○ May 24, 2012 ○

Remember just yesterday I was saying I NEEDED some down time, some me time, some time other than work / sleep / work / sleep? Well ... I'm being punished for something, although I don't know what. Let's see ... right after I posted the blog but before I could go make breakfast, we got toned out to a fatality fire (1st photo). We were on the evening news & it seemed like the entire county was there. It's believed that an 80-year old man had a medical issue while tending to a burn pile he had going. In other words, he didn't die "because" of the fire. We no sooner got off that scene & I was STILL at the station when the Princeton gets toned out to a fully involved 2-story structure fire. Yep ... we're going to get toned for that one ... & we did. After clearing that call, we went back to the scene of the 1st call to just check & make sure everything was OK & all the hot spots were out. When it was all said & done ... when I finally came home from the station, 10 hours had passed, I was sunburned, dehydrated, overheated, physically exhausted, & I hadn't eaten anything since the day before. It was now 9:30p. I desperately needed a shower so I peeled out of the ash-caked clothing I was wearing & felt better after the shower. I mean my hair was STIFF from all the ash, dirt, & sweat caked in it. I got out of the shower & still had black soot ground into the palms of my hands. Not AS black as before, but it's still there. I look like I did back when I was 19 & working on cars all the time. Anyway ... now I needed FOOD! I had pulled out 2 Omaha Steaks burgers the night before so I grabbed those & threw them on the grill. As I was standing out there I realized, was I nuts? I spent the entire day on my feet near flames & what am I doing now? Standing on my (very sore) feet near flames. DUH! Felt better after I ate ... still exhausted though. Had a lot to catch up on around the house ... feed the pets, all that stuff. FINALLY crawl into bed at just past 2:30a feeling like a bus hit me & I swear to you my head didn't even TOUCH the pillow & the tones went off again. Med call this time. I went on that call, came home & swore I wasn't going on another call until felt better (got some SLEEP). Well ... I'll give you 3 guesses. Before my alarm goes off, we get toned out again, this time to a down power line. We're leaving that scene & come across down tree limbs blocking the road. 6 calls in just a hair over 1 day. I couldn't even get all the dirt off of me. After the calls today, I'm not going to have time for anything but work & sleep AGAIN. I mean look at the time & I'm just now getting started on my day. My most commonly used phrase & I hate it; "Maybe tomorrow." I wish I could at least see the opening of MIB3 tomorrow at the theater, but I just can't. Big surprise, right in the middle of this post we get toned out again to another EMS call.

Find all of the colors that appear in the cue game of snooker.

Yellow, green, orange, brown, blue, purple, pink, black, gray, red.

Yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black, & red.

Flick Kick Field Goal:

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I recently had lunch with a few good griends at an expensive restaurant. Toward the end of the meal I applied lipstick. One of my friends gave me loads of grief for pulling out my lipstick at the table. I say I was right ... or was I?

You were right - almost. It's okay to quickly apply lipstick (without fanfare & minus a mirror) at the table if you're with close friends or relatives, in a non-business situation, & at a non-deluxe restaurant. But since you were at what sounds like a deluxe restaurant, it would have been better to excuse yourself to apply your lipstick in private. Not a serious faux pas here, though! Bottom line: It's often okay, but when in doubt, don't do it.

I think that the most important thing a woman can have - next to talent, of course - is her hairdresser.

Logomachy:

1: A dispute over or about words. 2: A controversy marked by verbiage.

The increasingly partisan political atmosphere has opened the floodgates of logomachy in the media.

It doesn't take much to start people arguing about words, but there's no quarrel about the origin of "logomachy." It comes from the Greek roots logos (meaning "word" or "speech") & machesthai ("to fight"), & entered English in the mid-1500s. If you're a word enthusiast, you probably know that logos is the root of many English words ("monologue," "neologism," "logic," & most words ending in "logy," for example). Only a few very rare English words come from machesthai, though. Here are 2 of them: "heresimach" ("an active opponent of heresy & heretics") & "naumachia" ("an ancient Roman spectacle representing a naval battle").

