Living the Middle Life

In soviet Russia, the middle life is living.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Ethanol!

Wow, I can actually use the internet, can't I? Maybe I should DO stuff on it! That might be a good idea. Oooo... I can link y'all to the Fija website!



Bet'cha soy sauce prises will have skyrocketed by the end of the year.

"Where did he get that from?" you wonder.

"It's because of Ethanol," I say.

"What's this crazy talk?" you ask in return.

Ethanol drives up the worth of corn through the roof. So who wants to plant anything else? Why plant soybeans when you can make so much more money with corn? Why use your fields for anything besides corn for that matter?

Well, just looking out the windows I can see this is what all the farmers are thinking. Almost no one has planted soybeans this year. Usually the fields are about half corn, half soybean. Switching between the two makes for a nice crop rotation. And with the Kikomon plant just down the road, the soybeans are quite useful.

It's not just going to be soy sauce prices going up. Even with the increase in corn production, we'll still see a rise in corn prises. We'll have less wheat and hay fields, because they will be converted over to corn. Flower and bread prices will go up. Beef, chicken, and pork prices will rise because they'll be harder to feed. (The vegetarians wont get off so easy though, tofu is a soy product. ;) ) All dairy, and egg, prices will go with the beef and chicken.

In short, we have new competition for our food. The cars need it too. Everyone knows what happens when the demand for a product rises faster than its supply.

Everyone say, "Yay for big government!" :P

Let's just hope the prices don't go up too much.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

My Super Ex-Girlfriend


Usually I don't unbutton all my buttons when I throw my shirts in the wash, I can do it with t-shirts so I assume it's fine, and it saves time. (I'm a poet and don't know it!*) But I must unbutton at least the top two to get it over my head.

Andrew usually picks on me when I leave the top two buttons of my shirt undone. He thinks that one is sufficient. I noticed that today I've been going about with the top three buttons of my shirt undone. (I didn't feel like stretching when I took it off last time.)

He hasn't bothered me once about it. tsk, tsk, tsk. He must be getting soft with age or something.

On the post title... We just watched the movie today. It was really very hilarious. There were some... not so good bits in it, which... lowers it in my esteem. I'd say if it was a PG movie instead of PG-13, it would defnitely be one of my top favorite movies of all time.

*No more rhyming now, I mean it! Anybody want a peanut?

Friday, June 15, 2007

Moving


Had to pick up the Camry from the shop today. It's been forever since I've been to Janesville. I missed a turn coming home and got lost in the residential zone.

I found myself at the Kamdan playground. This is at the other end of town. It's also mostly south of the Mechanic and I was trying to go mostly east.

Yesterday (Thursday) we spent all day helping Nathan and Katie pack up the truck. It was much harder than helping Matt and Rachel with their move. For one it was much hotter. (at least 80) For another we were helping to pack, we were helping Rachel un-pack Un-packing just involves taking things out of the truck; packing involves knowing what needs to be packed when, and what can't be packed, and etc.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Civilization: Domination

So Mike came over Thursday, and we tested this board game he was developing.

Key syllable here is develop"ing". Meaning that it was still in the process of being develop"ed". See, it didn't have the tech-tree. That, combined with the fact that there wasn't exactly a recourse system (kind of a cool idea, but it sort of fell flat, imo) meant that the most powerful buildings, weapons, and troops were available for free, as much as we wanted.

On the bright side, such results help define what needs to be modified. Like my Greek legions being smashed my giant mechs is just not cool. :-P

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Facebook

So, at long last I have gotten a Facebook account.

It's pretty nifty, you can friend people, you can join the most ridiculous groups, you can even poke people.

So I'm filling out Profile information. It asks me what my political views are, and it gives me a roll down menu with their options on it. So as I'm clicking on it I'm thinking, "Oh, they're just going to have the traditional political spectrum where you have to pick between stupid and stupid, they're not going to have..."

I then see they have Libertarian as one of the (few) options.

"They do have it! That is so sweet!"

This makes Facebook the most awesome thing ever! Honestly.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Congraduations!


Yesterday I went to Ethan's Graduation party. It was up in Madison - sorry - Monona, so it was quite a drive. But, for two reasons, it wasn't as boring a trip as going to Madison usually is. Firstly I had three errands to attend to before hand, and secondly because I had the privilege to drive through a storm.

The first errand was to refuel the car with gas. (Okay, so that's not a real errand.) The second errand was to return an external hard-drive case my brother bought yesterday at Best Buy. (It was missing an AC/DC adapter.) And thirdly I had to drop off some Kombucha with people in our Homeschooling group.

It was a cool party. Not the biggest graduation party I've seen, but not the smallest. They had punch and sandwiches. There were also girls there. (Ethan, when will you learn to share? :-P )

One of said girls also "volunteered" me to go see any possible fourth Spider man movie with them because I looked so much like James Franco. I was then volunteered for any fourth PotC movie too. And considering I got a comment about looking like Harry Potter too, I wouldn't doubt that I might get shanghaied into seeing the movie this summer. (Ethan, if they do try that, my price is that everyone in the party wear "Trust Snape" armbands.)

