That Shiny Thing, or, Epic Serendipity

I went over to check on what the kids were doing on the computers. One of them had a strange-looking image on there, but she quickly scrolled past it. I asked her to scroll back. I looked closely. I shouted out, "I've GOT one of those! I've been trying to figure out what it was for TEN YEARS!"

And you people on the web were NO HELP AT ALL!

My brother gave me this shiny thing back in 1999 or so. He found it in the Lost Articles box at a restaurant (or bar?) he was working (or not!) at. I posted it back in 2007 on my picture page, with a plea to help identify it.

Nothing.

It took a child, a mere child, to make it happen!

Scroll down past the giant pic!

It turns out it is a sugar refractometer. It is for measuring the sugar content in beer, wine, and syrup. And the like. A link to how to use one.

Now, where did I hide the darn thing?

Of THIS, And Of THAT

I took three hours of vacation time today.

This is how I spent it:



What else has been going on?

Meh, I rode the bike to work today.

MILDLY AMUSING (AND SHORT!) TALES FROM WORK

Becca came in the other day to fax. She forgot the fax number she was calling, so she asked me to look it up on the interweb. I did so, then she found it on the paper she was sending. She said, "I am the big funny woman!" I said, "Becca, I think you are thinking in Spanish again!"


A rather short sixth-grader came up to me and announced how much he liked this school because of all the girls here. I said, "Oookaaaayy." He said, "Yah, my old school didn't have nuthin'!" The eighth-grade girls sitting nearby were quite amused.


A couple of retired teachers (subs) were sitting around the library discussing my notorious crankiness and other amusing anecdotes, at my expense. But one said that I am beloved.

I went to a workshop yesterday and was treated to a video of how not to act as a library staffer. Oddly, it was pretty much me! I said, "But that's what I do, I do CRANKY! And, I am beloved!" The presenter said, "(insert my name here), you are a special case."

That's all I got.

This'n'That

Found this on my desk. Check the expiration date. SURELY this hasn't been sitting there since 1996! My desk was moved into this building in 2002, I think. You mean to say I haven't cleaned my desk in fourteen years?? It's possible!

Saw this gigantic electrical receptacle on a little building attached to a community center. That's a receptacle for serious amperage/voltage/frequency! We used to work on these back on the air base. They plugged portable generators into them. What do they plug in HERE?

Just around the corner was this sign. What have they got in there?

At the grocery store today I saw a guy sitting on a chair in the bed of his rather large pickup truck, just a talkin' on his mobile phone. He was there the whole time I was shopping. I thought he was probably some kind of disturbed, but a cart guy was talking to him like he knew him.


Well, that's all I got, LATER!

Ode

Ran across this while inventorying

Excerpts from: Star-Spangled Ode, by Phyllis McGinley

My country, 'tis to thee and all thy way
I lift my harp in praise.
Land of tall forests, hills, lakes, seas and valleys
Of balmy climes and climates somewhat horrider;
Land of Vermont and Maine and also Florider;
...
For good or for ill, this is my chosen nation,
Home of Joe Louis and the D.A.R.,
Fairs, floods, the Federal Investigation,
And the used car;
...
Of rocking chairs on country porches rocking,
And the slim leg in the superlative stocking.
...
And we have Donald Duck and Pasasmaquoddy,
And more laws than anybody.

Get a copy of This Land Is Mine: An Anthology Of American Verse, edited by Al Hine (Lippincott, c1965), and read the whole thing. Plus a bunch of other nifty poems.