Friday, December 29, 2006

Mug Shot



I bought myself this mug today. I realise that it's not an entirely new concept, but I think it's a fantastic idea! Mind you I have a bit of a weakness for novelty mugs. It comes with a couple of sticks of chalk to write on the mug with and you can even write on the underneath. The downside is that you get covered in chalk when you use it, but let's not be picky.

I'm tempted to take this mug with me everwhere I go and use it to reflect my feelings. That would definitely work for someone who works in an office I think; you wouldn't have to talk to anyone if you were in a bad mood, you could just write "GO AWAY" on your mug and leave it on your desk. Or you could hand someone a cuppa and hope that they don't realise that you've written "I smell" on the other side... the possiblities are endless.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Tagged with a Meme

Meme (rhymes with gene) - A term coined in 1976 by British Biologist Richard Dawkins. To imitate or to copy. A cultural item that is transmitted by repetition; memes are the cultural counterpart of genes. Examples are tunes, ideas, catch phrases, clothes fashions etc.

I thought my lungs would explode. My heart was pounding. I had stopped running for a moment to catch my breath. My legs were weak. As I hid, a smile broke across my face accompanied by an involuntary giggle; the thrill of the chase, and the satisfaction of outrunning the one who was “it”. I felt like a child again. My childhood memories of running across the playground came flooding back. “Tag!” I heard someone shout, suddenly waking me from my daydream. I looked over my shoulder. It was too late. She’d tagged me and ran away… I had no choice but to play the game...

A - Available/Single? No, I’m married.
B - Best Friend? Mr Man.
C - Cake or Pie? Both. I don’t mean either, I mean both.
D - Drink of Choice? Hot drink: Barley Cup, Cold drink: Diet Pepsi, Alcoholic drink: Malibu. Or Archers. Or a cocktail. Or Baileys… (just kidding, I hardly ever drink alcohol)
E – Essential Item You Use Everyday? My mobile phone – it also contains my address book and diary. Choosing a mobile phone is as serious to me as choosing a marriage partner. Edit: Bog roll - and I take that as seriously as choosing a marriage partner as well - you have to when you use as much as I do.
F - Favourite Colour? Chocolate brown. No, olive green. No, chocolate brown…
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Worms are cuter but I wouldn’t eat them.



H - Hometown? I was born in Luton. Edit: Home of the worst one-way traffic system. Did you know that even the schools in Luton have one-way systems in their corridors?
I – Indulgence? Too many. Thornton’s continental chocolates. Expensive toiletries to pamper myself with. Eating/drinking out – cafes in the day time, restaurants in the evening.
J - January Or February? Can I let you know in March? Edit: Whichever one has the most snow.
K - Kids & Their Names? None of my own but I have 15 nieces and nephews with yet another on the way. Some of their names include Hyacinth and Freda. Parents can be so cruel.
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? Love. Edit: and laughter.
M - Marriage date? 27th October 1997.
N - Number Of Siblings? Four brothers and two sisters.
O - Oranges Or Apples? Apples.
P - Phobias/Fears? Spiders, and small toilets (because they’re usually home to spiders and there would be no room to escape!) We have lived in this house for 9 years and I have never set foot inside our small outside toilet.
Q - Favourite Quote? I quote things constantly, from adverts, songs, films… so how long have you got? Edit: "I've never seen anything like it in my life!" - Funky Monkey's Mother.
R - Reason to Smile? I love and I’m loved.
S - Season? I like all four for different reasons, but I don't like the change between each one.
T - Tag People? Mr Grumpy, Aiders, Angela and TP. If I thought they would play the game (or notice that I have tagged them) I would also like to tag Tom Reynolds (and it would also give him something to do while he's off work with a bad knee!), John Robertson, Mark Myers, and OSB. I think their answers would be funny.
U - Unknown Fact About Me? If I tell you it won’t be unknown will it? Edit: Besides, I can't think of one (or I can't think of one that's interesting). Another Edit (April): I've finally thought of one! I like to have the last bowl of cereal out of the box because I think the crumbs make it taste better.
V - Vegetable You Don’t Like? Asparagus.
W - Worst Habit? Why would I want to tell you that? Edit: I have too many bad habits anyway, including changing my mind all the time, so I couldn't possibly choose a worst one!
X - X-rays You’ve Had? My jaw. I think the conclusion was I just talk too much.
Y - Your Favourite Food? This changes daily. At the moment I'm craving a roast dinner because my oven doesn't work and I haven't had one in ages.
Z – Zodiac Sign? Not into that kind of thing.



