Will the real Groucho please step forward...

We sat down at the counter of a coffee shop to have some dessert tonight following the Barry Manilow concert. My mother looked across the way and said, "You know those Halloween disguises with the nose, mustache and glasses that make you look like Groucho Marx?" And I replied, "Yeah?" And she pointed to the guy across from us and said, "He wouldn't even need to wear one." I looked across the counter and we both started laughing hysterically. So of course, I quickly grabbed the camera phone to snap a photo of our Groucho look-alike so that I could post it here and you could see for yourselves.

We have the real Groucho (who supposedly died in 1977) and our coffee shop friend, what do you think?

How Do These Things Work?

We received light sticks at the Barry Manilow concert tonight and my mother asked me when leaving the bathroom hours later, "How do these things work?" I explained that it was a chemical reaction when the chemicals inside are broken and react with one another but that was enough of a solid explanation for my mother so upon returning to our room this evening I had to google the exact specifications and here is what I found just in case you ever wanted to know. (Courtesy of our friends at www. chemistry.about.com)

What is a Lightstick and How Does it Operate?
Lightsticks or glowsticks are used by trick-or-treaters, divers, campers, and for decoration and fun! A lightstick is a plastic tube with a glass vial inside of it. In order to activate a lightstick, you bend the plastic stick, which breaks the glass vial. This allows the chemicals that were inside the glass to mix with the chemicals in the plastic tube. Once these substances contact each other, a reaction starts taking place. The reaction releases light, causing the stick to glow!

A Chemical Reaction Releases Energy
One form of energy is light. Some chemical reactions release energy; the chemical reaction in a lightstick releases energy in the form of light. The light produced by this chemical reaction is called chemiluminescence.

Although the light-producing reaction is not caused by heat and may not produce heat, the rate at which it occurs is affected by temperature. If you place a lightstick in a cold environment (like a freezer), then the chemical reaction will slow down. Less light will be released while the lightstick is cold, but the stick will last much longer. On the other hand, if you immerse a lightstick in hot water, the chemical reaction will speed up. The stick will glow much more brightly, but will wear out faster too.

What's Involved?
There are three components of a lightstick. There need to be two chemicals that interact to release energy and also a fluorescent dye to accept this energy and convert it into light. Although there is more than one recipe for a lightstick, a common commercial lightstick uses a solution of hydrogen peroxide that is kept separate from a solution of a phenyl oxalate ester together with a fluorescent dye. The color of the fluorescent dye is what determines the resulting color of the lightstick when the chemical solutions are mixed. The basic premise of the reaction is that the reaction between the two chemicals releases enough energy to excite the electrons in the fluorescent dye. This causes the electrons to jump to a higher energy level and then fall back down and release light.

Specifically, the chemical reaction works like this: The hydrogen peroxide oxidizes the phenyl oxalate ester, to form phenol and an unstable peroxyacid ester. The unstable peroxyacid ester decomposes, resulting in phenol and a cyclic peroxy compound. The cyclic peroxy compound decomposes to carbon dioxide. This decomposition reaction releases the energy that excites the dye.

Things I can't explain....

Why my hair looks so much darker... The coloring was only supposed to cover the gray with the exact same shade, yet with the grays gone, my hair looks much, much, much darker.

Why I order Ginger Ale on the airplane... Everytime I am on an airplane I drink Ginger Ale. I don't drink Ginger Ale anywhere but on airplanes.

Why hotel rooms don't have fitted bottom sheets... I have wondered about this my whole life.

and...

Why everyone can wake-up just fine at home without the use of a wake-up call, but once they check into a hotel, they require a daily wake-up call... This is perplexing even more when I realize that the majority of hotels the I have frequented in the last few years have an alarm clock in the room.

HUMMMM......

Business Travel vs. Personal Travel

I used to travel primarily for personal reasons but now the majority of traveling that I do now is for business. When I became a business traveler I quickly learned the etiquette of business travelers.

I flew from Seattle to Las Vegas today for a business/pleasure trip and it very evident that I was surrounded by vacationers and not business professionals. The differences....

• Business travelers can take the one square foot of space offered by a tray table and turn it into a full functional office. They can create proposals, reply to email, edit spreadsheets and function completely normally in this tiny space. Personal travelers require the use of multiple tray tables for their drinks and a deck of playing cards.
• Business travelers are courteous to one another but don't engage in idle chit-chat. They have brought things along with them on the plane (book, newspaper, computer) to keep them fully occupied. Personal travelers see their time on the plane as the perfect excuses to chit-chat your ear off.
• Business travelers don't make unnecessary noise. Personal travelers find unnecessary noise very entertaining. Their traveling companions think it's hysterical how they "woo-hoo" every time the stewardess announces the destination city. They talk about EVERYTHING they are going to see, do and experiences once they arrive. And they do it all in a disruptive and annoyingly loud volume.
• Business travelers have often not chosen their destination cities so they are not *thrilled* to arrive, in fact they often don't remember where they are going, unless it's home. Personal travelers are so excited to get where they are going that they ooohhh and aaahhh every landmark out the windows including taking pictures that will never turn out, but their friends and families will be subjected to anyway.
• When the plane arrives the business travelers in the back stay seated because they are well aware of the many minutes that will pass until they are able to gather their belongings and head towards the door. Personal travelers remove their seatbelts and jump out of their seats the minute that the plane arrives and then are completely annoyed when they have to wait for the passengers in front of them to clear out of the way.

