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THE WEISS CHRONICLES
Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news.
You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com
The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Two retail experiences
As noted below, I had brought my car to a service station two days ago because a lady said the tire was vibrating. Today I spoke to the mechanic.
Mechanic: Nothing wrong that I can tell. It may be vibrating because the tire is slightly warped from being parked too long.
M - Then maybe we move the tire to another place and see if it still vibrates.
Mechanic: So you want to rotate one tire.
M - Huh, it would have to be two tires.
Mechanic - I thought you only were worried about one tire.
M - Right
Mechanic - then we'll rotate one tire
M - but you'd have to move a tire to the place the first tire was from so you'd have to rotate at least two tires
Mechanic: I guess technically that's true.
G went to Radio Shack to buy an attachment to his Palm Pilot. He returned a few minutes later to get his wallet. He then went back to the store. He returned a few minutes after that. They didn't have it in stock.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Are you of German ancestry?
We had invited some people over for lunch yesterday. Among the things we discussed were the funny things kids say. I noted that I had, within the past year, placed in this blog, the chronology of our family since 1986. I noted that I had kept records of this nature, first on various word processing software, and now fairly often on the blog. One of our guests asked, "Are you of German ancestry?" It does fit the sterotype, I admit.
Also yesterday, the Tampa Lightening (ice hockey team - normal people don't associate the words 'ice hockey' with Tampa, especially in late May) clinched the eastern conference championship and will play Calgary in the finals. This will be one of the longest distance championships.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Cat Responds to Atkin's Diet
Our cat Soda went to the vet today. He went from 17 to 15.5 pounds in the past year or so. We've been giving him more canned food and less dry food. The latter is grain/carb loaded. The old 87 Toyota had an emission's test today (the testing station is just down the street from the vet). Every test was a pass with nothing even close.
Later I went to the grocery store and some lady told me my left front tire was vibrating so I left the car at the service station (carried 5 bags of groceries about .75 miles home).When I got home, G reminded me that the left front tire had been vibrating for almost a decade. Ooops.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Randy Johnson and George
On May 18, Randy Johnson (Arizona) pitched a perfect game against Atlanta. He struck out 13 (18 Braves had struck out the previous game against Milw). He became the oldest player ever to pitch a perfect game (at age 40) and has the most years between no hitters (he pitched his previous no hitter 14 years ago (for Seattle June 2, 1990 against Detroit).
On May 17, late in the evening G called from Israel (where it was early am on the 18th) and said he couldn't fly back because of Aviophobia. On the 19th, he called me and said, "Guess where I am?". He had flown despite the condition, changed planes in London, arrived in Dulles and took a bus to L'Enfant plaza and was at the Nassif building security gate.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Sports Over the Past Few Days
A wild 5th game of the San Antonio – LA series. With 0.4 seconds left in the game (in San Antonio), Tim Duncan hit a shot to give San Antonio a one point lead. LA called time out took the ball at half court and Derek Fisher hit a shot with 0.0 to give LA the game. Then on May 15, LA behind Karl Malone’s defensive work on Tim Duncan, won the 6th game (and the series 4-2). Malone now has appeared in 183 postseason games without getting a championship. John Sockton played 182 games without a championship.
May 15 NJ Nets beat Detroit Pistons 127-120 in triple overtime with 83 personal fouls called (a record for postseason since the 24 second clock was installed).
May 16 Milw Brewers Ben Sheets struck out 18 Atlanta Braves most Ks since May 8 2001 (when Randy Johnson K’d 20 Cinc. Reds this was also the franchise mark (formerly 14 by Moose Hass Apr 12 1978 vs. NY). Sheets previous game high was 10 Ks.
On May 8th, there were 18 runs scored on 100 pitches to 28 batters in the 5th inning of a game between, Texas and Detroit. The inning lasted 1 hour, 8 minutes. Detroit scored eight runs in the top half for a 14-4 lead, and the Rangers scored 10 runs in the bottom half (final score Texas 16-Detroit 15). The major league record for runs in any inning is 19, by Cleveland (13) and Boston (6) in the eighth inning on April 10, 1977.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Air Conditioner and Cicadas and Snakefish
Last week I noticed something on our H/AC thermostat. There were two temperature sets, one red, one blue. We've been in this house for almost 8 years and this was the first time I noticed it. It seems the red one controlls the AC. I lowered the AC setting to 77F. Two days later, the outside fan unit failed. Coincidence?? It turned out to be a loose wire on the outside unit. It was fixed two days after it failed.
