Simple Randomness

Verbal Dyslexia

My wife and I both suffer from time to time from what we call verbal dyslexia, and I’m wondering if anyone else suffers from this as well. I try to come up with a few examples, but it’s weird because when I try to think of times that it’s happened I can rarely come up with good examples. It’s just such a random thing.

So here’s the idea. You get talking, and you flip either words around or portions of words around. To you it might make perfect sense until you stop and think about it. But sometimes you don’t even notice it. Here’s an example. My wife and I were talking about movies, and she said something like, “Oh, the one with Jolia Ruberts.” So it was fine, but the “o” and “u” were said in the wrong place.

Sometimes it happens with just the first letters of two words become switched. I’m really trying to think of a good example of this, but it would be something like “sooster beat” instead of “booster seat.” Or, another example of verbal dyslexia is when you put the words in the wrong order, like instead of saying “cool car” you say “car cool.” I blame that one on knowing Spanish because sometimes you do that in Spanish.

Are we the only ones that suffer from this? I certainly hope not. Sometimes it’s pretty funny, but whenever it happens and we catch it we always say, “Wow, where did that come from?!”

Anyone else have this problem???

Global Warming is Causing All Your Problems!!!

Before I start into this you should probably know that I am not a believer in the whole global warming scare. I think that most of it is just hype and baloney to help guys like Al Gore make extra money. But I found this to be really really funny. I heard about it on Glenn Beck last week, but someone came up with a list of all the things that global warming has been linked to. Not only does it mention them, but it has a reference to the article that it came from as well.

Here’s the list: A complete list of things caused by global warming.

Here are some of my favorites off the list:

• Atlantic less salty
• Atlantic more salty (contradiction???)
• cougar attacks
• crocodile sex
• fashion disaster
• Loch Ness monster dead
• and countless others

So if you want a good laugh at all the hype surrounding global warming, check out the list!

Birds and Windows - Not a Good Combination

It’s sad, but it seems like birds hit the windows where I work all the time.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Ok, honestly, sometimes I think it’s pretty funny!

So last Friday I was wrapping up my week at work, had my headphones in, and then all of a sudden WHAM!  Scared me pretty good, so I just figured someone was messing with me and banging on the window.  Then I noticed something stuck to the window…looked like feathers.

Then I looked in the bushes right below the window and there was a big dead bird.  That’s probably the biggest that I’ve seen hit a window here.  A couple other guys came over to figure out what it was and most figured it was a small pheasant!  I’m just glad it didn’t break the window or something, but it sure did break its neck or something because it was stone dead!

So yes, it’s official: birds need to learn to distinguish windows from the real thing.  The sad thing is when people do it too.  I was a party once and some girl…well, let’s just say she couldn’t tell the difference between the open glass door and the regular glass door.  So maybe birds aren’t the only ones with this problem.

I Really Need to Work on My Posture

I’ve realized that I slouch a lot.  And I think that it’s starting to take its toll…  So what I’m trying to do right now (right now meaning for the next couple of days or so) is notice when I slouch and try to correct it.

For one, I think I need to raise my monitor or something.  I think that is contributing to the problem at least in a small way.  I could probably use a more comfortable chair, but I don’t know how much that would really help.  And I think I also just need to work on posture when I’m doing other things like driving, walking, etc.  Last thing I want to do when I get older is become a hunch back because I hunched over so much!

Any tips on correcting posture?  I really don’t want to go to a chiropractor cause I’m not a big believer in what they do.  Sure the popping feels good for a minute or two, but does it really do anything long-term?  Try getting in a conversation about that with my dad sometime.  He’s a doctor so he’ll be very convincing that it doesn’t help a lot..  Anyway, I’m open for ideas!

A Great Idea From Jesse Ventura

This morning coming into work I heard the local radio guys talking to Jesse Ventura.  You know, the guy who was a pro wrestler and then also the Governor of Minnesota.  I didn’t know this, but he was a mayor before that too.  Quite the impressive guy when you look at it.

Well, he had a really good idea that I think we should put into effect.  What he said is that when he was mayor, he took a 4 year break and got back into the private sector before he ran for governor.  That way he really knew what was going on in the private sector as a governor.  He says that one of the problems with our government these days is that we have career politicians.  People who have been in politics their whole lives and then are supposed to tell us that are actually in the private sector what would be best for us.

I think it’s a great idea!  In fact, right now I want to nominate Jesse Ventura for a Nobel Prize because of that great thought!  I mean think about it, we get these guys in office that haven’t been in the private sector trying to make laws that are supposed to be for our own good, but they have no clue!

Anyway, that’s my political rant for the day.  Thanks Mr. Ventura for the great thought!

Is Debt Getting Out of Control?

