Panhandlers

For the last five years, on and off, I've seen Dave standing at my off-ramp.  During a red light he walks down the row of cars carrying his sign, "Everybody needs a hand sometime.  God bless you."  Sometimes people give him money and he seems appreciative.  When the light turns green he heads back to the intersection with a pronounced limp.

I've always wondered what he does with his money.  Is he buying some booze, kicking back under the bridge?  Or is he going around the corner and counting his take for the day? It's rumored that some panhandlers make $400 a day.  But who knows.

Do you give money to panhandlers?

Play with a Spider

Someone sent this one into me:

Poke and prod the spider with  your  mouse ,  also 'grab' one of its legs with your mouse by holding down the left button and  drag it around  the  screen  --  tell me it's not alive!


Also anywhere on the map hit the space  bar while the left mouse button is held down and it leaves little bugs, watch the  spider go after them.  This is totally  crazy and creepy too!
  
Click here: Play with a Spider

Caylee Anthony Doll

The Caylee Anthony doll will be sold soon.  The company that is selling the doll states that they are giving a portion of the sales receipts to charity.  My first question is: "How much?"  Tell me what you think about a company trying to make a profit off a murdered little girl.


Would you buy this doll even if it's labeled a "Tribute Doll?"

Romantic Date

Haven't decided where to take your honey for Valentine's Day?  I have the perfect date idea so none of you go and tell J because we wouldn't want her surprise to be spoiled now would we?

Just kidding!  I saw this poster at lunch the other day and wondered how many of you would  take your date to one of these on Valentine's Day.

It's 7:01 a.m.

Every morning at 7:00 a.m. a parking lane becomes another regular "rush-hour" lane downtown.  There are signs posted that there is no parking starting at 7:00 a.m.  As I pass by I notice the little parking enforcement vehicles around the corner ready to pounce.

Many times I see tow trucks ready and sometimes they're towing at 7:01 a.m.  Every now and then I see the car owners running out to save their car but it's all in vain because that ticket is already written up - sorry.

What was different today?  Nothing really except for a huge tractor trailer and three of those little enforcement guys standing around wondering what to do?  Do they have one of those monster tow trucks?  I wish I could have pulled out my folding chair and just watched.

And yes...I had a huge grin on my face.

Question #45

When you purchase something from a vending machine and use the exact change, do you check the change slot anyway? 

First Volleyball Tournament of the Season

I was up at 4:00 a.m. and ready to go up north to Costa Mesa for Heather's first travel volleyball tournament in the Gold Division.  The parents get the girls to a meeting location and then head up as a team to the venues...Sleep, talk, or just zone out?  Four of us went to watch Heather play.

Girls on Volleyball Court

The girls did very well in my opinion and it was much more interesting to watch than high school volleyball.  Heather is a Libero so it was really cool when she heard "pipe," and got a back row attack - she killed it!  :)

Jess asked that I text updates from the matches as she does when her kids are playing.  Seems like between us we got all the sports covered.

Of course I also "watched" the NFL Conference Championships with a little help of my iPhone.  The Cardinals got a scare after leading by a huge margin then putting it away late in the game.

So,  if you remember from reading my blog what happens after a softball tournament on the way home, then you'll know she slept all the way home from the volleyball tournament also!  :)

Overall, the girls won 4 out of 6 sets in three matches.  Good way to start!

Elephant Dung Count Reveals Thriving Population

I wonder how long it took for this Job Opening to fill?  "We've found an alternative method to count elephants. You can be pivotal in this ground-breaking research. Apply Now!"

Chula Vista a Boring Place to Live?

I heard on the radio that Chula Vista, Ca was on the In Pictures: America's 10 Most Boring Cities by Forbes Magazine.

The funny thing is that the picture they choose isn't in Chula Vista...or is it?

Gimme a Boost!

How many moms would find this useful?

What I Ate Today

For lunch I had: Carne Asada Nachos Supreme and a 12 oz Pepsi.   For dinner I ate: A burger and fries.  The perfect concoction for a heart attack!  But I still think I'm gonna get killed by someone texting and driving!

How healthy did you eat today?

