The Mystery of the Packrabbit

I accidentally invented a new creature today.  It's called a Packrabbit.  Here's what happened.  I was in the lunch room at work today waiting for my food to cook in the microwave.  We have a very small lunch room and there were a lot of people in there today.  It was getting difficult to maneuver around everyone else and shuffle through whose turn it was in the microwave.  One of my coworkers said something to me that I didn't quite understand.  I was very confused and was trying to figure it out in my head before I just asked her to repeat it.  It turns out she said, "We need more microwaves."  That made a lot more sense than what I heard which was, "We need more packrabbits."  I told the rest of the lunch room about this misunderstanding and it started a hilarious conversation about the mysterious packrabbit.  Ironically, someone else heard the same thing so I'm not totally crazy.  But we decided that the Packrabbit should be our new mascot at work.  That got us talking about what a packrabbit might look like.

Here's what I think.  A packrabbit is a smaller looking rabbit, with ears that don't stick straight up but slant towards his rear.  He has to be able to get in and out of tight places after all.  And he wears a tiny little backpack to hold all his stuff.  Or maybe a fanny pack.  Packrabbits are cool enough to pull off the fanny pack.  I thought about giving him a pouch like a kangaroo, but that felt too much like a kangaroo.  He would be light brown in color and always look like he's smiling.  He might even be wearing sunglasses, but that may be a stretch.  And instead of a puffy tail, packrabbits have a thin tail, but it's still short.  And they have a distinct reddish brown patch of fur on their chest.  Packrabbits need some sort of distinguishable characteristic, other than the backpack or fanny pack of course.  So those are my thoughts on the packrabbit and what it might look like.  What do you think?  Maybe I can actually design a picture one day.

Until then, we'll never really know, and that is the real mystery of the Packrabbit.

What's the Difference between Nervousness and Excitement?

I'm about to embark on a new adventure in my life.  Tomorrow I begin teaching my first college class.  I'm really excited to be taking this step, but I'm also nervous as hell.  I'm realizing tonight that I'm having a hard time distinguishing the line between my nerves and my excitement.  Have any of you been in a similar situation?  I mean I'm excited to have this opportunity, especially since it is something I can cross off my life list, but I'm nervous that I'm not cut out for it.  But maybe part of the excitement comes from facing my fear and being able to overcome it.  And I should state that I'm not really afraid of the teaching part, but this is a college class and there's a lot more at stake than there ever was when I taught middle school.  On the other hand, maybe my nerves come from the fact that I'm so excited about this new opportunity that I just want to make sure I make the most of it.  I don't know.  I can't tell.  What I do know is that tomorrow is the beginning of a 16 week adventure in which I'll be fulfilling one of my dreams.  And whether I'm feeling nerves or excitement, I have to fight through it and teach the class to the best of my ability and try to provide my students with a memorable experience that they will take with them long after the class has ended.  So wish me luck and stay tuned for my reflection post after the class ends.

Don't take lemons for granted

I've taken a trip to the grocery twice in the past week, once because I was out of food, and the second time because I forgot some necessities on the first trip.  But one item remains on my list after both trips: a lemon.  For some reason Fry's doesn't have any lemons.  I find this shocking.  I just assumed lemons were always in stock.  But maybe it's not lemon season so there's no lemons.  Considering I had a lemon tree in my backyard when I was a kid you would think I would know when lemon season was.  But I have no idea.  So now I'm stuck wondering why Fry's has no lemons while still sitting at home without a lemon.

Where are all the lemons?!

The lack of lemons was not the most shocking revelation of the second trip to the grocery store, however.  When venturing down the pasta aisle I noticed that my favorite brand of pasta, Barilla, was on sale, so I thought I'd stock up.  I bought the usual, penne, mostaccioli, rotini, and then went to grab a box of linguini to have on hand when I want linguini and clams.  But there was no linguini.  And it wasn't just because they were out of stock.  They just didn't have any linguini!  Then I looked to see if there were other brands of linguini on sale.  But there was no linguini anywhere on the shelves!  I know there's no such thing as linguini season.  Stores should have it year round.  I can't even begin to express my shock that Fry's had none.  And of course while looking I really got the idea of linguini and clams in my head and kind of want it now.  So on a side note I've decided that the only thing I want for my birthday is linguini and clams.  If anybody is thinking of taking me out for my birthday now you know what I want.

So I hope this post teaches you not to take for granted those things that you might expect to always find at the grocery store.  In the meantime, if anyone can tell me where to get lemons or linguini I would appreciate it.

