Believe in an afterlife?

Late night tv commercial:
...if you've taken this or that medication and you've experienced one of the following: symptom1, symptom2, symptom3, or sudden death, please call the number on your screen.

On the playground

F1-3 talked about her day at "school" last week. School means daycare.

F1-3: We played at the swings today.
Makita: Oh. Was that fun?
F1-3: Yeah, we were pushing each other and talking and laughing.
Makita: What were you talking about?
F1-3: Joey was using potty-words. That's not allowed in my school. But he was doing it anyway, and it was very funny. So we were laughing.

Typical. She's knows it's not allowed. But if it's funny, who's to stop her?

I have 4 kids

I thought I had 3, F1-1, F1-2, and F1-3. But I stand corrected. This morning I was reading "Two Peas in a Pod" by Annegert Fuchshuber with F1-3. It's a cute book about animals that have 2, 3, or more babies. The beetle even had 51, and didn't even think it was too much. I then asked F1-3 how many children I had. She answered right away: "4."

Huh? Me: "How did you get 4, I thought I had 3 kids?"
F1-3: "No, you have me, F1-2, F1-1, and daddy."
Me: "But daddy is not my child, he's a grown-up."
F1-3: "But you call him 'baby'."
Me: "Oh, ok."

That t-shirt is the wrong color!

When PZ posted this link, and I clicked on it, the title of this post is the first thought that came to my mind.

The guy in the cartoon looks way too much like Steve Burns in Blue's Clues (ask me how I know). The green-striped shirt is a dead giveaway. The only thing is, although Steve is kinda goofy, and he doesn't usually find the clues first, he strikes me as a very logical guy, a good scientist.

Picture credit

Steve patiently collects his data (the clues), doing all sorts of smart things while collecting the data (like counting to 10, matching shapes, recognizing colors). He takes careful notes in his handy-dandy notebook, writing down each clue (a good notebook is the scientist's bible). And then he sits down in his thinking chair and carefully analyzes the data: he thinks, thinks, thihihinks!!. He uses his mind, takes it one step at a time, and collaborates with subject matter experts (pre-schoolers) to figure out what the clues mean, and what Blue wants to do. And when he doesn't feel well, he concludes that eating Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper's vegetable soup will make him feel better, which seems much more intellectually sound to me, if not tastier, than prayer.

Steve's got this scientific thinking thing worked out much better than the guy in the cartoon. I propose to change the shirt color on the guy in the cartoon. It doesn't reflect well on Steve. And Steve is my son's hero. We demand Steve's name be cleared!

April 1

Note: I really did pass my quals. It was not an April fools joke. Although when the date was schedule some naughty thoughts of what I could do to my committee did occur to me.

This morning I told F1-1 that his science teacher had e-mailed me to remind him of his comprehensive exam today. He looked at me blankly. I stared back "What? she didn't tell you? You have this oral exam today, and all the science teachers in the school are going to be asking you questions and it will be 80% of your grade for this school year! You're telling me you haven't studied for this?" [put on really grim face].

I could literally see the blood draining from his face. It was quite priceless. Hey, at least someone was feeling the same thing I did. He was downright panicked. I let him steam in his skin for quite a while, but eventually could no longer stand it, and asked him if his teacher hadn't told him it was April 1st either.

The relieve on that kid's face. He was seriously sweating it, and I think he's going to school to play the same joke on a bunch of his friends, although I suspect the exam will turn in an all-topic, worth 95% of your grade kind of thing.

I'm not expressing my true feelings here!

As Coturnix and Mike O'Risal did, I checked my blog with the cuss-o-meter. How could I possible have come up with 0%?

Of course, the website that does this, is simply trying to get traffic for an online dating website. Which is why I'm not pasting the picture here. You'll just have to believe me when I say my score was 0%.

Anyway, if this is true, I'm not doing a good job. This blog is precisely so that I can cuss at the world as much as I want, and the world can read about it if they are so inclined.

Cuss-related anecdote:

When I first got to the US, I noticed within a few weeks that my level of cussing increased dramatically from what it was just a few weeks before back home. Nobody here understood what I was saying anyway, so if I just kept the tone even enough, I could say what I wanted, and I sure did so. Moreover, I'm familiar with a language that is perfect for expressing strong feelings (both good and bad), for which I find English quite inadequate. It was very satisfying to express myself, even though that would have been considered inappropriate at home.

The mysterious ways of Jesus

According to Mike O'Risal every few weeks somebody spots Jesus somewhere, and the image ends up on Ebay. What he doesn't realize, is that this is how Jesus helps his faithful followers. This is just his way of making sure that they get adequately rewarded for recognizing his holy image. And sometimes even those who don't believe in him! I wonder how that works. If you don't believe in Jesus, how can you be convinced he's the peeping tom?

Atheists all around

Shameless blogwhoring. Cuttlefish does it again!

Watch out! Those atheists are everywhere.

They've got to be kidding!

Really, this can't be real, can it? Actually, I know of one household that works exactly like that. And at least one member of this "partnership" thinks it is perfectly normal. Shivers up the spine.

How atheist in a minivan could even read to the end is a mystery to me. She must be very, very brave.

Aching backs, necks and heads

I hope they supply free Aleve at the entrance to this church.

And Ibuprofen here.

and ibuprofen here.

Zen mom

Can someone let my beloved husband know that I'm considered Zen mom according to the latest quiz results:

Your quiz score makes you: Zen Mom How do you do it? Even when explosions are all around, you are able to take a deep cleansing breath and chant your mantra "this too shall pass." You are a calming influence on your kids in a hectic world.

Note:
Remember: Chatterbean quizzes are non-scientific, non-fat and pretty much just non-sense. They are meant solely for entertainment purposes and are not intended to provide an accurate evaluation of anything.

www.areyouaslackermom.com

Intelligent Design

Finally! Intelligent Design explained. HT to Bronze Dog.

Lunch

And for a way to keep your bagel intact during transport.... I'm definitely going to try this one out some day. I have several of these things. Saves on garbage too.

Cool toy

Hey, there is this really cool toy that I want to try out. I can write sentences in Hindi, even though I can't speak a single word of the language. I want to play!!

हे, तेरे इस थिस रेअल्ल्य कूल तोय ठाट ई वांट तो त्रय आउट। ई कैन राइट सेंतेंसस इन हिंदी, एवें थौघ ई कैन'त स्पाक अ सिंगल वर्ड ऑफ़ थे लंगुअगे। ई वांट तो प्लय!!

Excellent parenting

Wow!! I'm really blown away here. Excellent parenting skills, really groundbreaking techniques of positive reinforcement. It is wonderful to get close to your kids and talk about what's on their minds, isn't it? Great example of encouraging independent thinking. Thanks to Daniel.

http://blog.danielmorgan.name/2007/04/bwahahahahaha.html