Category: Observations

One of the parental killjoys that has stuck with me over the years has been my father’s aversion to sparklers.  Liz, however, had a very different childhood experience, so fireworks are less of a novelty to her.  Admittedly, I still giggle whenever I set off a bottle rocket.  I guess the bar’s been set pretty low.

I will attempt to quote my father’s response to a childhood inquiry regarding purchasing sparklers: “Those things are made of magnesium, which burns at 3000 degrees centigrade!  They use magnesium flares to weld underwater!  No you can’t have one!”.  That may not be a direct quote, but it includes all his points.

So when Liz picked some up for the kid, I thought about this past conversation.  A quick Google search reveals that, depending on the composition, they burn upwards of 1600 degrees Celsius–not quite as hot as my father claimed, but I still wouldn’t want to touch the flame.

But, like getting salmonella from raw cookie dough, some experiences are worth the danger risk.  Personally, I think it was just an excuse to avoid spending money on something superfluous–a reason that makes far more sense to me now as a father myself.  I wonder what goofy thing I say that my own kid will remember forever.

Ah well.  For now–fire!

–Simon

This last week, we visited the family cottage.  Specifically, it’s my wife’s mother’s father’s, who bequeathed it unto two of his daughters upon moving into assisted living.  It’s up near Wausau, WI, which means it’s a looong way to drive.

But 10 hours in a car left me plenty of time to pontificate on how much the radio stations in Midwestern states suck.  Interspersed amid the 24/7 bible and country stations are a selection of oldies, but not good classic rock oldies–random oldies.

What I found interested was the ubiquity of these random oldies, as if DJs everywhere had attended an annoying music summit and agreed upon a selection.  For example, as we approached the western border of Ohio, on came Dexys Midnight Runners’ “Come On Eileen”, a song I feel is safe to classify as a one hit wonder.

This time, it made me smile briefly.  I commented to Liz that the song was an odd choice, and we discussed it for a moment, for as I stated, the car ride was long, so conversational topics tended to arise out of any minor stimuli to break the tedium.

Later, somewhere in Indiana, the song came on again.  I thought that was unusual, since by then we were cruising different radio stations.  Then we heard it again in Illinois.  At that point, we were in the heart of the Midwest, and though the nation might hate Ohio as a whole, at least we have a more diverse culture.  But in Illinois, we didn’t have more than one rock station available, so we endured it.

Then we heard the song again in Wisconsin, and at this point began to debate why this song was suddenly so popular again.  All I can conclude is that, since it released in the 80s, and music in the 80s was terrible, it’s a song for which the aging disco-era weirdos feel nostalgic.  Who knows?

–Simon

To all dog owners out there: if you can, catalogue every single dog photo you’ve taken and compare that to the total number of photos you have saved.  For me, it’s 239/4803.  So, 5% of my photos are dog photos.  I suspect that that figure is fairly normal.

But enough of my rambling.  You want to see dog photos!

–Simon