BamaBlog.com - August 1-7, 2003

Lil sent this one. (Click to enlarge picture after reading below). It was fun to try. I put my results in the comments. Lil writes:

If you can find the Man's Head within 3 seconds, your right brain is more developed than normal people.

If you can find the Man's Head within 1 minute, your right brain is developed normally.

If you can find the Man's Head within 1-3 minutes, your right brain is slow in reacting, you should eat more meat protein.

If you can find the Man's Head in 3 minutes or more, your right brain is a disaster... extremely slow in reacting, the only suggestion is please watch cartoons to help normally develop your right brain.

Yesterday, one hour it was raining, the next it was bright and sunny. Buoyed up by all the cloud photos on the 26 Items site, I stepped out in the backyard to try my luck with cloud photos just before sunset. It started raining a few minutes after I took these. The last one was a holdover carrot bloom from our garden.

According to the news today, J. Lo has broken up with Ben Affleck. It's too early to know if this is just some newspaper gossip or really true. As for Gigli stinking, that's a fact. I read one account where the actors had to come back and film a different ending due to test audiences hating it -- and that the Gigli character was originally gay. Ben and J. Lo with one of them being gay? Ack! This is no romance. I am glad I missed it.

Have movie producers so lost touch with average Americans that they can no longer tell what people like? Or was it just a poorly-written script, problems on the set or both? I've heard people surround themselves with "yes" men so much that they only hear what they want -- not the truth.

Speaking of "yes" people, I had a boss that used to say, "I do not want "yes" men. Tell it to me like it is," she said. Then, in actual practice, she showed that she really did want "yes" people. It just sounds good to make the claim - good P.R., I guess. Few people really mean it.

Cell phones outnumber land line phones - at least they do outside of the U.S. where land lines are harder to get than cell phones, according to a recent news report. But the number of people dumping land lines in favor of cell phones is increasing.

I can understand. It's so much easier to carry your phone around with you than to worry about missed calls or emergencies. You can always turn off the cell phone if you don't want to be disturbed. My cell phone provider offers an answering service and text messaging as well as e-mail and Internet connections. Does it get any better?

My sister said she would have dumped her land lines long ago except her home alarm system is tied into a land line. I see one other concern -- ordering with a credit card number is safer in a wired system, but then I have not done that in a long time, preferring to use a company website most of the time.

Just this morning, C.B. called and discussed dumping his land line for a cell phone, too. He hopes to keep his phone number if he goes with the same company for the cell that is doing his land line.

The only real reason I have not dumped my own land line yet is the alternate connection to the Internet when my cable goes down (as it does now and then), unlimited usage for local calls (that my daughter uses the most) and the fact that so many friends and relatives know my old phone number -- but if I could get that number on a cell line -- h-m-m-m-m.

As I was walking out the door at dawn, the weatherman said, "Send an umbrella with your children to school." I grabbed an umbrella as I left. I felt a little stupid since it did not look like rain at all the first thing this morning and my umbrella was big and bulky. The air was still and very, very humid as usual. We had no breeze. We even had a little sunlight between the clouds. E. N. made fun of me for carrying an umbrella and I felt even more ridiculous because there was no serious sign of rain.

Suddenly, we heard a strange rustling in the leaves. Maybe it was a breeze coming through at last. (In this high humidity, even the slightest breeze is a god-send.)

It was no breeze. Huge raindrops started falling, sudden and heavy. It took everyone by surprise. Of course, I simply opened my big bulky umbrella and grinned as others made a dash for the trees. Ah -- such a satisfying moment that was!

I thought my hair was getting a little too long and straggly. I have thin lifeless hair and it does hold curl well in this humidity and when its too long. I can't see getting a short haircut like my sister. Her short hair looks good on her, but I am not a "short hair" person, but I know my hair looks bad long so I stick with some "medium" length. I usually just cut it myself since I wear it either curled or gathered in a clip in the back. My hair is not in good enough shape for a perm.

This morning I grabbed my scissors and chopped both sides of my hair. Of course, it looked a little uneven and needed trimming in the back. Neither my daughter nor husband were around so I tried to trim it in the back. That was a mistake! Now, it is too short back there.

Well, I am curling it today. At least the unevenness will not show. While I hate putting on makeup and getting dressed up more than I have to, I have no problem rolling and setting my hair. It's no trouble to go online in curlers. Ha!

