Subject: Interesting

July, 1947

Many will recall that on 8 July 1947 witnesses claim an unidentified object with five aliens aboard crashed on a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico. This is a well-known incident that many say has long been covered up by the US Air Force and the Federal Government.

However, you may NOT know that in the month of March, 1948, roughly nine months after that historic day, Albert Arnold Gore, Jr; Hillary Rodham; John F Kerry; William Jefferson Clinton; Howard Dean; Nancy Pelosi; Dianne Feinstein; Charles E Schumer; and Barbara Boxer were born.

I hope that this information has cleared up a lot of things you may have been wondering about.

Hoist on My Own...

RenRen and I went to Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast this morning after Mass, like we usually do. After our usual agonizing over the menu, I ordered a California Avocado sandwich, no dill sauce, add mayo; and a tall hot chocolate, no sour cream.

Yep. You heard right: sour cream. I still have no idea where that came from… We did get it straight, and it arrived with no whipped cream. Whew!!

Never a Dull Moment at Steak ’n Shake…

…even though I went in to order this time…

I ordered my stuff, including a chocolate malt; Brett’s stuff; and RenRen’s stuff, her usual: a grilled cheese sandwich, with mustard and pickles cooked in (it’s just a bit unnatural having to spec them cooked in…), beef and veggie soup, and cottage cheese.

15 minutes later, my malt showed up, with the latest fad garbage (whipped cream and a cherry??!) on top; my bad: I know better, but forgot to call them off. It was a malt, however.

Another five or so minutes went by. As I was idling around the front of the store, one of boys ran out from the kitchen into the parking lot, and darned near got himself run over by the SUV motoring by. Shortly thereafter, two young teenyboppers and their swains wandered in, the girls laughing hysterically. They’d been through the drive-through and gotten mustard and pickles in the grilled cheese sandwich, which one of them proceeded to whip out onto the counter, in its black clamshell, complete with fries. It was the grossest, weirdest thing they’d ever seen. Of course, as one of them put it, “I’ve never seen one like that before!!”

While they were still giggling and snorting over that, the two bags with my order came up. I asked if my grilled cheese sandwich was in there, and was assured that it was. Upon checking anyway, I found the girls’ grilled cheese sandwich, wrapped up in paper with no fries. And no mustard or pickles.

I got someone’s attention and requested the sandwich I’d ordered. A couple of minutes later, a black clamshell was brought to the counter. Inside was a cheese sandwich with mustard and pickles on rather raw-looking bread, and no fries.

“Besides that the cheese isn’t melted, where are the fries?” says I.

“You got them…”, whilst looking at the bags suspiciously, was the reply.

“No. They were with the grilled cheese sandwich you gave them,” pointing over at the teenyboppers, who were still hanging around with the swains, chatting up the kid who had dashed out previously.

Back went the clamshell. It returned in another bag, complete with a cone of fries. “I melted the cheese, too,” I was told.

The poor assistant manager apologized and gave me a gift card for my troubles.

There were no complaints when I got home, except mine over the stuff on the malt, but that’s my own fault, so it doesn’t count.

Words of Wisdom? or a Warning?

From Quotes of the Day, today:

Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.
- Frank Dane

One Record I Didn’t Want To Be Part Of

The weather moose is reporting this morning that last month was one of the coldest on record in Indianapolis…

OTOH, many of the most significant floods to hit Indiana have occurred during March.

Shark in the Knapsack?

Getting ready for work this morning, pulled my badge out of its pocket in RedBook’s house, as usual, and went about my business. At the badge reader, I grabbed the badge, only to discover it was very neatly cut almost all the way along the long side, not too far away from the mag strip. Fortunately, the badge reader didn't fuss, and neither did the guy at security when I wandered down for a replacement.

Fortune

Today’s fortune cookie had this to say:

“A day is a span of time no one is wealthy enough to waste.”

Philosophers… :::shaking head:::

From Quotes of the Day, today:

Nihilism is best done by professionals.
- Iggy Pop

Fortune

In a fortune cookie from lunch last week, the fortune was:

A great man never ignores the simplicity of a child.

The Bears Do Right By Lovie Smith

On (Chicago)Sun-Times.com today:

Phillips had no choice but to show Lovie the money

BY JAY MARIOTTI
Sun-Times Columnist

“It’s a peaceful place of business, Halas Hall, surrounded by trees and chirping birds and only occasionally disrupted by a train whistle. But as a bunker, it doesn’t work, not when angry fans and disgusted media turn a post-Super Bowl mourning period into a protest march. The Bears didn’t have a chance in the public arena when it came to Lovie Smith’s contract impasse, which overwhelmed them like the Indianapolis offense.

“They were battered in the papers, skewered on the radio, ripped on national TV shows. They were called cheap, petty, unfair, inhumane, even racist. You could say team boss Ted Phillips at least had family and friends on his side, but it might not have been true. Unless Tightwad Ted and various McCaskeys wanted to walk around town in camouflage for the rest of their lives, they had no choice but to reward Smith with a market-value contract.

“Wednesday night, after too many tense days and contentious negotiating sessions, they finally buckled. A deal that should have been cut weeks before the Super Bowl finally got done on the last day of February, with Smith agreeing to a four-year, $22 million extension that must have had Phillips cringing, cussing and crying for a straitjacket. They can talk all they want today about how the media overblew the story, but this can’t be disputed: The Bears tried to lowball Lovie, originally offering $2 million a year less than the agreed-upon $5.5 million average, and Smith and agent Frank (Jack) Bauer told them to stick their offer where the Vince Lombardi Trophy doesn’t shine. The Lovester didn’t blink.

“Teddy Bear did.…”

The Weather Moose

NOAA’s (am I the only one bothered by NOAA’s being under the Dept. of Commerce??) National Weather Radio broadcasts weather information in the VHF spectrum. The NWS lists the stations nationwide and where weather radios can be had.

And, yes, the voice is very reminiscent of the Talking Moose…

Interesting Take on Human Relations…

From Quotes of the Day, today:

Men are not against you; they are merely for themselves.
- Gene Fowler

Midwest Weather

A short-lived thunderstorm cell blew through the south side of Indy this morning about 3:00? 3:30?

It was spectacular! The sound was huge; not just loud, but huge!!! I saw mostly sheet lightening; there was just one strike, to the north. The thunder was quite interesting: when the bolt struck, the thunder clap was a big, loud bang; when the sheets struck, the sound was loud, but quite a bit more difuse…

We (in Boone, Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan, and Tipton counties) are currently under tornado watch 45, in effect until 7:00 (EST) / 6:00 (CST) this evening. Check USGenWeb’s map of Indiana; the counties are labeled.

Until recently, Marion County were also under flood watch; in addition to up to an inch of rain today, snow melt is still happening. The flood watch area has moved to north of Rockville Rd.

We also have a wind advisory in effect tomorrow from 9:00a to 6:00p (EST). Sustained winds of 35 mph and gusts up to 45 mph are expected.