Blog O’ Obscurity

You ever wonder who was the first to put certain things together? Or do you ever wonder who managed to look at something that tastes disgusting and find just the right way to make it taste wonderful?

For example. Peanut butter and jelly. French fries and ketchup. Seriously, who would have thought at the beginning of time that these things would work.

“Yeah, take some of those nuts over there and smash them. Then take some of that fruit over there and smash it.”

“You just like smashing things.”

“Then take some of that wheat stuff over there and smash it, and then bake it. Spread the nut and fruit stuff on the cooked stuff and voila!”

“Fine. Dig up the roots over there, slice it and drop it into boiling fat. Then smash up some fruit.”

“Again with the smashing.”

“Dip the former into the latter and enjoy.”

“What, no smashing?”

Or who was the guy that figured out how to make chocolate taste good? Have you ever seen the nuts that chocolate comes from? I bet they taste nasty. Even smashed up into a powder it’s not too appetizing.

Makes me wonder what kinds of delicious combinations and preparations await the world of the future. Hopefully, the future is tasty.

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All this talk of health woes and I forget to talk about anything else.  I moan, I complain and I forget to tell you stuff like “the house sold” or “We’re moving into a house with a 4 car garage.  We’ll just be renting it but it’s bigger than here, even when you don’t include the garages, and the commutes will be about 1/4 of what they are now.  Our cash flow should improve considerably which means we can actually put a dent in the amount we’ll need for a down payment.

All good news.  Sure I could complain about the lack of fencing, but we can use the garage as a yard.  I could complain about the lack of shrubbery, but I’d just have to deal with transplanting the ones my son adopts when we move.  I could complain about the move….

Yeah! I think I’ll do that!

Moving STINKS!  And we’re not doing it once, but twice.  We’re moving out of the house into my parents house for 2 weeks and then from there to the new place.  I makes for a stressful move since everything has do go into storage - except for this that and the other thing that we can’t do without for 2 weeks.

Oh, that feels better.  And I know you were all dying to hear me belly ache.

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Over the past ten years, the price of in-state tuition at the big state universities in Arizona has doubled. The price of books for the classes at these universities has also just about doubled. It is not rare for a freshman student to pay over $200 for one book, for one class.

This state of fleecing college students as they’re trying to get their life started is obscene. I can understand paying a large sum of money to go to Princeton or Yale, but Arizona State, come on. State school should be as free as possible. Textbooks should cost a reasonable amount and be used by the same classes for at least four years. Professors should limit the amount of money that they ask their students to spend on books for each class. This will force down prices and hold the professors accountable to what they’re asking of their students.

The current state of affairs is an intellectual extortion. Pay up to learn or flip burgers.

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Boy what a headache I have.  Spring break is over and I had to start getting up early again today.  I’m completely out of practice and so is everybody else.  Even the little girl who woke up before 5am every day this past week had to be prodded awake.

I think spring break should be put off until April when you’re so desperate for a single day off, a whole week will seem like a month.  As it is, we’ve had at least one day off each month this school year, but when April roles around there will be none at all.  Not even an early out.   22 days of unending waking up early.  Oy veh.

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No one feels the pain of leap day as keenly as those of us born on March 1st. Don’t tell me people born on Feb 29 have it worse off - they age at 1/4 speed. How is that BAD?

Every 4 years, I have to wait an extra 24 hours to get my gifts, to blow out my candles, to age one more year. Sure, in truth everyone has the same problem for a year, but we March 1st-ers notice it most. We’re walking along, minding our own business, waiting for Feb 28th to come and go and suddenly someone throws an extra day in our faces! If you’re born on March 2nd, your birthday still comes right after March 1st.

To save me this repeating agony, I believe February 29th should be moved to another day. Wouldn’t a December 24.5 go a long way toward teaching the world how I’ve felt all this time. How about we just move it from month to month - this year Feb 29th, next time around we do a March 32nd - everyone would love an extra day of spring.