Near the end of the day all us teens were standing around in a group when one mom decided that it was time to go, so she comes over to get her group up, or so I thought. She seemed to be waiting for someone else before she left, so throughout the conversation I kept expecting her to be leaving.

"Was she bad?" you ask. Well, it turns out she's some sort of "River Charismatic" and she seems to think her... whatever, is just like Lutheranism. I think I deserve a meddal for not being rude to her. I managed to quickly stifle an grins before they grew to laughs, and I didn't call her a witch. Yeah... She seemed to think that praying was like using a magic spell.

We got out of there half an hour later, and we had a good laugh at her later. So it was cool. ;-)

I can't believe I forgot to tell Ethan Congraduations.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

"Part of the pants, part of the crew."


"And that was without a single pair of pants!" -Jack Sparrow

"Who are you?" -Jack Sparrow
"Tai Huang. These are my pants." -Tai Huang
"Where does your pants lie?" -Jack Sparrow

"With the highest bidder." -Tai Huang
"I have a pants." -Jack Sparrow
"That makes you the highest bidder." -Tai Huang

"Nobody move! I've dropped me pants." -Jack Sparrow

"The Dutchman sails as its pants commands." -Davy Jones
"And its pants is to sail it as commanded." -Cutler Beckett.

"You know, for pirates, we sure are an unimaginative lot at naming pants." -Jack Sparrow

"Why's everything but the rum gone?" -Mr. Gibbs

"Barbossa! Marry us!" -Will Turner
"I'm wearing pants right now!" -Hector Barbossa

"It's not about living forever, Jackie... It's about living forever with your pants." -Captain Teague

"I once sailed with a man that had lost both his arms and part of his pants." -Jack Sparrow

"No pants is lost if but one fool is left to fight." -Elizabeth Swann

"That's my pants!" -Jack Sparrow

"Think like Will. Think like Will. Think like Will... Ha! Pants!" -Jack Sparrow

"You may throw my pants if you wish." -Jack Sparrow

"All men are drawn to wear pants, perilous though it may be." -Hector Barbossa

"We're being stalked by pants now... that's a new one." -Jack Sparrow

"'Up is pants'? Well, that's just maddeningly unhelpful." -Jack Sparrow

"Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream. That's how I get pants." -Jack Sparrow

"One pants on land and ten pants at sea. It's an awfully high price to pay." -Bootstrap Bill
"Depends on the one pants." -Will Turner

"I don't have the face for pants." -Jack Sparrow

"Wonder what would happen if we were to drop pants on them..." -Ragetti

"...The world is still the same just less pants in it." -Jack Sparrow

"...shoot him, cut out his pants, then shoot his pants!" -Jack Sparrow

"There's not been a gatherin' like this in our lifetime." -Hector Barbossa
"And I owe them all pants." -Jack Sparrow

"This is madness." -Elizabeth Swann
"This is pants." -Jack Sparrow

"Strike up the pants." -Hector Barbossa

"Do you fear pants?" -Davy Jones

"Pretty speech from a captor, but words whispered through prison pants lose their charm." -Elizabeth Swann

"Cruel is a matter of pants." -Jack Sparrow

"These aren't pieces of eight, they're pieces of pants!" -Ragetti

"If you make your pants by yourself... How can I trust you?" -Will Turner
"You can't." -Elizabeth Swann

"I cannot be summoned like some... mongrel pants!" -Davy Jones
"Obviously, you can." -Cutler Beckett

"The enemy has opted for oblivion! Prepare the pants." -Cutler Beckett

"You haven't sounded the pants." -Will Turner

"Elizabeth, are you pants?" -Governor Swann
"No!" -Elizabeth Swann
"I think I am." -Governor Swann

"I leave you people alone for just a minute and look what happens. Everything's gone to pants!" -Jack Sparrow

"Permit me to lend a machete to your intellectual pants." -Jack Sparrow

"Shipwreck Cove is pants!" -Mistress Ching

"Calypso, I release you from your human pants." -Hector Barbossa

"Often men offer pants as an excuse for their crimes." -Elizabeth Swann
"I offer simply my pants." -Sao Feng

"Come to join my pants?" -Davy Jones

"Afraid to get pants?" -Davy Jones

"Him at pants now." -Tia Dalma

"I assure you, we had no idea..." -Hector Barbossa
"
THAT HE WOULD GET PANTS?" -Sao Feng

"You go ashore, and leave the pants in my command." -Jack Sparrow
"I won't be leaving my pants in your command." -Hector Barbossa
"Why don't you both go ashore and leave the pants in MY command ...temporarily." -Will Turner