With all that said, I have to admit that I love the routine and etiquette of the business traveler and wish that the personal travelers would pick up a few hints from us!

Happy Travelin'

Office War - Weapon of Choice!

Office Wars Your weapon of choice is Exploding Post Its Peel, Stick and Run! Find your Office Wars Weapon of Choice at Quizopolis.com

Sneezing Spaz!

It's allergy season. I hate allergy season. I was sitting at my desk attempting to work about this morning when I had a sneezing fit totaling 11 sneezes in a row. Toward the end when I was thinking to myself, "This is ridiculous!" All of a sudden my left foot got away from me and hit the on-off switch on the power strip that controls everything electronic in my office and everything went dark. So not only did I have to deal with the congestion caused by sneezing 11 times in a row, but I had to restart my system and all the programs that I use all day long.

It's now been 40 minutes since my fit and I am happy to report that my system is back online and the medication that I took it finally working! Happy Spring!

Spokane Weekend!

I am in Spokane for a few days on business. I just checked into my room and was hoping for a "room with a view" because I knew that the hotel was right on the Spokane River and I got it. The picture at the right is a view of the light reflecting off the river from the window in my room.

I have some notes and thoughts about my trip here but more on that later. Right now there is a beer somewhere in this town with my name on it.

4000 Songs!

I combined the music from my version of iTunes at work and the version on my laptop today. I ended up with 4,100 songs exactly. I have been in the 3,000 song range for what has seemed like a really long time and was growing more and more anxious to surpass the 4,000 song mark so when it happened today, I was elated! So you may be asking yourself, which song set me over the mark? Well, it was my favorite Beatles song so I felt compelled to share the lyrics here.

A Little Help From My Friends

What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song,
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.

I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Going to try with a little help from my friends.

What do I do when my love is away.
(does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(are you sad because you’re on your own)

No I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Going to try with a little help from my friends.

Do you need anybody,
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody,
I want somebody to love.

Would you believe in a love at first sight,
Yes I’m certain that it happens all the time.
What do you see when you turn out the light,
I can’t tell you, but I know it’s mine.

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Do you need anybody,
I just need someone to love,
Could it be anybody,
I want somebody to love.

I get by with a little help from my friends,
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends,
With a little help from my friends.

Say WA!

Washington State Tourism just launched a new campaign (Say WA) and I HATE IT! I also hate the changes that they have made to their website. What used to be an easily navigated and very informative website is now just filled with picture of *WA moments* that are beautiful but completely uninformative. AAARRGH!

Birthday Calculator

I received an email from a friend this morning with a link to a Birthday Calculator. I played around with it a little bit this morning and here are a few tidbits that it came up with for me.

• You were born on a Wednesday, under the astrological sign Leo.
• The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2441895.5.
• You are 392 months old.
• You are 1,707 weeks old.
• You are 11,948 days old.
• You are 286,764 hours old.
• You are 17,205,882 minutes old.
• You are 1,032,352,979 seconds old.
• Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 4.67632093933464 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)
• Your birthstone is Peridot. The Mystical properties of Peridot include helping dreams become reality.

Then toward the bottom of the page I saw a link to find out what your name says about you, so I clicked on it and learned the following.

Your number is: 3

The characteristics of #3 are: Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living.

An Expression of 3 produces a quest for destiny with words along a variety of lines that may include writing, speaking, singing, acting or teaching; our entertainers, writers, litigators, teachers, salesmen, and composers. You also have the destiny to sell yourself or sell just about any product that comes along. You are imaginative in your presentation, and you may have creative talents in the arts, although these are more likely to be latent. You are an optimistic person that seems ever enthusiastic about life and living. You are friendly, loving and social, and people like you because you are charming and such a good conversationalist. Your ability to communicate may often inspire others. It is your role in life to inspire and motivate; to raise the spirits of those around you.

Your Soul Urge number is: 6. A Soul Urge number of 6 means: With a number 6 Soul Urge, you would like to be appreciated for your ability to handle responsibility. Your home and family are likely to be a strong focus for you, perhaps the strongest focus of your life. Friendship, love, and affection are high on your list of priorities for a happy life. You have a lot of diplomatic tendencies in your makeup, as you a able to rectify and balance situations with an innate skill. You like working with people rather than by yourself. It is extremely important for you to have harmony in your environment at all times.

Your Inner Dream number is: 6. An Inner Dream number of 6 means: You dream of guiding and fostering the perfect family in the perfect home. You crave the devotion from offspring and a loving spouse. You picture yourself in the center of a successful domestic unit.

Okay, enough hocus-pocus for today, back to work.