Ice, Canoes, and Slight Insanity

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The woolen socks itched. Well, I guess that’s not really true. They were rough and scratchy, but weren’t really irritating. At the least, they were a reminder of the rough outdoors, and at the most, they kept my tootsies from freezing and falling off. I’m thankful for both.

Black Friday, instead of braving the stores for deals, I was invited on a winter canoe trip. Sure, it sounds a bit dumb, but really it was beautiful. The men I went with were quite prepared for a turnover, so even if one of us did go over, we’d have little repercussions apart from a great story to tell. The friend that invited me is an incredible paddler, so even that possibility was quite remote.

If you’ve never been on a canoe in the winter, it’s very likely you don’t know how amazing the scenery is either. The warmth of the water makes for the most incredible frost you’ve ever seen. Every blade of grass and twig of tree has a huge, pipe-cleaner like gob of frost clinging to every surface. It’s amazing. If you’ve ever seen snow clinging to trees, and thought it was beautiful — imagine that scene multiplied by 10. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. Words just can’t describe.

Hopefully your Black Friday was as pleasant as mine. But realize, it’d have to be pretty darn good for that to be true. 🙂

Reason for the Season?

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Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Christian through and through. I get annoyed by holiday catch-phrases though. Like the, “Jesus is the reason for the season” pins? Or emails? 100 a day?

The truth of the matter is that the axial tilt of the Earth is the reason for the season. Or any season for that matter.

I’m just sayin’…

UPDATE: If you have a T-Shirt that says, “The Axial Tilt of the Earth is the Reason for the Season” — I might buy one. 🙂

Numb3rs, Revealed.

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After an overindulgence of melange spice turkey, I had a realization that the numbers were in fact television stations. In our audio/video behemoth system, we have the ability to tune in several cable stations, and rebroadcast them throughout the school. One of the custodians wanted me to switch one of the stations so he could watch basketball or some such thing while he worked. His numbering was slightly off, but I’m certain that’s what the note meant: (UPDATE: The top transceiver is broken, so in fact “6” had to become “27”)

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So is the truth less exciting than you’d hoped, or more far fetched than you’d imagined? Either way, feel free to keep eating turkey sandwiches.

In Which I Change the Numeric System

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I found this note taped to my office door this morning. I’m the technology director for a K12 school, and my office is inside the library. You now have just as much information as I do. Please tell me what this note means.

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My guesses are:

  1. I’m expected to “fix” the state Lotto, or
  2. Manage a football team, or
  3. Eradicate all signs of the metric system in door-taped notes

I can’t even think of more snark. The note completely perplexes me. I’m not opposed to being perplexed mind you, but this level of perplexedness is rather uncommon. I anxiously await your interpretations.

UPDATE: Apparently, comments are now broken for this post. I don’t know why. If you can’t comment, I apologize. I’ll try to figure it out later…

UPDATE2: Fixed. Dunno what the deal was.

Raking Update

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It turns out I did have helpers, and some were even adults. (Thanks Josh!) As soon as we emptied that last tarp, the snow started coming down pretty hard, and before we even had the rakes all put into the van, the freshly raked lawn was covered with a blanket of white stuff. We cut it close.

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Raking Snow

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I have to rake tomorrow. It’s not my lawn, and due to an unfortunate series of circumstances, I’ll be raking the yard with very little help. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be fine, it’s just that we had a dusting of snow today. It’s not enough to stop the raking, but it is a reminder that the high will be in the mid 30s tomorrow.

I’ve never raked in long underwear before, but I think tomorrow I just might. 🙂

Writers, FTW!

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It’s really lucky for the rest of the world that geeks and writers aren’t terribly motivated folks. One of these days, however, we might actually get around to taking over the world. And I’m only half joking…

UPDATE: Oh, and for the first time in my life, I can say “Union” without getting a little vomit in the back of my throat. It’s nice. 🙂