Hammers and me don’t get along.

That is all.

Nate and I were chatting the other day about which superpowers we would want. Both of us would want to fly, be invisible and have super strength. We differed in that he wants X-Ray vision and I want to be able to walk through walls.

So what super power do you wish you had?

I was listening to NPR’s Performance Today while on the way to the bank yesterday. Most of the show was dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, on his 200th birthday. They had Rob Kapilow on who asked, “What makes him great?”.

He went into great detail explaining what makes Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4 such a great piece.

Click here to listen to this wonderful interview.

I learned a bunch about music from just listening to the interview. I realized that I miss a bunch when I listen to classical music. I guess its just easier to enjoy the music, but often times there is a ton of stuff going on in the background.

Take the time and listen to the interview. Of course I had to buy some Chopin, including this delightful piece:

This blog continues its international conquest!!!

Fear me!

It seems the Turks have a fondness for debating the merits of Concrete Roads vs Asphalt Roads, noble people the Turks. Visitor 301,711 to my humble blog entered in through a link from this Turkish forum

Anyway, they keep linking to the definitive blog post on the matter…mine…found here.

I re-read it today.

Thing of beauty.

The best part was the Marshmallow Creme vs Vanilla Creme epic battle which erupted in the comments.

I do believe that the issue was settled once and for all once Peep Cthulhu showed up on the scene.

PS: Word tried to change the spelling of Cthulhu to Thulium. Interesting stuff that Thulium.

That Mr. Bingley brings down the neighborhood….again…..

Behold!

Police told a Rahway, New Jersey family to cover their nude snow woman after an anonymous complaint.

Time for some local politics here at WunderKraut.com.

A local County sent out an RFP for engineering services at the request of one of the cities in the County. The scope was to do detailed engineering studies to change the FEMA flood maps. There are a total of 88 houses affected by the new maps, 60 of which are in the City.

So the County sent out RFP’s. Our firm submitted on it, but came in 2nd in the evaluation. It happens. You win some, you lose some.

The rubber hit the road the other night when the question of how to fund the $74,400 project came up. The County scraped together half of the funds and then went to the City to get the other half.

Well, the City said nope, not going to happen.

What cracks me up is the City pulled the “We are all part of the County” card:

Leesburg Mayor Jim Quinn, who told the Council Tuesday “some of the houses (affected) are in Leesburg, but all of them are in Lee County,” said Wednesday the Council’s action was not meant as a swipe at the county.

It’s funny that when it’s time to divvy up Sales Tax funds, the cities are all about getting their fair share since they are their own thing and all. Then when the hat is passed for a project which overwhelmingly benefits the City, they want to pretend that they aren’t a city but just citizens of the County.

Bummer that they aren’t funding the project. Even though we didn’t get selected, it is a very needed and worthwhile project for the City and the County.

Hopefully, they will reconsider and come up with the funds.

Don’t drive where you can’t see the road

Yeah, so it’s been a week since I last posted…

Bad blogger, bad….

Rest assured I am losing sleep over it as I type….

Dianna goes to our church and she gave her testimony last month. I’ve seen hundreds of testimonies, but hers was different. She made a bunch of poster board sized signs chronicling her life. When it came time for her to talk, she didn’t talk, she played music and walked around holding each sign up, one by one. It was very powerful.

We usually record our church messages for our pod cast, but with her testimony, there wasn’t anything to record, so I took her signs and made this video. While I think it is still powerful and moving, nothing beats having seen this in person.

Dianna, you are amazing!

Merlin Olsen died today at the age of 69.

Olsen was an All-American at Utah State and a first-round draft pick of the Los Angles Rams in 1962.

The burley giant from northern Utah joined Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy and Rosey Grier on the Rams’ storied “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line known for either stopping or knocking backward whatever offenses it faced. The Rams set an NFL record for the fewest yards allowed during a 14-game season in 1968.

Olsen was rookie of the year for the Rams in 1962 and is still the Rams’ all-time leader in career tackles with 915. He was named to 14 consecutive Pro Bowls, a string that started his rookie year.

I was too young to watch him play football, but I was old enough to watch him on Little House on the Prairie. Man, I loved that show, though one has to wonder who sold their soul to the devil to have such disaster after disaster strike the little town of Walnut Grove.

He played the character of Jonathan Garvey, a gentle giant of a man and devoted husband and father. So many good memories watching Little House. Laugh all you want. I don’t care.

Anyway….

My brother-in-law, Jon, has this great idea. By great I mean it could/should NEVER be actually carried out, but it’s an interesting premise. His idea is to start the Charles Ingalls Ministry.

In Little House, whenever a man wasn’t taking care of his family, was drinking or causing trouble, Pa would take a few men, usually Mr. Garvey, and pay the man a visit. A few fits to the face or hickory whacks to the knee and/or back and the man would straighten up, stop drinking and become a devoted husband, father and church go-er. The episode would usually end with the church singing a hymn and the camera panning to the man, with his family, who had a come to Jesus moment with Charles Ingalls.

So the Charles Ingalls Ministry would take the same approach. He and I would show up and ask a few questions and urge the fellow to straighten up and fly right….if not, then a bit of Pa Ingalls would be in order.

Like I said, it’s fun to think about, but entirely flawed

Rest in peace Merlin, you will be missed.

Now get out there and do some math!

As is customary, here is the Pi Song

I am suffering from a stomach virus…this is now day 4….

No fun.

To the last, I grapple with thee; From Hell’s heart, I stab at thee; For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee

It’s ALIVE!!!!

I am back! Today I eat real food!

Mei turns 3 today!!!

Wow, time flies.

As WunderWife noted, no more babies at home. To be honest…yay!!!!! But that means no more babies till grandbabies. That’s ok. It’s fun watching them grow up.

Chapter 45 in my continuing saga to break my fear of heights – flying in a helicopter.

Last year I flew in one, but on the inside, see here.

This year, I chose to ride in the door gunner position on the side of the helicopter. Nothing between me and jumping but the flimsy government issued lap restraint.

The fun part was when the pilot banked hard to the left, our side….

When that happened, we were literally looking straight down. This is some video of the first time that happened. Good times.

The majority of the yelling is from the basic training recruit sitting next to me. He was like a kid in a candy store.

Today is Charlie’s 8th birthday!

How is it possible?

I love you buddy!

So, did I miss anything around here this week?

Sorry for being gone. I had a work conference to go to this week.

Me and my best friend, Jon, chatting about life.

It’s good to have buddies.