Some Blog Site

I decided to make a craft with/for the kids. Here are the details.

• Magnets: 12 for $1 = 8.3c per pole
• Poles: 2 for $1 = 50c per pole
• Washers: 30 for $1 = 3c per fish
• String: free from the garage
• Paper: free from just about anywhere

Total per fishing pole: about $0.60
Time spent occupying the kids’ attention: 1.5 hours (includes helping with construction and also playing time)
Not a bad deal when compared to any commercial ventures intended for entertaining kids for that amount of time…

The pole was a dowel from the local big-box hardware-type store.  They come in 4-foot lengths, so I bought one, cut it in half, and had two 2-foot poles for the kids.  I then stapled (using my construction-type stapler, not a standard paper stapler) a 3-foot length of string to the end of each pole.

I took the magnets that we bought and drilled a hole in the middle of two of them (one per pole).  The magnets were the soft (plastic) type, not the hard (ceramic) type.  The ceramic type are going to be more powerful, but also more brittle and I wouldn’t want to drill a hole in one of them.  I used a small drill bit, the type used for wood, for the magnet.  The size was just slightly larger than the string, so that I could thread the string through the hole.  I did not put the bit into a drill – I just twisted it by hand.  Yes, the magnets are that soft.  After threading the string through the hole, I tied a knot in the end to keep the string from unthreading itself.

While I was doing that, the kids were coloring fish that I had cut out of paper.  The fish were between two and three inches long.  Once the children were finished coloring the fish, I taped the washers to them.

And then?  We tested everything – put the fish on a chair and have each child try to pick up a fish using the magnet on the end of the pole.  They worked adequately, although I would have liked stronger magnets because the magnets we got don’t have much of a grip.  They pick up the fish most of the time but they fall off easily.

The kids slightly enjoyed fishing with the poles.  What they really like doing with the poles is pretending they are bows, as in bows and arrows.  There are no arrows, but that doesn’t stop them.  Since I made the strings longer than the poles, the children started having fun wrapping the string around the pole.  Then they noticed if they wrapped only the end of the string around the other end of the pole, that left some extra string in the middle.  That extra string resembled a bow, so they started pointing it at things and shooting “arrows”.

Editor’s note: today’s contribution is from guest writer Craigg Westerstream.

Since they are gaining in popularity, the all-haiku predictions are now making an appearance on Some Blog Site – still America’s only all-haiku college football BCS bowl predictions.

This is with apologies to TMQ, whom I can reference but not link to for cheerleader-based reasons.  He has his pre-season NFL predictions in haiku form.  During this year’s all-haiku predictions, TMQ mentioned that his used to be the only haiku predictions, but someone else began copying him.  I thought, “If someone else can copy him, why can’t I?”  I am now empowered!

These are listed in order of date (earliest first).  Some picks are whom I think will win, and some picks are whom I want to win.  I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to decide which is which.  Remember: all predictions wrong or … okay, I’ll stop there as I don’t want to plagiarize TMQ, just slightly imitate him.

Dec. 20th
EagleBank Bowl
Bank takes bailout funds.
Is this the taxpayer bowl?
Rematch: same result.

Navy over Wake Forest

Las Vegas Bowl
Based on common foes,
my guess is that BYU
has the advantage.

BYU over Arizona

St. Petersburg Bowl
Which team is better?
4 wins in C-U-S-A
or 2 in Big East?

South Florida over Memphis

New Mexico Bowl
Recent new bowl game
A new coach for CSU
Hill’s still at Fresno?

Fresno State over Colorado State

Dec. 21st
New Orleans Bowl
What used to be the
first bowl game of the season
is now the fifth one.

Troy over Southern Miss

Dec. 23rd
Poinsettia Bowl
At 13 and O,
Boise will wonder what they
have to do next year.

Boise State over Texas Christian

Dec. 24th
Hawaii Bowl
Long plane flight over –
Irish forget that they are
not on vacation.

Hawaii over Notre Dame

Dec. 26th
Motor City Bowl
Chippies spend Christmas
at home, welcome Owls to the
cold of Michigan.

Central Michigan over Florida Atlantic

Dec. 27th
Emerald Bowl
Each team has a streak
of three in a row to end
the ’08 season.

California over Miami

Champs Sports Bowl
Wisconsin Bagers:
Yes the ‘D’ is missing.  It’s
been like that all year.

Florida State over Wisconsin

Meineke Car Care Bowl
Can West Virginia
go O for 3 in this bowl?
The Tar Heels hope so.

West Virginia over North Carolina

Dec. 28th
Independence Bowl
How fitting that the
Independence Bowl gets a
day all to itself.

Northern Illinois over Louisiana Tech

Dec. 29th
Alamo Bowl
Wildcats and Tigers
Both Willie and Truman look
like friendly mascots.

Northwestern over Missouri

Papajohns.com Bowl
NC State, Rutgers
both on decent winning streaks,
but they can’t both win.

