Which Little Piggy Are You?

Megan, like most little kids, is a big fan of finger games and songs. I think I did This Little Piggy about 15 times last night. It got me thinking, that the finger game of This Little Piggy could be an interesting personality assessment.

Which piggy are you?

1. One little piggy had roast beef.

2. One little piggy had none.

3. One little piggy went to market.

4. One little piggy stayed home.

5. One little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home.

Which one you identify with kinda says something about you right?

I think I either had roast beef or stayed home.

Something Smells

I am sometimes blown away by how powerful the sense of smell is. It has a variety of really strong behaviors for me, and I think most.

1. Smell makes food taste so much better. Walk into a room where a Ham has just come out of the oven, or where bacon is frying, and the ham or bacon becomes so much more desirable, and more tasty when you eat it. This is especially true when you were already really hungry.

2. Go without candy for awhile, then take a whiff of some M&Ms or some red vines. Makes me want it so bad I feel like a recovering addict.

3. Smell has a strong connection to memory. Sometimes a whiff of something brings back really specific memories. For instance, I was walking down a street in Seattle a few years ago, and I was hit by a pollution-related smell common in big cities. It triggered very specific memories from my mission in the Philippines, where that specific smell was much more common. I went to my Grandparents house in LA a few years ago for a visit with my Dad and brother. The smell in their laundry room (soapy?) was the exact same smell that their laundry room had the last time I visited them, at least a decade before. That smell hit me and my brother like a wall and was almost the highlight of the trip for me. The smell of Lilacs always makes me remember summers in Rock Springs, where we had a Lilac bush in our front yard.

Smell is awesome.

Thanksgiving

One year I would like to try the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special meal. Popcorn, Toast, Jelly Beans. Sounds good.

This year, aside from family, faith etc., I am thankful for, in no particular order:

1. Curry

2. Football

3. Soccer, specifically Real Salt Lake, Liverpool FC, and the USWNT

4. Megan and Andrew wrestling matches

5. ESPN3.com

6. Christmas Music (I wait till after TG, and the anticipation is high right now.)

7. Sushi

8. Good books

Candy

So it is now November. I am sticking to my goal, no candy yet this year. Halloween was a tough test. I am now finding that I am beginning to keep candy and save it for next year. I have a few peanut butter cups in my drawer at the house. I have some mini snickers under lock and key at the office. Is this bad? I'm afraid that I'm going to go into a diabetic coma in January due to overindulgence. I've requested that Santa fill my stocking with redvines, reeses and butterfingers. The early part of the new year could be ugly.

Phantom Itch

Do you ever feel itchy because you are thinking about itching, or bugs crawling on you or something else like that?

I do. I have noticed that if I have an itch, and I scratch it, all of a sudden, I am now itchy somewhere else, and somewhere else. I have to make a conscious decision to stop scratching and distract myself and move on.

Now scientists are trying to explain this. The following article has a few possible explanations for phantom itching. I think I side with Giesler.

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/01/7561543-spiders-ants-did-that-make-you-itchy-heres-why

"the threshold for sensation of itch is lowered by thinking about it."

Amen Glen.

Now, I'm feeling itchy.

Remembering

Shannon posted a brief memory of her experience ten years ago yesterday. It was short, but compelling.

For me, I got up that day and turned on the TV while getting dressed. The first image I saw was of the towers, already burning. The news lady was attempting to describe the seen, but there was still a lot of uncertainty. Within minutes, the first tower collapsed on the screen. That is the moment that is burned in my memory. I didn't just witness that moment, I felt it. The rest of the day, the other tower, the Pentagon, Flight 93, were moments that hit while I was already at the bottom.

Candy

The year is almost half over and I am sticking to my no candy thing.

1. I am eating more cookies and drinking too much soda.
2. I am suprised by what I am missing the most. I thought for sure I would miss Reese's the most. I do miss them, but I miss licorice the most. I want Red Vines.
3. I discovered/created a loophole. I eat candy if its in ice cream, or in a salad (I had a salad that is made of whipped cream, apples, and crushed snickers early in the year, and the loophole was born.) I prefer ice creams/desserts that are fruit based, not chocolate based, so this hasn't come up that much, but it has happened.
4. Still not sure I have a good reason for this, but on we go.

Commercials

I think that anyone who has watched more than 20 minutes of TV in the last few months has seen the advertisements for the Shake Weight, which is the newest fitness fad for women, which promises amazing results in a six minute workout.

Near the end of the ad, the announcer says that callers can get the Shake Weight Deluxe, which includes 3 bonus DVD workouts, all for the low price of $Whatever it is.

I keep waiting for them to say "But wait there's more. Order now, and you will earn the same results in only a 3 minute workout!!"

I think that would be hilarious.

Value

How should we ascribe value to a particular item?

Value seems to be a very subjective thing. A thing's value in money is the amount that someone is willing to pay for it. So value depends on how badly each individual wants or needs that thing. For some things, like airline tickets or a room at a hotel, while the value may not seem to be all that different, the price that people pay can be all over the map. How late you book, the availability of a substitute, these affect the value, and therefore the price.

