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Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
| Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
Tell us about a time you purchased something you really wanted and couldn't wait to have, but soon regretted. There was a time when I adored eBay. I was purchasing stuff like crazy. Every day was Christmas. One thing I always wanted was a pinball machine. Don't ask why, I just did. Had to have it. This was around the time that the Pretty Park virus was running around and what a mess. The computer got infected, I had to figure out a way to get that stupid machine to Minnesota from Arizona, and then I could not turn off or adjust the bells and whistles on that machine. Let's just say, the only good thing that resulted from that debacle was that it cured my eBay infection, and I found out why pinball machines should stay in arcades where they belong. It was not the last sale, just the last purchase. A couple "sales" later, the glow of eBay lust was dead forever. |
| Dying is illegal in the Houses of Parliaments – This has been voted as the most ridiculous law by the British citizens. What's your take? I live in Minnesota and we have more than a few ridiculous laws. There is not enough space for all of them, these are just a few highlights. If they leave you scratching your head, just know, somebody did it, somebody was offended, somebody was screaming at the typewriter as it was being dictated, and a bunch of politicians had a good laugh at the local pub that they actually get paid to pass this stuff into law. The land of 10,000 lakes declares mosquitos a public nuisance. A person may not cross state lines with a duck atop his head. It is illegal to sleep naked. All men driving motorcycles must wear shirts. Citizens may not enter Wisconsin with a chicken on their head. Oral sex is prohibited. All bathtubs must not have feet. Oh, yeah, it's for real. Google it. |
| We've all got them...what are some of your favorite misheard song lyrics? Those words and lines you swear are/were the truth...until someone else set you straight with the facts (and probably the lyric booklet that came with the album/tape/CD). Oh, my gosh, he bought it hook, line and sinker! Picture it -- Houston, mid-80s, when Huey Lewis and the News was running at full steam and Heart of Rock and Roll was at the top of the charts. I am in Houston for a work assignment and there was a guy from New York who had the real last name of Bond. Alas, his first name was not James, his parents did not have a sense of humor at all. We found the one decent rock station in Houston and cranked it up to the chagrin of the others who worked with us. We did not care. Huey Lewis and the News played every hour whether we wanted to hear it again or not, and finally Mr. New York gave in: "Do you know what that line is?" I said: "Yes. The heart of rock and roll is in Cleveland." He corrected me a few days later and said, "The heart of rock and roll is still beating." I looked at him like he was a nut job. And then it dawned on me that he believed me! I stared at him in my best you-idiot expression, before I said "I know." Too funny. |
| As a result of a conversation with the youngest child and only daughter, Mr. Hopeman made a life-changing decision. The daughter said: You know, you don't have to do it this way because that's what everyone wants you to do. You don’t have to eat breakfast, you don’t have to get dressed in the morning, you can do whatever you want to do. So at 96 he decided she was right. The next morning he refused all meds. “I’m going out like a man and I’m not taking any more meds. Give me some maple ice cream, dammit.” For the first time, he is doing it his way, and that means no please and thank you, no rules, no good or bad behavior. He just gets it ALL his way. And that includes ice cream for breakfast. Especially ice cream for breakfast. Not just any ice cream. It has to be maple ice cream … dammit. |
| Dictionary.com's Word of the Day for Sunday was "calliopean", meaning "piercingly loud; resembling a calliope in sound". Tell us about a time when you've experienced what you might consider to be the worst loud sound you can imagine, and how did you react to it? I always consider a baby's crying in fear to be the worst sound. But that is often not loud. If a baby is crying, I try to comfort the wee one -- at the very least locate a parent. The worst loud sound that does not involve babies is the time when I was working in the Sexton building in downtown Minneapolis. The landlords were more like slum lords in that they just collected rent and did not do any upkeep unless it was absolutely necessary -- and that was rare. One of their tenants was an environmentalist wannabe and decided that the roof was the best place to hive his bees. It was also where the transformer for the electrical supply to the building was housed, maybe housed is not the best word, maybe put is a better word. If anyone asks you if bees can take out a power grid, the answer is yes. I don't know how it happened, but those bees or the hive did something to the transformer and it EXPLODED. That damn thing was just two floors above my head and it sounded like a cannon went off. I was expecting troops to come running through the streets. However, with no lights, no computers, no phones, I was done for the day. Or so I thought. This was before cell phones and the boss still wanted me to send letters out before the end of the day. Me: How? The computers are down. He: You have a pen. Write it out and get it out? Me: Are you serious? He: Yes. It has to be done. Me: That's so unprofessional. He: Just do it. So I did. We looked stupid. So not only did I get the bejesus scared out of me, I got to put a whole new face on stupid. |
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