It looks like a gate

What the heck is it then?

What ever it is, someone doesn't want you to go through that gate that isn't a gate.

Value Every Minute

To realize the value of one year: Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of one month: Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week: Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one hour: Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of one minute: Ask the person who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize the value of one second: As a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond: Ask the person who has won the silver medal in the Olympics.

Time waits for no one.

Treasure every moment you have.

What Forklift?

While J and I were shopping I noticed this sign.  She knew exactly what I was going to do.

I wonder how many forklift operators have been driven away and how long it took for the driver to finally discover that they had a "guest" in their trailer?

Do you know where I took this?

The Eyeballing Game

How good are you at eyeballing measurements? Try this puzzle out? The Eyeballing Game. The object of the puzzle is to come as close as you can to the proper measurement.  Let me know how you do! :)

Excellent Stalking Skills

Chargers Lose Again

On paper they lost but they actually had it won if it weren't for that late officiating error.  I think the reason Mike Shannahan went for two points instead of going into overtime was because he knew that the Broncos didn't deserve that TD.  He went for the riskier play and if they missed, then all is well and Chargers win.  Or am I giving him too much credit?

Snapple Real Fact #132

A crocodile cannot move its tongue..

The last thing you'd be concerned about if you're getting chomp-chomped!

Large Hadron Collider

We're still here!  If you're not a geek then you probably didn't know that they test fired the Large Hadron Collider today despite lawsuits trying to stop it because of fears that it might create a man-made black hole under the 17 mile site..

Although the chances are very remote,  some European physicists place the odds at something like 50 million to 1.  For a comparison, the odds of winning the lotto here in California is about 23 million to 1.

This reminds me of people fearing that detonating a atomic device would start an un-stoppable chain reaction destroying the earth back in the 40's.  And no, I don't remember it personally!  :)

Here's some big numbers related from this experiment: (from wired.com)

LHC FAQ in 140 Characters or Less

Particle physics is complicated. Tweets are not. So, naturally, answering your questions about the Large Hadron Collider in Twitter format, i.e. 140 characters or less, could help you understand some physics.

Q: WTF is a Large Hadron Collider?

A: Hadrons are the parent family for protons and neutrons. The collider will smash protons together to see what they're made of.

Q: What are ATLAS and CMS and all these other acronyms?

A: They are particle detectors. ATLAS and CMS are the big ones. Each detector is designed to carry out a set of experiments.

Q: How does the Large Hadron Collider work?

A: It smashes particles moving at near the speed of light together. Then, detectors look for very rare particles in the wreckage.

Q: Is smashing things together to look for progressively smaller and rarer particles really how particle physics is done?

A: More or less: yes. Theoretical physicists work out the math. The experiments get run to see whose math matches the world.

Q: Gimme the stats on the Collider? Factoid stats.

A: 17 miles around. 9,000 magnets. 7,000 scientists. $10 billion. Operating temp: -456.25 F. Power used: 120 MW. Network: 1.8+Gb/s.

Q: Who paid for the Large Hadron Collider?

A: You did! But not nearly as much as your European cousins. The US contribution stands at $531 million. Total cost: $10 billion.

Q: How does a particle detector work?

A: They work like digital cameras with 150 megapixels taking snapshots 600 million times a second! Then algorithms look for interesting stuff.

Q: Is there an end 'product/goal' that the average Joe will eventually see from these experiments? ie:teleportation?

A: Not directly, but confirmation that physicists understand the universe would be nice. And you never know. The engineering can lead to other things.

Q: When you smash particles at nearly the speed of light isn't that going to release a lot of energy?

A: Yes. The highest-energy collisions will reach 14 trillion electron volts.

Q: How many particles are actually colliding?

A: Hacked Wikipedia: The beam pipes contain 1.0×10-9 grams of hydrogen, which

would fill the volume of one grain of fine sand.

Q: Is the Large Hadron Collider a threat to human civilization and the existence of the Earth?

A: No. Einstein's relativity says it's impossible. And, just in case, studies of highly-energetic cosmic rays hitting earth rule it out, too.