My Review of Sharknado

I finally had the pleasure of watching Sharknado tonight, and it was everything I hoped it would be.  Going into it I knew it was going to be really cheesy and poorly made.  But the idea of a tornado full of sharks was just too funny to pass up.  And the movie delivers from beginning to end.  The dialogue is corny, full of bad puns and references to other shark and tornado movies, and completely juvenile.  But this is movie about a sharknado, so it fits.  The plot makes no sense whatsoever and the timeline of events in the movie doesn't seem plausible at all.  But, again, sharknado.  And finally, the main characters, a retired surfing legend and his family, a barmaid, and an Australian guy, are somehow blessed with superhero qualities and the only ones in all of LA worthy enough to fight the storm and the sharks.  The entire time I was watching I couldn't help but think to myself, "who thinks this stuff up?!"  But I didn't want to turn it off either.  There were some moments that were just so laughable, like the final scene, that you couldn't help but love it.  This was not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a fun way to kill a couple hours.  The premise is so ridiculous that it actually makes it enjoyable.  If you're looking for a good laugh and you can take things with a grain of salt, then I highly recommend Sharknado.  It was as entertaining a made-for-TV movie as I've ever seen.

Halfway There!

Last night's post was my 50th of the year, which is halfway to my goal of 100 for the year.  Technically I should have hit this mark about a month and a half ago to be on pace, but it's still a milestone.  To celebrate I'm going to write a post full of completely random thoughts, starting with a haiku.

I am halfway there
I need to pick up the pace
Gotta finish strong!

The other day I saw a sign for a lost tortoise.  I thought it was odd.  I mean, who loses a tortoise?!  And how does one lose a tortoise?  How far away could it really get?  Were they gone for a month giving it a big enough head start?  And even if they were it's not like the tortoise is hopping the fence.  So where was it that it got out?  Way too many unanswered questions resulting from one random sign.

Don't you hate when you're in between belt holes?  You know, when it's too tight to use one hole, but too loose on the next one?  I always opt for the looser one because I'd rather be comfortable, but it's still awkward.

It was raining lightly on my drive home tonight and my iPod decided to randomly play two rain related songs on the way home.  First, it gave me a little "November Rain" by Guns 'n Roses and then "The Rain" by Oran 'Juice' Jones.  Sometimes I think my iPod likes to mess with me.

Random haikus rule
Like kangaroos on ice skates
I like gummi bears

Well, I hope you liked my random halfway there post.  I've got four and a half months to write another fifty, so let the fun begin!

My Fascination with the Mob

Last week was Mob Week on AMC.  They were showing mob movies all week long.  And I got sucked right in.  Now, I've seen the Godfather at least a dozen times, but I found myself absolutely engulfed in the story once again.  It's amazing how quickly nine hours goes by when you're watching something so entertaining.  It's hard to believe that the Corleone family is fictional.  They seem so real and all I wanted to do was learn more about them.  So I took to the Internet.  I searched for a Corleone family tree, looked up back stories on characters like Clemenza.  There's even a Godfather wiki.  And all this information took me to real life mob stories that influenced characters and events from the movie.  Or should I say book.  That's right, I remembered that The Godfather was adapted from a book, a book I've never read.  So I added that to my Amazon wish list.  All I wanted to do was keep watching and keep reading and keep learning about all these people who were so fascinating and enthralling.

So that was my Saturday.  And then Sunday night rolled around and right before I was about to go to bed I saw a show titled Inside the American Mob: John Gotti.  Sucked in again.  I grew up seeing John Gotti all over TV.  The Teflon Don.  He was bigger than big.  And even though I had heard all these stories before, I was fascinated all over again.  And of course what I saw on the show led to more questions.  So back to the Internet I went, first looking at Gotti's biography and then info on the Gambino crime family to a history of the Five Families to bios of Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano.  Suddenly it was almost midnight and my plan for an early night was up in smoke.  Even today I keep thinking about the questions I didn't get around to answering last night.  If I had Netflix my queue would be full of mob movies and documentaries.

So why am I completely fascinated by the mob?  Some may say it's because I'm Italian and my family lives in Jersey.  But I just think that the people involved and the stories they create are riveting.  I can't really explain it, but I will continue to watch and read.

How long could you go...?

I've had multiple stretches this week where I've gone hours without talking, not even to myself.  That got me thinking how long I could go without talking.  Considering my job involves talking to people on a daily basis, I realistically couldn't go very long.  But what if I had a job that didn't involve talking?  Or what if I worked from home?  Could I go days or weeks or even months?  I think at some point I would go a little crazy and need some sort of human conversation.  The other thing I would worry about is forgetting what my voice sounds like.  I know that sounds silly, but if you don't hear it for awhile it might sound funny coming out of nowhere.  Who knows, though.

