Happy End of Daylight Shifting Time!

I'm so brilliant! That name is so much more accurate than "Daylight Saving Time", because who can actually literally "save" daylight? God, and God alone! (Just check out the book of Joshua in the Bible, or watch A Knight's Tale.) The whole situation reminds me of the legend in which some king named Canute proved that he wasn't omnipotent by unsuccessfully ordering the tide to retreat. What happened? It kept coming! DUUUHH! And you can't change the amount of sunlight any more than you can change the tide! Good grief! What are people thinking!?!?!? Sigh. I guess I'm the only sane person in this world. I mean, who else would have thought of a title for DST that is so much more appropriate?

So, now it's confession time. I didn't think of it myself! I was plagiarizing!!!! At least, I would have been, were I not to point you to this little link. The whole idea came from someone else; I just argued the point much more eloquently.

What's wrong with the picture?

But more importantly...what is so very right about it?

Here are some hints:

1. It has something to do with a song (and yes, it's the one you're thinking of).


2. It has something to do with today, October 25th.


3. Most of the picture was taken in 1965, and the rest was taken in 2006, but the theme of the picture has more to do with 1990.


4. It has to do with my sister being totally unprepared to face a world of men.

Want to know the answer?

Well, I guess I'll tell you.

You probably deserve to know...

that it's Cara's birthday!

And although this has nothing to do with the picture, it's Ian's birthday too!

Happy 16^th Birthday, twins!

A Glimmer of Hope

An Autumnal Anecdote

It was a stunning day in early October, a perfect example of the ideal jour d'automne. The radiant sun shown brilliantly on the radiant leaves, and all was just as any idealist would expect. Longingly, Aaron had gazed at the inviting outdoors, barely managing to force himself to continue his schoolwork. The view through his window beckoned unmercifully, but still he persevered.

When he had finally finished the bulk of his academic allotment, Aaron ventured out into the glory of the brisk New Hampshire day, armed with his camera, to record the splendor. Unfortunately, many of his pictures did not come out as well as he had hoped, a disappointment probably best blamed on the lighting. You see, it was a bit late in the day, and the pale autumn sun was already sinking behind the scarlet treeline. Nevertheless, our hero pressed on, determined to get the best photographs possible. You may be the judge of whether he succeeded.

Aaron first headed toward the swamp behind his house, a place quite full of gorgeous foliage - though not as full as it had been several years ago. The swamp had once been so replete with gold and crimson that it was widely considered one of the seven wonders of the modern Bedford. That was before the beavers. Certainly, the beavers were a joy to watch, and they made the pond a joy to look at; but their diligent improvement and expansion of the dam so raised the water level that all but the highest of trees in the swamp drowned, partially drowning the beauty of the area...but not completely. It was the few surviving maples, still lovely in their loneliness, that Aaron set out to capture in megabytes.




Aaron wandered around the edge of the swamp and along the east side of the pond, snapping pictures as he went.







Presently, as Aaron approached the lawn above the pond, a hideous monster came barreling at him out of the shadows!



His first thought was "So the Hound of the Baskervilles wasn't fiction after all!" and he would have said in spectral tones

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if dog or devil!
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home by horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore:
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me I implore!"
Quoth the mongrel, "Nevermore."

except that his second thought was "Oh, it's no mongrel after all! It's my trusty hound, Kate."




And sure enough, it was!

The End

Here's what I excel at:

Not posting in eons and blaming it all on school when REALLY it's the fault of my own procrastination.

(I'm also pretty good at annoying certain siblings by reciting The Raven in spectral tones...)

We can't all excel at everything...

In absence of other ideas for what to post, I thought about promising to the next person on my list of blogs who posts that I would put up his picture on my blog as an award. Then I decided it might be a deterrent, and I'm not exactly sure I have a picture of every person whose blog I regularly read. By the way, if you're a girl and are upset that maybe I don't read any girls' blogs because I said "his picture on my blog...", read Grammar 101 or ask an English teacher.

