Weird Dreams on a Thursday Night

Last night I had a dream that all whole numbers from zero to 8667 had been stolen. Fractions were okay, as well as whole numbers less than zero or 8668 and greater.
 
When I woke up, I woke up inside another dream where the numbers had been restored, and I had a one question lab practical which I aced (I had to measure exactly 0.2ml of water and put it into a test tube).
 
Then I woke up from that dream and couldn't find my backpack, which I'd left in Mrs. Dougal's classroom from my elementary school.
 
I finally found my backpack and now I'm awake (I think) in the "real" world.

So... how was your Thursday night?

I nearly drowned once

It had been a hot summer, and the start of fall was still pretty warm. We had a company picnic out at Lake Carl Blackwell, at a spot with a "swimming beach" (back then, it was a small area with a semi-sandy shore and some buoys in place about 100 yards off shore). I was in pretty good shape back then, so I decided to swim out to the buoys and back while the burgers and dogs were grilling.

The lake water was colder than I'd expected and it wore me out quickly. I managed to reach the buoys, but I was really tired. My plan was to hang onto a buoy until I got my strength back and then swim back to shore, but the cold water was numbing me. Also, the buoy was smooth and round, with a slippery algae-covered chain descending into the depths. There really was nothing for me to hold onto, and I couldn't climb onto the one-time inviting sphere that was too slippery to grasp. I tried to get the attention of my friends on shore, but they thought I was just waving, and waved back cheerily before turning their attention to the food and fun. 

I had to choice but to swim back to shallower water. The lake water was way over my head as I struggled to swim to shore. The cold water made my arms and legs feel heavier with every struggling stroke. When I got too tired to swim, I tried to float, but I'm a "sinker" - throughout my life, every time I try to float on my back, my feet sink, pulling the rest of me down. My next plan was to try to kick off the bottom and towards the shore.  The first time, I nearly panicked when the bottom was much deeper than I'd realized. I kicked up and shot above the surface, sucking in sweet, sweet air. I tried to swim a little farther, but I was getting more and more tired, which didn't help my near-panicked state of mind.
 

Eventually I reached a point where the water was only a couple of feet over my head. I took what I thought was my last breath, sank down and into about six inches of mud, then kicked off the bottom toward shore. I lunged up and forward, gasping for air, but I couldn't get a full breath. Resigned to my fate I started to go down for the last time.
 

Miraculously, when I touched bottom, my head was partly above the water - if I tilted back, both my nose and mouth were able to suck in air. The panic had already subsided - I had accepted the fact that I would drown had my head not been high enough, and so I was able to calmly take slow, deep breaths as hope came pouring back into me. I finally managed to catch my breath and wade to shore.
 

When I got back to my friends, I asked why nobody noticed I was drowning. They thought I was just clowning around and trying to act like a dolphin each time I shot above the surface.
 

This was one time I wish I hadn't had a reputation for being a buffoon.
 

The point of all this is that you might be careful this summer when you're swimming or with others who are swimming. Drowning doesn't always look like it does on TV or in a movie. Since then, I make sure I'm aware of my limitations, and I watch out for others who looking like they are having fun, but may actually be struggling.

I Can Do This

This post will be pretty brief. I'm typing it on my Kindle Fire, which is awesome, but once I got away from one-finger typing, it's been tough to get back into that except for short notes.

A week or so ago, I spilled a small amount of coffee on my laptop's keyboard. No major damage, but several keys are stuck (I sugar up my coffee most of the time). I can use my onscreen keyboard, but it's kinda cumbersome.

Fortunately, I've found out my Kindle 's onscreen keyboard works just as well, and much more portable. As long as I have some WiFi available, I can update my blog when the spirit moves me.

My next task will be to see if I can use one of the note taking apps to write something offline, and then post it later.

Whoa! I think this is gonna work pretty well!

