Soda vs. Pop

In my web surfing today I found an interesting website that put the carbonated beverage naming convention in a pretty color chart. It's called Generic Names of Soft Drinks by County.

As you can tell it's pretty concentrated in some areas and in others, I am surprised the next war of northern aggression hasn't broken out. It could get pretty heated while I was in college, which if you will notice Rochester, NY is located on the border of the blue and the yellow.

This was my argument, you call it a soda fountain and you get soda out of it, therefore it's soda. My logic is completely flawless. See how that works? Pretty nifty if you ask me. So what do you call it?

Cruising but no controlling

This latest blog has been inspired by our trip (or race if you will) back to Atlanta from the DC metro area. The Pennocks took one route and Rob and I dared to go out on a limb and try another new route. In the end, both got us back in about the same time, so it still takes forever to get from there to here. No magic fairy dust to sprinkle and go. :(

In all that forever time it takes to get from there to here, one must drive. Well unless you are do the rich people thing and fly, which would not take you forever and thus would imply you did not drive.

Driving on highways can be a crap shoot. Is the weather going to be nice? Will everyone play nice on the highway and there will be no accidents? Did DOT decide that section or road really needed a make-over? You just never know what you are in for. Rob and I had a compilation of a 2-hour sit on 85-N from a dump truck spill closing all northbound traffic for a few hours, a horrible thunderstorm slowing traffic to 30 mph with blinkers on, and heavy fog.

However I find the one of the more annoying things about driving on the highways is dealing with the people who refuse to use their cruise control. I am willing to say some cars still may not come with it, but the ones I have encountered ought to have it standard given the make and model. Now there are three reasons I have come up with for why someone would not use this fantabulous feature on their car.
1. Ignorance - completely unaware of their inability to hold a constant speed and or the fact they have such a device in their car.
2. Stubbornness - cruise control is for lazy people who don't know how to drive. I know how to drive and therefore don't need it.
3. THAT car - the one that can't stand being passed. If they are passed they pass you in return and eventually slow back down to where they were so that you pass them again, but not this time because they decided to speed up just enough... for a little while at least. Oie...

Pick any combination of those reasons above and you can play leap frog with a person for many many many miles on the road and you don't need to do a thing! Just set the cruise control and go. If I am on the highway for any length of time over 20 miles, you better bet that I will be using it. For one, my leg gets tired. Two - I know I can't hold a constant speed, I will start thinking about my grocery list or something and get distracted. Three - I don't want to be "that car". So remember! As part of highway safety - Be kind, use cruise control!

Blogs Galore

Ok, so it seems that there has been quite some activity in the blog world. Not too long ago Amanda M. created a blog entitled Living the Life in Baton Rouge. Shortly after that Marie also joined in on the fun with her blog Coast to Coast. And lastly, while not a new blog, Holly has officially added me to her list of fun blogs to read. It dawned on me that I go to Rob's blog to get her link, so why not add hers to mine as well and make life simple? Hers is known as Toadfrogs and Elephants. I am predicting that Mike P. may have a harder time keeping up with all the statuses that he likes to give blogs on a whim so I am looking forward to the next few months. :)

Water + Seeds + Sun = Flowers (sometimes)

I have news to share about my 5th grade science project. Out of the 50 or so seeds I plants and tried to make grow, I was about 10% successful which I think is pretty good first time out. Who knew it was going to be so hard to keep things alive. I was really doing better than 10% but then I forgot to transfer them to the planter. Oh well. Lesson learned, plan on having no weddings going on while growing seeds.

I started this project in April and here it is some months later and I actually have a flower starting! I am like a proud parent. So excited that it lived and did something with it's life! I am sure I will treat all of my children's accomplishments this way. And like a proud parent I have a picture to prove mine kid is the most awesome.

Digital Fortress

I just finished reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress less than 12 hours ago. I have read Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code, and Deception Point by him as well. I enjoyed those books and that is why I plucked Digital Fortress from the used book store as another read.

I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I enjoyed the others by him. I don't know if this was because the book was legitimately cheesy or if my book reading has matured and I need something with more substance. I believe it may have been a combo of the two.

Basically the book is about cryptography and what would happen if the NSA got a code it was unable to break. The topic sounded interesting enough, but in actual execution it lacked the thrill of what it promised. Since not everyone just knows about cryptography, it had to be explained. I don't believe this was done all that well. Then he made the elaborate scheme of who is the bad guy and after reading three of his books already, I knew who it was going to be. That took some fun out of it. Also, he tried to have a romantic undertone in the book which didn't really fit. The guy of the relationship was being chased in the book for about 10 chapters. That sucked because it just kept going. The real kicker though was how it ended. They had gotten one last clue to figure out in order to "save the world" and I got to the end before they did which is particularly annoying. I know some authors do it on purpose, but he doesn't strike me as the type. I may be wrong.

So overall, it was just ok. I wish I had just stuck with reading Harry Potter to gear up for the 7th book, but it was a nice break I guess. Oh well. :) It will at least be added to the list of books I have read this year, good, bad, or indifferent.

Movie Theater Etiquette

I recently had the opportunity to go to the movies to watch Shrek the Third. I haven't been to the movies much lately and if and when I go, it's usually during the day because it's cheaper and less crowded. Well Rob and I had the discount tickets I purchased from work that gets you into any movie after it's been out 2 weeks at a cheap flat rate no matter when it's showing. Shrek the Third was the first evening movie we have been to since I think we were in VA together which is almost a year ago. Whoa time flies...

In any event, I had never been in a noisier theater in all my life. It started off fine, but then a couple joined our row that decided to repeat almost everything, at a normal voice level, that was being said on the screen. No lie, ask Rob. Also, the brigade of about 20 children that came in during the previews and the antsy toddler that wanted to sit in 3 different seats in front of us. There was always background noise in the theater and not just laughing from a scene or other reactions to the movie, but conversations.

I know that kids sometimes don't understand the whole be quiet principle, but what are they doing out at a movie that starts at 9pm? Most of them were 10 and under ages and when I was that old, my bed time was 8pm and there were never any late night movies. Times change I guess.

I know I paid a discount rate to see that movie, but for 2 people to watch a movie these days it's close to $20 and I would think you would want to watch the movie, not listen to other people talk about it. I am just wondering at what point it became ok to do that? Did movie etiquette change? They still have the animation from 10 years ago with the little film guy telling it's not ok. Maybe before the movie starts, they should just start giving people the same thing they put on dogs when they don't want them to bark. I think I will stick to my matinées. Sometimes I feel so old.

Beach Week Wrap Up

It's that time again. Time to start packing the bags and cleaning out the sand from those mysterious places you never thought it would get into. This week has been a lot of fun. There was plenty of on the beach time, in the pool time (after it was cleaned), hot tub time, and of course puzzle time. I have also been successful in finishing a book and finishing a blanket that I have been crocheting for about 5 years now. WAHOO! I have also collected a bunch of neat shells, bought more stuff for my house, took plenty of pictures, did some body boarding. There was also the day that we didn't see Ben until 5pm which was a little concerning, but turns out he was ok.

But the highlight of the trip was the day Amanda and I went to Cape Hatteras. It was really neat to go up in the light house. The view was great and it was a beautiful day. Not to mention we went to the beach and the water was about 5 degrees warmer than what we had been swimming in about an hour north of the cape. Good times.

In conclusion the weather has been perfect and it has been a fantastic beach week! I have had a great time and I really don't want to go back to work. :P