This line of thinking started me down a whole series of how long could you go thoughts.  For instance, how long could you go making nothing but right turns?  One day?  One week?  One year?!  Or how long could you go only eating the same thing?  What about listening to the same song?  It's an interesting thought.  A little something to make life a little more interesting, maybe break a rut you might be in.  I know that probably makes no sense to try to break a rut by doing the same thing over and over again.  But it would be a fun experiment.

So what do you guys think?  How long do you think you could go doing some of these things?  What other scenarios could you propose for this question?

My Favorite Sound

Everyday we are treated to sounds that make our lives more interesting.  Some sounds are more pleasing than others.  But how many of you go so far as to actually think about those sounds that make your life more pleasing?  I think about it just about everyday.

Growing up, I was able to hear the sounds of the trains passing through town from my house.  I always kind of took it for granted, but I liked hearing them at night.  It was soothing.  Then I moved to Tucson and I wasn't able to hear the trains from anywhere I lived.  Until I bought my house.  I live about two miles from the train tracks and I hear them all the time.  I love it!  It's still soothing and it reminds me of my childhood.  There's something just relaxing about the sound of a train whistle and the wheels going over the tracks.  But it wasn't until recently that I was consciously aware of how this sound made me feel.

I have done lots of activities over the years asking what my favorite sounds are, and I've always answered the sounds of vendors at a baseball game.  I do still love that sound, and pretty much every sound at a baseball game.  But for some reason, it doesn't compare to trains.  When I'm having trouble falling asleep the sound of a passing train is usually all it takes to relax me enough so I can fall asleep.  If I'm having a bad day, hearing the trains helps me refocus.  So that's why I think about my favorite sound everyday.  Because I love hearing it everyday.

What are some of your favorite sounds?  Have you ever thought about it?  Maybe we should all be more aware of the sounds we hear and how they affect our lives.  Feel free to share in the comments.

If you could only watch one TV show for the rest of your life...

A couple months ago I posed a question to my coworkers.  I asked if they were only able to watch one TV show for the rest of their life, what would it be?  I got a variety of answers.  When thinking about it myself I immediately narrowed it down to two shows: The A-Team and Mythbusters.  The more I think about it, though, the more I think the choice is clear, which is why I chose to write about it now.

I love The A-Team.  I think it's one of the greatest shows ever made and I regularly watch old episodes on DVD.  I love the chemistry between the characters and the creative plot lines.  And no matter how ridiculous the plots may seem, I never have a problem believing what's happening.  That's the sign of a good show.  But there was only five seasons, the last of which, honestly, wasn't very good.

So that brings us to Mythbusters.  The show just entered its tenth season, which means there are a ton of episodes.  And every episode is intellectually stimulating and educational.  When you watch an episode of Mythbusters you learn something.  But it's not just school learning, it's learning about things that people talk about in life, myths that we all have preconceived notions about.  The bull in a china shop episode was one of my favorites because I assumed the bull would go wild and wreck the shop, but they were very nimble in avoiding the shelves.  Totally surprising.  That's one of the reasons I love this show.  Plus, it doesn't matter how many times I may have seen a particular episode, if it's on I will watch it because it is still engaging.  And with ten seasons of episodes chances are it has been awhile since I've seen any particular episode.  For those reasons, I would choose to watch Mythbusters for the rest of your life if I could only watch one TV show.

What are your thoughts?  Do you agree or disagree with my choice?  What show would you choose to watch?  Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

My Love Monologue

As I was driving into work today the song "What the World Needs Now is Love" started playing.  It got me thinking how true that message is and suddenly I was forming this monologue in my head using song titles with the word 'love' in the title.  So when I got to work I challenged myself to really write one and I set a goal of using 50 songs in the whole piece.  While there is no shortage of 'love' songs, it was still tough to make it flow and carry meaning.  But I actually really like the final product.  I hope you do too!  Try to see how many of the songs you recognize!

