Christmas Presents: For Jeanette

She can be so...prickly. I hope she likes charm bracelets.

Christmas Presents: For Maisha

I hope she'll like it. Ian says he is sure he will.

The Lamborghini

He was working on his model while I was working on my beads.
I love to watch him when he's concentrating.
:)

Cost and Managerial Accounting....

....The Cure for
Insomnia

And So It Begins...

I got your teacher's email address.

Aww, Maaaaaaannnn!

Bwah, ha, ha, ha!

Christmas Presents: For Serena

Serena is very petite and delicate, and Ian says this set is perfect for her.
(I think it's funny I work with another Serena. And we only have 8 people in our business total!)

Maritime History...Or Not.

Got this in an email from one of my relatives:

It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The best storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon.

There was only one problem... how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make Brass Monkeys.

Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

And all this time, you thought that was a vulgar expression, didn't you?

I don't want to disappoint her, so I'm not going to tell her she's fallen for another good yarn. If you check 'brass monkeys' on www.snopes.com, the story is there.

Beading

I decided to take a little time to do something I really enjoy for a change. Don't get me wrong...I love playing Mafia Wars and taking care of the Boy Child, but every once in a while, I need to make something. So I bead, or crochet, or cross-stitch, whatever grabs my fancy.

Even if it means taking off my glasses to see.