Some Blog Site

Here I rank one’s chances of regret for various actions:

Always Regret

• reading urban dictionary

Usually Regret

• tattoos

Sometimes Regret

• pressing Send without thinking “how would this look in court?”

Never Regret

• opting for bacon

Here is something else on which to ruminate:
Must you gret something first before you can regret it?

Day 6

Zion National Park

This day we set out early again, mainly because we had a 3-hour drive to get to Zion. The kids did very well. I did very well too, until we tried to park the vehicle. It should be called Zion National Take-the-bus, because there is no parking.
I should have taken a photo of the madness that was the road into Zion National Park – cars parked all along both sides of the road outside the park, everyone walking from their cars, cars waiting in line to get into the park, cars turning around at the entrance because they didn’t have a reason or reservation to be admitted, shuttle buses going back and forth.

We found a parking lot a half mile from the entrance and parked there. We had to change our plans because we brought extra stuff, assuming we could get to our van between hikes for some refreshments or strollers or whatever. We had to leave the stroller and some snacks. We made our way to the shuttle bus stop and got into the park that way.

There was quite a line of pedestrians to get into the park. It seemed to me the reason was the park service had only one person at the ticket booth. By the time we got in the park, most of us were hot and frazzled. Beta was complaining about being hungry, but he couldn’t eat the rest of his sandwich that we packed because we left it in the van.

All that to say this: if you do plan on going to Zion National Park, be prepared to carry everything you need. Do not expect to have your car available for anything.

Really, they should have put the canyon in a better place, with more parking. Or maybe they could widen the canyon so they could fit more parking spots inside it, closer to the trails. They really didn’t think this national park through very thoroughly when they designed it…
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Subtitle: in which I improve the government’s records

Allow me to introduce to you the 2012 SFS Baby Name List. That baby name list is the place to go in case you are wondering what are the most popular baby names in 2012 regardless of how they are spelled. The Social Security baby name list does not adjust the rankings based on alternate spellings (like Catherine/Katherine), but SFS does.

For yet another year, Jacob is NOT the most popular boy’s name in the US – Aiden is. Rather, the name that is pronounced the same as Aiden is the most popular boy’s name in 2012.

Some Stats

• The top 4 names for the boys are the same as 2011, but not the same order except for Aiden at the top spot (what the government said was the most popular name was actually fourth).
• The top 2 names for the girls are the same as 2011, and places 3 and 4 just switched spots (the government got the first and fourth places correct, and switched spots 2 and 3).
• I don’t remember making any name predictions like I did last time, so I have no updates on that.
• Ethan is the highest-ranked boy’s name that has no spelling variations, passing Noah, which passed William from last year. This means that the boy name ‘Ethen’ has dropped off the rolls.
• Girl names still have more spelling variations than boy names (301/1000 vs. 214/1000 alternates)
• The boys still have the name with the highest number of alternate spellings (Aiden with 9 vs. Hailey with 8)
• There were more Sophias and Emmas this year, but fewer Isabellas and Olivias.
• Emma is the highest-ranked girl’s name that has no spelling variations, same as last year. It’s simple enough that it’s hard to vary it.

2012 Improved Baby Name List

Click on the link above and peruse to your heart’s content!

We bought an item from the grocery store. The packaging described it as “light and fluffy”.

Just to make sure we are on the same page, let me run through some items I would describe as light and fluffy.

• Cotton candy
• Cotton balls
• Whipped cream (after it leaves the can)
• Clouds
• Feathers and/or down

Now that you’re thinking of light and fluffy things, let me show you the product:

Potatoes! No, a potato is not light and fluffy.

If it would hurt to have someone throw an item at you, that item cannot be described as light and fluffy.

Day 3

Valley of Fire

It sounds rather impressive – like it needs an announcer voice and some dramatic music after it is announced.

The kids liked it – plenty of areas for climbing.

And the view from the top of that rock was pretty good, too

And that was just at the visitor center, before we drove to any of the impressive formations.
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This is a guide for how to play the game Airlines Europe. This game is a cross between Ticket to Ride and Monopoly. Or, as I like to say, it’s like Monopoly except it is fun.

The instructions that came with the game were a bit confusing, but now I have played it a few times and explained it a few times and now I will attempt to explain it here.
1. How do I win?
– you win by having the most points at the end of the game.
2. How do I get points?
– by having played shares of airlines when a scoring card is drawn
2b. How is a scoring card drawn?
They are inserted somewhat randomly into the deck of share cards, so as the game goes along and someone wants to draw a card, it might be a share card. At that point, the game pauses and points are tallied. Read the instruction manual to learn how the points are tallied – that is outside the scope of this simple overview.
3. How do I get airline shares?
– by drawing a card after buying an airplane. Both of that counts as a turn.
4. How do I play airline shares?
– by using your turn to take the shares from your hand and place them on the table.
5. How do I buy an airplane?
– by using your turn to spend money from your account.
5b. How much does each airplane cost?
– it depends where it is going. The routes have numbers on them. Whichever route you pick will tell you how much the plane costs.
5c. How do I know which route to pick?
– it usually doesn’t matter. Some airlines have a bonus available, so if you are buying one of their planes you should aim for the bonus destination.

5d. How do I know what to do on my first turn?
Some people are a little perplexed at first. If you don’t know what to do on your turn, here is a suggestion until you form your own strategy:
A. On your first turn, if a scarce card is showing in the draw pile (stock market), then buy an airplane of that company, place it near the hub, and then draw that card. A scarce card is any card with a number smaller than 10.
Otherwise, if no scarce cards are showing, then just draw money on your first turn.
B. On your second turn, build up one or both of the airlines that you played at the start (setup) of the game (i.e. buy airplanes of that color.)
C. On your third turn, you should have a sense of what other people are doing and what you want to do. If not, then I recommend playing some of the shares in your hand.

You already know how our time at the airports went, so I’ll skip those parts.

Day 1

The first order of business, though, was getting packed. My wife bought new luggage tags for the occasion. Here is most of our luggage, right before I loaded it into the minivan:

Flying

Before we left the house though, here is how the kids felt:

• Alpha – no big deal, he has been on airplanes enough
• Beta – excited to add to his tally of flights
• Gamma – anxious about flying
• Delta – airplane! airplane!

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