A Date with my Dunce
Every once in a while, I like to remind myself exactly why I don't take the Bald Wonder places. Today was such a reminder, and I took him with me to spoil the ending of Monsieur Ibrahim. We approach the ticket window, and figuring he's painfully shy, it would be cruel to make him talk to the theatre employee. (Megan was her name, a sort of cute, bespectacled girl with brown hair.) He asked for one ticket (I'd be smuggled since he was here), to "that film, y'know... that one. I don't speak French, sorry." She wore a blank stare, obviously confused either at what he was talking about, or what was being said. He finally stuttered out "that subtitled French film, something I-bra-ham-im-in-something." She traded him money for ticket (matinee, only $5.75), and was very nice about telling us to follow the yellow line into the theater within the mall. Thus, my new phrase will be, "... that y'know, I don't speak French, sorry." Egads.
    :::   03.06.04 @ 03:31 PM Pacific Time [link]   :::

Blurry-eyed and bushy-tailed
Well, if I was a bunny, at least I could celebrate only having something like 33 days until Easter, but that's not it. My eyes have almost completely glazed over from screen-starring. I'm nest-hunting for an office location in the South, and while the draw to Mississippi is there (it's both fun to say, spell, and visit), but Georgia just has that certain, peachy something I can't quite put my wing on. I mean, a duplex sort of pad (with partial rental possibilities) is going for $20K and up in Meridian. On the other hand, a place with a pool and in Georgia would be only four and a half times that amount. Wait... that math doesn't check out, does it. Hmmph. On this, I will ponder. At least I *think* we may have finally sewed up the Midwestern office site. That's something, right?
    :::   03.02.04 @ 08:10 PM Pacific Time [link]   :::

Why the calendar doesn't say March 1 today
Our solar year (the time required for Earth to travel once around the Sun) is 365.24219 days. So, a leap year every four years to make up for that .242 of a day. The Gregorian calendar (which is what we use today, much more accurate than the old Roman calendar), calculates a year as 365.2425 days, which is only off from our solar year by .00031, which amounts to only one day’s error after 4,000 years. Not horrible, really, but a selfish calendar -- it was concocted in 1582 after Pope Gregory XIII recognized Easter and Christmas were creeping closer and closer together. But if you're 21st birthday fell on February 29th and it wasn't a leap year, you'd have to wait until March 1 to drink. Bummer, I guess. Good thing my birthday is on the 27th -- whew! Curious about stuff that happened on leap years in past years? My favorite was in 1288, where Scotland established this is the day a woman could propose marriage to a man, and if he refused, had to pay a fine.
    :::   02.29.04 @ 11:01 AM Pacific Time [link]   :::