Lately it seems like I hear all of the time how much debt people are in… and it’s really not a good thing. I don’t know if it is just uncontrolled spending or people just don’t know how to manage their finances. Maybe it’s a combination of the two.

Last year (or maybe it was the year before) my wife and I decided that we were going to really work towards getting out of debt. We’ve made some bad decisions in the past that had all gone on credit cards and we’ve taken steps to where we no longer have any credit card debt! The only debts we currently have is our mortgage, car loan, and student loans. Now its just a matter of paying those down, too.

Another problem that we’re hearing about all of the time these days is the housing industry and how a good number of people are loosing their homes because they can’t afford the adjusted rates. For any of you that are in this situation you might want to check out CountryWideCredit.com to find out more about getting a better mortgage rate and other credit related topics. Who knows, you might learn something to save yourself having to pay more than you should or even learn more about a refinance.

I really think its time that we all do what we need to do to get out of debt. Take the steps you need to so you can live a better life without debt.

Mouse Flavored Cat Food?

I heard something on the radio the other day that really made me laugh. It was just in the background, but here’s the question that was asked:

“Why don’t we have mouse flavored cat food?”

Seriously! Who decided that cats like the flavors that are currently in cat food? What about bird flavor? I remember growing up our cat would always kill and eat (at least partially) birds, mice, and other rodents. So why don’t you see these flavors in cat food?

I just went to the Friskies Cat Food website and here are some of the flavors that they have: Seafood Sensations, Indoor Delights (Poultry), Feline Favorites (Poultry, Milk, and Seafood), Signature Blend (Poultry, Beef, and Seafood). I don’t know about you, but I can’t image a cat in the wild killing a chicken, cow, or catching a crab. I think we’re trying a little too hard to domesticate our pets. Next you’ll have the flavors fillet mignon, banana creme pie, and nachos (that would be my favorite if I was a cat ).

Who knows, but maybe cats in the wild roamed as packs and would take out a cow kinda like a group of piranhas would. If that’s the case, then maybe its a good thing that we’ve domesticated cats…and we can thank companies like Friskies for keeping their primal needs fed.

Optional Body Parts?

Do you ever wonder why we even have certain things in our body?  Namely things like tonsils, appendix, and gallbladder that you can do without just fine.  I think it is very interesting that we even have these things!

This week my wife found out that she has to have her gallbladder removed.  She has been having some problems with it ever since our last kid was born a month ago.  So they did some tests on it and decided that it needed to go.

I guess my big question is that if we don’t really need some of these things, why don’t we just take them out once you turn 6 or something?  Ok, I know I know, the healthcare costs and all that.  But wouldn’t it be cheaper to just do it then rather than wait until your appendix explodes and almost kills you?

Ok, if you can’t tell I’m mainly just kidding with this.  But you have to admit that it is interesting that we can take things out and still function just fine.  I guess it goes to show that the human body is one amazing thing!

Getting Anxious For Spring to Arrive…

I have to admit that I’m officially to the point where I’m getting sick of winter and want Spring to come. I think I mentioned before that I tend to go through this cycle each year where for the first few weeks of a season I love it, then I’m ready for it to be over. Well I hit that point with Winter about 2 weeks ago.

I think the turning point for me this year was the insane blizzard that we had last week that knocked our power out for 8 hours. I know that only having the power out for that long is short compared to other outages that have happened around the country, but it was enough for me to think “OK, time for Spring!”

I can also say that I think I enjoyed winter a lot more when I used to go skiing a lot. Honestly I think it’s been 4 years since I went skiing. Too bad too cause I really love to go skiing. But since I now have 2 kids and a lot of other things going on I just don’t seem to find the time to go. I know I know…priorities right? Maybe next year I’ll make skiing a priority again!

A Random Thought About Being Mute

So for the last couple of days I’ve had a really sore throat and have basically lost my voice.  I can still talk, but if I talk very loudly it just starts to hurt.  This reminds me when I had laryngitis a few years ago and really couldn’t talk louder than a whisper for about a week!  My, wasn’t that fun….

This got me to thinking yesterday.  And being very random like I am, I was thinking about different basic body functions (seeing, hearing, speaking, etc.) and I decided that if I had to choose to give one up, I think I would choose the ability to speak.  I really would have a hard time if I was deaf or blind.  Sure I’d get used to it as people do, but if I had a choice I think I would choose to be mute.

Then I started thinking about how these days with the internet and technology and stuff, you could really still do a whole lot of stuff without being able to talk.  There are still so many ways to communicate.  Like this blog for example.  For all you know, I could be a mute deaf paraplegic and no one would even know it.  The internet really is the great equalizer in that sense.

Now, I really hope that I never do become mute or have any other problems of that nature.  But there’s my random thought for the day.  And by the way, that picture is not me…