Japan-Nippon

Japan--that's an exonym. Nippon--that's an endonym.  Who knew there was terminology to describe the names we assign to foreign locations? But why do we use Tokyo and not Munchen? France but not Suomi?

Household Mishaps

Blocks of cheese do not maintain their orginal structure once frozen. Everytime I tried to cut a slice, it crumbled. Curses!

This door sweep, which I destroyed whilst removing it, is no longer available in stores.

Door sweeps are the vinyl things on the bottom of outside doors that keep bugs, dirt, water etc. out. Luckily I tackled the door in the garage before the front door. Speaking of doors, there is right way and a wrong way to install weather stripping. This, I discovered after destroying more than one strip by trying to cram it into the groove with a putty knife and whittling away part of the door jamb. 

Reading a Brand

I watched a rather interesting program called, "Family Undertaking". It was all about people who take care of their own deceased family members. I think finances are often a driving factor, but there was a ranching family in South Dakota who did it because it felt like the proper way to care for a loved one. They had recently buried the grandma and were making preparations for the grandpa who was this frail little 90 year old man. One of the grandsons had built a casket and they were all in the barn getting ready to decorate it with branding irons.
One of the men was explaining to the camera how to read a brand and apparently when a brand is on it's side it's called "lazy".  So, for example, below are K and Lazy K.



 
 
Well, then the frail old grandpa sitting in the wheelchair goes, "I'll show you how to read a brand." And in his quavery old handwriting he wrote:

"2.  Lazy 2.  P." , he said. I was so fascinated by learning how to read the brands for Bar Six and Lazy K  I didn't even get that it was a joke until the second time through. Hahaha!



It's a Racket

Rack-et [rak-it] -noun

1. An organized illegal activity.

For, oh, the past 5-6 years I have used Comcast as my internet service provider. For this same period of time I have leased a modem for $7/month. Why am I not the owner of that modem and at least 5 others after all this time? Yes, I am an idiot, but they are crooks! Why is this legal?



Ah, Spring.

Worked in the yard on the loveliest of days today. Looked in the window well and it was full of debris. I hate getting into the window well--deep, confined, full of hidden creatures. Eek, there was a dead, leathery frog in there for a couple of years. I may have blogged about that before...

On this fine day several neighbors were also in their yards so I promised myself, no vocalizations no matter who/what else might be down there. Deep breathing, focusing on scooping junk into bucket, large spider on glove perilously close to wrist. Shrieked, swatted, was sure the thing had fallen into my glove. Eek!! There was precious little space in the window well between me, the bucket and the ladder, but thankfully the basement window remains intact. Psyche, less certain. Forced myself to stay down there for an additional 15 seconds in case the neighbors heard me. Death to all spiders.

My Neighbor

This is the view from the back of my house. I have made little helper marks/drawings to assist you in visualizing my problem. My neighbor never shuts the blinds in the indicated window. He often will just sit in one of the four chairs lined up on his back porch. There is a reasonable facsimile of him in chair no. 3. He has a fake parrot hanging from the awning. Free show.

(The pictures are tiny but if you double-click on them they'll enlarge to actual size.)

We'll see who shuts their blinds first.

Petit Fours

Batch No. 2 

Don't they look like delicious chunks of butter?

Batch No. 3

These are my second and third attempts at making Petit Fours. On my first go of it, I misread the recipe and ended up trying to frost the little cakes with something akin to taffy, which while delicious was impossible to work with. No pictures. Tried a different recipe the second time around and wanting to be sure I could drizzle the frosting, kept it pretty thin. The result is lovely, but the little cakes are soggy on the inside. Batch no. 3, well, you can see how thick the icing is. Hardened almost immediately. Clearly making Petit Fours is an art. I will master this.

Job Coach Needed

Having had the same job for the past 23 yrs, I am not overly familiar with the Job Interview. I just had two and they were underwhelming at best. One person gave me clinical scenarios. What the heck?! I don't know how many times I asked whether the patient had a fever because I couldn't think of what else to say. Today, the interviewer asked a perfectly reasonable question, "Why did you apply for this job?" Total blank. I did come up with something, but it was decidely lame. I need a little coach to tell me what to expect in an interview. I suppose I could probably find that on-line...Curses!

Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster

Haunted House

I came home last night to find only half my house had electricity. No amount of flipping breakers or resetting GFI switches made any difference. Happily the live half included the heater (blower), my bedroom and bathroom, and strangely,  the stove and the dryer but not the refrigerator. The smoke detectors were getting some kind of limited power because they kept going off--albeit weakly--at two hour intervals during the night, jolting me out of sleep with a racing heart. Turning the stove on created a high-pitched shriek in the basement and turning the dryer on brought 1/2 power to all the areas that were out. Freaky! Though I was certain the ghetto-construction of my house was to blame, it turns out there's a "leg down", some line in the ground is broken. Still waiting for that to be fixed, but at least I don't have to worry about my untimely death due to crossed wires smoldering in the attic. Or poltergeists.

