Month: March 2017

Me Before Them

mikemjensen cool stuff, Useless Observations, Vanity Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

President Trump signed a bill today, adding manned trips to Mars to the official mission for NASA. In a time when budget hacking are the name of the game, it’s encouraging that space exploration is not dropped to the cutting room floor.

Surrounded by astronauts and law makers at the bill signing, it was suggested that maybe congress could be sent into space. They all laughed and it’s not a thought not too far off from the people’s heart. But why do they get all the fun?

I’d be willing to go to space.Space travel image

I would love to see the blue sky turn black, see the world shrink into a globe, and experience zero gravity. Especially zero gravity. As I mentioned before in a previous post, I create quite the gravitational field and to be free of that would be a godsend to my joints and bones.

And the stars. To see the stars without the haze of the atmosphere and light pollution would be a site I would never forget.

I’m not sure how long it takes for comments such as “shields up” or “engage”, or calling everyone “Number 1” would get old, but I would know by the time I got back.

So if we’re sending anyone to space, sign me up. I can suggest another place for Congress to go.

 

Post 3-081

Balls, On and Off the Court

mikemjensen Life's Truths, Useless Observations, Utah Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

I apologize ahead of time for this post. It’s just something that’s been bugging me and I have to get it out.

Along with a national trend, apparently, the University Hospital has been running an advertising campaign leading up to this past week and weekend. “It’s not March Madness; it’s Vas madness!”shamead

This is to encourage all those men who are on the fence about getting a vasectomy to finally do it and it just happens to coincide with the week with the first two rounds of the NCAA college basketball tournament. The encouragement comes in the fact that since you can’t move, walk, or entertain the lady; you might as well sit on the couch and watch basketball. All 48 games in 4 days.

If it so happens that you’re done having kids but haven’t got around to heading the boys off at the pass; it’s the perfect crime but it can only be a one shot deal. I mean if you need personal sterilization to get time off work and a weekend free from yardwork, you will only get away with it once.

Or you can state boldly to both boss and spouse, that you are not going to report to work, cut that lawn, or take out the trash. You stake your claim, express your desires, and hold to your dreams.

But then again if you can’t do that, you might not need the procedure anyway.

 

Post 3-080

Frenchly Done

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Hey Kids,

Potential is a French word that means that you’re not worth anything yet.

Motivation is also a French word. It means you haven’t done anything yet.

To reach your potential, skip the motivation and go straight to another French word: Faire.

Faire means to do; to work. Do that and make potential irrelevant.

Some might say life isn’t fair and you get what you get.

I say “faire” makes it right and for all the others, well, c’est la vie.

 

Post 3-079

Space Shoes

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Hey Kids,

Between my work boots, my work out shoes, my casual sneakers, my sandals, my Sunday go-to-meeting shoes, my flip flops and a few more I’ve probably forgotten; I have too many shoes to tell you where they all are at any given moment.

When the season changes, there ensues a major search to find the needed footwear. I think that maybe my life has become too complicated. Or maybe I’m too simpler.nike-space-shoes-cosmic

There is somewhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 items in orbit around out planet. Pieces of rocket, satellites, pieces of satellite, and other discarded items spinning around our planet every day. And it’s someone’s job to track it all.

I don’t know what that guy gets paid or how well he does, but if he uses some program to help him out, I want to know:

Is there an app for that? I need some help.

 

Post 3-078

Sorry Charlie

mikemjensen Life's Truths, Vanity Tags: , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

The tuna is known to follow ocean currents. They use the flow of the water to help propel them to greater speeds and thus help the survival of the school. On one hand they are better able to chase down prey and on the other hand to outrun predators. One might even argue that they conserve energy in going with the flow, maybe even prolonging their life from just that fact alone.

The salmon swims up the river, against the current. There’s no real advantage; it’s just the way to get to where they need to go. No protection in numbers. No prey to chase. Only a destination and a lot of work to get there. It will mean the end of their life. Period. It’s in-grain, natural, and unable to be altered.

Some people are tuna. Some people are salmon.tunavssalmon__square

Some go with the flow. They enjoy being with others, with the crowd. There’s stability in a group. There’s a more assured return from a joint effort. They may be only as strong as the weakest link, but they’re only as dumb as their smartest thinker.

The others cannot resist the natural drive to fight their own way through. They stand or fall on their own efforts. They stand alone, only as strong and as enduring as their own resources allow. The journey is the reason they move at all.

I am a salmon.

 

Post 3-077

In One’s Own Universe

mikemjensen Internet, star trek, Useless Observations Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

Video on demand is today’s reality.

The days of waiting for your seasonal favorites is a thing of the past. You can watch nearly anything at any time. Binge watching is the thing to do. Don’t wait week by week to see your favorite show, wait till the season is over and watch all the episodes in a row. Or the entire series.

I recently discovered that one of my favorite series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is available on Amazon Prime. And I began watching a few episodes, from the beginning. I guarantee I’ll watch them all.deep-space-nine-concept-sheet-1

I do enjoy Star Trek and enjoy discussing warp cores, Enterprise captains, and space-time continuum at length with fellow Trekies. In fact, discussion such as these makes one feel kind of, well, smart.

However, when you start to watch these shows with a Star Trek Gentile, and you spend way too much time explaining Bajoran/Cardassian politics and how it relates to the Federation and the newly found worm hole; you end up feeling a little bit silly.