All I know is that I need someone to take this burden from my shoulders or I just might start celebrating my birthday a day earlier in protest.

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I’ve managed to break the drought in Arizona!

This week we are SUPPOSED to be having a block wall put up in the back of the house. We took the old one down over the weekend and yesterday and today it was supposed to be constructed. Instead it rained. The contractor said (understandably) that it’s hard to dig in mud. He said (understandably) it’s hard to pour concrete onto mud. The part I can’t figure out is why the concrete won’t dry while it’s raining (just kidding).

He actually did manage to get the hole dug despite the fact that we got better than an inch of rain. And today they plan on pouring the concrete footings. Those are supposed to dry overnight before the real work on the wall can start and guess what -

There’s supposed to be rain again tomorrow. What was going to be an easy two days will be at least 3 (if it doesn’t rain) maybe 4 (if they don’t have to wait for tomorrow’s rain to dry up) and maybe as much as 5. This all assumes that the rain will eventually stop. The law of averages says it must but Murphy’s Law says just the opposite.

And thus, by trying to get a wall built in two days, I have single handedly guaranteed unstopping rain until the monsoon starts at which point in time there will be no rain at all.

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Yahoo had a story about people leaving their jobs or wanting to leave their jobs mainly because of their boss. Bosses realize that so many of the jobs out there that require a college education in a specific field can really be done by just about anyone with a brain so they see employees as being worth less than a dime a dozen. If an employee asks for anything, then they are considered too much of a hassle and are encouraged to look elsewhere for a job.

What’s that? You want your raise to go through on time? Well this job is for people who really love the business, not greedy people out to make money.

What’s that? You don’t want to work third shift anymore even though I told you months ago that I would change your schedule and then gave the better shift to the guy with less seniority? Maybe you should look for a job elsewhere because lots of people have it worse than you.

What’s that? You want to take a week of vacation time all at once? Well this job is more suited for people who are really dedicated to their jobs. No, you can’t roll that vacation time over.

Not to mention the fact that if you stay at your job for years and years, they’ll have to eventually give you raise after raise after raise. What’s that going to do to payroll?!  It’s better for them if you stay for as long as they can use you and then you move on.

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I will never understand the planning and construction of freeways here in Phoenix.

Every single new freeway starts off with three lanes in each direction. Immediately after it’s opened the freeway is clogged every rush hour with thousands of cars going down the blacktop. Inevitably, the state decides that the freeway is congested (duh!) and that it needs to be widened. They then spend years widening the freeway to four lanes plus an HOV lane in each direction.

Come on, people! Get your heads out of wherever you stick them and build the freeways with five lanes to begin with.  We’re the fastest growing place on the continent. If you build it, they will drive on it.

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If I were to live my entire life without hearing another commercial jingle, I would die a happy and sane man. Between the “Year End Car Deals” jingle and the “Free Credit Report” jingle, I feel like I want to reach through the radio, wrap my hands around the throat of whoever sings the song, and jingle their necks.

On the other hand, the dude that sings the “Real Men of Genius” commercials… kudos. We salute you, Mr. Real Men of Genius singer. May you go down in history as the king of clever one liners and not just the guy who sang all those “Rocky” songs. Because you, sir, truly have the eye of the tiger.

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All the rain we had recently reminded me of my time in Tucson.  The first year I moved there was NOT a drought year.  It rained every day for a month.  Unfortunately, Tucson does not have a drainage system.  Rather, it doesn’t have an underground drainage system.  They use the streets instead.  This means that even if it rains a little, all the streets get flooded.  Unless you have hip high rain boots, don’t bother trying to walk around because they don’t have sidewalks so you have to wade through the ‘gutters’ or go down the middle of the street.  This may seem a bit negative and I’ll admit that when I think of all the places I want to visit in my life, Tucson isn’t even a place I want to pass through on the way to those places, but that’s just how Tucson is.

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