Category Humor

You’re Making That Up!

Michael Leave a comment

There is no question about it, this winter has been everything a winter can be.  Cold, snow, ice, wind, frozen fog.  Frozen Fog?  Yep, this winter has been everything a winter can be.  Cold, snow, ice, wind, and new made up weather terms to keep you tuned into the local news station because their predictions are more dire (or maybe more ridiculous) than the competition.

Everybody over the age of 1 can remember when winter was just cold.  Summer is hot, fall is windy, spring is rainy, and winter is cold.  It’s a pattern.  We’ve had temperatures in single digits for days in a row and we managed to have them without a Polar Vortex.  Let’s consider the Polar Vortex.  Not only are they making up weather, they’re not doing it well.  As far as we can recall (and we checked a dictionary to make sure) a vortex involves spinning, whirling, or twisting, like a whirlpool.  During our encounters with the Polar Vortex, the only spinning we saw was the spinning of tires on icy roadways.

When it wasn’t cold enough for a Polar Vortex we had an “Anomalous Jet Stream.”  We think they meant that the jet stream, which has something to do with the boundary between Caribbean Island Weather and Cold Canadian Weather, dipped closer to St. Thomas than to St. Lawrence.  We suppose “anomalous” works, it meaning out of the normal way of things.  Couldn’t they have just said that cold weather will push further south than usual?

Yesterday’s headline read “Winter Turns Into Category 5.” Clearly it was a slow news day.  The article went on to say that a Category 5 Winter is the most severe winter than one can experience.  Really?  We’re used to things like hurricanes being category this or that.  Big single events that have clearly defined features of severity.  If there is a Buick flying through the air, the wind responsible is pretty severe.  How do you measure several months of weather?  We’ve had winters with more snow, colder temperatures, and a greater variety of precipitation – ice, hail, sleet, and so on.  What happens if the next 3 weeks of winter turn out to be clear and sunny with temperatures in the upper 70’s.  Does it suddenly become a Category 2 Winter?

Our favorite new weather we heard came in a forecast last week.  Frozen Fog.  As it was, the weather person got that wrong and the following overnight and morning had no fog, frozen or otherwise, so we didn’t get to experience Frozen Fog firsthand.  We were looking forward to that.  It conjured up the picture of a sheet of ice suspended over the earth that would crack and shatter as we plowed through it with our cars on the way to work.  Perhaps before the winter is over we’ll finally get our opportunity to break the Fog Barrier.

Yep, there is no question about it.  This winter has been everything a winter can be.  Cold, snow, ice, wind.  Why can’t everybody leave it at that?  You didn’t see the Groundhog making up weather.  Six more weeks of winter he said.  Period.  No Frozen Fog for Phil.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Our New Favorite Sport

Michael Leave a comment

For another four years the Olympics are over.  Well, four for the Winter Games.  The summer Olympiad will be around in just a couple.  One of the best things about the Olympics, winter or summer, is that we get to see sports that we’d never see anywhere else.  There are some sports we suspect that are designed specifically for the Olympics.

Some competitions you aren’t going to see anywhere else without doing some hard digging.  How often do you get to see curling, the biathlon, or the skeleton.  In the summer you could look for a while and not find competitive badminton, judo, or canoe slalom on a Saturday afternoon sports show.   Our favorite new sport (or new to us) is the Snowboard Cross.

You all know Snowboard Cross.  It’s Motocross without the trail bike.  Six Snowboarders come down the mountain at the same time, over bumps and lifts, around bends and turns, and try not to wipe out thus sending themselves and half of the remaining field into the side barricades.  That part always happens.  We didn’t see one heat, men or women, that saw the entire field make it to the finish line standing up.  Now that’s competition!

We’re not quite sure how this got added to the Olympics.  There are other snowboard events that seem to tie in very well with the “faster, stronger, higher” image of the games.  For example, the Parallel Slalom pits two snowboarders together in a snowboard version of the Super-G.  Very civilized as far as “falling off a mountain” event can be.  Then there are some events like the half-pipe that are reminiscent of the junior high school boy’s dream of winning the Olympics by being the best skateboarder in the neighborhood.  But the Snowboard Cross, that’s the right cross between mayhem and competition that makes you sit on the edge of your seat simultaneously wondering, “How do they do that?” and “You’ve got to be nuts to do that.”

