Monday, February 28, 2005

Where Did Spring Go?!?

It was snowing today and while I generally love the snow the later in the year it comes the less i like it. While it is still winter it is getting to that point where it starts to feel more like spring than winter. The forecast is calling for colder temperatures for the next couple of days and then warm up a little later in the week. We'll see what happens.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Birthdays

Today was my little sister's birthday. She is living in New York state because her husband is in the Army stationed at West Point. They have been there about two years now. He is going for his twenty year pension. At this point I think he has three or four years left. I sent her a card on Tuesday so I'm hoping it got to her by today, but if it's late that's ok too because the one she sent to me was a day late. We had a running joke for two or three years where we would deliberately sent our cards late just so we could send the funny belated cards. I think it started when she sent me a card late one year and we were joking around about it and I joked that I was going to send mine late to get her back, and it kind of snowballed just from there.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

You Call This Spring?!?

The high temperature for the last week or so has been in the upper 30's and low 40's. Late last night (a couple of hours ago to be exact) it was actually snowing. It was just a dusting though. I guess for the third week of February in Iowa you can't expect 60 degree weather yet. We are actually doing good to get that in April with any regularity.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

What Shapes Your Personality?

Debbie, your personality is shaped by your Logical nature.

Your clear logic makes it easy for you to be direct and reasonable in your thinking and communication. When trying to make sense of an ambiguous situation, you probably prefer to consider facts and past experience over all other approaches. For example, it would not be unusual for you to choose a tried-and-true approach to reasoning over an idealistic one.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

The Influence of Birth Order

Debbie, your position as middle child shows most strongly in your even-tempered nature.

Similar to other middle children, you are probably very stable emotionally which makes people feel at ease around you. In addition, having older and younger siblings taught you how to appreciate diverse points of view. You have learned that the best way to resolve conflict is by remaining calm and open to compromise. Like other middle children, you tend to radiate warmth, affection and maturity. You are likely to display an extraordinary ability to remain composed even in stressful situations.

Birth order influences your relationship with your parents, siblings (if you have them) and how you ultimately learn to interact with the world. It can provide an insightful way to better understand your approach to friendships, romance, and how you meet life's challenges.

What's Your Gift For Gab?

Debbie, your gift for gab is Spreading The News!

Move over, Paul Revere, when it comes to getting the word out, you'll gladly take the reins. From celebrity gossip to intellectual debates to what's going on this weekend, your varied interests and contacts mean that your news-feed might cover any number of topics. Simply put, you pay attention to the world around you and it's rare you miss a beat (or a good scoop).

You're all about communicating, and the more conversations you start, secrets you uncover, and trivia you gather, the better. Idle chitchat? Nonsense! Anything that brings people together can only be a good thing. Pass it on!

Friday, February 18, 2005

New Bells And Whistles

On Monday, February 14 I registered with Brevenet.com to get a hit counter for my humble blog because I am curious that way. I have since registered a couple other features, Today in History and Daily Cartoon, but deleted them from the blog because I didn't like they way they fit my space. They were too big, so they were always at the bottom of the page. Right now the only services I am using are the hit counter and the newly added Guest Map. So, if you are reading this please post to my map. I'll be ever so grateful.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Spring Is Within Sight

Monday afternoon I was outside with my dog because the temperature was 59 degrees. I saw that the crocus and other early spring flowers were starting to grow. Most of our snow has melted and it was rainy and foggy all day Sunday. The local TV station's web site said the high for Monday would be 47 degrees, which is a nice temperature for the middle of February!

Thursday, February 10, 2005

OneIshy :: Personality Test Results

Your personality is PhlegmaticMelancholy.

Your scores are below
Overall:
Melancholy:13
Phlegmatic:22
Sanguine:3
Choleric:2

Strengths:
Melancholy:6
Phlegmatic:12
Sanguine:2
Choleric:0

Weakneses:
Melancholy:7
Phlegmatic:10
Sanguine:1
Choleric:2

GUARDIAN. AdvisorTeam

Guardians, are the cornerstone of society, for they are the temperament given to serving and preserving our most important social institutions. Guardians have natural talent in managing goods and services--from supervision to maintenance and supply--and they use all their skills to keep things running smoothly in their families, communities, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses.

Guardians can have a lot of fun with their friends, but they are quite serious about their duties and responsibilities. Guardians take pride in being dependable and trustworthy; if there's a job to be done, they can be counted on to put their shoulder to the wheel. Guardians also believe in law and order, and sometimes worry that respect for authority, even a fundamental sense of right and wrong, is being lost. Perhaps this is why Guardians honor customs and traditions so strongly--they are familiar patterns that help bring stability to our modern, fast-paced world.

Practical and down-to-earth, Guardians believe in following the rules and cooperating with others. They are not very comfortable winging it or blazing new trails; working steadily within the system is the Guardian way, for in the long run loyalty, discipline, and teamwork get the job done right. Guardians are meticulous about schedules and have a sharp eye for proper procedures. They are cautious about change, even though they know that change can be healthy for an institution. Better to go slowly, they say, and look before you leap.

Guardians make up as much as 40 to 45 percent of the population.

The Four types of Guardians are:

Supervisors (ESTJ) | Protectors (ISFJ) | Inspectors (ISTJ) | Providers (ESFJ)

Sunday, February 06, 2005

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?





Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence



You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well.
An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly.
You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view.
A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary.

You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.



What's Your Political Persuasion?





You Are a Religious Republican



You make up the conservative, Christian, dedicated core of the Republican Party.

You believe it's important for religious people to stand up for their beliefs in politics.

And for you, this means voting your conscience - which almost always means voting Republican.

Your pet causes include the sanctity of life, school vouchers, and prayer in school
.



You Know You're From Iowa When...





You Know You're From Iowa When...


Vacation means driving through the Amanas or going to Adventureland

Down South to you means Missouri

You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Des Moines"

You know the answer to the question, :"Is this Heaven?"

You know where all the Yoders live (or Andersons, or Van den Bergs)

You know what "hawks" and "clones" are

All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit or vegetable

You can locate Iowa on the map

You've ever been on a "Geode Hunt"

Your idea of a really great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun and is accompanied only by ketchup and a dill pickle slice

You say "catty-wampus" instead of "kitty-corner"

You've never taken public transportation

You have boiled fish in lye for Christmas

You know what "uff-da" means and how to use it properly

You know what "Amish Country" is

The only reason you go to Wisconsin or Missouri is to get fireworks

You know exactly where "Field of Dreams" was filmed

When someone says they are going out for dinner or supper, you know which meal they are talking about. You listen to "Paul Harvey" every day at noon.

You think of the major food groups as deer meat, beer, corn, and soy nuts.

You're pulled over and asked by the cop, "Had a little to much to drink, (your first name here)?

You own the complete "Dukes of Hazzard" video collection.

"Hick" is a style of clothing.

You can use the words, 'crik', 'holler', and 'skunk weed' in the same sentence.

Your Christmas gift, when you were ten years old was a shotgun (a BB gun if you were a 'townie').

You know someone personally who is involved in meth trade or manufacture.

Your idea of a party is throwing cans of WD40 in a campfire while you're drunk.

You've been to a rave in a barn.

You've had sex in the back of a truck ... amid cows.

You know that cows don't sleep standing up.

You're concerned about the rates of corn growth in Illinois as compared to that of Iowa's.

You listen to Ag Day at 6AM ... two hours after you get up in the morning.

You believe that trees in Iowa lean towards Nebraska ... because Nebraska sucks!

You know several people who still refer to Japanese cars as "rice-burners."

"Styx" plays a concert at the county fair, and people actually show up.

You don't get nervous when you walk into a biker bar (unless you're an Iowa City cop).

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Iowa.





Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here



More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

What's Your Element?





Your Element Is Air



You dislike conflict, and you've been able to rise above the angst of the world.
And when things don't go your way, you know they'll blow over quickly.

Easygoing, you tend to find joy from the simple things in life.
You roll with the punches, and as a result, your life is light and cheerful.

You find it easy to adapt to most situations, and you're an open person.
With you, what you see is what you get... and people love that!



What Breed of Cat Are You?

Random
You are a Random cat! Also known as an alley cat
or a mutt. You aren't given to high-falutin'
ways, but you're accessible and popular.
People love you for who you are, not what you
are.

What breed of cat are you?
brought to you by

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Star Trek: Enterprise Cancelled!

UPN and Paramount Network Television have jointly announced that this will be the final season of Star Trek: Enterprise on UPN. [Production will continue until the end of this season, which will finish shooting in March.] The series finale will air on Friday, May 13, 2005.

The biggest reason this program had low ratings is because it was on a new, small network that was not in a lot of markets. The only way I ever got to see Enterprise is because for the first 2 seasons my local WB station aired it after the WB network programming. For seasons 3 and 4 the episodes were/are taped and shown on the local NBC affiliate on Saturdays at midnight.

This is another ignorant, short-sighted move by network executives. If they would move production to syndication they would have a larger audience but they were trying to launch a new network that has, with the exception of Enterprise, crappy programs. Although having never seen any of them I can't really say that from experience but others have said so.

I just feel a little angry and a lot frustrated.

Groundhog Day

Today was Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow meaning 6 more weeks of winter.

Georgia's Groundhog Predicts Early Spring

He may not be the country's most famous groundhog, but odds are more people will like his prediction. General Beauregard Lee came out of his miniature mansion in Georgia this Groundhog Day and failed to see his shadow. That means we're in for an early spring. It also contradicts what Punxsutawney Phil said in Pennsylvania. Beau has a remarkable 97 percent accuracy rate. General Beauregard Lee has been serving up springtime forecasts for the past 15 years in Lilburn, GA.

N.J. Groundhog Missing
There's no joy in Hunterdon County, N.J., this Groundhog Day because there's no groundhog.
A four-legged weather prognosticator known as J.B. has been missing from its Franklin Township burrow for almost a year. The disappearance of J.B., which stands for Just Because, has led The Eastern Extension of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge to disband after 15 years of forecasting with marmots. Members would go to the woods in top hats and white robes every Feb. 2 and thump on the ground with sticks to get J.B. to come out. If the groundhog saw its shadow, there would be six more weeks of winter. Lodge members have been thumping all summer and fall, but J.B. hasn't surfaced. No one knows what happened to the groundhog.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Due to the fact that groundhogs normally live only 2 or 3 years, do you think maybe J. B. is dead? The article doesn't say how long he has been forecasting spring's arrival or how old he was when he started forecasting. There are a lot of unanswered questions here.