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?

Rapid Ride

This is an actual bootlegged photo of our group




Here are two clips from a quick run up to the Snake River for a few river runs with some friends at work. One of my buddies sat out one ride to take these videos with his droid.

I am the one with the big white hat in the back of the boat in the first clip (the only one that didn't get tossed around like a rag doll and could keep paddling through the rapid).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujeI_fXrVtI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlJiQHKqhTw

Top Trip Stories

So we had the greatest time on our 6500 mile cross country trip. Jenny is posting all the good stories on her blog so make sure you stop in to read them. We had many great memories from the trip. The kids experienced a lot of things for the first time, as well as the parents. Below is listed the snippets of 50 topics each with their own story. When I got writing them, many more than 50 popped out, but I will start with just these. Feel free to ask us about the stories that go with them when you have some free time to be bored out of your gourd.



1. Cloud-to-cloud lightning: Do you think we'll get struck?
2. I can't believe my eyes, 10,000,000 fire flies.
3. Smokey Mountain Memories with screaming waterfalls.
4. Mini-me Mississippi at Mud Island.
5. Salamanders, crawfish, and tadpoles, oh my!
6. Humidity Humility.
7. Turnpike = $20+ toll
8. Living in an Amish Paradise.
9. Changing of the Yelling Guard.
10. Misfiring 19 gun salute.
11. How many Tom Sawyers can one town hold anyway?
12. Hail of a storm; Ouch! I think that's going to leave a mark.
13. Why does no one pay attention when police helicopters buzz you in Chicago?
14. Sir, this is a private party, you'll have to pee elsewhere.
15. Niagra's lesser known falls.
16. Please sir, can I have my free stuff now.
17. 2 information people: The non busy one directs you to talk to the busy one.
18. Clearance Requirements for outdoor parking.
19. Did you know that you can use microwaves for free at gas stations?
20. Leaving the country without a passport.
21. Running on empty in Kansas.
22. Being bold in Boulder with a politically incorrect gas guzzler.
23. Find that huge snail a home.
24. Family camping for 365 days plus your own lawn ornaments: smoking required.
25. Arkansas and Michigan for 2 minutes.
26. Zip Line camping.
27. Erie rock skipping.
28. Lady Liberty has a stunt double in Pennsylvania.
29. Body surfing on the Susquehanna.
30. Hersey's two candy bars for the price of none.
31. No room at the inn in Country Music's Capitol.
32. A date with Thomas Jefferson after hours.
33. We're sorry, we just reached capacity. Thanks for waiting in the hot sun for nothing.
34. Watch where you are going you bratty clueless teenagers.
35. You got a problem; Just protest at the White House.
36. The Grand 'Ole Opry is under good new water.
37. Teddy's almost unknown monument.
38. Peabody's Duckies
39. Using other states for your fireworks needs.
40. State Bagging.
41. Not all state capitols are on hills.
42. If you have a Little Ceasar's we'll stop in your town.
43. Don't make eye contact or make any sudden movements.
44. Please, can we have your worst smelling smoking room with the windows shot out?
45. 4 for 4 for Church on Sundays.
46. What? you have closing hours at your laundromat. That is so non white trash.
47. Would you fill out this comment card for the hundreth time.
48. Doughnut pillows rule.
49. Can I have seconds on rice milk cereal?
50. Lebanese Fries.

Does Lightning Strike Twice?

Usually when I sneeze once I know that a second one is coming. It seems like most things come in twos. Like when we watched a Disney Show made for teens, yesterday, our daughter immediately started watching it again. The same was true when I was working out in the yard. When I accidentally cut the electrical line for my sprinklers, I did it again the second time shortly after repairing the first mishap. I also hit the back of my hand in the same spot twice, within minutes, with a hammer; each misguided stroke just as powerful as the one before.



I had another unfortunate experience recently on our 'whirl-wind across the country tour' vacation. It had been at least 10 years since I had been pulled over by a police officer, so I guess that I was overdue for one of those choice occurrences. We happened to be in Indiana at the time. It seemed that the odds were stacked against us for leniency, when the trooper was greeted by a car whose contents were in the final chaotic state of being in decay for three long weeks. We couldn't find the registration, he lectured our oldest daughter in the back, who didn't have her seat belt securely fastened. I also was reprimanded for not staying in my lane as I almost went into evasive maneuvers as I saw a car coming up onto my tail at an extreme rate of speed about to ram me. It turned out to be the Trooper without his lights on, driving near the speed of sound. (Darn it all, if your going to drive like the rest of us maniacs, at least turn your lights on so we can tell who you are.)


Luckily, we were spared a ticket. We walked away from the incident with only a warning. Jenny attributes it to the fact that when she was searching for the registration in the glove box she pulled out a bible in clear view of the Officer. It may have been all of the scared and sad looking faces in the car (well, at least my face); or may have simply been that, with all of our infractions, they would have to impound our Sturgeon (Ford Excursion)which is the size of half the state of Rhode Island, and they just didn't have that size of acreage available.

So, when we I was pulled over again within a few days of getting home from our trip, I wasn't too worried about getting a ticket, because this double mint deja vu thing that I got going on meant that another warning was on it's way. So when I was handed the ticket I was a little bit surprised.

Maybe I shouldn't have handed him the bible with my driver's license tucked into the pages like a book mark.