So the other night I go into the garage, where we keep a small pantry of food, including some Top Ramen. Our garage is quite cold, just above freezing. Of course, it's cold because it's -16 f. outside. So anyhow, I reach to get a few packages of ramen to bring up and replenish our kitchen. I pick up a package and notice it has a ragged hole in it, about the size of a quarter. The entire package is empty, other than the foil package of flavoring which is still in it.

"Hm. That's odd." I figure it was a factory defect or something. I grab the package behind it, and the package has a big ol' rip in it, and it looks like a hungry person bit out a quarter of it, it even had that rounded look as if a big mouth went "chomp" on it. I see a few grains of what looks like black rice, and realize, that ain't rice! We have a mouse in the garage, and it's eating our Top Ramen!

I go to Ace Hardware and spend a whopping $1.99 to acquire a two-pack of classic Victor snap traps, put a tempting dab of peanut butter on the bait lever, set them up around the box of Top Ramen, and call it a night. In the morning, lo and behold, there is the mousy culprit. He was a fat one! Doubtless, that mouse was spending the winter eating ramen. I guess mice love ramen. Oh yeah, it was so cold in the garage the mouse was basically frozen, his little tail stuck out, stiff as a board. Oh well, he went into the trash can along with the two ramen packages.

That was yesterday. Today is Saturday. I pull the food off the shelves and search for clues. In the box next to the ramen, I find our deceased rodent's winter home. We had a box of plastic "Thank You" bags, and he was clearly housed in there. The box reeked of nasty mouse urine, and brown stains were running down the white stack of bags. There were bits of mouse poo throughout it. Well, the bags are in the recycle bin (well, we use a plastic bag for bags, a meta-bag if you will), and the box is in the recycle bin, too. Both mouse traps are now on a silent watch, waiting to catch any other unwanted winter rodent vacationers we may be lodging. But that last guy, he's eaten his last Top Ramen.

With this guy right here. Had one of these Conair hair dryers. I like it. Well, liked it. Lately it started acting up where it wouldn't come on unless I reset the GFI on the outlet in the bathroom. Well, today, whatever the problem was, it came to a head. While I was drying my hair, there was a big ol' flash and a loud pop from the cord near where it plugs into the outlet, and poof, that big dumb "Don't use while in the bathtub" tag caught fire!

I yelled out "Whoa, the hairdryer caught fire!" which of course got my wife's attention. Anyhow, I plucked it outta the wall socket and doused the tag. It left a black scorch mark on the wall, and the room had that nasty acrid melted plastic insulation smell for a while. Ugh. But yeah, go figure, it was that ridiculous warning tag that actually lit up and started burning. You know, this was the one time in that hairdryer's life when I did toss it under water. Unplugged, of course. So the only loss was the hairdryer itself. I'd buy another one just like it, but perhaps not exactly like it...

What's wrong with this picture?

They ask which Middle-Eastern country is highlighted, according to them, the answer is Israel. Well, I'm here to tell you, the area pictured might have been the answer prior to 1967, but it's 2011, and that sure ain't the answer. Regardless of your views on the nation of Israel, to declare otherwise is to deny the facts, which of course is something the Liberal Media does every minute of every day.

Yeah, this makes two Sundays recently where we have had a black bear in the neighborhood. This time, it was a good-sized blackie, dining on trash. This would have been a really great video if those folks happened to open their garage door.

While doing some online graduation lei shopping for our lovely daughter, I did a Google map search of the lei stands near the Honolulu International Airport, and decided to mouse around to good ol' Honolulu Community College where I used to attend, and to nearby Weyerhauser, over on Iwilei st.

Notice something missing from the photo? That big empty lot? Yep. I searched for "Weyerhauser Hawaii" and found this rather unfortunate headline from 2008: Weyerhaeuser will close box plant in Iwilei, dated March 14, 2008. Looks like 85 people ended up getting laid off and let go in order for Weyerhauser to cash in on the land's value, estimated at $14 million. I do hope Weyerhauser offered those people something besides a souvenir coffee cup for their years of dedicated service.

So today my wife was reading an obituary out of the newspaper, and the story mentioned the deceased's body was being donated to the Genesis Research Project. That got me thinking, and then got me googling. I came up with the GENESIS program.

According to this blurb, they only pick up from within the continental U.S. I sent 'em an e-mail to get clarification, as I'd be all in with it. They get your body, use it for about a year, then cremate it and send the remains on back if so desired, all for free. Sounds like a win to me. You can still be an organ donor, too.

Oh, I should mention, I have no plans on falling over dead anytime soon. No medical surprises, no suicidal contemplations. Just thought it was interesting to do something after death besides, well, lie there.

Philippians 1:21 "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

The last honest Factory Outlet store

On our recent trip to Seattle, we headed out of town a bit to what was it, the Seattle Outlet Center? Something like that. Anyhow, it was a girl's dream come true. Pretty much the polar opposite of the Museum of Flight, which any red-blooded male would like.

So anyhow, the whole "Factory Outlet" concept, is well, not only anachronistic, it's plain out false. Fabricated. Fake. Of all the non-food products I saw at that mall, I'd dare to say that not 2% of the goods there were made in any nearby factory. In fact, if you want my take on it, the only real "Factory Outlet" store you'll find anywhere would be in guangdong province, China.

This explains everything!

Today I started working on a nixie clock kit I picked up after Christmas. It took a few weeks for the kit to show up, but finally at last it did, coming all the way from the UK.

So I start in on the kit, attaching the various resistors, capacitors, and transistors to the circuit board. The high voltage portion of the kit is working, generating the needed 170 volts to drive those tubes. I continued on with the remainder of the kit, and even started adding in the first couple nixie tubes. Alas, though, I noticed this:

Augh! No nixie tube clock today! The tubes looked okay when I opened the kit, so I'm guessing I busted it up on my own. I ordered a replacement set of six IN-16 tubes, which set me back $30. Ouch. So, I guess once those spare tubes come in from Russia, I'll finish that clock up and enjoy.

p.s.: The original kit is from the UK, the replacement tubes are from Russia. IN-16 nixie tubes are originally from Russia, and they haven't been manufactured for decades. Truly rare old tubes.