Next Christmas

Everyone start saving now. I know what I want for Christmas next year. Yes, I realize that it's only a few days after Christmas, but it's going to take a while for you to save and compile your money for my gift.

How many times have you ever wished that you didn't have to pay high prices for electricity? Have you ever wished that you could turn the tables and be your own power company? Have you ever had a crazy desire to house your own nuclear weaponry just in case of attack? That's all I want for Christmas, and thanks to Toshiba it can be a reality.

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-toshiba-micro-nuclear-12.17b.html

Toshiba has built a personal nuclear reactor. Designed to power apartment buildings and city blocks, the unit is scheduled to be available in Japan next year and the US in 2009. So, I guess maybe I'll have to wait two years to get one, but how freaking awesome will it be to have the ability to power a small city block for the next 40 years?

Now, Toshiba assures us that the unit will be self-contained and safe, and while they didn't say anything directly about the potential for weaponizing it, I'm sure that they would claim it to be impossible. I don't know about you, but that just doesn't give me much confidence. Every time a technology company says that something is secure or safe, a 15 year old in Japan comes up with a way to beat the system. Don't think that this unit won't be made into a bomb or missile by June.

Given that we can safely (ironic, eh?) assume that the unit is going to find a post production market in international weapons, I definitely want to have one in my closet. I figure it's not much different than having a gun in your home. If there's gonna be some there, you better make sure one is yours. Well, if half the world is going to have nuclear arms, I better be part of the half that's armed. And nothing gives you more leverage when you want to borrow your neighbor's ladder than the idea that you could turn their home into a smoldering crater.

Happy Day After

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. I just haven't really been inspired. We've been running around like crazy getting things ready for the holidays, shopping for family and friends, and attending holiday parties. It's almost all over, though.

The kids had a great day yesterday. I think they all got what they wanted, and other than a few fights in the late afternoon, we enjoyed a fairly nice day at home. Since it wasn't snowing here, as it was on some of you, we did venture out to try and get some lunch. No one wanted sandwiches and Leah didn't want to make a big meal, so we all piled in the van to find food. Now, I had stated before we left that I was sure that we would not find anything open, but I was wrong…sort of.

The Sonic up the road was open for business, and since we couldn't find anything else, we pulled in. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, and the third string was on duty at the Sonic. My order placement went something like this:

Sonic: Welcome to Sonic, may I take your order?

Me: Okay. I want three kids corndog meals, one chicken dinner, one grilled chicken sandwich…

Sonic: Sir? Did you say you want coney dogs?

Me: No. I want three kids corndog meals, one chicken dinner, one grilled chicken sandwich with mayo and tomato…

Sonic: Sir? You want mayo with your corndog?

Me: No. Why don't you read me what you have?

Sonic: I've got three chili dogs, three corndogs with mayo, and a chicken dinner with a tomato.

Me: Look. Let's go slow. Three kids corndog meals.

Sonic: Are those for kids?

Me: Uhhh….Does it matter?

Sonic: Sir. I'm trying to be helpful. Are you ordering for kids?

Me: If it helps, then yes.

Sonic: Okay, so three corndog meals.

Me: A chicken dinner.

Sonic: Got it.

Me: A grilled chicken sandwich with mayo and tomato.

Sonic: Do you want that with mayor or mustard?

Me: I'm pretty sure I said mayo.

Sonic: Sir, I am not a mind reader.

Me: Thank goodness because you don't want to know what I'm thinking right now.

Sonic: Okay. Your total is $12.72.

Me: But I'm not done.

At this point I was already cut off, so I had to push the button again. A different cheery voice came on, and we completed the order. Might have been a manager because things went much more smoothly, or so I thought. After a few minutes someone asked for the time. It was 1:30pm. We'd been sitting and waiting for about 5 minutes. Soon, Emma started announcing every time that a carhop came out in hopes that it was for us. But after another 10 minutes no order had arrived.

I pushed the button again. "Welcome to Sonic. Blah, blah, blah." I said that I just wanted to check on my order, and she said, "You mean you haven't gotten it?" I figured they would have a record of little things like an order being delivered, payment received, etc, but apparently they weren't really keeping up with the accounting on Christmas Day. I said, "If I had my order, would I ask you where it is?"

Now, it's quite possible that that was not the proper response because after another 5 minutes we still had no order. I hit the button again. "Blah, blah, to Sonic. Blah, blah, blah." Again I told them that I was checking the status of my order. She says, "You haven't ordered yet." What? I said, "Look, I ordered about twenty minutes ago, and I still don't have food." Silence for a minute, then she says, "Oh, did you have the three kids chili dogs?" We didn't eat at Sonic.

Other than that, our day was pretty uneventful. Sydney got a bike which we had to go ride around the block, Emma got a diary that opens with a password; at one point I found her all alone in the TV room saying the password, opening it, closing it, saying the password, etc. (she said she was practicing), Abbie got clothes and toys, and Reagan got a Nintendo DS which she played all day.

All in all, it was a great day. I hope that yours was as well.