One of the local sports commentators moaned on the opening day of the Winter Games that they should do something about the sports choices and put in more competitions that people care about like hockey and get rid of the ones that nobody wants to see like curling.  What he really was saying is that he has no imagination and no respect for anybody who dares like something that he doesn’t.  If he was a true sports “expert” he’d have been in front of his television every broadcast minute and drunk in the variety of competitions presented at the Olympics and no place else.

Perhaps your favorite new sport isn’t one of the Olympic events either.  But maybe it’s influenced by what’s happened over the past two weeks. The luge reminds us of an old fashioned snow shovel race.  Sort of.  And there are lots of things you can do with a snow shovel besides ride on one.  There could be competitive snow throwing – how far, how high, high flat, and/or how even can you make your driveway lining snow piles.  Or maybe you’re more influenced by the bob sled.  Dig out that old Flexible Flyer, find three of your closest friends, and see how fast you slide off your roof, over the front lawn, across the street, through the neighbor’s freshly made snowman, and into his garage.

It’s hard to imagine that with so many different sports at the same time that one cannot be fascinated with the sport itself.  Is it something completely new – or new to you?  Is it something that reminds you of your youth?  We know we’ve been moved by what we’ve watched during these competitions.  They gave us the opportunity to look at other parts of the world and see what those people think of when they think “faster, stronger, higher.”  We’re certain that with an open mind even Mr. Cynical Sports Show Host would have discovered a new favorite sport.  Maybe even Snowboard Cross.  After all, how often can you find a junior high school boy’s fantasy come true complete with real gold medals?

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Misunderstood Olympics

Michael Leave a comment

The winter games of the Olympics are almost over and we realized something the other day that we hadn’t given much thought.  As we were watching the women’s bobsled competition we decided that we have no idea what the people in the bobsled actually do.  We’re certain that it takes skill, stamina, and strength, but that’s about it.  Does the brake man (or perhaps the brake person) have to do any braking along the way or is her job just to keep a low profile and stop the sled when it gets to the bottom.  Does the other person (and we don’t even know what to call the person who sits in the front) actually steer the sled or is it more like the sleds of old where one just torques one body and the sled goes in that general direction.  It all looks like fun – perhaps at half the speed they are travelling – and we enjoy watching it but we really aren’t certain of what we are watching.

There are other winter events that have us scratching our heads.  Take the various relays.  In the summer games, a relay has a clear handoff.  In track the hand off is quite literal as the runner of one leg passes the baton to the runner of the next leg.  In the pool, the swimmer must clearly touch the wall with everybody watching before the next swimmer is off for his or her leg.  But in winter there seems to be less formal transitions.  In the cross country skiing relay the skier finishing up a leg slaps the back of the next skier.  What if it’s a miss, not a hit?  And through all of the winter gear and bibs and what have you that they are wearing, are we even certain that the slappee feels the slapper’s slap?  The speed skating relays are just too chaotic to even think about.  It looks like every skater from every team, and maybe even a few extra, circle the track waiting for a push on the backside.  That’s when they know to get into gear and spend a couple laps figuring out who gets pushed next.

We understand snowboards and half-pipes.  We were a little confused when we saw the competitors on actual skis on the half-pipe.  Where were we when they invented that game?  We missed the memo or surely we would have commented on the relative dangers of flipping and twisting while wearing five foot long skies just waiting to get hung up on the rim on the way down.

We love the grace of anybody doing just about anything on ice.  Yet even though we hear the explanation every 4 years we still don’t know why there is pairs skating and ice dancing.  Something about lifts and turns and syncopated motions.  They are both beautiful but can you really take something seriously when it has a compulsory movement called the “Twizzle?”

Regardless if we understand them all or we don’t, we’re still watching and we’re still enjoying and we’re still rooting for our team.  Someday we’ll figure them all out.  It only took us 12 years to be able to watch curling with the confidence that we actually know what they are doing out there.  If we can mentally master curling we can certainly figure out a twizzle.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Winter Rules

Michael 2 Comments

Golf may have the most famous set of winter rules of any year round sport.  Not many people understand them but when one hears “Winter Rules” one almost always thinks of golf.  However, when we think of winter rules we think of our set of rules – fashion rules.

