Oven Update

I still have not cleaned the oven.

Falling back for the last time?

So, as we all know, this weekend was Daylight Saving Time. You can read some interesting stuff about it here. I like this link because the second page actually has a section on spelling and grammar, which was greatly appreciated by this editor. I also like that on the page titled "Rationale & Original Idea," there's a section on "Opposition to Daylight Saving." It struck me as funny that of all the issues and concerns in the world, some people have decided to take their stand against turning the clocks back and forward. Hey, everyone needs a cause, right?

The thing is, the other day on the radio, they were talking about how this is the last time we're going to switch the clock at all, that Daylight Saving is being abolished. However, a 10-minute Google search (which should, at this point in time, effectively reveal the answer to any question posable by humankind) turned up nothing to support this idea. The most I could come up with is that the dates that we turn the clocks will change in 2007, due to a bill signed by the Shrub. (Do the People United to Oppose Daylight Saving Time support Bush on this, I wonder? What is their platform, exactly? My curiosity is piqued!) Granted, the morning show I was listening to did not exactly feature rocket-scientist caliber DJs, so it's quite possible they were wrong or making the whole thing up. If anyone hears anything about this, please clue me in.

Personally, I kind of like Daylight Saving Time--it shakes things up a little. It says, "Hey, don't get too comfortable with your puny mortal sense of the concept of time, people--things could change at any moment!" Also, I like how it's set up so that we Spring Forward and Fall Back. Besides providing us with easy and convenient phrases to remember what we're supposed to do, the arrangement is nice in that we lose an hour in spring and gain one in fall. Fall, of course, is immediately followed by winter, which sucks, but as a consolation prize, we get an extra hour in a weekend! (This hour is especially appreciated today by Jackspatula and myself after the Halloween party we attended last night, which was a bit too much fun.) And in spring, you lose an hour, but who cares? Summer is on the way! The whole thing just works out very well, in my opinion.

Another thing that struck me as I was making coffee this morning is that they probably make coffee pots now that automatically adjust to Daylight Saving Time, while I don't even bother to set the regular time on the coffee pot and probably couldn't figure out how to do it now if I tried. Another example, along with iPods and digital cameras, of the technological gulf that is quickly widening between myself and most of the rest of the developed world. Sigh.

So, in sum:
1. Let's all enjoy our extra hour today.
2. People Opposed to Daylight Saving Time need to get a life.
3. I need a new coffee pot.

(P.S.--Be sure to check out the "Incidents & Anecdotes section of the link provided above.)

I'm just a girl . . .

Played in a poker tournament last night at the house of this guy we know who hosts these things periodically. It was quite a scene. There were 20 players, and we were set up at two tables of ten each. I was one of only three women, and the other two were about 60 and 80 years old, respectively. I know a lot more women are playing poker these days, blah blah blah, but we were obviously underrepresented at this particular event. The guys ranged in ages from about 18 to 80, and the whole thing had a definite rednecky flavor, so you can imagine the scene. So I'm sitting at the table with my chips in front of me, I'm in the big blind, and the first hand is dealt. The action comes around to me, and I'm looking at my cards and making my decision, and the guy sitting across from me, who is probably in his late 40s or so, looks at me and says, "You can either raise--that means to put more money in--or you can check, where you don't have to put more money in because you already have a bet in the pot."

Yes folks, apparently there are men in the world who are just always going to assume women don't know how to play, no matter what. I guess he just thought I put up my $20 buy-in and sat down at the table with all these big old manly gunslingers, totally clueless. I just sighed, and suddenly felt the weight of all sexist assumptions resting on my shoulders, as melodramatic as that sounds. There are many ways I could have responded--playing up the "dumb girl" act, for example, or cutting him down with a bitingly sarcastic remark, of which I am very capable. But I just felt tired and disgusted with the whole issue, frankly. So I just stared at him for a moment and then said, "I know how to play." And I played out the hand.

But of course, me being who I am, that's not the end of the story. I was sitting there, thinking about what he'd said, and it was just irking me more and more, and I knew it was going to throw me off my game thinking about it, and so as the next hand was being dealt, I casually said, "You know, I think it's kind of funny that some men just assume women don't know how to play this game." That flustered the guy, and got the guys at end of the table all apologizing for men in general, and then they all started talking about various women they'd played at various events who had kicked their ass. I felt much better. I wound up coming in sixth--no money, no glory--but I outlasted my "coach," which made it all worth it.

What does it take to get me to blog more?

COLD, HARD CASH.

My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?