What drives me crazy is infomercials or commercials where the advertiser is selling a thing. And the price of the thing is $79. But wait there's more! Order now and we will include a carrying case and an extra bottle of stuff to go with your thing. A $49 value, yours free! I can only assume that the $49 is made up. If the case and bottle of stuff had a $49 value, that's how much they would make you pay for it. But the idea is that if you are considering buying the thing for $79, because you think it represents that value, and now you also get the case and bottle of stuff, for no extra charge, what a great bargain! The thing, the case and the bottle of stuff, with a value of $500, yours for $79. The value is $79, because that's how much it costs. But not really. If I don't want the thing, or at least don't want it bad enough, then the value is less than $79, because I'm not willing to pay that much for it. If I wanted the thing bad enough that I would have paid $500 for it, then $79 is a great value.

My kids are the same way. Kids will pay any amount of money for something that they want bad enough. My kid would pay $5 for a candy bar if the moment was right. I think that it is partly because they don't appreciate the value of money, but also because they are driven to get what they want as soon as possible. Of course, I might spend $50 bucks on an old coin with a face value of $0.25, so who am I to talk.

It seems like I am rambling, so to summarize: Value is subjective, and I hate those commercials.

Magic Phone

Do you ever wish you had access to an oracle of knowledge? That you could make decisions or predict the future? My friend has a phone that spins easily if laying flat on one side. We decided to turn it into a yes or no device. Decide which direction is yes, which is no, ask a question, spin the phone, and wait for the answer.

Should I order the burger, should I order the chicken.
Will I ever own a motorcycle.
Will I get a bonus this year.
Is it going to rain on Saturday.
Will I die before age 60.

The phone knows all. Just like the Magic Eight Ball on my desk. It would be nice if I could actually rely on the answers.

Instead we have to think, plan, and act. We have to trust in a higher plan, have faith.

I suppose in some ways its better that the phone doesn't know all the answers, but sometimes I think it would be easier.

Marathon

Congrats to my brother Jacob, for completing his first marathon on Saturday. Jacob ran the Salt Lake City Marathon in 4:21. I think this is awesome, and is something that I will never be able/willing to do. Also, when he told me that he set his goal based on his determination to beat Oprah's time, I swelled with pride and respect. Good job Bro!

Daddy's Home

I get one of two greetings from my two year old son when I get home from work.

1. Yay, Daddy's home, hugs for everyone.
2. Finally, my manservant has returned, fetch me some milk and a fruitsnack.

I never know which is coming.

Confused indifference

Danyael and I like to get in the hot tub in the backyard from time to time to relax. We have to wait until the kids have gone to bed, then we will get in for awhile before bed. Last night we decided to get in, put the kids to bed, waited the mandatory time till we thought they were all asleep, and went out. Our hot tub is located in the yard right across from our kitchen, and there is a door there that goes from the kitchen to the yard, so we can see the kitchen pretty well. After we had been in the tub for about 15 minutes, we see Andrew wander into the kitchen. He has stretches where he will get out of his bed and have to be put back in bed a few times before he will fall asleep, but we thought he was asleep before we went outside. He was wandering back and forth looking for us, into the kitchen, over by the stairs, into the front room, back to the kitchen, back down the hall towards the bedrooms, with a confused look on his face. He never went downstairs, probably because the lights were off, and just wandered around for a few minutes. Then he started moving chairs in the kitchen, but gave up on that. We were in the tub watching this whole think and cracking up. Then he went back down the hall towards the bedrooms, and didn't come back out. We thought he might find us because we leave the door from our bedroom to the yard cracked a little bit so we can hear if either he or Megan is crying. We didn't hear anything, and he never came to the door. After a few minutes of not seeing him in the kitchen, we had to go back in to see what he was up to. He was lying on our bed, watching TV, without a care in the world. We thought he would be more concerned that his parents were missing, but nope, he just starting watching TV. Little stinker.

Sweet Nectar

I decided towards the end of 2009 to give up soda for the year in 2010. I didn't drink alot of soda before, at least not compared to some, maybe a 3-4 cans or bottles a week, but I thought it would interesting to see if I could do it. I did do it, aside from one lapse in January '09 where I had an italian soda at Olive Garden because I forgot. Its not like I went without anything good to drink. I had lemonade at restaurants, I had Minute Maid Cherry Limeade at work if I needed something to drink. For Christmas this year, I told Danyael that I wanted Cherry Coke in my stocking and she obliged. I drank it on New Years day with my lunch, and it was really really good. I did miss it. This year I am going without candy. I can have cookies, cake etc., but no candy. So far so good.

Towards the end of the year when I was talking to people about looking forward to soda, the question came up, if you are just going to start drinking soda again, what was the point of stopping at all? You didn't really give it up. What is the point of going without candy for a year if I'm going to expect Reeses and Butterfingers in my stocking this Christmas?

I don't really have a good answer for those questions. For the year I went without soda, I suppose I consumed less calories. Lemonade is at least somewhat better for me than soda, and the Cherry Limeade has no calories, but that was only a partial reason for going without. Eating no candy is not meaningful if I am eating chips and cookies, which I'm not intending to eat more, but you never know. I guess the answer is partly because I know its good for me, at least somewhat, and partly because I want to see if I can do it. Is denying myself something good for me? I don't know. But even not having good answers to those questions doesn't make me want to change my mind, so I'm going for it anyway.

See you in 11 1/2 months Reeses.

2010

I never posted what I was thankful for in 2010 this last fall, so here goes, in no particular order, and not including the obvious family, faith etc.

1. Fantasy football
2. Disneyland
3. Netflix
4. Good movies (True Grit, HP7, Ironman 2)
5. Football
6. Candy
7. A smaller waistline
8. My baby girl (had to make the list)
9. BBQ
10. Good books (Bartimaeus, Koontz)