Rutgers over North Carolina State

Dec. 30th
Holiday Bowl
PAC-10 and Big 12
This one should be fun to watch.
Big 12 wins again.

Oklahoma State over Oregon

Texas Bowl
Rice is close to home,
but they can’t hold opponents
to single digits.

Western Michigan over Rice

Humanitarian Bowl
Does the bright blue turf
make the yellow first-down line
appear to be green?

Maryland over Nevada

Dec. 31st
Chick-fil-A Bowl
Les Miles is still glad
that he’s not at Michigan.
They’re not in a bowl.

Georgia Tech over LSU

Insight Bowl
Minnesota has
a losing conference record.
At least Kansas tied.

Kansas over Minnesota

Music City Bowl
A 5 and O start
helps break the long bowl-game drought
Expect rustiness

Boston College over Vanderbilt

Sun Bowl
Pitt has a better
record, but Oregon State
has Coach of the Year

Oregon State over Pittsburgh

Armed Forces Bowl
You would think that the
military-based team would
have to win this bowl.

Air Force over Houston

Jan. 1st
Gator Bowl
Who is the coach now?
Too many coaching changes
for Clemson to win.

Nebraska over Clemson

Capital One Bowl
These teams fell from their
high rankings.  At least they still
play on New Year’s Day.

Georgia over Michigan State

Outback Bowl
Penn State not a fluke,
Hawkeyes spoil another team’s
hopes for victory

Iowa over South Carolina

Orange Bowl
Winners of the two
small BCS conferences
Don’t get a big game

Virginia Tech over Cincinnati

Rose Bowl
Penn State represents
Big 10 in the BCS
Win one for JoePa

Penn State over USC

Liberty Bowl
Now it is time for
a fun, self-aware haiku:
This is the last line.

East Carolina over Kentucky

Jan. 2nd
Cotton Bowl
Red Raiders are set,
deep in the heart of Texas,
to avenge their loss

Texas Tech over Mississippi

Sugar Bowl
Utah helps to pave
the way for non-BCS
schools to get good bowls

Utah over Alabama

Jan. 3rd
International Bowl
Buffalo players
don’t have to go very far
to reach Canada

Buffalo over Connecticut

Jan. 5th
Fiesta Bowl
Teams have traded wins.
It’s the Longhorn’s turn this time.
They’re better this year.

Texas over Ohio State

Jan. 6th
GMAC Bowl
Ball State and Tulsa:
They’re both on a losing streak
of only one game

Ball State over Tulsa

Jan. 8th
Cleverly-named BCS Title Game Bowl
Both teams ran up scores.
Team with better record wins.
Same record? Home wins!

Florida over Oklahoma

“Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.”
– 1 Corinthians 4:16

Having played Guitar Hero, I find I listen to songs differently.   Now when I hear a song on the radio, I will listen for the lead guitar part and will try to picture how well the song would fit into the game and how fun or difficult it would be to play.  Some songs, like Don’t Fear the Reaper, have a good guitar part in the middle but might be rather boring for the rest of the song.  I know they probably don’t need any song suggestions, but it’s fun to think of some.

Another song I thought would be good was Hotel California, but I checked and someone else already thought it was a good idea and put it into Guitar Hero World Tour.  They need more Zeppelin too.  I’m thinking that the guitar solo in Heartbreaker would be the highlight of the game.  And some Johnny B. Goode wouldn’t hurt either.  Ooh… Clapton’s Layla (the fast one, not the slow, unplugged one) would be fun too.  And Sultans of Swing.

Okay, for the last two suggestions I cheated and peeked at Guitar World’s list of top guitar solos of all time.  On a lighter note (pun intended), I also recommend Hocus Pocus by Focus and Frankenstein by the Edgar Winter Group.

Some radio stations are all-Christmas format, so I usually don’t find a lead guitar part in those.  Although… Christmas Eve in Sarajevo could be a good candidate for Guitar Hero Holiday Edition.

And not to be left out of a trend, the Christian bookstores are selling Guitar Praise.  That way, you can enjoy wholesome fun with the entire family, playing Christian/praise/worship songs on the guitar.

“Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.”
– Psalm 33:2

Most of the news items about the Big 3 automakers in Washington asking for money refer to it as the “bailout” for Detroit auto companies. It is not a bailout. They are asking for a loan. A bailout is what the financial companies got: billions of dollars with no questions asked, no strings attached, and repayment is optional.

The current Congress worries me a bit.  They are looking forward to setting up a new committee or appointee to oversee the running of the car companies. In other words, they are going to use this situation to expand government. They are going to take advantage of the financial crisis to add rules and power to Washington because they wouldn’t be able to get away with it in a normal economy.

The Big 3 car companies want a loan. They are going to repay the loan. They have a pretty good history of repaying the loans from the federal government. And the government has made a decent amount of money on previous loans to the car companies.  What happens once these loans are repaid? Is Washington going to disband the new car committee or car czar? Something tells me that this expansion of power will not go away as easily as it came.

