Rain rain go away

It rained overnight in St. George. Normally, I love rain. It makes things cooler and cleaner. It sounds nice. It can be fun to watch. But this morning, I was laying in bed at about 5am listening to the rain and wishing it would stop. Why? Because it's watering the weeds!

We've spent a lot of time in the last 2 weeks trying to get rid of weeds. They're everywhere. They grow so fast. We've been ripping them out, whacking them, mowing them, spraying them and just about anything else we can think of. And now they just got another batch of water over night. They'll be 4 feet tall again by tomorrow. Grrrr.

P.S. You really don't need to use P.S. anymore

I tend to write in a very conversational style, which can be difficult and confusing at times. And when I write emails, I commonly put things in after my "signature" as a post script. We're all familiar with "P.S." and it's usage. It really comes from the Latin "post scriptum" meaning "written after" which you probably could have guessed if you didn't already know. But, if you think about it, the internet age has eliminated the need for post scripts.

If you were writing someone a letter a zillion years ago, or even typing someone a letter a few decades ago, you could easily conclude your letter, sign it, and then remember one more tidbit that you wanted to include. The only logical way to do it was with a p.s. at the end. No one wants to re-write a whole page just to insert a small paragraph. But these days, who writes? In the amount of time it takes to type "p.s." you could scroll up into the body of your letter/email and put your additional comments in the body of your text and no one need know that you only added it at the end. And yet, I still use it. Many others undoubtedly use it as well.

But, I suppose it's a good thing, because if we ever quit using it all together, our children or grandchildren would read some old book (Austen's characters always seem to be writing letters to each other) and encounter a mysterious "p.s." at the end of a letter and end up all confused.

Handed items

Handedness has been an interest of mine for many years. The majority of people are right-handed. I am left-handed. Neither of these things are anybody's fault. Likewise, no one is to blame for the fact that a great many objects are right-handed. In some cases, poor design leaves things very awkward to use for a lefty, when some better engineering could yield a more ambidextrous item. A computer mouse, for example, can be designed to be symmetrical allowing for use with either hand. Or, it can be very "form fitting". That fancy right-handed mouse is ok if you're going to use it in your own home, but please don't stock a whole computer lab with right-handed mice! (Note: I use a mouse with my right hand, as a majority of lefties do. This is because most of us don't want to have to rearrange every computer we ever sit at. Additionally, the most common windows shortcuts are left handed (select all, cut, copy, paste, save), so using the mouse with your right hand can speed up many processes. (What about on a Mac? Seems like that funky "apple" button is on the left.)

Other times, there is simply no way around it. There are many things that fall into this category, like screws. Yes folks, screws are right-handed. In general, putting a screw into something (a wood board, for instance) is harder than taking it out. Putting a screw in means twisting to the right, which for a righty means twisting your arm "out" (Shannon would know the technical term for this direction of twisting). Twisting in this direction is a much more powerful move than twisting "in". Try it. Even if you're just turning an imaginary screw driver. Twisting "in" makes your elbow poke out weird, and anything that makes your elbow poke out weird is probably not a very strong move. For lefties though, we're forced to drive screws with that awkward elbow poke. We're much better at taking screws out. That's where our power lies. But, a screw has to be either right handed or left handed. It just wouldn't work otherwise. So it might as well benefit the greatest number of people. (For the engineers out there: can you design an ambidextrous screw?)

I'm always on the lookout for items that are handed (either right or left). And they crop up in places that you wouldn't expect. The one I've discovered (or maybe just been reminded of) lately is zippers. About 2 months ago, my right thumb nail underwent some unknown trauma. I really have no idea what happened to it, but it seems to have died and then restarted. So, for the last few weeks, I've had tattered ends of half a nail on my right thumb. It's a bit tender, and I notice when I have to use it. And zippers on pants are all right handed. BUT, all this time in the bathroom thinking about handedness has made me realize that toilets are generally LEFT handed. Apparently people don't want to zip up their pants with the same hand they just flushed with.

Good thing we have Google

Because if we didn't have Google, some questions would just have to go unanswered.

For instance, let's say you were thinking to yourself: "Where can I learn more about 'fast mathlong on.comcom'?" Now, I can't say why you would ever be thinking that to yourself. You're the one thinking it, that's your problem. But if you were thinking that, you could turn to Google to help you out with all of your fast mathlong on.comcom problems. You'd type in "fast mathlong on.comcom" into Google and it would let you know that the third best place into the whole internet to find out about fast mathlong on.comcom is . . . . THIS BLOG!

That's right folks, I am a leading world authority on fast mathlong on.comcom. The third hit from Google on the topic is this post of mine from two years ago.

inFAQ

One of my faithful readers asks: "Did you quit blogging because everyone else did, too?"

Well, here at Bethletard Blogs, we care about our reader(s), so I'm here to answer the question.

Answer: No. I did pretty much quit blogging, but not just to fit in with the rest of the quit-blogging crowd. I'm my own man. I quit blogging because:

- December, January and the first part of February were a pukey ordeal at our house.

- January, February, March and the immediate future have been a worky ordeal at work. I've been working a lot more, at home a lot less, and blogging time has been hit hard. As has cleaning time, playing with Julia time, and just about everything else. The most discouraging part is that many days I get up and leave for work before anyone else is up, and then I get home an hour before Julia goes to bed. And even with all the work, it doesn't feel like much is getting done at work. But I'd like to get off that topic now.

