If you host a picnic

an end of summer party/picnic always sounds like a good idea. and then people go and make it complicated. like by inviting people to go sailing. one of our dept. members recently bought a sailboat and decided to invite people onto the boat during the picnic. here's some observations in no particular order.
1. don't get your prop caught in a buoy line while motoring to the dock.
2. go sailing several times yourself before inviting others along.
3. don't assume that anyone on the boat knows or cares to help.

one trip back to the dock the boat almost didn't make it back because the sails suddenly caught some wind... another trip the passengers had to tell him that there was no way they were going to help since they didn't know the first thing about sailing and weren't in a mood to learn in 2 minutes from a complete novice... the final and third trip didn't make it out of the bay (on a small lake) since somehow they got stuck in the weeds without any wind and the motor quit...

finally, i have learned my instincts regarding boats is good: never own one. maybe rent one. learn, yes take a class, if you plan on doing anything complicated like sailing

Vitamins

Every so often I read my Adventist Review stuff that comes in my inbox. I was interested by one of the health questions and so I clicked. To my surprise I found an answer that I agree with. (I say surprising because so often Adventists push 'natural' and vegetarian as cure alls and I don't agree.) Read below and then consider consulting your doctor before taking supplements, even if they seem innocuous.

Patients with a variety of chronic diseases have not been benefited by supplements; in fact, some have been harmed by them.

In an analysis of more than 60 randomized trials involving nearly a quarter of a million persons, vitamin supplements were tested, both singly and in combinations.

In the 47 studies with the best methodology, beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E, given either singly or in combination, were associated with between a 4 to 16 percent higher mortality. Vitamin C and selenium had no effect on mortality risk.

These are relatively small risks, but they do suggest we have no basis on which to promote such supplements.

In One Day

long ago, in a land somewhat far away i used to have a job that i hated. i was the receptionist for a mortgage broker. i hated answering the phone, still do, messed up a few things and mostly it was boring. but the great thing about the job was i read a book a day. really i did. i would finish a book in the morning. walk to the library at lunch to get a new book and then read half of it in the afternoon.

yesterday morning i met my mom at the bookstore, sorta. we live many miles apart so i went to a bookstore here and she went to a bookstore in rapid. but we were both at the bookstore picking out a book and then sat down and had coffee while starting on the book. it was a lot of fun and i think a new tradition. in any case i got ghost brigades by john scalzi. i had read old man's war a while ago when i checked it out a the library. i knew he had done a sequel but hadn't gotten around to requesting it through inter library loan. since it was paperback it was relatively inexpensive and i was in the mood for some good sci-fi. rather than write a review here that is inadeqate i direct you to sfreviews, which has a great review of the book. once i got started i couldn't put it down. i did some work on the poster of our alaska trip while reading (my computer takes a while to process some things). but mostly i spent sunday reading. so i finished the book all in one day. yup it was that good.