Friday, July 25, 2008

I Want To Believe

It's Friday. Just another 24 hours of time, spent wisely or foolishly. I'd like to think I've done something constructive today, that I'm seizing the day, but the jury's still out. Until midnight, at least.

He understood carpe diem:: Randy Pausch, professor, father, husband, friend, author and inspirational person died today at 47. What a wonderful gift he left by publishing his last lecture. Maybe it's just me on the river of Denial, but when you see someone like him on TV, you just "know" he'll beat the cancer. No such miracle happened in that area, but his approach to life is something to consider. Starting now.

The Who Knew? Department:: Half of the world's population has seen a 007 movie, according to the Did You Know site. I wonder what other things half of the world has seen or eaten or heard? I suppose this phenomena will not occur for the movie I'll see this weekend:: X-Files 2: I Want To Believe. I cringe at the critics' reviews. (This from someone who hasn't seen the movie yet.) But I have faith in two of my favorite TV characters, and two actors I enjoy.

True or not:: Pondering the wonders of all things X-File-y, MSNBC counts down six episode ideas that sparked real-life debates. I'm a prove-it-to-me person, but it's fun to speculate. Life continues to mystify the smartest of minds, of which I'm not.

It's a wonder:: The Library of Congress is a treasure trove of facts and fictions. So I checked out the sci/tech section, which holds an archive of everyday questions. For no particular reason, I clicked on the "why do boomerangs return" page. Um. The page said, "The boomerang page is temporarily unavailable. It is being revised. Check back soon for the completed page."

Is there something new in the world of boomerangs? Has something changed about their flight paths? I'll come back over and over and over until this issue is resolved.

Thwarted by that topic, I randomly moved my mouse to "Stone Skipping." It's not the most fascinating topic, but I did learn one thing: A group exists solely to study the subject. The National Stone Skipping Association, or NASSA, informed me the magic angle with a spinning stone and the water should be at about 20 degrees to get the most skips. And that's the truth.

Quote O' The Day:: "I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well." ~Diane Ackerman

Randy Pausch certainly understood that sentiment; perhaps we can all grab the thought before it drifts away.

And that's all she wrote. Today. Until later...

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Buggin' Me

Quote O' The Day:: "There are two kinds of people -- those who finish what they start, and so on." ~ Robert Byrne

I'll try to plant enough tidbits to finish my daily ramblings. I'll try. But in another quote I acquired somewhere, W.C. Fields reportedly said, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. There's no use being a damn fool about it."

Creepy:: And some people think I overreact when a spider drops off the ceiling onto my arm. Take a peek (if you dare) at MSNBC's cute little "animal" slide show.

Icky:: I love the coast. But I'll hold off on that trip to the watery splendors of France temporarily. Good grief. On July 15, rescue crews were called to the beaches of suburban Nice 500 times. For this.

Makes me uneasy:: I probably shouldn't even mention the site. But you'll find out about it, anyway. Now there's a place to check out if your neighbor's a criminal. Well, that's not the purpose of the Criminalsearches.com, but still. I stuck my neighbor's name in and discovered he had a couple of speeding tickets. Duh. Of course, I checked myself out. I'm clean. But someone with my exact name -- middle name and all -- in my state, did some nasty things. Makes one a wee bit uncomfortable.

Not earth-shattering, but odd:: I was looking for toothpaste the other day, and couldn't spot the flavor and brand I like. It suddenly occurred to me (one of those little cartoon bubbles could have popped over my head right there in the store) that I didn't used to spend so much thinking about toothpaste. So I randomly checked out Colgate's site, where I counted 82 different selections of items to keep your teeth clean. I have a hard enough time remembering to floss.

Bothersome to anyone over 35:: Actress Estelle Getty, as you probably know, passed away yesterday at 84. Funny, funny lady. What irks me is that it's rare to see programs anymore with actors over 25. Helloooo, advertisers -- do ya think it's time to reconsider that 18-49 demographic?

That's all she wrote. For now. Until later...