Photo's from Google Images

Edit: 14th Jan 2007 - I wanted to change my answers already - See Worst Habit!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Model Specification - Human v 1.1

When you don’t feel well bathing is such a chore. Humans should be designed more like self cleaning ovens – you only have to wipe the bottom occasionally and the rest stays clean.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Today's Top Tip

Learn from your mistakes and don't make the same mistake twice.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Experiment


I'm sending this via my new phone. I have no idea how much text I can add to this entry; this is all very new to me. I have to say I am stunned at the level of technology these days. Last time I bought a mobile phone I had to buy a brick sized PDA phone to be able to have the kind of features I wanted. Now I have a cute slimline girly phone in pink with more features than my brain could ever imagine! I may be posting more photo's in future and possibly blog on the go!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Today's Top Tip

Don't buy three boxes of chocolates just because they're on an amazingly special offer, when all you really fancy is a Twix.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Death Wail over Whale Death

I’ve just read about a 43foot dead whale that has washed up on a beach, and the options that supposed “experts” are considering to dispose of the body.

Believe it or not, one option that is being considered, according to the article, is to bury it on the beach. I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy sitting on a grave site to eat my picnic.

Another option, which thankfully has been ruled out, is to use explosives to destroy the body. I can’t even believe that this option was even given serious consideration.

What has happened to common sense these days? Just tow the blinkin’ thing back out to sea and let nature take its course. You'd think a whale had never died before. What the hell do they think normally happens when a whale dies?

Friday, December 08, 2006

Today's Top Tip

If you put food into your mouth that is too hot it's better to spit it out again than to swallow it quickly and burn your throat.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Soap Box

From olden times when a speaker would literally stand on a soap box to gain height, before making an impromptu speech, often about politics. Used metaphorically to describe a person airing their strong views unofficially and often uninvited, as in: “He’s on his soapbox again”

I was really annoyed last night after reading this post where Angela, a student paediatric nurse, tells us that in her essays her own opinion is viewed as worthless unless she can backup what she says with references to other peoples work.

As I said in the comments section of that post, since when can a student or “ordinary” person not come up with a groundbreaking idea of their own? And I list just three examples:

  1. John Nash – who was a student when he came up with his equilibrium theory, which won him the Nobel Prize in economics 44 years later.
  2. Patch Adams - who was a student when he envisioned a free hospital which treated patients with love and laughter. He realised this dream for 12 years until the hospital was forced to close due to lack of funding, but he now takes his unique form of medicine around the world to orphans and refugees.
  3. Augusto Odone - who had no previous medical background and yet educated himself on his sons condition, Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), and came up with a pioneering preventative treatment for the disease.

Clearly people don’t have to be highly educated professors who have spent their whole lives studying one particular area, before making a groundbreaking discovery of some kind. All scientific discoveries have to be based on a theory first, which by its very nature is unproven and has no “evidence based practice” to refer to.

I couldn't understand why the views of Angela’s markers had annoyed me so much, but as Mr Man put it "It stifles creative thinking". People should be allowed to develop and become more than what they are in various ways. Intelligence cannot be measured by how much of someone else’s work a person can quote, but by how much they can reason and discover themselves.


Mr Mans Wife steps down from her soap box.