This train of thought draws my mind instantly to the subject of Physics. Why? Because of the author of my Physics book, Dr. Jay Wile of AEM. He is a great teacher, to be sure, and knows much about science, but one sentence I read in Physics a week or two ago nearly drove me to the brink of insanity: "If someone drops two different objects of any size and weight from the same height in a vacuum, she will find that they land at the same time." SHE????? If he said "female person" instead of "someone" I could pardon the feminine pronoun, but, of course, he didn't. If he had said "he" I would have smiled; if he had said "he or she" I would have rolled my eyes; if he had said "they" I would have shaken my head; but since he said "she", my sense of justice to the English language was grieved. The only thing worse would be "it"! It is time Jay Wile was exposed for what he is: a brilliant teacher and scientist (as well as, according to his website, a pianist and actor) with a slightly incomplete grasp of grammar.

Aaron the Noctolegiomaniac

Recently I have been reading in the most voracious manner I have ever read since, I think, sixth grade (when Hardy boys were keen). I always enjoy reading to an extent, but I tend to "take a break" after reading a book . . . and the break just keeps going and going. Not this week! Besides my literature book selections, I have read most of The Scarlet Letter and all of Agatha Christie's The Body in the Library and Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning in the past couple days alone. I know, only three books...but this time I WANT to keep going, and I read three books - one of them a classic!!!!!!!! - in just a few days. You may ask, "When does Aaron find this kind of time?" I will tell you. I don't know. (Actually, I do, but if I said so it would deviate from the quote.) I have been reading mostly at night. Like, late at night. I started the mystery novel last night at 11:30 and finished it at 2:00. Smart, huh? Expand you brain when you have nothing else to do.

Except now I'm tired. So tired I can't do anything but post on my blog.

The human mind (mine, at least) is a strange thing.

Tricky question: what do this car and I have in common? We're both Ramblers!!!! Ha. Ha. Ha. Or, as Craig would say, "Polite chuckles."

By the way, "Noctolegiomaniac" is a big big word that, in this case, means "one who stays up late reading."

Exclusive(!) pronunciation guide and etymological disection:
[noct-o-lej'ee-o-MAYN'ee-ak: noct (night) + leg(ere) (to read) + maniac (madman, basically)]

For Red Sox Fans

Are you down in the dumps? Do you feel like the world has let you down? Is life full of misery? Then I have a bit of news for you that you are going to love. Of course, you've probably heard it already, but....

...New York is JUST as dead as Boston!!!!

Finally, life has meaning again... ; )


Photo from MLB.com

Recoooooooord!!!!!

I have officially (well, actually, I didn't research this, but I think it's right) neglected my blog for the longest period EVER since June of last year! Actually, this year in July probably comes close, but let's not haggle over the inconsequential details. The point I am trying to make cannot be denied: I have not posted in nearly a fortnight! I confess and repent in torrential tears. Almost.

Our extra cell phone broke. Somehow it ended up sitting in a cupholder of water and now when it is turned on the screen says "Service required." Grrr. The ensuing shortage of mobiles (pronounced MO-bilez) has been annoying to say the least. When you have three cars and 3.5 drivers (Cara's the 0.5), and constant appointments throughout the week - not to mention errands! - how can you LIVE without cellphones. The fact that we did, in fact, live without cellphones ten years ago is of no importance. These days, cellphones are a NECESSITY! Plus, do you realize how "uncool" it is to not have a cell phone? I shudder at the thought!

In an effort to remedy the dire situation, I bid on a cellphone on ebay.com. (I know what you're thinking: "Uh oh, here comes a story." Well, you're right.) I didn't win either of the first two I bid on, but then I noticed another inexpensive phone, bid on it, and won it - all in the space of about one minute. It was then that I was pointed to the fact that the phone was for AT&T...and we use Verizon Wireless! AAAAAHHH!!! Embarrassment and devastation!!!!

Ahem. So, now we had an extra phone that was worth nothing to us...nothing whatsoever (notice how I switch to "we" once there's a mistake involved; I'm so open-minded). However all was not lost; when the phone came, I (first person singular again) did something daring: I put it back on ebay! I'd never sold anything online before, so this was a new experience. I've been studying HTML and CSS and the like for school somewhat, though, so I leapt at the challenge. It sold! And know what? I got $5 more than I paid for in the beginning!!!!! Therefore it is said, "Like Aaron, a mighty ebay seller before the Lord."