That feeling

When you just HAVE to pee but you remember that the water is "off" so first you have to find a large clean container (and no, you can't just rinse out a dirty container with water first because that would defeat the purpose)and run downstairs to fill it with the remnant of water in the pipes unlocked by gravity. Then the sound of running water. RUNNING water! What!? The water came back on and you didn't know! Haha. And now you have to race back upstairs to make it in time. All that precious time wasted looking for a suitable vessel when you could've been going.

And to top it all off you then decide to write about the whole experience on your pitiful excuse for a blog that no one will bother to read anyway. Which, in hindsight, is probably better for them anyway. But it only wasted 5 mins of your time so you still have to go vegetable hunting anyway. Anyway.

My filler word of choice today has been: Anyway. (closely followed by "just")

Ok... I'm going off to tackle the vegies now... Wish me luck.

Yum Yum

Bugs snack on wood chips and excrete crude oil.

Salt

Now, here's something good I read in the newpaper. It was to do with "christian" political parties. The guy writing on the opinions page said something like (and I paraphrase) "when the salt is in the salt cellar we know exactly where it is but in order for us to taste it's effects we must put it on our food".

Reminds me of Matt. 5.13 We are called to be salt.

Not to all sit together in our nice little salt cellar but to be sprinkled out over the food where we are needed.

Mountains Moved

Mountains of concrete that is.

When I left for work this morning there were two hefty lumps of waste concrete sitting out on the front, er... lawn? Providing a little scenic undulation to the otherwise topographically challenged wasteland of a yard.

But when I got home I had a sense of something being not quite right and when I actually looked out the window, I saw that the great industrial scabs had been wrenched from their resting places and come to land upside down like giant spinning tops (except they weren't spinning, and didn't have that little stick bit poking out the top wherewith to spin them by).

So, it looks like I may be getting a proper garden soon.

Oh, I do hope so!

Prof. Dr. Ir. W.J. van Blommesteinmeer

Is one of the largest reservoirs in the world located in the South American country of Suriname. It is named after the hydrological engineer Willem Johan van Blommestein. The locals call it Brokopondo.

I came across this in my internetual travels today and thought "Is this surely not the strangest or longest name for a reservoir?"

Redpolls

(Click title to see picture)

Guess what I saw when I just happened to be kneeling on the floor gazing out the lounge window? A redpoll! I know, I couldn't believe it either! This was only the third time in my life I've seen them and I didn't even have to leave the comfort of my on home.

Redpolls are primarily seed eaters so they can often be found foraging in vacant lots nibbling up the weed seeds. To the untrained eye they just look like sparrows with a splat of red on their crown (head).

The female I saw was deftly twirling her way up and around the dandelion stalks. Then I saw the male barely a metre away from me through the glass. It looked like someone had slit his throat with two streams of blood trikling down his breast.

I stayed transfixed for those few minutes, even managed to open the window and hear them twittering away to each other, and then they were off leaving my garden void of dandelion seeds (I knew I was culivating them for a reason).

One New Thing

Today I learned that equal perpendicular line segments connect the opposite centers of squares exterior to the sides of any quadrilateral (otherwise known as van Aubel's theorem). Quite interesting I think.

Monophthongalization, etc

Some words that I never knew existed until quite recently... (thanks, to TheFreeDictionary for most definitions)

Monophthongalization: (WARNING: this is my own definition) The process of turning a diphthong into a monophthong. (where there are two different vowels) both vowel sounds used to be pronounced but now they are pronounced together to make only one sound. i.e the reduction of a diphthong to a simple vowel. Which means practically nothing unless you know what they both are.

Well, here goes: A Diphthong is is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target tongue position, diphthongs have two target tongue positions.

I came across this lovely find of a word as I was reading how modern Greek language was derived from the ancient Greek via the Koine (common/Biblical) Greek.


Silviculture: the branch of forestry dealing with the development and care of forests
(forestry - the science of planting and caring for forests and the management of growing timber)

I first came across this in a newspaper article as someone's job description, and I, curious as I am, turned that very same hour to GOOGLE AKA "source of all knowledge" to find out what the guy actually did for a living.


Filibuster: The use of obstructionist tactics, especially prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action.

I first saw this as a "Word-of-the-Day" on my homepage www.thefreedictionary.com (that's right, I have a dictionary for a homepage!) and not knowing what it meant, just assumed it was something to do with horse training... how wrong could I be? Then, just recently I read it in the paper when one political party was accusing the other of filibustering. Well, Parliament can be a bit of a circus sometimes.


Excoriating:tear or wear off the skin or make sore by abrading or to express strong disapproval of.

This one I heard in church, but can't remember exactly the context. It seemed kinda self explanatory at the time but I couldn't help wondering what scoria had to do with anything (& it doesn't).


Laniard (Lanyard): A cord worn around the neck for carrying something, such as a knife or whistle

David mentioned this one last week. That's right, he used a word I didn't know and what's more he's known this word for about the last ten years. I had actually wondered if there was a name to call those strap things that go around your neck to attach your keys/card to apart from "those strap things that go around your neck to attach your keys/card to" and now I know.


Degustation: To taste with relish; savor. Taking a small amount into the mouth to test its quality. Sampling all of the chefs signature dishes in small portions at the one sitting. Usually eight or more courses, it may be accompanied by a matching wine degustation.

I've seen this twice in two weeks now. First it was part of some prize package to take part in a degustation meal. And by association, my first thought was "how disgusting" but being in a prize package perhaps it must be something good afterall.


And what's more, my spell-checker doesn't even recognise half of these new words.

Destructive Durian

I thought you might like to know that I just found out they named a wicked Typhoon after that delicious succulency, that exotic delicacy, the veritable crowning glory of all the tropical fruits the pungently overpowering and most revered, the humble Durian. How dare they?

I think part of it's appeal for me is it's inate unloveliness.

When we all know it is harmless really. Go visit durian palace for the many ways to indulge your durian tooth (and order a durian office party!? Ok, so, even that may be a bit much, even for me).

www.durianpalace.com/gourmet

Euromop

I saw an advertisement for the Euromop (billed as "the only mop you'll ever need") in the paper today. At only $48 it's quite a steal, and apparently, according to the title slogan, "It picks up dirt and hair I didn't know was there".

Well, blow me down, but you won't see me forking out 48 bucks to clean something I didn't know was so filth ridden in the first place. In my books: If it looks clean, it is. Oh how blissful ignorance is, yet I persist in practicing foolhardiness in the presence of enlightenment.