Reaction to Random Catalysts

When my alarm went off this morning, I woke up only briefly to shut it off. I told myself that I was dumb for having set it the night before, after all, today was my day off. So I went back to sleep. Then I awoke 45 minutes before the beginning of my work shift, and I realized that indeed I was... Sign in to see full entry.

My right small toe has been pinched lately. When this happens--that is, that my feet begin to hurt in some way--I usually find myself trying to determine whether my regular shoes are causing the problem or my work boots. For this determination, vacations come in handy, because they eliminate one of... Sign in to see full entry.

There was yesterday in college football and today in the National Football League. In the bowl games yesterday, it was typical for the teams facing each other to have records like 6 up and 6 down. In one bowl game, UCLA vied with the Fighting Illini in the Fired-The-Coach-Bowl. UCLA lost to finish... Sign in to see full entry.

New Year's Eve finds many people staying up later than usual, but some people just do the usual--that is, they just go to bed early as always, and wake up unceremoniously the next mornig to begin the routine of proceeding through another year. I generally look upon New Year's Eve as a big build up... Sign in to see full entry.

The global village can be found in a simple product one buys. I picked up my new cross country ski boots. What piqued my interest in its makeup was to see on the side of the box that it was "made in Indonesia." I never would have expected that, because I do not think there is any skiing in that... Sign in to see full entry.

Armed with gift cards, I set about trying to determine how I would utilize them. I had come away from my work Christmas party with Tango--a general use/two-step gift card--and a gift card to Best Buy electronics. Seeing my need for new cross country skiing boots, I went to REI to investigate what... Sign in to see full entry.

Tasks can become circuitous when bureaucracy is involved. At work, we are expected to follow procedures to ensure that inventory is kept up. Another operator and I needed materials for our production line, and we regularly must make a request from the warehouse division. Today, when I was on break,... Sign in to see full entry.

I have lived through a time when it was most common for idealogues on the left to refer to themselves as Liberals. Now it is more common for them to refer to themselves as Progressives. They started to do so, because "Liberal" became too much of a pejorative. People associated it with the stagnancy... Sign in to see full entry.

This morning, my brother showed me a conservative political website--I think it was Townhall.com. This website had a small survey that tallied the responses and scored the test taker's political views, preferences, and priorities with the presidential candidates and yielded the descending order of... Sign in to see full entry.

Human culture tends always to stray away from the true meaning of Christmas. I was disappointed when I heard the selections chosen by school choirs vying for a spot on the local radio station. Of the nine I heard, only one had to do with the Nativity; and this was not from the Christian high school... Sign in to see full entry.