I MacGyvered Some Fries Tonight

I thought french fries would be good to accompany supper tonight, so I fired up the oven to about 425 and went to the freezer to pull out the....oh, cr@p! We were out of fries and I didn't want to go to the store for just a bag of frozen fries.

However, I did have several potatoes on hand. And a knife...erg! The one I wanted was in the dishwasher which was barely into the wash cycle.

I pulled an apple corer out of a drawer. It's one of those doohickeys that not only cores the apple, but slices it into wedges at the same time. I found that it also works well on potatoes, with the core being (bonus!) a cylinder of potato. It was much faster than slicing those potatoes into wedges.

Next step - putting the wedges into the baking pan and brushing them with oil. Except I didn't know where the little basting brush was. 

Not a problem! I put the wedges into a zippered plastic storage bag, along with a little grapeseed oil (because that was what we had), closed the bag and shook the heck out of it for about 10 seconds. Voila! Evenly coated potato wedges!

Now I poured them onto the baking pan, sprinkled the wedges with seasoning, popped them in the oven and half an hour later we had the best fried (well... baked) potato wedges we've had in a long time.

Maybe I should write this down, in case I want to do it again.

Oh, wait!  
I just did!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

This day commemorates the activities of the tiny fishing village of Pollo del Mar, which had a cannery, a bakery, and not much else. The people of the town were tired of their diet of fish and bread. One day, however, a crate washed ashore and changed everything. Inside the crate? Five jars of mayonnaise.

The baker sliced loaves of bread and some guy named Charlie mixed the mayo with tuna from the cannery and the community discovered that their food supply would go farther, and was tastier than plain tuna and bread.

Every year the people of Pollo del Mar celebrate the anniversary of when the five jars of mayo washed ashore.

I'm sure there is probably another version of why Cinco de Mayo is celebrated, but I thought this story should be thrown into the mix as well.

*Ding!*

Ahhh... My chimichangas are ready!

The Joke's On Me

This past Saturday, at some point, I twisted my back but didn't think anything about it at the time.

A little bit later I walked up a flight of stairs and things got all sparkly, kinda like what would happen at the onset of a migraine I guess, but I'm not prone to migraines. Again, I thought it was no big deal, and I was probably still a little dehydrated from giving blood earlier in the week and then fasting on Good Friday.

Yesterday (Sunday) I noticed the pain in my back. Also, it would occasionally shoot down my leg while walking.  Yep, I must have pinched a nerve.  Been there, done that, and ibuprofen should work.

This morning the pain is still here and now it hurts even when I'm sitting.  More rest and now a hot pack thrown into the mix.

I had plans for April Fool's pranks for others today - not myself!

Hello World

I'm currently teaching two classes, three days a week at the main OSU campus in Stillwater, OK, and one class on Thursdays at the OSU campus in Tulsa.  Additionally, I pick up extra hours working at a second job.

Both jobs require my focus and attention, and I really don't need extra distractions to divert that attention.  As a result, I set my cell phone to vibrate or off when I'm teaching, working at my other job, or driving to one location or another.

In other words, I've disconnected myself from the electronic tether that seems so ubiquitous these days.  At first, I found it somewhat disconcerting to not being able to be reached or to reach out and check for messages.

I overcame that odd feeling, and I've found that I'm really starting to like escaping that electronic leash, even if it's for a short time.  Actually, I've been extending that time of freedom, because I really like reconnecting to the world - the world that has been around a few billion years before cell phones, the Internet, and the wonderful electronic gadgetry humans have created in such a short period.

I acknowledge that I belong to two worlds - the affinity with nature guy that I've always been, and the gadget-loving guy that I began to turn into probably after seeing my first sci-fi movie.

It's the nature-me that I've enjoyed getting back into touch with.  I can't afford to wander off into the wilderness and live out of a tent, but I can certainly unplug and reconnect with the land, the plants, the birds, the awesome power of nature for awhile each day.

I love it when I grab my backpack, loaded with materials for class, turn off the phone, walk out the door and head toward campus.

Hello world! Thanks for waiting for me.