Day 26

I can't believe I've made it this far. I couldn't have done it without you, faithful reader. So far 437 people have read my blog total. That's awesome.

On to the awesomosity. There is so much to choose from today. My leading thought coming here this morning was to have it be firefighter's funeral. Ryan Hummert died Monday in the tragedy in Maplewood. You can read more about it here. They say the funeral procession could be five miles long, with firefighters and other emergency service people coming from all over the country. That is awesome.

However, that seems like a bit of a downer, and I don't like downers, especially on this blog, so I have chosen a different awesomosity for today. Rain.

Normally I do not like rain, but the rain yesterday and through the weekend is great for so many reasons. I'll start with yesterday. Did you realize how cool (obviously comparitively, it was still like 80 or so) it was yesterday? My AC didn't run all day and I was very comfortable in my home.

I was supposed to have a baseball game (playing) last night at 9pm in East St. Louis at Jackee-Joyner-Kersee (I have no idea where the dashes go in her name, so I put them everywhere). Needless to say, who wants to be in East St. Louis from 9-11:30 at night? Besides that, I had to get up early yesterday and today, and haven't had a night at home in a while. I've had "The Bank Job" (great Jason Statham movie, but I like most of his stuff) sitting at home for almost a week and haven't had the chance to watch it yet, until last night.

What else is good about rain? Well, this Monday my mother will help me do some weeding in my yard, and more importantly, in my rasberry garden. All this rain will help out with pulling weeds.

Do you want to learn more about rain? Check these out:

Wikipedia (the definitive source for everything)

A kid's page about where rain comes from (much more comfortable conversation for parents than the old, "Where do babies come from?")

So, today, rain is awesome. So is my mother, which is why she is featured in today's picture of the day (also because she was still home when I got here, but she really is awesome!)

See you tomorrow! Don't forget to vote in the poll and leave me a comment!

Day 24

I can't believe (I before E, except after C...) I've made it this far! Go me! Don't forget to vote in the poll!!

For today's awesomeness, I'm gonna pull one out that I've been saving for a little while. You see, my family is pretty tight. I mean, we all get along fairly well and hang out regularly. Our most regular get togethers are family dinners, which we try to do once a week. This is challenging a lot of the time since my mother works a lot of late hours, both grandmas try to make it, I'm busy as all get out, and my brother and his wife have three kids. Organizing a time that works for all of us is a bit difficult most of the time. So, when we do get us all together for a meal, time is of the essence and meal preparation is usually done in advance. Except for some small things, which can be done quickly. Which leads me to the awesomeness of the day; the way my mother cuts up a watermelon.

I know what you're thinking, "But Ben, you said something that is done quickly. Who ever heard of a quick way to cut up a watermelon?" I know. Watermelon cubing takes forever, unless you're my mother (who learned this trick from a co-worker, Laura Calys). My momma took a fair sized watermelon from oval to cubes in under 4 minutes. I'm serious. So, I thought I would share with you how it was done, because it's awesome!

First, you cut the watermelon in half, right down the middle. Then you cut the halves in half (or quarter the watemelon for those keeping track). Once you have four quarters, take one and slice the knive between the goodness and the rind from both sides. Then you make 3-4 slices horizontal on each side. Then you cut straight down from the top and: voila! cubed watermelon!

For those that have no clue what I just said, here are some pictures, taken from here:

I know! It's amazing! Awesome even! And it takes like no time at all!

So, you want some watermelon, but you don't want cubes, right? Well, here is a link to Wikihow that shows another way to cut a watermelon. At the bottom of the page, there are several more links on how to do more fun stuff with watermelon, like a watermelon basket, or cutting a watermelon to look like a swan and stuff like that.

If you are just interested in everything watermelon (who isn't, really?) visit www.watermelon.org. Yes, watermelons have a website. What a crazy world we live in!

I hoep you enjoyed the post, even if it is slightly recycled material. Let me know what you think with a comment. By the way, I'm gonna put some tags into this post to see if more people come to visit me. (I've been getting 15-40 visitors a day for a while now, in case you were interested.)

Here's my picture of the day, taken with my wonderful father in his basement; come back tomorrow and see what's awesome! (I already have an idea what it's going to be, and it really is awesome!)