<rant>

The senators and representatives seem to be fond of telling the car companies that their business plans are not sustainable and they need Congress to tell them how to run their companies. I would like someone to tell Congress that Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable and they need someone else to tell them how to run the government. Congress wants changes at the top of the car companies. Why don’t we also get changes at the top of Congress, particularly in the finance and banking committees that were supposed to be overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? They were warned of their floundering finances, but did nothing to fix it. Why are those the people who are now, all of a sudden, responsible and knowledgeable enough to run car companies?

If the government wants to tell a public company how to run itself, it should follow the existing market methods. If the company is asking the government for money, there are three main options: gift, purchase, or loan.

• If the government wants to just give money away as a gift, then there are no conditions.
• If the government wants to help a company financially but wants a say in the matter, it should buy shares of the company. The more shares you buy, the more votes you get. It works well this way for everyone else.
• The third option is for the government to loan the money to the company. The company pays the government back, and there is no need for the government to force any changes in the company. If the company is being run poorly, then they will have incentive to change things so they can free up some cash to make the loan obligations. If the company can’t make it and goes bankrupt, then I am sure the government would arrange things with the bankruptcy judge so that they are the first to be paid. Even if they don’t get paid, how is this any different from the government’s grand plans to buy bad mortgage debt from the mortgage bankers? Washington was going to buy mortgages that were known to be bad, meaning they expected many of them would not be repaid. The car companies should at least be better than that.

</rant>

There are free-market solutions that the government can use to help the companies. Of course, a truly free market would not have the government get involved. And many people are arguing that government involvement was the root cause of this whole mess, so a truly free market would not have had the same problems that apparently only the government can solve. I vote for less government. Loan the money if you must, but don’t grab for power in the process.

“The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower {becomes} the lender’s slave.”
– Proverbs 22:7

It is cold and snowy outside, so I have started my beard, much to the chagrin of my wife. When some people, those who know me slightly, see me with a beard and they aren’t used to my having a beard, they ask questions. Oddly enough, the most common question is “What question do people usually ask you about your beard?” To which I reply “The one that you just asked.”

For those who are interested: the second-most common question about my beard is “How do you wash it?” And my reply is “I shampoo it occasionally.” Another popular one is “How long did it take you to grow that?” Of course, that answer varies depending on when they ask the question.

When my beard is just starting, or if there was a long weekend during which I didn’t shave, then there’s a good crop of stubble on my face. My kids used to be fascinated with that. They would rub my face with their hands and say “Daddy, you have ants all over your face!”

Tuesday night was crazy.  It was one of those nights that wouldn’t let me go to sleep.

I went to bed around midnight.  At 12:15, one of the neighbor’s dogs starts barking.  Very annoying.  It’s not a constant barking – somewhat intermittent, so I am able to start drifting off to sleep.  At 12:30 however, the dog is joined by a chirp from the smoke detector.  It has decided, just now, that its battery is getting low.

I remember that the smoke detector emits a short chirp every minute when the battery is low, but I also remember that it can be on the edge for a while.  I don’t want to leave my warm bed, so I gamble that the next chirps will not be very regular, and maybe I can fall fast asleep and will miss the next chirp. I win that bet, and am back asleep.

At 1:00 my wife wakes me with a “What was that?”  She then described a chirp-like sound.  I tell her it’s the smoke alarm telling us it thinks its battery is running low.  She asks how often it makes that sound.  I tell her “once a minute”, and the alarm chirps again, and again.  I give up and get out of bed.

I go downstairs and get the step stool, since our bedroom ceiling is at 10 feet.  The step stool is not tall enough – my reach is probably 2 feet shy of the smoke detector.  I try remembering how I did this before.  Then I recall that I use the small ladder from the garage.  But the small ladder isn’t in the garage anymore; it’s in the shed.  There’s no way I’m trudging through the snow to get a ladder just to change a 9V battery.

Ah-ha!  We have tall stools in the kitchen for sitting at the counter.  I bring one upstairs, and now my reach is only 1 foot shy.  Hmm…   I grab an end table from the upstairs landing.  The kitchen stool plus the end table is tall enough, if slightly unsteady. But at this point I don’t care.  Swap the batteries, leave the stack of table and stool, and turn out the lights.  Finally back in bed, heading off to sleep at 1:30.

The kids wake up at 6:30, at least an hour earlier than usual, and they’re hungry for breakfast.  If nothing else, that was a training run for when the new baby arrives.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
– Matthew 11:28

Now that it is December and snowy outside, it is time to update Some Blog Site’s background photo.  In this case, it is part of an old skiing photo.  I plan on having a new background each season.

The Some Blog Site calendar is as follows:

• Winter – December, January, February
• Spring – March, April, May
• Summer – June, July, August
• Fall – September, October, November

I know that doesn’t exactly align with the solstices and equinoxes (what is the plural of equinox? equinoxen? equinice? equinoctes?) and what-not, but that’s how I have chosen to update my backgrounds.  Why do some businesses and government agencies have their fiscal years end in September?  Because they can.