Hey Freak!

Does anybody know anyone who's won something in the McDonald's Monopoly game? Ever?

Seriously. They've been doing that game for wha, 15? 20 years? During that time, I've lived in Phoenix, Chicago, Las Vegas, and now San Diego, and I've still never encountered anyone (or anyone who knows someone) who's won something (besides a small drink or fries). They always have a lot of mid-level prizes (e.g. an X-Box), so you figure somebody's got to have won, right? Do you know anyone?

And, totally unrelated...

How do you flip people off? Are you a grabber (left) or are you freestyle (right)?



Me? I've always been a freestyler. It seems weird to pull my fingers back with my thumb. I dunno; I guess that's just how I learned it, and haven't changed. What about you?

So yeah, I took another little break. Next time I take a break, just assume that whatever temp job I had ended, and I'm concentrating on trying to get a permanent job. With benefits.

I had an interview last week, but I still haven't heard back from the company. Bastards.

So anyway... some randomness:

I was in the shower washing my legs when I noticed a hair on my foot. On the top. Like, right under where shoelaces would be if I was wearing a shoe. Now, I'm sure lots of people have hair there, but I'm a pretty hairless guy. I barely have arm hair. I don't get hair in most places that other people do. I certainly shouldn't have hair on the tops of my feet, much less just one hair on the top of my right foot.

I also have a stray hair on one of my shoulders (I've seen it before, but can't seem to locate it now). I don't even know which shoulder it's on; I just know I've seen it before. One hair, all by itself, in the middle of nowhere. Isn't it funny how that happens? I mean, what made that one hair "graduate" from just being regular bodyhair fuzz to full-blown hair? Did someone spill some Rogaine on me there or something?

Back in college, I had a friend... he had hairy arms. And one day, he's all "Check this out." He runs his finger across his arm hairs, and then exclaims "There it is!" And he pulls on this one, single, long-ass hair. Like, four inches longer than any of his other arm hairs. I guess, being a hairy guy, he didn't have strays; instead he had super-long hairs to stand out. Now, I personally have never found a super-long hair like that on me, but I think I've talked to other people that have (as you can imagine, it's not something that comes up in conversation all that often).

So, I'm curious. Where are your stray hairs?

OK. I haven't had a Hostess treat in quite some time, but once in a while, I'll get a little hankering for a ding dong or ho-ho (yes, I'm sure this post will be filled with innuendo, much as Hostess treats are filled with cream). I was never ever ever big on twinkies, and Suzy-Q's are good, but can be a bit messy sometimes. And the sno-balls? I dunno... there's something about them that's never appealed to me.

Anyway, my question for you is... today, if someone forced to eat a Hostess treat, what would you eat? A standard cupcake? A choco-dile? One of the previously mentioned treats?

Another question, just because I'm curious...

What's the deepest you've ever searched on Google?

You know... say you're looking up something on Google, you hit search, check a few links on the first page, but didn't really find what you were looking for, so you look on the 2nd page of returned searches. Still nothing, so you look on the 3rd. The 4th. You're getting annoyed, because you think you should have found [whatever] by now. You keep clicking the next page, then the next, and... eventually you find yourself on page 47 of returned searches.

Have you ever gotten that far before giving up?

Honestly, I don't know exactly how far I've gone, but I'm pretty sure I've at least gotten into the 40's. How about you?

When it's hot out, how do you describe it?

"Hotter than Hell." That's pretty typical. But there are some good ones out there.

"Hotter than Hell hit with a hammer." (this is what Joelle says)

"Hotter than Hell on high." (crediting Kathy for this one)

Me? My most oft used phrase? "Man, it's hotter than a nun's dream."

Your turn. What's your phrase?

What do salmon do when they're out in the ocean?

No, it's not a joke. I really would like to know. You always hear about how salmon find the river where they were born and then swim upstream to spawn and then die... but you never hear about what they do when they're out in the ocean, maturing. Like, you never see or hear about them as either predator or prey on them Discovery Channel-like shows.

So, I'm asking you. What do salmon do when they're out in the ocean? Do you know?

Or, at the very least, have you wondered?

So, Mac was talking about the high school dropout rate and its possible causes. It's a complicated issue, and it's probably got a billion different things contributing, so there's not one "clear" cause.

Me? I think that one of the biggest causes is (and I am by no means an authority - this is just my opinion)... by societal standards, being smart just isn't "cool." Yeah, I've said that many times before, but it's pretty true, isn't it? Well, I'm speaking from just my experience, so maybe people will disagree. I hope people disagree. Because, yeah, I see nothing wrong with being smart.

So, my question.

Have you ever pretended to be dumber than you were, just so you could fit in?