Archives for the month of: June, 2008

The Price Of Gas Is Inversely Proportional To Happiness

June 10, 2008 //

The other day, we took one of our cars in for repairs in the morning (an aside: upsell drives me nuts. Seriously, just fix my brakes. Don’t try to sell me the overhaulin’ twin-cam dual overhead shift on the fly transmission flushing filter replacement “manager’s special.”) and when we returned to pick it up that same afternoon the price at the local gas station had gone up over five cents a gallon.

Ugh.

So, given skyrocketing fuel prices (and our sadly static income), I decided to follow DJ Chuang’s advice and drive slower in order to conserve gas. People here in SD drive fast. From my experience, most drivers on the freeways are driving between 70 and 80 mph. Given my chronic tardiness, and my bionic lead foot, I tended to be towards the higher end of that spectrum.

For the last week I have been driving about 65 mph and, wonder of wonders, it really does conserve gas. If being tailgated even though I’m driving in the far right lane doesn’t kill me first, I think we could stand to save over $400 a year at this rate. Crazy, just crazy. Plus, beating up on my car a little less should make it less angry with me.

* * * * *

Can someone tell me why the gas mileage on the 1984 Honda Civic (51 mpg city/67 mpg highway) utterly crushes the 2008 Toyota Prius (48/45)? How does that make any sense at all? It’s hard not to believe there’s some sort of conspiracy afoot when dealing with those kinds of numbers.

Is there some correlation between the amazing gas mileage of the ’84 Civic to the magical year of the Tigers’ last World Series victory?

Categories family, hooray!, stewardship

1% Wax and 99% Testosterone

June 7, 2008 //

Typically, I am a bit wary of “Christian humor” which, sadly, often ends up being some unholy (ironic!) combination of derivative, corny, uncomfortable and/or offensive.

That being said, this video clip did make me grin.

Read the rest of this entry »

Categories communication, just grinning

Well, That’s Another Way

June 4, 2008 //

Earlier this week, when we went to pick up our daughter from her great-aunt’s house, we heard the story of how some Jehovah’s Witnesses came to their house. My aunt-in-law, who is a pretty dedicated Presbyterian, didn’t have to argue with them or engage in a theological debate.

Rather, the Jehovah’s Witnesses ended up leaving rather quickly because of the total racket the four kids there were stirring up. In fact, when we walked through the door, each of the four kids was performing different, crazed, taekwondo kicks and grunting up a storm.

Reminds me of the famous punchline Seinfeld once delivered about how to respond to telemarketers — watch for yourself below:

Categories communication, family, just grinning

What’s In A Nickname?

June 2, 2008 //

A friend of ours from church was telling the story of his college days and the various nicknames given to members of his campus fellowship group. This group took the nicknaming process very seriously and went far beyond simply differentiating between “Big Steve” and “Little Steve.”

More often than not, there was kind of a mean ring to the nicknames. For example, “Punching Bag Dave” was given that title after getting beaten up by a younger student, and one student was named “Home Plate” after her home plate-shaped jawline.

However, the championship goes to a boy named Dave whose nickname was “Good Looking Phil.” Apparently, the “Phil” came from his early onset male pattern baldness (which gave him a kind of Phil Collins appearance) and the “Good Looking” part came from his arrogant self-perception as a ladies’ man. Thus, Dave became “Good Looking Phil.” Brilliant.

Reminds me of when George wanted to be known as “T-Bone.”

Categories communication, community, just grinning