Monday, 03 January 2011
Remember how I said that I wanted to post a video of our family playing the dice game, but I couldn’t successfully upload it? (If not, CLICK HERE.)
Anyway, the point is, it’s online now. Watch it:
I also feel the need to point out that I’m back at work for the first time in 12 days. That was my longest break since my paternity leave thanks to Isla. I need more long breaks like that. Thankfully, I’ve been given another four weeks vacation to use for this year (plus I carried over some time from last year). And, whilst lunching with my co-workers, I found out we get Martin Luther King Day off. What a stupid, stupid day to have off from work. But, no, I’m not complaining.
Tuesday, 04 January 2011
First, I made this quiz at Sporcle today. At the time of this writing, it already has been played 91 times, so I guess it’s being well-received. I came up with the idea for this quiz because I’m watching all the Star Wars movies with Owen these days.
Second, I’ve decided to keep track of the money I find this year. I did that back in 2001 and in 2002 with the idea of seeing if, first, I found more money in a single year than a minimum-wage earner makes in an hour (I did) and, second, if I could find more than I made in an hour (I did not). So, I decided to try again.
Every once in a while, I decide to keep track of silly things in my life. A couple of years ago, I started keeping track of the time I ate fast food, but I didn’t finish. In 2007 and 2008, I kept track of the money I made from non-work/non-investment sources. You know, like money that I made from winning contests, from doing online surveys, from gifts, and from selling stuff via Half-price Books and Craig’s List. Surprisingly, I netted over $2,000 through these means in both 2007 and 2008.
Anyway, this year I’m gonna keep track of money I find – you know, just laying around. I’m not gonna count money that I find in my own cars or home, because that’s my money in the first place. And I’m not gonna count money that I know belongs to someone else. You know, like I’ll be at your house, helping you clean out your garage and, suddenly, I say, “Hey, did you know there’s a ten dollar bill lying here?”
So, I’ll see how it goes. I’ll let you know if and when I find more than minimum wage (currently at $7.25 in Minnesota). For all I know, I might beat that amount in a single day. Back on June 6th of 2009, for example, I found twenty bucks in the parking lot of a movie theater. Score!
Finally, while I knew taking ‘holy’ communion could cause fetal alcohol syndrome, I didn’t know it could also transmit hepatitis A. On the other hand, I’m not surprised. I guess hepatitis is the price you pay for drinking the Kool-Aid.
I only missed one answer on your Sporcle quiz and I actually knew the name, but didn’t know the spelling. I might have missed as many as ten had the quiz not been in chronological order (although guessing might have gotten me some of those). For example, I would not have known who Oola was or who ate him, but the answer was the next victim so that helped a lot. (Others that I would have missed — Corde, Wesell, The Reek, and all those random Jedi)
Also, your write-up about finding money reminded me of your entry about picking up pennies. In it, you pointed out why it’s worth it to pick up a penny. Within a week of you posting that, I saw (on a kids’ show) an interview with a hand model. One of the things she said was that, to take care of her hands, she couldn’t pick up pennies off the ground. The timing of it got a chuckle out of me.
Thanks for playing my quiz. I thought it was a good idea for a quiz because it’s a good sprinkling of easy answers and tough answers. For instance, just about anyone who’s seen Star Wars will recall that Vader killed Obi-Wan, but remember who killed Zam might be a little trickier.
Oh, and I agree with that woman – if my income depended on my hands being in perfect condition, then I would not pick up pennies, either. I would tell Owen to do it.