The Smarmy Carny

We Blogathonners have just completed the first half of Blogathon!

As a reward for making it halfway, I will take this hour off from posting a Grating Rating. Next hour's Grating Rating is Minor Seinfeld characters!

I think it's time to get up and take a little walk . . .

Blogathon Status Update: Hour 12
Sponsorships: 7 pledges for $100.00
My neck is tired right about now. I think I'll get up and move around for a bit.

The official Blogathon site hosts games throughout the event, and there was a game just posted to write a poem about the Blogathon. So, here's the limerick I wrote:

There once was Meme the Sheep
who didn't really give a beep.
He read The Smarmy Carny
and gathered an army
and bit Novac 'fore he fell asleep

(For those who do not know, Meme the Sheep is the sheep character created by Ryan Estrada that is currently used in the Blogathon logo.)

Sponsorship update: 7 pledges for $100.00

I found a web page with a list of dozens of meteorological statuses that raised plenty of questions. What's the difference between "ice pellets" and "hail", because they're both listed on there separately. And how do you have a "heavy drizzle" — isn't that an oxymoron or at least an "oxymeteorologist"? Also frightening is that they had "volcanic ash" as a weather condition. Yikes.

• Hail: D Hail itself is fine, really. It's kind of funny to have little ice chunks falling on you. Hail gets a low rating, however, because weathermen are always hyping it up and comparing it to different sized objects. Golf ball sized hail! Baseball sized hail! Softball sized hail! BASKETBALL SIZED HAIL! Hush up, weatherman. We don't need that.
• Rain: B- I don't mind the rain, especially when you've given up trying to keep dry. It's funny to watch people running to their car in the morning when it rains. Just 20 minutes earlier, they were in the shower, subjecting themselves to even worse weather conditions.
• Snow: C+ This grade is a balance between a high grade and a low grade. I have lots of fun playing with my kids in the snow, so it gets a high grade. Driving in snow is lousy and deserves a failing grade. So we'll compromise.
• Sun: B The sun is overrated. It only takes one 2nd degree sunburn to teach you that lesson. I'd prefer any of the other weather types here to an extremely sunny day with a UV Index of 10+. That said, sunny weather doesn't wreak havoc with flooding or snow damage or other stuff like that. It just melts delicious ice cream. One more reason to be anti-sun!
• Thunderstorms: D Thunderstorms will always get a low grade, unless something changes where I don't have to unplug all my favorite machines in the house.
• Wind: A I enjoy nice, breezy days. The problem with my favorite weather is that it's almost always followed by rain.

Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you agree or disagree with, and why? Which types of weather do you wish were included that I didn't cover here?

The official Blogathon website is running a game currently, asking bloggers to post a self-portrait in whatever format.

So, here's a very recent picture of me:

No, really, I wasn't sleeping! I'm staying awake the entire 24 hours! I really am!!!

Here are some of the things you get for free (or things you aren't supposed to take, but do) from hotels. For the record this review is based on cheap hotels, not expensive hotels.

• Bar Soap: C+ Hotel soap works quite well, even if it doesn't last very long. They are particularly useful
• Towels: F Stealing hotel towels is one of those things you hear about all the time. The thing is, hotel towels are fundamentally worthless, but perhaps that's because people keep stealing them. A tablespoon of water will soak the entire towel. They don't even make a good bathmat.
• Shampoo and Conditioner: C For a guy like me, the quality of the shampoo and conditioner are just fine, but the bottles are so small you're lucky if you can get two full uses out of them. If you're picky about your hair care products, they're probably worthless to you.
• Pens: A Hotel pens work just as perfectly as any other pen. You simply have to carry around their logo wherever you take the pen. I don't think I've ever looked inside one to see if they put less ink in them, though. Maybe they're sample-sized, just like all the other hotel freebies?
• Notepads: B Hotel notepads work just fine away from the hotel, but they have a suspiciously small number of pages to use.
• Mouthwash: B Mouthwash is always good to have around, but this is yet another sample-sized bottle. Good luck getting more than a couple days out of one tiny bottle.

Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you agree or disagree with, and why? Which hotel freebies do you wish were included that I didn't cover here?

One Economy Corporation's Digital Access Fund program began work in Baltimore in 2005, and it is now active in communities around the country. The Digital Access Fund provids low-interest loans to bring computers into the homes of low-income families. One Economy teams up with banks to obtain these low-interest loans.

One family was able to purchase a computer and repay the loan in small, manageable installments over 18 months. When this is the only option, it helps school age children can get their assignments done on time without having to leave the house to use a computer.

As I've mentioned, One Economy doesn't stop at helping low-income people to get the computer. Once they have the computer, Digital Connectors also help the families get their computers installed and set up for use.

I guess I'll grade these pet peeves at how good they are at "peeving" me off. The higher the grade, the more annoying. A couple years ago, these probably all would have been between A- and A+ because I frequently experienced road rage. Since then, I have slowed down and calmed down, but it's unavoidable to run into someone doing at least one of the following things:

• Not using the turn signal: B+ As with many pet peeves, this is often situational. It's much more annoying when you don't pull out because you didn't know the vehicle was going to turn into the parking lot you're pulling out of, or when you almost ram a swerving vehicle that didn't bother signaling first.
• Tailgating: B Tailgating is silly to do because it doesn't get you anywhere faster. It just makes you closer to the car in front of you.
• Driving too fast: D People driving faster than me are rarely bothersome unless they're also tailgating, but that falls under another pet peeve. So long as they're not driving so fast that they are a danger to themselves or others, it's mostly fine.
• Driving too slowly: B- This is one of the major nuisances of the road, particularly on rural roads. There's nothing quite as exhilarating as coming over a hill to find an old couple driving 20 mph in a 55 mph. Brake check!
• Not being me: C If you're not me, that's a problem I have with drivers. I prefer to be the only one driving.

Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you agree or disagree with, and why? Which driving pet peeves do you wish were included that I didn't cover here?