Mouthwash, Ancestors and Chocolate

Ever noticed when you use certain brands of mouthwash, you feel like you need to brush your teeth again? No, well I thought I would share, as not much else is happening.

It is nice to have relatives stay at your house, especially if you only get to see them a few times a year but only if they are not annoying. When my grandma stays with us, we always get to learn something about other relatives, be they alive or dead. I never got to meet my grandfather, and it is nice to have such a close a secondary source. He would talk rarely about his time in the military with anyone, and if he did, he would only disclose facts that were already known; things like being in a foxhole for 3 weeks, and nearly having to have his feet amputated, or being separated from his unit and presumed dead for 2 months. Everything else that we know about that time comes from photos, and his last surviving sister who is now 90 something. All that we can tell from the photos, is that before he was drafted he was a smiling cheery lad, and after the war he never smiled.

Apart from his military experience, other things that I recently learned about him were that he dressed up for everything and even wore a suit to cut the grass and do oil changes. He also would not leave the house unless his clothes matched my grandma's perfectly. Something that really illustrates this fanaticism is that just before he died when the ambulance came to get him, he would not leave until his socks matched his shirt and he had made sure that he was not wearing the same clothes he wore on his last hospital visit.

One last thing I would like to share, is possibly where I inherited some of my dislike of taxes. My grandfather, who worked as a mechanic in the army until he retired felt very strongly that the government took too much of his money. Instead of actively campaigning for a more fiscally conservative tax code, he handled the problem a little more directly. During the night, when his workplace was deserted, him and his brother would show up in a large and stereotypically Italian black Pontiac and with plenty of trunk space, and help themselves to light bulbs, tape, shower heads and hand tools and anything else that happened to be lying around his workplace. My grandmother will flatly deny that this activity ever took place, but that does not explain why her attic is still full of army cardboard boxes, or why my dad's pegboard in the garage has hand tools with things like "motorby 5, US Army" scratched onto them.

Apart from relatives, I had a good day at college. Unfortunately, during my class at 8, my professor put on possibly the most boring video about the history of New York ever.. I don't know about you, but whenever I am tired, I do not find watching the History channel to be a good way of staying awake.. Anyway, after my class, I drove to Cumby's. I was feeling adventurous, and so I tried some chai tea. Unfortunately, the machine was broken and I was startled to find that when I pressed the button for chai, sugar and powdered tea poured down my sleeve, and I was left holding a cup of hot water and cinnamon. This disappointment did not last, as I soon made my way to my awesome class, to find panpipes awaiting me. We had a guest professor, and he organized the whole class and taught us to play a Peruvian song. He then gave a highly interesting lecture about Peruvian instruments and tradition, with some very crude misconceptions about Catholic theology thrown in for good measure.

I could keep going on about my day, but I am not interested enough to tell you about it, and you lost interest a few paragraphs back, and are now only skimming. Tonight after dinner, which will be delicious, I am going to play American folk music.. I could tell you more, but I will not. Stay tuned.

KIA, KSC and Pete Seeger

So today is Sunday and the best way to tell this is by reading my post from Friday. It is now somewhat late in the afternoon and the best way to tell this is by reading all my posts, and realizing that they are usually posted around this time.

Today I woke up later than I usually do on Sunday's, as I had been out late the night before engaging in good behavior choices.

My parents got home at around 11 this morning, as they had been out to Herman's Hermits concert in Schenectady NY.. Sounds like some sort of operation... Anyway, they brought back delicious pastries, the like of which cannot be found around here, with the exception of at Broadway pizza.

Around 1, I drove my dad to Hartford CT to catch a plane to Holland. Before we had left, I had bought a CD by the Pogues, which to date is the worst album I have ever bought by anyone, with the greatest hits of Dion and the Belmonts coming in a close second. It turned out to be a very uneventful drive, and it only took about 3 and a half hours for the whole trip. I learned a few things from this trip, things that I mostly knew already: That people in Connecticut greatly enjoy not checking their blind spots before changing lanes, that in Massachusetts, construction sites and work zones are permanent fixtures and that Brattleboro VT is the most dangerous area to drive in within over 200 miles of where I live.

Sorry this has to be a short boring post about my day, but really what happens during my days is mostly what I do. No, that was not an error but a deliberate statement of fact... Tonight, I have a short paper to write, a small Turkish instrument to order, some more classifieds to read, a trip to the hospital to have my schenectady removed and a face to shave. Just remember that in the best of all possible blogs, all is for the best. C ya.

Tiritomba, Icons and Cactus Pears

It is the time of day when I have done just about everything else I had planned to do and am now ready to tell you about it.. Didn't that week go fast? I certainly thought so. I am now going to tell you of some upcoming dates on which you will have to go with out my literary cup of coffee, if you will.. Tomorrow and Wednesday are the only ones I can think of, and I will tell you why if you keep reading.. But I will probably have forgotten by the time we get down there.

Wasn't that weird?.. Yesterday I used a snow day as part of an analogy, and today was a snow day. I must have some sort of gift, or at least be able to set iGoogle as my home page. Friday is my favorite day at college, because I have my favorite class and no others, and I was quite peeved when I walked to the window and discovered that I would not be able to go.. However, I did enjoy going to sleep for another few hours.

When I woke up and made myself smell nice, I went outside and shoveled snow. It was the worst kind of snow; the kind that is far heavier than it looks, and when you scrape it away it leaves a slushy coating on the driveway that is like glass. I fell twice, and as our driveway is quite steep I slid a long way each time. It took almost two hours to clear the snow away.

After my snow clearing experience, I decided to go inside and start work on a paper. However, I managed to put this off, and instead spent an hour or two scouring the Internet for soundbites of cumbus. When I was done with this activity, I realised that it was no longer lent, and so I helped myself to leftover ziti and chicken. I then discovered that someone had shown my grandma you tube, which was a mistake as she now seems to be spending all of her time bestowing saint hoods on anyone of us who will show her a Frank Sinatra, Pavarotti or Englebert video.

Later I called the iMON and Serena and arranged plans with both. It was a good choice, as I am trying to cut back dramatically on texting, and because a day stuck in the house procrastinating is not the best of choices.

After dinner, which was delicious, I tried to learn the words to the rocky road to Dublin, and tiritomba, two very different songs indeed.. Now, my plans for the weekend are simple: Spend time with many different people, exercise, play music, go to church and write a paper about potatoes as well as thinking of different things to talk to you about besides calling people and the weather. Have a great weekend...................