We’ve done fashion rules before.  (See The Real Reality Summer Wardrobe Rules for Real People (July 30, 2012), Dressed for Success (Oct. 11, 2012), Summer Fashion, Summer Rules (June 27, 2013) or type “rules” into the search bar.)  We’ve never delved into winter fashion rules.  It’s because it gets so cold around here we’re just happy to get from Point A to Point B with little concern of how others are dressed to make the trip.  Until this year.

This year has been one of the coldest and one of the snowiest winters we’ve seen.  Yet somehow people have managed to crush the fashion rules barrier like never before.  We’ve threatened to have cards printed that say “Leggings are not substitutes for pants” to pass out to the most egregious violators.   But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.  (Pardon the seasonal pun.)

There is a good place to start.  Let’s poll the ladies who are reading this.  Fast forward six weeks.  Would you wear nothing but a blouse and pantyhose to work?  That isn’t too far off the mark when a woman yanks on her stretchy leggings (black, brown, white, or (shudder) patterned) and then tops it off with a top that falls just about at her waist.  She’ll pull on a pair of furry boots, drop a rhinestone pendant hanging to about her navel and calls it office appropriate for below freezing temperature weather.

There is a subset of the female winter rules violator who concentrates on footwear.  For cold, snowy days we’re fine with boots.  We’re fine with leather shoes.  We’re fine with athletic footwear that will keep one’s feet dry and warm.  We’re not fine with ballet flats, open toes shoes, backless shoes, or clogs with holes all over them particularly when whomever is wearing such poor choices has the nerve to complain that somebody should do something about all the snow and slush in the parking lot because now her feet are cold and wet.  Somebody had the chance to do something.  The shoe selection committee!

Men aren’t getting off easy here either.  For some reason, men seem to think that single digit air temperature means it’s finally cold enough to wear that windbreaker that they bought last spring unsure of actually when windbreaker weather is.  This is not the same man who wears his ever present hoodie everywhere – inside, outside, at the desk, to meetings, to lunch with clients, and at the dinner table at home.  Usually he has to always wear his hoodie because it takes his concentration away from his legs being so cold because he is wearing shorts.   Inside, outside, at the desk, to meetings, to lunch with clients, and at the dinner table at home.  And most probably running shoes without socks.  You can tell they are running shoes because he is always running from a car to a building.

So now that we’ve exposed the violators – well they’ve exposed themselves – what are the rules to go with these violations.  Rule #1 – don’t do that.  Rule #2 – don’t do that tomorrow either.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Odds On Favorites

Michael 3 Comments

The PowerBall and MegaMillions jackpots have been up again.  The Super Bowl was just a little while ago and word has it that in Las Vegas you really could bet that the first score would be a safety.  Around here everybody is betting on whether the weather will ever rise above freezing again.  What do these things have in common?  They all have odds of winning, or in the case of the last one, not freezing.

Once upon a time we took statistics to determine odds and what’s significant and what isn’t.  In fact, He of We recalls an assignment that required the fledgling statistician to determine the odds of him or her passing the course.  That was cruel but the odds weren’t all that bad.

When the PowerBall people reconfigured the number of numbers available to draw, the odds of winning went from something like one in a gazillion to one in infinity.  Yet people still win.  That got us to thinking.  If you stop to think about what are the odds of something happening the odds are pretty good that you will end up with a headache.  Don’t even think of gambling.  Just think of life.  What are the odds you’ll get to work on time every day next week?  What are the odds that you won’t slip on an icy sidewalk?  What are the odds that you’re next paycheck will be in the bank before you next have to fill up your car’s gas tank?  Everything has a chance that it will or will not happen.  Not that it might or might not.  It either will or it will not.

That led us to a most profound revelation.  The odds of anything happening are 50/50.  Or even of not happening.  Everything in life boils down to a 1 in 2 chance.  Either it will or it won’t.  It doesn’t matter if some world class statistician determined the odds that the first play from scrimmage in the Super Bowl would result in a safety were 6,000 to 1 or that the odds that Finland will win the women’s hockey gold medal in the Olympics are 16 to 1. There’s a headache starting to happen.  There are only eight teams in the women’s tournament so shouldn’t the greatest odds be 8 to 1?  It doesn’t matter.  The real odds are 50/50.  Either they will win or they will lose.

