Rowing

I just started reading "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel James Brown.  It's about the University of Washington crew that wins the Olympic gold in Berlin in 1936.  Mostly so far it's just making me really wish I hadn't quit crew in college but here's an interesting tidbit. "A well-conditioned oarsman... must be able to take in and consume as much as eight liters of oxygen per minute; an average male is capable of taking in roughly four or five liters at most. Pound for pound, Olympic oarsmen may take in and process as much oxygen as a thoroughbred racehorse."

I just rowed at a not very vigorous pace for an hour and burned, according to my rowing machine, 612 calories. That's more than a seventh of a pound. Just think about how much college rowers would need to eat!

Mind control and Dinosaurs

Today I learned that researchers at the university of Washington (or maybe Washington university) successfully used mind control. They had themselves hooked up to EEG and magnetic something or others and, from across campus, one scientist made the other one involuntarily press a trigger button while playing a video game. The transmitted the signal over the internet. Pretty small stuff, but cool.

I also learned, from a children's book, that's the Jurassic period was earlier than the Cretaceous period, that the Diplodocus ate rocks to help digest leaves rather than chewing them before swallowing, that the Sauroposeidon (this thing has gotta have something to do with water, right?) was as tall as a six-story building, that the Apatosaurus was formerly known as the Brontosaurus, and that the Argentinosaurus was one of the largest land animals to have ever lived, at about 130 feet long and 200,000 pounds.

Chess and taxes

Today we finished reading "play winning chess". I learned not to weaken my kings position.

I also learned that taxes are calculated differently based on what time of business structure a business has. I already knew that someone with a sole proprietorship has to claim all of the company profits on his personal taxes in the year they were earned, but I learned that for some types of companies, you can choose whether profits are claimed on personal taxes or by the business as a separate entity.

Water

I want to look up this study to read for myself, but I learned that drinking water can curb snack cravings, particularly at night, and that a relatively large portion if the US population is at least mildly dehydrated. I love water!

Also, BMI is crazy. I could way anywhere from 125 to 168 and still be in a healthy BMI range. That's a huge spread! 43 pounds! Also, I was technically obese right before I had Henry and it's good o be back to pre-pregnancy weight, even if I do still have a serious pooch.

Basketball and Reese's Pieces

Today I learned that sometimes I still really don't like basketball but that I'm much better than I was when I started playing here in Klamath Falls. Granted, I started out pretty bad so that's not saying much. I'm thankful for a very nice group of women here that I typically feel comfortable playing with despite my poor skills.

I also learned that one serving of Reese's Pieces is 190 calories for 52 pieces. You may think that 52 pieces is a lot, but I assure you it is a surprisingly small volume, especially for a candyoholic like me.

Communists in Washington

Today I learned that the communists purposefully settled in several towns in Washington. All of them failed. I had some other interesting things about this that I learned from Farthest Reach, which I just finished, but I don't remember anymore.

Modoc wars

Today I learned that the fighting with the Modoc Indians was some of the fiercest in the northwest. Apparently the Modocs were put on a reservation with an enemy tribe and were understandably unhappy about the situation so they rebelled. They ended up waging battle over in the lava beds.

Grand Coulee Dam and Mount Rainier

Today I learned that Grand Coulee Dam, in addition to having the highest output of any dam in the United States, is three times the size of the largest Egyptian pyramid, and has enough concrete to make two four-lane transcontinental highways.

I also learned that The Supreme Court (I think?) ruled that Mount Rainier's name should be changed back to Tacoma in 1924, but the change got held up bureaucratically and never actually happened.

Blueberries

Today I learned that Henry loves blueberries. One of these days I'm going to put a grape and a blueberry on his tray to see which one wins.

Shoulders, naps, and weddings

Today I learned that my Dad has, as Adam says, "symptoms consistent with bicipital tendinitis". It looks like I got my shoulders from my Dad, along with my knees.

I learned that Lydia and Henry are both cuckoo crazy if they don't get good naps.

I learned that my Dad has officiated five weddings and would like to do more.

Rowing

Today I learned that Lake Ewauna can go from beautifully calm to ridiculously windy with rolling waves and whitecaps very quickly. Not so good when I'm out in a double wherry with a beginner rower.

Siberia

Today I learned that Siberia is not a country but rather a region covering much of Asia.

Rowing

Today I learned that rowing is very frustrating with beginners in a four (a four is four people with sweep oars, one oar per person, usually with a coxswain).

Hell's Canyon

Today I learned that Hell's Canyon, in Oregon, is deeper, at 2436meters, than the Grand Canyon (1737meters). I also learned that the Snake river, which runs through hells canyon, is one of the major tributaries of the Columbia river and that it is one of the largest rivers in the US, with only three rivers having a higher hydroelectric potential, one of which is the Columbia, and I forgot what the other two are.

Bend

Today I learned that at the time Farthest Reach was written (1941), Bend, Oregon, was expected to only have 10 more years worth of lumber. I wonder what they came up with to keep the city alive?