It is so short that it will be hard to pull back, though. I wish my hair were thick enough to make it worthwhile to go to a hairdresser. Like they always say, "It will grow back eventually."

Got this from Dorothy B. She checked it with an urban legends site and found it to be true:

"For those that have signed up on this "do not call list" - looks as though companies are already trying to find ways to get around it. This is to all of you that signed up for the "do not call" law. This week, I received a card in the mail that looked all right -- it said 'vote for your favorite cola, Pepsi or Coke, and receive a complementary 12 pack.' It didn't look suspicious, but for some reason I kept looking at it.

THEN I FOUND IT!! At the bottom of the card there is a VERY small statement. It is SO small it is hard to read--but here is what it says---- "By completing this form, you agree that sponsors and co-sponsors of this offer may telephone you, even if your number is found on a do not call registry or list."

This REALLY upset me and I just wanted all my friends to be aware of this way to get around the "do not call" law !! Just think how many people will send this in and their do not call registry will be NO GOOD!! The company's name is MARKET SOLUTION. Please send this to all your friends that signed up for " do not call." I think this is just one of what we will get in the future--so, READ EVERYTHING before you SIGN AND SEND!!"

Got this from MedicMom's site - cleverly doctored medical photos. If you didn't believe in Bigfoot before, maybe you will now. More collections linked at the bottom of this page. (Click on "galleries.")

My husband whipped up a batch of his special homemade lemon garlic marinade on Friday. He likes to marinate chicken for 48 hours in the fridge before grilling. In the meantime, I forgot my parents and family were getting together for lunch today. I just remembered last night. So -- instead of freezing it all (my husband is a big fan of "fresh is better than freezing or canning"), we cooked the chicken for breakfast along with homemade mashed potatoes. It was not bad and we have leftovers for tomorrow.

Huntsville ranks 31st in this list. The way we've been sweating on the greenway every day, you'd think it would be first. C. L. keeps joking that all we need is a bar of soap and we can sweat enough to lather it up and rinse off. Phoenix was in first place. I don't think they have much humdity, do they? But with 120-degree temperatures over there, who's thinking of humidity? I prefer to stay here with my humidity and under-1oo degrees, thank-you. Here's the entire list: 100 Sweatiest Cities.

... Found an interesting site - Blogroots.com contains blogging news. It's good reading. I found it through Blog Search Engine, a site with many links to blogging tools, news, etc. These are good places to spend an afternoon. Then there's a blog t-shirt. One says, "I blog therefore I am."

The site continues to get submissions. I find myself looking at all of them. I didn't think I had that much time to waste -- so much for the household chores today. Someone did all 26 items using a Barbie doll. Several people had a piano picture. Many took a picture of their pets. I got a chuckle out of some of the "love" entries -- one was crusty old guy. You can only guess that this must be someone who is loved or gives love as it was with several photos of boyfriends, girlfriends or other people where the "love" theme was not obvious.

Food (Too good!)

Money

Communication (Failed communication - funny!)

Little Things

Authority

Time (Good angle)

Transport (Be kind to your transport.)

Even the government is warning us. I hope everyone is keeping updated. Speaking of this, my husband installed Zone Alarm. We had been running Zone Alarm until we got a router. We uninstalled the software firewall when Zone Alarm showed nothing for a long time. Apparently, our router was doing its job.

But now I am concerned. My husband decided to reinstall Zone Alarm to check things out. It has already reported a hacker attempt! How can that be? Could it be successful even through a router? When we log onto AOL, it reported several ports being grabbed. I think that must might be something AOL does purposely.

That is, if you are not planning to marry your best friend yourself and in a full religious ceremony. In Reader's Digest (Aug. 2003), they say anyone can apply online, for free, to become ordained by the Universal Life Church by going to ulc.net. Once ordained, that person can perform marriages in almost any place in the country. Get married by your parent or child, even. I wonder if you could perform your own marriage?

As of this morning there were 226 entries at the 26 Things Photographic Scavenger Hunt with many more to come. Seeing other entries has been fascinating. I love the creative interpretations. Some of the entries show much talent and work. Others took a more casual approach.

My favorite "love" photo is from Jane Scotland. Apparently, we share the same love. I like the bright crispness of her "animal," "sound" and the colors in her "food" pictures, too.

By the way, entries are being accepted throughout the entire month of August. It's not too late to get started.