I got a summons for jury duty back in February, notifying me that I was going to be on call for two weeks starting on March 28th. (Dakota County has a phone-in system and people are divided into groups so they don’t have everyone drive to the courthouse every day for two weeks.) I’ll admit, I was concerned about it. Continue reading “Do you have any bumper stickers on your car?”
Note to self: shave before attending visitations
I heard about my friend’s grandmother passing away over the weekend from her father, but that was the extent of my knowledge until Jeremy Gustafson sent me a link to the obituary in a local newspaper. They were holding a visitation this afternoon with the funeral tomorrow; since I wanted to support my friend, I showed up today prepared to give lots of hugs and comfort. (Awwww…)
As it turned out, I was running behind schedule this afternoon and opted to take a shower and skip shaving, saving myself half an hour or so—my facial hair fights back if I don’t cut it every two or three days. So I went to the visitation clean, but very scruffy. That had its upsides and downsides.
Upside: I was there at a decent time to give lots of hugs and comfort. I got to see a few photo albums of her grandmother, talk with some relatives, lighten the mood when I could… I’m glad I showed up and it sounded like my friend and her family appreciated the support.
Downside: when you’re giving a hug to someone who has long, smooth, silky hair, it can get caught in scruffy facial hair… forget can. It does get caught in scruffy facial hair. When I stood up and leaned back, a lock of her hair followed me. It looked and felt pretty silly, but when a 7-year-old who’s going stir-crazy sees someone’s head attached to someone’s face by long hair, it makes him laugh and slightly less stir-crazy for a couple minutes, so I suppose it wasn’t all bad.
I decided to keep this blog entry as generic as possible for the sake of my friend’s privacy, so there’s no guarantee that she’ll read it and know I’m referring to her. (I would hope so, but some people…) Regardless, I want her to know that if she ever needs me for hugs and comfort again, I’ll be there. And I’ll be clean-shaven next time, too.
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I’m a winner!
A long, long time ago, I clicked “Like” on Facebook’s page for MadAthlete.com because they sell some good outdoor gear. I’m not sure if I ever bought anything from them—my adventure racing days are a couple years behind me—but… well, I don’t remember why I clicked the “Like” button, but I’m glad I did.
I was a little groggy on Thursday morning when I logged onto my e-mail and found a notice about a message from Mike Sarnowski. The guy’s name didn’t ring a bell nor did the subject heading “MadAthlete.com Giveaway Winner!” After a few minutes of confusion, I confirmed the existence of the giveaway through both Facebook and their website, so I was happy to accept my choice of this middle-weight pullover or a $35 gift certificate to their website.
It looks like a pretty sweet pullover, so I picked that over the gift certificate and I’m hoping that a Large will fit me. If it doesn’t, well, I suppose I can send a friend of mine a message via Facebook with the subject heading “Shawn Bakken Giveaway Winner!”
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Are hand-washing instructions that hard to write?
Last time, it was a tiny bathroom at a hospital. Today, it was in Target: I saw a step-by-step process posted on the mirror above the sink that will get your hands nice and clean so you can go out into the store and grab merchandise off the shelves that’s been in people’s dirty, sweaty paws earlier in the day… Target is very concerned about your personal hygiene.
They’re probably environmentally friendly, too. That would help explain why the bathroom had those electric hand dryers that blow hot air onto your hands. They’re cleaner than paper towels, create less waste, etc. They also prevent you from following the step-by-step process posted on the mirror above the sink.
Steps 5 and 6: Dry your hands thoroughly with a paper towel, then use it to turn off the sink.
Is it really that hard to figure out what’s in the bathroom and adjust the instructions accordingly? Why not make a parachute that tells you to “Pull cord to release chute” and don’t include a cord, resulting in someone plummeting to an extremely painful, yet extremely speedy demise? Okay, fine, maybe that example is a little over the top—most people who shop at Target don’t have the kind of cooties that can kill you. At least not on their hands.
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Shop for groceries… medium
Perhaps you’ve heard the adage: “Never shop hungry.” If you go to the grocery store with an empty stomach, you’re more likely to find the candy/chips/canned goods section, stick your arm out and run down the aisle, pouring everything on the middle shelf into your cart. When you finally check out and bring the food out to your car, you’re left wondering just how long you can survive eating nothing but lima beans. Recently, I discovered that the opposite is true as well: “Never shop full.”
After a large meal at Olive Garden—lots of pasta, soup and breadsticks—my parents and I went to pick up some food for the next couple days. We walked up and down the aisles… and didn’t want to buy anything. “We don’t need to have dinner, we can just starve tomorrow night.” At the time, it sounded like a reasonable proposal, reasonable enough that we followed through on it. Well, just the “not buying food” part. We didn’t starve the next night—we had plenty of lima beans from the last time we shopped hungry.
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Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!
Interesting factoid of the day: if you’re having trouble waking up in the wee hours of the morning, you don’t need coffee, a cold shower or a quickie with your significant other (or a combination of the three, though I recommend you avoid bringing coffee into the shower with you). Nope, another excellent way to suddenly be wide awake is to have someone try to break into your house… while you’re home. Continue reading “Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!”
