Sain't Christopher

Insomnia and nostalgia

I loved Ape Week and Jerry Lewis Week the most.


Especialy Ape Week with Bill Bonds cameo Bill Kennedy actually making the "one hung low" joke in a promo. Oh, and check out the pants. Personal hero Art Lyzak used to have the license plate "You gotta have Art" The man wore a cape. One more Go in Peace

Those "coke" people, they're just wrong

Back when I was a linguistics student, I learned the word "isogloss".  Simply put, this is the name for a geographic boundary based on word usage.  You either live in a place where it is called "pop", "soda", or "coke".

Just want to point out that Obama can't win without the olive green states.

Sociolinguistics is a mildly interesting field of study, the fodder for third hour bar discussion on a Tuesday night.  On any given night at Dave's, Mr. Ryan will mock my northern cities vowel shift and I give him shit for saying "every so once in a while".  This gives me amusement because native Californians don't think they have an accent. 

I remember Elfini's practice wedding.  When I met her in the lobby after the ceremony, my first question was "so who is this "Don" that Wes married?"  And there is such a look on the face of these native Cal's when you try to get them to enunciate the "awww" sound.  I'm sure their instinct is to think that I must be hearing it wrong.  Then again, they are a people who never learned to cover their mouths when they yawn.

Back to the soda pop thing.  There is a perfectly good reason that we in the midwest call it "pop": we call everyone by their last name.  Soda's last name is Pop.  There.

Go in Peace

Because not everyone has a refrigerator to hang stuff on

I love having talented friends.  Elfini has spent much time working on her photos and now she's got a dedicated site for her outstanding work.  What can I say, Dawn, except that I officially forgive you for not having time to redesign my humble page of the net.  Now, everybody, go!

dawnblanchfield.com

Go in Peace

Sidekick

For most of the time I've known them, Zoe has been the one who most wanted to interact with me while Vincent seemed to think I was the delivery guy from Boston Market.  For almost two years, when I'd come thru the door, Zoe ran to my arms for a hug while Vincent asked if I brought food.

Lately, Vincent has been more of a buddy.  We seem to wrestle, play, and talk more than ever before.  It was great 20 minutes today as he tucked into side while I read The Lorax. Even better, he proved himself today as a capable wingman, and that will get him a much better birthday present next month.

It starts with balloons.  Like most kids, he's fascinated with them.  It was one of his first words and for a long time any round, colorful, elevated globe was greeted with a happy shriek B'loon.  Not a bad world to live in, really.  Unfortunately, he's had bad luck with them.  And there is not much sadder than a toddler whose ballon has popped or flown away.  Trader Joes gives away free balloons to the kiddies and after several traumatic attempts to safely get a ballon home, he's now gun shy.

When we were in line, right after he and his sister each kissed the chocolate bar we were about to buy (Karin is one of those no candy sorts of moms) I asked if he wanted a balloon.  He shook his head and said he didn't want a balloon, they go away.  Fair enough, kiddo, but balloon girl is cute so I turn to Zoe who chime up I want a purple one!

Zoe makes a poor wingman because she tends to get a bit possessive with me around other females.  But, balloon girl was really cute so I went for it.  For an hour before, Zoe had engaged another toddler, two BART policemen, the ticket salesman at BART and pretty much ever child we came across on our train trip.  But, when I need her to be all cute, her eyes are are checking out her shoes and suddenly the chatty cathy show is over.

Vincent, however, came thru big time

Balloon Girl:  And what about you little man, do you want a blue one?
Vincent: (in a very sad, Disney adorable voice with big wet eyes)  I don't want a balloon.
Balloon Girl:  (To me)  He doesn't want one?
Me:  A ballon can break your heart
Vincent:  Yeah.
Balloon Girl:  You guys are too cute.  Here, why don't I give you one and if he wants it later, he'll have it.

I got my smile, Vincent got the slighly larger piece of chocolate when I broke off pieces for them . . .

Go in Peace

Marketing

Okay, everyone's watching the Olympics.  For men, it's about the women's beach volleyball- for the women, they're into the men's swimming.  Oh, and there's some sports stuff too, like that Phelps guy.  This morning during break, the cafeteria was tuned in to the gymnastics, and I noticed something odd, something that I'd seen in every competition so far.  Look at this photo

See it?  There, in the bottom right corner.  See it now?  China, a country of almost 8 or 9 million people, a proud society that has had it's own written language since they learned it from the Romans, has chosen to have their Olympic logo proudly written . . . in English?.  English set in a bad faux Chinese font.

What the hell?

Guess it's a marketing thing.  Now, it's all I notice when watching.  Of course, it may be digitally inserted, like the fireworks.  Maybe, if you were there, you'd be seeing slash-slash-line-squiggle-dot 2008.  Even thought they've had their own written language for 4000 years, there'd still be the "2008" since they never got around to coming up with numbers.  The same way they took a pass on inventing the fork or spoon.

Go in Peace

Limpid Pools (now looking up "limpid")

Last week I read about the newest fashion wave in Japan: contact lenses that make the eyes look like an anime cartoon figure.  Check it out:

I guess that's one way to do it.  Elfini is more of DIY girl and this is what she came up with.

Of course, having my own deep, profound, baby blues, I've only a passing interest in this.  Mostly, I just wanted to post this cute photo of Erin.

Go in Peace

Wake and Bake

In case you're starting your "What-To-Get-Sain't-For-Christmas" list:

Device

by Matty Sallin, Daniel Bartolini, Hsiao-huh Hsu

WHAT: An alarm clock that wakes you up with the smell and sizzle of cooking bacon.

WHY: No one likes to wake up, especially by an alarm. This clock gently wakes you up with the mouthwatering aroma of bacon, just like waking up on a Sunday morning to the smell of Mom cooking breakfast.

HOW: A frozen strip of bacon is placed in Wake n' Bacon the night before. Because there is a 10 minute cooking time, the clock is set to go off 10 minutes before the desired waking time. Once the alarm goes off, the clock it sends a signal to a small speaker to generate the alarm sound. We hacked the clock so that the signal is re-routed by a microchip that in responds by sending a signal to a relay that throws the switch to power two halogen lamps that slow-cook the bacon in about 10 minutes.

Phyllis

I used to love the old Dean Martin roasts.  When the videos went on sale, I must have watched that Regis hosted infomercial a dozen times.

Quickly decending, we are now priveleged to have a roast for Bob Saget.  I'm not looking forward to it, even with this one great bit from Cloris Leachman.

Go in Peace