So now that we’ve shared our profound revelation with you, you can bet with confidence on next year’s Super Bowl, this year’s Olympics, or tomorrow’s weather.  Everybody deserves the good odds and you can’t get much better than 50/50.  Actually even that can be reduced to some pretty good odds.  Either you will or you won’t.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Happy February

Michael Leave a comment

For such a short month, February is packed full of special observances and holidays.  It started on February 1 with National Freedom Day celebrating the release of slaves.  Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery on February 1, 1865 and in 1948 Harry Truman proclaimed February 1 as National Freedom Day.  Then we moved on to February 2 with the most useful holiday of the year, Groundhog Day.  (We understand there was supposed to be a football game on that day also but only one team showed up.  And for that they wouldn’t let the NHL schedule any hockey games.  Go figure!)  Add Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day and you would think for a month with only 28 days those few events would be plenty.  But no, February has to be an over achiever.

There is no way we can list all the February observances.  A cursory search of the Internet revealed 382 special days, weeks, and months starting on Feb. 1 with Freedom Day and not stopping until you get to National Tooth Fairy Day on Feb. 28.  Some are well known and widely celebrated.  February has traditionally been Black History Month and now that you know the origin of Freedom Day it makes sense.  With Valentine’s Day stuck right in the middle of it, February is a natural to host American Heart Month.

But even to a couple of confirmed quirks like us, we are confused by some of the observances.  For example, although the entire month celebrates National Hot Breakfast Month (and buried within is Pride in Food Service Week), the first Saturday of February each year is set aside as Ice Cream for Breakfast Day.  Not to be outdone by the heart, February also covers other illnesses and maladies including among others National Cancer Day, Week, and Month (all three!), HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, Toothache Day, Low Vision Month, and World Day of the Sick.

There are happy celebrations also.  Take a Child to a Library Day, Laugh and Get Rich Day, and Give Kids a Smile Day are just a few.  And don’t leave out the pets.  Every week has several animal related observances and some time during every February you will be able to watch the Westminster Dog Show.

We’re wondering if they’ve gone too far.  With so many observances will people find themselves waiting for their special day/week/month and lose the meaning of the really important days?  Of course, every day is important to somebody.  To us, the most important day is the one you’re living today.   Not to say that Curling is Cool Day isn’t cool.  It just isn’t as cool as making it from morning to night with a good plan of doing it again tomorrow.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Large is the New Small

Michael 2 Comments

A while ago He of We stopped at a pizza shop new to him.  It was late, he hadn’t had dinner, didn’t feel like making dinner, always wanted to try this pizza, so it seemed like a good idea.  He walked up to the counter and with all the confidence of a starving man said, “I’ll take a small pepperoni.”  “We don’t have small.  Only large and extra large.”  Hmm, a quandary.  So he asked for the smaller of the two and it was confirmed that would be the large.

We might have stumbled on to something.  Although we don’t have the statistics at our fingertips, we are pretty sure Americans are getting bigger.  They seem to be compared to what we recall from our youth.  Could it be because there is no more small?  At He’s work cafeteria there is no small soft drink.  Although not as excessive as the big 32 ounce mega-mugs many convenience stores sell as their standard drink size, it is still disconcerting that one has to buy twice as much liquid refreshment as one wants because of limited sizes.  Many fast food restaurants only have small beverages to go with their small kid size meals.  Everything else is upsized.

It’s not just food and beverages that have grown.  In this age of tighter fuel economy and higher gas prices, cars are growing.  Friend of Daughter of He recently bought the small SUV Chevy Equinox, which is every bit as long and wide as He’s older mid-sized GMC Envoy, whose replacement the Acadia is as large as his previous full size GMC Yukon whose new replacement wouldn’t even fit into the garage which is why he ended up with the Envoy.  There is something wrong here.

Or perhaps not.  If everything small is now large it saves us the embarrassment in front of friends and family of wanting the wimpy size.  At the same time, it allows up to be superior to friends and family by not having to settle for the wimpy size.   We ask for the smallest available and it will be larger than whatever anybody else already has.  Then if they want bigger they can go and order the compact which will be bigger still.  And so on, and so on, and so on.