Vaccinations

Today I learned that Henry was given an unnecessary vaccine. I took him in for a 6 month well child visit shortly after we moved here. I later learned that the clinic I went to is out of network for our insurance so we got a bill for almost 1000 dollars. I have been trying to get the bill reduced but no luck. Today Henry had his 9 month visit (at a different clinic) and I was looking through his immunization records. In doing so, I discovered that they gave him a rotavirus vaccine that he didn't need at his 6 month visit. He had two doses of the rotavirus vaccine rotarix while we were in north carolina. Rotarix is a 2-dose series. They gave him a dose of Rotateq here in OR, which is normally a three-dose series, but that Henry did not need since he had the Rotarix. I am hoping that I can at least get them to remove the charge for rotateq virus and administration, which will save us about 160 bucks. Oy. I hate the health care system!

Soccer Balls

Today I learned that a classic black and white soccer ball has black pentagons surrounded by white hexagons, not black hexagons with white pentagons, as I was trying to do while creating a soccer ball hat pattern. D'oh.

Chess and Snakes

Today I learned that if I am behind in space during a chess match, I should trade some pieces, and, likewise, if I am ahead in space, I should avoid trades.

Also, Adam told me that it's illegal in Klamath Falls to kick the heads off of snakes on sidewalks here. Apparently they used to have wooden sidewalks with spaces where snakes would sometimes stick their heads up into the walkway. Weird. I wonder why they didn't want people to kick them?

Finding Dead Bodies

Today I learned that one of the ladies in my ward's mother has a job as a dead body finder. She dives and uses a little scanner thing that somehow finds the bodies, then she dives down and gets 'em out. Kinda creepy, and also kinda cool. Makes me wonder how the scanner thing works.

Happy birthday to me

Today I learned that it's much easier to not be upset about having nothing special about your birthday if you try to pretend it's just another regular day.

Scriptures, carrots, and Lydia

Today I learned two scriptures from Revelation, which takes me to the end of the New Testament 25 scriptures for scripture mastery. Unfortunately, I didn't reinforce the work I did the last two weeks so I have eight or nine to relearn before I move on to Old Testament.

I also learned that finely grating carrots takes a lot longer than coarsely grating carrots. I made myself a (quite delicious) carrot cake for my birthday, which is tomorrow.

This is older news too, but on Saturday Adam and I took the color code test for Lydia. We learned that she's a red-yellow, with 21 red, 13 yellow, 7 blue, and 4 white. Adam and I are both whites. I'm a white-red with some blue but only one yellow and he's a white... kinda evenish everything else. So, I get along with Lydia pretty well but that 13 yellow is a little hard for me to deal with, that's why it's so great when Adam comes home and they let their yellows out together.

Klamath Fair

Today I learned that Klamath Falls has crappy fair food. I tried three different treats in the hope to find something delicious and they all fell sort. Even the fudge, my go-to fair fare was mediocre at best. Grrrr.

Bedtime

Today I learned that my kids will be totally insane if a babysitter puts them down for the night. Lydia will make bedtime into a game (a hilarious, hilarious, game... I would try to tell you what happened but I wouldn't be able to do it justice) and Henry will scream his baby head off until he finally exhausts himself, then will somehow sleep through the rest of Lydia's crazy.

Also, I learned that there are some pretty good singers in Klamath Falls (we just saw their production of Les Mis), but that the local theater needs to work on their microphone volumes. My ears hurt a little bit. Also, if your only instruments are woodwinds and brass, would you still call it an orchestra?

Les Mis and Shoes

Today I learned that it occasionally pays (though not much) to guess random coupon codes when buying theater tickets. I saved five bucks by guessing "LESMIS" when purchasing tickets to the community production for tomorrow night.

I also learned that, should Adam happen to somehow mysteriously get his shoe on the roof, I should not ask him how it happened.

Rowing

I've started rowing again since moving to klamath falls... ere's a nice little rowing club on lake ewauna, less than two miles from my house so I bike down and row for an hourish then bike back home. I recently have had a lapse of about a month in my rowing because of a variety of factors (vacations, sickness, horribly smokey air from local forest fires) and had finally stopped really caring if I went at all. Today Adam called me from work to see if I was planning in rowing. I wasn't, but changed my plans and decided to go. I went and had a great time, despite getting quite soaked from large waves since the water was a little rough. Today I learned how easy it is to convince myself that I don't care to do an activity that I really like to do, and also how much I will enjoy formerly pleasurable activities if I can get myself off my lazy bum and moving again. 

Basketball

Today I learned (again) that if I don't exercise for two weeks and then try to play basketball, I will have a hard time running up and down the court a bajillion times. In other news, I'm thinking about trying to run a 5k next month and I am not a runner...

