Pick Up Two Pieces

I once read a message that challenged everyone to pick up two pieces of trash every day. It's a very achievable goal, and I've found that I'm much more aware of all the trash people leave in parking lots and on sidewalks when I'm thinking about needing to do my 2 pieces. Because part of the problem is that people ignore it, thinking the trash will magically disappear. And maybe if someone sees you picking up a piece of parking lot flotsam, they might pick up the next piece they see, and just maybe it will spread and we won't have trash laying everywhere. So do your part, next time you're out - remind yourself to pick up two pieces of trash. Everyday.

Remember the days?

Remember when a chemistry set was the cool gift for an aspiring science geek? Maybe a microscope with some prepared slides? We've come a long way baby:

Now we have Genetics & DNA Experiment Kits, for Biological Inheritance and Genetic Engineering - ages 10 and up! I have no idea what's in the box, but damn, what an exciting toy. It was right next to the Forensics & Fingerprinting kit. Combine those and your kids will have a CSI station set up in the living room that afternoon. Of course, who has to play Hodges in the lab, and who gets to be Warrick with the black fingerprint powder that gets everywhere? I wonder if it includes a tube of Superglue for vapor fingerprint collection, or would that be bad for the target age group?

Amazing Fruit Trick

Have you ever heard something that seemed totally unbelievable, yet it's so ridiculous you have to think it might be true? D told me he heard you could split a banana into 3 equal parts just by pressing on the end of it. He didn't quite believe it, but really, would someone make up something like that? So I grabbed a banana, peeled it and we went all Mythbusters on it.

I found out it works better if you break off the tip naturally, rather than cut it.

 I pressed my fingertip straight down into the broken end and almost immediately it started to blossom apart into 3 segments! If you don't want to use your finger, I heard a chopstick also works.

I traced down each split with my finger and ended up with a shocking pile of 3 equal strips of banana. It was really fun to eat the strips, and cut up they're the perfect size for topping a bowl of cereal.

 Awesome! I wonder if I'll ever be able to eat a banana again without doing this to it first.

A very weird cold

Actually that title could refer to both the recent weather and my current health. Mother Nature got confused, and sent April's weather to us last month. We were outside playing catch without needing even a jacket on Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, and New Years Day. It's so nice to be able to play without the clouds of gnats that taunted us so this summer. Despite the light weather, I knew the Starks were right - "Winter Is Coming". And come Jan 2nd, it did. The mountain wind blew down and suddenly it was below freezing all day. The half inch of snow lasted almost 2 days, and the windchill was unmentionably low. Finally! Sweater weather! But today it was back up to the mid 60s. I do still believe that Winter is Coming.

I've also been dealing with an invisible cold this week. I know I have a fever, and the aches and chills that go along with it. But so far I haven't had any other symptoms except a marshmallow brain. I keep waiting for the sore throat and congestion that seem to have passed by. A coworker of mine is pretty sick, and I told him I caught my illness from him. It doesn't matter that he lives in Chicago and we only talked on the phone. I know it's his fault, and apparently so does another person who's also sick now (she's in NY, but that hardly matters).