Does the general population really care?  Not really...I just got off the phone with my friend and she says, "I'd rather be watching project runway!"  :)  Good Night.

Heather's First High School Volleyball Match

I drove out to watch Heather play volleyball in El Cajon after work today.  She made the varsity team as a freshmen so I'm proud of her!  The team lost but at least the conference matches don't start until next month so they have some time to work on things.

Pull My Finger

As an iPhone owner, I usually look over the apps that are available on a regular basis and pass on suggestions to my friends that have one also. But here is one application that you won't be seeing on the iTunes store because Apple rejected it stating (as claimed by the author) that it didn't think it would appeal to the iPhone/iTouch user. I told Jess about it and wonder what she would do if I snuck it on her iPhone (evil grin)

If you've seen the apps available through the app store, then you'll agree that this application would be in the top 50 for sure, or am I wrong? Honestly!? :)

Wash Your Hands

You've probably seen these signs in bathrooms before, but have you ever read one.  All restaurants are required to have a sign up that has a bathroom, or cooking for health reasons.  Of course you can't have a sign that says, "Hey you!  Wash your hands since you either just peed or took a dump!"

Well, a focus group said they would come up with some politically correct way of saying this so as not to let anyone realize we KNOW what goes on in this "restroom."  A requirement is that they needed to have Spanish translation also.  Here's the Spanish version:

"Laven sus manos antes de abandonar este lugar para volver al trabajo."

Here's the translation:

"Wash your hands before you abandon this place to return to work."

Didn't know I knew Spanish, eh?  The mentioning of bathroom or any other bodily functions has been left out, not even restroom.  So, remember to wash your hands before you abandon your restroom.  Oh wait, not restroom,  "this place."

Compact Car Parking

They're already marking off parking spots for cars of the near future.   But somehow I think this car is not compact enough for this spot!

If you were a cop, would you cite him?

Photoshop Beauty

Think about this the next time you see a magazine cover!

FREE Lunch

I'm not offering a free lunch!  Tuesday the lunch truck lady calls me on my cell:

E: I'm not going to be there since my truck broke down on the freeway.  Can you do me a favor and let everyone know?
S: Sure!  I'll make a little sign for you and post it at the exit.
E: I appreciate that.  I'll be back tomorrow with your nachos!
S: Good.  I was about to ask you that.  :)

Esther just gave me my lunch for free and that she really appreciated me helping out. :)

Take a Seat

How many of you would take a seat in this room? The walls are padded and the floor is made of rubber. The chair is solid plastic with many holes in it and I don't even want to guess what's on the floor. There are no windows!

Warning!

What can be implied by the fact that McDonald's customers must be told that their coffee is HOT and that KFC customers don't have labels that say, "Caution: You might find chicken bones in your bucket of Chicken."

I think one of the best warnings is: "This superman suit will NOT give you the ability to fly." Have you come across a warning that just seems stupid?

Happy April Fool's

I'm always thinking of some kind of prank to pull and today I feel like I get a free get out of jail card since it's April Fool's Day. At work, I did the hotkey to invert the monitor display since we got new computers and all I could do was hide in my cubicle and pretend that I knew nothing about what was going on...It was funny!

Of course, I played a joke on the softball league where I volunteer and have been getting lots of feedback :) So far about 45 people have fallen victim to my devious prank...

Did you do anything to celebrate April Fool's Day?

Bank Robbery

A man walks in a bank, gets in line, and when it is his turn he pulls out a gun...and robs the bank! Just to make sure he leaves no witnesses, he turns around and asks the next customer in line... '

Did you see me rob this bank?' The customer replies, 'Yes!'

The bank robber raises his gun, points it at the customer and BANG! Shoots and kills him. He quickly moves to the next customer in line and says to the man, 'Did you see me rob this bank?' The man calmly responds 'No, but my wife did.’

Lost Churches

Someone sent this to me this afternoon:

One of the local television stations in South Louisiana actually aired an interview with a woman from New Orleans. The interviewer was asked if the complete devastation of the churches in the area had affected their lives.

Without hesitation, the woman replied,' I don't know about all those other people, but we haven't gone to Churches in years. We gets our chicken from Popeye's.'