Around this time of year, people love to offer the scientific “fact” that turkey makes you sleepy because it contains a chemical called tryptophan. While it’s true that turkey does contain some tryptophan, don’t blame the turkey for your drowsiness after the Thanksgiving feast. The real blame lies with the massive amount of carbalicious mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, casseroles, bread, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and other delights on the plate next to the turkey plus the alcohol you might consume. Check out this article from Live Science for details. The excellent Snopes.com addresses the misconception as well.
Category Archives: Fun
Grandma Romo
Jenny and I were driving through my parents’ neighborhood tonight when the car in front of us stopped and the door opened. I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect. The driver, a smiling woman in her 70s with an interesting, unplaceable accent, stepped out and walked back to me. “I’m lost!” she said. She’d gone to the store and couldn’t remember how to get back to her grandson’s house on a nearby street. “Tony Romo’s my grandson”, she explained. I see. Well, I couldn’t remember exactly where the street was, but we couldn’t let Tony’s granny down.
I fumbled around on my iPhone map trying to locate the street until Jenny, wise as she is, asked Grandma Romo if she wanted to follow us there instead. She happily agreed, so we drove off with her in trail. Soon she stopped at (we hope) the right house, and we drove off. My brush with Cowboys greatness was over.
In retrospect, I could have done all sorts of obnoxious things like asking for Tony’s autograph or trying to score some tickets. I could’ve simply asked her to tell Tony good luck in the big game against the Redskins on Sunday. But I didn’t. The weirdness of the whole situation kept my brain from working correctly.
BASE Jump from the World’s Tallest Building
Workers in Dubai are currently constructing the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai Skyscraper. Upon completion, it will tower an astounding 2700 feet above the earth. For comparison, the top of the lightning rod on the Empire State Building is 1454 feet, over 1200 feet shorter. The total cost is approximately $800m.
There’s a sport known as BASE jumping, which is essentially skydiving from a fixed object such as a building or bridge. Naturally, someone would eventually BASE jump from such a massive and unique building. Two thrillseekers snuck into the building one night and jumped from about the 160th floor. Here is their story. It’s about 7 1/2 minutes long but well-done.
via videosift.com
For the record, Mom, I do consider BASE jumping a form of skydiving. =)
Flashes of Light
I sat outside in a camping chair, alone, staring up at a dark gray sky dotted with stars. The temperature had dropped to 45 degrees so far. I wore my choir letter jacket. It was the first jacket I saw in the closet, and I figured I would be the only crazy fool outside staring up at the sky at 1:00 in the morning. A few planes and cars passed in the distance to break the silence. I waited.
When you stare up at the night sky long enough, you start seeing things, but you’re not always sure whether you really see them. They could be tiny meteors, literally the size of specks of dust, or they could be your eyes playing tricks on you. Or maybe your brain playing tricks on you. After all, you are sitting outside staring up at the sky.
It makes you think – about how big the universe really is, so big that your mind can’t possible comprehend its vastness, as if terms like “millions of light-years” were tangible units of measure. About how the constellations would look totally different if you viewed them from another galaxy. About how big must be the God who created it all. About how unimaginably small we are in comparison, and how much smaller our individual problems, hopes, fears, and goals are. About how great must be the God who created a universe that big but also knows and cares about the tiny details of each life on this little planet.
Finally, I saw one, a gorgeous streak of light that passed overhead in the blink of an eye, so fast that I couldn’t focus on it directly before it vanished. It was a wink from God, the only one around who was still awake. I smiled.
For you science fans out there, the earth is currently passing through a huge cloud of space dust left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle. As some of these tiny specks of space dust entered our atmosphere, they heat up until glowing and then disintegrate as part of the annual Leonid Meteor Shower.
The first time Jenny and I ever really hung out was on a Leonid watching party I organized back in November 2001. She rode out with me and a couple other guys. And here we are.
Caty Rexroad’s Birthday Party
Yesterday we went to Caty Rexroad’s 5th birthday party in Keller. Caty is the son of Lacy, the best man in our wedding. We had a great time catching up with him and his family. Lacy currently works as a firefighter in Graham but just got a new job as a firefighter in Azle, so he hopes to move his family back to the DFW area soon. I still remember when Lacy called me to say Caty was on the way, and now she’s five year old. Time flies.
I took a couple of pictures at the party. The first is Brenden and Lacy IV (“Bubby”) driving in the backyard. Looks like they skipped the whole driver’s ed thing.
They set up a bounce house in the backyard. Regular bounce houses are cool, but this one even had a slide! I can’t tell you how many times I carried B up so he could slide down. Here he goes after getting released by Lacy:
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells…
Christmas is coming! To celebrate, I added a countdown on the right side of the page. Jenny and I are working on our Christmas plans, including shopping, our Christmas angel, time with family, and the Christmas Eve service at church. Christmas is our favorite time of the year. This year is particularly special because we should be within about a month of unwrapping Jonathan.
One holiday event that might interest some of you is the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis. It’s a scenic walk or run (your choice) through Fort Worth’s beautiful Sundance Square, enhanced by Christmas decorations. Each participant receives tiny bells to tie onto his or her shoes during the race, creating an army of jingling bells marching through the streets. Many also bring Santa hats, reindeer antlers, Christmas sweaters, or anything else they can find to get into the spirit. Jenny and I did this race a few years ago and had a blast.
The race occurs Saturday afternoon on December 5. The 1-mile fun run starts at 4:15pm and the 5k at 5:00pm. I plan to run the 5k. Jenny, Brenden, and Jonathan plan to walk either the 1-mile or the 5k, depending on how she feels. Our friends Chris and Demona have put together a team and need at least one more participant. If you join our team by Nov 14, the registration fee is $16 ($18 if you want chip timing) instead of $20-27 for individuals. To join our team, contact me ASAP and I’ll send you the info. We hope you will join us!