Gripes, Amusing Observations and Weird Ideas

For several reasons,
I've hardly blogged the last few weeks.
My job has been exhausting
and it's not much an exaggeration to say
that when I come home each day
I plop on the recliner and watch a few hours of TV.
From there I eat dinner,
then give the kids some attention,
then lay down a while and I frequently fall asleep.
When I have to, I force myself
to fix some things around the house first
or mow the lawn.

Summer work sucks all the life out of custodians.
I can't wait for autumn.

Another reason I haven't blogged much
is that blogging everywhere
seems to have tailed off somewhat.
Must be something about summer
because I noticed it last summer, too.
I think
people have many other things they'd rather be doing.
Blogging seems to pick up
as the weather gets cooler, wetter...and snowier.

But I've had some thoughts the last few days.
Gripes, amusing observations and weird ideas...

=There's nothing that makes a 6-year-old happier
than to immediately recognize everything in a picture
that he (or she) drew, without any hints.

=What's with men's denim shorts?
The last few years, they've made the legs so long
that when I get up from a sitting position
the bottom hemmed edges catch on my knees.
This is incredibly irritating.
Do designers think
there's a lot of guys who are 7-foot-3
and have 3-foot-long thighs?
Mens' shorts need to be cut at least 3 inches shorter.
I'm not a short guy - I'm 6-foot-1,
and this is a problem with me.
The worst part is,
what they're doing is costing them
- and us -
money!
Make them shorter
and they would not only be more comfortable
but they'd also be cheaper to make
because less material would be used!

=How long will it be
before someone genetically engineers big trees
- oak, maple or hickory trees -
so you can grow one with with leaves
that are colors other than green?
Many trees have red leaves
but I'm talking other colors...
leaf colors such as baby blue, purple, white or pink.
Some colors would look awful,
but some would be pretty cool.
Or...glow-in-the-dark leaves.
But I wonder what would happen in autumn
when the leaves change color and fall?
I'll bet this could be done
without interfering with
chlorophyll function or production.
Christmas trees could come in a choice of colors, too!

=Do you remember ever watching
any one of several old Three Stooges episodes
where one of them would get punched by some bad guy,
spin around backwards,
and flip upside-down to a position
where he's standing on his head against a wall?
(Actually, it's a simple special effect trick.
They're just coming down
from standing on their head.
They just played it backward.)
My youngest son can really do that.
The other day he got so excited about something
that he ran over and did it on my recliner
in the blink of an eye!

=Imagine a TV commercial,
comedy movie or TV comedy show,
and the camera shows
someone doing something in the foreground.
But the action in front is off-center,
because your attention is really supposed to be focused
on the sight gag going on in the background.
Anymore, I can see it coming.
Boy, I hate forced humor.

=I'm a big supporter of hydrogen power
and I hope they find a practical way
of making and storing solid hydrogen within cars
to use for fuel.
But I've heard hydrogen-powered cars referred to
as "bombs on wheels"
because of how dangerous
moving around a tank full of hydrogen can be.
But whether your car is carrying
400 miles worth of gasoline
or 400 miles worth of hydrogen,
wouldn't the explosion be similar
because the amount of energy stored is equal?
Or does the degree of danger vary widely
because of how the energy is stored?

=I don't know about other parts of the country,
but we're really growing around here
and they're doing a lot of building,
mostly new neighborhoods where fields used to be.
And that results in most of the roads
sporting double-yellow-lines.
I hate a lot of growth
and I sure miss passing lanes.

=A "street-wise" friend and co-worker
- who turns 28 next month -
told me that when he was about 20
he had a car with an incredible sound system,
one with some really powerful speakers.
I don't know if this is common or unusual,
but this was so powerful
that when he'd crank it up
his rear-seat friends would get nosebleeds.
Regularly.
Sounds like it caused brain damage or something!
Not to mention that the volume
vibrated the inside rear-view mirror off his windshield.
And after a while
his friends refused to sit in the back seat any longer.
I'm surprised my buddy has any hearing left!

=After watching my boys blow bubbles outside,
I can't help but wonder
what's the biggest soap bubble that can be made
if you had an instrument big enough to make it
before it collapses on itself
or the atmospheric pressure pops it
or whatever.
Five feet in diameter? 20 feet?