Stormy's Corner

Dad's blog: The Elkton Farmers

Dad has a blog about the farmers in his hometown: The Elkton Farmers.  He's got some great pictures, so you should check it out every once in a while.

Gas Prices around the Country

Check out gas prices around the country broken down by state and county. USA National Gas Temperature Map.  Stay away from red areas (California of course.)  Those in green areas like Montana and Wyoming have it good. 

I was suprised at how state dependent gas pries are.  All of Wyoming is green while half of its neighbors are yellow.

Happiness: Meaning and Pleasure

NPR has a segment on a class at Harvard about how to be happy.  On their web page, they have six tips on how to find happiness from tal Ben-Shahar and one in particular struck me as something I've thought about a lot.  NPR : Finding Happiness in a Harvard Classroom.

2. Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning. Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable. When this is not feasible, make sure you have happiness boosters, moments throughout the week that provide you with both pleasure and meaning.

When people talk about what they'd do "if they won the lottery", it always seems to involve beaches and vacation homes.  I think that would be boring, or meaningless, after a while.  I've always wondered what you would do all day, how you would meet friends, what you would learn, what you would contribute, ... how long could you read best sellers, lie on the beach and drink mai-tais?  Certainly it would be fun for a while but then I think you'd need something else to do.   So as much as I'd love to spend time sailing in the Carribean, I can't imagine retiring permanently to a boat in the Carribean.   Maybe for a year or two. 

To be happy  you need pleasure and meaning.  And often meaning comes from challenges.

Netflix: Amazingly quick

We put mailed back 3 Netflix movies at the post office Monday at 5pm.  I got 3 emails Tuesday at 7:19am saying they had recieved our movies!  Not even 24 hours after we mailed them!  Amazingly quick.

We got our new movies Wednesday - they were waiting for us in our mailbox when we got home from work.  So 2 day turnaround.

Secrets & 5 year olds

Jacob's idea of what to do with a secret is "Hey! I have a secret.  Want to hear?" 

Today he evolved to the next level.  I was playing the role of stuffed bunny rabbit when he told the bunny in a whisper, "Hey, you know what?  I hid a bouncy ball in each pocket so I can take them to school." 

So there I am holding a stuffed rabbit trying to decide if I react as bunny and then confiscate the bouncy balls on the way out the door ... or if bunny should be mom and tell Jacob he shouldn't take bouncy balls to school ...  or if I should just drop out of role playing for a minute to talk about bouncy balls and taking toys to school ...  (I did the latter but on retrospect I would do the first one next time. Or maybe bunny should ask if that's a good idea.)

If you are playing the role of bunny are you entitled to know the information that bunny is privy to?

It's a Boy! - a photoset on Flickr

For those of you into ultrasound pictures: It's a Boy! - a photoset on Flickr.  For those of you, like me, that are a little ultrasound challenged, each picture has a label of what the important feature to be looking at is.

Ultrasounds & 5 year olds: "Is this going to be scary?"

So as you read earlier,  We told our 5 year old about the baby, and he's been asking all sorts of interesting questions.  We took him to the ultrasound and he asked the following:

• As we pulled up to the hospital, "is this where your doctor is?" (No, it's the hospital.)
• "Is that like urgent care?"  (We had a traumatic experience with urgent care recently - three staples on the top of his head.)
• As we got out of the car, "is this going to be scary?"
• As he held our hands crossing the parking lot, "are they going to peel your skin back to see the baby?" (Yikes!)
• As we went into the exam room, "can Dad come in too?"

What a brave kid!