Why do we say it?

I am a bibliophile.  Whenever we move, we pack up the books first and Poof! the whole house is almost empty.  Sometimes I will go through the books, grit my teeth and try to determine which books I haven't read or looked at or have really, really outgrown.

I found this one:  "Why do we say it?" and I have been enthralled ever since.  I listen to everything people say and try to figure out where the phrase came from, why we still say it or whether we should just drop it.  There are also times where I say...who says that...you're kidding aren't you.

"Wink is as good as a nod"; Wisdom teeth";  "Handwritting on the wall".  No wonder English is such a difficult language to learn, we keep putzing it up with slang, shorthand and idioms...or idiot toms.

How about "Froonce" or "Gaberlunzie"?

And then there are the ads that seem ok..."New Housing for Elderly Not Yet Dead."

Hasta La Vista.

Le Conteur

An Agreement

I follow two blogs fairly religiously, Law Dog, and Fatale Abstraction.  I do this for two reasons, they make me chuckle and Law Dog tests my speech agility as well as my sympathy for his life choices.  Law Dog recently tried to by a new phone...I will leave it to you to go there and see the results of his search.  I can sympathize, I also have the nearest thing to a brick that is still available. 

I don't need Facebook, Twitter, IPhone, Scrolling touch....any of that.  I don't even answer my phone most of the time...drives the boarders at The Boardinghouse nuts.  Another thing...who has fingers as small as those keys?  Texting, Hah!  My texts come out something like fgiureioitfdoirtytoiuyresdlkfg.  And that is with punctuation!  Also, I sort of like to keep my head up and lookin' around...lots see out there.  Check my email while driving....hum...I get mostly Spam and the delete button is tinier yet.  What's going to happen when the cells towers go down, when they are jammed...I guess it is my background in Homeland Security and Disaster work that keeps me asking the "what if" question all the time.

Sigh....

Le Conteur

Favorite Movie

This is amazing!  This simple mathematical exercise can predict your favorite movie. It must have been created by a real genius. I don't know how it works, but it works every time!

Be honest and don't look at the movie list below until you have done the math!

OK, just humor me and do it!

The quiz can predict which movies you would enjoy the most. It really works...for most of us anyway!

Movie Quiz:

1. Pick a number from 1-9.

2. Multiply by 3.

3. Add 3.

4. Multiply by 3 again.

5. Now add the two digits of your answer together to find your predicted favorite movie from the list of 18 movies below:

Movie List:
1. Gone With the Wind
2. E.T.
3. Blazing Saddles
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Obama Farewell Speech of 2012
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of The Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders of the Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire

hummmm

Le Conteur

Snow Festival

February 6th is the day of the Sapporo Snow Festival.  Japan,in 1949 children built six huge snowmen in the main square of Sapporo, in northern Japan.  The snowmen were so popular that the city decided to sponsor a snow sculpture display every year.  Today, all kinds of groups - carpenters, atheletes, chefs, etc. - design and build giant sculptures.  They often use steel frames, and thousands of tons of snow brought down from the mountains and ice chipped out of the river.  For three days more that 200 sculptures fill Odori Park.


Although we are in Tornado alley and the winters are known to be brutal...we are having 60 degree days and the weather gods are not prognosticating without full body armor.

We are going to pay for this weather...somewhere, somehow.

Le Conteur

The Boardinghouse #1

I have been advised that maybe I should introduce you all to the members of The Boardinghouse...this is Toothless. His name is Jean Luc...yes after JL Picard...He is sitting in our dog transfer unit in a Penske truck supervising the move from the Rainy to the Plains.  This year he is 22 years old, he is a cross between a longhaired chihuahua and a papillion...sort of like a cross between Sean Connery and Sir Lawerence Olivier. 

He is trained to be a Disaster Service Dog and works with the CISD/CISM teams to help relieve some of the stress so that those of us who run to the fire can get back on the job quickly.

He, himself, is a rescue dog...he has three working legs and the other he uses when his is in amorous mode and wishes to hug.  He has helped me teach the inner workings of thanatology to police, fire and rescue and also Citizen Emergency Response Teams. 

He will always be my best friend...he knows too much.

Le Conteur