What the world needs now is love, sweet love.  Seriously, where is the love?  Love is all you need.  Love will keep us together.  Love is a many splendored thing.  But what is love?  I want to know what love is.  Is this love?  Can I find love in an elevator?  I hear love is like an itching in my heart.  Or is love like a heat wave?  Will I ever find the love of a lifetime?  Love takes time.  You can’t buy me love.  Everybody loves somebody sometime.  But love is a battlefield.  You can’t hurry love.  So what is this crazy little thing called love?  Show me love.  Do I need a love potion #9?  Or will you jump for my love?  Love is a long road.  But we all need a little unconditional love.  Some may say love is blind.  Or love bites.  But I know what love can do.  Love brings change.  So can you feel the love tonight?  If not, spread your love.  Everybody wants to be loved.  You don’t need a love shack.  That’s the power of love.  Love spreads.  So share the love.  Because sharing is the greatest love of all.  We need to drop a love bomb.  That way everyone can have a vision of love.  Let’s have a love party.  Love and happiness is all we need.  We can have a love revolution.  Love will save the day.  We could all use a few more lovely daze.  So stop in the name of love and start making the world a better place.  Without love there is nothing.  So let’s fill the world with endless love.  Let’s let love rule.  It’s time to stand up for love.  It’s time to believe in love.  And put a little love in your heart.  And if you ever get discouraged, just remember, I will always love you. 

My Bonehead Move of the Day

Most people are probably embarrassed when they make mistakes in public and likely don't want to broadcast them to the world.  But not me.  I figure if you can't own up to your screw ups and laugh about them, then what's the point.  And how are you supposed to laugh about them if you keep them a secret?  So I'm here today to share one of mine.

I decided to go to Costco tonight because I haven't been in quite a few months, and as luck would have it I just received a Costco coupon book in the mail last week.  So I perused the book to see if there was anything in there I could use.  Sure enough there was a coupon for laundry detergent, and I would likely need to buy detergent before my next trip to Costco.  Off I went, coupon book in hand, completed my shopping, and went to check out.  I then proceeded to hand the coupon to the cashier and collect my discount only to be told that the coupons are not valid until August 8.  And sure enough, it says so right on the front of the book.

Boy did I feel like an idiot.  I actually did see the dates, but in my head I thought it said 8/1/13-9/8/13.  So when the cashier informed me of my mistake it took me a while to comprehend.  And then I had to decide if I really wanted the detergent without the discount.  This was a lot to think about in just a few seconds.  But as embarrassed as I was, all I can really do is laugh about it.  And keep the coupon book for the next month so I can actually use it.

I hope my brief little story has inspired you to share some of your bonehead moves when they happen as well.

Sometimes I amaze even myself

Do you ever have those moments where you do something and you're just so proud of yourself for doing it, no matter how small it might be, that you just have to tell everyone about it?  Well I had one of those moments last night.  Let me preface this story by saying I'm not the most handy person on the planet.

So I went to turn on my garbage disposal last night and nothing happened.  All I got was a low humming.  I may not know much about garbage disposals, but I know that's not good.  I tried to look inside to see if I could find what might be causing the issue, but I saw nothing.  Then I looked under the sink.  I had no idea what I expected to find under the sink, and even if I did know I don't know what I would have done with it.  But I looked anyway and came up with nothing.  Discouraged, I figured I better call my warranty company and try to get a service appointment set up for someone to come fix it.  Since it is the weekend, though, nobody would be calling me back to set up the appointment until Monday, and who knows when they would actually be able to come.  So I took to the Internet to try to find a solution between now and then.  Every solution on the Internet had to do with broom handles and allen wrenches.  Well I found the allen wrench slot underneath the disposal just like the Internet told me, but I didn't have a wrench that would fit.  Then I remembered that there was an allen wrench in a random drawer under the sink that I had no idea what it was for.  Until now!  It was a perfect fit, just like Cinderella's glass slipper.  So I started turning until it was moving freely.  And then I tried the switch.  Church choirs could be heard singing as it worked like a charm.  I did it!  I, Adam Davi, fixed my garbage disposal all by myself.  This may not sound like a big deal to you, but it is to me.

This small victory comes on the heels of another minor home fix I accomplished a few months ago when I unclogged my shower drain by myself, with the assistance of a wire hanger.  While these might seem like two insignificant events in the life of a homeowner, they are a big deal to me.  Like I said before, I not the most handy person so I take victories wherever I can get them.

And on another small victories that amaze myself front, I recently crafted a stuffed woolly mammoth out of puff balls, duct tape, and pipe cleaners.  My arts and crafts skills are about as strong as my handyman skills, so being able to make something like that was quite an accomplishment.  Again, I was very proud of myself and have been bragging to everybody.

Most people don't seem to understand why I'm bragging about any of these things, but to me they are significant and I am proud of myself.  Just because they are not life altering doesn't mean they don't carry significance.  We should all be applauding each other when we accomplish something we didn't think we could, no matter how big or small the accomplishment may be.  So to all of you who have done something that amazes yourself, I applaud you and I'm proud of you!