Mind Dump

In the past almost three weeks, I have sat down numerous times in an attempt to craft an interesting and witty blog entry, but I have either become distracted by the adventures/misadventures of the 10 month old who has taken over my house, or I have had to work, or do stuff for basement renovations (ALMOST DONE!!!) or I have simply not had the mental energy to get something meaningful in writing. So here we go again and I'm determined that this time a post will result! My advance apologies for the random and possibly uninteresting content...hopefully after this mind dump, my inspiration returns.

1) George Bush came to Edmonton yesterday. There were clips on TV of people protesting and calling him a terrorist and a war monger and I had to wonder how much these people have actually educated themselves on the factual events of the past 9 years. Personally, I don't know enough about Bush outside of what the media has told me to really pass judgment on his presidency, however, not living under a rock, I can appreciate that he was stuck in an impossible situation in terms of the options available to him on that fateful day in September of 2001, and that most likely no matter what he had done, his decision would have been unpopular at some point. So to the protesters - maybe if you spent some time presenting specific and factual information about the issues from a rational perspective instead of yelling twisted rhetoric, people would care what you have to say!

2) I read a book about the prevalence of porn in our culture these days and the effect it is having on relationships, individuals and families. Extremely interesting - definitely a read I would recommend (Pornified by Pamela Paul). Reader beware for graphic and more than slightly disturbing content at times.

3) I like to think of myself as a better than average cook (another book recommendation here: Why We Make Mistakes by Joseph Hallinan) and I made a casserole last night. With my new found knowledge of the often faulty human tendency to think of one's self as above average, I can't say that I could impartially declare it a success, but it was a Mexican sweet potato casserole with homemade enchilada sauce and I thought it was pretty good. I bought WAY too many sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving and have been trying to incorporate them into our meals (when I am motivated enough to cook...) so that they don't rot on my pantry floor and ruin the hardwood. Tonight...sweet potato lasagna anyone?

4) I am fascinated with anything to do with the brain, and have learned some super interesting stuff lately. Some random and interesting facts: a) if you are happy and you like your food, you absorb more nutrients from it. b) Pain is very subjective, so if you take 100 people and apply the same injury or stimulus, there will be a WIDE range of sensitivities as evidenced by brain scans. Take that, inflexible natural birth advocates. c) We are more prejudiced than we think we are and our brains give it away.

5) People like to talk about themselves (count how mant times the word "I" appears in the preceding 4 points). Here's hoping that at least one of the 4 parts of my mini ego trip was interesting to someone!