Nov 8, 2006

Folding paper, going to Iraq, and okay, elections...

I can't remember exactly why the conversation came up today at work, but there was a discussion surrounding the issue of tearing/folding paper only 7 times. We toyed with different paper, mostly copy paper, and found that 7 was pretty much our limit... Not one to simply let things go, I began searching for the science behind this phenomenon... Turns out, not only can paper be folded more than 7 or 8 times, one young woman (in high school at the time) folded her elongated paper TWELVE times (as part of challenge from her instructor)and wrote a pamphlet/paper about it. You can read all about Britney at the Science News for Kids web site. If you are so inclined, you can order a copy of her pamphlet from the Pomona Historical Society (you'll have to scroll down near the bottom to find the address where to send your six bucks... :-)



A while ago, I had posted some stuff about my Dad finding things in his knees and such.. Well, it turns out it is not malignant (that's good!). In fact, he is taking some medicine (I want to say steroids, but I am not 100% sure about that...). Slightly related to this news is that of my father looking into one of those civil service-type jobs in Iraq... A few months ago, he got in touch with some folks, sent of his resume, etc, and heard nothing... We thought it was a dead issue... And then, a few days ago, he got the word that the job was his if he wanted it. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth (that would be my mother), he decided to TAKE the job, at least for a year to start out with... My dad was in purchasing for several different government agencies in his federal employment career, and he will be finalizing purchasing contracts in Iraq... Can't say the man has no sense of adventure, that's for sure... He says that he will be stationed in the 'main' bases which are located in the 'green' zones... Call me crazy, but don't think the Iraqi protesters/insurgents are checking their maps to see what color zone they are lobbing RPG missiles into, ya know?? I'll keep you posted... He heads for training on December 2nd and then flies out from there to Iraq around the 16th.... I better give him his Christmas presents early so he can enjoy them before he goes.



I accidentally mixed some of Daisy's food with Billy and Princess' food. My father-in-law asked if there was urea in the goat's food... My blank stare clued him in that I had no idea what he was talking about, nor did I have an answer to his question... Now, I may be mistaken, but if urea is what I think it is, what would anyone want to put that into feed for? Seriously, I'm not looking this one up just yet.. If you know, and if I am right about what I think urea is, please clue me in here.... Okay, so, I screwed up the horse's food.. Well, she has had three feedings with the mixture, and it's killing me not knowing if the stuff I mixed in has the poisonous ingredient (yes, I looked up the effects of giving urea to a horse - not good, to say the least)... So, tonight, I did what any clueless horse owner would do - I threw out what was left.. Oh, I should mention that we have also been feeding the mixture to the goats as a way to help 'expend it' faster... Anyway, There was just a little left, so I dumped it away from any animals (except for the rabbits, armadillos, wild dogs, stray cats, field mice, and any other wandering animals) could get it. Then I filled Daisy's "jug" with the right mixture... :-) I'm keeping my fingers crossed...



My "Ah HA!" moment of the day was this: We recently bought three Dell 2950 servers at work. They only have USB slots (no PS/2 connectors - for those of you playing along at home, it means those computers have no ROUND connectors for the mouse and keyboard). These servers were ordered without keyboards and mice because, well, we have a bunch of them at the office (turns out, just not the 'right' kind...). I went to WalMart, bought a USB keyboard (we did have USB mice at the office), and away we went... While Marilyn was configuring the drive storage, she promptly discovered that the program did not recognize the keyboard I bought... How stupid. Well, after some head-scratching, it dawned on me to steal (er, uh, borrow) a Dell keyboard from another computer (pleading the fifth here on exactly WHOSE computer). Plugged it in, rebooted the server, and VOILA! Moral of the story - Buy the keyboard and mouse when you buy a system. Even if you don't THINK you need it, buy it anyway... Heck, it only adds like $20 to the cost... When you are spending $29,000 on servers, what's $60 among friends?



Man, had another train of thought there for a sec, but it got derailed... OH, wait, I remember... Internet Explorer 7! Have you tried this yet? I tried a few months ago and I hated it. I despise(d) TABBED browsing... Instead of individual windows for each web site you are visiting (assuming you are on several at the same time), TABS are used (like manila folder tabs) in the SAME window... UGH... That was then... I installed IE7 today at work... I have to say, I am not loving tabbed browsing, but it is growing on me... The feature I love most, is the thumbnail views! You get a screen of all the sites you are visiting at that time, and you simply click on the one you want to bring to the forefront! Sweet stuff! Aside from that, Microsoft moved all my buttons, rearranged my screen, and I feel like a cat in a wet paper bag...well, with tabs... a "tab"-y cat... I know, I know... Bad.. very, very bad....



Okay, election stuff... I voted. There ya go. In our area, we had NO ONE running for Coroner, so the only option was to write someone in or pick no one. If you pick no one, then when you got to the end of the electronic voting, it blinked at you, set off red lights, and I am pretty sure a siren was in there somewhere... "You have an error. You did not select candidates for all positions." No DUH! I almost wrote in Mickey Mouse...then almost put in Shan's name, but decided that I rather enjoy living... So, it turns out you can submit your vote anyway. So I did. On another note, one guy was running for an office near Little Rock. Shan and I went to college with him - Andy Mayberry. Yes, that is his name, and he's heard every RFD joke known to man, I'm sure.... Well, he lost, but it was still neat to see someone I went to college with running for office...



Okay, one more thing before I go... At lunch, John (one of the two other guys at the Co-op) showed me an email he got... Let me just say that this is from a movie and you must engage your "willing suspension of disbelief" (that is, use your imagination and just watch the video....): How to put on a bra.....

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