What's Your Super Power?

I arrive at work early before work hours so I can beat myself up on a treadmill. In getting to the weight room, I walk through the cafeteria where amazingly a couple of vending machines spring into life, as if to tempt me to buy something very unhealthy, as I walk by.

This is not the only place where strange unseen forces are at work. There is a street light on a corner near my house that always either turns off or on when I run by. I scared the living hee-bee gee-bees out of my kids once on a walk that went by this light. I told them that I bet the light would go out when we walked by. When it went out my second to the oldest daughter started screaming uncontrollably. I told them that it was my super power.

The vending machines at work almost had myself convinced that I could turn anything off or on at will by just my presence. Maybe, I had been bitten by a radio-active hobo spider at home. Should I take on a new super hero name like X-ray the Destroyer? My secret identity only known to those who knew the lost ancient language of Pig Latin.

Well, my bubble was burst when I realized that the vending machines had a motion sensor attached to save electricity when no one was around.

But wait. This doesn't solve the street light phenomena. Just maybe...


Does anyone else have any super powers?

Etymology Test Results

So, the answer to the quiz is that with the right argument, you could justify the use of any of those spellings of the plural of octopus. The most correct, though, according to Mr. Webster is octopuses. The order of most common usage goes as follows: octopuses, octopi, octopodes. The last one is pronounced awk top' oh dees'.

Look it up on wikipedia for the longer version of the history of the spelling.

Thanks for playing.

Never ask me why I needed to know the correct usage of octopuses. It is just better that you think that I'm normal (that's bound to get a comment from my wife, Jenny).

Etymology 101

Without looking it up, do you know the proper plural word for octopus?

A. Octopuses
B. Octopedes
C. Octopodes
D. Octopi

Support your answer. Are you brave enough to try it without looking it up?

Just for your information, the blog spot spell check is a little confused about this word.

Do You Have the Number for Bunny Adoptive Services on You?

Our oldest daughter, Alicia, has been practicing driving, getting ready to get her license. We recently drove to Bear Lake for a short trip and Alicia wanted to drive. I thought that this would be a good experience for her because of the mountain terrain that we would drive through.

I told her how important it was for her to keep an eye out for wildlife so that she could slow down if she was coming up on animals because of the unpredictable nature of these critters. Not too much after I said this, that a jack rabbit darted out from the side of the road and we hit it before Alicia could even react. Feeling slightly traumatized by the experience she asked me what she should have done. I told her to 'take them out' (emphasizing the fact that it was safer for us to hit it than to make a quick over correction that could cause us to crash).

A little voice came from the back seat from my little five-year old boy who said, "but what if it was a mother?" Not wanting Alicia to second guess her safe choice of not putting us head-on into oncoming traffic, I said, "Well, I guess there are a few orphans now."

In hind sight, I think that calloused approach may have traumatized the whole family, who all wanted to go back and find the survivors so that they could take care of them.

Beauty Sleep in Ten Minute Chunks

BEEP!...BEEP!...BEEP!. If I hear that alarm go off one more time, I think that I might huck it out the window. I know that it is not right to "throw someone under the bus", but I need help in understanding what this girl is thinking.

This girl is my oldest daughter, who for some reason sets her alarm every night to go off early in the morning. The first strange thing with this is that it is summer and she sleeps until mid-morning. The next strange thing is that the alarm will go off and beep for minutes at a time and then instead of shutting it off, will hit the snooze alarm repeatedly so that we can enjoy this occurrence every ten minutes for the next couple of hours.

Even during the school year she will set her alarm 1-1 1/2 hours before she needs to get up and continues to hit the snooze alarm, until finally, after the rest of the family has been rudely awakened for the last couple of hours, will turn it off. Upon questioning her why she does this, she says that she does it so if for some chance that if she decides to get up earlier she can. BUT SHE NEVER DOES!!!

I feel sorry for the rest of the family who experiences this every day (Saturday and Sundays included). I only have to endure it when I don't leave very early in the morning to work.

Is there some rational thought to this behavior or do I need to have some alarm clock intervention?