Polytools (2) Jan 21, 2009
Whenever I'm performing simple repetitive physical tasks, such as shoveling snow off my driveway or mowing nice even lines into my lawn, I think about how much time I could be saving if, instead of making ten passes with a 21-inch wide lawn mower, I could make a single pass with one giant 210-inch (17.5-foot) lawnmower.  A 17.5-foot lawnmower would obviously be a bit too heavy (and expensive) for my purposes, but a 10-foot wide snow shovel is easily within reach, and would be especially useful for those little two-inch dustings that seem to have been happening recently. #products
Rational thought Jan 21, 2009
I was driving on the illustrious Route 80 with Wendy the other day, going off on one of my typical rants about how people are stupid because they insist on driving in the right lane during rush hour and get annoyed when people try to merge into their lane from the on-ramp, meanwhile ignoring the three other perfectly good (though equally crowded) lanes to drive in, when Wendy simply noted, "Not everyone thinks rationally." 

I laughed.  Not think rationally.  That's funny. 

And then I thought rationally about what she said.  And I realized she's right. 

And I laughed again, not because I think all thoughts are rational, but because I never thought of the idea that some people's minds don't think rationally by default.  To me, the term "rational thought" is synonymous with "thought".  This is why I don't think much about thinking rationally.  It just happens.  I don't say this to brag.  I say this like a person might say they have a limp from a hip injury.  It's there, the end.  For me to differentiate between a rational thought and an irrational thought, I would have to say, "The statement that is about to exit my mouth is an irrational thought." 

Not all thoughts start out rationally.  Feelings and emotions don't usually follow reason or logic, and thoughts are often the nonverbal expression of these irrational ephemera (cool word, eh?).  But that's why we don't just spew our thoughts out into the wild without passing them through a filter.  And it's also why we don't act based on impulses and instincts (most times, anyway).  To do something without thinking rationally is kind of scary, when you think about it rationally. 

In the end, this experience left me feeling like an alien visiting a foreign planet, with Wendy as my interpreter. #psychology
Snow thoughts Jan 21, 2009
It's January in the northeast US, which means snow.  Not a ridiculous amount of snow, but enough to make you want to visit the Middle East during their warm months.  I have a few thoughts on this winter weather phenomenon: 
  • If I had a choice between cold or snow, I would choose snow any day.  Last week the thermometer on my car said "3".  That's beyond cold.  People die in those kinds of temperatures.  A day later, it was 25 and snowing, and I was thoroughly thankful.  Even though it's still a little uncomfortable if you're not dressed properly, at least it looks good and gives you an excuse to sit around and play video games and eat chocolate.
  • People who don't live in areas where it snows regularly might not know that there are different types of snow.  Depending on the temperature (and likely the crystal structure), snow is usually either heavy and wet or light and fluffy.  Wet, heavy snow pretty much sucks.  Since it usually occurs right around 32 degrees, it's often mixed with freezing rain and/or ice.  It's hard to shovel and it tends to stick to certain surfaces like snow shovels and the bottoms of snowboards.  Light, fluffy snow, on the other hand, is a dream come true.  Unfortunately, it usually occurs when it's really cold outside, but it's nice and light and easy to clean up.
  • People are lazy, and it's often hard for them to think of anyone other than themselves.  This is why people don't properly remove the snow from their cars.  Unless you have a tall vehicle like a minivan or a truck, you have no excuse for not being able to clean the snow off the roof of your car.  I don't care if you're short.  Go to Walmart, spend $7, and get one of those telescoping snow removers/ice scrapers.  Because otherwise, as you drive, all the snow from your roof flies onto the windshield of the car in back of you, making the roads more dangerous and killing puppies (this fact was not independently verified).
  • It snowed about 1.5-2 inches the other day, and it was the powdery light kind, which made it ridiculously easy to clean up.  To be clear, 1.5-2 inches of snow isn't much at all.  It's hardly even worth mentioning, except for two things I saw as I drove out of my neighborhood:  One guy was using a snow blower to blow those 2 inches of powdery snow, and another guy was using a plow attached to his pickup truck to clear his driveway, which included him backing out into the street and causing backups.  I wanted to stop my car, roll down my window, and say, "Are you kidding?"
  • Weather reports concerning snow are always wrong.  Not wrong as in "it snowed 5 inches when it said there would be 6," but wrong as in "it snowed 1 inch when it said there would be 2 feet," or "it snowed 2 feet when they said it would surely never snow again, even going so far as to assure us that the sun would beat down so hot upon the surface of the earth that it would melt the continent of Antarctica and cause a worldwide deluge."  People are always crying about holding the media accountable for what they say.  What about all these lying sons-a-weather-reporters?  Buncha jerks.
#nature