Seven Months, A Day Late

Hopefully not a dollar short.

H. H. Benedict XVI

It's interesting reading the Wikipedia page about Pope Benedict XVI. It's also interesting to see the speed at which the page is being updated (should I make a change?), but that might get old after a while.

A Day For Legends

This is probably really too many photos for a blog entry. Really, this day should get its own web page, but here it is in the blog anyway. Today, we went to the first ever game of the Canton Legends in the Atlantic Indoor Football League. Canton lost to Raleigh 50-28, as especially in the first half, the Legends' QB couldn't get it together.

On the way, we stopped to see the amazin' Y-Bridge and another county courthouse.


And here is at Mom's House. Yes, that's an old Canton Invaders jersey. I saw one or two others at the game.


The beautiful Civic Center:


I really should figure out how to quickly normalize photos so that they look better. Maybe someday soon, I will. The announced attendance was about 1,700. More people were sitting on our side than the other one.

Below is the soon-to-be world-famous Slappy.

Freaky Nickels

I got my first 2005 nickel today. It's cool that they brought back the buffalo. But as for the obverse of Jefferson, I have one word: Freaky.

I'd consider myself a moderate when it comes to things like coins. I don't think coins should never change. I guess you can say that I advocate small changes to small change. But I don't like major change change. This changing change two or more times per year is too much.

Today's Bike Ride

Here are a few photos from today's bike ride. It looks like we're just starting to get a bit of green out there.

Note the slanting trees. I assume this is damage from the ice storm we had.


I though this one was interesting. The sign says "Danger Hard Hat Area". It's like a walk in the woods is through a major construction site. I'm not quite sure what the deal is. They might be extending the trail or something, I guess.

Whatever Happened to the Thorn (þ)?

Opening Music: Found Out About You by Gin Blossoms

(This is what I think a blog is for. When I find an interesting fact that nobody else probably cares about, I can just make a blog entry, and not send a boring e-mail to all of my friends.)

Did you ever wonder what happened to the thorn (þ)? Did you ever wish that /th/ was one letter, and not two? Here's what happened, according to the usage note for "ye" at Dictionary.com:

Usage Note: In an attempt to seem quaint or old-fashioned, many store signs such as “Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe” use spellings that are no longer current. The word ye in such signs looks identical to the archaic second plural pronoun ye, but it is in fact not the same word. Ye in “Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe” is just an older spelling of the definite article the. The y in this ye was never pronounced (y) but was rather the result of improvisation by early printers. In Old English and early Middle English, the sound (th) was represented by the letter thorn (þ). When printing presses were first set up in England in the 1470s, the type and the typesetters all came from Continental Europe, where this letter was not in use. The letter y was used instead because in the handwriting of the day the thorn was very similar to y. Thus we see such spellings as y^e for the, y^t or y^at for that, and so on well into the 19th century. However, the modern revival of the archaic spelling of the has not been accompanied by a revival of the knowledge of how it was pronounced, with the result that (y) is the usual pronunciation today.

I guess it doesn't say why /y/ became /th/, but that wasn't the question, was it? (Tune in tomorrow...)

Closing Music: Life's Gonna Suck by Denis Leary

My Movie Idea

I've never had an idea for a movie before, but here is one:

Opening shot: Everyman (Steve Martin? Someone younger?) is minding his business, reading the morning paper in his hotel lobby. Samuel the waiter (Jim Carey? Mike Myers? Someone who can act?) is having a slow day in the restaurant, and suggests Everyman try some breakfast, focusing on one particular item. Everyman leaves, but is followed by Samuel, still suggesting breakfast.

The movie turns into a chase, as Everyman is pursued through house, hiding place, and countryside, with farm animals getting involved as well. First they're in an automobile, but soon, they're on a locomotive.

The "big scene" involves a huge collision between the locomotive and a ship. All along, Samuel is advocating breakfast and Everyman is declining it.

While floating and facing certain death, Everyman breaks down and tries some of Samuel's breakfast. To his great surprise, he loves it. The whole chase was an unnecessary waste.

Miraculously (and strengthened by breakfast), they reach shore. Everyman's joy is now complete.

---

In case you couldn't figure it out, this would be a live action version of "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss. I think it can be made into a cool movie. Or at least it can't be any worse than "The Cat in the Hat". Surprisingly, IMDB doesn't have a movie version of this story. The closest is "Green Eggs and Hamlet".

Hey, it could work.

House Hunting

Opening Music: Late in the Evening by Simon & Garfunkel

Last year, I said that this year, I might "think about thinking about" moving to a larger house. So, sure enough, this year I'm thinking about thinking about it. To me, this means that I am just trying to gather information, and I may or may not make a decision sometime soon. Or, I might decide to stay where I am for another year.

In my research, I've found one local new home builder that specialises in making large homes for not much money. I understand that if you buy the biggest house for the least amount of money, there will be other hidden costs. But, believe me, we'll be wanting as much space as we can get. A lot of new homes have these fancy cathedral ceilings in downstairs rooms. On the one hand, it looks nice, but on the other, I can't help but think, "What a waste of space!".

Anyway, today we went to our third model home for this builder. Maybe a month ago, I biked to one not far from here and talked to the lady there. I told her that I wasn't interested in a house, but I like to know what's going on with new homes in the area, since people tend to ask me sometimes. About a week or two later, T and I drove out to a model of one of their largest homes and checked it out. I also told the salesman that we were in no hurry to make a decision.

Today, we took the whole family for a ride through an April blizzard to see another model of the design that we think we like the best. There, I guess I wasn't vocal enough about the fact that I was in no hurry (or maybe it was because of the snow that he had no other customers) but it reminded me of the one and only time I went to a new car dealer. The guy seemed to want me to make a decision right away. I guess it must work on the average customer, or salescritters wouldn't do it, but I can't stand high-pressure sales jobs: I freeze and end up not making a decision for a long time.

So, right now, I'm thinking that our current house is really nice, and there are strong financial reasons to stay where we are. Why take on additional debt?

I'd post an image, but I'm on the laptop now, I don't have the right software installed, and I'd have to find the USB port. Sorry...

Closing Music:Distant Early Warning by Rush