Fun

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Fifth Friday Foto: The Hamerkop

I thought I’d end the month with this photo I took recently. Talk about attitude!

In case you’re wondering, this is a Hamerkop (also known as a Hammerhead, Anvil Bird, and Umber Bird, among other aliases—wonder what he’s running from). I photographed him at the Denver Zoo, where he was making quite the racket. Apparently the noise-making was somewhat unusual, as they are usually pretty quiet.

These are really strange birds. According to Wikipedia, my favorite source of potentially correct information, “One unusual feature is that up to ten birds join in ‘ceremonies’ in which they run circles around each other, all calling loudly, raising their crests, [and] fluttering their wings.” Reminds me of my high school football team.

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Free Birthday Stuff

I confidently predict that every one of you will have a birthday some time during the next year. Let me be the first to wish you a very happy day.

A large number of businesses offer you free stuff on your birthday, ranging from ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery (or  most other ice cream chains) to free movie rentals at Hollywood Video. Some of my favorites include Red Robin, Noodles & Co., and Souper Salad, in addition to the aforementioned Cold Stone. (Did you know some Cold Stone stores have no-sugar-added Cake Batter now? This flavor will also be present in heaven, I’m sure.)  I was particularly impressed that Benihana will send you a coupon worth $30 for a free birthday dinner—I just wish our closest Benihana was less than an hour away.

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What Are You Doing for New Year’s?

This is my last post of 2009, so I wanted to say something significant, something to sum up the year and point with optimism to the days ahead. Instead, my thoughts turned to New Year traditions. A lot of them are pretty silly, when you think about it.

Take “Auld Lang Syne,” for instance.

Why do we sing this? Apparently, back in 1929, Guy Lombardo’s band played the song at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City after hearing some Scottish immigrants singing it. The Waldorf Astoria continued the tradition,  playing Lombardo’s version of the song every year until 1976. Radio (and then television) allowed the rest of the country to sing along at home.

Do you know the words? I didn’t. A web search turned up the lyrics (reprinted at the end of this post), but then I had more questions. What in the world is a pint-stowp? How does one “pou’d the gowans fine”? Happily Wikipedia had all the answers.

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The Gospel According to Christmas Music

It’s pervasive. Whatever our faith, whatever our musical preferences, at this time of year we are all subjected to an unending deluge of “Holiday” music. We either love it or hate it, but it’s awfully hard to escape it.

As I was standing in line at the market recently, waiting to check out and listening to yet another version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, I started to consider: what if most people learned their facts about Christmas from the lyrics of popular Christmas music?

Just think of how they’d describe the first Christmas. It all took place in a little town called Bethelem, in the middle of the night, in winter….

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A Turkey’s Lament

This poem is widely distributed on the web. It made me laugh, so I thought I would share it with you. I have no idea who the original author was… if you do, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,

Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know;

His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of… Black November;

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Help! I’m a digital addict!

I may not be a digital native, but I must be a naturalized citizen.

As I write this, I have just spent ten days away from home, visiting friends and family on the west coast. It was a great time, and I loved seeing everyone, but I’m ready to come home.

Flying standby can give you lots of time to think… especially if flights that had plenty of open seats a few days ago are, on the day of departure, suddenly overbooked. After arriving at the airport this morning, I am hoping to finally make it onto a 5:45 flight this evening. In the meantime, here I sit.

Trying to make good use of my time, I hopped on my laptop and tried to log on to the airport wi-fi. Hah, not so fast. Apparently, this airport has no free internet access, and I am not about to pay.

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A Camping Adventure

It seems every campground has one group of campers who are a bit odd, somewhat annoying, clearly incompetent. I just never thought that would be us.

The camping trip was rather spontaneous. Karin wanted to see Olympic National Park, and I was game, but since we were staying near Tacoma, it was a lot of driving for one day. We wavered back and forth, trying to decide what to do. Then Karin’s in-laws offered to loan us their pick-up truck with camper shell. It was the perfect solution. Throw a foam pad and a couple of sleeping bags in the back, and we could stay overnight, giving us plenty of time to see the rain forest. We didn’t want the hassle of a real camping trip, just a place to sleep for one night.

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Fourth Friday Fun: That’s Nifty

I came across this blog quite by accident, and thought it was interesting, funny, cute, amazing, you name it. While some of their stuff is also gross, disgusting, and not recommended, there were enough postings that I really enjoyed that I couldn’t resist directing you to their site. My favorites were the ones listed as “cool.” I particularly loved the pictures of the overloaded vehicles. Reminds me of fitting seven people into a rather small taxi in India.

(Please note that I have absolutely no idea what they will have posted on their front page when you click on the link above.)

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Friday’s Fun Facts

Should you believe everything you hear? I was relaxing for a few moments, reading random websites, when a list of “old wives’ tales” caught my eye. I give full credit to www.snopes.com for their informative and entertaining work.

1.  Should you tap the side of a soda can before opening it, in order to prevent its contents from foaming all over your hand?

2.  Do you only use 10% of your brain?

3.  Can you determine the temperature by counting cricket chirps?

4.  Is the Great Wall of China the only man-made object visible from the moon?

5.  If you are kidnapped, blindfolded, and taken somewhere far away, can you determine which hemisphere you are in by which way water spirals as it does down the drain?

6.  Should we be cautious around water that was boiled in a microwave oven, in case it suddenly “explodes”?

Which ones did you answer yes to? Let’s have some fun, and maybe you’ll pick up a bit of healthy skepticism.

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