of until now:


Traffic lights were used before the advent of the motorcar.

The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven.

Half the world's population is under 25 years of age.

US Post Office handles 43% of the world's mail. Its nearest competitor is Japan with 6%.

TIP is the acronym for "To Insure Promptness”.

Statistics show that people with high, medium and low income groups spend about the same amount on Christmas gifts.

80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.

The oldest person on record is Methuselah (969 years old).

The Bible, the world's best-selling book, is also the world's most shoplifted book.

New Zealand is home to 4 million people and 70 million sheep.

The first electronic mail, or "email", was sent in 1972 by Ray Tomlinson. It was also his idea to use the @ sign to separate the name of the user from the name of the computer.

The largest web bookshop, Amazon.com, stores almost 3 million books.

The names of all the continents end with the letter they start with.

The first city in the world to have a population of more than one million was London.

Eskimos use refrigerators to keep food from freezing.

About 50% of Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace. This is called propinquity.

On average, you speak almost 5,000 words a day - although almost 80% of speaking is self-talk (talking to yourself).

Over the last 150 years the average height of people in industrialized nations increased by 10 cm (4 in).

Men loose about 40 hairs a day. Women loose about 70 hairs a day.

A person remains conscious for eight seconds after being decapitated.

Unless food is mixed with saliva you cannot taste it.

King Henry I, who ruled in England in the 12th century, standardized the yard as the distance from the thumb of his outstretched arm to his nose.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth.

All the planets in the solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

Earth is slowing down - in a few million years there won't be a leap year.

The shortest scheduled airline flight is made between the island of Westray to Papa Westray off Scotland. The flight lasts 2 minutes.

The fewest airplane passengers killed in one year was 1 in 1993 and the most was 583 in 1977 when two Boeing 747s collided on the runway at Los Rodeos airport, Tenerife, the Canary Islands.

About 2.4 billion CDs are sold annually. The number of recorded CDs and blank CDs sold has been about equal.

A grand piano can be played faster than an upright (spinet) piano.

A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle - a group of geese in the air is a skein.

Sharks are immune to all known diseases.

Millions of trees are accidentally planted by squirrels that bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

I Won! I Won!

I never win anything. Well, I say that, but I don’t know how true it is. Well, it’s true when it comes to contests and drawings.

But for some reason, I have won both drawings I’ve entered at Arctic Circle. My business card is like a magnet to their hands. The funny part is I don’t even remember entering this last one. The last time I walked into an Arctic Circle was probably in July or August when Kristi and I went there to get a shake before we watched the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Les Miserables "in concert" at my house. It was the same day we went swimming at Jenn’s pool and then drove all the way up to Roy to the Burger Bar. That was a perfect summer day.

Anyway, that must have been the last time I was there, I don’t go very often. Unless I went there with Jim and Fletcher for lunch one time…that sounds vaguely familiar. Hmm. I’m excited for my free combo meal. What should I get?

Pictures and Pitchers of Water

Hey everyone! I’m back after taking a little blogging break and I wanted to invite you all to the second annual photo contest held at Apricot Avenue on Friday, October 19th. Last year the contest was combined with a mocktail party. This year, I decided to combine it with a Kool-Aid party.

You see, Kool-Aid turns 80 this year and I think it deserves a celebration. I used to drink it a lot as a kid but then I guess I grew out if it. My friend Marni would make Kool-Aid when we were roommates a few years ago and I remember drinking it and thinking, “Kool-Aid is good” as I poured myself a second glass. Anyway, there will be pitchers of water around the house and a variety of Kool-Aid mixes so you can mix your own.

I decided to suggest a theme for the photo contest this year. And the theme is “water.” You can be as loose and creative as you want with that. And to be perfectly honest, you can bring whatever photographs you want. It’s just a suggested theme, but I made a little slide show of water pictures to inspire you.

Do you like the steam effect? Just to be clear, whether or not you follow the water theme will play no part in the voting process. And there are no size requirements on the photographs this year. Bring whatever you have whatever size you have; you can print it on paper or whatever. Just bring it and I’ll put it up on our walls.

I hope this gives you enough time to get some photos together. If you don’t have any, that’s cool too, come on over and vote for your favorites.

Party starts at 8 PM! If you have photos, try to come a little early so we can display them. If you want to help out with food, just let me know, I’ll be thrilled.