Now that we have that all sorted out we’re left with only one other question.  What happened to medium?

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Nobody in the Middle

Michael Leave a comment

Not so many days ago, He and She were watching television by telephone.  That’s when we’re each watching the same program, in this case movie, at our own houses while discussing the proceedings by phone for the duration.  It’s a perfectly acceptable alternative to side by side viewing when either of us is quite comfy staying right where she or he (or She or He) might by, and/or neither of us wants to go out in the cold and snow.  There are added benefits.  Either of us could also read the paper, play a computer game, or watch the deer outside the window and not distract the other.  On particularly hungry days it’s also possible to eat a full meal without the other being wise to the extra caloric consumption going on so long as the meal doesn’t consist of crunchy tacos.  Surely we’re not the only ones who do something like that.

But we digress.  We were watching an old movie starring among others, Patricia Neal.  A very young Patricia Neal.  A 1950’s vintage Patricia Neal.  Whenever we watch old movies we seem to end up playing that game “I wonder what ever happened to her.” Or him.  Although we could recall other movies featuring a young Patricia Neal, neither of us could recall anything in which she was featured after the late 50’s other than an occasional coffee ad on television.  She had entered the dreaded Middle Age Zone, one from which there is no available film character regardless of the talent of the star.  Not until card carrying members of the Screen Actors’ Guild pass through the donut hole and become older, character actors do we ever see them again.

We know that most movie goers are young adults and most young adults want to see other young adults on the big screen.  But there are some older (over 35) people still with disposable income who go to the movies.  Must they also be content watching children cavort in digital splendor?  Surely there is room somewhere for a middle age character other than mom or pop for 10 or 15 minutes throughout the movie.  (That’s twice we used the word “surely” so you know we really mean it.)

It is still acceptable for “older” actors to be featured in movies.  A great example is “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” which starred nobody but older actors.  These are people everybody relates to.  The older movie goer remembers them as young actors when the movie goers themselves were young.  The young movie goers saw the older actors hosting Saturday Night Live a month before the release of the movie.  And even the middle age movie goers sort of remember their parents speaking of these people as fine actors or their children recounting how cool they were on SNL last week.

There are exceptions.  “It’s Complicated” featured Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin well past young actorhood but not yet in their golden years.  You might say they were smack in the middle of the Middle Age Zone.  These sorts of movies are rare but when they come along they are usually quite entertaining and end up making somebody quite a bit of money.  Never a bad thing in business.

So why doesn’t somebody exploit these people while they are traversing the donut hole from youngster to eccentric?  That could be the question of the decade.  Or at least for a few more years until a few more of our favorite former young actors join the eccentric crowd and we can now answer, “I wonder what ever happened to her.” Or him.

Now, that’s what we think. Really. How ‘bout you?

 

Don’t make me do math

Michael Leave a comment

This weekend we went to our go to restaurant for an early dinner.  We figured we’d run into our share of older diners at the hour we went but we didn’t figure to run into Hostess Stand Controversy.

As we approached the hostess stand we noticed another couple waiting off to the side.  Waiting for others to join them, perhaps parking the car, perhaps coming separately.  Who knew why but there they stood by themselves, not quite with the waiting hostess.  As we got closer the waiting hostess sprang into action and became a hosting hostess.  “How many?” was her question.  “Two,” was our reply.  “Wait just a minute,” came from the gentleman on the side.  “We’ve been waiting here.”

After a bit of “You go,” “No, please you go,” She of We finally convinced them to please go ahead of us. Within a few minutes the hostess was back and we were at our seats also.  Shortly after everyone was seated the gentleman on the side approached She and said he had nothing to say against us, he was upset that they had been ignored.  (Things like that happen when one stands on the side but She wasn’t going to bring that up.)  He then proceeded to explain to She that in all of the 613,000 hours he’d been on this planet he hadn’t ever been ignored like that.