Midges

Someone warned me that midges in Klamath Falls are really bad in the summer. Today I had my first run-in with the nasty blighters. They don't bite, so I suppose as far as bugs go they're really not too bad, but they swarm like crazy around Upper Klamath Lake. Today we went to lower Moore park after dinner, which, of course, is prime time for bugs of all sorts. There were so many midges outside our car when we got there I almost drove back home, but this was the first time we'd taken Lydia to the park since she got her cast off. They were thankfully not too thick around the swings so that's where I spent most of my time. They are little green bugs that apparently hatch in the lake and come up to mate in big swarms. They can be found all over the northwest but are particularly plentiful here in Klamath Falls. The scientific name for this type of midge is Chironomus utahensis, as it is also found it Utah, where it was first named. They're known to clog car radiators and people who live in their region often have big piles of dead midges that they need to sweep off their porches every DAY. Yuck, yuck, and yuck. Unfortunately, I also learned that they will most likely be around until September. The internet tells me I should be thankful for the midges since the larvae are fed on by a variety of fish and contribute to the food chain for trophy trout, which Klamath lake is apparently famous for. I'm not convinced that it's worth it. (note: midges were native here, they were not introduced to compete with mosquitos... this picture was taken from a true or false page of the klamath county museum website)

chess and scriptures

Today I learned how to get a checkmate if I have a queen and a king versus a king and if I have a rook and a king versus a king. Since I tend to lose endgames very very badly, this will be helpful in my chess endeavors. I need to learn more checkmates but it's a good start.

Also, since it's Sunday, I've been working on memorizing scriptures. The LDS church has what we call scripture mastery. Church leaders picked out 25 scriptures each from the old testament, new testament, book of mormon, and doctrine and covenants. LDS youth who go through seminary in high school learn all 100 scripture masteries. Since I never went through seminary, I never learned them, and have decided to learn a few each week during church, since, honestly, I barely ever pay attention to the lessons in Sunday school or relief society anyway. I only have a few more in the new testament section, though I need to work on solidifying some of the ones I've already learned. After that, I'm moving on to the old testament. My goal is to learn all 100 by the end of the year.

Snotty Boy and Square

So today I learned that when Henry, who usually falls asleep with hardly a peep, has a completely stuffed up nose that prevents him from sucking his thumb, he will scream his little boy head off for hours before falling asleep, then repeatedly wake up throughout the night. I ended up bringing him to bed with me since he and Lydia share a room and I didn't want him waking her up. It was a good choice for him, but not for me. Woo, I'm tired.

I also learned that I can take credit cards using my iPad with a free square reader. The downside is that I don't have a data plan for my iPad so I'm not sure if I can use it if I don't have a wifi connection. I signed up to go to a small scale community sale on the 17th so hopefully I'll get to try it out then. If it works well we may use it when Adam opens his clinic, until he figures out a more permanent solution.

Pee

Today I learned that if I'm debating making my daughter try to use the potty I should always go with my gut, which usually involves making her pee, instead of listening to her when she says she doesn't have to pee and instead allowing myself to get distracted by reading an article about why I shouldn't be reading an article about Kate Middleton's post baby belly. The result of my folly was urine all over the kitchen, hallway, and bathroom, where I finally found Lydia standing near the potty.

The Settling of Oregon

I just finished the book "Adventurers of Oregon" by Constance Lindsay Skinner. It's an interesting narrative and includes details mostly of the fur trade in early America. The parts that I have found thought provoking are the start of the vast American settler influx and e role of alcohol in trading with the native Americans.

After the war of 1812 the British controlled much of the Oregon territory through the Hudson Bay company, lead at the time by one McLaughlin. he ruled the area much as a feudal lord and was respected by white and native alike. He was strong and fair. The natives called him chief white eagle and everyone lived fairly peaceably. some farming was established by retired traders. Then one of the native tribes, the Salish, sent some men to find Clark (from Lewis and Clark), to ask him to give them a bible and to send a missionary to teach them. Clark did not do so, but word of the expedition got out and interest in Oregon rose once again. After this a flood of missionaries and settlers began to head for Oregon. The natives became uneasy about their lands being taken. McLaughlin was deposed as the Americans were against the Hudson's bay company (despite being treated fairly and generously), and the natives began to rise up. I don't doubt that settlers would eventually have come to Oregon, but I can't help but wonder how long it would have taken had the Salish not sent to Clark in search of the Bible.

The use of alcohol in trading with the native Americans was a controversial practice. Some trading companies provided alcohol liberally and some forbade the practice of trading with alcohol. I am a little torn on the topic. On the one hand I commend The companies that did not allow alcohol because they seem much more honest and concerned for the well-being of their fellow men, but on the other hand, I believe that the natives should have been able to withstand the temptation. Having lived near an Indian reservation, I have seen first-hand the hold that alcohol still has on many of the people. It makes me wonder if there is some genetic predisposition toward alcoholism or perhaps some historical reason why the natives would be likely to become abusers of alcohol. Is it because it was so new? Who knows. I do think it contributed to the decline of the natives and their defeat by the Americans. I was also surprised at how much the tribes warred against each other and it made me a little sad every time a tribe was kind and helpful to the whites. Part of me wishes I could warn them that they are facilitating their own downfall through their kindness. Who knows, but we may never have discovered the mouth of the Columbia at all without their help.