Nobel prize for effort...

Interesting awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize this morning to President Obama.  At first, I thought maybe there were just no other candidates this year and they gave it out based on plans and promises... then I saw an article on yahoo with this little paragraph.

"Compare this to Greg Mortenson, nominated for the prize by some members of Congress, who the bookies gave 20-to-1 odds of winning. Son of a missionary, a former army Medic and mountaineer, he has made it his mission to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill people for trying. His Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan - a mission which has, along the way, inspired millions of people to view the protection and education of girls as a key to peace and prosperity and progress."

Seems like a worthy choice to me.

Full article here...

Mash right here

A shocking trip to the restroom

Yeah, so the other day, I was in Columbia doing some water testing (a process whereby we spray water on a roof at specific locations where a leak is suspected to isolate the point of water entry into the roof system so it can be repaired) at a middle school.  We were there pretty much all day and part of the job involved cutting the gypsum board ceiling (think sheetrock like is on walls overhead) in order to monitor the underside of the roof deck to watch for water coming in... if you have ever cut sheetrock, you know it creates a ton of fine dust.  Now, imagine standing under the cut and looking up... yeah, dust in the hair, in the mouth, in the nose and in the eyes as well as down the shirt.

So, when we had finally finished up, I wanted nothing more than to get some water and wash up.  I am driving down the road toward the interstate and spot a gas station.  I go inside and see that it is a unisex restroom.  I turn the doorknob, no problem, and open the door.  As I am pulling the door open and starting to walk in, I am glad I was looking down and rubbing my eyes as I only see a woman's purse on the floor and a pair of woman's shoes with feet in them and hear a woman frantically exclaim, "There's somebody in here!!!!".

Which brings me to my main point... if you are using a unisex restroom in a gas station... LOCK the door.  Needless to say, I quickly left the gas station and drove down the street until I found another station (with separate restrooms) and washed up and got my bottle of water and a small package of peanuts.