Margarine

Why do we use a soft g when saying margarine? I cannot think of another instance in English--or any other language, multi-lingual as I am (that's a joke)--where the letter g followed by an a is pronounced as a j. Gadfly, Maragaret, gardern, gas, gatto, gallon, garbage...you get the idea. Shouldn't it be spelled margerine?

Have you encountered anyone whose pronunciation of warm rhymes with farm? It is hilarious.

Was ist dies?

It has a "robust...flavor" and "thin skin".

Cheeky Monkey

Cheeky monkey simply describes people who have an answer for everything. They like to always have the [last] word. It is hard to argue with that type of person. It's their way or no way. (cheeky)

I joined a little beginner orchestra and one of the other cellists tops/refutes/counters/questions everything I say! What the heck?!  It's going to come to fisticuffs.

Surely this represents a smidgen of arrogance  and insecurity on both our parts--but more on hers, right?

Abraham Vader



I'm disturbed by your lack of faith.

Lest it appear I spend too much time on the internet,

I discovered this in the newspaper today, although that is an electronic link...

Some guy with a lot of time and a collection of Star Wars action figures. 

'Cat Herders'

Eggs

From whence do eggs come?

Cloaca.

I am completely grossed out. I'll take my eggs from the store, please. No hens.

No milk either, thank you.





Operator Error

No, not another customer service story. I could share another carwash story but that might make me appear less than functional. Tragically, my experiences of late seem to support impairment. Is this what is is to age?

I was blow drying my hair and a few strands got caught in the air-intake. For you short-haired types, if you're quick enough the hair can usually be pulled free with a minimum of pain/damage. Slow thumbs or something prevented hasty action and somehow it became a tug-o-war with me on the losing end. I ended up having to cut my hair free because the dryer was 2 inches from my head. Running late as I always am, I turned the thing back on only to hear the motor running at 1/4 speed and smoke wafting out the end. Huge wad of hair constricting the fan. Should I go to work with wet hair or attempt to take apart the dryer? I'm unsure why that was even a debate in my mind but taking the screws out of the handle does not make the dryer pop apart. In fact, no amount of prying, banging, or cursing gained me access to the fan. So, wet hair and late for work. Nice.

In my cloud of irrational thought and overscheduling this week, I also decided to hop in my car and drive on the freeway 5 minutes before a scheduled phone interview so I could be on-time for yet another cello "master class" with all the kids. Can't be late for cello, ok to be late for work. Can't be late for cello, ok to compromise interview, safety, other drivers, etc.

Ah, yet another caffeine-fueled late night post--truth-serum for the weak minded...caffeine, that is, not my post.

The Job Hunt

Having never had to look for a job before, I must say it's an awful lot of effort with uncertain results. I mean, I knew that but never experienced it. Sheesh. By the way, did you know you can join the airforce until age 47?  I think I would like a highly structured life with few decisions--regarding my own life, that is.  I know I would need to make decisions about others', hahaha!  Travel opportunities, clothing provided, great benefits, what's not to love?

 Went to a Puerto Rican restaurant last night and had Mofongos. It was starchy, delicious and fried. I think I ate the equivalent of like 5 deep fried plantains, that can't be good!

Hutterites

This week I took care of the baby of a Hutterite couple from Montana. He was ready to go home today and as the famiily was gathering up their things they thanked me for being so kind and gave me a dozen eggs! Isn't that awesome?

Dentistry

18th Century Dentistry (that's a hyperlink)
I found this article, too funny and a little alarming! Here's a little preview
'The smell imparted to the breath by dirty rotting teeth, is generally disagreeable to the patients themselves, and sometimes extremely offensive to others in close conversation.'

A Little Something Extra

I was cleaning out my pantry and found a packet of grits, yummy!

Oh, whats that, little streaks of chocolate?

N-o.

Medical Terminology

Medicine seems to be moving toward more descriptive (accurate?) terminology and getting away from the the old, less-descriptive terms. VD became STD and is now STI, with I standing for Infection. No more diseases, I guess.  Fallopian tubes are Uterine tubes.  DM Type I & II became DM Type 1 & 2. Now that was a really useful change.

Well, the latest is Human Milk. I am a bit nonplussed. Is there a danger of misunderstanding  the source if we use the heretofore standard, Breast Milk? Does anyone say breast milk in reference to anything but human milk? For crying out loud.