This weekend we went up to the Wasatch front to do the Rex Lee Run. As I haven't been running (or exercising in any other way. remember that bit about working too much?) it was an accomplishment that I finished, didn't die and never had to stop and walk. The race results aren't up yet, but my watch put me at about 27:30. We barely got there before the race started, so we were way in the back. That isn't a huge problem because each runner has a chip on their shoe to individually track their time. I didn't cross the start line until several minutes after the race had started. But that means I did get to spend the first mile weaving amid the slower runners. I probably passed up about 1,000 people! So, at least I got to feel like I was really, really fast when in reality, I never even saw the fastest third of the field. Shannon walked the 5k with her mom and pushed Julia in the stroller. Shannon's dad also ran the 5k.

We've been doing the Rex Lee Run for a long time now and have quite the collection of t-shirts. So last year I started a new tradition which frankly isn't getting the attention that it should be. Those familiar with the run know that the t-shirts are almost the same every year, generally only changing the color scheme. But I've got enough shirts now that whatever color they pick, I already have a shirt of that color. Last year they did orange, so I wore the orange shirt from 2001(?). This year was blue, so I wore my blue shirt from 2000. (2010 was a royal blue, 2000 was a much darker blue, almost a little bit purple-ish.) Anyway, no one is observant enough at the race to notice that I'm the only person there wearing a shirt that is almost the right color, but slightly different. So, if you're at the race next year, look for me. I'll be the guy wearing the shirt that is very slightly different than everyone else's.

sdf

Did you quit blogging because everyone else did, too?

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes

This year I missed singing "Ring Out, Wild Bells" at church. It's one of those songs that you've really only got one shot to sing each year, so you might as well do it. If you miss it once, you've got to wait a whole year longer. (Related sadness: there is but one week a year where we sing Easter hymns at church, and the hymnal has 3. "He is Risen" and "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" always get picked over "That Easter Morn" which I appreciate because it is musically unique in the hymnal.)

So, I went to look up the song to fill that void in my life. The lyrics were written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and it turns out there are another 4 stanzas that are excluded from the hymn in the book. A few of them probably wouldn't fit as well into the song, but that doesn't mean they should be forgotten entirely. So, I present the entire piece for your consideration:

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

The Blogs are dying in the night

Looking through the list of blogs that I follow, I see that about half of them haven't been updated in recent memory. I haven't blogged as much as I did a year or two ago, but some people seem to have stopped entirely. I suppose Facebook is partly to blame for this, as it allows people to similarly update the world on their lives, but it's a poor replacement in my opinion. I'm not anti-Facebook or anything. If you want to tell the world that you made cookies today, I suppose it's an excellent method for doing so. (side note: I find it interesting that apparently we all believe that every single one of our friends (and by "friends" I mean anyone we've ever met) are interested in every little thing we say or do. "I'm waiting in line at the library." or "I'm facebooking from my phone." (yes, a "friend" of mine felt the need to tells us all that he was enjoying facebooking from his phone.))

Anyway, I don't see people using facebook to convey substantive ideas about things. No paragraph long stories, explanations, or anything. Text messaging taught us that anything worth saying should be able to fit into 160 characters. Twitter says we should be able to do it in 140. Facebook gives you about 250 characters before it truncates your status, essentially telling you "we all want to hear about your every thought, provided you thought can fit in this little tiny box." Up to this point, this blog post is already over 1400 characters long. That's 10 full length tweets, or almost 6 facebook status updates. So, it's a new year, add a resolution to your list to not only exercize your body, but also your brain. Don't let the brevity police restrict you any longer and go blog something.

Away

Neither Shannon nor I have blogged for a while. Clearly you've all been wondering why. Well, any extended absence on our part is usually indicative of one of a few events: vacation, holidays or sickness. In this case, all three.

Vacation/Holiday: It was Christmas! And a New Year! We spent about 10 days in SLC skipping all over the valley. It can be a bit annoying as everyone lives close enough that we can see everyone, but far enough that we still spend a lot of time driving. It's about 30 minutes from her parents to my parents. But we had a good Christmas. Julia started missing home, as she only spent about 10 days in the month of December at home. But we're back now. We also got a Wii for Christmas, but then left the controllers in SLC. So, if anyone wants to look at a Wii, come on over. The controllers will be making the trip down here in another 10 days or so. It's not like we have any extra time for recreation anyway . . . .

Sickness: Yeah, Shannon is still sick. But it seems to be getting better, and it's not as bad as last time. So far she's only had 2 IVs. Here's the chart:

Pink

I don't know how it happened, but Julia is a pink girl. Now, despite rumors I've heard to the contrary, I have nothing against pink. I did make comments before Julia was born that we didn't need to overload her in pink. We don't need 50 pink outfits, a pink crib, pink sheets, 11 pink blankets and a sign for her room that says "Julia's Pink Kingdom".

But, Julia loves pink anyway. If we let her pick anything, she's pretty much guaranteed to pick the pink option. Pink bowl for breakfast, pink shirt, pink blanket, pink pajamas, pink toys. She's just a pink girl, I suppose.

Now, this still doesn't mean that we need to overload her with pink stuff. In 6 months, her favorite color could be orange.