We the cicadas are out big time. Their exoskeletons are all over the iris stalks. They make a constant high pitched sound - like the sound effects for a saucer landing in an early sci fi movie.
Two snakehead fish, about identical size, were found in the Potomac east of DC proper. Fishermen have been told that they are the first line of defense. The snakehead fish is a critter built for sci fi. It grows up to 4' ugly long. It can travel on land (up to 100 yds supposedly). It eats virtually anything aquatic. Ummm. Snakehead.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Metrorail's Farecard Policy
A few months ago I sent metrorail my 'stub' cards - cards with less than $1 in value which is too small a value to get a ride anywhere. Metro sent me back one $10 card, four $1 cards and one $0.30 card. The $1 card is too small to use since the minimum fare is $1.20. This is all part of their plot to get everyone to use the transponder cards.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Trip to Nashville, TN
M in Nashville, TN May 10pm-11)am. On the plane there was a woman with 6 layered hair (I recall when Lisa Todd was on Hee Haw she had 5 layered hair). Visited the Parthenon but the interior is closed on Mondays. Parked at a lot that dispensed $1 coins (a first). Visited the Gaylord (same corporation that produced Hee Haw) Opryland Hotel and Convention Center. What a magnificent and monumental complex. It had four arboreteums, some 8 stories high (rooms with wrought iron rail balconies overlooking the different themed indoor parks), with different themes. At least 10 miles of walking paths, 100 fountains, two dozen waterfalls. It looked to me as if they use drainage structures as load bearing too. Amazingly, everything was tasteful. The only tacky thing I saw was the traffic circulation which required a visitor to the Grand Old Opryhouse to drive near the Opryland Mall (which sits on the site of the old Opryland Amusement Park).
Sunday, May 09, 2004
Visit to the Biblical Art Museum
Went to the Ratner museum today with Mrs. Sonia Belek (mother of a fried of ours who lives in Hawaii). Mrs Belek is an artist (sculpture) and enjoyed it quite a bit. She might even exhibit some of her work through the Museum.
Onions and the Virus
A few days ago, I picked some of the larger wild onions growing in some of our flower and shrub beds. I cut them into somewhat smaller pieces and cleaned them. Ann used some in our salads and some to flavor the meat this past weekend. This is a first (although wild onions are ubiquitous around here and everywhere else we've lived the past few decades).
Also last week I downloaded the anti Sassar patches from Microsoft. The computer seems not to have been infected and yesterday the Sassar virus creator turned himself in.
Also yesterday, Beth spotted one cicada on an iris stalk.
Friday, May 07, 2004
Another bad commute - this time the bus
Yesterday I arrived at the White Flint Bus station near the metrorail on NB Rockville Pike at about 550pm. No #38 came until about 645pm.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
NIghtmare at Grosvenor
On yesterday's commute to home the metrorail train let everyone off at Grosvenor. The next train, which would normally run to Shady Grove, also terminated at Grosvenor. The next train did too and the one after that which made for an enormous crowd on the platform. The next train was to Shady Grove but only had 4 cars and only some of the people could board. The next two trains also terminated at Grosvenor. Finally the 7th train had room. By then I was too late to pick up the bus connection but fortunately I met a neighbor who was parked.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Helped Beth again
For perhaps the 3rd or 4th time, M had a good suggestion for a class Beth was teaching. The suggestion was to use a series of scenes from 'The Great Escape' (the ones around where Holtz escapes then lets himself be captured in order to bring intel to the Escape committee). Class was on the difference between communal and individual responsibility.
Monday, May 03, 2004
Critters and sports
No Snakefish found yet at drained pond. Also no cicadas seen yet.
Yesterday the Atlanta Braves made 7 errors (4 by 3Bman Mark DeRosa, 2 by 2Bman Marcus Giles) in a 13-4 loss. 8 runs were unearned. This tied a club record. Atlanta had 7 errors on July 22, 1973 in the 2nd game of a doubleheader against Phil.
Last week Derek Jeter and Jose Cruz, Jr. broke out of 0-32 and 0-37 slumps. Kevin Garnett (MN) beat Tim Duncan (San Ant) for MVP of the NBA (Duncan had won the previous two years). Garnett got 120 of the 123 first place votes.
Most interestingly in the NBA, the Pistons beat the Nets 78-56. The Nets scored only 25 points in the first half. The Nets had a streak of 14 wins in a row against eastern Conference teams.
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