Wow. A whole week went by without me putting anything here. I'm not even sure where the week went.

Tuesday and Wednesday were consumed with homework for my last class session. Thursday was my last class session (Woo Hoo!!). This weekend was mostly sleeping. I have a lot of lost sleep to catch up on. It feels weird not having any reading or a paper or anything that I should be working on. It was great to just sit in a chair and do nothing. Saturday, I puttered around the house a little. I couldn't really work on much because is was raining/sleeting/snowing all day. The worst of the snow must have missed us because a couple cars in the church parking lot on Sunday morning had several inches of snow on them. We didn't have snow that stuck to anything at our place.

Because I was stuck inside, I decided to start sealing up the doors and windows better. Some had fiberglass insulation packed around them, some partially, some not at all. I either packed the fiberglass tighter or removed some of it to make room for the foam. The "Great Stuff" brand now has a version for doors and windows that is lower expansion so it doesn't jam everything up when it expands. It worked pretty well, although the lower expansion rate means it takes a lot more to fill any given opening. Three cans barely did the three basement windows and the French door. That means that I need ten or more cans to do all the windows and doors. Plus, I need a lot of caulk. The logs have dried out creating some cracks in the butt joints in the middle of the walls. I also need to seal a lot of other places where pipes go through walls, etc. I ought to be busy for a while.

This story is funny, weird, and a little sad. These kinds of stories always seem to come out of Alaska.

This story has some disturbing implications. I wonder what other brands are indelibly etched on our brains? The part that disturbed me most:

At the same time the researchers found that the Coke label stimulated a huge increase in activity in parts of the brain associated with cultural knowledge, memory and self-image - so much that the scientists could use brain scans to predict which soft drink an individual was likely to prefer.

So much for free will...

And as oil prices continue to climb, the ideas in this article will become more important. I just wonder if we will bother to do anything before a crisis. Probably not.

On a lighter note:



You are Form 5, Dragon: The Weaver.

"And The Dragon separated the virtuous from the sinful. He tore his eyes from his sockets and used them to peer into the souls of those on trial to make a judgment. He knew that with endless knowledge came endless responsibility."

Some examples of the Dragon Form are Athena (Greek), St. Peter (Christian), and Surya (Indian). The Dragon is associated with the concept of intelligence, the number 5, and the element of wood. His sign is the crescent moon.

As a member of Form 5, you are an intelligent and wise individual. You weigh options by looking at how logical they are and you know that while there may not always be a right or wrong choice, there is always a logical one. People may say you are too indecisive, but it's only because you want to do what's right. Dragons are the best friends to have because they're willing to learn.

Which Mythological Form Are You?
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And that ought to be enough for now. I will sincerely try to update more often this week.