Quick! Name 2 vines whose scientific names start with "P" that will grow well indoors!

Philodendron scandens, possibly  the world's most common houseplant, is 1, & there are literally thousands to choose from. They ask only for consistently moist soil & a fair amount of indirect light. They aren't fussy about temperature, but warmer is better; days of 80° to 85° don't faze them a bit.

Passionflower is another. There are several species from which to choose; many will flower in the winter, but this is a plant that is almost as beautiful out of flower as it is when blooming. Passion vines, as they are often called, do best indoors where they get lots of light & temperatures that stay between 70° & 80°, though they will tolerate cool nights. Don't be surprised if a particularly robust specimen sprawls around your window & infiltrates drapery rods, light fixtures, & anything else within its grasp. If you want to move yours outdoors in the summer, be sure to train it onto a free-standing frame of some sort.

Renting should be a time of wisely having patience until you reach the point where you can buy a house properly. It shouldn't be a way of life, but it's kind of like paying patience tax until you can save up for a big down payment.

"Thelma and Louise," featuring 1966 Ford Thunderbird, released (1991):

On this day in 1991, the critically acclaimed road movie "Thelma and Louise" debuts in theaters, stunning audiences with a climactic scene in which its two heroines drive off a cliff into the Grand Canyon, in a vintage 1966 green Ford Thunderbird convertible.

The road movie genre, which traces its roots as far back as Homer's "Odyssey," always involves a journey of some kind, in which the hero--almost invariably male--is confronted by challenges and learns something essential about himself along the way. Though the road movie historically didn't have to involve an actual road, the increase in the production of road movies in the mid- to late-20th century suggests the impact of the growing automobile industry and the public's fascination with the freedom inherent in a car. Two now-classic examples, "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) and "Easy Rider" (1969), helped define and popularize the road movie genre for a new generation of viewers.

"Thelma and Louise," directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Callie Khouri, reworked the road movie genre by replacing the typically male leads with two women.

In this version, Thelma, played by Geena Davis, is a housewife repressed by her temperamental husband, while Louise (Susan Sarandon) is a steely waitress hiding a trauma in her past. Soon after the two friends set off in Louise's T-Bird convertible for a weekend vacation in a fishing cabin, events take a violent turn, and they are forced to go on the run. They drive towards Mexico, taking ever more desperate actions to elude capture along the way, culminating in their suicidal yet oddly triumphant dive into the Grand Canyon.  

The iconic Thunderbird, first produced in 1955, was Ford's attempt to create a sports car that would also provide an element of luxury. From the beginning, T-Birds became highly collectible cars, and new and limited edition models were introduced each year to keep up with the growing competition. 1966 was in fact the final year in which Ford manufactured T-Bird convertibles; sales were slow, and their marketing department decided the line's luxury image was intact without the drop-top model. In addition to its co-starring role in "Thelma and Louise," the 1966 Thunderbird has made prominent appearances in several other films, including Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 teen drama "The Outsiders" and David Lynch's quirky, violent road movie "Wild at Heart" (1990).

What animal has larger eyes than any other land creature?

The ostrich. Its eyes are almost two inches in diameter.

What is auxin?

What manufacturer sued for trademark infringement when a company named Hogg Wyld Ltd. marketed plus-size jeans bearing a smiling pig logo and a “Lardashe” label?

Which country won the most, 2nd most, & 3rd most gold medals at the 2004 Olympics?

A. China

B. USA

C. Russia

Who had the most, 2nd most, & 3rd most wins & losses?

A. Bob Gibson

B. Whitey Ford

C. Sandy Koufax

BCA. Ford has 10 wins & 8 losses in Word Series play.

Your home is a major investment, if you have clutter or rooms you cannot use, then you're wasting money. Reclaim your home!