If you Like Philsophy Textbooks ... Gettin' Caught in the Rain

Amazingly, the rhythm on that scans. Anyhow, my Theory of Knowledge text got left outside for a while on a little side table. Given the past month or so, this was perfectly safe. Unfortunately, I forgot about it when it did start to rain this afternoon. It was not completely drenched, but it was rather bedraggled. On the plus side (sort of), I've had to deal with this sort of thing before. Usually I find the book after it's had a chance to dry out. I'm hoping that since I found this one while it was still damp, it will straighten better.

Technique: (skip this step if it's a book with staples or metallic decoration) Put in the microwave for a bit. Pull out. Put the damaged book on top of a solid book that is larger than it is. Stack a whole bunch of heavy books on top; the heavier the better. I'll check it tomorrow and see if it needs to be "nuked" again. (Why in the name of Colonel Potter's toenails is putting something in a microwave, which excites water molecules and has nothing whatsoever to do with fusion or fission, called "nuking"? Someone please explain this to me.)

Random items, potentially of interest:

I replaced a light fixture yesterday. Most of the light fixtures in the house were plain ol' 2-light boxes with glass covers, which would be fine, except they all seemed to have the same short: One bulb invariably burns out much, much sooner than it should. I've replaced all but one of them now (the last one requires either a longer ladder than I own or for me to climb into the attic; I'm not thrilled about either option). I lucked into a halogen light fixture on clearance for nine bucks at Lowe's for this one. It's got three aim-able lights on it. I haven't decided how well I like it yet, but so long as the bulbs last, it's preferable to its predecessor.

We had a fuller house than usual at taiji yesterday. Melissa's back in town, and Travis has decided to join us...which means we pick him up, since he can't drive (insurance vs. money issues). He's actually only a few blocks from me. But it's good to have a fresh face in there, especially one who's a bit rusty. Don keeps insisting that Melissa and I have very good forms, but I'm sure we'll pick up on stuff we've missed or forgotten as he walks Travis through things.

I finally have tomatoes attempting to turn red. My plants, both this year and last, just wanted to produce more and more vines, and leave the fruit green for a very long time. I looked this up. Apparently it means I put too much fertilizer on the garden. This is a bit puzzling as I have never put any fertilizer on the garden. So I guess my soil is "too good" for tomato plants. According to my dad, if I keep growing corn, it will get worse and require some sort of supplementation. Perhaps the tomatoes will produce more tomato and less vine then.

Lastly, I've taken to walking to campus on MWF mornings. I drive for my evening stuff, but it's actually easier and saves time to walk in the morning. How does it save time, when it takes 35 minutes to walk and maybe 10 to drive? Because I don't have to leave in time to get a decent parking space, nor leave myself extra time in case there isn't one. Instead of leaving by about 7:10 am, I can leave any time before 8:20 am to get to Chinese (which I'm loving, btw). I generally don't get any more done in my office when I get there at parking-time, so that time has been mostly wasted. Now it's spent in a pleasant physical activity.

So I suppose I'll stop rambling now, as I've lost the thread of my own thought process. For anyone not paying attention, the title really only applies to the two paragraphs above the fold.