Ok, let’s back up a bit.  613,000 hours.  Actually 613 thousand and some odd other hours.  On this planet.  We thought he wasn’t native.  What is it with the 613,000 hours?  She had said a friend of hers had recently commented on how often people seem to want to establish their ages by calling out how many months old they are.  Once you get past 24 of them, you should be counting in years.  It seems it’s a neat trick for those who are less than certain of what they have to say.  You state your age in months and your listeners then become mental calculators trying to figure out just how old you really are and lose grasp of whatever it is you might have been saying.  You can then feign that you’ve been agreed with or annoyance at not having been paid attention to.  Either way, you win.  You think.

It didn’t work with She.  Once he got to his 613,000 hours on this planet her response was “Don’t make me do math,” and then he lost all interest in continuing the conversation.  Apparently he was so uncertain that months weren’t going to be enough to create the desired mental distraction, not even weeks or days, that he had to go to hours.  Imagine the hours he spends every day figuring out how old he is.  It changes constantly.  Or at least hourly.  As we write this he is 24 hours older.  Do you suppose he’s added his new hours to his new age?  Or does he calculate it only in the morning upon arising?

In case you’re wondering, and to save you from having to do the math, at 8,760 hours per year that makes him about 70 years old.  And now we all know just how old he really is.  Or perhaps how childish.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

 

Neither snow, nor rain, nor Congress, nor a Polar Vortex, etc., etc.

Michael 1 Comment

It was cold here earlier this week.  No surprise for most of America since it was cold just about everywhere.  Tuesday we hit air temps of 9 to 10 degrees below zero with wind chills around 30 below.  We still got our mail.  He is on a driving route with his mailbox sitting at the street.  But She has her mailed walked to her door by a letter carrier who still marches up and down the street.  It’s not like they were responding to heart attacks or putting out fires.  They were delivering bills and junk mail but were still out there.

Oddly, we were talking about the postal service just a week earlier.  Seems the USPS finally got someone to approve, albeit temporarily and to expire in 2016, their request for a rate hike.  This had been a discussion in the media and in offices in late December when it was approved.  Most of that discussion started with, “Can you believe it? Stamps are going up again!”  Every once in a while Reality finally hold of the reins and pulled that Pony Express carriage to the side of the road.  (Yes we know the Pony Express was an independent hauler and not part of the USPS, not unlike UPS or FedEx today.  We’ll get that in a little while.)  Our typical response was, “But when was the last time you mailed anything other than a Christmas card?”

Here’s the Reality.  That rate hike is going to s 49 cents to pick up a letter, a payment, a birthday card, a get well greeting, Groundhog Day party invitations or whatever you can fit into a 5 to 11-1/2 inches long by 3-1/2 to 6 inches high envelope weighing up to an ounce and deliver it directly to somebody s house anywhere in the United States.  s a deal.

Reality Part 2.  She of We had a package to be delivered some 5 states away, a little over 900 miles.   This was during the rushed, shortened Christmas season of 2013.  That was the one where some people might still be waiting to get their presents delivered.  She mailed her package from the post office for the grand sum of $8.00 on the Saturday before Christmas (December  21) and it got there on Christmas Eve.

Reality Part 3.  Even though the United States Postal Service is a “non-government agency” and receives no tax money, it can only raise rates, change service levels (such as not delivering on Saturdays), or make available certain goods and services (like flat rate shipping) with the approval of Congress.  Congressmen and Senators not being able to explain to their constituents exactly what it is that they do can always make a few extra points with the voters by telling them they kept stamp prices down and everyone will continue to get to get junk mail and bills on Saturdays.  This is like McDonald’s going to Congress to seek approval for a price increase on a Happy Meal.

So is anybody happy about the 3 cent increase in first class postage?  Sure, everybody who hasn’t had his or her identity stolen while trying to pay bills on line, everybody who got their Christmas gifts delivered on time for Christmas, and everyone who actually sent thank you cards for their on-time Christmas gifts know that 49 cents just isn’t that much money to stay whole, to stay happy, or to stay in touch.

We say fool them all and start writing a letter or two!  And don’t forget those Groundhog Day party invitations.

Now, that’s what we think.  Really.  How ‘bout you?

Did you know?  We’ve added a search feature to the Real Reality Show Blog.  Find it in the right margin, type in a word or two and the system will return all the blogs that have that word.  For example, type in “toast” to find one of our favorites, “How Would You Like Your Toast?”  Happy searching!