Category Archives: Assorted Ramblings

Assorted Ramblings, Stories, Wylie's Tale

Oh Boy! Dog Food! That's my favorite!

I keep Wylie’s food in a plastic bin by the front door. The manufacturer promotes it as a way to keep pests out of the food while also keeping the food fresh. I’m more concerned about Wylie getting into the bag and knocking it over than I am about any sort of pests. As for freshness, the food doesn’t generally sit around long enough for that be an issue. (And is freshness really an issue with kibble?)
The main selling point for me was that the container seemed somewhat unlikely to fall over and create a mess for me to clean up. Open bags of dogfood aren’t generally all that stable. As a bonus, if anyone ever opens the closet door, they’ll immediately get the impression that I’m somewhat organized. That impression won’t last any longer than it takes them to look at the odds and ends stacked on the living room sofa, but those few seconds in between are what I’m shooting for.
Wylie’s usually pretty indifferent to the evening routine. We come back from our pre-dinner walk and while I go and get his dinner ready, he runs upstairs and jumps on the bed. He’ll get around to eating dinner in his own time.
This evening was special though. I’d just bought him a new bag of dog food and this evening I poured it into the storage bin. Wylie was fascinated by the entire procedure and by looking at his eyes, you could see what he was thinking: “For me? All of that’s for me?!”
Wylie’s very excited right now. I think he’s decided this means he gets to stay here for another month.
I hope he’ll stay quite a bit longer.

Assorted Ramblings, Stories

Hot Chili

Wow. I’ve been getting a lot of email about the VeggieTale Roadkill. Tom and Anne both wrote back about what it takes to make real chili, and Angela even went so far as to send a vegetarian chili recipe with no end of spicy ingredients (jalapeno peppers, four garlic cloves, two tablespoons of chili powder, another of cayenne hot pepper sauce and so on).
Of course, it’s always a good idea to be cautious when making spicy chili. In some parts of the country (particularly in Texas), it’s not at all uncommon for small towns to be completely destroyed when some fool enters a chili competition with an entry that requires a number of alarms greater than the number of nearby fire companies.
And it’s not just the small towns that have this problem. Chicago had a big fire department in the 1860 but by 1871 the city fathers had become complacent. The cow takes all the blame, but most historians overlook the fact that there was also a chili cookoff that weekend.

Assorted Ramblings, Rants, Stories

Taking it for granted

I had to be in Towson this morning by 9:00am for a Jaycees meeting. Factoring in the hour-plus drive to get there, time to take Wylie out, and otherwise get myself ready for the day I knew the day would starting awful early. Right about 6:00am, Wylie and I headed out the door for our usual morning walk.
Normally I don’t bother turning on the outside lights before heading out for the morning walk. During the week, the timing works out so the sun’s usually coming up while we’re out. And on the weekend, I can sleep late enough that the problem doesn’t exist. But because it was so early this time, I considered breaking with tradition and leaving a light on so I could find the place. Continue reading Taking it for granted →

Pointless Posts, Rants

Junk Mail

Looking through some recent junk mail, I discovered a letter from Chase bank. At first glance, I thought the large text said, “Convert your equity into debt!”
That didn’t sound right, so I took another look. What it really said was, “Convert your equity into cash!” It was an offer for a home equity line of credit.
So, it turns out I read it correctly the first time after all.

Assorted Ramblings

Alternate Versions

One of the deleted scenes from X-Men: The Last Stand was a scene in which Pyro tells Magneto that Worthington Labs has announced a “cure” for mutants. But instead of a single deleted scene, they actually had two versions of it. In the first version, Magneto was his usual dapper self. In the second version, to show that he’d been in hiding for a while, Magneto has a heavy beard.
I can understand why they dropped the scene. It was 30 seconds of film that really didn’t do anything to advance the plot. Having Magneto show up at the mutant community meeting was a much more dramatically effective way of showing that he knew what was going on.
Of course, another good reason for dropping it is that in the version with the beard, it looks as though the brotherhood of evil mutants is being led by Gandalf.

Assorted Ramblings, Caffeine

Life's too short to be spent sleeping

My friends are pretty well aware of my insomniac tendencies. If I comment that I was up until 3am, the usual reaction is, “Well that’s nothing new.” On the other hand, if I mention that I was asleep before midnight, the initial surprise quickly gives way to inquiries into whether I’m well. This cycle has become so routine for me that back in the spring, the only time I got sick was after a week of getting eight hours sleep every night. Continue reading Life's too short to be spent sleeping →

Pointless Posts

It's All Black and White (and Yellow?)

I recently acquired a black hat reminiscent of the one the Gorton’s Fisherman wears, except this one is black. I’m in a weird mood tonight and can’t help making some random associations.
In the old cowboy movies, you can tell who the good guys are because they wear white hats. Likewise, you call tell the bad guys because they wear black hats. So what’s up with the Gorton’s Fisherman and his yellow hat?
All I can figure is that he’s one of the good guys and he had a run-in with Clifford the big red dog. (At the very least, he must have been attacked with a bucket of lemonade!)