Random Thought Series
Does the check count if you write it on April Fool’s Day?
Checks
April 1st, 2012Leaplings
February 28th, 2012Everyone knows that there are 365 days in a year. Except that is inaccurate. There are really 365.25 days, but what could we do with a quarter of a day? At six am the clock would go back to midnight and we would go back to bed. Hey, I think I like that. But no, we just add 1 extra day every fourth year. If the year is divisible by 4 it automatically becomes a leap year. That would be fine but it still is not quite accurate because the year is actually closer to 365.23 days, so I read.
So the great calendar geniuses of the past decided that once a century we should take a year that should be a leap year and make it a common year, that is a non-leap year. Therefore if a year is evenly divisible by 100, it is not a leap year even though it is divisible by 4. So now we have it, except, well, it still is not quite right. To make it all just a little bit more precise, if the year is divisible by 400, even though that year would obviously be divisible by 100, and therefore make it the exception to the divisible by 4 rule, we will except the exception and let it be a leap year.
With all these rules and exceptions, there are 97 leap years in a 400 year cycle in the Gregorian calendar. That means there are 146,097 days in that period of four centuries. It comes out to exactly 20,871 weeks. Isn’t that simple? By the way, I’m not sure who came up with the 365.23 number earlier mentioned, because 146,097 divided by 400 give us 365.2425 days per year. Don’t blame me, I just plagiarized the data from a variety of sources. Read the rest of this entry »
A Box Full of Air
February 20th, 2012There was a time (a decade or so ago) when I shipped a lot of packages for people. The place I worked was a UPS drop off store where people could leave a package for the UPS driver to pick up. We would pass through the UPS charges and added a small handling fee for our efforts.
Often a light weight package would be large enough that UPS would charge a higher fee than the weight and destination would otherwise indicate on the charts. The method used to determine if the box was over sized was to measure the girth of the box and add to that the length. If the sum exceeded 108” it required the bonus charge. The idea being a large, but light weight package, say a large box full of air, would take up too much room on the transportation vehicles considering the small fee a weight only charge would provide. UPS could fill up a truck with large boxes that were full of air and not collect enough in fees to pay for the fuel to transport them. And the driver’s like to get paid, too.
So why am I telling you this? Because I shipped a package that was full of air and got a surprise when the bill was presented. Actually, there was also a motorcycle helmet in the box along with a lot of air. I was returning a white helmet to be exchanged for the pink one I had ordered. Now don’t go jumping to conclusions: I ordered the pink helmet for my wife, not for myself. Those of you who know Margaret are most likely certain that I’m lying at this point. Why would Margaret need a motorcycle helmet? Well THAT is another story and you’ll have to wait until I’m ready to tell it.
The company that sold the helmet had, as part of their return policy, the requirement that the product box not be the shipping box. That is to say, put the item to be returned back in the original product box and place that box in a larger shipping box. This is fair as a product being returned for exchange is likely to be sold to another customer and they need to present a clean product, including the packaging.
The original order had included a pair of boots for me (not pink!) and they were shipped in the same outer box as the helmet. I decided to use that box for shipping the return helmet. And I did. I crowded the air with some bubble wrap that my pack rat personality refuses to allow me to dispose of. See, Margaret, I TOLD you it would come in handy!
Down to the UPS terminal on 36th street I drove, box sealed, labeled and ready for Mr. Brown to haul to North Carolina. It looked like I’d get fast service as no other vehicles were in the customer parking area. As it turned out, I had arrived about 25 minutes before the customer counter opened. I went a short distance to do a different errand and came back about eight minutes before opening time. There were six cars, pickups and vans waiting ahead of me. Not six of EACH, thank goodness.
At the appropriate time, a lady came to unlock the doors and let us in. But not too fast! Read the rest of this entry »
Ground Hog Day
February 2nd, 2012Random Thought Series
Shouldn’t Ground Hog Day be a Monday holiday just like so many other holidays? Ground hogs would like an occasional three day holiday weekend, too. Of course Punxsutawney Phil would have to work on GH day no matter what day of the week it falls on. But that’s OK, after all he is getting time-and-a-half pay for that day.
My First Car
January 22nd, 2012My first car was very small. Sitting in the driver’s seat I could reach over and crank the passenger’s window open or closed without leaning over. The back seat was so small that a toddler would lack room to be comfortable sitting upright and facing forward. Like I said, it was very small. But small was fine with me as I was younger and more agile than I am now and I was usually broke so the economy of a small car was good.
The car was a red Fiat 500 with a manual transmission. The red had no significance, but the 500 identified the engine. Imagine such a little car with 500 horsepower. Oh, wait! I remember now. That 500 did not designate horsepower, rather it was the engine size in cubic centimeters. Today a medium priced riding lawn mower has a larger engine than that. But that’s okay. As stated earlier, I liked small cars with small engines because they are generally cheaper to operate. And this automobile was cheap to buy, also. The price was a mere $300. Considering that it was only three years old, that was pretty cheap, even in 1962.
Of course you get what you pay for and I did not pay for very much. Included in the price was a starter. Unfortunately, it did not start the engine. The starter was installed and attached but it still did not work. I never have been a mechanic so I didn’t bother to look under the hood, if you can call the cover in the back where a storage trunk usually resides, a hood. Even if I had looked, I probably would not have realized all that was wrong with this little vehicle – so why bother?
Prior to the purchase I was aware of the starter problem. There was no way to test drive the car without starting it. So with the standard transmission in neutral, we pushed it, I hopped in and pressed the tiny clutch pedal. I had to be careful to press only the clutch as all the pedals were so small (and my feet so big) and close together (the pedals, not my feet) that it was hard to press any pedal and not get the one next to it at the same time.
With the clutch disengaged, I shifted into first gear and reengaged the clutch. The engine popped to life and I was away on my test drive. The starter could always be repaired or replaced when I finished the three monthly payments and could afford to get the fix. It never happened. Oh, yes, three monthly payments happened. But the starter was never replaced – at least not while I owned this little gasoline powered toy.
This all took place in Dallas, Texas. I realize that this is a digression, but big cities are not my preferred choice for an abode, however Dallas is one of the better ones I have lived in. The weather in Dallas is some of the best I’ve ever spent time in. When I first moved there it was winter, such winter as they have in Dallas. Having been raised in Chicago, Illinois, where the lake effect snow is a common winter visitor, I . . . wait a minute, I’m digressing from my digression. Read the rest of this entry »