Thursday Thirteen #22

Thirteen Of John's Random Thoughts 1. My hearing isn't very good. Too long working around jet airplanes. But when I was sick recently, my hearing took a real nosedive. But after being on meds to clear me up, I'm happy to report that I'm back up to being merely hard of hearing again! 2. Who were those guys who showed up Monday night in Phoenix in Ohio State University football uniforms? I mean, in all honesty, it didn't matter much to me, I graduated from University of Louisiana - Monroe, and Louisiana Tech, neither of which are in any danger of winning the 1A football crown within my lifetime, but the few times I saw OSU play this year, I was amazed at what a juggernaut they were. Florida showed up to play, and play hard, Ohio State phoned in their perfomance. 3. Related to #2 above. I live and work in Florida. The company I work for hires lots of University of Florida and University of Central Florida engineering graduates. I saw every type of University of Florida shirt imaginable on Tuesday at work. At least the guys (and the few women engineers) I work with are all really great people, otherwise this next year would be hard to take. I feel sorry for the few Ohio State graduates I work with. They still look stunned. 4. Related to #3 above. Now that I mention it, why are there so few women engineers? There are SO many great opportunities for women engineers. Companies are hurting for engineers right now. 5. Related to #4 above. I work with a woman engineer who finished her engineering degree at the age of, get this, seventeen! She wanted to work for the company I work for, and you must be at least 18 because of government contract work we do, so she worked at a minimum wage job for a year until she turned eighteen and they could hire her. Needless to say, she's stinkin' brilliant. #6 Related to #2 above. Did you know that the University of Central Florida, which most of you have probably never even heard of, is the sixth largest university in the United States? Both University of Florida and University of Central Florida are in the top ten largest universities in America. UCF is in Orlando. #7 For most of my life, the passing of one year into a new one would make my head spin just to contemplate. All the possibilities, etc. Now, it's just more days. No big whoop, ya know? I kinda miss being pumped about the new year. #8 Ever have days when everything you type has oodles of mistakes? Today is just such a day for me. I type slow, and usually am very accurate, but I keep putting my hands in the wrong place and end up typing "dyigg ;olr yjod", instead of "stuff like this." #9 There was a lady on Jeopardy! the other night who talked about her 400 bottle wine collection. I am always intrigued by these people. See, I don't like wine or any other alcoholic beverages. To me they just taste bad. I drink the true "elixir of life", sweetened ice tea, by the gallon. (Dear Lord, I thank Thee for Splenda, without which, I would weigh 500 pounds. Amen.) I mean really, they make beer look so good on the commercials, and do you remember your very first sip of beer? Yuck! Now I'm not cutting her down, or anyone else who likes to drink adult beverages, I just realized while she was talking, how completely different our lives and concerns were. Why doesn't she collect something cool and useful, like Hotwheels? ;) #10 I'm still riding a bit of a high from our trip to Louisiana a couple of weeks ago. It had been almost six years since we had been there, and you just can't beat real live hugs from your loved ones and some good home cookin'. I just wish I hadn't been so sick the whole time, it makes the whole trip seem like a dream. #11 You know how, when you complain about your head or something hurting, and someone jokingly offers to stomp on you foot to make you forget about your headache? There's a lot of truth to that. Now that I'm getting over my sickness, my back is hurting like crazy again. Bummer. #12 I know so many people I would love to help out financially. Like most folks, we live a paycheck to paycheck. I don't play the lottery either. I once had a pop quiz in a college math class, and all we had to do was compute the odds of winning the Powerball Lottery. The way it was set up at the time, it's options have changed some over the years, you had a one in one hundred fifty five million chance of winning. I got the answer right, and consequently no longer buy lottery tickets. Not so much from a moral standpoint, but I could no longer ignore the odds because I computed them myself. That dollar has a bigger impact on my life when I buy an ice cold Coke Zero. I still wish I could financially help family and friends though. #13 While on our trip to Louisiana, we passed the 3000 photo mark on the Nikon D70s we bought in June. The up-front cost of a good digital camera hurts, but the upside is that you can just shoot, shoot, and shoot, without worrying about the amount of film you have or the cost of developing it. If I average 3000 pics every six months, I'm gonna need a new hard drive. We already have two, a 120GB and a 160GB, that are both almost full. Sigh. The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. 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