I went to the Faulkner County Fair the other night, to see what-all was going on.  I’ve been to numerous small-town fairs and carnivals, so I expected this one to be bigger and better since it’s in a city of over 50,000 people.  But I was disappointed.  It wasn’t that much different, and everything has become so expensive.  I knew the food would be high, but the rides were even higher!  My wife and I were going to ride the Ferris Wheel, but then we discovered it costs $8 for the two of us, and it’s not that exciting.  Is that the typical going fare for carnival rides now?  It would get expensive real quick to participate in even a quarter of the rides and games there.

Now on to a few less-serious observations.  Seeing the kiddie rides brought back memories of years past.  There was a carousel horse ride, and I remembered riding on it as a kid.  Of course I don’t care about riding it now, but I imagined how it might struggle under my current weight.  Picture it going slow, the music dragging, smoke coming out from underneath…  🙂

There was a rock climbing / wall scaling attraction, and it was kinda funny to see some people try the expert side but then not even get off the first set of handles.  I knew better than to even try that…

We got a candy apple (covered in caramel) there, and it was really good.  Also saw where a concession stand was selling nachos, and I remembered seeing in Walmart a product that advertised itself as the nacho cheese featured in concession stands.  I’m not sure that’s a good way to market your product.  Although when I was a kid, I thought it was good.  But now that I’ve had much better nachos and cheese dip, that “fake” cheese just doesn’t seem so good anymore.  But to each their own…

We did get to see a lot of farm animals, like cows, goats, pigs, and chickens.  There’s nothing like that fresh, natural, barnyard scent, featuring lots of methane and manure.  I guess you get used to it if you work with them.

I was thinking the carnival could’ve been so much more.  I’m sure kids would enjoy it, but there wasn’t a lot of grown-ups.  I would’ve rode the bumper cars, but my long legs don’t fit in there too well anymore.  (I still remember the first time I realized I had become too tall to ride them.  It was a sad day, indeed.)

They should include some virtual reality rides there.  They could be built into a trailer that unpacks, so transport would be easier than the other stuff they had.  And I think a lot of people would be interested in it.  They could also have some state-of-the-art video games.  Maybe next year…

---

Site search tags: humor, humour, funny, carnival, fair, Faulkner, rides, Ferris Wheel, carousel, candy apple, nachos, cheese, manure, bumper cars, virtual reality, games, arcade

Ahoy, me hearty!  Today be International Talk Like A Pirate Day, which is a great, grand holiday indeed!  Today you must talk like a pirate whene’er you get the chance.  ARRR!  To ye lily-livered landlubbers, don’t ye be afraid of this.  It’ll make e’reyones day a bit more surreal.  Aye!

Now I must get back to my swashbucklin’ out on the seven seas…  ARRR!  🙂

---

Site search tags: humor, humour, funny, Talk Like A Pirate Day, holiday, pirate, surreal, ARRR

If you haven’t heard, I lost my job last week, as part of a corporate layoff due to economic reasons.  So while I’m pondering what kind of career I want, I came up with what would be perfect for me.  It would be a major career change, but I’m open to new ideas.

The government pays all kinds of groups to do research.  I could conduct a study on the impact of slacking at work.  There are a lot of studies already done on the effects of taking breaks at work (and they all say it’s a good thing), so slacking would somewhat fit that, in that it’s like a break, but it’s different.  And here’s where it’s best for me — since my job would be researching and the point of the research is how slacking affects it, I would be getting paid to not work.  How great is that?

So now I just have to figure out how to get this approved and sponsored.  I think it would be a very beneficial study, and I’m willing to make the necessary sacrifices to see it come to fruition.  This would help corporations realize the importance of a relaxed atmosphere / environment in the workplace.  And this would be a job that I’d enjoy working on.

---

Site search tags: humor, humour, funny, corporate, corporation, layoff, research, study, work environment, slacking, breaks, career, work, job

I recently heard of a woman with the last name of Butts.  (Bless her heart!)  So I’d imagine in various circumstances she’s referred to as Mrs. Butts.  Why does someone have the last name of Butts?  Perhaps it used to not mean what it does today.  According to my research (I actually did some, if a search with Google counts), it used to refer to a mark on a target in archery.  And in centuries past, people often took on the name of their trade/occupation.  But I’m thinking I’d change my name if that was my last name now — if not for my sake, for the sake of any children I might have.  Can you imagine how much ridicule they would face going through public schools?  They’d most certainly be the butt of many jokes…

I know, it’s not fair to have to change your name because the meaning of the word changed.  But what can you do?  Suppose your name was “wuss”.  Would you change it or endure the ridicule for the rest of your life?  I would consider it an opportunity to officially change my name to something really cool.

On a side note, in my research I learned that a “butt” is also “a large bulk-measure cask, with established volumes and quantities for various commodities in historic marketplaces”.  I think it’s obvious why that measurement isn’t used anymore.  Imagine going to a grocery story and asking for a butt full of flour.  AWW-RIGHT!  🙂

---

Site search tags: humor, humour, butt, butts, name, ridicule, jokes, archery, measurement