 

Post 3-076

Understanding Time

mikemjensen History, Interesting Stuff (to me anyway), Life's Truths, Utah Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

The current fashion trend, as it would seem, is to have ear buds filling your ear holes.

Everyone is not an exaggeration either; it’s everyone. Either for a phone or a music player, the small ear devices are as important to wear when leaving the house as one’s underwear.  I’m not immune either; I plead guilty to the practice, but like most, I can justify my own reasons.

At my desk is where I’m the guiltiest. While staring at an Excel spreadsheet or scanning through my tasks lists, I like to have a little auditory stimulation. My choice, however, is slightly different than most. I listen to documentaries on YouTube.

My interests are all over the place. I like to keep myself educated on new fishing techniques and political news, fake or otherwise. Other popular topics include the latest on climate change, space exploration, or WWII history. I would be dishonest to not admit that a good portion of my time is spent on weird subjects too, such as ghosts, aliens, and Bigfoot.IMG_20150906_125102_968

Recently I’ve delved into a more grounded topic in geology. How was the Grand Canyon formed? How were the Rockies formed? What did the earth used to look like?

Sending time over the past few years, I’ve found myself lost in this subject. To look at the Grand Canyon or Canyonlands National Park, I’ve wondered how they were formed. So I listen and I learn. I learn of Ice ages, inland seas, and tectonic plates. I see the fossils recovered, the rock layers identified, and the erosion process reveled. It all makes good sense except for the time element.

The lengths of time to cause the necessary effects boggles my mind. The millions or billions of years it requires to make significant change seems to be impossible. I mean even just one million years; how long is that really? My head spins and churns trying to imagine it or come up with something with which to give me perspective on how long that could be.

And then I remember the last time I went shopping with my wife, and it all comes into focus.

Post 3-075

Me, me, me.

mikemjensen Utah, Vanity Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

I’m selfish at times. I try not to be but when conditions lend themselves to my favor, I find it hard to wish it otherwise.

Today while the country’s midwest and eastern areas have been experiencing blizzards and deep lake-effect snow, I enjoyed a sunny 72° ride home on the Suzuki.summerinwinter

I did not wish the winter weather upon so many of my fellow countrymen, nor did I do anything to induce or deserved my perfect weather today; yet I absolutely loved it!

And I don’t feel bad either.

 

Post 3-074Me

With an Hour on Top.

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Hey Kids,

It’s the day after daylight savings and we sprung ahead an hour yesterday.

Now today, everyone still dragged around like we had an overnighter.Victory-Congress-passes-daylight-saving-bill- war time

It was only an hour folks.

The TV news explained that today is National Nap day to help everyone’s recovery. I think it was a joke, but it illustrates how far and deep this perception of being so tired runs.

I did notice that fewer people complained about this direction of adjustment than when we fell back an hour in the fall. I think people like the extra hour of daylight after work is done.

An extra hour of walking. An extra hour of riding a bike. An extra hour to enjoy the back porch, a drive after dinner, or to prepare to watch a relaxing sunset.

The only way the extra hour makes no difference is if you don’t spend it in the natural light of the outdoors. In which case, don’t hate, just take a nap.

 

Post 3-073

Cooler Runnings

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Hey Kids,

May is coming quick; before we know it, it’ll be here. We received our key to the houseboat and although I think we need to make another trip down to inspect the interior of the boat for sleeping arrangements and such, I’m not sure if we’re going to make it before our May trip.

It’s been suggested from the responsible side of our marital partnership that instead we should start to work on getting ready to go now and not the week before we leave. I reluctantly agreed that maybe we should. And one of the things we decided that we needed was another cooler.

On a Saturday afternoon lark, we cruised through a thrift store. Left stranded on one of the shelves in the back a cooler waited to be found. It was one of the good ones. No not a yeti, but a Coleman Extreme 5-day cooler, 50 quart, rollaway type. It looked great but we noticed one of the wheels was fatally broken.

I had seen this type of situation before. Two years ago. We had found another Extreme cooler. Typical arrangement, 52 quart; however, the plastic hinges broken leaving the lid free to be removed. A quick web visit to EBay and for $5, I had new ones on the way. Combined with the sticker price of $10, we had realized a savings of about $45.

I whipped out my phone and immediately started hunting for a replacement wheel. I couldn’t find it. I saw others eyeing our find and we had to make a quick decision. The tag also said $10. Would it be worth it if I couldn’t find a wheel? How much would a wheel be if I did find one?

The other bargain hunters could smell the blood of a good deal in the water. They circled. We protected our prey within our cart. I frantically thumbed through more web pages of DIY repairs but could not find the part listed. We ran for the cash register anyway.

“$10 seems a little high for a broken-wheeled cooler,” my wife said to the manager.

“How about $3?”IMG_20170312_215458905

“Done.”

The kill was ours. $3 for a $50-60 cooler, but missing one wheel. We took it home for the night.

I spent the better part of this morning searching online and kept striking out. And then it struck me, the wheel doesn’t have to know for what it was made. Maybe one for a grill would work. To Home Depot we flew.

For $8, a lawnmower wheel would fit. I had to spend an additional 31¢ on a bushing to match the bore size to the axle, but it worked. My wife laughed as I carved figure eights in the parking lot with the cooler in tow. I had to assure it would roll without a limp. It did.

Success. Savings: $48! Mark additional cooler off of the list.

I’m feeling quite proud of myself tonight.

 

Post 3-072